A question for those who have HD-TV

[jras20]

I'm afraid when they kill analog tv in 09 that I may not be able to get any TV out in my place in the country. How does HD-TV work? Will it come in even if you are in a fringe area? I know I'm not planing on buying a new TV, I'll probably just half to get a converter, but I may just quit watching TV all together if I cant get anything out there. I do have Direct TV, but I like to get local channels off the air antenna better than on direct.

 

[dhett]

I'm afraid when they kill analog tv in 09 that I may not be able to get any TV out in my place in the country. How does HD-TV work? Will it come in even if you are in a fringe area? I know I'm not planing on buying a new TV, I'll probably just half to get a converter, but I may just quit watching TV all together if I cant get anything out there. I do have Direct TV, but I like to get local channels off the air antenna better than on direct.

I don't have HDTV, or even DTV, but here's what I believe to be true...

It all depends on what kind of setup the stations chose. Some have chosen to replicate analog facilities, while others have chosen to maximize facilities, which could increase their coverage area. What I understand about DTV is that, unlike analog, where the signal quality generally degrades as you move away from the transmitter, until it gets snowy, and finally disappears altogether, DTV's signal remains at the same quality until you get out of range, then it just drops altogether. I'm not sure what kind of interference you're going to get.

To figure out whether or not you should get a signal, go to the FCC TV Query (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html), select the stations you want, click on the calls to bring up full info, then select Service Contour Map. Be sure you're looking at DT service designation, and hopefully Licensed status. If there is no Licensed entry under DT, check for STA. If there is none, then the station might have been started after the 1997 DTV allocations, and so, will have no digital signal until they turn off analog.

You know your area better than I do - you should be able to get an inkling of whether or not you'll be within reception range. I believe the maps try to take terrain into consideration also, but I don't know that for sure.

Since I don't know what market you're in, here are service contours of the DTV PBS stations in Dallas and Houston:

Dallas/Fort Worth - KERA: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT692208.html

Houston - KUHT: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT601378.html

 

[Chuck]

I live in the country in East Texas, and have an HDTV receiver. For me it had been a huge improvement over analog reception. As a previous poster mentioned, it either works, or it doesn't. I have only one channel that I can get in analog, but not HD. The picture is poor in analog, non-existent in HD.. Between my over the air signals and what I get on DISH, I'm a happy camper.

I hope you will be too.

 

[Slambang]

I recently joined the HD projector set(Purchsed a Optoma HD70,under a grand) and I have to say, it does make a serious improvement over SD. As I watch over DISH Network(30 HD-dedicated channels) as well, ive noticed the local affiliates coming in over HD have a much cleaner image, esp. with sports programming. As more OTAs start going straight HD, the programming options will def. improve.

 

[jras20]

So is HD Tv kind of like HD-FM it'll go just about as far as the analog signal? Wish I could buy a reciever locally just to see how well it will work. I'm just wondering how well it'll turn out, it'll be cool if I could get Fox and UPN over HD. But I'll be recieving it off the air antenna.

 

[gbranch]

Jras,

I'd be impressed if you could receive UPN-HD. The signal would have had to bounce off of Alpha Centauri!

For the most part, the digital signals cover about the same area as the analog signal, but YMMV, because unlike HD radio, a digital television station is transmitting with a completely different transmitter, on a completely different frequency. For instance, here in Tyler-Longview, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC transmit analog on 7, 19, 51, and 56 respectively, and transmit digital on 10, 18, 31, and 22. So, there can be areas where you can receive analog but no digital or vice-versa.

Suggest you go to antennaweb.org and enter in your address. The output will be a list of analog and digital channels that you may be able to receive at your location. On the address entry page, under options, enter 100 feet for your antenna height. This generally gives a more accurate representation of what signals are available at your home.

I don't know where you are, but you should also visit the HD discussion groups at avsforum.com. Each DMA has a board dedicated to local over the air digital television discussions. Find your DMA, and this should give you an idea of what you can and cannot receive in your area.

 

[JayDavis]

Okay, here is a question about our TV sets and HDTV. I have a VERY nice Sony Wega TV that is only about 4 years old, at most. How do I convert it to HDTV? I paid $1500 for it, not too thrilled to give it up just yet.

Will it convert to HDTV ??

 

[Chuck]

Okay, here is a question about our TV sets and HDTV. I have a VERY nice Sony Wega TV that is only about 4 years old, at most. How do I convert it to HDTV? I paid $1500 for it, not too thrilled to give it up just yet.

Will it convert to HDTV ??

Probably not, unless it has it has SVGA, HDMI or maybe even component video inputs. Then it may or may not. You need to consult your instruction manual to see for sure. Even if it can't, all is not lost though. You can purchase an outboard HDTV tuner that looks a lot like a cable box. It will down convert the HDTV signal into something your TV can deal with. It won't be HDTV, but my observation is that the digital signals are so much better than typical analog signals; it is a worthwhile addition to an analog only TV. There will be no ghosts, snow or other analog interference.

 

[TexasTom]

If you can get even a mediocre analog signal, you should be able to receive the digital HD signals after 2009. I know several folks who had trouble getting an adequate analog signal off the air, and they are getting flawless digital reception.

 

[gbranch]

Okay, here is a question about our TV sets and HDTV. I have a VERY nice Sony Wega TV that is only about 4 years old, at most. How do I convert it to HDTV? I paid $1500 for it, not too thrilled to give it up just yet.

Will it convert to HDTV ??

Probably not, unless it has it has SVGA, HDMI or maybe even component video inputs. Then it may or may not. You need to consult your instruction manual to see for sure. Even if it can't, all is not lost though. You can purchase an outboard HDTV tuner that looks a lot like a cable box. It will down convert the HDTV signal into something your TV can deal with. It won't be HDTV, but my observation is that the digital signals are so much better than typical analog signals; it is a worthwhile addition to an analog only TV. There will be no ghosts, snow or other analog interference.

Just to add to what Chuck posted...

Unless your Sony was sold as HD ready, or HD capable, the best you will be able to do is 480i (HD is 720p and up). You can buy a digital set-top box that will receive the digital signals, and downconvert it to 480i via s-video or component, or even to a composite video output that can be used with any tv. The 480i picture will be DVD quality. This compares with analog tv which typically has about 320 lines of resolution. You'll also be able to receive the sub-channels that many digital stations are multiplexing into their data streams. Although the sub-channels can degrade the picture quality of the HD feed, you can see some interesting stuff there - from 24/7 news and weather channels, to music channels like The Tube, and in some smaller markets secondary affiliates are on the sub-channels. For instance, here in Tyler, the analog low power My Network TV affiliate KLPN is available on KFXK-DT's sub-channel 51.2, in standard definition of course.

 

[BoneHead]

If you can get even a mediocre analog signal, you should be able to receive the digital HD signals after 2009. I know several folks who had trouble getting an adequate analog signal off the air, and they are getting flawless digital reception.

Your anecdotal evidence notwithstanding, DTV is a very "YMMV" thing.

Multipath is very problematic with ATSC. Tuners manufactured today cope with multipath better than those made five years ago, but it is still a problem. There are a lot of locations within 20 miles of the Cedar Hill antenna farm where it is practically impossible to aim an antenna to simultaneously receive all the DFW DTV stations.

Also, I have been involved in conversations with engineers from three DFW stations, and each of them say there are a lot of locations in the 60-to-80 mile range where people with crystal clear analog reception cannot get a consistent ATSC lock. At least one DFW station modified its license to allow an increase in ERP while affecting a downward tilt to the signal. This improved performance within their old NTSC Grade B contour but reduced it significantly in fringe areas.

People in these areas can sometimes just get a bigger antenna, but while the nice Winegard jobs do a great job, they introduce another problem. ATSC transmissions in the VHF band are easily disrupted by lightning, and with a big antenna lightning strikes over 100 miles away (depending on the compass bearing of the lightning and the orientation of the antenna, of course) will cause audio dropouts.

 

[JayDavis]

Thank you so much for the info. A lot of what many of you are writing about is way beyond my technical "feeble" brain is capable of deciphering, but at least I can go home and check my owner's manual to see if it is HDTV compatable or whatever the correct term is.

If not, I guess I could hook the TV up as a very large computer screen for my home computer, couldn't I ???

 

[CW]

Just to add to what Chuck posted...

Unless your Sony was sold as HD ready, or HD capable, the best you will be able to do is 480i (HD is 720p and up). You can buy a digital set-top box that will receive the digital signals, and downconvert it to 480i via s-video or component, or even to a composite video output that can be used with any tv. The 480i picture will be DVD quality. This compares with analog tv which typically has about 320 lines of resolution. You'll also be able to receive the sub-channels that many digital stations are multiplexing into their data streams. Although the sub-channels can degrade the picture quality of the HD feed, you can see some interesting stuff there - from 24/7 news and weather channels, to music channels like The Tube, and in some smaller markets secondary affiliates are on the sub-channels. For instance, here in Tyler, the analog low power My Network TV affiliate KLPN is available on KFXK-DT's sub-channel 51.2, in standard definition of course.

Channel 34 in the Beaumont area (TBN affiliate) now has 5 digital channels on...all 480i...a friend of mine who has a Polaroid HDTV was surprised to see them pop up recently during a scan of the digital channels (the TV counted 9 altogether...6.1/6.2, 12.1/12.2 and the 33 channels)....funny thing, his TV shows the 480i in 16:9 which is supposed to be 4:3 (when KFDM runs SD on their HD channel, it is in 4:3 and HD shows in 16:9 correctly!) I think its time to take the TV back and get another one....(also 6.1 and 6.2 show as RF21-1 and 21-2 which is correct but KFDM is sending out the correct channel info..so the TV should show 6-1 and 6-2 as most do!)
The MY network affiliate in Beaumont is a LP analog on 21..supposed to upgrade to Class A in the future and new site...