While CC is very much continuing to
rent those they have
existing in inventory, they are NOT actively buying
new inventory of these as of now - which is exactly (probably) what TWC is doing. By virtue of this, they will continue to
recycle these same (SD) boxes thru their sub base; they are NOT going to throw all those boxes away. For SD only subs, there is no reason why they can't continue to use those; there will ALWAYS be lots of subs that will NEVER get/need HD boxes. (this applies to ANY cable provider)
IOW, any new (non-DVR) full boxes they purchase now, are all HD capable. They DO, in fact, hand new HD boxes out to non-HD subs, but all the HD channels are disabled for non-HD subs. It all comes down as to what/how much stock they have at the time a sub walks in &/or a tech has on his truck. (unless you ARE an HD sub & specifically ask for an HD box)
(BTW, not sure why you think that DCH70 is a "POS" box - I had one here myself, before I upgraded service. While it does not have an S-video output &/or digital audio outs, it at least DOES have composite A/V outputs. And it SURE as hell beats relics like the DCT2xxx series boxes, that are dog SLOW - & that CC here CONTINUES to give out here sometimes, if you are (un)lucky enough!
)
It wouldn't surprise me if TWC started buying simpler Digital Terminal Adapter (DTA) type devices for hooking up older devices like VCRs.
Well yea, they already announced this a year ago:
»
stopthecap.com/2011/07/2 ··· systems/Sorry to tell you, but most DTA's - including your example - do NOT have any composite outputs; it's RF out only.
The ONLY DTA I've seen so far that does, is one made by Evolution Digital; Massillon & Clear Picture Cable use these:
»
www.massilloncabletv.com ··· ions.pdfI don't even think Evolution makes that model any longer, as it doesn't seem to be on their website now:
»
www.evolutionbb.com/cabl ··· 402.htmlThe HD-DTA's that are just now starting to come out, do have both HDMI & RF outputs, but (still) NO composite outputs, either.