[jfolliard]

It seems like the common concern is that many folks can receive OTA HD just fine when direct to their TV's tuner from the OTA antenna, but not when trying to puch the OTA signal the HR20 with the recent software upgrade.

That's my case too. Makes me think that the HR20 requires a much stronger signal than the TV's tuner....is that the explanation??? If so, then I guess there's nothing we can do about it other than trying bigger and stronger antennae - something I don't want to do unless I know it will work - meaning the HR20 will display the OTA channels.

Am I on the right track here - or is it an HR20 problem which might be fixable down the line?

Thanks.

Jack

PS: it's fun getting into this stuff - especially for a non-techie and a big, big thanks to Earl B. for all of his help!

 

[hasan]

It seems like the common concern is that many folks can receive OTA HD just fine when direct to their TV's tuner from the OTA antenna, but not when trying to puch the OTA signal the HR20 with the recent software upgrade.

That's my case too. Makes me think that the HR20 requires a much stronger signal than the TV's tuner....is that the explanation??? If so, then I guess there's nothing we can do about it other than trying bigger and stronger antennae - something I don't want to do unless I know it will work - meaning the HR20 will display the OTA channels.

Am I on the right track here - or is it an HR20 problem which might be fixable down the line?

Thanks.

Jack

PS: it's fun getting into this stuff - especially for a non-techie and a big, big thanks to Earl B. for all of his help!

It's not just strength...multi-path and other distortion issues impact on the ability to decode an HD signal. I was playing with a preamp and a variable attenuator and I could produce all sorts of "bizzare" results, including getting one tuner to show 85% while the other tuner showed 39%...simply adjusting the amount of attenuation I could get both tuners to 80% or so. Same antenna, same attenuator...so these signal meters are sensitive to a variety of things, phase, multi-path, overdrive, and others.

It also helps to remember that the meters are not measuring strength in and of itself, but rather a variant of bit-error-rate (BER), which is the standard for evaluating digital signal quality.

 

[jfolliard]

It's not just strength...multi-path and other distortion issues impact on the ability to decode an HD signal. I was playing with a preamp and a variable attenuator and I could produce all sorts of "bizzare" results, including getting one tuner to show 85% while the other tuner showed 39%...simply adjusting the amount of attenuation I could get both tuners to 80% or so. Same antenna, same attenuator...so these signal meters are sensitive to a variety of things, phase, multi-path, overdrive, and others.

It also helps to remember that the meters are not measuring strength in and of itself, but rather a variant of bit-error-rate (BER), which is the standard for evaluating digital signal quality.

wow - you're way over my head! So - in plainspeak am I right - the HR20 requires a stronger OTA signal than the TV? Or is it an HR20 tuner issue?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

wow - you're way over my head! So - in plainspeak am I right - the HR20 requires a stronger OTA signal than the TV? Or is it an HR20 tuner issue?

Yes, to a marginal degree.

The HR20 wants to have a stronger signal, so it can "lock it" and have a stable feed for recording purposes.

So a "so-so" marginal signal, isn't really going to cut it for DVR purposes.

If the signal is bouncing, or is droping out... that is not good for a DVR

 

[BubblePuppy]

It seems like the common concern is that many folks can receive OTA HD just fine when direct to their TV's tuner from the OTA antenna, but not when trying to puch the OTA signal the HR20 with the recent software upgrade.

That's my case too. Makes me think that the HR20 requires a much stronger signal than the TV's tuner....is that the explanation??? If so, then I guess there's nothing we can do about it other than trying bigger and stronger antennae - something I don't want to do unless I know it will work - meaning the HR20 will display the OTA channels.

Am I on the right track here - or is it an HR20 problem which might be fixable down the line?

Thanks.

Jack

PS: it's fun getting into this stuff - especially for a non-techie and a big, big thanks to Earl B. for all of his help!

Yes big thanks to Earl and the mods for this great forum.

I'm taking a chance as a "newbee" here but as in my other thread I recieved Santa's gift Friday and hooked up my Terk TV 55 and received 27 OTA channels..the only one OTA I can't receive is WESH 2-1/2-2 . Not a big deal cause I get locals via Sat.

Now I can learn spanish in HD..... Love PBS-HD-OTA