fredfish Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Hello I'm looking to purchase an HD freeview tuner for use on events, and was wondering if anyone could suggest anything slightly more 'professional' than a standard set top box. I can think of a load of nice to have features that don't seem to be available on the consumer oriented stuff, such as: - The ability to control the unit remotely without having to trawl through the on screen menu system (I've seen units with ethernet ports, but these all seem to be for streaming content from a server rather than for control) - Unencrypted digital video out (i.e. not fussy about HDCP compliant displays) on HDMI or HD-SDI - HD Component Video out Any other features such as rackmount ears, balanced audio outs etc. would also be great. We have a couple of Humax Freesat HD Boxes which are good, because you can get HD component video out, but their freeview offering doesn't seem to be the same. Any suggestions gratefully recieved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Would a PCI-Express tuner into something such as screen monkey (or other industry software) to allow control on one screen and output on another be an option? Output on any format you can have on a graphics card then and can use it just like any other input into a media server giving added benefits of being able to manipulate the content too. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 You could have a look at boxes intended for off-air monitoring in broadcast TV. My experience has been in radio rather than TV but in that environment they had rather more professional tuners intended for use in that environment. They won't be cheap but they'll have the right connectivity and a few more useful features. You'll certainly never get SDI on consumer grade kit. Or HDMI without copy protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfish Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks for two good ideas. I came across These guys: http://frontniche.co.uk/pdf/Modified-Humax-HD-Freeview-STB-with-3G-HDSDI-Embedded-Audio.pdf They make precisely what I'm after, but as you said Shez, you certainly pay for it! do you have any other manufacturer's you could recommend? I hadn't thought about a PCI card, potentially much cheaper as we could re use a lot of hardware we have already. Again, does anyone have a particular model in mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadpixel Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 If you want a full on Pro Tuner, they are out there, you will just be quite expensive, probably in the region of £2k. you do get HD SDI out on them you'll be pleased to hear! I am sure I borrowed sky boxes from sky for an event which had the HDCP stripped off but cant recall definitively. DVB-T2 Decoders like these. http://www.dvbgear.com/receivers/TLV400S_dvb-s2_dvb-t_8vsb_mpeg-2_h.264_receiver_decoderorhttp://www.advanceddigital.ca/products/receivers_decoders/be-ird-5502_h264_mpeg2_hd_sd_ird/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfish Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 I am sure I borrowed sky boxes from sky for an event which had the HDCP stripped off but cant recall definitively. They certainly do exist, again http://www.frontniche.com/ make them and then apparently sell them back to sky (who of course have the same practical problems with HDCP as the rest of us!) I think we will go for two solutions for different applications. Firstly an ordinary consumer box for jobs where standard def is acceptable, or for when we only need one display and we can maintain the HDCP link. Secondly a small format PC with an internal tuner card and a digital output graphics card for jobs where distributing HD signal would be desirable and for getting the best possible quality in to a switcher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.J.S Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I have used Frontniche products, they can be expensive but they do what they say they do. Not sure if you can have off screen menu's. We have had additional outputs etc put on. They also rebox most products into a 19" chassis, which can be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfish Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 I like the look of the frontniche stuff, unfortunately I can't justify the expense at the moment. Its worth noting that they also do a modified blu-ray player with HD-SDI output too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.J.S Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I am awaiting delivery of these for a job. Frontniche are currently making them for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 This company will probably be able to point you in the right direction. One Video Don't expect it to be cheap though. I know they do a converted Sky box with HD-SDI outputs that is around the £2,500+vat mark. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 On the more consumer front, Samsung TVs have an Ethernet port you can use for remote control, I don't know if they do PVRs or something with enough of the smarts to have that built into something that recieves Freeview, but it might be worth a look. Canford sell a range of Active Rack Shelves to do the balanced audio bit and the mounting. If you could find a box that outputs HD component and add a converter, that might be a cheaper route than the custom/modded boxes. On a slight side note, if your looking around this area, I've never used them personally, but this looks ideal for Sky box remote control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broadcast_techie Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I don't have experience of the products listed, but I believe a number of 'pro' receivers (used in broadcast as check rxs etc) are actually just sky boxes re-housed with proper controls and psus which don't die after five mins. If you just want a rx and don't mind about the controls then find a decent consumer box (or two) and couple it with some converters, however if you need to change channels remotely then I think that http://www.ipe-systems.co.uk/ have a solution, but I can't find details on their site. Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I can remote channel change on my mythtv server using an HTML remote or iPhone app. Built on a decent box with quality tuners it is very stable and would output via a standard graphics card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 What cards are you using in your Server? What sort of spec's is it? Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Cardwise I'm running a hauppauge Nova T 500 and a Nova S2. The server I'm running is an ancient twin CPU Xeon box, but I've hit 120 days uptime with full reliability. The cheaper tuners can be a bit hit and miss so it's worth spending on the Hauppauge stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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