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Questions & Answers
Will I need a QAM tuner after the switch to digital in February?
Hi everyone,
I want to get the Eyetv Hybrid to use with my Mac and I noticed that some of the older versions I have been seeing do not have QAM. I am not quite sure what QAM is, but I know that is has to do with a digital signal. After the switch to digital next month, would these older models still function?
I unfortunately cannot give you a straight answer as you did not say what tuner(s) your Eyetv Hybrid has. However, this is hopefully sufficient.
There are basically 3 types of tuners: QAM, ATSC, and NTSC.
QAM and ATSC are 'digital' tuners that will work after the digital transition whereas NTSC is an analog tuner that may or may not work after the transition (I'll explain later).
Both QAM and ATSC tuners are for digital signal reception. So what's the difference? The QAM tuners pick up digital signals "over the cable". You hook up a raw cable from your wall straight to a QAM tuner. In order to tune in through an ATSC tuner, you need an over the air 'digital' antenna to be hooked up to your tuner.
Basically, the choice between QAM and ATSC depends on which type of reception (cable or antenna) you are comfortable with or is available in your area.
BTW, neither of these will give you premium or cable /satellite channels such as MTV, HBO, etc. You only get channels that your local cable company sends in clear or unencrypted form. Those are mostly what we consider as 'basic' or non-premium channels that we can normally get without cable/satellite subscription, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, etc, and some of the channels will be high definition, and some will be standard definition.
Now, the NTSC tuners are analog tuners. If your deivce only has an NTSC tuner AND if you have it hooked up to an over the air "antenna", the device will stop working as there will be no more analog signal to be recieved by your antenna. On the other hand, if your device is hooked up to a raw cable (from a wall), then some channels will be most likely still tunable as of the day of the transition. But those channels will gradually decrease in number as time goes by and be eventually phased out. The time line is not clear at this point and may well depend on the local cable company.
Hope this helps.
If I subscribe to a premium digital cable package will those channels be sent via QAM or will I need
I currently get local HD stations via QAM, but would like more. Can I subscribe to a higher tier package and then get the channels via my QAM tuner, or will I need a set top box (STB)? In essence, are subscribed channels sent unencrypted to your house or are they sent encrypted with a STB doing the decrypting?
You will still need the STB for premium cable channels.
Does a QAM tuner work with satellite providers?
I'm considering moving out of the city and outside of the range of our local cable tv provider (Cox) and would need to switch to a satellite provider.
I have an HDTV that has a QAM tuner built in, so I pickup all the digital channels that Cox passes through unscrambled.
My question is this: Does the QAM tuner work with satellite providers just like it does with cable providers? Or am I forced to hook a digital box up to that TV to get the digital/HD channels?
QAM is for Cable Only digital channels
NTSC is for Analog via cable, antenna or set top boxes that output on an analog channel (3 and 4 in the US,). Substitute PAL for the UK instead of NTSC.
ATSC is for Digital via antenna (substitute DVB for ATSC in the UK)
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