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I have cable outlet in most of my rooms. I was thinking of mounting an TV antenna outside my home where the cable company have their box. Is it ok to use a splitter and hook my TV antenna RG6 to the cable wire so all my cable outlets get the OTA from the antenna and also the cable channels if I subscribe to their cable service (right now I don't, but have internet connection from the cable company)
I have cable outlet in most of my rooms. I was thinking of mounting an TV antenna outside my home where the cable company have their box. Is it ok to use a splitter and hook my TV antenna RG6 to the cable wire so all my cable outlets get the OTA from the antenna and also the cable channels if I subscribe to their cable service (right now I don't, but have internet connection from the cable company)
I have sort of looked into the same thing. There is cable pretty much in every room of my new house, and I had thought about installing a TV antenna on the roof for free, over the air channels. I don't think there would be anything wrong with it as far as legality. You might need to install a signal booster for each room you plan on having a TV in.
I have cable outlet in most of my rooms. I was thinking of mounting an TV antenna outside my home where the cable company have their box. Is it ok to use a splitter and hook my TV antenna RG6 to the cable wire so all my cable outlets get the OTA from the antenna and also the cable channels if I subscribe to their cable service (right now I don't, but have internet connection from the cable company)
It may work fine. Doesn't hurt to try. You may need an amp, but you won't know until you try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skinsguy37
I have sort of looked into the same thing. There is cable pretty much in every room of my new house, and I had thought about installing a TV antenna on the roof for free, over the air channels. I don't think there would be anything wrong with it as far as legality. You might need to install a signal booster for each room you plan on having a TV in.
You own the wiring inside the home and can do whatever you want with it. No legal issues.
One thing I did find out this weekend is that DirecTV's new boxes won't allow for over-the-air antenna integration like it used to - which is kind of stupid! Where I live in NC, I can pick up my beloved VA local channels with a roof-top antenna, but DirecTV won't provide those channels for me on their system. YET, when I lived in VA, I got both state's local channels. The DirecTV guy over the phone told me that it is illegal for them to provide those channels to me, even though I'm clearly in range to receive them through other legal means?
I was hoping to try this, as there are some really cool over-the-air free channels that you can't get anywhere else - not to mention that I still work in VA, and like to keep up with news and sports in VA (I'm newly transplanted in NC.) I could understand if I was moving from New York to Texas, but you're talking about 45 minutes down the road from my previous address.
It depends on numerous things. The main thing is how its connected to the TV. If the cable system is connected to the RF connector then yes its possible with a few A/B splitters, plain splitters and some patch cables. The cost of doing so is prohibitive for one TV since it will add up to about $40 in parts to do so. Here's what I did to get OTAs. Almost all Cable boxes are connected to the TV via HDMI or the RCA jacks. That leaves the RF connection unused. I bought a $4 dipole antenna on ebay and stuck it out the window and connected it to the RF connection. So when I want OTA I go to my remote and switch the input. Just an FYI my house is so far in ther country that living in the sticks would be considered city living and I'm surrounded by 100 ft+ oaks and I manage to get about 7 OTAs'.
It depends on numerous things. The main thing is how its connected to the TV. If the cable system is connected to the RF connector then yes its possible with a few A/B splitters, plain splitters and some patch cables. The cost of doing so is prohibitive for one TV since it will add up to about $40 in parts to do so. Here's what I did to get OTAs. Almost all Cable boxes are connected to the TV via HDMI or the RCA jacks. That leaves the RF connection unused. I bought a $4 dipole antenna on ebay and stuck it out the window and connected it to the RF connection. So when I want OTA I go to my remote and switch the input. Just an FYI my house is so far in ther country that living in the sticks would be considered city living and I'm surrounded by 100 ft+ oaks and I manage to get about 7 OTAs'.
It depends on the scenerio (not including a rooftop OTA antenna). If they have a box (new ones have no bypass while old ones do) and how it connects to the TV. Also it has to be cable or satellite and not FIOS.
Without more information this is one scenerio:
The cable from the the OTA antenna on the roof, then either a splitter or a A/B splitter, then a patch cable. Those connect to the outside of the home. On the inside a patch cable from the wall to a A/B splitter to two patch cables. One goes to the box and one goes to the TV. Choose a B&M website and price it out. Most people will go the B&M and not Ebay, because B&M takes returns.
The dollar amount could be more and could be less depending on the B&M used, having tools to make their own patch cables, using M/M patch connectors instead of cables, using a standard splitter vs a A/B splitter, etc.
One has to keep in mind, due to gas prices people are not going to run from store to store to find the lowest prices on each item. And KISS (Keep It Simple S****d) is extremely important since there are numerous posters who get unnecessarily technical for no reason.
FYI:B&M means Brick and Mortar which translates to actual physical stores (Lowes, Radio Shack,etc...)
Crazy DirecTV customer service! The guy over the phone told me there was no absolute way I could get OTA channels to work with my HD-DVR box, yet I find info - straight off of the DirecTV forums from one of the techs in there about an AM21 that connects to your box which feeds the OTA channels from your roof top antenna to your box.
We built a house 5 years ago and have each room wired for tvs. We currently have an old satillite on the side of the house and would like to attach a digital antenna to that post.
I am wondering if I will need anything other than the antenna and cable to attach to the splitter in the house.
We live in zip code 37087 and we are the second and furthest out on the map.
I am tired of paying for satillite which keeps going up and do want to spend $300. to have someone come out and hook this up if its something we can do ourselves.
Thanks for all your info!!!
(please remember I need basic info. I don't understand a lot on technology.)
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please help
