Official Time Warner Cable Thread

[dlfl]

You could complain to TWC corporate and the FCC using the links given in post #4491 of this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7620541#post7620541). Frankly I don't think such complaints will do much, but you don't know unless you try.

Also, call TiVo support and after letting them try whatever they want, ask if they can connect to the TWC National Cable Card Support Group. This can be done outside normal business hours. The NCCS people really understand CableCARDs and TA's and they can communicate with your local TWC office to help them do the right things.

It seems absolutely ridiculous that so many TWC customer interface people don't even know whether their service area is using SDV and Tuning Adapters -- until you realize that only TiVo users ever care about this and they are only about 0.5% of digital cable subscribers.

[kevin120]

Here's my expeirence, I got TW cable in the Bar Harbor Maine area (served out of Bangor) Because i bought a new house that did not have a clear line of sight for my DirecTV. They gave me a crappy Motorola DVR that i hated, So i bought a new Series 3 Tivo. When i called TW to get it set up, i was informed that i could only get a cable card if i had a specific serial number, which i did not have. when i informed them that Tivo says the S3 will work with any CableCard made in the USA, the guy "Checked with his Tech" and was informed that it would not work with my Tivo. When in formed him that according to the FCC's website, they were required to provide a CableCard for my tivo, he asked when he should have the tech there to install it.

3 days later, Tech shows up with two S cards.. and spends the next 3 hours trying to pair the cards, finally he gives up in disgust when he is unable to get the cards to work.. 20 minutes after he stops frigging with the cards and has left, they mysteriously start working...

They have been working fine for the past 9 months... until 2 weeks ago, when i lost most of my HD channles, i signed up for a Tuning Adapter months ago, but never got one, so i call support, and inform them then i've lost my channels, he tries sending me a hit, no dice, sends me to tier 3 tech support, the guy i talk to is very nice, but knows nothing about SDV bring rolled out in my area, first he says it is, then it isn't, that he can just send me a tuning adapter, then that he can't, and has to have a tech come out... so i schedule an appointment for today... The installer shows up (a very nice young woman) with guess what... No tuning adapter. no M cards, her work order just says "Customer can't get HD" says nothing about SDV, nothing about the 20 minute conversation that i had with the tier 3 tech about it being an SDV problem... So she says that she is going to be heading back to the office later, and can come back out with the tuning adapter and an M card.... time passes....

She comes back, tuning adapter in hand, goes took it up and "Has never seen a setup like mine" i have a splitter running to the motorola box, and to my tivo s3, not a very complex setup. she doesnt' want to install the M card because of all the trouble we had with the S cards, she gets the tuning adapter installed.... and it wont' sync up to TimeWarner... several calls back and forth with the office and... we have to install the M card...

She gets the M card installed, paired up and... No Sync with the tuning adapter...

"Oh, sometimes they take a while to sync" well here we are 3 hours later.. and no sync. she said that if it has not synced by monday, call the office and they will send a tech with a new tuning adapter...

Ugh...

did they try to install a MTR700 or a STA1250. If it was the second one it was no wonder that it did not work they only work on cisco cable systems not motorola cable systems.

[mhochman]

It's an MTR700, Which funnily enough looks almost exactly like Motorola's old Vonage adapter. almost the same identical case, two Coax on the back instead of two RJ11's and amber/red lights on the front instead of Green/Red.

Either way, Still no Sync... So I guess I'll have to call TW on Monday. Everyone i talk to there continues to say "Well we're all very new at this digital stuff" but I don't find that a valid excuse, they should have made sure everyone was familiar before the switch.

Right now i'm no worse off than i was before, i get all my locals in HD, i'm just missing a dozen or so channels, which i do get on my TW box. But i'd like to actually get what i'm paying for on both boxes.

[kevin120]

It's an MTR700, Which funnily enough looks almost exactly like Motorola's old Vonage adapter. almost the same identical case, two Coax on the back instead of two RJ11's and amber/red lights on the front instead of Green/Red.

Either way, Still no Sync... So I guess I'll have to call TW on Monday. Everyone i talk to there continues to say "Well we're all very new at this digital stuff" but I don't find that a valid excuse, they should have made sure everyone was familiar before the switch.

Right now i'm no worse off than i was before, i get all my locals in HD, i'm just missing a dozen or so channels, which i do get on my TW box. But i'd like to actually get what i'm paying for on both boxes.

actually the MTR700 uses the same case as the DCT700.

[tydurden]

Is this my problem "Channel List Received: No"?

I am having a technician come out today for the 10-12 time (I have lost count) and am looking for troubleshooting ideas to help him out.

Background:
The harddrive in my original TivoHD went bad so I had to get a replacement. Ever since it has been replaced TWC has been unable to get my new Tivo to work using their cable cards.

TWC tried at least 10 different cards as well as two different types M and S. We even swapped out the Tivo again to make sure it was not the tivo.

Both TWC and Tivo have gone through all the cable card screens and say that everything looks perfect.

But the Tivo will just sit at aquiring channel information and never pickup any channels.

[SCSIRAID]

Is this my problem "Channel List Received: No"?

I am having a technician come out today for the 10-12 time (I have lost count) and am looking for troubleshooting ideas to help him out.

Background:
The harddrive in my original TivoHD went bad so I had to get a replacement. Ever since it has been replaced TWC has been unable to get my new Tivo to work using their cable cards.

TWC tried at least 10 different cards as well as two different types M and S. We even swapped out the Tivo again to make sure it was not the tivo.

Both TWC and Tivo have gone through all the cable card screens and say that everything looks perfect.

But the Tivo will just sit at aquiring channel information and never pickup any channels.

That is a problem.... yes...

[tydurden]

That is a problem.... yes...

TWC and TIVO both agree that the Cable card is paired and activated properly (Val:V) but the tivo will not "download" the channel list. Any ideas to resolve?

[SCSIRAID]

TWC and TIVO both agree that the Cable card is paired and activated properly (Val:V) but the tivo will not "download" the channel list. Any ideas to resolve?

Can you get into TA Diags? What is the FDC signal level from TA Diags?

At the very bottom of DVR Diags... Does it say TA is Operational? Status is Ready? but channel list received is NO?

Have you tried another USB cable? Perhaps plug the USB cable into the other TiVo USB port?

[tydurden]

Can you get into TA Diags? What is the FDC signal level from TA Diags?

At the very bottom of DVR Diags... Does it say TA is Operational? Status is Ready? but channel list received is NO?

Have you tried another USB cable? Perhaps plug the USB cable into the other TiVo USB port?

I don't have a TA. I verified with the local office that I do not need one.

[SCSIRAID]

I don't have a TA. I verified with the local office that I do not need one.


Ahhh... I missed that. So in this case, the channel map is coming from the cablecards... In DVR Diags.. what is the OOB SNR? Is OOB Signal Lock = YES?

[tydurden]

Ahhh... I missed that. So in this case, the channel map is coming from the cablecards... In DVR Diags.. what is the OOB SNR? Is OOB Signal Lock = YES?

I am not if front of my TIVO right now. But my SNR was 26 and I am not sure what the OOB Signal Lock was.

[tydurden]

Ahhh... I missed that. So in this case, the channel map is coming from the cablecards... In DVR Diags.. what is the OOB SNR? Is OOB Signal Lock = YES?


OOB SNR 25dB
OOB Signal Lock is Yes

What does that mean?

[SCSIRAID]

OOB SNR 25dB
OOB Signal Lock is Yes

What does that mean?

It means that your TiVo can 'hear' the hub just fine...

Just so I understand... you have had two TiVo's and neither can get a channel map? I cant believe you have two bad TiVo's... On the other hand, do you have a TWC digital box that works ok? do you have a cablecard TV you could try? Are their any other TiVo's in your neighborhood? You might ask your local TWC folks if they have a TiVo they could try on your line (our local guys have TiVo's).

[tydurden]

It means that your TiVo can 'hear' the hub just fine...

Just so I understand... you have had two TiVo's and neither can get a channel map? I cant believe you have two bad TiVo's... On the other hand, do you have a TWC digital box that works ok? do you have a cablecard TV you could try? Are their any other TiVo's in your neighborhood? You might ask your local TWC folks if they have a TiVo they could try on your line (our local guys have TiVo's).

I have tried two different Tivo's and neither can get a channel map. I used to have a TivoHD that worked on this line but I had to return it (bad harddrive).

I am thinking their is something wrong with my account.

One thing I notice is that in the Network Setup screen the VCTID shows "11". But in the DVR diagnotics screen VCTID is "-".

[rassi]

Ok, we have had a TiVoHD for about 5 months now, and at least once a month the Tuning Adapter loses it's "lock" and the green light on the front starts flashing. We then can no longer get the channels that require the TA to tune them in. Each time I have called Time Warner support and every time they have had to send someone out to the house to fix the problem. I ask the technician every time what he does to fix it, and they can never tell me anything straight.

A - Why does this keep happening?

B - Is there a way to resolve this issue without having to have a TW tech come out to the house???

We have a Cisco STA1520 TA....

[dlfl]

Ok, we have had a TiVoHD for about 5 months now, and at least once a month the Tuning Adapter loses it's "lock" and the green light on the front starts flashing. We then can no longer get the channels that require the TA to tune them in. Each time I have called Time Warner support and every time they have had to send someone out to the house to fix the problem. I ask the technician every time what he does to fix it, and they can never tell me anything straight.

A - Why does this keep happening?

B - Is there a way to resolve this issue without having to have a TW tech come out to the house???

We have a Cisco STA1520 TA....
This kind of thing is pretty common -- probably more than one way it can happen but unlikely anyone can tell you.

When TWC gives up and wants to schedule a truck roll, ask them to be connected to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk. If they won't do this just allow them to schedule it.

Then call TiVo support and after they go through their questions etc., ask them to connect you to the TWC NCCS desk. If they can, your problem will probably be solved in a few minutes. I've done this and it was late on a Thursday evening. (Then cancel the truck roll.)

Also see this post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7627522#post7627522)and monitor the TWC Tuning Adapter thread it is in.

[mmcgown]

A - Why does this keep happening?

B - Is there a way to resolve this issue without having to have a TW tech come out to the house???

We have a Cisco STA1520 TA....

In my case, the problem was low signal strength. The TA seems highly susceptible to signal strength issues. To fix my problem, TWC replaced the cable from the telephone pole to the house, and then tweaked an existing signal amplifier in the attic by disconnecting cable-runs to rooms which had no TV or internet service. After this was done and the signal was checked with a meter at the cable outlet feeding the TA, the level had gone up several (points or db or whatever unit is used), and I've not had much of a problem since.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of tech guys at TWC who understand how the TA works, and they don't seem to think of this.

[rassi]

In my case, the problem was low signal strength. The TA seems highly susceptible to signal strength issues. To fix my problem, TWC replaced the cable from the telephone pole to the house, and then tweaked an existing signal amplifier in the attic by disconnecting cable-runs to rooms which had no TV or internet service. After this was done and the signal was checked with a meter at the cable outlet feeding the TA, the level had gone up several (points or db or whatever unit is used), and I've not had much of a problem since.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of tech guys at TWC who understand how the TA works, and they don't seem to think of this.

Not sure if this would apply in our case. We've essentially already had the house re-wired from the pole to every outlet in the home. When we moved in this summer, the cable was old and in horrible shape. In the course of 8 technician visits to get everything working (yes, it took 8 visits to get it all fixed) they rewired every segment from the pole to each room (2) where there is a cable outlet.

[JimWall]

I have had this problem several times. Each time I unplug and power off/on TA and also reboot TIVO which did not resolve problem.
Then I call TWC and it gets fixed on the phone without a truck roll.
The support person on the phone sends a hit to the TA. The TA seems to freeze and the hit causes some kind of reset that powering TA off and on does not do.
If hit doesn't work then unplug the power for 10 seconds and then plug it back in.
After serveral minutes you will get the acquiring channels screen and it is working. The last time the person on the phone was too impatient and I had to tell him to wait, after the hit, until I powered it off and on before doing a truck roll. Fortunately it started working fine.

[rassi]

Ok, I followed the link regarding different blink sequences for my TA, but was unable to accomplish anything on my own. So I called TW and requested someone who was knowledgable regarding TAs and HDTiVos. The rep stated they'd just had training on it, and asked me to wait so he could get his training materials.

When he returned we discussed the problem and he researched for a bit, then he told me he performed the following:

- Addressable
- Pair Host
- Refresh

He said these were sent to the cablecard.

This "reset" the TA and I now had a steady green light on the TA, instead of the constant blinking. However, looking in the TiVo status screens, it told me there was no TA connected. I did the USB disconnect and reconnect sequence, and that made the TiVo recognize it had a TA connected. It downloaded the channel lineup, and I was back in business.

:)

[dlfl]

I also had a TWC local CSR fix my TA (without involving the national cable card help desk) two days ago, see **here** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7638809#post7638809)for details. In my case she did it instantly without consulting any docs. I suspect the national help desk got tired of being swamped by TA problems and inititated some training.

Please post your locations, if they aren't in your profile.

[MustHaveTivo]

Anyone in former Adelphia portions of the LA area actually get a TA yet? If so, how?

[Traal]

I had my CableCard installed today (northern San Diego county near Rancho Bernardo). The phone rep I scheduled with could only guarantee a single-stream card (apparently the installers have multi-stream cards on hand anyway because they work better in TiVos than other cards), and never mentioned the tuning adapter which is practically mandatory yet scarce enough that the installers don't always have them on hand, so my installer had to phone in for one. Installation took an hour and a half, with one glitch that got resolved (the card didn't register on the first try). The installer (Israel) really knew his stuff.

[bpr8064]

I am looking at buying a new TIVO HD DVR instead of my cable, but I want to know what type of cable service, if any, do I need to keep once I get the box and the 2 CABLECards. Can anyone help me with this? I was hoping that I could cancel my cable all together except for the CABLECard fees but I wanted to make sure before I dropped $300 on a new TIVO. I am in the Raleigh/Durham NC Area. Thanks.

[rover1]

A couple of weeks ago TWC added 8 HD channels to the lineup....the next day they added 1 more and a couple of days later they added one more. The problem is that the original 8 adds will not tune for me at all. I get a plain gray screen. No Temp unavailable or any notices....just the gray screen. The channel added the next day works fine and the last add works just fine. I have called Oceanic and the very nice gentleman went through several steps (from the manual) about rebooting the Tivo and rebooting the TA---which I had already tried before I called. He checked a couple of things with the tech folks while I was on hold but nothing worked. I have a truck roll on 15DEC--the first available date since right after T-giving. I have sent email to TWC support and they have (slowly) been working on a fix. Today I get the notice that a new hit has been sent to both cable card and TA and for me to try the reboots again---still nothing. I told them that it is almost as if the TA is not aware that I am supposed to get those 8 channels. Any suggestions? I am off island for a week starting Sunday so that gives them a few days to maybe come up with a solution--short of the truck roll on the 15th. TIA for any help.
Bill :confused:

[dlfl]

I am looking at buying a new TIVO HD DVR instead of my cable, but I want to know what type of cable service, if any, do I need to keep once I get the box and the 2 CABLECards. Can anyone help me with this? I was hoping that I could cancel my cable all together except for the CABLECard fees but I wanted to make sure before I dropped $300 on a new TIVO. I am in the Raleigh/Durham NC Area. Thanks.
:confused: Without cable service, you can only receive signals by antenna -- is that what you want to do? The TiVo subscription service only provides Guide Data, not the actual video feeds, but you must subscribe or your TiVo will be a brick. The CableCARD is only necessary if you have digital cable service. Also, you should try to get one m-card instead of 2 s-cards.

See this sticky thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=419994)for good info on the THD.

[iggygirl6]

We subscribe to TWC in Maine. After we bought an HD TV, my husband and I purchased a TiVo HD as an upgrade to the TiVo we have, so that we could get HD channels through the TiVo. When I found out that we would need to get cablecards and a tuning adapter because SDV is being used in our area, I called TWC tech support to get some more information. When I asked the tech support person about using cablecards with the TiVo and the tuning adapter, I was informed that even with the tuning adapter, we would not be able to get a good portion of the HD channels available through TWC, such as Discovery HD, Science Channel HD, Syfy HD, etc., only the local HD channels.

Given this information, we sadly returned our TiVo HD and got the TWC DVR. I was informed by the person at the TWC office where I picked up the DVR, that it would be able to do all of the things that TiVo could do. WRONG! We cannot stand the TWC interface, and as you all probably know, we cannot do half of the things that we could do with TiVo. We loved our TiVo and we hate the TWC DVR.

I'm wondering if anyone else on here from Maine has dealt with this issue, and if there was a work-around so that we could use the TiVo and still get all of the HD channels? Should we get the cablecards and tuner and take our chances? For those of you in Maine that are using your TiVo with cablecards and the tuning adapter, what HD channels are you able to get? I thought that the tuning adapter was supposed to allow a TiVo with cablecards to pick up all of the channels in SDV, so I don't know why TWC says that with cablecards plus the tuning adapter, that we won't be able to receive certain HD channels.

I would greatly appreciate any help/advice/suggestions you can give me, so that we can go back to our TiVo and get rid of the TWC DVR, if that is possible, or are we stuck with the DVR until a TiVo with Tru2way technology is available? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Grumock]

We subscribe to TWC in Maine. After we bought an HD TV, my husband and I purchased a TiVo HD as an upgrade to the TiVo we have, so that we could get HD channels through the TiVo. When I found out that we would need to get cablecards and a tuning adapter because SDV is being used in our area, I called TWC tech support to get some more information. When I asked the tech support person about using cablecards with the TiVo and the tuning adapter, I was informed that even with the tuning adapter, we would not be able to get a good portion of the HD channels available through TWC, such as Discovery HD, Science Channel HD, Syfy HD, etc., only the local HD channels.

Given this information, we sadly returned our TiVo HD and got the TWC DVR. I was informed by the person at the TWC office where I picked up the DVR, that it would be able to do all of the things that TiVo could do. WRONG! We cannot stand the TWC interface, and as you all probably know, we cannot do half of the things that we could do with TiVo. We loved our TiVo and we hate the TWC DVR.

I'm wondering if anyone else on here from Maine has dealt with this issue, and if there was a work-around so that we could use the TiVo and still get all of the HD channels? Should we get the cablecards and tuner and take our chances? For those of you in Maine that are using your TiVo with cablecards and the tuning adapter, what HD channels are you able to get? I thought that the tuning adapter was supposed to allow a TiVo with cablecards to pick up all of the channels in SDV, so I don't know why TWC says that with cablecards plus the tuning adapter, that we won't be able to receive certain HD channels.

I would greatly appreciate any help/advice/suggestions you can give me, so that we can go back to our TiVo and get rid of the TWC DVR, if that is possible, or are we stuck with the DVR until a TiVo with Tru2way technology is available? Thanks in advance for your help.

Well I can tell you that the rep you talked to was dead wrong also about receiving those channels. As long as you have the tuning Adapter you will receive all the channels in the lineup other then On Demand or pay per view.

[mmcgown]

Iggygirl6:

You were misinformed by TWC. This is a common problem: TWC personnel either haven't been trained properly or, perhaps, simply don't want to tell you the truth.

A TiVo HD equipped with a properly installed Tuning Adapter and either two cablecards or one M-card will receive all the HD channels TWC offers in your area.

Call them back and insist on getting the TA and card(s). An M-card is preferable to two cablecards but either will work. Insist politely on speaking with a supervisor, and then a higher supervisor, until you get to talk to someone who agrees with you that the correct installation will make your TiVo HD perform as you expect.

Even after the equipment is installed, expect occasional glitches--channels that won't tune in on the first try, but will work on a second attempt--but overall, this setup performs reasonably well.

I've had this setup for a year and, with the above limitation, my TiVoHD receives all the channels TWC broadcasts, except for On-Demand channels and pay-per-view stations. Be patient and persistent. TWC seems to discourage customers but if you are firm, you will get what you need.

[dlfl]

Well I can tell you that the rep you talked to was dead wrong also about receiving those channels. As long as you have the tuning Adapter you will receive all the channels in the lineup other then On Demand or pay per view.
Isn't TWC Maine using Motorola Tuning Adapters? Which points out that each TWC region can be different in the delivery system technology they use, since most TWC regions use Cisco TA's AFAIK.

Are the moto TA's actually available? At least they do seem to maintain a nation-wide consistency in the spotty knowledge of their CSRs. :rolleyes:

One can only hope they will do better with the TA rollouts in Maine than they have in several other TWC regions. I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

[Shmooh]

I am looking at buying a new TIVO HD DVR instead of my cable, but I want to know what type of cable service, if any, do I need to keep once I get the box and the 2 CABLECards. Can anyone help me with this? I was hoping that I could cancel my cable all together except for the CABLECard fees but I wanted to make sure before I dropped $300 on a new TIVO. I am in the Raleigh/Durham NC Area. Thanks.

I'm in Cary (Raleigh area, for those who don't know). They definitely support M-cards here - you don't need 2 S-Cards.

However, as dlfl said, I think you're a bit confused about how cable cards work. (No worries - gotta start somewhere. :)) The thread he posted is a great source of info.

In short, CableCards are just a mechanism to decrypt the signals coming from the cable company. You still have to buy all the same stuff every month to get the same channels. All the CableCard does is allow you to not rent the cable box (and remote) from Time Warner Cable.

Incidentally, you'll also need a Tuning Adapter to get the Switched Digital Video channels (most of the HD channels and many of the less-watched regular SD channels). The Tuning Adpater is free (for now), and is a box that will sit between your Tivo and the cable jack on the wall.

You may want to check out the Carolina's Tuning Adapter thread for more info on this. It's a bit frustrating since the tech is pretty new and doesn't work flawlessly yet. Link is here. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=418262&page=37)

Lastly, you'll need to buy the Tivo (a couple hundred dollars), plus pay for Tivo service to get guide data (and so the Tivo will work at all). $13/month, $130/year, $300 for 3 years, or $400 for lifetime of the box. (I think those are the rates, anyway.)

Tivos and CableCards aren't really a good way to save money (which is what I think you're looking for?). At best, you'll probably break even after 3 years or so (if you get a lifetime subscription for the Tivo). The Tivo is really about avoiding Time Warner's crappy DVR and getting some additional services like Netflix streaming, ability to expand your storage capacity, wishlist guide searches, better overall experience, etc. My opinion.

[Grumock]

Isn't TWC Maine using Motorola Tuning Adapters? Which points out that each TWC region can be different in the delivery system technology they use, since most TWC regions use Cisco TA's AFAIK.

Are the moto TA's actually available? At least they do seem to maintain a nation-wide consistency in the spotty knowledge of their CSRs. :rolleyes:

One can only hope they will do better with the TA rollouts in Maine than they have in several other TWC regions. I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

as far as I understand not all of that area is Moto though. I think some are what they call an "overlay" system where they use both, but not 100% sure since I dont live up there.

[Grumock]

Iggygirl6:

You were misinformed by TWC. This is a common problem: TWC personnel either haven't been trained properly or, perhaps, simply don't want to tell you the truth.



Honestly, I think it's more a lack of exposure issue, then an actual malicious attempt to sink cable cards. Not sure but I heard someone on here say that cable card subs only make up a small % of total revenue for some of the cable companies. Now if you think about it, ask the next tech that comes out to your house how many times does he deal with cable cards on an annual basis? Unless he is the lead tech on these issues I bet the answer is pretty low.

[LockRob]

Honestly, I think it's more a lack of exposure issue, then an actual malicious attempt to sink cable cards. Not sure but I heard someone on here say that cable card subs only make up a small % of total revenue for some of the cable companies. Now if you think about it, ask the next tech that comes out to your house how many times does he deal with cable cards on an annual basis? Unless he is the lead tech on these issues I bet the answer is pretty low.

My experience with a new Tivo install was that the first two techs out, talked freely about how they had no training in installing either cable-cards OR tuning adaptors, and about how they were scared of the devices, and about how they never worked the first time.
I don't know, but the third installer clearly DID know what he was doing and solved all the problems within 10 minutes.
Well, not all...I still don't have a solution for the TWcable policy of copy protecting almost ALL the channels so that tivo desktop is virtually useless.
Oh well...

[TracerBullet]

Anyone else in Queens or Brooklyn having trouble after last week's outage? I have to say I am getting really fed up with the cablecards losing random HD channels for weeks after any little hiccup in service.

[IsItLive]

Tracer, I am seeing problems with missing channels again here in Manhattan after a long streak of problem free service. It is quite frustrating to turn on my TV in the morning to catch a weather forecast and being greeted with a gray screen that says "Channel Unavailable" and wonder what shows didn't get recorded the night before. I feel pretty powerless and wish there was another option. Abandoning cable and Tivo altogether and getting my entertainment from Netflix and Hulu is starting to look like a real possibility.

[dlfl]

Honestly, I think it's more a lack of exposure issue, then an actual malicious attempt to sink cable cards. Not sure but I heard someone on here say that cable card subs only make up a small % of total revenue for some of the cable companies. Now if you think about it, ask the next tech that comes out to your house how many times does he deal with cable cards on an annual basis? Unless he is the lead tech on these issues I bet the answer is pretty low.
I'm the "someone" who said only about 0.5% of digital cable subscribers are TiVo users. The thread where these numbers are discussed is **here** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7477795#post7477795). I think defining "malicious" behavior is a gray area. I picture a TWC high level meeting where cable cards, tuning adapters and TiVo's were discussed and it became apparent to all present that these items are losers and nuisances from a TWC business perspective. Perhaps no explicit policy was generated to "sabotage" them but can you really expect support and training for these items to get much management priority after such a meeting? Do you picture a lower level manager being called on the carpet to explain why he/she isn't providing better support and training for these items?

[SCSIRAID]

I'm the "someone" who said only about 0.5% of digital cable subscribers are TiVo users. The thread where these numbers are discussed is **here** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7477795#post7477795). I think defining "malicious" behavior is a gray area. I picture a TWC high level meeting where cable cards, tuning adapters and TiVo's were discussed and it became apparent to all present that these items are losers and nuisances from a TWC business perspective. Perhaps no explicit policy was generated to "sabotage" them but can you really expect support and training for these items to get much management priority after such a meeting? Do you picture a lower level manager being called on the carpet to explain why he/she isn't providing better support and training for these items?

I believe the 'calling on the carpet' would likely come from Customer Care management when they are exceeding their 'service cost estimate' (as we call it) for them. However, if it is all riding under the cost radar, then nobody would likely notice.

[Grumock]

I'm the "someone" who said only about 0.5% of digital cable subscribers are TiVo users. The thread where these numbers are discussed is **here** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7477795#post7477795). I think defining "malicious" behavior is a gray area. I picture a TWC high level meeting where cable cards, tuning adapters and TiVo's were discussed and it became apparent to all present that these items are losers and nuisances from a TWC business perspective. Perhaps no explicit policy was generated to "sabotage" them but can you really expect support and training for these items to get much management priority after such a meeting? Do you picture a lower level manager being called on the carpet to explain why he/she isn't providing better support and training for these items?

I think so yes. TWC created the Cable Card Support desk for a reason & they pay those people to do that job. Now I believe that some of it has to do with the many complaints to the FCC, but that is another subject.

To just throw out a blanket comment saying that none of them care & that it is a conspiracy against Cable Card Customers is a bit paranoid. just because we do not get, what we perceive to be the level of attention that WE think we deserve, does not mean that we were all written off as just big PITAs.

If they were just writing us off, then I would not expect TWC, Comcast, COX, or any of the others to be even trying to support 3rd party users. I know that my experience with the Cable Card Support Desk, they all "Seem" to be very versed in the 3rd party equipment. That indicates to me that at least they are keeping them current on these devises. They have all worked with me on all three of my Cable Card devises. TIVO/MOXI/& ATI Tuner.

Because we at least saw an effort by one cable company, I "ASSUME" that we are at least valued enough to them to pay some attention.

[dlfl]

I think so yes. TWC created the Cable Card Support desk for a reason & they pay those people to do that job. Now I believe that some of it has to do with the many complaints to the FCC, but that is another subject.

To just throw out a blanket comment saying that none of them care & that it is a conspiracy against Cable Card Customers is a bit paranoid. just because we do not get, what we perceive to be the level of attention that WE think we deserve, does not mean that we were all written off as just big PITAs.
.......
Whoa! That appears to be a reply to me (since you quoted me) and that's way exaggerated compared to what I said. All I said is I don't believe we get very high priority from TWC, and I gave the reasons I think that might be.

The National Cable Card Help Desk is a good thing, and thank goodness for it. Twice now it has saved me having a truck roll to get my TA going again. That happened because my local TWC CSR's were not even aware of the NCCS desk's existence -- one insisted it didn't exist even after I insisted it did -- and this was all within the last two months. (I had to go thru TiVo support to get to the NCCS desk.) This is poorly trained CSR's which seems like a pretty good example of management not putting priority on TiVo-related service items.

[Grumock]

All I said is I don't believe we get very high priority from TWC, and I gave the reasons I think that might be.

I would never dispute that fact. I only think that, to believe they are intentionally trying to sink a product is a bit over the top.

As for CSR training I go back to what I have said before. Lack of Exposure is a huge issue. I Also think that in your case for the last two months, I would have demanded to speak to that CSR reps Supervisor.

[dlfl]

I would never dispute that fact. I only think that, to believe they are intentionally trying to sink a product is a bit over the top.

As for CSR training I go back to what I have said before. Lack of Exposure is a huge issue. I Also think that in your case for the last two months, I would have demanded to speak to that CSR reps Supervisor.
Just need to clarify I've never said I was convinced they are "intentionally trying to sink" TiVo. I think that is unlikely although not impossible.

Regarding CSR training, making CSR's aware of the NCCS Desk for TiVo customers (putting it in the "script" ?) is a simple thing that doesn't depend on "exposure" but rather on managment giving more priority to TiVo problems.

The CSR who insisted there was no NCCS Desk did check with "the two lead people on duty" and they backed her up. The NCCS Desk person I talked to on that occasion said she sent email out to make sure all the local CSR's were made aware of the NCCS Desk. A couple of days later another person from my region had the same TA problem, which the CSR could not fix, and he was also told the NCCS Desk did not exist! Creating a NCCS Desk manned by 5 people then not making CSR's aware of it isn't just low management priority, it's bad management, effectively wasting what they're spending on the help desk.

[Grumock]

The CSR who insisted there was no NCCS Desk did check with "the two lead people on duty" and they backed her up. The NCCS Desk person I talked to on that occasion said she sent email out to make sure all the local CSR's were made aware of the NCCS Desk. A couple of days later another person from my region had the same TA problem, which the CSR could not fix, and he was also told the NCCS Desk did not exist! Creating a NCCS Desk manned by 5 people then not making CSR's aware of it isn't just low management priority, it's bad management, effectively wasting what they're spending on the help desk.

That is horrible & unacceptable!!! I have never had such an issue & am sorry that so many people on here have to deal with incompetence like that. I am just astounded that the LEADS told you the same thing.

Just remember they are not Just for TIVO users. Still wonder if all those CSRs did know about it, how they would be quick to hear the word cable card & cold xfer you to the CCSD. I imagine that there would be a very long hold time at that point. What i was told is that yes there may be 5 total on that desk now, but that normally only two are on there. That fact in itself seems flawed too

[bobrt6676]

Just need to clarify I've never said I was convinced they are "intentionally trying to sink" TiVo. I think that is unlikely although not impossible.

Regarding CSR training, making CSR's aware of the NCCS Desk for TiVo customers (putting it in the "script" ?) is a simple thing that doesn't depend on "exposure" but rather on managment giving more priority to TiVo problems.

The CSR who insisted there was no NCCS Desk did check with "the two lead people on duty" and they backed her up. The NCCS Desk person I talked to on that occasion said she sent email out to make sure all the local CSR's were made aware of the NCCS Desk. A couple of days later another person from my region had the same TA problem, which the CSR could not fix, and he was also told the NCCS Desk did not exist! Creating a NCCS Desk manned by 5 people then not making CSR's aware of it isn't just low management priority, it's bad management, effectively wasting what they're spending on the help desk.

Sunday morning I called TW local support and stated I had a TA issue. She said she was not familiar with the TA's but she could transfer me. After 10 min on hold someone answered from the NCCS desk. Gave my TA the proper "HIT" and I had all channels again. Total Time 38 minutes.

[dlfl]

That is horrible & unacceptable!!! I have never had such an issue & am sorry that so many people on here have to deal with incompetence like that. I am just astounded that the LEADS told you the same thing.

Maybe our region just sucks. I know it isn't that bad in other regions based on posts I've seen. It's very spotty. On another 8-blink occasion the local CSR hit her keyboard and had it fixed immediately! She admitted some of them know more about TA's than others (understatement!).


Just remember they are not Just for TIVO users. Still wonder if all those CSRs did know about it, how they would be quick to hear the word cable card & cold xfer you to the CCSD. I imagine that there would be a very long hold time at that point. What i was told is that yes there may be 5 total on that desk now, but that normally only two are on there. That fact in itself seems flawed too
If I have to choose between CSR's that won't escalate you to the NCCS Desk and having a phone queue at that Desk, I choose the latter for at least the following two reasons:

1. If they won't escalate to NCCS I either have a truck roll (which may end up being more NCCS business anyway) or I have to call TiVo support and have them connect me to NCCS.

2. A big queue at NCCS is at least likely to get more high level management attention and maybe pressure them to train their CSR's to handle these cases at the local level.

Come to think of it, if local CSR's can't handle it, it's going to end up at NCCS one way or another because they are the only place that can fix things, so the only thing that's going to reduce that queue is either (1) they fix the system so we don't get 8-blinks, missing channels, etc., or (2) train the CSR's to handle it, or (3) put more people on the NCCS Desk. Those 3 solutions are in order of my preference. ;)

[notting]

Maybe our region just sucks. I know it isn't that bad in other regions based on posts I've seen. It's very spotty.

Yeah; I've had the 8-blink issue twice. The first time, it was an immediate transfer to the NCC help desk, and everything fixed in under ten minutes.

The second time, it was two transfers to the internet department, one transfer to a dead line, and then finally back to an unfortunate rep who could only schedule a truck roll (at which point I lost my cool and hung up - sorry to the rep if he's reading it) Finally got it fixed via Tivo, who got (presumably) the NCC help desk to fix it without even involving me in the conversation.

[Shmooh]

I have the same experience as others, here:

* I talked to 1 local CSR once that was actually able to fix my issue by following a field tech manual he had just been emailed that morning.
* Since then, I talked to 3 different CSRs (who also "talked to their management") who insisted that the national cable card desk did not exist. One was local, two were "national support". At least the local person tried to help me before rolling a truck.


Come to think of it, if local CSR's can't handle it, it's going to end up at NCCS one way or another because they are the only place that can fix things, so the only thing that's going to reduce that queue is either (1) they fix the system so we don't get 8-blinks, missing channels, etc., or (2) train the CSR's to handle it, or (3) put more people on the NCCS Desk. Those 3 solutions are in order of my preference. ;)

I'm with dlfl on this.

[Stormspace]

Yeah; I've had the 8-blink issue twice. The first time, it was an immediate transfer to the NCC help desk, and everything fixed in under ten minutes.

The second time, it was two transfers to the internet department, one transfer to a dead line, and then finally back to an unfortunate rep who could only schedule a truck roll (at which point I lost my cool and hung up - sorry to the rep if he's reading it) Finally got it fixed via Tivo, who got (presumably) the NCC help desk to fix it without even involving me in the conversation.

When I was on the phone with CC support last week I mentioned the eight blink thing and the dude didn't know what that was. Same with the tech that came to the house sunday.

[dlfl]

When I was on the phone with CC support last week I mentioned the eight blink thing and the dude didn't know what that was. Same with the tech that came to the house sunday.
This was the TWC National Cable Card Support Desk ??? Or are you talking about a TiVo support unit? It might not be surprising for a TiVo support person to not know this, but for someone at TWC NCCS to not know about the 8-blink sequence is somewhat unbelievable.

[Stormspace]

This was the TWC National Cable Card Support Desk ??? Or are you talking about a TiVo support unit? It might not be surprising for a TiVo support person to not know this, but for someone at TWC NCCS to not know about the 8-blink sequence is somewhat unbelievable.

I called TWC, mentioned the TA blinking thing and missing channel and was transferred to "Cable Card support". The dude answered the phone that way, more or less. Do they have more than one Cable Card support center?

[dlfl]

I called TWC, mentioned the TA blinking thing and missing channel and was transferred to "Cable Card support". The dude answered the phone that way, more or less. Do they have more than one Cable Card support center?
Not that I know of. Maybe it was the "new guy". When I talked to them recently they said they had recently added one person. Not encouraging though. First time I've heard of any such bad experience with them.

I guess it's possible a service area could have set up a local CCS group.

[Stormspace]

Not that I know of. Maybe it was the "new guy". When I talked to them recently they said they had recently added one person. Not encouraging though. First time I've heard of any such bad experience with them.

I guess it's possible a service area could have set up a local CCS group.

It wasn't a bad experience, just the guy didn't know about the eight blink thing. He thought my signal was too hot, but when the tech came out he discovered/claimed it wasn't hot enough. Seems to be working at present and I've been very pleased that TWC will deploy people on the weekend and after hours. Not so pleased about other corporate policies.

[Grumock]

I called TWC, mentioned the TA blinking thing and missing channel and was transferred to "Cable Card support". The dude answered the phone that way, more or less. Do they have more than one Cable Card support center?

Very Disturbing indeed.

[Shmooh]

I've had a long-standing suspicion that TWC support will tell you something like, "I'm transferring you to CC support, since you insisted.", but then just transfer you to the guy sitting next to them. I don't mean to blindly besmudge their ethics - I had a bad experience a long time ago with Road Runner along these lines (not long after it came out).

This isn't unique to TWC. I've had a couple friends who worked in call centers who said this happens all the time - especially when you get upset with the CSR and ask for a supervisor. Maybe TWC is different. I really do find that the local CSRs try hard to help you, and have very rarely been upset with them (even if they don't know what they're doing sometimes).

I believe Stormspace's account, but maybe they were just trying to appease a customer? It does seem incredible that anybody they added to the CC desk wouldn't know about TAs and the (very common) 8-blink re-authorization hit. It also sounds like they weren't able to solve the problem, which is out of character for that help desk. (Why not just put you on hold and ask one of the other more experienced guys?)

Stormspace, did increasing the signal level solve the issue, or did the tech have to call into a help desk, too?

Isn't it the general consensus that these TAs are really sensitive to signal strength? This could further substantiate that theory.

[SCSIRAID]

Isn't it the general consensus that these TAs are really sensitive to signal strength? This could further substantiate that theory.

I havent seen anything that would convince me that TA's are signal strength sensitive. They are effectively Cisco Cableboxes with a USB interface tacked on. Cisco tuners are pretty darn good and are specifically designed to work on a cable infrastructure and are driven by modulators made by the same company. SNR's indicated in diags are very very good. TiVo's on the other hand... are sensitive to signal strength...

[dlfl]

......... I really do find that the local CSRs try hard to help you, and have very rarely been upset with them (even if they don't know what they're doing sometimes).
I guess I would have to agree the CSR's in SW Ohio are "trying" but it's of little help when they don't know enough to do the right thing, or even connect you with the NCCS Desk.
.........
I believe Stormspace's account, but maybe they were just trying to appease a customer? It does seem incredible that anybody they added to the CC desk wouldn't know about TAs and the (very common) 8-blink re-authorization hit. It also sounds like they weren't able to solve the problem, which is out of character for that help desk. (Why not just put you on hold and ask one of the other more experienced guys?)
...........
With only a 5-person staff, I suspect there may be times when only one person is on duty. I've heard stories about CSR's posing as supervisors too, although not specifically about TWC.

[dlfl]

I've had a long-standing suspicion that TWC support will tell you something like, "I'm transferring you to CC support, since you insisted.", but then just transfer you to the guy sitting next to them. I don't mean to blindly besmudge their ethics - I had a bad experience a long time ago with Road Runner along these lines (not long after it came out).
..............
You can get connected to the TWC NCCS Desk by calling TiVo support and asking for that. It will probably be faster than calling TWC support, (and will prevent TWC faking an NCCS connection if you suspect they would do that). In one case the TiVo support guy didn't know about the NCCS Desk but he had "a number for TWC" -- which turned out to be ..... the NCCS Desk.

[Stormspace]

I believe Stormspace's account, but maybe they were just trying to appease a customer?

Normally, I would agree with you. But I didn't go off on the lady, I just told her I wasn't getting some channels and my TA was blinking. All told I think I spoke to her 2 minutes before she transferred me. I went off on the second guy. ;)


Stormspace, did increasing the signal level solve the issue, or did the tech have to call into a help desk, too?

I didn't see him call anyone, but he was outside for a good while after he checked the signal level. I'm afraid that I was the typical customer that calls with a problem and when the tech arrives the problem doesn't exist, so he has to guess what was wrong.

[dwgsp]

I havent seen anything that would convince me that TA's are signal strength sensitive.

Low signal strength was definitely the cause of my eight blink problem.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7575664#post7575664

[SCSIRAID]

Low signal strength was definitely the cause of my eight blink problem.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7575664#post7575664

Certainly there is a lower limit as to just 'how low can you go'... When someone says a device is 'signal level sensitive', I interpret it to mean that it is very 'picky' about the level and wont operate throughout the typical -10 to +10 dBmV signal strength range. I havent found that to be the case with the TA. If its being run at -15 dBmV or it is running 55dBmV return path power then its likely not gonna work very well.

[Shmooh]

I havent seen anything that would convince me that TA's are signal strength sensitive. They are effectively Cisco Cableboxes with a USB interface tacked on. Cisco tuners are pretty darn good and are specifically designed to work on a cable infrastructure and are driven by modulators made by the same company. SNR's indicated in diags are very very good. TiVo's on the other hand... are sensitive to signal strength...

Hrm. I could have sworn I remembered people on here talking about the TAs being extra sensitive. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong (which is probable) and it's the Tivo itself.

[Shmooh]

With only a 5-person staff, I suspect there may be times when only one person is on duty.

Good point, although you'd hope they wouldn't leave the new guy by himself. :)

[Arcady]

We just got 4 new HD channels here in the Dallas area. (SyFy, Bravo, CNBC, USA) I can manually tune them in, but there is no guide data. How long does it take for new channels to be listed properly? I have a few season passes I'd like to move from the old SD versions of these channels.

[veracity]

I had an appointment to have two cable cards installed... and it was cancelled because they didn't have cards in their truck. When I called to re-schedule they increased the price to about $25 a card per month. Ridiculous.

[kingkong316]

We just got 4 new HD channels here in the Dallas area. (SyFy, Bravo, CNBC, USA) I can manually tune them in, but there is no guide data. How long does it take for new channels to be listed properly? I have a few season passes I'd like to move from the old SD versions of these channels.

I am in the same area and had the same question. I know Tribune has to get the update from TWC but I am wondering how long it takes.

[dlfl]

I am in the same area and had the same question. I know Tribune has to get the update from TWC but I am wondering how long it takes.
Anywhere from 1 day to never. Ideally 1 day or less but then, ideally, no one should ever have trouble with Tuning Adapters and Time Warner tech support would instantly know how to fix it. :)

The new guide data is only picked up when your TiVo phones home -- you can force that at any time of course.

If you want to see what data is available go to zap2it.com and enter your zip code, and pick your lineup. If it isn't there, TiVo can't get it yet.

[Pafrican]

Moved to proper thread:

Moving from AZ (Cox) to Los Angeles and am setting up Time Warner. The support person on the phone is saying they (Time Warner) do not support/have M-Cards, only S-Cards. His reasoning "if the device has two cable card slots, we must put in two cards"

Can anybody verify this? I don't know if this is just a way for them to get more $ out of me. Plus, with an m-card it eliminates the risk of one of two cards failing.

[Fofer]

I don't think they have M-Cards, because I couldn't get one either. I have a Series3 TiVo though, and this model supports M-Cards in single-stream mode only, which means that you must install two CableCARDs anyway. So I didn't bother pursuing it.

If I had a TiVoHD, which supports multi-stream mode, which means that you need to install only one M-Card to receive two digital cable channels at once... I might be singing a different tune.

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/144/kw/m-card/r_id/100041

[dlfl]

Moved to proper thread:

Moving from AZ (Cox) to Los Angeles and am setting up Time Warner. The support person on the phone is saying they (Time Warner) do not support/have M-Cards, only S-Cards. His reasoning "if the device has two cable card slots, we must put in two cards"

Can anybody verify this? I don't know if this is just a way for them to get more $ out of me. Plus, with an m-card it eliminates the risk of one of two cards failing.
If you have a TiVo HD, you only need 1 m-card (or 2 s-cards). If you have the previous S3 model (slots on back of unit) you do need 2 cards and they can either be s- or m-cards.

TWC is a collection of local operating systems. Whether a local system currently has m-cards (or at least admits they do) can vary both with region and time. My TWC region said they only had s-cards and so I'm now paying $5.08/mo. for 2 of them instead of $2.54/mo. for 1 m-card. I know for a fact they had m-cards both a few months before my installation and a few months after my installation. The price they can charge for rental is only loosely governed. M-cards are the wave of the future and they can operate in S mode so they can replace an S-Card. I suspect they are trying to clear their s-card inventory (and get to charge double too -- hooray for them!)

Have you determined whether you will need a Tuning Adapter too? (Do they use SDV?)

[Pafrican]

I have a TivoHD. My current setup with Cox in AZ is two s-cards but originally had one m-card. The m-card was cheaper for me (though, granted, by 2 bucks a month) but busted. When I needed a replacement they were out of m-cards.

The situation now isn't that they are currently out of m-cards. It's that they never had m-cards. Don't have them now. Don't support them. And "there are no plans in the near future to acquire them." I'm just trying to figure out if that is accurate.

I'm still looking into SDV and the necessity of a Tuning Adapter. Looks like Time Warner in SoCal is slowly rolling out SDV and hasn't even flipped the switch yet. I'll probably have them install a Tuning Adapter when they come out just so I don't have to have them come back out, or go into store and deal with those people who often know less than the people on the phone.

[thenuke]

Wait, I'm confused...

I don't have a Tivo, but I have an HTPC with CableCard and a Cisco TA on TWC - Green Bay. I was under the impression that channels were either SDV or not, but my conversation with a TWC rep (not at the National Cable Card center) told me something that makes me think otherwise.

My problem: I am not able to tune a handful of HD channels that I used to be able to tune. Specifically I'm thinking of National Geographic HD. So I called in.

The woman on the phone told me that she didn't have a list of SDV channels in my area, but it was probably recently converted to "digital only" and "two-way" so I couldn't tune it even with a TA. That didn't make any damn sense to me. Isn't that why I got the TA, to facilitate two way communication? And what's with the "digital only" piece?

The solution according to TWC, "Deal with it"

[dlfl]

.........The situation now isn't that they are currently out of m-cards. It's that they never had m-cards. Don't have them now. Don't support them. And "there are no plans in the near future to acquire them." I'm just trying to figure out if that is accurate.
.............
Experience of a multitude of posters on this forum shows you cannot trust anything a TWC rep tells you about TiVo, CableCARD's, Tuning Adapters, or SDV channels. TiVo CableCARD users (who are the bulk of all CC users) are only about 0.5% of cable co digital subscribers nationally and there's no reason to think TWC is substantially different. Clearly TWC management, with a few local exceptions and aside from the national CC help desk (which most local CSR's don't know about), has implemented insufficient training and procedures for dealing with these items for this reason, i.e., they do not affect 99.5% of their customers. My TWC told me they never had m-cards too -- one CSR even read this from a policy book to me -- but I know for a fact they had them based on posts of other users in the same system.

[dlfl]

See **this** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7679135#post7679135)

They set up a national help desk staffed by 5 people and don't bother to make either TWC or TiVo support people aware of it. Amazing! :(

[Arcady]

Anywhere from 1 day to never. Ideally 1 day or less but then, ideally, no one should ever have trouble with Tuning Adapters and Time Warner tech support would instantly know how to fix it. :)

The new guide data is only picked up when your TiVo phones home -- you can force that at any time of course.

If you want to see what data is available go to zap2it.com and enter your zip code, and pick your lineup. If it isn't there, TiVo can't get it yet.

I have submitted a lineup request to TiVo.

Luckily we don't have to deal with tuning adapters here in Dallas. They dumped a couple analog channels into digital-only to make room for the new HD stuff.

[baijumehta]

I purchased a Tivo in October and so far have been very happy with it. I was considering get another one for my bedroom, but was not sure what Time Warner would charge.

I guess they charge $2.75 for the cable card on your first Tivo. On the pricing guide for 2009, it says the second is $4.75, but they came out with new pricing for 2010 and said they are lowering the outlet fee to $1 from $2. (Shocking that any price is going down). So I am guessing that the second cable card would cost $3.75. The non-DVR box price is going up from 8.50 to 9.00, with the Tivo I would save $5.25 per month and get a DVR. Of course I understand I have to pay for the Tivo service and the box.

Just wondering if TWC is doing the same thing in other areas where the second cable card is more expensive than the first.

[DougJohnson]

I have submitted a lineup request to TiVo.

Luckily we don't have to deal with tuning adapters here in Dallas. They dumped a couple analog channels into digital-only to make room for the new HD stuff.

I'm using Time Warner in Dallas. The new HD channels showed up in the guide on my Series 3 this morning. -- Doug

[Arcady]

The new channels showed up here today too.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

We had Anaheim CA TWC out on 12/23. The appt. window was between 3p-5p. He arrived at 4:56p. OK. 40 minutes after arriving, we were up and running with 2 S cards (we have the 20 hour HD TiVo) with no problems. So, chalk up a success cable card install story for Anaheim California Time Warner Cable!

[dwgsp]

I thought I would mention that I am very happy with the service that TWC Rochester has been providing. Our area was the second region where TWC rolled out the TA, and after some initial hick ups their support has been excellent. The TA roll out was handled by mail.

If I call with a question and identify myself as a Tivo owner, the first level customer support person immediately transfers me to a HD support specialist. The HD specialists have easy access to a TivoHD unit where they can try to replicate any problem that I am having.

I mention all this for two reasons. First, to show that unlike some TWC regions the Rochester region does try to provide a reasonable level of support to Tivo owners. Second, if you live in the Rochester area, there is currently no reason to hesitate about upgrading to a TivoHD.

[dlfl]

I thought I would mention that I am very happy with the service that TWC Rochester has been providing. Our area was the second region where TWC rolled out the TA, and after some initial hick ups their support has been excellent. The TA roll out was handled by mail.

If I call with a question and identify myself as a Tivo owner, the first level customer support person immediately transfers me to a HD support specialist. The HD specialists have easy access to a TivoHD unit where they can try to replicate any problem that I am having.

I mention all this for two reasons. First, to show that unlike some TWC regions the Rochester region does try to provide a reasonable level of support to Tivo owners. Second, if you live in the Rochester area, there is currently no reason to hesitate about upgrading to a TivoHD.
Lucky you! When did your TA rollout start? I believe TWC SW Ohio started theirs about a year ago and our experience is the opposite of yours in every respect.

We, like the Raleigh NC area and other posters, have frequent pixelation on our SDV channels. Do you see this?

This is the first TWC region I've heard of that actually has their own TiVo to test with -- amazing!

[lorus77]

Hi,

I am located in Staten Island, New York. Recently, we have had new HD channels added to our line-up. These channels are showing up in the channel guide, but the screen is black with a message "Channel not Available."

It seems that TWC has issues with updating the cable card (I have a single multi-stream) automatically. Others on avsforum said that TWC reps have sent technicians to their houses to fix the issue. Seems like a waist to send a technician every time a new channel is added.

Can you please give me some advice on how to speak to rep to get TWC to reprogram the card remotely? what do I tell them?

[dwgsp]

Lucky you! When did your TA rollout start? I believe TWC SW Ohio started theirs about a year ago and our experience is the opposite of yours in every respect.

Our roll out started on December 16 of 2008.

We, like the Raleigh NC area and other posters, have frequent pixelation on our SDV channels. Do you see this?

I see pixelation, but I'm not sure if it is isolated to SDV channels. Plus it is unclear whether users of the standard HD set-top box also experience pixelation. The pixelation is not bad enough to complain about.

[dlfl]

Hi,

I am located in Staten Island, New York. Recently, we have had new HD channels added to our line-up. These channels are showing up in the channel guide, but the screen is black with a message "Channel not Available."

It seems that TWC has issues with updating the cable card (I have a single multi-stream) automatically. Others on avsforum said that TWC reps have sent technicians to their houses to fix the issue. Seems like a waist to send a technician every time a new channel is added.

Can you please give me some advice on how to speak to rep to get TWC to reprogram the card remotely? what do I tell them?
Try to get either TWC or TiVo support to connect you to the TWC National Cable Card Support Desk. Only they can connect you and sometimes they aren't even aware of its existence. If it were me I would keep calling TiVo support until I found a rep who could connect me.

See **this post** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7679148#post7679148)and the post it links for more info.

There are exceptions (e.g., Rochester NY) where TWC customer service knows what they are doing every time you call -- but in general it's very spotty.

[baijumehta]

We had Anaheim CA TWC out on 12/23. The appt. window was between 3p-5p. He arrived at 4:56p. OK. 40 minutes after arriving, we were up and running with 2 S cards (we have the 20 hour HD TiVo) with no problems. So, chalk up a success cable card install story for Anaheim California Time Warner Cable!

I am in TWC Anaheim as well and I got one M card. They are charging me $2.75 for the one card. They came out and installed and it worked for about 3 - 4 hours and it stopped working. They came out again the next day and put a new card in and it has worked for the last 3 months

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I am in TWC Anaheim as well and I got one M card. They are charging me $2.75 for the one card. They came out and installed and it worked for about 3 - 4 hours and it stopped working. They came out again the next day and put a new card in and it has worked for the last 3 months

Is there any advantage to 1 M card vs 2 S cards? I have the 20 hr HD TiVo - would 1 M card have been an option?

Joe

[m_jonis]

I thought I would mention that I am very happy with the service that TWC Rochester has been providing. Our area was the second region where TWC rolled out the TA, and after some initial hick ups their support has been excellent. The TA roll out was handled by mail.

If I call with a question and identify myself as a Tivo owner, the first level customer support person immediately transfers me to a HD support specialist. The HD specialists have easy access to a TivoHD unit where they can try to replicate any problem that I am having.

I mention all this for two reasons. First, to show that unlike some TWC regions the Rochester region does try to provide a reasonable level of support to Tivo owners. Second, if you live in the Rochester area, there is currently no reason to hesitate about upgrading to a TivoHD.

You're lucky. Those of us in Albany have had nothing but problems with the SDV and TA with our Tivo's. Constant reboots, pixellation problems, etc.

Albany doesn't seem to care. You call, and they have no idea what a cable card is, let alone a TA and then when you do finally get someone they say, "oh you have a cable card, we can't help you but we can send a tech out in 3 weeks".

[dlfl]

Is there any advantage to 1 M card vs 2 S cards? I have the 20 hr HD TiVo - would 1 M card have been an option?

Joe
The only advantage is lower rental costs in most service areas.

[jrm01]

...and one less card to have problems with. Yes, you can use the m-card with TiVo HD.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Thanks for the input. Guess I should have opted for 1 M card. But, now that I've already had 2 S cards installed and everything seems to be working fine, I really don't want to mess with anything. Even if it means paying a little more a month for the second card rental.

[yojoe792]

Hey guys -

Some new guy questions for you right here. Would appreciate some help sooooo much.

I'm currently debating between the Tivo and the TWC DVR. So...

1) Tivo or TWC DVR?

If tivo....

2) Do I get video on demand? (I live in the LA area).
3) With the purchase of a Tivo (and renting a CableCard) do I get all the channels I pay for in my house? Or...are HBO and other premiums an additional purchase?
4) Do I get all my HD channels?
5) What is the biggest complaint TWC customers have about Tivo?

Thanks for the help
joe
5)

[notting]

1) Tivo or TWC DVR?
2) Do I get video on demand? (I live in the LA area).
3) With the purchase of a Tivo (and renting a CableCard) do I get all the channels I pay for in my house? Or...are HBO and other premiums an additional purchase?
4) Do I get all my HD channels?
5) What is the biggest complaint TWC customers have about Tivo?


1) Never used TWC DVR, can't compare
2) You do not get your Time Warner VOD service with Tivo. You do get access to Netflix, Amazon, and Blockbuster VOD.
3) If you have cable cards, you will get all the premiums you pay for automatically. (However, see #4 below.)
4) If your provider has implemented Switched Digital Video for some channels (SDV), you will need a Tuning Adapter to get those channels. According to this thread (http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=437329), TWC hasn't enabled SDV in SoCal yet, but it's likely to come soon.
5) Two main complaints:

Time Warner enables the CCI copy protection bit on most all non-broadcast channels, rendering Tivo's multi-room viewing useless for recordings from those channels
The SDV user experience. There are a variety of bugs (the adapter locks up or loses provisioning, it breaks MRV between Series 2 and Series 3, there are some video corruption issues occasionally), and the TWC front-line techs aren't usually well versed in dealing with the problems and resolving them

[mmcgown]

In Austin, I don't find the statement about Time Warner and copy protection to be true......

[dcstager]

In Austin, I don't find the statement about Time Warner and copy protection to be true......

Run Tivo Desktop from your PC and see if you can transfer anything from the Tivo to the computer. The copy protection flag is set for every program so you can't view anything anywhere except on the Tivo that recorded the program.

What is your experience in Austin? What equipment do you have and can you move the programs around with Tivo Desktop?

[Eve6MediaHQ]

Just had a great installation with Time Warner NYC here in "Southern Manhattan" (I'm on 84th St., which is technically falls in that area).

The tech knew what he was doing and didn't need TiVo's instructions at all. Friendly guy that knew his stuff. He was done in 20 mins.

It will cost a couple of bucks a month, but I'm saving around 8 when considering my cable box cost over $10 per month!

I might miss VOD, but I'll have Amazon now!

[Ian]

Eve, you can do what I did - just split your cable so one output goes into the TiVo and the other goes to the TWC DVR - that way, you can have TiVo AND VOD!

-Ian

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Hey guys -

Some new guy questions for you right here. Would appreciate some help sooooo much.

I'm currently debating between the Tivo and the TWC DVR. So...

1) Tivo or TWC DVR?

If tivo....

2) Do I get video on demand? (I live in the LA area).
3) With the purchase of a Tivo (and renting a CableCard) do I get all the channels I pay for in my house? Or...are HBO and other premiums an additional purchase?
4) Do I get all my HD channels?
5) What is the biggest complaint TWC customers have about Tivo?

Thanks for the help
joe
5)

Hey Joe-

You are in the same boat I was in prior to recently opting to replace my TWC DVR with the 20 hour HD TiVo (I live in Anaheim). That being said, I am more than qualified to answer all of your questions.
#1- TiVo hands down!
#2- You will lose the TWC version of VOD but you will gain access to Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, YouTube, Walt Disney Studios, Jaman Movies and Shorts, and Music Choice (music videos). You will also gain the ability to publish your own home movies that friends and family can view from their own TiVo DVR.
#3- Once the cable cards are installed, you will have access to the same channels you did when you had the TWC DVR at no additional charge (other than, as you mentioned, the cable card rental fees).
#4- You will get the same HD channels you did when you had the TWC DVR.
#5- It's been my understanding the biggest complaint stems from TWC's lack of knowledge about the cable card install. If you search the forum, you will find literally hundreds of horror stories about TWC having no clue, or at least feigning to, how to properly install the cards. My personal opinion is this is merely a ploy on TWC's part to keep their DVR customers from changing to TiVo and, truth be told, it kept me from making the change for over a year. But, after a year of swearing at the piece of crap DVR I was renting from TWC when it would freeze up (I had TWC out x3 and each replacement had the same flaw), I finally decided to add an HD TiVo to the other 3 S2 TiVo's I already owned. And I am glad I did!
Also, some TWC DVR users might see TiVo as overkill which, if you simply want a way to digitally record programs from your TV, maybe TiVo is overkill. But, when you're paying $16.50 a month rental for a DVR, shouldn't it do a little more than record programs?

Joe, I have been a TiVo customer for about 7 years. As I said, I now have 4 of their DVR's. Yes, I have done some bitching about TiVo in the past but that was prior to trying a competitor's DVR. I am here to tell you, the TWC DVR cannot hold a candle to TiVo! With TiVo, you can incorporate it into your home network which will open a multitude of opportunities for you. If you're like me and you store music, video, and picture files on a networked PC, once you include your TiVo in your network, will you be able to play all your music files and view all your video and picture files on whatever TV's you have connected to a networked TiVo DVR. If you have more than one TiVo DVR, through the Multiroom Viewing option (MVR) you can move programs between each networked TiVo. Point being, the advantages of having a TiVo DVR compared to a TWC DVR are too numerous to list here. 'Course, if you'd rather pay $16.50 a month to TWC for a clunky box that only records TV programs, that's an option as well.

[jarito]

I had an appointment to have two cable cards installed... and it was cancelled because they didn't have cards in their truck. When I called to re-schedule they increased the price to about $25 a card per month. Ridiculous.

This isn't correct. The price for cable cards is still $2.50 / mo AFAIK.

[wkearney99]

Can someone that's in the Buffalo area give me a heads-up on how a TivoHD handles basic TWC cable and how it carries HD locals?

I put a TivoHD into the in-laws, they're in East Amherst. They've got basic TWC cable, nothing extra. There are /some/ HD locals on it in the 100-x range. Some, but not all. And there's no guide data for the ones that do appear. The station call letters are listed but the guide shows 'To be announced' on them. The same SD locals show up (in the single digits) with guide data as expected.

I did a manual channel scan and a whole BUNCH of other channels were detected, including the guide-less locals. A random review of the scanned channels showed nothing was on them. They don't show up with any call letters, just and asterisk and no guide data.

So is it possible for a TWC customer in East Amherst to get the HD locals with guide data on the basic service?

And what would it take to get an HD version of the 'basic' cable lineup? As in, no premium channels, just stuff like Discovery, History, TBS, etc. Would it be just a CableCard, or would an switched video adapter be necessary instead/additionally?

I attempted to get these answers at the West Seneca office when I returned their leased cable modem (I bought one for them instead). The personnel there had "never" dealt with Tivo units and had no answers.

[aklaren]

I have a problem with Time Warner trying to force me to go to their digital tier service in order to get my Cablecard.

I talked with a rep over the phone and walked into the local office and both said there was no way to "block" the HD channels like Disney, etc, so I would be required to go to the digic pic 1000 or whatever before they could give me a Cablecard. Installation would be $42 and it had to be done by a tech.

I have a Tivo HD unit in Durham, North Carolina and I currently pay for the basic cable package which gives me the 2-26 of std cable channels and if I plug the coax directly to my Sony Bravia HD TV I get the std cable channels and the digital channels as well(non-premium, of course).

I have read in a few different places and even seeing in this thread that I shouldn't be forced to go to the digital service plan, but I have no leverage with these people. Please help!

[mmcgown]

Run Tivo Desktop from your PC and see if you can transfer anything from the Tivo to the computer. The copy protection flag is set for every program so you can't view anything anywhere except on the Tivo that recorded the program.

What is your experience in Austin? What equipment do you have and can you move the programs around with Tivo Desktop?

Maybe I spoke too soon.....nearly all of the programs recorded in this house are on network affiliates from an OTA signal, and those are not copy-protected. The handful of true cable channel shows are copy-protected on the TiVoHD but not on the Series 2.

[mmcgown]

Hrm. I could have sworn I remembered people on here talking about the TAs being extra sensitive. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong (which is probable) and it's the Tivo itself.

You're not remembering it wrong.

[IMD]

Thought I'd add one positive note here, for prospective HDers. I'm on Time Warner in Rochester, NY and recently upgraded from a 9-year old Series2 to an HD XL. So far (1 week) it's working great with an M-card and TA.

TW was mostly helpful, although they would not send me a TA until AFTER the tech came out and "installed" (inserted) the M-card. It took only two days to get the TA, so no great loss. First M-card didn't work, as with the M-card I actually lost some of the HD channels once I installed the TA. However, a truck roll produced a second M-card that worked fine, and I've had steady power on the TA ever since.

Just a note that in all the confusion, the system does occasionally work :D
Ian

[Stormspace]

Tried to record Doctor Who, the end of time part one last week. BBCA was pixelating and hanging so bad I had to torrent the show just to watch it. Part two recorded fine, but it was on a different day.

[Shmooh]

Tried to record Doctor Who, the end of time part one last week. BBCA was pixelating and hanging so bad I had to torrent the show just to watch it. Part two recorded fine, but it was on a different day.

We recorded the same thing, and had a good bit of pixelation as well. It was still watchable, if a bit irritating.

TWC has been working with SCSIRAID here in the Raleigh NC area regarding the pixelation of SDV channels. Check out the TWC Tuning Adapters Carolina's thread for more on this. Start around ** here ** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=418262&page=39) for the most recent info. I'm assuming BBCA is an SDV channel for you, too?

As a side note, our local Fox affiliate recently had an issue with their connection to the data feed from Fox itself - massive pixelation and cut outs for an hour or so. Half the show was gone, and it was entirely unwatchable. This had nothing to do with Tivo and I think it's pretty unlikely that was your issue, but I'm just throwing it out there as a remotely possible problem with your region of the country on BBCA.

[LockRob]

I would like to know who best to #itch to...
There are many times that if I am watching a show that I actually need to be able to hear, I might as well turn off the TV. Pixelation and audio drop-out of about half of every third sentence.
On some shows, it doesn't matter; but on others it REALLY does, and they become un-watchable. Something's got to give, and at this point it may be my cable contract! It wouldn't be so bad if this were an occasional problem, but here in Charlotte, it is what our cable service is all the time. The really bad thing is that I dropped DirecTV to move to cable for the HD, and for the most part the service has been horrendous.

[lwarzy]

May be stating the obvious to some, but all of my pixelation/SDV/tuning adapter/signal strength issues were solved by replacing the cable between my TiVo and the turning adapter. The one that comes with it is a piece of crap. Needless to say, I didn't figure that out my own... I had someone come out from TWC and after that was replaced, everything was crystal clear. So if you've got a better coaxial cable lying around, give it a shot before waiting on a service guy to come out.

[debdean]

These cable cards are a pain. Every other month I loose the signal and TWC has to come out and fix it. Rebooting never helps. I love TIVO but I dont understand why it had to be designed with these cable cards. I kind of regret ever buying the HD Tivo now. I should have gotten the TWC DVR.:(

[debdean]

These cable cards are a pain. Every other month I loose the signal and TWC has to come out and fix it. Rebooting never helps. I love TIVO but I dont understand why it had to be designed with these cable cards. I kind of regret ever buying the HD Tivo now. I should have gotten the TWC DVR.

[m_jonis]

We recorded the same thing, and had a good bit of pixelation as well. It was still watchable, if a bit irritating.

TWC has been working with SCSIRAID here in the Raleigh NC area regarding the pixelation of SDV channels. Check out the TWC Tuning Adapters Carolina's thread for more on this. Start around ** here ** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=418262&page=39) for the most recent info. I'm assuming BBCA is an SDV channel for you, too?

As a side note, our local Fox affiliate recently had an issue with their connection to the data feed from Fox itself - massive pixelation and cut outs for an hour or so. Half the show was gone, and it was entirely unwatchable. This had nothing to do with Tivo and I think it's pretty unlikely that was your issue, but I'm just throwing it out there as a remotely possible problem with your region of the country on BBCA.

Thanks for the link, although in Albany, the issue doesn't appear to be the TA or Tivo, but rather TW SDV in general. Even people with the Scientific Atlanta cable boxes with cable cards get pixelation on SDV only channels. That would seem to me to indicate it's a systemic problem in TW Albany's SDV system and/or something with their own cable cards.

I'll still dump TW in a second the minute FIOS comes to town or DTV has a Tivo that can do MRV/TTG.

[CrispyCritter]

These cable cards are a pain. Every other month I loose the signal and TWC has to come out and fix it. Rebooting never helps. I love TIVO but I dont understand why it had to be designed with these cable cards. I kind of regret ever buying the HD Tivo now. I should have gotten the TWC DVR.
I see. TWC proves themselves incapable of supporting their own equipment, and because of that, your reaction is to get more TWC equipment? I'd be doing a lot more complaining to TWC, including getting money back.

[JimWall]

I had some pixelation problems a while ago. I would also randomly not even get certain channels SDV and non-SDV.
Problem is virtually eliminated after a tech determined my signal was too weak and the cable in the ground outside was water damaged.
He installed better quality splitter inside, an amplifier outside and replaced all the coax cables inside. He said the techs have been complaining about how low the quality is for the coax cables that come with the tuning adapters. He said the TV signal from a station 110 miles away is able to get in a cause interference and pixelation! Especially TNT HD in Southwest Ohio.
A few days later a crew came and replaced the underground cable.

[SCSIRAID]

I had some pixelation problems a while ago. I would also randomly not even get certain channels SDV and non-SDV.
Problem is virtually eliminated after a tech determined my signal was too weak and the cable in the ground outside was water damaged.
He installed better quality splitter inside, an amplifier outside and replaced all the coax cables inside. He said the techs have been complaining about how low the quality is for the coax cables that come with the tuning adapters. He said the TV signal from a station 110 miles away is able to get in a cause interference and pixelation! Especially TNT HD in Southwest Ohio.
A few days later a crew came and replaced the underground cable.

Yup... I just tossed the cable that came with my TA's in the trash. I make my own with quad shield and compression fittings. No problems.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I see. TWC proves themselves incapable of supporting their own equipment, and because of that, your reaction is to get more TWC equipment? I'd be doing a lot more complaining to TWC, including getting money back. :up: Well said. I've been saying all along that TWC's feigned ignorance with regard to CableCards and their proper installation is nothing more than a ploy on their part to keep their customers from opting to go with TiVo instead of TWC's POS DVR's.

[Pafrican]

Had my cable card install in SoCal 10 days ago. Things went pretty smoothly. Despite initially being told when I made the appointment that they don't carry M-Cards, never have, and have no plans to do so (pretty sure the same customer service guy stole my credit card number), of course the install tech arrives with an m-card.

The original dispatch person he spoke to didn't know what he was doing so originally the card didn't pair correctly. He found somebody better in dispatch after calling another tech for a recommendation. After that, everything paired fine. So far no issues. Now, having come from Cox, I know things can happen at any moment and I can run into issues. I hope I dodge them. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, just wanted to post the success story and hopefully any future installs get "Robert" as your tech.

[Fofer]

Had my cable card install in SoCal 10 days ago. Things went pretty smoothly. Despite initially being told when I made the appointment that they don't carry M-Cards, never have, and have no plans to do so (pretty sure the same customer service guy stole my credit card number), of course the install tech arrives with an m-card.


This is hilarious... :D

[krille]

For the last couple of months, I've been having a recurring problem where both my Time Warner cable cards cannot tune certain channels. There's no consistent pattern: sometimes it's a few channels, sometimes lots. Sometimes HD, sometimes SD - sometimes premium, sometimes broadcast.

The only channels that I don't ever seem to lose are SD broadcast, and the two cards always lose the same channels at the same time. So it seems like a provisioning problem. A friend who also lives in Brooklyn reports a similar issue that started about the same time.

When I call Time Warner they do a couple of perfunctory tests, and then invariably tell me they have to send a tech to the house. The tech does a bunch of irrelevant diagnostics, and then eventually they call some cable card guru who wipes all the entitlements and reprovisions the cards (which could be done without anyone ever setting foot in my apartment).

Left alone, the missing channels tend to come back after a couple of days.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any suggestions for what to do? I don't think I can stand to make yet another unnecessary appointment with a TW tech.

[mmcgown]

You didn't say whether your TWC office is using Switched Digital Video and whether you have a Tuning Adapter.......it might help to know that.

[dlfl]

For the last couple of months, I've been having a recurring problem where both my Time Warner cable cards cannot tune certain channels. There's no consistent pattern: sometimes it's a few channels, sometimes lots. Sometimes HD, sometimes SD - sometimes premium, sometimes broadcast.

The only channels that I don't ever seem to lose are SD broadcast, and the two cards always lose the same channels at the same time. So it seems like a provisioning problem. A friend who also lives in Brooklyn reports a similar issue that started about the same time.

When I call Time Warner they do a couple of perfunctory tests, and then invariably tell me they have to send a tech to the house. The tech does a bunch of irrelevant diagnostics, and then eventually they call some cable card guru who wipes all the entitlements and reprovisions the cards (which could be done without anyone ever setting foot in my apartment).

Left alone, the missing channels tend to come back after a couple of days.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any suggestions for what to do? I don't think I can stand to make yet another unnecessary appointment with a TW tech.
If TWC support can't fix it on the phone, ask them to connect you to the TWC National Cable Card Support (NCCS) desk. If they claim they never heard of that, tell them you know it exists and give them the telephone number: 866-532-2598. Note: you should not call this number directly -- you're supposed to get referred to them either by TWC local support or TiVo support. If they still refuse to connect you, hang up and either call TiVo support or wait a while and call TWC support again, hopefully getting a better rep. The NCCS hours of operation are 10am to 11pm Eastern time. Note that not all TiVo support reps know about NCCS so you may have to insist and give them the number also.

My experience with the the NCCS desk has been for Tuning Adapter problems and they can almost always get you fixed up very quickly.

You can let local support schedule a truck roll, then cancel it after the NCCS desk fixes the problem.

[krille]

That's really helpful thanks. As far as I know, TW has not rolled out SDV in my area (the TW website still indicates it's "coming soon"). I'll definitely try to get connected to the national cable card support line - that sounds very promising.

[Welshdog]

I have a basic TWC question. When you have digital cable do you still get analog cable? I'm finally thinking of trying a Cablecard here in Austin, but only on my Tivo HD. I have an S3 and two S2s. I would keep these on analog and OTA.

Thanks

[Joe Siegler]

I have a basic TWC question. When you have digital cable do you still get analog cable? I'm finally thinking of trying a Cablecard here in Austin, but only on my Tivo HD. I have an S3 and two S2s. I would keep these on analog and OTA.

Thanks

Here in Dallas, they've removed a few analogs lately to make room for more HD. I suspect at some point analog will go away totally. I don't know if there's a drop dead date with that on Cable like there was for OTA broadcasts, but I could just be uninformed on that issue.

But the under 100 channels are analogs here in TWC Dallas. I have them all disabled except for the local government public access channels, and like one other that for some reason is analog only, no digital equivalent.

[Welshdog]

But the under 100 channels are analogs here in TWC Dallas.

Thanks, I imagine the same is true here in Austin. Although I have observed the each TWC city seems to be it's own little kingdom and they all do what they want. In fact, that is characteristic of how Time Warner runs the whole corporation. They encourage internal blood feuds . . . er, um I mean competition between divisions.

[Shmooh]

I have a basic TWC question. When you have digital cable do you still get analog cable? I'm finally thinking of trying a Cablecard here in Austin, but only on my Tivo HD. I have an S3 and two S2s. I would keep these on analog and OTA.

Thanks

Unless TWC intentionally puts a trap on the line to block it, you'll still get analog cable even if you only use digital service. I've never heard of them doing something like that, so you should be just fine.

Lots of people still have older secondary CRT TVs that don't have cable boxes, so many people still need the analog cable signal. If TWC is sending it out, with today's technology there's no real reason to block it from paying customers. It's one of the 'value adds' for cable.

However, like Joe said, analog cable is likely to diminish over time. It's very bandwidth inefficient, and they want the room for HD channels. Eventually, we'll all need boxes for all our non-digital TVs/tuners.

As a side note, many/all of the analog channels are also sent out in digital form. I think the more recent TWC boxes don't even include an analog tuner in them. Customers never even know the difference despite the fact that the channel is basically being sent simultaneously in two different forms.

[Ehilbert1]

Hey guys. I haven't beem here since 2007 so please forgive me. I'm thinking about going the Tivo HD rout with TW cable. I was wondering if someone could help me out. First off if I hook up a regular antenna to the Tivo HD will I get all the local HD channels in the guide? Second if I just plug in the cable in the back will I be able to get HD channels? I figure I will have to have a cable card for that. If I have to get a cable card do I have to get 2? I live in Columbus Ohio if that helps. Basically I just want to get the lowest digital package in TW that has all the ESPN's and record with the wonderful Tivo HD. Thanks in advance guys.

[squiddohio]

The antenna will give you local stations over the air.
The cable with no CC will also give you local stations, both SD and HiDef. You will also get stations 1-99 analog.
With the most basic digital package and one CC, you will be able to skip the analog stations altogether and get them on a digital feed, which you will notice right away is a substantially clearer picture - almost DVD quality. If you have a 42 or larger screen you will want this.
You can use only 1 CC if you want, but for $3/month you are asking for a lot of aggravation. TW probably won't give you an M-Card (multi-stream which is for two tuners), but I would highly recommend two CCs rather than one. I have 3 HD TiVos with 2 CCs in each; it's a small price to pay to be sure all your programs are accessible for viewing and recording.
Finally, as for ESPN, you will (probably) only get ESPN in Std Def with the basic digital package; I think you will need a basic HD package (different and a step up from the basic digital package) to get ESPN, etc in HiDef. Only the network stations are supplied "free" with basic packages.
Check your local TW web page, or call them for details on packages and pricing to be sure that the HD or digital stations that you want are in the deal you subscribe to.

[Ehilbert1]

The antenna will give you local stations over the air.
The cable with no CC will also give you local stations, both SD and HiDef. You will also get stations 1-99 analog.
With the most basic digital package and one CC, you will be able to skip the analog stations altogether and get them on a digital feed, which you will notice right away is a substantially clearer picture - almost DVD quality. If you have a 42 or larger screen you will want this.
You can use only 1 CC if you want, but for $3/month you are asking for a lot of aggravation. TW probably won't give you an M-Card (multi-stream which is for two tuners), but I would highly recommend two CCs rather than one. I have 3 HD TiVos with 2 CCs in each; it's a small price to pay to be sure all your programs are accessible for viewing and recording.
Finally, as for ESPN, you will (probably) only get ESPN in Std Def with the basic digital package; I think you will need a basic HD package (different and a step up from the basic digital package) to get ESPN, etc in HiDef. Only the network stations are supplied "free" with basic packages.
Check your local TW web page, or call them for details on packages and pricing to be sure that the HD or digital stations that you want are in the deal you subscribe to.

Thank you for all you help.

[Shmooh]

You can use only 1 CC if you want, but for $3/month you are asking for a lot of aggravation. TW probably won't give you an M-Card (multi-stream which is for two tuners), but I would highly recommend two CCs rather than one. I have 3 HD TiVos with 2 CCs in each; it's a small price to pay to be sure all your programs are accessible for viewing and recording.


Does TWC in Ohio not supply M-Cards or something?

If they do and you just have a preference for 2 S-Cards, is there any particular reason for that? Are 2 cards considered to be more reliable somehow, and thus worth the extra $3 a month? For what it's worth, I have one M-Card, and have had no problems with it whatsoever (I've had it for about 1 year).

If they claim to only supply S-Cards and you want an M-Card, you may want to ask them to note you'd like M-Cards on your work order anyway, and to re-iterate that request to the tech who comes to install them. I think I've heard that's worked for some people, as the first line phone support people often don't know much about cable cards.

[mkomyluck]

AAARRRGGG....HELP!!!! Arlington TX ZIP 76002...I am so upset. I have had 5 appointments 9 hrs invested and no CC working in my TiVo. I was lucky enough to have 1 SSCC working in my TiVo Tues. night untill the new TWC technician showed up at my house to install the M-Card and He informed me that the 2 M-Cards he brought were not in inventory and could not be activated so he left a non working M-Card in my box and took the only working S-Card. I am so lost, I have never had this problem with Comcast.

I have been a loyal TiVo Member since 05, I moved and were i moved to had no cable service so i was forced to go to Dish. After Paying a year of TiVo service I decided to sell my HD-Box on Ebay. I moved 3 months later I got relocated with work. I decided to go with AT&T Uverse and got the worst picture of my life, after 3 months of this i went to TWC and used there DVR for 3 months...AAARRRRRGGGG....what a POS. I decided since its my B-day to purchase a TiVo. I added the new box, on my account and had already had a M-Card in my house from my Plasma TV which was replaced. So i called the dispatch office told them what i had and they told me to install the M-Card and it should work...I imediatly told them it would not and then was argued with...I had to explain to Tech Support at TWC how a CC works. So after an hour i got someone on the phone who, Supposedly, knew how to deactivate and reactivate and M-Card on my TiVo. That did not work. So they sent a Tech out on Sunday, with 1 M-Card, and gues what after 2 hours they realized this card was in "Lost" Status and could not be activated, so they sent another Tech out on Monday, I left my Mother In Law in the house to Great him, He tried for 2 hours to get the M-Card working and told us it was a Holiday so the Warehouse was Closed and could not get anymore Cards, and informed us it had been a year since he installed a CC and that he really did not know what to do, so he put me on the Schedule for Tuesday after 5 so i could be there, he shows up and Says "good news i brought to good cards" i said "sweet, lets get them on" guess what, S-Cards, so he has 2 no prob, ill pay the extra $3 F-IT right I WANT MY TIVO!!!
after trying to make the M-Card work for 2 hours, I take over, I pull out the BAD M-CARD, installed the S-card told him to call in the numbers and boom it worked, so i installed the second S-Card and NO GO...this card was "LOST IN THE BACKEND"...i got rescheduled for yesterday for noon, i got my call left work and meet the guy he has 2 M-Cards with him and says "I know everything about CC's", i am thinking finally i am going to get my TiVo working. Well yesterday was inventory day, and he left with 2 M-Cards, after he was gone they did inventory and those cards were not in the warehouse and were attached to no ones name so they reported them "Lost" so they could pair them but could not send them a Hit because the cards did not belong to TWC any more.......

WHAT TO DO....ANY ONE IN ARLINGTON EVER GET THERE TIVO WORKING....HELP I NEED HELP....

I decided last night to act dumb...i ordered 3 new M-Cards and told them i would pay 39.99 to have them installed on Sat. in hopes that they will stop putting my ticket on repair status, and bring 3 good M-Cards when i only need one.

HELP....HELP.....HELP.....HELP

sorry so long

Martin

[mkomyluck]

HELP...ARLINGTON TX, 76002 TIME WARNER CABLE

Here goes, 5 appointments 9 hours of techs at my house and still no TiVo..

[skaggs]

AAARRRGGG....HELP!!!! Arlington TX ZIP 76002...I am so upset. I have had 5 appointments 9 hrs invested and no CC working in my TiVo. I was lucky enough to have 1 SSCC working in my TiVo Tues. night untill the new TWC technician showed up at my house to install the M-Card and He informed me that the 2 M-Cards he brought were not in inventory and could not be activated so he left a non working M-Card in my box and took the only working S-Card. I am so lost, I have never had this problem with Comcast.

I have been a loyal TiVo Member since 05, I moved and were i moved to had no cable service so i was forced to go to Dish. After Paying a year of TiVo service I decided to sell my HD-Box on Ebay. I moved 3 months later I got relocated with work. I decided to go with AT&T Uverse and got the worst picture of my life, after 3 months of this i went to TWC and used there DVR for 3 months...AAARRRRRGGGG....what a POS. I decided since its my B-day to purchase a TiVo. I added the new box, on my account and had already had a M-Card in my house from my Plasma TV which was replaced. So i called the dispatch office told them what i had and they told me to install the M-Card and it should work...I imediatly told them it would not and then was argued with...I had to explain to Tech Support at TWC how a CC works. So after an hour i got someone on the phone who, Supposedly, knew how to deactivate and reactivate and M-Card on my TiVo. That did not work. So they sent a Tech out on Sunday, with 1 M-Card, and gues what after 2 hours they realized this card was in "Lost" Status and could not be activated, so they sent another Tech out on Monday, I left my Mother In Law in the house to Great him, He tried for 2 hours to get the M-Card working and told us it was a Holiday so the Warehouse was Closed and could not get anymore Cards, and informed us it had been a year since he installed a CC and that he really did not know what to do, so he put me on the Schedule for Tuesday after 5 so i could be there, he shows up and Says "good news i brought to good cards" i said "sweet, lets get them on" guess what, S-Cards, so he has 2 no prob, ill pay the extra $3 F-IT right I WANT MY TIVO!!!
after trying to make the M-Card work for 2 hours, I take over, I pull out the BAD M-CARD, installed the S-card told him to call in the numbers and boom it worked, so i installed the second S-Card and NO GO...this card was "LOST IN THE BACKEND"...i got rescheduled for yesterday for noon, i got my call left work and meet the guy he has 2 M-Cards with him and says "I know everything about CC's", i am thinking finally i am going to get my TiVo working. Well yesterday was inventory day, and he left with 2 M-Cards, after he was gone they did inventory and those cards were not in the warehouse and were attached to no ones name so they reported them "Lost" so they could pair them but could not send them a Hit because the cards did not belong to TWC any more.......

WHAT TO DO....ANY ONE IN ARLINGTON EVER GET THERE TIVO WORKING....HELP I NEED HELP....

I decided last night to act dumb...i ordered 3 new M-Cards and told them i would pay 39.99 to have them installed on Sat. in hopes that they will stop putting my ticket on repair status, and bring 3 good M-Cards when i only need one.

HELP....HELP.....HELP.....HELP

sorry so long

Martin

Sounds like the typical TWC cable card installation. ;) Sorry.

[DougJohnson]

WHAT TO DO....ANY ONE IN ARLINGTON EVER GET THERE TIVO WORKING....HELP I NEED HELP....


It's probably not any help, but my son-in-law and daughter's TiVo HD is working fine in Arlington. They do have cable card(s), but I don't know if it is two S cards or one M card. -- Doug

[mkomyluck]

WOW....I cant believe it....got a call right after this post for another visit by tech...after 2 attempts I am happy to report I have my TIVO WORKING!!!!! the first card the tech put in was my original card that started all of this, i stoped him mid stream walked over to the box ejected it and told him to insert the other card...and WOW it worked...OMG i dont know what i am going to do now...I was thinking about putting another TiVo upstairs but is this worth it??

[mkomyluck]

Here is a nice side note, if you dont know already and you subscribe to digital cable, at least here in Arlington TX, you can set your TiVo up for regular Cable, do a channel search in settings under channel lineup and your TiVo HD box will display digital cable channels. I recently found this out during my CC ordeal. Most of the channels will not be assigned a name but you can figure them out, my TiVo found 489 cable channels, 1-99 were all assigned numbers..for example it found 4 for fox and 4-1 for fox hd, 34 espn and 234 espn hd <---this was not labeled i had to figure this out.

[mkomyluck]

Thank you for all you help.

Here is a nice side note, if you dont know already and you subscribe to digital cable, at least here in Arlington TX, you can set your TiVo up for regular Cable, do a channel search in settings under channel lineup and your TiVo HD box will display digital cable channels. I recently found this out during my CC ordeal. Most of the channels will not be assigned a name but you can figure them out, my TiVo found 489 cable channels, 1-99 were all assigned numbers..for example it found 4 for fox and 4-1 for fox hd, 34 espn and 234 espn hd <---this was not labeled i had to figure this out.

I should elaborate more. Dont be confused by this. The TiVo did not find my premium channels, well it did not scramble them. NO HBO, no 3rd tear programing,

[kevin120]

Here is a nice side note, if you dont know already and you subscribe to digital cable, at least here in Arlington TX, you can set your TiVo up for regular Cable, do a channel search in settings under channel lineup and your TiVo HD box will display digital cable channels. I recently found this out during my CC ordeal. Most of the channels will not be assigned a name but you can figure them out, my TiVo found 489 cable channels, 1-99 were all assigned numbers..for example it found 4 for fox and 4-1 for fox hd, 34 espn and 234 espn hd <---this was not labeled i had to figure this out.

The HD channels are in the 300,400,700,800 range. there are duplicate sd channels in themes such as kids,sports,premiums,music,religious that are on channels 100+.

[mdblanke]

I live in the Toledo Ohio area and have TWC with a new HD Tivo with a dual(two way) cable card. Recently TWC introduced some new HD channels. My problem seems to be that TiVo is not recognizing the right new channels. It has two of them switched. It thinks the SyFy channel is Bravo and Bravo is SyFy. I am forcing the TiVo to record Bravo to get my SyFy channels (cant live without my SyFy) Anyone heard of this problem. Should i contact TiVo directly?

[cobec8]

I post this simply to alert/reassure others who wonder why inserting a cable card in a slot and activating it shouldn't be like inserting an ATM card and withdrawing money.

I had my Tivo HD replaced under warranty a few days ago. So when the new Tivo arrived, I took the cable card out of the old Tivo and put it in the new one.

Pop-up: "You must contact Time Warner to activate etc etc... "

I called them. No, they cant activate it by phone. A guy must come out - three days later (that was their earliest appt opening at $40 by the way).

He came. It took three phone calls til he found someone at TW who knew how to activate the card (and "lock it in" as they say). He was here 45 minutes, and went out to the truck to consult another guy as well.

Bottom line: Cable Cards are an unknown quantity to the vast majority of TW NYC customer service reps (who I was advised are going through training etc about this new technology).

[cat19me]

We have three Series 2 Tivos that we've been running with our local small cable company (who doesn't know how to do cablecards and is too small to be required to do them). All of them are set up to use their own digital cable box and to single-tune with IR blaster. (We did all set-up with help from this site; all tech did was run the cable into the house). We do not have HD Tivos or TVs.

We have run our own router off the incoming box in the basement (and added three hubs around the house) to handle our LAN, with printer, computers, and of course the ethernet hookups for the Tivos. All works great.

Local company is stopping their digital cable service completely and moving to Direct TV in a month. I understand that we wouldn't be able to dualtune with DirectTV either. Plus they want a two-year contract.

Our other option is to do TWC. We want to have all three Tivos (finally) able to dual-tune. :) We do not want any premium subscription (HBO etc) channels. If I understand the CSR, the specialized channel package we want will only work with the cable box, but we could also have standard/classic cable channels available to our other TVs without paying extra.

My questions:

* With a single TWC cable box downstairs and a Series 2 Tivo, do we need any other equipment else to dual-tune for basic and digital cable? What are the limits on that?

* With "just" cable upstairs and two Series 2 Tivos, will we be able to dual tune the "classic" channels on both and what would be the limitations on that?

* What do we need to tell TWC to get all of this set-up effectively? Will they be likely to set this up so that we can still use all the cable we've got installed now for digital internet and cable, or will they likely say that we need to pay them to redo all this?

* How much, if any, of the Tivo setup does TWC need to dp? (We've never had a tech touch our Tivos before.)

* How many zillion hours of labor and visits will this cost us?

* Would we better off giving up dual-tuning yet again :( and going with DirectTV?

[drwmax]

Just purchased unit; was asked for serial #. I said model #? She said serial #. I said how many digits. She said "it starts with TDC". I said that's the model # and read her the model #. She put me on hold for 10 minutes and said "time warner does not support that tivo version". I said "impossible. Get your supervisor as I know many hundreds or thousands of people are on TWC with that model #." She put me on hold, then came back and said "You need to talk to a supervisor". Now on perma-hold. Suggestions?

[drwmax]

Supervisor finally reached. Put me on hold numerous times. Finally said, "we must have old information back from July 2009. A tech will be out early next week." He asked how many cards I needed. I said 1 M-card should suffice. He said, "oh, that Tivo device takes 1 M-card?" I said yes. I then asked if I needed a Tuning Adapter in this region. He said, no your tuners are built in to the Tivo. I said, yes, the tuners are built in, but I might need a Tuning Adapter. You've not heard of that, so please make a note for your technician to bring one just in case.

I'll post everyone next week if this actually works.

[essjay22]

Got my tivo ,TW tech came out installed one M card, ordered the tuner adapter ( out of stock he knew we needed one) Got the adapter today, I installed it and we are up and running in HD now. The tech visit was 17$ the card was 2 something a Mo. After all the reports in here i was pleasantly surprised that all went well and all the ppl i spoke to were reasonably knowledgeable and helpfull.
Hope you all do as well.
s

[mdblanke]

Got my tivo ,TW tech came out installed one M card, ordered the tuner adapter ( out of stock he knew we needed one) Got the adapter today, I installed it and we are up and running in HD now. The tech visit was 17$ the card was 2 something a Mo. After all the reports in here i was pleasantly surprised that all went well and all the ppl i spoke to were reasonably knowledgeable and helpfull.
Hope you all do as well.
s

I got a letter about the tuner adapter but when i called TW they did not seem to know about it or that i needed one. Certain channels have switched to SD as of Jan-21 but my TiVo still seems to view them fine.(TiVo HD with M-Card) The letter stated that i had 60 days to get a free tuner and that i had to go and pick it up (nearest office is over an hour away). I know with my luck everything will stop working after the 60 days. I have only one problem right now and that is my TiVo thinks the HD SyFy channel is the HD Bravo :mad:

[rv65]

The North County portion of TWC San Diego is activating SDV tomorrow and a ton of HD channels will be added so you better get your TA ready. The north county system is Motorola while San Diego proper is SA.

[jeremyz]

Supervisor finally reached. Put me on hold numerous times. Finally said, "we must have old information back from July 2009. A tech will be out early next week." He asked how many cards I needed. I said 1 M-card should suffice. He said, "oh, that Tivo device takes 1 M-card?" I said yes. I then asked if I needed a Tuning Adapter in this region. He said, no your tuners are built in to the Tivo. I said, yes, the tuners are built in, but I might need a Tuning Adapter. You've not heard of that, so please make a note for your technician to bring one just in case.

I'll post everyone next week if this actually works.A Tivo on TWC NYC does not need a TA. Not surprising that the guy didn't know what it was.

[coltsfanincincy]

Hi,

Got a TIVO HD Dvr, Called TWC Cincinnati and the sales guy told me they dont do cable cards anymore. Is this true? Should I call back and talk to customer service. I dont want to have to use their excuse for a DVR.

thanks

[CrispyCritter]

Hi,

Got a TIVO HD Dvr, Called TWC Cincinnati and the sales guy told me they dont do cable cards anymore. Is this true? Should I call back and talk to customer service. I dont want to have to use their excuse for a DVR.
You should complain loudly to TWC customer service. They are absolutely legally required to furnish and support cablecards.

[coltsfanincincy]

You should complain loudly to TWC customer service. They are absolutely legally required to furnish and support cablecards.

I thought I read that somewhere just wasnt Sure.. Thanks Crispy

[SCSIRAID]

I thought I read that somewhere just wasnt Sure.. Thanks Crispy

If you dont get anywhere with TWC, call TiVo and ask for cablecard support... they will help kick 'em in the behind...

[Orcus]

Hi,
Bought a TivoHD a couple weeks before having North East Ohio TWC come out and hook us up to cable.
When I arranged the appointment, I informed the person at the other end that I needed either 2 single stream or 1 multi stream cablecard.

The install "seemed" to go smoothly - checked out a bunch of channels and was really happy with how HD looked on our TV.

Of course - a day later the wife complained to me that some of her favorite (non-premium) channels are just gray screens...

Argh!

read the FAQ - and I see this is a "fairly" common occurrence ;-)

Now - I'm trying to narrow down just what the cause of our gray screens.
I haven't called TWC yet to verify our account is setup correctly - but I did look at the cablecard setup screens.

We have two Single stream SA cards (no Multistreams in stock) and according to the FAQ - what I should see is:

"CP Auth: Received"
"Powerkey Status: Ready"

For both cards - what I see is:

"CP Auth: Received"
"Powerkey Status: Not Ready waiting for EMMS"

Now - from a quick search, "Not Ready waiting for EMMS" means neither cablecard is properly setup?

And I need to schedule a service call to get their butts out here and finish setting things up?

thanks

Jim

[SCSIRAID]

Hi,
Bought a TivoHD a couple weeks before having North East Ohio TWC come out and hook us up to cable.
When I arranged the appointment, I informed the person at the other end that I needed either 2 single stream or 1 multi stream cablecard.

The install "seemed" to go smoothly - checked out a bunch of channels and was really happy with how HD looked on our TV.

Of course - a day later the wife complained to me that some of her favorite (non-premium) channels are just gray screens...

Argh!

read the FAQ - and I see this is a "fairly" common occurrence ;-)

Now - I'm trying to narrow down just what the cause of our gray screens.
I haven't called TWC yet to verify our account is setup correctly - but I did look at the cablecard setup screens.

We have two Single stream SA cards (no Multistreams in stock) and according to the FAQ - what I should see is:

"CP Auth: Received"
"Powerkey Status: Ready"

For both cards - what I see is:

"CP Auth: Received"
"Powerkey Status: Not Ready waiting for EMMS"

Now - from a quick search, "Not Ready waiting for EMMS" means neither cablecard is properly setup?

And I need to schedule a service call to get their butts out here and finish setting things up?

thanks

Jim

Looks like they are properly paired... but looks like you need a 'balancing hit' to get your 'entitlements'.

[Orcus]

Looks like they are properly paired... but looks like you need a 'balancing hit' to get your 'entitlements'.

Great! I think ;-)

I'm guessing I should be able to call them and have them do the balancing from there end - and I should see some results on the cablecard screen.

Currently - for both cards it shows "EMM Count = 0".

What should the count be if things were working properly?

I'm planning on calling TWC from work tomorrow - and if they send the "hit" I'll have the wife check the cablecard screens - and I need to have an idea of what to expect.
Anything but zero?

thanks!

Jim

[Grumock]

Great! I think ;-)

I'm guessing I should be able to call them and have them do the balancing from there end - and I should see some results on the cablecard screen.

Currently - for both cards it shows "EMM Count = 0".

What should the count be if things were working properly?

I'm planning on calling TWC from work tomorrow - and if they send the "hit" I'll have the wife check the cablecard screens - and I need to have an idea of what to expect.
Anything but zero?

thanks!

Jim

Should be at least 6 emms if not 39.

[Orcus]

Should be at least 6 emms if not 39.

Ok,
called while at work today and SLOWLY worked through the question/response card the person at the other end was reading from.

"I don't have a USB cable to unplug"

"I am using a TiVo not a cable tuner"

"no - the cards do not need balanced - you need to send a balancing hit to them'

Approximately 10 minutes after calling - she informed me she had sent the balancing hit - or whatever it is they do.

When I got home - the only difference was that the EMM count was now 2.
The status was still waiting on the EMMs.

Just for the heck of it - I tried restarting my TiVo.

Once it came back up - I checked the cablecard status - and now the EMM count is 0 for both cards.

*sigh*

Don't tell me that if/when I ever get things running properly - if the TiVo restarts - it will be messed up again....
Hopefully that is not the case...

Jim

[ryansdadd]

Wow what a pain to get my Tivo upgraded.3 day wait while they mailed me a tuning adapter.2 days after that they send out these 2 kids,the whole time they were here they knocked Tivo and how much better TWC's PVR was in their opinion:rolleyes:....Took them 2hrs to install the cards (the set they brought needed a firmware upgrade that took about 45min apiece... and to install a tuning adapter (which I was surprised -another large black box) -but at least there is no monthly fee for it.

I am a little suprised that TWC insists on installing the cards.$25 + $2.50 a card is what they charge in Ohio....They still gotta get a cut:( :mad:

[Grumock]

Ok,
called while at work today and SLOWLY worked through the question/response card the person at the other end was reading from.

"I don't have a USB cable to unplug"

"I am using a TiVo not a cable tuner"

"no - the cards do not need balanced - you need to send a balancing hit to them'

Approximately 10 minutes after calling - she informed me she had sent the balancing hit - or whatever it is they do.

When I got home - the only difference was that the EMM count was now 2.
The status was still waiting on the EMMs.

Just for the heck of it - I tried restarting my TiVo.

Once it came back up - I checked the cablecard status - and now the EMM count is 0 for both cards.

*sigh*

Don't tell me that if/when I ever get things running properly - if the TiVo restarts - it will be messed up again....
Hopefully that is not the case...

Jim

Well when you restart it the emms will go to 0. The problem you describe is the card not being staged in the Head End or (DNCS). Normally the regular CSRs will not be able to help you with this since someone has to contact the DNCS & have them manually put in the stage hit. In this case I would recommend that you ask to be transferred to the Cable Card Support desk & they will be able to help you. If you local rep cannot help you call TIVo & they will get you to the Cable Card Support Desk for TWC.

[Orcus]

Well when you restart it the emms will go to 0. The problem you describe is the card not being staged in the Head End or (DNCS). Normally the regular CSRs will not be able to help you with this since someone has to contact the DNCS & have them manually put in the stage hit. In this case I would recommend that you ask to be transferred to the Cable Card Support desk & they will be able to help you. If you local rep cannot help you call TIVo & they will get you to the Cable Card Support Desk for TWC.

Ok,
got no where with calling the support desk last night - but she did end up scheduling a truck to roll out here and take a look at things.

Turns out - as you said, the cablecards were paired correctly - but not staged.
The good news is - we have some of the SD channels we were missing - but are still missing a bunch of HD channels. The tech that stopped by this afternoon explained that the missing HD channels are their switched ones - so we're supposed to have another tech stop by on Saturday with a tuning adapter.

Hopefully that will fix things.

The tech tonight couldn't believe the installed hadn't staged the cablecards properly - he asked me if the guy just handed them to me and left ;-)

Jim

[ananke44]

Did anyone get a letter about them getting rid of the cable cards? I just got a letter yesterday saying I will lose my HD channels April 5th if I don't have them come bring some external converter box to use their new SDV service...

Okay - nevermind, just found the SDV thread...off to read.

[kevin120]

Did anyone get a letter about them getting rid of the cable cards? I just got a letter yesterday saying I will lose my HD channels April 5th if I don't have them come bring some external converter box to use their new SDV service...

Okay - nevermind, just found the SDV thread...off to read.

Welocome fellow north texan you welcomed to this thread they want cable card tvs to have a Motorola DCT5100, DCT/DCH 6200 or DCH/DCX3200 replace the cable cards as the tvs are not compatible with the tuning adapter.

now if you have a tivo,moxi,or ati DCT cable card tv PC you can pick up the tuner at a payment center. Some of the payment centers are not open on saturday but the arlington headend/office is open 8:00am-6:00pm mon thru friday on saturday from 8:00am-5:00pm

[Orcus]

What a pain.
It eventually took TWO service calls to get all of our channels operational.

The issues were - the cablecards were not staged properly - AND most of the
HD channels are switched.

So now we have this big honkin' tuner adapter attached to the TiVo also - and that has made everything work the way it should have.

The tech who brought the tuning adapter had no idea how to set it up - he originally attached just the cable to it - and the usb to the TiVo and expected things to work. I told him it needed a patch cable from the "out" port to the TiVo - but of course he didn't listen.

10 minutes later when no channels at all are coming in - he makes a small patch cable and hooks it up right.

Then they try to charge me $50 for the service call - labeling it as an initial install - and I told them I already PAID for the initial install - this was the second service call to actually fix things the way they should have been!

All's well that ends well I guess...

Jim

[smak]

Is there a place where I can get an accurate list of which channels on the TWC system in my area are switched?

-smak-

[dlfl]

Is there a place where I can get an accurate list of which channels on the TWC system in my area are switched?

-smak-
There wasn't on my TWC system (Southwest Ohio). This info is of no interest to 99+% of their subscribers so the tech support people don't usually have it handy. I assume most subscribers get reliable lineup info directly from their TWC set-top box or DVR. When my cable cards and TA were installed last July the installers couild not even give me a list of the channels I should receive. I keep asking for channel lineup brochures and they keep sending them, but they are never up to date. They have a channel lineup webpage but it is so user unfriendly that it's practically useless (and doesn't distinguish SDV channels at all, of course).

I once made a tech support person read me the list of SDV channels over the phone, but later determined it was inaccurate and incomplete.

There is a way you can tell if a tuned channel is SDV, see **this post**. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7394726#post7394726). This is tedious and of course requires you to be able to tune the channel -- not helpful if you're wondering if you're failing to tune SDV channels that you should receive.

[supersportsfan]

Question...thinking of upgrading from my HD to the Premiere. Will I be able to switch my M card from one box to the other, or will I need to have Time Warner roll a truck?

[squiddohio]

You should be able to just switch the cards and call TW to have them send the appropriate signals, which are needed because the card has to be paired or mated or something to the new box. However, some cable companies seem to want to send a "technician" for such tasks. Be aware, however, that if this is the case, all he will do is take the card, put it in the new TiVo, and call in for some hits. He will have to follow the TiVo instructions you will have, because he will surely not know the TiVo procedures (which is why TiVo prints them out to hand to the "installers." Generally it will be a waste of his time, as a trained chimp could put the card into the box, but rules are rules.
Good luck.

[jawboneradio]

Anyone in North East Ohio with Time Warner Cable not getting the HD channels in the 1000 block? TWC made a lineup change and moved all the HD channels to the 1000's. Tivo has updated the channel guide, but all the HD channels are still in the 400 block. Frustrating to say the least. Can anyone else here commiserate?

[samsauce29]

Anyone in North East Ohio with Time Warner Cable not getting the HD channels in the 1000 block? TWC made a lineup change and moved all the HD channels to the 1000's. Tivo has updated the channel guide, but all the HD channels are still in the 400 block. Frustrating to say the least. Can anyone else here commiserate?

Northeast OH (actually Erie, PA) here. All of my channels are working fine as of tonight. The lineup changes came in 2 pieces Tuesday for most and today for local channels. The only one I'm missing now is Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

There was a post from someone in Erie County with a TWC box that mentioned they had moved back to the 400's so it's possibly only in some places.

I can commiserate with you though... hoping this is the end of all the channel flip-flopping.

[jchick]

The channels 1000 and over do NOT come in. As you said, Tivo thinks they are there but blank screen.


Anyone in North East Ohio with Time Warner Cable not getting the HD channels in the 1000 block? TWC made a lineup change and moved all the HD channels to the 1000's. Tivo has updated the channel guide, but all the HD channels are still in the 400 block. Frustrating to say the least. Can anyone else here commiserate?

[SubEffect]

Anyone in North East Ohio with Time Warner Cable not getting the HD channels in the 1000 block? TWC made a lineup change and moved all the HD channels to the 1000's. Tivo has updated the channel guide, but all the HD channels are still in the 400 block. Frustrating to say the least. Can anyone else here commiserate?

I'm in Lake County and currently re-running guided setup for the third time this week in hopes that the channel lineup gets sorted out. With SDV, it's become quite a nightmare to go back and tune in the 'old' 400 channels since switching between them too frequently is enough to kick the Cisco TA offline for 5-10 minutes. I am hoping this gets cleared up soon. I'm not sure if I should call TWC or TiVo for some help or a status.

[jchick]

So, I just talked to a TWC support rep. She blames it on TIVO, that they have not yet reached an agreement with TWC to 'program' their tuning adapters. She said to call TIVO and complain.

Whatever. This sucks.

[samsauce29]

So, I just talked to a TWC support rep. She blames it on TIVO, that they have not yet reached an agreement with TWC to 'program' their tuning adapters. She said to call TIVO and complain.

Whatever. This sucks.

I'm not sure what that means at all... but all is now well in Erie, PA, also part of the TWC Northeast Ohio division.

I'd call back and ask someone else... or maybe call TiVo first and ask them if there is any truth to the statement.

[frankincensed]

Does TWC in Ohio not supply M-Cards or something?

If they do and you just have a preference for 2 S-Cards, is there any particular reason for that? Are 2 cards considered to be more reliable somehow, and thus worth the extra $3 a month? For what it's worth, I have one M-Card, and have had no problems with it whatsoever (I've had it for about 1 year).

If they claim to only supply S-Cards and you want an M-Card, you may want to ask them to note you'd like M-Cards on your work order anyway, and to re-iterate that request to the tech who comes to install them. I think I've heard that's worked for some people, as the first line phone support people often don't know much about cable cards.

I did just that, called to ask that I want a M card be written on the work order. What a s--t storm that started. They keep telling me they dont supply M cards, or the (so called)technician that comes to install will have what I need & know what to do. After reading these accounts of incompetence I am starting to second guess using Tivo as a cable box. Up to this point Ive just been using it as a stream box.

[StanSimmons]

I did just that, called to ask that I want a M card be written on the work order. What a s--t storm that started. They keep telling me they dont supply M cards, or the (so called)technician that comes to install will have what I need & know what to do. After reading these accounts of incompetence I am starting to second guess using Tivo as a cable box. Up to this point Ive just been using it as a stream box.

Bingo! That is exactly what TWC is hoping for. Stand your ground and make them keep rolling trucks until it works.

[vboshart]

Utica, NY - It took me 3 months and 6 TWC visits but I finally got my TiVo Series 3 HD box working with Time Warner Cable.

The end result is that for our area you need a CableCard and Tuning Adapter box. The CableCard should be a MS (multi-stream). This one card will let you access both tuners on your TiVo box.

The cost for the CableCard per month is $2.50. There is no charge for the Tuning Adapter.

They could not supply me with a tuning adapter but I was able to order one on the Time Warner web site. This item is free. I was able to install it myself.

I did run the TiVo setup again once I had the Tuning Adapter installed. Fortunately, even though I did not have the CableCard yet, it gave the option to install a CableCard later.

Once I finally had both items, a tech returned and called TWC to activate the card. It wasn't until some EMM data was sent that the "card" started seeing digital and HD channels. Within 24 hours, all my HD channels programming info was available.

I'm a happy TiVo user again.... I hope this information helps someone else in my area to know that you can use TiVo HD in Central New York.

[frankincensed]

Ive decided that when the cable guy shows up at my house today, if he doesn't have a m card Im going to forget trying to use tivo hd as my cable box, & just continue to use it as a stream box. This is way too frustrating to screw around for multiple visits from TWC to get this box to work right. Why cant Tivo boxes just take a direct cable input like the TWC dvr?

[SCSIRAID]

Why cant Tivo boxes just take a direct cable input like the TWC dvr?

Because the cableco signals are encrypted and TiVo needs the 'magic decoder ring' in order to decrypt those signals so they are usable. The magic decoder ring is also known as a 'cablecard'. :D

[bobrt6676]

I did just that, called to ask that I want a M card be written on the work order. What a s--t storm that started. They keep telling me they dont supply M cards, or the (so called)technician that comes to install will have what I need & know what to do. After reading these accounts of incompetence I am starting to second guess using Tivo as a cable box. Up to this point Ive just been using it as a stream box.



SW OHIO TWC - I have 2 TIVOs 2 M-card's. I had 2-S-cards replaced 1 month ago with 1- M-card. The tech that came out was reading off his directions from TWC and it stated only M-cards should be installed in TIVO's. :rolleyes: CSR's are mostly clueless(some are very good) Just have them put M-card requested on the service ticket. Don't settle for less.:D

[JimWall]

So, I just talked to a TWC support rep. She blames it on TIVO, that they have not yet reached an agreement with TWC to 'program' their tuning adapters. She said to call TIVO and complain.

Whatever. This sucks.

The support rep is clueless. Keep calling until you get someone who knows what to do or will escalate it to someone who does. Tuning adapters work with more than TIVO though TIVO was the first product to take advantage of it.

[JimWall]

Because the cableco signals are encrypted and TiVo needs the 'magic decoder ring' in order to decrypt those signals so they are usable. The magic decoder ring is also known as a 'cablecard'. :D

Ive decided that when the cable guy shows up at my house today, if he doesn't have a m card Im going to forget trying to use tivo hd as my cable box, & just continue to use it as a stream box. This is way too frustrating to screw around for multiple visits from TWC to get this box to work right. Why cant Tivo boxes just take a direct cable input like the TWC dvr?

I understand TWC DVR and set top boxes now use cable cards also. The main difference is TWC devices support full two way communication with cable system and TIVO does not. Also it costs a lot of money to add that to TIVO. The tuning adapter is a low cost alternative. To be true two way I don't know how much cost is licensing and how much of it is adding processing power to the TIVO to run the cable companies code/plug-in.

[squiddohio]

As it does once every 4 or 5 weeks, my tuning adapter went down and I got the flashing green light again. I called TWC for the usual hit, and this time I got a rep who seemed to know what I was talking about, quickly sent out the hit, resolving the problem. She even admitted that this is caused when TW sends out some signals from time to time, although she did not know what those signals were. Perhaps time and repeated TA calls are educating the folks at the other end of the line. We can only hope, although it would be nice to have a TA that did not need to be "hit" with signals 10 times a year, each of which requires a call to customer "service."

[KeithB]

TWC Carolinas - Charlotte - Just received their "New Digital Cable Lineup" mailer. They're shifting everything from the 200s up into the 1000s like other TWC areas. I really hate knowing just how screwy this is gonna get between TWC, Tribune, and TiVo. :(

[KeithB]

The support rep is clueless. Keep calling until you get someone who knows what to do or will escalate it to someone who does. Tuning adapters work with more than TIVO though TIVO was the first product to take advantage of it.

Agreed. The tuning adapters are supplied by the cable companies, not TiVo. The TA firmware is programmed by either Cisco or Motorola, depending on your system. The local cable company is responsible for rolling out firmware upgrades, depending on their hardware and their people.

[jchick]

Talked to both Tivo and TWC. Both say they are aware of the issue. No resolution yet and no ETA. TWC really knocked my socks off by giving $5.00 off for the HD tier we pay for since we can't get any of the 1000-series channels. Am I one of the very few that is having this Tuning Adapter issue? (It's a Cisco STA1520)

The support rep is clueless. Keep calling until you get someone who knows what to do or will escalate it to someone who does. Tuning adapters work with more than TIVO though TIVO was the first product to take advantage of it.

[parttimer]

You are not alone, I am in Ashtabula Ohio with two useless Tivo's for HD. I got an update today to .0f but that didn't seem to fix anything. My second tivo we just bought has an M card in it and after about 6 hours the unit locks up and and I either have to reboot or pull the cable card to get it to work. My original unit is a series 3hd with two s-cards and no 1000 channels their either. Last time I called I was told the engineers are working on it but there is no expected fix date. How the F do you roll something out without testing it. That is just bad business.

[zaknafein]

On Monday, both of my cable cards (which have been working relatively flawlessly for almost 3 years) went dead. The only channels TiVo can tune are the analog ones. When I try to tune a digital channel, it says "Searching for Signal on Cable In" and never tunes.

Called TWC Kansas City, and the rep sent several hits to the cards, which did nothing. Have a truck roll scheduled for Friday afternoon. I asked them to send an M card to replace the two S cards, we'll see what happens.

[Shmooh]

Talked to both Tivo and TWC. Both say they are aware of the issue. No resolution yet and no ETA. TWC really knocked my socks off by giving $5.00 off for the HD tier we pay for since we can't get any of the 1000-series channels. Am I one of the very few that is having this Tuning Adapter issue? (It's a Cisco STA1520)


You are not alone, I am in Ashtabula Ohio with two useless Tivo's for HD. I got an update today to .0f but that didn't seem to fix anything. My second tivo we just bought has an M card in it and after about 6 hours the unit locks up and and I either have to reboot or pull the cable card to get it to work. My original unit is a series 3hd with two s-cards and no 1000 channels their either. Last time I called I was told the engineers are working on it but there is no expected fix date. How the F do you roll something out without testing it. That is just bad business.

Wait, what? I think I missed something. What's not working, exactly? Can you two not get any SDV-transmitted programming, or just not channels over 1000? Did TWC change the channel map on you, and now you just can't see the channels now that they've moved?

We've had a TA for a while now with a TivoHD. It's been flakey, but has been reasonably stable for the past few months. Occasional glitches in the past few months include the Tivo menus freezing up a few times (just wait for it to time out and it's fine) and a couple spontaneous Tivo reboots. These sound like Tivo software / driver bugs to me, though. Even if it's related to the TA behaving badly, the host device (the Tivo) should never be so adversely affected by a peripheral (the TA).

[parttimer]

Neither of my units get the 1000's, you get a message saying the adapter doesn't work. One of my units, about 2 months old will work fine for a day, then lock up. You press the button, hear the noise, and nada. Pull the cable card and it works fine.

[kawertz]

If you are having troubles with the tuning adapter in Northeast Ohio try disconnecting the USB Cable. You will loose the SDV channels but at least you will have the locals and non-SDV channels in the 1000. My problem is that every channel I receive is good except 1000+. I have talked numerous times with Cablecard Support and they keep assuring me that they are bugging the Engineering Department for NEO. UMMM Yeah sure you are.

[smak]

What was the guy on the phone at TW telling me when he said that their would be 2 cards, one for channels 0-99, and one for 100+ and VOD?

Is that total BS?

-smak-

[KobeWilliams]

Thanks for this thread! :D

[Fofer]

Thanks for your upcoming spam! :D

[littlell3]

What was the guy on the phone at TW telling me when he said that their would be 2 cards, one for channels 0-99, and one for 100+ and VOD?

Is that total BS?

-smak-




You are not going to get VOD with a Tivo.

[littlell3]

If you are having troubles with the tuning adapter in Northeast Ohio try disconnecting the USB Cable. You will loose the SDV channels but at least you will have the locals and non-SDV channels in the 1000. My problem is that every channel I receive is good except 1000+. I have talked numerous times with Cablecard Support and they keep assuring me that they are bugging the Engineering Department for NEO. UMMM Yeah sure you are.



I have spoken to Cablecard Support and I do believe that they are doing what they are saying, I believe they are talking to the Engineering Department for NEO, only because everytime I have talked to this group they have been right on the money and fixed my issue, I believe that if there was nothing they could do about it, they would explain that and why.

[jchick]

Still not feeling the love in Aurora, Ohio.


You are not alone, I am in Ashtabula Ohio with two useless Tivo's for HD. I got an update today to .0f but that didn't seem to fix anything. My second tivo we just bought has an M card in it and after about 6 hours the unit locks up and and I either have to reboot or pull the cable card to get it to work. My original unit is a series 3hd with two s-cards and no 1000 channels their either. Last time I called I was told the engineers are working on it but there is no expected fix date. How the F do you roll something out without testing it. That is just bad business.

[singletond]

We have Hi-def from Time Warner, and a Tivo (plus the TM “cards” that go in the back of the Tivo) and the TM-supplied Cisco STA 1250. The system drops “switched” channels ever since we got it. If I take the Cisco out of the circuit, call TM and ask them to send down the updates, those updates reach the Tivo and we get all the non-switched HD channels right way, but switched HD channels (CNN ch 135 is my test case) are “unavailable”. Then a few moments to many hours later we get the HD switched channels (ch 135 and the others work fine), then from 1-3 weeks later the switched channels go “unavailable” again. It seems that the Cisco prevents regular updates to the TM cards for switched HD channels. Is this a known problem? Is the a known fix?
Next step seems ot be get a set top box from TM and compare the channels we get.
Then maybe dump TM in favor of DirecTV?

[dlfl]

We have Hi-def from Time Warner, and a Tivo (plus the TM “cards” that go in the back of the Tivo) and the TM-supplied Cisco STA 1250. The system drops “switched” channels ever since we got it. If I take the Cisco out of the circuit, call TM and ask them to send down the updates, those updates reach the Tivo and we get all the non-switched HD channels right way, but switched HD channels (CNN ch 135 is my test case) are “unavailable”. Then a few moments to many hours later we get the HD switched channels (ch 135 and the others work fine), then from 1-3 weeks later the switched channels go “unavailable” again. It seems that the Cisco prevents regular updates to the TM cards for switched HD channels. Is this a known problem? Is the a known fix?
Next step seems ot be get a set top box from TM and compare the channels we get.
Then maybe dump TM in favor of DirecTV?
These kinds of TA problems are pretty common with TWC. If you look at the several threads with Time Warner in their names you will see plenty of similar complaints. A delay of up to several hours after a "hit" to get all the channels is unusual though, I think. Are you power cycling your TA and cycling the USB cable after the hits?

[squiddohio]

After a "hit," it is NOT unusual for my TAs (I have 2) to take an hour or two to get settled in and go from flashing green light to solid. I don't understand it, and they usually go off stream once every 4 to 6 weeks (at the same time, courtesy of TW "signals") and require me to call for another hit. It's a giant pain.

[dlfl]

After a "hit," it is NOT unusual for my TAs (I have 2) to take an hour or two to get settled in and go from flashing green light to solid. I don't understand it, and they usually go off stream once every 4 to 6 weeks (at the same time, courtesy of TW "signals") and require me to call for another hit. It's a giant pain.
Which TWC system are you in?

[gallobg]

Just spoke with a service tech at my location in Twinsburg, OH. He said that TWC NEO is rolling out the update on a box-by-box basis (e.g., a separate update for each set-top box version that they support). According to him, support for Tivo has not yet been rolled out but should be later this week or early next week (Tivo is pretty near the bottom of the update list). We just have to wait for our roll-out.

On the plus side, TWC customer service didn't blink at reducing my cable bill by 10 days. If this isn't fixed by next week I'll call again and have it reduced further.

[squiddohio]

"Which TWC system are you in?"
I am in Time Warner, Cincinnati - City - I have a digital package, and the HD package, and I get HBO and Showtime. I have no TW box, just a Series 3 and two HD boxes, which hold a total of 6 cable cards. Two of my TiVos have a TA, and when they go on the fritz with the blinking green light, they usually go off at the same time, which a TW support lady admitted was due to some "signals" that TW sends out from time to time for updates, etc. Why they send that signal to me I don't know, since I do not have any of TW's hardware.
Other than this constant problem with the TAs, which seems to happen every 5 or 6 weeks, the TW service and the picture quality and even the customer service are excellent.
Before the S3 came out, I had a TW DVR, and there is no way I would want to go back to that mess, even at the low, low price of whatever they charge a month.

[dlfl]

"Which TWC system are you in?"
I am in Time Warner, Cincinnati - City - I have a digital package, and the HD package, and I get HBO and Showtime. I have no TW box, just a Series 3 and two HD boxes, which hold a total of 6 cable cards. Two of my TiVos have a TA, and when they go on the fritz with the blinking green light, they usually go off at the same time, which a TW support lady admitted was due to some "signals" that TW sends out from time to time for updates, etc. Why they send that signal to me I don't know, since I do not have any of TW's hardware.
Other than this constant problem with the TAs, which seems to happen every 5 or 6 weeks, the TW service and the picture quality and even the customer service are excellent.
Before the S3 came out, I had a TW DVR, and there is no way I would want to go back to that mess, even at the low, low price of whatever they charge a month.
OK, you and I are in the same system (SW Ohio). My TA goes out every 4 or 5 weeks (8-blinks-pause). I usually end up talking to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk, since they have been the only ones able to fix the problem 2/3 of the time. Last time, the NCCS guy told me the TA's are programmed to require a "balancing hit" every 30 days. This is supposed to happen automatically, but he suspects our system isn't getting it done.

[bobrt6676]

After a "hit," it is NOT unusual for my TAs (I have 2) to take an hour or two to get settled in and go from flashing green light to solid. I don't understand it, and they usually go off stream once every 4 to 6 weeks (at the same time, courtesy of TW "signals") and require me to call for another hit. It's a giant pain.

I had the 8 blinking light last night. I have reported before the NCC techs had told me it takes 3 "authorizing" hits to get all stations back. And it works immediately when the 3rd Hit is sent. Of course I had to start out with the 1st line, she tried 1 hit, nothing. I told her it takes 3 hits. She could not comprehend and transfered me to 2nd tier. After 10min on hold, I explained again and she sent a hit. Nothing. She said she would have to roll a truck. I explained and asked her to send 1 more hit. She did and instantly all my SDV stations were back. She was amazed and made a note on my account.

[dlfl]

I had the 8 blinking light last night. I have reported before the NCC techs had told me it takes 3 "authorizing" hits to get all stations back. And it works immediately when the 3rd Hit is sent. Of course I had to start out with the 1st line, she tried 1 hit, nothing. I told her it takes 3 hits. She could not comprehend and transfered me to 2nd tier. After 10min on hold, I explained again and she sent a hit. Nothing. She said she would have to roll a truck. I explained and asked her to send 1 more hit. She did and instantly all my SDV stations were back. She was amazed and made a note on my account.
Interesting. I've had the 8-blinks about 9 times now and talked to NCCS at least 4 times, and never heard of the "3 hit" requirement. But I can't assume they tell me every detail of what they do. Next time (and there will be a next time!) I'll make a point of asking about it.

[Grumock]

Interesting. I've had the 8-blinks about 9 times now and talked to NCCS at least 4 times, and never heard of the "3 hit" requirement. But I can't assume they tell me every detail of what they do. Next time (and there will be a next time!) I'll make a point of asking about it.

LMAO I was going to say the same thing. They just need to go to the 07 screen, otherwise known as the balancing screen, & hit enter. Best results are if you have the USB disconnected when they do that too.

[dlfl]

LMAO I was going to say the same thing. They just need to go to the 07 screen, otherwise known as the balancing screen, & hit enter. Best results are if you have the USB disconnected when they do that too.
Last time, I tried the "screen 7" suggestion on the CSR and got nowhere -- but that could just be because he was totally clueless. (NCCS had to fix it again.) I've had 2 or 3 times out of 9 when the local CSR knew what to do and did it quickly. All other times it took the NCCS.

I've been told that notations were placed on my account about 8-blink and what to do about it, but there's no indication this does any good.

[Grumock]

Last time, I tried the "screen 7" suggestion on the CSR and got nowhere -- but that could just be because he was totally clueless. (NCCS had to fix it again.) I've had 2 or 3 times out of 9 when the local CSR knew what to do and did it quickly. All other times it took the NCCS.

I've been told that notations were placed on my account about 8-blink and what to do about it, but there's no indication this does any good.

I imagine that would take the ability to be able to read for it to do any good. LOL

[jchick]

Still waiting in Aurora, Ohio. Not a peep from anyone. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if I can get some warm fuzzies.


Just spoke with a service tech at my location in Twinsburg, OH. He said that TWC NEO is rolling out the update on a box-by-box basis (e.g., a separate update for each set-top box version that they support). According to him, support for Tivo has not yet been rolled out but should be later this week or early next week (Tivo is pretty near the bottom of the update list). We just have to wait for our roll-out.

On the plus side, TWC customer service didn't blink at reducing my cable bill by 10 days. If this isn't fixed by next week I'll call again and have it reduced further.

[Klankster]

OK, you and I are in the same system (SW Ohio). My TA goes out every 4 or 5 weeks (8-blinks-pause). I usually end up talking to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk, since they have been the only ones able to fix the problem 2/3 of the time. Last time, the NCCS guy told me the TA's are programmed to require a "balancing hit" every 30 days. This is supposed to happen automatically, but he suspects our system isn't getting it done.
VERY interesting. The last time the 8-blink thing happened for me I was talking to the Tier 3 guy and told him this was getting very old, that it happens at least once a month for me. He looked into my account records and actually admitted he was astonished -- that it HAD happened about every 4 weeks --like clockwork! Every time on the last or next to last day of the month! He said that he suspected a bug in the system that cancels/reauthorizes the TAs, which apparently does so at the end of each month.

I can't wait to see if it happens again this week! [sarcasm mode off]

[Klankster]

P.S. As soon as Tivo comes out with their new DirecTV box, I'm jumping ship back to DirecTV as fast as humanly possible. The TWC Series3 box has been a sad, expensive joke in my family with all these tuning-adapter-related service interruptions and the pixelation issues we get. Not to mention TWC's excessive compression on HD channels makes fast action scenes look like crap. Makes me wonder: What do they think we wanted HD for? Bragging rights? No, I want a quality picture.

[dlfl]

P.S. As soon as Tivo comes out with their new DirecTV box, I'm jumping ship back to DirecTV as fast as humanly possible. .......
You might want to reconsider that plan if **this rumor** (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=445446) is true. :eek: Can you imagine a DirecTV DVR supported by Dish?

[jchick]

I called - what a joke. It's always luck of the draw when you call Customer support. The person I spoke with was clueless about the TA's. She asked someone else and they said all they could do is roll a truck. So, I'll waste some time on Wednesday with a technician who will tell me, "we don't know much of anything about these tuning adapters".


Still waiting in Aurora, Ohio. Not a peep from anyone. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if I can get some warm fuzzies.

[dcstager]

When you get that bad CSR - hang up abruptly mid-sentence and try again. This works with CSRs with very poor language skills too and it works for any company you interact with.

[dlfl]

When you get that bad CSR - hang up abruptly mid-sentence and try again. This works with CSRs with very poor language skills too and it works for any company you interact with.
I agree. I will not accept a truck roll for TA problems that I know will not be solved by a truck roll. (You can let them schedule it and call back later to cancel if you wish.). I would try another TWC CSR or I would call TiVo support. TiVo support can connect you directly to the TWC National Cable Card Support (NCCS) desk, and they are the only part of TWC that's almost guaranteed to be able to understand your problem, and usually to fix it quick.
There are good and bad TiVo support people too, of course. Some of them don't know they can connect you with NCCS, or they have "a number for TWC" but don't know what it is. Both TiVo support and NCCS have evening hours BTW, so you don't have to give up work time to call them.

[arrkay]

I used a TiVo Series 3 with Time Warner and two cablecards for a couple of years with moderate success. No VOD access (no biggie), and perfectly working HD channels. I spent a year with DirecTV and had to go back to cable after moving to a new place that doesn't dig satellite dishes.

I'm giving the Time Warner DVRs a try, but I'm not all that enthused, and the fact that VOD seems to be mostly non-HD (or all non-HD) isn't really making VOD a must-have feature for me, at this point.

I'm considering going back to cable cards and my series 3, but it seems like a pretty long list of issues have cropped up since I last used mine. Reading most of the recent posts, it seems like most of the issues are Ohio-related.

Is anyone in the Los Angeles area using the original Series 3 DVR with cable cards? Any gotchas? Is the installation process still as painful as it was in 2006? (It took them four trips the first time, and two trips the second time, but I think only one trip the third time I moved.)

Is the CableCard + Tuning Adapter = SDV equation relatively satisfied?

[Fofer]

Working fine for me. Haven't been issued a Tuning Adapter (at least yet) and am able to get all channels.

I got a letter last year telling me sometime soon I might need one to access one or two channels (and they were lame ones, I remember thinking, I wouldn't care if I couldn't get them) and nothing since. So, I'm holding tight, all's well thus far.

[arrkay]

Working fine for me. Haven't been issued a Tuning Adapter (at least yet) and am able to get all channels.

I got a letter last year telling me sometime soon I might need one to access one or two channels (and they were lame ones, I remember thinking, I wouldn't care if I couldn't get them) and nothing since. So, I'm holding tight, all's well thus far.

Thanks Fofer, sounds like L.A. hasn't switched over then. Means I should have a few months' worth of respite, hopefully. Sounds good.

[RTPGiants]

So I haven't been paying attention in a little while because my TA was mostly working. It certainly doesn't just completely disconnect anymore.

However, of late, episodes are failing to record on switched channels with "signal unavailable" and those that do record are more often than not they're at least missing 3-5 minutes somewhere in the show.

It's once again gotten to the point where recording HD through the TA is basically completely unreliable. Is this just a known thing we're never going to get solved?

[m_jonis]

So I haven't been paying attention in a little while because my TA was mostly working. It certainly doesn't just completely disconnect anymore.

However, of late, episodes are failing to record on switched channels with "signal unavailable" and those that do record are more often than not they're at least missing 3-5 minutes somewhere in the show.

It's once again gotten to the point where recording HD through the TA is basically completely unreliable. Is this just a known thing we're never going to get solved?

Basically yes, IMO. Neither Tivo nor the cable companies seem to care and unless you're lucky to get FIOS I think we'll be living with it for many more years to come (I figure it'll be at LEAST 2-3 years before Tivo has a tru2way compatible box)

[dlfl]

So I haven't been paying attention in a little while because my TA was mostly working. It certainly doesn't just completely disconnect anymore.

However, of late, episodes are failing to record on switched channels with "signal unavailable" and those that do record are more often than not they're at least missing 3-5 minutes somewhere in the show.

It's once again gotten to the point where recording HD through the TA is basically completely unreliable. Is this just a known thing we're never going to get solved?
I not only have the lost recording problem, which does seem to be getting worse lately, but my TA goes out regularly once per month, requiring a minimum of 30 mins of rebooting and talking to TWC to get "balancing hits". This has been going on for nine months now with no indication that anyone is going to fix it. I'm pretty sure the monthly outages are TWC's fault but I think the missed recordings could probably be fixed in the TiVo software. I haven't received the 11.0g update yet but I've seen no indication so far that this was addressed.

[mercurial]

On of my cables cards in my main S3 has gone into lala land (won't decode any CCI=0x01 channels). Time for another call tonight. I SOOOOOO am considering just ditching the lot and going back to super basic cable and/or OTA and supplementing with Netflix.

[smak]

So i tried switching my M card from my Tivo Series 3 to my new Premiere, and it seemed to work for awhile, but now it's missing most of the channels. Has the locals, so I'm pretty sure it's a cable card thing?

Do they usually setup the M card so you need to call in or have a truck roll, if moving it to another machine. I thought TW was one of the ones that allowed you to switch?

Is there some magic thing to tell the CSR to get them to fix it without a truck roll?

-smak-

[RTPGiants]

Another night, another "video signal not available".

It's really annoying because in this case it was supposed to tune SyFy-HD. It failed to record. But of course 5 minutes later, on live TV (when I checked to see if the recording worked), the channel is tuned fine.

So very frustrating.

[nchd]

Just had my Tivo Premiere set up and TWC installed a Sci-Atl. Multi-media card.

I'm not getting all of my HD channels (most of them). Any ideas? Both my local TWC office and installer were fairly clueless about the multi-media card. I wound up installing it myself, while he watched.

[dlfl]

Just had my Tivo Premiere set up and TWC installed a Sci-Atl. Multi-media card.

I'm not getting all of my HD channels (most of them). Any ideas? Both my local TWC office and installer were fairly clueless about the multi-media card. I wound up installing it myself, while he watched.
Why not post this in the TiVo Premiere forum? Although in this case the issues are probably the same as for a Series 3.

If you have SDV in your system, you will need a Tuning Adapter to get many of your HD channels. Your TWC system should provide the TA free of charge and installation is even simpler than the CableCARD (no numbers to record or phone in). The only purpose for a truck roll would be as an alternative to them mailing it to you or you having to pick it up. However, they may insist on a truck roll anyway.

Just FYI, Sci-Atl is now Cisco (and is usually called that on these forums).

If your system doesn't use SDV, there is something wrong with the pairing or authorization of your CableCARD and you need to complain to TWC. This can almost always be fixed without a truck roll, but.........

How much did they charge for the installation?

[JimWall]

I have refused a truck roll several times. Saying the hit may take a while to arrive. Then called back the next day and get it to work.
The TA's are a pain but support here is getting better.
I seem to have trouble with 1 of 3 about once a month.
2nd last time 2 went out at exactly the same time. Which leads to the theory they need reauthorization once a month to keep working.
Last time one went out the CSR admitted she had no experience but could not get ahold of a supervisor. She found the current procedures and got it working!!!
It appears in this area the support docs are getting better. They used to have 2 hits to send and the new CSR said they now have something like 7 different hits to send. One that works leaves it with no green light and then I press the button in front and it works.
Also be patient. It TA takes 4 to 5 minutes to reboot and initialize. Check the tuning adapter diagnostics on TIVO while waiting. TWC CSRs cannot see this info. One first screen go to the "Next Page" then "Tuning Resolver" page which indicates it is Authorized. If not and if page 2 of "Network and Tuning status" has an RF Network IP then time for CSR to send another hit.

[organone]

My TA does not get a solid green light, and has not for 24 hours. Most of the time it will flash 2 times, but sometimes 3 times. Does anyone have the troubleshooting for the blink codes, or a suggestion I can pass to TWCKC? THANKS

[dlfl]

My TA does not get a solid green light, and has not for 24 hours. Most of the time it will flash 2 times, but sometimes 3 times. Does anyone have the troubleshooting for the blink codes, or a suggestion I can pass to TWCKC? THANKS
8-blinks,pause means the TA needs to be given a "balancing hit".
6-blinks,pause means the USB to the TiVo is disconnected and TA is OK.
Not sure about any other blink codes but I think 2 to 4 blinks is something bad like the software is corrupted or is being updated.

Disconnect the USB connector and unplug the TA power for 10 seconds. Re-power the TA and wait 15 minutes to see if you get either a steady light or 6-blinks, pause then reconnect the USB cable. If the TA light goes out, hit the power button on the front. Now you need the TiVo to go through the "Acquiring Channels" process with the rotating symbol. If necessary, reboot the TiVo to force this. If you can't get either the steady light or the 6-blink, pause sequence, TWC will have to do something, usually send the right signals.

Suggest they connect you to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk, unless they have something else to try. The only way a truck roll will help is if the TA needs to be replaced or the signal levels need to be adjusted --- not likely. You are not supposed to call NCCS directly but if the local support claims it doesn't exist or they don't know the number, give them the number: 866-532-2598. NCCS has evening and Saturday hours but not sure about Sunday. They start at 10am Eastern Time.

[mihalik]

My tuning adapter started the 8-blinks on Friday. I tried rebooting a few times and that did not seem to work. I've tried calling Time Warner a couple times and they have me unplug and replug everything and wait for it to come back up (awkward conversations waiting the 5 minutes for the Tivo to boot). They really want to send someone out to fix it...

I guess I need to fight to get connected to this national cable card hotline so I can get this fixed over the phone...

[mercurial]

On of my cables cards in my main S3 has gone into lala land (won't decode any CCI=0x01 channels). Time for another call tonight. I SOOOOOO am considering just ditching the lot and going back to super basic cable and/or OTA and supplementing with Netflix.

Well, the other card went the same way on Sunday. Called and they hit them but they sat at CP Authorized and zero EMM/ECM count, rebooted the TiVo, nada. Truck roll yesterday and he couldn't get either of them to come back. Had to go find a supervisor with CCs (they "aren't allowed to carry them even for CC related calls") and came back with two M-cards. Replaced both circa fall 2006 S-cards with them and, after a small slip up with the authorization, it's back in business.

Looks like I have 11.0g on all my boxes now so we'll see if things stay good and if the pixelation is really gone.

[jsholmes]

TWC in NYC couldn't do it over the phone. Insisted on sending a truck. To be fair, they tried. But obviously they didn't know what to do.

I called the national number someone mentioned and they said that what the NYC people needed to do was to unpair my old cable card from my S3 in the billing system, then repair it to my new Premiere, then send it the signal to pair. The national guys said they could do it themselves in some TWC locations, but in NYC they don't have access to the billing system. Sheesh.

I'm going to try calling again today to see if I can get someone who can do this, but I'm not holding out much hope.

The national guy said my best bet was to tell them when they come to bring a brand new cable card so it won't be paired with anything yet.

[jmaditto]

In Columbia, SC they told me it is called a "balancing signal" or a "O7 Screen Enter" or "Addresssable Hit." They do this at the account level. When they send the correct signal I immediately see my TiVo reboot. Then anywhere from 5 - 15mins later I'm good. If my TA doesn't respond, I then have them hit each TA and then I'm back in business. Sometimes they send both signals at the same time too. Good luck

[tmaxjd]

Hi All,
I am a TiVo newbie. We have had Time Warner here in NY forever, and are simply sick of it. We're ready to breakout into the TiVo world.

Just working through this thread (it's a long one) to try and educate myself.
Looking for a little bit of help - any answers to the following questions are greatly appreciated:

- What are the typical issues (e.g. time it takes to setup) we can expect when getting a Premiere box and connecting to TWC?
- I've heard of varying prices that TWC will charge for both the home visit to set up the cards, and then the monthly cost/rental of the cards. Anyone know the pricing of each?
- We have 2 hd tv's, if we want TiVo on both, is there any way around buying 2 new premiere boxes?
- Is there specific language we need to give to TWC that will reduce the time and frustration with getting the setup done right?
- Anything that could help get reduced pricing from TiVO for the new account and getting 2 new boxes?

Anything else?


Much appreciated.

Thanks,
Max
(tmaxjd@yahoo.com)

[neotwc]

Talked to both Tivo and TWC. Both say they are aware of the issue. No resolution yet and no ETA. TWC really knocked my socks off by giving $5.00 off for the HD tier we pay for since we can't get any of the 1000-series channels. Am I one of the very few that is having this Tuning Adapter issue? (It's a Cisco STA1520)

1. Having trouble seeing new HD channels in the 1000's. TWC confirms they rolled our area but cannot figure out why we can't see HD in 1000's on your S3's. Still can see HD in 400's - TWC sez this is techniclly puzzling. 3 weeks - no answers.

2. Also on one of the S3 can't have TA and Wireless adapter plugged into UBS ports at same time without losing 1/2 of the channels. Funny, the other S3 works just fine..... ideas?

[abredt]

I used a TiVo Series 3 with Time Warner and two cablecards for a couple of years with moderate success. No VOD access (no biggie), and perfectly working HD channels. I spent a year with DirecTV and had to go back to cable after moving to a new place that doesn't dig satellite dishes.

I'm giving the Time Warner DVRs a try, but I'm not all that enthused, and the fact that VOD seems to be mostly non-HD (or all non-HD) isn't really making VOD a must-have feature for me, at this point.

I'm considering going back to cable cards and my series 3, but it seems like a pretty long list of issues have cropped up since I last used mine. Reading most of the recent posts, it seems like most of the issues are Ohio-related.

Is anyone in the Los Angeles area using the original Series 3 DVR with cable cards? Any gotchas? Is the installation process still as painful as it was in 2006? (It took them four trips the first time, and two trips the second time, but I think only one trip the third time I moved.)

Is the CableCard + Tuning Adapter = SDV equation relatively satisfied?

I'm in the San Fernando Valley with TiVo-2, TiVo-3 and a TW DVR, but have not installed the Tuning Adapter. TiVo-2 works fine, TW DVR works, but I hate the user interface. TiVo-3 is now easily installed (by TW) with 2 cable cards, but has intermittent problems. Sometimes it can't find the signal and records blank screens, also doesn't get a bunch of channels that the DVR does record.

If you can afford, it do both.
CB

[RTPGiants]

Ho hum...three "partial" recordings today on switched HD. Thanks Tivo...I appreciate you advertising a Premier to me every day in email and onscreen. But no way that happens until you guys can actually fix this sort of stuff...

[dlfl]

Ho hum...three "partial" recordings today on switched HD. Thanks Tivo...I appreciate you advertising a Premier to me every day in email and onscreen. But no way that happens until you guys can actually fix this sort of stuff...
I share your attitude. I'm curious though: all partial recordings? None just totally missed? I have missed recordings but rarely just partial ones.

[AJRitz]

On Monday, both of my cable cards (which have been working relatively flawlessly for almost 3 years) went dead. The only channels TiVo can tune are the analog ones. When I try to tune a digital channel, it says "Searching for Signal on Cable In" and never tunes.

Called TWC Kansas City, and the rep sent several hits to the cards, which did nothing. Have a truck roll scheduled for Friday afternoon. I asked them to send an M card to replace the two S cards, we'll see what happens.

Darren, has this been resolved for you?
I have a truck roll scheduled for Monday morning for a very weird issue. One of my TiVoHD units is still working perfectly. The one in the media room, however, gives me the "Searching for Signal on Cable In" message - but ONLY on 1411 (Fox local). Last night I got about 30 seconds of badly pixelated American Idol that recorded, then nothing. The box has been rebooted, cable cards reseated, and the CSR sent a hit to the cards, all to no avail. You think it would be worth it to call and ask them to send an M card with Monday's truck roll?

[RTPGiants]

I share your attitude. I'm curious though: all partial recordings? None just totally missed? I have missed recordings but rarely just partial ones.

I'll get missed recordings if Tivo can't tune the channel at the start. This does happen, but lately is less frequent.

What's happened over the last two weeks is typically a gap in the program somewhere. Something like a 5 minute time gap is typical. Though yesterday in 3 recordings (Mythbustersx2 and WPT), I got 28 minutes, 24 minutes and 8 minutes total recordings.

ETA: I posted a comment about this to the official Tivo forums, and it got deleted. Thanks Tivo....

[Orcus]

8-blinks,pause means the TA needs to be given a "balancing hit".


Hi,
is there a "correct" power up sequence when a TA is involved?
A couple months ago or so I had a TA installed and everything was working fine - getting all of the switched HD channels w/out any problem.

Today I am getting the repeating 8 blinks and absolutely no channels.
All cables are tight.

I have unplugged the power to the TA and the USB cable and attempted to reboot it. When that did not work - I unplugged it again and the TiVo and power cycled the TiVo. When the TiVo came up - I powered up the TA.
No difference. Still 8 blinks and no channels at all.

Before I call TWC - I wanted to make sure there was not a "proper" power up sequence I should be following first.

Also - is no channels at all a symptom of the 8 blink trouble code?

thanks

Jim

[SCSIRAID]

Hi,
is there a "correct" power up sequence when a TA is involved?
A couple months ago or so I had a TA installed and everything was working fine - getting all of the switched HD channels w/out any problem.

Today I am getting the repeating 8 blinks and absolutely no channels.
All cables are tight.

I have unplugged the power to the TA and the USB cable and attempted to reboot it. When that did not work - I unplugged it again and the TiVo and power cycled the TiVo. When the TiVo came up - I powered up the TA.
No difference. Still 8 blinks and no channels at all.

Before I call TWC - I wanted to make sure there was not a "proper" power up sequence I should be following first.

Also - is no channels at all a symptom of the 8 blink trouble code?

thanks

Jim

8 blinks mean that the TA has lost its authorization. When in a non authorized state, it wont allow the TiVo to 'resolve' tuning requests which leads to 'no channels'.

[Orcus]

8 blinks mean that the TA has lost its authorization. When in a non authorized state, it wont allow the TiVo to 'resolve' tuning requests which leads to 'no channels'.

Wow - I was actually able to get it fixed tonight within a few minutes via their online chat support. I was quite impressed.
I guess the continuous stream of blinks I saw was the TA rebooting after being authorized - since soon after it did that - it began acquiring channels and all was well. Sure beats hanging on the telephone...

Jim

[squiddohio]

The phone techs at TWC seem to be getting better at fixing the TA.
8 blinks means you need to call them. They will send some authorization hits, and then the light should go to unblinking, but sometimes this takes up to 5 minutes or so. Once solid, the TA should be working again.
Both of mine go out about once a month, at the same time, because TW sends out signals that do that. They seem to know that, they don't care, and they just hit the box again to authorize it, but you have to call ever time this happens, but the call takes less time each month.
Sigh.

[dlfl]

The phone techs at TWC seem to be getting better at fixing the TA.
8 blinks means you need to call them. They will send some authorization hits, and then the light should go to unblinking, but sometimes this takes up to 5 minutes or so. Once solid, the TA should be working again.
Both of mine go out about once a month, at the same time, because TW sends out signals that do that. They seem to know that, they don't care, and they just hit the box again to authorize it, but you have to call ever time this happens, but the call takes less time each month.
Sigh.
which TWC system are you in? I'm in SW Ohio and haven't noticed any improvement in their ability to handle the 8-blink calls. Happens every month and more than half the time I have to get connected to the NCCS (TWC's National Cable Card Support) desk to find someone who knows what to do.

[Saturn]

I've heard from a Tier 3 support guy that they are taking the every-month-8-blinks issue pretty seriously and have had Cisco guys in the Milwaukee office trying to figure out what's going on.

I've had to call in every month on the 18th or 19th of the month since December. Normally it only takes 15 minutes or so but last night I sat on the phone for over an hour and couldn't get the tuning adapter to sync. I called in again this morning and they were able to help.

Such a PITA.

[squiddohio]

DLFL:
I'm in Cincinnati - City.
Lately I have been getting my calls answered by someone who seems to know what a TA is and how to "hit" it. In fact, they seem to be expecting my call.
However, there is surely some luck involved, and there is no way to control who answers the phone. If you get someone clueless, you might try to bail on the call and place it again later.
PS: I have never had to call the NCCS, although that sounds like fun.
PPS: My real concern now is spotty station reception of SDV stations even when the light is solid. The whole thing would be a fiasco if Time Warner were not such a complete fiasco to start with. The TA mess is just a sub-fiasco.

[s44]

Anyone successfully watched a PPV event via phone ordering? This *should* work, but who knows? I'm preparing for the May 1 fight and I'm wondering if I need to get a box for a few days.

[rv65]

According to a legal notice, TWC NYC will be moving a ton of channels to SDV so subscribers in that area will now need the dreaded TA.

[rv65]

On or about June 2, 2010 the following channels will become services that cannot be accessed on CableCARD-equipped Unidirectional Digital Cable Products purchased at retail without additional two-way capable equipment: @ Max HD, @ Max, AAJ, ABC Family HD, Action Max HD, Action Max, AMC HD, American Life, Antena 3, Antenna, BBC America HD, BET HD, Big Ten 2, Big Ten 3, Big Ten 4, Big Ten 5, Biography, Boomerang, Boomerang (SAP), Bravo HD, C1R Worldwide, Canal 24, Canal Sur, Caracol, Cartoon Network HD, CBS College Sports HD, CBS College Sports , CCTV-9, Centric, Chinese Cinema, Chinese Prime, Cine Latino, Cine Mexicano, Cinemax HD, Club Jenna, CNBC HD, CNBC Worldwide, CNN International, Comedy Central HD, Crime & Investigation HD, Deutsche Welle TV, Discovery Familia, Discovery Kids, Disney HD, Disney XD HD, Disney XD, E! HD, Ecuavisa, Encore Action, Encore Drama, Encore HD, Encore Love, Encore Mystery, Encore Westerns, ESPN Gameplan channels1-6, ESPNews HD, ESPNU HD, ET NY Chinese, ETTV News, EWTN, EWTN Español, Filmy, Fit TV, FiveStar Max HD, Flix, Fox Business Network HD, Fox College Sports Atlantic, Fox College Sports Central, Fox College Sports Pacific, Fox Soccer Channel, Fuel, Fuse HD, FX HD, G4 HD, GAC, Game 2 HD, Game HD, Gol TV, gmc, HBO 2 HD, HBO 2, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Comedy, HBO Family HD, HBO Family, HBO Latino HD, HBO Latino, HBO Signature HD, HBO Signature, HBO Zone HD, HBO Zone, HD PPV, HD Theater, Headline News HD, Here!, History en Español, HITV, HSN HD, HSN, HTV, IFC HD, ImaginAsian, IN Demand 2, IN Demand 3, Infinito, Investigation Discovery HD, ITV Gold, Jewelry TV, Jus Punjabi, LaFamilia, LaTele Novela, Lifetime Real Women, Mav TV HD, Media Korea, MGM HD, MLB HD, More Max HD, More Max, MSNBC HD, MTV HD, National Geographic Channel HD, NBA League Pass channels1-10, NBA TV, NGTV, NHL/MLB channels1-14, NHL Network HD, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, NTV America, NY1 Noticias, Outdoor Channel HD, Outdoor Channel, Outer Max HD, Palladia HD, PFC Internacional, Phoenix TV, Planet Green HD, Planet Green, Playboy, Playboy en Español, QVC HD, QVC, RAI Italia, Real, Reelz Channel, RT, RTN, RTPi, RTVi, The Science Channel HD, The Science Channel, SET Asia, ShopNBC, Showtime Too HD, Showtime Extreme HD, Showtime Showcase HD, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Too, SiTV, Smithsonian HD, Sorpresa, Speed HD, Spice Xcess, Spike TV HD, Sports Extra 1, Sports Extra 2, Starz Comedy HD, Starz Edge HD, Starz HD, Starz Kids & Family HD, Style HD, SyFy HD, TCM HD, Team HD, TeenNick, Telemicro, Ten, Tennis Channel HD, Tennis Channel, The Africa Channel, The Arabic Channel, The Bangladesh Channel, The Filipino Channel, The Golf Channel HD, The Korean Channel, The Movie Channel Xtra, The Word Network, Thriller Max HD, Thriller Max, TLC HD, TMC HD, TMC Xtra HD, TV 1000 Russian Kino, TV 5, TV Asia, TV Colombia, TV Globo, TV Japan, TV One HD, TV Polonia, TVB1, TVE Internacional, TVE Cultural. Es, Universal HD, USA HD, Utilisima Satelital, Versus HD, Versus, WE HD, WMAX HD, WMAX and Zee TV.

The list of channels that are going SDV according to TWC NY/NJ. I'm sure they'll be handing out TA's pretty soon.

[dlfl]

The list of channels that are going SDV according to TWC NY/NJ. I'm sure they'll be handing out TA's pretty soon.
They should. If they move channels you already receive to SDV and don't provide a TA to receive them, this is a "reduction in service". The FCC has fined other operators for doing this without giving 30 day advance notice of the service reduction. (Maybe what you quoted constitutes such notice.)

Unfortunately I think the legal requirement for them notifying you is satisfied by them just notifying your franchising authority, i.e., not requiring a direct notice to each customer. One would hope they would do better than that....

[Liza]

I've been trying to sort through my mother's cable issues (from CO while she's in KCK). We got her an HD TV for Christmas, but she couldn't get HD channels because she had an old Series 2 Tivo. So, for her birthday at the end of February, we got her a Series 3 Tivo. Got it all hooked up, without CCs or a TA, and it worked for weeks.

Then she started getting the "searching for signal" all the time on all channels. I noticed a couple of posts saying trouble in KC started around 3/17-3/19 or so. Did TW change something at this time? TW insisted she needed the CCs and would add the monthly charge to her bill. If she truly *needs* the CCs, how is it possible that she got signal for weeks without? I thought I had found info saying a TA alone could fix it, since it was an issue with SDV. Told my brother & sister in KC so they could help her. TW still said no, and wouldn't do anything but install CCs and told them to go to a storefront to get a TA themselves. Then said they wouldn't confirm she could have a TA, even said there weren't channels on her service that would need them. I finally got someone to say she could have one, but still said she needed CCs.

So, if she does not use any kind of VOD or premium channels (no HBO, etc.), just a basic level cable package with internet, does she *need* the CCs to get signal? If she gets the TA, is it really guaranteed that she'll have monthly problems, as I've seen people mention here? (Due to some signal sent out by TW?)

On a side note, is there any website that makes it easy to flood TW corporate with e-mails or petitions to show them just how I feel about their "customer service"?

[Grumock]

I've been trying to sort through my mother's cable issues (from CO while she's in KCK). We got her an HD TV for Christmas, but she couldn't get HD channels because she had an old Series 2 Tivo. So, for her birthday at the end of February, we got her a Series 3 Tivo. Got it all hooked up, without CCs or a TA, and it worked for weeks.

Then she started getting the "searching for signal" all the time on all channels. I noticed a couple of posts saying trouble in KC started around 3/17-3/19 or so. Did TW change something at this time? TW insisted she needed the CCs and would add the monthly charge to her bill. If she truly *needs* the CCs, how is it possible that she got signal for weeks without? I thought I had found info saying a TA alone could fix it, since it was an issue with SDV. Told my brother & sister in KC so they could help her. TW still said no, and wouldn't do anything but install CCs and told them to go to a storefront to get a TA themselves. Then said they wouldn't confirm she could have a TA, even said there weren't channels on her service that would need them. I finally got someone to say she could have one, but still said she needed CCs.

So, if she does not use any kind of VOD or premium channels (no HBO, etc.), just a basic level cable package with internet, does she *need* the CCs to get signal? If she gets the TA, is it really guaranteed that she'll have monthly problems, as I've seen people mention here? (Due to some signal sent out by TW?)

On a side note, is there any website that makes it easy to flood TW corporate with e-mails or petitions to show them just how I feel about their "customer service"?

Normally you will not be able to get a tuning adapter without CCs.

[JimWall]

You didn't say if the channels being searched for were digital or analog.
And whether her service was digital.
If analog then they started blocking the old analog channels
In my area all digital customers also get the old analog channels.
If there is no cable card the digital non-switched and non-encrypted would show up with the digital frequency instead of the cable channel number and there would be no tivo guide information.