Do not be decieved by "Digital Cable"

They are trying to sell you another service. They did the same thing
to me. Their tech came to my house with the box telling me that I HAD
to have it in order to be able to see even though I have cable. He
told me that Charter was giving out one free box to everyone that has
Charter cable. I did not order the box at all. After doing thorough
research I do not have to have the digital box. It is just Charter's
way of getting another $5.00 (at least in my area) of my money. When
I got my bill there was a $5.00 charge. I called Charter and told
them about this. They told me to return the box. I informed them
that they brought it out unasked for, they can pick it up. They have
yet to do so.

One more thing, check out this site https://www.dtv2009.gov/

It fully explains how the conversion works, as well as why you will
NEED that box in early 2009 if you have an analog TV

Not exactly your issue, but the education info on the site does fully
answer your questions.

I am not an expert on this matter, however, I have a 10 year old
analog TV and get digital cable from Time warner.

I can tell the digital channels because sometimes when I hit pause on
the DVR little squares are on the screen.

They are not trying to mislead you, the box can, and does, deliver a
digital signature. Just not on all channels.