I am trying to decide between the HDTV converter box or cable , which would you get and why?

Question

I am trying to decide between the HDTV converter box or cable , which would you get and why?

Answer 1

Assuming you already have an HD set that has a tuner built in (pretty much anything recent will have one), you've got a few options for HD programming.

1. Off The Air (OTA) - this uses the tuner built into your TV with an antenna, be it a set of rabbit ears, a roof/attic mounted monster, or something inbetween..  This will pick up your locally broadcasted TV stations only.  Some antennas need to be specifically aimed at the tower that's transmitting (a directional antenna), others do not (an omni-directional antenna).

2. Converter box - this would include set-top boxes (STBs) from both Cable & Satellite providers.  With these, you would not use the tuner in your TV, or if your TV has no tuner, this is a good option.  Some STBs are also DVRs.  Typically, these come with additional monthly rental fees from your cable/satellite company.

3. CableCard - this is a small card that looks like the old-style PCMCIA cards you would have bought as a network card for a laptop a couple of years ago.  Some TVs have a CableCard slot.  Installing one in those TVs allows you to connect your cable wire from the cable co to your TV without the need for an additional STB.  This allows you to tune into digital channels that are not broadcast "in the clear", as your local channels will probably be.  With today's CableCards, you only get what's called "one-way" programming.  That is, you get your channels, but don't get Video On Demand (VOD) services.

4. TiVo Series 3/ TiVo HD - this is sort of a hybrid.  A TiVo is a STB that's a DVR.  The S3/HD models can tune HD channels from your cable company (no satellite on the S3/HD models!).  These boxes have 2 slots on the front that CableCards are inserted into.  The same restrictions apply to TiVo with CableCards as above in #3 (one-way only).  The TiVo S3/HD boxes also have an OTA antenna input if you'd like some OTA content as well as your cable co's content.

What's right for you?  Only you can decide that.  For us, before we went HD, we had DirecTV, and used one of their receivers that had a built-in TiVo.  We've been TiVo users for years, and loved the combination.  After we went HD, we could have stayed with DirecTV, but their HD DVR is not a TiVo, and is not that well regarded by most of the TiVo-faithful.  So, we switched to cable.  In our area, that meant a choice between Comcast and Verizon's FiOS TV.  Already having FiOS Internet, we opted for FiOS TV.  It's about $15 cheaper/month than Comcast, and the picture is much better.  Recently, Comcast has been cramming HD channels in, over-compressing the signals, resulting in poor picture quality, so we wanted to avoid that.  To see more examples on Comcast re-compressing, check this out:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthrea...

If you don't want a DVR, and just want the most HD channels you can get your hands on right now, go with DirecTV.  If you want a DVR, and don't care about whether or not it's a TiVo, go with either DirecTV or FiOS TV and get the DVR.  If you want a TiVo, go with FiOS TV or any other non-Comcast cable company.

Answer 2

Get satellite!  I love it!

Answer 3

To use the HDTV converter box you have to have some sort of input. If you can get a good signal from and antenna you still would only get channels like ABC, CBS, NBC etc but not USA or TNT or anything like that. I have DirecTV and would not go with anyone else. They have the most HD channels and the best signal quality.