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Free High Definition Television

I read an article titled OTA HD Demystified that explained how one may get the freely available Hi-Def Over The Air TV channels. I decide to give it a world and all I can say is WOW!!! The picture is astounding; the detail, the clarity, the sharpness will blow you away. And it was all accomplished with great ease.

AntennaWeb.org:

AntennaWeb, allows you to determine in which directions and how far, the transmitting antennas are. This is done by simply typing in your full address. Then appears a list of the available channels and you are give the option of looking at a “Street Level Map.” From there you determine which channels interest you, what frequencies they are in and how far the antennas are.

UHF, VHF & Antennas Direct:

There are 2 types of antennas to choose from; there is the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) antenna and the Very High Frequency (VHF) antenna. When I went to AntennaWeb.org, to determine in which directions and how far the transmitting antennas were, I learned that all the channels I was interested in were within the same frequency (UHF), but a greater distance away than the channels within the VHF (which were only a few) and the transmitting antennas were pretty much in every direction. So I decided that a multi-directional UHF antenna, with a 75-mile range was the best for me. The reason I didn’t consider the VHF antenna, even though some of my channels were found at a closer distance, is because Antennas Direct only sells uni-directional VHF antennas (either that, or they only come as uni-directional) and it made no sense to have multiple antennas, when (the right) one can do the job.

Receiver:

Getting the antenna was just one of the steps; I also need a receiver, since my HDTV does not have a TV tuner. I decided to go with the Samsung DTB-H260F High Definition Terrestrial Tuner (which was reviewed at HDTV Expert,) because it is affordable, it supports 1080i resolution, has countless ways to connect to the TV and it is a top performer. Through a DVI input, I connected the receiver to the TV and now I am channel surfing in Hi-Def at no cost. The total investment was around $400.00, but the setup has paid for itself many times over. Now I can’t wait for the fall TV shows to premiere.

This is something everyone should consider, even those without an HDTV because it allows you to cancel the cable service and that is a great way to cut back on costly living costs every month.

Technorati Tags: Hi-Def, Over The Air, TV, AntennaWeb, UHF, VHF, HDTV, TV tuner, High Definition, 1080i, DVI

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1. DTV: February 17, 2009