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Post by Chris Miller on Nov 27, 2008 22:11:21 GMT -5
I just bought a TiVo HD and now I want to upgrade my Time Warner Albany cable service from basic to digital. I tried calling today, but they had knew nothing about m-cards and said that I would need two cable cards.
I've been reading the other posts in the forum and it does sound like they do have m-cards, but there is some trick to getting them. Can anyone tell me the best way to get TW to install a m-card? What should I ask or request from TW when I make the appointment?
thanks,
Chris Miller
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Post by hurnik on Nov 27, 2008 22:24:42 GMT -5
You have to first schedule the appt. You can TRY to ask for an M-card, but they'll either tell you (falsely) that they don't have them, or that they cannot specify which card you will receive
Once you DO schedule the appt. you then need to call Tom Landry at 242-8800 x3455 to have him look up the appt. and he'll see that they get you an M-card.
I don't know why TW makes it so difficult. Personally I think they are falsely stating they don't have them so that you have to use TWO S-cards and they can charge you more.
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Post by Skaggs on Nov 28, 2008 7:52:30 GMT -5
I just bought a TiVo HD and now I want to upgrade my Time Warner Albany cable service from basic to digital. I tried calling today, but they had knew nothing about m-cards and said that I would need two cable cards. I've been reading the other posts in the forum and it does sound like they do have m-cards, but there is some trick to getting them. Can anyone tell me the best way to get TW to install a m-card? What should I ask or request from TW when I make the appointment? thanks, Chris Miller describes my experience with Albany TWC in getting Mcards. The short version is: I bought two TiVo HD's a little over a year ago. When I called TWC and asked for Mcards, they said they didn't have them and scheduled a truck to roll with 4 single stream cards. Tom Landry (head technician at Albany TWC) called me and asked if I really wanted 4 single stream cable cards or 2 Mcards. He left his return phone number in a voicemail to me and that's how we got his number. |
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Post by Chris Miller on Nov 28, 2008 8:45:15 GMT -5
You have to first schedule the appt. You can TRY to ask for an M-card, but they'll either tell you (falsely) that they don't have them, or that they cannot specify which card you will receive Once you DO schedule the appt. you then need to call Tom Landry at 242-8800 x3455 to have him look up the appt. and he'll see that they get you an M-card. Thanks! Now Ijust have to add myself to the waiting ist for the tuning adapter. |
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Post by Chris Miller on Dec 4, 2008 14:00:06 GMT -5
Well, the install went smoothly. The installer brought an M-Card and after a few minutes was able to get it authorized. I was disappointed on the number of channels that are SDV, at least 80-100 channels out of the 150 or so are not accessible. I'm also paying for a cable box (for another TV set) and it's vary obvious what I am missing from the lineup. I'm not really seeing much more of a lineup than what I was getting with the analog service.
The installer left very quickly and I was unable to ask him any questions about the SDV lineup. So I called TWC and the first CSR was borderline rude and provided information that was factually incorrect. He literally said that the reason why I get fewer channels is because I needed a multistream card. When I explained that I did have that card, his attitude went downhill. I didn't see any point in continuing the call, so I thanked him and ended the call.
I immediately called back and spoke to another CSR, who was much more professional. I asked her for a list of the SDV channels and I was told that that information was not public and she could not send it to me. I counted back (politely) that the information was public because they state on their web site that they are using SDV technology and the fact that I can not get a channel indicates that the channel is SDV. I just want a list so I know what to expect in terms of service. Also, if they move any more existing channels to SDV, that qualifies as a change in service and they would need to provide 30 day advance notice to the town that they supply service to.
The CSR did send a request to the TWC legal department to get back to me with a legal reason why they can not make the list of channels that go out as SDV available to me. I has also asked for an expected release date for the tuning adapters.
One thing that I have noticed is that every TWC employee that I have been in contact with today has asked me why I want to use a CableCard instead of their cable box or DVR. I realize the CableCard users are a very tiny minority of TWC customers, but I'm still a customer and they are mandated by the FCC to support CableCards.
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Post by Skaggs on Dec 4, 2008 15:58:04 GMT -5
Aaaahhhhhhh! The "contact the legal department" answer. When I asked what channels were SDV back on February 9, 2008, they told me the Legal Department would be contacting me to discuss the information. It's been 10 months and I never received a call from the TWC Legal Department. I compiled a list of SDV channels by going into the diagnostic menu on my TWC issued cable box and posting that list here. That's the best list you will ever see, because TWC won't tell you. Once, a TWC technician was at my house and left behind an internal memo listing all the SDV channels that were deployed at that time (2/5/08). You can view that document here. |
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Post by Chris Miller on Dec 4, 2008 16:21:41 GMT -5
Aaaahhhhhhh! The "contact the legal department" answer. When I asked what channels were SDV back on February 9, 2008, they told me the Legal Department would be contacting me to discuss the information. It's been 10 months and I never received a call from the TWC Legal Department. I wasn't terribly surprised. I didn't expect much and got what pretty much what I expected. I was shocked how slow it was to change channels with the CableCard installed. My only hope is that the Tunig Adapter gets released before the warranty on TiVo runs out. |
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Post by hurnik on Dec 4, 2008 19:41:07 GMT -5
My TivoHD changes channels fairly quickly with the cable card. I'd say just as fast as the crummy cable box. But not as fast as "direct" analog on the TV.
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Post by Chris Miller on Dec 4, 2008 20:44:45 GMT -5
My TivoHD changes channels fairly quickly with the cable card. I'd say just as fast as the crummy cable box. But not as fast as "direct" analog on the TV. I figured they would be about the same speed (which would be sluggish), since both the TiVo and the cable box are both using a CardCard. It does makes you change the way that you channel surf. Instead of skipping through channel, I'm going through the channel listing first, then changing the channel. |
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Post by john627 on Jan 26, 2009 14:34:19 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
Here's my situation in a nutshell:
-just got a TiVoHD
-Submitted online form for Tuning Adapter
-Called TWC last night to get a m-stream card installed:
CSR informed me that they don't have m-cards and that a single
stream card and Tuning Adapter would work the same as a m-stream
card - any truth to this? I wasn't very trusting becaue I remembered reading about m-stream cards on here.
Perhaps "luckily" she couldn't schedule delivery of the single stream card since my account is locked right now as I'm transferring my number to Vonage.
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Post by Skaggs on Jan 27, 2009 7:35:33 GMT -5
Hi everyone, Here's my situation in a nutshell: -just got a TiVoHD -Submitted online form for Tuning Adapter -Called TWC last night to get a m-stream card installed: CSR informed me that they don't have m-cards and that a single stream card and Tuning Adapter would work the same as a m-stream card - any truth to this? I wasn't very trusting becaue I remembered reading about m-stream cards on here. Perhaps "luckily" she couldn't schedule delivery of the single stream card since my account is locked right now as I'm transferring my number to Vonage. Hurnik's post above describes what you need to do: You have to first schedule the appt. You can TRY to ask for an M-card, but they'll either tell you (falsely) that they don't have them, or that they cannot specify which card you will receive. Once you DO schedule the appt. you then need to call Tom Landry at 242-8800 x3455 to have him look up the appt. and he'll see that they get you an M-card. I suggest you contact Tom during normal business hours after you have scheduled the appointment. Also, ask Tom if he can have the tech bring a tuning adapter, too. You will need one M-card or two S-cards. The M-card is the preferred method, and it is cheaper. Monthly rental for one M-card OR one S-card is $1.95. An additional S-card will cost you another $1.95/mo. |
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addy
New Member
Posts: 13
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Post by addy on Jan 30, 2009 1:52:35 GMT -5
Hi everyone, Here's my situation in a nutshell: -just got a TiVoHD -Submitted online form for Tuning Adapter -Called TWC last night to get a m-stream card installed: CSR informed me that they don't have m-cards and that a single stream card and Tuning Adapter would work the same as a m-stream card - any truth to this? I wasn't very trusting becaue I remembered reading about m-stream cards on here. Perhaps "luckily" she couldn't schedule delivery of the single stream card since my account is locked right now as I'm transferring my number to Vonage. Yeah - you definitely want one M-Card. The basic difference is the amount of streams that can be decoded simultaneously. S-Cards (S stands for single stream) decode a single video stream - therefore you need one for each tuner in your TiVo and TWC charges u the rental PER card. The M-Card supports multiple streams (up to 5 I believe) and will decode the streams for both tuners on a single card. More importantly you're only charged one card rental fee. When I got mine I just had the rep "Kindly note the work order that I need one M-Card" and it worked out fine although I'm sure calling the guy skaggs mentions would be the way to be sure. At some point in the future (I've heard as soon as this summer) vendors will FINALLY be supporting the 2-way m-card that time warner is already using in certain cable boxes in customer devices (like tivos). TW is already using these cards in their 4250/8300 boxes but the current issue is that the equipment vendors are not yet creating devices that support them. There's a test area in like texas or something where they released some televisions to the public with 2-way cable card slots and the cable company in the area (Comcast I think) is working with the vendor to allow those customers the 2-way cards to test out the technology. Since they are FINALLY in the testing phase with them I have high hopes that we will see them soon. Once they're out the tuning adapters will become the Betamax of the cablecard world and we'll finally see 3rd party equipment capable of SDV / On Demand / Startover and the rest of the features currently exclusive to the rented boxes. I can't wait!! Till then the tuning adapter is at least a step in the right direction. |
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