dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
14658

captlockheed
The reawakening of German air supremacy.
join:2003-07-12
Metairie, LA

captlockheed

Member

Downgrading from Essential to Economy - Thwarted!

I'm aggravated!

I called Cox to downgrade my TV service from Essential to Economy. I was told that I had to go under contract and use a cable box for each TV.
No way I'm doing that. I was not asking to get a promo rate, just the regular rate. I have been free of a contract for years - not looking to be under another.

I don't understand why I need a cable box for Economy when I did not need one for Essential.

Cox makes it difficult to downgrade service, but very easy to upgrade.

Anonguy
@cox.net

Anonguy

Anon

The way Cox does Economy TV is by filtering out all of the Analog expanded channels and allowing only digital signal thru. Therefore you need a box to tune/decrypt those digital channels.

The only analog channels left on are the Basic tier. SO you don;t need boxes on every TV as long as you are OK with Basic only on them. To get the select expanded channels that are included you need toe box.

You can thank the ESPN's/DISNEY/VIACOM channels for this. Economy TV does not include most of these expensive channels therefor it is a lot cheaper.
Rakeesh
join:2011-10-30
Phoenix, AZ

Rakeesh to captlockheed

Member

to captlockheed
They didn't filter any channels when I was on economy.

Anyways there's an easy solution to that which doesn't involve leasing a cable box: cablecard.

BryanInPHX
Premium Member
join:2001-03-06
Phoenix, AZ

BryanInPHX to captlockheed

Premium Member

to captlockheed
Without a cable box (or retail CableCARD device) the only channels you will receive are the remaining SD Analog channels and Local HDs and a few ClearQAM HD channels.

Every Tier/Package (including Starter and Essential) requires a STB or CableCARD to receive any SD Digital and HD channels, some of which are even SDV

So without a STB, you will never receive all the channels you are paying for on any Tier.
BryanInPHX

4 edits

BryanInPHX to captlockheed

Premium Member

to captlockheed
EDIT: It looks like DNLA Access is limited to non-copy-protected channels.
The simplest way to get live digital TV to all TVs in the home is to get a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime CableCARD network tuner:
»www.silicondust.com/prod ··· n/prime/
»www.amazon.com/SiliconDu ··· 04HKIB6E

Then use a compatible DLNA device to access the HDHomeRun Prime tuners.
EDIT: It looks like DNLA Access is limited to non-copy-protected channels.

Perhaps a Samsung GX-SM530CF CableCARD Box w/ Smart Media may be for you
»www.amazon.com/Samsung-G ··· EYO241Q/
Rakeesh
join:2011-10-30
Phoenix, AZ

1 edit

Rakeesh

Member

HDHomerun will let you watch only the local channels unless you use Windows Media Center. WMC is a piece of shit though, crashes all the time and always stops video because of HDCP issues (even though HDCP is working fine when it shows this error.)

It's really not the manufacturers fault, unfortunately they're shackled by DRM rules they're supposed to follow, and Cox chooses to be Cox about it and uses the strictest rules of ANY cable provider.

Really the only truly affordable long term solution to this problem is to buy a tivo, and tivo is even expensive, and IMO quite overpriced. It's not nearly as overpriced as renting a STB though.

If you really want a good affordable way to watch TV, go get a free program called sickbeard, another one called couchpotato, another one called plex media server, and then get a roku.
Gardentool
join:2013-01-18
Oklahoma City, OK

Gardentool to Anonguy

Member

to Anonguy
said by Anonguy :

The way Cox does Economy TV is by filtering out all of the Analog expanded channels and allowing only digital signal thru. Therefore you need a box to tune/decrypt those digital channels.

The only analog channels left on are the Basic tier. SO you don;t need boxes on every TV as long as you are OK with Basic only on them. To get the select expanded channels that are included you need toe box.

I had Economy TV for several months last year and none of the analog channels were filtered. The spare TV that didn't have a cablebox at the time was actually picking up the analog SD channels like ESPN, Travel, etc that weren't suppose to be included. Maybe the requirement for boxes is to combat this?

captlockheed
The reawakening of German air supremacy.
join:2003-07-12
Metairie, LA

captlockheed

Member

Thanks for the explanations and ideas everybody. I have since done a bit of research on your suggestions and now have a better understanding of both the terms and equipment. I was hoping for a quick and no-spend fix or workaround but it looks like I'll have to spend money in order to save some money.

I'm at the point where I watch no sports and only 1-3 shows every week. I could easily do without TV service, but the wife insists on having some sort of basic cable package as long as Turner Classic Movies is included.

I'm thinking that one solution might be to replace the non-digital ready TVs in the two bedrooms and then sign up for the Economy package and renting 3 CableCards from COX - one for each TV in my home. I believe COX has a self-install program and charges $2.00 a month per CableCard. But then there is the seemingly inescapable contract to reckon with.

Again thanks for all the help, I am going to do further research an all your suggestions. Any other suggestions are welcome.
ajwees41
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Omaha, NE

ajwees41

Premium Member

good luck finding a tv that takes cable cards.
signcarver
join:2005-03-20
Phoenix, AZ

signcarver to captlockheed

Member

to captlockheed
said by ajwees41:

good luck finding a tv that takes cable cards.

I agree with this... as now cablecards are generally limited to tuners not the TV's themselves... my approach would be WMC and either a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime, or a Ceton InfiniTV tuner and use 1 tuner (1 is referring to the box/card/device... they can have 3-6 tuners in them depending on make/model primes are currently 3 while ceton makes 4 and 6 tuner models), one computer and extenders at the TVs (for just TV/recordings ceton echos are usually good enough but xbox 360s are usually what I recommend), . Usually one has a capable computer that won't give too much trouble, but all network connections should be wired not wireless... MoCA can work at some locations that may be hard to get wired ethernet to.

As Bryan suggested, the samsung tuner (GX-SM530CF) may be easier to incorporate into the solution. The reason they "need" to block most of the analog portion (other than locals/starter) is economy does not include ESPN and other channels which would also normally be available as analog. If you already have a box (or cablecard) there is a "fair" chance they don't bother to send someone out to put the filter in place right away but eventually I believe you would get the filter on the line. Viewing any channels you are not entitled to would be considered cable theft.

All the solutions proposed would require one spending some money to save money and for many would be more than what they would save. I usually compare WMC/Tivo to DVR solutions not just watching as that is where the savings is. It would take 1-2 years of box rental savings to pay for the extender or tuner at the TV (about half that time if considering/replacing a dvr) not to mention the TV would also more than likely require hdmi inputs (and not to mention the Tivo fees if going that route). One of my most recent installs was for my parents who had 2 guest bedrooms that they were paying $100+ a year (each) for boxes that get used maybe 20 nights a year. The install worked well enough that after I left, they went ahead and replaced their main cable box as well and are now saving over $300/year (with only $100 out of their pocket since I gave them the tuner and 2 extenders for Christmas)... since they were also finally interested in a DVR, the solution cox gave would have cost them $450 more per year so in a sense this is saving them $750/year.

In your situation DirecTV or Dish may be a better option but only for a couple of years (then switch back to cox and take advantage of deals new customers can enjoy... but I believe to be considered new you may need to also switch to dsl) 90% of the time, there is no problem for most using DSL, I think most of the people who complain about DSL are the same that are using >250MB/month and are still complaining about their overage notices here and are not "real" people (sorry to all those here that are real) and/or people whose "homes" would be considered multi-family (or probably multi-individual would be more correct), where in theory each person should be getting their own roommate account.

Note: Thinking of this, to me, shows why the economy channels should not have copy once status as then other dlna capable equipment (including "smart" functions built into the TV) could use the capabilities of the prime without any more equipment (eventually DTCP-IP might be built into the TVs but that will probably take awhile).

captlockheed
The reawakening of German air supremacy.
join:2003-07-12
Metairie, LA

captlockheed to ajwees41

Member

to ajwees41
Thanks for clearing that up for me, I misunderstood.
captlockheed

captlockheed to signcarver

Member

to signcarver
Thank you for your thoughts.