Hi there. I've just picked up my first HDTV (RCA L40FHD41) even though we quit Rogers several months ago. Our TV is in the basement. Funny thing is that the few channels that were coming in fine with rabbit ears on our old tube TV (4, 6, 9, 13) now barely come in at all. So we've now got a nice TV that shows DVDs, that's about it.

I'd like to pick up 5 or 6 OTA channels, and sure, HD if possible.

I picked up a Nexxtech antenna (1501880) which helped somewhat, and then tried an RCA flat antenna (1518243) on the advice of someone at the store, which was almost worse. I've tried moving the TV & antennas to the 2nd floor just for kicks, and it was barely any better. 1 or 2 channels come in relatively clearly, and another 2 or 3 very fuzzy and unwatchable. Mostly french channels, nothing from northern US.

I thought that digital channels were either very clear, or not at all? It seems that the reception I'm getting is old (analog?) stuff. From my 2nd floor window, I can even see the radio/tv tower on Camp Fortune.

I've tried setting the TV input to "air" and "catv", no change in results. There doesn't seem to be any setting in the TV to switch the digital tuner on or off, so I'd think it should be working all the time, right? Why am I not getting any digital and/or HD channels?

Any advice would be very helpful, thanks so much!

Hi Bishopsmike:

One of the easiest ways to tell if your tv has a digital tuner is to look at the remote: does it have a dash or hyphen button? Usually beside the number zero button. Or when you go in to add or scan channels to memory does it ask, analog or digital?

As for antenna: Outdoors works better, and the higher you can get it is best.

If you are in the Toronto area, aim your antenna towards the CN Tower. You should get the T.O. stations as well as Buffalo.

The antenna I would recommend is the Eaglestar 8 Bay UHF antenna. Compact in size and easy to aim, when you assemble it, (it's all wing-nuts) aim four of the bowties in one direction and the other four in the opposite direction: You can then adjust or 'fine tune' the antenna to get you Toronto, Buffalo and Hamilton.

If all this seems confusing or intimidating and you'd like someone else to do it, these guys might be able to help you out:

www.theantennaguys.com

I'm not associated with them, I just noticed their post in the forum a couple of weeks ago.

Good Luck!

Mike, you mentioned Camp Fortune so I'm going to assume that you're near Ottawa. You also mention seeing the "tower"... could that be Ryan Tower?

[Link: en.wikipedia.org]

According to the link, there are only 3 stations transmitting a digital signal from that site. The rest (8 of them) are still analog.

If you're that far from the US border (60km) you'll need a roof-mounted antenna to get US stations. Hope this helps..

I take it the old TV was not in the basement or in the same location of the new one. No reason for the new one not to pick up the same analogues at the same location with the same rabbit ears. All new HD capable TV's have both tuners analogue and digital. The tower on Camp Fortune might not have any digital transmitter (no idea where the ones in ottawa are). You are probably located 20 km away from the towers in Ottawa so should be able to get something but try with an outdoor antenna solution (not necessarilly the 8 bay , i find the 4 bay an excellent solution for most cases).

check tvfool.com for a list of channels available for your location. it seems there are only 3 digital channels , CBC, SRC and Sun TV the rest are analogue. Try with your address and actual antenna height for accurate results.

someone from ottawa might be able to help you further.

Thanks so much everyone for replying... So, after doing some research and even calling RCA, I think I've figured it out. My damn 1080p HDTV doesn't even have a built-in ATSC tuner! Seems that they've been law in the US for 5 years, but not in Canada. I was verifying my TV's specs on the RCA website - which says it does come with ATSC - but it's a .com site, so it's probably targeted at Americans. I'm a bit pissed off and might look to exchange/return the TV, but I'm actually quite happy that I wasn't going crazy :-D

I'll sort this out a little further and let you know how it goes. And sorry for not specifying earlier - yes, I'm in Kanata, western Ottawa, probably 10-15km from Camp Fortune/Ryan Tower.

Cheers!

Hard to beleive it does not have an ATSC tuner. check this same tv sold by tigerdirect.ca at [Link: tigerdirect.ca] . Note that this tv model ends in -E so who knows.

In any case , look at the remote , if it has a hyphen?, - , or a dot , . , and that is only used to select the digital channels like 4.1 or 9-1 therefore the tv was designed for the digital channels like another poster said. It is unfortunaelly pretty common for someone to call the manufacturer or ask at the store and end up misinformmed.

Some TV's allow you to enter the actual broadcast channel and it will tune in the digital channel on that frecuency , so try manually selecting channels 25 and 22
that are CBC and SRC digital versions (they map as 4-1 and 9-1 respectively). If you try 4-1 or 9-1 directly it wont work since the TV has not got a signal from those digital channels therefore it does not know it has to actually tune in to channels 25 or 22 to get them.

according to two reviews, it does have an ATSC antenna tuner. When you do your scan use the "air" rather than "cable" setting. You will probably need an 8-bay up on the roof.

I was slightly wrong with the tv model. It was actually RCA RLC4033, which at least in Canada, I can confirm is NTSC-only. Returned it tonight, picked up a Toshiba 40E200U ($30 more), which has NTSC/ATSC/QAM, and right away, things made sense. Shows digital channels (a couple at least - what I expected), analog channels are much clearer, and I see channel info (like 480i, etc). I also prefer the stock remote layout.

Things are good for now, and in the summer, I may move to an outdoor antenna on the roof.

Thanks all! :-D

Glad you found the problem and the solution. This WNED webpage has lots of info for someone using indoor antennas for the new DTV signals. [Link: wned.org]

Apparently that RCA model RLC4033 also has an ATSC tuner, FCC mandated years ago for every TV bigger than 32 inch sold in USA (Canada vendors follows suit since USA is a bigger market) to have an ATSC tuner. That is why I find hard to beleive an HDTV sold here in late 2010 did not have it. More likely its tuner was defective or it could not pick up a digital signal due to antenna/set up/weather issues. As per this link from RCA Canada, Curtis International the manufacturer says it has ATSC;
[Link: curtisint.com]

I think Walmart Canada had it on sale last month.

If all this seems confusing or intimidating and you'd like someone else to do it, these guys might be able to help you out:

www.theantennaguys.com

I'm not associated with them, I just noticed their post in the forum a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the referral Keaster. We need word of mouth to get more business. Tell everyone to feel free to drop by our new retail store at 881 St. Clair Ave. W. (1 block east of Oakwood). We're open 7 days a week.

The Antenna Guys
The HD Antenna Store
416-654-HDTV
www.TheAntennaGuys.com
www.HDAntennaStore.com

Before you purchase that outdoor antenna, run your address at this website to see what you can truly pick up over the air:

http://www.tvfool.com

Good luck Mike!