SDV Tuning Adapter - Cox No. VA

[milo99]

hey folks. i've created this thread to replace the one here http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=408897&page=3 in order to discuss the Tuning Adapter's deployment in Cox's Northern VA area.

Quick summary:

The TA's are in "beta testing" right now.
They are working on trying to figure out the best delivery method. Their testing revealed that installation is pretty easy, and that they may just drop ship an adapter to save us from a truck roll.
Someone from Cox is supposed to call by the end of the week and tell us (those of us who had filed a complaint with Fairfax Co) how it will be delivered.


We've made progress and have been called by a Cox VP that no later than Dec 11 we will have them. So joy to the wor-... er.. um.. Fairfax County! :)

[Timber]

Is there a good number to call or issue to mention if we only just complained to Fairfax Co. (like 2 minutes ago?)

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

Is there a good number to call or issue to mention if we only just complained to Fairfax Co. (like 2 minutes ago?)

-=Tim=-

You know, i was thinking about that. I'm hesitant to give out the number of the lady from Cox, but what i'll do is send a note to Mr. Hide from Fairfax and ask him if people can just send him a note directly so as to get on the 'priority list' instead of filing a bunch of separate complaints. I'll report back.

[Willis1776]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I just recently purchased a Tivo box on Cox and was pretty upset with losing some of my channels. I just sent in the complaint today to Fairfax County and was wondering if I would be put on the list to receive a tuning adapter. I sure hope so because I'm still pretty upset about not receiving some of my favorite channels (VersusHD).

[Revolutionary]

I doubt the county will collect more names to send to Cox. They've already acheived the effect desired -- Cox delayed deployment until the adapter was "available" (even if not widely) to accomodate Tivo subscribers. Now its just a matter of supply and a demand for the box -- which is entirely Cox's problem, not the County's. They have better things to do.

[deaddeeds]

It seems to me that Mr. Hide’s full time job at Fairfax County is dealing with Communications Policy and Regulation. So I would not dismiss the idea completely. I would complain as it can’t hurt and if he gets another round of names he may forward theme onto Cox.

[milo99]

I doubt the county will collect more names to send to Cox. They've already acheived the effect desired -- Cox delayed deployment until the adapter was "available" (even if not widely) to accomodate Tivo subscribers. Now its just a matter of supply and a demand for the box -- which is entirely Cox's problem, not the County's. They have better things to do.

ah, ye of little faith. Mr. Hide replied and suggested people forward their info to him via this email address:

wwwcprd@fairfaxcounty.gov

They'll be forwarded to his attention and then sent to Cox. this way they can monitor the progress.

So, anyone else interested who hasn't submitted a complaint yet, i'd forward your info along to them via the above email.

[milo99]

Folks, I was actually just contacted by the Cox VP who contacted us earlier. I guess she found this board and more specifically this thread, as she told me that I can give you all her email if you'd like to be on the priority list for the TA.

PM me and i'll send it to you. I'm not going to post it on here for obvious privacy concerns.

[amyflick]

Awesome! PM sent.

Progress, we're making progress!

[Willis1776]

I emailed him earlier and received a reply about an hour later saying that It would be out by the 11th and that I would be placed on the list to receive it. Great news!!!

[Dark Helmet]

I emailed the person at Cox last night and I got a response back this morning. Looking good!

[milo99]

Dcollens: i tried to reply to your PM but it said that you either are not accepting PMs or are not allowed to receive them. PM me your regular email and i'll send it there.

[dcollens]

Tks. I sent the e-mail and she has responded that I will be added to the list.

[JTalbert]

Milo Thanks for your help. I am glad this is going to be resolved. I am happy that Cox has switched to SDV, will enable us to get a lot more channels. I wish Cox would have just held off until the TA was out before they did this, but am happy Cox decided to postpone the switch of the other channels to SDV, especially since my 3 year old likes to watch some of those channels. Would have been hard to explain to her why she cannot watch her shows anymore.

Thanks again!

[milo99]

Milo Thanks for your help. I am glad this is going to be resolved. I am happy that Cox has switched to SDV, will enable us to get a lot more channels. I wish Cox would have just held off until the TA was out before they did this, but am happy Cox decided to postpone the switch of the other channels to SDV, especially since my 3 year old likes to watch some of those channels. Would have been hard to explain to her why she cannot watch her shows anymore.

Thanks again!

i've gained a lot from the help i've received on this forum, so doing the legwork for this is my small way of giving back. :D

[Timber]

I spoke with her today, sounds like they're on top of things!!! :)

Many thanks to "Milo99."

-=tim=-

[milo99]

so i received word from Cox last night - apparently they figured having us pick them up will be more efficient than them shipping them out. Those of you who contacted Ms. Falk should be getting an email like the following:

The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp


I don't know if being the priority list matters any more since we have to go get them. I did ask her if we'll have a "reserved" TA in case of short supplies, or if it's not even going to matter (so anybody who hasn't already may not need to bother sending her a message). I'll let you know what she says.

[milo99]

Man, i just have to say it's nice to be dealing with a responsive person at Cox! Ms Falk got back to me with more details:


they're not going to move channels to SDV right away, probably another couple of weeks for those who don't have a chance to pick up the TAs right away
they're implementing a drop-ship program, but details aren't worked out yet
for those who contacted her, you probably will be able to request a truck roll to get it delivered to you, but of course, that means you have to be around
she's looking into putting a reserved batch of TAs for those of us who contacted her so we can be assured they'll be available for us to pick up


essentially, the fastest way to get one will be to go to their retail centers on Thursday 12/11. The program is still evolving, so there may be some hiccups, but they're trying to get these out as quickly as possible for us.

She'll be sending out emails to all on the list with the details, she's just vetting out those details with her folks and, I guess, me. :D

...so to answer my earlier question, if you want on the list, still PM me to get her info and send her a note.

[Timber]

Man, i just have to say it's nice to be dealing with a responsive person at Cox! Ms Falk got back to me with more details:


they're not going to move channels to SDV right away, probably another couple of weeks for those who don't have a chance to pick up the TAs right away
they're implementing a drop-ship program, but details aren't worked out yet
for those who contacted her, you probably will be able to request a truck roll to get it delivered to you, but of course, that means you have to be around
she's looking into putting a reserved batch of TAs for those of us who contacted her so we can be assured they'll be available for us to pick up


essentially, the fastest way to get one will be to go to their retail centers on Thursday 12/11. The program is still evolving, so there may be some hiccups, but they're trying to get these out as quickly as possible for us.

She'll be sending out emails to all on the list with the details, she's just vetting out those details with her folks and, I guess, me. :D

...so to answer my earlier question, if you want on the list, still PM me to get her info and send her a note.

Haven't heard this back from her yet but she was very helpful and informative.

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

Haven't heard this back from her yet but she was very helpful and informative.

-=Tim=-
yea, they're still working the details out before she sends out a mass message to everyone that the county gave her and who contacted her via this forum.

For example, scheduling a truck roll i'm guessing wont be by calling regular customer service. She'll probably let us know how to go about it when they figure it out, and will probably have it in the email to everyone.

There have been about 20 people who PM'd me for her email, so add that the the 7 from the original complaints to the county, that's 27 people at least that she's got on her plate. So before everything is finalized, she's probably using me as a point of contact to give us a heads up without contacting everybody individually.

honestly, i'm surprised she's this hands on with everything. I mean, she's a VP, you'd think some manager below her would be handling all this, but i guess that goes to show you they're trying to get this done right.

[shabby46]

I just got an email a few minutes ago from Cox saying that the tuning adapters would be available starting on thursday for on-site pickup at either Herndon of Kingstown and by replying with your choice of location, your name could be put on a reserve list.

I still fully expect an email wednesday night saying that there was a shipping error and the adapters wont arrive until after the new year, but i'll keep my fingers crossed.

[amyflick]

I just got an email from Ms. Falk that I can pick up the TA at Kingstowne or Herndon on the 11th. She also offered to have one held for me at either location. Hooray!

[milo99]

I just got an email a few minutes ago from Cox saying that the tuning adapters would be available starting on thursday for on-site pickup at either Herndon of Kingstown and by replying with your choice of location, your name could be put on a reserve list.

I still fully expect an email wednesday night saying that there was a shipping error and the adapters wont arrive until after the new year, but i'll keep my fingers crossed.
they already had "some" in stock last week, but not many, so not sure if the "some" are < 30 (that's about how many people asked me for her info + county supplied names) and thus enough for those of us to reserve, but I'm guessing they're fairly ready to go.

And even if s**t happens and they dont have enough, as Ms. Falk told me again, they will be pushing back the date that they begin to move additional channels into Switched Digital Video pool so customers will have more time to get the boxes and set them up

[shabby46]

they already had "some" in stock last week, but not many, so not sure if the "some" are < 30 (that's about how many people asked me for her info + county supplied names) and thus enough for those of us to reserve, but I'm guessing they're fairly ready to go.

And even s**t happens and they dont have enough, as Ms. Falk told me again, they will be pushing back the date that they begin to move additional channels into Switched Digital Video pool so customers will have more time to get the boxes and set them up

Even if they push back the scheduled SDV switch due to lack of adapters, we will still be missing out the same HD channels as always which will still leave me disappointed.

Im sure they are ready though.

[deaddeeds]

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.

[spitoon]

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.

I am also upset about this. I figure once they officialy respond to the FCC fine and how they will implement a reimbursement plan to all subscribers who lost channels unfairly due to SDV from October 2007 until now, we will hear something more definitive. This not only affected TIVO owners, but SONY HD DVR owners with cablecards and anyone else who had a piece of equipment with cable card (one-way device).

[warewolf]

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.

This is actually something they're required to do by the FCC order released last month.

[Dark Helmet]

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.

I hate to be the apologist for Cox ... but I don't think it's THAT horrible. At first, it was just a bunch of crap channels that went away. Didn't really miss any of them. Okay, so a fair number of new HD channels arrived, and I would have liked to have them ... but I have to be a realist. If the choice was to make new channels available to the vast majority of cable subscribers but not to CableCARD users, because of bandwidth limitations ... well, I guess I can sort of see the reasoning here.

However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there.

And yes, I understand that if the rollout of the new HD channels was delayed by the availability of the Tuning Adapter, that would create a strong incentive to get it out sooner. Maybe with this FCC decree we'll get some sort of pro-rata refund. Better than a kick in the teeth, I suppose. :rolleyes:

[Timber]

Two ways to go through life, the cup is half full or half empty. I'll go with the former, better for my mental health. :up:

-=Tim=-

[deaddeeds]

I hate to be the apologist for Cox ... but I don't think it's THAT horrible. At first, it was just a bunch of crap channels that went away. Didn't really miss any of them. Okay, so a fair number of new HD channels arrived, and I would have liked to have them ... but I have to be a realist. If the choice was to make new channels available to the vast majority of cable subscribers but not to CableCARD users, because of bandwidth limitations ... well, I guess I can sort of see the reasoning here.

However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there.

And yes, I understand that if the rollout of the new HD channels was delayed by the availability of the Tuning Adapter, that would create a strong incentive to get it out sooner. Maybe with this FCC decree we'll get some sort of pro-rata refund. Better than a kick in the teeth, I suppose. :rolleyes:
Not to highjack the TA discussion any longer. I did not say it was “horrible” but it is illegal. Whether you did or did not want to watch the channels that were switched over to SDV. COX willfully and unlawfully withheld content from its subscribers while still charging the full rate. In my book that is called FRUAD and/or STEALING. Plus I know COX has plenty of lawyers and lobbyists on the Hill and I would not be surprised if they appealed or asked for an extension in refunding its customers for content withheld over the past year. I am a pessimist and just want to keep pushing the issue.

[Revolutionary]

. . . However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there. . . .


Can you point me to this discussion? I've not seen that claim before. Doesn't make sense considering 1) the letters Cox sent out claiming that all new HD channels would be on SDV only and 2) they do not save any bandwidth by only withholding those channels from CC customers.

Thanks!

[Willis1776]

I received an email from Kathryn stating that they will be available tomorrow and asking me which location I prefer to pick up from (Kingstowne or Herndon). She said that she will make arrangments so I can pick it up on the 11th. She also stated that options are being arranged for people who prefer dropoffs or install by TS. So it looks like I should be able to pick up my adapter tomorrow.

Here's a copy of the email.

Dear Mr. Willis-

Thank you for your being a Cox Communications customer and for your interest in obtaining the new TiVo Tuning Adapter.



The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp

If you would like a TiVo Tuning Adapter reserved at one of these locations for you, please reply to this email and let me know which location and I am happy to make the arrangements.

If you need technical support after the install, just call our customer care line at 703-378-8422 and select Technical Support for a representative to help you.

We do plan to add options for a drop shipment program and will be doing installs but the retail method will be the fastest way to get the TiVo Tuning Adapters out to our customers right away.

Thank you for allowing us to provide you with service and please let me know if you have any additional questions.

[shabby46]

I received an email from Kathryn stating that they will be available tomorrow and asking me which location I prefer to pick up from (Kingstowne or Herndon). She said that she will make arrangments so I can pick it up on the 11th. She also stated that options are being arranged for people who prefer dropoffs or install by TS. So it looks like I should be able to pick up my adapter tomorrow.

Here's a copy of the email.

Dear Mr. Willis-

Thank you for your being a Cox Communications customer and for your interest in obtaining the new TiVo Tuning Adapter.



The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp

If you would like a TiVo Tuning Adapter reserved at one of these locations for you, please reply to this email and let me know which location and I am happy to make the arrangements.

If you need technical support after the install, just call our customer care line at 703-378-8422 and select Technical Support for a representative to help you.

We do plan to add options for a drop shipment program and will be doing installs but the retail method will be the fastest way to get the TiVo Tuning Adapters out to our customers right away.

Thank you for allowing us to provide you with service and please let me know if you have any additional questions.


quick heads up, tomorrow is the 10th. the adapters will be available on Thursday the 11th. Figure that might save you a trip out there.


P.S. Which adapter will we be getting? the long one or the shorter one? I dont remember which is which.

[Dark Helmet]

Can you point me to this discussion? I've not seen that claim before. Doesn't make sense considering 1) the letters Cox sent out claiming that all new HD channels would be on SDV only and 2) they do not save any bandwidth by only withholding those channels from CC customers.
!

It was part of that ginormous "Cox Cable Cards" thread. Here are some relevant posts (look for all posts by jfranklin if you want to get some more information). The last one is perhaps the clearest, but you have to follow the whole discussion to get all of the context. I'm not saying it makes sense either, but something doesn't add up.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238388#post6238388
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238983#post6238983
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6248623#post6248623
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6340151#post6340151

[Dark Helmet]

Not to highjack the TA discussion any longer. I did not say it was “horrible” but it is illegal. Whether you did or did not want to watch the channels that were switched over to SDV. COX willfully and unlawfully withheld content from its subscribers while still charging the full rate. In my book that is called FRUAD and/or STEALING. Plus I know COX has plenty of lawyers and lobbyists on the Hill and I would not be surprised if they appealed or asked for an extension in refunding its customers for content withheld over the past year. I am a pessimist and just want to keep pushing the issue.

Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.

(And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)

[Willis1776]

I'll be picking it up first thing on Thursday morning so I'll let you know what kind of adapter it is.

[Timber]

I'll be picking it up first thing on Thursday morning so I'll let you know what kind of adapter it is.

See ya there. ;)

-=Tim=-

[Revolutionary]

It was part of that ginormous "Cox Cable Cards" thread. Here are some relevant posts (look for all posts by jfranklin if you want to get some more information). The last one is perhaps the clearest, but you have to follow the whole discussion to get all of the context. I'm not saying it makes sense either, but something doesn't add up.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238388#post6238388
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238983#post6238983
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6248623#post6248623
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6340151#post6340151

Ah, I do remember that discussion now, thanks. My takeaway was that her "SDV list" just wasn't correct for NoVa (NoVa went SDV before any other Cox market--Hampton Roads still isn't on it).

Cox didn't just add those HD channels last November, they also moved a bunch of "lesser watched" tiers over, and I lost those tiers, too. And I got a letter from Cox saying that I would not get any new HD channels and that I would lose those lesser watched channels -- both of which happened. So I'm confident that slapping the adapter on my Tivo will bring in all of the HD channels I'm missing. It simply makes no sense that Cox would have sent out that letter last November, bought all that SDV tech, not mapped any new HD channels (20+) to cablecards, offered me 6 free months of cable-box service, and NOT actually put the new HDs on SDV.

[deaddeeds]

Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.

(And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)
Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.

[Timber]

Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.

(And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)

+1

Nicely said (and no I don't work for Cox.)

-=Tim=-

[Timber]

Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.

Why not open a new thread on this as the discussion is being sidetracked? :)

-=Tim=-

[Dark Helmet]

Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.

Okay, my LAST post on this subject.

No, I don't work for Cox. Nor another cable company, nor in the media industry. I suck at the Federal teat like many others in this area. :)

No, I don't like being overcharged by Cox. If you look, you will see that on a previous thread I (along with others) were ecstatic that we finally got a refund for being overcharged for two digital gateway fees for a single TiVo.

And as for a nastygram, here's the deal. You specifically said:

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.

In my view, here's a rather high-up person going out of her way to help us out (something she could have just pawned off on a underling, or just let us wait until the official announcement), and your response is to ask her (or get someone else to ask her), "Hey, where's my damn refund?" (you didn't say "damn", but I assume you're familiar with the concept of paraphrasing). Maybe you weren't serious and you were just venting. But if you were serious ... well, it kinda seems like a dick move to me.

And yes, I am aware of the FCC fine, and I don't even disagree with it; glad they got their hand slapped. I don't like to sound like the Great Cable Apologist bicker, but they did offer a free cable box in return. Sure, I would love to have watched Mythbusters in high-def (and I didn't take them up on the free cable box), and I'll gladly accept any refund. It's just not something I think is such a huge deal that we need to start venting at every Cox employee that goes the extra mile to help out consumers.

[Dark Helmet]

Ah, I do remember that discussion now, thanks. My takeaway was that her "SDV list" just wasn't correct for NoVa (NoVa went SDV before any other Cox market--Hampton Roads still isn't on it).

Well, maybe. But Jody did say that he (she?) had double-checked with someone in NoVa made sure those new HD channels were not on SDV. Also, you can see in some of those messages where Jody tried to pester the relevant people about this issue, and all he got back was silence. I guess I would have thought that if those channels WERE on SDV, they would simply have told him, "Sorry, you're wrong".

So I'm confident that slapping the adapter on my Tivo will bring in all of the HD channels I'm missing. It simply makes no sense that Cox would have sent out that letter last November, bought all that SDV tech, not mapped any new HD channels (20+) to cablecards, offered me 6 free months of cable-box service, and NOT actually put the new HDs on SDV.

Well, we have documented evidence in other markets where new HD channels were NOT put on SDV, but were made unavailable to CableCard subscribers because the cable company didn't want to give CableCard customers new channels and then take them away in the future when SDV was implemented. It's possible that Jody was wrong. I can't tell myself. I'd just like to know what the deal was.

But anyway, I'm also confident that SDV or no, the TA will make our lives happier.

[milo99]

Okay, my LAST post on this subject.

No, I don't work for Cox. Nor another cable company, nor in the media industry. I suck at the Federal teat like many others in this area. :)

No, I don't like being overcharged by Cox. If you look, you will see that on a previous thread I (along with others) were ecstatic that we finally got a refund for being overcharged for two digital gateway fees for a single TiVo.

And as for a nastygram, here's the deal. You specifically said:



In my view, here's a rather high-up person going out of her way to help us out (something she could have just pawned off on a underling, or just let us wait until the official announcement), and your response is to ask her (or get someone else to ask her), "Hey, where's my damn refund?" (you didn't say "damn", but I assume you're familiar with the concept of paraphrasing). Maybe you weren't serious and you were just venting. But if you were serious ... well, it kinda seems like a dick move to me.

And yes, I am aware of the FCC fine, and I don't even disagree with it; glad they got their hand slapped. I don't like to sound like the Great Cable Apologist bicker, but they did offer a free cable box in return. Sure, I would love to have watched Mythbusters in high-def (and I didn't take them up on the free cable box), and I'll gladly accept any refund. It's just not something I think is such a huge deal that we need to start venting at every Cox employee that goes the extra mile to help out consumers.

not only that, but when someone is going out of their way to help you, it won't help get them more motivated to continue helping if you go that route (nastygram).

I've talked to her a couple of times over the phone and over several emails. She's been going back and forth asking me for input, and showing me a draft of the email she was going to send out to see my opinion. I offered her some input and asked some questions that she very quickly addressed. And this was over the weekend!

When you do the math, our refund owed is pretty puny. Considering a tier is only $2 a month, if you've lost a couple of those channels, that aint much over a year. And if you were a subscriber last year, you haven't lost any HD channels, you just haven't gained any either. So a refund? Ehhh, i'm not expecting one, and i MOST DEFINITELY won't heckle her with those questions. I'll be happy to have my TA, get that all resolved, and then if i get a refund, it'll be gravy.

We finally have someone at Cox who is focused on helping us out. I'm not doing anything to jeopardize that! :)

[Revolutionary]

Well, we have documented evidence in other markets where new HD channels were NOT put on SDV, but were made unavailable to CableCard subscribers because the cable company didn't want to give CableCard customers new channels and then take them away in the future when SDV was implemented. . . .

True. But its not like Cox NoVa hasn't already done this. Case in point is Mojo. Once INHD killed the channel, Cox replaced it with Lifetime Movie -- which is not available to CableCards


But anyway, I'm also confident that SDV or no, the TA will make our lives happier.

Well, not if you're right and the HD channels aren't on SDV! ;) I could barely care less about the channels making the migration to SDV later this month (okay, my wife watches a couple of them regularly...). What I care about is getting USA, SciFi, TLC, Discovery, Comedy Central (soon), Science, Animal Planet, FX, Food, and VS in HD! If the TA doesn't fix that problem for me, then (a) something is seriously wrong (because that is the TA's raison d' etre) and (b) I will go completely ape-sh1t. :p

[deaddeeds]

Ouch, ouch ease up on the daggers, I surrender, no mas. I thought it was a simple request.

Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.

[milo99]

Ouch, ouch ease up on the daggers, I surrender, no mas. I thought it was a simple request.

Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.

from quickly perrusing the TWC sdv thread, it's pretty instantaneous.

[djones18]

At the end of the day, this thread reflects how an organized few moved a normally immovable object. Several members of this forum by their determined efforts were able to move Cox Fairfax, Virginia, to speed up distribution of a vital component for SDV viewing and slow down activation of SDV until TA's are available. No small feat! I for one am grateful to them.

Cox Fairfax has confirmed I can pick up my Tuning Adapter this Thursday and I intend to be there on time.

[milo99]

At the end of the day, this thread reflects how an organized few moved a normally immovable object. Several members of this forum by their determined efforts were able to move Cox Fairfax, Virginia, to speed up distribution of a vital component for SDV viewing and slow down activation of SDV until TA's are available. No small feat! I for one am grateful to them.

Cox Fairfax has confirmed I can pick up my Tuning Adapter this Thursday and I intend to be there on time.
what i wonder is if this was always going to be the roll out date, and the only thing we did was just shed some light on the situation and obtain info.

Although we DID manage to have them decide to delay rolling out of additional station moves to SDV for a few more weeks. But i have no idea when the TA was originally set to deploy.

[jon96cobra]

I just talked to Cox tech support today they are giving the adapter to all users with Tivo service not just cable card users.

[frogger22]

Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.
I had a Cox DVR until August when I replaced it with my Series 3. The switch was not noticeable at all with the Cox tuner. I think we can expect the same near instantaneous response with the TA.

[frogger22]

I just talked to Cox tech support today they are giving the adapter to all users with Tivo service not just cable card users.
Would this be necessary? If you don't have a CableCard then you cannot tune any digital channels, SDV or otherwise, so I am not sure the TA will do anything for you. I suspect the tech you spoke to is confused.

[Timber]

what i wonder is if this was always going to be the roll out date, and the only thing we did was just shed some light on the situation and obtain info.

Although we DID manage to have them decide to delay rolling out of additional station moves to SDV for a few more weeks. But i have no idea when the TA was originally set to deploy.

The information in and of itself was very helpful. You (not we) made a big difference. :)

-=Tim=-

[EvilYankeeFan]

Anxious for tomorrow to make my 1st of 2 trips. The 1st for the TA. The 2nd to take back the DVR.

[Jeff_R]

Here is a post from dslreports.com regarding the tuning adapters from Cox for northern Va.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21553001-VA-Attn-Northern-VA-TiVoCable-Card-Customers

J

[deaddeeds]

Good to see that the news is spreading and I happy that I have one reserved for me at Kingstowne.

Do we know the make or model of the TA?

[shabby46]

Out of curiosity, did anybody receive a confirmation email about reserving an adapter? I replied and requested one at Kingstowne but never heard back. I wouldnt want to go in tomorrow and have them tell me there are none left.

[Timber]

Out of curiosity, did anybody receive a confirmation email about reserving an adapter? I replied and requested one at Kingstowne but never heard back. I wouldnt want to go in tomorrow and have them tell me there are none left.

I haven't heard back and I'm assuming that as she stated in the email Kathryn has reserved one for me. :)

-=Tim=-

[jon96cobra]

So I just called to try and reserve an adapter and they said they its a first come first serve for existing customers an new customers have to wait.

Also I heard more are going to be in the Herndon office then the Kingstowne office.

[milo99]

u can't reserve one by calling. as I mentioned earlier in the thread, u have to contact the Cox VP to get on the priorty list. those who contacted her were then notified that they can have one reserved for them by replying to her email.

if u haven't already PM'd me, do so and i'll give u her email.

[jon96cobra]

PM sent.

Thanks. I don't work far form the herndon office but I can't make it over until my lunch I don't think they are going to run out but I don't want to wait until they get more.

[boywaja]

I haven't heard back and I'm assuming that as she stated in the email Kathryn has reserved one for me. :)

-=Tim=-

I haven't heard back either.

I'm also confused. Is this available now as CoxTech1 stated at broadband reports, or do I need to wait until the 11th?

I'm telecommuting today so I could easily take a trip over there now.

[milo99]

I haven't heard back either.

I'm also confused. Is this available now as CoxTech1 stated at broadband reports, or do I need to wait until the 11th?

I'm telecommuting today so I could easily take a trip over there now.

it's tomorrow. coxtech1 replied to his own post "...the release of the TiVo tuning adapters tomorrow..."

[boywaja]

it's tomorrow. coxtech1 replied to his own post "...the release of the TiVo tuning adapters tomorrow..."

cool, hadn't seen that.

[Revolutionary]

Those of you who are getting your adapter today, be sure to update us on the install process, what channels come in, whether it works at all, etc. I'm not getting mine until Saturday (scheduled a truck roll -- no time to go to Herndon or Kingstown).

Thanks!

[milo99]

Those of you who are getting your adapter today, be sure to update us on the install process, what channels come in, whether it works at all, etc. I'm not getting mine until Saturday (scheduled a truck roll -- no time to go to Herndon or Kingstown).

Thanks!

nah, we've all conspired to get ours and never speak of it again. ;)

i'm getting it in about 30 minutes, so by the time i get back and get it running, i'll hopefully have something to report by 11am

[JTalbert]

Milo, anxious to hear about your experience. Are you going to Herndon or Kingstowne? I am curious to see if the people at the counters know there is a priority list and if there is any confusion with them in getting the adapter. I am going to try to pick mine up from Herndon today, but may not get it hooked up till later tonight or maybe not till this weekend. Good luck!

[djones18]

Picked up my reserved Tuning Adapter at Cox Kingstowne this morning. They indicate stock is 25 at each location (Kingstowne and Herndon). Two other folks who reserved TA's were there and Cox knew we were coming. No problem whatsoever picking it up and no cost. It is free.

It is the Cisco STA1520. Includes a power adapter, USB cable, short coax cable, Quick reference guide, Self-install sheet, and a troubleshooting guide.

The troubleshooting guide includes the following: "Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis."

Also from the guide: "Customer impacts from the above issue include:
1. Loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe.
2. Difficulty tuning to a single channel. "

The guide provides actions to take if these problems occur and a contact phone number if the actions fail to clear up the problem.

I'm now waiting for a Cox technician to arrive this morning with cablecard for my new Tivo HD. We'll then add the TA and see how things go. More later.

[milo99]

got mine, set it up, it was a snap.

NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.

The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me.

The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo! :)

[deaddeeds]

Here is the Spec on the box, it is not small.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps9159/ps9195/ps9828/7013834.pdf

[Revolutionary]

got mine, set it up, it was a snap.

NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.

The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me.

The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo! :)

So, just to confirm, you are now getting all of the other HD channels that Cox has added since Nov. 2007? SciFi, Discovery, etc? We don't have to go through any rigamarole about having those channels mapped to our cable cards? Or is that the purpose of the activation call?

BTW: Congrats! You may, in fact, be one of the first (if not the first) people in the country to be using this adapter outside a beta program!

[euckersw]

Here is the Spec on the box, it is not small.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps9159/ps9195/ps9828/7013834.pdf

Picked mine up this morning. Won't have a chance to set it up until tonight. Saying it's not small is an understatement. I'm trying not to complain...but yet another box to stack on top of my TV...

[Timber]

So, just to confirm, you are now getting all of the other HD channels that Cox has added since Nov. 2007? SciFi, Discovery, etc? We don't have to go through any rigamarole about having those channels mapped to our cable cards? Or is that the purpose of the activation call?

BTW: Congrats! You may, in fact, be one of the first (if not the first) people in the country to be using this adapter outside a beta program!

I was #1 at the Herndon location but had to do some more errands before going home, argh!!! :)

Very smooth process, all the above stations come in. Biggest pain was deselecting the non-HD versions of the new HD channels on my TiVo channel list.

No BBC HD? :( LOL!

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

all of the stations come in now... NFLNetwork HD, CNBC, SPIKE, CNN etc etc.

AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA.

overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...

[JTG2]

When you call a number to activate, are you talking to a person during business hours? I may not have time to call until late at night.

[milo99]

When you call a number to activate, are you talking to a person during business hours? I may not have time to call until late at night.

nope, automated. you say your phone number and it "starts" it... then you hang up and wait for the green light on the TA to stop flashing.

[JTalbert]

ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great.

Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?

[thewebgal]

ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great.

Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?

Well, for most of us in Fairfax, there is always FIOS as an alternative.
I LIKE seeing competition in this business!

[jfranklin]

overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...

Glad to hear that everything went well. Sorry I've been out of contact, but most everything I knew I was not allowed to talk about. Didn't want to furstrate you all, and myself, by sitting in here and not being able to say anything.

I'll let the supervisor monitoring the adaptor deployment know that things are working properly when the instructions are being followed.

They have me in project all day today to support our technical reps for the calls that do come in, but it looks like it shouldn't be much of a problem.

[Dark Helmet]

Well, for most of us in Fairfax, there is always FIOS as an alternative.


You can get FIOS? I think you're one of the few people I know in Fairfax County that can. Most people I know cannot.

[Timber]

Should I run Guided Setup to get the new HD versions of the stations to map to my Season Passes?

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

Should I run Guided Setup to get the new HD versions of the stations to map to my Season Passes?

-=Tim=-

you're going to need to redo your season passes, as they are specific to a channel.

no need to redo guided setup though

[Dark Helmet]

AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA.

When I FIRST got my Series3, they were in digital, but at some point they got moved over to analog.

I'm glad the basic cable channels are in digital now, but one thing that I actually liked when they all went analog was that there were no copy protection issues with those shows. Ah, well.

[Revolutionary]

all of the stations come in now... NFLNetwork HD, CNBC, SPIKE, CNN etc etc.

AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA.

overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...

That's great news! Now all our daily recordings from the analogs won't take up even a quarter of the disk space they used to! (Not to mention the abysmal picture quality...)

Which will help offset the huge jump that so many of our other shows are going to see since we can now get them in HD! :D

Thanks for the updates!

[Revolutionary]

ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great.

Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?

Cox didn't raise the CC rates because a number of us complained and pointed out that the FCC regulations more or less forbade them from doing it. (I'm oversimplifying -- it was a while ago). PLUS, the TA is supposed to be free. Not exactly cool to raise the rate for the CC because of the TA, even though the TA is free.

[djones18]

got mine, set it up, it was a snap.

NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.

The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me.

The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo! :)

Milo 99: Congrats!!

I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.

Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.

[bentley01]

that TiVo units are 1 way and not 2 way devices. Maybe the complaints should be directed at TiVo for developing an inferior 1 way product in an increasingly 2 way world. Just a thought!!

[Timber]

btw, huge congrats to TiVo. It could not have been simpler (and more bug-free) at the TiVo end of this.

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

that TiVo units are 1 way and not 2 way devices. Maybe the complaints should be directed at TiVo for developing an inferior 1 way product in an increasingly 2 way world. Just a thought!!

um. yeeeaaa... considering that the Tivos were designed to work with what cablelabs gave them to work with, yeaaaa... that's Tivo's lack of foresight. Too bad they didn't even put in something like a USB port to allow for future additions to handle *oh my gosh* something JUST LIKE THIS. :rolleyes:

[milo99]

Milo 99: Congrats!!

I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.

Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.

i can't remember the instructions, it should say it in there though.

[jfranklin]

Milo 99: Congrats!!

I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.

Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.

The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.

[Timber]

The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.

Jody, much credit to the Cox Communications organization. On Friday the Retail Center reps had not heard of Tuning Adapters, today they were handing them out and they were being authorized automatically!

-=Tim=-

[amyflick]

Mine's been activating for about 10 minutes now. I hope it works!

[djones18]

Milo 99: Congrats!!

I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.

Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.


My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.

Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.

[milo99]

My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.

Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.

i didn't realize m cards were available in Fairfax. but if you have a Tivo HD, you only need 1, not 2. the Series 3 need 2.

Single stream cards you need 2, but not M cards.

[jon96cobra]

Picked mine up just have to wait till I get home from work to install it.

One of the people I talked to at Herndon location was trying to tell me I needed to bring in my cable cards to do the installation. I had to explain to them That was not the case. One of the other people behind the counter had to corrrect the person I was talking to.

I'm just glad the call is automated for the install I might wait till later tonight so I don't mess up any shows recording tonight.

[djones18]

The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.

Jody, thanks for the information and tip. My new TiVo HD, activated two days ago, still has version 8. something, so I guess I'll wait till it updates firmware before attaching the TA.

[jfranklin]

Jody, thanks for the information and tip. My new TiVo HD, activated two days ago, still has version 8. something, so I guess I'll wait till it updates firmware before attaching the TA.

I believe the firmware that supports the TA is version 9 and higher. I would say go ahead and force a connection to TiVo in the network settings menu. Shouldn't take but about an hour to get the update and install. (maybe a little longer since a lot of people will be force updating today)

[bentley01]

[QUOTE=Timber;6910729]btw, huge congrats to TiVo. It could not have been simpler (and more bug-free) at the TiVo end of this.



Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!

[amyflick]

Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.

[jfranklin]

Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.

If that continues for much longer do call in (or if you want to send me your account details directly) so we can verify that everything got setup properly on our end.

[amyflick]

The blinking stopped, I turned on the TV and can hear sound from whatever's on the TV, but no picture. So I don't know what the heck is going on.

[jfranklin]

The blinking stopped, I turned on the TV and can hear sound from whatever's on the TV, but no picture. So I don't know what the heck is going on.

Well you can power down the TiVo and the TA, power up the TA, wait for the light to go on solid, then power up the TiVo. Failing that call in so we can verify account settings and that there's not a signal issue.

[Timber]

Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.

Did you call up the phone number after you connected the cable and power cables but before you connected the USB?

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.

was your Tivo on when you plugged in the USB?

[JTalbert]

Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!

I may be wrong, but the reason Tivo only designed a 1 way product instead of a 2 way product, is there is really no two way cards out there. M cards and 2 way product are different. M Cards have two streams. Not in inbound and outbound stream. To be 2 way product that would enable cox VOD and all the other items. Cablelabs is working on such a functionality Cable Card 2.0 (Now Tru2Way), they have been for a while, but will it ever see light, who knows. Again I am just going by what I think I have read in the past. Tivo could have designed the Series 3 and HD boxes with only one card slot, but when Series 3 came out. M cards were not readily avail ( they still are not) and at first the series 3 would not read M Cards, but after a SW update from Tivo it can. So dont blame Tivo for a 1 way product.

Here is a link on info on Tivo working on this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/tivo-still-working-on-a-dvr-with-two-way-features-like-vod/

[amyflick]

I called the number before plugging in the usb.

I talked to a person at support because the blinking went on too long and he re-sent the signal or whatever it is that they do. The blinking then stopped.

I think the tivo was on when I plugged in the usb, could that have something to do with it?

[EvilYankeeFan]

Very happy to pick mine up over lunch and can't wait to get home to hook it up.

[jfranklin]

I called the number before plugging in the usb.

I talked to a person at support because the blinking went on too long and he re-sent the signal or whatever it is that they do. The blinking then stopped.

I think the tivo was on when I plugged in the usb, could that have something to do with it?

Assuming that your TiVo is running a current version of the software, and that the signal levels are good everything should be fine. If you restart the TA then the TiVo, and all the connections are tight, I would call in to verify that signal levels are good.

Without seeing your account details there's nothing more I can offer.

[amyflick]

That's ok, I'm on the phone with support right now.


Hooray, it works! Lookit all these channels I wasn't getting!

[euckersw]

I had a weird experience getting my Tivo to "recognize" the TA when plugging the USB cable into the back of the Tivo. I use a wireless adapter that I plug into the lower USB port on the back of the Tivo. Therefore I used the top USB port to plug in the TA. When I did I never got any confirmation screen on the Tivo. Once I unplugged the wireless adapter and plugged the TA into the bottom USB port I got the confirmation screen and everything worked fine. I left it where it is and plugged the wireless adapter into the top USB port, where it works fine as well. Just wanted to pass along that information in case it might help someone else troubleshoot any problems.

[Timber]

Everything's working well, spent about 30 minutes moving my Season Pass items over. However Suggestions is still pulling programs from the non-HD versions rather than the HD versions, even tho' removed the non-HD channels from my Channel List. How long before my TiVo wises up? :)

Thanks!

-=Tim=-

[Timber]

btw, the picture on the Discovery HD Channel is pants-wettingly good. ;)

-=Tim=-

[thewebgal]

Thanks to Milo and everytone involved in this. I picked my CISCO adapter up around 3 and got the hookup done pretty quickly. Hardest part was finding a spare power outlet to plug it into!
Had my Wireless TIVO adapter in the top USB so I plugged SDV into the lower one. Phoned the Cox number, got it activated, then tied that USB cable to the new adapter - all seemed fine - ran through the channels - wow, even SCFIHD ..
Then, on a silly hunch. I went to Video on Demand -> Netflick,
and tried to watch a British comedy TV show "League of Gentlemen" - we had tried to watch it last night around 9PM and after a while it started hanging - showed the "retrieving" graphic and after a few of those we gave up.
But today, it was not quite 5PM, so I thought it might work better during the day. Well, it ran about 8 minutes and froze. We didn't get the "retrieving" progress bar, but a full screen freeze. I tried going to the main TV menu and got it, still with a screen capture of the british TV show and the menu overlaid on that - then it completely froze.

I had to unplug it to force a restart of the TIVOHD.
After that I saw it was blinking so called in and got it "hit" again ...
Be interesting what results the rest of you locals have with that combination ...
Otherwise, the SDV adapter seems to be working fine!

9PM - an update- after dinner we watched Eli Stone - a TIVOed HD show -
it played fine but I noticed the adapter was blinking again ...
Afterwards I turned off the TV and headed upstairs ...

[EvilYankeeFan]

Got it installed. A couple second delay between channels. I can live with that.

I'm not getting any of the HBOs (SD or HD) or Setanta (298). Anyone else having luck with those or am I missing something here? I haven't gone thru everything on the troubleshooting page, but wanted to ask. Funny that I'm probably going to cancel HBO soon anyways, but Setanta I really want.

[jebbbz]

Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!

At the time TiVo were designing the S3/THD there was no standard for two-way communications from customer premises to the cableco. (There still isn't.) Even within cable areas there were differences (e.g., smaller systems acquired by a larger company) that meant a given metro area might require several different designs of hardware and software. TiVo can't offetr that many different boxes. With luck, standardization on Tru-2-way will allow TiVo and others to offer two-way services with a single design.

Tunig Adapters must be provided by the cablecos because different areas require different TAs -- you can't take them with you as you move around.

It isn't the cablecards. They work with one-way and two-way devices and don't care about that. They just handle checking to see if the channel you tune to is one you are authorized to receive and then decrypt if needed. The Tuning Adapter handles requests for SDV channels and a cableco could offer SDV base-level unecrypted channels without cablecards at all.

[deaddeeds]

My TA is installed and up and running! Watching NFL HD right now. The two second delay is a little annoying but I can live with it.

Gotta give props to COX. Easy pickup at Kingstowne and easy hookup at home!

[shabby46]

OK, im an idiot, I plugged in the adapter and followed directions as it said, the light began flashing and I dialed the number, then when the call ended the adapter had powered off. So I turned it back on and it started flashing again. After waiting 20 min with no luck I called back to try to reactivate it and now it is still flashing about 20 min after that call. Any ideas?

Also, does it matter if the tivo was powered on when I set this all up? the directions didnt say anything about it.

[jfranklin]

OK, im an idiot, I plugged in the adapter and followed directions as it said, the light began flashing and I dialed the number, then when the call ended the adapter had powered off. So I turned it back on and it started flashing again. After waiting 20 min with no luck I called back to try to reactivate it and now it is still flashing about 20 min after that call. Any ideas?

Also, does it matter if the tivo was powered on when I set this all up? the directions didnt say anything about it.

The TiVo can be on, but not connected to the TA via USB until the activation takes. If it's still blinking then it might not be added to the account properly. If you want to contact me via PM I can check your account, or you can call in.

[hokiethang]

I was on the reserve list as well in Herndon. I got my tuning adaptor, installed it tonight, and i'm now able to watch all the other HD channels :-D. Thanks to everyone at Cox and Tivo who made this a painless process.

I did manage to break my eSATA cable in the process, so I lost most of my recorded shows, and I have a SIIG cable on order :-(. Oh well. that's what the internet + iTunes is for. :-D

[shabby46]

The TiVo can be on, but not connected to the TA via USB until the activation takes. If it's still blinking then it might not be added to the account properly. If you want to contact me via PM I can check your account, or you can call in.

Well, I called the number up here and they of course had no idea what I was talking about with these crazy new adapters. The woman was still very helpful and attempting to solve the problem, so I cant blame her, she is just as new as we are.

I unhooked everything and started over scratch, hopefully it will take this time. It looks like it is flashing at a non-steady rate every now and then, but still waiting.

Just a question for everyone else out there. When I hook it up, it initially starts out solid, then flashes, then the whole TA shuts down. When I press the power button, it starts flashing again and this is when I called since it said to be sure the unit is on when dialing. Does anybody remember if theirs shut off too, or is it just me?

[deaddeeds]

Mine Shut Off.

[jcaudle]

I may be wrong, but the reason Tivo only designed a 1 way product instead of a 2 way product, is there is really no two way cards out there. M cards and 2 way product are different. M Cards have two streams. Not in inbound and outbound stream. To be 2 way product that would enable cox VOD and all the other items. Cablelabs is working on such a functionality Cable Card 2.0 (Now Tru2Way), they have been for a while, but will it ever see light, who knows. Again I am just going by what I think I have read in the past. Tivo could have designed the Series 3 and HD boxes with only one card slot, but when Series 3 came out. M cards were not readily avail ( they still are not) and at first the series 3 would not read M Cards, but after a SW update from Tivo it can. So dont blame Tivo for a 1 way product.

Here is a link on info on Tivo working on this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/tivo-still-working-on-a-dvr-with-two-way-features-like-vod/


M Cards have been available for over a year in Fairfax. I have had one ever since getting my Tivo HD in Sep 2007

[Dark Helmet]

No joy for me. I called Cox (boy, they don't make it easy to talk to a person, do they? I swear I spend 5 minutes just navigating the phone menu) and they tried to send a "reload" message, but it didn't work. They wanted to send out a technician. I told them I'd call them back.

[Dark Helmet]

Just a question for everyone else out there. When I hook it up, it initially starts out solid, then flashes, then the whole TA shuts down. When I press the power button, it starts flashing again and this is when I called since it said to be sure the unit is on when dialing. Does anybody remember if theirs shut off too, or is it just me?

Mine did the same thing. Hrm. Sounds like we're in the same boat.

[shabby46]

Mine did the same thing. Hrm. Sounds like we're in the same boat.

Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.

I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.

[frogger22]

I will offer my kudos too, to both Cox and Tivo. The pickup at Herndon was easy (the lousy weather aside), and the install was simple. I am going to buy a longer USB cable this weekend so I can move the box down with some of my older AV components (out of sight). As luck would have it, there is a second cable port behind the cabinet, thanks to the old Media General dual-cable system.

[Dark Helmet]

Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.

I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.

So, I called back, and I got a different guy. He bumped me to a supervisor (he wasn't available, but he called me back after 5-10 minutes), said, "Whoops, it's not set up right", did some magic, and it now works!

Perhaps try calling again?

[shabby46]

Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.

I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.

OK, last thing then I will shut up and let everyone who has working equipment talk here. Now after restarting it, the flashing went from a steady state to pausing for a while on the 6th flash, then repeating. Im hoping that there is just a problem with the connection on Cox's end or something and when I wake up all is well.

I will update if things change.

[Dark Helmet]

Note to everyone - if your tuning adapter is activated and plugged into the TiVo during a recording, recording will stop. Not the end of the world, and it's a rather tiny corner case, but just figured it's worth mentioning.

[acslater]

Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.

I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.

Same problem with me. Just blinks forever. I made sure to follow the directions exactly. JFranklin, I sent you a PM.

[Miller]

I picked up the Tuning Adapter after work today in Herndon. Hooked it up and I am still unable to get a good chunk of the HD channels I am supposed to. Yes, I followed the instructions. I work in the IT field and the install was not difficult. First, when I called to activate, the light would not stop flashing even after 45 minutes. I called Cox, they reset it, and it stopped flashing. I connected the USB to the TiVo, but was missing a lot of HD channels even though I did get more than before. I went through all three of the troubleshooting steps. The third step involves restarting the TiVo. After the TiVo came back up, the Tuning Adapter continued blinking. I called Cox back, they reset it again, but it did not stop blinking. I was told to follow the three troubleshooting steps again. It is too late to do that this evening; I will try it again tomorrow after work. Besides, I am currently recording CSI. The wife will kill me if I do something to screw up that recording.

[milo99]

i wonder if there's some common thread here for folks who are having issues. I know one person mentioned a wireless adapter plugged into the other usb port?

my setup is using a cable ethernet, not wireless, and i do have an eSATA MyDVR expander, and it worked without flaws.

DarkHelmet got his working after an initial "misconfiguration" ...maybe different setups require something slightly different done in the back end?? wouldn't hurt for you guys to post your configurations, anything you can think of that's not bone stock.

[Dark Helmet]

DarkHelmet got his working after an initial "misconfiguration" ...maybe different setups require something slightly different done in the back end?? wouldn't hurt for you guys to post your configurations, anything you can think of that's not bone stock.

So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?

(BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? :))

[milo99]

So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?

(BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? :))

i have no idea what the woman at the counter would have done. she asked for my number and pin for the account, went in back and picked it up. Box was closed and everything inside unopened.

and uh... some of us just have jobs that allow us certain... flexibilities... like working from home on occasion :D

[EvilYankeeFan]

(BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? :))

LOL. Just short trip (fairfax) to herndon at lunch

Still missing some channels (hbos/setanta) so it's not 100%, but getting closer.

[milo99]

LOL. Just short trip (fairfax) to herndon at lunch

Still missing some channels (hbos/setanta) so it's not 100%, but getting closer.

is setanta a premium channel like HBO? you may have to actually call customer service to get them to give those channels. What do i mean? apparently some of hte premiums are provisioned separately.

I had to do that with Showtime (even tho it's not on SDV). they only gave me regular channels, and after calling tech support, the guy told me i needed to get customer service to give me the HD Shotime channel. Did that and solved the problem. (this was all a few weeks ago)

[JTalbert]

ok, I cant get mine to work either, blink blink blink blink. I called Cox, they said it was not setup in the computer right, did some magic, nothing, I thought it was fine, she had me turn it off and back on again and it was a solid light, I was like woo hoo, but as soon as I hung up with her it started blinking again.

Story of my life, nothing goes right...

[acslater]

Setup: Cable ethernet and nothing else special.

I did pick mine up this evening.

Tech support had no idea what I was talking about. They are sending a tech out to fix it but I have no confidence in that working. I'll probably end up canceling the visit and trying another TA I guess.

[amyflick]

I picked mine up at Kingstowne first thing this morning. After spending some quality time on the phone with tech support, it works fine. I have wireless.

I seem to have lost channel 4 though. It's strange, 704 works but not 4.

[Dark Helmet]

i have no idea what the woman at the counter would have done. she asked for my number and pin for the account, went in back and picked it up. Box was closed and everything inside unopened.

Right ... but there are two holes on the back of the box and through one of them you can see the device address. The guy at the counter looked through there, did some typing on his computer, and then I had to sign something that had device numbers on it (it was the receipt for the box).


and uh... some of us just have jobs that allow us certain... flexibilities... like working from home on occasion :D

Heh, must be nice. I schlep to the District every day.

[shabby46]

So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?

(BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? :))

I called back and the guy said he had just fixed somebody else's problem (I assume yours) and managed to configure my account pretty fast. I then was not getting any of the SDV channels, but the blinking had stopped. After about 40 minutes of restarting and messing with stuff on his end I remember what somebody had posted and switched the USB to the other slot (lower one). Instantly the TA was recognized and began working.

I found out that the upper USB port on my tivo doesnt seem to work, or at least doesnt work with the TA or wireless adapter. Luckily there is a port in front of the TA, so I just stuck it in there instead, but this might be the problem with other people too. Good luck everyone.

[milo99]

I called back and the guy said he had just fixed somebody else's problem (I assume yours) and managed to configure my account pretty fast. I then was not getting any of the SDV channels, but the blinking had stopped. After about 40 minutes of restarting and messing with stuff on his end I remember what somebody had posted and switched the USB to the other slot (lower one). Instantly the TA was recognized and began working.

I found out that the upper USB port on my tivo doesnt seem to work, or at least doesnt work with the TA or wireless adapter. Luckily there is a port in front of the TA, so I just stuck it in there instead, but this might be the problem with other people too. Good luck everyone.

iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...

[EvilYankeeFan]

is setanta a premium channel like HBO? you may have to actually call customer service to get them to give those channels. What do i mean? apparently some of hte premiums are provisioned separately.

I had to do that with Showtime (even tho it's not on SDV). they only gave me regular channels, and after calling tech support, the guy told me i needed to get customer service to give me the HD Shotime channel. Did that and solved the problem. (this was all a few weeks ago)

Yep Setanta is a premium. I thought it was SDV as it was just recently added. HBOs I thought were SDV as well. I did have a problem when I got HBO where the HD HBO wasn't showing up on the SA DVR. They turned it on, but as it never showed on the Tivo I assumed SDV. I'll give COX a yell. Thanks for the recommendation.

[EvilYankeeFan]

iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...

I have my in the upper slot. Wireless in lower one.

[jon96cobra]

Just finished getting mine set up at 7pm and I'm getting all the HD stations. I have it plugged into the top slot and my tivo is hard wired to the network.

[Timber]

I have my in the upper slot. Wireless in lower one.

+1

-=Tim=-

[djones18]

My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.

Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.

My Saga ends happily with the help of Jody Franklin at Cox Tech Central. But first things first. The Cox tech who came to my house earlier found another M-card, returned, tried to get it working for two more hours and failed. Total job time so far four hours. No wonder Cox hates these things. He and I were frustrated. He left...and left the M-Card. On a whim, I rebooted my new TiVo HD and it began downloading Version 11 firmware...something it had not done when prepping for the tech visit. Following this update, I again inserted the M-Card, got all the right screens, called Cox to activate the card and to my delight it worked.

Next comes the TA adapter I picked up from Cox Kingstowne Thursday morning. I followed installation instructions, called Cox automated line, and waited. It would not activate. Called Cox Tech line. They directed me to billing. Billing had to update my TA service (their words), and directed me back to Tech folks. TA still would not activate. Tech folks contacted Jody...my hero! Within minutes Jody had the TA activated and now everything works. I suspect part of my TA problem may be that I just activated a new M-Card in my TiVo HD. Perhaps Jody has more info on this.

On this journey to getting my TiVo HD and TA working, Cox folks were helpful. This includes Ms Falk who managed reservations and early distribution of TAs and Jody Franklin of this forum. Some Cox folks knowledge of the TA was limited (except for Jody) and I expected this. They went out of their way to find the requisite expertise within the Cox organization to help me and at no point left me hanging. After a long, sometimes frustrating day, in this instance Cox worked for me!

I'm now back in TiVo nirvana after waiting two years for M-cards and SDV issues to be worked out. I suspect the technical issues in the TiVo, cablecard, TA, Cox headend, account services activation equation are complex and form a precarious technical balancing act. Not perfect but far better than the alternatives for me.

Cheers.

[shabby46]

iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...

Im not saying that the slot necessarily matters, but my upper slot didnt seem to work for the wireless adapter either, so there appears to be something wrong with it. Had I not seen the other posting about switching the USB I would probably still be without the channels.

I plugged the wireless adapter into the front of TA and it lit up, so it is getting power, does anybody know if this port will allow me to connect to the network, or if it is just for servicing the TA? I forgot to check before I left today.


sidenote: These doughnuts from Milan Bakery in FC are fantastic. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

[deaddeeds]

In summary, I went to Kingtstowne at 5pm on the 11th. The CSR pulled out a TA, then she looked at the back of the TA and typed in a number into her system and then printed out a receipt and I was off. After I plugged in the power to the TA, the lights did a lot of blinking then it turned off. I turned it back on and followed the rest of the instructions. I have the TA plugged into the Top USB Slot with my USB Wireless Adapter in the Bottom USB slot.

[jon96cobra]

Sounds like to me if the wireless was plugged into the top you need to leave it plugged in the same port when you add the TA. Since I have mine hard wired I just plugged it into the top and fired right up. Could be something in the software it remembers what was plugged in the ports when the system is shut down.

I was wondering if the tivo is able to see the usb port on the TA or if its just for firmware updates.

[Dark Helmet]

So, after some initial pain and two calls to tech support, I got the TA working last night, and I have all of the new HD channels and the lower channels are now in digital as well! Woo-hoo!

Thanks to everyone on this forum and at Cox that made this a reality!

Jody, just for curiosity's sake ... when people's accounts are "fixed", what exactly is being fixed? How is it in the system "wrong"?

[JTalbert]

Even after calling last night and them "fixing" things in the system. Its still not working for me. I am going to have to try to call them again tonight.

[jfranklin]

I'm now back in TiVo nirvana after waiting two years for M-cards and SDV issues to be worked out. I suspect the technical issues in the TiVo, cablecard, TA, Cox headend, account services activation equation are complex and form a precarious technical balancing act. Not perfect but far better than the alternatives for me.


On behalf of Ms. Falk (who I don't know, but I'm going to speak for her anyway) and the rest of Cox thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad everything is working well.

I've spent a little time today compiling a list of the adaptors that went out, and what their status is. So far I've only come across two that required a tech to come out, and one of those seems to be a faulty adaptor.

All in all this launch has gone fairly well. There are a few processes that still need some attention, and those will certainly be addressed before the next batch of units is made available. I do want to thank all of you, though, for providing feedback both here and in private message to me. It will go a long way to making sure this goes much more smoothly for those who aren't as technically inclined as you all are, and just expect things to work.

Everyone that has contacted me privately has either had their issue resolved, or I'm awaiting them to advise me of their service status.

Anyone still needing assistance, please call in, or PM me your information, and we'll get things straignened out.

[jfranklin]

So, after some initial pain and two calls to tech support, I got the TA working last night, and I have all of the new HD channels and the lower channels are now in digital as well! Woo-hoo!

Thanks to everyone on this forum and at Cox that made this a reality!

Jody, just for curiosity's sake ... when people's accounts are "fixed", what exactly is being fixed? How is it in the system "wrong"?

Without going into too much detail, the main issue has been that the adaptors were not being assigned to a service occurance, even though all the correct codes were in place. So there was nothing binding the adaptor to the cards in our system. There have been a few, less common, issues. That is the big one, though. To make that clear, though, the setup flys in the face of how all other video equipment is placed on an account, so that things weren't setup properly isn't all that unexpected.

We're still learning, and again you all are helping with that. Thanks.

[Miller]

Here is the problem I am having. I activated my TA last night over the phone, but it kept blinking for 45 minutes. I called Cox support and was told that my TA had been reset. This stopped the blinking and I was able to receive some of my HD channels, but was still missing a large chunk of them. I tried all three steps listed on the troubleshooting guide including restarting the TiVo. After restarting the TiVo, the TA began blinking again. I called Cox support and was told that the TA was reset again, however it was still blinking. I was asked to unplug the USB cable for one minute and try again. It was getting late and I did not want to get into an involved affair at this time so I let it keep on blinking. I got up this morning and it was still blinking. When I got home from work, it was on steady so I tried it again. His time I got all but two of my HD channels. Now when I go through my HD channels there are between two and five that will not show even after waiting 30 seconds on the channel. The odd thing is they are never the same channels. For example, I will go through the list and 724, 747, 747 and 748 will not work. Try again and now it is 711, 729, 747, and 748 will not work, but the all the others will. Also, 747 and 748 have never worked. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I am fearful of changing my Season Passes to the HD channels, as even though it is working now, it may not be working when the program I want to record is on.

[Miller]

After making the previous post I went back to the TiVo and now all of the channels are working. If they continue to work for two or three days I will consider changing my season passes.

[JTalbert]

Oh my what h*ll I went through tonight. I called Tech support, TA was still not working. They said my account needed "Balanced" and I needed to talk to billing. Billing tried to "balance" and deleted my TA from my account. Said Tech support would have to re-add it, switched back to TS. Who told me oh, the can balance and activate, but the cannot add anything to my account, Talk to billing. Talked to billing again. They said they cannot add anything to the account. So I had to talk to sales. Sales re-added it. Went back to TS, they tried to balance, but could not "balance" it, put me on hold, then went back to the main queue for some reason, then finally got someone in TS who was able to do something, not sure what he did, but not its working. Except one channel that I could get before, but cant now is 91. Nik, which is my daughters favorite channel. I am rebooting my Tivo to see if that will fix that. So far I am not very happy after spending over and hour and a half on the phone with Cox tonight... I understand this is new technology, but a few of the people I talked to did not know what a Tuning adapter was.

Oh joy, now I am trying to reboot and its going into a constant reboot cycle. I guess I will have to unplug my TA from my box because its not happy. I know someone said new SW will be released in January.. I hope so..

[JTalbert]

ok, rebooted my Tivo, and NIK is back. Daughter is happy!! :-)

[djones18]

On behalf of Ms. Falk (who I don't know, but I'm going to speak for her anyway) and the rest of Cox thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad everything is working well.

I've spent a little time today compiling a list of the adaptors that went out, and what their status is. So far I've only come across two that required a tech to come out, and one of those seems to be a faulty adaptor.

All in all this launch has gone fairly well. There are a few processes that still need some attention, and those will certainly be addressed before the next batch of units is made available. I do want to thank all of you, though, for providing feedback both here and in private message to me. It will go a long way to making sure this goes much more smoothly for those who aren't as technically inclined as you all are, and just expect things to work.

Everyone that has contacted me privately has either had their issue resolved, or I'm awaiting them to advise me of their service status.

Anyone still needing assistance, please call in, or PM me your information, and we'll get things straignened out.


Jody,

Unfortunately, further problems. I sent you a PM to see if you can help.

[mcdannej]

I'm sure I'm one of the many who have been lurking this (and other) threads about SDV and benefitted today from the work of those of you who took the time to harass fairfax cty and cox. I set up two Tivos without incident today. A credit to you guys and to Cox. Not to diminish the problems others are having, but just a shout out to those less lazy than me.

Thanks.

[deaddeeds]

I lost power yesterday while I was at work and as such the TA and my TiVo re-booted. I did not get home until late and noticed my TiVo was NOT recording my newly re-created HD season pass on one of the SDV channels.

TiVo would not recognize the TA until I clicked continue when prompted by TiVo. It would be nice if TiVo would just recognize the TA and not require user action to operate. I am thinking this will probably also occur when TiVo gets new software updates and reboots.

Anybody else seen this?

[warewolf]

So we get our SDV channels, but we lose MRV. I want my MRV. The last time I called about this the CS rep said "It's correct". Obviously it's not correct.

http://www.richardharman.com/images/problem.png

[Revolutionary]

Well, got my TA installed and am enjoying so many HD channels I don't know what to do.

Glad I had it delivered by truck roll. Dude was here for an hour installing it. Had the "won't stop blinking" problem, which wasn't resolved until he called in twice. Once he had that done, he had to call again to get them to ping it with the channel data (EMMs in the tuning adapter diagnostics menu, needs to be "more than zero"). Now all is lovely!

Thanks Cox and Tivo!

[amyflick]

I can't get Center Ice with the tuning adapter. I'm getting service call tomorrow. Spent a good while on the phone with tech support with no luck. Anyone else here get the Center Ice package?

[Miller]

I was so happy when I first got my Tuning Adapter, but then it did not work the first night. That is OK; it mysteriously started working the second night. I was so happy when I first got my Tuning Adapter working, but then on the third night I tried to transfer shows form my TiVo to my PC. This is when I discovered that apparently everything besides local channel broadcasts are copy protected. (It is illegal to copy protect the local channels.) Granted I did not check EVERY channel, but the ones I did check (Turner Classic Movies, AMC, TV Land, Fox News, and several others) were copy protected. Now, I am not so excited again. Grrrrrrr!!!!! Cox will think I am never going to be happy with them. They might just be right.

[TheLongshot]

My tuning adapter is dead. I get no light and hear a clicking sound from it when I plug it in. I fear the worst...

[djones18]

My three day nightmare is finally over with the help of some very talented Cox Tech and Sales Folks. My TA finally works with my new TiVo HD. My one remaining Cox HD/DVR works again. I wouldn't recommend you use my approach to new TiVo HD setup but slow the process down.

Thursday, I had my new TiVo HD, M-Card, and Tuning Adapter installed. I did pre-activate and setup my TiVo HD two days earlier (not enough time to allow for updates). The first day was frustrating but ultimately fruitful as the new TiVo HD, M-Card, and TA finally synced. The TiVo began a firmware download from Ver 8 to 11 in the middle of installation and this really mucked things up. The following day, Friday, I turned in one of two Cox HD/DVRs which the TiVo HD replaced.

The real nightmare began when I returned one of my Cox HD/DVRs Friday. The Cox agent at Kingstowne retail store inadvertantly deleted the one remaining Cox HD/DVR I had at home. I should have looked closer at the receipt...lesson learned! Then, the system somehow delinked my TA from my M-Card. So, now the remaining Cox Box says I'm not authorized to use it and the TiVo HD no longer works with the TA. Yikes!

I troubleshoot Friday PM, three hours on the phone to Cox Billing/Accounting, Tech, and Sales, to no avail. The system will not accept that my remaining Cox Box is at my house. Also, the TA is still blinking, deactivated, and no amount of activation signals will bring it back to life. I'm so fatigued by Cox elevator music and automated menus I'm done for the day.

Saturday morning I march into the Cox Store with my Cox Box (to prove it really was with me and not turned in), serial numbers for all my equipment, and all Cox receipts. One hour later and numerous calls between the Store, Tech, and Dispatch we think we've got it sorted out. Apparently, Friday morning when the wrong Cox Box was typed into the system as being returned, my remaining Cox Box deactivated, all Cox HD/DVRs were deleted from my account, and my TA while still showing on my account was delinked from my M-Card.

The Cox Store folks assured me all should work when I returned home, but to be sure, the Supervisor at Dispatch who helped solve my problems would call in 30 minutes to confirm. Good thing! Got home, had to reboot the TA and reconnect the USB cable to the TiVo HD...it worked...yippee. Next, I rehooked up the Cox Box and it's no-go. Still not authorized or activated. Dispatch Supervisor calls and we spend the next two hours re-activating the Cox Box.

It's now Sunday morning. Everything works! But I feel precariously balanced on a technological tightrope where the slightest wind will blow me off. I relate this not to point fingers at Cox...they spent a inordinant amount of time and manpower on me...but to help new TiVo HD owners avoid my pitfalls.

If you want specifics on all the technical hurdles in this effort, PM me.

Observation: TA/M-Card/TiVo HD sync-up process covers several divisions within the Cox organization (Sales, Billing/Accounting, Tech, Dispatch), thus creating a complex coordination process. The customer can be bounced between many divisions to solve problems. Time-consuming and frustrating. Cox would be wise to refine this prior to general TA release.

Cheers.

[Revolutionary]

Well, so much for the honeymoon.

Yes, everything works and I can watch and record all the new HD channels.

But many, many channels are now flagged CCI 0x02. Every SDV HD channel is set at 02, and now many of the first 101 channels also are, even if they weren't before. For instance, the SD versions of SciFi, USA, TNT, and Discovery are all 0x02. Oddly, TBSHD is set at 0x02, but TBS SD is 0x00.

That's just a sampling.

Bottom line: many of the channels that I watch regularly and that I TTG for my morning commute are now off limits to Tivo Desktop. Unacceptable.

[jfranklin]

A few of you have PMed me about the copy protection bit, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be checking into that. My contact and I won't both be at work again until Wednesday, so I don't be able to do much until then.

It doesn't seem right, though, the programs that are coming up as copy once. As soon as I know something I'll pass it on here.

p.s. Not that anyone has commented about it, but I wanted to make sure you all were aware that while I have no problems helping you all out with service issues, I do not (as a rule) get time off the phone to address these issues. The launch day was the exception, and I don't have access to the systems when I'm at home, so I can only work on things when I'm at work and when there are no calls in queue.

I just wanted to make sure you all understood if I don't get back to you for a few days, and ask that you contact customer support if the problem you're having is one that needs a quick responce.

O'kay, I'm done... back to work. :D

[Miller]

A few of you have PMed me about the copy protection bit, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be checking into that. My contact and I won't both be at work again until Wednesday, so I don't be able to do much until then.

It doesn't seem right, though, the programs that are coming up as copy once. As soon as I know something I'll pass it on here.

p.s. Not that anyone has commented about it, but I wanted to make sure you all were aware that while I have no problems helping you all out with service issues, I do not (as a rule) get time off the phone to address these issues. The launch day was the exception, and I don't have access to the systems when I'm at home, so I can only work on things when I'm at work and when there are no calls in queue.

I just wanted to make sure you all understood if I don't get back to you for a few days, and ask that you contact customer support if the problem you're having is one that needs a quick responce.

O'kay, I'm done... back to work. :D

Believe me, we appreciate anything that you can do.

[amyflick]

Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.

Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.

[Miller]

Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.

Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.

Nobody mentioned this when I picked up my TA, however, the Cox literature in the box mentioned the issue. I believe it was mentioned in both the set up instructions and again in the troubleshooting steps.

[Revolutionary]

Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.

Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.

I recall reading about a problem affecting certain adapters the prevents certain channels from mapping properly, but I'll be darned if I can find where I read that now. So they may not have been blowing smoke. I don't get Center Ice (people still watch hockey?) :p, so I haven't experienced this behavior myself.

[dcollens]

I picked my TA on Friday night when I got off the plane and installed on Saturday morning.

It worked just fine with no issues. I haven't bee using TTG so have not tried that, but if it doesn't work for a while I won't be too upset.

And there was a notification in the box that there was a bug for some of the channels not being there.

Thanks to everyone - particularly Milo99 - for getting this device out to us all.

dc

[MFletch]

Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.

Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.

I wasn't told about this issue when I picked up my TA at Kingstowne but did read about it in the documents that came with the unit. I too subscribe to NHL Center Ice (yes, there are some who still watch hockey ;) ) and I was planning to call Cox to see if this will be resolved with the software update which I believe is scheduled for later in December or early January, again according to the literature that came with the unit. I did go through the troubleshooting steps that Cox listed but nothing restored the Center Ice channels.

Before I forget, thanks to all of you who worked so hard on getting this issue resolved. I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months following the progress of situation after upgrading to a TiVo HD to replace one of our Cox DVRs.

[amyflick]

(people still watch hockey?)

Ha, yes people still watch hockey!!!

Duh, it is mentioned in the troubleshooting guide. I totally missed it. My only defense is that I was so excited to get the thing, I didn't read the paperwork all the way through. Hopefully the patch will fix the problem.

[shabby46]

All is well thus far with my TA. I really dont notice the delay that much that others have mentioned. Maybe it is because I spend some of my time using Dish network which is always slow switching channels and got used to it.

I did however have my Tivo Freeze on the now playing screen twice last night in a little over an hour. When a program was done, it went back to the screen and showed the background but no programs and became unresponsive. I dont think this is TA related, but I never have had my unit freeze before, and twice in an hour was a little suspicious.

[djones18]

All is well thus far with my TA. I really dont notice the delay that much that others have mentioned. Maybe it is because I spend some of my time using Dish network which is always slow switching channels and got used to it.

I did however have my Tivo Freeze on the now playing screen twice last night in a little over an hour. When a program was done, it went back to the screen and showed the background but no programs and became unresponsive. I dont think this is TA related, but I never have had my unit freeze before, and twice in an hour was a little suspicious.

I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.

This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.

Anyone else experience this?

[Timber]

Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it? :)

(btw, any plans to add BBCHD (is there such a thing) to the lineup? :) )

-=Tim=-

[EvilYankeeFan]

Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it? :)

(btw, any plans to add BBCHD (is there such a thing) to the lineup? :) )

-=Tim=-

I would love to have BBCHD. To see the stuff that Kim and Aggie find will be shocking even more!!

[shabby46]

I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.

This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.

Anyone else experience this?

After both of my freezes, the TA came right back to life upon powering up. I hope that what you are experiencing is not a common problem since I seem to have power outages on occasion at my place.

[deaddeeds]

I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.

This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.

Anyone else experience this?

In an earlier post I noted this problem. I lost power Friday and it would not record until I confirmed that TiVo was connected to a TA. I did not have to remove or reconnect anything, I just had to wait for TiVo to re-establish its link with the TA. This is a problem that needs to be investigated/fixed or else people are going to start missing shows.

[shabby46]

Just a few more things in case it hasnt been posted yet:

When I was talking to the tech support last week (the first time) while we were waiting for the TA to do anything, the woman informed me that we are all allowed up to 3 TA's for free. I assume that they do not have that many now, but in the future that is a possibility. I was actually considering going with a regular DVR box in my bedroom, but might consider getting another tivo there now too.

For anyone else who is interested, I posted earlier that my upper USB port was not working and this seemed to be the problem with my TA at first. I went ahead and plugged my wireless adapter into the front USB of the TA to see if that would funtion as an extra USB port on for the tivo since the TA was taking up the last free one. The Wireless lit up and I left it at that thinking it might have been working, but checked later and had no signal. Instead, I found my old USB 4-port hub (no external power needed) and ran that to the Tivo and the Wireless adapter and TA to the Hub, and sure enough both work fine now. I will probably go ahead and hopefully exchange my unit at some point, but for anyone else who might have a similar problem but is not under any warranty, this is a good fix for the time being.

Lastly, I did not notice any addition of HD yesterday, so I was not able to check on whether I received those channels or not. I had a message said that a new channel was added around 270 or so, but that was all. I will look when I get home today.

[Dark Helmet]

Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it? :)


I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.

(My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).

[Dark Helmet]

This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.

Anyone else experience this?

I had a couple of power blinks over the weekend; everything came back up fine, no need to unplug the TA or confirm any screen on the TiVo that the TA was available. It just all started up and worked.

(I didn't have anything set to record, so maybe it's possible that there was a screen when I turned it back on and I just hit one of the remote buttons before I saw the screen. I guess that's easy enough to check).

[Revolutionary]

I had a couple of power blinks over the weekend; everything came back up fine, no need to unplug the TA or confirm any screen on the TiVo that the TA was available. It just all started up and worked.

(I didn't have anything set to record, so maybe it's possible that there was a screen when I turned it back on and I just hit one of the remote buttons before I saw the screen. I guess that's easy enough to check).

Same experience when the power blinked out Saturday night. Everything started up just fine without my involvement. Same thing happened when I froze up the Tivo (I was managing my to do list a little too quickly for Tivo's liking) and had to pull the power. Didn't have to fiddle with the TA at all.

[Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]

[Revolutionary]

After both of my freezes, the TA came right back to life upon powering up. I hope that what you are experiencing is not a common problem since I seem to have power outages on occasion at my place.

Buy an UPS and put both the Tivo and the adapter on it.

[Dark Helmet]

[Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]

I don't think we live that far apart :-)

I suspect in Fair Oaks you had underground power service. From what I've seen in the Vienna area we have a lot of overhead power lines, and those are more vulnerable to things like branches and crows (no kidding, I lost power once because a crow perched on my transformer). I also have gotten countless surges on my cable and telephone lines that zapped a bunch of equipment. My advice? Invest in a whole-house surge protector and cable/telephone surge protectors as well. You could always try calling people up and complaining ... but when I did that, I got the classic runaround.

[tim5055]

[Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]
Well, that is something new for me to worry about. Just bought a house in Vienna (moving from Comcast area of Atlanta).

I was worried about Cox having any TAs left, now I guess I don't have to worry, no power at the house:eek:

[Timber]

I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.

(My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).

Stations coming in now. :up::cool::up:

-=Tim=-

[milo99]

I don't think we live that far apart :-)

I suspect in Fair Oaks you had underground power service. From what I've seen in the Vienna area we have a lot of overhead power lines, and those are more vulnerable to things like branches and crows (no kidding, I lost power once because a crow perched on my transformer). I also have gotten countless surges on my cable and telephone lines that zapped a bunch of equipment. My advice? Invest in a whole-house surge protector and cable/telephone surge protectors as well. You could always try calling people up and complaining ... but when I did that, I got the classic runaround.
this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.

been here for 6+ years, not once. I recall hurricanes where you'd go just down 123, or 7 or spring hill and as soon as the overhead power lines showed up, darkness. But there was one glimmer of light in Fairfax county, and that was Tysons. :D

[Miller]

this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.

been here for 6+ years, not once. I recall hurricanes where you'd go just down 123, or 7 or spring hill and as soon as the overhead power lines showed up, darkness. But there was one glimmer of light in Fairfax county, and that was Tysons. :D

Everyone go to Milo's house the next time we lose power. I have been here 3.5 years and while it hasn't happened often, we do lose power here more than anywhere else I have ever lived in the country.

[Dark Helmet]

this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.

But then you're stuck in ... Tyson's. Nice place to shop, wouldn't wanna live there :)

Honestly, maybe it's where I'm at in Vienna (and "Vienna" covers a LOT of ground), but I don't get it as bad as Revolutionary. 4 times in the last month? No way. Those blinks over the weekend are the first ones I remember in a long time. But then again I actually WORK during the day, unlike most people on this forum :), so it possible the power is going out a bunch of times throughout the day. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's unlikely as well ... certainly my TiVo isn't restarting all of the time, and it's not on a UPS).

[mcdannej]

Anybody else notice that Cox appeared to turn on copy protection over the weekend on some channels? PTI on Espn and the nightly MSNBC lineup is now unavailable for MRV.

I hate Cox....again.

[242]

I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.

(My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).

I saw the new channels without issue for most of the day. Unfortunately around 8pm it told me that the channel was temporarily unavailable even though I could see and hear it behind the translucent message. The message said to hit select, but neither select nor any other button functioned. After about a minute the tivo unit rebooted. The cisco box started blinking during this process but synced just as the tivo came back up. Its working again now, but I hope they fix the bugs soon.

-jeff

[warewolf]

It was like the tuning adapter konked out, and just stopped working. So the first thing I did was follow the instructions that came with the tuning adapter.

Rebooting the TiVo did not fix it.
Disconnecting the tuning adapter from the TiVo, power cycling it, and reconnecting it back to the TiVo after it had synch'd up fixed it.

It did take the TiVo a minute or two to re-download the channel map, which prevented me from watching Live TV.

Next time when this happens (it only happened on one of two original series 3 TiVos with tuning adapters) I'll go into the tuning adapter troubleshooting screen and see what it says there.

This is probably the problem that TiVo is supposed to fix with a software update.

[milo99]

But then you're stuck in ... Tyson's. Nice place to shop, wouldn't wanna live there :)

Honestly, maybe it's where I'm at in Vienna (and "Vienna" covers a LOT of ground), but I don't get it as bad as Revolutionary. 4 times in the last month? No way. Those blinks over the weekend are the first ones I remember in a long time. But then again I actually WORK during the day, unlike most people on this forum :), so it possible the power is going out a bunch of times throughout the day. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's unlikely as well ... certainly my TiVo isn't restarting all of the time, and it's not on a UPS).

well, i can say that when 3/4 of fairfax county had their power out, people were out shopping and eating in... Tysons. :D

I actually have liked living there much more than i thought i would. I used to live in Fairfax right by 236 and Picktet, and i kinda hated it. Right now, my commute is max 30 minutes no mater where i go, and being a consultant, where my job takes me all over the area, that's been a nice luxury.

[milo99]

and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.

oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!

[EvilYankeeFan]

and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.

oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!

Yep. I'm getting pixelization as well. It's bearable though.

[Revolutionary]

and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.

oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!

AMCHD is by far the worst "HD" I have ever seen. I do not say this lightly: it is so pixelated (complete with sprites) that it is unwatchable.

Aside: it is 9 am, I am at work, and I smell hotdogs. How is this possible?

[thea]

I have pixelation also on other channels like NBC4, sometimes there's also a problem with the sound skipping. Kinda annoying because I was trying to watch Leno and it kept skipping during the opening monologue. Weather Channel HD comes in beautifully though.

btw - we've only had 1 power outage in the 4 years I've lived here and that only because some idiot decided to "park" his SUV in the tranformer station up the street.

[milo99]

AMCHD is by far the worst "HD" I have ever seen. I do not say this lightly: it is so pixelated (complete with sprites) that it is unwatchable.

Aside: it is 9 am, I am at work, and I smell hotdogs. How is this possible?

really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen :rolleyes:

[Revolutionary]

really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen :rolleyes:

Probably depends on whether the original content is HD (maybe RoF was). I was watching something this morning in stretch-o-vision (the technical term) and it was TERRIBLE. A&E and TNT are known to do this, but they seem to upscale the content pretty well. It looked liked AMC was stretching a YouTube video. Basically like everything that is not natively HD on WETA (blek), only a little bit worse.

[Dark Helmet]

really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen :rolleyes:

Same here; I watched some of Reign of Fire last night (man, there really was nothing else on, was there?) and I thought it looked great. I wish most people would follow the lead of ESPN and just pillarbox 4:3 content on HD channels; the stretching just looks weird in most cases.

[milo99]

Same here; I watched some of Reign of Fire last night (man, there really was nothing else on, was there?) and I thought it looked great. I wish most people would follow the lead of ESPN and just pillarbox 4:3 content on HD channels; the stretching just looks weird in most cases.

Fox news does that... O'Reilly factor is 4:3 and on FNC HD it was pillarboxed... yes... there really was nothing else on last night...

[Timber]

Yep. I'm getting pixelization as well. It's bearable though.

+1

-=Tim=-

[jcaudle]

I haven't used the HD channels and changed all my season passes yet. However there seems to be a lot of copy protection on shows that weren't copy protected on the analog versions of these channels. It sounds like the next fight with Cox. If it was a HD Channel we had before Sept 07 it probably isn't blocked from transferring. I again am not happy with these jerks. Unourtunately the upcoming showings don't show if they are copy protected or not. I WANT FIOS

[Dark Helmet]

I haven't used the HD channels and changed all my season passes yet. However there seems to be a lot of copy protection on shows that weren't copy protected on the analog versions of these channels.


From what I can tell, there IS no technical way to mark shows on analog stations as copy-protected (unless perhaps shows in the guide data are marked that way, but I have never encountered that). This isn't a new issue; it's just that there was either a small or zero overlap between MRV working and us having digital extended cable channels (I know this was an issue with Mythbusters before, for example.

Unfourtunately the upcoming showings don't show if they are copy protected or not.

I don't think the TiVo knows if it's copy-protected until it gets the digital stream and looks at the CCI bytes.

[jfranklin]

O'kay, the sup that I usually deal with in this issues is apperently on an extended vacation, so I'm going to have to work with another, and a manager. So I'm going to need as much information as I can get from you all.

I know a few of you have posted some of the channels that aren't allowing copying, but it would be helpful to get a full list of channels in which programs have their CCI bit set to 0x02. Confirm more than one program per channel, so we can be sure that it is a channel level setting and not a program level one.

I'm going to compose an email now to get this process going, but would like to be able to provide a complete list of affected channels. Bother SD and HD.

[TheLongshot]

O'kay, the sup that I usually deal with in this issues is apperently on an extended vacation, so I'm going to have to work with another, and a manager. So I'm going to need as much information as I can get from you all.

I know a few of you have posted some of the channels that aren't allowing copying, but it would be helpful to get a full list of channels in which programs have their CCI bit set to 0x02. Confirm more than one program per channel, so we can be sure that it is a channel level setting and not a program level one.

I'm going to compose an email now to get this process going, but would like to be able to provide a complete list of affected channels. Bother SD and HD.

On a check the other night, the only program I'm getting the CC bit checked where I didn't before is Moral Orel on Cartoon Network. The other CN stuff I record isn't getting set, tho, so it might be normal, if annoying.

[Revolutionary]

I'm at work now, so this will take some time for me to look at. But off the top of my head, every show that I have tested on the following channels has been 0x02:

FOODHD
USAHD
SCIFIHD
TBSHD
DISCHD
SCIHD
ANPLTHD
TLCHD

I haven't tested any of the channels that got added earlier this week.

Thanks, Jody!

[moyekj]

An easy way to check CCI values on multiple channels is as follows:

* Navigate to the DVR Diagnostics screen
* Click on Live to return to live viewing
* Tune to a channel of interest
* Click on Live again to swap to other tuner and tune to another channel of interest
* Click on left arrow (once the program information overlay dissapears) and you will be returned immediately to the Diagnostics screen where you can read the CCI values.
* Click on Live to return to live viewing and you can repeat the process

This way you can check CCI on multiple channels without excessive remote clicks.

[Miller]

I know for a fact Turner Classic Movies is and it has been every movie that I have recorded.

[mcdannej]

I just spent the last 20 minutes or so flipping around trying to figure this out. In my unscientific survey, I found a ridiculous number of channels that are showing cci 0x02. I checked (thanks Moyekj for the how to) the following:

53 Spike SD
56 ESPN SD
58 Life SD
67 MSNBC SD
71 CNN SD
87 TNT SD
91 Nik SD
701 HBO HD
716 ESPN HD
719 NG HD
727 DISC HD
730 AnPlan HD
739 SCIFI HD
741 LIFE HD
752 TWC HD

The only channels I could find that reported CCI 0x00 were the broadcasts 4/704 and 5/705, 41 Cspan, 220 GSN and 229 Bio.

We've got to get this fixed. MRV is basically broken for everything except ota broadcast channels. Any help you can provide, Jody, is appreciated as always.

BTW, my favorite has to be the vociferous copy protection of The Weather Channel HD. Who know what I could do with Doppler 8000 if I was given the right to transfer it from Tivo to Tivo. A travesty averted.

[JTalbert]

I am having problems with MRV as well. When I go back into my bedroom and try to copy things from my TivoHD, I can see a list of programs by folder, but ALL The folders are empty, I cant copy ANYTHING, no matter how long ago that it has been saved. Even stuff prior to me getting the TA. Tonight I am going to try to pull things from the bedroom Tivo to the TivoHD and see what happens. I know Tivo has apparently acknowledged some problems with the Tivo using the TA, and a SW update will be avail in January, I hope this update will fix this.

[mcdannej]

Talbert,

I'm guessing that is a different problem unrelated to the change in Cox's cci settings. With the change in cci, you see the recordings, they have the big "no copy" mark next to them. Anyway, check the forum for some guidance on fixing the MRV problem. It may be as simple as repowering one or both of your tivos

[jfranklin]

I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.

I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.

For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.

Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?

[Timber]

I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.

I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.

For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.

Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?

I'm not sure if confirmation info is helpful but I'm having exactly the problem listed above. ONLY the new stations, in fact my looking at TiVo Transfer I can see the TA date by the sudden increase in "no record" icons. Before then on non-HD channels (and I have variety/discover/etc.) its just movies after TA its almost everything as the new HD stations are largely what I watch now, HGTVD, NGCHD. Tho' I do notice that MSNBC (67) is also carrying that tag on MSNBC Investigates. Also the "old" HD stations like 706 and 709 do NOT carry the tag. NO problems recording.

Hope this makes sense. I'd be happy to talk to someone on the phone and run through the list. I will be leaving Cox soon as FIOS has arrived and tho' the TA made the decision MUCH tougher I've made the decision to jump (before TA it was a slam dunk.) I'm going to miss having someone on this forum that can help at this kind of local level!!!

-=Tim=-

[Revolutionary]

I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.

I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.

For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.

Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?

My variety tier seems to be unaffected. It is just random standard cable channels plus every SDV HD channel (for instance, I've confirmed that Universal HD and Stars HD--which are still not SDV--still have intermittent copy protection only, meaning that the byte is accurately being set case-by-case by the content owner).

[Revolutionary]

bump

[deaddeeds]

My TA rebooted on me three times on Saturday over a five hour period. Each time it takes about 5-10 min for the TA to do its flashing light thing and then for TiVo to ask for confirmation that it is connected to a TA. During this time the SDV channels are unavailable and TiVo dumps the 30 minute buffer. Anybody else having this problem???

[margbooks]

Because I knew from reading here that Cox finally has TAs, hubby got me an HD XL Tivo for Christmas to replace our Cox HD DVR. (When we got the HD TV this summer, we decided to try the Cox DVR to save money. I've missed Tivo dreadfully).

I called Cox today, and the rep knew what a tuning adapter was! She checked to see if one was available, and if I would have to pick it up at Kingstowne, or she could send it with the technician on the truck with my cablecard. It's coming with the technician, and they're scheduled to be here tomorrow afternoon!

I will be so glad to be back to Tivo! Thank you all for sharing your info! :)

Margaret

[warewolf]

For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. (TiVo Multi Room Viewing)

If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on. (Standard DVR capabilities)

Trying not to shoot the messenger here, but reading between the lines here it looks like Cox is not interested in permitting a TiVo do things with recorded programs a Cox DVR can't. Cox has the video progras in a CCI 0x02 death grip, which IMHO is a bit unreasonable. If Cox says "we don't set the CCI bit, the major networks do" I have to call BS, because back on Fios I could transfer program part of the base digital package (I didn't subscribe to premium channels such as HBO). And I could transfer PPV programs like UFC fights.

As I said before, a cox support rep in hampton roads said "the CCI settings are correct", which is 80% of why I don't think this is likely to change anytime soon, or if at all.

It's DRM, it's Defective By Design, and lowers the value of consumer cable card devices. Thankfully all of the TiVos in my family have lifetime service, I'd hate to pay part of a monthly service fee for a feature that my cable company denies me.

[milo99]

well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.

I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.

So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels. :)

[Timber]

well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.

I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.

So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels. :)

Interesting I had HGTVHD (724) not record last night on a season pass as TiVo reported that cable was not powered up.

-=Tim=-

[djones18]

well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.

I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.

So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels. :)


I had a similar problem several days ago but it has not happened again, thankfully, since I've been gone for Christmas. Handshaking between the TiVo and the TA needs to be refined so that when one detects the other is not active, they automatically reestablish a connection. My continuing concern on this issue is the loss of recording capability while away from home.

[Revolutionary]

jfranklin: any updates on the CC byte?

[Revolutionary]

Cross referencing in case these issues are related: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=414223&page=2

Is anyone with a Tuning Adapter on their Series3/HD model unable to access that device's now playing list on a Series2 device via MRV? In my case (and another user), our HD Tivos can see and access the playlist of our Series2 Tivos, but our Series2 devices can only "see" our HD devices (ie, the HD Tivo appears at the bottom of the NPL on the Series 2) and cannot access the S3 NPL -- when you try to access the now playing list, the S2 reports that the S3 has no recordings. We aren't sure what might be going on, but we did figure out that we both have Cisco tuning adapters recently added to the mix...

[Revolutionary]

Does anybody have the troubleshooting guide that came with the TA in a digital format that you can upload? My TA was installed by a Cox tech on a truck-roll, and it appears he took the troubleshooting guide with him...

[Miller]

Does anybody have the troubleshooting guide that came with the TA in a digital format that you can upload? My TA was installed by a Cox tech on a truck-roll, and it appears he took the troubleshooting guide with him...

Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I have a PDF of one I can send you.

[Miller]

Ignore previous post. I was able to copy and paste it here. If you still want the PDF version, feel free to send me your e-mail address in a PM and I will send it to you.

Troubleshooting Guide
Cox Communications is pleased to provide you a free Tuning Adapter -- which will enable TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL devices equipped with a CableCARD to tune to channels that are delivered via Switched Digital Video (SDV), a new interactive technology deployed by Cox allowing us to provide our customers with more, new and exciting channels.
As a customer in the Cox Northern Virginia area, you are one of the first to receive a tuning adapter. During our testing and trials of the adapter, Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis.
Most customers will not experience an issue and we therefore wanted to make the Tuning Adapters available to you as quickly as possible.
Customer impacts from the issue include:
The loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe.
Difficulty tuning to a single channel.
If you experience the loss of a block of channels,please follow these easy trouble shooting tips prior to calling Cox.
1) Disconnect the USB cable from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to
step 2. .
2) Unplug the electrical cord from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to step 3.
3) Restart your TiVo DVR - From TiVo Central, select Messages & Settings> Restart or Reset System> Restart the DVR. Once the DVR finishes its restart, your channels should be available.
If you are unable to tune to a single channel, please retune to the channel by using the channel up/down buttons on your remote, or by re-entering the channel number you are attempting to tune to.
If these steps do not correct the issue, giving you access to all channels that you subscribe to, please call Cox at 703-378-8422 in Fairfax or 540-373-6343 in Fredericksburg.
Again, we anticipate that only a small number of customers will be impacted by the performance issue, but please keep these tips on hand as the issue may appear at anytime over the next several weeks.

[Revolutionary]

Ignore previous post. I was able to copy and paste it here. If you still want the PDF version, feel free to send me your e-mail address in a PM and I will send it to you.

Troubleshooting Guide
Cox Communications is pleased to provide you a free Tuning Adapter -- which will enable TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL devices equipped with a CableCARD to tune to channels that are delivered via Switched Digital Video (SDV), a new interactive technology deployed by Cox allowing us to provide our customers with more, new and exciting channels.
As a customer in the Cox Northern Virginia area, you are one of the first to receive a tuning adapter. During our testing and trials of the adapter, Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis.
Most customers will not experience an issue and we therefore wanted to make the Tuning Adapters available to you as quickly as possible.
Customer impacts from the issue include:
The loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe.
Difficulty tuning to a single channel.
If you experience the loss of a block of channels,please follow these easy trouble shooting tips prior to calling Cox.
1) Disconnect the USB cable from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to
step 2. .
2) Unplug the electrical cord from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to step 3.
3) Restart your TiVo DVR - From TiVo Central, select Messages & Settings> Restart or Reset System> Restart the DVR. Once the DVR finishes its restart, your channels should be available.
If you are unable to tune to a single channel, please retune to the channel by using the channel up/down buttons on your remote, or by re-entering the channel number you are attempting to tune to.
If these steps do not correct the issue, giving you access to all channels that you subscribe to, please call Cox at 703-378-8422 in Fairfax or 540-373-6343 in Fredericksburg.
Again, we anticipate that only a small number of customers will be impacted by the performance issue, but please keep these tips on hand as the issue may appear at anytime over the next several weeks.

Thanks, Miller! :D

[warewolf]

As I said before, a cox support rep in hampton roads said "the CCI settings are correct", which is 80% of why I don't think this is likely to change anytime soon, or if at all.

It's DRM, it's Defective By Design, and lowers the value of consumer cable card devices. Thankfully all of the TiVos in my family have lifetime service, I'd hate to pay part of a monthly service fee for a feature that my cable company denies me.

I hate to quote my own post (it's totally bad form) but I just realized something.

How could I forget that the Series 3 TiVos initially entered the market with no MRV capabilities? That was all thanks to Cable Labs, the consortium of cable companies. After a while, Cable Labs gave TiVo the green-light go-ahead to provide MRV capabilities on the Series 3 TiVos, and TiVo pushed out a service update that permitted the Series 3 units to participate transfering analog and digital content to and from each other.

While Cable Labs said it was OK, the cable companies themselves are restricting what we can do by the CCI bits.

This is backpedaling on a permitted feature by the cable companies. This has to be fixed.

[Revolutionary]

Agreed. Apparently jfranklin is getting stonewalled. Time to start calling Cox Customer service en masse. Can we arrange a "call in" (telephonic sit in) where we all call Cox on the same afternoon or evening?

[Timber]

Just switched today from Cox to Verizon FIOS (a pretty smooth transition with a tech who hadn't done a TiVo before.) Just checked my TiVo listings from my Mac. By looking at the recordings from the Mac you can tell the exact time that the switch took place as suddenly the programs are transferable to my Mac where they weren't before.

-=Tim=-

[Revolutionary]

Rub it in, why don't you... can't get FIOS in my condo...

[warewolf]

Hey, no update. Do we want to get TiVo involved or are we going to schedule a phone-in?

Oh, and did anybody notice the analog battlestar gallactica tonight on channel 83 had sound only in the left channel? I'm enjoying the quality service here.

[Timber]

Just switched today from Cox to Verizon FIOS (a pretty smooth transition with a tech who hadn't done a TiVo before.) Just checked my TiVo listings from my Mac. By looking at the recordings from the Mac you can tell the exact time that the switch took place as suddenly the programs are transferable to my Mac where they weren't before.

-=Tim=-

In case anyone wanted to see what happened when I switched from Cox to FIOS around midday on Jan 5, instant transferability. This screen is from TiVo Transfer, Roxio's Toast piece.

http://www.timbarwick.com/TiVo_Transfer-20090116-213935.jpg

-=Tim=-

[warewolf]

alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903

http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300

[djones18]

Cox Fairfax County now has Tuning Adapters available for general release at their Kingstowne branch for free. A friend picked hers up this past weekend for her TiVo HD. I was one of 50 or so folks who got them in December and have been through a steep learning curve to keep the TA synched to my TiVo. Haven't had any problems in the last couple weeks.

We followed the setup procedures in the release notes and had problems synching the Tuning Adapter to the M-card and TiVo. We could not get SDV channels and could not get the Tuning Adapter to be recognized. The process required rebooting the Tuning Adapter after it was activated through Cox's automated system, then a cold reboot of the TiVo via unplugging. It then took about an hour for the system to settle down and synch. The Tuning Adapter and Cablecard Diagnostic screens were helpful in determining the synch status of the adapter.

The additional procedures needed to get the TA working were in the troubleshooting section of the release notes but normally shouldn't be required. Simply put, I wouldn't just give up and call for a truck roll without running through the troubleshooting procedures a couple times, then giving the sysem a chance to settle down and synch up.

My friend is an average user with little or no technical knowledge and this would have been a frustrating experience without help.

[deaddeeds]

alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903

http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300

Should we all contact Fairfax County again to complain about this???

[jcaudle]

alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903

http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300

Try this email. She is the VP for governmental relations for Cox in Fairfax. kathryn.falk@cox.com. She was the one that was helpful on the tuning adapter issue here.

[deaddeeds]

I politely contacted Kathryn from Cox and she has already responded saying she would check out the issue. We will see what happens.

[Revolutionary]

Should we all contact Fairfax County again to complain about this???

I recently had my "closeout" interview with Mr. Hyde from the county. I mentioned that the County's action resolved the problem of access to SDV channels, but that we now faced a new frustration. He clarified, though, that Cox was not inhibiting my ability to record shows AT ALL on the Tivo, and I confirmed this.

He seemed interested in the new problem, but was principally interested in closing out the existing complaint.

I'm not sure what the County could do about this one, though (but what do I know...). I suggest we try the patient route for a little while longer. I think we should all send in a letter of the kind suggested on warewolf's tivo.com forum thread. If someone wants to take the lead on drafting it (I'm too busy this month), we could all send in a copy. With cc's to the FCC and the county?

[jfranklin]

just don't want you all thinking I had forgotten, just that I haven't heard anything back yet.

[Donbadabon]

Blink Blink Blink. Never stops blinking.

Followed the directions to the letter, called the 866 number and it said to wait 20 minutes for the blinking to stop. It never stops.

Of course I called tech support, and the woman had no idea what I was talking about. She kept asking about the 'cablecards in the adapter'. Ugh. I spent over 15 on the phone with her, and she had no clue what to do.

Are there any key phrases I can say to let them know how to check to make sure it is assigned to my account, or how they can ping it, or anything? It is very frustrating to talk to people that know less than me about this thing, and I don't know anything!

[deaddeeds]

Just keep calling Cox until you get a CSR that knows what they are doing. That is what I have done in past. You also may try sending a PM to JFranklin.

[Donbadabon]

Whew. 3 1/2 hours later, and I am up and running.
Finally got a CSR that not only knew something about the Tuning Adapter, he conferred with an in-house specialist when he didn't know the answer.
The problem turned out to be, like many others here, that the person who originally gave me the box didn't enter the information correctly in my account.
Once that was resolved, it works like a charm.

Since this seems to be a common problem, maybe Cox needs to take a moment and train the front desk folks on how to do this properly. Sure would save folks a lot of heartache.

[milo99]

anybody else having problems accessing TBSHD channel 722? It's been out for me for a few days. haven't bothered calling tech support since it's not exactly a very pressing channel for me, but i think there's a show on it coming up that i'd like to check out.... just don't feel like wasting a lot of time on the phone for just that one.

and yes, i've tried the 3 troubleshooting steps in the TA handout... no luck...