HDTV Forum

Hello HDTV Devotees.
I know for the channels received via the [DirecTV] dish,that I will not need an Analog to Digital Converter box. However, Rodolfo's articles got me thinking.
I have 3 HD DVR boxes set-up. Two are the newermodels w/o An Antenna RG-6 jack.

I have horded my original ($999.00) HD10-250DVR, which does have a separate input fot OTA (over-the-air) signal, in addition to the two inputs fom the dish.
My OTA is hooked to an antenna on my roof.
Does anyone know if I WILL NEED A CONVERTER BOX?
fpnovak in Portland, OR

I have a 10-250 box too, however I no longer use it. The OTA tuner in it will only tune a digital signal, so no, you will not need a converter. Your antenna will obviously need to be capable of receiving digital channels.

Dave3putt wrote:Your antenna will obviously need to be capable of receiving digital channels.

I know what you meant, Dave, but I think we should clarify that any antenna is capable of receiving digital channels. The difference is that the digital channels are on different frequencies (some moving from UHF to VHF or vice versa) and potentially on different towers at different power levels, so an antenna that works with analog channels may or may not work with digital channels. But you don't need a special antenna for digital channels, regardless of the marketing hype.

fpnovak,

I am glad I made you think with my articles.

I am not sure I understand what do you want to view on each of your 3 HD setups (locals OTA, or locals from DirecTV, both, etc), but when you say

He's just asking if the HR10-250 Tivo will be able to receive ATSC signals OTA without a converter and I think the answer is absolutely yes. It had an ATSC tuner from day one and will be unaffected by the digital switch. No converter needed.

Why don't you buy a AM21 off-air tuner from Directv($50). It will work with Your HD DVR HR21 or HD Receiver R22.

fhurley,

Buying the AM21 was what I meant on my first post when fpnovak asked the question and the responses were still talking about "converters" not "ATSC HD STB tuners".

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=AM21

This subject was covered in the

Kirby is correct. The antenna; I bought was at the same time I purchased my dish. It is a large on the roof antenna.
The antenna picked-up the OTA HDTV signals from the local networks.
(e.g. CBS in Portland is channel 6 : the OTA is 6-1). It has alwaysworked before the frequency changes planned for Feb. 17th.
fpnovak

What type of antenna do you have (UHF, VHF, combo?) and what are the current and future frequencies for your local channels?

My OTA Antenna is supposed to be a combo (UHF/VHF).
I am not quite sure of how to answer you about your channel frequency question. what I can tell you is:
While the OTA channel for ABC can be seen as 2-1 (the analog channel for ABC is channel 2) could originally be seen in High Def. as 41-3( or something like that); when the local channels began broadcasting Hi Def. a couple years ago , (if a person did not have a set top box )-I have DirecTV, one could obtain all the primary networks at some alternate channel between channels 28 and 48 with a -3 or-5 or some odd suffix added to a whole number. I don't know if that answers your question -properly. I apologize if it doesn't.
Sincerely,
[email protected]