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Originally Posted by olimazi
anyone know what type of converter is in the TivoHD's(series 3)?
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If you mean what kind of tuner is inside the TivoHD, then the answer is that it has a ATSC/NTSC/QAM capable tuner. That means it can pick up broadcast TV and unencrypted digital cable signals directly. If you get a CableCARD from your cable company, it's also possible to record the encrypted cable channels. You do not need any kind of external converter box for your Tivo to deal with OTA signals.
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ff I can get both PHI and NYC, I'm thinking 2 antenna pointed in 2 different directions w/ a JoinTenna(or something similar).
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Most of your signals are fairly strong, so this might be possible to some degree. The JoinTenna won't work because there are just too many channels alternating in between each other. However, a direct combination of antennas might partially work.
The main problem with combining antennas is that the performance of the antennas goes down. A high-gain antenna needs to be very directional, but by combining antennas you are making a less-directional antenna, and that means lowering the effective gain. Furthermore, having a less-directional antenna can increase your susceptibility to multipath interference (multiple signal reflections making their way into your antenna and down to your receiver).
What this probably means is that the channels lower down in your list (lower part of the "red zone" channels) might not come in so reliably. You are effectively trading off low-end sensitivity for an antenna configuration with broader coverage.
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Reason being is I've heard rotators can be a nightmare w/ Tivo.
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The issue has to do with unattended recording of shows. If you had a single antenna on a rotator, then the antenna might not be pointing at the station(s) that the Tivo is trying to record. If you leave the antenna pointed at Philly, the Tivo won't be able to record shows from NYC and vice-versa.
With a two-antenna setup pointing at both markets simultaneously, you can record shows from either market (or both simultaneously) without having to touch the antenna system. However, as stated above, the sensitivity and resistance to multipath interference might not be as good.
The alternative approach is to give up on one of the metros and just concentrate on one city (since about 80% of the programming is going to be identical anyways). You'll miss out on some of the localized programming that's out there, but you'll be no worse off than people who have no choice and are restricted to just one market due to their location.