Cable box with flat screen TV -- why?; "Free" HD is not free

[Jeffhs]

I have expanded-basic cable service from Time Warner Cable, and I enjoy it, especially the digital subchannels. However, I wonder why, since my Insignia flat screen already has a full-range tuner (NTSC/ATSC/clear-QAM/8VSB), I would need a cable box to receive channels above 135, as Insignia's support technicians mention on the company's support forum (Televisions at Insigniaproducts.com). The info box that appears in the upper right-hand corner of my TV screen when I change channels or press the "info" button on the remote has the capability of showing up to six digits; I know this because I have accidentally held buttons down on the remote and have seen this display. However, the TV obviously will not tune to channels above 135 (any attempt to key in channels 136+ will cause the tuner to revert to the channel to which it was originally tuned), and certainly not to the HD channels from channel 1000 up, without a cable box. Since the tuner may be capable of receiving well over 1000 channels (unless the OSD on my set is just a generic one that is used even on low-end sets capable of receiving well fewer than 100 [let alone 1000] channels, as well as high-end ones that can get the HD cable channels above 1000), why would a box even be necessary for HD in the first place? I think this is just another way the cable company gets more money from subscribers, through the rental fee for the box (in my area, currently $8.50 per month, over and above the cable bill itself). Doesn't make sense to me, since Time Warner Cable offers free HD service for every tier of cable service above x-basic. Since the HD upgrade is free, why does TW charge extra for the cable box? The latter charge effectively cancels out the "free" in free HD. The only way I can see this making any sense whatsoever would be if someone with a very old TV wants to get 1000+ channels, although that actually doesn't make any sense since old TVs designed for NTSC standards cannot process HD signals anyway -- unless the box downconverts HD digital signals to analog.

Another thing to consider: Who wants to watch high-definition television on a huge black and white screen? Old color sets from the '50s through the '70s may not make the grade either, since they are designed for NTSC color standards and may not work well, if at all, with today's digital HD. I cannot see the sense in watching HD TV on a television set old enough to vote and then some, if the set works at all with the output from a cable box. As I have mentioned in previous posts to other threads, older TVs have sync circuits that were not designed for today's sophisticated TV signals; when these sets were new, after all, there were no such things as HD television, closed captioning, stereo sound, and all the other whiz-bang features of today's TV that we nowadays take for granted. Trying to convert a 1960s color set, for example, to receive today's HD television with a cable box ahead of the set might work and make a decent picture, but I doubt if the picture would be anywhere near as good as the same program viewed on a modern high-definition HD or plasma flat screen.

I'd be interested in feedback from anyone here who has attempted to use an HD cable box with a 40+-year-old color TV. How does HDTV reception on a standard NTSC TV compare to that viewed on a flat screen of the same size?