So, I bought a Plasma awhile back, and struggled w/ how to get the programming I wanted for this wall mounted plasma over a pool table, w/ no where to put a cable box. It's hard to explain, but I have this weird home theater system which doesn't have traditional cabling set up, so it makes it EXTREMELY difficult to hide a cable box in another room, so it's just not an option, given my provider's HD cable boxes are 13" x 17" so there's just no way to make that happen.

I was budget minded buying this first plasma, but went w/ a name brand 720p for around $1300 delivered, but I'm on my second set now that is also defective, and considering another brand, or alternate type of set.

I still don't want to break the bank here, this is a secondary tv room, but I thought I'd check to see if anyone could recommend some alternate sets that might include a cable card slot, or if you think for some reason that's not a good idea.

I currently am getting about 70 channels from my QAM tuner, along with local HD channels, however, the higher end channel spectrum is scrambled. I was willing to deal with that based on the deal I got on the other tv, but if I can't get a non defective unit, and have to look for another unit, so might as well consider all my options now.

I don't know if cable card slots will work w/ Satellite or not, which is always another option I guess, but I've been reluctant to go to satellite because of the high cost to run multiple tvs. I have 5 tvs in the house now, and plan to add a couple more, so having some of those tvs hooked up to regular cable feed to get regular channels is fine for me, but w/ satellite I don't know how I'd even run up to 7 tvs, but it seems the equipment expense would be high, as well as the monthly. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, if I stay w/ cable then, maybe it makes sense to get a tv for this pool table room w/ a cable card? I looked at the retailer I bought the original plasma from, and so far, I only see 1 Philipps plasma w/ a cable card, and I wasn't previously considering that brand. I see a few LCDs, but most of them are too small, I was looking for around a 50" set.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Karz

All of the Pioneer have cable cards and the picture quality is second to none.
I just bought the Pioneer 5010 50" and will be having Cox install my cable card tomorrow. Was using a cable box temporarily.

Mits has a 46" & a 52" LCD that still have a CC slot.
Both sets also have 2 RF inputs (OTA & Cable). A very rare feature today!

Just keep in mind that depending on which cable company services you, you could have significant limitations on which channels are available over the cable card. If you have TW Austin, prepare to lose many channels.

Thank you for the responses so far, it's very helpful to get feedback from others.

Aymanme, why is it some cc's can't get all channels on some systems? In my case at least, the cable company would be providing the actual cable card, wouldn't it get all the channels in that case? I do know current cards are one way only, and you don't get PPV, On Demand, and certain things like that (I read newer cards will be 2-way, but it seems these units are still being built by most mfg's, not shipping yet, according to reports I've read).

Karz

Aymanme, why is it some cc's can't get all channels on some systems? In my case at least, the cable company would be providing the actual cable card, wouldn't it get all the channels in that case? I do know current cards are one way only, and you don't get PPV, On Demand, and certain things like that (I read newer cards will be 2-way, but it seems these units are still being built by most mfg's, not shipping yet, according to reports I've read).

In principal, all cable cards are able to tune all channels. However, that is only true if the host device (in your case the panel) is built to use the OCAP interface (which basically means that the panel is running the software that the cable company provides). Secondly, the host device must have the electronics to communicate back to the cable company head end. I have not personally seen any device that actually does that, though I have heard that they exist. If it is not using that configuration, then the cable card can only receive. This is fine for all channels that do NOT require the card to communicate upstream. As it turns out though, many systems are using switched digital video which requires the card to communicate to the head end, then the head end will tell the card what band that channel is on. In the case of Austin, all of the new HD channels, many of the "less watched" channels, all pacific feeds (and probably others I can't recall) are unavailable.

In principal, all cable cards are able to tune all channels. However, that is only true if the host device (in your case the panel) is built to use the OCAP interface (which basically means that the panel is running the software that the cable company provides). Secondly, the host device must have the electronics to communicate back to the cable company head end. I have not personally seen any device that actually does that, though I have heard that they exist. If it is not using that configuration, then the cable card can only receive. This is fine for all channels that do NOT require the card to communicate upstream. As it turns out though, many systems are using switched digital video which requires the card to communicate to the head end, then the head end will tell the card what band that channel is on. In the case of Austin, all of the new HD channels, many of the "less watched" channels, all pacific feeds (and probably others I can't recall) are unavailable.

Thats why alot of TiVo users (especially Oceanic Time Warner customers) are waiting on bended knee for this:

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6530272.html?nid=4262

I have a Pioneer 5080 and am using the cable card from Comcast and I get all of the same channels (including HBO etc.) as on my Comcast DVR. ....No,the cable cards will not work with satellite systems.