Link to the Mediasonic DTV Box 👉 amzn.to/3Lngj75 Link to AVS Forum threads to check the status of local TV stations: www.avsforum.com/forums/local-hdtv-info-and-reception.45/ 📡 Reception problems? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
@AntennaMan do you have a video about how to design a system inside the house? For instance, where to put a booster in the line between the antenna and TV, how to merge two antennas together to cover different sides of the apartment or house that have towers on them (like a set of towers to the north and a set of towers to the east or south), things like that. Thanks!
@panachevitz I put my amplifier behind my tv and I tried to combine 2 antenna in my bedroom and didn't work on my coat hanger antenna I made so I'm using my short one now put my 4 ft one up in my closet try to put your antenna to the windows up high or a high shelf and see what happens
@@trainman-w7u Oddly enough, that is pretty close to what I have right now, but I just feel like I have a gap in my knowledge even after trying to educate myself and work within my limitations.
I wish more TVs would add a common feature that was available on nearly all tuner boxes when the digital transition first started, which is a the Scan-Add option. Even the cheapest boxes offered it, and you could simply run it as many times as you want, and it will just add new ones without removing old ones.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME ! I live in Chicago and I moved from a location close to Downtown to the far North side. My favorite TV show (Columbo) was broadcast on COZI TV (NBC 5.2). After I moved, the TV was pixilating (breaking up) very badly on that channel. I tried re-scanning, and I lost the channel outright! After rotating the antenna and re-scanning a DOZEN times, I got lucky and got the channel back. I learned my lesson the hard way, and I won't push my luck again!
Seems like not too long ago CBS Ch2 changed their signal and I had to rescan all of the televisions. A signal amplifier can also help with the weak signals.
@trainman-w7u Actually, I already did that. I bought an 30dB antenna amplifier from Amazon and put it in series with the antenna and digital converter box. It helps me get channels I couldn't get before but the pixilating channels still pixilate. I recently even bought an LTE filter and put IT in series as well. It doesn't do any harm, but it doesn't reduce pixilating very much. I bought it from Amazon as well. Now, the back of my TV is a rat's nest of a million coax cables.
great tip, thanks. I learned this the hard way, doing a scan when weather was bad it wiped out all my channels. Could not get them all back until conditions were perfect. Sadly most newer TVs don't have OTA signal meters anymore because the tv makers want you to watch their "smart" tv content, not free OTA. Not only that, I also noticed that my newer smart TV now rolls my OTA channels into their content channels lineup so they are actually tracking my OTA since it's connected via wifi
Yes. This has another extremely irritating consequence as well. Since now all your channel changing goes through the WIFI you can get a nasty delay when pushing the button on the remote! It can be 5 to 10 seconds (or more!) for the channel to finally switch!
The Mediasonic DTV box you mentioned in the video can actually also be used as a DTV converter box, which converts digital signals into analog signals to watch on old CRT TVs. Analog signals aren't being broadcast anymore due to the DTV Transition of 2009, so you can't pick up channels on an old CRT without one of these converter boxes. The box has RF and AV outputs in addition to an HDMI output. I know a lot of people use CRTs for retro gaming nowadays. They can still be used to watch over the air TV ya know. Also thanks Tyler for the great content! Been watching you for a while now.
@@gr8dvd Don't! It can still go to good use. The DTV Transition of 2009 is why they started making those converter boxes in the first place. So that any TV could get the new digital signals. You could easily still use it as a backup. Plus if you're into retro gaming, you'll practically need it because with newer flat screen sets, the low resolution of retro consoles cause a lot of lag which just doesn't happen on a CRT
@@NYfan2004 Actually used it for years with converter but maybe getting too old to mess with heavy/bulky CRT as its flatscreen replacement is starting to fail. Hopefully someone else’s treasure (not trash).
I went with Tyler's' recommendation for my area and I'm so glad I went with his selection. I have had no issues since I upgraded my antenna. It will save you money and problems in the future.
This has happened to me a few times. I didn't know & did a channel scan & the channel was removed! But a while later or the next day I scanned again and it was back. I've never lost a channel for a long period.
I made up a game plan for scanning channels. First, sit very still and surf through all the channels to see if the signal is strong. Sitting still is important -- I have channels that go away if I stand up or walk around! When all is good, start scan. Also, I have better luck at this time of year, when the trees have sneezed off their leaves.
Sometimes I will wake up at 3 AM or so and check OTA reception for the heck of it. If oddball stations are coming in, I'll run a scan to capture these stations so they will be in memory later if I ever want to do some TV DX'ing.
@@AntennaMan If the set has that feature, I don't know about it. We got a new Channel Master antenna to improve reception from Madison--we are in Rockford--but the old CM antenna would get Chicago frequently--the new one does not--front to back ratio must be different.
@@AntennaMan My LG has a manual tune where I can add or delete at will....plus I think the LG is scanning at night even when turned off ..I see added channels in the morning after a night with tropo active and I'm sleeping ..
My mom actually just almost had this potential disaster. The true crime channel she watches all the time was losing reception really badly on a cloudy rainy day. She told me that channel always is bad but never that bad. She was just about to do a channel rescan when I stopped her. I ended up giving her the antenna I use for my TV. At first i couldn't find a spot where the reception was good, until I noticed a switch on the signal amplifier. The switch was set to short-range. I flipped the switch to long-range and like magic the channel came in clear and she hasn't had any problems with that channel since. The only bad thing Is I now don't have an antenna and the antenna i gave her is no longer available on Amazon. Hopefully i can find another one like it.
ALL TV manufacturers should add the ability to manually add channels. This is extremely important for people between markets that use a rotator. Some sets wont allow this
Good advice. Some TVs have an Add Channels option that simply adds any channels it finds and does not delete or erase settings you have previously set to ignore certain channels that are not of interest.
Worst part about doing a new channel scan is you get back all of the channels you removed manually. I don't bother anymore, but I used to remove things like home shopping channels and some of the foreign language ones.
I believe LG still makes TVs with a "manual tuning" option. I wish more brands did the same. As someone who has a rotor and receives TV signals from three different directions, it's nice to manually go through the RF channels and save the ones you want whether or not you are getting a signal at that moment. I don't think I've ever used the "scan for channels" option for those TVs.
Analog didn't look that good in the first place, had ghosts, and the sound especially would cut out. I agree with you that digital has worse range. They should have implemented better redundancy and error correction in the system. Low flying aircraft and windy days seem to destroy my TV reception.
Another reason to not scan needlessly is that the Homeworx software deletes the recording schedule when you do that. At some point I need to set up my recording schedule again. It is a nice thing to do when stuff you want to watch is on at times you don't want to be in front of the TV. Where I am one TV station plays some good old movies in the small hours of the morning.
Thank you, Tyler, for the great advice as always. I really appreciate you and your channel. I had very bad luck with the Mediasonic. I had two of them die on me in about 6 months. They were both ver2 units. Great tuner, but very bad quality. Very dated menus too, Never buy again. They are dirt cheap though. I have been very pleased with the ADTH tuner. Works well and nice interface/menus. They are always trying the make improvements with periodical software updates too. Nice build quality and has NEXTGEN. I know it's more money around $90, but I think it is worth it. I haven't tried any other but the Tablo that I hated. Not sure about the 4th gen. Anyway, thanks again and keep up the great work
Yeah being a kid back in those days I remember standing by the pole turning it while mom would yell at me out the window to stop turning when the channel came in. Just had to watch Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas on Friday Nights. CBS was always snowy in my market.
Any tv maker can fix this with dumb manual tuning and a signal strength meter. Ballpark guess they could do it for less than $20/set. Must not be any demand, otherwise why not? (D/A converter boxes were invented LONG before they were sold anywhere)
You can still do that with a lg tv but you have to manually set up in menu to rf channels ch up and down,this is good if you have rotor on antenna or turn volume up and go outside to turn antenna,like the old days.
I appreciate your expert level knowledge of the technical processes involved and web and TV issues. I hope you understand that people who attempt to use Channel scan are only acting as reasonably as they have been informed. I hope you realize that the logic of the manufacturers of TVs with Channel Scan and Set system as described is commercially corrupt and unethical. The need to buy an extra device to make a TV function may be considered criminal fraud. I hope you don't think people are stupid for using the labelled tool that most closely resembles what they want to happen. TV manufacturers have behaved like this for decades. They specifically lobbied Congress to grant them exceptions from basic civil rights laws that require equal access for all TVs to have captions, by getting a "waiver" declared on TV screen sizes that the TV Industry deemed "too small". There was no evidence, no research, and no legitimate legal basis for being granted the exception. That is only a single example, the similar criminal acts of fraud upon the entire TV buying number of US and global citizens is in the billions, as are the profits of the TV makers. Thanks for your help.
This happened with me and metv but it came back after a scan i did awhile down the road . Definately helpful to be able to do a specific station and not needing a complete scan
Thx for that info. Also that thumbnail looked a bit scary in my opinion. I honestly might get that converter box some day although I do have a smart Vizio tv
The manual search feature and signal meter will definitely help you lock in more channels with your antenna or at the very least improve reliability of existing channels.
At least that feature of adding extra channels while not deleting the channels you already have is also present on Sony TVs. At least all Sony TVs I have have that feature.
Old tv repairman here. Why do we need to do any scans? Why aren’t all channels tunable? Should be able to lock out what is not used in your area but have all channels available like conventional tuners did in the past.
We have to run autoscans on the TV now because the digital transition (AKA selling half the TV band to cell phone companies) forced many TV stations on different RF channels than the analog era. To avoid mass confusion, they simply use a virtual channel that's shown after running a channel scan.
Thanks for the info. I’ve got all the channels I want and watch. I will definitely not throw the dice and try to get a few more channels that I probably won’t actually watch.
In my experience I can receive weak OTA UHF TV stations and Satellite KU Band TV stations on STBs than TVs. TVs don't have good tunners like STBs, TVs in general can receive Strong and Medium signal TV channels and in some cases Medium to Weak TV signals, but Weak TV signal even with a good antenna you have reception problems. STBs have no problem with weak TV signals as long as you use an antenna with more elements and a preamp. Or a larger satellite dish with a good LNB for KU Band a 120 - 150 cm will have stable reception on weak transponders.
I rescan my channels at night to see if any added but no luck yet hopefully I'll get more next year with my antop signal gain booster adjustment is doing a fine job my channels as you mentioned comes and go probably because of weather I got mine on my entertainment system and does fine I'm getting 54 channels now with aluminum foil on the long hangers I'm using a Toshiba tv back in 2010 with signal meter built in does a good job even though it's old
My main TV lets me choose either of 2 ways to run a channel scan. One adds new channels if there are any without deleting any existing ones. The other does a clean scan.
A 100ft piece of coax attached to the antenna and strapped to your kids back works great. As he walks around the house, you will see the signals go up or down. Spray paint channel numbers on the carpet where they come in best for future reference. Genuis !!!! LOL
I ran a rescan because my local PBS station has realigned their subchannels, they removed Cozi which moved from 9.3 to 44.4, which instead we got PBS Plus, which is a rerun network of older PBS shows. I just hate subchannel realignment more than bad reception from the antenna that doesn’t need rescanning.
I like COZI and ANTENNA tv. Unfortunately, they only broadcast in 480i, the picture sucks, and it's not the antenna. 😢 That, and soooo many commercials. Just like H&I.
@ because most of the shows are really old, it wouldn’t make much of a difference watching Little house on the prairie and Carol Burnett show in HD, I just don’t like COZI is now a subchannel under CW, which has slight worse reception.
Yeah this pretty much means you need more antenna or a reorientation. Being around when analog was king if it was a little weak you could still watch a station with some snow, how I miss those days.
Has Homeworx improved the sensitivity on their tuner for this box? I have a much older model by the same company and unfortunately the tuner is quite weak, compared to my Digital Stream box.
I live halfway between 2 major cities. The antenna web site says I shouldn’t get any channels. I currently get 50+ with an antenna in the attic. Before when I had an antenna on the roof I had even more but the neighbor cut a tree and took out both my antenna and the roof. It was a 20ft tall antenna!
yeah, i get like 85 channels of LA and San diego on a mountain top, and need to see if any channels that have added recent, but sometimes a cloud goes by (during the Scan) and i can loose 30 channels and gain 3 new, so i have Scan again when the weather is best, but Summertimes is usually is best, but sometimes cloud cover can help the bounce stay in for the 300 miles from the station in the next city
If you have sony or lg tvs just manually put in all rf channel numbers from 7 to 36 in your tv problem solved.most areas low vhf 2-6 don't need to manually put in maybe wpvi 6 philadelphia.
I have had this happen with WTVF RF 5 from Nashville. It comes in only during the summer. So if I fully rescan I lose it. I only do additive or single channel scan.
Don’t let the Boxes Overheat. They use Cheaper Capacitors in Them that end up leaking and May stop working. Ended up Running small Fan on the boxes to Prevent Failure. They need adequate airflow
I always used to run my scan after watching one of your videos, but I did one a few days ago after getting a new Channel Master 5g filter. Surprisingly, I went from 84 to 86 channels, and some of the weaker channels no longer pixelate. But now I have a question, I saw Philips has a filter that claims it filters 4G and 5G. I wonder if I should have held off getting the one I did? For what it is worth though, I am happy with the Channel Master.
Hi there, I may just want this new mediasonic HW250STB as I sometimes have to put channels back in after the leaves fall. However, my experience with previous mediasonics have me wondering if i am taking a step backwards or not. You see, I have two HW-150PVR units and the receivers are not terribly sensitive. And these two are the better two out of five I have. Have you compared the 250STB against the older 150PVR for sensitivity? Or do you have any thoughts on how the two stack up against each other? Thanks
I have 6 TV's. Tried to do this but it's easier to stream now and cheap too. Not free but all TV's have great pictures and share apps with a bunch of people.
Hi Tyler! I've been following your channel for quite a while now. I have a question for you, and you may get this a lot. What's the best bang-for-the-buck for a powered indoor antenna right now? i live in Canada, in a half-basement in a big city, and having the antenna near the ground is really bad for signal. I need to find one that i can put on the inside molding of the window in my living room, not too big, and can be extended and movable to for a better signal. The landlord changed the windows recently, and i had to remove the antenna temporarily. It was placed higher before, but because of the new windows' frame shape, i can't put it as high anymore, so this is why i barely get 2 channels after a scan, and i get a lot of artifacts too, so it's pretty much useless now, so...yeah, i need to find a good indoor antenna and putting it as high as i can on the front window molding, and i could use a few screws to hold the antenna there too. Thanks for your suggestions.
Sure enjoy the information you provide. But I’ve got a question you just may know the answer to. I’ve got a Vizio tv that is not hooked to cable service. Just internet and a small antenna that is in my attic. The internet portion works just fine but everyday trying to get the antenna channels it sometimes takes several attempts to get a signal. It says “loss of signal”. Would this be the signal or a tuner issue? Thanks
So many years all I had was a tv with those rabbit ear antennas and the only channel I had was the local news. 90% of the day seven days a week it was trash that nobody watches, the other 10% was late night talk shows, Jesus programming on Sundays, and Saturday Night Live one hour a week. We had a very weak signal too so at best it was like a 480i video with bad audio and would keep cutting out or getting fuzzy and at worst was completely unusable for hours because it got stuck.
This is why I haven’t been able to move away from my TiVo to something newer. I am between markets, so there are several channels that work enough to be watchable but not perfect, and the automated scan always misses them with no way to manually adjust. I already tried and had to return a silicon hd homerun for this reason. Looked up tablo and it appears to also have no manual function. TiVo lets me manually add those channels back in. I don’t know what I am going to do when the day comes that it fails.
I've probably made this mistake once, but if I do have to scan I try to limit it to optimal conditions. Ideally, on a clear night, with antenna in prime position.
Not all TVs or DVR/Stream Devices will automatically remove a channel from your listings when you do a channel scan (of any type) and that channel doesn't get picked up by the scan. Just an FYI, it depends on what you have, this rule doesn't apply across the board to all devices, YMMV, Cheers!
You're correct there are some exceptions, but very few TVs and DVRs don't have an "add-on channel scan" option. Most have the standard "channel scan" which will remove channels that are not being picked up.
Order the Mediasonic DTV box below and use the manual search feature as shown in the video. You'll likely be able to get it back with it. amzn.to/3Lngj75 Also, make sure that you are using a low VHF capable antenna for 6ABC. If your antenna doesn't have an element about six feet wide, it's not low VHF capable for 6ABC.
Hello, Can you attach two antennas in parallel aimed in different directions for better reception? I believe you can do that if your coax feeds are identical in length. I have a Channel Master RF amp with a large Channel Master antenna on the roof. Interestingly, I can get reception from stations 50 miles away, but local channels that are 10 miles away are not so good (different directions). So, if I added a smaller antenna on the mast facing ~ 90° from the large, it would work?
Combining two antennas in the way you described messes up reception both from insertion loss in the combiner and multipath interference between the two antennas. See video below: th-cam.com/video/9118Hw8wZHA/w-d-xo.html
I'm lucky if I can run a channel scan every 5 years. Because it takes rare atmospheric conditions for me receive all my current channels simultaneously. Typically, I don't get about one-third of my scanned channels. (And, yes, they're all local channels within 40 miles.)
Were i live ! A hole in the ground surrounded by 100ft tall pines i didnt have a problem untill everything went digital ! I was told to run a scan - turn tv off ! Turn back on and rescan again ?
also; before even touching that remote; look out the window... is it foggy is it raining is it snowing is it a incoming solar flare or solar ejection is it humidity absorbed in the wood frame walls of your home is it an unusually intense hi or lo pressure system is it bugs, birds nest/flock, mice, the family pet that upset the cable or antenna yeah, a lot of things can ruin reception so don't be quick on the draw until you complete your forensics.
I've been using an omnidirectional Mohu Sail outdoor antenna for the last six years, and it has done the job until recently. I tried putting an LTE/5G filter in front of the indoor pre-amp, but it doesn't seem to help. Either all of the transmitters are getting weaker, or my old Zenith D/A converter box is slowly giving up the ghost. I may have to finally give up on my old Panasonic SDTV and upgrade.
The Mohu Sail doesn't work well. Sounds like you need a better antenna. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for my antenna recommendation service below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
On my TV, I just program, say 20-1, for the stations RF channel manually and then keep moving the antenna around until it locks and then changes it to the other channel, 36-1 let's say, and all of 36-1 thru 36-5 get programmed in with their names, and with their programming info. I don't know if it's just my TV, but that seems to work - so know what channel your channels REALLY are on, it may say 36 News, but it's on RF Channel 20.
That was a thing on older TVs, but most smart TVs don't have a number pad on the remote to do this. Plus, 95% of antenna users don't understand virtual vs. RF channels. I wish all TVs just had an "additive channel scan" where it doesn't remove channels already programed.
On an unrelated topic, LAFF TV was just added to our local Syracuse PAX station (replaced SCRIPPS). It is also on our ABC affiliate. Is it strange to have the same network on 2 different channels in the same market?
It's not uncommon for a network to be carried temporarily on two TV stations in a market. The reason is the owner of LAFF (Scripps) would rather move it on a TV station they own (Ion) than pay a separate TV station to carry it. The carriage agreement with the local ABC affiliate to carry LAFF is likely about to expire, meaning the channel will be dropped from that station soon.
Has anyone ran into a tv that doesn't have a manual rf tuner? It seems to me I saw a tv or converter box that this was the case. Or it was very hard to figure out how to do it right.
Really upsetting that TV manufactures is eliminating a very useful feature that's found in older sets and converter boxes. I have a Sylvania HDTV set that is over 20 years old and has the manual add or delete channel function.
@DaleChiTown yeah. Somerset is small 12k pop and 14 miles. There are cloesest station news might be Hazzard ky or lexington. Wymt news. Just phone towers it seems.
Some TVs have an "add on channel scan" option where it won't delete existing channels but unfortunately this feature is no longer present in most smart TVs.
I don’t know why TVs and tuners don’t have an option to run a scan without removing channels and to run a manual scan; even the Tablo doesn’t offer this. My old Dish 722K receiver at least has the manual option so I can add the Philly stations (including the “trash signal of WPVI”) when I occasionally get them from my house about 17 mi NE of Baltimore; sometimes I just manually scan all channels 2-36 just to see if there are updates or if I get anything unexpected. My uncle lives between DC & Baltimore and has an antenna with a rotor. It’s difficult to get a scan that includes all of the channels he can pick up. I might give him an old iView tuner box that I have for the TV that doesn’t have a manual scan feature.
Link to the Mediasonic DTV Box 👉 amzn.to/3Lngj75
Link to AVS Forum threads to check the status of local TV stations: www.avsforum.com/forums/local-hdtv-info-and-reception.45/
📡 Reception problems? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below:
www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
@AntennaMan do you have a video about how to design a system inside the house? For instance, where to put a booster in the line between the antenna and TV, how to merge two antennas together to cover different sides of the apartment or house that have towers on them (like a set of towers to the north and a set of towers to the east or south), things like that. Thanks!
@panachevitz I put my amplifier behind my tv and I tried to combine 2 antenna in my bedroom and didn't work on my coat hanger antenna I made so I'm using my short one now put my 4 ft one up in my closet try to put your antenna to the windows up high or a high shelf and see what happens
@@trainman-w7u Oddly enough, that is pretty close to what I have right now, but I just feel like I have a gap in my knowledge even after trying to educate myself and work within my limitations.
Been awhile since someone said this: Thumbs up Antenna Man.
I wish more TVs would add a common feature that was available on nearly all tuner boxes when the digital transition first started, which is a the Scan-Add option. Even the cheapest boxes offered it, and you could simply run it as many times as you want, and it will just add new ones without removing old ones.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME !
I live in Chicago and I moved from a location close to Downtown to the far North side. My favorite TV show (Columbo) was broadcast on COZI TV (NBC 5.2). After I moved, the TV was pixilating (breaking up) very badly on that channel. I tried re-scanning, and I lost the channel outright! After rotating the antenna and re-scanning a DOZEN times, I got lucky and got the channel back. I learned my lesson the hard way, and I won't push my luck again!
Seems like not too long ago CBS Ch2 changed their signal and I had to rescan all of the televisions. A signal amplifier can also help with the weak signals.
@foureyedchick put a amplifier on your antenna it will help it like a channel master or something
@trainman-w7u Actually, I already did that. I bought an 30dB antenna amplifier from Amazon and put it in series with the antenna and digital converter box. It helps me get channels I couldn't get before but the pixilating channels still pixilate. I recently even bought an LTE filter and put IT in series as well. It doesn't do any harm, but it doesn't reduce pixilating very much. I bought it from Amazon as well. Now, the back of my TV is a rat's nest of a million coax cables.
@HariSeldon913 For me, it is NBC that is breaking up on the TV.
Yes! So many people are channel scan-happy. I always recommend slowing down and first checking to see if you can direct-tune an RF channel on your TV.
Hopefully I explained the RF channel approach to some of my non technical viewers.
great tip, thanks. I learned this the hard way, doing a scan when weather was bad it wiped out all my channels. Could not get them all back until conditions were perfect. Sadly most newer TVs don't have OTA signal meters anymore because the tv makers want you to watch their "smart" tv content, not free OTA. Not only that, I also noticed that my newer smart TV now rolls my OTA channels into their content channels lineup so they are actually tracking my OTA since it's connected via wifi
Yes. This has another extremely irritating consequence as well. Since now all your channel changing goes through the WIFI you can get a nasty delay when pushing the button on the remote! It can be 5 to 10 seconds (or more!) for the channel to finally switch!
Great advice. I've been thru this. Most often, if I move the antenna it will fix the problem. I'll try your lock-in advice next time
The Mediasonic DTV box you mentioned in the video can actually also be used as a DTV converter box, which converts digital signals into analog signals to watch on old CRT TVs. Analog signals aren't being broadcast anymore due to the DTV Transition of 2009, so you can't pick up channels on an old CRT without one of these converter boxes. The box has RF and AV outputs in addition to an HDMI output. I know a lot of people use CRTs for retro gaming nowadays. They can still be used to watch over the air TV ya know. Also thanks Tyler for the great content! Been watching you for a while now.
Thx, may reconsider retiring my old CRT TV..
@@gr8dvd Don't! It can still go to good use. The DTV Transition of 2009 is why they started making those converter boxes in the first place. So that any TV could get the new digital signals. You could easily still use it as a backup. Plus if you're into retro gaming, you'll practically need it because with newer flat screen sets, the low resolution of retro consoles cause a lot of lag which just doesn't happen on a CRT
@@NYfan2004 Actually used it for years with converter but maybe getting too old to mess with heavy/bulky CRT as its flatscreen replacement is starting to fail. Hopefully someone else’s treasure (not trash).
@@gr8dvd Yeah you can't stop yourself from getting older. And yes, don't throw it out!
Good advice as always. The Mediasonic box is worth it's weight in gold when it comes to OTA tuning.
The Mediasonic Box is definitely worth the money for the manual search and signal meter.
I went with Tyler's' recommendation for my area and I'm so glad I went with his selection. I have had no issues since I upgraded my antenna. It will save you money and problems in the future.
Will wather iusses where I live makes his recommendations not always the rigth choice.
This has happened to me a few times. I didn't know & did a channel scan & the channel was removed! But a while later or the next day I scanned again and it was back. I've never lost a channel for a long period.
I made up a game plan for scanning channels. First, sit very still and surf through all the channels to see if the signal is strong. Sitting still is important -- I have channels that go away if I stand up or walk around! When all is good, start scan. Also, I have better luck at this time of year, when the trees have sneezed off their leaves.
Oh those naked trees have no shame!😃
Sometimes I will wake up at 3 AM or so and check OTA reception for the heck of it. If oddball stations are coming in, I'll run a scan to capture these stations so they will be in memory later if I ever want to do some TV DX'ing.
Hopefully your TV has an "add-on" channel scan. This feature used to be more common in TVs about ten years ago but no longer is.
@@AntennaMan If the set has that feature, I don't know about it. We got a new Channel Master antenna to improve reception from Madison--we are in Rockford--but the old CM antenna would get Chicago frequently--the new one does not--front to back ratio must be different.
@@AntennaMan My TV has a "manual scan" option that let me add channels. Sometimes I have to rescan anyways, but it's better than nothing.
@@AntennaMan My LG has a manual tune where I can add or delete at will....plus I think the LG is scanning at night even when turned off ..I see added channels in the morning after a night with tropo active and I'm sleeping ..
LG has great tv turners but tvs don't last,never had one more than 3 or 4 years.
Antenna Man, Happy Thanksgiving 🇺🇸
Many thanks from Detroit 🇺🇸
My mom actually just almost had this potential disaster. The true crime channel she watches all the time was losing reception really badly on a cloudy rainy day. She told me that channel always is bad but never that bad. She was just about to do a channel rescan when I stopped her. I ended up giving her the antenna I use for my TV. At first i couldn't find a spot where the reception was good, until I noticed a switch on the signal amplifier. The switch was set to short-range. I flipped the switch to long-range and like magic the channel came in clear and she hasn't had any problems with that channel since. The only bad thing Is I now don't have an antenna and the antenna i gave her is no longer available on Amazon. Hopefully i can find another one like it.
The flat antennas with built in amplifiers typically don't work well. Try the Channel Master FLATenna: amzn.to/40PtA1h
ALL TV manufacturers should add the ability to manually add channels. This is extremely important for people between markets that use a rotator.
Some sets wont allow this
Most, if not all, have had such a function for decades.
@@GeorgeVCohea Not any more.
Good advice. Some TVs have an Add Channels option that simply adds any channels it finds and does not delete or erase settings you have previously set to ignore certain channels that are not of interest.
The add channels option is feature that used to be more common on TVs about ten years ago but most sets no longer have it now.
Worst part about doing a new channel scan is you get back all of the channels you removed manually. I don't bother anymore, but I used to remove things like home shopping channels and some of the foreign language ones.
Good point!
I believe LG still makes TVs with a "manual tuning" option. I wish more brands did the same. As someone who has a rotor and receives TV signals from three different directions, it's nice to manually go through the RF channels and save the ones you want whether or not you are getting a signal at that moment. I don't think I've ever used the "scan for channels" option for those TVs.
I found doing a channel scan at night gives me the most channels. Since a few channels I get only come in at night.
Thanks for this advice Antenna Man!
I long for the days of the old analog signals. 😁
Analog didn't look that good in the first place, had ghosts, and the sound especially would cut out.
I agree with you that digital has worse range. They should have implemented better redundancy and error correction in the system. Low flying aircraft and windy days seem to destroy my TV reception.
My tv lost all of my channels randomly recently. I thought my antenna broke. Ran a scan and it fixed everything!
Another reason to not scan needlessly is that the Homeworx software deletes the recording schedule when you do that. At some point I need to set up my recording schedule again. It is a nice thing to do when stuff you want to watch is on at times you don't want to be in front of the TV. Where I am one TV station plays some good old movies in the small hours of the morning.
Thank you, Tyler, for the great advice as always. I really appreciate you and your channel.
I had very bad luck with the Mediasonic. I had two of them die on me in about 6 months. They were both ver2 units. Great tuner, but very bad quality. Very dated menus too, Never buy again. They are dirt cheap though.
I have been very pleased with the ADTH tuner. Works well and nice interface/menus. They are always trying the make improvements with periodical software updates too. Nice build quality and has NEXTGEN. I know it's more money around $90, but I think it is worth it. I haven't tried any other but the Tablo that I hated. Not sure about the 4th gen.
Anyway, thanks again and keep up the great work
I remember during the analog TV days that you did not have to run a scan, you just go channel by channel and the TV station has been received.
Yeah being a kid back in those days I remember standing by the pole turning it while mom would yell at me out the window to stop turning when the channel came in. Just had to watch Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas on Friday Nights. CBS was always snowy in my market.
Any tv maker can fix this with dumb manual tuning and a signal strength meter. Ballpark guess they could do it for less than $20/set.
Must not be any demand, otherwise why not?
(D/A converter boxes were invented LONG before they were sold anywhere)
You can still do that with a lg tv but you have to manually set up in menu to rf channels ch up and down,this is good if you have rotor on antenna or turn volume up and go outside to turn antenna,like the old days.
Love your videos and thanks for all your hard work. I’ve been a Cable cutter for years now!!
Thank you for the information that you share. Very informative and useful.
Always the best advice on cutting the cable. Thanks!!
I appreciate your expert level knowledge of the technical processes involved and web and TV issues.
I hope you understand that people who attempt to use Channel scan are only acting as reasonably as they have been informed.
I hope you realize that the logic of the manufacturers of TVs with Channel Scan and Set system as described is commercially corrupt and unethical. The need to buy an extra device to make a TV function may be considered criminal fraud.
I hope you don't think people are stupid for using the labelled tool that most closely resembles what they want to happen.
TV manufacturers have behaved like this for decades. They specifically lobbied Congress to grant them exceptions from basic civil rights laws that require equal access for all TVs to have captions, by getting a "waiver" declared on TV screen sizes that the TV Industry deemed "too small". There was no evidence, no research, and no legitimate legal basis for being granted the exception. That is only a single example, the similar criminal acts of fraud upon the entire TV buying number of US and global citizens is in the billions, as are the profits of the TV makers.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks! Your channel and expertise are invaluable!
This happened with me and metv but it came back after a scan i did awhile down the road . Definately helpful to be able to do a specific station and not needing a complete scan
Thx for that info. Also that thumbnail looked a bit scary in my opinion. I honestly might get that converter box some day although I do have a smart Vizio tv
Yep I made that mistake but never had issues getting it back especially when scanning at night time.
Thanks for the video Mr Tyler. I ordered a Mediasonic DTV box. I hope I can get more channels.
The manual search feature and signal meter will definitely help you lock in more channels with your antenna or at the very least improve reliability of existing channels.
@AntennaMan ok thanks
This is why TV's that offer a "scan for additional channels" are useful as they do not erase the existing channels
It's unfortunate this very useful feature isn't present in most TVs. It was more common about ten years ago.
Yep, one of the only things I like about my Vizio.
At least that feature of adding extra channels while not deleting the channels you already have is also present on Sony TVs. At least all Sony TVs I have have that feature.
@@hectormiguelperezgomez6612 Came here to say this. Both of my Sonys have this!
Old tv repairman here. Why do we need to do any scans? Why aren’t all channels tunable? Should be able to lock out what is not used in your area but have all channels available like conventional tuners did in the past.
We have to run autoscans on the TV now because the digital transition (AKA selling half the TV band to cell phone companies) forced many TV stations on different RF channels than the analog era. To avoid mass confusion, they simply use a virtual channel that's shown after running a channel scan.
Thanks for the info. I’ve got all the channels I want and watch.
I will definitely not throw the dice and try to get a few more channels that I probably won’t actually watch.
Hahaha, great video. It happened to me. I can get 90 channels on good days in the DFW area. It's crazy.
Informative and interesting, as usual.
In my experience I can receive weak OTA UHF TV stations and Satellite KU Band TV stations on STBs than TVs. TVs don't have good tunners like STBs, TVs in general can receive Strong and Medium signal TV channels and in some cases Medium to Weak TV signals, but Weak TV signal even with a good antenna you have reception problems. STBs have no problem with weak TV signals as long as you use an antenna with more elements and a preamp. Or a larger satellite dish with a good LNB for KU Band a 120 - 150 cm will have stable reception on weak transponders.
Blind scan on fta satellite equipment works same way,channels come and go.
I rescan my channels at night to see if any added but no luck yet hopefully I'll get more next year with my antop signal gain booster adjustment is doing a fine job my channels as you mentioned comes and go probably because of weather I got mine on my entertainment system and does fine I'm getting 54 channels now with aluminum foil on the long hangers I'm using a Toshiba tv back in 2010 with signal meter built in does a good job even though it's old
My main TV lets me choose either of 2 ways to run a channel scan. One adds new channels if there are any without deleting any existing ones. The other does a clean scan.
I have realized this without making the mistake. Lucky me.
I made that mistake. It took me a week to get things back to normal.
Anthenna man you are the best 😊😊😊😊😊
great vid~! thank you and greetings from pottsville~!
A 100ft piece of coax attached to the antenna and strapped to your kids back works great. As he walks around the house, you will see the signals go up or down. Spray paint channel numbers on the carpet where they come in best for future reference. Genuis !!!! LOL
I ran a rescan because my local PBS station has realigned their subchannels, they removed Cozi which moved from 9.3 to 44.4, which instead we got PBS Plus, which is a rerun network of older PBS shows. I just hate subchannel realignment more than bad reception from the antenna that doesn’t need rescanning.
I like COZI and ANTENNA tv. Unfortunately, they only broadcast in 480i, the picture sucks, and it's not the antenna. 😢
That, and soooo many commercials. Just like H&I.
@ because most of the shows are really old, it wouldn’t make much of a difference watching Little house on the prairie and Carol Burnett show in HD, I just don’t like COZI is now a subchannel under CW, which has slight worse reception.
Yeah this pretty much means you need more antenna or a reorientation. Being around when analog was king if it was a little weak you could still watch a station with some snow, how I miss those days.
Made this mistake a few months back... never again👍🏽
Thanks Tyler !
Has Homeworx improved the sensitivity on their tuner for this box? I have a much older model by the same company and unfortunately the tuner is quite weak, compared to my Digital Stream box.
I live halfway between 2 major cities. The antenna web site says I shouldn’t get any channels. I currently get 50+ with an antenna in the attic. Before when I had an antenna on the roof I had even more but the neighbor cut a tree and took out both my antenna and the roof. It was a 20ft tall antenna!
as usual, great advice!
yeah, i get like 85 channels of LA and San diego on a mountain top, and need to see if any channels that have added recent, but sometimes a cloud goes by (during the Scan) and i can loose 30 channels and gain 3 new, so i have Scan again when the weather is best, but Summertimes is usually is best, but sometimes cloud cover can help the bounce stay in for the 300 miles from the station in the next city
If you have sony or lg tvs just manually put in all rf channel numbers from 7 to 36 in your tv problem solved.most areas low vhf 2-6 don't need to manually put in maybe wpvi 6 philadelphia.
Do you recommend the 4-5G filter?
I'm just starting out and watching all of your videos, really appreciate your time and knowledge.
Yes, see video below: th-cam.com/video/YUx8IBkeW4A/w-d-xo.html
Our older Vizio E190VAs have an "Additional Scan" option in the menu which preserves all existing channels & only adds new ones when it finds them.
This is a great feature that used to be more common on TV sets about ten years ago but is no longer available on most Smart TVs.
My old rabbit ears and circle combo setup works great around St Louis
Great information
My man Tyler, please do your side to side head bob and Bla Bla Bla on every video as your signature. It was glorious
Get a life. Seriously.
I have had this happen with WTVF RF 5 from Nashville. It comes in only during the summer. So if I fully rescan I lose it. I only do additive or single channel scan.
I wish all TVs had an add-on channel scan. It used to be more common in TVs about ten years ago but most don't have the feature anymore.
Thanks for this information
Don’t let the Boxes
Overheat. They use
Cheaper Capacitors in
Them that end up leaking
and May stop working.
Ended up Running small
Fan on the boxes to
Prevent Failure. They need adequate airflow
I had a converter (I can't recall the brand) that allowed me to scan for new channels without clearing the ones already saved.
Yep, I learned that one the hard way.
I always used to run my scan after watching one of your videos, but I did one a few days ago after getting a new Channel Master 5g filter. Surprisingly, I went from 84 to 86 channels, and some of the weaker channels no longer pixelate. But now I have a question, I saw Philips has a filter that claims it filters 4G and 5G. I wonder if I should have held off getting the one I did? For what it is worth though, I am happy with the Channel Master.
Hi there, I may just want this new mediasonic HW250STB as I sometimes have to put channels back in after the leaves fall. However, my experience with previous mediasonics have me wondering if i am taking a step backwards or not. You see, I have two HW-150PVR units and the receivers are not terribly sensitive. And these two are the better two out of five I have. Have you compared the 250STB against the older 150PVR for sensitivity? Or do you have any thoughts on how the two stack up against each other? Thanks
Thanks
I have 6 TV's. Tried to do this but it's easier to stream now and cheap too. Not free but all TV's have great pictures and share apps with a bunch of people.
I miss being able to selectively add/remove channels. Though it would probably be too confusing for most people due to virtual channel numbers.
Hi Tyler! I've been following your channel for quite a while now. I have a question for you, and you may get this a lot.
What's the best bang-for-the-buck for a powered indoor antenna right now?
i live in Canada, in a half-basement in a big city, and having the antenna near the ground is really bad for signal. I need to find one that i can put on the inside molding of the window in my living room, not too big, and can be extended and movable to for a better signal.
The landlord changed the windows recently, and i had to remove the antenna temporarily. It was placed higher before, but because of the new windows' frame shape, i can't put it as high anymore, so this is why i barely get 2 channels after a scan, and i get a lot of artifacts too, so it's pretty much useless now, so...yeah, i need to find a good indoor antenna and putting it as high as i can on the front window molding, and i could use a few screws to hold the antenna there too.
Thanks for your suggestions.
It's a tie between the ClearStream 2V and Channel Master FLATennna.
100000000000% CORRECT!!!!!! 👍
Great to know this as I'm guilty of doing this. Does that box work with a Tablo?
Sure enjoy the information you provide. But I’ve got a question you just may know the answer to. I’ve got a Vizio tv that is not hooked to cable service. Just internet and a small antenna that is in my attic. The internet portion works just fine but everyday trying to get the antenna channels it sometimes takes several attempts to get a signal. It says “loss of signal”. Would this be the signal or a tuner issue? Thanks
So many years all I had was a tv with those rabbit ear antennas and the only channel I had was the local news. 90% of the day seven days a week it was trash that nobody watches, the other 10% was late night talk shows, Jesus programming on Sundays, and Saturday Night Live one hour a week. We had a very weak signal too so at best it was like a 480i video with bad audio and would keep cutting out or getting fuzzy and at worst was completely unusable for hours because it got stuck.
Thx
This is why I haven’t been able to move away from my TiVo to something newer. I am between markets, so there are several channels that work enough to be watchable but not perfect, and the automated scan always misses them with no way to manually adjust. I already tried and had to return a silicon hd homerun for this reason. Looked up tablo and it appears to also have no manual function. TiVo lets me manually add those channels back in. I don’t know what I am going to do when the day comes that it fails.
The TV sets themselves should have the manual input option but I guess we're lucky they even have the channel scan option.
I agree. The feature was more common in TV sets about ten years ago but has mostly vanished since.
I've probably made this mistake once, but if I do have to scan I try to limit it to optimal conditions. Ideally, on a clear night, with antenna in prime position.
No doubt it's fine to run a channel scan periodically especially at night. Just make sure all of your existing channels are picked up before doing so.
Not all TVs or DVR/Stream Devices will automatically remove a channel from your listings when you do a channel scan (of any type) and that channel doesn't get picked up by the scan. Just an FYI, it depends on what you have, this rule doesn't apply across the board to all devices, YMMV, Cheers!
You're correct there are some exceptions, but very few TVs and DVRs don't have an "add-on channel scan" option. Most have the standard "channel scan" which will remove channels that are not being picked up.
This happened to me with WPVI 6 in Philadelphia. Lost both the standard and NextGen channels, and have yet to get them back. :-/ Live and learn.
Order the Mediasonic DTV box below and use the manual search feature as shown in the video. You'll likely be able to get it back with it. amzn.to/3Lngj75
Also, make sure that you are using a low VHF capable antenna for 6ABC. If your antenna doesn't have an element about six feet wide, it's not low VHF capable for 6ABC.
Hi. I found that my Mediasonic HW-150PVR (several years old) does not receive as many channels as either of my TVs. Is the new box (HW250STB) better?
Hello, Can you attach two antennas in parallel aimed in different directions for better reception? I believe you can do that if your coax feeds are identical in length. I have a Channel Master RF amp with a large Channel Master antenna on the roof. Interestingly, I can get reception from stations 50 miles away, but local channels that are 10 miles away are not so good (different directions). So, if I added a smaller antenna on the mast facing ~ 90° from the large, it would work?
Combining two antennas in the way you described messes up reception both from insertion loss in the combiner and multipath interference between the two antennas. See video below: th-cam.com/video/9118Hw8wZHA/w-d-xo.html
I have a vintage 1975 double beam 250 mile Radio Shack antenna and a 20 foot roof top mast. Will this function with a converter box?
I'm lucky if I can run a channel scan every 5 years. Because it takes rare atmospheric conditions for me receive all my current channels simultaneously. Typically, I don't get about one-third of my scanned channels. (And, yes, they're all local channels within 40 miles.)
Were i live ! A hole in the ground surrounded by 100ft tall pines i didnt have a problem untill everything went digital ! I was told to run a scan - turn tv off ! Turn back on and rescan again ?
also;
before even touching that remote;
look out the window...
is it foggy
is it raining
is it snowing
is it a incoming solar flare or solar ejection
is it humidity absorbed in the wood frame walls of your home
is it an unusually intense hi or lo pressure system
is it bugs, birds nest/flock, mice, the family pet that upset the
cable or antenna
yeah, a lot of things can ruin reception so
don't be quick on the draw until you
complete your forensics.
I've been using an omnidirectional Mohu Sail outdoor antenna for the last six years, and it has done the job until recently. I tried putting an LTE/5G filter in front of the indoor pre-amp, but it doesn't seem to help. Either all of the transmitters are getting weaker, or my old Zenith D/A converter box is slowly giving up the ghost. I may have to finally give up on my old Panasonic SDTV and upgrade.
The Mohu Sail doesn't work well. Sounds like you need a better antenna. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for my antenna recommendation service below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
On my TV, I just program, say 20-1, for the stations RF channel manually and then keep moving the antenna around until it locks and then changes it to the other channel, 36-1 let's say, and all of 36-1 thru 36-5 get programmed in with their names, and with their programming info. I don't know if it's just my TV, but that seems to work - so know what channel your channels REALLY are on, it may say 36 News, but it's on RF Channel 20.
That was a thing on older TVs, but most smart TVs don't have a number pad on the remote to do this. Plus, 95% of antenna users don't understand virtual vs. RF channels. I wish all TVs just had an "additive channel scan" where it doesn't remove channels already programed.
On an unrelated topic, LAFF TV was just added to our local Syracuse PAX station (replaced SCRIPPS). It is also on our ABC affiliate. Is it strange to have the same network on 2 different channels in the same market?
It's not uncommon for a network to be carried temporarily on two TV stations in a market. The reason is the owner of LAFF (Scripps) would rather move it on a TV station they own (Ion) than pay a separate TV station to carry it. The carriage agreement with the local ABC affiliate to carry LAFF is likely about to expire, meaning the channel will be dropped from that station soon.
Has anyone ran into a tv that doesn't have a manual rf tuner? It seems to me I saw a tv or converter box that this was the case. Or it was very hard to figure out how to do it right.
Is it best to do a channel scan at night versus day because of the ionosphere or something like that?
I initially went with a cheap antenna when I went ota, but it started coming apart after approx 4 years during a severe storm.
Really upsetting that TV manufactures is eliminating a very useful feature that's found in older sets and converter boxes. I have a Sylvania HDTV set that is over 20 years old and has the manual add or delete channel function.
Still no channels where i am. Pulaski ky. Antenna is nice if you live big city but useless anywhere else really.
I'm sorry to hear that. I appreciate you watching my videos anyway.
Are you in Pulaski County? If so, does Somerset have any stations or towers?
@DaleChiTown yeah. Somerset is small 12k pop and 14 miles. There are cloesest station news might be Hazzard ky or lexington. Wymt news. Just phone towers it seems.
I feel like a lot of these issues could be avoided if TVs had a "do not delete" checkbox when running channel scans
Some TVs have an "add on channel scan" option where it won't delete existing channels but unfortunately this feature is no longer present in most smart TVs.
Does the time of day or the position of the sun affect reception?
Atmospheric conditions are typically better at night but the biggest impact on reception is your antenna
I don’t know why TVs and tuners don’t have an option to run a scan without removing channels and to run a manual scan; even the Tablo doesn’t offer this. My old Dish 722K receiver at least has the manual option so I can add the Philly stations (including the “trash signal of WPVI”) when I occasionally get them from my house about 17 mi NE of Baltimore; sometimes I just manually scan all channels 2-36 just to see if there are updates or if I get anything unexpected. My uncle lives between DC & Baltimore and has an antenna with a rotor. It’s difficult to get a scan that includes all of the channels he can pick up. I might give him an old iView tuner box that I have for the TV that doesn’t have a manual scan feature.
That used to be a feature in TVs about ten years ago but apparently is no longer the case