FTA + OTA

[N3KTH]

Excuse my ignorance, I haven't done a lot with FTA in the past few years, and still plowing along with my old Mercury II and 31" dish. All still works well, but I'm ready for a HD upgrade.

That said, I've also been fooling around this winter with OTA, and appear to be in a decent area in the burbs getting around 21 OTA channels.

What I'd like to do is upgrade my system to HD with a new receiver that is idiot proof, and I can even put it on the main TV in the living room (translation: the wife can use it).. Is there a receiver that has both FTA and an ATSC tuners that I could not only use for both, but set up a "Favorites List" that is completely source transparent where I can mix and match the FTA and OTA stations. (If this is possible I plan on adding multiple LNB's and an additional dish and eliminate the dish rotors)... therefore the system would look similar to a cable setup...

As you might of guessed, my goal here is to eliminate cable from my home and the present problem is not the available content of FTA and OTA, but a wife who doesn't want to play with multiple devices. Thanks in advance for any answers, help, suggestions...

 

[phlatwound]

There may be a solution that's exactly like what you want but I am not aware of it, ATSC tuners in FTA receivers are not very common.

I would get a microHD receiver and create your FTA favorites list on it, put it on one HDMI input of your tv, and then just access your OTA channels from another tv input.

You might be able to get a programmable remote so you only had to deal with one remote.

 

[johann12]

I have a c-band and ku band FTA system and a OTA.
This could be a good setup for stationary dishes.
A c and/or ku using a multi switch which feeds different rooms is possible. A dual LNBf is required for each dish that will feed the multi switch, the multi switch will feed diferent rooms. You can watch independently what ever you want in the other rooms but a receiver is required for each room.

If you have a newer TV you should be able to select the input source like TV, Av or HDMI etc.

You hook the output of your receiver to your av/rca connection on your TV, or use the HDMI connection.
You hook the OTA antenna to your 'Antenna In' on your TV.
All you have to do is select the source(TV,av or HDMI) on the TV and you are able to watch FTA or OTA.

 

[N3KTH]

Yes, I have no problem with the switching between dishes, I can handle that. But what I really want is a receiver that will let me program a favorites list such as:

1. KDKA TV 2 OTA
2. WTAE TV 4 OTA
3. PRESS TV FTA
4. FIGHT BOX FTA
5. WPXI TV 11 OTA

and so on.............

 

[SatelliteAV]

There are only a few current model STB choices on the market that offer combined OTA and FTA, but they are very poorly implemented and not well reviewed. The units are either poor with OTA, poor with DVBS, poor with both and/or have no EPG. The samples that I have tested would never find a place in my home let alone be sold to a customer!

In my opinion, the best solution for combined OTA and DVBS is a HTPC. You might look into a mini computer with a wife friendly remote control. Connect an external IP Silicon Dust ATSC tuner and an external USB DVB S2 tuner such as the Prof 7500. Both of these sources could be managed under a single home theater software package and integrate EPG on ATSC and also many of the DVBS FTA services.

 

[N3KTH]

Thanks Satellite AV, that sounds like a wonderful solution, and is geeky enough for me to enjoy setting up!!! Any suggestions? I know some people have tried something similar with a Mac Mini or one of the new PC net-tops..

 

[Anole]

My hookup isn't as sophisticated as Brian recommended, but does use some of the same hardware.

The bedroom system is a Vista Home laptop with all the Windows Media Center components.
The remote has all the capability of a top line PVR.
It's hooked over the LAN to a remote dual-OTA-tuner Silicon Dust box.
Mostly, it records all my favorite OTA shows in HD onto a 500gb drive.

Another server sports 4+ terabytes of movies, sports, and TV series, from various sources.

Both these systems (and others) share their hard drives to the house LAN.
A simple media player box in the living room plays these files, as well as access the intrernet for Netflix, YouTube, etc.
To add more playback stations, I would add more (inexpensive) Western Digital media players.
But then, my philosophy is different.
I focus on pre recording and downloading desirable shows.

Alternatively , having the remote for an HTPC in your hands, is more friendly to channel surfing, and is what most users expect.
I'm sure you & your wife will be very happy with your system.

 

[SatelliteAV]

I have several custom full size PC builds that I use for HTPC. Not a good resource for mini or micro footprint hardware.

Just be sure that you have adequate processing power and memory to handle multiple HD stream handling. Remember that you may be recording several streams while watching another...

The remote will be the main interface for your wife and she wont even care if the receiver is a STB or PC if you provide the right interface. Consider one that offers micros for the inputs, outputs, resolution etc. If you aren't familiar with Logitech Harmony remotes check out: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/universal-remotes

 

[kittyhas1000legs]

I'm in the process of piecing together a similar pc (once i get a new motherboard). I have a Hauppauge Wintv 950q usb tv tuner which has served me well and works well with Windows Media Center, and I just bought their Nova-s2 PCI tuner which is supposed to get along with WMC (though they make a usb version as well). The sat channels show up in the channel list after the OTA channels. Like SatelliteAV said, make sure your pc can handle the tuners (both in terms of processsing power ans recording capacity.)