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Digital cable on HDTV/digital TV


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#1
strikermed

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I thought this to be a good question before I go buy a new TV.

I'm looking at a Vizio 26' HDTV. What I want to know, and it's a general question, is if I buy a digital television, not matter whether it is a HD or not will it be able to be compatible with digital cable without the cable box.


here is my situation: I have digital cable coming into my home, through comcast with the free conversion plan they did. We have one cable box that we have hooked up to one of our analog televisions in our house hold. through that box we can view the On Demand area where you can select free movies and what not. On the other analog tv's without the cable box, we can only view the straight channels. I am wondering if you can do what you can with a cable box on a digital television but without the cable box. so in other words, hook the cable directly up to the tv, and do everything you can on the one analog tv with the cable box.
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#2
admin

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To view unencrypted (clear/free) digital cable without a set top box, your TV will only need a built-in QAM tuner. To view encrypted (pay) digital TV without a set top box, your TV will also need cable card support. You get a cable card from your cable company (usually for a fee) that allows viewing of pay content.

Don't forget about free over the air HDTV signals. They are of better quality than cable's compressed QAM, and are available free with an integrated ATSC tuner, and a pair of rabbit ears, or a rooftop antenna (depending on your location). A good resource: http://www.antennaweb.org
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#3
strikermed

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Well I found a good priced Tv and I was wondering what you thought about it. Planning on getting the TV on Friday when i get the money together:

http://www.bestbuy.c...d=1180743979388

I am hoping I can recieve the over the air channels and the cable channels (free channels) with this one... plz let me know if that is correct.
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#4
admin

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HDTV with QAM tuner

Looks like it should meet your needs. :)
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