Both of our cable companies have or are going all digital and it requires a QAM tuner to decode the signals. There are others that are using the QAM system too. If this is common will we have to buy External QAM tuners for our sets that don't have them built in for CGs that utilize cable? Seems to be that the Cable Co's picked the one system not required by the FCC. Or maybe it's the FUC, whatever. It just seems that I replace all the CRT sets to have the new digital tuners for OTA signal and now for wired I have to have a box for those sets without QAM. Of course none of this is to increase profit for the Cable providers is it.

Although needing a cable box is a pain the butt, the picture quality is far superior. The campground where I winter has a box for each site that you can get from the office but if you need more than one you must go to the cable co. to sign them out. There is no cost but you must show a credit card so you don't forget to return it.

Campgrounds will still have the option to decode the digital cable signals at the in-house distribution system before feeding them to the individual sites, usually in analog NTSC format. The equipment may not be cheap though, depending on what kind of deals the cable companies offer their commercial subscribers.

Head end unit, combiner, amplifier, decoder boxes etc. cost around $20,000 for a +/- 20 channel setup. Then figure on around $500 a channel for each additional channel. That is on top of whatever the cable company is going to charge to provide the programming per site. For small to mid size parks, that is the equivalent of losing a entire year's profit all to offer fewer channels than they did before the conversion. I think you are going to see a number of parks make the decision to drop cable rather than make that size investment. Can't say I would blame them.

One of the parks we were in this fall, were offering set top boxes for $4/day with no support to make it work. we declined

No worries for us as we already pay for satellite and always set it up regardless of what cable channels a park provides or what we can get OTA from our rig's antenna. We find we can't depend on the often degraded cable signal most parks provide.

Cable Co's going all digital using QAM system | Good Sam Community

Ron3rd
Explorer III
Oct 02, 2014
Time Warner's doing the same thing. We needed to get a box for the spare bedroom TV that we rarely use, but the wife wanted it. About $1.50 a month. Worked straight off the cable before that for the basic cable channels.
Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Oct 02, 2014
kcmoedoe wrote:
Head end unit, combiner, amplifier, decoder boxes etc. cost around $20,000 for a +/- 20 channel setup. Then figure on around $500 a channel for each additional channel. That is on top of whatever the cable company is going to charge to provide the programming per site. For small to mid size parks, that is the equivalent of losing a entire year's profit all to offer fewer channels than they did before the conversion. I think you are going to see a number of parks make the decision to drop cable rather than make that size investment. Can't say I would blame them.

I expect most cable companies will have equipment leases available, just as they do now for hotels, motels, campgrounds, etc.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Oct 02, 2014
Most televisions sold this century including CRT jobs can do QAM. I suspect all the modern flat screen HD jobs can.

That said, some cable companies are going ENCRYPTED QAM, this needs a set top box.
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Oct 02, 2014
Thanks Guys, I hope that the parks have the boxes if I ever need one, I do have at least two sets that do not have QAM built in, one is a CRT set with a digital tuner and the other is an older LCD flat panel set. The CRT set is in our condo and does receive the channels from 2-1 to 83-1, so I guess it's a box for that set. The LCD set is in my office and I may get a box for that, though I seldom turn it on, the DW does.

So much has changed since I retired, but somebody here always helps keep me up to date.

Thanks Again
RedRocket204
Explorer
Oct 02, 2014
n7bsn wrote:
QAM is the default for Cable-co's.
Most modern TVs have QAM decoders built in so they don't need decoders, unless the channel is also encrypted. I am not aware of a single "digital" TV that does not support QAM decoding.
So you only have to worry if you have an "old" analog only TV.

Although there are TVs that can be addresses by the Cable-Co to enable decryption.

Cable-Co's use QAM because it allows more "channels" to be encoded in a "channel" then 8VSB. TV Broadcasters use 8VSB because it's has better signal-to-noise and noise control.

Someone who knows what they speak of. :)

However, one slight correction...QAM is modulation where multiple channels/signals end up on the same 6 Mhz frequency versus with analog, only a single channel per 6 Mhz frequency. You can fit a lot more digital channels in QAM than analog in the same given frequency spectrum.

Also, QAM is the defacto for cable plants but is slowly changing to IP. There are many QAM/IP set top boxes now to where even QAM will start decreasing in numbers as IP takes over.
1775
Explorer
Oct 01, 2014
D.E.Bishop wrote:
Both of our cable companies have or are going all digital and it requires a QAM tuner to decode the signals. There are others that are using the QAM system too. If this is common will we have to buy External QAM tuners for our sets that don't have them built in for CGs that utilize cable?

Seems to be that the Cable Co's picked the one system not required by the FCC. Or maybe it's the FUC, whatever. It just seems that I replace all the CRT sets to have the new digital tuners for OTA signal and now for wired I have to have a box for those sets without QAM. Of course none of this is to increase profit for the Cable providers is it.

Many campgrounds take the coded signal that requires the cable companies own decoder box and decode it and then send it out to their hookups. Every cable company is using a company specific box and there is no way to be able to own all of the boxes for companies that you might encounter at campgrounds (nor could a non-subscriber even get them) - if they say at the campground that they include cable in a full hookup they are either going to give you the box or they have decoded the signal for you. All you do then is connect to their cable, TV scan the channels, and watch.
sch911
Explorer
Oct 01, 2014
Any TV with a digital tuner worth it's salt should have a QAM tuner built right in....
n7bsn
Explorer
Oct 01, 2014
QAM is the default for Cable-co's.
Most modern TVs have QAM decoders built in so they don't need decoders, unless the channel is also encrypted. I am not aware of a single "digital" TV that does not support QAM decoding.
So you only have to worry if you have an "old" analog only TV.

Although there are TVs that can be addresses by the Cable-Co to enable decryption.

Cable-Co's use QAM because it allows more "channels" to be encoded in a "channel" then 8VSB. TV Broadcasters use 8VSB because it's has better signal-to-noise and noise control.
Sandia_Man
Explorer II
Oct 01, 2014
No worries for us as we already pay for satellite and always set it up regardless of what cable channels a park provides or what we can get OTA from our rig's antenna. We find we can't depend on the often degraded cable signal most parks provide.
sh410
Explorer
Oct 01, 2014
One of the parks we were in this fall, were offering set top boxes for $4/day with no support to make it work. we declined

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