S2 vs. S2 DT Video Quality

"Rusty" wrote in message
news:%HAgh.4$J[email protected]
I finally upgraded my television and the video quality coming from my S2
(composite connection) is not all that sharp. At BEST quality it is
acceptable, but anything lower than BEST is a little fuzzy if there is any
action in the video at all.

Would I get better results with the Series 2 Dual Tuner?

--
Rusty


I thought I'd post a follow-up.

I bought an S3 and am very satisfied with the results. The next step will
be to investigate some digital TV service or possibly HD, but I tend to move
slowly on this type of thing.


--
Rusty

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:03:13 +0000, Rusty wrote:

I thought I'd post a follow-up.

I bought an S3 and am very satisfied with the results. The next step will
be to investigate some digital TV service or possibly HD, but I tend to move
slowly on this type of thing.

Don't miss out on what's free. Hook up an OTA antenna.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

shaped the electrons to say:
Don't miss out on what's free. Hook up an OTA antenna.

No point - I get all the OTA channels over my cable. I tried an
indoor antenna but reception was crap, and there is no point in buying
an antenna with better gain just to get the channels I already have
over cable.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:56:44 +0000, MegaZone wrote:

shaped the electrons to say:
Don't miss out on what's free. Hook up an OTA antenna.

No point - I get all the OTA channels over my cable. I tried an
indoor antenna but reception was crap, and there is no point in buying
an antenna with better gain just to get the channels I already have
over cable.

No point my ass. There's a big point. First it's free HDTV. And second
it's usually of a much higher quality than you'll get over cable or sat
since they compress the signal more to conserve bandwidth. And last, most
indoor antennas are crap. Why would you expect anything better than crappy
reception.:-)

Oh. And unless you also post as Rusty, you know nothing about his
situation and my reply was to his post, not one from you.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Wes Newell writes:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:56:44 +0000, MegaZone wrote:

shaped the electrons to say:
Don't miss out on what's free. Hook up an OTA antenna.

No point - I get all the OTA channels over my cable. I tried an
indoor antenna but reception was crap, and there is no point in buying
an antenna with better gain just to get the channels I already have
over cable.

No point my ass. There's a big point. First it's free HDTV. And second
it's usually of a much higher quality than you'll get over cable or sat
since they compress the signal more to conserve bandwidth. And last, most
indoor antennas are crap. Why would you expect anything better than crappy
reception.:-)

Oh. And unless you also post as Rusty, you know nothing about his
situation and my reply was to his post, not one from you.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

I'm not Rusty either. However, if his situation is like mine hooking
up an OTA antenna won't help. I can only get 1 channel OTA (and not
its HD version) because of where I live in my coverage area. My only
option for decent TV reception is cable or satelite. Now, I don't
know Rusty's situation and he might get decent OTA reception.
However, for vast parts of this country OTA is roughly no reception.
I am happy you get good OTA reception. However, do you know that
Rusty will?

Some mayoral candidate in Tucson even made cable access in the
outlying areas an election promise a few years back. And, when
pushed on the topic, and not some more fundamental right. He replied
something to the effect, "But TV reception in the mountains is so
poor." (I'm from the Boston metro area, not Tucson. I just remember
the quote because it was so outrageous.)

It's the one problem with your continual pushing of MythTV. I don't
know anything about it, but when you talk about OTA and HD, I lose
interest. If MythTV were a good cable/satilite solution also, I might
be vaguely interested. However, OTA is a complete waste for me. I
might as well get a SETI dish and listen for ET.

"Chris F Clark" wrote in message
...
Wes Newell writes:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:56:44 +0000, MegaZone wrote:

shaped the electrons to say:
Don't miss out on what's free. Hook up an OTA antenna.

No point - I get all the OTA channels over my cable. I tried an
indoor antenna but reception was crap, and there is no point in buying
an antenna with better gain just to get the channels I already have
over cable.

No point my ass. There's a big point. First it's free HDTV. And second
it's usually of a much higher quality than you'll get over cable or sat
since they compress the signal more to conserve bandwidth. And last, most
indoor antennas are crap. Why would you expect anything better than
crappy
reception.:-)

Oh. And unless you also post as Rusty, you know nothing about his
situation and my reply was to his post, not one from you.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

I'm not Rusty either. However, if his situation is like mine hooking
up an OTA antenna won't help. I can only get 1 channel OTA (and not
its HD version) because of where I live in my coverage area. My only
option for decent TV reception is cable or satelite. Now, I don't
know Rusty's situation and he might get decent OTA reception.
However, for vast parts of this country OTA is roughly no reception.
I am happy you get good OTA reception. However, do you know that
Rusty will?

Some mayoral candidate in Tucson even made cable access in the
outlying areas an election promise a few years back. And, when
pushed on the topic, and not some more fundamental right. He replied
something to the effect, "But TV reception in the mountains is so
poor." (I'm from the Boston metro area, not Tucson. I just remember
the quote because it was so outrageous.)

It's the one problem with your continual pushing of MythTV. I don't
know anything about it, but when you talk about OTA and HD, I lose
interest. If MythTV were a good cable/satilite solution also, I might
be vaguely interested. However, OTA is a complete waste for me. I
might as well get a SETI dish and listen for ET.

Hello, this *is* Rusty.

I have no idea what we could get OTA out here on the eastern edge of the
Dallas suburbs -- sub-suburbs -- in the far northeastern corner of Dallas
County.

Back from '92 until about '95 or '96 we used bunny ears before cable was
here. My recollection of that era is that there were not very many choices,
so we didn't watch a lot of TV. I might be willing to try an HD OTA
reception device if it was either inexpensive or I could return it for a
refund if I didn't like it. Inside the house is OK for such a device as we
have mostly 9 foot ceilings. In the attic is OK also. From the floor of
the attic (where there is floor, which is OSB) to the ridgeline is probably
10, maybe 12 feet or so, so my assessment is that there is plenty of room up
there. This is a one story house. My current situation is that I don't
have a lot of free time to tinker. Ten years ago, I had lots of free time,
and I had multiple hobbies. Things are different now, but there is free
time on the horizon, perhaps in 2 or 3 or 4 years or so.

But even if the reception is good, could I get any programming OTA that I
cannot get on cable or FiOS? I dunno.

Thanks to all for the information and comments. Wes, thanks for the
information and suggestions. Try to relax a little, please.

--
Rusty

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 18:22:05 -0500, Chris F Clark wrote:

I'm not Rusty either. However, if his situation is like mine hooking
up an OTA antenna won't help. I can only get 1 channel OTA (and not
its HD version) because of where I live in my coverage area. My only
option for decent TV reception is cable or satelite. Now, I don't
know Rusty's situation and he might get decent OTA reception.
However, for vast parts of this country OTA is roughly no reception.
I am happy you get good OTA reception. However, do you know that
Rusty will?

I know that roughly 90% of the population can get it. Now some may have to
go to extremes to do it, but if you're within 80 miles of a large city,
the chances are that you can get it perfectly with a $40 outside antenna.

It's the one problem with your continual pushing of MythTV. I don't
know anything about it, but when you talk about OTA and HD, I lose
interest. If MythTV were a good cable/satilite solution also, I might
be vaguely interested. However, OTA is a complete waste for me. I
might as well get a SETI dish and listen for ET.

And cable and sat is a waste me for me. That said, MythTV does work with
it. I've read of many prople using it with cable/sat. It can record all
clear qam, and encrypted channels from a STB firewire output. Since I make
nothing from from it, I couldn't care less if you are interested or not.
But you aren't the only person in this group.:-)

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 02:48:24 +0000, Rusty wrote:

Hello, this *is* Rusty.

I have no idea what we could get OTA out here on the eastern edge of the
Dallas suburbs -- sub-suburbs -- in the far northeastern corner of Dallas
County.

Well, I'm in the southeast of Collin county and I get every digital
station there is from Dallas. I'm in Wylie, right across from the New
Walmart they put in recently. If you are in Dallas county, you have to be
closer to the towers than me, so I can garauntee you can too.

Back from '92 until about '95 or '96 we used bunny ears before cable was
here. My recollection of that era is that there were not very many
choices, so we didn't watch a lot of TV. I might be willing to try an
HD OTA reception device if it was either inexpensive or I could return
it for a refund if I didn't like it. Inside the house is OK for such a
device as we have mostly 9 foot ceilings. In the attic is OK also. From
the floor of the attic (where there is floor, which is OSB) to the
ridgeline is probably 10, maybe 12 feet or so, so my assessment is that
there is plenty of room up there. This is a one story house. My
current situation is that I don't have a lot of free time to tinker. Ten
years ago, I had lots of free time, and I had multiple hobbies. Things
are different now, but there is free time on the horizon, perhaps in 2
or 3 or 4 years or so.

Each location is different, but the best would be a tripod on top of the
house with the antenna. Although in the attic worked fine for me here.

But even if the reception is good, could I get any programming OTA that
I cannot get on cable or FiOS? I dunno.

I don't know what cable or sat offers here. But I can tell you that you
can buy a pretty nice new HDTV for what you pay the cable company.:-)
Here's the local digital channels.
These are HD;
2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 8.1, 11.1, 13.1, 21.1, 27.1, 33.1, 52.1

And there more SD channels than above. If you want to see what it looks
like stop by sometime.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

I can see that you and Rusty live close enough by that your
suggestions are quite probably pertinent to him.

And cable and sat is a waste me for me. That said, MythTV does work with
it. I've read of many prople using it with cable/sat. It can record all
clear qam, and encrypted channels from a STB firewire output.

Hmmm, neither of my STB have firewire output. What can it get from
composite video? That's what I want to record. All of my boxes, the
TiVos, the non-TiVo DVRs, the DVD players, the VCRs, the camcorders,
the close caption box, the TV sets--they all talk composite video,
some talk additional protocols HDMI, S-video, PCR(?) some of which I
use, but they all talk that.

I know that roughly 90% of the population can get it. Now some may
have to go to extremes to do it, but if you're within 80 miles of a
large city, the chances are that you can get it perfectly with a $40
outside antenna.

I think those figures are inflated, not by you, but by the networks.

I live within about 40 miles of Boston, and on the same side of Boston
as most of the TV towers (i.e. west, as east of Boston is mostly
ocean). I've lived even closer, say within 25 miles, and had the same
problem. So, maybe there's something about Boston and pine trees,
that makes OTA reception really bad.

My parents live in Cheyenne, WY--the 3rd largest city in that state.
No acceptable non-cable, non-satelite TV for them either.

Previous to living in Boston, I lived in Denver, CO, within the city
limits. Fine OTA reception there.

Previous to that, I lived in Eldorado, KS. Acceptible (although not
great) OTA reception there.

So, out of 4 places I know personally about. 50% of them had
acceptible OTA reception. That isn't factoring in the fact that some
channels, e.g. HBO or the Sci-Fi channel, are not available OTA
anywhere that I'm aware of.

Since I make nothing from from it, I couldn't care less if you are
interested or not. But you aren't the only person in this group.:-)

No, but I'm also not the only person who get itrritated for your
constant TiVo bashing (in a TiVo newsgroup). It's not like TiVo is a
panacea, but they aren't demons either. They are just a company trying
to make money from selling a service. No one is asking you to use
their service, nor to use cable or satelite. But, your constant
suggestion that OTA reception and MythTV is a suitable replacement for
a TiVo and a cable or satelite box, with the implication that it would
work for everyone, is simply annoying. It simply isn't true. I'd
love to not have to pay the cable company $100/month. (I'm on
lifetime service, so I don't pay TiVo anything.) However, I'd rather
pay the cable company $100/month and get the channels I get than not
get those channels.

Likewise, I might be willing to try a MythTV box. I've tried all
sorts of other DVRs/PVRs. And, maybe I will like it better than my
TiVo. However, it is really convenient to go into BestBuy or Target
and pickup a TiVo box off-the-shelf, plug it in, type in a few codes
on a remote and have better cable service than I had before, and
better service than I can get using the cable company's PVR. You
would be surprised how much that is worth to some people (as in me).
The Humax box I just bought from weakness with a 750Gb drive and a DVD
recorder just set me back more than $1500, once you consider the
lifetime service I put on it. However, I haven't had a device that I
bought in a long time that was more satisfying. It would have been
worthwhile at $2500 to me. I wish I'd bought it earlier.

Calling us TivoNero's because we like our convenience and are willing
to pay for it is irritating and insulting.

I also like my NetFlix service where the DVDs come in the mail also
and pay them $30/month so that I have 5 DVDs at home all the time, so
I can pick which one I feel like watching at that moment. Does that
make me a NetFlixFool? Maybe, but it is my choice, and you have no
right to criticize me for it. I'm not telling you to rent your movies
from NetFlix. I wouldn't even tell a loyal BlockBuster customer to do
so.

If you want to offer your MythTV suggestions to people who come to
this group asking, "Should I get a TiVo?", that's quite reasonable.
However, many of your suggestions about OTA and MythTV and anti-TiVo
comments seem to come in unsolicited. That isn't welcome. I would
prefer if you didn't become the 7th person in my killfile after 30
years of reading netnews. You might someday have somthing valuable to
say that I want to hear. However, I have only so much tolerance for
shrill "noise", and your postings are becoming that.

So, please, tone it down.

My apologies to the rest of the group for this posting, which had no
content that was relevant to anyone but Wes and me.

Once upon a time, Wes Newell said:
I know that roughly 90% of the population can get it.

Cite?

Now some may have to
go to extremes to do it, but if you're within 80 miles of a large city,
the chances are that you can get it perfectly with a $40 outside antenna.

Once again, you are wrong. OTA signal reception depends on two things,
and you keep ignoring one. You only talk about distance, but terrain
also matters. I live about 9 miles from where several of the local TV
towers are located, and I cannot receive a good signal from them with an
antenna. There is a hill in the way.

I have an antenna and an amp, and I can receive some channels (and only
some of those reliably). As near as I can tell (based on playing with
the numbers at antennaweb.org, checking Google Maps, and actual
testing), I would need a 50 foot tall mast to receive all of them
reliably.

This is not uncommon. While there are large parts of the US that are
pretty flat (where a $40 antenna might "see" for 80 miles), there are
also large parts of the country that have significant hills and
mountains.

--
Chris Adams
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.