# ATSC rf modulator



## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

does an rf modulator exist that can output an atsc signal?


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## evan_s (Mar 4, 2008)

Not at the consumer level.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

There's no reason why such a thing couldn't be done, and truth is it wouldn't be that expensive, but there seems to be insufficient demand.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> There's no reason why such a thing couldn't be done


The reason it isn't done is because there would be no copy protection, and the content providers aren't about to allow people to have the ability to broadcast non-copy-protected content in digital HD.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

My apologies, I meant no technical reason; you're right that such a device could be used to strip copy protection.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Stuart Sweet said:


> There's no reason why such a thing couldn't be done, and truth is it wouldn't be that expensive, but there seems to be insufficient demand.


I would be willing to bet that it is much more complicated than you suggest.

In a majority of cases, you don't have access to an MPEG2 stream so you would need some way of making one. Back when DISH Network offered an internal ATSC modulator add-on for one of their HD receivers, the content was all MPEG2. That is no longer the case for HD content from satellite (nor most people's computer files). While some form of MPEG4 has been adopted into the ATSC standards, I'm guessing that fiew (if any) existing tuners support it.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Look for ZV devices. $500 is not that much for desperate demand.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

harsh said:


> I would be willing to bet that it is much more complicated than you suggest.
> 
> In a majority of cases, you don't have access to an MPEG2 stream so you would need some way of making one. Back when DISH Network offered an internal ATSC modulator add-on for one of their HD receivers, the content was all MPEG2. That is no longer the case for HD content from satellite (nor most people's computer files). While some form of MPEG4 has been adopted into the ATSC standards, I'm guessing that fiew (if any) existing tuners support it.


Seems to me Slingboxes do on-the-fly encoding and compression, right? I'm consistently what they can do as a $99 appliance.


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## evan_s (Mar 4, 2008)

A ZeeVee box is the closest thing I've read about but at 500$ + requires a pretty good computer and still only currently supports 720p it's pretty limited especially since getting the HD content into the computer would also be a problem. Someday we might see a device with component inputs and atsc outputs but nothing like that at the consumer level currently.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

evan_s said:


> A ZeeVee box is the closest thing I've read about but at 500$ + requires a pretty good computer and still only currently supports 720p it's pretty limited especially since getting the HD content into the computer would also be a problem. Someday we might see a device with component inputs and atsc outputs but nothing like that at the consumer level currently.


if you used an hd fury could you feed directv hd into the device and feed it into s atsc tuner on your computer for the purpose of recording digital copies of shows and ppv movies?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Why not, but it would be unnecessary digital-to-analog conversion and back to digital.
Actually OP did ask other question.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Stuart Sweet said:


> Seems to me Slingboxes do on-the-fly encoding and compression, right? I'm consistently what they can do as a $99 appliance.


The problem with slingboxes is that they need slingcatchers to drive all of the other TVs. They also don't produce an MPEG2 output that would ultimately be required for modulation.


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