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

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

3. 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

4. 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)

5. 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.

6. USELESS “150 mile” Antenna

7. WITN suggested Antenna – UHF ONLY

8. Another UHF ONLY Antenna

9. Recommended 110” Boom

10. Antenna Grounded to earth

11. Smaller Antenna - Shop

12. Need an outdoor Balun

13. Roof Mount & Mast

14. RG-6 Cable & Connectors

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. How many channels? (24)

18. AntennaPoint.com

19. FCC.gov website

20. “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).

21. 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.

22. AntennaWeb use

23. Most stations in 2 azimuths

24. WCTI – three virtual channels

25. WITN – three virtual channels

26. WNCT – two virtual channels

27. WUNM – three virtual channels

28. WYDO – two virtual channels

29. WEPX – five virtual channels

30. WUNK – same three PBS

31. Fox – tower in Atlantic, NC

32. New stations are being added

33. Three more channels (when on)

34. RF Amplifier (4 outs)

35. RCA Amplifier (NLA)

36. Another RF Amplifier - good

37. Not-so-good RF Amplifier

38. Passive Splitter – signal loss

39. 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).

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. Section 2 Integrating the Home Entertainment Experience

43. 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).

44. 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)

45. 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)

46. 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.

47. Now – for some detail HOW to make it all work

48. 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.

49. 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.

50. 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.

51. HDMI Connector Types

52. Computer DVI to HDMI

53. DisplayPort to HDMI

54. Displayport Types StandardMini

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

56. 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

57. 55” HDTV Back

58. 55” HDTV Connection Panel

59. 32” HDTV Connections

60. Older 24” HDTV Connections

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

62. Component Video Connections

63. RCA Audio Connections

64. “Banana” Speaker Connections

65. Not enough HDMI Inputs?

66. Hide it in furniture

67. Opened

68. 55” in Living Room

69. HDTV Source Menu

70. Windows 8 in BIG!

71. Center & Right Front Speakers

72. Right Rear Speakers

73. Left Rear Speakers

74. Left Front Speakers

75. 15” 200w SubWoofer

76. MBR Computer/32” HDTV

77. 39” HDTV/Monitor

78. 19” & 24” in shop

79. 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.

80. The new Start screen Left side of screenRight side of screen

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

82. The Desktop remains similar

83. 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).

84. Promised LAN Computing, Inc. Email: jcason@promlancomp.comjcason@promlancomp.com Web: http://www.promlancomp.comhttp://www.promlancomp.com All rights reserved, copyright 2013.