Can I get QAM HD without having cable?

[trevor0323]

Well can I,

I have a HVR-1600 tuner card in my PC and it is capable of tuning QAM, however I have been lead to believe that I need at least basic cable to be able to tune these channels. Is this true or should I give it a shot? I do still use cable for high speed internet if that helps?

 

[A5]

You have to have some kind of TV service to get QAM.

 

[venkman]

QAM is just the way cable companies encrypt their locals and some of the cable networks. You can still get the locals over the air with antenna. Unless your cable company is a little slow, you probably won't be able to get cable channels from your Internet connection.

 

[jkresh]

it cant hurt to try but you probably need at least basic cable to get it.

 

[Slick5150]

They're likely filtering out all of the TV frequencies if you only have internet, but just do a scan and see if your tuner picks anything up.

 

[watdahel]

No you do not need to pay for service. As long as you have access to the cable company's coax cable you can tap into any TV signal they have. In NYC I hear they put the HD channels higher than what your HDTV can tune in so QAM becomes useless. Here in AZ, Cox doesn't practice that and I'm able to get QAM channels.

 

[Yourself]

I have Comcast HSI here in WA. state and I can pick up quite a few channels via the QAM tuner, including all the local digital/HD's.

 

[kef7]

interesting Slate story about watching neighbors on demand tv

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: kef7
interesting Slate story about watching neighbors on demand tv

I actually just tried that today with my new HVR-1600. I'm picking up a lot of QAM channel signals, but the only thing that I'm coming across unencrypted are the local HDs. So it looks like Comcast is already fixing this in some areas.