Where Oh Where Is My SDV (Switched Digital Video) Dongle?
For quite a while now, SDV has prevented me from enjoying all of the HD channels that my cable provider has to offer. The last time I counted I was unable to tune something like eight HD channels on my Series 3 and TiVo HD thanks to SDV and Time Warner.
Back in July we heard that both the Cisco and Moto SDV tuning adapters were approved however, to the best of my knowledge we haven’t seen anything since. Has anybody heard anything about when we can expect cable companies to have SDV tuners available? According to this TC thread, Time Warner in Austin, TX will have tuning adapters available no later then November 15th. If anybody knows something I would appreciate it if you could leave a comment on this post. I’m obviously very anxious to be able to access all the channels that my cable company has to offer.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:58 pm |
I received a letter from Comcast today saying that Comcast of Garden State (Scientific Atlanta headend - Cherry Hill, NJ) will have tuning adapters available starting on the 6th. I don’t know when they’re going to start doing SDV, but I will be going down to Comcast on Monday to pick up a tuning adapter.
October 4th, 2008 at 5:32 pm |
I’m in the same boat: Time Warner / TiVoHD in the Raleigh/Durham market. We’re missing out on a bunch of HD channels due to SDV! I’ve been waiting anxiously to hear something about the SDV tuners. Still nothing here locally.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:30 pm |
I received a letter from Time Warner Rochester, NY back in August about SDV and tunning adapter. It just said “later this year”. I am looking forward to the adapter. Currently there are 28 or so SDV HD channels!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm |
David,
That’s strange. I’m with TWC in Utica, NY and I haven’t received anything. Maybe I should call TWC to see if they have any info. I’m reluctant to call bc I’m almost certain that it will take me awhile before I get somebody on the phone who even knows what SDV is.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:15 am |
I used to live in Rochester NY, and I’m fairly certain that Time Warner uses that area as a test market to test things like this. Rochester was also one old the first with cable modems.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:33 pm |
I got my adapter today… It’s a Cisco STA1520… I’m plugging it into the TiVo to see what it’s all about…
October 6th, 2008 at 3:36 pm |
Jesse
Great news. Let us know how it goes.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:20 pm |
Well I hooked the adapter up to my cable and hooked the cable out to the tivo’s cable in. Then I plugged the USB cable from the Adapter to the TiVo, and plugged the adapter in. The TiVo doesn’t pop up a notice for the adapter, but it knows it’s there. At that point, I went and rebooted the TiVo. Once the TiVo was back up and everything, everything went smoothly. The TiVo says it’s Operational, with the Channel List received, and everything. I don’t know if SDV channels come in yet because that switch hasn’t been thrown yet. However, if you press the power button on the adapter, the TiVo will all of a sudden say that channels are temporarily unavailable and tell you to contact your cable provider. The instructions that came with it did say that if the adapter is performing an upgrade, then a notice will appear on the screen, which is a little discouraging, but I have yet to see this happen.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:56 pm |
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/06/the-first-tuning-adapter-is-unleashed-by-comcast/
October 6th, 2008 at 10:00 pm |
[...] and you shall receive. Just two days ago I asked if anybody knew anything about the SDV tuning adapter that I so desperately need. After the post [...]
October 15th, 2008 at 9:05 am |
[...] of SDV. If you’re a TWC customer you might want to checkout this page. I’d be interested to hear if anybody is successful in obtaining a tuning adapter from Time Warner. Time Warner Cable is [...]