[Drago]

I've been searching all over for an answer to this and may be looking at it the wrong way (or just can't get it). I'm hoping someone could clarify.


My home is "heavily invested" into RF modulators. By that I mean, we can see our security cameras on channels, DVD players on others, Dish boxes, etc. (15 channels in all) on any TV in the house. It's worked great for many years. Well, it might be time to replace an older TV. With the new ATSC only tuners will I be pretty much out of luck on that TV? By that I mean, I won't be able to see those modulated channels at all?


Thanks for any insight.

 

[jautor]

Have new models really removed NTSC support, or it just not listed any more? Would seem to be premature to do that, since analog cable and there are some low-power exceptions to the DTV transition (IIRC)...


Jeff

 

[jimre]

Requiring all new TVs to support ATSC tuning is NOT the same thing as prohibiting NTSC tuning. I doubt there are any tuner chipsets that don't support both.


Not exhaustive research, but I recently shopped for & purchased a couple mid-size replacement TVs (22" and 32"). I didn't find a single TV that didn't support both ATSC and NTSC (and QAM, too).

 

[jimre]

As I said, I don't think TV tuners will be your problem. You're far more likely to run into channel/spectrum conflicts - where new content (OTA/ATSC, Digital Cable/QAM, Dish, etc) is occupying formerly-unused frequencies you've assigned to your modulators.


If you keep your centralized-source architecture, it may not be an issue for you. But having HD on your distributed TV sets may tempt you to change that architecture.

 

[Drago]

Thanks guys. I was to the point of buying and trying. All the stuff I looked at just said

"ATSC Tuner" and I just got blank looks from sales people when asking questions. The way you guys explain it makes sense. Good point on HD content and conflicts. Today the OTA signals are blocked for everything except a Dish HD tuner (which directly feeds a 5 year old HTDV ready) and a couple of DTV converter boxes which are on their own modulated channels too. I made need to filter instead of block in the future.


Thanks again.

 

[aeblank]

I have a 4-up modulator and didn't need to change anything.


I was concerned about tuners as well, but until cable boxes don't output on "channel 3", we're all set on tuners.