Completely new to HDTV

[wirm]

Hi folks,

I have a regular 10 year-old TV at home and was considering getting one of those nifty 40+ inch HDTV's. I'm due for an upgrade.

My question is "What do I need, aside from the TV itself?"

I hear things like HDMI or Component Cables and they all go right over my head. I have regular cable (Comcast) and don't know anything about cable boxes, tuners, converters or whatnot. All I know is that the cable coming out of the wall (coaxial) and plugs into my 10 year-old TV.

I don't suppose I could buy a TV and just plug the cable in the same way?

If not, what parts do I need to get with the TV? Someone mentioned HD receivers.

Thanks

 

[Viper GTS]

Assuming you want to stick with cable...

If you buy a TV with an integrated QAM tuner you can just hook the coax coming from your wall into your TV. That will give you your locals in HD, but no premium channels.

If you subscribe to premium channels, or you don't have a QAM tuner you'll need a set-top box to decode the incoming signals and output them to your TV. That's where component or HDMI come in, either will work. HDMI may offer some advantages but it really doesn't matter that much.

If you don't want to use cable for delivery, you can (depending on your geographic location) receive your locals in HD over the air. You'll need a TV with a tuner (or a stand-alone external tuner) + an antenna.

Viper GTS

 

[wirm]

Great, that was helpful.

By the way, when you say premium channels, I'm guessing you're referring to HBO, Cinemax, Showtime?

So with a built-in tuner, and the TV plugged into the cable from the wall, I would only get channels like Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC?

Or would I still be able to get basic cable like USA, TNT, FX, etc?

Thanks again

 

[tyanni]

You can get HDTV broadcasts of most of the regular, free, channels, i.e ABC, CBS, etc. For the other HDTV channels, you need cable or satellite of some sort. I get HD channels, but do not subscribe to HBO, Starz, etc.

Tim