Cablevision / Optimum coaxing CableCARD users back to HD STB
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 19th 2008 4:07PM
posted Mar 19th 2008 4:07PM
[Thanks, Ramon]
posted Mar 19th 2008 4:07PM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Oh, Voom channels. I'll stick with my Tivo, thanks though.
Tell Cablevision to keep their boxes... the Voom network is a joke. Take a look at their stellar HD line up on their Monsters channel. They show the same crappy b rated movie every other hour! The best thing about the channel is the preview of what SHOULD be showing on a regular basis.
I have called their bluff! and are waiting for Cablevision or Optimum (as they would like you to call them) to respond! The dongle was announced 11/27/2007 by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association", of which they are a member.
The loose availability in that press release is 2nd qtr. 2008, so I guess that could mean end of June before we hear more about that development.
Meanwhile what is outrageous is the fact that Cablevision in their flyer make no mention of the dongle, so if you are a CableCard customer call their bluff and contact their customer service demanding a release date for the dongle!
Stay tuned!
I missed that announcement on the dongle. Thanks for the tip and count me in on hassling Opium, er Optimum for delivery!
The dongle will only work with Tivo.
The notice says you need the cable box to get the interactive program guide and the music channels. That is wrong. New TV's and Tivo have TV Guide on screen and both get the music channels. You don't even need cablecard to get the music channels, they are unscrambles QAM.
cablevision can keep their crappy voom channels and i shall keep my not crappy tivos
I would forward that flyer straight to the FCC. This is exactly why the law they passed was supposed to prevent.
Why does the FCC swallows every rationale fed to them by cable companies without question? The latest sham? Citing a lack of bandwidth, the cable companies have successfully sabotaged the use of cablecards by moving HD stations to SDV.
Was there really no alternative? What about the bandwith dedicated to providing 6-10 versions of Premium stations? As cable customers now record programs for viewing at their convenience, having the exact same programing on 10 stations only appears to provide more choice.
For decades, the cable companies have fought and delayed implementing every FCC regulation designed to improve cable services and lower the costs to consumers. The use of a cablecard not only freed cable customers from the necessity of having a set-top box, it would have freed customers from the necessity of renting a set-top box from their cable provider.
Clearly competition in this area would have been beneficial for consumers.