Help needed

[surfgeek]

Situation is this, presently getting my TV programming OTA (long story etc.) It's actually not bad (better picture quality than both the satellite and cable) but while it's fine for my tv's, the projector in the man cave theatre(where I really like to watch stuff) is REALLY SUFFERING.....

only thing I have (presently) is an old SD VCR on basic cable to use as a video tuner. Add that to composite cables and it's basically unwatchable.

I figure I need a small (hopefully inexpensive flatscreen) HDTV with HDMI-out or Component-out (could even go Svideo-out but prefer not to), then I could just mount the extra small screen by the bar and run the cables. Can't seem to find small sets with video/audio outs?? anybody? Or maybe an outboard HDTV tuner but that doesn't seem cost effective.

help!

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

How much are you looking to spend? One of the first things that came to mind is an external box with an ATSC tuner that has either HDMI or component video outputs. I bought my parents a Philips DVDR3575H a couple of years ago. It has an ATSC tuner and HDMI output (and component video output), along with a hard drive recorder and a DVD recorder. The new version (3576) costs around $300. Just throwing out that idea.

The consumer ATSC boxes that can be bought with the government $40 coupon end up costing about $20 after the coupon. I haven't seen any with digital audio outputs or anything above composite video in that price range. Ones that do have those outputs are around $200, if I recall correctly.

 

[surfgeek]

was looking to spend as little as possible , maybe a couple hundred. Would have liked to get a TV or additional display screen (for the bar) included, but it seems they don't have any with outputs.

composite is out of the question...it's feeding a 10 foot screen

I just saw some DVD recorders (after further investigation) that look like they have digital tuners included so that is probably the way to go for a good AV tuner (something I worried about in a cheap TV) with decent outputs.

I saw a 'Toshiba D-R560 DVD Recorder' under $200 that looked like it had some nice features

Can anyone recommend one of these considering functional use as a TV tuner viewer, menu's, live pause, etc. Was never really hot on toshiba's but really open for anything.

 

[lsiberian]

was looking to spend as little as possible , maybe a couple hundred. Would have liked to get a TV or additional display screen (for the bar) included, but it seems they don't have any with outputs.

composite is out of the question...it's feeding a 10 foot screen

I just saw some DVD recorders (after further investigation) that look like they have digital tuners included so that is probably the way to go for a good AV tuner (something I worried about in a cheap TV) with decent outputs.

I saw a 'Toshiba D-R560 DVD Recorder' under $200 that looked like it had some nice features

Can anyone recommend one of these considering functional use as a TV tuner viewer, menu's, live pause, etc. Was never really hot on toshiba's but really open for anything.

Adam must not have a PJ with OTA signals. But I do. You came to the right place!

Get a Samsung DTB-H260F they go for around 130 used via ebay or amazon. they are a very simple device, but really nice. I do suggest you get an HD antenna too. This is because HD signals have no need for rabbit ears and can be devoted to UHF like signals. Also you can boost the signal more with HD.

I have and use it. All you need is to hook up the HDMI to your receiver and bam you are good to go. It can have some handshake issues, but they are always resolved with a power cycle.

 

[Adam]

I'm not into used, but those Samsungs have gotten good reviews. I almost bought one years ago.

BTW - the Philips that I mentioned should work just as well, but it's more expensive brand new. Plus, it has a DVD recorder AND hard drive recorder, so it can do the live pause that was requested. My parents love theirs.

 

[surfgeek]

I do suggest you get an HD antenna too. This is because HD signals have no need for rabbit ears and can be devoted to UHF like signals. Also you can boost the signal more with HD.

I already have a good antenna (12 ft mounted in garage) that uses standard coaxle cable. I WAS using this in conjunction with another coaxle feed from sattelite to a Hughes HD-DVR box but no longer using the sattelite.

One nice thing about the old setup was the Hughes menus integrated/handled channels from both seemlessly so you could just change channels and bingo. In this setup you could really see how much better the OTA signals are, same programs, same box, same everything except the actual signal blown up to 10 ft screen. One button channel change gave instant side by side views of the same program. A VERY VERY Noticeable difference (a Comcast cable signal feed was even WORSE than sattelite too).

This is (one) reason why I'm cutting back the paid services (unfortunately still need the cable for internet). Heck two months of bills will pay for whatever box/DVDR I replace it with. Now I'm looking at some features of these DVD recorders it looks like I will NOT be giving up any functionality that I had grown accustomed to with the paid services (program pause, commercial skip, etc.) WOOOHOOO!

this tangent does make me curious tho (since I still carry basic cable) which boxes might do a good job of integrating OTA with other sources?

 

[markw]

Welcome to the digital age.

Digital TV (and this incudes HDTV) are broadcast on the UHF band whuch requires a different antenna than analog, which is broadcast on VHF. These are smaller thank VHF antennas and and size works against you here. Most "combo" antenna concentrated on VHF and threw in token VHF capability.

IOW, if you're really serious about getting a good picture, you might explore dedicated UHF antennas.

Also, digital or not, unless you have HDTV, you're still diplaying 480 SD.

 

[lsiberian]

I'm not into used, but those Samsungs have gotten good reviews. I almost bought one years ago.

BTW - the Philips that I mentioned should work just as well, but it's more expensive brand new. Plus, it has a DVD recorder AND hard drive recorder, so it can do the live pause that was requested. My parents love theirs.

The device is really simple and the odds of something be broke are pretty low. Plus they are easily repaired. you can get them new 160.

 

[surfgeek]

Digital TV (and this incudes HDTV) are broadcast on the UHF band whuch requires a different antenna than analog, which is broadcast on VHF. These are smaller thank VHF antennas and and size works against you here. Most "combo" antenna concentrated on VHF and threw in token VHF capability.

IOW, if you're really serious about getting a good picture, you might explore dedicated UHF antennas.

Also, digital or not, unless you have HDTV, you're still diplaying 480 SD.

The antenna I'm using is a nice dual one split with both UHF and VHF (the UHF portion is only about 6-8ft) that I got a while ago. With the HD portion recieved through the UHF side, are you indicating that the VHF portion (of the antenna) would degredate the signal? It doesn't appear to, and this setup was WAY better than those smaller 'HD Antennas'. I tried those first and they only tuned in about half the HD channels (with much worse reception)than this much larger one does. This was a while ago and they may have made some UHF only progress on the antenna side, would there be any further improvement with a UHF only one now?

Have been using all HD for a while, and the (temporary) drop back to that 480SD stuff (which is basically unwatchable now) is why I initially started the thread. Still, all good info for everyone.