Gifting someone with an HDTV? Don't forget the HD service!
[Image courtesy of Crutchfield]
[Image courtesy of Crutchfield]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SimbaDogg @ Dec 20th 2007 4:35AM
why give the person the HD service...or even think about it, that would be the equivalent of buying someone the toy and giving them the batteries to go with. Always, batteries not included
mike @ Dec 20th 2007 4:50AM
its not up to the gift giver to give the service. Thats like buying some1 a car and then saying its up to you to also provide them with a years supply of gasoline.
Besides, im perfectly happy with my hdtv and no hd service. hd-dvd/blu-ray + video games is enough for me.
DeadPlasmaCell @ Dec 20th 2007 4:56AM
My friend has a new HDTV but no service, he bought one of those $20 over the air HD-Antennas and it turned out pretty good.. he can get most of his local channels in HD and they don't look half bad.
Porfirio Reyes @ Dec 20th 2007 5:17AM
If your within range an have an ITA HD antenna, the quality will be better than that of HD service with your cable co. The HD tuners in those boxes usually are not as good as the internal tuners on HDTVs.
Analog Joe @ Dec 20th 2007 6:48AM
W.r.t. over-the-air HDTV (I literally know nothing about the specs and the following may demonstrate that well!...) I was under the impression that HDTV was =digital= thus, IF you could get a signal at all, that signal was essentially "perfect" since it was digitally-encoded with all sorts of error-correction built-in.
That is to say, of COURSE "over-the-air" is as good as cable as long as you've got it.
Or should I just go away quietly?
Kumar @ Dec 20th 2007 11:32AM
You're right about the digital part of the broadcast, but there's discussion about which signal is compressed more, OTA or cable/satellite. Most say the OTA is compressed less, but that's the part that's up for debate, though we know directv has issues sometimes compressing its regular channels, not to mention the hd channels.
On the same line, it's hilarious/sad, that MOST people with hdtv's have no idea a $10 antenna can get them free OTA local digital channels, usually with their favorite programs in HD.
andy @ Dec 20th 2007 11:53AM
the only problem with OTA antennas is that they're not all created equal. The little set top ones just don't cut the mustard for a lot of people.
What does that mean? You end up with digital break up when the wind blows: pixelation, movement breakup, macro blocking, or even dropped signal.
I'm about 20-25 miles from my stations and I needed to step it up. I got an old school 80" boom vhf/uhf antenna from radio shack, and now it's rock solid. The 4 bay terrestrial digital antennas are even better, and since you're not amplifying the crap out of everything with these larger antennas; just receiving what's there, you don't end up being so susceptible to noise.
That said, you can't beat OTA and a TIVO S3.
miltondorkenhoff @ Dec 20th 2007 9:52AM
Cable companies are required by law to rebroadcast any local HD stations. If you've got an HDTV and cable, you should get locally broadcast HD stations.