# ota locals? analog or digital



## bnewt (Oct 2, 2003)

I already have an antenna in use for my locals, but have problems receiving the nbc affiliate because the tower is located in a different location than the other local towers. I presently receive these in analog form. Due to the problems of analog, ghosting, diagonal lines, etc. - I am considering the purchase of a stb for the locals only. I presently have an older 36" direct view tv that I want to keep using until it passes or the jump to hd is worth the investment, so the stb will need to have the coax output available as well as s-video & component. I have concerns over the picture that I will receive via the stb. I understand that it will not be hd, but that it would be digital. Will it resemble the picture quality that I receive from my dish? Since I am able to receive all locals now fairly well, & since the digital/hd towers are now all located in the same area, as most of the present analog towers, will I have a problem with reception? Another concern is that I need to make this wife friendly. She likes to just be able to turn on the tv & switch from channel to channel - plain & simple. To make matter more complicated, I have both my ota & receiver signals going through a channel combiner that is then split to feed 3 other tvs. Is this possible/feasible or just a pipe dream.


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## DarrellP (Apr 24, 2002)

If you can receive Analog, you can receive digital. Digital is pretty much all or nothing with the signal, either you have a picture or you don't. In regards to your TV, you can use the S-video outputs and your picture will be as good as a DVD, much better than Dish. The STB will downconvert the HD & digital to 480i via the S-video connection and if they are sending out an HD signal, you will get a widescreen image. I say go for it, I had a Dish 6000 for almost 3 years before I had a HD display and I do not regret it as the PQ is superb. 

Digital STB's do not have a coax out for channel 3 viewing like Dish does. Splitting the signal for your OTA channels is not a big deal. As long as you have sufficient signal strength you should be OK. I have mine split to 5 devices and my signal strength is very good on digital channels.

Word of caution, once you start seeing a real digital signal, you may become very unhappy with the signal you see from Dish.


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## bnewt (Oct 2, 2003)

I thought that I saw a stb that did allow coax connections to older tv's. I thought that it was a Panasonic unit that I saw at Circuit City. Any thoughts about being able to get the digital signals. I have been told that if I am now getting a good strong analog signal, that I should have no problem with the digital signal. My signal is pretty strong since I have it amplified before I run it through the splitter.


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## DarrellP (Apr 24, 2002)

Maybe some do a coax output, I don't know. If you can get good analog, you should get good digital.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

My STB (Samsung) has composite outputs for 480i TV sets. No problem, just bought a $20 RF modulator to distribute the signal out to the other sets on channels 3 or 4. Picture quality on the SD OTA digital channels is just about the same as on Dish. Really not much difference. The OTA HD is stunning, but don't have Dish's HD service yet so not able to make a comparison.


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## jimisham (Jun 24, 2003)

If someone can receive analog signals without any problem, isn't their ability to receive digital signals going to depend on how much power the digital signal is compared to the analog signal?
We have a UHF analog signal in our market that runs 5000KW. But the digital signal at present runs 300KW.


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

Thanks jimisham. IF power was equal I think that digital would be at least as easy to recive but some digital transmitters are ridiculously low powered right now.


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## jimisham (Jun 24, 2003)

Geronimo said:


> Thanks jimisham. IF power was equal I think that digital would be at least as easy to recive but some digital transmitters are ridiculously low powered right now.


Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought. 
I understand that the FCC told the TV stations they had to be on the air by a certain date with a digital signal, but neglected to tell them how much power they had to run. 
We're about 40 to 45 miles from 3 UHF stations that run 5000KW analog but their digital signal is a fraction of that.
I don't know of any electronics store in the area that is able to demonstrate OTA HD nor do I know of anyone who has HD in their home unless it's for satellite.


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## 4DThinker (Dec 17, 2006)

When my stations 40ish miles away started broadcasting ATSC, their power levels were intentionally low, limiting who could get them to people in the same town. As they got the bugs worked out, one at a time, all those stations started broadcasting ATSC at full power. I was getting only PBS. Then my scan found CBS. A month later I found ABC. Now I get PBS,ABC,NBC,CBS, and FOX with good signal strength "most of the time", all digital, although not always 1080i.


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## Bajanjack (Oct 22, 2006)

bnewt said:


> I already have an antenna in use for my locals, but have problems receiving the nbc affiliate because the tower is located in a different location than the other local towers. I presently receive these in analog form. Due to the problems of analog, ghosting, diagonal lines, etc. - I am considering the purchase of a stb for the locals only. I presently have an older 36" direct view tv that I want to keep using until it passes or the jump to hd is worth the investment, so the stb will need to have the coax output available as well as s-video & component. I have concerns over the picture that I will receive via the stb. I understand that it will not be hd, but that it would be digital. Will it resemble the picture quality that I receive from my dish? Since I am able to receive all locals now fairly well, & since the digital/hd towers are now all located in the same area, as most of the present analog towers, will I have a problem with reception? Another concern is that I need to make this wife friendly. She likes to just be able to turn on the tv & switch from channel to channel - plain & simple. To make matter more complicated, I have both my ota & receiver signals going through a channel combiner that is then split to feed 3 other tvs. Is this possible/feasible or just a pipe dream.


Have you considered a rotor?


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