# COX deploying SDV & Tuning Adapters in LAS VEGAS, RIGHT NOW!



## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

COX deploying SDV & Tuning Adapters in LAS VEGAS, RIGHT NOW!

Two days ago, out of nowhere, we received a notification that as of JUNE 17, 2013, Tuning Adapters would be available, as a self-install kit, at our local Cox retail centers, free of charge & additional fees.

It also states that: AS OF JULY 17, 2013, we would lose nearly all our channels, beyond basic service, if the Tuning Adapters were NOT installed before that date.

They make a play to save us the hassle of going through this, by offering ONE (ONLY ONE) of THEIR digital/HD receivers for the same price as a CableCard for 12 months (which I guess might appeal to somebody with ONLY ONE TiVo (or other CableCard device, NOT leased from Cox). After the year of $1.99/month offer, the costs associated with keeping the receiver would go up to whatever rates were in place at that point.

THERE IS NO MENTION OF ON-DEMAND, unless it's while their baiting you with a discounted receiver, leased from them.

In a house where family members are SCOLDED, harshly, for leaving a single CF nightlight on, or not turning off lights when leaving a room, I am very worried about the increased electrical utility bill that will arise from using these Tuning Adapters. We have some of the highest electric rates in the nation. I've read, all over, how these Tuning Adapters are inefficient ELECTRICITY HOGS, run hot, and introduce all sorts of issues in the wake of their deployment.

I realize this is the way things need to be, and it was coming sooner or later. My biggest concern is does the FCC CableCard mandate also cover Tuning Adapters, or are they a separate matter. If separate, who do we complain to, if/when there are problems with them? Cox here absolutely hates TiVo, hates CableCards, & hates supporting the parts that they should be responsible for supporting. Their party line for a year has been "We don't support TiVo". It doesn't matter what the problem is, or if it affects every device in the house, non-TiVo & all, if there are TiVos in the house, that's the line you get...


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

The only reason tuning adapters exist is to support CableCard devices. I think the general practice has been to offer them for free, unlike the cards.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

My condolences to Las Vegas COX customers/victims.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

About time. We've been dealing with SDV for several years here with Cox Orange County and now more and more H.264 channels are creeping into 800-1000MHz frequency range. It's quite possible electricity costs out here are higher than what you pay in Vegas too, though granted we don't have to run the AC anywhere near as much.


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## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

unitron said:


> My condolences to Las Vegas COX customers/victims.


+1


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Bummer!


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I really do not have any issues with my Cisco Tuning Adapters with Cox in Phoenix. Las Vegas is also Cisco, so assuming they do it correctly you should not have any issues, but do expect some growing pains as they ramp it up.


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## pmalve (Jul 13, 2012)

have had tuning adapter for awhile here and haven't had any issues with it since installing it. had much more problems with cable card before they went to sdv.


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## celtic pride (Nov 8, 2005)

Ithink if verizon ever added tuning adapters i would switch to directv.


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## jole60 (Aug 20, 2005)

I live in Las Vegas and use Cox Cable without a cable box for non-premium channel recording on several Series 2 Tivos. Will these adapters be necessary to bring in the channels for Series 2 and other Tivo models that don't use cable cards?


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## TomJHansen (Nov 6, 2000)

jole60 said:


> I live in Las Vegas and use Cox Cable without a cable box for non-premium channel recording on several Series 2 Tivos. Will these adapters be necessary to bring in the channels for Series 2 and other Tivo models that don't use cable cards?


No - they are just for Tivo's with Cable cards. S2 units will still get their signal from the coax.


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## jole60 (Aug 20, 2005)

Tom, thanks for the prompt response.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

TomJHansen said:


> No - they are just for Tivo's with Cable cards. S2 units will still get their signal from the coax.


True, until Cox makes their next transition: DIGITAL-ONLY cable service.

That's when your nightmare will begin.


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## satscram4000 (Mar 23, 2015)

I live in CT & all of our cox channels are slowly going digital. In another month or so they will be all digital. I picked up my 2 free cox mini boxes, which work nice, they have an HDMI output, & we now get a bunch of digital channels that we never got before with the cable connected directly to the TV's. I bought a Tivo Roamio Plus with the lifetime service. I plan to get the Tivo mini's to run all of the TV's in my house. So I went online & ordered my cablecard from Cox. It's $1.99 a month & they hit me with a one time $30.00 self install fee, which I called them on because, if I was installing it myself, why would they be charging me. So I was using their live chat & asked them if the digital tuning adapter was coming with the cablecard. They said no that I have to pay for that separate. & it's between $20 & $30. I told the cox person that I spoke to a tech support person last week & they said it was free. So now I get off the live chat & call cox & talk to another tech support person, who tells me that the tuning adapter comes in the self install kit. I am going to their store tomorrow to pick it up, can't wait to see what happens !!


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

I saw a news article that Cox Tulsa is on the all digital move now. Am interested to see how long my clear qam locals stay available. I've used them with the tv tuner to watch local high school football games on the Cox Channel the last few years.

The Roamio Basic I got a few weeks ago scanned everything in and mapped all the channels correctly into the 1000's. I used it for a night before going back to OTA with it.


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

osu1991 said:


> I saw a news article that Cox Tulsa is on the all digital move now. Am interested to see how long my clear qam locals stay available. I've used them with the tv tuner to watch local high school football games on the Cox Channel the last few years.
> 
> The Roamio Basic I got a few weeks ago scanned everything in and mapped all the channels correctly into the 1000's. I used it for a night before going back to OTA with it.


QAM channels are digital.

Always have been.

The key thing isn't when a system goes all digital. The key thing is if they go to all scrambled.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

I've had tuning adapters with my TiVo premiere since day 1 with TimeWarner in Dallas. It's worked pretty well and been reliable. The biggest issues I saw seemed to be related to power sags. Once I put it on a UPS along with the TiVo itself, it's been very very stable. AS far as electricity use, I don't know how much it adds. The alternative is to not be able to use TiVo, so I have to just pay for it.


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

gastrof said:


> QAM channels are digital.
> 
> Always have been.
> 
> The key thing isn't when a system goes all digital. The key thing is if they go to all scrambled.


Correct. I meant to imply that when going all digital and killing the analog that I hope they didn't encrypt the digital locals, as it appears that is when they seem to do it.

I have a condo in Las Vegas and wish the Cox locals were in the clear there like they have been in Tulsa. I have spotty OTA coverage on most of the Las Vegas, locals since there is no place to put an outdoor or attic mounted antenna.


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## satscram4000 (Mar 23, 2015)

We have been flooded with letters & emails from cox, which stated the "going all digital" date was March 17th. I still have the major networks, but have lost most of the cable only channels. My mother had gotten 3 cox miniboxes. I activated all of them. There is one upstairs in her bedroom running an old picture tube tv. The signal is weak so it kept dropping out, so she said I could try the box at my house, which I did. It works perfect. So the boxes are not location specific. So at my house I just had the basic starter package, & my mother has the expanded 280 channels & her box works just fine at my house. Meanwhile I picked up the cablecard & digital tuning adapter for my Tivo at my local cox store. The cox rep waived the $30.00 self install fee & did not charge may anything for the tuning adapter either.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

My tuning adapters have been broken for months (they got a firmware update and haven't worked since) but I've been too lazy to call and see what's going on. Luckily for us the TA is only used for a handful of very specialty channels that we never watch so it doesn't effect us at all.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

TAs can be a PITA, but electricity use isn't a big concern. They probably don't pull more than 10W, if that. I'm huge into energy efficiency too, BUT given the costs of keeping cable TV and a TiVo running, electricity costs for TAs is relatively small. And I'm speaking from here in Connecticut, where we take the cake for the highest CONUS electric rates. That being said, you guys get hit harder for energy wasting devices, since around here, they're helping heat the house half the year, and are only fighting the A/C for a couple of months.


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