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General discussion

Cable Card or Cable Box. Is the card even necessary?

Sep 5, 2005 12:15PM PDT

Hi all. I just recieved my Samsung HL-R5668 DLP TV (which is excellent, btw Happy), and I'm deciding how to hook up my cable setup. First of all, I don't get any stations beyong the basic cable package, so nothing is scrambled; I was surprised to see that I get all the HD stations the cable company provides without either a box or a cable card, just by plugging the RF directly to the TV. The only problem is it can be difficult to find the HD stations- apparently DTV uses sub numbers and the TV Guide station can't detect them- is it safe to assume this will be rectified with a cable card? Also, I've noticed more snow in my picture on my regular TV with direct input versus the cable box- is it possible that my cable company includes a signal amplifier in the cable box to improve the picture? In that case, it may be better to get the cable box. Of course, there's also the added advantage of DVR.....


Anyway, if any of you guys have suffered this decision between card or box, I'd love some advice. I'm leaning towards gettign a cable box since without scrambled channels the card seems pretty worthless, and the box does add some rarely used niceties such as on demand. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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NO HI-DEF WITH RF INPUT
Sep 6, 2005 7:46AM PDT

My advice to you is get the Dish Network 811 system It should cost you $45.00 installed and they will credit you $45.00 on your billing FREE. then buy a d.v.i. cable if your t.v. only has h.d.m.i input then you can buy an adapter THE DISH SYSTEM ONLY COMES WITH COMPONIT VIDIO CABLES and using d.v.i. will give you a stunning pictue then order basic+ the hi-def package +voom great value about $45.00 per month. and with there great over the air hi-def tuner you can install a cheap outside antenna and pick up all your local digital channels. I live in San Jose ca and receive 19 over the channels 9 of which are in hi-def I saw n.a.s.c.a.r racing over the air and it was stunning also the 811 has optical audio for your 5.1 sound system Iam in hi-def heaven over 28 channels in digital or hi-def If you go this way email me and I will sned you a gift card # and you will get a lot of goodies and I get $5.00 off my bill for a year stewart norrie cadillacstew@aol.com

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No can do with the Satellite
Sep 6, 2005 10:51AM PDT

Thanks for the info, but I'm in an apartment, so I can't put a satellite dish anywhere. I also have the triple package from IO (Cablevision), so I'm pretty well ensconsed in the cable medium Wink. I would love to hear from people who have decided between cable card and cable box, though. Btw, I'd use firewire if I got the cable box- my TV has two ports with up to 10 units chainable per port. Also, I hear that the cable card has better resolution as the cable box translates the picture to 1080i and this can cause several rescaling events for a 720p TV. Luckily, my set is 1080p, so I won't see any downscaling; shouldn't be an issue, right?

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You'll need one or the other
Sep 6, 2005 3:54PM PDT

To watch an HD picture, you must have either an HD cable box (or card), an HD sat system, or, if the tv has a built-in atsc tuner, you can hook up an antenna and try to pull in some local HD programming.
Assuming that you are going to go with cable, I recommend the cable box. The cable card is fairly new, so it is a little "buggy". Plus there are no features like PPV and VOD. And 100+ channels without an onscreen program guide? No thanks. And if you've never had a dvr, do it. Just do it.
I suspect that your tv does have an atsc tuner, and that you live in a very good area for over-the-air broadcasts. If you really have been getting some HD channels, I think you are recieving them inadvertantly, using the analog rf cable plugged into the set as an antenna. That is where the snow is coming from on some channels.
Make sure that you use the best possible connection between the cable box and the tv. Use HDMI or DVI, get an adapter if you need to

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Thanks!
Sep 7, 2005 3:19AM PDT

Hey- thanks for the advice. Actually, though- I do have an indoor OTA antenna that gets absolutely nothing (waste of $30- I bought the Terk one), and it's not mixed with my cable signal- there are two RF inputs on my TV; you really can get HD channels without either a card or a box provided the channels are not scrambled. I was surprised, too. Try it- it works. I don't get all the channels that I should, but PBS and network HD channels come in just fine directly from the cable to the internal DTV tuner without a cable card.

And I am probably going to go with the box, though the card is tempting (my cable company charges only $1.25/mo for it). The TV Guide EPG seems solid enough, but for an extra $9 having the DVR might be handy Happy. Actually, for $1.25 per month, I might as well try them back to back for a month to compare signals- we'll see on that one, though.

Thanks again!