TV antenna

The Fire TV Recast ($230) plus Fire TV Stick ($40) [one per TV] seems like a pretty good deal if one didn't want to tinker too much. Good if you don't have Ethernet wired already. Looks like it has 2 tuners.

I have two of the older HD Homerun boxes, each with 2 tuners, and I already had Cat-5, but people have the HD Homerun units connected through wifi. I'm invested in what I'm using for DVR (HD Home Run > CW_EPG on Windows) because I've been a developer on that project since the first days of beta digital TV. For live TV, as I said, Kodi on the Raspberry Pi, but no DVR on that TV, so I last only until the first commercial, LOL!
 
statsman said:
If someone has been doing this for a while, I sometimes wonder if they've forgotten how frustrating it is to cut the cord. Or maybe it was just intuitive to them from the beginning. If it were just me, I would get an antenna and skip the DVR. I only use broadcast TV for local events, like severe weather forecasts. DW is another story.
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REWahoo said:
I cut the cord in Dec of 2018 and I recall it was liberating, not frustrating. It was a similar feeling to retiring, only on a smaller scale. :D
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I was frustrated at first. Then liberated.

Over a period of 3 years, I dipped my toes. At that time, streaming devices, and actual streams were poor quality. Then I got a newer Roku, services improved, and I got over my anxiety about sports and news and took the leap. Liberation.
 
I don't have a background in electronics or antennas but I did trade in my dish for an antenna 25+ years ago. I went through 1 antenna I bought from Radio Shack that eventually oxidized and hurricane winds blew it down. I had it attacked to the side of the house on a 20 ft pole. Then I had shingles replaced with a metal roof and have been using one of the $100 ClearStream directional antennas on a 20 ft pole for the past 5 years that works well through the oak and palm trees to the stations about 15 miles away.
Most local channels except PBS have pretty lousy programing and too loaded with commercials for me to tolerate. My wife like to watch the news but I found it frustrating when I will see almost as much from the "coming attractions" for the 6 and 10pm local news programs so I stopped paying attention except for the weather. Mostly we use Netflix and Hulu for our TV entertainment. I'm glad books don't require any technology to read other than ebooks from the public library.



Cheers!
 
sengsational said:
The Fire TV Recast ($230) plus Fire TV Stick ($40) [one per TV] seems like a pretty good deal if one didn't want to tinker too much. Good if you don't have Ethernet wired already. Looks like it has 2 tuners.

I have two of the older HD Homerun boxes, each with 2 tuners, and I already had Cat-5, but people have the HD Homerun units connected through wifi. I'm invested in what I'm using for DVR (HD Home Run > CW_EPG on Windows) because I've been a developer on that project since the first days of beta digital TV. For live TV, as I said, Kodi on the Raspberry Pi, but no DVR on that TV, so I last only until the first commercial, LOL!
Click to expand...

Is the CW-EPG have any significant differences to the one by Gary Ryan? I ask because that is what I have used for the past 4-5 years along with WMC to record shows on my computer. I also have 2 HD Homerun tuners so we can record multiple programs but don't use them for our regular OTA tv's. I have an 8 way splitter to send signals to all the tv's and HD Homerun boxes.
 
sengsational said:
The Fire TV Recast ($230) plus Fire TV Stick ($40) [one per TV] seems like a pretty good deal if one didn't want to tinker too much. Good if you don't have Ethernet wired already. Looks like it has 2 tuners.
Click to expand...

Does anybody know if Amazon is planning to update the Recast box? It seems to be falling behind. I was looking at it a few months ago, but am concerned I would be buying into an orphaned line of products.
 
I haven't heard anything but would probably buy the new Recast. I wonder if they are waiting for ATSC 3.0.
 
wmc1000 said:
Is the CW-EPG have any significant differences to the one by Gary Ryan? I ask because that is what I have used for the past 4-5 years along with WMC to record shows on my computer. I also have 2 HD Homerun tuners so we can record multiple programs but don't use them for our regular OTA tv's. I have an 8 way splitter to send signals to all the tv's and HD Homerun boxes.
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with the Gary Ryan solution. There are dozens of apps that do roughly the same thing. You can see a list of the ones that use "schedulesdirect" here: https://www.schedulesdirect.org/approvedsoftware

The only reason I continue to use CW_EPG is because it's the one I started with, back in the days when "MyHD" add-in tuner board for Windows machines was the cool thing. I was working on making that work better (their software was not very good), and slowly got engulfed in writing and sharing software that supported the Fusion tuners and finally the HD Homerun. I'm sure if I wanted to solve the problem starting from scratch, I'd do it differently, but what I have works, and all 12 users of CW_EPG depend on me :LOL:
 
I guess I should have called it EPG123 as that is the one he keeps up to date
 
^That looks like a good solution for Windows Media Center!!
 
This is the OP here.

I have spent the last 3 days in a hotel with a couple hundred channels and time on my hands. Reminds me of the Springsteen song from the 80's. "57 channels and there's nothing on". I have changed my mind and am no longer interested in broadcast television. Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, I appreciate your sincere and informed information. I grew up watching TV in the 70's and realize you can't bring some things back.
 
Stormy Kromer said:
This is the OP here.

I have spent the last 3 days in a hotel with a couple hundred channels and time on my hands. Reminds me of the Springsteen song from the 80's. "57 channels and there's nothing on". I have changed my mind and am no longer interested in broadcast television. Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, I appreciate your sincere and informed information. I grew up watching TV in the 70's and realize you can't bring some things back.
Click to expand...


Funny you should mention that. I cut the cable in 2011 (not 2021, 2011) because yep, with 57 channels there was never anything on. However, for the past several years on good old over-the-air broadcast Tango Victor there has been a proliferation of retro-oriented channels in addition to niche/genre oriented channels. There are channels running shows from the 50's into the 1990's and 2000's so there are "oldies" for every life-span beaming through the walls and into your TV
 
Antenna signals are weak enough here that when I finally dump cable for the basement TV (I have an attic antenna that feeds the living room TV) I'll use Dish's service and have them add a powered outdoor antenna at the top of my chimney...I'm certainly not getting on a ladder up that high.
 
ncbill; said:
Antenna signals are weak enough here that when I finally dump cable for the basement TV (I have an attic antenna that feeds the living room TV) I'll use Dish's service and have them add a powered outdoor antenna at the top of my chimney...I'm certainly not getting on a ladder up that high.
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No need for a second antenna if I understand your setup correctly. One antenna can feed multiple TV’s. All you need is a distribution block(likely a powered one). Run the antenna to the block, then run lines from the block to the various TV’s.

I have this setup for a single antenna that feeds 5 TV’s.
 
^ You can split the signal from a single antenna, but it will significantly degrade power of the signal on all TV's. If you're near the towers, then even an indoor rabbit ears will work, but if you're distant from the towers, you probably need a rooftop antenna, and even a larger one will only deliver a limited strength signal. If you split a weak signal, the result might be multiple unwatchable TV's. One solution is an amplifier. Those can work, but they can also introduce noise, making watching glitchy.
 
Amplified splitter.
 
ncbill said:
Antenna signals are weak enough here that when I finally dump cable for the basement TV (I have an attic antenna that feeds the living room TV) I'll use Dish's service and have them add a powered outdoor antenna at the top of my chimney...I'm certainly not getting on a ladder up that high.
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IF your attic antenna pulls in good signal, then you could get a Fire TV Recast and install it in your attic and get a Fire TV stick for each TV. The Recast and Fire TV sticks would all connect to your home wi-fi and there is no need to worry about signal decay from the attic to each tv because video would travel from the attic to each tv using your home wi-fi.

That is what I have at home... and we use it with 4 tvs. We already had Fire TV sticks for each tv so for us the only additional cost was the Fire TV Recast ($230 for 2-tuner or $280 for 4-tuner). The Recast also includes a DVR to record OTA content... so any tv connected to your home wi-fi via a Fire TV stick can either watch live tv or watch recorded shows.

If you don't have any Fire TV sticks, they are currently on sale for $20.
 
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RobbieB said:
Amplified splitter.
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Yes. If the first TV signal is satisfactory, a splitter will divide the signal in half (-3db) and a good amplifier will restore (and probably increase) the level. Usually they come together as an amp/splitter.

Coax cables attenuate signals, however, so if possible I suggest that the amplifier be located as close to the antenna (i.e., in the attic) so it gets the full antenna signal instead of an attenuated one if installed downstairs. (This is belts and suspenders engineering. You could also try locating the amplifier at the first TV and see if the signal to subsequent TVs is adequate. It probably will be.)

Channel Master is a respected brand that has been in this business forever. Looking at their stuff, if I were buying I'd get the "Ultra Mini 4" https://www.channelmaster.com/colle...cts/ultra-mini-4-tv-antenna-amplifier-cm-3414
 
Stormy Kromer said:
This is the OP here.

I have spent the last 3 days in a hotel with a couple hundred channels and time on my hands. Reminds me of the Springsteen song from the 80's. "57 channels and there's nothing on". I have changed my mind and am no longer interested in broadcast television. Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, I appreciate your sincere and informed information. I grew up watching TV in the 70's and realize you can't bring some things back.
Click to expand...
Your call. I never worry about the stuff I'm not going to watch. I evaluate the channels or content that I will watch and whether it's worth the effort and cost (monthly and capital outlay). In most cases I can filter out the channels I know I'll never watch. As long as I get what I want at a decent price, I'm fine, even if it's just 5 good channels and 52 that I ignore.
 
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Skoach said:
No need for a second antenna if I understand your setup correctly. One antenna can feed multiple TV’s. All you need is a distribution block(likely a powered one). Run the antenna to the block, then run lines from the block to the various TV’s.

I have this setup for a single antenna that feeds 5 TV’s.
Click to expand...

I'm using Tivo Roamio models...they split the signal internally to four ATSC 1.0 tuners.

So that's why I'm going to use an amplified antenna for each Tivo Roamio.
 
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