Antennas
- Thread starter CPA
- Start date
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
- 100,433
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there is no such thing as a HD Antenna. It's just good old UHF (and sometimes VHF)
go here to get an idea where to aim your antenna
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
I am using an indoor antenna and I get 7 channel stable, but of course, the one that is 8km from me I can't get, but I can get signal from Buffalo and I am on the east end of Toronto!
go here to get an idea where to aim your antenna
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
I am using an indoor antenna and I get 7 channel stable, but of course, the one that is 8km from me I can't get, but I can get signal from Buffalo and I am on the east end of Toronto!
Its not surprising that you were confused. Much of America probably thinks they need cable or satellite to enjoy HD programming.
cmdrdredd
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2001
- 27,052
- 357
- 126
When in fact Over the Air signal is less compressed and usually comes in with more signal strength. I notice that HD Local programming from Cable is lower quality than OTA. And OTA is free which is a bonus.
I get 20 or so local HD channels in the Miami FL area using a long range antenna on the side of the house.
Funyuns101
Platinum Member
- Jun 15, 2002
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i've been toying around with free HD OTA for the past month.
i have a normal rabbit ear - and it works okay. i pick up a bunch of channels.
"borrowed" an antenna from bestbuy - amplified directional terk, which worked MUCH better than the rabbit ears. but it was pretty finicky at the same time - having to move it around to for different channels. link
but at $70... it was kinda costly.
not to try to hijack your thread, OP. but, i didn't want to start a whole new thread...
for the rest of you out there, are amplified multi-directional antennas much better than plain ol' rabbit ears?
personally, i'm in apartment building so indoors antennas are my only real choice.
i have a normal rabbit ear - and it works okay. i pick up a bunch of channels.
"borrowed" an antenna from bestbuy - amplified directional terk, which worked MUCH better than the rabbit ears. but it was pretty finicky at the same time - having to move it around to for different channels. link
but at $70... it was kinda costly.
not to try to hijack your thread, OP. but, i didn't want to start a whole new thread...
for the rest of you out there, are amplified multi-directional antennas much better than plain ol' rabbit ears?
personally, i'm in apartment building so indoors antennas are my only real choice.
cmdrdredd
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2001
- 27,052
- 357
- 126
Well, I don't know about that. I've had no experience. I have a 130mile range UHF antenna from radioshack. Pretty large aerial and it picks up tons of stuff. I've never had much luck with iindoor antennas myself, but I haven't used them all that much either. I would guess that an amplified antenna would be better than just the rabbit ears though.
While I applaud the whole digital OTA conversion that is taking place (I dropped cable to go strictly OTA a few months ago) for the much better picture and sound compared to analog, getting good digital reception can be a bear. With analog, if you have halfway decent reception you can get a watchable picture without too much effort. Digital reception is much more finicky, and I've found that with a large outdoor antenna (and indoor as well) that a tiny movement of either a few degrees in orientation to the transmitters or even a couple of inches of vertical placement can mean the difference between great reception on several channels and "searching for signal" errors and dropouts/pixellation.
cmdrdredd
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2001
- 27,052
- 357
- 126
Yeah. I got my antenna set so that the primary channels (fox, nbc, cbs, abc, and public broadcasting) come in at 97%+ signal strength. Other channels still come in, but you're right, if the wind hits it right you'll get pixelation or a garbles picture.
Generally I found that with most digital channels it's either on and looks great or it's off and you see nothing. There are very few in betweens for me in the area I'm at.
I probably live about 15 miles from the nearest transmission tower and my TV shows that signal strength never gets above 85% (with my indoor antenna). It seems the cut-off is somewhere in the high 70th percentile (~78 or 79) for watchable signal. As long as the signal is watchable, the picture is perfect.
Whether you get a picture or not probably depends more on the quality of the HD tuner assuming all other factors equal.
Whether you get a picture or not probably depends more on the quality of the HD tuner assuming all other factors equal.
Funyuns101
Platinum Member
- Jun 15, 2002
- 2,849
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Yeah I know. I was wondering if anyone had experience with this and other comparable ones. There's a Zenith and Philips that are pretty similar... Trying to get the best bang for the buck~
The Zenith/phillips design is better. The Zenith was discontinued and manufacturing was picked up by philips. Go with that one.
zinfamous
No Lifer
- Jul 12, 2006
- 111,864
- 31,359
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I got a $40 indoor RCA antenna from BB about a month ago--not sure of the amperage off the top of my head. I live in an apartment building in Chicago. Window is trapped in a thin alleyway next to the neighboring building. I'm north of Sears tower, with a west-facing window.
It works OK, but reception can be spotty. Like most have said, it works better for some channels than for others. CBS comes in decent, but will flake out at times. Fox is a PITA during football. the local PBS station comes in really well. All together, I think I get maybe 6 channels. I only use it on Sunday anyways.
I picked up the Samsung QAM tuner (TV doesn't have one) to try RCN's unencrypted channels. The menu was essentially useless, and the channels aren't as good as OTA-plus NO ESPN HD and muted HD Net/HD Net Movie channels is not worth the $170, so I returned it after a few days.
It works OK, but reception can be spotty. Like most have said, it works better for some channels than for others. CBS comes in decent, but will flake out at times. Fox is a PITA during football. the local PBS station comes in really well. All together, I think I get maybe 6 channels. I only use it on Sunday anyways.
I picked up the Samsung QAM tuner (TV doesn't have one) to try RCN's unencrypted channels. The menu was essentially useless, and the channels aren't as good as OTA-plus NO ESPN HD and muted HD Net/HD Net Movie channels is not worth the $170, so I returned it after a few days.
Search AVS forum and such. You will find people rave about the Zenith/philips and loathe the Terk....
It just works better.
Why buy an antenna, when you can make one yourself for practically nothing? I've done it, and it's about as good as the store bought ones.
I just used a 30-years-old antenna that the previous owner of the house put up and get all HD channels available in my area.
radioouman
Diamond Member
- Nov 4, 2002
- 8,632
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Can you combine an antenna and cable? I just bought an hdtv, atsc w/o QAM. Haven't tried an antenna yet. But with cable in I get nbc and pbs hd. Haven't gotten a chance to see an ABC/CBS HD broadcast. I may get them, well see tomorrow with football. But if not, I can make an antenna.
Well if anyone know if they pickup ABC/CBS HD with verizon cable let me know. (We have DVRs in other rooms, i'm not trying to get another with their fees)
Well if anyone know if they pickup ABC/CBS HD with verizon cable let me know. (We have DVRs in other rooms, i'm not trying to get another with their fees)
Best case is that your tv has dual inputs, one for cable and one for OTA. Because OTA and cable use many of the same frequencies, you cannot combine them with a diplexer like you can for OTA and satellite. If your tv only has one input, you could run two cable runs (one for OTA and one for cable) going into an A-->B switch that will let you switch inputs depending on what you want to watch.
Tegeril
Platinum Member
- Apr 2, 2003
- 2,906
- 5
- 81
I have a DB-2 mounted indoors and my towers of reception are polar opposites. And I'm on the 4th of 5 floors in the middle of a block of brick brownstones that are all 5 floors. Yet I am able to get PBS, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CW, and a couple randoms in the Boston area through all that brick and non-line of sight.
The DB-2 is a bit ugly, but it's a GREAT antenna.
$40 from PCAlchemy
http://www.pcalchemy.com/produ...na/cName/hdtv-antennas
The DB-2 is a bit ugly, but it's a GREAT antenna.
$40 from PCAlchemy
http://www.pcalchemy.com/produ...na/cName/hdtv-antennas
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