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[QUOTE=&quot;bicker, post: 19366, member: 2027&quot;]No, yes and no.&nbsp; First, there are two types of converter boxes.&nbsp; The term DTV tends to imply that you're referring to the over-the-air digital television converter boxes.&nbsp; They convert ATSC/8VSB (the transmission format used by local broadcast channels, to transmit their signals through the air) into something your analog television can use.&nbsp; However, since you're posting in the cable/satellite forum, and talking about Cox, I suspect you're concerned about cable television service.&nbsp; Digital cable is transmitted by a more efficient modulation format, QAM, instead of the less efficient ATSC/8VSB.&nbsp; (Over-the-air broadcasters would not have been able to transmit using QAM, because the more efficient format is also more subject to damage from over-the-air interference.)&nbsp; There are converter boxes that convert QAM for use by your old analog television, but generally they're mostly available for rental from cable companies, since there really isn't a big market for them being sold to customers directly.&nbsp; I remember seeing one for sale a few years ago, at $180, but more recently I haven't been able to find one for sale, legitimately.Okay, but I said, &quot;No, yes and no.&quot;&nbsp; The first &quot;no&quot; was in reference to the fact that most of the time when we talk about DTV converter boxes we're referring to the ATSC/8VSB converter boxes, which will not help you with Cox.&nbsp; The &quot;yes&quot; was in reference to the fact that there are QAM converter boxes.&nbsp; So we're left with the second &quot;no&quot;:&nbsp; Even if you did have one of these QAM tuner boxes, many (but not all) cable service providers encrypt many (but not all) expanded basic channels, and a customer-owned QAM tuner, without a CableCARD port for you to put a rented CableCARD into, would not be able to tune in the encrypted channels.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE="bicker, post: 19366, member: 2027"]No, yes and no. First, there are two types of converter boxes. The term DTV tends to imply that you're referring to the over-the-air digital television converter boxes. They convert ATSC/8VSB (the transmission format used by local broadcast channels, to transmit their signals through the air) into something your analog television can use. However, since you're posting in the cable/satellite forum, and talking about Cox, I suspect you're concerned about cable television service. Digital cable is transmitted by a more efficient modulation format, QAM, instead of the less efficient ATSC/8VSB. (Over-the-air broadcasters would not have been able to transmit using QAM, because the more efficient format is also more subject to damage from over-the-air interference.) There are converter boxes that convert QAM for use by your old analog television, but generally they're mostly available for rental from cable companies, since there really isn't a big market for them being sold to customers directly. I remember seeing one for sale a few years ago, at $180, but more recently I haven't been able to find one for sale, legitimately. Okay, but I said, "No, yes [U]and no[/U]." The first "no" was in reference to the fact that most of the time when we talk about DTV converter boxes we're referring to the ATSC/8VSB converter boxes, which will [U]not[/U] help you with Cox. The "yes" was in reference to the fact that there are QAM converter boxes. So we're left with the second "no": Even if you did have one of these QAM tuner boxes, many (but not all) cable service providers encrypt many (but not all) expanded basic channels, and a customer-owned QAM tuner, without a CableCARD port for you to put a rented CableCARD into, would not be able to tune in the encrypted channels.[/QUOTE]

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