I currently have an 19" Magnavox HDTV. I have Roadrunner cable that comes from the street, underneath the house, thru the wall, and straight into the TV (without a cable box). How do I get HD channels on this TV? I have a Roadrunner digital cable box in another room connected to a different 42" Sony TV (non HD). Do I need some special box or wire?
If your tv does QAM your should receive your locals and sometimes even more channels from your cable line in HD Look in your tv manual to see if will decode QAM. If not your tv should have a digital tuner built in. If it does disconnect your cable wire from the tv and connect and an antenna (the size will depend on how far you live from the tv towers)and do a digital channel scan. Now if your tv has none of the above which is very unlikely you will only be able able to HD channels from an extenal soure meaning you will have to connect a HD cable box or and HD sat box to receive HD channels.
@stu7656 My daughter was able to get HD channels on Cox cable w/o a box. Plug your cable into the antenna or cable input (select over the air for input.)There may be only one. Sammys have 2 -one for OTA and Cable.After connecting cable set you tv to looking for signals. It will find all the cable channels and also the 2 or 3 channels.x that are the new hd and nonHD digital signals for each broadcaster in the area. If the cable is not passing local HD signals then try the cheap antenna route. Since the signal strength is not good for HD you need to be fairly close to station to receive OTA. Edit: To get HD for the cable channels you will need a ND cable box. Might as well you'll do it sooner or later. Is the box on other set HD capable even tho set is not?
AFAIK, today, HDTV channels on cable systems (at least on Comcast) are being broadcast on sub-channels. Can you tune in channel 2.1 (2-1 on Toshiba). Tune to your local PBS station and see if there is a ".1 sub-channel" for that station. If you can tune it in, you are receiving an HD signal.
Manufacturers have only recently started including ATSC (digital) tuners in new TV's. If your TV's are older than 2007 they probably only have an analog NTSC tuner built in. Some new TV's also have the QAM tuner added along with the ATSC. The QAM will decode some channels on cable, the ATSC is for digital OTA signals. There are external digital receivers on the market that can decode the HD signals as well. The Samsung DTB-H260F not only will decode OTA HD signals, but it also has the QAM tuner if your cable provider has your local channels. Sony makes a recordable DVD/VCR combo with all three receivers built in, model RDRVXD655.
