Wide World of Women

Hi. I have an ATI Wonder 650 HD...which is only good for the OTA HD. I am looking to get an indoor HD antenna as I live in an apartment building...and pretty sure they wouldn't be too happy with me scaling the roof and putting up an antenna. So I have been looking around for a good indoor antenna that would hopefully pick up the local networks. I found this on Ebay from a "Top-Rated Seller" with a 99.5% rating.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITAL-INDOOR-TV-A ... 5199922952

The price may seem a little sketchy...but looking around at Walmart and stuff...their antenna's are about the same. Any ideas? I am looking for a good one that will pick up distance. Thanks in advance.

I returned the walmart antenna because it was no better than my Rabbit ears
I pickup up to 36 miles with this in the attic



Go here to find out how far you stations are
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

OTA can be difficult to deal with depending on how far you live from broadcast towers and what types of signals the local O&O's use. I would recommend buying an antenna from Radio Shack or another store that allows you to return items for a refund. One antenna may work better than another depending on your situation so you want to be able to test them out. If you can, do the shotgun approach and buy a few of them to see which one works best. Then just return the rest for a refund.

Here are some good reference sites. HDTV Magazine has locations of broadcast towers, the power it pumps out, and the RF channels. You can get an idea of what channels you may or may not get with this. The RF channels are good to know because antenna position can affect what channels are picked up by a scan. You should be able to add those channels manually with the RF channel info.

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast.php

Antenna web is good to get the signal type. Chances are you won't be able to get VHF signal indoors unless you are really close to the broadcast tower.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

The one I posted above

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITAL-INDOOR-TV-A ... 5199922952

Says it has a 30 day Money back... so do you think it is worth it??

If that stupid indoor antenna picks up 75 miles i'll buy one too
I did not get that far with my roof antenna before it fell off the house

If you have cable you can do a QAM scan for you Local Channels
then you won't need an antenna

This antenna is nice and cheap
http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

It seems like an OK antenna, but I can't really review it if I've never used it. The one I have isn't made anymore so I can't really recommend anything. Like cobra said, check with the cable (or fios) qam feed first if you have it. If not, then check the house for some old rabbit ears like cobra has and see if you can get reception with it. I wouldn't buy online because returning is a hassle.

Ok...question...on the ATI Wonder 650 HD video USB I have...it has two coax inputs. One says CATV and the other says DTV. Now...it also has the composite rca jack which is what I have my cable tv coming through from my HD Cable Box/DVR. I switched the regular coax cable coming off the cable box to the DTV input of the USB ATI Wonder 650...and ran the scan...and nothing. I have Comcast...and have heard they have encrypted all their HD channels. I would assume...that as it was scanning...I should see some video coming up to show there is a channel? But this went from 0% to 100% and the screen stayed black. Maybe they are encrypted??

So...Should I get a set of HD rabbit ears or some other indoor antenna then??

Thanks for all your help so far. I may go to Radio Shack or Walmart to see what I can find...that way...if they don't work... can return them.

Hey Kevin...the one you have...it works good? Gets the local HD channels? Whats the name of it? Maybe I can find it on Ebay or Amazon or something??

You need to connect your tuner card to the coax cable that comes out of your wall to your cable box. I think you ran it from your cable box output to the card which won't work.

Cable company's do encrypt their channels, but not the locals broadcast channels. You should be able to get those channels in HD by doing a scan. I know some software has a choice of scanning for OTA or QAM channels. Make sure you have it set to cable/QAM or else it won't work as well.

The antenna I have is from radio shack and looks like the Starship Enterprise. I like it because it has a remote for changing the UHF antenna which I have near the window away from the computer. It was very useful when all the HD channels were UHF.




It's listed in this thread at AVS forum which may be of help in choosing an antenna.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1037779

I did get all channels until the digital switchover when some channels went VHF. The towers are just too far for me to get a good signal for VHF indoors. I have fios at work so I mainly record with their QAM signal. If you have Comcast, you shouldn't be even looking for an antenna since you should be able to get all the local channels you will with OTA and thensome.

Ok...So...here is the update. On the USB ATI Wonder 650 HD...you have the Red, White, and Yellow RCA inputs...which falls under the "Composite" input when I bring up the TV program. Then there are 2 Coax type inputs. One is marked as Cable/FM...and that comes up as "Analog Cable 1" input on the TV program. Then...the other coax type input is labeled as "DTV". That one is comes up as "ATSC 1" Input on the tv program. Now...

I tried what you recommended and took the cable line from the wall directly and connected it to the "DTV" input. I clicked the scan...and the screen remained black the whole time and the scan took about a minute. Then...I disconnected the cable from the "DTV" jack and connected it to the Cable/FM input...which is the Analog Cable 1 input. I clicked the scan button and saw static/snow on the screen as well as the channels coming through as they were being scanned. This took about an hour to finish. When it was done however, I only got a few channels..and none were HD. When a channel...for example...NBC..is showing a program that shows up in "letter box"...if you bring that same show up on the HD equivalent, it is full screen and much sharper. Well all the channels I got through the scan...were still in letter box.

So...my conclusion is...since you said I should get the local HD channels through the cable...either...they have encrypted them...or...the DTV input is broken. I have tried looking through the TV program to see if there is a way to change the settings...and so far nothing. This is rather irritating. Any ideas? Should I try an antenna?

Thanks for all your help/input so far!!

Strange. It seems like you have everything set up right, but you aren't getting HD channels. Supposedly they aren't allowed to encrypt their local channels (even the HD), so I don't know why you aren't able to scan the channels. Check your software settings first to see if something isn't right there. Maybe you don't have it set to scan for digital channels or something like that.

Well I remember a while back someone in Seattle mentioning that Comcast THERE had encrypted even the local HD channels. I suppose I could call and ask them if they do? It would stand to reason that if the coax cable going from the wall to the DTV input is all connected...and I have it set to the DTV setting...and hit the scan...it should be scanning for the DTV/HD channels. Wouldn't it? The weird thing is...it's not like I see static..or like it's even attempting to find channels. It is just solid black. At least when I connected the wire to the Analog input...there was static and you could see the channels coming up as they were being scanned. But when I had it connected to the DTV input...when the "scan" was "done"...it was still a black screen...and above the screen it says Program 0 and when I hit the channel up or down...nothing happens. I mean I could try the software disc again? I have searched the program itself...and I can't see where I am going wrong. My concern now is...if I went out and bought an antenna...if the cable line didn't work...why would the antenna??

Yeah, ask Comcast. I remember a discussion somewhere when I read it was against the FCC regulations for them to encrypt the locals. Double check the software settings to make sure you aren't missing something there. I know on my software there are settings for signal types and digital & analog when you scan.

Yeah I will check the program and software. I was wondering as you said about your software having setting for both Digital signals and Analog signals...but is your antenna attached to just one input? Or is it like mine? I have 2 inputs...one for JUST the DTV...and another for analog cable. Thanks again for your help.

I think one is for cable QAM and the other is for OTA antenna. The composite is for analog SD capture so don't even bother with that except for capping SD channels from cable box.

I use Composite now to cap as it seems to have the "sharpest" image of any of the inputs.

I did a little research and found this on a forum

"This may be a local issue, but I attempted to hook up my QAM tuner to Comcast. I only subscribe to limited basic and I found that all digital channels (including local channels incuded in the basic subscription) are encrypted. I was told by Comcast that I would have to rent a STB to receive the HD local channels."

What is an STB? Also...all Comcast HD channels...at least here where I live are 773 to 915...with the "local" hd channels being 802-817 I believe which is why I'd assume I am not getting any HD channels in my scan...as you usually only get channels 2 to 70 something without a box...

Also from what I was reading...it is NOT illegal for them to encrypt it.

Ah, that's probably the problem. You need to pay for the HD channels to be able to get them through your tuner. And STB just means "set top box."

Ok...here is the latest update! LOL...

I went thoroughly through my tv program and found the "Run Set-Up Wizard" button. I clicked it and changed the ratio to 16:9 instead of the 4:3. I also found the switch to change it from Analog - Antenna or Cable to ATSC Antenna. So I switched it to ATSC and I selected Antenna as it didn't have an option for Antenna or Cable. I hooked up the Cable wire from the Wall to the Tuner..the DTV input. Still nothing...just a black screen and the scan lasted all of a minute.

I have an HD/DVR cable box so I connected it to the DTV input. Still nothing. I then connected the Cable box to the Cable/FM input...and got one non HD channel...it was CBS. And I got it repeatedly on different channels when I clicked up or down channel.

So I went back and connected the wall line back to the Cable/FM input...and did a scan and got more channels...but none are HD. I pay for the HD channels...But it seems as through you need either the HDMI input or you need the blue, green and other RCA inputs that are used with HD. I am at a loss for what to do next.

The connection should be from the qam source to the cable input of the tuner. When scanning, the signal type should be digital QAM. It's strange you aren't able to get any channels with the scan. I would ask Comcast to see why you can't get channels. Tell them you want to watch your HD locals on a cable ready tuner, but you can't find any channels when scanning.

I guess it won't hurt to get an antenna if you're having too much trouble. The OTA scan should go quicker than cable scans. The signal type should be 8VSB and set the software to ATSC if you have that option.

Ok...Let me make sure I have this right...

On my living room HD tv...when I turn on the HD channels...the channel is full screen..16:9 Ratio. If an HD channel has a show on that is not in HD, then there is black on the left and right sides of the pics...4:3 or square looking pic, right?

Now...when I have my ATI USB connected to HD DVR cable box, and put it on an HD channel, the channel comes up like letterbox...with black above and below the picture...which means it is NOT HD...it is playing analog "HD". Am I correct in this? Because HD on an HD channel is full screen, right?

I The easiest way to tell if it's HD is to record something then check the resolution with G-spot or just take a cap and see what the res is. You can eliminate the composite input & RF output from DVR/STB (coax) because that's just the tuner capturing an analog feed.

It's strange that you aren't able to get the HD channels from Comcast. I would call them and ask why.