New to H10 Receiver - question

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Jackm

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Mar 31, 2004
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I just had the H10 receiver installed last night - but watching an HD channel - how do you know you are actually receiving it in HD? I'm using the component hookup. Is there something you have to turn on - also - is there a way to tell if something is broadcast in 5.1 audio? And for over the air - I'm about 60 miles from all the Syracuse digital towers - any OTA antenna suggestions. I'm picking up one station with a 65% signal and the others are in the 30% range and don't lock in. Thanks for the help.
 
Can't speak for every situation, but, the tech that installed mine did not realize that it defaults to 480i/p. You have to go into the setup menu to change it to output in other formats, i.e- 1080i, 720p, and/or other combinations. Hope this helps.

My audio receiver indicates what it is outputting. It can be tricky in that one network affiliate may be broadcasting in DD 5.1, while another may be broadcasting the same program in DD 2.0 As for the DirecTV HD channels, It's not a given and you have to check the receiver to see what's being output.

Additionally, just because a station is broadcasting digitally does not mean that they are broadcasting in HD. One of the most disappointing things about HD is how little is actually offered. Even the HD channels like ESPN and ESPN2 only broadcast a few hours of HD daily, Same goes for the national networks.

Try a better antenna, it can't hurt and could only help. I've found Digital stations much easier to pick up and much more abundant than I'd expected. YMMV. (and I hate that overused acronym, but it applies in this post)
 
In the directv guide it will say HD if its broadcasted in HD. The amber lights on the front of your H10 will be on 720 or 1080 and the broadcast will be in widescreen.

Dont know how to tell if a program is in 5.1 except at the beginning of some programs it will say surround sound. Also, I didnt know this untill this summer. To get 5.1 surround sound, you need an optical cable out from the H10 to your stereo.
If Im wrong about that, someone let me know.
 
The audio output on my H10 was defaulted to PCM. I had to go through the settings menu to change it to Dolby Digital. :)
 
ZTaylor said:
In the directv guide it will say HD if its broadcasted in HD. The amber lights on the front of your H10 will be on 720 or 1080 and the broadcast will be in widescreen.

Dont know how to tell if a program is in 5.1 except at the beginning of some programs it will say surround sound. Also, I didnt know this untill this summer. To get 5.1 surround sound, you need an optical cable out from the H10 to your stereo.
If Im wrong about that, someone let me know.

You hit the nail on the head with all of those. In fact if you use the HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV, and you have the optical cable plugged into your receiver, you have to manually switch between the two, where the audio goes. It is frustrating that it cannot go through the HDMI, and the Optical cable.
 
mcbeevee said:
The audio output on my H10 was defaulted to PCM. I had to go through the settings menu to change it to Dolby Digital. :)

My audio says dolby digital on, and digital output pcm. Should I change the digital output, and if so how? I cant figure out how to change it, the only thing that I can change under the audio is language.
 
If I buy an H10, would I need to sub it as another receiver just to use it to get local HDs from an OTA antenna?
 
ZTaylor said:
My audio says dolby digital on, and digital output pcm. Should I change the digital output, and if so how? I cant figure out how to change it, the only thing that I can change under the audio is language.

Go to your remote and hit Menu, Settings, Set up, Scroll down to Audio, it will default to Audio (center of screen) use the up arrow around the Select button, go right, to Digital Audio, Select, Use Select button to open option, choose Dolby Digital ON, Move down to Digital Output, Select, toggle to Dolby Digital and hit Select

You can change other settings here as well, when done, selsct Done and watch TV


Jimbo
 
2devnull said:
If I buy an H10, would I need to sub it as another receiver just to use it to get local HDs from an OTA antenna?


I believe so, but I would call D* and tell them what you want to do first and see what they say.

Jimbo
 
Jackm said:
And for over the air - I'm about 60 miles from all the Syracuse digital towers - any OTA antenna suggestions. I'm picking up one station with a 65% signal and the others are in the 30% range and don't lock in. Thanks for the help.

I would suggest either Winegard 9022 or 9032 if all your stations are UHF. I'm at 60 miles from our towers and the 9022, mounted about 25ft up, does it for me. The 9022 has peak gain of 15.2 Db in UHF band, 9033 has 16.3 Db. I bought the 9022 locally for about 30 bucks, the 9033 was about 45 bucks. If some of your stations are low on power the extra 1 dB (25% more gain) might be helpful but for me the 9022 gets the job done. There are many good antennas out there but I always go with gain specs and for the money I don't think these two can be beaten. Oh yes, you definitely will want to buy an antenna amp with a preamp that mounts up on your mast. I use a radio shack model (~$60) that is not top notch in noise specs etc. but it's good enough and can be bought locally.
 
Although the 9032 is a top performing UHF antenna, I used this site to make my decision:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

and went with the AntennasDirect XG91. THe XG91 cost about $45 more but I didn't want to take any chances. I got the CM7777 pre-amp also. Will let you know how it goes. I only needed a MD, but went with a LD. My DTs are about 45 miles.

Some things you should consider is the terrain, the DT broadcast power (check FCC website) and whether they are all UHF, VHF or a mixture of both.


BTW - Since Solidsignal.com has free shipping on the Antennasdirect, the difference is only $25.00.
 
2devnull said:
Although the 9032 is a top performing UHF antenna, I used this site to make my decision:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

and went with the AntennasDirect XG91. THe XG91 cost about $45 more but I didn't want to take any chances. I got the CM7777 pre-amp also. Will let you know how it goes. I only needed a MD, but went with a LD. My DTs are about 45 miles.

Some things you should consider is the terrain, the DT broadcast power (check FCC website) and whether they are all UHF, VHF or a mixture of both.

What a great site. Looks like you picked a good antenna. It is interesting to me that the gain charts (at least for the 9032) at this website roughly match the advertised gain but has it peaking at a different channel. :confused:

BTW, what is MD and LD? DT I got. :D
 
MD = Medium Directional
LD = Large Directional

as defined by AntennaWeb.com
 
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