Don,
Let me be forthright,
between not being able to use a phone in my house in spite of paying for
it, losing access to my main gmail account, fighting bell for an
accessible phone, not being able to work fully because I have no land line,
falling behind on rent, as a result, and fighting Canada post... I
need solid
solutions.
1. can such an Antenna be bought, instead of constructed, and if so where?
Evan referenced a loop.
2, if that is not possible, before I lose time awaiting sighted help to
construct an Antenna, can that be made clear?
I would rather buy a solution that gives me many choices then construct
one if I can.
Especially since hook up a temporary antenna is where I am lost.
Kare
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023, Don Tai wrote:
first hook up a temporary antenna, put it near your window, scan your TV
and see how many channels you can get.
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 at 15:20, Karen Lewellen <[email protected]>
wrote:
I still have the box, but have not been a rogers customer since 2017 or
so.
you are suggesting that I can use the box for the digitization process?
plugging things into the rogers box?
or use the port for cox to plug in this antenna?
if so that will be magical, as I have both cable, and know where that port
is!
and the antenna, if I want to buy one is in the walmart.ca link?
that referenced HDMI, will check that..this is becoming quite
sensational!
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023, Don Tai wrote:
There should be a specific port just for "antenna" or "ANT", a coax cable
port, or the port that you plug in your Rogers cable. Unplug your Rogers
cable and plug in your antenna. It should not affect your other ports.
You
should not need to change anything else.
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 at 13:13, Karen Lewellen <[email protected]>
wrote:
Don,
Can you be more specific about the digital TV side?
My Toshiba is quite fancy, however I have a number of converter units
that may bridge the gap.
have wondered if I connected an antenna to a spot for one on the set if
that
would do the trick.
or if I reconnected one of the existing digital converter units I have,
got them from both radio shack and the source years back, if that might
do the trick..
Going to check my TV manual, as well.
Thanks!
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023, Don Tai via talk wrote:
I've been using Over the Air OTA TV for 10 years now, and have been
happy
with the free service. The digital signals are uncompressed, providing
visibly higher quality images than Rogers (My Mum's service). I receive
17
digital channels, Southern Ontario and Buffalo, despite my neighbour's
large evergreen. OTA works well during clear, rain and snow storms, but
may
go out during foggy weather.
You will need a digital TV (slim width one), and an antenna. The
antenna
can be as simple as a coat hanger, but a better one will get you more
stations. Simply attach the antenna to your TV, place the antenna near
a
window and rescan your TV with the antenna option and presto, free
digital uncompressed TV stations will magically appear. There is no
cost.
If you dislike it you just rescan your TV to cable.
tvfool.com will generally tell you in which direction to point your
antenna, though downtown there may be signal bouncing off nearby
buildings,
so you might need to experiment. A free TV guide is available at
https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/ just put in your postal code, antenna,
"Local Over the Air Broadcast" and a schedule appears.
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 at 04:07, Evan Leibovitch via talk <
[email protected]>
wrote:
One option available to some cord cutters is going back to the
antenna.
I have one on my rooftop and it does quite a good job of picking up
Toronto and Buffalo channels, which I find preferable to the Robellus
options for two reasons:
- The off-air signal is not compressed so it can be noticeably
sharper
than cable or satellite
- The cable/dish options usually get their US feeds from Detroit or
Boston or some such; Buffalo local news and weather will be more
relevant
to me
This isn't just limited to people with their own houses. A good small
UHF
antenna can also work well from an apartment building, especially if
you're
south-facing. I once lived on an upper floor in a St. Jamestown tower
(Wellesley/Parliament) and my reception was outstanding with just a
simple
loop. A really good website for determining what you can get at your
location is tvfool.com.
I use these channels mainly for local news, sports and weather. Most
actual programming can be found on the web, either through a
subscription
to a service like Crave or ... there are other paths
<
https://www.howtogeek.com/71315/the-how-to-geek-guide-to-getting-started-with-usenet/
.
I also have a tuner called an HDHomerun that takes antenna input and
provides it through your home network (ie, accessible to your PCs and
phones) so you don't even need a coax-input TV.
Of course you can in theory receive over the air channels using an
antenna
and an ATSC tuner, but if you are in a basement that seems unlikely
to
work.
For the expense of a simple loop
<
https://www.amazon.ca/Antenna-Indoor-Amplified-Digital-Miles-Support/dp/B0BWDSXVLG/ref=sr_1_20
-- some are available for under $25, and you can return it if it
doesn't
work -- if you're close enough to the CN Tower you might be surprised.
- Evan
On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 12:23???AM Karen Lewellen via talk <
[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi,
If I could get the digital box, without having to use a modem, I
would
likely be fine, because the digital box would tap into the existing
blanket internet wireless wise would it not?
In fact that was my landlord's idea adding an extra receiver to his
account, for which I would pay the rental, as it is just on another
floor.
I am curious how the antenna idea works, I am above ground for the
area
where my television sits, so perhaps? what do I need?
Oh boy does my television have optical outs..in spades
The DVD player has an HDMI port, I imagined connecting the cable box
to
this, and since the set is connected to the player it would be
enough.
I still have my old Roger's digital cable box, the one they provided
for
older televisions as well.
wish I had fewer trees, not only is satellite less complex, from bell
there
are channels automatically provided with audio description for the
blind
enabled..they do not provide this for Fibe.
Kare
On Wed, 29 Nov 2023, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
On Tue, Nov 28, 2023 at 08:09:47PM -0500, Karen Lewellen via talk
wrote:
Hi folks,
before simply saying you avoid television, Part of what I do
professionally
means accessing a great deal, news channels and other things for
example.
And for me, the, I will just watch it on my computer is a nailed
shut
door.
This entire property is Bell fibe saturated which while it might
translate
to one of their fibe TV boxes working for me, its almost December
and
I am
no closer to my land line solution..even with photographs of the
existing
jacks.
So,I am wondering if at all, it is still possible from anyone to
simply find
old fashioned cable box cable.
I have all the rest of the equipment, and it all works..even my
VCR.
I am even wondering if, since the place is so saturated for
wireless,
if I
got an older apple TV, third gen still had optical connectors, or a
rocku, I
could come up with something. not as good as regular cable, but I
am
grasping for ideas.
thoughts?
Bell's Fibe service has only ever worked with their boxes. Rogers
cable
has been moving to all digital over the last quite a few years, and
analog cable (that a VCR could directly tune) has been gone for a
while,
with everything going digital. They even gave people free little
boxes
for a while to connect to older TVs that could tune the basic
digital
channels but I don't think they even do that anymore. I think
everything
now involves a digital cable box. On top of that they have been
moving
to IP based systems (Rogers Ignite) for a number of years and I
doubt
they would install the legacy digital cable anymore for new
accounts.
Definitely no analog cable left anymore.
Of course you can in theory receive over the air channels using an
attenna and an ATSC tuner, but if you are in a basement that seems
unlikely to work.
So unfortunately as far as I can see, the only things you can get
these
days is Bell Fibe or Rogers Ignite, both of which require using a
box
from the respective company and only outputs HDMI. VCRs won't do
anything
with that, and older TVs won't either.
The streaming method might work, although if you were looking to get
access to local TV stations, I have no idea if any of the streaming
services offer that.
As far as I can find, some of the Bell Fibe boxes have optical audio
out.
The Rogers Ignite boxes do not appear to have it. Of course some
TVs
also have optical audio out, so it might not have to be optical out
on
the box you are receiving with, if the TV has that.
--
Len Sorensen
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Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
@evanleibovitch / @el56
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