Well - I forked out the cash on a nice lcd for the parents as an xmas present and am now in the process of trying to set-up the "feed". For starters: bought a westinghouse 42" lcd from best buy as i was informed that with 1080p and the added features on this tv would make it top notch. (can't vouch if i got screwed or not at the moment). Price was $989, so seemed really good for the features in comparison to other brands. Point is: which service is best for cable and/or hd feeds? they hve standard cable and have recently gotten rid of their box (which i thought they may need for their hd feed). That being said, the geek squad at best buy mentioned that you dont need a box, b/c a power antennae (for $40) would be able to pick up more hd channels than your standard cable box . . any thoughts would be appreciated - which supplier is preferable from the thread title (AT&T U-verse vs. Comcast vs. Direct TV) and what are your recommendations for setting up the best picture? Many thanks!
If you have a tuner in the TV all the local stations are broadcast over the air in HD for free. You don't need a $40 antenna; any UHF/VHF antenna (i.e. rabbit ears) will do. Also, free over-the-air HD is probably the best quality as the signal is not compressed all to shlt like the cable and satellite companies do to preserve bandwidth. I have DirecTV and an very happy with the HD service and their HD DVR. If you want a DVR (and who doesn't?) I think you will have to go with cable or satellite. I project HD channels onto a 92" screen and I think the picture quality (with DirecTV) is very good. All my stuff is 720P and I used the HD DVR to do the scaling.
An antenna will only pick up HD feeds for ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX,PBS and CW i think. If you have digital cable (the cable box) you will get a good number of HD channels. (All locals, TNT,ESPN, Fox Sports, A&E etc). You just have to ask for a HD receiver. Most of them are only component out. I think you have to get a box with DVR if you want an HDMI output.
That won't get all of them. You need an antenna with both the rabbit ears and the circular thingy. More like this: I just have rabbit ears and don't get PBS in HD (our bedroom TV doesn't have DirecTV HD; just over the air). Once again, you will only get local stations in HD without cable or Satellite (but hopefully that's obvious!). You probably have a set of rabbit ears in your house or garage somewhere. Just hook it up and see what you get. Home Depot also sells antennas for really cheap.
ya just get an antenna that does UHF and VHF. walmart has antennas for cheap also. buttttt don't get fooled by ULTRA GAIN 55db etc. because too high of an amplification can increase noise and you won't get anything at all.
From what I've heard, we only have about a month left until analog signals are removed. I'm pretty upset at the news myself. So I'm pretty interested in the result of this thread. I might have to get comcast seing how I already have everything set up. But nothing beats the over-the-air signals
Apparently, if you have trees around the property, ATT won't work. What's that all about? So, I am now left with comcast or direct tv. Would greatly appreciate recommendations either way! What would you select? which is best for service, quality and the overall HD package? Many thanks in advance!
You have two incorrect facts here: An antenna will pick up also My20's HD feed, and lots of other .1, .2, .3, .4, and even more channels. For example, Channel 14 has 5 extra feeds. Not all cable companies are carrying all the local HD TV stations. For example, neither U-Verse nor DirecTV have PBS or My20 in HD. From where did you hear this info about the trees, garthomps? at&t u-Verse HD is awesome. I have no complaints about it. All receivers are HD ready, and the HD package is extensive. Also, there are no WEATHER outages like with SATELLITE. It's all through your phone line.
My girlfriend has dish network and my friend has direct tv. Whenever there's a storm outside or just raining, their signal gets lost either completely or randomly. I don't think cable has this problem. But I keep hearing hd quality is slightly better on sattellite than it is on cable.
Thanks for the reply, swoly! Yes, the at&t people made a visit to my parents place the otherday to set-up the dish and apparently claimed that they would need to have a few trees cut down in order to receive a decent reception. Wish I could have been there - but live outside of the country. freakin killed me - sounded like complete bs. So, you're for att against the others? if so, i may be giving my friends at att a call
Whoa. Then it wasn't u-Verse, garthomps. Go here https://uverse1.att.com/un/OmsNavigateMenuAction.do for availability. I have the 300 package + DSL + HD. It's based on your phone line, not satellite reception. I am against the satellite receptions because when I had DirecTV, it really hurt that I couldn't watch my Rockets' games during thunderstorms.
Well I just picked up my Comcast HD box today and my new Samsung 5884 58' 1080p plasma should be arriving in a little over a week so after it gets here I can give you some insight on the Comcast HD.
Yes. I don't know when exactly the HD games are on FSNHD, but when I am on 755 and I hear Mr. Worrell say "brought to you in HD by Fox Sports...!", I quickly switch to 1755. U-Verse has recently added about 17 more HD channels. I also get the premium SHO, TMC, STARZ, and ENC in HD.
