I am new to the off-air HDTV and already have a relatively old Sony rear projection HTDV ready TV and an antenna which I bought from the Source. The antenna is installed on balcony with good view of south (currently aimed between CN tower and Buffalo).

I searched channels on my TV last night and picked up mostly Canadian channels and of course analog signal because I don't still have HDTV receiver.

My questions:

-Do I need HDTV receiver to pickup Buffalo's channels (ABC, CBS, ...)? If not, what do you think the problem is?

- Where can I find local supplier of cheap HDTV receiver in GTA area?

- What brand and model of HDTV receiver do you recommend.

Thanks

There is no such thing as an "HDTV recieve"r.

Broadcast television is divided into two standards. The old NTSC (analog) standard, and the newer ATSC (digital) standard. HD programming is an optional feature of the ATSC standard. Not all digital signals are HD, but most now have some form of HD programming.

Most newer TVs should already have a ATSC/DTV tuner built in.

To answer your question, you DO need an ATSC tuner to pick up Buffalo channels.

But if you already have an HDTV, I doubt you need to buy any additional equipment. Just hook the coaxial cable to the rear of the TV, and pick DTV (instead of "Air") as the source. :)

For Buffalo you need an ATSC tuner, this can be obtained one of two ways, either through buying a television that already has one, or a seperate set top box.   A quick search shows that only crappy sha... er The Source has one set top box, for $90.....   Can't say how good it is, so I would check the return policy before getting one.   If the TV is more then about 7 years old, I would wonder about how much life it has left, you don't want the spend $100 on a set top box if the TV is going to give out in a few months.   You need to be careful with TV's though, unlike in the US they don't have to warn you about NTSC only TV's You need to check the specifications to make sure it has ATSC ability.

I have also noticed with the exception of CICA (TVO) all of the Toronto stations now have digital versions.  Not all programming is HD, I find some programs were made available to the station in 4:3 letterbox, and on an HDTV it comes out as having the black stripe top and bottom and with black bars on the sides. even in HD mode.

As per the OP. It is an old Sony but HDTV Ready, meaning that is ready to process the HDTV higher resolution signals but it does not have an ATSC tuner otherwise it would be an HDTV TV set , instead of just a Ready one.

The FTA Satellite stores sell a Converter box for 55 cad that allows you to receive the new Digital signals (all from US are now Digital only) but it would only be in SD resolution since they are intended for the Old CRT Tv's. Those also have a passthrough capability that passes the analog signal to the TV , which in some cases is very handy and convenient.

For what you want , Samsung for instance makes ATSC standalone tuners that obviously send an HDTV signal via Component at least to the TV. But I have no idea where to buy thsoe locally.

BTW , As usual I almost forget, Welcome to the forum.

Hi there, I am new to this and also live in RH. On one of my sets without a ATSC tuner, I bought the KWORLD SA290-Q from newegg dot ca for about $70 and it outputs in 720p component. You might want to compare the cost of that vs buying a new TV altogether as you can probably pick one up with a built in tuner already for a couple hundred bucks.

I can pick up more US channels (NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS..) on another Sony set with its built in tuner, but that could be a function of this set being right next to the antenna with almost no cable run, while the kworld is at the other end of the house. I plan to pick up a preamp over the weekend to see if it can eliminate the signal loss from the cable.

While visiting the Cyber-E-Store yesterday I ran across this ATSC tuner with HDMI output for under $100..

[Link: cyberestore.com]

If your old Sony has HDMI inputs then this might be the best way to go. Good luck!