On Mar 26, 10:22*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Mar 26, 10:07*am, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:





Hello,

This is not really a "repair" question, but I am still looking for some
info. please. Comcast Cable is doing some kind of switchover to mostly
all digital channels on April 15th of this year, I believe it is. They
say that channels 23-69 are all going to be in digital, and the only way
you can view them is if you have either #1 a "Digital Converter Box", OR
#2 a "DTA Box, both if which you get from Comcast.

If you don't use one of those 2 boxes, then you won't be able to view
channels 23-69 after April 15th, 2010. Anyway my question is, in the
living room where we have our TV and the Comcast "Digital Converter
Box", we have the A/B Switch hooked up to the VCR, so that we can record
one show on the VCR while watching another show on the "Digital
Converter Box". But now when they do the switch over, the VCR will no
longer get channels 23-69.

I know that you can hook up the "RCA Plugs" to the "Digital Converter
Box" and plug them into the VCR, but the problem with that is you HAVE
to watch whatever your taping. So what happens if you want to tape
something on your VCR, and watch a different channel with the Converter
Box??

According to Comcast, the analog VCR will no longer be able to get
channels 23-69. So basically they are forcing you to USE either the
"Digital Converter Box" or "DTA Box" at all times.

They say that you CAN'T use both boxes together, it's either one or the
other. So what happens if I want to tape something on say channel 49 at
8:00 pm, and watch something on channel 31 at 8:00 pm as well? Channel
49 won't come in on the VCR and only on the "Converter Box", so I can't
tape one thing and watch another.

Does anyone know if there is a way around this? Is there a VCR with a
digital scrambler in it to pick up the digital channels, so that I can
continue to tape one show while watching another?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I think your chances of finding anything vcr that deals with new
digital stuff are about zip.

I don't have Comcast, but from the description of the problem, I
agree. Most of the cable companies are going to digital to pack more
channels into the same system. But you then need a QAM digital tuner
to receive that channel.





*It's just about impossible to find a vcr
period. *You will need a second converter box and I also suspect
comcast charges by the month per box? *You may find it is no savings
over going ahead with a dvr and dumping your vcr. *On the plus side
the dvr makes scheduling recordings far easier.- Hide quoted text -

I think you probably mean a DVR supplied by Comcast, which is just a
different cable box that cable companies typically charge about $10/
mth extra for that include recording capability. That would solve the
problem, because all the ones I've seen let you record one program
while watching another. On the other hand, a second cable box is
probably only about half that. But I agree that the DVR makes
recording and watching things MUCH easier.

The other choice is to buy a standalone DVR with a QAM tuner. For
example, you can buy a Tivo and a plug-in cable card. I've used Tivo
and Cablevisions DVR, made by Scientifc-Atlanta. And I can tell you
there is no comparison in ease of use. The Tivo is far superior.
However, the Tivo together with the service aren't cheap. It would
probably take 5 years to break even, after that you;d be ahead.

You might also be able to find some standalone QAM tuner product on
Ebay or someplace. But that leaves one big problem, which is unless
the existing VCR can talk to and change the tuner, it won't be able to
switch among the channels. So, to record something, you'd have to
set the QAM tuner to the channel and the VCR to the record time for a
one time recording.

Which gets back to what James said about DVRs being so much more user
friendly. If you're looking for a cheap non hidef DVR solution,
another possibility might be to find a used Tivo on Ebay that is
bundled with lifetime service. People might be dumping them when
moving to HD, etc. Just make sure you get one with a cablecard, as
that is the critical piece to receive the digital channels.