[davidscarter]

Hi all! I am moving next week (my first move in nearly twenty years!), and am looking for some advice on what to do and things to watch out for.

I am moving from a Comcast-serviced residence to another Comcast-serviced residence, and have already put in the scheduled move via the Comcast Website.

My current set up:

In the office: An Ubee modem, connected to an AirPort router. The iMac (my main computer) also lives in the office, connected to the modem via ethernet.

In the living room: A Toshiba Amazon Fire edition television, with a TiVo Romio Pro, a Tivo HD XL, and a PlayStation 3 connected. All connect to the Internet via Wireless (AirPort). The Romio uses a CableCard, while the HDXL and the TV are connected to an indoor antenna (which only gets a good signal maybe 50% of the time—hoping that since the move puts me closer enough various stations to improve that...) The TV audio is connected to an old Aiwa receiver with Bose bookshelf speakers.


My (planned) new set-up:

In the office: Just the iMac, connected to Internet via wireless.

In the Living Room: The Ubee modem and the AirPort; plus the television, the Romio Pro and the PlayStation 3. Cablecard still in the Romio. Connect all three (tv, Tivo, PS) to the Internet via ethernet to the AirPort. (I plan to continue to use the Aiwa receiver and Bose speakers, but am thinking of getting the new Roku soundbar when it comes out in October)

(I plan on putting the modem/AirPort in the living room instead of the office as the new place is larger and the living room is centrally located.)

In the bedroom: A new TV, with the TiVo HD XL. Both connected to the Internet via wireless. Will try to use the antenna with the TiVo, but may end up getting a second cablecard.


My questions:

1) Has anyone done the move-your-own-equipment option for Comcast when moving? Was it fairly straightforward? What all did you have to do once moved? Should I opt instead to schedule a service call? (I am moderately tech savvy...)

2) Any issues with using a coax splitter for having the modem and the cablecard on the same coax port?

3) Any issues with having two cablecards in use on two different TiVos in the same household?

4) Anything else I'm not considering but should be?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

 

[HerronScott]

2) Any issues with using a coax splitter for having the modem and the cablecard on the same coax port?

3) Any issues with having two cablecards in use on two different TiVos in the same household?

I can answer these 2. No issues with either. Our current setup has a splitter with outputs going to our CableModem and 3 TiVo's. And although we only have CableCARD's in the Roamio now, we had 4 CableCARD's in the 2 S3 OLED TiVo's for 7 years (they required 2 operating in S-mode).

Scott

 

[tommage1]

You could consider a Mini for the bedroom if you don't want to spring for a second cable card. Use Moca for connection to the Mini, your Roamio Pro can create a Moca network. A mini cannot connect with wireless (well there are ways to do it with access points etc but since your Roamio has built in Moca that is simple). That way you can access your Roamio recordings and one tuner in the bedroom through the mini. Can still use the S3 also, hopefully with antenna as planned but if not it can still be hooked up and on your network without a cable card.

 

[DeltaOne]

2) Any issues with using a coax splitter for having the modem and the cablecard on the same coax port?
3) Any issues with having two cablecards in use on two different TiVos in the same household?

I use to split the incoming coax, one side to our cable modem, one side to everything else. About a year ago I had a Comcast tech out because we were having a small problem. He checked/cleaned up our wiring and suggested putting everything on the same port. It has worked out fine, no problems.

I was surprised when he added a POE filter. I mentioned that our TiVo's were wired with ethernet, the POE was unnecessary. He said while I wasn't using Moca the incoming Comcast feed was and it was now their policy to add a POE filter at each residence they visited.

We have two TiVo's here, two cablecards. No issues at all, it works fine.

 

[JoeKustra]

I use to split the incoming coax, one side to our cable modem, one side to everything else.

That's SOP for my cable company. Plus when I had an internet issue, it simplifies things. I can see my signal levels and the modem's event log and know it's getting the best signal possible. But if you're happy, and everything works, don't change anything.

I have four basic Roamio boxes, all with 90% signal strength and 36dB SNR.

To the OP: moving sucks.

 

[davidscarter]

Thanks all for your input. It is appreciated.

I may look at Tivo Mini + MOCA at some point.

Happy to hear further advice, especially from anyone with experience doing the move-your-own-equipment option with Comcast.

 

[davidscarter]

Here's a photo of the awful cord spaghetti where the cable comes in at the new place-I cannot even imagine where to put a POE filter! (Unless maybe that thing on one of the splitter ports is a POE filter?)

 

[DeltaOne]

View attachment 43264
Here's a photo of the awful cord spaghetti where the cable comes in at the new place-I cannot even imagine where to put a POE filter! (Unless maybe that thing on one of the splitter ports is a POE filter?)

A few observations from your photo:

1) One of the ports on the splitter will be labeled "In." That's where the POE filter goes. Most likely, it's the center port on the three port side.

2) You may already have a POE filter. The long-ish object connected to the middle port on the 3-port side looks like a POE filter or an attenuator.

3) You should either put a cap on that unused port or, better yet, replace the one to four splitter with a new one to three splitter. Best practice is to cap any unused ports. Since it appears you only need three outputs, I'd replace the splitter with a one to three splitter. Splitters aren't expensive, just be sure to get a good one with the right frequency specifications. You can order a splitter from Amazon or pick one up at a Home Depot or Lowes.

 

[davidscarter]

Following up on what happened (in case anyone in the future is interested...)

The move went rather smoothly. Only a couple of hiccups with setting up the Comcast service in the new condo:

• The modem activated just fine using Comcast's online activation, but I couldn't get the router and modem to recognize each other until I power-cycled both, then the Internet service was good to go.
• The cable card worked just fine as soon as I booted the TiVo up, until about an hour later when suddenly every channel was unauthorized! A call to Comcast support revealed that the problem was that the service on the Cable card had not been activated at the new address, and when they sent a signal at 10am for it to be deactivated at the old address that shut it off. Anyway the nice lady at Comcast was able to activate it at the new address and within seconds things were up and running again.

Other things: Yes, that longish thing on the incoming port on the splitter appears to be a POE filter. I put caps on all of the unused coax ports in the unit.

My plan to put a TV with the TiVo HD on a dresser in the bedroom was thwarted when the dresser wouldn't fit again the wall where the coax port lives (or rather the dresser fit fine, but there wasn't much room to walk between the foot of the bed and the dresser!) So no need to try to set up a MOCA with a TiVo mini at this point. For now the TiVO HD is sitting up in its box in the closet (though I suppose I should set it up and let it call home every so often...) Still haven't tried an antenna yet; too much other unpacking etc. to do at this point, but I'll give it a go at some point. (Ideally if the signals are good enough I'd set up a Fire TV recast in the third floor bedroom where the window points in the direction of most of the nearby stations...)

Thanks all for you advice!

 

[mattyro7878]

Too much to do?? More important than tv?? Get your priorities straight my man!! Good luck.