But the stunning HD images don’t come via cable or satellite. They come over the air. For free.

“All you need is an antenna, just like in the old days, and an HD television with a digital tuner,” says Sunderani, adding that he has sold more than 1,000 antennas a month since March

While there aren’t any official government or industry figures, electronics stores across the GTA are reporting surges in demand for antennas, metal grids about one metre by half a metre with several protruding spokes. No technical savvy needed – just plug into the back of your HD TV and enjoy as many as 18 high-def channels.

And not a cent goes to the cable companies.

“In the poor economy, people are looking for ways to cut back. When they see the clarity you get from HD channels using an antenna, it blows them away,” said Paul Schukow, a salesperson at Radioworld on Steeles Ave. W. in Toronto.

He said the store has been selling hundreds of antennas every month since last fall.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires networks to broadcast locally over the air in either analogue or standard definition in order for networks to enjoy low channel placement and must-carry status on cable and satellite providers. That means you can pick up the channels for free if you have an antenna.

Here’s why you can pick them up in HD: as of August 2011, all Canadian stations must convert to digital, and high definition is becoming the digital standard. The United States is expected to complete its transition to digital next month.

Sunderani says most people with an antenna in the GTA can pick up about 18 HD channels broadcast from towers in Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo. These include CBC, CTV, Global, CityTV, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS.

Customers can expect to spend a mere $55 on an antenna and another $8 for a good co-axial cable to run into the back of a television, he says. Some older HD TVs don’t have digital ATSC tuners, but a good digital converter box can fix this and will set you back about $85. Cheaper “rabbit ears” antennas will also pick up a few HD channels.

Viewers might have to walk around their homes carrying the antenna to figure out where to get the best signal, he says.

Jon LeBlanc is the moderator of digitalhome.ca, a popular discussion board about the airwaves. He says that, in the five years the forum has been open, he has seen a “huge increase” in interest from people asking questions about how to take advantage of the free HD signals. The Delta, B.C., resident gets 14 HD channels using an antenna and contends the over-the-air signals he gets are superior in sound and picture to compressed HD signals from cable and satellite providers.

“There has been an unfortunate misconception that one must pay a monthly fee to get television,” says LeBlanc, who has a background in high-tech. “What we’re seeing is the curtain being drawn back. It’s a renaissance.”

Thousands of Canadians are starting to reject the 500-channel universe in favour of a more “manageable” number of channels with a local flavour, he says. He acknowledges that free signals don’t provide the choice of programming that many viewers want, but says over-the-air broadcasts are a threat to cable and satellite providers.

Not so, says Julie Smithers, a spokesperson for Bell TV.

“For a very long time, Canadians have been able to pull in conventional TV reception using antennas and aerials. We’ve seen very little impact on our business,” she said.

David Purdy, vice-president of video product management for Rogers Communications, says only 6 per cent of TV viewers get their signals over the air, a number he predicts will decline as Canada switches from analogue to digital.

“The long-term phenomenon that’s been created by both digital cable and the Internet is that people are demanding more choice, not less,” he said.

“I believe that a linear television offering, whether that be through an antenna or even satellite, is not going to meet customer expectations in the short, medium and long term,” he said, adding that “on demand” capability is the future of digital television.

Indoor antennas are always inferior to their outdoor counterparts. Nevertheless, indoor TV antennas are used for many reasons, ease of installation being the most prevalent one. Indoor TV antennas are especially popular with individuals living in apartments or rented homes, since they are unable to install anything permanently.

If you need an antenna that works in red, blue, violet or pink reception areas, go directly to HDTV antenna search and reviews and look for the appropriate outdoor antenna, the indoor tv antenna is not for you. However, if all the broadcasts you want are in a light green or better areas, you have a chance. An indoor tv antenna is likely to work well in a yellow zone, and an amplified indoor tv antenna may work well in a green or light green zones. Nothing is guaranteed, and the only way to know is to experiment. If you have a rabbit ears antenna (or any other old tv antenna you have), hook it up and see what you get.
Even if you are not happy with the performance, you can learn from this experiment something that will help you to make a new antenna choice, either indoor or outdoor. Here is a short list of guidelines.

• Fancy indoor tv antennas offer only marginal improvement over traditional rabbit ears. If you hook up rabbit years and see nothing but snow, don’t waste your money on an expensive indoor antenna. It is unlikely you’ll get good quality signal. If you do that check the return policy of the store you are buying in. Or still better, get yourself an outdoor antenna.
• If an indoor tv antenna pulls in the yellow area broadcasts with reasonable quality, but not the green area broadcasts, upgrading to an amplified indoor tv antenna may solve the problem. No guarantees.
• If an indoor tv antenna can not pull in the yellow area broadcasts, there is a very little chance the amplified indoor tv antenna will be able to pull in green and light green broadcasts in your location. Again, if you wanna give it a try, don’t forget to check the return policy.

Whether you are after an outdoor or indoor tv antenna, the next step is to select an antenna model, read customer reviews and compare prices.

So, the question you should ask yourself is what broadcasts are available in your area and what are reception conditions with respect to each one of the broadcasts you are interested in. We are going to answer that question shortly. But first, we need a terminology to qualitatively describe the reception conditions of a particular broadcast in your area. Reception conditions are specified by a color code. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) defined seven color zones – Yellow, Green, Light Green, Red, Blue, Violet and Pink. Yellow zone is the one where reception quality is the best, pink zone is the toughest. Each color zone has an associated tv antenna type that the CEA recommends to use in this zone. CEA classification applies to outdoor tv antennas only.

What we are going to do now is to check what OTA broadcasts you can expect to pull in your location and what is your zone color with respect to the available broadcasts. AntennaWeb is a wonderful resource to do that. Just go to AntennaWeb, enter your ZIP code, address (not necessary) and submit the form. Here is an example of what I have got searching for the zip code 78703, Austin, TX.

If you have yet to purchase a high definition television, be sure to purchase one that includes a built-in tuner. The tuner is a critical piece of equipment that is necessary in the goal of watching HDTV broadcasts. Televisions equipped with internal tuners may be more expensive than one that lacks the tuner, but they are still less expensive than having to purchase an external HDTV tuner that may or may not work as well as the internal variety. Furthermore, ensuring your television set comes equipped with an internal tuner will save you the hassle of installing another piece of technological equipment.

However, if you have an HDTV-ready television or do not have a tuner installed for some other reason, you must purchase an external HDTV tuner in addition to an HD antenna. Make sure the tuner you choose supports HDTV, i.e look for an HDTV tuner! There are plenty of TV tuners in the market that do not support HDTV, especially on the low price end. Just like any piece of electronic equipment, you tend to get what you pay for, so be sure to do your homework before you buy. Typically, you can get a solid performer for $200-$300. One of the best candidates is Sylvania 6900DTE ATSC/HDTV Broadcast Set-Top Box Receiver. Excellent performance and reasonable price. It features Component, S-Video, DVI, and Composite output for video signals, which can be used simultaneously so that you can view and record different content at the same time. Audio outputs include Dolby Digital Coaxial, Dolby Digital Optical, and Stereo L/R.

When you are considering purchasing HD satellite television services, you need to know a little bit about how it all works and what to consider before your purchase. HD, or “high definition” just simply means that you will get a crystal clear picture. Combining this with your satellite service, you can watch hundreds of television programs and get a hundred or more channels with a touch of your remote.

Your HD satellite TV service collects all of your programming and sends it out as a compressed signal to an orbiting satellite. The orbiting satellite then sends it back to earth. Your dish becomes an “antenna” as it sends the programming to your set up box. It is amazing how it works.

Satellite TV providers use Moving Pictures Expert Group or MPEG format. The older satellite set ups actually use to reduce the visual size on your TV by using a MPEG-2 format. The major satellite companies now use MPEG-4 which provides the best, fast moving pictures that we all love to watch such as in sporting events or high action movies.

High Definition television is available in many of the major television stations such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. There are other stations such as HBO, Discovery Channel, Showtime, etc. who have HDTV signal feeds. Even though there are tons of channels out there, there is some frustration at times when your local cable may not be passing all of the signals through. HD Satellite TV providers are always making changes to their systems to keep any major problems from happening. Over 1200 television stations can currently be accessed through High Definition Television.

Another way to get even better high definition is to use your HD TV with an up scaling DVD player or Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. When combined with your HD TV, your DVD player will play images in a much higher resolution, so the movies you watch on your HD television will provide the greatest television picture quality.

HD TV will shortly be a part of every day life. HD Satellite TV will just get better and better as the technology grows. You will find an unending number of choice, features, and accessories to satisfy your needs. These products will help to grow a customer base and expand the HD Satellite TV world by leaps and bounds. This will help to make sure that even the pickiest customers will still be able to understand, search for, and find the best HD Satellite TV provider.