# The "Tivo is coming to Charter Cable" Thread



## Jayboy3 (Jan 2, 2010)

I searched, and didn't see a thread on this. Tivo inked a deal with Charter Cable over a week ago. The Tivo Premiere (customized for CHarter Cable) will become the set top box for Charter Cable.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376194,00.asp

Post your thoughts, hopes, dreams, and news about the Charter box here!

I've been using a Tivo HD with CableCard on Charter for a couple of years to great success, but I'm glad to see it become the "official" DVR. I'll wait and upgrade to a Premier then, and presumably there will customized menus for on-demand and pay-per-view, things like that.

I'm excited. I can't get HD DirecTV, so this is my chance to remain a Tivo customer.


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## NotVeryWitty (Oct 3, 2003)

One thing not mentioned here is whether you will still need tuning adapters, or if Tivo will implement some sort of IP control of SDV, like they have for some other MSO's.


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## klrobinson999 (Aug 26, 2010)

Hopefully all of the other cable companies will follow suit! Are you listening Cox, Comcast, and Time Warner?????


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

klrobinson999 said:


> Hopefully all of the other cable companies will follow suit! Are you listening Cox, Comcast, and Time Warner?????


Well, Cox has already signed an agreement of some sort to at least offer PPV and Ondemand plus more "officially" support the TiVo. I doubt it will include SDV without a TA  But there is still no news as to where they stand with it.

I know Cox will probably never replace their own DVR's with TiVo boxes; it just goes against the way they like to operate.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

I was renting three Moxis from Charter and was real happy with them except for the lack of storage, 12 hrs. HD. It was fine except in our family room, and especially during football season. We requested a dvr with more storage and Charter delivered a Motorola (40 hrs. HD). It was unacceptable in so many ways, so I returned it. They are phasing out Moxi so a Moxi w/more space was out of the question. We bought a Premiere for the family room and I've been real unhappy w/it, although I've been trying to be patient for the fixes. Because of the lag, we use the SD interface which is a huge step backward. Once Tivo has fixed their issues, the interface will be exactly what we want and got used to w/Moxi.

I don't know which Charter dvrs you have had, but the Moxi has a great interface and is very similar to Tivo's. I have seen complaints about Moxi on the web, but during the years we rented them, improvements/updates continued the entire time, and we loved them. In fact, they won two Emmy's for their interface. It was a huge step backward to go from the Moxi HD interface to the Tivo SD interface. Of course, the storage space situation was untenable.

Before I bought my Tivo, I complained to Charter that their premium service was not premium with the dvrs they had. Before Moxi, we had Tivo 1s and 2s. We switched to a Charter package/bundle when we went HD. So...when I saw the news article (just yesterday), I called Charter to be sure it was true and find out when the Tivos would be available. They said that it would be in 2011, but no date. I thought to myself that many people on this forum discourage complaining, but enough squeaky wheels end up w/the oil.

Now to your question, I am extremely excited about this development! Can't wait!!! I miss the on-demand. We joined Netflix, but the streaming on the Premiere has not worked. Still, I really like Netflix (thru the mail), but of course, they don't have a lot of the on-demand like the primetime shows and free movies, etc. I like that one can grade the movies and that they offer "Movies You'll Love". It works well. In a perfect world, I would have it all, like some kind of partnership w/Netflix and Charter/Tivo. It sounds like, from the article, that they are headed in the right direction. Regarding the other internet stuff, I would love it. In my current situation w/the Premiere, I've not been able to check it out, much less use it, but looks like it'd be cool. 45 hours HD, for us, in one room, w/on-demand is fine.

Also, have you noticed how Charter has improved their customer service over the past couple of years? It is amazing. They are really really responsive. About three years ago, I had an all-day-wait appointment that they did not show up for. They rescheduled and didn't show up the second time. They offered $20 for my trouble and I told them $20 was insulting. Now, they actually give a time w/a give or take an hour - and call. I used to despise them, and was looking for a way to jump ship, but now I really really like them a lot. They do what they say they will, on time, and are very nice on the phone. Their tech service is very good, in my experience. (Years ago, we had satellite, but the weather-related loss of signal drove me to cable. At one point, I did research to find whether that problem had been solved, and never found anything that said it had, so Charter was the only game in town for us.) Now, they will have Tivo dvrs. Yay!!

Well, I have high hopes for our t.v. future! Can't wait!!!


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## brettatk (Oct 11, 2002)

One downside I see is not being able to upgrade the hard drive since the box will be owned by Charter and I've never liked the idea of adding external storage. I gave up on Charter last year and it's doubtful I'll ever return.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

OOps Jayboy3, I was so excited that I forgot that you presently own a tivo rather than renting charter dvrs. Anyway, here is another article posted on the tivo web site in case you didn't see it, "TiVo and Charter Announce Next Generation TV Strategy": http://blog.tivo.com/2011/01/tivo-and-charter-announce-next-generation-tv-strategy/

brettatk, if you don't mind sharing, why did you give up on charter last year?


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## drewdog (Feb 3, 2007)

Just a FWIW. But I get the impression from several threads about the Tivo on Charter that people assume Charter will be giving out Premiere boxes. Everything I am hearing is that they'll be launching with the Motorola DCX3400 with Tivo software loaded on it. Not that it makes a lot of difference, but just wanted to be sure everyone was clear.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

Drewdog, where did you hear or read that?

I hope not. Motorola makes me think of that clunky dvr I returned to Charter. Plus, the remote was awful too, very poorly laid out w/keys that I had to push rather than touch. I hate the dvr. I hate the remote. When we had satellite, over ten years ago, it was much smoother and had a much nicer remote than the clunky Motorola we had for a few weeks last year. I'd want to see one before I rented one.


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## D'oh (Feb 9, 2011)

I would think they would release a box without the need for one of the headache inducing tuning adapters... At least I would hope so, as it took them two days, 3 techs and 3 tuning adapters to get mine running properly. It seems these tuning adapters aren't all that reliable, are they?

But I am SOOOOO much happier with TiVo compared to the Sci Atlanta box I had previously. It would just forget shows, and had, well, the bare bones features. It recorded shows, but that was it.

Either way, I'm glad to have a regular TiVo (A Premiere). So much better.... Soooooo much better!!


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## drewdog (Feb 3, 2007)

Comcast has had the Tivo UI on some of their boxes for a while now and to the best of my knowledge they've always just flashed a moto 3416 or 3425x. They have a special Tivo branded remote with extras like "on demand" etc.

If you read the link from the Tivo blog, it never says anything about hardware, only mentions Charter using the Premiere UI.

I could be wrong, I have no facts stating that this is true or not, but everything I can find points to a Tivo flashed Moto box.

You can get some info about the comcast box in the comcast forums on this site


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## selder (Jan 12, 2005)

What I wish would be addressed here is what will happen to those that already have Charter and are using a Tivo Premiere on it? Will we be given access to the on-demand library? Will we be left out altogether? Charter will no doubt scrub Amazon, Blockbuster, Hulu Plus (when it arrives) and Netflix off of the box, but I'd love the opportunity to have all that PLUS their on-demand library.


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## drewdog (Feb 3, 2007)

No changes will be made to the existing Tivo boxes.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

drewdog said:


> If you read the link from the Tivo blog, it never says anything about hardware, only mentions Charter using the Premiere UI.
> 
> I could be wrong, I have no facts stating that this is true or not, but everything I can find points to a Tivo flashed Moto box.


From the link in your post above:


> The strategy will utilize TiVo's latest generation high definition user interface and TiVo Premiere set top box, as well as upcoming multi-room and non-DVR platforms.


Yup, it is the Premiere hardware with the HD UI. The upcoming multi-room and non_DVR platforms could be standard cable boxes that can receiver a stream, or might be something else. I don't think the mentioned Motorola DVR has the horsepower to support that functionality though.


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## D'oh (Feb 9, 2011)

selder said:


> What I wish would be addressed here is what will happen to those that already have Charter and are using a Tivo Premiere on it? Will we be given access to the on-demand library? Will we be left out altogether? Charter will no doubt scrub Amazon, Blockbuster, Hulu Plus (when it arrives) and Netflix off of the box, but I'd love the opportunity to have all that PLUS their on-demand library.


I don't think we'll get access to On Demand and such, as that is two way communication not provided by our cable cards. Cable companies want everyone to be able to use On Demand, so that's something we'd already have.

In any case, I'm happier with a real TiVo instead of something provided by Charter.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

D'oh said:


> I don't think we'll get access to On Demand and such, as that is two way communication not provided by our cable cards. Cable companies want everyone to be able to use On Demand, so that's something we'd already have.


Tivo Premiere branded boxes for cable companies will most likely have VOD. TiVo is most definitely working with the cable cos to provide solutions for them. Cable companies would not agree to this deal if it didn't allow VOD as they make a lot of money from this service.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

D'oh said:


> I don't think we'll get access to On Demand and such, as that is two way communication not provided by our cable cards. Cable companies want everyone to be able to use On Demand, so that's something we'd already have.


No cable card provides two-way communication, that is simply done over the network. Cable cards are just a decryption devices. If a cable company wants TiVo to provide On Demand support, it can be done through the existing hardware in the Premiere. But it would require software changes.

Such changes are supposedly going to be made for Cox, so there is no reason to believe it wouldn't be done for Charter, too.... if they come to an agreement.


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## D'oh (Feb 9, 2011)

Ah yes ... It does make sense that Charter would get functionality into their own boxes, but I don't believe that current Premiere owners will get VOD.

As for two way, yes, the TiVo itself has two way via its network connection, but for VOD, it needs to be able to talk back and forth without an Internet connection for the customers that don't have Internet. I know that's few and far, but it's not possible for a current TiVo to do this on it's own. "True Two Way" cable cards, as far as I know, don't work in our TiVos, so our cable cards can't talk back to the cable company like their own DVRs and cable boxes can.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

D'oh said:


> Ah yes ... It does make sense that Charter would get functionality into their own boxes, but I don't believe that current Premiere owners will get VOD.


Well, that is the plan with Cox, because Cox won't be supplying boxes. With retail boxes, logistically, it won't make sense that TiVo has different images for every cable company, so it is likely that the code will go to everyone. What happens with Charter- who knows.... they might want it customized enough (logos, etc) that there is another image.



> As for two way, yes, the TiVo itself has two way via its network connection, but for VOD, it needs to be able to talk back and forth without an Internet connection for the customers that don't have Internet. I know that's few and far, but it's not possible for a current TiVo to do this on it's own.


TiVo *requires* that you have an internet connection. In theory, it shouldn't matter who your provider is, because it could still connect back to your cable provider. But there is nothing to prevent Charter from saying "if you want to use this DVR, you must have Charter Internet also."



> "True Two Way" cable cards, as far as I know, don't work in our TiVos,


There is no such thing as a two-way-cable-card and never was. It is software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru2way


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## D'oh (Feb 9, 2011)

Yes, TiVo requires an Internet connection, but you can do it via the phone lines if you really wanted to. So those who only update via phone would be without two way communications. Yeah, a very small number for sure, but there has to be a few people. Of course, those people can't get all those video podcasts and such that are filling up so much space on my TiVo. 

I never really knew the status of the True 2 Way cards. I know that they've been talked about, but without your link (thanks, I didn't think to check wiki), I didn't think they ever really made it out into the world.

So that means that the only way to do two way communications to get VOD is through broadband. Most people have it, but some don't. I'd also venture a guess that a Charter (or other cable company) branded unit would be able to talk to the cable co like the cable box would. Another image for it.... Well, I can't say for sure, but I think it would make sense, to at least get the branding, and I think Charter would find it worthwhile to get VOD working. They find it so important that they must make good money from it.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

D'oh said:


> I never really knew the status of the True 2 Way cards. I know that they've been talked about, but without your link (thanks, I didn't think to check wiki), I didn't think they ever really made it out into the world.


"Two way" is not a hardware solution. There was never such a thing as a Tru2way card, it was just a one-way cable card and middleware software that used an Ethernet or Wireless connection to the Internet to communicate back to the head end. "Tru2way" never really got off the ground and it is essentially dead.



> So that means that the only way to do two way communications to get VOD is through broadband.


Probably. They won't be delivering the video through the broadband, however. It would be delivered via SDV through a dynamic channel (at least, that is my understanding).


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

Isn't TiVo already providing VOD on the Premiere for RCN?


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## D'oh (Feb 9, 2011)

crxssi said:


> "Two way" is not a hardware solution. There was never such a thing as a Tru2way card, it was just a one-way cable card and middleware software that used an Ethernet or Wireless connection to the Internet to communicate back to the head end. "Tru2way" never really got off the ground and it is essentially dead.
> .


Ok, guys ... girls too? ... I'm not saying that Tru2Way is a solution. I clearly said that I wasn't even sure, and was correctly pretty quickly. I understand with one correction, and am not trying to push this on anyone.


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## ckelly33 (Oct 30, 2004)

Anyone seen one of these coming from Charter yet?


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

ckelly33 said:


> Anyone seen one of these coming from Charter yet?


It was just announced a few months back. I wouldn't expect anything for another year. With how fast TiVo has been lately, we might need to give them 2.


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## danjw1 (Sep 13, 2005)

Don't hold your breath. This is probably easier to do, they can just make some minor tweaks to a premier, but DirecTV signed a deal with Tivo for a new set top box a quite a while ago and it still isn't available.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

danjw1 said:


> Don't hold your breath. This is probably easier to do, they can just make some minor tweaks to a premier, but DirecTV signed a deal with Tivo for a new set top box a few years ago and it still isn't available.


This is not a valid comparison. The DirecTV box is to be developed on DirecTV hardware, incorporate DirecTV anti hacking and satellite software download provisions, include support for DirecTV's multi-screen channels that are designed for DirecTV by NDS (a TiVo competitor), and has to work with the MP4 satellite signals. That is a lot different than what TiVo will be doing for Charter.

The Charter job is still a big one with its own issues and challenges, so I don't think it will be out real soon now, but I don't think it will have the same amount of delays as DirecTV. For one thing, I think Charter actually wants what TiVo is doing. It has become pretty clear that DirecTV doesn't seem to really feel that way. Their apologists over at the DBS forum are actually quite hostile to the TiVo box.


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## duncan7 (Sep 17, 2004)

...is that Charter Techs will someday have half a clue about TiVos. 

Getting my two premieres provisioned with m-cards was a multi-day ordeal and, after 3 service calls, I've just given up on them fixing the dropouts and macroblocking on my HD channels. I simply don't have the time to wait around for a tech to show up and have them shrug because the signal's OK when they finally arrive. The fact that I have recordings (on the tivo and using my phone, pointed at both TVs) showing that half my HD channels were unwatchable (especially the ones showing basketball- who wants to watch that in March, right?) for several nights in a row doesn't seem to motivate any kind of fix. 

On upside of all this back and forth, though, is that the nice lady who's been helping me via @charter on twitter did notice that they'd been charging me for two digital boxes since Thanksgiving, even though I'd used her to schedule my install instead of calling the 800 number specifically to prevent them from ever bringing a box to my house.


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

CuriousMark said:


> This is not a valid comparison. The DirecTV box is to be developed on DirecTV hardware, incorporate DirecTV anti hacking and satellite software download provisions, include support for DirecTV's multi-screen channels that are designed for DirecTV by NDS (a TiVo competitor), and has to work with the MP4 satellite signals. That is a lot different than what TiVo will be doing for Charter.
> 
> The Charter job is still a big one with its own issues and challenges, so I don't think it will be out real soon now, but I don't think it will have the same amount of delays as DirecTV. For one thing, I think Charter actually wants what TiVo is doing. It has become pretty clear that DirecTV doesn't seem to really feel that way. Their apologists over at the DBS forum are actually quite hostile to the TiVo box.


Actually the hardware for the new DirecTivo will be Thompson--but none of the boxes DirecTV models currently use, a very sad revelation when confirmed in press reports.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

Series3Sub said:


> Actually the hardware for the new DirecTivo will be Thompson--but none of the boxes DirecTV models currently use, a very sad revelation when confirmed in press reports.


My HR24 is from Thompson, they also make an HR20 for DirecTV. Thompson is now known as Technicolor by the way.


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## tiassa (Jul 2, 2008)

SullyND said:


> Isn't TiVo already providing VOD on the Premiere for RCN?


Yes it is, and it also includes Amazon and Netflix (at least according to the ads that RCN show -- I'm an RCN subscriber, but I use my own Tivo HDs)


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

Well the TiVo Premiere is coming to my cable provider, which is not a big cable company. They must be finding cable companies to try it. I think one reason we my have TiVo coming is cause the CEO of this cable company is a big player nationally in the industry.


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## Inertia (Feb 28, 2005)

I unfortunately had to switch to Charter after moving (it's a rental, what can I do) and I hate the DVR they gave us. I complained about it when the customer service guy called to ask about the installation, and he said that Charter was getting Tivo boxes and rolling them out around the country, but he wasn't sure if they were available in my area yet.

When I set up installation, I specifically asked about Tivo and at the time I was told that I'd have to pay $5 per month extra for a cablecard to use it. Now it seems that I might just have to be patient. Anyone else heard any news recently?


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## mp11 (Jan 29, 2008)

Inertia said:


> When I set up installation, I specifically asked about Tivo and at the time I was told that I'd have to pay $5 per month extra for a cablecard to use it. Now it seems that I might just have to be patient. Anyone else heard any news recently?


I wonder what additional monthly fees for the new Charter Tivo. Hopefully less than the $13/mo. I'm paying now to have Tivo w/ Charter.


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## vandemusser (Dec 3, 2004)

Here's what I learned today via live chat:

You have been connected to TTD Janice .
TTD Janice : Hi, Matthew! Thank you for contacting Charter. This is Janice. I am going to take care of your account today. How can I assist you?
Matthew Vande: Hi. I'm really hating the Charter DVR... is the Tivo Premiere version out yet with you guys?
TTD Janice : I apologize but we don't have Tivo.
TTD Janice : We have cable cards that is use in Tivo.
Matthew Vande: I was told that Tivo had partenered with Charter back in January to provide a combination unit.
TTD Janice : I'll be glad to check on the updates.
TTD Janice : Charter has partnered with TiVo to launch the TiVo Premiere set-top box and service. We will introduce this new service on a market by market basis, starting at the end of this year (2011) and continuing into early next year (2012).
Ft. Worth, TX will be the first market to launch.
Matthew Vande: Any idea when my town will be included?
TTD Janice : There no other updates yet.
Matthew Vande: Any way to get on a waiting list?
TTD Janice : You will be informed of these by phone, snail mail (leaflets and bill inserts), email, or flyers.


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