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General discussion

Which Off the Air HDTV Receiver to buy?

Aug 29, 2005 3:00AM PDT

I have a Sony 36" HDTV (240 lbs. of glass and guts!) TV which has great picture. The HDTV part is useless though since I don't have any such signal to feed it. Want to get a set-top box such that all TV signals go through the box (basic cable, off-air antenna) and I only have one remote to change ALL channels (cable plus antenna). Also want to insure that the HDTV receiver has decent performance using my anteenas in the attic (probably weak signals - I'm 40-50 miles from both NYC and Philly). Local Circuit City carries the Motorola HDT101 and nothing else. Any suggestions? What has been your experience? THANKS!!!

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Which Off the Air HDTV Receiver to buy?
Aug 29, 2005 6:19AM PDT

This is a good question, but without a lot of answers.
There are very few HDTV OTA recivers. The reason is the FCC brodcast flag which required copy protection of the digital signal after it was recived. Good news this was thrown out by the courts in May of this year.
So we are just starting to see HDTVs with ATSC digital tuners in them.
The bad news is that the production set top boxes has not started to pickup, not a big demand as of yet. This leaves people like you who have a HDTV monitor no easy way to get the OTA HD braodcast.
Yes HD-OTA TV does require a strong signal!! to use your antennas you may have to gat a RF amp $30.
Suggestions!! Both Dishnetwork and Direct TV have HD braodcast. Cable has HD channels.
The Dish Network HD reciver also has a OTA HD reciver in it to pickup bradcast channels in addition to the satilite signal.
I have a ATI HDTV wonder in my PC gets great OTA HD.
Here is a link from amazon they have others also.
If I find any reviews on them I will repost. John

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00066XI7U/ref=pd_cps_e_3/103-4882612-4460631?v=glance&s=electronics

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PROBLEM SOL;VED
Sep 2, 2005 6:43AM PDT

I have the DISH 811 hi-def sat. system and its awsome. The only thing I had to buy was a d.v.i. cable to give me a stunning 1080 picture, They gave me the system installed for $49.00, then gave me $49.00 back on my billing. I have basic=hi-def package+ VOOM for $45.00 per month and With a cheap outside antenna I receive 19 local channels in digital 9 of which are in hi-def Also I live about 70 miles from San Francisco, Also the 811 has audio optical output for your 5.1 sound system If you email me I will give you a gift number so if you call give dish that number and you will get extra goodies and I will get $5.00 off my bill for a year great deal in closing now Iam in hi-def heaven with 21 hi-def channels good luck stewart norrie cadillacstew@aol.com

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Bought an LG LST-3510A DTV receiver + DVD combo
Sep 9, 2005 2:03PM PDT

I Bought an LG LST-3510A DTV receiver + DVD combo for about $247 at local Best Buy (they were getting rid of them I think - price was reduced from $399). I also bought at ''open box'' DVI cable for $35 to hook up to the digital input to my Sony HDTV ready 36" 4:3 glass TV. With an attic antenna I got about 23 Digital TV channels of which 5-7 are HD most of the time (some duplicates... e.g. PBS). I think some of the material broadcast as HD is really recorded at SD by CBS, NBC, ABC and especially FOX HD channles because there's a noticeable difference in some shows. I believe the tuner in this thing is just excellent... really pulls the channels in. The DVD part of this receiver upconverts DVDs and they do look better (some much better) than the same DVD on my Sony DVD player. Having a combo unit like this keeps the cabling pretty simple to the TV. The only issue with this setup is that the LG receiver will NOT receive analog channels - it just picks up & outputs digital channels. But overall, not a bad setup -- I have limited basic cable ($15/month) and free broadcast DTV with a half dozen channels in HD.