Complicated Construction Project
Inspired by the youtube video Build your own HDTV antenna with coathangers, Cow waded into the murky waters of do-it-yourselfville.And it works! 8 coathangers, some old left-over speaker wire, and a $3.00 part from the hardware store, Topiary is now receiving High Definition TV for FREE over the air.
No, you don't get all the fancy cable stations. But you also don't get the fancy cable bill, nor do you have to deal with their service going down all the time and being on hold for 3 hours trying to get an appointment.
posted by The Topiary Cow at
8:36 AM
7 Comments:
These new terms confuse me. Is HDTV the same as Digital TV?
HDTV is High Definition Digital Television.
The US is just now undergoing a change from Analog to Digital tv..which you've had to change from an analog antenna to a digital antenna.
To tell the truth, don't know much about the High Def part...don't know if that's because it's digital, or because of something else.
Whatever it is, it comes in great through this coat-hanger antenna, and when on the TV, the High Definition part makes the picture look a lot more real and detailed than before.
Pretty sure you need a "high def" tv in order to see the "high def" signal.
That's all as clear as mud---sorry about that, gorilla! Cow was just pleased she could make this coat-hanger-and board equipment for less than $5 bucks, as opposed to the $300 or more quoted for a "professional" antenna installation.
Moo!
All the "through the air" broadcast frequencies we used to receive tv signals on are being given over to those Homeland Security folk. So antenna television won't work anymore.
The signal is being digitized (you know, like when you watch last week's "House" episode on Hulu.com) and the converter box converts the new digital signals so that old tvs can "read" it.
As for high def -- that's a resolution issue -- like when you upload a photo to a web page you want it in a low resolution because most computer screens are happy to "read" an image at 72 dpi and that amount of digitized info will load on your computer quickly.
The high def tvs are constructed with many more... er.... pixel points to read a much higher resolution than tvs used previously. More info coming in, more info going up on the screen. Ergo, more detail, crisper picture.
(Am madly taking notes on diy digital antenna.... so, by "fancy" channels -- do you mean HBO and Showtime? Or even the stuff included on "Basic" cable, like our must-have Nick and Disney?)
I am incredibly impressed. 8 coathangers. Bits of wire and some loose change. Fantastic.
In fact, you deserve a star.
*(sorry, that is the biggest one I can give you).
So, when will you start making these to sell?
Who knew Daisy was such an expert? Wow! Her knowledge leaves Cow in the dust.
*Impressed Moo! out to Daisy!*
Daisy, alas, you don't get the cable channels, only the broadcast channels. But each broadcaster has 3 channels instead of one (like, NBC will have 3 channels now in your area) so they ARE putting some imaginative programming on there to use up the other two channels.
Linda, Cow thanks you for the star!
Doghouse: Interesting idea. Wonder if people would buy them? (Cow quickly secreting extra coathangers behind her Topiary)
Moo!
I'm guessing more people would buy them than you realize. Sell them for $15 or $20 and you'd still make a killing.
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