I live in Playa Del Rey just north of the LA airport. I heard a piece on NPR where the guy screwed in his old rabbit ears to his new digital flat screen and was amazed at the digital stations he picked up.
On Monday I hooked up my FM tuner's TERK antenna ($30 anywhere) to my digital capable bedroom TV. It worked like a champ. I got 48 digital stations off the air. Many are hi-def. Lots of stations are already broadcasting a HD signal and one of their digital feeds with a non-HD signal of the same show on another digital feed (Ex: NBC is channel 4. On digital I get HD in Channel 4.1 non HD in channel 4.2 and RAW Tv-- a non edited news feed--on 4.3). What is really cool is the embedded info that shows up in the station ID window. It shows the name of the station, the name of the show and run/play times for the show and a little progress bar that indicates where you are in the broadcast, kind of like playing a You Tube video on computer.
Other stations are broadcasting seperate shows on each seperate feed. Some stations are broadcasting on digital but not sending out content (Ex: Channel 7 is ABC and they have 4 feeds my TV picks up but the screen is just black, yet the menu shows the TV getting a digital signal).
Then, I just screwed in a longish pice of coax. Worked really well on most channels with some digital breakup on a few. I think that in general if you can get your digital tuner TV to simply receive a signal with a cheap antenna the digital aspect will resolve itself. No need for big expensive attic antennas unless you live outside of town.
My TV also picks up basic cable plus all local HD and a few non local (Food Network for example) if I just split my cable signalout of my converter box from the living room.
I can't wait for "the switch." I may be able to dump the whole cable thing and save $100 a month.
On Monday I hooked up my FM tuner's TERK antenna ($30 anywhere) to my digital capable bedroom TV. It worked like a champ. I got 48 digital stations off the air. Many are hi-def. Lots of stations are already broadcasting a HD signal and one of their digital feeds with a non-HD signal of the same show on another digital feed (Ex: NBC is channel 4. On digital I get HD in Channel 4.1 non HD in channel 4.2 and RAW Tv-- a non edited news feed--on 4.3). What is really cool is the embedded info that shows up in the station ID window. It shows the name of the station, the name of the show and run/play times for the show and a little progress bar that indicates where you are in the broadcast, kind of like playing a You Tube video on computer.
Other stations are broadcasting seperate shows on each seperate feed. Some stations are broadcasting on digital but not sending out content (Ex: Channel 7 is ABC and they have 4 feeds my TV picks up but the screen is just black, yet the menu shows the TV getting a digital signal).
Then, I just screwed in a longish pice of coax. Worked really well on most channels with some digital breakup on a few. I think that in general if you can get your digital tuner TV to simply receive a signal with a cheap antenna the digital aspect will resolve itself. No need for big expensive attic antennas unless you live outside of town.
My TV also picks up basic cable plus all local HD and a few non local (Food Network for example) if I just split my cable signalout of my converter box from the living room.
I can't wait for "the switch." I may be able to dump the whole cable thing and save $100 a month.