Question about HD TV Braodcast

[eflat]

Sorry I'm new to this I've been using analogue cable forever.

From what I have seen, it looks like you need to have a cable box to access the digital channels.

Does each box need to belong to the cable company or could you buy them online?

I would really like to be able to pipe HDTV onto my computer but I'm not sure what kind of hardware this is going to require..

 

[legoman666]

OTA HDTV FTW?

 

[Quasmo]

Wrong Forum, but I'll help.

Digital cable comes in the form of a QAM signal, you have encypted channels and unencrypted (Clear QAM) channels. The boxes, usually supplied by your cable provider, are able to decrypt the QAM signal.

HDTV comes in two forms, ATSC and QAM. ATSC is over the air, and anyone can get it. There are many different TV cards avaliable for your PC. QAM cards are beginning to become more popular, but you are only able to access the unencrypted (Clear QAM) signal from your cable company.