HDTV Reception in fringe areas

[Marty2003]

I'm planning on getting a HDTV tuner card for my PC soon. I think I've settled on the DVICO Fusion HDTV5 RT Lite. I live in Canada just North of Montreal. Right now there are two local HDTV stations broadcasting and one currently broadcasting that I should be able to pick up from the US. In the Fall about 4 more HDTV channels from the US should start broadcasting.

I have an antenna on a tower with a rotator, and with it I'm able to pick up Analog US stations, although some have a little snow and others have quite a bit of snow but are still watchable. The US Towers are about 60 miles away.

I'm wondering if I can currently watch the analog stations, when they start broadcasting Digital should I still be able to see them? Does anybody have experiences similar to this? In most cases is the broadcast area larger or smaller with digital broadcasting?

[cal_tony]

One of the over the air digital signals I receive is 60+ miles away. The digital signal is clear at times at other times the signal drops out for a few seconds to a minute every now and again. To receive this signal the antenna must be aimed spot on.

[redwudz]

Hopefully when they change over to HDTV, they will up the transmitter power and you will get an improvement in signal strength. If you have a good UHF fringe antenna, you may be lucky. With digital you won't get any snow, just dropouts with a weak signal as cal_tony mentioned or a blank screen. For the US stations, it depends on which direction they have their antennas pointed.

[Marty2003]

I'm trying to improve my TV reception. Right now I have an antenna on a tower whose cable goes into the basement, it's split to a TV there then up into my bedroom where it's split again into my TV and computer.

The reception in the basement is noticeably better than in my room. Would getting a coax amplifier for the basement help? I'm looking at this
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=...roduct=1501118

or this
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=...roduct=1501116

Should I get the amplifier with a single output and use a splitter, or get the dual output amp?

Should I buy better splitters? The one currently in use are some cheapo dollar store ones.

When I get a HDTV receiver will the amplifier adversely affect the reception? or should it improve a digital signal as well as an analog one?

Thanks for the help.

[redwudz]

That sounds like an amplifier would help. But I would go with a name brand as all amplifiers aren't the same. Here's one to consider: http://www.summitsource.com/winegard-hda100-15-db-digital-analog-brodcast-offair-tv-an...00-p-5434.html They appear to ship to Canada, or you may find one on a site locally. It has dual output, so you could eliminate the splitter.

Or you could go with an antenna mounted amplifier if you have a long cable run and lossy cable: http://www.winegard.com/offair/amplifiers.htm

The amplifier should help with a HDTV receiver. But still, you will either get a signal or not. There is no snow, just no picture if the signal is too weak.