ATSC Antenna

[phenixdragon]

Does anyone have a good recommendation on a ATSC Antenna? I was thinking of picking ut he HDTV Wonder and I know it comes with one but I don't want to spend the funds just in case my reception sucks where I am at. So I wanted to pick up a ATSC Antenna and test it out on my TV since it does have ATSC tuner.

Thanks!

[Kirby]

Just in case you didnt know, there really isnt an "ATSC" antenna. All ATSC signals are sent via normal VHF or UHF signals, so dont go spending extra money on a "HDTV" antenna.

With that said, are you in a UHF only market, or combo market (VHF and UHF)? And how far from the transmitting towers? You might want to check out www.antennaweb.org. Then use the "choose an antenna" button.

[Jesse]

Hi,

I would give the Channel Master 4228 a look. Working great for me.

HTH

[Kirby]

Ok, I looked up a Seattle zipcode and its all UHF for the digital assignments there, so I would echo the CM 4228 suggestion. I have one here in Michigan and works very well on some long range channels (40+ miles).

Depending on your exact location in the Seattle area, you may need a rotor on the antenna, but looking at the map of the tower locations out there, I'm guessing that would be a very rare situation.

[lovingHDTV]

I love my CM 4228, got it at Fry's

[teknubic]

Originally Posted by teknubic's website

i added a pair of high definition tuner cards to the sage server and got a cheapo amplified antenna. let me just say here that high definition rocks. going from standard definition to high definition is sort of like putting corrective lenses on. that is, when the signal comes in. hd is very finicky for reception and if your aerial is off a few degrees, you don't get it. i'll be replacing this aerial with a better one soon.

UPDATE: i went up to the attic to see what kind of room i had to work with between the rafters and what did i find? an ariel and a cable connected to it going... south... somewhere. luckily i've been in the cable-box a couple times and remembered there were 3 that go into the house so i went around and counted cable jacks. i could only find 2 so that meant that the third must come from the antenna. a little trial and error and now we have crystal clear analog and HD.

Moral of the story:

Check your attic.

[Humanzee]

FYI, I hear that comcast in Seattle does all the local channels over open QAM which should negate the need for an antenna at all. I cant speak to this for sure, but I will know in a month or so when we move. Right now I am in an appartment with apartment cable so we don't get any frills like that.

It QAM doesnt work, ill be messing with antennas again too, but we will be moving to Renton so Ill have to point an antenna at Queen Anne, one at Tiger Mountain, and one at Tacoma. oi

[phenixdragon]

Cool thanks. I never played with OTA HDTV so I wasn't sure. I might check out the Channel Master 4228 but actually, what I did was with my PowerColor 550 card I used the FM antenna and all HD channels come in perfectly. Well one doesn't work that well but I was surprised that hte rest came in. It looks though comercials and some shows the sound isn't working correctly as it is dead. Like I coudl be watching a show fine and once it hits commercials some won't have sound. Kind of wieird of just a bad signal so maybe the 4428 would work.

So I'm going to order an HDTV card here shortly.

[hemicuda]

Any suggestions on a VHF/UHF antenna I can stick in the attic? I ran an extra coax up there before the builders sheetrocked the new house; just in case

Edit: oh yeah, AntennaWeb suggested a medium-range, omni to get all the immediate locals

[Kirby]

skip Omni. they are evil.

You would be better off with a directional UHF/VHF on a rotor, if you can deal with it. What zip are you in?

[jlabrue]

I don't live far from the antennas in my area but I think you are definintely going the right way by putting it in the attic. I can see the towers from my house but couldn't pick up several channels very well and with a simple directional antenna from the local Lowe's (either their small or medium) I have ZERO problems with HD and I am so glad I did it. I don't think any attic antenna will be that much better than any other as long as it is big enough for your area. If you already ran the cable USE IT you won't be sorry. Besides it costs the same for an 8 ft attic antenna as it does for a glorified set of amplified rabbit-ears

[teknubic]

hmmmm... amplified rabbit-ears....



Now how do you suppose that gets plugged in?

[phenixdragon]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

FYI, I hear that comcast in Seattle does all the local channels over open QAM which should negate the need for an antenna at all. I cant speak to this for sure, but I will know in a month or so when we move. Right now I am in an appartment with apartment cable so we don't get any frills like that.

It QAM doesnt work, ill be messing with antennas again too, but we will be moving to Renton so Ill have to point an antenna at Queen Anne, one at Tiger Mountain, and one at Tacoma. oi

Actually I am in Bellevue but I am pretty sure there isn't a diffrence between Comcast in Seattle and in Bellevue. Could be wrong though.

But what are you saying is that I could just plug the coax directly from the wall into the HDTV card? That's if they aren't doing QAM. I don't know much about the HD cards so I am learning here.

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hi,

I would give the Channel Master 4228 a look. Working great for me.

HTH

I would but I just rent my house and actually I might be moving somewhere else soon but haven't decided yet. But either way, I don't think my landlord would like something like this on his house. I have to stick with something on top of the TV unless if I am understanding Humanzee correctly then I don't need it anyway.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by phenixdragon

Actually I am in Bellevue but I am pretty sure there isn't a diffrence between Comcast in Seattle and in Bellevue. Could be wrong though.

But what are you saying is that I could just plug the coax directly from the wall into the HDTV card? That's if they aren't doing QAM. I don't know much about the HD cards so I am learning here.

I am in Bellevue too, for about 3 more weeks anyway, we are on Millenium cable at our apartment. Millenium doesn't do HDTV at all but I know that Comcast does. QAM basically = Digital Cable. If your provider has digital cable they are likely using the QAM technique (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) to deliver their content. Now that content can be open, which we hope for, or encrypted. If it is encrypted we need a digital set top box or cable card to decode the encryption based on what we have subsribed to. I believe that the cable companies that do have HDTV channels are required to leave the OTA network channels open. Other HD channels like DiscoveryHD or HBO are going to be encrypted. It is, however, possible for the provider to encrypt anything at any time.

So, you "should" be able to plug the cable straight into your QAM capable hdtv card and pick up those HD channels that comcast carries that are not encrypted with 5C (what ever that is). Anyway, you should be able to get the major networks.

I just have a little antenna like the one in the link for our set up in Bellevue. It works ok, but not great. We are on the top floor so thats an advantage. It came free with my capture card, so I couldn't really lose by trying it. http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_disp...T=&PROD=ZHDTV1
All the local digital channels here are on the UHF band so really any old tv antenna should work. Then if your reception is poor you can upgrade later. The house we bought in Renton has an old antenna up on the chimney. Its a bit worse for wear but I am going to try it out anyway.

[phenixdragon]

Cool thanks for the info. I did try to plug my cable directly into my TV and it worked. No local HD channels but I know my land lord only has basic basic here but thinks today they are supposed to up it higher. But maybe he was wrong on the day since its like 4pm and they still haven't came out to do it. But when he did have extended basic, or whatever they call it, I was able to tune in HD locals just fine with a cable box that I own where as now I can't. But I was able to tune all the channels that I get now through NTSC through my ATSC tuner on my TV so I never new you could do that.

But I did order the DVICO FusionHDTV 5 RT Lite for 2 reasons. It does QAM, which sounds like it won't matter, and also I found it coming with a Philips PHDTV1. Total price was like $108 shipped. I just don't think it will come in until Monday.

I have to say that I also don't think Comcast encrypts anything in this area. I say that because I use to record any channel I wanted to through firewire. Which I would still do that now but...I was spending extra funds on 2 cable boxes and fored to pay for the HDTV challens even though I was getting them for free before.

[phenixdragon]

Hey so actually hers an idea I have. If I split my cable signal too many times, the quality will suffer a lot. So I am deciding on if I shoudl get an 8 port amp or 2 4 ports. I may want 2 4 ports since I may have to use OTA I could hook the OTA seperatly from the analo cable/cable modem.

If I did an 8 port I would need to run 4 lines to the PC, 2 to the TV and 1 to the cable modem. That would all be coming from Comcast if QAM is open. If not, then I would just need 2 4 ports. So 2 analog lines from Comcast to the PC, 1 to the cable modem and 1 to the TV. Then the other 4 port hub woudl use OTA DTV so 2 to the PC and 1 to the TV.

Now I dont actually need anything to the TV but since I can then I don't mind.

Sooo....my question I guess is this, will somethign like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTROLINE-4-PO...QQcmdZViewItem work with an antenna that isn't amplified? Like would an amplified splitter inprove the signal quality?

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by phenixdragon

Sooo....my question I guess is this, will somethign like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTROLINE-4-PO...QQcmdZViewItem work with an antenna that isn't amplified? Like would an amplified splitter inprove the signal quality?

Here is your test, plug your antenna into one capture device. Set it up, adjust it, fiddle with it then check your reception. If it is clear then you know that your antenna and reception are good. If not, get a better antenna or go higher. Once you have a clear satisfactory signal split it up 8 times or what ever you plan. If your reception is then bad, its likely because the signal has become too weak and its time for your amplifier. Amplifiers do just what their name indicates, if you have bad reception because of an inadequate or improperly aligned antenna then the amplifier will only amplify your bad signal.

[phenixdragon]

Ya that’s what I thought too. May some forums I was reading what the problems people where having was just a weak line inside the home which was causing them issues.

So maybe I will start off with a 4 way splitter to start with and see how that works and just split my analog lines. If I have to go with OTA HDTV I actually don’t see how a couple of feet of cabling will cause any issues. Its possible but I doubt it.

But sadly, I don’t think the first of the 2 cards I am getting will be in until Monday. So I have to wait.

[doublebogey]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Ok, I looked up a Seattle zipcode and its all UHF for the digital assignments there, so I would echo the CM 4228 suggestion. I have one here in Michigan and works very well on some long range channels (40+ miles).

Depending on your exact location in the Seattle area, you may need a rotor on the antenna, but looking at the map of the tower locations out there, I'm guessing that would be a very rare situation.

Kirby...

I'm in Michigan as well. Do I understand correctly that I don't need an HD antenna to get the ota HD channels? I do still need some sort of antenna, though if I'm reading this right?

Thanks,

Phil

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by doublebogey

Kirby...

I'm in Michigan as well. Do I understand correctly that I don't need an HD antenna to get the ota HD channels? I do still need some sort of antenna, though if I'm reading this right?

Thanks,

Phil

If you have an old free antenna, try it, but chances are that you will get a better signal with an antenna that is designed specifically for HDTV. That being said there is no super secret magic to HDTV antenna's that makes them a lot different than a regular TV antenna. As long as your antenna resonates at a frequency similar to what you are trying to tune in you should be able get some signal. You can get antenna's that are tuned to specific bands or even specific frequencies. I'm just saying that you should try something free or second hand before you buy something that is marketed to you as an "HDTV" antenna.

Just think of the rabbit ear days. For some folks rabbit ears work fine and they can get all the channels clearly, for others they need a 50 ft tower with a rotator and an amplifier. The same thing applies today, start with the cheap and easy, you might get lucky. If you have to buy something, check out the http://www.antennaweb.org/ site, which should help you decide what to get.