hi def digital cable

[rverdlm]

we are on the road again and we're finding more and more of the CG cable systems are hi def digital. Our '05 Sharp Aquis won't recieve these channels. It will recieve digital air, but only analog cable. Is there some kind of converter box for this? It would be good if it had HDMI output.

[Okie]

Do you have a converter on the air Antenna to your TV? If so you would have to do the same for the digital cable input to it. It might be time for a new TV.

Okie

[RonS]

I am not TV expert, but I think you do NOT need converter box when on cable should still get all the channels from cable company. You need a converter box when using your antenna if your TV is not HD ready. If your TV gets any programs in HD its not your TV but some other problem. Hopefully someone will jump it to give you some advice. My DRV is a 2006 and I just replaced both TV as they were not HD ready.

[rverdlm]

My other TV goes through its channel search and finds all the HD channels. The TV that is a 2005 model wil not find any cable HD channels. I need a tuner box that will find the HD cable channels and then pass them to the TV through a HDMI interface. BTW this TV will work as HD with DirecTV and will find all over the air HD channels. And, no, I do not need a new TV!!!!

[hitchup]

My other TV goes through its channel search and finds all the HD channels. The TV that is a 2005 model wil not find any cable HD channels. I need a tuner box that will find the HD cable channels and then pass them to the TV through a HDMI interface. BTW this TV will work as HD with DirecTV and will find all over the air HD channels.

Your DirecTV HD receiver will display HD channels even without an HDMI cable. The HDMI is just there to give you an even better picture.

Just like our 3D TV displays the 3D channels on our DirecTV HD receiver. But it won't work on our non-3D HDTV in the bedroom.

From our limited experience with HD cable, we needed a receiver to convert to HD channels even on an old Mitsubishi CRT TV. But we've also found that not all cable channels are in HD, just like all the DirecTV channels are not in HD.

Basic cable is always available, but if you have an HDTV television, it converts OTA signals and cable channels that are in HD as well.

There are too many cable companies to have one universal box that will work with all of them.

[rverdlm]

Hitchup;
While what you say may be true that there are to many cable companies to have one universal box for all, I would be happy with a box that has the same tuner as my newer tv because I've yet to find a cable system that it won't work on.

[hitchup]

After quite a few google searches, I've found plenty of HDTV tuners for PCs or for OTA channels. But I did stumble across a Q/A from 2009 with a ? on QAM tuners.

Q: "Hello - my son is interested in the Samsung LN32A330 at Walmart, but I am not able to confirm by specs listed on the site or even on Samsung's site if this model has a QAM tuner. I believe we need a QAM tuner to pick up local HD channels without another set top box from Time Warner (Orange County CA). The Vizios list ATSC/QAM in their specs, but the Samsung does not. Does anyone know if the Samsung has the QAM tuner?

I'm thinking maybe all the sets with digital tuners have QAM, and maybe they just don't list it anymore. But I want to be sure before making a purchase."

A: "Specs....
by Samsung_HD_Tech - 2/6/09 9:06 PM

In Reply to: Does Samsung LN32A330 have a QAM tuner?

Page 7 of the manual (downloadable from the support portion of samsung.com) lists that it has the ability to unscramble cable signals without a box (QAM) and will have an ATSC Tuner.

QAM will unscramble cable channels, although this is primarily up to the cable companies which HD channels will be unscrambled. There varies from region to region.

ATSC is the new HD transmission format that will take over when the digital transition is put in place and the old one (NTSC) will drop off."

It really boils down to cost. Would you want to pay a few hundred $'s more to get an LCD-HDTV with built-in tuners over a box that may or may not work on all cable signals.

Additionally, Wiki shows good definition of purpose of QAM tuner:
"In North American digital video, a QAM tuner is a device present in some digital televisions and similar devices which enables direct reception of digital cable channels without the use of a set-top box."
"Most US TVs sold after 2006 include a QAM tuner,[citation needed] though some low end and less expensive models still do not include the functionality to tune QAM channels as of 2009."

Vickie