I need an external ATSC/QAM Tuner.

Hello. I currently have a 32" Sharp LCD. Unfortunately, I didn't buy it with a built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner. What I would like is if somone would please give me some advice or guide me in the right direction of where I can buy an ATSC/QAM tuner and/or a specific brand/name. Let me give you some more details. My LCD is a little over 4 years old. My parents recently bought 2 plasmas with built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners.

Well, we currently have only basic cable. No cable box or anything. I personally am ok without premium channels. When I scanned my parents plasmas to start searching for channels it picked up over 80 something digital channels and about 10-12 HD channels. The quality is just amazing compared to the analog channels that I have been watching.

So, as you can see I am very jealous and it doesn't make sense to me that I have to pay monthly to have a cable box in order to have digital and HD channels while my parents don't have one. They're able to see clear picture quality without a cable box. It's definitely the built-in tuner that allows that capability. Now, I understand that the cable company only wants money and that is why they don't sell the freaking box.

Like I said before, would like to know if there is a specific ATSC/QAM tuner that I can purchase for my LCD? Of course, one that is good and reliable. I know Samsung used to make it but I am just wondering if there is something else or something newer out there. Thank you in advance. Sorry for my blah blah blah. :helpme

The cable company is not allowed to sell the box. They purchase them from electronics manufacturers for use as rental units. It is up to the manufacturers of the boxes to sell the boxes to the general public if they wish to do so. They can sell them without CableCARDs installed, as provided by federal law. The electronics manufacturers choose not to, presumably because they do not detect enough of a demand by consumers such as yourself to pay enough for such boxes to make providing ongoing support to the consumer marketplace for these boxes a worthwhile venture.

Do be aware that in the interest of discouraging folks from stealing expanded basic cable, it is likely that soon all those channels will be encrypted by most of the service providers that don't already do so. Therefore you should be sure that whatever QAM tuner you purchase supports CableCARD, if you want to use it to receive cable networks such as USA Network, TNT, ESPN, CNN, etc.

At this time, I don't know of any devices that are in production and being sold to the public, except for DVRs, which are of course very expensive.

I was just asking. Thanks.

The cable company is not allowed to sell the box. They purchase them from electronics manufacturers for use as rental units

The OP is not referring to the boxes that the cable companies supply for their premium services. He just wants an ATSC/QAM tuner (or better yet an NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner) to receive the digital channels included in his cable company's basic service, so that he can receive the same channels that his parent's TV receives via its built-in tuners.
CableCard is irrelevant to his needs.

He mentioned a Samsung tuner (probably the DTB-H250F, a 2006 model) as one possibility. The DTB-H260F is an ATSC/QAM tuner but is currently hard to find. He could connect his cable directly to it and connect the tuner to his TV via component-video or HDMI to receive the digital channels, including HD, that his cable company includes in its bacis service. He can also use the tuner's "analogue pass through" capability to pass the analogue cable channels through to his TV's analogue tuner.

There are other ATSC/QAM tuners from companies such as PrimeDTV, Centronics and Winegard that will allow him to do the same thing. If other members have details on these, I am sure the OP will appreciate input from those members.

Solid Signal have a number of HDTV tuners available. The OP should check these out to see if any of them have a QAM tuner. It is the QAM tuner that heed needs most.

The OP is not referring to the boxes that the cable companies supply for their premium services.There are no boxes that are (just) for "premium" services. All advanced services can, and are, being encrypted, not just "premium" services. Read my message again for details.

CableCard is irrelevant to his needs.If that were true, I wouldn't have mentioned it. The problem is one of nomenclature. A lot of people think CNN, ESPN, USA, etc., are "basic cable", instead of what basic cable really is, i.e., just the local over-the-air broadcast channels. The OP mentioned being jealous about his parents receiving "over 80 something digital channels" so my assumption is that expanded basic was what he was referring to; not limited basic.

There are other ATSC/QAM tuners from companies such as PrimeDTV, Centronics and Winegard that will allow him to do the same thing. If other members have details on these, I am sure the OP will appreciate input from those members.Absolutely, as long as people make it clear that such devices may now, or someday soon, be only useful for tuning in local over-the-air broadcast channels via cable.

I think I'm looking for something similar. I'll try to be as specific as possible with my situation:

1)I just received a freebie 42" Panasonic TH42PW5 plasma monitor. Monitor only. NO TUNER. I don't subscribe to cable and don't want to.

2) I have a coaxial cable in my apartment but do not subscribe. If I plug it into my very old Hitachi tube television I get local TV - 10-15 channels. Obviously not HD. Perhaps there is an HD signal on this cable also (SAM?), I don't know.

I need a tuner of some sort. So I can watch the basic TV coming over the cable. I suppose an analog tuner that will allow me to tune the analog cable signal will suffice.

If possible I'd like a tuner that can access the SAM signal on the cable. I didn't know what SAM was until I just read about it. This is a free HD signal of local channels on the cable correct?

What kind of tuner should I look for? I'd like something used for less than $50.

The Panasonic TH42PW5 plasma monitor has S Video, Component/RGB IN, PC In and a Serial Terminal. I don't know much about the HDTV world but I understand that this isn't an HDTV. From what I read a 480p or maybe a 720p feed will look good on this thing.

Any help is much appreciated. I'm not very versed in all the jargon so specifics help.

Thanks again.

My response was based upon what the OP said he wants to be able to receive. Read his post more carefully. CableCard and the boxes the cable companies supply for their encrypted services are indeed irrelevant to what he actually said he wants to receive.

My response was based upon what the OP said he wants to be able to receive. Read his post more carefully. CableCard and the boxes the cable companies supply for their encrypted services are indeed irrelevant to what he actually said he wants to receive.
Until the OP weighs in an provides more details about his/her needs, we'll have to agree to disagree about that.

This is a free HD signal of local channels on the cable correct?QAM is the method by which digital television (not just HD) is broadcast over coaxial cable. It isn't "free", actually -- it is included as part of your basic cable subscription fee. However, if all you're looking for is the local over-the-air broadcast channels, then you should find either a standard definition (SD) or a high definition (HD) signal, for each local over-the-air broadcast channel, available on your cable service once you subscribe, without any encryption. In some cases, you'll find both SD and HD signals for local over-the-air broadcast channels unencrypted.

What kind of tuner should I look for? I'd like something used for less than $50.As was pointed out earlier in this thread, they aren't easy to find. BrianO mentioned one, and mentioned that there are others. I haven't seen any stand-alone QAM tuners for sale in any of our local stores for as long as I can remember. Perhaps BrianO can provide links to retailers selling such devices.

I don't think the PrimeDTV PHD-101 ATSC / QAM (HD) Tuner Receiver Box doesn't have NTSC tuner for analog channels. Will that be a problem for me or should I expect the cable to have my local channels in digital?

Thank you BrianO for understanding exactly what I meant.

onlooker2009, looks like we are both looking for something similar. I'm new to the HDTV world, so I've been doing a lot of reading online. I suggest checking out the AVSforum. The HDTV Technical sub-forum has lots of good info. Lot's of helpful people there.

It seems that cable coming into you house will have a set of local channels that are not scrambled and available in HDTV - Cable Clear QAM.

Check out
www./avs-vb/showthread.php?t=179095

Currently avaiable options include:
·Centronics ZAT502 HD $85 ATSC, Clear QAM (also known as RTC ·DTA1100HD, Digiwave DTV5000HD)
·Winegard RC-1010 $190 ATSC
·Coby DTV-140 $139 ATSC
·PrimeDTV PHD-205LE $139 ATSC, Clear QAM

May still be available:
· Samsung DTB-H260F $179 ATSC, Clear QAM
· Tivax LX1000 $90 ATSC, Clear QAM

Thank you PecanEater! I will definitely check it out. Thanks again! I'll let you know if I find anything.

I don't think the PrimeDTV PHD-101 ATSC / QAM (HD) Tuner Receiver Box doesn't have NTSC tuner for analog channels. Will that be a problem for me or should I expect the cable to have my local channels in digital?

I have the PrimeDTV-200 and it passes analog through to the TV.

It has a great digital tuner and the QAM works better than some TV's.