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Brighthouse Tampa - SDV coming!

111K views 375 replies 54 participants last post by  jwbelcher 
#1 ·
Brighthouse Central Florida has a thread, thought it time to start a Tampa one!

So SDV is scheduled to arrive in the Tampa Bay Brighthouse market on 5/6/09. In early April, Brighthouse put an ad in the St. Pete Times: "Bright House Networks has launched a new digital video delivery technology known as Switched Digital Video (SDV). SDV is a robust bandwidth management system that makes it possible to offer more digital video programming services than before including new HD channels. To be able to offer more new video services, Bright House Netowkrs will be moving some existing programming services to the SDV system as well as adding new services on the SDV system."

The first round of SDV channels are scheduled for 5/6 with more coming on 5/27.

Given SDVs imminent arrival, I contacted BHN for information on a Tuning Adapter for TiVo. They say (e-mail support reps and phone reps) there is no estimate as to when the Tuning Adapters would be available, or even if they would be providing them.

Tampa support seems to be trailing significantly behind Central FL/ Orlando market support. I know support is thin for tuning adapters in general, but it seems that the Orlando BHN at least prepared for SDV and cableCARD device support and has been offering TAs since February. Also on a side note, it seems nearly impossible to acquire mCARDS in Tampa, at least I've had no luck with 3 service calls, and a bunch of calls/ chats and e-mails.

Any one know or have better luck finding out when/if Tuning adapters will be available in Tampa or SDV and Tivo support in general?
 
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#207 ·
This might not be the best thread to post this in, but today I received an e-mail from Brighthouse announcing their new iPad app:

http://care.brighthouse.com/Portal/...?uh=9120697415797342793&siteNodeId=4857&b=254

Which can be downloaded from here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bright-house-tv/id467135700?mt=8

Interesting to see if a TA will be required. :D

Of course, I downloaded it and fired it up here at work and got:

"The programming you have requested is only available when you are accessing this video service in your home, using a cable modem authorized by Brighthouse Networks."

Oh well.
 
#209 ·
This might not be the best thread to post this in, but today I received an e-mail from Brighthouse announcing their new iPad app:

Oh well.
You are correct. You must be in your home (on your home network) in order to use the App.

While I'm at it I would like to introduce myself...

My name is Gary and I recently joined the Corporate Social Media Team at Bright House Networks as their Online Forums Manager. Some of you may already know me as Ispgeek here and other communities on the web however effective today my username will change to BHNtechXpert.

The purpose behind this is to give everyone a consistent username across all online communities and to make it easy for you to identify that you are in fact speaking to an official representative of the company. My contact information will also be made available to each of these communities and I will also be working closely with each community operator to ensure that no question or situation is left unanswered.

In the past year Bright House Networks has fully embraced Social Media (Twitter, Facebook) as a powerful tool to interact with and support our customers in near real-time. Your response to these enhanced interaction options has been nothing less than amazing. The next evolutionary step for the Bright House Networks Social Media program includes reaching out to online forums, blogs and other unique and exciting forms of online communication to be announced soon and this is where I come into the picture.

My reach will include the entire Bright House Networks footprint (Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California). If you have a technical issue, concern or anything that might cause your experience with Bright House Networks to be anything less than outstanding...or if you have a comment, suggestion or feedback on how we can improve our services or processes to better meet your needs I want to know about it.

In addition to the above I’ll also keep you up to date on all the latest and greatest technology and services Bright House Networks has to offer including an occasional taste of coming soon technology and services and how to best utilize them in your busy lifestyles.

I receive immediate updates from each of these communities and I will normally respond to inquires quickly. Feel free to private message me anytime and I look forward to working with you.
 
#211 ·
Some of you may already know me as Ispgeek here and other communities on the web however effective today my username will change to BHNtechXpert.
Welcome! :up:

You are correct. Jailbroken iPads will not be able to use the App.
Too bad. Apple's draconian app store policy at work, I'm guessing.
 
#213 ·
Interesting. Another reason NOT to get an iPad. Silly me--I didn't realize that iPads were another ATT only product or that they required jailbreaking.
 
#214 ·
Interesting. Another reason NOT to get an iPad. Silly me--I didn't realize that iPads were another ATT only product or that they required jailbreaking.
Hi There...

They aren't only an AT&T product anymore and jailbreaking is only required if you want to have full control over your iPad. That said I'm not an Apple fan (I'm a PC kinda guy) so it's not in my future. Looking forward to an Android hopefully this year.
 
#215 ·
I didn't realize that iPads were another ATT only product or that they required jailbreaking.
Not to get too off-topic, but you might be confusing jailbreaking with unlocking. Jailbreaking allows you to install apps and tweaks that aren't in the Apple-approved App Store. Unlocking is what lets you use a device that is locked to a particular carrier (like AT&T) on any carrier.

In this particular case, Brighthouse is preventing their new app from running on a jailbroken iPad, presumably because they don't want the content (that I'm paying for anyway) getting off of the iPad via some jailbreak app.
 
#216 ·
Windracer it isn't us that's worried about what you do with that content...It's the content owner. Nothing would make us happier than to be able to offer you cross platform connectivity to all the products we offer no matter where you are and eventually that day will come.

We're kind of at a crossroads right now with technology and everyone is worried about getting their fair share. These issues will work themselves out eventually trust me...it's in everyones best interest to move in that direction. It will take time so patience is something we'll all have to hold onto at least for now.
 
#217 ·
Windracer it isn't us that's worried about what you do with that content...It's the content owner. Nothing would make us happier than to be able to offer you cross platform connectivity to all the products we offer no matter where you are and eventually that day will come.
I'm not trying to start an argument here, but if that were true BHN wouldn't have the CCI byte set on all the digital channels that prevent me from moving recordings from one TiVo to another in my own home, even though they allow that with their own "whole home DVR" solution. I know that can't be the content providers requiring that since Verizon and even Comcast don't always have those copy-protect flags on.
 
#218 ·
I'm not trying to start an argument here, but if that were true BHN wouldn't have the CCI byte set on all the digital channels that prevent me from moving recordings from one TiVo to another in my own home, even though they allow that with their own "whole home DVR" solution. I know that can't be the content providers requiring that since Verizon and even Comcast don't always have those copy-protect flags on.
The Whole Home DVR does not move recordings anywhere. They stream from the host DVR. I think the bigger question is why hasn't Tivo come up with a method of streaming for it's customers? For what they charge you would think this would be on the A list of customer requests. As for what other providers do in the way of securing content I obviously can't comment on that.
 
#219 ·
Sigh, such annoyances. Thanks WR! I want to be able to share even HD content between TiVos!

I just replaced my old BH modem, and the new one is a Netgear CGD24G with WiFi. I use a Linksys 54GS for TiVo and all my WiFi stuff. The BH Netgear came with no instructions or information and I had to peel off labels to discern exactly what model it was. I'm presuming that the WiFi on this is fairly useless to me and that the only way I can use this modem/router is as a modem. Correct?
 
#220 ·
Sigh, such annoyances. Thanks WR! I want to be able to share even HD content between TiVos!

I just replaced my old BH modem, and the new one is a Netgear CGD24G with WiFi. I use a Linksys 54GS for TiVo and all my WiFi stuff. The BH Netgear came with no instructions or information and I had to peel off labels to discern exactly what model it was. I'm presuming that the WiFi on this is fairly useless to me and that the only way I can use this modem/router is as a modem. Correct?
Why would the Netgear wireless be useless? It's the functional equiv of the 54GS.
 
#221 ·
The BH Netgear came with no instructions or information and I had to peel off labels to discern exactly what model it was. I'm presuming that the WiFi on this is fairly useless to me and that the only way I can use this modem/router is as a modem. Correct?
I guess it depends. If you can get into the web interface of the router you should be able to configure it to take over for your Linksys box. Assuming Brighthouse hasn't changed any of the defaults, you should be able to login and then change it to your liking. I found this, maybe it will help:

http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9441/~/cgd24g---product-faqs
 
#222 ·
Hey, WR, thanks. I'll give it a looksee.

Are your channel 10 and 1010 out this morning? Not that I need to watch Power Rangers, but wondering why they're not on.

Meanwhile, I noticed that 123 (BBCA) is gone . . . moved and, presumably, accessible only with a TA (that prevents MRV).
 
#223 ·
Why would the Netgear wireless be useless? It's the functional equiv of the 54GS.
BHN, There's no way I would know that it's the functional equivalent of 54GS (but thanks for the info). And it wasn't identifiable, nor did it come with instructions or booklet. I really appreciate information and helpfulness (see WindRacer's posts and MO) and a kinder tone would be more effective as Bright House's outreach.
 
#224 ·
Not to get too off-topic, but you might be confusing jailbreaking with unlocking. Jailbreaking allows you to install apps and tweaks that aren't in the Apple-approved App Store. Unlocking is what lets you use a device that is locked to a particular carrier (like AT&T) on any carrier.

In this particular case, Brighthouse is preventing their new app from running on a jailbroken iPad, presumably because they don't want the content (that I'm paying for anyway) getting off of the iPad via some jailbreak app.
Interesting and thanks, WR.
M
 
#225 ·
The Whole Home DVR does not move recordings anywhere. They stream from the host DVR.
Which limits the content to residing on the DVR. That is unacceptable:

1. The DVR is frail. The ability to deploy RAID is minimal or non-existent. My servers have more than 20 terabytes available fault tolerant storage, each, and counting. How many DVRs can make that claim?

2. The storage capabilities of the DVR are limited. Adding a single external drive is pretty pathetic when it comes to expanding a system, and doing so makes the system even more frail, not less. What's more, multi-drive arrays are bulky and usually rather noisy. The storage really needs to be elsewhere than in the living room or theater. If the DVR were able to store its content on a network drive, then that would be something. 'Not everything, but something.

3. There is no way to back up the content. Every night my primary server backs up any new material to the backup server via rsync. The entire contents of the backup server are archived to off-line hard drives on a regular basis. If the DVR supported backups, that would also be something.

4. There is no way to edit the content. I pad every recording in an attempt (sometimes unsuccessful :mad: ) to insure the entire program is recorded. That results in a lot of wasted space, so I trim every program to length. The very few which have commercials have them removed. Then I convert the MPEG2 content to h.264, which takes up less space and transfers much faster. None of that is available on any DVR of which I know.

I think the bigger question is why hasn't Tivo come up with a method of streaming for it's customers?
They have, but the question is not "bigger". It is largely moot. A streaming solution allows MRV or some variant, but it does not allow TTG. That is unacceptable.

For what they charge you would think this would be on the A list of customer requests. As for what other providers do in the way of securing content I obviously can't comment on that.
That's a cop-out. The fact is the content providers are not for the most part demanding that the CATV systems protect the content, and some (Mark Cuban, for example) are pushing hard for the CATV systems NOT to protect the content. The law specifically states that the CATV system and only the CATV system is responsible for the decision to set the CCI byte. Certainly, it is possible for a content provider to require as part of their contract agreement for the CCI byte to be set, but such contracts are not in evidence. Implying they are is nothing but a sleazy attempt to deflect the issue and make the company look as if it is not implementing capricious and arbitrary policies that negatively impact the customer when in fact the opposite is the case.
 
#226 ·
Windracer it isn't us that's worried about what you do with that content...It's the content owner.
The content owners have no say whatsoever (well, not supposedly - it is the MPAA that is driving most of this behind the scenes). No CATV provider has any contracts with the movie studios. The content providers have no official say in the matter, either. The CATV system and ONLY the CATV system has the authority to set the CCI byte or pass it on to the consumer from the content provider.

Nothing would make us happier than to be able to offer you cross platform connectivity to all the products we offer no matter where you are and eventually that day will come.
Not if the CATV companies have their way. CableLabs is comprised of CATV system representatives and only CATV system representatives (allowing that to be the case was another one of the utterly stupid moves on the part of the FCC). No one can read the CableLabs specs, even perfunctorily, and not realize the CATV companies do not wish the customer to have any control whatsoever over the content or the terminal equipment.

We're kind of at a crossroads right now with technology and everyone is worried about getting their fair share. These issues will work themselves out eventually trust me...it's in everyones best interest to move in that direction. It will take time so patience is something we'll all have to hold onto at least for now.
Right, Virginia.
 
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