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Old 1-Jan-2012, 11:15 PM   #40
scott784
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 101
Quote:
Originally Posted by slowhike View Post
Oh yeah, on the signal meter, I'm not seeing that option on my TV's menu.
I haven't been able to find the owners manual for this TV (might be able to look it up on line using the model #)
If it does not have that feature built in, is that something that can be added with out to much cost?
I'm guessing it would be installed between the coax cable & the TV.
I forgot to answer one of your questions. If you don't have a good built-in signal meter on your TV (again they're all different and some more useful than others).....you 'could' temporarily hook up an external device and run your coax through that external device first. Then take the coax from that device into the back of your TV. At this point, the external device 'is' your tuner and also serving as the device from which you could get your signal strengths.

For example, I use TiVo, which is obviously an external device so it serves as the tuner for my TV. And this device (TiVo) has it's own built in signal meter. From my own experience I can tell you that their tuner has a very good built in signal meter...which happens to operate in much the same manner as my built in Panasonic's tuner. In other words, a good working number would be signal strength of at least 50 percent (minimum) to avoid pixilations and drops. Note: keep in mind again that other tuners (whether they are built into the TV or not may use different numerical measurements to assess the same signal strength). So when I say 50 percent minimum, that does not mean it's necessarily the same on every other type of signal meter device...whether it's built into the TV or external.

I am not suggesting that you spend money on a TiVo subscription. I just have one because I like to record shows. But you *could* go to a place like Best Buy and get one (just to try out). You would need an internet connection to set it up. And you would then have 5 days of full functionality of that TiVo before it stops working (without a subscription).

With this five days, you would have complete guide information on your channels, recording capabilities, and every other feature to include the signal meter. Then after 5 days it would stop working (at least most features). At that point, you could take it back to the store and get your money back. This is just a thought for you...

One final thing about this signal meter stuff, it is perfectly normal for the channels (in which the antenna is pointed) to have the highest signal strength. So if you keep your Winegard HD 8800 facing SW, you 'should' expect the Charlotte channels to have higher signal strength numbers. But that does not matter for the Triad local channels. Because, again, as long as you can maintain the minimum level of signal strength needed (for any given channel).....then you should not have pixilations and drops. And generally speaking, *if* you want to maintain access to two local television markets, (i.e. Greensboro and Charlotte), it is best to keep the antenna pointed to the TV market that is the farthest away. You've already seen that when you rotated your antenna to the SW.

You don't have to get into all this unless you are so inclined. But as I said before, it is sometimes helpful to see the real world signal strength results so you know what is going on behind the scenes.

But at the same time.....if you are now (not experiencing any drops) on the channels you are currently receiving, and you don't want to trouble yourself, you could just leave well enough alone.

Hope this helps....
Scott
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