cable: uh oh

[forgotten_aria]

So recently RCN in somerville decided to abandon any of their customers that didn't want to have cablebox.

I just saw a comcast ad, talking about the dtv change over that said, "you're find if you're a comcast customer and your TVs are connected to a cable box." Does that mean they're planning on forcing people to have boxes too? My concern is that this will likely make my replay DVR unhappy and my little TV which I use often. Anyone have any real information?

Comments

[gorgo.livejournal.com]

Isn't the "you're fine if you're a Comcast customer and your TVs are connected to a cable box" line about the transition to digital broadcast in February? My assumption/understanding is that what they're saying here is that their cable boxes can do the digital->analog translation, so it's ok if you have an analog TV hooked up to your cable box. If you just use a "cable-ready" TV that connects directly to the cable line from the wall, then Comcast can't make any guarantees, as they don't know whether your TV can parse digital cable.

I think what you really need to know here is whether your Replay can handle digital cable input directly, which I don't know the answer to. I have one of the newer TiVos that takes the CableCards, and it works fine with digital cable, but my thought is that you'd be better off checking with Replay about this.

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that you can get a replay IR blaster to make it change the channels for you if Comcast forces you to get a box.

Honestly, when we get to that point we'll probably spring for a HD PVR which understands the digital signal.

[gorgo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Replay IR blaster (basically a little IR lamp with a sticky pad to let you glue it over the remote sensor on your cable box) works pretty well. I used one for years in Champaign, and the only problems were that the sticky pad didn't stay so sticky after a few moves and pack/unpack cycle and that having your Replay downstream of the cable box means you can't record one channel and watch another one live.

I switched to the TiVo when I moved because I got an HDTV, and it works great with the CableCards. I find the better interface of the TiVo worth it as compared to the DVR in the set-top box I originally had, and the CableCards make the whole thing seamless.