Compact DVB-T2 tuner

It's no secret that television is gradually switching to digital broadcasting. Actually, no—it switched over a long time ago, and for at least the past four years we've been hearing that analog broadcasting will be switched off "any day now." But sooner or later it will happen, and some owners of older TVs will be left, as they say, "up the creek without a paddle." Their TV will be like a suitcase without a handle: no use for it, but too good to throw away.
But if you're still happy with your old TV, you can add support for digital TV with a small set-top box, which is what today's review is about.


Why did I choose this tuner for a review? Simply because, although I don't watch TV, I do occasionally need one. None of my TVs have DVB-T2 tuners, and replacing them isn't in my plans (precisely because I don't watch them), so a device like this is just the thing to solve the problem.

This will be a short review, since this isn't a TV box and there's simply not much to say about it.


Specifications from the product page.
Model number: DVB T2 STICK
Storage: 8 GB eMMC
Memory: 1 GB DDR3OTA
Max. expandable capacity: TF card up to 64 GB
Power: 5 V DC, 2 A
Resolution: 1920x1080
Video output: HDMI 1.4
Video playback formats: ASF, MPEG, MKV, MOV, AVI
Audio playback formats: WAV, MP3, WMA
Microprocessor: Ali 3821 chip + RT836 tuner IC or Novatek 78306 + RT836 tuner IC
Synchronous dynamic memory: 512 MB DDR2
HD type: Built-in flash memory
Aspect ratio: 4:3, 16:9
Interface type: USB, AV, HDMI
Weight: 50 g
Dimensions: 105 × 40 × 16 mm

The power, video output, supported formats and so on are all clear enough, but I never did figure out where the 8 GB of eMMC and 1 GB of RAM are supposed to be....


The tuner comes in a relatively large box, especially considering its form factor. The box arrived a little dented, but nothing serious. The bottom and sides have a nearly complete list of specifications—and it's in Russian!
Everything inside the box is neatly packed. I've always wondered: once you take everything out, the chances of getting it all back in just as neatly are practically zero.


The package includes more than you might expect at first glance:
1. TV tuner
2. Power supply
3. Cable for connecting the analog output
4. IR remote control
5. External IR receiver.
6. Manual.

The description also listed two AAA batteries, but they weren't included.



The manual. I mentioned the Russian text on the packaging for a reason. This isn't just a substantial manual (the photo shows about a third of the total), it's also translated into Russian—not by Google Translate, but quite thoughtfully and accurately.


It explains both how to set things up and how to troubleshoot problems. All in all, it gets a passing grade.


1. Cable for connecting an analog TV. I don't really need it, but it could come in handy for testing TV boxes.
2. IR receiver with an unusual miniUSB connection. Note that it doesn't use USB for data; it just happens to use this type of connector.
3, 4. The remote will look very familiar from TV box reviews, except that the button labels here are also translated into Russian.
5, 6. 5 V, 1.5 A power supply.


I took the power supply apart, especially since it's pretty easy to do.


Inside is a small circuit board. There's no input filter, and the input capacitor is 6.8 µF, which is quite acceptable. There's also a fairly large transformer and an output filter, which is relatively uncommon.


Nothing unusual on top; all the "magic" is hidden underneath.
A few things stand out here:
1. A very strange fuse, especially considering that the board is made of phenolic laminate.
2. There's no interwinding noise-suppression capacitor. None at all—and that showed in the results. When I connected the power supply to the tuner, whose output was connected to my monitor, which was in turn connected to my computer, a faint hum came through the speakers.
3. Voltage regulation is done on the primary side, which isn't the best solution.


The tuner surprised me a little with its size. For some reason, I expected it to be a bit smaller. The size is about that of two matchboxes, but a little thicker.


The antenna input is on one short side, while the digital and analog outputs are on the opposite side.
The long sides have USB ports for flash drives and other devices, a miniUSB port for the IR receiver, and the power input.


1, 2. How the connectors are arranged.
3, 4. Lots of ventilation holes on the top and especially the bottom.



But before turning it on, I’ll take it apart anyway. There are lots of small clips around the perimeter. It comes apart easily, though I did break one clip in the process.


Overall, it looks neat—not exactly beautiful, but pretty good.


There aren’t many components: the processor is under a heatsink, along with flash memory and various voltage regulators.


1. Voltage regulator and flash memory, presumably for storing the firmware.
2. There is no protection on the USB or HDMI ports.
3. Tuner based on the Rafael Micro R836
4. The board dates from 2016, while the sticker suggests the firmware is from late 2018.


In addition to the heatsink, a metal plate is glued to the underside of the board, apparently also to help cool the processor.


On to the tests. In my case, there were two ways to connect it: a test setup using an HDMI-to-VGA converter, and the main setup using a short HDMI cable.


Unfortunately, it turned out that the tuner wouldn’t work with the converter—or, more precisely, my monitor wouldn’t work with it in this setup...


Connecting the tuner to a TV is straightforward: antenna input to the tuner, HDMI or analog output to the TV, power adapter to the tuner and into the wall, and the IR receiver into its socket. At first I forgot to connect the IR receiver and wondered why the remote wasn’t working. I’m used to the receiver being built in.
There are several menu language options, including Russian, Ukrainian, English, and so on. For some reason, though, the Ukrainian menu calls this "керівництво по установці", although "налаштування" would be more accurate. Since I’m more used to Russian or English anyway, I left it as it was.
There’s also a list of around fifty countries to choose from based on your location. I selected Ukraine.
Then you select auto-tuning, and just over a minute later the tuner is set up and displaying the first channel it found.


Channel selection and picture quality are fine. You can display either the program description or its title on screen.


Channel switching is fast, but it varies from channel to channel. For example, on some channels, "no signal" appears for a second when you switch. Interestingly, switching channels with the up/down buttons is a little faster than bringing up the channel list and selecting a channel from there.
Teletext doesn’t work, but on some channels, pressing the "TV Guide" button brings up the program guide.


Control menu.
1. Channel sorting
2. Picture format and resolution. The available modes are 576i/p, 720p, and 1080i/p (50 Hz). This menu also lets you select the analog output format and color system (PAL/NTSC).
3. Auto scan, manual scan, and enabling power to the antenna input: 5 V.
4. Time zone and region
5. Languages and audio output format: PCM/RAW HDMI
6. System settings


Firmware information and an update menu, though in this case updates are only possible from a flash drive.
There’s also a WiFi settings menu, but since there’s no WiFi module, it doesn’t work.


There’s also access to USB and settings for the recording schedule.
Selecting the "multimedia" menu opens the file manager. You can also do this with the corresponding button on the remote, but trying to play the test files ended with an unsupported format message.


One of the few files that worked was "ducks" at 720p resolution; at 1080p, it already produced an error.
In the storage settings menu, you can select the storage device and the recording file segment size, from 0.5 to 4 GB.

There is also a separate menu for accessing online services, which doesn't work because there's no network connection. What a shame...


There are plenty of settings for the video aspect ratio. Most channels filled the screen for me, but some were displayed in 4:3, both in the standard mode and in Auto.
Switching to 4:3 Letterbox crops the image at the top, while 4:3 Pan & Scan stretches it to fill the screen, distorting the aspect ratio.


The remote has recording controls, so recording is very straightforward.
1. When needed, press the REC button.
2. To stop recording, press the Stop button, marked with a square on the remote. The tuner asks you to confirm that you want to stop recording.
3. Then press the Media button to open the recordings folder, where you can watch the video you recorded.


The recording resolution is 720x576, with a bitrate of 2.3 Mbps. I have no complaints about the quality. As I understand it, the tuner doesn't compress anything; it simply records the stream it receives before the decoder.


The left/right buttons adjust the volume, which is very convenient. But while testing it with a TV that is essentially a converted monitor (with a Chinese tuner board installed), I ran into a problem: the TV responds to some of the tuner's remote commands. For example, pressing 1 or 2 opens the TV's settings menu...


A brief summary based on the testing.
As a tuner, it has no issues: it receives channels, even with a piece of wire (with the window facing the TV tower), works reliably, records video, and has sound. In short, it does everything a tuner should, and it doesn't even get very hot during operation.
Good localization for our market is probably another advantage worth mentioning.

However, I do have some concerns about the power supply: there's no Y capacitor and no proper fuse.
I also have concerns about the limited number of supported video formats. I think I'll have to either download videos in 720p or convert them myself.

It's a shame there's no Wi-Fi module. It would be very convenient to watch movies over the network. Not everyone needs a TV box; sometimes it's overkill, while a tuner with the ability to watch movies from a home media server would be great. You could also have YouTube, of course, but maybe I'm asking for too much already :)

As for the price: I asked the seller for a discount in exchange for the review, but he said this was the lowest price. Still, I think it was noticeably lower when I placed the order, but in the end, well, it is what it is.

That's about it. I hope you found the review useful.