[yoomit]

I've been having a lot of difficulty finding information on this forum (at least from those with first-hand experience) on indoor antenna reception.


So after a LONG time of browsing online, I've found the following articles.


A lot of this stuff is useful, IMO...and giving me a lot of hope that an indoor antenna just may work!


Anyone having the same type of concerns/worries about OTA HD reception, read on!

http://www.projectorexpert.com/Pages/8vsb.html

http://www.tvtechnology.com/features...06.26.02.shtml

http://www.svconline.com/ar/avinstall_dtv_holy_grail/



and i stumbled across this site...great in learning more about how other users in your area have fared with their HD reception, along with other cool HD info...
http://www.hdtvpub.com/index.cfm

 

[jckessler]

Hey,


I'm doing indoor reception in an apartment building and have having very good luck. I live in a fairly dense urban area (lots of 4-8 story buildings packed closely together) and am using the Zenith Silver Sensor as an antenna. I am six stories up, but my apartment faces the wrong way from the towers. I can get all the Boston stations without moving my antenna from its position in my window sill. I do get occaisional (1 or 2 per hour) dropouts, but not enough to be a problem. I can even get reception on a $3 radio shack bowtie antenna, but have found the Zenith antenna to perform more reliably and is easier to position.


If you're reasonably close to the towers, and have enough height, you should be OK. I get pretty good reception on my analog UHF stations. Some ghosting is visible, generally not awful for most stations. However, every location is different, and you won't know what your reception will be like until you try. I think you have a decent shot at indoor reception, being reasonably close to the towers. Just buy your equipment locally, so you can return it if it doesn't work out.


Good luck!

 

[yoomit]

thanks for your feedback...that's EXACTLY the type of experience i was waiting to hear.


sounds very similar to my living condition - and the tower (Empire State Bldg) is about 5 miles away, so I'm hoping I will have as good luck as you.


can you describe your set-up, and how you like HD programming?


i recently ordered the HD-200, and i'm getting my Toshiba TW40X81 rptv calibrated by Gregg Loewen in Feb/Mar. this is all in lieu of getting a plasma screen - i decided to try to use what i already had instead of dropping 4k on new equipment.


the unit is hd-ready (1080i), so i'm expecting good things, especially after the calibration - hopefully as good as a plasma screen

 

[jckessler]

I have very minimal HD setup. My display is a 27" Gateway Destination monitor and I'm using the Zenith HDV420 to tune the stations. This tuner is supposed to good at dealing with multipath, which is important for indoor/urban reception. The HD-200 is the same as the Zenith 520, and I suspect that the OTA tuner portion of all three (HD200, 420, and 520) are the same or very similar. The HD200 ability to get channels seems to be well regarded on this forum.


HD programming just blows me away. It looks so good. I think you'll be very happy with it. Even the upconverted SD definition programming looks a whole lot better than analog: better colors, no noise or static.


I'm about 7-8 miles from the Boston towers. I don't have any problem receiving another channel from 19 miles away, and can even get (when it's not snowing or raining) a New Hampshire station at around 50 miles. At 5 miles you should have no problem getting enough signal even with a minimal antenna, your only problem is likely to be multipath.