New USB Tuners Combine Small Size and Price

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January, several manufacturers were showing compact, but somewhat larger than "thumb-size" USB tuners for the DVB-T terrestrial DTV standard. Many of these manufacturers said they were working on USB tuners for the U.S. ATSC standard. These tuners are now becoming avai

Author:: TVTechnology
Publish date:: Jul 26, 2006
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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January, several manufacturers were showing compact, but somewhat larger than "thumb-size" USB tuners for the DVB-T terrestrial DTV standard. Many of these manufacturers said they were working on USB tuners for the U.S. ATSC standard. These tuners are now becoming available. While I didn't see any ATSC USB tuners (thumb sized or larger) at Best Buy or Circuit City when I checked last month, at least two nearly thumb sized ATSC USB tuners are available on the Web.

These tuners are the Artec T14A Mini USB 2.0 Digital TV tuner, which sells for only $89.99 after an instant rebate at ZipZoomFly.com; and the Fujiplus FD-USB728 USB 2.0 Interface USB HDTV ATSC/NTSC TV tuner, selling for $99.99 at newegg.com. The Artec tuner, which only receives ATSC broadcasts, apparently uses the LG DT3303 demodulator, according to AVSForum.com. The Fujiplus tuner receives NTSC and 256QAM (unencrypted digital cable) signals as well as ATSC broadcasts.

If any readers have had a chance to test the Artec or Fujiplus receivers, I'd appreciate hearing how they work, especially as compared with the other ATSC USB tuners now available.

Two weeks ago I reported on the new Pinnacle HD Stick Pro thumb drive sized ATSC USB tuner. The product is now available at Best Buy and Fry's Electronic stores. I had an opportunity this week to compare this tuner with the FusionHDTV5 USB Gold . I found that the small Pinnacle HD Stick Pro performance is very clo

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Last year, I provided a quick overview of ATSC USB tuners. This month, I'll provide a detailed comparison of three--DViCO's FusionHDTV5 USB Gold, the AutumnWave OnAirGT tuner and the Pinnacle HD Stick Pro. All tuners include software that allows scheduling and recording programs.