El Karacho1647545492 Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Long story short, I'm sick of TWC charging me for renting their crappy, constantly needing a reboot and occasional replacement DVR. I'd rather just buy myself a good one. Anyone done this? What cable box/DVR do you have and what do you recommend? Does TWC hassle you at all about it, and are there compatibility considerations? Newegg isn't as easy to navigate in this regard as for my usual purchases. Also looking to do the same for a cable modem, but that'll be a bit easier to research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Problem atleast when i worked at TWC was switch digital . They cable cards didn't support it so using your own DVR ment you didn't get all of the channels. I ditched cable TV a long time ago. roku Box + Hulu Plus +News group account +Plex Server = watch anything I want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Problem atleast when i worked at TWC was switch digital . They cable cards didn't support it so using your own DVR ment you didn't get all of the channels. I ditched cable TV a long time ago. roku Box + Hulu Plus +News group account +Plex Server = watch anything I want Pretty much all I watch on TV is live sports. As long as that's the only way to get it in good HD, they'll keep me suckling at the cable teat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 TiVO with Cable Card is about your only option there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 TiVO with Cable Card is about your only option there. Whats a cable card, I'm :dumb: in this regard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Kevin did they ever get switch digital with cable card? Because if not he won't be able toi watch the sports. Or do you watch regular tv sports? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Kevin did they ever get switch digital with cable card? Because if not he won't be able toi watch the sports. Or do you watch regular tv sports? Major networks, NBC Sports, Speed, NFL/NHL networks, Fox Sports, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Call up and ask your cable provider if they are cable card compatible. I will say I liked WOW's whole house DVR when I used to have cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Whats a cable card, I'm :dumb: in this regard Cable Card is essentially an "open" tuner. Doesn't have the lockdowns/controls that the Cable Box has. In theory you should be able to take your Cable Card to any provider and it all works the same. You want your own DVR - so you load it with a Cable Card - and then you switch to WOW from TWC...WOW should treat the Cable Card the same, and all your programs are on YOUR DVR, not the Cable Co's. Cable Cards had plenty of drawbacks - no VOD, no Interactive PPV, sketchy guides, etc... When I left TWC some of it was worked out - but some of it still sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Kevin did they ever get switch digital with cable card? Because if not he won't be able toi watch the sports. Or do you watch regular tv sports? It was better when I left, but still not perfect like it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Cable Card is essentially an "open" tuner. Doesn't have the lockdowns/controls that the Cable Box has. In theory you should be able to take your Cable Card to any provider and it all works the same. You want your own DVR - so you load it with a Cable Card - and then you switch to WOW from TWC...WOW should treat the Cable Card the same, and all your programs are on YOUR DVR, not the Cable Co's. Cable Cards had plenty of drawbacks - no VOD, no Interactive PPV, sketchy guides, etc... When I left TWC some of it was worked out - but some of it still sucked. Am disappoint :no: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Am disappoint :no: Call and ask about Cable Cards and what have you now - I am sure it has changed in the past 2 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Call up and ask your cable provider if they are cable card compatible. I thought by law/regulations cable providers must support cable cards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 I thought by law/regulations cable providers must support cable cards? it's not that they not supporting it per say.It was a technical limitation something to do with being 2 way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Problem atleast when i worked at TWC was switch digital . They cable cards didn't support it so using your own DVR ment you didn't get all of the channels. I don't know if that's a cable card issue, or the HW/SW you put the cable card into. I know it's possible because Ceton's have that capability. http://cetoncorp.com/ IIRC you actually get the SDV box from your cable provider I think, but the HW/SW you are hooking the box up to has to support that capability too. http://cetoncorp.com/products/infinitv-4-pcie/ It's been a little bit since I've dug into this topic so I'm a little rusty. Looks like (newer) Tivo's support it too. http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/307/kw/sdv/r_id/100041 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Like I said it worked for some channels but not all. I look forward to hearing if it works now thoughl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 it's not that they not supporting it per say.It was a technical limitation something to do with being 2 way. Maybe I should clarify. IIRC cable companies must, by some law or regulation, support cable card. So the card decrypts the stream incoming to the 'cable box'. They have to be able to supply you with a cable card, and their systems must work with cable cards. But sometimes they ‘run out’ of cards. The aren’t all that interested in not having 100% control of your cable eco system so they don’t have a ton of cable cards. Yes, cable cards are not two communication compatible, so you cannot receive guide info (from the cable provider), VOD, or natively work with SDV. Guide Info: I would imagine most of the ‘good’ solutions have their own guides built into them. Instead of getting to info direct from your cable provider, they just ‘grab’ the info from elsewhere. VOD: Who gives a shit? SVD: At least TIVO and Ceton support SVD. You just have to check if your provider uses SDV, and that they can supply an SDV adapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 it's not that they not supporting it per say.It was a technical limitation something to do with being 2 way. It's come a long way in the last few years, go do some research on http://www.avsforum.com/f/ The HTPC section is good for the Ceton product. I imagine the TIVO stuff is in some specific section too (PVR/DVR or HDTV recorders). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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