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Old 06-21-05, 07:40 AM
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ngp
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Buying Comcast Cable boxes?

I have Comcast Digital Plus service with HD and have the DTC5100 Motoroal HD DVR box. Fortuanately, through the rest of the house I can simply connect the TVs directly to the cable, not needing a cable box to watch channels 1 - 100.

My question is this: I see a lot of people selling Comcast cable boxes on ebay...could I simply buy one of these and plug it into one of my bedroom TV's so that I can view the channels above 100 or would that not work? I have no problem of calling and telling Comcast that I have the box, I just don't want to spend $5.75/mo for every extra box. I much rather just buy the box.

Thanks.
Old 06-21-05, 11:32 AM
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I really doubt it. Most of those people are using hacked cable cards with their online purchased boxes. But why not call Comcast and ask?
Old 06-21-05, 12:10 PM
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Originally Posted by DVD Josh
I really doubt it. Most of those people are using hacked cable cards with their online purchased boxes. But why not call Comcast and ask?
I asked the Comcast installation guy when I got the Motorola box and he said that it wouldn't work but didn't really give me any more detail. I did call customer service and they said that the box needs to be registered on their system for it to work. I'm just not sure if Comcast is telling me the full truth or are they just trying to prevent people from getting their own boxes and taking busines away from them.
Old 06-21-05, 01:33 PM
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Originally Posted by ngp
I asked the Comcast installation guy when I got the Motorola box and he said that it wouldn't work but didn't really give me any more detail. I did call customer service and they said that the box needs to be registered on their system for it to work. I'm just not sure if Comcast is telling me the full truth or are they just trying to prevent people from getting their own boxes and taking busines away from them.
They offered to sell me the box for $500 when I asked if that was possible when I came into rent. Not a hugely terrible deal since the rental of a digital HDTV DVR is $20 per month.
Old 06-21-05, 02:21 PM
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ngp
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WOW! I didn't get any offer to purchase but I may consider buying them directly from Comcast if they did sell them in my area.
Old 06-21-05, 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by ngp
WOW! I didn't get any offer to purchase but I may consider buying them directly from Comcast if they did sell them in my area.
I asked specifically. If they had said $300, I would have been tempted.
Old 06-21-05, 03:19 PM
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I've taken back 4 of my Comcast DVR boxes in the last 3 months because of malfunctions. Not a chance in hell I'd ever want to own one. I'll continue to pay the monthly fee so they'll take these pieces of crap back when they break.
Old 06-21-05, 03:43 PM
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The law requires that you be allowed to purchase them. However, the ones on ebay are probably illegal for other reasons. I don't know if they can be made "ok" by your local company, or if they will simply charge you something ridiculous for new programming or whatever.

In spite of the law, they've basically made it impossible or at least silly ($500??) to purchase them.
Old 06-22-05, 06:13 AM
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ngp
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Originally Posted by Spiky
The law requires that you be allowed to purchase them. However, the ones on ebay are probably illegal for other reasons. I don't know if they can be made "ok" by your local company, or if they will simply charge you something ridiculous for new programming or whatever.

In spite of the law, they've basically made it impossible or at least silly ($500??) to purchase them.

That's what I'm pretty much gathering by searching around on the net on any info. I'm just looking for a basic box that'll let me watch channels beyond the 100 range that I already pay for....you'd think there'd be an easy way to do that without shelling out so much dough!

Oh well....thanks for your input gang!
Old 06-22-05, 06:33 AM
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Originally Posted by lotsofdvds
I've taken back 4 of my Comcast DVR boxes in the last 3 months because of malfunctions. Not a chance in hell I'd ever want to own one. I'll continue to pay the monthly fee so they'll take these pieces of crap back when they break.
They told me basically as long as I had the service, they'd replace the box gratis.
Old 06-24-05, 10:03 PM
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I work at Time Warner and other boxes do not work with our services, becuase we have to have the serial number registered in our system for you to recieve a signal through a box. It's not illegal to sell boxes but it is illegal to buy them and use them to pirate a signal. Also with updates in box technology, it's really not worth buying a box. I've had a dvr for 3 years and I've gone through 5 of them, because of better technology. Also if the box you bought breaks you are on your own.

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