TV Cards

I get lousy TV reception in my area. I refuse to pay the outrageous prices the cable company wants, (BTW, we are only allowed to use one cable company and we are not allowed to have outdoor antennas at my apartment complex ) so I am in the market for an inside or outside TV card to place into my computer that allows me to watch regular digital TV through my computer. From what I have looked at and read online so far, these cards require an antenna or cable just like your regular TV does. I do have a wall jack for cable, but I do not get or pay for cable. I have 2 questions:
1) Will a cable hooked between my TV card and wall jack bring me reception?
2) If I get lousy reception on my TV, will I also get lousy reception on my computer with a TV card?
Thanks to all who respond!

 

nope a TV card hooked to your cable tv outlet will not do a thing for you. you will get the same crappy reception you get on your TV..... however you can watch most TV shows on your computer via www.hulu.com you don't need a TV card for that.

 

To question #1 -- If the cable is connected to the building's antenna (something that was common 20+ years ago) then you can get good reception from that, but, if you hook it up and get nothing but snow on all channels on your TV, then the cable is either cut, or hooked to a cable provider.

To question #2 -- Unfortunately, if you get spotty reception on your TV, you'll more than likely get spotty reception with a TV card.

Wish I had better answers for you --- you could try an amplified antenna, but you might just be throwing money away...

 

If you have digital receiver in the configuration menu there should be a signal strength meter,with your indoor aerial connected move it around the room until you get the strongest signal then find a way to fix it there,a difference of 30-60% signal strength can be as little as moving the aerial a few inches one way or the other.

I agree with PD an amplified aerial could be worth a try.

 

Hi!
Yep, I was afraid of that. I already do watch Hulu and others, plus I downloaded Readon (it's free), which is pretty cool to watch global TV and movies, but the major networks only show news channels, not real-time programming, which is what I was hoping I could do with a TV card.

 

Hi!
I live in a one-story block of apartments and there is no antenna on the roof. Somebody told me that sometimes there is an antenna running through the walls (really?). I'm pretty sure the cable outlet is put there by Mediacom, who has an agreement with the apartment complex to not let anyone else provide service here. Since they have no competition, they can charge whatever they want.
Answer to #2 is what I was afraid of.
I did buy an amplified antenna with a signal booster hooked onto that, and it isn't much better than the rabbit ears.

 

Hi!
Yes, I do have the digital box and can display the signal strength. I am always moving the antenna around (I have the flat RCA model with a signal booster attached to that)

 

Is the signal booster part of the aerial or is it in the cable?

The reason I ask is becasue in-cable boosters are notoriously bad. If you are getting a bad signal they just boost the whole thing, snow included, rather than filtering the good stuff out.

 

It's an RCA 10 dB Amplifier 50-900 MHz Model VH100N
I connected the cable from the antenna to one connector (in) while I have another cable connected to the other connector (out) which goes to the digital receiver box, which is connected to the TV.
The amplifier has a power cord which I have plugged in to a surge protector. It has 6 outlets. I have the TV and Digital box plugged in there also.

 

I live in the UK so I'm not sure what free channels your supposed to get,if mediacom encrypt the channels then no amount of signal strength will allow you to watch them,if they are open air broadcasts and they just charge for aerial rent "If there is such a thing." find where the end of the aerial comes out of the wall and put your aerial right next to it,it will probably run directly up the wall so pin your aerial cable running up the wall,experiment,your aerial and cable will piggy back the outside aerial without being physically connected to it.

Its hard to come up with a solution without knowing what exactly you have and are allowed to to do,I'd ask your building super,someone else in your block must have TV,ask them.

 

You could try a small, unobtrusive type of outdoor antenna like this:

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/9119/9119642_rb.jpg

From Here: Click!

About $100.00 though, but it can receive signals up to 50 miles away. Or so it claims...

 

In the US we have open air broadcasts that used to be analog but are now converted to digital via digital boxes that you hook up to your TV. With this in place, if you had bad reception with analog, you'll still get bad reception with digital frequencies and vice-versa. If you have an outdoor antenna, you will now get a few more broadcasts with the digital system, (or you will lose some and gain others) depending on your location from the signal source. Essentially, if you had an indoor antenna before, you were screwed, and if you still have one, you're still screwed.
Mediacom and Comcast are the cable TV providers in this region. Direct TV is the only satellite provider. To narrow that down, I am only allowed to use Mediacom where I live. The cable providers deliver unscrambled signals to your home via underground cables (providing you subscribe to them and you pay your bill). This makes available to you: Basic Cable Channels and optionally (for a higher price) Premium Cable Channels. If you were to plug in your cable from the TV to the cable outlet in your home, and you don't have a subscription, all you'll get is snow. When you have Cable, from a provider, the channels you get are not related to what your antenna was picking up. It's only limited to how much you're paying every month. No matter where you live, you get the channels they allow you to have, and the reception is consistently clear. If you already have an outlet in the wall, all they have to do is flick a switch and you're connected, so how they can get away with charging people the outrageous monthly charges they do is beyond me. Comcast just bought a national TV network out here for BILLIONS of dollars!! (they bought NBC).
Satellite providers require you to have a satellite receiver (or "dish") which they provide for you. They have a way to scramble and unscramble satellite signals that you get. I don't know exactly how they do this, I only know that I think ALL satellite signals should be FREE. That is a topic for another discussion though. I will say though, that satellite TV averages a lot less than the price of Cable.
Thanks for your suggestion. I will try that, although I am pretty much resigned to just watching what I can over the internet. It's just a matter of getting used to it.

 

FYI, This is a cool website that calculates, based on your address, what channels you can get, and breaks it down according to what kind of antenna you have. (I don't know if it works outside the US or not.)

This what they came up with for me:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=c572dd7f91431f

 

Amazon has it new for $71.70, and used from $55.00! Putting it on my wish list...