Quick question to those more knowledgeable than me on this subject.

http://www.olevia.com/en-us/Products/2Series/232VLCDHDTV.aspx#2

Would I be able to attach my cable line directly to this model and get all of my digital and cable channels up to 1000? Basically, all my digital, local, and HD channels that I currently pay for? It doesn't say QAM tuner under the specifications, but I'm a novice and am learning on the fly. I want to get HD in my bedroom and don't want to pay Comcast a $7 a month rip for a crappy box. My cable bill is ridiculous as it is.

Might be able to pick on up for about $200 if I can verify that it is working as well. I know the manufacturer is shady, but if the TV works fine, that's fine by me. Worried it might die within a year or 2, so anyone with experience with this unit is welcome to post their feedback.

Thanks in advance.

According to the link you supplied the digital tuner in the TV only supports OTA "ATSC" digital signals and does not also support cable QAM digital signals.
And even if it did you would be only be able to receive the unencrypted QAM channels which would be a subset of the OTA local digital channels that you can receive with an antenna.

It has a "clear QAM" tuner for digital cable. As walford stated, depending on your cable provider, the most you will probably get are "local" channels digitally (HD) and all analog channels. If you want all of what you are paying for... you need to rent a cable box.

You could also get an HD TiVo or Moxi, if you want HD DVR capabilities.

bump so i can post url

ditto

Thanks for the responses guys. I seem to have stumbled upon a couple people making reference to it in a couple of different threads and reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Olevia-Aspect-Horiz-Tuners-Charcoal/dp/B000NPU5XO

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9780928

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=34183

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=756206&page=42

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139163\

So either it does or the company decided to cut costs and downgrade post initial production and it wouldn't surprise me given their history, or it goes in fact have a QAM tuner.

Assuming that does have that tuner, would a $200-$250 investment seem a reasonable gamble for plug and play in my bedroom? I already pay for all the movie channels and just want to make sure I get them in my bedroom.

and this is a secondary TV. Already have my Comcast DVR connected to a 47" Samsung. On an offnote, do any of you have any experience with extracting recorded programs from that Motorolla DVR?

You'll need another cable box to decode the movie channels in your bedroom. Those channels may be QAM, but they're not clear-QAM; they're encrypted. The TV by itself will not be able to decode them.

I guess I should have clarified... I own this model TV. It has a QAM tuner. ;)

Interesting,
This unit appearrs to be one of a very few nummber of HDTVs that when they say that they support ATSC input it means that their digital tuner supports either OTA 8vsb antenna digital input or QAM digital cable input both of which use ATSC digtial resoultion standards.

ATSC designation, especially older HDTV's, does not mean supports both 8VSB and QAM.

ATSC is a standard, not a modulation technique.

Thats what I tought I was saying in my post since for the Olevia specs posted by the OP it does mean both. And since you said you have the same model and it's digital tuner can receive either 8vsb or QAM broadcasts which ATSC standards.
I have corrected some minor typos in my post which might have caused a misunderstanding.

Typo's can add confusion.

Bottom line is... manufacturer's specs can be misleading. Having an internal ATSC tuner could mean antenna only or digital cable also.

I guess they should get on the tech wagon and state "digital OTA" and/or "digital cable".

Thanks again guy s for the advice.

OK, so I understand it correctly, I will not be able to directly connect the cable wire coming out of the wall to any LCD HDTV and get some of my 800 level HD channels including HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Max regardless of having a QAM tuner because Comcast scrambles the channels and I need something to descramble them?

So I need a box or cable card? Given that choice I would prefer a $2/month Cablecard to the $10 box. Except I notice that manufacturers aren't really making TVs with Cablecards any more. At least I don't see very many floating around except those from a couple years ago. What gives there?

I pay for channels through 1000 and should be able to view them without Comcast bending me over again for some ugly, crappy box when I don't need it when its for my bedroom and I already pay for this DVR.

So if for example, I just connected a TV like this Olevia directly to my cable line, I could get the major HD broadcasts I'm assuming, but would I get the digital broadcast of all my movie channels I pay for (300-400) and the HD versions of HBO, MAX, SHO, SHO2, TMC, and Starz (868-880)? I'm guessing no.

What a gip.

"I pay for channels through 1000 and should be able to view them without Comcast bending me over again for some ugly, crappy box when I don't need it when its for my bedroom and I already pay for this DVR.

So if for example, I just connected a TV like this Olevia directly to my cable line, I could get the major HD broadcasts I'm assuming, but would I get the digital broadcast of all my movie channels I pay for (300-400) and the HD versions of HBO, MAX, SHO, SHO2, TMC, and Starz (868-880)? I'm guessing no."

You're guessing correctly. And you're at the cable companies mercy when subscribing to their service, you want the channels, you need to rent their box or buy a cablecard compatible tuner such as the HD Tivo mentioned above (which also has it's own service fee)

Oak....,
Yes. you are paying to receive certain HD content which the cable companies are encrypting and for which they have to not only pay the channel sources for but which they also have to guarantee to the sources that what they supply to their end users can not be copied which is why only a box or cable card they provide can be used to decrypted the content.

HD or not. They use encryption for non-local digital. You have to rent a cablecard or rent a digital cable box to get all digital channels to which you subscribe. Copy protection is not the primary objective.

Also keep in mind that many cableco's use SDV (switched digital video) for non-locals and doesn't play nice with clear QAM tuners.

I'm going to wait to find a used one with a cablecard slot and tuners as well. This would eliminate the need for that box, since it will always be a secondary TV and there's no need to dish out $10 a month when I can dish out $2.

There's a electronics distributor on Ebay that is located about an hour north of me. Hopefully a 32" (or around there) will come through for around 3 hundo or less. One can always dream anyway. Their link is below FYI.

For better or worse - this will be the new paradigm for cable companies in the years to come - the only "unencrypted" channels will be local broadcast, and everything else will require cable boxes / cable cards.

Used TV's (that work well) with cablecard slots may be hard to come by.

Caveat Emptor.

Also, be aware that "old" cablecard has no channel guides, VOD, or PPV.

Funny this is, every time I call Comcast I get a different answer about any question. Not to mention the 5% probability I get to someone who has the base knowledge to answer my question.

I was told If I don't rent any equipment that they would give me one for free and that otherwise it would be a charge. I was quoted different prices between $2 and $5.

Hopefully I can find a TV from the place I mentioned and drive up to test it before I buy it. No worries about 1-way, as I'm only looking to receive. Need to find TV with menu guide enabled though.

and I've given Comcast enough money over the years to buy a house in Detriot that could appear on MTV Cribs. My disdain for there practices is too great to quantify. Unfortunately, I do luv me some TV.

and for that link I referenced before, "I guess I pick a bad day to quit sniffing glue." ;)

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/tradeportusa_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

Good luck...

If it doesn't work out, you can choose:
DirecTV
Dish
FiOS

All require a "box". IMO... get the Olevia and be happy with the "locals" in HD and be happy. It's just a bedroom TV.