Comcast just removed serial support

[maggard]

For those of us who have been using serial cables from our Tivo Series 2 boxes to change channels on our Motorola boxes (faster & more reliable then the IR Blasters) - Comcast just disabled this with an ‘update’ in New England.

Folks calling to ask ‘what happened’ are urged to rent a Comcast DVR.

That’s insulting, it’s dirty pool, and in my case it’s the last straw.

Now, apparently in an attempt to ‘push’ folks off of our own DVRs & onto Comcast’s they’re disabling functionality some of us have relied on for years.

I purchased my TiVo from AT&T Broadband, Comcast’s predecessor, explicitly because the then-new Series 2 supported serial changing. I have hung onto my Motorola cable box specifically because it supported serial changing. Indeed when my original box died Comcast specially replaced it with an identical model to support this feature.

Well, this customer has been pushed too far.

I had Verizon Fios installed 6 months ago for phone service. Tomorrow I’ll be calling them to activate their internet & TV service. Faster network speeds, no secret limits, no deceitful ‘we don’t filter’ BS, more HD channels, better selection, and no Comcast.

[ajwees41]

you posted in the wrong area. This is for Motorola dvr's running the Tivo software.

[maggard]

I believe Comcast customers should be aware of how Comcast is treating non-Comcast DVR (Tivo) customers.

[bicker]

Forums don't work that way. You should post messages in forums where the messages are appropriate, not to any and all forums where you feel you want to get your message in front of people's eyes. For example, if you support Candidate XXX for President, are you going to post a list of his/her strong points here??? Of course not.

[maggard]

Comcast, the folks underwriting TiVo's move to 3rd party DVRs, who by all reports are looking to start rolling out TiVo-on-Comcast within days, are actively disabling support for existing TiVo DVRs on Comcast systems.

Now, you may think that's not relevant, but for those of us already with TiVos, & Comcast, that is very relevant. And as we're the folks most likely to consider TiVo-on-Comcast this is IMHO absolutely the right place to let folks know about the pressure tactics being adopted.

Finally those considering TiVo-on-Comcast have a right to know how Comcast is treating it's customers already with TiVo, and what sort of pressure tactics the company may resort to in the future.

I bought my Tivo DVR from what became Comcast, now I'm getting shafted with their trying to make me buy their latest-'n-greatest TiVo-on-Comcast DVR, buyer beware!

[dirtypacman]

I noticed this last night after missing 2 days of recording.. So I believe they disabled the seriel port as of Monday 11/12.

I just set up my IR and kept on tivo'ing along.

[davezatz]

Comcast just disabled this with an ‘update’ in New England

Consider yourself lucky. Comcast took my serial support away like two years or more ago.

[ajwees41]

I believe Comcast customers should be aware of how Comcast is treating non-Comcast DVR (Tivo) customers.

comcast dvr customers don't care because the HD/DVR 's don't have serial ports.

[flatcurve]

Why would you have FiOS installed and only use it for phone service? Isn't it cheaper and better than Comcast on all accounts? Or were you bound in an agreement? because I can't really think of any other valid reason.

I can't wait for fios in my area, to be honest.

[bicker]

FIOS only offers telephone and HSI service in our neighborhood. They only offer their television service in the more affluent portions of town.

[flatcurve]

I guess that means they're rolling out the infrastructure faster than they can put hardware in at the head-end. My guess is that you'll eventually be able to get the tv service, although it doesn't sound like this was the OPs problem. I've run into that issue of provider's showing preference to affluent areas too. I don't think it's necessarily a status thing, but more due to the fact that there's more potential subscribers there because there's more disposable income. It still sucks.

[bhang]

comcast, is a bit too shady for my taste, after a rollout of a new moto dct in my area, I as an installer for comcast I KNOWINGLY installed these new boxes for about 2 months, knowing they DID NOT work at all, comcast new these boxes wouldn't show video, because they hadn't figured out how to initialize them yet, we would even be setup to replace a "faulty" ird, and were knowingly sent to pickup a new box that didnt work, for another box of the exact same type, neither of which could be initialized so they wouldn't show channels, after the first couple days when they couldn't get ANY of these units going, I was amazed to see that we ere still installing them, only to have to do it for the next 8 weeks...

My point is comcast cares about paid subs, nothing else.


bhang

[davezatz]

I guess that means they're rolling out the infrastructure faster than they can put hardware in at the head-end.

That could be part of it, but the sticking point in most regions is getting licensed to offer television services. Possibly slowed down by cable company lobbying.

[FourOhFour]

Comcast, the folks underwriting TiVo's move to 3rd party DVRs, who by all reports are looking to start rolling out TiVo-on-Comcast within days, are actively disabling support for existing TiVo DVRs on Comcast systems.
Repeating your message with added bold does not make it on topic.

[maggard]

Why would you have FiOS installed and only use it for phone service?

I had FiOS installed after my POTS (copper) network became unusable. I was getting storms two & three hours long of random phone ringing, at all hours. After months of trouble-shooting, rewiring much of my house, disabling the alarm system, cutting off every phone but one, etc. Verizon conceded the copper lines in my area are shot and offered to switch me to fiber.

So I switched over my phone service.

While I was considering their other offerings I was in no hurry. It wasn’t until Comcast pushed by disabling cable box features my Tivo used that I jumped.

If anyone doesn’t like this thread, which started out on-topic, then don’t repeatedly post to it & bump it up...

[ajwees41]

Comcast, the folks underwriting TiVo's move to 3rd party DVRs, who by all reports are looking to start rolling out TiVo-on-Comcast within days, are actively disabling support for existing TiVo DVRs on Comcast systems.

Now, you may think that's not relevant, but for those of us already with TiVos, & Comcast, that is very relevant. And as we're the folks most likely to consider TiVo-on-Comcast this is IMHO absolutely the right place to let folks know about the pressure tactics being adopted.

Finally those considering TiVo-on-Comcast have a right to know how Comcast is treating it's customers already with TiVo, and what sort of pressure tactics the company may resort to in the future.

I bought my Tivo DVR from what became Comcast, now I'm getting shafted with their trying to make me buy their latest-'n-greatest TiVo-on-Comcast DVR, buyer beware!


one last thing it's not only comcast that had the the serial ports deactivated, but all motorola areas that use the motorola boxes because of a motorola firmware update nothing to do with comcast or tivo.

[BobB]

Is this universal? I have a Comcast Motorola box and my serial connection is still working fine.

[bicker]

If ajwees41 is correct (and I bet he is), then it will eventually affect all the boxes, as each get the next firmware update, except if the engineers have the foresight to re-enable the feature manually after applying the update.

[johnmsch]

you posted in the wrong area. This is for Motorola dvr's running the Tivo software.

So where would we post issues having to do with using TiVo on Comcast cable?????

[bicker]

For general issues:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=3&daysprune=1&order=asc&sort=replycount&pp=35&page=1

For HD specific issues:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51&daysprune=1&order=asc&sort=replycount&pp=35&page=1

[killerdrummer]

Comcast just pushed out a firmware update about 2 weeks ago to the cable boxes (model = DCT-2500?) so that the serial port no longer works. I finally got to sit down over Thanksgiving and figure out what was going on. I called Comcast support and they were pretty clueless about what the heck I was talking about but he did say that "I think I've heard of some TiVo customers having problems."

Wow, that's so informative! Thanks a lot!

Anyway, I had 2 non-HD digital boxes that I was using for my daughter to get 1 channel in the first range of digital channels. She has outgrown that channel so I dumped the boxes (and am saving a few bucks per month). However, I did a lot of ranting to Comcast support before and after I returned the boxes. When I asked him why Comcast would turn off the serial port, he said that "we're always adding new features to our cable boxes". When I pointed out that this was LOSING a feature, he then admitted that it was probably an attempt to get people to rent the DVR boxes from Comcast. I told him that I didn't want to for the following reasons:

1) The TiVo interface is unbelievably better than the Motorola interface. My 7 year old learned how to record shows after I showed her 1 time. It took me 3 trips to my parent's house to get them to understand the Motorola interface.

2) I purchased my TiVo 12-15 months before Comcast had DVRs so my investment has been made and I don't want to just lose that investment.

3) I can keep the TiVo going for along time since I can replace the hard drive and restore the settings using the famous "Hindale howto".

He said he understood my reasons and agreed that they were good ones but he couldn't do anything about it. Wow - I'm so shocked to hear that! Once again, thanks a lot!

I also called Motorola to determine how much control Comcast has over the hardware. I found out that Motorola makes sure that the boxes work but provides APIs to the cable providers so that they can tweak the hardware settings and change the software that is used as a DVR interface. It turns out that Comcast can change out the Motorola interface for a TiVo interface if it wants to. In talking to a Comcast person, it sounds like that is in the works but they have no date yet.

When I returned the boxes to the Comcast office, the lady mentioned and showed me a new Motorola box that has a different serial port (looks like a headphone jack but it's marked "serial"). It's the Mororola DCH70. She suggested that I try that box but since I don't have a cable for it to go to my TiVo and she couldn't assure me that it was enabled, I declined.

I'm waiting for an answer from Comcast engineering on whether or not the port is enabled or not. I'll post back here when I get a call back. They said it will be 3-5 business days but I'm sure I'll have to call back.

The bottom line - Comcast is trying to alienate the TiVo customers that don't need the Comast DVR by disabling the serial port in the hopes of adding to their revenues by "encouraging" more DVR box rentals. The niche market that they're pissing off is not likely to do that. I certainly am not.

--George

[ajwees41]

Is this universal? I have a Comcast Motorola box and my serial connection is still working fine.

what firmware are you on?

[ajwees41]

Comcast just pushed out a firmware update about 2 weeks ago to the cable boxes (model = DCT-2500?) so that the serial port no longer works. I finally got to sit down over Thanksgiving and figure out what was going on. I called Comcast support and they were pretty clueless about what the heck I was talking about but he did say that "I think I've heard of some TiVo customers having problems."

Wow, that's so informative! Thanks a lot!

Anyway, I had 2 non-HD digital boxes that I was using for my daughter to get 1 channel in the first range of digital channels. She has outgrown that channel so I dumped the boxes (and am saving a few bucks per month). However, I did a lot of ranting to Comcast support before and after I returned the boxes. When I asked him why Comcast would turn off the serial port, he said that "we're always adding new features to our cable boxes". When I pointed out that this was LOSING a feature, he then admitted that it was probably an attempt to get people to rent the DVR boxes from Comcast. I told him that I didn't want to for the following reasons:

1) The TiVo interface is unbelievably better than the Motorola interface. My 7 year old learned how to record shows after I showed her 1 time. It took me 3 trips to my parent's house to get them to understand the Motorola interface.

2) I purchased my TiVo 12-15 months before Comcast had DVRs so my investment has been made and I don't want to just lose that investment.

3) I can keep the TiVo going for along time since I can replace the hard drive and restore the settings using the famous "Hindale howto".

He said he understood my reasons and agreed that they were good ones but he couldn't do anything about it. Wow - I'm so shocked to hear that! Once again, thanks a lot!

I also called Motorola to determine how much control Comcast has over the hardware. I found out that Motorola makes sure that the boxes work but provides APIs to the cable providers so that they can tweak the hardware settings and change the software that is used as a DVR interface. It turns out that Comcast can change out the Motorola interface for a TiVo interface if it wants to. In talking to a Comcast person, it sounds like that is in the works but they have no date yet.

When I returned the boxes to the Comcast office, the lady mentioned and showed me a new Motorola box that has a different serial port (looks like a headphone jack but it's marked "serial"). It's the Mororola DCH70. She suggested that I try that box but since I don't have a cable for it to go to my TiVo and she couldn't assure me that it was enabled, I declined.

I'm waiting for an answer from Comcast engineering on whether or not the port is enabled or not. I'll post back here when I get a call back. They said it will be 3-5 business days but I'm sure I'll have to call back.

The bottom line - Comcast is trying to alienate the TiVo customers that don't need the Comast DVR by disabling the serial port in the hopes of adding to their revenues by "encouraging" more DVR box rentals. The niche market that they're pissing off is not likely to do that. I certainly am not.

--George

The tivo interface will be only for the dvr's the regular boxes and the HDnondvr boxes will still use the guide they use today.

[ajwees41]

If ajwees41 is correct (and I bet he is), then it will eventually affect all the boxes, as each get the next firmware update, except if the engineers have the foresight to re-enable the feature manually after applying the update.

I am pretty sure I am right because the same thing happened on Cox's Motorola digital boxes. it took a firmware fix to enable it again, but I not sure which one since I have the motorola dvr now.