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OT: TV RANT

J

JayinNY

Well-known Member

I have never had problems with the analog TV signal, With this digital crap it goes out, gets blocky and dosent come in good. I have never seen problems like this before. Now the snow, cloudy skies, the wind, anything makes it not work. I think we got @crewed with this change.Anyone else have any problems with it?
 
Of course we got screwed, the government was behind it. Wouldn't be surprised if the satellite and cable company's were the major lobbyist's behind the whole thing. Look who benefits from it surely not us.
 
Our area was the first to go with that crap. I don't even fool with TV anymore. I just watch what I want to online. I know this sounds crazy to some, but I think it's a way to force people off of advertising-based TV and into paid services. As a wise old great uncle of mine once said "If you want something ******up, get the government involved." They are proving him more right every day and in every way.
 
You need to upgrade your antenna and signal booster.
We gained on the deal. all stations are 90-120 miles distant. we went from three fuzzy analog channels to 6 crystal clear digital channels

Who gained from the change ?
From what I hear, the old analog TV channel air space is now designated for 2 way radio and cell phone service.
 
BS, IT WORKED FINE BEFORE, NOW WE NEED TO UPGRADE OUR ANTENNAS AND SIGNAL BOOSTER, Bull $hit.!
 
$700 tv $150 anntenna with booster, and still don't have $hit to watch I live less than 50 miles from all of the local broadcast towers. I now get 3 havast channels where i got nine before. But hey I have a really nice tv for the nieces to play the Wii on, lol.
 
Ya I know Larry, I dident want to get the converter box, because I already pay for Direct TV. My wife wanted it to watch local channels. So we got the box. Well it is not good, like the old tv signal. I dont know, come spring/summer I will be outside haying, mowing pasture, working in my garden, and my lawn jobs, So I dont care whats on TV. At that time I wont even be on this site very much. j
 
I don't know how big a TV y'all have to have, but in my home we can see our under $350 Sylvania 32" LCD TV perfectly. And we're still uning the same antenna we had with analog TV...and getting more channels to boot. I got lucky and didn't have to turn my antenna...but some folks have to turn them to receive a clearer digital signal.

Since I wouldn't want an analog TV anyway now...and since I have the same antenna and plug-in booster I had on the analog set...PLUS more channels available...I have no gripes with the switch to digital TV.
 
Before the switch we could receive six channels. We now receive one part of the time. There are twelve channels in out viewing area. Seven are listed as having no signal available and the other five as having very poor signal. I guess if we still want free TV we will have to move out of the valley.
 
Count me in too - poor signals, and we"re out of luck. Already did about all we could afford to do with antennas, signal boosters, etc. I"m a ham radio operator, and know a bit about antennas.
 
same here I wish down time could be spread out but it doesnt work that way. Its starting to snow here this morning . It started out as rain.
 
same here I wish down time could be spread out but it doesnt work that way. Its starting to snow here this morning . It started out as rain.
 
we had comcast cable tv, and when it went digital, same problem as you jay, tv would get all boxy and dots, i think they call it pixelate??.and then it would just freeze for hours. repair guy out numerous times,still problems. switched to at+t network, service is better, but not super dooper. with at+t we have over 5000 tv channels, (altho only about 900 actually come in, and most are "paid programming" for all kinds of doo-dad nonsense junk.
any body remember when cable tv first came out, and the big selling point was NO COMMERCIALS !!!
hows that workin out for ya!!
 
i got 400 stations- when they work,and no, its not worth the extra money, any weather will make it go out, kind reminds me of cars and trucks, they had perfectly good reliable units for transportation, so they came along and fixed it
 
You may have been satified with a snowy picture with rabbit ears before. Most people are not.
Most people want cell phones,i-phones, pagers, and fire/police/ambulance with reliable communications.
That's why TV channels 60 through 114 are now used for wireless communications. That's why last year 60 through 69 were transferred.
Seems a lot of people want something for nothing. Having a tower,rotor, antenna mounted amp, RG-6 cable and a high gain antenna. Is a cheap price to pay for free 1080i video.
 
No more tv here on the southern tier. Used to get 4 local stations, one without any antenna. Now nothing with a converter box and boosters. Girl from convereter box co asked me if I had any trees over 30 feet, I'm in the woods. TV station said they were sorry. We been had-
joe-
 
At first I thought that the digital was going to work great when traveling with a RV. It is great when you can pull in the station but a lot of places you can't even get the big three stations. I did a $30 upgrade on my Batwing antenna but it didn't seem to help much. Next I am going to look for a booster but have to research it a little as there is already some type of booster in the RV. Does anybody know anything about this? To get the stations I have to scan with the antenna at one spot, then do it again and again moving the antenna a little each time. What a pain in the AZZ. Another thing with a station that barely comes in, the picture will freeze up just by just walking past the TV. I don't get it as the antenna is up on top of the unit. It isn't from movement either as there are certain places that you can stand and upset the signal. This is with a new digital HD TV.
 
My reception is fine. Just nothing on. Springsteen had it right 30 years ago: "57 channels and nuthins on".
 
I barely get daylight out here, much less a TV signal. Gonna try a better antenna, mast mounted pre-amp, rotor, and hardline when the wx warms - for the wife. I don't watch TV enough to care if it works or not. . .

Paul
 
Hank Senior? I hope. . .

Junior is trying to infiltrate the bluegrass community now.

Paul
 
Used to get one station with the 'rabbit ears' antenna, about 4-5 back when we had a good antenna on a tower. Get -ZERO- channels now.
 
Before I received 5 channels crystal clear and a couple more snowy. I live in a valley and now with the great digital I receive ONE! Had the antenna guy out to do a site evaluation and he said the only way to get more stations would be to build a 200 foot tower and even with that there would be no guarantee. State is mandating sherriff and county to switch to digital two way but digital two way does not work in the valleys. They don't know what they are going to do.
 
Get yourself the best UHF rooftop antenna with a mast mounted booster.

Gee ya think the FCC might be run by a bunch of idiots put in place by big business (cable and satellite companies)?


They moved TV off the frequencies they were at so they could sell it off to someone else? BS
 
This topic goes around every so often & as with anything you have some happy & some not.
Fact of the matter is, that for 'really' rural folks, you are screXed. The transmitter power is a fraction of what it was as analog, many channels moved up in frequency, which means that the TX & RX antennas must "see" each other as these frequencies are much more line-of-sight (don't bend with the terrain) and the higher frequencies are attenuated much easier by water, as in humans, plants, rain, etc. So, unless you have enough height, clear view w/o obstructions, live close in enough, you will need satellite or turn the POS off. Bottom line is that their grand plan was to use technology to pull the picture/sound out of a weaker signal and this does work up to a point, but when there is almost nothing to pull it out of, no amount of digital signal processing can get something from nothing. Under analog rules, a 2-6 channel could broadcast 100,000 watts, 7-13, 316,000 watts, 14-83, 5,000,000 watts. Pretty clear from that how much more power was necessary to over come the high frequency losses. In my area the 316,000 station is down to 23,000 (same freq), the 5,000,000 stations down to 857,000 & 891,000 & 475,000. Good, even better for some, but nothing for others. Broadcasters would like the greatest viewing audience possible (advertising dollars), but how much is it worth to get a good signal to the last few percent of potential viewers? And it isn't entirely the option of broadcasters to run the maximum power allowed for a given frequency, as now the regulators try to jam more stations closer together in a smaller spectrum space, so power is held down below maximum, depending on interference with adjacent transmitters. Good, even better for some, but nothing for others.
 
Well....I'm getting about 5 times as many channels most of the time. It's as weather sensitive or more so than the satalite dish though. A month or so ago I was only getting 3 of the 48 channels that I have scanned in. Dish worked fine at the time.
 
Same crap here in Missouri too.I hate it,but Im not gonna give in and pay for TV.My ancestors did without it.Big Business is so intwined with government and they are trying to force us to pay for TV to have anything to watch,and radio will be next
 
We had satellite for a few years. Price kept going up and out of 100's of channels, I could only stomach RFD and Norm Abram, and sometimes the History channel. Cancelled it and don't miss it.

Now, pay radio is another story. I don't know if I could live without bluegrass music on XM. Got it in the shop and the house.

Paul
 
I've got properties in four different rural locations, three in central/northern NY and one in northern Michigan. In all, reception in much better with digital. No comparison to when it was analog. I get four to ten times more channels.

I suspect you're doing something wrong.

Manys stations, when they switched from analog to digital, changed locations of where they transmit from. Also, many changed from VHF to UHF, or vice-versa.

So, it's matter of finding out where programming is coming from, what band, and then use the correct antenna, pointed in the correct direction. Might need a good preamp also.

One example is here at home. Could barely get only one TV channel for 30 years when analog. Now get over 30 and many are hi-definition.
 
Rural people in general aren't "screwed." You also cannot compare watts from before to now, and blame it solely on reception problems. That because many have switched bands from VHF to UHF, or vice-versa. Both bands have their good and bad attributes. Many transmitter locations are now at different compass points. Some stations greatly extended their range when they switched from analog to digital. Also, most use sub-channels with digital, which adds greatly to channel selection.

I'm getting digital signals from 140 miles away in flatter areas of Michigan, and 80 miles away in the mountains of New York. Overall a huge improvement from when it was analog.

I've worked on several rural systems for people who complained they'd lost everything after the change. With all of those, some system tweaking was needed and now they all get much more then before.

I suspect the vast majority of problems since the change are based on misinformation and inadequate or incorrect equipment. The right antenna, pointed in the correct location, with a good low-noise 30dB preamp can make a huge difference.
 
I agree with you 100%.

Since switching over to digital tv at the farm, Nancy's right arm is one inch longer from carrying around a pipe wrench.

She goes outside and makes minor adjustments to the antena pole while I monitor the reception.

We are not happy with digital tv at the farm.
 
JD I get more channels with digital, like around here its NBC 13-1 I also get 13-2 13-3 weather, maybe different were your are inNY. What Im saying is analog never cut out like digital, I dont think any antenna is gonna help in a snow storm with digital, were the analog always stayed on. My direct tv was just out for 20 minutes from the snowstorm. Are getting snow were you are.?
 
JD I get more channels with digital, like around here its NBC 13-1 I also get 13-2 13-3 weather, maybe different were your are inNY. What Im saying is analog never cut out like digital, I dont think any antenna is gonna help in a snow storm with digital, were the analog always stayed on. My direct tv was just out for 20 minutes from the snowstorm. Are getting snow were you are.?
 
Anyone else have any problems with it?

Yes, mainly when it is windy. Somehow the signal drifts and gives no reception during that time.

Now, ask me how much of the time it is windy in Kansas.

What chaps me is that with OTA analog I could get my channels with one antenna pointed toward Colwich near Wichita, and now with digital I don't reliably get PBS with a broadcast tower 5 miles away but in a different direction.

I read a couple of weeks ago where the FCC is considering doing away with free broadcast television altogether in order to gain even more frequencies. There are a number of broadcasters pushing for it. Expect they want them for the new 3D TV signal forthcoming in a few years.
 
with the 30 channels you do get the question is--
do you find anything of value to watch? I used to watch quite a bit of television and now can hardly find anything worth watching, i.e. entertaining. I suppose it is in part that I don't care for sports other than motor sports.

Even with taller antenna, rotor, pre-amp, etc. I've never be able to pick up 30 channels as there aren't even that many broadcasting around here. I do get 7 networks so can't complain too loudly I suppose.
 
With analog, you were allowed to get weak signals via snowy pictures on the screen. With digital, it's all or nothing. Either it's perfect, or there is no picture at all.

So what used to be a snowy picture, fading in and out with analog, is now on and crystal clear or off with no picture at all, and no inbetween. Often all it takes to fix is a good preamp to boost the signal a bit at the antenns mast (not in the house). Often also need a good UHF antenna which wasn't usually needed during analog days.

Channel "13" in my area for NBC is just a virutal 13. Even though the TV says it's 13, It's actually on RF channel 12 on hi-band VHF out from the Albany area. Same basic channel is also broadcast as virtual 2, but is actually on UHF RF channel 29 out of Utica.
 
There are alternative types of antennas that receive with a much wider beam-width and would not have that problem. Sounds like you've just got an older tech antenna not greaty suited for what's over the air right now. If you had a 1918 Ford Model T would you say all cars are awful and slow? Or maybe get a more modern car?

I suppose you wouldn't expect a VHS tape to play in a CD player, would you?

The over-the-air technology has changed, and it doesn't cost very much to update.

New antennas are cheap too.
 
One thing I do see as a valid, and often unnoticed problem is the crappy tuners many new TVs (and converter boxes) come with now since all have gone digital. The general mindset by TV companies is that most people get cable or satellite TV, and therefore don't make tuners near as sensitive as they used to be. Some TVs have great tuners and some, even pricey TVs have lousy tuners - and it's pretty hard to find out before buying. So, if you get your TV with over-the-air antenna reception, it takes some research to find out what TVs have decent tuners. I can take two new TVs, both hooked to the same antenna, and one might get many more channels then the other AND stay locked on to them better.
 
One thing that really hit me as bad for digital reception, was that so many local digital channels are only 10%-50% of the power the old analog stations they replace. The very few cases where they maintained or even increased power are our strongest stations

Use the link below to find the coverage area and power for your location
Type in your zip code and check the map.
Digital Tv coverage.
 
Anything of value? Well before the digital changeover, we has a satellite dish with Direct TV. Probably 200 channels and barely even two worth watching. And nothing local. Now ? We get many TV stations only 50-100 miles from us. I like turning on the news and have a weather forecast that tells me it's snowing like I see out the window - instead of 75 degrees and sunny from some California news channel 3000 miles away.

So yeah, for what we watch, my wife and I like what we get now - for free - much better. We get all the networks plus Fox, and Retro TV, and that's a huge improvement over what we got from the dish.
 
Are you aware just like they are not making any more land. They are not making any more radio requency bandwidth either.
The frequency bands will go to the higher value user.
 

I don't care how many dB s gain your antenna & amp have or how high (assuming you don't want to spend million dollars for a quarter mile height), if you are 70 miles away and in a river valley with hills/mountains between you and the transmitter, you just are not going to get jack. Lower power, most moved to 'line-of-sight frequencies, so you just can not receive under some conditions regardless of equipment. Sure, one of my places is 25 miles from transmitters that are at 2,000 foot elevation and I'm at 625 feet...perfect pictures & about 3X more channels than in analog days, BUT, the other place I mention.....despite above & beyond eqmt & efforts, the result is virtually nothing. Yes, massive antenna (called HDTV ant), triangular base tower about 3X height of house ($ limit), rotor, antenna amplifier (tried two different units). The biggie in my case is the line-of-sight. If down in a hole at high UHF frequencies, you can't get blood out of a turnip. Back with the low frequency analog, many people did television DX reception as a hobby and I could sometimes pick up lower band channel well beyond the range related to earths curvature. One example I remember was Birmingham Alabama to Gulfport...250 miles. Another was Wichita Kansas to Dallas....400 miles. Ain't gonna happen now!
 
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