I have a cheap paper thin indoor antenna that is actually pretty good, except, it's a toss up with reception on vhf (I knew it would be). I need to bring in Fox and ABC, which I do get but I have to keep fiddling with this cheap antenna. My aim is to mount it right under the soffit in front of my bedroom window, run the coax through the stucco, which already has a hole from a bolt that was recently removed. Towers are close enough that I have intermittent success with this cheap antenna but I want something more reliable. FYI: I have Cat.5 hurricane proof windows.

While we waited for approval and releases of the original ChannelDeck IPTV Player 1.0 we were actively building ChannelDeck IPTV Player 1.1 to keep in line with our Android build. Version 1.1 (42) has passed Apple’s review and is available now on the App Store.

This is a major update with substantial rebuilds and improvements throughout the Apple TV experience, the navigating user resize of channel lineups, watching multiple screens, browsing personal media, managing profiles, setting up sources and customizing playback.

Here’s everything included we brought up to its Android equivalent.

REBUILT TV GUIDE AND CHANNEL NAVIGATION

Smooth held scrolling through entire channel categories, with stable focus and channel rows that remain visible. Faster indexed guide storage and improved handling of large playlists. Reduced memory use during guide and catalog processing. Improved cached-guide recovery and refresh reliability, preserving existing schedules when a download fails. EPG matching with saved channel-to-guide mappings. Channel sorting by Playlist, EPG or Name A–Z. Text search for finding channels and programs. Improved navigation through future programs, retaining your time position as you move between channels. Compact, Standard and Large guide sizes.

PLAYBACK STABILITY AND RECOVERY

Playback received substantial work across video timing, audio synchronization, channel changes and stream recovery. Fixes for intermittent fullscreen pauses and frozen pictures. Improved handling of gaps and interruptions in incoming streams. Better continuity when audio playback restarts. More reliable channel changes and playback recovery.

Updated BufferTruth diagnostics to help explain playback interruptions.

Continued support for compatible ATSC 3.0 streams with AC-4 audio through ChannelDeck’s independent playback implementation.

IMPROVED FOUR-SCREEN MULTI-VIEW

Improved playback across four simultaneous screens. Audio follows the focused screen. Channel selection uses an embedded guide. Improved handling of compatible live streams across multiple players. Channel selection and navigation preserve the other active playback sessions.

EXPANDED CHANNELDECK NETWORK EXPERIENCE

Personal media browsing now includes household and profile features, a rebuilt Home experience and improved playback navigation. Household sign-in and profile selection. Personal viewing progress, resume positions and viewing history. Continue Watching, Recently Watched and Recently Added sections. Recently Added episode cards open the exact episode and season represented by the card. Improved artwork loading and library caching. Better recovery of saved Network sign-ins. Improved navigation between movies, series and music. More reliable seeking and resume with compatible Network delivery. Ordered and shuffled episode continuation. Intro and credits skipping when the connected server provides suitable markers.

UPDATED PLAYBACK CONTROLS

Hold Down during fullscreen Live TV or recorded playback to open the bottom options bar. Saved audio-language and subtitle preferences. Source-specific playback settings. Configurable remote shortcuts. Startup destination choices. Improved remote focus and keyboard navigation. Consistent menus throughout setup and settings.

REDESIGNED ACTIVATION AND INITIAL SETUP

The new setup experience provides clear choices for ChannelDeck Network, Antenna TV through a compatible HDHomeRun tuner, M3U playlists, Xtream Codes sources or you can explore ChannelDeck via our built in demo featuring a fictional sample lineup.

Activation includes clearer steps and recovery controls. Antenna discovery and saved-source management have also been improved.

MORE CUSTOMIZATION

Ten color themes. Three guide sizes. Adjustable on-screen clock opacity. Reorganized Settings with clearer sections. Saved viewing preferences and per-source controls.

ENCRYPTED SETUP BACKUP AND RESTORE

Save and restore your Apple setup through configured SMB storage using password-encrypted backups. Backups support saved sources, guide configuration and included settings. Activation and purchases remain separate from setup backups.

UPDATE INFORMATION AND EXISTING SETTINGS

App Store update information and release notes are improved.

The update preserves existing sources, favorites, settings and paid access. Existing Premium access carries forward.

DOWNLOAD OR UPDATE

Open the App Store on your Apple TV and search for ChannelDeck IPTV Player by Buck Skeeters, LLC.

ChannelDeck is free to download. Free access supports one media source, with optional Premium available through a one-time purchase. Feature availability depends on your plan, compatible sources and connected services.

ChannelDeck is a player for your compatible TV sources and personal media. Channels, paid programming and TV subscriptions are not included. Use sources and media you are authorized to access.

Already using ChannelDeck on Apple TV? Update to 1.1 and let us know how it works with your setup.

Get it on the App Store!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGfHG9AALQ

I've been building my own homelab from scratch and have finally gotten around to OTA broadcast reception.

I recorded a video showing me flipping through every channel in my lineup in just 59 seconds. These are live ATSC 1.0 broadcasts received through my rooftop antenna.

The trick? Stop asking the HDHomeRun to change channels.

Instead of tuning individual virtual channels (like 5.1, 5.2, or 5.3), I'm tuning the HDHomeRun directly to the broadcast frequency in MHz.

For example, instead of requesting /auto/v5.1, I request the entire RF multiplex using /auto/ch<frequency-in-Hz>.

That gives me the complete MPEG transport stream, including every subchannel being transmitted on that frequency.

From there:

1. HDHomeRun stays locked to the RF frequency and continuously delivers the entire multiplex.
2. TSDuck's zap plugin extracts the individual programs into separate single-program transport streams (SPTS).
3. A Worker (in my homelab) takes ownership of those streams, keeping the feeds running independently of who's watching.
4. Any Ordinary IPTV Program switches between streams that are already running, rather than waiting for an HDHomeRun tuner to change frequencies, acquire a signal, and begin delivering a new program.

The result is extremely fast channel switching, as you can see in the video.

But here's the part I really like: practically unlimited concurrent viewership.

Once my worker has captured a multiplex, the HDHomeRun doesn't care whether one person is watching or fifty.

All those virtual channels are already being received, extracted, and distributed by the server. Adding another viewer doesn't consume another HDHomeRun tuner.

You still need one tuner for each RF multiplex you want to receive simultaneously, of course. And actual viewer capacity is limited by your server, network bandwidth, and streaming infrastructure.

But the usual relationship between available tuners and simultaneous viewers is effectively gone, and so is the lag. You can even use multiple antennas with multiple HDHomeRun units to bridge the gap, so to speak (and I have).

I've essentially turned my HDHomeRun setup into an always-on OTA television headend, with the tuners handling RF reception and my homelab handling everything downstream.

The HDHomeRun devices receive the entirety of all the broadcasting multiplexes in my area.

And apparently I can now channel-surf through my entire lineup in less than a minute.

Really changes the game when you can receive sports over the air without the lag of internet relayed television but then turn around and pack it in your IPTV player.

Cross posting to reach more folks!

Hey everyone. I went through the guides on how best to set up an antenna, but I still have a couple questions. Here is the Rabbitears info: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/3185865 . I would like to get as many channels as reasonable, but my results seem fairly bad. It is hard for me to tell if it would be worth setting up an outdoor antenna to try and catch some of the bad signals. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Additionally, I would like to set this up to where I can just use my home network to watch these channels. I have ethernet through out my house and would like to use that. I am about to setup a home server so I am debating on whether or not to try and integrate with that or just go with a HDHomeRun.

Any inputs would be appreciated! Thank you.

I'm working on a home antenna project, and I need a tripod for a roof that has angles and uneven spots. Winegard has one with adjustable feet that gets some decent reviews. Do any of you have a favorite tripod?

Basically all I am tying to do is set up for picking up one local ota signal. For whatever reason directv doesn't always broadcast their CW affiliate in HD. My dad wants to be able to watch some of the nascar coverage that airs there but the SD picture is just horrible on directv. I'm trying to help him out by just getting an antenna to pick up 12.2 which is a sub channel of local affiliate WKRC 12.1. The problem is the cheap $20 flat antenna i picked up at Walmart doesn't find either, because they are hi VHF I'm assuming. Since this is a very, very niche need we're trying to do this on a small budget. I'm attaching the rabbitears.info here for reference. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

https://www.rabbitears.info/s/3162462

How much distance do I need to maintain between the conduit coming from my solar panels and my antenna coaxial? I’m getting differing advice on the internet. It’s my understanding that DC cables don’t interfere with data cables the way AC does. The first pic shows where I’d like to mount my antenna, somewhere to the right of the peak. The second shows the front of my house and solar panels for reference. We rented a lift all to paint the house and now seems like the best time to put up a good antenna

I just cut the cord and installed a $50 attic antenna in my home in upper Westchester NY. I am roughly 45 miles from the transmitter in Manhattan. Below are my signal readings:

Ch 36- CBS- top out at 21 dB- clear picture- locked
Ch 27- Fox- top out at 12 dB- no picture- unlock
Ch 7- ABC- top out at 20.12 dB- clear picture- locked
Ch 35- NBC- top out at 12 dB- no picture- unlock
Ch 7- WPIX- top out at 20 dB- clear picture- locked

I’m trying to find that sweet spot to lock in these 5 main channels. I went to the rabbit ears site for direction and used the compass app on my phone to aim the antenna 206 degrees. I can’t seem to get all of them at a time. From what I’ve read, I’m pretty close and right below the threshold to get Fox and NBC. My question is- is this a matter of needing a better attic antenna? An amplifier? Or is my only way of getting all 5 is mounting it outside? (Which I’m trying to avoid). I’ve attached a pic of the Home Depot antenna I am using and what my attic looks like. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Hello Experts,

I'm 83 and my wife won't let me on the roof any more. About when HD came in, I replaced the ancient antenna that was here already with a new one, with a new rotor plus some sort of booster thing. One problem is that we're in a wooded valley (half-mile from a cell tower but the phone signal goes over our heads and cellular service is terrible). So our TV reception is poor and in bad weather it's terrible. People who do TV installations in our area went out of business years ago. So, of course, THANK YOU for any and all advice. Here is our reception chart.

I recently moved about 1 mile (as a crow flies) from my previous house. On my previous house I had this antenna mounted on my roof: RCA Compact Outdoor or Attic Yagi HD TV Antenna with Super Long 75 Mile Range – Digital OTA Antenna for Clear VHF & UHF Reception.

On my brand new house, i don't have anything to mount to on the roof and don't want to drill holes. So I'm looking at mounting an antenna in my attic. I live on the north side of town, so the good news is I can get a directional antenna and point it towards the southeast and it will generally pick up all of the local tv antennas.

Questions:

1. For a new antenna that will be in an attic, pointing through an OSB and Asphalt Shingle roof how can I best "boost" it?
2. The attic is a long run from my basement server rack where my Tablo device sits. How does Coax do running about 60-80 feet? Am I better putting an outlet in the attic and putting the Tablo up there and running a cat6 ethernet the 60-80 feet down to my server rack in the basement?
3. What antenna would you recommend for this? I need about 20 miles of directional range MAX.

How to get the local channels like LCTV without the USB tuner in buffalo New York

I disassembled this antenna for a friend. We are wondering if the steel base can be taken out of the ground? Is it set in concrete? Or is it just pounded down?

Picture of my dumbass digging a bit to see if it moves >.< it did not

Shut down?

I’m planning an installation project for next week and could use some collective wisdom regarding external channel tuners that don't rely on an internet connection.

Originally, I was planning to go with Mediasonic units, but a few neighbors tried them recently and reported that theirs failed in under two months. When I checked with our local electronics store, they didn't recommend them either. Instead, they suggested looking into used commercial-grade tuners built for the hospitality industry (like those used in hotels), since they are designed to run continuously and hold up much better over time.

Have any of you gone the commercial/hospitality route for an OTA setup? If so, which specific brands or models have you found to be reliable, and are there particular vendors or trusted secondary markets where you've had good luck buying them used?

Appreciate any recommendations or advice you can share before I finalize parts for next week!

I don’t know the model of this antenna, but it was cheap on Amazon a few years ago. It has an LTE filter that I've been using. I live in a house with roommates and this antenna is for my TV in my bedroom in the basement. Moving the antenna out of the room isn’t really possible in this situation.

The second image is the rabbit ears results, I only care about the top 8 stations on that list. I have to line it up very precisely to get a steady signal, even varying by a degree or two can cause interruptions. Even with it lined up I still get interruptions and signal loss. I know I’m a few feet underground here, but at 6 miles I wouldn’t think this would make a difference? Especially since there is no terrain (besides being in the basement) blocking me.

Does anyone have antenna suggestions that I could set up tucked away behind the TV here? All the channels I care about are in the UHF range.

I've been building Tanso TV, a lightweight OTA TV server that runs on your own computer.

The idea is to keep the basic TV experience simple: connect a USB TV tuner and antenna to your computer, run Tanso TV, and watch live TV from your phone, tablet, or PC using a modern web browser. No separate client app is required.

Currently it supports:

• Live OTA TV
• Recording the program you're currently watching
• Multiple client devices on your local network
• Local storage of recordings
• Local fallback access when the internet or cloud service is unavailable
• Hardware-accelerated live transcoding when supported by Tanso TV
• Windows, macOS, and Linux

The first release focuses on the basic TV experience, which will remain free as long as Tanso TV is maintained and supported. To support ongoing development and maintenance, some additional features may require payment in the future.

I'm also building a cloud service for things like device management and future features such as remote access, but the core TV functionality doesn't depend on the cloud.

It's still early. Right now, tuner support is limited to the MyGica/Geniatech A681 and A681B, both are for ATSC 1.0 (United States, Canada, Mexico and South Korea). HDHomeRun support is planned and should be available soon. Scheduled recording and remote access aren't available yet.

I'm posting here because I'd like feedback from people who actually use OTA TV:

What are you using today for live TV and recording, and what do you wish worked better?

I'd particularly like to hear:

• Which tuner are you using?
• What software or DVR are you currently using?
• Where do you usually watch OTA TV — TV, computer, phone/tablet, or multiple devices?
• What would you consider an essential feature in a replacement?

I'm early enough in development that feedback can influence what I build next.