Rough night last night, I thought a severe weather alert had been cancelled, so at about 1:30am I was holding an umbrella over my neps during a brief hailstorm. To the plus I captured about 30 gallons of rainwater.
Anyway, the local cable carrier TWC has said that it is going to go all digital in its network or however you say it. I have two tv's; one tube type, one plasma,
both have digital tuners. Many have said that cable networks rarely if ever mention that sets with digital tuners can decode and display HD/digital channels without a cable box...at the service tier I have I get a few. They say they are going to move around channels, and that this device (the Cisco piece)
will allow customers to continue receiving channels they will otherwise lose. No one I know knows much about the device, what it does, and how much info it relays back to the cable co., and/or if it is really necessary. It will cost $1.00 per month, so no biggie. I think it may be more oriented to those with older tube tv's with analog tuners, but it also has output HDMI, leading me to think it can at least output if not upscale to HD. One forum I found had conflicting info, and said it took a digital HD signal stepped it down to SD and upconverted to HD at the HDMI output, assuming it was an HD signal in the first place. It is obviously more than just a digital to analog tuner, but how much and what I do not know, and info is sparce.
Prior to all this, the co. said if someone wanted to upgrade to digital tv you needed a cable box of theirs and it would be "free" for the $10 box rental. That was at a higher service tier than I have so not applicable.
What I am wondering is if this device will unleash new material or perhaps get stuff through at higher resolution or perhaps in a multi-channel audio format...or just be a waste of time, money, power, and unnecessary connections. It also comes with a remote, is sort-of hooked up like a VCR so that you select a channel and use the device remote instead of your tv's. I don't like that idea too much.
As as sidebar, I tried to watch a show and the channel was just fuzz, I checked their listing of where they had moved it to, and that channel came in. So at least for that one channel, I can still watch it. Cannot speak for all the rest, or what they will do in the future.
Anybody know anything about this??
Thanks.
Anyway, the local cable carrier TWC has said that it is going to go all digital in its network or however you say it. I have two tv's; one tube type, one plasma,
both have digital tuners. Many have said that cable networks rarely if ever mention that sets with digital tuners can decode and display HD/digital channels without a cable box...at the service tier I have I get a few. They say they are going to move around channels, and that this device (the Cisco piece)
will allow customers to continue receiving channels they will otherwise lose. No one I know knows much about the device, what it does, and how much info it relays back to the cable co., and/or if it is really necessary. It will cost $1.00 per month, so no biggie. I think it may be more oriented to those with older tube tv's with analog tuners, but it also has output HDMI, leading me to think it can at least output if not upscale to HD. One forum I found had conflicting info, and said it took a digital HD signal stepped it down to SD and upconverted to HD at the HDMI output, assuming it was an HD signal in the first place. It is obviously more than just a digital to analog tuner, but how much and what I do not know, and info is sparce.
Prior to all this, the co. said if someone wanted to upgrade to digital tv you needed a cable box of theirs and it would be "free" for the $10 box rental. That was at a higher service tier than I have so not applicable.
What I am wondering is if this device will unleash new material or perhaps get stuff through at higher resolution or perhaps in a multi-channel audio format...or just be a waste of time, money, power, and unnecessary connections. It also comes with a remote, is sort-of hooked up like a VCR so that you select a channel and use the device remote instead of your tv's. I don't like that idea too much.
As as sidebar, I tried to watch a show and the channel was just fuzz, I checked their listing of where they had moved it to, and that channel came in. So at least for that one channel, I can still watch it. Cannot speak for all the rest, or what they will do in the future.
Anybody know anything about this??
Thanks.
