What kind of antenna are you using?
We watch OTA (Over The Air) HDTV. The reception is
way better than analog.
All signals are broadcast from about 20 miles away. We pick them up using a mid-small sized directional UHV/VHF antenna. (Yes, one station uses a VHF HD signal.) Our antenna is mounted about five feet above our roofline. It's in no way a perfect installation since it's lower than the woods surrounding our house. I need to add that we are running a powered signal booster. But that's mostly because the signal gets fed to three different sets.
Testimonial: On occasion, a station our antenna targets will go off air. We find we still get darn good reception off an affiliate station. Oddly the affiliate is 30 miles away, and in the opposite direction. In other words, we're getting pretty good reception off the backside of the antenna.