Hello,
I came across the CanadaHIFI forum by Google search. I'm not a super-techy or AV inclined person.
My house has one Vizio 32-inch LCD TV and four CRT TVs. Ultimately, we will replace one of those CRTs with one more HDTV. The rest of the TVs will never be replaced - more likely, they will be removed. The computer serves as our audio system.
Over time my plan is to build an HTPC with a dual TV tuner and use Windows Media Centre to make a very large PVR and media library and function as our TV tuner for one of our HDTVs.
I'm also going to install two HD Home Runs to my router. This will allow for up to four computers on our network at any one time to operate as fully functional televisions and PVRs.
In June 2010 we cut the cord (cable TV) at our house. We installed an antenna on our rooftop and now we get as much TV as we need -- all of it in glorious HD/digital -- and completely free.
The odd show on cable-only channels that we watched we can either live without, or find them elsewhere.
We get: NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW, MyTV Buffalo, PBS, ION, CBC, CBC French, Global, City TV, Sun TV, Omni 1, Omni 2, CHCH, and CTS -- all in High Definition.
We get: Retro TV, Universal Sports Network, qubo (similar to Treehouse), ION Life (similar to HGTV), and PBS Think Bright (similar to PBS) -- all in digital Standard Definition.
We get: TV Ontario in analogue (TVO will switch to digital soon).
Soon we will get: “A” Channel when it goes digital next year.
There are more channels coming. The American networks are adding digital SD sub-channels to complement their main network channel. Coming soon are rumored to be music channels, Latin American channels, and others.
I guess I’m just looking to spread the good news about free OTA TV. OTA TV isn’t for everyone – some can’t do without their MuchMusic, Discovery, History, TSN, etc. There are also those who live in areas with poor reception (blocked by trees, etc). But I’d bet there are a good many in the Greater Toronto Area or other large centres who are mainly watching the broadcast networks and just don’t know that the networks are all broadcasting in High Definition for free.
For you sports buffs out there, you could host a Super-Bowl party at your house and watch the original signal from the American broadcaster. This means you’d get the American advertisements! Most years, the ads are more entertaining than the game. Won’t you be popular!
I’m looking forward to learning from other members and sharing information I have on my subjects of interest.
Over-the-Air TV Enthusiast
Winegard HD7697P, Channel Master 7778 pre-amp, Grounded
All Major US & Canadian Networks in High Definition - 37 Total Channels - Free