Adventures in TV Antennas: Kill Cable Part 2

RCA ANT751 Outdoor TV Antenna

Well cable/satellite, we've had some good times. We knew this day would come. I'll miss your inflated prices and 100's of channels of content I never watched. Maybe when you come up with a cheap a-la-carte channel-adding scheme, we'll see each other again some day. Until then, good riddance! Part 1 of my blog entry is not literally labeled "Part 1" (the good ones never are), but here it is: Kill the Cable Bill, 7/25/11. Oh the fun I've had with TV Antennas. I tell you of my adventure for entertainment and education. First, a fun fact, a note and then a little justification of doing this project.

Note about Tuners
Your local TV stations broadcast ATSC signals. If you want these digital channels, you'll need an ATSC tuner.

• HDTV 5yrs old or newer? You're good - If you bought your HDTV in the last 5yrs, chances are good it has a built-in ATSC tuner.
• Digital Converter Box - Old CRT (tube) TVs and some older HDTVs do not have an ATSC tuner. Therefore, you'll need a Digital Converter Box for these TVs. Be careful of older HDTVs that claim "HD-ready." These display HD, but they don't have a built-in tuner. 
• QAM tuner - If you have a Quadrature Amplitude Modulator tuner (QAM or Clear QAM [pronounced kwomm]), you have an ATSC tuner. QAM tuners allow you to tune any "free" stations provided by cable. However, don't count on too many of these stations being available. (The cable company doesn't really enjoy giving handouts.)

Fun fact: Plural of Antenna is "Antennae" if you are referring to an insect, but it is "Antennas" for RF/Radio/TV. Isn't learning fun?


Justification
Is it worth all this trouble? In 1 word, YES! In many words:

• Savings: I was paying $85/mo for satellite (HD, DVR). Now I will be paying $16/mo ($7.99 for Netflix and $7.99 for Hulu+) and $0/mo for over-the-air locals. Even with the up-front costs of the antenna, splitters, digital converter box for SD TV ($40 on Amazon.com), and Roku 2 streaming boxes, I will save $450 in the first year. Those gadgets are just 1-time fees. In the second year and beyond I will save over $800/yr ($69/mo) in cable/satellite bills. I think I'll treat myself to a Dairy Queen. Maybe two.
• Install once, enjoy forever: Keeping with the "one-time" theme, you only have to install the equipment once. Like remodeling your kitchen, you put in the work once, and then you enjoy your work for years after. Except this is way cheaper than remodeling your kitchen and takes less time, and it will save you lots of money!
• Crystal Clear Picture: Did you know?: Cable and Satellite only have so much bandwidth for their hundreds of HD channels, so they compress them like crazy. Ever notice digital artifacts with motion on the screen, especially during sports? Well with over-the-air picture quality, I 100% guarantee it looks clearer than your cable/satellite HD picture. Local stations broadcast their signals in much less-compressed beautiful HD glory. Watch football at my house on Sunday if you don't believe me.

Indoor vs Outdoor TV Antennas
Indoor TV Antenna

• Pros:
• Usually omnidirectional. Great for Urban areas where stations are within 20mi and in many directions.
• No need to hassle with install of outdoor antenna.
• Cons:
• Usually omnidirectional. Bad for more rural areas where stations are >20mi away.
• Need an Antenna for each TV in the house. Could get expensive.
• Need to find an aesthetic spot to place the antenna near each TV (the wife factor).
• May get more/less channels in different rooms depending on room location and distance from stations. This is due to interference of things like metal, ducts, buildings, hills, mountains. (e.g., antenna in the basement may not pick up channels your 2nd floor antenna does)

Outdoor TV Antenna

• Pros:
• Highly directional. Great for more rural areas where stations are >20mi away and in 1 general direction.
• Picks up VHF channels without a hiccup. (These channels' frequencies have longer wavelengths and are easier for longer antennas to pick up from far away)
• One antenna for the entire house. Same channels on every TV.
• Cons:
• Highly directional. Bad for more urban areas where stations are in many directions.
• Installation is a little cumbersome (see Outdoor TV Antenna Installation Fun below).

Determine your Antenna need

Antennaweb.org Street Level Map

On Antennaweb.org or TVFool.com, enter your address, and a report will tell you TV stations you can pick up, what direction they are in, and how far away they are. I prefer Antennaweb: It gives you a simple list of stations, their compass heading, and their distance. Clicking "View Street Level Map" shows your home on a Google Maps overlay with a visual representation of the direction of the stations. As a general rule, if you have many stations within 20mi, you will probably just need omnidirectional Indoor TV Antennas. If you have many stations >20mi away, you will probably need a directional outdoor antenna. You may have stations in many different directions, but pay attention to the ones you care about. For example, if there is a Spanish channel in the opposite direction of the others, maybe it's not a big deal (you can learn Spanish from Rosetta Stone instead).


My Story
Antennaweb.org tells me I am ~30mi away from local stations. They are all in the same general direction. Above info says I should get an outdoor antenna. But I don't listen to myself, I want an indoor antenna to work. I don't want to install an outdoor antenna, I refuse!

Mohu Leaf Indoor TV Antenna

First Attempt: Indoor Antenna - Mohu Leaf
With good reviews from HotDog.com (previously KillTheCableBill.com), I was excited to get this $44 beast from Amazon.com. It is tiny! About the size of a sheet of printer paper and as thin as one, I was amazed. It can be mounted in an out-of-view location, but that's where the amazement stops. Mounted in the location where it received the best signal (by the window), I only picked up a few channels, and they were spotty. Forget about the VHF channels (FOX and NBC). Spotty at best. I didn't even attempt it in the basement, I would maybe get 1 channel at best. However, if you are within 15mi of the stations, this antenna may work pretty well.

RCA ANT1251 Indoor TV Antenna

Second Attempt: Indoor Antenna - RCA ANT1251
I helped my father-in-law kill cable by using this antenna. It works pretty well at ~12mi from the stations. Since it is amplified (plugs into AC power), I thought it would perform better than the Mohu Leaf. I attempted it at my lovely abode for $7 from Amazon.com. Adjusting the dipoles (rabbit-ear VHF receivers) out in front of the TV gave me NBC and FOX pretty well, until I walked in front of it. Also, I had to turn the antenna to make CBS and ABC come in free of digital garbage. Regardless of the need to turn it, this is where the wife factor comes in to play. It's atrocious seeing the dipoles dangling anywhere in the room, very distracting. Once again, I didn't even try this in the basement. Let's not even think about the horrendous results we would get down there, this article isn't about depression.

RCA ANT751 Outdoor TV Antenna

Third and Final Attempt: Outdoor Antenna - RCA ANT751
Alright! I've had it with indoor antennas! Why didn't I just get an outdoor antenna at the beginning and be done with it! AAAAgghhh! Ok, I feel better now. Living 30mi from local stations, I needed an outdoor antenna to save me from the evil cable/satellite monster. For that, I turned to customer reviews and the great review site: TopTenReviews.com. Their Top 10 HDTV Antenna list gave #1 to the RCA ANT751. The 36inch long "compact" RCA ANT751 (Amazon.com for $44 shipped) is awesome! It picks up 19 digital channels. List of what I get: PBS, CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, MNT (29.1), IND (45.1), and a few local weather, music, and movie channels. Basically it picks up everything Antennaweb.org says I can for my area, and a couple more. It is rated for 40mi, but reviewers say it can reach a little further than that. I am very impressed with this antenna's performance and price. Can't say enough amazement it gave me!


Outdoor TV Antenna Installation Fun
Tools needed: compass, level, wrench, wood screws
The RCA ANT751 came with a mast for easy installation on the side of my deck. Had all necessary bolts/nuts, but no wood screws to mount the mast. Pick up 4ea at the hardware store for a buck. I installed it at about 6ft in height pointing ~10deg North. Obviously, the higher the better with as few obstructions as possible (on a roof would probably be best). Just make sure the mast is plumb and the antenna points in the correct direction. I used the cabling existing from my current (for now) satellite dish. The fun happens inside the outdoor cable box. I had to individually figure out what coax line was the antenna, and the rooms. I then needed a $10 3-way coax splitter from Best Buy to provide the antenna signal to each TV in the house simultaneously. (If you can wait a few days for shipping, get a 2-way, 3-way, 4-way, or 8-way coax splitter for less than $6 from MonoPrice.com. Get the smallest one you need, and get a F-Type 75 Ohm terminator [$0.45 on Amazon.com] for each unused port. Terminators eliminate reflections that reduce signal quality caused by unused ports.) The splitter introduced some signal-strength loss (as evidenced by my digital converter box's meter), but my picture and sound remained crisp. If you currently have cable (e.g., Comcast, Charter), you probably already have splitters installed in your outdoor cable box, so just replace where your Cable's coax from the ground is connected with your antenna's coax cable. Remember to run a ground wire from the antenna's body. Lightning strikes would be a terrible way to get a fire.


A Word about Cable Internet
I still have cable internet. You canNOT have antenna signal and cable internet signal on the same coax line. Well almost cannot. Two options here:

1. Easy and Cheap - Choose 1 coax port in the house to be dedicated to cable internet. This is what I did. Connect your Cable's coax cable from the ground near your outdoor cable box to the room of choice's coax cable. Get an F-Type Coupler ($0.49 on MonoPrice.com) to couple the two coax cables together. You cannot use this coax line for antenna signals.
2. More flexible, but more money and see Warning below!! - Allow both antenna and cable internet on any line in the house. Buy a bi-directional combiner (to join antenna and cable internet coax lines) and bi-directional splitter (to amplify and allow 2-way communication) like the $37.50 8-Port Bi-Directional Cable TV HDTV Amplifier Splitter Signal Booster with Passive Return Path on Amazon.com. Remember to terminate unused ports. Then at the TV, you will need a 2-way coax splitter to split to your TV and cable modem. Make sure to call your cable internet provider and have them filter out any TV frequencies, so they don't interfere with your antenna signal. Good explanation at BigPictureBigSound.com. Warning!! Joining antenna and cable internet signals may cause interference that cable companies can sniff. We don't want any Comcast/Charter reps or FCC peeps knocking on our door, so proceed with caution with this one. Better explanation from user "Darkk" in this forum on dslreports.com.

In Part 3, I will setup my Roku 2 boxes and give feedback of my cable/satellite free life. Good luck and enjoy Killing Cable!

Kill the Cable Bill

If there's one thing I hate, it's paying for cable. Is $95 a month worth it to see a show live or flip through 100's of channels I never watch? I found this great site HotDog.com (previously KillTheCableBill.com) to help me through the process, and I pass the love on to you.

Cable's Evil Cons

• Expensive:  $95 a month? Ouch. Oh yes, you can go to your local cable company and get a 6 month deal for $30. Seriously, only 6 months?! Then after the 6 months the bill skyrockets to $95 anyway, and you're getting less service than you had before.
• Bad Weather:  Having Dish Network satellite service, service is disrupted when it rains or a tiny cloud fills the sky. That's when I need TV the most! What's the weather? Ok, I'll break out the laptop or smart phone instead. When weather is crummy, it's great to curl up on the couch and watch ye olde telly. Satellite wants those wishes to be gone with a cloud.

Cable Alternatives
In my research, the following services connect a 1-2-3 punch in eliminating cable forever:

• Netflix:  With thousands of commercial-free movies and TV shows available to stream over your high-speed internet for $7.99/month, a great interface, and tons of Netflix-capable devices, Netflix rocks.
• Hulu-Plus:  Another stream-over-high-speed internet service, Hulu-Plus takes care of newer TV shows that Netflix doesn't offer (often next day after original air) for $7.99/month.
• Over-the-air broadcast:  Get a decent antenna and mash it into the RF port on your TV for your local channels. This depends on how close you are to local stations' antennae. Unfortunately, I would need a large directional rooftop antenna with pre-amp to get local channels. However, it seems many have found luck with the $44 Leaf Indoor Antenna, so I may try that.   UPDATE 9/12/11: Living 30mi from local stations, the 36" long RCA ANT751 (Amazon.com for $44 shipped) picks up 19 digital channels. List of what I get: PBS, CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, MNT (29.1), IND (45.1), and a few local weather, music, and movie channels. Big advantages of an outdoor antenna: A) Uses your existing cable line in the house, B) Only need 1 antenna for all TVs in the house (just connect TV to wall coax jack).

RCA ANT751 Digital TV Antenna

The Streamers
These internet-streaming devices will deliver Netflix and Hulu-Plus to your TV, and then some:

• Roku 2:  Just released, this impressive ($59, $79 or $99) tiny box (3"x3") has many apps to cover all your movie/TV show/music/news/weather needs. Has a large array of support for 100's of apps including: Netflix, Hulu-Plus, Amazon Instant Video, CNET, Pandora, MLB.TV, Crackle, and FOXNews.com. Also has the unique ability to play simple games like Angry Birds.
• Apple TV:  Rent movies and TV shows through iTunes and Netflix. A killer feature of the $98 shipped Apple TV is using AirPlay to stream photos/video/music from your iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad to your HDTV. It also sports the ability to use your iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad) as a remote for your iTunes videos/music/photos on your PC. You can Jailbreak the Apple TV to allow playback of non-supported audio/video formats and install XBMC. XBMC supports more internet radio channels, Hulu-Plus, and other apps in a nice interface.
• Google TV:  The $199 (UPDATE: now $99) Logitech Revue is among the geekier boxes. It's loftier goal is to integrate the web with cable. With Dish Network, you can search shows and web content alike, including YouTube videos and searching Google.com. Not sure this is exactly our best alternative. I like the integration, but the goal is to have no cable! The Revue has apps like the above boxes, but it has been described as much more complicated to use. We want our brains off when using TV.
• Boxee Box:  Purchase a Boxee Box for $199 or install the app on your Home Theater PC (HTPC). Boxee has a great remote smart phone app. I may try to install Boxee on my laptop just to try it as an alternative. Not sure I want to spend $199 for a new box, especially when I have 2-3 TVs in the home to consider.
• PlayStation 3:   Besides being an excellent HD video game system and the best Blu-Ray/DVD player, the PS3 offers Hulu-Plus, MLB.TV, and Netflix support. You can also stream most formats of video from your PC's local library. PlayTV is available to turn your PS3 into an over-the-air DVR (limited to the size of the hard drive in your PS3). Not sure on the price of this, but seems useful. PS3 has many bundles available at $299. 
• XBOX 360:  Another great HD video game system with good stream-from-your-PC abilities for around $199. XBOX also offers Netflix and Hulu-Plus support, although not as polished as the PS3 versions. Also, you must be an XBOX Live Gold member for $60/year to use them. This usually isn't an issue, as most XBOX360 owners are XBOX Live members already.

Why keep cable?

• The hassle:  You don't want to deal with buying a separate little box for every room and set each one up. However, I can guarantee after setting one up, the others will be much simpler and quicker to setup.
• You are comfortable:  Paying for cable each month is easier than setting up all those silly boxes and antenna(s).
• DVR:  It is so convenient to have a DVR organize all of your recorded shows and keep/delete them as desired. However, at my home this is limited to only two TVs (only one of which is HD). Really, who actually re-watches their shows? Similar to purchasing a DVD/Blu-Ray disc, how many times do you re-watch a movie?
• Flipping channels:  If you love to surf channels to find something live that piques your interest, you may want to keep the cable. Internet streaming is much more of a "let's search for a show and start playing it now" service. On the other hand, instead of channel flipping, maybe this will simply force you to find something else to do.
• I need to see it now!:  If you simply can't wait to see your show and need to see it the second it airs, then internet streaming TV is not for you.
• Could get expensive:  Depending on the amount of channels you watch, all those sports, movie, and TV show packages could end up costing more than your current bill. Also, depending on how many rooms have a TV, you need to get a box and antenna for each one. However, getting the boxes is only a one-time purchase.

My Take
Since I have iPhones already in the household, the $98 shipped Apple TV seems like a no-brainer. Sharing music, photos, and videos via Air Play is such a great feature. Along with using the iPhone as a remote for music and video playing on the home's main stereo makes it hard to pass up. Jailbreaking the Apple TV to get XBMC is the icing on the cake. iTunes also offers many show rentals.


If you don't have iOS devices, I think the clear winner of the above is the Roku 2 XS. At $99, it has the best interface and most diversity in apps.

What's Next?
Of the above, I currently own a PS3. Netflix is running flawlessly on it. I may attempt a 1-week Hulu-Plus trial on it and install Boxee on my laptop to attempt the down-with-cable way of life. Seeing how that goes, I may purchase an Apple TV and/or Roku 2 XS to complement each other and kill the cable bill forever.

UPDATE:  Use your student .edu email address and get a 1-month trial of Hulu-Plus free!

What are your "kill the cable bill" secrets?

Link to Kill Cable Part 2: Adventures in TV Antennas 

Misleading Tech Advertising

Picture it... 

You've unearthed the best new tech in the world...but no one knows about it. So naturally you turn to creative advertising to promote your product. Once promoted, you think, "Wow that's my product!?" Of course it is, but smart advertising has disguised it. A big pet peeve of mine is inflation of the truth in tech advertising. It's also genius! To stretch the truth of the product's specifications/capabilities is masquerading, but it's not necessarily lying. Let me shed some light on 2 of the biggest advertising facades.

Hard Disk Drive/Solid State Drive/Flash Memory

Why when you look at the 100GB drive under "My Computer -> {drive} -> Properties" it shows as only 93.13GB? Where did my 6.87GB go!!!??? It is a 100*10^9 byte drive, but the secret is that storage is advertised in decimal format (base 10), while the computer displays it in binary (base 2). A little math to explain:

• Decimal (Base 10): 10^3 = kilo, 10^6 = mega, 10^9 = giga
• Binary (Base 2):     2^10 = kilo, 2^20 = mega, 2^30 = giga
• Math gives us: 100*(10^9)/(2^30) = 93.13 GB (base 2)

Naturally, marketers wish to promote the larger number.
Just know this: Marketers speak in decimal, Computers speak in binary.

600Hz Plasma vs 120Hz LCD

Flat screen TV ads are the worst. Plasma and LCD are way different techs. The advertising of Hz in TVs is due to how humans perceive motion on screen. LCDs have an inherent blur effect with motion (e.g., camera pans, fast motion scenes). The higher frame refresh rate (Hz) aims to switch fast enough to eliminate motion blur. (I may post a separate article on LCD 120Hz explained.)

Plasma
On a 1080p TV, think of plasma pixels as 6 million tiny light bulbs, 1 for each sub pixel (red, green, blue). These bulbs constantly flash to display their photons. For a 600Hz sub-field drive, each bulb flashes 10 times per frame. Since the screen refreshes at 60Hz (frames per second), each bulb flashes for 60 * 10 = 600Hz (flashes per second). Old plasma bulbs flashed only 8 times per frame, with a 480Hz sub-field drive.

LCD
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels have a back light that is constantly on. Basically, the Liquid Crystals allow light to pass (more white) or block it (more black). Just know that 120Hz really is the screen refreshing at 120 frames per second. Old LCDs refresh at only 60Hz. See this awesome video for a better explanation of how LCD works.

The Skinny

• Plasmas' Hz rating - how many times per second plasma bulbs flash. 
• LCD's Hz rating - how many times per second the frame refreshes. 

So, which is better? Both are better than their older versions, but it's like comparing a Volkswagen's miles per gallon to a Ferrari's turn radius. It just doesn't make sense. Plasmas are inherently better at handling motion, but don't use the 600Hz > 120Hz comparison to determine that. Some prefer LCD's version of motion handling. Let's face it, either tech is a good choice, as long as the TV is huge. Go to Best Buy and determine it for yourself.

What are some misleading advertisements you have come across?