I have a 37" LCD with built in NSTC HDTV tuner, with a single coaxial-in. I want to be able to tune HD OTA from an antenna, as well as basic cable. I don't want to have to retune the TV every time I switch between cable and OTA-HD. Should I use some kind of external tuner for the cable, like an old VCR? Is there anything better for PQ than an old VCR?

I have a 37" LCD with built in NSTC HDTV tuner, with a single coaxial-in. I want to be able to tune HD OTA from an antenna, as well as basic cable. I don't want to have to retune the TV every time I switch between cable and OTA-HD. Should I use some kind of external tuner for the cable, like an old VCR? Is there anything better for PQ than an old VCR?

Time to hit E-Bay. What you're looking for is a Zenith HD-SAT520 or, better yet, its replacement, the LG LSS-3200a. Best integrating external HD tuners ever made.

These boxes run Direct-TV, but you can ignore that. What you want is everything else they do. They have two coax inputs (three if you count the DirectTV). You can hook up an antenna and an analog cable feed. These boxes will scan both sources and combine the results of both scans into one integrated tuning "matrix."

Here's how it works for the user: You press 7 on the remote--You get the Digital over-the-air station whose metadata says it is channel 7 (never mind what channel it is really broadcasting on, the tuner sorts it out). Press 7 a second time--you get the analog over-the-air station (if not desirable; you can block this out in preferences). Press 7 a third time--you get the cable channel broadcasting on channel 7. Sweet! No changing cables, no flipping switches, no hitting "mode" buttons.

-H.

The Sony DHG-HDD500/250 tuner/DVR has separate OTA and cable inputs also, and will integrate the channels seamlessly. It will list them in order numerically, and will state after the channel number in the on-screen info box, "antenna" or "cable" as you flip through them.

You can often find them on ebay, or even new at a Fry's Electronics store if you have one around (they were discontinued last year).

Otherwise, you can do what you suggest - hook up a VCR or DVD recorder's NTSC tuner to one of the other inputs. The best hookup you can get with a VCR is s-vhs - with a DVD recorder, at least you can hookup to a component input , or, depending on the unit, even HDMI.

The Sony mentioned above also goes up to HDMI out quality.

Thanks for the suggestions, they all sound pretty cool. I actually never considered that DVR's had tuners in them, I've wanted DVR for a while so I might have to see if I can find a decent price on the units listed.

I have an rca/direct hdtv tuner without a dvr sitting around cheap if you need it then PM me ,
and it has all the accessories.