Ghosts with DTV, is it my converter box, or is it Halloween?

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hippychick

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#1
#1
Hi dtv forum,
I connected my dtv box about a month ago and have had nothing but problems with reception since then. I've got a small rabbit ears antenna behind the TV connected to the converter box and I live about 30 miles out of San Jose, CA where a few broadcast towers are located (I think).

Occasionally I'll get a weak signal message or pixelated pixture, which isn't so bad to put up with, but lately, I've been getting what appears to be a ghost image of people or things as they are displayed on my tv. Almost like a double image of say, Jay Leno (Two of Jay is just too much :) ). So I think something is definitely not right. Anyone know where I can start with this? I'd hate to go out and buy a new antenna, and have it not work.

hc
 
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cowboyup4christ

cowboyup4christ

DTVUSA Member
#2
#2
hippychick said:
Hi dtv forum,
I connected my dtv box about a month ago and have had nothing but problems with reception since then. I've got a small rabbit ears antenna behind the TV connected to the converter box and I live about 30 miles out of San Jose, CA where a few broadcast towers are located (I think).

Occasionally I'll get a weak signal message or pixelated pixture, which isn't so bad to put up with, but lately, I've been getting what appears to be a ghost image of people or things as they are displayed on my tv. Almost like a double image of say, Jay Leno (Two of Jay is just too much :) ). So I think something is definitely not right. Anyone know where I can start with this? I'd hate to go out and buy a new antenna, and have it not work.

hc
Click to expand...
Some of the problem may be with your antenna most rabbit ears are not designed for digital the ghost is probably multipath which occurs when two signals from different sources are to strong. you can try two things a better antenna one that will pick up uhf and vhf signals and a inline attenuator to cut the strength of the signals that may cause the ghosting. these are about 4.00 at radio shack. there are some good indoor antennas for around 30 bucks at walmart or radio shack this might help solve your whole problem.:)
 
Sparks

Sparks

DTVUSA Member
#3
#3
Hi,

It has been awhile since I lived you your area. When I was there I did not watch TV since California was just plain to much fun to sit around.

cowboyup4christ is correct in what he pointed out to you. I would think that you would also want to get TV stations out the San Francisco area and Salinas/Monterrey area from the South. It is approximately 50 miles to either of the two areas. That would give you about 25 TV stations and some would have multiple digital sub channels. Some are probably a foreign language that you do not care to get.

With an outdoor antenna, signal amplifier and a rotor you should be able to point to a particular station and eliminate the ghosts or double signal problem by having an antenna that is very directional and pulls in a strong enough signal to help eliminate your problem. I assume that you are in a place where you can clear the Santa Cruz Mountains in either direction. You mentioned the three towers near you. The tallest one is probably for TV because it is so tall. The chart only shows one TV station available in San Jose and that tower is probably it.

If you was getting all of the channels that your cared about getting with your rabbit ears antenna. Then an up to date indoor antenna may solve your problem. If you cannot get the more distant stations to the North and south with rabbit ears I would recommend the outdoor antenna. And considering the distance you will probably want a signal amplifier. You might go to a local TV store and ask the particulars of getting an antenna that would get all of the available channels. They may try to sell you satellite TV or some other service. If they want to they can tell you about what works in your area. If you want to put up the antenna yourself then you know what to expect and what to look for. You may just hire them to put it up for you. Or you may not care that much about TV. I didn't when I lived there.

Once you determine what you want to do. I would be happy to point you in the direction of a source for the equipment that you want. If you decide that you want to get the equipment.

With the variety of channels that you have available. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to pay for satellite or cable TV in your area.

You did not mention the brand and model of converter box that you are using. Some brands pull in the signal much better than does some other brands.

If all else fails the engineers with the TV stations that you want to get have maps of where there signals are available and how strong that signal is. You could check a particular stations web site and they may have this coverage map available at their web site. If they do not you can email that stations engineering department and ask them for a coverage map. With this information there is no guess work. You would know if an antenna would work or not before you buy it.
 
H

hippychick

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#4
#4
Thank you so much for the responses gentlemen, on the way home from work, I'm going to swing by Radio Shack and pick up a powered antenna. Our TV is a 2000 Model Pioneer Elite RPTV, it's huge, don't know what size exactly. Converter box is an Memorex MVCB1000 which has been mostly great, except for the ghosting problem. Which might be linked to the current antenna we have now. I spoke with a neighbor of ours last night, and they said that they're going to install a HDTV antenna in their attic to get good reception. For us, my husband and I prefer to watch local channels and especially PBS on regular TV, and switch back over to Direct TV for the rest of our shows. For some reason, the picture seems much more clear (when we receive good signals) for regular tv than Direct TV.

On the advice of possibly contacting the TV stations, I've seen advertisements lately from our local NBC and ABC channels with phone numbers for contacting them and getting information about bad spots for receiving DTV, I may just do that if the new antenna doesn't work tonight.

I'll try to get back on the forum this weekend to give an update. Thanks so much again!
 
H

hippychick

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#5
#5
OK, you guys are good. :):)

On Friday, I purchased the Philips Silver Sensor PHDTV3 for $29.99, and connected it to our converter box, and have had perfect reception all weekend long. My only complaint is the pricing, with the total cost to convert one single TV in our house at $54.99. This includes $25.00 for the cost of the converter box and $29.99 for the antenna. There should be a dtv antenna coupon!

Good luck to all and thanks again!
 
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