what TV receivers exist with DTV and screen under 17 inch?

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
reception and HDTV? Note, a 4:3 (HDTV broadcasts letterboxed) or 16:9
screen is acceptable, though a 16:9 screen would be a plus. A finer
stripe size would also be a plus with the 16:9.

I'd also like analog in/out connections. But is that asking too much
even though I can get these on several analog-only models now?

A web page of a manufacturer or of a retailer, showing the model and
some specifications, is what would be useful. But even if you don't
have that, but do know for certain a given manufacturer has such a
model (because you own one), just knowing that would be a start.

I've looked at the web sites of several major brands, and so far have
found nothing. That doesn't mean they don't exist; maybe all their big
marketing efforts are being focused on the big screen products for the
early adopters.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On 29 Jul 2005 12:40:59 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
posted:

>What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
>market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
>the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
>reception and HDTV?

Probably very few (until the ATSC Tuner Mandate forces more
to be built).

ATSC receivers (in the USA) must deal with 1080i/p and 720p
HDTV, 480p EDTV and 480i SDTV video and 5.1 to 1.0 Dolby
Digital audio broadcasts, the RCA $300 27" NTSC and ATSC DTV
is about twice the price of a 27" NTSC only TV.

Kirk Bayne
alt.video.digital-tv Home Page
<http://www.geocities.com/lislislislis/avdtv.htm>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 05:23:24 GMT K. B. <hotmail.com@lis2lis2> wrote:
| On 29 Jul 2005 12:40:59 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
| posted:
|
|>What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
|>market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
|>the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
|>reception and HDTV?
|
| Probably very few (until the ATSC Tuner Mandate forces more
| to be built).
|
| ATSC receivers (in the USA) must deal with 1080i/p and 720p
| HDTV, 480p EDTV and 480i SDTV video and 5.1 to 1.0 Dolby
| Digital audio broadcasts, the RCA $300 27" NTSC and ATSC DTV
| is about twice the price of a 27" NTSC only TV.

Which will happen first? ATSC tuner mandate or analog cutoff?
IMHO, cutting off analog any closer than 2-3 years _after_ an
ATSC tuner mandate would be folly.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On 1 Aug 2005 22:03:23 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
posted:

>My concern is the time
>between tuner mandate and analog shutoff, and whether sufficient products
>can be on the market in _all_ categories (TV sets, separate tuners, VCRs,
>DVD-R's, computer TV cards, etc).

According to a Buying Guide, TVs are replaced about every 9
years and VCRs are replaced about about 7 years.

I don't know how many people will replace a working TV or
VCR just to get an ATSC DTV tuner.

Kirk Bayne
alt.video.digital-tv Home Page
<http://www.geocities.com/lislislislis/avdtv.htm>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

"K. B." <hotmail.com@lis2lis2> wrote in message
news:q4l0f1lv9v7vn96c6312b5msv3j96j59hr@4ax.com...
> On 1 Aug 2005 22:03:23 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
> posted:
>
>>My concern is the time
>>between tuner mandate and analog shutoff, and whether sufficient products
>>can be on the market in _all_ categories (TV sets, separate tuners, VCRs,
>>DVD-R's, computer TV cards, etc).
>
> According to a Buying Guide, TVs are replaced about every 9
> years and VCRs are replaced about about 7 years.
>
>
Not mentioned in that statistic is that many people don't discard the TV
they "replaced", they move it to another room and it may still be in use.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

In article <uwUHe.587$3M4.362@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net>,
gaffo <gaffo@usenet.net> wrote:

> What I've discovered from looking at my TV last night. I get 9-"HD"TV
> signals over the air. and 9-analog.........all simply duplicate channels
> with same programs running.
>
> Analog NTSC with a good line-doubler looks BETTER than a Standard-def
> digital signal (gawd! talk about water-color painting artifacts!!! yuck!).

I guess you don't live where there's a lot of multipath ghosting
interference. I admit that I love my built-in NTSC line doubling, but
no way is it superior to digital with any analog signal from RF.

The only problem I have with SD resolution is that my ATSC tuner box has
the progressive-scan chroma bug in its MPEG decoder (the one that is
usually demonstrated on DVD players by use of the Toy Story 2 DVD menu).
This creates a bunch of horizontal lines that make it look like the
picture was upconverted from a 30fps non-interlaced signal (something
that does actually happen sometimes.)

Sometimes on highest-def (when the local PBS runs a full HD channel in
the evenings) I can see motion problems, and a bit of artifacting, but
never on SD to my Sony 32" 4:3 CRT.

Are you sure you don't just have your sharpness control set too high?
It should normally be turned off (though on Sony sets like mine, the
zero setting seems to be in the middle). A sharpness setting that's too
high can create artifacts that look like compression artifacts. For
instance, my DVD player's on-screen menus start showing artifacts when
the sharpness is set too high.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 05:50:57 GMT K. B. <hotmail.com@lis2lis2> wrote:
| On 1 Aug 2005 22:03:23 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
| posted:
|
|>My concern is the time
|>between tuner mandate and analog shutoff, and whether sufficient products
|>can be on the market in _all_ categories (TV sets, separate tuners, VCRs,
|>DVD-R's, computer TV cards, etc).
|
| According to a Buying Guide, TVs are replaced about every 9
| years and VCRs are replaced about about 7 years.
|
| I don't know how many people will replace a working TV or
| VCR just to get an ATSC DTV tuner.

All of them that want to continue to receive OTA after the date of analog
cutoff ... or will buy a separate tuner (which is still not cheap, yet).

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:49:05 -0700 Mike Rush <mikelr@avenuespamfreecable.com> wrote:
| "K. B." <hotmail.com@lis2lis2> wrote in message
| news:q4l0f1lv9v7vn96c6312b5msv3j96j59hr@4ax.com...
|> On 1 Aug 2005 22:03:23 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
|> posted:
|>
|>>My concern is the time
|>>between tuner mandate and analog shutoff, and whether sufficient products
|>>can be on the market in _all_ categories (TV sets, separate tuners, VCRs,
|>>DVD-R's, computer TV cards, etc).
|>
|> According to a Buying Guide, TVs are replaced about every 9
|> years and VCRs are replaced about about 7 years.
|>
|>
| Not mentioned in that statistic is that many people don't discard the TV
| they "replaced", they move it to another room and it may still be in use.

An old Zenith color TV my grandmother bought in 1967 was inherited by my
father when she died in 1972. In 1979 he gave it to me when I moved out
of state. I had it through 1987 when the picture tube finally died on it.
That was a good 20 years of service. I replaced it with a Sony that died
in 1997 by a lightning hit.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

Bruce Tomlin wrote:
> In article <uwUHe.587$3M4.362@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net>,
> gaffo <gaffo@usenet.net> wrote:
>
>
>>What I've discovered from looking at my TV last night. I get 9-"HD"TV
>>signals over the air. and 9-analog.........all simply duplicate channels
>>with same programs running.
>>
>>Analog NTSC with a good line-doubler looks BETTER than a Standard-def
>>digital signal (gawd! talk about water-color painting artifacts!!! yuck!).
>
>
> I guess you don't live where there's a lot of multipath ghosting
> interference.


no not here in Norman,

though Austin TX where I lived many years - we had TERRIBLE multipath
troubles - on the Eastside, Southside and Westside!!!


I never lived on the northside - so can't comment there.


> I admit that I love my built-in NTSC line doubling, but
> no way is it superior to digital with any analog signal from RF.
>
> The only problem I have with SD resolution is that my ATSC tuner box has
> the progressive-scan chroma bug in its MPEG decoder (the one that is
> usually demonstrated on DVD players by use of the Toy Story 2 DVD menu).
> This creates a bunch of horizontal lines that make it look like the
> picture was upconverted from a 30fps non-interlaced signal (something
> that does actually happen sometimes.)
>
> Sometimes on highest-def (when the local PBS runs a full HD channel in
> the evenings) I can see motion problems, and a bit of artifacting, but
> never on SD to my Sony 32" 4:3 CRT.
>
> Are you sure you don't just have your sharpness control set too high?




yes - it looked like Realplayer stuff / or low bit Divx. watercolor
artifacts. mostly on the religious station (so no big deal)- but a
little on the other local SDTV channel.




> It should normally be turned off (though on Sony sets like mine, the
> zero setting seems to be in the middle). A sharpness setting that's too
> high can create artifacts that look like compression artifacts. For
> instance, my DVD player's on-screen menus start showing artifacts when
> the sharpness is set too high.



sharpeness is at 75-percent. it is a Phillips 3:4.



--

The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both the law
and the facts.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Horning v. District of Columbia, 1920
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:

> What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
> market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
> the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
> reception and HDTV? Note, a 4:3 (HDTV broadcasts letterboxed) or 16:9
> screen is acceptable, though a 16:9 screen would be a plus. A finer
> stripe size would also be a plus with the 16:9.


as far as i can tell, HD TV sets still
don't exist in smaller TV sets ( < 25/27"),
and likely won't for another 2/3 years

buy a digital tuner for roughly $200
(Wal-Mart fer a US Digital TV tuner)

odds are it'll work with yer existing SD TV
(and antenna), double yer OTA chanels, and give
superior results. get a 2 way antenna splitter
(for your 75 ohm antenna feed) and an $18 4/1
mechanical (not the powered units) video
switcher. take the two antenna inputs into
the digital tuner and yer vhs/dvd recorder

for HD background/info, see:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dtv.htm

having recently moved to a digital tuner,
who needs a HD TV? certainly not me;
and likely not you either

bill

>
> I'd also like analog in/out connections. But is that asking too much
> even though I can get these on several analog-only models now?
>
> A web page of a manufacturer or of a retailer, showing the model and
> some specifications, is what would be useful. But even if you don't
> have that, but do know for certain a given manufacturer has such a
> model (because you own one), just knowing that would be a start.
>
> I've looked at the web sites of several major brands, and so far have
> found nothing. That doesn't mean they don't exist; maybe all their big
> marketing efforts are being focused on the big screen products for the
> early adopters.
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

willbill wrote:
>
> as far as i can tell, HD TV sets still
> don't exist in smaller TV sets ( < 25/27"),
> and likely won't for another 2/3 years

Sony has a 27" set that shows HDTV in letterbox format.

One of the HS420 series IIRC.









C.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:49:05 -0700 Mike Rush <mikelr@avenuespamfreecable.com> wrote:
| "K. B." <hotmail.com@lis2lis2> wrote in message
| news:q4l0f1lv9v7vn96c6312b5msv3j96j59hr@4ax.com...
|> On 1 Aug 2005 22:03:23 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
|> posted:
|>
|>>My concern is the time
|>>between tuner mandate and analog shutoff, and whether sufficient products
|>>can be on the market in _all_ categories (TV sets, separate tuners, VCRs,
|>>DVD-R's, computer TV cards, etc).
|>
|> According to a Buying Guide, TVs are replaced about every 9
|> years and VCRs are replaced about about 7 years.
|>
|>
| Not mentioned in that statistic is that many people don't discard the TV
| they "replaced", they move it to another room and it may still be in use.

Actually, I am in the market for a new TV right now. My old Sony died
in 1997 due to a lightning strike that fried the front end and CPU.

The specs I want are:
1. DTV OTA reception so it works well beyond 2009.
2. 14 to 17 inch CRT display, though I may consider LCD.
3. Either 4:3 or 16:9 screen acceptable.
4. Native scanning or conversion for all ATSC formats.
5. Analog baseband A/V in/out (composite NTSC, stereo).
6. PAL/SECAM a plus (on the A/V input).

Aside from the DTV and HDTV aspects, this is what I had before. I see
no reason such a thing cannot be offered with DTV/HDTV. I guess I have
to wait (I've had no TV for 8 years, so I can still wait) until the FCC
mandate forces them to make it. I do not want to waste my money on
something that won't work in a few years.

FYI: NO STB for OTA

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 22:43:37 -0500 willbill <trek@worldwide.net> wrote:
| phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:
|
|> What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
|> market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
|> the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
|> reception and HDTV? Note, a 4:3 (HDTV broadcasts letterboxed) or 16:9
|> screen is acceptable, though a 16:9 screen would be a plus. A finer
|> stripe size would also be a plus with the 16:9.
|
|
| as far as i can tell, HD TV sets still
| don't exist in smaller TV sets ( < 25/27"),
| and likely won't for another 2/3 years

There are two issues for HD and I cannot tell which you are referring to.
One is the ability to display something (even letterboxed) from an HD 16:9
transmission. The other is having an actual 16:9 display geometry. I can
expect the latter to take some time. The former is a "must have right now"
thing (since not having it means not being able to view some broadcasts).


| buy a digital tuner for roughly $200
| (Wal-Mart fer a US Digital TV tuner)

Still too pricy. Let me know when it gets below $75 without a drop in
quality (e.g. will perform at the same distance from the station on the
same channel at the same tower with the licensed full power level as
compared to the original NTSC).

Note that a noisy RF front end is not really an issue since it can be
corrected with a very low noise preamplifier (so I'm not expecting such
consumer grade units to be the VLN type). But it should have all the
state of the art for demodulating for all the steps down to the bitstream
output of the trellis decoder, plus correct handling of all the ATSC
formats, etc.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:

> On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 22:43:37 -0500 willbill <trek@worldwide.net> wrote:

> | phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:
> |
> |> What TV receivers (for OTA reception and viewing) exist with DTV (USA
> |> market) and screen UNDER 17 inch, with a price that is comparable to
> |> the analog products of that size plus the cost of adding the digital
> |> reception and HDTV? Note, a 4:3 (HDTV broadcasts letterboxed) or 16:9
> |> screen is acceptable, though a 16:9 screen would be a plus. A finer
> |> stripe size would also be a plus with the 16:9.
> |
> |
> | as far as i can tell, HD TV sets still
> | don't exist in smaller TV sets ( < 25/27"),
> | and likely won't for another 2/3 years

> There are two issues for HD and I cannot tell which you are referring to.
> One is the ability to display something (even letterboxed) from an HD 16:9
> transmission. The other is having an actual 16:9 display geometry. I can
> expect the latter to take some time. The former is a "must have right now"
> thing (since not having it means not being able to view some broadcasts).


all i have is a half decent 2 year old 20" standard
definition Panasonic TV (specifically CT-2017).
besides the antenna input, it has a single
composite input

"setup" on my digital tuner has 5 choices
under "Set Video Mode"

1. Composite/S-Video

2. Component 480i

3. Component 480p (HDTV)

4. Component 720p (HDTV)

5. Component 1080i (HDTV)

both 1 and 2 work with my TV, and
give slightly different results.
(the tuner setup defaulted me
into 480i)

an "aspect" button my my tuner remote
allows me to get optimum display proportions,
regardless of any 16:9 vs 4:3 issues

at least with output as Composite/S-Video.
the 480i output is sometimes a bit off
for display proportions (no matter what aspect
choice i choose), and while the definition
(with 480i) is slightly better, the color
is slightly off (slightly washed out)

anyhow, the overall picture improvement with
this US Digital digital tuner (vs the normal/old
analog tuner) is nothing less than amazing (with
my 20" TV). for info, see: www.usdigitalhdtv.com


> | buy a digital tuner for roughly $200
> | (Wal-Mart fer a US Digital TV tuner)
>
> Still too pricy. Let me know when it gets below $75


i didn't shop around that much, so maybe someone
else will post about a digital tuner that costs
less than $200

but even if they do, my own view of your above comments
on holding out till digital tuners get to "below $75"
make me think you are pinching the pennies too hard

also, you might do a separate post on what
low cost digital tuners are now on the market


> without a drop in
> quality (e.g. will perform at the same distance from the station on the
> same channel at the same tower with the licensed full power level as
> compared to the original NTSC).
>
> Note that a noisy RF front end is not really an issue since it can be
> corrected with a very low noise preamplifier (so I'm not expecting such
> consumer grade units to be the VLN type).


i'm interested in finding a low noise preamplifier
for my TV antenna

would i find one at a Best Buy store? what do i ask
for and what would it cost?

at the moment i'm using a $30 Radio Shack antenna amp

if not Best Buy, could you provide an online ref
to one? thank you in advance. :)

bill


> But it should have all the
> state of the art for demodulating for all the steps down to the bitstream
> output of the trellis decoder, plus correct handling of all the ATSC
> formats, etc.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

A basic NTSC 19"/20" TV with a composite video input and a
US DTV STB seems like a good low cost solution for OTA ATSC
DTV reception.

Kirk Bayne
alt.video.digital-tv Home Page
<http://www.geocities.com/lislislislis/avdtv.htm>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

willbill (trek@worldwide.net) wrote in alt.video.digital-tv:
> i'm interested in finding a low noise preamplifier
> for my TV antenna

ChannelMaster CM7777 if you need both UHF and VHF. Other models in the 777x
line have the same internals but only amplify one or the other. They aren't
very popular, though, so the prices aren't much cheaper.

The only thing with lower noise and as much gain is a really expensive one
from the UK.

--
Jeff Rife | "My God, what if the secret ingredient is people?"
| "No, there's already a soda like that: Soylent Cola."
| "Oh. How is it?"
| "It varies from person to person."
| -- Fry and Leela, "Futurama"
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 12:58:08 -0500 willbill <trek@worldwide.net> wrote:

| i didn't shop around that much, so maybe someone
| else will post about a digital tuner that costs
| less than $200
|
| but even if they do, my own view of your above comments
| on holding out till digital tuners get to "below $75"
| make me think you are pinching the pennies too hard

It's not about whether I will pinch the pennies or not. My concern is
that STB tuner prices may not have dropped enough by the analog cutoff
date to avoid an angered public. I am recommending to my Congress
person that they pressure the FCC to hold off the analog cutoff until
such time as a sufficient number of models are available under a price
point that makes the general public accepting of DTV (at least those
that use OTA). I'm not sure what pressure Congress or the FCC could
apply to manufacturers to get to that point other than the tuner
mandate.

But I will also personally hold off going DTV until the price point
is reached ... and then I will buy a high end model anyway. So the
"pennies" theory is not really there.


| also, you might do a separate post on what
| low cost digital tuners are now on the market

I don't know of any. It's still a wait-and-see for me. When models
show up from well known manufacturers, I'll start looking.


| i'm interested in finding a low noise preamplifier
| for my TV antenna
|
| would i find one at a Best Buy store? what do i ask
| for and what would it cost?
|
| at the moment i'm using a $30 Radio Shack antenna amp
|
| if not Best Buy, could you provide an online ref
| to one? thank you in advance. :)

I have not been looking at these in the recent past (years). My first
thought is even at Radio Shack you could find one with a noise figure
less than 6 db. As you go to lower noise figures, other things like
intermodulation products tend to go up. If your pre-amplifier is getting
a mix of strong and weak signals, the strong ones may result in intermod
before the weak ones are brought up sufficiently. It depends on just
what you are trying to accomplish. If you have a couple deep fringe
stations you want to pull in around strong stations I would suggest that
those be brought in with single channel antennas and single channel tuned
pre-amplifiers that can go to lower noise figures without being impacted
by so much signal from the nearby stations.

Good antenna gain and placement should be part of the equation. Since
you get only 3 db gain each time your antenna aperture is doubled, there
is a practical limit to that. A forward gain of 12db to 15db for UHF,
9db to 12db for hi-band VHF, and 6db for lo-band VHF, is a reasonable
point in most cases.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:
> If you have a couple deep fringe
> stations you want to pull in around strong stations I would suggest that
> those be brought in with single channel antennas

These basically don't exsit for UHF. Even very high gain narrow band
ones are several channels wide.


> and single channel tuned
> pre-amplifiers that can go to lower noise figures without being impacted
> by so much signal from the nearby stations.

That true. You can get a great narrow band GaAsFet preamp with a 0.6 dB
NF from Advanced Receiver Research for about $115. These also have very
high overload levels.

Doug McDonald
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

Jeff Rife wrote:

> willbill (trek@worldwide.net) wrote in alt.video.digital-tv:

>> i'm interested in finding a low noise preamplifier
>> for my TV antenna

> ChannelMaster CM7777 if you need both UHF and VHF. Other models in the 777x
> line have the same internals but only amplify one or the other. They aren't
> very popular, though, so the prices aren't much cheaper.


thank you very much for the post and the reference. :)

i saw your post early this morning, and did an advanced
www.google.com search (100 items/page, English only) on:
"channelmaster cm7777"
and got 44 hits

i didn't have much time to look at length, but
one site gave a suggested list of $85, with
their price being $48 (didn't have time to
check what their shipping charge is)

i also stopped in at a local Target store this morning
(not a Super Target) and was informed that they don't
carry "exotic" stuff like the cm7777 but that their
Super Target stores might have it (google gave a ref
to target.com, but i didn't have time to confirm
that target.com actually sells the cm7777)


> The only thing with lower noise and as much gain is a really expensive one
> from the UK.


am i correct in thinking that the cost for this
unit from the UK would be well above $125/$150?

you don't need to spend time tracking it down,
just provide your guess of a ballpark estimate
of total cost to get it

anyhow, the info/price at the one site i saw this
morning (maybe $60 or $65 total cost for the cm7777),
was positive enough that the cm7777 is on my buy list

i'll check the ChannelMaster web site and see if
they provide local dealers who carry the cm7777
(by zip code)

fwiw, the google.com search also gave a ref to a "discussion"
site that made a positive comparative mention of Radio
Shack's 15-2505 TV amp; $31 at a local Radio Shack store
i stopped in at this morning

it sure looks identical to a Philips unit that Wal-Mart
sells for $18 or $19. but it's clearly not a low noise amp.
it's also not clear if the ref was to using it in combo
with the cm7777

given that i need two amps (one as a gift for
a family member), and that i already have a cheap
inline amp (Radio Shack $30), odds are i'll get
both the cm7777 and also pick up the $18 Philips unit
(at Wal-Mart) and do some 1st hand comparisons

the nice thing about buying at a local Radio Shack
or Wal-Mart is that if i don't like the unit
i can get a full refund with no questions asked

bill
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:

<big snips>

> But I will also personally hold off going DTV until the price point
> is reached ... and then I will buy a high end model anyway. So the
> "pennies" theory is not really there.


imo, we might see ~$125 for a digital tuner
in 18/24+ months, coz as the volume increases,
the current prices (for separate digital
TV tuners) will finally fall significantly

fwiw, i'm in suburban Chicago and have 10 English
OTA analog channels

8 of them now transmit digital, 3 of them
with subchannels

with analog tuner, only 2 of them give a good
picture all of the time

with this new digital tuner, i get usable input
(that doesn't break up) with 7 channels all of the
time, and 3 of these 7 have -2, -2/-3, and
-2/-3/-4/-5/-6 sub channels

it's like getting cable quality for free

meaning that it has paid for itself immediately.
and i LOVE the 24 hour NBC/ABC weather forcasts
(especially the radar and 12 hour forcasts)

why would you want to wait for another 2+ years
for the tuner prices to drop?

buy one now, and wait 12+ months before you
buy any more

bill