newbie question about HDTV monitor and Tuner

[rmalghan]

Hi: I am totally confused. I have visited different electronic stores (bestbuy, tweeter, circuit city) to understand whether I should buy a DLP tv with a tuner or without a tuner. My situation is as follows: I have a progressive scan DVD player and a coaxial line coming into house from my cable company to just see local basic channels. I might get Satellite TV (like Direct TV) sometime in future.
Could somebody help me answer the following questions

1. if I buy a HDTV ready Monitor, does this have a RF IN where I can attach the cable companies coaxial line to view the basic channels. It does not have to be in HDTV format. I have a limited service where I donot use a cable box right now. In other words does HDTV monitor come with a RF tuner?
2. If I buy a HDTV monitor and I want to see over the air HDTV signals in HDTV format, I will have to buy a antenna and a HDTV tuner, correct?
3. If I buy a DLP TV with HDTV tuner what are the disadvantages other than a higher price.
4. I donot see that many DLP TVs with a HDTV tuner. Any recommendations.
Thanks
Ray

[lumis]

1) if it says its "hd ready" that means the tuner is not built-in.. and yes you can connect your regular cable in to the rf in and it will display

2) that is correct. i recently saw a tuner + good antenna for $300

3) alot of people will tell you that there might be a different standard or soemthing coming out, or if the tuner goes out you wont be able to watch tv.. but the convience of having the built in tuner is worth it, all you have to do is hook up the antenna and you dont have an extra box laying around taking up an extra component input or dvi.. and if the built in tuner does go out, then sobeit.. you can get it fixed under warranty or buy a box and hook it up through component.. the rf in isnt gonna do you much good when you want to watch hdtv anyways.

4) none that i can think of

[edDV]

Hi: I am totally confused. I have visited different electronic stores (bestbuy, tweeter, circuit city) to understand whether I should buy a DLP tv with a tuner or without a tuner. My situation is as follows: I have a progressive scan DVD player and a coaxial line coming into house from my cable company to just see local basic channels. I might get Satellite TV (like Direct TV) sometime in future.
Could somebody help me answer the following questions

1. if I buy a HDTV ready Monitor, does this have a RF IN where I can attach the cable companies coaxial line to view the basic channels. It does not have to be in HDTV format. I have a limited service where I donot use a cable box right now. In other words does HDTV monitor come with a RF tuner?

Most "HDTV ready" monitors do have analog tuners that will tune basic "analog" cable channels. Buy one of those.

2. If I buy a HDTV monitor and I want to see over the air HDTV signals in HDTV format, I will have to buy a antenna and a HDTV tuner, correct?

Correct
see which OTA HDTV channels are available at your address here.
http://www.antennaweb.org/
they will recommend antenna needs
best deal on DTV tuners is this 3rd gen ATSC unit
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2598451&cat=115061&type=19&dept=...63399%3A115061

3. If I buy a DLP TV with HDTV tuner what are the disadvantages other than a higher price.

Disadvantage is that built in tuner is useless if you go sat or cable.*
Second, the Walmart model above is probably better than any but the latest built-in tuners.

4. I do not see that many DLP TVs with a HDTV tuner. Any recommendations.
Thanks
Ray

Go with an external tuner for now. If you go DirecTV later, you can sell it on Ebay.

* exception is the more expensive built-in OTA + cable tuner that accepts programming and auth from a smartcard provided by the cable company. These are expensive now and may soon go obsolete plus are useless for DirecTV.

PS: I do agree with lumis that you need to plan connections under these various senarios. Better to pay for proper inputs now rather than having to invest in external switch boxes later. Look for at least HDMI + 2 wideband Y, Pb, Pr HDTV capable inputs (Tuner + HD DVD + computer or HD Tivo).

[rmalghan]

If I buy a HDTV monitor and later on decide to get a Satellite HDTV Tuner, will I be able to connect the HDTV antenna to the Satellite tuner to receive over the air HDTV signal? or will I need a different tuner for the local channels?

Thanks
Ray

[edDV]

It depends on what the sat providers provide. This is known only by DirecTV and Dish.

DirecTV and Dish are switching over to MPeg4 delivery for HDTV later this year and all tuner boxes will be new. Implied is all current DirecTV and Dish HDTV tuners will be obsoleted.

[Heff]

edDv is basically right, but I think he got your question wrong. You asked if you buy a HDTV satellite receiver/tuner will you be able to get OTA channels with a HDTV antenna and the answer is most likely YES, if there are HDTV OTA channels in your area. Most, if not all, HDTV satellite receivers have OTA HDTV capability. you'll need to check the model to see if it has OTA HDTV capability, but all the ones I've seen do. The OTA HDTV standard to my knowledge is not going to change, it's here to stay.

I bought a 1st generation RCA HDTV tuner for $50 and am using a pair of 25yr old rabbit ears and I'm getting all the channels in my area with very little drop outs. I have it piped into a regular TV and even though it's not HD I can tell a big difference from the same channel coming thru cable. It's like all of them are first rate DVD quality. You can get a RCA DTC100 receiver on Ebay for $50 to $125 and like I said I'm using 25yr rabbit ears. Another cheap antenna is a Silver Sensor for $30, but it depends how far you are from the towers. I'm 9 miles and am getting mainly in the mid80s to 94% signal strength.

Also edDV is right, DTV will be moving to Mpeg4, but it may take 2yrs for the roll out and if you buy a receiver like mine, and subscribe, DTV may upgrade your receiver at a discount.

[edDV]

...

You asked if you buy a HDTV satellite receiver/tuner will you be able to get OTA channels with a HDTV antenna and the answer is most likely YES, if there are HDTV OTA channels in your area. Most, if not all, HDTV satellite receivers have OTA HDTV capability. you'll need to check the model to see if it has OTA HDTV capability, but all the ones I've seen do. The OTA HDTV standard to my knowledge is not going to change, it's here to stay.

DirecTV and Dish are switching to MPeg4 for HDTV delivery starting later this year. This will allow many more HDTV channels from the satellite but will also require a new set top tuner box. The new box may or may not have OTA DTV MPeg2 reception built in. It probably will but I have seen no announcement.

...
Also edDV is right, DTV will be moving to Mpeg4, but it may take 2yrs for the roll out and if you buy a receiver like mine, and subscribe, DTV may upgrade your receiver at a discount.

DTV will remain primarily MPeg2 for some time. It is possible to include MPeg4 as a data stream under the ATSC standard but not as a primary DTV delivery format. You are safe buying a DTV tuner today without fear of it going obsolete. Third generation DTV tuners are supposed to be much improved for distant reception and multipath interference. First models are just hitting the street.

[soloredd]

In my opinion, just make sure any HDTV you buy has a built-in tuner. I just bought a Samsung 26" widescreen HDTV built-in and all I needed was a small indoor antenna to receive the local DTV channels. I did fork up some money for Comcast's HDTV package, but only because I wanted ESPNHD and the antenna I was using could not receive ABC for some reason (and, dammit all, Comcast doesn't carry the local FOXHD channel...there's always a snag somewhere!).

[Heff]

Here's a forum that discusses it in length. I also heard the new recievers as referring to having a 5th generation chip.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

[edDV]

True the chips are 5th generation, the standalone tuner boxes are sometimes called 3rd generation but the chips are the same inside.