I called Time Warner Cable this afternoon and found that their systems, including the one serving my area, are 100 percent digital. My HDTV will still pick up some 64 analog channels as well as 50 digital ones; when I mentioned this to the customer service representative with whom I spoke, she told me she has no idea why NTSC analog channels are still on the cable in the first place, since the service is fully digital. I also asked if there was a way I could upgrade my cable service to the next level above standard service (the level of service I have now) without using a cable box; the answer was no -- a cable box is in fact necessary for all levels of service above standard cable. Why on earth would I need a cable box at all with an HDTV? The tuners in these sets are, or at least should be, capable of receiving well over 1000 channels without a box.
What baffles me is this: why, if Time Warner Cable's systems carry 100 percent digital signals with no analog whatsoever, am I still receiving analog NTSC cable channels as well as digital? I think that service representative wasn't giving me straight answers (or even the correct ones) to my questions.
I remember reading online somewhere, don't remember where, that the customer service representatives at Time Warner Cable (and likely most other cable operators as well) don't know much, if anything at all, about the technical end of the cable system, and will often give customers seriously incorrect answers to questions regarding such. If this is indeed the case, where does someone like myself go to get absolutely correct answers to technical questions such as the ones I mentioned?
I did not realize that all signals on my cable are SD if they can pass through a VCR on the way to the television, as in my system. I do realize, however, that there are no such things as "HD" VCRs; there legally could not have been such machines (that could actually
record television programs in high definition) available for sale to the public, due to legal concerns over copyrights. My 2002-model Panasonic Omnivision four-head VCR cannot record anything on channels between the regular ones (digital subchannels), such as, in my area, channels 3.1, 5.1, 8.1, 8.2, 19.1, 19.2, 25.1, 25.3, 43.2, and 43.3, since it does not have an ATSC tuner; no VCR I am aware of ever did, as these machines were well on their way out in favor of DVDs by the time HDTV arrived.
New standalone VCRs are no longer available; the only way to replace an old one these days is to get a combo VHS/DVD player. However, these combo units will only play back recorded tapes and DVDs, since they do not have RF tuners. The only way to record anything (on video tape, not DVD) with these units, at least for now, is to feed a signal from a cable box, or straight from the cable, into a line-input jack on the rear apron of the machine. Who knows how long that functionality will continue to be available on VHS/DVD players in this day and age of DRM (digital rights management), copyright laws, and other things designed to soundly thwart copying of commercially-made DVDs?
The next step may well be to eliminate altogether the line inputs on DVD/VHS combos, if such isn't standard procedure already.