View Full Version : Save With Bunny Ear TV !
broadcast bunny ear tv is not what it used to be. it is far more than the big 3 plus public tv.
i am on broadcast and in addition to getting full HDTV FREE through the airwaves, I get 15 channels that I watch! Beyond that, there are about 10 more channels that I do not watch (so about 25 channels total). Isn't that about what a basic cable package gives you? 25 channels or so and most of them the ones I already get?
My favorite channel is THE CW. There is also a movie channel 24/7 and a few of the other channels always have movies on at night.
I could buy complete full season box sets of shows I am missing on cable complete with behind the scenes footage and extras AND STILL BE SAVING MONEY!
Could you go into more detail on how you've done this, Heydude? I'm interested because I've got an old (9 years) analog TV and haven't been able to get it hooked up correctly to digital cable. Are you talking about using a regular old rabbit ear antenna?
if you buy a digital TV, you can put a rabit ear on it and get free tv.
if you buy a digital HDTV (which is really the only thing on the market now), you will get HDTV when you put your rabbit ears on.
if you have an old tv, that is not digital, it will not work unless you buy a converted box, which, by that point, you may as well just buy a new HDTV.
rosarugosa
6-28-12, 4:59am
We have an old non-digital TV with a converter box, and the box only cost $20. out of pocket. This has been perfectly acceptable to us, but we watch very little TV.
goldensmom
6-28-12, 6:38am
The converter box didn't work for us so we bought a digital HDTV TV, use rabbit ears and get excellent reception on 15 channels. We also have Dish satellite on one TV but prefer to watch on the rabbit ears TV because the reception is much better. Digital over-the-air is the best.
Tussiemussies
6-28-12, 6:41am
Hi Hey Dude, you seem like the sweetest guy. Just wanted to bring up one point that you most likely didn't think of ; tapping into cable to get it for free isn't ethical. It is like stealing. So I'm not for the bunny ears idea.
From your posts I know you are a good person, you just didn't think of it...
Christine
Tussies-
I didn't see anywhere that he was taking cable for free. He was using an analogy of getting as many over the air channels as he /would/ normally get with a basic cable package. Receiving commercial TV over the airwaves is entirely legal AND ethical (though it still rots your brain >8))
Tussiemussies
6-28-12, 6:51am
Hi her geek, although it might be considered legal personally it doesn't seem ethical to me. I must have read his original post wrong. Don't want to get into a fumed discussion here.
goldensmom
6-28-12, 7:25am
Before cable and satellite there was only TV by antenna. Over-the-air TV reception using rabbit ears as an antenna or a roof top antenna is and has always been free, legal and ethical.
Tussiemussies
6-28-12, 7:40am
Well the hey dude I apologize to you for my post!
Converter box didn't work for us either.
I've been amazed at how clear and good the signal is on the HDTV is that we bought. The antenna the sales guy suggested is small and more of a round plastic disk that sits behind the TV. I think we get 12 channels which is more than enough for this girl who grew up with 1 1/2 channels on a good day, never had cable or dish, and didn't even have a TV at all for the first 10 years of marriage.
ToomuchStuff
6-28-12, 1:07pm
The only reason I have basic cable, is because it is $1 cheaper to have that with the cablemodem service, then JUST the cablemodem service. Doesn't make sense does it?
It wasn't hooked to the tv for years, until I had a problem and used it to help diagnose if it was on my end or their end. Now, as of June 19th, all the local cable channels are broadcast in an encrypted format, so you need to have one of their decoder boxes. Up to three for "free", which means you pay a cable bill, for a box with a unique ID, which they can shut off, if your late, track what your watching, and sell that information for behavioral analysis. (you pay them to be directly advertised to)
Float On, did you try an antenna with the converter box? It is needed(box alone does no good) and you can find out how to build one via You Tube (there are several video's if this link doesn't work, just search for coat hanger antenna):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw
I am considering going to the dial up speed of the cable service. This cuts the bill in half, allows me to watch the tv stuff online (just have to wait for it to download the cache) although I would loose the ability to do downloads and uploads of the Linux distro's at any reasonable speed. (would have to buy the dvd's for probably $5 a piece)
Hey Dude I think your off a little bit on your tv thought. While basic cable is channels 2-22, broadcast tv, at least when I was a kid, involved both UHF AND VHF. VHF was the three that you were thinking, while UHF was public television and at least here, two other stations, plus a religious channel that latter became advertising channel. So that was seven channels, before digital, where they could have up to four separate channels, so up to 28 free over the air channels.
I still have an old antenna in the attic I will hook up one day. Really only had one show that I feel I have to watch, and two that I will watch when eating or something (and both of them pretty much are over for me). One show, I would be way ahead to just do the dvd, and not have to watch a bunch of ads.
We have a little of each :-)
The main TV is a small HDTV which is now almost six years old (which is about 100 in TV years lol). It was advertised as "cable compatible" and has both digital and analog tuners in it and we have never needed a set-top box for it. Ever. Not when analog went away, not when they "encrypted" local stations, never. It keeps picking up new channels as they come on board. We just pay for the city-mandated "Comcast-you-must-offer-this-superbasic-package" because, like the other poster, Internet cable is cheaper with TV cable than without (!). We get stations my mom (with full digital cable) does not.
The TV downstairs is an old tube set with a TDA (converter box). Using an HDTV antenna we bought off craigslist, we get all of the over-the-air stations, though, of course, they're reformatted to fix the screen -- usually by shrinking the entire picture :-( It works well enough for the little TV that is watched on that set (it's there primarily to entertain during treadmill runs or to run the Wii).
And it works for as much (as little?) TV as we watch. Most of these items will not wear out in our lifetimes, so buying them used typically is not a huge expense.
simplelife4me
6-28-12, 8:04pm
Been doing this since 2007 and like it just fine.
Ok. Let me get this straight. Are you all saying if you have an HDTV or old TV with a convertor box you can add an antenna and get a bunch more channels than you would if you just used the HDTV or old TV with convertor box and no cable at all?
Are there special antennas that can be bought for this purpose and is there a place to hook said antenna up to your HDTV or old TV's convertor box?
More details about how this happens, please.
Tussie: I don't think this is stealing cable TV. I think everyone has a different set of ethics and sees individual situations differently. While I would give the cashier the wrong change back or tell them they forgot to ring up an item and I wouldn't use an expired coupon, I find this perfectly reasonable. I think this is covered in the 1st Amendment. Signals sent out by TV broadcasters are considered free speech and if that speech is projected, one has the right to listen to it--or not.
Well, the word was broadcast. Broadcast is not cable is it?
bunnys,
a converter box does not give you more channels. a converter box allows old TVs to be able to get broadcast channels. the government dumped all analog signals so only digital signals are now being sent. basically, only digital tvs can get broadcast anymore. so putting rabbit ears on old tvs gives you NOTHING. putting rabbit ears on digital tvs gives you the channels. putting a converted box on a digital tv is pointless. a converter box is for old tvs to be able to do what digital tvs do.
bunnys,
a converter box does not give you more channels. a converter box allows old TVs to be able to get broadcast channels. the government dumped all analog signals so only digital signals are now being sent. basically, only digital tvs can get broadcast anymore. so putting rabbit ears on old tvs gives you NOTHING. putting rabbit ears on digital tvs gives you the channels. putting a converted box on a digital tv is pointless. a converter box is for old tvs to be able to do what digital tvs do.
My question is: How do I tell if my tv is digital?
Tussiemussies,
you are sweet. i think stealing cable or stealing channels is wrong.
when i grew up, tv came from the airwaves that cbs, nbc, and abc would broadcast for FREE.
then cable came and you could get more channels if you paid money.
i am not tapping in to cable. i do not even know how you would do that.
i am using my rabbit ear to get the free broadcast channels that they still broadcast. most people do not do this anymore. they buy cable.
they eventually stopped broadcasting analog tv (the old tv stuff) and only broadcast full HDTV now. yes, free hd tv is broadcast now over the airwaves and can be picked up by your rabbit ears. you cannot however use your old non digital tv to get it now. well, you can if you get a converter box.
but if you go buy an hdtv and an antennea, you will get the free tv.
if you would rather imply i am stealing directv or something like that, you can't get it unless you have a directv supscription and satellite.
i am only getting the free broadcast channels, which now, there are a lot more than just nbc, cbs, and abc.
even go to tvguide.com and put antennea broadcast tv as your provider and you'll see all the free channels you can get.
thanks.
again, i do not believe stealing tv is right either. however, there is public tv still out there and many channels are public.
call up abc and ask them yourself!
Tiam, what year did you buy it?
Generally, it would be an HDTV.
Not many people bought digital TVs i don't think until they went HD.
is it really big and stuff? i mean in the back? haha.
did the box come with a sticker that said "this won't work after the government switches analog airwaves to digital?"
it should say on the box or user book if it is digital. if it is not hdtv, it is probably analog.
Tussiemussies
6-29-12, 2:12am
Thanks heydude for being so nice about what I posted. I mis-understood what you are doing but recently had made a pact with myself that if I see anyone doing anything wrong, from now on I will call it out.
Well I was the one who was wrong here and I'm sorry for saying that you were doing something un-ethical.
Have to be really careful before I call out on things.
Thank you again for being so sweet about it all. Christine
ToomuchStuff
6-29-12, 5:12am
Ok. Let me get this straight. Are you all saying if you have an HDTV or old TV with a convertor box you can add an antenna and get a bunch more channels than you would if you just used the HDTV or old TV with convertor box and no cable at all?
An antenna, or a cable are one in the same, in the sense that all they are is a signal delivery device, to the tuner.
I will not say that it will give you more channels, but you may get some you don't with cable. (while losing ones that cable provides) For example, while the analog public tv station was channel 19, when the switch to digital happened, it became 19-1, 19-2, 19-3 and 19-4. Four different channels in the same space, that can do different shows, the same show at different times, etc. The local cable company, before going to encrypted (I have no knowledge since they went encrypted, don't want a box), only broadcast 19-1. But with the cable, I had WGN from Chicago.
Some of the newer tv's that I have seen (tv/computer monitors), could accept both the cable signal, and an antenna signal.
Tiam
Is your tv a tube style, or a flatscreen of some kind? Some older big screens, were HD in the transition, most before a standard.
If a flatscreen, do you have a manual for it? The keyword is what is the tuner? QAM is digital and ATSC is analog.
I don't have any TV at all at this point but I'm thinking of getting a TV this fall and if I do spend money on a TV, I want to make it worth it. There is no way I'm paying for cable, though.
SteveinMN
6-29-12, 10:44am
Tiam, if you can find the model number for the TV (should be on a sticker on the back or might even be up on the front) and tell us the brand, I'd be willing to look up for you if it's digital/HD/whatever. You can post it here or pm me.
When things switched from analog to digital the TV shop guys told me I would need a digital antennae to replace my old rabbit ears. It wasn't expensive, but the old one indeed did not work. Some of my friends who have always had cable are surprized that you can get so many broadcast channels and it is in HDTV. And it's free. The biggest problem I have is that most of the shows are reality TV or murders with cop investigators no matter how many channels I can get. I've sometimes wondered how many murders get shown in a day if you added up all the major networks.
I just checked and locally I have the three major networks, PBS and 3 little local "UHF" channels. That amounts to seven but as HeyDude said, there are several versions of each. There are absolutely NO even quasi cable channels among the free broadcast channels available to me, not even WGN.
However, when I do get a TV (and I think I will) I will certainly get an antenna to supplement the digital convertor within the TV so I can get multiple local channels.
What I really want to know is how to hook your TV up to your laptop so you can stream video from the internet onto your TV. Anyone know that?
What I really want to know is how to hook your TV up to your laptop so you can stream video from the internet onto your TV. Anyone know that?
There is a bunch of ways to do that; all have their pluses and minuses. It would help to know:
- how new your laptop and TV are (to determine what kinds of connections you likely have available);
- what you want to watch -- programs from TV stations at their Web sites, YouTube videos, content from the iTunes Music Store, etc.
- whether you can run an Ethernet cable from your wireless router (if you have one) or if you have to get your signal wirelessly
There are some other choices, but knowing these things will help narrow down how simple this will be and what it might cost. It might be under $10; it might be $100. Again, the situation kind of dictates the choices you have.
Tiam, what year did you buy it?
Generally, it would be an HDTV.
Not many people bought digital TVs i don't think until they went HD.
is it really big and stuff? i mean in the back? haha.
did the box come with a sticker that said "this won't work after the government switches analog airwaves to digital?"
it should say on the box or user book if it is digital. if it is not hdtv, it is probably analog.
That's pretty vague. :DIt's big. I have no idea when I bought it. Probably 12 years ago. But I don't think that rules out it being digital.
fidgiegirl
6-29-12, 10:43pm
Tiam, try some of these tips:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5065789_tell-tv-analog-digital.html
I'm guessing yours is too old to be digital based on this article. But try it out and see!
Tiam, try some of these tips:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5065789_tell-tv-analog-digital.html
I'm guessing yours is too old to be digital based on this article. But try it out and see!
Well, one thing I see about that, is it says all digitals are hdtv but that's not true is it? I remember when the newer tv's were coming out that were hedged against the upcoming digital transformation, but they weren't HDTV.
Steve, I have an HDTV flatscreen, how do I get that hooked up to my internet?
ToomuchStuff
6-30-12, 1:17pm
Steve, I have an HDTV flatscreen, how do I get that hooked up to my internet?
Did you look at his post with the questions he asked? You need to fill those out to get the answer. Some tv's (now) are sold as "internet ready", meaning they need either cable or wireless adapter (or if built in signal), while others, you have to hook to a computer via HDMI or VGA adapter.
Then there are the smart tv adapters like Roku or some of the upcoming dongle sized smart tv (android based) adapters. (quite a price range)
Gingerella72
7-2-12, 11:12am
It also depends on your location, the broadcast stations in your area, and how good your tuner/antennae is.
We have an analog TV, and bought a dual VHS/DVD player that has a digital tuner installed in it. We hooked this up to a digital antennae and can receive three PBS stations, CBS, ABC, and Fox....but no NBC. That's because the NBC station in our area (are they called translators?) is a tiny station in a town 50 miles away that doesn't have a strong enough broadcast signal to reach us. And for some reason, if I sit on the right side of my couch, I interfere with the reception of ABC and Fox so have to sit on the left side of the couch to watch those stations. Too funny.
I use rabbit ears on my 32 inch HDTV in SoCal and get many many stations from L.A. about 50 miles away. I get all the regular broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, WP. CW, Fox, etc...) plus several PBS stations (about 9 of them) and a hugh number of non-enlish speaking channels (spanish and asian) and lots of infomerricial channels. Probably get close to 150 channels or so. So if you live near a big city you can probably pick up enough free tv with rabbit ears that you don't need cable (and you can rent cable tv show DVDs at many places or get them free from the library like I do). I have an anntenna for HDTV reception that cost about $10. You can get more expensive ones that may work better.
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