Some people hesitate to give up cable because they would miss their local channels. Despite occasional hype about a show on a cable network or streaming service, the bulk of what we like to watch airs on the major networks.

But there’s good news—you can get your over-the-air channels the old-fashioned way. TV antennae are better than ever.…and more people are using an antenna-plus-streaming setup so they can have their cake and eat it, too. Ryan Downey of TheStreamingAdvisor.com explains how to do just that…

Set your expectations. You won’t be able to get ESPN or other cable-only networks via antenna, but several networks that you thought were cable- or ­streaming-only, such as MeTV and Antenna TV, are in fact broadcast over the air. Which channels you’ll receive depends on how close you are to broadcast towers and whether mountains or other obstacles block the signal. To find out what you can pick up at your address, visit
AntennaWeb.org. Caution: You’ll likely receive dozens of channels this way, but ignore hype from antenna vendors promising hundreds or even thousands of channels.

Select your antenna. Three brands stand out—Mohu…Antennas Direct…and ClearStream. Get a model with a built-in amplifier that reduces interference ($100). An antenna’s power is expressed in range—70 miles is the realistic limit for reception. You have two choices…

Outdoor antennae (mounted to the roof or the side of your house) offer the best performance. The antenna should be as high off the ground as possible to get the best reception. Hire a professional for the installation.

Indoor antennae are easy to set up and offer surprisingly good reception. The most popular are “mudflaps” because of their slim design. To mount one on the wall, get as high in the building as possible, near a window, on an external wall. The antenna plugs into the back of the TV via a coaxial cable. You also can install the antenna behind the TV to avoid seeing wires…hide wires under a strip…or run the wires through the drywall.

Viewing experience. The “Input” button on your remote will allow you to toggle between the antenna and streaming. With today’s antennae, either the channel will come in clear or not at all. Your picture quality is based on what kind of signal the broadcaster is using. If a broadcaster is sending out an 8K signal and you have an 8K TV, then you can get an 8K picture. But if a broadcaster is sending out a ­standard-definition (aka, 480p or 480i) signal, that is what you will get. Most modern TVs will generate a program guide for your over-the-air channels—it will appear when you select “Antenna” or “Live TV” as the input.

You can also get a DVR for antenna viewing. A device called a Tablo lets you record over-the-air shows ($99.95 to $139.95 at TabloTV.com). The Tablo app sits in your streaming menu. Tablo has apps for multiple platforms, including the streaming companies Roku, Amazon and Apple TV. There may be current Tablo apps for a user’s TV depending on the age of the set. But regardless of how they access it, users download the app separately and configure it. The bonus is that it is a tuner so they will be able to access live TV and DVR controls from the same app.

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