Over The Air TV Still A Great Choice for Cord Cutting

There are many ways that cord cutters are getting free TV, but over the air TV is still he most used. The Internet might let people watch almost any show like a DVR on steroids and it works well. The problem with Internet TV is that getting a live stream is difficult or not legal. This means that to watch the American Idol final you either wait till it's online or you need to find it on a local station. There are some small upfront costs to getting your antenna and maybe a digital box for those with older TV's. If you have not played around with an antenna since the Nixon administration things have changed.

The first thing you will notice is that the signal is now in HD and not he fuzzy picture you got in he old days. There is no need to have your little brother holding the antenna every which way until you got a good picture. In the modern age you either get a great HD picture or nothing at all. The picture also depends on where the antenna is placed and you want to make sure you point your antenna towards the broadcast tower.

Once you get that signal now you can watch sports news broadcasts live. As much as I love all the content online there are many times that I want access to live television. This holds true for season finales of shows and when an important news story breaks. If you have not tried over the air TV and have a newer television that cost is about $50.00 to get an antenna. There are many indoor antennas that do a great job of bringing in over the air television. If you live in a rural area you mighty need an outdoor antenna. The channels that the antenna will tune is mostly network television and local channels. You might also get sub channels that bring in more content. In my area one channels runs regular programming on the main channel and movies and kid programs on the sub channels.

The change in technology has improved over the air television and the HD signals look great. When I have guest over most of the time they do not know that they are watching free TV through an antenna. It's always a surprise when I tell my guest that I do not have any cable and get most of my TV viewing from over the air channels or the Internet.

Give it a try you will be surprised how improved that signal is over antenna.

Philips MANT950 Indoor/Outdoor Amplified UHF/VHF/HDTV Antenna

This weekend I purchased the Philips MANT950 Indoor/Outdoor Amplified UHF/VHF/HDTV Antenna. With all the great reviews I read online I thought I had found the perfect outdoor antenna to catch a few more HD channels. This was not the case I did not get any more channels then I already was getting with my Terk antenna. The first location I picked to try this antenna out was outdoors and it did bring in a better picture on the channels I already had, but this was due to the fact I had it outdoors any antenna would do the same outdoors. Playing around with pointing I did not find any other channels. Well after playing around for an hour outside I figure I would try it in the same location indoor that I have my current antenna set up. The signal for some channels were better as this antenna is a little longer and pulls in a better signal for standard analog UHF channels. As for the HD channels I had to play around with the position in order to get the same HD channels I already had with my old antenna. What it did do better was catching the CW station from Buffalo New York. This station on my old antenna keep coming and dropping the Philips antenna did manage to keep the signal at full bar the whole time I was watching. Over all I would say that if you need an antenna and this is your first purchase then the Philips is a good outdoor antenna or placed indoors it does a little better at bringing in a better picture on weak signals. If you already own an antenna then skip this one it won't do much more then what you already have.

LOOK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS PHILIPS ANTENNA!

LOOK HERE FOR MORE ON THE TERK INDOOR ANTENNA WHICH IS MY FAV!

HDTV Outdoor Antenna Clearstream 4

The Clearstream 4 has been getting some great reviews as an outdoor antenna. The users that have installed this antenna claim to have picked up double the channels they had with an indoor antenna. If you can place an antenna outdoors then try the Clearstream 4 with the unique design it is a serious outdoor HDTV antenna.

Product Description
ClearStream antennas represent a breakthrough in size and unmatched ultra efficient design and directionality. Advanced design software allows these 20" x 28" antennas to be smaller and powerful across the core UHF DTV spectrum offering consistent high gain. This advancement in antenna efficiency allows up to 98% of the available broadcast signal to actually reach the incoming antenna cable rather than being lost to impedance mismatches. The ClearStream4 quad-loop design receives all core DTV channels available with a range up to 65 +miles. There is also additional capability on higher level VHF frequencies. They are engineered for extra strength and durability, using anodized aluminum for corrosion resistance and are easy to assemble.

You can find this antenna ready to ship here!

HDTV Antenna Pointing

In order to get a strong signal you will have to point your antenna in the right direction or in various directions. As an example in Southern Ontario where I am located there are about three directions to get a signal. The most powerful signals come from the CN Tower in Toronto. The way to tap into those signals is to place the antenna in a high position pointed to the CN Tower. The best place to position an indoor antenna is near a window in the direction of the tower You might also pick up signals through walls, but I have had not luck with this method. If you live in an apartment and have a balcony facing in the right direction then you can try an outdoor antenna if your build allows for this or try to hide it if possible.



The best chance of getting a strong signal are for those who can place an outdoor antenna high enough not to get blocked by building or trees. The outdoor antennas can produce many more channels and can be rotated with the right equipment to tune in channels from many directions. You might also have to play around with new antennas until you get the strongest signal. There are many channels hidden in your TV tuner. The television that I have had 2 channels not visible and I had to set them manually. It pays to read the instruction for your TV or to play with the settings, you might find some hidden channels that need to be add manually.

HDTV Antenna Arrived

My new HDTV antenna arrived and I was able to test the signal in my area. At first I was only getting one channel when I had it low to the ground. Once I place it at another window and at a higher level I got 4 digital HDTV channels and 16 regular channels. That's 20 channels for free without a bill from the cable company. In addition to all the stations I get online. In total with the antenna and the stations online that's about 100 free channels to pick from. There are also many free video on demand service and video content that I won't count as a station. Now the next step for my free cable project is getting a dedicated PC for video streaming. There are a few small PC's running Windows XP and the Intel Atom chip. These are like the netbooks, but have a little more power and cost in the $250 to $400 range. With one of these computer hooked up to the TV I would be able to stream and play back almost any media type. The prices of these PC's will be dropping as more companies come into the market I will keep looking for the best deal. In the meantime I have more TV to watch then ever before and it's all free.

HDTV is FREE Don't Pay Rogers Bell Cogeco

If you live in southern Ontario you are in one of the best spots in North America to get free HDTV. As I mentioned in an earlier post all you need is an HDTV antenna or UHF antenna. If you have a clear line of site to the CN Tower you would be surprised at how many TV stations you can get. If you are paying Roger Bell or Cogeco stop paying them. You do not need a service to get these channels. There are also a good number of stations from Buffalo and Rochester New York that broadcast in HD. All you need is to point a quality antenna in the right direction.

HDTV Antenna

A few days ago I ordered my HDTV antenna, but I did find another great source. This site has HDTV antennas starting at $0.01. If you are looking for a low cost antenna give this site a look.

HDTV Antenna