Locast Suspends Service/Need Help with Home RUn

#23

Exactly this.

#24

Someone has the pay the big NFL contracts

#25

Apparently thatā€™s how things work these days. No need to work hard or innovate, just pay lobbyists to get you a nice regulatory carveout so you can rake in cash every year for doing less and less. You can write you congressman but donā€™t hold your breath.

#26

I would first start with a website like tvfool.com or antennaweb to see the stations you have available. The stations are rated as either line of sight or 1 or 2 edge refraction. I would concentrate only on line of sight Stations. Edge refraction signals are affected far too easily on weather conditions to be reliable enough for dvr usage in my opinion.

you should also note whether the stations you want are UHF or VHF. if you need to receive both signals, you may need a combination antenna note that the TV station number doesn't always match the signal type

Then get a good antenna and mount it where it won't be in the way, yet you can connect it. I use and like hd homerun tuners. Works great and you can easily handle multiple sets without running cable and splitters everywhere

I like attics for mounting antennas. Unlike outdoor installations, you don't have to worry about storm or tree damage, and you won't need to worry about lightening strikes.

I been doing for 4 years now and have helped several of my neighbors get off cable

#27

I get pixilation on a few channels which is so annoying. What tv antenna do you use?

#28

OTA is too location dependent to hand out an antenna recc for everyone - try the above, and we can help.

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#29

I use a channel master ommni 50 mounted in my attic about 15' high

Needed the dipole vhf elements for a particular station I needed

Pixellation can be caused by low signal strength, but could also be caused by interference. Causing poor signal quality

Silicon dust has some great info on troubleshooting signal strength versus signal quality

https://info.hdhomerun.com/info/troubleshooting:signal_strength_quality

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#30

Thanks for infoā€¦appreciate it. Do you know what a good antenna to get would be? Thanks again

#31

I cant say specifically which type of antenna would be best for you
it depends on the stations you are trying to get and how difficult it is to get a good signal from where you cant mount it

I can say that these are the most important factors in getting a OTA setup

  1. The right type of Antenna ( VHF/UHF multichannel etc)
  2. good location -
  3. good cables - with a minimum of connections ie quality RGB6 cable with as few a connections as possible

The Websites I mentioned, Antennaweb and TVfool also have some general recommendations

That being said, I use and have recommended Channel Master because of the build quality and the selection of antenna types they sell

regardless, if you go with an outdoor antenna, research and be cautious , especially with lightening protections

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#32

This guy seems to know what he's talking about and he has a service to make antenna recommendations specific to your situation. I will probably give him a try if I run into trouble.

#33

Could try like I did a year ago. It was hard to find an antenna installer for my roof. Turned out Sling TV partners with Dish installers for Antenna install service, and if you sign up for Sling for a month or two, you get a roof mounted antenna for $150 I think it was instead of $250. But the installer probably isn't going to be well versed in antenna installation, so you have to do some homework yourself. I made sure I knew where the towers were and what direction he should be pointing it. Worst case, I knew I was gaining a mounting point and a coax run for me to install my own. But OTA towers being 25-30 miles from me in a clear line of sight (minus trees), I've had no issue with the one he installed.

Then you'll want something like the SiliconDust HDHR Flex 4k and you'll be able to use it with channels just like Locast. Might as well go with ATSC3 4k tuner if you buying one now, since it just right around the corner for most markets to take over.

#34

Are there any advantages to getting the flex duo (two tuner) vs the connect quatro (four tuner)? Is the newer flex duo faster? Thanks.

#35

The Flex products are newer and theoretically will perform better. My Flex 4K tunes more stations than my Connect Quatro, but your mileage may vary.

#36

Isn't the connect quattro non-atsc3 whereas the flex 4k is atsc3?

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#37

Yes

#38

I am not comparing the 4K model with atsc3 to the standard hd models. I will wait till there is actual 4K broadcasts before I get the Flex 4K. My TiVo gets all the locals, but I am thinking about moving on from it. Untill Locast died, I was 95% past TiVo. I am now considering a used connect quatro or a flex duo. I am asking for advice from people that have used both. Used both with the Channels software would even be better.

#39

I understand that. I hope the part of my answer that says Flex is a newer design is useful. I can only offer direct experience with the Flex 4K though, which I am using to receive ATSC 1.0 broadcasts on all four tuners alongside a Connect Quatro.

#40

Another advantage is if you are using the HDHomeRun DVR you can add storage to the newly added USB Port.... but Channels DVR cannot use that storage.

#41

I have heard that fringe stations can tune better with atsc3 tuners but I don't really have fringe stations. They all come in fine with my TiVo and the old technology. I am in Florida where it is flat.

#42

Wouldn't you have to pay $35 a month to them to be able to use that port or will it work with Plex?

I think the newer models are fanless. That is a big advantage if that is indeed the case?