Freedom from Pay-TV!

[retro junkie]

Thought I would share,
With the local electric rates going up, other prices, etc, etc, and having a tight budget,
I have cut the umbilical cord of cable TV this week. I am enjoying the Freedom of Free Digital TV over an antenna with my converter box! At this time, I am picking up 7 stations which turns into 16 channels, that includes their substations. Some of those stations have not begun to use that extra advantage to have more than one channel. A lot of programming here, with more to come by this February. I am now looking forward to when the remaining stations, in my area, begin broadcasting at full power using the Digital signal. I am blown away by the clear sharp vivid bold color. Love the menu that you can make drop down to see the programming on a particular channel.

The only thing that is hard to get used to is using the tuner on the converter box instead of my VHS and DVD recorder. But that is one of the quirks of having analog equipment and enjoying the Free Digital Broadcast.

Having a great time.

edit: I do have one question. I have been eyeing the DVD recorders with digital tuners. They have a RCA Component Video Output. Is this output compatible with my analog TV? Excuse my ignorance, with the change, some things have become somewhat confusing. If so, then this can be an easy route for me to get my tuner back without having to purchase a new TV yet.

[jjeff]

If you have a older TV with a RCA input it's more than likely a yellow composite input which the DVDR would also output. Some analog TVs had component inputs but not too many.
With both a digital tuner DVDR and a converter box you'd have the advantage of being able to record one digital channel while watching a different one. Another advantage of the DVDR is you'd be able to record from multiple channels and not have to change the converter box between each event.
The down side to the digital tuner in most DVDRs is they are somewhat slow to surf channels. A good CECB like the Zenith is much faster to surf channels, if that's important to you.
Welcome to the "Free TV" club

[retro junkie]

I have a Panasonic Tau 27" analog TV that has two sets of RCA Component Video inputs, one in the back and one in the front. It even has a Progressive scan input in the back. I have been using the Progressive scan input for the DVD player that I use to watch DVD movies. The DVD player utilizes that particular feature. I have been using one of the RCA Component Video inputs for my DVD recorder, that I use to archive TV programs.

Thanks for your reply. It clears that question up for me. It will help me in my next purchase of a DVD recorder. I had assumed that if something is analog then every signal must be analog and if it is digital then all signals are digital.

Wait a minute, maybe I am confusing the Yellow, White, and Red RCA input with the Red, Green, and Blue. I do have a DVD play that has that Red, Green, and Blue output.

What is the Yellow, White, and Red RCA input called? Is it just a form of analog?

[jman98]

retro junkie - Consider yourself lucky. I live within 12 miles of almost all the broadcast towers in my city and the only major network channel I can get reliably over the air is Fox. I had to pay Comcast for a cable box to be able to get a reliable HD signal to my house. I suppose I could go to the trouble of putting up an antenna and it MIGHT (or might not) help, but I just decided to pay extra each month for the HD channels via cable as they work reliably.

I think you are using the wrong terminology though. Component video has THREE separate connections for just video. When you see the old yellow, red and white connectors, you are seeing COMPOSITE video (yellow) and 2 audo connectors (red and white). VERY BIG difference. Composite and component are both analog, but component is equivalent to DVI and HDMI video signals. It's an extremely high quality analog signal that almost nobody can distinguish from high quality digital signals like DVI and HDMI.
Composite video is actually as low a quality video output as you can get.
S-video is superior and even that looks like crap compared to component.

[usually_quiet]

Some better CRT TV's had 3 types of video connections. S-Video (the one that resembles a PC's keyboard port) Component video (red-blue-green in color, Labled PR, PB, Y/Video) and Composite Video (Yellow, and normally found with red and white audio connectors).

If your TV has S-Video or Component, those would be the best ones to use with a DVD recorder or DVD player. As jman98 said, component is the better of the two. If at some point you need closed captions to be controlled by your TV, you may need to use a composite video connection (the yellow port), and you will need to turn off progressive scan on whatever is playing the DVD. However, S-Video and Composite video connections located in the same input section can't be used at the same time.

Only a few coupon elegible converter boxes have S-Video out, and none are permitted to have component output (red-blue-green in color, Labled PR, PB, Y/Video). The Channel Master CM-7000 and a couple of Apex boxes are the only ones that have S-Video out. Since S-Video provides a superior picture, with your TV, it may be worthwhile for you to get a converter box that has it.

[retro junkie]

retro junkie - Consider yourself lucky. I live within 12 miles of almost all the broadcast towers in my city and the only major network channel I can get reliably over the air is Fox. I had to pay Comcast for a cable box to be able to get a reliable HD signal to my house. I suppose I could go to the trouble of putting up an antenna and it MIGHT (or might not) help, but I just decided to pay extra each month for the HD channels via cable as they work reliably.

I live at least 50 miles from the nearest towers in my area. I live in town and my house is on top of a hill. I have a small "Cornet ET-3A" brand antenna. Only about a little over two feet in length. It has a built-in signal amplifier. Supposed to pick up 85 miles away. The unit seems cheaply made. I had to do a little moding on it just to releave any worries that it might be blown apart by a stiff breeze. It has a built-in rotor, but being made in China, it only works, "maybe" at times. So I do not use the rotor at all. I picked the unit up off of ebay for around $40.00. I only got it because I was very curious about free digital broadcasting. I was really just playing around with it and was very surprised at what I was picking up with the unit laying in the floor of my house, so I mounted it outside. Really there are more channels that I will be able to pick up, but I will need a good rotor. You need to have the antenna pointed right at the tower to pick up the signal right. And yes I do live in a good spot. I am in Kentucky and the 16 channels are out of Nashville, Tenn. I have several other directions I can point in and get other channels.

I am still a bit confused as to whether the DVD recorders with a digital tuner will work with my Panasonic CT27SC13G analog TV set? Will they connect and work OK? Are those type of DVD recorders only outputing a digital signal?

[jjeff]

[quote="retro junkie"]

I am still a bit confused as to whether the DVD recorders with a digital tuner will work with my Panasonic CT27SC13G analog TV set? Will they connect and work OK? Are those type of DVD recorders only outputing a digital signal?

Either DVDR will work with your analog TV. Just use the best input your TV has Component(red green blue) first choice and S-video second choice. The DVDR w/digital tuner will do the digital to analog conversion for you. If you go the converter box (CECB) route I'd suggest the CM-7000. It has S-video output and IMO has better PQ than the Apex with S-video or any other box with composite(yellow) output.
Note with most all DVDRs the tuners are rather slow to channel surf and are not as well featured as even a $60 CECB.

[retro junkie]

I already have two converter boxes, the Magnavox TB100MW9 and the Magnavox TB100MG9. If the S-video connection can give me a better picture, all I can say is WOW.
Right now, what I am recieving over the antenna with my Magnavox converter box is 100 times better, if not more, than what my local cable provider could ever deliver into my home. Their signal was so grainy and the sound varied channel to channel. Colors were faded too. I guess you can see why I am so excited.

The digital audio is amazing. Finally my stereo TV is sounding like it is stereo.

And thanks for the info.