TiVo Series 3 - "Official" Thread - Page 62

I had a nightmare of a time getting my two S3's working with cablecards. Between defective cards or only coming with one card or etc..., it took a lot of patience. But once configured properly, the S3 is great. Only advice I can give is be patient, it's worth it.

Finally, a quote worthy of my sig! Thanks!

The trick to getting off to a good start on CableCARD configuration is to INSIST that the tech who comes to your house FOLLOW TiVo'S SUPPLIED INSTRUCTIONS BY THE NUMBERS - NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS. That was what I did and except for one of the first cards the guy tried to install being dead out of the box the installation went well and I have experienced no serious problems in the nearly five months I have had my S3.

That's what I did as well, in fact the tech never touched the S3, I left him on the phone to feed the info on the screen to the office. Took all of 20 mins and my S3 has worked perfect since Day 1.

I have one remaining/recurring issue with cablecards that is really bothersome:

I keep losing the YES channel (ch 212 in my area from Comcast): it still works on my Comcast S/A stb but not on any of my 6 cards (sometimes audio/no video: sometimes nothing): all the other channels work fine

Calling Comcast is a waste of time

I have a contact within Comcast that can get it corrected for me: takes a couple of days: but it keeps happening: usually on a Friday which means I can't watch ballgames on a cablecard all weekend

I wish I could figure out what is really going on

I never had that issue with FIOS Mark, so it does look like a Comcast issue. My only real complaint with the S3 is the slowness relative to my other DVR.

it is a Comcast head end problem: that is for sure: what gets me is they know how to fix it: but it keeps reverting to no picture (some cards have audio only, some no audio and no video)

when FIOS is offered on my street, this single issue cause me to jump ship (it is not too bad now since the Yankees are not doing too well anyway!)

Keep in mind that FIOS, while it does work with TiVo, is not supported by TiVo.

Have you tried contacting TiVo about this problem? They may be able to reach someone in headend that can resolve it once and for all for you.

Sorry, but I can't let it just go at that. Perhaps the ship you need to jump is off the Yankees and over to the Red Sox.

I'm so glad I came across this thread. I'm about to purchase a Series 3 and have been wondering what's going to need to be done to get Cable Cards setup and working with the Tivo. I already know the dumb lady on the phone wants my HDTV info when she needs the info on the S3 Tivo. But, at least now I know what to look forward to.

Try to make things easy in advance. That HDTV info is actually available on your S3 it should be in the manual, if not try and find it on the web. I've seen it on a PDF document where all the cablelab devices are listed and TiVo has two, one for each slot.

Also you can call back and simply tell them it's for two hd tv's. Tell them you don't know the numbers the call who installs can find them. Or if you're lucky enough not to have an installer come out then go to your local cable company and pick them up yourselves. Just tell them to make sure they are the same release number.

Another thing and I can't stress this enough is make sure that if someone comes out they do the install exactly like it says on the sheet. If they don't take the time to read the sheet remind them that this is your equipment and you want it installed this way only.

Unfortunately, someone has to come out, I already questioned why that was necessary. But, since the person I spoke to before didn't know what she was talking about, I'll be asking again when I call to play the order for the cards. After reading about the instructions here and how important it was to follow them, I went to Tivo's website and located the instructions so I will have them ready when they come out to do the installation.

They would give you a new activation at $6.95 or they would transfer your existing $6.95 contract. If the latter, you might want to make sure you still qualify for the rebate.

You might have trouble getting around the truck roll...aside from some test areas (e.g. Charter allows self-installs in NC/Virginia area), almost all CableCARD installs still require a truck roll. Comcast seems the most progressive here...8% of their CableCARD installs are user self-installs. Time Warner is at 4% for self-installs. Cox and Cablevision are the worst at 0% self-installs. But by all means, try...by continually pestering them, more cable companies might open up the self-install route.

Hey guys, I keep reading that TWC is going to a switched digital system by the end of the year. It's going to give TWC increased room for hundreds of HD channels. Will our S3's with cable cards be able to handle this change?

Ben Music

Only partially, which will effectively render them useless. The S3's operation in an SDV environment will be unreliable, since it won't know which video streams are being sent by the head-end, and won't be able to notify the head-end which video streams it wants to record.

I've posted about this in another forum in their help area but I can't get a response. I've noticed my S3 is getting things on "the to do list" that it shouldn't be getting. I have my S3's season pass set to "first run only" yet it has shown on the list a "Law and Order, SVU" from 1999 and also a "L&O CI" from 2002. In addition it has two episodes of "Rescue Me" upcoming one at 10:00 and another at 11:00 for a week from this Tuesday. Now as most people know FX schedules back to back showings of the same show all the time and I've never seen this before.

Anyone else having problems with this? It's not the worst thing in the world but still the data is there so TiVo should be able to recognize it, it's not a "generic" type of listing.

Hi Ben.

First TWC in our area isn't going to SDV anytime soon. To many other things they have to straighten out.

Now if and when they do go to SDV it will more likely mean you will either get less HD channels or the same amount you are getting now. That is because SDV uses the two way cable card and the S3's hardware is not capable of using the two way card. It just isn't in the design.

The last I read is that the cable companies are trying to work something out with TiVo so that they can still use the S3 and the SDV, but how or if that will actually happen is anyones guess. It is possible the FCC may step in and stop SDV but no one knows. SDV is already fully developed in Northwest New York and in Austin Texas. People with S3's have said that there are certain channels they can't get and some they can.

SDV doesn't only mean addition of HD channels but digitally encrypted as well. For example you might take a channel that doesn't get that much viewing and put that on SDV so you can have more bandwith for another HD channel. Lot's of directions this can take. Personally, I don't like it but it's probably something we will all have to deal with.

In anycase it's not likely your S3 will become useless as a result of SDV. It just probably won't be beneficial like you seem to think.

Unfortunately its likely both statements are false. TWC Nebraska said they had no plans to go SDV anytime soon. After all, they have the whole Navigator beta-test fiasco to deal with here in Lincoln. Well, unfortunately they went SDV this past week when adding new channels... and they are heavily watched channels, too. It all depends on what channels you watch, but for me the S3 is becoming rapidly useless.

I also have the two episodes of Rescue Me showing for next week. You're going to have to attribute it to insufficient guide data, which isn't enough to allow the TiVo to figure out of the shows are truly first run, or are repeats.

Hey all does anybody know if you can use a USB (wired or wireless) keyboard with Tivo for faster searching?

Small correction: there will never be a "two way CableCARD". The current version of CableCARD is perfectly compatible with two-way service. It's a common misconception. What you need for 2-way service is the RF transmitter hardware, plus the ability to license a compatible protocol. The S3 has neither.

It is uncertain what form that license & protocol might take in the future. Cable is pushing a system that benefits themselves (OCAP), while the consumer electronics industry is pushing for modifications to OCAP that will benefit themselves (and benefit TiVo).

Nice idea, but I don't think so. I believe the sole use for the USB ports are to connect network (wired and wireless) adapters.

Well, that's not completely true, you CAN power stuff off the USB ports (USB laptop fan, USB coffee warmer, etc).

The original idea for SDV was to use it on channels that were not heavily watched. I will agree, in areas that have used SDV this has not always been the case.

However Brad I do know what I'm talking about in my area. I don't live in Nebraska, there are no announcements going on but I do have some contacts at TW and right now their biggest problem is trying to figure out how to get old Adlephia and Comcast on the TW page. And it's not just like two companies, Adelphia is more like 5 or 6 different companies all with different cable line ups.

And further I don't make "false" statements. Speak for you're own area, not for mine.

Thank's Hook, and all others for your insite and comments on the SDV issue.

Have any of you TWC insiders been able to find out any news about when the channel upgrade is coming to the former Comcast areas? (Lorain County) I would love to add HDNet and HDNet Movies and any other missing HD to the mix.

Ben Music

Since we have both channels over here I see no reason why you won't have it on the West side. As I have said I know they are hoping to "merge" the different line ups and they already have given you ESPN2 recently. You should be getting that soon.

I also have a third episode of Rescue Me showing up now on my guide. All three episodes do have generic info but the date does say 2004. I thought the TiVo picked up on the dates.

OK, I'll just delete those two episodes and see if they don't get getter guide data later. Thanks for your reply.

I apologize. I didn't mean to suggest you were making false statements. Just that I've heard many similar things from TWC insiders and enough backstabbing and general horrible activities to make me distrust anything TWC does anywhere. Sorry.

LOL TWC does suck
I'll give you that.
They haven't changed their channel line up in forever.

You don't wanna do that. That's not really the way TiVo works. What you'll end up doing is missing the episodes completely, repeat or not.

The problem is that Tribune (or is it TV Guide, now?) is the company that feeds TiVo the guide data. TiVo takes that info, massages it a bit, and then transmits it down to your box when it "phones home". If the original data doesn't have enough info to determine if the show's new or a repeat, your box will end up recording it. A few shows (Daily Show still?) have this problem. It's usually specific to the show, and not anything wrong with your box.

Let the episodes record, and simply delete the ones you've already seen.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

It's not just TWC. They all are evil. Even the satellite companies are evil now.