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nwilder
join:2014-09-13

nwilder

Member

[TV] Can you get 3rd party HD receivers that are programmable

Two questions really,

1. Do 3rd party HD receivers exist, and could someone please refer me to what they are called or where they sell them online

2. Do they function with Cogeco cable tv?

I'm not looking to dodge any fees or rip anything off - I expect I would still have to pay for renting the cogeco box even if I was using a 3rd party box instead.

I just really wish I could customize the way the guide looks. I have to scroll through 700 channels that I don't even get, mixed in with the ones I do. I do use favorites lists, but I'm interested in a more configured setup overall.
p5ku
join:2000-08-18
Oakville, ON

p5ku

Member

I bought mine at Future Shop. Same guide and software but no rental fees.
lazyfox2
join:2004-05-26
Kingston, ON

lazyfox2 to nwilder

Member

to nwilder
You have to get one of the HD receivers/PVR's that are Cogeco compatible, or Cogeco won't hook you up.

And the greatest improvement they could make to the guide would be to let you set the 'scope' (for listings, recordings, searches, etc) to just the channels you are subscribed to, but that doesn't seem to be a big priority for them.

You can set your favorites to a subset of channels, but the default listing is always everything.
nwilder
join:2014-09-13

nwilder to p5ku

Member

to p5ku
How does that work? Do you rent any boxes from cogeco at all?

chdude3
join:2003-07-29
Oakville, ON

chdude3

Member

said by nwilder:

How does that work? Do you rent any boxes from cogeco at all?

I've never ever rented a box from Cogeco at all, the MSRP is just ridiculous from them. It's been years since I bought a box though. I would just scour used ads until I found a decent deal on a box, and then would snap it up. I think we still have about 4 SD boxes registered to our account just gathering dust now. Our eBay DCT6416 paid for itself years ago in saving the rental fees.
p5ku
join:2000-08-18
Oakville, ON
·Cogeco Cable

p5ku to nwilder

Member

to nwilder
I've never rented a box for them (well, apart from a no-cost rental for a year, brought it back before I had to pay for it). The retail prices aren't great, but why rent it when you can buy it? At the price I paid for my box ($200), it'll currently take about 28 months to recoup that now at the non-promo price of $7/month. The rental was a bit higher when I bought it, so it didn't take quite as long.
nwilder
join:2014-09-13

nwilder

Member

I'm a total noob about this, I didn't even know you could buy boxes for this. Could you please link me to some boxes or let me know the make and models so I can learn more about them?

And as far as Cogeco goes, so, if let's say I bought my own HD receiver from somewhere online, and my own HD PVR receiver for another tv, and my own SD box for a 3rd tv, then Can I just go ahead and use those and Cogeco doesn't have to flick a switch to enable them or anything? And can I then say to Cogeco here's your HD and SD rental boxes, I don't want them and then they will stop charging me the monthly fee for them?
p5ku
join:2000-08-18
Oakville, ON
·Cogeco Cable

p5ku to nwilder

Member

to nwilder
Here's what I did, I went to Future Shop and bought the HD non-PVR box. When I got it home I called Cogeco (number included in the box) to give them its info. They provisioned it on their system. I then returned my "rental" to the local Cogeco office.

While you may find a great deal online, by buying from a local retailer, you're getting a box that Cogeco has supplied to the retailer -- so there should be no issues with provisioning it on their system.
nwilder
join:2014-09-13

1 edit

nwilder

Member

I wonder if they will provision 2 or 3 boxes though, or if they would have fees or restrictions on having more than 1.

Edit: I just checked and all futureshop has listed for cogeco boxes are Pace boxes. The couple pace boxes that I have seen take a long time to switch between HD channels (in the interim the tv shows No Signal) and then daily they will just stop working (after a long delay between switching channels, it just goes kaput).

The really bad reviews on the futureshop site seem to confirm my feelings about it.

So now I need to learn about finding motorola boxes somewhere else online I guess

coaxguy
join:2009-07-29

coaxguy

Member

I wouldn't be looking for ancient Motorolla DCTs if you think Pace 550s and Pace RNG200s are slow.
nwilder
join:2014-09-13

nwilder

Member

I don't know if those particular models are slow, I just know that the Pace models I and others I know have had from cogeco were slow. Those might have been older Pace models. Also I see a bunch of bad reviews on futureshop for these Pace models so, those 2 things combined makes me want to run away from Pace boxes.

The motorola box I have now from cogeco is smaller and newer looking than one or 2 pace boxes I have seen from cogeco, and it runs much much faster. So I'm not sure if the ancient Motorola box you are referring to is the same as the motorola box I have now? Probably not I guess