hdtv and cable

[jsal60]

I have an hdtv and I purchase cable services. The cable service provider requires a cable box for me to receive hdtv channels. If I purchase an hdtv tuner can I receive the hdtv signal without their cable box? Their hdtv channels are free as they state but I have to pay for the box. If I purchase the tuner and plug in the cable to the tuner will I continue to receive the same channels?

[Truk]

You may have already discovered this, but I just purchased a Sony Bravia LCD HDTV. It comes with something called a QAM tuner. If you are already receiving digital cable it is likely that by having the TV scan for digital channels you may receive digital channels and even some unscrambled HDTV channels without a cable box (just to clarify, I believe this tuner specifically addresses receiving digital from a cable provider. The ATSC tuner is what allows you to receive digital from an antenna). That's what I discovered. However, I do not receive all HDTV programming, only those that are unscrambled, and I was already paying for digital cable, so I don't know whether you would receive these channels from the cable provider without paying for digital cable. Regarding unscrambled and not receiving all channels, for example, I receive network and PBS HD channels, but I don't get Discovery HD. In addition, each TV may set the channel assignment differently, so if your cable provider has ABC HD on channel 200 (as an example), it could come up as channel 79.1701 (my case), which to me has no logic, but I probably don't understand it very well. That might be considered a downside. It is possible channels would change over time, or your cable provider drops some, so you might have to periodically rescan for digital channels. Also, I don't know if the transition in February will affect any of this. In other words, even though the change is specific to over-the-air transmission, not cable providers, it does not mean that cable providers won't make changes then or at some point in the near future.