Tonight, I'll have the 3rd tech out from Cox on my cablecard install. Here are my remaining problems:

I have 3 cablecards - one in an HP LCD HD TV, and 2 in a TivoHD

- on both the TV and the Tivo, I get 80% of the HD channels, but several are missing (CNNHD/TravelHD/UniversalHD)

- on the Tivo only, I'm missing my digital movie tier (Encore/Sundance/Flix)

Clearly, the techs don't understand Cablecards, so I'm looking to try to circumvent them on these problems.

a) My hunch on the missing HD channels is that they haven't been authorized for Cablecard users. Any suggestions how to get high enough in the Cox hierarchy to determine whether this is the case (I'll try to convince the tech to see if someone at HQ can test these channels on a Cablecard set there, but I'm not optimistic they'll have one to run the test)?

b) After some reading, could the failure of the movie tier be due to the fact that this tier is being broadcast in switched digital video, which the Tivo can't handle? Again, an issue in trying to talk to someone far up enough in the Cox food chain to get a sensible response.

I'm probably stuck with what I have, but if anyone has some guidance on how to negotiate this, it would be greatly appreciated.

I have 3 cablecards - one in an HP LCD HD TV, and 2 in a TivoHD

- on both the TV and the Tivo, I get 80% of the HD channels, but several are missing (CNNHD/TravelHD/UniversalHD)

Sounds like possible SDV action here.

- on the Tivo only, I'm missing my digital movie tier (Encore/Sundance/Flix)

I'd guess improper channel entitlements at the headend are to blame.

a) My hunch on the missing HD channels is that they haven't been authorized for Cablecard users. Any suggestions how to get high enough in the Cox hierarchy to determine whether this is the case (I'll try to convince the tech to see if someone at HQ can test these channels on a Cablecard set there, but I'm not optimistic they'll have one to run the test)?

Either they're just not providing them in preparation for SDV, or they're doing SDV already, or someone just screwed up and forgot.

b) After some reading, could the failure of the movie tier be due to the fact that this tier is being broadcast in switched digital video, which the Tivo can't handle? Again, an issue in trying to talk to someone far up enough in the Cox food chain to get a sensible response.

Well, both your CableCARD-equipped TV and your TiVo wouldn't be able to get them if that was the case; considering no "tru2way"/OCAP hardware has yet hit the market (certainly not anything end customers can buy), I doubt your TV has the needed mmmmojo to do SDV all by its little old self.

I'm probably stuck with what I have, but if anyone has some guidance on how to negotiate this, it would be greatly appreciated.

You're pretty much at the cable company's mercy; SDV is considered legitimate, even though it screws with CableCARD users (though it sounds like SA and Moto have SDV tuning resolvers nearly ready for deployment, and only your TiVo will probably benefit from these). If they just screwed up with the mappings/entitlements on your cards though, calling them *might* help; then again, they might just not care. Only way to find out is to try.

Demonfoo-

Thanks for your thoughts.

This time, Cox sent the only tech who'd ever seen a TivoHD. Another couple of rounds of re-pairing the cablecards eventually yielded the movie tier on the TivoHD.

And it turned out that the 3 missing HD channels are being "tweaked" for cablecard users (ha!). I'll follow up on this in a few weeks (won't miss HD golf, but the Travel Channel HD is another matter entirely....)

with Cox Fairfax. They told me I would miss about 15 channels if I used a cablecard and Tivo HD. I decided to take their DVR for a spin since it is the only way I can get all HD channels. It is a piece of crap. I will call them today and get the cablecards installed in my tivo. Ugh. It pisses me of.

Another solution could have been to control their HD cable box from the tivo but this Tivo HD doesn't have any way to do that; no serial or IR ports.

I just got hooked up with 2 cox new orleans cable cards yesterday and have the same problem with HD golf, Travel Channel HD, and CNNHD. Of course I tried calling last ngiht but in NOLA fashion they kept hanging up on me.
Any luck with yours?

I've had no luck. Just missing channels