Original article published on Data Center POST

Aircaster Enables Receiving up to 64 Off-Air Programs for IP or QAM Private Network Broadcasting while Eliminating the Need for Countless Digital Converters, External Splitters or Legacy One-to-One Solutions 

Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE American: BDR), a top US-based designer and manufacturer of telecommunications, fiber optic, video and data delivery technologies, today unveiled the updated Aircaster AQT8 series of transmodulators – including the Aircaster AQT8-QAM/IP and Aircaster AQT8-IP – a comprehensive and flexible toolset to create custom IP and QAM channel lineups from any ATSC 1.0 off-air or QAM content source. 

The solution is ideal for facilities looking to incorporate off-air video programming without paying additional retransmission fees for local cable or satellite services.

“Until now, off-air to digital rebroadcasting equipment have been single use or only offer one-to-one signal conversion. Creating new channel lineups as well as correcting channel metadata to be fully standards compliant has required a labyrinth of converters, splitters, amplifiers and more,” said Ted Grauch, President and CEO of Blonder Tongue Laboratories. “The Aircaster AQT8 reimagines what off-air rebroadcasting equipment can do in a single compact unit, enabling custom lineups of up to 64 channels, accessible to thousands of residential homes in the case of service operators, or hundreds of rooms and TV sets for hospitality, institutional and SMB use cases. It effortlessly creates and multiplexes a complete digital media service, while eliminating unnecessary fees and equipment.”

The Aircaster AQT8 transmodulators are ideal for any fiber optic or cable service operator or commercial property, including campuses, hospitals, hotels, and multi-dwelling units (MDUs), as well as video integrators with small- and medium-sized business (SMBs) customers. Requiring only 1 RU, the device can accept up to 8 ATSC 1.0 off-air or QAM sources, and simultaneously output a series of either Single Program Transport Streams (SPTS) and/or Multi-Program Transport Stream (MPTS), creating both a custom IP feed and/or QAM transmissions. 

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