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| reply to Joe12345678
Re: DCX3400 box for sale on craigslist Cisco and Motorola does not sell their digital cable boxes and cablecards to customers in the United States, only in places like Canada, so whatever FCC law your thinking of does not apply. Cable cards are a different thing all together. I am not aware of a means of purchasing a cable card or digital cable box in a retail environment in the United States by which I mean BestBuy or through a cable provider.
I understand your point of view in regards to the "if you paid the unreturned fee you own it" but there is no law stating that a cable provider MUST support that box, although if they choose to it is their right, unlike cable cards where they ARE required to. It is the same reason why not every cable modem sold is supported by every cable provider. There are a few reasons for this, one of which is that every digital cable box has a form of security software built into it either onboard with the older boxes or through a cable card with the newer boxes which have for lack of a better term a "password" that is only accepted in the correct market. Secondly the software running on the digital cable boxes are not neutrally universal and will only work with the specific headend they have been programmed for. For example if someone wanted to use a Motorola digital cable box in a Cisco/SA market it would not be possible, or a Comcast digital cable box in a Cablevision market. Even if a Cisco/SA digital cable box was installed in another Cisco/SA market it would not work without the cable card being reprogrammed by the cable provider or manufacturer. If you want universal equipment that is where TiVo and Moxi come into the picture because the software that they run on is not dependant on the environment they are running in. The only thing they want is a compatible cable card which works in that serving market. I hope this clears up any confusion. |
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| Service Electric sells cable cards »www.sectv.com/LV/cable_card.html
The NEW Cable card laws say that you can Use your own set-top box without extra charge. FCC Rule 76.1205(b)(5)(C). Your cable operator may charge you to lease a CableCARD or tuning adapter, but may not charge you an additional service fee for using your own digital-cable-ready television or set-top box.
It's some thing that a court needs to look at and make a ruling. |
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| "set top box" in terms of a retail device, ie TiVo, Moxi, or home theather computer with a cablecard tuner. |
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