Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenith26kc20
As far as I know, digital cable capability on flatscreens was very limited. In New Orleans there is no digital cable that the sets can decode. The cable company now rents "mini-boxes". Most sets will scan thru all channels, digital and analog, but may need to have digital mode selected for OTA in some cases (Sharp TV's are one of them).
And, get ready for more problems! ATSC 3.0 is coming!
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My Insignia (house brand of Best Buy) 19" flat screen has, on its input menu, a "TV" selection, which when selected and enabled will allow standard OTA reception from an antenna (other makes have this option as well). In fact, I can't imagine DTV sets
without such an option, as there are many people who cannot afford or simply do not want cable.
It seems unusual that your area's cable operator does not offer digital cable, preferring instead to rent digital transfer adapters (DTAs) to viewers. What would a New Orleans TV viewer get if he or she hooked up a digital cable line directly to a modern flat panel television? These sets, after all, are designed to receive DTV signals; I hardly think the result would be no reception at all, unless the cable signals are scrambled and actually require either a cable box or a DTA in order to be viewed. Many cable operators, including Spectrum/Time Warner in my area near Cleveland, are encrypting all channels in an effort to force subscribers to rent a cable box or a DTA to get anything at all over the cable, which of course means more revenue for the cable operator from the rental fees for the boxes.