New Cable TV irequirements coming in Campgrounds

[mazboy123]

well, i have seen something totally new in a campground in Asheville, NC.

Charter Cable has gone 100% HD and now requires you to have a box put on your RV TV in order to see cable televison. Talking to Charter they tell me that this is the way that ALL campgrounds will eventually go.

Here is a heads up:
1. You have to have access to the back of your TV to contact the box
2. It ONLY works on ONE televison

Wow, this will be interesting in the future.....:confused:

[tileman]

Even if you have a HD tv you still need a box?

I do not see this going to far but could be wrong.

Thanks for the heads up

[LZScout]

I have Charter HD at home and use several TV's without a box. Some of the TV's are HD and can receive some HD channels without the box.


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[Outbackmel]

This will melt faster than a snowball rolling down a Georgia hill in July. Given equality of campgrounds, the most reasonable price with the fewest dumb restrictions wins. Soooo many of us have Dish or Direct and don't need services anyway. There is a new dish out there that is light weight, 100% remote, automatic signal finder within 2 minutes, and supports 2 boxes (if desired). Cost is about $500 and stores easily.

I will likely buy one at the Tampa, FL Super Show January 15th...:cool:

[2014Fuzion300]

Not with Comcast... :-(
You need a HD box for each one of your HD tv's if you want to watch
HD channels (720p or 1080p)
You can watch non HD tv, but you still need a "little box" (which they rent to you too).


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[gwvwadc]

Ran into this at a park in Tennessee. Had one trip that we had problems with cable TV not working with the box. Went into the TV setup menu and selected Cable as the input (vs. antennae). Also turned off the power button for the antennae feed. We kept getting error messages, only two or three channels and sometimes nothing at all. Went back to the park office and requested another box. Had even more problems. Went back to the office again and were told that we had to "set" the TV up to receive the box on channel 3. We told them we had been there before, used the same setup (cable box provided by service provided, TV menu setup, etc.) and had never had that experience before. Tried their way - changed the TV menu to antennae, went to Channel 3 - still nothing. After several conversations with park office folks, we were given yet another box to use. That one worked perfectly.
The moral to this story - just because you are given a box to use, don't expect it to work properly. These things go through a LOT of use and get even more ABUSE. If it doesn't seem to work, go back and ask for another one - and another one - and.......................:banghead:
Oh, one more thing - these boxes come with a remote that will ONLY control the box - just another thing to keep track of when you get ready to check out!

[PT RV`er]

Is this something that's supposed to go nation wide or just in your area?

[Pmedic4]

Not with Comcast... :-(
You need a HD box for each one of your HD tv's if you want to watch
HD channels (720p or 1080p)
You can watch non HD tv, but you still need a "little box" (which they rent to you too).


Sent from my iPad.

You don't mention the reception with just the 'required box', gives you very poor 480i reception. You get a higher quality signal with just a plain antenna. Like everyone else, I couldn't tolerate paying $90 a month for DirectTV, and Comcast had a promotion for Internet and TV for only $5 more per month plus the cost of my internet - with just regular box. I felt like I was back in the '60s, with terrible reception for just the 3 network channels. Ended up paying the $10 extra for HD, for a total of $15 more - but that's a promotion price.
The net of this is, campgrounds aren't going to be able to supply cable service any longer. Hopefully, they change to or provide internet service, and we'll be able to use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. That seems to be the way all TV is going anyway.

[airforceret]

No less than 3 or 4 of the campgrounds we frequent have dropped cable TV within the past year. This evidently is a contributing factor!

[rnkburg]

I must be on the other side. I rarely get a campground with cable tv, we use direct tv and it works great. We usually stay within our state or one away. We had cable in Tn at pigeon forge but no box needed. The other place I get cable is where we go off roading. Everywhere else nothing. Direct seems to be the best option for us, and the antenna if we can even get channels then.

But with this I am sure someone will come up with a generic box that works on all, or maybe take a cable box from home

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[theeyres]

Yep, just visited a campground with Comcast that required that. The owners are fed up and disgusted with it. It's a pain to ask campers to hook it up and they end up having to do it for campers that are not savvy. They said they were switching to satellite. Big expense but the cable stuff was just nuts.

[Heliumhel]

Comcast is doing the same thing here in Atlanta, the internal receiver in the TV no longer picks up the signal because its encrypted. Our office now has to have a small box to work with each TV we have.

[mazboy123]

just came from an asheville, nc campground with the same issues. right now he is trying to figure out what is what.

i suggested that he just get rid of cable and eliminate the hassel. Having to give an rver a box and then having them trying to figure it out and it only allows one tv/one channel.

oh well, life goes on.

[JRTJH]

I wonder if maybe we are our "own worst enemy"??? Maybe this is a way for the cable company to prevent theft ???

Could this be a move by the cable companies trying to manage their investment and prevent theft? I remember living in a neighborhood where some residents would run a cable from house to house so everyone got "free cable TV"... (no, I wasn't involved). They were all related and "took care of each other".

I suppose adding a requirement to have a cable box "interpreter" on each TV would help the company manage who is using their service, but in a mobile community such as a campground, they should have a "master box" to connect to the system and distribute the signal in a form that can be viewed on a conventional TV. It would seem that there should be a "master box" even in places like hotels/motels so they wouldn't need a box on the back of every TV in the building.

I wonder if this is a part of the "growing pains" and the cable company just isn't installing the correct equipment??? I'd think there is already a solution (a master box) and the campground owners aren't getting the "correct service" for their system?