# Bright House - refusing to provide cable cards



## pzook1

I just called Bright House and they said they will only provide cable cards for TV's, not boxes. This is Manatee County. Anyone been able to get an install scheduled?


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## Stormspace

This is going to be an interesting thread...Keep us informed.


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## DTSDude

Look around here in the forums. I'm sure someone at some point has linked the FCC mandate that they provide the cable cards. It's slightly not legal to do that. If they hold their position, get beligerant and tell them with all the money you spend on cable you expect to be provided with a better piece of equipment then their peice of @#[email protected] DVR and this is your way of keeping the peace.


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## aaronwt

How will they know what you install the card in? Cn't you pick it up in the office and install it yourself.


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## pzook1

no, they only provide cards via their install. First question from CSR was what TV do you have. Tried to reason with them about using in box but that went no where. While I could lie and get them out, my fear is that they wouldn't do the install when they arrived and/or would only provide one. 

I did get somewhat beligerant but that didn't get me anywhere either.


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## davezatz

You just have to be persistent. I had a decent amount of frustration getting mine installed and working correctly. Required well over half a dozen calls, two visits, and a non-visit. Keep calling to you get someone who can assist.


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## Lampei

Just tell them that you have 2 HD TVs that you want to need to install the cable cards in (find a Samsung TV on their site that takes cables cards and tell them you have 2 of those). Then, when the installer gets there, tell them that you misspoke over the phone and that you have the new TiVo. Everything should be fine. The installer won't care what he's installing them in


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## mearlus

Speak to a supervisor and site the legalize from the FCC about it


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## HiDefGator

Tell them your TV is made by Tivo. The installer won't care when he gets there.


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## TiVoJerry

All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.


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## ehardman

TiVoJerry said:


> All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.


At what price?


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## HDTiVo

Does Bright House fit the definition?


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## tivoknucklehead

I have Bright House and a Saturday appointment for 2 cable cards to go into my Series 3 I just ordered. Seminole County FL


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## TiVoJerry

If they already provide CableCARD for TVs, they will work for the S3. The OP has already provided me their contact information and I will be passing that along to someone who will follow up.


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## Gator1

tivoknucklehead said:


> I have Bright House and a Saturday appointment for 2 cable cards to go into my Series 3 I just ordered. Seminole County FL


When you ordered the cards did you tell them it was for a Tivo unit?


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## TiVoPony

I'll add one more thing in here that may be helpful.

If you contact your cable company, and they say they won't give you the cards you want...call us.

When you call, explain that you need help getting cable cards from your cable company, and would like to speak to the HD Team.

They'll get on the line with you while you call your cable company, and they'll help explain everything to the cable representative.

That should, hopefully, help. 

Pony


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## megazone

Wasn't there a special number to call for CC issues? I thought I remembered that...


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## tivoknucklehead

Gator1 said:


> When you ordered the cards did you tell them it was for a Tivo unit?


yes, i was their first request


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## MichaelK

TiVoJerry said:


> All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.


TJ-

do you have a link to that list incase it's needed?


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## bkdtv

> If you contact your cable company, and they say they won't give you the cards you want...call us.
> 
> When you call, explain that you need help getting cable cards from your cable company, and would like to speak to the HD Team.
> 
> They'll get on the line with you while you call your cable company, and they'll help explain everything to the cable representative.
> 
> That should, hopefully, help.


Wow, I am impressed.

Have you considered a phone number or phone menu option dedicated to this issue -- i.e. dealing with incompetant or misinformed cable company CSRs who refuse to provide a CableCard for the Series3?


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## MichaelK

anyone have the link to the fcc filing with the cablecard installation guide? I think the 800 number is on that.


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## TiVoJerry

MichaelK said:


> TJ-
> 
> do you have a link to that list incase it's needed?


http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf


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## stevereis

MichaelK said:


> anyone have the link to the fcc filing with the cablecard installation guide? I think the 800 number is on that.


Use this URL. It's the landing page for the tivo.com/cablecard URL and is the PDF that was scanned & included in the filing (and is included in the S3 box)
http://tivo.com/pdfs/CableCARDInstall.pdf


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## MichaelK

TiVoJerry said:


> http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf


thanks!


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## cjw2001

TiVoJerry said:


> All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.


What about non-major cable companies -- are there any legal exceptions where small providers can refuse to cooperate?


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## jfh3

cjw2001 said:


> What about non-major cable companies -- are there any legal exceptions where small providers can refuse to cooperate?


Yes, which is why Tivo says most major cable operators.


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## eisenb11

TiVoPony said:


> If you contact your cable company, and they say they won't give you the cards you want...call us.
> 
> *When you call, explain that you need help getting cable cards from your cable company, and would like to speak to the HD Team.
> 
> They'll get on the line with you while you call your cable company, and they'll help explain everything to the cable representative.*
> 
> Pony


Holy smokes. If that's not amazing customer service, I don't know what is!

Way to go Tivo!

Tivo = superior service!


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## wmccain

TiVoJerry said:


> All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products.


"MSO" stands for "Multiple System Operator". This is "FCC jargon" for all the "big guys" such as Comcast, Time-Warner (_etc._) that operate cable systems in more than one locality.

Due to the significant consolidation that occured in the cable industry over the last 15 years (_i.e._, mergers and acquisitions) nearly every metropolitan community is served by an MSO. However, small independent cable operators do still exist, particularly in rural areas. Also, there are literally _thousands_ of small, private cable systems that serve apartment buildings or condominiums (but those are disappearing, too, as the local MSO or telco comes in and makes the building owners or board of directors an "offer they can't refuse") ...

Many of these small cable systems don't even offer digital cable, much less a Cable Card. In fact, a "rule of thumb" is: "If they have Cable Cards, they are probably an MSO."


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## Zaphod

wmccain said:


> "MSO" stands for "Multiple System Operator". This is "FCC jargon" for all the "big guys" such as Comcast, Time-Warner (_etc._) that operate cable systems in more than one locality.
> 
> Due to the significant consolidation that occured in the cable industry over the last 15 years (_i.e._, mergers and acquisitions) nearly every metropolitan community is served by an MSO. However, small independent cable operators do still exist, particularly in rural areas. Also, there are literally _thousands_ of small, private cable systems that serve apartment buildings or condominiums (but those are disappearing, too, as the local MSO or telco comes in and makes the building owners or board of directors an "offer they can't refuse") ...
> 
> Many of these small cable systems don't even offer digital cable, much less a Cable Card. In fact, a "rule of thumb" is: "If they have Cable Cards, they are probably an MSO."


How does one know whether their cable provider fits the MSO category or not? Is there anywhere that gives an official list? I specifically have Mediacom in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm pretty sure they don't offer cablecards at all though I've not specifically asked them yet. I'm just wondering if I call them and they say they don't offer them at all, do I have any recourse if they do fit in the MSO category?

I'm seriously considering the S3 but not sure I want to pay that much yet. I do have an S1 with lifetime that qualify for the service transfer, but $1,000 by the time it's all done is a bit steep for me. Still considering, but if I find out my local cable provider doesn't even provide cable cards then I guess there's nothing to consider.


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## seattlewendell

Do you really need cable cards "installed"? i have a cable card in one of my TV's. The Comcast guy showed up. "installed" the card. Got on his cell and read the numbers that appeared on the screen to someone on the phone. 30 seconds later he was walking out the door and my TV was on. Wasn't that the whole point of cable card, that you don't need the cable company to install it?


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## wmccain

Zaphod said:


> How does one know whether their cable provider fits the MSO category or not? Is there anywhere that gives an official list?


Well, there probably is a list, but I couldn't find it, either by Googling or by searching the www.fcc.gov Web site.



Zaphod said:


> I specifically have Mediacom in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm pretty sure they don't offer cablecards at all though I've not specifically asked them yet. I'm just wondering if I call them and they say they don't offer them at all, do I have any recourse if they do fit in the MSO category?


Mediacom is defintely an MSO. They own cable systems in many places, including Illinois, Kentucky, and Minnesota.

Several years ago, the FCC ordered that all MSOs must offer CableCards. The "big guys" (e.g. Comcast) complied, grudgingly, but the cable industry sued the FCC to overturn the mandate. They lost, and they just recently lost again (in the appeals court). The FCC has extended the deadline several times. The current deadline is next July (if memory serves) but the cable industry has asked for yet another extension. (They may not get it, the FCC has lost a lot of patience on this issue.)


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## wmccain

seattlewendell said:


> Do you really need cable cards "installed"?


No, according to common sense (and as per your experience). "Yes," according to the cable companies. It's all a part of their stonewalling ... and their desire to maintain "customer control".

Note that the DBS (satellite) providers have used a similar scheme for years, and they don't send a technician to your house to do it (although if you sign up for one of their promotional "free dish" deals, the installer may in fact "do it for you", at least for your first satellite receiver). I've installed many an "access card" in DBS satellite receivers, and all it takes is a phone call to the DBS provider to read them some numbers off your TV screen.



seattlewendell said:


> Wasn't that the whole point of cable card, that you don't need the cable company to install it?


To you and me (and the FCC), "Yes". But that's not the way the cable companies think. Thery are terrified of "theft of service", so they use any excuse they can to get their people inside your house ... and to charge you for the "service call", besides.


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## wmccain

wmccain said:


> ... the cable industry sued the FCC to overturn the mandate. They lost, and they just recently lost again (in the appeals court). The FCC has extended the deadline several times. The current deadline is next July (if memory serves) but the cable industry has asked for yet another extension. (They may not get it, the FCC has lost a lot of patience on this issue.)


Actually, now that I think about it, I believe it was the CableCard 2.0 (two-way interactive) deadline that was extended to next July. Most likely, MSOs are _already_ required, by the FCC, to provide you with a CableCard 1.0 upon request (and free or for a nominal charge).

So, if they say "No", you can "take it to the FCC". (Probably easier to get TiVo to "run interference for you", as per the previous posts by TiVoPony etc.).


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## hawkamer

I just called Bright House in Tampa. I was gearing up for a fight ... and ... no problem! They didn't ask me any info about the device I was using. No sales pitch either, the rep just told me that the CableCard would not have access to the on-screen program guide or pay-per-view. The CableCards are $2.95 per month each. Standard install fee of $34.95 applies.

Sweet! I was expecting the install fee; I was not expecting the non-fight over the CableCards!


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## MichaelK

wmccain said:


> Actually, now that I think about it, I believe it was the CableCard 2.0 (two-way interactive) deadline that was extended to next July. Most likely, MSOs are _already_ required, by the FCC, to provide you with a CableCard 1.0 upon request (and free or for a nominal charge).
> 
> So, if they say "No", you can "take it to the FCC". (Probably easier to get TiVo to "run interference for you", as per the previous posts by TiVoPony etc.).


Current rule= Big companies MUST supply cablcards if asked. I think they are supposed to "try" to have multistream cards.

Proposed July 2007 Rule= EVERY BOX deployed by cable compnaies must have cbalecard. They no longer will be allowed to hand out boxes where the security is integrated into the box. Twice already the FCC has pushed back that deline and cable recetnly applied for a third puch back until 2009. FCC ruling one way or the other has not showed up.

Both rules are for ONE-Way cable cards. There are currently no rules that I am aware of for 2-way. IN fact the FCC has let cable completely stall the whole process of setting a 2-way standard by proposing a completely one sided spec that the electronics manufactureres find unacceptable.


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## MichaelK

oh and it's supposed to be around $2 or less per rental...


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## wmccain

MichaelK said:


> Proposed July 2007 Rule= EVERY BOX deployed by cable compnaies must have cbalecard.


Thanks for the clarification. I knew there was a July 2007 deadline related to CableCards, just was not clear on the specifics.


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## windracer

hawkamer said:


> I just called Bright House in Tampa. I was gearing up for a fight ... and ... no problem! They didn't ask me any info about the device I was using. No sales pitch either, the rep just told me that the CableCard would not have access to the on-screen program guide or pay-per-view. The CableCards are $2.95 per month each. Standard install fee of $34.95 applies.


Sweet ... thanks for the info! I was going to call tonight and ask the questions myself.

Too bad they won't allow a self-install (like they do for RoadRunner). Seems like a free $35 in their pockets.


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## nandopr

pzook1 said:


> I just called Bright House and they said they will only provide cable cards for TV's, not boxes. This is Manatee County. Anyone been able to get an install scheduled?


My cable provider is Bright House. (Orange County in the Orlando metro area) I was on the phone for 45 minutes with the service rep because she was not able to add two cable cards to my account. She called two more supervisors and they did not know. Well, they managed at the end.

They did not ask me anything about what is TV do I have. The price is $1.99 per card. When the installer arrives I will write a check for $10.00 only. She said it is a little bit more, usually, but because of the inconvenience they reduced the installation price.


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## Leo_N

MichaelK said:


> Current rule= Big companies MUST supply cablcards if asked. I think they are supposed to "try" to have multistream cards.
> 
> Proposed July 2007 Rule= EVERY BOX deployed by cable compnaies must have cbalecard. They no longer will be allowed to hand out boxes where the security is integrated into the box. Twice already the FCC has pushed back that deline and cable recetnly applied for a third puch back until 2009. FCC ruling one way or the other has not showed up.
> 
> Both rules are for ONE-Way cable cards. There are currently no rules that I am aware of for 2-way. IN fact the FCC has let cable completely stall the whole process of setting a 2-way standard by proposing a completely one sided spec that the electronics manufactureres find unacceptable.


The rule about cable boxes being required to have a cable card is great news for us. That means that cable companies are actually going to rush CC2.0 out. If they don't they will be losing out on PPV sales, which they definitely do not want to do.

That is of course true only if they do not succeed in getting the rules changed or pushed back.


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## msantti

seattlewendell said:


> Do you really need cable cards "installed"? i have a cable card in one of my TV's. The Comcast guy showed up. "installed" the card. Got on his cell and read the numbers that appeared on the screen to someone on the phone. 30 seconds later he was walking out the door and my TV was on. Wasn't that the whole point of cable card, that you don't need the cable company to install it?


No, you see, we are stupid consumers in their eyes for us to insert a card into a TV or a box.

Fact is, some of the cable TV guys I have seen were complete morons.


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## TiVotion

As I just posted in [thread=316291]this thread[/thread], I got off the fence...well, I got on the fence, got off the fence, got on the fence, then got back on the fence, and I ordered the S3 from Circuit City tonight. The box is due to arrive this Friday 9/15.

I called Brighthouse Networks (Tampa area) after 11:30pm (didn't even know customer service was open that late, but I thought I'd chance it) immediately to schedule an appointment for cable card installation. I held for a good long time, then a younger guy answered. I was prepared for a battle, and a lot of "what are you talking about? TiVo? What?" kind of questions.

I simply stated I needed to schedule the installation of 2 cablecards. The guy confirmed my address, then added 2 cable cards to the order. So far, so good. Then came the magic question:

"What kind of TV's are these cards going to be going in?"

Uh oh. Here's where the hangup is going to come, I thought.

I simply said, "Actually, they are both going into one of the new Series 3 TiVos...so they are both going into that one device.".

To my surprise, the guy simply said "Ok, Let me see when I can schedule it." I was again floored when he was able to set me up with an appointment for this Saturday between 8 and 11am.

So that's my experience from Tampa with Brighthouse. No questions, no hassle.

He also didn't mention to cost, or the fact that they won't work with PPV or VOD.


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## MichaelK

Leo_N said:
 

> The rule about cable boxes being required to have a cable card is great news for us. That means that cable companies are actually going to rush CC2.0 out. If they don't they will be losing out on PPV sales, which they definitely do not want to do.
> 
> That is of course true only if they do not succeed in getting the rules changed or pushed back.


no such luck.

The cable industry is such scumbags that they basically have figured out how to make the same boxes they have today but so they use cablecard 1.0 unidirectional cards to decrypt the signals but continue to use the proprietary systems of today for ordering PPV and VOD and the like.

It will make them figure out how to provision the things and get them to actually work. Probably also forces them to cut the truck roll nonsense too.

But no need for 2-way cabelcards.

(and all that is if the fcc rules against thier request to push it to 2009)


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## bdraw

TiVotion said:


> As I just posted in [thread=316291]this thread[/thread], I got off the fence...well, I got on the fence, got off the fence, got on the fence, then got back on the fence, and I ordered the S3 from Circuit City tonight. The box is due to arrive this Friday 9/15.
> 
> I called Brighthouse Networks (Tampa area) after 11:30pm (didn't even know customer service was open that late, but I thought I'd chance it) immediately to schedule an appointment for cable card installation. I held for a good long time, then a younger guy answered. I was prepared for a battle, and a lot of "what are you talking about? TiVo? What?" kind of questions.
> 
> I simply stated I needed to schedule the installation of 2 cablecards. The guy confirmed my address, then added 2 cable cards to the order. So far, so good. Then came the magic question:
> 
> "What kind of TV's are these cards going to be going in?"
> 
> Uh oh. Here's where the hangup is going to come, I thought.
> 
> I simply said, "Actually, they are both going into one of the new Series 3 TiVos...so they are both going into that one device.".
> 
> To my surprise, the guy simply said "Ok, Let me see when I can schedule it." I was again floored when he was able to set me up with an appointment for this Saturday between 8 and 11am.
> 
> So that's my experience from Tampa with Brighthouse. No questions, no hassle.
> 
> He also didn't mention to cost, or the fact that they won't work with PPV or VOD.


It might have something to do with the fact that I called a few days ago and had the same conversation. But more likely it is because the General Manager is on top of his job. He even posts over at tampahdtv.com.

There is a CableCARD with TiVo thread that I started which the GM posts via the moderator that BHN will supply CableCARDs for TiVo's, but of course not support them, that is TiVo's job.
http://www.tampahdtv.com/tpahd-vb/showthread.php?t=9977


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## tommage

pzook1 said:


> I just called Bright House and they said they will only provide cable cards for TV's, not boxes. This is Manatee County. Anyone been able to get an install scheduled?


Well I can't guarantee this as I am relying on what someone else posted. They said they had a cable card installed in TV, moved to to TIVO box and it worked. If this is true and you have a slot on your TV just get one installed in the TV then move it when they leave (don't even let them know you have a TIVO). Heck RENT a TV with a slot for a week if you have to. I'd verify this first though, as I said am relying on another person's post.


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## Goofball

tommage said:


> Well I can't guarantee this as I am relying on what someone else posted. They said they had a cable card installed in TV, moved to to TIVO box and it worked. If this is true and you have a slot on your TV just get one installed in the TV then move it when they leave (don't even let them know you have a TIVO). Heck RENT a TV with a slot for a week if you have to. I'd verify this first though, as I said am relying on another person's post.


For those that don't want to read the whole thing below: NO, THIS WILL NOT WORK.

Part of the CableCard standard and the activation is that the card is "married" or locked to the device that it was originally activated on in the cable company systems. The only ones who can move, modify or unmarry a card are the cable systems. Moving the card to another device after it is activated won't work because the access codes to change thanks to differing hardware IDs and serial numbers contained in the new device. It's the same thing as trying to move a DirecTV access card from one receiver to another, won't work because the receiver IDs are different and the access code generated from the card info+ new reciever info doesn't match anything that is authorized.


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## pzook1

After the two frustrating calls I had with BHN, I went by the local office yesterday and amazingly had no issues with setting up an install for Monday. I went prepared to have to fight but did not have to. When she asked the model of the TV, I said it was a Tivo set top box and gave the Cablelabs document to show the model #. She punched it in and said I was setup. Hopefully nothing will happen before Monday to stop it.


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## TiVotion

Update on Brighthouse cable card install from here in Tampa:

Brighthouse's cable contractor just left my house. Real nice guy, and patient.

When he got to my door, he asked me where the TV's were that needed the cable cards. I pointed him to the TiVo and said, "I bet you haven't seen one of these yet". Of course, he had not. I grabbed the instruction sheet for the installer, told him basically we need to put one card in the bottom slot, activate it, test the channels, then put in the 2nd card in. We were not sure if we could insert and activate both cards at once. I explained I was leery and suggested we do it according to TiVo just to be safe.

The installer called up his activation number (not sure what the activation number is that is listed on the cable card configuration screen, but it's not the number he had). He explained to the guy on the phone that we were doing a new TiVo. He gave the guy the cable card and host ID numbers. About 3 minutes later, a screen popped up on TiVo indicating the cable card configuration had changed, asking if I wished to repeat guided setup now or later. We went back in, tested the channels, and they worked.

We then stuck in cable card # 2, repeated the process, and made another phone call. Same success.

One interesting note, the installer said that a truck roll wasn't necessary after all - the office will just hand you cable cards if you stop in and request them. I said I assumed an installer was necessary, but he said no.


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## bdraw

Thanks for the update, I can't wait till Tuesday.
Mine install will take longer since I don't currently have cable.


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## ThePlungerMan

TiVoPony said:


> I'll add one more thing in here that may be helpful.
> 
> If you contact your cable company, and they say they won't give you the cards you want...call us.
> 
> When you call, explain that you need help getting cable cards from your cable company, and would like to speak to the HD Team.
> 
> They'll get on the line with you while you call your cable company, and they'll help explain everything to the cable representative.
> 
> That should, hopefully, help.
> 
> Pony


No offense intended,
but should and hopefully are words that are a cause for concern.
This cable card fiasco is really amazing.
You make a product that needs something from a cable company and the cable companies are acting like, WHAT, no etc. Amazing, absurdly amazing in a way.
Will be interesting to see how this shakes out.


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## SilentJay

> Originally Posted by *TiVotion*
> _One interesting note, the installer said that a truck roll wasn't necessary after all - the office will just hand you cable cards if you stop in and request them. I said I assumed an installer was necessary, but he said no._


Has anyone in Tampa been able to go to a BHN office and pick up some CableCards? I tried this morning at the MLK office, but no luck. At least I now have an install scheduled, though. When I called BHN last night, the woman I talked to wouldn't even schedule the install when I mentioned it was going in a TiVo. I was going to try the Linebaugh office on my way home... should I bother?


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## Ames

Zaphod said:


> How does one know whether their cable provider fits the MSO category or not? Is there anywhere that gives an official list? I specifically have Mediacom in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm pretty sure they don't offer cablecards at all though I've not specifically asked them yet. I'm just wondering if I call them and they say they don't offer them at all, do I have any recourse if they do fit in the MSO category?


I have Mediacom in Ames. They are cool with 2 cards in a Tivo.


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## TiVotion

SilentJay said:


> Has anyone in Tampa been able to go to a BHN office and pick up some CableCards? I tried this morning at the MLK office, but no luck. At least I now have an install scheduled, though. When I called BHN last night, the woman I talked to wouldn't even schedule the install when I mentioned it was going in a TiVo. I was going to try the Linebaugh office on my way home... should I bother?


I'm actually near the boundary of Pasco and Hillsborough county, so I'm serviced out of the Pasco office. They had no problem with the request. The installer was a contractor, but he seemed pretty knowledgeable.

Print this out before you go back to the Brighthouse office to prove to them they are allowed to provide cablecards for TiVo:

http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf


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## PPC1

Just called Brighthouse here in Indy today. I told them I needed 2 cable cards. They said, "No problem. The first available install date is this Saturday." I said, "perfect."

They did not ask what they were going into.

We will see Saturday how the install goes.


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## windracer

I didn't see an official BHN/CableCARD thread in Dan's list so I'll reply here.

I just went through the hassle of ordering CableCARDs for my S3 from BHN in Tampa/St. Pete. The first sales rep gave me the spiel about the cards being for specific TVs and not providing cards for the TiVo (she said they just had a meeting about this this week). I told her I was pretty sure they were required by law to provide cards for CableLabs certified devices, to which she replied "not until 2008." At that point I asked to go higher up and the chain and she sent me to tech support.

The guy there was much better. He asked me for the TiVo model number, and after I gave it to him he said yes, they did provide cards for that device (duh!  ). I did ask about self-install but he said it required a truck roll. My install is scheduled for Saturday morning. I've never had digital cable before (I've been pulling the unencrypted QAM channels through my plasma) so I'm a little excited. I hope the install goes well.

Like others have mentioned, it's $2.95/mo per card. I was told there is no installation fee. I'm holding off on the $6/mo HD Pak (HDNet, ESPN HD, Universal HD) for now.

Now I'm off to fill out TiVo's CableCARD feedback form.


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## smr

I called Brighthouse in Orlando, FL. They had no problem with the 2 cablecards going into a tivo.

The first tech didn't have a clue. Said he didn't even know TiVo had a new unit. After he TRIED to remove one of the cards out of the unit unsuccessfully, I asked him to let me try it. I installed them and did all the click work. All he did was call whomever he has to to get them activated. He never got both of them activated and told me they probably needed to "warm up". Two days later I had to call for another tech as they stopped getting HD and digital signals. I also had the copyprotection issues of auto deletion after 1.5 hours.

(Cue angelic music)

Brighthouse sent a tech named Will who not only HAD previously installed cc's in two other units, but he knew what the issue was right away. He took out one of the cards, replaced it with another, made a call, and Zip bang pow, everything worked and no more copyprotection flag issues to boot.

I think it may all be in the tech and their comfort level with the technology.


----------



## tedbill

I called in to BHN Sunday night and scheduled my install for Wednesday morning. The CSR had no issue getting the install scheduled, even after I told him it was for a TiVo. I'm in the south Orlando area (Hunters Creek). Once everything is up and running I'll post back!

BTW, I was never able to find any HD over the QAM in the clear channels. Has anyone else in Orlando with BHN found any HD?


----------



## nandopr

tedbill said:


> I called in to BHN Sunday night and scheduled my install for Wednesday morning. The CSR had no issue getting the install scheduled, even after I told him it was for a TiVo. I'm in the south Orlando area (Hunters Creek). Once everything is up and running I'll post back!
> 
> BTW, I was never able to find any HD over the QAM in the clear channels. Has anyone else in Orlando with BHN found any HD?


There should be no problem. I am in Hunter's Creek area too and my instaltion was fine in general.


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## fl_dba

BH Tampa Bay (Polk county) never got either CC authorized after several attempts and 10 different cards! Returned the S3 to Circuit City and the CC's to BH. Will continue to use SA 8300 HD DVR until price of S3 unit drops and BH gets it's act together. The S3 is the best HD DVR available but I couldn't justify spending any more time on it right now. Have D* HR20 and HR10 also, neither comes close to the S3 in many areas including PQ, OTA tuners, and UI.


----------



## notnow117

I just called BH in Orange County and the first CSR I talked to got me nowhere. She claimed that they could only install a CC in a TV, and that since a TiVo is my own device, they wouldn't install a CC in it. Nevermind that a TV is my own device also. She also said they offered an HD-DVR, which is why they wouldn't put a CC in mine. She wouldn't transfer me to a supervisor either, because she was a "senior support technician." I got fed up after arguing for 15 minutes, hung up, called back, and talked to someone else who setup the appt, no questions asked.


----------



## TiVoToo

tedbill said:


> [snip...]
> 
> BTW, I was never able to find any HD over the QAM in the clear channels. Has anyone else in Orlando with BHN found any HD?


I have BHN. S3 only 'found' about 8 clear QAM channels - none HD. The QAM tuner in my Sony KDS-60A2000 found over 3 dozen clear QAM channels on same cable, but none of the HD channels were apparently in the clear. How many clear QAM did your S3 find? I'm puzzled why there is such a big disparity in number of clear QAM found by S3 vs. Sony TV.


----------



## tedbill

TiVoToo said:


> I have BHN. S3 only 'found' about 8 clear QAM channels - none HD. The QAM tuner in my Sony KDS-60A2000 found over 3 dozen clear QAM channels on same cable, but none of the HD channels were apparently in the clear. How many clear QAM did your S3 find? I'm puzzled why there is such a big disparity in number of clear QAM found by S3 vs. Sony TV.


I have no idea why the difference between Sony and TiVo. I can tell you that neither my TiVo nor my MITS TV did a very good job at finding the in-the-clear channels. In the end I did find 19 but no HD. Most were the usual channels that you would expect.

Interestingly one of the channels in the clear is the movie channel Starz! I checked my cable box and it is definitely a subscription only channel. I'm sure when they figure out that they are offering it free to anyone with a tuner someone's head will roll!


----------



## tedbill

Got my Cablecards from Brighthouse today. Two installers showed up, although only one really seemed to know what he was doing, maybe the other guy was in training. Neither had seen a TiVo before so they had to study the directions and the box before they continued. First card went in OK, but it took quite a while to get it working. Second card was a dud so they had to replace it with a third card. Finally got both up and running with all the HD channels up and running! All told the process took about an hour.

So far everything is up and running. I am so happy to have my 30 second skip back, no more of that SA8300 nonsense!


----------



## windracer

windracer said:


> My install is scheduled for Saturday morning.


Some of these threads had me worried, but my CableCards are in and the whole process took about 15 minutes. Half of that was the Knight Enterprises guy waiting on hold with BHN to activate the cards.

I got worried at first because the guy didn't even look at the installer sheet I had on top of the unit, he just slipped the first card _into the top slot!_ Luckily that didn't seem to affect anything. We did the instructions a little weird, putting in both cards and _then_ calling to initialize both at the same time.

I'm re-running GS now ... sweet!


----------



## IzzyB68

So my Tivo will be here on the 14th and I have scheduled for the CableCard install on the 15th. I live in Orlando, FL and have Brighthouse. I had no issues getting the cards, in fact right away they knew what I was talking about and ordered two cards. Is there anything I should know about the install from people that have had Brighthouse come out in the Orlando area? Were there issues you had? Etc.

Thanks!


----------



## windracer

Grrr ... just found this on the bottom of this month's bill:



> BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS ANNOUNCES THE FOLLOWING ADJUSTMENTS TO RATES EFFECTIVE JANUARY 2007: MONTHLY EQUIPMENT CHARGES - *CABLE CARD $3.95 (+$1.00);* STANDARD BOX $.39 (-$.06); STANDARD REMOTE $.29 (-$.01) ONE-TIME INSTALLATION CHARGES - PREWIRED INSTALL $35.95 (+$1.00); ADDITIONAL OUTLET AT INSTALL $34.95 (+$5.00)/SEPARATE TRIP $44.95 (+$10.00); HOURLY SERVICE CHARGE $50.00 (+$2.52); A/B SWITCH/VCR/AMPLIFIER INSTALL $29.95 (+2.95); CHANGE IN SERVICE $11.95 (+$.45); RELOCATE OUTLET $35.95 (+$1.00).


----------



## Duke

I had no cablecard install difficulty with Brighthouse in Saint Petersburg, FL. Two installers arrived, and had done only one other Tivo Series3 and were a bit "iffy" about the procedure. I found out later that the owner did most of the install work. 

The secret of success for me was to get them to follow the Tivo install directions exactly, and not just willy-nilly start plugging in the cablecards. They did each slot individually, calling in to have it provisioned, then moving on to the other slot. The whole thing took about 15 mintues.


Duke


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## windracer

Duke said:


> I had no cablecard install difficulty with Brighthouse in Saint Petersburg, FL. Two installers arrived, and had done only one other Tivo Series3 and were a bit "iffy" about the procedure. I found out later that the owner did most of the install work.


I wonder if that was me.


----------



## Duke

windracer said:


> I wonder if that was me.


Nope - turned out to be my friend who lives down the street from me. But your point is well taken - it's best to do your homework before the installers arrive to achieve a more positive outcome.

Duke


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## IzzyB68

The installers left and the Tivo seems to be working fine. I lost some HD channels, but I think that was because the operator turned off the HD package...gonna call them to fix that now.

Update: Called up an within 5 minutes had all the HD channels...all looks good.


----------



## orangeboy

I'm in Orlando, and had my cable cards installed for 2 days now. Unfortunately, I cannot get any of the extra stuff on Tivo: Digital Music, Digital Premier Pack, and HD pacK. BHN will be here again tomorrow to try and troubleshoot. I CAN get the "usual" HD channels and HD Premium that are not part of the HDK. Something that bothers me is that all the channels I _can't_ get on Tivo/Cable cards, I _can_ get on my settop box. I opted for the settop because I like the On-Demand stuff. Has anybody else had issues with DM/DPP/HDK? Do I need to call Tivo? It just seems that BHN doesn't have the cards associated with my account - Any thoughts?


----------



## nandopr

I have BHN with HBO, Showtime and the HD Pack. I am in Orlando too. At first, I needed to make several phone calls until someone was able to turn on all my channels properly.

It was something at their end.


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## windracer

A few days after my CableCARD install, I, too, lost my digital music channels and even my digital channels. I had to call BHN and it turned out they had accidentally removed those features from my account.  They flipped a switch, had me reboot the S3, and everything has been fine since (although somehow I still get Cinemax, is that stealing? ).


----------



## TomRaz

I am considering purchasing a Tivo Series 3 and going with BHN. So in your opinion to they have their act together and understand how to correctly program cablecards yet or should I wait 6 to 12 months ?

Thanks,
Tom


----------



## IzzyB68

orangeboy said:


> I'm in Orlando, and had my cable cards installed for 2 days now. Unfortunately, I cannot get any of the extra stuff on Tivo: Digital Music, Digital Premier Pack, and HD pacK. BHN will be here again tomorrow to try and troubleshoot. I CAN get the "usual" HD channels and HD Premium that are not part of the HDK. Something that bothers me is that all the channels I _can't_ get on Tivo/Cable cards, I _can_ get on my settop box. I opted for the settop because I like the On-Demand stuff. Has anybody else had issues with DM/DPP/HDK? Do I need to call Tivo? It just seems that BHN doesn't have the cards associated with my account - Any thoughts?


I had this issue when my cards were first installed. I called BH and they fixed it right away for me. The guy on the phone said they had taken the HDK service from me and then he also said a common thing was to not apply that service to the second card. It was a 5 minute phone call and he fixed it before I got off the phone.


----------



## IzzyB68

TomRaz said:


> I am considering purchasing a Tivo Series 3 and going with BHN. So in your opinion to they have their act together and understand how to correctly program cablecards yet or should I wait 6 to 12 months ?
> 
> Thanks,
> Tom


 I would day BHN has their act together in Orlando. I had a 30 minute visit and then a 5 minute phone call to fix my HD channels and then I have been happy ever since. Doesn't seem like Brighthouse has the issues the other cable companies have.


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## orangeboy

Well, the repairman was out today, and the first thing he said was he's never dealt with cable cards before! I explained what the situation was, and he just didn't understand Tivo, or where the cards were, or why I needed anything. After some phone calls conveying the hostid and card numbers, my service was restored!

I felt more confident and comfortable after reading through these forums that it wasn't a hardware issue with the S3. Thanks everybody!


----------



## Duke

TomRaz said:


> I am considering purchasing a Tivo Series 3 and going with BHN. So in your opinion to they have their act together and understand how to correctly program cablecards yet or should I wait 6 to 12 months ?
> 
> Thanks,
> Tom


I think they are learning. I have two friends here in St. Petersburg that had a pretty rough time initially (they are early adopters). But by the time my install rolled around (last week), the techs at least knew to call their supervisor, who stepped them thru their end of the process. And getting them to take the time to follow the Tivo provided instructions (to the letter) makes a lot of difference as to whether you have a good experience, or a not-so-good experience.

Duke


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## joelkfla

I had no problem scheduling a service call to get 2 cablecards installed. But the tech arrived 1 hour late, and as soon as he came to the door, he said, "I have bad news. I can't install 2 cablecards because I am a subcontractor, and only Bright House techs are allowed to install them." He did not even know what one was; he asked me to explain what they do.

This after I had made a point to call BHN this morning to double check that they had the cablecard installs on the service request, after reading here about techs showing up without the cards! I just can't figure how they could manage to send someone who's not authorized to do the work that was ordered. SNAFU!

I'm already entitled to a $20 credit from BHN for a missed appointment, but I had to speak to a supervisor to insist that I not be charged for the rescheduled call on Friday. Fortunately I have the option to telecommute Wednesdays & Fridays, so I didn't have to miss work for nothing.

We'll see what happens Friday.


----------



## IzzyB68

joelkfla said:


> I had no problem scheduling a service call to get 2 cablecards installed. But the tech arrived 1 hour late, and as soon as he came to the door, he said, "I have bad news. I can't install 2 cablecards because I am a subcontractor, and only Bright House techs are allowed to install them." He did not even know what one was; he asked me to explain what they do.
> 
> This after I had made a point to call BHN this morning to double check that they had the cablecard installs on the service request, after reading here about techs showing up without the cards! I just can't figure how they could manage to send someone who's not authorized to do the work that was ordered. SNAFU!
> 
> I'm already entitled to a $20 credit from BHN for a missed appointment, but I had to speak to a supervisor to insist that I not be charged for the rescheduled call on Friday. Fortunately I have the option to telecommute Wednesdays & Fridays, so I didn't have to miss work for nothing.
> 
> We'll see what happens Friday.


That tech was full of it and it sounds like he was trying to get out of work. Subcontracters installed my cards for me and I have BHN. I live in Orlando.


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## tedbill

IzzyB68 said:


> That tech was full of it and it sounds like he was trying to get out of work. Subcontracters installed my cards for me and I have BHN. I live in Orlando.


Ditto here. In fact the tech that came to my house was very helpful. I hope you have better luck on Friday!


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## StStephen

The new TV arrives Saturday so I called BHN (Lake Mary) today to schedule a cable card install for Tuesday. The person I spoke with was adamant that BHN would not install in a TiVo only in a television. I attempted to educate her but I dont think she was listening. I asked for a supervisor and she assured me that installing to a TiVo was no problem, apologized for the confusion and wished me a Happy New Year. Hopefully the install will go smoothly, keep your fingers crossed.

Steve


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## TiVoJerry

If the installer gives you any grief, feel free to call in and have one of our representatives explain the requirement to him. Keep in mind this is our busiest time of year and the hold times can be high.

*Or you can provide the language that our agents would use:*
All major cable companies (MSOs) are required by the FCC's 'Plug-and-Play' order to provide CableCARDs to any customer using any UDCR (Uni-Directional Cable Receiver) device on CableLabs list of certified, verified or self- verified cable products. The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product is on this list.


----------



## joelkfla

Well, they did it again! This time 2 techs showed up wearing t-shirts with the name of the subcontractor. Before I even let them in the door, I asked if they had the cablecards. Nope, same answer as Wednesday. One said he had asked his dispatcher about the cable cards on the service order, and his boss said, "Don't worry about them, just go ahead and swap the box."

Of course, I was livid. I sent them away and called up BHN and gave the nice lady a piece of my mind.

This time (unlike Wednesday), the rep who answered the phone was very apologetic and immediately went to consult with a supervisor. After a few minutes on hold, the supervisor came on and said she was trying to find someone to come out today with the cards, and would it be OK if she called me back.

After a few more calls _from _ Brighthouse, I got a team of two "priority" techs at the house, who were eager to chat about all things TiVo. They said they had already done at least 7 S3 installs between them.

Without my asking, they immediately checked my signal strength, and finding it not quite up to snuff, went to work on the distribution point out at the curb, and eventually installed an amp in my attic. It took the tech 2 phone calls to get everything activated on the cards, but he made sure everything digital and HD was coming in on both cards before he left.

I couldn't be happier with these two. They were friendly, proactive, and knew their work. I just wish I hadn't had to go through the 2 wasted service calls before they got to me.

I planned to fight for no installation charge and two late service call credits, but the 2nd supervisor I talked to beat me to the punch; he offered to comp one month's service.


----------



## joelkfla

IzzyB68 said:


> That tech was full of it and it sounds like he was trying to get out of work. Subcontracters installed my cards for me and I have BHN. I live in Orlando.


Well, the tech was running late on Wednesday, and it was near the end of the day, so I could believe that ... except that the same thing happened today when the techs were a few minutes early and it was just lunchtime. And when I mentioned it to one of the BHN techs who finally showed up later today, he commiserated on it.

Maybe the policy is different in West Orange County, or maybe only some of the subcontractor companies are trained on the cablecards.


----------



## IzzyB68

joelkfla said:


> Well, the tech was running late on Wednesday, and it was near the end of the day, so I could believe that ... except that the same thing happened today when the techs were a few minutes early and it was just lunchtime. And when I mentioned it to one of the BHN techs who finally showed up later today, he commiserated on it.
> 
> Maybe the policy is different in West Orange County, or maybe only some of the subcontractor companies are trained on the cablecards.


Yeah I am in Southeast Orlando, so maybe there is diferent companies that service this area. Because the contractors I got had done it before. Well one guy had, so the other guy was being trained on it. The one guy said he did about one a week and that he was teaching this guy how to do it so he knew how to also. But they were both contractors from the same company.


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## Sauron

Well, Here's my experience so far. 

I called on Tuesday to schedule the appoinment (Brighthouse Orlando - Near UCF).
Told the lady I wanted 2 cable cards, she ask for, I said Tivo, she said no problem. Friday is the soonest. Not a problem.

So that part went easy. 


Tech got here right @ 10am (The appt was 8-10). 
He left about 30 minutes ago (12:30).

Followed all of the instructions on the Tivo Sheet, twice. He called, activated the cards, etc.

I get about 30 QAM channels, but none of the premium (HBO, SHowtime) or HD channels will come in...

He said that the cards he got were the last 2 at the eastern tech office, so he'll be back on Monday with 4 (2 spares) new ones, as they had 7 bad cards earlier this week... If those cards have similiar issue, I'm gonna have him check the signal, although typlically in the past the signal is fine in my neighboorhood (It's only 5 years old).

Mark


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## Sauron

Interesting enough, I just pulled them both out to look at the cards...

The card in slot one has NG written on the bottom in pencil.... I'm betting it's "No Good"....


----------



## IzzyB68

Sauron said:


> Well, Here's my experience so far.
> 
> I called on Tuesday to schedule the appoinment (Brighthouse Orlando - Near UCF).
> Told the lady I wanted 2 cable cards, she ask for, I said Tivo, she said no problem. Friday is the soonest. Not a problem.
> 
> So that part went easy.
> 
> Tech got here right @ 10am (The appt was 8-10).
> He left about 30 minutes ago (12:30).
> 
> Followed all of the instructions on the Tivo Sheet, twice. He called, activated the cards, etc.
> 
> I get about 30 QAM channels, but none of the premium (HBO, SHowtime) or HD channels will come in...
> 
> He said that the cards he got were the last 2 at the eastern tech office, so he'll be back on Monday with 4 (2 spares) new ones, as they had 7 bad cards earlier this week... If those cards have similiar issue, I'm gonna have him check the signal, although typlically in the past the signal is fine in my neighboorhood (It's only 5 years old).
> 
> Mark


Make sure he calls or you call and verify that BOTH cards have the HD and premium set up on them. I had the issue with the paid HD channels (I don't get premium) where they did not have both cards set to receive the special channels and therefore neither were allowing the service. It sounded like a normal thing since when I talked ot the guy on the phone he said right away he thought he knew what the issue was.


----------



## Sauron

IzzyB68 said:


> Make sure he calls or you call and verify that BOTH cards have the HD and premium set up on them. I had the issue with the paid HD channels (I don't get premium) where they did not have both cards set to receive the special channels and therefore neither were allowing the service. It sounded like a normal thing since when I talked ot the guy on the phone he said right away he thought he knew what the issue was.


I'll do that when he's back out. Right now not even all the 'regular' QAM channels come in, so something else is up. He called in for hits 5 times...


----------



## IzzyB68

Sauron said:


> I'll do that when he's back out. Right now not even all the 'regular' QAM channels come in, so something else is up. He called in for hits 5 times...


Oh...if you can't get regular channels then it is probably a bad card. I was able to get mine from BHNs to work on the first time. I am on the SouthEast side of Orlando (by 417 & Lee Vista).


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## srea

If you want to read some more info on BHN support in the TampaBay area try a site called tampahdtv
There is a poster named "gmclaughlin" whom I believe works for BHN and seems very helpful.


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## Sauron

An update from the appointment that happened on Saturday.

After 4 hours of being @ my house, I have 1 of the cable cards working. This time 2 techs came to my house (Both contractors for BH). 1 had actually done 2 tivo units before. Most of the time was spent calling the head office and trying to get someone on the other end who actually knew what they were doing. 

We never did make any progress till the last 30 minutes, except to figure out that one of the "New cards" was definitely bad, as the Tivo wouldn't even recognize the card when inserted except to give an error.

So to summarize, the tech who had done the 2 tivos before eventually called a Head office tech who actually worked for BH versus there activation people. That guy was completely familiar with the Tivo unit, and took a look @ my account settings and said that the activation people had paired the cards incorrectly, and pretty much ignored the remote techs when they told them it was a Tivo and put in Panasonic (My TV). Once he switched that and sent hits to the cards, one of them started working right away. The other card wouldn't take the updated hits, and is really DOA.

So, that tech submitted an order for new cards (Apparently they are out at the moment in CFL) and they should be in on Thursday and I'll have them come out to install the 2nd card (It'll actually be the BH tech this time).

So, make sure the activation people really pair the unit to the card right, or it won't work. 

Mark


----------



## sharp1

I am in Hernando County, serviced by Bright House. Do you think they will give me cards OTC, or will I need to schedule an install? They have always given me equiptment OTC before (cable boxes, cable modems specifically). I plan to at least ask when I drop off the cable box.

Any experience with this?


----------



## windracer

I asked if I could do a self-install of my CableCARDs but BHN here in Pinellas county told me no. I didn't press them any further and just scheduled the truck roll.

In addition to the cards, you'll need the number the installer would call to authorize/pair the cards once they're in your S3.


----------



## tedbill

Whenever I've called BHN about the CableCards their only answer is to roll a truck, so I doubt they would have given me the cards OTC. I'm in the south Orlando area.


----------



## Sauron

So final update for me. An actual BH tech came out Saturday @ like 3:30. Handed me 2 cards and said pick one and put it in. Got the HOST ID and Card ID, he called the Head End (Not the activation #), gave them the info, and in less then 2 minutes the other card was up and running. I checked a bunch of channels, and when I said I was happy, out the door he went. About 5 minutes total.

It made the 8 hours spent on the other 2 days look ridiculously easy... 

So, once it goes a week, I'll be taking the SA8300 box back in to TWC so I can stop paying $16 a month for it...

Mark


----------



## joelkfla

Just received BHN Central FL's 2007 price list. Cable Cards went from $2 a month to $4!

I haven't received a bill since my install, so I don't know whether I'll be paying double that for two cards, or whether the first one is included as someone posted in another thread.


----------



## windracer

joelkfla said:


> Just received BHN Central FL's 2007 price list. Cable Cards went from $2 a month to $4!


Yup, I mentioned that in post #66. My current bill shows $3.95 x 2 for my two cards. 

It was only a $1 increase ... the cards were $2.95 before, not $2 (at least in Tampa/St. Pete).


----------



## IzzyB68

windracer said:


> Yup, I mentioned that in post #66. My current bill shows $3.95 x 2 for my two cards.
> 
> It was only a $1 increase ... the cards were $2.95 before, not $2 (at least in Tampa/St. Pete).


For me it was a $2 increase, which really sucks because x2 means a $4 increase. It looks like that are pushing their DVRs because the 2nd unit DVR cost went down $3


----------



## sharp1

My install went very smoothly last Saturday morning (which was nice, since my 61inch arrived Sat afternoon). The tech was concerned at first because he had not done an install. I handed him the directions and the remote, and he was done in about 25 minutes (maybe even less).

The price list he handed me listed 2.95 for a cablecard. I will see what my first bill says. And argue if they charge anything else. 

So far no complaints except that Family Guy at 720p had a strange interlacing side effect on many horizontal lines on the backgroungs. It was very distracting. I am going to look into it some more to see if I can make some adjustment to compensate. This is likely my TVs translation to 1080p caused it...

UPDATE: This is in Hernando County.


----------



## Sirius Black

I just spoke with a Bright House representative in Pinellas County and she gave me the runaround about it being only for TVs blah blah blah. I asked to speak with a supervisor. The representative said they would need to call me back. I going to look at this thread more closely now.


----------



## Sirius Black

TiVoPony said:


> I'll add one more thing in here that may be helpful.
> 
> If you contact your cable company, and they say they won't give you the cards you want...call us.
> 
> When you call, explain that you need help getting cable cards from your cable company, and would like to speak to the HD Team.
> 
> They'll get on the line with you while you call your cable company, and they'll help explain everything to the cable representative.
> 
> That should, hopefully, help.
> 
> Pony


Is this still a valid option? It's been a few months so I'm curious as to whether or not this offer is still valid.


----------



## windracer

It should still be valid, give it a shot.

Or, ask the front line rep to transfer you to someone in technical support. I had the same argument with the first rep I talked to about BHN only putting CCs in televisions. Once I got to tech support the guy knew exactly what to do.


----------



## Sirius Black

Just a quick update... 

I have received no call back at all from anyone at Bright House in the ~ 7 hours since I called. I think I'll do as you suggest: call back and ask for technical support rather than sales.


----------



## sbiller

Sorry in advance for the lengthy post...

I scheduled a cablecard install from BHN for this morning from 8-11 am. This was a follow-up to an appointment last Sunday where the technician did not show up within the scheduled window of 8-11 am. 

The tech showed up. He was a BHN contractor from Kablelink. He wanted me to immediately install both cards in the unit but I refused saying the directions explicitly discussed installing one card at a time. We installed the CC in slot 1 (bottom) and went to the CC menu. We looked up the host ID and CC number. He called a special phone number from my cell phone after my Vonage phone wouldn't work for the number. He gave the person on the other line the job #, host ID, and CC number. We waited a few minutes. The TiVo rebooted and we were able to execute the Test Channels. We then installed cablecard number 2, he called the number again, and we were in business. 

A few minutes after he left I performed guided setup on my TiVo and after that was complete began surfing through the high-def channels. For some reason, channels above 628 weren't working. I went to the CC test channels menu and discovered that the channels above 628 (i.e., 631, 650, 651, 690, 691, 692, and 693) were working on CC1 but not working on CC2. 

I called BHN and spoke to a technician. He told me that there isn't much they can do for CC's. He told me to take the cards out and re-install them -- big mistake. I followed his instructions and both cards indicated CP authorization required. He couldn't help me. I told him that he needed to connect me to someone who could authorize the card. He indicated that he didn't have anyone else I could speak with. He said that he would need to send out a technician to my house to fix the issue. I was so angry at this point. I took the automated survey following the call and rated the service horrible on all counts. I scheduled an appointment for next Monday from 5-8 pm. 

After I hung up the phone with the CSR, it dawned on me that the BHN technician who was at my house earlier used my Cingular cell phone. I decided what the heck -- I'll call the special number for installers myself. 

I removed both CC's from the S3 and decided to swap CC2 for CC1. I inserted CC1 in the bottom slot and waited for the TiVo to recognize the insertion. I pulled up the screen that provides me with the CC information. I then dialed 866-662-7778 and reached the Support Service Center for BHN Florida. I listened to the menu and decided to select option 5 to be connected to an analyst. 

The analyst answered the call and asked me for the job number. I read him the job number off of the receipt provided to me by the technician. He then asked me for the CC# and Host ID. He said that the CC would be activated in a few minutes. I hung up the phone and waited. Sure enough, the CP authorization received, came through in a few minutes, the TiVo rebooted, and I verified receipt of all channels including the missing channels on CC #1. 

I then proceeded to install CC #2. I called the 866-662-7778 phone number again and selected option 5. This time the analyst did not ask me the job number. I provided the CC# and Host ID. He then asked me something that I wasn't expecting. He told me to navigate to the CP screen and give him the EMM count. I said that it was a TiVo Series3 and ummm, ummm, it might take me a second to find it. I went back to the CC screen and selected something that sounded close. Sure enough there was an EMM count of 0 and waiting for CP Authorization was displayed. He told me to wait a minute and then refresh the screen. I backed out and re-entered the screen a couple of times and the EMM count jumped to 23 but it was still waiting on CP Authorization. Finally it displayed CP Authorization Received with an EMM count of 42. He told me that I could now receive all of the channels. He stayed on the line while I check all of the channels including the missing channels. 

Finally I had to repeat guided setup one more time. Everything is working fine. I kept my appointment for Monday evening in case things go bad but I'm very pleased right now. I think its only a matter of time before users will be able to do self-installs on cablecards and look forward to that day. 

I felt a little bad for impersonating a BHN technician but not too bad!


----------



## Sirius Black

Update #2:

I scheduled a service technician to come to my home on Monday during the day. I prefered the weekend (of course) but that was booked. Anyway, not five minutes ago I received a second call from BH claiming they needed 72 hours notice before doing a cablecard install. Something about calling Tivo and making sure the installation goes smoothly. Because of this delay, it will be next Saturday before I am able to have the cablecards installed. We'll call this strike two on Brighthouse. Strike one was the supervisor never returning my call. 

So now I have a series 3 Tivo all ready to go and can't do anything with it (as far as HD goes) until next Saturday. 

I'm wondering how the Tivo works without cablecards at all. Will I get any channels through cable (not OTA) along with the guide data, etc?


----------



## tedbill

sbiller said:


> I felt a little bad for impersonating a BHN technician but not too bad!


I certainly wouldn't feel bad about it. Your example just proves that this whole roll-a-tech-for-CCs is nothing but BS. They should be able to hand out CableCards and allow end users to install themselves.



Sirius Black said:


> I'm wondering how the Tivo works without cablecards at all. Will I get any channels through cable (not OTA) along with the guide data, etc?


I ran my S3 for a little over a month with just Cable and OTA. Everything will work great, but you likely won't get any HD because TiVo doesn't provide a way to map the QAM channels from cable. But if you have an antenna sitting around you might try it out to see what digital channels you can get OTA.


----------



## Sirius Black

at the very least I can quit using the BH DVR today. That's a good thing. I don't have an antenna lying around and I'm already looking at buying more equipment because I want to use the network to do updates now. I'm looking at needing two switches. It's unfortunate but that's my situation. I have a wired connection to my computer from an Airport Extreme (which has only one wired connection port). I have a 360 upstairs with a long ethernet cable running up my wall to my loft. If I get 2 switches, I should be able to have everything connected all the time instead of having to switch back and forth like I do now when I go on Xbox Live. I'm no network expert so if I'm missing some other option (besides wireless), I'd be interested to read about it.


----------



## DeathRider

Sirius Black said:


> Update #2:
> 
> I'm wondering how the Tivo works without cablecards at all. Will I get any channels through cable (not OTA) along with the guide data, etc?


You should get all the analog channels and the unencrypted digital channels.

You probably won't get guide data for the digital ones.


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## acvthree

Switches are cheap and easy. I have one in my office with everything going through it and a single link back to the Verizon Fios supplied router. From your description I can't picture why you need two, but, as long as you don't cable in loops, it is not a problem.

Al


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## Sirius Black

I've been using the S3 without the CableCARDs all week and I miss HD. Heroes, 24, and Lost just aren't the same.

Judgement Day is tomorrow. If Brighthouse shows up and everything works. Great. If a card is bad and they don't have spares, that'll be strike three. Strike one was the first CSR telling me that they can't give me CableCARDs for anything but a TV and when I asked for a supervisor, I _never_ received a return phone call. Stike two was after talking with tech support (as suggested here) and scheduling an appointment for CableCARD installation, BHN called me back the next day and said they needed 72 hours to prepare for a Series 3 CC installation. That's nonsense, IMO.

Patience is a good thing. I like to think I'm a patient person. But waiting for the entire week (I can't work from home but had permission for last Monday because of the appointment) was unnecessary. They should have been able to show up on Monday without any problem at all. Better still, I should be able to stop by and pick the cards up myself.


----------



## inashoebox

We just got our series 3 box and after the run around with BHN (pinellas county) finally got someone out here today to install the CCs. Not only am I missing channells (609, 690, etc..) the color on my TV is now distorted and very yellow (we have a JVC 1080p 62 inch HDTV). I have tried adjusting the tint and color on the TV but nothing seems to work, I am at a loss as to what is happening....this morning without the CC and only the cable hooked up to the TIVO box the picture was fine. Anyone have any ideas????



Thanks, 
Christi


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## windracer

Since the S3's CC slots are in the back, did the installer maybe bump the video cables? Check to make sure nothing's loose.

As for the missing channels ... are you able to get _any_ digital encrypted channel (i.e., above 100)? Check the CableCARD screens and confirm your cards are authorized. A few hours after the installer left when I got my cards installed (this was last November) the cards reverted to "Waiting for CP Auth" and wouldn't tune to those digital channels. I had to call BHN (I'm in Pinellas county too) and get them to re-init the cards.


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## kochsr

can you run a TivoHD with just one CC for the non-clear channels? my brighthouse (michigan) wants 10 DOLLARS EACH! i can't support this ridiculous activity.


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## JoN8282

kochsr said:


> can you run a TivoHD with just one CC for the non-clear channels? my brighthouse (michigan) wants 10 DOLLARS EACH! i can't support this ridiculous activity.


with only one CC - your box becomes a single tuner box... you need either no cc's or two cc's for dual tuner functionality.


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## Hogues92

JoN8282 said:


> with only one CC - your box becomes a single tuner box... you need either no cc's or two cc's for dual tuner functionality.


Unless I'm mistaken, the Tivo HD will run a single M-card which will give you dual tuner goodness.


----------



## windracer

True, _if_ you can get an M-Card. Brighthouse in St. Pete says they are not deploying them any time soon.


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## Lenarro

I live in Pasco County. I called to have the cable cards installed about 3 months ago and asked if they were familiar with he S3. They said yup. Of course when the guy came out, he had never seen one. I handed him the sheet, he followed the instructions, and the only problem he had was explaining to the person on the other end of the phone about five times that it was a Tivo and not a TV. Been working great ever since.


----------



## TomRaz

I called BH today to ask how much cable cards would cost and they indicated $3.95 each. The sales guy I spoke to was indicating that there was no guarantee that the cable cards would support hi def.

Have you guys heard of this issue ?

Or was the guy totally blowing smoke somewhere ?

Also what happens if Brighthouse starts using the M-card sometime in the future will the Tivo Series 3 and the Tivo HD be in trouble ?


----------



## jrm01

> I called BH today to ask how much cable cards would cost and they indicated $3.95 each. The sales guy I spoke to was indicating that there was no guarantee that the cable cards would support hi def.
> 
> Have you guys heard of this issue ?
> 
> Or was the guy totally blowing smoke somewhere ?


Yes. I've heard it many times....and it was never true. Maybe blowing smoke....maybe just didn't know what he was talking about.



> Also what happens if Brighthouse starts using the M-card sometime in the future will the Tivo Series 3 and the Tivo HD be in trouble ?


Tivo Hd will work fine with just one m-card. S3 will treat it as a s-card and you will need two.


----------



## Duke

TomRaz said:


> I called BH today to ask how much cable cards would cost and they indicated $3.95 each. The sales guy I spoke to was indicating that there was no guarantee that the cable cards would support hi def.....


Don't worry, the BH cable cards will work just fine in receiving Hi Def programs on your S3.

Duke
St. Petersburg, FL


----------



## lombard

Well, I got my Bright House hook up on Friday (Brevard County, Cape Canaveral area). Amazingly enough, the guy showed up almost at the beginning of the installation window. In fact, he called me about 20 minutes prior to verify the order and get directions to my place. Anyway, he got to my place and spent about an hour burying the cable run to my house and running conduit and the like. Then he came inside and started asking about where everything was. I pointed him towards the TiVo and said both cards go there. He frowned a bit and rambled about how much all the installers hate CableCards. Anyway, he was a nice enough guy and was just being upfront with me. I gave him the instruction sheet from my S3 and walked him through the process (since I've been through it before). 10 minutes later, both CableCards were working and he couldn't get over how easy it was. Then he started asking me all about the TiVo. 

Anyway, so far so good. No idea what billing's going to be like. I'm in a new construction home and one of the incentives the builder gave me was free cable/internet/phone/DVR through Bright House for a year. I declined the phone service and ended up not getting one of their DVR's (they did set up a standard HD box). So long story short, I have no idea how the billing works. I don't know if my builder just gave them a check to credit my account or what...


----------



## bralio

OK - I haven't done enough homework yet, but am seriously considering the jump back to Tivo (had it with DirecTV two years ago, and switched to BH in our new house last year after a fallout with that fine company).... I can't STAND the DVR BHN has, so really want to jump back.

Is the M-card the card that can do full two-way communication, for In-Demand and PPV, etc? I assume by the reading that this isn't an option yet for us fine folks in the Tampa/St Pete/Pasco area? If not, I'll probably wait... begrudgingly...

Now I have to do the math to see how much more/less it is to even go this route...


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## windracer

lombard said:


> He frowned a bit and rambled about how much all the installers hate CableCards.


That seems to be par for the course ... the cablecos don't make the process smooth, which makes the installers hate them, which they pass on to the customer, hoping everyone will just give up and get the cableco's DVR. I had the same experience with my installer.


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## windracer

bralio said:


> Is the M-card the card that can do full two-way communication, for In-Demand and PPV, etc?


No. The M-Card just allows you to do dual-tuner decoding with a single card in the TiVo HD. You'd still need two M-Cards in an S3 since it doesn't support the M-Card (yet?).

The PPV/InDemand stuff, from what I understand, is part of the CableCARD 2.0 spec (work-in-progress), different from M-Card.


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## megazone

Search for the other threads that discuss this. ALL CableCARDs are bi-directional. The main difference between S-Cards and M-Cards is that S-Cards handle a single stream while M-Cards can handle up to six streams.

Bidirectional features such as VOD/PPV do not depend on the type of card at all, but rather on the host device. Neither the S3 nor the TiVo HD support VOD/PPV at this time.


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## kochsr

i just found out that brighthouse, mi offers m-card (only) for 11 bux a month. kind of a rip, but i am doing it anyway. i ordered on circuitcity for 258.... arriving on friday.


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## windracer

kochsr said:


> i just found out that brighthouse, mi offers m-card (only) for 11 bux a month.


Is that cheaper than two S-Cards? BHN here in St. Pete is charging me $3.95 per card (plus $.95 AO fee) so $11 for an M-Card wouldn't be worth it.


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## jblake

I called Bright House Birmingham on Friday to schedule my install for Tuesday. At first she couldn't figure out how to get 2 cards on the order..the system was only allowing her to order one. She told me last year she thinks she remembered having a Tivo order and she would figure it out. She put me on hold and eventually came on the line and said she fixed it.

She called me Saturday and left me a voicemail that she needed the model number of my TV and Tivo. I think she's slightly confused that one or more of the cards have to go in the TV. She said her supervisor wanted the model numbers. Hopefully there won't be any holdups when they come on Tuesday.


----------



## dig_duggler

jblake said:


> I called Bright House Birmingham on Friday to schedule my install for Tuesday. At first she couldn't figure out how to get 2 cards on the order..the system was only allowing her to order one. She told me last year she thinks she remembered having a Tivo order and she would figure it out. She put me on hold and eventually came on the line and said she fixed it.
> 
> She called me Saturday and left me a voicemail that she needed the model number of my TV and Tivo. I think she's slightly confused that one or more of the cards have to go in the TV. She said her supervisor wanted the model numbers. Hopefully there won't be any holdups when they come on Tuesday.


Same thing happened to me in Birmingham. She read me a model number for the s3 (not the right one mind you) and said that was the only cable card tivo they supported. I finally just agreed yeah that's right. Install was pretty painful (about 4 hours overall with a break in between for the tech to run to another job), but most of it had to do with the head end not knowing what the hell they're doing. And this was back in January so maybe they are a bit better with it.

If further news seems Brighthouse in Birmingham pushed out firmware updates to all cablecard customers late Thursday night. I didn't notice til Friday evening (getting the dreaded "updating your cablecard firmware..." message), called Saturday and they were working on it (acknowledging it was affecting all cc customers) and said it would be resolved by head end that day. Got a call later in the day saying they had to make service appointments for *all* cablecard customers. Sounds like they fried all the cable cards and have to reinstall all of them. That should be fun. So I'm right with you there Tuesday.

Since they are doing a lot of cable card authorization this week it might be much more successful for you. And me. Let's hope. If it makes you feel any better I've only had one issue in the 7 months since (cc 2 didn't receive some premium channels) and got that resolved in a quick 15 minute phone call. Pretty much smooth sailing otherwise.


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## jblake

dig_duggler said:


> Same thing happened to me in Birmingham. She read me a model number for the s3 (not the right one mind you) and said that was the only cable card tivo they supported. I finally just agreed yeah that's right. Install was pretty painful (about 4 hours overall with a break in between for the tech to run to another job), but most of it had to do with the head end not knowing what the hell they're doing. And this was back in January so maybe they are a bit better with it.
> 
> If further news seems Brighthouse in Birmingham pushed out firmware updates to all cablecard customers late Thursday night. I didn't notice til Friday evening (getting the dreaded "updating your cablecard firmware..." message), called Saturday and they were working on it (acknowledging it was affecting all cc customers) and said it would be resolved by head end that day. Got a call later in the day saying they had to make service appointments for *all* cablecard customers. Sounds like they fried all the cable cards and have to reinstall all of them. That should be fun. So I'm right with you there Tuesday.
> 
> Since they are doing a lot of cable card authorization this week it might be much more successful for you. And me. Let's hope. If it makes you feel any better I've only had one issue in the 7 months since (cc 2 didn't receive some premium channels) and got that resolved in a quick 15 minute phone call. Pretty much smooth sailing otherwise.


I'm guessing BHN B'ham uses Sci Atl cable cards? Since that's who they use for the set tops?


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## dig_duggler

jblake said:


> I'm guessing BHN B'ham uses Sci Atl cable cards? Since that's who they use for the set tops?


yup


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## tswyatt21

well, wish me luck. Bought my Tivo HD and scheduled my Brighthouse appointment for this Friday. Those of you who have had cards installed recently (and have a Tivo HD) were the cards that were installed the smaller sized cards that allow you to shut the front case of the Tivo HD? I'm getting a bit worried when one of the manuals said that the longer sized cards would have to stick out in the front.

The tech I spoke with was very nice and didn't give any problems with providing cards. Now if I can just get a competent tech out on Friday that will install the cards one at a time. I've had pretty good look with the Techs themselves but the contractors that bury the lines are borderline incompetent.


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## jmoak

BHN, Melbourne Florida, cablecard install in a TivoHD last saturday.

The tech showed up 20 minutes early, followed the included directions, first card went in without a hitch, after 20 minutes he determined that the second one was bad, reached into his back pocket and pulled out another card (  ) and was up and running in 10 minutes.

Now I have to figure out how to get the TivoHD to get the digital versions of the analog tier, as the old SA8300hd does.


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## jmoak

tswyatt21 said:


> Those of you who have had cards installed recently (and have a Tivo HD) were the cards that were installed the smaller sized cards that allow you to shut the front case of the Tivo HD?


Yep! Stuck 'em both in and the little door closed just fine.

Good Luck!


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## jblake

I knew it couldn't go seamlessly for me..

Guy showed up on time, right in the middle of the 4-6 window. It was a sub contractor so I was worried right off the bat. Then he got an 8300HD out of his truck and I knew something was up. When he got in, I told him I ordered 2 cable cards. He said he saw that on the order, but only BHN employees and not contractors can install cable cards, so when he saw the order he just brought a box. He couldn't tell me why he didn't ask his supervisor what to do. So, I have a wrapped up 8300 HD and a cable modem that won't work (due to some special channel that my school inserts on the line that seems to be blocking the upstream, not BHN's fault).

I am on hold waiting for a CSR at BHN. I am assuming that they have 3 CSRs answering the phone. This is insane. If I didn't want my Tivo so bad I'd tell them to take it all back and shove it..and stick a dish on a pole in a bucket out on the balcony.


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## kochsr

well, i am taking my tivoHD back.

i called today to actually schedule the install, and now they say they have single stream cards only, and they are charging me 11.95 EACH for them. 

11.95 + 11.95 + 12.95 (s-card + s-card + tivo) = 36.85 a month for tivoHD

DVR costs 6.95 a month.

ridiculous. i do not understand how they can justify those prices.


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## windracer

kochsr said:


> i called today to actually schedule the install, and now they say they have single stream cards only, and they are charging me 11.95 EACH for them.


That does not seem right at all!


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## jfh3

kochsr said:


> well, i am taking my tivoHD back.
> 
> i called today to actually schedule the install, and now they say they have single stream cards only, and they are charging me 11.95 EACH for them.
> 
> 11.95 + 11.95 + 12.95 (s-card + s-card + tivo) = 36.85 a month for tivoHD
> 
> DVR costs 6.95 a month.
> 
> ridiculous. i do not understand how they can justify those prices.


Get the box working and get the billing adjusted after the fact.


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## nenemc

it took three visits from installers and three scientific atlanta cards for my slot two, but after the last card everything is now working fine.(except for these pixellation issues)


Be persistent with installers, if one card doesn't work, keep trying, like i said, it took three cards for it to work properly!


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## Dr_Diablo

The day I purchased my Tivo HD I stopped by the Bright House office to see if I could get the cable cards for the Tivo... The person I talked to said that Bright House didn't have any cable cards...

So, I played along an asked just where I might "purchase the cards"... Again the person had a blank look on her face... Could be that she just didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about, or worse case, the emplyees were "told" by upper mngt to force the consumer to use their product, HD DVR...

Went straight home and called Bright House... Again I was told that there were no cable cards available from BH for Tivo's and if there were I would have to pay for a "Service Call"... $19.94

I gave up trying to reason with these people at BH...

I called Tivo CS, had her do a three way call with BH, and I listened in on the call...

Still BH instisted, with a Tivo Rep on the call, that they did not have cable cards for the Tivo device...

Un danted the Tivo lady told the gal at BH that it is an FCC mandate that BH offer the cable cards for their customers...
An the Tivo gal asked to speak with a Supervisor... After being placed on hold for over 30 minutes, this person from BH came back with a different tune to sing...

All of a sudden cable cards WERE available, but if I wanted them I must pay the $19.95 service call on the spot, and that BH does not work on Tivo's...

Took four days to get 2 cards that worked, after a total of 14 attempts... the BH techs had never seen a Tivo HD before... duh ?

Not a good way for BH to treat their ongoing customer base, in my humble opinion...


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## tswyatt21

Anyone had problems with adding the HD Tier for their S3 or TivoHD's? I called last night to upgrade to the HD Tier (after getting my Fox HD OTA working) and was told that Cable Cards wouldn't receive HD content. After waiting for 15 minutes on hold while she talked to her supervisor she came back with "we're trying to add it to your service but it isn't letting us submit it". She told me to call the local office.


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## Duke

tswyatt21 said:


> Anyone had problems with adding the HD Tier for their S3 or TivoHD's?.....


There should be no problem adding the HD Tier to the CC. I have this service from BH (Saint Petersburg area).

Good luck,
Duke


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## tswyatt21

Thanks for the reply. I thought it should be available.


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## adam84a

I don't want to scare anyone away from the S3 or the TiVo HD, but I do want to offer a warning to those considering using a third party cable card device with brighthouse (at least in the Tampa Bay area). I got my TiVo HD a couple weeks ago, and after three house visits and a day wasted waiting for a tech that never showed up. I had to give up on the TiVo HD and go back to the nasty, useless SA 8300HD. My problem was that nobody within Bright House had any clue about cable cards (I even had an amusing encounter with a csr that, while trying to force their HD DVR down my throat, informed me that bright house would "probably not offer cable cards in the near future" I was kind enough to let her know that would be illegal). My problem, I believe, was that they never completely paired the cards correctly because I was never able to receive any of the encrypted or copy protected channels. Unless you are lucky enough to get someone from BHN who know's what they're doing, or you have all the time in the world to wait around for multiple visits from BHN techs you will be better off waiting until they gain more experience with CC installs, or in my case until FIOS is rolled out to your neighborhood.


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## CharlesH

adam84a said:


> or in my case until FIOS is rolled out to your neighborhood.


 That works for folks served by Verizon Communications. Those of us in at&t land (former SBC/Bell South) don't have that option, since their u-verse product does not use cable cards and is thus not compatible with the Series3 :down:


----------



## sbiller

adam84a said:


> I don't want to scare anyone away from the S3 or the TiVo HD, but I do want to offer a warning to those considering using a third party cable card device with brighthouse (at least in the Tampa Bay area). I got my TiVo HD a couple weeks ago, and after three house visits and a day wasted waiting for a tech that never showed up. I had to give up on the TiVo HD and go back to the nasty, useless SA 8300HD. My problem was that nobody within Bright House had any clue about cable cards (I even had an amusing encounter with a csr that, while trying to force their HD DVR down my throat, informed me that bright house would "probably not offer cable cards in the near future" I was kind enough to let her know that would be illegal). My problem, I believe, was that they never completely paired the cards correctly because I was never able to receive any of the encrypted or copy protected channels. Unless you are lucky enough to get someone from BHN who know's what they're doing, or you have all the time in the world to wait around for multiple visits from BHN techs you will be better off waiting until they gain more experience with CC installs, or in my case until FIOS is rolled out to your neighborhood.


I've completed three (actually four) successful installs with Bright House in the Tampa Area. The secret to my success is actually taking over the install process from the technician. I've even offered to perform the telephone call during the pairing process. If you are in the Tampa area, I suggest you file a complaint with the City of Tampa here --> TampaGov Cable TV Service Complaint . They will elevate your complaint to a CSR in BHN that has the ability to fix your issues.

Good luck,
Sam


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## sbiller

One more thing regarding BHN in Tampa and the TiVo HD... you can now get the M-Card instead of 2 S-Cards.


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## Dr_Diablo

It would appear that a Class Action Lawsuit against the nations cable service providers would get their attention...


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## Duke

sbiller said:


> One more thing regarding BHN in Tampa and the TiVo HD... you can now get the M-Card instead of 2 S-Cards.


What's the advantage of the M-Card over the S-Card - one monthly card fee instead of two?

Duke


----------



## jfh3

Duke said:


> What's the advantage of the M-Card over the S-Card - one monthly card fee instead of two?


In theory, slightly better performance.

Less expensive.

50% less chance that the cable company will screw up installing two cards instead of one.

Newer technology (some might not consider this an advantage)


----------



## sbiller

Duke said:


> What's the advantage of the M-Card over the S-Card - one monthly card fee instead of two?
> 
> Duke


My M-Card was so new... first install of the M-Card in the Tampabay area... that BHN couldn't even tell me the monthly fee. It could be the same cost as the S-Card. I will let you know as soon as I get my updated bill.


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## Dr_Diablo

When you placed your order with BH for the cable cards, did you have the option of going with the Single Stream card or the Mulit-Stream card?

Here BH only offers the SSCC...

An boy are they, the folks at BH, dead set against trying to assist the consumer with aquiring the cable cards period...


----------



## Dr_Diablo

seattlewendell said:


> Do you really need cable cards "installed"? i have a cable card in one of my TV's. The Comcast guy showed up. "installed" the card. Got on his cell and read the numbers that appeared on the screen to someone on the phone. 30 seconds later he was walking out the door and my TV was on. Wasn't that the whole point of cable card, that you don't need the cable company to install it?


Point is that the cable company feels that a tech should be on site to "pair" the card...

I think it is more to the point that the rep for the cable company does not know HOW to send a "hit" to your Tivo...

I just spent 90 minutes on the phone with Tivo, whom indicated that the EMM count for the cards was too low...

In my case, for card #1 the EMM count was 6... for card #2 the EMM count was at 12...

Val said that the EMM count per card should be no less than 30...

During our "threeway call" with BH.. the first gal had no clue what a TIVO was...

At that point I asked to speak with a "manager"... since this gal wasn't gonna be of much help.... 

After a manager came on, she was able to send a hit, which increased the EMM for the cards from 14, to 16 respectively...

Val/Tivo gal told BH that the EMM count had to be at least 30...

After several "being placed on hold" the lady at BH, at this point was just guessing,

had me reset the Tivo, removing the cards, before reseting...

A bad situation went from bad to worse...

After the reboot, inserted card #1, she sent a hit, the EMM count was no more than 4....  
Card #2 was slightly better at 6

Getting no where fast with this, I suggested a tech be dispatched... While on hold with BH, I confured with Val, an she agreed that this should have been able to be done via phone... Again, the lack of knowledge on BH part is the problem...

I had asked to be connected with central dispatch to have a "hit" sent out... Was told that was not possible, ain't gonna happen...   

So, in the end, you might go to the Cable card menu and check what your EMM count is, an hopefully have better success in getting that count up, if the count is not at least 30 or better...

Good Luck,


----------



## Duke

Just as a point of reference, I've had my Series3 on BH in the Tampa Bay area for 9 months now. Here's my count:

Card1 ECM = 1594 EMM = 0
Card2 ECM = 1899 EMM = 4


Duke


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## TomRaz

I was just about ready to purchase a Tivo HD but based on the nightmares with BH I guess I will wait a while


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## Duke

TomRaz said:


> I was just about ready to purchase a Tivo HD but based on the nightmares with BH I guess I will wait a while


Well as they say "your mileage may vary". I had absolutely no problem getting them to set up a truck roll to install my 2 CC's. The two installers who showed up (seems like a bit of a waste) were actually third party contractors. I asked them politely to follow the directions provided by TiVo w/ the Series3 precisely, which they did. They knew the number to call to get the cards paired and pinged. In my case at least it all went smoothly. What part of Florida are you in?


----------



## jfh3

Dr_Diablo said:


> So, in the end, you might go to the Cable card menu and check what your EMM count is, an hopefully have better success in getting that count up, if the count is not at least 30 or better...


Sorry, I think this is a red herring. This MIGHT be the case in some instances, but not as a general rule.


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## Glich

Sending an email carpet bomb to there PR legal and execs may work wonders.


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## jimhutchins

I've owned six DirecTV TiVo-based DVR's (four SD, two HD) over the years. When I moved into a new home a couple months ago, I decided to skip the HUGE headache of getting yet another DirecTV dish installed (fourth home in four years). I've previously had AWFUL experiences with DirecTV's (contract) installers. Add to that DirecTV's lack of some key HD locals in my market and their insistence that I spend ANOTHER $600 to replace my less-than-two-year-old HD DVR's to get the few locals the have with their inferior (non-Tivo) MPEG-4 replacement and I was done with them.

I'd been a (satisfied) Bright House High-Speed Internet customer for several years. So, after reading several reviews, I decided to give Bright House and their Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD a shot. Wow. I new TiVo was good, but talk about a night and day difference (I know I'm preaching to the choir). My wife complained about the Bright House DVR almost daily. So, I finally broke down and bought a new TiVo HD last Friday (the Friday before Labor Day). When I brought it home, I didn't tell her what I'd done. I just hooked it up. She said "what could you possibly add to the TV now?!?" Instead of responding, I just turned the TV on and pressed the TiVo button on the remote. She actually hugged the TV and said "my long lost friend is back!!!!!".

Now that I had the all-important wife-approval, I began the HD installation process. All I had so far was the analog channels. At least it was TiVo. I called Bright House. Amazingly, they knew about the TiVo HD's and even knew that I needed two CableCards. They scheduled someone to come out "between 9 and 1" on Wednesday (five days later).

On Wednesday, the Bright House installer showed up at about 10:00. He had four CableCards with him. This was the same guy that had installed my DVR's a couple months back. He'd been "ok" on the previous visit, but not great. Everything except the TV remote codes worked when he left and it only took me about 10 minutes to clean up the mess of cable trimmings he left in my yard and garage. This visit didn't start as promisingly. He said "this is my first CableCard install". That proved obvious pretty quickly. Despite handing him the installation guide that came with the TiVo, he was pretty much befuddled. Over the course of the next two hours, he called the Bright House office at least half a dozen times and talked to a multitude of confused people. The one he talked to most of that time also said that he had never installed a CableCard before. By the time the installer left, he'd tried all four cards, gotten one to work, but never two. He finally gave up and left telling me to call Bright House and schedule a "trouble" appointment. At that point I was back to analog only on the TiVo.

So I called Bright House to schedule a second appointment. This one was for Saturday morning between 10 and noon (eight days after my purchase). This guy showed up at 11:50. He brought seven CableCards. He said that he brought every CableCard in the office. How scary is that? He actually appeared to know what he was doing. He wound up trying three cards to get two working ones, but he clearly had a handle on how the process worked from a practical standpoint. An hour later, he had everything working.

The bottom line is that the process was MUCH harder than it needed to be, and took far too much time and too much involvement on my part, BUT, the end result was worth it. My wife is ecstatic and it is working perfectly so far. Well worth the money and time. In the end, this was about what I expected. Mi\y wife is already asking when I'm going to replace the other Bright House DVR's with TiVo's.


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## EpcotEric

I just got my cablecards installed and setup on my Series 3 today. Took about 20 minutes, but no major problems -- installer was very friendly and patient. I also got a regular Digital Set Top Box (about $1/mo extra) to access VOD stuff, etc.

Anyhow, I notice that my box shows versions of many of the channels below 70. For example, The Weather Channel on 63 is crystal-clear digital on my Set Top Box.

Now on my Series 3 w/Cablecards, the TiVo is using the old analog signal for that channel. I get lousy analog signals so the higher the channel, the grainier the picture. (The Weather Channel on 63 looks horrible.)

Is there a way to get the Cablecards to map to a digital frequency for those channels (just like the STB)? I am afraid to call BrightHouse with the fear or "I told you so" attitudes about the cable cards and that I should just get a BH DVR.

Any ideas?


----------



## jfh3

EpcotEric said:


> Is there a way to get the Cablecards to map to a digital frequency for those channels (just like the STB)? I am afraid to call BrightHouse with the fear or "I told you so" attitudes about the cable cards and that I should just get a BH DVR.


Yes, if BH uses ADS. If so, they need to flag your account as digital--enabled (or whatever flag they use for ADS (analog-digital simulcast). In some systems, you can "trick" the account by adding an HDTV converter on the account and then removing it.

However, I would certainly hope that someone at BH would know if ADS is used, and, if so, how to flag your account as digital. (Once that flag is set, the proper mapping info should be provided to the CableCARD(s).)


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## Aiken

I just had to point out that this thread is now one year old.


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## Dr_Diablo

Aiken said:


> I just had to point out that this thread is now one year old.


Yes, and the sad part is that even after a year for BH to get in step with adapting the Tivo unit into the program, they are still seriously lacking qualified installers whom have a working understanding of how to get the cable cards paired...

To this day, BH claims their DVR is superior to the Tivo... yeah right


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## drcomp

I bought the new TiVo two days ago. I live in Bakersfield, and Bright House sent an installer out yesterday to install two S type cable cards, and neither he nor another installer he called could get them to work. I get no channels at all with the cards in the TiVo, but I can get all the analog channels with the cards out. Now today on the phone they tell me they are working on it, and to check back in a month or two. I guess the only thing I can do now is return the TiVo, which I really don't want to do.


----------



## jfh3

drcomp said:


> I bought the new TiVo two days ago. I live in Bakersfield, and Bright House sent an installer out yesterday to install two S type cable cards, and neither he nor another installer he called could get them to work. I get no channels at all with the cards in the TiVo, but I can get all the analog channels with the cards out. Now today on the phone they tell me they are working on it, and to check back in a month or two. I guess the only thing I can do now is return the TiVo, which I really don't want to do.


The important thing is not the installer, but who they talk to on the phone.

Don't take BS like "check back in a month or two".


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## drcomp

I was given the phone number of the person in charge of installations, but of course I get his mailbox, and no return call so far. I sent support email detailing problem this morning, will see what happens.


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## scswngr

drcomp said:


> I bought the new TiVo two days ago. I live in Bakersfield, and Bright House sent an installer out yesterday to install two S type cable cards, and neither he nor another installer he called could get them to work. I get no channels at all with the cards in the TiVo, but I can get all the analog channels with the cards out. Now today on the phone they tell me they are working on it, and to check back in a month or two. I guess the only thing I can do now is return the TiVo, which I really don't want to do.


Hey let me know what happens.. I am in the same boat as you with Brighthouse.... they are a bunch of idiots! I'm seriously considering lodging a complaint with the FCC... Bakersfield is a huge city.. they're not some small little cable company.


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## EpcotEric

jfh3 said:


> Yes, if BH uses ADS. If so, they need to flag your account as digital--enabled (or whatever flag they use for ADS (analog-digital simulcast). In some systems, you can "trick" the account by adding an HDTV converter on the account and then removing it.
> 
> However, I would certainly hope that someone at BH would know if ADS is used, and, if so, how to flag your account as digital. (Once that flag is set, the proper mapping info should be provided to the CableCARD(s).)


Well I called Brighthouse and told them that my cablecards are not receiving the ADS. The guy on the phone "re-hit" my cablecards and had me reboot the TiVo, resulting in nothing new. So he scheduled a tech run.

Tech came out and had no idea what a cablecard even was. So he left and told me a supervisor would call the next day. The \supervisor called the next day and said that ADS is not available with cablecards. He said they no longer "upgrade" or "update" cablecards and that cablecards are not capable of receiving analog-digital simulcasts. I didn't call back.

Anybody in Tampa Bay have this problem also or found a way to resolve it?


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## windracer

I'm not seeing the problem you're describing with the analog channels on my S3 (I'm in North Pinellas). The Weather Channel (63) is pretty clear, more clear than it was on my old S2. According to the Diagnostics screen it's definitely analog (457250KHz).


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## EpcotEric

windracer said:


> I'm not seeing the problem you're describing with the analog channels on my S3 (I'm in North Pinellas). The Weather Channel (63) is pretty clear, more clear than it was on my old S2. According to the Diagnostics screen it's definitely analog (457250KHz).


However that channel is now simulcast in digital on my Brighthouse Set Top Box, as are MANY of the lower-end analog channels. My Set top Box gets these channels crystal-clear vs. my S3. Oh well. Guess I'll just wait for FIOS to rollout in Pinellas in the next year or two.


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## windracer

I've never had one of BHN's set top boxes, so I've nothing to compare to. But like I said, the analog channels look a TON better on my S3 than they did on my S2, so I have nothing to complain about.


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## Duke

EpcotEric said:


> However that channel is now simulcast in digital on my Brighthouse Set Top Box, as are MANY of the lower-end analog channels. My Set top Box gets these channels crystal-clear vs. my S3.....


That's because the BHN STB cross-maps the analog channels to their digital equivalents. So when I tune to, say, channel 9, the set top box actually tunes to digital channel 609 (even though the channel indicator shows 9 on the STB).

When you select channel 9 on TiVo, it tunes to analog channel 9. It is not cross-mapping to 609 - wish it did.

Duke


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## jfh3

Duke said:


> That's because the BHN STB cross-maps the analog channels to their digital equivalents. So when I tune to, say, channel 9, the set top box actually tunes to digital channel 609 (even though the channel indicator shows 9 on the STB).
> 
> When you select channel 9 on TiVo, it tunes to analog channel 9. It is not cross-mapping to 609 - wish it did.


The CableCARD should be doing the same thing - if not, your cable company most likely doesn't have your account set up properly (e.g. listed as digital).

It's possible that they don't use ADS, but I doubt it. Maybe BHN is different, but when you use cablecards, channel assignments should be mapped to to the digital versions.


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## nikkicola11

Did I see a posting about multi-stream cards being available in Tampa? When I called last week they said no. The guy came today but was only able to get 1 single stream card in, (he said the other 2 he brought with him don't work) and he couldn't even get the one he did put in activated.... Does anyone have any suggestions...the guy is supposed to come back tonight before 8, but I am not holding my breath.


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## sbiller

nikkicola11 said:


> Did I see a posting about multi-stream cards being available in Tampa? When I called last week they said no. The guy came today but was only able to get 1 single stream card in, (he said the other 2 he brought with him don't work) and he couldn't even get the one he did put in activated.... Does anyone have any suggestions...the guy is supposed to come back tonight before 8, but I am not holding my breath.


Yes. I have an M-Card installed in my TiVoHD in Tampa. It took a complaint filed with the Tampa Cable Commission followed by a discussion with a higher-level CSR with Brighthouse to get it done but I was successful. They do have the cards and do have the ability to get them installed. You need to elevate your request to another person in the Brighthouse management chain. If you want to go my exact route, you can start by filing a complaint here --> Tampa Cable Complaint . It will take a few days but you will likely be contacted by a BHN rep after your complaint is forwarded from TampaGov.

The exact text of my complaint was as follows:



> My name is <xxx>. I am a resident of Hillsborough County at <insert address> in Tampa, Florida, 33602. I am a current subscriber to cable television with Bright House Networks. I have two Tivo Series 3 Digital Video Recorders, which require two single-stream cableCARDS or one multi-stream cableCARD to receive digital cable television.
> 
> Bright House Networks recently raised its CableCARD monthly fee to $3.95 per card resulting in a monthly charge of $8.90 per TiVo unit to receive digital cable. This is $1.95 more than the monthly fee that Bright House Networks charges for one of their own HDTV cable boxes which is $6.95.
> 
> I feel that this is unfair, predatory pricing by Bright House Networks since the cableCARDS are required in the cable box for which they are charging less money. They are clearly trying to discourage the use of 3rd party devices like the TiVo or televisions equipped with cableCARD slots.
> 
> Since I have invested in TiVo hardware which requires cableCARDS to be fully functional, I have given up some of my rights as a consumer to choose TV service providers, in the hope that my local cable company (Bright House Networks) would provide a fair service at a fair price, and I must say I am very disappointed. Since there does not appear to be any other viable cable competition to Bright House Networks in my residence, I'm writing to you, hoping that the FCC is aware of, and can put a stop to these unfair pricing practices by Bright House Networks towards CableCARD users.
> 
> Sincerely yours,
> 
> <xxxx>


After being contacted by the BHN CSR, I told him I would be satisfied that I would be paying a fair price if I used one M-Card at $3.95 instead of the two S-Cards at $3.95 each.


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## nikkicola11

Thanks....it's almost 7:30 and he hasn't come back...  Don't they know it's premier week! Why do they have to make it so hard? I have already been waiting for a week so I don't want to bring up the multi-stream issue until they come back, the last thing I want is to give them a reason to delay this more. Once I have the 2 singles installed I will get it switched I guess, I am in AGONY. If there stupid techs can't install them, then why not let customers self-install? I would bet that most TivoHD users are early adopters and much more adept at figuring it out. Unfortunately I was at work when the tech came earlier, and my roommate was pretty worthless....I never would have let them off the hook as easily as he did.


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## illc0mm

I that Tampa Bay area, What's the deal with the channels in the 700 range? I used to have them with Pace Digital box, but since I went with the Series 3 it looks like I don't have access to them any more. They were not on demand or anything like that, helpdesk is not very helpful... 

Other than that, few issues with my cable cards...

-illc0mm


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## windracer

The 700 range (at least in Pinellas county) is part of the HD Pak ... maybe they removed that from your account by accident?


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## jimhutchins

I just bought my second THD. I called Bright House (possibly better named Dim Shanty) to get the cable cards installed. The rep told me that they don't support Tivo's. When I pointed out that I have one now and that they installed cable cards in it just weeks ago, I got put on hold. She came back and said that they do support them, but that they don't install the cards -- I have to come get them. When I reminded her that they installed them for me just weeks ago, I got put back on hold. Finally she came back and scheduled an appointment. Amazing.


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## MikeyB

Did the rep speak broken English? If not I can't imagine why she couldn't understand you the first few times you explained it.


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## windracer

I would've jumped on the opportunity to do a self-install!


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## jimhutchins

MikeyB said:


> Did the rep speak broken English? If not I can't imagine why she couldn't understand you the first few times you explained it.


She spoke clear English without even a hint of an accent. In Indiana, the reps appear to be true locals. She just seemed baffled by almost everything (cablecards, TIVO's, etc.). She even said that this was her first cablecard request.



windracer said:


> I would've jumped on the opportunity to do a self-install!


I thought about tring a self-install for about two seconds. BUT... then I thought about my last experience with them. The senior "troubleshooting" tech that Bright House sent out for the 2nd visit spent 45 minutes on his Nextel trying to get his coworker to activate the card in the Bright House system. Based on that, I decided that doing a self-install with them on the other end of the phone would be slightly less fun than running my hand through a meat grinder.


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## TomRaz

Well I just purchased a Tivo HD and Brighthouse is coming out this Saturday to installed one M series card. 

I actually contact the area supervisor once I placed my order and asked him to get a M series card if possible and to send a tech who has done previous cable card installs. 

Hopefully mine will go off without a hitch. 

Does anyone else have a M series card from Brighthouse in Tampabay ?

If so do they charge you a single $3.95 per month or due they charge you 2-$3.95 charges per month even though they only provide you with one physical cablecard ?

I am just curious how the billing is handled.


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## Lukej

Here is what the admin of my cable company posted. It is small, but their cable boxes do have cablecards for digital cable. Yet they don't hand them for TVs or TIVO. Is that legal?

____________________________
Donovan 
Administrator
Sr. Member

Offline

Gender: 
Posts: 370


Re: Cablecard 
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2007, 06:52:40 AM » 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All new boxes (units purchased after June 2007) have separable security - meaning they are authorized by means of a CableCard. However, the cards are bound to the boxes. Later in the year we anticipate getting a few of the cards by themselves so that customers with CableCard compliant televisions can use them.



Logged 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Manager / Director


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## demon

Lukej said:


> Here is what the admin of my cable company posted. It is small, but their cable boxes do have cablecards for digital cable. Yet they don't hand them for TVs or TIVO. Is that legal?


They're legally bound to provide the CableCARDs, and it should be no mystery to them. This "oh, we don't have any right now, but we will eventually, we think" line that some companies try to feed their customers is ridiculous. You can try filing a complaint with the FCC via their online submission form - that's what I did, and trust me, getting that letter from the FCC saying there's a complaint on record will really make them sit up and pay attention.


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## Dr_Diablo

TomRaz said:


> Well I just purchased a Tivo HD and Brighthouse is coming out this Saturday to installed one M series card.
> 
> I actually contact the area supervisor once I placed my order and asked him to get a M series card if possible and to send a tech who has done previous cable card installs.
> 
> Hopefully mine will go off without a hitch.
> 
> Does anyone else have a M series card from Brighthouse in Tampabay ?
> 
> If so do they charge you a single $3.95 per month or due they charge you 2-$3.95 charges per month even though they only provide you with one physical cablecard ?
> 
> I am just curious how the billing is handled.


Bright House here in Indiana has stated they do not plan to ever have the Multi Stream cards, go figure...


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## jimhutchins

Dr_Diablo said:


> Bright House here in Indiana has stated they do not plan to ever have the Multi Stream cards, go figure...


I was told the same thing regarding Multi Stream cards. A tech also told me that he heard that Comcast will soon be buying out Bright House in Indiana. No verification on that from anybody though.


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## jimhutchins

I had a 10A-12P installation window with Bright House today. The installer showed up at 11:40 without calling ahead (contrary to what the scheduler said would happen). Other than that, he was great. He brought an MCard (the same MCard that his coworker said that Bright House Indiana wouldn't ever have). He got it working almost immediately. The guy he talked to on his Nextel put it in the system and both channels of HD encrypted programming immediately appeared. I have no idea what I'll get billed, but so far it is working great.

So, to summarize, I was told by Bright House that they don't support Tivo's and that they don't have MCards. Today I had an MCard installed in my Tivo by a Bright House installer.


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## kochsr

http://michigan.mybrighthouse.com/products_and_pricing/pricing/default.aspx

Cable card (as primary outlet) $9.50
Cable card (additional outlet) $7.95

apparentl it is going to cost me 17.45 a month for freakin' tivo... plus the 13.95 a month. i can't believe my wife thinks this is worth it.


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## TomRaz

Well I purchased a Tivo HD this week and peformed the initial setup to download the last software prior to Brighthouse coming onsite since there were known issues with SA cables cables. 

The initial setup went fine several days ago and I updated the Tivo HD software to the lastest version

Bright House tech shows up on time with a M series card. He had never done a M series installation. I showed him the various instructions and screen shots from the forum and I actually performed the installation myself while he watched. 

The Tivo HD recogized the card like it was suppose to and he called the information from the M series card to the dispatch dept. 

I will summarize the next 6 hours. The card ended up not being authenticated properly on the NOC at Bright House in Brandon. Several M Series CC were tried and two trips by the tech. 

It took me about 6 phone calls to Bright House and we finally got it working. 

It appears the technology is ahead of the support by a long shot. 

Well the good news is my Tivo HD is finally working


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## TiVoToo

Had a pair of CableCARDs installed in one of my S3s on Saturday. Other than installer showing up 90 minutes after scheduled window, the install went without a hitch. Until now, I have had BHN standard cable. Since I live close to the Bithlo antenna farm, I can get HD via antenna (or clear QAM). However, once the wife learned that Food Channel HD and HGTV HD were now available as part of BHN digital cable lineup - she had to have it. [And since History Channel HD had also been added, I was easily persuaded.] I called BHN and ordered a pair of CableCARDS - didn't even tell them they were for a TiVo, and they didn't ask what device they were for. Price for 2 S-Cards plus upgrade to DPP was additional $12.95/mo.
When installer arrived, he was expecting to install into a pair of TVs. When I showed him the TiVo, he was surprised. I asked if he'd ever installed to a TiVo before. He said no, so I walked him through it. I installed each card, and pulled up the configuration screen. All he had to do was make the call. At first, he wanted to do both at once, but I told him no. Did them in sequence, tested after each one, and was done in less than 15 minutes. During entire process though, he did keep trying to sell me on switching to a BHN DVR.
When the rumored MRV capability for S3s shows up, I'm all set. I can record History Channel shows on 'Her S3' and watch them on 'His S3'. 
By the way, the addition of the Food Channel HD, HGTV HD, and History Channel HD are so recent to lineup that the TiVo doesn't provide the Guide data for them yet, but the channels are there. If you don't get them, repeat Guided setup.


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## TwinCityTVHound

TomRaz said:


> Well I purchased a Tivo HD this week and peformed the initial setup
> 
> ...snip...
> 
> It took me about 6 phone calls to Bright House and we finally got it working.
> 
> It appears the technology is ahead of the support by a long shot.
> 
> Well the good news is my Tivo HD is finally working


That is good news for you. 

I'm in Tampa, and considering the same kind of install. Two questions (or 3):

- Are you using a S3 SA TiVo? Do both tuners work with a single M card installed?
- What is Brighthouse charging per month for the cable card? Is it cheaper to have one "M", two "S" or the same?

TIA...


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## TomRaz

I am using the Tivo HD which is the lower priced model of the Tivo dvr's that are capable of HD recording. The other model is a Series 3 which also does HD recording. 

The Tivo HD supports either one M type cable card or two S type cable cards. I went with the one M series card and it has two tuners in the one card so I can record two HD programs on different channels at the same time. 

Bright House is only charging me for one cable card at $3.95 per month


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## kochsr

well, according to my wife, tivo is now up and running with both cablecards. apparently, despite me leaving the instructions with the "install one card at a time" line highlighted, and my wife insisting that the tech install one card at a time, he put in both at once.

of course, the tivo then did not work.

after four hours, he unplugged both, and installed one at a time.

miraculously, it worked right away.

i have not yet gone home and checked it myself (i am on call until 1am unfortunately)


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## sharp1

So, can anyone confirm whether or not M-Cards are available in the Tampa area?

Also, does the S3 still not support these? I would love an additional S3, but would rather get rid of the 2 S-Cards @3.95 each, and get 2 M-cards plus an additional TiVo if it were possible. I don't want to give BH any more money than I already do! (Plus I live too far from the metropolitan areas to get more than a few OTA HD channels! :-( )


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## TomRaz

Sharp1 I live in Pinellas county and I have Brighthouse and I do have a M series SA card. 

If you go with the Tivo HD you will only need 1-M Series card, if you decide to go with the Tivo Series 3 then you will need 2-S Series cards. 

If you call and place your order with BH request a M series card since you know others in the Tampa area have them.


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## sharp1

Thanks. I think I will go with the TiVo HD for TiVo #2 then.


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## sketchy12314

M-cards are now available in Bakersfield.


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## phdeez

Anyone in Orlando get an M card for a TivoHD? I see other areas in FL getting them...


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## phdeez

Anyone? I've already ordered a TivoHD and am hoping they can install an MCard to save $4/mo


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## leighnjo

About 2 weeks ago, I hooked up a TIVO HD in my bedroom. When I called to activate, I indicated that I wanted an M card and to be sure it was on the order. After the tech came and picked up the 8300HD, a supervisor came with the M card and we were up and running in about 20 minutes (most of the time was on the phone with the office). The supervisor had experience with TIVO installs and was very knowledgable. He ever left his cell number in case I had any problems! An excellent experience which I hope will be repeated as I just got a second HD for the main room.


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## TomRaz

Leighngo are you sure you called Brighthouse because your experence sounds way to good  

I am glad your was up and running so quick


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## JDSmooth

I am in Lakeland - Polk County Brighthouse. I have had 2 S-Series CableCards in my S3 for over 6 months. Recently they seem to lose thier activation repeatedly. Right now they have been "rehit" by phone support multiple times. One is working again, and one will only show me basic cable. I am about to reboot and see if that will help.

I have scheduled service visits twice. On first visit the tech had no cablecards. On second visit the tech came in with two old cards he had "found in his truck." I said thanks but no thanks and sent him on his way. My signal strength is good. Any ideas?


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## Dr_Diablo

jfh3 said:


> Sorry, I think this is a red herring. This MIGHT be the case in some instances, but not as a general rule.


Figured as much, whom do you believe? Tivo ? So it appears that Tivo and the cable providers are all too eager to pass the responsibility to the other...


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## YoungDragon

phdeez said:


> Anyone in Orlando get an M card for a TivoHD? I see other areas in FL getting them...


I had an M-card installed in a TivoHD last week. Lake Nona area.

However, I suggest you keep calling BHN until you get a cable card knowledgeable rep. My experience:

Day 1: 
Spoke to rep who knew about cable cards but was enough of a salesman to make me think twice about getting rid of BHN HD-DVR. He said cable cards MUST be installed by BHN. He offered me some deal to reduce my bill by ~$10/month.

Day 2:
Decided to go with cable cards. Bought a TivoHD. Called BHN and spoke with a rep who didn't know much about cable cards. She said I couldn't get cable cards without returning my DVR first because cable cards are only offered as a replacement. I said that makes no sense. She put me on hold for a long time. Came back and said I could come to the cable store and pick them up myself. Told her that's not what I was told yesterday. She put me on hold for a very long time. Came back, said a few words and then put me on hold for a very long time again. I hung up (almost an hour by this point). I called back and spoke to another rep. I asked for a rep that knew about cable cards. She said she could help me. I told her the 1st person I spoke to said that BHN had to install them, but the 2nd person said I could come get them myself. She said 2nd person was wrong and an installer MUST do it. She asked me what model TV I had and I said it was for a TiVoHD. She scheduled an appointment.

Appointment: :up: 
I was expecting 2 S-cards. Installer showed up with 1 card. I said I needed 2. He said, "But this is an M-card." He said he'd done cablecard installations before, but never on a TiVo. TivoHD already had the latest updates. He gave me the card and I put it in Slot 1. The Tivo initially showed 2 numbers that were needed by the installer, but we did not write them down. Afterwards the TiVo took over and installed some kind of update to the card. It took about 10-15 minutes before it was finished and we could get back to the screen with those 2 numbers. He then called BHN, gave them the numbers, and within a minute, both tuners were working with all basic, pays & HD channels. Installer says, "Wow. You'll be able to remove the cost for the HD-DVR and remote rental as well as the Navigator from your bill. Maybe I'll go back to TiVo."

Yesterday: :down: 
I bought another TiVoHD. I called BHN last night to schedule an appointment. Rep had no clue. She acted as if she knew what cablecards were but kept putting me on hold; so I knew something wasn't right. She proceeded to schedule an appointment. I asked that the installer bring an M-Card. She puts me on hold.

Conversation...
Rep: We don't have M-cards.
Me: Yes, you do. You installed one for me last week.
(Rep puts me on hold)
Rep: Is the one you already have an M-Card?
Me: Yes.
Rep: Well, are you going to replace that one with this one?
Me: No.
Rep: Well, what do you want this one for?
Me: I'm replacing my remaining cable box.
(Rep puts me on hold for a long time)
Rep: What kind of TV do you have?
Me: It's going in a TiVo, not a TV.
(Rep puts me on hold)
Rep: We only install cablecards in TVs.
Me: No. You installed one in a TiVo for me last week.
(Rep puts me on hold)
Rep: The cablecards will not work in a Tivo.
Me: I'm watching cable right now on the TiVo you guys put a cable card in last week.
Rep: The M-Cards will not work in a TiVo.
Me: I have a TiVoHD. They do work, as I am watching cable on my M-Card using TiVo right now.
(At this point I could hear the rep covering the phone and repeating my responses to someone in the background and getting her responses from him.)
Rep: Cablecards have to be installed in a TV.
Me: Thank you. I'll call back.
Rep: So you don't want to schedule the appointment?
Me: No offense, but my experience is this can be a nightmare if you're not dealing with people who know anything about cablecards. So no, I will call back another time.
[Click]

I will call again today, and keep calling, until I get someone who knows about CableCards. I will also check my installation receipt from last week and see if I can get the name/# of that installer. There needs to be a secret code or something only for people that have graduated from CableCard University so the conversation can go something like this:

Rep: How may I help you?
Me: May I please have a rep that knows something about cablecards?
Rep: I can help you.
Me: What's the passphrase?
Rep: Huh?

[Click]

Rep: Hello? Hello?

It will save us all a lot of time.


----------



## phdeez

Wow Young Dragon, you've had one heck of a ride with the Cable Cards! I'd suggest using the online system to schedule an appointment. Go here and you'll get an email in a few hours with a response and appointment. I'm glad to hear someone here locally has gotten an MCard! My install is scheduled tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes!

Say something in the email like:

BH,
Please send a tech out between 10am and 12pm on 11/3 to install (1) Multi Stream Card.

Thanks,
Young Dragon


----------



## YoungDragon

phdeez said:


> Wow Young Dragon, you've had one heck of a ride with the Cable Cards! I'd suggest using the online system to schedule an appointment. Go [removed] and you'll get an email in a few hours with a response and appointment. I'm glad to hear someone here locally has gotten an MCard! My install is scheduled tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes!
> 
> Say something in the email like:
> 
> BH,
> Please send a tech out between 10am and 12pm on 11/3 to install (1) Multi Stream Card.
> 
> Thanks,
> Young Dragon


Good luck with that! After talking to 6 different reps and a supervisor over the last 3 hours, I was finally able to schedule an appointment for another CableCard installation on Friday.

That's right... it took all of that just to SCHEDULE a cablecard installation!

Problem... when I returned my HD Box, the morons removed my HD Tier. So now HBO HD, SHO HD, and all the 1300 channels are gone. Reps had no clue how to put them back on because the system kept telling them they couldn't give me HD channels since I have no HD cable box on my account. I explained to them that the cablecard should be treated as if it was a box. If I had 5 BHN cable boxes and returned one of them, the other 4 should still work. Supervisor said the problem was that whoever scheduled the install, listed both of my cablecards (the one I was requesting, as well as the one I've had over a week now) as pending installs... [As it turns out, one of the reps I spoke to was new. Neither that rep nor her supervisor had any idea what an M-card or s-card was. So even though I hung up, they kept my account open trying to figure out how to work with cablecards. So "current" supervisor had to call that office to get those people out of my account before proceeding..] She said she knew what codes to use to set everything right. However, she did not share the procedure with her reps (shouldn't someone be training the reps???), and as of this moment it is still not working.

So now, I am waiting for the tech to come do the install in the new Tivo on Friday and troubleshoot the one they did last week. So, possible issues will be:

1- Tech comes with 1 card that is not an M-Card.
2- Tech cannot get previous install working again.
3- Tech gets everything working correctly, but when BHN gets my remaining DVR back in the office and removes it from my account, I lose my channels and have to go thru all this nonsense again.

Almost not even worth it!


----------



## TomRaz

Sad to say but there are very few people within Brighthouse that either have the knowledge about cable cards or they are trying to drag their feet and not support the customers requests to install cable cards. 

I would suggest you find out where your Brighthouse headquarters are and call the main switch board and ask to speak to someone in executive management concerning a unresolved customer support issue. 

That approach worked for me and I do get better than average responses when I call the key people I have knowledge of.


----------



## a68oliver

JDSmooth said:


> I am in Lakeland - Polk County Brighthouse. I have had 2 S-Series CableCards in my S3 for over 6 months. Recently they seem to lose thier activation repeatedly. Right now they have been "rehit" by phone support multiple times. One is working again, and one will only show me basic cable. I am about to reboot and see if that will help.
> 
> I have scheduled service visits twice. On first visit the tech had no cablecards. On second visit the tech came in with two old cards he had "found in his truck." I said thanks but no thanks and sent him on his way. My signal strength is good. Any ideas?


I had two cablecards installed in my S3 yesterday by Insight Cable in Indiana. It went fairly smoothly. However, the tech mentioned that he had had previous problems after a few months of the cablecards losing ther activation. It appears to be a documented problem. Not sure if he was referring specifically to a Tivo problem or a TV in general. I don't recall if he mentioned what the appropriate fix was.


----------



## RobKFL

I'm in Pinellas county FL (BHN Tampabay). I had major problems with them mulitple no-shows by the installer, 7 calls to BHN CS, 2 arguments with CS reps etc..) getting a card for my TiVoHD, but I'll make a long story short and tell you after I got rude and belligerent with them (mentioning the FCC mandate) miraculously they suddenly supported TiVo... it was like magic.

Got an M-card, no problem (during a 12-hour service window of course).

I must believe it is absolutely POLICY for them to do whatever they can to discourage you from using TiVo. All the stories sound the same... put on hold... talks to supervisor... "oh, we do support it." I can't begin to imagine how many customers TiVo has lost because they didn't visit these forums or otherwise get in the know regarding their rights to a cable card.

This must be illegal.


----------



## jsnow789

Just don't tell them it is going into a Tivo.

The installers don't care at all and will install them into the Tivo, activate them, and be on their merry way.


----------



## sharp1

I scheduled my HDTivo cablecard install with Brighthouse in Hernando county, and the customer service guy insisted I needed 2 cards, since he did not understand my explanation about the M-Cards. I went ahead and scheduled the install rather than argue with someone who only knew what the notice from the home office said. (At least he did not try too hard to get me onto their DVR.)

I plan to call back and speak to someone else who may understand what an M-Card is before the install Monday. Does anyone have any advice on who to ask for to get the M-Cards? No way am I paying them for an extra card.


----------



## phdeez

YoungDragon said:


> Good luck with that! After talking to 6 different reps and a supervisor over the last 3 hours, I was finally able to schedule an appointment for another CableCard installation on Friday.
> 
> That's right... it took all of that just to SCHEDULE a cablecard installation!
> 
> Problem... when I returned my HD Box, the morons removed my HD Tier. So now HBO HD, SHO HD, and all the 1300 channels are gone. Reps had no clue how to put them back on because the system kept telling them they couldn't give me HD channels since I have no HD cable box on my account. I explained to them that the cablecard should be treated as if it was a box. If I had 5 BHN cable boxes and returned one of them, the other 4 should still work. Supervisor said the problem was that whoever scheduled the install, listed both of my cablecards (the one I was requesting, as well as the one I've had over a week now) as pending installs... [As it turns out, one of the reps I spoke to was new. Neither that rep nor her supervisor had any idea what an M-card or s-card was. So even though I hung up, they kept my account open trying to figure out how to work with cablecards. So "current" supervisor had to call that office to get those people out of my account before proceeding..] She said she knew what codes to use to set everything right. However, she did not share the procedure with her reps (shouldn't someone be training the reps???), and as of this moment it is still not working.
> 
> So now, I am waiting for the tech to come do the install in the new Tivo on Friday and troubleshoot the one they did last week. So, possible issues will be:
> 
> 1- Tech comes with 1 card that is not an M-Card.
> 2- Tech cannot get previous install working again.
> 3- Tech gets everything working correctly, but when BHN gets my remaining DVR back in the office and removes it from my account, I lose my channels and have to go thru all this nonsense again.
> 
> Almost not even worth it!


Well, the installer came out this afternoon [he was 1hr late- but he called this morn @ 9 saying BH had double booked him- so he came over on his lunch], plugged in the MCard, and was gone in literally 20mins. Most of the time was spent waiting for the Card to update formware. After the firmware update he called into the 800 number on the screen, gave his tech id and provided the card number and host id. Viola!

Thruthfully, after ALL the horror stories with CableCard installs I really thought it was going to suck and the tech was going to be incompetent. The tech & BH pleasantly surprised me. After the TivoHD soaks for a few days, I'll return the 8300HD box, transfer lifetime from my S1 and be a happy TivoHD'er!

All my channels seem to work fine btw... [made sure HD channels & HBO worked before he left ]


----------



## YoungDragon

phdeez said:


> Well, the installer came out this afternoon [he was 1hr late- but he called this morn @ 9 saying BH had double booked him- so he came over on his lunch], plugged in the MCard, and was gone in literally 20mins. Most of the time was spent waiting for the Card to update formware. After the firmware update he called into the 800 number on the screen, gave his tech id and provided the card number and host id. Viola!
> 
> Thruthfully, after ALL the horror stories with CableCard installs I really thought it was going to suck and the tech was going to be incompetent. The tech & BH pleasantly surprised me. After the TivoHD soaks for a few days, I'll return the 8300HD box, transfer lifetime from my S1 and be a happy TivoHD'er!
> 
> All my channels seem to work fine btw... [made sure HD channels & HBO worked before he left ]


That sounds a lot like my installation story... Returning the 8300HD a week later is what caused my HD channel woes. They seemed to have a problem removing the 8300HD after a CableCard was on my account. Then they had a problem putting the HD channels back on my account without an 8300HD being listed.


----------



## TomRaz

The 800 number on the cable card screen is for SA not Brighthouse so I don't know how your installer got your cable card to work by calling that number. 

Does anyone that is using version 9.2j software and lives in the bay area able to receive channel 694 ?

Myself and a co-worker are not able to receive this channel. I have doulble checked my programming with Bright House and they have removed my cable card, rejoined it etc. and nothing seems to get channel 694 working.

My co-worked had channel 691 not working and channel 694 working just fine on version 9.1 software and when his Tivo HD upgraded to version 9.2j channel 691 started working fine and then 694 stopped working. 

I have called Tivo and they indicate I need to call Bright House. I called Bright House and they do not have a solution.


----------



## phdeez

YoungDragon said:


> That sounds a lot like my installation story... Returning the 8300HD a week later is what caused my HD channel woes. They seemed to have a problem removing the 8300HD after a CableCard was on my account. Then they had a problem putting the HD channels back on my account without an 8300HD being listed.


Crap.... I guess I'll have to make sure they don't remove any programming packages from my account when I turn the box in...



TomRaz said:


> The 800 number on the cable card screen is for SA not Brighthouse so I don't know how your installer got your cable card to work by calling that number.


Well, I figured that was a BH number... he called BH and they took care of the activation...


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## windracer

TomRaz said:


> Does anyone that is using version 9.2j software and lives in the bay area able to receive channel 694 ?


I think 694 is an SDV channel, which is why we can't pick it up. It hasn't bothered me since it's the combo Golf/Versus channel, but hopefully this isn't a sign of more SDV channels in the near future. I noticed this a few months ago here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5341132&&#post5341132


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## saeba

phdeez said:


> Anyone in Orlando get an M card for a TivoHD? I see other areas in FL getting them...


I just got one installed (transfered my TiVo lifetime to a new TiVo HD). I'm in the Belle Isle area of Orlando with BrightHouse. They'd originally told us that they didn't have them and that they'd install 2 S cards, but the installer showed up with an M Card and had it up and going in about 15 minutes. He said they'd had the M cards for about a month and that this was his first M card install. He had installed S cards in TiVo's and TVs previously. It was a Scientific Atlanta card.

Funny... He made me install the card in the TiVo. Said it was policy !

Now I'm waiting for the DVR Expander drive !!


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## sharp1

As a follow-up to my earlier post, I called BH, and asked the rep to make sure the installer brings a multistream card with them on Monday. She said she had no idea what that was. I told her the installer should, and asked that she please note it on the work order.

She was actually very friendly, and said she did so. It was less hassle than the guy who made the appointment gave me.

Now if the installer will just show up with the M-Card and do the installation as smoothly as my S3 install went months ago, I will be happy as a clam.

(The S3 install of 2 S-Cards went without a hitch. The installer was friendly and seemed genuinely curious. He followed the TiVo instructions, and the cards installed without a problem. He was gone in about 20 minutes or so. They ran without any issues until 9.1 when the cards required a reboot every couple of days to keep them happy. The issues seemed to have gone away with 9.2. Just wanted to share that in case others are concerned about the installation. 

It probably all depends on the tech they send out...)
-Neil


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## TomRaz

Windracer thanks for your comments concerning channel 694. The strange this is I was at a friends house in Lakeland who has BH and he was running software 9.1 and he was unable to receive channel 691. 

Then Tivo updated his software to version 9.2j and he can now receive channel 691 but can no longer receive 694.

Of course I called Tivo and BH and neither one can figure this one out


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## windracer

TomRaz said:


> Then Tivo updated his software to version 9.2j and he can now receive channel 691 but can no longer receive 694.


Yeah, 691 is TNT-HD so he should be able to receive that. Every now and then I will "lose" a channel (gray or black screen) but rebooting usually fixes it.


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## TomRaz

According to BH channel 694 is a HD channel and I should be able to receive it. But based on the fact that several people in the Tampa area cannot receive it I guess we never will. 

Once again the strange thing is I saw 694 working just fine until my friends Tivo HD went from 9.1 to 9.2j

Oh well, who needs the golf channel anyway


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## sharp1

Update from my last post:

BH installed a single multi-stream without an issue. (Actually, only a minor issue. The appt was for 8am-11am, but they could not find the cards, so they rescheduled for 2-5pm. The installer showed up right at 5)

The install went smoothly, and the installer was happy at how easy it was. I let him take the instruction sheet in case his next TiVo install did not have one.

I now have digital and HD in both living room on the S3 and bedroom on the HDT. 

Now if only TiVo would update the S3 to multistream...


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## bobby4919

My experience last Saturday with BHN here in Orlando was a mixed bag. I specifically requested that the tech bring an M card, and if that wasn't available two s cards. He showed up on-time, brought two m cards and 4 s cards, just in case any were defective! This guy was knowledgeable on how to install / activate cablecards and even knew his way around the TiVo screens. 

Unfortunatly, the people on the other end of the phone didn't know what they were doing when trying to activate the cards. Three hours later we finally got two s cards to work. Evidently something in the account setup wouldn't allow an m card to function correctly in my TivoHD. The tec didn't find this out until he was activating the s cards. And evidently something about the activation process wouldn't let him put one of the m cards back in (once activated in a box they can't be activated again in that box... something like that).

Anyway, he's coming back out tomorrow with a new m card and will set it up correctly.

My major problem with the cablecards is that they evidently don't pick up the lower tier channels (1 - 70~) in digital, as my 8300 did. They pick them up as analog. Does anyone know of a solution to this? Is this an scard issue? A cablecard activation issue? An account issue? I'll ask the tech tomorrow but it would help if someone here knew.


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## EpcotEric

bobby4919 said:


> My major problem with the cablecards is that they evidently don't pick up the lower tier channels (1 - 70~) in digital, as my 8300 did. They pick them up as analog. Does anyone know of a solution to this? Is this an scard issue? A cablecard activation issue? An account issue? I'll ask the tech tomorrow but it would help if someone here knew.


That has been a major headache for me in the St. Pete market. I have talked to TiVo and Brighthouse. I've had a tech out and have talked to tech support over the phone. Apparently the Analog-Digital Simulcast that your old cable box gets is not available on cablecards in this area. I was told they have no plans to make them available. It doesn't bother me too much. Most of the content I watch I can see on the HD versions of the network channels. (In the 600s) Occasionally I'm stuck watching the analog versions of Discovery, Disney, etc.

If they ever get digital simulcast working here I would be very happy. I have a bad feeling that the cable boxes might be using Switched Digital Video for those, hence not available with CableCARDs.


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## TomRaz

Brighthouse and other cable providers never cease to amaze me. Once they get the contract for a given market they seem to stop being responsize to their customers when it comes to new technology and they appear to have a overall I don't care attitude. 

I hope you M series card works out. My has been working fine for weeks now.


----------



## windracer

EpcotEric said:


> That has been a major headache for me in the St. Pete market.


Right now, the only channels I can TTG recordings off of is the lower analog range and the HD locals. I wonder if the lower analog switched to the digital simulcast if the copy protection flag would be on like the other digital channels (and thus, un-TTG-able).

If so, I'm all for keeping them analog for now.


----------



## dig_duggler

I'd like to thank jrm01 for pointing me here, seems I might be in a similar boat as folks past (here's where I started cluelessly).

In short, it appears Brighthouse in Birmingham has begun deploying ADS (I had a tech come out last Wed and tell me as much). Some of the channels deployed tune fine (for instance Spike TV) and some are simply giving me a black screen (Comedy Central, Sci Fi, etc.). The tech said he'd have to talk to head end (he was fairly knowledgeable but seemed a little dubious of the Tivo when the SA box with an M-card tuned fine). It also occurred to me that maybe the ADS is on SDV, but some of the channels come in fine, making me dubious. They were going to get back to me but you know how that goes...

So anyone had any luck with BHN in this regard? The tech was very friendly and was supposedly going to check with other cable card customers in the area. If I'm not working, no one should be from what I've understand. Sounds like it's definitely on head-end, but if I can find intelligent life I'm not sure what suggestions I can make...


----------



## windracer

Woo hoo ... finally some _good_ news about Brighthouse and CableCARDs. I found this on my current bill:



> WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE BEGINNING JANUARY 2008, THE PRICE OF YOUR CABLE CARD WILL DECREASE BY $1.00 PER MONTH TO $2.95. YOU WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE THE SAME QUALITY SERVICE YOU HAVE COME TO COUNT ON FROM BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS.


So they're going back to 2006 pricing. That'll save me $4/month.


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## sieglinde

My cable company claims it does not have cards if I talk to local people but the company claims to have cards and knew what a HD Tivo was. Hmm, I am still waiting for the cards to be sent. My cable company is Mediacom and from reading a variety of different posts, I know that Mediacom in Georgia supplies cards so it should in my small town in California.


----------



## ukken

I just had Brighthouse tell me that I couldn't get the 'new' HD channels on my S3 with two working cablecrds. 
Anyone in Indiana able to get the new channels with a cable card on a S3?
I don't get it, I get all the channels around the new ones?? How could this be??
I wish AT&T u-Verse would support CableCards, I'd switch yesterday.


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## windracer

I got all the new channels tonight (had the Lineup change message when I got home) on my S3:

- Science HD
- Animal Planet HD
- TLC HD
- Natl Geo HD
- Food TV HD
- HGTV HD 
- History HD

etc. No problems with two SciAtl S-Cards.


----------



## dig_duggler

Ugh. So after not getting any response and setting up a new appointment, the tech comes out and says they recognize there is a problem with S-Cards. 

Here's the little info I know. They can't get S-Cards to work with the new simulcast channels, but M-cards do. It sure sounds like they are using 2 way communication for this, but they claim SDV is not deployed. I've scheduled a call to try some M-cards, but does that really make any sense? Is there any logical reason M-cards could process ADS but S-cards would not??


----------



## CrispyCritter

dig_duggler said:


> Ugh. So after not getting any response and setting up a new appointment, the tech comes out and says they recognize there is a problem with S-Cards.
> 
> Here's the little info I know. They can't get S-Cards to work with the new simulcast channels, but M-cards do. It sure sounds like they are using 2 way communication for this, but they claim SDV is not deployed. I've scheduled a call to try some M-cards, but does that really make any sense? Is there any logical reason M-cards could process ADS but S-cards would not??


I certainly don't consider it impossible. The software on the M-card will be much newer than that on the S-card. The newer software will tend to be more fault tolerant than the old software (only for things the old software does) since the designers learn from experience. I consider it likely they have made an error in setting up the ADS, and think it possible that the M-cards contain a workaround for that error, while the S-cards do not.

(Note that I in no way guarantee the M-card will work - just that it might).


----------



## dig_duggler

CrispyCritter said:


> I certainly don't consider it impossible. The software on the M-card will be much newer than that on the S-card. The newer software will tend to be more fault tolerant than the old software (only for things the old software does) since the designers learn from experience. I consider it likely they have made an error in setting up the ADS, and think it possible that the M-cards contain a workaround for that error, while the S-cards do not.
> 
> (Note that I in no way guarantee the M-card will work - just that it might).


good point. most likely it is not implemented correctly, but the m-cards could have better written software. Thanks.


----------



## windracer

windracer said:


> I got all the new channels tonight (had the Lineup change message when I got home) on my S3:
> 
> - Science HD
> - Animal Planet HD
> - TLC HD
> - Natl Geo HD
> - Food TV HD
> - HGTV HD
> - History HD
> 
> etc. No problems with two SciAtl S-Cards.


Well, I may get the new HD channels fine, but now I've got quite a few of the analog channels missing, and they're all ones that moved in the recent re-org:

64 - AMC
58 - Cartoon Network
45 - CMT
29 - CNN
15 - CSPAN
40 - Disney
14 - E!
68 - Hallmark
50 - Lifetime Movie
62 - Movie PLEX
66 - MTV
44 - Oxygen
49 - TV Land

I just get the gray screen and "channel not available." Other moved channels though (like 59 SCIFI and 60 FX) are fine. I also get all of those channels just fine on my S2.


----------



## windracer

windracer said:


> Well, I may get the new HD channels fine, but now I've got quite a few of the analog channels missing, and they're all ones that moved in the recent re-org


I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Brighthouse today and they cannot get those 13 missing channels (all analog) to show up on my CableCARDs. They want to send a tech out to replace all four cards!  I told them I'll schedule in January since we're going to be travelling and such for the next week anyway.

It can't be the cards ... something on their end must have gotten screwed up in the re-org, right?


----------



## dig_duggler

windracer said:


> I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Brighthouse today and they cannot get those 13 missing channels (all analog) to show up on my CableCARDs. They want to send a tech out to replace all four cards!  I told them I'll schedule in January since we're going to be travelling and such for the next week anyway.
> 
> It can't be the cards ... something on their end must have gotten screwed up in the re-org, right?


Are you using m-cards or s-cards?


----------



## windracer

S-Cards.


----------



## dig_duggler

windracer said:


> S-Cards.


Hmm, I'm in a different market (Birmingham) but the implementation might be similar. I started losing a bunch of ADS channels. Last week they came out (without M-cards as requested) and I was told that they never actually tested S-cards to make sure they worked with the new ADS, and now recognized there was a problem with S-cards and were working on it, but haven't figured it out. I have an appointment to try some M-cards to see if that fixes the problem (they claim it works on M-cards, but we'll see). They were supposed to be out this morning, but hey, you know how that goes...


----------



## dig_duggler

So, they swapped out the S cards for M cards. Once they sent the authorization through, I got my missing ADS channels. Curiously, before the authorization the same 'some' of the ADS showed up, but not others. After authorization, everything showed up.

Odd. But I'm happy.


----------



## EpcotEric

I'm in the same area as windracer and I'm having the same problem. CSR said they have to send out a tech to swap out cards. BHN in Tampa/St. Pete is not mapping ADS on CableCARDs, just the Set-top Boxes. For CableCARDs, they're just passing the analog signal, which is blocked out on those certain channels for some reason. 

CSR acknowledges they are having multiple major issues with CCs since the lineup change but insists a truckroll is necessary. Tech will be out on Thursday. I'll update as I find out what is happening.

BTW, 2 currently 2 SA S-Cards in a S3.


----------



## dig_duggler

EpcotEric said:


> I'm in the same area as windracer and I'm having the same problem. CSR said they have to send out a tech to swap out cards. BHN in Tampa/St. Pete is not mapping ADS on CableCARDs, just the Set-top Boxes. For CableCARDs, they're just passing the analog signal, which is blocked out on those certain channels for some reason.
> 
> CSR acknowledges they are having multiple major issues with CCs since the lineup change but insists a truckroll is necessary. Tech will be out on Thursday. I'll update as I find out what is happening.
> 
> BTW, 2 currently 2 SA S-Cards in a S3.


Set your tuner to one of the 'bad' channels and the other you know if analog and go to the cablecard diagnostics (settings->cablecards->either one-> diagnostics (shows for both cc). If the modulation for the 'bad' channel is QAM 256 they are not passing it through as analog, that is a digital signal. You should be able to see on the analog channel that it is of modulation analog.

If it the same as my scenario, they haven't authorized the cards correctly. In my instance, something with the S-cards (firmware or software) was not compatible with their authorization technique.


----------



## windracer

dig_duggler said:


> If the modulation for the 'bad' channel is QAM 256 they are not passing it through as analog, that is a digital signal. You should be able to see on the analog channel that it is of modulation analog.


The Test Channels feature in the CableCARD menu skips over the "bad" channels completely. If I check the Diagnostics page, it just says "not tuned: wrong card state."


----------



## EpcotEric

windracer said:


> The Test Channels feature in the CableCARD menu skips over the "bad" channels completely. If I check the Diagnostics page, it just says "not tuned: wrong card state."


Same here. Channel 8 shows analog modulation, channel 40 shows "not tuned: wrong card state" and all other fields are blank for that tuner. BHN really screwed things up I guess. 

I'll find out more Thursday sometime from 5 to 8pm.


----------



## Roderigo

windracer said:


> The Test Channels feature in the CableCARD menu skips over the "bad" channels completely. If I check the Diagnostics page, it just says "not tuned: wrong card state."


I think if Test Channels skips over the channel, then it's not defined in the channel list from the cablecard. So, the tivo service lineup isn't matching the cablecard lineup.


----------



## windracer

Roderigo said:


> I think if Test Channels skips over the channel, then it's not defined in the channel list from the cablecard. So, the tivo service lineup isn't matching the cablecard lineup.


I agree! The question is what did BHN do that caused those channels to disappear from the CableCARD lineup? And why can't they figure it out? From my conversation with the BHN rep, this is affecting _all_ CableCARD users, not just the folks with TiVos.


----------



## dig_duggler

Bummer. Good luck.


----------



## TomRaz

Have you tried to reboot your Tivo HD or Series 3 to see if that resolves the missing channels ?

Do you have a list of the channels that you are not able to receive ?

I love the good old BHN slogan of I need to send a tech out. 

Hopefully someday they will get their head out of the sand and actually troubleshoot a problem.


----------



## windracer

TomRaz said:


> Have you tried to reboot your Tivo HD or Series 3 to see if that resolves the missing channels ?


Of course, I even had to do it multiple times while on the phone with the rep as he kept trying to "re-initialize" the cards.

Here was a fun one: he had my eject the cards while the box was running, then unplug the box, re-insert the cards, and power the TiVo back up. That didn't help either. 



> Do you have a list of the channels that you are not able to receive ?


I listed them in this post.


----------



## TomRaz

I figured you had tried a reboot but I figured I would ask 

I had to reboot my Tivo HD with a single M card last week to see some of the new HD channels.

After the reboot the new HD channels worked fine. 

I read your earlier post about the other non hd channels on BH that are not working. 

When I got home tonight I checked all of the channels you had listed in your post and they all are working fine on my Tivo HD

Perhaps it is a S card vs M card issue ?


----------



## windracer

Weird, and you're in the Tampa area too, right? Maybe it _is_ an M-Card vs. S-Card issue then. In that case, a replacement _would_ work as long as the tech brought M-Cards, and had three (two for my S3 and one for my THD).

Well, when I get back in town after the holidays, I'll try and tackle this again (assuming they haven't figured it out by then). In the meantime, I'll make sure my S2 covers recording anything I would want off of those missing channels.


----------



## TomRaz

Yes Windracer I live in Pinellas county also.

Hopefully they will figure this out before you get a chance to troubleshoot. 

Otherwise I guess they will have to try and bring you a couple of M cards

Good luck


----------



## dig_duggler

windracer said:


> Weird, and you're in the Tampa area too, right? Maybe it _is_ an M-Card vs. S-Card issue then. In that case, a replacement _would_ work as long as the tech brought M-Cards, and had three (two for my S3 and one for my THD).
> 
> Well, when I get back in town after the holidays, I'll try and tackle this again (assuming they haven't figured it out by then). In the meantime, I'll make sure my S2 covers recording anything I would want off of those missing channels.


It is certainly worth a shot if you can get the time off to meet the tech. I had absolutely no expectations that it would resolve my issue, but it did. It might be a systemwide Brighthouse programming issue.


----------



## EpcotEric

Tech just left. They didn't have to replace any cards. They re-hit the cards and I restarted the TiVo. After the restart, the channels still didn't show, then after about 10 minutes, all the channels started working again.

Apparently BHN was aware of the issue and just resolved it on the head-end yesterday.


----------



## TomRaz

Another BHN send the tech onsite to resolve nothing that could not be resolved remotely. 

Why does BHN understand it is cheaper to resolve issues remotely than onsite.


----------



## windracer

My channels are working again too!


----------



## TomRaz

I am glad yours starting working also, perhaps BHN finally figured out what was wrong on the head end.


----------



## dig_duggler

dig_duggler said:


> So, they swapped out the S cards for M cards. Once they sent the authorization through, I got my missing ADS channels. Curiously, before the authorization the same 'some' of the ADS showed up, but not others. After authorization, everything showed up.
> 
> Odd. But I'm happy.


Man, I came back from seeing the fam for xmas and the channels are gone again. I hate Brighthouse.

Now I get to call and go through the clueless chain again, so they can send a tech specialized in cable cards out. So I get to take off work (again) and sit here while the tech comes in and calls the head end to fix it.


----------



## guitardude5

I had a good experience with Brighthouse installing an M card in my new Tivo. I posted in another section, but I thought I would also post here. I thought most people would post bad experiences but not take as much time to talk about the good. Here is my kudos to BHN (and no I don't work for them )

I called Monday to shedule the service and request an M card. The CSR knew exactly what I was asking for (Ryan was his name) and set me up for today. It sounded TOO easy. I called yesterday to confirm, and the second CSR also knew exactly what I was talking about and confirmed an M card install. This morning, two techs from a contracted company knocked on my door with a CableCard. I asked them if they had ever installed one in a Tivo, and the answer was no. They were both very nice, and I helped them along with the install. He popped the M card in slot 1, and it started updating from the cable signal. He called to activate the card, but it wouldn't take. He took out the card, went to his van to get another one, and put in the new card. That one worked right away. I ran the guided setup while the techs were here, and all was great. I had been fearing it would be a nightmare from the stories I have read that other have had as recent as a couple months ago.

As of this morning, all is still well.


----------



## rickmeoff

my mom is currently a BH subscriber in oldsmar, fl. just set her up with a new hdtv and ordered a tivo hd for her, and the box is scheduled to arrive by weeks end.

she currently has a cable box with sd hooked up to a s2 dt tivo, with hbo and sho.

do I simply call bh and tell them i need an m-card install, and an upgrade to their 'hd-pack?' what channels will she get/have available in hd (I checked the bh website, and it wasn't clear exactly what is available to her in hd....and for how much $).

im a dtv sub at my house, so all this bh cable stuff is very unfamiliar to me.

thx.


----------



## windracer

rickmeoff said:


> do I simply call bh and tell them i need an m-card install, and an upgrade to their 'hd-pack?'


She only needs the HD Pak if she wants Universal HD, Mojo, HDNet and HDNet Movies. All of the other HD channels are part of the normal digital cable package.


----------



## rickmeoff

windracer, thank you.

so the cable box goes, replaced by the tivo hd with the m card. i doubt she cares about those channels, but i cant seem to find a list of the hd channels she'll receive. is hbo and sho in hd with bh?


----------



## RobKFL

rickmeoff said:


> windracer, thank you.
> 
> so the cable box goes, replaced by the tivo hd with the m card. i doubt she cares about those channels, but i cant seem to find a list of the hd channels she'll receive. is hbo and sho in hd with bh?


I'm in North Pinelles too, from this list

http://apps.tampabay.mybrighthouse....nId=&LineUpId=16&lineup_action=display_lineup

She'll get

Basic Channels
Standard Channels
Digital Channels
Digital Music

Anything else is extra and Brighthouse On-Demand will NEVER work with TiVo. It requires the Brighthouse Cable box. I've personally never used it and I had 2 cable boxes forever (no down to 1 on another TV).

Hope that helps.

Oops to answer you last question, no HBO or SHO HD without paying extra but she'll still get those channels regular.


----------



## rickmeoff

thanks rob, but im still kinda lost (and kinda stupid as well, lol). so it looks like she'll get:

704 - ESPN 2 HD
707 - ESPN HD
718 - BHN HD Sports 1
719 - BHN HD Sports 2
720 - Discovery HD Theater
721 - Discovery Channel HD
722 - The Science Channel HD
723 - Animal Planet HD
724 - The Learning Channel HD
725 - TNT HD
726 - TBS HD
727 - National Geographic HD
729 - Versus / Golf HD
730 - MHD (Music High Definition)
731 - Food Network HD
732 - HGTV HD
733 - A&E HD
734 - The History Channel HD
632 - WMOR HD
624 - WTOG HD
628 - WFTS ABC HD
610 - WTSP CBS HD
611 - WTTA MYTV HD
613 - WTVT FOX HD
608 - WFLA NBC HD
603 - WEDU HD

in her current package.

and since shes already an hbo/sho subscriber she is entitled to those hd channels too. have i got this now?


----------



## RobKFL

rickmeoff said:


> thanks rob, but im still kinda lost (and kinda stupid as well, lol). so it looks like she'll get:
> 
> 704 - ESPN 2 HD
> 707 - ESPN HD
> 718 - BHN HD Sports 1
> 719 - BHN HD Sports 2
> 720 - Discovery HD Theater
> 721 - Discovery Channel HD
> 722 - The Science Channel HD
> 723 - Animal Planet HD
> 724 - The Learning Channel HD
> 725 - TNT HD
> 726 - TBS HD
> 727 - National Geographic HD
> 729 - Versus / Golf HD
> 730 - MHD (Music High Definition)
> 731 - Food Network HD
> 732 - HGTV HD
> 733 - A&E HD
> 734 - The History Channel HD
> 632 - WMOR HD
> 624 - WTOG HD
> 628 - WFTS ABC HD
> 610 - WTSP CBS HD
> 611 - WTTA MYTV HD
> 613 - WTVT FOX HD
> 608 - WFLA NBC HD
> 603 - WEDU HD
> 
> in her current package.
> 
> and since shes already an hbo/sho subscriber she is entitled to those hd channels too. have i got this now?


She'll get all those HD channels you listed but no HBO/SHO HD. That's another animal. She'll still get standard HBO/SHO she's always gotten. Maybe she can "crossgrade" or something. I haven't looked into it yet for mine.


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## rickmeoff

RobKFL said:


> She'll get all those HD channels you listed but no HBO/SHO HD. That's another animal. She'll still get standard HBO/SHO she's always gotten. Maybe she can "crossgrade" or something. I haven't looked into it yet for mine.


 i thought since she already pays extra for hbo and sho she would be entitled to the same in hd (which is how dtv does it). so they make you pay a premium over the already paid premium to get those channels in hd?

wow, that sucks.

i guess i should get on the phone with bh and get all the info..........her tivo hd is scheduled to arrive here on friday, so i need to setup the cc install.

ill go through guided setup without the cc's to familiarize myself with the unit and have everything ready for bh.

this is exciting for me. ive been with dtv for years, and im really interested to see the comparison of the tivo hd vs my dtv setup.


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## mohanman

I haven't gone through this threat, but if it is still concerning cable card companies not giving out cable cards, I highly recommend filing a complaint. I did the same with Comcast in Augusta, GA, and I gotta say, since I made a complaint, they have been doing an awesome job. They are on time, courteous, and they stay until the job is completed. Can't say the same for my experience with them in Chicago. Anyway, I had to file a complaint with the FCC to get anything done. So if it comes worse to worse, you could do that, just go to the FCC website.
Lates
Mo


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## dig_duggler

Jeebus. You can read about my experiences above, but in short, ADS is being deployed and none of the digitally simulcast channels would come in.

Brighhouse's answer: You need new M cards, not S cards.

They swapped and the channels come in. Huzzah!

Cut to a week later. The same channels are gone. Their only solution? New cards! I scheduled an appointment for today, stayed home and they of course brought no cards. The tech did come, said it's been a pain for everyone, says that all cable card customers are having this problem and that everytime they add channels to digital simulcast all working cable cards no longer receive the simulcast channels and that it's going to be painful for awhile. In essence, he indicated that every single time they add new simulcast channels the cable cards will drop the channels (not the new channels - *all* the simulcast channels) and the _only_ fix they know of is to replace the cards _every_ time they add new channels (about bi-weekly timeframe). He tried to push their box on me of course. Oh, and he has no idea what the deployment schedule is or when it will be finished. The attitude was very much why are you making us deal with these silly cable cards. I have had a friendly tech in the past who took blame, but I am going on a month and a half now with this same issue. I know others here have had worse, but I am getting extremely frustrated.

So, given this is pretty much unacceptable, what is the chain of command that I need to spit letters out to so that they might actually have incentive?


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## bizzy

wow.


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## TomRaz

Hmm let me see, everything was working correctly until BH made changes on their head end side and now suddenly all the cable cards have some amazing hardware issue.

Stupid thinking like this is typical of BH and it will create a cable card shortage and give them ample opportunities to push their own DVR that of course does not use a cable card.


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## dig_duggler

Yeah, it's clearly on there end but they don't appear to be taking responsibility for it. I'm wondering what my most effective course of action might be. I'm wondering if there is anyone I should write before I complain to the FCC....


----------



## minboo71

Hi all - So I've been trying to follow this thread and figure out if it applies to my problem with Brighthouse Indiana... but I'm getting lost in the acronyms... sorry!

I have a Series3 HD Tivo with a M-series cablecard (after a 12 hour install and 8 cable cards). But finally it works. Until Brighthouse added new HD channels (CNNHD, HGTVHD, etc), which don't come in. I called BH to complain... they told me that it's because of the way they choose to broadcast the channels. I don't know the technical term for it... but it seems that BH treats these new channels similar to on-demand, that it only will appear when I tune my channel to it. Unfortunately, since two way communication doesn't work on the cablecards, I can't get these channels.

This doesn't seem legal to me. If I'm paying the cable company for HD channels, I should get them all. (Some channels in the regular HD listing work and some don't.) Shouldn't BH be required to send out the cable signal the same way for all channels?

I wish I could punt on BH and go to DirectTV... but I hear that won't work with the three tivo boxes that I currently have. Ugh.

Signed, 
Need help in Indiana

Update - Just found this on tivo.com... is this my only option??
http://www.tivo.com/abouttivo/press...ANNOUNCESWITCHEDDIGITALSOLUTIONFORHDDVRs.html


----------



## lrhorer

minboo71 said:


> they told me that it's because of the way they choose to broadcast the channels. I don't know the technical term for it... but it seems that BH treats these new channels similar to on-demand, that it only will appear when I tune my channel to it. Unfortunately, since two way communication doesn't work on the cablecards, I can't get these channels.


Sounds like the new channels are SDV. If so, there's nothing you can do at this time. Browse the SDV threads.



qz3fwd said:


> This doesn't seem legal to me. If I'm paying the cable company for HD channels, I should get them all.


Don't be ridiculous. Any vendor can charge whatever they want for whatever services they like and package them any way they want. If you don't like the vendor's prices, don't buy from them. If you have a signed contract saying they agree to provide the specific services in question for the amount you are paying them, then their activity is illegal and you can sue them for breech of contract. Unless the contract specifically states they will provide you with all programming of a particular type or they will provide you with all new programming, then they are not in violation of anything by not providing you with new additional services at the old price. If you don't have a contract (most CATV companies don't require one), then they are not required to provide you with anything at any price except those channels mandated as "must carry' by the FCC.



qz3fwd said:


> (Some channels in the regular HD listing work and some don't.) Shouldn't BH be required to send out the cable signal the same way for all channels?


No. For one thing, it would make any changes and improvements to the system nearly impossible. Indeed, your suggestion would effectively prevent them for ever being able to deliver digital services or HD in the first place.


----------



## windracer

minboo71 said:


> Update - Just found this on tivo.com... is this my only option??
> http://www.tivo.com/abouttivo/press...ANNOUNCESWITCHEDDIGITALSOLUTIONFORHDDVRs.html


That will certainly help, once it's released. I'll be watching for more coverage on this from CES (hopefully).


----------



## TomRaz

Interesting Press Release. This part caught my attention

"The cable industry is working with TiVo to ensure that installation of CableCARDs and the adapter will be easy and seamless for the consumer"


----------



## guitardude5

TomRaz said:


> ...Stupid thinking like this is typical of BH and it will create a cable card shortage and give them ample opportunities to push their own DVR that of course does not use a cable card...


Actually, that is not true. I had a BH DVR for about a week and a half while waiting for my Tivo to have a cableCARD installed. When I was taking it back to BH, I noticed there was a security tape on the back over the slot where the M card was installed! I was kinda surprised to see they were using M cards all along. I wonder why they aren't having the same issues as Tivo users.


----------



## dig_duggler

guitardude5 said:


> Actually, that is not true. I had a BH DVR for about a week and a half while waiting for my Tivo to have a cableCARD installed. When I was taking it back to BH, I noticed there was a security tape on the back over the slot where the M card was installed! I was kinda surprised to see they were using M cards all along. I wonder why they aren't having the same issues as Tivo users.


They are using M cards in SA boxes here too. However, I would guess they have configured and tested their system for one device (the SA boxes) vs standard specifications.


----------



## bigdave2004

The 8500 or 8300 HDC boxes use M Cards. I just returned one when they came to install the cards in my TivoHD. Took two visits (on the same day luckily) first time they installed it called and activated it, I only checked a few channels and it seemed to be working. They left, I tested some more and it looked like I wasn't getting all the HD channels. I called asked for someone to troubleshoot it over the phone with me and of course they won't or as they say "all our support is in the field" MEH.... Original contractor comes back, calls in and gets a tech and knows what they are doing and reprovisions it, now it works and I'm happy! YAY! I hated that brighthouse dvr...


----------



## eabu

Good and Bad News at Brighthouse Orlando, FL

Added HD Channels: Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, Discover Channel HD, Sci HD, National Geographic HD

Bad News: None of the new HD channels work on cablecards
Even Worse News: Food Network HD, AETV HD, History HD, HGTV HD have been removed from the cablecard lineup

Now only TNT HD, TBS HD, ESPN1 HD, ESPN2 HD, and Discovery HDT can be viewed on cablecards.

So devices that are not Brighthouse issued and use cablecards, including Tivo HD devices are SOL. Is this anti-competitive or what?


----------



## kochsr

No, i believe it is called switched digital video...



eabu said:


> Good and Bad News at Brighthouse Orlando, FL
> 
> Added HD Channels: Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, Discover Channel HD, Sci HD, National Geographic HD
> 
> Bad News: None of the new HD channels work on cablecards
> Even Worse News: Food Network HD, AETV HD, History HD, HGTV HD have been removed from the cablecard lineup
> 
> Now only TNT HD, TBS HD, ESPN1 HD, ESPN2 HD, and Discovery HDT can be viewed on cablecards.
> 
> So devices that are not Brighthouse issued and use cablecards, including Tivo HD devices are SOL. Is this anti-competitive or what?


----------



## bigdave2004

See this thread for more on the switch to SDV 
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=383361


----------



## Al-Mann

MichaelK said:


> Proposed July 2007 Rule= EVERY BOX deployed by cable compnaies must have cbalecard.


I don't think that is quite right... All boxes bought by cable companies after that time must have cable cards. But all the boxes cable companies have that don't have cable cards are still alright to use...

I've installed a few boxes this past week that did NOT have cable cards in them...


----------



## BH CableCard Usr

eabu said:


> Good and Bad News at Brighthouse Orlando, FL
> 
> Added HD Channels: Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, Discover Channel HD, Sci HD, National Geographic HD
> 
> Bad News: None of the new HD channels work on cablecards
> Even Worse News: Food Network HD, AETV HD, History HD, HGTV HD have been removed from the cablecard lineup
> 
> Now only TNT HD, TBS HD, ESPN1 HD, ESPN2 HD, and Discovery HDT can be viewed on cablecards.
> 
> So devices that are not Brighthouse issued and use cablecards, including Tivo HD devices are SOL. Is this anti-competitive or what?


To quote an internal memo from Brighthouse (Dale Gregory) dated Jan 30 ,2008"

"Effective February 1, 2008, four HD channels (HDTV HD, The History Channel HD, Good Network HD, and TBS HD), recently added will no longer be available to our 1,900 customers with CableCARD devices. Programming added in the future* to the channel lineup will also not be available to these customers, including the five HD channels launching on Feb 1st."

* BHN has committed to adding 50 HD channels over the next year.

The letter goes on to say they will offer a free (no monthly fee) digital receiver (does NOT say a DVR) for each BHN CableCARD surrendered.

:down: IMHO, This sucks. I've had the TivoHD working for exactly two weeks and BAM! First opportunity to leave BHN and I'm out. Enough of this heavy handed marketing tactics! :down:


----------



## sgtstadanko

BHN here in Birmingham, AL told me they had discontinued cable cards. Now this was from a counter person at the outlet so it may or may not be true. I just bought a TivoHD anticipating a HDTV purchase and this sucks. Especially with the SDV issue...gods know if or when BH will roll out the USB dongle to allow tivo users get all the HD content or how much it will cost it they do. 

kind of wishing tivo had included component or HDMI input and a IR blaster like the series 2...sigh. I feel screwed here.


----------



## dig_duggler

sgtstadanko said:


> BHN here in Birmingham, AL told me they had discontinued cable cards. Now this was from a counter person at the outlet so it may or may not be true. I just bought a TivoHD anticipating a HDTV purchase and this sucks. Especially with the SDV issue...gods know if or when BH will roll out the USB dongle to allow tivo users get all the HD content or how much it will cost it they do.
> 
> kind of wishing tivo had included component or HDMI input and a IR blaster like the series 2...sigh. I feel screwed here.


Check my reply to your email. They definitely have not discontinued cable cards. Low level support here kind of sucks and they don't really know what they are doing. BHN in Bham is supposedly (according to a manager I talked to recently) not rolling out SDV for awhile.


----------



## sgtstadanko

dig_duggler said:


> Check my reply to your email. They definitely have not discontinued cable cards. Low level support here kind of sucks and they don't really know what they are doing. BHN in Bham is supposedly (according to a manager I talked to recently) not rolling out SDV for awhile.


well i got a call from a customer rep based off an email i sent in earlier in the week. She was very helpful and friendly and scheduled an install for this Sat (today). I got call at 8:00am <jeez> from the HQ and waited on hold for 30 minutes because I missed it and had to call back. The support peron didnt know what was up or why i was calling so fingers crossed they havent screwed something up....


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## dig_duggler

FYI, they might not be giving us 663 and 665 (TBSHD and HistoryHD). I've been fighting with general support on this who _insist_ I need a truckroll even though the Tivo shows that the channel is not on the channel map. I have a call into a manager and will call back the direct line cs person next week. Please let me know if you receive these channels or not.


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## sgtstadanko

no problem. i will if they show up. i was supposed to get a call 30 min before truck roll, if thats what the 8am call was for (nobody at HQ knows) then he is seriously late. If my past experiences with our local BH prove anything...something or somebody has screwed something up or forgotten and I will have to start this whole procedure over again.


----------



## dig_duggler

you are so right. 

If it makes you feel any better, I have been using my S3 for over a year without many problems (except that two month ads thing that was painful). It will help to have at least one other person in the area to ask if you are getting X. Rocking this solo was been sometimes aggravating.


----------



## dig_duggler

I asked this in another thread, but if you are getting the error:

Current Tuning Status: Not Tuned: Wrong Card State

for a newly added HD channel everything I've read here says it is not on the channel map. Is there _any_ reason to agree to a truckroll from the company (they keep insisting this is the only way - I keep insisting it is on the head end and won't agree to it)?


----------



## dig_duggler

Is _anyone_ in a Brighthouse market that has recently added hd channels that you _can_ tune? I'm pretty sure that they are not giving cablecard customers new channels in my market, but can't find anyone competent enough to even understand the question.


----------



## windracer

In Tampa/St. Pete, I can still tune the newest HD channels on the S-Cards in my S3 and THD: Animal Planet, HGTV, Science, Food Network, etc.


----------



## dig_duggler

windracer said:


> In Tampa/St. Pete, I can still tune the newest HD channels on the S-Cards in my S3 and THD: Animal Planet, HGTV, Science, Food Network, etc.


Ah ho. Looking at your posts, you seem to have had a similar issue as I am (channel map). Mine could be intentional even though they claim it isn't. So it was just magically fixed on the head end? I don't want to have to have several truck rolls just to convince them that it _is_ on the head end, but that seems to be what your market had to do....

How much not on the head end assurance did you get before they realized it was on the head end?


----------



## windracer

As I recall (re-reading my own posts) I only spent 90 minutes on the phone originally, and it was kinda for a different issues (I got the new HD channels fine, I had lost _analog_ channels instead). I put off scheduling the truck roll and then the problem magically fixed itself a few days later.


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## dig_duggler

Thanks. The underlying issue is the same (channel map) but the affected tier is different (and the rationale for it may be different).


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## windracer

Right, and I think it was also more related to the fact that BHN here was shuffling a lot of the analog channels around. So, no problems here with the new HD ones ... for now.


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## dig_duggler

I talked to a technical manager with Brighthouse in Birmingham, AL. He says they have gone SDV and wouldn't take away channels from us for no reason. He indicated future channels will go SDV and that we might lose more channels as they eventually want to go all SDV (but he had absolutely no time frame on that). He's aware of the tuning resolver and says whenever they can get that in they'd love to come test it out on my device. Nice guy. All of the upper tier managers have been extremely nice and informative but unfortunately ... SDV. I could lose a bunch of channels in no time.


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## Okeemike

dig_duggler said:


> ...... I'm pretty sure that they are not giving cablecard customers new channels in my market, but can't find anyone competent enough to even understand the question.


For what it's worth, I called BHN about a week ago to see what they said if I tried to set up 'new' service with a cable card. The response: Yes, you can have the card, but you will not receive all the channels.

So, apparently at least some of the CSR's are getting the message of the issue with the standalone cards (here in Central FL).


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## ryanjo

I just called Bright House to set up a Cable Card install for my new Tivo HD (Seminole County). The Customer Service (407-291-2500) rep said (I asked her twice, so it's a quote): "Bright House no longer provides Cable Cards". I told her it was on the website (http://cfl.mybrighthouse.com/customer_care/product_FAQs/cable/cableCARD/default.aspx); she claimed the policy had changed. I told her it was an FCC regulation; no response. I asked her to speak to a supervisor; she refused. All she would do is let me file a complaint, and said someone would call me.

Does anyone know a way to bypass the 1st level reps and reach someone knowledgeable?


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## Duke

ryanjo said:


> I just called Bright House to set up a Cable Card install for my new Tivo HD (Seminole County). The Customer Service (407-291-2500) rep said (I asked her twice, so it's a quote): "Bright House no longer provides Cable Cards". I told her it was on the website (http://cfl.mybrighthouse.com/customer_care/product_FAQs/cable/cableCARD/default.aspx); she claimed the policy had changed. I told her it was an FCC regulation; no response. I asked her to speak to a supervisor; she refused. All she would do is let me file a complaint, and said someone would call me.
> 
> Does anyone know a way to bypass the 1st level reps and reach someone knowledgeable?


I'd call back and hope you reach a more knowledgeable rep. the second time around.


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## ryanjo

Duke said:


> I'd call back and hope you reach a more knowledgeable rep. the second time around.


Thanks for the tip.

I called twice this am, finally got someone who could help me. They still don't understand what an M-Card is, but at least they put it on the work order.

I am a little irked by the $21.95 install charge. I am less than a half mile from the BH office, and I have been able to pick up their DVR there at no charge. You'd think the Cable Card was some huge issue.


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## RobKFL

Pinellas Cnty here.

It IS a huge issue. Bright House has a track record of going out of their way to divert you from using your TIVO. They want you on their own DVR service and their CS reps will treat you like crap, feign ignorance or just blatantly lie to you in order to discourage your TIVO use. Despite what they claim, this HAS TO BE policy. It's too common, just look through this thread.

Expect at LEAST 2 more service calls before your TIVO is working (or at least MORE hoops to jump through).


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## phdeez

My experience with BH with getting an M card for a TivoHD is that it is much easier to use their online support [http://cfl.mybrighthouse.com -> Contact Us -> Digital Cable -> Email Us]. I've used this method twice and both times on the first correspondence they set the appointment up with no issues. I would suggest others to do the same [at least for the C.FL area]. In fact, just this past Tuesday I emailed them requesting for a Thu morn appointment and they set it up between 8-10. Tech was here @ 9:30 ready to go.


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## ryanjo

Originally Posted by ryanjo 
I just called Bright House to set up a Cable Card install for my new Tivo HD (Seminole County). The Customer Service (407-291-2500) rep said (I asked her twice, so it's a quote): "Bright House no longer provides Cable Cards".

After 2 more calls, I got a customer service rep who made me an appointment for a cablecard install...I didn't say the word "Tivo". The installer was pleasant, but couldn't get the "Digital Tier" stations to work (above 100 digital SD, and above 1300 HD). He gave me the name of a field support specialist, Sharif Keaton, who I called the next day. This guy is the real deal. He made the diagnosis of the problem and corrected it while I was on the phone. It took him about 2 minutes.:up:

I'm giving his telephone number if anyone else is in the same situation. Please do not flame him about Bright House policies! This guy wants to help.

Sharif Keaton
Field Support Specialist
tel: 407-532-8672
email: [email protected]


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## dig_duggler

I had to share this one. One of my cablecards in my Series 3 quit receiving digital channels a couple of weeks ago. I checked the SubExpireTime in Diagnostics, and it's the day it quit working. I tried to get the head end to fix it, but they claimed it they tried to 'authorize' and 're-hit' it to no avail. They set up the earliest available appointment a week out. They said they'd be there by 3 (since I was leaving town later that day), but that turned out to be 'an estimate', not a guarantee. Okay, the next available appointment is a week out (again). 

The tech arrives today. I tried to persuade him gently that it was simply an authorization issue, but they want him to swap out the card. Fine, we stick in the card (which gives cablecard issues) so we reboot. He calls in the new Serial #, Host ID and CableCard ID. Still the same issue. Test Channels says no channels available, and I'm just getting analog stations and Network HD. He finally calls another tech who's familiar with cable cards. I overhear their conversation where he flatly states that dispatch doesn't know anything about cablecards. I'm also told that support doesn't really either. The only way to do it themselves the next day, just write down all of the information (serial number, host id and cable card id). Also, the worst thing he could do is swap the card if the other one was receiving a CableCard ID and Host ID. Which we just did. And the only fix that he really knew of was to remove everything from the system (I gulp realizing I still have one working cablecard) and add it back. So they are going to try that tomorrow. Another day off work. Great.

This is about my 12th tech visit in my 1 1/2 years of cablecards. Every tech visit is something that can (and eventually is) fixed on head end. I'm patient and it's summer. But man I wish DirectTV would partner with Tivo again or something....


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## Yogi76

I recently got CableCARD installed from BHN in Longwood but I'm not receiving all the HD channels. I know that BHN in Central Florida is starting to use SDV (switched digital video); is that what is causing the problem? The channels I receive are all the broadcast stations, TNTHD, TBSHD, ESPN2HD, the 4 summer Olympics channels (soccer, basketball, Korean, and Chinese), HD Theater, HistoryHD, and HGTVHD. All the rest, which is quite a few, do not work. Is this normal?

Thanks,
Yogi


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## RobKFL

Yogi76 said:


> I recently got CableCARD installed from BHN in Longwood but I'm not receiving all the HD channels. I know that BHN in Central Florida is starting to use SDV (switched digital video); is that what is causing the problem? The channels I receive are all the broadcast stations, TNTHD, TBSHD, ESPN2HD, the 4 summer Olympics channels (soccer, basketball, Korean, and Chinese), HD Theater, HistoryHD, and HGTVHD. All the rest, which is quite a few, do not work. Is this normal?
> 
> Thanks,
> Yogi


That's how it is for me in Tampa/St Pete.


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## windracer

RobKFL said:


> That's how it is for me in Tampa/St Pete.


Really? My S3 and THD receive the other HD stations just fine (Food, HGTV, A&E, Disney, ABC Family, etc.).


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## Yogi76

windracer said:


> Really? My S3 and THD receive the other HD stations just fine (Food, HGTV, A&E, Disney, ABC Family, etc.).


I contacted Sharif Keaton, the tech mentioned a couple of posts up, with the problem. This is the response I received:

I'm glad to be of assistance. You are correct in the fact that we are in the process of launching switched video. There should only be 5 HD channels and 2 SD (standard Definition) you would not receive with the cable card (s).

They are as follows:
Ch's: 63&602 WAPA America
Ch: 1335 Disney Channel HD
Ch:1337 ABC Family HD
Ch: 1345 TLC HD
Ch: 1348 Science Channel HD
Ch: 1306 MGM HD

If you are not receiving any channels other than these I would suggest having a service tech out to your residence, which I would gladly schedule for you.​
I have scheduled a field service call for Tuesday morning. Hopefully, they can get my missing HD channels working.

Yogi


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## windracer

They must not be SDV (yet) over here in Tampa/St. Pete then ...


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## guarh

I just got a tivo HD and have an install scheduled for Tuesday. I don't understand why would they make it so that a tivo will not receive all channels, we are still paying $6 a month for the cable cards, how are we a different customer than one that rents BH STB? Or is it the fact that you use Tivo and not their HD DVR?
I like the science channel in particular in it will suck if I can't get it with tivo


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## LonghornXP2005

guarh said:


> I just got a tivo HD and have an install scheduled for Tuesday. I don't understand why would they make it so that a tivo will not receive all channels, we are still paying $6 a month for the cable cards, how are we a different customer than one that rents BH STB? Or is it the fact that you use Tivo and not their HD DVR?
> I like the science channel in particular in it will suck if I can't get it with tivo


I have a Tivo HD cablecard install this morning from Bright House in Largo, FL. All channels will tune in without issues "except" PPV and Video On Demand channels.

Also a few of my contacts have said that BHN Tampa Bay is currently testing a Cisco switched digital video tuning adapter and they plan to mail a letter to all customers with a cable card on their account to give them a chance to pickup or schedule an appointment to have it installed "before" they add any channels via SDV. I've also been told (seen it in action too) that via the SDV tuning device Tivo HD boxes will work with VOD but using the current VOD interface and not a Tivo interface. I'm talking about the interface you see when tuning to say channel 200 not the guide or software interface on BHN boxes.

You can view all the subscription VOD listings and once you select a show to play the SDV tuning device sends the request to the headend and the headend sends the frequency information back to the SDV tuning adapter to tell the Tivo box "how" to tune into the VOD showing.

I've been told however that VOD support is still very buggy (it looked that way too) and may take a while to offer if at all but there is hope folks for VOD support. However any PPV and VOD content that requires one time charges "will NOT" be supported for a very long time if at all on current HD Tivo boxes. Simply put getting all of this to work with their billing system seems like a nightmare until full OCAP tru2way support comes to a new Tivo HD DVR near us.

The reason free On Demand and premiums on demand will work is because they are treated as any other TV channel in your lineup. They are unlimited usage channels that are part of a subscription package so the channels themselves (ie HBO On Demand channel 200) can be authorized via the cable card and because each show doesn't have a per show charge they don't need to setup the billing system to communicate back and forth with the SDV tuning adapter.

I hope I explained this without causing more confusion but regardless this is good and promising information that is for sure. Also I'm getting from what I'm told two single stream cable cards which cost 2.95/month each and installation is free of charge. I'm hoping the tech shows up with a multistream card but I'm not counting on it nor would I be upset either. I'm sure they would charge the same six bucks a month for the M-Card.


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## guarh

Thanks. Please let us know if you get all channels after the install. I asked 2 diff csrs about m-cards and was told they only have s-cards. I would imagine they would not want to give up $2.99, or they will start charging $6 for an m-card as you said 

So how did the install go? Do you get all channels, including Science HD channel?


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## LonghornXP2005

Sorry for posting very late but I was very busy the last couple of days. It seems that both BHN and Knight Communications warehouses didn't have any cable cards in stock during my appointment. So I got a 20 buck credit on my bill and I now have the first job of the morning from a supervisor on Tuesday.

I'll report how things go assuming anything goes at all but hey another missed appointment or a show with no cable cards will result in another 20 buck bill credit so for all I care they can schedule another three times without cable cards on hand. Heck I could use another free months services lol.

I do however believe all will be well tomorrow.


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## RobKFL

That is their modus operandi. Excuses, missed appointments etc. As long as you don't mind I guess it's fine. They try to make it as miserable an experience as they can.


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## jgjohn02

Longhorn, hope it goes well for you.
I have a tivoHD scheduled for install on Saturday in Countryside.

BTW this may be old news but after October 1st brighthouse will charge 39.99 to do a cable card install.


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## windracer

jgjohn02 said:


> BTW this may be old news but after October 1st brighthouse will charge 39.99 to do a cable card install.


Geez, yet _another_ reason why they should allow self-installs! 

Longhorn, I'm just south of you in Seminole.


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## modnar

jgjohn02 said:


> Longhorn, hope it goes well for you.
> I have a tivoHD scheduled for install on Saturday in Countryside.
> 
> BTW this may be old news but after October 1st brighthouse will charge 39.99 to do a cable card install.


My local cable company charges $38.50 for the install. Fortunately, they were a couple hours late, so they're going to refund the fee.


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## LonghornXP2005

Well I ended up getting everything installed and working but with quite a few hurdles though. First the tech (Knight Enterprises) rep (not the tech) called to inform me the tech would be coming within half an hour. The tech called me to help find my apartment which was good as its a bit hard to find. He showed up and I found out he was doing his first cable card install. He followed the Tivo install manual quite well and ended up getting one tuner to work. The cards both showed as being married, authorized and a powerkey status of ready so I figured I would let him on his way and figure out the account reason for this.

While I was on the phone with a very good rep from BHN we decided to just start over via taking out the cards and doing everything over. This was my first big surprise. The first card I took out via Slot 1 was an S-Card. I next went to pull the card from Slot 2 only to find out it was an M-Card.

This was a big red flag right away as an M-Card "will NOT" work in Slot 2 of an HD Tivo and it also can cause conflicts with the S-Card in Slot 1 causing many tuning issues. Once I noticed this I informed the rep about the issue and we went on to install just one cablecard (M-Card) into Slot 1. 

After doing this and getting the card married I ended getting all the channels I ordered on "both" tuners nearly right away. A few channels (mostly on tuner 2) took a couple of minutes to work.

The only channels that don't work are UHD, Discovery HD Theater, MGMHD, HDNet, HDNet Movies and Mojo. This I'm sure is because I don't order the HD Pak. I however thought that Discovery HD Theater wasn't part of the HD Pak anymore and the rep said my type of account (via promo) didn't get that channel converted into the digital tier so she will be looking into that for me but its not a big rush for me.

All in all they didn't seem to be trying to make things a hassle and I believe they really did run out of cable cards because it was the last day of the week for cable card installs. I will say this much if they ever started charging they better damn sure have techs "just" as good as I am if not better. For the most part I did all the work "and" I did all the troubleshooting as well.

To the poster that asked these questions I'll answer below.

1. Yes I can view Science Channel HD without problems.

2. I did get an M-Card (maybe by mistake though) and they have the M-Card in the system as costing 2.99/month not counting the 95 cent digital outlet fee which is charged per "hardware unit" not per tuner or cablecard.

So this means that my install was for one hardware unit (ie HD Tivo) so I'll be charged 95 cents total regardless of whether my install included 2 S-Cards or 1 M-Card.

All in all I'm one very happy camper right now looking forward to shaving 20 bucks off my bill once I return their POS HD DVR box.


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## guarh

Ok. The installer showed up today with 3 M-cards(even though the CSRs said they don't have M-cards)
We set up the first one, they activated it, the channels above 99 came up ok including HD, but the channels below 99 were still in analog and fuzzy, low quality. I showed him the difference on the same channels but on BHN STB and they looked perfect. So he called them, spoke to a few different people, none of them were able to help. He then put in another M card, pairded it, same thing, everything below 99 is from the analog lineup. More talking on the phone and nothing. His supervisor suggested, that he comes back with two S cards, but I refused. It seems like Brighthouse doesn't care much about it's customers using Cable Cards. I told him that I read here about similar problem and that they need to "Remap" the CCs to pick up the digital versions of those channels, as the STB does, he told that to whoever he talked to at Brighthouse but they were not able to help.

I will try to call them and see if this can be resolved, even though I highly doubt it.

I will also try to see if Tivo can be of any help, but that's unlikely since the issue seems to originate from BHN's network.

I kept my STB just in case. The tech said that even in analog the channels should not look as bad, my signal level was kind of low, -10db. I will schedule an appointment to have an amp installed, and if after that the analog channels are still crappy I may return the Tivo, even though I don't want to.\

Has anyone with Brighthouse had a similar problem with channels below 99, and if you managed to resolve it, how did you do it, and who did you talk to?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!

-------------------
EDIT
Longhorn
Do you now have one Mcard in slot 1, and one S card in slot two?
Are you receiving channels below 99 in analog, you can usually tell the difference, they look dark, grainy, etc.


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## windracer

LonghornXP2005 said:


> 2. I did get an M-Card (maybe by mistake though) and they have the M-Card in the system as costing 2.99/month not counting the 95 cent digital outlet fee which is charged per "hardware unit" not per tuner or cablecard.


Argh! I have called BHN _many_ times in the past few months asking if they carry M-Cards yet and the answer has always been no. I would love to at least get an M-Card in my THD, I know I'm stuck with the two S-Cards in the S3.


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## EpcotEric

guarh said:


> Has anyone with Brighthouse had a similar problem with channels below 99, and if you managed to resolve it, how did you do it, and who did you talk to?
> Any help is appreciated.
> Thanks!


I have tried several times to get Brighthouse to map AD simulcast to cableCARD. Once you get someone who understands what you are talking about, they end up just saying that they are not implementing it on CableCARDs.

I wonder if they are using SDV for the AD simulcast. I have tried to figure it out on the STB diagnostic screens, but the SDV pages are not populated.

I pretty much gave up since most of the channels I watch have a HD version in 600s & 700s. It would be nice though. WGN looks like crap on my TiVo, but looks great on the STB, since I do like to watch a few Cubs games.

They just started digging for FIOS conduit in the neighborhood a block away. I'll just wait it out and switch to FIOS when it's available (hopefully by next year).

Eric


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## guarh

EpcotEric said:


> I have tried several times to get Brighthouse to map AD simulcast to cableCARD. Once you get someone who understands what you are talking about, they end up just saying that they are not implementing it on CableCARDs.
> 
> I wonder if they are using SDV for the AD simulcast. I have tried to figure it out on the STB diagnostic screens, but the SDV pages are not populated.
> 
> I pretty much gave up since most of the channels I watch have a HD version in 600s & 700s. It would be nice though. WGN looks like crap on my TiVo, but looks great on the STB, since I do like to watch a few Cubs games.
> 
> They just started digging for FIOS conduit in the neighborhood a block away. I'll just wait it out and switch to FIOS when it's available (hopefully by next year).
> 
> Eric


If it's SDV, that makes sense and I guess that would explain why the Tivo would not tune to those channels, not until it gets a Tuning adapter.

I was also lookint to Fios, they keep sending me flyers for internet/cable/phone $65 first 3mnt and then $99 for the first year (plus FREE dvr for 1 year) but I haven't switched yet because their HD lineup is kind of poor right now. They say they will have up to 100HD channels by year end, so we will see.

BTW, when I got the first letter from them with the $65 offer, I called Brighthouse to see if I can get something free, was hoping for a free DVR....
They have nonexistent retention policy. The first guy that I talked to almost said, you can try Fios for 3 months and comeback after, I could not believe my ears, and that coming from sales....


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## Duke

EpcotEric said:


> ....I wonder if they are using SDV for the AD simulcast. I have tried to figure it out on the STB diagnostic screens, but the SDV pages are not populated....Eric


I live in Saint Petersburg, and can receive the lower AD channels just fine on my S3 THX. I don't think BH is using SDV for them, otherwise there would be a lot of folks complaining. Mind you the AD channels look pretty bad compared to HD channels, especially if you have a large screen.

If guarh's signal strength is -10dbm, that's pretty low; let us know if an amp improves the situation. I had a similar situation; BH came out and cleaned the connections at their box out on the street, and removed some old drop cables that were causing degradation of the signal.

Duke


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## LonghornXP2005

I just have one card in slot 1 which is an M-Card. I don't have a card in Slot 2 just so you know. Also my analog channels look for the most part okay and I'm assuming they aren't digital simulcasts because when I schedule a recording on any channel below 100 it has the option to select the quality (ie low quality or best quality etc). When I schedule a recording on any channel above 100 (HD and SD) I don't have the option to pick the quality at all.

Either way I don't see much of a difference in picture quality on channels below 100 on the Tivo compared to my old 8300HD box from Bright House.


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## guarh

Duke said:


> I live in Saint Petersburg, and can receive the lower AD channels just fine on my S3 THX. I don't think BH is using SDV for them, otherwise there would be a lot of folks complaining. Mind you the AD channels look pretty bad compared to HD channels, especially if you have a large screen.


I just compare by switching between the cable stb and the tivo on the same outlet/same tv and there is night and day difference, the stb picture is so smooth and nice, on tivo its dark and grainy. 
So, you do receive the digital versions of those channels? (I am not sure what AD means)

We will see if the amp. will fix things on Friday. The CSR said he will send me Brighthouse tech after I told them that the contractors that visited the last two times did a so so job. I kept my STB for now, just in case the tech doesn't agree about the quality.



LonghornXP2005 said:


> I just have one card in slot 1 which is an M-Card. I don't have a card in Slot 2 just so you know. Also my analog channels look for the most part okay and I'm assuming they aren't digital simulcasts because when I schedule a recording on any channel below 100 it has the option to select the quality (ie low quality or best quality etc). When I schedule a recording on any channel above 100 (HD and SD) I don't have the option to pick the quality at all.
> 
> Either way I don't see much of a difference in picture quality on channels below 100 on the Tivo compared to my old 8300HD box from Bright House.


Thanks for the info. Seems like you are in the same situation but at least your signal levels are good enough. I will make a few pics when I get home tonight and will post them, so you can see how much difference there is.
And yes, SD does look ugly on a HD TV, but Brighthouse stb makes me realize how bad my analog signal is.


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## EpcotEric

Duke said:


> I live in Saint Petersburg, and can receive the lower AD channels just fine on my S3 THX. I don't think BH is using SDV for them, otherwise there would be a lot of folks complaining. Mind you the AD channels look pretty bad compared to HD channels, especially if you have a large screen.


So you are getting the Analog-Digital Simulcast (AD or ADS) of the lower channels? If you pick to record, say BayNews9 on channel 9, does it ask for the recording quality (Best, etc.)? If it doesn't, you're getting the Analog-Digital Simulcast. If it doesn't, then it's analog. You can also tell by the DVR Diagnostic screen. It will show analog or digital tuning. I also know that some channels in the lower tier are _only_ available in analog (I think channel 4, for example.)

I live in Largo/Pinellas Park unincorporated Pinellas.

If you do get the ADS channels, I'm going to need to make a few calls to BH again!


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## lrhorer

guarh said:


> The tech said that even in analog the channels should not look as bad, my signal level was kind of low, -10db. I will schedule an appointment to have an amp installed, and if after that the analog channels are still crappy I may return the Tivo, even though I don't want to.


*DO NOT* have an amp installed. Is the absolute responsibility of the CATV provider to deliver decent signals to the eve of your house. Under no circumstances whatsoever should the signal level of any analog channel be lower than +4 dBmv nor of any digital carrier to be lower than -6dBmV, and typically most channels should be at least 5 or 6 dB better than that. *Do not accept any excuses on this point.* If they balk, threaten to write a letter to the FCC, and remind them a failure to comply with minimal signal quality per the FCC Proof of Performance regulations can elicit fines up to $150,000 a day. Take down their names and employee numbers, and explain to them you will be sending out the letter to the FCC with their names included, and a copy will be sent to the General Manager of your local CATV system if the signal issue is not resolved in 72 hours. This, regardless of any performance issues or lack of same on any device in your house.

Note if the signal level at the eve of your house is good, but you have a large number of outlets and / or very long cable runs before reaching your receivers, then an amplifier may be warranted, but *only* if the signal levels at the eve of the house are good and you can establish the low levels are not due to plumbing problems (bad cable, bad splitters, incorrectly installed splitters, bad connectors, etc.) inside the house. In my house, for example, I have some fairly long drops and 12 outlets. The passive loss on some legs is 17dB, and cable losses on the longest drops at the highest channels are more than 10 dB, so an amplifier is definitely required. In a house with 2 or perhaps even 4 outlets (7dB passive loss for 4 outlets) no more than 20 meters from the point where the cable drop attaches to the house (about 5dB loss at 750MHz), no amplifier should be required. With 4 or more outlets and long wall drops, an amp might be necessary. With 8 or more outlets, an amp is almost surely necessary - especially since 8 outlets also implies a fairly large house.



guarh said:


> Are you receiving channels below 99 in analog, you can usually tell the difference, they look dark, grainy, etc.


Check the system diagnostics when tuned to a channel and it will tell you specifically if the channel is analog or digital. Note that digital transmission will only alleviate artifacts caused by CATV plant problems. If the signal is poor reachng the headend, digital transmission won't help.


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## guarh

lrhorer: thank you for your valuable input!

I have two lines going in from the box outside the house. One of them has my Tivo, cable modem and one analog tv connected, the other line has two analog tvs. The first line where the tivo is, the total length of the line before reaching the tivo is about 20-25m, and I am not sure, but I think there may be one or two splitters on that cable. The second line is shorter than that though and it only has one splitter, and quality is still crappy. I will have the tech check the signal levels at the eve and at the tv. So, I should have at least -6dbmv at the Tivo, and better than this at eve (around +5dbmv or better) if I understand correctly?

Funny thing is, the first time when Brighthouse contractor came to connect cable at the house, I asked him about the signal levels and if he had a tool to measure it. He said the standalone tool is very expensive and he didn't have it.


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## Duke

If the cable drop from the BH monument on the street to the side of your house is old or damaged, it is quite acceptable to ask them to replace it. Irhorer is correct, BH should be delivering a clean strong signal to the eve of your house. An amp may be needed from that point to your TV's depending on the number of splitters, cable length, number of TV's, etc.

I've never seen a cable tech that didn't have a signal strength device with them. It's their basic tool for troubleshooting.

If your internet connection is on the same drop as your TiVo, TV's, etc. that could be a problem. BH should have installed a Hi/Lo splitter to isolate the internet drop to your cable modem from the rest of your cable TV system. That is typically done at the eve of the house, with a separate cable line going to your modem.

Good luck.


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## Duke

EpcotEric said:


> So you are getting the Analog-Digital Simulcast (AD or ADS) of the lower channels? If you pick to record, say BayNews9 on channel 9, does it ask for the recording quality (Best, etc.)? If it doesn't, you're getting the Analog-Digital Simulcast. If it doesn't, then it's analog. You can also tell by the DVR Diagnostic screen. It will show analog or digital tuning. I also know that some channels in the lower tier are _only_ available in analog (I think channel 4, for example.)
> 
> I live in Largo/Pinellas Park unincorporated Pinellas.
> 
> If you do get the ADS channels, I'm going to need to make a few calls to BH again!


I'm in South Pinellas. Using your method I tested many channels from 3 to 99, and all of them are analog, not ADS. I thought BH had shifted some of these lower channels to digital, but I guess not yet.


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## guarh

Duke said:


> If the cable drop from the BH monument on the street to the side of your house is old or damaged, it is quite acceptable to ask them to replace it. Irhorer is correct, BH should be delivering a clean strong signal to the eve of your house. An amp may be needed from that point to your TV's depending on the number of splitters, cable length, number of TV's, etc.
> 
> I've never seen a cable tech that didn't have a signal strength device with them. It's their basic tool for troubleshooting.
> 
> If your internet connection is on the same drop as your TiVo, TV's, etc. that could be a problem. BH should have installed a Hi/Lo splitter to isolate the internet drop to your cable modem from the rest of your cable TV system. That is typically done at the eve of the house, with a separate cable line going to your modem.
> 
> Good luck.


I remember they put one of those hi/lo splitters when I lived in Clearwater(two years ago), but that was done by a Brighthouse tech who seemed to know what he is doing, he mentioned he is working for BH for 8 years.



Duke said:


> I've never seen a cable tech that didn't have a signal strength device with them. It's their basic tool for troubleshooting.


The contractor said that the tool is like $2K, which sounds ridiculous to me.

O btw, they changed the underground cable coming to my house during the initial install, but I guess that didn't help much.


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## 25Tango

I live in a community that furnishes Brighthouse Basic service with our HOA fees that only includes about 20-30 analog chans and a good many QAM.
I bought a TivoHD a few days ago and scaned the QAM channs which includes some HD chans. More than are shown in their pdf file here:
http://cfl.mybrighthouse.com/products_and_pricing/digital_cable/programming/channels/default.aspx

I bought the THD to record the digital chans and HD and was surprised to learn that Brighthouse would not rent me a cablecard. After reading a lot of posts here about the various results of getting a CC from BHN, I persistently tried several times by phone, email and a walkin at office without any results. They said I had to upgrade to "Standard pkg" from Basic before I could get a CC. I am not interested in upgrading or getting more chans, so I declined each time.
I have been able to record the shows that my wife and I generally watch via manual recordings and season pass; they are really great. But, in the now playing list, they have no program info. I can get by this way, but it sure would be nice to see the qam chan programs/info on the guide.
Several questions: 
1. Would a cablecard show the qam chans on the guide?
2. Is there a work around to get the qam chan program info?
3. Is Tivo working on a solution to this or is it practical for them to do so?
TIA,
MR


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## scottopus

I'm getting ready to fire my BH DVR. I&#8217;ve purchased a used Tivo HD (Model #TCD652160). I currently have it setup and connected to my TV and broadband connection (wired). I plan on subscribing to Tivo service today.

I live in a new (2005) condo that has cable outlets in every room. The Tivo is to the same outlet as our cable modem. BH installed a splitter to goes to the modem and DVR. I&#8217;m planning on using the same connection to the BH DVR for the Tivo.

I called BH for the first time today to request a CableCARD. The associate (Carol) had knowledge of CablesCARDs and went over the price to install ($39.95) and cost of the card ($2.95). I told her that I read that there was an additional &#8220;device&#8221; charge for the cableCARD. She then informed me that I was correct and it was 0.95. I felt like I should have been provided this cost up front but that seems to be standard operating procedure for BH (try to find the DVR/HD DVR smart box charge on there website or on any printed material besides on your bill!). I asked to setup an installation appointment. She was able to schedule it for tomorrow late afternoon. I asked her if I could specify that I need an M-card. She said that she doesn&#8217;t know what the tech is going to have so I&#8217;ll have to ask them when they come.

Besides handing the installation sheet from Tivo and only letting them install 1 S-card at a time (hopefully I get an M-card), is there anything else I should be doing to insure a smooth install?

Thank you,

Scott


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## Duke

Just make sure they follow the installation sheet TO THE LETTER. Sometimes they like to short-cut it by sticking in both cards at the same time; a no-no.

Good luck.


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## Roderigo

Duke said:


> Just make sure they follow the installation sheet TO THE LETTER. Sometimes they like to short-cut it by sticking in both cards at the same time; a no-no.


Technically, it works just fine to insert both cards at the same time. Realistically, it's easier to do one card at a time, so they don't get confused. So, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a "no-no" just not ideal.


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## scottopus

Knight Contracting showed up about a half hour later than the 2 hour install window I was given from Brighthouse. The good part of that was I got the install ($39.95) for free but it did take 5 minutes of me explaining to the Brighthouse CSR that according to there website it should be free.

The installer said this was going to be his first Tivo install and was glad that I had the instructions printed out. I asked if he had any M-cards. His reply was that he didn't know but showed me the two cards. Both were SA cards with a production date from 2005 so I know they were S-cards. I asked if he had anymore cards in his truck and he said "no" . 
We followed the directions exactly until it came to step 8 which was to call the cable company to activate the first card. I asked him if we could call it in, but he informed me he could only call Brighthouse once both cards were installed. Since my job isn't installing cableCARD's, I let my point be noted but didn't push for the call. We proceeded to install the second cableCARD without issue. He placed the cableCARD serial number bar codes on both his work order sheet and my instruction printout which I keep for my records. The install wrote the host ID beside each cable card serial number bar code as we went through the instructions. He then placed the call to Brighthouse to activate the cards. As soon as he finished on the phone, we tested each individual card to see if they were getting digital channels (channel 100), local HD channels (channel 628), and HD cable channels (channel 707). They were all there and he was on his way. The whole install lasted about 35 minutes and not calling in the first card in step eight didn't affect the install.

My only complaint is I didn't get an M-card but Brighthouse never said that I would get one.

One thing I would like to pass along to the next person getting an install is to insure that all your cable connections are tight and have RG59 printed/stamped on them. I had some pixilation issues that are currently have been resolved by replacing a cable and tightening all the connections.


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## lombard

scottopus said:


> One thing I would like to pass along to the next person getting an install is to insure that all your cable connections are tight and have RG59 printed/stamped on them. I had some pixilation issues that are currently have been resolved by replacing a cable and tightening all the connections.


I'd be willing to guess your pixelation was due to your connections and not your cable. I'm 100% RG6. I'd expect the likelihood of pixelation to be higher with RG59.


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## scottopus

> I'd be willing to guess your pixelation was due to your connections and not your cable.


You are correct, I have a lower class cable (R59). So I guess it was the loose fittings. If I start to have problems, I switch them out for the R9. Thank you for the correction.


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## scottopus

Well after five days, my cableCARD 1 came up with a 161 52 error and to call the cable company. What was interesting was that cableCARD 1 couldnt tune into a couple of analog channels (22, 37, 51 & 54 that I recall and possible some digital but I didnt check). CableCARD2 was able to tune into these channels per the cableCARD channel test. I called BH about the problem and error code and all they would tell me is if I reseated the cableCARDs. I lied to her and said I did knowing that Tivo says you shouldnt unplug the cableCARDs. She then said that shell have to schedule a tech to come to the house. I asked her if she could ping the cards or check to see if the host ID/cableCARD numbers were correct. She said the only diagnostic thing she could do was ask if the cards were reseated. I figured I should make the appointment before trying to fix it myself. The first thing I did was to reboot the Tivo a couple times. This did have any effect on cableCARD1 ability to tune in those channels. Then I ran the cable from the Tivo directly to the wall outlet bypassing the BH installed cable modem splitter. This act seemed to restored the all the channels that I listed above on cableCARD 1. That worked for about an hour before it lost those channels again but this time on both cableCARDs could tune in those analog stations. Since I was running out of things to try, I decided to reseated both cards and rebooted the Tivo. Now I know why Tivo says you shouldnt remove the cards because I wasnt able to tune in any channels after that point. So I admitted defeat and ejected both cableCARDs and reran the set-up guild as without cableCARDs. All the analog channels came back and worked so it looks like Ill be that way until BH shows up on Sunday. No HD football games on Saturday


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## scottopus

The serviceman called me about an hour before my service window on Sunday (10/19) to get directions and inquire about the problem. I explained to him the issues I was having with the newly installed cableCARDs. He said the work order only said TV doesnt work and didnt say anything about cableCARDs which is a problem since he didnt have any cableCARDs and the main office is closed. He then said that he would call around to some other trucks to see if they had any. After about half an hour he called back to tell me he wasnt able to find any cableCARDs and could we reschedule for Monday (10/20). I said that it wasnt a problem and could he please bring an M-card since he has to get some anyway. He said he would try.

The serviceman arrived exactly on time and brought a couple of S-cards and one M-card. I asked if we could try the M-card first. He agreed and we inserted the M-card. Just as we wrote down the Host ID and card number, the card started downloading new firmware. During the firmware install, the servicemen called BH to set-up the new card and remove the two old cards. Since the firmware wasnt done loading, he hung-up before testing any channels. As soon as firmware was complete, the cableCARD couldnt see a single channel. He called back to BH and luckily got what seemed like a knowledgeable person. She explained that the previous person didnt remove any of the other cards and the account was a mess. She asked the serviceman what we where keeping. I explained we had a BH DVR, a modem, and now this M-Card. While she was setting it up, the serviceman said that they have to put those items in the certain order so they work properly. As soon as she was done, the cableCARD worked.

So I currently have a working SA M-card in my Tivo HD. Im going to keep my BH DVR for another week in case I have a problem. I can only hope that when I return the BH DVR it doesnt screw anything up. 

On a side note, I asked the serviceman what he thought of these cableCARDs. He said that he has one in his personal TV and recommends them to people.


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## Yogi76

I don't use a Tivo, but I do use two CableCARDs with my Windows Media Center and Digital Cable Tuners. Since the time I got these installed a few months ago, I have been missing the following HD channels:

Ch: 1335 Disney Channel HD
Ch: 1337 ABC Family HD
Ch: 1345 TLC HD
Ch: 1348 Science Channel HD

As well as the newly added:
Ch: 1324 CNNHD
Ch: 1331 ESPNUHD

Well, yesterday afternoon all these channels started to come in. I don't have the Tuning Adapter, and as far as I'm aware it won't work with the ATI Digital Cable Tuners anyway, so I don't think this has anything to do with SDV (Switched Digital Video). I just wanted to see if any fellow CFL Brighthouse CableCARD users are seeing the same thing.

Yogi


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## orangeboy

Yogi76 said:


> I don't use a Tivo, but I do use two CableCARDs with my Windows Media Center and Digital Cable Tuners. Since the time I got these installed a few months ago, I have been missing the following HD channels:
> 
> Ch: 1335 Disney Channel HD
> Ch: 1337 ABC Family HD
> Ch: 1345 TLC HD
> Ch: 1348 Science Channel HD
> 
> As well as the newly added:
> Ch: 1324 CNNHD
> Ch: 1331 ESPNUHD
> 
> Well, yesterday afternoon all these channels started to come in. I don't have the Tuning Adapter, and as far as I'm aware it won't work with the ATI Digital Cable Tuners anyway, so I don't think this has anything to do with SDV (Switched Digital Video). I just wanted to see if any fellow CFL Brighthouse CableCARD users are seeing the same thing.
> 
> Yogi


Yep, it seems the missing HD channels are back in CFL. I learned about it here: <link to Nunzio's post>. I got messages stating I needed cable cards (which I have) to view those channels, but those messages went away after I pulled the power to my Tivo for a few moments. Once power was connected to the Tivo again, all channels were accessible (of course with the exception of the on-demand channels.)


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## doubletee2

Yogi76 said:


> I don't use a Tivo, but I do use two CableCARDs with my Windows Media Center and Digital Cable Tuners. Since the time I got these installed a few months ago, I have been missing the following HD channels:
> 
> Ch: 1335 Disney Channel HD
> Ch: 1337 ABC Family HD
> Ch: 1345 TLC HD
> Ch: 1348 Science Channel HD
> 
> As well as the newly added:
> Ch: 1324 CNNHD
> Ch: 1331 ESPNUHD
> 
> Well, yesterday afternoon all these channels started to come in. I don't have the Tuning Adapter, and as far as I'm aware it won't work with the ATI Digital Cable Tuners anyway, so I don't think this has anything to do with SDV (Switched Digital Video). I just wanted to see if any fellow CFL Brighthouse CableCARD users are seeing the same thing.
> 
> Yogi


I still can't get those channels on my Tivo HD here in Orlando. I decided not to fight it. I think you are right about SDV, though. I believe BH just doesn't want Tivo HD people to have these channels for whatever reason.


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## notnow117

I noticed they were coming in one of my TiVos, but not the other. So I called up BH and had them zap my cards, and sure enough the channels showed up.


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## therlin

Thanks for the heads up. I'm in Orlando and I am now getting these channels as well.


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## doubletee2

doubletee2 said:


> I still can't get those channels on my Tivo HD here in Orlando. I decided not to fight it. I think you are right about SDV, though. I believe BH just doesn't want Tivo HD people to have these channels for whatever reason.


Decided to give it one last try and power cycled my Tivo HD and it worked! I'm getting the missing channels. Now the question is, why did it take so long? If we get more HD channels, which is likely, will the same thing happen again? If there ever is some sort of cable service that REALLY allows the subscriber to bring their own hardware without limitations and provides all of their available content across the board, then I will be the first to sign up.


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## TiVoToo

therlin said:


> Thanks for the heads up. I'm in Orlando and I am now getting these channels as well.


Same here. Took long enough.


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## guarh

I never had issues with channels listed above (Tampabay area) but most of the time I don't have A&E. Not that I watch that normally but I wanted to record The Andromeda Strain, the other day and couldn't. Reboot didn't help either, maybe I need to call BHN.


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## tberry61

I'm getting a tad irritated with BH strongarm techniques here. With the digital change coming in February, BH is working dilligently on adding more HD channels. The problem is, these channels will NOT be available on cablecards. They are forcing us to move to their piece of crap DVR so that they can get us to buy Demand programs. I am only interested in what I'm paying for. On my bill has the plans listed. On their website has these channels listed for these plans. I want what I pay for. I inadvertantly (due to a mistake at their office) received a couple of the channels. When other channels didn't show up I had them come out. They said I was getting channels that I shouldn't. These channels weren't going to be available with CC's. But they obviously can be. They just won't do it. 

Isn't this class action lawsuit material? Is anyone else having this problem?


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## windracer

tberry61 said:


> The problem is, these channels will NOT be available on cablecards.


I'm getting the newest HD channels (USA, SciFi, and Bravo) on my S3 and THD with CableCARDs just fine (Brighthouse, Pinellas County, FL).


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## mthird

I just had two S-Cards installed yesterday in a TiVo HD and all of the new channels are available. The tech for BrightHouse Orlando went out of his way to find an M-Card, but wasn't able to find one.

I just received a call from him and he's on his way over with an M-Card. I'm more than pleased with the effort.


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## jamesweber

25Tango said:


> Several questions:
> 1. Would a cablecard show the qam chans on the guide?
> 2. Is there a work around to get the qam chan program info?
> 3. Is Tivo working on a solution to this or is it practical for them to do so?
> TIA,
> MR


1. NO I do not believe so
2. Not currently
3. Alot of people are complaining to TiVo that a QAM channel map is needed, but I have not heard anything official from TiVo.

The biggest problem with Clear QAM is that it is being rebroadcasted for free by the cable company, with that being the case they can broadcast on whatever channel they choose and can change it at anytime. So they are not required by the FCC to send in the channel information to anyone (ie. tribune media) so they don't


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## TomRaz

Does anyone know if BHN in Pinellas counting is going to be getting and SDV tuning adapters in the near future ?


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## guarh

You may want to check this thread, at least for Central FL


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## shefftom

I have been a TiVo customer for over 5 years, I have 2 series 2 and 2 HD TiVo's. I am being pushed to drop TiVo by Brighthouse Networks. They have been to my house 5 times to install cable cards in two HD TiVo's and claim they can't configure them. They blame it on TiVo. They refuse to read the installation instructions or call TiVo support. Today, day 5, they installed two tuner adapters ahead of the HD TiVo's. Still don't work. I have been on the phone three times, talked to a dozen people. Tried to escalate to a higher level, got a supervisor who did not know what a TiVo was (she said she did, but she thought it was a type of TV). I had TiVo cable support rep on the line with me, she said it was incredulous. 

I live in Polk County between Tampa and Orlando and I am on BH Tampabay. I wish TiVo had laisons with Brighthouse that could advocate. The installer told me there were only 3 customers in my county of 516,000 with HD TiVo on BHN. Kept pressing me about just getting a BH DVR instead.

I guess part of the problem is that BH in my area must have started SDV. I read the info on line at TiVo and I am sure that my software is up to date and shoud support it. The tuner adapters are installed, but when I try to access HD content (other than the local HD stations) the cable card configuration screen comes up, which means they still not configured the cards. 

They screwed up my original HD TiVo by pulling the two cards out of it and trying to make it work with the new HD TiVo. That ruined the configuration on the original set. These people really don't know what they are doing.

Can anyone suggest any connections with Brighthouse? I am leaning toward giving up the fight at this point.


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## lrhorer

guarh said:


> The contractor said that the tool is like $2K


For a fairly low end SLM, yes.



guarh said:


> which sounds ridiculous to me.


'Try building one yourself, some time. 'Expect the final bill to run 5 figures, though. Building an accurate and stable meter able to measure signal strength +/- less than 0.5dB from 5MHz to 1000MHz is not an easy task.


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## jrtroo

Start calling you village and your local regulatory body. Your state's AG office or consumer group may also help.


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## windracer

Brighthouse in St. Pete _finally_ has M-Cards. I just had a tech swap out the two S-Cards in my THD with a single M-Card. That'll save me $3.90/month, which will only take me 10 months to re-coup that $40 installation fee for the truck roll! 

Anyway, this was the smoothest CableCARD install I've had yet ... probably because the tech had never done a TiVo before (he used to do installs for Verizon) so he let me do all the driving. He also showed up _2 hours_ early on a Sunday morning!

I popped out the S-Cards, put in the M-Card, read off the info, he called it in, and a few minutes later everything was working.

Quite different from the pain I experienced back in '06/'07 getting S-Cards installed. :up:


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## windracer

windracer said:


> Brighthouse in St. Pete _finally_ has M-Cards. I just had a tech swap out the two S-Cards in my THD with a single M-Card. That'll save me $3.90/month, which will only take me 10 months to re-coup that $40 installation fee for the truck roll!


When my billed showed up today, I called and complained about the $40 fee just to remove two existing cards and replace them with a single one. I argued this wasn't a new installation and I did most of the work anyway, so the rep removed the charge from my bill. :up:


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## heifer624

Installed an M-card here in Brevard county (Cocoa) , with no problems...Switched from the brighthouse HD box and kinda disappointed I no longer get these HD channels I use to watch:

1001	MLBHD
1015 WGN
1016 CBS College Sports
1322	Versus
1325	CNBC
1328 ESPN News
1332 Speed
1334	Golf Channel


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## windracer

Here's the "official" list of SDV channels on Brighthouse:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7557490#post7557490

_edit:_ whoa, post 8k! :up:


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## heifer624

Any word as to when Brighthouse may provide this SDV tuning adapter ???


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## windracer

You should be able to get one now (at least in Central FL, not sure about other areas).


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## EpcotEric

I called Brighthouse yesterday and was told they are available now in the Tampa/Pinellas market for $3.80/month. No "1 year free" offer at this point. I have opted to hold off for now since the channels affected by SDV are not that important to me.

CSR also told me that it requires an installer and cannot be picked up at local offices.


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## eaayoung

heifer624 said:


> Any word as to when Brighthouse may provide this SDV tuning adapter ???


They are available in your area since part of the BH Central Florida. Other's in your area have had them since the spring per a different thread.


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## heifer624

Good News: Brighthouse gave me the adapter free for one year and no install fee.
Bad News: Brighthouse showed up with a Cisco STA1520 tuning adapter.....They spent 4 hours trying to get it to work. No SDV channels showing up. Will come back in two days to try to resolve.


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## heifer624

Two guys showed up two days later with a new Cisco. 2 1/2 hours later they left after multiple calls to their boss via cell phone. They said their engineer would have to follow up on what the problem was. They left it hooked up and said their boss would probably call me the next day. 

The next day I came from from work, no call from the Boss, and found the box was working 100%. They must have found the problem at the office and fixed it.....Still no call from the Boss.


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## mhanson74

I have been having all kinds of problems and I am on my 3rd Tivo box. I am dissapointed I signed up for the lifetime service. It has taken me since late December to get where I am following the advice of Tivo and now since I am passed 30 days - they will not refund the lifetime service - so I am stuck. Latest problem is an error 161-52 - I searched and could not find out what that is - anyone know? The Brighthouse tech said I need a tuning adapter and they will install that tomorrow - will that fix my grey screens? About every hour if I am watching HD channels I get a grey screen. The techs really do not know much since it is not their device.


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## jrm01

If Brighthouse is using SDV (which I think they are) this very well could solve your problem.

BTW, why did you post this to a year-old unrelated thread?


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## orangeboy

jrm01 said:


> ...BTW, why did you post this to a year-old unrelated thread?


Your math is off. The prior date to the OP's post was on 12-20-2009.


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## lammcspicy

can anyone tel me the difference between and m and an s card ? And how to tell the difference. Im in central florida I get a lot of "channel is temporarily unavalible" on the HD channels for channels I can get if I reboot the card in my tivo unit. This is not a great solution if I am out and set something to record


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## orangeboy

lammcspicy said:


> can anyone tel me the difference between and m and an s card ? And how to tell the difference. Im in central florida I get a lot of "channel is temporarily unavalible" on the HD channels for channels I can get if I reboot the card in my tivo unit. This is not a great solution if I am out and set something to record


On the card itself, it will say Multi-stream. I saw (a bad) one yesterday when BHN tried to install the one card they brought (lack of availability at the local office, I believe). The tech said he'd bring several on Tuesday to try, when he can get his hands on more.

A multi-stream CableCARD will decrypt the signal(s) for both tuners (or up to 6 tuners, if you have them I've heard), while the single-stream CableCARD can only handle one tuner at a time. S-CARDs are no longer being made.


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## pileosnafu

Ok first sorry for reviving a 5 month dead thread but it the thread helped me dramatically! I recently purchased a TIVO with the current promo, and knew I would need a cable card. I called BH (I live on Orange) I was told that on my initial call with someone I got connected to by saying remove services. Told me all the disadvantages of a cable card so as no ondemand and "premium channels." "So we basically do not offer cable cards" I asked you basically don't or you do not? He replied with a "DO not at all." 

Then asking a secondary question about my internet seems I only pay a $1.83 for it because of a package even though it shows much high on my bill -- but that's a whole different issue

So after reading the great advice on this forum. I called pressed the same buttons, rather then beat around the bush i straight up asked about the cable card and a Tunning adapter. Rep right away stated the rate of $3.40 (or whatever for the TA) and $2.andchange for the cable card. I asked about the free promo stated hasn't seen it in a while.. she asked since I have a box now why am I looking for a cable card, stated tivo, she said let me check on something. Came back stated yup still have 1 year free on the TA for Tivo customers. (horay for a community) Said it was $26something for an install, or I could get the cards and the TA at my local office. Somehow I think I will call and check they have some in stock before I drive over there. 

THANK YOU everyone!


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## Dr_Diablo

Brighthouse is a joke, I called 6 weeks ago to have my service installed, an was told they no longer offer cable cards for the Tino an the broad hung up


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## ahwman

I have two TiVo Premiere XL4's utilizing Motorola cableCARD's. I noticed today that the firmwares are quite different from one to the other. Recently my cable company pushed out a firmware update to both of my Motorola tuning adapters but not the cableCARDS. I have a pretty good relationship with my cable company and wondered if I should give them a call and ask them to push out the latest firmware to both cableCARDS or just leave it alone. I have had some issues with one TiVo intermittently with regards to tuning some channels and this happens to be the one with the older firmware. I've documented the reported statistics as they appear for each in the TiVo CableCARD Status screen.

CableCARD 1:
HW: 0554050003 
Boot: 04.01
FW* 06.25

CableCARD 2:
FW Version: 02.65, 02.01, 03.25
HW Version: 0469927002


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