Re: [PLUG] Internet Provider Wars, part New

[zuzu <sean.zuzu@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Michael C Finn
<mikefinn@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "jeff" <jeffv@op.net>
> Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 3:23 PM
>
>
>> John Von Essen wrote:
>>> Just a side bar on the whole DTV thing. The people who did the TV Ads
>>> (FCC?) on it really left out alot of info that the public doesn't know.
>>
>> Yes, and it makes one wonder why.. perhaps some sort of agenda...?
>>
>> [follow the money - always]
>>
>>
>>> 10-3 NBC Sports). When I told a friend about this (who previously was
>>> against the whole DTV thing) he had no idea about these extra
>>> channels -
>>
>> I didn't know either.  Wasn't even going to order a box but just did.
>> I'm a sucker for Discovery/History/Animal Planet/Nat Geo though....
>
> I knew about the three WHYY digital channels although I can't get them due
> to their weak signal until June, but I didn't know about 10-3; it wasn't
> picked up on my TV Tuner that's in my HP Pavilion Elite D5000t.
>
> I'm going to have to add that manually now that I know about it. So, what
> other additional channels are there that my station scan skipped over?

IIRC, _by law_ OTA stations need to have at least 2 channels to
showcase the benefits of digital television over analog.  Most of them
have 3, including 1 for weather (WX), and 1 HDTV primary channel.
Offhand, I know NJN only has 2 because they dropped the Annenberg
Channel when that went offline (via satellite source) in October 2008.

> Where can I find a list of them?  The media guide software doesn't mention
> them just as they didn't mention 12-2 and 12-3; I added them manually so
> that they will be present when a signal is strong.
>
> With an amplified indoor antenna, I am getting good reception on the digital
> channels except for 6 which sometimes disappears and for 12-n's which are
> too weak to receive.
>
> A neighbor who bought a new HDTV is unable to pick up 6 also but I don't
> know if they use an outdoor or indoor antenna; my guess is that they use
> unamplified indoor antenna..

ABC 6.1 is currently on VHF rather than UHF, which is "weird" for an
HDTV channel, but more importantly the antenna used is probably
insensitive to VHF frequencies relative to UHF.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Stations.aspx

> My new computer has the 64 bit Vista Ultimate with the Windows Media Center
> and a built-in tuner.
>
> I am currently playing with MS's Virtual PC 2007 and have finally got
> Ubuntu, Damn Small Linux and FreeDOS running in Virtual PC's.  I am just at
> the beginner's level.
>
> I was going to take my old Win Me system, wipe it and install some Linux
> distribution, but then I discovered 64 bit Vista didn't support some of my
> old 16 bit gardening and astronomy software so I kept it up and running
> until I could find a solution.  I was playing with Embedded Damn Small Linux
> on the Win Me system.

For astronomy software, check out Stellarium.
http://www.stellarium.org/
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