[Groto]

Hi. I have an HD Ready TV.


I have regular TV cable right now and I am using a VCR as the tuner for my 1080p HDTV which is obviously not ideal. I would like to be able to get an HD antenna for OTA and also have another jack for feeding cable tv into the HDTV. My HDTV (Westinginghouse LVM-37W3) does not have any tuner at all and I do not know the best solution.


I realize there is a Samsung Dtb-h260f which I think does what I am describing... but its discontinued.. IS there any solution that does not require some sort of monthly fee ? Thank you!

 

[Scooper]

Check ebay - you should be able to find a Samsung. example -
http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMSUNG-DTB-H260...3%3A1|294%3A50


If you want a no-fee OTA DVR - you might look at the DTVPAL DVR

 

[jtbell]

The Official AVS HDTV STB Synopsis (a sticky post at the top of this forum) lists some other currently-available OTA HD tuners and DVRs.

 

[Groto]

Thanks for the responses. I would rather not buy something that is used.


I looked at the sticky and the closest thing I could find is this:


Centronics ZAT 502 HD


It says that this only has one input (for cable TV or an HD OTA antenna)


Are there no other options? I suppose the most important thing I need is just getting a digital tuner for cable TV if there aren't any that include both that and OTA.

 

[Groto]

My best choice would be something that could do cable tv with one input and have another input for an HD OTA.. But I need something to use for cable tv other then a VCR at least..

 

[Scooper]

Your cable company for their STB ?

 

[Groto]

I have Comcast.. but isn't there a monthly fee to use their cable boxes? I want to pay a one time fee for a box.

 

[Ken H]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Groto /forum/post/16833127


I have Comcast.. but isn't there a monthly fee to use their cable boxes? I want to pay a one time fee for a box.

Then all you'll get in HD are local stations, like ABC HD, CBS HD, FOX HD, NBC HD, PBS HD.


No ESPN HD, no Discovery HD, no USA HD, no premium HD (HBO, SHO, etc.), none of the over 100 available national HD channels.

 

[Groto]

That's fine with me. I just want something better then a VCR to use as a cable tuner because I'm using a VCR with composite cables on my 1080p HDTV which makes no sense. I am trying to find the best solution for a one time fee. Even if it's just a couple HD channels that is fine.

 

[walford]

What different input interfaces do you have available with you Westinghouse High Resolution monitor?

Do you know how many local OTA HD digial broadcasters have signals availble in your location(zip code)?

Your cable company will only provide a subset of the content that is available with an OTA digital tuner unencrypted so their is no advantage to being able to receive both.

 

[Groto]

Even if it's not HD won't SD look better over HDMI then connected with composite on this 1080p display. I can pick up like 6-8 channels with an OTA HD antenna in my area.

 

[Scooper]

There's really not much available that can get analog cable and digital cable / digital OTA with one tuner.


As far as using the VCR as your cable tuner - using composite is already better than the RF it was originally - using an s-video / HD capable connector really won't buy anything on the analog cable.


If you got an HD OTA / HD QAM tuner and kept your VCR for the analog cable stuff - that really is a pretty good setup in most people's mind.


I'm using SD Dish network and OTA HDTV on my TV and it works pretty good.

 

[walford]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Groto /forum/post/16836759


Even if it's not HD won't SD look better over HDMI then connected with composite on this 1080p display. I can pick up like 6-8 channels with an OTA HD antenna in my area.

Your cable company is only required to broadcast one sub-channel from each local high powered local broadcaster either SD or HD so you will not get clear QAM digital broacasts for channels that you can not get with a OTA digital tuner.

 

[Ken H]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Groto /forum/post/16836759


Even if it's not HD won't SD look better over HDMI then connected with composite on this 1080p display.

No.

 

[Rammitinski]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Groto /forum/post/16836759


Even if it's not HD won't SD look better over HDMI then connected with composite on this 1080p display. I can pick up like 6-8 channels with an OTA HD antenna in my area.

If you would be content with decent digital SD over HDMI (and don't want anything used), then you could consider something like the Panasonic DMR-EZ28K DVD recorder. It has an integrated ATSC, NTSC and Clear-QAM tuner.


I'd still recommend using an HD tuner on a 37" 1080p display, though. And you're likely to pick up more than 6-8 local digital channels from your cable using Clear-QAM instead.


The Centronics would be a good choice. Then just continue to use the VCR for the analog channels, and change inputs to watch either.

 

[jtbell]

There are also the Sony DHG-HDD250 and 500 HD DVRs which can receive NTSC (both OTA and cable), ATSC, clear QAM and even encrypted QAM with a cable card. There are separate inputs for OTA and cable. They can record up to about 30 or 60 hours of HD programming, respectively.


The "catches" are:


(1) They've been discontinued for over 3.5 years, so you pretty much have to buy a used one. They turn up regularly on eBay. They're not cheap, either. During the past month, seven 250s sold for $334 to $425, and one 500 sold for about $525.


(2) Using one as a DVR requires that the TV Guide on Screen (TVGOS) system works in your area. This means that you have to receive at least one station that includes TVGOS data in its OTA or cable signal. Also, since the DTV transition many people have had trouble getting an initial channel lineup from their TVGOS host channel. They either have to wait a long time after initial setup, or (like me) use a Dish DTVPal+ converter box to jump-start the process.

 

[Groto]

Thank you everyone for the good posts. So if I use the Centronics player I can get cable over that and any HD channels offered by my provider by default will work through this box? Like NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX etc..? If this is the case then I think this is what I want and then I won't need OTA HD because it will come through the cable.

 

[Rammitinski]

Yes.


If you use the QAM tuner on the Centronics, it doesn't have RF pass-through, so you'll have to split your cable signal between that and the VCR if you still want the analog channels.


The PrimeDTV PHD-205LE ( www.epvision.com/ ) has QAM, ATSC and RF pass-through (no need to have to split the signal with RF pass-through). There's also a "KWorld 1600 ATSC/QAM tuner" (no pass-through), available through Amazon, which is pretty affordable.

 

[Groto]

OH ok. I was under the impression that Comcast cable channels were all digital now so I could use the Centronics to just display all channels in digital whether they are SD or HD. I guess I am wrong?

 

[Rammitinski]

That would be incorrect. As was said earlier, only the locals will most likely be left unencrypted (in-the-clear). Most companies, including Comcast, scramble (encrypt) everything else.