[mythtv-users] Broadcast flag thrown out

Brad Templeton brad+myth at templetons.com
Mon May 9 05:49:17 UTC 2005


On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 03:58:41PM -0400, Brian J. Murrell wrote:
> I doubt there is anywhere in Canada that can receive any of the big US
> networks.  Can smaller Canadian cities near larger US ones get the
> content floating over the border the we can with snowy analog channels
> if the wind is blowing right?  Somehow I doubt it.  Being digital I can
> imagine you need a clear signal or you get no signal at all rather than
> the equivalent of just a snowy analog signal.

Not my experience.   Living 18 years in Mississauga, we were able to
receive Buffalo UHF stations without much difficulty, so I don't see
why a good quality UHF antenna would not pick up the Buffalo stations.
Ditto Windor to Detroit etc.

But yes, if not near a US city you might have trouble until the Canadian
stations switch.

It is an interesting question if they will if not forced the way US
stations switch.

Broadcast TV is largely irrelvant, a legacy corporate welfare gift to
the members of the NAB, immensely valuable spectrum used to get
TV to a tiny fraction of the population  were, at least before DTV,
the tail end of the late adopter curve.

So in Canada, where most everybody has cable or satellite, I could
see the argument about not buying a card because you don't believe
ATSC or unencrypted QAM will go places.


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