QAM tuner?

[Peabody]

Well this is not about repair, but I don't know where else to ask
it, and someone here will know.

I still have an old CRT TV, which works fine, and I subscribe to
Cox cable. Recently Cox has converted some of the analog channels
to unscrambled digital, so they are available on anything that has
a QAM tuner without having to rent a cable box. And there are a
few other channels like that - National Geographic, for instance.

So I need to find an inexpensive stand-alone QAM tuner, or some
inexpensive device that includes a QAM tuner, so I can get these
channels without paying for another tier or service. Of course
eventually I'll upgrade to an LCD TV with a built-in QAM tuner, but
I'm just not ready to do that yet.

I have a converter box from when the analog to digital switch
happened for over-the-air broadcast TV, but it only has an ATSC
tuner, not QAM.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[micky]

Buy a used standalone tuner from the days when HDTVs lacked a tuner,
before analog disappeared and we got our free converter cards.. Some
of those folks should have upgraded by now. The last of the breed was
the Samsung DTBH260F

I found thouse used for 187, so if you're going to spend that much,
maybe better to spend 200 new or 150 refurbished, for a Magnavox DVDR
with hard drive. It has a QAM tuner, and lots of other stuff.
Stuff that works iwth cable, and you can also put in an over the air
input. I forget the model number but the numierc part may have started
with 5.

If I understood how to unmung your email address, I'd send you an
email.