[Lurch]

I'm thinking of buying the MyHD card in PowerBuy right now and just putting it in my comp (not an HTPC) to watch OTA HD on one of my monitors when the mood strikes me.


Trouble is, I don't want to drill another hole in my house to feed the rooftop aerial cable in to my PC room which is not close to my TV room. I've heard people have pretty good success with the Radio Shack rabbit ear antennas for HD reception -- any reason that wouldn't work the same for a PC as for a normal TV setup? I'm just wondering if the computers or monitors might somehow interfere with the signal and make it harder. (Would an air conditioner?)


Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm a newbie at this stuff. I read a lot of threads and have been lurking for awhile though. I asked the question with some others in the MyHD powerbuy thread, but no one answered so I am guessing this info is common knowledge...I just can't find it.

 

[yogaman]

Not willing to drill for HDTV?


No HTPC signal feeding your main projector?


My goodness, man, where are your priorities?


Nonetheless, you apparently want an answer to your question. I think the answer will depend on how strong the local digital broadcasters' signals are in your area. If your neighbor gets good DTV reception with rabbit ears, you probably will, too. You might need to fiddle with them to make a signal come in, but it might work.


If you're within 15 miles of the tower(s), I think rabbit ears will work. If you're more than 40, it's probably not gonna work. Anywhere in between, dunno.


That PowerBuy price is mighty fine, though. Maybe with the money you're saving, you could hire someone to drill that hole for you...


Good luck.


-yogaman

 

[Endymion]

Don't get the rabbit ears, you need the double bowties.

 

[Lurch]

Quote:

Originally posted by yogaman Not willing to drill for HDTV? No HTPC signal feeding your main projector? My goodness, man, where are your priorities?

Heck, I am so far from having an HDTV/projector setup I actually have to get up off the couch to adjust the sound!


I've been saving for about 15 months now and have enough budgeted for a semi-decent set ($2200), but I can't decide what to go with yet. I originally was saving for a WEGA, but when I went to pick one out last fall, I was very unimpressed with the picture quality. After looking around, it became clear nothing short of HDTV was worth upgrading for. (I guess I'm hard to please...when I saw my first DVD, I was unimpressed also.)


I figured this card would be a temp HD-fix for me while I decide...later this year it will go into an HTPC.


Quote:

Originally posted by yogaman Nonetheless, you apparently want an answer to your question. I think the answer will depend on how strong the local digital broadcasters' signals are in your area. If your neighbor gets good DTV reception with rabbit ears, you probably will, too. You might need to fiddle with them to make a signal come in, but it might work. If you're within 15 miles of the tower(s), I think rabbit ears will work. If you're more than 40, it's probably not gonna work. Anywhere in between, dunno.

It looks like I'm about 35 miles away from most of the transmitters so I guess I'll just have to give it a shot and see. The only neighbors I talk to either have Satellite or just regular UHF/VHF stuff.


Thanks for the helpful reply.

Quote:

Originally posted by yogaman That PowerBuy price is mighty fine, though. Maybe with the money you're saving, you could hire someone to drill that hole for you...

Oh, I don't mind drilling, I just don't want a hole in that wall. If I have to, I will aerate the room though.


Quote:

Originally posted by Endymion Don't get the rabbit ears, you need the double bowties.

Akk, that's what I meant. I don't know how 'rabbit ears' got in my head....they look more like elephant ears anyway.


TitanTV recommends I get the "MegaWave MTV-1 TV/FM set-top antenna", but I was hoping a cheap solution would work for me since it is temporary.


If I have to go rooftop, TitanTV recommends I use the "Antennacraft AC-9". If my indoor solution won't work, I guess I'll be researching that antenna.


Thank.

 

[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. 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.


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.


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.


Hope you find something you like. And have big fun.


-yogaman

 

[Lurch]

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.

 

[aviators99]

Two days ago I got an HDTV for my parents' new house. I had nothing to hook it up to. I noticed that the previous owners had one of those wires used as an antenna for FM radio, with a coax on the other end that they had previously connected to their audio receiver. I shoved it in to the back of the TV, and I was able to watch every HD station in town. Most of the antennae are about 25 miles from them. The moral of the story is, give it a try!

 

[Teeps]

lurch: The MyHD card will work with radio shack bow tie; I just got mine (MyHD & bow tie) yesterday. The higher up you can get the antenna the better. Search the HDTV Hardware forum for the bow tie feeder mod, it's easy to do and decreases the "signal pollution", suggest you solder the leads, as opposed to drilling and screwing them to the bow tie.

Cheers...


aviators99: What a serindipitous event you have experienced... wish it was always that easy.

Cheers...

 

[Lurch]

aviators99 - you give me hope of an easy solution!


Teeps - thanks for the bow tie report and thanks for the feeder mod advice, I hadn't seen that at all so I'll go check it out.