[opendtv] Re: something

I brought up the issue of ATSC 8VSB OTA reception recently at my local Future 
Shop (Canada) consumer electronics big box store (owned by Best Buy). If there 
is a single retailer who demonstrates OTA reception using a gain UHF antenna on 
a rotator I would be amazed to hear of it.   The reason is obvious and has been 
much discussed on this reflector and need not be resurrected.

Six years ago I became an early adopter of an HDTV set that had NTSC but no 
ATSC tuner.  Being aware of the reception problems suffered by early 8VSB STB 
tuners I delayed purchasing one until last year when Samsung brought out the 
260F that seemed to have general approval as to its reception capability.  It 
did perform well but still did not have the ability to reliably capture the 
weakest received DTV signals (30 ft mast-mounted fixed antenna, 40 db amp and 
50 ft of transmission line).  Located conveniently between Toronto and Buffalo, 
(as I am) I have the luxury of receiving all the major network DTV broadcasts.  

There was an occasion in the early fall when we had a warm spell during which 
the weakest Buffalo channels were lost for days on end (a Syracuse station 200 
miles away came in wonderfully well for all of an evening).  I blamed it on a 
propagation problem related to ducting when signal is captured by a boundary of 
hot and cold air layers in the atmosphere).  In the radar business we 
attributed it to a 'weather inversion' when cars and trucks in motion could be 
captured on an interstate 200 miles away while aircraft at a higher altitude 
were totally invisible to air traffic controllers.

This year I bought a 32" 1080p capable Sharp HDTV with an integrated ATSC tuner 
having a scan rate high enough to serve as a display for my PC and used only 
occasionally to watch OTA DTV for local news coverage.  When directly connected 
to the same antenna lead as the Samsung STB it was only capable of capturing a 
little more than half the channels received previously.  Disappointing to say 
the least.

I now direct your attention to the December issue of Consumer Reports in which 
it rates LCD and Plasma DTV on every aspect except their integrated tuner (as 
if it did not even exist).  One wonders if political correctness is a 
contradiction of a consumer's right to all the facts about any product 
especially one that offers a connection to an external antenna.  (Or is picture 
quality the only matter of importance).

I attempted to send a polite critique to CR editors but apparently the website 
only accepts one paragraph comments before timing out.  If they are as thorough 
in their testing as they claim it would be a simple matter to compare models 
with an outdoor antenna on a 30 ft mast with a simple motorized aiming device.  
I assume that the consumer electronics manufacturers would be none too pleased 
by the results (that is if anyone out there cared about OTA DTV reception).

Broadcast OTA DTV is an 'absurdity' unless one lives in the UK where Freeview 
is available.  It will inevitably die of natural cause and then be reinvented 
and resurrected by application of Yankee ingenuity (hopefully).

Until then we can all immerse ourselves in brewing beer or other worthwhile 
pursuits.

P.S.  The Samsung STB is becoming increasingly rare on the shelves of U.S. 
retailers while none can be had in Canada (to my knowledge).
 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen W. Long" <longsw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 1:41 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: something


There is at least one good thing about the OTA DTV transition - it seems
that it really did hasten the rollout of HDTV.  I doubt if cable or
satellite would have made the investment to switch to HDTV so quickly if OTA
was not moving to digital/HDTV.  Once most of the desirable channels became
HD, SD only shows have less and less visual appeal - once you get use to the
clarity of HD, it is almost painful to watch over compressed SD, at least on
an HDTV flat panel.

This holiday season is seeing my household move to all HD sets - family room
(done), MBR, study (done), teenager basement game room - I'm looking for
Black Friday deals while on vacation here in Florida.  It seems like the
real action for sets this year is "true" or "full" HDTV - 1080p.  Which I
guess means 1080i was only "false" or "Half" HD (smile).  I've visited
several stores so far - no one displays OTA images - only in-store HD
servers (I wonder what the bit rates are - you seldom see macroblock
artifacts).  It is also amusing to read some of the ads - "HDTV tuner
included free."

I am looking forward to March 2009.  As the full impact of the failure of
8VSB to provide reception similar to NTSC becomes evident, it will be a
blast to watch the politicians crank up their rhetoric to find out "who did
this to the American people."  As said in the movie Happy Feet - its a show,
dinner and a show.  I can't wait to watch.

Stephen Long

-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Cliff Benham
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:36 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: something


Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> "HDTV?"
>
> "THAT'S IT!"
>
>
> Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

At least you didn't mention "Turkey" in the same breath
with "HDTV".  #;^)



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