12 Days of Christmas: Day 6
Dashing through the snow. In a one horse open sleigh. Over the hills we go...laughing all the way.
Ahh, the old days. Do you remember when all you had to do to watch TV was plug in an antenna? They are back once again.
So far this week we have talked about getting HDTV through satellite and using an antenna to pull in those signals. But what if your HDTV is missing that ATSC (digital) tuner? Well, there are some great HDTV receivers out there that will allow you to pull in a great, clean signal.
A few months ago Radio Shack was having a clearance sale and marked down a HDTV receiver with HDMI output to $90. I know, $90 is cheap for one of these. It turns out that they still sell it. It apparently is a great tuner and the uber-HDTV-heads over at AVS Forums have a lot of info on it. This would be a great gift for anyone on your list, or just to pick up.
In fact, I plan on getting on for my mother that has an analog 27-inch curved screen Panasonic paired with a roof top antenna. Why you ask? Most, if not all, HDTV receivers will take the digital signal and scale it to what ever your TV can handle. So in my mother’s case, it will put the signal at a 480i digital signal. So while it is not HD resolution, it will look night and day different with no snow or color distortion. They will look as good as DVDs.
If you jump up in price there are some other options available as well. Sony has had one with a DVR built in. LG makes one with an up conversion DVD player built into it. Samsung makes a great one and in my experience, does a great job in pulling in hard to reach stations. All you need to do is add a antenna. Like Kevin wrote earlier today though, do not fall into the HDTV antenna trap. ATSC signals are on the UHF band so any antenna can theoretically pull them in; some are better tuned though to pick them up. This is a great website to choose one and it tells you how to use it as well. Personally, Kevin recommended Terk's’ TV5 a couple of days ago and I will too. Nice antenna.
This can be a great gift and in fact you might want to pick one of these receivers up for yourself.
Day 4: Terk TV5
Day 3: Logitech's Harmony remotes
Day 2: ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 XL's
