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 ·Mediacom
2 edits | Cable cards suck As a cable tech (Mediacom) I hate cable cards. I wish they would just go away and never come back. They are unreliable at best. If you get an error code nobody has a clue what that means, the manufacturer blames the cable company and cable company says it's not their fault.
I hate dealing with cable cards. Most of the time the built in TV Guide does not work and people call the cable company and schedule a trouble call. Like that's our problem. With cable cards we only guarantee the programming. NOTHING ELSE.
We can only do so much to troubleshoot:
Check the signal
Replace the card
Make sure the account is properly setup
After this we offer to put a DCT in and people go crazy.
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·Mediacom
| Re: Cable crads suck said by Anonymous:After this we offer to put a DCT in and people go crazy. That's because a typical DCT rental costs between $10 and $13 per month. A CableCARD is as low as $1.99 per month. It is no surprise cable monopolies aren't exactly chomping at the bit to deploy CableCARD technologies.
All this nonsense about technical problems is FUD. Sure, there are some issues. DCTs have a lot of "issues" as well. The main reason they are in such limited circulation (CableCARD) is that your great cable company can't charge you a small fortune for a DCT rental. | |
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·Mediacom
| Re: Cable crads suck I am not going into why they don't work but there are major issues. I would say at least half of people eventually end up with a DCT instead of the cable card. I am not surprised cable companies don't care about helping cable card customers but *I* have to deal with those customers.
Since cable companies are being forced to allow cable cards they should simply charge maybe a dollar less for the cable card compared to the DCT and that would kill the cable card. Problem solved. (Like that naked DSL deal)
If you can spend thousands on a TV you should not waste time with a cable card. | |
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| | | | Re: Cable crads suck said by Anonymous:If you can spend thousands on a TV you should not waste time with a cable card. Yes, but most families have one large TV (usually new and HD) that will often have a HD-DVR anyway and many smaller TVs that are typically analog only with no STB. As other people in this thread have pointed out we really need cable card for those secondary/small TVs.
Think about it, late next year with the analog shut-off on the horizon every TV sold at Walmart will be fully digital. Even the bargain 13->19" TVs will be fully digital because no one will buy an analog TV. A TV in that size range costs between $100-$200 now and in late 2008/2009 it will still be that price even when it is fully digital with CableCARD support because the market will demand it (not to mention Walmart).
You think people will pay $6.95->$7.95 month for a typical STB rental for a $100-$200 TV? That costs just as much as the TV in 18 months time and I'm not even including the HD upgrade charge of $5 a month. Ha ha, in 2009 HD will be the standard for all new TVs... | |
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| | | | | Re: Cable crads suck That's why the only solution is to jack up the price for the cable card rental. | |
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| | | | | | Re: Cable crads suck said by Anonymous:That's why the only solution is to jack up the price for the cable card rental. Sorry, that makes no sense at all. You think anyone will pick up an STB just because CableCARD costs just as much? No, they will either buy new cheap DTV set that can already receive *FREE* over the air HDTV or get a cheap over the air STB (the ones Congress is going to fund for cheap) instead.
This doesn't even touch on the subject of the new iDCR ready (interactive digital cable ready) TVs that are coming later this year. They use downloadable condition access (i.e. no CableCARD). So you want the cable company to charge just as much to active those as they charge to rent an STB? | |
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·Mediacom
1 edit | Re: Cable crads suck Well if they are forced to do it and were not told how much they can charge they should do like AT&T and their naked DSL. Also new DTVs will not be able to receive premium channels without a cable card or a DCT.
And I am positive cable companies will find another way to increase revenue. Just like with a la carte services, there will be no savings.
I have met people living in million dollar homes (and this is Iowa so that means it's a HUGE place) who spend 4-5000 dollars on a TV and they bitch about extra cost for the DCT. | |
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|  dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | said by pabster:said by Anonymous:After this we offer to put a DCT in and people go crazy. That's because a typical DCT rental costs between $10 and $13 per month. A CableCARD is as low as $1.99 per month. It is no surprise cable monopolies aren't exactly chomping at the bit to deploy CableCARD technologies. All this nonsense about technical problems is FUD. Sure, there are some issues. DCTs have a lot of "issues" as well. The main reason they are in such limited circulation (CableCARD) is that your great cable company can't charge you a small fortune for a DCT rental. BINGO!
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They are unreliable at best. If you get an error code nobody has a clue what that means, the manufacturer blames the cable company and cable company says it's not their fault.
Sounds exactly like the STB I used to have. The techs who came out to "fix" the problem have not been trained to find the diagnostic pages in the STB let alone how to interpret what the pages show. CableCARDS are no different. Has the cable company provided training so that you may interpret the error codes and know how to diagnose problems? It doesn't sound like it. Blaming the CableCARD for lack of training and support from the cable company is not the way to go although the cable companies will use the results of that lack of training as "proof" CableCARDs are a failure.
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·Mediacom
2 edits | Re: Cable crads suck Absolutely not for the cable cards. I can troubleshoot DCTs. Lately Toshiba TVs simply 'refused' to work with Motorola cable cards. Some error code displayed but in this case Toshiba said they need to send someone out.
I am OK with that. I would not mind if cable tech support finds an issue and takes care of it but most of the time we are out for the 4-5th time dealing with the same problem, trying a 4th cable card with no luck. The manufacturer states it's not on their end, our tech support says everything OK in their end.
We offer to install a DCT and customer freaks out. So we inform the customer he will be charged for the next trouble call because there is nothing we can do.
After that they say something about some FCC regulations like I care. Several weeks later they end up with a DCT or switch to dish.
EDIT:
I am not blaming anyone.I just want to make my life easier. All we can do is inform the dispatch or tech support about the error code. And nothing ever happens. | |
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| | Better plan on finding a new profession then, because in another year or two EVERYTHING has to be run on cable cards. And you better bet when a democrat is in the oval all this BS at the FCC is going to change.
I still can't comprehend why the FCC hasn't mandated a common standard like the European DVB standards across all industries. So that you can have a common card, tied to yourself that you can use to access over the air, satellite, cable or TV over IP telecom TV deals. Having 18 different systems just makes everything MORE expensive. | |
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| | Are you saying that more cablecards have trouble than not? Or...are you just saying that you have a hard time troubleshooting those cablecards that DO have problems?
This sort of reeks of undertraining...I know a couple of techs who are great at troubleshooting cablecard issues and rarely have to pass the buck back to the manufacturer. The Series 3 Tivo has basically forced them to learn the various "common" error codes.  One of them told me a few weeks back that he had to try 6 different cards before he could get one to work (guess that points more to the card manufacturer) and other times he just has to make sure the cablecard is "listed at the top of the customer's account," whatever that means. Overall, I got the impression he didn't hate them. | |
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| | | Re: Cable cards suck They have more problems than DCTs. Also if you have a Toshiba TV they don't work at all.
To be honest I just don't want to waste that much time and try 6 cards. | |
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| | | | Re: Cable cards suck Weird...it did work in my Toshiba DLP tv when we tried it.
The Tivo didn't take much for one of my friends, either. Let's see how much trouble it is for my S3 and I'll post back, good or bad.
I hear ya, tho...making things easier for the techs would be better! | |
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·Mediacom
| Re: Cable cards suck Not all Toshiba TVS. A lot of them get some 161 error code and Toshiba told some customers they would send someone to update the firmware.
And I like Toshiba TVs too. But since digital transition something is not compatible.
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