DVR with Comcast or Verizon

I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. I have a Sony HDD-250 hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation. She
wants cable or FIOS installed. Both Comcast and Verizon offer a DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16 per
month.

NadCixelsyd said this on 3/31/2009 12:17 PM:
I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. I have a Sony HDD-250 hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation. She
wants cable or FIOS installed. Both Comcast and Verizon offer a DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16 per
month.

I'm on Verizon, and the FIOS cable no longer has any "in the clear"
channels. You need their box (of some sort) to pull off the channels,
and the DVR is part of that box. Comcast hardware is similar, but they
do have a few channels in the clear on the cable (cable not fiber).

On Mar 31, 11:17*am, NadCixelsyd wrote:
I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. *I have a Sony HDD-250 hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation. *She
wants cable or FIOS installed. *Both Comcast and Verizon offer a DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16 per
month.

In general the answer is no. The Sony will work for analog cable.
For digital cable, it can natively only get the unencrypted channels.
At best, that would be your local channels. If you get a cable card
for the sony, it should then be able to receive all the cable channels
you subscribe to. (The cable card is essentially a way to put the
cable box functionality into the Sony.) You still may have an issue
if your service is using Switched Digital Video (SDV) and you won't be
able to use the Sony for on-demand viewing.

If this is temporary, and your sister isn't too picky (although she
apparently is already demanding more than OTA delivers), can you
subscribe to an analog cable package that meets your sister's
demands? That way, you can still use the Sony for anything offered
OTA (in HD no less), and also use it on all the analog cable channels.

Otherwise, you'll probably be better off renting a DVR from your cable
provider.

Dan (Woj...)

My feeling is that your sister should be allowed to order whichever service
she wants to pay for....

"NadCixelsyd" wrote in message
...
I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. I have a Sony HDD-250
hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation.
She
wants cable or FIOS installed. Both Comcast and Verizon offer a
DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16
per
month
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm a TWC customer. I also have an attic antenna and receive
all L.A. area, Mount Wilson, stations. TWC clear channels (no
STB required) include all the OTA HDTV channels, most of the
sub-channels from majors, and a few other SD channels which are
also OTA. It does not carry all the channels available to the
antenna, but few of even rare interest are missing.

The TWC DVR, also $16/mo, is both recorder and STB at $10 / $6
respectively. Meaning that it's only a $10 increment for those
already using an STB.

The basic digital tier here is less than $18/mo. This also
includes the NTSC channels 2-99. With STB/DVR it's $34.. I use
a PC with ATSC/NTSC tuners to record selected items from these
unencrypted channels foregoing the STB/DVR.

As for FIOS, it's not yet in my area, so I've no idea. I gather
it is of most interest to HDTV and high speed internet users?

Once the cable is installed, modems and DVRs are carry out items
for self installation. So, I'd suggest just trying your
recorder to see whether it works.

On Mar 31, 9:17*am, NadCixelsyd wrote:
I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. *I have a Sony HDD-250 hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation. *She
wants cable or FIOS installed. *Both Comcast and Verizon offer a DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16 per
month.

Here's something to consider. If you plan to cancel cable/fiber when
your sister eventually moves out, you may find that it's difficult/
impossible to transfer the stored shows from their DVR.

My sister recently switched from TWC to VZ-FIOS; all those carefully
saved shows stored in their TWC DVR walked out the door when the cable
guy retrieved the equipment.

"NadCixelsyd" wrote in message
...
I currently get my HDTV over-the-air. I have a Sony HDD-250 hooked up
to the antenna.

My sister is living with us while she goes through a separation. She
wants cable or FIOS installed. Both Comcast and Verizon offer a DVR
to rent, but I’m wondering if I can use my own DVR and save $16 per
month.
--------
One can get their own cable box authorized by the cable company, but
it will take a lot of phone calls to get it done. I had a Motorola
DCP-501 authorized by Comcast when I was in northern CA, but the box
mac ID or serial number (can't remember which) needs to entered into
the local office database in order for them to address it (if you can
imagine how long to find someone that could get that done!).

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-DCP50.../dp/B00008ZPJN

Of course, this isn't an HD box, but I was able to use it with
Comcast.....including premium channels and PPV.