# (OTA) HD For Dummies



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*"...nearly every household in America is in range of at least one HDTV station..."*

Tuning into _Free_ Local HDTV Broadcasts

For almost three decades now, when most Americans think about television programming, they
have been conditioned to think of getting cable or satellite. Well, I grew up in the early days of
television when tv broadcasts were free, were in black and white, and there were just three net-
works which could only be received off-air (OTA). Back then, everyone, even my mother, knew
that all you needed to get free tv was an indoor 'rabbit-ears' or, if you happened to live out in
the country, a rooftop antenna.

During those early days of tv no one had even heard of cable, no to mention satellite tv. We now 
have an entire generation who grew up taking tv for granted and understanding little more than it
comes out of the wall. There's even a book written especially for the OTA-challenged!

The good news: free off-air tv is still around and with the advent of high-definition broadcasts and
wide- screen TVs, it's better and bigger than ever. Oh, and that book I mentioned? It is one of the
popular 'dummy' series of books, entitled "HDTV For Dummies".

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

If you count yourself among the HDTV-challenged, for an introduction to HDTV you can read an
excerpt from the book HERE and, as always, there is a wealth of information and answers to all
of your questions about HDTV right here at DBSTalk.com.


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## kenglish (Oct 2, 2004)

My boss has a copy of that book, looking at ways to explain things to the unwashed-masses. Now, if we could just buy a million copies and give them away......


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

My brother calls it "Wireless TV" 

Most folks under 30 have never seen TV with an antenna!


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

kenglish said:


> My boss has a copy of that book, looking at ways to explain things to the unwashed-masses. Now, if we could just buy a million copies and give them away......


Perhaps we could organize a campaign to put one in every motel room.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I have a feed from my Antennas Direct LaCrosse antenna going to my 55 inch Sony HD RPTV in addition to cable via TiVo Series 3 HD DVR with two cablecards. I also have a feed from the antenna to my bedroom HD Monitor in addition to a Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD DVR. The OTA picture quality is superior to that of cable. Of course, there just isn't as much available content OTA.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> My brother calls it "Wireless TV"


Funny and True!


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

That quote at the beginning about "nearly every house" being within the range of an HDTV station is meaningless. Not many would buy HDTV for one channel.

As far as cable and satellite penetration goes, I'm at work and don't have time to look it up right now, but in the major cities there are still TONS of people with only OTA TV. The poor and elderly make up a large portion of that amount.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Cholly said:


> Of course, there just isn't as much available content OTA.


That really depends on where you live. I'm in a valley, my city has a population of ~ 35,000, and its DMA #173. As of right now, there are are two networks available to me, NBC and PBS, plus 3 digital sub-channels, and I have to have an outdoor chimney-mounted antenna to receive them. In a more densely populated area, there would probably be a lot more available. I know that when I watched a C|net video of a guy installing an antenna in the NYC metro area and he went channel surfing after the install, I drooled when I saw all the HD and digital channels that were available.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

kenglish said:


> My boss has a copy of that book, looking at ways to explain things to the unwashed-masses. Now, if we could just buy a million copies and give them away......


I had a self-imposed rule to never, ever buy or read any of the "...for Dummies"
books because my father had always told me "You're no dummy, figure it out
for yourself!" ... and I usually did! 

The only exception to my arrogant little rule was back in the day when I was
trying to get a handle on TCP/IP, so I borrowed a well-worn copy of _"TCP/IP
For Dummies"_ from my agency's IT dept. 

It might as well have been written in Chinese -- didn't help me a durn bit! :shrug:


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

bidger said:


> That really depends on where you live. I'm in a valley, my city has a population of ~ 35,000, and its DMA #173. As of right now, there are are two networks available to me, NBC and PBS, plus 3 digital sub-channels, and I have to have an outdoor chimney-mounted antenna to receive them. In a more densely populated area, there would probably be a lot more available. I know that when I watched a C|net video of a guy installing an antenna in the NYC metro area and he went channel surfing after the install, I drooled when I saw all the HD and digital channels that were available.


I was referring to the fact that a lot of HD content is simply not available OTA -- premium channels like HBO, Cinemax, Starz; cable/dbs only channels like Discovery HD Theater, HDNet, MoJo, Universal HD, TNTHD (and, of course, all the Voom channels  ).


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

OK, thanks for clarifying, Charlie.


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

Why do we have so many dummies today? No one needed that kind of book way back when.

--- CHAS


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## tonyn (Aug 3, 2007)

Today we take pride in knowing nothing technical. Look at how the highly lauded news anchors giggle their way thru stories about math, space, automitive & most any other technology as if it is all silly irrelevance, the province of un-cool anti-social nerds.

Be sure to make a point of not knowing if your car has a jack lest you be thought of as wierd. (should you actually know how to USE a jack, really keep that under your hat!)

As to outside antennas, MY GAWD do you want your neighbors to think you are in foreclosure on your house and thus unable to afford cable?!?!?

Some homeowener Associations bristle if your window shades are not kept at the same level. They'd burn your house to the foundation if you dared to put anything on your roof that broke with absoloute uniformity!!!

Ya know, it is sooo easy to rant these days.


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