Purchase an HDTV decoder?

[onewhippedpuppy]

I ***** hate Cox Cable. I have a 6-mo old Toshiba LCD TV with a built-in HD tuner. I can watch the "over the air" HD programming, which in my area is the major networks. Cox markets that they offer "free HDTV". Of course, in order to receive this "free" service, you have to rent a decoder box for $9.99/mo. Free = $9.99?! This is NOT a tuner, it is a decoder. Cox encrypts their HD channels, the box simply descrables them. So the channels are already there (free), but you have to pay to actually watch them.

When I called their service line, they initially tried to play it off like my TV required the box to view HD. I called their bluff, and they finally came out with the truth that they scramble the stations. So, is there any way I can purchase this decoder box? $9.99 a month isn't that much, but their marketing BS just chaps my ass. Paying for something free.......... My motivation? It's almost college football season.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

i'll be driving my car listening to the game on the radio.

[rammstein]

Yours free for only $9.99/mo.

Its probably not a charge, but a (drumroll please) "surcharge".

Definition of Surcharge:
Surcharges are a way to charge somebody money for something on top of whatever you said it would originally cost. Also known as pound-me-in-the-ass charges, they are popular with wireless phone companies, utilities, cable companies, and especially rental car companies.

[lendaddy]

Why not hookup an aerial antennae? They just installed mine today (just in time for football season!!!)

I've had one for over a year but the tree that took out my garage got the antennae.


My cable bill is $13 a month

[Heel n Toe]

It might be time to check out satellite TV.

[einreb]

Samsung DTB-H260F Digital HDTV Receiver

You want an 'over the air' receiver/tuner. You will also likely need an antenna of some sort.

[Mule]

Dish is now 1080p.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Maybe I wasn't clear. The HD signal is there in my existing cable signal, it's just scrambled. Their $9.99/mo BS box is just a descrambler for the HD channels. Via the TV's internal antenna, I already get over the air FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS in HD. Unfortunately, ESPNHD isn't free over the air. I already have the receiver built into the TV.

John, no thanks for the satellite. I don't care to get a seperate box for each TV. They screw you too, just in new ways.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Go to your local bar. Order a beer and some lunch. Watch the game on THEIR overpriced HDTV service and enjoy your food.

That's pretty much how I do it.

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Go to your local bar. Order a beer and some lunch. Watch the game on THEIR overpriced HDTV service and enjoy your food.

That's pretty much how I do it.

Brilliant!

[sammyg2]

I used to have cable. They tried once too often to fanagle money from me so I told them to pack sand.
i switched to dish network and have been very happy with them.
But .... in the next day or two I'll be calling them to get HD for my new plasma TV. I wonder how much that's gonna cost?

[peppy]

Thanks for reminding me to order my coupons for the decoders.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Go to your local bar. Order a beer and some lunch. Watch the game on THEIR overpriced HDTV service and enjoy your food.

That's pretty much how I do it.

My beer isn't $5, and my sandwiches aren't $7. Otherwise, I like the plan.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

My beer isn't $5, and my sandwiches aren't $7. Otherwise, I like the plan.

So you 'saved' the monthly $9.99 fee in 1 day.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Dammit, it's the principle! The SOBs charge me for something they market as free, it's not right.

[sammyg2]

Uh, you might be gettin off easy. I just checked with sish network. $5.99 a month just to view local channels in HD, plus extra rental for HD reciever, plus extra to see other channels I already get in HD instead of regular, I don't think so.
I already pay $50 a month for DN with 4 tvs in 4 rooms, I'm too cheap to coff up another $40 a month to see one of those tvs with a little more definition.

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I ***** hate Cox Cable. I have a 6-mo old Toshiba LCD TV with a built-in HD tuner. I can watch the "over the air" HD programming, which in my area is the major networks. Cox markets that they offer "free HDTV". Of course, in order to receive this "free" service, you have to rent a decoder box for $9.99/mo. Free = $9.99?! This is NOT a tuner, it is a decoder. Cox encrypts their HD channels, the box simply descrables them. So the channels are already there (free), but you have to pay to actually watch them.

When I called their service line, they initially tried to play it off like my TV required the box to view HD. I called their bluff, and they finally came out with the truth that they scramble the stations. So, is there any way I can purchase this decoder box? $9.99 a month isn't that much, but their marketing BS just chaps my ass. Paying for something free.......... My motivation? It's almost college football season.

I know nothing about Cox cable but...

Does your TV have a QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation - cable signal) decoder or just the 8 level vestigial sideband decoder (off the air signal)?

Some markets cable just includes the QAM signal in the normal service. Others, like mine, you need to descramble it.

If it is just QAM and your tv doesn't accept that signal the tuner above will probably do it.



Wait till February and the general public figures out what a crap system the FCC mandated for broadcast tv.

[onewhippedpuppy]

It has a built in ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital tuner. As I said before, I have no problem picking up the over-air stations in HD, it's just the scrambled cable ones I can't see.