Smart TV/Cable TV Question

[ufos8mycow]

I am in the market for a new TV for the bedroom and have my sights on a nice 48" Smart TV from Micocenter. Now I have TWC for internet and cable service but only rent one box for the living room. In the bedroom I have just been connecting directly to my old 720 to save myself $20/month on a 2nd cable box.

If I purchase a Smart TV will the cable company be able to recognize/see it and force me to rent a 2nd box?

Thanks!

 

[Rogue Leader]

No they can't see you have another TV however without a cable box attached to it you aren't going to get an HD video signal. In fact the only thing you could normally get off the Cable service's coaxial cable was basic channel SD tv, but most have eliminated that service so that unless you have a cablebox, or a TV with a cablecard tuner (and rent the card from them - PS this is basically obsolete), you can't really do much with the TV other than use it as a smart tv and run netflix etc.

It sounds like maybe you still are getting SD signal on your "old 720"? In which case that would be the best signal you get on the new tv, until they eliminate the SD service.

 

[ufos8mycow]

No they can't see you have another TV however without a cable box attached to it you aren't going to get an HD video signal. In fact the only thing you could normally get off the Cable service's coaxial cable was basic channel SD tv, but most have eliminated that service so that unless you have a cablebox, or a TV with a cablecard tuner (and rent the card from them - PS this is basically obsolete), you can't really do much with the TV other than use it as a smart tv and run netflix etc.

It sounds like maybe you still are getting SD signal on your "old 720"? In which case that would be the best signal you get on the new tv, until they eliminate the SD service.

Thanks for the answer. I was hoping I could continue using the basic cable coming in the bedroom without a box. While not illegal I believe it is frowned upon by the cable companies who want to rent as many units as possible.

Anyways the smart tv is the way to go as even if the signal won't work on the new TV I can still use my HBOGo account to watch GoT in bed.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yeah you probably still can use it in SD until they shut the signal down. It should work.

In my area they shut that signal down a couple years ago.