Tivo without digital cable box

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

jim_adams@hotmail.com wrote:
> I have digital cable TV service and would like to use Tivo with a TV
> not connected by a digital cable box.
>
> Can Tivo support digital cable without a digital cable box? Any
> limitations (e.g. HDTV channels)?

No. Almost nothing can without a proprietary box from the cable
company. There are a few devices that support cablecard, but they're
not common.

>
> Do I need to go with a different brand that supports a CableCard?

I don't know of any DVR's that support cablecard at this point. Does
anyone else know of one? Supposedly the next version of Tivo's SA box
will support Cablecard 2.0, but there's no telling when that is coming out.

Randy S.

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

It seems like a huge oversite... very disappointing.

Other than $700+ HD DVRs (such as from Sony), I can't seem to find any
for standard digital cable.

I'd like to add a DVR to an LCD TV while keeping the installation
clean. Renting another cable box for this irks me due to unnecessary
monthly cost and more clutter.

-Jim

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

<jim_adams@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121981372.647832.193750@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> It seems like a huge oversite... very disappointing.

Yes and no. Not really an oversite per se, read on...

> Other than $700+ HD DVRs (such as from Sony), I can't seem to find any
> for standard digital cable.

That's because prior to CableCard, there is no standard in Digital Cable.
Supposedly (and it makes sense) that's part of what TiVo has been waiting
for. TiVo says (at least one of their CSR says as of 2 days ago) that the
StandAlone/CableCard HD TiVo will be out in January. Take that with a grain
of salt.

> I'd like to add a DVR to an LCD TV while keeping the installation
> clean. Renting another cable box for this irks me due to unnecessary
> monthly cost and more clutter.

Very understandable.

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

jim_adams@hotmail.com wrote:
> I have digital cable TV service and would like to use Tivo with a TV
> not connected by a digital cable box.
>
> Can Tivo support digital cable without a digital cable box? Any
> limitations (e.g. HDTV channels)?
>
> Do I need to go with a different brand that supports a CableCard?
>
> Of course, I could rent another cable box, but I'm looking to reduce
> the electronic box clutter to a minimum.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>

Well you can still use a SA Tivo in this configuration. You will NOT
get the "digital" channels that require a box like Premiums (HBO, PPV,
etc) and probably any channels over channel 80.

What Warner calls this is Basic Plus, it is the line up that you get if
you plug a cable ready TV into the "feed". Check the website for your
provider to get an idea of the line up you will really get. For this
note, I'll just refer to it as Basic Plus.

With two Tivos you can use Multi-Room Viewing to overcome this a bit.
Just record any shows that require the Digital box on the first Tivo and
if there are additional shows that are on "Basic Plus" or whatever your
cable company has available record on Tivo #2. They with MRV and a
network you can watch shows on either Tivo in either room.

To get an idea of what is available on Basic Plus, plug you cable into a
cable ready TV. Set the input to CATV, run a channel scan. You'll
probably have about 60-70 channels. Of course depending on the provider
YMMV.

Pete
pstryjew at att dot net

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

> It seems like a huge oversite... very disappointing.

Blame the cable companies. They're the only ones that benefit from there
not being a standardized box. Those monthly rentals are quite profitable.

> I'd like to add a DVR to an LCD TV while keeping the installation
> clean. Renting another cable box for this irks me due to unnecessary
> monthly cost and more clutter.

Switch to DirecTV then. At least there you get the choice of using a single
box that has two tuners built into it. Granted, no DVD burner... yet.

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On 21 Jul 2005 07:56:22 -0700, jim_adams@hotmail.com wrote:

> I have digital cable TV service and would like to use Tivo with a TV
> not connected by a digital cable box.
>
> Can Tivo support digital cable without a digital cable box? Any
> limitations (e.g. HDTV channels)?

You won't be able to receive digital cable channels with your TiVo, which
includes HDTV.

If your cable company carries analog cable over the same cable as digital
cable, it will work, but only for the unscrambled channels. Most cable
systems added digital channels to their analog lineup, enabling current
analog customers to work along side the new digital customers. Some cable
companies ran fiber down the street along side the old cable and switched
customers over to the fiber when they ordered digital. So you may or may
not have analog channels on your cable.

If you hook up your TV to the cable without a box, can it tune any of
channels 2-13? If so, then your TiVo will too, plus it will find all the
unscrambled analog channels on the cable.

Brad Houser

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Despite how advanced we think our electronics are, we're still living
in quite primitive times. After all, TV with a great picture (e.g.
digital and HD) still is not standard, even 50+ years after the 1st TV
was introduced.

And our computers still have mechanical parts like hard drives (quite
the bottle neck) and fans to overcome excessive heat (at least in
servers). And never mind trying to browse the Internet from LCD TVs
around the house, access a central music collection and access a
central home computer to run some apps.

....Very primitive times indeed.

-Jim

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

<jim_adams@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121981372.647832.193750@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> It seems like a huge oversite... very disappointing.
>
> Other than $700+ HD DVRs (such as from Sony), I can't seem to find any
> for standard digital cable.
>
> I'd like to add a DVR to an LCD TV while keeping the installation
> clean. Renting another cable box for this irks me due to unnecessary
> monthly cost and more clutter.

The Sony boxes /just/ came out, there aren't any others yet, because CableCard
is still a new development. I am sure that many others (including Tivo) are
hard at work on their own CableCard designs, but Sony beat them to market (the
quality of their product remains to be seen, but at least they have a
product).

The rumblings that I've heard are that many of the DVR producers (including
Tivo) are disappointed at the capabilities of the first-gen CableCard, and are
shooting for having a product ready to go when the second-gen CableCards come
out.

Ken