ccurtis
Well-Known Member
In earlier days, the converter box provided by cable TV providers were frequency converters that tuned all the cable channels to one fixed VHF TV channel, such as channel 3 or 4. The customer usually had to pay rent for the converter boxes.
Then came "cable ready" TVs with those frequency converters/tuners built into them and the converter boxes were no longer needed, except for a few scrambled "pay" channels where the converter boxes contained the de-scrambling capability. This saved the consumer quite a bit of money over the long run if he did not want to pay for the premium channels. That was a good thing.
Then came digital TV and the cable TV providers added many more channels to their line ups. I still have only my cable ready TV, but, again, need to rent a set top converter box from the cable TV provider to convert the channels to a fixed channel on my TV set. I still don't pay for premium channels, however.
My question is this: Is there a way for me to do away, again, with the set top converter box by upgrading to a digital TV, just as was possible in the days before by buying a "cable ready" TV? Do the cable TV supplier's channels correspond to the digital channels tuned by the digital TV?
Thank you.
Then came "cable ready" TVs with those frequency converters/tuners built into them and the converter boxes were no longer needed, except for a few scrambled "pay" channels where the converter boxes contained the de-scrambling capability. This saved the consumer quite a bit of money over the long run if he did not want to pay for the premium channels. That was a good thing.
Then came digital TV and the cable TV providers added many more channels to their line ups. I still have only my cable ready TV, but, again, need to rent a set top converter box from the cable TV provider to convert the channels to a fixed channel on my TV set. I still don't pay for premium channels, however.
My question is this: Is there a way for me to do away, again, with the set top converter box by upgrading to a digital TV, just as was possible in the days before by buying a "cable ready" TV? Do the cable TV supplier's channels correspond to the digital channels tuned by the digital TV?
Thank you.