Had a nice chat with Xfinity support

Probably business level, not residential.

 

You don't live at the Wayne Mansion and have a secret Bat Cave do you?

 

please tell me more! mrs b needs all the local stations, pbs, hgtv, espn, nbc sports, food channel and two hallmark stations.

thanks!

 

The obvious thing to be aware of concerning a broadcast antennae is that you are going back to the days of broadcast television.

I enjoy that I can get ABC, NBC, CBS, Public Broadcasting and a amusing set of additional niche channels for free. But it is a step backwards in terms of usage. If I want to watch the nightly news, I have to tune into the nightly news, when it's being broadcast.

There are websites that give you a TV guide -"remember them?-" like graph of what is being broadcast in your area, on what channel, at what time, how much anyone might want to consult this information is up to the individual.

Also what channels come in clearly and reliably can vary in relationship to both antennae quality and your location. I wouldn't go too cheap on an antennae.

Many of the "niche" channels broadcast nostalgia television. (Read Old).
But I have enjoyed watching some of the old sitcoms, programs and Johnny Carson Tonight Show episodes.

I would say the majority of my viewing is "On Demand"-streaming, but the Broadcast Antennae is a nice additional option and back-up.

 

I wouldn't say backwards. The HD quality of channels over the air is, or was, higher than what cable gave you for those same channels. Then you can use a HD recorder, or even your computer to watch over the air shows at the time you want.

[quality]Also what channels come in clearly and reliably can vary in relationship to both antennae quality and your location. I wouldn't go too cheap on an antennae.
[/QUOTE]This is something to look into, but there are resources on line for it. Past threads here have included them along with how to DIY, high quality antennae.

 

I don't own a HD recorder. I'm pretty much talking to those looking at hooking up an antennae and running with it.
Of course in 2020 additional equipment can change what can be done. I remember TiVo.

And my warning about channel quality is just my own experience. I have "supposedly" a pretty good HD broadcast quality antennae. I live in the suburbs, and I get about 25+ channels.
But I have found a percentage of them are NOT too reliable as to staying tuned, and can really be affected by antennae position and even weather.
It can be frustrating to be watching something but about every 3-5 minutes have the picture freeze up or disappear. If a channel repeatedly demonstrates that reality I just delete it from my television. No need to frustrate myself.
I'm talking indoor antennae here, not outside or on the roof hook ups. Which I would assume would be a lot more reliable.

 

Tivo, and I'm sure others, work with over the air channels. Of course, you could just hook the TV directly up to a computer for the same purpose. That is all those cable boxes and DVRs are anyway. Many already use a computer instead of one of the TV devices for streaming already. Yeah, it is additional equipment, but we are far from the the pre-VCR days of being at the mercy of broadcaster schedules.

I've considered getting an antenna in order to watch the few shows I did on broadcast TV. I'm hesitant to try a cheap antenna, but will probably try a DIY one. One of these days, just have many other projects to attend too first.

 

we have an hd antenna for cable outages. then when we bought a new tv without a tuner, we had to buy that too.
the picture is excellent, but if i can't find anything to watch on 250 channels, there won't be anything on 20.

funny how much i loved the shows i grew up with, now, they're just so corny

 

ironic, when i was a kid, my parents said that programming was directed at 13 year olds.

at 65, i feel the same way.

 

I actually enjoy a lot of the programming available on free broadcast.
It seems to be a lot of older to OLD television, that streaming and/most cable doesn't feel is worthy or marketable enough.

But I like to watch episodes of "Action" series from the 70's. Sitcoms from the same Era, and shows like Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, and episodes of the Carol Burnett show.

I watched an episode of the 70's action series "Cannon" and it was worth it, just to see the cars from that time period.
We had vehicles back then that were large enough to self-isolate a family of 6. Hard to imagine a time when vehicles just were that large. Sedans the length of a football field with trunks you could put an entire Eco-System in.

What get's bothersome and I think is kind of sad?
The advertising.
It seems like they have done a demographics check and concluded anyone watching free broadcast television is very likely to be Old, Retired, and probably Financially Limited.
So tons of commercials about "What Medicine You Should Ask Your Doctor About".
"What additional Medical Insurance supplement plan is best for you"
" Senior friendly Cell Phone plans"
" Help, I've Fallen and I can't get Up" products.

Nothing "bad" about these goods and services, but it's hard to watch these channels for more than an hour and maintain any self delusion about being young and hip. You start to look around the room for a cloaked figure in black with a scythe.

I go to Hulu and watch something totally too young for me, just to shake it off.

 

Plopped in front of the fireplace, been watching OTA broadcast TV for a couple of hours on my early 2000's era Panasonic 40"-inch plasma with the "homeworx" tuner, which also records.

Yes, the commercials are as stated -- I finally had to look up who Joe Namath was and why he is qualified to be a spokesman for Medicare supplements -- of course, I am not even all that sure what a Medicare supplement is....but, the commercial breaks have become my friend. Most of the time I can finish the dishes, fold the laundry, vacuum part of the house during a typical break.

Seems as if they are longer than ever,,,,but....free tv -- sort of. Our antenna is on the roof. Installed by a pro -- all-in, it was about $200. But, for giggles, I hooked up a friend's indoor Mohu and it gave the exact same reception as the on-roof antenna.

And, several years ago, a windstorm knocked some fir trees onto the house, smashing the antenna. I called the pro back and he hooked up a coil of coax and set it atop the roof -- just a coil of coax cable -- and it gave almost the same reception as the antenna.

He came back once the trees were removed and the roof repaired and installed another antenna.

Don't miss movie houses. Never really liked the experience.

kris

 

Now you are making some of us feel really old ...

 

TV reception is also highly dependent on topography. I live near the top of the hill, on the transmitter side of it, so get great reception. The hollows down just over the hill are nearly TV-free.

Generally, outdoor rooftop should be better than lower indoor positions 'shaded' by more vegetation and neighboring structures. But longer lossy cable runs, connector joints, and weather leaking in to those connectors, can eat up all the high rooftop signal gain.

Today's tuners should never have a problem "staying tuned" in the way that old analog receivers slowly drifted off-channel, but weak and variable signals can always cause full or partial loss of the program.

 

I was seeing those commercials on basic cable. Maybe I was watching broadcast stations. Don't remember, been over a year since I cut cable and went streaming only.

Cable isn't free of weather. I remember Comcast reception getting bad because of weather where they got the signals.

 

Business class cable from the only game in town. Gigabit down, 35Mbps up. It's the only plan with more than 8Mbps uplink. I live on a mountain which is literally solid granite. My house is footed on bedrock not because it was dug down deep but because it had to be carved out to pour the foundation. All the utilities are run up a single channel in the mountain. Electric, gas, water, sewer, internet, everything goes in this one narrow trench they excavated 60 years ago and filled in. There is a fiber node run up the mountain that goes to all the distribution points. Every house up the mountain connects via copper (coax cable copper) to the distribution node and hops onto the single fiber line. Every provider uses it. One provider (Comcast) owns it. So everyone else is bandwidth limited. It amazes me to no end how many people complain of one service to switch to another and it works just fine. No idea that they are all the same thing.

I also have some static IPv4 blocks and of course it is unmetered. Do about 350MB a day up and the down varies but is usually 350MB minimum. Yesterday had 2TB down.

I also pay $34.99 Canadian for a house in Toronto and I get symmetric 1Gbps fiber to the home with no data caps. It's amazing what can happen when the internet is treated as a public utility and required to be maintained, upgraded, and available. But the power costs 3 to 4 times as much so it is easier for me to have my servers in Colorado.

I do have a cave... The main bedroom is pitch black and kept around 10C-12C.