DTV
I got my government coupons for my digital converter box the other day. The coupon came with a list of about 10 "local" places that take the coupons. (One was 35 miles away lol). So I got a ride from my neighbor (because I have no gas), and went to go look at what they had. Rite-Aide has one model. The coupon is for $40, the box is for $69.99, "conveniently" "on sale" for $40.
I got it home and looked at it. Damn. Someone's bilking the government for some serious money! You can get a DVD player, complete with hook-up wires, remote, and full mechanics of a drive for about $30. This this should be costing about $15. It's about 6 inches square, and inch or so thick, and has no moving parts whatsoever.
So I did some creative re-wiring with the extension cords to free up an outlet for the thing. I plugged it into the tv, and turned it on. It's funny, on the pbs show where they show you how to hook it up and how it works, they show it scanning channels pretty quick. Well, that's true for the first pass. lol Both passes take about 20 minutes. I get nil with no antenna. There is a coax antenna input on the box. My tv has a built-in antenna. I tried to use the old Comcast cable still running into my house as an antenna because it goes all the way to the telephone pole, but it's too shielded. I dug through boxes of crap I have taking up space in the house, and found a wire, about 4 feet long about 24 gauge which I crammed into the hole. (Pretty thin - think: one of the individual 4 wires inside a telephone cord.)
Rescan. I get pbs again. Two channels - 28.1 and 28.2. I also get ABC - 25.1 and 25.2, but they come in too weak to be usable. Analog, I get pretty good audio, and fair but snowy video. Digital I get one frame that updates about every 3-5 seconds. Lack of bandwidth again. (Rolling eyes). My neighbor has offered me his obsolete roof antenna, which I'll go and install sometime between now and February when all the analog dies. Even if I have an income and real bandwidth by then, I can still use it for the shortwave.
So, I guess that's the new status symbol these days - bandwidth! lol
LM
I got it home and looked at it. Damn. Someone's bilking the government for some serious money! You can get a DVD player, complete with hook-up wires, remote, and full mechanics of a drive for about $30. This this should be costing about $15. It's about 6 inches square, and inch or so thick, and has no moving parts whatsoever.
So I did some creative re-wiring with the extension cords to free up an outlet for the thing. I plugged it into the tv, and turned it on. It's funny, on the pbs show where they show you how to hook it up and how it works, they show it scanning channels pretty quick. Well, that's true for the first pass. lol Both passes take about 20 minutes. I get nil with no antenna. There is a coax antenna input on the box. My tv has a built-in antenna. I tried to use the old Comcast cable still running into my house as an antenna because it goes all the way to the telephone pole, but it's too shielded. I dug through boxes of crap I have taking up space in the house, and found a wire, about 4 feet long about 24 gauge which I crammed into the hole. (Pretty thin - think: one of the individual 4 wires inside a telephone cord.)
Rescan. I get pbs again. Two channels - 28.1 and 28.2. I also get ABC - 25.1 and 25.2, but they come in too weak to be usable. Analog, I get pretty good audio, and fair but snowy video. Digital I get one frame that updates about every 3-5 seconds. Lack of bandwidth again. (Rolling eyes). My neighbor has offered me his obsolete roof antenna, which I'll go and install sometime between now and February when all the analog dies. Even if I have an income and real bandwidth by then, I can still use it for the shortwave.
So, I guess that's the new status symbol these days - bandwidth! lol
LM