I cut the cord w/ my basic, channels 2-24, cable a few weeks ago. I hook my computer up to the tv and go to the channels websites to watch the shows I like. I have Netflix so I get to stream and watch movies that way. But, I still like to just turn on my tv and watch my local shows too. My daughter likes to watch qubo. I have yet to find an antenna that gives me a nice consistent picture. If I walk around my kitchen the signal goes in and out. That's with a $15 antenna. In my daughter's room, she has a $25 antenna w/ an amplifier. The shows still stutter and pause and break up. I don't want to add $20 a month back onto my cable bill, but it's ridiculous that I can't watch tv without it!
I can't be the only person who has these issues. Has anyone found a good antenna?
I live in a house in the city if that's relelvant at all....
The tv's are only 6 months and 2 months old. I upgraded figuring in the long run, it's cheaper to buy a tv because it will be paid for instead of the $20 a month cable bill.
In response to the only $20 a month comment - that's $240 a year wasted on tv instead of in my retirement acct to get regular tv, not cable channels. To me, that's worth a little complaint and time asking if anyone has any suggestions on a good antenna.
I couldnt get ANYthing at all with my antennae. It makes me so mad that we have to pay for TV. When I was a kid all you did was plug the tv in and you got channels 2-13 and life was good.
We used to live in Minneapolis and had the same problems with our local channels. We have since moved to the suburbs and the problems have gone away. In fact I prefer our antenna picture quality to my neighbor's cable (we both have similar old tvs). I think I read something at some point that TV stations calibrate their signals to reach the suburbs therefor the signal strength is either too much or too little in the city. That seems to be the case since we use the same antenna/tv (10+ years old) in both locations but with much better results now.
Yeah I remember being able to get the channels you wanted to watch on regular tv. I hate our cable bill. If it wasn't for my husband, who is a sports fanatic, I would have it turned off completely. Wish I could help ya out, but I'm stuck w/ cable for now.
we had the same problems and the same type/cost antennas. i was so frustrated i about ordered cable again, but DH wanted to try the outdoor, $100 antenna first. We were lucky and found an open box at half price, but it works great!! the only issue we had with it was getting it set to the right angle to point at the station signal antennas, but once that was figured out (easy enough) it's been well worth the money :)
Do you have the digital converter box after all the stations were required to switch the way they transmitted their signals in 2009 or a newer tv? Here's an article I found that might help.http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/...
My house was built in the 70s and has a roof antenna attached, i dont worry about sketchy reception because of it. I also "just say no" to cable and have netflix (although i dont stream it yet)
I wonder if they still install those roof antennas?
We also use an antenna and had the same problem. We found the problem was because of the aluminum siding on our house was actually blocking some of the signal. We purchased an Amplified Indoor Antenna by GE designed for HDTV that we found at Target. This antenna also has 2 attached ajustable atennas that don't show on the box. Before we tried this antenna, we were only picking up about 3 stations but not real great. With this GE Amplfied Indoor Antenna, we now are getting 30 stations in real clear. It made a big difference. The cost of this antenna was around $25 and was recently purchased at Target. Another solution you could look into is Radio Shack has an amplfied antenna that you put outside and attach to the house. It is a gray rectangle shaped box. That has been real successful for friends of ours. Talk to Radio Shack and they can help you.
I didn't want cable either. I've bought three digital antenna's! Anyways I called and talked to, god I can't remember what agency it was, but basically local broadcasting. They told me I needed to install an actual outdoor one on my roof and point it, well for here it was northeast, towards the signal bascially. Again it would be a digi antenna but an outdoor one and it wasn't cheap. It was well over a few hundred. I did this back over a year ago so I can't remember how much but it was enough that I decided to just do cable.
My brother did do the antenna on his roof because he lives even farther than the burbs and it actually looks pretty good though.
But I live in Omaha in the suburbs and that was what I was told. Funny thing was the govt worker I was talking to about getting my antenna to work was practically laughing at me. Explained they were no different than rabbit ears and that all of us that thought these were going to be better because they were digital were silly. He basically explained nothing had changed and if you didn't love adjusting all the time like before get an outdoor antenna or just cable. I'm guessing he got alot of complaints. lol
I've heard that those roof antennas are worth the $100 that they cost. Perhaps research them online and buy one that has a money-back guarantee.
If my cable bill was only $20 a month I wouldn't complain. I do agree though that it really isn't fair to have to buy a TV and also pay to watch it. We are switching our service tomorrow to save money we will save $67 a month for the first 6 months and 57 after that. We will be getting more stations and a faster Internet Access and only have 1 bill instead of two for phone, internet and cable.
We have a digital TV, and suffer the same problem. We stream Netfilx, so that helps for having something to watch. I would still like to be able to watch normal TV though, but it is so unreliable. Sometimes I am in the middle of a great show and it just goes out. Oh well, I am of the belief there is always something better to do than watch TV, but I understand your frustration with it. Some of our channels work some of the time, but it is far from reliable. We use an antenna.
Andrea already asked it, but I'll also mention the digital converter box. If you have a newer tv, it shouldn't need a converter, Check out Andrea's link to see if your tv should work. When I lived in Columbus OH, we had an ancient set of rabbit ears for an antenna, and it worked fine after we got the converter box. Good luck. :)
