Hallicrafters 1954 - (21K141M) 21" console, wood (mahogany), UHF-VHF

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by electroking

currently a lot of so-called TV sets have been selling with no RF
tuner at all...

Those sets are designed to work with either an over-the-air set-top box (STB) or a digital cable box via direct signal input to the set. I don't know how Canada will handle the digital transition; however, the cable operator here (Time Warner), and possibly other cable providers across the US, now supply cable STBs without RF tuners to new subscribers as well, to be connected in the same manner. Note that the new dirt-cheap VHS/DVD players are set up for direct signal input only, with no RF tuner, though there are such players available with built-in digital tuners.

However, the new direct-input STBs and VHS/DVD players cannot be used with RF modulators, the reason being that all digital flat-panels expect digital signals at the inputs; therefore, they will not work with analog NTSC signals as are provided by standard modulators. I don't know, however, if there are modulators available (yet) that will provide NTSC output from ATSC/QAM input signals, for use with older televisions. The lack of such modulators is probably intentional and part of the FCC's plan to eventually phase out analog TV ("eventually" as in February 19 next year), including forcing consumers to purchase new FPs when the old analog sets finally go West.

Like it or not, the US is going digital as far as television is concerned, and the FCC is going to see to it that everyone, with no exceptions, is on that bandwagon eventually (as in having a flat-panel HD television)--even if that "eventually" is years or decades from now. (There are literally millions of analog TVs still in use in this country, so cable and OTA STBs are going to be around for awhile yet, but even their days are numbered.) The phase-out of analog broadcasting is just the beginning. It is almost impossible to buy new TVs these days with standard analog NTSC tuners; such sets may be available in limited supply, but they are required to have a clearly-worded notice, either in the instruction manual or by means of a sticker on the CRT safety glass, stating that these televisions absolutely will not work after February 19, 2009 unless a cable box or over-the-air converter is used ahead of the set's own RF tuner. I have seen a few of these analog TVs, mostly at dirt-cheap prices at Big Lots, but I think these are just overstock that the stores are trying to sell off ASAP to make room for new shipments of digital FPs.