I just bought an LCD TV, what kind of antenna do I get?

Question

I just bought and took home an Olevia 232V 32" LCD TV. The salesclerk at Circuit City didn't tell me about any accessory cables and I forgot to ask about them.

I don't have my cable set up yet in my new apartment. But I plan on ordering it soon.

Someone told me to go out and buy an HD Antenna now. Will it be obsolete if I get order Cable TV later on this week?

Thanks in advance....


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Ok - the first 4 answers have been helpful but I'm still fuzzy on details.

Should I go out and buy an antenna or should I wait until I get cable?

I don't want to buy an antenna only to find out it's pointless having one once I get cable installed later this week.

Answer 1

Acually you can buy a inexpensive set of rabbit ears to get you by till you get cable. These will pick up over the air HD without much of a problem. The word HD in reference to an antenna is a marketing ploy to get more $$$ out of the consumer.

Indoor - Antiference Silver Sensor (about $35) or the Radio Shack UHF double bow-tie ($17); good for applications near or not too distant the station transmitters.

Hope that helps.

UPDATE:

If you TV has multiple inputs you can use your HD cable through your HDMI input on your tv and leave the antenna hooked up to watch over the air HD. Most TVs today have several inputs. Mine for example has 2 Antenna inputs and a total of 8. Some cable companies don't carry all the locals in HD so I just switch inputs on the remote to antenna and then I can watch all the over the air HD channels. It's just like switching to say video 1 on an older TV to watch DVD's. Your TV manual should explain in detail all of your connection options.

Answer 2

The proper antenna depends on where you live. I live in the San Francisco Bay area, and I can get great HDTV reception over the air with a basic rabbit ears antenna. (I bought mine for $3 from the goodwill store). The only thing you need to bear in mind is that antennas marked "HDTV" on the box are usually exactly the same as the ones that aren't - they're just more expensive. What the antenna is doing is exactly the same if your TV is HD or old fashioned. Thus, it depends on where you live, because some antennas are designed to better pull signals from far away, some need to be mounted outdoors, etc.

Answer 3

You can buy an HD antenna and watch the regular (commercial--ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.) networks with it, just like people did in the "old days" with rabbit ears You'll be able to receive any HD programming they broadcast over the air. When you get cable in your apartment, be prepared for a shock! You'll have to buy a (pricey) HD package from the cable company in order to receive HD signals there. If your TV has more than one input (HDMI or what have you), you might want to keep your antenna plugged into one of them.

Answer 4

Don't even THINK about an HD antenna....that's the MOST BOGUS sales pitch I ever heard....

Those signals are still capable of reception with a NORMAL TV antenna...they don't have to be shaped differently to recieve digital signals...they have to be shaped and tuned to recieve UHF frequencies.....which by the way are actually a Sine Wave signal, the same as the OLD ones.....

Answer 5

No matter what tv you get you will need an antenna. You have to have one otherwise you won't pick up any channels. The built in tunners mean they can recive and produce HDTV

Answer 6

With an antenna, you only get your local stations, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, CW and any independents in the area. If you MUST have ESPN, CNN, FX, A&E, etc, then cable or satellite TV are your only choices. There are also new services from Verizon (FiOS) and AT&T (U-Verse), but they are only in limited areas now.