Archive for category Terrestrial television broadcasts

The ClearStream 2 Outdoor/Indoor Antenna

Jun 20

Posted by alan in Antennas, Antennas Direct, HDTV, OTA, OTA HD, Outdoor antennas, over the air, over the air HD, Terrestrial television broadcasts | No Comments

ClearStream 2 Antenna

Antennas Direct has just introduced the ClearStream 2 Indoor/Outdoor Antenna ($79). It’s 50 percent smaller than previous models and can pick up digital signals broadcast from within a range of 50 miles. According to Anntennas Direct’s website, the ClearStream 2 has the range and power of antennas up to 5 times its size,  delivers TV signals from spread-out broadcast towers, and offers flexible aiming characteristics with an extremely wide beam width of 70 degrees.

With the analog shutoff, owning a good antenna is becoming even more important because digital signals have a much smaller cutoff range than analog signals. For instance, a weak analog signal would still display a “snowy” picture on your television, but with digital signals, no picture or a partial “frozen” picture would display as it tends to be all or nothing. Expect to see even more new antenna designs as the industry sees a resurgence.

The ClearStream 2 is being sold for $79 on Antennas Direct’s website and comes with a 90-day, no-fault return guarantee and a lifetime warranty.


Helpful Links:

ClearStream 2 HDTV outdoor antenna at Antennas Direct.

ClearStream 2 press release.

How to Find All the HD Channels in Your Area: WhereIsHD.com

Mar 23

Posted by alan in Antennas, Cable Television, Cable TV, HDTV, High Definition, OTA, OTA HD, over the air, Terrestrial television broadcasts | No Comments

Ever wonder how much HD is available in your zip code? Where Is HD.com is a website that has the answers. You type in your zip code, and the site lists all the digital channels available in your area. The info is broken up by individual cable companies, which is useful for comparison shopping when choosing a cable provider, or by local broadcast channels (the over the air channels picked up by antenna). The site also shows what percentage of each channel’s content comes in HD. An example screenshot of the site showing a Chicago zip code is featured below.

WhereIsHD Screenshot of Chicago HD channels

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Record Over-the-Air HD With Series 3 HD TiVO

Mar 15

Posted by alan in OTA, OTA HD, over the air, over the air HD, Series 3 TiVO HD, Terrestrial television broadcasts | No Comments

The TiVO Series 3 HD can record over-the-air high definition content.

You don’t need to have HD cable television in order to record high def content with an HD TiVO. The Series 3 HD TiVO is capable of recording local HD broadcasts picked up from an antenna. In fact, local over-the-air HD might be the only HD version of some television shows or sporting events available to viewers. This can be the case when the local cable provider has not upgraded their infrastructure to supply the channel in HD. Many people could not watch the last Super Bowl in HD for this reason.

The wide availability and abundance of over-the-air HD content , and the fact that it’s free, is one reason for the recent surge in antenna sales, as noted in a recent Newsweek article. Over-the-air HD broadcasts also have less compression than cable HD content, which can be important when suffering the double whammy of the broadcaster’s compression and the TiVO’s compression.

If you don’t have cable television but receive enough local digital broadcast channels, the Series 3 TiVO is still a great purchase. It can increase the amount of HD content available to you whenever you want it. If you compare the long-term savings of dropping cable television against the cost of an HD TiVO along with a Blu-ray player and  Netflix  and an XBOX 360 or Apple TV, you’ll save money by going for a pay-per-content model rather than cable television’s subscription model. The HD TiVo also allows you to download some digital content as well when combined with an Internet connection.

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