Rockler

[-MIKE-]

I just threw up in my mouth.

[Swingman]

You do that a lot ... here's the punch line:

...

[Leon]

WE! WE!

[krw]

Have you checked out the new router table? It's a tad pricey but I probably have at least that in mine.

I just feel sorry for the Obama supporters. Fools.

[Leon]

I watched the wood whisperer give it a quicky review. I have not seen the price but changing the bit seems a bit involved if the fence has to be removed. I was not inspired. I'd like to see one up close though.

At least the ones with jobs. ;~O

[Mike]

O

If it helps, I have a keg of an Irish red ale that I brewed a couple weeks ago in the kegerator...and I'll be brewing more after I get home from vacation...come on over...the beer will be served in the correct glass AND at the correct temp!

Oh...southern Wisconsin, BTW

;)

the OTHER mike

[Mike]

I had the same trouble...so I glued a piece of router mat to one side of each pyramid...no more sliding around.

Oh...I don't use wax paper...very slippery...I use kraft paper. The router mat-stuff sticks just fine to that stuff.

YRMV

the OTHER mike

[-MIKE-]

Wisconsin has the best beer stores!

[Bill]

Bill wrote: I'm giving up cable-tv this week.

I installed the new Samsung USB LinkStick (wireless device) ($31) on my Samsung TV, and immediately found a CNBC App for real-time business news, a YouTube App, and even a ESPN App (I'm not sure how that one works yet), among others (like NetFlix and Hulu). By the way, Samsung's web site indicated my TV required their (old model) $99 model linkstick, but it didn't. I apologize for all of the parenthesis.

I think I'd encourage any friend to consider cutting the cable cord (especially if they could get decent over-the-air reception), as I would want them to encourage me to do so. It feels a little "liberating", but old habits aren't broken without a little resistance.

Evidently DVRs are only available by Tivo--and they think a lot of them, wanting $400-500 per each. That seems like alot for what is basically a "VCR"...

I've already learned plenty about antennas (at least 6-8 hours worth). Some of you folks surely know a great deal more than I do about them. Suffice to say that a lot of companies seem to be selling "$16 glue bottles" for indoor antennas! And "No", I've never tried a $16 glue bootle... ; ) Recall the $99 LinkStick--who can you trust??? Your fellow reviewers, that's who!!! : )

Cheers, Bill

[Puckdropper]

Bill wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You can build your own DVR for maybe half that if you've got a reasonably modern system. A decent tuner card with hardware encoder ($100), a big hard disk ($100), and DVR software (free) and you're good to go.

My antenna cost only time. We're only about 10 miles from the transmitters (at most), so a folded dipole made out of 300 ohm cable works quite well. I'd like to put up a better antenna for those times when reception is spotty, but considering there's only 2 channels I actually watch it's not a high priority.

Puckdropper

[Bill]

Hmmm.. Thank you very much for the suggestion! I've already got a cable tv card (circa 2000). It took me quite a while to find a driver for it for WindowsXP, so it would be fun to try to make it work again under Windows7. Oh, and satisfying! : ) And I've got a 1 TB external HDD I used for backup, so I'm almost there. Instead of moving things around I maybe should just spring for a second antenna (see my related-comments below).

After all my antenna research, which spanned multiple evenings, reading reviews, etc., I went to BestBuy and bought an RCA-111--basically "a set of rabbit ears with a loop", for $10.99. While it is not as pretty as most of the other choices, by being bigger it can draw those signals, like VHF, which are most easily obtained by a "directional" antenna.

After repositioning it to get the "pixel noise" out of a PBS station, by soft of pointing it towards a window, we received 28 stations, all with clear reception, including 1 Spanish station, 2 Christian stations, 3 PBS stations, and the major networks. After watching for 5 minutes, my wife and I both were like "Wow, why didn't we try this sooner?". [Afterthought: Hmmm... marketing? We were schnookered! ;) ]

And with YouTube as an App on my TV now, there is more woodworking there than before! I watched the end of the Michigan vs Notre Dame football game in over-the-air HD, and couldn't tell the difference! : )

Over the air reception is, of course, very much location dependant. Things are pretty flat here in central Indiana. Good luck to anyone else who wants to "cut the cable cord"!

Cheers, Bill

[Bill]

It occurs to me that even at best my tune would not save me any HD recordings. There seem to be a few choices out there. When in doubt, go with Hauppauge huh?

Cheers, Bill

And I've got a 1 TB external HDD I

[Puckdropper]

Bill wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Before buying a new card, I'd hit the compatibility pages for whatever software you plan to use. My tuner card is supported partially in MythTV, but not totally. The recording part works, but the infrared remote does not. (I also had to seek out and find drivers for it.)

The old tuner card was completely supported, and the installation just found the card and worked.

FWIW, I used Hauppauge's WinTV app with Windows XP for a year or so when I was getting in to this. It might be nice if you had one computer to use, but for a dedicated DVR there's better software out there. GB-PVR comes to mind on Windows and MythTV on Linux. (Last I knew, MythTV had a Windows frontend, but it didn't do recording. Once set up, however, you don't have to mess with the OS.)

Considering what your antenna cost, it's probably cheaper to get a second one. The splitter and cable will easily total $10.

Puckdropper

[Keith Nuttle]

We watched broadcast TV in Central Indiana from the "switch to digital" until last year, and always had plenty of stations and programs programs to select.

We now live about 20 miles east of Raleigh NC and find the the situation is the same, we have over a dozen over-the-air channel to pick from.

[Bill]

Does that imply you have a Hauppauge (PCI) tuner?

I will set it up. However, my wife has the most interest in programming shows, so a friendly interface is required!

It sounds like sort of an interesting project. Thus, far I have avoided any sort of file sharing over our (local) network, but there are some interesting possibilities here.

Thank you for your encouragement! : )

Cheers, Bill

[Swingman]

Heres my Hauppauge WinTV setup I use when holding open houses on Sunday's in new construction that has no internet or TV.

The little radio shack antenna is active and really works well, although I'm not all that far from most of local OTA broadcasts:

OTA HD viewed content on that little laptop, with none of the compression cable providers add, is much soooombetter than you get on cable.

[Puckdropper]

Bill wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I have two hauppauge tuners. The first one stopped working properly on one input and was replaced with another with more features. The first one is PCI, while the second is PCIe. They are not compatible!

You may find the biggest hassle in all this is getting program guide data for scheduling. Not all digital TV stations send out their guide data properly or very far in advance.

Puckdropper

[Larry Jaques]

Pretty cool.

Saaaay, isn't that a house plant on top of an electronic device? One which gets _watered_?

-- Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself. -- Thomas Jefferson

[Swingman]

What's it to you, Bubba? It's mine, it's _my_ lucky Chinese bamboo, I water it, no one else is allowed near it, that's where I want the sunnuvabitch, and that's where it farking stays.

IOW, mind your own damn business, C_less ... :D

[Bill]

From what I understand, getting UHF stations is not so hard as getting VHF ones. They correspond, I believe, to the part of the antenna with "circular metal ring". And people are packaging them up those antennas for big money! I would have payed $100 for an antenna, if that's what I needed. But for an unamplified indoor antenna, I think that the rabbit ears may be (bigger and) better--at least as far as receiving signals goes. I get more stations than antennaweb.org suggested that I was going to get. Of course, someone who is "serious" wants a "roof top" antenna.

That was a nice idea you had--putting TV in new houses that you show!

Bill

>>> The OTA HD viewed content on that little laptop, with none of the