FW: [Tig] Cringely: accurate on digital vs. analog?

[TSassoon at aol.com]

Rob L Wrote:
well very interesting.  I wonder if the reception improvement has
anything to do with an increase in transmission power, or even a
different type of polarization, or is due only to the properties of the
signal (error correction?)



Dude, read that Cringely thing ;-) As long as you're on the right side of the 
digital cliff, you get perfect pictures. With 8-VSB transmission, there are 
only what - eight discreet levels to recognize from the signal, so the actual 
quality of the signal can be crap, and the picture perfectly recoverable. So 
greater coverage with the lower transmission power is also possible - that's why 
we scorned COFDM. The main downside of high frequency serial transmission is 
multipath because of the pulse shorter than a house, which can be 
significantly abated by using a directional antenna. I like the Zenith Silver Sensor log 
periodic. I don't know how Steve managed to spend $9.99 on a UHF hoop - mostly 
they're under $5.

In my office, I've got a Radio Shack powered UHF antenna pointed out a 
skylight at a higher east-facing wall at the multipath, because I'm on the west side 
of the 4th street hill separating me from a good view of Mt. Wilson, and it 
works fine, feeding into an Elgato 500 ATSC tuner attached to a Mac G5 with a 
250GB drive used as PVR, and an older Cinema Display. I'm just pissed that 
"Studio 60" is cancelled.



Tim Sassoon
SFD vfx & creative post
Santa Monica, CA






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