? New Fortec HD receiver.

[wejones]

I noticed a thread over on the satforums forum, that indicated that Fortec would be soon coming out with a new HD receiver. I emailed Fortec, and asked them about the receiver, particularly about whether it would have 4.2.2 capability, and also whether it would have built in AC3 decoding.
I was expecting to get a negative reply on both questions, but to my surprise, I just got a response saying that they had plans to both support 4.2.2, and also to internally decode AC3! This is great news.

Sadoun.... I'm curious whether you have been in contact with Fortec relative to if and when it will become available? Any idea of what the cost is likely to be??? Sounds like a good one. This might finally tip me over into getting an HDTV.... So far, I've just been watching HD sat channels on the computer or on a SD TV.

Keep us informed on this receiver.

[rainman]

defintely keep us informed this sounds like the receiver i've been looking for thanks for the info Bill.

[pmb1010]

"plans to support..."

Hopefully, the word is not "plan".
Planning and "git 'er done" is unfortunately miles apart sometimes.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by pmb1010

"plans to support..."

Hopefully, the word is not "plan".
Planning and "git 'er done" is unfortunately miles apart sometimes.

Well, the exact quote was:

"We are working to
add 4:2:2 and a built-in Dolby decoder to the receiver. We are
finalizing the exact specs at this month."

I'm not sure if that makes it sound more or less certain.

[satnutwillb]

Hopefully with blindscan also.

[pmb1010]

I'd do without blindscan for the above 2 options (and HD).
Those would be HUGE.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by pmb1010

I'd do without blindscan for the above 2 options (and HD).
Those would be HUGE.

I agree. Plus if you already have a blind scan, it will pick up the HD channels fine, to tell you what the parameters are.
This brings to mind an observation about the new Mercury receiver. When I blind scanned AMC3, it of course scanned in the 2 PBS HD channels. What was interesting though, was that when you tuned to those saved channels, although there was no video (expected), there WAS audio. On my other receivers, I never got audio on those HD channels.
Kind of similar to the feature on the newer versions of TSREADER, which allows you to play the audio from channels that have encrypted video but FTA audio.

[Sadoun]

Hi Guys

Yes, it is true. HDTV receiver is in the works at Fortec and should be out soon (Summer time). It will have all the the features mentioned above including BLIND SEARCH, 4:2:2, AC3 decoding, and more.

If there are any features you are looking for, add it to the list here. It you never know, it maybe adopted.

Fortec listens to suggestions. Throughout the years, I have seen several customer suggestions get implmeneted.

[pmb1010]

OK, I'll start.

USB connector/Firewire to allow external hard drive for TIVO like function.

RJ-45 connector to allow connection to home network, Ability to send data either real time, or TIVO'd data -- over the ETH to another PC or device to play via Windows media player.

[glen4cindy]

Would the 4:2:2 be FTA & available on NON-C-Band dishes?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by glen4cindy

Would the 4:2:2 be FTA & available on NON-C-Band dishes?

I think that much of the NBC news and sports feeds on AMC1 are 4.2.2. Actually, much of what I've seen 4.2.2 has been sports. I can view SD 4.2.2 on the computer, but I can't send it to my TV via Roku, so I don't watch much in that mode, so I'm not really sure what is available. I ran into a neat feed a year ago on IA8, which was sending back some neat ground level 4.2.2 video of an NFL game I just watched. Really made you feel like you were on the field. The 4.2.2 stuff is higher quality than the regular 4.2.0 stuff.
I assume that this new receiver would only do SD 4.2.2, but maybe it would be capable of HD 4.2.2 too.

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Hi Guys

Yes, it is true. HDTV receiver is in the works at Fortec and should be out soon (Summer time). It will have all the the features mentioned above including BLIND SEARCH, 4:2:2, AC3 decoding, and more.

If there are any features you are looking for, add it to the list here. It you never know, it maybe adopted.

Fortec listens to suggestions. Throughout the years, I have seen several customer suggestions get implmeneted.

I would like to see the ability to do OTA HD through the ant in port.

[Sadoun]

Well, here is what I know about the new upcoming Fortec HDTV receiver:

Nothing is confirmed yet, here is what I can tell you.

• 4:2:2 - yes
• Dolby Digital - yes
• USB port - yes
• Power scan - yes
• Ethernet connection - maybe, but not likely at this stage.
• OTA ATSC HD - that will be launched later as a different product (needs a separate tuner from the satellite tuner)

All the "yes" answers above are what the engineers are working on, but as I said, I can't confirm they will be in the first version.

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Well, here is what I know about the new upcoming Fortec HDTV receiver:

Nothing is confirmed yet, here is what I can tell you.

• 4:2:2 - yes
• Dolby Digital - yes
• USB port - yes
• Power scan - yes
• Ethernet connection - maybe, but not likely at this stage.
• OTA ATSC HD - that will be launched later as a different product (needs a separate tuner from the satellite tuner)

All the "yes" answers above are what the engineers are working on, but as I said, I can't confirm they will be in the first version.

Sticking with the OTA ATSC HD. Will the new receiver allow the Fortec OTA HD receiver to pass the HD output through the ant input of the sat receiver? Will you be able to program the remote to operate both boxes?

I have quite a collection of "boxes" and remotes so any trimming down that I can do of either is a wonderful thing to me.

[rainman]

It's like in the auto buisness give it a while after a new model comes out to work out the bugs.LOL

[pmb1010]