GTMedia HDTV Mate - ATSC 1.0/3.0 USB Device

[el bandido]

To complicate things further, it seems that different markets may have a different set of atsc 3.0 problems. I say this because of what has been written by people in different parts of the country.

The Zapperbox M1 can open DRM channels if there is an internet connection. It takes some time for a DRM channel to open on the Zapperbox from the video I have seen of it. The Zapperbox shares some similar looking menus which makes me wonder if the Zapperbox and HDTV Mate are being built from the same source. The Zapperbox costs 4 times the price of the HDTV Mate and appears to have its own set of problems.

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I think really the main problem for everyone concerned with atsc 3.0 is here:
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ATSC sends me emails on occasion. They seem to be always either congratulating themselves or making announcements about something. DRM has put a knife in the atsc 3.0 project for the United States. Having to connect to the Internet to make DRM work sounds like some sort of IKS and gives the appearance of being sleazy. WHY is DRM even needed? The ATSC group needs to look at how things are being presented, and they need to look at the problems people are having with atsc 3.0.

[eastof111]

The group is still working very hard on how to squeeze more gold from the golden goose.

[el bandido]

I expect it to be a month or two before any more meaningful updates are made to the HDTV Mate. China has long workdays in the year, and long holidays at the end of the year.

[Hyper Casey]

For me, it is pretty cool to test the HDTV Mate on my phone, which is all i can do. I dont own any tablets, or an android tv. And so i think that is an issue in that i think MOST people dont own an android tv. What would be great is to figure out a way to use the HDTV Mate with a non-android TV using a low cost box that runs android of course, such as a PVR Box like Homeworx etc.... Is there anything out there like that?

[el bandido]

Have you Read this thread? See post#40. 35-40 bucks....

[eastof111]

Support sent me 2.18b to try out on both android 9 and 13 a few days ago. I guess they are still active before the holidays.

[el bandido]

What is 2.18b supposed to fix? You can attach it here as this version is not available on the Play Store. Thanks.

[eastof111]

Android 9 has inconsistent full channel scans. Android 13 same problem. Plus on android 13, 599 mhz. channel scans (atsc 3.0 unencrypted in my area), tuned in and display "buffering". The 551 mhz. (atsc 3.0 unencrypted NG channels in my area) tune in fine. This version did not resolve the full scan errors on android 9 or 13.

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[eastof111]

My phone upgraded recently to Android 14 from 13. Performance wise, the hdtv player responds the same in Android 14 as in 13.
Still needs improvement of the 599 mhz. channels staying in the buffering mode and not being able to lock in the signal.

To be fair, my atsc 3.0 tv also has a slight buffering time on the 599 mhz. channels, but the signal does lock.

[Hyper Casey]

I have been testing the HDTV Mate with the GTMEDIA G2 Plus Android Box. I tested it out for about 5-6 hours today. I REALLY want to LOVE the HDTV Mate but there are some issue that need to be worked out, no doubt about it. This is the first time i have had something that will do ATSC3.0, so this has been super fun for me, and i think this device with a few tweaks could be great, especially for the price. The built in signal meter is totally worth the price just for aiming Over The Air antennas in my opinion. Here are my test notes:

After installing the HDTV Player app, i scanned in my channels, and it scanned in almost everything, but it missed the Channels at 605 MHz (digital 36), 49.1 here in mid-michigan. I scanned these in manually but the signal is so low they will not play. With the antenna connected directly to the tv, these play just fine, never have an issue.

All of the ATSC 3.0 Channels scanned in and play fine with the exception of CBS 5.1 (DRM encrypted). FOX, NBC, ABC all played great. Excellent picture - video and audio worked great for me, no issues. The big surprise was that the ATSC1.0 versions of these same channels had stuttering and interlacing problems. Definitely noticeable.

On Channel 5.1 (CBS) there are several sub-channels. The ATSC1.0 version of 5.1 worked, but 5.2 and 5.3 even though it shows a great signal the channels showed a blank screen, 5.4 and 5.5 worked just fine. I connected the antenna directly to the TV and the all came in fine like usual, so i have no idea why they (5.1, 5.2) would not play with the G2 and HDTV Mate.

The epg loaded pretty well for all of the channels i scanned in with the exception of one channel. This channel has 6 sub channels and the 6th would not show an epg at all. Even after leaving it on that channel for 30 minutes. That same channel the epg comes up just fine on other tvs.

I did not test any PVR, this is not that important to me. Certainly not as important as all channels scanning in, playing correctly and with good epg.

Now as far as these 3 issues i mentioned with the GTMEDIA G2 Plus Android Box and HDTV Mate combined, I also checked these same things using the HDTV Mate connected to my Android phone and saw the same issues except i can not say i noticed video interlacing or stutter really on my Android phone. Probably because the picture is so much smaller, or maybe faster processor than the G2 Plus? I dont know. On the Android phone when i tune to an ATSC 3.0 channel i am able to see the "This is an interactive channel logo press right". I do not see this when using the GTMedia G2 Plus Box.

I really do not care about the interactive aspect of the ATSC 3.0 channels. I am only interested in the fact the signal is stronger for me on these. 16 miles to the tower with all the ATSC 3.0 channels, verse various distances for the ATSC1.0 versions of the same channels from 24 to 40 something miles.