Price of USB ATSC DTV Tuner Drops to $14.99

By Doug Lung
published

It’s too late now, but earlier this week newegg.com 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
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.