Getting free HD channels over-the-air

ClearStream1 Antenna

Getting HD channels for free is not rocket science. And, it has nothing to do with an illegal cable hook-up that your neighbor can set up for fifty bucks. Television, in case anyone forgot, is actually free. Way, way, back before cable and satellite, before the HBOs and the Showtimes, people used to watch television without subscriptions. They just sat through the commercial breaks (which we still do by the way), and those commercials paid for the networks to run. Full Story

More TV viewers opting to watch online and over-the-air

TechCrunch wrote an article today which reports 600,000 television viewers pulled-the-plug on paid subscriptions in 2009 (adding up to about 800,000 over the last two years). The article, (citing a report from Convergence Consulting Group), estimates 1.6 million people will use other methods of watching television shows and movies (including over-the-internet and over-the-air) by the end of 2011. The studies from Convergence attribute much of the decline in paid subscribers to the growth of online viewing, using websites such as Hulu and Netflix. Full Story

Mobile DTV to emerge in 2010

One of the highlights of CES 2010 was the hype about local broadcasts “going mobile” and essentially creating a new bandwidth for video delivery to smaller sized devices including cellphones, portable televisions and automotive displays. The signals are delivered alongside the same 6MHz channel your digital standard and HD signals are sent. Full Story

Is HD television really that great?

A press release from Comcast this week cites a Leichtman study showing close to 50 percent of US households will own an HDTV by the end of the year. But the ironic part is the same release says that only 36 percent of the HDTV owners were told how to get HD programming. A separate study done by Frank N. Magid Associates (from a recent MultiChannel article) says a whopping 14 million HDTV owners aren’t even viewing HD content — which amounts to a staggering 1/3 of HDTV owners. Full Story

Getting free HD channels

Did you know you don’t have to subscribe to cable, satellite, or IPTV services to get HD channels? A limited number of high-definition channels are available over-the-air for free, you just need an antenna and HDTV. Full Story

DTV tips – getting better HD over-the-air

DTV transition – this time it’s for real

The digital transition is just two days away, and according to Knowledge Networks one in four TV households in the U.S. have prepared themselves for the transition by either purchasing a digital TV, acquiring a digital-to-analog converter, or adding television service from a provider. Full Story

The week in HD – a wrap up

Here are some of the more important stories of the week having to do with high-definition (HD) television, gaming and technology. If there is anything you feel we may have missed please use the comments below to share with other readers. Full Story

This week’s HD wrap up

In our weekly wrap-up for news related to high-definition television, products and gaming, here are some noteworthy stories you may have missed.

FCC releases new rules for the DTV transition
New guidelines released Friday from the FCC will require broadcasters to provide viewers with more information about antennas and converter boxes. More importantly, the rules will allow broadcasters to pull the analog plug starting March 17 if they can claim financial hardship resulting from the continuation of analog until June 12. Multichannel Full Story Full Story

This week’s HD wrap-up

Here’s a look at some of the mentionable happenings this week in HD.

The White House Gets an HD Radio
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs mentioned he doesn’t even own a radio so the HD Digital Radio Alliance sent one over to the White House — a Sony XDR-S10HDiP with iTunes Tagging and iPod dock. E-Gear Full Story

DTV coupon exchange and resources

If you haven’t got your federally funded digital converter coupon yet, you may be one of those who finally took note of the transition and are now waiting in line for unused coupons to expire. If you don’t want to wait, the digital converters are available at retail stores and are not that much of an investment. $50 for free digital television forever? It’s not a bad deal. Full Story

Some TV stations going digital

Today was the planned transition to digital television across America. While the Obama administration delayed the mandatory transition until June 12 due to lack of preparedness and the unavailability of digital converter coupons, hundreds of stations will go ahead and convert to digital. Full Story

Up and down about the DTV transition

I’ve been mainly up for the DTV transition to happen on its planned Feb. 17 date. Digital is the future, and analog is getting in the way. The newly acquired bandwidth will provide new channels for emergency and public services, cell phones, more television programming, wireless internet, and I’ve heard even satellite TV transmissions. Full Story

DTV transition back on schedule

Earlier this week we thought the bill to delay the digital TV transition was going to pass, and we’d all be twiddling our thumbs waiting for the 4 month extended period to go by. But yesterday the bill failed to pass the House. Now Feb. 17 is back on the calendar. Full Story

Counting down to the DTV transition

With the DTV transition now only a month away, you may be wondering how flawlessly the conversion will take place. If the test done in Wilmington, N.C. back in September ‘08 is any indication, we will have phone lines flooded with calls about missing television stations. And while the calls from that particular city only ran in the hundreds, multiply that by the number of cities in the U.S. and you would say the FCC better have some extra phone operators that day. Full Story