Free HDTV programing?

T

ThePoliceAreOutside

CAG Veteran
Hello everyone!

I just purchased a new Samsung 37" HDTV and I've heard that it's possible to receive free HD channels with a special box? I was curious as to whether any of the CAG's know anything about this?
 
Depending on where you live and what kind of TV you have, you may be able to get HD broadcasts over the air. One of my TV's has the tuner built in, all you need is an antenna. The other one doesn't and I need to input the cable box.

If you have cable (again, depending on where you live), some HD content is free. We get a bunch of channels for free, but the HD box is a little higher fee every month. For $5/month, we get the HD tier, which includes most of the HD channels that we like to watch (notably missing Syfy).

Other than that, I'm not aware of any other "special box" that will help you out.

TBW
 
I got rid of cable a year ago and just do over the air with an antenna. Bought a stronger antenna to avoid any reception issues, but after the digital switchover those went away (but I also live in between two large cities). A lot of channels have "sub channels" too that you wouldn't get if you had cable. Depending on how your local station broadcasts there is sometimes a better picture quality over the air since they don't have to compress like cable does. I haven't missed cable since doing this except for during really bad storms when I seem to lose picture quality.
 
[quote name='ThePoliceAreOutside']Hello everyone!

I just purchased a new Samsung 37" HDTV and I've heard that it's possible to receive free HD channels with a special box? I was curious as to whether any of the CAG's know anything about this?[/QUOTE]

One would think with a new HDTV, it should be able to recieve HD over the air signals without a special box (likely they mean a DTV converter box), assuming your area has HD over the air broadcasts....That wasn't necessarily the case for TVs bought 2 or 3 years ago, but for something nowadays, it should be built into the unit. In my area, not all stations broadcast in HD, but the major network stations do.
 
If you are wondering how to aim your antenna, go to antennaweb.org and enter your zip code. This will pull up all the channels in your area. If you have a 360 and HDTV tuner card on your computer you can use your computer as a DVR to record and the quality is great. PM me if you need any help with anything, I'll be glad to help. As a true cheap gamer, I also do not pay for cable and love it. The quality of OTA was even better than the compressed signal I was getting from Cox, our local cable company.
 
[quote name='darkcrawlspace']I was actually thinking about picking up this HDTV indoor antenna from Monoprice:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10901&cs_id=1090101&p_id=4729&seq=1&format=2

Anyone have any experiences with these kind of antenna's? I'm not sure how many channels it'll actually pick up, or what the picture quality will be like.[/QUOTE]

Haven't used that one, but use an RCA flat antenna (has an amplifier too) and it works perfect. Was about $40, so definitely more money. Amaazon had the non-amplified version for like $25-30.
 
Antennas are a tricky, tricky business. I annoyed the hell out of my local BB by doing the antenna merry-go-round (I went through 4-5 different ones-- starting with more expensive ones assuming they'd work better). I picked up a non-amplified flat one and it worked horribly-- only got a couple stations. I ended up with an open box rabbit ear with adjustment knob for $10 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...tenna&lp=7&type=product&cp=2&id=1051806247493). It's not perfect but the adjustments really help. Every amplified antenna I tried was a waste of money-- they either didn't work any better at all, or were such miniscule improvements that it wasn't worth losing a wall plug (and spending money on electricity) to power them.

Outdoor antennas work the best by a mile, indoor ones are kinda iffy. Make sure you get a UHF/VHF antenna-- older "HDTV" antennas were just UHF and now that the digital TV switchover happened, a lot of stations are back on VHF. And since it's all digital now, you either get the station or you don't, so picture quality isn't an issue, signal strength is. Most (all?) digital tuners seem to have a signal strength indicator somewhere so learn where it is on your TV and use it.. I like to get at least 60% readings to know I'm getting a fairly stable signal, although with a good antenna you can get 90-100% pretty easily.

I live in the LA area so we have lots of channels that come in pretty strong.. depending on where you live, the direction your antenna faces, etc, YMMV. You might want to buy at a local store so you can test them easier than having to return things to an online store.
 
I built a coat hanger antenna and it actually works pretty good in my ground floor apartment except for picking up CBS which is really detrimental to the AFC football fan in me. I think I'll try the monoprice one even though I'm not crazy about finding a plug for the amp, but the coat hanger one is worth a shot if you have the materials and time.

Truth be told, in the western cleveland suburbs at least, I get a ton of compliments on the reception and my TV but I know for damn sure that people with better TVs get worse picture quality on HD channels from their cable box from Time Warner. Its definitely worth a try to get an antenna if you're going to be watching a lot of shows that are broadcast OTA.
 
It's like Uncompressed PCM sound on a Blu-Ray vs. a Dolby Digital track... no matter how good the compression is, uncompressed is still better. And cable companies usually don't have the best compression. This is becoming worse IMO too as they feel the need to keep adding more HD channels to compete with satellite. My HTPC recently stopped working (just in time for fall premieres) but I was using it with Windows Media Center as a DVR in HD which is just plain awesome since it's free (with the exception of needing a good size hard drive). Top that with using Hulu and NetFlix Instant on my TV through it, and who needs cable.
 
[quote name='QiG']I built a coat hanger antenna and it actually works pretty good in my ground floor apartment except for picking up CBS which is really detrimental to the AFC football fan in me. I think I'll try the monoprice one even though I'm not crazy about finding a plug for the amp, but the coat hanger one is worth a shot if you have the materials and time.

Truth be told, in the western cleveland suburbs at least, I get a ton of compliments on the reception and my TV but I know for damn sure that people with better TVs get worse picture quality on HD channels from their cable box from Time Warner. Its definitely worth a try to get an antenna if you're going to be watching a lot of shows that are broadcast OTA.[/QUOTE]

QFT. I use a coat hanger antenna it is 100x better than any antenna you will get at ANY retail store and its free. It takes twenty minutes to build and you can watch whatever channels you can pickup if you wanna know what channels you will receive without building anything to know if its worth it or not, use the site, antennaweb.org type in your exact address what floor level etc. and you should have an idea of the channels you will receive for FREE.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top