No, I’m not into Dungeons and Dragons or Harry Potter – QAM is quadrature amplitude modulation (thanks Wikipedia). It is the signal that displays HDTV over cable. I found out last week that my small town is now offering HDTV for the local channels. I didn’t know this before and was under the impression that it would take 2-3 more years before we’d have it. With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, I thought this would be a good time to explore what it would take to get HDTV at our house. I have a projector in the basement that can display HDTV if it has the right input.
When I first heard about the possibility of HD and learned that I needed a QAM tuner, I called the city (cable provider) assuming they would have some kind of tuner I could rent. To my surprise, the tech coordinator at the city actually asked me if I knew where they could find some QAM tuners – they are not officially announcing HD to the public because they can’t get the QAM tuners.
I must be missing something, because after reading up on some of the FCC regulations regarding HDTV, it sounds like all local channels need to broadcast in HDTV as of this year. Despite this fact, there seem to be no QAM tuners on the market. I’ve spent the last week trying to find one, and while I’ve found a couple, they have been on obscure websites or made by unknown manufacturers. Many of the HDTVs greater than 26" have QAM tuners pre-installed, so that solves the problem for people interested in a new large TV. I’d really like to see what I can do to get my projector to work. There has to be a large market out there for people who had previously bought a TV that is HD-ready – I’m really surprised no vendor is ready with a broad-appealing product.
Here are my choices at present:
- A set-top QAM tuner available on eBay for $99
- I just found a Samsung receiver available for $179
- USB Tuners – usually at least $149 and made by unknown manufacturers
- PCI tuner for computer – cheaper, but require a desktop machine
So I guess I have to decide if I want to take a chance or spend $179. I’m a little uncomfortable taking the chance for the city – I wish they’d step up and give it a try first. Maybe I can talk them into that plan. I’m happy to be the tester.
Eric's space 