Is This the better solution for HD ready TV to go OTA?

[wangdana]

I have Toshiba 37HL57 which does not have HD TV tuner, and I want to use OTA antenna, the normal solution (as I have seen in the forum) is to buy a ATSC receiver (with HDMI output for true HD result), the cost for such kind of stand alone "True HDTV Tuner" would be around $200 in Canada, however, an ATSC DVD recorder (with upscaling to 1080p HDMI output) or an HD DVD Recorder would cost about $300, So I am thinking if it is a better solution to use a DVD recorder which includes ATSC receiver and HDMI output instead of buying a stand alone HDTV tuner? this way, with about $100 more, I got the DVD recorder and HD TV tuner. Thanks for the comments

[PPL4GOLF]

No.

You're back to square one with DVD recorder since the recordings are SD and the ATSC tuner output is also SD.

Get a dual ATSC tuner card if you have a PC hooked up to the TV anyways is the cheapest addon yet very powerful setup just using Window Media Center.

[wangdana]

Thanks PPL4GOLF,

Does below info answer your "Back to Square one" issue?

Quoted from: http://dvr.about.com/od/dvdrecorders/qt/atsc.htm:

"One drawback that should be mentioned with DVD Recorders that record HDTV signals is that any HDTV signals received by the ATSC tuner will be downscaled to standard resolution so they can be recorded onto a DVD and played on DVD player, since DVD is not a high definition format.
...

However, many of the DVD Recorders with ATSC Tuners also include the ability to upscale standard definition to High Def, which will create higher quality playback on HDTV's.

....
The DMR-EZ27 includes the above and adds 1080p, Up-Conversion with HDMI output for $249.95,

The top of the line DMR-EZ47 adds 1080p Up-Conversion with HDMI output plus a VHS VCR for $299.95. If you're going to spend $299.95 I would recommend the DMR-EZ47 over the DMR-EZ37, the EZ47 adds 1080p upconversion for the same price as the EZ-37."

[admin]

See the ATSC DVR/PVR thread in the OTA Forum for discussion.