Do you own a digital antenna?

[Eleazar Coding]

I'm curious to hear about how many of you have gone out and purchased a digital antenna to supplement the content you watch through Kodi with your local television stations at no additional cost.

In my experience, they can be pretty cool depending on where you're located, and give you the ability to receive free over the air channels in high definition in many cases, without needing to pay any monthly subscription. I've heard good things about antennas from both RCA Antennas and Antennas Direct in case anyone is interested in learning more.

 

[jmhng]

i bought a 24.99 digital antennae from walmart. plugs in usb port for power, i pull in 32 channels, but only watch the local news, which is 5..workds excellent and is crystal clear..

 

[TheLion]

Yup I have two of em. One on the roof tied to my windows computer and a q950 recording stick, and another in the attic for my bedroom tv. I use it more than I stream anything from kodi. I use it for 3 hours a day of free tv recording, now I have hundreds of episodes of shows I love all in a hard drive with the 5 years of downloaded movies and such I've been collecting. I'm set for life.

I recommend everyone get one, to me it's more valuable than my cable subscription, or kodi.
I couldn't live without it. And 20 bucks is all it costs.

 

[lgoodknight]

Yes a cheap Walmart and it gets great local channels.

 

[robl2]

I have a Omni Directional HDTV Antenna on the roof. Receive 20 - 40 channels depending on the season. Great for NFL and other sports on FOX, CBS,NBC, ABC and NHL on CBC. As well as other local TV.

 

[tnvolunteer]

I, too, have an Omni Directional HDTV Antenna from BestBuy for all local HD channels-mostly news in the mornings and evenings.

 

[ute]

I have 2 very cheap ones ( from Forest city surplus ) .....the one for downstairs rec room is even under the deck ...get about 13 HD channels ( but I live way out in the country ) very happy ..amazing quality

http://www.fcsurplus.ca/shopping/products/437-TV-Antennas-Digital-to-Analog-Converters/465992-ANT-2094-Digiwave-TV-Antenna/?bc=no

 

[tomtomclub]

not in the Netherlands only cable and satellite TV or Internet tv


antenna is more than 30 years back in time,no one has here the Netherlands

i vote no, but i have satellite TV on kodi

 

[gwilly7]

I had an old attic antenna that I recently started using again. Newegg ran a great deal on the HDHomerun I got that and use the HDHomerun addon and it runs great.

 

[ponghclub]

not in the Netherlands only cable and satellite TV or Internet tv


antenna is more than 30 years back in time,no one has here the Netherlands

i vote no, but i have satellite TV on kodi

I cut the cable and put it in saving for raining days..... You should do the same.

 

[rw86]

I have both a DVB-S and DVB-T PIC card in my HTPC, so I use a dish and an aerial (or Antenna for those in North America) to run UK Fre*view the Kodi PVR system.

I neither need or desire to have 'premium' channels as anything I want to watch I'll watch on my own time, so this works great for me and my family, and is far better quality than streaming through FilmOn or such (ie: There's a couple 1080p channels, several 720p).

 

[Blader]

I have a old school channel master directional antenna on a 37' tower and pull in 35 chs.....

 

[ponghclub]

OK.... You're using antennas for major local channels in your area that's fine but for me it's not enough..... So I get more channels by using app call ustv( I paid 3 bucks to get rip the popup) through my Fire TV to satisfy my needed I also have kodi and tvmc.
What's do you have on your system? Please tell so I can get the better view.... Thanks.

 

[Chivas2973]

I think some people might be confused about what you get with an antenna now-a-days, so let me give my point of view as I have had one ever since I cut the cord. In the past, antennas used to give you a static filled signal that was always subject to the position of the antenna position, this is no longer the case. To begin with (in my experience, at least in the USA) the channels you do get are digital and the quality of the picture is at or better than you get with cable or satellite. Use http://antennaweb.org/ and you can get an idea of what you can get in your area (USA only I believe). When I use this service however, it shows 13 channels that I would get and with a $29 amplified RCA indoor antenna from Walmart, I get 39 channels. Keep in mind as well that this antenna is not an eye sore like the old rabbit ears that you had to continuously adjust for every station (they still have these if you prefer). This antenna is a flat square that can be hung on a wall or in a window and easily blends into any decor. Typically the channels everyone wants for live TV are the major networks (ie CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) these are strong signals that often come in clear with a cheap antenna. The digital antenna is a very cheap and reliable source of legal programming that is always on and more reliable than any online source that people pay for and gets shut down by some government agency. For $29, what have you got to lose. You can always buy it, try it, and return it if not satisfied.

 

[bullsboy]

I'm in the UK where we have digital free TV over the air (there is no analogue service). I get about 140 channels or TV and radio including all BBC and ITV offerings. The box I got for free from my phone/broadband provider (TalkTalk) also gives me access to 7 SKY channels via IPTV as well as on demand from BBC, ITV etc and Netflix. It's a DVR box so we use it for standard TV and I use Kodi for all the stuff I want to watch (mainly US shows that are on channels I don't get)

 

[filletboy]

Yup I have two of em. One on the roof tied to my windows computer and a q950 recording stick, and another in the attic for my bedroom tv. I use it more than I stream anything from kodi. I use it for 3 hours a day of free tv recording, now I have hundreds of episodes of shows I love all in a hard drive with the 5 years of downloaded movies and such I've been collecting. I'm set for life.

I recommend everyone get one, to me it's more valuable than my cable subscription, or kodi.
I couldn't live without it. And 20 bucks is all it costs.

Don't get it? How many times can i (or would i) watch episodes of house (or any tv program)? LOL
You can't beat KODI cuz it is (virtually) a hard drive
But do like the antenna idea but just the same, you can watch Most Tv shows an hour after they view

To the OP: the only advantage i can see is that you can eliminate cable tv and watch local news n weather, other than that, most shows that view on Tv can be seen on KODI

 

[TopekaRoy]

I do own a digital antenna. Actually, "terrestrial antenna" would be more accurate. The signal is digital, but the antenna isn't. Any pair of rabbit ears will pick up a digital signal if the signal is strong enough.

I live in apartment building in a small town (Topeka, KS) and my "flat" is on the opposite side of the building from the tv stations' towers, so a roof antenna or attic antenna was out of the question. I did some research and bought the best amplified antenna I could afford - The Turk HDTVa Antenna Pro. With it I am able to pick up all the local channels, but not without some effort. It is highly directional so I have to reposition it for each tower that I want to receive a signal from. Even then, I have only about a 2 feet by 2 feet area on the counter that separates my kitchen from my living room where it pulls in the stations.

I only use it mostly for local news and local sports broadcasts and occasionally to watch some syndicated sitcoms. I rarely use it to watch prime time network programming, even though the picture is generally superior to most of the streams that are available on Kodi. I WOULD use it during primetime, but I'm almost always watching a baseball, American football, basketball, hockey or MLS soccer match at that time. (Thank you, Spor**dev*l!) Besides, most of the shows I watch are available in HD on Genesis, without commercials and on demand at my convenience.

As new addons offer more and more live streams in HD, I find myself using the antenna and tv tuner less and less. I DO like it once in a while for subcarrier channels like Me-TV and THIS! that aren't available on Kodi, but with all the sports and all the shows I follow in Genesis, I barely have time for live commercial-filled broadcast tv, anymore.

 

[thegeodude]

hi i gotta tell you i took cutting the cable one step further i bought a rca digital antenna and hooked it up in my livingroom to the tv i got about 26 channels but nbc wouldnt come in which we all like to watch but it came in no problem on the other end of my house in the bedroom. i went outside where the cable comes into my house and unhooked the cable coming in and hooked the antenna to that now my whole house gets 39 channels in every room where the cable is and i only need 1 antenna that is mounted on my porch no obstructions and everything is crystal clear for 40 dollars and the cable companys free wiring.

 

[bobsworld]

hi i gotta tell you i took cutting the cable one step further i bought a rca digital antenna and hooked it up in my livingroom to the tv i got about 26 channels but nbc wouldnt come in which we all like to watch but it came in no problem on the other end of my house in the bedroom. i went outside where the cable comes into my house and unhooked the cable coming in and hooked the antenna to that now my whole house gets 39 channels in every room where the cable is and i only need 1 antenna that is mounted on my porch no obstructions and everything is crystal clear for 40 dollars and the cable companys free wiring.

My wife and I are hashing around the idea of cutting the cord as well and having tv in the rooms like we do with cable was one of the questions, I was thinking about doing just like you did, but feared signal loss. although was going to try anyhow. I also was thinking about just running ethernet to the rooms that do not already have it and put a box to run kodi there, maybe just do both, half my rooms are set up anyhow already. We are trying to replace on of those maestro setups that was kinda cool but not worth the money.

 

[al101]

LOL digital antenna?
No such a thing its just a marketing scam all antennas are analog.