Ok, so I am going to jump into Dish with their TurboHD Silver package. I currently don't have any HD programming, and this package seems to fit my girlfriend and I perfectly with no filler that we won't watch.

My question is, should I get the locals for $5 more per month? I just checked Dish's website, and all of my locals are available in HD except for PBS. Which is kind of sad really since I watch some shows on there regularly. We do get ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in HD though according to their site and the location where we live.

I have an HDTV with an OTA tuner, so I can probably get most of them with a pretty cheap UHF antenna. Should I just do that, or spend the extra $5 per month? I heard if you don't add locals, they aren't in the guide, and they are a PITA to record. How true is that?

Honestly, if the $5 saves major headaches and having to put an antenna in my living room, I might be more willing to spend it.

Also, what is up with PBS? Why no HD? Will I be able to get it in HD with an antenna? Thanks for any advice!

From the information you provide it is impossible to say whether you'll be able to receive your local PBS channel via an OTA antenna.

Why not find your local thread here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45

and ask folks there your questions?

Ok, so I am going to jump into Dish with their TurboHD Silver package. I currently don't have any HD programming, and this package seems to fit my girlfriend and I perfectly with no filler that we won't watch.

My question is, should I get the locals for $5 more per month? I just checked Dish's website, and all of my locals are available in HD except for PBS. Which is kind of sad really since I watch some shows on there regularly. We do get ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in HD though according to their site and the location where we live.

I have an HDTV with an OTA tuner, so I can probably get most of them with a pretty cheap UHF antenna. Should I just do that, or spend the extra $5 per month? I heard if you don't add locals, they aren't in the guide, and they are a PITA to record. How true is that?

Honestly, if the $5 saves major headaches and having to put an antenna in my living room, I might be more willing to spend it.

Also, what is up with PBS? Why no HD? Will I be able to get it in HD with an antenna? Thanks for any advice!

Adding locals to your Dish service should be worth it. For $5, you get local HD beamed straight to your dish. And yes, they will be on your program guide.

As to PBS, if you are using a DVR that has an OTA input (most satco DVRs/boxes do), that signal will be sent to the box & program info available on guide. DVR treats it just like a sat signal. DVR will record/pause/ff/etc with OTA just as it will with sat signals.

That said, if you have stellar OTA reception in your area, you could skip the $5/month and get all local HD OTA & feed it to the Dish box. Personally, I have DirecTv & live in an area of town with weak digital/HD OTA (too many giant, old trees in all directions). Only HD station I get with any reliability is actually PBS - the 1 local D* does not offer here. So I get locals sans PBS from D* (although they don't charge for locals - but we customers are still paying for 'em, just not up front on the bill).

As to PBS HD, generally (someone correct me if need be) PBS stations send 2 digital signals out to their area. The "local" feed & the natl one, which is HD. That's how it works in my area.