Trailer park geek

[kickaha]

A few weeks ago, jason0x21 and I made a couple of HD antennas out of tinfoil, pegboard, scrap 2x4, and coat hangers.

Yesterday my EyeTV Hybrid showed up.

Last night I set it up... and we get 30 channels, most in HD, with excellent quality. Which isn't bad, since we're 30 miles upriver from the broadcasting rig on the Empire State Building. And, it has full guide/DVR support with some kick-ass software. Which means... except for random live events on cable-only channels (ie, UNC basketball on ESPN), we really no longer have much of a reason for cable.

Awesome.

And since it's plugged into the Mac mini next to the TV, between Hulu, Fancast, iTunes Store, Netflix, etc, etc, etc, there's *REALLY* little reason to spend godawful cash on cable each month. Methinks I will be adjusting our service soon.

*happy dance*

I *may* play with making another antenna just for the hell of it, but damn if this isn't just funnier than hell to me. Coat hangers and tinfoil. Gotta love it.

Comments

[keridwen.livejournal.com]

I have one of those. I'm probably going to cancel my cable service this weekend, except for the high-speed internet. :)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the plan here. :)

FREEEEEEDOM!!!!!

[kimokeane.livejournal.com]

I have the 250 Plus, but have only begun to play with it.
I still need to figure out how to connect my Sony Bravia XBR-4 to my Mac - any thoughts? driving it like a regular computer screen gets me nowhere NEAR HDTV resolution - I just can't seem to get it to work properly...

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Does this article help? http://hdguru.com/?p=131

Appears that some modes remove 50% of the resolution... :P

[night-monkey.livejournal.com]

was the antenna from plans, or just thrown together? I got good results rigging an old rooftop antenna in the rafters of the garage with an all-in-wonder HD card on a PC. But this being Charleston, SC, I was only able to pick up a few, counted on one hand, channels.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

From plans... kind of... http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

My next attempt I think will be based off of: http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/index.htm

Similar, but more precise dimensions, and some ideas on how to make it more lightweight and portable.

[herithoth.livejournal.com]

This is what I want to do but our antenna didn't get good signal even though we're supposed to get 60 channels in Houston. All I really need is to get the PBS station and it was too static-y for me. Antenna tips?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can help you there, I literally just plugged it in, guesstimated 7deg off of true S based on the wall being lined up E/W, and tried it. Bingo dingo, moving pictures appeared on the magic box. The troubleshooting was nil.

Are your broadcasting towers clustered in one spot like ours are? If we were in the city, we'd have to use an omnidirectional antenna instead of this unidirectional design.