No more Tivo investment 'til SDV resolved

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You would think that this very issue is becoming a high priority for TiVo since SDV is going to severely impact sales. I am hoping that TiVoPony's quick response to another thread about SDV indicates that there may be something coming soon...I am hoping.

 

Well, I've had series 2 since they first came out, with a lifetime subscription. My box is flaking out on me, and Tivo just reoffered the lifetime transfer option. Also, I just bought an HDTV last week. The timing all seemed perfect, so I placed my order. Then, being the geek that I am, I wandered over to this forum to learn exactly what cables I need, installation issues (I anticipated maybe needing to help the cable installer install the cablecards), etc., and I happened along the SDV threads. Sure enough, my cable company (COX fairfax NoVA) just rolled out SDV and will be putting all new HD channels on SDV. I suspect I would have known nothing until I called the cable company and asked for cablecards. To be fair, current subscribers to Cox digital received a letter a few months ago stating that this change was taking place - I was not a subscriber then. A thread in a another forum indicates that my company is refusing to install cablecards into Tivo now, though posts on this forum indicate that they still are. Probably it comes down to which CSR you talk to.


I still really want Tivo. My girlfriend has the cox DVR (non HD) and it is very primitive compared to the Tivo. I've almost talked myself into keeping it just for recording all of the SD channels, with the hope that SDV will be resolved soon, using a cable DVR for HD, but that is probably not a financially sound decision. Fios is being installed all around us (literally), but our neighborhood seems to be getting skipped. Either a resolution with Cox or Fios availability would have me keeping the Tivo.

 

My concern is that if this device does have to come from my cable company then the timeframe for me getting one could be 1 month or 16 months. I would have to agree that until someone in this country has at least gotten one I would be hesitant to buy an S3.

 

Can someone translate this legalese from the FCC filing?

"Licensing and testing of this optional feature of a UDCP will be provided under the
existing DFAST agreement in a manner similar to that submitted to the FCC by various signators (TiVo, Motorola, Digeo, Solekai, Digital Keystone, and ViXS) for the optional M-CARD 34 interface for UDCPs.68 That is, execution of a DFAST addendum, one-time verification testing, and self-verification thereafter.69"

Page 36

Does that mean the dongle will be optional for Tivo or for Cable Companies?

 

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I'm having the same dilemma as many above. I absolutely abhor my piece of excrement SA 8300HD DVR, rented to me for $9.00/month by the equally execrable TWC NYC. I would really like to purchase a TiVo HD and take advantage of the current lifetime subscriber transfer offer. However, I am hard pressed to do so not knowing when TWC will go ahead with SDV in Manhattan, which channels I would lose (or which new channels I will not have access to) and when and if the "we're working on it" dongle will become available.

I called TWC to try to get some answers regarding SDV. The CSR who I spoke to had no clue what I was talking about when I referred to switched digital video. After 15 minutes of her putting me on hold, she returned to say there was nothing about it in the computer, and no one she spoke to knew anything about it. Figuring maybe I would have more luck, I e-mailed to TWC NYC. Below, in reverse order, are my questions to TWC and their spectacularly unhelpful "response." Telling me that it has "currently not yet been deployed," aside from being horrible grammar, raises as many questions as it answers. If anyone has any more information on TWC NYCs plans for SDV in Manhattan, could you be so kind as to post. Thanks.

TWC NYC Response

Thank you for your recent correspondence to Time Warner Cable.

In reference to your inquiry, please be advised that currently this has
not yet been deployed.

If you have any additional questions or need future assistance, please
contact us at support_nyc@twcable or call our 24 hour Customer
Support Line at 212 or 718-358-0900.

Sincerely,

Time Warner Cable
Customer Support

Original Message Follows:
------------------------

Subject: general info
Account Number:
Phone Number:
Date: 10-27-2007 18:35
Comments: Can you provide me with any information regarding the use of
switched digital video in Manhattan. Are any channels in Manhattan
(south of 14th street) currently switched digital video? Are there
plans to move any current channels or introduce new channels as switched
digital video channels? If so, when?

Thank you

 

A year ago, I felt like I'd just have trusted TiVo to get this solved. Of course, my issue at the time was the M-Card that was mentioned in the manual, but taken back -- until certified. Here in Hawaii for one Series 3, TWC charges 2x digital fee (@ $8/mo each) + 2x HD fee (@ $8/mo each) + 2x cablecard fee (@ $3.10/mo each) -- but I figured the extra $150/year in fees to TWC would go away as soon as M-Card was available. I'm still waiting.

Now TWC Hawaii is moving *all* HD to SDV. (Except for the networks which they're not allow to move to SDV.) TiVo says not to worry -- they'll have a solution in place by the time SDV is "widely deployed". Hello -- that's now in TWC country.

I also have had TiVo from Series 1, Series 2, and now Series 3. In the beginning, TiVo was just a joy. Now, not so much.

 

TWC NYC will not deploy switched digital for at least a year but more likely much longer than that (2 to 3 years). They have not even begun planning for it yet for either Manhattan or Queens.

 

I only wish I could be in the position of having my TiVo HD in the box and eligible for return. TWC launched ESPN2HD here in Cincinnati on SDV on the very day the college football season opened. If that wasn't a clear indicator of their intent, then the response I got back from my BBB complaint really sealed it. In summary, their response was: we told you UDCP devices won't get some channels, we're about to launch 5 more, and you won't get those or any future ones.

I've complained in writing to each local, state, and federal representative, the local franchise authority, the FCC, and the BBB, and none of them care in the least. The cable co has you by the balls, and there's absolutely NOTHING you can do but take it. It makes me sick to think the $600 I put in to my TiVo HD is being devalued by a CableCo intent on creating and defending a monopolistic income stream.

Based on TWC's response to my BBB complaint (their first contact back to me), I think the dongle is a pipe dream. If anyone wants a deal on a cheap TiVo HD with about 32 months of service paid up, let me know.

 

To be fair, without being their personal shrink I don't think you can say that they don't "care". I believe it is simply more likely that they weight us TiVo owner's concerns about how SDV undercuts our devices' capabilities against how SDV enhances the offerings the cable company is able to provide to the vast majority of its customers who don't have privately-owned DVRs.

 

If you think about it logically; SDV fails completely if everyone tries to watch a different channel.

 

In the real world that seldom happens.

 

Well, statistically it's supposed to happen eventually. What happens then? Does the cableco. kill their internet speeds or something?

 

You get a screen that says the network is busy and this channel is temporarily unavailable. I've never heard of anyone seeing that screen.

 

Which is why it is so important for the cable companies to base it on their understanding of current usage. They've got years and years of data regarding usage available to them, and know just how many SDV channels they really need within any specific head-end area.

 

So does your POTS line or cell phones. How often does that happen?

 

Every day on my cell, 2x to 3x

 

Cell phones are a good analogy. There are a limited number of radios available at cell sites, so it parallels the SDV model very well, though the SDV model is even more robust, since unlike cell phones, SDV clients can share a single channel.

I'm not sure if POTS is a good analogy. Last time I did any telephony work, we still had copper pairs for each home back all the way back to the central office or SLC.

 

You should pay for a better cell phone service. I haven't had a problem with my cell phone for at least ten years.

Regardless, the point is that the model is a viable one -- a less robust version of the SDV model is being used for cell phone service, which is something which practically everyone feels is a service they must have for themselves these days, even given the minor problem that the shared channel model may occasionally present.

 

Your service sucks. I'd bet you get poor coverage and this in totally unrelated to throughput capacity of the cell infrastructure. Bad analogy.

 

Happened last week when we had a 5.6 earthquake here in the San Francisco Bay Area.