Hi Jeff,
I'm not sure why it is so bad either. Most UHF stations do not seem to come in all that well, and since all digital stations are in this range, it may explain it. This may be due to the power of these UHF channels. I tried an antenna mounted amp, but it made little difference. I had considered if the box might be defective, but when it does lock on a signal, it performs as expected, and it tunes the analog signals fine, although with varying amounts of snow. I have not been able to try a different brand of tuner, but would like to. Overall I'm pretty disappointed with ATSC and it's all or nothing behavior
I know of several people in the area that have Comcast digital HD, and for the most part it works adequately, but they are plauged with regular breakup's of the image/sound, or lockups of the box. I just find it hard to pay $60/month for this level of service. When my friends have called for support, the tech's that have come out basically say that's as good as it get's, so get used to it!
No thanks!
<rant on>
It seems that the PC market has set the bar for all consumer electronics these days. (and by that I mean set the bar so low) It locks up constantly, doesn't quite do what they say it does, and everybody just keeps forking over money for the next update that will be the "fix". I doubt anyone accepted this from electronics 50 years ago, and we shouldn't now. How many times would a consumer be willing to "reboot" his car before demanding they fix it correctly?
<rant off> :-)