[ale] OT: DTV & HDTV w/PC (was pci video card with TV in)

[CB Genrich]

 > How far out of the city is the signal still good?

People in Peachtree City (way SW) and in Big Canoe (about 50
miles N) report great standard and high definition digital reception
on all of these channels except 54.  That transmitter is located way
NW of Atlanta, and the problem with that is that people adjust their
antennas facing the big city.

In short, if you get decent conventional analog reception, you'll
most likely get solid digital reception.  But most people have no
real idea what their analog TV reception is like, and haven't tried
an antenna in a long time.  I personally have been able to get all
of them except 54 using a coat hanger at 10 to 12 miles out.  Channel
54 is about 25 miles for me and comes in fine if I aim an antenna
towards it.

The Superbowl, the Masters, many games in March Madness,
Monday Night Football, SEC Football, many movies, a great
many comedies and dramas - all in HDTV - there is no possible
way to get them better than for free over-the-air, and in general
that is the only way to get them in high definition.  People don't
know about it, though.  Since it is free, no one is promoting it.

I don't have one of the PC cards that do this, or know if they work
on Linux.  If there is interest, I can check with a group of DTV
enthusiasts I know.

-CB-

Pete Hardie wrote:

> CB Genrich wrote:
>
>> I assume everyone here is aware that you can buy a PC card which
>> will pluck - not just digital TV - but often HDTV right off the air
>> for free with no subscription fee.  The proper setup will allow you
>> to record the HDTV programs and watch them later, using the PC's
>> disk.
>>
>> Everyone here knows about free over-the-air digital TV here in
>> Atlanta, 24x7, with much less compression artifacts than the satellite
>> providers and, I'm told, better picture quality than digital cable.
>> The quality is amazing on my HD ready set, even when not HDTV.
>> With the proper equipment, PC or other digital TV tuner, and in
>> most cases an indoor or attic mounted TV antenna, you get the best
>> possible quality for free on digital channels 10, 19, 20, 25, 27, 39,
>> 43 and 54.  This is 19M bps bandwidth.  Did I mention free?
>>
>> If anyone has any questions on that, I'll be happy to provide more
>> details.
>
>


_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale