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Yeah I know, but it has nothing to do with Hefner.....
A somewhat little known secret in HDTV involves the 1950's era rabbit ears antennae. A buddy bought a plasma HDTV over the summer and had a knowledgable mutual friend set it up. Something about the FCC rules for the hdtv industry (recall that in 2009 normal tv's will not catch an airborne analog signal anymore) required that a certain area of the broadcast spectrum to be dedicated to HDTV signals over the airwaves. That means certain broadcasters are sending both SDTV (standard definition analog signals) as well as HDTV signals for free over UHF (VHF?) frequencies, and if you have an HDTV you can see those digital broadcasts with just rabbit ears. Given enough variety in your broadcast area (or limited personal expectations) you could get basic digital HDTV service without cable or satellite subscriptions. I think this rule was a compromise to go to the digital broadcast standard so that the cable/satellite industry could not control 100% of the transmissions to the users.
Not that there is great variety in those signals right now, but all signals will go digital in 2009. So when buying an HDTV, the practical solution is to buy a set with as many inputs as possible, and set up your tv with cable or satellite) on input 1 for the greatest variety, rabbit ears on input 2 for possible other signals or a clearer alternative signal for a cable sourced channel, and your DVD player(regular or HD/DVD) on input 3. Then as you set up your channels, you will note that certain channels on your cable may not be HDTV, or if HDTV, they are not as clear as you would like, but the rabbit eared airborne signal for the same broadcast may be stronger and clearer than your cable signal. So just switch between inputs 1 and 2 for the best signal once you know where the best source is coming from. Not sure, but this may mean you also have a choice to see a program in HDTV via the ears in full screen 16:9 aspect ratio versus 3:4 ratio (letterbox)from an SDTV signal via cable.
We ran 75 ohm cable inside the wall up to the rabbit ears in the attic and by trial and error played with the directional orientation of the ears for the optimal airborne signal. Ask the dweeb in Bestbuy if this is possible and watch his head explode. You can get the rabbit ears at Radio Shack, or look in your junk drawer where you stashed the ears that came with your last analog TV purchase.
I hope I have all this right. I also learned never to go up in an attic in Houston in July. Hope this helps.
posted by 67.86.16...
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