today, we were looking for a new tv set and seen all those hdtv for my mom. she asked me if she need a converter box from the cable company if she bought a hdtv set. i reluctant to say. so i am wondering myself. any suggestions, comments welcome thanks captex. i'm new to the area of hdtv.
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hdtv question
- Thread starter captex
- Start date
M
mrtexmex2007
Guest
The answer is no!! The convertors are for older none hd tvs! If you buy an hd tv its already included!
M
MikeShannon914
Guest
Supposedly if you want to pick up the HD channels over the air (i.e. rabbit ears, big ugly antenna on your roof, balls of foil, etc,) you WILL need such a converter after February, 2009. I would doubt there are many folks who would chunk down HDTV prices but wouldn't spring for cable TV/dish/etc.
If that is indeed the case, however, go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ which gives you all the details about a $40 voucher that discounts the price of the converter box, plus it may answer some of your other questions.
If that is indeed the case, however, go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ which gives you all the details about a $40 voucher that discounts the price of the converter box, plus it may answer some of your other questions.
captex said:
Does she already have standard-definition cable?
If she's using an antenna, it will work fine for over-the-air digital reception including high-definition. The converter is part of the TV.
HDTVs also contain a tuner for cable; in most cases they will receive digital cable signals (including high-definition) without a separate converter box. It is *possible* for a cable system to scramble all their digital signals (in which case she'd need a converter box) but from what I'm reading few if any systems do that.
A bigger concern is that the channel numbers are probably going to be all wrong. Apparently cable systems transmit the remapping data separately from the actual signals, so without the box she's going to get stations different channels from where everyone else gets them.
captex said:
Most likely. Some cable companies are planning to go all-digital, and while some HDTVs will receive the "in the clear" digital programming, they are usually incapable of decoding the digital cable non-network stations. There is such a thing as CableCARD, but most cable companies are completely incompetent about the thing and you would have much less trouble with the box.
Now if she wants to set up a small antenna and watch over-the-air digital programming, the HDTV should have a built-in digital tuner that will handle it. The quality on the over-the-air signals is usually superior to those of the cable system, but of course it is limited to the networks only.
- Trip
C
CW
Guest
MikeShannon914 said:
IF she buys a HD TV, then she doesnt need a converter box for over the air...DIGITAL CABLE ALWAYS needs a box...period...and she will still need it.....
C
CW
Guest
captex said:
Your question was somewhat complicated......IF SHE wants to watch OVER THE AIR using an antenna to view DTV, NO....IF SHE wants to watch DIGITAL CABLE, YES!!! Their signals are NOT standard RF signals like over the air and she WOULD need a digital cable box (that outputs in HDMI which feeds into her HDTV) to watch the cable channels in high def...if they have ANALOG cable, NO, she doesnt need one unless they are scrambling and you need the box to descramble.
captex said:
Her new TV will work fine with regular analog cable, without a box.
However, cable is only required to deliver must-carry stations (in most cases, the full-power over-the-air stations) in analog format. They can choose to deliver cable-only channels like CNN and premium channels like HBO in digital format only. So at some point she might have to sign up for digital cable to get anything she can't get with an antenna.
But again, contrary to other posts in this forum, at least on the Nashville Comcast system it IS possible to receive digital cable (and even HD) without a converter box, as long as you don't care whether the stations come in on the "right" channels.
Unencrypted digital channels are available with a QAM tuner. At my residence, it gives me "basic" cable and locals in HD. Expanded basic or higher requires a cable converter.
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