I thought cable providers were required to provide HD service without making you pay extra for the service (they could make you pay for renting the box/equipment, but NOT the service). Obviously, you still pay for regular cable service. Can anyone confirm this?

8/29/2008 2:19:43 PM

are you retarded ?

8/29/2008 2:31:40 PM

Well, Time Warner offers HD service for free...for $9.99 a month.

8/29/2008 2:42:47 PM

you can get "hi def rabbit ears"...i know some family that lives out in the sticks and cant get cable (they get satellite) but they can get local channels in hi def through the rabbit ears

8/29/2008 2:50:29 PM

Well, I was on the phone with them but didn't want to put up a fight about it until I was more certain. They are telling me I *have* to pay for digital cable service to get the HD channels, which seems off.

8/29/2008 2:55:46 PM

When I first moved into my house there was this weird antenna on the roof. Before I got my satellite installed I plugged it up and had crystal clear digital channels. Not sure if they were HD or not since my TV isn't HD, but they were damn good.

also, this might help:

http://www.hdtvinfoport.com/TV-Antenna.html

8/29/2008 2:56:36 PM

Quote :

"They are telling me I *have* to pay for digital cable service to get the HD channels, which seems off."

what seems off about it. if you want cable then you are going to have to pay for it.

8/29/2008 3:04:20 PM

Quote :

"are you retarded ?"

You have to get Digital Cable because it is a minimum tier. You can't get just HBO or just porn. They are not required to spend millions upon millions of there own $$$ on HD infrastructure so you can have free HD programming.

[Edited on August 29, 2008 at 3:07 PM. Reason : s]

8/29/2008 3:05:18 PM

i think zapped is talking about providing Clear QAM HD signals, which can be read by any digital tuner, not just the company's cable boxes.

At some point, I thought I read that the FCC mandated that cable companies provide Clear QAM signals for free also, at least the same channels that are already available for free in OTA HD. So, if you have a digital tuner and order basic cable, then you would also get ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, CW and a couple other HD channels - the same ones you can get OTA.
I have not been able to confirm this, though, with any recent literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner

Quote :

"QAM-based HD programming of local stations is sometimes available to analog cable subscribers, without paying the additional fees for a digital cable box. The availability of QAM HD programming is rarely described or publicized in cable company product literature. ... An integrated QAM tuner allows the free reception of unscrambled digital programming sent "in the clear" by cable providers, usually local broadcast stations or cable radio channels. Which channels are scrambled varies greatly from location to location and can change over time; the majority of digital channels are scrambled because the providers consider them to be extra-cost options and not part of the "basic cable" package. "

Zapped - if you call them back, the most important thing to ask is what channels they offer in "Clear QAM". If the rep doesn't know, or it sounds like a BS answer (like he just made it up), ask to talk to someone else or call back. You need to find someone who has a clear knowledge of what Clear QAM is and exactly what TWC's policy is on it. Report back here - i'm interested.

[Edited on August 29, 2008 at 3:29 PM. Reason : .]

edit again - here's some older discussions on the topic
http://www.satelliteguys.us/time-warner-cable-forum/109253-any-digital-channels-clear.html

Quote :

"It is against FCC rules to encrypt local broadcast channels but that doesn't mean that the cableco obeys the rules."

[Edited on August 29, 2008 at 3:31 PM. Reason : .]

8/29/2008 3:20:26 PM

I think you are giving his intelligence way too much credit.

8/29/2008 3:34:49 PM

sweet - this is what i was looking for

this page, updated in March 2008, lists all the digital channels in the area. It lists all the QAM channels available with TWC Basic Cable, and they are pretty much all the local channels
http://home1.gte.net/res18h39/channels.htm

Quote :

" The TWC channels are already available to all subscribers, even to those who only have Basic service. To receive them, you simply need to use a QAM tuner, which is included in some new TV sets and other devices (such as the digital boxes from TWC). You may rent a CableCARD (if the QAM-capable device has a slot for it), but you are not required to use one, since these channels are not encrypted. If you are using a CableCARD (in a device other than TWC's digital box), and a TWC channel is available as both analog and digital, then you can only tune to the analog one. For example, UNC-TV is available as both analog and digital, so you can only tune to the analog one. On the other hand, UNC-TV DT is available only as a digital channel, so you can tune to the digital channel. "

^ the joke is on all you guys for assuming he was an idiot for knowing that there was an FCC mandate to broadcast local channels for free in HD. Anyone who pays for Standard Cable or an HD package just to get local channels is wasting money

[Edited on August 29, 2008 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

8/29/2008 3:35:39 PM

True, but he makes no mention of just wanting to get just local channels - he said HD service - and acknowledges he knows you would have to pay for HD equipment

8/29/2008 3:45:28 PM

I just love threads like this. NC86 and sd2nc coming in to show us what self-ownage is all about.

Brilliant.

8/29/2008 3:46:51 PM

If this guy's TV has a QAM tuner built in, I'll pm you my password

8/29/2008 3:59:48 PM

you may not have to ask them - check this website out as well as the one agentlion posted to see what channels are in your area in QAM

http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels

8/29/2008 4:04:44 PM

Quote :

"If this guy's TV has a QAM tuner built in, I'll pm you my password "

Well that's not really the point, now is it?

This guy asked a question (to which the short answer is yes, to an extent) and you guys automatically jumped down his throat calling him retarded and assuming that he was completely clueless. Yes, the question could have been worded better by someone who knew exactly what to ask, but if he knew to ask about QAM, he would have known the answer already.

I read the OP and immediately though he was talking about QAM. Admittedly, I just read this thread yesterday, so I kinda had QAM on the brain, but the simple fact remains that he asked a valid question and you crucified him for it. I mean shit, Seotaji practically asked the exact same question in that thread, he just threw in the word unencrypted so the jump to QAM was a bit easier.

actually, on that note...

SUSPEND THE OP, YOU SHOULD HAVE USED SEARCH, THIS WAS JUST TALKED ABOUT YESTERDAY, OMG YOU ARE AN IDIOT, SUSPEND BAN TERMINATE CASTRATE THIS MORON!!!

8/29/2008 4:15:01 PM

directv charges 9.99 for HD access.

Suddenlink (formerly cox or something) provides broadcast networks in HD with basic cable service.

8/29/2008 5:38:08 PM

comcast doesn't charge extra for HD

they offer 100+ HD channels and all you need is to upgrade from the normal digital cable STB ($3.99/month rental) to a HD cable STB ($7.99/month rental)

8/29/2008 5:46:53 PM

Well that's the way TW does it too. Except for I'm pretty sure there's no additional fee to upgrade to the digital HD box.

But since the title of the thread was "HD without Digital Cable"...

8/29/2008 6:24:31 PM

Im fairly certain that TWC CSRs are instructed to tell people they have to buy digital cable in order to get HD period...or at least they are never instructed about clear QAM. Clear QAM is one of those things they have to offer, but they sure as hell arent going to tell you about it, just like CableCard.

8/29/2008 6:47:46 PM

Quote :

"I just love threads like this. NC86 and sd2nc coming in to show us what self-ownage is all about. Brilliant."

I'm going to try calling next week to find out about this QAM business.

Oh, and my TV does have a QAM tuner. Start PMing some passwords, sd2nc

8/29/2008 11:52:22 PM

Quote :

" At some point, I thought I read that the FCC mandated that cable companies provide Clear QAM signals for free also, at least the same channels that are already available for free in OTA HD. So, if you have a digital tuner and order basic cable, then you would also get ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, CW and a couple other HD channels - the same ones you can get OTA."

i can confirm this. i have a HDTV in my bedroom with NO cable box plugged into the cable jack. i get all those HD channels as clear as day.

however, if you just want the HD channels and don't care about cable, just use an over the air antenna. but if you do want cable, what's another $10 for digital cable?

8/30/2008 2:00:25 AM

You can get QAM even with TWC's basic package (2-25 channels). When I had it several years ago it was ~$12/month. OTA should look better than QAM, but depending on where you live and if there are elevation changes that block OTA signal, QAM is a good alternative for locals.

8/30/2008 8:22:23 AM

Quote :

" I'm going to try calling next week to find out about this QAM business. Oh, and my TV does have a QAM tuner. Start PMing some passwords, sd2nc"

Sure, check your inbox. This thread WAS really about you getting free channels through your QAM tuner, right?




BTW, sounds like this may be the first time you've heard of it since you need some time to ask them about it...

8/30/2008 9:53:36 AM

Quote :

"however, if you just want the HD channels and don't care about cable, just use an over the air antenna. but if you do want cable, what's another $10 for digital cable?"

the problem with OTA is that it is dependent on location, surrounding topology/buildings, and weather. I've been using OTA HD for over a year now with a mast antenna on my roof pointed directly at the towers down in Garner. When it works, it's clear as day. But during lightening storms and bad weather, the signal decreases and the picture gets blocky and choppy. And sometimes certain channels just get really bad for long periods of time - NBC, for example, was completely unwatchable during the Olympics. The picture was shit - it would block and skip and we just couldn't watch it, even though the rest of the channels were still fine. So we ended up watching most of the Olympics on the analogue NBC and online. But for the past week, NBC has been back to normal with no problems. I'm not entirely convinced that certain stations aren't lowering the signal power on purpose sometimes.

but anyway, with Clear QAM over cable, i assume you don't have to worry about signal strength or integrity, which is nice

8/30/2008 10:28:18 AM

everyone was probably watching the olympics and they ran out of bandwidth

8/30/2008 10:43:09 AM

I had a TV that apparently had a QAM tuner in it, but I had never heard of that before today. I just hooked it up to our cable here, and I had some HD channels. It's entirely possible to have HD without digital service or a set-top box, and you don't even need an expensive TV to do it.

9/1/2008 12:14:08 PM

this is awesome. i didn't know you could get such a huge number of channels over cable if you didn't subscribe. no more pointing my indoor antenna and getting frustrated with a weak signal

QAM tuner ftw

9/9/2008 9:35:10 AM