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[marsomega]

Anyone have any experience with them? Comcast isn't an option and so far I'm not really big on Direct TV. (My friend would always have problems with reception when I was over, annoyed the hell out of them.) Anyways, anyone have any stories to share or any other info on HD TV Antennas. They're bloody expensive too. (100+)


I'm not quite sure why I want HD services to begin with, I'm still don't even know what is offered in HD. But I have to say I'm itching to spend right now...(but not so much. tee hee.)

 

[golem]

i have both a huge gold antenna and a channelmaster stealth outside teh house.. they both work pretty good, since HD is digital if you get a decent signal it shoudl come in crystal clear. I also hear good things abou tthe Zenith Silver Sensor you can get cheaply from many places as an indoor antenna. I get pretty good signal on most channels from just some cheap rabbit ears, but really for stability in rough weather, etc, i prefer to use the outdoors

 

[borghe]

there is no such thing as an HD antenna. ATSC signals (most of which are HD) are carried over normal mostly UHF and some VHF channel spaces. A simple set of rabbit ears will get you all you need.

The best antenna is either a rooftop (if you can) or a Radio Shack Double Bow Tie. The thing is ugly as shit but not that big (a roughly 10"x8" grill) and pulls channels in like you wouldn't believe. The only downside is the antenna is a UHF only one, so if you have some difficult to get VHF HD channels (the actual HD channel is on VHF, not the channel number) it might not be good. In Milwaukee, only one digital channel is on VHF. All the rest are UHF.

 

[maynerd]

www.avsforum.com is your friend.

 

[Cooper]

I looked in your profile and saw you're in Miami. I entered the zip code 33142 into www.antennaweb.org. It looks like all your digital stations are UHF except for WPLG and WSVN. So you'll probably want a VHF/UHF antenna if you want all the channels.

Antennaweb reccomends a medium sized directional one for most of your stations. It suggests that I get the same type of antenna for lots of my digital stations here in LA, but I pull almost all of them in fine with a small powered indoor antenna.

 

[marsomega]

I looked in your profile and saw you're in Miami. I entered the zip code 33142 into www.antennaweb.org. It looks like all your digital stations are UHF except for WPLG and WSVN. So you'll probably want a VHF/UHF antenna if you want all the channels.

Antennaweb reccomends a medium sized directional one for most of your stations. It suggests that I get the same type of antenna for lots of my digital stations here in LA, but I pull almost all of them in fine with a small powered indoor antenna.

Cool, my zipcode is actually 33155. Question, are all antennas coaxial? All the antennas I've seen are coaxial. I can't use the basic cable because my HD LCD set has no coaxial. I thought I just go for an antenna/HD tuner or what not since I only watch TV to watch simpsons, family guy etc... Though it pretty much sucks I won't see cartoon network.

Comcast doesn't offer HD tv service and since I get basic service free, I'm not in the mood to suddenly pay about 50 USD to watch the same stuff (except this time on my set since the box has composite outputs.) Thing is Comcast doesn't offer HD services in my area so I'll just be paying to watch cable on my set except paying for it. I'm not feeling Direct tv at this point.

Argh, this sucks. Probably have to wait till ATI released an R520 AIW or when the X800 XT AIWs get cheaper to watch tv on my set. Oh well.

 

[borghe]

if you get the Radio Shack Double Bow Tie, believe it or not it is 300ohm. So you will need a 300->75ohm balun to connect it to an HD tuner. It is also helpful if signals are giving you problems to shorten the length of twin lead on the antenna before the balun is connected.

Don't know how tough your two VHF channels are to get or if they are important to you. I am around 7 miles from my only VHF DTV channel (full power) and my bow tie picked it up just fine. I could literally pick up the DTV signal with a coat hanger on that station.

 

[quin]

It must be nice to pick up stations so easily Here in Denver its an utter disgrace with whats going on with dtv...

 

[borghe]

It must be nice to pick up stations so easily Here in Denver its an utter disgrace with whats going on with dtv...

well, if it's any consolation, this is just the PBS station. every other station is on UHF and some of the main ones (Fox, CBS, WB, UPN) are running at partial power making it hard for many to pick up. even worse is that ABC (full power at half a million watts) neighbors the Fox channel (33 and 34) so channel 34's insane power level neighboring 33 causes bleed over to 33. this causes all receivers to cut gain on 33 making the low power signal of 33 virtually unreceivable by most in the area, not to mention their weird coverage pattern of their antenna.

from what I know about denver, you still have it worse. but it isn't always roses here in Milwaukee. It only is for me because I finally dropped $250 to have a rooftop antenna put up. though everyone should be at at least half power by the end of july. meaning in metro milwaukee you should be able to get most stations with just an indoor antenna.

 

[Cooper]

Question, are all antennas coaxial? All the antennas I've seen are coaxial. I can't use the basic cable because my HD LCD set has no coaxial.

All the antennas I've seen hook up via coax. What model TV do you have? From your initial question, I assumed it had an integrated tuner and you just needed the antenna. It now sounds like you have an HD ready TV. In that case, the coax from the antenna would connect to a seperate HD tuner, and the tuner would hook up to your TV with component or DVI/HDMI.

 

[marsomega]

All the antennas I've seen hook up via coax. What model TV do you have? From your initial question, I assumed it had an integrated tuner and you just needed the antenna. It now sounds like you have an HD ready TV. In that case, the coax from the antenna would connect to a seperate HD tuner, and the tuner would hook up to your TV with component or DVI/HDMI.

Figures...

Argh, I guess I'll most likely have to give in to Direct TV. The cost of the tuner plus hearing about 200 USd antennas being decent leaves me no choice. Crud. :-(

 

[marsomega]

OMG this is too funny. I was looking at my Set's manual since I found it odd that it had a tv selection that scans channels or what not etc. On the manual there was a diagram where the optional tuner would be. I thought, "what a weird place and orientation for a coaxial." So I look at that spot behind my Set and O.M.G. there it was. My set has a tuner, YAY! Now back to the antenna discussion.


What type of price range would you guys say is about right? Since to receive any type of HD I would need an antenna. (aka Free HD programming.)

 

[borghe]

well, even though your FOX and ABC stations are on VHF, I would still give the Radio Shack Double Bow tie a shot.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_003_001_001_000&product_id=15-624

$15 and if it really doesn't work that well for the VHF stations you can return it.

The good news is that it seems like all of your antennas are in the same antenna park. Likely broadcasting from a community digital tower. If the bow tie doesn't work for VHF but does for UHF, you can try around for other settop antennas. I dno't have much experience with them so I'll let other people chime in.

of course if you own the house or get permission from the landlord, you can just put up a rooftop or attic antenna. Shouldn't cost you more than $40 for one that can pull in all the channels. You are only 19mi away from them.

 

[Nerevar]

OMG this is too funny. I was looking at my Set's manual since I found it odd that it had a tv selection that scans channels or what not etc. On the manual there was a diagram where the optional tuner would be. I thought, "what a weird place and orientation for a coaxial." So I look at that spot behind my Set and O.M.G. there it was. My set has a tuner, YAY! Now back to the antenna discussion.


What type of price range would you guys say is about right? Since to receive any type of HD I would need an antenna. (aka Free HD programming.)

are you sure your set has an HD tuner, and not just a standard analog tuner? A lot of HD sets out there are like that? Perhaps you should tell people what model TV you have and they can tell you if you can receive HD channels OTA.

 

[marsomega]

are you sure your set has an HD tuner, and not just a standard analog tuner? A lot of HD sets out there are like that? Perhaps you should tell people what model TV you have and they can tell you if you can receive HD channels OTA.

Here is the link.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/products/prod-30dvi.shtml

By the way, i'm really surprised at how regular tv looks on my set. I was watching programs on the history channel. I was impressed with the quality of the picture. I thought regular tv looked like crap on LCD sets? Then again, I know my set automatically up converts non HD content to 480i or something. I'm not sure...But this is the first time I've seen this quality picture on any hi def set. My friends Plasma for example looks digusting when displaying regular tv.

 

[Cooper]

Here is the link.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/products/prod-30dvi.shtml

That page says you have an HD-ready TV, i.e., no built in HD tuner. So an antenna alone will only get you NTSC (analog) stations. You'll have to get an external tuner if you want HD. And as it says the DVI is non-HDCP compliant, you'll probably have to hook up the tuner with component cables.

By the way, i'm really surprised at how regular tv looks on my set. I was watching programs on the history channel. I was impressed with the quality of the picture. I thought regular tv looked like crap on LCD sets? Then again, I know my set automatically up converts non HD content to 480i or something. I'm not sure...But this is the first time I've seen this quality picture on any hi def set. My friends Plasma for example looks digusting when displaying regular tv.

Smaller TVs usually look better with lower quality content. Your friend's plasma is probably at least 40". The quality of each TV's internal scaler and the material's source is also important.

 

[marsomega]

That page says you have an HD-ready TV, i.e., no built in HD tuner. So an antenna alone will only get you NTSC (analog) stations. You'll have to get an external tuner if you want HD. And as it says the DVI is non-HDCP compliant, you'll probably have to hook up the tuner with component cables.

Forget that. This set doubles at my PC Display thus the DVI is already in use. (It rocks!) Not like it matters anyway, I've been doing a lot of reading. Apparently for cable and such, component generally does better. Least most of the stuff I've read has made some very compelling arguments stating with DVI/HDMI vs Component there is no winner, it just depends. Anyways here's a peek .

 

[DCX]

That page says you have an HD-ready TV, i.e., no built in HD tuner. So an antenna alone will only get you NTSC (analog) stations. You'll have to get an external tuner if you want HD. And as it says the DVI is non-HDCP compliant, you'll probably have to hook up the tuner with component cables.



Smaller TVs usually look better with lower quality content. Your friend's plasma is probably at least 40". The quality of each TV's internal scaler and the material's source is also important.

I have a question, my HDTV doesn't have a tunner but my HD Dish box is a tunner, now what if i plugged in an antenna into the DISH box, would that pull some channels for me? Would they show up in the channel list within the Dish box?

DCX

 

[Cooper]

I have a question, my HDTV doesn't have a tunner but my HD Dish box is a tunner, now what if i plugged in an antenna into the DISH box, would that pull some channels for me? Would they show up in the channel list within the Dish box?

Yup, if your HD Dish STB has an ATSC tuner (which I think all of them do), you should be good to go. I use DirecTV, and my HD STBs both integrate the digital over-the-air channels into the main on-screen guide. I don't see why Dish would be any different. Check antennaweb.org and see what you can expect to pull in.

 

[DCX]

Yup, if your HD Dish STB has an ATSC tuner (which I think all of them do), you should be good to go. I use DirecTV, and my HD STBs both integrate the digital over-the-air channels into the main on-screen guide. I don't see why Dish would be any different. Check antennaweb.org and see what you can expect to pull in.

yellow - uhf WFXV-DT 27 FOX UTICA NY TBD 347° 8.3 27
* violet - uhf WSYR-DT 9.1 ABC SYRACUSE NY 285° 32.9 17

Nothing Live so it seems I'm very discouraged.....not to mention i can't get the Voom HD package on DISH becuase i need another DISH to get the signals....this blows...2007 can't come soon enough..

DCX

 

[Cooper]

Nothing Live so it seems I'm very discouraged.....not to mention i can't get the Voom HD package on DISH becuase i need another DISH to get the signals....this blows...2007 can't come soon enough..

That's too bad. I looked on AVS Forum's local HD reception page, and there is a Waterville thread. Assuming this is the same Waterville, it looks like you might be able to pull in a couple more with a good rooftop antenna.

And unfortunately, Congress just voted to push the digital deadline to January 2009.

 

[DCX]

So i have no options for local HD channels in my area? That Waterville, isn't my Waterville ....man 2009? Good god.....

DCX

 

[TheDuce22]

My experiences with "HD Antennas" have not been good. Most of the time speaker wire actually picked up more channels than the antenna. I eventually ended up using this.

Its as good as it gets (at least from what I have tried) without getting a rooftop antenna.

 

[DCX]

My experiences with "HD Antennas" have not been good. Most of the time speaker wire actually picked up more channels than the antenna. I eventually ended up using this.

Its as good as it gets (at least from what I have tried) without getting a rooftop antenna.

How you figure speaker wire?? How would you lock on to a signal?

DCX

 

[TheDuce22]

Well I just stick a long string of speaker wire in the antenna hole in my hd reciever and lay it across the back of the TV. What do you mean by "lock on to a signal". The way you pick up HD channels is the same as regular ones.

 

[DCX]

Well I just stick a long string of speaker wire in the antenna hole in my hd reciever and lay it across the back of the TV. What do you mean by "lock on to a signal". The way you pick up HD channels is the same as regular ones.

my DISH box mentiones something about locking signals...forgive my noobish nature Living in CNY is getting me no where HDTV wise, i have to be content with what DISH offers...and right now it's a tease.

DCX

 

[TheDuce22]

The Dish recievers will scan for "on air" channels just like your tv does if its just hooked up to an antenna then integrate them into your tv guide. If you dont have an antenna (or speaker wire) plugged in seperatly it wont find any.

 

[DCX]

The Dish recievers will scan for "on air" channels just like your tv does if its just hooked up to an antenna then integrate them into your tv guide.

Tried it...and nothing Like i said i'm SOL...for now....

DCX

 

[brocke]

Wouldn't you need at least a component cable coming from the antenna to get HD if you connected it to a HDTV w/ built in tuner? I didn't think coax cable was capable of transferring an HD signal.

 

[TheDuce22]

Wouldn't you need at least a component cable coming from the antenna to get HD if you connected it to a HDTV w/ built in tuner? I didn't think coax cable was capable of transferring an HD signal.

The antenna picks up the signal and the tuner/reciever decodes it and sends it to the tv. You dont need any special antenna.