atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Digital TV Conversion

I've got 2 TVs that are not hooked to cable boxes. I got a Digital Converter box from Radio Shack and if I hook it up to the first point in the house where the roof antenna splits then I can get some channels off the silly thing.

Unfortunately, the two tvs that are orphaned are at the end of the cable bus - 3 & 4 splitters down the line. I still get a (fair) picture on them hooked to the roof antenna, but at that point on the bus, the converter box says the signal is too weak for it to operate.

The wiring everything is running on is RG-59. It was a state of the art installation 30 years ago, when I bought the house, but now I guess it's not worth jack.

I don't use one of these tvs at all (it's in my son's old room) and the other only briefly (it's by the laundry room). It didn't pay to put boxes on them when I went to FIOS and I've just let them slide.

My wife is now making noises about converting my son's old room to a guest room and she thinks it would be nice to have a tv in it. Not nice enough to put a box on it, but if it could get local programming, that would be enough. She'd also like to watch tv while she folds laundry in the basement (15 minutes a week?)

So what, if any, are my options?

Can I replace the roof antenna with one that will work post-conversion? (Note that our over-the-air reception has sucked since the Towers came down.)

How about a signal amplifier? Would that work?

I really don't want to recable and I really don't want to spring for boxes.

I'm inclined to throw the sets out and be done with them.

TIA,

Sam

Don't know about the converter boxes BUT until we could get satellite T V we were on the open air antenna system out in the sticks....miles and miles from any tower.

RS amplifier and splitters did the trick. Well worth the investment.

Have you tried feeding the converter box from your FiOS? I believe with cable doing that will get you the digital unscrambled channels the same as if you had a new set with an ATSC tuner. I have no idea what will happen with FiOS but it would be interesting to find out.

-Hal

Hal -

Do you mean tapping the signal Before the FIOS boxes or after?

Ken -

If Hal's idea doesn't work I'll look around for an amplifier . I'll also check the splitters in line before these tv's. I'll see what kind of signal I get there.


Sam

Sam, just remember the amp will amplify everything, including the trash out there. Make sure all connections are "clean" and well grounded.

Before the FiOS boxes.

I don't have much hope for you though with that 59. Keep in mind that the HD channels are UHF.

-Hal

your antenna may be the problem, when i upgraded mine , am now able to pick up 63 digital, on digital you either have a picture or not , on the gov. dtv site you put in your zip code & they tell you your compass settings & which station you may get, also sign up for the coupon for the box

I know this is an older thread but I just came across this site- rabbitears.info

Select your market and it will give you complete information as to what channels there are and where they will be moving to.

I haven't looked at anything other than NYC but I see a few VHF's will actually be staying. They will be eliminating their "test" UHF digital counterpart and moving it down to their old analog slot.

But if you dig you will see that they will be greatly reducing their VHF transmitting power from what it was for analog. This is because only low power channels will be allowed to remain in the VHF band.


-Hal

Geez, "es Comcastico" changed all of our channels (except one) for our "convenience" a year or two ago. I still can't remember them since the new lineup makes absolutely NO sense. Looks like we are going through it again. I just don't understand why they don't make an effort to keep them at least close to what they were. For example: Channel 4 becomes 44, channel 5 becomes 45, etc. Here, channel 4 becomes 48 and 5 becomes 36. Is this just another case of government efficiency?

Hal- Thank for the link. However.....As long as this thread has been resurrected, I'll give you the followup to this debacle.

The original converter box that I got from Radio Shack died. So I got a replacement. It worked a little better, but I still couldn't get most of the channels. So then I got an amplifier (also from RS - what was I thinking?!?). That boosted the signal a little, but still not enough.

Then the new converter box died. I was truly annoyed. Then the old TV in the kitchen died, so we got a new TV for there. Surprise! All they make (or at least show) now are HD sets. But the prices are way down, so we got an HD set. But the box in the kitchen is a Standard (non-HD) model.

After a rather pleasant phone call, Verizon sent me a new HD box - no charge, (overnight!) to replace the standard box and told me to just mail back the old box in the postage paid carton. And the monthly rate will stay the same. Not bad.

But then my wife began to break my chops, so rather then get a new converter box (that won't work very well and probably won't last either) I hooked up the standard box in the basement. It works beautifully and Verizon will just charge me an additional $5 a month to keep it.

It's got to be cheaper then a divorce. If my son's old room becomes a guest room, then I guess I'll wind up getting a box for it too.

It looks like I will just give up on over the air programming.


BTW - The FIOS TV experience has been excellent. Installation, Service, Picture Quality, all of it. The people on the other end of the phone are all knowledgeable Americans. I'm astonished. And delighted. And more then a little surprised.


Sam