High End TV's For Poor Signal Areas

Over-the-air (OTA) reception plays a minor role in HDTV. Most people get programming signals from cable or DSS dishes, or off the Internet.


I happen to own a high gain rooftop OTA antenna with an antenna rotor, installed ten feet above my chimney, supplementing my DirecTV dish. I enjoy many of the OTA broadcasts and don't care for the fact that the subchannel programming is not carried by the cable and DSS providers. Quite often I find the subchannels have more compelling content than do the main channels.


I live at the extreme Southern tip of Silicon Valley, and my 60-odd OTA channels are clustered on three different headings on Mt. Allison, Mt. San Bruno, and a massive broadcast tower called Sutro Tower. That is why I own an antenna rotor. If OTA broadcasts were my only signal source I would probably own more than one antenna with signal combiners that would mix the broadcasts on various frequencies and headings into one antenna cable.


The key to good reception in a fringe area is to consult with a skilled antenna specialist who will design and install an OTA antenna system for you. He will consider your location and distance from the broadcasts, and also the terrain around your house and the terrain in between you and the broadcasts.


Differences in performance between HDTV tuners are relatively minor, and the key to suppressing the multipath signals you mention is a good high gain and highly directional OTA antenna.


For explicit advice on receiving the HDTV stations in your area, go to the AVS Forum "Local HDTV Info and Reception" and seach for a thread with the title "Twinsburg, OH - OTA". If you cannot find one, try searching for other nearby towns.

Tuner technology HAS reached a plateau, it's the case that there are a few outstanding linear ICs made for the RF section of a tuner, and a few outstanding digital ICs made for the backend. These are packaged into preassembled hybrid tuner modules by manufacturers. It simply is not possible to design and implement a tuner out of discrete components that will equal or exceed the performance of an off-the-shelf, fairly inexpensive hybrid tuner module. These chipsets and tuners have been through multiple iterations of the design and performance is extremely high. That is the main reason that HDTV manufacturers compete with features, apps, and video processor options.


The RF performance advantage is all in the antenna system. You need to get the biggest antenna with the most elements as high off the ground as possible. The large number of elements narrows the "beam" of the antenna, increasing the gain and improving the rejection of multipath signals. A high gain and highly selective antenna improves all HDTVs.


If you live in a townhouse or multiple unit, you may have options such as mounting a medium-sized amplified antenna with a rotor in an attic space. In some cases, conventional antennas or DSS dishes can be mounted on balconies. The idea is to get the largest antenna as high as possible in your situation. Anything that is inside your room performs poorly by comparison.