New Contributor II
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59 Messages
Mini-Box or ????
I'm trying to decide what new equipment we need to lease from Cox or buy outright. I understand Cox TV is going all digital in January 2016, so we have to do something by then. We presently have 4 TV's in the house:
1) Has ATSC Tuner & Cox HD TV receiver
2) Has ATSC tuner, no box
3 & 4) older analog tuners, no boxes.
I understand the first year lease/rental/whatever fees on the Mini Box is free, and they will cost $2.99/month after that. The HD receiver we now have costs $8.50/month, so we are considering getting another one of these receivers and two mini boxes.
What I am seeking is informed opinions as to what options provide which channels. For example, I was told by a Cox rep that the older analog TV's will only receive Chan 1-99 with ANY box. FWIW, my analog TV's have composite/component/RF inputs, no HDMI, etc. So it would be a waste to pay for an HD box to put on the old clunkers (obviously). One of the older TV's has an ATSC tuner, HDMI, S-Video, Component, Cable Card, etc. inputs. What channels could it receive with a cable card? Would it have to have a box of some sort with an HDMI out to the TV?
I know it would be way easier to buy 3 new TV's and scrap the old ones, but the old ones work fine and are filling our needs.
Thanx for any replies.
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wees41
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cox digital is qam based and will be encrypted cable card will get all channels except sdv and on demand.
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justmebobc
New Contributor
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1 Message
My second TV (Vizio HD LCD) had no box and with only coax attached, it would only receive local channels. With the new mini box connected, it now receives all the extended digital HD channels that my main TV receives.
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chris_c21
Contributor III
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625 Messages
It all depends on which TV package you have. The mini-boxes will only get you channels within the Starter and Essential tiers. The $8.50 Advanced Receiver and DVRs get you all of your channels, here's a link to the channel lineup you can look at.
http://www.cox.com/residential/tv/channel-lineup.cox
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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2.8K Messages
And it seems like not all the essentials channels. As per moderator here.
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chris_c21
Contributor III
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625 Messages
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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2.8K Messages
My question is; why?
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chris_c21
Contributor III
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625 Messages
It's gotta come down to the price that Cox pays to the broadcasters, right? Economy TV is, as the name implies, an economically-built set of channels, hence the reason it doesn't have ESPN. In my area, Economy is $40/mo and Essentials is $76/mo, that's without any discounts.
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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2.8K Messages
But Cox pays per account, not per box. So why shouldn't the mini box get the same Essential channels that a advanced receiver gets? Someone mentioned some setting in the mini box, but I think that's a smoke screen.
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