Over-the-air HD?

[develvjd-]

Anybody have antenna instead of cable or satellite? I'm only 7 miles from the HD broadcast(s) in Indy and thinking of trying it out...

[Quads]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/762088/coat_hanger_hdtv_antenna_better_than_store_bought_ amazing/

[SVTF]

Anyone ever done this?

It work to your satisfaction?

[pie taster]

[

when i first got my high def tv.. i used it (NOTE: Just watched the video above.. i did not make my own, but bought it. ). It worked fine... Direct TV was charging a shit load to get high-def local channels at the time.

Just a couple of things. You need to make sure you have an HD Tuner that is capable of receiving this.

Also, if you are using an antenna, my understanding is that the HD signals come over UHF, not VHF.

When I first did it, i bought a huge antenna from Radio Shack, stuck it in my attic. It didn't work very well.. did some research and bought a UHF antenna and it worked much better.

Since I got Fios, though, i went with the hi-def package and no longer do over the air.

[Charlutz]

I've done it. Before directv had the local HD channels on satellite, I had to hook up an antenna to get them. Used a $6 set of 20 year old rabbit ears for a while. Then got a Zenith Silver Sensor ($20) and a Radio Shack double bowtie ($20). They all worked real well. I still use them to pick up the extra local HD channels for weather and such. Once you lock in the signal, they look just as perfect as HD from any other source.

[develvjd-]

Just bought a $20 RCA antenna from Best Buy to try this out...

HOLY SHIT. The picture quality is amazing, slightly better than even cable HD, apparently due to the compression in the cable signal. I had no idea over-the-air signals could look this good.

[CRAW]

Anybody have antenna instead of cable or satellite? I'm only 7 miles from the HD broadcast(s) in Indy and thinking of trying it out...

How does one find out how far they are away from the broadcasts? Did you just happen to find out? I thought maybe there is a website or something. :confused:

[Shadow]

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

[vtpoker]

Use a set of $5 rabbit ears for our bedroom TV. We are only about two to five miles (New York City) from the signal. Reception is amazing. We have about 30 channels now without cable just using the rabbit ears.

[bobr99]

Also for those that haven't tried it. You might be able to get all the local HD channels if you just take the cable line straight from the wall to the TV. If you didn't want to spend the extra $ for the HD box or for a second TV that you don't want another box for.

At least I can do it here in Cincinnati with Time Warner Cable. A buddy of mine that lives in West Virginia says he can't do it. So it might just be a local thing.

I don't think it will work with satellite cable.

Bob

[huge1s]

On my HDTV in the basement...i go straight from the wall and get the local channels. I used to get a few others like ESPN, ESPN2, History and Discovery in HD...but Comcast nixed that and only provide the local channels in HD (which I think they are required by law to do). Of course they don't publish the "free" local channels so you have to go hunting for them. They also do a good job of changing the channel numbers every few months....so you have to find them again. That is a pain in the ass because I have to have my TV scan, then go through every single channel again.

By the way...I HATE Comcast. They keep taking channels away and charging me more. The only reason I keep Comcast is because they offer local HD and my wife can use the DVR for those channels. If i took away her ability to DVR the local channels.....well....I am not sure if she would torture/kill me or just kill me. The only positive I can say about comcast is their on-demand...which is awesome for loading up kids cartoons when they are screaming for em.