Hi,
I've been doing some research regarding digital cable options, and am having trouble deciding which method to use.
WideOpenWest offers the basic digital with CableCard for only a few dollars more than we're paying for analog cable - and it comes with all the HD channels they offer for free. No more pesky cable boxes to worry about, all the channels are changed through the TV. Sounds great, right?
Until I was reading some details about them. Apparently they're like PCMIA cards... and there's no way to connect it to my settop DVD recorder. Which means I'd be stuck with the analog channels and local HD (which they now transmit over analog, but it's a digital signal). I'd have to pay a freakin' ton of money to get a TV tuner for my PC that supports CableCard as well.
Cable boxes would be more flexible for recording, as I could just plug it in the computer and use freeware to dump .ts streams, and I think my settop DVD recorder can interface directly with the cable box for scheduling and stuff. The negatives, though, are that you have to use the cable box remote to change channels and they have this incredibly annoying OSD that says the name of the show (you might be able to turn it off, I'm not sure)... and if you have the box set on a certain channel and program the settop to record it later, and someone goes and changes the channel, you're screwed.
What would you guys suggest? To get a cable box costs like $15 more a month, and my parents would probably be less likely to pay for digital basic (oppose to digital value, which is just the standard 100 channels and local HD), but would let me record shows easier... I like the CableCard idea but if I'm gonna be stuck recording only standard definition shows, I'm not so sure.
I've been doing some research regarding digital cable options, and am having trouble deciding which method to use.
WideOpenWest offers the basic digital with CableCard for only a few dollars more than we're paying for analog cable - and it comes with all the HD channels they offer for free. No more pesky cable boxes to worry about, all the channels are changed through the TV. Sounds great, right?
Until I was reading some details about them. Apparently they're like PCMIA cards... and there's no way to connect it to my settop DVD recorder. Which means I'd be stuck with the analog channels and local HD (which they now transmit over analog, but it's a digital signal). I'd have to pay a freakin' ton of money to get a TV tuner for my PC that supports CableCard as well.
Cable boxes would be more flexible for recording, as I could just plug it in the computer and use freeware to dump .ts streams, and I think my settop DVD recorder can interface directly with the cable box for scheduling and stuff. The negatives, though, are that you have to use the cable box remote to change channels and they have this incredibly annoying OSD that says the name of the show (you might be able to turn it off, I'm not sure)... and if you have the box set on a certain channel and program the settop to record it later, and someone goes and changes the channel, you're screwed.
What would you guys suggest? To get a cable box costs like $15 more a month, and my parents would probably be less likely to pay for digital basic (oppose to digital value, which is just the standard 100 channels and local HD), but would let me record shows easier... I like the CableCard idea but if I'm gonna be stuck recording only standard definition shows, I'm not so sure.
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