cable TV converter

That depends on what T.W. is going to put on the cable, if forced to guess i'd guess no, they're probably going to encrypt the content and use sofware running in the converter or a CA module to control access.

I don't think they are goingtoencryt the data. From my understanding the newer digital cable ready sets will not need the converter, just the older analog sets will need them.

I have one TV connected to the regular cable box to get lots of stations and HBO and such that is encrypted. I have one set that is a newer one that is digital and cable ready that gets my basic package of local stations and a few other tihings. I have one in the basement that is an old analog set that is cable ready and I get about 80 channels on it. To use it with an outside antenna when the cable is off I now need that converter that the government was providing a few years back.

I thought that if someone was in an area that had already gone digital they could tell me if I could use the 'government' converter box when TWC goes to all digital.

Hello, and I was surprised to find in the OP that analog CATV was still being used anywhere (with the exception of on-campus satellite-fed distribution systems at retirement communities, etc). I live in the metro Washington DC area and my CATV provider (Comcast) went digital a number of years ago. At that time and for quite a while the broadcast (i.e. what's also available over-the-air) network signals carried on cable were still analog but all other channels were digital and encrypted. IOW, you could connect the cable directly to a conventional analog TV and still tune in just the analog channels.

Now all signals on my cable are encrypted. If you have the appropriate card slot on your flat-screen TV set, Comcast can provide you with a plug-in decryption card (it's essentially what's already plugged into a set-top box). An older CRT-based TV with just a traditional analog tuner will require an adapter (a "DTA" in Comcast/Xfinity jargon) or a set-top box (usually needed for on-demand viewing).

I don't know how T.W. is going to handle it (maybe it's moot if Comcast acquires T.W.) Sincerely,

I am the OP. I have 2 TVs that are the old analog type. One is in the basement and the other in a spare bedroom I often look at the one in the basement while my wife is using the big screen in the living room.

I have looked into the box TWC is wanting us to get. It now appears to me that even my two digital TV sets will have to have this box or another TWC digital box to receive anything at all. They say this will be free for about a year , then they will charge about $ 3 per box each month. That means to get the other sets to work I will soon be paying about $ 15 more per month just to get what I am getting now.

No wonder that more are switching off the cable system. For some reason my wife is just not able to use technology. If she could , I would switch to the ROKU or such for everything. I have that box now that I use for some things. It might be time for me to check out the satalite services.

I just bought my own internet cable modem when about a year ago they started charging about $ 5 per month for the cable modem. Payed about $ 20 for that box.

I don't think so.

It turns out there are two types of DTV, the one for over the air and the one that cable uses. ATSC is used for over the air, QAM is used for cable. Generally DTV sets receive both, though I seem to recall noticing somewhere that something could receive one but not the other.

But since the DTV converters were intended for over the air reception, I suspect they only do ATSC decoding, rather than also QAM. But I'm pretty sure you need QAM for cable.

Michael

From all this, it looks like I may be going to the Direct TV system. Seems that every year the cable company finds a way to get more money out of me. It is not that they go up on the price, but keep adding on charges. Last time for the internet cable modem they decided to start charging about $ 5 per month. I found a new one to buy for about $ 25 shipped.

Today I got a form leter from cable and they state that nomater what kind of TV I have I will have to have either the full cable box (that I have one now) or their adapter. They want to only give me one adapter for one year and after that it will be $ 2.75 per adapter per month. Looks like they are going to sort of scramble all the chanels in a few months so only their boxes will allow a TV hook up.