HD TV antenna

[mpento]

So I have my PC hooked up to the HDTV and I’m giving netflix a trial run at the moment. I was wondering if people out there were messing around much with a TV antenna? I just started doing a bit of homework and my main concern was it looked like stations that I might be able to recieve were maybe optimal in different directions? Any bugs/issues using an antenna? Thanks

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[Sue]

We have an HD antenna and the limited basic cable. I don’t pretend to know all the technical stuff about the antenna (that’s my husband’s baby), but I do know that he had a choice of hooking the DVR up to the antenna feed or the cable feed. He chose the antenna. However, if the antenna signal is a little off (not unwatchable, but just not perfect), sometimes the DVR (on timer) won’t record the channel because it thinks there’s no signal. It’s happened a few times, so my husband is going to flip the antenna back to the cable feed.

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[cjboffoli]

Before I moved to West Seattle I lived in a loft downtown in a neighborhood that had no cable service (which apparently was the result of a stand-off between Paul Allen and the City over which cable company would serve the area). So my neighbors and I tried a number of different HDTV antennas.

Some of them were the powered (TERK) variety. None were worth the price ($50 or more for about $2 worth of stamped metal and plastic). We did find them to be highly directional and quirky. And because the HDTV signals were digital the results were often binary: signal or no signal. Much less forgiving than the old analog signals where you’d get some picture.

The neighbors who had windows with line-of-sight to antennas on Queen Anne hill tended to have better results. But for the most part the antennas were a disappointment. Few lived up to their promises.

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[lizru]

a couple notes, not the whole picture you might be looking for:

– getting your TV signal over the air (antenna) is the most uncompressed version of the signal you can get, so this is your best quality signal.

– The local antennas for Seattle are on top of Queen Anne (KING, KIRO & KOMO) and Capitol Hill (KCTS, KCPQ I think?) So a great deal will depend on your “line of sight” to those two locations. WS is full of hills and valleys – in general, if you’re on the east side of WS, you’ll have an easier time of it than if you’re on the west.

I get terrific reception in the Admiral District with just a settop antenna, but others will need a roof top antenna.

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[lazybeard]

Consult antennaweb.org, it will show you where the local OTA HD antennas are and give you an idea where you need to point, to get what channels.

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[Homer]

There’s technically no difference in an HD antenna and regular rabbit ears. They both will get all of the over-the-air HD stations and if your TV can take HD (HD tuner), then they will be in HD.

Since the beginning of this whole crapfest I call the HD conversion, I’ve been using my old rabbit ears, hooked up to that $50 box. I do have a set of rabbit ears that are powered, meaning they are amplified by plugging them into an outlet. Still not and HD antenna.

Again, all you need are rabbit ears, albeit they might not be the best design for signal grabbing, don’t fall into the marketing of “needing and HD antenna”, that’s a load of hooey.

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