I'm a little confused as exactly where to post this question so I am trying this section.

I have a Samsung 40 inch LN530 and I have excellent PQ with my PC hooked up and my DVD player. However, I got curious and connected it to cable. No box, just a direct connection. I put the TV on the "cable" setting and let it find all the channels.
The cable provider is Time Warner and they are supposed to also have some "HD" channels for "free" as well. It appears I am not getting any HD channels and the PQ on the rest of the channels is awful. I hooked up my old 27 inch CRT TV to the same cable to see if it was the cable itself and the PQ is superior to the Samsung.
The cable is wired as follows: Closest connection from outside coming into the house is in the patio enclosure (CRT TV hooked up, no problems), then it goes to the livingroom where the Sammy is, then to the office room (no TV hooked up), then to my bedroom which is the furthest point (no TV hooked up) then to bedroom #2 (TV hooked up with cable box) which is parallel with the farthest room which is my bedroom.
I called Time Warner and they said that I need a box to at least get HD, but nothing about the poor quality of the rest of the channels. That did not sound right to me.
My TV is adjusted (calibrated) correctly, so I know it is not that.
Anyone got any suggestions and perhaps the real story about all this?

As for getting your local HD channels without a box, I think that varies from cable provider to provider, sorry I can't help there.

As for the lousy PQ of SD channels, does it look like you're watching a Youtube video fullscreen? If so, that's just the way it is. Cable companies compress the SD channels to the point that it looks like a Youtube video.

Turn the sharpness on the Sammy all the way down, that should help. Also, don't stretch or zoom the picture. Leave it at 4:3 with black bars on the side.

The reason the 27" TV looks better is because of two things. One, it's smaller. The larger TV amplifies the imperfections. Two, the 27" is an interlaced CRT. That also hides the imperfections.

Hope this helps!
-- Kevin

Hi there

> I put the TV on the "cable" setting and let it find all the channels.

This probably scanned for just the analog channels that Time Warner is sending your way. If the channel numbers do not have a dot or dash in them (e.g. 4.1 or 7-2), but just the typical digits that you've always seen, then for sure you're only looking at analog channels.
That would explain the poor PQ you see on your HDTV. The typical HDTV does not do a great job of analog conversion and upscaling.

Try another channel scan, but look for the "digital" selection in the menu.

I helped one Cox subscriber in Orange County get the free HD channels on his HDTV. But when I tried a similar scan for a Time Warner subscriber, the scan found only one SD digital channel. So your scan results may/may not get you HD channels.

You need to connect the cable to the ATSC/QAM digital tuner connection to get the clear QAM channels insted of connecting it to the Antenna/Cable analog connection.

As for getting your local HD channels without a box, I think that varies from cable provider to provider...It used to, but these days I know of no cableco that encrypts local HD. Any cable sub with a QAM tuner should get all the local HD they carry.

You need to connect the cable to the ATSC/QAM digital tuner connection to get the clear QAM channels insted of connecting it to the Antenna/Cable analog connection.

A lot of computer tuner cards have separate inputs for NTSC versus ATSC inputs. But the handful of HDTVs I've hooked up have but a single F-connector. This Samsung certainly has only one "antenna" input.

The Samsung's owner's manual is Luddite-friendly. The tuner is described as "HD digital". But a search of the PDF doc turns up zero occurrences of the acronyms "ATSC" or "QAM".

I know of no cableco that encrypts local HD.

Do you have any knowledge specific to Time Warner in Fountain Valley, CA 92708?

Do you have any knowledge specific to Time Warner in Fountain Valley, CA 92708?

No TW cable company encrypts the local OTA TV Stations HD feed.

No TW cable company encrypts the local OTA TV Stations HD feed.

Thank you. That agrees with the scan I did.
And probably explains the OP's situation.

Thank you. That agrees with the scan I did.
And probably explains the OP's situation.

Actually, I should qualify that response.

No TW Operation is supposed to encrypt local channels - but there is always the possibility that someone made a mistake somewhere in the switches. However, I would think that many more would have screamed about this if this was the case and TW would have been quick to remedy it.

I think Blue_z mentally inserted a comma after the word No in your first post which would completly change its meaning. I have to admit I did the same as the OP did when I read it.

Well, I resolved most of the problem this weekend and in the dumbest way possible:o
I did a re-scan of the channels the same way I did prior to the "swtich over". Yes, I forgot.:o
Anyway, after I did that I got improved PQ on all but a few channels and even gained some channels. I noticed that the "analog" channels as I still call them, looked much better, not perfect of course, but much better and certainly watchable. I now have about 3 HD channels as well, two of them look "ok" and one is garbage (it keeps freezing and stuttering). However, what really looks great are the D channels. Those are really something, better than the HD channels for some reason. (My TV is an HD TV). On the D channels you can almost count the hairs on a person's head it's so clear! I thought HD channels were supposed to be that way, but I guess not. I'm not worried about the 3 HD channels as I don't know what shows are on them.
Anyway, everything is cleared up now and I have disconnected the cable because I don't watch "TV" as a rule, I was just checking it out to make sure everything worked, just in case.:)