A simple question

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

If I get an HDTV(not HD Ready), do I need a cable box or anything special?

 

I've heard two different things:

 

1) I don't need anything, an HD broadcast will appear on my screen when available, and if the show is not HD, it will appear as usual NTSC format.

 

2) I need a cable box, and I have to punch in higher numbers, say Channel 300 for CBC, Channel 301 for CTV, etc. Channels in usual NTSC format will appear as usual, in my case Channel 6 for CBC, 8 for CTV, etc.

[Black Lushus 0]

Yeah, you'll need a specific cable box...the one I have has the channels in the HIGH end, the 800s...and of course there's only like 10 channels...

[razazteca 0]

Unless you live close to the local tv station getting the on air feed will be difficult......look for the old school rabbit ears.

[RedJed 0]

You will definately need a cable/satellite reciever and/or an over the air antenna.

 

The reciever would likely provide more HD channels than the OA antenna, but if you are within a large populated market and have local broadcast channels that you could get just as easy over the air, then your antenna would probably pick those up pretty good and you wouldnt have to pay anything other than the price of the antenna, which I think runs pretty cheap, maybe $100 or so. The antennas they make to pick up HD are better than a normal "rabbit ear" antenna I believe, so keep that in mind.

 

Normally, cable providers try to provide customers with as much of the HD broadcast channels as possible, and then also add a handful of unique cable channels that are in HD. For example, HDNet, HDMovies (Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban owns both of these), Discovery Channel HD Theatre, UniversalHD (which shows alot of shows in HD from Bravo, USA Network, etc) and TNT. Not alot of cable channels are in HD yet though so the selection is certainly limited at this point - I think even the largest markets like Los Angeles only has about a dozen HD channels total.

 

Satellite dishes usually just offer the limited cable channels that are in HD that I have already mentioned and not normally the broadcast ones. DirecTV offers NBC and FOX though I believe in certain markets, and Dish Network (which I have) offers zero broadcast channels except CBS in certain limited markets, and if you want that channel, you literally have to install another dish pointing in another direction. So thats kind of a pain.

 

On a side note, alot of cable providers "downgrade" the HD signal to fit as much as they can in HD on their limited bandwidths. So in some cases that isnt even "true HD". The satellite companies traditonally dont do this, but there is some instances as well. So research up before you make the decision where to go to get your HD. My suggestion is that if you live in a small market where you can't pick up the broadcast channels over the air, cable for HD is traditonally better, but not if the company is downgrading their signal obviously. If you live in a big city and get all of the HD broadcasts over the air, then just go with satellite additionally to get all of your other channels offered just like cable, but then the extra HD stuff.

 

HD channels are totally seperate channels from your standard defiinition channels, so for instance NBC might be channel 2 - well NBC HD might be on channel 2000 or whatever. Different providers have different ways of where they put the HD but traditionally they are usually on a different "tier."

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

If the TV doesn't have an HD tuner, you need some kind of set top box to decode the HD signal. Cable/Sat Tv boxes that are HDTV compatible do this as well. It depends on the TV and your source

[SuperJerk 0]

If the TV doesn't have an HD tuner, you need some kind of set top box to decode the HD signal. Cable/Sat Tv boxes that are HDTV compatible do this as well. It depends on the TV and your source

What he said.

 

 

Also, most places want to charge through the nose for HD tuners.