can I use a digital converter box as a tuner?

Assuming your "monitor" has audio / video inputs it can (and it can process NTSC signals going into the inputs). The CECB (converter boxes) were speced to have at least the following outputs
1 RF coax with a channel 3/4 modulator
1 set audio (red / white RCA connectors) and
1 composite video (yellow RCA connector).
They were also allowed to have S-Video video outputs, but that was not a requirement.

You do know that these boxes only provide 480i video output.

Yes but it won't be in HD. Unless the converter box has HD outputs. Those are typically expensive. What type converter box do you have and what kind of TV do you have and we can bettter answer the question.

Yet another thread started on this subject, well kind of. Check out this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1245502

The term converter box refers to the specific non-HD boxes the government was issuing coupons for.

New HD boxes start at $100. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=179095

Of course it does but not everyone means that when they ask questions. Many people ask questions here about "OTA channels" when they actually are asking about HD locals from their cable company. Or as another poster pointed out a "TV" without a tuner is actually called a "monitor". Not everyone that posts questions here is up to the latest technology and terms. So some are not aware that government coupon eligible converter boxes are not capable of passing a HD signal. I see nothing wrong with making them aware of that.


which is twice the price of the SD boxes

Neither do I, but the term converter box does not apply to HD STBs.

I don't think any of the CECBs have cable tuners. the only brand I can think of that might include it would be the TRTs (check out the TRT thread further down the CECB main list).

Those "free" converter boxes typically don't have QAM tuners in them. A box that does would also most likely have HD outputs. Those types of boxes are about $100 or more.

Your TV still should be able to handle the analog signal from the cbale company without any sort of box. Who is your cable company? If you're looking to get digital signals you'll need to get a digital box from your cable company. Even if the covnerter box had a QAM tuner you'd only get Clear Qam signals.

None of the CECBs (converter box) have a QAM tuner (that works). It was part of the spec not to have that feature, even though the chip sets used had the ability to tune QAM.

I don't know of an SD QAM tuner box.

Basically, yes. And SD. Also, maybe a few public access channels or others thrown in there.

Like was said, only an HD ATSC(/QAM) tuner can tuner those in, and the cheapest is about 100 bucks.

Not to confuse you any further, but just in case you have any analog signals you still want to watch, too: if your cable company is still sending any analogs on the line, some of those HD tuners have an "RF pass-through" feature, where it will pass the signal through and they can be picked up on your TV's analog tuner (or any other standalone analog tuner in-between, like an old VCR's - then you could just switch inputs to watch them. But none of the newer HD tuners actually have an NTSC tuner in them themselves anymore).

My sister-in-law reported that their Sony Bravia TV had lost its digital tuner - that it just stopped working one day and that they really didn't have any live TV capability. They only ever used an antenna for OTA TV as that's all they ever wanted.

Since they were hosting Thanksgiving, I volunteered the use of a set-top converter and brought over an old Magnavox box I'd bought when the things first came out. My brother in-law was quite surprised at how decent the picture was - it wasn't HD, but we were able to keep an eye on the football games and so forth all afternoon.

He had an old converter for a a long-gone tube set, but had lost the remote - AND he was unaware of the red-white-yellow connectors for a Video input.

Harry