Ok, So I got a cable box to use some of the new 'watch TV' features on my Xbox One.  And because my company TWC is starting to encode everything to even the most basic has to have a cable box.  So I get it, set it up, and bam! The picture is terrible, like an old VCR tape - and the format is all squishy.  Like when you go to a friends house and the alignment is all messed up and or it's too zoomed in and distorted.  So yuck - and this is going directly into my TV through HDMI, before I route it through the Xbox One.

So I'm thinking, this is crap. I no like.  This will not work.

So, Ok, I can get an Antennae and use that.  Broadcast from free TV.

But I thought I was going to lose the Xbox TV and Guide functions, but I don't need to.  The Xbox One will work with an Antennae and digital box!  I can still get all the guide uses too!  I am so very happy, I get to drop cable, and still get all the benefits of the guide.

Is anyone using their Xbox One off an Antennae?

Gonna hook up mine.

Nice idea right there.

Also, people have been sharing how to make great working TV Antennae for next to nothing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

Still you would need some kind of tuner box for the XBox One to control. But those can be tiny and inexpensive.

My issue with Xbone is that the guide button doesn't have the mini blades anymore. It was such an awesome feature and it makes no sense why they took it out. Being able to use ti contextually was awesome. Get an achievement? Hit the button, and bam, you're right there seeing what you got. Friend comes online? Hit the button, and you can send a message. Not to mention, you were always just one button away from being able to pretty much do ANYTHING on the system. It was great.

I can't believe MS took it out and Sony didn't copy it. It's just a step backwards.

Glad somebody else notices that analog tv is far superior to the digital crap SD you get. Unfortunately it has all been phased out here.

One of the main reasons for switching to digital television is the need for more spectrum, commonly referred to as frequencies or airwaves. Spectrum is used for wireless telephone services, emergency communications, etc.

Digital signals use less airwave space than analog signals. This means that the freed-up space can be used for other services that have a high demand for more space. Digital technology also provides better picture and sound.

Blatant lies. I now have an ugly digital box taped to my CRT tv, with a 2nd remote, and crap picture quality. Progress....
In busy scenes analog TV outdid digital HDTV broadcasts. When the strobe lights go off, HDTV turns into a 360p you tube video :/

Digital tech does provide a much superior picture than analog for TV's.   An analog 1080p signal, wouldn't look so great.

Sounds like you may have, what my cable company tried to give to me - a really crappy digital tuner.  The tuner in my TV is dramatically better, but they are phasing that out in favor of their new secure cable channels.  So my picture quality will dramatically suffer because of their unneeded security - Which is why I will probably drop them.

I am surprised you are still using a CRT.  They tend to produce much heat and consumer much electricity.  You might want to check it out that you could upgrade to a LED LCD TV and possibly pay for itself over the electricity savings.  Plus, I think you would enjoy the dramatically better picture.

I still have a ps2 hooked up to a CRT in the basement, that looks better on CRT (probably mostly nostalgia and smaller screen size)I never use it for TV, but taped the free digital tuner box to it anyway since analog signals are slowly discontinued. (and tv tuners become worthless, all secure now) The quality isn't any worse then the SD channels on the fancy digital tuner box already were on the HDTV, they are simply as bad now. Digital can provide a better picture, but the bandwidth spend on SD channels is laughable.

The analog channels are slowly disappearing though, most automatically switch to HD quality when you select the old analog tv station. So yes they look better on HDTV.  Ofcourse that quality is still debatable, HD streams vary between 6mbps (dvd quality) and 15mbps mpeg2. It will be better when they finally make the switch to h.265

I don't have cable at all.
so what do I need to be able to use the X1's guide and t.v. features?
I have an antennae hooked up to my 1080p tv, that's it. great picture. no cost.
would that set up work if I ran the antennae through the X1's input?

Only if you have an external tuner with HDMI out that connects to the tv. If the tuner is in the tv this won't do anything for you. You can't connect an antennae straight into the Xbox One, it has no tuner.
Otherwise you can overlay xbox one's tv guide over your digital tuner box signal and the XBox One can control your tuner box by flooding the room with infrared codes via Kinect. Just beware of the 50hz to 60hz judder if you live in Europe and you might have to recalibrate your TV as the Xbox One alters the picture.