Alternative to Cable Cards

[wigan4]

I currently have directv with tivo, but because of trees in my area while I can receive SD satellite signals I'll never have enough horizon to get HD since it requires additional satellites that are blocked by trees.

So if I ever want HD, I have to switch to cable. However, first my cable company charges $150 per card, and secondly they won't touch them for installation. There is NO WAY I'm going to try to install these cards myself. And of course, the box itself is horrendous. Simply horrendous--unusable for a tivo person.

But as an alternative, can you use the series 3 HD with an IR blaster such that you have all the search functions, etc, on the tivo box and it simply sends the signal to the cable box to change channels just like you did with teh old series 2 tivo?

It seems to me that as long as the series 3 will simply allow the HD signal to 'pass through' you could run the cable from teh wall to the cable box to your tivo to the TV, then use the IR blaster back to the cable box for channel changing, recording, etc, and get the good tivo screens superimposed on the decoded HD signal from the cable box.

I know it's fine--maybe a hassle but fine--if your cable company charges $1 a card and will support you, but for a guy like me or other people scared to death of the price/reliability of cable cards, is this a viable alternative?

Are there any Tips and Tricks for this--I couldn't find any, anyhow.

(Of course, I guess question #1 is, do the HD tivos have the same IR blaster? I guess I should go look--but I'd appreciate any answers anyhow.)

[ah30k]

The TiVo S3 cannot control an external cable box. Good thing too, since what you want to do would be about as terrible as I can imagine. If you want to record a show in the future, how in the world would the TiVo be able to use an IR blaster to set up a future recording on a cable company STB? Then what about season passes, how would a TiVo season pass translate into a cable STB season pass? A disaster, I tell you.

Does you cable company SELL CableCARDs for $150? This seems really strange since most cable companies lease them to subscribers.

[acvthree]

There is no IR blaster or HD input on the Series 3 or the HDTivo. The intent of both of those product is to replace the set top box, not control them.

Where are you located and who is your cable provider? I've heard of cable companies that won't rent, but that's a little higher than any price I've run across.

Al

[MickeS]

I've seen others here mention a cable company that only sold the cards (was around $125 IIRC), not leased them. It was a smaller company, but I can't remember the name.

You might want to look into OTA as an option for the at least the locals in HD, if nothing else it would be free.

[ciper]

Since they are selling cards,,, couldn't you find out which models they are using and purchase one on Ebay for them to activate?

[Resist]

However, first my cable company charges $150 per card, and secondly they won't touch them for installation. There is NO WAY I'm going to try to install these cards myself.$150 per card!!!! I only pay $2 per card per month. Installation is very easy, I had to tell my cable installer how to do it and then they charged me $25!

[JimRI]

nstallation is very easy, I had to tell my cable installer how to do it and then they charged me $25!

Yeah, installation couldn't be easier. You simply insert the cards into the TiVo and wait for the Host ID #, CableCard (tm)#, and one other group of numbers to show up on your screen. You then call those numbers into you cable company and they will pair them to your account. Done.

[RonDawg]

There is NO WAY I'm going to try to install these cards myself.

Installation isn't the hard part. If you can connect a TiVo to your TV properly, you can install a CableCard.

The hard part is the cable provider properly initializing, validating, and sometimes pairing the cards to your particular TiVo. It involves reading off a set of numbers on the screen, and the techs often get the numbers wrong.

[mattack]

$150 per card!!!! I only pay $2 per card per month. Installation is very easy, I had to tell my cable installer how to do it and then they charged me $25!

Ok, so then lets take $150, subtract the $25 you had to pay for installation. So it would take 62.5 months to pay the same as someone would in buying cable cards.. a bit over 5 years.

That seems close to a reasonable gamble, IMHO, just like many of us do with 'lifetime' subscriptions on hardware that could die.