bmn
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Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
| Huh?
"Our goal is to ensure that any customer requesting and using a Cable Card has the best and easiest experience possible." Linnen added that Comcast has "already successfully distributed more than 100,000 of these cards to our customers." But: "given the complexity of some newer [consumer electronics] equipment, Comcast may require that a professional technician handle installation and activation to ensure that cards are installed and activated properly." Strange... I remember Cablecards being billed as so easy, a caveman anyone could do it. Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play.
I'm wondering if some of the cable providers are making the install harder with hoops for people to jump through on purpose to keep people renting their boxes. It should not surprise anyone since this type of behavior has happened in the past (for example, Telcos not telling people they don't have to rent their ancient phones anymore, etc. etc.)
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Ding.ding.ding... BINGO.
Why make competition easy.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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FiL
Premium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD | "Strange... I remember Cablecards being billed as so easy, a caveman could do it"
I see where you were going with that...striking it out...
I RESENT YOUR STATEMTENT! |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to bmn
said by bmn  :Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play. What standards? There are no standards for manufacturers to follow and each make/model have their own little qwerks when it comes to interfacing with a cable system. There are certain brands of TVS where I can slip a card in the back, call the office and have it working withing 15 minutes. Then there are the other models where you follow the same procedure and it can take an hour or more.
Then what do you do? Should cable techs have the user manuals for every model of TV or STB memorized?
On one model, you power off, slide the card in, turn it back on, find the series of numbers needed in the menu, and call dispatch. On another model, you Power on, slide in card, find the numbers, have dispatch activate it, power off, and power back on.
Then there are certain TVs that have the tendency to attenuate higher frequencies more than a standard F connector should. Therefore, a line with good signal can be connected to those TVs where it becomes low enough to cause problems. And do you think these TVs have a diag screen that shows SNR and incoming levels? Absolutely not. This makes troubleshooting that much more difficult.
Then there are the models that separate the digital tuner from the analog tuner, requiring a splitter behind the set, degrading the signal more than if it had an integrated tuner. And trust me, an extra 2way splitter can be the difference between smooth operation and headache.
Standards? They don't exist, yet they definitely need to exist for the sake of both consumer and MSO. |
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Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA
| Also doesnt help when manufacturers have firmware updates needed but dont inform customers.. examples.
Mitsubishi needs 6.01 or later
Panasonics PT-52LCX65 needs 1.44 or higher
Philips needs 1.4.0.0 or higher
Samsungs with older firmware tend to drop the last HD channel until realigned again.
Samsungs saying "cable card out of date" just need tv's clock set...
Thats just 5 examples I can think of at this time. |
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bmn
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Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
| reply to MadMANN
said by MadMANN :said by bmn :Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play. What standards? I was talking about the cablecards themselves... Should have been more clear. However, I can't argue with anything you posted. There needs to be a standard method of installing cablecards into televisions.
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