As a person that knows a bit about antennas and OTA, my impression is that Channel Master appears to be coasting. After looking at the antenna information and marketing material, some of which appears contradictory or just doesn't make sense, I would look past these new antennas.

Antennas Direct seems to be pursuing American-based research and engineering leading to innovation. Winegard and Antennacraft, as well as Antennas Direct have antennas that are practical and suit 98% of North American customers' needs.

Channel Master still has a lot of good old products like pre-amps, distribution amps, and splitters but I'm doubting whether they're really in the game anymore as far as any new product goes.

Besides that I have e-mailed customer service at times and have never gotten a response. With Winegard, one call into their company resulted in a call-back within minutes from a knowledgeable employee in the United States that knew about North American OTA issues and that was able to help me with all of my advanced questions instantly. Antennas Direct is good at getting back as well.

So far my search has been futile. I checked Channel Master and Save 'n R but no sign of a balun to replace the one on my father's 30 year old antenna. Similar to the 4228, he needs a balun that splits out to both antenna bays on either side. Any idea where this can be found? He tried Home Depot and did not find anything.

As a person that knows a bit about antennas and OTA, my impression is that Channel Master appears to be coasting.

Channel Master still has a lot of good old products...but I'm doubting whether they're really in the game anymore as far as any new product goes.

Besides that I have e-mailed customer service at times and have never gotten a response.

Generally speaking, an antenna and/or pre-amp are a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. The TV spectrum has shrunk, but it hasn't changed. I believe CM is now going after a more lucrative segment of the OTA market: DVR's and subscription-based EPG services and content via online.

And yes, CM's support is woefully inadequate; indeed, non-existent in many cases. It took a rant on Twitter for someone at the company to finally respond to me after 6 months of trying.

The problem wth their new, higher margin products, Channel Master DVR 7000dvr, and ATSC tuner cm7001, is that neither of them are as good as they should be.

The DVR has an out-dated chip set. There are many posts on his forum stating how people bought the DVR (a good DVR), but that the dvr tuner picks up far fewer channels than their TV.

The cm7001 is a complete clone of another external atsc tuner that is already for sale here for about $40 less. And you can't filter out the channels you don't want. That's a step back from their older Digital-2-Analog converter box.

If the ownership at Channel Master really wanted to provide excellent new product to customers in Canada and the USA, they would upgrade their chipsets.

In my opinion, Antennas Direct might be smart and innovative enough to see this opportunity and get a decent external atsc tuner out and a dvr. I'm not a big fan of their new partnership with TIVO. Most OTAers aren't interested in cancelling their cable subsrciption and then subscribing to a programming guide.

Channel Master has a new DVR coming, which, presumably, has a new chipset. Though my current CM7000Pal receives all of the stations that my Sony and other tuners receive.

There was a lot of buzz for the 7001 but it ended up beinga repackaged disappointment.

I hope this new DVR is really new.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=95820

Schmerpy is disappointed with how many of the bugs with the 7000PAL would probably be fixable with firmware updates but, alas, they never come.

Indeed, the current CM7000Pal firmware has bugs and is badly in need of an update. Rather than fix it, I believe CM just decided to build it's own DVR from the ground up (this new device), rather than pay fees to the owner of the CM7000Pal's code.

So far my search has been futile. I checked Channel Master and Save 'n R but no sign of a balun to replace the one on my father's 30 year old antenna. Similar to the 4228, he needs a balun that splits out to both antenna bays on either side. Any idea where this can be found? He tried Home Depot and did not find anything.
Can you provide a photo of the antenna??? Is it MISSING some parts???

Greetings, I have read a long ways back in this thread trying to find out if lengthening the dipole whiskers on a 4228 would lower the frequency range. I read that trimming the length would raise the frequency so I wondered if the reverse would be true. The only channels that are of interest to me are 18-44. If there is a way to narrow the frequency range to the lower uhf channels, would it also increase the gain? Thanks.

So far my search has been futile. I checked Channel Master and Save 'n R but no sign of a balun to replace the one on my father's 30 year old antenna. Similar to the 4228, he needs a balun that splits out to both antenna bays on either side. Any idea where this can be found? He tried Home Depot and did not find anything.

If there are bays on both sides, you might be better off putting a separate balun on each side (and the standard channel master outdoor baluns would be fine) and then a couple of feet of coax from each balun to a 2 way splitter to join them together.
There is discussion of this in a thread about 4228 hack in the antenna research and development subforum on this site.

I hope people realize when ordering the new CM7400 unit's they may experience lead time issues as one of the key components will be in short supply for a while .

http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/FLOODS1-2/Article/

In the Canada Spread Sheet, I count only 7 stations on Ch2, Ch4 & Ch6 (none on Ch3 or Ch5).

True, but don't forget that CIII-DT and CIII-DT-6 serve Canada's 4th (Ottawa) 10th (London) and 11th (Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo) metropolitan areas (2006 Census data). Quick back of the napkin calculation have 16% (probably an under estimate) of Canada's population within range of a VHF-LO DTV transmitter. Enough people IMHO to warrant a line of antennas for, but I also agree they should also have a line of antennas for 7-51.

This does NOT include the Low Power and Repeater stations

It also does not include full power stations in non-mandatory markets (only transmitters in specified markets were required to transition).

(fol. Ch2-6 list has many dupes):
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&chan=02&cha2=06&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=1&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9

While fine for American stations, I wouldn't rely on FCC data for Canadian stations. The FCC only lists the stations that required international co-ordination and only have the results of that negotiation (the actual parameters may be different). The following link is much better for Canadian stations: http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/canada_tv_stations/

Thanks for your thoughts - photo forthcoming (I'll have to send my 80 yr old father up his 50ft tower to grab a picture - bear with me!)

Thank you, Pauper. We will try this out and let you know how it goes. I will also grab a photo of the ageing antenna and post it in Holl-ands reply.

Hey Guys,


I'm having a problem with my 4221HD. I was wondering if someone had a problem with the integrated balun of the 4221HD?

I did not go on the roof yet but I don't think it's my coax.


Thanks,

Hi,
I search the forum for infos on this new antenna and I found nothing.

It seem there a older model with the same number but not the same antenna.

Does someone know about this one ? or wich UHF yagi antenna should I get ?

Thank

From Channel Master's website (http://www.channelmaster.com/Masterpiece_Antenna_Series_CM_3023_s/299.htm):

Receives channels 14 thru 69

Yet another Yagi that hasn't been optimized for the reduced (ch 14-51) UHF band. This sacrifices about 3dB of gain for those channels.

insider22, I recommend that you ask for antenna recommendations in the reception results thread specific to your location. And remember to post your TVFool report, and your preference for a 14-51 optimized antenna.

ok.

The only antenna for 14-51 I saw is from the company Digitenna, but the price is really high.

Antennas Direct has models redesigned for 14-51.