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General discussion

HOW GOOD IS YOUR OVER THE AIR H.D. RECEPTION?

by stewart norrie Dec 15, 2005 6:55AM PST

In my case AWSOME. I have the dish 811 system and with a cheap outside antenna I receive 18 over the air digital channels 9 in hi-def I live in San Jose Ca and about 60 miles from San Francisco. I notice when I do an anolog scan those same stations look terrible snow ghosts etc. If I turn my antenna (no rotor) I even pick up K.C.R.A in sacremento ca. The reason I ask you folks is I have heard people say that there over the air digital reception was terrible anyway MARRY XMAS AND A HAPPY HOLIDAY TO YOU ALL and may you enjoy years of awsome hi-def home theater STEWART NORRIE

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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OTA
by Tyler2000 Dec 15, 2005 10:16AM PST

I would also like to hear how other people's HD OTA reception is.

I don't have OTA HDTV yet(I'm getting one for christmas) and I'm wondering what to expect.

Since OTA HDTV is almost all or nothing with signal strength, I'm wondering if there is a formula that says "if you are up to 'x' miles away from the transmission tower for perfect SD transmisson, then you can get perfect HD transmission up to 'y' miles."

There might be too many issues for a direct connection between HD and SD signals(i.e. HD signals may be weakened more by tall trees than SD signals)

Does any of that make any sense?

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It all depends on the antenna and the placement
by ZOD Dec 15, 2005 10:47PM PST

Funny story, when I bought my HD TV and first set it up I had a Terk TV 55 amplified antenna (an indoor and outdoor model) temporarily set up on a window sill. I did it this way because Direct TV was being installed later that week and I was going to have the technician mount it as high on my house as possible. Anyway, with it inside my house and at ground level, I had 90 plus signal strength and got all my local station (Providence) plus all the Boston ones. Well, I have the guy mount the thing and I lost all my Providence stations and my signal stregth is in the 65 to 80 range.

Now, it was mounted in almost the same location, just outside and higher up on my house. Plus, I went to one of those local antenna locators and made sure that it was on the correct side of the house relative to the trasmitters and it is. I cannot for the life of me figure out why I am getting signals from 40 plus miles away and cannot get stations that are located 12 miles or less.

As a general rule, just make sure the antenna is on the correct side of the house relative to the stations you are trying to get and then test the reception before mounting it in place. Plus, amplified antennas seem to be the way to go.

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here is a link, have fun. John
by jcrobso Dec 16, 2005 12:25AM PST
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MORE INFORMATION TO ADD
by stewart norrie Dec 16, 2005 6:21AM PST

I just contacted friends that have over the hi-def tuners and they all live in the same area one friend has the same 811 dish tuner and he said his reception is awsome another 2 friends had a build in hi-def tuner in there t.vs and told me they could only get 2 or 3 local channels so Iam thinking it could be some hi-def tuners just wont do the job stewart norrie

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OTA Reception
by ecubes Dec 17, 2005 12:49AM PST

I am using a regualr old antenna I found laying around and my reception is awesome. It took a little time to figure out where to place the antenna. I own a Dell W3706MC.

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