On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 1:49 AM, b_s-wilk <[email protected]> wrote:

> We did find out something to improve the over the air signal--a cheap $29
> DVD recorder with an amazing tuner from Big Lots. Better than the two
> converter boxes we tried, plus DVD! With a cheap home-made antenna,
> http://www.tvantennaplans.com/, pictures are good to very good, around 20
> stations, maybe more--and remember, we live even more "nowhere" than you do
> in NJ. Good luck with WYBE [ch.35?]. Somehow it only comes in when the
> Korean programs are on, then it disappears.

  It was a long and arduous search that I had to undertake in order to
find a digital TV that had a highly sensitive tuner.  I rely upon
over-the-air TV, and there is virtually no information whatsoever from
any TV maker regarding tuner specifications.  I really do not know how
a consumer can differentiate one tuner from another in a technical
sense since there does not appear to be any standards that are set for
TV tuners.  One can evaluate FM radio tuners by way of various
accepted measurements, but that is not the case with TV tuners.  The
only way I could find a TV that met my expectations out here in the
boonies was to read reviews.  Indeed, the TV I finally bought was the
one and only one in which any reviewer that I read even mentioned the
tuner section.  In two such reviews, the reviewers simply stated that
the tuner in that particular TV clearly outperformed all the others
they had tested.  Such a statement tells me that tuners in most TVs
are but a legally required afterthought these days, and tuner
performance is regarded by most makers as a superfluous bother given
the popularity and widespread use of cable and satellite reception
both of which bypass the built-in tuner.

  Steve


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