I haven't really researched this in-depth, but after having seen several TV commercials I've learned that Charter Communications apparently only offers their premium channels through their "Digital Cable" services.

Anyway, there was a brief article in the city paper about how apparently if you have Digital Cable, you are not able to watch one channel and record another on VHS at the same time. I'd guess it's the same thing when you have a service like TiVo.

I assume this is because when the coax comes out of the wall it must pass through the decoder box before anything else.

Furthermore, if there are already these types of limitations, I would guess that you would not be able to, say, leave the house for the evening and record different shows at different times on different channels... because who's changing the channel on the decoder box?

Anyway, it would be great to hear from anyone who has Charter Digital Cable (or a similiar service) who would know the details of their service and explain these issues further.

If what I've heard of these limitations is accurate, I'm baffled why anyone would ever subscribe to Digital Cable.

It ranks right up there with the idea of paying $50 for a massively multiplayer game in a box that only works after additionally paying $10/month for the privledge to play. Blah blah.

Thanks!

I have Charter Digital Cable, because I can't get cable any other way from them. They don't even offer standard cable on the far West side of Madison, where I live.

I can't watch show A, while I record show B. The VCR records whatever channel is on the box at the time. I have no idea how a TiVo would work with it.

The standard digital service is $59.95 per month, but for just $10 more, I get all of the premium channels. whoopdee frickin doo

The only channels that are digital are the premium channels. That means that the rest of the channels are analog which will allow you to split the signal to allow you to watch one channel while recording another or for picture-in-picture.

The way I wun my cable is I split the signal from the wall and run one to the digital cable box then to the TV. The other split is run to the VCR and then to the TV. This way I can watch and record at the same time or use PIP. The downside is I can't watch the premium channels if I am recording from the cable box.

Luckily I can get regular cable from them, so I chose that for $39 a month instead of the digital. I am probably going to go direcTV when I move in 3 months though, as I am getting really tired of the cable TV picture that comes down the pipe, and digital cable just doesn't seem to fit the bill for me.

Charter which inherited TCI's systems (at least in Madison) should use a similar box to what I had when I was with TCI. There was a setting in the menus on TCI's digital box for and A/B switch. Turning this on (i think) allowed your VCR to receive the channels that weren't scrambled. Thus, you could record any of the basic cable channels on the VCR while watching anything on the digital box.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if they eliminated that feature.

I have Charter Digital Cable. The first 70 channels or so are analog, but about 2 dozen or so channels before the premiums are in digital. BBC America, the various Discovery offshoots, History Channel International, Sundance and IFC, all digital.

The box we have is a scientific atlanta box with a single tuner. According to the manual, an optional digital cable bypass is available, allowing you to watch the analog channels while recording from the main tuner. I guess the analog channels are always there, like the line for a cable modem. I keep meaning to go in to the cable office to get one of these bypass things, but I never have yet.

With all the premiums, I get around 140 channels, not counting the crappy music channels. They do not offer cable modem access where I live though According to their sales drone, eventually all the channels will be digital, and the cable modem will be available systemwide.

I'm more or less happy with it A dish with all these channels would cost about the same per month, and I get every channel I know of that I want, with the exception of the Game Show Network.

I had no idea there were places in Madison where you can't get standard cable. I live pretty far west in Madison and I get standard; I guess I'm not as far west as you.

I have avoided digital for just some of the reasons cited in this thread as well as the higher price. I'm reasonably pleased with basic plus (well, as pleased as one can be with the fairly crappy cable picture and sound, but hey - it's just TV shows). But I'm very angry at them for moving ESPN News off regular cable and making it available only for digital subscribers. I complained (politely) in an email and they never even answered me.