Question about Sharp Aquos QAM tuner
 

Hi,

Thinking about buying Sharp Aquos LC32D40U for bedroom and plugging in to
existing ComCast cable.

This TV has an ATSC tuner and a QAM tuner. I've read reviews that indicate
(or maybe I'm hoping) that this set will bring in digital channels in HDTV
so long as not "scrambled."

I'm trying to avoid another ComCast set-top-box and related wires (and
expense!) Reading Sharp's specs doesn't really answer my question. Anyone
with this model running on Cable without box and getting all the digital
channels?

Thanks in advance for help.

Question about Sharp Aquos QAM tuner
 

"Tom T" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Thinking about buying Sharp Aquos LC32D40U for bedroom and plugging in to
existing ComCast cable.

This TV has an ATSC tuner and a QAM tuner. I've read reviews that
indicate (or maybe I'm hoping) that this set will bring in digital
channels in HDTV so long as not "scrambled."

I'm trying to avoid another ComCast set-top-box and related wires (and
expense!) Reading Sharp's specs doesn't really answer my question.
Anyone with this model running on Cable without box and getting all the
digital channels?

Thanks in advance for help.

I have the Aquos LC37D5U. The QAM thing can get very confusing, but here
goes:

I presently have an SA8300HD DVR. If I connect the cable directly into the
TV QAM input, I get digital channels 2 through about 24 (local plus several
PBS, QVC + other crap) plus local HD channels 231 -240. I mention the 8300,
because that defines my type of service.

When I had a Cable Card (bad choice), I could pull the Cable Card and still
get all the digital channels up to 74, + the 231 -240. Plugging in the Cable
Card got me about another 50 channels, when it worked. When doing a channel
scan without the CC, all the translations did not show up, and I had to
manually scan all the channels from 75.1 to about 99.8 to get the
translations.

Now this is where it get weirder. I initially hooked up the TV when I had
analog service. The QAM tuner picked up the 24 channels mentioned
previously, + SciFi, FoxNews, MSNBC, and a few others.

TV Guide On Screen: If your book says that the information is downloaded at
night, it probably won't work with digital cable. Digital does it a
completely different way. Takes a couple of minutes.

Tam

Question about Sharp Aquos QAM tuner
 

Tam,

Tks much for info. I AM confused. One point perhaps you can clear for me:
Aquos manual says "will pick up channels 1-125" You got HD channels
231-240. Maybe Aquos manual means 125 total channels - not channel numbers
1-125 ??

Dumb question I know but I am dumb on this stuff!

Tks!
"Tam/WB2TT" wrote in message
. ..

"Tom T" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Thinking about buying Sharp Aquos LC32D40U for bedroom and plugging in to
existing ComCast cable.

This TV has an ATSC tuner and a QAM tuner. I've read reviews that
indicate (or maybe I'm hoping) that this set will bring in digital
channels in HDTV so long as not "scrambled."

I'm trying to avoid another ComCast set-top-box and related wires (and
expense!) Reading Sharp's specs doesn't really answer my question.
Anyone with this model running on Cable without box and getting all the
digital channels?

Thanks in advance for help.

I have the Aquos LC37D5U. The QAM thing can get very confusing, but here
goes:

I presently have an SA8300HD DVR. If I connect the cable directly into the
TV QAM input, I get digital channels 2 through about 24 (local plus
several PBS, QVC + other crap) plus local HD channels 231 -240. I mention
the 8300, because that defines my type of service.

When I had a Cable Card (bad choice), I could pull the Cable Card and
still get all the digital channels up to 74, + the 231 -240. Plugging in
the Cable Card got me about another 50 channels, when it worked. When
doing a channel scan without the CC, all the translations did not show up,
and I had to manually scan all the channels from 75.1 to about 99.8 to get
the translations.

Now this is where it get weirder. I initially hooked up the TV when I had
analog service. The QAM tuner picked up the 24 channels mentioned
previously, + SciFi, FoxNews, MSNBC, and a few others.

TV Guide On Screen: If your book says that the information is downloaded
at night, it probably won't work with digital cable. Digital does it a
completely different way. Takes a couple of minutes.

Tam

Question about Sharp Aquos QAM tuner
 

Tom T wrote:
Tam,

Tks much for info. I AM confused. One point perhaps you can clear for me:
Aquos manual says "will pick up channels 1-125" You got HD channels
231-240. Maybe Aquos manual means 125 total channels - not channel numbers
1-125 ??

Dumb question I know but I am dumb on this stuff!

Tks!

The Aquos manual is referring to the actual cable channel #s, not the
mapped channel #s you see displayed on the cable STB or in the cable
channel lineup. In the typical cable system, the low channels 2 to
70-something are reserved for the analog channels. Each channel takes up
6 MHz, the same as over the air NTSC broadcasts.

The higher channels are the digital channels which are also 6 MHz each
which are QAM modulated. With digital QAM, they can pack multiple SD
and/or several HD channels into 1 carrier channel. So they may have QAM
channels 90.1, 90.2, 90.13 and so on. Internal channel 90.2 may get
mapped to channel 158 or 308 on the STB.

Comcast places their HD channels in the 200s, so the HD local may
actually be on 105.2 and gets mapped to 245 if you had their STB or a
cablecard with the mapping info. Using a built-in QAM tuner for the
clear channels, you will only see the QAM channel #, so you will have to
remember that 103.3 is local channel 6. But you will likely only see the
local stations and perhaps some other basic channels, some in SD (if
your Comcast system has upped to Analog-Digital Simulcast) and some HD.
All the other channels are likely to be encrypted or will be switched to
encrypted at some point. They may also shuffle the QAM channel line-up
from time to time. This is transparent to those with STBs as the mapping
is updated in the cable STBs, so this may happen overnight w/o notice.

However, if the Sharp Aquos only goes up to cable channel 125, that
means it is limited to 750 MHz (6 * 125) for the highest cable channel.
Some cable system are 800 or 850 MHz system which means they can have
QAM channels up to 135 or higher. If they put the HD local above QAM
channel 125, your Sharp will not see it.

I hope this makes sense. There really should be a web site that
explains cable QAM and ATSC OTA stuff without all the dummied down PR
that you may find at a cable company or atsc.org site.

Alan F

Question about Sharp Aquos QAM tuner
 

"Tom T" wrote in message
...
Tam,

Tks much for info. I AM confused. One point perhaps you can clear for
me: Aquos manual says "will pick up channels 1-125" You got HD channels
231-240. Maybe Aquos manual means 125 total channels - not channel
numbers 1-125 ??

Dumb question I know but I am dumb on this stuff!

Yeah, I had wondered about the same thing. When they say channels 1-125,
they mean RF channels. For instance, 231 might be on RF channel 84.1. They
put about 8 digital SD channels on 1 RF channel. Channels 78.1, 78.2, 78.3,
78.4, 78.5, 78.6, 78.7, 78.8 might actually be what the user sees as
channels 3, 7, 52, 17, 33, 11, 28, and 321.

On cable, they can get a lot more SD channels per RF channel than what OTA
can do. That is , because of no noise to worry about, they transmit digital
info at a lot higher data rate.

I am curious, what does the D40 book say about TVGuide On Screen?

Tam

Thanks Alan & Tam!
 

Appreciate very much the explanation, Alan. I almost understand it now(?)

Tam, no reference to a TV Guide on Screen in the manual. BTW, found
manuals for all(most?) Sharp sets, downloadable from their web site.

Think I will get the set and learn the hard way. Good deals now as new
models are coming out (and very pricey!) If it doesn't do as expected, it
goes back to CC!

Many thanks for the help, guys. Will let you know how it works out.

Tom
"Tam/WB2TT" wrote in message
...

"Tom T" wrote in message
...
Tam,

Tks much for info. I AM confused. One point perhaps you can clear for
me: Aquos manual says "will pick up channels 1-125" You got HD channels
231-240. Maybe Aquos manual means 125 total channels - not channel
numbers 1-125 ??

Dumb question I know but I am dumb on this stuff!

Yeah, I had wondered about the same thing. When they say channels 1-125,
they mean RF channels. For instance, 231 might be on RF channel 84.1. They
put about 8 digital SD channels on 1 RF channel. Channels 78.1, 78.2,
78.3, 78.4, 78.5, 78.6, 78.7, 78.8 might actually be what the user sees as
channels 3, 7, 52, 17, 33, 11, 28, and 321.

On cable, they can get a lot more SD channels per RF channel than what OTA
can do. That is , because of no noise to worry about, they transmit
digital info at a lot higher data rate.

I am curious, what does the D40 book say about TVGuide On Screen?

Tam