DTV Reception

Wes Newell wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:05:13 -0400, Dianne K wrote:

Nooooooooo, I said I get 4 or 5 on analog...only 1-2 on digital

If you're replying to me, you said you only got one analog channel clear
IIRC. With a decent antenna, you should be getting all the Pittsburg
stations clear. Both analog and digital. None of them are more than about
30 miles from you, and many are about 20 and one is only about 5 miles.
All the ones I get are about 40 miles, and I got about 40 sub channels
with a scan with the coonverter box I bought. I gave it to my duaghter who
is 45 miles from the towers and she got all the UHF stations with uhf/vhf
rabbit ears. If you were close, I'd come over and help. but I'm in DFW
area and can only offer free phone support.

You can't compare reception between Dallas-Fort Worth very well with
SW PA. The terrain makes a HUGE difference on reception. Because you get
good results at 40 miles with an indoor antenna in the mostly flat
terrain with less dense foliage in the Dallas area, does not mean that
someone in the hills of PA is going to have anywhere close to the same
result. She may have to go to tvfool.com for a detailed analysis of her
location, but that is a technical site and is likely to be too much info
for some people.

Alan F

I'm not even sure what PSIP data is?

I went back to the original antenna and rescanned and got some other
stations but I lost the PBS (13.. 1, 2 and 3.) 2 never came back (the
really bad analog one) I mostly watch 4 and 53....those are working
now.

If EPG info is the info about the current shows and next ones, yes I
have seen that.

I did see some of those "tetris blocks" but they're gone now. It
happened when I moved the antenna....it also "froze" the picture..but
it's working ok for now.

I may go try that amplified antenna the next time I get out shopping.

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:10:24 -0700, remysun2000 wrote:

On Apr 4, 2:40 am, Wes Newell wrote:
All the ones I get are about 40 miles, and I got about 40 sub channels
with a scan with the converter box I bought.

Are you referring to your RCA?

Yes. DTA800 or something like that. I gave it to my daughter and no longer
have it. But it got excellent reception.

rabbit ears. If you were close, I'd come over and help. but I'm in DFW
area and can only offer free phone support.

I've been on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the terrain really starts to
roll where she's at-- she may be halfway up on the wrong side of a hill.
Dallas (at least the TV show : ) looked kind of flat.

Yes. I have los to the towers. Not knowing here exact location, building
etc. makes it really difficult to determine with certainty exactly what
here problem is, but with only the built in dipole antenna, you can be
certain that is one of her problems. With a 80" boom uhf/vhf combo and
los, I couldn't get most uhf stations clear here. Replacing that with the
CM4228 fixed everything. The upper vhf stations come in with about a 15%
better signal (from 66% to about 76%). All UHF stations are now 100%.

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On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:39:03 -0400, Dianne K wrote:

Thanks again all. I've been forwarding the info and links to the
pc..it's faster to check them all there.

Ok, I got a piece of cable.....connected it to the other antenna. (the
one with the loop) I moved it onto the windowsill and reran the
autoscan. Here's what happened.

I kept channel 4 (my best with or without the box)

Picked up channel 2....the worst without the box. (it was barely
watchable before but you could hear it)

Lost 13, 22 and 53.

I moved the antenna again and rescanned hoping to get those channels
back and lost 2. Now all I have is 4.1 and 4.2 again.

It HAS to be the antenna/reception then, right? Apparantly they are
broadcasting in digital. (in contrast to what the STB rep indicated to
me)

I'm a little SE of Pittsburgh....I'm not sure where their towers are
exactly.

Go to these sites and enter in all the information, including antenna
height above ground. That will give you info specific to your actual
location. Something we don't have. Or post or email the info to someone
that can check it for you and give you specific advice.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx#

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=29

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On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:11:34 -0700, remysun2000 wrote:

On Apr 3, 5:12Â*pm, Wes Newell wrote:

Just FYI, The RCA converter box I bought would select the main .1 sub
channel if no other input was given. IOW's pushing only the button 8
would tune to 8.1, etc.

Have you tried entering analog equivalents to see what would happen? My
RCA TV reads them as digital; the LG DVR reads it as analog, since there
is no digital info for that channel.

The converter box only knows digital. So any number input into it looks to
match a scanned digital number. In my HDTV's I get the channel input. 8 I
get 8, 8.1 I get 8.1, etc. Using channel up/down bypasses all the channels
I've locked out. That includes all analog, shopping, spanish, etc.
channels. But in reality, I never use the tuners in the TV's. Only the
ones in my PC's. And they don't even have analog tuners in them. Just ATSC.
And I rarely watch anything except recorded programs. So I rarely ever
mess with channels numbers at all.

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wrote:

I've been on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the terrain really starts
to roll where she's at-- she may be halfway up on the wrong side of a
hill. Dallas (at least the TV show : ) looked kind of flat.


My new place is in the Dallas area. It's so flat around here that when
we flush, the whole N. Texas area listens.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

On Apr 4, 2:50*pm, (Dianne K) wrote:

I'm not even sure what PSIP data is? *

Program and System Information Protocol

From what I understand-- Remember what I was saying about the digital
stations being on different channels because the old analog signal
still occupies that slot? PSIP is how they figure where the digital
signal ACTUALLY is, but translates the info as being the original
station so that your average consumer doesn't get confused. (Why is Ch.
4 on 51?) But if your scan wasn't picking up that information in the
first place, how was it supposed to know where to go for the digital
signal that you want?

So the thing I did at Christmas was use the analog locations of the
digital stations, and entered those in as digital information. The TV
found the digital signals that way, got the PSIP, and added the
channels to its list. Now my friend gets great reception, and that's
why I found it helpful to remember that sort of stuff.

I went back to the original antenna and *rescanned and got some other
stations but I lost the PBS (13.. 1, 2 and 3.) *2 never came back (the
really bad analog one) *I mostly watch 4 and 53....those are working
now.

Getting CBS 2 impressed me, though, since you said that was lousy.
It's a sign that you'll can get better digital reception than you ever
had with analog.

If EPG info is the info about the current shows and next ones, yes I
have seen that.

Good.

I did see some of those "tetris blocks" but they're gone now. *It
happened when I moved the antenna....it also "froze" the picture..but
it's working ok for now.

Excellent. So we know you're getting digital, and now we're working on
getting you more and better digital.

You can try continue trying the different channel numbers, analog and
digital, to see what else comes in. Alan's tvfool.com and
titantv.com's guide have all the ch. #no's on the same page for
convenience.

At this point, it might help to go into the menu and note how much
signal strength you get as you find these channels, as well as how
much it varies. You're probably getting a great signal off of 4.1
because it's always been there for you.

You'll probably get zeroes in signal strength for what you can't get--
digital is weak at judging the strength of a weak signal, so any value
at all means you're pretty close to being able to watch that channel.
And if a signal cuts in or out, there's usually something causing a
fluctuatiion in your reception. Signal strength can help you find out
how to solve that problem.

I may go try that amplified antenna the next time I get out shopping.

Be specific about what you're looking for. Right now, there's a lot of
junk that's worse than rabbit ears that says HDTV compatible. Don't
believe the hype. Any antenna should be digital compatible, which
means that a Coat Hanger is HDTV compatible. The question really is:
how good is the antenna? The others in the newsgroup can help you with
that. But it'll be good to know you can return it if it doesn't help
your reception as good aas promised.

On Apr 4, 4:24*pm, Jer wrote:
wrote:
I've been on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the terrain really starts
to roll where she's at-- she may be halfway up on the wrong side of a
hill. Dallas (at least the TV show : ) looked kind of flat.

My new place is in the Dallas area. *It's so flat around here that when
we flush, the whole N. Texas area listens.

LOL How about...?

It's so flat that when a friend on the other side of town wants to
borrow my bowling ball, I don't bother to pay him a visit....

It's so flat that when a tornado hits, we dig a hole and it falls
right in!

It's so flat that Emmit Smith had to train on a stairmaster for road
games....

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:43:02 +0000, Alan F wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:05:13 -0400, Dianne K wrote:

Nooooooooo, I said I get 4 or 5 on analog...only 1-2 on digital

If you're replying to me, you said you only got one analog channel
clear IIRC. With a decent antenna, you should be getting all the
Pittsburg stations clear. Both analog and digital. None of them are
more than about 30 miles from you, and many are about 20 and one is
only about 5 miles. All the ones I get are about 40 miles, and I got
about 40 sub channels with a scan with the coonverter box I bought. I
gave it to my duaghter who is 45 miles from the towers and she got all
the UHF stations with uhf/vhf rabbit ears. If you were close, I'd come
over and help. but I'm in DFW area and can only offer free phone
support.

You can't compare reception between Dallas-Fort Worth very well with
SW PA. The terrain makes a HUGE difference on reception. Because you get
good results at 40 miles with an indoor antenna in the mostly flat
terrain with less dense foliage in the Dallas area, does not mean that
someone in the hills of PA is going to have anywhere close to the same
result. She may have to go to tvfool.com for a detailed analysis of her
location, but that is a technical site and is likely to be too much info
for some people.

I've already gave her links to both antenna web and tvfool. Other than
offering free phone help, I don't know what else I could do.





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On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:50:13 -0400, Dianne K wrote:

I'm not even sure what PSIP data is?

I doubt there's anything you can't find out about on this site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSIP

--
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My Tivo Experience http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/tivo.htm
Tivo HD/S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm
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