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+--- Thread: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? (/showthread.php?tid=76852)
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Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - pinkoos - 04-22-2009
Hi,
I've got a nice, wall mounted 22" LCD TV in my study which connects to our (very) basic cable service through the wall coaxial (ie, there's no cable box).
The TV has a built-in QAM digital tuner and gets a few nice HD channels through the coaxial (which Comcast has to provide by law, right...all of the local HD channels at least and some non-local channels we just happen to get).
Anyway, since there's no box, there's no channel guide, etc. Also, Comcast likes to reshuffle all these channels all the time, so that one day my local CBS HD channel may be 86-3, but the next day it's gone from that location and after running the digital scan all over again and then flipping through all the resulting channels, I've found it's been relocated to 101-3 or something like that. This "reshuffle" seems to happen quite frequently and, as you can imagine, is quite annoying in the time and frustration it takes to remap everything and find where all the channels have gone.
So, I'm wondering if one of those cheapo digital converter boxes may solve this problem? As I understand, some of them have built in channel guides or something like that. Even though my TV has a digital tuner already, could I introduce this converter box into the mix to try and fix this "problem?"
I understand that Comcast probably does this to make it so annoying that you want to spend the extra $30 or so per month to get the box so you don't have to mess with this anymore. But, I'm stubborn and I'm not gonna cave in!
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - BernDog - 04-22-2009
You won't be watching HD with the converter box, but you can get a guide. With your TV's tuner, you'll get HD, but not a guide (unless your TV has one built in). You could get an HD tuner (not a converter box) to get HD AND a guide, but that'll be more than $30. Either way, the stations should stay put. I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong.
edit:
After rereading your post, my answer applies to an OTA signal. That's all a converter box will do. There's no QAM tuner in the $30 boxes. If you get a more expensive HD tuner that does have a QAM tuner in it, I suspect you'll have the same issues. I don't know of anything that will follow your cable provider's channel reassignments. My comment above about the guide in your TV refers to the possibility that your TV does not have a guide for the QAM tuner, but might for OTA. I'd be surprised if it did (mine doesn't) but I don't know your TV.
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - GGD - 04-22-2009
I'm assuming that the "cheapo digital converter boxes" that you refer to are the ones sold in stores for the NTSC->ATSC conversion that will be taking place for broadcast TV.
Those will only help if you get your signal from an antenna rather than from Comcast. But given that your TV has a QAM tuner, it probably also has an ATSC tuner and hooking up an antenna to it would do the same thing without one of those boxes, and would also get you HD on those local channels.
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - Robert M - 04-22-2009
Pinkoos,
$30 or so per month for the privilege of using a cable box? I've never heard of _any_ cable company charging that much for a box. If anything, renting a box shouldn't cost more than $4 to $6 per month.
Robert
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - bazookaman - 04-22-2009
Not sure about Pinkoos, but Time Warner here will not give you a cable box if you only have basic cable. So the cable box rent is negligible, but you have to upgrade to a higher tier of service to get the box.
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - Manlove - 04-22-2009
Hey Pinkoos I have exact same issue.
Comcast cable directly into a (samsung lcd) tv.
I pay for bottomline basic cable, and get dozens of channels.
No guide, and seemingly random channel numbers i.e Comedy Channel is 110-16 or something.
The tv has clear qam and HD. I don't want 'more' tv, I just want to easily find and keep the channels I have.
No guide is a pain and I can't remember dozens of fairly random numbers.
Let us know if you find a (cheap) solution.
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - pinkoos - 04-22-2009
Robert M wrote:
Pinkoos,
$30 or so per month for the privilege of using a cable box? I've never heard of _any_ cable company charging that much for a box. If anything, renting a box shouldn't cost more than $4 to $6 per month.
Robert
See bazookaman's post above. That's exactly it. I can't just rent the box without upgrading service. Right now, we pay $19/month for basic cable that doesn't require a box. The next level up is around $50 I believe.
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - BigGuynRusty - 04-22-2009
Put up an antenna.
The "FREE" HD Cable channels are the same free Over The Air channels that you will receive with a low cost antenna and your HDTV's ATSC Tuner.
Nice antenna.:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10901&cs_id=1090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=2
$24 Bucks.
BGnR
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - pinkoos - 04-22-2009
BigGuynRusty wrote:
Put up an antenna.
The "FREE" HD Cable channels are the same free Over The Air channels that you will receive with a low cost antenna and your HDTV's ATSC Tuner.
Nice antenna.:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10901&cs_id=1090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=2
$24 Bucks.
BGnR
Interesting. I'm not tech savvy when it comes to this stuff, so I'm wondering how difficult it would be for me to install (preferably indoors somewhere).
Re: Will a digital converter box solve my Comcast clear QAM problems? - Gareth - 04-22-2009
You should check http://antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx to see where the stations are in your area and how far.
Sometimes, installing an antenna could be as simple as hooking it up and putting it next to the TV. But I went from trying an indoor antenna, to putting it in the attic, to finally roof mounting an outdoor antenna to get a decent signal (on everything except ABC) and I went through a few different antennas in the process.