Re: My experience with over the air HDTV (from rec.radio.shortwave)

American Insurgent wrote:
I posted the following in rec.radio.shortwave a few days ago:

I recently plunked down $650 to be able to get HDTV. That includes
$290 Polaroid 19" LCD HDTV, $180 Samsung HDTV set top box, $70 for an
HDTV indoor antenna, and a whopping $65 for a special cable called an
HDMI cable (in addition to tax).

I add my two bits here as well.

Since you were buying a new HD TV, you should have combined the $290
for the TV, $180 for the Samsung DTB-H260F (excellent ATSC tuner &
useful for challenging multipath or weak signal situations, but not
needed in most cases if the TV has a good built-in ATSC tuner), $65 for
the way overpriced (Monster?) HDMI cable and got a bigger and better TV.


I watched some OTA HDTV tonight, and
was disappointed. Many programs are not yet in full HDTV, including
ABC World News. This results in blank space on the sides. Some
commercials are in standard def, which on HDTV makes additional blank
space on the top and bottom, giving an effect of the signal "floating"
on a sea of darkness.

But NBC Nightly news is in HD - some of it anyway. Yes, it is not all
HD yet - prime time scripted shows are almost all HD (Scrubs is about
the last holdout), it is the cheap SD game & reality shows that hold
down the amount of HD in prime time. Sports - football, baseball, golf,
etc - are increasingly all HD. We will see a lot more HD on the major
broadcast stations outside of prime time & late night over the next year
or two because Pathfire, the main distribution system for syndicated
programming, is just about to complete the upgrade of the their system
for HD. Stations will have to buy HD servers & tape machines, so it
won't happen everywhere at once, but eventually we will get daytime
programs in HD (Oprah and Dr. Phil in HD! Ok, I grant you that are
drawbacks to this HD conversion) and more & more local news in HD as well.

Furthermore, the signal was jerky, like streaming internet video, with
frequent pixelation. I even lost the signal for a few seconds, after
which I checked to see if there was a "trip wire" in the settings that
I could turn down or off. I once had a Panasonic TV that would give
you a blue screen if the signal got too low. That I could turn off;
this I can't. If the signal gets too low with the Samsung STB, it will
give you a "weak signal" screensaver.

You need a better antenna setup. An indoor antenna is usually only
recommended if you are in a strong signal area for the broadcast
stations. In the wooded areas, that may be only 5 to 10 miles. Check
www.antennaweb.org for your digital stations and recommended antenna
level. Digital stations mostly broadcast on UHF, but there are currently
several hundred digital stations on VHF. There will be a lot more
digital stations on upper VHF 7 to 13 after the analog shutdown on
February 17, 2009 so people need to check if they need an antenna which
can get upper VHF as well for digital reception.

If you provide your zip code, I will be happy to provide some advice on
an antenna setup. At medium ranges, you can often put the antenna in the
attic. I have a Channel Master 4221 4 Bay bowtie (<$40 online including
shipping) in my attic and get stations up to 46 miles away just fine.


Some stations are squeezing two signals on one HDTV channel. In two
cases, the second channel is a 24/7 weather channel with local weather
reports; in a third case the Fox station has a music video service
called "The Tube" on their second channel. The PBS station has an
amazing THREE stations on one channel! One is their regular channel,
one is a second channel that is usually available only on cable, and a
third is V-me, a PBS service for Latinos in Spanish. The Univision
(Spanish language) channel supposedly has an HDTV service, but there's
nothing there.

One key reason for switching to digital broadcasting is the ability to
squeeze more stations into a smaller part of the spectrum and to provide
for multiple sub-channels. Most stations with HD now have one SD
sub-channel to go with their HD sub-channel. One SD sub-channel such as
a mostly static or slow update weather channel does not hurt their HD
picture quality very much at all. Adding more SD sub-channels does hurt
HD picture quality, but all we can do is complain to the station.

Univision is SD only. Most of their programming, AFAIK, comes from
Mexico and South America which is in very early stages of upgrading to
HD. Univision will probably eventually switch to HD, but not for quite a
while.

There are seven broadcast networks with HD programming: ABC, CBS, Fox,
NBC, PBS, CW, My Network. TBN, the religious network, has announced they
will be providing a HD feed on their digital stations by the end of 2007.

Some reports have said that HDTV from different cities is available in
Sacramento; my antenna won't pick it up. I suppose that if I had an
outdoor antenna on a pole I'd get it. Two channels, including a local
weather channel and the HDTV signal of a second tier station, are weak
and keep cutting out. If this is HDTV after years of government
pressure and millions spent, it's clearly not ready for prime time so
to speak. Hopefully by switch time they'll have ironed out the bugs.

Get a better antenna.

My setup at first wouldn't pick up several stations with the slew
buttons; I had to download an HDTV channel list off the net, then
manually enter those stations into memory. Even more confusing, the
Samsung box lists channels not by their HDTV assignment, but by their
standard def channel, a hyphen, and a subchannel, ex. 6-1, 6-2, and
6-3 instead of Channel 53. You can USE the HD channel, but it switches
you right back to this hyphenated system on the display. I suppose
this is to ease the transition, and to allow subchannels, but you are
left not only with two channel numbers for one station but something
less than true HDTV, since stations force two or three services onto
one HD channel. I doubt that was the FCC's intention.

Most people know the station by their analog broadcast channel, not
the call sign. The solution is to map the digital broadcast channel to
the analog channel for display on the box. The PSIP header provides the
channel mapping. In February, 2009, over 500 stations will switch their
digital channel back to their current analog channel.

The FCC is not mandating HD, but only digital broadcasting to free up
spectrum so they can auction off UHF 52 to 69 (minus the 24 MHz that
will be reserved for new public safety systems). It is up to the
stations and the networks to decide how they want to split up their 19.4
MB/second ATSC broadcast signal. Do a search for ATSC & PSIP to learn
some of the technical stuff, if you want.

If you want the PR stuff: http://www.dtv.gov/

I suspect that when people realize that they're being forced into
HDTV-
with beaucoup dollar amounts required to switch-only to get standard
def, they'll be mad.

In 2008, the standard def "converter" boxes are due to be made
available for around $50 with a coupon program. These boxes will be
stripped down ATSC tuners (hopefully 5th or 6th generation) that will
output SD signals on co-axial, composite, and S-Video. Many people -
those with decent antennas - will be amazed at the improved picture
quality and the number of new channel options. Many will be confused by
the whole thing, but you can help by assisting your neighbors and
friends in the conversion process.

Whew, long reply.

Alan F


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