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Basic Cablecard Questions. Metrocast doesn't know.Well I am at the point of exasperation. Have been considering installing a Cablecard capable PVR (Hauppauge DCR 2650 or HDHomeRun HDHR 3). I have called Metrocast's customer service 4 times for information (was cut off twice while they tried to transfer me to Internet Support). Customer service was unable to answer basic questions and kept referring me to Internet Support, who also was not able to help. A Google search provides nothing for Metrocast and Cablecards. Metrocast's own site only mentions the word cablecard once or twice and that's in their terms of service.
Has anyone experience with setting up a PVR with a cable card? Is it possible? Does Metrocast utilize Switched Digital Video (SDV)? Do I need a tuning adapter? I presume they use M Cablecards. Any help or direction would be appreciated. |
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 nelamvr6High-End Headphoniac
Premium Member
join:2000-11-28
New London, CT |
nelamvr6
Premium Member
2012-Jan-2 1:42 pm
said by govisland:Well I am at the point of exasperation. Have been considering installing a Cablecard capable PVR (Hauppauge DCR 2650 or HDHomeRun HDHR 3). I have called Metrocast's customer service 4 times for information (was cut off twice while they tried to transfer me to Internet Support). Customer service was unable to answer basic questions and kept referring me to Internet Support, who also was not able to help. A Google search provides nothing for Metrocast and Cablecards. Metrocast's own site only mentions the word cablecard once or twice and that's in their terms of service.
Has anyone experience with setting up a PVR with a cable card? Is it possible? Does Metrocast utilize Switched Digital Video (SDV)? Do I need a tuning adapter? I presume they use M Cablecards. Any help or direction would be appreciated.
I've had a cablecard for a few years. I have a Tivo. I can answer a few of your questions. I don't need a tuning adapter with my Tivo, so I doubt you would with the devices you mentioned. I don't know what SDV is. A truck roll is required to install a cablecard. They do use M (multistream) cablecards. And, luckily enough, there was just a change in the pricing structure, the first 2 cablecards on your account are now free. Having said that, I'd encourage you to check out a Tivo instead of the devices you mentioned. Tivo rocks! I checked out the devices you mentioned, neither of them have record capability. The top of the line Tivo, the Premiere Elite, has FOUR tuners and 2TB of storage. |
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to govisland
We do not use SDV (Switched Digital Video), so you will not need a tuning resolver.
We only carry M-Cards which are capable of decoding up to 6 channels each. The Cetons, HDHomeRun, and DCR cards should work just fine. I know someone who has the Ceton one and it works well for them.
I personally have a Moxi 3-tuner DVR on my desk here, and two Tivo Premieres at home, all of which use M-Cards and they work just fine. |
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Sometime during my telephone tag excursion through the Metrocast landscape yesterday, I reached a "Connection Manager" in New Hampshire. How this happened, I don't know. He was helpful in answering my questions and even volunteered some of the pitfalls I might face. I thank him.
The idea of the Tivo was initially dismissed because of the monthly service charges. I will look into it again as its been a number of years. It may be the way to go in the long run.
Obviously I could have saved a lot of time and energy had I come here first with my questions. Thanks to both of you for chiming in. |
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nelamvr6High-End Headphoniac
Premium Member
join:2000-11-28
New London, CT |
to govisland
You do have to option of paying a one time "Lifetime" subscription fee, it ends up being much cheaper, but it is a fairly substantial charge.
Tivo used to have 1 year and 3 year subscription rates. Those were a lot easier to swallow... |
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to govisland
I got my MacBook Pre (late 2008) in may and run Win7 in boot camp almost entirely and got really into Windows Media Center 7, so I found an old ATI CableCard Tuner, the USB varient, and knew the then regional manager of the Mississippi outfit and we tried EVERYTHING to try and get it to work. We went through S-Cards, M-Cards, everything you could imagine. It never would work.
The ATI tuner is only a single tuner so an S-Card should be sufficient, but every time the tuner was unplugged from power or coax the identifier the cable head end needed would change.
For the M-Card we had much more luck in that everything was provisioned right and would stay provisioned. The problem was, that even though the CableCard was getting the right authorization and handshaking correctly, I still had a black screen. Tried everything for a full week but ended up giving up and returning the item on eBay.
Also talked with a highly knowledgeable rep in Booneville who had tried to get a Ceton 4 tuner to work and never could get it to work for the customer. So she was 0 for 2 on CableCard installs outside of Tivo's and Moxi's. Just my 2 cents in Mississippi. Let us know how it goes for you because there are alot more USB CableCard tuners out there now with multiple tuners which would be very enticing. |
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said by reedacus25:I got my MacBook Pre (late 2008) in may and run Win7 in boot camp almost entirely and got really into Windows Media Center 7, so I found an old ATI CableCard Tuner, the USB varient, and knew the then regional manager of the Mississippi outfit and we tried EVERYTHING to try and get it to work. We went through S-Cards, M-Cards, everything you could imagine. It never would work. If I remember correctly, the ATI single-tuner cablecard device requires an OCUR compliant motherboard to work properly. Your Macbook would not be one. Newer devices should not have that restriction, since the OCUR rules have been relaxed, but I do not believe that the rule changes were ever ported back to the ATI Digital Theater device. |
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 icedcornIcedCorn
Premium Member
join:2007-07-08
Rochester, NH |
to govisland
Once I get my Elite installed, I'll be selling one of my Series 3 with lifetime. It's not current model but it does a great job.  . PM me if you have an interest. |
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to rkrenicki
said by rkrenicki:If I remember correctly, the ATI single-tuner cablecard device requires an OCUR compliant motherboard to work properly.
With Windows 7 Media Center that restriction was to be dropped. You had to install a plugin package or two or three to bring your computer into compliance. I gave up on my CableCard projects and am now living in a building with supplied D* and I hate it, but I take what I can get so I guess all the HD is nice. Once I move back to a MetroCast area I will definitely pursue it once again, though the new Ceton systems at CES look very slick as far as MediaCenter goes. |
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. PM me if you have an interest.