How to Get Over-the-Air HDTV

Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:43AM EST

See Comments (5)

I've been catching up on my magazine reads—yes, I still read magazines—and came across this recent Newsweek piece on the renewed sales boom and interest in old school TV antennas. Why? Because unbeknownst to many people, you can pick up HD broadcasts from your local network-affiliated stations with a simple set of rabbit ears, or the slightly newer-shapes such as the Terk HDTVi that I've been testing out for the past couple of months. In other words, HDTV broadcasts of shows such as 24, Heroes, or Today, not to mention basketball and other sports games, are completely free to you provided you have an ATSC tuner built-in to your HDTV (which pretty much all new HDTVs have).

In some communities, you really need the over-the-air option: St. Louis's Charter Communications cable service didn't offer the Super Bowl in HD, for example, so only viewers with antennas were able to get the local feed. And satellite providers such as DirecTV and Dish still don't offer local channels in some markets.

My own experiences with an over-the-air antenna I've attached to the HD Tivo Series 3 DVR I'm testing out have been mixed. I get my local ABC, CBS, Fox, and PBS stations no problem, but NBC is a stubborn holdout (sometimes I get reception if no one's home to interfere with the antenna). I find myself moving the thing around to unsightly locations on tabletops or shelves to get a clear, uninterrupted signal. (Unlike the old-school VHF and UHF broadcasts, which you could at least get in grainy, snowy versions if the reception wasn't quite up to snuff, over-the-air HD just goes dark in mid-episode if the reception is anything less than perfect.)

So yes, HDTV is free to anyone with the right equipment, and a nice supplement to a less-than-comprehensive cable or satellite service, but just make sure you've got a clear signal before you Tivo the HD version of 24 next time, or you'll be stuck buying the episode on iTunes.

Related links:

Over-the-Air HDTV Reception

HD-Ready, HD-Monitor, HDTV: What's the Difference? 

 

Top 5 Posts

Comments on How to Get Over-the-Air HDTV

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 1 Posted by a.patts on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    huh... cool... ill just stick with my HDTV... its not worth the hassle of all that moving around... its called "couch potato" for a reason...

  • 2 Posted by politicalhickory on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    We watched the Super Bowl in HDTV from a station over 50 miles away-across hilly terrain and living near an airport besides. We have a regular antenna(UHF/VHF)with signal boosters added on. Sometimes reception is good sometimes not. I'd rather watch it for free rather than support the cable/satellite ripoffs and people like Rupert Murdock. Once upon a time,they had said when cable started out that one could watch shows free of commercials since it was "paid TV". Seems like once upon a time we were told fairy tales. Last time we had cable was back in the 70s when for basic channels (bare basics)it cost 7.50 every other month. Look what they charge now for lots of channels with nothing on them...

  • 3 Posted by wellsoul2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    There is an indoor antenna from Radio Shack for $50 that eliminates having to move the antenna. It has a remote control and you set up each station for max signal. It works perfectly if you have strong HDTV signal and you can just sit and push a button to max the antenna signal. Looks like a saucer and all elements rotate inside. Don't buy the Terk unless you want to get up and fiddle with it when you change channels. (Maybe Terk has a remote one too..I dunno)

  • 5 Posted by dhpbear on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    I had the same problem with NBC out here (San Francisco). They're on Channel 11, which unlike the lower-numbered channels, is at a lower

More Posts: 1

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment

My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.

Also on Yahoo! Tech

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio
 

Site Map | Tour | Subscribe to Yahoo! Tech

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.