Affiliate links to preamplifiers: www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/XLT94P404QUY?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d Affiliate links to powered splitters: bit.ly/3uhraKR www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/22C79VI829HZO?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d Affiliate link to power passing splitters: bit.ly/3SbmuOQ Affiliate links to HDHomerun wireless tuner/DVR: amzn.to/3HAaYHG amzn.to/3HzWsjd amzn.to/3HyLZo9 Link to Tablo wireless tuner/DVR 👉 bit.ly/46vleeg 🤔 Not sure which antenna to purchase? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
RCA make a 4 way splitter with power. I added it at the junction box and I now get near perfect reception for all channels on 5 TVs on three different levels of the house
Following up, I picked up the channel master with power passing splitter and now both levels in my house have antenna channels! Before the coax run was too long for it to work without the amp. Now I have the amp and two rooms on the same antenna. Thanks antenna man 👍
I have the 4th gen Tablo and have been happy with it. I only have two TVs, but it's still easier than messing with cables. Although it's not necessary, I find the Tablo to be more reliable when I connect it to the router with an ethernet cable. I had to buy a longer one because rhe one that came with it was too short, but it was worth it Also, for me, a DVR is a necessity to maintain my sanity. I have to live through the NH primaries every four years, and the amount of political ads drives me nuts. So I record and fast-forward over the ads. And to think I used to pay Comcast something like $10/month for each box, plus another $10 or so for the DVR service. Now it's buying the equipment once, and no more monthly rental/service fees. A lot of people don't want to give up the DVR when they cut the cord, and they want easy, and for that, Tablo is the best option.
The Zapperbox promised a DVR feature and it began being offered late last year. Based on other's experience, it works okay but I have not tried it. (I'm mostly into TV as a technolgy nut, not much to watch the programs.)
The antenna man helped me get a great antenna. I hooked the coax to usb tuner and plugged it into my shield. Then I put Plex on all my tv streaming boxes. I use the Plex Live tv function and I can watch all my ota channels on every tv.
Antenna Man, you been a great help by the information supplied to those of us with OTA TV from an outside TV antenna. In my setup we installed a Range Experts Antenna on a 16 foot tower with a rotor, ran 25 ft of coax to a C.M. amplified splitter. Then fed coax to two TVs. Never have to use the antenna rotor.
I am lucky enough to have strong signals that provide good signals to several TVs and devices without an amp! I do have a massive antenna on my roof. I'm outside of West Philly and even can pull in Channel 69 from Allentown.
The antennas I use for my TVS (indoor) work very well. I get a lot of channels and the reception is good. I find that RCA indoor antennas work well on my TVS. 😊
I to run a Tablo tuner and I love it. On very rare occasions probably because of the weather outside, I have to reduce the bitrate settings in the Tablo to reduce the image pixelation. My antenna is in my attic and an outside antenna is in my future after I have a new roof installed on the house. Just don’t want to crack more shingles climbing up on the roof! BTW, you always have informative videos!
Thanks Tyler, I would add for your subscribers: If you have a good, strong signal via your antenna and you don't have inordinately long cable runs, you might not need an amplifier or amplified splitter, at least if only using a two-way (two output signal) splitter. I get a pretty good signal where I live from the local broadcasters, and don't use an amplifier or amplified splitter. My results are pretty good - occasionally I get a choppy signal, but I think that is usually due to tree/leaf interference (primarily happens in the summer). Just something you might want to try, an unamplified splitter, it just might work out and you'll save a few bucks. (If you don't have good, strong signals or you do have long cable runs, or you want to do more than a two-way split, the odds go up that you'll need some kind of amplification.) Good luck if you try going that route.
Be sure you use power-passing splitters in your setup. I discovered this a coupla years ago when installing a Channel Master antenna and in-line amplifier. Years earlier, my son ran our coax with regular splitters. After many back-and-forth e-mails and a couple of calls, we determined that the regular splitters were at fault for the poor performance of my setup. They sent, free of charge, all the splitters and some other hardware to make the system work. Then they went back and amended all their technical literature to say that power-passing splitters are needed with their amplifier. Channel Masters has great customer service and take pride in their antennas and components.
Power-passing splitters can pass excessive voltage to the tuner inputs of the receiver. It's a risk but the designer MIGHT have allowed for safety measures to prevent damage. (You never know.) I favor a small "DC BLOCK" fitting on the input to the TV, Zapperbox, Tablo, etc.
@@bloggerccc Absolutely correct. I have accidentally fed a powered-coax intended for a remote amplifier into a standard 300:75 ohm matching transformer, and ended up with 'catastrophic' results. Since many/most matching transformers have a transformer winding that appears as a direct short to the incoming power from the coax, that short can result in any of three scenarios: 1. Loads down the power supply so that it provides less voltage than intended. It could even burn out the power supply feeding the coax. 2. The winding in the matching transformer "burns out" and results in an open circuit, and no RF going back to the TV. 3. The inductor in the power input injector "burns out" and reslts in no power going outward to the remote amplifier, resulting in no amplification of the antenna signal. If the power-passive splitter is sending power into the TV/DVR/etc., it could potentially and up with similar results. Use of a capacitive "DC-block" is the best solution. It would seem that the best design is to have a power-passive splitted that send power outward to the coax connected to the antenna amplifier, and all other ports isolated from power to prevent such problems.
We use a dual tuner Tablo and it's fantastic. The guide is a huge improvement, and it's so easy to find programs and set up recordings. The playback is also clean and easy, especially with fast forward previews. I also like that the graphics disappear when paused, and don't return when playback is resumed. Since there is only one coax from the antenna to the Tablo there is no signal degradation from splitters. The picture is just fine. I set it at 720 since broadcast isn't delivering 1080 with full color depth and frame integrity due to compression, let alone 4k (which I refuse to buy into). 720 takes up less storage space and requires less bandwidth while still being very watchable, especially with sports. Because it plays through the Tablo app via Wifi we now have broadcast television on all five TVs, two desktop computers, a convertible netbook, our phones, and our tablets. The other advantage is the fact it isolates all of the playback devices from the antenna should it be struck by lightning and the arrestor doesn't react fast enough (always put an arrestor on the main line, and use a ground block). A reminder: amplifiers will not compensate for weak signals received by the antenna. They only help compensate for loss in your system after the signal has been received.
Based on your recommendation I purchased the RCA preamp and it works great. I have it split three ways coming into the house and then two of the three tv's have another split. I am able to pull all my locals even a PBS Station on VHF with an antenna not really designed for VHF. I am in a relatively flat area so results will definitely vary but in the area I am in no issues.
I bought the generic RCA/GE 40 mile range antenna you show in your presentation. I am about 17 miles straight from the TV tower site from where all of Houston’s TV stations transmit from. So far I have only one TV connected to it but would like to connect two more. I like the idea of an amplifier right at the base of the antenna with a passive 4 port splitter. I would have also recommended terminating the unused ports on the splitter, if only two or three ports used on a four port splitter, with a 72 ohm terminator to prevent signal loss due impedance mismatch between the primary and secondary of the transformer in the splitter.
I have a Tablo DVR which connects to my router via Ethernet cable and then goes out via the regular household Wi-Fi rather then Tablo's built-in Wi-Fi option. This way, reception to all of my devices anywhere in the house is flawless.
Good review video for me. I had a cable off shoot that I had ran outside, so it was a matter of switching the outside line as my main input and sent to the amp splitter. I am surprised you didn't mention on how to use a satellite dishes existing cable/ J -pole for a way to get the signal into the house. I was telling a friend about doing this to their house, since the J-pole and cables are already there, the cable is good quality, and would actually be pointed where most of the towers are (I showed then where the signal towers were using the android antenna point app).
@@mustaffa1611 It's not like these things blast out thousands of watts and I'm putting my head next to it! 🤣 Your typical home wireless router including wireless tuners output 200-500mW... that's right... milliwatts. The FCC sets these rules. There are radio waves bombarding you constantly. Cell phones/towers, AM/FM radio, TV, communications, ham radio, microwave ovens, solar radio emissions, gamma rays from the deep space. I know I'm missing many more. You must be one of those 5G doomsayer's. Those are low power too. Guess what? Did you know they are working on 6G? It will be even lower power than 5G. 🤣
@@TexasTimelapse 'gamma rays from deep space' - hahaha, too much tv and public education for you. Anyways they sell radiation detectors and it's easy to measure the radiation with them. That is actual science. Also the dangers of 5g have been known for 20 years. Many places have banned it.
Tyler, could you address the topic of "macro blocking". I am experiencing this on many of the subchannels that I watch - Defy TV for example. I bet their are a lot of others out there that are experiencing this and I bet interest would be high in your audience for a video on the topic. Thanks for all the great content!
Excellent video! IF you plan to use the HDHOMERUN, which is an excellent suggestion by Tyler, I suggest you remove any amplifier you may be using. Even a small amp, or amplified antenna can easily overdrive it. I found with the 2 that I have that these are very sensitive tuners which work very well with an unamplified antenna. They perform like they already have a preamp built in. If you DO have an amplified antenna and your getting less stations with the HDHOMERUN, try to reduce the signal going into the HDHOMERUN by adding a splitter or 2 between the antenna and your HDHOMERUN input. The HDHOMERUN is an excellent tuner that just requires 1 network cable to your router, then you can go wireless to your smart TV's or old TV's with a streaming device. You can also watch TV on your phone, tablet or computer as well! Tyler made an interesting comment about it's video performance, as compared to running Coax to the antenna. He may be correct, but I've never noticed any degradation. I do recommend Cat 6 cable or better from your HDHOMERUN to your router.
Another nice thing about these tuners is they can be used to avoid antenna rotators and signal combiners. I have a pair of HDHomeRun tuners on a pair of antennas pointed in different directions. I then program "Channels DVR" to select the correct HDHomeRun for the channel I want to view/record. This allows any of the six TVs in my home to watch any channel from either antenna.
Thanks for your really informative videos. I have a quick question, can I connect the ethernet terminal on my new SONY tv directly (via Cat6 cable) to my wifi router at the same time my TV cable/antenna terminal is connected directly (via RG6 cable) to my antenna, so that I can just use my remote to switch my TV input back and forth to get either open air channels via the antenna or streamed channels via the router? I don't know why I can't do that, but I was uncertain. I know this is a little different than your video, but hoped you or one of your followers would know that answer. Thanks
My TV feeds are a FTA satellite receiver and an Osbyz model CCD 700TYL color camera. Both output to RCA. To spread them, you run the NTSC signal into an RF modulatod or a VCR. Different TV channels can be run through the same TV splitters and coax.
I have been using an antenna in my attic for years and get all my local channels and all the channels from a city about 50 miles away and when I got it. it said it was good for 8 devices. I have it hooked up to 2 TiVo Roamios, both of which have 4 turners. I have often wondered does the 8 turner in these 2 TiVos count as 8 devices or only 2?
Seems like we both have discovered the quality of Televes and Tablo. Wireless technology is improving all the time. However, before the current state of the art, I wanted internet connectivity for all my smart multimedia devices without taking a bandwidth hit on WiFi. I opted for a MoCA network. I run both an amplified OTA signal and Ethernet over the same coax cables running throughout my house. TVs, Tablo, Roku, AppleTV, Xbox, desktop PCs, surround sound AV amp, a few others, all have wired connections to the internet. My WiFi only serves iPhones, tablets, laptops and a couple of smart home devices. Perhaps you can do a video on MoCA.
Question for Antenna-Man. How can anyone contact TV Stations if they are having technical problems that the TV station doesn't know about? My issue is OTA ATSC 1.0 Channel 7 ABC Washington DC has no OTA channel TV guide information anymore. Thank you in advance.
Thank you for the Great information. I am wondering if you have done a show on the combining of multiple antennas? Implicated in South Central PA. I can pick up local channels and many distant channels as well. We would prefer this method over using a rotor because of having multiple TV's in use at one time. Although it sounds like this may not be important if the broadcasters go to subscription based delivery, once full implementation of NextGen ATSC 3.0 is finalized. Thank you in advance, Kevin
Being a real newby I tried using common splinters without electricity amp with no avail at all. I’m wondering if the coaxial cable needs to be of high quality for multi set use? Thanx Tyler😊
What is your opinion about FR (Fracarro) antenna supplies? Have you hever heard about it? In my opinion it is really good stuff. Another thing you should touch is how to run both SAT signal and TV signal on the same coax.
At some point. Was going to back in September but the company pulled their sponsorship, likely from my videos about DRM encryption on ATSC 3.0. Scripps now owns Tablo and has turned on DRM encryption on many of their stations.
At another house (Sequim, WA), I have three antennas all feeding to one TV. This may seem off topic for this video, but it is apropos for the discussion about amplifying OTA signals. My setup is as follows. One end of the house has a mast with a UHF only Yagi and VHF only Yagi pointing in different directions, about 110° apart. On this mast is an amplified VHF-UHF-UHF combiner. On the other end of the house is another UHF only Yagi. It points the same direction as the first UHF antenna. Both UHF antennas are identical models. They and the combiner are made by Televes. The coax runs from the VHF and first UHF antennas to the combiner are less than 6 ft. The coax run for the second UHF antenna to the combiner is just over 60 ft. Since both UHF antennas pick up the same stations, this setup is an imbalance in signal strength for the two UHF antenna feeds to the same combiner. I have a preamp on the second UHF antenna to boost the signal for the extra long coax run. I can pick up stations 100 miles away (Vancouver, BC) on the UHF combo, and about 60 miles away (Seattle, WA) on the VHF. No ghosting on the UHF channels. Of course with these long reception distances plus trees and mountains to deal with, reception is dependent on reasonably good weather. Just thought I’d share.
When you say "combiner" are you just saying you used a splitter. I did the same thing with two antennas on my mast in the attic and used a non amplified splitter as a combiner.
@@freespirit1975 Also I have coax terminator caps on every unused coax nub in the house to reduce signal reflections and the associated loss of dB gain.
@@freespirit1975 I thought I replied to you earlier regarding combiner vs splitter. Unfortunately, a few of my replies have gotten deleted from this YT channel, and not by me. My set up uses a Televes 3 antenna combiner, not splitters. It allows the power from a Televes power injector to pass through and boost the signal coming from the Televes antenna. Splitters cause a degradation of signal strength and quality. Information on this can be researched on the internet. This degradation can be mitigated with mast mounted preamps and distribution amps. However, one has to know what they’re doing or they can make the situation worse or even damage expensive equipment like televisions. Consulting a professional like Tyler is worth it if you have a complicated use case scenario.
Very helpful video, Tyler. I've seen many recommendations in the past about the need to use a 75-ohm terminating resistor on any unused ports in a splitter to prevent impedance mismatch and potential for reflections that can diminish signals on the active/used ports. That is, if I have the antenna feeding into a 3-way splitter and only two of the 'output' ports are connected to TVs, then the other 'disconnected' port should be terminated with a 75-ohm resistor to maintain impedance matching. radiotec76 touched on this in his comment 2-days ago. However, does this hold true for power-passive splitters? If a power-passive splitter sends voltage (either AC or DC voltage of anywhere from 10 to 24 volts) out to all of the ports to provide power intended for the remote amplifier at the antenna, would terminating the unused powered ports with 75-ohm resistors potentially load down the power supply, and/or overheat and burn out the terminating resistor? Feeding 12 volts into a 75 ohm resistor would represent a current draw of 160 milliamps, and a power draw of 1.9 watts. Since the resistor in a 75 ohm terminator is probably only rated at 1/8 or 1/4 watt, they wouldn't last long on a powered port. By the same token, would feeding power outward from the splitter into the TV/DVR potentially cause problems with the input circuitry? Thanks again for the helpful video, and keep up the great work. -- Ken
Thanks. Bummer there aren't generic/nonam type tuners like tablo, etc. I have a VERY old HD Homerun(?) but it's apparently not supported any more... :(
Tyler is it possible to run multiple antennas (like in multiple direction markets) to a wireless tuner. Or would multiple wireless tuners be another option.
Hey Tyler, If I set up a Tablo can I still run it with a splitter and connect one TV to the antenna to watch sports????? Thanks as always for the great info !!!!!!
Televes Dat boss, antenna to the power supply main antenna out to main tv, second output to a 4 output tv amp splitter to the 4 tv's in the house . Works well for what free tv channels, (22) I get.When I cut the cord I just used the cable from before.
Can I do both? Run a couple of TV's from the the amplifier, then run one lead to the homerun device? That way, my PC's and tablets etc could also get some of that OTA goodness.
Hey Tyler. Thanks for the videos. In my case, I have both a wireless tuner and a direct connect to the TV. Why? Because the wireless tuner lets me watch TV on my tablet or cell phone when I'm not in front of the TV. Dropping the coax through an upstairs bedroom closet to the TV was easy. So why not have a direct TV connect too?
I have a Channel Master 3414 (PCT-MA2-4P) and a Motorola “Signal Booster Broadband Drop amp” (484095-001-00). Which do you think is better? I already have a splitter in the attic running to four TVs. The power cords coming from the AC bricks are kind of short, so I think I would need to mount the amplifier in the corner of my ceiling, (would probably still need to use a short extension power cord) and then run the coax cable from it through the ceiling to the splitter in the attic. I live in the desert where the attic can easily get to 180° in summer.
The Channel Master splitter is likely better. There is a way to power it through one of the coax cables going to one of the TVs using the power over coax adapter below: www.channelmaster.com/products/power-over-coax-adapter-cm-3400xpips?rfsn=6279509.d2c216&.d2c216
I'm in San Diego, CA and the two main areas for tv towers are far apart and different directions. I tried a signal booster but still have to choose which way to point the outdoor antenna. What do you suggest?
I have a large antenna that was installed by a local professional in the attic. I used to receive about 50 channels, some of them in high resolution. Recently, I noticed that my TV lost the signal from the antenna. I went to the attic and found everything looked normal. I removed power from the TV, reconnected the cables, and set the broadcast option to regain the TV channels (both options: cable + air and air only). However, my TV is scanning channels from 27 to 62 and not getting any channels from 1 to 26 or after 62. What should I do?
So I live in an apt and want to get an outdoor antenna to attach to my balcony railing. I then want to be able to hook up 2 TV's to it. Thinking of getting 2 of the flat coax cables to run thru a bedroom window and the other thru the patio door (cant drill new holes as its an apt). What splitter would be best to accomplish this? also any recommendations for a good antenna that wont break the bank?
You can try a regular two way cable splitter. If reception is impacted, you might need a powered splitter. you can find a list of recommended antennas below: www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/2LH365VAPDKLC?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
I run a Tablo and for most part it works fine, occasionally I get some pixel issues or a channel ( abc ) won’t come in. I do have cables wires throughout the house but never thought of using them cause it’s wired to every room and in some cases multiple outlets in each room ( don’t know why) . And running new wires to just the two rooms I have TV’s in seems like way too much work.
If some channels aren't picked up well on the Tablo, you will need a better antenna. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for an antenna recommendation from me below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
I have tried the tablo but have found at times it works very well but other times it will drop the signal to my tv usually at the most inopportune times. It has become so unreliable that I have connected my antenna cable directly to my antenna and no longer use the Tablo and will be returning it
So I was looking at a Tablo, but I just noticed you can't download the Tablo app using LG smart TVs. Are there any issues using a HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0? I see LG is supported, but are there issues using it and LG? Also, since I have 4 LG TVs throughout my house, I see HD Homerun 4k does 4 TVs. However 2 are ATSC 3.0 and 2 are only 1.0. Are there other wireless tuners that have 4 ATSC 3.0?
There is no list. It's a service I offer with my antenna recommendation service. If you don't want to sign up for it, you can use Google to search for antenna installers in your area.
Yes, the Zapperbox indoor antenna has an amplifier built in so you only need a regular passive splitter after the power inserter as mentioned in the video.
My setup ( thanks to Tyler and his service) is an attic mounted channel master 45, that feeds to.the external passive solitter the cable tv head end used ( my intermet is fiber so it was unused). Some channels can be marginal at times. Should i go with a pre amp at the antenna in the attic? There is power there, and it is protected). Once had a cable tv tech rig a powered splitter outdoors *ouch*.
If you're using a passive unpowered splitter, a preamplifier near the antenna or a powered splitter will improve things. An unpowered splitter with no amplifier will kill your signal.
@AntennaMan Tyler thanks! It actually works pretty well, but I likely will go with a pre amp on the antenna rather than a powered splitter outside, prob the channel master pre amp, since it is all in the attic. Recently some channels like metv ( which is on vhf 3 in the NY area).has been a bit dicey.
I have a pre-amp at the antenna mast and a powered splitter once it enters the house and is ran to three tuners and if I remove the in-house amp I lose signal hmm.
My signal on some channels is weak even with my mast mounted amp. I want to feed the signal to two TV's. Can I use an amplified splitter in the house instead of a passive splitter after the antenna pre amp?
If this is the case the issue is that the signals aren't coming through at the antenna. Switching out the preamp for a powered splitter won't solve the problem. You will likely need a larger antenna .
How does the DVR work? Do you have an external hard drive? Internal? Do you need to switch back and forth between TV input and Streaming device input? I don’t have a smart TV. Thanks!
When I dropped cable all I had to do was connect the antenna to the cable feed box outside my house and now I have three tv off one antenna no amplifier needed.
The 4th Gen Tablo, that came out late in 2023 do not degrade the picture at all. They pass through the original mpeg 2 video right from the OTA antenna and the picture over wifi or ethernet is exactly the same as the original as long as you use an external usb hard drive. I have both the tablo Gen 3 and Gen 4 Tablo and there is a noticeable picture quality difference. The Gen 3 Tablo would convert the mpeg 2 video into mpeg 4 and thus degrade quality. Very happy with the Gen 4.
Not been my experience with Tablo. I have the 4th gen dual tuner and I can definitely tell the difference in the video quality coming straight from the antenna and what I get through the Tablo. On a 70 in screen it's noticeable .
@@eminence_front6043I'm using the Gen 4, 4 tuner tablo model, with a 2tb external drive (as the recordings are compressed on the internal drive), on several TVs in the house with no noticeable difference in picture quality, with the largest TV being an 82" Samsung. FWIW I did have some issues with the tablo functionality on wifi, so I hardwired with cat 6 throughout, issues went away. I would suggest dropping a temporary cable on the floor to test the results for yourself to see if you see a noticeable difference. It's worth a shot to see.
If you use an HDHomeRun and send it directly to the client, the audio and video should be lossless. The client is the one doing the decoding, not the HDHomeRun. If your LAN can't support the data rate required, it'll buffer. If you have a decent LAN it should be fine. I've played 19Mbps Canadian channels perfectly fine over WiFi.
The HD HomeRun does not enable the DVR by default. It is a paid add-on service. I use mine as is, as a simple OTA tuner that streams the video to my router so that any device I have can pick it up using any desktop or mobile app that can recognize the stream, including free VLC. I do not pay for or use the DVR function of the HD HomeRun. You can hook up any DVR software that is compatible with HD HomeRun, and many are. I do record shows over it using Plex.
@@brightboxstudio I don't want to pay for a dvr i'm not gonna use. I want a simple OTA turner (with no dvr) that streams video to my router.................
@@loski1955 Most HDHomeRun models are not a DVR out of the box, just a networked OTA tuner that only streams and does not record. As I said, DVR is an add-on service. To make it a DVR you have to run a separate app (that manages recording), attach USB storage (to store recordings), and pay a subscription. So the things that make it a DVR are outside of the box itself.
A minor comment…The HD HomeRun is not a “wireless tuner,” it’s a networked tuner. It has no wifi of its own and has only an Ethernet port to which you must connect an Ethernet cable to an existing router. It’s only “wireless” in the sense that it can receive wireless OTA TV through an antenna. But the networking side is wired. Which doesn’t really limit it, because as long as it’s connected to an existing network router/wireless access point, wifi devices like phones and laptops can use existing wifi to connect to the HD HomeRun and watch TV. Which is how we do it at my home.
So 10 years ago I bought a $50 UNAMPLIFIED RCA Compact Outdoor/attic Yagi HD TV Antenna off amazon. Mounted it in the attic and split the signal with a 4 way UNPOWERED splitter I bought at Walmart and I'm running coax to 3 smart tvs and without a doubt could run a fourth with no trouble at all. The signal is crystal clear on all tvs. The antenna has no amplifier either. Explain that one. 🤷 so I don't get the "you need a powered splitter or amp for a signal thing.
If you are using an unpowered splitter, there still is signal loss. Just because the stations are coming in "crystal clear" does not mean there isn't signal loss at all. They will be less reliable if you are not using a powered splitter. The signal loss is clearly labeled on the splitter in dB. A three way splitter has about 5dB of signal loss.
@AntennaMan whatever loss there may be, it's not noticeable.....to me anyway. As a matter of fact, it looks as clear as my streaming device signal...if not better. At any rate, thanks for responding.
@@lonewolf4827 With digital OTA television, there is no improvement in what you see as long as your signal is above the typical 15dB SNR threshold and stable. You either get a clear picture or you don't. On better TVs the diagnostic screen will display the signal strength as well as the signal to noise ratio SNR. Obviously the available signal strength at your address is strong enough to overcome the loss from having your antenna in the attic, splitting the signal four ways and losses associated with the length of your coax and connectors. For people with marginal signals that amount of loss would result in poor pixelated reception or no reception at all.
I had a setup like this one antenna oriented for UHF fox from the wichita kansas market then another UHF antenna for Topeka and Kansas city Markets. The kansas city markets only came in during troposphere tunneling days, but was fairly predictable. A vhf high antenna for Topeka kansas ABC or PBS (cant remember which one), and a fm antenna (vhf low). I had all these antennas successfully combined onto one coax in my bedroom, in an apartment. Yes I actually did need three seperate pre-amplifiers along with coax filters I bought on ebay. Such a setup is not trivial, expensive, time consuming, and not recommended for people who don't already know how to combine frequencies onto a coax cable.
The Televes SmartKom below is the solution. I'm not sure I'll ever make a video on it because it's too niche of a product for most of my viewers, which translates into a video performing poorly. Within the past year, I shifted the content of my channel from super technical to more general topics that appeal to the average cord cutter and my views went up. amzn.to/3YXkNaI
That's false. Nickelodeon cannot be picked up with an antenna. See video below. Most antennas that claim to pick up cable channels are junk. th-cam.com/video/NLCyuqM0LLc/w-d-xo.html
Splitters aren't an issue as long as there's more than enough gain from the amplifier to compensate for the loss. For example, a regular four way splitter has about 8dB of signal loss. If your amplifier has 15dB of gain you're still at +7dB gain even with the splitter.
Affiliate links to preamplifiers:
www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/XLT94P404QUY?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
Affiliate links to powered splitters:
bit.ly/3uhraKR
www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/22C79VI829HZO?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
Affiliate link to power passing splitters:
bit.ly/3SbmuOQ
Affiliate links to HDHomerun wireless tuner/DVR:
amzn.to/3HAaYHG
amzn.to/3HzWsjd
amzn.to/3HyLZo9
Link to Tablo wireless tuner/DVR 👉 bit.ly/46vleeg
🤔 Not sure which antenna to purchase? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below:
www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
I didn’t realize power passthrough splitters were a thing. That totally solves my issue I was having with the weird wiring in my house. Thanks!
Channel Master is your friend
RCA make a 4 way splitter with power. I added it at the junction box and I now get near perfect reception for all channels on 5 TVs on three different levels of the house
Following up, I picked up the channel master with power passing splitter and now both levels in my house have antenna channels! Before the coax run was too long for it to work without the amp. Now I have the amp and two rooms on the same antenna. Thanks antenna man 👍
I have the 4th gen Tablo and have been happy with it. I only have two TVs, but it's still easier than messing with cables. Although it's not necessary, I find the Tablo to be more reliable when I connect it to the router with an ethernet cable. I had to buy a longer one because rhe one that came with it was too short, but it was worth it
Also, for me, a DVR is a necessity to maintain my sanity. I have to live through the NH primaries every four years, and the amount of political ads drives me nuts. So I record and fast-forward over the ads. And to think I used to pay Comcast something like $10/month for each box, plus another $10 or so for the DVR service. Now it's buying the equipment once, and no more monthly rental/service fees.
A lot of people don't want to give up the DVR when they cut the cord, and they want easy, and for that, Tablo is the best option.
I agree
The Zapperbox promised a DVR feature and it began being offered late last year. Based on other's experience, it works okay but I have not tried it. (I'm mostly into TV as a technolgy nut, not much to watch the programs.)
The antenna man helped me get a great antenna. I hooked the coax to usb tuner and plugged it into my shield. Then I put Plex on all my tv streaming boxes. I use the Plex Live tv function and I can watch all my ota channels on every tv.
Antenna Man, you been a great help by the information supplied to those of us with OTA TV from an outside TV antenna. In my setup we installed a Range Experts Antenna on a 16 foot tower with a rotor, ran 25 ft of coax to a C.M. amplified splitter. Then fed coax to two TVs. Never have to use the antenna rotor.
I am lucky enough to have strong signals that provide good signals to several TVs and devices without an amp! I do have a massive antenna on my roof. I'm outside of West Philly and even can pull in Channel 69 from Allentown.
My old house was like that. I was able to connect the antenna directly to a two way splitter and all local channels were picked up fine!
The antennas I use for my TVS (indoor) work very well. I get a lot of channels and the reception is good. I find that RCA indoor antennas work well on my TVS. 😊
D 0:23 4.😢ts%0😮^8@@AntennaMan
Great video as usual. I have a HD Home run tied into my NAS running Plex with Ethernet to my TV and love the setup. Keep up the great videos.
I to run a Tablo tuner and I love it.
On very rare occasions probably because of the weather outside, I have to reduce the bitrate settings in the Tablo to reduce the image pixelation.
My antenna is in my attic and an outside antenna is in my future after I have a new roof installed on the house. Just don’t want to crack more shingles climbing up on the roof!
BTW, you always have informative videos!
Thanks Tyler, I would add for your subscribers: If you have a good, strong signal via your antenna and you don't have inordinately long cable runs, you might not need an amplifier or amplified splitter, at least if only using a two-way (two output signal) splitter. I get a pretty good signal where I live from the local broadcasters, and don't use an amplifier or amplified splitter. My results are pretty good - occasionally I get a choppy signal, but I think that is usually due to tree/leaf interference (primarily happens in the summer). Just something you might want to try, an unamplified splitter, it just might work out and you'll save a few bucks. (If you don't have good, strong signals or you do have long cable runs, or you want to do more than a two-way split, the odds go up that you'll need some kind of amplification.) Good luck if you try going that route.
Be sure you use power-passing splitters in your setup. I discovered this a coupla years ago when installing a Channel Master antenna and in-line amplifier. Years earlier, my son ran our coax with regular splitters. After many back-and-forth e-mails and a couple of calls, we determined that the regular splitters were at fault for the poor performance of my setup. They sent, free of charge, all the splitters and some other hardware to make the system work. Then they went back and amended all their technical literature to say that power-passing splitters are needed with their amplifier. Channel Masters has great customer service and take pride in their antennas and components.
Power-passing splitters can pass excessive voltage to the tuner inputs of the receiver. It's a risk but the designer MIGHT have allowed for safety measures to prevent damage. (You never know.) I favor a small "DC BLOCK" fitting on the input to the TV, Zapperbox, Tablo, etc.
@@bloggerccc Absolutely correct. I have accidentally fed a powered-coax intended for a remote amplifier into a standard 300:75 ohm matching transformer, and ended up with 'catastrophic' results. Since many/most matching transformers have a transformer winding that appears as a direct short to the incoming power from the coax, that short can result in any of three scenarios:
1. Loads down the power supply so that it provides less voltage than intended. It could even burn out the power supply feeding the coax.
2. The winding in the matching transformer "burns out" and results in an open circuit, and no RF going back to the TV.
3. The inductor in the power input injector "burns out" and reslts in no power going outward to the remote amplifier, resulting in no amplification of the antenna signal.
If the power-passive splitter is sending power into the TV/DVR/etc., it could potentially and up with similar results. Use of a capacitive "DC-block" is the best solution. It would seem that the best design is to have a power-passive splitted that send power outward to the coax connected to the antenna amplifier, and all other ports isolated from power to prevent such problems.
Great video for beginners ! my home we are hooked up to 3 tv's from one Channel Master Antenna !
We use a dual tuner Tablo and it's fantastic.
The guide is a huge improvement, and it's so easy to find programs and set up recordings. The playback is also clean and easy, especially with fast forward previews. I also like that the graphics disappear when paused, and don't return when playback is resumed.
Since there is only one coax from the antenna to the Tablo there is no signal degradation from splitters.
The picture is just fine. I set it at 720 since broadcast isn't delivering 1080 with full color depth and frame integrity due to compression, let alone 4k (which I refuse to buy into). 720 takes up less storage space and requires less bandwidth while still being very watchable, especially with sports.
Because it plays through the Tablo app via Wifi we now have broadcast television on all five TVs, two desktop computers, a convertible netbook, our phones, and our tablets.
The other advantage is the fact it isolates all of the playback devices from the antenna should it be struck by lightning and the arrestor doesn't react fast enough (always put an arrestor on the main line, and use a ground block).
A reminder: amplifiers will not compensate for weak signals received by the antenna. They only help compensate for loss in your system after the signal has been received.
Good content-wish I had your resources 10 years ago-would have saved me a lot of money spent on cable.
Your videos are always GREAT!
Based on your recommendation I purchased the RCA preamp and it works great. I have it split three ways coming into the house and then two of the three tv's have another split. I am able to pull all my locals even a PBS Station on VHF with an antenna not really designed for VHF. I am in a relatively flat area so results will definitely vary but in the area I am in no issues.
I bought the generic RCA/GE 40 mile range antenna you show in your presentation. I am about 17 miles straight from the TV tower site from where all of Houston’s TV stations transmit from. So far I have only one TV connected to it but would like to connect two more. I like the idea of an amplifier right at the base of the antenna with a passive 4 port splitter. I would have also recommended terminating the unused ports on the splitter, if only two or three ports used on a four port splitter, with a 72 ohm terminator to prevent signal loss due impedance mismatch between the primary and secondary of the transformer in the splitter.
I love this channel never new how to do it the right way.
I have a Tablo DVR which connects to my router via Ethernet cable and then goes out via the regular household Wi-Fi rather then Tablo's
built-in Wi-Fi option. This way, reception to all of my devices anywhere in the house is flawless.
Good to know. I was thinking about doing that. 👍🏻
Thanks for the valuable information Tyler 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😊😊
This is such great info !
Thanks Tyler . . . I'm saving this to refer back when I'm ready to connect a 2nd tv.
Much appreciated !
Good review video for me. I had a cable off shoot that I had ran outside, so it was a matter of switching the outside line as my main input and sent to the amp splitter. I am surprised you didn't mention on how to use a satellite dishes existing cable/ J -pole for a way to get the signal into the house. I was telling a friend about doing this to their house, since the J-pole and cables are already there, the cable is good quality, and would actually be pointed where most of the towers are (I showed then where the signal towers were using the android antenna point app).
I had no idea wireless tuners were a thing! This will save me hours of crawling around in the attic running coax to 4 smart TVs.
anything wireless is dangerous to your health
@@mustaffa1611
It's not like these things blast out thousands of watts and I'm putting my head next to it! 🤣
Your typical home wireless router including wireless tuners output 200-500mW... that's right... milliwatts. The FCC sets these rules. There are radio waves bombarding you constantly. Cell phones/towers, AM/FM radio, TV, communications, ham radio, microwave ovens, solar radio emissions, gamma rays from the deep space. I know I'm missing many more.
You must be one of those 5G doomsayer's. Those are low power too. Guess what? Did you know they are working on 6G? It will be even lower power than 5G. 🤣
@@TexasTimelapse 'gamma rays from deep space' - hahaha, too much tv and public education for you. Anyways they sell radiation detectors and it's easy to measure the radiation with them. That is actual science. Also the dangers of 5g have been known for 20 years. Many places have banned it.
That's new to me too. Question : does it come to the smart TV like Haystack does now?
@@mustaffa1611 Funny that we've survived living on Earth this long.
Antenna man I learn lot from you about tv sets and antenna for tv sets my friend
Tyler, could you address the topic of "macro blocking". I am experiencing this on many of the subchannels that I watch - Defy TV for example. I bet their are a lot of others out there that are experiencing this and I bet interest would be high in your audience for a video on the topic. Thanks for all the great content!
I already have a video on this topic. Unfortunately, the video performed poorly so I unlisted it. th-cam.com/video/onghXW8X658/w-d-xo.html
Thanks your tha' best@@AntennaMan !!!!
Excellent video!
IF you plan to use the HDHOMERUN, which is an excellent suggestion by Tyler, I suggest you remove any amplifier you may be using. Even a small amp, or amplified antenna can easily overdrive it. I found with the 2 that I have that these are very sensitive tuners which work very well with an unamplified antenna. They perform like they already have a preamp built in.
If you DO have an amplified antenna and your getting less stations with the HDHOMERUN, try to reduce the signal going into the HDHOMERUN by adding a splitter or 2 between the antenna and your HDHOMERUN input.
The HDHOMERUN is an excellent tuner that just requires 1 network cable to your router, then you can go wireless to your smart TV's or old TV's with a streaming device. You can also watch TV on your phone, tablet or computer as well! Tyler made an interesting comment about it's video performance, as compared to running Coax to the antenna. He may be correct, but I've never noticed any degradation. I do recommend Cat 6 cable or better from your HDHOMERUN to your router.
Antenna man your utube videos are awesome my friend
Great shirt man. Nice video great information.
Love the shirt!
I like those junction boxes
Another nice thing about these tuners is they can be used to avoid antenna rotators and signal combiners. I have a pair of HDHomeRun tuners on a pair of antennas pointed in different directions. I then program "Channels DVR" to select the correct HDHomeRun for the channel I want to view/record. This allows any of the six TVs in my home to watch any channel from either antenna.
Thanks for the info
I have luck with RCA indoor antennas. I get a lot of channels and great reception too. 😊
Same. The boosted RCA antenna works great
Thanks for your really informative videos. I have a quick question, can I connect the ethernet terminal on my new SONY tv directly (via Cat6 cable) to my wifi router at the same time my TV cable/antenna terminal is connected directly (via RG6 cable) to my antenna, so that I can just use my remote to switch my TV input back and forth to get either open air channels via the antenna or streamed channels via the router? I don't know why I can't do that, but I was uncertain. I know this is a little different than your video, but hoped you or one of your followers would know that answer. Thanks
My TV feeds are a FTA satellite receiver and an Osbyz model CCD 700TYL color camera. Both output to RCA. To spread them, you run the NTSC signal into an RF modulatod or a VCR. Different TV channels can be run through the same TV splitters and coax.
I have been using an antenna in my attic for years and get all my local channels and all the channels from a city about 50 miles away and when I got it. it said it was good for 8 devices. I have it hooked up to 2 TiVo Roamios, both of which have 4 turners. I have often wondered does the 8 turner in these 2 TiVos count as 8 devices or only 2?
Seems like we both have discovered the quality of Televes and Tablo.
Wireless technology is improving all the time. However, before the current state of the art, I wanted internet connectivity for all my smart multimedia devices without taking a bandwidth hit on WiFi. I opted for a MoCA network. I run both an amplified OTA signal and Ethernet over the same coax cables running throughout my house. TVs, Tablo, Roku, AppleTV, Xbox, desktop PCs, surround sound AV amp, a few others, all have wired connections to the internet. My WiFi only serves iPhones, tablets, laptops and a couple of smart home devices.
Perhaps you can do a video on MoCA.
Question for Antenna-Man. How can anyone contact TV Stations if they are having technical problems that the TV station doesn't know about? My issue is OTA ATSC 1.0 Channel 7 ABC Washington DC has no OTA channel TV guide information anymore. Thank you in advance.
Thank you for the Great information.
I am wondering if you have done a show on the combining of multiple antennas? Implicated in South Central PA. I can pick up local channels and many distant channels as well. We would prefer this method over using a rotor because of having multiple TV's in use at one time. Although it sounds like this may not be important if the broadcasters go to subscription based delivery, once full implementation of NextGen ATSC 3.0 is finalized.
Thank you in advance,
Kevin
Being a real newby I tried using common splinters without electricity amp with no avail at all. I’m wondering if the coaxial cable needs to be of high quality for multi set use?
Thanx Tyler😊
What is your opinion about FR (Fracarro) antenna supplies? Have you hever heard about it?
In my opinion it is really good stuff.
Another thing you should touch is how to run both SAT signal and TV signal on the same coax.
Never heard of them
Will you be doing a review on the new white Tablo?
At some point. Was going to back in September but the company pulled their sponsorship, likely from my videos about DRM encryption on ATSC 3.0. Scripps now owns Tablo and has turned on DRM encryption on many of their stations.
At another house (Sequim, WA), I have three antennas all feeding to one TV. This may seem off topic for this video, but it is apropos for the discussion about amplifying OTA signals.
My setup is as follows. One end of the house has a mast with a UHF only Yagi and VHF only Yagi pointing in different directions, about 110° apart. On this mast is an amplified VHF-UHF-UHF combiner. On the other end of the house is another UHF only Yagi. It points the same direction as the first UHF antenna. Both UHF antennas are identical models. They and the combiner are made by Televes.
The coax runs from the VHF and first UHF antennas to the combiner are less than 6 ft. The coax run for the second UHF antenna to the combiner is just over 60 ft. Since both UHF antennas pick up the same stations, this setup is an imbalance in signal strength for the two UHF antenna feeds to the same combiner. I have a preamp on the second UHF antenna to boost the signal for the extra long coax run.
I can pick up stations 100 miles away (Vancouver, BC) on the UHF combo, and about 60 miles away (Seattle, WA) on the VHF. No ghosting on the UHF channels. Of course with these long reception distances plus trees and mountains to deal with, reception is dependent on reasonably good weather.
Just thought I’d share.
When you say "combiner" are you just saying you used a splitter. I did the same thing with two antennas on my mast in the attic and used a non amplified splitter as a combiner.
@@freespirit1975 Also I have coax terminator caps on every unused coax nub in the house to reduce signal reflections and the associated loss of dB gain.
@@freespirit1975 I thought I replied to you earlier regarding combiner vs splitter. Unfortunately, a few of my replies have gotten deleted from this YT channel, and not by me. My set up uses a Televes 3 antenna combiner, not splitters. It allows the power from a Televes power injector to pass through and boost the signal coming from the Televes antenna.
Splitters cause a degradation of signal strength and quality. Information on this can be researched on the internet. This degradation can be mitigated with mast mounted preamps and distribution amps. However, one has to know what they’re doing or they can make the situation worse or even damage expensive equipment like televisions. Consulting a professional like Tyler is worth it if you have a complicated use case scenario.
Very helpful video, Tyler. I've seen many recommendations in the past about the need to use a 75-ohm terminating resistor on any unused ports in a splitter to prevent impedance mismatch and potential for reflections that can diminish signals on the active/used ports. That is, if I have the antenna feeding into a 3-way splitter and only two of the 'output' ports are connected to TVs, then the other 'disconnected' port should be terminated with a 75-ohm resistor to maintain impedance matching. radiotec76 touched on this in his comment 2-days ago.
However, does this hold true for power-passive splitters? If a power-passive splitter sends voltage (either AC or DC voltage of anywhere from 10 to 24 volts) out to all of the ports to provide power intended for the remote amplifier at the antenna, would terminating the unused powered ports with 75-ohm resistors potentially load down the power supply, and/or overheat and burn out the terminating resistor? Feeding 12 volts into a 75 ohm resistor would represent a current draw of 160 milliamps, and a power draw of 1.9 watts. Since the resistor in a 75 ohm terminator is probably only rated at 1/8 or 1/4 watt, they wouldn't last long on a powered port. By the same token, would feeding power outward from the splitter into the TV/DVR potentially cause problems with the input circuitry? Thanks again for the helpful video, and keep up the great work. -- Ken
Thanks. Bummer there aren't generic/nonam type tuners like tablo, etc. I have a VERY old HD Homerun(?) but it's apparently not supported any more... :(
Can we convert the LNB wired signal coming to the house to wireless? Is there such a device? For other televisions.
Tyler is it possible to run multiple antennas (like in multiple direction markets) to a wireless tuner. Or would multiple wireless tuners be another option.
Have you heard of the Telly 55 inch dual screen TV? Its supposedly free.
Hey Tyler, If I set up a Tablo can I still run it with a splitter and connect one TV to the antenna to watch sports????? Thanks as always for the great info !!!!!!
Yes!
Televes Dat boss, antenna to the power supply main antenna out to main tv, second output to a 4 output tv amp splitter to the 4 tv's in the house . Works well for what free tv channels, (22) I get.When I cut the cord I just used the cable from before.
Hey Tyler I need help putting up a 40 meter bobtail curtain antenna... I ll buy lunch and I ll show ya my cool ham radio station...
Can I do both? Run a couple of TV's from the the amplifier, then run one lead to the homerun device? That way, my PC's and tablets etc could also get some of that OTA goodness.
Just use a powered splitter or an amplifier like a preamp followed by a splitter
have you reviewed any discone antennas such as the
Jetstream JTD2 Discone Antenna, 25-1300MHz
I have an indoor antenna Mohu Leaf Beam with a splitter and amplified connecting living room and bedroom tvs.
Hey Tyler. Thanks for the videos. In my case, I have both a wireless tuner and a direct connect to the TV. Why? Because the wireless tuner lets me watch TV on my tablet or cell phone when I'm not in front of the TV. Dropping the coax through an upstairs bedroom closet to the TV was easy. So why not have a direct TV connect too?
I agree it's great to do both if you're able to.
I have a Channel Master 3414 (PCT-MA2-4P) and a Motorola “Signal Booster Broadband Drop amp” (484095-001-00). Which do you think is better? I already have a splitter in the attic running to four TVs. The power cords coming from the AC bricks are kind of short, so I think I would need to mount the amplifier in the corner of my ceiling, (would probably still need to use a short extension power cord) and then run the coax cable from it through the ceiling to the splitter in the attic. I live in the desert where the attic can easily get to 180° in summer.
The Channel Master splitter is likely better. There is a way to power it through one of the coax cables going to one of the TVs using the power over coax adapter below:
www.channelmaster.com/products/power-over-coax-adapter-cm-3400xpips?rfsn=6279509.d2c216&.d2c216
Thanks for this. How about connecting 2 antennas to one TV?
The only way to combine two antennas onto the same coax cable and not negatively impact reception is with the Televes SmartKom below: amzn.to/49sZ9jc
Thanks Man, keep on broadcasting.@@AntennaMan
Can you put two amplifiers on a tv antenna cable for multi tv's?
I was going to ask how i could make such setup due to me living in a mobile home
I'm in San Diego, CA and the two main areas for tv towers are far apart and different directions. I tried a signal booster but still have to choose which way to point the outdoor antenna. What do you suggest?
I have a large antenna that was installed by a local professional in the attic. I used to receive about 50 channels, some of them in high resolution. Recently, I noticed that my TV lost the signal from the antenna. I went to the attic and found everything looked normal. I removed power from the TV, reconnected the cables, and set the broadcast option to regain the TV channels (both options: cable + air and air only). However, my TV is scanning channels from 27 to 62 and not getting any channels from 1 to 26 or after 62. What should I do?
Thanks
So I live in an apt and want to get an outdoor antenna to attach to my balcony railing. I then want to be able to hook up 2 TV's to it. Thinking of getting 2 of the flat coax cables to run thru a bedroom window and the other thru the patio door (cant drill new holes as its an apt). What splitter would be best to accomplish this? also any recommendations for a good antenna that wont break the bank?
You can try a regular two way cable splitter. If reception is impacted, you might need a powered splitter. you can find a list of recommended antennas below: www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman/list/2LH365VAPDKLC?tag=onamztylerkle-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
I run a Tablo and for most part it works fine, occasionally I get some pixel issues or a channel ( abc ) won’t come in. I do have cables wires throughout the house but never thought of using them cause it’s wired to every room and in some cases multiple outlets in each room ( don’t know why) . And running new wires to just the two rooms I have TV’s in seems like way too much work.
If some channels aren't picked up well on the Tablo, you will need a better antenna. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for an antenna recommendation from me below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
I have tried the tablo but have found at times it works very well but other times it will drop the signal to my tv usually at the most inopportune times. It has become so unreliable that I have connected my antenna cable directly to my antenna and no longer use the Tablo and will be returning it
So I was looking at a Tablo, but I just noticed you can't download the Tablo app using LG smart TVs.
Are there any issues using a HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0? I see LG is supported, but are there issues using it and LG?
Also, since I have 4 LG TVs throughout my house, I see HD Homerun 4k does 4 TVs. However 2 are ATSC 3.0 and 2 are only 1.0. Are there other wireless tuners that have 4 ATSC 3.0?
Which wireless tuner supports LG TVs as well as Samsung and Roku TVs? Tablo says LG is "coming soon" but the Superbowl is in 5 days.
Bedroom TV is LG webOS TV LJ5500
Do you have link to your tie dye shirt?
On your website, I didn’t see how to get on your recommended installer list. How do I go about that?
There is no list. It's a service I offer with my antenna recommendation service. If you don't want to sign up for it, you can use Google to search for antenna installers in your area.
I actually tried a channel master pre amp and it made it worse. Removed it and everything worked like it should.
what DVR type device do you recommend for OTA tv?
how do you connect one antenna to two different buildings next to each other with a booster?
how is it that I made an antenna from a 2x4 and some scrape wire and I get more channels than every store bought antenna ive bought?
I made a steel wire whip antenna for 145 MHz 2 meter ham radio.
Cut for 1/4 wavelength on that band.
Turned out to work as a decent TV antenna too.
Does the Zapperbox indoor antenna have an amplifier?If so do I only need a regular splitter?
Yes, the Zapperbox indoor antenna has an amplifier built in so you only need a regular passive splitter after the power inserter as mentioned in the video.
Thanks
I don’t see the link to purchase the power inverter.I clicked on all the links
Maybe I missed something. Can you run separate coxail cables directly from the antenna to separate TVs?
Yes, you would just need to use either a preamp with a power passing splitter near the antenna or a powered splitter with a power over coax adapter
My setup ( thanks to Tyler and his service) is an attic mounted channel master 45, that feeds to.the external passive solitter the cable tv head end used ( my intermet is fiber so it was unused). Some channels can be marginal at times. Should i go with a pre amp at the antenna in the attic? There is power there, and it is protected). Once had a cable tv tech rig a powered splitter outdoors *ouch*.
If you're using a passive unpowered splitter, a preamplifier near the antenna or a powered splitter will improve things. An unpowered splitter with no amplifier will kill your signal.
@AntennaMan
Tyler thanks! It actually works pretty well, but I likely will go with a pre amp on the antenna rather than a powered splitter outside, prob the channel master pre amp, since it is all in the attic. Recently some channels like metv ( which is on vhf 3 in the NY area).has been a bit dicey.
I have a pre-amp at the antenna mast and a powered splitter once it enters the house and is ran to three tuners and if I remove the in-house amp I lose signal hmm.
Antenna man my hobbies are painting 🖼 and listening to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my grms license and mybe my ham license
My signal on some channels is weak even with my mast mounted amp. I want to feed the signal to two TV's. Can I use an amplified splitter in the house instead of a passive splitter after the antenna pre amp?
If this is the case the issue is that the signals aren't coming through at the antenna. Switching out the preamp for a powered splitter won't solve the problem. You will likely need a larger antenna .
I have 2 different brands of tv's connected by coax thru an powered splitter [ with a pre amp up at the antenna ] but one gets more channels
One has bad tuner sensitivity. See video below: th-cam.com/video/06X-MXUfU1U/w-d-xo.html
Tablo 4th is wonderful.
I hope to test it sometime next month.
How does the DVR work? Do you have an external hard drive? Internal? Do you need to switch back and forth between TV input and Streaming device input? I don’t have a smart TV. Thanks!
When I dropped cable all I had to do was connect the antenna to the cable feed box outside my house and now I have three tv off one antenna no amplifier needed.
still NOT PAYING 4TV.. the weather channel is now available for $3 a momth as a solo stream ..works great !
The 4th Gen Tablo, that came out late in 2023 do not degrade the picture at all. They pass through the original mpeg 2 video right from the OTA antenna and the picture over wifi or ethernet is exactly the same as the original as long as you use an external usb hard drive. I have both the tablo Gen 3 and Gen 4 Tablo and there is a noticeable picture quality difference. The Gen 3 Tablo would convert the mpeg 2 video into mpeg 4 and thus degrade quality. Very happy with the Gen 4.
Not been my experience with Tablo. I have the 4th gen dual tuner and I can definitely tell the difference in the video quality coming straight from the antenna and what I get through the Tablo. On a 70 in screen it's noticeable .
Are you using the internal storage on the Tablo or an external hard drive?
@@eminence_front6043I'm using the Gen 4, 4 tuner tablo model, with a 2tb external drive (as the recordings are compressed on the internal drive), on several TVs in the house with no noticeable difference in picture quality, with the largest TV being an 82" Samsung. FWIW I did have some issues with the tablo functionality on wifi, so I hardwired with cat 6 throughout, issues went away. I would suggest dropping a temporary cable on the floor to test the results for yourself to see if you see a noticeable difference. It's worth a shot to see.
If you use an HDHomeRun and send it directly to the client, the audio and video should be lossless. The client is the one doing the decoding, not the HDHomeRun. If your LAN can't support the data rate required, it'll buffer. If you have a decent LAN it should be fine. I've played 19Mbps Canadian channels perfectly fine over WiFi.
Does Anyone have a GOOD Antenna Splitter for a rackmount system?I am sick of using 4 splitters to just get 16 Wires run of the same source
❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Are there any hd homerun or Tablo alternatives without a DVR ?
The HD HomeRun does not enable the DVR by default. It is a paid add-on service. I use mine as is, as a simple OTA tuner that streams the video to my router so that any device I have can pick it up using any desktop or mobile app that can recognize the stream, including free VLC. I do not pay for or use the DVR function of the HD HomeRun. You can hook up any DVR software that is compatible with HD HomeRun, and many are. I do record shows over it using Plex.
@@brightboxstudio I don't want to pay for a dvr i'm not gonna use. I want a simple OTA turner (with no dvr) that streams video to my router.................
@@loski1955 Most HDHomeRun models are not a DVR out of the box, just a networked OTA tuner that only streams and does not record. As I said, DVR is an add-on service. To make it a DVR you have to run a separate app (that manages recording), attach USB storage (to store recordings), and pay a subscription. So the things that make it a DVR are outside of the box itself.
Football seasons about over.
Not to concerned roght now about the tv. Soon ill be outside in my garden. I catch the news that's good enough.
Need a large enough antenna to compensate any losses
A minor comment…The HD HomeRun is not a “wireless tuner,” it’s a networked tuner. It has no wifi of its own and has only an Ethernet port to which you must connect an Ethernet cable to an existing router. It’s only “wireless” in the sense that it can receive wireless OTA TV through an antenna. But the networking side is wired. Which doesn’t really limit it, because as long as it’s connected to an existing network router/wireless access point, wifi devices like phones and laptops can use existing wifi to connect to the HD HomeRun and watch TV. Which is how we do it at my home.
I get what you're saying but I didn't wanna get too technical for my viewers so I just grouped the Tablo and HDHomerun as a wireless tuner.
Can you send me a link to a video of you trying out these digital TV antennas that claim to have Nickelodeon and prove to me that they don’t work.
So 10 years ago I bought a $50 UNAMPLIFIED RCA Compact Outdoor/attic Yagi HD TV Antenna off amazon. Mounted it in the attic and split the signal with a 4 way UNPOWERED splitter I bought at Walmart and I'm running coax to 3 smart tvs and without a doubt could run a fourth with no trouble at all.
The signal is crystal clear on all tvs.
The antenna has no amplifier either.
Explain that one. 🤷
so I don't get the "you need a powered splitter or amp for a signal thing.
If you are using an unpowered splitter, there still is signal loss. Just because the stations are coming in "crystal clear" does not mean there isn't signal loss at all. They will be less reliable if you are not using a powered splitter. The signal loss is clearly labeled on the splitter in dB. A three way splitter has about 5dB of signal loss.
@AntennaMan whatever loss there may be, it's not noticeable.....to me anyway. As a matter of fact, it looks as clear as my streaming device signal...if not better.
At any rate, thanks for responding.
@@lonewolf4827 With digital OTA television, there is no improvement in what you see as long as your signal is above the typical 15dB SNR threshold and stable. You either get a clear picture or you don't. On better TVs the diagnostic screen will display the signal strength as well as the signal to noise ratio SNR. Obviously the available signal strength at your address is strong enough to overcome the loss from having your antenna in the attic, splitting the signal four ways and losses associated with the length of your coax and connectors. For people with marginal signals that amount of loss would result in poor pixelated reception or no reception at all.
My Man. Please do the side to side head tilt and Bla Bla Bla each video. It was awesome
Antenna Man is a real-life bobble head doll. You're welcome, market and sell them.
theres a cheaper way but techie , with tvheadend and small linux server.
I'd like to see a video on multiple antennas connected to a single device without switches.
It's expensive to do properally, as you need specific filters to on each antenna to combine without interference.
@@thedude5040 That would be ideal. Some people just keep the wire equal length for each antenna and hope there isn't too much mutipath.
I had a setup like this one antenna oriented for UHF fox from the wichita kansas market then another UHF antenna for Topeka and Kansas city Markets. The kansas city markets only came in during troposphere tunneling days, but was fairly predictable. A vhf high antenna for Topeka kansas ABC or PBS (cant remember which one), and a fm antenna (vhf low). I had all these antennas successfully combined onto one coax in my bedroom, in an apartment. Yes I actually did need three seperate pre-amplifiers along with coax filters I bought on ebay. Such a setup is not trivial, expensive, time consuming, and not recommended for people who don't already know how to combine frequencies onto a coax cable.
The Televes SmartKom below is the solution. I'm not sure I'll ever make a video on it because it's too niche of a product for most of my viewers, which translates into a video performing poorly. Within the past year, I shifted the content of my channel from super technical to more general topics that appeal to the average cord cutter and my views went up. amzn.to/3YXkNaI
@@AntennaMan Good point. There probably aren't many people like me in the middle of multiple large markets.
Tyler, I found a few digital tv antennas online that say they include Nickelodeon. Is this a phony statement?
That's false. Nickelodeon cannot be picked up with an antenna. See video below. Most antennas that claim to pick up cable channels are junk. th-cam.com/video/NLCyuqM0LLc/w-d-xo.html
@@AntennaMan Thank you, 😉
I wanted to think before I would try this out.
Amplified Spliter??
Yes, they're also known as powered splitters and distribution amplifiers
@@AntennaManIs that the same as a passthrough splitter?
Do you have a Twitter/ X account?
he does @antennamanpa
I hate using splitters with a booster, but most of the time there's not a way around it.
Splitters aren't an issue as long as there's more than enough gain from the amplifier to compensate for the loss. For example, a regular four way splitter has about 8dB of signal loss. If your amplifier has 15dB of gain you're still at +7dB gain even with the splitter.
@@AntennaMan True, but I also find the more connections you have the more issues that are are possible.