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holl_ands
Advanced Member
Username: Holl_ands
Post Number: 2065
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 11:14 am: | 
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DTV Transition Report for San Diego:
http://www.sbe36.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=281&Itemid=1 |
JoeM
Intermediate Member
Username: Joem
Post Number: 52
Registered: 09-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 03:18 pm: |
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Gary wrote: "The Zenith box picked up an extra dozen stations from LA on my old log-periodic..."
Were these "extra" stations more than another CECB or HDTV could get ?
Gary wrote: "Lifeline Rates are Not Published - Viewers calling TV stations were not aware that they could get all local TV stations, in HD, using the lowest tiered rates on cable."
Anyone know what the Lifeline rate on Cox in the South Bay is ? |
Michael Horgan
Advanced Member
Username: Rendezvous65
Post Number: 543
Registered: 06-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 04:03 pm: |
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$14.99 for Cox Lifeline service. You get all the locals plus Padres Channel 4. Everything in this tier should be available in ClearQAM.
Digital Cable equipment
Samsung LN-R408D w/ TWC SA8300HDC
Samsung LN-T1953 w/ TWC SA4250HDC
Panasonic 13" TV/VCR combo w/ TWC SA3250HD
NEC 20WMGX2 w/ the same TWC SA3250HD as the panny SD combo.
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Gary Stigall, XETV
Moderator
Username: Garys
Post Number: 482
Registered: 12-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 08:17 pm: |
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Joe, yes, I received more stations on the Zenith/LG DTT900 than on the Sony CRT TV circa 2004 or another CECB box, a DigitalStream DTX9900, side-by-side.
Gary Stigall
Dir. of Engineering
Bay City TV - XETV
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Patzo
Member
Username: Patzo
Post Number: 12
Registered: 04-2008
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 09:48 pm: |
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True, I also observe a significant difference in the sensitivity of ATSC tuners from different equipment. My TV Sony KDS60A2000 shows about 10 dB better SNR than my Sony cable box used as a PVR (model is DHG-HDD250). Close to OB I can pick 4.1 to 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 30.1 to 30.3, and 50.1 to 50.4 from LA in addition to the local DVT channels (and not counting the Spanish language stations). The antenna is a single-bay Gray-Hoverman Rev.2 with 10 co-linear reflector rods, dimensions taken from http://www.jedsoft.org/fun/antennas/dtv/gh.html. This antenna have replaced the old 18-element Yagi with a corner reflector that was understandably inferior in the high VHF range for the Ch. 8.1 and 10.1.
patzo
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Andy
Advanced Member
Username: Andydrew
Post Number: 314
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 10:35 pm: |
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Likely the OTA consumers that were 'unaware' of the transition were helped by the transition happening at multiple times vs. all on 2/17. Also likely that this kept calls to the stations down. And the night light idea was truly good.
But from the perspective of someone maybe a just a little bit more advanced in trying to receive as many local digital stations as possible (including Spanish language programming from Tijuana) it would have been better to shut down all of the analogs at once. I am anxiously awaiting the analogs in other Southern California markets to shut-down which may help with some of the co-channel interference issues with the Tijuana digitals.
Anyway, I suppose it's only a few MORE months! |
holl_ands
Advanced Member
Username: Holl_ands
Post Number: 2124
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 09:05 pm: |
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Is anyone still interested in buying a CECB????
NAB & Antennas Direct just released a Smart Antenna (S-A) Prototype Development Report:
http://www.nabfastroad.org/
http://www.nabfastroad.org/NAB_Final...ev_Public2.pdf
The Nat'l Assoc of Broadcasters awarded a contract to Antennas Direct to develop a VHF/UHF S-A.
In the process of testing the new S-A, A-D identified several interface control problems
(that may or may not be fixed in existing/future CECB's with Smart Antenna interface).
Also note that NAB/MSTV tasked MSW (Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace) to perform
Lab Tests on a number of CECBs to verify that they met NTIA requirements:
http://www.nabfastroad.org/NAB-STV%2...y-report1.html
Also note User Guides for 20 CECBs....and interior photos in the Summary Report.
I'm surprised this report has remained pretty much unknown since Sep 2008.
Each manuf/model is clearly identified so we can see exactly how each performed.
Parameters tested include: Sensitivity, single signal Overload, Analog Pass Thru
insertion loss (for an attached analog TV), Signal Quality Indicator characteristics,
including correlation to bit error rate, SNR and signal levels.
NTIA technical requirements tests included Adjacent/Taboo Channel Interference,
White Noise SNR performance (15.0 dB +/- 0.25 dB), static multipath echo and
ATSC A/74 defined RF Captures of particularly difficult multipath conditions experienced
in earlier field ATSC tests....where there was the MOST difference in performance.
Very little variation in Sensitivity (-86 dBm +/- 1 dB)....or 3 dB better than NTIA requirement.
Only one of the APT models experienced a significant insertion loss (about 3 dB) for
an attached Analog TV....but did NOT experience a similar loss for the DTV signal. |
Jo
Advanced Member
Username: Sandog
Post Number: 167
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 09:31 pm: |
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I've tried the dtvpal, dtt901, and dtx-9900. As far as sensitivity, they all seen as sensible as my Samsung TV tuner. They are definitely more sensible than my dtb-h260f box.
Seems that San Diego is ready. I noticed recently that Fry's had lots of cm-7000, and the Sears/Kmart on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. had around 10 each of dtt-901 and dtvpal plus. |
JoeM
Intermediate Member
Username: Joem
Post Number: 64
Registered: 09-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 09:44 am: |
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Holl_ands wrote:
"I'm surprised this report has remained pretty much unknown since Sep 2008."
Well, when did you first hear about it ? |
holl_ands
Advanced Member
Username: Holl_ands
Post Number: 2125
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 02:43 pm: |
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Someone posted a link to the May2009 A-D Prototype Smart Antenna R&D Report,
which I checked out on 31May. That day or the next I checked the NAB FASTROAD
"home" webpage and found the CECB Test Report. |
Dan
Junior Member
Username: Audiovideo_enthusiast
Post Number: 9
Registered: 12-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2009 - 10:10 pm: |
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Digital Stream DTX9950 has performed better than the Zenith DTT-900 I used to use. Seems to be somewhat better at not losing the signal right away when reception conditions affect the signal, and any high pitched audio artifacts that were present with the DTT-900 converter box (even after a return and a buffer swap) are not as detectable when using the DTX9950. |
JoeM
Intermediate Member
Username: Joem
Post Number: 66
Registered: 09-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 12:38 pm: |
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Note that in the Washington (DC) field tests (page 8), most CECBs missed Ch22 and about 1/3 missed Ch 26, yet the Artec and Magnavox (Funai) got all the channels. In the RF Captures test all boxes missed 3 captures except the Philco (Funai), Channel Master, and General Electric which only missed 2 (out of 8).
In the sensitivity tests (page 30, Table A4-1) the Magnavox was the most sensitive on all channels tested covering the current band of interest (Channels 7 thru 47). The older Insignia seemed to be a little bit better than the newer Zenith on Channels 17 and 27 but both still couldn't surpass the Magnavox. Granted the differences are small. They state there was very little impedance mismatch from the RF source so could the LG twins supposed superiority be due to antenna/cecb impedance match ? |
General over-the-air (OTA)