Need hd tuner for TV

[rjsurfer]

I'm trying to get away from Direct TV and found out my Panasonic TC 32LX50 tv doesn't have a built in HD tuner, so I'm assuming I could buy an external tuner to go between my antenna and the TV.

Any recommendations for a tuner? I tried looking online for one but I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

Thanks

Ron W

[rjsurfer]

Hulu, Netflix and some pay for view movies from Google and Amazon are our go to form of entertainment if we get board also.

My unlimited data Verizon helps 🙂

Ron W

[DutchmenSport]

Good to hear you found a solution that works for you. More than that, you'll enjoy saving that $120 a month. That's exactly why we dropped our satellite service and use just over-the-air. We had DirectTV first and the DishTV second. Prices got so high and we were down to the bare-bones plan and paying "rent" on equipment and such. Not to mention the programming was nothing but mindless garbage, movies were reruns after reruns after reruns and commercial air time was a long (and sometimes even longer) than the actual programming time. We figured we could have the same aggravations with over-the-air television and get those aggravations for "FREE!" We've not regretted at all dropping paid television. Netflix and Hulu are our portals to movies and shows now.

[rjsurfer]

Op back, Just installed the recommended Mediasonic unit and it works great via the HDMI connection.

I'm getting 12 OTA stations all the major networks including Fox and PBS.

Put Direct TV ($120 a month) on hold for 6 months and will see how this works out.

Thanks for the help.

Ron W.

[Sam_Spade]

Johno02 wrote:
HD or not depends on what the station s broadcasting.

It also depends on the set you are using.
If your TV SET is not capable of (properly) displaying a picture in HD, then it makes no difference what the station is broadcasting. If that is the case, the non-HD signals might actually look better.

[TechWriter]

Chris Bryant wrote:
I would get one of these units which will also let hook up a usb hard drive and act as a DVR.

I think this unit just has an ATSC (OTA) tuner.

I'd recommend the iView 3500STBII which has both an ATSC and QAM (digital cable) tuner. A QAM tuner may be necessary at campgrounds with digital cable.

[Sandia_Man]

All I can say is Walmart is your friend when it comes to affordable TVs. One of many choices available. Not to be biased, Costco, Samsclub, and Best Buy offer similar pricing.

[Tom_M1]

I have a HomeWorx HW-150PVR which is an older version of the one Chris Bryant recommended. Hopefully the newer version has improved software. The one I have is a bit quirky but once you figure it out, it works quite well.

The TV that the OP mentioned has HDMI input so it would work quite well with the HomeWorx box. Just add a USB hard drive and you have a cheap DVR. The box only has a single tuner, so you wouldn't be able to watch a different show while recording.

[Johno02]

HD or not depends on what the station s broadcasting. Our local station broadcasts an hd signal, and netword stuff and commercials are all HD. Hoiwever, they have not converted their in-house cameras and equipment to HD, so all the local news shows and whatever are all in SD and look fuzzy on the big screen. It is interesting to watch it switch back and forth during the news. Some of the remote cameras are HD, but the studio cameras are not.

[Johno02]

You can buy a new HD flatscreen TV for not much more than an analog converter would cost. The converter we had used for years with a old tv at home went out, a new one was over $50. so I bought a tv for about $100 or so. bigger screen lots better picture and picks up OTA stations that I didn't even know were there.

[Sam_Spade]

rjsurfer wrote:
I'm trying to get away from Direct TV and found out my Panasonic TC 32LX50 tv doesn't have a built in HD tuner,

Need to know first exactly what you do and don't have.

If the TV is not designed for HD, you can't fix that with a different tuner.

If what you really mean is that the TV doesn't have a digital tuner to receive the new over the air signals, then that can be fixed with an external tuner.....and I suspect the replies already given will address that.

[RoyB]

They sell them pretty cheap at WALMART... WALMART also has the Digtal TV box that will convert your excellant HD TV signal back to the old analog TV signal so your older TV will watch it... Thats going backwards however haha...

I know when the National Broadcast changed over from Analog to High Def digital TV a few years ago I threw away all of my old heavy TV sets and went to Walmart and got new LCD ones... The government issued a free Digital TV converter box back then. I never got to use mine haha... Its still in a box around here somewhere...

No more snowy TV days for me haha... With the new digital TVs they either work very great or don't work at all haha...

We use our CRANKUP BATWING antenna all the time and watch high def digital TV over-the-air from the local towns with excellent quality...

Roy Ken

[DutchmenSport]

I vote for the new television also. Today's televisions come equipped, not only for over-the-air HD, but also Cable, Internet Access, and a zillion plug-in's on the back for all kinds of things, like game consoles, external DVD/Blue Ray players, and even your computer to use as a monitor. Not to mention the crystal clear screen.

[rjsurfer]

Open back, Looks like that's what I need, thanks.

Ron w

[MandKJohns]

Chris Bryant wrote:
I would get one of these units which will also let hook up a usb hard drive and act as a DVR.

Those would work for you. Worst comes to worst just buy a new tv with the tuner already in it.