Verizon FIOS CableCards

I currently have Verizon FIOS at my house with 50 megs down and 25 up. Part of my package includes TV and they charge me $15 - $20 a month to rent their DVR and set top boxes.

I currently have 4 TV's and as you can imagine the rental fee really adds. I know that Verizon offers CableCards for $3.99 a month. Do you have any ideas of ways that I could use these CableCards to bring down my monthly payment?

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Comments

MiikeB

Tivo Premier or PremierXL with 4 tuners, a multi stream cable card from fios (not sure if this supports 4 streams or two, you will have to ask), and up to 3 tivo minis will allow you to watch live or recorded tv on up to 4 tvs.

qwertyiop

MiikeB wrote: »

Tivo Premier or PremierXL with 4 tuners, a multi stream cable card from fios (not sure if this supports 4 streams or two, you will have to ask), and up to 3 tivo minis will allow you to watch live or recorded tv on up to 4 tvs.

Is Tivo the only vendor that offers such a product? I cant find many that do the same.

MiikeB

qwertyiop wrote: »

Is Tivo the only vendor that offers such a product? I cant find many that do the same.

No, they are just by far the best and most user friendly. The only other real option I know of is to get something like this:

Amazon.com: Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARD: Computers & Accessories

That lets you put a cable card in a PC, preferably a dedicated HTPC that can then act as a DVR. You can also use any xboxs or other Windows Media Center extender devices you have to watch live tv in other rooms.

I warn you though, this route is probably the cheapest if you have an extra PC or even build a HTPC and already have extenders like the xbox, but it is also the biggest headache. While you may be able to set it up and figure out problems etc if something goes wrong while you aren't home or you are busy doing something else it can cause major frustration for other members of the household. If you want to go this route you can probably find out more about it at AVSforum. The Tivo though is extremely plug and play and has an awesome interface.