811 without a contract

[snaggerbob]

can i get the locals in hi def without signing on to *E, using a 811 receiver and an antenna? my tv is hd ready.

 

[Bobby]

Only if you have a dish aimed at and locked on one of their satellites. You can't use the 811 as a stand alone HD receiver. You don't have to subscribe just aimed.

 

[BFG]

If you don't plan on using E* I would not get an 811 to use just for OTA. Buy a good OTA receiver that's been designed to receive OTA. The 811 is a cheap receiver that most people are using only because they get it free when subbing to E*

 

[snaggerbob]

what kind of ota set top do you recommend

 

[BFG]

I think the LG's are probably up there in quality.

 

[Barry Erick]

I think the LG's are probably up there in quality.

Brodcasters around here have Samsungs and every model stinks. Panasonic is also a good one. We use that to feed local to DirecTV from one of our stations. (The local is SDV 100% copy of the NTSC, but without the ghost that would otherwise be there. Dish does a good job of cleaning up the ghost and uses the analog feed)

 

[hancox]

Honestly, if you have the 811 in house now, I would keep it for the time being, and wait on the "5th generation" OTA tuners. Depending on your situation (biggest improvements are reported to come in the multipathing area), you might see a marked improvement. I'm on my 3rd OTA tuner (Samsung 151, 811, and the internal tuner to my TV), and the 811 isn't as bad as advertised.

 

[Barry Erick]

Honestly, if you have the 811 in house now, I would keep it for the time being, and wait on the "5th generation" OTA tuners. Depending on your situation (biggest improvements are reported to come in the multipathing area), you might see a marked improvement. I'm on my 3rd OTA tuner (Samsung 151, 811, and the internal tuner to my TV), and the 811 isn't as bad as advertised.

At work we have two 151's and they break up constantly only 3 miles from the antennas and my DTC110 and 811 never break up on the same signals 20 miles away. In my PC at work I have a fusion vision HD card and that does not break up, either. The panasonic I mentioned was on the same receive antenna at work with zero problems and that is now 20 miles from the xmit antenna and feeding DirecTV with the signal and never breaks up.

One good source around here and on the internet is www.copperbox.com

 

[hancox]

At work we have two 151's and they break up constantly only 3 miles from the antennas and my DTC110 and 811 never break up on the same signals 20 miles away.

Smells like multipath. An attenuator would work to cut the signal to a usable level.