Why Not Just A Monitor?

I've often wondered about this as well.... My TV has a built-in HD tuner, but since I supposedly pay my cable company for the same thing (in the DVR box) it seems like it was a wasted purchase (the integrated tuner, that is)....? Hopefully someone can shed some light....

You do not NEED to have a HD cable box to view HD content with a HD-ready TV/monitor. Having a HD tuner built in means you do not need to have an external HD tuner to receive HD OTA. As far as HD-ready being a farce, I don't think so - but you do need to know what it means. There is a difference between HD-ready and HD-capable.

Also, some monitors do not include speakers (looks like the Toshiba does). If you plan to run audio through your sound system this may not be an issue.

To receive HD channels from your local and satellite providers, you need their equipment. To get Over-the-Air HD, you just need an HD antenna and you can pick one of those up just about anywhere (BB, Wally World, CC, etc).

You are correct that MOST people will not need the "HD READY" tuner.

Difference is you could go back to an antenna and get some HD content if you live in a place that gets a good signal.

The other difference is you get an extra way of viewing channels. I have a HD DVR that has 2 tuners and I can record 2 shows at the same time while I watch a 3rd over the TV's built in tuner. Truth is I rarely do it but I can.

Not true in all cases. Many cable companies have some HD unscrambled. I get 6 HD stations via my built in QAM tuner from Comcast.

Yes you need an antenna and it varies greatly based upon where you live. Close to a major city and your chances are quite good to get a few HD stations.

In the end I think you started where you will end. It is a lot easier if you are OK with paying the cable company to just use their HD DVR. You will get a dozen or so HD channels and the DVR will change the way you watch TV.

Just to clarify, you do not need a HD antenna. Some companies label their antenna as HD to get more money, but in all actuality they are regular antennas. Also once you pick your antenna, you can many times find a better deal online.


OTA HD usually if not always gives a better picture because they do not compress their signal like cable and satellite do. You would need to run a cable from the antenna to your HD-READY television. It must have a tuner built in the tv - OR - some cable or satellite companies have an OTA input for connecting the antenna to their equipment.

The national broadcast companies transmit HD signals over-the-air and in most of their markets. First place for you to start is to find availability and which type antenna you will need is to go here: Antennaweb.org

Secondly, you should find your local thread in this forum and research the posts there and ask questions from people who are local to you:
Local HDTV Info and Reception and here United States THREAD INDEX

wow, had no idea. add that to list of things i have learned from this forum. lol

To answer that question, you really would need to compare the two sets. Once you figure out which ones you are interested in, come back here and search for threads dealing with those sets and see if you can find comparisons already posted. If not, you can post asking that same question.

To answer it simply, as I think this is what you are looking for, most monitors will give as good a picture as their equal tv sets with tuner built in.

Yes, it can be confusing, but you are in the right place for help. You are most welcome. Before you get too deep into antenna selection, etc....you'll be doing yourself a favor by checking out the links I gave you in my above post.

Good luck!

Yep. I have a plasma TV that doesn't have QAM so I use the Comcast HD Box. I also have a LCD that has QAM and I get lots of HD channels.

My mother just bought a 42" plasma with QAM. I didn't know about the QAM so I told her to get the Comcast HD box, but she said broadcast TV looked great. Finally I looked up the specs on her TV and sure enough...it had QAM so she was picking up the HD channels at no extra cost.

the reason is, sometimes cable craps out, and if you have an antenna connected, you can at least still watch the local channels in hi def. it also gives you the option of not having a cable box if you have a cable card slot.

the only channels she was getting at no cost were the digital local channels. and thats because they have to supply local channels free. i guarantee you she isnt getting ESPN HD or INHD or HDNET for free, or almost any of the standard definition digital tier channels.

I do . Keep it quiet. Somebody said I am 'Grandfathered' in since I've had Comcast HD for so long. I don't get HDNET, but I do get ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, INHD, FOXHD, Discovery HD, and all the local HD channels. OTOH, I don't get them free with my QAM tuner, but that is OK with me.

Time Warner Portland Maine doesn't offer CBS, so if you want to watch CSI Miami, 2 1/2 ,men etc it's over the air...

karl, you cant get channels over the bare cable that others dont. if you get it everybody gets it. what you are talking about is your cable box has been authorized to decode those channels, its just that you arent paying for it. thats cool, more power to you.

I know. That is why I said I don't get the channels using my QAM TV(s). I don't understand why I get all those extra channels. I got them years ago when I first got my first HD box. Then I moved to Santa Clara and STILL got the same channels I had in Fremont. That can only mean that Comcast has authorized my box to receive the extra channels even though I only pay for the basic analog service . I'm not complaining and I know I'm not doing anything illegal.

OP: The disadvantage to a monitor is reduced flexibility. You must have an outboard box to tune channels, and generally you must have outboard sound, most monitors do not have speakers (although I see that another poster said the one you are considering does).

Whether this will affect you depends on how you plan to use your TV. If you've got cable and you like having the DVR function, you'll be using their box anyway so the lack of a tuner won't bother you. (Someone else pointed out that you're stuck if cable conks out on you, which is true, but you'll probably have enough shows taped to last you till cable comes back.) Or if you're planning to use a HTPC, you don't need anything but a monitor -- you can configure media centers to include the ability to decode OTA HD as well as cable.

I don't know your situation, but I decided a monitor was fine for me (the panny TH-50PH9UK in my case) because I use a set-top box for cable and I have a 5.1 system that I'll use for sound (mine came with no speakers). It does annoy me to have to pay for the set-top box, but having easy-to-use DVR functionality is non-negotiable with the wife and kids.

I bought a Vizio 42 inch LCD because it had a QAM tuner. The HD channels look great, but the analog cable channels run from so so to pretty good. I'm having Comcast come Monday to hook up their STB through HDMI and give me full digital service. I assume that this will clear up the PQ on all the channels, since I will be now using their tuner with a digital signal through HDMI. Am I thinking correctly?

If this does works my next LCD might just be a monitor, since why pay for a QAM tuner I'm not using. Since as some have said a monitor doesn't normally have speakers where does the sound come from? Do you connect your external speakers to the STB or the monitor?

Sound would come from your STB run to a home theater receiver then out to speakers.

mdyoung, I run audio from the STB (and DVD player, and XBOX) into an A/V receiver, which powers my speakers.

As far as the PQ with the STB,... your perception is not necessarily caused by a shortcoming of the tuner in the vizio. That could be part of the problem, just not necessarily. Many people have voiced the complaint that with the bigger hi-def tv's -- although HD looks fantastic, SD looks worse than it did on their old CRT. Somewhere on the forums here is a post about how to make SD look better on the sets. I believe the title is something like "polishing a turd" (that's not me being sarcastic, that's really the title of the post, or close to it). Search, it should come up.

Pretty soon all TV will have HD tuner built in. Right now, only the larger LCDs and Plasmas have them. I absolutely love the free over-the-air HD programming. Because I am 9 miles from the towers, I get about 45 HD channels at 70%+ signal strength. There is enough signal for me to split it among 3 HDTVs in the house. Best of all, I didnt have to mount a big antenna on my roof. I just mounted it in my attic..... I love the OTA HD so much that I cancelled dishnetwork. My favorite shows are from local channels anyway (i.e. Deal or No Deal, The Apprentice, American Idol, 24, Reba, etc.). Sunday football and basketball games are all broadcasted in HD, and it looks amazing.

In conclusion, YOU NEED THE HD TUNER INSIDE.

i know of no LCD's larger than 21 inches that are just monitors, unless they are meant for computers. and i dont know of ANY 42 inch on up LCD monitors.

45 HD channels?? where the hell do you live??? i live near cleveland and have like 8 OTA digital channels..not counting multiplexing.

Sure there are larger LCD monitors. As far as "meant for computers" goes, I'm not sure what that means. They are just like most plasma monitors - they may be marketed for industrial use, but can be used as televisions.

The 32" LCD that the OP posted about is a monitor (not sure if this is the same model #)
Toshiba 32" LCD
These are even larger:
Toshiba 47" LCD
Toshiba 56" LCD

and that's just looking at Toshiba since the OP suggested it. There are others out there...

I live in Glendale, CA. Basically I count 5-1, 5-2, 5-3 as 3 separate channels. Most of the HD channels I don't watch...such as the spanish and shopping channels. If you only count the main channels (no subs), then I get channels CBS2, NBC4, WB5, ABC7, KTLA9, FOX11, KCOP13, PBS28, KCET50, Univision34, Worship57, and a bunch others. Love the reception, even though I live in the hills.

I like the idea of just having a monitor, but the Toshiba ones dont appear to have HDMI (just DVI-D) and no mention of HDCP compliance. This may be a problem when using other HDMI devices even if you have an HDMI to DVI-D cable.