[rbrown3rd]

I know this has been discussed somewhere on the forum but I didn't find it in my cursory search. I am running the configuration as shown in my sig below. I now have a Samsung DLP TV since my old Sony CRT died. I toyed with the idea of taking a look at HDTV and compared the cost of buying a cheap HD Receiver as opposed to subscribing to HD from DirecTV and came to the conclusion that is would be much simpler to just add a cheap receiver into my system since I seem to have many local channels broadcasting in HD. Have I missed something here?

 

[DeDondeEs]

Most new HD-TV's have an HD tuner built in already. Go to antennaweb.org to see what type of antenna you need. Or you could also just try a set of old rabbit ears at first (West Palm Beach is pretty flat right?) , and hook it into the "Ant" input at the back of your TV. Then on your TV's menu select the Antenna Input option (ATSC) if you have a choice, then find the autoprogram feature on your tv and see what it picks up. Although you won't be able to Tivo any of the antennas received over the air in HD.

 

[newsposter]

hope this helps if I understand your goals right:

If you can get locals over the air with an antenna, and aren't worried about recording, then just "any old" receiver is fine. However as of this date, the only integrated directv and HD recorder is the HDtivo.

The only HD that you can pay for with directv is for their package that gets ,i think, maybe 6 channels like espn and some movie stuff. Exact ones are on their site if you care. 11 bucks a month. You get hbo and showtime HD at no extra charge if you sub to them.

If you are in a market that does/will get the HD locals soon, you can get a new dish and receiver from directv but the new DVR wont be out for a few more months.

hope some of this helps.

 

[rbrown3rd]

Yes, you understand correctly. Just a cheap way to see what HD looks like on my tv. No, it is a low end Samsung DLP and I do not think it has a tuner built in although I will check to be sure. Thanks all for your replies.

 

[hokiepolk]

We found an Accurian OTA receiver at Radio Shack for $79, paired it with a Terk powered amplifier and get free OTA HDTV signals. Free programming is free programming, and it works just fine for us. Check out the local hdtv discussion at AVS forums for your area, where you can receive more specific help in what will work for your particular area.

 

[newsposter]

www.antennaweb.org

to see how far the towers are from you. Depending on line of sight, you may be able to buy just an indoor antenna. I can't help you with receivers but AVS knows a lot more.