You are right, HDD 200 does not care if you have a subscription or not. All it does it take the feed from the DSR 922 and convert it to 1080i for the
HD TV.
I am not sure if you have to have a subscription to receive the free (FP) channels or not. The people over at the 4DTV Forum can answer that question. You can also find out what free HD channels there are. If you want HD movie channels, you have to have a subscription. There is no additional charge for the HD channels. HBO has 2, Starz has 2, and Showtime has 1. Discovery has one, but I believe you have to pay extra to receive it.
One thing I can say for sure, the HD on 4DTV is phenomenal.