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CableCard Purchase

19K views 39 replies 21 participants last post by  Sapphire 
#1 ·
Does anybody know where I can purchase a CableCard from, other than the cable company. My cable company (Service Electric Cablevision Sunbury PA) wants 125.00 apiece, and they will not rent them out. Thanks, Dan
 
#27 ·
Dan, please post back with what you find out. I'm in the process of moving from CT to Warwick township / Pottstown / Chester County, PA and found out that Service Electric (www.secv.com) is the cable company there. When I called them a few days ago they told me the same as you (they sell the cards but don't lease them). I've been contemplating getting a S3 TiVo but adding another $250 to the cost (for the 2 cablecards) is hard to swallow. :(
 
#28 ·
srauly said:
Dan, please post back with what you find out. I'm in the process of moving from CT to Warwick township / Pottstown / Chester County, PA and found out that Service Electric (www.secv.com) is the cable company there. When I called them a few days ago they told me the same as you (they sell the cards but don't lease them). I've been contemplating getting a S3 TiVo but adding another $250 to the cost (for the 2 cablecards) is hard to swallow. :(
SRAULY
Yes you do have the same cable provider as I do. I will let you know as soon as I hear from them. My provider said they will all meet in mid december with there other Service Electric branches, and this will be brought up to find out how they want to work this out. I will also keep calling them to get this resolved. It would help If you can call your Service Electric cable supervisor before the meeting to push for a cablecard rental and no second recurring service fees. The more complaints they receive the better the chance they will do something about it.
Thanks, I'll keep you posted, Dan
 
#29 ·
srauly said:
Dan, please post back with what you find out. I'm in the process of moving from CT to Warwick township / Pottstown / Chester County, PA and found out that Service Electric (www.secv.com) is the cable company there. When I called them a few days ago they told me the same as you (they sell the cards but don't lease them). I've been contemplating getting a S3 TiVo but adding another $250 to the cost (for the 2 cablecards) is hard to swallow. :(
Srauly
Service Electric called and said 125.00 per card, however there will be no additional monthly service fee for the 2nd card. So I guess I'm going have to dish out 250.00 extra to get the S3.
Dan
 
#30 ·
onecastdan said:
Srauly
Service Electric called and said 125.00 per card, however there will be no additional monthly service fee for the 2nd card. So I guess I'm going have to dish out 250.00 extra to get the S3.
Dan
Out of curiosity, do they provide any kind of warranty on these cards? Quite a few people here reported defective cards or cards going bad after a while. Bad card is not a problem if it is rented, but if you own it - what happens if it goes bad in few months?
 
#31 ·
samo said:
Out of curiosity, do they provide any kind of warranty on these cards? Quite a few people here reported defective cards or cards going bad after a while. Bad card is not a problem if it is rented, but if you own it - what happens if it goes bad in few months?
That's the part that worries me the most. I didn't realize these cards were so flakey, but it sounds like they are. FWIW, I went ahead and ordered Service Electric's HD-DVR package for about $88/month plus $8/month for the HD-DVR box. This package includes their $43/month cable modem service, so I'm basically paying about $53/month for expanded basic (Comcast terminology), plus some digital channels, plus several HD channels, and their Comcast dual-tuner HD-DVR box with iGuide software.

If I want another HD-DVR box for another room, I think I pay about $8/month (for the box) plus $4/month for the DVR service, but since I'm planning on keeping my TiVo service active until I decide on my long-term plans, I'll just use one or both of my TiVo's for recording shows for my daughter.

I know that I'll hate the iGuide UI in comparison to TiVo (and I'm a software developer who is very much into the field of usability), but there's a limit to much one can justify paying. In order to have my cake (HD) and eat it too (TiVo), I'd be looking at shelling out about $650 for the S3 unit, plus $250 for the cablecards (which I'd be worried about flaking out once their probably short warranty period is over), plus $13/month for the service (if I moved my existing service over to it and deactivated one of my TiVo's), and all I'd save on my cable bill would be $8/month. So net difference would be about $900 up-front plus $5/month ongoing.

I'd really love to support the best DVR UI out there (TiVo), but they're making it awfully hard for me to do that.
 
#32 ·
samo said:
Out of curiosity, do they provide any kind of warranty on these cards? Quite a few people here reported defective cards or cards going bad after a while. Bad card is not a problem if it is rented, but if you own it - what happens if it goes bad in few months?
samo
The warranty is for 90 days, and no extra monthly service charge for the 2nd card.
 
#33 ·
srauly said:
I know that I'll hate the iGuide UI in comparison to TiVo (and I'm a software developer who is very much into the field of usability), but there's a limit to much one can justify paying.
And it's hard to justify paying for UI development when your customers complain about price. Developers can create a bad UI, but UI researchers can't create a bad codebase.

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com>
 
#34 ·
I had zero success w/SECTV in Pennsylvania. The first two cards installed by their sevice dude failed to setup. I then took a day off work to return the two cards to SECTV office for new ones. The new ones failed to set up. Return those for new ones and they failed to setup, etc., etc. TiVo Tech support could only verify the cards were bad. I then gave up, returned the TiVo3 and switched to cable with their DVR. A major disappointment for me and my family. There has to be a better way.
 
#35 ·
rstuffy
I ended up going through 2, S3 tivos and alot of cablecards and waisted time. Tivo blamed cablecards and cablecards blamed tivo. That nightmare was back in Jan 2007. I finally gave up. I still have my S2 tivo but I really would like to get the S3 tivo. Is there anybody Out there that has had any success with SECTV in Pennsylvania (Shamokin, or Sunbury).
I was hoping that over time S3tivos would update there hardware to create a smoother cablecard install. I will probably give it a try again in a month or two. All I want is to have a working S3 tivo with cablecards.
Anybody else have any thoughts.
Dan
 
#36 ·
Bumping this thread. My Birdsboro, PA Service Electric bill had a 2008 channel and pricing insert and it looks like you can now rent the cable cards ($2.95/month). Not sure if this is a new development or not, and I'm not sure that I hate their Motorola boxes enough to justify the steep investment in a HD TiVo, yearly contracted TiVo monthly fees, and cable card rental fees, but it's nice to see that there's finally an option other than having to buy two cable cards from them at over $100 a pop.
 
#38 ·
$125.00 each, hell Intermittencable... I mean Intermountain cable of eastern Kentucky rents then out for $175 a month. not encluding your regular cable.
Wow! That's $2,100 year just in cablecard rental!
 
#40 ·
Sorry for bumping an old thread but I am also on Service Electric in NJ (Sparta system) and I thought I'd offer some insight into my experiences with them.

First, not all the Service Electric cable companies are the same company. They used to be when John Walson was alive but before he died he split them up and gave his sons each a system. Our system is owned by Ed Walson. Yep, that's right, Service Electric is a family owned company. They were also the first cable company in the nation.

My experience with cablecards initially was that I had to buy them for $125 a piece. I paid the price back then. However, the cards came with no rental fees other than an "additional outlet" fee of 50 cents each per outlet (not per card). Since we have two TVs and one Series 3, the first outlet and digital SD box was free, so currently I pay NO equipment rental at all.

In my quest to move to Windows 7 MC I called up about new cablecards and they said that they are no longer selling them but instead leasing them for $2.95/month. This is true for the Sparta NJ, Mahanoy City PA and Wilkes-Barre PA systems which are owned by Ed Walson.

The other systems (Sunbury, phillipsburg NJ and others) may have the same policy because they cooperate on a lot of things (even though they are independent companies).

Again, sorry for the bump but hope this helps.
 
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