Mods, please move this if it's not the right forum for it.

I've a question on the difference between ATSC and QAM tuners. Seems I "could" use ATSC for cable, "if" the cable company also includes the digital channel that corresponds to the oth air, right?

So what would be the use for QAM?

I know I'm missing the picture here.

ATSC = Over the air digital broadcast
QAM = Cable digital broadcast

There are very, very, very few (if any) cable systems that still broadcast using the ATSC standard, so generally speaking if you want to receive your local channels over cable, you'll need a QAM tuner.

ATSC = Over the air digital broadcast
QAM = Cable digital broadcast

There are very, very, very few (if any) cable systems that still broadcast using the ATSC standard, so generally speaking if you want to receive your local channels over cable, you'll need a QAM tuner.

Thanks for the info. I guess that leaves out the Pioneer 5070 I was looking at.

Thanks for the info. I guess that leaves out the Pioneer 5070 I was looking at.
Why? The 5070 has both ASTC and QAM tuners. For some reason, Pio doesn't advertise the QAM, I've heard that it is becuase it's kind of like saying that your car has tires... of course it does, why comment on it?

Why? The 5070 has both ASTC and QAM tuners. For some reason, Pio doesn't advertise the QAM, I've heard that it is becuase it's kind of like saying that your car has tires... of course it does, why comment on it?

Thanks for the info. Why comment on it? It seems every other manufacture does. To omit it, makes it seem like it doesn't.

Again, thanks for letting me know!

Why comment on it? It seems every other manufacture does. To omit it, makes it seem like it doesn't.
I agree, but who knows how pioneer works? Maybe the engineers don't think it is a big deal & failed to mention it to the USA marketing types. They (USA marketing types) might not even know the set has a QAM tuner.

Thanks for the info. Why comment on it? It seems every other manufacture does. To omit it, makes it seem like it doesn't.
The specs for the Pioneer 5070 states that it has Cablecard. Which means that it has a QAM tuner. You just have to learn the terminology. A QAM tuner by itself is of limited use as it will only receive the unscrambled digital cable channels which are usually the local broadcast stations.

The cable card allows the TV to receive the scrambled digital channels, but then you have to hope the cablecard works and will keep working whenever the cable system changes it's QAM channel line-up or upgrades the system. Because I would want a HD-DVR for my main TV, the cable card capability would be only of interest as a 3rd tuner (when the DVR is recording 2 cable program) or if the TV is used as a 2nd TV in the bedroom or kitchen. Ok, so a 50" Pioneer is a bit on the large side for a kitchen TV unless you have a VERY big kitchen or are very well off. But the cable card feature is part of the inverted aspect of HD TVs at this time. Because of cost, they are only found on the larger more expensive TVs where most people will use a STB or DVR for cable/sat. But the cablecards are most useful for small TVs for the kitchen or modest sized sets for bedrooms, offices, what have you. Perhaps in another several years we will see cable cards capability widely available in smaller sets, once the cost drops enough.

Good post, afiggatt. Of course QAM+cablecard slot wasn't something I was aware of. Or any salesman I've talked to about the issue. In fact not a single one out of maybe 8 ro 9 of them at b&m and internet stores, had ever even heard of QAM.

I have zero interest in using a cable card, but a lot of interest in utilizing the QAM tuner. My main source material will be coming from sateliite HDDVR box. However, I also recieve Comcast basic cable for free (legally) and since the local channels I get are from a different market than the satellite, I would want to utilize the QAM tuner to get the HD feeds. How would I go about doing this? Thanks from a newbie.

How would I go about doing this? Thanks from a newbie.
Plug your coaxial cable into Ant A. Do a tuner (cable) search. Your set will pick up the channels available on your cable. To watch them, make sure you are on input Ant A. Your sat box will be on a different input (such as 1). To watch those channels, you'll need to switch to input 1.

Gracias

I use the QAM tuner because analog basic is cheap and gets too many
channels (for some reason). The other is that OTA I have trouble getting
fox local, so get it off of the QAM tuner when I do a "cable setting" digital
scan. I get all kinds of other stuff on there too like local radio stations and
other odd stuff, but I'm really after HD locals with the QAM.