How To Get Two CableCARDs For A Series 3 TiVo (Part 2)
Last Thursday I blogged about my phone conversation with Time Warner Cable and how I setup an appointment to get two CableCARDs installed in my Series 3 TiVo. Well, my appointment was yesterday and after two hours of dealing with Time Warner’s incompetence, I am happy to say that I now have two CableCARDs installed and working in my Series 3 TiVo. Before I get into any more detail about the installation, I’d like to make it clear that the issues I encountered, had nothing to do with my S3 TiVo. All of the problems I had, stemmed from the fact that the Time Warner Cable (TWC) reps that I worked with had no clue about CableCARDs and how to install them. If the TWC reps were more capable, it would have only taken a couple of minutes to get both cards installed. I’m not trying make a blanket statement that all TWC employees are bad. Instead, all I’m trying to say is that the individuals that I had to work with didn’t know how to install a CableCARD and get it working properly.
My appointment was scheduled for 12-5PM however, around 11:15AM my wife called me at work to let me know that the TWC installer was at our house (45 minutes early). Since I expected there to be a problem, I left work to go home. While on the way home, my wife called me and told me that the rep asked if the TV could be removed from its wall mount so that he could install the cards. I told my wife that it wasn’t necessary and that I would be home shortly. Along with this comment, the rep also mentioned to my wife that he “hates this kind of job”. I’m not sure what that means. Maybe it is because he didn’t know what he was doing and TWC should get him some training?
When I arrived home, I was surprised to see that the console table that holds my electronic devices had been moved. There really wasn’t a need for the rep to move it but I didn’t say anything because I could tell that the rep was confused. Right from the get go, the rep was puzzled as to why I needed two CableCARDs, I explained it to him why I need two cards and he went ahead and got another card out of his truck. I gave the rep the instructions (PDF) that are included with all Series 3 TiVos and the rep proceeded to install each of the cards.
The entire experience really was a pain. Like I said before, the Series 3 worked just fine, all the problems that I encountered were the result of TWC not knowing how to install and configure their CableCARDs properly. Maybe the latest FCC mandate will force TWC to become smarter.
For whatever reason, my S3 TiVo doesn’t get all the channels that a standard TWC DVR receives. For example, I no longer am able to get A&E HD as well as ESPN2HD. I’m not sure if that is because the channels are switched digital or if it because of some other reason. Maybe somebody could shed some light on this? Along with A&E and ESPN2, I’m also not able to get any of the video on demand (VOD) content which I knew I wouldn’t get with a S3 due to the fact that the CableCARD 1.0 standard only supports one way communication.
Honestly, I really don’t care that I can’t get the content mentioned above. The S3 is so much better then a TWC DVR that I’m willing to give up VOD and some other channels for the sake of having the TiVo experience. If you’ve ever used a cable company DVR then you know what I am talking about. In actuality, I’m really not giving up a lot of content since my S3 allows me to record HD over the air using my antenna. Prior to the S3, I use to watch OTA content live.
I hope that this post doesn’t detract you from buying a Series 3 TiVo
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As a side note, I would like to thank Jeff for putting me down as his TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Jeff!
June 14th, 2007 at 12:22 am |
I had a similar experience with Charter. The guy had at least been trained in on installing the cards and had installed a couple on a TiVo at least once before. He had the balls to tell me that “they usually can’t get them working right in the TiVos and the customers usually switch to MOXI”!!! I don’t know about you but once I spend the money on a Series 3 TiVo and the cable companies incompetence is responsible for it not working, the last thing I’m going to do is use THEIR DVR… It took him over an hour and a half of me trying one thing or another, shutting off my TV (because the woman on the phone back at the office didn’t fricking listen when he told her the cards were going in a TiVo and not a TV) before he made the woman in the office go outside and get someone from their smoke break who know what she was doing. After that, it took literally 2 minutes and my TiVo was working perfectly with all of the channels I had received on my cable box. The moral of the story is the rep who comes out to your house can be a monkey and do the install but if the people back at the office don’t know/care what they are doing, the install will waste hours of your time. The FCC only requires that cable companies offer CableCards, I don’t believe they say anywhere that the experience has to be pleasant!
-BS
June 14th, 2007 at 7:55 am |
The link to the CableCard intaller PDF is dead. Currently:
http://customersupport.tivo.com/Content/Instancy V2 Folders/2988/TiVo Series3 HD Instructions for CablecARD Installers.pdf
Peter.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:56 am |
Link was broken on previous post. 2nd Attempt:
http://customersupport.tivo.com/Content/Instancy%20V2%20Folders/2988/TiVo%20Series3%20HD%20Instructions%20for%20CablecARD%20Installers.pdf
Peter
June 14th, 2007 at 8:11 am |
Thanks for the write-up! I’m currently dealing with the headache of trying to get my Tivo Series 3 working with Comcast.
The tech came out yesterday and left before verifying they worked at all. It’s unable to acquire program information from the CableCards.
I wrote a similar blog post about my experience on my blog.
http://blog.lykaon.com/?p=114
June 14th, 2007 at 8:15 am |
I also had a similar experience, on both my Series3s.
The first guy I bribed, cause he refused to install them at all since it wasn’t a TV. The second guy I just told I would do it for him and he was very appreciative.
June 14th, 2007 at 8:16 am |
June 14th, 2007 at 9:38 am |
That’s pretty funny. What did the rep do while you did the install? Did he just sit back and have a beer :)?
June 14th, 2007 at 11:01 am |
Alex,
So what HD channels do you receive via the cable card? Is it just the OTA channels which are unencrypted? Or do you get some of the encrypted HD channels like ESPN or Discovery HD?
Thanks for the info!
Doug
June 14th, 2007 at 12:01 pm |
I had a very similar situation. CC1 had all channels, HD channels, HBO, Show, etc. CC2 had HD channels but not all HD, any package prem content. ESPN2 is considered this type of content. I have Comcast. Go to the setup CC screen and test your channels. See if one of the two cards gets the channels and the other doesn’t. At any rate, it is most likely a result of TWC not properly assigning the package you have to the card. I had to deal with a senior account tech supervisor before they understood what needed to be changed on their end. It was then fixed instantly and I didn’t have to wait for the change to “rollout” as they said I should. Up to 2 days, seriously… these places need to train their people.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:04 pm |
Hey Doug!
I receive all the channles I use to to receive other then A&E and ESPN2 and HD Movies on demand. I still receive YES, CBS, DSC, TNT, MTVHD (or something like that) & SNYHD. I’m not able to check HBO since I no longer have it (dropped it now that the Sopranos are done with).
June 14th, 2007 at 12:06 pm |
BTW, I owe Doug a lot since he is the individual who helped me setup my antenna for OTA content. Thanks Doug!
June 14th, 2007 at 1:18 pm |
Yikes! I’m glad my CableVision install when a lot smoother thanks to a competent installer.
I would like to point out that the CableCard 1.0 spec does support two-way communication, it is the device that it is installed in that does not.
I reference the CableCARD Primer from CableLabs:
“From the very early specifications and draft standards, the CableCARD module has been a two-way device. That is, it included the functionality to enable two-way communication on the cable plant. This two-way communication is necessary for a variety of advanced cable services including video on demand (VOD), switched digital video (SDV), interactive services and applications.
The media has frequently reported that first-generation CableCARD 1.0 modules are one-way devices. This is simply not true.
…
When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services.”
Complete document can be found here: http://opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html
June 14th, 2007 at 1:51 pm |
Not uncommon at all. On Comcast the guy waited for it to magically work. Finally it did.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:41 am |
So they finally got it all working this weekend. I found some info online about what all the diagnostic screens meant and basically taught the tech what was going on.
I kept telling him that until it said “Auth: Subscribed” in the conditional access screen, that it wasn’t working.
They would get one card to work and then screw it up to get the other card to work. Finally they just both started working.
The tech didn’t do or need to do anything. He rebooted the tivo a few times and pulled the cards out and in a few times, but in the end it was all the office on the other end of the phone pushing the right buttons.
The sad part is I don’t think they know how they got it to work in the end. They just pushed buttons and sent commands until the tech told her it worked.
So, I don’t expect the same installation to go any smoother for whomever comes next.
At any rate, it works now.
June 18th, 2007 at 12:15 pm |
This pretty much sums up what I had to do.
July 7th, 2007 at 12:37 am |
You’ll never have with cables the same quality as you can get over the air. OTA is the best possible high definition experience, the cables video compression ratio is too high, degrading the signal quality.
October 12th, 2007 at 10:55 am |
we recently sent a series 3 to our friend in manhattan as a bday present. she went through all the hassle of getting the installation appointment but cancelled it when she found out that her monthly bill would shoot up by 50% (and it’s already high). time warner decided that she would no longer be eligible for her bulk discount with the tivo vs their box. has anyone else heard of that kind of problem? we’d appreciate ANY help at all!
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm |
I tried to save myself a lot of time with the tech’s by having instructions for them. They refused to read them! After 30 minutes of inserting, removing, power cycling, and declaring perfectly good cable cards to be defective, they finally were receptive to my suggestions that perhaps we should follow the directions. And then they didn’t follow them properly! For example, once the cards are inserted there’s additonal information that needs to be relayed back to the company before everything will work. But the techs didn’t think they needed to relay it.
Finally they called their office. It was hard to contain an “I-told-you-so” giggle when their office personnel told them WORD FOR WORD what the instructions said to do (they were on speakerphone). It was even better when they tried to argue with the person on the phone about whether or not those same numbers really needed to be relayed back….
Obviously my s3 is working now (with the exact same cards that the techs had declared defective, mind you), but wow. The techs who came took 40 minutes to fail to accomplish what the person on their phone manged to complete in 5 minutes using the exact same set of instructions. Wow.
I get that TiVos aren’t as common as the company’s DVRs, and that as a result the technicians aren’t well trained, but seriously. Are these people simply incapable of following instructions?
At least I didn’t have to pay $35 for the ‘professional’ installation (had arranged a special deal ahead of time). Honestly, I think they should have to pay US for the time we take teaching THEM how to do their job!