[kwlug-disc] Home made indoor TV Antenna

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 1:14 PM, Paul Gallaway <paul at gallaway.ca> wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 11:45 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
> > 5-1  CBLT-DT CBC Toronto
> > 6-1  CIII-HD Global Toronto, from Paris tower
> > 9-1  CFTO    CTV Toronto (same as 13, but Toronto news)
> > 11-1 CHCH-HD Independent from Hamilton
> > 13-1 CKCO    CTV Kitchener (same as 9 except for news)
> > 19-1 TVO     TVO Toronto
> > 25-1 CBLFTDT CBC Toronto French
> > 28-1 TVO     Same as 19, but from the Paris tower
> > 35-1 CHCJ-DT CTV Two
> > 36-1 CITS-HD Christian Hamilton
> > 40-1 CJMT    Omni
> > 41-1 CIII-HD Same as 6, but from CN Tower
> > 47-1 CFMT    Omni
> > 57-1 CITYTV  City TV Toronto
>
> Looks good! If all those are steady then you've one-upped me with CTV2
> (CHCJ) and CTV out of Toronto (two-upped?).


CHCJ is within the CTV network but has different programming than the
regular CTV channel (e.g. CKCO, CFTO).

For example, there is the excellent Daily Planet at noon, but that is
sometimes not watchable. Today it was good, but during other days it can be
pixellated.

For CFTO, it is really not important. It is the exact same as CKCO except
at noon, 6 pm, ...etc. where it has CTV Toronto News. Not really important.

CFMT (Omni) is the other one that is pixellated at times.

The rest are watchable pretty much all the time.


> I've been curious about the Kitztech preamps. On paper they look
> fantastic (lowest noise on the market I believe).


It is definitely more "precise", but also more sensitive.

I only had the CM-7777 on the mast for about 5 days before I returned it.
So, not a scientific A/B testing.

I would say to those who are about to do embark on an antenna project, try
the CM-7777 and see where that gets you. If it is sufficient stay with it,
and you don't have to worry about creating a housing for it. If it is iffy,
then return it within 7 days and get the Kitz Tech. It will be the same or
better. It can't be worse.

I suspect you might see some of the more marginal channels get dropped in
> the fall but perhaps the Kitztech will allow you continue locking them. I'm
> definitely curious about that!
>

I am expecting that drop to happen.


> ATSC recordings are just dumps of the digital transmission (MPEG2) to disk
> so size depends on the data rate of the transmitter which can vary to some
> degree between different channels and possibly the content being
> transmitted. This is true of the cheap ATSC PVRs
> available, and uber advanced PVRs like MythTV.  On average I see about
> 6.3-6.5 GiB per hour according to MythTV.


That is what I am seeing too.


> (lossless transcoding is relatively low processor intensity as it just
> trims the file of the excess data but it hasn't worked consistently in the
> last couple revisions)


ffmpeg can do conversions, but it is a lot of work.

For example (which I have not tried, but found when I Googled):

ffmpeg -i input.mts -vcodec mjpeg -b 100M -acodec pcm_s16be output.mov

Or


*ffmpeg -i “Input.mts” -f dvd -target ntsc-dvd -r 29.97 -s 720×480 -aspect
16:9 -b 8000kb -g 12 -mbd rd -trellis -mv0 -cmp 0 -subcmp 2 “output.mpg”*
Anyone knows how much reduction in disk space usage if one is to preserve
quality?

-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
Fast Reliable Drupal
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
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For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and
wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
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