HDTV Forum

I would like to find a device or box that will convert my coax to component level without having to lease/rent a box from the cable company. Once I get it converted to component level my receiver will encode and upconvert the rest of the signal to look HD. Can anyone recomend something to do this? I know there is something out there (cable company is C0mCast).

Thanks..

Are you talking about standard analog cable signals, digital cable signals or something else?

It depends on what you mean by "coax."

If you mean a composite video signal, there is no use even trying because the loss of color resolution has already taken place in the modulator generating that signal; also, composite is limited to 470i. Although it is technically possible to up convert composite to component, you would not end up with any actual improvement over just using the composite signal the way it is.

If you mean the signal that comes from ComCast, you need their cable box. The box provides the QAM demodulator that you need and also provides a decoder that decrypts the QAM. The box has to come from your cable provider because cable boxes (and CableCards for that matter) are individually authorized by a unique "unit address" number.

Hello -
Perhaps I misunderstood but, if you are NOT paying your cable company for their HDTV signal, there is NO box which will "create" it . The one way to get no cost HDTV via coax is, of course, with an outside antenna providing that you have an ATSC tuner -- no Comcast required, natch. This "confusion" over up-converting boxes has been created / exascerbated by DVD players which claim to do so w/o buying a new TV.

By-the-by, it is generally agreed that until / unless the connection between the HDTV and any "box" is with a HDMI cable, the results are NOT going to be as good as they could be. Good hunting! eli whitney

eliwhitney wrote: By-the-by, it is generally agreed that until / unless the connection between the HDTV and any "box" is with a HDMI cable, the results are NOT going to be as good as they could be.

au contraire! Component video can be just as good or better than dvi/hdmi on certain displays (specifically CRTs). The biggest downside to component video is that it doesn't support HDCP.

I think the OP wants to upconvert standard analog cable to 720p or 1080i. You'd be much better off getting a digital HD cable box from Comcast. It should only be a few bucks a month.

There are devices that convert cable "coax" signals to component video. They are called cable converter boxes and are available from your local cableco. Save yourself a lot of time and trouble -- get one and please pay for your HD service like the rest of us.

Personally, I have two HD TVs and I rent two HD DVRs from my cable company. They are worth every penny to me.

As I always say, "Don't be a cable crook!"

eliwhitney wrote:...it is generally agreed that until / unless the connection between the HDTV and any "box" is with a HDMI cable, the results are NOT going to be as good as they could be.

Generally agreed by whom?

As a professional writer, broad generalizations are the kind of "conventional wisdom" that drives me nuts. I find that people who make broad generalizations tend to mimic things said by other people who make broad generalizations because they don't take the time to check the facts first.

Please cite your source.

Incidentally, for specific reasons I use both types of connections, HDMI and component with my HD displays, and in my own subjective experience, both produce excellent PQ, neither of which would I say is superior to the other.