Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater HDTV vs HD-Ready

I am curious about the difference. I understand that with a built-in Tuner, you can go for OTA signals. However, if you are just going to get your HD content from an STB, does it really offer any value? Doesn't the STB have HD hardware? I am not even sure we have any OTA HD content around here (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). Bell ExpressVU seems to have plenty of HD content for now.
Just wondering.

Shane D

HD-ready pretty much means that you have to supply an OTA tuner. If you have access to an external HD STB, that it doesn't matter much.

Shane, as Cesar indicated, you've pretty much got the right idea. An "HD-Ready" TV will display HD quality material, but it has to be fed it by some sort of tuner. It could be in the STB for cable or satellite transmissions, or in a separate tuner bought to receive OTA HD transmissions. If you buy an HDTV that already has a built-in tuner for OTA, then of course that's all you need, but if you have no OTA HD then it's of no immediate benefit.

That's what I figured. Thanks guys!

Shane D

For further confusion, can anyone give me a straight answer as to if the (US) Fed. Gov. is mandating the change to digital broadcast (in other words, new reciever needed for OTA, but the broadcasts will not be HDTV, necessarily) or if they're mandating the change to HDTV? In either case, will analog cable be affected?

Gawd, I feel like such a n00b with video stuff...

If my understanding is correct (questionable) the mandate is for digital broadcast. The digital signal could be either standard resolution (SDTV) or high definition (HDTV).

Yeah Ken, the FCC requirement is for over the air broadcasters to broadcast digitally and for manufacturers to provide sets that will receive the broadcasts. The digital transmissions don't necessarily have to be HD and can still be standard definition although digital. Since the requirement applies to over the air broadcasters it doesn't directly affect analog cable services, although there'll probably be some type of requirement for the cable companies to include the local digital station broadcasts in their coverage. Here's a rather basic consumer-type info page from the FCC. Of course, if you should have a burning desire(highly unlikely)to study FCC rulings and regs in the area, the site has a lot more.

Not really. Just wanted to know how soon I had to buy a new TV and start paying more for cable.

Hi shaned,

Though I no longer reside in Canada, I don't think there is any terrestrial HD over-the-air transmission anywhere in Canada yet. No surprise there. The CBC-TV network was one of the very last to switch to MTS stereo sound with analog TV, although they were way ahead of the US with digital radio. Unfortunately, they decided to go with the European Musicam system, whose frequencies conflicted with Pentagon military frequencies, so that digital radio service was dead in the water (to mix metaphors) before it got any momentum.

If you do have access to a digital cable service that offers HD content, one other advantage of an HDTV with a built-in tuner is that you won't have to rent a digital HD cable box from the cable provider like I do. (My HD is HD-Ready).

The HD sets with a built-in tuner will accept a cable card for which there is monthly fee (like $2 or something) plus the cable services you want, but it should cost less over time. Also there is less hassle hooking it up.

Regards,

Thanks Alan. We can get digital cable, but only some of the channels are digital. With the satellite dish, they are all digital. Our local cable quality sucks, and so I am hoping to upgrade all the channels by going digital.
With satellite, you have to have a STB. I was wondering if there is an HD tuner inside of that, or do you have to have a tuner in your TV? I will have to do more homework, but I was hoping that some Canadians might be on this board and have a dish. Talking to the satellite company is less than
informative.
Thanks for your input!

Shane D