HD TV and don't want to rent converter box

Ok, So i am living beyong my means and bought an HDTV (panasonic
1080p). I have cable box (simple digital) and pay for showtime (which
is hd). I know with this box i cannot expect to get HD, i'll need th
HD converter box. But, say I don't mind watching not HD showtime, can
I hook my cable box to the HD TV and use the built in tuner to obtain
free (network) HD signals?

wrote in message
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Ok, So i am living beyong my means and bought an HDTV (panasonic
1080p). I have cable box (simple digital) and pay for showtime (which
is hd). I know with this box i cannot expect to get HD, i'll need th
HD converter box. But, say I don't mind watching not HD showtime, can
I hook my cable box to the HD TV and use the built in tuner to obtain
free (network) HD signals?

Yes, that worked for me even when I had analog service, and no cable box;
seems they did not bother blocking the digital channels.

Tam

wrote:
Ok, So i am living beyong my means and bought an HDTV (panasonic
1080p). I have cable box (simple digital) and pay for showtime (which
is hd). I know with this box i cannot expect to get HD, i'll need th
HD converter box. But, say I don't mind watching not HD showtime, can
I hook my cable box to the HD TV and use the built in tuner to obtain
free (network) HD signals?

Get a splitter for the co-axial cable. Run a cable line directly to
the cable input on the TV, the other to the cable box. The cable box may
not provide passthrough on the digital QAM channels.

Do a QAM digital cable channel scan on the TV. This will likely turn
up 100s of QAM sub-channels, probably from QAM 70.x something up to
maybe 135.x, the vast majority of which will be encrypted channels. You
will get a black screen when tuning to those channels. The QAM channels
are where the SD and HD digital channels are actually located with up to
10+ SD channels carried on 1 QAM channel as sub-channels. The channels
you see on the cable box are mapped by the STB to the 1 to 999 cable
channel number.

But the local broadcast stations and local government access channels
should be in the clear, that is, not encrypted. If the cable company
passes the PSIP channel mapping data for the HD locals, they should show
up at the local broadcast channel #s. If not, you will have to hunt for
the locals by stepping through the QAM channels.

However, you will be missing out on all the national HD cable channels
without a HD cable box or cable card. Some cable companies will leave
the Discovery HD Theater channel or similar science/education channels
in the clear, but in general, they will encrypt them.

Another option if all you want are the broadcast networks and want to
save money is to put up an antenna. This does depend on where you live
but if you live near a major city, odds are that the broadcast stations
for the big four broadcast nets: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and probably PBS,
maybe CW, are at full power on their digital signal. Your TV has an ATSC
tuner for digital OTA broadcasts. If you want to look into this option,
start with www.antennaweb.org, but enter an antenna height of 100' or
more under options to get a more accurate assessment of the odds of
digital reception at your location. If you want some advice on antenna
selection, post your zip code.

Alan F