Which of my televisions is non-compliant with the new digital law, and does Comcast have to make a house call?

Question

My downstairs television is hooked up to Comcast cable, and my upstairs television is without cable. How do I become digitally compliant?

Answer 1

(This answer assumes you are located in the US)

The "new digital law" only effects over the air broadcasts and has nothing to do with your Comcast cable TV service. That means the TV hooked up to your cable service is not effected at all.

I assume that your upstairs TV is connected to an antenna. Unless it was labeled as an HDTV or DTV when you bought it, it probably does not have a digital tuner*.

What you need to do is spend $10 - $20 on a digital converter box that attaches between your TV antenna and your upstairs TV. The converter receives the new digital broadcasts and converts them into the old analog type that older TVs understand.

You could also have Comcast wire your upstairs TV to your cable service instead of using a converter.

One thing about your cable service. If you now have basic analog cable, sooner or later your cable company will go through it's own analog shutdown. This is a local business decision and has nothing to do with "the law". At that point you will need to use a cable box to keep using any analog only TV.

A digital cable box is just a different kind of converter box that is designed for use with digital cable TV signals.

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*Ways to tell if your TV has a digital tuner

All TVs that have a digital tuner have a way to scan for digital channels. Look in your TV's menu and see if there is a way to scan for digital channels.

If it was sold as a "HDTV" or "DTV", it's supposed to have a digital tuner.  "HD ready" TVs do not have digital tuners.

Digital tuners for over the air broadcasts are called "ATSC tuners". Digital tuners that are used in most digital cable systems are called "QAM tuners". Do the specs for your TV say that it has them? This information should be in the owner's manual or google the make & model of your TV.

If your TV was manufactured after 3/2007 it has at least a ATSC tuner. If it was made before 1998, it does not have a digital tuner. If it has an old round mechanical tuner, it does not have a digital tuner.

Answer 2

It all depends what kind of TV you have.  If your upstairs TV has an old-fashioned tuner, and requires a box to get cable, then it's non-compliant.

If you have no cable near that TV, Comcast will have to come to your house and install the cable and box.

Answer 3

You wont need any thing . the cable company does it for you.

You only need to worry if  you use a antenna.

Google it and you can get a coupon for a decoder and that makes it almost free.