Re: DIGITAL CONVERTER

In article <cXe_j.666$iM3.26@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Robert Baer wrote:
....
So the RCA is better than the other three?

The other one we can buy is a Magnavox. I'd have to dig out my notes but
there was something that I couldn't do with that one. But I guess we'll
have to take what's there. Last time I called they had none at all.

Isn't your real question: Will the $60 converter box be better than
the DTV you already have? In other words, will the generation N (n=5?)
chipset in the box be that much better than the generation n-1? chipset
in your Costco DTV that you can get decent reception? IMHO, probably not.

I've got the Radio Shack/Digital Stream box which supposedly uses the
latest greatest LG chipset, and it's really discouraging. Hold my tounge
just right, point the old rusty Radio Shack UHF log periodic the wrong
way, and I can get the "just over the top of the hill" local stations.
(I think I'm actually getting the signal via a bounce off a bluff about
five miles away). Just on the margin of usabilty.

Putting up the Signal Strength/Quality display and changing channels
shows the box learning how to cope with the multipath. First, it has to
lock into the clock, which can take 10-15 seconds, then it takes about
five seconds to bring the datestream up enough to a marginal level
(from a reading of below 10 up to a reading of 35 or so).

And then a container ship sails in/out of Tacoma and all those stations
go away for 15 minutes or so. Having 900x100 feet of flat metal surface
go by, even 5 to 10 miles away, causes the signal to crash. For the
analog stations (on the same towers), you can see the picture throb at
about 1 hz. Too fast for the box to compensate.

On the other hand, if the multpath is below some threshold, the weak
signal performance is impressive. Putting the box to the paper clip test
(actually a 4 inch hunk of hookup wire jammed into the F connector),
I could get a relativly low power station, (line of sight from 20 miles
away), while the same station in analog, (from the same site and one
channel over), was too snowy to bother with. The three (out of the ten
possible) stations in line of sight don't have a problem when the ships
going by.

Maybe with multiple antennas and a teraflop of processing power to
do diversity, somebody could come up with a reliable box, but it won't
sell for $60. Or some fancy phased array antenna...

You could try contacting the stations' engineers or their PR department
and see if they could help you set up some translators on a nearby
mountain. One of our stations here has a tradition of doing that,
and it looks like they're going to set up some digital versions of same.

Mark Zenier mzenier@xxxxxxxxxx
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

.

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