A $19 Box will get you on HDTV

[SingSing]

On the subject of DTV as a replacement of basic Cable TV service, this is my though.

DTV has at least same amount TV channels vs basic cable Tv service. So I am thinking about how to use the existing Cable TV service wiring for DTV.

Cable TV connection normally comes into the house into a spilter, then to the wall RF outlet. Do this connection carries OTA signals ? I remeber I use to able to feed this signal to my FM receiver, and get reception better than the FM radio antenna.

The other approach is to disconnect the Cable TV just outside the house, becasue it always has an inline filter(that how Cable TV limits service to that household), and connect it to a RF cable to the roof/attic to a DTV antenna.

I think for people who have to get basic Cable TV due to poor reception of analog OTA TV, now may able to step up to OTA DTV and get to watch TV FREE OF CHARGE 8) .

[gadgetguy]

The Basic cable services usually offer all of the local broadcast stations plus a few that are only available over cable, but the value of these extra channels is debatable. I personally discontinued my cable service when I discovered that nearly all of the programming I was watching was available free OTA. Having been living with only digital OTA for a couple months now, it's my opinion that if people have Cable because they have poor reception of analog OTA, then they're just as likely to have trouble with digital OTA.

The picture when received digital is far superior to analog, but a poor signal is a poor signal and dropouts and loss of signal can and do occur. Having said that, the signal threshold for DTV appears to be lower than for a clean analog picture, so what might be only marginally watchable on analog can be perfect on digital. Experimentation for each location will be the only way to know for sure that OTA DTV is as good or better than basic cable.

Also, if your cable is split to go to several rooms or several devices, you will probably need to invest in signal amplifiers and/or notch filters to be able to watch different channels at the same time, especially if the broadcast antennae for the different channels are not in the same general direction. If your location requires a rotor to get the different stations, then you'll need another antenna to watch both at the same time.

Another factor is that there is a difference in how well the different DTV boxes handle your signal. I have 4 different brands of DTV boxes, Digital Stream from Radio Shack, Magnavox from Walmart, Insignia & Apex from Best Buy. All four of them respond differently when connected to the same source signal. Note that you don't generally see the difference when watching normally, but if you track the signal strength, it varies wildly between what the different boxes report. What may be seen as weak on one box causing dropouts, can be perfectly adequate for another box.

[edDV]

On the subject of DTV as a replacement of basic Cable TV service, this is my though.

DTV has at least same amount TV channels vs basic cable Tv service. So I am thinking about how to use the existing Cable TV service wiring for DTV.

Cable TV connection normally comes into the house into a spilter, then to the wall RF outlet. Do this connection carries OTA signals ? I remeber I use to able to feed this signal to my FM receiver, and get reception better than the FM radio antenna.

The other approach is to disconnect the Cable TV just outside the house, becasue it always has an inline filter(that how Cable TV limits service to that household), and connect it to a RF cable to the roof/attic to a DTV antenna.

I think for people who have to get basic Cable TV due to poor reception of analog OTA TV, now may able to step up to OTA DTV and get to watch TV FREE OF CHARGE 8) .

Further to gadgetguy,

You need to locate the DTV stations ( see www.antennaweb.org ) before you know what type and how many antennas you need to receive your local DTV stations. This varies house to house depending on obstructions and distance/direction to the various transmitters.

FM radio is located just above Channel 6 in the lower VHF. FM is generally not available on cable since that band shares the same frequencies with cable channels 95 to 97. These channels are often used for basic cable service. Comcast here uses those channels for CSpan and community TV announcements.

[SingSing]

Good news and not so good news.

In order to get OTA DTV broadcast. The viewer needs an Antenna and a DTV converter box. So I bought both of them from Walmart and try it on my large analog TV.


The Antenna is a phillips MANT510.

The Antenna is powered by a small 12V wall supply. Without the VHF elements extended, it picks up all the DTV channel out there. This confirms the large RF gain stated on the box. The only fine tune it needs to work with the weakest channel is just rotate the big center element a bit to the right. It only costs $30.00. This can't be beat. But Walmart has them on their shelves but not on the web site. Grab one while they are still available.


The converter is a Magbavox TB100MW9

This converter does detect all the DTV channels. I hooked the audio/video RCA cables into my TV. The image, color and the sound quality is more like VCR quality , instead of DVD quality. The remote has very small buttons, and lousy arrangement. After couple of hours of TV thru this, I have to say it is worst than the basis cable that I intend to replace. But at $9.00 after the $40.00 rebate, I did not feel a great loss.

[gadgetguy]

Obviously that's a good antenna for you and your location, but it wasn't the right antenna for me. Your location has EVERYTHING to do with how well you can receive OTA broadcasts, and as has been pointed out, you should check your address at antennaweb.org for your requirements before running out and buying any antenna. Having said that, antennaweb is not foolproof, you may experience conditions that antennaweb is not aware of. And the "color chart" proved to be useless to me since none of the antenna boxes I looked at had such a color chart sticker on them. But there is enough information there to allow you to find the right antenna for you, even without the color chart.

[samijubal]

This converter does detect all the DTV channels. I hooked the audio/video RCA cables into my TV. The image, color and the sound quality is more like VCR quality , instead of DVD quality. The remote has very small buttons, and lousy arrangement. After couple of hours of TV thru this, I have to say it is worst than the basis cable that I intend to replace. But at $9.00 after the $40.00 rebate, I did not feel a great loss.

That must be a poor quality box, Magnavox not surprising, or you've got some bad stations in your area. The PQ I get with a Zenith box is far better than cable and the widescreen recordings I make look remarkably good on a 50" plasma. I only record from HD feeds though. I don't know what the 480i feeds look like.

[usually_quiet]

Antenna Web seems pretty good for those who need an outdoor antenna, but those who are considering using an indoor antenna should try tvfool.com. TV Fool provided me with a very accurate prediction of the channels I could receive with an indoor antenna, It also gives the option of using longitude and latitude, as well as an address. (I was able to find my home's coordinates using Google Maps)

All converter boxes seem to have some reported issues or lack some desireable feature that would be permissible under the requirements for CECBs. It pays to research them before buying to make sure that you buy the best one for your needs.

Problems with the picture aren't always caused by the converter box. Some of the SD broadcast channels I have watched exhibited a lot of macroblocking or lacked detail even when viewed on a digital SD TV. HD is apparently a better test, though when I read reviews at Consumer Reports, they usually mentioned some problems when HD is downconverted -- jagged edges, or a picture that is overly soft, or a picture that is slightly stretched.

Of the boxes readily available at brick-and-mortar stores, the Zenith/Insignia boxes probably provide the best picture quality. I've read some good things about the Apex box, and it has S-Video out, but I have also read reports that the color is a little off and that the picture looks a little stretched for HD channels.

If mail-order is acceptable, the Channel Master CM-7000 seems to provide the best picture of all CECBs when using S-Video out, though unfortunately, it lacks timers, and the buttons on the box itself seem to be poorly made. The Zinwell ZAT970A has timers and perhaps a better picture than the DISH boxes that I have, but fewer people are buying it, and since user reviews are hard to find, it's still pretty much an unknown quantity.