I want to use an OTA HD antenna...

You can go here TV Fool to see what channels are available in your area . It will give you height and the direction calculations in which your antenna needs to be pointed.

I would try Radio Shack for an HD antenna. The basic one is no more than $30 and it will give you great reception. You can always add an amplifier if needed. If you live in a metropolitan area..chances are an amplifier isn't necessary.

From comparing cable HD verses over the air HD..over the air wins hands down! Not sure why, my best guess is because of the compression used by the cable companies. The over the air channels are uncompressed and it doesn't need miles of copper and line amplifiers to reach your home.

You may want to grab your two free $40 coupons for the digital tuner or tuners. $80 saved.. is $80 saved, no matter how you slice it.

Your DTV box works in lieu of a digital tuner. The DVRs will do the same. Yes the interactive systems being implemented now are the future, where all services are combined into one system. I would love to try AT&T U-verse, unfortunately it isn't in my area yet!

Does Surewest not offer you a master DVR that can be used with several slaved DVR boxes? That would be the ticket! You do not need any additional tuners for your TVs.

No not sure about the DVR..I don't think so. I do know DTV offers a OTA tuner that works in conjunction with your current box(Direct TV DVR or standard unit). It will allow you to integrate the local channels into your current guide and select them without any source switching.

Some of their older tuners have this built in. If you see an antenna in coaxial input on the back of your box..then you can use the current unit and hook up your OTA antenna.

If not they'll send you a slim black OTA tuner to use with your system..albeit at a slight cost.

You could also just mount it in the attic. Get yourself a 4 way amplifier. If you do not have the extra cable down the walls already..wall fish 4 new outlets or have someone else to do it. That is it..you're done.

If you plan to drop cable TV, just tie into your existing outlets that are used for it with the amplifier..even easier.

Your splitter is either on the side of your home or it is in the attic. Being that you have satelite. You may have a diplexer. This takes your cable and satelite combining their signal into the same coax line and the signal is separated behind the tv with another diplexer.

There are several ways to do this..it just depends on your setup and what you are willing to do.

Lefty, yes you have the right idea. Your plasma most likely has a second coax input and HD ready. Unless it is a monitor and not a television per say.

You can buy a self powered antenna if you so choose. Or you can add a inline amplifier if necessary. 20 miles out isn't that far. Use the link I gave above to see how many channels are available in your area. You could in the future add additional antennas to the first one and have them to piggy back one another facing different directions in order to maximize your reception.

OTA digital is very directional..so your antenna must be pointed in the direction of where the signal originates to get the best signal strength.

You should be able to find a pole at Lowes or Home Depot. You could easily mount the pole in the attic using claps to your beams. Or in some cases you can get away with using an existing dish pole if the circumference of the pole is small enough.

Get an antenna that is made to be piggy backed. Radio shack carries one that does this for around $30. You'll need a pole of some sort. The antenna has claps for mounting to a small pole.

If you plan to use it with more than one or two TVs..I would get an inline amplifier/splitter or a self powered antenna/splitter.

The table top models work well for some . It will not do as well as a roof or attic mounted antenna. Radio shack will have most of what you need. Walmart sells the table top versions fairly cheap. Try it without the amplifier first. You may not need it. You can get coax from Home depot reasonably.

Actually I stated I wasn't sure if compression was the cause for the difference I see compared to cable . It probably has more to do with the miles of copper and equipment used by cable companies.
Yes this is true..UHF..is used for digital transmission. As far as directional goes, the analog channels are much easier to receive here without the extra fine tuning needed for the HD channels ..of course they don't look nearly as good either.

Thanks for the in depth explanation.