What do I need to get tv signal (a few channels) at lake? Read on please

[toban]

My parents have a cabin. My dad installed an antenna on the roof a 4 years ago which gives them one or two channels. With the conversion to digital he now has to use one of those converter boxes he received from a friend. Only thing is it didn't seem to work (the tv is an older style, not a flat screen).

Any other cheap methods of receiving a signal? They don't need a ton of channels but would like a few at least. They don't want a high monthly bill since there not out their all the time. 2-5 channels would be good. Maybe a new converter box? Would a flat screen have digital built in? Thanks!

[nsredneck]

Where is this cabin located? Province and general area.

[toban]

Manitoba, Big Whiteshell Lake

[bhlombardy]

First of all, this has nothing to do with your tuner. Changing out your analog/digital convertor, or buying a new TV won't help.

This has to do with the fact that the digital signals might not be as strong as the original VHF signals.
This has been the typical experience since the conversion as the Digital signals operate on a different frequency and don't typically have the same range. So there may be little you can do.

In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia I know that the change over left people in "fringe" areas without a signal. People that were in fringe areas that could probably get the old signals just fine. I would strongly suspect you are in one of these fringe areas... Big Whiteshell Lake is a 150+ kilometers EAST from Winnipeg, and lord knows where any of the OTA (over-the-air) transmitters are for their market*.

Keep in mind too, that the original signal was analog. You might get a 'good' or 'fair' analog signal, if not all of it... but to most, 90% of an analog signal looks just as good as 100%.

Digital on the other hand, is an all-or-nothing. You either get it or you don't. So if you are capable of getting 90% still, it's still not good enough for reception to be decoded -- and that's assuming the signal is as strong as the old analog signal and is still reaching the cabin in the first place.

It MAY be possible to get a parabolic antenna -- which acts kind of like a dish to capture stray signals and concentrate them to the single point. However, if the signal is low to begin with, then this probably won't help much.

*EDIT: incidentally if you look up the transmitter locations for CTV (for example) for Manitoba: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKY-DT#Transmitters
You'll find most of them are far far north, or are west of Winnipeg... not ideal for the Big Whiteshell Lake area.

[toban]

Thanks bhlombardy! Their neighbour at the lake has a satellite dish. However my parents don't want to pay a high amount for seasonal use. Unless you can choose a small channel package? I will tell them about the parabolic antenna. Before the switch to digital they were able to get channel 2 (cbc) and maybe 3 (French channel?).

[Aslan]

This is a long-shot, but as your cabin is near Winnipeg, you may be eligible for Shaw's free Local Television Satellite Solution program. The service includes a free satellite dish, but there's a decent chance that it will end on Nov 30, 2014. You may also have to pay $60-100 for installation.

https://community.shaw.ca/thread/12294
http://dudewhereismytv.wordpress.com...-ltss-program/

[xlxo]

Does the cabin have wifi? You can watch TV via the stations. I guess Roku or Chromecast would work.

Do you have Telus Optik at home? You can sign onto Telus Optik to Go to get content too!

[Ciel]

When sibling cancelled the cable service because all the channels required the use of a new box in order to receive the channels, I thought, great no stations, no one is going to sit and watch tv. First week, we had about 7 station signals but kept losing about two signals every few days. The one most memorable was NBC-the last morning during a TODAY show, the station froze on closeup of a handgun. The image was on the tv for some time everytime I chose to go back to the channel. This was after the cable was shut off for about 10 days.

Then after three weeks, sibling installs a flat indoor digital antenna and a box with remote-brand is HomeWorx and remote looks like this
http://www.dvrwithoutsubscriptionhub...worx-hw180stb/ and attaches cables to tv. Suddenly, there's CBC, CITY on a different channel (have to use the box's remote to channel surf, as tv remote is only for on/off use at this point for a CRT tv), NBC, CBS (Dr. Oz has fans here), TVO on two channels and few more (a PBS station, Christian station, local station CHCH, Global)-I think we get French TVO (TFO) but not the CBC Toronto French station. There is a USB port too for watching video.

It helps if a window is near the tv as the connecting cable from pad to remote box is about 2m long and I don't know what antenna surface uses for attaching to window. That box (will look up brand) allows user to change screen formats (letterbox to 4:3 or whatever-have noticed that some irritating news shows scroll banners at bottom or top of screen and if the screen is not in letterbox mode, text cannot be read), video, add/remove channels, etc. Takes a few days to get used to using yet another remote.

Things to note:
Sometimes I'm watching a black screen with gray screen indicating current channel 11-1 is not coming through so converter tries 11-2 and so on until signal is found.
Images can freeze or go partially black/fragmented digital in weather conditions or fluctuating signal.
Global is 6 instead of 3 (when it was on cable). CBC has a different number as does City. Local station is 11. So your parents will have to relearn/jot down the new order of stations they get on the new antenna setup.

[toban]

Update. My dad checked a few places for antennas. All of them told him they won't work at the cabin. Even though the antenna is suppose to pick up a signal 100 miles away,it won't work. He even named a town not far from the city where an antenna will not work. So in other words he will have to buy a satellite dish. Aslan, I will tell him about the Shaw program. Thanks!

[hirev]

If you have internet download and install XBMX with the fusion add on/ Canada cable TV add on. - you stream live tv/ old shows/ movies/ music all from one place

[idiotcanuck]

Update. My dad checked a few places for antennas. All of them told him they won't work at the cabin. Even though the antenna is suppose to pick up a signal 100 miles away,it won't work. He even named a town not far from the city where an antenna will not work. So in other words he will have to buy a satellite dish. Aslan, I will tell him about the Shaw program. Thanks!

If the above Shaw program doesn't work out, have you looked into Free To Air Satellite options. You would have to buy some equipment, dish, receiver etc. but you could avoid monthly charges if there are enough free channel options on one satellite to make it worthwhile. You could also try using something like an Android box, or an old computer, as a media server to feed the TV a whole bunch of stored favorite shows/ movies on a portable hard drive. You could fill this in town and take it with you and just plug it in to the box/computer to watch what ever you have stored. You could also just use a media playing DVD/bluray player and download and burn a library of shows/movies onto discs for them for free. A couple of $10 tubs of 50 dvds can hold an awful lot of entertainment options, if they are not looking to follow current events and shows.