Sorry for the title, I couldn’t think of a good way to put this succinctly…
I have a PC with a USB tuner to receive broadcast TV signals. I also have a TV with an antenna.
The PC can locate and tune over 20 channels – the TV finds 2.
Why the discrepancy? What am I doing wrong?
Are you using the same antenna for the TV and the USB tuner? If so, I’d guess the USB tuner just has a better… well… tuner.
If they have different antennas, it could still be the tuners, but it could also be the antennas, or the antenna locations.
For what it’s worth, my newer TV has much better reception, in terms of locating and pulling in broadcast digital TV channels, than my old TV, using the same antenna.
one tuner can be different from another.
antenna difference (height, direction, size) can make a big difference.
with digital tv the signal has to be of a quality better than old analog.
I’ve acutally tried this with several different TVs and at several diferent locations - same result.
what antenna(s)?
I don’t have the model #'s with me, but nothing special. I even tried using the antenna from the USB tuner on the TV - same result.
if you are using indoor antennas, especially set-top then you can get different signals with just inches movement of an antenna.
go to
to find out antenna needs.
Possibly the PC tuner is finding digital and analog broadcasts while your TV is only finding one or the other.
I have a pretty large outdoor TV antenna mounted inside my attic. It was a little picky on pointing it in the right direction. It picks up many more channels than my PC TV tuner with rabbit ears.
I suspect something else is going on. Regardless of location the PC can find at leat 20 channels, the TV - 2 and only 2. This situation persists even if the TV uses the same antenna as the PC in the same location.
What software is your PC tuner using? Is it possible it’s streaming some of those channels over the web as some kind of feature and you just think it’s catching airwaves?
My guess would be that the PC tuner has an amplifier built in to it. I have an antenna on my roof and without an amp I pick up crap and I’m only a few miles from all the DC stations. I think I can pick up one or two stations without, with I can pick up about 20.
I’ve never checked mine, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s an amp on the PC tuner.
Nah - it still works even when the internet is out, which is suprisingly often at my current digs.
Now this here could be something to look at.
I’m using one of these on the PC:
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q
Maybe it would help if you told us which two stations you’re getting. For instance, if they happen to both be low-power stations that were permitted to keep broadcasting in analog when everyone else went to digital, that would be a clue. 
What does the www.tvfool.com web site say when you enter your address? Does it show that you can receive the two stations you’re getting with even an indoor antenna (green), but you’d need something better for the rest? Or does it say any antenna should work for all 20 stations?
I was curious about what that tv fool check would say about my local channels. My address does not work. I live in a fairly major city with house address of a main suburb of said city.
tvfool also accepts coordinates for input. you could also try a nearby address.
And you can likely find the coordinates of your house from Google Maps.
Is it possible that the coax input I’m using for the antenna is not connected to the digital tuner?
it is possible that the tv is broken or that you are not using it correctly. there are things to specify to get digital tv to work correctly. it is also possible to have a bad antenna connection.
what is the make and model of tv?
It’s a brand-spankin’ new LG 50PA5500
i did not read the manual or any specifics for that tv model.
in the tv setup menu did you do the channel scan/search for over-the-air/broadcast tv and not cable? did you scan for digital channels as well as analog?