dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
224744
« Copper clad steel VS pure copper coaxMy Cable Problems »
prev · 1 · 2 · 3 ... 54 · 55 · 56 · 57 · 58 · 59 · 60 ... 197 · 198 · 199 · next
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1 to JoeKustra

Member

to JoeKustra

Re: Service Electric Cablevision News

I still have WBRE HD and WNEP HD and 12 local SD channels left. TMS updated our lineup but they did not fix the mix up with 483 and 484. Replacement TiVo is in ST. Clair and will be delivered Monday. I should have contacted UPS earlier in the week as I would have gotten it by Friday.
Jed1

Jed1 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
There should have been some cars there as SECV does have CSR's and techs that are supposed to make Saturday house calls. I think they start at 8:00 AM. We have 2 HDs and 12 local SDs left to be encrypted. All the national SD channels are now encrypted. I think SECV makes changes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Monday is catch up day because of the weekend and you are probably right about Friday as they do not want to leave anything in turmoil over the weekend.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

Jed I have to admit it was early when I drove by. Only car was a truck behind the closed fence and it was still snow covered, so it hadn't moved since the storm two days ago.

Yeah the locals are pretty much whats left, plus that PPV previews channel. Maybe there is a central aggregation hub / datacenter or whatever you want to call it for national channels. So when they encrypt something national like MTV, Nick, CNN, etc.... its done in all areas. If you go back in the thread you'll see Joe's posts mimic what was encrypted down here, though we have two different lineups / headends. Locals are obviously different so they would likely be sourced differently. We have a tower site with some VHF and UHF style elements on the top that is hidden on a mountain. I'm sure you remember a few months back I took a hike and posted pictures of the site. It's possible this is the local receive site for us, unless it is indeed fiber now and that just serves as a backup.

I know with Comcast, they have a few channel ingest points where equipment basically puts the feed up on the network. Its multicast and each service has an ip address and port number. So then each local area just uses edgeqam's that have the proper ip address and udp port for each service it is translating to RF. I have a Comcast internal document for the Central PA region that an employee gave me a few years back showing the IP addresses and frequency assignments. If you want it I can send it your way, its really interesting. SECV likely is sharing some equipment and that backbone network would be either their own wavelength or private fiber strands dedicated to the task leased or purchased from ptd.net. When you look at PTD's business page and check their fiber map, correlate those points to google maps and do earth view, you will see that map is extremely accurate in pinpointing all of PTD's partner receive sites. Service Electric Lehigh Valley's site on South Mountain is particually neat to see because Google has a street view to the facility and you can look up at the tower and make out the antenna elements, see some dishes, and heck there is even an employee with an SECV shirt walking the premises.
Hellrazor
Bah Humbug
join:2002-02-02
Abyss, PA

Hellrazor to Jed1

Member

to Jed1
Not sure how they are doing it but k-12 public schools get free cable service and they aren't affected by the encryption.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
I do know that when Mahanoy City was part of SECO that all the premium channels would come from Sparta. They were piped here by fiber. There was also a earth station at the Wilkes Barre headend that could also receive all the channels. The fiber feed was dismantled when the divisions were sold to the other children.
I do believe that there is a central control point, probably at SECV corporate headquarters, that routes through PTD to control each headend. Each headend has their own earth stations. This way if one earth station goes down it does not take out the video customers in the other divisions.
I am thinking that in the future SECV may eliminate the routing through PTD as this maybe the central purpose for the Hub in Delano. Also with the death of John I am wondering if there is some sharing of services between SECV and SECTV. The use of the Arris Whole Home setup by both systems suggests this. The remaining division of Edwards, Sparta, still uses the Passport Echo software. I think you will find this link pretty interesting as Sparta seems to have started using the auto tune feature that comes with Passport Echo.
»www.secable.com/?p=techn ··· cal-info

If you can I would like to see that document from Comcast.
Jed1

Jed1 to Hellrazor

Member

to Hellrazor
That would be a commercial application. Schools and hospitals are large institutions so they would have their own internal systems in the buildings. SECV would deliver the signal and then modulate it to send the signal over the buildings network.
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA

JoeKustra

Member

Just got message. Ch 635 is moved to 529 (NBCSNHD) and they added TRAVELHD as ch 571.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

2 edits

cypherstream to Jed1

MVM

to Jed1
Ok Jed, now this document is a few years old. Its an Excel file and it appears as this site automatically zips it when I upload it. The QAM summary tab is particularly interesting as it lays out all Comcast Central PA divisions. The comments on the cells indicate a little more detail. This was back when they had a lot of analog and some of the migrations and projects shifted a bit.

I can post this now because of its age, but back when I originally had it and the data was "fresh" I was trusted not to share this document. It's just a neat little comparison now they managed the bandwidth across multiple divisions. More recently a guy I worked with to deploy a Comcast fiber ENS circuit filled me in that all the video is available off their video CRAN network. They just need the IP and port number and can pull video off the network from anywhere. Most of it is ingested in Denver CO (they have a huge recieve site there, looks awesome in google maps). A lot of the Philadelphia locals are ingested in Newcastle, DE. There's VOD silos in Lebanon PA and West Chester PA. Also back then they did a DNCS Consolidation project where I believe they migrated the former Suscom York, Williamsport and Scranton (former Adelphia) 3 "core" systems to one large system. In a high speed IP network they built, they can share DNCS (Cisco) or DAC (Motorola) across multiple divisions. Different channel lineup files can exist and multiple "hubs" can be on an individual controller. Each local hub needs its own hardware for the OOB and return path though (makes sense). I think the RNG-110 says SECV Birdsboro is hub ID 3.

How it relates to SECV is that I think they could do a similar thing where all the video is IP these days. I mean back in the day it was ASI right off a commercial satellite receiver. Now you pretty much have to have a high level of networking and IT experience to work in the industry. It's no longer as simple as plugging the output of this into the input of that and setting the modulation frequency and levels. You can still convert the ASI to gig-e with a DM6400 cherry picker. This was made by Teryaon, which Motorola bought out and now Arris still sells these. Here's an old manual about it. »west1catv.com/wp/wp-cont ··· revA.pdf You will see references to it in the spreadsheet as the host names containing _DM in them.
cypherstream

cypherstream to Jed1

MVM

to Jed1
said by Jed1:

That would be a commercial application. Schools and hospitals are large institutions so they would have their own internal systems in the buildings. SECV would deliver the signal and then modulate it to send the signal over the buildings network.

Comcast tech told me they generally install an "ATX". When I google that I get this which seems to fit the bill: »atxnetworks.com/

Maybe SECV would use the same equipment in the data racks of hospitals, universities, etc...
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA

JoeKustra to Jed1

Member

to Jed1
I thought they didn't work weekends. Channel 100 (Info) doesn't have info today. Clear QAM is ok.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1 to JoeKustra

Member

to JoeKustra
I also got the line up change. TBN and Family Net is still wrong. Replacement TiVo will be here tomorrow. Hopefully it is in one piece and gets here early so I can get the CableCard paired.

Interesting note. TiVo had me disconnect the Ethernet cable from my TiVo on Monday so I can still use it until the replacement got here. I checked the clock and it made the time change. It must have been included in the guide data over a week ago. I have data until Thursday.
Jed1

Jed1 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
That definitely is an older document. I was looking at Chambersburg, my sister lives there, and I remember that analog/digital lineup. The Cherry Picker (groomer) document is a must read for anybody who wants to know how cable/sat operators statmux channels on their systems. Everything is fully explained like rate shaping and missing PSIP data. Even why SECV has four digit sub channels.
Joe Kustra would like it as this was the piece of hardware that made TVGOS go wacky.
These documents use to be readily available on the internet years ago but today you need to be a paid subscriber to get the technical documents. I saved this one as it is a good read.
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA
ARRIS SB8200

JoeKustra to Jed1

Member

to Jed1
It's been about a week since 2am Sunday went away in the guide. It sets the clock with about every network connection. It may be every time, but I don't always catch it. I stand corrected: channel 100 is now TV2. The ch 100 description is wrong, and ch 19 still has the info stuff. The channel says it's HD, but it sure doesn't look that way.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
Many years ago when I was in high school, North Schuylkill had a TV production studio in it. We used to produce and shoot two shows every week and then air it on Service Electric's channel 13. There was a simple switch behind the equipment that you would flip on to send the feed to Service Electric's system. Unfortunately the TV studio was abandoned and then dismantled after I graduated. Everybody thought we would watch TV all day long in that class but it was a lot of work. We even had state of the art mobile cameras and recorders at that time and we would start shooting the sports games to air on channel 13.
Jed1

Jed1 to JoeKustra

Member

to JoeKustra
Yea that what I am seeing. It is a game from the Lehigh Valley that SECTV is doing. They have HD cameras now and SECTV broadcasts TV2 in HD now. I do believe the same game is on channel 22, which is the SD version of TV2.
»tv2sports.com/

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA

cypherstream to Jed1

MVM

to Jed1
One down today
7-5206 WGAL 8 NBC
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA

JoeKustra

Member

That's one we never had. Saw a real big Zap 2 It copyright screen today on ch 100. That's new and may have been my TiVo.
JoeKustra

JoeKustra to Jed1

Member

to Jed1

The Lone Channel

Who is that masked man? Info channel on my 8.604 is all that's left.

Well, the 5 analog are still there. Just to be accurate.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

Yup all the remaining locals done here as well. Just 7-201 the info channel remains. Who knows they might keep that up as a test. Besides, free advertisements.

Of course the analog sweep and balance carriers are there.

So how much longer until they use this to improve the system like their letter claims? Sure now things can be shuffled around without affecting boxless clients. So does that give them freedom to start managing spectrum a little differently to add more things?
cypherstream

cypherstream to JoeKustra

MVM

to JoeKustra
For whatever reason, despite the encryption, TV Land HD Ch 544 still comes in on an HD set top without the applicable HD package.

motorola870
join:2008-12-07
Arlington, TX

motorola870

Member

hmm has SECV removed all of the traps from the system cypherstream? that would be the only way they could fully utilize the spectrum without interuptions.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA

cypherstream

MVM

They will now.
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA

1 edit

JoeKustra to Jed1

Member

to Jed1

Re: Service Electric Cablevision News

Did we break Zap2It? It doesn't want to accept 17921, and 17931 doesn't have SECV. Or is it just me?

Update: it's fixed.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1 to JoeKustra

Member

to JoeKustra

Re: The Lone Channel

I finally got to set up my replacement TiVo yesterday and things did not go well. 1st SECV computers were down so I decided to go through with guided setup and get all the updates. This took about 3 hours. I am on 20.4.5c so I had to sign this unit up for the Priority update to get 20.4.6.
I had to call back at 2 PM and a CSR took the info for the card and said it will get done. 4 PM and still card not validated so I called back and finally got a CSR that helped me. WE managed to get the new TiVo paired and validated but my other TiVo was not validated. It appeared that the Data ID was not correct so they added the new numbers and nothing happened. I decided to restart the TiVo while they were checking my account so the card finally validated after the reboot but when the CSR tried to call me back my phone service with SECV was malfunctioning. She left three voice mails but I did not receive then until 11 PM.

While waiting for the call back I noticed that my OOB SNR would drop to zero and bounce back. She finally got back to me this morning so now I have a service call for the phone and one for the signal issue with the OOB frequency.

I did remove my two WMC computers last night and removed the 4 way split and put in a 2 way split but there was no change in the signal levels. I even swapped my bedroom TiVo with the living room TiVo and there was no change. I did this so SECV can not blame TiVo for the signal issue.

Encryption is now complete. Phones at SECV were busy when I called yesterday and today.
Jed1

Jed1 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream

Re: Service Electric Cablevision News

It looks like the encryption is complete. Wonder what is next. Thee was supposed to be work on the Frackville system this morning but it appears that it did not get started. They also updated the ticket for Frackville to add that more updates are needed to resolve the issue.
»www.engr.ptd.net/ticket/ ··· =2030444
»www.engr.ptd.net/ticket/ ··· view.cgi
Jed1

Jed1 to JoeKustra

Member

to JoeKustra
I just checked this and Frackville is now missing. They have Ashland in the Sunbury system. Shenandoah is also missing.TMS really has this all screwed up.
Another issue to deal with.
»tvschedule.zap2it.com/tv ··· schedule
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA
ARRIS SB8200

1 edit

JoeKustra to Jed1

Member

to Jed1

Re: The Lone Channel

said by Jed1:

Encryption is now complete. Phones at SECV were busy when I called yesterday and today.

I still have that lonely info channel. I guess 100% isn't in SE's language. Sorry about your TiVo trouble. My boxes are on 6a-RC1 now.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1

Member

I got the 20.4.6 update at lunch time today for the new TiVo. I also registered it with Amazon Prime. All I have to do is move some of my 1Ps to the new box.
I moved my bedroom TiVo to the living room and I noticed that the fan or hard drive is noticeably loud. I can hear it running when I walk by the TV. Is any of your TiVo's noisy?

SECV told me this morning that I will have to wait for the upgrades to Frackville in order to fix my phone issues. Now it is the phone and internet I am having problems with.
I was at my friends bar on Nice street and I noticed that there is all new fiber and hardware for the cable across from his bar. It is not hooked up yet but that is one of the 8 nodes in Frackville. So there is work being done.

I also emailed Tribune to fix the missing zip codes for our area. If this doesn't work then I will try TiVo.
JoeKustra
join:2013-06-04
Ashland, PA

JoeKustra

Member

Quiet as a mouse. It's bad when the phone is bad too. I haven't seen anything new around here, but I don't get out much.
Jed1
join:2012-01-14
Frackville, PA

Jed1

Member

Thanks for the info on the TiVo noise. I told them that I only have this phone so it must work all the time. I did not get a response she just said that the work should be done by the end of the month.
I got out of the house yesterday and took a walk around my neighborhood. The roads are in horrible shape. A lot of garbage was hidden in the snow and is starting to appear as the snow melts.
I just transferred a bunch of 1P's to the new TiVo. It is amazing how quickly this happens.