Cutting the Cord

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 01:05:50AM -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote
> Update.
> 
> *OTA Status:*
> 
> I found an indoor antenna (a Philips PHDTV3) in my basement, attached it to
> my flatscreen, and picked up:
> 
>    - CTV, CBC, CBC-F, TVO and Global: crystal clear and in HD (Global also
>    has a LD channel :-P )
>    - City, Omni and CTS: usually OK but sometimes cut out
>    - Nothing else

  I tried PHDTV3 once... it's underwhelming, to say the least.  It's a
garbage antenna with a pre-amp.  Amplifying noise gives you more noise.
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?slg=en&scy=us&ctn=US2-PHDTV3

  A better choice is the ChannelMaster CM 4040
http://overtheair.saveandreplay.com/channel_master_4040_indoor_Antenna.asp
You can pick up the antenna for $20+tax at their Mississauga store on
Kennedy south of Steeles... *NO NOT THAT* Kennedy+Steeles.  The Kennedy
in Missisauga.  http://www.saveandreplay.com/localpickup.asp

> Still, I guess that's not too bad for an indoor first-floor placement
> against a west-facing wall. I imagine I could do even better outside
> on the 3rd floor balcony, but even that will probably suffice.

  Do you have a south-facing window on the 2nd or 3rd floor?  Note, make
sure that it's not covered by a screen.  Metal blocks UHF broadcast.

>    - Service providers: Looks like It'll be TekSavvy for cable Internet.

  If it's a standalone house, you probably can't get in excess of 6
megabits ADSL, probably 5 megabits net.  So cable is probably the only
way to get faster speed.  Teksavvy cable seems to have more complaints
about outages/slowdowns/congestion/etc than Teksavvy ADSL or FTTN.
Check your address on Bell's website to see if you can get FTTN, which
would imply you can get it via Teksavvy.

>    - Cable modem: Lifehacker recommends the Motorola SB6141

  Check on Teksavvy's forum http://www.dslreports.com/forum/teksavvy for
supported DOCSIS 3 modems.  Your best bet is buying the modem from
Teksavvy.  Note that Rogers (whose infrastructure Teksavvy uses) only
supports certain modems.  *DO NOT BUY A MODEM WITHOUT CONFIRMING THAT
IT'S SUPPORTED!!!*

>    - OTA tuner: SiliconDust HDHomeRun (If its Plex plugin is good enough I
>    might not need MythTV)
> 
>    - Does anyone here have any experience with the HDHomerun?

  I have one (the 2-tuner) model.  It works.
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/hdhomerun-ca-canada/
The pros...
* linux drivers
* commandline and optional Gtk GUI
* support forums, including linux
* MythTV integration
* two separate tuners with their own antenna inputs
  - record one program while watching another
  - great if some TV stations require different antenna orientation

The cons... (note; my model is a few years old; may be improvements now)
* the IP address always comes up somewhere in the 169.254.0.0/16 block
* the tuner on my HDHR is weaker than on my TV set.  I.e. same antenna
  same location...
  - plug into TV; it gets the Toronto stations plus majors from Buffalo
  - plug into HDHomerun; it only gets the Toronto stations

>    - Antenna: I wonder if I can mount something on the side balcony
>    without needing to ground it (or put it on a pole. Recommendations
>    for makes and models are welcome. especially considering the
>    intended mounting.

  I suggest the tabletop CM 4040 behind a south-facing window if at all
possible.  It's the quickest/dirtiest/easiest solution.  If you need a
roof mounted antenna, spend the money to get a pro to do it.  Maybe
consider a rotater while you're at it.

  BTW, what major intersection are you nearest to?  You can run an
analysis at http://tvfool.com to see what's available.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
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