SDV Adapter Progress

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The CableCARDs themselves aren't the problem; they only deal with access control. The problem lies in the definition of a unidirectional digital cable product and CableLabs' requirement that any box capable in hardware of upstream communication use OCAP (now tru2way). If TiVo had built a box capable of upstream communication, CableLabs would not have approved it without OCAP.

TiVo could have built a two way box, but it would have had to run the cable company's software, not their own.

Thankfully, a compromise has been reached that will in the future allow TiVo to build a box running their software that runs the tru2way stack alongside to handle the two-way stuff, but that doesn't help anything today, or even next year, since they stalled for so many years on doing anything about this.

Basically, a UDCP can't have upstream communication capability, and a two-way box can't (couldn't) run third party software, thus the catch-22.

 

There is so much mis-information out there on CableCARDs. It is particularly frustrating to see cable companies themselves spreading the mis-information. COX is wrong on this point!

 

i've tried getting in touch with him but haven't heard back. he may not be checking the forum any more. When he called me, it was from the Cox help desk, so who knows if it's even possible to find him that way.

I'm going to write them an email and see if i can get on their tester list. that'd be nice

 

Good luck with the email. It sounds like they have three clearly willing volunteers, I wonder if Cox would care that we at least know of each other over this board. I suppose if they could use it as an excuse, they would!

 

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good luck indeed... i've been trying to submit an email via their online form all day. keeps crapping out. sigghhhhhhh

 

well now, i was able to send an email finally, and guess what. I got the same canned response from "Connie" that you did. So I sent her a nice reply stating that that's basically BS, and even gave her some links to read. I'm awaiting a response.

 

Maybe Connie isn't a real person, just a name they use for these email inquiries. I had no luck getting answers from regular CSRs....they either didn't understand what SDV was or didn't know what a tuning adapter was. Cox isn't telling them. Connie whoever she is, was a bit cranky in her reply...."if it will appease you" regarding submitting me to beta test the Tuning adapter.

 

and that's what chaffes me. This is part of what i wrote to "Connie":

it's complete BS that their tech support reps have less info than what can be obtained by a simple google search.

 

I recently send a request to Oceanic about the availability of the Tuning Adapters, since the main timewarner.com page had info about pre-ordering.

Here is their response I got this morning and by the way, Nick seems to be the only "Supervisor" Oceanic has at their call center.

Aloha!

Thank you for your recent inquiry. We expect to have the Tuning Adapter
available within the next 6 months. I will have someone contact you once
they become available.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail us again
or contact our Customer Care Department at 643-2100. When replying to
this e-mail, please include this message as well as all previous
correspondence regarding this issue.

Thank You for being an Oceanic Time Warner Cable Customer!


Mahalo,
Nick S.
Oceanic Time Warner Cable

 

Well, at least the first TVs with builtin tru2way are in the marketplace:

"CHICAGO, IL (October 15, 2008) — Panasonic (NYSE: PC), the consumer electronics industry leader in the development and application of tru2way technology, and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications today announced the arrival of the first tru2way VIERA HDTVs at Abt Electronics in Glenview, IL and officially declared the tru2way platform active in Chicago and Denver. "

Full story on the Panasonic website:

http://www.panasonic.com/

 

So, anybody been nagging their provider? What good is an online forum of enthusiasts if I can't count on a few "calling will be my life's purpose for the foreseeable future" obsessives to be in the mix?

 

i guess i can give you the response Cox NoVA gave to my diatribe:

Notice it was "pamela" replying....

to which i responded:

their reply was interesting:

Connie returns... but meantime, i'm not so sure how good i should feel about the part "your name has already been submitted to the appropriate departments". Hopefully, that's not a blacklist of 'complainers'

 

well have a TEch out to you sometime in 2009, late 2009

 

I'm still here, just wasn't following this thread. Though I did just subscribe to it. Unfortunately I don't know who the people are that you're getting these emails from, but then they are likely actually in NoVA and I'm in Hampton Roads. Only the technical call center for Virginia is in HR, other local operations are mostly still handled in the specific market.

As for the status of the adapters themselves, I don't know anymore than the rest of you do, actually probably less. Your description of the path to information as a Byzantine maze is fairly accurate. I reach people who are just as curious and just as uninformed as I am, people who don't know what I'm talking about, or people that even if they did know what I was talking about aren't letting go of the company line long enough to actually listen to my questions.

I can't say I've given up, I'm just not sure who to ask anymore.

I will definitely pass on anything I get that I can confirm, and not get fired for. (at this point I don't even have anything to tell you that I could get fired for)

 

I signed up for Mid Ohio let you guys know when I hear something.

 

Got a letter from Cox saying they are switching another 50 channels to SDV and trying to pimp off their digital set boxes with this note at the bottom of the letter.

Notice to Tivo Series 3 and HD owners: Cox, along with others in the cable industry, have worked with TiVo Inc to develop and external device called a Tuning Adapter that will allow Tivo Series 3 and TiVo HD devices using CableCARDs to access channels delivered via SDV. Availability of the Tuning Adapter is expected later this year. At that time additional information will be sent to you. The Tuning Adapter will be provided by Cox at no charge. In the interim, continued access to channels delivered with Cox digital set top receiver.

So basically Cox can't even guarantee that they will get the Tuning Adapters out before this major switch over that includes many channels I actually watch. Why won't FIOS come sooner to my neighborhood???

 

and they don't even offer their own crappy dvr for free as an interim gesture...just a stupid cable box. I feel for you...I also live in Fairfax only a mile from FiOS, but they aren't wiring my subdivision.

 

If anyone is a Time Warner customer and wants a SDV adapter for their TIVO, just click on the link at the bottom to order. They expect the SDV Adapter to be available by the end of this year. The link is for Albany NY but the order form is for any state.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Albany/products/cable/sdv/default.html

 

Please read the thread before you just go ahead and post information. This same information was posted nearly three weeks ago here.

 

I submitted a complaint to Fairfax County (http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dcccp/) and received a call today. Cox has agreed to postpone the switch till Dec 11 or 12th, cant recall, and they took my address to give to Cox who is suppose to contact me about a tuning adapter. I am hoping this means that Cox plans on getting the tuning adapters out before the new switch date. If you have not yet, and you live in Fairfax, file a complaint. The more people that complain, the better FFX CNTY said they were working with cox and the FCC on this, nice to see tax payers dollars working