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Re: Service Electric Cablevision News

Actually I didn't state it was going to happen now but sometime in the not so distant future. Eventually all cable TV systems in the US will be fully encrypted as it makes financial sense to do so.
What a lot of people do not understand is all cable TV systems are privately owned closed loop systems, just like the two satellite systems are, and their feeds are fully encrypted and you need some type of box to access their services.
Even the over the air broadcasters are allowed to encrypt their feeds with the exception of their main SD digital channel. ION broadcasting is rolling out the AirBox service in large markets now. The ATSC approved this in July of 1999.

There is probably only 5% or less of the subscriber base in all SECV divisions who are running in the clear QAM as most have some type of decoder box in their homes. SECV has over 100,000 subscribers.
The movement to doing MPEG 4 for the complete line up will be the most difficult as they will have to replace a lot of legacy STBs.

Still waiting for the Delano hub to be finished, but no idea when that will be. I don't know what all it entails, but it seems to me they are moving very slowly if it's still not done when it was supposedly started months ago.

Well I don't think they will move the HSI channels any lower. If you have Internet only, the trap they put on the line only passes RF Channels 78 ish to 105 ish or so. So HSI must remain within those frequencies. Now what they could do is move some of the unencrypted basic digital that is tunable in that range to the lower frequencies, then Internet only customers will not receive any video on QAM tuners. When they go all digital, they will likely keep the message channel in analog on 2, 54, 70 and 135 for system balancing. 54 is for the Moto AGC area's and 70 is for the CCOR AGC area's. 2 and 135 are just to get a good level reference point on a meter for low frequency and high frequency.

With the fiber hub buildout, I guess that depends on the mileage and terrain they have to run the fiber. Plus usually they run more than one geographic path for redundancy. Also permits, construction, weather and all other kinds of delays could be causing the holdup.

There are a few small cable operators that populate the PSIP tables so QAM tuners actually remap the channel to the analog equivalent.

It would be nice though if SECV used enhanced channel map and auto tuned HD channels for HD equipment.

SECV is mostly a rural operator and is spread out over a large area and has a large poor and elderly subscriber base. They would save a small fortune if they do encrypt the entire line up. They do a lot of connect/disconnects. This would give them the ability to stop service immediately for delinquent customers.
Like I said this will be done the road probably sometime next year at the earliest.

The Sunbury office/head end is brand new as the old one got flooded by the Susquehanna river. They will merge the CATV Danville system in with the Sunbury system just like Mahanoy City and Shenandoah is being merged into the Hazleton system.
The lineups are the same amount of channels but they still use the traditional CATV channel assignments.
»www.secv.com/cdocs/channel_sun.pdf
»www.secv.com/cdocs/channel_catv.pdf
In fact CATV and Mahanoy City have everything that the other systems have but the Wideband 50 internet. Once the two systems are fully tied in to their new head ends then all systems will be equal.
»www.secv.com/catv/index_catv.html

Sunbury the only system with a Hispanic tier? That surprises me.

The downstream channels are from RF 113 up to and including RF 120. I do believe the VOD channels are right below the internet channels. I will have to check my channel map to make sure.

The notch filter they use for the internet and broadcast basic subscribers is from RF 23 up to around RF 75. If they move the internet lower they can filter anything out above that. Like I have been saying encrypting the whole line up eliminates all this and will eliminate the costs associated with this.

There might be another issue that maybe delaying the hub but I do not want to mention it as it is of a personal nature.

I don't know if they will do the auto tune HD channels especially if they stick with the I Guide. Not very many of the subscriber base has HD mainly because of its cost. So auto tune will not be a big issue.

The downside of the Hub being finished is we will get the final rate increase to make us equal to the rest of the system. I really don't need wideband 50 internet so they can take their good old time. My rate hike will be an additional $4/month.

We have it here in the Hazleton/Mahanoy system also.
»www.secv.com/cdocs/channel_mah.pdf

I’m a SECV customer via Birdsboro and my DCT6416 III box is dying fast. HDMI was intermittent for a few days and now out completely. Using HD via component for the moment but box often resets (once or twice a day). Almost done trying to watch and/or copy off recorded programs to avoid losing them. I need a new box NOW. Which HD/DVR boxes does SECV currently have/offer and which one should I request? DCX3400? DCX3501? DCX3510? Is DCX3600 even available yet? Is the 6 tuner Moxie solution available yet? Others? I definitely want more drive space than my current 160GB. Some boxes have assorted optional disk sizes, what disk sizes does SECV offer in the specific boxes? Does SECV only offer iGuide at this point? What about Navigator? I currently just have one box from them. Considering changing to multi-room but probably won’t yet (I have HDMI & remote distribution already). 2 tuners are adequate but more would be better. Thanks for your help.

Yeah but the Birdsboro system borders Reading, PA. The Reading suburbs where Comcast ends, SECV begins. If you ever come down to Reading, you my friend (and me) are the minority

Thats why I'm surprised there's no latino tier in Birdsboro. Not that I speak Spanish or care... but the region they are in and the Latinos are branching out further and further.

HoneyBrook, All they offer is iGuide. It might be worth investigating a Tivo Roamio and rent a cable card. That way you'll get a much better interface and more than just 2 tuners and a wimpy hard drive. Tivo also provides remote access to manage the DVR from iPad, phone, web, etc. I guess streaming content off the DVR to your other devices is coming soon as well.

SECV has bare bones basic DVR's that offer the same functionality that they did 10 years ago basically. Nothing new there. The latest I guess is one of the PACE DVR's but it still has the same no frills software on it. No multiroom, no remote management, no HD guide, no innovative keyword searches that expand into on demand, bare minimal conflict management, etc... It's a really dated system. This is a big reason why I only get phone and Internet from SECV. DirecTV is my television provider and it will stay that way unless SECV can be more innovative. I wish Comcast would buy them out so we could get X2 DVR (by the time that would happen).

The newest box you can currently get from SECV is the Pace RNG 200. It is dual tuner and has a 500 GB hard drive. SECV only runs the I Guide that is available on your Motorola. The 6 tuner box will not be available until winter at the earliest. That will also run the I Guide as far as I know.
You may have a better chance of getting this box if you take your old one back to their Birdsboro office and ask for the Pace. If they roll a truck then you will get what the tech has on his truck.

I gave up on SECV boxes and opted for TiVos. This is a good option if you have the cash to buy one. I got two 4 tuner Premieres for $1200 ($600 each) and that includes lifetime service and 3 year warranties on both boxes. SECV is good with CableCards so you won't have much of a problem there.

Jed, how much does it cost you for each cable card? You have two tivo's so you are paying for 2 cable cards right? This fee is minor compared to a standard DVR or HD digital box rental fee correct?

Also one of the things with the advanced guides is usually they run on DSG. DOCSIS Set top Gateway. This is how Comcast X1/X2 and I'm pretty sure the Moxi HD software works. Well the thing is that PTD.net provides the connectivity to each CMTS so I wonder if extra special configuration and routing has to be done to use the integrated DOCSIS modems for provisioning and software loading in an OCAP environment.

I know SECV has all the modem HFC IP's but eventually to get out its all routed out to ptd.net.

The big guys all manage their own stuff the Comcast's, the Time Warners, the Cox's, the Cablevisions of the world, etc...

Then to have to have DOCSIS levels at each outlet, they need to stock up on those Evolution 8 port "unity gain" amps.

Maybe when these sort of things can be worked out, we will see better, more innovative options from SECV.

The cards are $2.95 each plus 6% tax which equals $3.13/month per card. I actually do not pay anything as I own both of my cards. The first one I got around 2004 and the second I got around 2008 when I was with SECO. At the time the cards cost $125 each plus 6% sales tax. SECO never rented the cards so you had to buy them.
SECV honored the fact that I owned them and even replaced them with two new M cards last year.

You do not save much money by not using their DVR as I was paying $212.40/month with one DVR, and now I am paying 203.97/month with the TiVos. If I had to pay for both cablecards my monthly charge would be $210.23/month. SECV subsidizes their hardware with the different channel packages, especially the higher end triple play packages.
The non DVR HD box is $4.95/month and each each additional DVR is $13.67/month.

This is the Mahanoy City rate schedule:
»www.secv.com/cdocs/rate_card_mah.pdf
The rate schedule for Birdsboro, Hazleton, and Sunbury is basically the same:
»www.secv.com/cdocs/rate_card_birds.pdf
»www.secv.com/cdocs/rate_card_hazl.pdf
»www.secv.com/cdocs/rate_card_sun.pdf
CATV services is relatively the same as Mahanoy City:
»www.secv.com/cdocs/rate_card_catv.pdf

I suspect CATV Services customers are in the same place as us Mahanoy customers are waiting to be tied into the new head ends.

I have a funny feeling they are going to run the 6 tuner Moxi the same way they run their STBs, along with the I Guide. It would be nice if they do make the change as I would have a chance of accessing their VOD system with my TiVo.

Yeah it would be nice. We know its possible. RCN, Suddenlink and quite a few others offer TiVo that can tap into the on demand system. I'd rather lease TiVo from the provider because I just can't stomach that huge upfront cost.

I paid $600 each for mine. I got both Premiere 4s from Amazon for $200 each and got lifetime service for $400 each. I used a code (PLSR) which gave me $100 off lifetime service on my first box.
Right now the equivalent TiVo, Roamio Plus, is $900 with lifetime service but these new TiVos has a myriad of bugs so it is best to wait at least a year until they work out the bugs and see if TiVo makes any hardware changes to the Roamios.
Premiere 4s are still available. Don't get the Premiere 4 Elite as they may have tuner issues.

If I am not mistaken Comcasts X1/X2 platform is based off of TiVo software and even Direct TVs Genie that my neighbor has, looks a lot like my TiVo software.
Yes the upfront cost is high but the user experience is second to none. I really enjoy having these TiVos over what SECV has. The TiVos are quiet and run cool and use less electricity than the Pace I had.

On the CATV Services discussion the contact place is now with the Sunbury office instead of Danville.
»www.secv.com/catv/contact_catv.html

Thanks cypherstream and Jed1 for your answers. At this point in time I will be going with the Pace RNG 200N which is the current DVR box that they offer/have. I hope this box works for me with my setup. I currently use both HDMI and component/digital audio out simultaneously to multiple TVs and with 6416 it is in sync. Hope that stays the same for Pace box. They will be bringing the Pace box on Tues. Larger disk which is great but stuck with iGuide for now. At least I am used to iGuide and have been able to deal with its inadequacies. I started to look into other options like TiVo/cable card but not sure if that really saves anything. Currently I subscribe to Smart Pack HD/DVR package and one HD/DVR box. If I remove DVR service and use cablecard instead of HD/DVR box, it is $5 less for cable card and $13 less for Smart Pack package but need to add HD fee of $13 so net monthly service savings is only $5 + tax. It would take a lot of years at 5/mo to cover up front $600 TiVo cost.