Smart Antenna technology and DTV

[drsiddall]

I found what appears to be a pretty comprehensive list of DTV converter boxes and their features at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

I don't know how accurate it is, but it shows 15 or so of the NTIA-approved boxes having the smart antenna technology and output (which is a RG-45), presumably conforming to CEA-909 specifications.

The DTA-5000 seems to be the only antenna currently (or at least until recently) available that uses this. As far as I can tell, the Channel Master is an omnidirectional antenna, not an electronically steerable "smart" antenna. I did not check on its current availability, but the DTA5000 is manufactured by Funai and has been sold in the U.S. under that brand, and also by Sylvania -- they kept the DTA5000 nomenclature, which is helpful.

I have had a DTA5000 sitting here and plan to try it out later this summer when I get a DTV converter box that will run it. In answer to Richard's question, I do not know of any TVs that integrate this feature, unbelievable as that seems. I can tell you that an earlier version of the DTA5000 was equivalent to one of the smaller yagis in the desired direction, and of course the electronic steering was pretty neat. Clearly there was a lot of work on this technology and adoption of the CEA-909 standard. A pretty high number of converter boxes included it, although I have never heard of some of the brands. But where are the antennas that go with it? It appears that engineers at Nxtwave (now ATI) and Funai understood U.S. TV stations' non-centralized geographic distribution and designed an excellent solution for the problem in the DTV environment, but it hasn't attained traction.

BTW, the principle is the same used by the new WiFi 802.11n devices. In that industry the increased range and higher throughput obtained with the stronger signal that results from electronic steering is taking over the industry.

David Siddall

[bill4118]

I believe that the RCA ANT2000 also uses the CEA-909A interface.

As more high-rise apartments are being built around me, I

[eliwhitney]

Hi -

Agree w/ Shane - they DO need input from your set top box or they can not "function" --- does yours have this ?

eli

[pzieger]

It is a special antenna the hooks up to a jack that looks somewhat like a phone jack but has an additional cutout.
One of my Digital TV Converter (Coupon box) is an RCA DTA800B1 and it has the jack. Note the DTA.
See this link for further info:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... u=10096792
Pete

[docsief]

My wife refused to let me install a roof or an attic antenna (something about being an old coot). So, I initially tried our old Jasco Optima, non-amplified antenna and found we got fair reception on main floor, and good reception upstairs and was able, if very careful in my aim, to get Channel 41 which is 46miles away. Next, I tried 10 other antennae! I found the Radio Shack 15-1892 was best, but my wife hated having a "Starship with rabbit ears" staring at her, and that we had 2 different settings for Channel 41 [which we now got on the main floor] and the rest (Ch 2,4,5,9,11,17,23,29 only 16.5miles away).

Finally, I was able to get an RCA ANT2000 from Walmart.com for $64 (less than the $104 Best Buy wanted), and life is great.
Picture is rock stable no pixelation, tolerates you walking around the room (unlike the Jasco) and did not need changing between stations as the RCA DTA800B automatically grabbed the best settings. Later found at Buy.com the ANT2000 for $44 and hooked it up to an RCA DTA809 and got even better reception upstairs than the 'Starship' got as again no need to change the directionality.

Now I just can't wait till RCA comes out with a Plasma or LCD HDTV with the Smart Antenna controller so I can find a reason to buy a new TV, and move our main floor TV to the Basement!

I HIGHLY recommend the RCA ANT2000 Smart Antenna if you live within 20-25 miles of your transmission towers, and especially if you live between transmission towers but you MUST have a DTV Converter box that is Smart Antenna capable and hopefully the TV will be near to follow!

[inetdog]

I looked at the actual manual and specifications for this unit online, and it is ONLY an amplified omni-directional antenna, not a Smart Antenna, and not optimal for situations in which weak signals or signals susceptible to mulitpath interference come from transmitters in different directions from the receiver site.

It may be sufficient for suburban locations, and it will work with more than one TV set, tuned to different channels, without favoring one set over another.

A true smart antenna will be optimized for the particular channel that the ATSC tuner or DTV convertor box is set to at the moment.

When using a Smart Antenna (SA), you will have to tell the Convertor or tuner to scan for channels using the full SA capabilities. Since this scan has to try all of the antenna options when checking each channel, the full scan may take as long as 20 or 30 minutes. Once the scan is done, you should not make any major changes to the location of the antenna itself. The tuner will still use the signal strength and quaility measures to continually optimize the signal when tuned to particular channel, but it may not notice that a particular channel is receivable at all if the antenna is not in its intended location when the channel scan is done.

Whether you can manually add a "new" channel later when using the SA will depend on the design of the tuner or convertor box.

When an antenna is used indoors for a marginal signal, I have seen major problems from people, dogs, cats, etc. moving around near the antenna, and using an SA should eliminate or at least reduce this problem.

[ttus]

"Smart", Another "Smoke and Mirror" idea.

Yes, Agreed, you can get greater gain ant's, but the other "smart".

[Roger Halstead]

First, remember an antenna is an antenna is an antenna...etc... Some are built better than others and that is about it. However, when you see an add for a small, "smart antenna" that is billed at being as good as a hand optimized/pointed Yagi, my BS meter goes into overload. These antennas used in areas where good signals are available from multiple directions should work well at avoiding multipathing. Contrary to hype, they *are not* going to give the gain or performance of a good yagi, or replace multiple yagi antennas for long distance, weak signal work.

The idea behind smart antennas is sound, and properly applied works very well. My preference would be a receiver that uses this technique between a couple of antennas pointed different directions. IOW the receiver is connected to a couple of antennas through different inputs and selects the best signal between the two for reception on any particular station.

Do not run multiple antennas into a combiner. That *usually* results in the worst results rather than the best as it is generating multi-path problems when they otherwise do not exist.

[firesignth]

Just a quick heads up. This antenna is available for very little at Costco ($24.99) and though it does have a CEA-909 connection, you can't adjust the antenna at all via your Smart Antenna compatible system (in this case, a Tivax STB-T8 ).

So for all practical uses, this is not a "smart antenna" even though it does have the interface. One more gotcha in the immature market.

[mattsaysso]

I've been following this industry segment since the announcement of HDTV and I'm still amazed at the lack of Smart Antennas on the market. You would have thought that the market place would be flooded with them.