OTA and Samsung 360

[cypher]

Hey all. More issues...
I am getting SO annoyed with my HD! I have an OTA that gets me the local channels and on Sundays I get a couple of games in HD on FOX and CBS. However, EVERY time I attempt to watch a game in HD (this seems to happen mostly, if not ONLY, during LIVE broadcasts), the screen pixelates like crazy, I get the "Searching for signal. Please stand by" message or the screen freezes completely. I got the HD setup primarily for the locals, but this is unacceptable, I cannot even watch a game on the OTA. Is there anything I can do? I think that I am TOO close to the signals to get a booster (only 8 miles from the farthest one), but this is annoying enough to cancel this damn thing. The OTA is a Winegard Metrostar model MS2VRD. Please give me any advice to remedy this situation. Should I call DirecTV? What can they do?

 

[stevesmall]

It seems to me your problem is a positioning issue with the antenna or an natenna that isnt right for the job.. if you think it may be the sat box which one do you have, i have a sony 300, sammy 160 and even an old rca dtc 100 and i get ota locals in hd on all 3, thru a diplexer ,even tried a sammy 360 and locals were fine there also, the only time i ever had an issue was when the antenna was first installed the installer didnt get the positioning right. as soon as i repositioned not a problem since. good luck

 

[slacker9876]

You should try a low end antenna solution like rabbit ears or the Zenith Silver Sensor ... you may have overkill. Do you have a clear LOS to the stations from your home? Meaning, you're not behind a hill from them right?

 

[Tonedeaf]

As others mentioned it is most likely an antenna issue. I live close to 30 miles from the antenna's in my area and have no issues. I have a Wineguard something or other.

 

[cypher]

I think I am going to try the rabbit-ear solution...we'll see what that does.

 

[cypher]

Hey, I was looking into buying an indoor antenna for the house and I first looked at the Terk HDTVI, but saw a post on this site that it wasn't that good and someone recommended the Zenith Silver Sensor. I am looking for it online and found that it is out of stock (not at circuit city, not on amazon and out of stock at sears). Is it an old model now? Can anyone recommend a good indoor antenna?

 

[slacker9876]

VE, the site sponsor sells this ... and I believe they are in stock. Also if you check you local Radio Shack I am pretty sure they have simple rabbit ears. They also have 10 other antennas I am sure they would try to up-sell you on, don't by into their hype. I used to work for Tandy and the employees in general are at the bottom of the retail gene pool. Now before someone freaks out on me I said in general ... the remark did not apply to the few great employees they DO have.

 

[boba]

You are using an omnidirectional antenna which can pickup reflected signals this can cancel out the good signal which will lead to your problems. At 8 miles from the broadcast towers you have very strong signals and a very good chance of reflected signals showing up. If you have a spare piece of coaxial cable try stripping about 8" of shield off the center conducter and then screw it into the antenna in on your receiver. It might be a poor enough antenna to work with minimal cost.

 

[cypher]

Yeah I have this omnidirectional antenna and I can't get ANY local UPN from it and it NEVER seems to work on FOX. I am going to try one of these other antennas and see if it does anything. Thanks for all your help and feel free to keep the suggestions coming!