Can you purchace your own cable box and use it w/ your cable?
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New member Username: SupermantbCharlotte, NC United States Post Number: 1 Registered: Jun-07 | I currently have Time Warner Cable and rather than pay Time Warner a small fortune to lease one of their HDTV/DVR cable boxes, I was wondering if it was possible to buy my own and have it work w/ my cable. This will be my second cable box in my home. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. |
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Bronze Member Username: Redneck_mud_runnerShelton, WA Mason Post Number: 37 Registered: Feb-07 | The FCC is in the process of requiring cable companies to allow customers to but their own STB's instead of renting them from the cable companies. I believe that these boxes will have a slot for a cable card (as do some tv's) that you will get from the cable companies. The bad thing about owning your box though, is just that, YOU OWN IT! that means if it breaks you wont have the luxury of going to the cable office and swapping it out for a new one for free, or even having them bring it to your door and hook it up for you. Also, the cable companies will have the option of charging you for tech support on customer-owned STB's. And keep this in mind, even if you own your own DVR you still might have to pay the DVR service fee, weather it id to the cable company, or to a third party provider, like TiVo. Personally, I would rather pay a STB lease fee and have the free tech support, and the peace of mind that if it takes a crap I can just drive it down to Comcast and swap it out without paying 600 bucks or so. Not to mention that as the cable company gets newer, better boxes, you will be able to upgrade without buying a new DVR. But to each is their druthers, you make the choice  |
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Bronze Member Username: Redneck_mud_runnerShelton, WA Mason Post Number: 38 Registered: Feb-07 | Also, I'd like to answer this question before it is asked in this thread (and I know it will be) This FCC mandate DOES NOT mean that cable companies will be required to activate STB's from other cable companies. 99% of the time these are stolen from the company (even when someone gets it from the company honestly then don't return it after service is terminated, that is theft) The cable companies will not activate these, they don't have to, they usually can't and they won't. so be careful if you want to buy a box off e-bay |
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New member Username: SupermantbCharlotte, NC United States Post Number: 3 Registered: Jun-07 | It's great to hear that it's possible. Owning the box doesn't worry me. You can get the same Scientific Atlanta box that I'm already renting for a very decent price on ebay. I also work in the computers/technology industry, so I don't mind supporting it on my own. I'm hoping it will make a little more sense for me to buy my own as I am planning on adding several more STBs in my house. Just to be clear....I can buy just about any (within reason) HDSTB and it will allow me to view my Time Warner Cable in high definition? Also, will the DVR not work if I buy the STB w/ DVR.....For example the same Scienctific Atlanta that I rented from Time Warner. I already have DVR, so if there was some sort of DVR signal being sent through my cable, wouldn't this purchased STB be able to pick that up? Am I making any sense? I just want to know if I can get HD & have the DVR work before I make a purchase. Thanks for your help. |
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Bronze Member Username: Redneck_mud_runnerShelton, WA Mason Post Number: 39 Registered: Feb-07 | As I said before, if you are going to buy one off ebay there is a 99.9% chance that you are buying a stolen STB, and that will simply leave your pockets a litlle emptier, and you will have a nice expensive doorstop. As far as this 7/1/2007 deadline for the customer-owned STB's, I dont think that means you can go out and buy, lets say a Motorola 3416 HDDVR, and expect your cable provider to activate it, they wont do it now and I dont think that will change on 7/1. I apologize if I have misled anyone with my previous statement, I think this is more aimed toward customer owned STB,s that will accept a cable card, or cards, but still offer more functionality, than say a TV with a cable card slot. There is a discussion over on the AVS Forum about this, you can chack it out here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858759 |
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