US Cable Support > OptimumOnline > [iO] New Jersey All Digital

reply to kickass69

Re: [iO] New Jersey All Digital

reply to mbernste
I'm referring to QAM scans using an HDTV's QAM tuner.

reply to kickass69
Once I got a working SDV box I've never had any problems. I'm wondering if the issues being reported are due to bad SDV tuning adapters? I had to go through three adapters before I got one that worked properly, which makes me wonder what kind of quality control Scientific-Atlanta/Cisco are doing on these devices.

reply to kickass69
Unfortuantely when I did my weekly QAM scan back on 12/4/2012, most of the extra channels I IM'ed you are gone along with TCM-HD which was was I was getting before all those extras popped up.

reply to JDolan
Jdolan I feel your "pain" as I had similar issues with the premiums coming up "Temporarily unavailable" on Long Island until they removed the Switched Digital Video last year. I made calls, tech came out, made calls to supervisor. No one could fix it. Tech just told me my signals are fine, the frequency is locked in etc but could do nothing to resolve it and I had to wait until SDV was dropped. To me the term "temporarily unavailable" means a couple of seconds, maybe a minute but sometimes SHO2 and some of the STARZ channels would be "out" for half an hour or more and I would completely miss movies I wanted to view despite changing channels and trying to go back to the channel I still got that message - completely unnaceptable when you are paying 80.00 for the package of channels on iO silver and the premiums dont work. Why they employ this technology on premium programming makes no sense. I was close to moving to Direct TV but they finally removed the SDV so hang in there. If it ever comes back, I will refusse to deal with it and will just change providers. Until they figure out how it works, it should not be used.

reply to JDolan
yes, very frustrating indeed

reply to frdrizzt

reply to kickass69
SDV removal will be happening in NJ to mirror the other non-NYC regions throughout the winter, but mostly next year.

reply to dm145
Unfortunately the biggest disadvantage to SDV systems is that there are many components in the system. This means that when problems arise, Cablevision might find it difficult to figure out the source of the issue. Problems could start in any section of an SDV system's architecture, and different problems require different solutions. Problems originating from the customer's STB will only affect that one household, but a problem with an SDV server or SRM has the potential to affect thousands of customers and might require teams of technicians to get it back on track. In many cases, cable companies will have to rely on products from multiple vendors to create one SDV system. Some products may have compatibility issues with others, making it challenging for cable companies to deliver reliable service. If these issues can be tracked down better, we all wouldn't see those messages often.

reply to kickass69
well they better figure out how to deliver those SDV channels without "Channel not available" messages

reply to VinceA
Well I was referring to using the TV's Analog/QAM tuner to determine which channels you get (if any) in Analog as well as those you receive in the clear on the QAM/Digital side (Clear QAM).

To elaborate further on what I had heard above, they meant that the premiums won't have them fully removed either. Systems that have will be back on SDV eventually and more regular channels in the lineup will need it in the long run.

The only way this can be avoided if they upgraded their entire plant to handle more space for both internet downstream/upstream channels as well as space for HD channels.

reply to kickass69
Hmmm, don't think I've got anything around to do a QAM scan unless the TiVo can do one...

I know SDV will still be used for the International channels & such but I'm mostly concerned with the HBO & Showtime premiums.

reply to kickass69
they really should eliminate having 4 hd channels per qam
there are quite a few of them

but I don't see that happening

reply to VinceA
Well the way I determined mine went all digital was my weekly QAM scans. Also the HD channels that the digital/analog hybrid systems didn't get for the past year or so are now on the lineup as well. So far I've noticed no reduction of Switched Digital Video (SDV) being all digital.

One rumor I had heard from line techs is that SDV is never going to be fully eliminated and that Cablevision will have to use more of it in the future once all the extra space from removing the analogs is used up.

reply to kickass69
I just viewed my latest online bill and it had a brochure about CableCards & such. Does this mean that my system (Bayonne) has finally gone all digital? Waiting with baited breath for that moment so I won't need a TA for my TiVos to get all the channels I pay for

reply to SirQAM
So the bottom line is do I still need a tuning adapter on the Bergen/Cresskill system?

reply to Bob
Hey Nyan Cat,

reply to Bob

Re: [iO] New Jersey All Digital

reply to Bob
I did a scan with the intent of typing in all the channels I found. There are too many for me to do that. Bottom line is that it seems to be the Broadcast Basic channels, with HD channels in HD and duplicated in SD.

I didn't see any Family Cable (iO Value) channels.

There are also two ANALOG channels, 17 and 119, showing spectrum analyzers.