cable without a box

[krazeyeyez]

ive been watching nothing but movies since i got my tv about a month ago....today i said what the hell and plugged it into the walls cable socket.
searched channels.
it says i have some analog and some digital?
whats the differance? and its all standard resolution yes?

[Footloose301]

Yes, you will get both analog and digital. Digital signals are sets of packets. Digital means there will be no distortion, other than the fact that your tv is stretching the image to fit an HDTV screen. Also, you shouldn't be able to pick up any HD channels. Same goes with digital channels. However, I have seen a cheap Olivia 32" LCD 2 weeks ago, pick up both ESPN and ESPN 2 HDTV signals, AND probably 5-10 digital channels, BUT the HD channels were missing the audio carrier. You can get HDTV if you use an antenna, most of your local channels broadcast in HD now. Cable companies modulate channels onto different frequencies and seperate the carriers so that a normal tv will not recognize those channels, therefore you need to buy a box from them. I all reality, if a cable company left the channels 2-181 on the frequency that they came in on, then everybody would be able to pick up those channels without a cable box.

[krazeyeyez]

ok so i got some HD channels coming directly from the wall...no antenna .... but on my tv display there is a timer ticking down from 74 hours i think.....is this like some free thing so when it runs out ill wanna buy them or what?

a few work fine but some have the picture and no audio as you said.

ill look through the forums to see what i can find but any advice on a reasonably priced antenna that actually works

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

ok so i got some HD channels coming directly from the wall...no antenna .... but on my tv display there is a timer ticking down from 74 hours i think.....is this like some free thing so when it runs out ill wanna buy them or what?

a few work fine but some have the picture and no audio as you said.

ill look through the forums to see what i can find but any advice on a reasonably priced antenna that actually works

The clock is actually for pay per view type of stuff like NBA season ticket, or whatever its called. You get that station but none of the games are going to show up because they get redirected to a different freq after a customer buys it. It works sorta like that. It may not be the NBA thing on your tv, but its similar.