[SteveFord]

Men, let's be honest, do YOU suffer from Antenna Envy?
For years I'm afraid I felt so, well, inadequate with my little Rat Shack roof mount antenna and then when one of the arms broke off, well, I knew it was time to step up to the plate and go for a beef up of sorts.
That plus our cable bill was around $100 a month for a bunch of garbage so I asked the people who know about these things, ordered up a bunch o' crap and here it is.
For starters, I needed an antenna and it looks like Winegard is currently the top of the heap so I ordered up an HD8200U from Amazon which is a rather sizeable piece.



The next step was to get a rotator so I wrote to www.solidsignal.com and they said that the only rotator stout enough to handle that antenna was a Channelmaster 9521A



and then because I have two FM tuners to hook up I needed some transformers as well



Then you'll need an antenna preamplifier so I went with a Winegard to match the antenna which I'm told isn't the best you can get (I should have used a commercial one but everything else is top notch)



and then you'll need some signal amplifiers to clean up the signal and keep it from being wimped out by the Cat6 coax courtesy of AVNerdguy.  I have one amplifier for the upstairs system, one for the downstairs. 



So, I get all of this junk and as luck would have it, the satellite dish guy who lives behind me installs antennas and that now comprises the majority of their business.  His Uncle has been installing antennas for 40 years so I hired those two gentlemen who use a really stout gable mount and here it is:





How does it all work?  I live down by the Maryland border and it picks up signals from West (By God) Virginia with a total of 71 stations all told.  The installation guys say that this is a record for them.
It's amazing how much stuff is on the dot stations: 43.1, 43.2, 43.3 you get the idea.  If you like college football you'll be in heaven.
FM comes in great and now I can zero in on Washington, DC, Towson, Maryland, Philadelphia, whatever.

My advice is to buy everything online (Amazon, Solid Signal, wherever) and then just have a satellite dish provider do the work as they'll rape you with the parts prices.  A three dollar transformer gets marked up to $19.99, that kind of thing. Beer isn't cheap, I guess.

It'll take a few months to pay for itself but once that's done it's much better FM reception and free television which is how it should be.

[Don_S]

Wow, I feel so inadequate.  We need an icon for "inadequate".

I just have an antenna. No rotor, no anything else.  I get lots of stations because I am near the transmission towers.  I just came back from vacation.  I stayed at three different motels where they had better than average cable subscriptions. I could not find anything to watch.   

Is it a surprise that the dish installer now does more business installing antennas?  I thought I was just a Luddite when it came to TVs.  One nice thing about an antenna is they work great with cheap DVRs from Magnavox or Philips. With that many stations you may want to watch one while recording another.

[WireNut]

Hi Steve,

I cut the cable cord a few months back with a Clearstream 2V antenna which I use indoors.
I love getting 38 free channels now which is better then I was getting with Time Warner.

[SteveFord]

I was really interested in the FM side of it which works really well.

The dish guys weren't surprised by antennas making a comeback - they said everything goes in cycles.  Losing a monthly bill is probably the main incentive for most people, I would think.

Why pay to watch reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies?
P.S.
Now my wife can finally stop listening to me talk about everybody's antenna whenever we go somewhere!

[Letitroll98]

How well does ESPN, SciFi channel, AMC and the NFL Channel come in on that antenna?  Those are the only channels I watch.

[Doublej]

The OTA industry would help itself tremendously by having a few decent DVRs. The Tivo Roamio is interesting but the $15 channel guide subscription fee makes it a non-starter for me.

 

[Wayner]

I have a big-ass Channel Master antenna (21 years old) on the roof top. It's been thru 100 MPH winds and my tuners all pull in many stations, very clearly. I also have all of my TVs hooked up to the antenna for HD broadcast. Only the 50" downstairs has cable hooked to it. The fun thing with antenna HD broadcasts is that you can also get 5.1 surround sound from the antenna.

Good going, Steve.

[Don_S]

The OTA industry would help itself tremendously by having a few decent DVRs. The Tivo Roamio is interesting but the $15 channel guide subscription fee makes it a non-starter for me.

I have this: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HDR5750-F7-Digital-Recorder/dp/B00G037DQU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412002564&sr=8-2&keywords=philips+dvr

There is also a smaller capacity version: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HDR5750-F7-Digital-Recorder/dp/B00G037DQU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412002564&sr=8-2&keywords=philips+dvr

But my preference by a wide margin is a Magnavox.  I have several of them and the GUI is much better and I have never had a glitch with any of them. I do the majority of my TV viewing time-shifted so they get a real workout.  I use them with a rooftop antenna.

Favorite: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavox-HDD-DVR-and-DVD-Recorder-with-Digital-Tuner-500GB/20710258  500GB model is $268 with free shipping. 320GB and 1TB versions also available.

The DVRs do not have TV-Guide so there are no subscription fees. My iPad is my guide.

OOPS--update.  The Magnavox units do have one small flaw.  They do not keep time very well.  They tend to gain time and I have to reset them every couple of months.  I have not been successful in linking them to a local channel for automatic syncing. Usually PBS works for that.

[Todd Willhoit]

...and the Channel Master DVR+.  It DOES have a guide.

http://www.channelmaster.com/Products_s/329.htm

[Don_S]

...and the Channel Master DVR+.  It DOES have a guide.

http://www.channelmaster.com/Products_s/329.htm

Todd,  Thanks for the link.  I was not aware of that product.  You reminded me that a main feature of the Philips I mentioned is that it is a streamer. Obnoxiously so.  I do not stream so having the Netflix and Vudu buttons massive sized and blocking the power switch and control buttons (play, pause, >>, etc) is a major pain. It also has buttons for YouTube and NETTV although they must not have paid the advertising fee to get larger buttons.  I believe the Philips will also hook to an external drive via USB for additional storage. That is a great feature for people who like to record massive quantities of programs and then never watch them again. I think it is also true hi-def although I am not sure that matters to someone using an antenna.

The Philips has some features the Magnavox does not have but I don't use them.  That is why I prefer the Magnavox with its better GUI and glitch-free operation.  The Philips freezes up on some programs on some channels when I try to >> or <<. It is always the same programs (Blacklist is one) so I can't explain it. It really frosts me to have to watch a commercial. 

[persisting1]

For the price of some of these DVRs, you can build an HTPC and do a lot more.

[Todd Willhoit]

For the price of some of these DVRs, you can build an HTPC and do a lot more.

I would love to see a step-by-step in simple English.  I tried to set up a MythTV box and had no luck.  The parts are collecting dust...

[persisting1]

I would love to see a step-by-step in simple English.  I tried to set up a MythTV box and had no luck.  The parts are collecting dust...

It can be daunting at times. A Usnet client might work for you (may not be easier). It will cost you about $15 a month, but you will have access to everything you need/want.

To get back on track, has anyone tried one of Amazon's HDTV antennas?
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIM36

[Wayner]

Probably will work if you are in the city, but if you are in "fringe" or "deep fringe", forget it. You need some elements to capture distant stations. BTW, I do not have an antenna rotor, and while it's nice that Steve put one in, I don't think it's really a deal breaker. In my situation, most of the broadcast towers are to my east-north-east, so a directional antenna is fine. Most multi-element antennas like mine and Steve's have bidirectional capturing capability (the bow-tie effect).

Wayner

[Doublej]

It can be daunting at times. A Usnet client might work for you (may not be easier). It will cost you about $15 a month, but you will have access to everything you need/want.

To get back on track, has anyone tried one of Amazon's HDTV antennas?
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIM36

So in reality you can spend the same amount of money and build and HTPC that does a lot less?

Is the Usenet approach legit? It's not clear to me as to how it is getting content?

With a $15/month subscription fee, you can use a Tivo Roamio and have a great stress free DVR experience.

[persisting1]

An HTPC will do a lot more than a DVR since it will act as a DVR and everything else a computer can do. The example I gave was not based on a DVR. Just giving another option if setting up an open sourced program is difficult. There are plenty of options out there.

Since the word free is used in the title, I was suggesting cheaper alternatives to cable/satellite.

The Tivo steamer charges you $15 a month. If your are cord cutting, then this doesn't make sense. You can connect a Slingbox and call it a day. No monthly fees.

[Todd Willhoit]

It can be daunting at times. A Usnet client might work for you (may not be easier). It will cost you about $15 a month, but you will have access to everything you need/want.

This is where I always wind up.  Some "easy" solution with no how-to or link.  Then hours searching the web for said "easy" solution.  More time reading page after page of instructions on some forum, each of which includes all sorts of scripts to run, exceptions to this-and-that, more caveats, yada, yada, yada.

Don't take this as knocking the HTPC idea.  I was really looking forward to the solution.  In reality, I think it is much more difficult to configure than most would admit.

There are plenty of options out there.

Care to share some detail?

So in reality you can spend the same amount of money and build and HTPC that does a lot less?

With a $15/month subscription fee, you can use a Tivo Roamio and have a great stress free DVR experience.

^^^This.  So, $15/month + hardware cost + time + more time teaching and re-teaching your spouse + upgrading/patching.  TiVo or DVR+ is a LOT less effort, and DVR+ is a lot less $$.

[persisting1]

^^^This.  So, $15/month + hardware cost + time + more time teaching and re-teaching your spouse + upgrading/patching.  TiVo or DVR+ is a LOT less effort, and DVR+ is a lot less $$.

You are correct. It is not for everyone. It is not a plug and play device. There is a learning curve, but this does not mean that it shouldn't be considered as an option.

Let's say you pay $100 a month for your cable/satellite and another $250 for your DVR (not including a $15 a month fee if you go that route). In five years, you will spend around $6,250.00.

You can also purchase a $99 Amazon Fire TV plus Amazon Prime for $99 a year (stream Amazon's free content). Add the price of Netflix which is $9 a month and a HD antenna for $50 to pick up free OTA programming. That's about $1,185.00 for a five year period.

If someone chooses to do so, you can then add XBMC (which is free) to your Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV. There are plenty of how to videos on youtube that will walk you through every step. You can then download channels that will allow you to stream any content you want. This includes movies, tv shows and live sports.

You do not have to add XBMC. With Amazon Prime, Netflix and antenna, you can potentially have more than enough content to watch.

This isn't always easy. It doesn't always work perfectly, but if you want to save money, then this is an option.

[Doublej]

You are correct. It is not for everyone. It is not a plug and play device. There is a learning curve, but this does not mean that it shouldn't be considered as an option.

Let's say you pay $100 a month for your cable/satellite and another $250 for your DVR (not including a $15 a month fee if you go that route). In five years, you will spend around $6,250.00.

You can also purchase a $99 Amazon Fire TV plus Amazon Prime for $99 a year (stream Amazon's free content). Add the price of Netflix which is $9 a month and a HD antenna for $50 to pick up free OTA programming. That's about $1,185.00 for a five year period.

If someone chooses to do so, you can then add XBMC (which is free) to your Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV. There are plenty of how to videos on youtube that will walk you through every step. You can then download channels that will allow you to stream any content you want. This includes movies, tv shows and live sports.

You do not have to add XBMC. With Amazon Prime and Netflix, you can potentially have more than enough content to watch.

This isn't always easy. It doesn't always work perfectly, but if you want to save money, then this is an option.

To download through Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV don't you need a computer? Or can you just attach a hard drive to them?

[persisting1]

If you want to install XBMC you need a computer.

If you are only using a Amazon Fire TV/Apple TV, you only need internet access.

Everything is in the cloud.