Ok, this is probably going to sound like a stupid question, but I honestly don’t know the answer. I moved out of my parents house 12 years ago, had no TV at all for a couple of years, and since then the husband and I have just watched movies at home, and now Netflix streaming. So we have a TV, but we don’t get any broadcast television, and haven’t for years.
I know there was some sort of switch to digital TV a few years ago, but I didn’t pay much attention. We have a plasma TV, but it does not appear to receive any such signals automatically.
We’re hosting thanksgiving this year, and it just occurred to me that people might want to watch football. I’m not getting cable to accommodate this. Can I make some sort of football game appear on my TV without it?
all things labeled as TV sets in the USA in recent years have to be able to receive digital TV signals with an antenna. do you have a TV or a display (which get its signals from a plugged in source)?
for a TV you would need an appropriate antenna for your location and would need to put it into ‘over the air’ mode and scan for channels.
The Packers Lines game is on FOX at 12:30 eastern time
The Dolphins Cowboys game is on CBS at 4:15 eastern time
The 49ers Ravens game is on NFLN (cable that you pay extra beyond basic) is at 8:20 eastern time
If you get FOX and CBS you should be good for football games.
Well, we have an off-brand plasma we bought in Japan about 6 years ago. It’s a bit odd, but we have only been able to make it show us stuff routed through our receiver. However, we are finishing our basement, and are planning on buying a new TV for down there, so we can get a new one.
What do you mean by “an appropriate antenna for our location.” What about our location do we need to know to determine which antenna is appropriate? And are we talking about an indoor antenna or something attached to the roof or what?
If you’re in any decent size city you should be able to pick up the over the air digital stations with a small indoor antenna, assuming your TV has a digital tuner. But given the age and origination of your TV, it might not have one. Not an issue if you’re planning to get a new TV, though, as any new TV will surely have the tuner. There are some websites out there that let you put in your zip code and will tell you what stations you can receive. www.antennaweb.org is one.
You could also probably get a stand-alone tuner for super cheap on craigslist to use with your old TV.
The games might also be streamed online and you could hook a computer to your TV.
Check if your TV has an ATSC tuner - that’s the current US standard for over-the-air digital broadcasts. If it’s 6 years old & bought in Japan, I’m guessing not, but you never know.
If it doesn’t, you need an ATSC tuner box, or “digital TV tuner”. Had you been paying attention to all the friendly government PSAs before the switch occurred, you could have gotten 2 of them for free. As it is, you can get one on Amazon for $40ish. They’ve pretty much disappeared from stores, since all new TVs now have an ATSC tuner.
Also, since digital signals are less forgiving than analog, antenna placement has become more important. You can use Antennaweb to figure out based on your address what stations you’ll be able to receive with what kind of antenna.
If it was made to use ‘over the air’ TV signals in Japan then it will not be able to use ‘over the air’ TV signals in the USA because the two systems used are different. USA uses ATSC ‘over the air’ TV signals. using an external ATSC tuner would work for feeding a signal into it.
yes that is what i meant by appropriate antenna on how strong and good quality your signal is. makes no difference without an ATSC tuner though.
those about $40 devices are digital tv tuners though better though of as digital tv converters. they are intended to put a signal into an older analog tv set. with a good signal it gives a good image (especially compared to even a very good analog tv image).
for $80 to $100 you can get at big box stores a digital tv tuner with a digital output intended to go into a digital display unit. this would be a much better image if you have a quality over the air tv signal.
you need to determine which is appropriate for your unit, budget and intended use.
OK, thanks, guys. It does not appear that we have an appropriate tuner. We are also nowhere near a decent sized city, and antennaweb tells me that we aren’t likely to get fox, which is unfortunate since the husband likes the Packers. Would an antenna mounted on the roof (which is quite high, and unobstructed) help matters? And if we get one of those (along with a new TV) I’m assuming we won’t also need an indoor antenna, correct?
If you already have a digital TV (which I assume you do based on your prescription), all you need is a simple antenna like this one. At the low end, they sell for around $10, and that’s probably all you need. (If you live in a mountainous area, or very far from a major city, you’ll probably need something more substantial.)
Correct. A high, outdoor antenna will always do better than a similar sized indoor one. antennaweb.org will tell you if you need a directional one or anything. You’ll also need coax cable from the antenna to TV.
Just confirm that the new TV has an ATSC tuner. Some super low end ones may not include it, if it’s going to be used for cable/satellite only.
if it is called a tv in the USA it has to have an ATSC tuner. if it called a display then it would not have a tuner.
a roof antenna at the right height makes a lot of difference, though an antenna in an attic also works (though it makes it as if you are at best 20 or 30 miles farther away). with an antenna on the roof or attic you could send the signal to one or more tv sets (with the right cables and hookup methods) and not have an antenna on the tv sets.
i have an antenna good for 90 miles (if on the roof) in my attic and get a good signal from 70 miles away 95% of the time.
If all you want it to watch football, have you looked at internet broadcasts from the NFL? You might be able to watch it on your TV, depending on your set up.
Note that NFL Game Rewind doesn’t let you watch games live; they show everything on delay. As their site says:
May still be better than nothing, but you wouldn’t be able to watch any of the Thanksgiving games until the Thanksgiving night game ends (which will be close to midnight ET).
NFL Game Rewind isn’t the right product from the NFL; it’s GamePass that you want. Mind you, it’s $139 for the season, so perhaps not the best time to buy. It might be worthwhile for next year, though.
ETA: I was wrong. It’s currently $139, so presumably because the season is half over. The regular price is $279, apparently. My bad.
A: NFL Game Pass is only available to users located outside the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, Antigua, the Bahamas, and any U.S. territories, possessions and commonwealths (including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) (collectively, the “Game Pass Excluded Territories”). You are not authorized to use NFL Game Pass if you are located in any of the NFL Game Pass Excluded Territories.