Tonight I got a new DVD recorder with built-in digital tuner and have made a demonstration video of the performance on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Jqxo_L3DI

I am amazed by the picture quality, especially with just a little bow-tie antenna! One of the channels does exhibit the digital break-up due to weak signal but on most channels it is crystal clear. I can now get 2 channels from the public TV station.
I've got the order in for the coupons and did see the standalone converters at Wally but I did want recording capability so I got the combo unit. I'll use the converters in the barn or in my downtown office.
If you have not seen digital TV converted to analog on an old TV you'll be very pleased with the results if they are like mine!

Chad, that's very encouraging, I must say. That's the same route I'd like to go... I'm lucky enough to have an outdoor antenna with a rotator!
I do have two questions, if I may?
1. What's the terrain like around your place?
2. What's the connection from the recorder to the TV? Did you need to add an RF modulator, or does the recorder (hopefully!) have a built-in RF modulator output to, say, channel 3 or 4?

Tom

I must admit that I too am becoming fond of no ghosting, no interference, no fuzziness, and more channels to choose from.

It seems like every local channel has at least one other channel. My PBS station has three channels!

I haven't run into the signal dropping as much, but maybe that's cos I live fairly close to the transmitters, and I built myself a pretty good antenna.

EDIT: Here's a picture of my antenna. It's made from wood, coat hangers, and electrical wire, and the leads were directly soldered to a piece of coax cable. It works great for digital reception. If anybody tells you that you need a fancy digital certified antenna, you can tell em to take a hike.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/mrx3750/antenna.png

The only modifications I plan on making are painting it, and when I get enough cable, mounting it on my roof. As of right now, it stands 6 feet off the ground, and has brick walls on two sides of it, yet it still brings in my local digital channels at full strength.

Nice picture! Thats a classic Zenith design. I have the converters on the way, also. I plan on using mine exclusively for the older tv's, since the main TV's in my house are already receiving cable via a DTV box.

I too feel a little better about the digital switchover, I am for sure putting that antenna on my garage this summer! { I wasn't going to until I saw this!} BTW that is a nice Chromacolor II!
Although I am not nor will I be happy about being forced to hook a Chinese converter box to a painstakingly cleaned and aligned American made tuner.

wow! i may have to dig out my old antenna set up, with a rotor, amp and antenna, i used to get channels in a 300 mi radius (no kidding here) i wonder how many i can get now!

Chad, that's very encouraging, I must say. That's the same route I'd like to go... I'm lucky enough to have an outdoor antenna with a rotator!
I do have two questions, if I may?
1. What's the terrain like around your place?
2. What's the connection from the recorder to the TV? Did you need to add an RF modulator, or does the recorder (hopefully!) have a built-in RF modulator output to, say, channel 3 or 4?

Tom

Tom, the terrain between my house and the TV towers is pretty much all flat open prairie. The towers range between 2 and 30 miles away or so. Apparently according to the manual, the DVD unit/digital tuner does not have a built in RF modulator...it has an antenna output but not sure what function that serves...maybe just a pass-through from the input? I have the composite video output/audio hooked up to a seperate RF modulator.

Okay, that answers a lot of questions for me; the flat terrain doesn't have anything in the way to reflect or block signals, so that explains to me why you're getting so many channels. Me, I'm stuck in a valley, and there are a LOT of hills, forests, and trees between me and the transmitters. So no doubt my mileage will vary from yours! And methinks I'll probably have to get a modulator as well; I do believe the antenna output is indeed just a pass-through.
Thank you much for the answers; they're a huge insight and help for me.
Regards from Tom

I use a dvd recorder with a digital tuner on my Zenith roundie. It works great when the digital reception is up to par. I use an amplified set-top aerial with it. Non amplified aerials just don't work for digital.

Non amplified indoor aerials can work for digital just fine if the signal is strong enough (which it is for most of the channels in my area).

I must admit that I too am becoming fond of no ghosting, no interference, no fuzziness, and more channels to choose from.

It seems like every local channel has at least one other channel. My PBS station has three channels!

I haven't run into the signal dropping as much, but maybe that's cos I live fairly close to the transmitters, and I built myself a pretty good antenna.

EDIT: Here's a picture of my antenna. It's made from wood, coat hangers, and electrical wire, and the leads were directly soldered to a piece of coax cable. It works great for digital reception. If anybody tells you that you need a fancy digital certified antenna, you can tell em to take a hike.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/mrx3750/antenna.png

The only modifications I plan on making are painting it, and when I get enough cable, mounting it on my roof. As of right now, it stands 6 feet off the ground, and has brick walls on two sides of it, yet it still brings in my local digital channels at full strength.

Love your antenna, is it a Yagi or log periodic? I'm considering building one of my own so I'm looking for ideas on here and other websites.

It's my attempt at a log periodic antenna. I don't know if it's a true log periodic, but it works very well.

Can ya tell that I've built antennas before?