Options w/o renting another TWC box

[Onanboy]

I probably have not looked into this enough but I thought I would throw this out to the knowledgeable people here at HDTV-Milwaukee.

I have cable from TWC and on my one HDTV I have their SA cable box.  I have one of their digital packages that includes most digital channels that are not movie channel packages.   I would like to get more than basic (channels 2-99) on some of my other TVs that don't currently have boxes but I don't want to rent anything from TWC.

What are my options? I am interested in HD and non-HD solutions.

[klwillis45]

You need a box or cablecard.

Even if your TV has a QAM tuner, only the locals & their subchannels are unencrypted.

[Onanboy]

Interesting.

Do I have to get the box from TWC?  

For some reason I thought that Tivo boxes were an alternative.

[klwillis45]

You can use TIVO but I believe that requires renting cable card(s) and/or tuning adapters from TWC.

I don't own a TIVO, so I don't know all the details. There are a few TIVO users on here who should be able to clear things up.

[Tivoman44]

Tivo is an alternative to the TWC box.  I do not know prices off the top of my head, Tivo runs specials every now and then with there equipment, usually teh subscription is what is costly, which personally i paid about 300 for the lifetime subscription.  

As the others said you will need some sort of box to get something other than Ch 2 through 99.  If you want digital cable with Tivo, you need the cable card(s).  I paid 2 something a month for an M card, and for a month I had 2 S cards, around 6 bucks.  They provide at least one tuning adaptor for free, not sure if you have multiple tivos.  

Some TVs have cable card slots themselves, although I think most now a days do not.  A tuning adaptor as far as I am aware will not work with just a TV and a cable card, it is only for a Tivo box.  

Having the Card with the TA on a tivo is almost exactly the same as having a TWC box.  On demand will NOT work with a card and there is no caller ID on the TV if you have digital phone.  

I can't remember my exact numbers, but in the 10 months (feb 09 to jan 10) of having digital cable and paying for the cable cards, I pretty much broke even in what i spent to buy the tivo box and lifetime subscription, and what I saved from not paying for the box, DVR service and remote control.  Had I kept cable i would have come out ahead, but i had to cancel it for other reasons to save money.  

Personally I would go with Tivo.  You can stream Blockbuster, Netflix and Amazon video right to it.  I read in the paper today that Netflix is adding more things via streaming (paramount, MGM and one other company).  So far Tivo does NOT have hulu, but for all we know that could change.  

If you do get it, you may run into it, possibly monthly where you have to call customer service Tier 3 to have them reset your tuning adaptor, but they are good with that and i have never had to wait that long on hold.  

Keep us posted as to what you may do.

[kevbeck122]

Moxi is an alternative to Tivo and there is no monthly fee, unlike Tivo.  The upfront cost is high though: http://moxi.com/us/home.html.

You can also use a PC:
http://www.cetoncorp.com/products.php
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/

If your TV has a cablecard slot, it will only work with a few channels (mainly locals) because of SDV; the tuning adapter isn't compatible with the cablecard TVs.

[Onanboy]

Thank you very much klwillis45, Tivoman44, and kevbeck122.

Your information is top notch and greatly appreciated.  I learned more in a few posts then I would have from hours of web searches.

Though the list posting has slowed down as of late, the quality is very high!

Thanks,
Paul in Racine

[Tivoman44]

Your welcome.  Ask away.  If you go back and read, i have posted tons of questions here.  My most recent is the planning of adding a second tivo, just making sure I understand exactly how they work together.  

I have always found message boards here the most helpful.  I have bought many new products and am the 1% of the population that reads the owners manual but even then I don't get it half the time.  It is easier to post a question here rather than try and understand the instructions (that's if you can even find the English version).

[cnjbucks]

I have a question that has a little to do with this.

I am a TW customer, have a Samsung DVR and a Scientific Atlanta DVR, as well as RR.

In my office, I am thinking about putting in a TV tuner into my PC so that I can use it for a TV while on the PC or working out.  If I buy a TV tuner card, are there any recommendations from anyone of what to use?  Initially, I won't be using it for recording, just watching TV.

Once I have the card, do I have to put a splitter on the cable feed into this room?  This is the same room where my cable modem is, so I am assuming a splitter would work for this.  

Thoughts/reccomendations?

[Tivoman44]

I have a view sonic TV tuner.  I cannot remember exactly how much it cost.  Basically you would hook the TV tuner by taking the cable going from your monitor to the tower and instead hooking that into your tuner, then the cable that comes with it and hooking it to the tuner to the PC.  

Yes having TWC and RR, you should be able to use a two way splitter and hook the coax into the back of the Tuner.   It should come with a remote and you would program the tuner with the remote just like you would a TV to find the channels.  Also an audio cable would be hooked up from the Tuner to the speakers.  There would be an input button that would toggle you from the TV to windows.  With that hook up the computer wouldn't even have to be on.

[Tivoman44]

http://www.amazon.com/External-Standalone-LCD-TV-Tuner/dp/B000XY6N5Y/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282087742&sr=8-4

This might be a good one and seemed fairly cheep.  Basically like i described hook up the tuner to the tower and the speakers.   Then the coax from either cable or an antenna.  I think you said you have TWC so that should be fine, but if you do go OTA, this may need a converter box.