Comments on: CableCard hopes dashed for now

Update on CableCard

[mcantelon]

Non-CableCard Questions

I have none. I have a bazillion CableCard questions ... But that's all.

Thanks for the update Rich. I hope you get everything straightened out quick.

CableCard has been unreliable all over. Hopefully these problems will get worked out as more of us dare to dive into them.

Looking forword to more information (regarding simultaneous use through multiple MCE's--including the Xbox 360) when you are able to find those things out. I want to see how close you can get to the "Windows Vista, CableCard, and you" diagram from November.

I've got the money, and I've got my Velocity Micro PC picked out ... I'm just waiting to see that someone has actually got it working.

[jtimouri]

Cablecard garbage

I had a bad experience with "cablecard" too. Hours of wasted time, we all have been through it with "new" technology, although I thought cablecard was around long enough to work. I gave up on it.

[dougoxley]

Cablecard economics

The real problem is that cable companies do not have an incentive to properly support cablecards. They would rather rent a set-top box for $5-10 per month than a cablecard for less. This also allows some measure of control over how the signal is output.

[bgallemore]

As a last resort try this...

I had a very similar experience with a Sony DHG-500. 2 visits from TWC and getting it woirking only to have it stop. Finally not caring if I nuked it or not I took the card out, rebooted everthing, and with everthing on slaped the card in... it came up with a snyc message and it's been working great for 1 1/2+ years. HTH

[Adeian]

Hardware problem

From what you mention in the article I would say you have a hardware problem. It's either the actual connector where the cable from the wall plugs into the box or the connection between the card that is handling the RF and the cablecard. I work with these things all day and one thing is that signal level is very important. More isn't better as most set top boxes work best in digital mode at between negitive 5 and 10db. Some equipment is so sensitive that much higher than 20 db fries them.

There are other problems with cablecard technology. A cablecard is actually a little tiny set top box running linux. Everytime you boot the cablecard needs to load it's stack then figure out what it's host is and load that stack then if there were no problems load all the guide data and applications and figure out what part of the RF network it belongs too. Although cablecards have been around for awhile none of the cable TV companies head end people have much experience with them. Everytime there is a code update there is also day long conference calls and engineers flying around trying to figure out why the new code doesn't load in the wild.

Things are getting better the closer we get to 7/7/2007 but unless you are willing to be without your digital cable for awhile sometimes and don't mind paying the same amount for less services I would hold off buying anything with a cablecard in it.

[derekbill]

Cablecard Fiasco

Fourteen cards tried over eight visits by three Comcast employees, and still no
reliable service on my TiVO S3. Enough is enough, so I've gone OTA-only.
HOWEVER....now it is apparent that local Albuquerque network outlets are still
buried under the learning curve, as dropouts and miscues are the order of the
day. Jack Bauer fights nukes while I struggle to keep him onscreen. It's truly the
best of times and the worst of times for the early adopter.

[spokanedj]

CableCards In Spokane

I have two Motorola CableCards from Comcast in Spokane, both in Toshiba 65HM15 TVs. I've had both for about six months, self-installed both and haven't had any problems with either card.

Signal strength (like any digital signal) is certainly a factor and I had to re-***** both installations. The cable boxes seem to be a lot more tolerant of weaker or stronger digital signals.

[JohnnyL]

Where's the support from the mgf's?

In all of the above I haven't seen one comment as to any support from the ass hats who actually make the cable cards. Seems like they would be avail for support. You would guess that they know how the card is supposed to work. you would also think that someone would have tested the tech out to see if it works before committing to production.

[mcantelon]

New question about TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner

Okay Rich; you've been on a hiatus for a few days now and so I've had to do my own reasearch into CableCard and all that, and I've got a new question.

The TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuners you have seem to handle only one stream of data ... They're each acting as single tuners. I figured that this meant that they were only capable of acting as single tuners; but now that M-cards are showing up in the real world, I have to ask:

Does the TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner support M-cards, and is it capable of handling multiple streams if it has an M-card? Is your dual-device setup a result of limitations of the TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner? Or just due to a limitation in the CableCards you were issued?