Over The Air HDTV Range

[pahn]

I am about 50 miles north of NYC .... does anyone know how far out stations reach?

 

[QED]

Depends on what kind of antenna you have, their broadcast strength, and a bunch of other things.

Go to antennaweb.org, punch in your address, and it should tell you what stations you should be able to get with different antenna types.

 

[Gooberlx2]

http://www.antennaweb.org/

50 miles is probably a stretch. Maybe not though. I haven't really futzed with an antenna in a loooong time.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
http://www.antennaweb.org/

50 miles is probably a stretch. Maybe not though. I haven't really futzed with an antenna in a loooong time.

HDTV you want to be within 5 miles to get good reception, and obstacles can cause issue (if using an indoor antenna). Outdoor antennas may extend you range.

+

 

[Shawn]

I'm 30miles away and have a pretty hard time picking up HD channels. I had to put the antenna in the attic. Even then I still would get drop outs and such. I ended up just getting a HD Homerun QAM tuner for my PC and I use media center to record. Works out great. Of course you need to have at least basic cable to get QAM.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
http://www.antennaweb.org/

50 miles is probably a stretch. Maybe not though. I haven't really futzed with an antenna in a loooong time.

HDTV you want to be within 5 miles to get good reception, and obstacles can cause issue (if using an indoor antenna). Outdoor antennas may extend you range.

+

You don't have to be anywhere near 5 miles to get good reception. I live about 20 to 25 miles away from most of the broadcast towers and I get perfect HD reception on a couple of channels using my little Silver Sensor indoor antenna. I can pick up every channel with my outdorr antenna on the roof.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Shawn
I'm 30miles away and have a pretty hard time picking up HD channels. I had to put the antenna in the attic. Even then I still would get drop outs and such. I ended up just getting a HD Homerun QAM tuner for my PC and I use media center to record. Works out great. Of course you need to have at least basic cable to get QAM.

I'm looking at getting one of those Homerun tuners over the summer so I can record the QAM channels that are broadcast free on the cable here in my apartment. Will be nice for the primetime shows and whatnot if I have school work, instead of having to resort to downloading them. I'll have to upgrade the PVR box a bit though so I can output HDMI and display the video smoothly.

+

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: QED

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
http://www.antennaweb.org/

50 miles is probably a stretch. Maybe not though. I haven't really futzed with an antenna in a loooong time.

HDTV you want to be within 5 miles to get good reception, and obstacles can cause issue (if using an indoor antenna). Outdoor antennas may extend you range.

+

You don't have to be anywhere near 5 miles to get good reception. I live about 20 to 25 miles away from most of the broadcast towers and I get perfect HD reception on a couple of channels using my little Silver Sensor indoor antenna. I can pick up every channel with my outdorr antenna on the roof.

I never had that luck. But then again, this area here is crowded as all hell with tall buildings.
I'd say if you have clear skyline, then more distant towers will still come in clear. My experience though, is that the skyline around me utterly destroys signals.

+

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Shawn
I'm 30miles away and have a pretty hard time picking up HD channels. I had to put the antenna in the attic. Even then I still would get drop outs and such. I ended up just getting a HD Homerun QAM tuner for my PC and I use media center to record. Works out great. Of course you need to have at least basic cable to get QAM.

I'm looking at getting one of those Homerun tuners over the summer so I can record the QAM channels that are broadcast free on the cable here in my apartment. Will be nice for the primetime shows and whatnot if I have school work, instead of having to resort to downloading them. I'll have to upgrade the PVR box a bit though so I can output HDMI and display the video smoothly.

+

Make sure you have plenty of disk space too. One hour of HD content uses over 6GB. I just picked up a 1TB hard drive from Buy.com for $190 shipped.

 

[Mloot]

For flat terrain between you and the transmitters, 60-70 miles is usually the limit for reliable reception with a large outdoor antenna/pre-amp setup. Of course, every location is different, so that some people can get reception out to 80-90 miles (somewhat rare) and others have a hard time getting a reliable signal just a few miles from the transmitters.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: QED

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
http://www.antennaweb.org/

50 miles is probably a stretch. Maybe not though. I haven't really futzed with an antenna in a loooong time.

HDTV you want to be within 5 miles to get good reception, and obstacles can cause issue (if using an indoor antenna). Outdoor antennas may extend you range.

+

You don't have to be anywhere near 5 miles to get good reception. I live about 20 to 25 miles away from most of the broadcast towers and I get perfect HD reception on a couple of channels using my little Silver Sensor indoor antenna. I can pick up every channel with my outdorr antenna on the roof.

I never had that luck. But then again, this area here is crowded as all hell with tall buildings.
I'd say if you have clear skyline, then more distant towers will still come in clear. My experience though, is that the skyline around me utterly destroys signals.

+

Yeah... I guess I should've have added that I'm out here in flat Ohio, and nearly no tall buildings between my home and the towers. If I lived on the other side of a major city from the towers, or in a really hilly area I'd probably have a harder time getting reception.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Shawn
I'm 30miles away and have a pretty hard time picking up HD channels. I had to put the antenna in the attic. Even then I still would get drop outs and such. I ended up just getting a HD Homerun QAM tuner for my PC and I use media center to record. Works out great. Of course you need to have at least basic cable to get QAM.

I'm looking at getting one of those Homerun tuners over the summer so I can record the QAM channels that are broadcast free on the cable here in my apartment. Will be nice for the primetime shows and whatnot if I have school work, instead of having to resort to downloading them. I'll have to upgrade the PVR box a bit though so I can output HDMI and display the video smoothly.

+

Make sure you have plenty of disk space too. One hour of HD content uses over 6GB. I just picked up a 1TB hard drive from Buy.com for $190 shipped.

Yea, I got a 300GB in there right now (in addition to a 120 or 160GB), and will probably take out the smaller drive and put in one of those 640GB drives WD just released for about $130. By summer they should come down a little bit and probably some deals, I expect to get one for $100 by the end of summer, which is when I'll probably do the upgrades. 🙂
Going to probably cost me a total of $300 to get this thing ready for HD. 🙁 Not happy about that.

+

 

[woodie1]

I live 50-70 miles from any HDTV signals and with an attic antenna/pre-amp setup I do fairly well on most days. Sometimes the weather will screw things up on some of the weaker stations.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: woodie1
I live 50-70 miles from any HDTV signals and with an attic antenna/pre-amp setup I do fairly well on most days. Sometimes the weather will screw things up on some of the weaker stations.

which setup you running? I'm about 25-30 miles per that antenna web site from most of stations in atlanta, what would be a good antenna? I live in a somewhat wooded area.