Uncreative Labs

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 594 Location: Western NC

So being without employment (again), I decide a few weeks ago to see if I could install an antenna on the roof (in case I decide to forgo satellite) and get a few channels. Due to the "wonders" of HDTV and all the crap that goes with it, all I could get was 3 lousy PBS channels. I remember growing up in the late 1960's getting 3 network channels (2 CBS, 1 NBC --- never saw a live ABC show at home until I got C-Band back in '90), and at my grandmother's house (further up on a hill) she was able to get 7 different stations (3 CBS, 1 NBC, 1 ABC, 1 independent, 1 PBS). That's progress for you.... Evil or Very Mad

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

we are north ob blue mountain and the lehigh river about 30 miles west and north of allentown pa.
the wilkes barre scranton stations are all UHF and we have a uhf corner reflector antenna ( from an all band tv antenna) on the chimney.
previously I could aim north and get 16,22,28 ( networks) and almost the pbs, it is a 40 mile shot up the valley.

we are at 1050 feet. with the datastream tv converter, I can get 11. some are 2 channels on the 3 network stations. plus a pbs,.

the inside "spider on a pole
the hill to the south is about at the same height and phila is 60-70 miles- only shadows.

NY? I think the blue moutain to the east is higher and NY is 120 miles away.

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:38 am

I'm curious... has anyone noticed better reception now that the big switch has happened? My reception was pretty good before the switch, so I don't have much of anything to compare to. The (flawed) theory was that analog TV interfered with Digital signals and the weaker digital signals would seem stronger when the analog was turned off.

Good luck with the antennas, I'm hoping Dish Network adds the digital sub channels soon!

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

I do not see any changes
HOWEVER, Our setup has changed.
about a year ago the tuner in the RCA tv became flakey. (bad solder joints) and we used the RCA vcr as a tuner.
later the RCA vcr started eating tapes.
we purchased a sony VCR ( for $8.00)
and the specs say it has a comb filter and other improvements.
SO the slight improvement in our TV picrure may be from a better tuner
we still can watch tv straight from the tv tuner and see no real difference.
( tv has both cable and audio/video inpuits)
with the dtv bot - don't think there is much of a difference -- if any.
I have a zenith box I will try next.
and a friend's box purchased on the internet
my neigbor with a dish sees no difference.
and he has a hdtv.

Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 261 Location: WisConSin

That depends on what you call reception, if its picture quality then yes it is better, if its how well do you pick up channels I would say its much worse.

You need different antennas and if your reception of certain channels was poor before AKA snowy and static you can't pick them up at all now without major changes. My Grandmother can't get any TV channel in the UP and she has no other method of getting TV.

As to the best converter box, I strongly recommend Insignia at best buy over any other. Between me and my grandmother and my parents we have 4 boxes all different brands.

The best is the Insignia because I CAN MANUALLY TYPE IN A CHANNEL< PUT UP THE SIGNAL METER AND VIEW IT WITHOUT THE BOX FINDING IT, PLUS I CAN ADD AND REMOVE FROM THE CHANNEL LIST MANUALLY.

Trust me if the box won't allow you to tune to channels manually that it can't find there is no way to adjust your antenna to find them after the fact without loosing others. Also that is the big pain if the channel is right on top of you, you always have to move the antenna or the channel with freeze randomly and kick out.

That is the biggest PITA of most of these cheaper boxes, unless it finds the channel you have no real way of adding it later.

Good Luck
Ryan

Puckdropper wrote:

I'm curious... has anyone noticed better reception now that the big switch has happened? My reception was pretty good before the switch, so I don't have much of anything to compare to. The (flawed) theory was that analog TV interfered with Digital signals and the weaker digital signals would seem stronger when the analog was turned off.

Good luck with the antennas, I'm hoping Dish Network adds the digital sub channels soon!

Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 274 Location: USA

i still have 1/2 analog channels i can recieve over the air, picture is very fuzzy, and audio is ok, seems to be what was channel 4.. i haven't tried a dtv converter box yet as i get comcast cable crap as well. there is only one tv in my house hooked to digital cable. a 1984 rca xl-100 rest are analog cable/antenae

Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 36 Location: USA

I remember back when everyone had an antenna here (before cable was available in this area) and although you could get all three networks the picture wasn't great, but it was quite watchable.

That's the trouble with digital broadcasts, you either get a crystal clear picture or you get nothing. No snow or fuzzy picture, just a black screen.

One of my neighbors still had an antenna as he only watched the networks anyway. As of the switchover no channels can be received here any longer.

Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Lynnwood,WA

The only thing I've notice since the switch, being as I don't give 2 craps about TV anymore and only use mine as a monitor for old computers and video games, is that now my Atari 2600 RF switch picks up far less interference than it ever has. I literally have a picture almost as good as an RCA connection, probably due to less interference from the analog TV stations that now no longer exist.

Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 8

Yeah, I'd be glad to go back to analog TV - this digital TV has fewer channels, it breaks up and the sound is interrupted every other second on a rainy or windy day, and I can't use the portable TV anymore. Went from 5-6 channels to 2-3.

Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 127 Location: LI, NY

I can't really say much as I am not currently using antennae tv. I remember during the national switch over though that I didn't think it was necessary.

From what I remember, wasn't it because the government wanted to open the prior tv frequency bandwidth for reselling?

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

I get way more channels with digital then with the old analog, perfect reception using a rooftop antenna (on the digital channels).

13 CFCW, fuzzy analog
21-1 WFMJ-HD
21-2 WBCW
27-1 WKBN-HD
27-2 WYFX-HD
29 a fuzzy analog channel?
31 a fuzzy analog channel?
33-1 WYTV-DT
33-2 My-YTV
33-3 Weather channel
45-1 WNEO-D1
45-2 WNEO-D2
45-3 WNEO-D3
45-4 WNEO-D4
52 WLDI (works sometimes no idea what it is)
62- CWB Analog?

I normally watch WYFX-HD at nite (local FOX affiliate, guess they have a low power analog signal on 62).

Before the switch we basically had 21,27,33 and 45 which is PBS (1 channel) and maybe a local cleveland channel 8.

So I can't complain (except for the programming they show), the signal is SO much better and is either 720P or 1080i depending on the channel.