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TVs and OTA Channels - Antenna Necessary?
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:00 pm
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:00 pm
I am trying to understand whether or not antennas are absolutely necessary to pick up free over-the-air channels on TVs purchased in the last 5 years. I understand all TVs are now built in with digital tuners able to pick up OTA channels. I have an older 42" Vizio that's about 5 years old which actually picks up digital channels without an antenna attached... Which I thought was strange. I recently purchased a small smart TV thinking the tuner built inside (which it does have) may be able to do the same, but I of course need to attach the antenna on it to receive OTA channels on it. After quite a bit of searching, I can't really find a good explanation why the Vizio can pick up OTA channels without the antenna. Anyone able to educate me on this (antenna built in)?
For clarity, we live about 22miles from the local TV stations, so the theory of the Vizio TV without antenna catching a strong signal by proximity is probably out the window.
For clarity, we live about 22miles from the local TV stations, so the theory of the Vizio TV without antenna catching a strong signal by proximity is probably out the window.
2
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:12 pm to LSUdvalley
The antenna is just a wire that is straightened out to catch the transmission. If the tv happens to have a straight run of wire between where the antenna plugs in and the tuner, then that is functioning as an antenna. An external antenna would just improve upon that (because you can raise it higher and easily point it in the optimal direction.)
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:24 pm to LSUdvalley
Also, not sure if this is the case or not with you, but my Samsung would not pick up any OTA channels by itself, but when its plugged in to the cable wire (not sure what its called, but the round plug that screws into the back of the tv) that cable wire acts as an antenna. In other words, without the cable wire plugged in, it doesn't pick up any channels, but with the cable wire plugged in, it picks up approximately nine channels, even though I don't have any sort of cable etc. I recently purchased an antenna from Wal Mart that is amplified and purportedly gest channels from 50 miles out and it provided me with around 24 channels. The networks are the only ones that I will likely use.
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:32 pm to tom
Thanks tom, that makes sense. I would think it advantageous to have a tv with an antenna of some sort already built-in... I just wasn't sure if that was the case in this instance as the manual didn't really describe the built in antenna bit. In the case of the smart tv, I can pickup wifi and stream a good bit of channels and would really only need some of the basic OTA channels like cbs, abc, fox which would be great to have a built in antenna.
Realizing it's not a big deal to grab the rabbit ears and plug them in, I was hoping to find a similar smart tv to avoid drilling too many holes in walls and antenna installations should it become a permanent outdoor tv in the grilling area. I don't think manufacturers advertise TVs with built in tuners and antennas.
Realizing it's not a big deal to grab the rabbit ears and plug them in, I was hoping to find a similar smart tv to avoid drilling too many holes in walls and antenna installations should it become a permanent outdoor tv in the grilling area. I don't think manufacturers advertise TVs with built in tuners and antennas.
This post was edited on 7/6/15 at 9:34 pm
Posted on 7/6/15 at 9:38 pm to jammintiger
Jammin, so to clarify, simply plugging in a cable that is not connected to an antenna or cable provider worked to get you a few OTA channels?
I was wondering if basic cable (no box) subscription would serve the same purpose (I.e, no antenna, but the cable amplifies the tuner in TV allowing it to pick up OTA channels).
I was wondering if basic cable (no box) subscription would serve the same purpose (I.e, no antenna, but the cable amplifies the tuner in TV allowing it to pick up OTA channels).
Posted on 7/6/15 at 10:04 pm to LSUdvalley
Basic cable would absolutely provide you with those channels, but that would just be cable, not an over the air / antenna. Plugging into the cable without paying for cable gave me about nine channels but it was lpb, lpb2 etc., not the networks. Is your house run for cable already? If so, you can get an antenna from amazon, walmart etc., (mine was 45 from walmart for the 50 mike range). I unplugged the "feed" line that cox had previously run and plugged my antenna into the splitters. That way the antenna provides the basic channels to every room with the cable jacks already run. The "feed" line that cox had run now goes straight to my modem since I still use them for my internet. Does that make sense? I may have my terminology a bit screwy.
Posted on 7/6/15 at 10:29 pm to LSUdvalley
quote:
no antenna, but the cable amplifies the tuner in TV allowing it to pick up OTA channels).
The sensitivity of TV tuners can vary. More expensive TVs usually have better tuners.
Posted on 7/7/15 at 8:17 am to Layabout
This has been helpful. Honestly, I may go buy one or two more to see if the tuners built in can pickup OTA w/o the antenna. Wish there was a better way to know in advance of purchasing vs trial and error.
Jammin, not entirely sure what you did there. Our house is run with cable wires and the same cable from cox carries both the Internet and basic cable TV package. I have a splitter which branches the main cable to the modem and two TVs. Not entirely sure where upstream of the splitter you are suggesting to plug-in an antenna. Basically, the main cable comes into the house off the power line into some sort of splitter. The main cable coming from this point travels to another splitter which branches off to cable TV and Internet modem.
Jammin, not entirely sure what you did there. Our house is run with cable wires and the same cable from cox carries both the Internet and basic cable TV package. I have a splitter which branches the main cable to the modem and two TVs. Not entirely sure where upstream of the splitter you are suggesting to plug-in an antenna. Basically, the main cable comes into the house off the power line into some sort of splitter. The main cable coming from this point travels to another splitter which branches off to cable TV and Internet modem.
Posted on 7/7/15 at 9:49 am to tom
quote:
The antenna is just a wire that is straightened out to catch the transmission.
A straight wire can be used as an antenna, but that is about the crappiest kind you can get. Posted on 7/7/15 at 10:11 am to LSUdvalley
if you have basic cable, then just plug the COAX (the wire with the silver screw type connector) into your tvs. With COX, you get ALL the locals (ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, and PBS) for free in HD. Do a cable scan and you should see some digital channels show up. The channels numbers will be XX.X (of course with numbers in place of the X's) or in the 700's or 1000's. The channel numbers depends on how your tv interprets the signal from COX.
I've never seen or heard of a tv with a built-in antenna (don't waste your money with trial and error).
If you don't have COX cable and just internet, then best would be to take the cable going to the INPUT of the splitter and putting a splice connector on it. The move the cable to your modem to the other side of the new splice connector. This way you can plug 1 antenna into the input of the splitter and supply the antenna feed to your tv's.
If you run both an antenna connection and COX signal into the same splitter you could end up with interference on some channels. I don't know the exact frequency of all channels to know for certain that they wouldn't interfere.
I've never seen or heard of a tv with a built-in antenna (don't waste your money with trial and error).
If you don't have COX cable and just internet, then best would be to take the cable going to the INPUT of the splitter and putting a splice connector on it. The move the cable to your modem to the other side of the new splice connector. This way you can plug 1 antenna into the input of the splitter and supply the antenna feed to your tv's.
If you run both an antenna connection and COX signal into the same splitter you could end up with interference on some channels. I don't know the exact frequency of all channels to know for certain that they wouldn't interfere.
Posted on 7/7/15 at 10:35 am to LSUdvalley
I don't have basic cable anymore, just internet. I used to have both but I dropped cable and just use Cox for the internet. I unplugged the main Cox wire (that used to supply both cable and internet but now just supplies internet) and plugged that main Cox wire into the plug supplying my modem using one of the connectors like the one in my link. Coax connector
Then I plugged in my antenna where the main Cox wire used to hit all of the splitters. So my antenna supplies the local channels to all of my televisions through the splitters and the main Cox wire, which only supplies internet for me anyway, goes straight to my modem.
If you pay for basic cable though I don't believe there is any need for any of this. Basic cable (or the Cox starter cable, whatever they call it) has all of the local channels included.
Then I plugged in my antenna where the main Cox wire used to hit all of the splitters. So my antenna supplies the local channels to all of my televisions through the splitters and the main Cox wire, which only supplies internet for me anyway, goes straight to my modem.
If you pay for basic cable though I don't believe there is any need for any of this. Basic cable (or the Cox starter cable, whatever they call it) has all of the local channels included.
Posted on 7/7/15 at 11:11 am to mchias1
Mchias, that is very helpful info. Still a bit perplexed the TV will grab a few channels w/o anything plugged in. None the less, it seems the best option in my situation would be to run the basic cable coax vs antenna rig if going with a permanent outdoor installation.
Jammin, never knew the trick with the antenna into the coax w/o cable service. That would have come in handy when I first moved to this location and had Internet only. With the Internet channels/services and smart TVs (or TV stick streaming services), I may soon cut even the basic cable service soon as I really don't watch anything other than news, weather, sports. Watchespn just needs to offer a non-cable provider subscription :)
Again, really appreciate all the responses.
Jammin, never knew the trick with the antenna into the coax w/o cable service. That would have come in handy when I first moved to this location and had Internet only. With the Internet channels/services and smart TVs (or TV stick streaming services), I may soon cut even the basic cable service soon as I really don't watch anything other than news, weather, sports. Watchespn just needs to offer a non-cable provider subscription :)
Again, really appreciate all the responses.
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