OTA versus Comcast HD?

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD? Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


--

to reply via email - remove the "nospam_" from the reply to address ...

In article ,
"riggor" wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD? Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

For what it's worth, there's no such thing as an HD antenna. I live in
New Jersey and receive all the Philadelphia OTA HD channels with no
problem. In general, the OTA picture is a little sharper than the one
produced by Comcast, plus the OTA signal retains all the PSIP data which
Comcast strips out.

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

Tom Stiller wrote:
In article ,
"riggor" wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD? Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

For what it's worth, there's no such thing as an HD antenna. I live in
New Jersey and receive all the Philadelphia OTA HD channels with no
problem. In general, the OTA picture is a little sharper than the one
produced by Comcast, plus the OTA signal retains all the PSIP data which
Comcast strips out.


With OTA, you'll also have sub-channels that
Comcast may not carry or may sometimes preempt
with paid programming. Locally, aside from
Discovery-HD and NFL-HD, there's not much HD
content on cable that's not also available OTA.

Same experience as Tom with sharpness. If you
are into fine detail during football games or
during 'Nature,' you'll prefer OTA over cable or
satellite. We have fewer lip-sync issues on OTA
than we see over cable.

Cost: may be negligible. We get ten local
stations with a 50-cent investment. Two stations
are 22 miles distant.

DTV does a far better job correcting ghosts than
did analog TV.

If you want to try this, take a two-foot chunk
of old RG-59 coax with a connector on one end
(or, chop one connector off a cheap VTR
patch cable). Strip 8-10" of insulation and
shielding from the end with no connector. Hang
that from a picture hook and screw or slip the
connector onto the ATSC/DTV input of your HDTV.

Effort: negligible -- YMMV g.
--
pj

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:05:35 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD? Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


Do you want any premium channels?
Thumper

"pj" wrote in message
...
Tom Stiller wrote:
In article ,
"riggor" wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD?
Is it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

For what it's worth, there's no such thing as an HD antenna. I live in
New Jersey and receive all the Philadelphia OTA HD channels with no
problem. In general, the OTA picture is a little sharper than the one
produced by Comcast, plus the OTA signal retains all the PSIP data which
Comcast strips out.


With OTA, you'll also have sub-channels that Comcast may not carry or may
sometimes preempt with paid programming. Locally, aside from Discovery-HD
and NFL-HD, there's not much HD content on cable that's not also available
OTA.

Same experience as Tom with sharpness. If you are into fine detail during
football games or during 'Nature,' you'll prefer OTA over cable or
satellite. We have fewer lip-sync issues on OTA than we see over cable.

Cost: may be negligible. We get ten local stations with a 50-cent
investment. Two stations are 22 miles distant.

DTV does a far better job correcting ghosts than did analog TV.

If you want to try this, take a two-foot chunk of old RG-59 coax with a
connector on one end (or, chop one connector off a cheap VTR patch cable).
Strip 8-10" of insulation and shielding from the end with no connector.
Hang that from a picture hook and screw or slip the connector onto the
ATSC/DTV input of your HDTV.

Effort: negligible -- YMMV g.
--
pj

Thanks all - I was out of town.

I will test and see what happens ...

"Thumper" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:05:35 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD?
Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


Do you want any premium channels?
Thumper

Sure if possible - but I am getting some of those thru Comcast

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:53:10 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:


"Thumper" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:05:35 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD?
Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


Do you want any premium channels?
Thumper

Sure if possible - but I am getting some of those thru Comcast

The point is that if you are getting them through Comcast you are also
getting probably everything you could get OTA. If you go OTA you lose
the premium HD.
Thumper

If you have a big enough screen you can notice a difference. With a 61 DLP,
when viewing the same program, I can see a difference between OTA, QAM
internal tuner, and my Comcast 8300HD tuner. Best is OTA, worst is 8300HD.

"Thumper" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:53:10 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:


"Thumper" wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:05:35 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus Comcast HD?
Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD / SD
channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


Do you want any premium channels?
Thumper

Sure if possible - but I am getting some of those thru Comcast

The point is that if you are getting them through Comcast you are also
getting probably everything you could get OTA. If you go OTA you lose
the premium HD.
Thumper

Joel Graffman wrote:
If you have a big enough screen you can notice a difference. With a
61 DLP, when viewing the same program, I can see a difference between
OTA, QAM internal tuner, and my Comcast 8300HD tuner. Best is OTA,
worst is 8300HD.

I originally opted to put up a new rooftop wineguard since back in '01 cable
didn't offer HD when I first purchased a 55" RPTV. Once they did offer it,
I got it for the premium channels, and I was able to compare via switching
inputs, and there was no difference from what I could tell.

When I upgraded to a 73" DLP, the difference was still indistinguishable. I
would have to say it all depends on the incoming signal and wiring, as I did
have to rewire the house when I went to HD over cable, as the old wiring
(circa mid 70's) would not support the bandwidth needed and had too many old
splitters and drops (also added a 10db amp at incoming).

I have since moved, and the area I am in now has only 2 OTA HD stations
within 60 miles, so I have not invested in an OTA antenna setup, though I
would have to say the cable HD service I have here is subjectively
equitable....


"Thumper" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:53:10 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:


"Thumper" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:05:35 -0500, "riggor"
wrote:

Hello all -

I live in Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Radnor Township - outside of
Philadelphia. I have Comcast HD programming.

I am curious if anyone knows how different is OTA HD versus
Comcast HD? Is
it worth getting a HD antenna to get (if any) additional OTA HD /
SD channels?

By worth I mean time, cost and effort.

Thanks


Do you want any premium channels?
Thumper

Sure if possible - but I am getting some of those thru Comcast

The point is that if you are getting them through Comcast you are
also getting probably everything you could get OTA. If you go OTA
you lose the premium HD.
Thumper