Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Many comments he http://tinyurl.com/yh4ns75

On Feb 22, 6:03*am, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

An antenna is an antenna is an antenna now they just call them HD
antennas to make you think they are special, contact people that sell
all types to get you what is best for your situation

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

On Feb 22, 7:49*am, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
* * * * * * * *http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

I was thinking of something like that and adding 10 feet to my mast.
Thanks!

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Scam! The same old antenna from 5, 10, or 20 years ago will work just
as well now, if not better since the change to digital.

On Feb 22, 10:26*am, Bob Villa wrote:
On Feb 22, 7:49*am, LSMFT wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
* * * * * * * *http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

I was thinking of something like that and adding 10 feet to my mast.
Thanks!

I think there are pills you can take for that. :0)

On Feb 22, 11:46*am, in2dadark wrote:
On Feb 22, 10:26*am, Bob Villa wrote:

On Feb 22, 7:49*am, LSMFT wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
* * * * * * * *http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1..html

I was thinking of something like that and adding 10 feet to my mast.
Thanks!

I think there are pills you can take for that. :0)

Good one...I'll have to "see Alice" for that! B^})

On Feb 22, 8:49*am, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
* * * * * * * *http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

I bought something like that, couldn't get it to work too well. I
called the local antenna guy, he came to my house and laughed at the
antenna, then sold me one that works like a charm for $60. It's a 3'
by 4' frame with 8 bow tie antennas on it. Got it in my attic and get
more than 2 dozen channels with great reception. Sorry I don't have
more info about the antenna he sold me, but I don't think it's
uncommon.

Mike

wrote:
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:44:08 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Feb 22, 8:49 am, wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

I bought something like that, couldn't get it to work too well. I
called the local antenna guy, he came to my house and laughed at the
antenna, then sold me one that works like a charm for $60. It's a 3'
by 4' frame with 8 bow tie antennas on it. Got it in my attic and get
more than 2 dozen channels with great reception. Sorry I don't have
more info about the antenna he sold me, but I don't think it's
uncommon.

Mike


FREE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw


Try it and let me know how it works. I imagine if you put it outside the
coat hangers will rust. Maybe do the same thing with Aluminum wire?

On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:55:42 -0500, LSMFT wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:44:08 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Feb 22, 8:49 am, wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

I am looking too. I noticed some have 30 mile range, some have 65 and
some have 100. Anybody installed this one?
http://www.import-action.com/ouhdanba1.html

I bought something like that, couldn't get it to work too well. I
called the local antenna guy, he came to my house and laughed at the
antenna, then sold me one that works like a charm for $60. It's a 3'
by 4' frame with 8 bow tie antennas on it. Got it in my attic and get
more than 2 dozen channels with great reception. Sorry I don't have
more info about the antenna he sold me, but I don't think it's
uncommon.

Mike


FREE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw


Try it and let me know how it works. I imagine if you put it outside the
coat hangers will rust. Maybe do the same thing with Aluminum wire?

It's not much different from the bow tie antenna the previous poster
paid $60 for. Antennas for OTA TV reception are not exactly high tech
devices.

On Feb 22, 6:03*am, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

The best digital antenna looks exactly like the best analog antenna.
The requirements are less for digital, so a good analog antenna is way
overkill, just the way I like it. I'm running a fringe antenna 40
miles from the towers, and it is like cable. I do have a rotor and
amplifier, the rotor is a waste of time at this point, but it used to
help with analog. The amplifier is highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...3Q9CK0S76ZS5VJ

On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work for me. Only 2
channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

--
LSFT

On Feb 23, 7:16*am, Eric in North TX wrote:
On Feb 22, 6:03*am, Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

The best digital antenna looks exactly like the best analog antenna.
The requirements are less for digital, so a good analog antenna is way
overkill, just the way I like it. I'm running a fringe antenna 40
miles from the towers, and it is like cable. I do have a rotor and
amplifier, the rotor is a waste of time at this point, but it used to
help with analog. The amplifier is highly recommended.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...k2_dp_sr_1?pf_...

It's better than cable...cable doesn't have the bandwidth for true HD.

LSMFT wrote:
On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work for me. Only
2 channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

Did you make sure the two cris-crossing wires don't touch each other where they
cross? It's the most obvious failure mode I can think of.

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:58:59 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote:

LSMFT wrote:
On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work for me. Only
2 channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

Did you make sure the two cris-crossing wires don't touch each other where they
cross? It's the most obvious failure mode I can think of.



He's pretty far away from the stations. An outdoor antenna mounted up
as high as possible might give him some reception.

Tony wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer
flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Scam! The same old antenna from 5, 10, or 20 years ago
will work just
as well now, if not better since the change to digital.
No it won't. That was VHF. Digital is UHF. Some old ones
were combos, true.
--
LSMFT

Bob F wrote:

LSMFT wrote:
On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer
flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I
tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work
for me. Only
2 channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

Did you make sure the two cris-crossing wires don't touch
each other where
they cross? It's the most obvious failure mode I can think
of.
It is exactly as shown on utube.
--
LSMFT

LSMFT wrote:
Tony wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer
flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Scam! The same old antenna from 5, 10, or 20 years ago
will work just
as well now, if not better since the change to digital.
No it won't. That was VHF. Digital is UHF. Some old ones
were combos, true.

We've been through this before. Not all digital is UHF. Around here,
several of the major players are still down in the VHF band, and yes,
they are on their permanent assignments.

I meant to put up a replacement roof antenna last summer, but never got
around to it. (Can barely get 3 stations with what is left of the old
antenna.) Couldn't decide between conventional with a rotor, or a
'flying saucer' omni with an amplifier. (need to cover about 200 degrees
to hit all the stations.) In the meantime, I have had middling success
with rabbit ears on top of a camera tripod, and one of those
indoor-style flat square antennas with an amplifier, stuck in the front
window. (RCA something or other- local BigLots had them for 20 bucks
rather than the 40 a real store wanted, so I figured what the heck.)
Both are very fussy on direction, so sometimes it takes awhile to nail
the station I want, and I can only get the PBS station on cloudy nights.

But I did manage, for a couple hours one heavily cloudy night, to get
Milwaukee channel 6 for a couple hours, all the way on the other side of
Lake Michigan, 3 counties in. 'E-layer tunneling', I think they call it?

But to answer OP's question- when visiting my father down in Lake
Charles, I did try one of those outdoor-spec amplified flat antennas,
and little or no luck. Don't know if it was local conditions, or if the
one he had was damaged. (Climate down there is brutal on anything
outside.) Bottom line is, there are a ton of variables, and a few feet
up or down, or side to side, or a small angle change, can make something
work or not work.

--
aem sends...

I'm about 20 mi from downtown Philly.

I've been thinking about a 200 foot mast to get a better signal.

Gad!

Unless you HAVE to "see" over a hill, 200' is a little on the high side.

Best best is the combination of: 1) a "pretty good" UHF/VHF antenna (not
specific to HDTV); 2) a amplifier right at the antenna; and 3) a rotator.
With the amplifier at the antenna, it's still a good idea to use RG-6 quad
shielded cable.

In practice, you only use the rotator a few times until you find where you
can get a good mix of stations. For example, I live south of Baltimore and
DC but north of Richmond and east of some VA public TV stations. I set the
rotor to get the DC stations. Most of the time the rotor control isn't
even plugged in.

Obviously, neither DC or Richmond (or Pennsylvania or Deleware or the
Eastern Shore) are "line of sight" yet I can receive them. My guess is
that the signals are bouncing off various geographic features (including the
river and the bay) and, perhaps, the network of cell phone towers and the
high voltage electric towers help the signal to "hop" over intervening
hills.

But it's fun to play with the rotor. On occasion I have received TV from
Pennsylania, Deleware, and the MD "Eastern Shore." But most of the time I
just point the thing north and enjoy my 10+ stations. Some of the "public"
stations have 4 sub feeds. The commercial stations mostly have 2 or 3.
My guess is that I have some 30 "programs" available at any one time.
That's close to basic (but not minimum) cable.

Bob Villa wrote in :

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob



Installed one of these, TV is econo digital. Transmitters about 50 mi
away. Works fine. Attached to chimney. Total height above ground
15-18ft.

Check out multi-firectionals if you have transmitters in significantly
different directions.

http://reviews.cnet.com/a-v-antennas....html?tag=rnav

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:25:23 -0500, aemeijers
wrote:

LSMFT wrote:
Tony wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer
flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Scam! The same old antenna from 5, 10, or 20 years ago
will work just
as well now, if not better since the change to digital.
No it won't. That was VHF. Digital is UHF. Some old ones
were combos, true.

We've been through this before. Not all digital is UHF. Around here,
several of the major players are still down in the VHF band, and yes,
they are on their permanent assignments.

Correct -- here in Sacramento, 2 stations (the ABC and PBS affiliates)
are VHF permanently (one back at their original channel 10, the other
moved from 6 to 9). Annoying because they came in great with a small
flat antenna on their temporary UHF stations, but I had to dig out the
old rabbit ears to get them now.

In many places, stations moved away from VHF 2-7 (VHF-lo, which
requires the largest antenna elements to receive), but even that isn't
true everywhere.

And many (most?) markets had UHF analog stations for decades (I
remember 18, 20, 22, 24, 30, 57, 61 growing up in the Hartford
market), so I'm not sure where people get the idea that the analog=VHF
and digital=UHF. Some people may be able to use a UHF-only antenna,
but many need exactly the same combo they had before.

I suggest using www.antennaweb.org to determine what stations you can
receive, where they are, and the type of antenna required.

There's nothing special about a "digital" or "HD" antenna, except
perhaps that digital signals have some error correction, so there's a
sharper "shelf" -- you may get a perfect picture where before you had
a slightly fuzzy analog signal, but may get a very badly pixelated or
no picture where before you had a very snowy but usable analog signal.

Josh

aemeijers wrote:

But to answer OP's question- when visiting my father down in Lake
Charles, I did try one of those outdoor-spec amplified flat antennas,
and little or no luck.

I had a similar experience. I have a 10mi line of sight to the antenna farm (I
can see the collision lights at night) and thought the amplified Philips UHF
blade antenna would work well.

After the digital transition, one of the local stations returned to its VHF
frequency, the remainder stayed UHF. Strangely enough, the station I had the
most problems with was a UHF station. I finially took the blade down last week
and replaced it with a smaller classic combo design. It works perfectly.

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:17:31 +1000, Soundhaspriority
wrote:

" wrote in message
...


LSMFT wrote:
On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work for me. Only
2 channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

Did you make sure the two cris-crossing wires don't touch each other where
they
cross? It's the most obvious failure mode I can think of.



He's pretty far away from the stations. An outdoor

I'm about 20 mi from downtown Philly.

I've been thinking about a 200 foot mast to get a better signal.



Mountain in the way?

On 2/23/2010 5:58 PM, Bob F wrote:
LSMFT wrote:
On 02/22/2010 07:03 AM, Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Bunch of messages seem deleted for some unknown reason. I tried that
construction on utube of a UHF antenna and it don't work for me. Only
2 channels with low signal. I'm 50 miles from the nearest.

Did you make sure the two cris-crossing wires don't touch each other where they
cross? It's the most obvious failure mode I can think of.


I just installed a Antennas Direct-ClearStream 2 Long-Range HDTV Outdoor
Antenna-C2 that I picked up at Bestbuy for $100. I have to say I am
totally satisfied with it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antennas...&skuId=9119642

Unlike my other interior HD antenna, this one isn't tough to aim... just
point it in the general direction of the town where the stations are and
it will pick up a strong signal.

One caveat: I read in one of the review of the product that using it
with an amplifier somehow negates the signal. The folks who used an
external amplifier were totally dissatisfied with it and couldn't pcik
up any signal at all. Well, it works just fine without an amplifier for
stations up to 50 miles. Read the buyer's reviews for more information.

One more caveat about buying from Bestbuy at all: I've been in the
market for a new 46" HDTV for a while. Sunday, Bestbuy's newspaper
flier advertised a Samsung for $1499. The exact same TV was only $1299
on their website with free shipping. But it gets better: you could
order it online and then pick it up in the local store for that same
$1299. If you just walked into the store without previously ordering
the TV, you'd get hit with the higher price and nobody would say a thing.

I don't know if they still do this but their in-store website was
different from the one that presents itself to everybody else on the
internet. It looks exactly the same but the store site's prices are
higher than the authentic internet site. Sneaky.


Jay

Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.
--
LSMFT

On 2/24/2010 9:27 AM, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.



That is an answer but not THE answer. Many folks might prefer to have
more than one source of signal. I sometimes lose satellite signal due
to rain fade. The HD over the air signal is always reliable.

In the past, I learned what happens to cable TV when hurricanes hit. It
might be weeks before I get my service back. That's why I went to
satellite in the first place. But satellites aren't 100% reliable
either... close but not 100%. So I like the OTA backup.

The difference is the over the air signal is basically limited to ABC,
CBS, NBC, Fox, and the local public stations. So it's for backup only.
Given the choice, I prefer satellite.



Jay

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:21:47 -0500, LSMFT wrote:

Tony wrote:

Bob Villa wrote:
Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer
flat-panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob

Scam! The same old antenna from 5, 10, or 20 years ago
will work just
as well now, if not better since the change to digital.
No it won't. That was VHF. Digital is UHF. Some old ones
were combos, true.

Untrue. Some analog is on VHF, some on UHF. Some digital is on UHF,
some on VHF.

Many (not all) stations are using UHF now, instead of VHF. This has
nothing to do with digital, and started several years earlier.

Here, the channels that had analog on VHF, have digital on VHF. The
channels that had analog on UHF, have digital on UHF.

Also, HD or SD has nothing to do with what antenna you need.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Unfortunately, the universe will not conform itself to your fantasies.
You have to manage based on what really happens rather than what you
would like to happen. This is true of personal affairs, government and
business."

wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:17:31 +1000, Soundhaspriority
wrote:
I'm about 20 mi from downtown Philly.

I've been thinking about a 200 foot mast to get a better signal.



Mountain in the way?

Troll

LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.

And unless they happen to want the cable/satt only stations (not
everyone does, some merely want the big networks and local news), pay
30-40 bucks a month forever, versus paying maybe $100 once for an
antenna. Plus, the Dish locals seldom include all the available locals,
and only a few of the sub channels. And in some areas (like where my
father lives), they still don't offer locals at frigging all.

--
aem sends...

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:27:33 -0500, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.
That is only reasonable if you only have one tv in the house or don't
mind paying double for two tvs, triple for three etc.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:27:33 -0500, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.
That is only reasonable if you only have one tv in the house or don't
mind paying double for two tvs, triple for three etc.

????
I have six TVs in house, and one 2-head receiver. Same price as
single-head receiver, when I signed up. Unless you have a house full of
rug rats that all want to watch something different, who needs more than
2 available live feeds at once? (actually 3, counting the OTA coming
from the rabbit ears and converter box.)

--
aem sends...

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:45:09 -0500, aemeijers wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:27:33 -0500, LSMFT wrote:
Bob Villa wrote:

Has anyone here had experience with installing the newer flat-
panel,
amplified, HD, outside antennas?
Satisfactory or a gimmick?

bob
Go with Dish network and save a lot of headache.
That is only reasonable if you only have one tv in the house or don't
mind paying double for two tvs, triple for three etc.

????
I have six TVs in house, and one 2-head receiver. Same price as
single-head receiver, when I signed up. Unless you have a house full of
rug rats that all want to watch something different, who needs more than
2 available live feeds at once? (actually 3, counting the OTA coming
from the rabbit ears and converter box.)

Actually, a dual feed dish and a multiplexer will let you have any number
of receiver. One feed does "counterclockwise" polarization, the other clockwise,
then the muliplexer provides the right one to each receiver.

But it sounds really expensive.

I'm annoyed as hell at both cable and satelite. I expect to be able to
record anything I can tune and I despise their insisting that the only
equipment that they'll allow to function fully are tivos or their own
similar crap.

Right now I'm using analog cable plus digital/hdtv off an antenna.

As far as cost goes...it seems like WE have to pay for all the
pirating of their signals (cable/sat)!!!

bob

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:24:07 -0600, AZ Nomad
wrote:

[snip]

Actually, a dual feed dish and a multiplexer will let you have any number
of receiver. One feed does "counterclockwise" polarization, the other clockwise,
then the muliplexer provides the right one to each receiver.


It's been over a year since I've used satellite, but then most of
these devices were NOT multiplexors but switches. Multiplexes (called
'stackers') existed but were expensive.

But it sounds really expensive.

I'm annoyed as hell at both cable and satelite. I expect to be able to
record anything I can tune and I despise their insisting that the only
equipment that they'll allow to function fully are tivos or their own
similar crap.

You may be able to use your own DVR (as long as it can control that
cable / satellite box). It's SD but you CAN record widescreen.
Amazon.com lists a DVR with HDMI input (although there's still the
intentional defects in the signal, companies insist on calling
"protection") but it's expensive.

Right now I'm using analog cable plus digital/hdtv off an antenna.

Currently, the cable I get (Suddenlink) has 68 analog channels,
although I found something on their website about that changing to 19
"sometime ion the near future" (which says NOTHING about time).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance." -- Goethe

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:14:32 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:24:07 -0600, AZ Nomad
wrote:


You may be able to use your own DVR (as long as it can control that
cable / satellite box). It's SD but you CAN record widescreen.
Amazon.com lists a DVR with HDMI input (although there's still the
intentional defects in the signal, companies insist on calling
"protection") but it's expensive.

I have a mythtv system running with 2 analog tuners and 4 atsc tuners.
The atsc tuners currently record OTA. It's ironic that cable is the
poorer signal compared to the antenna.

Hauppauge makes a video capture box capable of recording hidef from component
video. However, I'd have to rent two cable boxes and pay for for digital
service. If I have to go that route, I might as well go with satelite as it
would permit me to own my own equipment instead of renting.