[NJARC] Digital TV

[davesica at juno.com]

-- "Robert Flory" <robandpj at earthlink.net> wrote:
Has anyone deployed a digital converter yet?
I'm going to get one for my RCA XL-100 set, which is getting to be an antique.
How is your service?


Rob,

I ordered my coupons on (when else?) January 1st, 2008, the day they became available. I've had a converter running a 1948 Motorola in the living room since just before my coupons expired in March. I was waiting to see what came on the market, but the pickings were a little slim in March. No $40 boxes, no analog pass-through, etc.  I'm hoping to latch onto another coupon somehow and try out one of the "current generation" of DTV converter boxers.

I'm feeding it from a set of fifties-vintage rabbit ears about 30 miles from the New York station transmitters. Nada. I do get several of the local station and on those, the difference between the old analog signal and the digital is remarkable. The picture IS absolutely crystal clear. That old Motorola never had it so good! There are freezing/pixillation/dropped frames problems on one or two of the stations; I'm assuming they're the more distant ones or weaker signals. The "digital cliff" actually seems to move around a bit! ;-) It's not quite as I expected, that you'll either receive a "perfect" picture or nothing. Depending on propagation (or maybe it's the mood of the television gods, or the phase of the moon?) a signal that's on the edge of the cliff will give you erratic reception as noted. So you still can have a less-than-perfect but still watchable signal even with digital! The network stations are all apparently safely beyond the cliff when using rabbit ears from here. I have an old Radio Shack Yagi squirreled away somewhere and it will be interesting to see how that works. I expect the New York stations will be coming in as nicely as the locals. And they do come in nicely! It's pretty amusing to see that creaky old black-and-white set with an EPG MENU on it's little seven-inch screen!

--Dave

 





















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