Hey guys...

First off my apologies if this is a dopey question. I don't know the intricacies of all the different tv tuners available. I see the term "QAM" tuner, and from what I've read about a QAM tuner, it is designed to work with digital cable, whatever that means. My question then becomes...what's the difference between a QAM tuner and a cable card??? Will I get a better picture with a cable card versus a QAM tuner??? Can I actually get channels like HBO with a QAM tuner or must I have a cable card for that??? I am hanging a tv on the gym in my home and I just need to ascertain whether or not I can purchase a set without a cable card and still get the same picture quality. Cable card models, under $1000.00 are virtually impossible to find, and I really don't need a high end display in my gym. I just don't want a crappy picture that I associate with cable tv! Any and all feedback offered is greatly appreciated.


John from Boston

My question then becomes...what's the difference between a QAM tuner and a cable card???

A cable-card works in conjunction with a QAM tuner, allowing it to receive encrypted channels from the cable company. Without cable-card, the QAM tuner will only be able to pick up non-encrypted stations. This is usually just the local network channels - ABC, CBS, FOX, NBS, PBS, CW, etc.

Thanks for the reply. Aren't the encrypted channels usually just the premium channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, etc.)? Channels like USA Network, HGTV, and CNN aren't encrypted, are they???? I guess I don't understand this as well as I thought I did!


John from Boston

it's up to your local cable company. you need to verify with them which channels or tier packages they encrypt. only the locals they carry are required to be non encrypted. many cable companies offer a very low price basic tier that has the unencrypted locals and maybe a few others included.

Thanks for the reply. Aren't the encrypted channels usually just the premium channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, etc.)? Channels like USA Network, HGTV, and CNN aren't encrypted, are they???? I guess I don't understand this as well as I thought I did!
The practice for digital cable is different than with analog. The cable companies have used the transition to digital to encrypt all the national channels such as CNN, USA, and so on. This cuts down on cable theft for one thing. In general, only the local broadcast stations and maybe a small number of national cable channels are unscrambled on digital cable.

So for most cable companies if you want to get the digital channels beyond the SD and HD local broadcast channels, you need to either lease the STB or DVR or buy a TV or DVR with cable card and lease a cable card. The days of connecting the cable line to a cable ready TV and getting a basic tier of 60 or 70 channels is coming to a close.