MP4 OTA Testing

[Mr Tony]

In a lot of markets Ion is not in the same cluster as the other station towers. They are 30-40 miles away. Minneapolis is one (they are in Big Lake which is about 40 miles away from downtown Minneapolis)

But again if you are questioning the above MPEG-4 market in Granite Falls, MN and "paying what you get for free". Again they are too far away from the Minneapolis stations to pick them up. The Mpls market is one of the largest DMA's. Runs from Iowa border almost to Canada so there are areas where there is minimal or non existent OTA reception. This option allows folks in that area to get stations without satellite (as most is rural so cable is no option)

 

[jegrant]

ION also focuses mostly on either ethnic or premium services in their paid-OTA markets, not just "channels you could get for free".

 

[Utshost]

I will talk about the h264 encrypted service. But not on a public forum because we are still testing and fine tuning. But as ice said they are trying to provide a service where the only option is sat. As translators did. With the repack from the fcc everyone is waiting to see what happens. Everyone could lose channels from 28+ or from 38+ we dont know yet. But yes outside of mpls all the major networks are rebroadcasted by translators or lptv. (minus a couple) with this repack these lptv, and translators coulda lose fq with no reimbursement and lose the money they spent to upgrade to digital.... Sorry for late reply but I've been swamped!!

 

[Mr Tony]

But yes outside of mpls all the major networks are rebroadcasted by translators or lptv.

very true
heck some are still in ANALOG!!

 

[navychop]

If we HAVE to lose some TV spectrum, wouldn't it be better to lose low end VHF? And better for cell phones, too?

 

[mwdxer1]

KQEH, one of our PBS stations in San Jose, CA, has added a new sub-channel that's transmitting a beautiful HD picture in H.264 MPEG-4 on channel 50.6. It has no audio though and is only there for testing, but it looks terrific.

Only TV sets that have the special circuits for Internet TV are able to decode the channel. Out of four TVs in the house, only my new one will decode the H.264.

Here's info on H.264 from Wikipedia:
Advanced Video Coding - Wikipedia

There are some converter boxes that decode MPEG4 though.

 

[mwdxer1]

Can MPEG4 run on older translators? Older, like I mean 8-10 years.

 

[Radioguy41]

7 year old thread you're answering.

 

[dhett]

7 year old thread you're answering.

Even so, whether by accident or by design, it's timely that the thread was resurrected. MPEG4 hasn't been in the news since forever, but in the past month, Gray Television has begun running an MPEG4 subchannel simulcasting one or more of their MPEG2 subchannels. Why? No one is certain yet.

It's my understanding that MPEG4 has been part of the ATSC 1.0 since 2008 and older receivers, such as the 2007-era Philips television that I have, can receive the audio signal, but not the video. Newer receivers, like the 2021 Roku TV we have, receive both the audio and video signals. There should be no difference whether the TV station is a primary station or a translator, the MPEG4 signal should still be decoded on newer TVs.

Fact-free opinion: there has been a question as to how to continue broadcasting the current ATSC 1.0 signals to maintain backward compatibility as more and more stations convert to ATSC 3.0, and I'm thinking that Gray might be looking into MPEG4 as the answer. Newer ATSC 1.0 receivers can decode MPEG4 and better compression means that more subchannels can fit into an existing ATSC 1.0 signal.

 

[N6BY]

The major networks are now broadcasting ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) in my viewing area (Sacramento).

Unfortunately my UHD capable Sony Bravia X950G is about 1 model year shy of when ATSC 3.0 was added in the next product interation - the Sony X900H. Wish I had waited just one more year -- I could be viewing NextGen TV right now! But they are still broadcasting in HD so for now it would just be a novelty.

I will probably get an adapter box, preferably with a DVR to replace my Lifetime Subscribed TiVo Series 3 which is very old. There is currently only the Silicon Dust HDHomeRun Flex 4K that does ATSC 3.0, but it connects via local network which is not my preference. I'd much rather have an adapter with an HDMI output.

The Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI OTA DVR fits my requirements, but as of this writing it is in "pre-order" status. See: Table ATSC 3.0 DVR . Tablo offers a Lifetime TV Guide service for $179.99. It would take 36 months to break even with Lifetime vs. paying monthly. But if the device lasts as long as my Tivo has, it should be a good investment. I am just waiting for it to start shipping and for the first product reviews to appear.

 

[osu1991]

The major networks are now broadcasting ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) in my viewing area (Sacramento).

Unfortunately my UHD capable Sony Bravia X950G is about 1 model year shy of when ATSC 3.0 was added in the next product interation - the Sony X900H. Wish I had waited just one more year -- I could be viewing NextGen TV right now! But they are still broadcasting in HD so for now it would just be a novelty.

I will probably get an adapter box, preferably with a DVR to replace my Lifetime Subscribed TiVo Series 3 which is very old. There is currently only the Silicon Dust HDHomeRun Flex 4K that does ATSC 3.0, but it connects via local network which is not my preference. I'd much rather have an adapter with an HDMI output.

The Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI OTA DVR fits my requirements, but as of this writing it is in "pre-order" status. See: Table ATSC 3.0 DVR . Tablo offers a Lifetime TV Guide service for $179.99. It would take 36 months to break even with Lifetime vs. paying monthly. But if the device lasts as long as my Tivo has, it should be a good investment. I am just waiting for it to start shipping and for the first product reviews to appear.

Tablo will no longer offer lifetime guide service starting at the end of this month.

*Lifetime TV Guide subscriptions are NOT available for Tablo DUAL HDMI, Tablo QUAD HDMI or Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVRs.
Starting August 30th 2022, Lifetime TV Guide Data Service plans will no longer be available for purchase for any DVR model.

 

[N6BY]

Tablo will no longer offer lifetime guide service starting at the end of this month.

*Lifetime TV Guide subscriptions are NOT available for Tablo DUAL HDMI, Tablo QUAD HDMI or Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVRs.
Starting August 30th 2022, Lifetime TV Guide Data Service plans will no longer be available for purchase for any DVR model.

Thanks for the update. Because of that I no longer plan on buying a Tablo.

 

[localclassictvfan]

by the time we get to ATSC 3.0 or MPEG 4 where i live yall probably be up to ATSC 7 and MPEG 8. Shreveport just finally starting to get ATSC 3 there (KSHV 45 MNTV and KPXJ CW 21). as for MPEG 4 hopefully its programmed on mine. I have a regular Samsung 43" 4K UHD TV paid 300 for it.

 

[N5XZS]

Would be interesting to see how far the new future digital video codecs can do!!

Maybe trying to put it on Medum Wave band "530 to 1700 KHz for long range video broadcast services!!

It's technically possible to send in 480i, 576i and possibly 720p with much more advanced video codecs then HEVC or upcoming VCC "VVC?" that we have now, then no one ever have dreamed of sending videos on low frequency bands.

That would make TV DXer drooling over this idea of Concept!

 

[mwdxer1]

Tablo will no longer offer lifetime guide service starting at the end of this month.

*Lifetime TV Guide subscriptions are NOT available for Tablo DUAL HDMI, Tablo QUAD HDMI or Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVRs.
Starting August 30th 2022, Lifetime TV Guide Data Service plans will no longer be available for purchase for any DVR model.

I was interested in a Tablo, but again I have no guarantee I will get the correct guide for the Northern Oregon Coast. Sure, I can use a generic timer to record, but I already have that with Dish. The ReCast does not offer a generic timer to record stations with no guides. It looks like my investment in the Recast may be wasted in the future as since it has been discontinued, how long will the guide be any good? Right now there are several stations with no guide using the Recast. I wish there was an OTA DVR (tuner) that used the stations OTA guide that went out for at least a week. I have not found one. Every outfit be it Tablo, Tivo, Recast, Dish, etc all use their own setup for a guide. The stations tell me that they indeed have that OTA guide going out 10 days to 2 weeks, but how do I get it? No tuner I have will handle that.

 

[Comptech]

I am quite happy with the HDhomerun flex with my 3.0 stuff, picture is fantastic.

 

[TNGuy84]

I think it'll be quite a long time before you can cram 480i quality video into a medium wave broadcast of 10khz in bandwidth. You have to devote a portion of the bandwidth to error correction. With the HD Radio system, according to Wiki, at 10khz of bandwidth, there's 20kb/s of audio data available. I know that's an old codec and we have much more advanced ones nowadays, but I don't think you could even squeeze up to 100kb/s of data out of it with the current technology. Plus that band is extremely noisy. It would have worse reception than low VHF band during lightning storms or around high voltage lines.

 

[Comptech]

I think I pay like 8 bucks a month for a EPG that I can record from on the HD home run or channels Dvr server I get 88 channels to record if I wanted to.