ShowMeRon

Mazr

That's over my head.

But I do have another dumb question:

Should I just hook this up inside my house first to see how the reception is?

I tried getting up to the top of our roof the other night, but couldn't quite get up there.
And then if I did get up there, the problem would be figuring out what goes where.

Piggie

If you had DVRs the 2 cables in a bundle go to one room, and the other 2 bundled together go to another room.

If you had more than 2 rooms with satellite, there is a good chance there is a multiport switch in the house, and it's not a direct coax run from the roof to the the rooms or at least all all the runs.

You really have only two ways to do it. Like ShowMeRon suggested or you have to hook the antenna to one, then try all the ones inside. Or hook to one inside then try all four cables outside to see if it works.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.

Mazr

Our upstairs TV is going to be DVD/VCR only. No TV watching. I'm not even going to buy a separate converter box.

The downstairs TV will be the one used for viewing channels.

So should I hook up the antenna inside first to see how the reception is?

Don_M

Absolutely. That antenna is the most highly recommended choice for people who A) have only UHF channels, such as yourself, and B) can't put an antenna outdoors, such as apartment dwellers. The TVFool report says you have good, strong signals on all six stations; you might even be able to hide it behind something permanently as long as your home doesn't have brick, stucco or aluminum siding and "downstairs" doesn't really mean "basement." Then it would need to go up on the roof.

Mazr

Thank you for that info Don M.

Cedar siding on the house...and downstairs means the main level.

This may turn out to be easier than I thought.

Thanks for all the help. I wish I would have discovered this site before ordering. Better late than never.

Mazr

Well I received the Eagle Aspen and hooked it up to the Zinwell and all I have to say is:

WOW !!!!!

Started off using the Zinwell coax with the antenna leaning on the back of the TV stand. Signal strength and quality was good for all stations except the Fox affiliate which is the furthest away.

I then remember I had some leftover coax from Comcast. Used that and hung the antenna about 10 feet high on the wall (looks a bit Clampett-like, oh well) and the signal strength and quality was 100% for all the stations except the Fox, which is at about 96% .

I forgot our local PBS went digital last year, so we now get 3 different PBS's.

I am shocked at the quality of the signal and picture, now I'm debating if we should upgrade to a HD TV or just stick with the old Toshiba.

I want to thank everybody for the advice on the Eagle Aspen. It is pretty well made and the price is right.

I'm no expert, but I think it would be hard to top the Zinwell box. It has a lot of features I didn't realize, like the zoom option for the different screen settings.

The only question I have is should I leave the converter box on all the time or turn it off when the TV is off?

Thanks to everyone who gave great advice. I'm really happy with the choices using your help.

DTVuser2009

converters usually have a preset powerdown (to save energy) in their menus. it can be set longer or shorter or disabled completely (no auto off).

to answer your question, no you can leave it turned on. it's not a computer and unless there is a problem it shouldn't need rebooting. they only use 7 Watts so i don't understand the 'Energy Star' compliance myself.

__________________
Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?!

Piggie

Well they built one for about every household in America. So lets use the round number of 100 million boxes out there running.

That is 700 megawatts. That is about the output of an average power plant.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.

DTVuser2009

they're only saving 600 megawatts though(the boxes use 1W when off) and your math doesn't include how many Watts a VCR uses or how many watts used by an inactive (but plugged-in) TV nor does it factor how many households didn't need boxes.

just saying it's small potatoes. when you consider the 10W CFLs they're pushing on us, 7 watts per-converter is nothing compared to multiplying a home equipped with a single CFL by 100-Million

which, btw they encourage you to leave on all day so it doesn't die a premature death due to power cycling. the EPA is so full of hot air it's funny. don't even try me with their junk science stating that a necessary element quite vital to all life is now being declared a pollutant.

__________________
Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?!