High Definition TV? Tuner or no Tuner?

[aturjans]

I want to buy a High Definition LCD TV. I am moving back to my country(Argentina) and they have not decided yet which HD format are we going to have(DVB-T "European"; ATSC (American)/etc...). So I do not know if it is better to buy a TV that has the tuner or not.
As I am going to have blue-ray DVD(From my playstation) I would like to buy the now 1080p TVs. But again I do not know if I will need a Tuner to display a blueray movie?
Do you have any general recomendation for the type of LCDTV(I mean specifications) I should look today?

Adrian

[jagabo]

You only need an ATSC tuner to display over-the-air broadcast (in the USA). Just about all the current models (sold in the USA) have ATSC tuners. You don't need a tuner for cable, satellite, Blu-ray, PS3, XBOX 360, etc. If you want to watch cable TV without a cable box you will need a QAM tuner (or whatever they use in Argentina). I'd go for a 1080p LCD with as many HDMI inputs as you can get (typically 3 on current models), and at least one component input. I like the Samsung LNT-xx65 (glossy) or LNT-xx61 (matte) series HDTVs.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If you are going to use DVD,Blu Ray,cable or satellite you won't need a tuner.Vizio has a 42" 1080p HDTV for $1100USD.

[aturjans]

Thanks for the reply!
If the TV has and ATSC tuner and my country adopts DVB-T, will I be able to buy another tuner to watch over the air tv?
Can you explain a little better why I do not need a tuner for cable?

Thanks agai I will check both models.

[jagabo]

If the TV has and ATSC tuner and my country adopts DVB-T, will I be able to buy another tuner to watch over the air tv?

If Argentina adpopts DVB-T you should be able to buy a standalone DVB-T tuner and connnect it to the HDTV with a composite, s-video, component, or HDMI cable.

Can you explain a little better why I do not need a tuner for cable?

If you use a cable box (and for digital cable you will need to) between the coax source and the HDTV:

Cable coax --> Cable Box --> HDTV

The cable from the cable box to the HDTV will be composite, s-video, component, or HDMI.

But the tuner issue is the least of your worries. NTSC vs PAL standards is a bigger problem. I've read that Argentina uses PAL-Nc. I don't know if a HDTV purchased in the USA (NTSC) will play PAL-N sources. Or whatever the country adopts for HDTV.

[mrswla]

Can you explain a little better why I do not need a tuner for cable?

If you use a cable box (and for digital cable you will need to) between the coax source and the HDTV:

Cable coax --> Cable Box --> HDTV

The cable from the cable box to the HDTV will be composite, s-video, component, or HDMI.

But the tuner issue is the least of your worries. NTSC vs PAL standards is a bigger problem. I've read that Argentina uses PAL-Nc. I don't know if a HDTV purchased in the USA (NTSC) will play PAL-N sources. Or whatever the country adopts for HDTV.

Even an easier way to explain: The cable(satellite) box you get when you subscribe to cable already has a tuner built into it so your tv does not need one.

I would definitely agree with jagabo, you need to be more worried about what the format is: Pal or NTSC???? That will decide what kind of tv you need.

[jagabo]

Even an easier way to explain: The cable(satellite) box you get when you subscribe to cable already has a tuner built into it so your tv does not need one.

Nice!