Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - digital tv antenna

i just got a 32 inch LCD flatscreen tv wide screen. while it is hooked up to a cable box if i change channels on the Tv itself and not the cable box i get some stations i don't get with cable. could i pick up more with a digital anntenna. is a HDTV antenna the same thing. these are not HD channels im not subscribed to that as i can only get them from comcast.

There is really no such thing as a digital or HDTV antenna. They are all still UHF , VHF or a combination of both. Get an indoor amplified antenna and try it. If it doesn't suit you, take it back. You'll probably get a better HD picture on your local channels, and get all the sub-channels comcrap doesn't carry.

ck out antennaweb.org to find your channel designations, uhf or vhf. Most digital is on uhf.

fred

do they have m to m coxeial cable connectors. they have f to f but i need 1 m to m. what i need to do is connect a signal combiner to the signal spitter on the outside cable wire leading into my room from outside. i need a m to m connector to do so or get a 1 foot cable. i would then connect the antenna cable to the combiner and then the wire leading into the house to the combiner so i can still have cable but also get off-air channels.im getting a outdoor hdtv antenna.

another question. should i get Amplified or not. if amplifed i have to plug it into a wall outlet but i have none on the outside of the house unless i hook up the amp inside the house and hook it up to line coming into the house.

the best method would be to run new rg6 direct from antenna to tv location. an amplified antenna will generally improve reception.

fred

Do not connect the antenna and cable to a combiner. They will interfere with each other. It's like connecting a beer tap and a water hose together -- you get diluted beer and bad-tasting water. ;)

Instead, find a different path for both sources to travel to the TV. Maybe the cable box has RCA outputs connected to the TV, and the antenna is connected to the TV's cable in?

i don't want to drill another hole. is there somekind of automatic transfer switch that can tell when the cable is being used and when the antenna is being used.

They make manual switches...but maybe I'm not getting the issue...

The issue is that cable and OTA signals occupy the same frequencies so there will be interference on some of the channels.

Try fewalt's suggestion of an indoor antenna.

I know there are some amplified indoor antennas out there (the one I have is an RCA) that have cable inputs on the back of the amplified antenna along with a small switch on the back of it that will let you select between cable or the amplified antenna.