OTA HD and SD STB

[Scuba Steve]

I'm a newbie, and just bought a hdtv and want to keep using my old DVR in SD until I have enough money to get a HD DVR. I can't part with not being able to pause live TV. My question though is whether or not this is possible. I have tuner in the plasma, so I know I can get hd ota channels directly, if I could just find the right antenna combo (another topic for another day). What I would like to do is run the ota cable and the STB cable into a diplexer that then runs to the antenna input in the hdtv. Theoretically, all I would need to do is switch to analog (I assume the other channels other than channel 3 - which is my STB) to watch local stations in HD, then switch back to channel 3 to watch SD. One problem I'm realizing, is that I'll never know what signal strength I would have with the locals, as I don't yet have an HD STB. Is this possible? I've heard that Directv will have local channels in HD this week in Dallas, but that would still mean that I would need and HD DVR, which is out of the question at the present with my budget.

 

[hdtvtechno]

I've heard that Directv will have local channels in HD this week in Dallas, but that would still mean that I would need and HD DVR, which is out of the question at the present with my budget.

Yes directv allready provides Local hd in dallas

Yes you will need an HD receiver that supports mpeg4 and the new 5lnb dish
either the H20 which is free after rebate
or the new Directv HR20-250 Mpeg 4 DVR available next year

 

[oljim]

Your old DVR should not be fed to TV with RF ch 3 but with S cable and red and white audio cable.
OTA will then be fed to HDTV tuner, no need to feed OTA to your old DVR