Also, isn’t it true that a few years ago, TV broadcast changed from analog to digital? I heard that you need a converter box to watch over the air broadcasts.
Moot point for me as I have satellite TV and nothing changed for me. But I recall this subject being in the news a few years back.
I had two of the boxes to convert the digital to my old TVs.
TV sets have become so cheap that I now watch digital on HD TVs. I bought one for well under a hundred dollars and that was all I could afford.
Finally my Daughter bought me a 43 inch HD with 1080 resolution. Now they are going to even higher resolution.
Yes they did. But all newer TV’s are digital now. The problem is if there is anything in the way of “Line of sight” like a mountain or if you are more than 30 miles away you are not going to get it. No matter what kind of antenna you have.
Unless you still have a “picture tube” TV from before 2002 or so your TV will have a digital tuner (ATSC). And BTW there is no such thing as a “digital antenna”...your old outside Winegard or Rat Shack or Channel Master will work fine for digital “off-air” TV.
http://www.channelmaster.com
http://antennatv.tv
http://www.tvfool.com
Depends on how old your TV is. If it is more than 7 years old, you may well need a converter. They should run $50 - 70 new; or find someone who got one but now uses a digital flat screen and they’ll probably let you have one for free.
Depending on how far you are from the towers, you may need either an antenna with a built in booster (starting about $25 and going up from there) or a stronger in-line booster.
We get digital channels with our antenna.
That is true. A TV purchased before ?? (c’mon guys help here) would need a converter box. You have three Tee Vees in your home = three convertor boxes required. At the time the govnmnt was giving away via some shady dealings I’m certain. TeeVees purchased after such and such date were programmed digital and ready to receive after installing a proper antenna. A digital antenna need not be purchased. You can make your own, easily. YouTube has a number of sights which show you how. We did and it has accomplished a job well done. DFW and Oklahoma stations OTA (over the air)
The best antenna was the large dish LNB which had a short life span before the networks begin to scramble. It was always a hoot and a holler to watch the peacocks on nightly news feeds. The ‘reporters’ would be primping and fluffing their hair during the ad breaks. Those programs were watched just for the belly laughs they supplied. Once seen, you might not ever listen to a ‘reporter’ again. PERIOD. Once networks scrambled, the dish itself was useless, unless the kids had snow and used it for sledding. Or one needed a large bird bath, shallow pool.
Another industry government shut down and abandoned. Another item purchased that is no longer relevant - no more than the lps played on stereos (which are no longer made) or 8 track tapes played on eight track players (which are no longer made) or cassettes played on cassette players (which are no longer made) or reel to real tapes played on reel to reel players (which are no longer made) Now it’s CDs
And shall we speak of Beta (IIRC it was beta) who had the first recording tv devices before VHS became available then it became visual CD players. (not the audio CD recorder/players, BTW
Of course, there will be some of one item above which might be found, but the industry itself is no longer bustling.
At the present the focus is on computers and what is being phased in and then abandoned. Technology is wonderful. It is expensive, it changes far too rapidly, where are all the out-dated, still working gidgets and gadgets being used? Filling a self-storage locker?
The place I was staying this winter was over 60 miles from most tv stations. Gave an old antenna from the garage a try and my new flat screen smart tv found 30 srations.
Much clearer reception than cable or dish. Do miss fox news as its cable only like CNN
With the big analog to digital changeover, I bought an antenna that looks like a closed computer laptop. You stick it inside your window to pull in the most channels and get the best reception. It has two lines to plug in, one into the wall plug and one into the back of your HDTV. I get approximately 30 channels incl. all the major broadcast channels and their substations that show retro stuff. I also get the two religious stations broadcasting in my Pittsburgh area, Channel 40.1 and Channel 40.2. The cost for this antenna has come down in recent years, I see it in Wal-Mart for $39. Of course that’s the only charge, then you get totally free reception and it’s good reception for most of those channels, although on cloud-covered days and nights in my area, like now, PBS and Channel 40 don’t come thru. That’s a seasonal drawback that eventually clears up and I can live with it for the free reception. BTW, the setup was as easy as it sounds, a technical novice can do it and there’s no heavy lifting for that small antenna.