This is a weird problem, I'm hoping someone else has seen this and can give some advice. I have a JVC HD-ILA set (HD61-FC97) and a CableCard from Charter Cable in Birmingham, AL. This is actually the third card they've brought and the first one to actually work. However, every so often (three times today, in fact) the TV will refuse to tune to any of the analog channels 2-79. The only solution is to turn off the TV, remove and replace the CableCard, and turn it back on. Then it'll be fine until the next time.

I'm wondering if this is an issue with the card, the set, Charter, or some combination of the three. I'm doubting that Charter is going to be able to get anything resolved, simply because they don't have a great track record in our book. Have any of you folks ever seen anything like this happen with a CableCard? Having the digital channels go black I'd expect, but having it stop tuning the analog channels doesn't make sense... the CableCard shouldn't even be involved with that. But take that card out, and it starts working.... ???

Not all cable cards and HDTV's are compatible with other. You need to either check with JVC or the cable card maker for that info. You may want to see if there is an updated firmware to download for the HDTV and the cable card. Good luck.

- Cable Tech

I am on a different cable system than you, but my cable company has digital duplicates of all their analog channels. If one gets their digital STB, all you get are the digital channels.

Could it be that when you plug in your cablecard, your cable company is intentionally disabling the analog channels with the cablecard, expecting you to watch their digital channels instead?

but having it stop tuning the analog channels doesn't make sense... the CableCard shouldn't even be involved with that. But take that card out, and it starts working.... ???

Sounds like an authorization problem. I dont know how that system is set up but generally the authorization and data stream for the card will be about 75.25mHz.
A good rule of thumb is if this freq falls below -3.5dB you are suseptible to loosing authorization. This will cause the dropping of channels, possibly the loss of the ADS line up forcing the card to show an analog/Digital Line up through a card that is only set to allow digital. ( Im reaching here though )

If you loose your channles, where ever they are, whatever range it is, it usually points to an authorization error.

If you have a digital box, Im only familiar with the Motorolas, you can check this freq. The noise level at least.
Its in the diagnostic screen ( power off box, hit OK ) and check the OOB status.

Best of luck.

Not all cable cards and HDTV's are compatible with other. You need to either check with JVC or the cable card maker for that info. You may want to see if there is an updated firmware to download for the HDTV and the cable card. Good luck.

- Cable Tech


I agree this is the best solution since the poster is working with cable company and is hands on experience on the subject.

In some recent exchanges with Cox cable support on the phone the tech was very clear that I should be glad to have a cable digital hd box WITHOUT the cards. Seems like the cable cards are having "issues".

In some recent exchanges with Cox cable support on the phone the tech was very clear that I should be glad to have a cable digital hd box WITHOUT the cards. Seems like the cable cards are having "issues".

Cable cards are a nightmare to most of us in my cable system. We hate having to do jobs that involve those "things". I remember when we first started using those "things" a few years ago that it sometimes took up to 3 hours to get "it" to work. Darn "things" are sometimes difficult to activate, even when you got one tech at the customers home, and another tech at the cable's headend working together to get "it" to work. I bet you can guess how happy we were when we learned that these "things" were now paired with our cable boxes. OH JOY!

From what I've seen by working with these "things" is that when they finally do get authorized, "they" stay authorized. The only times I've seen problems after they're authorized is if there's a problem with the HDTV or the card (meaning there's a defect or a conflict). After trying a few "cards" at the customer's home to get the service to work, and if we still can't get "it" to work, it is determined that the problem is with the customer's HDTV. We find that either the HDTV is not compatible with the "card", or the HDTV has a defective panel (which has to be replaced), or the HDTV needs it's firmware updated.

Low signal isn't usually the problem. HD pictures on a HD cable box won't start having problems till it's between -10db and -15db, as long as the signal is clean.

We were talking recently about better ways to combat cable card issues at the customer's home, and thought about possibly having our own "cable card ready" HDTV to bring to the customer's house to test with, in case the sub's HDTV was the problem. The HDTV that we would use would be compatible with the cable cards, and would help us rule the "cards" out if our HDTV worked with their "card", and their HDTV didn't.

- Cable Tech

I am on a different cable system than you, but my cable company has digital duplicates of all their analog channels. If one gets their digital STB, all you get are the digital channels.

Could it be that when you plug in your cablecard, your cable company is intentionally disabling the analog channels with the cablecard, expecting you to watch their digital channels instead?

Nope, there aren't digital duplicates of the analogs on our system. But, we've just recently gotten our sixth replacement card, and so far it is working correctly. As an aside rant, does anyone think we were out of line in thinking that if the cable company is sending someone to our house to work on a problem we're having with a cablecard, they should make sure that the person they send actually has at least one replacement cablecard with them? Three separate times they've sent someone who was unable to do anything because he had no spare cards. :rolleyes:

I have sympathy for the techs who have to deal with these things, but not the company itself - I'm thoroughly convinced the cards are designed to be problematic because the companies want to force people to pay $8 to rent a box instead (and have a higher PPV purchase rate because of the instant gratification factor). It just doesn't seem like it should be so hard to design a piece of hardware that downloads a channel number map and decrypts an MPEG stream. PCMCIA Wi-Fi cards for laptops are at least as complex as CableCards and have nowhere near the level of problems. Ok, rant over, sorry folks.

Nope, there aren't digital duplicates of the analogs on our system. But, we've just recently gotten our sixth replacement card, and so far it is working correctly. As an aside rant, does anyone think we were out of line in thinking that if the cable company is sending someone to our house to work on a problem we're having with a cablecard, they should make sure that the person they send actually has at least one replacement cablecard with them? Three separate times they've sent someone who was unable to do anything because he had no spare cards. :rolleyes:

I have sympathy for the techs who have to deal with these things, but not the company itself - I'm thoroughly convinced the cards are designed to be problematic because the companies want to force people to pay $8 to rent a box instead (and have a higher PPV purchase rate because of the instant gratification factor). It just doesn't seem like it should be so hard to design a piece of hardware that downloads a channel number map and decrypts an MPEG stream. PCMCIA Wi-Fi cards for laptops are at least as complex as CableCards and have nowhere near the level of problems. Ok, rant over, sorry folks.

I haven't gotten any of my basic channels (2-70) for about 2 months now. This is with Brighthouse, but the issue is the digital feed (ADS). They swap the cards (which they shouldn't have to do) to resolve the problem, and then when they update the channel map all basic tier drops out. They can't fix it on the head end and insist on a card swap each time (so every week). So yes you are justified, and it could be worse. A reboot doesn't have any affect in my instance.