internal t.v. antenna for digital reception

there's a difference between dtv (digital tv) and hdtv (high definition tv). i'm assuming you have comcast with digital cable (dtv). currently there are no tv's that can decode it and the FCC is slow at standarizing it. it will be comming but definately not xmas 2003 as promised. perhaps xmas 2004. you'll still need cable service but you would no longer have to pay for the box.

as for hdtv, there many tv's that have built-in tuners. and there are external tuners as well. you need to be living in an area that has over-the-air hdtv broadcasts and even then the selection is extremely limited.

c.i. , Off-The_Air Digital TV, the new AT^SC Broadcast Format, is primarily in the UHF frequency range, so a good antenna capable of picking up a good UHF (standard channels 14-69) signal at the distance and direction of the desired DTV transmitter tower. Getting the signal is not the mproblem; its what to do with thqat si9gnal. You'll still need an ATSC-Capable tuner to decipher and display the DTV signal. and as yet, very few TVs have built-in ATSC tuners, though that is changing. The first units with on-board ATSC tuners are very recent models of HDTV-capable monitors. You're looking either at getting an outboard tuner, for several hundred dollars, or an upgraded TV, for several hundreds of more dollars. In your part of the country, the available Off-the-Air ATSC Digital Television signals are:
the local affilliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, UPN, and the Spanish-Languge UniVision. By and large, the programming available duplicate the programming broadcast over that station's older, conventional NTSC transmitters and picked up by regular, current model TVs. If you're sick and tired of cable, you'd probably be happier with Satellite TV. You can get your local channels via satellite in most markets, yours included. If you wish to watch different satellite channels on multiple TVs simultaneously, you'll need a separate satellite receiver for each one, but that's no big deal, and far cheaper than even one ATSC tuner. There is little pricing difference, and essential programming package parity, between the two major Satellite TV providers. There are some nit-picky tech differences, but those are of interest to very few folks, really. Either one will suit the average TV watcher just fine.

timber, Thanks for the info. I purchased by auction on the web the following. Zenith HDTV Indoor Antenna Product Description

Receive crystal clear pictures on every channel with the Zenith ZHDTV1 HDTV indoor antenna. Truly the only HDTV antenna, this highly directional UHF antenna features a narrow acceptance angle and high front-to-back ratios to reject unwanted multipath signal corruption. Vital for urban reception of HDTV or data broadcasting, the flat forward gain slope delivers a balanced reception to give all your channels the same quality. The primary or fringe reception has a passive silver sensor with 6-7 dB of forward gain--perfect for primary reception areas.
What do you think? As you know, I live in Silicon Valley which is 40 miles south of San Francisco and about 10 miles of San Jose.

Well, your choices are a little broader ... I thought you were in the Sacremento area for some reason. The Bay Area offers all the majors plus several independents ... but again, the programming is essentially duplicate broadcast of the regular signal, and the antenna won't do much good without an ATSC tuner. In the Bay Area, the DTV channels are:

Station Name Network Current Channel Number
.n = new channel number

KGO -TV ABC 7
.n 24
KPIX CBS 5
.n 29
KTVU FOX 2
.n 56
KCNS-TV IND 38
.n 39
KFTY IND 50
.n 54
KICU-TV IND 36.
n 52
KTNC-TV IND 42
.n 63
KFWU IND 8
.n 15
KTLN-TV IND 68
.n 47
KRON-TV IND 4
.n 57
KTSF IND 26
.n 27
KSTS Telemundo 48
.n 49
KDTV-TV Univision 14
.n 51
KNTV-TV NBC 11
.n 12
KKPX PAX 65
.n 41
KQED PBS 9
.n 30
KCSM-TV PBS 60
.n 59
KBHK-TV UPN 44
.n 45
KBWB WB 20
.n 19


Here are a few offerings of DTV Tuners:

http://www.dealtime.com/xGS-dtv_tuner~FN-TV_Accessories~NS-1~CR-3

http://www.htmarket.com/hdtunandreca.html

timber, Will we need a HDTV tuner with a HDTV or a Samsung flat panel TV with the antenna?

You're gonna need a DTV tuner of some sort, whether its built into a TV or if its an outboard unit that connects to a current-model conventional TV. An outboard DTV tuner is gonna run somewhere around $6-700, a new TV with built-in DTV Tuner will run anywhere from around $1500 to well over ten grand. If you're gonna get a new TV anyway, you might as well get one that is fully HDTV-Capable, even though they're pricey as hell yet, and there really isn't much unique DTV programming. However, real HDTV is breathtaking on a suitable newer TV. There's just so damned little of it yet.