Which HDTV tuner box will... (1 Viewer)

[Oswald Pascual]

Which HDTV tuner box will allow me to hook up my external antenna so that I may get the local HDTV signals off the air? There are so many more decoders now from Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Sony this makes it confusing. Is there an easy way to decide?
I want to hook it up primarily for my Home Theater to take advantage of any 1080i I can get a hold off. I also want to send the signals to two other TV's and hopefully control the box remotely since my other TV's are not HD capable.
Thanks Ozzie
[Edited last by Oswald Pascual on August 14, 2001 at 12:09 PM]

 

[Robert_J]

All of the DirecTV HD boxes will decode OTA HD signals. Dishnetwork 6000 model requires a plug in module and the 5000 model is for satellite HD only.
Sending signals to remote TV's will work using the RF, composite or S-video connections. But while watching HD, the box turns off all other connections. Be sure to get one with a UHF remote.
-Robert

 

[Oswald Pascual]

Thanks Robert for the quick response. I am glad that all of the Direct TV boxes will take my OTA without a special gadget needed to be added. You said that when watching HD all other outputs are shut off, is this automatically or will I require to go in the menu every time I switch from HD to analog via composites?
Also do all boxes the recieve a 720P signal simply up it to 1080i? I notive that some of these boxes say 480i or 1080i with little if any expalnation on what happens to a 720P signal.
Ozzie

 

[Robert_J]

My Dish 6000 has a toggle button (HD/SD) on the remote. I'm sure the D* boxes are the same.
720p will be DOWN-converted to 1080i. People who can view 720p say it is better than 1080i.
-Robert
[Edited last by Robert_J on August 14, 2001 at 01:00 PM]

 

[Oswald Pascual]

720P better than 1080i... hmmm. Why can't one of these boxes do both? The Direct boxes I am looking at do 1080i or 480i? There are so vague on details, and calling direct for help is useless.

 

[SteveE]

Oswald - One of the boxes does, the Panasonic TU-HDS20. While I do not own that box (RSA DTV-100 instead), the Panasonic was highly recommended in the new HDTV tuner shootout in the July/August issue of "The Perfect Vision," see the web sit "www.theperfectvison.com". It reports that the Panasonic has selectable outputs of 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i. Too bad so few televisions support 720p (Princeton, e.g.) - but at least you can run a computer monitor off the box. You can also read about the new Sony, Toshiba and Mitsubishi HDTV tuner boxes with DirectTV.
Good luck!
Steve

 

[Mike I]

The Dish 6000 outputs both 720p and 1080i, but unless your set accepts both it will convert the 720p to 1080i..
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