Greenville, SC - HDTV - Page 294

WYFF is higher on the list than W11AU-D. Noise margin of 12.9 versus 5.2. But WYFF is 2Edge while W11AU-D is 1Edge.

EDIT: jtbell beat me to it.

- Trip

Thanks. This is obviously my first go at an OTA setup. Not sure how to give a channel a try, seeing as that all I'm doing is using the tv's tuner to auto search for channels and I get what it gives me. I don't think my tv has a manual search function.

WHNS Fox 21 at 191degrees and 27 miles is coming in at 95%. Auto search doesn't find WYFF 36 at 182degrees and 32 miles. Likely something to do with tower strength or broadcast frequency?

From the monoprice reviews, I was optimistic with a small powered multi directional on the roof. It may simply be my area. This antenna is afterall a small hunk of chinese plastic. I may give Radio Shack a visit today and see what options I have for a few bucks more. I'm not really interested in a 30 footer and rotor.

Thanks again!
/neil

Your issue is that WHNS21 has a 28dB noise margin and -63dBm level vs WYFF36 with a 13dB NM and -78dBm level ... 15dB is about a 30:1 power level difference ... so it can be attributed to "tower strength" or path loss, effectively about the same thing. Making that much loss up with an antenna won't be trivial.

You have a moderate number of strong signals, too, so I'd be wary of an amplifier; either it or your set may be overloaded from the strong signals. If you choose to try one, be sure you can return it if overload causes a problem. If you buy one, put it as close to the antenna as practical and get a good one; there are numerous threads here.

Me ... in your shoes ... I'd try a highly directional antenna, but WYCW, WLOS, and WUNF are strong and roughly in the same direction and overload may be a problem. If that works (with or without a good amplifier) you can either use an A-B switch or one of the antenna joining devices to get the rest with your omni.

You probably don't need a 30 foot pole & rotor. You DO however need a REAL ANTENNA (looks sort of like what your dad or granddad used back in the day). The uglier ones usually work the best

Trip & jtbell: Thanks for the correction. I'm claiming a "senior moment" on this one.

A -78dBm isn't a great signal but should be usable with the right antenna.

Does anyone know what channels I would be able to receive through Charter in Greenville if I only subscribe to their "TV Basic" when I connect the coax directly to a TiVo Premiere? The price I'd be paying for this lineup, whatever it is, is essentially $10 ($10 over what the internet would be by itself).

If it's not much more than locals that I can already pickup via OTA antenna, then I will just sign up for the internet only option.

Thanks!

Good Morning,

This is the current lineup for Basic in Greenville, SC. Please be aware that this lineup may change at any time.

Channel Program Name
3 Home Shopping Network
4 WYFF - NBC
5 WMYA - MyTV
6 WGGS - IND
7 WSPA - CBS
8 WNTV - PBS
9 WYCW - CW
10 Access Television
10 Charter Media
10 Education Showcase
11 QVC
12 WHNS - FOX
13 WLOS - ABC
14 Government Access
15 Government Access
16 WUNF - PBS
22 WGN America -
95 CSPAN
99 Local Access

Did you have any other questions we could assist with?

Thanks,

Dylan
http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

I can get most of those channels just fine with my TiVo currently, so the Internet-only option seems to be the better play for me. Thanks

Hey UMatter, I do have one other question ... I have an old cable modem from about 8 years ago that was used with Charter in Birmingham AL. How can I tell if this is OK to use today so that I don't have to lease one from Charter again?

Good Afternoon

If it's 8 years old there is a good chance that it is a DOCSIS 1.1 modem which is being phased out on our system. Do you happen to have the model number? If you are interested in purchasing a new modem we highly recommend getting a modem that is DOCSIS 3.0 compliant.

Thanks,

Dylan
http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

It wasn't as old as I thought

Scientific Atlanta DPC2100R2

With a good OTA you can get
4.1 WYFF
4.2 THIS TV
7.1 WSPA
7.2 METV
13.1 WLOS
13.2
13.3 WLOS SD
16.1
16.2
16.3
21.1
21.2
6 PBS stations (I love the 3 from NC. My Kid loves the PBSKIDS all day long on their system)
40.1
40.2 COOLTV
40.3
62.1
62.2
Add a Roku (one time fee) you can get Crackle, Fox News Live from 9-3 pm plus HSN, HULU Plus, Netflix, Amazon VOD,HGTV, FOOD NETWORK NIGHT TIME, and many many many more.
I prefer the Roku's netflix app better than Tivo's. If you have a xbox 360 you will see Crackle on there soon too.
Since you have Charter net you will also get ESPN3 too for your sports fix. If you have a 360

I already have TiVo and AppleTV, so I get all those OTA stations already plus Amazon, Hulu+, Netflix, Vimeo, Wall St Journal TV, iTunss, and Netflix. I agree that Roku offers a lot of options but I'm knee deep in the Apple ecosystem by choice.

This should be able to work on our HSI Express (12/1) package. Anything higher and we suggest using a DOCSIS 3.0 device.

If you ever have any other questions please feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to help!

Thanks,

Dylan

Just caught a quick glance at work, but looks like WSPA may have a new set for the news. Or at least they appear to have renovated the backdrops in the studio.

they Just have a new backdrop it is the same set

Yea, new backdrop. Not a new set. But looks better.

Apple Tv will give you a better netflix and Hulu set up than Tivo did for me but it does work. What makes Roku so good is the private channels. I have HGTV, Foodnetwork and many more free. You can still get these things with AppleTv if you look into Playon software running on your pc. Its free to try so check it out. http://www.playon.tv/press/20100105
I bet you will like it. It adds TBS, Hulu (all of it not just the plus stuff)
Netflix2 +
Adult Swim +
Amazon VOD2 +
BET +
Cartoon Network +
CBS +
CNN +
Comedy Central +
ESPN +
ESPN3 +
FOX News +
FoxSoccer.tv +
Live News: Al Jazeera (English) +
Live News: BBC +
Live News: Bloomberg +
Live News: C-Span +
Live News: NHK (English) +
Live News: RT (English) +
MLB.tv2 +
MTV +
National Geographic +
NFL Rewind +
NHL.com2 +
Nick +
OWN +
PBS +
PBS Kids +
SpikeTV +
Syfy Rewind +
TBS +
TV.com +
VEVO

Just a commentary here. After watching way too many months of programming with the audio out of sync with the lips or even worse sounding like it's hissing with every breath, after watching shows that have aired 5 times in the same 2 week period, I have quit watching channel 16.2. Since ME TV come on the air my tuner has not come off 7.2 except to watch the news which I do on channel 3 or Fox 21.

I'm an all night watcher and the only problem is due to the lack of commercials they are playing the same 4 promos for channel 7 during every break. But the programming choices are much better than my previous classic programming station. I don't see how they have many viewers anymore. You can't keep watching the same show over and over but so many times.

Hello from Asheville! Forgive me for not reading through all 294 pages of this thread... I am wondering what INDOOR antennas people are using in Asheville? I am going to Radioshack later today to pick up an Antennacraft Omnidirectional Amplified Antenna and give that a try. Is anyone else using this antenna? I would be happy picking up CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX....but I REALLY need CBS for the NFL games!

Thanks!

I never had any luck with indoor antennas down here in Greenville. I doubt this one will work too well, but you have got nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Omni directional antennas do not work well with digital television especially in the mountains with signals bouncing off those mountains. Reflected signals (ghosts in analog tv) can kill digital reception and omnis will pick up every reflected signal and make it very difficult for the digital receiver to decode the signal. For best results, you should get a directional antenna. You will have much better results with an outdoor antenna. Go to http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/ and enter your street address to get an idea of the signal strength you will receive. Anything moderate or below will most likely require an outside antenna.

I don't have high expectations for an indoor antenna, but like you say I have nothing to lose! I can always return the antenna if it doesn't work and go to an outdoor.

That is a great website!

It lists ABC, CW, PBS, and FOX as strong, and NBC and CBS as moderate:

Strong Signal WLOS ABC 13-1 Hi-V
Network: ABC
[x]
Channel: 13 (RF 13)
Receive Power: -29 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: WSW (229)
Gain/Loss Map
Strong Signal WYCW CW 62-1 UHF
Network: CW
[x]
Channel: 62 (RF 45)
Receive Power: -31 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: S (182)
Gain/Loss Map
Strong Signal WUNF PBS 33-1 UHF
Network: PBS
[x]
Channel: 33 (RF 25)
Receive Power: -32 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: WSW (229)
Gain/Loss Map
Strong Signal WEMT FOX 39-1 UHF
Strong Signal WHNS FOX 21-1 UHF
Network: FOX
[x]
Channel: 21 (RF 21)
Receive Power: -43 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: SSW (198)
Gain/Loss Map
Moderate Signal WYFF NBC 4-1 UHF
Network: NBC
[x]
Channel: 4 (RF 36)
Receive Power: -56 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: S (189)
Gain/Loss Map
Moderate Signal WSPA CBS 7-1 Hi-V
Network: CBS
[x]
Channel: 7 (RF 7)
Receive Power: -65 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: SSE (156)
Gain/Loss Map
Weak Signal WCYB NBC/CW(DIG) 5-1 Lo-V
Network: NBC/CW(DIG)
[x]
Channel: 5 (RF 5)
Receive Power: -80 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: NNE (29)
Gain/Loss Map
No Signal WNTV PBS 29-1 Hi-V
Network: PBS
[x]
Channel: 29 (RF 9)
Receive Power: -91 dBm
Compass Direction to Tower: S (174)
Gain/Loss Map

I am still going to try an indoor omnidirectional antenna first. My neighbor two houses down is picking up CBS with one...

As for an outdoor antenna under $100...any recommendations?

Thanks!

One of the better indoor antennas is the Terk HDTVi/HDTVa. It has a good arrow shaped UHF element, and rabbit ears for VHF. The HDTVa is the amplified version. And for those flat panel type antennas, the Mohu Leaf has gotten good reviews, although it is optimized for UHF. And the Clearstream 1 or 2 make very good indoor antennas, and there is a new CS2 version with a VHF dipole. But remember, those flat panel, omnidirectional antennas such as you are considering don't always work very well, and they tend to be designed more for UHF, meaning you may have problems with CBS and ABC. But you can always try it and see.

As for an outdoor antenna, the Asheville-Greenville-Spartanburg market requires a HiVHF/UHF antenna for best reception, as NBC and Fox are UHF, and CBS and ABC are VHF. And the Antennacraft HBU22 or HBU33, also sold at Radioshack, should work, but mountain reception can be problematic depending upon your location. Or you could try a Channel Master 4228HD in the attic, as it is a very good UHF antenna that also can possibly receive HiVHF as well. Some things to consider, as well as trial and error.

Well, that must depend upon location, as I have used both an HDTVa and CS1here in Mauldin, and received all GSP stations as well as several Charlotte signals, including WBTV, no problem. Of course, in most cases, a good outdoor antenna will work better.

I highly recommend the Channel Master 4228HD. I got mine as an "open box" special directly from Channel Master at this link:

http://www.channelmasterstore.com/Di...cm-4228hdr.htm

It is $69.99, plus a minimum $22 S&H. You get faster deliveries by paying higher shipping, but I got mine within a week with the cheapest shipping. Also, if this antenna doesn't do the trick for you, Channel Master offers a no-hassle refund.

I believe your are going to have to purchase an outdoor antenna. I lived in Leicester for several years and found what your neighbor receives will not guarantee same results for you because of the way signals bounce off the mountains. I had to go with an outdoor antenna if I wanted anything more than channel 13. I received 13 fine with an indoor antenna because I could see Mt Pisgah while sitting on my porch

How do you mount one of these? Will it require constant adjustments?