Comcast CableCARD hangs when updating firmware (Samsung HL-S5688w)
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New member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 1 Registered: Feb-07 | I see others have posted a lot of issues with CableCARD and it looks like I'm going t hop on board with the rest. I have had Comcast out to my house 3 times and they have tried a total of 7 CableCARDs. None of them work and each get to the same point and do not advance. Comcast says its not them, Samsung says its not them either. Great. Basically, I insert the card, the TV reads "Updating Channel List" as indicated in the manual but then in the middle of the screen it says something to the effect that is upgrading the CableCARD firmware. The screen never changes and so far I have left it up for as long as 3 hours just to make sure. So my questions are as follows: 1. Is it updating the firmware on the CableCARD or my TV? 2. If the firmware on my TV is being updated or attempting to be updated why would it need an update at all considering the TV is brand new. 3. Could the cable card (Scientific Atlanta PowerKEY PKM600, dated 03/08/2005) be the problem because of age or compatability? Many thanks in advance. |
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New member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 2 Registered: Feb-07 | Anthony, First let me say I'm in the same boat with a Samsung that won't take a Scientific Atlanta cablecard and talk to Time Warner. So I don't have the answer and I'm not experienced like "cableguy" over in the cablecard problems thread, but I'll share the little bits I know. 1) No way it's updating the tv firmware, it's trying to update the cablecard firmware but it can't communicate with Comcast. 2) I think cablecards often get fw updates at first install, esp. if they haven't been prepped at the cableco prior to tech coming out. 3) It's probably not the cablecard, although that 2005 date is pretty old. They have been bringing me SA cards with 5/2006 dates. For many of the Samsungs you need to be sure you are taking care of the "clock-sync" problem. 1) Bypass any internal home coax/amplifiers. 2) Powerup without CC inserted 3) Run autoprogram(channel-search) (hours) 4) Confirm receipt of all clear channels 5) Go to the time-of-day clock in menus 6) set clock to manual mode 7) change date/time even if correct 8) reset the clock (the important part!) 9) insert the CC (msg: CC inserted) (see if f/w load time is not infinite) (continue troubleshooting) (observe CP-Auth status for "CP Auth Rcvd") (observe EMM count rise, if it rises, does it stop at 27 or 39-43? (see problem thread)) So my thing here is that I learned from tier2 Samsung tech that the tv clock must always be manually reset before each cablecard operation. (There still may need to be refinements with exactly -when- you perform the clock reset relative to CC insertion.) Several sources have said this solves many CC problems for Samsungs. Of course, there are many other issues about whether the headend/account people have deleted/recreated your acct right before CC process, whether you get "cold init/EMM staging" and other things in "problem" thread. My 2cents, -pixelswim |
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New member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 5 Registered: Feb-07 | I'm not sure what this part means: (observe CP-Auth status for "CP Auth Rcvd") (observe EMM count rise, if it rises, does it stop at 27 or 39-43? (see problem thread)) But I will be more than willing to try out the rest. Comcast is going to send a lead technician to troubleshoot who is going to have a card that is already pre-tested on their test TVs. I figure if that one doesn't work I'll let the tech speak with Samsung directly and try to have them figure it out. If they can't get it working I guess I will just have to settle for the box, which I'm not too happy about. I'll update you with my results. |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 940 Registered: Mar-05 | Anthony check the other cable card thread you posted in. |
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New member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 4 Registered: Feb-07 | Anthony, The "EMM count" discussion occurred in posts by wanabtech & cableguy on July 6-7,2006 in the other large "CableCARD Problems!" thread. Also there was a "CP Auth" discussion much farther down the thread, not sure where (I'll look for it.) --pixel |
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New member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 6 Registered: Feb-07 | Anthony, Here is PART-I (of 3 parts) of what I think cableguy is teaching us to look for. He is the source of most of this info, although I've used other web sources. This is a "first attempt" at documenting general cablecard troubleshooting techniques and I've chosen 3 main problem areas for us uneducated customers: I) Signal Quality Issues II) Entitlement Issues III) TV Set Issues OK, here is PART I (anthony, don't freak out, I'm hoping cableguy will enjoy making a critique of this when he gets the chance!) 1) Signal Quality Issues: Consider 3 ways to get your signal from the cableco coax: a) straight into your TV b) into an STB (set-top box) c) into TV with CC (cablecard) My current understanding is that even if your signal quality is good enough for "a" and "b", it might not be good enough for "c". Why? Because, first of all, with "c", the tv manufacturer is providing the "receiver" (the RF(radio frequency) receiver that demodulates the modulated RF carriers coming over the cable (the cablecard doesn't "receive", the cablecard circuit in the tv does the "receiving" for the cablecard.) With "b", the cablebox is providing the "receiver" and the cablebox maker is often the same one making the rack-mounted boxes the cableco uses to formulate the modulated signals that will be "transmitted" onto the cable (eg. Scientific Atlanta.) The TV receiver might be more sensitive to RF problems than the STB receiver. Secondly (to continue with why SQ(sig. qual.) good enough for "a" and "b" might not be good enough for "c"), the TV+CC combo might be more sensitive to: (i) RF level (ii) Ingress (RF that is not the RF from your cableco getting into your coax) (iii) Digital Traps (cableco security coax parts for people not getting digital) My current understanding is that TV+CC-combos, situation "c" above, need to use both the OOB-FDC (out-of-band forward-data-carrier) and the QAM-IDC (quadrature amplitude modulation in-band-data-carrier which is the carrier subsystem in the cable that carries digital, as opposed to analog.) For example, in situation "a" your old CRT might be only getting analog channels, it doesn't need the QAM carrier or care about it's quality. And for example, in situation "b", your Scientific Atlanta 8300HD-DVR might not need or be as sensitive to the OOB-FDC quality. Your TV+CC-combo needs good quality from both. So What? So, getting a great cable signal on your old CRT-TV or getting a great HD show via a cable box might not be a good test of whether the quality of all your coax signals is good enough for CableCARD. You could still have OOB problems that complicate/stop the CC setup process. You could still have OOB or QAM quality problems that interrupt the smooth long-term receipt of all the channels you are entitled to. So I'm just trying to document the signal-quality issue and get it out of the way. As cablecard users, we -might- need extra RF troubleshooting of our cable signal even though it works great for other situations. ---- end of PART-I - pixelswim ----------------- |
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New member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 9 Registered: Feb-07 | Hey Pixelswim, I tried steps 1-9 and had zero luck. As I said, the Comcast technician will be here Saturday so we'll see what happens. |
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New member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 8 Registered: Feb-07 | Anthony, Yes, you have to have the tech there. I'm thinking of steps 1-9 as the lead-in that you have to do before he does his thing over the phone with the "headend guy." The tech is going to have to convince the headend guy to "revoke/remarry" (see problem thread where cableguy discusses this a number of times) the cablecard (the particular one being used ID'd by s/n date) to your account. By freshly re-attaching the account to this card, the "cold init" EMMs will be sent. The tech should tell the headend guy to -Not- send the same hits as for a cablebox. He should only send two hits called "Addressable" and "Refresh." Then it's important to see if CP Auth is received (if not, they are doing the revoke/remarry wrong) and if the EMM count goes up from 0 to 39 or so. This is the latest info I've heard and put into my notes for "part2 - Entitlement Issues", my attempt at sharing a "road map." (I know you think I'm nuts but I have had 8 4-hour sessions with these techs and this is my reaction to this absurd situation!) |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 943 Registered: Mar-05 | pixelswim~ the command types may differ between cable companies and their billing procedures and practices. I read your "Part-1 (of 3 parts) and to be honest it was more confusing to me and I have a pretty good grasp on the product. It's easier to say it without all the back and forth references and some providers might not understand what a refresh or addressable hits are. You're making a great effort, but if you're trying to make a document that would help using information you've gathered from here and other sources, you might want to proof read them and see if they make sense. Better yet, send them to somebody else that knows nothing about the subject and see if it makes sense to them. For example: (copied from your own text) 1) Signal Quality Issues: Consider 3 ways to get your signal from the cableco coax: a) straight into your TV b) into an STB (set-top box) c) into TV with CC (cablecard) We are talking about cable card problems, so if you look at your "a,b,c" there is no need for "b", because you wouldn't be feeding signal to a cable card through a stb. You could also eliminate "a,c" because they are the same. In most cases it would be easier for you to say straight cable to the designated input to the cable card device, instead of saying cable straight to the tv or into the tv with a cable card. In some cases, like with Sharp and JVC, it is required to have a splitter to send signal to the respective analog tuner and digital tuners in order for the tv and cable card to function properly. Do you see what I mean? I could sit down and write out every process that I know on this, and it would fill more then 100 pages of information, and still only scratch the surface of all the factors involved. You've had 8 4-hour sessions with techs, not beating you up here either, I think it's great you're trying to consolidate data and share it with people. Just be careful how you present it because there are some major flaws with the presentation. In your last posting you can borrow my white out  The tech is going to have to convince the headend guy to "revoke/remarry" the cablecard to your account. You shouldn't need to convince them to do anything. Under the terms revoke/remarry, you're essentially telling them you need to delete this information and then re-enter it, just as if you were putting a new card in a different tv. Also, if you're going to reference things I say, do it after you make your statement, and then include a link to the thread/date/time it was posted so people can go look at the actual context of the discussion to see if it matches the problems they are having. Revoking and remarrying isn't always the solution and should not be conveyed as such. "By freshly re-attaching the account to this card, the "cold init" EMMs will be sent." Re-attaching the account to the card? You're assigning a cable card to a host, and this process in itself doesn't send the EMMs, it is just binding the 2 together so when you send the command hits it knows where it's going. "The tech should tell the headend guy to -Not- send the same hits as for a cablebox. He should only send two hits called "Addressable" and "Refresh." In most cases the tech really doesn't need to tell the headend guy what not to do, and I know if anybody in my system tried telling them such, the phone would be hung up. It's insulting to tell an electrical engineer who knows more about transporting cable frequencies and maintaining a functional cable system how to do his job, when the tech on the other end of the phone probably doesn't even know what the EMM even stands for or what it does lol. "He should only send two hits called "Addressable" and "Refresh." Then it's important to see if CP Auth is received (if not, they are doing the revoke/remarry wrong) and if the EMM count goes up from 0 to 39 or so. The revoke/remarry has nothing to do with CP authorization being received. The hits determine if the CP auth or EMMs are received, and just because they're not, doesn't mean the marriage was at fault. Signal levels, improper software in the card host, bad card, bent pins in the host, bad tuner in the host, could all contribute to that data not being received. Sorry to rant on you, but you did say " (anthony, don't freak out, I'm hoping cableguy will enjoy making a critique of this when he gets the chance!)" You asked for my opinion and I didn't go into details on the first section, and did more on the last post. The format you are using is wrong, confusing and misguided as it is, I still think you're trying to do the right thing, just going about it wrong. I hope there are no hard feelings, and if there are I'm sorry, I just think its overall effectiveness is confusing and should be laid out differently. That's just me, and my opinion. |
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New member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 10 Registered: Feb-07 | cableguy, You are absolutely right, I have tried to do several things at once and only made things more confused by doing so. I should not have jumped in to Anthony's thread where he was just posting the data on his problem and hoping to get some good help from you -- Anthony, Sorry! I wanted to do 2 things. I wanted to just compare notes with Anthony as I am another person hopeful of getting a Samsung with cablecard working. My attempt to make my statements clear came across as if I thought I knew what I was doing and had cablecard know-how, but I don't, and didn't mean to sound that way (sorry again!) But the second thing I was hoping to do was to be helpful (to us all) by being a "scribe" for some sort of practical steps to increasing one's luck at having a successful cablecard install process. Ideally I would have started a new thread and asked for your critique one step at a time. So cableguy, so sorry about causing confusion and I hope no hard feelings on your part either! I was absolutely hoping to elicit your corrections, you are the expert! I completely agree with you that you could probably write 100 pages - any set of skills with a process this complex is an art. I am probably foolish with my little road-map idea. I was not thinking of trying to document all the paths the troubleshooting could take, I was thinking we could somehow hit the high points. I'm just thinking along the lines that education is a good thing. One form of education for all of us has been reading these excellent concise answers you've patiently given out for each individual's particular cablecard problem. I'm sure we all hope that never changes. I just got caught up in reading everything I could find on cablecards and in reading the 3 big forum threads I could find (here, avsforum & tivo) and I got this craving to try and really understand this process - I have bumped into a couple others like this along the way - in other words, not to just solve my problem but to be more educated about the darn things! Anyway, the entire cablecard process, from ordering to satisfied watching should be able to be described in words in some detail (not in super detail, but better than what seems to be available to users now.) If we could describe some of the detail of a correctly working process it would be a start. I know different providers have different systems but that could be noted at certain points and perhaps a "generic TWC/SA" and a "generic Comcast/Motorola" scenerio (or whatever we feel the two very most common ones out there are) could be described and all of us and future forum newcomers could use it as a familiarization tool. OK, I'm tired and gotta be out of town this weekend but I will come back & see if I can understand the corrections you've already made. My statements about the cablecard process are just stitched together (and you are right, they are out of context) but I'm going to try to correct and refine them with your answers and I know they will get better. |
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New member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 10 Registered: Feb-07 | Well today is the day. Comcast isn't here yet but should be arriving shortly. I will of course pay attention to what they are doing and note any specifics. My fingers are definitely crossed. |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 11 Registered: Feb-07 | Good luck Anthony, take notes on more than you think you'll need notes on! |
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Bronze Member Username: WanabtechPost Number: 65 Registered: Apr-06 | Best of luck to ya with the Samsung! Out of the 100 +/- CC's that I've installed, Samsung by far has to be the most problematic that I've seen. |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 11 Registered: Feb-07 | Well not much to take notes on really. The tech was pretty helpful and let me know that he often just gets temperamental cards. He tried installing another 4 cards yesterday. Two locked up at firmware, one never finished updating the list and the final card updated firmware and channels but is not giving its and the host ID at the CableCARD info screen. LOL He tested the levels at the TV and everything else so he is convinced it is NOT that something is broken with the TV it is just the card and TV are having trouble communicating. He is returning Tuesday with another batch of cards. The saga continues . . . |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 947 Registered: Mar-05 | Anthony~ Has anybody from Samsung been out to investigate your problems? As much as I see other people having problems with this product, Samsung is usually pretty reliable where I work. Let's break this down the next time the cable dude shows up, FDC levels going into your tv: SNR going into your tv: high/low channels dBmV going into your tv: Clock was manually set prior to installation of the cable card: (yes or no) Are you able to view the cable card diagnostic screen: (yes or no), if yes can you confirm the OS build and what date/time shows up (current date/time)(boot date/time) Can you view the CP info screen: (yes or no) if yes list all the data contained on that page |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 12 Registered: Feb-07 | FDC: Not sure SNR: Not sure dBmV: Not sure What I do know is he said all the levels are in the required range and shouldn't be an issue. I had set the clock to manual previously. Here is everything I can grab from the initial diag screen (it flashes quickly and then goes to the "Generic Host Report"): OS Build2.3.149.s2 Current Resource Status:1cf1dbf Mac Address: 00:02:de:fe:0f:62 Bootrom Versions: 115 On the second diagnostics screen I see the following: 1. Set-top memory allocation report: 3. Diagnostics Denied: 16 2. Software version report: 1 apps. 3. Firmware version report: Diagnostics Denied: 4 4. MAC address report: 0. Diagnostics Denied: 4 5. FAT Status Report: Diagnostics Denied: 4 Here is what I see on the CP Information screen: Auth Status: Waiting for CP Auth Prog number: 1 CCI byte: 0x00 ECM Count: 2 EMM count: 0 Decryption status: No ECMs detected PowerKey status: Ready EID: 0x0 MKS period: 1000 KSE count: 0 Once again at the host screen it tells me: Information not available. Does that tell you anything? |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 14 Registered: Feb-07 | That's almost exactly like the visits for my Samsung. On at least one of them it locked up trying to update the firmware. I remembered EMM count always being at 0 and auth status saying "Waiting for CP Auth" |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 13 Registered: Feb-07 | Well somebody from Comcast came out today and he also had no luck with multiple CableCARDs. He gave Samsung a call and apparently they are coming out next Monday to upgrade my 3 month old TV's firmware. Maybe that will do it, maybe not. I'm starting to see a digital box in my future. |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 949 Registered: Mar-05 | Anthony~ usually after they come out and fix what needs fixing it will work. Hang in there, you're almost there. As far as your diagnostics that you posted...page 2 information is useless. Your CP information the line "waiting for CP authorization" indicates that the card has not received the proper hits. This line also indicates that the card has been formally "married" or "paired" in the system. Have them check with their main controller to verify the mac address for your cable card shows up in the system paired with your cable card id and your host id. If it's paired in the main controller, they need to send hits. This is the same thing you're seeing pixel? |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 17 Registered: Feb-07 | Yes, sounds almost dead-on exacly like my Samsung. |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 14 Registered: Feb-07 | SPOILER: The cable card is now working! Well Samsung came out yesterday (2 hours late but at least they arrived) and updated the firmware on my TV. The visit took all of 5 minutes and consisted of plugging a thumb drive into my TV and waiting for it to beep to say it was finished. Once the Samsung tech left, I inserted the CableCARD that Comcast had left for me (an older one dated 2005). The TV gave me the regular messages: 1. Cable Card Inserted, 2.Updating channel list and then the dreaded, 3.Updating CableCARD firmware. I thought I was hosed but after about 5-10 minutes the message went away and the update was complete. At this point I received a new message on the screen stating something about the card being expired because of the date etc. "Great", I thought but then I remembered that I had changed the clock to manual as per cableguy's recommendation so I thought maybe this had something to do with the issue. I went into the menu, changed the clock from "Manual" to "Automatic" and crossed my fingers. In another few minutes I was greeted with a message telling me to call Comcast and giving me my host and card ID. I called the Comcast tech I had been working with and 2 minutes later, fully working cable! I have to say many thanks to all those who keep me going in this process I was so close to just saying screw it but I'm glad I did not. Now.....has anybody gotten TV Guide working on their TV? ;-) |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 960 Registered: Mar-05 | Anthony~ Thanks for the update and glad they finally got it working!! Another happy camper |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 19 Registered: Feb-07 | Anthony,cableguy, That is amazing! I can't believe this actually worked for you. In all of our LCD Display threads over on AVSforum, people keep saying that they call Samsung and samsung insists there are no firmware updates for any of the new LCD models. I know yours may not be an LCD model but (and just like cableguy said) it's got a cablecard slot and Samsung actually came out, updated firmware and made it work! This makes me more hopeful. I'm going to call Samsung this morning. Anthony, thanks so much for posting so many details too. It's very easy to just drop the matter once it works, but your details are very helpful to the rest of us. |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 20 Registered: Feb-07 | cableguy,anthony, OK, I -did- call samsung just now and told them the numbers of my firmware. They looked it up and said it was definately the latest version. One interesting thing samsung said was that if it's a Scientific Atlanta cablecard, the OS build needs to be 2.3.149.s2 or higher. That matches exactly what Anthony wrote several posts back up there, and I didn't prompt samsung for that version number, they volunteered it. Anyway, I guess I'm as ready as I can get for 3pm tomorrow if they show up. |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 15 Registered: Feb-07 | Sure sounds like it. Good luck. Hopefully you luck out too! |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 21 Registered: Feb-07 | well guys, They came and we tried really hard at it for 3 hours but it didn't work out. It was a whole different ballgame with respect to the expertise: the lead csr at twc was very knowlegeable and the tech was from twc, not their subcontractor, and he knew what he was doing and had done 50 or so CC installs. Their steps coincided with the steps we've read here (I'll list if asked.) We never could get CP Auth, we never got any EMMs. The PowerKEY status would start out at Waiting for Time, stay there pretty long then go to Waiting for EUT (none of us knew what EUT stood for). We had bypassed the house wiring by going from my box on outside wall straight to tv (is this what wannabetech calls "demarq"? I think "point of demarcation.") Later they decided to put a ladder up and made a longer bypass directly from the tap up on the pole into the tv. I asked them what "hit" commands they were using at the headend, they said: "paired host hit", then "Addressable", then "Refresh." They knew exactly how to watch for "backed-up" hits at the headend and knew when the packets addressed to my pairing should be coming out. They were very good about double-checking their numbers (cc & host IDs for the pairing etc.) We all confirmed the OS Build was at 2.3.149s2 just like Anthony's. The final concern was whether the numbers for the two cards might still be in the system. They mentioned their DHCP servers (Dynamic Host Control Protocol servers do retain records for set times based on how protocols are configured.) So for next time they are going to hunt for brand new cards that have never been in the system. So cableguy & wanna, what is the terminology for the particular carriers that the cablecard and host are sensitive to? So far, I understand that there is FDC, RDC(I assume) and OOB. I think that currently only STBs are two-way, so only they need "return paths", right? But I think one of you said the BER (and MER?) should be measured on at least one carrier (2 carriers?) to determine if the data pathway to the set is clean. |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 22 Registered: Feb-07 | Update: While I was writing the above post, I got to thinking about all the times when people have waited for changes to update over longer time periods. Suddenly I remembered it had now been overnight (& tech left card in tv for our next session) so I fired up tv and started looking at the CP screens: low and behold, the card has now received CP Authorization (Yea!) but no EMMs and of course, no ECMs. So time was definately a factor. I'm going to see if I can get through to a headend tech this morning. |
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Bronze Member Username: PixelswimPost Number: 23 Registered: Feb-07 | Guys you aren't going to believe this! It's all working! After I reported no EMMs, no ECMs above, I was trying to move about the channels. I was making the assumption I would have to use the odd numbering that the QAM-only-tuner uses (example: a local CBS would be "113-4" on QAM-only but "255" on the twc reordered list) and I discovered it was using the reordered list. So I went to a scrambled channel in the HD-Suite I'm subscribed to and, whoa!, there it was, clear as a bell. In fact all the HD-Suite channels were coming in just fine, so the cablecard had to be working. So I went back to the CP setup screens and -now- I found the ECM count had gone up to 39. This makes sense because it only goes up when you actually access scrambled channels, right? And the EMM count was still zero, but I remember somebody saying it goes up, gets zeroed out etc. Cableguy, can you confirm that, that it makes sense for EMM count to get set back to zero periodically? OK guys, I am very, very happy. The cablecard seems to be working perfectly now. They even left my free STB-DVR to overlap for a week in case something still goes wrong, so they are definately trying to give excellent customer service. ..Check you later -- pixelswim |
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Silver Member Username: CableguySomewhere on... U.S. Post Number: 962 Registered: Mar-05 | Pixel~ I'm glad they finally got yours working! As far as the EMM count, there are reasons it could be at zero, if the card was ejected or if the power was cycled. The ECM count will only increase if you are authorized to be viewing that channel. Thanks for updating the thread. Another happy camper |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 16 Registered: Feb-07 | Well, I got home today to find my CableCARD no longer working. Power didn't go off at my house or anything but when I turned the TV on it is giving me the "Updating Channel List" & "CableCARD firmware upgrade in progress". So I try to set my clock back to manual and let the card update, no luck. I call Comcast. Turns out these geniuses decided to send an update out to the CableCARDs in the area, so basically something they have been only able to luck into working on most TVs (technicians have told me this) they decide to screw with and break. Another appointment is now scheduled for Saturday from 2-4. Needless to say, I hate Comcast. I think their customer "service" is an absolute joke (we can offer you a box for $4.50/month....wow great thanks for that offer, that's the standard price) and their level 1 support is worthless. I have literally put in 20+ hours of watching technicians and even more if you consider researching online and am just about at the breaking point. I never thought there would be a day where I would look forward to a Verizon product but FiOS, where the heck are you? |
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New member Username: DpicasciaPost Number: 1 Registered: Mar-07 | I bought a Toshiba 42HL196 cablecard LCD 3 weeks ago. My experience with comcast in NJ and the cablecard has been horrendous. I've had a total of 7 techs and 5 cablercards over a period of 3 weeks. After the 4th tech, the system finally worked. Two hours later, it stopped working. This has continued with each tech visit. What happens is whenever I pull the cablecard out and re-insert it, the HD channels come on after 2 minute wait(it seeems that the cable card needs to be recognized). However, hours later, they drop out again. Comcast continues to give us the runaround. I called Toshiba twice who says that they're trying to contact NJ comcast for a special firmware update to prevent dropout. I'm curious to know, does anybody have a NJ comcast cablecard TV that's worked well long=term(ie over 3 months)? |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 18 Registered: Feb-07 | Mine is still up and running since the 6th when they pushed out an update. It may be your TV just needs a firmware upgrade. After my firmware was upgraded the next round of cablecards that were brought out by Comcast had one that ended up working. They are touchy beasts for sure. Soon enough, I'll be on Verizon FiOS anyway and will probably have to do this all again :-). |
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Bronze Member Username: WanabtechPost Number: 70 Registered: Apr-06 | Is CC's offered by Verizon? I've got a buddy that works for them, and last I talked to him (several months ago), they didnt' offer them. |
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Bronze Member Username: Anthony522Post Number: 19 Registered: Feb-07 | I was told they would be offering the cards. However, I also was told that Verizon offers the ability to have 1 DVR box that any box in the house can access and play on their respective TV. Reason enough to get a box for me. |
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Bronze Member Username: WanabtechPost Number: 71 Registered: Apr-06 | SA makes a multiroom DVR. I'm not sure which providers are carrying this type of box. http://www.scientificatlanta.com/Demo/mr_module/mr.htm |
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Bronze Member Username: WanabtechPost Number: 72 Registered: Apr-06 | SA makes a multiroom DVR. I'm not sure which providers are carrying this type of box. http://www.scientificatlanta.com/Demo/mr_module/mr.htm |
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