Do I need a STB for every TV?
webtech9
Newbie

I have 4 tv's in my house

  1. HDTV in living room with HD DVR - works great
  2. HDTV in master bedroom with HD DVR - works great
  3. SD TV in bedroom 2 - no STB, coax running to TV - no channels
  4. SD TV in bedroom 3 - no STB, coax running to TV - no channels

TV 3 and 4 are in the kids room and I didnt want to have to get a STB for those TV's. I just wanted to get the regular channels available like I did with my previous Cable ( C  O   X  )  provider.

Is this possible or do I NEED to have STB?  The sale rep over chat and the install tech both told me I only needed to plug the cable directly into TV.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

Unless your SD TVs have a QAM tuner then you won't be able to see anything.  FiOS has NO analog (old NTSC) channels - everything is digital.  And before you ask, no the boxes from the government coupons won't work as these are for OTA (over the air) signals which are ATSC modulated.

Your best (cheapest) solution is the DCT-700 (also called digital adapter) which is $3.99 a month from Verizon.  This will allow ALL the SD programming you are subscribed to to be accessed.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
ekem015
Specialist - Level 1

Both the sales rep and install tech quite clearly do not know what they are talking about.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
mct557
Newbie

COX Cable will provide the DCT-700s at no charge, up to a quantity of two.  Not sure why Verizon doesn't follow suit.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Others have covered the QAM tuner ... older SD TV's are very unlikely to have one.  

What I did for my lesser used TV's was take the RF output from one of my existing STB's and run a piece of Coax from that STB to the older TV's inputs.  You have to watch the "same" channel as the master box on each of the other TV's, but for instance, I do this for the TV in the kitchen (where it's always on the same channel as the TV in the Living Room -- just so you can see the picture while working in the kitchen) and I have the TV in my office and the one in the workshop likewise chained off the Master Bedroom TV -- since those 3 TV"s aren't usually in use at the same times.

If all your Coax runs come from a single source point in the house, you can locate a single STB there and RF feed the rest of SD TV's that you want to share the tuner from there. 

To get around the "remote" not in front of the box problem, I use a NextGen Remote Control Extender (See your local neighborhood South American River themed e-tailer) which wirelessly transmits the remote codes to the STB sitting in another room -- the way it works by using a small transmitting inside the battery compartment of the remote is REALLY slick.

Also ... if your STB doesn't have an RF output, you can use a component to RF modulator to snag the composite video output off the STB and modulate it onto channel 3 or 4 (about $15 from that same e-tailer).

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
prisaz
Legend

@mct557 wrote:

COX Cable will provide the DCT-700s at no charge, up to a quantity of two.  Not sure why Verizon doesn't follow suit.


I would have to agree with this. With Verizon's go digital drive when the analog channels were dropped they offered it for a period of time. But the one free adaptor I receive was only free for a year because I was told it was activated wrong( By them), and they gave me a monthly credit. I followed all the proceedures listed in the "free adaptor" package, but have been paying $3.99 a month since it was activated. It is one of the things that had upset me for a while, but I have since gotten over it, and Verizon has fixed a few other issues that make up for it. Overall I am a happy customer.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
spacedebris
Master - Level 2

@prisaz wrote:

@mct557 wrote:

COX Cable will provide the DCT-700s at no charge, up to a quantity of two.  Not sure why Verizon doesn't follow suit.


I would have to agree with this. With Verizon's go digital drive when the analog channels were dropped they offered it for a period of time. But the one free adaptor I receive was only free for a year because I was told it was activated wrong( By them), and they gave me a monthly credit. I followed all the proceedures listed in the "free adaptor" package, but have been paying $3.99 a month since it was activated. It is one of the things that had upset me for a while, but I have since gotten over it, and Verizon has fixed a few other issues that make up for it. Overall I am a happy customer.


Yeah, Verizon did provide free ones (up to 3) when the digital conversion started. And then only to existing customers. new customers after the digital conversion did not qualifiy. Verizon had to do that as the customers that were getting channels without paying for a box were "grandfathered" in so they still didnt have to pay for it. But new customers didnt get the free programming so they were not entitiled to the free box. At least that was Verizons thinking.

As for Cox offering the free boxes. According to the press release they released last year, that is only a limited time thing also, they will be charging for them as well in short order.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
Wes1977
Newbie

I still am missing something here.

I ordered FIOS right when I purchased a new house in a new city.  I moved in, not the family.  I am paying for two STBs monthly.  I was told that those were to get all of the channels so I assumed it was for the HD ones.

I do not have a single tv in my house that isn't HD.

Why can't I get a signal when attaching a standard cable from the wall to the tv?  I didn't think I would get all of the channels but the basic channels should have come through.  If I have to buy a box for every room FIOS will be one less customer soon.

Anyone care to explain my mistake?

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

There are essentially three kinds of "cable TV" signals that your are mixing up  .. analog, clear QAM digital, encrypted QAM digital.

A long time ago on a cable network far far away, digital signals didn't exist -- so all channels were delivered in analog format.  Many legacy cable networks continue to carry some portion of their channels in analog format.

With the advent of digital signals (remember that whole series of government public service announcements about having to get converter boxes if you used an old TV over the air?), cable providers started to move to the QAM standard.  QAM can be "clear" (or unencrypted) or it can be encrypted.   Note that this standard is different than the format that is being used for "over the air" digital signals which is known as ATSC.

Because cable networks can carry a lot more channels in digital format (many channels in the space of a single analog channel), they have been moving over to all digital networks.  On legacy cable providers, they've been diffusing the backlash from the customers by temporarily providing basic function SD STB's when they eliminate the analog signals from their network.

Verizon FiOS is new to the game, so they never built "analog" transmission into their network (and wouldn't because, well, it's a "digital" network). 

In short, all you have on the "coax" in your house is a few clear QAM and mostly encrypted QAM. 

You TV's are problably configured for over the air reception -- meaning they look for the now defunct NTSC channels (well mostly defunct) and ATSC.   In some TV's they also have a QAM tuner -- this is usually activated by setting the TV to "Cable" mode instead of "Air" mode but you need to read your manual.

In TV's with a QAM tuner, you will find a few channels -- mostly a handful of local channels and cable access channels (in my area some of the ones below channel 49).  These are not in the low channel numbers, but way up on the high numbers (5 digit channels).   There isn't much here ... and definitely nothing the kids will probably be looking for.

To get the encrypted digital you need an STB.  Verizon has the basic STB digital adapter for about $3.99 which gets you these.  If you want VOD and the channel guide, you need the full SD STB or HD STB.

The box you got for your TV's when you moved in got you not just the HD channels, but also all the encrypted channels.

In short, you're thinking analog in a digital world.

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Re: Do I need a STB for every TV?
ekem015
Specialist - Level 1

Of course, it would be entirely possible for Verizon to open up more channels to Clear QAM (like the basic 1-99 stations that other cable providers have in analog; there is no reason Verizon couldn't offer a limited Clear QAM lineup in that fashion). But, that would take away from STB rental revenues, so that's why Verizon chooses to encrypt all of its channels that it legally can.

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