Re: What Projects / Tasks do you have going on / to do??

[RVR II]

For those curious about what goes into installing vents in the ceiling and duct work in the attic, here's my 3 day time lapse videos of my project up to this point..

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/avTnG8H1tts" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/avTnG8H1tts</a>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/jPebTTG841g" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/jPebTTG841g</a>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Pjig_5IqWgI" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/Pjig_5IqWgI</a>

If you notice in the 3rd video I got nailed by falling debris

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Since the stupid extra fees are now making the lowest possible cable TV prices just nuts for basically only getting over the air channels I have been looking at an attic antenna.  Tried a few DIY ones but they would always miss one or 2 of the network channels.

Then I was on a website for cheap and easy DIY antennas and one of them was a big loop that you would hang over your balcony if you lived in an apartment.  So I went with a version of that in the attic, put 4 screws in the rafters making a rectangle about 15 feet long and 3 feet wide, ran speaker wire around them to make a single loop with the ends attached to a 300 to 75 ohm converter.  It works fantastic, strong signals on all the networks plus a few channels I didn't even know existed in my area.  Getting around 60 channels with a simple large loop.

I still use the Comcast streaming app on 2 of my TVs that don't have coax near them, but at least I know now that when I get to the point that I don't use those TVs for anything other than streaming I know I can drop down to internet only and not miss out on anything.

[RVR II]

I've been using a digital antenna since 2012 if I remember correctly and it was the best thing I had done to drop our local cable provider.
Never thought about a style like that in my attic because I have a lot of large old trees in my area so I mounted one I purchased on ebay to a 6 ft piece of top rail fence pole and stuck it onto an old satellite mount still mounted on the top of my roof and I'm getting somewhere between 50-60 channels on it now.

My 75inch Vizio doesn't have a coax connector either so I bought a digital TV converter box last year that connects from a coax cable to a HDMI port and it works great!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Lkrvi7x1RGI" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/Lkrvi7x1RGI</a>

[MartyS (Gromit)]

There's no such thing as a "digital" antenna.  Any antenna that says digital is pure marketing BS, the RF frequencies are the same as they were when TV started, so the same old antennas do the same job.  Amplifiers have improved a lot since the 1940s, higher gains with lower noise, so new powered antennas are better than the old ones, but all that is still all analog up until inside the TV where the tuner chip translates the analog signal into digital ones and zeros.

[stansimpson]

I've been using a digital antenna since 2012 if I remember correctly and it was the best thing I had done to drop our local cable provider.
Never thought about a style like that in my attic because I have a lot of large old trees in my area so I mounted one I purchased on ebay to a 6 ft piece of top rail fence pole and stuck it onto an old satellite mount still mounted on the top of my roof and I'm getting somewhere between 50-60 channels on it now.

My 75inch Vizio doesn't have a coax connector either so I bought a digital TV converter box last year that connects from a coax cable to a HDMI port and it works great!

Nice!! I don't think I've ever paid for cable my adult life. It's always been OTA antenna stuff or streaming or, years ago, dvd mail-in services (sometimes the apt just had cable built-in to their complex). Having a young kid now though, I decided to get a sort of DVR for the OTA stuff to watch after he goes to bed. The remote and navigation is really wonky, but if you're looking to record stuff from tv to watch later like I do, I recommend Mediasonic's box:
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HOMEWORX-HW130STB-Converter-Recording/dp/B01EW098XS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=mediasonic&qid=1577997079&sa-no-redirect=1&sr=8-3

There are other options out there, and if you need help with figuring out what's best for you, I'm happy to help.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

That OTA DVR looks so interesting and fairly cheap so I ordered one just to check it out, I'm really curious how good the recording quality is.

[stansimpson]

That OTA DVR looks so interesting and fairly cheap so I ordered one just to check it out, I'm really curious how good the recording quality is.

In my opinion, flawlessly. 1080p and everything you would expect with playback.

Oh dang! Forgot it requires a flash drive! Recording size varies, and it's usually ~4GB an hour and 7GB for 90mins (haven't tested it outside of those time lengths). Most importantly, it needs to be formatted for PC; I use Mac and had to get a converter to format it properly. The most it can withstand is 64GB flash drive (external optional up to 2TB), but I found one guy online who said that it was pushing the limit. I got the 32GB because I erase it often enough. And it works best with a specific brand flash drive. Gimme a moment, and I'm gonna find out the exact model of which one I got (I remember it was only like $6).

This post was MOST helpful in finding the right one:
http://www.forum.mediasonic.ca/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3953

And here's a must-read TL;DR for it:
https://old.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/wiki/dvr#wiki_mediasonic_.28budget.29

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I did see in the description that it needed an external drive to record to.  I have so many old drives and external cases for them I don't need to buy anything.  I've got an old 250GB SSD in an external usb 3 case that should work perfectly.

[stansimpson]

Awesome. You'll have to report back about what you think about it. Just remember that the menu and remote are not as intuitive as one might hope.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Cheap electronics always seem to have crappy menu systems, I guess hiring a good software engineer to write good menus would add too much to the cost of the device...

I always thought it was comcast that lowered the resolution on some channels around here, but the OTA signals are the same, ABC and FOX are 720p, CBS and NBC are 1080i.  They still look a bit better than cable because of less compression.

[stansimpson]

I always thought it was comcast that lowered the resolution on some channels around here, but the OTA signals are the same, ABC and FOX are 720p, CBS and NBC are 1080i.  They still look a bit better than cable because of less compression.

Now that I think of it, I've been using my blu-ray player as a way to view info on my files. I've recently been questioning its diagnostics though. Good reminder for me to check those specs again, like on my computer (maybe VLC?), because I think it should be saying 1080i instead of 1080p. In any case, looks just as good to my eyes as it does first airing.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I always thought it was comcast that lowered the resolution on some channels around here, but the OTA signals are the same, ABC and FOX are 720p, CBS and NBC are 1080i.  They still look a bit better than cable because of less compression.

Now that I think of it, I've been using my blu-ray player as a way to view info on my files. I've recently been questioning its diagnostics though. Good reminder for me to check those specs again, like on my computer (maybe VLC?), because I think it should be saying 1080i instead of 1080p. In any case, looks just as good to my eyes as it does first airing.

It might combine the frames to give 1080p at 30fps instead of 1080i at 60.  No broadcast stations transmit 1080p if they are 1080 they are interlaced.  There's a new standard coming out this year to allow full HD and even 4K and some stations are experimenting with it but there aren't even any tuners on the consumer market yet that receive ATSC 3.0.

Edit: technically, to get 1080p the TV takes a 1920x540 60 fps stream and converts it to 1080p at 30 fps.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Got the Mediasonic HW-150PVR, paid the extra $10 to get a metal cover and normal power cord instead of a wall wart.

It took a few tries formatting my external drive so I could record on it and then read the files on the PC, but it does work great, the menu system and remote do kind of suck, but the recordings are the same as what you see live.

VLC does confirm that the 1080i 60fps broadcasts are converted to 1080p 30fps.  What is really cool is all the subtitle and audio streams are also saved.

Even though you can select pass through of the antenna signal, it doesn't seem to work when the unit is powered off, so I put a splitter and am feeding the TV and box their own signals, I have the HDMI from the box going to my receiver.

[wihogfan]

Garbage diposal finally quit working for good. Exact model no longer made but bought the model that replaced it and made for a far easier install then I was fearing.

[Cupcake]

I'm pretty pleased with a couple of my most recent drawings. I'm still not incredible, but there are things that I'm noticing improving every time I try.

If you're interested in seeing my progression, you can follow me on Twitter @StoicBifox