Do I need rent a box?

[gatorsuf1]

I am curious if there is a way to provide basic TV channels to the spare bedroom in my house. We literally never use the room except when guests come over and spending $5 a month on a basic cable box from Verizon is not a great solution. On top of that we did it for a while and the box itself gave us nothing but problems, constantly pixilated and many of the channels didn't work well enough to actually watch.

Can I buy a "digital converter box" and hook it o my TV to recieve these channels or do I have to rent from Verizon. I since switched to a Digital Antenna as it seems to work better than the FiOS box ever did.

[mfizzy]

Connect the cable to the tv and scan for channels. You should get some, but not many.

[gatorsuf1]

I've tried that in the past and got nothing....the TV is relatively new.

[roaddogg1]

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@GatorsUF wrote:

I am curious if there is a way to provide basic TV channels to the spare bedroom in my house. We literally never use the room except when guests come over and spending $5 a month on a basic cable box from Verizon is not a great solution. On top of that we did it for a while and the box itself gave us nothing but problems, constantly pixilated and many of the channels didn't work well enough to actually watch.

Can I buy a "digital converter box" and hook it o my TV to recieve these channels or do I have to rent from Verizon. I since switched to a Digital Antenna as it seems to work better than the FiOS box ever did.

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You would need at least the digital adapter to receive basic fios channels. You could buy a tivo but you'd still end up having to rent a cable card. You cant buy converter boxes from Verizon.

If you do not want to spend any money on the spare tv you could always get a high end HD antenna for that room.

antennaweb.com can tell you what channels you should get if any in your area,  as well as other information such as how far away the channels are, what type of antenna you would need, indoor/outdoor, etc...

[PJF310]

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@roaddogg wrote:

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@GatorsUF wrote:

I am curious if there is a way to provide basic TV channels to the spare bedroom in my house. We literally never use the room except when guests come over and spending $5 a month on a basic cable box from Verizon is not a great solution. On top of that we did it for a while and the box itself gave us nothing but problems, constantly pixilated and many of the channels didn't work well enough to actually watch.

Can I buy a "digital converter box" and hook it o my TV to recieve these channels or do I have to rent from Verizon. I since switched to a Digital Antenna as it seems to work better than the FiOS box ever did.

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You would need at least the digital adapter to receive basic fios channels. You could buy a tivo but you'd still end up having to rent a cable card. You cant buy converter boxes from Verizon.

If you do not want to spend any money on the spare tv you could always get a high end HD antenna for that room.

antennaweb.com can tell you what channels you should get if any in your area,  as well as other information such as how far away the channels are, what type of antenna you would need, indoor/outdoor, etc...

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I just did this ^^

Got tired of spending money monthy on a spare room that nobody ever uses. Went to BestBuy and got a good HD antenna for about $25 on sale. Hooked it up and got more channels I thought were even available. 

[gatorsuf1]

Yea, I actually have a cheapo HD antenna installed right now and it gets a few channels (mostly spanish speaking channels). I am considereing upgrading to a better antenna, but wanted to see my options.

I just miss the days of being able to hook the cable wire into the TV and getting basic cable. Thought I could buy a small converter box for a few dollars (similar to the one the FiOS rents out for $5 a month) and not have to pay a rental fee. I work at the fire station and we have Xfinity, most of those TVs can have the cable hooked into the back still and it gets all the none HD cable channels without a box.

[roaddogg1]

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@GatorsUF wrote:

Yea, I actually have a cheapo HD antenna installed right now and it gets a few channels (mostly spanish speaking channels). I am considereing upgrading to a better antenna, but wanted to see my options.

I just miss the days of being able to hook the cable wire into the TV and getting basic cable. Thought I could buy a small converter box for a few dollars (similar to the one the FiOS rents out for $5 a month) and not have to pay a rental fee. I work at the fire station and we have Xfinity, most of those TVs can have the cable hooked into the back still and it gets all the none HD cable channels without a box.

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That's like Bright House where I am. You could always just plug the coax cable straight into the tv and get basic cable. They are switching to all digital now though so even they are going to require a converter box. I know in some areas near me they are already requiring them. For now the converter boxes are free, but I read somewhere come next year there will be a charge for them.

BH is already terrible here. Couldn't even pay me to go back to them.

[CRobGauth]

Make sure the coax input is set to cable not antenna when you connect FIOS. Then do scan.

You will only get local channels, WGN and weather.

That is all you would get with a converter box as well.

Renting the digital adapter gives you more channels, but just SD.

[gatorsuf1]

Ok, I guess my question is can I buy a "Digital Adapter" instead of renting the one from FiOS? Or does it have to be the FiOS adapter to work? I'd like the SD cable channels if possible.

[CRobGauth]

You can buy a digital adapter. But it will only give you the local channels.

If you want more, you have to rent something from Verizon.

Digital adapter, STB or cable card to go in to a device you provide.

Pretty sure most providers are heading this way.