Is there a way to hook up Over the Air (OTA) Antennas, into a receiver, to get surround sound, and w (3 Viewers)

[rivrbyte]

Need help with OTA antennas, and running through a surround system. Cutting ties with cable!


QUESTION:

Is there a way to hook up Over the Air (OTA) Antennas, into a receiver, to get surround sound?

Hello!

I need to DRASTICALLY cut ties with TIME WARNER, and DO NOT want any long-term contracts, with early termination fees, with any of the satellite companies.


At present, I am with Time Warner, on their "Triple Play" year promotion, that ends next Friday. This plan gave me 200Mbps, Nation wide long-distance to Canada, US, and Mexico, Caller ID, Epix for one year, and basic/broadcast cable channels. No Sports, no pay per view. I usually watch Nat Geo, SyFy, CNN, MSNBC, local stations, Discovery, and also listen to the Music Choice stations, and that's about it, I don't need 5,000 stations.

My SET UP ~
I have two TV's, one is in the main Family room, with a Yamaha 7.1 Surround receiver, connected to a Samsung Smart TV. T/W goes into receiver, then out to TV.
My other TV, in the master bedroom, is not very 'Smart", and is a seven year old, HDMI compliant, Samsung, hooked to an Apple TV, for streaming Netflix.

My PHONE ~
The phone is needed, on my landline to enable me, to send and receive all too important faxes to and from my doctors, and I will not go to Kinko's for this service, if I can help it.

My DEVICES ~
I have an Ipod Touch 5th GEN., and a desktop PC.
An Epson Wi-fi WF 2660 All in one printer.

LOCATION ~
I live in a hilly area, of Southern California, and I don't have good AM/FM reception. So if I do go with a roof top antenna, would I be looking for UHF,TV, with FM? My local stations are about 50 miles away to Los Angeles. I have a 35' sound wall about 50' feet away, for the train, and also wondered if I would need to install this on a higher mask, (over this wall height) or I would be set-back far enough of an angle, to have an unobstructed line of sight for a strong reception.

ANTENNAS ~
After seeing those infomercials on the portable HDMI Digital receivers that you attach to a window, then into your HDMI TV, how would I run this through my surround sound? I saw a "Channel Master". $10.00...Is this a joke? I called best Buy, and he told me about a 'Ultatenna', from Channel master Model # 4221HD. Best buy Sku # 339-5396. $65.00. Up to 65 Mile range. multi-directional. (14-69 stations)

I am on a very low disability with a rare terminal metastatic tumor cancer and can no longer afford the "luxury" of having cable, as expensive as it is, and only continues to climb, but now, I'm scrambling to find a cheap internet and phone plan.
I thought about ATT and Direct TV, but not sure about their 'come-on' offers of $19.99 (SELECT) per month for first year, then the second year contract is far more expensive, then if you terminate, you owe $15 or so, per month, until the contract has been satisfied.
If anyone at all knows what I am trying to achieve, and can recommend a decent, not too expensive antenna, to be able to run this through my surround system, and also a way to set up my second TV, with this same connection, but without surround, that would make me happy!

So, in closing, is OTA the way to go, or is this far more trouble for me, than it sounds? All I know is, I think I would be happy with only a phone (no contract) and Internet capability, to stream Netflix, and to continue to use my ipod, and desktop PC, as well.

Thank You!

 

[Osato]

I used an ota antenna in the past. It was hooked into my home theater as well. Obviously the antenna will connect to the tv via the coaxial cable. I actually had my house wired so I could hook multiple tvs to use the antenna feed. The sound was connected via a digital cable going from the tv to the receiver. I believe there was a setting for this in the tv menu.
I have a Panasonic plasma and denon receiver. I'm sure most HDTV would have the same setting.
For the antenna I ordered a powered on by rca from Amazon.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-Suburban-Mini-Yagi-Digital-Outdoor-Antenna-with-Mast/10828410

A friend of mine had good luck with a cheaper antenna as well. I'll post it when I find it. His antenna could be turned by remote for better reception.

Note if you need a powered antenna make sure the power unit is far enough away from the antenna. The reason for this is that it may cause interference.

If possible the antenna will work best being mounted outdoors.

This site is helpful to figuring out what kind of antenna is right for your area too:
http://antennaweb.org


Hope this helps. I know location and terrain make a lot of difference with reception too.

 

[schan1269]

If your TV has audio output...

Your AVR couldn't care less if it was a TV, CD player, walkman...or your phone.

It will send DD to the AVR, cause it is a FTC requirement to do so.

 

[Osato]

I should've stated optical cable not digital cable. In my original post.

 

[Osato]

Here is the one my friend went with. It's worked well for him:

http://www.amazon.com/Esky-Amplifie...ie=UTF8&qid=1460240041&sr=8-3&keywords=HG-981

 

[rivrbyte]

Could this work?
In my main TV room, my (YAMAHA RX-V675 AVR) All I see on the rear panel is a little box to insert 2 flat AM antenna leads, and the other, is a 75Q FM RADIO round port.

To get surround, I was told to get any standard TV antenna, connect this new antenna, directly to my wall-mounted TV, which is a Smart Samsung LED (UN46H5203AF) this has both optical TOS, and also an "Antenna IN, input".
I would have to run a 20' foot TOS Optical, and a longer coaxial cable from IN/EX antenna to also go into the wall and into the back of this TV. Then I will need to assign the TOS port, to an input of the AVR, like AV3, or AV4, if any of these are open. Does this sound feasible?

I am about 45 miles south of Los Angeles, and live in a hilly area, with no FM radio reception, and spotty AM radio at best! So a few variables abound. Do I want to get an exterior CLEARSTORM 2, or 4, and mount it on the roof of my mobile home, and buy the optional CPA-19 Pre-Amp kit, and use this for my main room, or can I use a coaxial splitter, to share this same antenna with my old dumb Samsung 2008 LCD (LN46A750R1F) (comes with "TOS audio and Antenna IN") in my master bedroom?

OR...
I would have to get a separate antenna for my master bedroom, since I do not have any surround in that room anyway, If I can't share with the Main room, then maybe a separate cheaper indoor antenna, like RCA or MOHU, brand that I hang on the wall, and whether it should be a powered, or amplified type to pull in more channels. I also have a 35' sound wall to my northwest, but unobstructed otherwise, on the other three sides. .

Do I look for only a UHF and VHF, or look for one that can I receive FM/AM reception through this AVR, using a UHF/VHF/FM?
Am I thinking that the "FM" mentioned here, is exactly for radio reception picking up digital music stations instead of the other way I just mentioned, using the FM flat leads?
I do apologize for being a newbie, but I know, that everyone starts out as one. Again, Thank you for all of your replies!

 

[rivrbyte]

BAD RECEPTION DUE TO THE ALUMINUM, THAT MY MOBILE HOME IS MADE OUT OF!
After looking into outdoor antennas, to get signal into my TV, (The Clearstream 2V) ($90.00)
Yesterday, I was curious to see if all this talk about these types of amplified antennas for your interior really and truly do what they aall say they do.

So I bought the 60 mile range RCA1750F, I followed directions and turned it on, did a channel search, it found 34 stations, but the signal strength from 1 to 10, was no more than 1 and a half bars, AT THE MOST! ......and that, was me holding the flat antenna high against the ceiling wall.
I contacted RCA/AudioVox, this morning, and they told me that was the reason, why I was not getting anything because of the aluminum metal bouncing off, disrupting the signal. REMEMBER, I AM A NEWBIE AT THIS.

So, Now I am thinking of buying the Clearstream, or another suggested antenna, then maybe split the signal with a coaxial RG6 cable into both TV'S, but again, I was told this will no doubt, degrade the signal. I really do not want to buy two sepaate antennas, but If it's not recommended to split the signal, can anyone recommend a ngood INDOOR ANTENNA, that has no effect at all, on any surrounding metal.
Soooo, Now what? I live in a mobile home, and need to find a decent workable OTA rooftop mounted antenna. Any ideas?
Thank You!

 

[rivrbyte]

BAD RECEPTION DUE TO THE ALUMINUM, THAT MY MOBILE HOME IS MADE OUT OF!
After looking into outdoor antennas, to get signal into my TV, (The Clearstream 2V) ($90.00)
Yesterday, I was curious to see if all this talk about these types of amplified antennas for your interior really and truly do what they aall say they do.

So I bought the 60 mile range RCA1750F, I followed directions and turned it on, did a channel search, it found 34 stations, but the signal strength from 1 to 10, was no more than 1 and a half bars, AT THE MOST! ......and that, was me holding the flat antenna high against the ceiling wall.
I contacted RCA/AudioVox, this morning, and they told me that was the reason, why I was not getting anything because of the aluminum metal bouncing off, disrupting the signal. REMEMBER, I AM A NEWBIE AT THIS.

So, Now I am thinking of buying the Clearstream, or another suggested antenna, then maybe split the signal with a coaxial RG6 cable into both TV'S, but again, I was told this will no doubt, degrade the signal. I really do not want to buy two sepaate antennas, but If it's not recommended to split the signal, can anyone recommend a ngood INDOOR ANTENNA, that has no effect at all, on any surrounding metal.
Soooo, Now what? I live in a mobile home, and need to find a decent workable OTA rooftop mounted antenna. Any ideas?
Thank You!

 

[Robert_J]

Have you looked at antennaweb.org to find out the size/type of the antenna you need and the direction(s) to point it? From there you will need to mount it on a pole above the roof line of your home. Run the cable inside to your TVs. Depending on the signal strength you may need to get a booster to put on your antenna.

During the transition to digital TV, I installed a Winegard UHF antenna http://www.amazon.com/WINEGARD-HD-9...F8&qid=1460734755&sr=1-5&keywords=uhf+antenna in my attic because all of my local stations were on the UHF frequency band. After the transition period was over, channel 5 went back to its original broadcast frequency in the VHF range. If I wanted to cut the cord, I would use a UHF/VHF combination antenna http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD76...id=1460734880&sr=1-8&keywords=vhf+uhf+antenna

I'm lucky in that all of my local stations broadcast from an antenna farm about 30 miles northeast of my location. If your situation is different then you may have to have a UHF antenna pointing one direction and a VHF antenna pointing another. There are joiners to combine the signals into a single cable.

Now this will take care of your local channels but not help you with your other channels mentioned in the first post. If you will still get high speed internet, a lot of those channels are available for streaming. I use a Roku box but there are literally hundreds of different options.

 

[rivrbyte]

Have you looked at antennaweb.org to find out the size/type of the antenna you need and the direction(s) to point it? From there you will need to mount it on a pole above the roof line of your home. Run the cable inside to your TVs. Depending on the signal strength you may need to get a booster to put on your antenna.

During the transition to digital TV, I installed a Winegard UHF antenna http://www.amazon.com/WINEGARD-HD-9...F8&qid=1460734755&sr=1-5&keywords=uhf+antenna in my attic because all of my local stations were on the UHF frequency band. After the transition period was over, channel 5 went back to its original broadcast frequency in the VHF range. If I wanted to cut the cord, I would use a UHF/VHF combination antenna http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD76...id=1460734880&sr=1-8&keywords=vhf+uhf+antenna

I'm lucky in that all of my local stations broadcast from an antenna farm about 30 miles northeast of my location. If your situation is different then you may have to have a UHF antenna pointing one direction and a VHF antenna pointing another. There are joiners to combine the signals into a single cable.

Now this will take care of your local channels but not help you with your other channels mentioned in the first post. If you will still get high speed internet, a lot of those channels are available for streaming. I use a Roku box but there are literally hundreds of different options.

 

[rivrbyte]

I live in a mobile home, that's why I can not receive OTA signals, with certain types of antennas, especially the indoor flat type, that DOES NOT WORK, because of all the sheet metal, so I have to place whatever type of antenna on my roof. I purchased an RCA ANT1750F $90.00 at Fry's, got it home but NADA!!!! Out of ten bars for signal, I hooked it up to my dumb w/apple TV in master bedroom, but only got 1/2 of one only bar, at the best!

They told me it was totally because of the aluminum house. And I live at the end . in a cul-te-sac and the last house on the street, but with a 40' Sound wall for the train, might present some problems. Some of these roof top types look pretty cheap, should I look beyond that? I guess i need to talk with anyone who presently lives in a ALUMINUM MOBILE HOME, with any high structures around their properties, which do you recommend? I need a VHF/UHF/HDTV/FM. I guess I can build my own stand for a roof top. But grounding, and whether to use a powered, or amplified type would work best for me.
I still would like to split the signal to two TV'S, but i hear it may cause degradation of signal. BUT, what about if I have an existing COAX CABLE BLOCK, to split the signal? Same thing? What is this? I recently dumped cable last week.

My surround TV is already supplied with a TOS Digital optical cable from TV to AVR, I will only need eith one OTA rooftop to only get channels to the smart TV in the living room, hooked up to the surround AVR, or....
get s Coax splitter block (whatever that is) to send signals to both TV's, but am told repeatedly, that I will not be very happy with the end result, but one thing is for certain, with my ALUMINUM MOBILE HOME, I will definitely be attaching an OTA to my flat roof mobile home. The only obstruction is the 40' to 50' high metal train sound wall, made of metal, located about 50' feet from my northwest facing mobile home.

Do the UHF/VHF/HDTV signals carry over this wall obstruction, or do I have to live with , not so clear, over the air channels, just to save on my cable bill?
This is confusing to a novice such as me. I just know that I am NOT well versed on any of this, but first of all, I need to determine exactly which OTA roof antenna I will need, and all the installing, grounding, using a cable block to split coax signals between two TV'S, any boosting, or amplification, and all other installation stuff..... I should not be doing, if I am only a NOVICE.
I called a Home Theater shop, but they could not help me unless I "pay them" to come out. I understand that they need to make money, but the reason why I can not afford cable, and need help, is solely because, I CAN NOT AFFORD to hire anyone, otherwise, I would be cheerfully handing over thousands of my disability dollars each year over to one of, or the biggest monopolized cable company in AMERICA!

Some of the antennas at Fry's I looked at, looked like very cheap plastic, though was very expensive...should I worry about that? Cheap looking like: Antennas Direct and ClearStorm2v
Thank you!

This was my TV fool report~
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...51347098955add

 

[Robert_J]

You need to buy an antenna that looks like an antenna. The ones I suggested in the links are UHF and UHF/VHF. You said you need FM as well. I suggest you get a separate antenna for that. You also said you need an HDTV antenna. Those do not exist outside of the marketing department. Digital signals are still sent over the same frequencies they were back in 1950 so that means you need the same type of antenna used back then.

Your antenna will need to be higher than the sound wall near your home.

You said you were a novice so this should help with your splitter question - http://www.killthecablebill.com/how-to-connect-multiple-tvs-to-your-ota-antenna/

I looked at your TV Fool report. Which group of channels are you trying to pick up? The ones northwest of you? The ones east northeast of you? Both? Both may require a rotater to move the antenna or dual antennas with a jointenna to combine the signal.

Mounting would start with something like this http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-DS-3..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1JH7CV2H3EMXM5PATSD2 installed on a solid surface as high as possible. A few of these 5 foot poles to raise the antenna even more http://www.amazon.com/WINEGARD-TB-0..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1JH7CV2H3EMXM5PATSD2

Some of the antennas at Fry's I looked at, looked like very cheap plastic, though was very expensive...should I worry about that? Cheap looking like: Antennas Direct and ClearStorm2v

A TV antenna's function is proportional to it looking like an old style antenna. So at the top of your mast use an antenna that looks like one that I linked to.

Run a cable to your main TV. Adjust the direction and get the best signal you can get. From there you can split the signal, add amplifiers, etc.