Most places in America now have access to over-the-air HD programming.  The same way you can pick up local network channels with an antenna, you can pick them up now in HD.   But you have to have an HD tuner in your TV. 

A true HDTV will have an ATSC tuner, which is able to pick up, decode and maintain the HD channels available over the air.  Some HDTVs will have both and ATSC and an NTSC (standard TV) tuner, to accommodate either signal, or picture in picture support.

An HD ready TV can display HD resolutions, (through Component, DVI, or HDMI) but not from an antenna.   You will have to have an HD receiver (which are still hard to find) or order HD programming through your cable/satellite TV provider and use a set top box.

Of course, if you want any of the ‘cable’ or premium channels in HD, you will have to get them from your provider, regardless of the tuner you have.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Technical Marks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.