Electronics

[Justina rae]

On 2/21/2015 glb613 said:

On 2/20/2015 nutmeg3 said:

On 2/20/2015 Justina rae said:

Glb, see my post #4. No it's not the cable converter box which is about a foot long and a couple inches high. It's the very small digital adapter which is about 3" x 3" x 1" high. When I downgraded my service from Standard to Basic they took away the converter box and replaced it with the digital adapter.

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/digital-adapter/

I know what a digital convertor or adapter is. You use it when you have a old analog TV. That's why I asked if you have a tube style TV. You posted you have a flat screen television. All newer flat screen TV can accept a digital signal without a converter.

I don't know of a single cable company that doesn't rent a cable box with their service. Depending on what you have, it's a basic cable box (not an adapter), HD box or DRV. While you can buy a DVR, like TIVO, I don't know of any cable box for purchase. It doesn't mean there aren't any but, it's not something you can go to your local Best Buy and get. If you want cable, even the most basic, you need to rent a box.

When I had Standard service (over 300 cable channels) I had a cable box. When I downgraded to Basic service (31 channels total which includes the network channels) a couple of weeks ago they took away the cable box and gave me a digital adapter.

I have 2 tvs. Each one now has a digital adapter (no cable boxes anymore). TWC is telling me I will get zero reception without the digital adapter. I would like to try disconnecting it to see for myself because I don't trust them to tell the truth. However, I'm concerned about messing things up.

My question here is if there is a digital adapter (not a cable box) that I can purchase from Best Buy so that I don't have to pay the ridiculous monthly fee to "rent" the TWC digital adapter when all I'm really getting is network channels.

[Justina rae]

Nutmeg, thanks for the link.

[smoky22]

I have 3 tv's that use a dvr cable box from Charter, my cable company. I had one tv in a back bedroom where I just connected the cable coming out of the wall to the back of my flat screen HD tv. That worked fine until they went all digital last Oct. They gave me a free cable box for a year but I didn't hook it up because I wanted to see if I would still get any kind of reception after the switch. They were right. I get no signal on that tv now with just the cable coming out of the wall. I suspect your situation will be the same if you just connect the wall cable to the tv. I know nothing about a digital adapter, though. Charter never offered me anything like that.

I'm wondering if I can use an antenna on that one tv even though I will continue to use cable boxes on my other tv's.

[Lynne522]

I am not sure if my solution may work for you, but this is what I did.

I , too, was sick and tired of being nickel and dimed by TWC and decided to give up my cable all together. I started with a leaf antenna (over the air signal) on one television. It was extremely easy to set up. The picture is better than the one I was getting from TWC. When I realized that, I really decided to get rid of cable all together. You just set your television to over to the air setting instead of cable. It will scan and show you all the stations available in your area. I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and several other Movie and other stations that were not being carried of TWC. For the amount of television I watch that works for me. I got a second antenna, the Amazon equivalent to the Leaf. I believe these were are around $35, quite inexpensive and I have eliminated my monthly cable bill altogether.

I also subscribe to Netflex and Hulu Plus.

HTH

[smoky22]

Lynne, thanks for the information on using an antenna. I'm going to try it. I hope your post helps the OP.

[Justina rae]

Thanks Lynne. I see there are quite a few videos on how to do this. I'm going to try it too. Here's a pretty good how-to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPEq4rZoYv8

I think I threw out my rabbit ears a while ago. I'll probably buy one of those flat Mohu-type antennas shown in the video.

[Annabellethecat66]

The prices are very similar. I have Apple TV because I love Apple products and my son-in-law (who owns a successful) cyber security business said he thinks it is the best.

[Justina rae]

On 2/21/2015 Lynne522 said:

I am not sure if my solution may work for you, but this is what I did.

I , too, was sick and tired of being nickel and dimed by TWC and decided to give up my cable all together. I started with a leaf antenna (over the air signal) on one television. It was extremely easy to set up. The picture is better than the one I was getting from TWC. When I realized that, I really decided to get rid of cable all together. You just set your television to over to the air setting instead of cable. It will scan and show you all the stations available in your area. I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and several other Movie and other stations that were not being carried of TWC. For the amount of television I watch that works for me. I got a second antenna, the Amazon equivalent to the Leaf. I believe these were are around $35, quite inexpensive and I have eliminated my monthly cable bill altogether.

I also subscribe to Netflex and Hulu Plus.

HTH

Lynne, I can't thank you enough for this suggestion! I bought an RCA flat antenna from Best Buy for $18 and installed it 1-2-3. I figured out how to do the Auto Set-up and it scanned for 23 channels. I gave TWC their dang digital adapter back and GOOD RIDDANCE to them!!! The reception is great. No more cable. Woo Hoo! At some point I'll probably also look into Netflix or Hulu.

[Nuttmeg]

On 3/12/2015 Justina rae said:

On 2/21/2015 Lynne522 said:

I am not sure if my solution may work for you, but this is what I did.

I , too, was sick and tired of being nickel and dimed by TWC and decided to give up my cable all together. I started with a leaf antenna (over the air signal) on one television. It was extremely easy to set up. The picture is better than the one I was getting from TWC. When I realized that, I really decided to get rid of cable all together. You just set your television to over to the air setting instead of cable. It will scan and show you all the stations available in your area. I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and several other Movie and other stations that were not being carried of TWC. For the amount of television I watch that works for me. I got a second antenna, the Amazon equivalent to the Leaf. I believe these were are around $35, quite inexpensive and I have eliminated my monthly cable bill altogether.

I also subscribe to Netflex and Hulu Plus.

HTH

Lynne, I can't thank you enough for this suggestion! I bought an RCA flat antenna from Best Buy for $18 and installed it 1-2-3. I figured out how to do the Auto Set-up and it scanned for 23 channels. I gave TWC their dang digital adapter back and GOOD RIDDANCE to them!!! The reception is great. No more cable. Woo Hoo! At some point I'll probably also look into Netflix or Hulu.

You should keep a copy of the receipt when turning in cable company equipment. You do not want TWC asking about these adapters down the road.

[lovescats]

On 3/12/2015 Justina rae said:

On 2/21/2015 Lynne522 said:

I am not sure if my solution may work for you, but this is what I did.

I , too, was sick and tired of being nickel and dimed by TWC and decided to give up my cable all together. I started with a leaf antenna (over the air signal) on one television. It was extremely easy to set up. The picture is better than the one I was getting from TWC. When I realized that, I really decided to get rid of cable all together. You just set your television to over to the air setting instead of cable. It will scan and show you all the stations available in your area. I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and several other Movie and other stations that were not being carried of TWC. For the amount of television I watch that works for me. I got a second antenna, the Amazon equivalent to the Leaf. I believe these were are around $35, quite inexpensive and I have eliminated my monthly cable bill altogether.

I also subscribe to Netflex and Hulu Plus.

HTH

Lynne, I can't thank you enough for this suggestion! I bought an RCA flat antenna from Best Buy for $18 and installed it 1-2-3. I figured out how to do the Auto Set-up and it scanned for 23 channels. I gave TWC their dang digital adapter back and GOOD RIDDANCE to them!!! The reception is great. No more cable. Woo Hoo! At some point I'll probably also look into Netflix or Hulu.

I'm glad your channels are coming in great. I don't think a lot of people realize how good the reception can be with an indoor antenna if you live within about 25 miles because the channels aren't compressed the way they are thru cable.