mmilam

ok,
i work at Circuit city, and it all started when one of my coworkers told me that Cox cable digital service makes you pay extra to watch thier HD channels.
Well, i disagreed with him, but eventually i just took his word for it.
Well, yesterday, i was watching this show on tv called "CoxVision"(its a show that Coxcable makes and runs on one of thier channels explaining the benefits of cox digital cable service),
Well, anyway, i was about to change the channel until the topic of HD came up. I watched it, and they said on thier that Digital Cable subscribers had access to thier HD channels free of charge.
Well, i hurried up and recorded the show using my DVR box that i rent from cox. I was going to and think i still am, going to transfer the show onto vhs tape and show it to my coworkers to prove them a point.

Well, anyway, i called cox cable and wanted to make sure that the HD channels were free, just to confirm it. The lady said "yes, it is free, i see on your account your paying $9.99 a month for the DVR service with HD Tuner. So yes the HD channels are free, your not paying anything." Then i said, so in addition to my digital cable fee, im paying 9.99 a month for the dvr hd tuner box. she said yes.

Well, i asked her, what if i just payed the regular digital cable fee, and got the regular box without the Hd tuner in it, would i still be able to watch the Hd channels if my tv already has a built in tuner. She said she didnt know and that she would transfer me to tech.
So i asked technical support, and the lady said i am paying 9.99 for the dvr, once again i said, look, if my tv has a built in HD tuner, and i canceled the DVR box, and got the regular box with no HD tuner, would i still be able to watch the HD channels yall provide in the 700+ range, she said no. So, i replied ,"so in essence, if i want to watch the HD channels that yall provide i need to pay 9.99 a month because i dont care about the Dvr box", and she got mad and said yes.

So basically, they are saying they provide the HD channels free, but actually, you only get them "free" if you pay for them by renting the hd box. otherwise if you stick with the regular box, then you wont be able to watch thier hd channels even if your tv has a built in tuner.

What im hoping yall can help me anwser is:
1.)
if i have regular basic cable(not any form on digital), straight from the wall coax line, going in the back of my tv(which has a built in hd tuner), will i be able to watch Fox or Tnt in high definition?
Because right now, you can watch fox in HD only if you buy an HD antenna and recieve it OTA. Cox Digital cable doesnt have a fox HD channel. But they have one for tnt.


2.)
if i cancel the DVR service and get the regular box(without the HDtuner), but have an hd tuner built in my tv, will i be able to watch TNT or any other channel that comes in HD, on thier regular broadcast channels?
e.g. Tnt comes in on ch.25 over here, so with cox digital cable you can watch tnt on ch.25 regular , or you can go to ch.725 and watch thier TNTHD channel.


And, just to let you know, you might laugh, but i dont even have a tv with a built in HD tuner, these questions are just strictly out of very determined curiousity. BEcause once i find out the anwsers to these questions, it will help me determine whether or not to buy a tv with a built in HD tuner and to figure out if Built in tuners are a joke or not.