Hi-def OTA Receivers

melbertbloosfan · October 3, 2003

Okay, I am looking to buy a used/refurbished OTA HDTV receiver - prolly off Ebay. I am a cheap sob, so the only one I am really looking at seriously right now is the Samsung SIR-T151. Is anyone using this one, or maybe another one? I don't want to get too expensive as probably in a year or so, I will go with a dish or direct tv + ota tuner combo. But for now (read football season) I would like to get somehting that is functional but not too pricey. The local towers are about 50 miles away and with my attic antennae, I should be able to receive the local digital broadcasts.

Any ideas on the Sammy or feedback on buying elcetronics thru ebay?

Thanks for the help, gents!

Dihappy · October 3, 2003

I have cable, however i have heard that Direct TV HD receivers have an ota tuner built in. DirecTV offers Samsung or Huges with their HD Deal. (no guarantee which you will get.)

Most folks prefer the Samsung. One of the reasons is it outputs simultaneou HD for your HDTV and std broacast for your other tvs in your home. The other option is to go with a Sony or Zenith and negotiate a credit instead of a free receiver.

Others here have said the OTA tuner on Sony/Zenith receivers (made by LG) are superior to the Hughes or Samsung.

The Sony HD300 should be due out in October.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/HDTV.jsp

2) DIRECTV “Try It, Like It or Your Money Back”– Customers who purchase a DIRECTV DVR and are not completely satisfied can call DIRECTV within 30 days of activation and the company will refund the purchase price of their DIRECTV® DVR up to $100, and replace it with a standard DIRECTV Receiver at no additional cost. This offer is available to new and existing DIRECTV customers Oct. 18, 2003 through Feb. 28, 2004

At 50 miles i think you'll need something like an attic or outdoor antenna, and maybe even a signal amp.

Once you connect your OTA antenna to the antenna jack on the back of the STB, do a channel scan for OTA channels. The scan will add your local OTA channels to DirecTV program guide.

There is no input switching to go from DirecTV to local OTA channels, just hit CH + or CH -. The local channels are channels 2-69. Channels 70-999 are DirecTV

If your HDTV has a DVI connection, id go with the Samsung SIR-T160 but it aint cheap

The quality of video connections, in descending order are:

DVI, VGA, component, s-video, composite.

The DVI connection provides and all-digital path from the receiver to the TV, therefore there's no chance of introducing signal artifacts from the digital to analog conversion that occurs in the other connection types.

If you've got an HD set with a DVI input, I wouldn't even look at anything without a DVI output.

01Burb · October 3, 2003

I have a SIR-T150 and am very happy with it. Bought it for the '02 Olympics. Where I live I can pick up 17 HD stations OTA with a fixed antenna in the attic.

I did not buy it from ebay but look at the feedback, ask questions and you should be OK. I have bought 5 pieces of audio equipment from Ebay with no probs.

The picture on the 150 is awesome, I expect the 151 to be no different.

BTW, if you go to http://www.antennaweb.org and type in your address, it will give you the direction of every TV station accessible from your location including the HD stations.

Also....if you do not have an antenna, the best cheap one to get is a '4 bay bow tie' for about $30. Works really well with HDTV signals.

For more info you can also check out http://www.hometheaterspot.com Loads of info there.

Good luck. MNF is awesome as were last years CBS playoff games.

melbertbloosfan · October 3, 2003

Thanks, gents. I have used the antenna site and our locals are using the same towers for digital and analog, so at least I wont have to go up and turn my attic antenna! I am having a tuff time spending $225 (plus shipping) for a used/refurb on ebay when I just found that wally world has the Sammy for $298 NIB! I think I will go with the wally world option. My plan is to get the HD sat hardware package with tax return early 2005 (gotta payoff the HDTV with this return). So this will tide me over till then.

My main reason for asking is that most of the folks over on HomeTheaterSpot are "bleedin edge" first-adopter types and to them the SIR-T151 is old news and therefore not much worth discussing. GMTC has more "real" people whose usage (and perhaps budgets) more jibe with mine own.