Hello, my name is James. I also have a technology addiction problem. We will be meeting down at the church on Friday at 8PM. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided. 
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I am in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul DMA. We don’t have NextGen/ATSC3.0 yet, but it is expected in a few months. I gather that one station will carry the virtual channels 4, 5, 9 & 11 in ATSC 3.0. It will simulcast on ATSC 1.0. I still may spring for the Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI when it is available. I also gather that the broadcasters will have to maintain the legacy ATSC 1.0 for five years after they begin NextGen/ATSC 3.0, so not a huge hurry!
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I want to try out the new system and I’m in an area that would benefit from the increased range 3.0 promises. A very small increase would open up a lot of extra channels for me. We have a nearby 3.0 market but I’m waiting for the right tuner. The Tablo competitors that beat them to market had to make some compromises.
You are not just kidding there! From the Zapperbox FAQ:
- Will the ZapperBox be upgradeable to support broadcasts with content security?
Broadcasters may decide to use content security with ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, as specified by the ATSC, in the future. Our goal is to allow all M1 units to be upgradeable to support broadcasts with secure content. At this time, we believe that we will be able to upgrade all shipped units by offering swap-out replacement units. A round-trip shipping charge will apply. We are still researching and implementing this feature upgrade and will provide additional details soon.
I’ll be watching this unit but it will be interesting to see how they do.
Chris
Except in rural areas that don’t have robust internet, I see no real benefit of ATSC 3.0 given that most “premium” content, with potentially 4k HDR and Dolby Atmos quality, is placed on streaming platforms.
Even pro sports are making the move to streaming. The NFL has contemplated subscription pay walls as well.
So, what exactly will there be to watch on OTA moving forward? Lowest of the lowest common denominator scripted shows and the nightly local news?
With substreams eating up the bandwidth, I don’t see the video compression being all that great either. The problems will be similar to ATSC 1.0 now. The U.S. is not exactly Japan where OTA signals are top notch.
ATSC 3.0 could have been great. But we let the players “poop” on it.
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My main desires from ATSC 3 are better reception and mobile. It would be great if I could pull out my phone and watch the news OTA when everything goes down. We have days when power and internet are down(even cellular data). I am in a rural area though so you already addressed my situation. The better reception could potentially get me another market too which would be nice. I’m nested between two major markets with one being right on the fringe of usable.
My fear is that with better reception they will drop the transmit power. Then I would be back to where I started or possibly in a worse situation.
A competing device looks to be emerging. Wonder how they are managing DRM.
https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/freecast-announces-hybrid-atsc-30-streaming-box-at-nab-show
Since a number of the existing broadcaster have turn on encryption you will probably need an STB product that shows up on the A3SA list. Unless the FCC steps in and forces them to not use encryption.
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Does something lead you to believe this device won’t be licensed?
You have to apply and be approved for the decrypt key. And the key has to be burned into the hardware. All that has to occur before you can even start testing. And then the final product has to be approved by A3SA. They could buy the ATSC 3.0 stack from one of the providers on the list. But they still need their vendor key.
One would think if they announce a product at NAB that supports encryption they would state so and already have a key.
I wouldn’t buy something without encryption either. Perhaps they are planning to use a third party soc tuner or they aren’t that far along.
A Tablo 3.0 unit is briefly shown in Antenna Man’s just released YouTube video from the NAB show.
The segment starts at about 1:12 and the Tablo is mentioned around the 1:20 mark in the video.
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Fun to see Scripps showing off a non-Tablo device at the show. Perhaps a hint at the true motive for the acquisition?
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I must have missed it. Besides that actual tablo unit I saw what appears to be a scripps app that runs on a ATSC 3.0 TV which was connected to the internet.
My apologies if this is already answered, but even 1.0 broadcasts can’t be streamed to other devices? " This is because most streaming devices and Smart TVs are not compatible with the new video and audio formats of NextGen" What if the other devices are?
As long as your devices are compatible with H.265 and AC-4 you could stream. But most devices don’t currently support AC-4. I think tablo’s proposed solution for a HDMI was to convert AC-4 to PCM which TV’s accept.
Of course since the start of this thread most of the major broadcasters seem eager to encrypt the broadcast even if it’s free to air. And that is a whole different can of worms even for HDMI connected STB’s.
1.0 doesn’t use AC4 and it can be streamed by the non HDMI Tablo devices. I̶ h̶a̶v̶e̶ n̶o̶ i̶d̶e̶a̶ i̶f̶ T̶a̶b̶l̶o̶ w̶i̶l̶l̶ e̶v̶e̶r̶ s̶u̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶ s̶t̶r̶e̶a̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ o̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ H̶D̶M̶I̶ m̶o̶d̶e̶l̶s̶.
The HDMI, with the subscription, can stream to 2 TV devices on the same network. It can’t stream to phones/tablets/computers, or outside the network.
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To support ATSC 3.0 encryption on a local network tablo would also need to implement A3SA network model, HDCP 2.3, DTCP2, widevine, etc. Some of these might require a TV or STB(android/Roku) 2019 or newer.