Interesting Comcast Visit

[mldenison]

Sometime last week, my HTPC started recording the History Channel with a lot of pixilation.

I have both the PCIe 4 channel tuner and the 4 channel USB tuner.

I traced the problem back to the USB tuner. Everything records fine when using just the PCIe card.

I swapped cables on the two way splitter, and the problem stayed with the USB tuner.

When I looked at the USB tuner with the Ceton diagnostic, it said that I didn't have an entitlement for that channel and to get the entitlement refreshed by the cable company.

I called them yesterday, gave them the serial of the CableCard, and they sent something which was supposed to fix it. A while later, the message had not gone away.

I then tried viewing Live TV and got a 'Subscription Required' message for all channels using the USB tuner.

Once again I called Comcast who informed me that they'd send a truck for today.

The tech showed up and I explained the problem. He had no idea what a Ceton tuner was. After an explanation of what it was/does, he tells me that Comcast is phasing out CableCards. So I ask him what set top boxes are being replaced with. He says they're not and they have a different kind of card in them.

Then he notices the splitter and says that's your problem as it's old. I said, no, that's one I tried to see if the splitter was the issue and that it made no difference.

Then he says, oh, your using RG59 cable so your ingress is probably way too high. He then says that all the RG59 will need to be replaced. We're talking 10 cable drops throughout the house. I told him that everything had been working fine throughout the house for a number of years until the issue with the USB tuner.

And then he spots the MOCA adapter and had not a clue of what that was. Here we go again.

The upshot was that he never even looked at the CableCard pairing or entitlement and that he doesn't carry CableCards with him. I told him I could get another one at the local office.

He said fine but they'll not do anything until the wiring is replaced.

I am really upset.

[barnabas1969]

I agree that you should not be using RG59. It's possible that signal ingress could be at least part of the problem. Just because it worked last week, doesn't mean it's impossible for ingress to be the problem. One of your neighbors might have fired up some new electronic gizmo that is causing the interference. It would be better if they sent someone with a good scope so they can check the ingress and prove whether that's the problem or not. They did that for me, and we traced the ingress down to the cable between the wall jack and the TV in my step-daughter's bedroom. The guy actually showed me the ingress on his scope... and we started disconnecting things until it went away.

I don't know about your cable company, but my cable company only charges $25.00 to run a new cable through my attic. In most cases, I can't even buy the cable for $25.00 at Home Depot. Plus, they crawl through my attic and I don't have to break a sweat.

That said, I doubt that the cable guy is going to tell the office not to give you a CableCARD. Heck, even if he puts it in your account notes, nobody will probably read them anyway.

[werds]

After an explanation of what it was/does, he tells me that Comcast is phasing out CableCards. So I ask him what set top boxes are being replaced with. He says they're not and they have a different kind of card in them.

Over the last 5 years that we have been a Cable Card household with WMC as our viewing machine, we have had multiple techs for various reasons come to our residences (we have moved twice in that time span so 3 different residences) And with the exception of one tech who thought it was the coolest thing on earth and who also asked me and wrote down the information on the Ceton Tuner and about thegreenbutton. Every other tech has made the "Comcast is phasing out cablecards real soon" comment. I get the feeling they are trained or have bullet points or maybe get a christmas bonus based on how many times they drop that tidbit in order to discourage cable card users I guess...

Too bad my wife after the first year of us having a ceton tuner said there is no way in hell she ever wants to go back to a crappy cable DVR Not that I would want to either but the house goes the way the wife goes!

[mldenison]

I'm going to run new RG6 next week, replacing any RG59 I put in over the last couple of years. Wanna bet my USB box still won't work?

I bought 500 feet for $33.

If the signal were the issue - and I dispute that - then the PCIe tuner would not work. Both devices are coming from the same cable via a splitter. Even without the splitter, going straight to the USB box, it's still dead in the water.

I'm going to swap out the CableCard after the new cable is in.

[JohnW248]

I'm going to run new RG6 next week, replacing any RG59 I put in over the last couple of years. Wanna bet my USB box still won't work?

I bought 500 feet for $33.

If the signal were the issue - and I dispute that - then the PCIe tuner would not work. Both devices are coming from the same cable via a splitter. Even without the splitter, going straight to the USB box, it's still dead in the water.

I'm going to swap out the CableCard after the new cable is in.

Make sure you use the new compression fittings and not the crimp ring connectors of years gone by. Connectors, taps, amps, and cable are all critical parts of the RF plant.

[mldenison]

Make sure you use the new compression fittings and not the crimp ring connectors of years gone by. Connectors, taps, amps, and cable are all critical parts of the RF plant.

I have a bag of 100.

[blueiedgod]

When you swap out the wires from USB to PCIe InfiniTV4, and USB is still produces pixelation, it should an indication that the issue is not with the signal, wires or splitters, but USB tuner itself.

In the diagnostic window tune both USB and PCIe ot the same channel and see what the signal and noise readings are.

[gthompson20]

Get On Twitter and send a message to @ComcastWill or @ComcastCares... They have always been professional, courteous, and have always been able to fix my CableCard issues without a truck roll.. Plus none of that other Cable Card is going away crap.

[Samurai]

What about swapping cards and see if the problem follows the card or sticks with the device?

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

[mldenison]

I'd have to get both of them re-registered to each device. I'm not having much luck with Comcast lately.

[JohnW248]

What about swapping cards and see if the problem follows the card or sticks with the device?

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

Swapping cards is not always a good idea. Each card is paired to a host device and will not work in another device unless it is re-paired to that device. And there is the problem, you need to get someone on the phone that knows the ins and outs of the DCN on that system and what they have to do to move a card. With TWC is usually is to removed the old host and delete the device from the account and then set it up new with the new device and repeat for the other device. If they do it wrong, it can deactivate the host id for 24 hours before they can input it again (had that happen). So this isn't a quick let's see if it follows.

What the cableCARD does is give the tuner the decoding information, swapping for pixilation seems to be a shotgun approach to troubleshooting. I would check all other things first including the usb drivers, changing the usb port, trying the usb tuner on another machine, etc. (And you don't have to do anything with the cableCARD if you move the usb tuner since it is in the host device) If the other machine produces the same results, then you start looking at the tuner more closely (along with RF systems and wiring).

[The Mac]

I was under the impression that host based STBs were mandated, i dont see how they could "phase out" cablecard.

[mldenison]

I just called the Comcast CableCard hotline. The tech took the information from the Ceton diagnostics screen. He sent whatever was needed to the card and it is now working fine.

Currently, there's no pixilation on the problem channel.

Even so, I'll be replacing the RG59 next week when the cable arrives.

What is an average signal strength and S/N level?

Thanks for all the info and suggestions.

[barnabas1969]

You want your signal strength as close to zero as possible. It varies by frequency, so you'll need to check the strength on a range of frequencies. Since you're using a Ceton tuner, there is already a tool for that here:
http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 03442.aspx

Your S/N (aka SNR) should be in the mid 30's. 35 is great. 33 is OK. The higher the better.

[mldenison]

Much appreciated!

[JohnW248]

Since channel numbers have no bearing on the frequency and are not sequential, first go to the web gui and click on the cableCARD tab, scroll down the page to where you see "number of channels" in blue. Click on that an you'll get a display of the channel map (probably several pages. You can print this out for reference but what you want to do is tune six channels spread through the spectrum manually in the web gui (go to each tuner tab and set a channel) note the frequency, virtual channel number, signal strength and s/n for each. Now you'll have an idea of what the entire spectrum looks like at the tuner.

Once you've replaced your cable drops and connectors, et al, go back and do this again and note the differences. You should at the very least have better signal at higher frequencies.

[haydongreenbutton]

I'm going to run new RG6 next week, replacing any RG59 I put in over the last couple of years. Wanna bet my USB box still won't work?

I bought 500 feet for $33.

All RG-6 is NOT created equal. Hopefully you've got yourself some "QS" or quad-shield RG-6 on the way.

edit: Completely missed the "not" in the first sentence!

[mldenison]

Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150636378305?ss ... 1497.l2649

It's probably not quad shield but it'll be better than RG59. If it is quad shield, I've got the wrong compression fittings.

[JohnW248]

Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150636378305?ss ... 1497.l2649

It's probably not quad shield but it'll be better than RG59. If it is quad shield, I've got the wrong compression fittings.

The only thing I found at the manufacturers website for cablepack and RG6 is
http://www.commscope.com/catalog/unipri ... x?id=34509

That listing is quad shield (and you might want to print it out because it has a frequency attenuation chart at the bottom of the specs) but its a 1000 foot roll....

[barnabas1969]

Since channel numbers have no bearing on the frequency and are not sequential

John, does the tool that I linked not list high/med/low FREQUENCIES? I've never used it, but that's what I suggested to the person who wrote it. I assumed that's what he did. Did he pick high/med/low CHANNELS instead of FREQUENCIES?