WMC for basic cable record/playback?

[calarts72]

I'm new to WMC and this board, so pardon me for asking questions that have already been asked and answered a thousand times.

I was a happy OTA camper with a Tivo Roamio and an HD Frequency Cable Cutter Indoor/Outdoor HD Digital TV Antenna (CC-17) in urban San Diego. Now I've moved to the outskirts (El Cajon) and I can only get two HD channels, and those not reliably. (The antenna is is mounted on the edge of my roof at about 12 feet and is supposed to be universal, but obviously isn't.)

I'm now renting and that includes basic cable, but my Tivo won't work without a cable card that requires an installation fee of $60 and $20/month to Cox, which my landlord and I are both unwilling to pay. My only option is to watch the shows when they air on basic cable, which is inconvenient and requires suffering through commercials.

So finally to my questions:

1. Can I use WMC to record/playback basic cable? (I saw somewhere that Comcast is encrypting basic cable, but I'm not sure that's true with Cox.)

2. If the answer to 1 is yes, what exactly do I need to make it work?

3. If the answer to 1 is no, is there a universal OTA antenna that will really work, or at least work better than my current one?

Thanks for your help.

cal

[mdavej]

I think your numbers are wrong. A cable card is only $2/month from Cox, not $20. And you can do a self install, if you already have cable service. Swing by the office and pick one up. Cable card is cheaper than renting a cable box.

Are you able to watch basic cable without a box? If so, then you'll need an NTSC tuner for WMC, like a WinTV model from Hauppauge. For cable card or clear QAM, Silicon Dust, Ceton and Hauppauge all make tuners that work with WMC. Analog (NTSC) and clear QAM won't be around much longer. I'm surprised Cox isn't all digital by now.

[DavidinCT]

Of course I would prefer you to use WMC but, FCC mandates that you can pick up a cablecard. Just note to the cable company that it's required by the FCC, and they will just hand you one..

Take a old tv, plug the cable line in, do a search with the TV(set to cable), do you get channels ? If you do, you can get a Analog tuner and work with WMC...

If you have a HD TV, plug in the cable, do a search for channels, Do you get a picture on any of the channels ? If they are showing 10.1 type channels, then those would be CLEAR QAM channels, get your self a tuner that supports clear QAM...

That would be the easiest way to find out 100% but, Cox and Comcast is going digital, If they have gone digital, you would be in the same boat with WMC as you are with the Tivo...

[steveo_in_sd]

I also live in SD and yes, the Cox cable card fee is $2/month. Unfortunately, they started charging for a truck roll to your local distribution node so a tech can do something (the $60 installation fee that the OP mentioned). This is completely separate from a home installation vs. self installation, and is 100% mandatory. I recently got a second CC to add additional tuners to my setup and had to pay the new $60 fee. I talked my way up through a few layers of CSRs and confirmed that yes, every new CC that is deployed has to pay this. Presumably, if you order more than one CC in a single order the fee would only be charged once.

To the OP: If you live in the City of El Cajon I would be surprised if you couldn't get OTA for all the channels with a good antenna. Try TV Fool or Antenna Web to get some help with selection and set up.

[EZEd]

Here in DFW on TWC even basic now needs cablecard for WMC or Tivo. They have gone completely digital and clearqam is no longer available. For regular digital tvs you have to have the converter box. Just ask around if its the same for Cox El Cajon .

[mike_ekim]

Cox is rolling out digital TV for the lower SD channels in New England. I am a Cox subscriber and they recently offered me a converting box free for the first year, $1.99/month after the first year. If they are not doing it in other areas yet, they will probably start soon. So, if you are a Cox customer and can watch cable TV without a cable box, do not expect you will be able to do it in the future.

If people are being charged $60 for a service call when they get a cablecard, they should file a complaint with the FCC. Cox is charging you $60. Filing a complaint will cost you $0 and it might actually get you $60 in the end.

[Space]

If people are being charged $60 for a service call when they get a cablecard, they should file a complaint with the FCC. Cox is charging you $60. Filing a complaint will cost you $0 and it might actually get you $60 in the end.

Absolutely correct. Cable companies are not allowed to charge a fee for a self-install of a cable card if they do not also charge that fee to self-install a cable box. If they are charging this fee for ANY self-install (cable card or rental box) then I think they are within the law, but if it is a special charge for cable card only, then it is against FCC rules.

See the FCC website here for information and how to loge a complaint: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights

[steveo_in_sd]

Per the Cox CSRs, the fee isn't related to the installation of the cable card in the customer's home (self or Cox tech) per se, but rather for some type of configuration that a tech must be sent to perform at their neighborhood node to 'authorize' the card. It would have been charged no matter what type of installation I chose, they said. It seemed bogus to me, but not worth investing the tens of hours and frustration it would take to fight it and I'm not sure that it isn't 'legit' anyways.

[DavidinCT]

Per the Cox CSRs, the fee isn't related to the installation of the cable card in the customer's home (self or Cox tech) per se, but rather for some type of configuration that a tech must be sent to perform at their neighborhood node to 'authorize' the card. It would have been charged no matter what type of installation I chose, they said. It seemed bogus to me, but not worth investing the tens of hours and frustration it would take to fight it and I'm not sure that it isn't 'legit' anyways.

I call BS on that one, There is no local config they have to do, I have had to do this tons of times for my clients. You get the cablecard, then you call their activation line. You will need to provide them a serial number from your tuner (it shows in WMC cablecard setup).

Now, if they unplug locations at the pole in the street (how they disconnect customers in some areas is climb up the pole and disconnect the cable to the house there), then I can see them charging for that. If you have internet with them or other services with then, they would not have to do this.

On a 2nd card, they charge, then I would look into your FCC rights a little. They must allow self install and they would not have to do ANYTHING at your home to set it up.

If you have other providers in your area, you can call them up and fight a little and they will wave the fee. Just tell them that Dish network will install everything for free boxes in each room and everything, why should I pay you $60 to set me up when they will do it for free? Most times, depending on who you have, they will just wave the fee.

If your calling as a first time customer, they should set you up for free...

Here in DFW on TWC even basic now needs cablecard for WMC or Tivo. They have gone completely digital and clearqam is no longer available. For regular digital tvs you have to have the converter box. Just ask around if its the same for Cox El Cajon .

Same for me in CT on Comcrap...At one time I had 12 tuners in my WMC box. 4 Cablecard, 4 QAM and 4 Analog, Never a problem recording anything. Boy do I miss those days some times.

ClearQAM was awesome, I had a HDhomeun, with my tablet or laptop over Wi-Fi I could watch live HD channels via WMC, once they killed clear QAM, I could no longer do it (My Infinit4 only supports Assigning a tuner to a device, so if I assign 1 tuner to my tablet, my HTPC only has 3 tuners)

[Space]

I see a $30 fee for self-installation here:

http://www.cox.com/residential/tv/prices.cox

But it looks like all $60 fees on that page are for professional installation.

If they charge $60 for self-installation of cable boxes (or cable cards), then shouldn't that be listed on this page?

[ZippyTheChicken]

ok so if you have unencrypted cable tv you should be able to connect the coax from the wall directly to the tv and find channels.

If you have channels you can use a TV Tuner Card in a computer to capture those shows. I suggest you get the ASUS Dual Tuner card from Ebay or Amazon for $15 - $20 it can do ASTC ota and Cable but not encrypted cable.

If you have encrypted cable you can use your tivo but if you want to use Media Center you will need a cablecard tuner from Ceton, haupauge or SiliconDust. Figure spending $100 for SiliconDust to get 3 tuners that you can watch or record at the same time.

As for your OTA Stations you should go to www.tvfool.com and get your report for your location.

Any station showing over about 14DB to your area you should be able to pickup with an antenna... however any station with db over 30 will come in very easy... you will get a compass reading and you can use your cellphone with a compass app to help you point your antenna.

If the station says LOS thats line of sight and you should have decent results
If the station says Edge or Edge2 there are obstructions
if the station says Terrestrial then you will have problems.

If you have local stations within 10 miles and distant ones 40 miles or more then using an amplifier can blow out / overload the signals from the local stations when you are trying to get the distant ones. For that reason its better to have a more powerful antenna without an amp than a weak antenna with an amp. And if all of your stations are over 30 miles away you will need a pretty powerful antenna and an amp to get strong signal under all conditions.

hope that helps

I'm new to WMC and this board, so pardon me for asking questions that have already been asked and answered a thousand times.

I was a happy OTA camper with a Tivo Roamio and an HD Frequency Cable Cutter Indoor/Outdoor HD Digital TV Antenna (CC-17) in urban San Diego. Now I've moved to the outskirts (El Cajon) and I can only get two HD channels, and those not reliably. (The antenna is is mounted on the edge of my roof at about 12 feet and is supposed to be universal, but obviously isn't.)

I'm now renting and that includes basic cable, but my Tivo won't work without a cable card that requires an installation fee of $60 and $20/month to Cox, which my landlord and I are both unwilling to pay. My only option is to watch the shows when they air on basic cable, which is inconvenient and requires suffering through commercials.

So finally to my questions:

1. Can I use WMC to record/playback basic cable? (I saw somewhere that Comcast is encrypting basic cable, but I'm not sure that's true with Cox.)

2. If the answer to 1 is yes, what exactly do I need to make it work?

3. If the answer to 1 is no, is there a universal OTA antenna that will really work, or at least work better than my current one?

Thanks for your help.

cal

[DavidinCT]

I see a $30 fee for self-installation here:

http://www.cox.com/residential/tv/prices.cox

But it looks like all $60 fees on that page are for professional installation.

If they charge $60 for self-installation of cable boxes (or cable cards), then shouldn't that be listed on this page?

I noticed it was MAILED cards, pick one up at the local office. I bet it would be free. With Comcast in my area, the first cablecard is free, the 2nd is $1.50 a month. I just pay for my service, no renal fees. Never a fee to pick one up, even when I was having problems, they never charged me for a tech to come out (service was going out).

Dam, $19.99 + $8.50 rental fee a month for a 6 tuner DVR, WMC saves money right there... Dam that's $341.88 in just to have a DVR for a year, after 2-3 years a WMC box pays for itself(and almost top of the line WMC box too)