CABLE BOXES

[Lenin]

I have one Comcast (Motorola) cable box for the LR and one "basic" boxless hookup for the BR.
Of course the picture on the BR TV is miserable for the local channels and that is extremely annoying...also many "unpremium channels" are unavailable without the box.
Since I am paying for digital service, I was thinking that adding another digital box to the bedroom might be a good idea. Rather than pay an additional $7 a month ad infinitum to rent a box, buying one on e-bay or elsewhere strikes me as a money saver.

Has anyone done this? Did it work or does Comcast have to send an activating signal of some kind to each particular box.

Will ANY brand of digital box work?

Does anyone see any problems with my plan?

Any other ideas?

[07310]

I have one Comcast (Motorola) cable box for the LR and one "basic" boxless hookup for the BR.
Of course the picture on the BR TV is miserable for the local channels and that is extremely annoying...also many "unpremium channels" are unavailable without the box.
Since I am paying for digital service, I was thinking that adding another digital box to the bedroom might be a good idea. Rather than pay an additional $7 a month ad infinitum to rent a box, buying one on e-bay or elsewhere strikes me as a money saver.

Has anyone done this? Did it work or does Comcast have to send an activating signal of some kind to each particular box.

Will ANY brand of digital box work?

Does anyone see any problems with my plan?

Any other ideas?

I have one cable box for one TV and no boxes for the other 2 TVs which only get basic cable, the reception is fine except on some of the standard stations, (4 & 7) which I don't watch. I felt it wasn't worth the money for the extra boxes and to keep my bill to $40 a month.

[icarus]

I have one Comcast (Motorola) cable box for the LR and one "basic" boxless hookup for the BR.
Of course the picture on the BR TV is miserable for the local channels and that is extremely annoying...also many "unpremium channels" are unavailable without the box.
Since I am paying for digital service, I was thinking that adding another digital box to the bedroom might be a good idea. Rather than pay an additional $7 a month ad infinitum to rent a box, buying one on e-bay or elsewhere strikes me as a money saver.

Has anyone done this? Did it work or does Comcast have to send an activating signal of some kind to each particular box.

Will ANY brand of digital box work?

Does anyone see any problems with my plan?

Any other ideas?
Rather than shell out $7/month for an extra cable box, buy a remote control extender.
This nifty gadget lets you control your cable box [or DVD player or any other device] from another room [say the bedroom]. A google search for "Wireless Remote Control Extender " should point you in the right direction.

One of the many sites that offer such a device:

http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AR1810&CATID=&keywords=remote+control+extender&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=xxxxxxxxxx&Keyword2=xxxxxxxxxx&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

[Lenin]

Thank you icarus. That sounds like a good workaround solution.

My only fear is that since the infared is converted to UHF for transmission to another room, would the metal framing of the building deteriorate the signal like it does a TV signal?

I'll look into it.

07310,
My reception in the bedroom without a cable box is miserable on channels 2, 4, 7 and 13 and fairly annoying on 5, 9, and 11. Of course the 50 or so channels that ate MISSING in the bedroom are also an annoyance...like BBCA!

I dread the period after a year when I am forced to choose basic to save money and that mess will be my day to day TV watching. For $42 or whatever they charge, it will be a worse deal even than RCN gave us.:(
Fortunately I have a long time yet to run on my GOLD plan...and I LOVE the ON DEMAND feature...that is the coolest thing since they invented sex!