I live in a condo complex in Houston serviced by TVMax cable. The cable service is pretty lousy, but I do not pay for it separately--it is part of the condo monthly maintenance fee, and I think the condo board only pays about $15 a month for the service, so we get what we pay for. I only receive the analog cable.
I just bought an HDTV (the loss leader at Fry's on July 4 -- $399 for a 27 inch LCD Emprex brand a brand I had never heard of)--not the top of the line model but certainly the best bang for the buck I have seen).
I also bought an indoor amplified antenna, thinking I would need this to pick up the HDTV signals since I have analog cable.
However, I was surprised to find that some of the HDTV over the air signals were present when I hooked up the analog cable--although the signal still sometimes goes out on them.
On the cable, Channels 85 through 90 mapped to channels 2, 11, 13, 20, 26, and 39 (not in that order). at first I thought that I was picking up the broadcast frequencies shifted through the cable tuner -- but that can't be because Channels 85 through 90 are too close together for the broadcast frequencies of these stations. I must be picking up clear QAM transmitted by the cable company. I was also able to receive some of the music audio only stations on channels 68-74 ( I might be off a channel or two on numerous digital subchannels).
It is more convenient to just be able to use the cable to pick up the over the air stations, as the antenna doesn't always work that well, either, being an indoor antenna (although it picks up most of the major stations, I could not get Channel 8 digital on the antenna, nor 49--but that must be because they are VHF stations on digitial broadcast).
Anyway, long story short..
I read elsewhere on the net that cable companies had to carry the HD signals in the clear to be picked up by a QAM tuner, but I don't know if this is true or not. If this is true, I want to know which channels on TV MAX are carrying the other digital channels besides 2, 11, 13, 20, 26, and 39 that I can get from the cable (particularly channels 8 and 49 since they have kids programming on the digital signals that my toddler can watch).
I called the TVMAX phone number and the woman I talked to had no idea what I was talking about and told me that there was nothing in the channel lineup on Channels 85-90 (which is where the digital signals are that I have found) and that she could not help me.
Does anybody have any information about over the air digital TV being carried by cable companies that can be received without having a cable box, and specifically TVMax?
I just bought an HDTV (the loss leader at Fry's on July 4 -- $399 for a 27 inch LCD Emprex brand a brand I had never heard of)--not the top of the line model but certainly the best bang for the buck I have seen).
I also bought an indoor amplified antenna, thinking I would need this to pick up the HDTV signals since I have analog cable.
However, I was surprised to find that some of the HDTV over the air signals were present when I hooked up the analog cable--although the signal still sometimes goes out on them.
On the cable, Channels 85 through 90 mapped to channels 2, 11, 13, 20, 26, and 39 (not in that order). at first I thought that I was picking up the broadcast frequencies shifted through the cable tuner -- but that can't be because Channels 85 through 90 are too close together for the broadcast frequencies of these stations. I must be picking up clear QAM transmitted by the cable company. I was also able to receive some of the music audio only stations on channels 68-74 ( I might be off a channel or two on numerous digital subchannels).
It is more convenient to just be able to use the cable to pick up the over the air stations, as the antenna doesn't always work that well, either, being an indoor antenna (although it picks up most of the major stations, I could not get Channel 8 digital on the antenna, nor 49--but that must be because they are VHF stations on digitial broadcast).
Anyway, long story short..
I read elsewhere on the net that cable companies had to carry the HD signals in the clear to be picked up by a QAM tuner, but I don't know if this is true or not. If this is true, I want to know which channels on TV MAX are carrying the other digital channels besides 2, 11, 13, 20, 26, and 39 that I can get from the cable (particularly channels 8 and 49 since they have kids programming on the digital signals that my toddler can watch).
I called the TVMAX phone number and the woman I talked to had no idea what I was talking about and told me that there was nothing in the channel lineup on Channels 85-90 (which is where the digital signals are that I have found) and that she could not help me.
Does anybody have any information about over the air digital TV being carried by cable companies that can be received without having a cable box, and specifically TVMax?