Digital TV signal from analog cable question

[fecmech]

Gentlemen: I have been laboring under the delusion that I was receiving a digital signal for my TV through Spectrum(formerly Time Warner). I got rid of a newer tube type TV in the bedroom and replaced it with a 42" LEDTV. When I turned it on after setup my picture was not real sharp and thought I had a problem with the TV or cable connections. Ruled that out when accessing Netflix on my WIFI, TV was sharp as a tack. Cleaned cable connections to the TV, no joy. Called cable co. and was informed cable was analog and only going through cable co. box could I get digital signal to TV ($5./mo.). Is there some kind of item that I can purchase 1 time to get the digital signal to this tv and avoid a monthly rental fee?

[David2011]

As far as I know all of the digital cable boxes are encrypted or coded to the provider. That's "as far as I know." Could be wrong; my expertise is in the computer world.

[lucifers]

$5.00/ month ? For 1080 ? Sounds like a deal to me.

[OeldeWolf]

Here ib CA, they sold a converter box to make analog tv's work with digital air wave signals. But you need the reverse, and I have not heard of that problem before. I also thought all cable signals were digital. I think they are, around here.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP...

Called cable co. and was informed cable was analog and only going through cable co. box could I get digital signal to TV ($5./mo.). Is there some kind of item that I can purchase 1 time to get the digital signal to this tv and avoid a monthly rental fee?
did you ask to buy a cable box from them? instead of rent?


When the previous cable provider in my town started offering Cable internet, they'd either rent you a cable modem or sell you one.

[popper]

Did you sign up for HD or just regular TV? Try to set the TV for non HD. Cable can be digital or analog, TV can be either.

[fecmech]

Did you sign up for HD or just regular TV? Try to set the TV for non HD. Cable can be digital or analog, TV can be either.
My understanding from the cable co. that they are in the process of upgrading our cable to a digital signal the tv's can access without the box. I will look into changing tv input.
The reason I don't want to rent a box is this tv gets very little use, less than 1-2 hours a week.

[Finster101]

I don't have cable. Just an ant. in the attic. Digital signal over air if you are not to rural is an excellent picture.

[abunaitoo]

We have Spectrum. same as you Time Warner got bought out by them. Don't care for Spectrum.
We also don't have digital. Never had.
Spectrum is pushing for us to get digital, but we're fine with what we have now.
Is your cable going directly into the TV????
If it's connected through a DVD player. The player needs to be turned off.
On some HDTV sets you need to change the input settings to analog.
Your instructions should tell you if you need to change it.

[jsizemore]

You need an analog to digital converter. In the end you'll rather pay $5/mo when you see the price of one that's worth a darn.

[mold maker]

Antenna will get local news and up to 70 junk channels, but to satisfy the family "needs" I have 4 boxes at $5. ea from Spectrum. It's the price I pay for having young folks constantly in the home. I spend most of my time on line. The older I get the more I find I didn't know.

[abunaitoo]

Do you have cable or an antenna?????
We have Spectrum cable and don't have a box.
We get all the basic cable channels.
If your using an antenna, your not getting TV from Spectrum, your getting off the air wave.
All air wave is now digital, so you'll need a converter.
I have two old portable TV's that run off battery.
Used to take them to the park to watch.
They don't work now without a converter.

[fecmech]

Do you have cable or an antenna?????


I do have cable and get many channels. The difference is that on my main living room TV with the box all channels are razor sharp, the same channels without the box are not so sharp. This is a new Hisense 43" TV so it can handle digital. What I'm picking up from this thread is without the box the TV can't decode the digital signal from the analog cable input. It appears without the box "I can't get there from here". Not that big of a deal as that TV gets very little use and anything I stream over WIFI is crystal clear on that TV.

[6bg6ga]

All TV signal being broadcast from your local TV stations is digital. The old TV's need a digital to analog converter. Don't take offense but the cheaper TV's being sold (like the one you purchased) are not super good quality and the picture isn't good. I also have a TV that is receiving the local cable signal without a cable box and the quality isn't the best. When I hook up the cable box to it the quality increases. Yes, they have their (premium) box that is a digital box and upscales the picture quality. They also have the cigarette package cable converter and the cheaper box the size of a VHS recorder. They say the cigarette sized converter isn't digital and the cheaper VHS sized box isn't digital either. Their goal is to push the (digital) box with the upgraded signal and the extra channels at the higher monthly cost.

Yes, the newer TV's are setup to receive the digital signal being broadcast from local carriers. The add on box allows for more channels and some features.

[RogerDat]

What he said ^

There is also no such thing as a "digital TV antenna" The antenna is a "dumb" device, it just catches a signal, be it AM, FM or TV, or Shortwave. The content of that signal might be digital but the antenna doesn't care.

Look for a way to set the TV to analog input. That may well activate an "up convert" function to enhance the cable signal a bit.

[kens]

all TV signal now is digital, there is no more analog. what you are seeing may be standard definition compared to HD. All the new purchased TV's are digital, and HD. your signal may vary, but your signal is digital. I'm getting HD from a regular rabbit ears antenna from common airwaves. the converter box you got sounds like it is not letting HD through put

[6bg6ga]

Your getting standard resolution because the cable companies and other wish to market the additional features for that added price. Like I said earlier the signal is digital. Mediacom for example calls their basic and standard boxes analog which indeed is incorrect and a lie. The "Digital" buzz word is one that has been around for years and people seem to want to recognize it as being better. Thus the Words "Digital Speakers" "Digital Interconnect cables" and I could go on and on.

As pointed out a "antenna" is a simple antenna as it receives the digital or analog signal being broadcast. The digital convertor was marketed and sold for the OLDER TV's without digital input capabilities. As I have mentioned all the NEW TV's are digital and will receive the DIGITAL signal that is being sent out by ALL TV stations and all Cable providers.

There needs to be some truth to the BS that is being pushed out there. The cheap cable boxes output a digital signal. The standard boxes output digital signal and both are marketed as ANALOG in the effort to get the general public to buy and or rent the "DIGITAL" box with the better resolution and features.

The signal being sent to the TV that was purchased is digital but is not high resolution.

[poppy42]

Get an antenna and a fire stick! Antenna for live local channels (news and such) fire stick for movies. ( net flicks and such). Depending on how far away antenna’s any were from $15 to $100 Bucks. Fire stick is about $40.00. You still have to pay for net flicks but it’s a lot cheaper than cable?

[fecmech]

Antenna does not work for me due to location. I live just below the Niagara escarpment (what Niagara Falls goes over) and the TV stations broadcast from Buffalo which is on top of the escarpment. Since TV signals have become pretty much line of sight I would need about a 150 high antenna. I can access netflix through the internet on the new TV and our main living room tv has a Roku.
Talking to a fellow at the range this AM it appears in about a year Spectrum will have all of it's system full digital so that my TV will then be able to get a sharp picture without the box. Again not that big a deal due to the very limited use of this TV. Thanks to all who responded.

[mold maker]

I thought electronics were supposed to make life simpler, like "the paperless society". Remember when if the round TV picture was fuzzy, you went outside and turned the antinna. If that didn't help, ya just watched a different station, after all there were three.
Now I pay almost $200 a month for a Kzillion channels that have nothing to watch, but they are clear and loud, and I don't have to go outside and turn the antinna......

[MyFlatline]

Oh , those were the days..The 3 channels sure hits home, most times they were a fuzzy.. No channel surfin .

[6bg6ga]

Oh , those were the days..The 3 channels sure hits home, most times they were a fuzzy.. No channel surfin .

Your forgot to mention they were black and white instead of being color. If you were a techy you had a rotor on your antenna mast.

[abunaitoo]

I remember black and white TV.
I think we had four channels.
Color TV came out and we had five channels.
Then cable came out and we got 18 or 21 channels.
I still don't have digital. Cable company wants to change us, but I don't need the extra channels or want to deal with the box for every TV.
Watched a few TV's with digital, and all the extra channels.
Most of them not worth watching.
Only thing I wouldn't mind is a DVR the cable company gives with digital.

[6bg6ga]

All TV broadcasts have been digital for a few years now. The (digital box) is a buzz word like the term digital speakers. Makes the marketing people happy. All analog TV broadcast systems were converted to digital years ago. The so called digital boxes do nothing more than add additional channels and features and some upgrade the resolution a step higher.

I can't remember the year this happened but I remember changing a lot of accounts to another form of business music because the system that had broadcast our analog music signal had been shut down on the two TV towers we used.

[abunaitoo]

If it's all digital, then why is the cable company hounding us to change to digital?????
We have basic cable. Could it be different from Digital cable?????
Don't really know how it works, but we don't have digital.
Could be we are getting digital, but without the box, we only get the basic channels.
I remember when they changed the air wave to digital. You could get a antenna converter for almost free. Had to get some kind of voucher or something like that.
I got the voucher, but couldn't find the converter here, so I never got one.

[Petrol & Powder]

I don't own that many electronic gizmos and of the few that I own, the TV is somewhere below my toaster in terms of importance.

I ditched satellite a few years ago and don't miss it at all. I still have an old TV with the big picture tube. I get local broadcast TV over the air with a simple antenna and stream internet via a RoKu box.

If HD digital is important to you, it can be had for a price. Only you can decide if that price is worth it. For me, it just isn't worth it. I've watched HD TV and it is clearly a better picture but there's nothing on TV worth the price of HD to me.

I believe HD digital will eventually become the standard and you will not have to pay extra for it. Until then, I can live without it.

[6bg6ga]

If it's all digital, then why is the cable company hounding us to change to digital?????
We have basic cable. Could it be different from Digital cable?????
Don't really know how it works, but we don't have digital.
Could be we are getting digital, but without the box, we only get the basic channels.
I remember when they changed the air wave to digital. You could get a antenna converter for almost free. Had to get some kind of voucher or something like that.
I got the voucher, but couldn't find the converter here, so I never got one.

Per FCC laws few years back ALL broadcasting is now digital. If you think otherwise try getting a TV signal via a set of rabbit ears or antenna on your 1960's vintage TV set.

I thought I explained it pretty well in a prior post. I'll try again.....ALL signals are digital. The companies market the word "DIGITAL" to make people think they are getting a superior box. Most but not all of the premium boxes do upgrade the resolution of the picture quality.

ALL the boxes are digital but some are very basic, some medium in terms of features and some have everything.

Several of my TV's do not run the "BOX" but do have the digital tuner and do receive basic programing. The TV's with the basic box receive more stations than the TV's without the basic box. The TV I have with the medium box receives more than the basic box and the TV with the premium "BUZZ WORD HERE >>>DIGITAL BOX " receives all the programing the premium channels that I wish to pay for.

[Finster101]

Colt peacemaker = analog.

Colt python = digital

There I translated it to gun speak.

[6bg6ga]

Speakers from mid 1970's are just speakers. Speakers from 2000 and up are "Digital" speakers or Digital ready.

Well put Finster101 Gun Terms that we all can understand. Now to separate my "Digital Guns from my Analog Guns"

[6bg6ga]

Digital Television


Digital Television is an advanced broadcasting technology that has transformed the television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality, and multiple channels of programming. Since June 13, 2009, full-power television stations nationwide have been required to broadcast exclusively in a digital format.

The switch from analog to digital broadcast television is known as the Digital Television Transition. In 1996, Congress authorized the distribution of an additional broadcast channel to every full-power TV station so that each station could launch a digital broadcast channel while simultaneously continuing analog broadcasting. Later, Congress set June 12, 2009 as the deadline for full power television stations to stop broadcasting analog signals.

An important benefit of the switch to all-digital broadcasting is that parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum have been freed up for public safety communications by groups such as police, fire departments and rescue squads. Also, some of the spectrum has been auctioned to companies that will be able to provide consumers with advanced wireless services, such as wireless broadband.

[6bg6ga]

If your TV has a built-in QAM tuner (also known as a “Clear QAM” tuner) and is connected directly to the cable wiring in your home, it is capable of receiving the digital signals that we transmit without encryption (“in the clear”), including your local broadcast stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc.). If your TV is an HDTV, you can view the HD signals that we transmit in the clear. If your HDTV has a built-in digital television (DTV) tuner (also known as an “ATSC” tuner), you can connect an antenna to your TV and receive local broadcast stations’ signals over the air. However, to receive any HD cable networks, such as ESPN, A&E, Discovery, Food Network and more, or to receive HD On Demand programming, you will need a cable connection and an HD Set-Top Box, CableCARD™ or Digital Adapter.

All TV's after about 2008 and some going back further contain an ATSC tuner and will receive all signals from local plus the basic from cable companies. As mentioned above the Digital adapters, HD Set-Top box, and CableCard allow for more features.

A easy way to check to see if your TV contains a digital tuner is simply connect a pair of rabbit ears or outside antenna or the like to your RF connector on the TV. If you can pull in locals then your tuner is digital and if you pull in nothing you have an analog tuner.