Cox Cable Cards

[jcaudle]

Just talked to cox cable here in fairfax, Va. The cable cards cost 8.95 per month each because they charge a digital gateway charge just like they do for each set....so its like getting 2 set top boxes. No system 3 for me. I will stay with D* and get the HR20

[Dan203]

In most cases the first CableCARD is included in the plan as long as you forego the cable box. So really it's only an extra $8.95. Although that is still pretty high. Maybe what you should do is wait a few months until your cable company starts getting multi-stream CableCARDs. The TiVo only requires one of those, so you'd be able to get dual tuners without any extra charge.

Dan

[cap]

Really?
Cox here in Omaha only charges $1.99 per card.

Why would cox be different in different areas?

[Dan203]

From what I've seen reported Comcast is all over the map on pricing too.

Charter charges a flat $1.50 per card with no outlet fee. The only hitch is they charge a $32 installation fee, but that's a one time fee so if you get one CableCARD or four it's the same charge.

Dan

[DrDravenStone]

Just called Cox in Phoenix...
2.00 per card (multi streams not available yet he says).
Must roll truck for install 49.95 for one card, 64.95 for two cards, one device.

(Don't have 1000 bucks to drop on an S3 though.)

[dt_dc]

Cox Fairfax charges $1.99 per card ...

However, their "Digital Gateway" is "required" for each CableCard ... that's $6.95 for the first outlet and $5.95 for each additional one. The "Digital Gateway" is also required for HBO and other encrypted digital programming too so ... ... it depends on how you look at things (whether that additional fee is part of the "card" or part of the "programming").

[Oxford]

Just talked to TWC in suburban Cleveland, OH who has taken over Adelphia's customers. First CableCARD is $1.75 and second one is $4.75. Seems odd to me. Install is $25.00 for one or both at same time. Lead time for appointment they said about one week. I didn't ask about multi-stream since I didn't know what they were. I will call back and find out.

[dt_dc]

Oh ... and yes ... they (Cox Fairfax) consider each CableCard as an "outlet" even though they're plugged into the same box.

[dkroboth]

Oh ... and yes ... they (Cox Fairfax) consider each CableCard as an "outlet" even though they're plugged into the same box.

Ouch. That's my "cable" company, too. I'm glad I'm moving to LA in October. Unfortunately, since it's sounds like a major PITA to get cable card, it looks like I'm going to wait until we move to get a Series 3. Since we are buying a house out in LA, I think I might have to evaluate my home purchase decision on the supportability of the Series 3 by the local cable company. It's that crazy? You betch.

[dt_dc]

I will stay with D* and get the HR20Then again ... Cox Fairfax doesn't charge for an "HD Package" like D*. You get the HD versions of channels without an extra charge.

All MVPDs have their own ways to stick "fine print" pricing in there ... as always ... figure out the complete cost for various providers / packages and make your comparison from there. Don't ever make a comparison based on the cost of one part of the package ...

[dt_dc]

Ouch. That's my "cable" company, too.Well ... I put "required" in quotes for a reason. Technically, you could probably challange some parts of Cox's pricing structures ... and ... at the very least get them to give you a pretty good discount to shut up (worked for me on another "Digital Gateway" / DVR / HD pricing / tiering / hardware issue). Know who to write to and how to write it and ... I found Cox's pricing surprisingly "flexible". :rolleyes:

But I'm switching to FiOS TV tommorrow so ... I'll have to leave the Cox battles for someone else (it's also a PITA to deal with).

[JPinAZ]

Just called Cox in Phoenix...
2.00 per card (multi streams not available yet he says).
Must roll truck for install 49.95 for one card, 64.95 for two cards, one device.

I called last week & was told there was no additional charges for installing more than one card.

[aztivo]

Just called Cox in Phoenix...
2.00 per card (multi streams not available yet he says).
Must roll truck for install 49.95 for one card, 64.95 for two cards, one device.

(Don't have 1000 bucks to drop on an S3 though.)
I just scheduled my install for thursday evening here in PHX and the truck roll is only 34.95. The 2.00 is corect though
I just hope to have my box I ordered it this morning at 5am AZ time

[ah30k]

I just scheduled my install for thursday evening here in PHX and the truck roll is only 34.95. The 2.00 is corect thoughMy TiVo CSR said the units wouldn't be shipping until Thu so overnight wouldn't be delivered until Fri. Maybe if you go with BB or CC you can pick it up by Thu afternoon.

[aztivo]

My TiVo CSR said the units wouldn't be shipping until Thu so overnight wouldn't be delivered until Fri. Maybe if you go with BB or CC you can pick it up by Thu afternoon.
well this would suck, but i am hoping that this is just some csr mis-information as my order says it is being fulfilled by High Definiton entertainmetn

[DrDravenStone]

So it appears even the PHX market is all over the map. $35 is (almost) reasonable for sticking two cards in a slot and making a phone call to rattle off some serial numbers... Particularly if the traffic is bad on the way to your house.

I'm almost glad I can't afford one of these yet so I don't have to be annoyed by Cox for something new. Almost.

[boywaja]

Just talked to cox cable here in fairfax, Va. The cable cards cost 8.95 per month each because they charge a digital gateway charge just like they do for each set....so its like getting 2 set top boxes.

ugh, I wish i'd known that this morning.

Cox has implies there is only the nominal cable card fee around $2 plus the onerous truck-roll fee.

[ehardman]

Any more Cox experiences?

[timmetro69]

I called and scheduled a cable card install through Cox Las Vegas on Tuesday right after I ordered my S3. The rep was a little confused at first when I requested two, and she actually started to say that she'd only put one on the order but the tech "should" have two with him. I said I'd be much more comfortable if the order specifically stated two cards, which she eventually did without much issue.

The cost per card is $1.99/month, and the install/truck roll charge is $30/card. In the end, I actually save about six dollars a month after you take away the $10/month for my current 8300HD DVR (which sucks).

My install is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Hopefully my S3 arrives on Friday as expected.

[Blackbag]

The cost per card is $1.99/month, and the install/truck roll charge is $30/card. In the end, I actually save about six dollars a month after you take away the $10/month for my current 8300HD DVR (which sucks).

timmetro69, Do you have any idea who you talked to? I live in Vegas too, and I called on Wednesday. They had no idea what I was talking about, and insisted that the cable cards wouldn't work in a tivo. They transferred be back and forth between Sales and Tech. They finally just said when you get the tivo, come in and we'll give you the cards to install yourself.

This morning I went in to the office on Rancho and lady was just as confused. She eventually set up an install on Tuesday from 3-5, but said it would cost $60 to install and $7.50/month for each card. I think they just make these prices up on the spot. I'm seriously considering canceling my install and waiting until they figure out what the hell they are doing.

[timmetro69]

timmetro69, Do you have any idea who you talked to? I live in Vegas too, and I called on Wednesday. They had no idea what I was talking about, and insisted that the cable cards wouldn't work in a tivo. They transferred be back and forth between Sales and Tech. They finally just said when you get the tivo, come in and we'll give you the cards to install yourself.

This morning I went in to the office on Rancho and lady was just as confused. She eventually set up an install on Tuesday from 3-5, but said it would cost $60 to install and $7.50/month for each card. I think they just make these prices up on the spot. I'm seriously considering canceling my install and waiting until they figure out what the hell they are doing.

Sorry, not sure who I spoke with. When I called in, I think I got some sort of dispatcher who sent me over to the cable card group. The person I eventually spoke with was helpful, but confused about the whole thing. I made sure to tell her that it had just come out and that it wasn't a TV, but I got the feeling she was clueless and just put the order in as I asked just so we could move on. The pricing they quoted you is definitely higher than they gave me. Not sure what's going on there.

You may want to check out TivoPony's message in this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=315837

He basically said that if you get any grief when ordering cablecards that you should call Tivo support and ask for the HD team. They'll stay on the phone with you while you call Cox and help you with the process.

Good luck. I'll let you know how my install goes on Saturday.

[Blackbag]

Sorry, not sure who I spoke with. When I called in, I think I got some sort of dispatcher who sent me over to the cable card group. The person I eventually spoke with was helpful, but confused about the whole thing. I made sure to tell her that it had just come out and that it wasn't a TV, but I got the feeling she was clueless and just put the order in as I asked just so we could move on. The pricing they quoted you is definitely higher than they gave me. Not sure what's going on there.

So I just called again, and talked to Peggy in the Sales Dept. After talking to her for a while, She confirmed that the cards are $2.00 each, and that they were charging me $5 for the digital gateway. She then said that if I was turning my current cable box in, they wouldn't need to charge me the digital gateway fee. She also said that I should only be charged for one install since both cards are going in the same device, reducing my install fee from $60 to $30.

At the end of the call, she wanted to verify this with her manager, so she puts me on hold for a minute. When she comes back she says she needs to verify with the tech, so she'll call me back. Unfortunately, she said she set up a Series 3 install yesterday that she may have set up wrong, so I hope I didn't screw anything up for you.

[jodell]

I called Cox Orange County a couple days ago to schedule my install. The CSR drone told me that it would cost $39.95 per card for the truck roll. After trying to explain that it was a single piece of equipment, etc I was getting no where. I asked for a supervisor who politely listened to me gripe about their charges but didn't offer to do anything.

I finally asked her what she could do to make this install charge more palatable. She put me on hold for a minute and came back with a $40 programming credit to offset the second install charge. She claims that she can't discount install fees.

I frankly was so PO'd about the install charge that I don't even remember how much I am being charged per card. I think it is something like $2 each.

My appointment is Tuesday. I will follow up with any horror stories about clueless techs then. :')

Jeff

[jhonaker]

I'm in Fairfax county, VA. I called Tuesday to schedule a cablecard install (which will be Monday if my TiVo arrives before then). The guy scheduling the appt asked if the cards were for 1 tv or 2, and I told him 1. I didn't try to explain that they were for a TiVo versus any other device.

The charges listed on their website for Fairfax are:

Cox Digital Cable customers may lease the devices for $1.99 per card per month. Only Cox field technicians may install, activate and initialize the Cox CableCARDtm Service devices, for which we’ll charge a $29.99 installation fee.

[AZrob]

I just called Cox in Phoenix today and got two answers, neither of which quite jibes with what I'm seeing here. The first guy said it would be $2.00 per card per month PLUS $2.00 per card per month for the service, making it $8.00 per month total for 2 cards and the service.

The second guy said it was $2.00 for the first card per month, period. But if you wanted a 2nd card it was $4.00 more, consisting of $2.00 for the 2nd card plus a "2nd TV charge", so the total was going to be $6.00 total per month. And it was $49.95 for the install for both, not $30.

Go figure.

AZTivo I am more interested ultimately in how it all looks when it finally is installed, whatever the cost, so please keep reporting....

Thanks,

Rob from Scottsdale

[boomvader]

I just called Cox in Phoenix today and got two answers, neither of which quite jibes with what I'm seeing here. The first guy said it would be $2.00 per card per month PLUS $2.00 per card per month for the service, making it $8.00 per month total for 2 cards and the service.

The second guy said it was $2.00 for the first card per month, period. But if you wanted a 2nd card it was $4.00 more, consisting of $2.00 for the 2nd card plus a "2nd TV charge", so the total was going to be $6.00 total per month. And it was $49.95 for the install for both, not $30.

Go figure.

AZTivo I am more interested ultimately in how it all looks when it finally is installed, whatever the cost, so please keep reporting....

Thanks,

Rob from Scottsdale

I am in PHX. COX quoted me 64.95 for the installation of 2 cards. $2/month each.

-boom

[aztivo]

I just called Cox in Phoenix today and got two answers, neither of which quite jibes with what I'm seeing here. The first guy said it would be $2.00 per card per month PLUS $2.00 per card per month for the service, making it $8.00 per month total for 2 cards and the service.

The second guy said it was $2.00 for the first card per month, period. But if you wanted a 2nd card it was $4.00 more, consisting of $2.00 for the 2nd card plus a "2nd TV charge", so the total was going to be $6.00 total per month. And it was $49.95 for the install for both, not $30.

Go figure.

AZTivo I am more interested ultimately in how it all looks when it finally is installed, whatever the cost, so please keep reporting....

Thanks,

Rob from Scottsdale


I will keep you posted they should be here tomorrow between 2-5. With my HDTV in the bedroom that has a cable card it woks just as well as the HD non DVR box i have set up downstairs.

[gwsat]

I just called Cox in Phoenix today and got two answers, neither of which quite jibes with what I'm seeing here. The first guy said it would be $2.00 per card per month PLUS $2.00 per card per month for the service, making it $8.00 per month total for 2 cards and the service.

The second guy said it was $2.00 for the first card per month, period. But if you wanted a 2nd card it was $4.00 more, consisting of $2.00 for the 2nd card plus a "2nd TV charge", so the total was going to be $6.00 total per month. And it was $49.95 for the install for both, not $30.
Rob from Scottsdale
Cox OKC gave me a similar answer. Two CableCARDs would be ~ $8 a month and I would have to pay two installation charges, although both cards were to be installed in the same device. But while the installation charge for the first card would be $30, for the second, or more, it would drop to $15 each.

By the way, it's a pleasure to be back here. I first joined in 2001 but my original enrolment somehow slipped through the cracks, so I had to signup anew. I bought and used an S1 from 2000 until 2003, when Cox OKC finally started to offer HD DVRs. I have been waiting for a TiVo HD box for cable ever since.

[MickeS]

I'm guessing cable companies so far haven't exactly been inundated with calls about CableCARDS, since nobody seems to know anything. :)

[PDT816]

Cox OKC gave me a similar answer. Two CableCARDs would be ~ $8 a month and I would have to pay two installation charges, although both cards were to be installed in the same device. But while the installation charge for the first card would be $30, for the second, or more, it would drop to $15 each.

By the way, it's a pleasure to be back here. I first joined in 2001 but my original enrolment somehow slipped through the cracks, so I had to signup anew. I bought and used an S1 from 2000 until 2003, when Cox OKC finally started to offer HD DVRs. I have been waiting for a TiVo HD box for cable ever since.

Cox OKC told me that it would be a flat $1.99 per card/mo and I could pick them up at any location when it was convenient for a self install.

[gwsat]

Cox OKC told me that it would be a flat $1.99 per card/mo and I could pick them up at any location when it was convenient for a self install.
ROFL! What else is new? When I was trying to decide whether to get a CableCARD or another 8300HD box for my new TV in my kitchen-breakfast room, I got at least three answers as to how much more a second HD box would cost me.

In the interest of science, I called Cox again just now. THIS rep repeated that the cards "must be professionally installed," but contrary to the guy I talked to earlier today, said that the installation charge is $30 for each card, no matter how many they install. Frankly, I think that the professional installation requirement is correct but whether there really is a discount available on the installation charge for additional cards is anybody's guess.

[adunnigan]

Cox--Phoenix--scheduled install in 10 days:
$2.00 per card/month plus $2.00 per card/month for digital gateway service
$49 (total) installation charge
Guy actually seemed fairly confident on these prices
Now I just have to let the Mrs know we're buying a series 3...

[LonV]

Cox, Phoenix:

I mentioned that I needed 2 CableCards, and they asked me if I was replacing both of my CableBoxes, I said no, just the HD one. Then they asked if I knew I would lose my DVR service, I said yep. While they never quoted me a price on the cablecards (I'm just hoping they're free :) so I didn't bring it up) he said the install was only $35 total. Hopefully it's no more than $2 per and they're actually bringing two instead of one. :D

[TheRatPatrol]

Just called Cox in Phoenix...
2.00 per card (multi streams not available yet he says).
Must roll truck for install 49.95 for one card, 64.95 for two cards, one device.

(Don't have 1000 bucks to drop on an S3 though.)
Thats crazy. No reason why they don't allow you to pick the cards up from their office and install them yourself. Anything to make money I guess. :rolleyes:

[Goofball]

Cox, Phoenix:

I mentioned that I needed 2 CableCards, and they asked me if I was replacing both of my CableBoxes, I said no, just the HD one. Then they asked if I knew I would lose my DVR service, I said yep. While they never quoted me a price on the cablecards (I'm just hoping they're free :) so I didn't bring it up) he said the install was only $35 total. Hopefully it's no more than $2 per and they're actually bringing two instead of one. :D

I picked up my S3 at Fry's in north Phoenix here tonight (they have them in stock, everywhere else I looked in town was no-go). Got home and messed around with it on my regular analog cable, ATSC OTA and cable unencrypted QAM locals. Looks *GREAT* on the digital signals. SD and HD downconvert to 480i was wonderful even over the SVID connection I was using to test (I didn't want to start pulling out all the wiring until I am ready to use it permanantly, plus I need to pick up a HDMI to DVI adapter for my TV). I can't wait to see this thing over an actual HD connection.

Planning on spending a bit of time on Saturday copying all the SP and wishlist settings off my old unit and doing a proper install with nice neat wiring and a full removal of all my old DTiVo cabling. We'll see how it really looks then...

Called Cox Phoenix for a CC install tonight a bit earlier and was told it would be 35$ flat fee install for both cards, and 2$ a month per card as a rental fee. We'll see how it goes next Thursday :( when they install the cards (earliest install date where I had open schedule).

I'm also planning on calling and asking for a discount on the truck roll since I would have done a self install if the bloody bastards would have given me the option. How frigging hard is it to plug in a card, call a number and read them info off the screen? I can also see where they are coming from since I work in IT and see how ignorant/stupid some people can be... Eh, such is life. What is another 35$ after I already dropped 870$ ($799 +tax, ouch, I should learn to be more patient and order online:)).

[LonV]

I picked up my S3 at Fry's in north Phoenix here tonight (they have them in stock

Did you check out the Fry's on Baseline? I'm gonna swing by there this morning...and now I can't believe it but maybe go to the one you went to. Well, apparently my Friday work productivity is shot! ;)

[aztivo]

Did you check out the Fry's on Baseline? I'm gonna swing by there this morning...and now I can't believe it but maybe go to the one you went to. Well, apparently my Friday work productivity is shot! ;)
Lon let me know I called the Baseline one last night and they had no idea what I was talking about.. and it was 830 so I couldnt get there much before 9.. SO let me know when you can

[boomvader]

Did you check out the Fry's on Baseline? I'm gonna swing by there this morning...and now I can't believe it but maybe go to the one you went to. Well, apparently my Friday work productivity is shot! ;)

Fry's in N. PHX had 2 in stock last night.

-boom

[Goofball]

Did you check out the Fry's on Baseline? I'm gonna swing by there this morning...and now I can't believe it but maybe go to the one you went to. Well, apparently my Friday work productivity is shot! ;)

I didn't check the Fry's on Baseline. My assumption that they had stock is based on the fact that they are the distribution hub for both Fry's stores in Phoenix, therefore all product should go there first and then get split between the two stores.

[YazooWho]

Called Cox Phoenix for a CC install tonight a bit earlier and was told it would be 35$ flat fee install for both cards, and 2$ a month per card as a rental fee. We'll see how it goes next Thursday :( when they install the cards (earliest install date where I had open schedule).

I'm also planning on calling and asking for a discount on the truck roll since I would have done a self install if the bloody bastards would have given me the option. How frigging hard is it to plug in a card, call a number and read them info off the screen? I can also see where they are coming from since I work in IT and see how ignorant/stupid some people can be... Eh, such is life. What is another 35$ after I already dropped 870$ ($799 +tax, ouch, I should learn to be more patient and order online:)).

When I called Cox/Phoenix I was told it was $49.95 for install. Wonder why you were told $35.

[MickeS]

When I called Cox/Phoenix I was told it was $49.95 for install. Wonder why you were told $35.

Isn't it obvious by now that no cable CSR knows anything? :)

[Dark Helmet]

I am curious about what other Cox customers are seeing in terms of total fees for two CableCARDs.

What Cox/Fairfax is telling me is that it's $29.99 per card for the install (even though I did two at once). Also, while the card rental is $1.99 per card, I have to pay for two digital outlets (At $5.99 a pop). I already have one digital cable box, so that's why the first one isn't $6.99 I guess. Are other Cox customers in other locations not paying this extra digital outlet charge?

I can live with the double install cost, but the extra digital outlet fee really sticks in my craw, because you don't pay for two outlets for their dual-tuner DVR. I know, $5.99 isn't going to bankrupt me ... but still, it's the principal of the thing.

I feel like I want to complain to someone ... the thing is, I'm not sure who. The CSR I spoke with basically said "Well, it's two cablecards, so it's two outlets" and didn't buy my argument about it being one device. She was clueless about the S3 TiVo, though. Some research leads me to believe that the FCC won't care about it ... and it seems like in Virginia my local Government (Fairfax County) is the one that regulates Cox, but their web site really didn't have a complaint form. I suppose I could always write a letter.

[LonV]

Lon let me know I called the Baseline one last night and they had no idea what I was talking about.. and it was 830 so I couldnt get there much before 9.. SO let me know when you can

aztivo, I checked Baseline didn't see anything (but didn't ask around). I drove over to the Thunderbird location and didn't see anything, asked around, asked more people, and finallly found one that they were going to use as a floor model (not yet opened)...I bought it.

The guy did mention that he thought they only got 2 in and based on the other posts, I would say I was #2.

Did you cancel your order with Tivo? If for some reason, my tivo.com order actually does shows up today, you're more than welcome to drive to Chandler to buy it from me.

[aztivo]

aztivo, I checked Baseline didn't see anything (but didn't ask around). I drove over to the Thunderbird location and didn't see anything, asked around, asked more people, and finallly found one that they were going to use as a floor model (not yet opened)...I bought it.

The guy did mention that he thought they only got 2 in and based on the other posts, I would say I was #2.

Did you cancel your order with Tivo? If for some reason, my tivo.com order actually does shows up today, you're more than welcome to drive to Chandler to buy it from me.
I live in Chandler and I have one coming from CC that will be here monday (I already have tracking info from Fed EX) and I did not cancel the one from tivo as I want to see if it realy ships today. Thanks for the offer though :) :up:

[gwsat]

I am curious about what other Cox customers are seeing in terms of total fees for two CableCARDs.
I am now convinced that there is no definitive way to know for sure how much any additional service will cost until you get your bill. As I indicated in an earlier post, three calls to Cox OKC produced three separate answers as to how much the addition of two new CableCARDs would add to the monthly bill. I guess we have to live with the immutable fact that cable company reps are universally clueless and unreliable.

[MickeS]

I am now convinced that there is no definitive way to know for sure how much any additional service will cost until you get your bill. As I indicated in an earlier post, three calls to Cox OKC produced three separate answers as to how much the addition of two new CableCARDs would add to the monthly bill. I guess we have to live with the immutable fact that cable company reps are universally clueless and unreliable.

And that cable companies so far apparently hardly ever deal with CableCARD customers.

[gwsat]

Actually, when I inquired about CableCARDs a couple of months ago after I bought a second HDTV, which had a CableCARD slot, the reps knew what it was but couldn’t agree on what it would cost. I had the same problem trying to find out how much a second HD DVR would cost, although Cox OKC has had them for more than two years. You are about as likely to get a right answer from a Cox rep about anything as you are if you ask somebody on the street.

[jasonpot]

Cox Las Vegas

Ordered 2 cable cards, they said it would be $60 to install them both and $1.99 @ monthly.

Minus the $4.95/month to rent their box but plus $6.00 for the "HD Tier"

[djones18]

I'm with Cox, Fairfax County, Virginia and have two Cox HD/DVRs which I'd dearly love to swap for Series 3 units (when I can afford them). To clarify how Cox will deal with Series 3 customers, I sent them the following:

Subject: Cablecards and newly released TIVO HD/DVR.

TIVO Series 3 HD/DVR boxes started selling this week. It replaces your Cox HD/DVR cable box (for those who rent them) or requires digital HD service (for those who don't). Cox customers need to understand your pricing structure and installation procedure/costs to implement this capability. Many people are getting differing pricing depending on which customer representative answers the call. Could you please provide an answer for Fairfax County? Questions include:

1. How much to install the two cablecards into a TIVO Series 3 and activate the cards? Can they be self-installed (like your cable boxes)? If not, why not?

2. Monthly rental cost of the two cablecards? Are you charged a single "Digital Gateway" charge (as for current Cox HD/DVR) or are you charged two "Gateway" charges per month? How much are those charges?

Your answer will be posted to all applicable internet forums. Thank you.

[boomvader]

aztivo, I checked Baseline didn't see anything (but didn't ask around). I drove over to the Thunderbird location and didn't see anything, asked around, asked more people, and finallly found one that they were going to use as a floor model (not yet opened)...I bought it.

The guy did mention that he thought they only got 2 in and based on the other posts, I would say I was #2.

Did you cancel your order with Tivo? If for some reason, my tivo.com order actually does shows up today, you're more than welcome to drive to Chandler to buy it from me.

I got the other one. Box was dusty... There weren't any by the other Tivos. I asked and they pointed me to the sales area next to the plasma/lcds. There were two. I grabbed one. :-)

Was also able to do the VIP lifetime transfer.

COX is on their way... Hope they are not being shipped by Tivo! LOL!

-boom

[LonV]

I got the other one. Box was dusty... There weren't any by the other Tivos. I asked and they pointed me to the sales area next to the plasma/lcds. There were two. I grabbed one. :-)

Was also able to do the VIP lifetime transfer.

COX is on their way... Hope they are not being shipped by Tivo! LOL!

-boom

Yeah, cox should be here this afternoon too. I'm as giddy as a school girl...who now owns...2 HD tivo that really only needs one. ;)

[aztivo]

Boom and LonV let us know how the install goes. (you bastards) :) and I now have to wait till tuesday to get cox out here Damn it

[LonV]

Boom and LonV let us know how the install goes. (you bastards) :) and I now have to wait till tuesday to get cox out here Damn it

Cox, just called and there gonna be here in a few minutes...I'll give you an update after he leaves.

[LonV]

Okay, Cox guy just left. He was surprised that it was going into one unit, but grasped the 2 tuner concept right away and thought it was pretty cool. The install of the cards is pretty much a no brainer....although he did read TiVo's instructions just to make sure he did it to their specifications.

He called for activation and the girl he talked to said she was "freaked out to set one up" (because she hadn't done it yet). Although she did say that they had sent an email about the the Series 3 to the other folks about setting these up...so at least that wasn't a surprise. After a few key presses later (which actually took about 15 minutes)...bing, it was all setup and working.

I really expected someone along the way to give me some grief about returning their DVR and using a TiVo with CableCards, but from the person I placed the order with, through the install guy and his counterpart back at the office...it was argument free and completely painless.

I hope everyone's experience is the same! I'll post my impressions on the new unit after I spend a few minutes tinkering.

--Lon

P.S. -- As a side note, I used my wireless connection that I had for my XBOX and it worked beautifully.

[boomvader]

Cox, just called and there gonna be here in a few minutes...I'll give you an update after he leaves.

LOL! The COX tech is here.... so far, so good. We are going through Guided Setup. Looks like the Cable cards are tied to the model number and NOT any unique number on the Tivo. Good to know!!

[timmetro69]

Okay, Cox guy just left. He was surprised that it was going into one unit, but grasped the 2 tuner concept right away and thought it was pretty cool. The install of the cards is pretty much a no brainer....although he did read TiVo's instructions just to make sure he did it to their specifications.

He called for activation and the girl he talked to said she was "freaked out to set one up" (because she hadn't done it yet). Although she did say that they had sent an email about the the Series 3 to the other folks about setting these up...so at least that wasn't a surprise. After a few key presses later (which actually took about 15 minutes)...bing, it was all setup and working.

I really expected someone along the way to give me some grief about returning their DVR and using a TiVo with CableCards, but from the person I placed the order with, through the install guy and his counterpart back at the office...it was argument free and completely painless.

I hope everyone's experience is the same! I'll post my impressions on the new unit after I spend a few minutes tinkering.

--Lon

Very cool! Congratulations.

I have Cox coming out tomorrow afternoon to do the same thing, so it's great to know that they are able to make it happen without a hitch.

[LonV]

...Looks like the Cable cards are tied to the model number and NOT any unique number on the Tivo. Good to know!!

There is a Host ID...which I would think is unique to the box...but maybe not.

[Blackbag]

Very cool! Congratulations.

I have Cox coming out tomorrow afternoon to do the same thing, so it's great to know that they are able to make it happen without a hitch.

Hey timmetro69,

If you don't mind, could you post how the Las Vegas Cox install goes. I have one scheduled for Tuesday, which my wife will be handling, since I'll be at work. Hopefully the tech knows what he's doing, because my wife is clueless when it comes to anything with electricity running through it.

[LonV]

Hmmm, well after doing a reset on the device the CableCards stopped working. :( Also, now I'm on the phone with Cox Technical support and they are really confused with the whole CableCard thing. I'm getting responses of "we don't support TiVo", "there may be compatibility issues"....now these are the responses I was expecting to get from Cox! :)

Luckily, although I forgot it when I called tech support, the installer gave me his cell number to call him if I had problems....will do that next.

[LonV]

Crisis averted! :D After a long on hold wait, he let me know he sent out a "pairing hit" and all was well in the world again.

He then also stated, that he hadn't heard yet when I was first on the line, but "yes they do support TiVo now, that just became official yesterday". So go figure. :)

[aztivo]

well I am glad it all worked out this is something we will all have to watch out for

[lasergecko]

I spoke with a Cox rep on the way to work today. It was actually exactly what I expected and not surprising at all since Cox has *always* charged for "digital service" on a per device basis. We thought about adding a digital box for my daughter's room a couple of years ago. I cancelled it when I found out that the box rental and service for the box were two seperate items. (I thought that we paid one fee for "digital service" for the entire house, but oh, nay, nay! 'Twas not to be.)

I will be returning the Cox HD DVR and my Digital box to the installer. Instead of renting those, I will be renting two CableCards for $1.99 each and paying for digital service for each one.

(CSR said service the second one was $4.95 per month or something to that effect.)

So, deduct the equipment rental fees and DVR service fee, add the $3.98 to rent two CableCards, and maintain the two "digital" service fees that I already have, and I will save about $20 per month. That will easily amortize the Lifetime subscription change fee.


The only thing surprising about the call was that she wanted to be sure that the tech sent out "HiDef CableCards". I didn't expect her to know anything about Series 3, so I wasn't surprised when she didn't understand that it took two CableCards.

[LonV]

well I am glad it all worked out this is something we will all have to watch out for

I've been running good ever since then (even restarted just to see if it would happen again) and all is good.

It's been a while since I've had a TiVo, I switched to a Scientific Atanta 8300HD from a DirecTiVo. Let's just say I would hump my new Series 3 if I didn't think it would de-value it! ;)

It's so nice to be able to actually do simple things like search for programs, have multiple weeks worth of guide data, oh and having it actually record all of my programs will be nice too.

[boomvader]

It's so nice to be able to actually do simple things like search for programs, have multiple weeks worth of guide data, oh and having it actually record all of my programs will be nice too.

Amen, brother.

[LonV]

Amen, brother.

Oh, and my pesonal favorite: Being able to watch the beginning of a program that's currently being recorded and NOT have it jump to the end of the show when it stops recording.

[gwsat]

I had decided that I would not buy an S3 after all when I learned that it would not support the increased functionality of the Ver. 2.0 CableCARD. But the reminders in the preceding posts of how great the TiVo software is, and, by inference, how primitive the SA software is, has made me start to reconsider.

[LonV]

Yeah, it's absolutely night and day.

[lasergecko]

Well, it's a software based product. Upgrades are always possible.

I just bought one from Ultimate Electronics! It was the easiest sale that Dale will make today. Funny thing, though. It took him a little while to find it in the warehouse.

"They didn't tell me the new ones were in BLACK boxes."

Ultimate Electronics on Rainbow in Las Vegas still has one in stock.


Cox can't be out until Wednesday, though. :-(

[reh523]

I think I might have to evaluate my home purchase decision on the supportability of the Series 3 by the local cable company. It's that crazy? You betch.

:eek: Okay forgo the biggest investment most people make in there entire lives, over a difference of 1.50 for a cable card or 7.50 for a cable card?

Dude its television......... Think about it?

[timmetro69]

I'm happy to report that I had a very good experience with my Cox Las Vegas CableCard install this afternoon.

The installer actually showed up about 45 minutes early, which was fine with me. He didn't really flinch when I showed him the S3, all I had to do was show him the CableCard slots and he was off.

He was on site about 25 minutes and everything checked out perfectly when he left. I re-ran Guided Setup afterwards and I've been running about nine hours now and everything is just like I'd hoped.

I've been happily recording two HD shows at a time ever since. Hope everyone else has the same experience.

[lasergecko]

What was the cost?

[timmetro69]

What was the cost?

My cost was $30 each for the card install and $1.99 each per month. I returned my 8300HD so my net monthly bill goes down about six bucks, but it will take me ten months to break even after the install fees.

[sparkomatic]

Has anyone in the LA/Orange County area gone through a cable card install yet? I have my appt for Wed but am trying to get an earlier appt.

[jodell]

My Cox OC install is Tuesday. I will post my experiences. Hopefully they are as good as some of the others recently posted.

Jeff

[proudpapa]

I called and scheduled a cable card install through Cox Las Vegas on Tuesday right after I ordered my S3. The rep was a little confused at first when I requested two, and she actually started to say that she'd only put one on the order but the tech "should" have two with him. I said I'd be much more comfortable if the order specifically stated two cards, which she eventually did without much issue.

The cost per card is $1.99/month, and the install/truck roll charge is $30/card. In the end, I actually save about six dollars a month after you take away the $10/month for my current 8300HD DVR (which sucks).

My install is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Hopefully my S3 arrives on Friday as expected.

Now I'm really confused - I live in Henderson, NV - just outside Las Vegas and I was quoted $13.98 for 2 cards per month + $60 to roll truck ! :confused:

[DanGordon]

is there such a thing as a hi def vs a non hi def cable card ?

i am thinking of getting a tivo series 3 and i need to know when i call cox

i am sorry if this is a dumb question

thanks,
dan

[dt_dc]

is there such a thing as a hi def vs a non hi def cable card ?No ... there is no such thing as an "HD CableCard" vs. an "SD CableCard".

A CableCard is a CableCard and when it comes to HD vs. SD.

Just for kicks ... you could ask for a Multistream CableCard. The CSR probably won't know what the heck you're talking about ... but hey ... you can ask.

Note: In theory, a single multistream cablecard could be used instead of two single stream cablecards ... but AFAIK no cable companies are deploying multistream cablecards yet so for now ... that's just a theory.

[DanGordon]

so i assume, when they say hi def , they are asking about the service, not the hardware ???

also if one could get a multi stream card....

and since it has 2 slots, could you do 4 recordings at once ???

also can you currently record pause and watch live tivo on 2 hi def channels at the same time ?

[JeffDan]

I finally got my Tivo in this morning, not exactly next day air but then Tivo apologized already and refunded the charge for shipping so I am happy with everything so far.

I called Cox Fairfax and have it scheduled for the cable cards on Wednesday 9/20 between 3&5. Normally they show on time, hopefully he won't be too early. It's kind of hard to explain to the boss why I want to leave early that day.

Talking to the sales rep wasn't too fun. I think I went over that I wanted to turn in one cable box for two cable cards about 5 times before she gave up and just wrote up the ticket like I told her to. My experience with thier techs have been good so far The last one spent quite a long time to finally determine that my cable line was bad because the cable had degraded itself, and then proceeded to run my very own line to the main box instead of sharing with my condo neighbors.

I hope my install goes as well as the others, I leave the next day for a week trip and need the dual tuner! Too many interesting new shows and all at the same time!

-Jeff

[dt_dc]

so i assume, when they say hi def , they are asking about the service, not the hardware ???Yes, probably.also if one could get a multi stream card....

and since it has 2 slots, could you do 4 recordings at once ???No. CableCards are only one part of the equation. The multi-stream cards aren't even limited to two streams ... a single multistream can support four or five streams. But, you also need hardware / functionality in the host (S3). The S3 is set up to allow recording 2 shows at once ... so ... that's what you're going to get (with two single stream cards or one multistream cards).also can you currently record pause and watch live tivo on 2 hi def channels at the same time ?Yes, you can record two high definition shows at the same time. The exception would be if you only have one single stream card installed. Right now, if you have one single stream card installed, the S3 will revert to a "single tuner" mode where you can only record one thing at a time (SD or HD, doesn't matter).

[Dark Helmet]

I called Cox Fairfax and have it scheduled for the cable cards on Wednesday 9/20 between 3&5. Normally they show on time, hopefully he won't be too early. It's kind of hard to explain to the boss why I want to leave early that day.

Heh, I've got my CableCard install scheduled for 5-7 from Cox Fairfax on Wednesday as well. What are the odds we've got the same technician?

BTW, are you having to pay a double digital outlet fee? The CSR rep indicated to me that I would have to pay two digital outlet fees, but who knows what it's going to be when they show up?

[MichaelMI]

Called Cox San Diego this morning and have an appointment for Monday. The CSR put me on hold twice after I told her it was for a Tivo Series 3, but no issues with them.

[JeffDan]

Heh, I've got my CableCard install scheduled for 5-7 from Cox Fairfax on Wednesday as well. What are the odds we've got the same technician?

BTW, are you having to pay a double digital outlet fee? The CSR rep indicated to me that I would have to pay two digital outlet fees, but who knows what it's going to be when they show up?

They said some gibberish about paying two install fees and that the monthly charge was like $2-$3. I would have questioned her more but I was at work making the call and didn't have much time and also it didn't sound like she really had any idea what she was talking about. So I will start with the tech when he comes and sees it is just the one box they are going in. I am hoping he will have a better understanding of how it will work. I am sure Cox will try to nickel and dime me to death on this, but I can't have sattelite, I have a huge building blocking any antenna reception, and I just can't go back to standard tv!

[Donbadabon]

Thanks guys for posting this info. I too am using Cox Fairfax, and will have to deal with them once my TiVo arrives (I am in the lucky 200, grrr). So I am very interested in how smoothly your installs go.

[jodell]

Overall I was a little frustrated with the ordering process (two digital outlet fees and two install charges, of which one was credited back to me) but I am quite happy with the install process.

I posted my Cox Orange County install experience here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4393159#post4393159

Jeff

[IdecideTV]

Succussfully installed 2 cable cards from New England Cox ( I live in Connecticut). I did have problem explaining anything new like cable card supported device to the cox CSR in the past, ex. I did have a series 2 Tivo and "34" Sony WEGA HDTV with a HD tuner and cable card support" and a set top box from Cox as well. When I called them about 6 months back to order a cable card, I had hard time explaining them to have a cable card in addition to cable box, they were trying to convince me that either I can have a Set-top box or a cable card, I was not successful at all in explaining about the TV feature, like 7 Video inputs are equalent to 7 TVs/ Tv Input sources.

So this time when called to order and schedule an appointment for the cable cards, I didn't mention anything about Tivo, I just told them that I need two cable cards and the CSR asked that whether it is for two new HDTVs ? I said Yes, the rep showed up today, he was the one installed my prevous cable card for the TV, So he sort of know me. ( I also explained him during his last visit, that I would be getting a Tivo Series 3 in the future and he should help me with the cable cards). I just gave him the instruction sheet, we just followed the instruction. Cable card 1 did go through without any problem. Cable card 2 did not receive digital content, but appeared to be a problem in their end, he was on the phone with their office about 10 mins while they were setting up the card 2 again) thats it in 15-20 minutes I got it working. The only problem I am having is that series 2 tivo remote interfere with the new box as well, I want to keep the series 2 too. To use as third tuner for analog channel recording when my two tuner is busy with HD content.

[JeffDan]

The tech just left. This was his first HD Tivo and didn't realize they had come out with it. It took about 15 minutes to get it all set up and now he is off to probably do some more installs and get the Tivo for himself.

I am doing the guided setup right now, so fingers crossed I was still be running in a half hour.

Forgot to ask about the prices! D'oh! Just too happy to have it all running I just plain forgot to ask.

[sparkomatic]

My install in Irvine went well too. Took about an hour in total. One thing that threw him (and myself) was that when the CC was first inserted, he went to get the information off the card through one of the screen menus and it wasn't coming up. He thought it was a bad card and we tried swapping cards, rebooting, etc. When he went to call in, the information popped up on the screen. Turns out you have to wait a few minutes for the Tivo to pull the info (MAC, device ID, etc).

The second card I think was bad cause the premium channels wouldn't come through. He swapped it out and all was good.

He said they had a meeting this morning and were talking about the S3 and to be prepared for these types of installs going forward.

The tech was very thorough and made sure all my channels were working on both cable cards before he left. He seemed to like the Tivo alot... wonder if he went to go buy one after he left...ha ha

[moyekj]

sparkomatic, I'm in Orange County area as well. I've been trying to find out exactly what the cable charges are. The logical plan is:
- Turn in the Cox DVR to save $9.95/month for box rental + $4.95/month DVR service fee
- Cablecards rent for $1.99 each but the 2nd one carries a 'additional outlet' fee of $1.49
- Continue paying the digital cable service

Does that sound right? I've heard different stories from different Cox markets so trying to figure out exactly what the costs involved are.
Thanks

[sparkomatic]

sparkomatic, I'm in Orange County area as well. I've been trying to find out exactly what the cable charges are. The logical plan is:
- Turn in the Cox DVR to save $9.95/month for box rental + $4.95/month DVR service fee
- Cablecards rent for $1.99 each but the 2nd one carries a 'additional outlet' fee of $1.49
- Continue paying the digital cable service

Does that sound right? I've heard different stories from different Cox markets so trying to figure out exactly what the costs involved are.
Thanks

Sounds right to me. I'm about to turn in my 2nd Cox cable DVR box for just a regular HD box so I'll probably ask them about the cable cards when I do.

[Dark Helmet]

So, Cox Fairfax was here (late, but hey, at least he made it).

The guy had never seen a S3 before, but we gamely went through and figured out the instructions. First CableCARD he tried was dead (the S3 saw that it was inserted, but it just said that the card wasn't working properly). The second and third ones he tried seemed to work ... but I could only tune a few channels (a few of the network HD ones). Mind you, it KNEW about all of the channels, but the other ones just got a blank screen when they were tuned. The guy said, "Well, sometimes it takes up to a half hour to get all of the channels downloaded" (whatever THAT means).

I went to dinner. When I came back, CableCARD 1 works perfectly. CableCARD 2, however, has not changed it's state. I called Cox, and they tried "sending a few signals", which had no effect. So they scheduled a technician to come out and possibly try another card.

I guess my mistake was not insisting that all of the channels were working. Somehow, I feel like that second CableCARD is working, but it's just not initialized correctly somewhere at Cox. But at least Cox is willing to fix it.

BTW, has anyone noticed that after a reboot it takes a few minutes to get the CableCARDs to sync up with the headend?

[jodell]

Dark Helmet,

After a reboot it seems to take a minute or two for the card to receive the authorization packets across the cable network.

Your problem with card two is very likely a setup problem. I had a few minutes with the exact same situation as yours. It turned out that the technician at the head end had not "balanced" the subscriptions. Basically, they authorized the card for for the basic channels but not for the premium channels. Another call to support should fix you right up.

Jeff

[proudpapa]

COX came out this morn. inserted the cards and within minutes data came back on the screen - he gave two sets of #'s to his Ofc. and within minutes all channels were displaying. No extra cards reqd. Even with testing, took abt 45 minutes, All seems to be working fine now - almost too easy. :)

[Dark Helmet]

Dark Helmet,

After a reboot it seems to take a minute or two for the card to receive the authorization packets across the cable network.

Your problem with card two is very likely a setup problem. I had a few minutes with the exact same situation as yours. It turned out that the technician at the head end had not "balanced" the subscriptions. Basically, they authorized the card for for the basic channels but not for the premium channels. Another call to support should fix you right up.


Thanks for the suggestion; I did give them another call. The guy found out that the card was still listed in the database as being tied to another host ID, which wasn't either one of the Host ID's for the TiVo. He reset that, unpaired and re-paired the card. However, that didn't fix it. The install tech said that sometimes the cards take a while to "download the channels", whatever that means. At worst, I have a tech coming out on Saturday to replace the card with another one. Maybe tomorrow all of the channels will be tuning on that card.

It's an odd mix which aren't available ... some of the SD channels are there, and some of the HD channels are there. Weird things, like a block of channels around Cartoon Network aren't available. But other "expanded basic" channels are there.

[votsgirl]

I bought my series 3 through Circuit City. Cox (Chandler, AZ) came today to install the cable cards. We have only been able to get card 1 to work. card 2 knows all the channels I should be seeing but only displays video for channels 1-99 (which is displayed with or without the card in place). We tried everything to get card #2 to work--he called the office to send a signal, verify the host, we rebooted, reran setup. Nothing has worked.

We tried switching cards and card #2 worked correctly in slot 1, and card #1 did not work in slot 2. At this point I'm thinking there is something wrong with Tivo's slot #2. I called Tivo support but they were no help. Will be returning this Tivo tomorrow and getting another one to try. If the same problem occurs, its time to call the cable company again :confused:.

[ehardman]

I am located in Kansas and I just called Cox to arrange for the install. The CSR tells me the cards have to be ordered and will take about a week to get them.

Is this possible? Do I need to play CSR roulette?

[Mitch71]

Quick question re: Cox CC install. I've had my S3 since Fri pm, today is first Cox appt avail. The suspense is killing me. Unfortunately, I'm at work, my wife is meeting them, but doesn't really get TiVo at all.

After the Cox rep follows TiVo's instructions for the install, what is the easiest way for my wife to confirm that both cards are working properly before letting the Cox tech leave?

I'm hoping she doesn't have to go through the whole guided setup while he's waiting there... At the same time, I'm worried that if they leave before it's working correctly, we may have to wait another week to get them back out.

Any recommendations appreciated...

[Dark Helmet]

Quick question re: Cox CC install. I've had my S3 since Fri pm, today is first Cox appt avail. The suspense is killing me. Unfortunately, I'm at work, my wife is meeting them, but doesn't really get TiVo at all.

After the Cox rep follows TiVo's instructions for the install, what is the easiest way for my wife to confirm that both cards are working properly before letting the Cox tech leave?


Under the generic CableCard menu (the one that pops up when you insert/remove a CableCard), there's a "Configure CableCard 1" and "Configure CableCard 2" menu entries. Under those ones are "Test Channels". What you want to do is under each CableCard make sure you can tune ALL of the channels that you want. That was my mistake ... I didn't do that. Arguably the tech should have done that, but he wasn't quite the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[jhonaker]

I am located in Kansas and I just called Cox to arrange for the install. The CSR tells me the cards have to be ordered and will take about a week to get them.

Is this possible? Do I need to play CSR roulette?

I'm in VA, andit took about a week to schedule my install... it's possible it was because they had to get the cards, but I don't know. It seems like a lot of folks in here are reporting about a week to get their ccs installed.

[jhonaker]

I bought my series 3 through Circuit City. Cox (Chandler, AZ) came today to install the cable cards. We have only been able to get card 1 to work. card 2 knows all the channels I should be seeing but only displays video for channels 1-99 (which is displayed with or without the card in place). We tried everything to get card #2 to work--he called the office to send a signal, verify the host, we rebooted, reran setup. Nothing has worked.

We tried switching cards and card #2 worked correctly in slot 1, and card #1 did not work in slot 2. At this point I'm thinking there is something wrong with Tivo's slot #2. I called Tivo support but they were no help. Will be returning this Tivo tomorrow and getting another one to try. If the same problem occurs, its time to call the cable company again :confused:.

So if the card itself is fine, and the tech knew enough to get the cards enabled... the only thing I can think of is card #2 is the top slot, and card #1 is the bottom slot. The instructions are pretty clear about installing card #1 (the bottom one) first.

Do you know if the tech put the bottom card in first? I don't know if it would make any difference or not. Do you still have both cards and the phone #s to activate them, so you can try again to see what happens?

[jodell]

votsgirl,

The problem doesn't seem like a bad TiVo, but rather a setup problem with the cable cards. Each card must be authorized to give you access to specific channels. It seems like a frequent problem where the tech provisioning the card "forgets" to add all of the authorizations. It took three attempts to get both cards working in my install. Luckily, all of the work is at the head end.

In my experience, the channels either work or not. They do not "trickle in over a few hours" so don't buy that BS from the tech.

Jeff

[RoanokeHokie]

I called Cox (Orange Co.) this morning to trade my DVR for 2 CableCARDs. I took the first "available" appointment slot, which is next Tuesday.

At first the rep. didn't seem to know about the "CableCARD" device. I threw out "digital cable ready", "TiVo', and "two CableCARD slots", which seemed to get it in the right direction. (Add in the obligatory "but you can't get VOD with the cards" statement from the rep. here.) He claimed that he could put only 1 CableCARD into the service call, and that he couldn't make a note that I needed 2.

After the appointment was set, he transferred me to "Video Technical Support" to see "if [I] can have multiple CableCARDs." Video support, though, said they aren't involved until the cards are installed. (What a shock!) They wanted to transfer me back to sales, but I told them sales forwarded me to them. I said that if they wanted to send be back to sales, that I wanted them to announce the call (to sales) so that they wouldn't just send me back. 15 minutes later, the video support tech asks if they can have a callback number - no, no calls for me at work, but I offered them an e-mail address. Video tech said they'd e-mailed the sales rep. to tell him to "add the second card" and that I should get an e-mail later to confirm the change.

Of course, this is Cox... I expect a tech on Tuesday to come to claim my DVR box and nothing else. *laughs* We'll see, and I'll update as I get more info.

[jshore]

So if the card itself is fine, and the tech knew enough to get the cards enabled... the only thing I can think of is card #2 is the top slot, and card #1 is the bottom slot. The instructions are pretty clear about installing card #1 (the bottom one) first.

Do you know if the tech put the bottom card in first? I don't know if it would make any difference or not. Do you still have both cards and the phone #s to activate them, so you can try again to see what happens?


I had similar issues with both Slot #1 and Slot #2 not displaying any other channels besides 1-99. The Cox Phoenix tech tried putting in a new cable from the wall, boosting signal, etc. Turns out that it was definitely something on their end, because when it suddenly started working as he was on phone with person at Cox, he said it was because the two cards were entered wrong into the system. Not sure what that meant, but when whoever was on the other end of the phone with the tech entered the cards correctly into their system, the digital channels magically started working.

[votsgirl]

The saga continues... Since Cox Cable Phoenix could not get the cablecard to work correctly in slot#2 and thought there might be something wrong with the Tivo slot #2, I went ahead today and exchanged my Tivo for a new one.

I put the cablecards in my new tivo unit and called Cox to change the host id's on them and do another synch. That was completed on Cox's side, but neither card will authorize. I have called Cox several times today to see if I can get someone on the phone that will confirm that the host id's and serial numbers are set up correctly and customer support will not help me and told me I need to schedule someone to come over to fix them. One non-helpful Cox representative told me that the cablecards don't use a host id and there's nothing they do on their side to make these cards work :eek: . He also said that they have a memo on their desk instructing them that they ARE to support Tivo but to warn customers to not remove the CableCards from the slots once they are activated and working. Waiting for the cable guy to come tomorrow morning and strong arm the main office to set these cards up right. If that doesn't work--then i give up--back to directv!

UPDATE---
Success!!! The cable man came today and worked with the office to get the cards working.

[votsgirl]

So if the card itself is fine, and the tech knew enough to get the cards enabled... the only thing I can think of is card #2 is the top slot, and card #1 is the bottom slot. The instructions are pretty clear about installing card #1 (the bottom one) first.

Do you know if the tech put the bottom card in first? I don't know if it would make any difference or not. Do you still have both cards and the phone #s to activate them, so you can try again to see what happens?

The cable guy followed the tivo provided instructions to the letter. He definitely put the first card in slot #1 (the lower slot). I have since replaced the unit with a new one but now cox can't get the cards to even auth.

[Goofball]

Cox Phoenix (Peoria, AZ) came out and installed my cards today. Everything is up and running and I am getting all of the channels I requested.

The installer only had 2 cards with him and was only expecting a single card TV style install so if you are ordering and have to deal with a truck roll make sure they note on the work order that the installer needs to bring 2 cards and a couple of spares and that the install is for a TiVo that uses 2 cards. This was the installers first TiVo and he was surprised at the whole thing. Cox might want to at least put a note out to the activation and installation techs so they are aware of the Series3...

The installer was able to get one card up and running immediately but the other was dead (kept insisting it needed to download firmware). He ended up calling another tech in the area and getting a couple of spare cards from him. The next one he tried after getting back from picking the cards up worked no problem.

I was getting tiling and signal loss on some of the digitals but an amp behind my media cabinet fixed that no problem. Before the amp I was in the low 70s according to the onboard signal meter on the channels that were tiling, now with the amp they are up in the mid 90s. I wish Cox would finish up with the digital simulcast conversion in this area so that I don't have to set all my season passes up on the 800 series test channels that may or may not stay where they are since I get some ugly noise on some of the analogs now with the amp.

Reran the guided setup and have been sitting on my ass watching InHD and DiscoveryHD for the last couple of hours. I can't wait for this weekend and getting the NASCAR Cup race recorded in HD off of TNTHD.

Overall I am pretty happy with the whole thing and I will update if I run into any problems.

[aztivo]

The cable guy followed the tivo provided instructions to the letter. He definitely put the first card in slot #1 (the lower slot). I have since replaced the unit with a new one but now cox can't get the cards to even auth.
Votsgirl dont go the regular customer service route call the 623.594.1000 get to the technical support and ask for a supervisor then they can transfer you to the cc tech group. This is a PITA but it can be done and you may have to try customer service a few times till you get someone who can help... when I had to get this done on one of my TVs it took almost an hour.

Good Luck

[JeffDan]

I did tell the phone rep to bring two cards a couple of times but the tech still said "I am glad I brought more than one I thought it would only be one card."

When we first put in the cards it did take a while before the screens to pop up, but you can always get to that screen throught the configure card menu and from there the Host ID menu choice. Also, the test channels is an absolute must. It allows you to tune in the channels you want to check without going through the long guided setup.

On that day (Wednesday) I was happy to remember that FOX was currently in blackout for some reason. No picture so we just skipped over that. Everything else tuned in fine.

The hardest part of the whole thing was trying to read of all of those card and host id's to the tech back at the office through those crappy little walkie talkie phones. It took a couple of readings. Make sure they remember which card they put in which slot first or they will have to pull them out and try again.

At least I hope it is all working, I left that same night on vacation after spending an hour getting all the season passes loaded. I sure hope I have more than a blank screen to watch when I get home again.

J

[sondhead]

OMG OMGOMG OMG OMG OMG IM going to kill myself

Cox OKC is over here right now and basically has their heads up their ass. He had to call for help. I'm going to die. This should be so easy. He won't listen to me.


Logan

[ehardman]

OMG OMGOMG OMG OMG OMG IM going to kill myself

Cox OKC is over here right now and basically has their heads up their ass. He had to call for help. I'm going to die. This should be so easy. He won't listen to me.


Logan

Did you give him the printed TiVo installation sheet?

[sondhead]

Ya. Apparantly it "looks weird"

[MickeS]

"It looks weird" What, no color coded connectors and arrows pointing everywhere?

[sondhead]

Apparantly. it's working now thank GOODNESS. I was a little scared. Do the techs really have to whine and gritch about it so much though? Get over it people! They couldn't understand why I was going with TiVo and not their own boxes. They're like well we're switching to TiVo DVRS through our system and I was just like great. I still would buy one because I'd rather own one and give my money to TiVo rather than you. Plus, this cost $800 so DO IT

[ValleySooner]

Glad to hear it's working for you. I have a Cox OKC install appointment set up for Tuesday. I wonder if I'll get the same installer? I'm not sure whether I should hope for that or not. :)

[pmrowley]

I am in Los Angeles/OC as well; my CCs were installed yesterday. I made the original call, and just told them that I needed 2 cable cards, and didn't bother to correct them when they confirmed two separate devices; they charge installation for each card, regardless of where they're installed.

I then stopped by my local Cox store (right down the street,) to confirm the installation. I *always* like to walk into the store because the head sales guy in the store mentioned to me the day I wanted to trade up to a HD decoder, "Oh yeah, we love it when people want to do it themselves; we don't have to schedule a truck roll. If you know what you're doing, that's great!" He then gave me a free 3-month trade-up to the DVR, and gave me their Premier Data Service to try out for 3 months for no charge, since I didn't want a truck roll.

So, I confirmed my installation with him, and expressed some disappointment that they didn't have cards in the store so I could do the install myself and save the truck roll. Right then and there, he dropped the install charge for the second card, and dropped the DVR rental charge for the month (since I wanted to keep the DVR until we've emptied it; we have a couple of The Adventures of Sharpe to get through still...)

Installation day; the tech mentioned the meeting they had the day before, and mentioned that they had problems when they installed both cards at the same time. So he followed the instructions to the letter, we were patient and waited for the cards to initialize and get authorized one by one, then I tested the upper HD and HD Premium channels for each card. Other than a 161-4 error (ignorable) everything came up without a hitch, and the tech left after about 20 minutes. In leaving, he also mentioned that the signal coming to the Tivo was one of the strongest he'd seen, courtesy of the straight home-run to the Tivo (Cable Modem and Digital phone use the other home-run.) That probably alleviated some issues as well.

Cheers,
-P

[Dark Helmet]

So, as a postscript to my Cox/Fairfax problems ...

The technician came out again today (again, late like last time ... again, he said it was because he had to get extra CableCards. Whatever). It was the same technician I had during my initial install.

He popped out CableCard #2 (the one that was only tuning a subset of channels), put in a new one, called up to authorize it, and within a minute it was tuning everything. He was kind of surprised it happened so quickly, actually.

So, I don't really know if it was a bad CableCard, or a problem with the headend, but it's all working now. Goodbye, DirecTV!

[lasergecko]

Let's play a game!

Can you guess which of the following phrases were said by the Cox Las Vegas technician after handing the unread instruction sheet back to me:

"I'm not allowed to touch a TiVo."

"CableCards don't go in da TiVo. They go in da TV."

"I'm going to have to call my boss."

"Where does the other card go?"

[moyekj]

I say all of the above

[pkscout]

Let's play a game!

Can you guess which of the following phrases were said by the Cox Las Vegas technician after handing the unread instruction sheet back to me:

"I'm not allowed to touch a TiVo."

"CableCards don't go in da TiVo. They go in da TV."

"I'm going to have to call my boss."

"Where does the other card go?"

The suspense is killing me. Just spill it. (I'm betting one or three) ;)

I'm moving to Las Vegas in January and am going to get a S3 when I get there, so I'm hoping most of these problems will be worked out in the next three months.

[lasergecko]

moyekj wins the prize.

It took almost two hours for the install partially because the guy spent twenty minutes on the phone with a supervisor after he refused to read the CableCard Installer Instruction Sheet. He also kept ejecting the cards while their firmware was updating.

Moron.

Then, after all of the hassles involved with getting him to understand what to do, he hands me two pieces of paper from the cards.

The PowerKey CableCARD Module Installation Instructions

I will take some photos later, but they are very, very, very clearly designed to be self-installed.

[Willin]

sparkomatic, I'm in Orange County area as well. I've been trying to find out exactly what the cable charges are. The logical plan is:
- Turn in the Cox DVR to save $9.95/month for box rental + $4.95/month DVR service fee
- Cablecards rent for $1.99 each but the 2nd one carries a 'additional outlet' fee of $1.49
I'm in OC and getting CC installed next week. They told me $3.48/mo for each card. They didn't break the price down like that. I've read somewhere else that it is a single device and they can't charge the 'additional outlet' fee for the 2nd card.

[moyekj]

Willin, the $3.48 ($1.99+$1.49) per card makes sense if you are keeping a digital box (DVR or non-DVR) from them. However, if you are not keeping a box then the 1st CC should only be $1.99 since there is no 'additional outlet' fee for the 1st digital connection. Technically one could also argue that the Tivo is 1 device taking 1 outlet to have them waive the $1.49 additional outlet fee on the 2nd CC.

[Jayster36]

Had a cable tech out yesterday to install the CableCARDs for my new Tivo S3 in Orange County, CA. Tech didn't really blink an eye when he saw the Tivo. Put the first card in and very shortly was able to get the pairing information. Tech immediately called in and gave them the numbers that came up. The office said they activated the card. We went to the "Test Channels" options and waited for about 11 min. while the Acquiring Channels screen came up. Eventually, the Tivo said it couldn't find any channels.

I'll spare the gory details, but after changing splitters and rerunning the process multiple times (and trying different cards), there was no difference. The tech eventually (after almost 2 hrs.) threw his hands in the air and said they did all they could do.

Don't really know what the next step is. Should I call and hound Cox? Tivo? Give up and return the unit? Never thought a standards based product on a standards based system would be such a hassle.

And for this "service" I was billed $39.95 per card. I'm not quite sure how Cox can justify an $80 to dispatch a technician who has no idea to install a CableCARD - but sure did a good job wasting a Saturday afternoon.

[pkscout]

Had a cable tech out yesterday to install the CableCARDs for my new Tivo S3 in Orange County, CA. Tech didn't really blink an eye when he saw the Tivo. Put the first card in and very shortly was able to get the pairing information. Tech immediately called in and gave them the numbers that came up. The office said they activated the card. We went to the "Test Channels" options and waited for about 11 min. while the Acquiring Channels screen came up. Eventually, the Tivo said it couldn't find any channels.

I'll spare the gory details, but after changing splitters and rerunning the process multiple times (and trying different cards), there was no difference. The tech eventually (after almost 2 hrs.) threw his hands in the air and said they did all they could do.

Don't really know what the next step is. Should I call and hound Cox? Tivo? Give up and return the unit? Never thought a standards based product on a standards based system would be such a hassle.

And for this "service" I was billed $39.95 per card. I'm not quite sure how Cox can justify an $80 to dispatch a technician who has no idea to install a CableCARD - but sure did a good job wasting a Saturday afternoon.

I would start by calling TiVo's HD group. They will try and work with Cox to resolve the issue (even the issue is likely 100% on Cox's end). Barring that I would file a complaint with the FCC. Cox is required by law to support those Cablecards, and they will have to whatever it takes to get them working. No ifs, ands, or buts.

[jfh3]

The office said they activated the card. We went to the "Test Channels" options and waited for about 11 min. while the Acquiring Channels screen came up. Eventually, the Tivo said it couldn't find any channels.

If the Acquiring Channels screen took more than a minute, your cablecards are initalized or authorized properly.

[Jayster36]

Already got a Tivo person on the phone and arranged a conference call with Cox Communications. Once the Cox tech support was on the phone, the Tivo person went absolutely silent. I'm not sure he even said anything during the entire call other than to introduce himself. The only thing Cox was willing to do was schedule another installation appointment by one of their highly experienced techs during two hour appointment windows during my working hours. I guess I will have to wait another week (until next Saturday) and wait all day for another technician to come out, read numbers off of my TV screen and call them in. (Something Cox insists I'm not qualified to do.)

If I have to pay an $80 install fee to watch someone come out and do nothing other than sit on the phone for an hour trying to get this to work (and fail by the way), then by my calculations, Cox now owes me something in the neighborhood of $720 for my efforts.

[Dark Helmet]

Had a cable tech out yesterday to install the CableCARDs for my new Tivo S3 in Orange County, CA. Tech didn't really blink an eye when he saw the Tivo. Put the first card in and very shortly was able to get the pairing information. Tech immediately called in and gave them the numbers that came up. The office said they activated the card. We went to the "Test Channels" options and waited for about 11 min. while the Acquiring Channels screen came up. Eventually, the Tivo said it couldn't find any channels.

How many cards did they try? Two of my cards were bad (they eventually got it working, though).

[Jayster36]

The tech tried 3 different cards in the first slot. The results for all three were the same. We never even got to try any cards in the second slot.

What cable company are you with, Dark?

[Dark Helmet]

The tech tried 3 different cards in the first slot. The results for all three were the same. We never even got to try any cards in the second slot.

What cable company are you with, Dark?

I'm with Cox/Fairfax County (Northern VA). Hrm. It's not impossible you have a bad Tivo, you know. It _sounds_ like they did everything right. Mind you, I'm not the CableCard expert by any means ... I am only a consumer, and after a few bad CableCards they got it right. I will say that I was glad that I have a CableCard television as a fallback test device (but luckily I never had to use it). You know, I think this underscores why forcing the cable companies to use cablecards in their devices is so important ... if that was the case, they'd have a lot more experience in making CableCards work. Right now the CableCard knowledge is really hit and miss. I sure wish I knew more about the information presented on the CableCard screens.

BTW, what do you get on the signal strength meter? (I think it's under Settings->Channels, but I forget). I'm in the mid-90's.

[boywaja]

Just had an install from Cox Fairfax. Pretty straight forward. The tech was a nice guy and had done a tivo at least once before.

I probably slowed him down more than anything chatting with him about the modem upgrade fiasco of a few years back, and the digital/analog simalcast . In my part of fairfax we just recently got a simalcast of channels up in the 800s. Apparently most of the rest of the county already had that.

[timmetro69]

The suspense is killing me. Just spill it. (I'm betting one or three) ;)

I'm moving to Las Vegas in January and am going to get a S3 when I get there, so I'm hoping most of these problems will be worked out in the next three months.

pkscout - I'm in Vegas and I had a smooth cablecard install. The tech was only on-site about 25 minutes from start to finish and everything worked perfectly when he left, and continues to now over a week later.

Good luck.

[MichaelMI]

We had our install today and it went very smooth. Cox San Diego rocks!

[JeffDan]

I am sure you all probably hate me. I just got back from the long weekend (I left the morning after the cable card installed) and everything worked great. All my shows were recorded perfectly.

My install went great, no issues at all. I actually came home to a phone message from the tech and just got off the phone with him. He wanted to know if I did anything special before he came out and we went over what we did step by step. It seems I am one of very few success stories for them. The most common problem was only one card working.

I didn't do anything special. The only difference we did was to pop in card 1 and then card 2 right after it. The screens finally popped up with the card info but I closed them and instead went to the card configuration menu and then host id screen. That's it, nothing else was special.

I told him to make sure he puts in the #1 card first, but I don't think that really makes a difference if you have two cards. They just want to make sure if you have one card that it is in the #1 slot.

-Jeff

[ehardman]

My Cox install is scheduled for in the morning. I have learned a lot from this thread so I hope to avoid the problems others have had.

I am also having them install a cable card in my Pioneer 5070 plasma. This way, I can record two channels on the Tivo Series 3 and watch a third in real time. I must be sick!

[GuyInTulsa]

I had my install yesterday in Tulsa, OK by the friendly Cox technician.

I placed the call on Thursday and set an appointment for Monday afternoon. I don’t remember the exact install price, but I do remember I got ½ off the second card since they were going in the same box.

The tech had a genuine interest in HD stuff and was eager to see it work as I was. He read the one page sheet provided with the TiVo and went to work. He did have to talk the person on the phone through the activation process. She had never done one where both cards went into the same device.

The whole process took about ½ an hour. That included the TiVo setup and guide download via the web. We played with it a while and when his curiosity was satisfied he left.

Nice and neat. The last install, for the Cox DVR, was much worse.

[ValleySooner]

My cablecards were installed today in the Cox OKC market, and I had a similar experience. When I called for my installation, the CSR said it'd be $30 to install the first card and $15 for the second one.

Two very friendly and knowledgable techs showed up on time today to pop in the cards. They had provided cablecards for one other Tivo before, so they didn't need to look over the instructions sheet. It took about 15 minutes for the activation process to complete, but when it was done, I had program guide data and all my encrypted QAM channels available on both tuners.

I'm not sure what they'll charge me on recurring basis. As far as I know, we don't have outlet fees in OKC. However, I'm positive I'll have to pay two digital gateway fees... and don't know whether the fee goes up exponentially based on the number you have. I already had two (for $7.50) prior to the cablecard install.

Anyway, it was a positive experience overall. I only wish I could've done the install myself. I had to wait 9 days for the cards in total.

[RoanokeHokie]

Cox Orange County came by at 2pm (appt. was for 4-6pm, but they called early because of availability) to install CableCARDs. The technician was friendly and knowledgable, in my opinion. He also read over TiVo's instructions, then commented "seems like a normal install" and went to work.

The technician installed both cards into the TiVo and then activated them. He had some trouble on the phone. He provided one card's information on the first call and then hung up. While we waited for the first card to activate, he mentioned that when he "saw a CableCARD install and a DVR pickup, it just seemed like a TiVo install" and so he brought 2 cards anyway.

Just when channels showed up on the first card, he was called back for the second card's information. He provided that, confirmed my DVR pickup, and then was off the phone again.

The first CableCARD activated fine, with all of my programming (Showtime, STARZ!, and the "HD pack") worked as expected. When the second CableCARD activated, though, none of the premiums were authorized but 'basic digital' was working. It took two more calls before the technician got the data "worked out", but when he left I had two fully functional CableCARDs with all programming.

In the two call-backs, I took a little time to teach the Cox technician a little bit about navigation on a TiVo box. The "TiVo button" on the remote was the only real trick - hey, when I got my first TiVo box, it took me a while to realize that, too.

It turns out it was a pretty "light" day for this technician, as his next install was another 4-6pm window. I re-started guided setup and left it on guide data download to head back to work.

[gwsat]

My cablecards were installed today in the Cox OKC market, and I had a similar experience. When I called for my installation, the CSR said it'd be $30 to install the first card and $15 for the second one.

Two very friendly and knowledgable techs showed up on time today to pop in the cards. They had provided cablecards for one other Tivo before, so they didn't need to look over the instructions sheet. It took about 15 minutes for the activation process to complete, but when it was done, I had program guide data and all my encrypted QAM channels available on both tuners.

I'm not sure what they'll charge me on recurring basis. As far as I know, we don't have outlet fees in OKC. However, I'm positive I'll have to pay two digital gateway fees... and don't know whether the fee goes up exponentially based on the number you have. I already had two (for $7.50) prior to the cablecard install.

Anyway, it was a positive experience overall. I only wish I could've done the install myself. I had to wait 9 days for the cards in total.
That’s really good news! I am pleased and relieved to learn that Cox OKC’s not-often-ready-for-primetime cable guys got the job done without incident. I may bite the bullet and order an S3 and get rid of one of my 8300HDs.

I continue to think that the decision to charge two digital gateway fees for the two CableCARDs in one S3 was made by somebody who doesn’t understand what the S3 is about. After all, the 8300HD has two tuners, too, but we only get charged one digital gateway fee with it. Go figure.

Requiring a service call to install CableCARDs is equally senseless, it seems to me. But sensible or not, we are stuck with it for now. As Tony Soprano says, “Wadda ya gonna do?”

[jodell]

I am waiting for my first bill after the cable card install to re-address the 2 digital gateway fee issue. I am going to use your exact argument - the DVR only has 1 gateway fee even though it has two tuners -- why is a TiVo different?

This is probably an exercise in futility but what is the worst Cox can say? No? :')

Jeff

[Jayster36]

I've been trying to get the CableCARDs to work on Cox OC now for a week and had some really trying experiences, but I'm happy to report it is finally working.

The initial visit by a cable tech was on Saturday and it was a total waste of time. The second visit was by a senior tech today.

The visit was almost 2 1/2 hours, but it is now working perfectly. For those having similar troubles or bracin themselves for the installation I'll share what I learned.

1. Schedule your install for a weekday - I was told by both techs that the guys behind the scenes who really make this work "Digital Ops", usually only work weekdays. If problems come up during the weekend, it's much harder to get the proper technical support for the install. Trust me - the second visit was on a Tuesday - and the installer had the right guy on the phone. If you have to schedule a weekend install - make sure to ask if the high level back-end tech support people will be working that day. Don't know if every cable provider calls them "Digital Ops".

2. There are a lot of bad cable cards - Again, trust me. I've seen several posts echoing this, but I didn't believe it. How could such a high ratio of cards be bad? Well, guess what...I ran into three bad cards before this started working. The first two never registered with the cable system, the third came up but would only display basic cable stations (including basic HD channels)...but no enhanced tier proramming would come up. If this happens - have the tech check the "Conditional Access" page. This particular card indicated that it couldn't negotiate an encryption key with the cable provider (CP). When this happened, the card in slot 2 was working completely and the "Conditional Access" screen for that card indicated "Subscribed" or "Possible". Your tech may not know to look there. This is what took almost 2 hrs to figure out. Once that card was swapped for a new one, all channels came up right away.

3. After the first good card was installed, we ran the "Test channels". It ran for almost 7 minutes and I thought for sure we were headed for another failure, but all of a sudden a screen popped up indicating that you were about to start a function that would stop programs currently recording. This is good news - it means that you've discovered channels. Never got this far on the first appointment. When the second "good" card came up and was called in by the tech - the channel testing came up after only about a minute. After that it was smooth sailing.


Anyway, it seems that although I had one of the tougher experiences, it did finally work and so far I'm happy with the results. Can't be 100% sure, but it does seem that the picture quality is better than what I got with the Motorola 6412 DVR. I've learned quite a bit about CableCARDs in the process.

[jodell]

Jayster,

It is good to hear that the Cox OC folks are finally getting it together. I had one of the earlier S3 installs. I scheduled my appointment on a Tuesday and had good luck. The Techs (a second arrived to learn the process) knew who to call in Digital Ops and didn't have too much of a problem getting everything working. My install took 1.5 hours if I remember correctly so it definintely could have been smoother but I will not complain.

I like everything about the S3 better than the motorola box it replaced. It is great to have a TiVo HD recorder...

Jeff

[pkscout]

I am waiting for my first bill after the cable card install to re-address the 2 digital gateway fee issue. I am going to use your exact argument - the DVR only has 1 gateway fee even though it has two tuners -- why is a TiVo different?

This is probably an exercise in futility but what is the worst Cox can say? No? :')


Much like the stink when Verizon and Bellsouth attempted to add new fees, I think I note to the FCC indicating the cable company is providing an artificial barrier to entry for the cablecard might be in order (if a discussion with the local company doesn't work). They are, in essence, charing you a $10 a month surcharge for the cablecard to match the functionality of their in house DVR. In addition, the cable companies have been dragging their feet on the CC1.0 multistream cards, and with one of those you could decode two channels (and the TiVo supports those). So that $10 fee is also being charged because the cable company is lazy.

So really, work with the local cable office first. If that doesn't work, politely explain that you will be sharing your concerns with the FCC regarding the billing practices.

[boywaja]

In addition, the cable companies have been dragging their feet on the CC1.0 multistream cards, and with one of those you could decode two channels (and the TiVo supports those).
.

not according to tivopony
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4402702&&#post4402702

[pkscout]

not according to tivopony
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4402702&&#post4402702

Sorry, I'll clarify. The TiVo *hardware* supports it. Once CableLabs gets off their butts and actually allows devices to be certified to use them, then the TiVo software will be updated. Really just another example of the cable cartel and their mouth piece, CableLabs, ensuring that there will be no competition.

[ValleySooner]

That’s really good news! I am pleased and relieved to learn that Cox OKC’s not-often-ready-for-primetime cable guys got the job done without incident. I may bite the bullet and order an S3 and get rid of one of my 8300HDs.


One follow-up from my note yesterday. When I looked at my recent activity on Cox's website, I noticed that I was billed $30 for both CableCard installations, despite being quoted $15 for the second card. I just talked to someone in billing who said the original quote was incorrect, that both are supposed to be $30. Despite that, she promptly credited my account the $15 and apologized for the confusion.

It makes sense that if you have both cards installed at the same time, the second one would be cheaper than the first. Not sure how it'll work out for you, if you do buy an S3... but thought you should be aware of that.

[RoanokeHokie]

2. There are a lot of bad cable cards ... the third came up but would only display basic cable stations (including basic HD channels)...but no enhanced tier proramming would come up.During my install, I had a similar issue with Card 2 in my box - it could tune analog channels (CNN, 14), digital basic channels (some Discovery channel on 100) and HD locals (KOCE, 710), but not my digital premiums (Showtime, 240) or HD tier (TNT HD, 718?). Card 1 could tune all those stations without problem.

It took the tech two calls to get it straightened out, but the card didn't need to be changed. According to my technician, being able to tune channel 100 indicated that the card was receiving downstream information correctly. I've often wondered if the large number of "bad CableCARDs" is more a sign of Cox (and other co's) inability to diagnose the problem (and, hence, keep trying more cards until the 'right settings' happen to get used) than of actual defective cards.

[TiVo-rific]

2. There are a lot of bad cable cards - Again, trust me. I've seen several posts echoing this, but I didn't believe it. How could such a high ratio of cards be bad? Well, guess what...I ran into three bad cards before this started working. The first two never registered with the cable system, the third came up but would only display basic cable stations (including basic HD channels)...but no enhanced tier proramming would come up. If this happens - have the tech check the "Conditional Access" page. This particular card indicated that it couldn't negotiate an encryption key with the cable provider (CP). When this happened, the card in slot 2 was working completely and the "Conditional Access" screen for that card indicated "Subscribed" or "Possible". Your tech may not know to look there. This is what took almost 2 hrs to figure out. Once that card was swapped for a new one, all channels came up right away.


I had COX OC out last Friday (9/22) to install 4 cable cards in 2 S3s. The tech had not seen an S3 yet but was a nice guy and very willing to help. He brought 6 cable cards “just in case”. The first S3 worked without a hitch and was up and running within 20mins. He installed and activated the cards one at a time.
My second S3 was another story.
He was able to get the cards installed but none of the premium channels would work. He made a few calls and within 20 mins I had 3 trucks in front of my house including the supervisor. As it turns out, the card that they were installing had been installed before in another service area within COX OC and the provisioning information was being sent to that headend. They decided to install the last two cards and those like the first two came up within minutes and have been working since.

My only comment is that I would bet that a lot of the “bad” cable cards are fine and that a lack of understanding on how they work on the installer’s part is the problem. I am not blaming the installers. I suspect that most of the training they get is on the job unfortunately for us. :(

[ehardman]

The installer has been here for 1 1/2 hours. Card one installed OK, but card keeps coming up 161-2 (bad card). He had three cards but both the other two cards come up 161-2.

They were also here to install a cable card in my Pioneer 5070. The cox tech on the telephone told him to try one of cards with the 161-2 code in my Pioneer. Hmmmm. The first of the cards the Tivo says were bad, worked OK on the Pioneer. How can this be?

Another cox installer just brought two more cards for the Tivo. More later...

[ehardman]

2 1/2 hours. Four cards tried in slot 2, all report 161-2.

So, installer takes the known good card from slot 1 and installs one of the "bad" cards in slot 1. Tivo box sees the "bad" card, no 161-2 error. Now waiting for Cox to call back to provision the "bad" card. Once we get card 1 going, we will re-install the "good" card formerly in slot 1, into slot 2.

What mess! More to follow...

[ehardman]

The card originally in slot 1, the "good" card, not comes up as bad in slot 2. Cox sending out four more cards.

While waiting, called Tivo tech support again. Earlier calls said 162-2 could only be a bad card. Now they are saying my slot 2 is bad.

New cards just got here. Here we go again...

4 hours...

[TreoFred]

Question for anyone with COX in the OC: I've had my S3 for almost two weeks now and after two (lenghty) technician visits, I still do NOT get all my channels.

The first time, I was missing about half of my premium channels (all the pacific feeds like HBOP, etc.) and the HBO and Showtime Hd ones as I guess they are the pacific ones (DirectTv throws the East coast feed for HBO-HD and Showtim-HD so I'm not sure.)

After the second visit, I know get all my premium channels but I've lost INHD1, INHD2, TNT-HD and UHD.

Some people have suggested that due to the S3 Design, if those are on switched digital channels (which I'm not sure they are), it might be impossible to get it all...

So... my question to anybody with Cox Orange County: do you get EVERYTHING?

Thanks beforehand for any help!

Fred

[ehardman]

Four more "bad" cards. I guess slot 2 is not working. Tivo says I must return to Circuit City where I bought it to exchange for a new one since it is within the first 30 days. Circuit City has them in stock and I have a new coming via express shipping.

Hope your day goes better than mine!

Total time with Cox in my home, 4 hours 20 minutes.

[RoanokeHokie]

Question for anyone with COX in the OC: I've had my S3 for almost two weeks now and after two (lenghty) technician visits, I still do NOT get all my channels. ... So... my question to anybody with Cox Orange County: do you get EVERYTHING?I live in Irvine, and my apartment complex is served by Cox Orange County.

At first, all of my 'premium' services were showing up on only 1 of my 2 cards. On card 1, I could tune Showtime (240) and Showtime HD (740), as well as TNT HD (718). None of those would show when I tested channels on card 2 at first. I'm guessing it was a systems error, as the technician was able to call his support contact to get it fixed.

My technician wasn't in a rush, so I did ask a bit more about the system here. According to the tech, Cox has no plans to go switched-digital (which simply means this tech hasn't heard or isn't talking); he did mention, though, that Cox had recently received local permission to increase their cable bandwidth from 750 MHz to 1 GHz to provide additional services. I'm not sure how much of the OC market that applies to, though.

[Jayster36]

So... my question to anybody with Cox Orange County: do you get EVERYTHING?

Thanks beforehand for any help!

Fred



To answer your question: Although it was painful, yes, I do now get all the channels I had before, including HBO HD, Shotime HD, TNT HD IN-HD 1&2, MusicChoice, etc. The only thing I can no longer receive is any interactive services (Channel 1), and video on demand (including sports packages such as NHL Center Ice). I know from the beginning that I wouldn't have access to those anymore and that's OK. (Cox Orange County)

[votsgirl]

ehardman--

I had the same problem with the Tivo I bought at Circuit City. Cox was not able to get the second slot of my tivo to work with several cards. We concluded there was something wrong with the Tivo and I exchanged it for a new one. I set up another service call and the Cox guy was able to get both slots working on the new Tivo in about 30 minutes.

[ehardman]

ehardman--

I had the same problem with the Tivo I bought at Circuit City. Cox was not able to get the second slot of my tivo to work with several cards. We concluded there was something wrong with the Tivo and I exchanged it for a new one. I set up another service call and the Cox guy was able to get both slots working on the new Tivo in about 30 minutes.

Thanks for the info. Looks like Tivo has a quality control issue along with all the other problems. You would think they would test these things before they leave leave the factory.

[moyekj]

I live in Irvine, and my apartment complex is served by Cox Orange County... My technician wasn't in a rush, so I did ask a bit more about the system here. According to the tech, Cox has no plans to go switched-digital (which simply means this tech hasn't heard or isn't talking); he did mention, though, that Cox had recently received local permission to increase their cable bandwidth from 750 MHz to 1 GHz to provide additional services. I'm not sure how much of the OC market that applies to, though. I'm in Cox OC market as well. My (reliable) sources told me switched digital may start to happen by end of 2007 in Cox OC. It was originally slated to start early 2007 but has been delayed. I also did hear about the cable bandwidth projects and apparently digging is already underway in northern OC. Though the cable bandwidth will be 1GHz for future proofing the headend system bandwidth will be limited to 860MHz (still quite an improvement from 750MHz). Increase of around 110Mhz means about 18 more QAM 256 channels (6MHz each) which could accomodate in the neighborhood of 180-250 new SD digital channels or 40 HD channels.

[jodell]

I also can confirm that I recieve all of Cox OC's HD channels. Your problem sounds like the headend is not senging the proper authorizations to *both* cards. When I had my problems getting premium channels on card 2, the headend eventually found that they didn't "balance" both cards -- meaning they had more authorizations on card 1 than on card 2.

Good luck,

Jeff

[pkscout]

Thanks for the info. Looks like Tivo has a quality control issue along with all the other problems. You would think they would test these things before they leave leave the factory.

You do realize that it is not possible to have a production line that yields 0% failures. Even if generally acceptable DOA rates are 1%, so if TiVo shipped 100,000 of these in the first week, 1000 of them will have some kind of problem. Shoot even at 0.5% there will still be 500 bad units out there. Just because you and some other folks on this board got a bad unit doesn't mean there is some kind of quality control issue and that TiVo did no testing on the unit.

[jfh3]

Nice thought, but there is NO WAY Tivo shipped 100,000 units in the first week.

[pkscout]

Nice thought, but there is NO WAY Tivo shipped 100,000 units in the first week.

Fine. They've shipped 10,000 since they started. That means at least 50 bad units. The logic still holds. Just because a half a dozen people have had problems with their units doesn't mean everyone at TiVo is a moron, nobody does any testing, and they have a HUGE quality control problem.

[vtrduong]

Well, I got the Tivo Series 3 on the 14th. Had to wait for the cablecard installation till the 19th. I'm under Cox Fairfax. The first installer installed both cards on that date. Slot 1 works fine since it brings up my premium channels, digital cable channels, and broadcast channels. However, slot 2 only brought up my broadcast channels. Won't display HBO, Discovery, ESPN, TNT, or other cable channels. Got another technician to come out this past Tuesday evening and he switched the second card out with two other cards (that were never used before, brand new) and it still has the same problem! :mad: So I have another technician coming out later today. But I'm thinking its the slot 2 on the tivo box that doesn't work b/c the technician from Tuesday said they've been getting a lot of people with Tivos that have the same problem that I have. What also stinks is the fact I can't go to any Best Buys around here to exchange the unit since none of them have it in stock. :(

[jfh3]

Fine. They've shipped 10,000 since they started. That means at least 50 bad units. The logic still holds. Just because a half a dozen people have had problems with their units doesn't mean everyone at TiVo is a moron, nobody does any testing, and they have a HUGE quality control problem.

I agree.

Never had a problem with your presmise, just the number. (And even 10K would be fantastic!)

[ehardman]

Well, I got the Tivo Series 3 on the 14th. Had to wait for the cablecard installation till the 19th. I'm under Cox Fairfax. The first installer installed both cards on that date. Slot 1 works fine since it brings up my premium channels, digital cable channels, and broadcast channels. However, slot 2 only brought up my broadcast channels. Won't display HBO, Discovery, ESPN, TNT, or other cable channels. Got another technician to come out this past Tuesday evening and he switched the second card out with two other cards (that were never used before, brand new) and it still has the same problem! :mad: So I have another technician coming out later today. But I'm thinking its the slot 2 on the tivo box that doesn't work b/c the technician from Tuesday said they've been getting a lot of people with Tivos that have the same problem that I have. What also stinks is the fact I can't go to any Best Buys around here to exchange the unit since none of them have it in stock. :(

Sounds like a balancing problem to me, not your Tivo. Read the prior posts regarding this problem.

[Dark Helmet]

Sounds like a balancing problem to me, not your Tivo. Read the prior posts regarding this problem.

I had a similar problem as the original poster (I'm also Cox/Fairfax), and nobody I spoke to (the install technician, the two CSR reps) had any idea what "balancing" meant. The only thing that fixed it was a new CableCard. I feel like maybe the problem was at the headend, but the new CableCard fixed it, so I guess I don't care. But I agree it doesn't sound like a Tivo problem ... the Tivo problems I've seen posted are where the card doesn't work at all.

[ehardman]

Fine. They've shipped 10,000 since they started. That means at least 50 bad units. The logic still holds. Just because a half a dozen people have had problems with their units doesn't mean everyone at TiVo is a moron, nobody does any testing, and they have a HUGE quality control problem.

1. Generally acceptable DOA rates are 1%: Acceptable to whom? What's your source?
2. Half a dozen people have had problems. Interesting number. What's your source?
3. Moron: Can't find the use of this word in my post.
4. HUGE: Can't find the use of this word in my post either.

I was just responding to the post of another user with an identical problem as mine. Just seems to me there would be a diagnostic run on the machine before it left the factory.

[vtrduong]

I had a similar problem as the original poster (I'm also Cox/Fairfax), and nobody I spoke to (the install technician, the two CSR reps) had any idea what "balancing" meant. The only thing that fixed it was a new CableCard. I feel like maybe the problem was at the headend, but the new CableCard fixed it, so I guess I don't care. But I agree it doesn't sound like a Tivo problem ... the Tivo problems I've seen posted are where the card doesn't work at all.

The weird thing is that when we put in the second card into slot 2, no information pops up at all. I had to manually go into the menus to get the Cable Card ID and Host ID. Also in the Cablecard CP menu, the Powerkey status says "Not Ready-Waiting for EMMs.", while for the first cablecard, it says "Ready". The Cox rep had hit the Cablecard in slot 2 to no avail. And she said that they didn't see any problems. Urghh at being an early adaptor..... :mad:

[brage]

Cox (Phoenix, AZ) came out and installed my cable cards in about 45 minutes. He tested the signal at the box outside, then at the wall plate, (it was perfect), then he installed the first card, called in and then it came up, installed the second card, called in and it came up... and been dandy ever since (this was on monday morning).

I'm very happy with my Series 3!

BTW - I also upgraded it to a seagate 750GB sata drive, it is a bit noisier than the 250GB WD drive that comes with the Series 3, but it is 3x the capacity and all :D

-Jeff

[pkscout]

1. [I]Generally acceptable DOA rates are 1%:

If you're going to get all pissy, quote stuff, and look for literal text in your posts, at least do me the honor of quoting the whole thing I said.

Even if Generally acceptable DOA rates are 1%.

The bold part is important. It indicates a possible scenario, not fact.

If you want to complain and claim that TiVo has done no testing and has no quality control that's fine. Just don't bitch when I call you on it.

[jodell]

I had a similar problem as the original poster (I'm also Cox/Fairfax), and nobody I spoke to (the install technician, the two CSR reps) had any idea what "balancing" meant.

When I had my "balancing" problem, what the Cable Tech meant was that the programs I subscribed to where not added equally to each cable card. Apparently, to the person doing the provisioning at the headend, each cable card looks like a separate cable box. They seem to have a problem getting all of the authorizations added to cable cards but do OK when doing the same for a *real* cable box.

Jeff

[ehardman]

Even if Generally acceptable DOA rates are 1%.

The bold part is important. It indicates a possible scenario, not fact.

So in otherwords, you made it up. What else did you make up? You didn't answer any of my questions.

[Timber]

Guys can you get all pissy with each other in another thread (or even better via Private Message) and leave this thread for Cox Cable Cards?

Thanks!

-=Tim=-

[pkscout]

So in otherwords, you made it up. What else did you make up? You didn't answer any of my questions.

And I am electing not to. I'm not going to get into a pissing contest with you over who is right. You believe that 1 single bad unit means TiVo is a company who is incapable of the most basic testing during the production process. I disagree with you. That's the end of that.

[jcaudle]

has anyone heard whether cox in Fairfax is going to switched digital anytime soon?

[Donbadabon]

Just had my Cox Fairfax install completed.

The guy showed up at 5:25, and was done by 5:55. And that included performing my Guided Setup to change over to Digital cable!

No problems at all with the CableCards. He plugged them in, started my Guided Setup, called into the office to get them activated, and by the time the Setup ended, he was off the phone. It couldn't have gone smoother.

My only issues are with 705 (Fox) and 709 (CBS). They seem to be intermittent, sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't.

Cable signal strength is no less than 98 across the board.

[ehardman]

I got my replacement Tivo from Circuity City and had Cox come for attempt #2 Friday afternoon. The same technician came again as he is now the "expert" for Cox locally. He got the replacement Tivo up and running in about 20 minutes.

Everything went very smooth once I had a unit with two working cable card slots.

[Dick Kalagher]

Just had my Cox Fairfax install completed.

The guy showed up at 5:25, and was done by 5:55. And that included performing my Guided Setup to change over to Digital cable!

No problems at all with the CableCards. He plugged them in, started my Guided Setup, called into the office to get them activated, and by the time the Setup ended, he was off the phone. It couldn't have gone smoother.

My only issues are with 705 (Fox) and 709 (CBS). They seem to be intermittent, sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't.

Cable signal strength is no less than 98 across the board.

That sounds like a pretty big limitation. Have you fixed the problem. I know two of the locals on Cox are above 800MHz, but the S3 is supposed to tune there OK. Is Cox charging you a $6.99 "digital gateway" fee for each cablecard in addition to the cablecard fee?

[Shades]

Hey folks,

I'm another Fairfax Cox customer, and had my cablecards installed in the first week that the S3's shipped... when I first got them installed, everything seemed fine, and immediately thereafter I had to travel on company business. Since returning, I immediately noticed some weird things going on...

1. The primary cablecard seems to be able to get all the channels I subscribe to, though they all appear to be digital so I have no recording quality options.

2. The second cablecard cablecard seems to be able to recieve the HD channels, (and by that I mean only the "free" network HD channels), and a few of the non-HD non-network channels (like public service channels) but doesn't seem to recieve anything else. Black screen but no message about missing signal.

I called Cox and explained the issue. They said they would refresh the programming signal to both cards to make sure they both have the same channels. That didn't seem to make any difference.

I figured I'd need to get a tech out there eventually, but at least it was all working well enough on the primary tuner, so I was fine.

Now, a week later I am seeing new issues:

1. I recorded the 2nd episode of "Heroes" in HD it only recorded the last 40 minutes of the show and it was almost unwatchable due to digital artifacting and sound cutting in and out. When I could see it, the picture looked great, but it kept being broken up. When I checked the the channel on live TV (705 I think) it was doing the same thing. On the second tuner the signal seemed fine and it did not have that digital artifacts issue on any of the HD channels.

2. Today I try to record "Lost" in HD and when I turn on the TV to see if its working properly, there is just a black screen. I make sure its working, and when I hit info it tells me there is no signal. I stop the recording to check the other channels and one of the other HD channels also shows no signal, but the rest seem to be okay. I tune to SciFi (82) and it tunes properly, but now I'm seeing some of the digital artifacts on that channel now too, even tho its supposed to be analog (or it was before.) I also check with the 2nd tuner and it also does not see a signal on those two HD channels, but it still doesn't get SciFi so I check channel 8 which seems fine.

I check diagnostics and it shows my signal strengh as 65 (with lock okay) on my main tuner which is tuned to channel 82 and signal strength 0 (with lock okay) on the 2nd one, which is tuned to channel 8. When I checked yesterday, I'm pretty sure both showed signal strength of 78 on HD channels. I'm pretty sure they showed 100 when Cox first installed the cablecards.

My system is also one of those that when you go to the cablecard config menu that constantly pops in and out of diagnostic modes on its own and you have to hit the Tivo button to get back to the main menu. It won't stay on the cablecard troubleshooting menus long enough to do much. The 2nd cablecard originally was attempted to be installed in slot 1, but wouldn't initialize there... though it seemed to work fine in slot 2 after another card went into slot 1.

So, it sounds like at least one of my cablecards (probably 2nd one) is not working right or at least not accepting programming, though seems to be working fine elsewhere. It also seems like there is something funky going on with my signal strength too. I have a cable modem as well and it seems to be working fine.

Figure I should probably schedule another appt to at least try to get the 2nd card exchanged, but not sure about the rest. Any insight would be appreciated. :)

Thanks!

-Darrin

[Dark Helmet]

Hey folks,

I'm another Fairfax Cox customer, and had my cablecards installed in the first week that the S3's shipped... when I first got them installed, everything seemed fine, and immediately thereafter I had to travel on company business. Since returning, I immediately noticed some weird things going on...

1. The primary cablecard seems to be able to get all the channels I subscribe to, though they all appear to be digital so I have no recording quality options.

2. The second cablecard cablecard seems to be able to recieve the HD channels, (and by that I mean only the "free" network HD channels), and a few of the non-HD non-network channels (like public service channels) but doesn't seem to recieve anything else. Black screen but no message about missing signal.

I called Cox and explained the issue. They said they would refresh the programming signal to both cards to make sure they both have the same channels. That didn't seem to make any difference.

I am Cox/Fairfax as well, and I had the _exact_ same problems as you (second cablecard only tuned a few channels). The only thing that fixed it was another truck roll and a replacement card. I haven't seen anything like the other problems you reported, though.

[jfh3]

I check diagnostics and it shows my signal strengh as 65 (with lock okay) on my main tuner which is tuned to channel 82 and signal strength 0 (with lock okay) on the 2nd one, which is tuned to channel 8. When I checked yesterday, I'm pretty sure both showed signal strength of 78 on HD channels. I'm pretty sure they showed 100 when Cox first installed the cablecards.

Get the cable company to check your signal levels (in the incoming cable).

If you are seeing only 65-80 on the Tivo meter, something's wrong.

I would expect a level of 65 to possible result in the recording/signal problems you mention.

[rjrcm]

Cox in Phoenix. After seeing all the problems, glad my install went reasonably well today. Took about 20 minutes including waiting for all the channels to appear. 2nd card seemed bad, but he had extras, and next one worked. Be sure that the cards are pushed in all the way - had to nudge the first one to get it connected.

Only gripe is I was told in email that the install charge would be $34.95, but the phone and store reps told me $49.95 - said the extra $15 was to set up the HD connection - what a crock. Anyway - was in time to record Lost which worked perfectly :).

[pkscout]

Only gripe is I was told in email that the install charge would be $34.95, but the phone and store reps told me $49.95 - said the extra $15 was to set up the HD connection - what a crock. Anyway - was in time to record Lost which worked perfectly :).

Hey, it takes extra time to setup all those extra HD bits that are being sent to your TV. Cut them some slack. :D (I am totally kidding, that is a crock)

[Shawn95GT]

Cox Phoenix here doing mine now.

Inserting the first card put the Cable card menu in a scrolling loop. I re-booted the Tivo and was able to get in and see the Cablecard info.

Tech called it in.

Inserted #2, and the 'a cablecard was just interted' message came up. We waited a bit and just dove into the cablecard info screen so he could call it in.

The tech called in card #2.

everything worked except I wasn't getting the HD channels (well, besides the local channels). Another call from the tech, a re-hit and I was in business!

They installed 2 SA cards.

<edit>
After the techs left I lost a few random blocks of digital channels. I have a trouble ticket in to resolve the issue. :(
</edit>

[Shades]

So, Cox was out here today to fix my problems. I already determined my signal was low, so I had removed some splitters from my cable path and added a signal booster before the tech arrived. That got my signal up to the 82-85 range which improved my reception and got rid of the mpeg tiling, but didn't help with my missing channels.

The tech arrived, and looked at the set up. Everything was still working fine on my main tuner, but the second tuner still would only pick up analog signals. He removed the remaining splitters and the signal booster from my line to be sure there was no other issues and even ran a new line from the block in my yard to be sure there was no problems with the buried cable. Everything looked fine, and my signal now was up to 92-95 on the box, but the 2nd tuner still wasn't getting digital signals.

After calling in to get the auth signal sent again with no result, he finally decided it was time to replace the 2nd cablecard as I had requested. After removing and replacing that card and going through the cablecard id call in and re-auth, it still didn't work... and in fact, now both units refuse to recieve digital signals. He removed both cards, replaced them, and no difference. Both show as Authentication Recieved and both show as operating normally in the diagnostics.

To make a long story short, its now been several hours of changing settings, and we're both out of ideas... he's called everyone he knows at Cox and nobody has any more ideas. So, we check my digital cable box that drives my old S2 TiVo and find that that one is acting weird too... he checks some stuff and it looks like there is a problem with the network since it is no longer communicating bi-directionally. So we put everything back together, the tech calls it in and then leaves. At least my signal is in the 82-89 range now without the amp, so I shouldn't have any more signal strength issues.

So, now after 4 hours of trying to get my 2nd tuner working properly, neither tuner on my S3 works with digital channels, and I have to wait for a followup service call to check into the network problems. If it doesn't suddently start working in the next day or two, I have to schedule another call to have another tech come out to work on it.

Fun stuff. :(

Hopefully there isnt' a problem with my TiVo itself... even with the new cards its still doing the stuff with randomly switching diagnostic screens on its own every few seconds whenever I go into any of the CableCard diagnostic menus.

Btw, I went through the guided setup again once before when I had both cablecards installed originally, does anyone know for sure if I need to do it again with the new replacement cards? The idea was to configure the channels I recieve, but that was already done. I am hoping I don't, since I have some programming left to watch and would prefer not to have to re-do my season passes again. :)

-Darrin

[moyekj]

...At least my signal is in the 82-89 range now without the amp, so I shouldn't have any more signal strength issues... Sounds a little low to me still. As a point of comparison my digital cable channels show 96-97 signal strength with S3 diagnostics. My OTA channels are in the 80s (expected since I'm 50+ miles from broadcast antennas and using indoor antenna) but OTA is usually OK to have lower signal strength based on my experience with PC tuners.

[moyekj]

Cox, Orange County, CA here. Took 3.5 hours and a lot of patience but finally both CableCards are up and running and tuning all channels I subscribe to. Here's my summary of the process for those that haven't been through the nightmare yet:

1. After installing the cablecard be patient, it takes 2 minutes or so for the CableCard MMI (CableCard Pairing) screen to come up and it will do so automatically.
2. For Cox the relevant numbers that need to be called in from the Pairing screen are: CableCard, Host, Data
(The UnitAddress number is not used - at least for Cox OC)
3. After entering the above numbers into their system this is where things went wrong for me. From the headend side the system confirms everything is correct and the CC is communicating with the headend. Following the next step in instructions it says go to the CC Test Channels section - WRONG! For 1st cablecard we waited about 30 minutes at the "Obtaining Channels" swirl screen and eventually a timeout screen appeared saying to try again. So we tried again and waited another 30 minutes or so at which point it timed out again. Then the installer goes and cuts cables, disconnects amp, re-crimps cables, etc. etc. which I assured him was all worthless and then we reboot and try with a new CC - same result.
THE KEY AT THIS POINT IS AFTER ENTERING THE CC NUMBERS ON HEADEND SIDE THEY MUST THEN PERFORM A COLD INITIATE. A few minutes after this is done you should get an error screen with 161-4 - THIS IS A GOOD SIGN THAT THINGS ARE WORKING.
4. After receiving the 161-4 error screen then everything falls into place. (In my case the Tivo froze at this point and I had to reboot). Go over to Test Channels and you have to wait a few more minutes for all proper channels to be authorized.
5. Make sure you check all encrypted channels that you care about to see they are properly authorized. In my case they had to re-hit the CC yet again for some channels to work.

6. Jump up with joy and share a beer with the installer before attempting CC #2.
7. Now you can repeat process with CC#2. I had a lot of trouble getting CC # 2 to receive some premium channels - the authentication wasn't sticking properly. Finally we found that by channeling through some unencrypted channels first in the test phase and then heading over to premium channels we got it to work, and we had a mini-party.
8. Now you should redo guided setup. I couldn't convince the installer to stay any longer at this point (after 3.5 hours) but everything went smoothly from there.

Anyway, the key takeaway is there is an additional step that must be performed from the headend after they think they have entered the numbers from the Pairing screen and their system shows the card is communicating OK. They need to do a cold restart of the card to "wake it up".

Now I have my system setup with both OTA & Cable. So far so good but only time will tell if it remains that way...

[Dark Helmet]

So, Cox was out here today to fix my problems. I already determined my signal was low, so I had removed some splitters from my cable path and added a signal booster before the tech arrived. That got my signal up to the 82-85 range which improved my reception and got rid of the mpeg tiling, but didn't help with my missing channels.

So, some dumb questions:

What kind of amp did you buy? One that is labelled as being bi-directional?

Did you try putting terminating resistors on unused outlets?

(I admit these are both shots in the dark, but it sounds like you have some "weird" communication issues)


Hopefully there isnt' a problem with my TiVo itself... even with the new cards its still doing the stuff with randomly switching diagnostic screens on its own every few seconds whenever I go into any of the CableCard diagnostic menus.

I was under the impression (but I am NOT sure) the card is "initializing" whenever
it does that. I had that problem with a bad CableCard as well.


Btw, I went through the guided setup again once before when I had both cablecards installed originally, does anyone know for sure if I need to do it again with the new replacement cards? The idea was to configure the channels I recieve, but that was already done. I am hoping I don't, since I have some programming left to watch and would prefer not to have to re-do my season passes again. :)


I don't think you do. I think the Tivo might _suggest_ it, but I don't think it's a requirement. Also, does re-doing guided setup clear out your season passes?

[moyekj]

I think the Tivo might _suggest_ it, but I don't think it's a requirement. Also, does re-doing guided setup clear out your season passes? It does not clear out your Season Passes. I Just had the CCs in tonight and all my SPs from antenna recordings are all still there. Also reportedly if you had SPs setup on antenna channels and then you disable antenna during guided setup the S3 will automatically try and match them up to channels in your cable lineup.

[NOD]

woohoo!

The cc installation (which I scheduled 3 days after ordering on launch day) finally happened a couple of hours ago here in New Orleans, and went off w/o a hitch. It was the first one this guy had installed on a Tivo, and he said they had been briefly told about it, and that they had been told to follow the Tivo instructions. It took about an hour (in large part b/c, when the guy at the headend modified my account, he had accidentally lost the GI numbers on the 2 Motorola 6200's that I own and deleted them).

Once we got that straightened out, it only took about 20 minutes :)

[moyekj]

Soon after my dual CC install I noticed Universal HD (UHD) channel would just give me grey screen on either tuner. I would not get any authorization problem messages and when I press Info button it would give info on current program but no video or audio. Checking all CC & diagnostic screens did not reveal anything abnormal. So finally I went to CC Test Channels and after a while of channeling up and down all of a sudden UHD started working. I then went to Test Channels on other tuner and confirmed it was OK there. After that now that channel and all others I have tried are working properly. Weird...

[pfunky]

Just a heads up for anyone who already was using a CableCard in their TV before getting their S3. When my S3 arrived, I yanked the card from the TV and inserted it into the S3, and it worked. Apparently, Cox Wichita (Kansas) didn't pair the card with the TV, perhaps that's a common thing.

Saved me $30 installation charge for that card. Still have to pay the other $30 for the second card though (completely ridiculous).

[ehardman]

Just a heads up for anyone who already was using a CableCard in their TV before getting their S3. When my S3 arrived, I yanked the card from the TV and inserted it into the S3, and it worked. Apparently, Cox Wichita (Kansas) didn't pair the card with the TV, perhaps that's a common thing.

Saved me $30 installation charge for that card. Still have to pay the other $30 for the second card though (completely ridiculous).

In Salina, KS they charged me $49.95 total for both cards installed. I do not think they charge and install fee for each card.

FYI, I also have a CC in my TV which has its own cable feed. This way, if Tivo is recording two programs, we can still watch live TV on a third channel.

[TiVo-rific]

COX Orange County charges $39.95 for installation per card. I installed 4 cards into 2 S3s. When I got the bill I complained about the cost and they refunded 3 of the installation charges. :D

[moyekj]

COX Orange County charges $39.95 for installation per card. I installed 4 cards into 2 S3s. When I got the bill I complained about the cost and they refunded 3 of the installation charges. :D I also had to call in for a correction as I was billed 2*$39.95 for CC installation - they were very courteous and understanding and changed the installation charge to the single $39.95. It's still a little unclear as to the monthly charges change but from my last talk with a CSR it was supposedly just going to be 2*$1.99 for CC rental charges (with no additional outlet fees). Shall see for sure on the bill for November.

[pfunky]

In Salina, KS they charged me $49.95 total for both cards installed. I do not think they charge and install fee for each card.

FYI, I also have a CC in my TV which has its own cable feed. This way, if Tivo is recording two programs, we can still watch live TV on a third channel.

Yup, I just got off the phone with a guy named "Silver" at Cox. He told me that cablecards are now $50 for installation. He was blaming it on gov. regulations, and that it wasn't under their control. Total BS. :mad: ( even THIS (http://www.ncta.com/DocumentBinary.aspx?id=457) FCC report seems to indicate that it's up to each company to set their price)

I was going to do the same, and have them insert another one back into my TV, but he told me it would be YET ANOTHER $50 for that. So I told him no for now.

[Shawn95GT]

FYI, got my 1st bill from Cox... beware of hidden fees.

Besides the cablecard fees they charge a 'digital gateway' fee per cablecard which is another $6 for the 2nd card besides the cablecard fee.

Yeah, this is 'so' much better than satellite :rolleyes: .

I'm paying about $10/mo than I was paying with my previous cable company and I picked up High def in the deal and lost unlimited long distance on the phone side.

Ahh well, the S3 makes it all worth it.

[pkscout]

FYI, got my 1st bill from Cox... beware of hidden fees.

Besides the cablecard fees they charge a 'digital gateway' fee per cablecard which is another $6 for the 2nd card besides the cablecard fee.

I've been thinking about complaining to the FCC about this extra fee. If you get the Cox DVR (which has two tuners in one box), you pay only one digital gateway fee. It seems anti-competitive to charge someone with a TiVo 2 digital gateway fees for the same functionality.

[XBR]

FYI, got my 1st bill from Cox... beware of hidden fees.

Besides the cablecard fees they charge a 'digital gateway' fee per cablecard which is another $6 for the 2nd card besides the cablecard fee.

...Their website says:Valid with Limited Basic Service, includes on-screen guide, access to premium channels, indemand pay-per-view, plus 72 music choice channels.So if you're already paying for the Cox Digital Cable service, which already includes those services, I'd say they're ripping you off.

[TravisKU]

In Salina, KS they charged me $49.95 total for both cards installed. I do not think they charge and install fee for each card.

FYI, I also have a CC in my TV which has its own cable feed. This way, if Tivo is recording two programs, we can still watch live TV on a third channel.

I'm waiting to get my bill. When I called they tried to tell me it was $50 install per card. He said this was dictated by CableLabs. I told him, he needs to check on it.

Travis

[Dick Kalagher]

The "digital gateway fee" per card or outlet is the one thing that keeps me with directTV. It's essentially a fee for not using analog? Total ripoff!

[jasonpot]

Called Cox Las Vegas after purchasing the S3. They informed me I could pickup the CableCARDs at the Rancho office. Drive down there on my lunch hour and they say they must be installed and they didn't even have the CableCARDs at that location. Fortunately, they scheduled my install for the very next day between 3-5

Around 4pm the installer shows up with 2 CableCARDs in his shirt pocket. He asks me if they are going into a Tivo I say yes, and he said he thought so. I asked if he'd ever installed the cards into a Tivo before and he said he had, but he huffled and puffed a littled about how long they took.

The install went perfectly and took 20 mins. He inserted the first card, called in and read off the HOST ID, and did the same for the 2nd. All channels worked instantly.

Very pleased with everything. Now I just need an OTA antenna and transfer my liftime from my SVR2000 and I'll be good to go.

[CharlieS]

woohoo!

The cc installation (which I scheduled 3 days after ordering on launch day) finally happened a couple of hours ago here in New Orleans, and went off w/o a hitch. It was the first one this guy had installed on a Tivo, and he said they had been briefly told about it, and that they had been told to follow the Tivo instructions. It took about an hour (in large part b/c, when the guy at the headend modified my account, he had accidentally lost the GI numbers on the 2 Motorola 6200's that I own and deleted them).

Once we got that straightened out, it only took about 20 minutes :)


How much does Cox charge for CableCards in New Orleans or Baton Rouge?

[TheChadAZ]

Called Cox Las Vegas after purchasing the S3. They informed me I could pickup the CableCARDs at the Rancho office. Drive down there on my lunch hour and they say they must be installed and they didn't even have the CableCARDs at that location. Fortunately, they scheduled my install for the very next day between 3-5



I spoke to a supervisor at Cox and had them refund the entire cost of the truck roll and card install because I was told that I could pick up the cards at the local office and was then told that they had to be installed after I had driven all the way down there and waited for my number to be called. Its up to you, but I was glad to get that $50 back for my trouble.

[TheChadAZ]

FYI, got my 1st bill from Cox... beware of hidden fees.

Besides the cablecard fees they charge a 'digital gateway' fee per cablecard which is another $6 for the 2nd card besides the cablecard fee.

Yeah, this is 'so' much better than satellite :rolleyes: .

I'm paying about $10/mo than I was paying with my previous cable company and I picked up High def in the deal and lost unlimited long distance on the phone side.

Ahh well, the S3 makes it all worth it.

Here is my cable bill from AFTER cable cards (the number before the charge is quantity and is included in the fee):
COX LIMITED BASIC 2 19.95
COX EXPANDED SERVICE 2 20.00
DIGITAL GATEWAY SERVICE 2 7.00
VARIETY TIER 2 5.00
HBO 2 12.95
SHOWTIME 2 7.00
COX HDTV 2 0.00
HD EXPANDED TIER 2 0.00
COX CABLECARD 2 4.00
Total Monthly Cable Service $75.90

Here is my cable bill from BEFORE cable cards:
COX LIMITED BASIC 1 19.95
COX EXPANDED SERVICE 1 20.00
DIGITAL GATEWAY SERVICE 1 5.00
VARIETY TIER 1 5.00
HBO 1 10.95
SHOWTIME 1 5.95
HD DIGITAL RECEIVER 1 10.00
COX HDTV 1 0.00
HD EXPANDED TIER 1 0.00
Total Monthly Cable Service $76.85

Cox also increased the fee for the premium services (hbo and showtime) in the Phoenix market and that increase is not because of the cable cards. All in all, the two cable cards comes out cheaper than a single cable box.

[daffydude]

Ok, I just got off the phone with COX. What a terribly system. It will cost me 16 dollars a month for 2 cablecards. I live in a dorm at UCSB, so we do not get HD service. We get standard service, and I can get ABC in HD with an antenna.

My question is, what will I be losing by just sticking with standard cable, and not using the cablecards? I have had the 8300HD and it is the biggest piece of garbage. Will I still be able to get my premium channels(HBO, Showtime)? Thanks for the help!

[scott816]

Had Cox Fairfax install my two CC's today and i am happy to report it only took about 25 minutes. Each card costs 1.99 a month but they charge you twice for the digital gateways. When my bill arrives i am going to complain about being charged for two digital gateways since their HD DVR has dual tuners and they only charged one digital gateway. I don't see the difference.

[XBR]

Folks, Cox here in Orange County, CA told me Cox Digital Gateway does not apply if you subscribe to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe. It only applies if you only want the digital music channels, PPV and the guide but don't care to have the digital cable channels. If you are already subscribing to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe and they're also dinging you for Cox Digital Gateway, I would think you're getting double-dipped.

[moyekj]

Folks, Cox here in Orange County, CA told me Cox Digital Gateway does not apply if you subscribe to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe. It only applies if you only want the digital music channels, PPV and the guide but don't care to have the digital cable channels. If you are already subscribing to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe and they're also dinging you for Cox Digital Gateway, I would think you're getting double-dipped. That's correct. I'm in OC and kept my digital service and will be charged for:
2*$1.99 CC rental
2*$1.59 additional outlet fee (arguably should only be 1 for 1 Tivo box)
After trial period is over and I'm confident about the S3 I will be returning the Cox DVR so expect to be able to drop to 1 additional outlet fee (though arguably there shouldn't be any with 1 Tivo box and no cable box) in addition to the DVR box rental fee & the DVR service fee.

[Dark Helmet]

Folks, Cox here in Orange County, CA told me Cox Digital Gateway does not apply if you subscribe to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe. It only applies if you only want the digital music channels, PPV and the guide but don't care to have the digital cable channels. If you are already subscribing to Cox Digital Cable or Cox Digital Cable Deluxe and they're also dinging you for Cox Digital Gateway, I would think you're getting double-dipped.

You guys have a different rate structure (which I find surprising, but there you have it). Cox/Fairfax has a "Each additional Digital outlet" charge of $5.95/month (it's not called Digital Gateway ... in Cox/Fairfax, "Digital Gateway" is required to get any digital channels). I think that's what the original poster was talking about. I don't mind paying the cost of one additional digital outlet for the Tivo, but the cost of two digital outlets sticks in my craw. I guess your additional outlet fee is $1.50/month.

Perhaps us Cox/Fairfax customers should all complain to Fairfax County? They seem to be the relevant governing body. You can even do it online.

[Dark Helmet]

Well, I just filed my complaint with Fairfax County regarding getting charged for two digital outlet fees (I did try going through Cox CSR rep, who basically told me the extra charge was Tivo's fault). Did anyone else complaint to their municipality or relevant governing authority? I don't know if anything will come of this, but I figure it's worth a shot.

[XBR]

Well, I just filed my complaint with Fairfax County regarding getting charged for two digital outlet fees (I did try going through Cox CSR rep, who basically told me the extra charge was Tivo's fault). Did anyone else complaint to their municipality or relevant governing authority? I don't know if anything will come of this, but I figure it's worth a shot.I just ordered ordered the Digital Cable Service, two cable cards for the Series3 plus an HD PVR for a 2nd location from Cox Orange County, CA and they said they would only add one additional digital outlet fee for the HD PVR. Counting your Series3 as two outlets really blows, since, as someone else mentioned, their own PVR can record two things at once from a single outlet (don't have it yet so can't confirm). Hope this helps with your cause.

[pestilence]

IM not sure what you mean by cable cards. I have Cox in Phoenix and have no problems with the series 2. Cox doesnt know I have tivo and I dont plan to let them know either because its none of their business. Cox already has too much of the "digital pie" imho

[Shawn95GT]

IM not sure what you mean by cable cards. I have Cox in Phoenix and have no problems with the series 2. Cox doesnt know I have tivo and I dont plan to let them know either because its none of their business. Cox already has too much of the "digital pie" imho
You'd know it all too well if you had a S3 ;). Think Tivo in HD! The S3 doesn't use a cablebox, it 'is' your cable box and it tunes the digital / HD channels. the cablecards are what authorize the Tivo's tuners for the channels you subscribe to.

[techman36]

My TCStore Series3 is arriving on Friday according to DHL. I have scheduled my 2 cable card installs for Saturday morning. I will give an update post install.

Also, the Cox CSR tried really hard to talk me out of the cards stating that I would not be happy and I should stay with the 2 DVRs I have been renting from them (I also have a Series2 as well) She kept saying that picture quality was horrible and Tivo didn't stack up well against the SA 8300 DVRs. All I could do was laugh and asked her to fill my order as I asked. She did so but kept repeating that there was going to be a $50 charge every time the CC failed. The really seem to be pushing back really hard to keep cards from going out and trying to keep people renting their DVRs. Makes allot of sense since they are squeezing $25 a month from the 2 DVRs I have from them now.

[pkscout]

She did so but kept repeating that there was going to be a $50 charge every time the CC failed. The really seem to be pushing back really hard to keep cards from going out and trying to keep people renting their DVRs.

I would have let her know that every time they extort $50 from you for providing a substandard product that you would be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau, the local franchise authority, and the FCC. It's OK for the cable monopolies to need some time to get up to speed on cablecard (I guess 2 years hasn't been enough), but telling people they're going to charge if a product they co-developed breaks is simply unacceptable.

[pkscout]

Question for Cox Las Vegas folks. Are you able to get the digital simulcast of the analog channels with the cablecards? I'm moving to Vegas in January, and if I can't get the digital simulcast channels with the cablecards I'm thinking of just building a MythTV box and going analog cable and the free QAM channels (I don't want or need any of the premium channels).

[jasonpot]

Just got my first bill. As I feared, they are charging me the "Digital Gateway Outlet" fee for $7.95 each plus the CableCARD rental fee of $1.99. This is not kosher as their own crappy DVR has dual tuner functionality and they don't charge the additional outlet fee for it.

Complained to the local franchise authority. Will let you know if anything comes of it.

As for the simulcast, how would I go about checking for that?

[pkscout]

As for the simulcast, how would I go about checking for that?

I don't have the Series3 yet, so here's a guess. Any digital channel or tuner shouldn't allow you to set the recording quality. So if Cox is doing digital simulcast of all the channels *and* if the cablecard is mapping the analog channel numbers to the digital ones, then you shouldn't have any option to set the recording quality.

Of course if you can set the recording quality it might just mean I don't know what I'm talking about. ;)

[Bodie]

Just what is a "digital gateway"? Can they show me one? If I sign up for any level of service, I can tune to channel X and see that service is there that I'm paying for. I just want to know WTF this digital gateway is that I will be paying for. (I wonder what would they give me if I called and said "I want the digital gateway" and then refused any other services...)

[jasonpot]

pkscout -

There are definitely channels that do have that option and some that don't. For sure, the HD channels do not have the option to change recording quality. I'll double check to see if the digital channels have the option. Pretty sure that the lower analog channels have the option.

[XBR]

Just what is a "digital gateway"? Can they show me one? If I sign up for any level of service, I can tune to channel X and see that service is there that I'm paying for. I just want to know WTF this digital gateway is that I will be paying for. (I wonder what would they give me if I called and said "I want the digital gateway" and then refused any other services...)With Cox in OC, CA, the Digital Gateway gets you pay-per-view, the music channels and the guide. These features are included with the Digital Cable Service, so if you pay for the Digital Cable Service, there is no separate line item for the Digital Gateway.

[Shawn95GT]

With Cox in OC, CA, the Digital Gateway gets you pay-per-view, the music channels and the guide. These features are included with the Digital Cable Service, so if you pay for the Digital Cable Service, there is no separate line item for the Digital Gateway.
they told me 'that's what lets you get the digital channels'.

Let's see...

PPV - dont' care.
Music channels - almost never use, wont' miss e'm
Guide - They're kidding, right?

Take your Fee and shove it Cox!

[XBR]

they told me 'that's what lets you get the digital channels'.
...Man, that's bogus. But, the pricing page for AZ does look different than the one for OC CA. On the OC page, a footnote to the Digital Gateway service reads: "** Valid with Limited Basic Service, includes on-screen guide, access to premium channels, indemand pay-per-view, plus 72 music choice channels."

[moyekj]

Yes for Cox OC assuming you are still paying for at least the minimum digital cable tier then the charges are (if you are not renting a digital box from them):
CC #1 $1.99 CC rental
CC #2 $1.99 CC rental + $1.59 additional outlet

By returning the Cox DVR I had $9.95 box rental + $4.95 DVR service deducted from the bill
=> Net cable bill is around $9/month less than when I had the Cox DVR

[XBR]

Yes for Cox OC assuming you are still paying for at least the minimum digital cable tier then the charges are (if you are not renting a digital box from them):
CC #1 $1.99 CC rental
CC #2 $1.99 CC rental + $1.59 additional outlet

By returning the Cox DVR I had $9.95 box rental + $4.95 DVR service deducted from the bill
=> Net cable bill is around $9/month less than when I had the Cox DVRYup, I thought I could live with it, I'm going to drop their DVR (even though I've heard they were going to upgrade to TiVo-based software by the end of the year) and pick up two more cable cards; they said my monthly bill will drop by 10 bucks--which will more than cover the multi-discounted monthly for the 2nd Series3 I will put in it's place. The one additional outlet fee I was already paying for their DVR will not change.

[dt_dc]

Just what is a "digital gateway"? Can they show me one? If I sign up for any level of service, I can tune to channel X and see that service is there that I'm paying for. I just want to know WTF this digital gateway is that I will be paying for. (I wonder what would they give me if I called and said "I want the digital gateway" and then refused any other services...)Chuckle ... good question.

Cox says 'Cox's "Digital Gateway" service consists of an interactive programming
guide and Music Choice, a forty-channel audio service' and that 'subscribers must purchase a "Digital Gateway" service as a condition to receiving any digital services'.
http://sec.edgar-online.com/2005/03/16/0000950144-05-002664/Section2.asp

Others say it's a violation of tier buy-through prohibitions and a way to enforce tier buy-through (and per-outlet) charges and have complained to the FCC about it:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-897A1.pdf
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA407391.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA414415.html
http://www.natoa.org/public/articles/NATOA_Buy-through_Letter_CSR_6313-B.pdf
etc.

[Dark Helmet]

Chuckle ... good question.
Others say it's a violation of tier buy-through prohibitions and a way to enforce tier buy-through (and per-outlet) charges and have complained to the FCC about it:
[...]


While I am not defending Cox, everything I have read said that cable rate regulation is for BASIC cable only. The entries I looked at that you pointed to all talked about basic cable plus add-ons ... if it's not basic cable, then the FCC has no authority (I admit, the whole "buy-through" thing is a bit confusing to me). Clearly if you're using the Series 3 with cablecards, you're not just getting basic cable.

My complaint to my local franchising authority was based on Cox not applying their stated rates consistantly (two outlet fees for one television).

[jcaudle]

its a rip-off for the digital gateway fee, which is charging you for 2 outlets....between the price of the S3 and the cox charges here in fairfax is why I haven't bought the S3...I will muddle along with H10-250 even though over air locals here suck...so I have to use SD satellite broadcast for locals.

[nreuben]

Experience with COX Palos Verdeds, CA (LA metro)

Prior to S3 had an HD cable box but no DVR

Got the S3 Wed night, called Cox Thursday AM, had an appt for Saturday

Ordered 2 cable cards, was told net dif to the monthly was 4.95 - no breakdown of detail. Two cards two 39.95 install charges, not negotiable.

No problems with what a cable card was or hassles about ordering them. Told me no VoD, guide, music channels. (However music channels still work with CC.)

Guy shows up, order says 1 card. Fortunately he has two. Lots of back and forth with the phone support end gets the cards registered and the channels loaded.

The guy had done some CC installs before, but the back end seemed to be unsure of the actual steps. Also the process requests brand of device - no pick for Tivo, so goes in as the TV - Sony.

Unfortunately the premium channels not showing up on one card. Odd, as the non-premium HD channels are working. Looks like a config problem, but he says card may also be suspect, but needs to get a new one. "I'll be back..." - Had my doubts, but 2 hours later he's back with a new card, which after registration resolved the problem.

Waiting for the bill to see what I really got charged for...

But otherwise pleased with the outcome - strong signal, excellent picture, even on the SD cable channels, better than the box.

[OrangeKid]

I am in HD Nirvana. I had two cable cards installed in my new S3 by Cox today here in Vegas. The install went without a hitch but required a few tries. After four years of HD I finally have an integrated DVR for HD and SD. The last two years I have had a SA 8300HD but I only used it for HD and digital broadcasts. I continued to use my S2 for analog SD. Finally everything is nicely integrated.

One question for the experts. What are the little square rods next to each cable card. One of them is all the way in, and on my second cable card it is sticking out. I started to push it in but the cable card started to come out. What should I do. Both cable cards are working as expected.

i purchased an upgraded S3. I can hear the 750GB drive. While loading the data from Tivo it was very noticeable. Now, a few hours later, it seems a lot quieter. I hope it is not annoying.

[XBR]

...What are the little square rods next to each cable card...They're for extracting the cards; if you have a notebook PC with PC Card (PCMCIA) card slots, it probably has a similar mechanism for popping the cards out. As for whether you can just push the one sticking out in and pop the card out and back in again, I would think you could without ill effect--but I've never done it before. If you do it and the Strip goes dark or the Earth stops turning you'll be sorry :)

[OrangeKid]

"As for whether you can just push the one sticking out in and pop the card out and back in again, I would think you could without ill effect--but I've never done it before. If you do it and the Strip goes dark or the Earth stops turning you'll be sorry "

I think I will will leave well enough alone!

[craigo]

So, I called Cox in Phoenix today to get some pricing since pricing seems to be all over the place. The 1st CSR said that the CC's won't be available for the S3 until Feb/Mar. I assured him that they are available now and asked if he could speak to his supervisor. He said "sure", then...click...

So I called back to CSR #2 and think she gave me a pretty good deal:

One time fee of $9.95 + tax (forgot what she said this is for)
One time fee of $15,00 + tax for HD Fee
HD Package along with phone and internet- $112 per month including tax
$12.95 extra for HBO

Comparing to some other deals I've seen, this sounds pretty good. She also said I will receive 40 or so Music Channels which I didn't think were available. Maybe that has changed.

Is this a pretty good deal?

[Tico]

Sounds Like:


http://www.cox.com/Arizona/digitalhomepak.asp

[Shawn95GT]

So, I called Cox in Phoenix today to get some pricing since pricing seems to be all over the place. The 1st CSR said that the CC's won't be available for the S3 until Feb/Mar. I assured him that they are available now and asked if he could speak to his supervisor. He said "sure", then...click...

So I called back to CSR #2 and think she gave me a pretty good deal:

One time fee of $9.95 + tax (forgot what she said this is for)
One time fee of $15,00 + tax for HD Fee
HD Package along with phone and internet- $112 per month including tax
$12.95 extra for HBO

Comparing to some other deals I've seen, this sounds pretty good. She also said I will receive 40 or so Music Channels which I didn't think were available. Maybe that has changed.

Is this a pretty good deal?
You don't have to pay the 'HD Fee' unless you get their STB.

I wouldn't bet on the pricing they quoted you. I have that same triple-play deal which is $99 + hardware. What they don't quote you is the 'digital gateway' fees. The only Cox equipment I have is the two cable cards and the standard digital + 1 (Variety in my case) tier. The HD is included with ANY digital package subscription, but they do need to specificly provision your cablecards for the HD channels.

My $99 + 2 cable cards somehow equals $118/mo. Add HBO and you're looking at $130/mo.

See if you can talk them into a free install ;). I caught a promotion and dodged the $30ish/ea fee for cablecard installs.

[craigo]

My $99 + 2 cable cards somehow equals $118/mo. Add HBO and you're looking at $130/mo.

So my pricing isn't to for off from yours. Does the $130/mo include the tax/fees? She also said that In Demand should be coming at the beginning of next year. What about Music Channels. Do you receive them?

[Shawn95GT]

So my pricing isn't to for off from yours. Does the $130/mo include the tax/fees? She also said that In Demand should be coming at the beginning of next year. What about Music Channels. Do you receive them?
Yes that includes all taxes etc.

I do get the music channels. MTVHD was a plesant suprise. It reminds me of RaveHD on Voom. I was happy to get ESPNHD w/o the sports tier too.

[Bodie]

Chuckle ... good question.

Cox says 'Cox's "Digital Gateway" service consists of an interactive programming
guide and Music Choice, a forty-channel audio service' and that 'subscribers must purchase a "Digital Gateway" service as a condition to receiving any digital services'.
http://sec.edgar-online.com/2005/03/16/0000950144-05-002664/Section2.asp

Others say it's a violation of tier buy-through prohibitions and a way to enforce tier buy-through (and per-outlet) charges and have complained to the FCC about it:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-897A1.pdf
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA407391.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA414415.html
http://www.natoa.org/public/articles/NATOA_Buy-through_Letter_CSR_6313-B.pdf
etc.

I kind of thought the answers would be all over the place.

You know what they say, "if it smells like a duck..."

[moyekj]

Just got my November Cox bill and can confirm the cable bill went down by $9.43/month. Charges here in Cox, Orange County CA for 2 CableCards for Tivo S3 (with no Cox digital box in the house anymore):
$1.49 additional outlet fee (for 2nd CC - I guess I'm OK with this)
2 * $1.99 for CableCard rentals

By returning the Cox DVR I save:
-$4.95 DVR Service fee
-$9.95 DVR rental

=> net change of -$9.43/month

For those in other markets paying "digital gateway" fees it sounds like a ripoff.

[craigo]

Yes that includes all taxes etc.

I do get the music channels. MTVHD was a plesant suprise. It reminds me of RaveHD on Voom. I was happy to get ESPNHD w/o the sports tier too.


Sweet....Just bought the S3 and need to call Cox back to schedule the install....Can't wait!

[Goofball]

Cox Phoenix (Peoria, AZ) came out and installed my cards today. Everything is up and running and I am getting all of the channels I requested.

The installer only had 2 cards with him and was only expecting a single card TV style install so if you are ordering and have to deal with a truck roll make sure they note on the work order that the installer needs to bring 2 cards and a couple of spares and that the install is for a TiVo that uses 2 cards. This was the installers first TiVo and he was surprised at the whole thing. Cox might want to at least put a note out to the activation and installation techs so they are aware of the Series3...

The installer was able to get one card up and running immediately but the other was dead (kept insisting it needed to download firmware). He ended up calling another tech in the area and getting a couple of spare cards from him. The next one he tried after getting back from picking the cards up worked no problem.

I was getting tiling and signal loss on some of the digitals but an amp behind my media cabinet fixed that no problem. Before the amp I was in the low 70s according to the onboard signal meter on the channels that were tiling, now with the amp they are up in the mid 90s. I wish Cox would finish up with the digital simulcast conversion in this area so that I don't have to set all my season passes up on the 800 series test channels that may or may not stay where they are since I get some ugly noise on some of the analogs now with the amp.

Reran the guided setup and have been sitting on my ass watching InHD and DiscoveryHD for the last couple of hours. I can't wait for this weekend and getting the NASCAR Cup race recorded in HD off of TNTHD.

Overall I am pretty happy with the whole thing and I will update if I run into any problems.

Let's really mess things up now: I haven't seen anyone else post on this so I'll let everyone know how it goes. We have sold our current house and are moving on the 15th. This also involves moving service to the new address for Cable. At this point I don't know if I will have to have the CableCards replaced once I get to the new location (Avondale, AZ vs. Peoria, AZ where we are now) or if they can just set the cards up for the new head end. I'll be calling Cox today to schedule the disconnect of service at my old address and the move of service to my new one.

I'll post the results once I have Internet access back and new service all set in the next couple of weeks.

[Bodie]

I'll post the results once I have Internet access back and new
service all set in the next couple of weeks.

Good luck!

[Goofball]

Good luck!

I have a scheduled date of 11/16 between 8 and 10AM for installation at the new place and disconnection of service at the old. According to the rep Cox does have to replace the CableCards (at an install fee of $9.95) so we'll see how everything goes. It ought to be fun to try to get this done while I am moving stuff in to my new place. Guess I'll have to have a TV and the TiVo stored in the back of one of my cars for easy access when the Cox tech shows.

Thanks for the good luck wish. I'll need it, otherwise I am stuck watching the final NASCAR race live and possibly without HD. Thankfully I get to see the Phoenix one in person this weekend so if I miss the last one it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

[techman36]

Had my CCs install on the 4th and all seems to be fine so far. Initially we get a bad cablecard and had to call another tech to get another one. Once we tried the second and third card all went well after activation. Was getting some tiling initially, but all seems to be fine now.

I returned my HD DVR and standard DVR that I had and picked up another cable box for my old Series 2. I'm anxious to see if there is going to be any difference in my monthly bill.

But, so far so good.

[craigo]

Yes that includes all taxes etc.

I do get the music channels. MTVHD was a plesant suprise. It reminds me of RaveHD on Voom. I was happy to get ESPNHD w/o the sports tier too.


A couple of questions for you....The cable guy is here now and he says that all local channels are in HD and there is no need for an OTA atenna.

1. Is that true?
2. If not, do you install the atenna into the tivo or tv?
3. I'v noticed that many local channels such as channel 5 display "5, 5-1". Some of them even have 3. Does this have to do with SD, HD?

I haven't had much time to play with it since he is still here, just thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance.

[Shawn95GT]

A couple of questions for you....The cable guy is here now and he says that all local channels are in HD and there is no need for an OTA atenna.

1. Is that true?
2. If not, do you install the atenna into the tivo or tv?
3. I'v noticed that many local channels such as channel 5 display "5, 5-1". Some of them even have 3. Does this have to do with SD, HD?

I haven't had much time to play with it since he is still here, just thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance.
1. - Yes the big nets that have local HD broadcast are on channels prefixed with a 7. 12-1 is 712. 5-1 is 705 etc.
2. I disconnected my antenna once I got the cablecards installed. It shouldn't hurt to leave it there if you want, but some channels will be duplicated.
3. All of the x-x channels are your digital off-air channels. This doesn't necessarily mean they are HD.

Cox's re-broadcast of the HD channels seems to be on-par with the off-air broadcast so for the S3 I just let it get it all from Cox. In my case having both the cable and the antenna connected seemed to be causing drop outs on the cable channels. It may have been coincidence but it works perfect now with the antenna disconnected. It's a case of 'ain't broke, don't fix it'.

[moyekj]

...
3. I'v noticed that many local channels such as channel 5 display "5, 5-1". Some of them even have 3. Does this have to do with SD, HD?

5 (ant) = analog OTA broadcast of 5
5 (cbl) = cable company SD re-transmission of 5 (this could be analog or digital depending on your cable company and if you are using cablecards or not)
5-1 (ant) = digital OTA broadcast of 5

I usually disable the analog/SD versions in my channel lineup such that wishlists use the HD versions wherever possible.

[TheRatPatrol]

You can also get the HD channels thru Cox by using a QAM tuner. I don't know why they don't put them in numerical order, but I guess you can't be picky seeing that they are free. And you should be able to get these too if you only have basic cable, 2-22.

RF Ch Call Sign Name QAM Frequency
76-1 KSAZ-DT Fox 10 536992 KHz
76-2 KASW-DT CW 61 536992 KHz
80-1 KNXV-DT ABC 15 560992 KHz
80-2 KPHO-DT CBS 5 560992 KHz
81-1 KAET-DT-1 PBS HD 566992 KHz
81-2 KPNX-DT-1 NBC 12 566992 KHz
81-3 KAET-DT-2 PBS 566992 KHz
81-4 KPNX-DT-2 NBC 12 W+ 566992 KHz

[Shawn95GT]

You can also get the HD channels thru Cox by using a QUAM tuner. I don't know why they don't put them in numerical order, but I guess you can't be picky seeing that they are free. And you should be able to get these too if you only have basic cable, 2-22.

RF Ch Call Sign Name QAM Frequency
76-1 KSAZ-DT Fox 10 536992 KHz
76-2 KASW-DT CW 61 536992 KHz
80-1 KNXV-DT ABC 15 560992 KHz
80-2 KPHO-DT CBS 5 560992 KHz
81-1 KAET-DT-1 PBS HD 566992 KHz
81-2 KPNX-DT-1 NBC 12 566992 KHz
81-3 KAET-DT-2 PBS 566992 KHz
81-4 KPNX-DT-2 NBC 12 W+ 566992 KHz
Good info there, but if he's getting cablecards he won't see those RF Channel numbers, just the 7xx channel numbers.

Shawn

[ajwees41]

Really?
Cox here in Omaha only charges $1.99 per card.

Why would cox be different in different areas?


Different harware maybe + different prices?

The Cox provided HD and HD/DVR are also different prices. Same place have the same price for box rental as a regular digital box, but Omaha's HD and HD/DVR are $5..20 higher than the regular digital boxes.

ajwees41