[mythtv-users] Possibly a "dumb" question

[James Oltman]

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Jim Morton <Jim at morton.hrcoxmail.com>wrote:

>
> Take OTA for example. The best picture I have ever seen on any TV was from
> an antenna connected directly into a coax input of an HD TV. Stunning,
> crystal clear with a visible depth to the picture.
>
> I guess it is not possible to capture _exactly_ what an antenna delivers
> (ATSC - RF?) and then send it back out on the coax at a later date... I
> suppose what I am glossing over is the role that the tuner plays to pick out
> just one channel and I suppose that also alters the signal such that it
> can't just be "put back on the wire" later.
>
> It just seems such a waste to not be able to use the tuner built into the
> TV.
>
> Thanks for all the replies. I think I get it now.
>
> --
> _________________________________________________________
>
> Jim Morton
>
>
Jim,

I think you are confusing what the tuner can "magically" do versus the
signal quality.  By design, ATSC signals over the air are going to be a
better picture than over your cable system.  It really has nothing to do
with the tuner.  Cable companies HIGHLY compress their stream because they
don't have the bandwidth available on the wire.  ATSC OTA signals are mostly
at a bitrate of 19Mb/s (which is the highest that ATSC can do IIRC).  That's
why you get a better picture with less pixelation.

Jim Oltman
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20100205/4ecb2fa8/attachment.htm>