Tivo with Cablecard Questions

[sk1927]

Has anyone lately gone through the experience with TWC installing cable cards in Tivo Premiere boxes?  I saw some threads from late 2011 and reading those posts would tell me its not worth the hassle.  Any comments?

My other questions:
1)  Can I self install the cable card?
2)  Do I need the tuning adapter? (my current TWC subscription is for channels 3-99)
3)  When will TWC end analog cable and convert all of the 3-99 channels to digital only? (ie. when will they stop the simulcasting practice of providing both digital and analog signals)?
4) Are other Tivo models better with regards to using cable cards (ie. Roamio vs Premier boxes)?

[LoadStar]

Has anyone lately gone through the experience with TWC installing cable cards in Tivo Premiere boxes?  I saw some threads from late 2011 and reading those posts would tell me its not worth the hassle.  Any comments?

My other questions:
1)  Can I self install the cable card?
2)  Do I need the tuning adapter? (my current TWC subscription is for channels 3-99)
3)  When will TWC end analog cable and convert all of the 3-99 channels to digital only? (ie. when will they stop the simulcasting practice of providing both digital and analog signals)?
4) Are other Tivo models better with regards to using cable cards (ie. Roamio vs Premier boxes)?

Well, I am kind of the go-to TiVo guy around here, it seems. I don't have a Premiere, but I do have a TiVo HD and a TiVo Roamio. The experience for each was pretty similar, so I would have to imagine the Premiere should be as well.

The answers:
1) Yes, you can. For my Roamio, I stopped at the Mayfair store and picked up a Cable Card. Annoyingly, they just handed me the Cable Card in a little baggie, with no instructions or anything. It's not that there are many instructions required, but it would have been a little more user-friendly had they had some. But I digress. The short version is: plug it in, call into the National Cable Card desk, have them activate the card, done.

2) If your subscription is only for what was previously thought of as the analog channels, channels 2-99, then you would only have limited need for either a Cable Card or a Tuning Adapter... but yes, you need both to get channels that are "switched digital," of which there are now a handful under channel 100.

3) No imminent plans to go exclusively digital that I've heard. The plan right now is to continue to slowly move a handful of analog channels at a time to digital only. Eventually, yes, they will likely be digital only, but there isn't any schedule to do so.

4) The only differences between the TiVo models and Cable Cards:
- TiVo Series 3, the original HD capable TiVo with the vacuum fluorescent display on the front, requires two cards, one for each tuner.
- TiVo HD, TiVo Premiere, and TiVo Roamio (Basic) have no issues.
- TiVo Roamio Plus and Pro have 6 tuners, however some cable providers have Cable Cards in the field that do not have a firmware revision that supports 6 tuners. As best as I can tell, Cable Cards issued by Time Warner here in Wisconsin are just fine.

Unless you're getting a killer deal on a Premiere, I'd suggest considering a Roamio instead. Consider the Roamio Basic if you don't need the integrated streaming (you can always add a TiVo Stream if you want one later on), the additional two tuners, or the MoCA networking that the Roamio Plus and Pro offer. If you end up needing additional space than the Roamio Basic provides out of the box, the hard drive on the Roamio line is fairly easily user replaceable.

[LoadStar]

Speaking of the National Cable Card Desk, if you get a Cable Card device, you *will* need this number at one point or another:
   1-866-532-2598
The ladies and gentlemen at the normal support number do their best to assist with Cable Card support issues, but the national desk is staffed with people who know Cable Card, Tuning Adapter and related issues like the back of their hand.

For example, you call the local number, say "My tuning adapter is flashing 8 blinks, so I need an authorization signal sent to it," and you'll likely be forced to deal with them having you do all sorts of reboots that aren't required, while they fumble about. Call the national desk and say the same thing, they'll say "Ok, I'm sending that signal now. Let me know when it stops blinking."

The two times you call the national cable card desk:
1) Initial activation of the equipment
2) if the issue directly pertains to the cable card or tuning adapter.

If it is a cable outage or something like that, call the normal number.

[sk1927]

Hi Loadstar, thanks for the info, its very helpful.  One other question: if I were to upgrade my TWC service to 'Preferred TV' which is essentially the main digital cable service, will that level service provide just digital signals only to my Tivo?
And does the 'Preferred TV' level eliminate what TWC has a 'Starter TV' and 'Basic or Standard TV?

[LoadStar]

Hi Loadstar, thanks for the info, its very helpful.  One other question: if I were to upgrade my TWC service to 'Preferred TV' which is essentially the main digital cable service, will that level service provide just digital signals only to my Tivo?
And does the 'Preferred TV' level eliminate what TWC has a 'Starter TV' and 'Basic or Standard TV?

*sigh* I wish I could tell you for certain. Time Warner Cable tends to rebrand its packages on a regular basis, and I can't keep up. I can only guess that "Preferred TV" is the new branding for what used to be known as "Digital Variety."

If that's the case, it would include all of what would be included in "Starter TV" and "Standard TV." It also adds the vast majority of digital cable channels.

The package leaves out some of the more esoteric sports channels (such as the Fox College Sports regionals, Universal Sports, ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal LIne, etc.), pay TV channels, some really obscure digital channels (Military History, RFD TV, Crime and Investigation, etc.) and so on.

Not to overly complicate matters, but one little twist right now is that we're in a little bit of a transition period with TWC. As of right now, with an HD capable TiVo, a cable card, and a tuning adapter, if you tune to many of the "standard TV" channels below 99, the system is smart enough to automatically tune in the HD version of the channel instead. You can see the list of stations in my post here. Eventually, I expect all the channels across the board to function that way, but we're not there yet. The only reason I raise this point is that if you are happy with the channel lineup you have, but want better quality, I'd start by just getting the TiVo/CableCard/Tuning Adapter and see what you get.

Hopefully I didn't completely confuse you! Simply trying to figure out what TWC any particular day is confusing enough. And yet, I tend to find them one of the better cable companies out there. Go figure.