[mythtv-users] [Mostly OT] OTA HDTV Options

[Andrew Gallatin]

Brandon Stoll [mrmagoo at mrmagoo.org] wrote:
>    Earlier today I picked up an indoor antenna and to my surprise
> nearly every channel came in with pretty bad reception- which was
> better then I expected.  So, I'd like to try an outdoor antenna but I
> have a huge problem: I'm on the second floor of a 3-floor apartment
> building, and facing more or less the wrong direction according to
> antennaweb.  In a situation like this, would an outdoor antenna
> (something I could mount on a balcony and neighbors wouldn't complain
> about) even give a significant gain vs an indoor or am I wasting my
> time?

It might have to go through an extra exterior wall if the stations
are all coming from the other side of the building.  How about
getting an outdoor antenna and putting it inside?  I've heard
of people hiding a multi-bay uhf antenna behind a bookshelf.

When I was first setting things up, I went through several indoor
antennas, before settling on a Zenith Siver Sensor.  At this point
HDTV came in, but it was flakey and I'd have to adjust the antenna a
little for each station.  This not what you want for a DVR!  So I then
got a Channel Master 4228 outdoor antenna.  Just playing with it in
the TV room on the ground floor showed a noticable improvement over
any indoor antenna.  Moving it to the attic yielded perfect results.

>    And, since I'm probably going to end up getting HDTV one way or
> another, what HDTV tuner cards should I be looking at?  I've seen a
> lot of posts using the HD3000 but I'm interested if there are other
> tuners that have Linux support too.

Wait as long as you can, they keep getting better.  

I'd get either a new Air2PC (based on the 5th generation LGDT330x) or
a Dvico Fusion HDTV5, which is based on the same chip, and is less
expensive.  I actually have the Dvico and it works great, but I've
since gotten cable and I use it for cable, so I can't comment first
hand on its OTA performance.  The 5th Gen LG is supposed to have
really good multipath handling, which may be important for you since
you don't have a clear line of sight to the broadcast towers.

Good luck!

Drew