My television is equipped with a QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) tuner (as well as NTSC and ATSC tuners), which allows me to see digital cable channels without a set-top box. I get the lowest-cost cable there is because all I want are the local channels (including the must-carry digital broadcast channels) and a few cable channels such as C-SPAN and WGN.
Reception of digital must-carry channels is pretty poor. I often get pixelation, signal disruptions, drop-outs, and not infrequently lose the signal completely. So I called Comcast “customer service.”
After waiting on hold for five minutes, I got some flunky in another state that tried to convince me that I had to have a set-top box in order to get “pure digital,” even though a set-top box would be nothing more than an external QAM tuner for my application. Oh, and did I mention that a set-top box runs about $15 per month? I’m only paying about $14 a month for cable, so this would double my bill while giving me no additional services.
So I took my TV upstairs (it’s in the basement, normally) and hooked up rabbit ears and am happily watching the All-Star Game in HD without any dropouts at all. Which makes me wonder, why do I even have cable? I could get a roof-top antenna and distribute it throughout the house just like cable, but with better reception. Is C-SPAN and WGN really worth the Comcast headache?
Hmmmm….. Maybe it’s time to cut the cable.
My brother-in-law built his own HDTV antenna and said that it works great.
I’m not sure if this was the exact build he used but a serch of Coat hanger HDTV antenna will give you plenty of options.
http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/
I was tempted to do the same thing. The only thing that was preventing me from going that route was my reliance on the Comcast’s dual HD DVR. I couldn’t find a good alternative for OTA. To build my own media PC almost negated any savings from dropping cable at the time. Although now the cost of those components have gone down but Comcast has increased the HD selection. Creating a new dilema for me.