Home audio & video: Digital TV without a box

(NT) No.

by R. Proffitt  - 10/23/08 6:42 AM

No, but...

the cable company will have to supply you with one of theirs if my thinking is correct. Check with the company and see what they say about that.

A google.

by R. Proffitt  - 10/24/08 11:26 AM

"RCN Starts to Go All Digital in Chicago"

At least the few people that I ran into the cable co supplied the box for free.

Cable without Convertor Box After Feb 17, 2009

I asked Comcast this very question, as I have cable without a box. They said they are going to continue to send an analog signal for the foreseeable future. So that means no change for now.
I suppose at some point they may change their mind, then you will need a converter box.

This area under construction.

by R. Proffitt  - 11/9/08 9:46 AM

Having finally seen such a conversion (just not here) they are telling you the truth. Feel free to be miffed over the loss of your ATSC tuner but the explainer is all so simple. And it has nothing to do with what can work but moving to what they can support. And again it has nothing to do with what they "could" support but what they will.

Does that clear up the picture?

Please, let's end the confusion!

The simple answer to the original question is "YES."

The digital conversion that will occur early next year involves only local, over-the-air broadcasts, not cable transmissions. (The cable companies who now capture your local, over-the-air stations for retransmission over their systems will have to switch to digital reception just like everyone else. Most already have done so.)

However, it is disturbing to see how much confusion there seems to be about this conversion, as evidenced from some of the other replies. What cable systems call digital service and digital channels have nothing whatsoever to do with the over-the-air broadcast conversion that will occur next year. (And, in point of fact, any digital signals they transmit are and will continue to be converted into analog signals at the point they enter most of your current sets, otherwise most of us with older sets would be unable to view them.)

Where the confusion comes from is here. Cable companies transmit both analog signals and digital signals. Local channels and the so-called basic tier of service typically are transmitted in analog, which is why many sets (the so-called "cable-ready" sets manufactured after the early 1980s) do not require separate converter boxes to receive just those channels, assuming one has any tier of cable service. However, one does need a set-top box for the digital channels, typically above channel 100 and involving more costly tiers of service with premium content (e.g., HBO, Cinemax, NBA, NHL, etc.). But, remember that those digital signals are converted into an analog signal prior to leaving the box and entering your set.

The cable companies, however, would like all of us to rent their boxes and they have been doing their level best to push as many channels into the digital range as they can in order to pressure us into doing so. There is now litigation against Comcast in Michigan, for example, where they have tried to move local access, educational and governmental channels into the digital tier, which would require those who want to view them to rent boxes, if they do not already do so. The plaintiffs are claiming that requiring people (including senior citizens) to rent boxes effectively denies them service. So far, Comcast has not been faring well in the courts, but no final decisions have been reached.

At the end of the day, then, there may come a time when the only channels available without a box will be your local, over-the-air broadcast channels, which they are required to provide by law, if they were to move such staples as CNN and the like into the digital tier. But this issue has nothing whatsover to do with the digital conversion next year. We are talking about two different kinds of "digital" here.

Furthermore, there may also come a separate day, after the vast majority of analog television sets have been junked and an overwhelming number of households have sets with newer technologies, that they may discontinue providing analog signals altogether.

It is only that contingency that would cause older sets with cable service plugged into them (without a box) to stop working. But that, too, is a separate issue from next year's change.

Does everybody understand now?

Are you replying to the OP?

If so, then see my reply #5 in the thread. It truly depends, as we do not yet have enough info from the OP.

-Pedro