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DTV reception question

C

CaptainFirstReturns

Hope someone can answer this for me. Will DTV signals be stronger than analog ones? I ask because my apartment faces a brick wall, and over-the-air reception is just about impossible right now. If I can get signals after the switch though, I will kindly tell my cable company where to go and what to do. Forty dollars or so for a converter box would be well worth the one-time expense.
 
So far I have found the opposite to be true. Digital signals are much harder to receive than analog. From a given location I can pick up about twice as many analog channels as digital. From what I have read digital signals are much more susceptible to interference and tend to bounce off or be deflected by other objects like trees and hills.
 
It really depends. I've seen a lot of places where either one is true, and usually I find that it's possible to receive most or all of the digital signals available in an area. The big problem I've seen, is finding one single location that receives all the signals at the same time.

- Trip
 
DTV signals can "bend" a lot better than analog, since the receiver has, essentially, a "Ghost Canceller" built in. Digital only requires a fraction of the power to cover the same area as an analog signal, though.

Be sure to get a decent antenna, like the Silver Sensor, and try different placements. Stay away from "amplified" antennas....if there isn't enough signal in a spot, an amplifier isn't going to make (no-signal) better.
 
kenglish said:
Be sure to get a decent antenna, like the Silver Sensor, and try different placements. Stay away from "amplified" antennas....if there isn't enough signal in a spot, an amplifier isn't going to make (no-signal) better.
Click to expand...
The opposite is true for analog signals, though? I had an unamplified antenna and replaced it with an amplified model ... the difference was quite clear on analog.

I've not bought a convertor yet, so no comment on DTV reception :p
 
I only get three stations with my converter box. I get 16 stations (including 2 low powers) with analog.

Funny I get WLS-TV on Channel 7 (real channel 52) all the time, and Channels 9 (19) and Channel 11(47) come in pixilated. The rest are not viewable. I even got a silver sensor antenna, but it makes no difference.

I thinks it's odd since all the digital stations broadcast from Sears, I guess I happen to be in a spot where the signals drop off, I'm 5 miles directly NW of Sears Tower.

Also weird is when it rains even WLS drops off totally. It's like the old days with analog and thunderstorms.
 
Mark said:
I only get three stations with my converter box. I get 16 stations (including 2 low powers) with analog.
Click to expand...

Just set up a converter box for my mother, in her basement about 10 miles from Milwaukee.

She gets 10 of the 12 full-power stations that came in in analog. None of the four LPTV stations is coming in. (although at least one is supposed to be transmitting a digital signal)

However, she's noticed many of the stations come in MUCH clearer than they did in analog. Especially channels 4 and 6. Also channels 49 and 55 which are just barely watchable in analog but perfect in digital.

Of the two full-power stations that don't come in, one is essentially unviewable in analog and the other is TBN, not exactly a top-rated channel. Two of the four LPTVs don't come in worth a darn in analog either, and a third is carried on a subchannel of one of the full-power stations, so she gets the programs just fine anyway. The fourth is Telemundo - as I'm the only one in the family who speaks Spanish, no big loss...

Finally, subchannels. Weather Plus on channel 4, something like five channels of PBS plus three radio stations (channel 10 has *eight* subchannels but three of them are a static weather map with audio), five channels of Ion, none of which you can get in analog.

At least in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, DTV is a very good deal. (and again, this is with rabbit ears in the basement...)
 
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