Giving up on Whole Home DVR / Contour

You should look at getting a 6 Tuner TiVo Roamio Plus or Pro and a TiVo Mini for every other TV, It would be less expensive over 2 years than renting Cox Equipment.

Since moving to TiVo I have never been happier,  Cox is also adding OnDemand to TiVo soon, so you won't be missing that either.

bryaninphx said:

You should look at getting a 6 Tuner TiVo Roamio Plus or Pro and a TiVo Mini for every other TV,

Since moving to TiVo I have never been happier,  Cox is also adding OnDemand to TiVo soon, so you won't be missing that either.

Don't pay retail for a TiVo from TiVo.com  There are much better deals out there, Amazon would be one choice, or purchasing a TiVo Discount Code from spherular.com or spherular on ebay.  Sams Club and Costco may have them also, Or getting a TiVo Refurbished unit from Woot.com, a Refurbished TiVo has the same warranty and has been thoroughly tested by TiVo.

There is also a Promo Code for $100.00 off Lifetime Service which is PLSR

FogShark: "I have 4 cable boxes - one master and 3 satellite on the Whole Home DVR - I've had Techs out twice and had virtually all the cabling replaced - the Contour system will only work for about a week before it starts failing again. I've given it several months but it just does not work as well as individual DVR's. I could list all the problems but I'm exhausted with dealing with it. The latest is I choose "Pause" on live TV on remote boxes and it goes to all blue screen with "Please wait" and you can let it sit for ever but it never changes."

Where is your P.O.E filter installed? What type of splitters are you using?

FogShark said:
I just went back and read my post back in February where I said the same thing - since then we did have a Tech come out again and replace most of the wiring. It worked for a while and we were happy with it - but within a week or two it returns to being unreliable. As I said I've done Beta testing and do Tech support for a living so I am very tolerant of buggy systems. So I gave it a few more months but it's back to being an unreliable system. This time my family is in revolt and demanding we get rid of the Contour system. Another example: My retired mother has a satellite box and I've had to teach the sweet old girl how to go into settings and set the sound to "Variable" (vs fixed) so she can adjust the volume. Every time the cable box is turned off it reverts back to "fixed" so it's become part of my mothers morning routine to turn on the box and go into settings and set it to variable for the day's viewing. Only the master 6 channel box works reliably - all 3 of the remote boxes work just enough to tease you into giving it another week, but the constant lock-ups and the little things, like I watch 15 minutes of a one hour episode and decide to hit record. When I can get the playback to work it is missing the first 15 minutes - it only records from the moment you pressed record, it does not cache the show for later viewing like a real DVR. I could keep going with examples, but you get the idea.

FogShark said:
[  I asked if they support the Tivo whole home DVR system and she said "no".

Cox does support Retail CableCARD devices and TiVo, That CSR either lied or did not know.  While it is true the actual Tech support comes from TiVo or the TiVo Community Forums.  Cox does support Retail CableCARD devices, any issue with the CableCARD or Tuning Adapter is a Cox Support issue.  Any issue with the TiVo operation and software is a TiVo support issue.

The hardest part sometimes is getting Cox to set-up the CableCARD and Tuning Adapter correctly, after that as long as you have good Signal levels and wiring, there should not be any issues,  If you live in a Cisco market the Tuning Adapter needs rebooted every 3-4 weeks, but that is really the only issue.

I set-up a TiVo for my mother last week, went to the Cox Store picked up a CableCARD and Tuning Adapter @ $1.99/mo and it took all but 15 minutes on the phone with Cox to get everything set-up.

Here is the Cox Support Article on Retail CableCARDs:
http://www.cox.com/residential/support/tv/article.cox?articleId=ef9633d0-5c33-11df-ed4d-000000000000

Here is the Cox Support Article on Retail Tuning Adapters:
http://www.cox.com/residential/support/tv/article.cox?articleId=a6842300-fad1-11de-f523-000000000000

FogShark said:

FogShark said:
I just went back and read my post back in February where I said the same thing - since then we did have a Tech come out again and replace most of the wiring. It worked for a while and we were happy with it - but within a week or two it returns to being unreliable. As I said I've done Beta testing and do Tech support for a living so I am very tolerant of buggy systems. So I gave it a few more months but it's back to being an unreliable system. This time my family is in revolt and demanding we get rid of the Contour system. Another example: My retired mother has a satellite box and I've had to teach the sweet old girl how to go into settings and set the sound to "Variable" (vs fixed) so she can adjust the volume. Every time the cable box is turned off it reverts back to "fixed" so it's become part of my mothers morning routine to turn on the box and go into settings and set it to variable for the day's viewing. Only the master 6 channel box works reliably - all 3 of the remote boxes work just enough to tease you into giving it another week, but the constant lock-ups and the little things, like I watch 15 minutes of a one hour episode and decide to hit record. When I can get the playback to work it is missing the first 15 minutes - it only records from the moment you pressed record, it does not cache the show for later viewing like a real DVR. I could keep going with examples, but you get the idea.

Since I have all new wiring put in by Cox and the signal strength is great at all the satellite boxes the fault must lie with the Cisco hardware is just not reliable.

Extremely faulty logic. If the MoCA signal (different from the video signal) is being diminished by poor POE/splitters or poor POE/splitter placement, all kinds of weird **** can happen.

Domino said:

Extremely faulty logic. If the MoCA signal (different from the video signal) is being diminished by poor POE/splitters or poor POE/splitter placement, all kinds of weird **** can happen.

While this is true, Contour WHDVR requires a professional install and he has had two Tech out to replace everything, either all the techs have been incompetent, or there is in issue with his set-up.  I know you do not have any issues, but I have seen so many posts saying the Contour system is very problematic.  You are on a Cisco system,  perhaps the Contour service does not work as well on a Motorola system, just a though.  I do not have any personal experience with Contour.

MoCA networking with TiVo is pretty much plug and play, and can blast though just about any splitter.  Problems do arise if there is a signal amp used as a splitter that is not MoCA compatible.

bryaninphx said:

Domino said:

Extremely faulty logic. If the MoCA signal (different from the video signal) is being diminished by poor POE/splitters or poor POE/splitter placement, all kinds of weird **** can happen.

While this is true, Contour WHDVR requires a professional install and he has had two Tech out to replace everything, either all the techs have been incompetent, or there is in issue with his set-up.  I know you do not have any issues, but I have seen so many posts saying the Contour system is very problematic.  You are on a Cisco system,  perhaps the Contour service does not work as well on a Motorola system, just a though.  I do not have any personal experience with Contour.

Contour is not used on Motorola equipment.

Just because professional install was required, that doesn't prevent the OP from describing the location and type of the splitters and POE filter.

I have fixed WHDVR systems (when Cox techs have failed) simply by putting the POE filter where it should be (they love putting out on the pole 100' away from the entrance), using "MoCA grade" splitters, and/or inspecting/replacing hidden (in wall) wiring. Just because Cox techs did it doesn't make it right (especially at their current $40 charge for installation.)

Domino said:

Contour is not used on Motorola equipment.

Contour is not on Motorola Equipment, but in Motorola markets the CableCARD inside the Cisco STB/DVRs is a Motorola CableCARD, which uses a different proprietary protocol than Cisco does.