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'Rabbit Ears' Find New Life in HDTV Age
AP ^ | April 28, 2007 | JOE MILICIA

Posted on 04/28/2007 9:21:19 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement

CLEVELAND — Buying an antenna for a high-definition television seems as out of place as using a rotary phone to make a call. But some consumers are spending thousands of dollars on LCD or plasma TVs and hooking them up to $50 antennas that don't look much different from what grandpa had on top of his black-and-white picture tube.

They're not doing it for the nostalgia.

Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies.

And the best part? Over-the-air HD is free.

(Excerpt) Read more at spokesmanreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: antenna; cable; hdtv; rabbitears; tvs
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Is this accurate?
1 posted on 04/28/2007 9:21:20 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

Yes, this is accurate.


2 posted on 04/28/2007 9:22:55 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan; MozarkDawg
Is this accurate?

Never mind that: were any wabbits harmed, and were they in season?

3 posted on 04/28/2007 9:23:39 PM PDT by dighton
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan
Those ain’t my daddy’s rabbit ears. They were on the TV not the house.
4 posted on 04/28/2007 9:25:24 PM PDT by ThomasThomas
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To: dighton

5 posted on 04/28/2007 9:25:41 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan
Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies.

I could believe it. I have Digital TV through my phone line. The worst picture quality is on local broadcast channels. Fortunately I very rarely watch them.

6 posted on 04/28/2007 9:27:22 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan
Simple indoor antennas may work, but you are supposed to get better performance with outdoor antennas. Sometimes an in-attic antenna works, too.

HDTV Antenna Reviews"

7 posted on 04/28/2007 9:28:16 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan
You don't need one. With HD, you'll either get the signal or you won't.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

8 posted on 04/28/2007 9:31:14 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

Il wascalli wabbit di tutti wascalli wabbiti.


9 posted on 04/28/2007 9:31:14 PM PDT by dighton
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To: goldstategop

Yea...but if you don’t get the signal you’ll need an antenna.


10 posted on 04/28/2007 9:32:43 PM PDT by Bogey78O (Don't call them jihadis. Call them irhabis. Tick them off, don't entertain their delusion.)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

What comes around goes around. Aren’t you sorry you dumped grandpa’s antenna?


11 posted on 04/28/2007 9:33:32 PM PDT by TBP
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

Question: Why does my cheap itty bitty little TV that I can put on a bathroom vanity get better reception than a 32” Sony that we have in our family room? I’ve tried rabbit ears and without cable that TV is no good.


12 posted on 04/28/2007 9:34:13 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe (Ah don't feeeeel no ways taihrd.)
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To: Bogey78O
In a rural area, its just cheaper to hook up a cable feed. You'll get a crystal clear picture.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

13 posted on 04/28/2007 9:34:28 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

TV is de work of de debbil!


14 posted on 04/28/2007 9:35:52 PM PDT by chaos_5
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
  Sometimes an in-attic antenna works, too.

Living out in the country with no cable, that's what I use. Pretty good reception, too.

15 posted on 04/28/2007 9:37:47 PM PDT by upchuck (A living, breathing example of the Peter Principle. Oh, forgetful, too :)
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To: TBP

I have a uncle, maybe 80, who asked me if a place like Best Buy sold rabbit ears. I laughed. I need to apologize now. :-(


16 posted on 04/28/2007 9:37:51 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

You may have to fiddle with the antenna, direction wise and near-outside-wall wise, but I have a few friends who all claim they get great HDTV reception from a dopey antenna, practically a bare wire. Watch, Salvation Army thrift stores will now become cool places to shop for used rabbit ears from the fifties.


17 posted on 04/28/2007 9:38:37 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (When Bubba lies, the finger flies!)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan
I live out in the sticks in a canyon 75 miles from the LA broadcast antennas and with a little amplified UHF Antenna I can get all the LA HD Channels except one.

I suspect that anyone in the LA Basin should be able to get most every local HD Channel with a set of rabbit ears.

18 posted on 04/28/2007 9:40:40 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

Its time to buy coathanger stock.


19 posted on 04/28/2007 9:42:47 PM PDT by Eye of Unk
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To: goldstategop
You don't need one. With HD, you'll either get the signal or you won't.

BZZTT! Wrong answer, but thanks for playing....

You can get a packet, or not. Or get a malformed packet. And it takes many, many packets to make up even a second of broadcast TV.

So you really want to make sure you get as many healthy packets as you can. With poor or marginal reception, you may only have a few good packets come through, with some missing, and some malformed.

This can also be affected by the weather. Temperature, humidity, and precipitation will affect signal propogation. Leaves on trees affects just how much radiation your antenna can absorb, so the seasons play a role, too. And even rain on the ground will create signal reflections that can cause multipath interference.

I myself have a Channel Master CM 4228 antenna on a 15 foot pole, fed through an amplifier that leads into an HD tuner for my Mac. It makes a HUGE difference over any amplified or unamplified internal antenna I tried - and I tried most all of the hyped up ones. (I.e. the Zenith Silver Surfer, or the RadioShack one who's model number I forget.)

And after it's all said and done, and you're recieving the signal solidly, there's another item that is totally out of your hands that affects Over the Air (OTA) HD picture quality: how many subchannels the station is broadcasting. Each of these sucks valuable digital bandwidth away from the "primary", HD channel.

For example, KQED (my local PBS station) now looks like utter crap, as they broadcast FOUR subchannels along with the primary, 24/7. It's ridiculous - they used to be smart and run the 4 during the day, with no HD primary, until 8 PM when they would cut back to 1 subchannel with a nice 1080 primary. But then someone got the bright idea that they should run ALL subchannels all the time, so that "PBS Kids" can be running at 3 o'clock in the morning.

TV execs are pinheads. At least CBS out here has NO subchannels, ever, so the occasional worthy show is in stunning, spectactular picture quality. It's a joy to watch, and makes me want to bitchslap the local execs controlling the other stations.

20 posted on 04/28/2007 9:45:30 PM PDT by Yossarian (Everyday, somewhere on the globe, somebody is pushing the frontier of stupidity...)
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