Help me help my parents get over the air HDTV

TheSonicRetard

So my dad came home with $250 worth of equipment so he can finally get over the air HDTV, but we're having a hell of a time getting it all working. I've never tried setting up OTA HDTV before, so I'm pretty clueless. He bought an antenna from fry's and a samsung DBT-H260F digital reciever. As far as I can tell, the reciever is quality, but the antenna... I'm not so sure it can recieve HD over the air. The box is very vauge, it doesn't even list the manufacturer. It says it's an "amplified indoor antenna" and then under it says "VHF - UHF - FM - HDTV" and on the features list it says "capable of receiving High Definition TV broadcasts"

Now, the antenna has a cable-in feature, so I'm hoping it's not assuming you'll be getting HDTV broadcasts via cable. It says nothing about over-the-air. The pricing sticker says it's a "Philips SCA060 signal channel amplified antena(sic) with T C"

Looking online, I see lots of bad reviews for the antenna but no one is talking about HDTV. Anyone mind giving me a hand?

mntorankusu

Any antenna that you can plug into your TV will receive HDTV signals. Technically, you can connect random wires or a coat hanger or anything and get OTA HDTV, if the signal is strong enough.

So if it's not working, you can assume it's just a crappy antenna.

Xenogears of Bore

Any antennae can pick up an HD signal over the air. ANY.

fallaxdraco

Yeah, and most HDTVs have the software to interpret the signal themselves, all you need is to plug the antenna in and do "auto scan" or whatever... why did he need a $250 receiver?

mspencer

While that's technically true, if the antenna is a straight line (like a dipole) it receives signals best when the length of the dipole is some whole fraction of the wavelength of the signal. Speed of light is about 300 million meters per second, so 300 / mhz = wavelength, more or less, if you want to keep the math simple. So the antenna could be a full wavelength, or a half wavelength, or a quarter wavelength, etc. Or a half wavelength with a 'ground plane' (metal reflecting sheet, car roof, OR array of wires that point outwards, at the base), or a quarter wavelength with a 'ground plane', etc.

Problem is, there are many broadcast television allocations. 54 to 88 mhz; 174 to 216 mhz; and 470 to 806 mhz.
Or in wavelengths: 5 5/9 meters to 3.4 meters; 1.72 meters to 1.39 meters; and 64 to 37 centimeters.

A random wire antenna (many multiples of the wavelength of the signal, and arranged at odd random angles) will pick up a little bit of nearly any wavelength, but not very well.

(So if you find out which channel number you're trying to receive, and your antenna is one of those telescoping ones, you can do a little math and make a quarter, half, or full wavelength dipole if you have a ruler or tape measure.)

Daedalus

fallaxdraco wrote: »

Yeah, and most HDTVs have the software to interpret the signal themselves, all you need is to plug the antenna in and do "auto scan" or whatever... why did he need a $250 receiver?

Older HDTVs (those marked as "HDTV Ready") typically did not have ATSC tuners built-in.

TheSonicRetard

yeah their tv didn't have a reciever built in. And after messing around with it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that OTA HDTV sucks.

We get a picture now, though.

Xenogears of Bore

It all depends on where you live.

I'm in the suburbs of Boston and I get a great signal and some decent channels. I've even come close to dropping the dish a few times.