Why Buy an HDTV Antenna?

Picture perfectionists

Off-Air High Definition TV antennas provide improvements to subscription HDTV services from the major national providers and grant free access to local HDTV programming for any set equipped to receive the digital signal.  HDTV pictures carry five times as much information as traditional broadcast signals, necessitating the use of special tuners to decode the complex digital information. 

As the United States continues its move toward becoming a completely digital nation, our broadcast networks have expanded their use of HD technology.  Local stations broadcast their programming in the HD format for free, although in most cases, it never reaches a compatible receiver.

For an additional fee, providers of satellite pay television offer HD programming to their subscribers.  However, transmitting local HD signals has proved more arduous than previously believed for the big companies, so these HD packages generally only include national stations and exclude local affiliates (broadcast stations like ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX). 

Although trial runs in selected markets have resulted in spotty coverage, for the vast majority of paying HDTV customers, owning the set and subscribing to a monthly service will not result in the availability of local programming in the HD format.  HDTV antennas fill this gap.

Act locally

With a HD-compatible television or some other form of HDTV receiver, any household can mount a HDTV antenna and receive local programming in super-detailed, brilliant quality.

Choosing and installing an antenna can be relatively painless.   Several websites can calculate the best shape and style of antennae for a home based on the input of the address.

Briefly, the selection of an antennae will depend on how high the user can mount it and how local geography affects reception.  Next, the antenna should be connected to the external receiver or to the built-in tuner using the shortest length of cable possible.  Certified installers can generally perform the work in a very short amount of time at a reasonable rate, although the do-it-yourself set will certainly have little difficulty.

Subscribers to pay HDTV services will be able to enjoy local programming in addition to the national movie, news, sports, and music channels.  As an added benefit, users of satellite television will enjoy improved service during inclement weather. 

Non-subscribers will be able to take advantage of the same local HDTV programming.  HDTV antennas also work for non-digital broadcast television, improving the clarity of reception for all traditional, broadcast channels.

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