Sonicview 4000 & OTA

[DirectDishNet]

Hey guy's and Mr. Iceberg, I'm going to ask a question but before I do I want to tell ya that I am all doped up on meds because I'm dying of swine flu right now. I just can't think right now so need some help.

I just bought a nice Olevia 42" HDTV from a box store today. But I rushed into the purchase and did not notice that it did not have a RF card/tuner so no RF cable screw in on the back of the TV. So now I want to hook up my off air outdoor antenna. I could run it through a vcr or a digital converter box but to save from clutter I was wondering if I could run it through my sonicview 4000.

On my sonicview 4000 there is off air rf IN & OUT but I was wondering if anyone knows if it can scan the channels and I could use my composite cables to the TV?

Could not find anything in the SV's menu to scan off air channels.

 

[Anole]

No , the SD receivers do not have any TV tuners. *
I would recommend you get a digital converter box at a minimum.
That will only give you standard definition video to your beautiful 42" TV, so it'll be a little underwhelming.

I'm not aware of any VCRs with ATSC (digital) tuners.
There are some DVD recorders with 'em, though.
Again, verify the tuner puts out HD and not just SD!

For best quality, you might consider an HD FTA receiver with an ATSC tuner (very few around) or maybe a DishNetwork (bite your tongue) receiver. -

If you are -very- lucky, you might find an ATSC tuner with Component or HDMI output, but those are pretty rare these days.
They used to be offered at outrageous prices a few years ago.
Now, the ATSC tuner is built into all TV sets, and video monitors are pretty rare.


* edit:
I thought you said Coolsat 4000, but I'll look up the Sonicview to double check.

It's out of production. I did find the manual (PDF), and it appears to be typical design for its era.
The antenna input simply passes the signal through to your TV tuner.
That would mean in FTA Mode, the Sonicview would put out FTA programming to your TV on channel three.
Not a very high quality mode.

 

[zamar23]

It appears from Sonicview 4000 Manual that the receiver has convenience RF ANT IN & OUT ports to pass through OTA signal to your TV with an internal NTSC or ATSC tuner. However, the receiver itself doesn't have any OTA tuner, based on its Spec, and can't help in your setup to watch OTA channels.

If you don't want to buy an HD Sat Receiver, the most popular and the only high quality stand along ATSC/QAM (HD&SD TV digital OTA / unscrambled digital Cable) Tuner is Samsung DTB-H260F, and its hard to find. I happen to have one for sale in "like new" condition, feel free to PM if interested.