Owning Your Own HD Box?

[K10]

i rent the scientific atlanta explorer 4250HDC box from TWC at $7.65/month.  wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to buy my own box and remote?

do any of you do that?

[kevbeck122]

That's something you really can't do.  Anything you find on ebay might be stolen, and even if it wasn't, cable operators probably won't let you use it on their system.  The only way around it is to buy a Tivo Series3 or Tivo HD and use cablecard, which costs $2.50 a month per card (so $5 a month).  Otherwise there are computers that you can buy with cablecard tuners.

[Bebop]

There is also a monthly fee Tivo charges for their guide information.

[kevbeck122]

Ah yes.. forgot about that.  So add another $8 - $17 a month for their service depending on length of contract.  You're pretty much better off getting an HD-DVR through TWC.

[K10]

hi kevbeck122,

does it cost more to rent an HD-DVR box compared to a plain ol' HD box?

it sounds like owning your own box is out of the question unless i go the tivo route, which won't give me any cost savings.

[kevbeck122]

The price of the HD-DVR box is the same ($7.95 for box and remote rental), but the HD-DVR service is an extra $7.95 a month.  When we upgraded to the DVR service earlier this summer, we got it free for a year... they might still have that promotion.