I have a Panasonic TH-42PX80U HDTV flat panel tv.My Cable company (comcast) says I need their converter box to get the digital Channels.When I do auto-setup on my TV it searches for Analog and Digital channels, yet I'm still missing a few channels that I'm supposed to get under my current plan.
Yes, you need a cable box,. Your TV does not have the circuitry to know or be told what encrypted channels you subscribe to, or to decrypt them. The cable box does have that facility.
There are a lot of thing that can be done with a digital TV signal to hide it from a standard TV set. This is how cable companies control access to premium channels, and PPV. Your set is probably receiving the basic tier channels that are transmitted in the clear. For the other channels, you will probably need to cable company's box.
