Digital TV question?

What do you mean by "local channels"? Digital TV is for over the air TV only (antenna) as far as I know.

Check under set up and make sure it's set on cable.

With digital TV you shouldn't need a digital converter box for the over the air channels but it sounds like that's not the type of converter box you are talking about. I don't think it would replace your satellite receiver or Cable TV box. If you are just talking about basic cable channels then what JPT mentioned should cover it. You don't even need a digital TV for that. Digitial TV just means it has a digital receiver built in for the new digital format broadcast TV.

Holy Schnitzengruben!!!


HD is too complicated for you????

HD? He didn't say anything about HD.

ok

comcast in your area (silverdale?)

only has NTSC (regular old 320x240 low res old school tv) for up to ch 29
ATSC (new fangled HD, up to 1080i) for local channels is avail for 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 22, maybe a few more, but only local affiliates....

the "good" channels are encoded by comcast and you will need a converter box. they come in many flavors. see your local comcast dealer, etc.

comcast will rule the world someday !

if you attempt over the air broadcast (antenna) check out this website
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

range with the digital sig are reduced and very finicky. it becomes either a perfect pic or zero pic, borderline is a jumpy perfect picture.

When I watch on my Samsung straight from the cable (not through the HD-DVR) get channel 3 (regular) and 3.1 (HD). Have that on about 6 channels. I have to go through the DVR to get the other HD channels.

It is a strange set-up.

I was just trying to explain that when you buy a "digital" TV it is referring to the new over air "DTV" standard and that means you don't need a DTV converter to receive over the air TV. That really has nothing to do with HDTV (High Definition TV which is a format standard). The over-the-air broadcast transmission standard just changed from analog to DTV.

The old format standard in the US was NTSC and now HDTV is becoming the format standard. HDTV has a different aspect ratio, more pixels, and a higher frame rate which makes it a higher definition picture.

So if your TV is advertised as a "Digital" TV it is referring to DTV and doesn't need a DTV converter. Without DTV (converter, or built-in) you will not be able to watch local TV with an antenna like you could in the old days. If is advertised as an "HDTV" it is capable of the new higher definition format that the content is encoded with (broadcasts over air, cable, satellite, Blue Ray, etc). Most new TVs are probably capable of both.

The bottom line is that being a "Digital" TV has no bearing in whether you need a tuner box from your cable or satellite provider. It only means you don't need a digital converter for local TV you pull off your antenna (if you have one).

Comparing DTV with HDTV is like comparing a type of road with a type of automobile, they really can't be compared. You could compare the carrier signal, the analog signal being a "dirt road" to DTV being a "paved highway" or cable being an "multilane Interstate highway" and you could also compare the format standard, NTSC being a Chevette, HDTV being a Corvette. Both of the Chevette and Corvette (format standards) can use the same roads (broadcast standards).

It turns out you were really interested in whether or not the TV was "cable ready" and had a tuner capable of tuning in basic cable channels.

Is it the HD signal that causes live TV (not an HD set) to look like crap? Long shots of races are barely recognizable sometimes. I'm not quite ready to ditch my working equipment just yet, but damn.