Hi,
Our local cable company is making a switch to an all digital broadcast system. They are having some major problems. The digital cable boxes are very cheap. (Challenger series, NC3000 C0) It looks like the back end is "Transparent video systems"
I have channels that has a sync problem with the picture and sound.
The system is not HDTV. The cable company is claiming read DVD quality. (this means it is not DVD quality)
The best connection on the cable boxes are S-video. (even the DVR boxes are like that)
I don't see a firewire connection on the back of this box although I think this is a requirement from the government since 2004.
Has anyone every heard of these boxes.?
Are there other boxes available that would be compatible with this system? (something different then these cheap Korean made versions)

Arno

You probably have what the Cable TV industry has proclaimed "The $75 set-top box", which is designed to be given away, or rented out very inexpensively, to their basic (non-HDTV) customers. The plan is to make sure every customer has the ability to still receive the base levels of service thay had with analog, once the Cable goes to all-digital....much like the NTIA's "subsidized converter" program for over-the-air viewers.

When Cable can finally go all-Digital, it can free up a lot of bandwidth for other channels and programming, so they are in a hurry to get it done. If you want HDTV, you'll need to have their actual "HD" box, and possibly an upgrade in your subscription.

Any box you buy, unless it supports the Cable Card function (and your Cable company does, too), would not work on most channels, since they are scrambled. Their system unlocks their style of boxes. You might get local stations in digital, if you have a set (or, STB) which supports Clear QAM (unencrypted QAM signals).