Quote:
Originally posted by yogaman
I thought you said you have already mounted one antenna on your roof. If you can figure out a way around your cosmetics objections to the hole in the wall, you might be better off putting an amplifier on that roof antenna, then use an n-way splitter with a cable for each TV/FM receiver. |
I'll give the bow tie a shot first and then probably go with this suggestion. I have the rooftop feed split two ways already (I had it split three, but had to take the third off as it weakened the signal too much), but I'm not using any sort of amplifier so if I do need to connect to the rooftop, I guess I'll have to get one.
The other feeds were all on the back or side of the house. The computer room is the front, hence my desire to not run a cable through that wall (plus the ease of an indoor antenna perfectly fitting with my inherent laziness....I'm not trying to set up a stairmaster afterall, just a boob tube.)
Quote:
Originally posted by yogaman
DTV signals are in the same frequency bands as analog TV, so if you get a strong signal on a UHF analog channel near a DTV channel from the same transmission tower, you will probably get good reception on the DTV channel, too. |
Actually, I get a lousy signal from most stations so that's not a good sign.

I was hoping the 'all or nothing' aspect of digital OTA would let me just grab onto the bottom end of a signal and still have great TV.
Quote:
Originally posted by yogaman
As for that $2200 budget, I'd recommend contacting Curt Palme for a used front projection CRT. The bang for buck cannot be touched any other way I've seen. The key downside is that you'll need excellent control of ambient light to achieve the best picture. And be sure to save enough aside for a separate tuner; these FPs generally are just projectors. |
Front projection, hunh, I hadn't even thought about that at all. Hadn't seen much mention of it...everything I've read has been pretty much RP versus Tube. I really like the size of the tubes as I want to set the TV on a low wooden cabinet (very sturdy) where the current TV is. The RP sets are too big to allow that with their bases. And the talk I hear about the necessary maintenance and all that for RPs scares me off a little too. I'll look into the front projection sets.
I slightly prefer the look of the RPs to the Tubes. Tubes look like really nice, sharp TVs whereas RPs seem to look like little movie screens...more film-like.
I have no problems with ambient light control in the room. Only one window (a sliding glass door) and I have 1/2" thick wood verticals I can close for pretty decent darkness. My problem is viewing angle. I need to measure it exactly to be sure, but my initial estimate is that the ends of the couch (long couch) would not be able to see a clear picture on an RP.
Quote:
Originally posted by yogaman
But if a box TV is what you need for your place, be glad that the 50+ inch sets with dual tuners and 1080i displays are now in the $1500-$1600 range. At least at the local Fry's Electronics. That's a big discount over just a couple years ago. |
We don't have Fry's here, but yeah.
Actually, I am looking at something in the 36"-42" range. 42 would be ideal, but if I go tube, I'll probably have to settle for 32-34. The 38" RCA seems nice, but I really would rather have the HD tuner separate (for eventual HTPC involvement.
Anyway, thanks for your help and giving a newbie some direction to think about.
