Actually on Comcast you are - Tivos have been as low as $59 from J&R recently, and an extra Cablecard outlet costs $6/mo. on Comcast vs. $8.50 for an HD cable box. So, the Tivo pays for itself in less than 2 years.If you're going to use it JUST as a tuner, I'd get a cable box, seriously. You're not really gaining anything with the Tivo.
Will it work correctly even if his cable company has a channel line-up change? Say there's NOTHING on 701 for instance, then 3 months later they add something on 701. He'd still be able to tune that manually? Would he get a notice/message like we do, or no?Actually on Comcast you are - Tivos have been as low as $59 from J&R recently, and an extra Cablecard outlet costs $6/mo. on Comcast vs. $8.50 for an HD cable box. So, the Tivo pays for itself in less than 2 years.
Tivo works fine as a tuner without a sub, but as mentioned you won't have guide data or any access to other Tivos, ability to record, Internet apps, etc. You will have full trick play with dual 30-minute live buffers.
All channels are tunable with Cablecard mapping and new ones show up just like with all other Tivos - you get a message and can keep or delete them.
OP just go buy one and try it out - you have 30 days or more to return it at most retailers. It will work fine as a simple HD cable box with a correctly paired Cablecard. Make sure you go into display settings and set the banner to disappear quickly so you won't get bugged by the nag screen though.
The channels are mapped and authorized by the card, so any new channel can be tuned if it's in your cable tier. Tivo service has nothing to do with it.Will it work correctly even if his cable company has a channel line-up change? Say there's NOTHING on 701 for instance, then 3 months later they add something on 701. He'd still be able to tune that manually? Would he get a notice/message like we do, or no?
It would be bad form for TiVo to disable tuning and buffering of live TV, since that doesn't use their services at all. And you did pay something for the hardware, so it might even be illegal for them to "brick" the unit completely. With no subscription, a TiVo's usefulness is sufficiently limited IMHO.Yep they don't want to sell just the hardware because it doesn't make them any money, and I have wondered why they even allow live TV without service. They could disable that functionality and turn the box into a paperweight at anytime, but they never have.
I'm pretty sure you can access the menu in SDUI.In short, yes it will work just fine if you use the TiVo box with a cablecard/tuning adapter. I did this for a few days on my second unit until I couldn't stand not knowing what I'm watching. The buffer and pause functions are even there. However, you can't record a show or access the TiVo menu at all which cripples the device to just a tuner (which is enough for you as you mentioned).
$85 at AmazonA Premier without a sub is NOT under $100. It's $99 with the $19.99/mo plan.
An unsubbed Premier is $299.
