Problem_was told by salesperson that the new TV's we bought were HD ready. I know that we told her we were on cable. The installer comes to house & says that they are NOT. HD receiver is not built in & not a connection to plug in the HD 'card' thing. He said they will NOT work after all station & cable company's completely convert over to digital/HD without the 'box' from the cable company. Someone else told us that they WOULD work, just not HD quality. Would like to know if they WILL continue bring in the cable stations or if we will have to throw them out with the trash if we don't get the cable box or go to dish. This situation is completey bogous!!! Thanks You.
2007-10-05 10:44:55 · 4 answers · asked by debbyshipp 2 in Consumer Electronics ➔ TVs
HD ready TVs do not include any receivers. They must be driven from a separate Set Top Box receiver, or cable box or Sat. box or DVD Etc. The salesman should have made sure you understood what HD ready means. For many people who use cable or Sat, HD ready is fine. The change over to digital has nothing to do with the issue. In fact, cable companies must continue to provide analog versions of the locally available Over The Air TV until at least 2012. If you are satisfied with only receiving the standard OTA TV, like 2, 3, 4 ETC., then you have two choices. You can buy an ATSC receiver box to convert OTA from an antenna to signals your TV can use-this will be in HD, but you have to be in the reception area of the transmitters; or you can buy an NTSC receiver which will receive the cable analog TV and convert it for your TV-this will be in standard definition. If you want more than just the standard OTA content, then you'll need a digital cable box (standard def) or a cable HD box (HD); or the equivalent from Satellite.
If your TVs have an RF input connector, like on the cable , then the answer above is incomplete. If you do have the connector, then your TV does have some kind of receiver in it. If this is the case, e-mail me, and I'll try to help you further.
2007-10-05 11:10:28 · answer #1 · answered by jjki_11738 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A "HD Ready" TV does not have an digital tuner built in. If you are getting cable by directly plugging your TV into the cable coax, then you are using a analog (NTSC) tuner that is built into the TV. You are watching standard definition TV, just like you would get with a 20 year old TV. The analog service will never provide HD quality on your TV.
What the cable guy probably meant was that they are doing away with there analog cable signals and for those customers that want to continue using analog service, they will provide you with a converter box (If you get to this point and the box has video out jacks, you will get a better picture by using component cables or even s-video to hook it to your TV).
To get HD quality cable you will have to subscribe to HD service and get the signal to your TV in one of the following ways:
A cable company HD cable box & a HDMI cable
If your TV has a cable card slot, you could rent a cable card from your cable company.
If your cable company uses a system called open (that is, non-encrypted) QAM, then you could buy an external HD QAM tuner and hook to your TV with an HDMI cable.
Even if you had bought a HDTV and not a "HD Ready" TV, you are not guaranteed that you could get HD cable without a cable company box or card. An HDTV might only have a ATSC (OTA) tuner. Even if a HDTV has a QAM tuner, whether you can use it depends on what system your cable company is using.
>HD upgrades due to be everywhere in 2009
This is a complete misunderstanding of situation. The only thing happening in 2009 (2/17/09) is that almost all over the air analog broadcasts will stop. The digital broadcasts that replace them are not all HD, some are HD and some are SD, just as it is today. If you continue to use analog cable service, the cable company will simply convert the signals centrally to mimic your current service, or use an cable box to do a digital to analog conversion at your house. Cable companies have to provide analog service until at least 2012, but they can use converter boxes to do it if they wish.
If you add the make & model of your TV, I could be more certain of the details!
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Old type OTA TV signals = NTSC = "Analog TV"
New type OTA TV signals = ATSC = "Digital TV" = DTV
Digital signals used on some cable systems = QAM
OTA = "Over the Air" = stuff you get through your TV antenna
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NTSC (analog) is never HD
ATSC & QAM (DTV) is not necessarily HD. But HD or not, when you convert it to analog (NTSC) it's not going to be HD
2007-10-05 21:55:37 · answer #2 · answered by Stephen P 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If your new TV has a tuner (you can change channels with the TVs remote) and was purchased after March 1st, it should have a tuner capable of receiving both digital and analog signals.
Digital and HD are not the same thing. Digital is only a means of sending the signal to the TV. Digital TV can be either standard definition or high definition. If your TV is HD ready, it most likely has only a SD tuner and will need an external set top box to view HD programs. This can be a cable box, satellite box, or HD tuner.
2007-10-05 20:57:46 · answer #3 · answered by satman 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Great question.....since the government it forcing this change.. they promise a free 45 buck 's box that will help poor people to watch digital TV on there regular TV.....NOT hd tv...this is suppose to happen in 2009.......they keep pushing back the date......bet they will do it again....if Da FCC wants to switch to Hd why should i have to pay my cable company more to get it ?.....cause one HD channel takes up 4 regular channels to send out....cable cant handle that.....dish network shot up a new satellite to carry the load......shure ya can go back to antenna on the roof n git ur local channels 4 free........but why we gotta pay cable n dish more 4 the new standard...?
2007-10-05 18:07:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋