Broadcast Digital TV

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

quote:Originally posted by Neptune

Anyone using a digital tuner?  Are you using a regular or digital antennae?  If so, what kind of (or how many) channels you getting?  Problems, complaints?

I get all my TV via free broadcast and have been using converter boxes with my still perfectly fine analog TV's for the past 10 months.  I live in midtown Tulsa, 26th & Yale area and can currently receive the following digital stations:

2.1, 2.2
6.1, 6.2
8.1, 8.2, 8.3
11.1, 11.2
23.1
35.1, 35.2
41.1, 41.2
44.1, 44.2, 44.3, 44.4
47.1
51.1
53.1
73.1, 73.2, 73.3, 73.4

I will rescan after 2-17 and in the future for possible changes.

I use conventional indoor rabbit ear antennas, the same ones I used for analog reception.  So called "digital antennas" are a fraud.  My reception is very good in normal weather, but in periods of high winds or storms, I have reception problems, just like good old analog.  The only difference is with analog, I could still generally watch the picture with snowy interferrence, but with digital the station becomes totally unwatchable with pixellation and the sound cutting out.  So much for "progress."

You ought to rescan now; KOTV has 6-3 and KTUL has 8-3, 17 goes from 1-5; I just scanned tonight using that same antenna setup I linked to in my previous post.  I'm uploading images I took tonight of all channels I can receive over the air on my Toshiba 42 inch HDTV, including the remaining analog channels.

Here's a link to the slideshow; the last two are of the setup I have mounted to the corner of my awning in the back yard, pointed to the SE.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/sets/72157613713749429/show/

For those who want to view them manually, visit at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/sets/72157613713749429/detail/

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by Hoss

quote:Originally posted by Steve

quote:Originally posted by Neptune

Anyone using a digital tuner?  Are you using a regular or digital antennae?  If so, what kind of (or how many) channels you getting?  Problems, complaints?

I get all my TV via free broadcast and have been using converter boxes with my still perfectly fine analog TV's for the past 10 months.  I live in midtown Tulsa, 26th & Yale area and can currently receive the following digital stations:

2.1, 2.2
6.1, 6.2
8.1, 8.2, 8.3
11.1, 11.2
23.1
35.1, 35.2
41.1, 41.2
44.1, 44.2, 44.3, 44.4
47.1
51.1
53.1
73.1, 73.2, 73.3, 73.4

I will rescan after 2-17 and in the future for possible changes.

I use conventional indoor rabbit ear antennas, the same ones I used for analog reception.  So called "digital antennas" are a fraud.  My reception is very good in normal weather, but in periods of high winds or storms, I have reception problems, just like good old analog.  The only difference is with analog, I could still generally watch the picture with snowy interferrence, but with digital the station becomes totally unwatchable with pixellation and the sound cutting out.  So much for "progress."

You ought to rescan now; KOTV has 6-3 and KTUL has 8-3, 17 goes from 1-5; I just scanned tonight using that same antenna setup I linked to in my previous post.  I'm uploading images I took tonight of all channels I can receive over the air on my Toshiba 42 inch HDTV, including the remaining analog channels.

Here's a link to the slideshow; the last two are of the setup I have mounted to the corner of my awning in the back yard, pointed to the SE.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/sets/72157613713749429/show/

For those who want to view them manually, visit at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/sets/72157613713749429/detail/

Thanks Hoss.  I just rescanned and picked up was 6.3 on both my TV's but only picked up 17 on my little bedroom TV.  At least now I can watch "The Patty Duke Show" at 4:00 AM on 6.3.  Which brings up another point, now that broadcast stations have triple the broadcast ability.  It certainly doesn't translate to triple the content quality.  Although I will admit I enjoy watching "Leave It To Beaver" on 8.3!

If you have 30 free channels or 500 channels that you waste money on, TV is still largely a "vast wasteland."  It will be interesting to see in the coming years how broadcast stations take advantage of their additional channels.  So far, I am not impressed.

[rwarn17588]

I don't have cable, but am picking up 18 to 20 digital stations with my $40 converter box and a nice set of $25 rabbit ears I bought about a year ago at Radio Shack.

I have a five-year-old Sanyo 19-inch TV, and honestly, I couldn't be happier with the picture quality. I think you'll see a lot of people dumping their cable or scaling it back.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

Last week I bought a new TV at Wal-Mart, it's a CRT type by RCA for only $138.00 with a 20" picture. It has a digital & analog tuner, and I like the analog better- The digital picture keeps breaking up so I guess I need a better antenna for digital. The TV has a switch to change from analog to digital signals. The TV is not progressive scan, it's just a regular interlaced set with SDTV displays. It shows digital but only at about 500 lines, it's not High def. It's not a bad TV for the money the picture is very clear and it does not have all the bugs like those expensive flat screens have.

If it had 500 scan lines it would be an EDTV, not an SDTV.

[sauerkraut]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

Last week I bought a new TV at Wal-Mart, it's a CRT type by RCA for only $138.00 with a 20" picture. It has a digital & analog tuner, and I like the analog better- The digital picture keeps breaking up so I guess I need a better antenna for digital. The TV has a switch to change from analog to digital signals. The TV is not progressive scan, it's just a regular interlaced set with SDTV displays. It shows digital but only at about 500 lines, it's not High def. It's not a bad TV for the money the picture is very clear and it does not have all the bugs like those expensive flat screens have.

If it had 500 scan lines it would be an EDTV, not an SDTV.

The carton the set came in says it's a SDTV, I think it's really like 485 lines or so interlaced, but that's close enough to round it off to 500 lines. The set is at Wal Mart, a RCA 20" CRT for $138.00 I'm very happy with it. It also has tons of jacks for the VCR & DVD player. That's all the TV I need, not many good shows  are  on TV any how. I have a converter box for my 13" TV/VCR combo unit it makes recording TV shows a snap. I still like to watch in analog.[B)]

[sauerkraut]

quote:Originally posted by BKDotCom

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I dunno why any station would want to shut off it's analog befor June 12th, they will be losing alot of analog viewers and viewers are ratings and ratings are money.... "Analog Forever"[]

Operating costs of the analog towers = aprox $12000 / month.  OETA has 5 or so towers and hadn't budgeted past Feb 17th.  The analog folks should have their converter boxes by now...

I know that's what they say, but I can't how it can cost that much.-Even so, That is still not really alot of money for a TV station, the stations make alot of money on commericals. The company I work for spends about $10,000+ a month on it's electric bill.

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I know that's what they say, but I can't how it can cost that much.

Analog TV signals are often broadcasted at a million watts. That's probably at least 1.2 million watts after accounting for thermal losses in the transmitter, wire, and antenna. That's over 28 thousand kilowatt hours per day.

On digital, stations won't be broadcasting at more than a couple hundred thousand watts. (you don't need as high of a signal to noise ratio in the receiver to successfully decode the digital signal)

[patric]

Now I understand the FCC is asking at least one major broadcaster in each market to continue broadcasting in analog in the event there is a disaster.
That makes a lot of sense, but it really shouldnt have been an afterthought.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by patric

Now I understand the FCC is asking at least one major broadcaster in each market to continue broadcasting in analog in the event there is a disaster.
That makes a lot of sense, but it really shouldnt have been an afterthought.

What of this process wasn't an afterthought.

Now if only the TV manufacturers had done what they were supposed to and quit selling TVs without a digital tuner 5 years ago, this wouldn't have been that much of an issue.

[sauerkraut]

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

[Townsend]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

We've known about it for years.  There will still be people asking for a delay in June because they're still not ready.  I procrastinate but damn.

[sauerkraut]

quote:Originally posted by Townsend

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

We've known about it for years.  There will still be people asking for a delay in June because they're still not ready.  I procrastinate but damn.

We have known about it for years but TV makers kept building analog tuners in their TV sets and converter boxes were not sold until about  two years ago, now suddenly everyone has to jump on the digital bandwagon. I wonder if any other nations have gone to digital TV? Japan was using high def analog TV I guess they still are. Europe has "PAL" TV..

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

you still have a VCR?

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by swake

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

you still have a VCR?

Hell, I thought they quit making tapes!  []

[Neptune]

quote:Originally posted by Hoss

quote:Originally posted by swake

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

What good is a June 12th date if many stations are changing over Feb. 17th? The FCC should require all stations keep analog to June 12th.. The TV makers should of put in digital tuners back in 1996 when they first knew that digital TV was coming, the same goes for the VCR's. The government only required digital tuners be put in TV sets around 2003 or so and only for the big TV sets.[xx(]

you still have a VCR?

Hell, I thought they quit making tapes!  []

What's a VCR?