Digital cable box purchase- Bad idea? (1 Viewer)

[Jon Duke]

Currently, in my home we are set up for Digital cable through Adelphia, and we "renting" (?) a box through them (which seems a prerequesite for having digital cable).

I have more than one TV, and I'd like to add the channels/capabilities to my other TVs but I'd rather not pay an extra $6.50 a month. What do you think about purchasing a cable box on Ebay? Legal ramifications aside, is it possible to use a cable box not assigned by Adelphia? I am interested in the Scientific American box that offers a coaxial digital ouput and an s-video output. Would this box work on an Adelphia system that works with General Instruments and Motorola boxes?


BTW, is it "illegal" to use your own cable box?

 

[Kyle McKnight]

It's not illegal to own your own cable box. I haven't really looked around and digital cable boxes. You could call your cable company, tell them you want to buy your own box, and find out which kind you'd have to buy.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Sorry, but your cable operator requires that you pay for the services you use. Kyle has offered you proper advice—that is, encouraging you to call your cable company about what you want to do. But don't use this board to seek advice about circumventing the legal access of cable signals.

 

[Carl Johnson]

About a week ago I read a story about some company that was selling bootleg satellite dish hardware. When the company got busted every one of their customers name and address was on file. The satellite company sent these people an ultimatum to either pay for the services that they had stolen along with a substantial penalty fee or they would be sued. Many of those lawsuits were pending for dollar amounts upwards of $10,000.
Regardless I doubt that the boxes would come cheap. Why pay a one time $100 purchase price when you could have rented it for $6.50 per month? A couple years from now the box will probably be needing an upgrade anyway.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

There is a difference between buying a cable box, and buying one that descrables pay-channels. From his original message, I took it he just wanted to avoid the monthly rental fee he must pay the cable company to have digital cable in his home, on each TV.

 

[Jon Duke]

Exactly Kyle.

I am by no means trying to "buck the system" or be a cable pirate. I simply want to use the capabilities I have on my main TV, and am currently paying for, on my bedroom TV. Going one step further, I wondered if there are format differences between different brands of cable boxes. I noticed that Adelphia in my area only uses Motorola and General Instruments. It seems the Scientific American box has a few more goodies in terms of connectiosn than the boxes available through Adelphia.

I am not trying to add channels that I am not currently signed up for with Adelphia, I just want to be able to watch HB0 800 and the GameShow network on every TV