What is a DVT-B TV Tuner (?)

[ChuckJr]

There are several companies who have a DVT-B TV Tuner within a USB Stick the size of a USB Jumpdrive. What is a DVT-B TV Tuner and is it the same as a HDTV TV Tuner signal ? The two companies I found that have this USB DVT-B USB Unit are KWORLD and FreeCom. To look at these, here are the links:
( KWORLD's USB DVT-B TV Tuner )
http://www.kworld.com.tw/en/product/.../dvb-t350u.htm

( Freecom's USB DVT-B TV Tuner )
http://www.freecom.com/ecProduct_det...%2DT+USB+Stick

Regards,
Chuck

[SyrA]

Well, actually the sites state "DVB-T"

And the T stands for "terrestial" a commonly used way for sending digital TV signals in Europe. Here in Sweden, for exampel, we can recive it on the UHF band with an ordinary TV antenna.

[ChuckJr]

Does this mean in the USA, the HDTV signal or some other Digital signal can be received with a UHF External Antenna ?

[mrphil]

No, they are only for DVB-T broadcasts - For HDTV you would need to find an ATSC tuner, and they tend to be a lot larger than these USB Pen-drive sized devices.

In any case, even if you could use one in the US, it would be useless with BTV, it doesnt support DVB devices at all, sadly.

[ChuckJr]

Is there a DVB-T signal which can be received by the USB DVB-T Tv Tuner in the USA ?
If so, what are the channels that can be received and how many ?
Is there a TV Listing Guide showing the channels listed which can be received with DVT-B ?
Regards,
ChuckJr.

[mrphil]

Not according to this map.

[RobertH]

In the US you can only receive NTSC or ATSC broadcasts, some people can get DVB-S (satelite) signals bounced off of satelites but beyondtv doesnot support DVB signals of any type at the moment.

US based ATSC (HD-OTA) broadcasts can be pickedup with standard VHF/UHF antennas, in metro areas you can typically pickup HD signals using standard "rabbit-ear" type antennas where in more rural areas you may need a large areal antenna out on the roof pointed at the direction of your local broadcast stations. Typically OTA-HD is the local stations (FOX, UPN, WB, PBS, ABC, NBC, ETC). BeyondTV4 currently supports capture and viewing of OTA HD stations using supported HDTV tuner devices in the US and some portions of Canada/Mexico.

[ChuckJr]

Here is some additional information I gathered from another source.

Just because it's digital, doesn't mean it's scrambled. Multiplexed and QAM64/128 encoded, but not encrypted.
In England, US and Australia the FTA channels aren't encrypted and the channels can be 'scanned' without any manual keying. For instance, below is a sample of a couple of the German transponders :
3sat:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QAM_ 64:210:220
ARD-Online-Kanal:426000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QAM _64:0:1805
CNBC:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QAM_ 64:510:520
DLF-K\uffffln:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE :QAM_64:0:810
DLR-Berlin:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QA M_64:0:710
EinsExtra:426000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE :QAM_64:101:102
EinsFestival:426000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_N ONE:QAM_64:201:202
EinsMuXx:426000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE: QAM_64:301:302
EuroNews:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE: QAM_64:2221:2233
Eurosport:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE :QAM_64:410:420
Fritz:426000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QAM _64:0:901
KiKa:394000000:INVERSION_OFF:6900000:FEC_NONE:QAM_ 64:310:320

The second number (394000000 etc) is the tuning frequency and the final digits (64:210:220 etc) is the location on the transponder. None of these channels are encrypted - and don't need a CI or CAM to receive/store the key and decrypt.

This is also, IMHO, the real beauty of digital (DVB-T, C or S). I can tune to one frequency per DVB-C card and simultaneously record or watch any multiples of channel in that bundle. Obviously the other big advantage is the digital signal is generally purer - even if the broadcast companies aren't sending great resolutions! With 2 or 3 cards you never have to miss anything!

I would think it's unlikely TCL is encrypting the FTAs. What's in it for them? It costs them expensive resources for every channel they scramble.

Incidentally, I had a note back from TCL regarding this. All they said was "I have received a response from our technical department and they advised that the PVR is not able to be used as the terminating device".

Regards,
ChuckJr.

[ChuckJr]

From looking at the map, most of USA is ATSC (HD-OTA).
Does anybody know of a similar USB "Jumpdrive Size" Device that will receive the ATSC (HD-OTA) signal. I really like the size of the USB JumpDrive Unit.
Maybe there isn't one, and just maybe there is a good USB ATSC (HD-OTA) solution with hardware encoding and it having CC(close-captioning).

Regards,
ChuckJr.

[HomeyFour]

There aren't any such devices for US OTA-HD.