[mythtv-users] Semi-OT: ATSC Tuners & ATSC Encoders

[Stephen Worthington]

On Thu, 1 Sep 2016 09:26:22 -0700, you wrote:

>Working on an expansion project, and i'm looking for two pieces of tech I
>can't seem to find.. was hoping people in our group would have some good
>suggestions:
>
>1. HDMI to ATSC/8VSB encoder - This would be used to take a fixed source,
>encode it to a channel, and add it to an existing RF plant, and make it
>tunable on US-based HDTV's. I can find the multi-thousand-$$ options,
>obviously targeted at content providers, but I'm looking for something for
>a small business on a budget. I'm astonished there's not (or I haven't
>found yet) a $99 chinese version, given how cheap the decoders have become.
>Really only needs to do 720p/1080i/1080p stereo. Closest thing I could find
>was a FUTV4658 for around $700. (http://www.fmuser.net/content/?1482.html)

What you are looking for is called an "HDMI modulator", and there are
lots that do HDMI to DVB-T.  Since I am not in the US, I have never
looked for an HDMI to ATSC modulator - maybe there are not so many of
them.  But for the HDMI to DVB-T modulators, while there are some
consumer grade ones, none of them are particularly cheap.  The lowest
price I can recall for one was around US$200.  I am guessing that
there is not a mass market for this sort of product, so the lower
production runs keep the prices higher.  I believe there have been a
couple of good threads about these devices on this mailing list in the
past - have a search of the archives.

>2. ATSC tuner box, with HDMI output, but an RF remote. I'm open to using
>something android-based, but I need something I can put in a
>closet/secured-area, but still operate via a remote. IR-senders isn't an
>option in this case.

The obvious answer to this is: a PC.  Any PC with HDMI output and ATSC
tuners should do the job, with the right software.  MythTV would be
able to do it with an Android remote via a network connection.  So one
of the small or tiny form factor PCs may be what you want, with maybe
a USB ATSC tuner.  And if you want an RF remote, just add one to the
PC.

>Happy to take suggestions offline.
>
>Thanks!