It’s too late now, but earlier this week newegg.com (opens in new tab) was selling the KWorld ATSC 340 USB ATSC stick tuner for only $14.99 after a rebate.
While consumer reviews showed some people had no problems with this tuner, I was never able to get an ATSC 340 I had to work properly under Windows or Linux.
The problem appeared to be with channel tuning in the NXP/Philips chip tuner in the 340, as sometimes I could very briefly receive one channel after a scan, but couldn’t change it to return to it. In fairness to KWorld, as I have software for many different USB ATSC tuners on my laptop, it’s likely the KWorld driver was incompatible with drivers for other devices.
As an alternative, I found the Artec T18AR, available for $49.95 on Meritline.com. The Artec T18AR fared well in my tests of the newer ATSC/ClearQAM USB tuners. See next month’s RF Technology column in TV Technology for more details.
Your comments and story leads are always appreciated! Drop me a note at dlung@transmitter.com.
Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. He has been with NBC since 1985 and is currently vice president of broadcast technology for NBC/Telemundo stations.
