[lonb]

I have a DTV and planning to get an HD receiver from the cable company to replace the existing one. If I were to get an HD receiver for an analog TV, so I don't have to make two trips since we will probably replace that TV in the not too distant future, would it still work? Thanks for any help!

 

[Cholly]

Yep.

 

[Nick]

I currently have two SA 8300HD DVRs and they tune all cable channels, analog,
digital and HD. The monthly rental may be a little higher than a basic stb, so
whether to get one in advance to 'save a trip' as you say, would be your call.

 

[Cholly]

I, too, have two of the SA 8300HD's. I'm told that the Motorola HD boxes are better, but Time Warner uses SA DVR's. If your cable company is Time Warner, figure on fees as follows: You must subscribe to Digital cable for starters. There is an additional fee for the HD Tier, plus a DVR fee if you choose to have a DVR. For each additional DVR, you'd have to pay another DVR fee plus a "Navigator Plus" fee.

I'm assuming you have either Comcast or Cox as a cable provider. Check the cable company's web site -- they usually publish rates on the web.

 

[Steve Mehs]

In my division it’s actually cheaper for HD DVRs then SD DVRs, go figure. Box rental is $7.95/month for any and every box, basic, HD or DVR. DVRs get an extra $9.99 per DVR fee on top of the rental fee. However, HD DVRs are rented out at $12.95/month per box and that includes both the rental and DVR fee. Never heard of a Navigator Plus fee. The Rochester TWC division doesn’t follow what the typical structure. No ‘DigiPac’ pricing. You either have digital cable at $55.95 or you don’t. If you have digital cable you can add any of the 4 premium movie packages, Encore, the Sports Tier or HD Tier.

Although on the bill it’s broken down to

$7.57 – Terminal Rental
$0.38 – Remote Rental
$5.00 – HD DVR Fee

But that’s still cheaper then a standard def DVR set up at

$7.57 – Terminal Rental
$0.38 – Remote Rental
$9.99 – DVR Fee

Be aware, if your cable company uses Scientific Atlanta hardware (not sure how this works for Moto), if you connect a Sci Atl box via component cable to a standard def TV that has component inputs for 480i, it will not work, you will have to downgrade to Svideo. When I had my second Tv hooked up to cable after I was sure I wanted it, the installer brought an HD DVR by mistake and tried hooking it up to the 48” SD TV in the living room which has component in and it was a no go so he hooked it up with svideo. Due to the limited supply of HD DVRs I ended up taking the box back to the office the next day and exchanging it for a SD DVR, since we didn’t really need one on that TV.