HD Programming from dish to much money

[jconlinjr]

I just got a HD tv the other day and I have dish. I have a 625 from dish. In order to watch HD from dish they told me I have to upgrade to a HD dvr and pay about $21.00 more per month to get HD.

I am only interested in HD locals, I do not care about espnHD, espn2HD, foodHD , etc.

So for now I got a cheap antenna from Radio Shack and I get some of my locals that way. I was wondering if there was a way to get the OTA HD locals using the dish on my roof?

On the back in the dvr there is a connector for OTA, can I use a diaplexor to jump in there somehow?

Thanks
John

 

[BFG]

the dish is not an ota antenna

if you're having problems getting channels with that antenna you got from radio shack, consider getting one that you can put in he attic or the roof

now if you were talking about using the dish cable and diplixing in an antenna from outside, then sure that will work. if you don't want the $20 hd pack, then just continue to watch your locals on your TV

 

[garys]

The connector on the back of the 625 is a pass through for analog and cable signals. You will not get OTA digitals this way, some tv's have a digital tuner build into them, if your tv has that you can get OTA direct through the tv. Or you can get a seperate settop box for OTA, it does not have to be Dish. To get just the HD locals via Dish, you need to buy (not lease) an mpg4 receiver, to lease the receiver you need the HD pack, which you stated you do not want.

 

[Cold Irons]

Couple of thoughts....

- Never have understood how people can spend so much money for an HDTV (my 50 inch Panny Plasma was, what, $4000?), but then refuse to spend $240/year to get HD broadcasts. Seems backwards to me - I'm glad (well, not really "glad") to pay for HD to watch & DVR - networks, ESPN, whatever. That's why I bought an HDTV. Now, if we could just get rid of the HD-lite, I'd be happy.

- If you don't want to pay dish, get an outdoor OTA antenna. If you are within 50 miles of the towers (unless you've got mountains in the way), you'll get stunning HD quality of network TV for free.

 

[Jim5506]

The 625 passes the OTA signal unaltered, so it will also pass the ATSC digital signal to your TV ATSC tuner.

I recommend against diplexing the OTA into the satellite signal, it weakens both signals and if your OTA is weak anywhere it will stand out like a sore thumb.

You will not be able to record and playback HD, BTY.