I just thought that I would post an update to this because I did buy an RCA Model DMT580DU for one of my wife's presents on Christmas 2013. I thought about buying from Radio Shack, but I found a better price online.
When she opened this on Christmas Eve, I think she was somewhat surprised, because she already has the original Apple iPad Mini and uses an Elgato EyeTV Mobile ATSC-MH for Mobile DTV. In the Twin Cities MN market, she gets channels from:
KTCA
KSTP
KMSP
KARE
She does like WCCO, but they do not have a Mobile DTV channel and no intent to offer one. Because she doesn't have data on either her smartphone or tablet, she relies on wi-fi. Occasionally she will be somewhere that she can't get wifi. With wi-fi, she can use the DISH Anywhere app through our DISH 722k. Since the RCA DMT580DU also has a regular ATSC tuner, this seemed like a reasonable choice.
I got a chance to play with this after she had and I have noticed a few interesting things. Even though here Elgato gets the stations already mentioned, the RCA only gets KMSP and KARE. Originally I thought that possibly the tuner is simply not as sensitive as the Elgato, but then I realized that KMSP and KARE are the Dyle channels, but KTCA and KSTP are the MyDTV channels. I am not sure yet if it doesn't get them because of the signal strength or if it is a Dyle vs. MyDTV issue.
The regular ATSC tuner is alright, but I do sort of wish that it had an option for an external antenna. Sure, that would limit the benefit of portability of a tablet, but it would be nice to have the option anyway.
I have noticed that the volume does not get loud enough. If we keep this, I suspect that we will use this with headphone or an external speaker of some sort.
Also, when I downloaded the DISH Anywhere app, it seems to connect to my Slingbox adapter, but does not display any video. It works on our other Android devices, so I am not sure why that is an issue with this.
