What if your cable provider doesn't have ABC in high-def?

Oh goodness. The Auburn Journal wrote a big 'ole article about how HDTV owners will not be able to receive the Super Bowl in HD because their local cable provider does not have ABC in high definition. Well, we're here to help.

The original article from the Aubrun Journal indicated that users will have to "whip our their antennas" and that is where we are going to start. Thanks to Antenna Web and Google maps, we found out that your town looks to be about 25-30 miles away from Sacramento where KXTV-DT is located. Our goal is to use the high-def signal that they are broadcasting on Channel 10.1 to pull in ABCs HD signal. To do this, you will need an ATSC tuner (ether built-in to the TV or a set-top box style) and an antenna. Antenna Web puts that signal in the red portion of the signal "pie" which means most cheap antennas will not pull in the signal; it is just to far away. Ben did a great post on how to install and use one of these antennas just the other day. But you will need to point the antenna towards the station and it might require some 1960s style tuning. Hook up the ATSC tuner and you're done. That's it. This is all you need to do.

While a good portion of people will be able to pick up the Super Bowl in HD through cable or satellite, a lot of people can't. Just a simple tuner and antenna will do the job if your local station has a digital over-the-air signal. Enjoy the game!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2006 6:51PM]

I have lived through, and participated in some of, the political battles between TV and cable, then cable and satellite, then TV and satellite.

There is an extraordinary irony in my having to use rabbit ears to watch a football game on my HD TV because US law prevents me from seeing the national network HD feed unless the local TV station gives me a waiver. In this day and age, how can we be forcing people back to this horrendously inefficient use of spectrum, just as we seemed to be getting most folks off it?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 6th 2006 11:34AM]

Just before the game started my cable was having some problems, no worries I hooked up my antenna and pulled in the exact same thing. One of my friends was astonished that the signal was coming from the antenna. He asked where I got the antenna to pull in the signal and I had to explain that any antenna can pull in hd as long as there is signal.
It is crazy how many people don't know about OTA HD.