Charter Cable TV..forcing me to switch to Digital Cable... charging for Digital boxes

[dan330]

i am currently using Charter basic cable TV. in conjunction with their cable broadband internet service too.

but they are now forcing me to change to digital cable tv.
and making me use their Digital DVR cable boxes.. 1 for each TV in the house (4).
they will let me use the boxes for free, for 1 yr.. then charge me $5 each per month.

Questions:
1) is there a way/solution around using their Digital/DVR boxes?
2) do new TVs have Digital decoders built-in?
3) can i use some media server to send TV signal to the 4 TVs?
4) what other solutions do you guys use?

thanks

 

[Mayhem]

Questions:
1) is there a way/solution around using their Digital/DVR boxes?
2) do new TVs have Digital decoders built-in?
3) can i use some media server to send TV signal to the 4 TVs?
4) what other solutions do you guys use?

thanks

1) If they're like TWC, you can use a 'cable card' (for a fee) that allows a 3rd-party box on their network. I've never used these, so I have no info beyond that.

2) Not that I'm aware of. You'd be able to get the "regular" channels simply by connecting the coax from the wall to your TV but anything digital requires a box or card.

3) Someone else will have to answer this.

4) I use TWC and have the lowest available tier for digital cable and internet, so..

 

[n0tall0wed]

If you mean HD TVs then yes most have a digital tuner built in. As long as it isn't a pay channel it should work. I have Cox cable and my 2 year old HDTV works fine. You can also get a digital converter box online.

 

[dan330]

If you mean HD TVs then yes most have a digital tuner built in. As long as it isn't a pay channel it should work. I have Cox cable and my 2 year old HDTV works fine. You can also get a digital converter box online.

how does the HDTV know the difference between analog cable signal and digital cable signal?
what setting or switch would I be looking for?

 

[MoodyBlues]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I'm confused about something it's talking about. I thought all TV channels were now broadcast digitally. Aren't they? And aren't all newer TVs supposed to be able to show them, I mean over-the-air?

 

[dan330]

MoodyBlues.. (i think)
over the air.. is now digital... which is free public TV

but i was using cable.. which was private paid for service.
it was analog. they are pushing clients to digital.. to free up more bandwidth.

i was just thinking that cable service might put something in the digital signal to encrypt it, so that only their decoders can work.

maybe the new HDTV decoders can read the digital signals.. without the cable boxes.

 

[MoodyBlues]

MoodyBlues.. (i think)
over the air.. is now digital... which is free public TV

That's what I thought.

but i was using cable.. which was private paid for service.
it was analog. they are pushing clients to digital.. to free up more bandwidth.

Interesting. See, I've had DirecTV forever, and when the switch to digital [for over-the-air TV] happened, I didn't have to do a thing. My DirecTV stayed as it was, nothing additional was needed, nothing changed, there were no additional charges or equipment, etc. I didn't know it was different for cable subscribers.

 

[saptech]

i am currently using Charter basic cable TV. in conjunction with their cable broadband internet service too.

but they are now forcing me to change to digital cable tv.
and making me use their Digital DVR cable boxes.. 1 for each TV in the house (4).
they will let me use the boxes for free, for 1 yr.. then charge me $5 each per month.

Questions:
1) is there a way/solution around using their Digital/DVR boxes?
2) do new TVs have Digital decoders built-in?
3) can i use some media server to send TV signal to the 4 TVs?
4) what other solutions do you guys use?

thanks

If you were using anolog all this time, you probably wasn't getting all the channels Charter offer. Did you noticed some channels missing?

Well, you shouldn't really need the digital DVR boxes but some type of converter box, even with an HDTV. Without their converter box, you will not get all channels. You may not need a converter box with a HDTV, since it's only basic channels. I'm not certain on this.

@ Moody, even with an HDTV, which will let you view OTA channels without a converter box, you will still need an OTA antenna.

 

[dan330]

That's what I thought.


Interesting. See, I've had DirecTV forever, and when the switch to digital [for over-the-air TV] happened, I didn't have to do a thing. My DirecTV stayed as it was, nothing additional was needed, nothing changed, there were no additional charges or equipment, etc. I didn't know it was different for cable subscribers.

using DirectTV service.. it was not affected because private services (paid for service) did not change. so how you used it.. was still the same.

Over-the-air was analog. but changed to Digital.. to free up bandwidth on frequencies. so old TVs that did not know how to read digital.. needed a box to convert the new Digital signal back to analog.



i am going to try to see if the new HDTV (8 months old LG set) can still decode the digital signal over the coaxial cable. try it this weekend.
i am a little pessimistic about it.. because Charter required us to call them to setup each box.. with some security.

 

[saptech]

I found this in part from Charter.

In order to receive all Basic and Expanded Basic channels, customers have to use some form of digital equipment, such as a digital TV with QAM tuner, a CableCard or a Charter digital receiver."

I also have an HDTV and have basic & expanded basic, I assume these are now all digital, and HD channels. I did get a Charter receiver. The receiver will let me have access to On-Demand, PPV and some extra stuff. No extra charges unless I order the PPV or pay for On-Demand movies.

 

[n0tall0wed]

When you search for channels the TV should look for both or give you an option to choose digital