Forum Discussion

mcook10's avatar
mcook10
New Contributor
8 years ago

Multiple TV's in one room

I have one TV connected to the cable box. Now that football season is upon us I want to put 2 TVs in the same room. What is the best way to go about that? By best I mean least expensive.
  • If you are trying to connect one cable box to 2 TV's simultaneously, you could connect to one TV with an HDMI cord and the other with a set of component cables. If you are trying to have it separate so that you are able to view different channels on each TV, then you would need to rent a 2nd cable box. You could then get a 2-way cable splitter and split the coaxial cable to each box in order to provide the signal for each.

    Brian
    Cox Support Forums Moderator
  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    It's all about tuners.  Your TV probably has two tuners:  ATSC and QAM.  However, with Cox now encrypting their signals, you'll have to rent their tuner (cable box) to decrypt their cable signal.  Therefore the ATSC tuner in your TV is practically useless.

    Cox Cable Box:  $8.50 per month × 12 months = $102

    QAM, on the other hand, is over-the-air (OTA) digital signals.  Meaning, your local affiliates (CBS, Fox, NBC, etc) are broadcasting the same program via an antenna.  To use your QAM tuner, you'll need to connect an HDTV antenna to your second TV.

    HDTV Antenna:  $8 - $200.  Plus, you'll need to research distances to local broadcast stations, antenna ratings, best placements, amplified or amplified antennas, etc.  There are plenty of articles reviewing the effectiveness and placement of these antennas.

    Connect your 2nd TV to your router and stream the games.  You'll need to download the app for each network (CBS, Fox, NBC, etc).  Some streaming services are paid subscriptions but some are free.

    Paid Streaming:  NFL Game Pass ($100 per year)...CBS All-Access ($6 - $10 per month [depending on ad option])...DirecTV Sunday Ticket ($69.99 per month for 4 months)

    Free Streaming:  If you already subscribe to cable, you only need to download the applicable app and enter your Cox login.

    Amazon Prime also has a streaming option.

    Good article at http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000833701/article/how-to-stream-nfl-games-for-the-2017-season