Requirement for 'tuning' to an HD channel?

[snoopy]

I need simply to be able to 'tune' one of my tuners to a local HD channel via an antenna.

I notice you can buy:
A special HD antenna
A special HD converter (to make my TV accept an HD signal)
A special HD tuner card
A special HD video card

Currently the local channel 10 and local 10.2 when that channel is added, appear the same when played.

Note that I do not care about the HD quality. I only need to be able to recieve and display one local 10.2 signal. What do I 'need' to accomplish this?

[Paul H]

I'm using a amplifed 'VHF rabbit-ears/ UHF loop' placed at my window, which is about 10' off the ground. I paid $9.00 plus tax at a BIG LOTS store. I get about 12 channels, some are duplicates, and some are PBS which are only on during certain times,plus a couple of 12/7 weather maps.

Go to antennaweb and check out your location for available stations:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

[stanger89]

You need an antenna and a tuner.

Usually for HD you need a UHF antenna (NOT an "HD" antenna), but if your channel is truely on RF channel 10, that's VHF. This will allow you to receive Over-The-Air broadcasts, both HD and SD.

An ATSC tuner, that is to allow you to tune OTA digital broadcasts.

The other two things you mention: The Converter would be for if you have an SDTV and wish to view digital broadcasts directly on it (basically an HD converter is just an HD Tuner geared for cheapness and SDTVs). The HD Video Card, I'm not really sure what you mean, I assume you mean a PC Video Card for HD playback. I'm kind of confused because there's no such thing as an "HD" Video Card, any video card can play HD, some do it better than others, and some work with HDTVs better than others.

[Paul H]

Originally Posted by Paul H

I'm using a amplifed 'VHF rabbit-ears/ UHF loop' placed at my window, which is about 10' off the ground. I paid $9.00 plus tax at a BIG LOTS store. I get about 12 channels, some are duplicates, and some are PBS which are only on during certain times,plus a couple of 12/7 weather maps.

Go to antennaweb and check out your location for available stations:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Oops! I forgot to mention I use a ATI HDTV Wonder & a Hauppauge WINTV 1600. Both card are dual PCI tuners, each has a Standard antenna/cable tuner and an OTA ATSC tuner. The ATSC tuners don't do any conversions, If the channel is transmitting ST digital then that's what SageTV will display/record.

[snoopy]

I'm lost. I have a Hauppauge PVR500 and an analog signal. What do I need to tune to DT50 for instance?

What would I need to tune to 10.3?

[lobosrul]

I'm lost. I have a Hauppauge PVR500 and an analog signal. What do I need to tune to DT50 for instance?

What would I need to tune to 10.3?

Channel 10.3 is probably not the actualy channel number. OTA HD channels have basically channel labels, that usually coincide with the analog channel. For instance 7.1 for me is ABC but its actually broadcast on channel 21 (I think). The analog SD channel is 7.

To tune into it a digital you would need a digital OTA tuner (or cable and a QAM tuner). I have an ATI HDTV Wonder and a Hauppage HVR-1600. I use a cable splitter and connect them both to one antennae. Its a powered Samsung UHF Indoor anteanne, it was about $30-40 I think at amazon.com.

After you have the card installed, start up sage and do a channel scan with the new tuner to let it find everything out there. I've found I need a signal strength of about 90% for flawelss playback on my ATI tuner, and about 85% on the Hauppage (I think it just reports the signal as weaker).

BTW you dont need a "special video card". You will probably want Nvidia's Purevideo decoder, and if you want to run in VMR9 you will need at least an Nvidia 6000 series card. Oh and just one last thing, you dont actually need a hi-def TV to appreciate HDTV signals. The first way I ever watched HDTV was on a 19" CRT computer monitor. And the color on that was actually better than any LCD ive yet to see.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by snoopy

What would I need to tune to 10.3?

An ATSC TV card (AKA HDTV Tuner) and an antenna, that's it.

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

An ATSC TV card (AKA HDTV Tuner) and an antenna, that's it.

It doesn't even have to be a high-def antenna? This is good news!

[stanger89]

There's no such thing as an "HD" antenna. HD when on the air is just an analog waveform, just like normal TV. Only difference is it carries a digital information, vs analog video, but the antenna can't tell the difference. To the antenna it's just an electromagnetic wave.

The only thing "special" about HD, is that it's usually broadcast on UHF frequencies while most NTSC TV is on VHF frequencies, so often you need a different (UHF) antenna for HD vs NTSC (VHF).

It would probably be good to hit Antennaweb to see what you need for an antenna.

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

There's no such thing as an "HD" antenna. HD when on the air is just an analog waveform, just like normal TV. Only difference is it carries a digital information, vs analog video, but the antenna can't tell the difference. To the antenna it's just an electromagnetic wave.

The only thing "special" about HD, is that it's usually broadcast on UHF frequencies while most NTSC TV is on VHF frequencies, so often you need a different (UHF) antenna for HD vs NTSC (VHF).

It would probably be good to hit Antennaweb to see what you need for an antenna.

Thanks stranger, your awesome! You've been on the scene a long time. Do you go back to the days of Dave and TiVo imaging? I got a fairly decent HD antenna with my ATI HDTV Wonder but I don't think the package was worth $100.00. At any rate, I'm up and running with the locals. Thanks for all your help sir.

Would you mind also taking a look at my guide data issue in the third post down?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by snoopy

Thanks stranger, your awesome!

Thanks!

You've been on the scene a long time.

Makes me sound old

Do you go back to the days of Dave and TiVo imaging?

Apparently not, though I did try a Series 2 Tivo at one time (before Sage and promptly returned it).

FWIW, my first TV card was an ATI TV Wonder, that was about the first card out. Used that for a while, it was crap. I was absolutely thrilled when Hauppauge announce the WinTV PVR-PCI, the first hardware-encoder TV card, based on the VisionTek Kfir:
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvr_datasheet.htm

It served me well, but was always a bit lacking software wise. At one point, it finally gave up the ghost, and at the time, I was frustrated with PC recording (as I sure most here can relate at one point or another), so I tried a Tivo, but it wasn't for me, so I bought a PVR 250, which had come out in the mean time.

After some time with that, Sage finally announced national EPG support, and well the rest is history.

I got a fairly decent HD antenna with my ATI HDTV Wonder but I don't think the package was worth $100.00.

IIRC it comes with what's basically a Silver Sensor, and some people have great luck with it. Me, I'm having trouble at ~50 miles with a Terrestrial Digital DB2 , think I need to check the wiring to it.

At any rate, I'm up and running with the locals. Thanks for all your help sir.

Great, glad my advice worked