Need help please

[patchs]

Hi,
Some great info on this forum and it's giving me the notion to buy a HDTV. But I need some help.
This is my idea. I want to buy one of those $700 Samsung 26-inch HDTVs with the built-in digital tuner.
I live at the bottom of an east-facing hill in a multistory house. The major city is approx. to the east, 30 miles away. There are many stations broadcasting in HD. There's another major city 60 miles away to the west, and there aren't any hills around that way.
I figure I'm going to need an outdoor antenna (it would be too easy for an indoor one) to pick up the signals from the city 30 miles away.
Does this make sense? I already have regular DirecTV, I don't want to spend a few hundred more for a new dish and receiver?
That's why I don't want to use the local cable co. (which we only use for chs. 2-13)
I would rather get HD over the air, then have to spend hundreds more for DirecTV, I'd rather wait for that to come down in price.
So do the hills and trees block HDTV signals? If I had the antenna on the roof, it would probably still be under the sightline of the hill.
Thanks for any help, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[ShadowEKU]

yes hills and trees block signal.. I am less than 30 miles from my local DMA's brodacast but cannot recieve a single thing.

You should to to http://www.antennaweb.org there they will give you an estimation on what kind of antenna you can use.

 

[patchs]

I tried antenna web, got a lot of blues and violets which means I should be using a big outdoor antenna?
Guess I'll have to wait for DirecTV HDTV to come down in price.