Cable service

Mr. Wizard,

I believe you are correct. I want to record something and watch it later, not while watching it. That means that I have to have time delayed recording and the DVR would have to have a the capability of translating the encrypted signal.

I think that I am trapped with Charter rented equipment, which is their purpose with all this.

sdianel,

I was wondering about having to use a cable box at an RV park. It looks like that is in our future.

Thank you, everyone, for your responses.

We stayed at an RV park that had digital cable. They gave us a box but we couldn't use it due to the configuration in our RV. No place to connect it. Wouldn't work connected to the outside cable input. No statellite outside input on our RV as our Satellite is a dome. Sure hope all the RV parks don't change to that. We have analog TV's with Winegard digital boxes on each TV for over air digital signals.

does your DVR have 'component' input
if their box has component output available, i suspect component input will record the signal

anything going to your TV from the box has to be Decrypted

how ever, HDMI usually has HTCP which means it will not record without an HTCP stripper box between the source and the recorder

as HDMI ports have HTCP signal recognition built in, freakin DRM (digital right management)

and yes you will to use their box to watch TV, you can place the DVR between the box and the TV if it has 'pass thru' so you can watch while recording
but you will be using 'component' cables not RF, not HDMI and NOT A/V

i suspect the RF and A/V will be std 4:3 SD signals

component carries 3 signals for video and requires 'separate' wiring for the audio

as for being required by the FCC to encrypt, i think that 'HOOEY',

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Time Warner Cable is also going all digital, requiring a set top box. But in my home base area, for the next several months they're offering free converter boxes for existing TV's, VCR's, DVR's, etc. that are connected directly to cable without a full service set top box or combo DVR.

yup. that's what my Comcast franchise did.

Time Warner Cable is also going all digital, requiring a set top box. But in my home base area, for the next several months they're offering free converter boxes for existing TV's, VCR's, DVR's, etc. that are connected directly to cable without a full service set top box or combo DVR.

You can likely keep your internet with them. That is what we did (Comcast though) when we dumped cable tv. We have DirectTV for tv and Comcast for internet. In fact, when we signed up for DirectTV, the sales guy even said not to get rid of Comcast for internet. Cut our bill almost in half. Even when it goes to the regular price, it will still be about $40 less per month than we were paying.

wgriswold wrote:
Does that mean my digital tv will no longer be able to search and find useable stations?

Gosh, while you were on the phone with them, why didn't you just ask them?

wgriswold wrote:
Yesterday I had my yearly negotiating session with Charter for my TV and Internet service to reduce the charge from the stratosphere to the merely outrageous. While I was there they said they were going to all digital and each tv will require their box as the signal will be encrypted.

Does that mean my digital tv will no longer be able to search and find useable stations? I have the Charter box but don't use it because I don't like it. It only shows two channels at a time when I want to choose a channel and that is very slow because they have hundreds; mostly shopping and spanish languge. The favorites function is also restricted to two channels and the majority of the screen is taken up with an advertisement.

I suspect that also means that my DVR will not work since its tuner will not be able to decode the signal. Is that right?

They said that this is all required by the FCC but I suspect that it is to force me to rent three boxes and a Charter DVR for a total of $35 or so per month forever.

To relate this to RVing; how to campgrounds handle this? Do they decode the signal before sending it to their customers? Will my digital tv continue to work in RV parks?

the same legislation that *required* the broadcast stations to switch to digital from analog also *permitted* the cable companies to dump analog cable and switch to digital service. digital cable and digital over-the-air (OTA) are two different things. your digital TV will still be able to search for OTA stations when connected to an OTA antenna but you will now need a charter box to view any cable station. btw, the same legislation also *permitted* the cable companies to require some sort of set-top decoding box for each TV AND also *permits* the cable companies to *require* digital TVs.

you report that you have but don't use a charter box because you're only getting two cable stations. that sounds right. we have Comcast and up to about 3-years ago I did not need a Comcast box to view basic and expanded basic cable. but then Comcast slowly but surely starting encrypting those channels until all that was left was the OTA network stations, PBS and maybe C-SPAN. about that time we were notified that we had to have set-top decoders for all TVs. Comcast gave us the first two free and charges $3 p/m for the others.

if you're RV is stationary you should be able to connect both your OTA antenna and cable box to a video switch and, using that and the TV's internal source function, switch back and forth between cable and OTA. or as has been suggested dump charter and go with satellite. if you're mobile having a charter subscription and box will do you no good beyond your local franchise.

gemsworld wrote:
You can still get internet from Charter and satellite TV from Direct or Dish. I live in an area served by Charter and many people only subscribe to the internet service. I use Dish for TV and Verizon DSL for internet.

BTW, I believe Direct and Dish offer third party internet service.

That might be the answer. I get promotions from Dish and Direct TV all the time. The last time the ad was for $29 and when I got the channels I wanted it went to $89. No premium channels. Maybe I should try again. Right now my total for Internet and TV is $85, not so bad. I just hate their cable box and want to use my DVR.

You can still get internet from Charter and satellite TV from Direct or Dish. I live in an area served by Charter and many people only subscribe to the internet service. I use Dish for TV and Verizon DSL for internet.

BTW, I believe Direct and Dish offer third party internet service.