1. TEST REPORT DVB-T Modulator
• suitable for multi-point
distribution of satellite signals as
well as other signal types
• uses existing coax distribution
network for HDTV distribution
• excellent video quality of the
modulator
• all technical parameters can be
set either directly at the device or
remote via Telnet
• fully automatic detection of
input signal resolution
Satson
HD-MOD-001T
102 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 01-02/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 01-02/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 103

2. TEST REPORT DVB-T Modulator
HDTV-compatible Satson HD-MOD-001T
01-02/2013
DVB-T modulator
Smart solution for distributing
HD signals via an
existing coax cable network
www.TELE-audiovision.com/13/01/satson-modulator
Most of us will surely re- time now to look for suit- the upper side which on the controlling and managing
member that in the analog able digital solutions. Why one hand provides a steady the modulator via Telnet.
age video signals were dis- go digital in the first place? flow of useful status infor- All other connection op-
tributed via coax cables with Well, how about high-reso- mation, but – even more tions can be found on the
the help of a conventional lution video without all that importantly – can also be bottom side of the HD-MOD-
UHF or VHF modulator. Such irritating signal interference used to program and control 001T and we can happily
a device would have set you for a start! the modulator in conjunc- state that the manufacturer
back between a few and a The HD-MOD-001T from tion with six buttons located has followed a rather gener-
few hundred dollars, de- Satson ships in a black case right next to it (four arrow ous approach: HDMI input,
pending on brand, specifica- measuring 24 x 21 x 4 cm keys, OK and Lock). In ad- three RCA jacks for YUV as
tions and overall quality. and does not weigh more dition, Satson throws in an well as three RCA jacks for
Fair enough, but the than 0.8 kg. It sports a two- RF-45 network socket that stereo audio and composite
analog age is gone and it is line backlit LCD display on allows remote access for video are available. Power to
0.84
104 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 01-02/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com

3. the modulator is supplied by 001T suggest right away for heavy-duty permanent All settings and adjust- rection anyway. After all, more, this function is avail- ers have to go to the Video kbps, which will be fine in
an external 12V power unit that we’re dealing with high- operation and can eas- ments can easily be made our DVB-T signal safely trav- able for all sections of the menu first and select either most scenarios.
which is actually screwed quality equipment here. ily be wall-mounted or in- right at the device with the els through locally distribut- main menu and has turned HDMI, YUV or CVBS as sig- It goes without saying
to the main case and thus We should also mention at tegrated into a distribution help of the four arrow keys ed coax cables rather than out to be a valuable tool on nal source. that the final DVB-T stream
makes sure power cannot this stage that this modu- rack thanks to its dedicated and the OK button. It takes over the air from far-away several occasions during our As far as video resolution created by the HD-MOD-
be interrupted unintention- lator does not come with a mounting rails. In case of an a little time to familiarise transmission towers. test. is concerned the modulator 001T can be freely custom-
ally. Thumbs up for such a mechanical power switch electrical power outage the oneself with the keys but If you want to look at an As already mentioned can be set to adjust the out- ised with a channel name
reliable construction! which – for a change – is HD-MOD-001T will remem- once that phase is over the overview of all RF Output above, the modulator can put resolution to the resolu- of your choosing (up to 15
In general, both the build a good sign in this case. ber all of its exact settings modulator is quite easy to settings you simply go to process the incoming signal tion of the incoming signal characters long), with freely
quality and the design phi- Why? Simply because the until power is up again and operate. ‘Retrieve Status’ in order to from one of three inputs, (which worked flawlessly in selectable PID parameters
losophy of the HD-MOD- HD-MOD-001T is designed will continue in precisely the The main menu of the HD- find out everything. What’s which in turn means us- our test), or one of the fol- for audio, video, PMT and
same operational state as MOD-001T is made up of five lowing output resolutions PCR PID as well as with an
1 before the power failure. sections, namely RF Out-
5 can be set manually: 480i, individual network ID (NID)
Thanks to the external put, Video, Audio, Stream 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p or which again can be up to 15
power pack the modulator and System. As it turns out 1080i. characters long.
itself does not heat up sig- the menu designations are We truly appreciated the While setting or changing
nificantly, which means fans more or less self-explanato- fact that brightness, con- the channel name and net-
or cooling elements are not ry, which was all the more trast, colour saturation and work ID with the use of the
required. impetus for us to start with colour space can be user- arrow keys and OK button
While the manual that the RF Output sub-menu defined as this is of particu- surely takes its time, this
Satson ships together with and look at the parameters 6 lar importance for analog is still acceptable given the
the modulator is on the thin- of the DVB-T output signal. input signals. fact that you don’t really
ner side, it does nonetheless Obviously, the manufac- If you want to check have to accomplish that task
deal with most functions and turer has tried to make this whether or not the modula- on a regular basis. In actual
if you make a point of read- product as universally com- tor performs as intended you fact, we have seen solutions
ing it carefully you should be patible as possible, which can always activate a bar before that are much less
2 able to set up and operate is why the following output test pattern, which can be elegant than that. Inciden-
the HD-MOD-001T without types are available: Euro- activated and stopped again tally, PID values need to be
further ado. pean UHF and VHF, Taiwan, 7 from a dedicated menu item entered using the decimal
It only takes some 25 sec- OC PAL, OC NTSC, as well as with a single touch of a but- numbers, which does away
onds for the HD-MOD-001T Australian UHF and VHF. The ton. Users can freely select with all the cumbersome
to boot, after which the de- required output frequency the encoder rate, i.e. the conversion into the hexa-
vice is fully operational and can be keyed in as channel overall data rate, which in decimal format.
can convert an input signal number, with the modulator this case means the level of We finally threw a glance
coming from one of three showing the corresponding redundancy that is added to at the System settings,
sources (YUV, HDMI or frequency in brackets. the output signal to make which can be accessed to
CVBS) into an MPEG-2 signal Depending on the type of 8 for a stable and reliable sig- adjust the basic settings of
for distribution on a DVB-T cabling and signal distribu- nal transmission. the modulator. It is here that
frequency. MPEG-4/H.264 tion the output signal level Once the video settings you can configure the RJ-45
is not supported and only can be adjusted by 75 to 90 are taken care of we rec- network connection, with
3 DVB-T is available as output dBµV so that it will blend in ommend dealing with Au- the HD-MOD-001T support-
format, but neither of those nicely with existing distri- dio, which is right next to ing either the DHCP protocol
facts is an issue since this bution systems and cabling the video menu. Here it is (for automatic assignment
modulator only produces a setups. possible to set the bit rate of IP address, gateway and
single output channel with The QPSK, QAM16 and 9 of the audio output signal DNS server by the router)
up to 1080i, so that enough QAM64 modulation types at 128, 256 or 384 kbps, or accepting manual entry
bandwidth is always avail- are available, with QAM64 thus defining the quality of of parameters. Further-
able. In addition, thanks to offering the most available the distributed audio signal. more, the Satson modula-
distribution via coax cables bandwidth, of course. While it’s great to have the tor provides hardware and
error correction is of only This optimum bandwidth highest setting at 384 kbps software information in that
minor importance in this comes at a price, however, available with this Satson menu or can be factory-re-
case. since a signal with QAM64 modulator we nonetheless set.
modulation is more interfer- 10 suggest you use 128 or 256 As the manufacturer con-
ence-prone due to its four stantly strives to optimise
4 1. The channel name of any amplitudes and 16 different its products it is also pos-
created DVB-T channel can be 5. Status display of the
freely chosen phases. There is a work- HD-MOD-001T sible to update the modu-
2. An HDTV channel originally around, however, if you look 6. Selecting the frequency lator’s operating software
received via satellite can easily at all adjustment options in 7. The channel name of any from this menu section.
be modulated into a DVB-T created DVB-T channel can be
frequency by the HD-MOD-001T the error correction field: As our regular readers
freely chosen
– without impairing the quality This modulator offers FEC probably know it’s always
whatsoever rates of 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 11 8. PID values can be freely
the unexpected little fea-
determined by the user
3. PID values can be freely and 7/8, as well as Guard tures that attract our atten-
determined by the user 9. Entering the channel name
Intervals of 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 10. The HD-MOD-001T takes tion and this time it was the
4. Signals provided by a
satellite receiver in 1080i can and 1/32. approximately 25 seconds to RJ-45 network interface.
conveniently be modulated into All things considered, you boot If you – like us – think
a DVB-T frequency should not expect a lot of 11. Selecting the input signal there might be a web server
drama in terms of error cor- behind that feature you’re
106 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 01-02/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 01-02/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 107

4. 1
6
2
3
not quite right. Rather, Sat- you are able to look up and
son uses the well-known change all status informa-
Telnet protocol for remote tion and settings that would
control and maintenance of otherwise have to be dealt
the HD-MOD-001T. with right at the device. In
Any Telnet client will do for our test this worked beauti-
4
establishing a connection fully and it also means the
from a PC to the modulator. HD-MOD-001T can easily be
If your operating system is integrated into a local net-
Windows you may use the work.
built-in Telnet feature (which No matter whether it’s the
has to be retro-installed via signal from a surveillance
the system control center in camera, satellite receiver or
Windows 7 and above). any other set-top box that
The LCD display of the needs to be distributed via
modulator shows the ap- coax cables in digital quali-
5 propriate IP address that is ty, you need not look further
assigned to the HD-MOD- than to the HD-MOD-001T.
001T via DHCP. This address With its three available in-
needs to be entered into the put options it’s a brilliant
MS-DOS command line to- match for both analog and
gether with the telnet com- digital SD/HD signals.
mand (e.g. telnet 10.0.1.7). For this TELE-audiovision
A connection to the mod- test we provided the analog
ulator is established im- signal of a surveillance
mediately and in the login camera to the modulator, a
window you have to en- high-definition YUV signal
ter ‘root’ as username and as well as a digital high-def-
6 ‘1234’ as password. Then inition signal via HDMI. The
HD-MOD-001T processed all
1. The ‘telnet’ command has three of our source signals
to be entered in the MS-DOS in an exemplary way and
command line to establish
a Telnet session with the the automatic resolution
modulator detection also worked abso-
2. Login of the HD-MOD-001T lutely reliably. It only took a
3. All parameters can easily few seconds for the modula-
be adjusted via a convenient
7 Telnet session tor to adjust its output sig-
4. Configuration of the RF nal to the resolution of the
output signal incoming signal.
5. Status display of the RF What’s more, we were
output settings genuinely impressed by the
6. Selecting the video input video and audio quality de-
source
livered by this latest Satson
7. Changing the channel name
product as we were not able
108 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 01-02/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com

5. 1 2 3
to detect any difference be- name, network ID, etc.).
tween input signal and out- By the way, the modulator Expert Opinion
put signal – even after look- works with all frequencies The HD-MOD-001T is a versatile and per-
ing at every video detail between 50 and 860 MHz. fectly useful DVB-T modulator. Using the
long and hard. As you can see on the QPSK, QAM16 or QAM64 modulations with an
One thing you should take screenshots for this test MPEG-2 audio and video signal it offers three
into account is a lag time of report, the HD-MOD-001T different input types (YUV, HDMI and CVBS)
about one second that is re- delivers an immaculate and and flawlessly deals with HDTV signals up Thomas Haring
TELE-audiovision
quired for the modulator to error-free signal with the to 1080i. Satson has designed this modula-
+
Test Center
Austria
process the input signal and exact user-defined output tor for professional and permanent use and
create the required output level. The manufacturer has almost every single nook and cranny smacks of top-notch
signal. even thrown in an integrated build quality and ease of use. The video quality of the output
4 5 6 During active use the RF input, which can be used signal is impressive and the time lag due to signal proces-
display of the new Satson to also add a signal from an sing and encoding is comparatively short at approximately
modulator always shows the existing terrestrial reception one second.
currently used frequency as system to the modulator, so
well as the current resolu- that a maximum number of Going by the manufacturer’s specifications the HD-MOD-
tion of the output signal. channels is available. 001T is not really suitable for unheated locations that are
somewhat exposed to the weather (such as attics or base-
Thanks to the Lock but-
ton directly on the device
All of our testers at TELE-
audiovision thoroughly en-
– ments, for example). Front-end operation and configuration
using the available buttons right on the device are a little
it is possible to block any joyed working with the new cumbersome at times, but thanks to the RJ-45 network inter-
outside interference with Satson DVB-T modulator face there is an easy and pleasant way out.
internal settings, this way and we can wholeheartedly
preparing the modulator for recommend this product for
hassle-free 24/7 operation. distributing HD signals via
TECHNICAL
DATA
7 8 It did not make a dif- existing coax cables in your Manufacturer Sat & Sound, Karel Nerinckxlaan 1, 1500 Halle, Belgium
ference which source we house or apartment. You Email sales stefaan@satsound.be
chose, the signal was al- want the signal from your
Internet www.satson.eu
ways processed correctly, living room satellite receiv-
Model HD-MOD-001T
modulated into a flawless er in the bedroom as well?
Function DVB-T Modulator
DVB-T signal on the UHF or Or how about watching the
feed from the camera at the Output Frequency 50 - 860 MHz
VHF band and given out ac-
cording to our pre-defined front door on your TV? Video Resolutions 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i
parameters (PIDs, service Not a problem any longer Video Input Format Component Video, YPbPr RCA, HDMI
thanks to the HD-MOD- Video Encoding Format MPEG-2 Video (ISO/IEC 13818-2)
001T, which will distribute Audio Encoding Format MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (ISO/IEC 11172-3)
all of this and a lot more via Modulator Standard DVB-T (ETSI EN 300 744)
DVB-T using your existing Bandwidth 6, 7, 8 MHz
coax cables. Constellation QPSK, QAM16, QAM64
Thanks to a low power
Guard Interval 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32
consumption of approxi-
Code Rate 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8
mately 12.5 W you can ex-
System Channel Name Up to 15 characters
pect an annual consumption
of around 109 kWh, which is Network ID Name Up to 15 characters
almost negligible given the Dimensions 234 x 204 x 44mm
wide range of profession- Weight 0.8 kg
al features offered by this Power Supply 12V
modulator. Power Consumption 12.5W
Operating temperature 0-40 °C
ENERGY
DIAGRAM
Apparent Power
1. A signal created by the HD-MOD-001T with maximum signal level Mode Apparent Active Factor
Active 23 W 11 W 0.84
2. A signal created by the HD-MOD-001T with minimum signal level
3. The network ID can also be freely chosen
4. The HD-MOD-001T creates a perfect and flawless output signal Active Power
5. A signal created by the HD-MOD-001T in combination with the signal from a UHF/VHF antenna
6. Constellation diagram of a QAM64 signal created by the HD-MOD-001T
7. Constellation diagram of a QPSK signal created by the HD-MOD-001T
8. Constellation diagram of a QAM16 signal created by the HD-MOD-001T
110 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 01-02/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 01-02/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 111