Archive for the 'Televison Reception (Antenna)' Category

Weekly column: Antenna for HDTV, Monoprice iPod/iPad accessories

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Q.  I have a second home in South Florida and am considering getting rid of my cable service there to save money, since I am not there all the time.  For a long time I thought you had to have cable to get TV anymore and thought rabbit ears went […]

Product of the Day, Day 32: Monoprice HDA-3700 Indoor HD Antenna

Monoprice HDA-3700 Indoor HD Antenna Monoprice is well known for their very affordable, extremely high quality HDMI and audio/video cables.  Monoprice HDMI cables typically sell for $5 or less,  vs. the extremely high prices charged in big box stores.  Monoprice is no one-trick pony.  They sell a wide variety of other products from plasma TV […]

Sound Advice Column: Using a digital converter box with a VCR

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Distributed By McClatchy-Tribune Information Services Q: I hope you can answer my many questions about the new digital TV converter boxes. Probably a lot of your readers will soon be interested in this. My first problem: The VCR won’t work. I hooked up the antenna into the box and white […]

Sound Advice Column: Audio from TV on FM Radio, adding an external tuner

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Distributed By McClatchy-Tribune Information Services Q: I have a question indirectly related to the digital TV switchover scheduled for February 2009. It has to do with the TV audio reception that currently can be received on the FM band on various tabletop radios. I like to fall asleep listening to […]

Echostar (Dish Network) TR-40 Converter Box gets a new look

Echostar TR-40 Digital TV Converter Box- free with government coupon The TR-40 digital converter box from Echostar (also known as Dish Network) has a new look! My Echostar media contact, Francie Bauer, sent me the image posted above. The TR-40 will be 40%-60% smaller than the original design, shown below. Thanks, Francie!   Original Dish […]

Free Dish Network TR-40 digital TV converter box available in June

Dish Network has announced their free digital TV converter box, the TR-40, will be available in June.  In February 2009 all analog TV broadcasts in the USA will cease and without a converter box, analog TVs will be unable to receive any stations.  The government is now issuing $40 coupons good towards the purchase of a […]

Sound differences between HD and regular channels, using an indoor antenna to get HDTV

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 41, 2007 Q:   I  recently purchased a new Phillips 47″ LCD TV from Costco and  had their installation service install it.    I have an HD DVR converter box from Comcast and everything is connected with new HDMI cables.   I love it except there is  a very […]

Blu-ray vs. Upconverted DVDs, TV Antennas and 2009 Digital TV Transition, converter boxes

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 36, 2007 Q: Is there much of a difference in picture quality between, say, the Oppo 1080p upconverting DVD player and one of the two actual HD (Blu-ray and HD DVD) players? I know one plays/up converts “regular” DVD’s and the other plays actual “HD” DVD’s. I have a […]

DVD/VCR combo a decent stopgap as you await HDTV

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 34, 2007 Q: I made the mistake of buying an LCD TV that requires a cable or satellite box. The TV is not returnable. The store’s tech guy said I can use a VCR to watch the TV. I don’t even own a VCR anymore. What’s your advice? GEORGE […]

Changing sound level with HDTV vs. satellite, 35mm slides to CD/DVD

Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 15, 2007 Q: We recently purchased our first HDTV. I haven’t converted my satellite to HD yet, but watch the local channels in HD via your recommended Phillips Silver Sensor antenna. I route all sound through the TV back to my old receiver and listen in simple ol’ Pro-Logic […]

Zenith Silver Sensor antenna, VHF and UHF

Week of June 18, 2006 Q: I read your column about the Zenith Silver Sensor for receiving HD TV and it was very applicable to my situation since I have difficulty receiving HD off the air. However, in looking up info on it, it seems to be for UHF only. Is that the case and […]

HDTV tuners and antennas, more comments about plasma TVs

Week of June 4, 2006 Q: Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for a tuner and antenna for a HD-ready TV? -Larry Lilly A: The antenna is more important than the tuner when it comes to good reception, so I will start there. For an indoor set-top antenna, my favorite is still the amazing […]

Rooftop antennas

Week or March 5, 2006 Q:   I am writing regarding rooftop antennas. I dropped cable once the price reached an obscene $53/mo and satellite is not an option because neighbor has 1 tree blocking line of sight. (ironically, the ONLY sky obstruction anywhere). I live on top of a hill, and www.antennaweb.org says that […]

Burned CD and DVD long-term viability, TV antenna reception

Week of February 5, 2006 Q: I have been copying home videos to DVD with a DVD recorder. Recently there have been reports of the purple dyes in recordable CDs deteriorating. The blank DVDs also appear to have a purple substrate. I plan on not recording over the original tapes, but could you give me […]

Set-top HDTV antennas, connecting computer to projector

Week 34, 2003 Q:     I recently bought a Hughes Platinum HDTV satellite receiver and everything works fine. I also installed a Terk TV55 antenna to be able to receive local over-the-air HDTV.   That’s when my problems started. I know my local stations sometimes have HDTV programming, but when I try to watch […]

Adding Audio/Video Inputs to an Existing System, DirecTV and HDTV, Zenith Silver Sensor Antenna

Published Nov. 16, 2002   Q)   My stereo system is already connected to my DVD player. I’d like to have stereo sound from my TV even when I’m not playing DVD’s. I have a digital cable box, a VCR, a TV with loads of inputs, but my stereo only has the two jacks and […]

Digital SLRs, Over-the-Air HDTV Reception

Published November 2, 2002   Q:  I want to get a digital camera, but I want one like my friend’s old Canon F-1 where you look through the lens and adjust everything yourself.   Do they make them like that? -Mitch Bell A:  What you are referring to is a single lens reflex (SLR) camera. […]