NYTimes: Rabbit Ears Perk Up for Free HDTV

[landtuna]

You should be able to use a stand alone DVR with cable. If the recorder has AV jacks on the back of the recorder you can connect a cable from your cable boxes AV out to your recorders AV in, just like a vcr.

There is no point in doing this. If you want to use a VCR-like device it is much cheaper to simply buy a VCR and front-end it with a converter box. It will not emulate a DVR because it cannot use the online guide to select programs and it cannot change channels but if you manually set the channel and record times it will work just fine.

I used this method for many years before getting tired of having to do the set up because wifey couldn't manage to learn how to do it without missing her favorite shows. That DVR was the best "marriage" investment I've ever made. ;D

And I still have my analog TV tuner card in my desktop PC (front-ended with a converter box) but I only use that when I want to record off-air for possible burning to DVD later. Digital cards are available but my PC is located on the other end of the house from the big screen (by design) and I don't feel like running cable or installing another wireless link so it can DVR.

 

[MR5229]

I too am sick of cable. I still can't figure out why people are paying up to $100 for this crap, when most of the popular stuff people watch is over the air for free ( and in pure untinkered with HD). or on the internet.

Sports. Any avid sports fan is not going to find many options OTA besides weekly football games and playoffs in other sports. And sports on the internet is usually very lacking except for some no-name college games. As a Yankee fan there are only about 20 games per year on WWOR, the rest I need cable to watch. Anyway, with bundled discounts I'm only paying about $30/month for that "crap"

If I had the option of watching my local teams on mlb.tv or nba.com, then I wouldn't need cable, as sports is one big reason I have cable. However mlb.tv wouldn't allow me to watch my local MLB teams (A's and Giants) as I live in the SF Bay Area and is blacked out here which is a bummer. The only way to watch it here is to subscribe to either cable or satellite to watch the local RSN or watch a handful of games on KNTV. Same thing regarding my local NBA team (Warriors).

 

[FreddyE1977]

If I had the option of watching my local teams on mlb.tv or nba.com, then I wouldn't need cable, as sports is one big reason I have cable. However mlb.tv wouldn't allow me to watch my local MLB teams (A's and Giants) as I live in the SF Bay Area and is blacked out here which is a bummer. The only way to watch it here is to subscribe to either cable or satellite to watch the local RSN or watch a handful of games on KNTV. Same thing regarding my local NBA team (Warriors).

Two words for ya......proxy server

 

[radiorexredux]

Thanks for the DVR advice, folks. As soon as the budget allows, I'm going to try a few things. First and foremost, I have to find an OTA HD Tuner to pipe into the Philips HD monitor. I was sitting back watching something on PBS the other night and stopped to think of the "good old days" when I was the family's official antenna-turner. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and until 1987 EVERYTHING but the local NBC affiliate was a distant catch. You want to watch Scooby-Doo? Turn the antenna for Jackson. I knew the exact position necessary to catch New Orleans (or Baton Rouge) at night. While I hate the thought that TV DXing will never be that simple again, the idea that the converter-box signal running to my HD monitor is somehow NOT the best picture I can get OTA still blows my mind. Plus, if not for the digital transition, giving cable up would not be such a palatable option (I am somehow again in the middle of nowhere, for at least a couple of years.)