If your country broadcasts free-to-air TV channels over ATSC, and you want to watch 4K HDR channels, you’d need to hardware compatible with the latest ATSC 3.0 standard.
One way to achieve this is to connect an ATSC 3.0 USB TV tuner to a computer or laptop, or get a set-top box with one or more built-in tuner. ATSC 3.0 trials will start this year in the US, and SiliconDust has just introduced HDHomeRun QUATRO 4K streamer that comes with four ATSC tuners, two of which support ATSC 3.0 standard, as well as one Ethernet port.
The company did not exactly release the complete specifications for the device, but here’s what we know so far:
- Four ATSC Tuners all using QAM256/64 modulation:
- 2x ATSC 3.0 & 8VSB (ATSC 1.0) tuners
- 2x 8VSB only tuners
- RF input for roof or indoor antenna
- 100Mbps Ethernet (enough to stream four channels at once)
The streamer will enable users to watch up to 4 ATSC 3.0 sub-channels across the 2 ATSC 3.0 tuners in high-definition, and support ATSC 3.0 interactive apps, as well as DASH transport video. This will allow users to watch free-to-air TV on all platforms supporting the HDHomeRun app including Windows 10, Apple Mac, XBox One, 64-bit iOS & Android devices, as well as HEVC capable Android TV devices and FireTV products. The company also claims third party compatibility with Plex and Channels using MPEG-TS streams.
SiliconDust is also offering HDHR5-4K DEV model for developers only. There does not seem to any differences in hardware compared to the consumer version, but the firmware will allow you to capture data in real-time and retrieve it with a curl/wget command. Data captured will include ALP packets, IPv4 packets, tar files with DASH files, TS generated files from DASH/ROUTE or MMTP content.
Network captures (PCAP) can be visualized in Wireshark, TAR files can be extracted and played via a web server, while TS streams can be played in any video (SW/HW) player with the right codecs.
HDHomeRun QUATRO 4K has been launched on Kickstarter and is well-passed its $50,000 target with over $200,000 raised so far. The consumer model requires a $199 pledge, while the developer edition goes for $299. Shipping appears to be included, and only available to the US.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Wonder if we will see DVB-T2 or DVB-T3 for HEVC/H.265/AVC with 4K/2160p resolution support anytime soon in Europe? I already have an HDHomeRun Connect Quatro for EU which does DVB-T and DVB-T2 with H.264 at 1080p.
Germany already uses DVB-T2 using HEVC so does the netherlands. You aren’t going to see many 4k channels anytime soon because they take up 4x the amount of bandwidth as 1080p channels. 4k channels may become popular with the upcoming H.266/VVC video codec though, that will be ratified later this year and will use ~50% of the bandwidth of H.265/HEVC. There won’t be any hardware decoders for that codec for 2yrs+ after it is ratified so early 2023 is your best bet for countries switching to DVB-T2 using the VVC codec.
Bad choice today to use 100Mbps instead of 1Gbps Ethernet. People upgrading to 2.5/5/10 Gbps routers and switches do not want to connect 100Mbps devices.
Yeah, I don’t get it either from a more technical standpoint. ATSC goes up to 57 Mb/sec. Another site says a practical max of 26 Mb/sec per stream, but that’s still hitting the practical limits of a 100 Mb connection.
tv channels aren’t going to use more than 25Mbps each so 100Mbps will be sufficient for 4 channels.
I’m working in this field an I’ve seen 30Mbps 1080p stream from the field, although unusual, but yeah 100Mbps in a 199$ kit? Nah I’ll pass.
Especially since ethernet usually does not reach maximum speeds.
If I’m buying an FTA streamer, I’m most likely to stream whole mux, not just one channel (what’s a point of wasting other streams when you still receive them?). Given the fact that in that case I would probably multicast them, that halves effective bandwidth of a channel for transmission of acceptable reliability. So on 100Mbps channel you should stream only 50Mbps, which is lower then even average Ku-band DVB-S2 mux (around 67mbps), left alone something much heavier, like terrestrial or cable.
Yet most seem to stretch it with cat. 5A(which isnt surprising given the lack of hardware that properly supports cat. 6 or higher) sad thing is it seems like both the tech5 & prime6 arent targeted for 4k but considering atsc 3.0 is more than just 4k content but rather delivering on what 2.0 would’ve had why not deliver overpriced atsc/cablecard hardware
$200 seems like an awful lot for a board with a generic SoC and four RF chips.
A $200 tuner box capable of decoding and sending via a home network, up to two ATSC 3.0 signals at two traditional tv screens at once, in one home is double what the tv manufacturers are going to offer and 1 tenth the price at this point of broadcast tv history. I don’t see how anyone gets the idea that this is “an awful lot” with respect to dollars spent as a value evaluation; at least at this point in the introduction of the new standard in the U.S. where there are few other choices to receive these signals.