[myram]

I see people selling Scientific Atlanta cable boxes on Ebay, and some are for use on Time Warner.


My question is this............if I buy one, will I be able to just hook it up and use it on my cable system here?


The box I was looking at was a 4250HDC, that way I could get all the HD channels and higher channels on my HDTV in the bedroom. I currently have a 8300HD DVR box on the living room for that HDTV.


I have the All-in-One premium package with DVR service and HD package, but I want a second box for the bedroom and don't want to pay the $8/month TWC wants for it.


Thanks for any help,


Steve

 

[Tulpa]

In a word, no. TWC, and almost all major cable companies, only activate boxes in their own inventory. The ones on eBay were either never returned to TWC (stolen) or are gray market items from Canada. Either way, they're useless in the United States.


If your TV supports cableCARD (has a slot for it) you can rent one of those for usually half or less than the cost of a box. Another alternative is a TiVo HD with a TWC cableCARD.


Or use a QAM tuner to see if TWC sends HD channels "in the clear." Those are usually just the network affiliates, but sometimes you get bonus channels.


But forget about getting everything your main DVR gets without renting something from TWC. They just won't let you use any random box.

 

[Joxer]

Those boxes are stolen units and won't be authorized - beware, don't fall for it.

Only the units rented from your local cable system will work.

 

[myram]

That's what I thought, but I wanted to ask and get some other opinions before spending $50 for nothing.


The box I was looking at came from a Time Warner customer in NY, so I thought that might make a difference.


But, I was also wondering how they "bought" the box in the first place.........I have always rented mine from TWC.


Thanks,


Steve

 

[Joxer]

You were right to wonder. In the USA the cable systems only rent boxes, and they are not sold directly to customers, the manufacturer can only sell them to the cable system.