The one major thing keeping me from going digital

[Dillydipper]

Control. Channel 3. The damned box.

For years, I have resisted the pull of HBO and other services, because I get enough teevee to watch from basic expanded cable, WITHOUT the box. All I do is split the signal into the set, the VCR and the Replay. I can use any tuner I own, I can watch what I want when I'm recording something else, and I can time-shift any primetime recordings without slogging through comercial breaks.

Having the box represents to me, a tacit agreement that I'm no longer in charge: THEY tell me how many signals I deserve to have, they get feedback information about my viewing habits (yeah, I know the Replay unit is doing the same thing, but I could just as easily be using a 2nd VCR...which I often actually do), and their crappy box/tuner/remotes get in the way of me being able to use my choice of better tuners/remotes/receiving equipment. Once the box is in the chain, the only thing I can have is whatever's being pumped out of Channel 3 on the box, and if I want anymore, I have to pay them for the privilege.

[Evan L]

Yeah, but once tv goes digital, on February 18th, 2009, you are most likely going to need a digital receiver.

Evan

[Rachael Bee]

If you wanna keep your stuff as simple as possible in the future, you should start planning how to get there. I got over-the-air tuners for all my TV's, analog and digital. I got D-VHS so I could make tapes from broadcasts or off my DirecTivo. That's about as simple as it's gonna be.

Cable companies are refusing to suppourt the Quam tuners for HDTV's that could give you the one cable thang that you want. The cable companies got other ideas and now want to reneg on Quam. I follow a thread about local TV for Knoxville on AVS Forum. The folks with Crumcast... :p have constant problems with Quam. When they call Crumcast, they're told, oh, you need to rent our box for muy dinero gringo.

Some kind of box is in your future, c'est la vie.

[mcow1]

That's the main reason I haven't gone digital cable, too. I don't want a box on there and I don't want to have to pay for extra boxes. I have four TVs set up for cable and at 5 - 10 bucks extra per month per box it's just too much. Besides with a couple of these TVs there's just no place I could put a box.

[Derek Gee]

Yeah, but once tv goes digital, on February 18th, 2009, you are most likely going to need a digital receiver.

Evan

Not likely, unless his cable provider removes all of their analog signals from their coax. I've seen nothing indicating any cable company is planning on doing that.

Derek

[Rachael Bee]

That's the main reason I haven't gone digital cable, too. I don't want a box on there and I don't want to have to pay for extra boxes. I have four TVs set up for cable and at 5 - 10 bucks extra per month per box it's just too much. Besides with a couple of these TVs there's just no place I could put a box.

You could distribute digital OTA all over the house like you do cable now. That's what I do. I have Direc on just 2 of my 4 TV's. That much you can do....

[Shakey]

I dislike the box too. Our building has contracted one provider for all. They came in and gave us the digital box, but I think it outputs analog. I took the cable and went direct to my TV with a Quam digital tuner and set it to scan an it found a lot of digital channels on the cable without the box.
I haven't taken the time to see if most are scambled as the provider charges extra for HD.
I can get one station OTA, WBBM, it does look good.
Again I agree, screw the box.

[ATR]

I hated the box. Used to stay up night and day watching TV to make sure that no cable weasel installed a box in my system which would make the tuner I paid good money for in the TV superfluous. Fell asleep one night, and when I woke up in the morning there was a Motorola box with a DVR inside. I loved it. Went outside that day and found a strange, human sized corn husk in the backyard. It was gone the next day.

[Chip Z]

We have 3 HDTVs and 2 SDTVs. No boxes for the non-HD televisions. I don't miss the extra digital channels I don't receive or on demand on the regular TVs but I REALLY miss the digital programming guide to tell you what's on or what is coming up.

[Dillydipper]

That's what the ReplayTV brings me I wouldn't have gotten otherwise (the TV Guide Channel? Gimme a freakin' break...)!

[Grant]

I have expanded cable, and it works for me. But, man, the choices one has with "the box"! We're talking more than 800 channels of ****!

[SamS]

Too bad you feel that way.

An HDTV Digital Video Recorder is about the most amazing piece of electronics in my house. Better than HD DVD, better than Blu-ray, better than the iPod (!)

To watch TV/HDTV when I want is truly an amazing feat. No rushing home to catch the news. No worrying about where I'll be when my favorite show's on. It's pretty much like I have access to virtually every channel in America, and can watch the show whenever I want.

Just tonight, a friend called when I was watching a program. Not wanting to miss his call, I simply hit Pause, and chatted for 20 minutes. Afterwards, I simply hit Play and finished the progam, happily skipping over commercials with a single button push. How can anybody NOT want that experience?? :confused:

[Dillydipper]

Like I said, I already have that ability with my Replay DVR (just not in hi-def).

What I don't want to lose, is the flexibility to have all signals feeding all the tuners in my home I've already paid for (two TV's, 2 VCR's, 1 DVR).

What you're describing as being the best thing since sliced bread, Sam, looks to me to be merely the HD version OF sliced bread.

[RadioClash]

I blew up my television 15 years ago, and then discovered there was a world going on.

[Shakey]

I blew up my television 15 years ago, and then discovered there was a world going on.

Elvis?

I by-passed my box last night and let the TV search the cable for available digital channels. Came up with something like 200, lots of duplicates varying with definition and some music channels.
What a pain in the arse, I am not finished sorting it out, but OTA WBBM Looks better than WBBM over the cable, same def (1080i).

I am inclined to install an outdoor antenna and get my hi-def that way. That would also save me the trouble of having to re-learn what channel goes with what.

[Downsampled]

We have 3 HDTVs and 2 SDTVs. No boxes for the non-HD televisions. I don't miss the extra digital channels I don't receive or on demand on the regular TVs but I REALLY miss the digital programming guide to tell you what's on or what is coming up.

What really kills me about the cable box is the bad design. It looks terrible (physically), and then the menus are all weird -- Comcast now puts advertisements in there, so I have to click through them as I scan the channel matrix. Infuriating.

And the remote for the box is icky too. I have a universal remote, but there are just too many "special buttons" on the Comcast remote, so I have to keep it around and use it occasionally.

I will say, though, that we get only the basic, local channels, and by today's standards it's reasonably priced. (We switched from DirecTV to Comcast recently and went from $40 to $25 for pretty much the same thing -- getting HD on top of that. Of course I think our monthly fee has already gone up three or four dollars this year. :( )

[Rachael Bee]

I am inclined to install an outdoor antenna and get my hi-def that way. That would also save me the trouble of having to re-learn what channel goes with what.

That's what I did. No regrets! I'm not ever gonna buy the local channels from any service provider again. I have D-VHS 1080i recording for all my locals. It's kind'a like the old days in that respect....I have a bloody tape deck. Except now, I actually like VHS-Dee alot unlike my Laserdisc past.

OTA is back, as far as I'm concerned. It's easier to pick up than the old system too. It never goes out because of rain-fade or because the phone lines are damaged. It's free......