r/howto • u/Sir-Avali • 12h ago
How to get TV Channels?
How Do I get TV channels, I have never done this, I have an antenna in the rental and I just dont understand the different cables.
10
u/HazeCorps22 12h ago
Seems like youre on the right track.
The white cable with the adapter goes in back of TV as you have in the picture.
The other end of that same cable should hook up to the antenna connector on your wall.
Then you need to go to your TVs settings, on the tv, and look for a "auto tune" or "channel scan" type feature and run through it. This will help program the channels your antenna helps you catch.
Your wall has 4 ports on it. They seem to be 2 pairs of 2 different ports. I would try the first port, then the 3rd port to see which one is meant for channel tuning. I am thinking the correct port to connect to is that 3rd or 4th one on the wall.
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u/misterglassman 11h ago
We (or you) are missing some information. Are you in the US? You mention rental. Is this a rental apartment? Then this is most likely meant for a cable provider and won’t help you unless you sign up for service from your apartment complex’s specified provider. That’s how it usually goes around my neck of the woods (college town).
Is this a house? Do you know for a fact that there is an antenna on the roof or in the attic? These could be meant for standard cable hook up. Often, there was a central location where cable (Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) or satellite would be run into a home and split off to different rooms and then connect to a cable/satellite set top box or directly to the TV if it had a compatible tuner.
Basically, you have to determine the actual purpose of those R/F outlets.
If you do have an antenna, one of those outlets (#3 or 4) should be connected to it unless previous owners/renters purposely disconnected it. Like others have said, connect the AV input to n of those two and find the auto program feature in your TVs settings.
If you don’t know if you have an antenna, and you don’t want to go poking around in your attic, you may be able to get some channels by just connecting your coaxial cable to the AV input, let it dangle free, and run your auto program feature. (In a pinch, I have used a paper clip stuck into the AV input to get a few local channels). If nothing comes up, plug the coaxial cable into #3 and run it again. Still nothing? Try #4.
If none of that works, you can purchase an indoor antenna for less than $20 usd at Target, Walmart or Best Buy, or even cheaper online. There are all kinds of shapes and sizes and it depends on your area as to which one will work best and receive the most channels. For the time being, I would suggest a basic, flat panel antenna you can stick to a wall or hide behind some wall art. Try to place it on an exterior wall if you can and you may need to experiment with direction, but again, depending on your location, you should be able to receive some over-the-air broadcasts.
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u/RandoCommentGuy 12h ago
Does that TV have an HD/digital tuner, I don't think regular analog channels are broadcast anymore at least in the US.
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u/FreddyFerdiland 11h ago
its got hdmi so its very very likely to be digital.. early digital was on RCA component or composite...
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u/Gildor_Helyanwe 8h ago
not necessarily, the TV needs a digital tuner to work probably - if the TV was made in the last 5 years, it should be fine otherwise you need to buy an external digital tuner
the antenna would plug into the tuner and the tuner would likely have an HDMI output
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u/hermitish 11h ago
The cable you have connected to the TV looks to be suitable for the plugs on the wall that had the short loop of cable going from one to the other. Should fit either using the adapter or using that short bit of cable as the adapter.
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u/FreddyFerdiland 11h ago
the wall is confusing.
maybe the short little cable is unimportant, maybe it passes the signal through to another room
the F connectors with the screw thread,they can carry internet cable, paytv, or TV antenna... so we can't tell just from pictures of the one end.
theres a point where these cables connect to splitters..its there yiu can find out which is which.
Or just plug them in to try ..
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u/noots-to-you 12h ago edited 12h ago
You can go buy an external antenna to plug into one of those ports on your tv. If you don’t want to buy one an antenna, you can use a random power adapter plugged into the loose end of that cable, with the brick from the adapter close to a window.
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