#31
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Yay, I know what you mean, thew funny thing is.. The 36" SONY XBR HDTV ready I use in the living room cannot pick up any of the Sacramento stations, except channel 6 PBS and 29 UHF QVC. My ctc-16 picks up all the VHF and UHF, not clear but good. I live 20 miles up the hill from Sacto. Interesting thing about that, the Sony's tuner is like bad quality in the newer sets in means that they knew that NTSC was not going to last long, and thats 2002 when the set was made.. Kinda makes you think.
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#32
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I think I remember reading somewhere where Best Buy stopped selling CRT sets. I was looking through the most recent Best Buy sale paper; and, found 2 SD CRT sets. They were both Dynex brand (never heard of them) 27" and 20" sets. I suspect they would be considered "throw away" when they die.
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#33
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Yeah, iv'e seen those sets out here in operation, horrible picture.. Cheap chinese crap! Suprised these are still selling, probably a run off..
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#34
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Canada switches off on August 31, 2011.
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#35
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Quote:
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Audiokarma |
#36
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I was in Best Buy not long ago so my wife could look at new computers. I was really struck by the signs that said, in tall letters, "TUBE TV'S". Whole 'nother meaning! Actually, most of the shelves those signs hung over now have flatscreens on them.
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Bryan |
#37
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Folks - that same analog antenna that you use now works perfectly with digital signals. If it has enough elements on it, you'll still be pulling in those distant stations.
Confused as to what type of antenna best suits your needs for where you live? Try visiting the AntennaWeb site run by the Consumers Electronics Association. Just enter your street address, C/S/Z and uncheck the marketing boxes. No need for names or phone numbers. After evaluating your location, it will give you a list of both the analog and digital stations in your vicinity, along with their originating cities and (God bless them) the compass orientation of their transmitter from your house. The color coding of the stations applies to the type of VHF/UHF antenna recommended to draw in that station. You can also sort the list on Analog, Digital, or both. Clicking on the "View Street Level Map" opens a popup window that shows your location with the compass points and the stations available along that path. Hope you folks find this as useful as I did... |
#38
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Quote:
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#39
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The walmart around here is lucky if any of the TVs are working or displaying more than snow or "no signal" screens.
When they ARE on the pictures from TV to TV look so incredibly different it is hard to pick out which one, if any, is "correct". Do they bother doing any kind of calibration or do they just plunk them under the blinding fluorescent lights and use the settings right out of the box? |
#40
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As to the calibration the answer is no. How ever they are when we take them out of the box is how they are put on display. If the picture is totally off I will fix it or pull the display and send it to be repaired. For the most part people that would recognize correct do not shop for tv's at Wal-Mart. We do have some with surprising good pictures for the money. The Samsung, Sanyo and even the Vizio sets all look good. We really do not get many of the lcd sets returned Bill R |
Audiokarma |
#41
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Quote:
My dad recently (bout 2 months ago) bought an emerson 32(i think) inch lcd 720p TV from the local walmart for just under 600 bux, too it home and out of the box looked like every lcd you see on display-color ramped up, contrast off the chart. me and him fooled with it for about 5 minutes (he and i have the same idea about how a tv looks good to us so i ran the remote and he made suggections as to where to set the lttle bar graph charts) and i have to say the thing looks good, and even thow its not 1080, the 720 with HD programing is quite impressive. he's happy as a clam with the set, and so far so good. So i can back up the good picture for the money claim as long as you have the patience to get through the menus and adjust the picture. |
#42
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For the people in rural areas, I think C-band satelite may be your best hope for a picture. C-band is still free (for network channels anyway) and those receivers can go with either analog or digital connections.
I happen to live in a big metro area yet I can not get digital signals very well at all at this point, mostly because of the UHF numbers they are on. And thats after I put up a huge 10' antenna pole on my rooftop. This does not inspire my confidence in digital reception at all. So I am going to keep my C-band dish around a few more years atleast. It will be very interesting to see what analog television prices go for on ebay after the conversion is complete. I suspect the market will tell us very quickly how well this works out. |
#43
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Using my converter boxes, I receive the HDTV channel that I watch the most, channel 36, fairly well with amplified rabbit ears. I am around 30 miles from the transmitters. I also get the other UHF channels fairly well with careful antennal placement. The one that I cannot get is the only VHF channel we have hear, channel 7. This is kind of funny as it is the strongest analog channel we have.
I am taking the converter box to my mothers place in rural Oklahoma when I visit her next month to see if I can receive anything. I suspect not as her external antenna is in bad shape at present and her analog reception is poor. My brother has arranged for her to have satellite(with local channels) and she has a weather radio, so receiving broadcast TV is not a priority for her at present. |
#44
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I'm 55 miles from 4 digital stations broadcasting out of South Bend Indiana. I can receive their analog counterparts fuzzy with a handheld Sony watchman. With a 20-element yagi with reflectors mounted on a pole outside I get them clear as a bell. Not a peep from the digital stations. I'm 12 Miles from the 4 Fort Wayne Indiana digital stations. Analog counterparts are clear always, of course. Digital will get "blocky" and drop out at the least provocation. Digital is clearly "urban". Most audience for the least effort is good enough I guess -- now we're back to my "pride in your work" rant...
I used to stay up late and DX as a kid. Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Toledo, Dayton, Lima, Cincy, Louisville, Indy, Muncie, Terre Haute, South Bend, Chicago were usually reachable. Sometimes a treat would drop out of the sky, like Lexington or Windsor or some such. That was back before every station played the same thing, so you'd always get some local surprise. Kept me off the streets. I don't believe there will be any DXing with digital TV. Like others have said, it's all or nothing. My nearest neighbor and "easy get" South Bend has never been anything but "nothing". No chance of Chicago or Indy. Glad there's still AM radio... |
#45
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Here is one site with digital TV DX pictures, some from 300 miles away. Notice one thing... Except for one picture, They are all crystal clear! Try that with analog TV DX.
http://fmdx.usclargo.com/dtv.html There are many more sites with digital TV DX, and some video sites as well. Digital TV reception will get much better when the TV stations get off their butts and shut off the analog transmitters, then run full power digital signals. |
Audiokarma |
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