rca amplified digital flat antenna

[skeptic]

I just picked up an rca amplified digital antenna but have run into a snag - my plasma is a monitor and thus has no coaxial outlet. It appears that I will have to buy a digital converter to make this work. It turns out future shop in my town doesn't sell digital converters and so I'll have to start shopping around town, and perhaps order online. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these flat indoor antenna's from rca. I'd hate to waste money trying to avoid wasting money on the cable company.

[satchick]

First of all, where are you located? Indoor antennas are only good if you're close to the transmitters (30ish miles). The amplifier in it could cause problems too, if it has a gain control, start with the amp at the lowest setting and slowly turn it up as needed. Also try to keep the thing as far away from the plasma as practical, plasmas are horribly noisy.

[Terryl]

Look on Google (or Flea Bay) for a Samsung HDTV tuner, it will solve a bunch of your problems.

And Satchicks right, the gimmick antennas only work out to a certain range then poop out.

If your more then 75 miles from the TV transmitters (not the studio down town) your going to need an outdoor antenna mounted on the roof to do any good.

[Night Prowler]

you can check to see where and how far the transmitters are here....;)

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

[satchick]

Another vote for the Samsung tuner... I have an older model (DTB-H250F) and it works GREAT. The only issue with it is that it won't display the menus if you're using an SD output... I have it connected with HD component cables so it's no big deal...

It's one of the few that will output an HD signal. The cheap converter boxes downconvert everything to SD.

[skeptic]

I'm in Barrie, Ontario. That's about an hours drive north of Toronto so I suspect I may need to look into an outdoor receiver. It sounds like the amplification is more gimmick than benefit so maybe i'll return it and pick up the non-amplified one. There are no settings on this model, just plug it in and off it goes.

I'll google the samsung converter - I'd rather go right for one that is recommended rather than trial and error the cheap ones.

Thanks for the good info.

[skeptic]

Well, I just checked my area using tvfool as provided above, and unfortunately antenna tv is not looking promising in my area. There are only a few channells that broadcast clearly in my area, and most of the other channels apparently require extreme measures to pick up. Only a small handful of channels are available even with the rooftop antenna. That's disappointing - I really want to ditch cable but don't want to lose my sports.