OTA Reception using ATI HDTV Wonder and PVR-150 vs. Dish Receiver

[gtd885a]

Hope this is in the right place...

Some background: I have been away from SageTV for a while now. I used to have Charter and a Motorola cable box (DCT6200 maybe?) that I recorded HD over firewire. After becoming frustrated with only being able to record OTA channels because of 5-c, we signed our life away to Dish and got the Vip722 right after it came out. Our 18 month "contract" is almost over finally, and we wanted to look into SageTV again. While the Vip722 is a decent PVR, we really missed SageTV. Plus, we're tired of paying so much when 75% of what we watch is OTA (and can live without the other 25%).

Anyway, I have been using the antenna from the ATI HDTV Wonder to pick up local HD broadcasts on the Dish receiver. We are pretty far from the sources (40+ miles), but we can pick up about 20 OTA channels pretty strongly. So, I was confident that we would be able to pick up at least a few OTA channels using either/both the ATI HDTV Wonder or the PVR-150. However, with the ATI card, we can only pick up one channel, and with the PVR-150, we can't pick up any.

Does that sound right, or is it possible that I'm doing something wrong? Is the Dish receiver really that much better at picking up OTA signals?

[gplasky]

The PVR150 is an analog tuner so that won't be picking up any HD. If you're 40 miles away and depending on your antenna its realistic that the ATI could only pick up one and Dish could receive more. Go to tvfool.com and find out what you should or shouldn't be receiving.

Gerry

[gtd885a]

Thanks for the site. Yeah, I know the pvr-150 is only analog, I just wasn't picking up anything at all with it, either, which I thought was odd.

It looks like I'm a little closer than I thought - 29-33 miles from the stations I'm trying to get. 5 are green, and another 12 or so are yellow. I'm going to keep trying.

[gtd885a]

Ok, so, I had moved the antenna upstairs (where I had the htpc at the moment) and placed it in the window (seemed to be a clear view in the right direction). I assumed this would give the best reception. But, as I originally posted, I could only pick up 1 channel from there.

Just for the heck of it, I brought the htpc downstairs and hooked up the antenna there. Now it recognizes 20 channels! Not all of them are clear, but it's a big improvement. It's really odd, because it's 12 feet lower, and it's in the middle of the house instead of the outside (even pointed towards the middle of the house instead of away from it). The only difference might be the location of my neighbor's house.

I guess I will be looking for an attic/outdoor antenna, now.

Edit: now, as far as ditching the Dish, I guess the best/only way to get any of my HD content off is by getting a Hauppauge HD-PVR, right?