CableCARD Bugs

Understanding that this technology is still in its infancy, you may run into compatability issues.

Now, from reading your post and taking and educated guess, I would say COX is at fault and it's most likely from the initialization of the CableCard. Remember the cablecard isn't the cable tuner, that's the QAM tuner part of your TV. The TV's internal QAM tuner basically gets the "ok" from the cablecard to display scrambled channels. If channels are not coming up, the cablecard is not granting access.

Thanks Raff, The TV recognizes the card. I receive in addition to the local digital HD channels, which are broadcast in the clear, one encrypted channel INHD2. I am unable to get ESPNHD and the Music Choice Channels which are encrypted. To Cox's credit they have spend a lot of time checking this out. One of their trouble shooters came to the house this weekend and spent the afternoon checking channel signal strenght and signal to noise ratio. He found that for some reason there were dropped packets and uncorrectable errors coming throught on some of the high band channels. They plan to have a service truck trace the problem. Could this be the reason the TV will not tune some channels?

Interesting....

I doubt, but I'm not positive, that the line drops would cause come channels not to descramble. Rather, I would expect them to descramble but have drop-outs and pixelization issues.

I would have them bring a digital cable box too. Connect the cable to the box, rather than directly to the TV, and see if it works. If it does, it has nothing to do with line issues.

This is going to turn out to be something funky like an incompatible firmware rev, or something.

The whole cable industry and set manufacturers have signed on to the CableCard sysem which got FCC appoval. I am sure they will get it working. Their future depends on it.

The general technology has been used in the Satellite services for years. In the beginning there was a real problem of pirates learning how to reprogram cards to steal service. This has resulted in very complex safeguards that make it harder to crack, but I am sure require exact signals from the cable CO billing office to be accepted by the card.

I have DirecTV with a card and am amazed how well it now works. I can go to their web site, do a click on my account to change my channel package, and in seconds the signal goes to the Sat, back down to my card and it is turned on or off as I ordered. So I know this idea should work fine on cable too, once the front office and the system gets the bugs out.

One difference is that control of the card signals at DirectTV is centralized with one staff. In cable you are dependent on a larger number of people learning the system. In other words don't rule out a dumb clerk in billing.

Cox brought a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD the second trip they made. They were able to receive ESPNHD on the STB from the same connection I have plugged into the TV.

I talked to Sharp Customer Service about the problem. They were adamant.

Cox brought a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD the second trip they made. They were able to receive ESPNHD on the STB from the same connection I have plugged into the TV.



This verifies that it's not a line issue, and has nothing to do with dropped packets. This is a channel decoding issue between the Cablecard and COX's upstream authentication device(s).

As much as Sharp's rigid stand annoys me, I don't think this is their issue.

Thanks Raff, That's what I think and I believe the trouble shooter for Cox thinks the samething. Maybe they will get it worked out before football season is over.

Please keep us up to date. This stuff is relatively new and it's nice to track the issues.

Any progress on this?

Hey Rnartin!!!
Whats up bud. Just a tid bit. I had a five Plug n Play installs this week 2 where unsuceesful.

Sony 42in - detected channel line up and authorized the card but no digital or HD other than what was lear to air. It also showed a error code 161.6(what seems to be a buffer or pod error) from what I have heard and I am not sure if that relates to the card or tv. I tried 3 differ cards htere same results.

Sharp Aquo's - I could not get the card to pick up the channel map of the cable system. I could get the card and host ID, but out of luck after 5 cards. I actually took the 1st card I put in and installed it on my very next job that day into a mitsubisi 62825 and it came up with no problems at all. SO my theory of a bad bacth of cards is down the drain.


Only other problem I encountered was with a Mitsubish 62725, it actually picked up all channels just was having issues with 3 hd channels that happen to reside in the same frequency. I think the hardest thing to trouble shoot is when a tech comes out they don't carry a plug n play tv.

Having a box just shows the box tuner is fine.
Hope you get it resolved bud...

Thanks for your info. Cox has swapped the card without success, same problem with the new card. Cox troubleshooter emailed me they were getting some CableCARDS with a newer software version soon. I am keeping my fingers crossed that will solve the problem. I emailed Sharp again about the problem. Sharp has not acknowledged my email. I plan to call them to request repair service if the updated CableCARD doesn't work. I purchased the TV through an online seller in NY. Returning it is a problem because of the freight and distance. It's a shame the card isn't working because the TV has an excellent picture even for 480i analog. The HD picture is exceptional in 720p or 1080i.

The OS build date for the SA card I have is Mar 29, 2004. I have seen where a OS build date of October 19, 2004 is being beta tested.

Why is it the cable companies seem to be 5-10 years behind the satellite industry when it comes to equipment?

DVRs, access cards, digital transmission.......

Add program channels to the list. My Charter Cable system still has NO HDTV channels at all!!. They do have higher prices. Charter can't understand wny they are losing customers- I keep getting calls on how great HBO is in SDTV digital they just started offering. Basic and Extended Basic cable channels 2-99 are still analog.

Why is it the cable companies seem to be 5-10 years behind the satellite industry when it comes to equipment?

DVRs, access cards, digital transmission.......

I dont htink you understand how cable cards work, they aren't outdated. I have yet to see Sat company come up in this area. I dont even think they have touched this new resource..

A card does away with the tuner box intirely..

I dont htink you understand how cable cards work, they aren't outdated. I have yet to see Sat company come up in this area. I dont even think they have touched this new resource..

A card does away with the tuner box intirely..

Not quite true... and we do understand how they work.

You do away with the tuner box(much to the cable company's dismay) because the TV makers put it inside for us. All the cable card does is map channels and allow the tuner to open up programming.

To Akirby's point, that's nothing more than Sat access cards have done for years.

Exactly. Satellite receivers have had access cards since day 1 (at least 10 years ago), and they worked perfectly right out of the box. The principle is exactly the same as cable cards. So it's not that the technology is outdated - it's the fact that they're just now deploying a technology that's been available for 10 years. And when they do deploy it, they can't get it to work right.

I guess my point I was trying to get across is that you still need a reciever with Sat. Lets make a sat card work perfect with a tv that is sat ready.

This is what I was trying to point out. A card(with Sat) is designed to work with a box that can be tested on from box to box. How can you honesty test a tv with ease with only having one because of price. I am sure if Sats had its own PnP card there would be issues, because in the tv makers world they don't seem to have a standard form to follow. Each company is deploying their own software and what not for these tv's.

I agree it's harder with the cards built into the TV. So why do it that way? Personally I would prefer to keep them separate so I can upgrade them separately, and I don't hear current satellite receiver owners requesting TVs with built in receivers. So why didn't the cable companies just incorporate the cable cards into stand alone receivers like satellite? I guess they're trying to get rid of receivers so they don't have to stock, distribute and service them. But with cable cards they could allow regular mfrs like Sony or Philips or Samsung to make and sell the receivers

I'm just frustrated at how lacking digital cable has been in the technology department.

I have to strongly agree

I guess my point I was trying to get across is that you still need a reciever with Sat. Lets make a sat card work perfect with a tv that is sat ready.

A couple of years ago there were TVs with built in DirecTV receivers that worked fine with a sat card. I have some friends that bought a HDTV with DirecTV built in ( Hitachi if memory serves). However I think they were discontinued, for the reasons given above- there is more flexibility with an external box that can be changed out. Since no component inputs were provided on the back of my friend's set , upgrades are blocked. No DirectV HD Tivo is possible if they wanted to add a DVR or any other new technology that comes out.

Update on Scientific Atlanta Cable CARD, Cox Cable and Sharp 37GD6U TV. Cox downloaded the Oct. 19, 2004 build software to the SA Cable CARD successfully. The TV notified me I was receiving a firmware update. It cautioned about disconnecting power or unplugging the card while the firmware was being downloaded.

The reception is fine for all the unencrypted HD channels carried on the cable. I receive INHD2 which Cox says is encrypted but I am still unable to receive ESPNHD. The new software did nothing to correct my problem.

Those of you following the CableCard technology may be interested in this news story. I thought CableCards were a final approved solution. Then I read:

"CEA FCC filing says cable industry must keep promise of digital cable ready and CableCARD."


"CEA filed its comments yesterday in response to submissions from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and its members, urging the FCC to lift its requirement that cable operators and competitive products rely on a common interface for purposes of conditional access."


http://news.designtechnica.com/article6016.html

Update on Scientific Atlanta Cable CARD, Cox Cable and Sharp 37GD6U TV. Cox downloaded the Oct. 19, 2004 build software to the SA Cable CARD successfully. The TV notified me I was receiving a firmware update. It cautioned about disconnecting power or unplugging the card while the firmware was being downloaded.

I am still unable to receive ESPNHD. The new software did nothing to correct my problem. I emailed a digital image of the various CableCARD menus to Cox troubleshooter. He has Scientific Atlanta and Sharp working with him to solve the problem and wanted to pass on the menu information to them.

Update on Sharp LC-37GD6U, Scientific America CableCARD, and Cox Cable. Cox trouble shooter was able to send the Oct 19, 2004 firmware update to the CableCARD via the cable. It took about 15 minutes to download.

The firmware added a "SA CableCARD CP Screen" to the cableCARD menu. I still do not receive ESPNHD. I do receive INHD2 which is an encrypted channel just like ESPNHD and I get all the local HD channels which are carried in the clear. Cox's trouble shooter says Sharp, SA, and Cox are working together to solve the problem. This means there maybe another firmware update coming soon.

I will say this if the Cable companies and the TV manufactures don't get this to work, there will be some class action law suites. Every person who spent $300 to $600 more per TV set to get a digital cable ready TV should get that money back if it doesn't work. We'll let the Cable Company executives, Scientific America, Motorola and the TV Manufactures point fingers at each other in front of a judge. Manufactures should never have released the sets to the public without testing.

Update on Sharp LC-37GD6U, Scientific America CableCARD, and Cox cable. Cox chief troubleshooter brought two Software engineers from Sharp to my home today.

The engineers brought another Sharp HDTV and CableCARD with them. They removed the cable from my TV and plugged it into the TV they had with them. Their TV received all the channels including ESPNHD. The Sharp engineers replaced the CableCARD in my TV with the CableCARD from their TV reconnected the cable to my TV and it received all the channels.

The CableCARD which was taken out of my TV was put into the TV set the Sharp Engineers brought with them. The TV would not receive ESPNHD and several other channels, exactly the problem I had with the card.

They left the CableCARD they had brought in my TV. Everything works fine now. I receive all the channels and with the exception of one channel on the upper bandwidth having a problem with pixilization, the picture is good.

I have to give Cox and Sharp credit. They kept at my problem until it was solved.

The problem with the CableCARD is definitely the CableCARD firmware from Scientific America and Motorola. Scientific America and Motorola do not have their heart into replacing a STB which they sell for 300 to 400 dollars with a 50 dollar card. It isn't in their best interest. Scientific America and Motorola are not committed to CableCARD.

The difference between commitment and participant, in a breakfast of ham and eggs the hen participated but the pig was committed.

Glad to see you got that CableCard working. I posted above Nov1 that is is ESSENTIAL for the cable industry to make this work. Millions of people have bought "cable ready" analog TVs for decades, brought them home and they worked- no tech knowledge required. This CableCard system is supposed to convince these people "It is safe to go in to the digital water without hassles". Only then will they give up buying another analog TV and go digital. And I am sure the guys who fixed it understand their future business depends on it ( I hope!). Otherwise satellite will eat cable's lunch.

I understand exactly how they work - they work just like Satellite access cards. The only difference is they're built into the TV and not the receiver box. That's the only difference. Satellite access cards could be built into the TVs if the TV mfrs wanted to do that. RCA did that for awhile but it wasn't successful.

It's still the same technology that the satellite companies have been using for almost 10 years.

It is still the same technology, but the specific encryption system is totally different. The CableCard and cable boxes too now use a licensed system developed by CableLabs called DFAST. (see link below for a 2000 article on implications). This system got FCC approval and is now in use. The DFAST standard is used by all cable box and TV manufacturers to make their products. This opens the door for the specifics of brand A not matching Brand B, especially with the installed software version, and keeping all boxes and CableCards up to date (See HBO update below). In the case of DirecTV (and Dish) they control both their cards and the receiver boxes so it is easier to test all combinations, and they can auto-download software updates system wide.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/22 ... to_scheme/
AND
http://www.translation-please.com/2003/ ... phila.html

"Boil it all down, and it means this: TVs complying to DFAST will arrive in cable systems. They will be capable of down-resolution on analog outputs. They'll be built using inevitably different interpretations of the involved technical specifications. Most of them will not be tested at CableLabs, after the first one. "


HBO has announced that in June,2005 they will implement flags on copy protection affecting recording of HBO on both digital and analog outputs and they advised all HBO affiliates to be sure the latest software was installed in their boxes:

http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/026610.html

They are taking over control of your TV. Sales of DVDs with popular TV series is a growing business, and I think they are moving to restrict a "do it yourself" DVD collection beyond one time shift copy.

In order to receive all the cable channels you subscribe to, the Cable Company "Head End" people must run a "script" for your specific cablecard. Another problem I am experiencing is denial of new HD channels by my local Time Warner cable company. These recently added channels include CNN, HGTV, FOOD, HIST, National Geographic, and The Weather Channel. I receive these channels for free on my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. I do not receive these channels on my Scientific Atlanta cablecard equipped Sony KDLV-26XBR1 set! When I called the Technical services supervisor to have the head end run a script for the new channels, he informed me of a memo he received stating that "as of this date, all new high definition channels will not be available for cablecard subscribers". The only way to receive the new channels is to rent a cable box! I contacted the Attorney General's office complaining about denial of service. According to the FCC, all cable companies must allow service to all sets capable of receiving digital channels, including cablecard equipped sets. Can you or someone offer help or feedback?