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Confused in Chicago Unregistered guest | I'm looking for a way to recieve the local HD channels in the Chicago area. I have recently purchased a Vizio L37 HDTV. It has both NTSC and ATSC tuners, butI am finding now that it is not "Plug-and-Play Digital Cable Ready" (i.e. no cable card). Currently my cable connects directly to TV (both the NTSC and ATSC tuners via a high frequency splitter), with not Set Top Box. At the time, I was under the impression that I needed a digital tuner (ATSC) to recieve digital signals (cable and OTA). . . and even though I only subscribe to the standard (analog) cable, that there were some local unscrambled digital HD channels (i.e ABC, CBS) that could be recieved through a digital tuner. Am I totally off base here? As I have mentioned, I have Comcast standard cable in the Chicago Area. Is there any way that I can recieve the local HD channels without the purchase of a Set Top Box? Do I need to resort to OTA? Any advice or clarification would be appreiciated! |
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New member Username: MvanmeterKY USA Post Number: 5 Registered: Jan-06 | Hi "confused in Chicago" - you are no more confused than most HD viewers with some form of cable service. What they did not tell you is that over-the-air signals are free, broadcast by your local TV stations along with their standard analog broadcasts. You will need a UHF antenna, possibly just a bow-tie or indoor loop, to feed signal into the ATSC tuner connection. Un-do the feed from the splitter because your cable company is not providing HD signals that way. At worst, you will need an external antenna to get the local channels, just like the good-ol-days before cable ! Most, but sadly not all, digital broadcast signals are in the UHF spectrum, so try that first. Some broadcasters are using the VHF channels, but very few. I was able to receive our local PBS digital signals with just a $3 bow-tie antenna, but needed external antennas for the others. A good site article: http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/01/30/ota-hd-demystified/ |