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HDTV antennas

Discussion in 'General' started by Past Glory, Jan 21, 2015.

  1. Past Glory

    Past Glory I still have several AVON calendars from the 90's

    January is the time when I have to do battle with AT&T on the rate boost to my U-Verse service. While I enjoy all the channels available, I'm tiring of "the game" and am ready to seriously consider cutting loose and getting a broadcast antenna. Have any of you gone this route? If so, do you have any recommendations on brand? Thanks.
     
  2. panthercity

    panthercity Thread Killa

  3. G Dawg

    G Dawg Broken Member

    :stupid:
    It really depends on your surroundings and where the transmitters are located.
    That's a really good guide though.
     
  4. dasrider

    dasrider 99 problems

    I picked up one of these from BHPhotovideo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1027613-REG/mohu_mh_110583_leaf_30_hd_antenna.html. I used it when Dish had their pissing contest with CBS and dropped their channels. First time I've used an antenna since the 90's. Digital HDTV reception is either on or off - nothing inbetween. I'm in Raleigh so a fairly metro area and I get all the local big networks plus their extra channels.

    Combined with this antenna, I think I'm about to drop satellite and stream everything else I need at this point.
     
  5. tzrider

    tzrider CZrider

    BTW, there's no such thing as an HDTV antenna.

    Just an Antenna is what you need.
     
  6. duggram

    duggram Sunrise Bahia de LA

    I use the Mohu Leaf in the home and toyhauler. Simple, easily portable and works good for me, but it's not perfect. I got it on Amazon when they were less than $30.
     
  7. tittys04

    tittys04 Well-Known Member

    Father in law and I both use this one. He put his in the attic and I have mine on an old satellite mount on my roof. I we both get tons of channels, every major network and each one has a few separate channels as well.
     
  8. Steeltoe

    Steeltoe What's my move?

    Bought a $10 antenna from Bestbuy based on ratings and I get all the channels in my broadcast area. :up:

    Nobody mentioned it but the picture quality from OTA HD is much better than cable. That in itself makes it worthwhile.
     
  9. 50Joe

    50Joe Registered User

    I've got an installation question. We will need an external antenna. I've used cable TV since we have lived here (4 years). The previous owner had DishTV and the dish is still mounted on the roof. I plan to use that mount for the antenna. My question is wiring. Can I simply hook the antenna up to the cable that supported the dish and then hook a cable directly from the TV to the wall cable outlet and I'm good to go?
     
  10. kruizen

    kruizen Well-Known Member

    Just did this a few weeks ago. Used the mohu external antenna, mounted on my chimney. It came with a db booster which I needed to use in order to get the signal to my other rooms.

    All of my stations are between 40-60 miles away. They say the antenna is omni directional but intact I had to adjust it using the compass off the antenna site listed above for the channels I wanted.

    Nice thing is that we get 2 different cities abc,cbs etc so if one of them is bad reception we just turn to the other cities airing.

    Combined that with Netflix, and Amazon prime . We can't be happier.
     
  11. If it's 75 ohm coax, then yes. You may need a signal amp, depending on how long the cable run is.
     
  12. Cable sucks. Anyone who still pays money for cable service is a dumbass :D
     
  13. Past Glory

    Past Glory I still have several AVON calendars from the 90's

    This is the situation I'm in. That's why I'd be more inclined to get an external antenna because I don't think any of the in house models I've seen would give me good reception. Thanks for the feedback.
     
  14. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    50Joe,
    You should be good to go connecting the antenna to the old Dish Network cable, then connecting the other end to a digital capable TV.

    If you need to extend the cables, be sure to use the proper F-connector barrels, and tape/waterproof and connections exposed to weather. Water getting into the foam part of the coax will kill the signal.
     
  15. R Acree

    R Acree Banned

    CNET linked some prices for the leaf products on Amazon today. I don't know if these are deals or not, but worth checking out.
     
  16. kz2zx

    kz2zx zx2gsxr2zx

    We've got a short loaded-whip (little five inch antenna) and a USB-stick tuner for my wife's laptop. She has that hooked to a 22" monitor.

    We are about 35 miles from downtown Dallas, and get about 40 channels (granted, some are pretty useless...) in crystal clarity. The antenna is on her desk, about 9' above the outside ground level.
     
  17. Fencer

    Fencer Well-Known Member

    I tried several indoor flat antenna. Icould not get reliable signal.

    For half the cost, I bought and outdoor version off ebay.

    i get about 25 channels, but about 10 of those are hispanic or religious
     
  18. gixxernaut

    gixxernaut Hold my beer & watch this

    About 3 years ago I ditched paying around $100/month to watch TV and set up to watch OTA broadcasts. Since I live in downtown Nashville and broadcast stations are all around me I opted for a Wineguard omnidirectional amplified antenna. Tried the cheaper options first and discovered the difference was worth paying for, as it was a one time expense anyway.

    I bought a cheap low-profile Windows PC running XP and installed MediaPortal software on it, bought a $14 USB Remote off eBay and bought 2 (although 1 is sufficient, I just hate running out of tuners when I want to record one thing and watch something else) Silicon Dust HD Homerun tuners (again off eBay). It took me about a week or so of hinking around with it all to get it all working right. But long story short I now have a perfectly functional DVR that records the OTA shows I want to watch and delivers them when I want to see them.

    No, I can't get ESPN or many of the other cable-only channels, but I get plenty of watchable content and always have more crap on the DVR than I can watch. If a really important game comes on ESPN and I just gotta see it I spend a couple hours down at one of the local sports bars and have a couple of beers. I can afford to with the ~$100 I'm saving each month.

    Oh, and we now pay about $9 a month for a Netflix account. The TV/DVR can watch Netflix content just fine in case we want to watch that. I could care less but my wife likes Orange is the New Black. And House of Cards.
     
  19. thrak410

    thrak410 My member is well known

    How much less could you care? :p
     
  20. kruizen

    kruizen Well-Known Member

    For the odd ball football games this year I found links in reddit and just streamed them.

    Also got the motogp subscription from Santa this year.
     

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