Unpacking & Setting Up Tivax DTV Converter Box Part 2 Of 2

[rickcain2320]

Get a roof or attic antenna get make full use of your tuner box. I'm not even in a major market and I can pick up 46 channels OTA

[brainman214]

Bernie:

Thanks for thee helpful information.Brainy,Brainman Media

[brainman214]

Bernie:

You are right!Is there any cheap inline booster i can get under ten bucks that would eliminate the need for outdoor antennas?The Channels i get are(Sometimes):WATE-DT on 6.1,WBIR-DT,10.1 and WBIR-WX on 10.2,WKOP-HD on 15.1(requires adjusting rods.)PBS World on 15.2,and Create on 15.3.I also Get WVLT-DT on 8.1 and 2 sometimes.I use a Philips Indoor RabbitEars with knob and metal rods.Thanks,Brainy at Brainman Media

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

You might try looking in the electronics department of a store like Best Buy, or Walmart, or Target, or Shopko, or K-Mart, or a similar store, where they sell TVs, and/or TV accessories, like antennas, cables, antenna feedlines, etc, they may have boosters for sale like in the $10.00 or $15.00 range...Maybe you'll find one for $9.99, more or less around $10.00 with the sales tax...I haven't looked for them as I didn't really have the need for them, but I may try one anyway myself

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

I may try one of those smart antennas first, but I'd like to check with someone else in this area that has tried one to see how well it worked for them first, because the nearest TV station from here is about 40 to 45 miles away, so I don't know how well those round amplified antennas would work, but if I lived near a large city with TV stations in all directions, like only 25 miles from them, then the round smart antenna would be nice. Have a Great Day.

[brainman214]

I got this model!This is a DT1080D by Access HD! Problem is when you use a pair of Rabbit Ears,you have to make sure the antenna rods are in the direct path of the area the signals are coming from.I like my converter.The other i have is a Sunkey SK801ATSC! Thanks for this!Brainy,Brainman Media

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

Oh yes, even the TV antennas outside need to be turned more directly towards the TV station, as the digital TV signal is narrower than the old analog signal was, so that's why they can put 3 signals, or TV stations, in the same bandwidth as one analog signal before.

I also noticed, that for one channel, I needed to go to a 120-mile antenna, instead of the 90-mile antenna that was good enough for analog TV, but not good enough for digital TV.

Now TV acts like a satellite TV signal

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

Oh yes, this model, unlike my other one, which is a Magnavox, has a connection for a Smart Antenna, and I have seen a few of those mounted at some places, but the closest TV station from me is about 45 miles away, so I don't know how well those round antennas would work here.

Near large cities I think they'd work well so you wouldn't need to turn an antenna or need multiple TV antennas, but out here I use two mounted and pointed towards the main cities where the stations are.

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

I don't know if they have boosters available for digital TV yet, as I haven't looked for those, at least not yet anyway, but had used some for analog TV, and a wide range of prices and also they had 10 Db gain and 20 Db gain boosters, and even one where you could adjust the gain, but they probably do, so I don't know if they have any digital TV boosters or not. Also when they were still using analog, the digital signals were half power, now they're full power and full-scale signals

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

I would get two more channels if I'd point a third antenna NE, as I have one pointed SE, which gets me channels 7, 9, 20, and also 55 which is further away from me than the other channels are, and a mountain, a large hill actually, is right between here and the TV station's transmission tower, and the second one pointed SW for 13, but I could get two channel 12's to my NE if I put another TV antenna up. I don't use rotors...too expensive and I have TVs in 2 rooms. Good Luck

[BernieLJ77]

@brainman214

This DTV converter box has the option of using one of those Smart antennas, which are round, and they have a built-in booster, and they are outdoor antennas, but I don't see why you couldn't use one in the attic or indoors somewhere.

They are a little more than $10.00 though, and Radio Shack has them, and you may have seen one outside in your neighborhood or city, they are round antennas, so they are used for receiving in all directions, electronically tuned into the station

[BernieLJ77]

Also, when I made this two-part video, the first two minutes and some seconds were messed up a bit, but that's because the head on the camcorder needed cleaning. That Sony HC-52 camcorder died after the video was taken so I couldn't use it at my niece's wedding. I now have another Sony camcorder but it has a 4 GB hard drive in it...No DV tape...Also when I took this video most of the TV stations were still transmitting analog with digital so their digital signal was half power.

[BernieLJ77]

The DTV stations now run full power so most of the time all but one station comes in full scale and the last one, Fox 55, which is about 75 or 80 miles from me, is about half scale for signal strength, but I am in a trailer court, so the antennas aren't very high, and there's a mountain, a large hill actually, right in the way between the TV station and here about 40 miles from me, or about half way between here and the transmitter site. Good Luck...I'll be getting a new TV when this one dies.

[BernieLJ77]

OK...This works great, so far anyway, and the Magnavox works OK too, but it needs a remote control to work whereas the Tivax, which I got from Radio Shack, works even without the remote control, to turn it on and change channels anyway. They only scan digital TV signals, and as far as I know they don't transmit Analog TV anymore, except for some low power TV stations and maybe translator stations, so I wouldn't need the Analog Pass-Through that's available on some DTV converter boxes.

[BernieLJ77]

Well, it searches for digital TV channels, but I had it inline before they stopped transmitting analog TV, plus the fact that Fox 55, the last TV station to come on the air, either hadn't received permission to transmit a digital signal yet, or had received permission last and hadn't started transmitting digital yet, so I ran a splitter, so I could use analog TV in the back of the TV, and also go through the DTV converter box to the front of the TV. So far it works good but also have a Magnavox.

[timmieOtoole]

Hey ther's a part 2, nice.

[BernieLJ77]

Yes, my first YouTube account didn't seem to have a time limit on videos, then I got rid of my account, then later I decided to start up another account, but by that time they put a 10-minute limit on videos, but grandfather the old accounts. Wish I would have kept my first account...

[rock858965]

i got my old antenna and it got 25 channel

[liltony333]

i snizzed at the same time as u

freaky

[BernieLJ77]

Yes...That is interesting...I'm wondering if it's like in school...When one student would yawn, the rest would too ha ha ha...but that was visual and in this case it really wasn't too visual.