# Digital TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412 "2013-02-05T19:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/21 "2013-02-06T05:05:58Z")
[Here’s a good image.](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/sad-cable-card.jpg) So it would be slot a little less than 3" long/tall and only 1/4" wide (or less). Also I should apologize to \*\*jasg \*\*about the VOD thing. I was thinking that VOD was only for pay per view stuff like movies and special events. I forgot that that now there is also a lot of stuff that is free, like re-broadcasts of primetime tv serials. I realized that tonight when I went to watch Sunday’s episode of Elementary and discovered it was the tail end of the superbowl. I figured I was screwed. But then I remembered that it might be on VOD since I had caught up on another show just a week or so ago the same way. edit: the point being that VOD is useful even if you don’t need or want any premium services. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/22 "2013-02-06T15:01:52Z")
So, what I’m gathering from the majority of the responses is that I’m probably stuck with a cable box and if I want to get everything in the kitchen, I would probably need another cable box. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/23 "2013-02-06T16:25:31Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > Am I missing something? New TV. Cable not fully work with TV. Solution? Ask cable company. Perhaps they can furnish the equipment you need, maybe even free of charge, since you subscribe already. > > I am fully prepared to admit that I am simply misunderstanding something. It’s probably been stated in different terms here but the part you are missing is the meat of the OP’s question - is there a difference between the cable box and the TV’s digital receiver (channels) The digital TV in the Kitchen is capable of receiving digital transmissions that are compatible with open air digital broadcasting by TV stations. It is most likely capable of receiving the old style analog signals too. The local cable company provides some of its stations in analog form. They do this because they saw a large market of “old TV” subscribers who would be willing to pay for it in order to use their old analog TV’s. The cable company also provides higher definition digital content but does not provide it in the format compatible with open air digital broadcasts. Why? Because it’s easier to control access to their premium channels if they have full control over the gateway. So all digital channels have to go through the cable company’s box or card. The box can be controlled and monitored from the cable company’s control room so they can send signals/permission to individual control boxes in order to enable/disable programming features for tier and premium channels. They wouldn’t have the ability to configure your TV sets or the 100s of variations of other subscriber’s TV sets but they can quite easily control 1000s of cable boxes that have the same design by communicating with each based on each boxes separate serial number. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/24 "2013-02-06T16:31:48Z")
Thanks **BubbaDog**! That’s a nice explanation of the difference. It also explains why the digital TV in the kitchen always says ‘analog’ on every channel. Still sucks though. Damn cable company!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/25 "2013-02-06T16:58:54Z")
> [@FoundWaldo](#): > > I got my most recent CableCard less than two months ago. Works fine on an SDV system (Cox). No, it doesn’t support VOD, but I have Hulu+, Amazon Prime, Netflix and HBO Go for that. No issues. What brand and model of TV set did you get? I have a 2005 CC set that I want to replace (it does not work with new cards). ---
**Author:** ![FoundWaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FoundWaldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoundWaldo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/26 "2013-02-07T02:25:37Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > What brand and model of TV set did you get? I have a 2005 CC set that I want to replace (it does not work with new cards). I’m using them in Tivos (four of them of different vintages), not directly in the TVs. I’m not sure why it wouldn’t work with new cards, though. I’m not an expert, but to my knowledge the only real “new” cable cards have been M-Stream cards, which allow you to tune more than one thing at a time (useful in something like a Tivo). But they should be backward compatible. In fact, one of my Tivos doesn’t understand M-Stream cards, but they still work - they just act like the old (single stream) cards. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/27 "2013-02-07T02:59:53Z")
> [@FoundWaldo](#): > > I’m using them in Tivos (four of them of different vintages), not directly in the TVs. > > I’m not sure why it wouldn’t work with new cards, though. I’m not an expert, but to my knowledge the only real “new” cable cards have been M-Stream cards, which allow you to tune more than one thing at a time (useful in something like a Tivo). But they should be backward compatible. In fact, one of my Tivos doesn’t understand M-Stream cards, but they still work - they just act like the old (single stream) cards. Thanks, but I don’t want a TiVo, was hoping someone was making TV’s again. M-Cards are indeed the problem. I have a very early set and Comcast was unable to make it keep it working with M-Cards. It is now connected to a cable box - which is what I wanted to avoid. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/28 "2013-02-07T03:39:36Z")
You probably know about this, but Ceton has a couple of products that use a cable card to tune up to 4 channels at a time. They also have the [Echo](http://cetoncorp.com/products/echo/) that lets you stream media to any tv in your house - but I’m fuzzy on the details. I think it’s a pretty new product. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/29 "2013-02-07T16:38:07Z")
Honestly, I didn’t think low power was worth mentioning. (Although it’s tru that my only TV appearance was on low powert local) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412/30 "2013-02-07T19:13:08Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > The cable company also provides higher definition digital content but does not provide it in the format compatible with open air digital broadcasts. Why? Because it’s easier to control access to their premium channels if they have full control over the gateway. It’s not quite that cynical an explanation. ATSC (the USA over the air standard) is optimized for broadcast, which has to deal with weak signals, multipath, and things like that. QAM (the digital cable standard) does not, and therefore can use bandwidth somewhat more efficiently. > [@jasg](#): > > What brand and model of TV set did you get? I have a 2005 CC set that I want to replace (it does not work with new cards). As far as I can tell, no one is manufacturing Cable Card compatible TVs any more, certainly not at a reasonable price point. I searched for one last year for pretty much the same reason as the **OP** , - wanted to put a new set in the kitchen without a set-top box - and found they’re essentially unavailable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv/649412.md?page=1)