COX, SDV, Hampton Roads ?

[terrible_towel]

Cox in Hampton Roads, VA put out a few new HD channels yesterday. I find that my cable cards can not decode any of the new channels. The old HD channels still work just fine.

I have called them a 3 times, they have unpaired/paired and refreshed the cards twice, but it didn't change anything.

I tried doing a new guided setup and a cold reboot of the TiVOHD (9.2).

Is this a case of SDV maybe ?

Anyone else out there in HR with cable cards getting these new channels ? (i.e. tbsHD 742)

Thanks

[MARCPV]

I have the same problem in palos verdes, ca. Was told by cox that the cable cards will not support the new High Def Channels:mad:

[24k Kate]

I have Cox in Norfolk, and my S3 was updated with HGTV HD, History HD ,TBS HD, and Discovery HD yesterday with no problems.

[tivowiz]

There is a Norfolk,VA Cox Cable thread on avsforum that a Cox employee reads & responds too - he may be able to clear this up (assuing it's SDV, which I don't think it is). Cox has indicated that they only have a couple of SDV markets now (not Hampton Roads), and, that there will be adding one more next year as they test the technology.

Check out this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=426435) for more information.

I hope it's not SDV, I was planning on ordering a S3 this week...

[tivowiz]

Those of you in the Hampton Roads area with TivoHD's, how was your cablecard experience with Cox? Are they using Mcards or Scards? I'm moving towards an S3 most likely (so a mcard doesn't matter), it's the ability to add my own esata that is the clincher (I already have 2 750GB esata disks).

Are you having any issues receiving, recording anything? Any pixellation issues?

[szurgot]

I have Cox in Norfolk, and my S3 was updated with HGTV HD, History HD ,TBS HD, and Discovery HD yesterday with no problems.

Hmph. In Virginia Beach, I've got Discovery, but no HGTV, History or TBS. And Cox says they won't be available till mid Dec.

And I have a nasty problem with breakups on several of the analog channels (below 100)

[tivowiz]

I'm in WIlliamsburg, I just had a Tivo S3 get it's cable cards today, I also cannot get these three channels lHGTV HD, History HD and TBS HD - I do get Discovery HD though.
I have breakups & pixleation on 10 other channels - all in the 200 range).

The install went fine - we went by the book, and, both cards paired & worked fine the 1st time (other than the above issues).

[Krellion]

I'm in Hampton and I got the channel update last week.

I'll have to double-check the others, but I know I'm able to tune the Discovery HD (this was put in place of Discovery HD Theatre) and History HD channels with no problem. I do get the occasional breakup, but that's just due to the signal strength (I'm at the end of the run for my apartment building).

Also, I called Cox several weeks ago and asked about MCards, but the rep I talked to told me that they currently don't have them yet.

One issue I have with these new "HD" channels is when they're showing upconverted SD material: It appears that they just do a stretch to widescreen instead of pillarboxing it. :(

[dragonkeper]

Hmph. In Virginia Beach, I've got Discovery, but no HGTV, History or TBS. And Cox says they won't be available till mid Dec.

And I have a nasty problem with breakups on several of the analog channels (below 100)


I'm in Virginia Beach also, but I have all the new HD channels.

[glassonion]

Did any of you HR Cox customers have the pixelations issues described on the "No S3 working in entire Hampton Roads?!" thread?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=342132&highlight=hampton+roads

[24k Kate]

I have Cox in Norfolk, and my S3 was updated with HGTV HD, History HD ,TBS HD, and Discovery HD yesterday with no problems.
Scratch that. For two glorious weeks we had the new channels. Then, without warning, for no reason I could determine, POOF! They were gone. I suspected SDV, though a through search of the Cox website found no mention of it. So, a call to tech support was made. 20 minutes later, (after a strong suspicion that I knew more about SDV then the tech on the other end of the line) I had an answer. Well, sort of. The semi- clueless tech informed me that Cox was rolling out a fantabulious new system that would require two way communication with the CC.(SDV? He wasn’t sure) To achieve this, a Shiny New kind of Cable Card was in the works. (I asked about the dongle.-he had no idea what I was talking about( the new HD channels would not be available to CC customers. I was not satisfied, but it was late, I was tired, so I thanked him for his “help” (Hey, he was polite and tried, not his fault his company is stupid) but did inform him that the minute FIOS became available in my area, I would drop every Cox service I subscribe to.

At this point, I was ready to accept not getting the new channels until the new dongle came out. Then I got to thinking …Cox HR is NOT using SDV. There is no reason why I should not be getting those channels. NONE! So, yesterday, I had some free time, and decided to try my luck with Cox Customer Service. After a short wait, (Tip- hit O when none of the options are what you want) I was speaking with Joe. I told Joe my tale of woe, (Is it SDV? SD What‘s that? Said he…) and that since I pay the same amount of money for my service as customers with a box, that I thought I should receive ALL of the channels. Well, Joe actually tried to do his job and went off to find me some answers. Which he got. And they were not pretty. Basically, due to “bandwidth concerns” Cox will not be rolling out any new HD channels to CC customers.( But, it’s not SDV.) The Shiny New Cable Card (CableCard 2.0?) will fix this problem. So, I asked when I could expect this, and the best he could come up with was “Sometime next year.” Then I asked if it would work in my TiVo, and he said “absolutely.” (I’m not so sure.)

Not liking what I had just learned, I told him the same thing I told the tech guy: As soon as FIOS is available in my neighborhood, I was going to drop Cox like a hot potato. He then told me that a great many of FIOS subscribers were coming back to Cox because of “customer service” and said that they charged a fee to return a box or something like that. Yeah, but do they deny CC customers non premium channels for no reason? Then he told me I should get a box. At this point I was done. I thanked him for his help ( And never once in this conversation was he not polite) and reiterated that I would cancel my service as soon as I had other options. Alas my love of TV outweighs my principles, thus making this threat quite empty…You see, Cox has a stranglehold on Norfolk. And Joe knows it. For now, I am letting this go.

[jrm01]

Basically, due to “bandwidth concerns” Cox will not be rolling out any new HD channels to CC customers.( But, it’s not SDV.) The Shiny New Cable Card (CableCard 2.0?) will fix this problem. So, I asked when I could expect this, and the best he could come up with was “Sometime next year.” Then I asked if it would work in my TiVo, and he said “absolutely.” (I’m not so sure.)



If they are providing the new channels to cablebox customers it takes no added bandwidth to provide it to cc customers. The "bandwidth concern" is not in the 25 feet of coax running to your house, it's in the main pipeline.

[Krellion]

Scratch that. For two glorious weeks we had the new channels. Then, without warning, for no reason I could determine, POOF! They were gone.
Sorry to hear you're having that problem, but I have access to all of the newer channels with no problem.

Unless Cox decided to try out SDV in Norfolk and not Hampton, it sounds like your CableCARDs aren't currently authorized for those channels.

Keep calling Cox until you get someone who knows what they're doing.

(I hope they roll out Sci-fi HD soon. :))