[mythtv-users] Hardware questions

[Colin McGregor]

On 10/21/08, Bobby Gill <bobbygill at rogers.com> wrote:
> Okay, brace yourselves for the ultimate noobness.. but I've never used/had
> an antenna for TV--  Is the antenna all that's needed to get HD signals? How
> is it setup (in the simplest terms)? Is it used along with a subscription of
> some sort with a provider (bell, rogers. etc.) ?? Like from the start.. say
> I buy the channel master 4221.. what exactly am I doing with it to get from
> A-Z ?

Well first question, where are you? Rogers is in a lot of places
across Canada, some where over the air TV broadcasts are a very real
option, some places not.

As proof of concept last year (i.e.: just make sure things worked), I
started testing my pcHDTV-5500 card with a $10 "rabbit ear" style
antenna in my dining room. It worked, granted it only offered CBLT-DT
in Toronto (the most powerful digital station in Toronto). Moving that
same antenna up to the attic added the local CTV affiliate, and the
Buffalo, NY PBS station.

After that I bought the Winegard GS-2200 that again upped the number
of channels. Initially the antenna went into the attic (why not, I had
already run the cable up there) and then I moved the antenna onto the
roof...

Do make sure the cable connecting the tuner card to the antenna is
good (read RG-6 cable).

For those in the Greater Toronto Area a good source (one that I help
maintain :-) ) of information can be seen here:

   tlug.ss.org/wiki/MythTV

> I just purchased an HVR-1600 from best buy so I can test it with my parents'
> Rogers digital box (30 days to return so I can at least try the setup out
> and see what it would be like).

Do be aware that there are some known HVR-1600 issues with
Linux/MythTV, noted here:

  http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_HVR-1600


> Thanks fellas
> Bob

Colin McGregor