I have Cox Digital & HD service on two tv's and two dvr boxes...but the the price to rent them is stupid high...
I know we have a legal right to buy our own box - I'm not looking to steal cable, just beat the box rental fees...
Any suggestions?

Setup Box or Computer Based?

I believe you can find Tivos but not sure if they have tuners as well an d they can get pricey.

For standard service you can get a computer (often with Windows XP MCE) with a built in TV tuner card that you can plug into cable.

If you have the right computer that can Tune HDTV/Analog/Digital TV and output S-Video or Component you can use the computer to run the TV as well...

There are tons of things out there and the decision process is tough. For a geek you can check out avsforum.com and come up with solutions for building your own (HD MythTV / MCE box). Or for the non-geek you can find a company that specializes in media center PCs and run with that.

Unfortunately, the options are endless which means decisions are tough too :wall:

I am working on a system to watch HDTV over the air and delay signing up for other HD packages until later after the COX / Verizon dust settles ;)

Google tivo forums, gdty forums, htpc forums (home theater PC) ... Be carefull, you can create a monster

(home theater PC) ... Be carefull, you can create a monster

i bought a gateway John, A media center PC and despite my best efforts thus far....
i couldnt get my pc to show tv with my present direct tv
conection. i split it the signal just after the out on the box....

no matter what i've done the signal is never found....
so i "know" its complicated.....:musc:

thanks John....I'm more inclined to go with the box rather than the pc tv set up...
I'll look into it some more..

Few of my friends use snapstream on their tv servers. gets a bit technical, but there is no monthly fees, and you can do a lot more with a snapstream server than a tivo.

i bought a gateway John, A media center PC and despite my best efforts thus far....
i couldnt get my pc to show tv with my present direct tv
conection. i split it the signal just after the out on the box....

no matter what i've done the signal is never found....
so i "know" its complicated.....:musc:

Go to AVSForum.com

i use snapstream...

LOVE IT! 40bucks runs on windows.... add as many tuners as you want...

if you want a free solution

google mythtv