Problem with any over the air antenna and a new 50" DU6900D 4K TV

[Figureguy]

Good afternoon.  My stepfather doesn't have cable but has internet.  He has an over the air antenna that he had attached to a 43" VIzio that is about 7 years old.  When he would use it on that television it would give him about 40 channels.

We talked about this unit being on sale and the Samsung TV Plus with his internet giving him over 400 channels for free.  So he bought the television and I had the television scan for channels.  It picked up all the Samsung TV Plus Channels fine but only 13 local over the air, much less than the got with the older tv with the antenna.

I hooked up the antenna via the coaxial cable portand then rescanned for channels.  The TV still only picked up the 13 local and not the 40 he is used to.  He does have an older antenna and I was looking for newer ones online but if it was able to find 40 channels with an older TV I am confused why the newer TV is not using it to find those missing channels.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me with this.  I tried calling Samsung but the gentleman kept saying it was due to various factors, and he wasn't understanding I hooked the antenna to the new television.

[realaud]

Have you changed the location of the TV set or the antenna from where the old set was located?  Ideally the antenna (and it should be a digital antenna), should be placed a close to a window or have a clear sight line to a window with no walls in between, or placed near an outside wall so there is no signal interference. Antennas do not have to be situated near the set, so you can get a longer cable to move it as close to the outside as possible.

[Figureguy]

Thank you for responding.  No the TV is on the same stand as the older one and the antenna is still sitting where it had always been.  I'm not sure as if it is a digital antenna.  It is basically this:

He got it about 6 years ago.  It is not that exact model but similar in design and function.  I am actually looking to get something like this:

I would think it might work better than the current one but he put the older antenna back on the Vizio and got his channels as normal.  I understand a newer antenna would be better overall but why is it needed to get what he normally could with an old antenna and an old TV?  Why is he losing channels?

[Figureguy]

I had a thought. I don't know if the old TV was a smart TV and I don't know if it had digital scanning capabilities. It's at his house and I'm at mine and I don't think he would know enough if I asked him to be able to tell me. If the new Samsung is using the internal Channel Scanning ability to find over the air could it not even be using or even recognizing the antenna despite it being plugged in? I know I went to Broadcasting and chose all so we pick up channels and that's how I got the Samsung TV plus and the 13 local. Is there something I'm supposed to do to specifically have the TV use the antenna? I'm not sure myself as I've never used any kind of setup like this. I've been looking on the internet and it talked about source being changed to TV and scanning but I don't see that capability on his as it doesn't say there's anything hooked up via another source.

[realaud]

The old TV may have had a tuner built in, the newer TVs most likely do not, as to keep the costs down to encourage more people to buy them.  If it's 6 years old the antenna is most likely digital.  The TV most likely is recognizing the antenna but, because there is no internal tuner, it's just not picking up the signals.  I would probably go with something like this, as you can move it around better than the one you show, so you can put it in an optimal location.

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Antenna-Magnetic-Reception-Channels/dp/B0C6M6K4WT/ref=sr_1_28?crid=OI...

[Figureguy]

I am sure it has a tuner built in but I wanted to double check.  The product page on Samsung.com says it has a DTV and Analog tuner built in.  (*Check your local cable operator. A cable box may be required for watching channels other than local broadcasts.)  You choose broadcast or cable channels and then it goes through over the air and cable and picks up the 13 local on its own and all of the Samsung TV Plus through Wifi.  I'm sorry I didn't clarify before but we tried to search for channels without the antenna but hooked to just wifi.  It found the 13.  Then I said I wanted to try the coaxial antenna and we got the same 13.  Thank you for the link.  He is picking up his antenna from Best Buy Weds. as that one I had shown in my previous post got great reviews as one of the best over the air antennas of 2024 and he likes to walk through Best Buy.  He's also getting a Samsung Non-smart Remote for easier accessibility tomorrow at Walmart.  He would do much better with numbers than using the control circle.  For instance he went to change the TV Plus to channel 2350 or such and since you have to have an onscreen keypad he was so slow to input them after 2 or 3 numbers it would tune itself.  He's not fast enough.

[realaud]

Ok. But, positioning is really everything, the one you showed looks like one that attaches to the back of the TV. (Also looks big and unsightly, even if positionable). Even if the TV has a built in tuner, it may not be a strong tuner and of limited range. The one he's buying should be fine, and he can return it if it's not. But before he returns anything, if he still gets only the same 13 channels, he should try different locations. As I said, preferably near a window, door or on an outside wall. There is a reason they still make outdoor antennas.

A couple of years ago, I bought an antenna like the one I showed you, it's small but powerful. However, the location of the TV it's attached to has a wall interfering with the signal, so it only gets about 10 or 12 local channels, even though it has a longer range.  When I moved the antenna to my sun room, I got many more channels.  However, because of my sliding doors, the cable was not long enough to extend to where I wanted to place the antenna and not have to trip over or have it be in the way.  I opted not to get an extender cable, because it is my "guest" TV and I don't watch it anyway.  Since it's a smart TV, any guests I have can just stream from the apps I have on it.

[Figureguy]

Appreciative that you're taking the time to go over this with me. However moving the antenna is not an option. My stepfather would be reluctant to run a cable. His house has the kitchen and the dining room separated by an island. His house is set up very badly. The only place to really put the TV is against the island on the living room side. The antenna sits right above the TV on the island. He won't run a cable and move it elsewhere. Yes I know, old and stubborn. Believe me but he keeps insisting that if the old antenna worked okay with the old TV that it should be fine. I told him I'm working on it and will try to figure it out but no promises. I looked a little more online and once he gets the new remote it has a dedicated source button. Maybe I'm just not finding out correctly how the coaxial from the antenna is actually registered it as a source. If it's not then that might be the whole answer. Like I said I called Samsung and went to their site to look and they explain how to connect the antenna and also mention Source on there. But when I went in the menus I swear I couldn't find it. Like all my four hdmis on my qled are full, and actually my soundbar has HDMI inputs in so that's kind of like splitter. So I have five HDMI devices technically connected to my TV. I guess I'll see what I can do once he gets his equipment. He is also very frugal and for the last 6 years has had no internet, so no streaming services, and no cable television. So his TV relied on the over the air and his phone was his computer. Maybe Frugal is a little too kind.