OT: DTV - I had no idea!

Laurence wrote on 10/3/2007, 10:07 PM

I walked into Radio Shack today and a couple of guys are standing around watching a pristine HD image on one of the TVs. Is it cable? No. Is it satellite? No. Does it cost anything? Not per month. It was DTV. Free HD digital broadcast over the air of the local stations. I ask a few questions and am told that all the analog stations are being replaced with digital HD ones, and that over the next few years the analog ones will all be pulled leaving just the digital.

I must be living under a rock or something because I had no idea about any of this. Is this common knowledge? How could I have missed something this big?

Did everyone else already know this?

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Paul Mead wrote on 10/4/2007, 1:09 PM

Last year our local cable company, Comcast, sent out flyer after flyer bragging about HDTV, so I looked into it. I called them up and asked what channels they provided in HD, then I looked up what was available over-the-air. At that time, the only thing they would give me for the extra $12.95 a month that I couldn't get OTA was the Discovery Channel. Well, I like the Discovery Channel, but not enough to pay $12.95 for an HD program that had been compressed by Comcast so that they could fit it into their pipe without chewing up too much bitrate. For the moment I am content to get free HD OTA that hasn't been recompressed.

Nearly all of the primetime fare offered by the major networks in the USA is HD and the image quality is so impressive compared to SD that I'm afraid it mesmerizes me into watching more TV than I should. The OTA stuff looks great and doesn't cost a thing. How can you argue with that? (No, that isn't an invitation...)

Coursedesign wrote on 10/4/2007, 3:14 PM

I CAN pick up, NOW, a small 8" LCD DIGITAL TV which has over 1000 channels available PLUS it does DAB Radio too! For less than $160=£80! - Perfect for the kitchen while I cook up a storming curry or stir fry or Couscous.

Here in the U.S. we have to settle for a 15" LCD HDTV for $155 at Best Buy, without DAB of course.

The U.S. is dabbling (no pun intended :O(~)) with HD Radio here, but not even 0.1% of the population has any idea what this is, what programs are available, or how you listen to them.

CorTed wrote on 10/4/2007, 4:06 PM

I bought a small HD tuner which plugs right into your USB port, comes with a little antenna and remote control all for $129.
It is pretty cute, just the reception with the supplied antenna of the HD signals needs some serious improvement

Here is a link:
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV+Tuners/PCTV+Analog_Digital+PVR/PCTV+HD+Pro+Stick.htm

TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/4/2007, 6:54 PM

I don't see the point in buying one of these to use with an analog SD TV. Last I saw the tuner boxes were priced high enough that for a hundred or couple hundred dollars more you could get a flat screen TV with the HD tuner built in (you have to find a real deal to do this, but it can be done).

That's why I made my own by using a space AMD XP 1800, an ATI 9600 & a DViCO Fusion HDTV tuner. Looks excellent on my 27" monitor (old broadcast monitor I got from a school). It looks SO good my dad didn't believe me when I said it's not HD after he compared it to his. :) Sadly, the vid card died (ends up the fan connection went & the GPU fried) so I need a new one.

But I went that route because all the HDTV tuners @ Best Buy/Circuit City were $300+ & I didn't want a 20" widescreen crappy HD TV. I want it as tall as it is now. I don't mind black bars on top/bottom.

richard-courtney wrote on 10/4/2007, 7:15 PM

We bought an ATSC tuner because our projector didn't have it built-in.

For you computer saavy folks there is a tuner that streams signals to your
lan network. www.silicondust.com

Computers will play the program using a free program from www.videolan.org

John_Cline wrote on 10/4/2007, 7:29 PM

I, too, have to give a nod to the DViCo Fusion. I've got two of them along with an Avermedia dual-tuner HDTV card set up in a machine with 2 terabytes worth of drives. It's all controlled by an incredible piece of software called "BeyondTV." It like a Tivo on steroids. I can record three HDTV programs off-air and one analog program off the cable and watch recorded programs, all simultaneously. I have three other machines on the network running the "BeyondTV Link" client software. I can watch live TV, either SD or HD, and play back any of the recorded files on the server. I can also control the record programming from any of the client machines. The server machine in the living room is connected to a 34" Sony CRT HD TV via the DVI secondary output of the nVidia video card in the server. Two of the machines on the network are running HDMI output each connected to a separate 42" Vizio 1080p monitor and one machine is running DVI to a 24" Dell 1080 monitor. Obviously, I like HDTV.

John

Not only am I HDTV crazy, I'm also lazy. The BeyondTV software comes with a full-function RF remote control and the BeyondTV Link software comes with IR remote controls.
(Avermedia dual-tuner card = http://www.aver.com/mpd/combopcie_mce.html)

TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/4/2007, 8:26 PM

that software looks impressive (you forgot the link: http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/ ). And it runs on Win2k, which is what my DVR machine has. Sweet. :)

corug7 wrote on 10/4/2007, 8:42 PM

I picked up a 30" Sanyo CRT HDTV over Labor Day for $300 from a Value City Outlet. Dual tuners and incredible picture quality, plus it does an amazing job of upconverting DVDs and analog signals. I'm afraid it puts my 42" Olevia to shame. Makes buying a tuner for some of the smaller SD tubes seem useless, although I can see buying one for my DVR if cable gets too expensive.