over-the-air HD antenna

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Moab
Don't all the over the air signals go dark in 2007 or so?

Only analog signals will be shut off, and it's 2009 (unless they push the date back yet again...)

 

[Shadowknight]

I read a very very very very complicated antenna FAQ that was linked to from fatwallet. Apparently, the whole "HDTV antenna" is a scam. An antenna is an antenna. The whole "HDTV/HDTV compatible" is just a marketing term to sucker you into spending more money. Just get a normal antenna. It'll do the same thing for a lot less.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I read a very very very very complicated antenna FAQ that was linked to from fatwallet. Apparently, the whole "HDTV antenna" is a scam. An antenna is an antenna. The whole "HDTV/HDTV compatible" is just a marketing term to sucker you into spending more money. Just get a normal antenna. It'll do the same thing for a lot less.

Yes, this is true. You just need to figure out whether your local HD channels are broadcast on VHF or UHF (or both), and buy a suitable antenna accordingly - it doesn't have to be advertised as an "HD" one at all.

 

[xtknight]

Any UHF antenna will work fine. The HDTV tuner contains a demodulator, all that does is demodulate data (usually from 8VSB) from a 6 MHz channel and turn it into a compressed MPEG-2 stream. I receive NBC HD with a rabbit ears antenna just fine, ghetto but it works fine. I did have this Yagi one but the damn thing is so big I can't mount it anywhere.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: radioouman
I bought my parents the Samsung SIR something or another for Christmas. It is a nice receiver, but doesn't have the ability to add channels manually. They like picking up the digital channels because of the additional programming.

I have an SIR-T451 and you can add channels manually with it.

 

[wyvrn]

I got the VU60 from Radioshack and it works perfectly. I get all the local channels in HD.