Aereo OTA HDTV antenna

Here's an image of the HDTV antenna used by the new OTA TV streaming service Aereo that's been in the news; accused of copyright infringement by many of the major broadcasters.

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I don't know much about antenna theory - it seems that to pick up OTA HDTV with an antenna that size they must have put their data center right on top of the transmitters. Perhaps that's what they've done!

Reply to
bitrex
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"bitrex"

** Pretty much.

The whole idea is a crude scam to get around copyright law.

This story has a nice pic of an antenna array.

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I suspect the antennas are spaced so they reinforce each other and/ or they all end up being combined at some point.

You think they process each antennas signal separately??

Scams are never gonna be fully explained by the scammers.

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

perhaps they upconvert the received signal and pipe it to their racks. and their racks use the small antenna to receive?

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

Actually, it obeys the law. I'd call it a clever hack.

Seems there was a decision that dealt with unshared resources, maybe it was the remote DVR aspect, and Aereo went that route. I wish I could find the legal writeup on it again.

The real question to me is how come the broadcast stations get paid by anyone helping them gain veiwers & save them money. Cable co's deliver them viewers without the station paying for transmitter power....

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Reply to
David Lesher

"Jasen Betts"

** Loop antennas are always much smaller than the wavelength they are tuned to.

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

"David Lesher"

** If you get around a law, then you do not contravene it.

Whether the law is being broken is not clear on the published info.

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I suspect the antennas are spaced so they reinforce each other and/ or they all end up being combined at some point. If so, the law is being broken.

You think they process each antennas signal separately ??

Not bloody likely.

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

The OP posted a March 2nd, 2012 story! In April the court decided in Aereo's favor. They're moving into many metro areas soon. Instead of facing new law suits in each new metro area, Aereo has asked for the court to block such actions, especially CBS. Various local cable companies have had contract disputes with CBS even blackouts claiming that CBS is asking them to pay too much. It seems to me like CBS is getting the cart before the horse in that most of their revenue comes from advertising and market penetration. I wonder if advertising dollars don't trump franchise fees they fight about.

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Aereo CEO Explains How Recent Court Win Further Validates Partnership Oppor tunities Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 Aereo has been making waves of late, winning an important court decision ye sterday in its massive legal battle with network broadcasters over the lega lity of Aereo?s live streaming/DVR system that brings HD video content to any of your devices for a pay-as-you-go option or monthly subscription cos t. Plus, rumors have been swirling lately that Aereo may be in talks with m ajor ISPs and TV providers like Dish, DirecTV, and AT&T. Many have said that Aereo?s legal issues with a large group of major netw ork broadcasters like Fox, NBC, etc. have become a liability working agains t Aereo in these acquisition/partnership talks. However, in an interview wi th TechCrunch, CEO and founder Chet Kanojia explained that this latest win is actually further validating Aereo?s stability as a disruptor in the in dustry. In fact, he believes that this latest move by the court will be ben eficial. Though he wouldn?t name any companies specifically, Kanojia did mention t hat Aereo is talking to ?a lot? of companies who are all ?very intere sted? in working with Aereo. In the end, ?it?ll all come back down to what brings the most benefit to the consumer,? said Kanojia. ?We?re not going to partner with someone for the sake of partnering with them.? And has this latest legal win swayed companies in the Aereo direction? Well , Kanojia didn?t confirm anything specifically but he did say that conver sations are happening constantly. In terms of the legal battle, Kanojia doesn?t seem the slightest bit worr ied. ?It?s a financial drain and an intellectual drain,? he admits, b ut it?s also the nature of the industry. Kanojia mentioned that, if you look at the history of the TV industry, any real change or innovation was predicated on the backs of dozens of case fil ings with the courts. It?s a stubborn industry, but those are often the m ost ripe for change. ?So the fact that you?re being attacked by big players in the industry is actually a good sign, right?? I asked Kanojia. And while he wouldn?t actually call his company?s legal stresses a positive thing, he definite ly believes that the court case (and especially the latest rulings) are ben eficial in validating Aereo?s place in the market.

Reply to
Greegor

It seems to me like they are rebroadcasting the TV channel content to paid subscribers without the original broadcasters permission. In the UK at least the copyright owners wouldn't have much difficulty closing them down - the TV licensing authority might be interested too.

It is possible these days - the front end and decode chipsets are incredibly cheap. I got a fully built USB tuner to subvert for SDR experiments from China for under $10 at a one off price.

What I can't understand is why would they bother doing it?

Do US TV companies not offer their own direct internet streaming services and/or HD video on demand like BBC iPlayer or ITV player?

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(that way they get the online advertising revenue)

One curiosity in the UK satellite feed is that whereas Russia, Japan and China world TV are all HD the US channels are barely PAL quality.

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Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

n" >> >>> ** Pretty much. >> >>> The whole idea is a crude scam to get arou nd copyright law. >> >> Actually, it obeys the law. > > > ** If you get aro und a law, then you do not contravene it. > > Whether the law is being brok en is not clear on the published info. It seems to me like they are rebroad casting the TV channel content to paid subscribers without the original bro adcasters permission. In the UK at least the copyright owners wouldn't have much difficulty closing them down - the TV licensing authority might be in terested too. > >

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> > I suspect the antennas are spaced s o they reinforce each other and/ or they > all end up being combined at som e point. If so, the law is being broken. > > You think they process each an tennas signal separately ?? It is possible these days - the front end and d ecode chipsets are incredibly cheap. I got a fully built USB tuner to subve rt for SDR experiments from China for under $10 at a one off price. What I can't understand is why would they bother doing it? > Not bloody likely. Do US TV companies not offer their own direct internet streaming services and /or HD video on demand like BBC iPlayer or ITV player?
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itvplayer/ (that way they get the online advertising revenue) One curiosity in the UK satellite feed is that whereas Russia, Japan and China world TV are all HD the US channels are barely PAL quality. -- Regards, Martin Brown

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Reply to
Greegor
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Reply to
David Lesher

Not so in the US. We don't have cat detector vans here

Yes/no/maybe/sorta. It varies wildly & widely. Some shows are rerun on Hulu, free. Others not. Sometimes there's a week's delay. CBS usually never allows such; they and catch up w/Person of Interest.

In any case, the local stations are not the network. In some cases, a local station is owned by a competing network. [I'm not making this up...]

It's the Whitworth threads in your Lucas refrigerator...

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Reply to
David Lesher

Modern multi-function USB tuner sticks are about 1 square inch inside. It's technically possible that a UHF loop antenna, tuner, codec, and network interface could be built into an array. Get a tall building next to the transmitter and you don't even need to guide the waves to the array.

It's not technically infringement but it's highly disruptive to big money deals between studios and telcos. Not everyone is against the disruption. Time Warner is so mad at CBS's fee increases that their spokesman said they might recommend Aereo. Time Warner will get their money providing the data connection.

Reply to
Kevin McMurtrie

No..left-handed Wentworth.

Reply to
Robert Baer

I have a guess(tm). You have have bandwidth, gain, or small size... pick any two. The common TV yagi antenna has lots of bandwidth, lots of gain, but is not very small. If you want to make a small TV antenna, you have to give up either gain or bandwidth. If you give up gain, it's not going to hear very well, so the remaining option is to reduce bandwidth. The only way to do that is by tuning the antenna to each TV channel frequency. With todays MEMS switchable capacitors, that's easy.

The antenna in the photo looks like tuned narrow band loop antenna, with the two "taps" acting as a balanced 75 ohms tap point and feed. However, I'm guessing as I can't be sure without looking at the rest of the front end circuitry.

Patent application:

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Drat, and i had thought that Lucas used Forsythe unified instead of Whitworth. Or was Forsythe just bolt heads and nut wrench sizes? My bad

?-)

Reply to
josephkk

The UK automotive industry, previously BSF/Whitworth, adopted Unified threads, both UNF and UNC, after WWII. This lasted until the adoption of ISO metric, sometime in the 1970s.

The classic BMC Mini Cooper S, for example, was all UNF/UNC.

UNF/UNC fasteners use fractional bolt head sizes (1/4" A/F, 1/2" A/F, 9/16" A/F, etc),unlike Whitworth/BSF, which used strange sizes, like 0.525" A/F,

0.601" A/F, 0.709" A/F.

Some stud rectifiers, thyristors, etc. used to be (maybe still are) available in both UNF and ISO metric, for the same device. I've had to re-drill and tap heatsinks 'cos of that. Caveat emptor.

There is an ISO metric fine thread specification, but try finding any. The ubiquitous "M" fasteners are all coarse.

Did Lucas ever make any refrigerators, or is it urban myth?

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Reply to
Fred Abse

Yeah, but they called them stoves.

-Tom

Reply to
Tom Hoehler

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