Voca Tech Digital HDMI MPEG2 DVB-T ISDB-T DVB-C ATSC RF Modulator

1: The product works fine but they instructions do not review what all the different settings adjust. The instructions could be more thorough on that. In addition, they could also supply a web version of the instructions which would be most helpful.2: It does state it but i wanted to re-iterate that it does not support the North American standard for Cable QAM. It does ATSC for over the air signals but does not support Cable QAM. It took some time to tweak my network to accept that and to work around the other Over The Air signals that were conflicting with my broadcast. But all my TVs were compatible with what this was broadcasting compared to the issues i was having with PVI Product.3: You can only daisy chain up to 3 of these units before you start encountering weird issues. I was attempting to connect 5 of them and i was experiencing some signal issues. I had to break up the load using a splitter/combiner then a signal booster to ensure this equipment was overpowering the terrestrial signals i was picking up.Overall, the product having network connectivity was nice because i was able to make adjustments on the fly to work out the signal conflict issues i was having with the local terrestrial signals we were randomly picking up. But would have been better IF we could have used Cable QAM. But for the price, it was fine.

The Voca Tech HDMI MPEG-2 ATSC/DVB Modulator is a device created to take HDMI video/audio and convert to a modulated ATSC/DVB signal. This is no simple task as it requires MPEG2 compression, generating PSIP tables, and advanced 8-level digital modulation. Broadcast units cost tens of thousands of dollars. Hotels and bars can easily spend $3000 to create a single HD house channel. So what do you get with the Voca Tech box for well under $500?It is a mix of good and so-so performance.It does output a crisp-looking high definition television signal that may be picked up by most, but not all receivers.In testing a set of 10, I found the following results: 8 sets picked up the modulator with no problem. One had excessive lip sync error compared to the others but was fine otherwise. One would only show a grey screen with channel numbers and program name. Note: Admittedly, the two that had problems were cheap off-brands.From this I conclude that you will have the best results with a major television label.The included instruction pamphlet was marginal at best. The illustrations were barely legible with few explanations of the settings. This product is highly technical in nature. The user must at least understand how to set static IP address on their computer. It also helps to have some understanding of MPEG encoding.I attempted to include legible screen shots of the settings that worked for us, unfortunately they became degraded once posted for this review. Hopefully the comments in red will help.You may freely experiment with the GOP (I frame/P frame Group of Pictures) setting. A GOP of 16 to 32 seemed best but expect minor strobe effect at all settings. Latency (lip sync audio delay adjustment) is fully adjustable and best for us at 700 ms. Major and Minor channel settings are only the fake PSIP channel number displayed on the TV and have nothing to do with the real modulated RF channel. You may set them to whatever channel you wish. Program name is the channel title displayed with PSIP channel. The true Modulated frequency must be set to the center frequency of the broadcast channel. Use the included chart to set output channel. Minimize coaxial cable loss by choosing a VHF channel such as 7, if possible.Points to note:There is no LCD and no setup buttons. All settings are performed by web management. Default login is at 192.168.0.136 admin admin.Be very careful when setting password security and IP address. Once lost you may have to get an IT person to help get it back. If you are not a techie then consider leaving those alone.The fan is powerful. I recommend placing unit in a ventilated closet or basement.Audio is PCM Stereo. As best we can tell, AC3 is not supported. If you have no audio then make sure you are sending it PCM stereo.Audio gain is not adjustable and tends run high. You might observe clipping with loud source material. Hint: We are feeding with Dish Network Joey HDMI out. When we disabled Dish receiver AUDIO LEVELING the sound became quite satisfactory . While the Joey audio worked, the Hopper HDMI had no audio until we injected stereo PCM into the HDMI cable. It took a J-Tech embedder box to do this.The RF output level is low compared to commercial head-end modulators. Start with a setting of -20 dBm.This model will NOT encode QAM used by cable TV and the description never said that it would. It WILL modulate regular broadcast ATSC 8VSB. CATV amplifiers will pass either. Keep this in mind if trying to mix the two going to the same TV set.The MPEG2 encoder is not a stellar performer and will show a very slight strobe effect on fast moving screens; Not the best for sports. I would described it as slower frame rate.To make settings stick you must click both APPLY and then CONFIGURATION > SAVE.The company technical representative was very responsive and eager to answer my questions and helped me solve a technical issue. Please note that they use Skype messaging and work from China.This box is sold under multiple brands so you may find additional setup videos and manuals on the web.In summary, I find the video quality acceptable for my needs and will buy this again for home use for watching TV shows on multiple sets. A small hotel, college, or church might consider this for an in-house channel and visitor information. Great for security cameras throughout the house on multiple TV sets. At this moment I do not recommend this device for fast moving video such as a sports bar. Realistically, you may expect some video quirks from a product that sells for a fraction of commercial rated HD modulators. HDMI distribution might be a better choice for a high quality single channel system, but for multiple channels, this is a viable option. I like it and plan to purchase another to distribute home satellite TV.

It took only a few minutes to configure. It took a few more minutes to figure out an audio format that would actually work. I had to scan for the channel because the digital channel guid included didn’t quite sync up with my TV. Also the fan has a high pitch tone when powered on. I have not fully integrated this yet into my system so I don’t know how it will work on a long coax run.

Product did technically work. But, the fan was so noisy, it would not work in a quiet environment. Also, directions where so lacking. Lot's of experimentation required to get it to work.

So far this unit works great. and signal encoded.it is easy to choose modulation and set frequency and channel number.