[mythtv-users] Replacing Comcast DTAs

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 12:50 AM, Kirk Bocek <t004 at kbocek.com> wrote:
....
> Buying a cable box instead of renting one.

As a STB, it probably is fine, but as you say, EOL.

> My initial research is finding
> almost nothing out there. Just used boxes. Even for this one, the comments
> say the manufacturer stopped making them.

There is almost no actual market for basic STB/DVRs at
retail(*), and TiVo has most of the "equivalent" DVR market,
there are unlikely to be many new entrants.  Most of the
basic boxes that <cable_company> now hand out are
devices that have been returned, and "refurbished", or are
their absolute newest gateways (for Comcast, which I
think you mentioned you are located in, the X1 brand),
which the cable companies are pushing as the next gen
whose household solution.

UDCP devices such as the Samsung are little different
than renting your basic HD-DTA, and the payback period
will vary based on the local franchise pricing (and your
calculations of time value of money and (eventual)
replacement costs).






(*) With the cable market numbers of subscribers at
(more or less) a constant number, the sales of STBs
to even the cable companies are flat in the US (there
is a reason Arris is purchasing Pace, and Cisco is
selling the SA STBs to Technicolor).