Digital tuner card with high gain antenna?

[DanNeely]

Basic situation, I'm renting in a valley and my analog reception with Hauppauge and ATI tuner cards and the bundled wire antenna in the past was consistently full of static. Because I'm renting putting up a big ugly rooftop antenna isn't an option.

Are there any tuner/antenna pairs that are likely to be able to pick up a digital signal despite my geographic handicaps? I barely watch any TV any longer and would like to cut my cable co off; but don't really want to lose the ability to get real time local news in an emergency.

 

[valve1138]

There's no way around it, you need a proper antenna.

Check out tvfool.com to see what you need.

 

[ambientZ]

any current hd tuner ought to be roughly similar for tuning ability. You'll just need a good enough antenna.
The first couple years of hd tuner cards there was decent variance in tuner sensitivity, but i think thats pretty much resolved now.


In a valley is tough, there may not be enough signal to receive.

http://antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx is another good site to punch in your address to see what it says for reception strength / antenna requirements.

 

[DanNeely]

antennaweb claims I'd only be able to get a single station with a directional antenna. Disappointing, but I can't say I'm overly surprised by the result.