[Monty205]

You mention "USB ATSC" receiver. Is this a box in addition to a regular panel TV's ATSC tuner?

Many (most?) modern HDTVs have tuners built into them. You would just need an antenna to pick up the signal. Line of Sight helps, but isn't necessary. You wouldn't be able to record programs (unless that is built into your TV).

Type your address or postal code into TVFool.com and it will show you a plot which will show you where to point your antenna and what channel(s) you can get.

Digital broadcasts today are better than the analog broadcasts of old. But a "good" antenna still helps. Depending on your signal received and your location, you may get away with a cheap ($15) indoor antenna. I decided to build a very ugly, quad bay bowtie antenna out of spare parts (wood, hangers, nuts and bolts) I had lying around. It cost me $1 for the coax connection I needed to buy from the dollar store. The antenna is hidden in my attic pointing towards the broadcasting antennas.

If you want PVR functionality to record OTA programs, then you'll need a USB ATSC tuner (examples), computer (like an RPi2), and a hard drive. You'll want to research which ones work with the RPi2, if that is what you are getting. I got a cheap Hauppauge 950q for about $20. It works great. Be forewarned that setting this up can be a pain and requires either perseverance, technical ability, or both. The Wetek box mentioned above may be worth pursuing if it has an ATSC tuner built in.

If you want to pursue this further...rather than clogging up this RPi forum with PVR talk, your next search or post would be best in the PVR & Live TV section of the forum.

P.S. Aliant Internet customers used to be able to attach a coax cable from their router to their TV and be able to tune a bunch of TV channels. Give it a try.

Since I've never heard of anyone getting digital OTA locally, I was skeptical about the ability to get it and I didn't want to spend any money if it wasn't feasible or a good signal. I thought that if I simply stuck a wire in the TVs f-connector I would a least get a ghostly image or a change in the snow. I haven't tried it here, but at our last location on the 3 local digital stations (channels 8, 39 & 48) it made absolutely no difference - no image, no change in snow.

Tomorrow I'll phone the local stations technical dept and see what they have to say.

The biggest stumbling block may be the direction of the transmitter. The bank we face is West and so is the transmitter.

Yes, I know my granddaughter was able to get the locals on an unsubscribed Aliant coax, but I've got Eastlink.

[bry]

https://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=29 check here

[doug]

Any old antenna can be used for testing whether you can receive a signal. Even a pair of old rabbit ears. They wouldn't be ideal, but would be fine for a cheap test. Attach them to the coax input on your TV and start the auto-tuning process from your TV menu.

[Monty205]

Follow doug's advise and look up your address on TVFool.com. It will show you how far you are from the towers and what type of antenna you would need.

I've done that. The biggest stumbling block may be the direction of the transmitter. The transmitter tower for all 3 stations is West from our location and we are facing a bank that is between our location and the tower and we are below line-of-sight to the transmitter antennas. (I've read you need to have line-of-sight).

EDIT: All 3 stations use the same transmitter tower location, due West 6 miles away (green bands), all 3 above 50db.

Any old antenna can be used for testing whether you can receive a signal. Even a pair of old rabbit ears. They wouldn't be ideal, but would be fine for a cheap test. Attach them to the coax input on your TV and start the auto-tuning process from your TV menu.

I will give this a try.

[Monty205]

Attached the rabbit ears ran auto tune and got strange results.

Only one channel came up - digital 5.1. It's our local CTV channel CJCH but 5.1 is not even listed in TVFool which lists our 3 local channels as virtual 8.1, 39.1 and 48.1. I googled "CJCH 5.1" and it indicates: Digital: 48 (UHF) Virtual: 5.1 (PSIP). I googled PSIP but other than being a protocol it doesn't tell me much.

Here is our list taken from 'TV Stations in Nova Scotia'
Halifax 39 3.1 CBHT-DT CBC
Halifax 48 5.1 CJCH-DT CTV
Halifax 8 8.1 (HD); 8.2 (SD) CIHF-DT Global

This differs somewhat from TVFool in that the virtual channel for two are different. It's odd that if all 3 transmitter towers are in the same location as indicated by TVFool that I only get one channel. (I tried manually entering the other channels and got nothing.) Maybe this PSIP/virtual thing alters this.

ps - it seems to me that I tried this very thing many years ago and arrived at the same result - not knowing what to do next. (Receiving 3 channels would be great, but only one channel not so good.)

[doug]

You could be in a "dead zone" behind that bank. It must be an old school bank made out of concrete and rebar...

Did you try to adjust the antenna? Change the orientation of the ears. Put it higher. Put it outside. If all that fails, next step is to try a better antenna. After that, talk to your landlord about putting an antenna on the roof.

If all that fails, then try the Canada on Demand addon and the CBC addon. I don't use them, so can't comment on them.

[Monty205]

I moved things around and still just the one CTV channel, but WOW is it clear!

I googled to see what others may be doing with OTA in the Halifax area, but only a few posts came up on a plain Halifax social site. These were mostly university students, but they were having the same issues. It was a split between some getting all 3 and others just getting one.

Global's frequency is low while CBC and CTV are high and close to each other. Making it all the more strange that I don't get CBC too if all 3 are transmitting from the same tower.

With analog a weak signal gave a corresponding weak snowy picture. With digital is there a cut off where if the signal is not a certain minimum you won't get any trace at all?

In my scanning for info I read somewhere that in Canada only around 5% are using OTA.

EDIT - moved the antenna again, re-scanned - now have CBC and CTV!

[Monty205]

Now that I'm getting 2 channels maybe a real digital antenna might get all 3.

With this in mind I believe you mentioned earlier recording using Raspberry-Pi2. With an added hard drive and USB ATSC Tuner can RPI2 be pre-programmed to go into record mode when a specific program airs?

[doug]

Good job getting the 2nd channel. A better antenna may get that third one; however, I googled Halifax OTA and it appears Global just might be transmitting a weak signal.

Yes, you can easily turn the RPi2 into a PVR. The hard drive should have it's own power supply or be low powered if powered via USB. Your ATSC tuner could be a dual tuner or single tuner; but with only 2 channels to choose from you likely would only have one show watched or recorded anyway. When you get your Pi, install OpenELEC (it's Kodi on a lightweight linux OS) on it. You'll configure something called a tvheadend server on it. I can't remember if it's pre-installed on OE or not. It may just be an addon you can download from the OE repository. I can't help you with that as I am using MythTV. Search the tvheadend forum for install/configuration instructions.

Edit:
The picture quality is excellent compared to cable, isn't it!

Edit 2:
Others from your area using or trying to do OTA. It's a big thread so the first few years of posts are probably irrelevant now:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/129-ota-...s-ota.html

[clarkss12]

This is what I used to create my inexpensive PVR/DVR and it works very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfdKqnVXlYM

[Monty205]

Edit 2:
Others from your area using or trying to do OTA. It's a big thread so the first few years of posts are probably irrelevant now:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/129-ota-...s-ota.html

I'll take a look.

So far so good. You got a real deal getting the Hauppauge 950 for $20 as they are retailing in Canada for over $100. I've put a bid in for a used one on eBay.

Thanks for the info and help!

[Monty205]

This is what I used to create my inexpensive PVR/DVR and it works very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfdKqnVXlYM

Great little inexpensive system.

[doug]

Remember to purchase an mpeg-2 codec license from the raspberry pi foundation to get hardware accelerated playback of those recorded programs. Video will be choppy or won't work otherwise. It will run you about $5 with our currently ailing dollar.

[PatK]

I believe the CTV broadcaster is in the VHF band while the other two are in the UHF band (two different antenna) types. But yes line-of-sight to the transmitter antennas is best, but here in Toronto I face north blocked by a huge metal and concert building, (transmitters are south of me) and still get a bounced signal good enough. Regardless, the broadcasters want to cut OTA, There's a few add-ons that will really open Kodi if you have broadband. I have a buddy in Digby, that gets nothing, his connection is $ satellite, so you're looking good.

[Monty205]

Remember to purchase an mpeg-2 codec license from the raspberry pi foundation to get hardware accelerated playback of those recorded programs. Video will be choppy or won't work otherwise. It will run you about $5 with our currently ailing dollar.

From what I gather I should probably get a VPN address as well.

I believe the CTV broadcaster is in the VHF band while the other two are in the UHF band (two different antenna) types. But yes line-of-sight to the transmitter antennas is best, but here in Toronto I face north blocked by a huge metal and concert building, (transmitters are south of me) and still get a bounced signal good enough. Regardless, the broadcasters want to cut OTA, There's a few add-ons that will really open Kodi if you have broadband. I have a buddy in Digby, that gets nothing, his connection is $ satellite, so you're looking good.

I did find a small antenna that has high ratings, but like so many items is not sold by a web retailer in Canada, however, it did show up as a used item from a Canadian location. The price was good enough to entice me to order it and then maybe get Global too and have all 3 OTA channels.