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  1. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    Where I live, (SoCal), I have Cox cable, i-net, phone, & tv. TV I watch very little of. (imo a wasteland, I view news & some PBS)

    They are going "all digital tv" up to two small boxes, (free for 2 years), one needed for each tv. I get now a bunch of analog which I dont watch, and several dozen hi-def channels, (actually more than I'm supposed to get, but I dont watch 'em anyway), I watch 7 different, total. Cox is very evasive with answers about this. Am I gonna really need this box to continue viewing? Will these things be buyable or buyable now? I see this as an excuse to rai$e rate$ in the future.

    Thoughts? Opinions?

    -corne-
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  2. A Member since June, 2004 Keyser's Avatar
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    I don't know exactly how it is in your case, but my TV service provides a great amount of digital channels (HD and SD) plus a smaller number of analog channels. To watch the analog channels there's no need for a box, we can plug the TV RF input directly to the cable. However to watch the digital channels the box is mandatory.
    "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
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    Originally Posted by cornemuse View Post
    Where I live, (SoCal), I have Cox cable, i-net, phone, & tv. TV I watch very little of. (imo a wasteland, I view news & some PBS)

    They are going "all digital tv" up to two small boxes, (free for 2 years), one needed for each tv. I get now a bunch of analog which I dont watch, and several dozen hi-def channels, (actually more than I'm supposed to get, but I dont watch 'em anyway), I watch 7 different, total. Cox is very evasive with answers about this. Am I gonna really need this box to continue viewing? Will these things be buyable or buyable now? I see this as an excuse to rai$e rate$ in the future.

    Thoughts? Opinions?

    -corne-
    Probably you will need the boxes. The FCC now allows all digital channels to be encrypted, including local broadcasters, which cablecos were formerly required to supply unencrypted. Since Cox is eliminating analog service, they are likely to encrypt all digital channels currently supplied without encryption.

    No, you cannot buy the converter boxes they want you to use. You can only rent them.
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  4. If you're in a populous area, why not just get a nice Hi-Def antenna for your PBS and news?

    Or a Roku box which has a PBS channel and a ton of news channels and a whole bunch more.
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  5. Originally Posted by manono View Post
    If you're in a populous area, why not just get a nice Hi-Def antenna for your PBS and news?

    Or a Roku box which has a PBS channel and a ton of news channels and a whole bunch more.
    Yeah, I dropped cable TV 2 (or was it 3?) years ago and don't miss it.
    I saved over $70 bucks a month by dropping the cable TV from Comcast.
    I wonder what the breakdown is with Cox. Dropping cable may save a good bit of money.

    The OP may not need a large antenna for local news and PBS in his location.
    I have a smallish $40 omni directional in the attic that gets all the stations in range of me.
    And having cable internet already, streaming (via Roku or other) is something for the OP to consider.
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    Originally Posted by fritzi93 View Post
    Yeah, I dropped cable TV 2 (or was it 3?) years ago and don't miss it.
    I saved over $70 bucks a month by dropping the cable TV from Comcast.
    I wonder what the breakdown is with Cox. Dropping cable may save a good bit of money.
    It is best to check on pricing/bundles before making changes. Having only Internet service can raise the cost significantly. The other thing to think about is that cable companies are starting to bring back data caps. For example, Comcast already has them again in some markets and is likely to have them everywhere before too long.
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  7. Originally Posted by cornemuse View Post
    They are going "all digital tv" up to two small boxes, (free for 2 years), one needed for each tv. I get now a bunch of analog which I dont watch, and several dozen hi-def channels, (actually more than I'm supposed to get, but I dont watch 'em anyway), I watch 7 different, total. Cox is very evasive with answers about this. Am I gonna really need this box to continue viewing?
    I got a new "mini box" from Cox a few days ago. I haven't done a thorough channel by channel comparison but I think it's just a clear QAM tuner. So you may still be able to watch the digital channels you're currently getting. But since they're free for a while you should get the boxes in case you need them.
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  8. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    I have the very basic tv service: (cox san diego north) analog + hi-def. with limited channels. I do not need or have a tv box (as of yet). A box is needed for 'digital' channels. ie analog = ch 10 - hi-def = 1010 - digi = (I think) 9010, only need box for digi. I have a box for phone & i-net just 'tee'ed' off from tv cable. This new box will 'effectively' raise the basic rate (in rental fee$) without actually raising that rate.

    A new scam!

    -c-
    Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, Can you repeat the question?
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  9. Since you are able to tune HD channels now you have a clear QAM tuner in your TV (or whatever you're using). If the mini box is just a clear QAM tuner you will still be able to use your TV's tuner. If the minibox has the ability to decrypt and Cox goes all encrypted (which they are now allowed to do) you will need the minibox. Or the full cable box or DVR.

    Of course, eliminating all the analog channels frees up a lot of bandwidth for new digital channels. But yes, it's just another money grab.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    I got a new "mini box" from Cox a few days ago. I haven't done a thorough channel by channel comparison but I think it's just a clear QAM tuner. So you may still be able to watch the digital channels you're currently getting. But since they're free for a while you should get the boxes in case you need them.
    Good advice. Even if Cox still has some unencrypted digital channels, that situation may not continue indefinitely.

    If cornemuse has Cox's Economy service, he may loose access to all his digital HD channels, at least that was my experience with Comcast. Once all channels were encrypted it was necessary to pay extra to have access to any HD channels (even locals) as well as pay for more boxes.
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  11. Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    If cornemuse has Cox's Economy service, he may loose access to all his digital HD channels, at least that was my experience with Comcast. Once all channels were encrypted it was necessary to pay extra to have access to any HD channels (even locals) as well as pay for more boxes.
    I had the same experience with Charter. They're anxious to drop the analog channels because they use 6 MHz each no matter what. With QAM they can put a couple of HD channels or a bunch of SD channels (or a hundred audio channels) in the same RF spectrum. I can't really blame them from an engineering perspective. But as usual it is an opportunity for the cable company to cash in.

    The good news is that it's cheaper than ever to switch to HD.
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  12. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    thanx for responses, I'll get 'em and see if tv works w/o them later.

    -c-
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    I'm in south Orange County, Cox just completed going all digital here last week. They announced it a few months earlier, dropped around 5 analog channels the next month or so, then dropped all the analog non-broadcast channels the month after that, then last week dropped all the remaining analog channels and clear QAM. A box or a cable card device is required now. I would expect they have the same plan for your area.
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  14. Member Krispy Kritter's Avatar
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    Yes, you will need a box for each TV.

    Charter went through this as well. Everything went all digital and encrypted. ALL channels need a box to tune.
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  15. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    I went ahead & got the boxes (free for two years). Never connected them, waited to see what would happen first. As it turns out, for local programming, the boxes are not necessary. (all I get, anyway)

    Couple days ago my tv (6 or 7 or 8 year old Olevia 42") stopped showing the hi-def local stuff, my bedroom tv (year old Samsung) still works just fine. (both show the 480 analog channels) Anyway, as the Olevia picture image is still unbeatable, for me anyway, I hooked up the box 2 nites ago. It works ok, CC is only improvement over the Olevia.
    And, a lot cheaper than a new tv!

    I am getting quite a collection of dvds, various regions, pal/ntsc. The Olevia, paired with my (also old) Argosy media player works most excellently with pal, Argosy outputs pal selectively, & Olevia inputs pal selectively. Dont know if I even need to change in/out's, too simple to change, dont even think about it.

    Anyway, thought I'd pass this along, , , ,

    -c-
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  16. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    Couple days ago, (7th), cOX went full digi, my new(er) Samsung tv now needs the box to view local programming.

    -c-
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  17. Originally Posted by cornemuse View Post
    Couple days ago, (7th), cOX went full digi, my new(er) Samsung tv now needs the box to view local programming.
    Same here as of a week or two ago.
    Last edited by jagabo; 10th Apr 2016 at 12:18.
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