Rabbit Ears are back in style for HDTV

[oldandinthe way]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070429/ap_on_hi_te/rabbit_ear_revival_13

[zoobie]

Ha ha!
I envisioned a bunch of snow but I guess the signals either there or it isn't.
I read somewhere that they had to keep broadcasting analog for emergency purposes...

[Nelson37]

My indoor HD antenna does not look much different than the old-style Rabbit Ears. Gets all stations clear, in good weather, tho I have to re-orient it for one station at each extreme. The middle three always come in good, again in clear weather.

[buttzilla]

[quote="zoobie"]Ha ha!
I envisioned a bunch of snow but I guess the signals either there or it isn't.
I read somewhere that they had to keep broadcasting analog for emergency purposes...[/quote
I believe they are brodcasting those signal in digital. Eventually anolog will be fazed out all together in tv because the fcc is going to resell those frequencys for use in wifi enabled devices. Anyone left with a anaolog tv will need to purchase a digital to analog converter. this will take affect i believe in 2009. The goverment is even supplementing the purchase of these converters because there is 3.6 billion dollars to be made selling these frequencys so even putting up the cash for people to buy the converters they still will make a killing.

[zzyzzx]

Some of us neve stopped using rabbit ear antennas...

[DeadLamb]

from the link

=======
Those really interested in saving a buck and who have a little MacGyver in them could make their own antenna.
[snip]
The 30-year-old has since upgraded his original design using a wire baking sheet, clothes hanger and wood. He mounted it to the side of his house and gets all of his local stations.
=======

Oh I'm sure the neighbors LOVE that.. LOL..

[MJA]

I need a pro installer since I live 70 west of Chicago , so Rabbit Ears,and duck ears will not help me at all

[edDV]

Antennaweb.com will show what stations are available at your address, their direction and distance.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

[tnamrog]

When we bought a HDTV two years ago with built in tuner we were impressed with the great picture over the air. We live outside of Boston MA and get all of the networks digitally as well as additional PBS stations, World, Create and Kids, for free. We went a month with having both cable and and antenna and after a month decided to cancel cable. Especially after it was going up again, $55 for total Basic, thank you Comcrap.

The best was when I called to cancel, when the operator found I didn't have a new carrier tried to negotiate a keep me. First offering the older rate $50/month, then $40/month for 6 months. When I said no it would have to be good for a year, he did the "let me talk to the manager routine" and came back $30/month for a year. If he had offered that to me in the first place I might have bit.

Now I watch my TV for free.

Note; I'm using an old Radioshack antenna in the attic with a booster.

[kush]

I've used a Terk HDTV-i for ~5 years now, both for my LR CRT (NTSC), and as of about a year ago now via my PC (ATSC/Fusion HDTV 5 RT Lite).

I almost succumbed to the sat/cable lure a number of times due to crappy reception on the SD/CRT set, but with my HD card "reception" has been flawless (90-100% signal) for the most part.. Where I'm located (WLA/SM area), I get all the majors, and 3x PBS stations (total of about 10 subs there)..With 3 exceptions -- 1) my ABC affiliate for some reason is hard to tune right (odd considering pretty much everyone that I know of in the LA area broadcasts from the hills above the Hollywood sign), 2) I don't get a 4th PBS I'd like (the San Berdu KCRV? - need outdoor/stronger antenna), and 3) the signal for many stations drop in/out at times especially in high winds/rainy weather (although some maybe issues with the crappier hardware of the basically unsupported Fusion Lite card I have).

I miss (want) channels like Comedy Central/Toon, BBCA, Animal Planet, History (+ Discovery/DIY types + the like), but my HD tuner has provided me with my Simpsons/FG and late-night SP reruns (which is still the bulk of my TV habit when I'm @ my sister's place [multiple DirectTV dishes, full package, no HD boxes tho] every so often)..And besides, no contract locking me in with overpriced, crappy PQ ("standard" cable/sat on SD sets, even more-so w/ an HD set) taking $50+/month for a year or more. I've been thinking of hooking my PC up to my TV to check out what I can get in SD/HD unencrypted cable channels, but I've been too lazy to do so (and don't expect much if anything anyway now that I'm in TW-town).

[dphirschler]

I mounted a $25 Radio Shaft UHF antenna *under* my deck on a wooden spindle. It's low to the ground basically aiming at earth as it slopes upward from there. There is Kennesaw Mountain between my house and downtown Atlanta, and I only aimed the antenna with a compass heading. I live about 25 miles from downtown Atlanta. Result: Perfect HD! Wait until I roof mount it and properly aim it!

I've just mounted a 14" UHF/VHF antenna in my attic. I need the VHF for ABC. I haven't connected it yet, but I have high expectations.


Darryl

[MJA]

I need a pro to do the job for me

[akrako1]

from the article:

Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies.

Can anyone verify this? How much bandwidth are we missing with cable? I'm in Chicago with Comcast. Anyone know how much Comcast is compressing the streams?

Unfortunately, I just have a HD-Ready HD set - no build in tuner... But if the OTA signal would be much better, I'd consider buying an ATSC digital tuner... What're the cheapest ATSC tuners available? Is it the "digital is digital, and perfect" kinda thing, or are there differences in quality between tuners?

[MJA]

Chicago, IL - OTA

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9948893#post9948893


I got this box(i got it $25 cheaper with googlecheckout,and it was $169 at that time)

Samsung DTB-H260F High Definition Terrestrial Tuner

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4144839

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-DTBH260F-HDTV-Terrestrial-Tuner/dp/B000JV6TQY

[akrako1]

That's quite a bit for something I'm looking to add to my existing Comcast setup... for a little extra bandwidth, it doesn't seem to be worth it.

[edDV]

from the article:

Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies.

Can anyone verify this? How much bandwidth are we missing with cable? I'm in Chicago with Comcast. Anyone know how much Comcast is compressing the streams?

Unfortunately, I just have a HD-Ready HD set - no build in tuner... But if the OTA signal would be much better, I'd consider buying an ATSC digital tuner... What're the cheapest ATSC tuners available? Is it the "digital is digital, and perfect" kinda thing, or are there differences in quality between tuners?

The answer is "It all depends"

Over the air quality varies by station. They have 19Mb/s bandwidth that can all go to one HD or like PBS often does, one HD and up to 3 SD in the same 19Mb/s.

Sat is either highly compressed MPeg2 or even more compressed MPeg4. Sat tends to be more compressed than over the air.

Cable compression varies by neighborhood. Older 500MHz cable systems must compress heavily. Newer 750-1000MHz systems can give more bandwidth to HD channels. My recent Comcast system upgrade here is fairly top tier.

The local TV stations get ~45Mb/s feeds from the network or ~100-144Mb/s off their digital VCRs. They down sample at their transmitter for the multiplex over the air feed. They also fiber to Comcast (and Dish/DirecTV) at unknown bit rate. At my location I get these channels over 70 miles of fiber to the last mile as either 20 or 25Mb/s per HD channel. To me this feed looks better than over the air for most channels especially PBS.

Mileage varies.

[MJA]

That's quite a bit for something I'm looking to add to my existing Comcast setup... for a little extra bandwidth, it doesn't seem to be worth it.

I think it is nice to have as a packup

[edDV]

Here is the list of currently available HD/SD digital tuners. These will increase in number and get cheaper as 2009 approaches.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=179095

[otaota]

Antennaweb.com will show what stations are available at your address, their direction and distance.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Has anyone tried this other site? They also have coverage maps available if you have Google Earth installed.

http://www.tvfool.com/


_______________
Chuck

[edDV]

The URL isn't working for me.

Antennaweb uses an advanced topomap database (used by broadcasters) to create the signal strength estimates at your address. Reception is also affected by transmitter power.

Many smaller market stations are currently running their digital stations on temporary transmitters at minimum FCC allowed power until 2009. On the magic day, most stations will change channel assignments and turn on their new full power transmitters.

[SingSing]

This ATSC receiver is one of the better receiver. Does any big box stores carry this model ?

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4144839&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.SAM+DTBH260F



I read many users has to rotate their antenna to get to the stations. Why not use a few antenna and a splitter as a combiner ?

[edDV]

Antenna combiners are a different type of device. See Channelmaster or Wineguard.

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/Jointennas.htm
http://www.tvantenna.com/support/tutorials/combining.html
http://www.terrestrial-digital.com/antenna_recommendations.html

[SingSing]

Passive RF components are bi-directional.

For Analog TV signal, band pass filter is most likely needed.

Mutli-path ghosting is a analog TV only issue.

With DTV signal, the receiver should only work on the strongest signal.

[edDV]

Passive RF components are bi-directional.

For Analog TV signal, band pass filter is most likely needed.

Mutli-path ghosting is a analog TV only issue.

With DTV signal, the receiver should only work on the strongest signal.

"Mutli-path ghosting" is an analog issue but multi-path reception interference is very much a problem for ATSC. This has been a major problem for early ATSC tuners in metro areas or around tall buildings. Combiners that RF bandpass filter are equally important for digital TV and they aren't that expensive.