Television & Media Cable or on-air Integrating the Home Entertainment Experience

Section 1 Cable/Satellite TV source Or On-Air Antenna and Internet

Cable/Satellite bills are monthly By the time all services are added: Television (and HDTV) Pay channels/movies, etc. Set-top box/DVR Internet access (slow, 15meg, 30meg, ??) Telephone service Security services All together add up to $$$$ EVERY month

The Old-Fashioned FREE TV will work Antenna – in the New Bern area, a roof-top or similar antenna is needed for maximum stations. Proper distribution system (RF) What kind of receiver is needed (Digital – ATSC tuner). Advantages (and drawbacks)

Lots of non-working solutions There are a multitude of different small outdoor antennas available now with built in rotation, all seem to be coming from China, and reception is about as good as hooking up the antenna lead to a wet noodle. Go back to the old-fashioned Channel Master, RCA, Wingard, etc. Antennas – and bigger ones A rotator may be needed – especially with large antenna.

USELESS “150 mile” Antenna

WITN suggested Antenna – UHF ONLY

Another UHF ONLY Antenna

Recommended 110” Boom

Antenna Grounded to earth

Smaller Antenna - Shop

Need an outdoor Balun

Roof Mount & Mast

RG-6 Cable & Connectors

The different TV standards Analog (no longer usable in the US) The US standard was called NTSC (the joke was that it stood for “never twice the same color.” It served us for decades, but Congress and the FCC have discontinued its use completely Other countries used PAL and SECAM, which were similar, but not interchangable.

The new TV standards Digital (but there are multiple resolutions). Cable systems internally use a method called QAM, which may be encrypted. On-the-air broadcasts use a method called ATSC. Many (but not all) devices can be set to receive either or both.

How many channels? (24)

AntennaPoint.com

FCC.gov website

“Virtual” Channels The new Digital TV features “virtual channels” where the actual transmitted channel frequency may not be what is displayed, AND each transmitter site may be sending out more than one channel. Some of these channels may be HDTV, others may be SDTV (usually each transmitter can have one HD and several SD).

Other stations in eastern NC 2-1, 2, 3 – WUND-DT PBS (covered by 19) 8-1 – WFXI-DT Fox (covered by 14-1) 25-1, 2, 3 – WUNK-DT PBS (covered by 19) 35-1, 2, 3 – WPXU-DT Ion (covered by 38) Channel 8 is way out in another direction (Atlantic, NC) from all the others. Channels, 2, 25, and 35 duplicate programming on stronger channels.

AntennaWeb use

Most stations in 2 azimuths

WCTI – three virtual channels

WITN – three virtual channels

WNCT – two virtual channels

WUNM – three virtual channels

WYDO – two virtual channels

WEPX – five virtual channels

WUNK – same three PBS

Fox – tower in Atlantic, NC

New stations are being added

Three more channels (when on)

RF Amplifier (4 outs)

RCA Amplifier (NLA)

Another RF Amplifier - good

Not-so-good RF Amplifier

Passive Splitter – signal loss

Costs SuddenLink (HDTV, DVR, Internet, Phone) approximately $173 per month. SuddenLink (Internet, Phone only) approximately $90 per month. Antenna, mount, pole, cable, grounding, amplifiers, coax total $250 Payback time: 3 months. (these figures did not include the three new LED HDTV sets, with them it becomes 2.5 years).

What is lost? Approximately 200 total cable channels, of which we regularly watched stuff on a dozen of them. Fox News, CNN, Weather Channel – all can be replaced using computer on Internet. Most of the movies no longer available through SL we can still watch with Netflix.

What is gained? Free on-air TV, no monthly charges. Free DVR recording, no monthly charges. Ability to playback the DVR recordings from any Windows 7 or 8 computer in the network. Ability to share pictures, videos, audio media between all computers and display on TVs BIG monitors on the computers with high resolution.

Section 2 Integrating the Home Entertainment Experience

Stuff that was removed/replaced Old televisions that were not compatible with on-air use and without HDMI inputs. Included 55” Mitsubishi Projection HDTV monitor, Samsung 27” CRT type HDTV monitor, 9” Toshiba CRT type TV/DVD player. SuddenLink Cable box (removed, not replaced).

Stuff that was still usable DVD Player (2 good old ones that don’t cut off content from other regions). 5.1 Channel A/V Onkyo sound system with B&W front, rear, center speakers and custom 15” powered sub-woofer. Cassette Deck. Various connecting cables. Samsung 24” LCD HDTV (1920x1808) (moved from MBR to shop)

Stuff that was added Windows 8 multi-media computer with Windows Media Center added and with ATSC compatible TV Tuner. This also provides the DVR capability and BluRay playback. Samsung 55” LED HDTV (1920x1080 res) Samsung 39” LED HDTV (1920x1080 res) Samsung 32” LED HDTV (1920x1080 res)

Things we can do Record TV Programs, play back on ANY of the Windows 7 or 8 computers, home or shop. Share Videos, Pictures, Windows Media Center recorded CDs, any other type media between all the various computers and the Living Room 55” HDTV (not a “SmartTV” but does have media sharing features). Store these media anywhere convenient.

Now – for some detail HOW to make it all work

Antenna and RF Wiring A good antenna, mount, mast, coax, ground wire, ground rod, and hardware were purchased. Install requires climbing on the roof. Chimney or eave mounts could have been used. Antenna direction was established using a military style compass, set half way between the directions to Trenton and Grifton.

RF Wiring The RG-6U antenna cable goes to the input of an RCA amplifier, outputs go to LR TV, MBR TV, BR TV, and 2 nd RCA Amplifier. Outputs go to Computer ATSC, Computer FM, A/V Receiver FM, 4 th is a spare. High Quality RG-6 and connectors are needed. The new style connectors are superior, but require a special crimping tool.

HDMI Cabling There are several generations of HDMI cabling. Only recent high quality cables should be used. Older ones won’t support audio and network over the cable. These cables are somewhat fragile. There are also three sizes of HDMI cable. Some adapters may well be useful in connecting external gadgets, such as iPads or Android tablets.

HDMI Connector Types

Computer DVI to HDMI

DisplayPort to HDMI

Displayport Types StandardMini

Analog VGA is a no-no (because of HDCP copy protection)

Replaced Video Board The Windows 8 computer originally shipped with Vista – the supplied video card did have HDMI output, but did not support audio over HDMI (needed so one can easily control the volume and mute sound). This card also had dropouts when playing back HD recordings. Replaced with an ATI Fireview V3900 with 1G RAM, DVI and Displayport outputs. Displayport into HDMI adapter, supports audio

55” HDTV Back

55” HDTV Connection Panel

32” HDTV Connections

Older 24” HDTV Connections

Most New TVs – NO analog audio out TOSlink optical DigitalRCA coaxial Digital

Component Video Connections

RCA Audio Connections

“Banana” Speaker Connections

Not enough HDMI Inputs?

Hide it in furniture

Opened

55” in Living Room

HDTV Source Menu

Windows 8 in BIG!

Center & Right Front Speakers

Right Rear Speakers

Left Rear Speakers

Left Front Speakers

15” 200w SubWoofer

MBR Computer/32” HDTV

39” HDTV/Monitor

19” & 24” in shop

Windows 8.1 Upgrade 17 October, 2013 available through the Microsoft Store (Microsoft updates must be current before it will show). The next few slides are to show changes in the interface to the user.

The new Start screen Left side of screenRight side of screen

The Apps screen Left side of new Apps screenAvailable by link from Start

The Desktop remains similar

Some of the changes made The Start Menu is (partially) back. Up to 8 Modern UI programs can be snapped on the screen instead of only 2. Modern UI programs more visually oriented. SkyDrive is more tightly integrated, it can also sync Windows and Apps settings. Lots of little help windows for newbies (hope they can be turned off).

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