Do u need an antenna when wanting to receive HD programming and have an ATSC built in tuner?If so, what kind?

Question:

I have a Sharp Aquos LCD TV with built in ATSC tuner, which I thought was supposed to be able to unscramble HD channels over basic cable without a set-top box, yet I've read through my manual and can't seem to find the function to scan for HD channels. I've done some looking and keep finding that people are using antennas to receive HD channels. Are they using them because they don't have cable or because that is what is needed to receive HD channels?

Answer:
In your TV, there is no explicit scan for HD only.
Go to the channel scan and specify a "Cable" scan (or an ANTENNA scan for off-the air).

If you have "DIGITAL" cable and your company sends free HD channels (most probably the local channels), then your TV should be able to find them.

So, the key word is DIGITAL CABLE. There are no HD channels over analog cable (However, Digital cable transmits both analog and digital channels). You are correct, you can receive unscrambled channels of cable with no set-top box.

That is correct.

The over the air channels are being brocasted in both Analog and Digital.

Hook up an outside/indoor antenna and do a autoprogram.

If you hook up your cable directly to it, you will find some Digital programs but they will be encrypted, in which case youll need to upgrade your service.

ATSC tuners are only for "over the air" digital broadcasts. You actually need a QAM enabled tuner in order to receive unencrypted digital cable channels.

http://www.dummies.com/wileycda/section/...

Do u need an antenna when wanting to receive HD programming and have an ATSC built in tuner?If so, what kind?

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