Sonic's profile

New Contributor

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15 Messages

Saturday, March 21st, 2015 10:56 PM

Closed

Getting a CableCARD...

Hello everyone,

I am currently interested in getting a CableCARD. I have a cable HD receiver box that will continue to be my primary device, however I want to get a CableCARD as a seconday device.  I will be using it with an HDHomeRun Tuner, connected to one of my Macs.  I currently use it with an OTA antenna and it works great in conjunction with EyeTV software for Mac, iPad, iPhone.  Essentially, it is presently converting OTA TV into IPTV that I can receive locally and also over the internet with my iDevices. Now, I want to do the same, but with my cable TV service.  Essentially turning one of my Macs into a DVR and setting up, basically, a "do-it-yourself Contour" service.  Are there any gotchas that I should be aware of?  The cost of renting the card, I read, is only $2/month. Will Cox nickel and dime doing such a setup because they consider it a "second TV" or such nonsense?  Anyone else running such a setup at home?

Thanks...

New Contributor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

Picked up three cablecards last week for $1.99 each at the Cox store.  Came with three Tuning Adapters, one for use with each card (no additional fee).  There was  $30 self install fee.

Self installed them, by working with the activation people to activate each cablecard/tuning adapter pair.  One pair would not activate so I returned to the store and exchanged for a new pair.  That pair activated correctly.

Everything is working well.  These are used with Cox's Advanced TV subscription and Tivo's Premiere boxes.  Also use the Tivo's with OTA antennas.

New Contributor

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15 Messages

10 years ago

Ok, that sounds cool.  Was that "self install fee" $10 each?  I plan on using it with an HDHomeRun Prime and use EyeTV software on my iDevices.  I'm doing such now, but just with OTA until I get the CableCARD. Works well and essentially turns a Mac into a DVR and gives an even better experience (in my opinion) than Contour on the iDevices.

Contributor III

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625 Messages

10 years ago

Sonic said:
Was that "self install fee" $10 each? 

$30 is their standard self-installation fee for everything, see here.

InstallationOne-Time Charge
Self-Activation (mailed to your home) $30.00
Professional Installation $60.00

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

Valued Contributor

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914 Messages

10 years ago

CableCARDS and the HD HomeRun Prime are only supported with Windows Media Center DRM.

Only Windows Media Center will work with any Copy Protected channels,

New Contributor III

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26 Messages

10 years ago

Most if not all channels are not restricted due to the SDV needing the TA i use mine on windows but tested a linux system and it worked on that so i dont see why it wouldnt work on mac i had full integration on linux i just didnt like the setup and decided to make mine a windows server for my dvr functions i use 2 hdhr primes 

Valued Contributor

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914 Messages

10 years ago

rebeccaanthony said:

Most if not all channels are not restricted due to the SDV needing the TA i use mine on windows but tested a linux system and it worked on that so i dont see why it wouldnt work on mac i had full integration on linux i just didnt like the setup and decided to make mine a windows server for my dvr functions i use 2 hdhr primes 

SDV and a Tuning Adapter has nothing to do with whether or not the channels are Copy Protected with a CCI Byte of 0x02 which is Copy Once.

All channels except Locals in many Cox markets are flagged 0x02 Copy Once.  Anything flagged as 0x02 Copy Once can only be displayed with Windows Media Center, and cannot be transferred to another PC.

New Contributor III

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26 Messages

10 years ago

odd almost all of mine including hbo are unrestricted i would say all but i dont want to waste the time going through each one and looking :-D but when i tested using mythtv it worked for me in the omaha market

New Contributor III

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26 Messages

10 years ago

At the time of writing that i can indeed say that 404 channels that i had of the 404 i had were all unrestricted.  now that i have my issue fixed i have 437 channels 33 of which are drm.  TLC SD is DRM but not the HD counterpart.  ALL of the SD HBO's are DRM'd 2 of the 7 HD HBO's were DRM'd then i majority of cinemax (free preview weekend)  but that is the omaha nebraska area not sure what other markets are like but here thats what has copy once restriction

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