Why Do I Have To Pay An Extra Monthly Fee Just To Get HD From My Cable Company?
 

I'm pretty much stuck paying the cable bill because my mom starts to cry if I tell her I want to cut it off or have her pay half the bill.

But if I'm going to be stuck with cable I want to get the most out of it, I'm thinking of moving to direct TV and paying for my internet separately.

What I want to know is if I stick with my current service is there anyway to get my HD channels to show up in high def instead of standard def without paying the $5 extra a month for a HD box for each TV in the house?

That's pretty much all the box does, give you HD. I can get a DVR box for more but I don't even use cable very much.

A lot of it has to do with your TV and how the cable company filters things. If they scramble the channels you will need the box, but many cable companies don't actually scramble the channels so you could hook the cable right into your TV, do a channel scan and likely get most of the channels in HD. That said, it will depend a lot on your TV. For example, a friend of mine has two TVs hooked up with the cable directly into them. One of them gets about 75 channels and the other gets about 125.

The box they sell you, in part, is to make sure that you get all of the channels you pay for. Try putting the cable right into your TV and see what you get. If you get all of your channels then you don't need the box.

I don't think that will work for us. We have Wow and they make you have a tiny box for every TV in your house. Don't have a box then you cant get cable to that third or fourth TV

Move out from your moms maybe?

That would be bad for her. Then I need to pay my own bills and part of hers.

I don't even have cable or satellite television. What's the point? I finally figured out why so many times I'd see a HDTV in a home or a store with blocky picture syndrome. No one but me could see it, apparently. Then come to find out- it's because the cable and satellite providers have to compress everything to hell and it's not actually in HD then anyway.

Then it sounds like they have everything filtered so you are likely stuck with the box. If you have a newer TV it is worth giving it a try, but it likely won't work.

One word of advice....



POO...



No, actually its 'pansat'




I'll say no more here, except that google is your friend....

Fair enough, but if she cant afford it, then she shouldn't have it. If you can afford it with no problems, then pay it she's your mom. But, if you cant really afford it, only fair she chips in.

What about picture quality on those FTA Receivers

Because they charge more for it.

Bang the Comcast lady :question

That's where they make their money now. I get analog for free at my place. I don't know the details, but apparently after the switch to digital signals a few years ago, the cable companies can't control analog signals like they used to be able to.

They have to pay for better hardware and software to stream in HD along with the extra bandwidth and infrastructure required, plus maybe extra licensing fees too. Some companies get better deals on this so if you're not happy, shop around.

You have to pay more because most people will pay more...

It can't carry on like this much longer though - More people are expecting HD as default I think...

Many people are cutting the cord too. Between many networks streaming their shows on on their websites, Hulu, Youtube, Netflix and Amazon (not to mention other less legal ways) you can easily get most TV shows without cable. The exception is sports and live events.

Exactly - The Cable companies are milking HD while they can...

The problem for them seems to be that there doesn't seem to be a next 'big thing' - 3D didn't work out and 4K is still a few years away, if it takes off at all - They don't have much left to offer at a premium.....

I seem to recall you are super broke from some threads in the past, excuse me if Im mistaken.

Sounds like you cant afford cable, you should investigate some kind of antenna setup.

My mom just bought a 60 inch, she borrowed money from relatives. You can't really tell her she can't afford things because she won't listen. Plus, it's hard to say no to her when her health is so bad.

Have they finally cracked Nagra3?

This pretty much sums up cable companies.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=D6G-wNyIxzM

Well NCAA Basketball during March Madness plays all the games live online via CBS.. So even live events are now being broadcast online and it's only a matter of time before more start doing so.