It finally happened

[radiotvnut]

I could receive channels 2-12 in analog with the cable connected directly to the TV, until a few days ago. Evidently, that's when Comcast decided to go all digital because I can only get snow now. The only picture I get is a test pattern that can be received on one of the high channels.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I could receive channels 2-12 in analog with the cable connected directly to the TV, until a few days ago. Evidently, that's when Comcast decided to go all digital because I can only get snow now. The only picture I get is a test pattern that can be received on one of the high channels.

That's amazing. Is there not an FCC rule that forbids cable companies from denying customers access to basic service, i. e. broadcast channels, by any means, including scrambling and/or carrying them in QAM format?

Your only options now, of course, are 1) cancel your cable and use converter boxes and antennas on your TVs, or 2) if you want to keep the cable, get a cable box.

This is hardly new, especially in this digital age in which we live. Many people are finding out since the digital transition what you found out, that their TVs will no longer work by simply connecting the cable to the antenna terminals/coax jack on the set; to get anything at all anymore on many if not most cable systems today, you need either a flat screen with an ATSC/NTSC/QAM tuner or a converter box with an antenna if you want to use an older TV, and do not wish to (or cannot afford to) get cable.

All US cable systems will eventually convert to all digital service, if they haven't already. Time Warner Cable in my area near Cleveland (and in all other markets in which TW owns and operates cable systems) converted to full digital over a year ago, although, for reasons that completely elude me, they are still carrying most cable channels in NTSC analog format.

However, the Cleveland local TV stations are carried in ATSC digital format. I asked a Time-Warner customer service representative about this issue some time ago; the person told me she had no idea whatsoever why there are still NTSC analog channels on their northeastern Ohio/western Pennsylvania systems, including the one serving my area.

Ideally, TW's cable systems would be like Comcast's by now, completely unusable without a cable box or an HD flat screen, but such is not the case -- yet, anyway. I still have my almost 15-year-old Zenith Sentry 2 TV in my bedroom hooked up to cable, and it still works without a box; for how long, however, is anyone's guess, as the other shoe may drop any time now (meaning Time Warner's cable service will not work without a cable box), leaving that set with no reception. I am not going to pay to rent a box for that TV, since I don't use it much.

Have you considered replacing your present televisions with flat screens? I don't know how old your sets are, but they must still be NTSC CRT TVs with old-style knob tuning or electronic varactor tuners if you will have to use a cable box with them in order to use them.