We Are Pulling The Plug......Finally ATSC Box

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Move Over Girls & Boys

We've just been "zapped" by Time Warner Cable here in NYC.

Apparently they have been fooling around (upgrading) all their signals from analog to digital and now you can no longer simply "plug in" your television to get over the air signals (read basic cable). Now you must contact TWC and get a digital box that will be free for at least 2014, thereafter a few dollars per month.

Let me make this perfectly clear, one would rather eat dirt than get into bed with TWC.

Tomorrow am off to Best Buy and or Radio Shack to investigate "HD" antennae options. Am told these are a hot commodity at the moment in NYC due to the ongoing TWC and CBS spat.

http://www.cedmagazine.com/news/2013/08/twc’s-all-digital-migration-takes-manhattan
 
Look at the Winegard Flatwave antenna. It is highly rated and is multi directional. HD sells it for $29.95, but you can get a new one on Ebay for about $17.00 or so, new.

I bought one to get me buy until I can get up on the roof to install the large antenna.
 
A friend of ours gave us a demo of his Roku box. We were definitely impressed with it. Some of my findings.

Picture quality = Outstanding

Programming - You could easily get lost in the choices for a week or more. Not all of it is free. There are movies upon movies, every television show you could imagine, and even language courses. Plus there is international television. Some of those have a subscription fee of $0.99 per month.

And you also can get radio stations world wide. We were listening to a progressive rock station from Moscow. Perfectly clear.

And instead of The Weather Channel, you get The Weather Underground which is far better. You have access to all the weather graphs as you want to see them, including hydro trending, pressure trending, etc. And it's free.

And if you are a gamer type, there are tons of free games. On some models the remote acts like a WII controller.

I can see after a few days of having this thing we'll be looking for a HDTV.

The only negative thing I didn't like was that on a few stations the screen seems to freeze and the word "Buffering" pops up on the bottom of the screen. This can lst up to 5 minutes for a movie or so, but once done it doesn't do it again for the rest of that show. A minor inconvenience.
 
Cool

The reason for my purchase of the Roku was the ability to mirror my laptop screen to the TV wirelessly. Everything else is just a Bonus!

Malcolm
 
Roku & Weather Underground

I've been a loyal Wunderground user for years, they are kind of an "open source" weather service and their subscriber rate has always been a mere $5 a year. As a weather geek they are my source.

Unlike The Weather Channel they don't go sticking their finger into NOAA's eye by deciding to needlessly name winter storms and other such silliness!

I may buy a Roku even though I'm currently hitched to an Apple TV at the moment.

And once again a reminder to Launderess and others buying an over the air antenna, AVOID all models that claim to be HD antennas because the only difference with those is the "HD" pricing. All you need is a UHF antenna, the fact that its now a digital signal in many cases actually makes a smaller antenna viable. Depending on your market you might get buy fine with one of the old back-of-set 7" UHF loops!
 
Thanks for the tips guys!

We are in a double bind as with Whirlcool are still using an old CRT monitor (JVC) thus also require a digital converter box as well.

Have been looking through Crutchfield (my FAV online audio/electronic source) and a few nice LG and Samsung LED TVs can be had at a good price. Really want plasma but just rejigged our entertainment setup and there simply isn't room for something 42" wide. Even 32" or so is going to be pushing it so that's me for you.

Obvious solution would be to mount the thing on wall, but then you have to consider viewing angles.
 
The old tube will still work fine with the digital converter box. I have a 27" Sony I have yet to toss, although it hasn't been turned on in 6 months... The biggest problem with the old TV's is that you don't have an HDMI input so interfacing with modern streaming boxes can be an issue. I set up a system for a friend using a Denon AV receiver and it would actually do a backwards conversation, it will take HDMI and output S-Video or component video which could be handy.

I've been looking at the upper end Samsung LED LCD's. They are pretty impressive TV's and they use so little power. The 60" I tested averages just over 100 watts, amazing. They run almost cool to the touch. At this point in time I can't imagine buying a Plasma. The LCD's with the dynamic back lighting are so good. I wouldn't put up with the power consumption and possible RFI and longevity problems Plasma displays sometimes have. I predict Plasma displays will be gone within 10 years, but then again 25 years ago I said non-synthetic oil would be gone by 2000 too.

Consider Vann's & B&H as possible retailers too. I have ordered from Crutchfield many times since the 80's. Somehow I am getting less enamored with lately though.

Finally my advice for mounting a panel is to get a floor standing mount. The VASA mounting standard used on all panel displays does make for very easy and flexible mounting. I have installed a number of TV's on walls and I'm pretty much over that now. I like the floor stands that often contain an equipment cabinet under them. This way its easy to move the TV to clean or if you change your mind etc. Most aren't very tall though so if you want the TV to be high this could be an issue. Personally I don't want the bottom of the display to be higher then my eye level, but of course this is a preference thing.
 
Have Been A Fan of Crutchfield's For Years

Purchased first major electronic (read *adult) television, receiver, CD player et al from them some fifteen years ago. One item arrived defective and when contacted C sent a replacement ASAP. Also instructed me to send back the previous unit via return UPS label mentioned was going through a bad family event (father's mortal illness and death), said "No Problem", just sent the unit back when you get the time.

It was several weeks later after much of one's mourning was out before got around to getting that box to UPS, all the while Crutchfield never bothered us at all on the matter.

B&H is located here in NYC so one would loose the tax and free shipping advantage of Crutchfield, still may wonder do their shop this weekend or next to see what there is.
 
I know space can be a premium in NCY, but a 32" might prove to be too small.  If you take into account the wider screen and you watch SD content it might be the equivalent of an old 25" set.  My cousin has a small apartment and I found a nice 39" set for her, she bought it on my recommendations, and when I showed her the 32" she was considering she was shocked at just how small it was.

 

If you wall mount and are concerned about viewing angles be aware that LCD/LED sets have poor off angle picture quality, they have a narrow sweet spot once beyond that the colors get washed out and image gets gray.  Plasma is fine off angle.  Owning 2 plasmas, an LCD and a mammoth 38" wide screen CRT the LCD comes in third in the viewing angle race. 

 

I also HATE the soap opera effect many LCDs have, it can be tamed, and some people actually like it, but it's very off putting for me.  Another very big pet peeve for me would be folks who have to fill their screens no mater what.  If a show or movie is in 4:3 format as many old movies are they should be displayed that way NOT stretched to fill all they screen.  People seem to think if they paid for a wide screen it should be filled - short, wide faces are not normal, please do not stretch...

 

Rant off.
 
Other side of the 'pond'

We have recently been 'forced' to go digital here in the U.K., as the government decided that it would 'stimulate the economy' if everyone had to buy new T.V.s, DVD recorders, satellite boxes, etc.

I am lucky in that I don't own any T.V. apparatus at all, getting all my information and entertainment from the Radio and Internet. :-)

When I am out visiting, however, I see quite a lot of television and, quite frankly, I am dismayed. As Kb0nes says (reply#36) if the signal is good, all is well. If the signal is weak, then sound dropouts and 'freezing' are commonplace.

Even with a 'good' signal, 'lip-synch' seldom occurs, to a degree where I find it difficult to watch the shows. I assume that sound and vision data are sent in different 'packets', and processed separately. Mis-synchronisation by half-a-second or more is not uncommon, and extrememly annoying!! :-(

We have been entirely UHF here since the 1980s, so we are used to the 'line of sight' issues, and have many local repeater transmitters, but things are much worse with digital signals than ever they were with analogue (yes, U.K. spelling again!!). The 'technology' simply isn't up to the mark yet, but is being foisted upon the public by companies and/or governments greedily wanting to cram more channels into the same bandwidth.

Comments??

All best

Dave T
 
I beleive the "Soap Opra" effects are those with bright billious pictures,hard focus and overly bright colors.Often this mode is used when the TV is in a store being demenstrated-to give the illusion to the buyer the TV has the "brightest" picture of other sets.When you get the set home-go to the setup menu and select "Cinema""Movies" or "Smooth" settings for a less billious picture.On a cinema forum some have reported some movies are shot that way with modern digital cinematography cameras-some of the Holloywood folks like those horrible pictures.If you have a plasma or CRT projector set run that way-it is hard on the plasma or CRT tubes-works them harder-and can burn phosphors.At least with film cameras and projection you didn't have that problem!!
 
No, SOE is frame interpolation. Due to the limits of LCD tech the sets produce an "extra"image based on a previous frame. The effect is to make everything look like that flat videotape look of old soap operas. Seeing a 1940's moivie that looks like it was shot on tape is awful...
 
I find the "Motion Flow" induced artifacts quite annoying as well (Soap Opera Effect). The Samsung 8000 series I was considering exhibits it horribly when the frame interpolation is on. Couple that with many sets being set to too cold of a color temp and the look is unnatural to me.

I describe it as an almost "3D" look that seems very hard and cold. Seeing a nature show on PBS that looks a bit like the movie Avatar kinda sums it up.I have described it as a picture that is "too good" but unnatural in appearance. Luckily it can be entirely eliminated with changing the settings. For the most part I see all the enhanced motion tricks the makers program into the TV's as just a gimmick to sell sets. Clearly 240hz is better then 120hz which is better then 60hz. Its like the ludicrous megapixel race in digital cameras, people that don't know better can be conned out of their money with the empty promise of more... even if it is generally meaningless.

I have watched both LCD's and Plasma sets and the LCD have come a long way in meeting the other technology. Viewing angle issues and contrast issues have improved for the LCD's so Plasma has largely lost those advantages. LCD's have always been brighter so if you plan to view in a normally lit room they may be better. There is no doubt a Plasma set looks great in a darkened room and they may still have some advantages for fast motion. The LCD's look great to my eye and I just can't live with the other issues with the Plasma displays.
 
I've located a web site where I can view episodes of shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad for free. Don't even have to buy the DVD's any more.

The resolution is a bit low (I have a relatively low speed internet connection) but it's good enough to follow the series.

I was also able to catch up on three seasons of Downton Abbey this way.
 

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