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Originally Posted by SchillerM
Correct, cable cards are used for encrypted cable systems. If the system you are on is not encrypted yet, be prepared. You did not state where you live. If it's a bigger cable company I am surprised it's still in the clear, all the ones I have dealt with aren't. TiVo would need a cable card for sure if encrypted, not sure if in clear. Cable card rentals are usually $2-3/month and capable of up to 8 (newly built cards, 6 on older) decodes at a time, limit of records will be Tivo.
Depending on where you live an antenna is the way to go. Those boxes you got will work for that too. Why pay cable company for something that is free already? Use that savings to donate to local PBS and get the Passport app.
Be Leary of the cheap units. Storage is usually limited and reliability is questionable. Even the cable company cheap boxes are junk, we keep 3-4 spare on hand at work and are constantly having to swap them out.
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All the cable channels were scrambled until I paid for the basic package. Now I get the local channels and PBS, etc. These cheapo boxes pick up all the stations, but all of them show scrambled except the ones I pay for. I then have to go through and delete the scrambled channels so it's not a mess. I suspect the cable cards will tell the Tivo which station is which and maybe allow the Tivo to show the channel guide for upcoming programs. With the cheap boxes, I have to rename the stations once I figure out what they are and there is no channel guide at all.
What is the monthly Tivo fee for? I read their site and still don't get what it is that they offer for the charge.
And I tried an antenna once and got nothing. We live in east central IL in the middle of vast cornfields. We're 50 miles from the nearest large town.