AnClar
10-13-09, 12:37 AM
Well...looks like the problem with Time Warner, the SA3250HD and 4240HDC STBs & HDMI has come to Central Texas with the latest software "update" from TWC.
Until this past Sunday, I was going along with no CATV problems at all. Then, TWC rolled out a new software "update". As has been my experience with TWC software "upgrades" in the past, this one also turned out to be a major fiasco. And, as usual, TWC's response to the problem that it created sucks.
Of my 5 converters, 4 seemed to update OK. However, the fifth box, originally an SA 3250HD connected to a 4 year old Samsung LNR328WX/XAA 32" LCD came up with the message that my TV (which was working just fine before the update) did not support HDCP and to use component. OK, in the original setup, the TV was connected from the DVI output on the cable box thru a DVI to HDMI adapter, and then to the HDMI input on the TV. All good until the "update". The first thing I figured was that the adapter is somehow messing up the HDCP handshake. OK so I spend two hours going to the TW lobby in my area, and swapping the box for a SA4240HDC. This box has an HDMI output instead of the DVI on the 3250. Bring it home, connect it up and.....SAME PROBLEM! Now I have a cable going directly from the HDMI output on the STB to the HDMI input on the TV and still get the "your TV does not support HDCP" BS. And don't even get me started about what I think about HDCP in general.
Next chapter: I call TWC support and explain what is going on. The CSR tells me that they have been having a lot of problems with the software "update" and they'll need to do a truck roll. OK..."when?", I ask. Well, says the CSR, we're spread thin because of this problem (which, remember, THEY created) so the earliest we can get a tech out is THREE DAYS from now. Now, OK, I work in IT and I know that a software rollout can cause unexpected issues. So what I do is to have a contingency plan to be able to respond to customers who have problems IN A TIMELY FASHION! Obviously TWC doesn't have such a plan. The result is that I'm out one TV for almost a week, and there's no guarantee that TWC will be able to fix it when they do show up. So everything worked fine until this software "update", and now it doesn't.
Oh, and for those of you who say, "Oh hell, just get a component cable and be done with it.", not an option. The TV is professionally wall-mounted with all the cables running neatly, and invisibly, in back of the wall. I'm not going to string a fat, ugly component cable from the TV across the wall to the STB because of TWC's screwup, and i don't intend to scrap a perfectly good LCD TV because TWC suddenly decided to enforce the HDCP flag, if that is, in fact, what is going on (and I'm not convinced that the Samsung TV doesn't support HDCP anyway). They can damn well figure out a solution (maybe give me an 8300 series DVR and not charge me for the DVR) or I'll begin to figure out how I can most easily switch to Sat TV.
Anyone else have this problem in conjunction with a TWC software "update"? Please chime in with your stories, and resolutions, if any.
Cheers.
Until this past Sunday, I was going along with no CATV problems at all. Then, TWC rolled out a new software "update". As has been my experience with TWC software "upgrades" in the past, this one also turned out to be a major fiasco. And, as usual, TWC's response to the problem that it created sucks.
Of my 5 converters, 4 seemed to update OK. However, the fifth box, originally an SA 3250HD connected to a 4 year old Samsung LNR328WX/XAA 32" LCD came up with the message that my TV (which was working just fine before the update) did not support HDCP and to use component. OK, in the original setup, the TV was connected from the DVI output on the cable box thru a DVI to HDMI adapter, and then to the HDMI input on the TV. All good until the "update". The first thing I figured was that the adapter is somehow messing up the HDCP handshake. OK so I spend two hours going to the TW lobby in my area, and swapping the box for a SA4240HDC. This box has an HDMI output instead of the DVI on the 3250. Bring it home, connect it up and.....SAME PROBLEM! Now I have a cable going directly from the HDMI output on the STB to the HDMI input on the TV and still get the "your TV does not support HDCP" BS. And don't even get me started about what I think about HDCP in general.
Next chapter: I call TWC support and explain what is going on. The CSR tells me that they have been having a lot of problems with the software "update" and they'll need to do a truck roll. OK..."when?", I ask. Well, says the CSR, we're spread thin because of this problem (which, remember, THEY created) so the earliest we can get a tech out is THREE DAYS from now. Now, OK, I work in IT and I know that a software rollout can cause unexpected issues. So what I do is to have a contingency plan to be able to respond to customers who have problems IN A TIMELY FASHION! Obviously TWC doesn't have such a plan. The result is that I'm out one TV for almost a week, and there's no guarantee that TWC will be able to fix it when they do show up. So everything worked fine until this software "update", and now it doesn't.
Oh, and for those of you who say, "Oh hell, just get a component cable and be done with it.", not an option. The TV is professionally wall-mounted with all the cables running neatly, and invisibly, in back of the wall. I'm not going to string a fat, ugly component cable from the TV across the wall to the STB because of TWC's screwup, and i don't intend to scrap a perfectly good LCD TV because TWC suddenly decided to enforce the HDCP flag, if that is, in fact, what is going on (and I'm not convinced that the Samsung TV doesn't support HDCP anyway). They can damn well figure out a solution (maybe give me an 8300 series DVR and not charge me for the DVR) or I'll begin to figure out how I can most easily switch to Sat TV.
Anyone else have this problem in conjunction with a TWC software "update"? Please chime in with your stories, and resolutions, if any.
Cheers.