OTA antenna and HD DVR receiver

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jrawls2

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Jun 11, 2008
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Will any over the air antenna connect to my hd dvr receiver. I have the newest one I think it is the HR-21. I know what kind of OTA antenna i need to get the best reception, i just wasnt sure if it mattered what brand it was or if only certain kinds would connect to the receiver. Thanks for anything
 
Will any over the air antenna connect to my hd dvr receiver. I have the newest one I think it is the HR-21. I know what kind of OTA antenna i need to get the best reception, i just wasnt sure if it mattered what brand it was or if only certain kinds would connect to the receiver. Thanks for anything

The HR21 won't receive OTA, it does not have an OTA tuner. You need to get an AM21 OTA tuner that connects to the HR21.
As far as antennas are concerned, any antenna will connect to the AM21 but there are many different types of antenna and you need to get one that is right for where you live, where the OTA transmitters are and whether they are VHF or UHF. As a start, go to TVfool.com and enter your address, it will tell you which stations it might be possible for you to receive. Only select the digital stations - analog goes away early in 2009 (and the AM21 can't receive analog stations anyway). Post-transition will tell you which frequencies the stations will be using after 2009, which is important in antenna selection.
 
AntennaWeb is another good site to see what kind of antenna you need. There is no such thing as an HD antenna. The same old antennas from rabbit ears to the rooftop monsters work. There will still be UHF and VHF so the safe bet is to get one that does both.
 
AntennaWeb is another good site to see what kind of antenna you need. There is no such thing as an HD antenna. The same old antennas from rabbit ears to the rooftop monsters work. There will still be UHF and VHF so the safe bet is to get one that does both.
Antennaweb is OK but is a bit inaccurate. There are often stations you will be able to receive that are not listed on antennaweb. You are right about there being no such thing as an HD antenna. But you definitely don't want to follow the "safe bet" and get an antenna that will handle all the frequencies. Most digital TV signals after the transition will be on UHF, and if you are in an area where all the stations will be UHF you can use a much smaller antenna. There are quite a few stations that will be on VHF-hi (channels 7-13) and for those you need an appropriate antenna. There are several new antennas designed just for channel 7 and above and although because they are VHF/UHF they are larger than the UHF only antennas, they are still smaller (narrower) than traditional all-band antennas. If you are unlucky enough to be in one of the areas where a station has decided to move back to their VHF-lo frequency (2-6) then you will need a traditional multiband antenna, which are much larger than either the UHF or UHF/VHF-hi antennas.
Both antennaweb and TVfool give you information that will help you get the correct antenna. If your stations are anything but "yellow" on antennaweb then your chances of getting decent reception with any indoor antenna are not good. there are lots of very poor indoor antennas around, particularly those that don't look like antennas or that have heavy amplification. If your stations are "yellow" on antennaweb, try the Philips/Zenith Silver Sensor HDTV1 for UHF - if you have VHF as well, the Terk HDTVi is a clone of the Silver Sensor but with "rabbit ears" for VHF. Make sure you try the unamplified versions.
For outside antennas, there are lots of options. The best price-performance are probably the CM "bowties" (CM4220/1/8) for UHF (the CM4228 does well for VHF-hi also if the signals are strong) , also the Antennas Direct 91XG for distant UHF. If you want a UHF/VHF-hi combo the new Winegard range (HD769x) are excellent. If you have to have VHF-lo as well, use the Winegard HD708x range.
Just like for indoor antennas, if an outside antenna does not look like an antenna it is almost certainly an underperformer for the price. Antenna physics is the same now as it was 50 years ago. The CM4228 which is one of the two best-performing UHF antennas has been around for a very long time. So things that look like dishes, saucers, electric heaters and so on should be avoided!
 
If your stations are "yellow" on antennaweb, try the Philips/Zenith Silver Sensor HDTV1 for UHF - if you have VHF as well, the Terk HDTVi is a clone of the Silver Sensor but with "rabbit ears" for VHF. Make sure you try the unamplified versions.

Just like for indoor antennas, if an outside antenna does not look like an antenna it is almost certainly an underperformer for the price. Antenna physics is the same now as it was 50 years ago. The CM4228 which is one of the two best-performing UHF antennas has been around for a very long time.So things that look like dishes, saucers, electric heaters and so on should be avoided!
Things aren't always so simple. I was using a Silver Sensor in my last place. It performed much better with an amp.

Also, the amplified Winegard "Square Shooter" (ss-2000), which looks like large gray plastic book, has an excellent reputation and overwhelmingly positive reviews. That is the one I plan on buying. (I'll save any recommendation until after I use it, though.)
 
Things aren't always so simple. I was using a Silver Sensor in my last place. It performed much better with an amp.

Also, the amplified Winegard "Square Shooter" (ss-2000), which looks like large gray plastic book, has an excellent reputation and overwhelmingly positive reviews. That is the one I plan on buying. (I'll save any recommendation until after I use it, though.)
No, the Square Shooter while probably being the best of the "non-conventional" antennas is still not as good as the bowtie antennas and is much more expensive. see Comparing some commercially available antennas for some comparitive antenna information. The DB2 has better performance (as does the CM4220 - not shown on the diagrams) in both UHF and VHF-hi.
 
I actually have the HD-DVR - HR20-100. Does this make a difference?
No, you can use any antenna.
I use a CM4228 connected to an HR20-700, an HR20-100 and an HR21-200/AM21 combination.
 
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