[mythtv-users] Chicagoland services - Comcast, WoW, DirectTV, Dish...

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/03/2007 03:10 PM, Andrew Close wrote:
> On 4/3/07, Donald Webster <fryfrog at gmail.com> wrote:
> yeah, if i pay for service i hope for better quality than i'm getting
> for my current over the air channels (shouldn't be too difficult :)
> and i would like Discovery, History, HGTV, & TLC.  Those in HD would
> be bonus.
> since i don't currently have cable, maybe i'll try out the HDHR and
> see if that improves my picture quality at all.  but i'm guessing if
> my OTA service is currently average/poor, then my OTA HD will be
> poor/non-existant...

Not so sure I would agree with that last statement.  (But, I'm in 
central Florida, so I'm not saying you'll have the same results as me.)

I have a Terk TV-38 (31.5"H x 111"W x 149.75"L) antenna mounted in my 
attic.  It's a "pink" (violet + 1) large directional antenna.  I also 
have a powered amp hooked up 12 inches from the antenna (primarily 
because I have a 4-way splitter on the line).

With this setup I can receive 1 analog channel (my CW channel) and it's 
snowy enough that it's not worth watching (I like "Veronica Mars," but 
I'm not a big fan of "Veronica, transmitting from Mars").

However, I can get /all/ of the major networks via digital signals.  
That means I have an affiliate of NBC, CBS, ABC, CW, Fox, MyTV, and 
(actually 3) PBS.  All of my local stations carrying these is 
transmitting in 720p or 1080i.

So why do I get all the digital stations, but none of the analog ones?  
My theory is the digital cliff...  Since the FCC has a requirement that 
OTA TV broadcasts be "class B" or better reception for all customers 
within a designated market area, the stations aimed for that bar (and 
not a millimeter higher).  Technically, I have class B reception of all 
my analog stations--even though any person would consider it completely 
unusable.

However, with digital, (ignoring signal variations over time) you'll get 
a good picture with any signal level up to a point--at which there will 
be so many errors in the stream that it's impossible to decode the video 
(i.e. you've dropped off the digital cliff).  Therefore, with HDTV, 
there's really no such thing as "class B" reception.  Everyone "makes 
the grade" with HDTV.

Oh, and there's also the very important point that from my house, every 
single HDTV station is broadcasting within a 5 degree range, so I've 
pointed my (directional) antenna to the middle of that arc and have 
great reception.  If your stations are spread out (use 
http://antennaweb.org/ to find out), you may need a rotor or multiple 
antennae.

And the quality of the HDTV OTA channels is likely to be higher than 
that of the cable-provided HDTV versions of those OTA channels in just 
about any market.  A lot of cable companies decrease the bitrate 
(re-quanitize or re-encode--anyone know?) of the video they receive so 
they can fit more channels on their lines.  I can definitely see a 
difference between my OTA channels and those my friends (who all use 
cable) get.  Granted, I have to be looking for the difference, but this 
is one of the few cases where you get more for what you don't pay for.

Mike