Kind of weird Hopper OTA tuner question

[JosephB]

Okay, this one is going to be a shot in the dark, but hopefully someone will have some inside info (Scott?) or will have come across this or have a poor low power TV station locally that might fall into this situation

There is a new ATSC modulator on the market, it's only $300 (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/33-11980). I want to use this to get security cameras and a home automation status dashboard modulated onto a TV channel and pipe it into my Hopper via the OTA tuner.

My concern is that I don't know what the signal this thing sends looks like. I don't know if it sends enough PSIP data to get scanned in. I don't care about guide data, obviously, but I want it to show up as an available channel.

I have a feeling I'm just gonna have to buy it and give it a shot but wondered if anyone else had used this one (I think it's only been out a month or two) or another ATSC modulator or maybe has a low power TV station nearby or whatever that might have an idea what's going to happen when I try to put this together

 

[Bobby]

I looked at the link and it seems like it could work. It mentions that you can combine it with an existing antenna lead. You can set it to any channel between 14 and 69. It sure sounds like it would work.

 

[JS_racer]

i have a modulator i could test, but no ota adapter.

is the output on the link modulator digital or analog ?? or are they all analog ??

 

[JosephB]

i have a modulator i could test, but no ota adapter.

is the output on the link modulator digital or analog ?? or are they all analog ??

It's digital..that's the point, it modulates the signal to ATSC which is over the air digital that the hopper OTA tuner can handle

FWIW the company got back to me and said it sends PSIP data for X.4, so if I tell it to put it on channel 35, it will send the signal as 35.4

I assume the Hopper OTA module can handle an OTA channel that starts at .4? I think I'm going to order it and see

 

[Bobby]

It's digital..that's the point, it modulates the signal to ATSC which is over the air digital that the hopper OTA tuner can handle

FWIW the company got back to me and said it sends PSIP data for X.4, so if I tell it to put it on channel 35, it will send the signal as 35.4

I assume the Hopper OTA module can handle an OTA channel that starts at .4? I think I'm going to order it and see

My H3 sees sub-channels that start with .1 and end with .10. I think you will be doing fine.

 

[JosephB]

My H3 sees sub-channels that start with .1 and end with .10. I think you will be doing fine.

Well, I mean I'm mostly worried about the fact that there won't be a .1 through .3, that it will start at .4

 

[Bobby]

I don't think the Hopper cares. It isn't necessary to have a starting point.

 

[Hall]

Well, I mean I'm mostly worried about the fact that there won't be a .1 through .3, that it will start at .4

If this could be an issue, it sounds like a poor design decision by this manufacturer.

 

[JosephB]

If this could be an issue, it sounds like a poor design decision by this manufacturer.

Actually, if I understand PSIP correctly, it's a good design. Since the modulator doesn't let me adjust the virtual channel number, I'll have to squeeze this into an RF channel (UHF only, 14-69) that is not used locally, and it needs to be 3 channels away from an adjacent channel. That's harder than it sounds. So, by putting it at .4, if I happen to find an RF channel that is available but something is using it for a virtual channel, as long as they have 3 subchannels or less (pretty good chances) it will still just slide in behind there

 

[Bobby]

You can put it up in the 60s, there are no RF channels there...

 

[pattykay]

You can put it up in the 60s, there are no RF channels there...

There are still virtual channels there though. That was the point. A good example is my local independent station WMFD. (Virtual channels 68.1 and 68.2) If you use the modulator with RF 68, it would go in the guide at 68.4, right behind WMFD in this example.

 

[DWS44]

Did the OP ever try this?

Curious if it worked.

 

[JosephB]

No, sorry, I haven't had a chance to order it. I'll probably order one this week, I'll be sure to update when I have results

 

[JosephB]

And it turns out it's backordered...so it'll be probably a month or so before I get it. I will come back and report, regardless

 

[JSheridan]

My guess is that a few dealers paid extra to have some of the new adapters flown in while the rest are on their way on the proverbial slow boat from the far east. Repeat, just my guess.

 

[JosephB]

Did the OP ever try this?

Curious if it worked.

So, I got this in finally this week and it works!

I set the modulator to RF channel 21 and it scanned in just fine. It scans in as channel 00-0. It has a loop through so I can still attach my antenna.

Even though it comes through as channel 00-0, it shows up in the guide and is tunable on the Hopper 3. Just enter three zeros press select and you're there.

Here are some pictures with my laptop connected as a test. The only issue is I'm not getting sound, but that might be an issue with the laptop, I need to test some more sources. Either way for my purposes no sound isn't a huge issue, though I would like to figure it out since this thing cost $300.

 

[dishrich]

I set the modulator to RF channel 21 and it scanned in just fine. It scans in as channel 00-0.

(edit - didn't see your earlier posts)
Is there a place on the mod's setup menu, where you need to set the PSIP data/virtual ch #...or is there none, like the tech told you?
The other ATSC mods I've seen like this usually do...but of course they cost more. But still...

 

[JosephB]

(edit - didn't see your earlier posts)
Is there a place on the mod's setup menu, where you need to set the PSIP data/virtual ch #...or is there none, like the tech told you?
The other ATSC mods I've seen like this usually do...but of course they cost more. But still...

No, there is no place to change the PSIP channel. I'm going to connect it directly to a TV and scan and see what happens. Maybe the Hopper isn't handling the modulator's PSIP appropriately, or (more likely) the rep at the company was just misinformed since this thing was made in china.