Little Rock, AR - HDTV - Page 9

I am just using the bunny ears, i can get UPN 38, channel 26, are pretty good. 11, 7 are very fuzzy, and 4 is almost non-existant. I know that with the Samsung, if it gets any signal, it will lock that channel in, and so far I have been out of luck on that front.

I might have misunderstood both your post and the item you're linking but this might help:

Comcast digital cable, and their HDTV package, requires that you use their STB (Motorola 5100), so an alternative STB such as the one you're linking is not an option in Little Rock. The only other routes for HDTV, as you know, is DirectTV and Dish Network that unit doesnt support. OTA "only" HDTV STB units should be much cheaper (100 dollars?).

Comcast's policy is to add DTV as they become HDTV capable, which is why I "assume" they still only provide 7 and 11. They went on record stating as soon as a new local station provides HDTV transmission, they will add it to their lineup.

I didnt realize how bad my antenna sucked until tonight - well depending on how you look at it.

Lately ive been getting dropouts on KTHV-DT, but i used to get it in 100% of the time. Well, just for kicks, i plugged a plain jane dipole antenna (no UHF loop) and, in a sweet spot, i got in DT 4, 7, 11, 16, and 38 with only dropouts here and there (i didnt try WB and the others). With the batwing I have on my roof now, i just get the ones at redfield - the direction its pointed (DT 2, 7, 38, but 11 cuts in and out, no 16 or 4 or WB).

Tomorrow, im going to go get a silver sensar and see how that does, for a short term solution to not being able to get in all the channels. "If" i can get all the channels at Shinall with that, then i guess i could get a switcher and go back and forth between by batwing. The downside to silver sensar + a/b switcher is i get negative marks from the wife because im jerry rigging up the living room.

The best solution would be a better outdoor antenna that gets them all without a rotar. The batwing i have now is mouted on the back of my D* dish. Hopefully i can find an alternative UHF antenna that will mount onto it easily, as i have no boy scout skills. (Just climbing up on my 2 story roof will make me nervous enough) "Since" i managed to get both 7 and almost 38 with just a dipole antenna (VHF only!) amonst the others stations on the bottom floor of my house, surely i can get all stations with an outdoor UHF antenna pointed "somewhere".

If one is receiving comcast cable, IMHO its crazy to just not rent their motorola 5100. Any cutting edge technology like anything associated with HDTV is evolving literallly monthly, and even conservatively, yearly. At only 5$ per month, you'd have to rent 5 years just to pay for that STB. I'd opt for renting if it were me.

If anyone is interested, KTHV-HD can be picked up in Hot Springs. Due to the weather, I didn't get a chance to mount my antenna on the mast I put up. I just had the antenna laying on the ground in front of my garage with a cable run inside to the tuner. It came in great - however, that was the only station that would come in. It's the only one that I really wanted, so that's ok. Maybe when I put the antenna on the mast and hook up the pre-amp, I'll get a couple more.

I'm pretty bitter about STB's right now. They are selling the Zenith 520s for $250 dollars at circuit city now. I paid twice that just a few months ago, and that was a good deal! (cause they were really 600 dollars).

I ordered a channelmaster 4221A today. Hopefully, i'll have that up ASAP after it comes in.

Arxaw,

Well if i willing to do that (sell my 520 on ebay), then others should be just as willing to advertise a 500 dollar sat520 on ebay, and go buy the units at circuit city; same difference except even less hassle than me since i'd have to set up a new D* card.

But I do love Ebay - several times ive sold items for the same price i bought them after having used them 1-2 years.

I bought the 4221A at solidsignal.com. I intend to install it myself or have a friend/my dad help me. I'm gonna go without the preamp for the following reasons: 1. I'm plenty close to both redfield (17 miles or so), and shinall (6 miles) that a preamp should not be necessary 2. I get all digital station with my silver sensor sitting in one location, inside my house no less. "surely" the 4221A will perform at least as well (which would be ~ perfect) on the roof of my 2-story house which is sitting on a mountain. 3. Even low noise (as opposed to none) on unneeded amplification would likely be an equal tradeoff, at best. 4. antennaweb.org says i dont need a preamp'ed antenna. 5. the 7777 preamp isnt exactly cheap.

Arxaw,

I mentioned in the previous post I intend to install it myself or have a friend/my dad help out. The install should be straightforward now because all of the cabling is taken care off. I just have to unhook the coax from the batwing, mount the new 4221A, and plug the coax into the 4221a.

My total coax run is probably, ole, 60feet from top of roof to my jack by my TV. That's a total guess, but my house is really tall and the wire comes into the central portion of my house, but my TV is on the far N wall.

Arxaw,

Where are you seeing this deal for dish-HD that includes a free HD STB? Considering they used to charge $600, that sounds almost too good to be true. Post or PM me a link, cause I have a couple friends that might be interested in that.

Azanon

Check out dishdepot.com

This is the deal I'm going to get when/if the 811's ever get released.

arxaw - I have a ChannelMaster 3020 and 7777.

Since I finally got Fox to work right this weekend, i had the opportunity to watch the Cowboys game. I noticed that the game seemed to be running in true widescreen EDTV (480p). It was quite pleasant on the eyes since the screen wasnt distored (via wide mode or pana). How many programs on Fox DT are in EDTV? Just a football game here and there or all of the prime time stuff as well?

Oh and btw, if you're curious, my TV is a 30" Samsung 3098WHF and i've been very pleased with it. It was as large as i could go to fit my TV slot, without having to rip it out of the wall and rebuild it.

Ahh, that explains the "interlaced" look to it (shimmer). As for if it was sent 480i or 480p, I probably wouldnt know because my TV would deinterlace it (has 3/2 pulldown) to 480p anyway. I'm a little surprised Allen feels upconvert 1080i looks better. 480p is aweful nice looking and isnt real far behind a true 1080i image, simply because it has no shimmer to it. Also, if i'm not mistaken, the refresh rate is double on progressive (60hz as compared to 30hz?).

So how does that pseudo HD that fox has compare to the HD of CBS? Is it still loads better that fox on cable?

I trust his judgement on that; besides there is insane talk over the bravod1/samsung931 dvd players that are capable of upconverting 480p to 1080i, so I have to assume upconverted 1080i looks better. All i'm saying is that when i toggle my stb setting to 480p on a HD channel, the image, in some ways, looks nicer cause the shimmering goes away. (but overall is much worse cause it isnt HD anymore.

Good point about the TV size - lower resolution isnt as detrimental on a smaller TV. Progressive vs Interlaced is a big change though.

Shane - any true HD image, such as CBS's 1080i football, blows away EDTV (Fox) or non-HD. Its really no comparison. Now 720p vs 1080i - you have a never ending debate. Strangely enough, i very slighly prefer the IQ of ESPN HD football games over CBS's HD football and that shouldnt be the case since my TV is native 1080i.

I guess the main benefit is the widescreen.

Something I've noticed with the HD on CBS in the three days of having it, is how good the colors are. I thought that everything would just be much sharper. I wasn't expecting the vibrant, bright, lifelike colors. It really is awesome. Analog cable looks washed out in comparison.

I had to self calibrate mine. I use the DVI port on my TV, but my DVD only has the typical component video outputs. In my service menu on my TV, it has separate settings depending on what port is being utilized so to calibrate one port does nothing for, say, the DVI.

My TV was way off out of the box - both colorwise and geometrywise. Its like a whole new TV compared to out of box settings.

No Hogs in HD this friday. I'm so F'n pissed - I might have to leave work and go home.