Coolsat 8000?

[Silas]

Continuing a line of excellence Coolsat is first to announce the Coolsat 8000 HD FTA receiver. Able to decode QPSK satellite and ATSC terrestrial transmissions, Mpeg2 and Mpeg4, High Definition TV, Standard Definition TV display support.

The Coolsat 8000 receiver uses the ATSC standards that replace the NTSC format used in North America. This gives users high definition television standards under the ATSC. ATSC is able to produce wide screen 16:9 images up to 1920×1080 pixels in size — more than six times the display resolution of other receivers. This is one additional feature that makes the coolsat 8000hd by far the best


Can anyone explain what is meant by "receiver uses the ATSC standards that replace the NTSC format used in North America" and will this allow the receiver to do FTA HD ?

 

[Shawn95GT]

ATSC = off-air (rooftop antenna, rabit ears, silver sensar, etc) digital TV. It just so happens that the big players do HD on ATSC.

I really hope this box does indeed do 4:2:2 HD from the sats but I wouldn't put money on it. Much of the technical description seems to be carefully worded around 'ATSC only' on the HD side.

I'm in 'wait and see' mode.

 

[Silas]

What about the part where it says the..... ATSC standards replacing the NTSC format used in North America ..Does that make any sense to you? Is it possible to receive FTA using ATSC standards. Probably a dumb question but I am new to the fta world.

 

[Shawn95GT]

NTSC / ATSC doesn't have anything to do with FTA really.

The FCC is forcing broadcasters (off-air, not satellite or cable) to go 100% digital (ATSC) to reclaim some of the band for other uses besides TV. The date to so this has been pushed back several times but it'll happen eventually.

 

[Silas]

So do you understand the part of the ad where it says this receiver will be replacing NTSC with the ATSC stardard? What is meant by that???

 

[Shawn95GT]

So do you understand the part of the ad where it says this receiver will be replacing NTSC with the ATSC stardard? What is meant by that???

It's just saying that this box is ATSC complaint so once the changeover happens (most markets are already broadcasting ATSC & NTSC together) and NTSC goes away, this box will let you watch off-air TV.

Bottom line, NTSC (analog) is going away for off-air.

It's about as FTA as your VCR is if you happened to plug an antenna in and watch NTSC TV on it.

Shawn

 

[baylanger]

It appears that this box is being SEVERELY miss-marketed as something it's not.

As far as I can tell it's a Coolsat 5000 with an integrated ATSC tuner :down :down :down .

This site has what appears to be a better description:

Coolsat 8000 High Definition FEATURE SET

- MPEG 2 & MPEG 4 Support High Definition (ATSC Only)
- Digital Terrestrial(ATSC) & Satellite Set-Top-BoTS combo)
- Multiple Video Outputs - HDMI, RGB, Ypbr, S-Video & CVBS
- Selectable output for 1080i, 720P, 576P and 576i format
- Tunes & Decodes all 18 ATSC broadcast formats
- Dolby Digital(AC3) 5.1 Channel Surround Sound via optical
- Aspect ratio adjustment 4:3 (16/9 crop), 4:3 (16/9 letterbox), 16:9 (4/3 pillar box)
- Multi-Lingual audio & digital closed caption support
- User friendly OSD and operation
- Favorite channel selections
- S/W upgrade through RS-232
- Parental Guide and rating control
- Picture in Picture support (Aux input/optional) (Option)
- Electronic Program Guide
- DiSEqC 1.0 & or DiSEqC 1.2
- Flash memory 4MB
- DDR RAM 128MB (DDR400 16M X16) X 4 ea
- Universal Remote Control
- Smart Card Reader (Optional Add-on Later)

Definately not worth the asking price if it doesn't do HD from sat.

Count me out. Thanks for nothing Coolsat! You can do the same well under $200 with two boxes.

Isn't MPEG2 HD/DVD and MPEG4 used only by ATSC?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Isn't MPEG2 HD/DVD and MPEG4 used only by ATSC?

ATSC is MPEG2. I'm not sure if they use MPEG4 for off-air anyplace.

Shawn

 

[Tron]

Basically, the Coolsat 8000 has two built-in tuners. One is a digital ATSC tuner designed for OTA signals and the other is a digital DVB tuner designed for satellite signals. If the DVB tuner is only capable of standard definition, this receiver is a regular, STANDARD definition satellite receiver with a built-in high definition over-the-air tuner. Certainly not what we are all hoping for if true...

 

[JohnH]

ATSC has definitions for Satellite as well as Terrestrial delivery. MPEG4 is not an OTA delivery method.

4:2:2 not being mentioned is a big problem for FTA usage. Many digital backhauls use 4:2:2 whether they are HD or SD. This box will likely do 4:2:0 HD and SD.

ATSC is replacing NTSC could just as easily apply to Satellite delivery as well as OTA delivery.

Marketing of this device leaves one guessing which specs apply to which method of operation, if there is a difference.

This box must be a hybrid of some sort with the mention of MPEG4.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I figured they threw MPG4 stat in there to sell the box to the hackers trying to steal the Dish HD pack.

 

[Anole]

I understand there are already MPG4 broadcasts in Europe.
OTA, I believe.

It won't be getting the Dish HD mpg4 broadcasts.
Which might be good or might be bad.
Depends on whether a larger production run would lower the price, or less demand would lower the price.
Either way, with no hard drive, that price is difficult to justify.

 

[Mr Tony]

I figured they threw MPG4 stat in there to sell the box to the hackers trying to steal the Dish HD pack.

with Dish being 8PSK they can't anyway

 

[updatelee]

I find it funny that gosatellite is advertising the coolsat as true fta, yet they use cbc hockey night in canada as a photo ... cbc is encrypted on sat, maybe atsc ? nope, cbc doesnt broadcast in atsc, just vhf ntsc.

 

[digiblur]

I find it funny that gosatellite is advertising the coolsat as true fta, yet they use cbc hockey night in canada as a photo ... cbc is encrypted on sat, maybe atsc ? nope, cbc doesnt broadcast in atsc, just vhf ntsc.

This one is funnier!

http://www.gosatellite.com/viewsat-extreme-16978-prd1.html

 

[Mr Tony]

I find it funny that gosatellite is advertising the coolsat as true fta, yet they use cbc hockey night in canada as a photo ... cbc is encrypted on sat, maybe atsc ? nope, cbc doesnt broadcast in atsc, just vhf ntsc.

where do you see that? I didnt see it. Just stock photos of the reciever

 

[Anole]

When I looked, there was no hockey game but a picture from a recent movie.
(which isn't actually on FTA, nor OTA, to be sure... )

But the 2nd link showed nothing interesting, and I looked pretty closely.

I think some web sites may use rotating pictures of product.
Or it could be that vendors use whatever picture they have on hand to advertize their products.

No point in reading more into it.

 

[crawfrdb]

I looked up what appears to be the importer and repair center for Coolsat on coolsatusa.com (Freetech Inc, SF, CA). Don't waste your time contacting them- they know nothing about this receiver. They first tried to pass me off to a "forum" on lyngsat.com. When I told them this did not exist there, they then passed me over to a NY dealer who knew even less than they did.

Based on the product description on that site, it would seem that the only HD signal formats supported are with the ATSC tuner. I hope this isn't the case as I can't find MPEG-4 mentioned anywhere in my copy of the ATSC spec. So why mention MPEG-4 at all?

In any case, I can still benefit from the use of this receiver as I am currently using a two separate set top boxes- one for ATSC digital terrestrial TV reception and another for FTA satellite reception. To avoid buying a video/audio switch that supports HDMI/DVI and fibre audio, I can get this single box that will do both.

I ordered mine this morning. I'll let you all know what it can do on the satellite side when I get it and run it through it's paces.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I ordered mine this morning. I'll let you all know what it can do on the satellite side when I get it and run it through it's paces.

I'd be VERY interested in a detailed report on this receiver!

 

[updatelee]

same here ! there seems to be so much conflicting reports on the internet right now.