I just purchased a RCA DTA800 Digital TV Converter Box and when I installed it all I got was a black screen that said the signal is too weak. So I looked in the directions and it said it recommends a Smart Antenna. I was just wondering if anyone can tell me what a Smart Antenna is and where would I get one? I've tried looking online but the sites I can find use all these technical terms that are way over my head:o! I have a rabbit-ear antenna, and the regular tv stations are fuzzy or don't come in at all. I do live near some mountains which I was told is why the regular tv stations don't come in well. So would a Smart Antenna even work for me? Thank you!

I just purchased a RCA DTA800 Digital TV Converter Box and when I installed it all I got was a black screen that said the signal is too weak. So I looked in the directions and it said it recommends a Smart Antenna. I was just wondering if anyone can tell me what a Smart Antenna is and where would I get one? I've tried looking online but the sites I can find use all these technical terms that are way over my head:o! I have a rabbit-ear antenna, and the regular tv stations are fuzzy or don't come in at all. I do live near some mountains which I was told is why the regular tv stations don't come in well. So would a Smart Antenna even work for me? Thank you!


In the US, digital and analog TV broadcasts use the same antennas. If you can't get analog reception with an antenna, you are not going to get digital reception either. Rabbit ears just aren't going to cut it.

Smart antennas are very rare and would be useless in your situation. They are only useful in areas with high signal strength with signals coming from different directions.

If the analog signals that you do pick up are from translator stations, it may be years before they switch to digital. They are not required to switch to digital on 2/17/09.

If you add your zip code and approxamate location, someone might be able be more specific.

Check out the thread at Where are the smart antennas? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008952)
Right now there is only one smart antenna available and it is an outdoor unit, the DX Antenna DTA-5000. As far as I know SummitSource is the only place that still sells it. The link goes over a few that are to come up this year.

The advice given earlier is good and I would just try different directions on your current antenna. I have a mini-yagi that works fairly well and they are affordable. There are a few brands out their but the Philips PHDTV1 can be had for $20.

I ordered a smart antenna and received it in less than a week. I'm waiting for my converter box (with the smart interface) to be delivered. I am very interested to see how it will work in urban and suburban (almost fringe) areas.

The 5th generation receivers work very well in urban areas. Most of the older boxes work just as well as the 5th gen in distant situations, most likely because the weak signals also lack a lot of competing multipath.

I'm curious to see whether smart antennas can find a bearing for weaker nearby stations while still receiving the much stronger local signals. Directional agility and variable preamp gain could play a major role here.

I just setup two RCA DTA800 Digital TV Converter Box and didn't have any problem. Did you hit the menu button after the black screen that said the signal is too weak? That will take you to the setup of the converter box.

To: hphase

Were did you purchase your "Smart Antenna"? I have a similar problem that RockerChick has. I also, want to purchase a "Smart Antenna" to use with my RCA DTA800 Digital Converter Box.

To: hphase

Were did you purchase your "Smart Antenna"? I have a similar problem that RockerChick has. I also, want to purchase a "Smart Antenna" to use with my RCA DTA800 Digital Converter Box.

www.summitsource.com

http://www.summitsource.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=SMART+ANTENNA&x=0&y=0

sO FAR i SEE NO INDOOR smart antenna

To: hphase.

Hey, thanks. Appreciate it!

Red Wagon

The DTA-5000 is, thus far, the one and ONLY Smart Antenna:
http://www.summitsource.com/dx-antenna-dta5000-tv-smart-antenna-multidirectional-hdtv-digital-uhf-vhf-outdoor-offair-high-definition-local-hd-sylvania-television-reception-aerial-green-zone-part-dta5000-p-6320.html?osCsid=be9e0909a3b52bc3663dd5328b90906d

I saw Antennas Direct (non-functional) prototype at NAB Convention....
It might be available by 1Q2009....

I was surprised no one else was unveiling their new Smart Antennas....

I finally got to play with the DTA-5000, but just in a rural setting. It didn't outperform a much larger UHF antenna, but even so, it had some surprises in store. Up on the roof, it picked up the only VHF DTV station I can usually receive. Surprisingly, it didn't pick up any UHF stations, but that could have been due to proximity to the existing UHF antenna.

Then, I put the antenna lower, with a slightly shorter downlead. Surprisingly, it picked up a VHF DTV station I've never picked up before 61 miles away. In fairness, the position of the antenna may have caused the house to block an existing analog VHF. It still picked up the other VHF station from 21 miles away, and also picked up some other stations from about 39 miles away, in a direction my main antenna doesn't point.

Still very interesting for a small smart antenna.

At Target stores, the shelf display of the General Electric 22729 Smart Digital Converter Box with Smart Antenna interface includes an adjacent display of the GE 24775 Quantum Indoor Antenna (http://www.jascoproducts.com/hdtv/GE-Digital-Antennas.asp), which is strangely labeled on the box as being a "smarter" design.

Memo to the brain trust at Target Stores: The GE 24775 is NOT a CEA-spec Smart Antenna and does NOT have a Smart Antenna interface. Some of your customers are going to be confused, partially due to your decision to display this model next to the GE "Smart" CECB (http://www.jascoproducts.com/hdtv/GE-Smart-Digital-Converter-Box.asp).

General Electric will be selling a GE Smart Digital Antenna (http://www.jascoproducts.com/hdtv/GE-Smart-Digital-Antenna.asp) this fall.

In short: Target Stores and GE both proved they aren't too "smart" in peddling a cool-looking indoor TV antenna that is confusingly labeled.

I have found lots of CEA 909a antennae and several converters that have smart antenna jacks on them. Do any manufacturers make a 1080i television with a CEA 909a jack? My aunt needs to replace her 70's vintage TV and I took a cheap (Magnavox) converter box to her house. She is on a mountain and you can see four of twelve available HDTV towers from her house. With just a bowtie, I could get channels that were 70-80 miles away, but the close locals were so powerful that they were too much for the set and it would not even tune them. She doesn't care for cable or DBS and doesn't want an antenna on the outside of her house. One of the indoor CEA 909a antennae like the RCA ANT1500 or ANT2000 or the Terk HDS01 should work nicely, considering the UHF bowtie that came with her 70's vintage Zenith would pick up stations that are 80 miles away!

I haven't heard of any HDTV's announcing inclusion of CEA-909A Smart Antenna I/F.
However, note Sony and Hitachi provided "IP Proffers" in CEA-909 "A" update:
http://www.ce.org/Standards/browseByCommittee_2784.asp
CEA-909A update was approved last Dec:
http://www.ce.org/PDF/2007-12-31CEAStandardsMonthlyUpdate.pdf
However, work continues on CEA-774-B re how to TEST and CERTIFY this interface:
http://www.ce.org/Standards/2008-07-31CEAStandardsMonthlyUpdate.pdf

So maybe we'll see actual implementations in HDTVs next year????
And perhaps even CEA-909 control of Rotators and 4-Input RF Antenna Switches....
The latter could automatically select the "best" of several large outdoor antennas...
Which is fairly common in San Diego with 3-5 arrival directions...
And could be used INSTEAD of Antenna Combiners....hence lower loss....

FWIW, CEA also threw money at Antennas Direct to facilitate Smart Antenna development:
http://news.antennasdirect.com/prmanager/press-releases-detail.asp?id=92

=============================================
At least one user has reported using a low-rez Converter Box to control a Smart Antenna
and then using an RF Splitter to also feed an HDTV.
DTA-5000's Power Insertion Box sits between the coax downlead and the Converter Box.
RF Splitter is inserted between Power Insertion Box and Converter Box.

Awkward, since you must change channels on both Converter Box and HDTV...but it works....
Even easier if you have a programmable R/C, like the Harmony...

I have found lots of CEA 909a antennae and several converters that have smart antenna jacks on them. Do any manufacturers make a 1080i television with a CEA 909a jack? My aunt needs to replace her 70's vintage TV and I took a cheap (Magnavox) converter box to her house. She is on a mountain and you can see four of twelve available HDTV towers from her house. With just a bowtie, I could get channels that were 70-80 miles away, but the close locals were so powerful that they were too much for the set and it would not even tune them. She doesn't care for cable or DBS and doesn't want an antenna on the outside of her house. One of the indoor CEA 909a antennae like the RCA ANT1500 or ANT2000 or the Terk HDS01 should work nicely, considering the UHF bowtie that came with her 70's vintage Zenith would pick up stations that are 80 miles away!

I suspect that a smart antenna is not the solution to her problem. Assuming that her new DTV is as sensitive to overloading as your Magnavox converter, the two things I would look at would be:

If all the distant stations are in the same direction, use a directional antenna pointed at them. It's likely that the local signal will be strong enough to be received even with the antenna pointed in another direction.

Use an antenna switch. For the local stations a few inches of wire will probably pick them up. I've picked up all the local UHF stations with just a straightened out paper clip. I've also used a short length of coax with a connector on one end and the outer shield cut away for a few inches on the other end so the center connector sticks out a few inches. Start with 7", you can trim it shorter if the receiver still overloads.

I know of no TV with "The Jack", and of only one (non-CECB)
set top box. But I hear it wasn't the best on the block though.

Click HERE (http://safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/FUNAI/DTA5000) for Sylvania (Funai) DTA-5000 Smart Antenna PDF manual
Click HERE (http://www.sylvaniaconsumerelectronics.com/products/stb/stb.html) for Sylvania (Funai) 6900DTE EIA/CEA-909 matching HDTV receiver

To see the insides of the Sylvania (Funai) "Smart Antenna"
Click HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5826625ŀ) to save and/or open the two ZIP files of pics.


Note: When clicked the download may be named "attachment",
Rename them to 1.zip and 2.zip as you "Save" them respectivly ...

Or just choose "Open" and steer them towards your archival program.
(Win-RAR, Win-ZIP, Etc.)

Pics courtesy of:
Holl_Ends - MS-Comm Engineer

The Sylvania tuner was pretty decent for it's day, reception-wise. Maybe not compared to now.

Yeah, it probably was. It occurred to me after I wrote that, that the people saying less than complimentary things did no buy the matching smart antenna of the set.

Big mistake selling those seperate, perhaps should have been a discounted set.

The DTA-5000 is, thus far, the one and ONLY Smart Antenna:
http://www.summitsource.com/dx-antenna-dta5000-tv-smart-antenna-multidirectional-hdtv-digital-uhf-vhf-outdoor-offair-high-definition-local-hd-sylvania-television-reception-aerial-green-zone-part-dta5000-p-6320.html?osCsid=be9e0909a3b52bc3663dd5328b90906d

I saw Antennas Direct (non-functional) prototype at NAB Convention....
It might be available by 1Q2009....

I was surprised no one else was unveiling their new Smart Antennas....
You can find it here (http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=DTA5000), for $89.99.

Disclaimer: I have a minor financial interest in this product.

At a minimum, APEX DT250 & DT502 boxes (and at least 19 other boxes) have the Smart Antenna Interface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

Yeah, it probably was. It occurred to me after I wrote that, that the people saying less than complimentary things did no buy the matching smart antenna of the set.It was very popular and well-regarded on it's own, just being used with regular antennas.

Rockerchick I hope this will help you. Smart Antennas are used in military applications in the field. The Smart Antenna searches out the direction of the strongest broadcast signal. In other words you do not have to adjust the smart antenna to get good reception. Smart Antennas are lagging behind the digital conversion. The digital broadcast is a all or nothing deal. Either you get the signal or you do not. Now in analog you will get TV stations good or bad, snowy or virtually unwatchable but at least you can see them. With digital you will get nothing but a broken up pixal, and a freeze in the programing. I live in a valley 30 miles south of Fresno. I currently use both a RCA and a Philips 5 watt amplified antenna and I can only get 2 stations in digital. With analog I can get as far as Bakersfield 90 miles away. I do not have a outside antenna currently nor do I want to go to the hassle of installing one. I get only UHF programing. No VHF at all.
Walmart has a RCA Smart Antenna Ant 2000 for about $65. But you will have to go to their website and probably order it. Oh do not be confused by the RCA Ant 1500 It looks very similar but it is not a smart antenna.

Smart antennas should only be used in an urban enviroment. They a small, low-gain units. They will work well if the stations to be received are broadcasting from different directions and a standard antenna would have to be rotated to get all the stations. If all the stations are broadcasting from antennas that are the same direction from the antenna, then a smart antenna is of no use.

An outdoor antenna is the proper tool to use to get stations that are not nearby.

Smart antennas should only be used in an urban enviroment.
While this is true for the existing available units, it would be entirely possible to make a larger unit for longer range reception.

Rockerchick I hope this will help you. Smart Antennas are used in military applications in the field. The Smart Antenna searches out the direction of the strongest broadcast signal. In other words you do not have to adjust the smart antenna to get good reception. Smart Antennas are lagging behind the digital conversion. The digital broadcast is a all or nothing deal. Either you get the signal or you do not. Now in analog you will get TV stations good or bad, snowy or virtually unwatchable but at least you can see them. With digital you will get nothing but a broken up pixal, and a freeze in the programing. I live in a valley 30 miles south of Fresno. I currently use both a RCA and a Philips 5 watt amplified antenna and I can only get 2 stations in digital. With analog I can get as far as Bakersfield 90 miles away. I do not have a outside antenna currently nor do I want to go to the hassle of installing one. I get only UHF programing. No VHF at all.
Walmart has a RCA Smart Antenna Ant 2000 for about $65. But you will have to go to their website and probably order it. Oh do not be confused by the RCA Ant 1500 It looks very similar but it is not a smart antenna.

Also note that the digital stations are not all broadcasting full power yet, so hopefully once 02/17/2009 comes around, you "hopefully" will be able to pick up more stations without any changes.

Walmart and Best Buy are getting some RCA ANT2000 Smart Antennas in stock:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008952&page=2

Also note that the digital stations are not all broadcasting full power yet, so hopefully once 02/17/2009 comes around, you "hopefully" will be able to pick up more stations without any changes.
whoa.....
stations NOT full power on digital broadcasts ??
that could really affect results when testing boxes and even for digital-tuner TV's >>
any way to find if full power is there other than calling stations ?? ("power...uh, yeah, sure...we have that")

(TIA) Lou

This is nothing new to those who are in the know. It's a FCC requirement.

Either the FCC site or http://www.tvfool.com/

whoa.....stations NOT full power on digital broadcasts ?? This is an urban legend. "Most" stations ARE broadcasting at their full, licensed DTV power in order to serve all these new customers with their Coupon boxes. I know all the ones in my area are full power, and probably the ones in your area are too.

As for tuning problems, the landscape today is not the same as after February 18, mainly because many UHF stations are moving to VHF, or vice-versa. So it's the FREQUENCY CHANGE that will be the main difference between now and then, not the power.

Stations not running at Full-Power is not an "Urban Legend."

As per the FCC site (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html) and http://www.tvfool.com/;
WHAG is at less than a kilowatt of output until Feb 2009.
WJAL has had the FCC inform them that they had to turn back their power until Feb 2009.
WPMT, WMAR, WTTG, WFPT, & WUTB are all going to increase their power output come Feb 2009.

Granted: WJLA, WGAL, WUSA, WHTM, WBAL, & WJZ will all be changing frequencies to 7,8,9,10,11, & 13 respectfully (WWPX is already at 12).

I know a few of our stations are only at partial power.

Point-blank. If those knuckleheads at the FCC aren't allowing full power (for whatever reason...), HOW do we get the info as to their crippled status? I mean how are we to lookup the current -verses- projected output percentage to make decisions? I've seen the FCC sheets for my local stations. They DO NOT list pre-Feb2009 effective radiated power stats... How do we proceed?

The FCC approves a Maximum power level...as indicated in the database.

Each Station Engineer determines how much power they want to radiate, based on various
real-world engineering constraints such as ice buildup, problems in the feed lines, how much power
can be squeezed out of an old & decrepit hi-power amp whilst trying to extend it's lifetime,
operating with an old antenna while waiting for the new one to be delivered, operating on
the backup system rather than the primary transmitter, reducing power to reduce station-on-station
interference in accordance with "side agreements", trying to save a few bucks a month on the power bill, etc.

You can't go-out and buy an antenna based on current conditions, because current conditions expire February 2009. You should wait until March 2009 to see what the "permanent" landscape will be.

In my case I don't currently get channels 21 or 27 in Harrisburg, but after February 2009 the channels will be shuffled (some move to VHF, some move to UHF), and it's possible both 21 and 27 will come in nice and clear. So I'm just sitting back and waiting.This is an urban legend. "Most" stations ARE broadcasting at their full, licensed DTV power in order to serve all these new customers with their Coupon boxes. WHAG is at less than a kilowatt of output until Feb 2009. Yes, but they are still operating at the full, licensed power the FCC gave them. The fact that the FCC only allowed them 0.9 kW doesn't change the fact that the station IS broadcasting at its full, licensed power.

You're misrepresenting the issue of whether or not a station is broadcasting at what the Feb 2009 full power levels will be.

I like the concept behind the smart antenna. I live almost exactly between two television markets, and I do not want to set up a rotor.

BUT

I've not found any PCI-interface card that can connect to a smart antenna.

I also wonder if it is possible to connect two sets to a smart antenna and watch two different channels concurrently.

I also wonder if it is possible to connect two sets to a smart antenna
and watch two different channels concurrently.
Only one box can CONTROL the Smart Antenna.
You could put a 2-way RF Splitter between the S-A's Power Insertion Module
and the first box in order to feed the adapted signal to the second box.

Results will vary depending on how "close" the settings for the first box
are for the channel being tuned in second box

If both channels are from same direction, you would think they would be same settings.
However, in DTA-5000, there appear to be switchable traps within each element,
which means the antenna configuration can be different for different channels.

I tried this method, feeding the analog tuner in my DTV....results were disappointing....

You could try it to see what happens for your channels....

Only one box can CONTROL the Smart Antenna. ...


Well, that takes the shine off of it for me.

I live between Huntsville AL and Nashville TN - almost exactly between. I'm about 50 miles from each market.

I have been re-testing my antenna recently, and I have found I can pick up the majority of the stations in each market with an amplified 8-bay at ground level. Aim north, and I get most of Nashville. Aim southeast, and I get most of Huntsville. I will have to study properly combining an antenna to get both directions at once, now that I see a smart antenna won't let 2 different sets tune different channels.

Currently available Smart Antennas are small, mostly intended for urban and indoor use....

CM-4228 will blow them away....

I recently got one of the RCA ANT2000s, and it performs quite well for an indoor antenna (beats my decades-old attic antenna with the broken rotor). But I paired it with an Apex DT502, which has many, many flaws. The worst being that the Apex's most widely known flaw (the inability to overscan new channels) is a major hindrance to the smart antenna. The LG box I have (Zenith/Insignia) is superior to the Apex in every way. The Apex has a lousy GUI, bad remote range, it locks up and requires a reboot, and I think the audio and video quality are inferior too. So I'm starting this thread to get feedback from those of you who've been using smart antennas. Which is the best smart antenna box? I'm looking for feedback on the following, or any others I don't know of:

RCA DTA800B1
Goodmind DTA1000
Alpha Digital AT2016
Tivax STB-T8, STB-T9

By the way, I'm 30 miles away from one market, and 40 from another, and there's only 1-2 available stations the RCA ANT2000 fails to pull in. The Apex's overscan flaw, however, necessitates moving the antenna and doing a rescan to get certain stations.

I posted DTA-5000 vs RCA ANT2000 Smart Antenna test as well as 3 CECBs in the OTHER thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14996150

Hi I just purchased the new RCA 2000 smart antenna for my upstairs unit, right now I get a very low signal. Is there any way to get that signal up in the 80 or 90's range?

Depends upon your distance from the towers. Smart Antennas are not designed for fringe reception.

Look in the manual for or converter box or the menu system. The RCA boxes have a deep scan option to tune the antenna. Others like the Tivax have a Smart Antenna menu item to tune the antenna for the currently tuned channel.

Hope this helps.