Advice Needed

[zeke]

I live in the Brewers Hill area and was wondering what I would need to get over the air HD reception.

I currently have Directv with a dish mounted on the third story of a building.  If I go the Directv route, will the current dish help recieve over the air broadcasts or do I need a new dish?

[Gregg Lengling]

First off there are 2 questions there.

The current dish you have is for Directv only (will not include the Directv HD channels)...for Directv HD channels you will need an oval dish with at least 2 LNB's (3 if you want showtime).

For OTA signals you really should just put an antenna up there with the dish with another feed cable (coax)...however in your area you should be able to get 4, 10, 12 and 58's digital signal with an indoor antenna without a problem.

[zeke]

Thanks so much, that is what  I was hoping.

So I went to Best Buy today & they had 2 open boxes.  1 was a Hughes reciever for 450, so I thought this should work.

I would buy the reciever, hook up some rabbit ears & get the local channels.  In a couple months I would get the oval dish & hook up directv.  The people that work there got into a huge debate.  They went back & forth saying that I would not get OTA.  They had such uncertainty that my fiance was worried about the purchase.  Finally, they got a manager that said it would work for OTA.  So I get ready to pay & they tell me you would need to activate the card within 30 days.  So I just said forget it & walked out.

Im going to go to Flanners tomorrow and figure it out.

BTW, will the current dish work as an OTA antennae?

Will the oval dish work as the OTA antennae?

[Gregg Lengling]

Originally posted by zeke
.

BTW, will the current dish work as an OTA antennae?

Will the oval dish work as the OTA antennae?

The answers are NO and NO....a dish is not an OTA antenna...it is a satellite antenna....you need a seperate antenna for OTA.

[Tom Snyder]

Which Best Buy were you at?

I suspect you'll get exponentially better answers from the guys at Flanner's.

[zeke]

I was at the Tosa Best Buy.  They were very confused.

I just got back from Flanners.  There was a world of difference.  They know exactly what is going on.

I bought  the Hughes system with the Terk antennae.  The $500 deal seemed too good to pass up.

I have it set up with a very cheap pair of rabbit ears.  I have 12-1 coming in & that's it.  It does get come in and go out.  I think I might head to radio shack & get an amplified pair of rabbit ears.

[Matt Heebner]

That Best Buy is completely terrible for anything other than getting a DVD  or CD. First that store is WAY too small, they just dont have the space that a Best Buy needs. Second, every time I have talked to someone there about anything, either they need to have a conference with 5 other employee's or they don't have a clue about what you are talking about.
Flanners, Soundstage, Audio Emporium.....those are the places to get advice and information, and see a better "quasi"-calibrated set to make an informed decision. I think that patronizing smaller local A/V shops is the way to go!

Matt