TV & Home Theater

[skypondb]

Bought a new Insignia 24" HDTV for bedroom, which is great except my cable provider scrambles the signal enough that I apparently need a set top box or some other tuner that will accept a cablecard in order to access about half of the channels.  I know the simple solutions are pay the cable provider another $12/mo. on top of the $200+ I already pay them, or get a tivo.  Reluctant to pay the cable company more to access what I'm already paying them for, and I don't really need another dvr at all.  I can handle renting a cablecard for a couple of bucks a month.  Any thoughts on decent cablecard tuner devices with remote that would help me out?  I can find a lot of tuners that will allow me to watch tv on computers and smartphones, but I'm having a hard time finding devices made to use with hdtv, other than what appear to be stolen dvrs on Ebay.

[NoNoBadDog]

You will not find any cablecard devices that will de-scramble your cable providers signal for free. 

Your option is to get either a STB or a cable card from your provider, and pony up the additional $12 dollars a month. 

[skypondb]

I'm OK with renting a cablecard for a couple of bucks a month, already figured that out, not a problem.

I seek a device for the cablecard to fit into that 1) I can purchase and 2) will not require a monthly cost like tivo's $20 a month or cable provider's monthly rent.

[rwillen · Accepted solution]

The only cablecard ready device that doesn't require a monthly fee for guide info is a Windows Media Center PC. That's it. Ceton is working on a 6 tuner dvr based on Media Center along with extender boxes that will fit the bill for your whole house, but its months away.