ATSC for Enigma2 by Sundtek

A couple of my fta receivers have DVB-T tuners, which is useless for the United States. I used to look at these tuners and wonder why they could not be tricked into decoding ATSC signals? The ATSC solution offered by Sundtek is to make the ATSC stream look like DVB-T. Doing it this way allows the receiver to think it is receiving DVB-T when in reality it is receiving ATSC!

I received my ATSC usb device on Friday, making me the first person to test this device in an ATSC country. The device was operational out of the box, but it had some problems or issues. Sundtek worked the entire weekend fixing issues, making adjustments, and ensuring the device is working to its full potential.

The ATSC device from Sundtek runs only lukewarm or warm, even after hours of operating. The ATSC device scans better than my tv, and has a tuner sensitivity that is equal to or better than my tv.
Operation of the ATSC device is flawless. It takes about 15-20 minutes to scan for channels, then you are ready to watch tv. My main fta receiver is a VU+ Duo2 with 4 DVB-S2 tuners. The ATSC device is the fifth tuner, and is listed as Tuner E.

All available receiver options work with the ATSC tuner including record and timeshift. Scanned ATSC channels are listed as "Terrestrial" in the receiver's satellite list.

I would like to Thank Sundtek for spending the time needed to optimize the ATSC device. It is truly amazing the way this device operates, and support has been nothing short of spectacular!
It should be noted that this ATSC device has only been tested on VU+ Duo2 and VU+ Zero, but more boxes should be tested and added in the future.

Thanks again Sundtek! EB

(Pictures in next post)

The Sundtek usb device was shipped in a box. It was very professionally packed, and I had to sign to get it.
Inside the box was a remote control, composite cables, usb extension or extender cord, usb device, antenna.
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Channel 11 Golf Game
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Channel 5, Atlanta Speedway
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Service Scan Settings
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WAGA Record Start
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WAGA Record in Channel Selection
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Tuner E
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Tuner C with Tuner E Recording
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Satellite List
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There's no reason why this should not work with the Optibox Raptor also. Will try it as soon as I receive the tuner.

I think the Sundtek ATSC driver needs to be worked on a bit first. I have tried other SH4 boxes and cannot get the ATSC tuner to be recognized. But I agree. It should work (soon).

How does the tuner sensitivity compare to your TV? I have noticed newer TV sets have a better tuner than most of the older sets.

From Post#1,
"The ATSC device scans better than my tv, and has a tuner sensitivity that is equal to or better than my tv. " My tv is about 1.5 years old.

We are using brand new chipsets with our tuners. According to our testing in Berlin the sensitivity is very good for ATSC (actually it outperformed any cross-tested unit which we tested with ATSC).
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The big plus is definitely the temperature of this unit as well, the power management is fully implemented into the driver.
You're not using the tuner with the settopbox? The tuner will fall asleep and draw 70mA only.
ATSC itself draws around 320mA.

The Sundtek plugin will allow for a second stick as long as the receiver is capable of supporting another tuner. Looks like I will order another ATSC usb stick and use it on the Zero Or to add a second antenna to the Duo2 for terrestrial. I think the Duo2 is capable of managing 8 tuners, so this would be tuner#6.

In the past, there has not been a good way to combine two tv antennas. You either had to phase the antennas or accept a loss if the two antennas were not aimed at the same target. The last option would have been to use an A/B switch and manually change antennas as needed.

The Sundtek solution should allow me to connect 2 separate antennas aimed at different targets, and allow for automatic antenna switching by using 2 ATSC usb sticks. I look forward to testing this and see if it works as planned.

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EB,

Their web site says it can receive FM radio too. Have you tried this feature?

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No, not yet. The device is a 2015 model, so it is brand new. FM radio and other features are still being developed. This device should run on your enigma2 fta box. I do not have your exact box brand to test, but would expect it to function because it is very similar in specs to the Duo2. Support from Sundtek to get it running is available if you need it.

Bit error rate is also a feature of this device.
The bit error will be displayed as a number in the info bar, or displayed as a pink bar in this signal meter plugin.

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Channel scanning of the Sundtek device is as good as or better than my regular tv. I recently found 70 channels during a scan, which is good for the Atlanta, Ga. area.
Some of the channel names are still not scanning in, but more names are scanning in now than with previous device drivers.

EPG may be added soon. Hopefully this will happen because it makes recording and the overall experience much better.