How do I know if I have a digital receiver?

Question

I'm a little confused on exactly what a digital receiver is. I'm asking this question because my cable company told me I need to have a digital receiver in order to have certain channels. I'm not sure if they meant if my t.v can receive digital channels or if I already have some sort of device that allows me to receive digital channels or some other thing entirely. I have a Samsung 60' plasma t.v and I can receive HD over it ( if that is significant or not). Would anyone know if that type of t.v would have a built in digital receiver or if I need to get some sort of extra equipment to have a digital receiver? Thanks.

Answer 1

when a cable company refers to a digital reciever, they are referring to a digital cable box. You will need this to recieve premium channels, order pay-per-view events, or to utilize "on-demand" features.

If you simply plug the coaxial cable into a TV with a digital tuner built in, you will recieve all the channels except the ones listed above. Channels that go beyond #120 will be listed as 125-01, 125-02, 344-11, etc. you simply have to use your autotune function within your TV menu to find those channels.

Answer 2

In order to get any of the cable co's channels above 70 you need a converter box that decrypt the digital signals. If you are getting any channels above 70 then you have a digital box.

Answer 3

I think they probably mean the cable box that you have. Your tv sounds like it will have no issues with digital (HD is digital) but if you have an older version of the actual cable box, you may need to upgrade it. My father-in-law just had to do that because his box was too old to receive the digital signals.

Answer 4

If you have a cable box, DISH, or DirecTV, and your TV is fairly new and has a built ATSC tuner, you should be okay...



The poor folks using tin foil or bunny ears, on old analog TVs will be losing out on ANY viewing, without some magical box that converts digital signals to work on their old school CRT sets.

Answer 5

You have to get one of their boxes. From comcast you can get high-definition and a DVR for just 15 dollars a month (in addition to what you already pay). Pretty good deal if you ask me.

Answer 6

if your tv can receive hd, it should be able to receive digital programming.

Answer 7

call