[Wayne]

When I look at the FS web site the new HD cable box is $319 - hasn't the older box, the 4250HD been selling for $200-$250 for the last few years. I know that I bought several of them for $99 in the 2008 Boxing Day sale.

Why is the box now so expensive? And it looks like neither FS nor BB carries the SD digital boxes - nor does The Source any more. What's going on here?

Anyone have any ideas on where to get a used SA3250HD?

 

[JamesK]

While I have no idea about numbers, perhaps SD boxes aren't moving as well as HD. After all, it's hard to find a new SD TV these days.

 

[Wayne]

That's true but if you are already paying for Dig cable then it may be worth $50 for a SD digital box (if that is what they are selling for) to attach to an older TV in your house as it will open up lots of additional channels. But it may not be worth it to pay over $300 to buy the cheapest digital cable box from Rogers.

 

[hugh]

Simple answer: Lack of competition.

For used goods, please see the classified sites

 

[Wayne]

But there has never been competition for cable boxes from cable companies - that doesn't explain why prices have risen about 50% recently, especially given the fact that components in the box should be continuing to fall in price.

The reason I asked about the used boxes is to see whether Rogers sells the old boxes to liquidators or some other place rather than having to buy them from an individual.

 

[hugh]

For the last ten years, Rogers has been trying to grow its Digital Cable, Internet and Home phone business.

Cheap subsidized boxes were a great way to get people in the door and get them hooked on expensive digital cable packages. Then you could sell them Internet service and home phone.

My guess is cheap boxes no longer drive business so why discount them. Instead make full margin on set top boxes and put them on sale every once in a while.

Also, I think a lot of boxes being sold now are for second televisions so Rogers doesn't need to discount them as the buyer is already committed to Rogers.

 

[Wayne]

That is very possible that everyone who wants Digital Cable already has it and by selling additional boxes Rogers isn't bringing in any revenue. It would be nice if they offered us CableCards though so that we would have an option.

I can remember buying SA3200s about 5 or so years ago for $99 and getting $10 off your cable bill for 10 months. Great for me but Rogers wasn't getting any additional cash since I was already a digital cable sub.

 

[JamesK]

The reason I asked about the used boxes is to see whether Rogers sells the old boxes to liquidators

I wondered about that last year, when I returned my SD STB and saw stacks of them at the Rogers store. This was just after Christmas, so perhaps a lot of people upgraded to HD then. I wouldn't be surprised if Rogers has a lot of them stashed away, for when they cut analog.

 

[MCIBUS]

I'll never make the mistake of buying receivers again!! I'll rent. Spent way to much on BTV receivers, not going to do that with Rogers(rent my receivers from Rogers),BTV(again) or Bellfibe or with Shaw Direct(not sure if you can rent),this way you get thw newest model, plus if breaks you just bring it in and they exchange iit.

 

[JAY-DEE]

did Rogers substantially raise wholesale prices of STBs in Ontario?

Last week at a "special" sale (with the store closed except for an affinity group only), one salesperson in a Toronto electronics store said that wholesale costs for the Rogers STBs went up $40 and no other promos were provided by Rogers to the dealers - not even for a special promotion such as this. The store was offering special promotional prices on most home theatre products in the store, but not Rogers STBs.

So ... is Rogers controlling pricing of their STBs to this extent now?

 

[JamesK]

I'll rent

I've bought all of my STBs because the rental would have covered the purchase price long before warranty expired. I bought my 8300HD in Sept. last year and it'll soon be paid for in not paying rental. I figure my 2 4250HDs, which I bought last Christmas will be paid for by next June or so. I bought them all when they were on sale. I also put a larger drive in my PVR, which I wouldn't have done with a rental.

 

[Wayne]

...one salesperson in a Toronto electronics store said that wholesale costs for the Rogers STBs went up $40 and no other promos were provided by Rogers to the dealers - not even for a special promotion such as this.

I wonder why this is that wholesale prices are up. The strength of the CAD should be helping to keep the price down and the new boxes like the 4642HD and 8642HD do not seem to have enough new features that they should be significantly more expensive than the older boxes - in fact some things have even been taken away (like 6-pin IEEE 1394 ports).

Why do these suckers cost $300 when media streaming boxes like the ones from WD, Asus, Boxee, Apple, Sage, etc. can be had for as low as $100 and have similar hardware/functionality except that they take video content from your LAN (or the internet) rather than from the cable headend. Doesn't it then take similar technology to decode an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 stream to HDMI or component outputs and have a UI and remote control?

Is this just a case of the consumer being gouged by Rogers and Cisco?

I wonder if we will ever see $99 sales again for HD boxes?

 

[hugh]

off topic Posts deleted. This thread is not about Rogers buying the Leafs.

 

[Hooter]

I've bought all of my STBs because the rental would have covered the purchase price long before warranty expired. I bought my 8300HD in Sept. last year and it'll soon be paid for in not paying rental. I figure my 2 4250HDs, which I bought last Christmas will be paid for by next June or so. I bought them all when they were on sale. I also put a larger drive in my PVR, which I wouldn't have done with a rental.

The thing is that if you play your cards right, you don't have to pay the rental. Rogers is offering deals which include 30% off cable plus a free HD PVR. We are even getting our SD box for free as well. As for capacity, we have a Western Digital 1TB attached to the HD PVR and despite the firmware updates, ours is generally working fine, save for the odd split reording.

 

[YXU]

The boxes do seem pricey. I bought a new 40" LCD from Futureshop yesterday to replace a big old CRT in the basement. The fellow at FS quoted me close to $300 ($279 if memory serves me right) for a HD box (non-PVR) and sympathized with me over the high price. I called Rogers and talking very nicely, mentioned that I pay them a lot of money - $150 tax incl., used to get a free PVR rental but now I pay, and I really shouldn't have pay for another HD box. After a minute, they came back and offered a year free rental on both my existing PVR and on a new HD box for the new TV. I think that's great service and gives me a year to find a good deal on purchasing the HD boxes.

One thing I think Rogers should do is offer a cheap buy-out on the rental PVR's after you have had them for a while. You would think that they would want me to buy out their 4 year old PVR, rather than return it when I buy a new one.

 

[fahr451]

I'm curious about the real costs of HD set top boxes and PVRs. On Boxing Day 2008, Audiotronic had limited quantities of the 4250HD for around $30 and the 8300HD for around $170, without requiring the purchase of an HDTV at the same time. (Last Boxing Day the prices were more like $100 and $300, respectively.)

Assuming that Audiotronic was not selling these at a loss (possibly a bad assumption), do the lower prices represent the wholesale costs to distributors?

Tony

 

[57]

They would probably represent the wholesale cost, or perhaps close to it as a "loss leader" for the retailer, however, the STBs/PVRs were subsidized by the service providers to get people to switch to digital TV.

 

[snorlax]

The 4250 is listed at 199 on the Future shop boxing flyer (limited quantities) and 399 for the new PVR. A little better than usual but nothing like the deals mentioned above.

 

[Seivad47]

Leons currently has the 4250 listed at $149, through tomorrow

 

[0239]

Reason why the new cisco HD box is 319 is because its not just a regular box. Soon, you will be able to access your cisco pvr via these boxes if they r in the same acct/household.