On August 8, 2005 at 17:10, toddklost said...
I wanted to start a thread specific to HD-HTPCs
in Toronto. I am having great success with my
HD-HTPC now, I have a lot of experience setting
up HTPC rigs, I would be happy to help anyone
out. (and hopefully someone can help me out with
some of my problems.)
I'm in the Toronto Beaches (Off Woodbine) and
I get the following with my ATI HDTV Wonder +
Stock antenna w/10DB amp and 30ft cable. I was
told I can damage the HDTV Wonder with this amp,
but with 30ft cable I doubt it
02-1 NBC HD
04-1 CBS HD
05-1 CBC HD
07-1 ABC HD
23-1 CBC HD (same as 4-1)
23-3 UPN SD
25-1 CBC French
29-1 Fox HD
40-4 CFTO-CTV HD (9-1?, 40-3?)
43-1 WNED PBS HD
43-3 Think B
53-1 CityHD
66-1 Toronto 1 HD
By the way, without the 10DB amp I don't get half
of these channels, the stock antenna works great
for me, I would recommend moving around your room
and find the sweat spot like I did. (South-east
corner of my room pointing to lake ontario)
FYI: I was in Etobicoke a few months back (401/Islington)
on the 11th floor and I got the same channels,
with the amp of course.
When I started fooling around with Windows XP
MCE 2005, I can't stress enough how amazing this
OS works with the HDTV Wonder, from the superior
program guide to recording quality.
However on the the annoyances (I am destined to
fix these issues!)
With channels 5-1 and 25-1, the CBC english and
French channels, won't tune in MCE 2005, that
is why I dual boot with Professional since I installed
ATI Multimedia Center there where I can get both
CBC HD channels!. Has anyone got CBC HD working
in MCE 2005?, if I can get CBC HD in MCE2005 I
would dump the ATI software in a heartbeat, MCE2005
is far supperior. I have heard one report that
its a sub-channel issue with 5-1 & 25-1, but I
added the channel "5-1" in MCE2005 and left the
antenna position as it was when working in ATI's
software, not sure why its not coming in?
Bring on the new hockey season!
HTPC setup:
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1gig 200MHZ DDR
DFI Infinity NForce 2 w/Soundstorm, DD 5.1 Live
enabled
ATI 9700 128 meg
ATI HDTV Wonder (w/Kram drivers in MCE2005 to
use Analogue tuner + Canada Patch to get HD working)
Fortissmo II with SixPack 5.1+ Driver (optical
connected to Panasonic HE-100 Receiver)
Tannoy FX 5.1 Speakers
Silverstone case
Dual Boot Windows XP Media Center 2005 + Windows
XP Professional.
>>> VGA cable Sanyo PLV-Z1 with 94" Screen.
>>> S-Video to Panasonc 27".
Hi
I live in East York and put up a radioshack RCA antenna on my balcony, which is one flight up. But I pretty much have an unobstructed path to the CN tower, located south/west and the lake to the south. So I am pointing my anenna between the two points.
I get 20 channels
29-1
29-2
29-3
5-1
25-1
23-3
23-1
2-1
2-2
7-1
39-1
9-1**********
43-1
43-2
43-3
53-1
66-1
4-3
4-1
OKay 3 are SDTV and 1 EDTV, but the rest are HDTV...when they have HDTV content.
And I have to say that I have no use for the French CBC.
So that is 19 usuable digital channels, make that 18, which is the reason for this post, and I will elaborate on in a moment. I have seen what other people in the GTA post, and I must say I am doing prretty good comapred to the number of channels I get.
I have an older pentium 4 2.8Ghz box running XP Pro
An ATI 9600 128mb and all ATI drivers and such are the current versions, but I had to backdown a version for MMC due to that Scheduler bug.
I have to say I love HDTV. I am waiting for more stations to start broadcasting - like Global and OMNI
Now this is my problem. CFTO-DT 9-1....
I get a very strong signal. Infact it may be the strongest signal of all the channels I pick up. And I think I pick up all you can from Toronto and Buffalo....I can't get Rochester, and Hamilton is not started yet.
But CFTO is the strongest signal. I get the audio. It is very clear, rich and loud. But I get absolutely NO video.
It's like I am picking up a radio station, not a digital TV station. But the audio is the audio for the video. I confirmed it on a TV hooked up to cable.
So has anybody else had this problem?
Can anybody confirm CFTO is sending is vidoe over the air, and not just audio?
If I couldn't get every single channel you can in Toronto over the air. I might suspect myself bumbling things up, or maybe the signal. But I thought there was no forgiveness with digital TV. Either you get a signal or you don't. No fade, no loss. Either you have it or not.
The audio seems to confirm I have the signal. But no video appears on my system. Every other channel comes in crystal clear...and when it's HD content, I am still in that flabbergasted stage. Only CFTO-DT which my system senses as 9-1 on the dial gives me this audio and no video.
So I need to confirm other people can get video. And if they do, if they have the slightest clue as to why only this channel has audio, but no video, yet 19 other channels are coming in perfectly. So that is my question.
Oh, I just want to comment. I cannot believe how much cleaner, more detailed, more vibrant the colors are on over the air digital signals compared to what Roger's sells you. It is so dramatic that I thought I was getting HDTV...until I realized the content was not HD, because I have now have opportunities to watch HD content and can't believe it. Okay, it's not quite like looking through a window. I am pretty sure real life resolution is 4000x4000 pixels per sq inch. So still a long way from having people confuse what is in TV for reality, but it's the level of detail that is so dramatically increased I find my self hungry for HD content. So I want the picture on CFTO-DT.
Who knows what is up with this channel, or what I might be doing that cause it?
Thank you very kindly, for you are smarter and wiser than I!
