QAM Tuners
In North American digital video, a QAM tuner is a device present in some digital televisions and similar devices which enables direct reception of digital cable channels without the use of a set-top box. An integrated QAM tuner allows the free reception of unscrambled digital programming sent "in the clear" by cable providers, usually local broadcast stations, cable radio channels, or in the case of providers which have transitioned to do so, Public-access television cable TV channels. Which channels are scrambled varies greatly from location to location and can change over time; the majority of digital channels are scrambled because the providers consider them to be extra-cost options and not part of the "basic cable" package.
Most US TVs sold after 2006 include a QAM tuner, though some low end and less expensive models still do not include the functionality to tune QAM channels as of 2009. Even though the hardware used to tune ATSC (over the air digital) and QAM (digital cable) channels is similar, there are still plenty of devices on the market as of 2009 which can tune ATSC signals but not QAM signals. Some do have the QAM feature but do not describe it in the operator's manual or on-screen menu options, choosing instead to place it under the category of a channel scan and forcing viewers to delete many scrambled channels after a scan. The FCC mandates that all new TVs sold in the US must include an ATSC tuner, but there are no requirements for QAM tuning functionality.
Unencrypted QAM tuners are available for computers and many software DVR options exist to work in conjunction with QAM, namely Elgato's EyeTV, SageTV (native support of high definition QAM), MythTV (also native support for HD QAM), and Snapstream's Beyond TV, Microsoft's Windows Media Center software supports QAM on supported tuners (on Vista with the TV Pack update or with Windows 7).
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