TV Antenna

DaMoonRulz

I'm looking at getting an antenna for my TV. I recently got rid of cable and have Hulu and Netflix, but with the Olympics coming up and football on NBC, it'd be nice to get some live channels. Does anyone have recommendations for antennas? I'm looking no more expensive than 25-30, and discreet is nice as well.

Fantasma

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103077

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032205&s=D-StorePrice-RSK&s=D-StorePrice-RSK&gzq=CAT2032189_Antennas

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032204&s=D-StorePrice-RSK&s=D-StorePrice-RSK&gzq=CAT2032189_Antennas

Jebus314

Bottom line is there no universal recommendation for antennas. It is going to depend majorly on your surroundings. Some antennas work great if you have decent line of sight, some work great if you live around tall buildings, some work great for weak signals, some work great for strong signals, ect... The first one fantasma linked is your best bet for just buying and seeing what happens. It should be pretty cheap, and it should work fairly well.

tvfool can give you a good idea of what channels you should be able to get and what their signal strengths will be. The farther way you are from the source the bigger the antenna you will probably need. Ranging from small indoor ones, to giant rooftop ones. After that it's pretty much a guessing game of trying to decide what your biggest problems will be, and find an antenna that seems to be designed to deal with those problems.

If you live in the city though, definitely try buying the cheapo radioshack set, and see what happens. Report back, because I am also on the fence about snagging one.

skeldare

Just FYI, I believe NBC streams the Olympics live online.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/index.html

DaMoonRulz

Thanks for the recommendations

Cabezone

It's only streaming for people with cable subscriptions.

Cabezone

If you want HD you'll need to spend more than 25 bucks.

Jebus314

Cabezone wrote: »

If you want HD you'll need to spend more than 25 bucks.

There's nothing inherently different about an HD signal. If you can get any signal with the 15 dollar radioshack antenna, then you can get HD just fine. This guy tried out a bunch of different ones and found that some of the cheap radioshack antennas outperformed a lot of the more expensive ones. Again, it is most likely going to be hugely dependent on what the actual surroundings of your house are like, but do not buy anything just because it says HD or DTV or HDTV. All antennas are HD capable. You just have to find one that gets a decent signal for your location.

amateurhour

There's a lot of DIY guides online for building your own HD antenna from Radio Shack parts for about $30 bucks that functions like the higher end HD antenna. It's actually pretty easy to do, but like others have said, it's really going to depend ENTIRELY on your area and the placement of the antenna as to whether or not you can get a signal.

bowen

I can get HD without rabbit ears on my TV, so uh, I'm sure the cheap ass radio shack ones will do just fine.