HOW DO I CONNECT BOTH AN ANALOG CABLE AND HDTV ANTENNA TO MY HDTV?

[omerguy]

I have a 32" Westinghouse HDTV. I get free Analog Cable from the Rv park where I live. (no HDTV) channels. I purchased an outdoor Omni directional antenna to get the Free HDTV Channels in my area. I get 31 channels. My TV allows me to scan for Cable "OR" scan for Antenna. If i scan for Cable channels I lose my Antenna Channels. If i Scan for Antenna I lose my Cable channels. I connected both Antenna and Cable to Electronic A/B box. In order to watch both I can scan for Cable channels and get about 6 or 8 HDTV channels from my Antenna and not the 31 I can get with just the Antenna. I tried hooking it up with a splitter using the OUT as in for the two cables and the IN as out but that does not solve the problem either. Is there a solution? Would a DVR work or some similar device. I know ZIP about this stuff and no one at Best Buy or Costco or any other outlet seems to have an answer.

 

[Guest]

I think cable companies are required by the FCC to carry your local over-the-air DTV broadcasts on their network. If your TV has a digital tuner that supports clear QAM, you should be able to get your over-the-air DTV channels through your cable. If not, or your TV doesn't support QAM, your best bet would be an external DTV tuner that plugs into your TV's VGA or component jacks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260022&cm_re=qam_external_tuner-_-15-260-022-_-Product

 

[omerguy]

I think cable companies are required by the FCC to carry your local over-the-air DTV broadcasts on their network. If your TV has a digital tuner that supports clear QAM, you should be able to get your over-the-air DTV channels through your cable. If not, or your TV doesn't support QAM, your best bet would be an external DTV tuner that plugs into your TV's VGA or component jacks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260022&cm_re=qam_external_tuner-_-15-260-022-_-Product

Thank you for your response. Yes - It's true the cable companies are required to do that. However I live in an RV Park who furnishes the Cable. They pay only for the channels that they want to give to there tenants. They have no DTV hooked in to their system.

However your suggestion about an external DTV Tuner sounds very helpful and I will look into that. thank you so much. Bill

 

[omerguy]

Best answer selected by omerguy.