[mythtv-users] HDTV on Myth -- is it a "myth?"

[Brandon Beattie]

On Mon, Oct 11, 2004 at 09:26:04PM -0700, Jarod Wilson wrote:
> On Oct 11, 2004, at 18:13, jack wrote:
> 
> You don't need a high 80s signal to get a good recording though. My 
> *strongest* signals (I live about 20 miles outside Seattle) are in the 
> high 60s. All the high 60s recordings are perfect. A few of my stations 
> come in with signals in the low 50s, and while I get the occasional 
> failed recording due to lack of signal lock, when they do record, 99% 
> of the video is perfectly fine (every once in a blue moon, there's some 
> pixelization in the video stream where I presume the signal dropped a 
> bit).

I'm about 18 miles from the tower and all my signals are 85%-93%. I also
have a giant oak tree with branches that are possibly high enough to
block some signal.  I also run through 150' of RG6 cable.  I don't
use an amplifier though.  The antenna I use is a $20 yagi I bought from
radio shack.  The biggest help I've had is keeping the antenna outdoors
and using cell phones to watch signal as I moved the antenna.  I do get
some video and audio corruption (Possibly the tree) at times.  I do get
enough during winter that it may not be the tree. I may be getting quite 
a bit of multipath.  Another good tip is get your antenna as high and
stable (wind) as possible.  Never use an antenna indoors.  One sheet of
flywood in my attice was enough to take my signal down to 20%.
You may also want to try an amplifier, but pay attention to how much
noise it may add and what DB it adds. I have seen some that add 10db for
$50 and others that add 25db for $15.  In this case, the signal to noise
ratio was better on the $15 one too.  (I found really no difference in
signal when I tried mine, and I did because 150' of RG6 is a lot of
cable and usually drops a few DB.)

As for hard drive access causing the audio/video corruption I doubt it,
because I've rewound and watched the segment again and it is still
there.

--Brandon