I purchased an HD monitor that did not include a tuner. I knew that the tuner wasn’t included (which knocks a few hundred bucks off the price), but I wasn’t concerned because I intended to get HDTV service from DirecTV. After all, they advertise their wonderful HD packages. Well, I shoulda read the fine print. It says that local HD channels are only available via a terrestrial antenna (which they would be happy to sell me). Great.
I live about forty-five miles from Austin. Regular TV signals are hard to get around here without a monster antenna. The local cable TV service gets the Austin broadcast stations via a terrestrial antenna and even their reception is abysmal. That is one reason we went to DirecTV. FM radio broadcasts are also difficult, though not impossible, to get out here. Oddly, my car radio picks up Austin and some Houston stations without difficulty, but my stereo system at home (using only a simple dipole antenna) can only get the local county stations and not the big-city broadcasts. My car radio even gets Austin stations while sitting in the garage at home, while the radios actually in the house cannot.
So, now that I have an HD monitor, I will need to purchase a tuner and antenna, either from DirecTV or somewhere else. However, before I further rack up the credit card bills, I’d like to be able to test to see if it would be a wise investment. How can I tell if I can even get Austin’s HD broadcasts? I have checked the TV station and networks’ websites and they don’t help much.
I live in a bit of a valley, but I have a rather tall, two-story house. The satellite dish is not at the very top of the house, but it is fairly high up and on the side of the house facing Austin. I would love to add something to that area, since I already have cable running in that direction. There is even electricity easily accessible from there, should an antenna need power.
Well, I suspect you can at least take comfort in knowing that you’ve got a very fine TV to watch DVDs on (assuming you’re using progressive scan and component video inputs)
Unless you put the HDTV antenna on a REALLY tall mast - tall enough to need a blinking red light to scare away airplanes - I suspect you’ll not get a good signal if the “regular” channels don’t come in well in your valley.
Can you at least get the normal versions of your local channels through the dish? If not, have a look at Dish Network as I get all my locals through their service, and I think the HD versions are available if I upgrade the receivers to HD.
Yes, we’re able to get the Austin local channels from DirecTV. The quality is very high – much, MUCH higher than the local cable company. However, the regular channels are not easily available over-the-air. Unfortunately, DirecTV, DishNetwork, and VOOM (gotta love the name) don’t offer HD broadcast channels via sattelite. Each of those services offer HD sattelite programing from other sources (HBOHD, DiscoverHD, HDNet, etc.), but no NBC, CBS, etc. That’s a real deal breaker.
I’m not being flip when I say this: “Rent or borrow a HDTV tuner.”
I don’t know the stores in your area, so I can’t suggest specifics. However, if you register at AVS Forum, you’ll find answers to all your HDTV questions, including the broadcast frequencies (e.g. UHF or VHF) and a few friendly enthusiasts and experts in your area (I know some specifically from Austin) who might just bring one over to take some measurements-- especially if you are willing to make a party of it. For the price of some beer and a nice dinner, you’ll get more advice than you knew you needed.
For a crude estimate, however, you can simply look up the frequencies (channel equivalents) and antenna locations for the Austin stations relative to your address. If there’s an HDTV channel on UHF26 on Tower X, and you get crystal clear reception of analog channel 28 from that same tower or tower hill, you’re probably in good shape. Just remember to compare VHF to VHF and UHF to UHF – most “VHF stations” transmit their HDTV equivalents at UHF frequencies [Don’t worry, current tuners handle all the messy details with little or no human intervention.]
You can also get similar info at AVSforum, as well as their current status and future plans, and reception reports from various specific user addresses (there’a lot more to HDTV than merely “available” or not; some stations, for example, broadcast up to four chanels of digital content at reduced resolution, etc.). You might start at this thread. It covers roughly the past year in Austin HDTV.
Anyone who has any interest in HDTV should read that forum. It’s probably the definitive source of practical experience and actual theory (vs. hand-waving] though, admittedly, it can be like drinking from a fire hose at first.
You could rent or borrow a spectrum analyzer, although you would need someone who was a technician or engineer to operate it and interpret the results.
From your description, it seems unlikely that you will be able to receive HDTV signals without a tower and large antenna. To make things worse, many HDTV stations are intentionally running their transmitters at low power levels to save on electricity bills.
You might try walking around your neighborhood and asking your neighbors if they know anyone who has a HD television and HDTV receiver.
A second recommendation for antennaweb . Just type in your address, and they’ll tell you what kind of antenna you’ll have to buy to pick up each of the stations, and they have it broken down by HD-regular def.
Remember that HD is a digital signal, so there’s really little variation in reception, it’s either on or off. IOW, on my current antennae I get very snowy standard definition reception, but HD is crystal clear.