How do I hook up my HDTV off air antenna when I have regular basic cable?

Question

I currently have basic cable through Time Warner. I recently bought an HDTV with a built in ATSC tuner. Yesterday I went and got an antenna for off-air HDTV. However, my tv only has one port to hook in a cable plug. Either I have to unplug my cable to get the antenna hooked into the tv, which means I don't get my cable channels, or vice versa.

Do I need a splitter, or how do I go about using my analog cable, and hooking up my new antenna for over the air HDTV?

Answer 1

You need a mixer. Make it sure it supports HD channels.
However, you may get into another problem.

When you do a channel scan, you have to specify Antenna or Cable - and you have both. Some TVs allow you to view a channel, even if you don't do a channel scan. So give it a try first. First do a cable scan. Then connect your antenna and try a digital channel (2.1, 9-1, etc.) if it works you are OK. If not, you may need to do a channel scan every time you switch, which is a pain.

You may just want to switch to digital cable. Most Digital cable set-top boxes now have RF inputs to connect an of-the-air antenna.

Answer 2

Well, THAT sucks.....You'll have to choose. You can connect an outdoor antenna using a <>, but I'd recommend an electronic <> be used so you don't have to get up and walk over to the mechanical switch....look for something like that.... NOW, here's the bad part..... You have to AUTOPROGRAM it EACH and EVERY time when you switch from Antenna to Cable and vice versa.... It MAY TAKE 20 to 30 minutes searching for Digital stations....

Answer 3

eh?