“If people like another app better, then awesome, we want to support that,” Kelsey said. While Kelsey said the modulators required by ATSC 3.0 are more complex and expensive, cost savings comes from the fact that SiliconDust is mass-producing hardware, which no other external tuner vendors are doing yet. That’s surprising given that commercial tuners can cost up to $1,000, and that the existing Connect Quatro tuner sells for $150. Kelsey said the Quatro 4K is profitable at its $200 Kickstarter price, and he doesn’t expect that price to rise in September, when SiliconDust plans to launch the tuner more broadly. “We figured the only way to help the situation was to come out with product availability.” Getting the price down “There’s obviously a pretty big adoption chicken-and-egg problem,” Kelsey said. At least for now, SiliconDust sees the Quatro 4K as mainly for engineers and other people in the industry, along with some early adopters. While lots of companies are developing software and middleware for ATSC 3.0, the current hardware for receiving the new standard is cost prohibitive. Kelsey said the Quatro 4K came from a desire to move broadcast TV forward.

Cablecard tuner plex