OTA HDTV
 

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

OTA HDTV
 

In RickMerrill
wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

But I'll bet if you look real, real hard, you might find one or two
complete HD TVs with ATSC tuners.

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company
as the only source of tuners.

What possible relation between OTA HD and cable tuners is there?

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote:
Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

Most stores stopped selling separate ATSC HD tuners because all HDTV
have one built-in. You can still but the online and from mail order
outfits (I just got a catalog from MCM Electronics that has one).

And don't say that the cable companies had anything to do with it
because it just isn't true.
--
Bill R.


e-mail address disguised to reduce spam

OTA HDTV
 

"RickMerrill" wrote in message
...
Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

All of the above mentioned stores actually sell the ATSC tuners bundled with
ALL of their new televisions. They are actually built right in...imagine
that! If you can find a new television that doesn't come with an ATSC tuner
then it's a computer monitor.

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

Most TVs already have an OTA HDTV (ATSC) tuner included. If not, just
buy online:

http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...b _prd_id=210
[ http://tinyurl.com/b4pd5a ]

http://www.consumerdepot.com/product...referer=google
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JV6TQY
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ial_Tuner.html

etc.

Does your HDTV not have a tuner?

OTA HDTV
 

On Feb 3, 1:50*pm, RickMerrill wrote:
Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

You need to look on-line. They are a quite common add-on for PCs.
All devices with a TV tuners now have an ATSC tuner. Apparently,
there just isn't much of a market for a standalone ATSC tuner with an
HD output. The newest Samsung tuner was still available the last time
I looked on line. I think www.solidsignal.com had a couple of other
models for sale.

Dan (Woj...)

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

WalMart is not the place to go when you're looking for specialized
electronics. Neither is Sears. Circuit City is in its death throes. Radio
Shack is completely hopeless.

In fact, anytime I'm looking for a specific something, I can't find it in any
local store.

Buy it online. There are lots of ATSC HD tuners out there.


--
Hello Obama!
http://tinyurl.com/HelloObama

OTA HDTV
 

On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:50:23 -0500, RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store that carries
a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack, or sears in my area
(Eastern MA).

Every TV sold in the US has had to have an ATSC tuner built in for a year
or two now. If you are looking for an external ATSC HD STB, then you may
have to buy it on-line, as local stores probably see no need to carry
them any longer since the tuner is built into the TV.

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

And all those TV's have ATSC tuners built in, unless it's very old stock.
If you're looking for a converter box, then they are still available most
everywhere.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
My Tivo Experience http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/tivo.htm
Tivo HD/S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm
AMD cpu help http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php

OTA HDTV
 

Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:50:23 -0500, RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store that carries
a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack, or sears in my area
(Eastern MA).

Every TV sold in the US has had to have an ATSC tuner built in for a year
or two now. If you are looking for an external ATSC HD STB, then you may
have to buy it on-line, as local stores probably see no need to carry
them any longer since the tuner is built into the TV.

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

And all those TV's have ATSC tuners built in,
....

Not one of them bore that notation. What else would they call it, hdtv?
I didn't check the behinds of them all but I didn't see an antenna
hookup. Sone had as many as 4 HDMI inputs.

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote:
Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:50:23 -0500, RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store that carries
a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack, or sears in my area
(Eastern MA).

Every TV sold in the US has had to have an ATSC tuner built in for a
year or two now. If you are looking for an external ATSC HD STB, then
you may have to buy it on-line, as local stores probably see no need
to carry them any longer since the tuner is built into the TV.

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

And all those TV's have ATSC tuners built in,
...

Not one of them bore that notation. What else would they call it, hdtv?
I didn't check the behinds of them all but I didn't see an antenna
hookup. Sone had as many as 4 HDMI inputs.


They all have to have receivers by law if they are not computer monitors.

Bob Miller

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote in news:gma767$k72$1
@reader.motzarella.org:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

Suprisingly, Rite-Aid drug stores have the converter boxes.

OTA HDTV
 

Bob Miller wrote:
RickMerrill wrote:
Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:50:23 -0500, RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store that carries
a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack, or sears in my area
(Eastern MA).

Every TV sold in the US has had to have an ATSC tuner built in for a
year or two now. If you are looking for an external ATSC HD STB, then
you may have to buy it on-line, as local stores probably see no need
to carry them any longer since the tuner is built into the TV.

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

And all those TV's have ATSC tuners built in,
...

Not one of them bore that notation. What else would they call it, hdtv?
I didn't check the behinds of them all but I didn't see an antenna
hookup. Sone had as many as 4 HDMI inputs.


They all have to have receivers by law if they are not computer monitors.

Bob Miller

That occurred to me, but a 50" computer monitor just boggles the
imagination!-) Oh, I'm sure some folks out there are doing exactly
that, but for the major brands to re-label products - well i doubt it.
Most likely explanation is that the sales folk were just saying what
they were told to say.

Next time I'll look for the antenna hook up!!

OTA HDTV
 

Larry Weil wrote:
RickMerrill wrote in news:gma767$k72$1
@reader.motzarella.org:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with
the stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as
the only source of tuners.

Suprisingly, Rite-Aid drug stores have the converter boxes.

You should know that the converter boxes convert High def to standard def.

OTA HDTV
 

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009, 1:00pm (EST-3) (dmaster)
said:

"...Apparently, there just isn't much of a market
for a standalone ATSC tuner with an HD output."

The market consists of the early adopters who purchased HDTV-ready sets.
You may or may not remember, but for the first few years HDTV sets did
not have ATSC tuners. Those sets also cost between $2,500 and $8,000
each, so I doubt that their owners would not want to retrofit them with
high-definition-output tuners.

OTA HDTV
 

wrote in message
...
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009, 1:00pm (EST-3) (dmaster)
said:

"...Apparently, there just isn't much of a market
for a standalone ATSC tuner with an HD output."

The market consists of the early adopters who purchased HDTV-ready sets.
You may or may not remember, but for the first few years HDTV sets did
not have ATSC tuners. Those sets also cost between $2,500 and $8,000
each, so I doubt that their owners would not want to retrofit them with
high-definition-output tuners.




Those that care to do so likely already have.

Leonard

OTA HDTV
 

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009 08:36:10 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009, 1:00pm (EST-3) (dmaster)
said:

"...Apparently, there just isn't much of a market
for a standalone ATSC tuner with an HD output."

The market consists of the early adopters who purchased HDTV-ready sets.
You may or may not remember, but for the first few years HDTV sets did
not have ATSC tuners. Those sets also cost between $2,500 and $8,000
each, so I doubt that their owners would not want to retrofit them with
high-definition-output tuners.

Of course, many of those early adopters did not and still do not need
ATSC tuners, since they receive HDTV via satellite.

--
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

OTA HDTV
 

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Easily found on-line. One such:

http://tinyurl.com/awxpgh

If you mean a DTV converter box that has component outputs, that one (above)
has such. The text doesn't mention it, but the photo of the back side looks
to have the right connectors...

Not recommending you buy ^ this one, but seems to be lots available with
component outputs.

As to HDTV signal, that is up to the broadcaster, whether or not to send
programming in HDTV or not.
--
John English

OTA HDTV
 

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:
In article ,
RickMerrill wrote:

Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead

You've got it wrong.

ATSC is not HDTV. Don't know why you'd think it is, but it's not.

Plainly, you need to learn more about all of this.

Plainly, you do not understand English. He did not say ATSC is HDTV. He
said that HDTV is ATSC. While not exactly correct, he should have said hd
instead of hdtv, he was essentially correct, and once again, you are wrong.
BTW, I disagree with his assertion.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

OTA HDTV
 

""
A converter box will not upgrade your TV to HDTV. You will be able to receive
SDTV, EDTV, and HDTV broadcasts but they will all be displayed in standard
definition (the resolution of old analog TVs), down converting where
necessary. The display quality will not be as good as a low end SDTV digital
TV, which while it may have the same resolution as an analog TV [it] looks
better because it can use progressive scan instead of interlacing. You will
get a few additional benefits including an on screen program guide and the
ability to receive additional subchannels. A TV station can divide its
bandwidth among several subchannels, broadcasting up to one HDTV program plus
lower resolution programs. However, these benefits will be offset by the
inability to record programs and watch them at the same time without a second
box. Another problem with recording is that your VCR or DVD recorder will
probably be incapable of changing channels on the converter box making
programmed recording difficult. Even recorders which have an IR sender for
changing cable box channels probably won't know the right codes to send for
converter boxes. TiVo may upgrade their software to do this. Some DVD
recorders can accept software updates on DVD, but you will have to order the
updates or download and burn them in the unlikely event that they are
available.
""
http://www.freelabs.com/~whitis/electronics/dtv_converters/

No idea how accurate the above info is, but it's the most I've found.
According to freelabs, it seems that we can thank Congress for defining DTV
converter boxes as to not include component outputs... well, at least the
ones funded by Congress (via the coupon program).

And here's a great blog about the Hollywood HD whores:

http://tinyurl.com/ck9ot6

A bit dated (2 yrs old) but still valid today.
--
John English

OTA HDTV
 

On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:05:40 -0500, RickMerrill
wrote:

Next time I'll look for the antenna hook up!!

The antenna-in will be a coax connection and not the two little screws
on older sets. On my Panny it's labeled antenna/cable in.

Mike O.

OTA HDTV
 

RickMerrill wrote:

They all have to have receivers by law if they are not computer monitors.

That occurred to me, but a 50" computer monitor just boggles the
imagination!-) Oh, I'm sure some folks out there are doing exactly that,
but for the major brands to re-label products - well i doubt it. Most
likely explanation is that the sales folk were just saying what they were
told to say.

Please post the model number of these "tunerless" 50" monitors.

OTA HDTV
 

On Feb 4, 9:35*am, John E. wrote:
""
snip
And here's a great blog about the Hollywood HD whores:

http://tinyurl.com/ck9ot6

A bit dated (2 yrs old) but still valid today.
--
John English

Doctorow is a twit

G²

OTA HDTV
 

Doctorow is a twit

It would be helpful to know what, exactly, of what he said in the article,
you think in incorrect...

Name-calling is used by some as a substitute for a supportable argument...
--
John English

OTA HDTV
 

Please post the model number of these "tunerless" 50" monitors.

It's older (1999), but mine is a Pioneer PDP-502MX. No tuner.
--
DaveC

This is an invalid return address
Please reply in the news group

OTA HDTV
 

DaveC wrote:

Please post the model number of these "tunerless" 50" monitors.

It's older (1999), but mine is a Pioneer PDP-502MX. No tuner.

But he claims to see these on shelves everywhere today. His exact quote:

"Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA)"

....and later (concerning TVs with ATSC tuners built in:

"Not one of them bore that notation. What else would they call it, hdtv?
I didn't check the behinds of them all but I didn't see an antenna
hookup. Sone had as many as 4 HDMI inputs"

Riiight....

OTA HDTV
 

On Feb 4, 2:41*pm, John E. wrote:
Doctorow is a twit

It would be helpful to know what, exactly, of what he said in the article,
you think in incorrect...

Name-calling is used by some as a substitute for a supportable argument....
--
John English

Well, how about the silliness of 'giving them more spectrum for
digital' as being a bad thing. How ELSE can you do a change from one
system to another. Just turn off system analog on Friday and switch on
system digital on Saturday? He says the broadcasters didn't fill the
spectrum. With analog its very difficult to run adjacent channels
because of interference though it seems to pose no serious problems
for digital. In LA there are at least 2 groups of 3 adjacent channels
that work correctly. So I stand by my statement. Doctorow is a twit.

Glenn Gundlach

G²

OTA HDTV
 

Mike wrote:
On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:05:40 -0500, RickMerrill
wrote:

Next time I'll look for the antenna hook up!!

The antenna-in will be a coax connection and not the two little screws
on older sets. On my Panny it's labeled antenna/cable in.

Mike O.

Yes thanks i see that from the web pictures of the 'flip side.'

OTA HDTV
 

Google DTB-H260F

tons of new and used ones available

OTA HDTV
 

In Seattle the boxes are all over the place!

Even Drug Stores have them!
'
================================
"RickMerrill" wrote in message
...
Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with the
stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as the
only source of tuners.

OTA HDTV
 

Sorry - I thought you were referring referring only to DTV boxes. Not HD.

Samsung HD boxes are available, however limited.

Richard



"Richard C." wrote in message
...
In Seattle the boxes are all over the place!

Even Drug Stores have them!
'
================================
"RickMerrill" wrote in message
...
Over the air HDTV (ATSC) is dead - you cannot find a store
that carries a tuner at walmart(2), circuit city, radioshack,
or sears in my area (Eastern MA).

Apparently a certain local cable company has locked up the deals with the
stores to sell only TVs, leaving the certain local cable company as the
only source of tuners.