I am fairly certain the HDTV Mate gets the epg from the terrestrial stream and not through the internet just like the other devices uou have mentioned. Why the HDTV Mate does a better job with the epg when they all use the same sources is unknown to me.

I think the HDTV Mate will be a good, solid device if a few things such as channel changes can be fixed on it. I have been in touch with the manufacturer about the problems of this device and they insist not only will the problems be fixed, DRM decryption will work as well. I find the HDTV Mate is a cool running usb device which is also good. it will be interesting to see what their next device update does. We will see...