I bought a HD LCD on Black Friday last year but haven't used it.

I now moved into an apartment that gives free cable, but there is no box attached to the coax outlet coming out from the wall.

Is there anyway to get HD channels in my apartment without having to pay for a HD box from the cable company?

 

Depends on the cable company. Many, like Comcast, scramble their HD channels such that only the Comcast-provided HD box can unscramble them.

Get a good antenna and you might get some local HD.

 

If the apt. has free cable, chances are it's just basic service. But, you should be able to plug the cable right into the TV and have it work.

 

I have channels 1-80 or something like that, but the question is can I somehow get HD channels from it.

@MG - I believe antenna is the only way too, unless there's something I'm not aware of.

 

Again, it depends entirely on the cable company, and whether or not they choose to transmit any HD content "in the clear."

Most modern TV sets in the US have a CableCard slot in them. This slot accepts an industry-standard card (conceptually similar to the SIM card in your phone) which you can lease from the cable company if you wish to purchase any of their subscription services without having a discrete physical box.

 

It's also quite possible that the "free cable" in your apartment building is not directly sourced from your local cable provider. Like most hotels, many apartment complexes cobble together their own cable feeds from a combination of OTA receivers and DTH-style satellite receivers.

Ask your apartment manager where they get their cable feed from.

 

why hast thou not plugged in tv and given it a try yet?

i know my father-in-law gets free "basic" HD channels this way.

 

Too lazy

 

Ah, well. In that case, just plug it right in. You'll get all the HD channels with no problem, I promise.

 

Hooked up a TV at my grandmother's house, they had been running off an old analog style TV with a digital converter box. Let the TV do an autotune, and discovered that there were probably two dozen channels in the 100s that came through in full HD, with no converter box at all.