<p>I am really confused: everything I’ve read about the conversion to digital TV transmission says that if you subscribe to cable service, you won’t need a converter box. Well, for the past few months we have had to use a box to receive certain channels-- like TLC. We thought it was because our TV set was a number of years old. For the past week, however, we’ve had a new HDTV and still, we need the box to receive those same few channels. Our cable provider says this won’t change and that we will always need a box. Anyone else in this boat? I just don’t get it. Through May, the cable company is giving us the box at no cost but after May they will charge a monthly fee. Is that legal? And yes, I know that you can request a coupon from the government for a free box, but why do I need one? Sign me, perplexed.</p>
<p>Are you possibly talking about 2 different things, worrywart?? The Freebie converter box is for people who don’t have cable, as after February the TV signals will be (I hope I have this correct) on different frequencies and not available over the air, so rabbit ear-type antennas or rooftop antennas wont work any more. </p>
<p>The converter box from your cable or satellite company is probaby for either premium channels (is the learning channel considered a premium channel by your cable company??) or for HDTV signals. This converter box has some sort of metering type gizmo that provides the signal for a fee. We have the cable company’s box on one of our TV’s (the flat screen) -that provides some stuff we dont get on the other tvs (premium channels, hi def, etc). Hope this makes sense…</p>
<p>Have you tried the over-the-air digital reception? At home, we use the Philips PHDTV1 Silver Sensor UHF/HDTV Digital Indoor TV Antenna, available at Amazon, and for my dad, we used the Antennas Direct DB2 Multi Directional HDTV Antenna, also available at Amazon, which we mounted on to his rooftop antenna (actually we used a splitter/combiner to combine the signal from this antenna to the one he already had on the roof).</p>
<p>You can feed the signal from your current rooftop antenna into your new digital TV set. It will receive and convert the signal and you’ll have sharp reception, over the air.</p>
<p>We just got our coupons and will go out looking for $40 converter boxes.</p>
<p>I also have a USB HD converter for my computer but I haven’t tried it for a year. I don’t even know if we have HD broadcasts in our area yet.</p>
<p>worrywart, if all you care about is basic cable, then you don’t need a box. However, for anything beyond that - channels like TLC, movie channels like HBO, HD channels, or video on demand - you need a box to get the proper signal. The box also lets you access the onscreen guide. (And yes, it’s legal for them to charge you for it.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Does any one know if Canada is switching too? My DD gets Canadian TV with her rabbit ears.</p>
<p>worrywart:</p>
<p>If you have an old analog TV that receives broadcasts over the air (i.e. not via cable or satellite dish) then it’ll need a converter box once the air broadcasts switch to digital. </p>
<p>If you have cable or Dish you don’t need to be concerned about it because the cable/dish company actually receives the ‘air’ signal and re-encodes it to send to your TV/box. Some of the signals the cable company sends are actually analog in the cable such that your TV can receive some of these signals without the need for the box itself. However, some of the signals it sends are ‘scrambled’ or ‘digital’ in which case you usually need their box to decode. This is likely what’s happening with your Discovery channel.</p>
<p>For your new HDTV, it likely includes a digital tuner capable of receiving digital ‘air’ broadcasts. However, if you have cable then this becomes irrelevant since th cable will do the decoding. Many of the newer HDTV sets allow for plugging a card from the cable company right into the TV to allow you to get rid of the ‘box’. This card does the necessary descrambling of the signal. There’ll be some charge for the use of this card though but it might make for a cleaner appearance.</p>
<p>Geez, you’ve provided some great responses – and I really appreciate the article you included Booklady. Nevertheless, I can’t say I understand yet. Even though my new TV is capable of decoding the scrambled signal, it still won’t do so unless I pay the cable company for a box or card, u<em>u</em>dad, or buy an indoor antenna, Treetopleaf? Can someone please explain this in simple step by step terms as though I were a preschooler (since I might as well be when it comes to technology)?</p>
<p>We’ve never gotten cable. We got the converter box for our analog tv set. It gave us a great picture but the signal dropped out so much we unplugged it. It made everything unwatchable. Maybe we need to get a new rooftop antenna (the old one blew off in a windstorm). At anyrate we aren’t putting the converter box back until we have to, and I have a bad feeling we’ll end up being forced to convert to cable.</p>
<p>worrywart:</p>
<p>To decode the scrambled cable signals you’ll need the cable company’s card or box. This is how they protect their revenue. Here’s a link to the card I’m talking about for Cox cable -
[Cox</a> Customer Support | Cable/Digital Cable](<a href=“http://www.cox.com/support/sandiego/cable/plugplay.asp]Cox”>http://www.cox.com/support/sandiego/cable/plugplay.asp)</p>
<p>If you have cable you don’t need an antenna. If you receive what you’re interested in via the antenna, which won’t include things like Discovery, HGTV, Spike, etc. then you don’t really need the cable. You can probably receive HD channels over the air with an antenna or via the cable. </p>
<p>Even though my TV has the ability to take the cable card, I have the cable box instead since it allows me to get the On-Demand stuff. Your cable company will likely be somewhat different so you need to see what options they have.</p>
<p>Mathmom:
It seems as if you’ll eventually need to either put in the converter box with the antenna, get cable from your cable company, get a satellite setup, or get a new digital TV to replace your analog one. There may be some way to get really inexpensive converter boxes through government rebate programs.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the government’s rebate program - <a href=“https://www.dtv2009.gov/[/url]”>https://www.dtv2009.gov/</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The cable companies scramble everything above the ‘basic’ cable tier so as to make it more difficult to steal those channels without paying for them. Even if the switchover to digital was never going to take place, you’d still need a box to get those channels. (I know it’s confusing - H works in the industry, which is the only reason I - sort of - understand it!)</p>
<p>Re digital cable:</p>
<p>If you have a new HDTV set, it comes with a built in digital tuner that can receive over-the-air digital signals being beamed by the major networks and your local PBS station. For many people, all you need is a rabbit ears style antenna (digital signals beamed over-the-air are broadcasted using UHF frequencies). Depending on your location, you may need to install a roof top antenna for better reception.</p>
<p>If you have cable, your old set top converter box was an analog model that used the VHF/UHF frequencies to transmit cable and premium channels. With the changeover to digital TV, cable companies are switching customers over to digital ready cable boxes that will work with your older TV sets and the new HDTV’s. As your cable company states, you will need a new digital cable box to receive basic and premium channels. And yes, there will be a monthly fee for that cable box. There are a few HDTV’s that can accept something called a Cablecard (I think that’s what it’s called) that allows you to get away without having to “rent” a cable box. The adoption of “Cablecards” is very slow and few HDTV sets have this feature. This has created a lot of confusion about the switch over to digital TV next year. If your HDTV has a Cablecard feature, then, yes, you do not need to rent a cable box. You still need a cable account and the RF cable that enters your home. </p>
<p>So, if you want to continue to receive TLC and other cable programs, you will need to have a digital cable box. If you have a Cablecard HDTV, then all you need to do is connect your cable TV cable to the back of the set.</p>
<p>As to Canadian stations, they will all go digital but there is no timetable like there is in the US. In Southeastern Michigan, I get the local Windsor, Canada stations…none of which broadcast digitally yet over the air. Major Canadian cities have digital signals being sent out over-the-air, but not in the Detroit-Windsor area.</p>
<p>To try to simplify even more.</p>
<p>There are two different things going on here:
- Broadcast TV conversion. Broadcast TV means the TV that is sent to you in waves through the air. Before the upcoming conversion, those signals were “analog.” After the conversion, they will be “digital.” Older TVs can only understand analog signals, so they will not work after the conversion, unless you get a special new converter box. This is the kind of box that is being given free or with a discount. If you get your TV signal through an antenna, or rabbit ears, you may need this.</p>
<ol>
<li>Cable TV. Cable and satellite TV do not get their signals the same way as broadcast TV. If you have cable, your signal comes through the cable. Those signals will NOT change with the broadcast conversion, so if your TV is working now, it will continue working the same way after the conversion. However, Cable TV companies have different levels of service, and you can’t get the higher levels of service unless you have a cable box to unscramble the premium channels. This is not the same kind of converter box as the broadcast converter box. Typically, you have to have the box if you want premium channels, on-demand stuff, and most high definition channels. You can manage without the box, but you’ll only have basic cable channels. And yes, they can make you pay for this, just as they make you pay for HBO.
Note: crossposted with michuncle: some people may need new cable boxes as the service changes, especially for HD, but it sounds like the OP already has this.</li>
</ol>
<p>Okay, NOW I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. In other words, my cable provider is using this mandated conversion as a ruse to start charging me for many of the stations that used to be part of my basic package. In all seriousness, your explanations have been very helpful and I appreciate the time you’ve taken.</p>
<p>Armed with this new information, contact your cable company and ask them what your options with them are. They’ll likely try to upsell you but just make them answer some basic questions - </p>
<ul>
<li><p>If I don’t want a converter box or card and just plug your cable into my TV, what channels will I get on the basic cable plan?</p></li>
<li><p>If I want more premium channels, do you offer the ‘CableCard’ or something similar that can mount in my TV and how much is that and what are its limitations? (Before asking this, check to see if your new HDTV has this option - it’ll be in the owner’s manual)</p></li>
<li><p>If I want more premium channels and don’t go with the CableCard, how much is the converter box?</p></li>
<li><p>Can I get any HDTV channels at no extra cost through the cable without using a converter card or box? (You should be able to get at least the local broadcast HD channels - they’re sometimes on the fractional channels - i.e. 7.1 or something like that)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Even if you already have cable, do go ahead and try out your new TV’s reception using the over-the-air signal. Hook the antenna up to the new TV and use the remote control to switch ‘inputs’ so that the TV is looking at the over-the-air signal.</p>
<p>What antenna? Your existing antenna will work for some stations. When the signal is too weak, the picture disappears completely (with analog, you had snowy reception; with digital, it’s picture/no picture).</p>
<p>If you want better reception than your old antenna provides, purchase one of the new antennas designed for digital TV reception (mentioned in my prev. post). These do work better. Be sure to cable them using coax, not the flat old-style antenna wire. New TVs have a feature that shows signal strength; you can watch signal strength go up/down as you adjust your antenna.</p>
<p>We get 4 WTTW channels over the air, vrs. one via cable. We don’t pay for HD cable, but some of the over-the-air transmissions are HD (they will soon all be digital, but only some will be HD) so via the free over-the-air signal we can sometimes get HD.</p>
<p>UCSD dad, we’ve got the converter box already (and the rebate), we’re just not using it because it doesn’t work. We hardly watch TV, so it doesn’t matter much, but we had hoped to see the Olympics clearly.</p>
<p>^^ That’s too bad the box doesn’t work. Any way to get it replaced under warranty?</p>
<p>Maybe it doesn’t work because no stations in her area are broadcasting in HD yet. That’s our situation right now - I ran a scan with my USB analog/digital TV device and it found no digital channels.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Did you try this with a proper roof aerial or just the little antenna that often comes with these USB TV adapters? If it was just the little antenna, then it’s usually hard to get much signal even in areas with many broadcasting stations and I’d suggest trying to hook it up to a big antenna (if that’s what you’ve already done then you might be out of luck).</p>
<p>The one caveat with digital TV signals is that, to a much greater extent than analog, you need a really high quality signal in order to get a picture. With analog you could get those ‘fuzzy’ stations but with digital it’s all or nothing so having a proper antenna is all the more important.</p>