I've seen people talking about this alot, and I'm kind of new to the whole HDTV thing and I was wondering how exactly to set this up. I recently got a Samsung DL-P5063W and a new HD cable box (Motorola DCT 5106). I get a few HD channels like ESPN and Discovery, but I am not totally sure how to get the main broadcast channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX) in HD. I thought that the Motorola HD converter would be able to show the primetime shows in HD, but they aren't. Please help a newbie here, I need to figure this out in time for the Super Bowl!
Anonymous
Posted on
Comcast cable for example usually includes digital local channels in the lineup, apparently your cable company does not, and you should double-check this with them
otherwise see if your Motorola box has an antenna-in input and if so hook up a 35 dollar HDTV antenna and point it toward the major antenna farm, preferably near a window using a longer coax lead-in if necessary
last resort would cost you 200 to 300 dollars at Circuit City to buy a Samsung or other brand OTA digital settop box and add an HDTV antenna, and hook up the component cables (or better) from box to TV along with rca's for audio to tv or stereo
note Fox (if you can get it) as a general rule only switches to true 720p hi def right at Superbowl time, so you its hard to test it out ahead of time
Klaus
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Nathan: You should have gotten a channel line-up card from your provider. The available HD channels are separate from the regular broadcast channels and should be shown somewhere in the channel line-up. Beware that some cable companies do not broadcast all digital (hd or sd) local channels. They are in a battle with locals over who gets to squeeze the most revenue out of the consumer with the new(but mostly redundant) digital broadcasts.
If you cant get them over the air, call your cable/sat provider to see if you are elligible for the East/West coast local channels. Yea, you wont care about their local news broadcasts, but at least you'll have their programming...Primetime shows, sports, events...etc., etc...in HD. Many will find that they can add those to their service at no charge. I did that for fox until my local fox boosts their signal to high power.