The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsMillennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna!
Free access; Twitter; etc.
Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna!
Link to tweet
Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna!
htuttle
(23,738 posts)no_hypocrisy
(48,134 posts)I get the major networks and a few independent stations like Antenna TV, public television, etc. for free.
The only noticeable difference is not reception; it's great. The screen is square, not rectangular and sometimes, I don't get the entire picture broadcast, but I can live with that.
Brother Buzz
(37,158 posts)Yank a twelve year old off the street and ask him to properly format the screen to the proper aspect ratio for you.
mahatmakanejeeves
(59,917 posts)Last edited Sat Aug 5, 2017, 09:35 AM - Edit history (4)
A lot of old movies, when they were put into a format for showing on television, were put into the NTSC (analog) aspect ratio of 4:3. Shown today, on a flat screen TV, they leave black columns on the right and left sides of the display. I know the films were 1.85:1 or CinemaScope or equivalent when they were filmed, but the broadcast version is still 4:3.
I live in Alexandria, Virginia. Among the local TV channels is WDCW, virtual channel 20. I think it's not going to be around after the repacking. I'm not sure, so don't quote me on that. Anyway, they just added a new subchannel, LightTV, on 20.4. It shows such fare as "Heartland" and "Flipper." Not the original "Flipper," with Luke Halpin, but a newer version. Every program is shown in a 16 : 9 format, even though the original programming is not in that format. All the cars have oval headlights and wheels. I've tried going through all the options on my TV - wide, normal, stretch, zoom. Nothing I choose can make the display correct. In this case, it is the broadcast signal.
Another problem that shows up, in "Walker, Texas Ranger," for one example, is when a show was digitized back in the infancy of digital processing. It was processed at a slow frame rate. Whenever there's any fast-moving action, the pictures breaks up. Walker spins around to kick some bad guy in the head, and the picture turns into pixellated blocks.
Signal processing has come a long way in a short time. I have the local NOAA Weather Radio station running in the background. The "person" reading the information is actually a synthesized voice. Years ago, the voice used to pronounce "Winchester" {Virginia} as "Wincheddar," and the cadence was wrong too. He's got it down now, but "Monocacy," as in the Monocacy River, still isn't right. The voice puts the accent on the first syllable.
If those old programs were to be converted from analog to digital using 2017 standards, you wouldn't get that effect. No one's about to do that, though.
Some background: I got my first two coupon-eligible converter boxes (CECBs) in June 2008. They were Zenith DTT901s, and they had just been released. They were side by side on the shelf at Circuit City with the ZEnith DTT900, which lacked the pass-through viewing of analog broadcasting.
I did not get a TV with an ATSC (digital) tuner until I was given one for Christmas 2015. It was also my first wide screen TV.
I use nothing but rabbit ears to bring in a signal. It is frustrating to move them around to bring in one channel or another.
Brother Buzz
(37,158 posts)Garbage in, garbage out.
I'm fine watching bum films that are poorly formatted, especially the B&W "B" movies that we'd never see otherwise.
mahatmakanejeeves
(59,917 posts)They're all in 4:3 anyway. But when you see a western filmed in the Monument Valley, you know it's at least 1.851.
I don't think virtual channel 20 WDCW is to blame. They manage to show everything right on subchannels 20.1, 20.2, and 20.3. I think the feed sent out by LightTV is not right. I hope they get around to correcting it.
Stuart G
(38,726 posts)Now, where I am less than 20 miles from where all the TV signals originate..(in the Chicago area)..What is amazing..is this, I keep getting more and more stations. That is more and more originate in the area and send out signals. Of course, I don't get the cable stations..but within the last few years, there are at least 10 new stations. There is an old TV show station, there is a weather station, there are 2 full time Spanish stations, and more and more...So originally I had about 30 with the antenna, now I have 40 to 45....
But......I almost never watch TV. I am on the computer many hours a day. I do watch Judge Judy once in a while, a very rarely old eps of Star Trek..but that is about it. Of course, I do play old movies..from time to time, but I have a collection of them, and those that I want that I don't have, I can go to the library which has an incredible collection. Actually, the library is about 5 minutes away, so it is good to go there in order to get off the computer....of course..if I go to the library, I end up on their computers....oh well......back to the drawing board.
mahatmakanejeeves
(59,917 posts)blogslut
(38,486 posts)Got a small-range one from AmazonBasics for about $15.00. I have it mounted to an outside wall.
JCMach1
(27,876 posts)Dallas stations
Leith
(7,850 posts)My 24 hour news station if France24 in English.
I like Heroes & Icons and Hogan's Heroes on MeTV. No weather channel, but that's what weather.com is for.
MiltonBrown
(322 posts)while I'm sure the new shows are good, I just like watching old shows and stuff I enjoy on youtube.
Antenna and free over-the-air TV is the way to go.
Archae
(46,671 posts)It was only the wire that was the antenna, the plug prongs went nowhere.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I'm in Albuquerque.
About six months ago I bought the "Leaf® 50 Indoor Amplified HDTV Antenna".
I had to move the antennae a dozen times a day,
and some days I got a dozen channels and other days I got 2.
raven mad
(4,940 posts)We like our antenna; never watched anything on cable that I can't get on the 'net.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)invented. For real.
http://www.pcta.com/about/history.php