Home Theater Forum - View Single Post - Will a HDTV with ASTC tuner get hdtv channels from cable without a cable card?

Phil Tomaskovic · 01-14-2005, 07:32 PM

ok, I thought the cable card was only needed for scrambled channels like HBO and or access some higher range of frequencies/channels. Thanks for the clarification on the definition of ATSC as over the air. So like on my current tv (Sony Wega tube), you have to go in the menu to say whether you are cable or antenna. I assume an HDTV ready tv probably has the same type of setup. So if Comcast isn't scrambling the local hdtv channels, I was just wondering if I would still have to pay to rent the cable card or would the cable tuner on a hdtv ready set be able to access a channel in that range 187-192 or do you need the card to even access the high of a channel even if it isn't scrambled?

01-14-2005, 07:32 PM	#7 of 8
Phil Tomaskovic Member Join Date: May 1999 Local Time: 12:12 AM Local Date: 01-08-2009 Posts: 1,112	ok, I thought the cable card was only needed for scrambled channels like HBO and or access some higher range of frequencies/channels. Thanks for the clarification on the definition of ATSC as over the air. So like on my current tv (Sony Wega tube), you have to go in the menu to say whether you are cable or antenna. I assume an HDTV ready tv probably has the same type of setup. So if Comcast isn't scrambling the local hdtv channels, I was just wondering if I would still have to pay to rent the cable card or would the cable tuner on a hdtv ready set be able to access a channel in that range 187-192 or do you need the card to even access the high of a channel even if it isn't scrambled?