HD over the air recievers, tuners

[soundhound]

Anyone running a Samsung reciever? Have read some descent reviews, we currently have dtv, so I could grab a unit from Best Buy that recieves ota as well as has dtv's card. (also have to spend another $70 on oval dish w/ lnb's) I had read where one of Samsungs $300 units also upscaled most any input to near HD quality. What are peeps running? What should one shy away from? Input much appreciated, Thanx, Bob

[Chris D]

yeah, I have a Samsung HD Direct TV satellite receiver w/OTA that outputs at 720p and 1080i. I can't remember a model number. It works fine...

[soundhound]

I went ahead and added the samsung sir-ts360 wich is ota/dtv capable. Just hooked up the ota input last night and oh my, I like it. Had to pick up the oval dish w/triple lnb wich I will install tonight. Cool thing is existing dtv customers get 6 mos. free hd channel upgrade and we can drop locals from our package. I can see I will get to spend about a week "tweeking" the video side of things. As the crow flies we are about 25 miles from the Twin Cities metro area and I am amazed at how many ota options there are, been on the sat too long I guess. On a side note I am also amazed that Best Buy for one doesn't spend the time to run Avia on their big screens, with the dimley lit area in store, my tv looked good, butt, here at home with the hd source it looks very good.

[Lex]

Wow, you are one of the lucky ones receiving good OTA HD. What antenna are you using?

I have a Samsung HD/DTV box myself, outside of the expensive entry price, I've been pretty satisfied with it. It's the lackluster HD I'm disatisfied with. I want local channel HD on DTV. ESPN, 1 movie channel, and discovery HD just isn't enough.

Lex

[soundhound]

The antenna is a basic 3 footer (uhf/vhf) that was on the roof of my house when we bought the place. Its a 2 storry house and we are up on a knoll so we have a pretty good shot at recieving whatever radiates by. The samsung is a sweet little machine. I have noticed also that the discovery channel has spent some money on getting true hd out to their customers, that is pheonominal. Fox NFL isn't bad either, especially watching the Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings (in hd) as they did today. hehehe :lol:

[ekkoville]

Hey Soundhound, are you able to get just the local HD signal with the antenna or is ESPN, etc. within reach for you? We have eight channels on Comcast Cable so far, but we need MORE!

Erik

[soundhound]

ESPN is subbed, as is the 4 others or so from dtv as part of the high def package. I just went and scrolled thru the lower channels and including SD, not analog "air", SD has very nice pic for not being HD, I get 15 ota channels. 3 of wich come up as SD, rest are hd or dt, all resembling high def. if they are not. I havent had the reciever long so I think it's great. 6 months from now I may feel like this sucks, only 15 channels of hd. My denon dvd is hd so we get a good mix of movies as well.

[Chris D]

I get about 20 OTA high definition channels in the Seattle/Tacoma area. It's pretty nice. I'm using Radio Shack's biggest TV antenna, shoehorned into my attic. Only cost me about $60 if I remember right, so I consider that a great deal.

[Lex]

I can't believe you all get that many high def ota channels. Amazing. at most, I could get 3 if I had the best antenna likely, maybe 4.

Problem is the terrain here with all the hills, it makes OTA much more difficult.

Lex

[smtp67]

SIR-TS360 and Samsung HDTV OTA

Just hook up my Samsung HD Receiver with Samsung OTA- I was amaze what this two can do, picture quality is awesome and pick more HD channel with OTA (20 channels) to include with six months free package from direct tv when you subscribe from them. I use to subcribes from cox and now i switch over to directv and i was please with the quality of the pictures and sounds in Digital Quality. Before i buy my SIR-TS360 and Samsung OTA HD antenna I did a lot research and comparisson. I read all the bad rap about Samsung SIR-TS360 in the forum, so far so good with no complaint. Using the equipment for about two weeks. I'm enjoying it and especially the NFL sunday ticket.

My Equipment:
Toshiba 57H83 8)
Samsung SIR-TS360 8)
Samsung HD TV OTA 8)
A/V- Yamaha 8)
Speakers-Cerwin Vega 8)

[soundhound]

Sad to say but I am nearing addiction to The Discovery Channel, HD. They have spent some good money on their equipment to bring us HD like no one else. They do have some pretty interesting topics on ocassion, but most of all, the scenery is mind blowing. Monday Night Football hd is pretty sweet as well (especially when the Packers win). We have a Panasonic DVDR-985 (SD)wich does an excellent job @ recording some of the 2 hour music specials as well. I have been running the Samsung TS-360 for about 2 mos, and love it. It
seems to have a slightly finnicky processor as it has hiccuped and or burped about 3 times and needed to be reset. This leads me to believe it is a pretty powerful machine, as it doesn't strike me as frail.

[ekkoville]

Received my dual tuner HD DVR this week, simply the greatest. Those of you with Tivo, I have been envious for years. Finaly can record, pause, rewind......I am in heaven. Can't wait for the Super Bowl!

[feefree]

OTA HD receiver and DVR

Does anyone know what product options there are out there for over the air HD with a DVR, but without cable or satelite service? So far I have only found one product that is marketed for that purpose (LG 3410A). The problem is, that got panned in a bunch of user reviews and it only has one ATSC tuner, so it can't record one show while watching another (or any other combination requiring 2 feeds).

Does anyone know if a DISH or DirecTV HD DVR box can be used without their services (as long as an HD antenna is hooked up)? Even if the receiver works (which is questionable), I'm guessing the DVR won't as there is a service side to that.

How about getting a commercial box and clearing the hard drive and installing MythTV or BeyondTV? Is that an option?

[aud19]

There's always a HTPC with tuner card(s)

[Shane Martin]

Does anyone know what product options there are out there for over the air HD with a DVR, but without cable or satelite service?

Yep Sony has one but it's pricey as all get out.

Does anyone know if a DISH or DirecTV HD DVR box can be used without their services (as long as an HD antenna is hooked up)

Nope neither works.

Your best bet is your PC.