Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, You need to spend the $10/month for the cable box to get basic cable. Comcast also has a digital convertor which will give you around six useless channels.
Yes Comcast said that I could get a digital adapter for $1.99/mo but that it would only give me local channels (Approx. 20 channels). The regular cable box is $9.99/mo.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,863,068 times
Reputation: 5229
Quote:
Originally Posted by brrrinmass
I guess I should have mentioned that this new tv would be an addition to what I already was using. I had 2 TV's with 2 cable boxes and was adding a third set. I just thought with new sets you wouldn't need a cable box for basic cable. Thanks for all the replies.
OK, so now you have 3 TV sets.
Do you watch all 3 at the same time ?
If not, use one of the boxes on your new TV ?
Did you ever have a regular antenna on your roof ?
If yes, Is it still there ?
If yes, use that on your new TV, and you can get all the local channels on your new TV.
I guess I should have mentioned that this new tv would be an addition to what I already was using. I had 2 TV's with 2 cable boxes and was adding a third set. I just thought with new sets you wouldn't need a cable box for basic cable. Thanks for all the replies.
If you want the 3rd TV to access the same channels as the other two TVs then you'll need a cable box.
Yes Comcast said that I could get a digital adapter for $1.99/mo but that it would only give me local channels (Approx. 20 channels). The regular cable box is $9.99/mo.
I know it's different in all markets (I live in South NJ near Philadelphia), but I do believe that the DTA's allow access to "bascic cable" if you have a regular cable package. I used to have a DTA hooked up in my son's room (before we got AnyRoom DVR service) and he got all of the basic channels, plus most of the "regular" cable channels like AMC, MTV, HGTV, A&E, Disney, Nick, etc. There was no HD, no HBO, no OnDemand, etc. but it was definitely more than the basic local channels. FWIW, I have the highest tier service you can get, but I was told as long as you had better than "local only basic" you would get the regular cable channels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pruzhany
Originally with Comcast the digital adapter was free to get the few channels.
It was free originally and they even mailed out adapters to people. I turned one of mine in when we upgraded to AnyRoom DVR, but kept one around just in case. Lo and behold they started charging me for it. It took me around 10 months to catch it on my bill (I just didn't notice the couple dollars), but to Comcasts credit, they gave me a full refund for the entire charge as I had never activated the box.
Quote:
Originally Posted by d4g4m
It looks like the only TV reception you can get these days without paying for a box is OTA signals.
Comcast has been lying to everyone. You don't need a cable box to receive cable with an expanded channel lineup, only a digital adaptor box on each television, old or new. They're lying. I was getting their Digital Starter channel lineup (including FX, TNT, BRAVO, SYFY, AMC, HGT, H2, CNBC, Bloomberg, TV One, OWN, Travel, TMC, TMC etc etc etc.) with nothing but the adapters. Whoops, they dun' goofed.
Comcast has been lying to everyone. You don't need a cable box to receive cable with an expanded channel lineup, only a digital adaptor box on each television, old or new. They're lying. I was getting their Digital Starter channel lineup (including FX, TNT, BRAVO, SYFY, AMC, HGT, H2, CNBC, Bloomberg, TV One, OWN, Travel, TMC, TMC etc etc etc.) with nothing but the adapters. Whoops, they dun' goofed.
I replied to your thread and you are "right" and "wrong". Comcast certainly makes it confusing though to the point that their own employees don't even know the right answer. Summary from the other thread that applies to this one...
How a DTA works depends on your tier of service:
"Limited Basic" customers only get the "Limited Basic" signal sent to their house. DTA's were originally inteded to allow these people to watch TV and they get the boxes for free.
Once you move beyond "Limited Basic", Comcast basically flips a switch and you get ALL channels pumped into your house...
"Digital Economy" customers get an expanded lineup, but need a regular digital converter box to see it. It is this converter box that is filtering everything down to the channels you pay for. Depending on where you live, DTA's for "Digital Economy" customers will work one of two ways: 1) they won't work at all or 2) they will only get "Limited Basic" channels. This is a failure of the equipment because DTA's are "dumb" and would display channels you don't pay for on the "Digital Economy" package. So, this is how Comcast prevents you from seeing things you don't pay for. On this package you can still get a DTA, but it will cost you $1.99 a month per box.
"Digital Starter" customers get an even larger lineup and while the full lineup is only available on a digital converter box, a DTA will display the first 100 or so channels you have. Customers on this tier have no restrictions on their DTA's and while they can't see every channel they pay for, they can see a lot more channels then even a "Digital Economy" customer with a converter box. On this package DTA's cost $1.99 per a month per box.
I just bought a new TV today with the same thought, that I could scrap the box. Apparently I was wrong as this thread seems to confirm. So regardless of the TV (new LED or old analog) you must have that silly box with Comcast? Am I reading correctly, are there other providers where this is not true? (i.e. I could connect my TV directly to the cable outlet)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
