Home Boardcast System! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

miniman82 · #1 12-23-2014, 11:59 AM

Like all things, I decided to go overboard on this. It's all rack mounted and very portable, if I need to move it from place to place. Idea is to place it upstairs broadcasting color bars/cross hatch on channel 4, and channel 6 is hooked to the DVD player for watching movies on sets around the house. Total cost for everything was around $250~$300, all Ebay deals. The BT mods have the stereo option, so even the flat screen works well for on-air movies.

Sandy G · #2 12-23-2014, 04:57 PM

Somewhere on that, there's likely a control for Nuking people /places who get Smart w/Miniman...

Jon A. · #3 12-23-2014, 05:51 PM

Now I want one, only bigger.

jr_tech · #4 12-23-2014, 06:49 PM

What is the grey panel above the BTs?

jr

miniman82 · #5 12-23-2014, 09:03 PM

That's the TBC, which is now (thanks to the macrovision remover) mostly useless. Guess I'm looking to get rid of it now, $100 takes it.

Chip Chester · #6 12-24-2014, 07:59 AM

Nice setup. Is it truly over-the-air, as in no wires? Or is it via coax/twinlead? Not picking nits -- just wondering the the BTs will drive an antenna-like hunk of wire, or how that works... If so, is the effective range measured in inches, yards, or blocks?

Chip

CoogarXR · #7 12-24-2014, 08:46 AM

Nice! I thought I was the only one crazy enough to have a setup like this.

Some day I will have to take a picture of my rack, hehe. I have 3 modulators in mine; 2 for my two security camera systems, and one for my home theater broadcast (so you can see what's on in the TV room on any TV in the house). Mine is all cabled in though, I'm not doing wireless.

My rack is a similar size, but I have it built into a frame in my basement. I have some IT equipment in my rack too- my web server, swtich, DVRs, UPS etc.

DavGoodlin · #8 12-24-2014, 08:55 AM

Very interesting setups here.

Is the stereo option keeping a sought-after MTS feature of mid-80s sets useful?

I just got a pair of MAVM-751s, set for channel 8 and 22 using the OFM, and plan to rack-mount them in the garage with the DTV box tuned to for ch 8 and DVD for 22but may need to change ch 8 beacuse a local DT channel is on 8. Im far enough from neighbors, Id like to do OTA versus cable.

Is the output dBm from the MOD sufficient to drive a directional antenna for rabbit ears and loop reception around the house?

dtvmcdonald · #9 12-24-2014, 12:48 PM

The thing that is bothersome about that rack system is the health
of the upper agile modulator. I would be worried about serious heat stroke.
I have mine sitting in free air and it gets hot. And the top and bottom vent
ports don't line up well so adding a fan would not help.

miniman82 · #10 12-24-2014, 07:09 PM

Yes Chip, OTA no wires! That was the whole purpose to getting the BT's, I previously had coax running all over the place and it got to be a bother. This way I have a convergence/color bar signal present at all times, along with a movie transmission on alternate channel. I still don't have the correct antenna to use with this, but I hope to have them soon after the coming of the new year. I assume all I need are matching transformers and whips. I tried it previously with signal booster, but it was too strong.

Yes Dav, MTS stereo. Very retro! lol

Mac, the mods themselves don't get hot but the TBC does. It has a pair of forced cooling fans built in, but the heat it makes cooks anything above it. That's why it's above the mods, I could care less if a $30 DVD player bites the dust. Now I don't even need it, so it's not powered up normally.