digital television

[warriorfan23]

Come Feb 2009 everything will switch over from analog to digital broadcasts. I was wondering if this means that I will be getting FoxHD, NBC HD, ABC HD, etc. I'm currently with Charter cable and don't have a cable box, I just plug the coax cable into my tv.

 

[masteryoda34]

Digital does not necessarily mean HD. You can have standard definition in digital. Furthermore, cable companies are not affected by the transition. If the cable company elected to broadcast the local channels in HD, your TV would have to have a QAM tuner in order to get the picture in HD without a set-top-box.

 

[master7045]

Easy Answer:
You are already set, by using charter basic cable (no cable box) your channels will not change one bit.

For the confusing answer:
if you have any TV's that get their signal from an antenna, if your TV is NOT a digital set, (NTSC tuner only), come Feb 2009 you will need to go out and purchase a converter box from a retail store (best buy, CC, Wal-Mart, etc. You are also eligable for a government rebate). If you do not get a converter box, your set will not pick up any over the air (OTA) signals.
If your tv has a built in ATSC tuner, (IMPORTANT: SOME TV'S WERE SOLD AS HD-READY, THESE WILL STILL NEED A CONVERTER BOX) your OTA programming will most likely not change. I say most likely b/c the new digital signal will not always reach as far as the old NTSC OTA signal did.

Hope that helps!

 

[sivart]

Even more confusing...you may already be getting some HD channels for free just using the coax cable. If you TV has a QAM tuner and Charter cable has HD channels 'in the clear ' (probably just locals), you may be able to pick them up doing a digital channel scan just using your TV.