Whats good indoor TV in antennas?

[alanp]

Anyone know of a really good digital indoor TV antenna?

My sister moved into an apartment well within the footprint of where TV should go.  But the pair of rabbit ears from radio shack aren't doing the job. In fact, one station with the tower only 4 miles away comes in scrambled. I really miss analog.

[Ktrek]

I don't know this for sure Alan but I think along with the TV antenna you have to have the HD decoder in order to get an unscrambled picture. That antenna should work fine once you have the decoder.

Kevin

[Rico]

Two things might be going on.  In order to receive digital over the air transmissions you need a tuner that is digital capable.  That can be either built into the TV itself if it's a newer model or you will need a converter box.  If you have that, Best Buy and Radio Shack both carry antenna's that will work pretty well to pull in digital TV.  I got one that had flat screen panels on it that sit horizontally.  Works pretty well for my mother-in-law who doesn't have cable.

[Feathers]

Is it the same in the States as here?

Until they switch off the analogue signals, they're running the digital transmitters at reduced power to avoid interference. Once they ramp the digital signals up they're expecting all reception problems to disappear.

That doesn't help anyone in the short term though.

[Rico]

Is it the same in the States as here?

Until they switch off the analogue signals, they're running the digital transmitters at reduced power to avoid interference. Once they ramp the digital signals up they're expecting all reception problems to disappear.

That doesn't help anyone in the short term though.

No, it isn't the same here.  The analogue signals were shut off already last summer.

[Feathers]

Oh! I thought they'd postponed that. Something about the President getting involved.

Never mind, I'm allowed to be wrong once a year :)

[Rico]

Oh! I thought they'd postponed that. Something about the President getting involved.

Never mind, I'm allowed to be wrong once a year :)

It was delayed - twice I think over the past couple of years.  But they finally dropped the analogue last summer.

[alanp]

Yeah here is the setup:

We've got a digital, powered, rabbit ear antenna, going into a digital converter box, then to the TV set.

Some channels are clear as a bell, and others come in scrambled.  Sometimes we can turn the antenna and improve things, but not always.  Being only a few miles from the towers we should be getting a clear picture.

[Rico]

Yeah here is the setup:

We've got a digital, powered, rabbit ear antenna, going into a digital converter box, then to the TV set.

Some channels are clear as a bell, and others come in scrambled.  Sometimes we can turn the antenna and improve things, but not always.  Being only a few miles from the towers we should be getting a clear picture.

There are multiple towers for multiple stations and signals.  Also, not all digital antenna's are created equal.  Typically the "rabbit ear" type don't do as well for digital signals as a wider receiver area such as a metal mesh, screen, or fins.  Shop around and if it doesn't pull in a good picture, take the antenna back.  It can also be due to your converter box.  Again, some are better than others.