Best HDTV OTA Box

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Bob" <cdumas1@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

>What is the best HDTV OTA converter for the price, or would I be better off
>subscribing to Time Warner cable to recive HDTV.
>Thanks

Can't tell you what's best, but I'm generally happy with my LG
LST-3410A, which tunes OTA and unscrambled cable and includes a hard
drive recorder. Considering how difficult the MPAA is trying to make
it to feed HD to a separate recorder, I wanted the capability built
in. It's pricey, though, at around $900-$1000.

If OTA broadcasts are or soon will be available in your area, and the
signal is strong enough to get reliably, the same picture on cable
won't be better and could be worse if they compress it further. Also,
if you have at least a minimum cable subscription (as you apparently
do, since you're on RoadRunner) the OTA stations that cable carries
are probably not scrambled (that may be an FCC requirement) so you
wouldn't need a Digital Cable subscription to get them. But anything
else, such as HBO-HD, Discovery-HD, etc. would be unavailable through
the LG or most other tuners, even with a subscription, because the LG
cannot descramble them. There are supposed to be receivers coming out
that can (with appropriate subscriptions), but right now you have to
rent such a box from the cable company.

I've had the LG about 3 months and it does what it is designed to do
very well. My only complaints are about design shortcomings: things
it should be able to do for little or no extra cost. For example, it
won't output digital and NTSC simultaneously. And it won't do timer
records from the A/V inputs, although it will record from them if
you're there to press the record button.

E. Ogden <eoyymm@nycap.rr.com>
where yymm is the current year and month

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

>What is the best HDTV OTA converter for the price, or would I be better off
>subscribing to Time Warner cable to recive HDTV.
>Thanks

I just got a HiSense HD tuner from Wal-mart for $200. Works well so far.
Check where your local HD signals are coming from and try to determine if there
will much of a need to rotate an antenna to receive them. If they are scattered
about then it will be a pain to have to turn your antenna every time you change
the channel.
Check your cable channel and see what they offer vs. what you can pick up OTA,
also see if they offer OTA channels with a HDpackage. Your budget will tell you
what choice to make.
Keith