With the transition to broadcast digital TV and the ending of brodcast analog signals, there has been much discussion and heartburn. Given that the vast majority of people who live in urban and suburban areas get their TV signals via cable, those most affected live in rural areas and don’t get good reception in the first place.
Since the video card in my computer has a digital TV input, I decided to buy an inexpensive antenna to check it out. For around $16 I was able to get a Philips set-top antenna that has a built in signal amplifier. Going to the Windows Media Center setup screen, I had 19 digital broadcast stations listed for my area. Apparently Microsoft chose to cast a wide geographical net for their channel list because after analyzing the signals, there were only four stations that could be received with a signal strenth of more than one bar out of five. After completing the setup, I went to the programming guide where the Windows Media Center had helpfully eliminated the stations I checked off that were not strong enough. I tuned to the local NPR station, and during a thunderstorm Austin experienced last night, I discovered the good, the bad, and the ugly of broadcast digital TV.
The good:
The picture is amazing. On my computer monitor (the equivalent of an HDTV), the signal is obviously high definition, and clear enough to satisfy any reasonable expectation of HD quality, especially from a brodcasting source. It looked at least as good and on occasion better than DVDs I play using the same computer and monitor.
The bad:
Thuderstorms and rain play havoc with reception, and that havoc isn’t simple static with a picture still visible as in broadcast analog TV. Instead, you either get a stuttering picture, still incredibly clear HD still images that change as more data is received and a new picture is displayed anywhere from more than one second per frame to the rate that gives the appearance of smooth motion, or a notice that there is no signal at all. For those in rural areas, even with a high quality outdoor antenna and all the amplification they can give it, I suspect there is a threshold in signal to noise ratio that weather will afffect profoundly.
The ugly:
It’s still broadcast TV. That means there are still the commercials (few of which have been converted to HD, and therefore look even more like crap when compared to the program they are interrupting), and there is still the lack of quality content that has plagued the medium for decades.
With how wired the world is becoming, negleting local WiFi and other short-ranged networks, I wonder how much longer any broadcast mass media will survive.
Regardless, if you have a TV or computer that can receive digital TV signals, and you live in or very near an urban area, I can tell you paying $16 for a set-top antenna is money well spent to be able to see what good broadcast content there is in HD. Well, it’s worth it if your significant other isn’t too aggrivated by having a rabbit-ear antenna sitting on top of your TV or computer, that is…
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Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice .
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