Will tivo hd work without cablecards?

Yes it will work fine, you just won't be able to get any encrypted digital channels.

Do you have a cable box currently? If so, the THD (with CableCARDs) is meant to replace the set top box. You can't connect the STB to the THD.

heisman said:

I don't want to pay for cablecards when I get all the channels I subscribe to without them. Will the box still work without them?

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If you mean analog channels, yes. But in all likelihood(*), you won't be able to use even the free HD versions of the OTA channels on your cable without cablecards. That is, you will be able to tune them, but you won't be able to see any guide data for them and use season passes, etc.

(*) There has been I believe ONE person in all of Tivocommunity that has said they can use the QAM tuners with normal Tivo functionality with no tuners. It isn't true for most people.

Great news. Thank you very much. I want to use the box to get my local HD channels only. Can I also set recurring manual recordings with the HD Tivo, so that I don't have to actually pay for tivo service?

I hooked my hd up before the cc's were installed. I got a lot of channels, some digital and some HD.

heisman said:

Can I also set recurring manual recordings with the HD Tivo, so that I don't have to actually pay for tivo service?

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No, the Tivo HD box essentially does nothing without the service.

jfh3 is correct...

yet I don't quite understand why you would spend good money for a tivo then not subscribe to the service, assuming you presently are paying for cable

I went ahead and bought it. It does allow recurring manual recordings. Works great.

heisman said:

I went ahead and bought it. It does allow recurring manual recordings. Works great.

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Your free grace period on the service expires in around 1 week. After that it won't work that way anymore.

I ran mine OTA only with no cable or cablecards for several weeks. It worked great, I was able to do season passes etc.

Zaph32 said:

I ran mine OTA only with no cable or cablecards for several weeks. It worked great, I was able to do season passes etc.

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But you were paying for TiVo service right? Heisman was asking the behavior when he didn't pay for TiVo service.

sfhub said:

Your free grace period on the service expires in around 1 week. After that it won't work that way anymore.

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I don't have service now. Are you saying they will just lock me out of the box or something?

heisman said:

I don't have service now. Are you saying they will just lock me out of the box or something?

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I believe you actually do have service right now. You have the grace period service. You don't have the paid for service. I don't remember the behavior when your grace period service expires but I believe manual recording can no longer be done. There were some Series1 TiVos that would continue to allow manual record mode, but I believe S2 and on, that stopped.

Usually there is an 6 day grace period to activate the Tivo service... It will appear on your account info screen how many days there are left, to activate your Tivo service

Ohh crap, I guess it's back to best buy.

heisman said:

Ohh crap, I guess it's back to best buy.

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Didn't you do your research about subscriptions beforehand?

I was told on other forums that this box would do recurring manual recordings which is all I need. Tivo is out of their minds to think I would pay them $17 a month for a lousy guide. My dvr service with D* is only $6 a month for Tivo service.

heisman said:

I was told on other forums that this box would do recurring manual recordings which is all I need. Tivo is out of their minds to think I would pay them $17 a month for a lousy guide. My dvr service with D* is only $6 a month for Tivo service.

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If you think that all you're paying for is a lousy guide, then you really didn't do your homework.

So what does it do over and beyond the $6 I pay for it with D* service? BJ?