According to the forum FAQ, no such animal existed as of 4/08. Wondering if there's any change in this yet.

I was really just lookin for a basic HD QAM tuner to pull some local HD channels off my basic cable service for my old (and tunerless) 1080i Sony CRT. And since there aren't many standalone tuners available anymore, figured a DVDR (or DVR?) with a built-in digital tuner might be worth trying instead. However, I think all the DVDRs with tuners I've seen still downconvert the HD channels to SD before passing them through, which isn't really what I want.

Any suggestions/direction would be appreciated. Just beginning my research on this, so apologies if this has been asked/answered a million times before.

No... no change in the situation. :(

Alrighty then. Tks for the update.

Dont you just hate it when there is no update with the update:rolleyes: I just hooked up my new Philips DVDR3576H. 99% of it is great and I'm happy with it overall. But the ATSC tuner not handling HD is a bummer:(

Yes. :)I've owned an HDTV for over 6 years now, and have yet to see an HD broadcast on it. That must be some sort of record. :D

My HD "Ready" LCD widescreen TV is about three years old. Yesterday a Centronics ZAT501A HD (OTA) receiver arrived. I set it up and configured it. For the first time I saw this TV produce a HD picture. HD is no big deal for me.

My HD "Ready" LCD widescreen TV is about three years old. Yesterday a Centronics ZAT501A HD (OTA) receiver arrived. I set it up and configured it. For the first time I saw this TV produce a HD picture. HD is no big deal for me.

No offense intended, but it must not have been HD afterall, HD is impressive my friend.

My HD "Ready" LCD widescreen TV is about three years old. Yesterday a Centronics ZAT501A HD (OTA) receiver arrived. I set it up and configured it. For the first time I saw this TV produce a HD picture. HD is no big deal for me.
I don't want to offend you but an HD picture should be much, much better than any standard definition picture. Are you sure you are getting HD?

My HD "Ready" LCD widescreen TV is about three years old. Yesterday a Centronics ZAT501A HD (OTA) receiver arrived. I set it up and configured it. For the first time I saw this TV produce a HD picture. HD is no big deal for me.

I should have expanded and qualified my last sentence. I should have said "HD is no big deal for me as most of my TV viewing is early talkies through the film noir era as found on Turner Classic Movies." TCM is not a HD network.

In our household we have five HD TVs. All are widescreen, four are LCD, one a CRT, two are HD "ready" models. I'm watching a great little six month old 19" LCD HD in my home office while I type. I'm impressed with its HD picture. In my bedroom is a three year old 27" LCD HD "ready" TV now connected to the Centronics receiver as well as to a Comcast digital (non HD) cable box. I seldom watch HD services so I never got a HD cable box. With the Centronics I now have the option to watch local channels in HD in my bedroom. There are two family viewing HD TVs on the main floor, a three year old 30" Sony CRT with "HD Tuner Build-In," and a newly-purchased Insignia 37" LCD HD TV. I'm impressed with the HD picture quality of these TVs. Our daughter has a three year old 30" LCD HD "ready" TV in her bedroom. For a time she had a HD cable box but seldom watched HD services so the box was exchanged for a standard digital cable box.

If the PQ of the Centronics doesn't seem as good as the other, built-in HD tuners (though I didn't necessarily hear you say that), it might just not have that sharp or detailed of a picture. My Radio Shack Accurian is like that. It gives nowhere as good of a picture as my Sony DVR, or the Hisense 2010 I had, and not nearly as good as the Sammy H260F, either.

I should have expanded and qualified my last sentence. I should have said "HD is no big deal for me as most of my TV viewing is early talkies through the film noir era as found on Turner Classic Movies." TCM is not a HD network.

In our household we have five HD TVs. All are widescreen, four are LCD, one a CRT, two are HD "ready" models. I'm watching a great little six month old 19" LCD HD in my home office while I type. I'm impressed with its HD picture. In my bedroom is a three year old 27" LCD HD "ready" TV now connected to the Centronics receiver as well as to a Comcast digital (non HD) cable box. I seldom watch HD services so I never got a HD cable box. With the Centronics I now have the option to watch local channels in HD in my bedroom. There are two family viewing HD TVs on the main floor, a three year old 30" Sony CRT with "HD Tuner Build-In," and a newly-purchased Insignia 37" LCD HD TV. I'm impressed with the HD picture quality of these TVs. Our daughter has a three year old 30" LCD HD "ready" TV in her bedroom. For a time she had a HD cable box but seldom watched HD services so the box was exchanged for a standard digital cable box.

Ok, I gotcha. The things you enjoy watching the most are not broadcast in HD to begin with. Well, maybe one of these days they'll make TCM HD too:)

If the PQ of the Centronics doesn't seem as good as the other, built-in HD tuners (though I didn't necessarily hear you say that), it might just not have that sharp or detailed of a picture.

I didn't say anything about the Centronics PQ as it's set up with a composite feed to the Westinghouse LCD HD "ready" TV. In the morning I expect to change over to the component connection. I'll know more about PQ at that time.

Well, maybe one of these days they'll make TCM HD too:)

Seems to me I read that was coming soon. There is already AMC HD. But, everything I checked there was stretched, not in the OAR.

Today's best buy flyer lists a sony DVD recorder with HD tuner. Is this a mistake?

Today's best buy flyer lists a sony DVD recorder with HD tuner. Is this a mistake?

Not a mistake, but misleading.
Built-In HDTV TV Tuner: The RDR-GXD455's features built-in ATSC/NTSC/QAM tuners which allow recording of standard definition or high definition programming. High Definition signal through this recorder is converted to Standard Definition signal during recording. Like a VCR records to a VHS cassette, TV shows can be recorded to blank DVDs for time-shifting or archiving. Once the recorder has been connected to the antenna or cable, the Easy Setup guides you through the steps of setting the time, date, and searching for receivable channels.

And from the manual.
• HD (High Definition) signal through this recorder is converted to SD (Standard Definition) signal, even if the HDMI
OUT connection is used.

Not a mistake, but misleading.


And from the manual.
• HD (High Definition) signal through this recorder is converted to SD (Standard Definition) signal, even if the HDMI
OUT connection is used.


Humpfh. Very misleading!


Is this Best Buy's doing or Sony's?

Sony's.