As
switched digital video (SDV) rollouts continue, we're apt to hear more and more about how cable companies plan on handling the distribution of
Tuning Adapters. We've already heard that Cox will be
giving needy customers in Phoenix a TA for free, and Time Warner Cable New York recently
sent out letters to CableCARD users informing them that their TAs
may be handed out gratis. Now, we're seeing a pre-order page over at TWC's San Antonio site that clearly informs subscribers that the Tuning Adapter they request will be provided at no charge "later this year." If you're in or around this area and own a TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL, now would probably be an excellent time to get your name on the list. For everyone else, have a look at your local carrier's page and let us know if it's doing something similar.
[Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
[Thanks, Lawrence]
Read - TWC San Antonio main site
Read - TWC San Antonio pre-order page
posted Oct 24th 2008 1:57PM
You can order one from TimeWarner Wisconsin (Milwaukee) too...go to this page and fill out the zip code form to see if they are accepting registration in your area...
http://www.timewarnercable.com/Corporate/Products/DigitalCable/sdv/default.html
Albany looks to work http://www.timewarnercable.com/Albany/Products/Cable/sdv/order_sdv.html
It looks like Time Warner Kansas City will also be offering it, after a quick search for tuning adapter on twckc.com
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
Pigs seen soaring in the stratosphere
Blizzard in deep deep deep south
Time Warner Mid-Ohio (Columbus, Ohio area) has the order form on their website as well...
http://www.timewarnercable.com/MidOhio/products/cable/sdv/default.html
I just contacted Time Warner in San Antonio this week and talked to both their technical support and their "retention" department and explained I was tired of only getting 8 HD channels with my TIVO and was told they had no firm plan of when they would be released. Of course I had to explain what TIVO was and had to explain what switched digital video is and how it was implemented at TWC.
I'm tired of waiting and tired of hearing their BS about not supporing TIVO. After being a customer of TWC (and their previous incarnations) for over 20 years I have now officially ordered Grande cable, phone, internet. When I asked if they knew anything about TIVO they said at least 2 Grande technicians in the area are TIVO experts. I talked to one of them and he really knew their stuff. Not only understanding why TIVO and Grande were compatible but why TIVO and TWC aren't.
My appointment to switch is Thursday afternoon.
The TWC Tuning Adapter seems about as real as the Chevy Volt. It looks like a way to retain TIVO customers without actually doing anything.
TWC's fiscal year ends on 12/31/2008 and they'd hate to show a drop in customers in their annual report.
As of this writing (12/6/2008), TWC SA has given their service reps and field staff zero training or information about the tuning adapter. How can they roll it out in 2008 as promised.
Also, notice that NO TWC city has seen even a field pilot.
I guess I'll have to wait until Grande Communications reaches my house.
I cannot believe the song and dance Oceanic Cablevision (Time Warner) has been giving the people of Hawaii who dared to purchase a TV with a Cablecard slot. I will speak just to Oceanic's latest implacable position: The Cisco Tuning Adapter TW will "willingly" provide to their CableCard Customers does not work unless you don't need it. That is, the SDV Adapter will only work on the very latest TV's and TIVOs that already have a two-way cablecard system built-in!
It sickens me that the FCC takes such an impotent position in their alleged support of the consumer that TW feels free to make such ridiculous arguments. The $10,000 fines the FCC levies against TW and Oceanic are meaningless - which gives you an idea of the kind of money TW is fighting tooth and nail to protect.
Without proper regulation, TW will continue to raise one meaningless issue after another in hopes of wearing their customers into submission. They place absolutely no value at all on customer relations and will go the way of all such corporations.
Take a look at TW's stock. The writing is on the wall, but the cable companies completely lack the foresight to see it. Netflix offers true value and true choice. As Netflix continues their upgrades to HD, TW and Comcast will be the ones left in the cold - where they belong.
TWC San Antonio issued my Tuning Adapter on Monday, 1/12/09, and it works!
A few comments:
1. When they call you that your tuning adapter is ready, get the special support number as the main tech support folks know nothing about it.
2. There is a glitch in TIVO Series 3, you have to do a channel up/channel down once with each cable card to activate the cards on an SDV channel.
3. Based on other web sites, there is more than a glitch with the TIVO Series 2/HD boxes that TWC issued in Austin. Google it. Good luck with them.
4. Even with two cablecards you only need one tuning adapter.
5. You can pick up and install the box yourself. First you connect all the signal cables, then you plug in the power cord. The TIVO detects the tuning adapter in about a minute and does its own setup automatically. TWC will talk you through by phone or even roll a truck if you wish.
Finally, despite my sarcastic post earlier, I think the real issue is that several mix and match combinations of four really complicated computer-based systems (TIVO, cablecard, tuning adapter, head end computer) made by different companies have to work together. The field testing really took a while and the training will take a while. Since TWC doesn't teach their line people the internals because they are proprietary and because that's not the fastest way to fix problems, TWC must work through a lot of standard and error situations, come up with the best response in each case, and train a lot of level1/level2 techs. Not a minor undertaking.
At least TWC is making an effort.