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<blockquote data-quote="GuruSR" data-source="post: 538829" data-attributes="member: 99685">I'm also OTA (have been for over 40 years).&nbsp; Some things to consider when you convert from analog to digital:<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Replace your distribution amp (the unit that supplies coax cable to various rooms), if you don't have one, consider getting rid of that splitter web and putting one in properly.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Adding in a digital pre-amp on the antenna mast to the distribution amp.&nbsp; You'll see those channels that are only there parts of the day go solid.&nbsp; (Thats my current problem, but the weather is too sour this year to do the addition.&nbsp; I do have the unit though.)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Make sure you're using either a really large antenna up high (have 12 footer well above the roof line) or one of the new digital ones with a good clear view of everything, some people like to mount them onto their chimney.&nbsp; If you have a converter box for digital, use it's signal meter to gauge where to aim it for the most of your channels.&nbsp; If you live in the GTA area, there's &quot;saveandreplay.com&quot;, you can actually visit them for more information, great people.&nbsp; They even have all the stuff you need for free OTA TV and Satelite.&nbsp; If you don't live near them, they will ship, great prices too, I shopped around first.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Lastly, don't cheap out, I spent a grand replacing my vcr's with dvrs (capable of doing OTA recording), amp, pre-amp, digital switcher (for the entire set of equipment).&nbsp; It may be a lot at first, but imagine what you paid on cable compared to it.&nbsp; My 1G took less than 10 months to pay for itself.</li>
</ol>Some things to know about OTA.&nbsp; OTA is mostly 100% (uncompressed) signal, whereas cable, satelite are mostly 75% or less.&nbsp; A 1 hour HD show on OTA is typically a 6+ GB .ts, recorded the new &quot;V&quot; series on ABC, each .ts was roughly 6GB (+/- very little).&nbsp; So if you're going to do a lot of recording with OTA, expect enormous files and possibly put a 1TB SATA300 AV drive in and dedicate it only for recordings.A shame the mpeg recording was removed, otherwise it'd be a lot less of a space hog, but mind you, OTA at 100% isn't going to get any smaller anyways, unless you want to lose quality.&nbsp; Which I guess you could, but it'd put you back to cable quality.Oh and free TV rocks. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big Grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />GuruSR.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GuruSR, post: 538829, member: 99685"] I'm also OTA (have been for over 40 years). Some things to consider when you convert from analog to digital: [LIST=1] [*]Replace your distribution amp (the unit that supplies coax cable to various rooms), if you don't have one, consider getting rid of that splitter web and putting one in properly. [*]Adding in a digital pre-amp on the antenna mast to the distribution amp. You'll see those channels that are only there parts of the day go solid. (Thats my current problem, but the weather is too sour this year to do the addition. I do have the unit though.) [*]Make sure you're using either a really large antenna up high (have 12 footer well above the roof line) or one of the new digital ones with a good clear view of everything, some people like to mount them onto their chimney. If you have a converter box for digital, use it's signal meter to gauge where to aim it for the most of your channels. If you live in the GTA area, there's "saveandreplay.com", you can actually visit them for more information, great people. They even have all the stuff you need for free OTA TV and Satelite. If you don't live near them, they will ship, great prices too, I shopped around first. [*]Lastly, don't cheap out, I spent a grand replacing my vcr's with dvrs (capable of doing OTA recording), amp, pre-amp, digital switcher (for the entire set of equipment). It may be a lot at first, but imagine what you paid on cable compared to it. My 1G took less than 10 months to pay for itself. [/LIST] Some things to know about OTA. OTA is mostly 100% (uncompressed) signal, whereas cable, satelite are mostly 75% or less. A 1 hour HD show on OTA is typically a 6+ GB .ts, recorded the new "V" series on ABC, each .ts was roughly 6GB (+/- very little). So if you're going to do a lot of recording with OTA, expect enormous files and possibly put a 1TB SATA300 AV drive in and dedicate it only for recordings. A shame the mpeg recording was removed, otherwise it'd be a lot less of a space hog, but mind you, OTA at 100% isn't going to get any smaller anyways, unless you want to lose quality. Which I guess you could, but it'd put you back to cable quality. Oh and free TV rocks. :D GuruSR. [/QUOTE]

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