Just a few questions, please…
It sounds like you just use a coaxial cable and connect the TV to the wall. Is that correct?
HDTVs still have coaxial connections? No using an HDMI cable? Does that mean the content viewed is non-HD?
Thanks for your help!
I can’t think of a young person I know who actually uses a tv in a dorm. These days they all seem to stream online on their computers.
My son and his floormates had TVs but to mostly play video games but also to watch sports and movies (last year). Hard to watch with a crowd on a laptop.
I would say you have to check with the school but also agree with @doschicos. There were TVs in the lounges for my DS and anything else he streamed on his computer.
This varies greatly from school to school, and even between dorms (two dorms in my daughter’s school use coax, and the third uses broadband).
HDTVs do have coax connections, and coax is capable of carrying HD signals. You need a cable box because the channels are encrypted, not because coax doesn’t carry them.
My S had a TV in the living room of his suite and he and his roommates did watch sports and some late night shows together at times so it was nice to have in his case. They used a regular cable to set it up. You can check with the Office of Residential Life and they should be able to tell you what you need for a cable hook up at that school.
Once you know what dorm your child will be in you could email the residence hall director and ask. You could send both, including some sort of adapter depending on what the receiving wall hookup looks like.
Some kids use a larger monitor and then connect it to their laptop enjoying many shows thanks to mom and dad’s Xfinity, Netflix and Amazon login ID’s and passwords!
It depends on what is being fed over the cable. All tv signals are digital these days, but with cable systems they encrypt the data and while HDTV has a coax connector and they have a tuner in them that can display digital signals, you either need a cable box or a so called cable card (basically a card that goes into the tv that is the same as what a cable box does, my cable system doesn’t even support cable cards). Sometimes they will have some basic channels open ie the broadcast channels and maybe some basic cable channels like CNN open, all depends, and if so they would work.
Other than sports and video games, everyone streamed on their computers.
Kid used her Amazon prime to watch TV on the big screen in the living room (Internet-enabled TV which is how most of them are sold nowadays). Evil Comcast offers an internet viewing option… as long as you subscribe to their home stuff. Your local options might be different.
What’s a TV? 
S1 did both. One show he always watched in real time was Mad Men. He texted me to tell me he was watching it, I texted back and a tradition was born! I looked forward to it every season.
You definitely need to check with the school and the dorm. Varies on some campuses by dorm from what I have seen. Some have low tech coax. Others have digital service that require more high tech tuner/tv. No doubt kids watch more on computers and tablets at this point. Some watch nothing at all on a TV. Will vary by kid. If your kid wants to watch some tv, seems like a good idea to check the school/dorm before you bring a tv/buy a tv.
Thanks for all your help!
I did find on the school’s website that it’s just a coaxial cable from the wall to the tv, but if your tv does not have a digital tuner then you would need to rent a box from Mediacom. From what I can tell by looking up the model number online, the tv he would bring has a tuner.
Hard to say if the channels will be in HD or not…that wasn’t explained on the website. I guess that won’t matter too much. Son will have Netflix which will run thru his PS4.
Thanks again!
Ummm, how old is this TV? I think any TV sold this decade would have this.
Is there a common room TV? I don’t think my kid even turned one on for at least two years in college. Too busy!
I looked at Medicomm’s website, I think when they talked about a digital tuner they meant a cable card, @uwalummom, it looks like mediacomms service is encrypted digital, which is not surprising (among other things, to maximize bandwidth, most cable providers are compressing a lot of the channels, and the cable box or cable card is needed not just decrypting it, but also decompressing it). They say you will need either a cable card or a cable box to use the tv service.
“A digital converter or a cable card on subscriber owned device required”. As someone pointed out, most tv’s made in the last 10 years have digital tuners, but that won’t work on many/most cable systems directly.
Heh!
I actually got into a heated argument with an aunt because she insisted I “needed” a TV in my dormroom not too long before I started college and even offered me one.
I stood my ground and yep…never needed a TV in my dormroom for my entire undergrad. Got my entertainment from going out of my dormroom for ECs and otherwise interacting with/hanging out with college classmates.