New tv with hd tuner?

[cmags]

looking to get a new tv, when it says hd tuner included does that mean qam as well or does it have to say it.thanks

 

[raoul5788]

looking to get a new tv, when it says hd tuner included does that mean qam as well or does it have to say it.thanks

HD tuner means ota, or ATSC. QAM is for cable. Many new tvs have both. Check the specs on the manufacturers website to be sure.

 

[Hall]

QAM is not automatic but it does seem to be more and more common.

Also, I've read at AVS Forum (I think) that some stores, Best Buy and Walmart were mentioned specifically, have inaccurate information tags with some TVs. So, don't always trust what the tag says, but try and read the box, if available, or just note the model # and research them at home. I'm not suggesting either of those stores are misleading people intentionally.

 

[raoul5788]

QAM is not automatic but it does seem to be more and more common.

Also, I've read at AVS Forum (I think) that some stores, Best Buy and Walmart were mentioned specifically, have inaccurate information tags with some TVs. So, don't always trust what the tag says, but try and read the box, if available, or just note the model # and research them at home. I'm not suggesting either of those stores are misleading people intentionally.

Same thing with Walmart. Many of their info tags are incorrect.

 

[TNGTony]

DO NOT EVER BELIEVE THE SALES TAGS IN THE STORES. I used to work in retail electronics in not one, not two, not three but 4 different chain stores. NONE of them had 100% correct info and some were outright lies!

As to salespeople, question EVERYTHING they say. I did a little research when I went in to buy my first HD set and I knew I wanted an ATSC tuner (that is your HD over the air tuner) and a QAM tuner for cable. But I did not really research models all that well before I went to the store.

So when I got to the store (HH Gregg) I told the salesperson that no matter what TV we ended up on it must absolutely, positively have a QAM tuner. He told me they all had that. I argued briefly but he was insistant. We ended up on a gorgeous looking Samsung TV. I asked him three additional times to the point that he was getting annoyed with me about the QAM capability. He continued to insist yes it did have QAM. So I bought it. When I got it home... guess what? No QAM.

I called the store and asked the guy how to activate this mystery feature. After 10 minutes on the phone with this otherwise rather nice guy, he comes back ont he phone and starts to apologize profucely and asks me to come back in to the store to pick a different TV. I ended up with a Toshiba that cost more than the Samsung for less after the "oops" discount.

Anyway, the point is, go to the store, look at the sets you like. DO NOT BUY. Go home. Research the model features on line. THEN buy. But do not buy a TV without looking at a working model first. Specs do not tell the whole story.

Good luck!

See ya
Tony

 

[cfunk]

Which Toshiba did you buy? I was just at Circuit City and saw the latest 1080p
42 inch and I was pretty impressed with it. HD looked great and the SD didn't
look bad either compared to the new 1080p Samsung

 

[roashru]

720p, 1080i or 1080p means nothing FIRST what you want to do is find out the native resolution of the TV. If the TV only has a native resolution of 1366X768 you are stuck with real 720p. SECOND verify with the manufacture that the TV dose support QAM.

 

[TNGTony]

"Stuck" with 720p is not a great rescription. Perhaps "limited to" would have been a better choice of words. I am certain that the vast majority of people who are not shown the actual numbers between one TV and another looking at the same source would argue over which looks better to them.

I don't want to start a holy war here. There is a point of diminishing returns. And if a $700 1366x768 set looks great to the buyer's eye next to a $2500 1920x1080 set then why the hell spend more than tripple to get a little better.

LOOK at the sets. Play with them at the stores. If they don't let you fiddle with the TVs LEAVE AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! Buy what is cost-effective for you.

BTW ABC, Fox, ESPN all use 720p so no matter how super-duper the set you buy, if you watch those network, you get 720p and only 720p.

See ya
Tony

 

[roashru]

TNGTony, You missed the point of my post. If a person is in the market for a 1080i or 1080p TV and the store description says 1080i with QAM but the native resolution is only 1366X768 and no QAM unless a card is purchased. They are not getting what they are looking for.

The same can be said about a person in the market for a 720p TV the store description says 720p but the native resolution is only 1024X768.

 

[TNGTony]

Gotcha... I did miss the part where the person was looking for 1080.

If 1080 is a must, look at the Hitachi line! Great looking sets for good price and generally great quality.

See ya
Tony