The $500 for the ZvBox 100 seems a bit steep perhaps, but it's a small market so far. Considering the cost of an HD-PVR (example of real-time MPEG2 encoder) plus the cost of a QAM/ATSC modulator, the zvBox isn't THAT out of line. Compare that to the cost of their 'commercial' version, the zvpro-250, which is basicaly the same thing, rackmounted, with a larger variety of inputs, at $2500, the ZvBox seems like a bargain... The biggest problem I see with the zvBox 100, is that it has no true Audio input. Since it is designed for PC over Coax, it simply has a USB port and acts as a USB Sound Card to get the Audio for the stream. This makes it pretty useless for SatBox -> QAM modulation like most here are looking for.
I'm currently looking at trying to determine the cost benefit of upgrading my hospital's MATV system to HD, as the new sets we are upgrading to are ATSC/QAM compatable, but the cost is still just a BIT too high. For now, we'll probably switch locals over to the raw ATSC feed from an antenna, but as for the sat channels (which right now are NTSC modulated from an array of STB's), it'll have to stay SD. Certainly would like the clean digital signal in house, but right now isn't the time we can justify spending THAT much money on television upgrades.