Bunny ears

mule · February 2008

So I lived for about 5 years with no tv and I finally gave in to the girlfriend, I picked up a sony kdlv403000 on new years day. We use it to watch movies and yoga videos of all things.

I was wondering, has anyone has tried an antenae on a hi-def tv?

I really don't care enough about tv to spend the money on cable or satalite but it might be nice to be able to turn it on to get the weather rather than boot up the confuser and go on the internet.

SuperG · February 2008

Wha.....5 years with no tv???????????:eek:

jakelm · February 2008

SuperG wrote: »

Wha.....5 years with no tv???????????:eek:

Must live in Cuba..

..just kidding...:p

mule · February 2008

Hey, I just got this infernet stuff in august, its been my downfall. To much of a distraction. And the damn tv, I bought that in a moment of weakness. 35 degrees and rain for a couple days while being home from work will make you bored and irrational.

Just more **** to collect dust. Maybe I should get one of those air filters? **** ! see its endless paraphenalia! I think those amish are on to something.:D

agfrost · February 2008

If you're not too terribly far from transmission towers, bunny ears (or a roof antenna if you're feeling nutty) should at least get you a signal so that you can check out the local channels.

We've not had cable/dish in the 7+ years we've been married (I'm distractable enough without 60+ channels to add to it), and have lived off a roof antenna to acceptable results. If you've gone without TV at all for 5 years, you're probably like me and won't get too upset by a less-than-perfect picture.

As to the HDTV aspect of your question, we just in the last week got a 32" LCD HDTV whose tuner does receive some over-the-airwaves digital TV signals using just a pair of bona fide bunny ears. Great picture compared to standard-air transmission and has the bonus of multiple channels for some of the local channels--our local ABC station has a digital channel of just current weather/breaking news that goes 24//7.

For reference, these results are from a suburb ~30 miles outside of Chicago.

Hope this helps.

Jay

PeteTy · February 2008

the bunny ears with the new hdtv get more channels than the cable

local 9 and 9.1 are the same
9.2 is the 9 weather 24/7 accuweather radar
9.3 is a replay of the news all day long not a lot different than noon 6p and 11p but available anytime

the eductianal.. non commercial channels go 14.1 - 14.9 with all kinda stuff that shows on discovery and science and animalplanet only one of those is in the cable local14

so rabbit ears on the old tv is perhaps 15 channels
before we got cable had a $150 antenna on the roof with a rotor could turn it and get channel 3 from indy or columbusOH

with bunny ears can get 7 form dayton in place of 9
2in place of 5 from cicy on the ears
for those days when the city fathers think the auto show is more important for cincy commerce than jeporady the cable has 9 dont need the 7 ... has the same network so its not worth while to have 7 on the cable...

kinda like a reds game wont be on 9 but will be on 4 or 3 from coloumbus or indy or maybe even on 7 but wont be on cable other than payanypayandview
cable=payperview

but so far in cincinnati:
bunny ears tv 15 channel
bunny ears hdtv 35 channel

cable 100 channel $50 / month, 200channel $100/month (includes blacklisted sports and prempted jeporday and qhc and hsn and benny hin who need $$ to help his poor old mommy) wwf special for $35more.

perhaps its time to put up the $150 antenna and get the 35 channels from cincinnati
and possibly 35 more each from dayton lexington louisville columbus and indy

to get the NYC channels that are on the sat or cable gotta get the antenna up about 15miles or perhaps spend a few weeks with a big bulldozer and get rid of the pesky applations but maybe cable is easier if ya gotta get nyc

a word on rabbit ears
the $5 ones are better than the $30 ones

the $ 5 ones have thos 6' telescoping rods

the $30 ones have a piece of coathanger and a $5 rf amp and a $2 ice cube power supply all inside a pair of spiffy plastic picnic plates. this is like buying A$25 microscope to pick out your face in that staduim crowd pic in the paper.

20 years ago they had satalite dishes about 8' because the best low noise electronics wouldnt work with less than 8'.
for hi quality home stuff they had 12' most tv stations used 60'
now they have a 2' dish because the best electronics wont work with less
than a 2'
and the tv stations get by with 12' now

but you could put the new lna on that old 8'dish and get 16 times the signal. i dont think the dirict tv guy could get 30 of those 8'dishes in his van.
but then the cable guys couldnt say they worked better in the bad weather.

bobman1235 · February 2008

You really enjoy typing, don't ya PeteTy?

Ricardo · February 2008

If your TV has a built in HD tuner, with the right antenna you can get all the local HD programming (Plus lots of non HD stuff) Go for it.

dkg999 · February 2008

Just go to your local Radio Shack, spend $19.95 on the adjustable rabbit ear antenna that is HD compatible (actually a coat hanger is HD compatible, but having that HD logo will make you feel better), hook it up, realize that there's nothing good on TV, do yoga to relax, turn TV on once a year to see if things have improved.

I could live happily with no broadcast or cable TV.

bikezappa · February 2008

MULE

Get rid of the TV put it out in the trash. It is nothing but electronic heroin.

Or as F Zappa said
I'm the slime

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined (designed) to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin' out
From your TV set

bobman1235 · February 2008

Irony : n. Using an internet message board to criticize the mindlessness of television.

dkg999 · February 2008

Did anyone else get dizzy trying to read and make sense of Petey's post

PeteTy · February 2008

well golly
im a piano and organ tuner i studied physics and electronics in college so maybe i assume too much

ill try to go easier

hd adds a decimal to the th channels available

the same radio band that used to carry the fm analogue signal can carry
10 am digital signals

so you old channel 9 tv is now 9.1 - 9.9 hdtv
feburary 2009 will be added 9.0 and the old 9 will go away

the 9 tv you have on the 1960 philco tube set is the same as 9.1 HD only with some programs you get mere pixels on 9.1
on 9.2 here is the 24hr weather radar
on 9.3 here inow in the infancy of hd most of your old local channels had 4 or so news times a day so these are relooped all day and nite

so the hdtv on rabbit ears will have somwhere around 3 stations on each local station.

the educational stations here have already changed to 4-5

if you go from rabbit ears to a good quality rotated roof antenna you should have a similar selection from all the nearby major cities that arent too far over the horizon
or in the shodow of your local transmitters.

the bunny ears will get 3-4x the local stations on hd that you get with your 1960 tv
if the older tv has that new uhf tuner.

as for getting dizzy... perhaps my personality is catching.

bobman1235 · February 2008

It's more your ee cummings style of writing than the information contained therein, PeteTy.

dkg999 · February 2008

Hmmm, the writing style is reminiscent of some of our more colorful new members of the recent past. It still makes me slightly dizzy trying to understand it, could just be me though.

bikezappa · February 2008

bobman1235 wrote: »

It's more your ee cummings style of writing than the information contained therein, PeteTy.

My favorite ee cumming poem.

"Hate Bounces"

jakelm · February 2008

i rather enjoyed it.
couldnt quite understand it,

but non the less, i am taking a liking to it

might try it for awhile

mule · February 2008

Ok, I will do it!!

Getting my bunny ears!!

I might even wrap em up in tin foil !!

Dam my dad would be proud of me!!

Maybe I will do like he used to and hook the osciliscope up to that jammy, start monkeying around the back of the tv while watching the picture in a mirror tring like hell to get that third channel to tune in

(I used to hate when he did that by the way)

Actually maybe I will get the girlfriend to buy them. I don't want the guys at circuit city to be laughing at me

jakelm · February 2008

I wonder what the price will be on Bunny ears, being we are getting so close to Easter.

George Grand · February 2008

dkg999 wrote: »

Did anyone else get dizzy trying to read and make sense of Petey's post

I got a bunch of nothing off the first part of the rant. Then we get to the "A WORD on rabbit ears" part. That turns into a few more paragraphs, only two of which aren't in code. Nice touch.

Bunny ears

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