Antennaweb.org Now Available as an App for LG Smart Television Sets

The antennaweb.org website and antenna selection tool, co-sponsored by NAB and CEA, has been available to consumers for a number of years to help consumers maximize over-the-air reception of television signals. The website and underlying algorithms were developed and are maintained by Titan TV (the parent company of TitanTV is Broadcast Interactive Media or BIM). Previously available only via an Internet-connected computer or tablet, a cooperative effort between BIM, LG, CEA and NAB has now made the essential functionality of antennaweb.org available as a free app on LG’s line of Smart Televisions. With just their “connected” LG Smart TV and its remote, consumers can educate themselves about the appropriate antenna to use at their home for reliable reception of broadcast TV signals, without needing access to a computer, tablet or smartphone. The app is available in the LG Smart World App Store under the News/Information category (and at least for now also in the Top Free, NEW and the HOT categories). Below is a description of some of the app’s features.

After downloading the free app, it is available to a viewer simply by pushing the My Apps button on the LG remote and navigating horizontally to the app icon. Clicking once on the app launches it, and the viewer can then access the Location Information screen, which is shown below filled out with the address for NAB in Washington, DC as an example:

The map shows the direction and location of each local broadcast station and the color coding on the left identifies the type of outdoor antenna needed to access the various local stations. The antenna color coding corresponds to gain and directivity of antenna patterns according to the descriptions found under the Antenna Info tab on the app and at antennaweb.org/Info/antennaInfo.

Actual RF channel and virtual PSIP channel information are also identified on the station list.

In addition, selecting one of the stations on the list brings up a screen that shows the current and next programs on that channel and its associated multicast channels. For example, selecting WJLA-DT in the screen above produced the following:

The Help section provides useful consumer information about antenna installation guidelines, types of antennas, and more. LG Smart TV viewers can also provide feedback to the developer about the app, rate it and/or “Like” it on Facebook.

The just released 2013 BEC Proceedings feature select technical papers on the most recent developments in broadcast technology. Important topics covered include: IP for Television and Radio, Next Generation Television Broadcasting, Audience Measurement Technologies and AM Band Revitalization. Learn More and Purchase here.

The July 1, 2013 TV TechCheck is also available in an Adobe Acrobat file. Please click here to read the Adobe Acrobat version of TV TechCheck.