How to receive HD OTA channels? (1 Viewer)

[Jay Marsh]

I own a Pioneer 510. What do I have to do to receive HD signals? Can I just buy a RS antenna or do I have to buy a decoder and an antenna?
Thanks

 

[Mike I]

Yes you need an HD decoder set top box as well as antenna..There are a number of stb's on the market now...
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[Frank]

You also need to live in an area where you can receive over the air HDTV signals.
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Frank...
Turn off the TV and read these books those in power DON'T want you to read...

 

[BrettK]

You also need to live in an area where you can receive over the air HDTV signals.

When I visited a high-end home theatre store a few months ago, I was told by a salesperson about the OTA HDTV signals, and that it was somewhat hit-or-miss whether or not you received them, since it was required that one be in a line-of-sight situation with the tower.
My question is, even if local HDTV broadcasts are being, well, broadcast, is the line-of-sight necessary?
For anyone familiar with the geography of my current area, I live in Walnut Creek, CA, which is in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Which means I'm "behind" some large hills that separate us from San Francisco.
And, if such a requirement is necessary, how do you 'test' to see if you can receive HDTV broadcast signals before shelling out the big bucks?
Thanks!
Brett
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i might've been born yesterday
but i stayed up all night

 

[Les Holt]

Brett,
As someone else who lives in the East Bay (Pleasanton area), I can comment.
You're in for an uncertain ride trying to get HD signals.
A lot will depend on your own particular location and terrain, and results are unpredictable. You may get nothing, everything, or (most likely) some but not all channels in HD. You may have better luck with the Sacramento stations than the San Francisco ones.
You'll almost certainly need an outdoor, roof mounted high gain UHF antenna (like the Channel Master 4248) with a good CM preamp. Forget about rabbit ears.
Still, the currently available tuners are sensitive to multipath interference (which we have lots of due to the hills), and have trouble getting reliable reception under these circumstances.
You'll just have to try it, not really knowing what the outcome will be. If it works at all, however, it will be worth the effort because of the quality of the HD signals.
Les