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Mini Box issue
Yesterday I upgraded from TV Starter to TV Economy, and my new channels came in immediately on my Advanced TV Receiver, but my mini box would still only access the channels from the Starter package (no CNN, Weather channel, etc). My friend has COX as well, and his mini box receives all his channels (excluding premiums, ONDemand, etc)... Am I doing something wrong?
(note: I'm in the CT market if that matters)
Domino
Valued Contributor III
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The mini-box only gets Starter and Essential tiers. Your friend must have Essential, not Economy.
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mpd5281
New Contributor
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Still, why wouldn't it receive channels included in both Essential and Economy? i.e. CNN, truTV and The Weather Channel are included in both tiers, why would I only be able to view them on the mini box if I had the Essential package? I pay for and receive them either way...
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bryaninphx
+6 more
Valued Contributor
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Except for the Music Choice channels, the TV Economy Pak, does not have any channels above the TV Essential Pak.
So technically, there is no reason why a Mini box could not support the TV Economy Pak, unless the Mini is so cheaply made that it cannot handle channel authorizations, but if it can be programmed to receive just the TV Starter Pak, then they could have an authorization setting for the Economy Pak.
This issue is just a growing pain issue for Cox, and they are still working out the bugs. From other comments I have seen, it sounds like Cox gave Evolution a very limited (cheap) set of standards around which Evolution custom built the Mini for Cox.
It is clear from both the User Manual and the Set-up Videos that the design team wanted one thing and the bean counters said no, you're just getting this. e.g. the 16x9 IPG vs. the 4:3 IPG
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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At that level, authorization is usually by the entire tier, not by each individual channel within the tier.
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Becky
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socal_transplan
Contributor III
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bryaninphx
and everybody else!
yes, the evolutions are junk (and if i used the adjective i wanted they'd just censor it!)
they also have boxes made by cisco & i traded mine out today. i was not getting the hd quality picture (didn't know i was supposed to right out of the gate) and the picture ratio doesn't support older tv's. who knows what other issues it has!?
becky...you KNOW this is an issue! why haven't you suggested they trade out?
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Health_Edge
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Valued Contributor III
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I think they only have mini boxes made by evolution. What box do you have? A cisco sounds like a DVR or HD box.
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chris_c21
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Contributor III
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Apparently some markets have Cisco mini-boxes which seem to not have the aspect ratio issue that the Evolutions have.
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Health_Edge
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Valued Contributor III
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What model? Anyone have data on them?
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chris_c21
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Contributor III
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http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/tv_forum/f/4/p/10157/39785.aspx#39785
Posted by patrick-gaule@cox.net
2 Aug 2015 2:27 PM
I figured this out - there are 2 different "mini boxes" available from Cox in Omaha. Some of the mini boxes are made by a company called "Evolution" and others are made by Cisco.
The first mini box I got (with the aspect ratio problems described above) was an "Evolution". While setting up mini boxes at my parents house, I noticed that their 4:3 TVs did *not* have any problems displaying the 16:9 picture in a proper letterboxed format. Out of curiosity, I checked the label on their mini boxes vs mine. I had an "Evolution" and my parents had a "Cisco DTA 250HD". I went to the Cox Solutions store today to swap out my Evolution mini box for a Cisco mini box and it works!
So Cox - please let your engineers know that the Evolution mini boxes do not work properly with 4:3 TVs. The aspect ratio is messed up and there is no way to change it in the settings. For anyone else having this problem - insist on getting a Cisco minibox. If the serial number begins with "CS", then it's from Cisco. If it begins with EV, it's "Evolution" For Omaha customers - the Cox store in the Nebraska Furniture Mart definitely has cisco mini boxes.
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chris_c21
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Contributor III
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Found it, HE
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socal_transplan
Contributor III
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health
they are a mini box. same size as the others.
model name DTA 250HD
cisco pn DTA250-COX-K9
hw rev 1 2
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Health_Edge
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Valued Contributor III
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Thanks. First time I have heard of them. Hopefully they come to all markets soon. What is ironic is the Cisco mini boxes are probably cheaper for Cox because of their product contracts. That is good news for customers because hopefully it will push Cox to buy more of them vs the other ones.
I also noticed it used the same IR codes as the Cisco STB which is a big plus. When I set one up for my grandmother, that was one her main complaints, that she couldn't use the same Cox remote to change the channel in her two rooms. It has the added benifit of being able to use your existing Cox remote if you have Cisco equipment which just about makes the mini box IR problem moot.
Cox, please get these to market ASAP.
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