I wouldn't make this assumption. Going digital and encrypting are completely different things.The message I get on screen now is something like "Cox has gone all digital, you will need to upgrade your equipment in order to view it' (I'm paraphrasing a bit, but something close to that), so maybe they're encrypted.
Do you have any TVs that are still directly connected to the cable (without a converter box)?When Cox transitioned to all digital I had to get a converter box for one of my tv's that didn't have one, it was just connected directly to the cable.
No, I wouldn't reconnect it.So, I connected that converter between my cable and the HVR-1800, then I started getting errors about missing encoders. I don't remember what the exact error was, if it helps I can reconnect it and get the error again.
Please follow the instructions above and attach the 2 zip files. Once I've got access to that information I'll be able to give you more accurate advice, and perhaps be able to answer this question for you.So, aside from all that, is there a way I can tell if the signal is encrypted?
Probably it could fail to help since Internet is telling Cox could set copy-ones restrictionsHopefully after all of this there are some digital non-encrypted channels available. If not, you'd have to consider whether you want to get a CableCARD tuner to enable you to receive digital encrypted channels (...assuming you pay for a cable subscription).