Digital Converter box for HDTV

[Tygerwoody]

So.... I was over at a friends house over the weekend. He does not have satelitte or cable. He doesn't watch TV, just like me. However, he somehow had BETTER quality HD picture than most of my cable channels and he was doing it through an ANTENNA!

So I decided to get myself an antenna(actually i built it, works fantastic, but thats for another thread). I hooked the antenna up, and low and behold I get garbage. Not because of the antenna, but because my HDTV doesn't have a built in digital tuner.

No problem, I just went to the store and bought one. I plug it up, and all my channels that I am receiving full digital signal on(this antenna works great!), still are converted to standard definition resolution. After further research, i found that this converter box I bought converts the HD signal to standard def.


So on to my question. Is there a digital converter box that actually outputs the HD signal to an HDTV?

[ViN86]

So.... I was over at a friends house over the weekend. He does not have satelitte or cable. He doesn't watch TV, just like me. However, he somehow had BETTER quality HD picture than most of my cable channels and he was doing it through an ANTENNA!

So I decided to get myself an antenna(actually i built it, works fantastic, but thats for another thread). I hooked the antenna up, and low and behold I get garbage. Not because of the antenna, but because my HDTV doesn't have a built in digital tuner.

No problem, I just went to the store and bought one. I plug it up, and all my channels that I am receiving full digital signal on(this antenna works great!), still are converted to standard definition resolution. After further research, i found that this converter box I bought converts the HD signal to standard def.


So on to my question. Is there a digital converter box that actually outputs the HD signal to an HDTV?

yea they exist. i need to get one for my tv too. let me see if i can find the link for one.

[|MaguS|]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/01/30/ota-hd-demystified/

[nekrosoft13]

this will do

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-DTBH260F-HDTV-Terrestrial-Receiver/dp/B000JV6TQY

[Tr1cK]

I got a $5 set of rabbit ears that pwns most HD cable quality.

[Heinz68]

@Tygerwoody
You don't need a converter, all you need is "An ATSC tuner, often called an ATSC receiver or HDTV tuner" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_tuner)

My Westy also doesn't have a tuner so I use the ATI TV Wonder 650 PCIe which does both digital and analog signal over the air and even the clear cable digital channels.

[betterdan]

He doesn't watch TV, just like me.

I don't get it, if you don't watch tv then why do you care about getting an ATSC tuner?

[ViN86]

i think you want something like this Tyger:

SAMSUNG DTB-H260F DIGITAL HDTV RECEIVER
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/h260f.html

it's a little pricey, but it has HDMI out and supports 1080i.

EDIT:

this will do

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-DTBH260F-HDTV-Terrestrial-Receiver/dp/B000JV6TQY
ditto...

[Tygerwoody]

I found some DirecT TV HDTV receivers on ebay going for pretty cheap. I wonder if they would work fine for what I want? All i need is the DirectTV card, which most of them include.

Sound good?

[betterdan]

My Directv HR20 DVR has an ATSC tuner built in, 2 of them actually. The newer models leave the tuner out. I think you can run the tuner part without activating it with Directv but I'm not sure.
What are the models you are looking at on Ebay?

[ViN86]

I found some DirecT TV HDTV receivers on ebay going for pretty cheap. I wonder if they would work fine for what I want? All i need is the DirectTV card, which most of them include.

Sound good?

do you need to setup a dish?

[evilchris]

Cable/Sat "HD" is compressed garbage. OTA is the way to go but of course limited to whatever you can receive.

[LORD-eX-Bu]

don't tell me you have a huge ass VHF antenna on your roof :lol:

[betterdan]

I have a outdoor VHF/UHF antenna on my roof and was using it to pick up all my local digital channels but Directv finally got my locals in via MPEG4 and they look just as good as the OTA signals. Since Directv went to MPEG4 their HD channels look great.

[evilchris]

don't tell me you have a huge ass VHF antenna on your roof :lol:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/USA.NM.VeryLargeArray.02.jpg

[crainger]

VHF is the only way we can get HD here. Capital cities get FoxtelHD, but i assume it's like what EChris says. Not as good as OTA.

[Blackcat]

I found some DirecT TV HDTV receivers on ebay going for pretty cheap. I wonder if they would work fine for what I want? All i need is the DirectTV card, which most of them include.

Sound good?

yes, that will work. Had Dish for a while and they did not have CBS in HD, so I hooked up an antenna and it worked great

[betterdan]

The thing is that Tyger does not have Directv, he is just wanting to use one of their receiver to pick up OTA signals.

[Blackcat]

yes, I know, and it will work for this