[mythtv-users] Indoor HD antenna question

[Barry Martin]

Hi Ashu!

First I'll start off by stating  I am definitely not an expert but more 
of an 'advanced novice' (though in some instance....) Anyway....

> I wanted to play with indoor antenna so bought a SKY antenna.

There are advantages and disadvantages to indoor (and outdoor) 
antennae.  The good news is the indoor is protected from wind, rain, 
etc.; the bad news is the materials protecting your indoor antenna will 
decrease your signal strength.  A wood roof with shingles I think cuts 
the signal by almost half, metal will essentially kill all the signal 
(Faraday Cage).  Assuming no metal in the way moving the antenna a few 
feet can make a lot of difference in the signal strength.  I have 
several indoor antennae here at the house and it's very true!  I was 
experimenting with an RCA1050 bat-wing style indoor antenna and moved it 
form one side of a picture I was using to hold it -- received a weak 
station on the left but not the right!

Point your antenna towards transmitter, not the studio.  Locally 
"Channel 6" has its studios about five miles west of the house but the 
transmitter is about 20 miles SSE.  Wikipedia, RabbitEars.info, 
TVFool.com, etc. etc., "DTV Antennas" for phones and tablets, will give 
locations/compass directions.



> Over the last few years, I have been using my cable DVR and myth for
> Video/Music/Pictures.
>
> I want to see how the TV piece would work. Can someone pls point me to a
> step-by-step on how to get the HD antenna (like Mohu Leaf or what I have -
> Sky HD antenna) working?

Don't know if there's anything special other than "point and shot".   
The less in the way the better (almost just like photography!).  Was 
scanning through an article recently where the guy was using a Mohu 
Leaf;  he mentioned 'up high' generally being better (true) but the tape 
had failed and his antenna fell to the floor -- he got better reception  
with the antenna on the floor! (Trial and error!)  He had also mounted 
an antenna in his skylight (signal through just glass).

One thing I sort of caught is you have been using cable and with the 
antenna now received nothing.  The cable frequencies are different from 
OTA (off the air).  Televisions have a semi-obvious setting ("Cable" vs. 
"Air") but I don't recall what MythTV does -- it's been a while and I'm 
going by memory (because the others will provide the technical stuff, 
I'm trying to provide the troubleshooting basics).


> Do I absolutely need Schedules Direct subscription for this?

No.  SchedulesDirect is extremely helpful for the recording but 
essentially has nothing to do with the reception.


> Here is what I have done (to zero value)
>
>     1. Added antenna to the backend.
>     2. Went to mythtv-setup - selected card type as "DVB-T/S/C, ATSC or
>     ISDB-T"
>        1. This brought the DVB device type as /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
>        2. Frontend ID came to: Air2PC v2
>     3. No channels found on scan.
> I am sure I am doing something wrong - so looking for help here

Uh, yeah! Something's wrong!  I found Curtis Gadak's guide to be 
extremely useful:

http://gedakc.users.sourceforge.net/display-doc.php?name=pvr-install-mythbuntu1404<http://gedakc.users.sourceforge.net/index.php>

Yes, the link is for 14.04 but reasonably accurate for when I did my 
16.04 installs.   Take note of Section I if you are using a HVR-2250 
capture card, otherwise you can probably start at Section X (Configure 
MythTV Backend).  One thing I found a hare confusing at first as he 
talks about both OTA and Shaw Cable, I needed to highlight the OTA 
sections to keep the two separate.

I think your "2. Card Type" is correct as "T" is 'terrestrial' and 
'ATSC' is the TV format used here in the U.S., through almost seems too 
generic as also allowing options for "S"atellite and "C"able.

The "Air2 PC v2" seems wrong.  I think it's a more human-generated 
option like Curtis' "HD Antenna" and "Shaw Cable" options.  The "Air2 PC 
v2" sounds like perhaps a piece of software's second version -- poor 
example but almost like you're trying to have MythTV look at MythTV when 
it should be looking at Antenna.

Good Luck!

Barry


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20180408/9847b3c0/attachment.html>