ATSC/QAM tuner for AZBOX Premium Plus?

[signal.quest]

Does anyone know if there are plans to make an ATSC or clear QAM tuner card for the AZBOX Premium Plus? This would make me abandone mythtv completely and purchase an AZBOX. Thanks.

 

[mr3p]

since it currectly doesn't exist (at least to the best of anyones knowledge) your question would be better asked directly to AZbox rather than here on the forum.

 

[vc2]

since it currectly doesn't exist (at least to the best of anyones knowledge) your question would be better asked directly to AZbox rather than here on the forum.

The ATSC/QAM tuners do exist. They use the latest LG chip set (Generation 8, I think). The firmware as of 3 months ago is very buggy and unstable. Tuning to certain OTA channels will cause the box to reboot. The EPG presently does not work, however manual and reserved recording modes do work, and the recordings are accessible via FTP or SMB.

Scrambled QAM channels are scanned and show up on the scan list even though FTA-Only is selected.

I have newer firmware, but have not tested it since the release notes didn't mention any fixes for ATSC.

The AZBox should make a very nice DVR if the firmware ever gets fixed. I have a Sony DVR which records ATSC and QAM. It works very well, but the recorded files are not accessible. I also have a Dish Network DTV Pal DVR (now sold by Channel Master). This only records ATSC even the hardware supports QAM, and like the Sony, the recorded files cannot be accessed.

 

[mr3p]

The ATSC/QAM tuners do exist. They use the latest LG chip set (Generation 8, I think). The firmware as of 3 months ago is very buggy and unstable. Tuning to certain OTA channels will cause the box to reboot. The EPG presently does not work, however manual and reserved recording modes do work, and the recordings are accessible via FTP or SMB.

Scrambled QAM channels are scanned and show up on the scan list even though FTA-Only is selected.

I have newer firmware, but have not tested it since the release notes didn't mention any fixes for ATSC.

The AZBox should make a very nice DVR if the firmware ever gets fixed. I have a Sony DVR which records ATSC and QAM. It works very well, but the recorded files are not accessible. I also have a Dish Network DTV Pal DVR (now sold by Channel Master). This only records ATSC even the hardware supports QAM, and like the Sony, the recorded files cannot be accessed.

Please don't take my answer out of context. The original question was with regards to a ATSC/QAM tuner for the AZbox, not just if some generic ATSC/QAM tuner exists. Are you aware of an ATSC/QAM tuner for the AZbox and if so could you provide a link?

 

[beavs2112]

hello i did a search on AZ's website and they have a terrestrial tuner listed in the accessories section. since my technical knowledge is limited on the tuners i make no claim that it will work on the signals here in north america. the specs do say QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM. hopefully some members with more technical knowledge can say if it will work here in north america. i recently ordered a s2 tuner from their website and it showed up here in canada very quickly. it was truly express shipping.

 

[vc2]

Please don't take my answer out of context. The original question was with regards to a ATSC/QAM tuner for the AZbox, not just if some generic ATSC/QAM tuner exists. Are you aware of an ATSC/QAM tuner for the AZbox and if so could you provide a link?

My ATSC tuner is for the AZBox HD, not the Plus version, although I believe that the Plus version also exists.

I had to contact the factory directly in Portugal to obtain the product. The Miami dealer primarily supports South America. As far as I know, he doesn't carry the NTSC tuner, but he could probably place one on order if you're willing to wait.

The Product ID is: TM10AT_Rev 3.00 ATSC Tuner (Thomson Tuner with an LG 7th Generation processor). This drops into the AZBox HD tuner slot and connects to the main board with a short cable.

Here is My Test Report:

[FONT=&quot]ATSC Tuner Evaluation[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Date:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] January 31, 2010[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Receiver: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]AZBox HD Premium[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Firmware:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] azbox-0.9.4348-patch.bin[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]TV Display:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Sony KDL40XBR9 1920 x 1080[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Display Settings: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Video Output:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] HDMI[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Video Format:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] NTSC[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Video Resolution:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 1080i[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Screen Format:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 16:9[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Display Format:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Pillar Box[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Display Format (Movie):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Full Screen[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ATSC Off-The-Air Tests[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Critical Issues[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]One of the local channels WICZ-HD (channel 40-1) and WBPN-DT, (channel 40-2) caused a pop-up message to appear several seconds after tuning to either stream: [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Problem occurs on the System”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Please reboot Your System”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This problem re-occurred after rebooting the system and tuning to the same channel. None of the remaining channels exhibited this problem.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Frequencies containing 3 streams could not display the third stream. When tuning to stream 3, the sound and video would appear for a second or less and would then switch to stream 1. The info screen would continue to show information for stream 3 after the sound and video switched. This occurred with all channels containing more than 2 streams.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Other Issues[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]The FCC assigned channel numbers are not displayed. The channel frequency is available from the info display, but the channel number associated with this frequency is not listed.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
  [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]The Channel list displays the scanned order number instead of the TV Channel number. The FCC assigned TV Channel number should be displayed instead. The channel number is available from the PSIP packet data.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Extended text program description information is not being displayed. Current Program / Next Program Names are displayed, but no Program Descriptions. This info is also available from the PSIP packet data.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]While scanning for Off-The-Air ATSC Channels, the tuner scanned to 887 MHz (formerly channel 83). The highest North American channel is 803 MHz (channel 69). Frequencies above channel 69 were allocated to cellular telephone and other services in the 1980s. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This is not a big issue since these frequencies may still be used by other countries.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Other Observations – not related to ATSC tuner[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]During boot-up the words “Command Failure” were displayed on the AZBox front panel display. This occurred just before the AZBox logo appeared on the TV screen. I have not observed this message with earlier versions of firmware.[/FONT]

 

[mr3p]

thanks vc2. that helps clear everything up. sounds like it definitely had some issues. perhaps a later firmware version would allow it to perform better?