CableCARDs – Please post your experiences
There was a period of time when I had to deal with a CableCARD problem. I posted all of the knowledge that I had gained up here on this blog. There has been an extremely large number of people who have read about my problem and its resolution.
I hope that the information has been helpful. The CableCARD in my Toshiba RPTV has been functioning flawlessly on Comcast’s system since the firmware upgrade. Since I have not had any problems lately, I have not been keeping abreast of the latest in CableCARD news.
Please leave a comment on this article if you are having problems with a CableCARD. I will try to do my best to help provide you with further information.
If you have had a problem with a CableCARD and then resolved the problem, please comment as well and let me know what solved the problem.
My goal is to collect as much information about CableCARD problems and their resolutions here. This should make it not only easier for us, but also easier for cable companies like Comcast and Adelphia.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Great reading, keep up the great posts.
Peace, JiggaDigga
August 14th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
A friend — Dean Collins — sent me your comments on Cablecards. Boy, is it frustrating! I have a Sharp TV that was bought about five months ago, and the cable service is Time Warner (New York). The card has been a problem from the beginning. When it was installed, several technicians showed up who didn’t have a clue. Finally a guy came who knew his stuff, although it took him several hours to get it to work. Now the damn thing just goes on the blink for little or no reason. It freezes and doesn’t work. Switching to another channel sometimes unfreezes it. Sometimes I have to let it sit for a day or so. Sometimes only the basic channels work. On my last call to Time Warner, I enquired about exchanging it for a set-top box, but I would be charged a service call. The help desk promised to get back to me with a solution to the card problem and never did. And so it goes. I don’t want to give up on the card because it’s a brilliant idea, and I don’t use pay-per-view, but I don’t trust it at all. I have another television with a set-top box, and I use that for TIVO-ing. I’m moving to an apartment where I will only have one TV. At that point I will probably cave and get a set-top box. It’s not just worth the time that I spend getting Time Warner to pay attention to the problem. And it’s obvious that the company is discouraging the use of Cablecards. Any suggestions? — KJ
August 14th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Kate,
You may want to try speaking with Sharp. The problems that I was having were twofold. First, Comcast had trouble getting the card registered with their system. The second problem was that the TV’s firmware was not working properly with the CableCARD.
In your case, you may have ’solved’ the first problem already. If Time Warner has already checked your signal strength and that the card is registered properly, then you may be suffering from the second problem.
Sharp may have a firmware update that they could send you, or send someone out to install on your TV. This should be at no cost to you, as the fault may lie with their product. The first line of people at the call center will likely have no idea what you are talking about. Try politely to be connected to a higher-up. If this does not work, try emailing one of the company’s executives in the proper department.
There is also another invaluable resource. It is called DSLReports.com. The website is a mecca for experts in all areas of technology. The Comcast Cable TV forum helped me tremendously. The site, unfortunately, does not seem to have a dedicated Time Warner forum. Here is a link to the Cable & Satellite TV forum:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/catv
Please keep me posted by commenting on the blog.
-Brian