Using Antennas With Your HDTV?

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Apparently people are buying antennas, the type used for decades on older TVs, for use on new HDTVs. This could be particularly handy for those of you that spent all your money on a HDTV and didn’t have anything left over for HD cable.

Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies. And the best part? Over-the-air HD is free. "Eighty-year-old technology is being redesigned and rejiggered to deliver the best picture quality."
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Steve said:
This could be particularly handy for those of you that spent all your money on a HDTV and didn’t have anything left over for HD cable.
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Heh. Yep. Mom bought dad a big Sony LCD with a built-in antenna for the digital broadcasts. Dad still hasn't budged with getting an HD cable box though.
 
I found HD cable to be all hype and little HD. Most I have found are not broadcast in HD. You get Bars on the side at 1080i (Not HD Cameras). Only NBC News at 5:30 (national News) even has a HD Camera on the Set. All field cameras are not HD!!

Yes everything is upgraded to 480i and will fill the screen. But that is free.

I have Comcast. Just got the box last month. HD without programming is waste of money, but now it's Free (12 Months at least). After that I will not continue ($5.00 a month). Why if they don't have HD Cameras?

The True HD Cameras (See NBC National News) cost plenty of Big Bucks.

Only other show shot in HD that gets watched (Wife) is some Soap show at 11am. (It gets recorded on the DVR).


DM
 
I was suckered into buying an indoor powered special HD antenna when I figured out not too long ago that the regular TV antennas work fine. I wanna find that guy at BB and tear him a new one. :mad:

It sucks that nobody in the industry or consumers for that matter, have said that regular antennas pick up local HD channels.
 
Umm, this is nothing new. I've been using an antenna with my HTPC to pick up HD for over two years. It's an indoor type with a dish for UHF and rabbit ears for VHF, just like the old days. OTA HD is broadcast in UHF/VHF in case you didn't know. I would refer folks to www.antennaweb.org but looks like it's down for some reason.
 
When my parents got there HDTV a while back, 65" Projection, HD cable was non existent or really expensive so for the time being an off air antenna was the easiest cheapest way to receive local HD channels. We went through a couple of cheap RadioShack UHF antennas before getting a 3' Terk boom type antenna that went on top of the house. It worked great and we were able to get about 5 local stations in HD. However they now use Cox for the HD channels as there are now non local channels that are worth getting.
 
*YAWN*....

Been doing this for 6 years. When my friends come over and watch HDTV at my house, they are amazed why my picture is so much better than theirs on the local channels. I try to tell them that my $50 antenna is why. They don't believe me. :confused:

Oh well.. they can stick with their over compressed DirectTV, DISHNET or Comcast. Too bad you can't get some of the national channels or Showtime/HBO OTA. The difference is amazing.
 
OTA sux in my area. :( I'm within 30 miles of Detroit too. Horrible picture quality. I just have to go with a HDTV cable box.
 
Dataman said:
I found HD cable to be all hype and little HD. Most I have found are not broadcast in HD. You get Bars on the side at 1080i (Not HD Cameras). Only NBC News at 5:30 (national News) even has a HD Camera on the Set. All field cameras are not HD!!

Yes everything is upgraded to 480i and will fill the screen. But that is free.

I have Comcast. Just got the box last month. HD without programming is waste of money, but now it's Free (12 Months at least). After that I will not continue ($5.00 a month). Why if they don't have HD Cameras?

The True HD Cameras (See NBC National News) cost plenty of Big Bucks.

Only other show shot in HD that gets watched (Wife) is some Soap show at 11am. (It gets recorded on the DVR).


DM
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..theres quite a difference in what you apparently watch and what everyone else is watching. Everything I watch in prime time is in HD.
 
It depends where you live. Its the same way in my area. Not one news organization in the Detroit area does HD news broadcasts. WDIV channel 4 is upscaled and stretched.. it looks horrible. The only news broadcast I get in true HD is Fox News Sunday for about 3 hours. Most local news organizations, especially in the Detroit area just don't have enough money to upgrade equipment. It costs millions to redo a studio to support all high definition broadcasts.
 
w1retap said:
It depends where you live. Its the same way in my area. Not one news organization in the Detroit area does HD news broadcasts. WDIV channel 4 is upscaled and stretched.. it looks horrible. The only news broadcast I get in true HD is Fox News Sunday for about 3 hours. Most local news organizations, especially in the Detroit area just don't have enough money to upgrade equipment. It costs millions to redo a studio to support all high definition broadcasts.
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I personally don't understand the interest people have in HD News. HD entertainment is wonderful, but seeing the genalized news horror of the day somehow isn't appealing.
 
I agree that news is shit.. but if you have an HDTV, you want everything in HD, or at least I'd hope so.
 
The real trick with this is that HDTV availability and reception is really market dependent. Many people that live in large cities can get a fair amount of HDTV programming already without having to get a monster antenna. For some markets about the only HDTV available is PBS (because the government has forced a faster switchover for them since they get some government funds).

My parents live in a town of about 25,000 and have some difficult decisions to make. Right now they get 4 OTA analog broadcasts, two of which are now available in HD (one of them being PBS). The problem is that the stations are all in different directions, with one of them being about 50 miles away. Their attic mounted antenna probably isn't going to cut it anymore. If they point a large, outdoor, directional antenna at the far station they could get it, but it would probably hose the reception to the other stations that are closer but at about a 90° angle to the antenna. For 30+ years they've had a large antenna mounted in their attic that's been ok for analog broadcasts (with two stations being snowy), but the indoor mounting results in some signal loss that may result in no reception in the digital age as opposed to snow in the analog age. Part of the reason for the indoor mounting is the severe thunderstorms they can get in their area.

Everything put in the balance they are left with the choices of:
1) get an outdoor mounted antenna with a rotating motor in order to point the antenna directly at the stations, which will probably run them $120 or so for the combination, not to mention the wiring job needed for the rotator. The antenna will probably take a beating from the weather AND they will still only have 4 stations max.

2) Go dish or cable. They will get more stations this way, but will have paid enough in fees to pay off the outdoor antenna within a year. They've never been real excited about paying for TV.

They are very undecided at this point. Considering they have a 1986 25" Curtis Mathis as their main TV, they aren't the type that exactly gets caught in upgrade fever.
 
DesertCat: The magnitude of your parents' problem will only be truly evident once analog stops and DTV moves down the dial to VHF. If they were getting VHF NTSC stations fine before then, with a DTV receiver of some sort, they'll probably get the VHF digital stations just fine, too (maybe even better).

So, unless the stations in the area have announced that they will be staying on UHF after the analog cutoff, there's no need to start worrying early.
 
FIOS HD channels are fine, Redsox and Patriots are in HD, all primetime shows and HBO along with discovery channel and others. That HDnet is cool too.

I grabbed the HD Bladerunner on the DVR, was fantastic. Guess they guessed wrong about LA being wet, dark and full of orientals.... they missed the whole Mexican thing in 1978 :eek: :p :D
 
Using a "Silver Sensor" type antenna to pick up the local OTA HD broadcasts on my TV with a buil-in HD tuner. CSI on Thursdays looks incredible in HD and in 5.1! Don't see any pixelation or macroblocking of any kind. Gotta love free! :)
 
Been receiving HDTV OTA for 4 years here! Local cable HDTV sucks and you pay a premium for the box then even more for each channel. OTA has much better look and sound.
Being right next to WV I am hoping that FTA satalite picks up with more HDTV too. Mountainous areas don't do Terrestrial broadcasts well. England just setup a FTA satalite, wish we had more.
 
I put a 6' antenna in my attic in 2001 for HD channels.

This was back before all locals broadcast HD so I needed VHF reception also. Dish's HD is actually very comparable to broadcast. Comcast HD looks like ass.
 
My sister laughed at my cheap-o rabbit ears antenna that I use for OTA HDTV. It works good.
 
HD tv programming is free, over the air, for free. There's nothing stupid or silly about it. If you're just finding out, sorry it took you so long. But free HD tv programming has been around for years.

Welcome to 5 years ago, for free and at the same quality as $80 HD Cable.
 
provoko said:
Welcome to 5 years ago, for free and at the same quality as $80 HD Cable.
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Actually, you're wrong... OTA HD is _higher_ quality than HD Cable. HD Cable gets compressed... leaving you with macro-blocking. It's even worse from the satellite companies.

OTA HD is usually much higher quality. It does depend on your market though, in some markets even OTA HD is compressed (usually because they are broadcasting "sub-channels" on the same channel... like live radar views and things), but the compression is usually still less than you'll get on cable/satellite.

This from someone who subscribes to HD Cable... I don't feel like buying an HD Tivo... so the best way to get an HD DVR is from the cable company...

Friedmud

PS - I don't even have an HDTV (yet). Note that HD broadcasts still look incredible hooked up through component to an SDTV. I recommend that anyone out there with a halfway decent SDTV get HD cable (or an HD tuner for OTA HD)... especially if you have a good sounds system (the dolby digital that goes along with most HD broadcasts is a huge bonus). I will have an HDTV soon though...
 
I really hated having to install an overpriced off air antenna when I was installing dishnetwork. Sure, the sales lady made a commission selling the pos, and the company got a check from Dish.....but did I get a single red cent for the 1-3 extra hours it took to mount, align and run an extra wire to god knows where to support the damn thing?!

I eventually bought and kept a couple $15 radio shack set top units in my truck and sold them for $30 instead of the $125+ that the office charged. Usually got a good tip too for saving the customer $100.
 
And don't bother with those wrap around hd antenna's that clip on to your dish. They are just junk.
 
We got a decent deal on a terk (sp?) when we got the hd directv setup, no complaints there. It did take me a while to catch on to all the macroblocking, makes me mad. Supposedly directv is launching new birds to deal with this (as well as mpeg4, :rolleyes: ) so I guess it won't be a problem for that long.

Even compressed, Blade Runner was fan-freakin-tastic in HD. OAR helped that a little bit, I suppose.
 
OTA HDTV is the highest quality broadcast hdtv out there...
Go here to find distance from broadcast location and antenna type requiered http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx


I recently bought:

http://www.summitsource.com/winegar...-aerial-12-vdc-75-ohm-part-hdp269-p-5577.html

http://www.summitsource.com/winegar...-zone-part-hd7082-with-coax-cable-p-4563.html

to replace

PICT0193(Medium).JPG


I'm hoping it works out killer... if not ARGH
 
provoko said:
HD tv programming is free, over the air, for free. There's nothing stupid or silly about it. If you're just finding out, sorry it took you so long. But free HD tv programming has been around for years.

Welcome to 5 years ago, for free and at the same quality as $80 HD Cable.
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Wow couldnt have said it any better myself !

If you are looking for a good OTA antenna look into Channel Master and you might want to also pick up a pre-amp .

Go here http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx to see what HD channels are in your area .
 
Surprised it took this long for people to take notice...
 
Word. I bought my SIR-T150 in early 2002 for $125AR and a Panasonic HDTV. Channel selection is pretty decent OTA. I get 18 different DTV channels, several of them with multiple streams.

Cool Hand Luke: That antennaweb page is badly wrong for my area (N Los Angeles County). http://www.titantv.com shows all the channels I receive and has a handy program grid.
 
Yeah, I use a 10 year old indoor antenna for all my HDTV programming. I actually watch a lot more PBS HD than most everything else, although House in HD is really nice.
 
I have a TV antenna on my roof from 1972 that I am using for OTA...

when i was doing research into it, everyone was telling me it wouldnt work, that i needed a new one that could pick up special frequencies, blah blah blah.

I tried it, works fine. it even has one of those motorized rotating things that STILL works.
 
KaosDG said:
I have a TV antenna on my roof from 1972 that I am using for OTA...

when i was doing research into it, everyone was telling me it wouldnt work, that i needed a new one that could pick up special frequencies, blah blah blah.

I tried it, works fine. it even has one of those motorized rotating things that STILL works.
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Whoever was telling you it wouldn't work had no idea what they were talking about!

The Frequencies OTA is broadcasted on are the same as 80 years ago
 
lessthanjakejohn said:
Whoever was telling you it wouldn't work had no idea what they were talking about!

The Frequencies OTA is broadcasted on are the same as 80 years ago
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avsforum :/

about the only money I spent to get OTA was replacing the coax form the antenna to my living room. and the roof tar, and a few panes of glass...
 
been using a Channel Master 4228 and 4248 combined to pull in HD from Seattle, over 30 miles away, for 4 years now.

When I started the Comcast/cable selection was sparse and didnt even have all the channels I could get on antenna. Now that they provide more stations itsa reasonable upgrade.
 
Reception is more art than science.
Many stations broadcast HD in UHF and your old TV antenna is probably geared toward VHF and would be less efficient at capturing those higher frequencies. UHF is much more 'directional' and needs 'line of sight', doesn't bounce around hills and buildings or penetrate trees and houses such as well as VHF. Then also the broadcasting station will have a dispersion footprint, they aim the greatest power toward the greatest populations.
 
I've heard of this before, but never knew that a regular old antenna worked for HD. I don't have an HD tv, but I'd like to get HD channels on my 24"computer monitor and do away with my cable company, which card do you reccommend? And do all channels listed as digital at antennaweb broadcast in HD?
 
Use the link i posted at titantv.com instead. The antennaweb site is very incomplete.
 
Anyone have a list of areas (or stations) that you can get HD with OTA? I looked at my local stations, but their websites are less than great.....


Keep on Folding!! For the [H]orde!!

 
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