TV & Home Theater

[kenh]

I have 5 TV sets in my home and have been with Comcast for about 14 years and it just

 occurred to me how much rent I have paid on the boxes they supply.

Question is can you buy Cable boxes and not rent them?  If you can what boxes are

comparable  with Comcast?  I am not trying to do anything illegal like steal broadcast

just tired of paying rent on equipment that I have probably more than paid for.

I see some of the refurbished boxes that I have in the house advertised on the internet for

sell--would these work?

[hockeycanuckjc Community Veteran]

If you had only 1 to 2 tvs in your house I could understand that but its going to run you close to 1000 to purchase all 5, I kid you not.

[Entropy]

Cable companies are required to allow a customer to "bring your own box" if it's compatible with their system and CableLabs-certified.  That said, they make such a task as difficult as possible and put pressure on box manufacturers not to sell direct, thus it is next to impossible to buy your own box.

Newer cable boxes and TVs, plus some other devices (new TiVos) now support "CableCard" which is a removable access device provided by the cable provider.  It's a step in the right direction but CableCard is a nighmare that cable companies make as hard as possible for the consumer to use.