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cable box for every tv?

1095 Views 7 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  txrose
I am in the process of moving to a new house. There will be 4 bedrooms, a living room and a basement that each will have a hdtv. In the area I am moving to I will have both comcast and fios. I plan on putting a dvr in the living room and 3 other hd boxes. Will I be able to use the other tv's without a box or do I have to pay monthly for box on every tv. Any recomendation on fios or comcast with this kind of setup?
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If you have all HDTV's, you should get all HD DVR's. That leaves you with two options: Get HD TiVo's or rent.


Verizon FiOS has better HD and more HD.
I figure I will only but a dvr in the living room since I won't need them in the rest of the rooms.


Right now I have cablevision and I know that you don't need the box to get basic cable channels. Can I do this with fios if I didn't want to rent a box for every tv?
I as well have FIOS... While I have four STB's (1 DVR, 1 HD and two STD), It is my understanding that without a STB, you should still receive basic cable channels 2 - 13.
FIOS is all literaly all digital. The locals are probably unencrypted but you'll need a box for the rest.
You might want to consider using OTA digital instead of cable in some rooms using a small antenna. You will get more local channels OTA than you probably will with clear QAM over cable.
I knew someone who was in your same boat. They had to pay the monthly fee for each tv in order to receive standard digital cable on every single HD set they had. It was so expensive ($10 per month per set) for to have an HD box hooked up to each set they only went with one HD box for the main set and just regular boxes for the rest. This was Verizon FIOS by the way and the amount of compression they have on there HD channel leaves alot to be desired. This is was in comparison to COX and Comcast cable that was offered in the same area.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kratsisc /forum/post/15443761


I am in the process of moving to a new house. There will be 4 bedrooms, a living room and a basement that each will have a hdtv. In the area I am moving to I will have both comcast and fios. I plan on putting a dvr in the living room and 3 other hd boxes. Will I be able to use the other tv's without a box or do I have to pay monthly for box on every tv. Any recomendation on fios or comcast with this kind of setup?

Any TV without a QAM tuner will need a box to connect to FIOS. Check the FIOS thread in this forum but I believe they provide the local SD and HD channels in clear QAM. Generally all HDTVs built in the last two years (not digital ready monitors) should have a QAM tuner. The FIOS SD boxes may be under $10/mo and one or two may be lower than that or free, you have to check.


Most cable companies still provide an expanded analog offering and will for three more years. After that nobody knows what they will provide. You have to check with your local Comcast provider.


As mentioned above OTA and a $50-$60 converter box will work in many areas for non ATSC tuner sets after 2/17/09.
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