A new Television - looking for advice please

[Sam Murdoch]

As the thread title says we are looking to upgrade the TV - obsolete technology such as it is - we are bordering on obsolete ourselves and so we persevere.

The primary goal is to get rid of cable or dish reception and take what we can off air and through streaming.

Other criteria:

• In the 26" size- will sit on a table or mounted on the wall - no fancy install.

• Really don't want alllll kinds of features. The most basic that does the job is best.

• Still should be able to hook up a DVD player

• Good sound but with the option of attaching external speakers.

Otherwise don't have any idea what we are talking about. A link to a TV buying tutorial would be most welcome.

According to Antenna Web we will need a large directional roof mounted antenna if we want to receive all the 12 available over the air channels in outré zone. Any advice on that score?

Thanks very much for your input.

[Lee Schierer]

We just bought a 48" Samsung and couldn't be happier. LOML can now read the sports banners running across the bottom of the screen. Most of the flat screen types have an antenna connection and inputs for Dvd's or other devices. We have an older style antenna mounted in our attic space. It is mounted on a rotor, although we don't rotate it anymore. We don't have to worry about ice and wind damage to it and it should last almost forever. You'll need to run Coax from your set to the antenna. I don't know if the new digital antennas are any better than the old yagi types.

[Jason Roehl]

For reception tips and tricks, look here:

http://antennaweb.org/

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a "digital" antenna. The current TV broadcast spectrum is smaller than it once was, so a modern antenna won't need as many "spikes" to cover as many frequencies. There are also omni-directional antennas that look kind of like a satellite dish receiver laid on its back, but they tend not to be as good as a directional. The website above should also allow you to find where the broadcast antennas are in your area so that you can point a directional antenna in the right direction.

As for the TV, you're looking at a pretty small set, so on the low end of things--pretty much standard size for a computer monitor now. That's something to look out for--you'll need a TV with an ATSC (digital) tuner. While antennas aren't digital, the signals they receive can be, and ATSC is the digital TV broadcast signal standard in the U.S. (QAM is the unencrypted cable signal standard).

[Stephen Tashiro]

It is handy to use one remote control for both the DVD player and the TV when you are watching DVDs. I purchased a TV and a DVD player recently; both were Samsung. The DVD remote lets me turn the TV on and off and adjust the volume, but not change the TV channels. I didn't have to "teach" the remote to do this. I don't what other manufacturers offer along those lines.

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks guys for the input. Samsung is good huh?

I am particularly interested in what the antenna needs will be. I have been to the Antennaweb site already but I don't know the specifics as to options so thanks Jason for starting me thinking about that.

If I leave the antenna in my "attic" will the metal roof interfere with reception? That's an important question.

[Jerome Stanek]

My old antenna works just fine. I get about 30 channels

[Sam Murdoch]

Will antenna reception come through a metal roof if I set one up in the attic?

[Jim Becker]

Not a great idea, Sam. Outside is going to be best if you have a metal roof. Keep in mind that the UHF type antennas are relatively small so their "visual footprint" isn't going to be anything like the big old VHF antennas of the deep dark past...

[Jason Roehl]

Yeah, I don't think I'd waste my time trying to install the antenna in the attic with a metal roof. Even a normal wood-decked and asphalt shingled roof will block some signal--not a problem with strong, nearby stations, but if you're on the margins of a station you want to watch, it might make it unwatchable. Line-of-sight is best, but even sub-optimal conditions can be overcome. The nice part about digital is that even a much lower-power signal looks perfect when an analog signal of the same strength would have had significant noise in the audio and some snow overlay. But, when a digital signal becomes too weak, the picture freezes or goes away entirely all of a sudden. Maybe some pixelation first.