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schmerold
Premium Member
join:2008-08-11
Saint Louis, MO

schmerold

Premium Member

[CATV] Charter Spectrum with Tivo Roamio Plus TCD848000

I have Charter installer coming Monday, my Roamio Plus will be here Saturday.

I though I was set until I started Googling. Anyone know if the Roamio will work with Spectrum using just a CableCard, or does it require a tuner box (or something else)?
RammerJammer
join:2014-08-03
Hartselle, AL

RammerJammer

Member

Charter will provide the tuning adapter. If they are coming out for a cablecard install, they should have one (they come together if you have a cablecard shipped to you for a self install). In my experience, it was difficult to get it working right. I had to go through a couple before I got one that worked correctly.

You'll need the tuning adapter to be able to access a subset of the available channels (the ones using switched digital video). Where I am, the TA is required for all the premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, STARZ, etc.), and some of the sports channels in the Gold package (NFL Redzone, CBS Sports Net), and a few random other channels on the dial. I've tried doing a scan without it and these are not found. If you are subscribed to a basic package, you may not need one at all. Some on here have reported removing their TAs and not missing any channels, so it could be very market specific. I don't think they publish which channels are SDV ones in each market.
schmerold
Premium Member
join:2008-08-11
Saint Louis, MO

schmerold

Premium Member

Thank you. We are getting "Business Class", so 40 channels. With any luck, there won't be any switched digital video. Glad the Tivo will be here when installer arrives, he can earn his $99 install fee

Am I the only guy that thinks this is all much too complicated? It shouldn't be this hard and uncertain.
mdavej
join:2004-06-09
united state

mdavej

Member

SDV is scattered everywhere in my market, so you can never tell if you'll really need the TA or not. Get it installed anyway.

It's complicated because very few people use cable card, so the techs usually have no idea what to do. Plus cable companies want to make it difficult in order to discourage its use. They make far more money leasing you boxes and charging DVR service fees.
schmerold
Premium Member
join:2008-08-11
Saint Louis, MO

schmerold

Premium Member

Thanks.
BlakePaulson
join:2008-08-06
Alexandria, MN

BlakePaulson to schmerold

Member

to schmerold
It was super easy for the guy to install the cablecard into my tivo. He did have the wrong tuning adapter (didn't have a usb port on it so it wouldn't go into my TiVo.) Fortunately there was another guy who had one that had a USB port one.

Was a super slick process. He used a motorola m cablecard and a motorola tuning adapter.

Has worked perfectly ever since it was installed!
schmerold
Premium Member
join:2008-08-11
Saint Louis, MO

schmerold

Premium Member

Thanks. Your note helped me find this page:
»www.myaccount.charter.co ··· uItem=79

I will report back after the installer leaves, things look good for Monday. We currently use antenna, works great, wife is looking forward to HGTV, hate paying the $10 per month, but happy wife...happy life
DA
join:2002-04-13
Greenville, SC

DA

Member

I just had this exact same install yesterday and it was a complete disaster. Installer arrived at 8am and gave up at 2pm. Eventually someone came back later and got it working around 8pm. The issue for me was that the sales person included a cable card on the order but didn't include the tuning adaptors. This created a situation where they couldn't be added to a new order until the install was completed but the install couldn't be completed until the tuning adapter was installed and the cable cards activated. If they canceled the whole order I would lose everything since my residential was already scheduled for shutoff. I made 13 phone calls from 2-5 pm yesterday until I finally reached a level that could somehow override the account and get it added.

I do want to be clear that everyone was very nice, just completely stymied what seemed to them to be an unusual situation that their system wouldn't let them fix. They told me that this was easy to fix on the residential side but the business side didn't seem to have a way to fix it without canceling and starting again. If you somehow fall into this same trap pm me and I will see if I can get you in touch with the same people who eventually fixed mine.
schmerold
Premium Member
join:2008-08-11
Saint Louis, MO

1 edit

schmerold

Premium Member

Spectrum has landed - it is crazy (200x7) fast - a few other notes.

The cable card thing really throws them for a loop, to be fair, I didn't think about it when I ordered the service, when they called to schedule installer, I said "Make sure they bring a cable card". OhOh. I suspect we all would have been better off if the rep would have canceled my order and started over. I got an outstanding installer, everything is neat as a pin and configured within 90 minutes. Six hours later, a central office tech who happens to have a Roamio got everything working.

Love my Roamio, it is quite a bit faster then the Premier, six tuners won't hurt anything

Couple other notes:
- Make sure you are using Gigabit networking. I was using an inadequate cable, ended up with 100mpbs, new cable, now I exceed 200mbps!

- I asked for rdns, helpful support person doesn't seem to know rdns from dyndns, it's wrong. Hopefully, today's tech will get it right. AT&T has stronger IP support, I actually look forward to calling their people, inevitably they know more than me and I learn something from the AT&T tech.

- Charter could do a much better job of documenting their channel line up. I like everything in a spreadsheet so I can program the Tivo with stations I care about. Spent 30 minutes doing this, copy & paste would be a much better solution than hunt and peck.

- The phone companies let you update your sim card on-line, why can't we do the same thing with cablecard, would have saved Charter a bunch of money yesterday.

- Aaron, the Vitek installer did a nice job, I tend to be a snob about who I want to see when Charter shows up, I don't like it when a third party shows up. Aaron is an exception to the rule.
cltpilot
join:2015-04-07
Denver, NC

cltpilot to schmerold

Member

to schmerold
I have been using my Roamio successfully for many months. I even have two Tivo Minis hooked up to it. Keep in mind that the new Tivo's (especially the Minis) like to use MOCA for their internet connection. I have MOCA running on my cable in the house but it took some testing and tweaking.
BlakePaulson
join:2008-08-06
Alexandria, MN

BlakePaulson

Member

I have two mini's hooked up to my roamio as well but I have them hooked up via ethernet. Moca would work just fine but I like the idea of knowing that I wired up every room in my house for a reason!