I beleive you would have to call and activate the box over the phone. THat's what I did as I installed everything myself. However, many people do not know that in most places you can receive 'over the air' HD local programming using a simple antenna. The difference between normal analog transmissions and HD Digital is that you do not get static, ghosting, etc like you would with analog. HD air signals either come in as good as they would on cable or not at all. So, once you're aimed up, they come in crystal clear. Besides, I feel TW doesn't offer the best selection of HD yet, anyway. They better get the f'n Discovery HD package going.