5 ms·

I'm always surprised that more people don't just use antennas. For truly local channels, it's generally going to work and be a one-time cost to get things going

I'm always surprised that more people don't just use antennas. For truly local channels, it's generally going to work and be a one-time cost to get things going instead of a monthly one. Plus (if it matters to you) the video quality will generally exceed getting the channel via most other methods. As you mention, some situations may not have reception due to special circumstances--and for them, I understand--but I think many people just don't think of just using an antenna these days. Or maybe they just want to hit the easy button and pay the monthly fee. (?)

Mountain_Skies 5y ago
I've tried several times. When I lived in the middle of a big city, my condo windows faced the wrong direction and the building was mostly concrete and brick, so the signals couldn't penetrate very well. Now I live outside of the city but at the bottom of a hill that unfortunately is the direction of most of the broadcast towers, so I'm in an RF shadow. It's not too big of a loss for me since I can't stand to watch network tv with it's insane amount of advertising but for live sporting events, it would be a nice option to have.
zinekeller 5y ago
> I'm always surprised that more people don't just use antennas. Even with suitable antennas, the broadcasting power of the transmitters has been significantly decreased, so in some cases you really are in an unlucky spot where the transmission isn't fully good. Moreover (specifically in the US), ATSC (before the recent 3.0 standard anyway) doesn't use OFDM, so when there's a weak signal it's a lot harder to lock on it.
toast0 5y ago
If you've got trees and hills, you're probably going to need a roof mounted antenna, and likely a person to install it for you. It can get tricky to find someone who does that; the goto person in the bay area retired and I don't know if there's a new person. When I moved to the Seattle area, it was a challenge finding someone here.
enzanki_ars 5y ago
I have one, but I still use Locast because I'm in an apartment. I don't have line of sight at all, and I have a lot of issues with signal quality. And I live 3 miles away from my local NBC station, and the only window I can point my antenna has a bit of line of sight, thought it is at about 70 degrees. Yet my recording of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies had severe compression artifacts due to missed parts of the signal every 2 minutes. Locast or paying nearly $70+ for cable is the only way I could watch over the air broadcasts, and I'm not going to pay $70 for cable to watch ad filled content that's 80% reruns and barely any of the sports content I want to watch.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago

I've tried several times. When I lived in the middle of a big city, my condo windows faced the wrong direction and the building was mostly concrete and brick, so the signals couldn't penetrate very well. Now I live outside of the city but at the bottom of a hill that unfortunately is the direction of most of the broadcast towers, so I'm in an RF shadow. It's not too big of a loss for me since I can't stand to watch network tv with it's insane amount of advertising but for live sporting events, it would be a nice option to have.

zinekeller 5y ago

> I'm always surprised that more people don't just use antennas. Even with suitable antennas, the broadcasting power of the transmitters has been significantly decreased, so in some cases you really are in an unlucky spot where the transmission isn't fully good. Moreover (specifically in the US), ATSC (before the recent 3.0 standard anyway) doesn't use OFDM, so when there's a weak signal it's a lot harder to lock on it.

toast0 5y ago

If you've got trees and hills, you're probably going to need a roof mounted antenna, and likely a person to install it for you. It can get tricky to find someone who does that; the goto person in the bay area retired and I don't know if there's a new person. When I moved to the Seattle area, it was a challenge finding someone here.

enzanki_ars 5y ago

I have one, but I still use Locast because I'm in an apartment. I don't have line of sight at all, and I have a lot of issues with signal quality. And I live 3 miles away from my local NBC station, and the only window I can point my antenna has a bit of line of sight, thought it is at about 70 degrees. Yet my recording of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies had severe compression artifacts due to missed parts of the signal every 2 minutes. Locast or paying nearly $70+ for cable is the only way I could watch over the air broadcasts, and I'm not going to pay $70 for cable to watch ad filled content that's 80% reruns and barely any of the sports content I want to watch.