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FM Promoted in (HD)TV Antenna Infomercial

Sounds like Walmart should provide an in store & web site FAQ about what "cord cutting" will and will not do.

Maybe just a few questions/answers about OTA reception problems, that many well known cable/satellite channels are not available OTA (or only with extra cost streaming), in home hardware needed for the smart TV to work for streamed content etc.


Kirk Bayne
 
KeithE4 said:
Probably some tropo (VHF-hi or UHF) or E-skip (VHF-lo). Was this back in the analog days? It was more common to receive them then, since all RF channels were accessible, unlike today. I don't think it's possible to directly enter RF channels on a digital TV now, although I owned one back in 2010 that had that capability.
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1979.
 
anotherguyTN said:
That's actually where I had seen this antenna first discussed and we had a thread about it at one time.

I know that even in the analog TV era antennas were overestimated in their range, but a lot of that depended on how high the antenna was mounted and whether the surface was flat, hilly, or mountainous. But any antenna that claims to have more than a 100 mile (radius) range is a lie, and even that is being generous.
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I think that's why most "real" aerials are advertised at 70 miles or less. Anything beyond that is a bonus, like living on top of a tall hill.
 
CTListener said:
Did the FCC or FTC ever crack down on the marketers of those plug-in doohickeys that promised reception miracles by using your house's wiring as a super-antenna? Those ads were around for a long time back in the analog TV days.
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I had one in central Connecticut growing up and it worked well.. but i was surrounded by powerful tv transmitters within... about 30 miles of mew
 
I doubt it, because these cheapo indoor TV antennas are usually designed exclusively for UHF, and have mediocre to poor VHF-High and almost non-existent VHF-Low reception -- despite the fact that the FCC repack has forced more stations back onto VHF and especially a lot of PBS stations have moved to VHF-Low.
 
kevtronics said:
despite the fact that the FCC repack has forced more stations back onto VHF and especially a lot of PBS stations have moved to VHF-Low.
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nobody was forced to move back. If they were on UHF they would have stayed on UHF. The FCC had the auction to "entice" stations to move to VHF Lo, VHF Hi or go off the air (and channel share). There were a few PBS stations who took the money to move to VHF Lo like Providence, Boston, Pittsburgh (from VHF Hi), LA (San Bernardino) and Cambridge, Ohio. Not "alot"
Heck WBRA in Roanoke, VA was on VHF Lo before the auction and now is in the process of hoping to move to VHF Hi.
17 stations total moved from UHF to VHF Hi

Any station that "didnt budge" the FCC had to find a place for them
 
kevtronics said:
I doubt it, because these cheapo indoor TV antennas are usually designed exclusively for UHF, and have mediocre to poor VHF-High and almost non-existent VHF-Low reception...
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The ones I've seen for sale are either UHF-only or VHF-Hi and UHF, with the VHF element usually being a dipole. I do have an old Terk indoor antenna that has standard-length rabbit ears plus a UHF log-periodic. It works well on UHF, and barely passable on VHF-Hi. We don't have any VHF-Lo stations in Phoenix, so I have no way of verifying how well (or not) it works on that band.
 
KeithE4 said:
The ones I've seen for sale are either UHF-only or VHF-Hi and UHF, with the VHF element usually being a dipole. I do have an old Terk indoor antenna that has standard-length rabbit ears plus a UHF log-periodic. It works well on UHF, and barely passable on VHF-Hi. We don't have any VHF-Lo stations in Phoenix, so I have no way of verifying how well (or not) it works on that band.
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I bought one with rabbit ears. Didn't work. So many people complained that WGHP in the Greensboro NC market went back to Channel 34 (their temporary home until they vacated analog channel 8) from Channel 8.

I was doing fine but lately I can't get it.
 
anotherguyTN said:
I work for a vendor that services Walmart stores for different electronic items along with music, videos, and gaming. I won't say something like this can't happen, but it sounds to me like that Walmart employee didn't know anything about how the smart TVs work and shouldn't be working in that department. The people in the the electronics department at the store I mainly work in do at least know that the TV has to be connected to WiFi to get the channels listed.
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The Walmart employee he spoke with did understand and explain that the SmartTV she was selling him had to be connected to the internet. The issue is that she seemed to overstate the amount and quality of the content available via both the TV and the antenna. She made it seem as if most all the "cable only" programming he was getting via Comcast would magically appear on this TV, for free, and that he could use the antenna she sold him to pick up all the national broadcast network stuff and much more. While the TV did offer some content they'd watch, it wasn't any the stuff they were used to getting via cable; it was all 2nd or 3rd rate content - and the antenna was more or less worthless where they live. That said, again, he may have injected some confusion about how many OTA stations he could pull in via an antenna, because back in the analog days, he used to pull in a ton of stations from miles around with the antenna/rotor on the roof and when we spoke, he didn't seem to understand the massive difference between analog back then and DTV now.
kfbkfb said:
Sounds like Walmart should provide an in store & web site FAQ about what "cord cutting" will and will not do.
Maybe just a few questions/answers about OTA reception problems, that many well known cable/satellite channels are not available OTA (or only with extra cost streaming), in home hardware needed for the smart TV to work for streamed content etc.

Kirk Bayne
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That depends on their goal. If they're trying to inform consumers and help them understand cord cutting - along with some of the limitations so they in turn can sell them products that may work best for their application, then your idea would work. If their goal is to sell as much product as possible and not get caught up in lots of explanations or long interactions with customers, then the FAQ that you suggest may not align with that.

Keep in mind as well that going to Walmart to buy a SmartTV and related products is VERY different than back in the day when you'd go to a mom and pop TV shop to buy your first color TV and the salesman knew all about the product, had all the time in the world to answer your questions, they explained and worked with you on how/where to install the antenna and they had a service tech on staff to come to your house to help you if needed, and to fix your TV, replace tubes, etc. when those things failed and a "relationship" was formed. Now there's very little interaction, if you need help there are YouTube videos and websites for that, and the products they sell are more or less disposable. Not necessarily a bad thing at all, but "different" for sure.
 
It seems to me that it's in everyone's best interest to explain OTA DTV, streaming, premium channels etc., maybe the broadcast networks, cable/satellite operators, premium channels and streaming services can cooperate on preparing a standardized FAQ for Walmart, Best Buy, Target and any other place that sells TVs.

If consumers end up buying a smart TV that doesn't do what they think it will do, they'll likely be upset with the retailer and not recommend the brand of TV they bought to family/friends.


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
It seems to me that it's in everyone's best interest to explain OTA DTV, streaming, premium channels etc., maybe the broadcast networks, cable/satellite operators.
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Wait, you think that Cable/Satellite providers have a duty to explain OTA DTV obtained for free? Have you heard of this thing called subscriptions? How about revenue? Business?
kfbkfb said:
premium channels and streaming services can cooperate on preparing a standardized FAQ for Walmart, Best Buy, Target and any other place that sells TVs.
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You can't be serious. Streaming is subscription too. Why would they want to give it away again?
kfbkfb said:
If consumers end up buying a smart TV that doesn't do what they think it will do, they'll likely be upset with the retailer and not recommend the brand of TV they bought to family/friends.
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Welcome to the world of consumer electronics. Except for older people, inability to set up a TV, hasn't been a barrier for average consumers or people interested in modern tech.
 
Surely most people have someone in their family or Neighbors that can help with setting up a smart TV if they have problems. I've helped some of my older neighbors with internet and TV problems.
 
I wonder if this is better than the UHF antenna I made from a coat hanger way back when I was ten years old.

We had no UHF stations in Indianapolis at the time. So my family only had a VHF antenna.

But I was curious about the UHF tuner on the TV and I connected the coat hanger to the two screws on the back of the set. I was surprised when WKEF CH 22 from Dayton Ohio came in well. It was tropo and I didn't understand it at the time.
 
uk.finance.yahoo.com

Man shoots TV in protest over lousy DTV converter box

The transition to digital television seems to have netted its first arrest: A 70-year-old man who shot his TV set in frustration when he couldn't get his digital converter box to work. The incident happened in Missouri, where the man was
uk.finance.yahoo.com uk.finance.yahoo.com
^^^
The incident happened in Missouri...
(not the KC area though)


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The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® is the trade association representing the $398 billion U.S. consumer technology industry, which supports more than 15 million U.S. jobs.
www.cta.tech www.cta.tech
Maybe the CTA could prepare an FAQ with help from their various members.


Kirk Bayne
 
CTListener said:
Did the FCC or FTC ever crack down on the marketers of those plug-in doohickeys that promised reception miracles by using your house's wiring as a super-antenna?
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Inside the tall plastic cylinder of the miracle antenna was.....nothing. One side of the twin lead was connected to one of the blades of the AC plug via a 20 cent disc capacitor. That's all that was in the $5.95 super-antenna that used your "whole house wiring" as an antenna.
 
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