Went to Best-Buy and asked about a HD antenna to see if I could get more channels. I am getting Fox HD, ABC HD, NBC HD, UNC HD with no antenna what-so-ever. The guy told me that I am not getting HD at all, it may look good but it is not HD. I paused for a moment and disagreed, I was pretty sure he was wrong because the picture is as good as any HD picture I have seen. I promptly went to Ciruit City and they told me if I am picking up HD channels over the air then they are in HD and the guy at Best Buy didnt know shit. I was satisfied. Anyone picking up Discovery, TNT, or WB over the air?

10/16/2006 10:22:17 PM

they don't broadcast discovery, tnt, wb over the air - those are cable HD channels.
.... just like you can't get regular Discovery over the air. only the local network broadcast channels

10/16/2006 10:25:34 PM

uhh.. how are you able to pick up the UHF frequencies without an antenna?

digital signals over UHF are very picky, they either come through, or not.. You need a strong signal for your TV to decode them correctly. Without an antenna, unless you live at the transmitters, you will not get the strong signal.

If you are hooking it up to your cable, you may be picking up the clear-to-air channels, those that do not require a set-top box or a cable card for access/decryption.

Discovery and TNT can only be picked up over cable..

WB-HD.. now known as CW-HD can only be picked up OTA. I have an indoor antenna and can pick up the channel quite well up in the Creedmoor/Strickland rd area of NW Raleigh

10/16/2006 10:27:02 PM

OK, yea those channels were said by one of the two stores.....my tv says it is a 85% signal......and circuit city suggested it was a quam tuner? in my tv

10/16/2006 10:39:58 PM

your tv likely has both a QAM(cable) and an ATSC(OTA) tuner

10/16/2006 11:12:38 PM

so yea, no point in buying an antenna......I am getting what I will get

10/16/2006 11:19:54 PM

if you are hooking the tv up to a time Warner cable feed, and you're picking up Discovery, TNT, along with Fox, ABC, NBC, and UNC.. then yea you're getting every HD channel that is freely distributed over TWC, except for WB-HD(CW-HD) which isn't carried on TWC.. which unless you watch a show on that network may not need to receive..

if you seriously are picking up HD channels without attaching the tv to a cable feed from Time Warner or an atenna, then I see why Best Buy was confused.. because that is unheard of. If this is true, buying an antenna will greatly improve the quality of the reception. Your signal won't pixelate as much when the signal degrades to 20dB or lower, and you'll be able to pick up more channels.

[Edited on October 16, 2006 at 11:48 PM. Reason : ]

10/16/2006 11:44:29 PM

I am hooked up to TWC from the wall, but not getting TNT or Discovery. The picture doesnt really pixelate either...

[Edited on October 17, 2006 at 12:10 AM. Reason : .]

10/17/2006 12:09:14 AM

get CBS HD too

10/17/2006 12:17:28 AM

Q A M

10/17/2006 12:32:23 AM

Anyone know of a good, low cost HD antenna?

Or better, have one I can just buy?

_Matt

10/17/2006 12:38:17 AM

they have one for 10 at best buy
non amplified

10/17/2006 7:13:36 AM

if you live close to Garner, a non-amplified antenna will work.. otherwise I suggest at least a Terk HDTVa amplified antenna (triangle shape) for $40 at Radioshack, bestbuy, etc.

10/17/2006 9:18:09 AM

http://www.antennaweb.com

10/17/2006 9:24:46 AM

there's no such thing as an "HD Antenna"

10/17/2006 10:24:49 AM

Quote :

"Q A M"

10/17/2006 12:52:46 PM

WHO HAS DISH HD AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH IT??

10/17/2006 1:04:35 PM

Quote :

"there's no such thing as an "HD Antenna""

For terminology sake, there is.

10/17/2006 1:13:46 PM

I think I have heard that Time Warner has not found a way to block HD channels coming through.

So for example, you have just a Time Warner road runner cable connection. You can hook up that jack to the back of a TV with a built in HD tuner and you will be able to watch HD channels.

So basically there is no way to tell the difference between digital traffic destined for broadband versus digital traffic destined for HD.

Right?

10/17/2006 1:23:11 PM

frequency filter, it exists

10/17/2006 1:31:07 PM

Q A M

10/17/2006 2:45:01 PM

Quote :

"WHO HAS DISH HD AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH IT??"

10/17/2006 2:56:44 PM

see if you can pay to take over someone's voom account

10/17/2006 3:33:42 PM

I thought Voom didn't exist anymore.

10/17/2006 3:51:18 PM

or just buy a voom box off of ebay

10/17/2006 3:55:32 PM

i thought that the frequency filter only blocked analog cable... the digital cable boxes have a MAC address that are granted access to cable programing much like how cable modems are granted access to the internet via MAC... not certain, but pretty sure

regardless, someone tell me about dish HD!!!!!!.. tired of getting shafted by TWC in terms of HD selection.

10/17/2006 10:59:01 PM

too bad we cant have dishes....

10/17/2006 11:46:37 PM

I'm using a non-amplified antenna off of Western Blvd(a 10 foot long sucker, up on a 20 foot pole, pointed southeast). I get all the major networks at a 90%+ signal strength. PBS(WUNC) is the exception, since its channels are broadcast from the RTP area and its signal strength is still in the acceptible 80% range.

I almost threw that free antenna away last year. Glad I kept it, though I never dreamed I'd be using it again. Dish Network doesn't carry any of the over the air networks(CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, etc) in NC, but the dish dvr works nicely with an optional coax antenna. I can record 3 HD programs simultaneously(2 from the Dish, 1 from the air).

-----------------------------------------------------
About Dish Network HD...it's not cheap, but it works well. As I said, they don't carry the major networks at this time, but their basic HD channels are pretty slick. The 622 DVR reciever is basically why I went with Dish...the little thing is a marvel of Taiwanese virgin engineering. The new HD satellite is in a crazy place in the sky(almost due south), so you'll have to have an additional dish installed.

You can see the remnants of downconversion in their SD channels. I've read that Dish is better than Direct in this regard, so Direct SD channels must really look like shit.

[Edited on October 17, 2006 at 11:58 PM. Reason : more Dish info]

10/17/2006 11:50:14 PM

Why doesn't Time Warner due UPN and WB in HD (or whatever they are now)?

Also, why is it that on the past 2 episodes of Heroes on NBC, the broadcast for the last segment was in SD?

And why can't Sci Fi broadcast BSG and Stargate in HD, when they are filmed in HD and broadcast in HD on SkyOne?

10/17/2006 11:55:21 PM

^^ I get pretty good signal with a 10 gauge solid core copper loop probably 8 inch diameter.

I doubt a 10 foot pole is really needed. I live off western as well. PBS is a bitch, but who the fuck watchs PBS.

10/17/2006 11:58:36 PM

^Yea, the channels from the tower garden down in Garner come in great regardless, but I had this beast of an antenna sitting around and didn't have nearly enough points for lightning to strike on my house.

I watch PBS, bitch. I love watching some HD animals go batshit crazy on each other on nature programs. They also have like 4 other digital channels for the chilluns.

10/18/2006 12:03:17 AM

done lie, you watch "The Tube"

10/18/2006 12:06:57 AM

Those 80's rock videos are the shit.

How does that station make money, btw?

10/18/2006 12:14:09 AM

it's not called the public broadcasting network (pbs) for nuthin'

you know those donation drives they do all the time asking for your money while you watch marathons of good shows? ... ye-ap, some people send money! i know, i don't understand it either.

10/18/2006 12:17:21 AM

TheTube is channel 28.something, smartass. I don't think they're related.

10/18/2006 12:20:23 AM

hah, oh my bad, completely mis-connected the two posts

10/18/2006 12:22:37 AM

28.2 is the Tube and sometimes it's the best thing on, which can be cool and sad at the same time.

I live in Garner and I get every channel at full strength except for PBS which I don't get at all.

10/18/2006 1:04:33 AM

TWC not carrying CWHD is a contract dispute.. I'm sure Sinclair Broadcasting is to blame for this.

10/18/2006 7:49:47 AM

TWC nets you

Discovery HD - Ok cool for the first 2 weeks you own an hdtv
TNT HD - Besides NBA, everything is simply 4:3 stretched. Not a single person on here watchs or enjoys "the closer"

HBO HD - Might be worth having but the quality of the video varys. i swear powerdvd scale up on a htpc makes just as nice a picture
ESPN HD - MNF is all thats on it, unless you like more clarity in regards to stuart scotts lazy eye



Basically, there is no point in having TWC.

10/18/2006 8:21:39 AM

Quote :

"Why doesn't Time Warner due UPN and WB in HD (or whatever they are now)? Also, why is it that on the past 2 episodes of Heroes on NBC, the broadcast for the last segment was in SD? And why can't Sci Fi broadcast BSG and Stargate in HD, when they are filmed in HD and broadcast in HD on SkyOne?"

Both stations are owned by Sinclair, and Sinclair feels they should be paid for carriage of their digital signal. This is an issue across the country, many people are not able to receive their CBS, FOX, ABC, or NBC affiliates in HD because they are owned by Sinclair.

Heroes...its happened the past three weeks at least. Ive posted about it as well as a few others on AVSforum, and the chief engineer at NBC17 is aware, although he claims the problem is with Miami (supposedly a lot of their switching is done in Miami).

SciFi doesnt broadcast either in HD because its not an HD channel, but BSG is available on UniversalHD (295 on TWC).

Quote :

"if you are hooking the tv up to a time Warner cable feed, and you're picking up Discovery, TNT, along with Fox, ABC, NBC, and UNC"

TWC used to have Discovery and TNT as part of the unencrypted HD channels, but that changed a few months ago and both are encrypted now. Unfortunately even though youre paying for a channel, you are unable to view these as well as ESPN, HDNet, etc, via QAM.

Quote :

"I think I have heard that Time Warner has not found a way to block HD channels coming through."

Actually, I believe if you have a basic service (ie, just local channels), then those HD channels are part of it (being that they are local channels). TWC will tell you that you need digital cable to receive HD channels, but thats not true.

Im planning to switch to Dish in the near future myself (slightly cheaper, almost THREE TIMES as many HD channels), but Ill probably keep Roadrunner over moving to DSL so that Ill still have access to the QAM HD channel (might be the only way to receive/record early round NCAA tournament games in HD, for example).

10/18/2006 8:54:15 AM

I'm stuck with TWC now, prolly gonna switch to dish sometime soon after seeing that they have twice the HD channels for the same price

it's just hard to make the switch knowing that there's a 200 dollar investment involved for the HD DVR

10/18/2006 8:57:47 AM

You gotta pay to play.

10/18/2006 5:46:04 PM

Or you can steal and play for free.

10/18/2006 6:01:53 PM

Quote :

"ESPN HD - MNF is all thats on it, unless you like more clarity in regards to stuart scotts lazy eye"

uhh what?


in other news, NBC HD is HORRIBLE.. the sound half the time doesn't switch over between commericals and show and the picture is jumpy like all the time

10/18/2006 8:53:23 PM

the hd games more times than not are bigten / sec

nothing like watching miami / fsu in stunning high definition

10/18/2006 9:23:04 PM

I had a powered Philips HD antenna and a regular Terk antenna. The Terk was definitely better for me and I live about 15 miles out of Raleigh.

As far as the difference, without my HD receiver the antenna will still put out a great picture on my HD-ready TV, but there was a definite difference when my HD receiver was combined with the antenna. That may be what the Best Buy guy was talking about.

Quote :

"WHO HAS DISH HD AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH IT??"

I have DIRECTV, overall for the first few months it was great but after a while a few of the the HD channels would have trouble. It's about 10 bucks extra a month (I canceled), but I'm happy with what my antenna picks up for now. I may add it later since the programming seems to have picked up in quality.

10/19/2006 12:46:23 AM

i do ota hd in cary and i get all the channels but yes nbc has a noticeable delay, but i got to tell ya the baseball on FOX HD Is amazing!!

The HD Specific channels on cable or either sat. provider are lots of loops, like an 8 hour programming block. I don't watch a lot of tv, but movies on DVD so I am not getting cable or sat service.

10/19/2006 9:28:18 AM

Quote :

"TNT HD - Besides NBA, everything is simply 4:3 stretched. Not a single person on here watchs or enjoys "the closer" ESPN HD - MNF is all thats on it, unless you like more clarity in regards to stuart scotts lazy eye"

TNT: every NBA game, every Nextel Cup race, every Busch series race at NNC weekends, all TNT originals, ER, Law&Order, Alias, Without a Trace, and several movies. Stretched on Angel, Charmed, Judging Amy and The X-Files and the rest of the movies...which is annoying but hardly everything. My biggest gripe is no OAR.

ESPN: Sportscenter, Monday Night Football, ALL college football games, ALL MLB games, probably ALL NBA games, a good amount of college basketball, as well as a bunch of other assorted stuff...there was a time that ESPNHD didnt deserve its bandwidth, but that time has come and gone.

10/20/2006 3:40:30 PM

all the movies on TNTHD are in HD.
even after almost 2 years with an HDTV, I still amuse myself by switching back and forth between the regular TNT and TNTHD when a movie is on and basking in the HD glory.

I also use that as a demonstration for people who have never seen HD. Sometimes, people can see a picture on TNTHD and say "yeah... it looks pretty good. so what". then I flip to regular TNT and that's when they realize how crappy it normall is, then the HD really shines.
that, or just go to Sunrise Earth or some nature show on Discovery HD - those shows are stunning

10/20/2006 4:34:20 PM

I probably live less than a mile away from the huge towers in Garner and can't seem to pick up any HD OTA with my setup. It's just a normal $40 indoor antenna from Circuit City. I thought about taking it back because I already have Time Warner HD but I want The CW in HD dammit!

10/20/2006 9:53:28 PM