OTA (over the air) / Antenna TV options

hey yall- I'm moving over to the UK in March, and have a couple questions about getting TV signals via antenna.  In the US, I'm using my HDHomeRun ( newcomer link: http://www.jrin.net/2008_01_06/review-hdhomerun-a-networked-qam-and-ota-hd-tuner [nonactive] ) to grab regular ATSC using an HD antenna (or just as easily, I could just plug the antenna into my TV and get the same [nbc, abc, fox, pbs, cbs, etc]).

Is there an equivalent to basic broadcasting that would get major network stations over in the UK?  Would the ATSC tuner in my TV be able to pick up "over the air" UK tv (does that exist?)

I did see that there are options such as FreeView and FreeSat -- would that essentially be the equivalent to what I am talking about?  (and do those indeed require a box/tuner that is not included in US HDTV's?)

thanks for any help!

Somebody else may come in here but I think I am pretty safe ground when I say that your US ATSC TV will be useless at picking up broadcasts with an antenna. You might be able to get an add on box over here.

Terrestrial broadcasting in the UK is via UHF and it is currently going digital over the next 12 to 18 months. A Freeview box and a UHF antenna gets you a basic package of around 50 channels with no more to pay (Except for the TV licence). A Freesat is a satellite equivalent.

TVs that you buy now have the functionality of the Freeview box built in.

"over the air" UK tv (does that exist?)

It certainly does.

ah, thanks -- now with the freeview/sat box, will they have the option in outputting to NTSC as opposed to PAL?  and assuming they have HDMI output, does PAL/NTSC even apply to HDMI output?  and even another step beyond that, does PAL/NTSC even apply to such boxes regardless of the output connection?

ah, thanks -- now with the freeview/sat box, will they have the option in outputting to NTSC as opposed to PAL?

Nope!

and assuming they have HDMI output, does PAL/NTSC even apply to HDMI output?

No. PAL & NTSC are composite analog mono + subcarrier systems. Freeview is a digital system. The output of the box is usually RGB SCART 576i or some boxes have HDMI upscaling to 1080p as well.

and even another step beyond that, does PAL/NTSC even apply to such boxes regardless of the output connection?

Some people use "NTSC" to mean a 525 line 30 field format, and "PAL" to mean a 625 line 25 field format, even though those terms actually refer to the analog color encoding. In this regard, a US TV is unlikely to be worth shipping over unless it can sync to the non-US signal.

It's really not worth shipping over a US TV.
You can pick up a widescreen TV with in-built Freeview (for the terrestrial digital channels - gives you about 30 channels) for £200.

If you have DVD's then you can easily pick up a multi-region DVD player here that will play both UK and US dvd's