WOW! Cable is Going Digital

[TWC Fan]

All channels in my area on WOW! cable is going digital. Now the channels goes up to 39 on analog in phase 2. On the 29th the channels will go up to 24. Here are the list of the channels thats the weather channel is on.

SD Channels:
Digital Box: ch.62
TV's and other devices: ch.63.62, ch.63.7

Digital is much clear than analog.

[Eric]

There are advantages and disadvantages to everything.  Digital cable will give you clearer channels and lots more of them (potentially), but the disadvantage is that you need a converter box.  However, if I'm correct, cable companies are obliged to provide a minimum (2 or 3) of converter boxes for free for a period of time so that subscribers who previously didn't have a box don't lose access to channels.

[TWC Fan]

subscribers who previously didn't have a box don't lose access to channels

That's right!

[TWCC_DJK5555]

All channels in my area on WOW! cable is going digital.

Sorry to hear that.

[TWC Fan]

The one's that have a built in digital tuner in TV's and DVD recorder's don't have to worry about it.

[Eric]

The one's that have a built in digital tuner in TV's and DVD recorder's don't have to worry about it.

Not all cable companies make their digital channels accessible without a converter box, however, no matter what capabilities your TV has.  For example, Comcast (at least in Massachusetts where I lived) requires a converter box for ALL channels other than analogue (SD) versions of broadcast channels.  That's all you'll get if you just plug the coax from the wall into your TV, no matter what kind of TV it is.

[TWC Fan]

I completely forgot about that.

[Eric]

On the other hand, Bright House here in Florida allows access to all of the basic and expanded SD cable channels AND the HD broadcast channels if you plug your TV directly into the wall.

It just depends on the cable company.

I remember the pre-Comcast days (all the way back to Continental Cablevision), when the cable company was supposedly the first (or among the first) in the country to scramble ALL channels, requiring a cable box for any cable reception at all.  Obviously, this was the company's way to make some extra money through cable box rentals.  A court decision later overturned that, however, requiring at least basic cable without a box.  Now with digital cable here, the "at least basic cable without a box" has been changed into letting customers have a certain number of digital converter boxes for free.

[Mike M]

More like the cable headend, because some Comcast areas have more QAM channels than others.

[Eric]

More like the cable headend, because some Comcast areas have more QAM channels than others.

That's true.  I remember back in the 1990s that my town, and the couple of neighboring towns on the same headend, had far fewer channels than all of the other communities in northeastern Massachusetts served by whatever the pre-Comcast was back then.  There was a group of 20 extended cable channels that it literally took YEARS for us to get, even though everyone else had them.  These channels were showing up on our programming guides, even, but we just kept waiting and waiting and waiting...

[TWCC_DJK5555]

Not all cable companies make their digital channels accessible without a converter box, however, no matter what capabilities your TV has.  For example, Comcast (at least in Massachusetts where I lived) requires a converter box for ALL channels other than analogue (SD) versions of broadcast channels.  That's all you'll get if you just plug the coax from the wall into your TV, no matter what kind of TV it is.

Same here.  Before Comcast went all digital, you could get several broadcast and cable channels in digital with the built-in digital tuner in your TV (although the channel numbers were weird... TWC is channel 36 under normal circumstances, but in digital it was channel 86.4)

At the time, a buddy of mine had a digital box in his living room (full access to all digital channels in whatever package he had) while his kids' rooms had the standard plugged-straight-into-the-wall connection with the built-in digital tuner (the few select digital channels that Comcast offered).  He used to tell me that the digital picture quality in his kids' rooms was MUCH better than what he was getting with the stupid box in his living room.  And now that I'm having to deal with a box, I agree with him 100%.

I wish they'd go back to the way it was.   

[WeatherSTARIII]

Not all cable companies make their digital channels accessible without a converter box, however, no matter what capabilities your TV has.  For example, Comcast (at least in Massachusetts where I lived) requires a converter box for ALL channels other than analogue (SD) versions of broadcast channels.  That's all you'll get if you just plug the coax from the wall into your TV, no matter what kind of TV it is.

Same here.  Before Comcast went all digital, you could get several broadcast and cable channels in digital with the built-in digital tuner in your TV (although the channel numbers were weird... TWC is channel 36 under normal circumstances, but in digital it was channel 86.4)

At the time, a buddy of mine had a digital box in his living room (full access to all digital channels in whatever package he had) while his kids' rooms had the standard plugged-straight-into-the-wall connection with the built-in digital tuner (the few select digital channels that Comcast offered).  He used to tell me that the digital picture quality in his kids' rooms was MUCH better than what he was getting with the stupid box in his living room.  And now that I'm having to deal with a box, I agree with him 100%.

I wish they'd go back to the way it was.   

My point exactly. 
 
But, even back in the analog cable days, most older TVs and VCRs that were made before the early 1990s still worked well. The only problem was that those older TVs and VCRs may only have access to cable channels 2-13 when you would just simply hook it up through the wall without a cable box. It only worked when you had to hook the cable line into the VHF input conector (some TVs/VCRs even required one of those "flatheaded adapters" to convert it into the regular thick, rounded cable). That was the usual case if an older working TV or VCR only had only an analog broadcast VHF & UHF channel tuners. Depending on the local cable provider's channel line-up, the channels between the 2-13 range must also be any unscrambled channel.
 
Yet, even those older working TVs/VCRs could still work today, but as long if it has a digital cable box hooked up and with the TV/VCR set to channel 3. I would still have to agree that it is a hassle.

[Lightning]

The tv in my bedroom is hooked up to cable with a vcr and dvd player but I don't have a cable box. Does that mean that every tv in my house that has cable hooked up to it without a box will have to have a box? I sure hope not.

[TWCToday]

Some TVs now are starting to incorporate Cable Cards into their design so a cable box is not needed. For those who don't know a cable card is a device you rent from your cable company (just like you would your cable box) but it is usually a bit cheaper. Cable boxes are really just a rip off anyway. They are slow, underpowered and buggy.

The tv in my bedroom is hooked up to cable with a vcr and dvd player but I don't have a cable box. Does that mean that every tv in my house that has cable hooked up to it without a box will have to have a box? I sure hope not.

More than likely yes.