Cox Cable Cards

[chicodoggy]

Just set up my Tivo HD box and getting 2 cards installed on Wednesday. I will let you know if I have any problems with the install.

I also noticed the Tivo HD is SLOW. I hope they fix this with a firmware upgrade in the near future. I have also had to reset my box a few times due to loss of signal.

[shizle]

Just an FYI, I thought that my signal was weak (causing the signal to drop, forcing a reboot). It turns out that the TIVO was sitting on top of my Denon avr3803, and causing overheating! So I'd get signal drop every 15 minutes or so, and I was grinding my teeth.. These boxes apparently are quite heat sensitive.

[KiddSupreme]

Well I was reading a very informative article from Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars/1) . Its a primer on CableCards. I was always wondering what was meant by EMMs and ECMs and why it was important in the scheme of getting the CableCards configured properly. Two entries of note were:

Once these keys are recorded, the CableCARD is "hit" by the cable company, which simply means that it is remotely programmed with information about what channels and services you have paid for and are entitled to watch. This is done by sending an Entitlement Management Message (EMM) from the headend to the CableCARD. An EMM is an out-of-band transmission (it sends data over low frequencies not reserved for cable channels) that authorizes a specific CableCARD to decode a specific set of services (HBO, etc.) to a specific host. Once this is done, the CableCARD is ready to go.

The demodulated, encrypted signal passes from the TV into the CableCARD, which first checks the EMMs to see if the user is authorized to view that channel (basic channels may not require an EMM). If so, the card then pulls something called an "Entitlement Control Message" (ECM) out of the in-band signal. The ECM is the key needed to decrypt the channel, and it is sent along the line every 100 ms in order to eliminate the delay often found when switching channels on older systems. The ECM is also rotated every few seconds in order to discourage hacking. The ECM is itself encrypted by a proprietary mechanism built into both the headend and the CableCARD, so when a CableCARD attempts to descramble a channel, it first decrypts the ECM, which then allows it to decrypt the MPEG-2 stream.

So, maybe in my situation, the problem is the ECM is not properly being decoded by the cablecard Slot 2. At least, that's what I gather. I could be wrong. If anyone else would like to shed some light on the subject, feel free.

[lament]

great info, KiddSupreme. thanks for that.

btw, don't forget to edit your profile so people know where you're from. ;)

[Joe3]

My theory, Cox is loading their bandwitdth by adding too many VOD and new HD channels.

Some channels are coming at 100%, others near the new added channels are coming in at less than 90% causing a no signal lock to flash on and off and blank out entirely. Channels are bouncing signal strengths at 72-97 in 5 sec.

The tech takes a reading off the coax and the signal is near 100 %.

Anyone?

[Sirshagg]

don't forget the 'digial gateway fee' that you pay on top of the cablecard fees, per S3 (and sometime per cablecard!).

I'm curious is they wanted to charge you this fee per cable card. They told me it's per card, not device. That's the moment I decided they would not get my business.

[Shawn95GT]

When I first got the S3 setup with cablecards they charged the fee per cablecard. A month or two later they fixed it so it's right (per device).

Personally I think it's how they re-couped the 'free' install I got.

[nick58b]

I just got off the phone with Tivo, they told me they were aware of problems with the second cablecard slot in the Tivo HD, and are working on a fix. The rep I talked to said they would hopefully have the update pushed out by next week.

As for my experience, I had 3 visits from Cox cable, probably 5 hours and 8 cablecards tested total. They finally narrowed down the problem when they sent out a senior tech with pretested cablecards, and a 26" tv to prove they worked...

[StuffOfInterest]

As for my experience, I had 3 visits from Cox cable, probably 5 hours and 8 cablecards tested total. They finally narrowed down the problem when they sent out a senior tech with pretested cablecards, and a 26" tv to prove they worked...

I bet someone at Cox is really pissed right now about the amount of tech time being used on what turns out to be a hardware fault not of their causing. Hopefully TiVo gets a fix out really soon, but you can bet that the cable operators are going to be less helpful regarding TiVo issues when this gets around.

[chicodoggy]

Well, the cards are in after waiting 3 hours for cox to show up today. The installer didn't even know what a tivo was or how to install the cards...so I did it myself. Very easy but it took about 30 minutes for the cards to come up and the tivo to download new channel info.

BUT, now card 1 is fine and card 2 is pixelated on any digital channel over 100. I am having cox come back out on friday to see if a different card solves the problem.

In the meantime, I will be switching the cards around to see if it is the card or the slot in the tivo hd.

I hope tivo releases a patch if this is their issue very soon or I will be sending it back to cc.

[ccrocker001]

Cox San Diego came out to install 4 cable cards in my 2 Tivo HDs. They installed 2 single stream cards in one unit and as many others have indicated, slot 1 worked perfect and slot 2 has major pixelation. On the other unit they installed 2 multi stream cards. As mentioned above, the installer insisted that although it was a multi stream card, I still needed two cards. The second unit seemed to work fine with a good picture on both tuners, but the Tivo unit kept throwing up a screen saying to remove the card in slot 2 since there was a multi stream card in slot 1. The Tivo also said that slot 2 would not be used if there was a multi stream card in slot 1. So I pulled the second multistream card from slot 2. AND despite what the installer said I am getting two perfect tuners from the one multistream card.

So with the second multistream card I am trying to activate it on the other unit in slot 1 and that is proving to be difficult. Cox is coming back on out tomorrow.

Whatever. At least one works like it should.

[lament]

I love how nobody at Cox knows what's going on. When I called them about multistream cards last week and posted a few days ago, they said they don't have them. good lord.

@ccrocker001:

did you verify that both tuners could record at the same time?

also, can the San Diego people also post the name of their installer so can ask for them. :)

[ccrocker001]

Well my installers really didn't know what was going on. But yes, both tuners work individually on one multi stream card. I can pause one tuner, go to the other tuner and watch it live or pause etc. and then go back to the other tuner and continue playing the paused stream. Right now both tuners are recording two different shows on one multi stream card.

The second multi stream card I put in the other unit seams to be slowly accepting more channels - not sure if this is normal.

[lament]

If 1 multistream card works for both tuners, I don't understand why Cox is saying you need 2 multistream cards for 1 box.

Also did you guys specifically ask for multistream cards?

[ccrocker001]

I didn't ask for anything. The installer did say they had just gotten "new" cards and were beginning to use them. They clearly have no idea what they are doing. Even when I tried to activate the other multistream card it is obvious to me now that two different people could not pair it properly. After the recent firmware update that fixes the issue with slot 2 I reinserted the single stream cards and all is working perfectly on both slots. So I have one Tivo HD with 1 multi stream card installed and two tuners working and another Tivo HD with 2 single stream cards now also working proplery. ...And now I have an extra multi-stream card that I think I'll hold onto until I get my first bill and see whats going on.

With the recent firmware update, I wouldn't be concerned about needing a multistream card - at least from cox in San Diego.

[lament]

the firmware push already happened? someone had mentioned that TiVo said they were working on it.. damn that's quick if they did it already.

also, 1 multistream card = $2 rental, but 2 singlestream cards = $4 ($2 each).. so why wouldn't i want 1 multistream card?

[ccrocker001]

force a download and you'll get the update. Then restart. You're right - $2 is $2. I'm just happy everything works....

[lament]

lol I don't even have the TiVo HD yet.. i'm just doing my research. :)

thanks for all your info, btw..

[KiddSupreme]

Looks like Tivo figured out the issue. Unfortunately I am not at home at the moment to see it work myself. When I get home Saturday, if it works, I can cancel out the truck roll.

Now I have to decide how to get the difference of the amount from Circuit City on the lower priced TivoHD. :)

[DasRaven@]

If 1 multistream card works for both tuners, I don't understand why Cox is saying you need 2 multistream cards for 1 box.

Also did you guys specifically ask for multistream cards?

I inquired specifically about them and they told me they aren't available separately yet. You can only get one with the SA8300HDC box and those cards are paired to the box they come with.

Eventually, M-cards will be available and when they are, it'll cost anoth $50 to roll the truck to replace my 2 CCs with one. :down:

[lament]

I inquired specifically about them and they told me they aren't available separately yet. You can only get one with the SA8300HDC box and those cards are paired to the box they come with.

Eventually, M-cards will be available and when they are, it'll cost anoth $50 to roll the truck to replace my 2 CCs with one. :down:

Hi DasRaven,

As evidenced by ccrocker001, it appears my market (San Diego) has them.

[JTalbert]

Ok, I thought I would share my experience so far.

I have a new HD Tivo, and I love it. Cox came out today to install the cards and after about 35 minute, he had both of them installed and I get channel 26 WETA, and THATS IT. I do not get ANY channel than channel 26... Well this would make my daughter happy since she is into Sesame Street, and Barney and all that kid fluff... But both cable cards teh exact same issue. I only get channel 26 for both cards...

The cards that they brought were Scientific Atlanta PowerKey Model PKM600 dated 4/8/2005.

After about an additional hour with the cox guy on the phone, was told that they would have to bring out year 2007 cable cards.

Here is my beef, They know in advance these earlier cards do not work in the Tivo's yet the guy only had these two year 2005 cards. Why didnt he have spare cards to try? Why did they even send out techs with anything earlier than 2007 cards if they know these others dont work.

So now I am going to have to wait till Monday because I will be going out of town tonight and wont be home till this weekend.

Anyone else experience this type of issue? Resolution?

My other gripe is this. Why does a tech even have to come out. Why cant you pick up the cards and install them yourself if your techincal such as I am. Answer, The cable company wants to nickel and dime you for anything they can.

[lament]

Yeah the $55 fee is BS.

Also, you should just ask for 1 Multistream card like I will be doing once I get mine.

[doormat]

OK, after a missed appt by the installer yesterday, a supervisor or chief tech finally came out today and tried to install the CCs. He brought four and one didnt work off the bat. The second one paired fine in slot one. The third one didnt seem to be pairing properly, so he went to replace it with the fourth.

The problem is the guy on the other side of the phone call (at Cox, someone named Wayne) kept telling the installer to hard boot the tivo - even when it was booting up. So the installer unplugged it from the back and plugged it back in. If you know about how the insides of a TiVo works you can probably tell where I am going with this -- green screen of death after about five reboots. He is coming back tomorrow at 5PM to see about getting the other card working.

Also, anecdotally, the 2007 card crapped out, while the 2005 cards seem to work the best in our situation - SA PowerKey cards.

[gespears]

Well my Central Phoenix installers just left. Not too bad. They got here at 5:00. Checked the signal and found it lacking so they put in an amp. The first card they put in was bad of course. It was even smashed. The next two cards went in smoothly and they left at 7:00. They were nice guys and cleaned up all the old connections. There was a rookie and his trainer. The senior tech knew who to call to set up the cards. I think his name was David. They said he was the guru of cable cards. And they were real Cox guys, not subs.

Gary

[Cynicize]

You can get Center Ice. I have it with cableCARDS. And you can order PPV by calling it in. It's a one way device. You just can't order by remote.

I tried ordering a PPV today for my TivoHD to record. Apparently they require (Cox - Gulf Coast) you to have at least one "addressable" box on the account. It won't let me order a PPV online or on the phone. I called in about it, and they won't budge on it. Just said best I can do is wait on the Multistream card they have coming out sometime in the next 6 months.

[ellinj]

I tried ordering a PPV today for my TivoHD to record. Apparently they require (Cox - Gulf Coast) you to have at least one "addressable" box on the account. It won't let me order a PPV online or on the phone. I called in about it, and they won't budge on it. Just said best I can do is wait on the Multistream card they have coming out sometime in the next 6 months.

While I cannot speak for cox's policy from a technical perspective this is bs. A cable card device is addressable. How do you think they can authorize your box for the channels you have ordered.

I would have asked how multistream would have solved this problem as they are one way as well.

[lament]

While I cannot speak for cox's policy from a technical perspective this is bs. A cable card device is addressable. How do you think they can authorize your box for the channels you have ordered.

I would have asked how multistream would have solved this problem as they are one way as well.Multistream CableCards (M-Card) are two-way (http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html#2).

M-Card: A two-way CableCARD module that implements all of the multi-stream functionality as well as the single-stream functionality (for backward compatibility purposes) of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

[ellinj]

Multistream CableCards (M-Card) are two-way (http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html#2).

M-Card: A two-way CableCARD module that implements all of the multi-stream functionality as well as the single-stream functionality (for backward compatibility purposes) of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

No matter what they say all current production cable cards are one way. AFAIK there is no real standard for the return path. Cable companies are pushing for DOCSIS and OCAP which to date no CE vendor has implemented in a consumer product. I fail to see how Mstream will help unless it is installed in a cable box with DOCSIS.

With that said all two way will provide is the ability to order from the box. You still should be able to call in and they can tell your card that you can watch a PPV. There should be no technical reason for the box to reply.

[instill]

Well, I'm extremely annoyed. Cox arrived Saturday at 8:00 AM. The installer had two cards in his hand. Neither work. I kept getting an, "Invalid cablecard, please contact your cable provider" error message. The other irritating thing was the damn installer couldn't seem to figure out how the cards were ejected and kept trying to pull them out by force. I finally snapped at the guy and told him to get his damn hands off my box if he isn't going to follow simple directions and let me put the things in or take them out. Idiot.

He leaves and says another guy, a "cablecard expert" will come by around noon with fresh cards and that guy will get it worked out. Noon comes and goes. Then one o' clock, two o' clock, finally I call the original installer on his cell and ask what's going on. He says the "cablecard expert" says if the cards get inserted and they don't work, then the box is incompatible with their cards and I need to just get a Cox DVR.

I tell the guy to get back to my house with a handful of cards and we'll see about that. He says he'll come back around three o' clock. Three comes and goes... then four... then five. I finally call him again and ask what's the deal. He promises to swing by around six. Six finally comes and the guy shows up with just two more fresh cards.

He inserts the cards and we get the same invalid error. I gently remove and reinsert the cards again and now, finally, we get a screen listing settings and other details. I click on "Host ID" and get a "No information found" error. The Cox installer starts bitching about this and says I should forget TiVo and go with the Cox DVR. I call TiVo and they have me insert/reinsert the slot-1 card repeatedly and try different cards.

Finally, I get the settings menu again on one, click on "Host ID" and now it gives me an error like, "pot:///settings/config corrupt" quickly flashes and dumps me back to the invalid screen. The installer goes back to his truck, fetches four more cablecards and again, all have the same problem.

TiVo tells me EIGHT cablecards isn't enough to tell if it's the box or the cards - despite the cards all having dates in 2007 months apart. They tell me to call Cox and have them bring out another EIGHT cards next weekend and see if it works. I refuse this and say this is ridiculous. Either the damn TiVo HD box is broken and should never have been released to paying customers or the whole cablecard thing is a damn mess and clearly not ready for the public.

I demand TiVo ship me a brand-new TiVo HD and then I call Cox, with the installer there, and tell them to come back next Saturday with TEN cards to test. Anything less and they can cancel my $160/month contract and lose a five year customer.

This is pathetic.

[lament]

Cox where? you guys need to update your profiles please..

[Bodie]

Where do you see the Digital Gateway charge? On mine I see DIGITAL CABLE SERVICE above each cableCARD.

Sorry for the delay, been away.

After a couple of months of bills for all the freebies to settle out, I don't actually see a gateway charge at all.

I have the standard basic, expanded and digital tier (instead of sports or entertainment). On top of that, I have showtime, 3 CCs (one in the back of the TV for watching the ball game while Tivo's busy, worth it for $24 a yr) at $2 each and a $10 credit for having all three services (phone, internet and cable).

[navman]

what have your experiences been with cox cable cards in phoenix.
How much are they charging? are there any gateway access fees in phoenix?
Do they have the m-cards available as yet?

[Sirshagg]

For what it's worth...

I'm in Phoenix and seriously considered going to cox instead of giving up my Tivo with DirecTv. I didn't and a BIG reason why is because they wanted to charge me an $8 digital gateway fee for EACH cable card (no m cards). $16 to cox for each series 3 tivo (on top of the Tivo monthly fee and purchase was not going to happen!!!

Got my HR20's now

[Shawn95GT]

Cox Phoenix charged me that originally but later changed it. I posted the 'updated' charges a little while back:

http://www.shawnz.com/TCF/CoxBill.gif

I have their High speed Internet, phone service (basic 3 features), & Digital cable (no premiums) with only one of my S3s with cablecards and I now pay $118 and change a month.

The $12x charge was from when I was paying the multiple gateway fees.

I expect another set of cable cards for S3 #2 to cost me $11/mo + the ridiculous install fee.

[navman]

thank you for ur input sirshagg and shawn.

[lament]

Hey guys,

I've called Cox San Diego and they're going to be coming out on Friday morning at 9am. I asked the rep on the phone to bring multiple multistream and singlestream cards, but I got a rushed feeling from her, so I'll call early next week to confirm that it was put in the notes. I'll be buying the TiVo HD Thursday night.

I'm assuming all I have to do on Thursday is setup my TiVo account online, purchase the service plan, attach the wireless and run through the TiVo setup as much as possible.

Anything else I need to do before the Cox guy comes?

Thanks!

[sniperlv]

Cox Phoenix will be here Sunday. Wish me luck, as I asked them to bring lots of cable cards also. One rep tells me they don't have Multistream, the last one I talked to says they do. So I guess I will find out in a couple days.

[navman]

So how did it go sniperlv?

[sniperlv]

Well the installer arrived, not a Cox Employee a contractor. He brought 2 S cards a 2005 and a 2006. Of course he had never seen a Tivo HD. I explained to him that I had requested that whomever they send to advise them it was a Tivo and to bring lots of Cards. Long story short one card is in the Tivo now stuck at firmware update, he was only here 30 minutes. Left the cards here with the one trying to do the update. He gave me his cell number so in 30 more minutes or so I am going to call him and instruct him to either go get more cards and return back, or send a supervisor with more cards. As I don't think these are going to work.

[navman]

This really sucks, would like to get tivohd but the service we are getting from cox as far as the cablecards are concerned leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe thats exactly what they want................

[sniperlv]

Anyone in Cox Phoenix that have one of these working have the information of what cards work with the Tivo HD? Such as model and firmware? If someone has this info I can call them back and get the correct ones.
Thanks

[eochs]

Hi everyone, maybe y'all can help me out here... I'm looking at getting a TivoHD this week to get rid of my 8300HD... Reading this and other threads I am getting confused by what I need to do and who I need to talk to... Can someone break down and summarize what I should be asking for from Cox (Phoenix)? Do I need 1 M-Card, or 2 single steam cards? Any certain brand of card I should ask for? etc, etc, etc...

Also, I thought cablecards would give problems with switched-digital video... Is this no longer true?

Thanks!

[Shawn95GT]

No switched digital in PHX (yet).

You need a multistream card if you can get it. Otherwise you need 2 single stream cards.

The only thing you're missing out on is PPV and their Interactive guide (lol). We don't even have On Demand yet but if they ever deploy that here you'll need a Cox STB to use it.

[eochs]

What happens when switched digital comes to Phoenix? is my Tivo dead to cable?

[Shawn95GT]

I don't have any 1st hand expericence - but from what I understand we just won't be able to see the switched digital channels.

[sniperlv]

Hey Shawn what Cable Card and what version firmware did Cox use to get yours working?

[Shawn95GT]

Hey Shawn what Cable Card and what version firmware did Cox use to get yours working?
I only have 1 S3 with cablecards.

It has SA cards model 0600 Version 0010
BootROM is version 115

http://www.shawnz.com/TCF/cablecard001.jpg

[sniperlv]

Thanks Shawn

[jimmylevans]

Had same issue with my first S3 and returned it. Second unit works better but still having "Tileing" problems and a few audio gliches. I think my next action is to call Tivo and see if they can work through Cox and see if that can help.

[jimmylevans]

Shawn, I have the same hardware and firmware settings as you and I am still getting the pixelization intermittently. Does anyone have this issue and if so what is the solution?

[djones18]

Cox, Northern Virginia indicates M-Stream CableCARDs now available and provides pricing:


"Dear Valued Cox Customer:

Thank you for contacting our Cox Northern Virginia Online Customer Care Team.

We already have the M-Stream cable cards available. It has to be installed by a technician and installation fee is $29.99. The rental charge for the card is $1.99 per month apart from the digital gateway price of $ 6.95 per month."

NOTE: Cox CableCARD prices in this area increasing 1 October to $4.50 per card.

[Shawn95GT]

It's funny how the new pricing is pretty much the same as 2 S-cards + the gateway fee.

If that CC price hike hits PHX I'll request that they swap my two s-cards for a single M-card on their dime or grandfather my pricing for the two s-cards.

I don't think either of these is unreasonable.

I do get pixelation now and then (nothing consistant) but I think it's Cox. From what I've seen of their STBs it's MUCH worse on their hardware.

[markw365]

It's funny how the new pricing is pretty much the same as 2 S-cards + the gateway fee.

If that CC price hike hits PHX I'll request that they swap my two s-cards for a single M-card on their dime or grandfather my pricing for the two s-cards.

I don't think either of these is unreasonable.

I do get pixelation now and then (nothing consistant) but I think it's Cox. From what I've seen of their STBs it's MUCH worse on their hardware.


TivoHD with Cox San Diego. $2.00 single M Card, right now it just works. Have only had it up 3 weeks, so I haven't seen/heard about the bill yet from finance. :)

Mark

[lament]

TivoHD with Cox San Diego. $2.00 single M Card, right now it just works. Have only had it up 3 weeks, so I haven't seen/heard about the bill yet from finance. :)

MarkThat's good news, Mark. Cox San Diego is coming tomorrow.

which reminds me.. going to call them and make sure they bring M-cards.

Mark did you specifically request M-cards when you called?

update: as I suspected, they didn't notate that i needed an M-card nor multiple single-stream cablecards.. argh. So that's notated.

I'll find out tomorrow from 9-11am.

[gespears]

Just a quick note to let everybody know that once of the SA cards supplied from Cox set the CCI byte wrong which meant the Tivo HD thought the programs coming from this card (or at least the ones with CCI set to 0x02, it would change it to 0x03) were pay per view and wouldn't let you record them. So if you run into this, check the diagnostic screen durning the programs you are not being allowed to keep a recording of, for the CCI byte, see what its set to. If it's 0x03 then retune everything so the other tuner is set to that channel and see what it shows the CCI byte to be. A cable card swap out took care of it (after all the typical problems with getting it provisioned correctly etc.)

Gary

[bracoh]

TivoHD with Cox San Diego. $2.00 single M Card, right now it just works. Have only had it up 3 weeks, so I haven't seen/heard about the bill yet from finance. :)

Mark

Interesting that they told you that they had M cards. I spoke to them on Tuesday and they said that they were not available yet. I got the Tivo today, it's all set-up and waiting for the installation of the cards on Saturday. Time to make a call.

[lament]

a few pages back, someone also said they had an M-Card with CoX San Diego.

I got the TiVo HD today.. will get mine setup tonight as well.

and yes call them and just have them put in the notes that you need an M-Card, and to bring a couple..

[jon96cobra]

Just got a call yesterday about I'm loosing some stations unless I switch to a digital box instead of using the cable cards.

I wonder if the same applies to the M-cards? I'm still waiting to hear back what stations and if I can switch to M-card.

[davecramer74]

I wonder if the same applies to the M-cards? I'm still waiting to hear back what stations and if I can switch to M-card.


ya it applies to any cable card device that doesnt support 2way coms. the cable card has nothing to do with it. cox just rolled out sdv in your area, so youll need their cable box to get the channels.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6470803.html?industryid=47194

http://www.tvpredictions.com/cox082207.htm

[lament]

9:45am

OK the installer just called..

"Yeah you're upgrading your cable box?"

"No, you're installing cablecards into my TiVo HD."

"Oh.. cable cards?" [pause] "OK I'll be there in a few minutes."

this isn't looking good.

10:28am

Cox Installer Darryl came by with.... 4 single stream cards (blue cards). The kicker is that he had 2 M-Cards (green cards) but traded with one of his techs for the blue cards (single stream) before he got here because his other tech needed the green ones. He didn't know the green were M-cards.

So he just left and he's going to call me later when he grabs the M-cards because I told him I didn't want the single stream cards.

argh.. nice guy, but damn I knew this was going to happen.

updates to follow..

[jon96cobra]

9:45am

OK the installer just called..

"Yeah you're upgrading your cable box?"

"No, you're installing cablecards into my TiVo HD."

"Oh.. cable cards?" [pause] "OK I'll be there in a few minutes."

this isn't looking good.

10:28am

Cox Installer Darryl came by with.... 4 single stream cards (blue cards). The kicker is that he had 2 M-Cards (green cards) but traded with one of his techs for the blue cards (single stream) before he got here because his other tech needed the green ones. He didn't know the green were M-cards.

So he just left and he's going to call me later when he grabs the M-cards because I told him I didn't want the single stream cards.

argh.. nice guy, but damn I knew this was going to happen.

updates to follow..

Sorry to hear that.

Cox did something like that to me. Good luck with the install.

[bracoh]

9:45am

OK the installer just called..

"Yeah you're upgrading your cable box?"

"No, you're installing cablecards into my TiVo HD."

"Oh.. cable cards?" [pause] "OK I'll be there in a few minutes."

this isn't looking good.

10:28am

Cox Installer Darryl came by with.... 4 single stream cards (blue cards). The kicker is that he had 2 M-Cards (green cards) but traded with one of his techs for the blue cards (single stream) before he got here because his other tech needed the green ones. He didn't know the green were M-cards.

So he just left and he's going to call me later when he grabs the M-cards because I told him I didn't want the single stream cards.

argh.. nice guy, but damn I knew this was going to happen.

updates to follow..

I called this morning to make sure that it was noted on my order that I needed M-cards and to bring more than one. When I stet up the appointment I specifically asked that the person that came was a Cox employee. All of that is on my ticket, we'll see if they actually read it before coming. I'll post back tomorrow with the results.

[lament]

2pm

he's been here since 1pm.. M-card isn't picking up channels, but I tried what the TiVo manual suggested and rebooted and ran guided setup again - which stalled at the Getting Program Guide part for some reason trying to connect to the server..

He checked my signals (and gave me a new splitter) - now trying to get dispatch to send out some hits on the card. It's paired up - it's just not getting channels.

stay tuned..

2:16pm

and we have liftoff! They had to reset the M-card, send some more hits, and now we have channels.

I'm finishing up the guided setup again...

[lament]

I called this morning to make sure that it was noted on my order that I needed M-cards and to bring more than one. When I stet up the appointment I specifically asked that the person that came was a Cox employee. All of that is on my ticket, we'll see if they actually read it before coming. I'll post back tomorrow with the results.
When the Cox guy calls you to say he's on the way, make sure to ask if has GREEN cable cards that say Multi Stream Card on them..

in other news..

For some reason, I'm stuck at Getting Program Info as it's "Preparing.." to Connect to check for new program info. Been sitting here for 5 minutes now. this happened earlier, and I had to hard reboot.

I don't know if there is an issue with TiVo's servers right now or what. I know my wireless is setup properly, because it was working fine last night.

update: it was just slow.. now it's time to check out the channels and setup my new learning remote..

[bracoh]

The Cox guy got here at 10:50, 10 minutes early. Yesterday I called and requested that he bring M-cards. Of course he didn't and said that the warehouse was closed on Saturday so he couldn't get any. I complained and he said that he would see if anyone else had any that they could bring to him. While he was in the truck I called Cox and demanded that someone be here on Monday at no extra charge. He also confirmed that the ticket said to bring M-Cards. The installer didn't read it.

The guy came back with 2 M-cards. He had never done a TivoHD but had set up many Series 3 units. The whole thing took 40 minutes and I'm up and running. HBO and all of the HD channels are clear and functional. The installer was knowledgeable and pleasant and I'm very satisfied. Now I'm just waiting for the HD data to load so I can set up my season passes.

Considering all of the horror stories I've seen on this board, I feel very fortunate. I'm a happy guy right now!

[lament]

Glad to hear it went smooth! Yeah as long as you get an M-Card, it seems to be smooth sailing.

I've noticed a couple of blips of macroblocking over the last 24 hours, but nothing major and I blame the source.

Now that I have this up and running, is the menu/channel changing always this slow? The menu transitions are also slow and not as smooth as my old Series 2.

Minor complaint, though.. I'm loving it so far.

oh another thing - 718, the National Geographic channel, has been out for me for about a week.

I called about it a week ago and they said it's a problem on National Geographic's end. Is anyone getting this channel (Cox San Diego)?

update: ok, after the most roundabout conversation with tech support, it appears for $3 more a month, I can get the National Geographic HD channel since it's (now) part of the "Discovery Tier." In this "Discovery Tier" there is but one HD channel - National Geographic HD.. the rest are these SD channels (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/cable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&bonus=1) .

wtf? it was free for 2 days.. now they're charging for it? lame.

[bracoh]

Glad to hear it went smooth! Yeah as long as you get an M-Card, it seems to be smooth sailing.

I've noticed a couple of blips of macroblocking over the last 24 hours, but nothing major and I blame the source.

Now that I have this up and running, is the menu/channel changing always this slow? The menu transitions are also slow and not as smooth as my old Series 2.

Minor complaint, though.. I'm loving it so far.

oh another thing - 718, the National Geographic channel, has been out for me for about a week.

I called about it a week ago and they said it's a problem on National Geographic's end. Is anyone getting this channel (Cox San Diego)?

update: ok, after the most roundabout conversation with tech support, it appears for $3 more a month, I can get the National Geographic HD channel since it's (now) part of the "Discovery Tier." In this "Discovery Tier" there is but one HD channel - National Geographic HD.. the rest are these SD channels (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/cable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&bonus=1) .

wtf? it was free for 2 days.. now they're charging for it? lame.


I'm getting 718 and I'm not paying extra for it. That doesn't sound right. If it isn't a premium channel then HD is HD. As far as I know there aren't any special tiers for HD programming.

[lament]

I'm getting 718 and I'm not paying extra for it. That doesn't sound right. If it isn't a premium channel then HD is HD. As far as I know there aren't any special tiers for HD programming.
you must subscribe to one of these packages (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/digitalcable/packages.asp) then.

National Geographic HD available only to those customers that subscribe to the Digital Bonus Package (excludes Digital gateway customers).

What is a "Digital gateway customer"?

I have the most basic service available to still get HD (I believe limited basic + expanded). So I only get up to channel 70, plus the HD channels.

update: ok I poked around their site more.. honestly, it couldn't be more confusing.

I am a "Digital gateway customer" - I pay $6 for digital service. so in addition to my basic + limited service, I also get all the HD channels - except for National Geographic (NGHD) as that is now part of the "Digital bonus channels" (see below0.

So for $3 more a month, I can become a "1-package digital customer," get 11 digital bonus channels (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/digitalcable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&bonus=1) (including NGHD) plus I can choose one of these packages (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/cable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&digital_tiers=1).

[markw365]

I just ran into a snag. They couldn't activate HBO/SHOWTIME. So they want to send a tech out. :( Scheduled for Wed since I always take the evening slot. We'll see what happens then.

Next on my list is a 500/750G drive. Need to update mfstools on my desktop to do it though. Let you guys know the success/failure. I'll probably toss a WD YS drive in it as they're cheaper and available locally over the DB35's.

Oh, yes, the HD is slower with the 30 second skip than the Series 2. Going to put my series 2 down at the end of the month when my DTV expires.

Mark

[lament]

mark is there a thread detailing how to upgrade the TiVo HD hard drive or is everything on the msftools site?

[bracoh]

you must subscribe to one of these packages (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/digitalcable/packages.asp) then.

National Geographic HD available only to those customers that subscribe to the Digital Bonus Package (excludes Digital gateway customers).

What is a "Digital gateway customer"?

I have the most basic service available to still get HD (I believe limited basic + expanded). So I only get up to channel 70, plus the HD channels.

update: ok I poked around their site more.. honestly, it couldn't be more confusing.

I am a "Digital gateway customer" - I pay $6 for digital service. so in addition to my basic + limited service, I also get all the HD channels - except for National Geographic (NGHD) as that is now part of the "Digital bonus channels" (see below0.

So for $3 more a month, I can become a "1-package digital customer," get 11 digital bonus channels (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/digitalcable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&bonus=1) (including NGHD) plus I can choose one of these packages (http://www.cox.com/sandiego/cable/channellineup.asp?custom=1&digital_tiers=1).

I know I've got the Sports & Information package, so maybe that's it. After poking around last night, I see I've got some channels I didn't even know I had.

[jfh3]

I just ran into a snag. They couldn't activate HBO/SHOWTIME. So they want to send a tech out. :( Scheduled for Wed since I always take the evening slot. We'll see what happens then.

Call them back and escalate. There is NOTHING a tech in your house is going to do to get those two channels that can't be done over the phone. Your cards are most likely not paired/validated correctly.

[Jeanesco]

Cox Phoenix charged me that originally but later changed it. I posted the 'updated' charges a little while back:

http://www.shawnz.com/TCF/CoxBill.gif

I have their High speed Internet, phone service (basic 3 features), & Digital cable (no premiums) with only one of my S3s with cablecards and I now pay $118 and change a month.

The $12x charge was from when I was paying the multiple gateway fees.

I expect another set of cable cards for S3 #2 to cost me $11/mo + the ridiculous install fee.

I am in the Phoenix area as well. Is this what you pay every month for digital cable? Just $31? I already have Cox's phone and HSI, I haven't subscribed to their CATV as it is a bit of a ripoff though (been with D*, getting ready to drop them though.)

I called Cox a few weeks ago and they quoted me at $56 a month, plus the cablecard, plus the "digital gateway." And what is that variety tier? Is that obligatory or optional? And do they have M-cards in the valley yet?

[Shawn95GT]

I am in the Phoenix area as well. Is this what you pay every month for digital cable? Just $31? I already have Cox's phone and HSI, I haven't subscribed to their CATV as it is a bit of a ripoff though (been with D*, getting ready to drop them though.)

I called Cox a few weeks ago and they quoted me at $56 a month, plus the cablecard, plus the "digital gateway." And what is that variety tier? Is that obligatory or optional? And do they have M-cards in the valley yet?
I pay $118 and change for all three. The bundle discounts mainly discount the cable which on the bill makes it look like I pay $31 for cable TV. In my case it's cheaper to have digital cable than it is to have analog cable due to the bundle discounts.

Keep in mind the rate I'm paying is the $99/mo + equipment rate and this rate has since increased to $109/mo. They grandfathered me at the old rate.

Cox has their programming broke down into tiers for sports / movies or variety. Variety has MTV / DIY / kids programming. You can see the tier broke out here:

http://www.cox.com/arizona/cable_lineup.asp

You get to choose one tier with your digital cable and they charge if you want more tiers.

I haven't heard of M cards in PHX yet - but I imagine they are coming soon if they aren't already available.

[Jeanesco]

I pay $118 and change for all three. The bundle discounts mainly discount the cable which on the bill makes it look like I pay $31 for cable TV. In my case it's cheaper to have digital cable than it is to have analog cable due to the bundle discounts.

Keep in mind the rate I'm paying is the $99/mo + equipment rate and this rate has since increased to $109/mo. They grandfathered me at the old rate.

Cox has their programming broke down into tiers for sports / movies or variety. Variety has MTV / DIY / kids programming. You can see the tier broke out here:

http://www.cox.com/arizona/cable_lineup.asp

You get to choose one tier with your digital cable and they charge if you want more tiers.

I haven't heard of M cards in PHX yet - but I imagine they are coming soon if they aren't already available.

Eww...G4 and Logo - two channels I don't want my money going to...but then again, that is the better of those other tiers, unless you're into sports, as the movie tier channels all have commercials and are edited (bleh.) Then again, I can't think of any of the channels in any of the digital tiers that I am interested in, except for a few of the premiums, and a few of the HD ones.

But at least you don't have to pay extra for those HD channels...Is that discovery channel the same as the regular one, only HD? Or does it have alternate programming?

Also, what options does that package include for the phone, and what internet tier is that?

[Shawn95GT]

But at least you don't have to pay extra for those HD channels...Is that discovery channel the same as the regular one, only HD? Or does it have alternate programming?

Also, what options does that package include for the phone, and what internet tier is that?
DiscoveryHD has different programming. It shows more documentary stuff with the popular shows mixed in (American Chopper etc). I highly recommend 'Alien Insect' :).

The Phone package is the Connections 60 package. Their website sucks so you can't really tell what you get with this. I can tell you I get caller ID, call waiting, call waiting ID etc but I do not get and could not get Voicemail without an additional fee. It also includes 60 minutes of long distance every month that we never use. We use the cell phones and I have an IP phone in my home office for free long distance calling.

The Internet is the 'standard' $45 plan. It's 7 Meg down and 512k up. It included powerboost which basically makes your downloads peak at up to 15M down. No complaints here.

[Jeanesco]

DiscoveryHD has different programming. It shows more documentary stuff with the popular shows mixed in (American Chopper etc). I highly recommend 'Alien Insect' :).

Mythbusters?

The Phone package is the Connections 60 package. Their website sucks so you can't really tell what you get with this. I can tell you I get caller ID, call waiting, call waiting ID etc but I do not get and could not get Voicemail without an additional fee. It also includes 60 minutes of long distance every month that we never use. We use the cell phones and I have an IP phone in my home office for free long distance calling.

Odd...I have the very very basic phone package and that includes voicemail.

[Shawn95GT]

You'd think they'd air Mythbusters... but no.

http://dhd.discovery.com/tv-schedules/weekly.html

I know on shows like American chopper they are WAY behind the SD channel's original air dates. Sadly it is mostly a HD fluff channel with a lot of repeats. MOJO is worse about that though.

[markw365]

mark is there a thread detailing how to upgrade the TiVo HD hard drive or is everything on the msftools site?

New mfstools, I'll knock mine out this week.

[markw365]

Call them back and escalate. There is NOTHING a tech in your house is going to do to get those two channels that can't be done over the phone. Your cards are most likely not paired/validated correctly.

I'll probably do that this evening. I wasn't seeing any new EMM's so I'm guessing they were hitting the wrong card. Original install was for two cards, but when the "tech" finally figured out that yes, an M card will work as an M card, he took the second with him. However they had me down for two cards on my bill. I only have a single Card in my system.

[Dpmsr]

Hello, first post here. I had the cable guy here last week for over 4 hours trying to install the 2nd single stream card. After two additional truck deliveries of cards, he was able to finally get the unit working. I've been happy overall (with the exception of the occasional macroblocking and audio dropouts; hopefully they will update the unit with a software fix) but today the unit began displaying the 480i LED full on regardless of what format mode I set the unit in. Anyone else having this problem? I've rebooted, reinitialyzed, and everything else I can think of. Other than this, I'm super happy with it.

[lament]

weird.. ask them to swap in an M-card at no charge. :)

then you only have to pay for 1 card, and not 2.

[Yoshimi812]

Had cable cards installed yesterday (Thursday, Aug 23rd), everything went great! The tech (Nick) showed up in the time window agreed to. Card 1 no problems, Card 2 did not work on the first try but Nick inserted a different card and TADA it worked. Only took about a total of 30 minutes. Everything was working great, I went through and did a Set up after Nick was gone, set up my channel list and set all my season passes..ect…Great, I have my Tivo back…BUT THEN IT HAPPENED! While recording 1 program and the second program was scheduled to start it (the Tivo box) started acting up…like it was a signal turner, and then started losing channels, some would come in but not others, also starting experiencing tiling. So I have a call into Cox to come out Saturday…
The second tech came out on Saturday, Aug 25th and replaced card 2, said that the card was not working because of an inventory authentication issue, which I guess means that each card in each truck is assigned to that Tech, but the card that our tech Nick used was never issued to him, therefore could not be authenticated.
So far everything is working great :) …however, we are still experiencing tiling, which Larry (the second tech) said is a common problem in our area, and that “they are working on it”….but for some reason does not seem to happen on the Cox DVR nearly as bad...? :confused:
I do think that it is very important to do a couple of Guided Set Up’s before having the cable cards installed.

Chandler, AZ (new zip code)

[lament]

Can anyone else confirm that you can't do a channel scan with cablecards? TiVo throws up some message about not being able to do that with cablecards.

I'm stuck browsing through a lot of channels I don't actually get.

[Yoshimi812]

No, you can't do a scan with cable cards, just go to messages and setting/setting/channels/channel list and unselect the channels you don't get...takes some time to do and if you have to re-set your Tivo box you'll have to do it again...I learned the hard way :(
Good luck! :up:

[markw365]

I was right, wrong host-id on their end. I called last night, got a guy on the phone explained that I suspected the wrong ID and why. So I read it to him, hear the clickity-clack of him typing and then a "yeah, that's what we have here" all the sudden EMM's, and the new channels started working.

Now with the new channels, I had to go into the guide settings and turn them on. Yes, with cable cards you have to do it manually, it's not hard as the whole lineup is there, it's just selecting which ones you want. The easiest way to do it is give it to your 10yo, have him select all, then you go back and remove what you don't get. :)

Now for the 500GB upgrade and I'm set for now. May have to take a look at the board, noticed in one of the pics there was a soldermask for another SATA cable. 2 internal 1 external? :) We'll see... Problem is finding a time frame to do it, as weekends are free, but that's when all the racing is happening. :)

[lament]

Now with the new channels, I had to go into the guide settings and turn them on. Yes, with cable cards you have to do it manually, it's not hard as the whole lineup is there, it's just selecting which ones you want. The easiest way to do it is give it to your 10yo, have him select all, then you go back and remove what you don't get. :)

wait you lost me on that. can you explain what you mean?

[jcaudle]

I got an unsolicited call from Cox, Fairfax, Va, just to let me know I would lose several channels on cable card in September, and that I wouldn't be receiving any more new HD channels as they were added. Not sure why they called me, but I hope FIOS gets here soon. I don't want to have to go back to Directv again.

[lament]

I got an unsolicited call from Cox, Fairfax, Va, just to let me know I would lose several channels on cable card in September, and that I wouldn't be receiving any more new HD channels as they were added. Not sure why they called me, but I hope FIOS gets here soon. I don't want to have to go back to Directv again. hopefully this will happen (http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/08/27/two-way-communications-for-tivo-on-the-way/) and you'll be able to get those channels back.

[jon96cobra]

I got an unsolicited call from Cox, Fairfax, Va, just to let me know I would lose several channels on cable card in September, and that I wouldn't be receiving any more new HD channels as they were added. Not sure why they called me, but I hope FIOS gets here soon. I don't want to have to go back to Directv again.

Yeah I had the same call last week. I'm looking for FIOS in my area too. Since Cox only will offer the Digital Cable box to give me all the HD stations.

[gwsat]

I assume that the call from Cox Fairfax, VA means that Cox is shifting all of its new HD channels, which come online after 1 September, to SDV in that market. Thus, I assume that it’s going to happen in other markets, too. I have a TiVo Series3, which I bought about eight months ago, in order to get rid of the SA 8300HD and its awful SARA software I had been using since 2004.

If Cox OKC does the same thing in OKC as Cox is doing in Fairfax they will lose me as a subscriber for everything but high speed Internet. I will shift my TV service to D* and my telephone service to AT&T.

My son lives in the Milwaukee area and is a D* subscriber. He just got an HR20 HD DVR from D* and it’s really good, exponentially better than the SARA equipped SA 8300HD boxes. I can live with “HD Lite” not to have to go back to the execrable SARA software. I have an 8300HD still connected to my second HD set so I can attest that it’s just as primitive and limited now as it was eight months ago. I don’t know who to be the maddest at over this, the cable companies for subverting their mandate to support CableCARD technology or at TiVo for – apparently – selling me a $1,000 (box plus subscription) paperweight.

I read that Time Warner is shifting to SDV for all of its HD channels in some, if not all, markets in September, so I guess that SDV is inevitable here, too. If so, Goodbye Cox OKC and TiVo. Man, this STINKS.

[CharlesH]

hopefully this will happen (http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/08/27/two-way-communications-for-tivo-on-the-way/) and you'll be able to get those channels back.See also this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=363784) thread. If some of the major cable companies are indeed moving all HD to SDV, this REALLY puts the heat on TiVo to get the USB dongle in service yesterday, as this would make the S3 essentially useless otherwise, other than for OTA HD.

[Shawn95GT]

Only if all of the HD went SDV. SDV is pointless for the cable companies if they put popular channels on SDV.

[gwsat]

Only if all of the HD went SDV. SDV is pointless for the cable companies if they put popular channels on SDV.
In OKC, at least, Cox has all of its HD channels, including retransmitted locals, in the upper tier, which require either a cable company digital box or CableCARDs to decode. Thus, it seems to me that shifting all HD to SDV should be an easy decision for the cable companies, even if it does gut S3 and THD owners, as well as the owners of HDTVs that are not two way devices. Indeed, TWC has already announced that next month they will be doing just that in some markets. Considering how much bandwidth SDV would free up for the cable companies, what would the downside of not using it be for them?

I am very much afraid that SDV is a done deal and the only questions left are how soon all HD channels will move to SDV and whether TiVo can figure out a fix for the problem in our lifetime.

[JTalbert]

I had all sorts of trouble with Cox Fairfax and the cablecards. It took 5 attempts to get my Tivo to work, and its worth it, and my wife is happy so I am happy!

The problem was that I could always get the card in slot 1 to work, but never the card in slot 2 to work. The would bring out more and more cards, even 2007 cards and still no go with slot 2.

The last time the cox dude came out, I had a suggestion for him, which he was game for and it worked.

I am posting this in the hopes this does help someone else with this type of problem. Would be interested to see if it works for other people as well.

I had two 2007 cards, slot 1 works great, slot 2, no go. The cox tech brought out 2 2006 cards, I was like wtf, but thought we have to use what they got..

I took out both cards, move card from slot 2 out of the way so we would not mess up and reuse it, and placed the card from slot 1 in a safe place. I had him place one of the 2006 card that he brought out into slot 1, registered it, and it worked fine! then I had him take the card from slot 1, which I knew was working and place that in slot 2 and register it with slot 2 and it worked too! I do not have an explanation on why this worked, but I am a happy tivo HD user who is no longer under threat from his wife to return it!!

Anyone else try this, or anyone else who has these problems try it and let us know if it works for you too.

[Dpmsr]

Problems, problems. After the cable tech spent 3 1/2 hours installing the cable cards and getting the THD up and running and living with the pixalation and audio issues for a week, I came home yesterday to find all of the front panel lights on, and no signal to the TV. Reset the box and finally got a signal going to the TV but the THD jumps out of the configure step right back to live TV. All front panel lights remain stuck on.

Going to try exchanging for a new THD, and starting over. Wish me luck. I'm really trying to like this thing...

[lament]

Problems, problems. After the cable tech spent 3 1/2 hours installing the cable cards and getting the THD up and running and living with the pixalation and audio issues for a week, I came home yesterday to find all of the front panel lights on, and no signal to the TV. Reset the box and finally got a signal going to the TV but the THD jumps out of the configure step right back to live TV. All front panel lights remain stuck on.

Going to try exchanging for a new THD, and starting over. Wish me luck. I'm really trying to like this thing...That sucks.. you have an M-card tho right?

[Dpmsr]

That sucks.. you have an M-card tho right?
Cox San Diego tells me that they only have the single stream SA cards available. I wish I could get the other kind.

I really enjoy the TIVO service and the THD hi def signal to my Sony XBR4 is incredible. That's why I'm going to keep trying to get the THD to work.

[dearle]

I had all sorts of trouble with Cox Fairfax and the cablecards. It took 5 attempts to get my Tivo to work, and its worth it, and my wife is happy so I am happy!

The problem was that I could always get the card in slot 1 to work, but never the card in slot 2 to work. The would bring out more and more cards, even 2007 cards and still no go with slot 2.

The last time the cox dude came out, I had a suggestion for him, which he was game for and it worked.

I am posting this in the hopes this does help someone else with this type of problem. Would be interested to see if it works for other people as well.

I had two 2007 cards, slot 1 works great, slot 2, no go. The cox tech brought out 2 2006 cards, I was like wtf, but thought we have to use what they got..

I took out both cards, move card from slot 2 out of the way so we would not mess up and reuse it, and placed the card from slot 1 in a safe place. I had him place one of the 2006 card that he brought out into slot 1, registered it, and it worked fine! then I had him take the card from slot 1, which I knew was working and place that in slot 2 and register it with slot 2 and it worked too! I do not have an explanation on why this worked, but I am a happy tivo HD user who is no longer under threat from his wife to return it!!

Anyone else try this, or anyone else who has these problems try it and let us know if it works for you too.


I am on Cox Phoenix and had a similar experience. After 6 cards in slot 2 of the THD - none of which worked, we (I use the term loosely since the Tech was somewhat clueless) tried a card from my 65" Mits TV (which had been previously registered and was working), and lo and behold, it worked. I think others should take a look at this way of installing the second card to see if this really is an alternative way to get slot 2 working.

[jfh3]

I am on Cox Phoenix and had a similar experience. After 6 cards in slot 2 of the THD - none of which worked, we (I use the term loosely since the Tech was somewhat clueless) tried a card from my 65" Mits TV (which had been previously registered and was working), and lo and behold, it worked. I think others should take a look at this way of installing the second card to see if this really is an alternative way to get slot 2 working.

That just means that the 6 cards the tech tried probably weren't provisioned for their system before they left the warehouse - the cards themselves were probably fine.

[lament]

Cox San Diego tells me that they only have the single stream SA cards available. I wish I could get the other kind.

I really enjoy the TIVO service and the THD hi def signal to my Sony XBR4 is incredible. That's why I'm going to keep trying to get the THD to work.They're full of ish.. they have them, as proven by me and others in this thread. Be persistent. You only need 1 M-card, vs. having to rent 2 singlestream cards.

[Aaron1121]

I just got a Tivo HD yesterday, and Cox was out today. I live in San Marcos, in Northern San Diego county. I had them install 1 M-Card.

The guy showed up with a box of old beat up SA cards, and I told him I wasn't going to let him install them and pay for 2 cards. He told me the M-card wouldn't work in a Tivo (because he was referring to the S3) He said all of the M-cards never install correctly. I argued with him, called his boss, and made him go back and get an M-Card. When he got back, it took less than 5 minutes to install, and it works perfectly.

Be persistent, and you will only need to pay the $1.99 fee for one card.

[markw365]

wait you lost me on that. can you explain what you mean?


You can't use the channel up/down if the channel isn't in the guide. You have to set the channels up in the guide before you can just surf them, otherwise you have to enter the channel number individually.

Mark

[markw365]

I just got a Tivo HD yesterday, and Cox was out today. I live in San Marcos, in Northern San Diego county. I had them install 1 M-Card.

The guy showed up with a box of old beat up SA cards, and I told him I wasn't going to let him install them and pay for 2 cards. He told me the M-card wouldn't work in a Tivo (because he was referring to the S3) He said all of the M-cards never install correctly. I argued with him, called his boss, and made him go back and get an M-Card. When he got back, it took less than 5 minutes to install, and it works perfectly.

Be persistent, and you will only need to pay the $1.99 fee for one card.


Yes, they have M-Cards, and not all the techs know/seen the new TivoHD. Push for it as it's a $24/year savings on your cable. :)

Mark

[nicemann]

Ok Phoenix Cox people I need help. I have talked to five different people working for Cox over the phone. 2 said they had Mcards in PHX and 3 said they did not. Of course the "independent contractor" has never heard of MCards.

Either way...I am trying to get two Tivo HD's setup. Since they "said" they don't have Mcards I have to use (4) single stream cards. Well first one did not work, second one worked no problems at all (no firmware update needed), 3-7 all will not update the firmware. Now I find it very hard to believe there are 4 bad cards. But we left it going for about 2 hours and same issue. Tech left the cards for me to play with. He will not be out till Saturday (2 days) with more cards to try.

Anyone have any suggestions on what could be causing this? They are the Scientific Atlantic cards.

Thank you for any suggestions.

[BrianAZ]

I'm Cox Phoenix w/ TivoHD. Same as you, contractor had only seen cablecard once prior to my visit. It seemed that the key to my install was convincing the contractor to give it more time for the firmware upgrade. I don't know what you could try on your own (without calling up and having to read off the #s to them) except maybe try the last card he attempted again and see if you can get it to get through the upgrade. I figure that will be the authorized card in their system still. Long shot I think.

Once you get it working you'll be happy. My only concern now that the pixelation issue is fixed and MRV/TTG/TTCB are on their way, is SDV. Cox announced that Phoenix would be a test area and I have no info on how far out from Phoenix this area will extend (I'm ~40 South/East) or which channels may be selected.

[nicemann]

I'm Cox Phoenix w/ TivoHD. Same as you, contractor had only seen cablecard once prior to my visit. It seemed that the key to my install was convincing the contractor to give it more time for the firmware upgrade. I don't know what you could try on your own (without calling up and having to read off the #s to them) except maybe try the last card he attempted again and see if you can get it to get through the upgrade. I figure that will be the authorized card in their system still. Long shot I think.

Once you get it working you'll be happy. My only concern now that the pixelation issue is fixed and MRV/TTG/TTCB are on their way, is SDV. Cox announced that Phoenix would be a test area and I have no info on how far out from Phoenix this area will extend (I'm ~40 South/East) or which channels may be selected.

Well we actually let it upgrading after he left. Went on for about 2 hours. No luck. As for the authorized card in their system, I can call and add it myself he said. Just didn't know if everyone else had a firmware upgrade issue too.


Thank you

[BrianAZ]

I see. Sorry then, my firmware upgrade (1 of 2 cards) went fine, just took longer.

[the_dunner]

I just spoke with Cox in Cleveland, OH last night and again today.

When I called last night, the technician informed me that yes, multistream cards were available, but I'd need to call back during regular Customer Service hours to schedule an appointment.

When I called today, the CSR person immediately sent me to technical support. (The same folks I spoke to last night.) Today, I was told that, no, they don't offer multistream cards. All of their cards are the SA cards that, at least until the latest patch, have the macroblocking issue. (In spite of the fact that their SA DVRs use pre-installed multistream cards.)

Fee would be a $6 Digital gateway (that I already pay for my one cablecard in my TV, and I'd have no qualms about taking that one out and swapping it into a TiVo) plus $2 per card. $20 for a truck roll to install the one remaining 1 cablecard. The fees seemed reasonable, though I'd rather just do the install myself. However, it's a wait of over a week for a truck roll.

I called TiVo to ask about the multistream issue, and the CSR seemed less than interested in doing anything to help. Apparently, he didn't care that the company offers multistream cards in their own devices, but not in consumer devices. That seems to me like the cable company setting a double standard for the consumer.

On a tangent, Cox Cleveland also has no plans to carry WBNX-55's digital broadcast. They're, a local OTA station that's been broadcasting digitally for well over months. In addition, the technician told me that, no, they weren't obligated to carry that. (I've filed a complaint with the FCC about that.)

So, the TiVo HD went back to Best Buy. (Where the sales rep who tried to talk me out of the return had no idea that the device used cablecards.)

[Shawn95GT]

It seems that the TivoHD was the solution to your problem.

What was you complaint? No multi-stream cards? non-carriage of WBNX?

You could get your two single stream cards and get WBNX via OTA (assuming you receive it OTA now) and get everything on one DVR.

Cox carries my local HD CW network in Phoenix. I've heard in other markets they don't carry Fox ?!?!? Cox is wierd.

[Boid]

FWIW, friend of mine just had Cox (Omaha) install 2 cards in his new HDTiVo. Cost was $30 for the tech visit, and $1.99 per month (each) for the cards. He said the installation was quick and painless. He's a lucky SOB.

He said Cox told him they don't have M-cards.

If his experience continues to be positive over the next couple of weeks, I'll be pulling the trigger on a new unit.

[lament]

Why wait? The majority of people's problems were fixed with this last update. It's pretty solid now.

[mrbrown2195]

So I recently got a TiVo HD and 2 CableCARDs here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. First off, the installation went painfully - something that should've taken 20 minutes ended up taking THREE HOURS and two separate technicians.

Rather than sending a tech with two cards, like I had requested when I made the install request, they sent a tech with one card, who told me, "We're only supposed to carry one on us at a time." He got that card working within a few minutes, and then began to hunt down another tech for another card. He found one, who showed up, and tried to install the card himself without reading the TiVo provided instructions... after a while, I showed them what to do, and we determined the card didn't work. Long story short, hunted down another tech, took three hours, and I was late for dinner with the 'rents who were in town. I got the second card working by MYSELF after the technician left it in non-working condition.

It cost $109.90 for the installation, got them to reduce it to $54.95 (still bull). Also got them to remove one digital gateway charge (they attempted to charge me for two).

Now, they're telling me I can't order PPV... PERIOD. My belief was that it could be ordered, but only through the phone or Internet (not through the box, of course, because its one-way). Needless to say, I won't be able to watch LSU vs. Middle Tenn. tomorrow because they won't let me order the game. Is this correct, or are they just morons?

[lament]

Now, they're telling me I can't order PPV... PERIOD. My belief was that it could be ordered, but only through the phone or Internet (not through the box, of course, because its one-way). Needless to say, I won't be able to watch LSU vs. Middle Tenn. tomorrow because they won't let me order the game. Is this correct, or are they just morons?Correct.. the cards are one-way. No PPV, and no cable company guide (except of course the TiVo guide).

[moyekj]

Correct.. the cards are one-way. No PPV, and no cable company guide (except of course the TiVo guide). Some Tivo users have reported they are able to order via phone - the cable representative should be able to authorize all CCs tied to your account for that program. VOD of course is not possible since it requires 2 way communications, but PPV should be possible. If you play CSR roulette you should be able to find one that can do this.

[mrbrown2195]

Some Tivo users have reported they are able to order via phone - the cable representative should be able to authorize all CCs tied to your account for that program. VOD of course is not possible since it requires 2 way communications, but PPV should be possible. If you play CSR roulette you should be able to find one that can do this.

See, that's what I thought. But when I called earlier tonight, the CSR wasn't sure, so he called over to tech support. The tech told him "yes" and he started to go through with my order, until apparently the system prevented him from doing so. So, he called up the head tech, who told him that PPV is not possible.

I don't see any technical reason why this wouldn't be possible... back in the "good ol days", you had to call them to get them to so-called "flip the switch" for PPV.

[jfranklin]

See, that's what I thought. But when I called earlier tonight, the CSR wasn't sure, so he called over to tech support. The tech told him "yes" and he started to go through with my order, until apparently the system prevented him from doing so. So, he called up the head tech, who told him that PPV is not possible.

I haven't actually tried to key such an order for a cablecard but as I remember it as long as there is at least one two way converter on the account it should work. If you only have cablecards that could be a problem.

Keep in mind I'm not in the same market as you and things do vary a little from place to place.

[KnightShade]

FWIW, friend of mine just had Cox (Omaha) install 2 cards in his new HDTiVo. Cost was $30 for the tech visit, and $1.99 per month (each) for the cards. He said the installation was quick and painless. He's a lucky SOB.

He said Cox told him they don't have M-cards.

If his experience continues to be positive over the next couple of weeks, I'll be pulling the trigger on a new unit.

Boid is talking about me. When the tech showed up he commented that he hates doing cable card installations for TVs because he always has problems, but that he had never done an installation for a TiVo. He wasn't happy that his first service call of the day was a cable card installation. But the installation went perfectly. He just put in the cards, called the main office and read off the numbers and then after they said the cards were activated we tested the channels and that was it.

But the best part was that when I called Cox 2 weeks ago to get an idea how much it was going to cost me, the rep on the phone said that a tech had to come out to do the install and it would cost $70 per card but if they do two cards at once then the 2nd card would be 1/2 price. They said you couldn't pick up the cards and do the installation yourself.

The next week I called back to schedule the service call. I told the rep that I needed to swap out my Cox BlowVR(tm) with 2 cable cards. That rep asked me if I wanted to pick up the cards and do the installation myself or if I wanted to have a service tech come out and do the installation for $50 per card. I confirmed with her that it was possible for me to pick up the card myself and she said yep, just stop by any one of the several Cox local branches and they would have several cable cards in stock. I even confirmed with her that I could pick up the cards, do the installation in the TiVo and then bring back the BlowVR on a second visit. I said that I would stop by the next day.

The next day I go to the nearest local branch office and ask for two cable cards. The rep there was new and said that she had never handed out cable cards before so she called over her supervisor to show her how to do it. When the supervisor showed up she said that they don't allow customers do their own cable card installations. I would have to have a service tech do the installation. I asked her how much it would cost me, and she said it would cost $30 for each card with no discount on the second card install.

At this point I was a little pissed off because I had been told now three different prices, and had been told I could pick the cards up myself but when I showed up had been told that I could not pick them up. When I demanded to know why I was being told different information, they said that the $70 fee was if you didn't already have digital cable. If you already have digital cable (which I do), it costs $30 to install. When I made that first call 2 weeks ago I had also had the rep make a change to my account, so he had my information in front of him when he quoted me the $70 installation fee. She had no clue why the other reps quoted the $50 installation fee, the second card install discount or that I could pick up the cards myself.

But she said that since I had been told incorrect information and came out to the branch office for no reason, she was only going to charge me $15 for the installation of each card.

[mrbrown2195]

I had previously complained to Cox concerning a second digital gateway charge, despite both cards being in the same box. The CSR, after much emailing back and forth, finally agreed with me and removed the second digital gateway charge.

Little did they mention that they de-provisioned the second CableCARD. Called Cox today to get them to re-activate it, and suddenly, I've got a second digital gateway charge again.

[rickfriele]

Has anyone been able to get an M-card install with Cox in Las Vegas? They always tell me they don't know what the M-card is.

[silveravnt]

This week dealing with Cox has been very frustrating.

In Short: Cox DOES have Multistream cards in OK. However My son (4yo) is as qualified as the cox "installers to put cable cards in a Tivo"

Long version:
I called before I bought Tivo HD and asked about the price of the cards they told me the price to rent the cards. For 2 cards it is less than for my 1 current box. I asked if they have Multistream cards and was told "no".

I ordered the Tivo HD with standard shipping and called to see when I could go pick up my cards. At that point I was told (a) I could not pick them up. (b) They would be installed by a tech at a cost of $30 per card. and (c) I would have to wait a week for an appointment.
Well the TiVo box showed up in an astounding 2 days. So I got to look at it while I waited for my appointment.
The guy showed up this past Monday, late. He looked confused as he inspected the TiVo. That made me worry. He inserted the cards and then called to get them activated. At this point I could only get the free local channels. Another Tech showed up at my house and they both tried for half an hour to get it to work. Then they called in and requested backup. So I got an appointment for Tuesday for what I thought would be the Oklahoma City cablecard/Tivo expert.
The guy showed up on Tuesday and looked more confused than the first guys. He tried to blame signal strength and checked all my connections. Then he said he did not know what to do and I should call TiVo.
After he left I called TiVo and as surprised to get anyone at 8pm. The TiVo dude was super cool and I could tell knew his stuff. We got a Cox guy on the phone who could only tell us what was on his computer screen and made me another appointment for Wednesday. The TiVo Guy told me to call back when the Cox Tech was in my house.
Wednesday The Cox Tech shows up and again looks confused and pissed (these guys hate cablecards because they are not trained for them). I call TiVo and get a nice lady who asked some questions and talked to the Cox tech. Then the same second tech from Monday shows up and says maybe we can try these, as he produces a handful of multistream cards. Yeah the ones Cox does not have. They insert a mutistream card, activate it and I get all my channels. Done.
The machine itself is awsome. Well i have been using a series 1 for 5 years.

[lament]

This week dealing with Cox has been very frustrating.

My son (4yo) is as qualified as the cox "installers to put cable cards in a Tivo"

I called before I bought Tivo HD and asked about the price of the cards and was told they did not havePlease update your profile with your city/state so we know which Cox you're talking about..

[avanate]

Going to hijack this a bit as an HTPC user, since I'm having CableCard issues with Cox in Phoenix as well.

Where I'm at is that I can get everything but my premium channels - EMM anc ECM counts are at zero, and apparently nobody calling in phone support has any clue what to do...anything I need to tell them to get them to send the right stuff to the cards? :)

FWIW..Cox in PHX has multi-stream cards....have one sitting in my machine right now.

[BrianAZ]

Going to hijack this a bit as an HTPC user, since I'm having CableCard issues with Cox in Phoenix as well.

Where I'm at is that I can get everything but my premium channels - EMM anc ECM counts are at zero, and apparently nobody calling in phone support has any clue what to do...anything I need to tell them to get them to send the right stuff to the cards? :)

FWIW..Cox in PHX has multi-stream cards....have one sitting in my machine right now.

Was it pure chance that you got a multi-stream card? If I call their CSR will they know what I'm talking about? Is there some secret to it?

[lament]

Was it pure chance that you got a multi-stream card? If I call their CSR will they know what I'm talking about? Is there some secret to it?
Just tell them to put it in the notes. The CSRs are clueless.. the techs will know.

[nicemann]

Going to hijack this a bit as an HTPC user, since I'm having CableCard issues with Cox in Phoenix as well.

Where I'm at is that I can get everything but my premium channels - EMM anc ECM counts are at zero, and apparently nobody calling in phone support has any clue what to do...anything I need to tell them to get them to send the right stuff to the cards? :)

FWIW..Cox in PHX has multi-stream cards....have one sitting in my machine right now.

I talked to 3 install techs, including one supervisor and they all said they do not have M-Cards in Phoenix. Even called support three times and finally was told there is none in PHX. Glad you got lucky. Wish I would have found the same people you did.

[quyrean]

So my cable card installer arrived this morning. Cox Orange County, CA. He was brand new and had never done a TiVo or cable card. He didnt even have any cards with him. I was a bit worried at this point.

He called in, and about an hour later someone showed up with two cards who had done TiVos before. they put in the first card and called in the numbers. The operator said it would take a while because there were six boxes in front of mine. The screen went grey, but the Cox guy said that was normal.

They waited about 5 mins then stuck the second card in without testing the first card, even though I wanted to. They called up about the second one and closed the job.

The second card started working. The first tech called up "cableops" or something because the first card was not working. they said it was broken. So the tech went off to call about another one. I poked around when he was gone, and all the menus seemed to say the card was working, but the authorization was "unknown". I dont know if this is because they jumped the gun, or the card really was bad. I even tried rebooting the tivo when the tech was at his van, but that did not help.

So the tech came back with two new cards, and the fellow who had done this before. They took out the both cards. They were on the phone with someone who seemed to know the tivo gui. He had them go to the settings page and delete everything so they could put in the new cards. Since the tivo said this could take up to an hour they said they would come back at 1pm (in about an hour) and finish the job. I dont blame them for leaving.

They were really nice and friendly about it, it was just a bit fustrating that the process started at 8:30am and is still going.

The tivo has finished deleting everything, so I am running guided setup again before they get here.

[wierdo]

Sad, since the only thing they had to do to use a different card was put one in the slot. It was also pointless to remove the working card, IMO.

I also had to go through a couple of cards in one slot to get one that would take.

[quyrean]

Yes, I thought the whole delete everything was a bit extreme, but

I GOT TIVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it works now, YAY!

They came back and tried again, with a tech on the phone who seemed to know tivo. They got card 1 working without encrypted channels, card 2 worked on everything. They didn't want to check the page for the auth bit on the faq but decided the other new card was bad.

They then put the card that was working in slot 1, re-paired it, and we got all the channels. Fortunately, the tech had gotten 2 new cards, so he put the spare in slot 2 and it also worked! yay!

So after about 6 hours of waiting and mucking about, it all works. I think the key was having the tech call "digiops" directly. They were able to activate in real time.

One guy mentioned that they had been seeing a lot of tivo in the area lately (lake forest/mission viejo ca), so hopefully all the techs will soon know what to do.

[rickfriele]

I keep having the issue of cable cards losing their decryption status in the cable card CP menu. Where it says decryption status usually it says ok, but when I start having problems it says no ECMs detected. The problems I am experiencing are sometimes I cannot tune to an encrypted channel (just get a black screen) or I get a picture, but no audio. Restarting the TiVo fixes the problem so thats what I have been doing at night the last few days. It's an annoyance, though and I have had Cox come out numerous times with new cards and I still have the same problem. The best answer I have gotten is that there is a handshaking problem and that is why I am randomly losing stations. Has anyone else experienced this?

[kywiaz]

Just had Cox here to install card(s). The installer was a very nice young man who admitted this was only the 2nd time he'd installed cards in a TIVO - BUT HE READ THE INSTRUCTION SHEET. Surprise! He had a multi-stream card & didn't even know it. He said he had picked up a couple of extra cards just today so thought they were probably brand new. He had already installed both cards before we realized we didn't need the 2nd one so he removed it once we made sure everything was working and everything is working beautifully - no problems at all. There was a little hitch getting the digital/premium channels but he had to go out to his truck & do something to close out his service call (code out??). He said this is the biggest mistake installers make - they forget this has to be done before everything will work. I had called Cox (twice) before I set up the service call & each time was told it would be $49.95 to do this plus a couple of other things that needed adjusting then when I called to make the appointment I was told that it would be $64.95 for installing 2 cards. We'll see what I end up being charged. And, oh, yes, the woman (Sonya) in sales with whom I had to talk since this is considered new service insisted that the cable cards weren't going to work to receive digital channels that they were only for HD!! I told her to go ahead & send the tech out & we'd see what happened. Side note: I don't actually have an HD set in that room but plan to get one - I just loved the idea of the increased disc size & getting rid of my cable box with which I'd had all kinds of problems. Keep your fingers crossed - I'm always wary when things seem to be working.

[Mr. Coffee]

I keep having the issue of cable cards losing their decryption status in the cable card CP menu. Where it says decryption status usually it says ok, but when I start having problems it says no ECMs detected. The problems I am experiencing are sometimes I cannot tune to an encrypted channel (just get a black screen) or I get a picture, but no audio. Restarting the TiVo fixes the problem so thats what I have been doing at night the last few days. It's an annoyance, though and I have had Cox come out numerous times with new cards and I still have the same problem. The best answer I have gotten is that there is a handshaking problem and that is why I am randomly losing stations. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yep, have the same problem every now and then. I find turning away from the encrypted channel to a non-encrypted channel, then waiting a few seconds, and then back again usually clears it up, but it's annoying.

[Revolutionary]

Yep, have the same problem every now and then. I find turning away from the encrypted channel to a non-encrypted channel, then waiting a few seconds, and then back again usually clears it up, but it's annoying.

I get the same problem (occasionally) and use the same solution.

[rickfriele]

Yep, have the same problem every now and then. I find turning away from the encrypted channel to a non-encrypted channel, then waiting a few seconds, and then back again usually clears it up, but it's annoying.
What I don't like is when it happens on recorded programs. An hour of black video.

[tglucca]

Today was the big day for the installation of cable cards from Cox for my Series 3. I had read all of the postings and had printed all of the documentation for potential problems as well as the installation procedures.

I live south of Tucson and called Monday to make the appointment. It was scheduled for today, two days later, for the time slot of 10:00 - 12:00. At 9:45 the doorbell rang and Keith from Cox was at the door. He said he was running a few minutes early and asked if it was OK to start early, if not he would wait. I assured him that starting early was no problem. He had two cable cards in his hand along with his notebook. I started to show him the procedures but he told me he had installed many of these previously and really didn't need the instructions. I asked him, how many? He said, over 50. I told him in that case, I would just stay out of the way. :)

He promptly started the process by taking the first card out of it's plastic wrapper, inserting it into slot one, and with the remote quickly navigated to the appropriate screens. Since he did not have to look at the buttons on the remote while navigating, I was very sure he had done this many times in the past. He then noted the appropriate card numbers in his notepad from the TiVo screen, called the Cox office and authenticated the first card, and repeated the process for the second card. He was all finished in fifteen minutes. He explained about re-doing the guided setup and was out the door about 10:05. I re-ran the setup to get all of the HD channels and everything completed by 11:00.

To put it mildly, I am very happy with the experience. Everything is working fantastic and I think Cox did an excellent job in this situation. I know all cable companies have issues, but at least in my situation, they could not have done it better. A big thank you to Keith and all the dedicated installers like him who do a great job.

I wish all of you the same luck in your setups.

[BrianAZ]

To put it mildly, I am very happy with the experience. Everything is working fantastic and I think Cox did an excellent job in this situation. I know all cable companies have issues, but at least in my situation, they could not have done it better. A big thank you to Keith and all the dedicated installers like him who do a great job.

I wish all of you the same luck in your setups.

Glad your install went well. You should call and commend him and suggest he spread his knowledge. Your install experience is atypical for Cox.

[jcaudle]

I already had an S3. I purchased a Tivo HD last weekend, and got an install appt on Monday. Cox would not hand out M cards so the tech showed up with 2 S cards. One of them would only get the HD Locals, no premium HD, Discovery or TNT HD, or analog or digital stations. He rebooted the TIVO and it took too long, so he left. He did not have a spare cable card. Installer 2 showed up the next day tinkered with the Tivo and fixed nothing. I had to wait 2 days for another appointment, and the installer #3 showed up with an M card....works great!

[doormat]

FYI - Cox Las Vegas now has M-Cards. I've got an appointment for Saturday for them to swap my two S-Cards with an M-Card, which should save me $7/mo. So after the $30 charge, it'll take me 4 months to just to recoup the install.... ugh why cant I self install...

[BrianAZ]

You can get Center Ice. I have it with cableCARDS. And you can order PPV by calling it in. It's a one way device. You just can't order by remote.

I'm running into difficulty getting Cox (Phoenix) to authorize my cablecards for the Center Ice package. Most of the people I talk to claim it's not possible (though I know otherwise) and the few people I've talked to who say it certainly is possible don't seem to know exactly how to provision it correctly. I'm calling again tonight and hopefully will connect with a supervisor.

Has anyone found the magic bullet? What exactly are the technical terms of what needs to be done so my cards are authorized?

Thanks in advance

[splatt]

Please keep us posted as to how this goes. I'm in Phx and I'd like to order the UFC event next week. But I don't want to have to spend hours arguing with them after it doesn't work and they still charge me :-)
Steve
Gilbert, AZ

[BrianAZ]

I just called back tonight. I spoke with a woman who immediately said she knew what the issue was: "It's not setup for your cablecards, let me get my supervisor to add it". She put me on hold for a bit and then when she came back she said "Actually, my supervisor says that the Pay Per View channels are sent on a seperate signal and the Tivo doesn't know how find it"

This is insane. I'm now going to call Tivo and see if they can assist. It seems that there needs to be some direct communication between Tivo and Cox to rectify this.

[BrianAZ]

Just got off the phone with Scott from Tivo support. He took down my information and indicated there should not be any reason why I would not be able to view the Center Ice package.. ESPECIALLY since it was working just fine during the free preview. This appearantly negates any possibility of something like SDV being a factor.

Scott indicated he would send my information to Tivo's legal dept which would then contact Cox and inform them that they are mandated by the FCC to provide me this service. He doesn't expect any issues as this is pretty commonly reported per him, but said I would get a call back in 4-5 days with the results (either success or a more detailed technical explanation of why Cox truely cannot provide the package to me).

I'll keep you all posted.

[gumbinator]

I was quoted $30 for the install ...

Overall, not too bad at all - the only thing remaining to see is whether my bill will be accurate to the price they quoted me.

Interesting. When I scheduled for a single m-card install they didn't quote me any price for the service (I should have thought to ask). I just looked at my bill online tonight and apparently they're going to try and charge me $55 for the install.

I think I'll be playing "angry customer" in the morning and see where that gets me.. :rolleyes:

[Mikeyis4dcats]

has Cox rolled out M-cards system wide?

[BrianAZ]

has Cox rolled out M-cards system wide?


I don't believe they have.

[ElPuerco]

Cox in Oklahoma City showed up at 4:30pm, and finally left at 7:30pm with no working CableCard in my new TiVo HD.

I thought I was in luck when he arrived and said he had just done one of these with a TiVo and it went smooth as silk. Then, he tried to look for the CableCard slot in my TV. It went downhill from there.

At one point he has me on his cell phone with someone in their office who has a TiVo, and she's telling me I have to download the firmware upgrades for TiVo before they can even have their CableCard work. After these alleged firmwares download to my TiVo, I have to tune to channel 30. Oh, and I have to have a phone line connected to the TiVo through all of this, but after it's up and going I don't.

I'm starting to think I might be more familiar with TiVo than they are.

The topper for the evening was my Cox installer yelling at TiVo's tech support because they "won't listen." After all, he's been installing cable for 14 years. (Though this was only his second CableCard installation.) He finally leaves the house, leaving me to deal with the TiVo support guy.

I told TiVo I would call back tomorrow, and lied to the Cox guy to get him to leave. I told him TiVo said they would reload all their updates for me overnight and see if that solves the problem.

He apologized for his behavior and said he would try to schedule a tech to come out in the morning. My goal is to wake up early and work with TiVo tech support and hopefully resolve it before they show up.

As far as CableCards go, TiVo sure seems to know what they are talking about - certainly more than the cable folks. And, I have to wonder if the frustration is intentional - like perhaps I'll ditch TiVo and go with their DVR because it's easier to hook up.

[jtown]

As far as CableCards go, TiVo sure seems to know what they are talking about - certainly more than the cable folks. And, I have to wonder if the frustration is intentional - like perhaps I'll ditch TiVo and go with their DVR because it's easier to hook up.

Bingo! That is the absolute truth. Not on the part of the installer but the cable companies. And it's so incredibly stupid. They would rather rent you a DVR for $15 and deal with all of the training, tech support, and hardware support with no long term contract than rent you a pair of cable cards for $4-5, an additional outlet for $1.75, an additional "digital gateway" for $5, offload training and support to a third party, and have a customer that's locked into their service for 1, 2, or 3 years.

It boggles the mind. Would you rather have someone pay you $15/month with no guarantee that they're going to stick around or $12/month guaranteed for the next three years? Cable companies should be falling all over themselves to get customers to hook up cablecard devices. Instead, they provide inadequate training and all but force people to settle for inferior equipment. Brilliant strategy.

[doormat]

Meh, so the subcontractor shows up WITHOUT the M-stream Cable card (he showed up with two S-Cards). Now the appt is for Thursday night. Wonderful. Because I wanted to drag my ass out of bed at 7AM on a Saturday for nothing. When I wake up in a few hours, I'll call Cox and demand a credit and see where I get (considering they're charging me $30 for the install).

[BrianAZ]

It boggles the mind. Would you rather have someone pay you $15/month with no guarantee that they're going to stick around or $12/month guaranteed for the next three years? Cable companies should be falling all over themselves to get customers to hook up cablecard devices. Instead, they provide inadequate training and all but force people to settle for inferior equipment. Brilliant strategy.


I think you're assuming that the average cable customer is like you/me/us? Most people don't feel differences between cable/sat/tivo/etc offerings are worth the effort to make the change. Simply getting all the major networks (not even in HD) and maybe HBO is all they care about. In essence, people are already locked in due to their own unwilingness to see the greener pasture on the other side of the fence and make the jump. So with that, why would the cable companies want to make the kind of investment you speak of above if the ROI is not there today or in the relatively near future?

This will of course change over time, but it's not the case today. As we see more kids who grew up with computers/DVRs turn into customers, I think the cable companies will respond with the enhanced training/devices. This may be 3-7 years out in my estimation.

[Supermurph]

I don't believe they have.

They have. I just got the Tivo HD and had my CableCard installed yesterday (10/13). The guy that came was a contractor and knew enough, but he was going through the setup of the second card and getting confused by an error message when I noticed that it said "multi stream" on the TV screen next to Card 1 that had already been inserted. I asked him to try it out with only one card since it was multi-stream. He said that it wouldn't work, but was willing to humor me. It did work . . . . so that was that. When he left, he said "I hope I don't have to come back in the next few days to install the second card".

This synopsis makes him sound rude, but he really wasn't. The two takeaways from my experience are 1) Cox does have multi-stream cards in AZ, and 2) the people that work with customers don't seem to know much about it (like everything else.

[Highlander67]

I have been reading this post and was curious of something. I am thinking of getting a new HD-Tivo S3 unit with the 2 cable cards on it. I have seen mention of S-Cards and M-Cards, what is the difference of these cards and which has the better benefits. Also does Tivo use both?

ALso, what is the general thought on how the Tivo S3 works with cable cards? Any main problems or glitches?

Thanks

[AZrob]

They have. I just got the Tivo HD and had my CableCard installed yesterday (10/13). The guy that came was a contractor and knew enough, but he was going through the setup of the second card and getting confused by an error message when I noticed that it said "multi stream" on the TV screen next to Card 1 that had already been inserted. I asked him to try it out with only one card since it was multi-stream. He said that it wouldn't work, but was willing to humor me. It did work . . . . so that was that. When he left, he said "I hope I don't have to come back in the next few days to install the second card".

This synopsis makes him sound rude, but he really wasn't. The two takeaways from my experience are 1) Cox does have multi-stream cards in AZ, and 2) the people that work with customers don't seem to know much about it (like everything else.
But you did not actually ask Cox to bring an M-card, right? As of this morning, they told me they did not carry them when I called to inquire. I'm looking at buying a Tivo HD in the next week or so. Would be nice to just have to use one card and save $4.00 a month.

[ElPuerco]

Quick follow up... Cox was supposed to show up between 8-10am Saturday. They didn't show. I got on the phone with TiVo, who tried to conference in Cox tech support. We couldn't get an answer - we sat on hold until the automated message started repeating non-stop. Twice.

The wife called and chewed out Cox, and the agreed to show up between 4-7pm. They showed up at 6:50pm.

Turns out that on Cox's end they had everything configured as though it were going to my HDTV directly. Once they changed their configuration so it showed the signal going to my TiVo, everything worked perfectly.

It's asinine. From the very start there was no question on their end that this was going to a TiVo. It's just plain incompetence.

[doormat]

Multistream cablecard update:

Quite possibly the easiest and quickest CableCard installation I've heard of. The guy was done in 10 minutes. Took out the two Scards, put in the Mcard, emailed in the numbers to Cox HQ, got an email back in a few minutes saying it was provisioned and it worked fine.

I'm floored Cox was able to provide a flawless experience this time around (as opposed to Saturday morning when the guy came out without any Mcards).

[OrangeKid]

doormat:

Are you receiving all the HD channels recently introduced in Vegas? I have a S3 with two Scards and have not started receiving any of the recently introduced HD channels such as 702 NGCHD or 703 HSTRYHD. Are you receiving those, for example?

[doormat]

I believe so, but I had to manually add them. Go into the channel list and look for them and turn them on manually. Some of those channels still dont have guide data though.

[OrangeKid]

doormat:

Mine are checked on but I still don't receive them even though I get guide data for them. I guess I'll have to call Cox (ugh!).

[Mikeyis4dcats]

has anyone managed to mget Cox to waive the indstallation fees for a second cable card? I think paying $100 for installation is unreasonable.


edit:

first person told me no, second person took $20 off each install. That's more reasonable. Funny how things are so messed up...first person had told me they could install tomorrow morning, this guy said next date was next Friday.

oh well...

[Islanti]

Thought some of you would be interested to know... Cox Orange County just installed my 2nd and 3rd Tivo HD units. I was able to get the customer service person to waive all the install fees (she was very nice, did so without my asking). Interestingly, the installer brought 4 (Motorola) M-Cards instead of the S-Cards I'd been given before! Apparently they'd just gotten them in and were out of S-Cards. The installer was even nice enough to swap out my 1st Tivo HD box's S-Cards. So I now have 3 M-Card CableCARDs, one in each of my Tivo HD units! A tidy $6/mo savings.

[yroca]

I have Cox in Phoenix. Telephone Rep and Tech Support said they didn't have Multi-Stream cards. A guy at work just got M-Cards though, so I phoned Cox back prior to appt and had them notate my work order to bring Scientific Atlanta PKM-800. The contractor showed up with the right card - but had never done a single install, so I showed him how to do it using the TiVo instructions. I was quoted $49.95 for the install, but I called back after the appt to tell them that the installer had no experience and I had to do it and they credited me in full for the install. Hope this helps others in the Phoenix area.

[chrisguerin]

I have Cox in Phoenix. Telephone Rep and Tech Support said they didn't have Multi-Stream cards. A guy at work just got M-Cards though, so I phoned Cox back prior to appt and had them notate my work order to bring Scientific Atlanta PKM-800. The contractor showed up with the right card - but had never done a single install, so I showed him how to do it using the TiVo instructions. I was quoted $49.95 for the install, but I called back after the appt to tell them that the installer had no experience and I had to do it and they credited me in full for the install. Hope this helps others in the Phoenix area.

Did the rep tell you how much they are charging for an M-card?

[DrDatabase]

Just had the Orange County Cox tech out to install my Cablecard into my Tivo HD. The good news is he had m-card in hand. Tech was not experienced with cablecards or tivos but all went very smooth. I had to stop him from trying to install a second M card. LOL! Two phone calls to ops and everything was done. Tech did say all they had in inventory was m cards right now so it's hard to tell if this is a temporary situation or permenant. Install fee was quoted to me as $44.

The only glitch was getting billing to release the work order so my premium channels would be enabled.

Surprised by the ease of installation and keeping my fingers crossed all stays well.

Tivo HD
M card
9.2 update

[yroca]

Did the rep tell you how much they are charging for an M-card?

Yes - $1.99 per month in Phoenix. That is for the first card - no matter if is S-Card or M-Card. The additional card (if they didn't have the M-Card) was gonna run an additional $1.99 per month for the Card, plus and additional $2 per month for Digital Gateway Fee to the second card, so if you can get a hold of the M-Card, it looks like you save $4 a month.

[Supermurph]

I have Cox in Phoenix. Telephone Rep and Tech Support said they didn't have Multi-Stream cards. A guy at work just got M-Cards though, so I phoned Cox back prior to appt and had them notate my work order to bring Scientific Atlanta PKM-800. The contractor showed up with the right card - but had never done a single install, so I showed him how to do it using the TiVo instructions. I was quoted $49.95 for the install, but I called back after the appt to tell them that the installer had no experience and I had to do it and they credited me in full for the install. Hope this helps others in the Phoenix area.

I didn't think to bring up me helping the guy, but I did get the M card two weeks ago in Phoenix and then called yesterday once the charges hit the bill. I just nicely explained that I felt it was unfortunate that Cox would charge me so much for a service that I didn't really need, but was forced into since they wouldn't allow me to pick up the cards at the Cox Digital Store. She said that they were valid charges and she couldn't do anything about them, but she could credit $25 to my account. Presumably, this will be called something else on the bill.

It looks like you can get partial or full credit back on the install charge if you ask the right person in the right way.

[doormat]

Yes - $1.99 per month in Phoenix. That is for the first card - no matter if is S-Card or M-Card. The additional card (if they didn't have the M-Card) was gonna run an additional $1.99 per month for the Card, plus and additional $2 per month for Digital Gateway Fee to the second card, so if you can get a hold of the M-Card, it looks like you save $4 a month.
I save $7 due to the $5 AO fee, so YMMV depending on AO fees.

[Mikeyis4dcats]

techs are here....card 1 installed fine. card 2 data number keeps changing during install, so they can't get it paired. they have no idea. anyone run into this?

[kevinwa]

I didn't think to bring up me helping the guy, but I did get the M card two weeks ago in Phoenix and then called yesterday once the charges hit the bill. I just nicely explained that I felt it was unfortunate that Cox would charge me so much for a service that I didn't really need, but was forced into since they wouldn't allow me to pick up the cards at the Cox Digital Store. She said that they were valid charges and she couldn't do anything about them, but she could credit $25 to my account. Presumably, this will be called something else on the bill.

It looks like you can get partial or full credit back on the install charge if you ask the right person in the right way.

I also live in Arizona (Scottsdale) and before I call COX I thought I would just clarify a few things for my new Series 3.
1. They (COX) have M cards (which I understand 1 M card replaces 2 S cards right?) they are still one way cards but eliminate the need to have 1 card for each tuner right?
2. I only have to pay for one card (how much if I can ask were they and the install)

Appreciate the help.

[BrianAZ]

I also live in Arizona (Scottsdale) and before I call COX I thought I would just clarify a few things for my new Series 3.
1. They (COX) have M cards (which I understand 1 M card replaces 2 S cards right?) they are still one way cards but eliminate the need to have 1 card for each tuner right?
2. I only have to pay for one card (how much if I can ask were they and the install)

Appreciate the help.

I have a TivoHD so maybe someone else can confirm this, but I didn't think the S3 would work with just a single M card like the HD does?

[ajwees41]

I have a TivoHD so maybe someone else can confirm this, but I didn't think the S3 would work with just a single M card like the HD does?


Nope not yet The S3 still needs two cards even if it is a multistream card.

[Dan Theman]

Cox (San Diego)
Just got my Tivo-HD setup with an M-Card.
$55 install fee and $2/month for the card.

When I called last week to schedule the install, the lady said they didn't have M-Cards. I asked her to put a note in requesting M-Cards anyways.

When the Tech showed up this morning he was fully prepared and had 1 M-Card and two normal cards (just in case).

He installed the M-Card and called to activate it. It then went into an "updating firmware" state which took about 20 minutes. After that completed we still were not getting any channels. He called the head office again to have them activate it and 30 seconds later everything was working fine (must have missed the activation sequence while it was updating the firmware).

The box is running 9.2j and it is a Scientific Atlanta M-Card.

Life is good.

[3morgans]

I have Cox Fairfax VA and a Tivo S3. Everything was working great for about 3 months. Recently, we started having issues where one CableCard dropped all encrypted channels. Tech came out, installed a new card and all worked again. Now it is happening again. Once card fine, one card not. Cox just started using SDV, is that messing it up in some way? Any ideas?

[kirk1701]

Cox (San Diego)
Just got my Tivo-HD setup with an M-Card.
$55 install fee and $2/month for the card.

When I called last week to schedule the install, the lady said they didn't have M-Cards. I asked her to put a note in requesting M-Cards anyways.

When the Tech showed up this morning he was fully prepared and had 1 M-Card and two normal cards (just in case).

He installed the M-Card and called to activate it. It then went into an "updating firmware" state which took about 20 minutes. After that completed we still were not getting any channels. He called the head office again to have them activate it and 30 seconds later everything was working fine (must have missed the activation sequence while it was updating the firmware).

The box is running 9.2j and it is a Scientific Atlanta M-Card.

Life is good.

Are you saying the firmware on the cablecards can be upgraded after the install through the cable company? :up:

[Dan Theman]

That is what it appeared to be doing.

Here is what happened:
Popped in the M-Card and the Tivo-HD went to the cablecard screen.
He went to the screen with Host ID and and called the office and read them the numbers.
He then went to another cablecard screen and was looking at the "EMM" count to see it get activated, but then the Tivo changed to an "upgrading firmware" screen for the cable card.
Tech said that he had never seen it do a firmware upgrade before.
Also, the backgrounds on all the screens turned gray instead of the usual animation - a reboot after the install brought it back to the normal look.
The firmware upgrade took about 20 minutes.
Then he went back to the info screen and the "EMM" was still 0.
He called the office again and then we saw the "EMM" value increase from 0 to 43.
Then he tested the channels on both tuners and everything was working.

Are you saying the firmware on the cablecards can be upgraded after the install through the cable company? :up:

[GerryFR]

I had a Cox (San Diego) technician come out yesterday to install 2 cable cards. He first put a SA M card to see if it would work by itself. When he found that it would not, he put a S card in the second slot. It took a little over an hour to get it all working. Some of this time was in getting my various signal inputs to the proper levels. There also was a 20 minute delay for a software update on the M Card. The technician said he was doing about 2 Tivos a week. He now carries spare cards with him on these installs. He has seen bad cards and occasionally a bad TIVO. Everything seems to be working properly and I get all the channels.

The technician had heard nothing about updating the SA HD DVR to TIVO software. Cox bandwidth has been increased to 1 GHz, but other factors may keep the new HD channels coming on line until after the first of the year.

The cost of the cable cards is $1.99 each per month. The install fee has not been put on my on line bill yet. They did start charging me for the cable cards though.

I was happy with my installation and I suspect the Cox technicians are now familiar with the TIVO installation and new installations should go much smoother.

[Sandi]

Cox in Omaha just told me they could only install the Cable Cards in the Series 3 and that they do not yet have M-Cards.

Does anyone have any experience in getting the cable cards in the TIVOHD in Omaha, NE?

Any good or bad experiences I should watch for?

Suggestions?

Thanks

Sandi (who really wants to add a 4th TIVO.)

[ajwees41]

Cox in Omaha just told me they could only install the Cable Cards in the Series 3 and that they do not yet have M-Cards.

Does anyone have any experience in getting the cable cards in the TIVOHD in Omaha, NE?

Any good or bad experiences I should watch for?

Suggestions?

Thanks

Sandi (who really wants to add a 4th TIVO.)


What did they say? What pricess did they quote you?

[moyekj]

Cox in Omaha just told me they could only install the Cable Cards in the Series 3 and that they do not yet have M-Cards. THD can take 2 S-cards just like S3 units. If you can't get past the stance that they only support S3 units (which is not true) just tell them you have an S3 to keep them happy. Technically the THD units are also "Series 3" as well if any questions should arise from the installer (highly doubtful). Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised that they actually do have M-cards but just don't know about it (or how to distinguish M-cards from S-cards)...

[Sandi]

Thanks for the help. they basically told me they only supported The Series 3 and that I would have 2 have 2 S cards if I wanted dual programing.

I had the same thought that I could just tell them I have a Series 3 to get around them.

Any other suggestions. I'm going to request they bring a couple of extra cards if they can and do double check and make sure they don't have M-Cards.

Of course they would rather I rent their DVR so sometimes they are less than helpful.

Thanks

Sandi

[ajwees41]

Thanks for the help. they basically told me they only supported The Series 3 and that I would have 2 have 2 S cards if I wanted dual programing.

I had the same thought that I could just tell them I have a Series 3 to get around them.

Any other suggestions. I'm going to request they bring a couple of extra cards if they can and do double check and make sure they don't have M-Cards.

Of course they would rather I rent their DVR so sometimes they are less than helpful.

Thanks

Sandi

contact tivo

[Grimdeath]

Which M-Cards does Cox seem to be rolling out? Are they using the SA PKM-800 exclusively or a smathering of others?

[Cornered]

I keep having the issue of cable cards losing their decryption status in the cable card CP menu. Where it says decryption status usually it says ok, but when I start having problems it says no ECMs detected. The problems I am experiencing are sometimes I cannot tune to an encrypted channel (just get a black screen) or I get a picture, but no audio. Restarting the TiVo fixes the problem so thats what I have been doing at night the last few days. It's an annoyance, though and I have had Cox come out numerous times with new cards and I still have the same problem. The best answer I have gotten is that there is a handshaking problem and that is why I am randomly losing stations. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have a multistream cablecard (Scientific Atlanta) with Cox in my HD TIVO. About every 2 to 3 days I lose all channels other than the networks. When I call up the cablecard menu all of the selections say "Failed to load .......". A refresh from Cox and a restart of the TIVo box brings the channels back until they drop again in 2 to 3 days. Cox is scheduled to replace the card tomorrow. They were scheduled to replace it last weekend but the service rep. failed to bring one with him. He took off the boaster and said that was the problem. It worked for 3 days. TIVO support said if I have the same problem with a second multistream cablecard they will replace the TIVO. They said the cablecard menu items should load even if I am having issues. They said they have never heard of the cablecard menu items not loading. Slow and painful trial and error process made worse because the Cox representatives generally arrive with no prior knowledge of the problems I am having. Any advice would be helpful.

[will592]

Just got off of the phone with Cox in Phoenix. They acted like they had never heard of the multi stream cards. I was quoted a $34.95 trip charge and an extra $15.00 to install the 'HD part' of the card. I was also told that the charge is up to the discretion of the installer, and that the quoted charge was a 'maximum'. We'll see on Wednesday. Until then...we'll be trying out the tivo hd with our existing hd box!

Chris

[Optics]

Has anyone tried dropping "Digital Cable" from Cox (specifically Orange County) and only subscribing to Basic or Expanded, yet still able to keep their cablecards and receive clear-QAM channels?

Without cablecards, there's no guide data, but I don't want to subscribe to Digital Cable just to get guide data for clear-QAM channels.

Some are reporting success with subscribing only to Comcast Limited and getting cablecards here: Possible to get HD channels w/ Comcast Limited Cable & Cablecard? (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=363094) .

[moyekj]

Has anyone tried dropping "Digital Cable" from Cox (specifically Orange County) and only subscribing to Basic or Expanded, yet still able to keep their cablecards and receive clear-QAM channels?

Without cablecards, there's no guide data, but I don't want to subscribe to Digital Cable just to get guide data for clear-QAM channels.

Some are reporting success with subscribing only to Comcast Limited and getting cablecards here: Possible to get HD channels w/ Comcast Limited Cable & Cablecard? (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=363094) . Let me know if you have success doing this as I too am with Cox in Orange County and was told repeatedly that digital cable is required for Cablecard rental.

[Optics]

Let me know if you have success doing this as I too am with Cox in Orange County and was told repeatedly that digital cable is required for Cablecard rental.
Just caved in and getting my CableCards for TiVoHD this weekend. I'll wait a week and call them up and see if I can drop Digital cable. ... I'll update here.

[DanieleB]

(Newbie de-lurks)

I just had Cox OC out today to install the cards in our new TiVoHD, and the tech told me several things that I don't think are entirely true. Would appreciate some clarification from folks here.

* He installed two M cards. I pointed out the message that came up after reboot saying the second card would be ignored, and he said that the message was wrong, and without the second card we wouldn't have dual tuner functionality.

* Questioning the above, I asked him what's the point of the Multi-stream then. He said the multi-stream was two-way, and it was so we could order Pay Per View. I think this is pretty much wrong on all counts, and we are renting a card we don't need ... true?

* We were quoted $89 for installation (it's usury, and I told the lady that on the phone), but I'm guessing now that was $45 for each card? (One of which I don't need?)

* We had no program data and only one hi-def channel when the tech left. He told us it was just because the channels all took a while to download and they "don't all come in at the same time." O_~ In fiddling around with it tonight, I discovered, of course, that the problem was the guided setup hadn't been completed in order to tell TiVo the channels were there. :P So technically, he didn't even install the first card ... though I guess really the Guided Setup is on us ... but seems like a bit of a rookie mistake, or poor advice? I mean, had we not known better, we would never have gotten the channels, right?

* We've had to reboot twice tonight because the Fall service update came in, and the card keeps dropping hi def TNT. We should have that channel with our tier, but all we get is a grey screen. Should we call Cox about that, or just wait patiently for it to "come in" (whatever that means)? Or is it because the unit is confused by the extra M card?

Thanks for any advice. Seems like the techs ought to be better trained -- do they not bring out TiVo reps to train folks, or at least to do the train-the-trainer?

[bkdtv]

* He installed two M cards. I pointed out the message that came up after reboot saying the second card would be ignored, and he said that the message was wrong, and without the second card we wouldn't have dual tuner functionality.You are right, he is wrong. He was confusing the Tivo Series3 with the newer TivoHD. The TivoHD only requires one MCARD to support both tuners; the Series3 requires two.

The TiVoHD should ignore the MCARD in the second slot. But it's possible the MCARD in the second slot is causing problems.

* Questioning the above, I asked him what's the point of the Multi-stream then. He said the multi-stream was two-way, and it was so we could order Pay Per View. I think this is pretty much wrong on all counts, and we are renting a card we don't need ... true?Correct.

We were quoted $89 for installation (it's usury, and I told the lady that on the phone), but I'm guessing now that was $45 for each card? (One of which I don't need?)That sounds incredibly high to me, but I'm not familiar with Cox's installation fee (Verizon FiOS charges a flat $25 for up to 7 CableCard adds).

We had no program data and only one hi-def channel when the tech left. He told us it was just because the channels all took a while to download and they "don't all come in at the same time." O_~ In fiddling around with it tonight, I discovered, of course, that the problem was the guided setup hadn't been completed in order to tell TiVo the channels were there. :P So technically, he didn't even install the first card ... though I guess really the Guided Setup is on us ... but seems like a bit of a rookie mistake, or poor advice?You need to run guided setup to see the channels and get guide information.

We've had to reboot twice tonight because the Fall service update came in, and the card keeps dropping hi def TNT. We should have that channel with our tier, but all we get is a grey screen. Should we call Cox about that, or just wait patiently for it to "come in" (whatever that means)? Or is it because the unit is confused by the extra M card?Tune to a channel that you aren't getting. Then take a look at the Conditional Access screen under Settings -> Account & System Information -> CableCard Decoders -> CableCard 1 -> CableCard Menu.

Attached is a picture of a correctly activated CableCard on Verizon FiOS. Your Host Validation entry will probably be different on Cox, but the rest should look pretty much the same. Pay particular attention to the EnabledByCP and Auth entries. If those don't say Yes and Subscribed then they did not correctly activate the card.

[BrianAZ]

(Newbie de-lurks)

I just had Cox OC out today to install the cards in our new TiVoHD, and the tech told me several things that I don't think are entirely true. Would appreciate some clarification from folks here.

* He installed two M cards. I pointed out the message that came up after reboot saying the second card would be ignored, and he said that the message was wrong, and without the second card we wouldn't have dual tuner functionality.

Wrong. TivoHD supports M cards for dual tuning.

* Questioning the above, I asked him what's the point of the Multi-stream then. He said the multi-stream was two-way, and it was so we could order Pay Per View. I think this is pretty much wrong on all counts, and we are renting a card we don't need ... true?

He's wrong. You only need 1 M card for your TivoHD. You won't be able to order PPV through your TivoHD regardless what type of card you have. You should be able to order over the phone or internet though and VIEW it on your TivoHD as long as the PPV is not OnDemand and your cableco has not implemented SDV technology.


* We were quoted $89 for installation (it's usury, and I told the lady that on the phone), but I'm guessing now that was $45 for each card? (One of which I don't need?)

I was upset about my install for 2 cards as well but you were seriously ripped off. I think mine was $15 each?


* We had no program data and only one hi-def channel when the tech left. He told us it was just because the channels all took a while to download and they "don't all come in at the same time." O_~ In fiddling around with it tonight, I discovered, of course, that the problem was the guided setup hadn't been completed in order to tell TiVo the channels were there. :P So technically, he didn't even install the first card ... though I guess really the Guided Setup is on us ... but seems like a bit of a rookie mistake, or poor advice? I mean, had we not known better, we would never have gotten the channels, right?

My experience has been that most installers have barely heard of Tivo, let alone seen or worked on one. I had a similar experience with Cox Phoenix. From what I've read, you have to get lucky and find someone who really has an interest in these things like you do. Unfortunately I get he feeling that most cable installers are just doing it to have a job and don't really have much of a hobbyist interest.


* We've had to reboot twice tonight because the Fall service update came in, and the card keeps dropping hi def TNT. We should have that channel with our tier, but all we get is a grey screen. Should we call Cox about that, or just wait patiently for it to "come in" (whatever that means)? Or is it because the unit is confused by the extra M card?

No ideas here.. sorry.


Thanks for any advice. Seems like the techs ought to be better trained -- do they not bring out TiVo reps to train folks, or at least to do the train-the-trainer?

I don't know what kind of training is done.. but I suspect it's minimal for cablecards and non-existent for Tivos. Cable companies really have no incentive to make your switch to Tivo easy. They're losing money with every customer who switches. Combine that with the fact that most people don't care enough to attempt the switch and you see why they don't invest $$ into Tivo support training from a business perspective.

[moyekj]

(Newbie de-lurks)
* We were quoted $89 for installation (it's usury, and I told the lady that on the phone), but I'm guessing now that was $45 for each card? (One of which I don't need?) Amazing the incompetence. I know of several people in OC who had Tivos installed and Cox OC has done 2 sets of CC installs for my S3s (though both times I did everything while they watched and they simply called the #s in since I don't let them touch my equipment). Anyway, even if you did need 2 cards (which you don't as others have pointed out) you could get the charge for the 2nd card waived by calling in and making a fuss. In your case especially you don't need the 2nd card so for sure they should not charge you for it, and due to the trouble they caused you by installing it you should insist on getting the 1st CC install fee waived as well.

[DanieleB]

Thanks for the sanity check everyone. I'm up against a deadline at work today, but I think I'll pop out the card in slot 2 tonight and try the record-and-view just to prove to myself and them that it's working. I'll check the installation on the primary card (thank you very much for posting that screenshot -- incredibly helpful!) and see if TNT kicks in. I want to see Angel in HiDef!! Then I'll call and question the charges on Saturday. Will post a follow-up to let everyone know how it goes.

I don't want to get the installer in trouble or anything; he was a nice guy, and he genuinely *wanted* to know how it should be done. But dagnabbit, I would think that at the point I started asking about MAC addresses he would realize he wasn't dealing with some technophobic dumb blonde, and that I might even know more than him. :P

[DanieleB]

Well, I needed a break anyway. *grin* 10 quick minutes while I was getting coffee proved what we already knew -- the second Mcard is superfluous. I was also able to verify that we're not subscribed to the missing channels (or so I assume from "Auth: NS"), and furthermore, whenever I tune to one of those channels and look at the cable card set up screen, I have to reboot the machine afterward. I get the grey screen of death for some reason, and the TV becomes non-responsive. So my guess is that either I'm missing a critical "clear-instead of back button" or that something about the card setup isn't right.

Will call them on Saturday. Thank you again for the reassurance that I really do know my equipment the way I think I do. :)

[bkdtv]

I realize this is a bit off-topic, but no one I know with Cox seems to live in a market where Discovery Channel HD was added.

If you live in a Cox market with Discovery Channel HD (not to be confused with Discovery Theater), what size does the TiVo report for your MythBusters episodes, as reported by the INFO screen?

[Pafrican]

I am thinking about getting a TivoHD and used the online live support for Cox and got this response from Cox in Phoenix...

"You can rent the standard CableCARD for only $2.00 per month. Some
newer television sets and DVRs require one "multi-stream" CableCARD.
These multi-stream cards only cost $4.00 per month.

Cox Communications must professionally install these devices in your
television or DVR. The current installation price for a single
CableCARD device is $49.95. If you are using a dual-tuner television or
DVR, we can install two CableCARD devices or one multi-stream CableCARD
for $64.95.

Please reply to this message if you are interested in establishing an
appointment for a CableCARD. We will be happy to assist you."

Kind of silly that they charge more for a single multi-stream and also more to install a single multi-stream card.

I think I'm going to order the Tivo HD (w/ lifetime transfer) and go with the M-Card even though the startup costs are so high. I just think Cox's $23/month for HDDVR is absurd (especially since it is so often faulty and misses recordings, plus a horrid UI).

[will592]

Just thought I would check in here after my cable card install here in Phoenix. First things first, the installer showed up late for the install so I called to complain and they instantly gave me a $20 credit on the install, no questions asked. Second, the install had done one cc install before and was a little nervous because he said it was a different kind of tivo (an S3 I'm sure). Despite the insistence of the sales rep that they did not have m-cards he brought a single m-card and said that they were common knowledge amongst the techs. The install took a total of 30 minutes, mostly on the phone with the CSR getting the info put in. The made me give them the model number of the 'tv' but didn't seem plussed when the guy said it was a tivo. It took quite some time before the cable card accepted the 'hit' from the CSR but when he left everything was working fine, with the exception of the premium channels. After the tech left I re-ran the tivo setup and the premium channels came in just fine. The Tivo HD is so much nicer than the SA8300 that I can't even imagine ever going back.

The HD is the 3rd Tivo in our house and the MRV features work great. We moved a few shows over from our S2 boxes and they look great, even on a 65" widescreen tv.

Most interesting part of the install, the installer uses DirectTv/Tivo himself, and I pretty much convinced him to buy the Tivo HD, he was shocked to find out the cable card was $2/month.

Hope it goes well for everyone else!
Chris

[AZrob]

Kind of silly that they charge more for a single multi-stream and also more to install a single multi-stream card.




Actually, they aren't supposed to charge for more than 1 card when you get an M-Card.

Rob

[jfpga]

Here in Rhode Island I just called for a cable card install and they said they don't have any M-Cards yet, anyone in this area have one installed yet?

[yroca]

Actually, they aren't supposed to charge for more than 1 card when you get an M-Card.

Rob

Rob is right. In addition to a $2 CableCard charge, I had an extra $4.07 in charges - $2 for the "second card", and $2 + tax for the Digital Gateway Service fee for the second card - even though I only had 1 M-Card.

The rep tried to tell me it was $4 per month for M-Card, but I told them I was quoted $2 a month on the phone. They also said their system makes them just put it in as 2 separate cards. I asked what the $2.07 Digital Gateway charge was for and the rep said it was because I have two Digital outlets. I explained that I only have 1 TV, and 1 CableCard, and they removed the extra $4.07 in monthly charges.

[Pafrican]

Thanks for that info.

So what is everyone's bill typically? I figure I'll have a charge for the basic, charge for the extended, and a charge for the cable card (plus all the taxes)?

Are there any hidden charges I may be missing (besides the installation)?

[milo99]

Well, i just got my brand new service w/ Cox installed here in McLean VA. 2 cable cards on the Tivo HD. The guy (Christopher i think it was) had done Tivo installs before and seemed to know what he was doing. He was here for an hour, but that included trips downstairs (i'm in a condo building) to connect my unit to home base. Had to go in and out of the cable card screen a few times, the Tivo rebooted on him once, but it all came up fine after about 20 minutes or so of him working on it.

After he left, i did the guided set up and got the green screen of death when it was in the process of connecting to the Tivo service. Luckily, it only lasted about 10 minutes and upon reboot, everything went smoothly. I did have a small issue of some of my channels (HD channels I am supposed to get) not coming in (i know NFL network is on switched, but everything else isn't). But a quick call to tech support resolved it, where the guy i think he said he just sent me a stronger signal.

I'm currently subscribed to all the tiers, and i'm getting in HD the Discovery channel, National Geographic, A&E, TNT ESPNs, and the locals among others, so it looks like its all good!!

[milo99]

well i spoke too soon. looks like the 2nd cable card is not getting all the channels. It's getting the base package, but not the tiers. arg. technician will be coming by on Saturday. Luckily all my season passes are on regular channels so it shouldn't create a problem in the meantime.

[black flag]

I just had a Cox tech out in Fairfax VA. He said that he has personally done four series 3 installs in the last week and a half and they are all experiencing what I am experiencing: one of the cards keeps dropping channels 701-705 and a few other channels. He said that he personally called TIVO during a recent visit because of this exact problem and he said Tivo fessed up that it's a known issue that has to do with either the box firmware or the new firmware Cox requires for cablecards. Whether this is BS or not, I'm not sure but I have missed some of my favorite shows in the last week.

A quick fix (for some channels)if you are experiencing the same issue:
tivo>>Messages&Settings>>Standby>>Live Tv

Some channels need a hard box restart to work again.

Since the Standby or Reset feature brings back the missing channels and the cablecard diagnostics are showing that the offending channels are coming through loud and clear - it looks like this is a Tivo Series 3 issue not a Cox issue.

I'll call Tivo tomorrow and see what they have to say.

[AZrob]

COX Phoenix Cable Card install report:

Well, after reading all of the above, prepared for anything and nothing to happen, I scheduled my CC install here in Phoenix and ....it was problematic but I am up and running and it probably didn't cost me anything.

Asked several different CSR's to schedule an M-card install....none of them, and I mean NONE knew about the M-cards. Nor did anyone in Tech Support. But a sympathetic CSR dutifully did as I requested and scheduled the install with a specific request in the Notes section that it be for an M-card.

The first installer (a subcontractor: Advanced Power Cabling Services) showed up with two S-cards. He said that that was all they had "in the shop". I said that they were the wrong kind. He called in and found out that M-cards had just come in but it was too far to go back and get one. So he offered to install the S-cards and then follow up with an M-card the next day at no extra charge.

But neither of the S-cards worked. So this morning another subcontractor tech showed up with 5 M-cards (I insisted on that many.) The first one worked, which was fortunate, because the tech didn't know anything about M-cards, and not much more about CC's in general. There was one thing he did know - he HATED to do CC installs.... but he was cooperative enough (though got uptight when I made him stay until I checked all of the channels) and didn't seem to mind that I basically ran the install.

After he left I called COX and asked for full credit on the install. The nice lady in Billing immediately gave me $15 credit for the HD service charge and said she would email in for the $34.95 ($36.93 after tax) credit which would take a few days to process.

So here are my observations:

1. It does appear that you can get an M-card installed in Phoenix now, at least if you get the subcontractor Advanced Power Cabling Services. They are aware of them, even if the CSR's and Tech Support are not.

2. You need to ask for the CSR to put the M-card install in the Notes section, especially since there is no official option for "M-Card install" yet.

3. Try to get them to bring at least 5 M-cards out. If they are not sure what you mean, say "the Green cards, not the Blue ones". The actual model is Scientific Atlanta PKM-800. S-cards are PKM-600.

4. Take over the install and ask for credit later. If you are polite, it may well work out to your satisfaction.

5. BE PATIENT and remember to respect Murphy's Law....

Hope that helps anyone else out there in Phoenix COX-land....Thanks to all of you whose sharing of experiences prepared me well when my time came.

Rob

[milo99]

yet another update. after finding Tivo's support page, and reading thru the cable card faq on here again (now that i'm more familiar w/ what all this means), i called tech supp yesterday in hopes of getting the 2nd card working fully before the tech came out on Sat.

Well, long story short, we got it woring by unpairing, repairing and rehitting the cards, then rebooting the Tivo.

Longer version: and this is something that's confusing me- but after the rep rehit the cards, all my channels were gone on BOTH cards. I was like wtf?? i was going to live tv and the test channels menu and all i was seeing was gray. I went to the CP page and saw that my ECMs were slowly going up, but no channels. upon reboot though, they all showed up.

heres the other thing i'd like someone to answer. Are the ECMs in the CP screens only supposed to show when that card/tuner is on a tiered/premium channel? Because i've noticed since this 'fix' that if i'm on say, the local NBC station, the ECMs are 0 or drop to like 2. But then once i go to say, ESPNHD, they start to climb again, and continue as i stay tuned on the station.

I thought ECMs were basically codes to allow you to see those encrypted channels and that they were finite. But is it that they are actually continually fed to the card as it is tuned to the encrypted channel so as to continually decrypt the info while i'm watching? Thus if i stay on ESPNHD the number of ECMs keeps climbing, but once i switch, it doesn't need them and they go away?

[k00k]

Here in Rhode Island I just called for a cable card install and they said they don't have any M-Cards yet, anyone in this area have one installed yet?

I'm going to call soon, ordering my TiVoHD this week. I assume that when you called you spoke with a customer service rep, yes?

Hopefully they're just clueless and maybe there are actually M-cards available. Let us know when you do your install.

I still plan on asking them to make a note to bring M-cards when I place my call.

[mdk89135]

Strike One for Cox Cable here in Las Vegas today.

I requested a single Multi-Stream card for my TivoHD and was assured that the tech would have one when he arrived. Tech did arrive with a single single-stream card. Also - he had never done a cable card install before and he was 30 minutes late, to boot.

After we figured out that the card was only a single stream card, he went to remove it and couldn't figure out how to get it out of the Tivo. He offered to leave it in until someone else from Cox comes out on Tuesday to try again. I've dealt with enough PC Cards to know there should be a button to push next to the slot, so I got it out myself and sent him on his way.

I did call Cox after the fact and was given a credit to my account - not enough to make up for the hassle so far or the install fee, but a nice gesture, nevertheless.

[jfpga]

I'm going to call soon, ordering my TiVoHD this week. I assume that when you called you spoke with a customer service rep, yes?

Hopefully they're just clueless and maybe there are actually M-cards available. Let us know when you do your install.

I still plan on asking them to make a note to bring M-cards when I place my call.

Had 2 single cards installed in my Series 3 last week, went pretty smooth actually, only problem atm I am not receiving a few Cox channels 46, 47, 48 on that Series 3. I will be getting a TivoHD installed with cable card in the next week or so when I get a chance to call and schedule it, I will have them look into that then. I talked to someone in customer service who happened to have worked with my mother at the Newport Daily News, she had just started and had no clue about cable cards etc.... I pressed her to ask her supervisor about M-Cards. they told her they didn't have any. But basically I will be calling her every couple of weeks to get the low down.

[k00k]

Had 2 single cards installed in my Series 3 last week, went pretty smooth actually, only problem atm I am not receiving a few Cox channels 46, 47, 48 on that Series 3. I will be getting a TivoHD installed with cable card in the next week or so when I get a chance to call and schedule it, I will have them look into that then. I talked to someone in customer service who happened to have worked with my mother at the Newport Daily News, she had just started and had no clue about cable cards etc.... I pressed her to ask her supervisor about M-Cards. they told her they didn't have any. But basically I will be calling her every couple of weeks to get the low down.

Ok, cool. If you can keep me posted on here about your bi-weekly updates, that would be grand.

[tivowiz]

I've got an install for CabelCards today in my TivoHD, the cost here in Hampton Roads, VA is $29 for the install & $1.99 per card. If you go over one digital recevr/card in your house there is a flat $5/month fee for "whatever" (I call it the "because we can" fee).
I'm hoping for an MCard, but, I just hope it works...

[milo99]

I've got an install for CabelCards today in my TivoHD, the cost here in Hampton Roads, VA is $29 for the install & $1.99 per card. If you go over one digital recevr/card in your house there is a flat $5/month fee for "whatever" (I call it the "because we can" fee).
I'm hoping for an MCard, but, I just hope it works...

are you talking about the '2nd outlet' fee. Since its 2 cards, they consider it 2 separate outlets, so i know i get charged the normal $7 for the first card, + $6 for the 2nd outlet, plus the $2 for the cards itself. so really, you're paying $8 more a month.

The guy who installed them for me said they're testing the Mcards out in a couple markets, and he thought they may have some in NoVA but only 'a few'. So who knows, the may become available soon.

[will592]

On the issue of the 'hit' from the cable company, I thought I would share my experience from this weekend. I ordered ESPN gameplan this weekend, as I do on occasion when the Gators aren't on regular tv. They sent the hit to my cable card and the Tivo locked up. The screen went gray, as it does every so often anyway (grumble) and I lost all video. I had to reboot the unit and the pay-per-view never came through. Luckily, I was able to watch on the old DVR that I still haven't taken back. I called back and had them do it again, same result. The third time I talked to them, they just told me that pay-per-view doesn't work on cablecards. I don't know what to say after that...other than they appear to be right...although I was under the impression that it was SUPPOSED to work...you just couldn't order from the cable card.

Chris

[mdk89135]

Much better luck today with COX here in Las Vegas. The tech brought a single-stream and a multi-stream just in case. It was the first Tivo the tech had seen, but I had the feeling he had done cablecards before, unlike the last guy they sent out. He popped in the card, emailed the numbers in and then went outside to check the voltages at the box. By the time he made it back in, the card was working. I went thru guided setup after he left and all appears to be well.

I was suprised that I get the HD channels on my old 20" non-HDTV (soon to be replaced). Tivo evidently scales everything down to fit the screen - some of the HD channels have the bars on the left and right side and squishes the picture.

Overall, really pleased with the Tivo and can't wait to get a new HDTV to enjoy it even more!

[tivowiz]

Cox installed two cablecards in my Tivo S3 tonite. I received the Tivo from Amazon about 12:20 today, so it was all up to date with software. The install was a breeze - we went by the book, it took about 1/2 hour (could have been faster, but, he had to go out to the pole & remove the filter that was in place before we started.

I do have a couple of issues, I don't get 3 of the "new" HD channels & about 10 channels exhibit breakups/pixelation. Checking around on AVSForum I noticed that there are a couple of people there in my area not receiving the same channels & also exhibiting breakups. I noticed the signal on the cable for those channels that are breaking up to be lower & to fluctuate considerably (from 55-85).

I'm hoping that it's a easy to fix problem. We'll see....

BTW - I'm in Williamsburg, VA..

[ajcadoo]

I realize this is a bit off-topic, but no one I know with Cox seems to live in a market where Discovery Channel HD was added.

If you live in a Cox market with Discovery Channel HD (not to be confused with Discovery Theater), what size does the TiVo report for your MythBusters episodes, as reported by the INFO screen?

i know how does! cox san diego. speciffically in the south bay. they have about 40 hd channels

[ChrisMc73]

Just a quick question, as I've scanned through the old pages of this post...but are the Multi-stream or M-Cards as referred here, the ones that allow us to get On Demand, Pay Per View etc?

[gcw07]

Just a quick question, as I've scanned through the old pages of this post...but are the Multi-stream or M-Cards as referred here, the ones that allow us to get On Demand, Pay Per View etc?There aren't any that will allow you to get On Demand, PPV. M-Cards are just multi-stream cards that lets you get 2 signals with one card. So 1 M-Card will do the same thing that 2 S-Cards would do in your box.

[ajwees41]

There aren't any that will allow you to get On Demand, PPV. M-Cards are just multi-stream cards that lets you get 2 signals with one card. So 1 M-Card will do the same thing that 2 S-Cards would do in your box.

just expand on that

it's not the cards that determine 2 way, but the tivo hardware.

[ChrisMc73]

So with 2 M-Cards, I could record up to 4 shows at once?
Or record 3 and watch a different channel on 1?

[Bodie]

So with 2 M-Cards, I could record up to 4 shows at once?
Or record 3 and watch a different channel on 1?

Unfortunately no, there's still only 2 tuners capable of receiving the cable signal, the cable-cards are used to decode the signals once they are received.

[ChrisMc73]

So whats the advantage over what I have now? (Two Cards S-Cards I guess)
I don't get it?

[Bodie]

The advantage is that when supported, you only need one cable card and therefore cut your cable bill by a few bucks a month.

Phase 1: M-card fully supported instead of 2 S-cards
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!

[ChrisMc73]

So is there any plan to make M-Cards where we could have two in the two slots we have in our boxes, record up to 4 shows? Or is that just a pipe dream?

[gcw07]

That would be a pipe dream at the moment. While it would be possible, more tuners would have to be placed in the box for it to work and I don't see a huge mass market appeal for 4 tuner boxes.

[jfranklin]

I do have a couple of issues, I don't get 3 of the "new" HD channels & about 10 channels exhibit breakups/pixelation.

...

BTW - I'm in Williamsburg, VA..


If by 'the new' HD channels you're refering to TBS, Discovery, History, and HGTV then you won't get them. They are not included in the cablecard channel map. In the Hampton Roads area Switched Digital Video is going to be launching soon (I don't have an exact date, just soon.), and those are going to be among the first channels to be delivered by SDV. Last I heard TiVo is working on either a breakout box or a return via ethernet system (though I don't remember where I heard that) but until there is a two way link from the node to the TiVo those channels will not be avalible.

As for the channels that are tiling, I would be interested to know which channels they are as their might be some connection to a situation I ran into about a week ago with a S3 and THD.

[tivowiz]

It's four channels for me now, TBS, History, HGTV & HD Theater - I get Discovery HD fine. The tiling channels are 203-207, 212, 240,241, 259 & 712. Checking the signal with the Tivo on those shows that it fluctuates rapidly from 70-85.

Ouch on the SDV, I realize that Cox needs to move to it, but, I doubt that Tivo will have anything until mid 2008 (if then), although they could surprise us.

Can I assume that any additional HD's will fall into this category as well?

Thanks for the info...

[jfranklin]

It's four channels for me now, TBS, History, HGTV & HF Theater - I get Discovery HD fine. The tiling channels are 203-207, 212, 240,241, 259 & 712. Checking the signal with the Tivo on those shows that it fluctuates rapidly from 70-85.

Ouch on the SDV, I realize that Cox needs to move to it, bt, I doubt that Tivo will have anything until mid 2008 (if then), although they could surprise us.

Can I assume that any additional HD's will fall into this category as well?

Thanks for the info...

Discovery HD seems to have just taken the slot on the channel map that HD Theater had, so that makes sense, the others are all in new places. The channels you're getting tiling on are almost all on the same carrier which falls inline with broadcast channel 39 which seems to be a religious channel, and the rest are part of a carrier that is inline with WTVZ's (broadcast ch33) broadcast digital channel; 233 and 766 are also in that area but since WTVZ (to my knowlage) doesn't seem to be using the whole channel it would make sense that your troubles wouldn't be on all of the cable channels it overlaps with.

I would suggest having a tech come out and check for possible ingress (broadcast signal bleeding into the cable system) at your home; specificly on the outlet that is feeding the TiVo. I'm not sure just how forgiving the tuner and decoder in the TiVo is so it may well show a problem on channels that the Cox supplied converter would not.

I can't speak to all new HD channels being in the same boat or not, or even new non HD channels (or current for that matter) as that information has not trickled down to me yet, but I will say that it would not supprise me.


You're very welcome... I'll answer any question I can *ducks the pending flood*

[tivowiz]

I don't completly understand "channel mapping", but, isn't it the job of the cablecards to handle that part? Is it because the Tivo can't do upstream messaging that it doesn't work with those channels?

The ingress piece makes sense - especially since I have an antenna connected to the Tivo as well.

The Tivo is most likely going back, if it is having problems receiving channels now, I can't imagine what it will be like in a few months (unless the "tuning resolver" comes out soon). As much as I love the Tivo experience (bought my 1st one in 2000), one of the reasons I bought it was to simplify our life, right now it's not simplified anything for me :)

PS - I don't know if you are at liberty to say or not, but, I heard that there are more HD channels to come in the next month - any truth to that rumor?

Thanks again...

[jcmitch]

Cox in Rhode Island does have M cards, but I haven't been able to get them to install one in a Tivo. I know they are available because they are loaded in the back of the new Moto DCH3416 boxes they are using now. When I've called and scheduled installs, they claim to only have single stream cards available.

jcmitch

http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dch3416_settop.asp

[ellinj]

Cox in Rhode Island does have M cards, but I haven't been able to get them to install one in a Tivo. I know they are available because they are loaded in the back of the new Moto DCH3416 boxes they are using now. When I've called and scheduled installs, they claim to only have single stream cards available.

jcmitch

http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dch3416_settop.asp

Hmm, let me know if you ever successful. I would assume that I would save $2 a month by going to a single card.

[jfranklin]

I don't completly understand "channel mapping", but, isn't it the job of the cablecards to handle that part? Is it because the Tivo can't do upstream messaging that it doesn't work with those channels?


The short version is the system that tells the converter (or consumer device with a cablecard) what channels are where uses what is called a channel map. There is a map for Cox converters and one for cablecards. The reason that the new channels aren't coming in on cablecards is that those channels do not appear on the map for cards. Rather than allow the new channels to be tuned on one way cable card devices just to take them away when SDV is launched they are just not providing those channels to begin with.

And yes, the reason SDV doesn't work with consumer cablecard devices is that so far none support upstream communications.


PS - I don't know if you are at liberty to say or not, but, I heard that there are more HD channels to come in the next month - any truth to that rumor?


The last of the channels that I knew about were the ones that were just launched, but I know that more will be coming in the next few months, I just don't know when.

[tivowiz]

Thanks for the update - you've save some Cox CSR's and myself from wasting any more time trying to fix this...

The short version is the system that tells the converter (or consumer device with a cablecard) what channels are where uses what is called a channel map. There is a map for Cox converters and one for cablecards. The reason that the new channels aren't coming in on cablecards is that those channels do not appear on the map for cards. Rather than allow the new channels to be tuned on one way cable card devices just to take them away when SDV is launched they are just not providing those channels to begin with.

And yes, the reason SDV doesn't work with consumer cablecard devices is that so far none support upstream communications.



The last of the channels that I knew about were the ones that were just launched, but I know that more will be coming in the next few months, I just don't know when.

[ChrisMc73]

So if what I'm reading here is right, I can get M-Cards, but I'd still need two of them because I have a Series 3 HD box?

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=bb83ae57-ea46-4162-ab65-4bfde6a851e4

[tivowiz]

So if what I'm reading here is right, I can get M-Cards, but I'd still need two of them because I have a Series 3 HD box?

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=bb83ae57-ea46-4162-ab65-4bfde6a851e4

That is correct - the Series 3 cannot currently handle muliple streams on an M-Card, so, you will need 2 of them.

[marspinball]

Hi

I'm about to order a TIVO HD and would like to know if COX is currently installing single Mstream cards and if anyone is having issues with current installs??

Thanks.

[tivowiz]

According to this article (http://www.onetrak.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=2870&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1), Cox is only planning on going to SDV in 3 markets in 2008. Is Hampton Roads one of the markets?
Switched digital video, meanwhile, has been launched in two systems, and a third will be added in 2008. Switched digital video’s biggest attraction is the fact that it can offer virtually unlimited channel capacity, given it delivers into the home only the channels being viewed, rather than the entire channel lineup.

“We have taken a tack with switched digital video of a look see,” Bowick said. With the three launched markets planned “we will see how it goes.”



The last thing I want to do is "shoot the messenger", as, I really do appreciate the information posted by jfranklin - any information, no matter how bad it is, is better than knowing nothing.

From reading other postings on AVSforum.com (http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=426435&page=58), it seems that people with TivoHD's that had cablecards installed earlier are getting the channel maps for all the HD channels. So, it's only the new customers that are not getting them. Obviously, this is hardly "fair", however, one wonders how long it may be for SDV to be rolled out in Hampton Roads. If it's a year down the road, it seems that not giving these channels to new cusotmers is hardly good customer support.

One other thing - it would seem to be in the best interest of Cox & it's customers to make sure that all the CSR's at Cox are aware of this, including the Tech's in the field, and, people at the various Cox "stores". I wasted a considerable amount of time trying to "fix" my TivoS3 to get the 4 channels that it seems it cannot receive.

[moyekj]

According to this article (http://www.onetrak.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=2870&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1), Cox is only planning on going to SDV in 3 markets in 2008. Is Hampton Roads one of the markets?


The last thing I want to do is "shoot the messenger", as, I really do appreciate the information posted by jfranklin - any information, no matter how bad it is, is better than knowing nothing.

From reading other postings on AVSforum.com (http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=426435&page=58), it seems that people with TivoHD's that had cablecards installed earlier are getting the channel maps for all the HD channels. So, it's only the new customers that are not getting them. Obviously, this is hardly "fair", however, one wonders how long it may be for SDV to be rolled out in Hampton Roads. If it's a year down the road, it seems that not giving these channels to new cusotmers is hardly good customer support.

One other thing - it would seem to be in the best interest of Cox & it's customers to make sure that all the CSR's at Cox are aware of this, including the Tech's in the field, and, people at the various Cox "stores". I wasted a considerable amount of time trying to "fix" my TivoS3 to get the 4 channels that it seems it cannot receive. The 3 markets are:
Fairfax VA, Phoenix AZ, Orange County CA
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6470803.html
In Northern Virginia, where Cox has about 240,000 subscribers, the SDV system will go live systemwide in about 30 days, according to Kelso. Later this year, Cox plans to roll out the system in its Phoenix and Orange County, Calif., systems.
I don't think it's safe to assume only Orange County market will be deployed in 2008.

Another side effect of SDV deployment is digital simulcast channels will also be switched which means CableCard customers will revert back to analog versions of the channels:
http://www.cable360.net/ct/deployment/casestudies/15098.html
Cox plans on switching its digital simulcast channels in a number of its systems.
Here in Orange County CableCard customers are already being denied any new HD channel additions in preparation for SDV (they don't want to give us new channels now only to take them away in a few months when SDV rollout begins). I was told by a CSR any new SD or HD digital channel additions from now on will be under SDV umbrella and not available to UDCP CableCard customers.

[jfranklin]

According to this article (http://www.onetrak.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=2870&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1), Cox is only planning on going to SDV in 3 markets in 2008. Is Hampton Roads one of the markets?


The last thing I want to do is "shoot the messenger", as, I really do appreciate the information posted by jfranklin - any information, no matter how bad it is, is better than knowing nothing.

From what I know of the upgrade plans that article seems to be accurate. As for the three markets the message from moyekj seems to be right, but as I understand it Hampton Roads is getting SDV (at least in a few cities) in 2008. I admit, though, that it's been like pulling teeth on a croc to get the information that I do have. Most don't know what I'm talking about, and half of those that do don't actually understand it. If I do come up with any more detailed info that I can release I'll let you know.

[tivowiz]

Thanks again for the info, keep "pulling those teeth".

[Surrealone]

Jfranklin...
Thanks for all the info about COX and SDV. I live in OC Ca and have the channel mapping problem now. I had a Tech come out a he told me that the new HD channels are
not going to work with Cable Cards. Anybody have any info from Tivo??????

[jcaudle]

Hi

I'm about to order a TIVO HD and would like to know if COX is currently installing single Mstream cards and if anyone is having issues with current installs??

Thanks.

I currently have an SA Mcard in my TivoHd. Its losing the Cox HD and regular Digital Channels. It works for all analog channels and local HD channels. Reboots don't help. Does anyone have any ideas?

[pkincy]

The 3 markets are:
Fairfax VA, Phoenix AZ, Orange County CA
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6470803.html

Hmmm, does this mean that the Tivo HD or S3 is not going to work in Phoenix in the near future when the SDV is implemented.

Seems a lot of folks are from Phoenix in this thread and they are going to be mighty put out.

At this point and after reading the last 10 pages of this thread it seems like waiting for Cox and the Tivo Software in the 8300HD is the better and cheaper path.

Or am I wrong?

Perry

[moyekj]

Hmmm, does this mean that the Tivo HD or S3 is not going to work in Phoenix in the near future when the SDV is implemented.

Seems a lot of folks are from Phoenix in this thread and they are going to be mighty put out.

At this point and after reading the last 10 pages of this thread it seems like waiting for Cox and the Tivo Software in the 8300HD is the better and cheaper path.

Or am I wrong?

Perry Probably the most sensible thing to do at this point is to wait and see if the phantom "tuning resolver" ever materializes. I wouldn't hold your breath on getting Tivo software on the SA 8300HD any time soon. The Tivo release on Comcast Motorola platform is still not available to customers in the rollout markets and Cox/Tivo will be at least 6 months after Comcast/Tivo rollout begins in earnest, and that's probably on the Moto platform. So being conservative I would expect at least 1 more year for SA 8300/Tivo/Cox solution if all goes well... In the meantime it's looking like 2008 will be the year that SDV really becomes widespread and the pressure will really be on Tivo to get the "tuning resolver" out. Problem is they need the co-operation from cable to get it built and tested and I don't see cable companies going out of their way to help.

[knemo]

We have Cox OKC. We ran into the "local HD and limited basic channels only" for 2 months. For the first month, rebooting the Tivo once a week fixed the problem. After ~30 days, it no longer worked. A tech came out and made a phone call, magically fixing the problem. At that point they claimed that the Cox computer system was trying to pair with our tv instead of the Tivo. 30 days later, we had the same problem. After 2 phone calls to Cox I was told that every time there is a firmware upgrade to the cable card it requires a signal refresh and that I can have that done through their automated system.

[JayBird]

I got a new TiVo HD on the lifetime transfer deal. I tore into the entertainment center the other day to set it up, ran through guided setup, and ended up with just all the analog cable channels. I don't have an OTA antenna, as I'm just hooked to Cox cable, and I have not called Cox yet to come install a cable card. I wanted to be sure everything was all working correctly first.

So, as I was playing around with the new TiVo HD, I went into the channel setup menu and, nievely, clicked Channel Scan to see if it could find any clear QAM digital channels on cable. (Yes, now I know that this is for finding OTA digital signals, but I'm new to series 3 TiVos.) So it found a whole bunch of channels, all with a dash '-' in the number. For example, there's 8-2, 15-1, 15-2 (I think that's right, I'm not in front of the TiVo HD at the moment), and then a whole ton of them in the 60s and 70s (e.g. 68-1,68-2,...,68-18,...). If I tune to 8-2, 15-1, or 15-2, I get clear signals (interestingly enough, the TiVo HD says it's getting the signal over cable, even though channel numbers with a dash are OTA style channel designations). Note also that I only got digital channels for 8 and 15, and not for any of the other local channels (3, 5, 10, 12, ...). However, if I tune to any of the higher numbered "digital" channels that it found, (e.g. 68-x), the TiVo HD says it locks on a digital signal, but the screen is otherwise blank. And if I just manually select a channel that it didn't find, using the channel numbers I know are valid on my old SA cable box (e.g. 102), I get nothing. Nor with any of the channels in the 700s, some of which are supposed to be the HD broadcasts of some of the locals (I think).

I know I'm a newbie to all of this, so please help...

Questions:

1. Without an OTA antenna, why did the channel scan find anything at all?

2. Why for the channels it did find, which all use an OTA style number with a dash, does it indicate that these are channels it's receiving over cable?

3. Why did it find digital channels for only some of my local stations, and not others?

4. Why did it find so many in the 60s and 70s (e.g. 68-1, 68-2, ...)?

5. For the channels in the 60s and 70s, why does it say it's receiving a signal, yet I get no picture?

6. Are there any digital channels (SD or HD) on the Cox system in Phoenix that are clear-QAM (no cable card needed) that I should be able to receive before I get a cable card installed?

7. If the answer to #5 is yes, how do I get access to these channels?

8. When I went though guided setup on my old S1 TiVo, telling it I had an SA digital cable box, it then provided me with the complete lineup of channels, including all those I didn't subscribe to, and then I just had to go into "Channels you receive" and select those I get. But with the TiVo HD, unless I did something wrong during guided setup, it only gave me the analog channels in the list, and NONE of the digital channels (those over 100). Am I missing something here?

9. Does all this magically work itself out once I get a cable card?

10. Once a cable card is installed, will the channel numbers match that on the cable box that feeds my S1?

Basically, I'm very confused on how all this digital channel stuff works when it comes to the TiVo HD. I want to make sure everything is right and working before I have to pay Cox to roll a truck to do the cable card install (which, by the way, I think is absolutely rediculous, but that's a different rant altogether).

Can someone else who is more of a TiVo HD "expert" in the Phoenix area give me a little guidance?

TIA

- Jay

[ajwees41]

They are Qam channels in the clear(Nonencrypted) The channel nubmbers will be fixed when the cable cards are installed. How much is Phoenix charging for the install? Omaha charges $30. That plus the fact I like to watch music choice on demand are the only things keeping me with the motorola dvr.

[pdm]

Edit: Well I found my own answer, turns out someone else found out this is one of the channels that went SDV...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5468367&&#post5468367

Oh well.

-----


I have Tivo HD with Cox multistream cable card. I have never been able to receive channel 227 Ovation even though I am supposed to get it. Cox can't find anything wrong. Do other people have channels they can't see for no apparent reason? I am on Cox in Fairfax county Virginia.

I have also had to have them 're-signal' the cable card, I stopped being able to receive any digital channels (except HD locals). Even this didn't bring channel 227 to work though.

[tivowiz]

It's also possible that those "channels" are On-Demand as well as other QAM broadcast channels. Try going through them at nite & see if there is anything on them - it's fun to watch - you'll see people fastforwarding, pausing, etc on them. If you have patience, you can watch a movie "for free".

[Nightowl33]

Ok, as a 'thank you' to everyone for all the help here, I wanted to post my successful experience here with Cox outside of Phoenix, and possibly what made it successful.

Before he got here:
* I installed the Tivo HD using the basic/extended cable that we'd used for years. For the record, I used a signal amplifier from Philips that was rated for 'digital cable' to split the signal, so I could also run it to the TV directly. I did the guided setup. As others have reported, Tivo HD worked, but did not get any HD stuff unless tuned manually, and even then didn't record. My best bet while waiting for the cablecard install (a week later, due to biz travel) was to just watch TV directly, which DID find the HD channels (a few were convenient, such as 12.1 for the HD version of 12, but the HD version of 5 was 106.2. Ya, explain THAT to your wife.) "Good thing we got Tivo HD to make that all better, honey."

* I forced updates on the Tivo so it would have the latest software. That took a while, and involved a few restarts. I can see how doing this DURING a cablecard install would be a real bummer. Fortunately, I had a week.

* I read the Tivo pages on the subject, including the troubleshooting ones, and the FAQ here that pointed to them. CRITICAL STEP. I also had the Tivo articles (the more in-depth install and the troubleshooting ones, see the CableCARD FAQ) PRINTED so I could show them to him easily.

* I set my expectations appropriately low. It probably wouldn't work. The guy wouldn't know anything.

The install itself

* He arrived on time. Friendly guy. "Ever done this before?" "I've done one other cablecard. I hear Tivo's are hard." "Gotcha, we'll do it together. Here, I printed out..." He was -relieved-, I think, that I knew so much, and we took an attitude of "let's figure it out together."

* "You need 2 cards, right?" "Well, it depends, did you bring Mcards?" He didn't know, so I went with "it's ok, the Tivo will tell us." (For the record, he brought 2 cards, both Mcards.) We inserted the first card, after recording the serial # off the back. The Tivo found it (give it a minute) and pointed out it's an Mcard. Yay me! Cheaper. He did go out of his way to ensure we only needed the one, he was definitely a good guy and wanted to do the right thing.

* Next step. WAIT. DON'T choose configure cable card 1. Just WAIT. Eventually you get the gray-bordered screen with the info he needs to call it in.

* As he radioed (ok, Nextel-ed) in to start that process, the screen flashed back to some other green Tivo screen. AACK. If this happens? WAIT. dont' choose anything. Just WAIT. Eventually we got another gray-bordered screen showing FIRMWARE UPGRADE. "Oh, yes, the internet stuff said this might happen. Let's just wait a bit." He was very content to wait, as long as it upped the chance it would work.

* Eventually, it fluttered through a few other green tivo-background-y screens, then eventually, got the gray-bordered screen with the card info again. Again, just WAITED. I suspect issues arise when people try to DO too much. NOW, he called it in to activate the card.

* THEN, I hit clear (note, the first time i've hit a key in about 15 minutes) and we did the test channels thing. Most worked, except for the high-numbered HD stuff. That is, I could get NBC HD (712) but not Discovery HD (723). So, reading through the stuff, this was likely either because:
- SA cards just take a while to get all their auth keys
- Tivo was somehow confused (unlikely, but hey)
- The auth wasn't right.
Since I needed it to work before he left, I went with "well, there's this step that says if we get a gray screen and "to be announced," that we need to re-do Guided Setup. (Which, I was planning to do later, but hey.) So I did that, all while he watched. It took about 15 minutes to download all the info. Also, he was not entirely clear about which channels I was supposed to get, so that took a few minutes (we figured out they gave me a couple months free of the "Movie" tier, as it turns out.) After the guided setup - voila! 723 worked.

You could SEE the relief on his face. "Hey, do you want to take these print outs with you?" "Could I, that'd be great!" (He had another install, though we weren't sure it was in a tivo.)

So - as to that last part - I suspect the card just needed the 15 minutes to get all the channel keys, and that the guided setup made no difference to that part, but it was sure reassuring to see EVERYTHING work before he left.

Total time: 40 minutes.

Now I'm going through the Season Pass Manager and 'upgrading' all the shows to HD. Oh, and I strongly recommend the expansion hard drive. After a week, we have 95 Tivo Suggestions. :)

Hope this helps...

[will592]

Hey Nightowl33,

Sounds like your experience was a lot like mine here in Phoenix. Can you tell me if you've had any problems yet with the 'gray screen' on cable card channels?

[tim4umd]

Just had my install completed today(12/3/2007)! Went great! Cox Las Vegas Cable said they only had Cable Card and not MCard when i set up my appointment. When they showed up they had MCard. So thats good a savings of $2 per box and the digital gateway fee per card. I have 2 boxes I had installed. Cost per box for install was $50. but now I pay less per month thanks to not having a cable box They installer said I would not get HBO, so I feared SDV or switched digital video. BUT i get all my channels. NO PPV or InDemand but hey. that is over rated anyways. I wanna watch my stuff on the day it premieres, not the day after. If any one has any questions feel free to post a reply to my message and I will reply