LCD HDTV internal tuners and too many components.

[mattpegher]

About 2 years ago I bought a Sony Bravia for my mother-in-law because it was the only LCD that I was told could get HDTV signal straight from the cable without a cable box, due to an internal qwam(?) reciever.

Now I am looking to get another about 46 inch LCD for another room. I want to be able to hook up my kids VCR/DVD, the Wii and possibly a Blue-ray or PS3 in the future. I would therefore like not to have another component for watching TV.

It seems to me that for all the money these thing are now being used as large monitors and tuners are a waste.

Any Ideas?

 

[MustISO]

If you want to be able to watch cable TV without a box you would need an internal tuner. For HD, a QAM tuner works with cable or an ATSC tuner for over the air HD.

 

[sivart]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
It seems to me that for all the money these thing are now being used as large monitors and tuners are a waste.

Any Ideas?

That is because all of the cable companies are encrypting all of the digital channels other than the locals. So, with a QAM tuner all you will probably get is the locals in digital (HD if you are lucky).

Could the cable companies put all of the digital channels in the clear so that the QAM tuner could see it. Sure, but then they couldn't make an additional $5-$10 a month renting you a box. In the end, money wins all.

The big companies (I.e. cable companies) don't care about the consumers beyond the point of how much money they can steal from them. Thus the reason my ATSC tuner gets a good workout and my $10 a month Netflix account with watch instantly is very useful.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: sivart

Originally posted by: mattpegher
It seems to me that for all the money these thing are now being used as large monitors and tuners are a waste.

Any Ideas?

That is because all of the cable companies are encrypting all of the digital channels other than the locals. So, with a QAM tuner all you will probably get is the locals in digital (HD if you are lucky).

Could the cable companies put all of the digital channels in the clear so that the QAM tuner could see it. Sure, but then they couldn't make an additional $5-$10 a month renting you a box. In the end, money wins all.

The big companies (I.e. cable companies) don't care about the consumers beyond the point of how much money they can steal from them. Thus the reason my ATSC tuner gets a good workout and my $10 a month Netflix account with watch instantly is very useful.

I think it's the law that the local cable providers have to provide all local normally-broadcast channels in HD, so I get perhaps 8 channels in HD via ClearQAM for my $18/mo 'analog-only' cable subscription. I also get a few random channels in SD, and a few random channels in HD too.

 

[sivart]

My cable company took away the locals in HD via clear QAM and just left them in SD.

In turn, I took my business away from them