I’ve been recovering from laryngitis, but I’m back at it with a look at a new TV tuner from ADTH. This one comes with a lot of buzz from the broadcast industry, which is pitching it as a reliable solution for tuning encrypted ATSC 3.0 TV signals. After spending time with it, though, I found it falls painfully short of expectations. See more in my latest review.
The ADTH tuner will likely cost more than the device you’re plugging it into. It’s also imported from China, so there’s a chance future shipments might cost more due to tariffs. You can find it here on Amazon (compensated affiliate link).
It connects via USB to Android TV or Fire TV devices. Out of all the hardware I tested, the only one it fully worked with was the Onn 4K Pro box. Everything else—like the Nvidia Shield, Onn stick, and Fire TV Stick 4K Max—ran into trouble with encrypted channels. On the Shield, encrypted ATSC 3.0 channels froze after showing a single frame. The Fire TV Stick displayed an error saying DRM wasn’t supported. In each case, unencrypted channels were fine, but the whole point of this tuner is to handle encryption, and that’s where it stumbled. My friend Elias Saba of AFTVNews.com tested twenty supposedly compatible devices and found only two worked as advertised.
To make things more complicated, AC-4 audio compatibility on the host device is also required for ATSC 3 broadcasts. Unfortunately most devices don’t say whether they do. So users are left guessing.
Setting it up was relatively simple. The app is available on the Android and Fire TV app stores. After granting permission for USB access—something I had to do each time I launched the app—it walked me through a channel scan and a dongle firmware update. It found channels quickly and offered a decent guide, both a quick overlay and a more detailed grid. The app also lets you pause live TV and jump back to the live broadcast, but there’s no recording or rewinding.
One feature that stood out was the stats screen. It’s the most detailed I’ve seen for ATSC 3.0 tuning and could be useful for those trying to troubleshoot signal issues or understand what’s coming through the airwaves.
It’s worth noting that the app only works on Android TV and Fire TV but not phones or tablets. I checked some APK sites to see if there was an unofficial workaround for mobile, but couldn’t find anything that worked. It also will never work with PCs, or anything Apple- or Roku-based. That’s a big limitation for a device that’s supposed to represent the future of TV tuning.
All of this brings me to DRM and its cost. Right now, the ADTH tuner is one of the few options that’s officially sanctioned to handle encrypted ATSC 3.0. But the GT Media USB tuner we looked at last year, which doesn’t support encryption but works on a much wider range of Android devices—including mobile—sells for as little as $30 on AliExpress. It even has DVR support via an SD card. Despite being cheaper and more versatile, it’s being held back by the same DRM restrictions that limit broader innovation in the space.
As broadcasters continue to push the FCC to accelerate the ATSC 3.0 transition, we’re left with hardware that still doesn’t deliver on the promise. Two years into this DRM rollout, basic functionality still isn’t guaranteed. There’s more to come this week as the FCC opens public comments on the DRM issue, and I’ll be sharing how to get involved. For now, this is where things stand—and it’s not a great place to be.
See more ATSC 3.0 tuners here.
Disclosure: I paid for this device with my own funds.