I own a Toshiba 57H81 that is HDTV ready and want to receive OTA HD programming. I currently subscribe to cable, but do not want to pay for the extremely high cost of the Motorola DCT 6416 III Dual Tuner DVR that Cogeco (Canada) offers. My question is if I purchase the Motorola 'dual tuner' from a third party (ie. Ebay) can I use it as a tuner to receive OTA HDTV programming w/ an antenna and what are the chances that it will be compatible with my current digital cable programming.

I own a Toshiba 57H81 that is HDTV ready and want to receive OTA HD programming. I currently subscribe to cable, but do not want to pay for the extremely high cost of the Motorola DCT 6416 III Dual Tuner DVR that Cogeco (Canada) offers. My question is if I purchase the Motorola 'dual tuner' from a third party (ie. Ebay) can I use it as a tuner to receive OTA HDTV programming w/ an antenna and what are the chances that it will be compatible with my current digital cable programming.Cable companies encrypt their DVRs for use only on their own network. An EBay DVR will not work on your cable company's network since it did not come from them. There is a possibility that your cable company could somehow push their software onto your bootleg DVR and allow you to use it so you should call and ask, but i seriously doubt it. None of the USA companies allow this, and everybody who's posted about their EBay DVR (which are undoubtedly all stolen from a cable company) have not been able to get it working with their provider.

Thanks for the info Randy, it is greatly appreciated.

What are your thoughts on purchasing a QAM Tuner (ie. LG LST-3510A) to use in conjunction with my cable signal. I've heard that in some cases you can receive the local networks in HD by using one of these tuners.

Thanks again...

I've heard that in some cases you can receive the local networks in HD by using one of these tuners.If you have Comcast, that is certainly the case.