Rod Hewitt wrote: > I was given one of these to see how well it worked with my > TSReader app. It's supplied with BDA drivers (so it'll work > with MCE) and a playback app for users that don't have MCE. > The standard playback app is VERY poor. > > The thing gets incredibly hot - even with vent holes on the > side it's too hot to hold for any length of time. I haven't > measured the current it uses but it's got to be pretty close > to the 500mA maximum for USB. In contrast, a Freecom DVB-T > stick receiver hardly generates any heat! > > Internally the Artec uses: > > a) a Cypress FX2 micro-controller to handle setup, I2C > passthrough and data transfer. > b) a Microtune MT2060 tuner > c) an LG 5th generation demodulator One reason for more heat is no doubt the more potent equalizer needed in the LG demod. Another is that this is (I presume) an HDTV receiver, not SDTV. From the MT product brochure, the 2060 does not appear optimized for DTT specifically. Seems to be an analog/digital cable tuner, by design. http://www.microtune.com/products/pdf/MT2060_Tuner_IC.pdf So how does it perform wrt reception, aside from the software issues? I guess they picked the 2060 over the 2121 (which is designed specifically for terrestrial and cable use), because the 2121 draws more power and/or is more expensive. Microtune has a newer tuner by this fall, the MT2131, which seems to bring the parts count of the cable/terrestrial tuner down to the same number as the 2060. http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=3D181401916 says that the 2131 has "eliminated more than 100 components," which is the number added by the 2121 compared to the 2060. So the 2131 should provide better performance for DTT than the 2060, hopefully without drawing more power. These are all dual-conversion designs, btw. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.