Tivo HD, Cablecard, and Cablevision IO question

You're probably going to need to ask Cablevision, unless someone here is particularly familiar with their setup - but it varies by area, so unless they live in your town, don't take it as a sure thing.

All you need to ask them is whether the Family Tier of programming receives the HD channels, or if you'd need to buy a higher tier of programming. They don't need to know you're using a TiVo or what, its just a programming question.

 

I grew up in NY and i would second what was mentioned before, just talk to them. They might even be able to add the features you want without changing your package.

 

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You don't need the IO package. I had CV with just family and I got all the locals, ESPN HD, the voom package, etc. The only HD channels I didn't get were the Golf Channel and National Geographic HD. You need IO for those. I recently added a couple of movie channels but I still did not get IO.

 

I had the same experience as beady, but in New Jersey.

One gotcha for me was that Cablevision screwed me by removing the Triple Play Discount when I returned their box and got Cablecards. Apparently, I needed either IO or a Cablevision-provided set top box in order to qualify for the Triple Play discount. The phone rep said I just need to rent the box and keep it around the house but that I didn't actually need to use it.

 

Its not a bad rule of thumb with a big company like that to call 2 or 3 times and make sure you get a consistent answer. If it varies, ask for a supervisor.

If you'd rather use the internet, by all means, but you may wish to find a Cablevision forum, say at broadbandreports.com and mention your location. Anything you get on here may apply elsewhere, but perhaps not to you, and won't be much more reliable than the first CSR you talk to.

 

I'm a Cablevision customer on Long Island.

You don't need cable cards to view HD programming, but you do need them if you want to view premium or digital channels. In other words, you'll be able to view HD network programming but premium stuff like HBO, TMC, Showtime and Cinemax is out as is all the "100" level channels and Speed Channel.

I connected my new S3 direct to cable prior to getting my CCs and I was able to view HD network programming.

Regards,

LH

 

Does anyone here have experience trying to get a TiVo HD unit to work on a Cablevision system? I want to know if it's worth the upgrade to the HD right now. It seems like there are quite a few reports of bugs with the HD setup. I'm also interested in how cooperative Cablevision is in helping customers out with problems with these HD units.

 

What kind of bugs? I've had an S3 since June and haven't had any problems other than the shady billing issue about my triple play discount.

 

I have used S3s and a TiVo HD on Cablevision's network without encountering any problems.

 

I have had my S3 since late Sept. with Cablevision CableCards and it has worked flawlessly. Only issue was that Scientific-Atlanta sent CV a bad batch of CC's and I needed a revisit to install the replacements.

You'll enjoy watching shows in HD and if your sound system is compatible with Dolby Digital, then the sound it awesome.

 

i have the tivo hd and cablevision (long island) and it works, kinda. cc's mess up a lot so i have to re-run the guided setup. had a cablevision tech over and he said theres a server down or something and theres nothing he can do. it's gotten better recently, but still not 100%. its still better then their DVR imo.

- Jon

 

I have an S3 with two CCs and Cablevision on LI. I went through a week or two of reseating the cards, rebooting the Tivo, and presumably updates to the CCs from Cablevision. During that period I'd have missing channels, one card dropping out alltogether (usually #2), and occasional A/V glitches.

Never had a tech come back during that period but I did call support twice for them to reset the CCs on their end.

At this point all appears to be stable.

LH