Newbie to the Digital Cable thing

[billmild]

Alright I have a DCT2244/1161/ABCDEF cable box. It is from St. Louis, MO. I am trying to use it in Rolla, MO. St.louis uses charter for cable while rolla uses Fidelity. Could this box still be used for digital cable down here? Also we don't actually have digital cable signal running to the house, just extended basic. I hooked the box up just to see if it works. It will go through all the analog channels, but not the digital channels. When I go to a digital channel it says One moment please. I have read some stuff on this forum, but I don't understand all of it. If someone could help me out with this one that would be great. Do I need a firmware update and then a NVram file from a good box or what?

[patsfan]

you will need a valid nvram for your area so the box has the proper channel map. even so you probably won't get any premium channels.

it's all the same cable line coming into the house. the only thing is if your CC uses filters to block all higher frequencies then you might be out of luck. this is unlikely though.

[cipher]

Welcome billmild,

You have to think of the digital box like it is a combination lock each CC has programmed the combination for their digital security system thats what the XC security chip comes down to. Each CC will only be able to unlock their own locks. In your case the lock belongs to the other CC and the combination is invalid. So it is not going to work for the secured digital channels unless the local CC can change the combination. This is not likely unless they are affiliated. The NVRAM does not have any locks, it just displays the numbers on the locks dial "The channel configurations etc" Of course you could always experiment with the NVRAM to see if they are affiliated and if you a local NVRAM may put the right numbers on the dial, but it doesn't look that way from your description.

P.S. the digital signals are very likely reaching your house.

[billmild]

So let me get this straight. I get the analog channels, but as of right now I don't get the digital channels. If I get a good NVRAM from my area will the digital channels work then. Such as speed tv and what not. How could I get a good NVRAM?

[cipher]

The local NVRAM will only work for premium channels if the box was setup on the local cable company and the previous customer had subscribed to them before the cable service was disconnected. Some digital channels are not encrypted and those will work on the box regardless of subscription if the box was from the local CC.

If this is the case then using a local NVRAM you can light up the box the way it was before. To get a good NVRAM you will either make a request for your area on the forum has hopefully someone has one or borrow a box from someone in the area to make a copy.

[patsfan]

to expand on the filter thing, some CC's used low pass filters for years for customers who only had basic cable. so if you only had say up to channel 25 or 30, the filter removed everything above it. this would block digital Qam's as well. now they use bandpass filters so you can get basic cable without extra analog tiers and basic cable. offers more choice to customer.

[tester5]

i have comast everyhting digital is ENC 12 so no digital 00 even weather channel is ENC12 lol so verry hard unless the box is from your area