Official Time Warner Cable Thread

[SCSIRAID]

I suggest a small ceremony in which you thank it for it's many years of disservice. :)

Drag it behind the car on a rope..... :)

[MomCatM4]

Nope, but I've got 2 in TW Cinci up and running fine as well. I had a small problem with the second unit, which was completely caused by the backoffice not getting the host id and cable card ids entered correctly. If you can, listen for them to read the numbers back correctly (here they used those Nextel walkie-talkie phones).

Brett


Cincy, huh? I wonder if Dayton and Cincinnati talk to each other? Nah!

I'm going to take the plunge, but whoever comes out here better be prepared to read directions AND follow them! :D

Thanks!

JLB

[briankasper]

I checked BestBuy.com this morning, and it indicated that the Hawthorne store had S3's in the store, so I swung by today and lo! they had 3 in stock. I had a raincheck from when I went in on 6 October, so I was able to use the online 6-Oct to 9-Oct 10% off coupon I'd printed out, and I walked out the door with an S3. I then went to the local Time Warner office and told the very nice lady behind the counter that I needed to schedule a CableCARD install. I asked if I could do a self-install; she said "No, they have to call in so we can send a signal to the cards".

I said I needed 2 cards; she said "OK".

I mentioned the install was for a Series 3 TiVo and asked if she needed the model number; she said "No, it's all fine, they'll bring two cards".

She scheduled my install for this Saturday between 08:00 and 10:00.

The price for the install is $14.95, and the monthly charge is $1.75/card.

I'll post here as soon as I have info about how the install went.

I'm going to go home tonight and read the installation instructions to see if there's anything I can pre-load to make this smoother (e.g. learn the proper vocabulary so I can tell them to "provision" the card properly, etc.).

Does anyone who's gone through this process in the South Bay have any suggestions as to what I can do before the installers arrive to make this process as smooth as possible?

-B

[ingenue007]

For those with issues with cable card installs, I would call CSRs and try to get some type of credit. I went online to pay my bill for the month and realized I was not charged for installation and somehow ended up with an 85 dollar credit which covers my bill for over a month. I don't know if this was due to calling CSR or contacting someone I knew at TW. Worth a try.

[hookbill]

I checked BestBuy.com this morning, and it indicated that the Hawthorne store had S3's in the store, so I swung by today and lo! they had 3 in stock. I had a raincheck from when I went in on 6 October, so I was able to use the online 6-Oct to 9-Oct 10% off coupon I'd printed out, and I walked out the door with an S3. I then went to the local Time Warner office and told the very nice lady behind the counter that I needed to schedule a CableCARD install. I asked if I could do a self-install; she said "No, they have to call in so we can send a signal to the cards".

I said I needed 2 cards; she said "OK".

I mentioned the install was for a Series 3 TiVo and asked if she needed the model number; she said "No, it's all fine, they'll bring two cards".

She scheduled my install for this Saturday between 08:00 and 10:00.

The price for the install is $14.95, and the monthly charge is $1.75/card.



I'll post here as soon as I have info about how the install went.

I'm going to go home tonight and read the installation instructions to see if there's anything I can pre-load to make this smoother (e.g. learn the proper vocabulary so I can tell them to "provision" the card properly, etc.).

Does anyone who's gone through this process in the South Bay have any suggestions as to what I can do before the installers arrive to make this process as smooth as possible?

-B

Just an FYI. I know where Hawthorne is. I also know about the South Bay.

But there are lots of Hawthorne's in this country and believe it or not the South Bay in So Cal isn't the only one.

You may want to include your actual location. :) (Notice - I live in N.E. Ohio.)

[Sy-]

Oceanic Time Warner in Hawaii :up: :up: :up:

Everything went real smooth with my install. I had 2 techs come out, one was there just to watch. Total time at my house was 40 min but it took about 10 minutes for the signal to hit each of my cards. But all in all it was a real smooth transaction. Especially considering that they were also recovering from an island wide blackout from the day before. :rolleyes:

~Sy

[briankasper]

Just an FYI. I know where Hawthorne is. I also know about the South Bay.

But there are lots of Hawthorne's in this country and believe it or not the South Bay in So Cal isn't the only one.

You may want to include your actual location. :) (Notice - I live in N.E. Ohio.)

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I thought I had the geolocation covered in the title of my original post, "SoCal (South Bay) Time Warner Install This Weekend", but since that obviously wasn't clear, I'll try to state it more clearly in the future.

For the record, I'm in Southern California, Greater Los Angeles Area, "South Bay" region.

-B

[hookbill]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I thought I had the geolocation covered in the title of my original post, "SoCal (South Bay) Time Warner Install This Weekend", but since that obviously wasn't clear, I'll try to state it more clearly in the future.

For the record, I'm in Southern California, Greater Los Angeles Area, "South Bay" region.

-B

I totally missed your title. My bad. :)

[rschissler]

I'm from San Diego (also in So Cal) and when South Bay is referred to around here, it means south of San Diego in the Chula Vista area.

[briankasper]

I'm from San Diego (also in So Cal) and when South Bay is referred to around here, it means south of San Diego in the Chula Vista area.

Yup, I'm going to be more careful about making my geographic location clear when I post a description of my install experience. Thanks for the reminder.

-B

[SCSIRAID]

Yup, I'm going to be more careful about making my geographic location clear when I post a description of my install experience. Thanks for the reminder.

-B

If you put your location in your user profile, it will be obvious.

[GibsonCRG]

I'm in Round Rock, TX ... don't know if we're a different division of Time Warner Cable from the actual city of Austin ... but recently scheduled 2 CableCARDs for my new Tivo Series 3 hooked up to a HDTV.

The cards are $3.75 each per month, with a rumor that they are increasing the prices to just over $4 each next month (per my install tech).

The scheduling was straightforward: call their main line, wait about 10-15 minutes to talk to a live person. Told them I wanted a CableCARD, and while they knew what it was, they were a bit resistant. Once I told them it was for a TiVo, though, they stopped fighting me!

Getting two cards schedule was also not a problem; there was about a 5-6 day wait before they could get a tech out to "install" them, and they confirmed that a tech was required.

The tech came on time, and seemed resigned to a long day at my house. This was his first CableCARD install, but he said that his fellow techs had all shook their heads sadly and told him the install was going to suck rocks.

The tech read the "cheat sheet" that came with the TiVo carefully, stuck in the first card, and the TiVo pretty much held our hands from there. The only thing we ran into was the (typically long) wait time for even the tech to talk to the central office, which was long enough that the screen that tells you the two ID numbers you need went away. So, recommendation: WRITE DOWN THOSE NUMBERS EACH TIME as soon as they appear!

The second card went as smoothly as the first. We had to flip through a few stations, and then the cards went into a firmware update mode, but basically it was a painless process, with no real good reason for a tech to do the install. There was no charge as far as I know (TWC here has you pay the install tech for the installation fees), but I havne't received my next bill yet.

The TiVo 3 is working just fine with my HD signal here in Round Rock, and can happily record HD or regular content from either (or both) tuners.

So to summarize: straightforward scheduling, relatively simple installation, working with no problems, and a little bummed about price (but I'll about net out to no change in cost once I send the HD converter box back to the cable company).

Cheers!

..Chris..

[hookbill]

I'm with TW (old Adelphia) in the Cleveland area and they have a very wierd way of charging for cable cards. It's 1.75 for the first card and the second one goest to 4.75. "They always charge more for anything you order more then one of" was the explanation I got from the CSR. :confused:

I always thought in the world of commerce, the more you buy the cheaper it is.

[adamsd]

I just set up an appointment with Time Warner San Diego. There were no problems in getting 2 cable cards when I mentioned that I needed it for a Tivo box, there is a $30 install fee. They were quick too, they were able to schedule an appointment for tomorrow, too bad I do not get my Tivo box till next week. I will post an update after the install. Hope it goes smoothly.

[kentfuka]

It took a day and a half and visits by three techs, but my S3 works on the Switched Digital Video (SDV) cable network that TWC runs throughout Austin.

There was a problem with authorization for premium channels. It turns out that the TWC Austin phone tech support folks don't have the latest version of software to remotely authorize the newest revs of Scientific Atlanta CableCARDS. The Network Operations folks ("DNSC") had to do the enabling steps remotely for the technician. Everybody at TWC was friendly, and nobody seemed biased against Tivos. Hopefully the phone support staff in Austin will soon have the latest software to make the process go more smoothly.

With SDV there are 113 digital cable channels and PPV channels that can't be accessed with CableCARDs. Fortunately, all of these are uninteresting (to me at least).

Thanks to Dustin (my TWC Austin field tech) and Josh (my TWC phone tech) for their help.

[SCSIRAID]

It took a day and a half and visits by three techs, but my S3 works on the Switched Digital Video (SDV) cable network that TWC runs throughout Austin.

There was a problem with authorization for premium channels. It turns out that the TWC Austin phone tech support folks don't have the latest version of software to remotely authorize the newest revs of Scientific Atlanta CableCARDS. The Network Operations folks ("DNSC") had to do the enabling steps remotely for the technician. Everybody at TWC was friendly, and nobody seemed biased against Tivos. Hopefully the phone support staff in Austin will soon have the latest software to make the process go more smoothly.

With SDV there are 113 digital cable channels and PPV channels that can't be accessed with CableCARDs. Fortunately, all of these are uninteresting (to me at least).

Thanks to Dustin (my TWC Austin field tech) and Josh (my TWC phone tech) for their help.

Kent,

What digital channels did you lose access to?

[pmiranda]

Kent,

What digital channels did you lose access to?

Any Pay-Per-View or Video-on-Demand channel will be unaccessible with a 1.0 cablecard, regardless of if the provider uses switched video. If there are SDV channels in Austin, they're either premiums I don't get or something I don't watch because I haven't found them yet.

[Edit: I should note that use of SDV can vary from one neighborhood to another within the same area, so your mileage may vary!]

[SCSIRAID]

Any Pay-Per-View or Video-on-Demand channel will be unaccessible with a 1.0 cablecard, regardless of if the provider uses switched video. If there are SDV channels in Austin, they're either premiums I don't get or something I don't watch because I haven't found them yet.

[Edit: I should note that use of SDV can vary from one neighborhood to another within the same area, so your mileage may vary!]

Thats what I was hoping... I watch several of the channels in the 'digital tier' such as military channel, science channel, history international etc... When SDV arrives, I dont want to lose those... PPV, VOD.. knew that and dont care if i lose those... Another burning question is when ESPN2HD comes (if ever) will it be available to cablecard.

[hookbill]

Another burning question is when ESPN2HD comes (if ever) will it be available to cablecard.

I would be willing to bet it will come to you. I'm newly switched from Adelphia in the buy out to Time Warner and we have had ESPN2 HD for some time now. I'm not certain about it but I'm pretty sure it is in the Cincinnati area too which has been TW for a while. And I'm receiving it just fine via cable card.

[jmjerome]

I got my box yesterday (10/19/06) and I have TWC Los Angeles (WeHo) coming out tomorrow. I've read and printed out all the information for the TWC guy and I anticipate that I will do the work and he will call to activate the cards. I've set up my S3 and I can't believe how much I love it. I didn't know that I could record two HD OTA channels at the same time with one line in. I was able to program my remote to work with S3 and HR10-250 without effecting each other. I will keep you posted on how my Cable Card install goes tomorrw. So far, very pleased.

[pashasurf7873]

Aloha,
I was about to buy my series 3 after having tivo since 2000 was excited to go HD. when asked about pricing, my local TIME WARNER sent me this:

Exchange with Time Warner

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the email message string this afternoon with TW. Go figure.

Aloha!


1. as I stated previously, the Duplicate service charge does not include
the HD Entertainment Package. The Duplicate service charge only includes
the equipment rental fee, digital cable service, and any premium movie
channels in your subscription. Each device that is receiving the HD
Entertainment Package is billed for that package.


2. Yes, we are aware of the current limitations of the technology. You
can install a single CableCard in your Tivo and only record one channel
at a time.


3. The CableCards are billed for each device, each CableCard is a
separate device. You could obtain the HD DVR without the duplicate
service charge, however you would still be billed for the HD
Entertainment package which is required to have any HD cable box.


You could also rent the CableCards for $3.10 each, however they would
only be able to receive the Standard Cable Service. They would not
receive the authorization to receive the HD Entertainment Package, the
Digital Cable Package, nor the HBO or Showtime.


4. Because that is how the company decided to do the billing.


5. Everything is NOT going HD. That is a common misconception. HD and
Digital are two very different things. The FCC is only requiring a
change to Digital, not HD.


6. I am sorry, but it does not appear the same from our point of view.
We bill per device that receives premium programming in the home. If you
TiVo requires 2 of those devices then the account should be charged for
each one.




If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail us again
or contact our Customer Care Department at the appropriate number below.
When replying to this e-mail, please include this message as well as all
previous correspondence regarding this issue.


Cable TV or Internet:
Billing: 643-2100
Sales: 643-2337
Repair: 643-2300


Digital Phones:
Billing: 643-3333
Sales: 643-3663
Repair: 611 from your digital phone or 643-6611


Thank you,
Nick S.
Oceanic Time Warner Cable

:mad:
:down:
:confused:

So, to sum it up: to use a Tivo S3 in Hawaii it will cost us $36.10 extra a month....PLUS Tivo monthly fee.

Any advice?

[mercurial]

That's freakin' crazy!

[funtoupgrade]

Don't know whether anybody else posted in this thread about TW in Cypress, CA. I talked with a sales rep yesterday and they indicated first cable card is free and a second is $6.95 per month. They can be picked up at their office. I currently have standard cable only from Comcast which has just been switched to TW and was trying to figure out how much more it would be to switch to digital. Since I am switching my internet from TW to ATT I will now have the option of remaining with TW for TV or going the dish route. There are lots of choices now.

[Sy-]

Oceanic Time Warner in Hawaii

I lost my digital programming on my 2 cable cards Wednesdat night. Only the 2 HD stations that are also in clear qam were available as well as the analog stations. I called the repair service number and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey I lost the digital stations on the 2 cable cards that were installed on Monday.
TW: Are you at your TV now?
Me: No I'm at work. Can you just re-hit them.
TW: Ok I'll hit em now. Give us a call back if the channels are not working when you get home.
Me: OK Thanks, Bye!
TW: Bye!

I got home and the channels were working again. Their customer service is good. Their pricing scheme still needs some work though.

~Sy

[2farrell]

Raleigh/Durham, NC area.

Got CableCARDs installed today but not without some problems.
The person that turned up was a contractor for TWC.
He had not installed these in a Series 3 TiVo but had be given a briefing and was told to call in for instructions.
I gave him the sheet and told him he has to follow the instuctions TiVo has put on there.
He looked at it then put it down and said he had been told to call in and follow their (TWC's) instructions over the phone.
He wasn't rude or anything but he did start to ask why I was going with a TiVo when they had their own DVR. Found out later TWC is getting TiVo Software late next year in their DVR's per Scientific Atlanta. He was cool with my answer (after all, what was he going to do if he wasn't?)
The first card went in, he read some numbers off the screen and then got told to insert the next one in. I said isn't he going to check the card is working OK by going through the channels. He ignored me while the person on the other end continued to blab in his ear.
This is when things got really messed up.
He installed the second card and after the conformation, got a message from the card that no information was available.
There was then a bunch of popping cards in and out in random order.
He even blammed the splitter I was using (which was fine with their ugly Cable Box.
I got quite annoyed at one point and said if they had followed TiVo's instructions this would not have happened.
I then got very upset when I heard the supervisor state that TiVo has made the task "very difficult".
I'm sorry but they made the task bad by ignoring instruction and going off in their own tangent.
Finally the installer believed me and said to the supervisor about the instructions.
Again the idiot supervisor said to ignore them as "they cause too much confusion".
At this point the installer was on hold.
I insisted we start over and be patient.
He put the first card in and waited.
Unfortunately the idiot came back on and told him to put the spare card in #2 slot.
Both gave the no information message and just as the idiot (supervisor on the other end of the phone) said the cards must be bad, Card 1 came up with the proper information screen. He read off a bunch of information and made sure everything was correct.
Then went to Card 2 and this was now coming up too.
He verified all the channels were being received.
He did say that TiVo had told them the should use brand new, unused cards.
Don't know if this is true or not.
What I do know is if they had followed the TiVo instructions they might have saved themselves some grief.
TWC need to do a much better job of training all their installers.

[H.I.McDunnough]

After reading this entire thread, I think I have a somewhat unique situation, and want some advice from some experts.

I was on DirecTV, no HD. I switched to TW Cable (HD) Austin a few weeks ago. Initially, I started with an S3, and not the 8300HD from TW Cable. Four visits and probably 10 hours later, I was able to only get some channels to appear (some HD locals, but not others. ESPN, but not Discovery...I didn't go through an exhaustive check). Before I could schedule the 5th appointment, my TiVo crapped out: as soon as it powered up and I got the first menu, it would reboot, over and over. I called TiVo support, and they sent me a new one. In the interim, I picked up an 8300HD, and that is now working perfectly -- I get all the channels.

So, of course I have the two cablecards from the previous partial installation. They were provisioned, or matched, or initialized, or whatever, but as I stated above, they weren't able to pick up all the channels (maybe this was because I had a bad TiVo -- I don't know).

So, my question is: can I / should I install my TiVo, get it all setup, and do the cable card process myself? The very last thing that I want is another TW Austin tech to come out to learn how to install cablecards for 8 hours at my house. Will they let me do this without a technician on-site? Do I have to ask for someone special when I call? I'll do anything to make this as smooth a process as possible.

[pmiranda]

So, my question is: can I / should I install my TiVo, get it all setup, and do the cable card process myself? The very last thing that I want is another TW Austin tech to come out to learn how to install cablecards for 8 hours at my house. Will they let me do this without a technician on-site? Do I have to ask for someone special when I call? I'll do anything to make this as smooth a process as possible.

It wouldn't hurt to try. The new TiVo should have new host IDs, so at the very least you'll need to call in to get the cards authorized for it. I'd try calling in to see if they'll do it, and if they insist on a tech, try calling back and hope for a CSR that will just do it over the phone. As you know, there is no reason they really need a truck roll, other than they don't trust their customers.

[alee]

Anyone in the TWCNYC area lose their premium HD channels (grey screen)?

701, 703, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710 and are no longer coming in on either CableCARD.

[pashasurf7873]

:confused: :mad: :down:

HOW CRAZY:




>The HDTV Entertainment package is not included in the duplicate service
>fee. It is charged per device.
>
>The CableCards are $3.10 each with no premium programming on them. To
>receive the Digital Cable Service on the cards, the Duplicate Service
>Fee of $8.00 would apply instead of the $3.10 card charge.
>
>Here is a breakdown of the charges:
>
>HD DVR:
>Duplicate Service Charge: $8.00*
>Digital Video Recorder Service: $9.95
>HD Entertainment Package: $6.95
>Total: $24.95
>
>CableCard:
>Duplicate Service Charge: $8.00*
>HD Entertainment Package: $6.95
>Total: $14.95 each.
>
>* Duplicate Service charge includes box/CableCard rental, digital cable
>service, HBO and Showtime on the additional device
>
>
>
>
>If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail us again
>or contact our Customer Care Department at the appropriate number
below.
>When replying to this e-mail, please include this message as well as
all
>previous correspondence regarding this issue.
>
>Cable TV or Internet:
> Billing: 643-2100
> Sales: 643-2337
> Repair: 643-2300
>
>Digital Phones:
> Billing: 643-3333
> Sales: 643-3663
> Repair: 611 from your digital phone or 643-6611
>
>Thank you,
>Nick S.
>Oceanic Time Warner Cable
> :mad:

[jmjerome]

TWC SoCal Los Angeles - Just installed my cable cards, 1st card worked right away. 2nd card didn't work. 3rd card works great. It took less than 40 mins. Happy Happy!

[alee]

Anyone in the TWCNYC area lose their premium HD channels (grey screen)?

701, 703, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710 and are no longer coming in on either CableCARD.
Called TWCNYC, and it took 2 calls but once I asked for a hit to be sent to my cards, the channels came back. Slightly annoyed that I had to ask them to do that, but happy that no tech visit was needed.

Looks like the short answer is: if you aren't getting some of your channels for any reason, call them and keep nagging them for more hits.

[pac1999]

I have been having issues with TWC San Diego loosing reception of some HD channels. The channels would just turn grey and the tivo would say searching for signal. The cable company repair man that came out laughed at me for trying to use tivo and said I had to use said that I had to use their box for them even though they had worked for the first week after the install.

The signal strenght on the cable box was low but within their limits when the cable installer checked it. I bought an amplifier anyways and installed it after he left and now I get all the HD channels again.

I think they are using the switched video for their east coast feeds of the premium channels as I have never been able to get those in on the cablecard. Thay also said that the NBA league pass will not work with their cable card either. At least I get all the HD channels again though.

[optivity]

Albany Time Warner implemented DSV so I dropped HBO & Showtime. Recently I went to visit a cousin who bought a new three story villa near Baltimore MD. He subscribes to Comcast digital cable and from the ground block is a 3-way splitter, one leg goes to a cable outlet in his kitchen on the main floor the other two legs go to a two way splitter in the basement; with one going to another two way splitter and the other to a six way splitter. After two additional visits, Comcast still couldn't get his cable modem to work off a leg on the six-way splitter. Duh! :rolleyes:

[pmiranda]

...from the ground block is a 3-way splitter, one leg goes to a cable outlet in his kitchen on the main floor the other two legs go to a two way splitter in the basement; with one going to another two way splitter and the other to a six way splitter. After two additional visits, Comcast still couldn't get his cable modem to work off a leg on the six-way splitter. Duh! :rolleyes:

I've only got a 4-room split, but I had to do a 2-way splitter, with one leg going straight to the cable modem and the other drives a 15dB amp which feeds the other 3 rooms. On two rooms I have to use a 3dB attenuator to keep from overdriving the TV, and the other has a 4-way splitter in the entertainment center. Everything works perfectly, despite the weak signal coming in from the street.

Channel Vision makes the amp, which is "phantom" powered by a 12V transformer in the entertainment center that pushes a DC offset upstream to the amp, so the amp can be in an attic or even outside in a weather-tight enclosure, the critical thing is to get it as close to where the cable comes to the building so you're ampilfying the best signal you can get.

Good luck!

[xfaj]

(Time Warner of New York capital district). Upon installation, my cable card only got some channels. For example, for the high def channels it only got up to 1815 and nothing higher. The installer called his tech guys and they remedied it, but this was only for the first card. He left when I noticed the same problem on the second card. I called customer service and they tried the standard two items telling me to reboot the TiVo, and they resent the authorization. Neither worked. I explained what happened with the installer. He put me on hold and then said after talking to the tech guys they are doing something called RESCRIPTING. It worked. The customer service guy had no idea what this term meant, but hey, IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!

[hookbill]

I had mentioned in another thread about not receiving the Hallmark Channel. I have digital basic and I'm suppose to receive that. However I noticed since my installation that I'm receiving the NBA Channel, Flix, and Flix Plus. These are channels that are suppose to be on the Digital Plus tier.

Not that these channels are important to me, but if your a TW customer you may want to "experiment" a bit with some channels and see if you get them.

These channels are not "special" for the week end. I spotted them from day 1 of my install.

[eisenb11]

Uh oh, I'm in Southern CA and I just lost almost all channels over 99 including premiums and HD with the new channel lineup that just came out.

Does anyone know what I can tell tech support to get these channels back?

[alee]

Does anyone know what I can tell tech support to get these channels back?
Call them up... ask them to send a "hit" to both CableCARDs. Have them hang on the line for a few minutes (takes a bit). If it doesn't go, have them resend a few hits.

[eisenb11]

It's worse than I thought.

I just finished talking to TWC and my area isn't being switched to the new lineup until Nov 17.

I manually entered HBO HD (1170) and it worked, it's the new lineup that's causing trouble.

I really hope my S3 isn't going to be a doorstop for a month until TWC switches to the lineup...

[eisenb11]

Update: Ok, I've reported the problem to Tivo.

It sounds like pretty much every S3 unit and Tivo of any kind in the South Bay (LA area) has just been bricked because their guide service switched to the new lineup almost a month ahead of time.

Not sure about the rest of you guys, but 90277 isn't supposed to switch until Nov 17.

Hopefully they get this fixed soon, because there are alot of people in this area.

[JKay]

I am in Southern California and my cable service is transitioning from Comcast to TWC. My broadband was just out for a day as TWC made some changes, and I noticed after that my SD TV reception seems to have degraded.

I also saw a TWC employee checking the vaults on my street about the same time and I went out and talked him up a bit. He said he was checking signal strength on the main feed for their cable telephone service. Makes me wonder if TWC backed off on the SD feed to support their plans for pushing their cable telephone service.

I am working up the nerve to call and order my cable cards for my S3 again, the other day when I called I was on hold for 45 minutes and I gave up.

[hookbill]

I am working up the nerve to call and order my cable cards for my S3 again, the other day when I called I was on hold for 45 minutes and I gave up.

Try calling in the late evening. Being as your on the west coast your wait time shouldn't be that long.

[briankasper]

I live in the greater Los Angeles, California area, specifically in the region known as the "south bay".

I purchased my S3 on Tuesday 17 October at the Best Buy in Hawthorne, CA with an online 10% off coupon (they had two more S3s on the shelf). I went to the local Time Warner office later that day and told them I wanted to schedule a CableCARD install. The woman behind the counter was great, was aware of S3's, and when I said I needed 2 cards, she said she'd make a note on the install order. She scheduled me for Saturday 21 October from 8-10AM.

I ran Guided Setup Friday night after wiring everything up, and i was able to get channels 2-30.

The installer showed up at 9:15. As he walked up, he said "Hi, I'm here to install your card, but my supervisor is bringing it -- he'll be here any minute." I said, "He's only bringing one card? I told the agent I needed two -- it's for a dual-tuner TiVo". He called his supervisor immediately and asked him to bring a second card. The installer apologized, and said the install order had two identical lines "install CableCARD", and he'd thought it was a typo. Apparently it's not possible to include arbitrary notes on an order.

The installer had never performed an install in a TiVo, but I told him I had the instructions and that from everything I'd heard, as long as we followed those and made sure the folks at the back office sent the correct signals, it would be easy. He said "Cool, we'll get it done."

The supervisor showed up at about 9:30 with two cards. He said he'd tested one the day before, but he hadn't tested the other one since March or April. I mentioned the instructions from TiVo. The supervisor replied that he'd performed one install for an S3 and if we followed the instructions exactly we'd be on hold with Time Warner forever (because we'd have to call twice). He said he'd installed both cards simultaneously during his first S3 install and it worked fine. He suggested that the installer put in the first card while he was there just to see how things went.

The supervisor also said TW "doesn't support" S3's, because "they're always dropping channels". He said that I'll never get the G4 channel with an S3. I said, "OK, well, that's good enough for me." He never tried to convince me to use a TW DVR; I think he just felt he needed to warn me I might have problems.

I wrote down the serial numbers for the two CableCARDs before the installer put the first one in. When the status screen appeared, I wrote down the Host ID number for that card as well. Everything looked nominal.

The installer put in the second card, and everything looked good as well. I wrote down the second Host ID. At this point, the supervisor left, after giving some final pointers to the installer.

The installer called Time Warner, and we waited on hold for about 10 minutes. At that point, someone picked up; the first order of business was for the installer to report the serial number of the SA3250HD set-top box I was going to return -- then we began the CableCARD authorization process.

The installer read the card serial numbers and Host IDs from my notes to the TW back-office person. There was one bit of confusion during which the back-office person misheard the installer (I know he read the numbers correctly), but that was caught by a double-check.

We started exiting-and-reentering the status screen for the first card, and finally the EMMs started incrementing. The first time I saw a value other than 0, it was at 4. I started checking channels on the first card, and it looked like normal cable, premium cable, and HD cable were all coming in fine.

We then started looking at the second card, which still had 0 EMMs. We started the exit/reenter cycle to refresh the status screen, and finally the EMMs started incrementing. When I checked the channels on card 2, I didn't see any of the HD channels. The installer relayed this on his cell phone, and a minute or two later I checked again and broadcast HD was working -- but HDNet wasn't. We relayed this to the TW folks and a few minutes later HDNet came up as well.

I now had all channels showing up on both CableCARDs. The time was 10:12 -- less than an hour from start to finish. The installer took my 3250HD and left.

I reran Guided Setup at that point and the Guide matched my channel lineup perfectly.

All in all, both of the TW guys were friendly and helpful. The installer was inexperienced with the S3, but he was more than willing to follow the instructions. The only thing that concerned me was that the supervisor had him put in both cards at the same time, but I'm beginning to suspect that the main problem with this is that it makes the host ID / serial number pairing process more confusing. Both cards started working quite quickly, but it sounds like TW needed to send more than one "hit" to get to that point.

Executive summary:

1) It was a very pleasant experience

2) All my channels are working fine

3) Make sure you write down the CableCARD serial numbers and the Host IDs

4) DOUBLE-CHECK the serial numbers and Host IDs at every step

5) When the back office has authorized your cards, check EVERY TYPE of channel you should receive (normal cable, premium cable, movie channels, HD channels).

6) Check more than one channel of each type. I checked NBCHD and ABCHD, both of which worked, but HDNet didn't after the first hit. Report specifically which channels aren't showing up so the installer can relay that to the TW folks. After the installer reported over his cell phone that HDNet wasn't working, the TW people did something and a minute or two later it showed up.

7) Keep checking both tuners for all types of channels and have the installer relay which ones aren't showing up to the folks at TW so they can re-hit as necessary.

8) Keep the installer there and on the phone with TW until you're certain all types of channels work on both tuners (watch each channel for more than a few seconds to make sure it's not being tuned and then dropped).

9) Rerun Guided Setup after the CableCARD install is done.

10) Series3 TiVo ROCKS! I am a happy, happy camper.

-B

[eisenb11]

briankasper,

I'm in Redondo Beach and I, too, can't get G4 for some reason.

On Sunday, my S3 said there was a new channel lineup and now my listings are all hosed. Did Hawthorne get affected by this or is just that they got the lineup-change date wrong for the 90277 area?

[hookbill]

Raleigh/Durham, NC area.

He wasn't rude or anything but he did start to ask why I was going with a TiVo when they had their own DVR. Found out later TWC is getting TiVo Software late next year in their DVR's per Scientific Atlanta. He was cool with my answer (after all, what was he going to do if he wasn't?)


Wait a minute. He told you that TW was getting TiVo software in the SA?

Either he was totally confused between Comcast and TW, or he was full of bullpucky.

No way will TiVo software ever....and I do mean ever.....end up in an SA box.

[briankasper]

briankasper,

I'm in Redondo Beach and I, too, can't get G4 for some reason.

On Sunday, my S3 said there was a new channel lineup and now my listings are all hosed. Did Hawthorne get affected by this or is just that they got the lineup-change date wrong for the 90277 area?

I'm actually in Lawndale. I received that new channel lineup message from TiVo yesterday (Sunday 22 October), but on the same day that I received the TiVo message, I received an automatic telephone call from TW which said they were changing their lineup.

Sunday night, my TiVo recorded an hour of "Wayne's World 2" and thought it was "Heroes", but that didn't upset me because it wasn't supposed to record an episode of "Heroes" anyway (it was a repeat). I think that basically, the guide was just all screwed up Sunday night.

Later Sunday night, I restarted Guided Setup but went to sleep before it completed. This morning, I did a spot-check of channels and everything seems to match. If your TiVo guide doesn't match your channel lineup, it looks like Lawndale made the switch before Redondo Beach did.

-B

[clonenode]

Anyone S3 users have Time Warner in Santa Monica, CA and receive encrypted channels through cable card? (DiscoveryHD, TNT-HD, HBOs, etc.)

After four visits, I finally have two working cable cards, but neither with encrypted channels. If you live in Santa Monica and have done this, please let me know if you have any advice. I have tried having the CS reps ping the cards, but no change.

Also, if anyone needs advice in Santa Monica to get cards recognized and working, let me know. I've gone through 12 cable cards, 5 installers, and 4 days to get this far.

Thanks for your help!

Mike V.
Santa Monica
TiVo Series 3, 500GB Weaknees Upgrade

[eisenb11]

I'm actually in Lawndale. I received that new channel lineup message from TiVo yesterday (Sunday 22 October), but on the same day that I received the TiVo message, I received an automatic telephone call from TW which said they were changing their lineup.

Sunday night, my TiVo recorded an hour of "Wayne's World 2" and thought it was "Heroes", but that didn't upset me because it wasn't supposed to record an episode of "Heroes" anyway (it was a repeat). I think that basically, the guide was just all screwed up Sunday night.

Later Sunday night, I restarted Guided Setup but went to sleep before it completed. This morning, I did a spot-check of channels and everything seems to match. If your TiVo guide doesn't match your channel lineup, it looks like Lawndale made the switch before Redondo Beach did.

-B

Looks like there has been an update today as well.

When I got back from work today I was playing with the guide and it was wrong... then all of a sudden it was right.

It appears that Redondo made the switch despite TW telling me that it was supposed to happen on Nov 17... weird, but if it works... I ain't complaining! :)

[Franco]

TWC in Dallas area. I guess the 5th trip was a charm to get a second CableCard working in my series3 today. The trip yesterday (trip 4) would have been the magic number, but unfortunately the 2 CableCards the tech was given from TWC's warehouse were not "released" to him, so those cards were useless. But today, a tech came with a couple of cards, but the first one worked after a few minutes. Despite my thinking that only a Motorola card with a firmware of 4.21 would work (because the ONLY card out of 6 different cards was a 4.21, and all the failed ones were 4.05), I was pleasantly surprised to see that the card inserted in slot 2 has a firmware of 4.05. About 2 minutes after the office sent the hit, we saw the 161-4 error on the screen, and from there it only took another minute to start seeing channels on that card. Yay, I'm so happy to have this CableCard saga over!!!

Now I just have to worry about the second S3 I'll be receiving this week with an all-new service order for 2 more cards. Wish me luck. :up:

[dlcrow]

So, my question is: can I / should I install my TiVo, get it all setup, and do the cable card process myself? The very last thing that I want is another TW Austin tech to come out to learn how to install cablecards for 8 hours at my house. Will they let me do this without a technician on-site? Do I have to ask for someone special when I call?

You can do this yourself over the phone. No need to have a tech come out.

Before you install the CableCARDs, write down the numbers on the back of them. Remember which card you install in which Tivo slot. Once you have the CableCARDs installed in the Tivo, browse to the CableCARD menu screens and write down the serial number of the card and the host id of the Tivo for each slot. With all of these numbers, the tech on the phone can provision your cards.

When I called, I said that I had two cable cards and needed to update the host id mappings. The tech had to delete the old ones and add the new ones as he could not find a way to change what was already in the system.

The one time I went through this, I got a very knowledgeable person on the phone and it took about 15 minutes.

[Darthnice]

You can do this yourself over the phone. No need to have a tech come out.


Unless TW Austin has changed their policy in the last month, they require a Tech to install the CableCards.

[julesboy]

Also, if anyone needs advice in Santa Monica to get cards recognized and working, let me know. I've gone through 12 cable cards, 5 installers, and 4 days to get this far.

Thanks for your help!

Mike V.
Santa Monica
TiVo Series 3, 500GB Weaknees Upgrade


Hey Mike V or anyone else

Yes I need help! I'm in Santa Monica and need advice on getting my Tivo Series 3 HD working and hooked up to Time Warner cable service. They're installing 2 cableCARDs. I've had 2 visits now (last Friday and Saturday) and still have nothing working. The cable guys got through everything (Host ID numbers Data numbers etc.) and the connection between the cableCARDS and the Time warner office (dispatch) trying to link to them has not been made yet. Any advice or steps on how to simply "get connected" would be fantastic. The 1st visit took 2 hours and the second was close to 4 hours.

Thanks I appreciate any advice I can get.
julesboy

[clonenode]

Hey Mike V or anyone else

Yes I need help! I'm in Santa Monica and need advice on getting my Tivo Series 3 HD working and hooked up to Time Warner cable service. They're installing 2 cableCARDs. I've had 2 visits now (last Friday and Saturday) and still have nothing working. The cable guys got through everything (Host ID numbers Data numbers etc.) and the connection between the cableCARDS and the Time warner office (dispatch) trying to link to them has not been made yet. Any advice or steps on how to simply "get connected" would be fantastic. The 1st visit took 2 hours and the second was close to 4 hours.

Thanks I appreciate any advice I can get.
julesboy
Julesboy:

Here are a few tips and issues I encountered in Santa Monica:

- First and most importantly, do not let the cable guy deviate from the instructions on the tivo-provided sheet. Do one card at a time. If you don't get the first one working, the second one will not work at all.

- Have the cable guy make sure that the card is "On Deck". From what I understand, when they get these cable cards, they first have to enter them in the system at the warehouse before sending them out to be installed. The first 6 cards installers brought to my house were not "on deck". They found this out by calling the actual provider of the cable cards and having them check by the number on the card. I wish I had more insight into this, but that's the best I can give you.

- Before the next guy tries to do anything, remove all cable cards from your tivo. Have the guy call in and clear out ALL cable cards and host IDs from the system. then unplug your tivo and start it back up. THEN start from scratch with card #1.

- Make sure the installer gives them all three of these number: the number on the back of the card, the HOST number, and the DATA number from the cable card menu (under pairing).

- After the installer calls in the numbers and the person on the other end sends a hit (multiple hits often helps), wait a couple minutes before doing "test channels", and if you don't get anything, wait a couple more before doing test channels. Took a few minutes after the hits for mine to start showing up.

- I still don't receive ANY encrypted channels, and according to my cable card menu, "Auth by CP" is still "no", which makes me think they're still not communicating with my cards properly, but at least I get all the networks, etc. Still no DISC-HD, TNT-HD, HBOs.

Please keep me posted on your progress. When I get home tonight I may even be able to give you the ID number of the installer that finally got mine to work so you can request him.

[2farrell]

Wait a minute. He told you that TW was getting TiVo software in the SA?

Either he was totally confused between Comcast and TW, or he was full of bullpucky.

No way will TiVo software ever....and I do mean ever.....end up in an SA box.

I was listening in on a conversation he was having with his manager/supervisor.
They were talking about making installations easier and he said "they're changing the DVR software to what?", didn't here what the other guy said but the installer then said "oh, it's going to be TiVo Software, that should make life easier". He then said "SA said that?", followed by "uh-huh!".
Now take that as you will but I take that as meaning Time Warner DVR's (which are supplied by SA) are eventually having the Software supplied by TiVo.
It's also possible that they are looking at offering it to subscribers as an option (like I believe Comcast were going to).

[l_emmerdeur]

Actually I did read that SA finally gave in and licensed a handful of Tivo patents for their next gen products. I believe the screenshots I saw of those new products look quite Tivo-like, with softer colors for the noobish, nebbish types.

[tivotivotivo]

Time Warner DVR's (which are supplied by SA)

Does it have 2 tuners (for dual recording?)

Just wondering... Even with the same software I can't seeing it giving me the same Tivo User Experience. IMO. of course a $800 outlay would not be needed...

[tivotivotivo]

I should add that using Tivo Software _should_ result in better compatibilty with said cable cos. as they would be in general using the same software and should be able to narrow down toxic errors etc.. faster?

in theory at least.

[JKay]

I’ve got TWC coming out on the 27th to install 2 cablecards. I have the S3 working right now with the TWC analog guide.

Question is; should I or can I grab the digital guide before the cablecards are installed.

[hookbill]

I’ve got TWC coming out on the 27th to install 2 cablecards. I have the S3 working right now with the TWC analog guide.

Question is; should I or can I grab the digital guide before the cablecards are installed.

No, you can't get the digital guide until cable cards are installed.

[JKay]

No, you can't get the digital guide until cable cards are installed.


Hookbill, thanks for the info and the prompt reply!

[suaspont]

Well, I'm half there. The (contractor) tech came out with 2 cable cards. He had never seen a TiVo Series 3, but he was careful to follow the directions exactly. Only 1 of the cable cards came up. He had the head end hit the second card a couple of times, but it never did work.

Then, *amazingly* he decided that he had to go, because he was going to meet his son to watch the World Series, so he left, saying that since the first card took a while to come up, the second one would be working in a while.

So, I'm sitting here with only one cable card working, I guess I'm going to have to call Time Warner again. Grrrrrrr!

[julesboy]

Hi Mike V

Thanks so much for your help. All of your comments were very valid. The cable guy came out today and fixed everything and now it's all working - Yay!!! Thank you so much for your help.

Just as a tip for anyone out there in Santa Monica:

When you make your appointments in that area ask for SERGIO (he is a supervisor) to come out to your house/apt. When he arrives he then talks to disptach to get the cable CARDS connected to the Time Warner system (after all the set up procedures within the Tivo). He calls up and asks for MICHELLE. She's the only one who seems to know what she's doing over at the dispatch office. The rest of them don't! My advice is to not waist your time dealing with any other people. These two will be able to get you going and depending on Time Warners upgrades in the area it may take a visit or two. Receiving the Host and Data numbers on my 2nd cableCARD was not necessary at all. We only did that for the 1st card and then the 2nd card took a little bit longer for TW to connect it. We did not do the steps of getting the HOST/DATA numbers for card number 2. We just did the "test channel" step and it worked. Some of the channels were missing like 109 BBC and 201 HBO and I still don't have them yet. They are available through cableCARD 1 though so I am receiving those channels. It seems as though if I give it more time they will eventually come through. It's only been about an hour at the time of this posting.

Mike V. I do have all the HD channels working ie. HBO, Discovery etc. I think there's only about 8 or 9 channels available in HD in Santa Monica anyway. I don't get Showtime as I normally don't get that on my plan anyway. Hope this helps everyone. GOOD LUCK! THANKS AGAIN MIKE V!

julesboy

[tivotivotivo]

julesboy thanks!
Let us know how the Nov 7 realignment goes.

Not sure if I will have my install by then.

[clonenode]

Hi Mike V

Thanks so much for your help. All of your comments were very valid. The cable guy came out today and fixed everything and now it's all working - Yay!!! Thank you so much for your help.

Just as a tip for anyone out there in Santa Monica:

When you make your appointments in that area ask for SERGIO (he is a supervisor) to come out to your house/apt. When he arrives he then talks to disptach to get the cable CARDS connected to the Time Warner system (after all the set up procedures within the Tivo). He calls up and asks for MICHELLE. She's the only one who seems to know what she's doing over at the dispatch office. The rest of them don't! My advice is to not waist your time dealing with any other people. These two will be able to get you going and depending on Time Warners upgrades in the area it may take a visit or two. Receiving the Host and Data numbers on my 2nd cableCARD was not necessary at all. We only did that for the 1st card and then the 2nd card took a little bit longer for TW to connect it. We did not do the steps of getting the HOST/DATA numbers for card number 2. We just did the "test channel" step and it worked. Some of the channels were missing like 109 BBC and 201 HBO and I still don't have them yet. They are available through cableCARD 1 though so I am receiving those channels. It seems as though if I give it more time they will eventually come through. It's only been about an hour at the time of this posting.

Mike V. I do have all the HD channels working ie. HBO, Discovery etc. I think there's only about 8 or 9 channels available in HD in Santa Monica anyway. I don't get Showtime as I normally don't get that on my plan anyway. Hope this helps everyone. GOOD LUCK! THANKS AGAIN MIKE V!

julesboy
Julesboy,

You are very welcome, I hope some of that information helped. I know your pain. This has been a very helpful forum for me as well.

I could use your help as well!

First, could you look on the pink sheet you signed and see if you can find Sergio's installer number? It's at the top somewhere, I think about 5 or 6 numbers. I can use that to officially request Sergio.

Second, could you look in your cable card menus for both cards and look for the line item:

Auth by CP:

Let me know what it says after that label, and what the next line says as well.

I really appreciate your help!

clonenode

[julesboy]

Hey clonenode

Still having some issues with my 2nd cable card not working with all the channels I'm supposed to get. Will re-post all the info you need when it's all been sorted out on my end.

Thanks
julesboy

[hookbill]

Well, I'm half there. The (contractor) tech came out with 2 cable cards. He had never seen a TiVo Series 3, but he was careful to follow the directions exactly. Only 1 of the cable cards came up. He had the head end hit the second card a couple of times, but it never did work.

Then, *amazingly* he decided that he had to go, because he was going to meet his son to watch the World Series, so he left, saying that since the first card took a while to come up, the second one would be working in a while.

So, I'm sitting here with only one cable card working, I guess I'm going to have to call Time Warner again. Grrrrrrr!

How can he have head end hit the second card if the info he needed didn't come up on the diagnostic screen? It takes a bit for that second card to load, when will these techs learn?

I wouldn't have let him leave, and if he did anyway I would let his supervisor know.

[suaspont]

How can he have head end hit the second card if the info he needed didn't come up on the diagnostic screen? It takes a bit for that second card to load, when will these techs learn?

I wouldn't have let him leave, and if he did anyway I would let his supervisor know.

The info did come up and he read it to the person at the headend. I later called TWC tech support and the nice lady apologized for his behavior and said that she was sending an email to dispatch who would call me back. This hasn't happened yet (14 hours later, so far).

For what it's worth, the entire time the guy was there he complained. He complained that TWC hadn't trained him on TiVo, he complained (get this) that he had to call the numbers in, and he complained about the other tech who "gave him" this work order, and he complained that he was going to be late for the World Series game. At one point he actually said, "I don't get paid enough to deal with this." When the second card didn't come up as expected, the person at the headend (it was on speaker phone) asked if he wanted to escalate this to "Level 3" and he said that he didn't have time to deal with it.

I'm simply amazed at all of this...

[TiVoMonkey]

Does it have 2 tuners (for dual recording?)

Just wondering... Even with the same software I can't seeing it giving me the same Tivo User Experience. IMO. of course a $800 outlay would not be needed...

Cisco/SA's current DVR's all have Dual Tuners. I've never seen Time Warner give anyone a single tuner DVR.

[hookbill]

Cisco/SA's current DVR's all have Dual Tuners. I've never seen Time Warner give anyone a single tuner DVR.

True, but they are a pos compared to the S3. My SA 8300 had constant sound/visual drop offs, partial recordings, missed recordings due to either conflicts which it was not capable of telling me about or simply just didn't feel like recording. I got at least two partial recordings a week on HD shows. Since the S3, perfect recordings. The only time I had a problem was on Ghost Whisperer last week and people with OTA say there was no signal for the first 10 minutes.

[tivotivotivo]

Thanks. And just to be sure (since I did not know the S3 currently do not have the undeleled tool.) The 30 sec skip is still in the S3 correct?

[hookbill]

Thanks. And just to be sure (since I did not know the S3 currently do not have the undeleled tool.) The 30 sec skip is still in the S3 correct?
Yes. Select/Play/Select/3/0/Select

[ahaley]

I finally got mine working 100%, wow how long was that? TW were the only people who stuck in and got it working. Tivo abandoned me and I could never get a Tier 3 person, engineer, to call me back. Perhaps I have Stockholm at this point, but at least it's working. Pheeewww.

[2farrell]

Does it have 2 tuners (for dual recording?)

Just wondering... Even with the same software I can't seeing it giving me the same Tivo User Experience. IMO. of course a $800 outlay would not be needed...
The answer would likely be yes, but I suspect TW will dumb down the TiVo software which means you'll probably get the Series 1 experience (with HD recording/Dual Tuners) but without the Network features. Cable Companies will force their own stuff on you.
Right now the only benefit I can see (cost aside) with going with the Cable Company DVR is PPV, On Demand stuff and other interactive features (that I don't care about).

[2farrell]

True, but they are a pos compared to the S3. My SA 8300 had constant sound/visual drop offs, partial recordings, missed recordings due to either conflicts which it was not capable of telling me about or simply just didn't feel like recording. I got at least two partial recordings a week on HD shows. Since the S3, perfect recordings. The only time I had a problem was on Ghost Whisperer last week and people with OTA say there was no signal for the first 10 minutes.

Agreed. That's the whole reason I waited for the S3 to come out.
I originally had my name on TWC's list a few years ago when the SA8300 was first announced, but when I read on a lot of AV Forums (including this one) that Beta Testers and early adopters were losing programs, slow menus and crashing I passed until either they fixed the problems (which I don't believe they did completely) or the S3 came out.

[suaspont]

The saga continues...

TWC called me yesterday afternoon about my "all day" appointment (news to me) that I had some how missed. I called back and now have a return visit from an installer tomorrow between 12:00 and 2:00. Let's hope that this one won't leave before things work.

[jae]

anyone in nyc have any luck scheduling an appt? when i called yesterday, they told me the first available cable card technician isn't available until nov 21st!

[alee]

anyone in nyc have any luck scheduling an appt? when i called yesterday, they told me the first available cable card technician isn't available until nov 21st!
Check in with them day-by-day and see if there have been any cancellations. It takes some persistence, but just like getting a table at a hot restaurant, persistence pays off.

[suaspont]

I'm finally working with 2 cable cards! TWC sent out a tech who knew what he was doing. He replaced the bad cable card, had the head end hit it and huzzah! Everything works. Finally.

[hookbill]

I'm finally working with 2 cable cards! TWC sent out a tech who knew what he was doing. He replaced the bad cable card, had the head end hit it and huzzah! Everything works. Finally.

Good for you. Congrats and enjoy. :)

[ldc3000]

TWC Greensboro here. I got my install done a few days back. It was the guys first time installing in a Tivo, but he read the directions and had me up and running with in a few minutes. I am having a problem with no sound on a couple of channels, hopefully this will be an easy fix. TWC is charging me $1.75 per card, which isn't that bad, and installation was free, because I was a new sub.

[wizardofoz]

All,

I'm in Austin and am having some issues with a pair of Tivos. I was lucky enough to get 2 series 3 TiVos and have tried to get them running with cablecards for the last 2 days.

Does anyone in Austin have the name and number of a tech that got it to work? I've read this thread for hours now AND used it to show the techs that were here (super nice guys, no issues with Time Warner) but they just don't know what to do.

Anyone who can help would be my new best friend :)

Thanks!

[Franco]

TWC in the Dallas area. My adventure with my second Series3 box was no adventure at all. Tech came out within the 3-hour time frame I was quoted, and within 10 minutes both cards were working on the first try! I couldn't believe how easy this install went as opposed to my first Series3 ordeal. The tech said that this was the quickest Series3 Cable Card install he has done thus far. The other interesting thing he told me is that this was his 8th Series3 install this week. Woo hoo for all the Dallas area Time Warner Series3 owners!

[jae]

Check in with them day-by-day and see if there have been any cancellations. It takes some persistence, but just like getting a table at a hot restaurant, persistence pays off.

yeah - i'll call again monday.

the wait time for STB service is 5 days, i can't imagine there are that may ppl waiting for cable card service. i have a friend who lives in queens that got in on the tc store deal, and his appt. is for this coming sat, so something definately seems off to me.

[MomCatM4]

This did not go well, initially.

The installer came out Wednesday evening. I had 2 strikes against me before he even hit the door. He was a subcontractor and mine was his last call of the day. Another strike was that he missed the appointment window by almost an hour, which meant he got here at almost 7 PM. Anyway, the guy told me he had done this before, but I later figured out from a call he made, that he hadn't (yet another strike). I even overheard the person on the other end to tell him to begin with card 1, remove it, and then do card 2 (another strike!). In spite of what the guy wanted to do, I had to put my foot down and insist we follow the directions to the letter. I'm a teacher and had to use my "teacher voice" to make him do what I wanted him to do! :rolleyes:

Card #1 - The guy (I refuse to call him a technician) screwed up right away. He put card #1 into slot 2 first. Bet he didn't think I could figure that out from the screen! He was very unhappy when I insisted we start all over AND I proceeded to unplug the TiVo and let it start up from the beginning. Too bad!

Card #1 , try #2 - It went OK this time. I didn't see some of the other tiers I pay for initially, but apparently they had to apply service to them, so I didn't sweat that.

Card #2 - It's a good thing I followed the advice in this forum and wrote down all those numbers, because he read the wrong CableCard number and Host ID number back to the office (he gave them the info for card #1 again but this time for card #2). I corrected him and he read them back to them correctly this time. We tested the channels, but I didn't see the tiers on this one, either.

On both cards, I saw basic cable. He swore up and down that service had to be applied to them and that it would take a few minutes, then he booked it out of here before seeing if everything was working.

I made 3 calls that evening to tech support. Each time they "hit" the cards and said everything looked good on their end. Card #1 finally picked up all the channels that evening, but card #2 didn't. In fact, the screen for card #2 didn't show any "authorization received" on it, ever. On my last call, I spoke with a Level 3 tech guy who basically said he would have to send out a technician (and NOT a subcontractor, thank goodness--watch out for CableExpress, they don't have a very good rep with the Level 3 guys).

Fast forward to today. The tech was supposed to come out between 11 and 1:30. I received a call at 12:45. The tech thought it was for a TV and why was I using 2 cards for a TV? I straightened him out, but didn't have a good vibe when he asked who made TiVo... He thought an engineer would have to come out to take care of this, probably tomorrow, which for me is not an option. He then said he would call and see if an engineer was available today. He called back about 1:00 and said he had talked to a Level 3 tech and was told that TW did NOT support TiVos. I told him that everyone I had talked to at TW, including Level 3s, said they did. He repeated they didn't. After going back and forth with him on this, I thanked him for being of no help and hung up on him, I was so mad. :mad:

I promptly called TW's tech support. When I first talked to Jenny, I warned her that I was angry and supremely frustrated, then proceeded to tell her what had transpired. I also told her I did not think the tech was coming at all. She went off to read her memos and came back, assuring me they definitely supported TiVos (duh!). She then said she needed to make some calls and would call me back. OK, I'll calm down and be nice and wait for the callback.

15 minutes later, I heard from Serena in Dispatch. Apparently, the supervisor was contacted in addition to dispatch. She said they wanted to make this right by getting a tech out here today. I said fine, but do NOT send the guy who was originally supposed to come out today. She said she would send one of her favorite guys (I think his name was Terry) and that I would be his next stop. Jenny then called back and said that not only were the supervisor and dispatch contacted, but the Level 3 tech and the original tech were also contacted and informed that TW DOES support the Tivo Series 3. Yeah! Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for those conversations/e-mails...

Terry arrives and admits he has never done a TiVo Series3, but he was willing to work with me on this. We looked at the screens for card #1 (working OK) and card #2 (still not OK). He agreed there was definitely a problem with #2. When he looked at the back of the TiVo, he asked my why the eject button was sticking out. Huh? The Wednesday night idiot struck again. We reseated the card. He called it in and asked them to unpair the card and then re-pair it. That's when we found the next mistake made by the Wednesday night idiots (yeah, there was more than one idiot that night). Whoever took the numbers for card #2 that night had corrected the CableCard number when I told the idiot of his error, but they did not change the Host ID number--it still had the number for card #1 associated with it. Shoot. I should have had them read those numbers to me during one of my 3 calls Wednesday night! Anyway, that snafu got fixed for sure, because I could then see all channels when we tested it. Terry also waited through my redoing the setup and verifying that both cards were receiving all my channels, too. I certainly appreciated his positive attitude, professionalism, and patience.

I am now in business! :up: Bottom line?

1) Beware of the subcontractors. :down:
2) Stick to your guns and insist on following the directions to the letter. :eek:
3) Double-check your guy every step of the way--even if you have to call back to have them hit the card(s) again, which is where I could have caught the mistake if I had had them read those numbers back to me. :cool:
4) Keep after them until they do it right. It CAN be done! :p

Hopefully, you will get a technician who is willing to be patient, willing to learn, and willing to work with you.

I would love to get another Series3, but I'm going to enjoy this one for a bit before I go for a second one... :D

JLB

[mercurial]

Finally success- both S3's working and getting all channels.

The saga:

Original install on 10/6 - Installer brought 4 CCs. One of my S3's was DOA and he couldn't get any of the cards to come up in the other S3. Rescheduled for a week later (when replacement S3 was supposed to arrive).

Next install on 10/14 - Installer brought 6 CCs but new S3 hadn't arrived. He "got them working" in the S3 but the "channels needed to download"... :rolleyes: Yeah, right. I knew I had to have another install when the replacement S3 arrived so I just figured I'd wait until the next installer came to get the details worked out- at this point, I was getting analog 2-99, digital 100-199, and the clear QAM locals/HDs in the 200-300 range but none our premium channels, upper digital, or premium HD suite.

Called to setup new install date then found out the S3 replacement wasn't actually in transit. Called back to delay the install and the CSR was hopelessly confused by the notes on my account. Went to talk to a Raleigh TWC rep that was the "cable card expert" named Rashad (or Rashid?). He got her straightened out (she'd wanted to charge me $43/card for the install instead of $43/box and I'd already paid that at the first install for both boxes). Anyway, I got his direct number in case I needed it with the tech.

"Final" install 10/28 - Tech came out (a sub-contractor named Sang). First guy who didn't think CCs were the black death. He installed them in the new S3, then he put in a signal amplifier (I have two S2DT boxes in other rooms as well and the digital boxes were having some pixelation and other issues), then he saw that the first S3 wasn't getting all the channels and had them "re-hit" it. He then gave the "needs to download" line and headed off. About an hour later he stopped back by- he'd forgotten his toner from when he installed the amp. He asked if any more channels had come in and I said no. He was confused and asked if I wanted him to call and have them hit it again. I suggested we call Rashad/Rashid and see if he could help. They got on and went through a long series of swapping cards in the first S3, resetting the box, and so on. Finally on his last two cards, he got it to work correctly. They re-hit the basement S3 and it picked up everything.

So a big :up: to Sang for not blowing it off when he just came back to retrieve a tool and to Rashad for being able to get it worked out from the back end. Also a big plus for putting in an amp. The last guy had rearranged some lines at the splitter and claimed that fixed it but didn't want to bother with an amp.

I'm not getting all the channels (*) and haven't seen any of the west coast feeds drop out so apparently no SDV for the Cary TWC lineup (yet). I've got one strange issue with guide data for some channels that I'm going to start another thread for. So it's finally working, you just have to get the right people.

(*) We subscribe (at least for now) to all the digital tiers, all the movie channels, and all the HD suites so we get everything but the optional sports packages and the Spanish language packages.

[clonenode]

My 5th cable guy will be visiting this Wednesday in the AM. I am in Santa Monica, CA

Currently I am receiving all unencrypted channels, including locals in HD, but not receiving the following:

TNT
TNT-HD
DiscoveryHD
HBO package
HBO-HD

Under the Cable Card menus, Conditional Access looks like this:

Conditional Access:

Encryption: DES
Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: no
Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY
CA enable: not possible
ECM PID: 0x14B4
Component PIDs:
Host Validation: Unknown 00
Copy Protection Key: Disabled
CCI: 0x03


I am not even sure where to turn next if this guy can't get it to work. Took 4 visits just to get 2 working cable cards, and a cable guy who actually knew what he was doing.

Number of Cable Company visits: 4+
Total number of Cable Guys in those visits: 6+
Total number of cable cards tried: 11
Total number of days taken off work to wait for cable guys: 1 (2 half days)
Amount Spent on TiVo and Weaknees Upgrade: $1000+
Number of fewer channels I have since getting TiVo: 12
Total estimated time spent on phone with Time Warner: 4 hours
I wish there was a PRICELESS line to write here, but seriously, this is ridiculous.

Worn out in Santa Monica.

[hookbill]

My 5th cable guy will be visiting this Wednesday in the AM. I am in Santa Monica, CA

Currently I am receiving all unencrypted channels, including locals in HD, but not receiving the following:

TNT
TNT-HD
DiscoveryHD
HBO package
HBO-HD

Under the Cable Card menus, Conditional Access looks like this:

Conditional Access:

Encryption: DES
Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: no
Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY
CA enable: not possible
ECM PID: 0x14B4
Component PIDs:
Host Validation: Unknown 00
Copy Protection Key: Disabled
CCI: 0x03


I am not even sure where to turn next if this guy can't get it to work. Took 4 visits just to get 2 working cable cards, and a cable guy who actually knew what he was doing.

Number of Cable Company visits: 4+
Total number of Cable Guys in those visits: 6+
Total number of cable cards tried: 11
Total number of days taken off work to wait for cable guys: 1 (2 half days)
Amount Spent on TiVo and Weaknees Upgrade: $1000+
Number of fewer channels I have since getting TiVo: 12
Total estimated time spent on phone with Time Warner: 4 hours
I wish there was a PRICELESS line to write here, but seriously, this is ridiculous.

Worn out in Santa Monica.

Aggrivating yes. But this is the cable company, not TiVo's fault.

As your aware lots of people in your area have had their S3 activated with no problem. Some have had some problems. It will work you just got to get someone out there who knows what your doing.

Demand that either a lead tech or a supervisor come out. Tell them what you told us about how much time this has cost you, at the very least they should give you some type of refund (my friend in Ohio got a months free service).

[Iceback]

FWIW....
I had three cable cards installed by TW in Charlotte NC the other day. The tech had spent 30 minutes before he left his office making sure that he had 6 "2006" cards with the updated firmware before he left for the call. When he got to the house he told me he had an 1 1/2 hours blocked because cable cards could be tricky and immediately called his supervisor, as neither had done a series 3. We followed the directions exactly, and the install was done and up and running in less than 40 minutes. He told me that he called his supervisor because cable cards depend on the installer, and the tech on the other end of the line. I have had some pretty bad experiences with TW in the past and was worried about this, but this was painless.

Ice...

[nathos]

Phase one of my CableCard adventure is over.

Got my Series3 last Friday and got it hooked up to my home theater setup. I already had a CableCard in my Sony TV, so i moved it over to my Series3. Of course, this means having to call TW for them to re-activate the card with a new Host ID. That was an exercise in futility; After 2 hours on the phone, the phone tech said she didn't need the Host ID, she just kept sending authorization hits to the old ID. Finally, she determined that an installer needed to be dispatched to my house.

Anyways, the installer finally arrives today to SWAP the card. No, I can't have another card ("only one in 8 techs has a CableCard on them"), I have to make a separate appointment for that ("this is a repair call, an extra card would be an upgrade"). After about 20 minutes of me telling the installer what info he needs to give to his phone tech ("I only install like one of these a year"), I'm up and running with one card.

Now I have to call TW back to schedule a CableCard installation (which they'll probably charge me for). What a joke. The FCC really needs to crack down on this.

[pminer90]

Well, I am starting my CableCard adventure on Friday ...

My Series 3 will be delivered tomorrow and called for an appointment today. I was surprised they were able to accommodate me before the weekend on Friday from 10-12.

I am trying to not get my hopes up, considering they would need to bring more than one card with them. I have this scary feeling the customer service representative kept hearing me say TV instead of TiVo no matter how clear I tried to make myself.

I'll let everyone know how I make out.

[EmmettC]

Just called Time Warner and got a recorded message saying that Cinemax and Starz HD will be available in NYC area starting 11/01/06. Has anyone else heard of this? Will this affect the Tivo Series 3 in anyway? I had read that TWCNYC was maxed out as far as carrying more signals, so how is this possible? Are they going to switched?

Emmett

[grcgodess]

Hello -
I'm super frustrated with TWC in Los Angeles. Just switched my service from a S2 to a S3. When I called for a service technician TWC said - TW completely supports HD S3 TiVo, we will send someone right over. The technician they sent said, "I'm not touching your TiVo, dropped the cards (didn't even activate them and it cost me more than $25.00) and left. Of my 2 cableCARDs from TWC (formerly Adelphia), one cable card worked, one did not. After installing them I have lost all premium channels (HBO to Speed - everything over 100). TW said that cableCARDs only support basic cable - this sounds absurd. I'm at the point where I'm going to send the Series 3 back to TiVo. I see others in this forum are experiencing some of the same issues. If the cards are touch and go, I need an appointment and 20 Mins on the phone to activate them, and the channels I want to record are not available - what is the point? As it stands with the cableCARDs I don't even get HD channels anymore. LAME. Can anyone tell me the magic words to save my super sleek yet completely useless TiVo?

[SoBayJake]

Hello -
I'm super frustrated with TWC in Los Angeles. Just switched my service from a S2 to a S3. When I called for a service technician TWC said - TW completely supports HD S3 TiVo, we will send someone right over. The technician they sent said, "I'm not touching your TiVo, dropped the cards (didn't even activate them and it cost me more than $25.00) and left. Of my 2 cableCARDs from TWC (formerly Adelphia), one cable card worked, one did not. After installing them I have lost all premium channels (HBO to Speed - everything over 100). TW said that cableCARDs only support basic cable - this sounds absurd. I'm at the point where I'm going to send the Series 3 back to TiVo. I see others in this forum are experiencing some of the same issues. If the cards are touch and go, I need an appointment and 20 Mins on the phone to activate them, and the channels I want to record are not available - what is the point? As it stands with the cableCARDs I don't even get HD channels anymore. LAME. Can anyone tell me the magic words to save my super sleek yet completely useless TiVo?
Where in LA? I'm former Comcast, and it worked the first time. TWC dropped the ball on your install. You need to call them back, demand a new service appointment, free install, and a suitable appointment time (maybe a Sat or a Sun?)

CableCards will work fine for digital cable (that's what you need them for!) The person that told you they are for analog only is obviously clueless. Get a supervisor.

Returning the TiVo is really a no-win for anyone (except the cable company). TiVo loses money since they now have to deal with a unit that isn't defective, the selling store (if it wasn't TiVo) loses the sale, and you lose out on using a TiVo and not a crappy cable DVR.

TWC, though, wins on all counts. You keep renting the box from them, they don't do any more to support CableCards, and anyone you tell your story too won't want to try, so they still keep winning. Don't let them!

[hookbill]

Can anyone tell me the magic words to save my super sleek yet completely useless TiVo?

Yes. Tell the installer to follow directions EXACTLY like it says on the sheet.

[jb007]

Yes. Tell the installer to follow directions EXACTLY like it says on the sheet.

Does anybody have a link to the sheet with the installer instructions OR can someone scan it and post or PM me. My initial install went fine and the sheet was thrown away. Now I'm having problems after upgrading the hard drive and TWC is sending out a tech tomorrow a.m. TIA.

[grcgodess]

Where in LA? Sherman Oaks

TWC, though, wins on all counts. You keep renting the box from them, they don't do any more to support CableCards, and anyone you tell your story too won't want to try, so they still keep winning. Don't let them!

I agree. TWC is wining. I just want my TV back, all of it. The worst part is that I work for TW, and I still can't get the cable division to help me. :confused:

I will call back and talk to a supervisor. But it sounds like the premium channel stuff is rampant through this thread.

[worachj]

Does anybody have a link to the sheet with the installer instructions OR can someone scan it and post or PM me. My initial install went fine and the sheet was thrown away. Now I'm having problems after upgrading the hard drive and TWC is sending out a tech tomorrow a.m. TIA.

Sorry I can't post the exact link, not enough post to be able to post links. Replace (dot) with "." .

tivo(dot)com/pdfs/CableCARDInstall(dot)pdf

[jb007]

Sorry I can't post the exact link, not enough post to be able to post links. Replace (dot) with "." .

tivo(dot)com/pdfs/CableCARDInstall(dot)pdf

Thank you very much :)

[pmiranda]

Now I have to call TW back to schedule a CableCard installation (which they'll probably charge me for). What a joke. The FCC really needs to crack down on this.

I don't suppose anyone has actually called their local public utility watchdogs or complained to the FCC about any trouble they've had getting cablecards or getting the cableco to support them?

The problems I had were only due to my local cableco's inexperience with them, but with some persistence they got their act together. That's not true for some of the stories I've read here.

[julesboy]

[PHP]My 5th cable guy will be visiting this Wednesday in the AM. I am in Santa Monica, CA

Currently I am receiving all unencrypted channels, including locals in HD, but not receiving the following:

TNT
TNT-HD
DiscoveryHD
HBO package
HBO-HD

Under the Cable Card menus, Conditional Access looks like this:

Conditional Access:

Encryption: DES
Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: no
Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY
CA enable: not possible
ECM PID: 0x14B4
Component PIDs:
Host Validation: Unknown 00
Copy Protection Key: Disabled
CCI: 0x03


I am not even sure where to turn next if this guy can't get it to work. Took 4 visits just to get 2 working cable cards, and a cable guy who actually knew what he was doing.

Number of Cable Company visits: 4+
Total number of Cable Guys in those visits: 6+
Total number of cable cards tried: 11
Total number of days taken off work to wait for cable guys: 1 (2 half days)
Amount Spent on TiVo and Weaknees Upgrade: $1000+
Number of fewer channels I have since getting TiVo: 12
Total estimated time spent on phone with Time Warner: 4 hours
I wish there was a PRICELESS line to write here, but seriously, this is ridiculous.

Worn out in Santa Monica.
Hi Clonenode

Sorry it's taken a long time to get back to you. I'm in Santa Monica - Using Tivo Series3 HD with 2 cableCARDS.

In the end for me it was a total of 4 visits that got me up and fully running. I get all of the channels I'm supposed to, including all of the HD channels. Everything is working fine now.

I have to suggest (as before) asking for the supervisor to come out to your house. His name is SERGIO and his IR TECH# is 4401. Once he's there hopefully with several cableCARDS to try, he will call dispatch and ask for MICHELLE. He knows this and won't mess around with any other people at dispatch. If MICHELLE is not available or not working that day he will suggest not coming out to your house that day. I think this is a good thing and it won't waste your time. Once he's come for the 1st visit to your house make sure you get his Cell phone number so you can be in control of contacting him and skip the whole Time Warner on hold thing. All of this stuff IS TIME WARNER'S FAULT. You are the customer and they should fix the problem. Sergio is a nice guy if you deal with him in a nice manner. Under the Cable Card menus, Conditional Access (for both cards) usually looks like this: Conditional Access:

Encryption: DES
Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: yes
Auth: SUBSCRIBED
CA enable: possible
ECM PID: 0x02A9
Component PIDs:
0x0290 0x0291 0x0000
0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Host Validation: Unknown 01
Copy Protection Key: Disabled
CCI: 0x00

Some of the above info seems to change on card number 2 (including the numbers being different) when I look at it at different times. Sometimes card 2 will say this:

Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: yes
Auth: NOT_SUBSCRIBED
CA enable: not possible

Even when card 2 says NOT_SUBSCRIBED etc. - the card is still working and providing me all the correct channels incl. HD channels.

The only other thing I can say is that when my 2 cards were installed on different days and they actually worked the process was reasonably fast and should add up to probably about an hour total. Don't get bogged down with all of the Conditional access info. The card that the cable guy brings out is either going to work or not. If not don't waste your time trouble shooting for hours. Remember to power down/power up your tivo before installing any new card(s). It's a computer and they get confused. Sometimes doing a shut down and re-boot resets things in the computer and your chances of it working will be better.

Let me know if I can help any further. I'm not always on this thread and am super busy at work, but I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.
Julesboy

[BabySeal]

Just to clarify, does the TiVo have to plug in directly to a television with a cablecard installed through a coaxial?
So I'd be able to get the TiVo interface and a tv signal at the same time?

[jb007]

TWC came out and swapped out both of my CableCARDS today. The tech checked the line and the signal was strong, no amplifier needed, just two new cards. feels good to be up and running again :)

[mportuesi]

Just to clarify, does the TiVo have to plug in directly to a television with a cablecard installed through a coaxial?

Coaxial cable from the cable company plugs into Tivo.
Two cable cards from the cable company plugs into Tivo.
Tivo plugs into TV.

So I'd be able to get the TiVo interface and a tv signal at the same time?

Yes.

[MisterUCLA]

I also had the MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY message after my first visit.

Only received unencrypted channels.

When the second guy came, he took out the Second Card and had them "hit" the First Card repeatedly.

We then received that 161-4 error screen and soon we had HDNET, HDNET2, ESPN, ESPN2, INHD, INHD2 and ShowtimeHD under test channels

We then proceeded to the Second Card.

Same deal.

SO maybe when a tech comes by, he can do the same.

I am still not receiving Discovery or TNTHD. BUt I figure I can call to get that working.

Hopefully.

[BabySeal]

Coaxial cable from the cable company plugs into Tivo.
Two cable cards from the cable company plugs into Tivo.
Tivo plugs into TV.



Yes.


Ahh do I need the series3? Series2 doesn't have a slot. Interesting enough though, I know someone who just plugged one cablecard into her tv, and then plugged the TiVo to the tv without any connections to the cablecard, or another cablecard being plugged in (since she had a series2) and it worked. Any suggestions?

[SoBayJake]

Ahh do I need the series3? Series2 doesn't have a slot. Interesting enough though, I know someone who just plugged one cablecard into her tv, and then plugged the TiVo to the tv without any connections to the cablecard, or another cablecard being plugged in (since she had a series2) and it worked. Any suggestions?
If you want to record digital programming from cable, you either need a set-top-box and a series 2, or a series 3.

Having a TV accept a cable card will only allow the TV to display any picture. Was your friend just recording regular (analog) cable on her series 2?

I see no way she could record DIGITAL cable in that set up.

[BabySeal]

Not sure if she was able to record, but I did see the TV signal with the TiVo signal.

[hookbill]

Not sure if she was able to record, but I did see the TV signal with the TiVo signal.


You need cable cards to record digital channels over cable. It won't work any other way.

[jfmnyc]

TWC New York City (Upper West Side, Lincoln Center area)
After having my S3 working perfectly for a few weeks, this past weekend I lost all encrypted channels on my S3, as well as my other TV (a panasonic plasma with cablecard). The only channels I get are networks (including HDTV networks), and one or two channels like TBS. No Discovery, no inhd, no CNN, no National Geographic, no History, no Science channel - so basically, no cable.

I called TWC and they walked me through the standard checklist
1. "is the cable plugged in" - of course it is, all unencrypted channels come in clear as a bell, including HD channels.
2. "turn off TV, they send signal, turn back on, do channels work" - no dice

Then they said they'd have to send a tech out. Aargh!

I called back several times and got hung up on when being transferred to a supervisor, then finally got another rep who seemed to go through a longer cablecard checklist - she verified the host IDs, and sent more "hits" to the cards, but still no help. (One interesting thing I learned is that if you call their CS number and don't push any buttons or say anything, their stupid IVR system will eventually connect you to a rep, after asking "are you interested in digital phone" about 20 times.)

As it stands now, the cards appear authorized (I believe they say "CP Auth Received" and no obvious error messages), but don't appear to be able to decrypt any channels. What I don't understand is how both the TV and TiVo could both go out in exactly the same way, yet TWC knows nothing about it.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on? (One theory I have is that the switch from daylight savings time screwed with the cards - it seemed to happen around that time - but I wasn't home so I'm not sure.) I'm sure the tech who comes out on Friday will be clueless and just change out the cards, but I'd really like to understand what's actually going on here, so I don't have the same problem in another month.

Any ideas appreciated
John

[alee]

(One interesting thing I learned is that if you call their CS number and don't push any buttons or say anything, their stupid IVR system will eventually connect you to a rep, after asking "are you interested in digital phone" about 20 times.)
I go about 3 levels in, and just say "Talk to a representative" and that usually works. If it understands me.

Anyway, the last time it happened to me (same exact symptoms), it took a few calls begging for more "hits" to be sent. I think the 4th hit they sent was the "good" one, and even then, it took maybe 15 min for my TiVo to register. Keeping asking for hits. One of them will register and it'll just suddenly start working.

[EmmettC]

TWC New York City (Upper West Side, Lincoln Center area)
After having my S3 working perfectly for a few weeks, this past weekend I lost all encrypted channels on my S3, as well as my other TV (a panasonic plasma with cablecard). The only channels I get are networks (including HDTV networks), and one or two channels like TBS. No Discovery, no inhd, no CNN, no National Geographic, no History, no Science channel - so basically, no cable.

I called TWC and they walked me through the standard checklist
1. "is the cable plugged in" - of course it is, all unencrypted channels come in clear as a bell, including HD channels.
2. "turn off TV, they send signal, turn back on, do channels work" - no dice

Then they said they'd have to send a tech out. Aargh!

I called back several times and got hung up on when being transferred to a supervisor, then finally got another rep who seemed to go through a longer cablecard checklist - she verified the host IDs, and sent more "hits" to the cards, but still no help. (One interesting thing I learned is that if you call their CS number and don't push any buttons or say anything, their stupid IVR system will eventually connect you to a rep, after asking "are you interested in digital phone" about 20 times.)

As it stands now, the cards appear authorized (I believe they say "CP Auth Received" and no obvious error messages), but don't appear to be able to decrypt any channels. What I don't understand is how both the TV and TiVo could both go out in exactly the same way, yet TWC knows nothing about it.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on? (One theory I have is that the switch from daylight savings time screwed with the cards - it seemed to happen around that time - but I wasn't home so I'm not sure.) I'm sure the tech who comes out on Friday will be clueless and just change out the cards, but I'd really like to understand what's actually going on here, so I don't have the same problem in another month.

Any ideas appreciated
John

I know that they've added more Hi-Def programming (StarzHD and CinemaxHD) even though we've all heard that they had reached their bandwidth limit.... I am wondering if they've gone SDV??

[jfmnyc]

Anyway, the last time it happened to me (same exact symptoms), it took a few calls begging for more "hits" to be sent. I think the 4th hit they sent was the "good" one, and even then, it took maybe 15 min for my TiVo to register. Keeping asking for hits. One of them will register and it'll just suddenly start working.

When they called to confirm my appointment (which they had moved, without asking, to a time that I couldn't be home), I asked them to send another hit and it immediately fixed all three cablecards within seconds. Amazing! Now if only TWC would just put a "hit me" website up, so we could just do this ourselves! (yeah, I know, they'd never do that since they hate CCs...)

Thanks
John

[RDexter]

OK! So I called Time Warner Cincinnati this morning and told the lady I wanted 2 Cablecards for my Tivo S3. She said, "you have a TV that needs 2 cablecards?" I said no - I want 2 cablecards for my Tivo. "Oh, we don't support Tivo" Why not? "Cause it's not our equipment." I said TVs are not your equipment either but you put them in those. Then I told her I kind of knew what she was going to say because I had been reading the Time Warner Thread at Tivocommunity(dot)com. She was kind of shaken up by this and asked for the url, which I gave her. We read a couple of the entries from September on the first page of this TWC Thread, then she said she was going to pass the url along to supervision at TWC-Cinci. And then she did a curious thing. She scheduled an appointment to install 2 cablecards in my Tivo on the day of my choice (Friday the 10th) and the time slot of my choice (1:30-3:30).

So everybody say "Hi" to the supervisors at TWC-Cinci.

Hopeful in Cincinnati,
Ric

[tsings31]

I know that they've added more Hi-Def programming (StarzHD and CinemaxHD) even though we've all heard that they had reached their bandwidth limit.... I am wondering if they've gone SDV??
Apparently, TWCNYC magically found more bandwidth and were able to add the above mentioned HD channels and MSGHD as well. I am receiving all of them on my S3, so SDV is definitely not happening at the moment.

[alee]

Apparently, TWCNYC magically found more bandwidth and were able to add the above mentioned HD channels and MSGHD as well. I am receiving all of them on my S3, so SDV is definitely not happening at the moment.
Yep... got the notification and enabled the new channels last night. Life is good again. Here's to hoping SDV is a long time away.

[jmjerome]

Can anyone who lives in 90069 West Hollywood, CA tell me how much they are being charged for 2 cable cards on their TWC SoCal bill? TWC tried to bill me $1.75 1st card, $4.15 2nd card and a $2.40 second outlet fee. I called them up and told them to stop charging me the $2.40 fee. Is $5.90 the correct fee for my area?

[SoBayJake]

Can anyone who lives in 90069 West Hollywood, CA tell me how much they are being charged for 2 cable cards on their TWC SoCal bill? TWC tried to bill me $1.75 1st card, $4.15 2nd card and a $2.40 second outlet fee. I called them up and told them to stop charging me the $2.40 fee. Is $5.90 the correct fee for my area?Unfortunately, there's almost no way to tell what the correct fee is. It depends on if you have another cable box, etc.

TWC *says* they are going to start standardizing, but I doubt it. For me, its free for the first one, $6.95 for the second. I don't see them dropping mine to $5.90 (like yours), since that's a loss of $1.05 each month (I know, its not much, but do you really think they'd do something to save ME money?)

$5.90 for two seems reasonable, altho a little high. It looks like you are getting hit with a double second outlet fee, altho it is hidden in the cost of the 2nd card ($1.75 + $2.40 = $4.15).

[jmjerome]

Thanks for the info.

[Jiffylush]

Just got off the phone, and I only had to wait 10 minutes. thursday the 9th was the first available install but I scheduled for saturday morning.

The rep had no problems with me getting cablecard, even with getting two. I am also upgrading to digital/hd whatever.

She did give me the you can't get on demand or sports packages or premium channels (obviously the premium channels part is incorrect.

I need to pay $20 when the tech comes to the house not sure if that is an install fee or prorated service.

will post again next saturday

ps. I love this site, I wouldn't have bought a s3 without the information I have recieved here.

[jmjerome]

Unfortunately, there's almost no way to tell what the correct fee is. It depends on if you have another cable box, etc.

TWC *says* they are going to start standardizing, but I doubt it. For me, its free for the first one, $6.95 for the second. I don't see them dropping mine to $5.90 (like yours), since that's a loss of $1.05 each month (I know, its not much, but do you really think they'd do something to save ME money?)

$5.90 for two seems reasonable, altho a little high. It looks like you are getting hit with a double second outlet fee, altho it is hidden in the cost of the 2nd card ($1.75 + $2.40 = $4.15).

I called TWC and complained that their West Hollywood pricing guide for October 2006 shows $1.75 for a cable card and does not indicate an extra fee for 2nd cable card on top of the $1.75.

I know the are trying to charge me a digital programming fee, but they did not list that fee on my bill.

I told them they need to remove the extra charge til they update their pricing guide on their website. They gave me the discount for 2 months, then I will have to pay the $4.15.

But I will call back and ask again if they have not updated their website.

[nycgeoff]

Upper East Side of NYC. Just called for my cablecard appointment... first available appointment:

December 6!

I guess I could hope that this means that only certified people are on the cablecard install team, but the pessimistic side of me figures that this is just another way to discourage cablecard installs.

[Andrew Casella]

Hi, Wondered if anyone could answer this question. I just registered so bare with me on my first post and forgive me if it has been asked before. . Not really a Tivo question more of a time Warner Question.

I just rented an HD Box for my new HD TV from Time Warner and had it activated. (Works great) My question is if I bought another HD Television with the HD tuner built in would I need another box from TW? I was thinking maybe if they activated the HD signal I could just spit that signal and it would work as long as the 2nd TV had an HD.
My HD Channels in this area are in the 400s. So my other question is do the HD TVS with the HD Tuners go up that high?

[SoBayJake]

Hi, Wondered if anyone could answer this question. I just registered so bare with me on my first post and forgive me if it has been asked before. . Not really a Tivo question more of a time Warner Question.

I just rented an HD Box for my new HD TV from Time Warner and had it activated. (Works great) My question is if I bought another HD Television with the HD tuner built in would I need another box from TW? I was thinking maybe if they activated the HD signal I could just spit that signal and it would work as long as the 2nd TV had an HD.
My HD Channels in this area are in the 400s. So my other question is do the HD TVS with the HD Tuners go up that high?
It would depend on your TV. If your TV has a QAM tuner, you could watch the HD signals that are not encrypted. The channel numbers, however, wouldn't map to the QAM numbers (instead of 164, you might use 80-1). If the new TV had a CableCard slot, you numbers would match your lineup.

[calitivo]

Can anyone who lives in 90069 West Hollywood, CA tell me how much they are being charged for 2 cable cards on their TWC SoCal bill? TWC tried to bill me $1.75 1st card, $4.15 2nd card and a $2.40 second outlet fee. I called them up and told them to stop charging me the $2.40 fee. Is $5.90 the correct fee for my area?

I'm in Westwood and am paying the same...$1.75 and $4.15. I did however save about $20-25 a month based on the new overall pricing under TWC vs. Adelphia. Pricing is a little lower in general and dropped some stuff I don't care about.

Install went surprisingly easy, but took two visits because they only brought one CableCard the first time.

[jmjerome]

I'm in Westwood and am paying the same...$1.75 and $4.15. I did however save about $20-25 a month based on the new overall pricing under TWC vs. Adelphia. Pricing is a little lower in general and dropped some stuff I don't care about.

Install went surprisingly easy, but took two visits because they only brought one CableCard the first time.

Cool! Just watch your bill.

[H.I.McDunnough]

Well, my first TiVo crapped out (endless reboot cycle), so I had them send out a new one. I carefully went through the setup, and then inserted the first cable card (since I already had them from my previous 'setup'). Followed the instructions, not touching any button I was not supposed to. Called TW Austin "technical support," and while pleasant, he was not too helpful. He didn't follow the script -- was hitting the cards, then unpaired the previous ones, then paired them again, etc. So I ended up with some HD channels that worked on one card (about 3 out of maybe 10-12), and no HD channels on the other card. Yesterday, all HD channels stopped working, so I got TW Austin on the phone again, and they got me back to where I was, but still I'm not happy. They claim they're sending out a technician this morning, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Incidentally, I called TiVo support to see if this might be a problem with my TiVo, and I gotta say these guys are the poster children for "I couldn't care less" kind of support. When I asked what the cablecard screens should look like when things are working properly, the response I got was "how should we know? we didn't give you the cablecard. we don't know anything at all about them." I said "yeah, I know, but I thoguht you might have some experience in dealing with the problems around cablecards, and might be able to give me some advice." His response: "call the cable company."

While TiVo support is both unpleasant and not helpful, at least TW Cable support is pleasant (still not very helpful).

This will be the fifth service call trying to get my TiVo / Cablecard to work. I do not expect it to go well, but I'll report back when the guy leaves.

[H.I.McDunnough]

Well, no surprise here in Austin. Very pleasant tech came out about 30 minutes ago. Had never worked on a TiVo box before (nice start), called tech support, tried a few things, couldn't get the EMMs to increment (I guess it is supposed to go up when it takes a hit). He said he could try and replace the cable cards and start from scratch, but since I was getting most channels, he would prefer to "wait until DCS shows up sometime today." (I am guessing that DCS is sort of super technical support or something). I chose to wait since I didn't want him in my living room for five hours learning how to make a TiVo actually work.

So, fifth service call complete, and without a functional TiVo box. For the gamblers out there, the over/under on a successful installation currently stands at 10 service calls.

<rant>
I gotta say, though, I have been a TiVo user since the very first box came out. My family and I absolutely love the technology, and there is no comparison between the TiVo interface and other DVRs, however, this particular product is a joke. For $1,000, I expect a lot more. I know that some have had relatively simple and straightforward installs, but many, like me, have not, and the number of hours that I've spent getting this piece of technology to work is stupid. Eventually, I'll get it to work, but every time I have a power outage, or a new TiVo software upgrade, or TW Cable changes something, I'll be holding my breath hoping that I don't have to have a whole new round of service calls to get this thing to work again. </rant>

[Thetoneman]

I used to have Comcast Cable here in the DFW area and had plenty of OnDemand content. Even since Time Warner Cable took over, my OnDemand content has been deminshing and very little new content has been added.

For example, the Free Movies I had, now called NBC Universal Free Movies only has 4 movies and they are old. No new movies have been added and evey two weeks some movies go away. This is the same for the other OnDemand content.

Is anyone else experiecing this?!! Also, I moved recently and all three of my cable boxes do not have smart cards inserted. Do you smart cards have an affect on content??

Thanks in advance!!

Tony

[Flintbuffer]

TWC Akron OH
The office rep asked if I wanted a tech rep to come out up to 4:00pm or regular installer after 4:00pm. I went w/ the tech rep and was happy I did. Two came exactly at 2:00pm and came w/ four cards.
This was their fifth series 3 install. They commented on the fact that they have no way of testing the cards they bring. Also stated the new tivos are a easier card install than on existing tvs.
The first card was bad and the next two worked w/ a little patience. It was clear they had some experience.
No charge and both were nice guys. Three thumbs up

[hookbill]

TWC Akron OH
The office rep asked if I wanted a tech rep to come out up to 4:00pm or regular installer after 4:00pm. I went w/ the tech rep and was happy I did. Two came exactly at 2:00pm and came w/ four cards.
This was their fifth series 3 install. They commented on the fact that they have no way of testing the cards they bring. Also stated the new tivos are a easier card install than on existing tvs.
The first card was bad and the next two worked w/ a little patience. It was clear they had some experience.
No charge and both were nice guys. Three thumbs up

Do you remember the names of these guys? Was anyone named Lenny or Joe?

I live in Geauga County but I'm serviced by the Macedonia office. Lenny was a field Supervisor and Joe was a Lead Tech. They came out with about 5 cards for my install too.

Looks like they are handling installs well here in N.E. Ohio.

[H.I.McDunnough]

Well, I got a call back from the top level tech support. Perfect attitude "I'm not going anywhere until we get this working. Don't worry, we'll get it done." Asked me to reboot, but my son was watching a show, so I asked if he could call back at 3:45. I happen to be, lets say "specific" on the time on my watch. When it clicked over to 3:45, my phone rang -- not making that up. He sent some hits, it showed the hits, and then one by one, the channels started appearing. For the first time, I get ESPN HD on my TiVo. I'm very, very happy. We've got a problem with one channel, but we think due to signal strength, which I'm having a tech check out tomorrow.

Given all this, I think the cable companies are doing a great job in a pretty complex environment. Yeah, I know that they are required by law to support cablecards, but they're presented with a new box, with dual cablecards, fresh on the market, and they are expected to support it, not TiVo. I'm happy with TW Cable, but I hope I don't have to call TiVo support for anything.

Thanks Cableguy.

[Flintbuffer]

Do you remember the names of these guys? Was anyone named Lenny or Joe?

I live in Geauga County but I'm serviced by the Macedonia office. Lenny was a field Supervisor and Joe was a Lead Tech. They came out with about 5 cards for my install too.

Looks like they are handling installs well here in N.E. Ohio.

These guys came out of the Green office and I didn't catch their names. If there's any
call back from the office, I'll be sure to praise them. The SA 8300HD is junk. I also
seem to be receiving a few more channels.

[jmjerome]

This might not be the best place for this, but i was supposed to receive a lineup change today. And so far nothing on TWC or Tivo regarding the change. I'm in 90069 west hollywood, ca. Did anyone receive the lineup change?

[jmjerome]

I called TWC and they told me the new lineup has been delayed and they have no estimate. That Sucks!

[84325e]

Well, I got a call back from the top level tech support. Perfect attitude "I'm not going anywhere until we get this working. Don't worry, we'll get it done."

H.I. (or anyone in Austin, Texas who has had success):

Going on my 3rd visit from the outside cable guy. Who at TW Austin should I call. I know its a cable card issue - some channels come in - some don't. The outside guys (who have never seen a Tivo) are trotting out the usual non-sequitors. "Must be a signal strength problem. Maybe rf intereference on the line . . . ."

Of course all channels come in fine on non S3 tvs. They want to monkey around more before "elevating" the complaint to TW. Nice guys, but I need a TW Austin cable card expert I think. Who can I call over there and not end up in customer support purgatory?

I really don't see how Joe Consumer could ever navigate through this.

Thanks!!

[H.I.McDunnough]

H.I. (or anyone in Austin, Texas who has had success):

Going on my 3rd visit from the outside cable guy. Who at TW Austin should I call. I know its a cable card issue - some channels come in - some don't. The outside guys (who have never seen a Tivo) are trotting out the usual non-sequitors. "Must be a signal strength problem. Maybe rf intereference on the line . . . ."

!

I'd recommend placing a trouble call (as opposed to an install). When you do, ask if it is a TW employee or a contractor. Be firm and ask that it be a TW employee.

One thing I noticed during my installs: when they asked for a hit to be sent, I never got an increase on the EMM count, but they said they did it. That is until the last time when I got a call from the DCS or DNCS or something like that -- basically, they are the top tech support guys. When he sent the hit, my EMM counts started incrementing. Not sure what he did differently, but it sure worked. Don't let them leave until it is working completely.

[Stormspace]

TW just sent out a new Lineup and Rate card for the Hartsville/Cheraw area in SC. Looks like the lineup will be updating on Dec 5th. Anyone have any luck faxing TiVo the new lineups in these situations to have the change happen at the same time?

[pmiranda]

H.I. (or anyone in Austin, Texas who has had success):

Going on my 3rd visit from the outside cable guy. Who at TW Austin should I call. I know its a cable card issue - some channels come in - some don't. The outside guys (who have never seen a Tivo) are trotting out the usual non-sequitors. "Must be a signal strength problem. Maybe rf intereference on the line . . . ."

Of course all channels come in fine on non S3 tvs. They want to monkey around more before "elevating" the complaint to TW. Nice guys, but I need a TW Austin cable card expert I think. Who can I call over there and not end up in customer support purgatory?

I really don't see how Joe Consumer could ever navigate through this.

Thanks!!

If they want to measure your signal strength and give you some nice highquality cables and splitters for free, that might be worth your time, but otherwise all that really needs to happen is for the home office to:
1) Make sure your account is "balanced" (all the services you should receive are correctly applied to your CC's in addition to any set-tops you might have)
2) Make sure your Host ID's and Cablecard ID's are correct (use the TiVo screens to confirm the numbers) They might also need the MAC addresses off each card. If you pull the cards to write them down, be sure you put them back in the correct slots.
3) Sent the hits. If the first-tier tech support doesn't seem to be able to do it right, mention that DNCS has been able to fix this for other folks. If you get a phone tech that won't do it, ask for a supervisor, or hang up and try again either by phone or by the web chat.

What are you seeing on the two card status screens? If you have a bad card you might really need a tech to come replace it since they refuse to let you DIY.

See my earlier post for what the stages are in Austin: Post 666 (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4454809&&#post4454809)

[pmiranda]

Hopefully one of TW's investments will pay off, allowing analog channels to be generated at the curb instead of the head office, and providing enough free bandwidth that they don't need to switch channels at a set-top...

New chip from Broadlogic (http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193600261)

Heck, if they deployed one of these at every house, you could receive for (and pay for) just the channels you actually watch instead of 300 channels of junk to get the 10 you care about...

[84325e]

If they want to measure your signal strength and give you some nice highquality cables and splitters for free, that might be worth your time, but otherwise all that really needs to happen is for the home office to:
1) Make sure your account is "balanced" (all the services you should receive are correctly applied to your CC's in addition to any set-tops you might have)
2) Make sure your Host ID's and Cablecard ID's are correct (use the TiVo screens to confirm the numbers) They might also need the MAC addresses off each card. If you pull the cards to write them down, be sure you put them back in the correct slots.
3) Sent the hits. If the first-tier tech support doesn't seem to be able to do it right, mention that DNCS has been able to fix this for other folks. If you get a phone tech that won't do it, ask for a supervisor, or hang up and try again either by phone or by the web chat.

What are you seeing on the two card status screens? If you have a bad card you might really need a tech to come replace it since they refuse to let you DIY.



At work now, will check details tonight. Guy says signal strength is strong. But they want to replace all the wires from the pole to the house and are doing that today. I said whatever. What's strange is the channels I get/don't get. Most basic cable channels don't come in (some do), but I get some, not all of the HD counterparts. For example, I don't get channel 5, but I do get it's HD equivalent 15xx. So I watched Lost in HD, but couldn't watch it in SD. But I don't get all of the lower channels or of the HD channels. I get none of my HBO/Showtime.

When I made my first complaint, the guy unwrapped new cable cards in front of me. Same channels of lack thereof on all the cards tried.

Sigh. What is the best way to get a DNCS guy - start with customer service?

[84325e]

They wouldn't let me talk to DNCS myself. So I made a real TW Austin tech come out. Then he called DNCS. Answer, of course, was DNCS needed to "hit" the cards properly.

Much talk by tech of how Austin is going almost exclusively switched digital video. 75% by Feb. he claimed.

[cab2]

They wouldn't let me talk to DNCS myself. So I made a real TW Austin tech come out. Then he called DNCS. Answer, of course, was DNCS needed to "hit" the cards properly.

Much talk by tech of how Austin is going almost exclusively switched digital video. 75% by Feb. he claimed.

What exactly is that switched digital video going to mean to the S3. I've seen mention of it before, but don't really understand how that will impact (or not) the S3.

thanks
cab

Hope to have my S3 install on Saturday. as he crosses fingers, toes, and eyeballs

[pminer90]

I figured I would report my experience with TWCNY setting up my Series 3.

As I figured, the person who placed the service call was messed up. After repeatedly telling this person I had a HD TiVo, not two HDTV's with CableCard slots, the installer first question was, "Ok, so were is the other TV?" Ugh, once showed him the Series 3 and the slots for the two cable cards, what i was asking for became clear.

He had never setup one of these devices of course. (I am the first in my city to even have one, I later found out.) He began by checking signal strength and once that was up to snuff, the CableCard installation began.

He dialed main office technical support and fortunately, someone he knew answered the phone. Once they moved past the pleasantries, the installer confided that the guy on the other end said the call center should have never placed the work order ... another ugh. I guess I lucked out they were willing to work on this problem at all.

Since the guy was here, he was up for the challenge and didn't bow out quickly. The first CableCard installed wonderfully. The card acquired stations as the TiVo ying-yang icon spun around. Once that was finished, all the channels showed. I had reason to be hopeful it seemed.

The second CableCard was not so gracious. Not only did it not pick up all the stations, it also tricked the first CableCard into tuning in only the stations it did. Working with the diagnostics tools did not bring success. The cards would tune in some channels, but never all of them at once, and again, only the same ones for each card.

He was finally about to throw in the towel. Fortunately he was one of Time Warner's people and not someone they simply contracted work to. A contractor would have taken off a lot sooner. As a last gasp, he was given the number of a tech support person in Syracuse. (I am in Oswego.) Luckily this person had not yet left for lunch. When asked about the situaton, my local guy was told there were 3 or 4 of these new TiVo's installed in Syracuse and all were working great. The idea these TiVo's are "incompatible" with the cable system was absurd. Apparently this technical support person was well versed with CableCards. Within 10 minutes of passing numbers back and forth, both cards were receiving all channels. The installer even took the time to understand why he was having the difficulties he was. Maybe this will help the next TiVo customer.

The installer told me that if I had any trouble to have Time Warner send him out to assist. I think that was quite nice of him. He could have easily never wanted to see me again. I gave him a nice tip and thanked him again as he made his way back to the van. I feel lucky I guess. I haven't had enough time to watch much TiVo, so something may be wrong I am not aware of yet. I have my fingers crossed all is well. Maybe there will be enough time to watch Conan O'Brien tonight.

As always, your mileage may vary.

[routerman]

What exactly is that switched digital video going to mean to the S3. I've seen mention of it before, but don't really understand how that will impact (or not) the S3.

thanks
cab

Hope to have my S3 install on Saturday. as he crosses fingers, toes, and eyeballs

Switched digital video is a client/server approach to providing channels. The client requests a channel and the host provides the tuning information for a channel already active or starts up a channel and provides tuning information for that channel.

The problem is that any host device that is not able to communicate (CC TV's, Tivo S3) will not be able to request any channels. I have not heard of any way to make the S3 2-way capable. The short answer is that if your cable company is installing switched digital video, a S3 will not be able to tune any channel that is being switched.

[TIVOCAB]

I live in the 75235 area of Dallas (west of the Tollway and south of Lemmon Av). I was wondering if anyone can tell me when TW Cable will be switching us from the dual (A/B) cable environment to the single cable. I have heard several things reported here. If anyone can give me an idea I would be appreciative. I don't know who to contact at TW for specific information.

I really want to order the S3 and transfer the lifetime service over but want to be able to connect it to the cable system once I do.

Thanks in advance.

[Stormspace]

I figured I would report my experience with TWCNY setting up my Series 3.

As I figured, the person who placed the service call was messed up. After repeatedly telling this person I had a HD TiVo, not two HDTV's with CableCard slots, the installer first question was, "Ok, so were is the other TV?" Ugh, once showed him the Series 3 and the slots for the two cable cards, what i was asking for became clear.

He had never setup one of these devices of course. (I am the first in my city to even have one, I later found out.) He began by checking signal strength and once that was up to snuff, the CableCard installation began.

He dialed main office technical support and fortunately, someone he knew answered the phone. Once they moved past the pleasantries, the installer confided that the guy on the other end said the call center should have never placed the work order ... another ugh. I guess I lucked out they were willing to work on this problem at all.

Since the guy was here, he was up for the challenge and didn't bow out quickly. The first CableCard installed wonderfully. The card acquired stations as the TiVo ying-yang icon spun around. Once that was finished, all the channels showed. I had reason to be hopeful it seemed.

The second CableCard was not so gracious. Not only did it not pick up all the stations, it also tricked the first CableCard into tuning in only the stations it did. Working with the diagnostics tools did not bring success. The cards would tune in some channels, but never all of them at once, and again, only the same ones for each card.

He was finally about to throw in the towel. Fortunately he was one of Time Warner's people and not someone they simply contracted work to. A contractor would have taken off a lot sooner. As a last gasp, he was given the number of a tech support person in Syracuse. (I am in Oswego.) Luckily this person had not yet left for lunch. When asked about the situaton, my local guy was told there were 3 or 4 of these new TiVo's installed in Syracuse and all were working great. The idea these TiVo's are "incompatible" with the cable system was absurd. Apparently this technical support person was well versed with CableCards. Within 10 minutes of passing numbers back and forth, both cards were receiving all channels. The installer even took the time to understand why he was having the difficulties he was. Maybe this will help the next TiVo customer.

The installer told me that if I had any trouble to have Time Warner send him out to assist. I think that was quite nice of him. He could have easily never wanted to see me again. I gave him a nice tip and thanked him again as he made his way back to the van. I feel lucky I guess. I haven't had enough time to watch much TiVo, so something may be wrong I am not aware of yet. I have my fingers crossed all is well. Maybe there will be enough time to watch Conan O'Brien tonight.

As always, your mileage may vary.

You tip the cable guy?

[Andrew Casella]

Thanks Jake

[H.I.McDunnough]

The expert that I talked to in Austin said that many of the channels would be going switched, but they were like PPV, shopping channels, etc. The networks, ESPN, ESPN2, etc. won't go switched. We'll have to see.

One thing I think is pretty clear is that the S3 in it's current form will not support switched video.

[84325e]

The expert that I talked to in Austin said that many of the channels would be going switched, but they were like PPV, shopping channels, etc. The networks, ESPN, ESPN2, etc. won't go switched. We'll have to see.

One thing I think is pretty clear is that the S3 in it's current form will not support switched video.

For what it's worth, while the TW tech threw out a 75% of Austin channels were going SDV, I think the poor guy meant they were migrating most analog to digital. The nuances of digital vs. switched digital seemed to escape him (yes, this is the "cable card expert" they sent out). Thank goodness for DCNS.

An Austin CSR who *seemed* to know what she was talking about gave me the same story as H.I. - only low usage channels were being taken SDV. Indeed, when she rattled them off, I had never heard of 95% of them.

[Greg K.]

Hey all you Albany folks - I'm moving to the Albany area (Clifton Park) and don't think I'm going to be able to keep DirecTV due to line of sight issues at my new house. So I'm thinking of going S3.

However all of these issues I'm reading about here are scaring me. :) DSV, etc.

Bottom line: Will it be possible to get an S3 up and running with TWC in Clifton Park, NY? And get Showtime, HBO and all HD channels? What will be missing?

[hookbill]

Hey all you Albany folks - I'm moving to the Albany area (Clifton Park) and don't think I'm going to be able to keep DirecTV due to line of sight issues at my new house. So I'm thinking of going S3.

However all of these issues I'm reading about here are scaring me. :) DSV, etc.

Bottom line: Will it be possible to get an S3 up and running with TWC in Clifton Park, NY? And get Showtime, HBO and all HD channels? What will be missing?

I don't live in your area but I can tell you that I have TW in N.E. Ohio and I did not have any issues with my install, get all my HD and HBO.

These issues that you read about seem to be starting to slow down as more and more people have the S3 installed. Cable companies are learning and getting better at understanding how to do the installations. Now I can't guarantee you won't have problems but I believe odds are on your side.

BTW, I have a line of sight problem with D* where I live which is why I have had cable for the last 2 years. The S3 has been just wonderful for me compared to the pos the cable company gave me.

[dracx]

Have you received a letter from TW about the switch? I live in Richardson, and received a letter in early September stating that the switch would occur "around Oct 2nd". On Oct 15th, I got a door hanger saying TW was working in the area. I was out of town the week of Oct 23rd, and when I returned everything was switched to the "A" cable.

I got the S3 in mid-Sept and just had it hooked up to just the A side. That gave me most everything I needed - HD locals, HBO, some expanded basic. It hurt not having comedy central for the Daily Show, but it was still a better experience than the TW PVR!!

Hope this helps!!

I live in the 75235 area of Dallas (west of the Tollway and south of Lemmon Av). I was wondering if anyone can tell me when TW Cable will be switching us from the dual (A/B) cable environment to the single cable. I have heard several things reported here. If anyone can give me an idea I would be appreciative. I don't know who to contact at TW for specific information.

I really want to order the S3 and transfer the lifetime service over but want to be able to connect it to the cable system once I do.

Thanks in advance.

[pmiranda]

I don't know how they managed to do this, but channel 20 (normally KLRU-2) is bringing up CNBC (normally channel 50) on both of my cable cards this morning. Anyone else seeing this in Austin? The analog tuner on my old TiVo is working fine. I guess somebody put a typo in the mappings sometime in the last week.
1542, the cable equivalent of 9-2 seems to be fine.

[Jiffylush]

Ok, tech came out this morning, scheduled between 8 and 12, he was here at 9:30am. He had never done a tivo install, but he was ready, so I gave him the sheet that came with the box.

Two cards went in, both showed up and told us to call the number. First time he called, he got hung up on, second time worked through the whole thing. You could tell that the person on the other end had also never done a tivo, but it did work.

He left after about 30 minutes, most of the channels were coming in, and he told me the rest should be on soon.

The only problem was that I had asked for digital cable with HD and Showtime, and they had not subscribed me to the HD tier or showtime. I called in and before I got off the phone they were both working.

Overall very easy and quick, I am quite the happy customer.

PS. The quality is excellent, Discovery HD is amazing, even SD programming on digital channels is better than SD without the cards. I am very very happy.

[toga flyer]

I just had 2 cablecards installed in my new Series 3 yesterday. I'm getting only some of the non-premium and no premium channels. For instance, I don't get channels 2-7, but get channel 8, then 18. Most of the others from there I get, but not CNNHN. I get the HD non-premium, but no premium, either non-hd or hd at this point.

Austin Time Warner is apparently having issues with many cablecards due to some change yesterday. I have a technician comin out in about an hour so I'll report any finds.

Wish me luck...

[toga flyer]

A contractor supervisor just left my house and I'm still in the same boat as before. Only some cable channels coming through properly and no premiums.

Here's what I *seem* to know so far:

This is affecting all of Austin cablecards at one level or another. A TW level 1 tech I spoke with earlier this morning said an internal memo had been distributed on this issue.

The contractor had never heard of the DNCS group. When he spoke to TW tech support I had him bring up this group and the support person said that they had sent a message to DNCS but that no one was responding back. He thought they were off for the weekend.

So, here I am with a new Series 3 that's limping along. At least I have the network channels in HD so I can watch the UT-KS game tonight.

I found the following post useful and hopefully with this knowledge and DNCS online, I can get this working. Neither of my cards have EMM or ECM counts >0.

I'd love to hear more war stories, particularly from folks that have this working to see if anything has changed this weekend with some of the non-premium channels. For instance, I don't get 2-7, but get 8, then no 9-17, but get 18. Sporatic from there up to 99.

In view settings, channels, signal strength, I get high digital signal strength on ALL the channels I'm not receiving and NO digital signal strength on those that I AM receiving. This has to be part of the equation.

As I progress through this, I'll post my results.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POST FROM ANOTHER AUSTIN USER (PMIRANDA) WHO GOT THIS TO WORK A FEW WEEKS AGO:

Woohoo! Super-Tech (who shall remain nameless so that he doesn't get stuck on cablecard installs all weekend) just left me with both cards working and getting all channels. After wasting a couple hours trying to get dispatch to send hits he heard over the radio that the system that sends the card hits had been broken the whole time. Once the system was back up he grabbed two brand new cards and went through the proper procedure:

(Some details specific to Austin)
Call Dispatch/Accounts to make sure the services on the cablecards are "balanced" with those on your regular boxes. (ie, Digital, Premiums, etc.)
Restart TiVo
Unplug for a minute after it shuts down
Remove any existing CableCARDs
Plug back in
Wait for TiVo to finish booting
Write down Card Number and MAC address then Insert Card1
Call in CardID and HostID displayed by TiVo to the regular dispatch folks
Pop in and out of the CP Status page (it doesn't refresh itself) watching for the card to go through this sequence:

Auth Status:Waiting for CP Auth
Auth Status:CP Auth Received
PowerKey status:Not Ready - Waiting for Time
PowerKey status:Not Ready - Waiting for EUT
PowerKey status:Ready
MKS Period switches from 60 seconds to 100 seconds
Test Channels shows "No Channels Available" for another minute or two
Test Channels should start displaying the analog and local HD channels

Call DNCS to get them to send hits (I'd think anyone could do this but they seem to be the Jedi of the bunch)
EMM Count increments to 39 or more
ECM Count increments to 4 or more
Test Channels should now show everything you're subscribed to

When you return to live TV through the normal interface, you may get a blank screen but it should fix itself as soon as you change channels.

If I figure out where to send it to, I'll be writing a letter to TW-Austin to give proper kudus to "Super-Tech"... he hadn't done a CableCARD install before but had the persistence to keep working despite problems with phones, radios, and surly backline support folks.

Now busy copying several dozen season passes and wishlists by hand from the old TiVo and the 8300 DVR...

__________________
- Sony S1 from 2001 with CacheCard+Ethernet
- Series 3 Almost full of sweet HDTV :-)

[toga flyer]

Switched digital video is a client/server approach to providing channels. The client requests a channel and the host provides the tuning information for a channel already active or starts up a channel and provides tuning information for that channel.

The problem is that any host device that is not able to communicate (CC TV's, Tivo S3) will not be able to request any channels. I have not heard of any way to make the S3 2-way capable. The short answer is that if your cable company is installing switched digital video, a S3 will not be able to tune any channel that is being switched.

From what I understood talking to TW, the S3 can get a switched channel that's been activated by another tW user on your node. Apparently up to 1,000 users are on a node, and if someone requests a channel during a 24hr period, it becomes active for all users in that node. If it's active, the S3 (or any 1-way device) can receive it. At least that's the way I understood it from the tech.

[84325e]

I'd love to hear more war stories, particularly from folks that have this working to see if anything has changed this weekend with some of the non-premium channels. For instance, I don't get 2-7, but get 8, then no 9-17, but get 18. Sporatic from there up to 99.

Toga this is EXACTLY what my problem was. No 2-7, but channel 8 etc. Lemme guess, you get the HD version of ABC (15xx something?) but not channel 5.

I don't understand all the technical jargon, but it is a software/cable card programming problem. It is not a signal strength problem (as the first two outside techs said).

As soon as I got a real TW tech out there, he called DCNS (or DNCS - I forget). The essence of your problem is that the cards are not properly paired or authorized to your tivo. It doesn't matter how many "hits" they send if this pairing isn't done. Apparently, to the average CSR the hits look good, but they are not if this step isn't done right.

After he called DCNS, she fixed the problem and I was up and running within half an hour. Apparently, doing this pairing requires using software that the average TW CSR doesn't really know how to use because 99.9% of people don't use cable cards. DCNS seems to though.

Unlike others have reported, they wouldn't let me speak to DCNS directly. So I demanded a real TW tech (not an outsider). He has the access to DCNC that should fix your problem.

[toga flyer]

All, it's 5pm on Saturday in Austin and EVERY channel is working on my Series 3 on both cards thanks to a call from someone in the TW DNCS. As advertised by others, this took about 5 minutes and was the magic it took. Direct pings to increment the EMM count and I was off and running.

In my opinion, this was above and beyond service by Time Warner and greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU!!

A VERY satisfied TW customer (The Series 3 ain't too shabby either!!)

[Sandbuilder]

I'm trying to decide what to do and would appreciate any help. Specifically I want to purchase a panasonic HD plasma tv and use a series 3 TiVO with it. However, based on what I read here :confused: (since I have TWC in Northeast Ohio) it looks like I'll be lucky if I first get it to work with the cable cards and then secondly I'll probably face a loss of channels (based on switched digital) in the future :( . So I wonder if I could use an HD STB in front of the TiVO without the cable cards, or could I use a series 2 box with the HD STB and what would I lose?

[rlay]

I'm trying to decide what to do and would appreciate any help. Specifically I want to purchase a panasonic HD plasma tv and use a series 3 TiVO with it. However, based on what I read here :confused: (since I have TWC in Northeast Ohio) it looks like I'll be lucky if I first get it to work with the cable cards and then secondly I'll probably face a loss of channels (based on switched digital) in the future :( . So I wonder if I could use an HD STB in front of the TiVO without the cable cards, or could I use a series 2 box with the HD STB and what would I lose?

Potentially you would lose nothing. TIVO will refund your purchase if it doesn't work properly in your area. They offered me a refund because 4 HD channels (including HDNET and ESPN-HD) are on a switched network. I ended up keeping both the Motorola DVR box and the TIVO. I will most likely use the Motorola on another HDTV in the bedroom.... and I can live without the 4 channels on the TIVO for now. Also, for some strange reason, I'm getting Showtime-HD... so I think that's an even trade off.

You cannot record from an external source (like another cable box) with a Series 3.... but if you have good over the air reception, it will record analog & digital (HD) broadcasts....as well as analog cable channels.

[socalseries3]

Installed the Series 3 here in Santa Monica Saturday morning. The installers from TW Cable (contractors - 3 of them!) were very friendly, polite, and knew pretty much what they were doing. They came prepared with two cable cards, and were more than happy to install in a TiVo (pretty much said stuff like: Cool! New TiVo, eh?). They did give me a one-sentence "you know, no PPV / VOD with these things," but that was it.

The guys totally understood what to call in to dispatch, and the person on the other end of the phone was totally on the ball. Both cards went something like this: "standard" channels; then after a minute "HD" channels; then "digital tier"; then after another minute or two "Premium (HD & non)". Probably 3-5 mins. for each card to be fully authorized.

I was AMAZED as how quickly the whole cable card "recognition" process went. Been up and running for 36 hours (turning on / off / unplugging and moving unit / changing guided setup / etc.) and have not lost any channels, audio, etc. Rock solid.

My only advice: WRITE DOWN THE CABLE CARD SERIAL NUMBERS the minute the guys walk in the door. I didn't do that right away, and the conversation with dispatch sounded like Abbot and Costello ("did you say card 1 was 036? no, that's card 2! no, card 2 is 049? no, you said 036..."). Don't "fear" pulling the cards in and out during the install...I was worried, and in and out they went, but once the correct serials were tied to the correct slots, it was all smooth sailing.

FWIW, the guys were 1 hour late (not such a big deal on a Sat AM). $20 bucks in my pocket!

Also, the whole process is so dumb simple, I'm not sure why ANY cable company would spend the money to send out three installers. It must be so much cheaper to have the customer pick up the cards and authorize them via phone (or by my wife's suggestion, online)!

[cab2]

I had my install on Saturday, with Time Warner Austin. I wish I could remember the name of the installer that came out, but he was 3rd party, and not a TW employee.

Long story short, he said he had done 4 or 5 Tivo installs recently and they had all gone like clockwork. Needless to say, as my luck runs, mine was the first one that did not run like clockwork. But, giving credit, where credit is due, he stayed until the end and got things working. He brought with him 3 cards, and after some futzing around, card 1 worked, and card 2 didn't. Lucky for me, card 3 seemed to work. Everything looked fine by the time he left. I give the installer credit in that he was here for almost 2 hours.

I noticed this am (sunday) that there were a few channels that were not coming in. Oh god, here we go, endless calls to support and multiple trips. The net result of my call to TW was I got bumped up to Tech Support (level 2 or 1?) and had a very good conversation with someone that obviously knew their stuff. My missing channels were all the Switched Video chanels. Ok, I can deal with that. But I also found out, there are lots of SV channels. I had a list of over 50 channels that I was not getting, and most of them were SV. I have a list, but it's not in front of me right now. I'll post that in another message later. All in all, I've gotta give TW in Austin TX credit. Given what I've seen here, I was expecting a minor nightmare, and it wasn't that at all. I'll give them thumbs up, at least so far. FWIW, the installer I had said he went to someones house that had 3, yes 3 S3 boxes to install. He said that install went so smooth, he was done and out of the house in 45 minutes and all 3 boxes were working completely. I guess the impression I have now, is my install was not painfull, but time consuming, and for those of you that have had problems, there is hope. It did help to have the printout from the prior post that mentions the DNCS / DNDS whatever it was. My installer had never heard of such a thing, but asked the dispatcher or who ever it is that they call in to, and they transfered him there. That did seem to make a difference.

I'll post the list of channels I got for SV later. It's not just below 100. There are SV channels all over my line up at least. I can live with that. I have a bedroom box with cable box and can just record those channels there. From what I saw, the only thing that stood out to me on the list of SV channels was Disney and Food Network. But that's only the ones that mattered to me. YMMV.

[David Z]

TWC Santa Monica installed digital cable with two cable cards last Monday, but this weekend, I've found that all of my premium HD channels have the message "Viewing is not permitted using the Tivo Digital Media Recorder. Try another input." What is this about? It shows up when I try to watch HD recorded programs (Arrested Development on HDNet), when I try to watch live TV on TNT HD or ESPN HD or Discovery HD, etc. What happened to my digital cable HD channels???

Thanks,
David

[Diacritical]

I've found that all of my premium HD channels have the message "Viewing is not permitted using the Tivo Digital Media Recorder. Try another input."

Are you using HDMI? I found a problem when HDMI was connected, but the TV was turned off. Apparently, the TiVo will not let you display or record HDCP content unless the display unit is turned on and HDCP has been negotiated. I disconnected HDMI for this reason.

[DTap]

OK. So here’s my Time Warner story.

First off, I ordered the S3 last Monday night, standard shipping and expected it to arrive Monday the following week so I scheduled my Time Warner install for Tuesday. It actually arrived on Thursday afternoon so I called TW Cincinnati and they could send a tech out in the afternoon. on Friday from 3:30 – 6. They don’t seem concerned that I need two cards for the same device or that it is a Tivo. Things look good.

I read the cable card instructions and this thread over and over because I want this to go right. The tech arrives at 5pm on Friday afternoon and walks through the door and says “I’m here to install two cable cards in a couple of TVs.” After I inform him they are both for my single Tivo, he says “Oh, I don’t think we support these.” I tell him according to Cable Labs and the FCC they have to and that according to this forum there have already been about 20 installed in Cincinnati. (That’s a lie, I have only found two notes in here but hey, I want him to not blame the Tivo first when it doesn’t work) So we begin.

First off I want to say the guy is not a bad guy. I think they are just constrained by the amount of installs they have to do. After he gives me the obligatory story that they have a lot of trouble with these installs and that they have had almost not training on them, he TEXT MESSAGES the card number to dispatch. He tells me that dispatch in Cincinnati transferred a bunch of the personnel to the TW Dayton office and THEY WILL NOT LET THEM CALL DIRECTLY. Instead during this whole process he is texting back and forth to the office. This is wildly efficient!!

The second thing to go wrong: he inserts the first card and after a couple of minutes it comes up with the host information. He copies it down and texts the dispatch then inserts the second card. I tried to tell him that we should wait and check the channels but I think the need to get to the next job caused some impatience. Long story short (too late) the first card was still upgrading the firmware and the second card never came back with the host information. We finally found it, and he added it as well with dispatch.

So after the second card updates the firmware, we check out the channels. SD below 100: fine. HD above 900: fine. No digital above 100. He trades TEXT Messages with dispatch for a half hour more (at which time they close the ticket because they want to move to the next activation) and finally I get digital on the first card, but never the second. The second card just keeps locking up on both the digital above 100 and the HD.

This is where I do give the guy credit, at 6pm on a Friday he drives back to the warehouse to get a new card. Thank you for that Trey!! He comes back at about 7pm, pops in the new card, sends the information, and BOOM, it comes right up. He told me there was a shift change while he was gone and he thinks there was nothing wrong with the first card, but the night person actually new what they were doing. We check it all out, it looks good and I cut him loose just happy he stuck around.

Anyway, about 2 hours later, I think to check the music choice channels. One card gets them, the other does not. I call tech support about midnight on Saturday morning. The guy says everything is correct but sends a signal to the cards and now neither card gets the music choice. They scheduled someone to come out Tuesday morning. But this guy can’t have done anything more that what I already did.

Does anyone think it’s crazy that Time Warner Cincinnati’s policy for CC installs is for their installers to text instead of calling? What an incredible waste of time.

[84325e]

My missing channels were all the Switched Video chanels. Ok, I can deal with that. But I also found out, there are lots of SV channels. I had a list of over 50 channels that I was not getting, and most of them were SV. I have a list, but it's not in front of me right now. I'll post that in another message later.

Here is what Austin TW CSR gave me as Switched (which seems generally right):

6COA *
10PACT 1*
11PACT 2*
13KAKW
14KADF
16PACT 3*
17TRAVIS Co. ACCESS *
19ACC
20KLRU 2
22AISD ACCESS
23KCWX
31 / 201HGTV*
32 / 209FOOD NETWORK*
42 / 101DISNEY EAST*
44 / 355NEWS 8 DOPPLER
45 / 350THE WEATHER CH.*
47 / 312CNN / HLN *
76 / 622GALAVISION
77TWC77

Plus the Pacific feeds of HBO/Showtime. Also, I *was* getting 102 as Disney Pacific, but starting yesterday it looks like some news channel - so no Disney at all. Can any Austinites confirm if you still get 102 as a Disney channel, my kids are on the warpath.

[cableguy763]

it will vary depending on what node you are in. you should get disney on channel 42.

[84325e]

it will vary depending on what node you are in. you should get disney on channel 42.

I get de nada on 42, 101 (or now 102 which was Disney Pacific).

[DTap]

They don’t seem concerned that I need two cards for the same device or that it is a Tivo.

BTW - I saw people in this thread asking how much the rental and install costs. I just checked my unbilled activity to confirm and TW Cincy charged me $20 for the install for both cards and $1.75 a month for each card. Sweet, I just saved $14.50 per month.

[cableguy763]

check again tomorrow, I am betting that problem will be resolved.

[84325e]

check again tomorrow, I am betting that problem will be resolved.

Thanks. I was like who is this "Cableguy" and how does he know that? Then I looked at your first post on 11/5 - you work in Austin TW DNCS.

All hail DNCS - you guys straightened out my and many other Austin users. For some reason you guys' authorizations of the cards seem to be the only ones that take.

For clarification, would you expect (unofficially of course) Disney or Disney Pacific back?

[cableguy763]

yes

[pmiranda]

Here is what Austin TW CSR gave me as Switched (which seems generally right):


KLRU-2 is pretty much the same as 1542 or 24-2 these days. Good thing since the cablecard setup was screwed up at my house and I was getting CNBC in that slot, even though my old TiVo was tuning it just fine.

I know I get Food, HGTV, and CNN unswitched on the analog channels, so I suspect the CSR m.o. is now to just say that any channel you have trouble with is "switched". It will probably "work" for them to say so since switching varies by node, so if you tell them you know they're lying they can claim that your neighbor that gets those channels is on another node.

[appliance]

Just wanted to report my recent Time Warner NYC cable card install experience. It went well. The tech was scheduled to be there sometime between 12-5. He showed up at 12 and it took about an hour and 45 minutes to get the Tivo and the cable cards working together properly. One of the first cable cards the tech tried didn't work, so he had to replace it with a new card, but all is working well now.

[pminer90]

You tip the cable guy?

Why not? If there is trouble, I now have a friendly face to turn to. He was knowledgable, friendly, and thorough. In a perfect world, we could expect this all the time, but it isn't. This type of behavior seems so have become uncommon now. However, it is the kind of behavior I prefer to promote.

Anyway, if I have to worry about spending that 20 bucks ... I have much larger financial problems to consider and shouldn't have bought a Series 3.

[toga flyer]

All in Austin,

At some point today, both of my cablecards started working on the switched analog channels. For some reason the network was not providing the analog passthru on these switched channels in the 2-99 range. With the system working properly and the cablecards configured properly, we should all get 2-99 whether or not any of these are ever switched.

This has been a problem in Austin over the last several days, so I'm curious if others systems are working now or if I just happen to be a lucky one.

As for the other current switched channels, there are quite a few with more on the way in Austin, but after a fairly exhaustive analysis on these, I don't care about most of them. Of course, that could change going forward, but hopefully the Series 3 will be software upgradable to the 2.0 cablecards when they become available and supported by TW and this will mitigate any further decline in service available.

So here is my take at the current switched channels outside of 2-99 and their duplicates in the upper range. This should be fairly accurate but will definitely be subject to change. If anyone has any corrections to this, please post.

TW Austin Switched Video Channels:

274 - TV Superstore
275 - Shop NBC
277 - Revenue Frontier
278 - Men's Channel
279 - Healthy Living
281 - Beauty & Fashion
284 - IShop
285 - The Water Channel
286 - Resort & Residence
287 - America's Preview Channel
295 - The Word Network
408 - News 8 non-stop sports
490 - The Outdoor Channel
577 - ME-Television
609 - 649 All Spanish channels
708 - 714 All HBO Pacific feeds
723 - 726 All Cinemax Pacific feeds
738 - 745 All Showtime Pacific feeds
748 - 749 All TMC Pacific feeds
761 - Encore Pacific feed
930 - 939 NHL feeds

Any Video On Demand and PPV channels

Everything else should be available. Out of all the switched channels listed, I would like the Pacific feeds, but since this material is a duplicate of the East coast feeds and I generally watch TV from the Now Showing list, this isn't an issue for me. The other ones don't bother me either, although I do miss not getting Wings to Adventure on the Outdoor Channel on this box. I'll just have to watch on my non-HD box.

A note is that you'll want to exclude all of the above from your channel list so that Tivo won't attempt to record suggestions or show these on your guide.

Boy, I've learned a lot about TW Austin, switched video, the current state of cablecards and more since my Series 3 showed up last Thursday. Bottom line is that once you get this working, you're going to love it. Just be patient if it doesn't immediately work.

Also, kudo's again to Austin TW DNCS group! Without their help, I would have been toast this weekend and probably still trying to get this to work. THANK YOU!!

Now, if we could just get Tivo to change the final score of the UT-Kansas State game.

[cab2]

Here is my list for switched video channels in the Time Warner Austin (cedar park) area. Interestingly, I am getting the SV channels below 100 today, and wasn't yesterday, just as mentioned above. Not sure if that will stay, or go.

Here is the list I got from the rep I talked to on sunday.

6 City of Austin
7 tv guide chan
10 public access
11 public access
16 public access
17 travis county acess
19 acc access
22 aisd access
32 food network :mad:
42 disney channel :(
45 weather channel
47 cnn headline news :(
64 turner classic movies
74 style
78 ????
101 disney chanel :(
111 boomerang
201 hgtv
209 food network :mad:
219 style
274 tv superstore
275 shop nbc
277 revenue frontier
278 mens channel
279 healthy living
281 beauty and fashion
284 Ishop
286 resort and residence
287 americas preview channel
295 the word network
312 CNN Headline news :(
350 weather channel
490 outdoor channel
555 TCM
601 CNN en espanol
602 canal 24 horas
1639 fox sports hd

Almost all of these I can get on the bedroom S2, so I guess it's not that bad. But the list is longer than I expected. I hope they don't expand this list.

[pmiranda]

Here is my list for switched video channels in the Time Warner Austin (cedar park) area. Interestingly, I am getting the SV channels below 100 today, and wasn't yesterday, just as mentioned above. Not sure if that will stay, or go.

Here is the list I got from the rep I talked to on sunday.

6 City of Austin
7 tv guide chan
10 public access
11 public access
16 public access
17 travis county acess
19 acc access
22 aisd access
32 food network :mad:
42 disney channel :(
45 weather channel
47 cnn headline news :(
64 turner classic movies
74 style
78 ????
101 disney chanel :(
...
201 hgtv
209 food network :mad:
...
312 CNN Headline news :(
350 weather channel
...
555 TCM

Almost all of these I can get on the bedroom S2, so I guess it's not that bad. But the list is longer than I expected. I hope they don't expand this list.

I think the CSR you spoke to is full of BS on the ones I quoted. It's impossible for them to switch channels below 84 since they're sent analog to all households.
It's no big deal if they switch the digital versions of the analog channels, either, since you can simply record them in analog, and I always do since they're more reliable... if the cablecards crap out you can just unplug them and everything analog keeps working.

I think toga flyer's list is much more accurate.

[mercurial]

Grrr... TWC Cary just changed the name of the local NBC station's HD channel from WNCNDT2 (don't ask me why the HD channel was WNCNDT2 and the SD sub-channel was WNCNDT) to NCNHD which, while it makes more sense, has caused my S3s to think it has no guide data for this channel and miss recording Heroes and Studio 60... GRRRRrrrrr.......

I guess I need to call TiVo on this one.

[84325e]

I think the CSR you spoke to is full of BS on the ones I quoted. It's impossible for them to switch channels below 84 since they're sent analog to all households.
It's no big deal if they switch the digital versions of the analog channels, either, since you can simply record them in analog, and I always do since they're more reliable... if the cablecards crap out you can just unplug them and everything analog keeps working.

I think toga flyer's list is much more accurate.

I agree with your conclusion. But I note the list I received from a Austin CSR, as well as the TW tech had the same sub-100 channels as SDV (Disney, Food, HGTV being the only ones I care about). Until yesterday, I received none of them. Now I seem to get all of them. I presume from these facts that this is the "issue" Cableguy was alluding to which is now resolved.

Sure would be nice if Austin TW could give out one consistent story.

[toga flyer]

I agree with your conclusion. But I note the list I received from a Austin CSR, as well as the TW tech had the same sub-100 channels as SDV (Disney, Food, HGTV being the only ones I care about). Until yesterday, I received none of them. Now I seem to get all of them. I presume from these facts that this is the "issue" Cableguy was alluding to which is now resolved.

Sure would be nice if Austin TW could give out one consistent story.

From what I know, the 2-99 channels come into any digital converter (ie, the cablecards) as digital unless directed otherwise. There are switched video channels in the 2-99 range as pointed out, but when we're getting the correct signal from TW, our cablecards are instructed to display the analog version. We also receive these in the upper mapped range as well. In other words, CNNHN also displays on 312 as analog, although this is clearly a digital range.

This I believe was the cause of the switched video channels that are also in the analog range of 2-99 to not work for a few days.

Cableguy can confirm this, but I do know that I was also told of these switched video channels in the 2-99 range.

[atsang]

i'm getting all channels here in austin too. how long will this last?

[KennyP]

I purchased my S3 earlier this week and it arrived yesterday. I have been a TWC digital cable customer for about six months. I called customer service last night to schedule the cablecard installation. The first rep I spoke with informed me, after speaking to a supervisor, that TWC Milwaukee "does not support Tivos" and therefore could not supply me with the cablecards. I explained the FCC regulations and that it's not up to TWC to decide to support or not support the unit. She finally relented, stating they would do the install, but not "support" the cards if I have any troubles.

She then connected me with the scheduling person, who was quite helpful, understood that I was requested two cards for the same unit, and got everything scheduled for next week. I will post again after the install.

With all the pushback from the cable companies, along with the high price and high monthly fee, it is very hard to justify purchasing a Tivo instead of just dealing with the crappy interface and limited features of a TWC HD DVR. C'mon Tivo, throw me a bone here.

[hookbill]

I purchased my S3 earlier this week and it arrived yesterday. I have been a TWC digital cable customer for about six months. I called customer service last night to schedule the cablecard installation. The first rep I spoke with informed me, after speaking to a supervisor, that TWC Milwaukee "does not support Tivos" and therefore could not supply me with the cablecards. I explained the FCC regulations and that it's not up to TWC to decide to support or not support the unit. She finally relented, stating they would do the install, but not "support" the cards if I have any troubles.

She then connected me with the scheduling person, who was quite helpful, understood that I was requested two cards for the same unit, and got everything scheduled for next week. I will post again after the install.

With all the pushback from the cable companies, along with the high price and high monthly fee, it is very hard to justify purchasing a Tivo instead of just dealing with the crappy interface and limited features of a TWC HD DVR. C'mon Tivo, throw me a bone here.

If you ask me you had it easy.

I was told the same thing and the CSR refused to order me two cable cards. I played CSR roulette and the next one I got I didn't mention TiVo, just told them I needed two cable cards.

[demon]

I just recently purchased a Series3 HD DMR, and had Time-Warner in Troy, NY, come and install two CableCards in it. When I called in to Time-Warner's number, the operator told me she'd never heard of a TiVo Series3; I told her it was CableLabs certified, and that made her happy enough to schedule an appointment. Fortunately, TW here in upstate New York doesn't charge for service calls; the cards themselves were an extra $2 a month each, no extra port fees or anything like that.

It was a relatively trouble-free installation, fortunately - unlike reports I'd heard from other people, the TW tech didn't give me any trouble about the installation. It took some time for him to copy down all the information and call it into the CO, but once that was done, it took only a few minutes for each CableCard to begin operating.

The technician that did the installation told me he'd done exactly one CableCard installation prior to mine - some lady with a flatpanel TV. He remarked that I knew more about them than he did, in fact. It went off without a hitch though, and all the channels I was supposed to have showed up with no problems. It appears that the local office has things in order.

Figured I'd post at least one positive result - seems like a lot of the postings are about how things went sideways, but it seems that the cableco can get things right at least once in awhile.

[RDexter]

Warner Cable Cincinnati - couldn't get much worse than this
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a somewhat less satisfying experience than DTap:

I called Time Warner Cincinnati on October 31, 2006 for an appointment on November 10th. I got a time frame of 1:30 to 3:30pm. Took the day off and at 3:35 on the 10th, called to find out where the tech was. Never got an answer I could understand, but the representative set up an appointment for Saturday the 11th from 11:00am till 1:30pm. At 1:45 on the 11th, I called to find out where the tech was. I learned from this representative that she had no record of an appointment being made for Saturday. I wondered aloud, if they hadn’t made it to my house for the appointment on Friday, why didn’t Time Warner Cincinnati feel obligated to make it a priority to make it at the first opportunity? No answer that I could understand was forthcoming but, by his tone, it seemed to be my fault. So I made an appointment for Tuesday November 14th from 8:00 till 11:30am. Took another day off from work and at 11:45am, called to find out where the tech was. He would be there in 30 minutes. Forty five minutes later he arrived.

Now the story begins.

He installed the cable cards. At this point, what was required was a phone call to the techs running the network so they could pair the cable card ID and network address ID, upload firmware revisions and authorize the cards. But the tech couldn’t make that call. He was forbidden from actually talking to anyone. Instead he had to email his requests. After every email, ‘something’ would happen with the cable card, but it would never “authorize” and never did get the digital channels it was supposed to. His supervisor finally called him and told him he had to leave my home. He told his supervisor that the install wasn’t working yet and why (the cc number and the address number had not been paired). Didn’t seem to matter to the supervisor. I asked what they were going to do next and the tech said the supervisor was going to send another tech between 6:00 and 8:00pm. I am still waiting for this tech to arrive.

So, as of noon on November 16th, I have 2 cable cards installed by a Time Warner tech that are not authorized to work on the Time Warner cable system. I have 1 less vacation day. I have no appointment or commitment from Time Warner Cincinnati to complete this install. No one at Time Warner Cincinnati is even thinking about how to make this right.

Saturday November 18th - Taking advice from some of the posts on this thread, I called Time Warner Cincinnati at 12:15am this morning. The CSR immediately did not know what I was talking about, so she connected me to a Level 3 tech. He immediately did know what I was talking about and checked the pairing on the 2 cable cards, finding them unpaired. Bam!! Everything worked. The daytime weinies swore that these cards had been paired. Happy about my Tivo S3, but hugely irritated with Time Warner Cincinnati, except the one guy in the whole division that knows what he's doing.

[DrWho453]

Well, I just bought my series 3 yesterday from the TC store. Once I get it, I will be calling Time Warner here in Raleigh NC to get the cable cards. I wonder if they will be giving me the runaround about the cards not working in the Tivo series 3? or that I only need one card? Hopefully they have dealt with enough them by now to know the Tivo takes 2 cards. I will keep everyone updated on my experience with them. I probably won't be able to get anyone out here until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I had been debating back and forth on whether or not I should get one now considering how expensive they are and the problems people were having with them, but since the TC store had a discount going and I wanted to be able to transfer my lifetime subscription to the new unit, I figured I would go ahead and do it. I do think, even though I don't want to complain about it since its great we are allowed to transfer the lifetime service, I do think that 199 is a bit much for a transfer. $5-$30 ok, that is an acceptable transfer fee. $199 is more like a double tax. Paying twice for the same service. For this price I would expect both systems to have lifetime on them. I also think it would have been better if they had said that as long as you originally had lifetime, you could transfer it at any time instead of putting a limit on it. It would have worked better for me to do it next year then to do it now but se la vie. I will work with it. I am just glad that they are allowing us to do this.

[SCSIRAID]

Well, I just bought my series 3 yesterday from the TC store. Once I get it, I will be calling Time Warner here in Raleigh NC to get the cable cards. I wonder if they will be giving me the runaround about the cards not working in the Tivo series 3? or that I only need one card? Hopefully they have dealt with enough them by now to know the Tivo takes 2 cards. I will keep everyone updated on my experience with them. I probably won't be able to get anyone out here until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I had been debating back and forth on whether or not I should get one now considering how expensive they are and the problems people were having with them, but since the TC store had a discount going and I wanted to be able to transfer my lifetime subscription to the new unit, I figured I would go ahead and do it. I do think, even though I don't want to complain about it since its great we are allowed to transfer the lifetime service, I do think that 199 is a bit much for a transfer. $5-$30 ok, that is an acceptable transfer fee. $199 is more like a double tax. Paying twice for the same service. For this price I would expect both systems to have lifetime on them. I also think it would have been better if they had said that as long as you originally had lifetime, you could transfer it at any time instead of putting a limit on it. It would have worked better for me to do it next year then to do it now but se la vie. I will work with it. I am just glad that they are allowing us to do this.

There are several of us here in the Raleigh area that are up and running fine with S3 and TWC. However... TWC did rename the HD versions of WNCN and WRAL which is causing some guide issues (guide says 'regular schedule'). NCN was fixed yesterday... hopefully RAL very soon.

[Diacritical]

Here is my list for switched video channels in the Time Warner Austin (cedar park) area. Interestingly, I am getting the SV channels below 100 today, and wasn't yesterday, just as mentioned above. Not sure if that will stay, or go.

I'm curious... I have heard that if someone on your segment tunes in one of the SV channels, it will continue to be sent for the next 24 hours and the cable card unit will be able to tune it in... Why not schedule a short daily recording for each channel you want on the S2 (keeping one copy, making it last a minute or two) and see if your other system continues to receive it?

--

[ingenue007]

tw austin is raising rates. i think im gonna cancel my cable. all i watch are local HD channels. their HD package doesn't even have good channels.

[blicken]

Toga Fler and pmiranda, what's the secret to getting DNCS involved here in Austin? I just had a tech bring out my two cable cards yesterday and they seem to be correctly paired -- the screen says CP Authorized for both. However, neither is getting the EMM or ECM count incremented. The "PowerKey Status" remains "Not Ready -- waiting for EMMs". Based on what I'm reading, the cards are likely to be good (they have April 2006 manufacturing dates), but the network needs to be tweaked. I've done the automated "send hits" item on the phone a few times, and that does successfully reinit the cards. I also confirmed with a tech over the phone that my account was correctly balanced. I wonder if the problem is that the cards don't initialize quickly enough, so by the time they are ready to accept the EMMs signal, it's already been sent to them. Maybe TW's system wants a two-way box, and expects the box to signal back that it needs the EMMs. Either way, I'm just getting analogs and local HD right now. They're rolling someone out on Wednesday afternoon to look at things, but if i could get it fixed before then, it would save everyone a lot of grief.

[dkroboth]

Moved into my new house in Redondo Beach (LA County), CA on Friday. TW techs came by later that day. Took five cable cards to find two that worked, but they did in the end.

[pmiranda]

I'm curious... I have heard that if someone on your segment tunes in one of the SV channels, it will continue to be sent for the next 24 hours and the cable card unit will be able to tune it in... Why not schedule a short daily recording for each channel you want on the S2 (keeping one copy, making it last a minute or two) and see if your other system continues to receive it?
--

That should work if you have the S2 controlling a cableco box via IR. I'm not sure how often you'd need to do the recording to keep the channel live. Once the S2 starts recording something else on another channel it's possible for the channel to die. The persistence of SV channels will probably vary quite a bit and I'll bet they get more aggressive with it over time.

The great thing about using the IR blaster is that you could even use it for HD channels the S2 can't record, you just need a cableco box that will tune them, which is still cheaper than a cableco DVR, and then you have a way to watch PPV and on-demand if you care about that.


Side-note to blicken:
If you haven't already, keep calling to get different CSRs or ask to be transferred if they can't get your EMM/ECM counts to increment. Once they send the right signal it only takes a minute to see them go.

[Austin_Martin]

Had a tech in to install today. He took off after receiving the CP Auth. He said it should take an hour or so for the channels to all show up. When they didn't I phoned Austin TW. Dealt with one customer service rep for an hour, which consisted of unplugging the cable cards, rebooting, and re-pairing the cards. The account wasn't set up properly by the original tech, so at least something good came of that. I kept asking for him to contact the dncs group, but he said he wasn't allowed to do that.

After getting disconnected, I got ahold of a tech support person for another hour. After 4 more reboots, and repairing, I was at the exact same point. Again, I kept asking for the dncs group to be contacted. She said only a manager could authorize talking to them, and her manager wouldn't allow that.

So after 2 hours on the phone, I'm still at the same point. But now I have to wait until next week for another service call.

Geee, I wonder if they'll have me unplug the cards, reboot, and try the same thing they've been trying for 2 hours....

Please, if someone knows exactly what the dncs group does differently, speak up. You can help save hours of others time!

[Austin_Martin]

After help from the dncs gods, I have success. Everything's coming in fine. If you have this same situation come up, posting a message in this thread can help ;)

-AM

[abredt]

What is the dnc group? I'm having TW install it Fri.

[Justin Thyme]

Is Hawaii the only place folks know of that tacks on additional fees beyond the cablecard fee for the S3's second CC?

To refresh memories- here is what TW Hawaii is charging:


Cable Card 1 (cc1): $3.10
HD Entertainment Package for cc1: $6.95

Cable Card 2 (cc2): $3.10
Duplicte Services: $8.00
HD Entertainment Package for cc2: $6.95

[SoCalCraig]

Just wanted to report that occasionally things do go well. :)

After receiving my S3 a couple of weeks ago and trying to just use OTA HD, I finally caved in and called TWC (formerly Adelphia). I told them I needed 2 CCs for a Tivo installation, the CSR wanted to talk about my opinions of the S3 but had no problems scheduling the tech visit. Even offered to send a tech out the next day (surprise #1).

The tech arrived on time (surprise #2). He said he had some experience with the new Tivos, some went well, some didn't. Mine went well (surprise #3).

He wrote down the numbers from the cards and called the mother ship to give them the info. Then installed card #1, after a few minutes the Tivo CC pairing page reported success and we moved on to the 2nd card. This one took awhile longer and required a couple of retries, but eventually succeeded as well. Then we checked a few random channels, and all seemed to work. He was out the door in under 30 minutes. Both are Motorola CCs, but with differing firmware versions (4.05 and 4.21 as I remember).

After he left I completed the guided setup and then checked all the channels. All seemed to be working at first, but later I discovered some video breakup on the digital channels (both HD and non-HD) at random intervals. Some small, some large including losing one whole scoring drive during a recorded football game (10-15 minutes). I didn't have the tech check the signal strength this time, but they checked it when they installed their Moxi DVR and said it was good. Based on reviewing other posts I'm going to play with my amp and attenuators to see if the signal strength may too high for the S3.

[Lyshen]

Out of curiousity is it required to have a technician to get a 'hit'?

I just called TWC and the CSR said that she could not do that. I asked why and she said that the technician has to request it when working on the work order and once the work order is closed, no more hits are allowed.

I'm in SoCal TWC area, formerly Adelphia.

edit:
I just got a S3 Tivo and the technician came out earlier today but left without it fully working. :mad: (Only get unencrypted SD/HD channels)

[alee]

Out of curiousity is it required to have a technician to get a 'hit'?
No... try calling again a little later and see if you get a more competent support person.

[KennyP]

I posted my earlier experience with TWC where the CSR initially refused to set up the installation of two CCs in my S3. After convincing her that TWC has no option, as far as the FCC is concerned, the truck roll was scheduled for yesterday.

I was not home (gotta pay the bills), but my wife was there during the installation. The TWC tech showed up during the scheduled window and my wife explained to him what she understood to be the process and pointed out the cablecard installation instructions provided by Tivo, which I had left on top of the Tivo unit. He initially told her he didn't need those and proceeded to do the installation. Instead of activating the cards initially, he did some sort of download or update and then waited 20 minutes for that to complete. At that point, my wife was back in the room and again showed him on the instructions how to get the numbers he needed. This time, he was more willing to listen and got everything set up. The total time seemed to be about 90 minutes.

I checked it out when I got home and everything seems to be working. I get the HD local channels as provided by TWC along with HD HBO and pretty much everything else as I expected. My overall experience has been pretty good. I was not surprised to "discuss" the installation with the TWC CSR, and in the end the tech got everything installed and working.

[Lyshen]

Update to my install of CCs.

Initial install of CCs was awful for the most part. CCs got recognized, was authorized at the CP but got missing program rekey on both CCs. Tech couldn't get it working so left saying if it isn't working later to contact him, oddly enough (or on purpose?) the number he gave me was to a tree trimming service. (I double checked the number with him too!) So I called up TWC regarding this to try to get them to give me hard hits / initialize.

Well after trying to bug the different CSRs I kept getting when I called in to hit the CCs, I was scheduled to get a tech the same day before 7PM. Unfortunately no tech came, I kind of figured that may happen so I called TWC back near 7PM.

After talking to the CSR, he wasn't totally helpful but still helpful (supposedly tried hits but I guess didn't know what a hard hit/initialize was). But he was able to schedule me for a tech to come in the very next morning so that was great.

Next morning (today) tech (Ken) came within the window (8-10AM) and after checking the cards, called dispatch (Angie) and had her do some hard hits to the cards and the channels worked. Such a easy thing yet when I try to get the CSR to do this, they are incompetent! I asked the tech about this and even he said the CSRs should be able to do this, just inproperly trained then I guess. This took a total of maybe 20 minutes or so, very simple (would have been faster if tech didn't have to wait on hold for about 10 minutes to get a dispatch).

So now just about all works fine, except for some reason I'm missing 2 HD channels, ESPN & KABC HD. Strange since I do get the HD tier and ESPN2 HD works fine. No signal strength detected when I Use Tivo to check those two channels. Called TWC about this and they said it should be coming in fine since no problems on their side. Sooo, another tech scheduled to come take a look.... :confused:

Happy for the most part that it works now, but one thing really bugs me, how come TWC does not offer CW (KTLA) HD??? Just does not make sense since they are part of one big company. (Not sure who owns who, but they are related)

[BruceShultes]

I just got my S3 last week and have been having no problems recording OTA. My cable cards are due to be delivered Monday.

In my area the HD Tier channels are in the 1800 range. Since the S3 appears to only be able to accept a 3 digit channel number, does this mean that it will not be able to tune to any of the HD Tier channels?

I realize that I can still get the HD feed for the major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) by using the -1 digital channel numbers, in my case 10-1 (ABC), 6-1 (CBS), 13-1 (NBC) and 23-1 (FOX).

The problem is that ESPN-HD seems to only be available on 1869.

[BillP Studios]

Hi Bruce,

You'll probably need to do a complete guide set up once your cards come in but the S3 handles four digits just fine. I'm in Scotia and have all the same channels. I have the extra HD package including the HD HBO/Showtimes at 1880/1885.

You'll love it!

Bill Pytlovany

[abredt]

Two and a half grueling hours later, I have the top cable card getting everything OK. The bottom cable card getting broadcast HD, but no premium channels.

I live in the West Valley of Time Warner Southern California. This was his first TiVo install. At one point his supervisor told him that their cable cards are not compatible with TiVo and that he was to take the cards and leave immediately. After I threw a fit, he agreed to try another card.

Another tech is supposed to bring a replacement card on Tues.

What is pairing?? Is it something extra that TW is supposed to do?? He never mentioned the word.

[philinny]

Two and a half grueling hours later, I have the top cable card getting everything OK. The bottom cable card getting broadcast HD, but no premium channels.

I live in the West Valley of Time Warner Southern California. This was his first TiVo install. At one point his supervisor told him that their cable cards are not compatible with TiVo and that he was to take the cards and leave immediately. After I threw a fit, he agreed to try another card.

Another tech is supposed to bring a replacement card on Tues.

What is pairing?? Is it something extra that TW is supposed to do?? He never mentioned the word.


Abredt, please come back and post how it all turns out. I'm also in the West Valley and about to pull the trigger on an S3 purchase! When I called Time Warner a few months ago, they had no clue at all -- which prompted me to post to the various TiVo blogs and I was part of the wave of publicity that prompted TW to get better about training (in some areas anyway...) So can't wait to hear how they're doing now in SoCal.
Thanks.

Phil

[abredt]

Abredt, please come back and post how it all turns out. I'm also in the West Valley and about to pull the trigger on an S3 purchase! When I called Time Warner a few months ago, they had no clue at all -- which prompted me to post to the various TiVo blogs and I was part of the wave of publicity that prompted TW to get better about training (in some areas anyway...) So can't wait to hear how they're doing now in SoCal.
Thanks.

Phil

Will do. FYI - the best price I got was Amazon $709 with free 2-day shipping (Will cancel Amazon Prime before they charge my credit card.)

[Kelster72]

Abredt, how do you identify whether it's the top or bottom card that's giving you trouble? I am faced with a similar problem, where one tuner is working fine and the other just gets non-premium channels. The Time Warner service techs haven't been much help - most have never even seen a cablecard. Thanks.

[BruceShultes]

Hi Bruce,

You'll probably need to do a complete guide set up once your cards come in but the S3 handles four digits just fine. I'm in Scotia and have all the same channels. I have the extra HD package including the HD HBO/Showtimes at 1880/1885.

You'll love it!

Bill Pytlovany

You are correct.

Now that the two cards have been installed and the complete guide setup has been run again, all the extra HD package channels come in fine from either tuner.

Cable Card 1 seems to be able to tune to all channels, but Cable Card 2 can only tune to some channels.

Channels 1 thru 24, 50 thru 69, and all digital channels are fine, but the other non-digital channels just return the error "Searching for signal on: Cable In" when using Cable Card 2.

I re-started the S3, but it made no difference. Cable Card 2 still can only tune to some channels.

At the moment I have another service appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Does anybody have any suggestions of other things I should try? I would love to get everything working myself and be able to cancel the service appointment.

[SCSIRAID]

You are correct.

Now that the two cards have been installed and the complete guide setup has been run again, all the extra HD package channels come in fine from either tuner.

Cable Card 1 seems to be able to tune to all channels, but Cable Card 2 can only tune to some channels.

Channels 1 thru 24, 50 thru 69, and all digital channels are fine, but the other non-digital channels just return the error "Searching for signal on: Cable In" when using Cable Card 2.

I re-started the S3, but it made no difference. Cable Card 2 still can only tune to some channels.

At the moment I have another service appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Does anybody have any suggestions of other things I should try? I would love to get everything working myself and be able to cancel the service appointment.

The problem is not at your location... The cableco needs to 'balance' your account so all devices on the account have the same 'entitlements'. That can be done over the phone if you find a CSR who understands.

[SD4283]

Got my new series 3 Tivo on Wednesday of last week. Called the cable company that day and got a cable card install for Friday.

On Friday three Time Warner guys came out. One to do the install the other two to watch.

The installer said he had done a series 3 that morning. He wanted to install both cards at one time then call in to bind the MAC address to my account. I wasn’t thrilled that he didn’t want to follow the instruction but let him do it. He said the call into the office for the Bind is what takes all the time.

The cards went in. Tivo saw both of them. After about 20 minutes of waiting for the Time Warner mother ship to Bind my cards, the Tivo rebooted on it’s own twice.

After coming back up we tried all the channels and everything worked perfectly. I tried to record and watch 2 HD premium channels just to make sure both cards were OK and everything was fine.

Love the HD Tivo. I forgot how good Tivo was after a year on the Scientific Atlantic piece of junk.

[Austin_Martin]

Cable Card 1 seems to be able to tune to all channels, but Cable Card 2 can only tune to some channels.
Channels 1 thru 24, 50 thru 69, and all digital channels are fine, but the other non-digital channels just return the error "Searching for signal on: Cable In" when using Cable Card 2.

It looks like you might have the analog tuner problem that a lot of people are getting. There are a few threads on this issue in this forum. Right now consensus is that it's a hardware issue, that might have a software fix coming from Tivo at some point. I'm going to wait a week, then phone Tivo to make sure that if it isn't fixed, I'll be able to return/replace my TiVo.

[stubarrett]

My TW/Austin experiences were OK. The installation went fine. I pity the poor installers that have to call into the main support numbers tho'.

After a re-setup, I discovered that the HD-Tier channels were not being received. The Cable Cards were not getting EMM messages. I tried to get TW to 'hit' the box, but that did not fix it (the cable cards indicated that thye were not receiving EEMs).

Had to schedule another tech visit today. this morning I looked to see if the cards had been 'hit' and they had not. The cable guy shows up and, as if by magic, the cards have been hit w/o him doing a damn thing.

Anyway, I love the S3, can't wait for the first s/w update.

[BruceShultes]

It looks like you might have the analog tuner problem that a lot of people are getting. There are a few threads on this issue in this forum. Right now consensus is that it's a hardware issue, that might have a software fix coming from Tivo at some point. I'm going to wait a week, then phone Tivo to make sure that if it isn't fixed, I'll be able to return/replace my TiVo.

You are probably correct.

When the cable guy showed up this morning, we tried switching the original cable cards and then calling the head end to have them married to the different host id's.

After they were authorized, we tried testing channels again on each cable card. Now all channels can be tuned on Cable Card 1, which was formerly in the Cable Card 2 slot and the same analog channels are missing on Cable Card 2, which was formerly in the Cable Card 1 slot.

This seems to confirm to me that the problem is in the S3, not at the cable company. Of course when I call Tivo, they try to convince me that it has to be a problem with the cable company.

At the moment, the S3 is only connected by phone. If I connect it by network instead, would this allow Tivo to do any diagnostics on it?

[abredt]

Abredt, how do you identify whether it's the top or bottom card that's giving you trouble? I am faced with a similar problem, where one tuner is working fine and the other just gets non-premium channels. The Time Warner service techs haven't been much help - most have never even seen a cablecard. Thanks.

TiVo tech support says there is no way to tell which cable card is active. I was able to tell during the bad install.

The TW tech put in the bottom card then called TW to activate it and did "Test Channels." It did not receive my premium channels. He put in and activated the top card and when he did "Test Channels" it worked. He also said that the card he put in the top slot was working on another customer's TV.

I wonder if the cards were not "paired" so the bottom card doesn't know that I get premium channels.

TW is due this afternoon.

[Ariel817]

I haven't purchased an S3 yet, but considering it..

Anyone with experience in the Arlington, TX area and Time Warner? Can they handle cablecard installs? Any SVD issues? I know the price is 2.95/card each month, just curious how the process went for anyone in this area.

Thanks!

[Ariel817]

I used to have Comcast Cable here in the DFW area and had plenty of OnDemand content. Even since Time Warner Cable took over, my OnDemand content has been deminshing and very little new content has been added.

For example, the Free Movies I had, now called NBC Universal Free Movies only has 4 movies and they are old. No new movies have been added and evey two weeks some movies go away. This is the same for the other OnDemand content.

Is anyone else experiecing this?!! Also, I moved recently and all three of my cable boxes do not have smart cards inserted. Do you smart cards have an affect on content??

Thanks in advance!!

Tony

I'm in Arlington, so our Comcast also got switched to TW recently.. and the on demand interface improved, but the amount of content went down to pitiful.... according to the guy I talked to at TW, they "are working on that".... because he was trying to push the TW dvr over Tivo (it can do on demand and Tivo can't... my question was so what, there's nothing worth watching on it anyway).

[EmmettC]

Time Warner Cable NYC came and installed cable cards in Series 3 Tivo today... everything worked without a hitch.. Seems to be pulling in all channels. Love the Tivo. Can't wait to get rid of Cable DVR! Installer followed instructions as printed...

Emmett

[BruceShultes]

I'm in Arlington, so our Comcast also got switched to TW recently.. and the on demand interface improved, but the amount of content went down to pitiful.... according to the guy I talked to at TW, they "are working on that".... because he was trying to push the TW dvr over Tivo (it can do on demand and Tivo can't... my question was so what, there's nothing worth watching on it anyway).

Other than the ability to do on demand, the TW dvr doesn't hold a candle to the S3.

The S3 can receive and record shows over the air from your antenna, which are much higher quality in my area than TW for your local channels. At least that is the case in my area.

Also, in my opinion, the Tivo interface is much better than the TW dvr interface. However, that may depend on which software is loaded on your TW boxes. The SARA software is horrible, but according to some of the members of the AVS Forum who have Passport software loaded on their boxes, the Passport interface is almost as good as the Tivo.

[abredt]

Abredt, please come back and post how it all turns out. I'm also in the West Valley and about to pull the trigger on an S3 purchase! When I called Time Warner a few months ago, they had no clue at all -- which prompted me to post to the various TiVo blogs and I was part of the wave of publicity that prompted TW to get better about training (in some areas anyway...) So can't wait to hear how they're doing now in SoCal.
Thanks.

Phil

Done at Last ! ! !

The first TW cable-guy had never done a TiVo before. When he left I had one cablecard that worked, but the other one could not get my premium channels.

The next TW cable-guy had done four of them. (Only one was successful on the first visit - he got them all up and running on second visits.)

He knew exactly what to do and did it. Took out the bad card and put in another one and it worked. The big delay was that it took him an hour to get through to the dispatcher on the phone to get him to push the buttons that authorize the cards. He had even called from his truck when he finished the prior job, but he still sat here on hold for another 45 minutes.

The secret seems to be that some of the cards work and some don't. If they can't get it working, insist that they bring more cards. Don't let them tell you that TiVo is not compatible with TW's cards.

Good luck!! Carol

[Kelster72]

Done at Last ! ! !

The first TW cable-guy had never done a TiVo before. When he left I had one cablecard that worked, but the other one could not get my premium channels.

The next TW cable-guy had done four of them. (Only one was successful on the first visit - he got them all up and running on second visits.)

He knew exactly what to do and did it. Took out the bad card and put in another one and it worked. The big delay was that it took him an hour to get through to the dispatcher on the phone to get him to push the buttons that authorize the cards. He had even called from his truck when he finished the prior job, but he still sat here on hold for another 45 minutes.

The secret seems to be that some of the cards work and some don't. If they can't get it working, insist that they bring more cards. Don't let them tell you that TiVo is not compatible with TW's cards.

Good luck!! Carol

I finally got mine working too and also picked up some other tidbits of information from the installer that I'd like to pass along.

According to this installer, cablecards are either good or bad; it's binary. If you only get some channels, then the problem is with the way your account is configured at the back office.

He told me that they have a big problem with the back office and the lack of training on cablecards. He said that there are only 2 or 3 people that he would work with on cablecard installations. I can believe this, because on one of the last service calls, I had one of the back office people tell me that my TiV0 3 would never work properly "...because I had a flat screen display." He said he knew "from personal experience."! :eek:

I had to have the bottom card replaced on this latest service call. Interestingly once the installer configured it propelry he didn't have to repeat Guided Setup to get everything to work! I watched the entire process and quizzed him on this point.

Keep the faith and don't giveup. I love my Series 3 now that it's working. :cool:

[minckster]

The TWC New York City website now specifically mentions Switched Digital Video on their CableCARD page (http://www.timewarnercable.com/nynj/products/cable/cablecard.html). Is anyone in NYC missing any channels yet due to switched video?

[philinny]

Done at Last ! ! !

The first TW cable-guy had never done a TiVo before. When he left I had one cablecard that worked, but the other one could not get my premium channels.

The next TW cable-guy had done four of them. (Only one was successful on the first visit - he got them all up and running on second visits.)

He knew exactly what to do and did it. Took out the bad card and put in another one and it worked. The big delay was that it took him an hour to get through to the dispatcher on the phone to get him to push the buttons that authorize the cards. He had even called from his truck when he finished the prior job, but he still sat here on hold for another 45 minutes.

The secret seems to be that some of the cards work and some don't. If they can't get it working, insist that they bring more cards. Don't let them tell you that TiVo is not compatible with TW's cards.

Good luck!! Carol


Fantastic info Carol. Many Thanks. Maybe I'll get lucky and get an experienced installer, but it's good to know that if needed, persistance will work.

Now back to eBay to try to score a Lifetime box. Can you believe I sold my Series 1 with Lifetime a couple of years ago when I switched to DirecTV. Doh!

cheers.
Phil

[abredt]

Fantastic info Carol. Many Thanks. Maybe I'll get lucky and get an experienced installer, but it's good to know that if needed, persistance will work.

Now back to eBay to try to score a Lifetime box. Can you believe I sold my Series 1 with Lifetime a couple of years ago when I switched to DirecTV. Doh!

cheers.
Phil

See my note under TiVo Series 3 titled Suddenly No Premium Channels

[dig_duggler]

This has to be a newb question, but I can't find the answer.

Getting s3 Tuesday , cable company coming out Wed. Is there any initial configuration that needs to be done on the s3 before the tech comes? Or is there no point unless there is a cablecard? I want to minimize any problem that may arise (and judging from this thread they will arise).

I'm just so excited an planning ahead.

Btw, if you can score an amazon wishlist certificate from american express (these go on daily, they have had 2 amazon certificate offerings so far), your price for an s3 becomes $559!

Edit: Nevermind, found my own answer (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=328402&highlight=setup)

[Saturn]

Just got my S3 on Wednesday. Got it setup with no issues, plugged into the network, optical out, and component into a 480i-only TV. Called Time Warner (SE Wisconsin) the same day to have CableCards installed and they scheduled me for today (Friday.) I simply told them I needed 2, they didn't ask for what, just how many (and confirmed it.) The installer showed up at 2pm with two cards, well within the 1:30-4:30 window I was given. She had never seen an S3, so I helped her get the cards installed. We just shoved both of them in, I navigated to the appropriate host ID screens and then she called to have them paired. The person on the other end said to tune to 504, and if that works, you're good. Both worked, and she left.

Well, 504 is the HD version of NBC here, which is unencrypted. I went back and redid guided setup, then tried to tune to a few other digital channels. None worked besides the in-the-clear HD channels. Hmmm. Kept popping up with the Host ID page telling me to call Time Warner and activate the cards. CP info showed that neither card had received the CP Authorization. Poo.

Called Time Warner. After a brief (10 minute) hold, I got to a CSR. She looked up the account and told me the service ticket hadn't been closed yet. She put me on hold to try to close the ticket. She also repinged the cards (resent the auth I guess.) That seemed to be the key. A minute or so after took me off hold, the ticket still wasn't closed (not my problem) but both cards worked. Woohoo!

I suspect that if I just would've waited, the cards would've eventually received their authorization - somehow the original pairing didn't immediately send the authorization.

Can't complain too much. The whole process was fairly painless. I wasn't charged for the install (that I know of) and I'm not sure how much the cards will be monthly, but I suspect only a couple dollars.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out the music choice channels work with the S3, since my wife uses them. Live365 is cool, but it is nice to have the option to use either.

Oh, and I bought my TiVo from here with the 15% off coupon, and TiVo transferred my lifetime sub from my S1, no problem. Their scheme to make people with Lifetime subs buy an S3 before the end of the year worked. I don't even have an HDTV yet. :)

[Chun]

In Carlsbad, CA. First S3 was DOA. Upon revieving another TWC showed up and I handed them the Tivo instructions which they promptly ignored and gave me a "don't tell me how to do my job" I let him go and he installed them both at the same time asked for a few hits and amazingly things appear to be working fine. The box is slightly glitchy when changing between HD Channels and when going to view recorded programs. The picture get's briefly distorted and I get a bunch of stuff I can only describe as looking like the Matrix. I've had a single recorded program in which the audio was off but otherwise so far so good.

[mercurial]

Is your first name Pan?

Anyway- if you have 'Native' resolution turned on, you'll notice some weird stuff when it switches between things that are at different resolutions- so that might be what you're seeing.

[philinny]

See my note under TiVo Series 3 titled Suddenly No Premium Channels


Ugh. I will follow the saga on the other thread with interest. On a brighter note, I scored a Lifetime S1 on eBay yesterday for $225. Cross fingers for honest eBayer and smooth transaction. Then to the S3 purchase by 12/31.

Sending you good vibes and silent offerings to the tech gods...

Phil

[abobrow]

Good experience for me in Los Angeles (former Comcast).

I had read this thread (or as much of it as I could stand) and expected the worst. I called RR Friday afternoon, around 4pm to schedule the install. First pleasant surprise, they had an opening the next morning.

Tech got here at about 9:55 am, well within the 9-12 window. I asked him if he'd done any Tivos before and he said a couple, but they were tricky. He said it could take an hour and a half. He radioed HQ and the tech there confirmed it could take a while. But not a single glitch, and he was gone by 10:20.

Twenty-five minute install. No problems so far. Sweet.

At first I felt the HD picture was more compressed than with the moto box, but I know that can't be true. I think there is a difference in picture quality, but I think it's more of a black-level or white-level thing. The S3 seems darker. I'm fiddling with the tv accordingly.

[rltoombs]

Here in West LA, my TimeWarner tech never even showed up. The agreed-upon 3:00-5:00 window passed and, trying not to be a jerk, I waited an hour before calling. The CSR said that the tech had reported arriving at 4:18 and that no one was home; that he left a message and went away. Except that I was definitely here, and the front-gate buzzer never buzzed (I'm within earshot of the buzzer, and had tested it not more than fifteen minutes before he was supposedly here), my phone never rang and no one left a message.

Yes, I know, maybe he just went to the wrong place somehow. But given the reports I've been reading here, I'm just kinda wond'ring--are TimeWarner techs seeing cable card orders, shuddering in horror, and trying to just duck the issue? You know: claim they didn't find anyone at home, move on to their next assignment, and hope someone else gets stuck with the return visit a few days later?

Like I said: just wond'ring. Probably slightly paranoid (and a little annoyed because this was by far the best day for them to show up). But, you know--stranger things have happened.

[abobrow]

Here in West LA, my TimeWarner tech never even showed up. The agreed-upon 3:00-5:00 window passed and, trying not to be a jerk, I waited an hour before calling. The CSR said that the tech had reported arriving at 4:18 and that no one was home;
By any chance are you talking about Saturday, 12/01/06? I only ask because mine, also in West LA, was that morning and it went fine (see above). But while the tech was here, whenever he talked to anyone at the home office, he asked if they were going to the Christmas party that afternoon. I'm just wondering if maybe your tech blew off your appointment for the TWC party. Just a theory.

[rltoombs]

By any chance are you talking about Saturday, 12/01/06? I only ask because mine, also in West LA, was that morning and it went fine (see above). But while the tech was here, whenever he talked to anyone at the home office, he asked if they were going to the Christmas party that afternoon. I'm just wondering if maybe your tech blew off your appointment for the TWC party. Just a theory.

No, it was today, Sunday--but maybe a wee small hangover?

[Eskimo Pie]

TiVo tech support says there is no way to tell which cable card is active.

I'm pretty sure you can tell which is which... I'm currently having a problem where one card won't tune any encrypted channels... it tries, then just leaves a black screen up.

What I do is tune each tuner to a seperate encrypted channel (you can see what the other tuner is currently tuned to by hitting 'info' then down). Switch back and forth between the tuners so you can see which one is working and which one isn't... then go to the tivo diagnostics page (settings -> Info -> Diagnostics). From there it'll tell you which 'tuner' is tuned to which channel. Tuner 0 is the top cable card (card #2), and tuner 1 is the bottom cable card (card #1).

In my case tuner 0 was the one which wouldn't decrypt channels... so I went to settings -> cable cards and looked at the CP screens for cable card #2 and sure enough it said "waiting for CP authorization" while the other card said it was authorized...

In my case though, calling TW customer service has proved completely worthless... I'm sure it's just an account config issue, but they refuse to try to trouble shoot it with me and just want to schedule a tech (which won't be available for about a week). BTW, I'm in Buffalo area.

[BruceShultes]

It looks like you might have the analog tuner problem that a lot of people are getting. There are a few threads on this issue in this forum. Right now consensus is that it's a hardware issue, that might have a software fix coming from Tivo at some point. I'm going to wait a week, then phone Tivo to make sure that if it isn't fixed, I'll be able to return/replace my TiVo.

For now I have used this solution, since all of the analog channels are also available in the digital tier that I have to pay for anyway in order to get HD.

I went into the Channel List and un-selected all the analog channels that one of my tuners/cablecards were having problems with.

I now need to enter the digital channel number, instead of the analog channel number, when I want to tune directly to one of those channels, but this way Tivo Suggestions is no longer making multiple blank recordings.

When the next software fix becomes available, I will try to re-enable them and try again. However, this seems to work for the time being.

[SCSIRAID]

It looks like you might have the analog tuner problem that a lot of people are getting. There are a few threads on this issue in this forum. Right now consensus is that it's a hardware issue, that might have a software fix coming from Tivo at some point. I'm going to wait a week, then phone Tivo to make sure that if it isn't fixed, I'll be able to return/replace my TiVo.

In my case, I reported my problem to Tivo well within the first 30 days. They indicated that if the new firmware doesnt fix the problem they will replace the Tivo with a new one even though it has now been close to 90 days since I got it. The replacement/refurb clock 'stopped' when I reported the problem.

[tjkc]

Purchased the Series 3 in September. I am a Time-Warner Cable customer. Had a tough time getting an appointment for cable card installs (over 3 weeks), if they would have given me the cards and a phone number to do the provisioning I could have done it myself (on-site support from Time_Warner NYC has been excellent).
In any case, all was well until month 2. Channels started to disappear, the good ones I pay premium for to watch, digital cable, HBO, Showtime. 3 separate visits from Time-Warner to try to fix the problem, or at least understand the problem. On the 3rd visit with 2 installers and a supervisor a call was placed to TiVo. Confirmation was received from TiVo that the problem was with my Series 3 and its ability to update the Scientific Atlanta CableCards firmware as necessary to keep current with the Time-Warner system.
TiVo said they would replace the unit and I should see it in 3-4 days. NOT! So, I scheduled Time-Warner (hats off to Time-Warner NYC, whom truly wanted to rectify the problem and treated us as a valued customer) for the following Friday. By Thursday when the Tivo replacement did not arrive, I called TiVo and spent the better part of an hour in Customer Service HELL, and I have been there ever since. I got the run around like you won't believe. When I finally got to a supervisor who couldn't do anything either, I politely asked to be elevated to someone who could. I was told there wasn't such a person and I had come to the end of the line in customer service, he was it, no escalation, and no service. This guy has no boss, how cool.
What I think I figured out was that the devices are constrained and "new" holiday orders were most likely going to get priority over folks that already forked over $1000 (including lifetime transfer). So, I waited for the email that the unit had shipped. No email. So I called again and spend 1 1/2 hours getting no commitments, no service, the run around and, oh yes, maybe the unit would arrive by Friday. We'll see. Hat's off to Time-Warner NYC, three thumbs down to "Tivo customer service", which by the way is a misnomer in my book.

[chedlin]

My TW/Austin experiences were OK. The installation went fine. I pity the poor installers that have to call into the main support numbers tho'.

After a re-setup, I discovered that the HD-Tier channels were not being received. The Cable Cards were not getting EMM messages. I tried to get TW to 'hit' the box, but that did not fix it (the cable cards indicated that thye were not receiving EEMs).

Had to schedule another tech visit today. this morning I looked to see if the cards had been 'hit' and they had not. The cable guy shows up and, as if by magic, the cards have been hit w/o him doing a damn thing.

Anyway, I love the S3, can't wait for the first s/w update.

I received my S3 yesterday and had the install done today. I have had exactly the same problem with TW Austin. The installer was here 8 hours and I missed an entire day of work (I had an after 5pm appt, but the installer called looking to come in the morning. I should have refused but I left to meet him. I had to help with the interior wall drop because the sale rep didn't put it on the work order and the installer didn't have all the tools. My new Plasma is on the opposite side of the room from the old TV)

I have a tech scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully it will clear itself up or be easy tomorrow. I won't be home (I just missed an entire day), just my wife.

Charlie

[rltoombs]

So far so good. The TW tech finally showed up tonight, and didn't seem wounded when I showed him TiVo's CableCard instructions. Trouble was, although he followed the instructions to the letter, he then left before I could do guided setup.

Before he did anything else, he put a new connector on the end of the cable coming out of the wall, then reattached it. At one point I asked why the TV didn't seem to be receiving a signal, and he suggested it was because I hadn't yet run guided setup, but that everything should be fine once I was done with that. Then he left.

So I started guided setup--and about halfway through, I glanced at the back of the TiVo box--and realized that he'd plugged the cable into the Antenna In port. Which explains why there had been no signal.

Fixed that, then discovered that CableCard 2 was getting every channel it was supposed to get, but CableCard 1 wasn't getting any at all. Fortunately, all it took was one call to TW tech support; they hit the card again, all my channels showed up, and now everything seems to be working as it should.

So finally, a week after buying the new HD TiVo and the new HDTV, I can finally look at a 1080i signal. Just like that, a DiscoveryHD program on a giant mining shovel was the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. And a commercial with the shuttle launching! Yowee! This is awesome!

[TWCmademedoit]

Got my CableCard install yesterday as well in Los Angeles. No problems, all channels working just fine. It took them two hours and the problem was with the dispatch people on the phone. The two guys that were here both agreed that you need to have someone on the other end of the phone that knows what they're doing and if they do, it should be no problem. They went through 4 different people by the time they got it.

When I originally made the appointment, I flat out told them I needed two cards and that it was for a Tivo Series3 and that I'd read there have been serious problems getting the install done right the first time, so I insisted that they send someone that was trained and experienced in doing the Series3 installs. They made a note of it and sent someone that had already done these. Unless you tell them ahead of time to send someone experienced, you might have a problem.

I'm also watching DiscoveryHD and other stuff I never would have bothered to watch. It feels like I'm at the IMAX for the first time, watching something just because it looks good!

[abredt]

Tech arrived and said. "Sure - done lots of TiVos." Then started looking for the cable that goes from the Hi-Def box into the TiVo....!!!

I gave him the instruction sheet and the connection chart I had made and talked him thru it. He reinstalled the cards that had failed. Seems to be OK. He said that Customer Service doesn't know how to do it - have to talk to the dispatcher.

I don't know how a non-techie can get thru this.

The techs told me that they don't look at the requests on the job sheet so asking for someone experienced does not work. I had asked for the guy I had the prior time, but didn't get him.

The other 2 techs I had had each spent over an hour waiting for the dispatcher to answer the phone call. This one got through in 2 minutes using a walkie-talkie instead of his phone.

[tjramsey]

I'm very excited.... just set up my S3 and so far it is awesome!

I have a 52" Panasonic LCD projection TV coming tomorrow, and Time Warner Austin is coming tomorrow to install the cablecards.

I'm HOPING the TV is delivered before the TW guy or gal comes in the afternoon (my TV delivery window overlaps the TW window).

Right now I have hooked it up to my old Samsung 32" HD (4:3) CRT, which has moved to the bedroom. I set it up for OTA and analog cable. Now for my question:

Just in case the cable guy gets here before Circiut City delivery, would it be ok to do the cablecard install with the S3 upstairs in the bedroom and then move it downstairs (to a different cable jack) later? Is there any chance that the cablecards (hoping they work on the first install trip, I know its a gamble; I've been keeping up with this thread) will somehow be tied to the particular cable jack?

I have a strong guess that the answer is no; but if there's a chance that moving the S3 downstairs will hork it all up, I guess I should move the S3 downstairs now and just hook it up to the non-HD TV before anyone shows up, but that would mean no HD until the new TV arrives, and that would be a shame .

Of course if it all goes according to plan, I'll be watching my S3 tivo on the new TV before I even get a call from the cable guy.

Opinions anyone?

T.J.

[pmiranda]

I have a strong guess that the answer is no; but if there's a chance that moving the S3 downstairs will hork it all up, I guess I should move the S3 downstairs now and just hook it up to the non-HD TV before anyone shows up, but that would mean no HD until the new TV arrives, and that would be a shame .


If the downstairs jack has at least as good of a signal as the upstairs one, there would be no difference, but that's a big "if". I would set it up where you plan to use it, with the exact cables, splitters, surge protectors, amps, etc. you plan to use.
Some folks have seen the S3 be more sensitive to signal problems than other devices, which is odd given how good the OTA tuner seems to be relative to other devices, but nevertheless, better to be safe.

And maybe you'll have a "Christmas miracle" with the new TV arriving just in time to hook up to your working S3.

Remember, your top priority is to get ALL channels working on both cards of the S3. The eye candy can wait until after that.

[tjramsey]

If the downstairs jack has at least as good of a signal as the upstairs one, there would be no difference, but that's a big "if". I would set it up where you plan to use it, with the exact cables, splitters, surge protectors, amps, etc. you plan to use.

And maybe you'll have a "Christmas miracle" with the new TV arriving just in time to hook up to your working S3.

Remember, your top priority is to get ALL channels working on both cards of the S3. The eye candy can wait until after that.

Good advice all around! I think the signal quality is very similar (my weak link is in my office, different splitter), but don't really know for sure, so you're right, I'll move the S3 down this morning.

And yes, I spent an hour last night re-reading this thread and copy-pasting relevant posts, several of yours, pmiranda, so thanks so much for forging that trail for us in Austin.

I DO need to write down my MUST have channels right now..... Tivo does make it so you don't know channel numbers at all.

And here's hoping for the "Birthday Miracle" (changed the wording because tomorrow IS my birthday, so to me, Christmas season doesn't start until the 10th :D )

I'll add my contributions to this thread after the CC install.
--T.J.

[tjramsey]

Update number 1 (first visit from installer):
The TV beat the cable cards in the race; which I think I prefer.

Time Warner guy left while cable cards were doing firmware upgrade, promised to call back in 40 Minutes. I didn't want him to leave, but I wasn't overly confident in him, since his stated experience with the S3 was "I've done 1...... successfully? no."

He almost followed the instructions, at least inserted the first card, then called it in and waited until we could test some channels before going on to the 2nd. Of course, the first card was not getting premium channels or HD Tier channels when he started the second, and the firmware upgrade hasn't changed that.

IF he actualy calls me back, I feel fairly confident that if we re-hit the cards it might work (EMM count is at 0, so from my reading, we need to ensure the services are correct on the account and re-hit the cards); At least we are down to where the DCNS group have helped others.

I tried getting him to stay and he was resistant, I did say, "But its not working!" but I figured I'd let him go and hope he will call back, flies, honey, vinegar, and all that. (In this case, I'm pretty sure he's a contracter, so I figure I'll hope he can go do another job to get his money for that and that he'll call me back..... (I've got his cel phone number in case that doesn't work.)

[84325e]

Update number 1 (first visit from installer):
The TV beat the cable cards in the race; which I think I prefer.

Time Warner guy left while cable cards were doing firmware upgrade, promised to call back in 40 Minutes. I didn't want him to leave, but I wasn't overly confident in him, since his stated experience with the S3 was "I've done 1...... successfully? no."

He almost followed the instructions, at least inserted the first card, then called it in and waited until we could test some channels before going on to the 2nd. Of course, the first card was not getting premium channels or HD Tier channels when he started the second, and the firmware upgrade hasn't changed that.

IF he actualy calls me back, I feel fairly confident that if we re-hit the cards it might work (EMM count is at 0, so from my reading, we need to ensure the services are correct on the account and re-hit the cards); At least we are down to where the DCNS group have helped others.

I tried getting him to stay and he was resistant, I did say, "But its not working!" but I figured I'd let him go and hope he will call back, flies, honey, vinegar, and all that. (In this case, I'm pretty sure he's a contracter, so I figure I'll hope he can go do another job to get his money for that and that he'll call me back..... (I've got his cel phone number in case that doesn't work.)

Deja vu. It's all about the authorization/balance or whatever the magic word is for the account. You're at the stage where if the tech gets thru to DNCS or a CS agent who knows what they are doing, they will use the correct internal program and make the magic key strokes and within seconds, you'll be golden.

PS don't believe the malarkey the it takes "hours" for the channels to show up after they properly hit the cards. It was 5 seconds for me once they got Austin DNCS on the phone.

[abredt]

A TW tech told me that they don't use contractors for cablecard installs.

[mercurial]

A TW tech told me that they don't use contractors for cablecard installs.

Maybe not there, but the certainly do here.

[tjramsey]

After a little help from cableguyxxx the cards were hit and all is working extremely well; I'm redoing guided setup now that Test Channels works.

I really do think those of us in Austin owe Mr Cableguy at least a keg of beer for all the aggrivation he has saved us. I'd head up the collection efforts for a really nice Amazon gift card or something.

Thanks for everyone's help, This thread really prepared me for what could go wrong, and thankfully only a small portion of what could happen did; mainly thanks to the forum and those who went before.

Oh yea, and Austin has one more S3 owner, Woo Hoo!

A TW tech told me that they don't use contractors for cablecard installs.

I've got nothing against contractors at all, but pretty sure he was. When I commented on his leaving before it was working, he said something like "They only pay me 30 bucks per cablecard install (not sure what the number he said was, might have been lower, was not higher) so I assumed he was a contractor from that comment. Just guessing a TW employee would be hourly or salaried; I could be wrong about that
He has yet to call me back, but someone from customer service did and said they'd try to get him back here... still haven't heard from him, but the order could be closed, since its all working now (Hurray!) I will say he was a nice enough guy, and he even insisted I let my dogs in while he worked, which definately earns him some points.

--T.J.