TV repair

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

With my (pretty damn old) roof antenna, I pick up about 8 channels clearly, and another 5-8 channels with static. That's more than enough for me. If high gain means a narrower reception angle, then I imagine I'll lose some staions that I currently get, because the transmitters aren't lined up perfectly.

Higher gain means those other 5-8 stations get received and means no ghosts. Reread the post. Narrower reception angle means the ghost (reflected from another direction) is ignored. Higher gain means getting a new antenna so that ghosts are eliminated.

So your question is whether that current antenna has sufficient gain. Generally, antennas for both VHF and UHF do not have better gain found by 'UHF only' antennas.

An important point - or how to get ready: NTSC (analog) TV must receive UHF stations without ghosts or white dots (static). If not, now is the easy time to get it right. Wait for later and the task becomes difficult and probably more expensive.

Only UHF stations received by the current antenna clearly will be ones located where your HDTV stations will be received. UHF - means channels 14 and higher. When your channel five moves (maybe) to channel 36, well, if the neighbor UHF stations (maybe 20, 26, or 32) are not being received, then you also lose channel 5 when it moves to 36. If you are not getting UHF stations from that location, now is the time to fix it. Again, (and noted in the previous post) now is when to get a working HDTV antenna because only now will you see what you do and do not have; have enough information to fix or improve the reception. When conventional TV (NTSC) goes away, then spend and spend again until something works. When NTSC goes away, you lose the ability to see what needs correcting.

[Undertoad]

I don't know, but I do know that unlike analog, either you get the signal and it's perfect, or you don't get it at all.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I don't know, but I do know that unlike analog, either you get the signal and it's perfect, or you don't get it at all.

Or you get it intermittently perfect or not at all, with occasional bright green blocks...

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Or you get it intermittently perfect or not at all, with occasional bright green blocks...

[Flint]

Does this mean, since I don't watch TV, and don't care to have any type of TV signal pumped into my home, that I can get a bigger TV, for cheap, to run as a monitor (as long as it has an S-Video) for my 5-Disc DVD changer? (And possible Nintendo Wii I might get soon?) :::measures cabinet:::

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Also if you are on cable or satellite these things do not matter to you, it's only over-the-air broadcast that will change.

Ah. The problem is not that I am gullible, it's that I didn't understand what was being said. I thought my non-HD cable TV was going to stop working.

[wolf]

I have certain strange opinions about things. One of them is that if you're on welfare, you shouldn't be paying for cable (or buying crack, but that's another thread). They can't exist without TV, so what's going to be done about this?

[yesman065]

If I read all of tw's infopost correctly, and thats a maybe for sure. Lotta info for the day after Xmas brain. I have two options - either buy a digital tv or get a converter box which will coincidentally amount to about the same cost. Is that right? Cuz I just bought a tv last week which takes about 3 seconds to switch between channels. Since it is going back anyway, what am I looking for in this new - new tv I'm now getting?

[tw]

Originally Posted by yesman065

I have two options - either buy a digital tv or get a converter box which will coincidentally amount to about the same cost. Is that right?

The converter box will be cheaper. But value per dollar does not compete considering the advantages of DTV and especially if that NTSC TV is too many years old. A new DTV would be a better value per dollar especially with prices falling so quickly and other features. DTV will still cost more. To be worthwhile, a converter box had to cost maybe $150.

I have not seen those converters priced; only read that their actual costs ended up being many times higher.

[yesman065]

OK well I have this Magnavox POS back in the box with complete wrapping and all the other crap they sent me. I think I'm just gonna do a little research on which brands are better than others and so on. I have till mid Jan. Thanks for the info.

[SteveDallas]

A small update.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6407854.html

[busterb]

From above.
“One of the things we are certainly focused on is having a program that reaches out to those in the most need,” Kneuer said.
Bull Shit


13

[busterb]

Well I didn't think it had been that long . I've kept the thing going, but now I've lost the picture. I have a drawing ( because I can't spell the other word) Anyway It's almost 10 years old. I'm trying to decide whether to buy a horizontal output transistor or a new board.
Nothing open at this tme to check prices.
So maybe a new LCD?

[Undertoad]

If you want an LCD, and you don't have cable, you will probably need to buy a good rooftop antenna.

If you have cable, and you want a high resolution LCD, you will probably have to pay more.

If you have cable, and you want the same shit you have always had, buy a tube TV for $25 from your neighbors who bought a flat screen, and don't change anything.

[richlevy]

Well, on Monday I came downstairs and found my 27" 10-year-old Toshiba had a single horizontal line mid-screen. This had never happened before. I was able to give it a whack on the side and restore the screen, but there was flicker at the edges and the pixels in the middle where the line had been seemed off.

The choice was to attempt to repair a 10-year-old non-HDTV TV or buy a flat screen. It being Memorial Day, we decided to get an LCD. Both price and our TV wall unit limited size to 32 inches.

After trying two department stores we ended up at Best Buy. I looked at two 32" Samsungs, whose model numbers were 1 digit apart. The difference between the cheaper and more expensive model was $15, 1 HDMI input, and different contrast rations.

I was going to spend the $15, mostly for the contrast ration, but they were out of stock on the more expensive model. I ended up with the cheaper model.

I looked at them almost side by side and I actually thought the cheaper one looked better, but that could have been due to different picture settings.

On the face of it 50,000:1 sounds better than 8,000:1. I was wondering about why one is 'dynamic' and the other is not. Did they just leave out a word or is there a difference?

50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
For a stunning viewing experience.

Excellent contrast (8000:1)
For a stunning viewing experience.