The first video is nearly 19 minutes long and extensively covers the features of the TiVo Premiere from Charter.

The second video is roughly nine minutes long and covers help and troubleshooting, answering common questions users may have about TiVo.

I’d embed them here as I usually do, but Charter has disabled embedding for these videos. You’ll have to click through to YouTube. Sorry.

The videos are well done, though I could’ve done without the soporific background music. They provide a good look at the product & service, which should be good for helping Charter customers understand what they’d get with TiVo.

• Comcast: Checking their website it doesn’t look like anything has changed since last week. There are still FAQs saying that you need a professional install, but CED Magazine is reporting that they’re allowing self-installs now:
  

  “Certain markets have had limited self-install options for CableCards since about 2007,” said Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer. “Beginning in early August, we’ll start rolling out a CableCard self-install program across our footprint where customers will be able to go into our sales, service or payment centers and pick up a CableCard self-install kit, go home, install it, and then call in to activate it.”

  Comcast doesn’t ship the CableCard self-install kits to customers.

• Time Warner Cable: As expected, TWC has started allowing CableCARD self-installs. They’ve even created help guides for InfiniTV, Moxi, and TiVo.
• Cox Communications: They were already allowing CableCARD self-installs before the mandate. They have an instruction sheet online.
• Charter Communications: Their website gives mixed signals. The FAQ still says professional installation, but they have a self-install page. I think they just missed updating the page:
  

  Due to the technical complexity associated with the pairing of the devices, all installations of a CableCARD MUST be completed by a Charter Technician. Self-installation of CableCARDs is NOT an option for customers and thus customers cannot pick up a CableCARD from a local office

• Verizon FiOS: As with Cox, they were already offering CableCARD self-installs. You can order your CableCARD online.
• Cablevision: They’ve also been offering CableCARD self-installs. The information is on their site.
• Bright House Networks: They allow self-installs for Road Runner broadband, which means they should be allowing CableCARD self-installs as of August 8th. But I can’t find info on self-installs on their site, and there is a page that still says they’ll be allowed soon:
  

  CableCARDs are professionally installed by Bright House Networks. The option to install a CableCARD yourself will be available in the near future.

  If anyone knows of information on their site indicating CableCARD self-installs, leave a comment.

• Suddenlink Communications: According to their CableCARD FAQ they are allowing self-installs.
• Mediacom Communications: I couldn’t find a good reference on their website, but a post on their support forum by one of their reps on Saturday indicates they are allowing users to pick up CableCARDs and do self-installs:
  

  You can pick-up or have a tech install a cable card for you for a minor fee. This would be $1.99 per month for each card.

• Insight Communications: I couldn’t find anything useful on their site. Searching their site for ‘CableCARD’ only returns four hits. It looks like they offer broadband self-installs, so they should be covered by the August 8th mandate. If you have more info, let us know in a comment.
• CableOne: Same as Insight, nothing clear from their site. It seems like they offer broadband and cable box self-installs, so they should also be covered under the August 8th mandate. Leave a comment if you have any info, thanks.
• WideOpenWest Networks: Their website still says they require a technician to install CableCARD, it is under the ‘Equipment’ section of the FAQ.
  

  Can I install a CableCARD by myself?

  No. To ensure that your installation is performed properly, a technician is required to install and activate your CableCARD. Please contact us to set up an installation appointment.

  They do seem to allow cable modem self-installs, so they should be under the mandate.

• RCN: I couldn’t find a good page on their site, but I did find a forum post on DSLReports dated July 28th, by Jason Nealis, RCN’s Sr. Director, Video Product and Video Operations:
  

  The way this will work is that a customer can receive a kit via mail or they can pick one up at a local office.

  In the Kit it will have instructions on whom to call, basically you will install the card and then go thru a IVR and have the work order closed and a hit sent to the card.

  Then you will have to call in with your pairing information and have the card paired to receive encrypted channels.

OK, I think that’s deep enough. These smaller provider’s tend to have sites that aren’t as useful when it comes to finding info, and those I’ve listed already cover the vast majority of cable customers in the US.

If you have any additional info, please leave a comment.

EDIT 8/11: Matthew Zinn, Senior Vice President of General Counsel for TiVo, today made a blog post about the new CableCARD rules which included a few useful links:

In the meantime, for additional information regarding CableCARDs and consumers’ rights visit www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights or www.fcc.gov/guides/digital-cable-compatibility-cablecards-plug-and-play.

If you have questions as to whether your cable operator is complying with the CableCARD rules, you can email the FCC at CableCARDEnf@fcc.gov or call (202) 418-1160. To file a complaint, visit www.fcc.gov/complaints.

If your cable provider isn’t following the new rules, report them to the FCC.

Yesterday Hank, a reader from Spencer, MA, contacted me to let me know that he’d received a notice in the mail from Charter that they will be switching to SDV on February 2, 2008 and that, as a TiVo user, he could claim a free Tuning Adapter on or after January 5th. Spencer is very close to my home in Worcester, MA, where I also have Charter. I haven’t received the notice yet, but it may well be waiting for me when I return from CES next week. I’m kind of hoping it is, I’d like to get some hands-on experience with the Tuning Adapter to see if it works as well as promised.

And today TVBarn.com is reporting that Time Warner has begun deploying Tuning Adapters in Austin, TX.

It is about time, but it is nice to see this finally getting into the hands of TiVo users to allow them to tune SDV content.

Searching TiVo’s support site I can’t find any references to it anymore, and pages like this one just walk the user through checking their setup and don’t offer any help to reporting actual problems. I try to avoid calling technical support since I’m generally capable of being self-sufficient, and it saves time for both myself and the support reps. But this time I was stymied and ended up calling support as Charter added 14 new channels in my area and I wasn’t getting guide data. Working with the rep it sounds like the very same form that used to be public is still used internally, since he asked me for exactly the same info I used to enter myself.

I don’t know why TiVo pulled this form down, it was very useful. Now users with lineup issues will need to call in. Perhaps they were getting too many false lineup issue requests or something.

Oh – Charter added these channels in the Worcester/Central MA area:
175 OVATN Ovation
298 FBNWK Fox Business
346 MLBN MLB Network
725 WTRHD The Weather Channel HD
726 FNWHD Fox News HD
730 ANPHD Animal Planet HD
731 TLCHD The Learning Channel HD
732 FOODH Food Network HD
733 HGTHD HGTV HD
736 NGEHD National Geographic HD
767 VRSHD Versus HD
768 GLFHD Golf HD
776 DSCHD Discovery Channel HD
794 FXHD FX HD

Charter says their new policy is that if you get a channel in SD you’ll automatically get it in HD as they add them, no additional charge. If they can add HD versions of The CW, USA, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Sci-Fi I think I’d be about covered – on top of the HD channels they had and just added.

1) Death of the Moxi
This one’s just as much a rumor as the Launch of the BMC 3012
However here we are, with systems announcing year end lock downs etc and still no official hint of the 3012. As such I’m pretty much guessing it’s never left internal beta in St. Louis. Furthermore comments made from management recently here (SC/NC/VA group) indicate Moxi *WILL* be eventually phased out.

However at the same time, apparently we are apparently getting BMC9012s THROWN at us as no other MSO appears to be taking them. So for now the BMC9012 is alive and strong… I don’t forsee them closing up shop in markets with Moxi for quite a while (given we can’t get enough 6416s in to meet demand).

That being said, my “insider’s guess” at what’s going to happen next -
I predict no NEW MSO based Moxi boxes, but I also predict that Moxi will remain availible for at least 2 more years.

Hopefully DIGEO will get on the ball with the CableCard enabled boxes for retail, because from what I’ve seen, it seems like Charter was the last major MSO to hang on…

Thanks to Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny for the tip off.

(No, I didn’t really expect them to ship, but I was kind of hoping they would because I’d like to see them deliver on a promise someday. And yes, I was feeling snarky.)

That is, of course, if the numbers are true – and they may not be. See the table below and especially the first footnote¹. Comcast’s numbers for September are estimated to be 10-15% lower than actual due to an internal error. We could be looking at an increase of more than 34,000 users instead of only 2,000!

While 34,000 would certainly be better than 2,000, it still isn’t really setting the world on fire. Maybe the M-Card is a ray of hope in those numbers – if customers who previously used two S-Cards are trading them in for a single M-Card on devices like the TiVo HD, it would result in a lower cumulative number. Still, I don’t expect that’s a huge number either.

This is not to say that the total number of CableCARDs in use is that small, not at all. Since the FCC’s ‘integration ban’ went into effect on July 1, 2007, forcing cable MSOs to begin using CableCARDs in their own STBs, those same ten MSOs have deployed over 7,800,000 CableCARDs in their STBs. So in less than fifteen months they’ve deployed more than twenty times the number of CableCARDs as have been issued for 3rd party UDCPs in the four years they’ve been available.

The integration ban was supposed to force cable MSOs to ‘eat their own dog food’ and thereby improve support for CableCARDs. The idea was that this would help foster the overall CableCARD market. Better support from MSOs would lead to more products, which would mean more 3rd party UDCPs in the field. For the most part, this hasn’t happened.

Why not? Well, I think I can sum it up in one brand name: tru2way. Starting late last year, and getting an official launch at CES in January, OCAP became tru2way and marked a push to get consumer electronics companies on board. Then starting with Samsung in May, followed by a larger push by Sony later that month, CE vendors started jumping on the tru2way bandwagon.

What does this have to do with slow CableCARD adoption? Well, these same CE vendors have held off on releasing UDCPs while they work on tru2way-enabled devices. Why invest in developing and marketing a unidirectional product when you’re going to obsolete it with a two-way product in a year? The first tru2way products are starting to trickle out, and there will probably be a bunch of them on display at CES in January. So I think the push for tru2way was a major contributor to lax CableCARD pick up. Vendors just haven’t been releasing CableCARD-enabled products so there aren’t many options for consumers, which naturally means not many cards are being deployed. Really the only major CableCARD product out there right now is TiVo. CableCARD TVs are thin on the ground. CableCARD-enabled Media Center PCs have had anemic sales. And Digeo outright canceled their Moxi CableCARD HD DVR.

CableCARD was slow out of the gate, and by the time MSOs had the infrastructure worked out vendors were already looking toward round two with tru2way and they just decided to sit round one with UDCPs out entirely. The deployment of SDV and the need to develop a Tuning Adapter, and to support it, was very likely a factor in that as well. I don’t expect to see any real pick-up in CableCARD utilization until a sufficient number of tru2way devices are available to consumers, and then I do expect to see a real uptick.

The filing also has information from several MSOs on their CableCARD pricing and install practices. To compare June to September:

¹Comcast states that their September number may by low by 10-15% due to internal reporting errors.

The count for this reporting period of CableCARDs installed in one way retail devices in active customer homes is estimated to be 10-15% lower than the actual number due to internal Comcast reporting errors that are the result of an internal Division reorganization during the reporting period. The next quarterly report will more accurately reflect the actual count.

Since Comcast has such a large installed base this could be the reason for the seemingly small total uptick. The other four combined yield an increase of 3,429. Comcast’s apparent drop of 1,383 drags it down. But if they’re short just 10% they would actually have an increase of 20,334 users. And 15% would mean an increase of 31,192! So we’d be looking at a total increase of 23,763 to 34,621 – rather more than around 2,000. And that’s just from these five MSOs.

²Comcast allows self-installs in at least some areas – 68% used truck rolls, 32% were self-installs.

³First card is free, fee for additional cards.

⁴$10.43 if install is included with other services, $25.14 if purpose visit.

⁵0.2% of Time Warner installs are self-install, which is negligible.

⁶The average is $2.26, but they report most divisions are $1.75 – which must mean the remaining divisions are rather higher to bring the average up.

Of course, back in January Digeo’s then COO, now President, Greg Gudorf told me that their cable DVR would ship by the end of 1Q08. So we’ll see how this roll out goes.

The other Moxi DVR will be a CableCARD consumer product sold at retail and expected to ship in January. That will be a year after Digeo suddenly canceled all of their planned consumer products, just days after showing them at CES and talking up the launch plans.

Details on the consumer product are thin, I’m presuming they’ll have something to say about it at CES in January. Of course, they did last year too. Unsurprisingly it will be a CableCARD-enabled DVR, and it will not be tru2way-enabled. It sounds like they’re pitching all the same features they were on the canceled products – music and photo access, content partners, home control integration, etc. For music content Digeo has lined up FineTune, Rhapsody and Sirius and they have Flickr for photos.

The one new item that I found interesting is that they’re implementing DLNA support. I’d like to see more products supporting DLNA, standards are good and DLNA has growing support across a number of products such as the Xbox 360, PS3, HP Media Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, etc.

Digeo is also apparently still working on their Moxi TV for PC software, which I was told was in beta and close to release at CES 2008 in January. Though according to TWICE they have it running on XP, Vista, and Media Center versions of Windows now, and not just XP as at CES. No word on when it might be available to consumers.

Gudorf told TWICE that Digeo is working on future products for post-July 2009 which will support tru2way. Digeo signed the tru2way accord in June. But I’m not even going to devote any mental energy to that until Digeo manages to ship something to consumers.

Digeo started talking about launching new consumer products two years ago, in September 2006. (Which I picked up, amusingly enough, from an article in TWICE.) I talked to them at CES 2007 where they were showing mock ups and no real products with the promise of shipping later in the year.

They insisted they’d ship in time for the 2007 holidays up through September. (Oddly enough, another article from TWICE. Is covering Digeo a September tradition for them?) Then in November they admitted they weren’t going to ship in 2007.

Then I talked to them again at CES 2008, and they were showing off some of the same mock-ups they’d had at CES 2007, as well as some actual products. Just a week later they canceled the products and laid off nearly half of their staff. Digeo’s Gary Gudorf talked to me the next day to offer clarifications, including that their cable MSO product would ship by the end of 1Q08, which it didn’t.

We didn’t hear anything else until April when details on the cable product emerged. And then in May they exhibited at The Cable Show and issued a press release announcing Charter’s intention to carry it. In June Digeo signed the tru2way accord.

And now here we are in September again, two years after they first announced their intention to enter the consumer DVR market, and they’re promising a box ‘expected to ship in January’. You’ll pardon me if I don’t hold my breath. Assuming they do exhibit at CES in January, I’ll check out their offerings, again. As I said when I covered them this year, I think they have some good design points. But none of it matters until they manage to get a box on retail shelves.

I hear it’ll come bundled with Duke Nukem Forever.

Tipped off by EngadgetHD.

EDIT: This got some attention in AVS Forum, including from a Charter rep, who wasn’t encouraging:

Ironically yesterday I got whispers from a contact in St Louis who works with someone who’s got a beta 3012 (Don’t get hopes up, so far it seems only a few elite managers and tech ops people in St Louis have gotten to beta this unit)

Apparently it’s still got quite a few bugs, which I think is very odd, given really all they needed to do was improve on the existing hardware and leave the software alone.

At any rate I don’t expect to see them in 2 weeks, heck at the rate things are going, I’d consider us lucky if we see them before Q3 2009

I’d say I’m surprised or that this is unusual so close to a planned release – but frankly this is what I’ve come to expect from Digeo. They’ve had one product actually make it to market, the BMC9000 STB series from Motorola running the Moxi software. But that launched back in 2004 and has been out of production for a long time now. At its peak it only reached around 400,000 users, and the number of Moxi uses is believed to be much smaller now as units have been replaced with newer, non-Moxi DVR models. Unsurprisingly the main MSO to use Moxi was Charter, which, like Digeo, is controlled by Paul Allen. But even with it being ‘in the family’ Charter’s use of Moxi was minor.

Moxi’s history since they were acquired by Digeo has been one of failed execution. Early on Moxi was on their way to being a competitor in the consumer DVR space and they had some cutting edge plans, then Digeo acquired them and refocused them on cable MSOs instead of retail. Digeo acquired Moxi way back in 2002 – and in six years what have they done? One product which never achieved more than minor market penetration, and is now well out of date and discontinued. Aside from that they have a history of press releases and announced partnerships, awards won for products announced but never shipped, staff layoffs, and repeated product delays and cancellations. If they didn’t have Paul Allen backing them I don’t see how they’d still be in business. Digeo needs to ship a product, a good product, to significant numbers of users, if they want to earn consumer trust again.

Picked up from TWICE.

Press release below:

Jul 28, 2008 12:03 ET

LG Electronics, Cable Operators Reach Two-Way ‘Plug and Play’ Accord

Pro-Consumer ‘tru2way™’ Pact Clears Path for Video on Demand, Digital Video Recording and Other Interactive Services

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 28 /PRNewswire/ — LG Electronics, Inc. today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the top six U.S. cable operators, supporting the use of the “tru2way™” technology platform for delivering two-way interactive digital cable services without a set-top box.

“This pro-consumer pact means that LG tru2way HDTVs planned for 2009 and beyond will receive the newest interactive cable services, from video on demand to interactive programming guides, in virtually every media market and without a set-top box. Equally significant, it will facilitate the development of a viable, two-way retail market,” said Dr. Woo Paik, LG Electronics president and chief technology officer.

Developed by Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs™), tru2way “plug and play” technology is backed by the nation’s six largest cable companies — Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, CableVision, Charter and Bright House Networks — which together account for an estimated 80 percent of all U.S. cable subscribers and some 105 million homes.

Underscoring the significance of today’s announcement is LG’s role as one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics brands in the United States. A long-time supporter of the CableLabs OpenCable™ initiative, LG Electronics is a leading manufacturer of digital flat-panel displays, digital HDTVs and related digital video products.

Dr. Richard R. Green, president and chief executive officer of CableLabs, said, “With the addition of LG — the latest in a series of MOUs our industry has entered into with leading consumer electronics companies — this again validates our tru2way technology, which employs the same Java-based platform used in mobile phones, interactive broadcasting and Blu-ray HD digital video recorders. Tru2way will allow cable operators, consumer electronics manufacturers, content owners and others to work together to provide creative interactive services directly to the consumer.”

Tru2way technology allows consumers to receive interactive cable services, including video-on-demand, voting and polling, games, and e-commerce in integrated retail DTVs without the need for a separate set-top box.

About LG Electronics

LG Electronics, Inc. is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications, employing more than 82,000 people working in 114 operations including 82 subsidiaries around the world. With 2007 global sales of $44 billion, LG comprises four business units — Digital Appliance, Mobile Communications, Digital Display and Digital Media. LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of digital appliances, consumer electronics products and mobile phones under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.lgusa.com/.

CableLabs and tru2way are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories Inc.

Source: LG Electronics, Inc.

CONTACT: John I. Taylor of LG Electronics USA, +1-847-941-8181,
jtaylor@lge.com; or Nathan Friedman of Ogilvy Public Relations,
+1-312-397-6009, nathan.friedman@ogilvypr.com, for LG Electronics, Inc.

Web site: http://www.lgusa.com/

The MOU refers to the ‘Founders’ repeatedly – these are the cable MSOs: Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks, Charter Communications, and Cablevision. New two-way devices are referred to as Interactive Digital Cable Products (IDCP), in contrast to the one-way Unidirectional Digital Cable Products (UDCP). Under the terms of the MOU, the Founders agree to support tru2way on all of their digital cable networks by July 1, 2009 – except for Charter which has until July 1, 2010 to complete their roll-out. The MOU also codifies that the tru2way specifications will be the sole means for IDCPs to access interactive cable services.

While consumer electronics adopters must adhere to the tru2way specifications and license, innovative features that are not specified but that are consistent with the specs and license ‘are allowed and encouraged’. That seems to leave room for innovation, but it remains to be seen how narrowly ‘consistent’ is evaluated. To help ensure solid support for tru2way the cable MSOs have to eat their own dog food, as it were. After July 1, 2009 (again, July 1, 2010 for Charter) the Founders agree that at least 20% of their STBs will support tru2way. That holds until they’ve deployed at least ten million tru2way-enabled STBs. This is to ensure a sufficient install base that the Founders will have a vested interest in ensuring solid support.

Since tru2way is largely a firmware specification, and specifications can evolve, the Founders agree to support any given version of the tru2way Middleware used by an Adopter’s product for five years from the date of that version’s first certification. So, in effect, that should guarantee a minimum product life of five years. Of course, it could easily be longer as Adopter’s products could receive firmware updates, and the Founders could support a Middleware version for longer than five years. Clearly it would be up to the Adopter, the CE vendor, to provide updates to newer tru2way Middleware versions, which is only fair. And to help ensure that is possible, there is an equal access provision in the MOU. Any given tru2way Middleware revision will be available to Adopters at the same time it is available to Founders. So the MSO’s won’t have any unfair advantage in being able to bring newer features to market first.

As for guide data, which was long a bone of contention over OCAP, any Founder’s digital cable system which carriers a CBS broadcast signal (which is pretty much all of them) which contains the Gemstar-TV Guide EPG data and where that Founder has an agreement covering the Gemstar data, must not block or remove said data from the CBS signal. In English? Well, Gemstar-TV Guide has an agreement with CBS to carry their EPG data. This data is used by a number of TVs, VCRs, DVRs, DVD Recorders, etc, to provide a simple on-screen EPG. The data is carried in the VBI, the vertical blanking interval, and are not part of the video itself. This has been an issue in the past as some cable MSOs have stripped out this data from the broadcast when processing the network feed for redistribution, hence making it inaccessible to CE devices that rely on it for their EPG.

So this agreement means that the Founder agree to not block or strip the data, when it is carried by the local CBS affiliate and they can legally do so, of course. This provides CE vendors with a data source for a ‘native’ EPG, as opposed to relying on the tru2way MSO-provided EPG, or a out-of-band EPG downloaded separately, as in a TiVo. The broadcast EPG does generally lack the full level of detail found in a downloaded EPG, or even the MSOs EPG, but it has the advantage of being readily available in the received signal and gives the CE vendor the ability to process and use the data as they wish, unlike the tru2way guide which comes as-is.

While the agreement seems to treat tru2way as the primary means of navigation, Adopters are free to overlay their own ‘native’ navigation with four prerequisites: 1. It must be initiated by the user each time (such as through a remote action), 2. it must be only for navigation (no ads, etc), 3. It must be transitory (sounds like once the action is complete it should return to tru2way-mode), and 4. it must appear the same on all channels. So no special ABC navigation screen that isn’t used on NBC, etc.

There is a ‘sunset’, or exit clause for the MOU. Starting July 1, 2009, if fewer than 500,000 new retail IDCPs are connected to the Founders’ networks within any given 24 month period then the Founders are no longer bound by the MOU. Basically, if the Adopters, the CE vendors, don’t hold up their end of the bargin and produce enough IDCP devices, then the cable MSOs are no longer bound to spend their money supporting tru2way on their networks and they’re free to stop, try something else, etc. Considering the number of TVs, DVRs, etc, sold at retail in this country each year, this shouldn’t be a problem – if and only if the CE vendors step up and start tru2way-enabling a sufficient number of device models. So the ball is in their court.

Licensing for the IDCPs will be under the existing CableLabs licenses, with some amendments. Certification of devices will be through CableLabs IDCP testing. Once a vendor has had five mutually agreed upon devices certified by CableLabs, then they are eligible to self-certify future devices. This is one of the compromises in the agreement. CE vendors didn’t want the expense and hassle of going through CableLabs for each new product, while the cable industry didn’t want the potential havoc caused by bad devices being connected to their networks. So now once a vendor has proven their competence level through CableLabs certification, they can be free of that requirement.

Under the MOU CableLabs will establish a Founders Advisory Board (FAB) which will apparently serve as a kind of arbitration group when changes to the tru2way hardware specification are proposed. As the board is currently specified there are nine votes – one for each of the Founders, and one for the CE Adopters as a block, one for the IT Adopters as a block, and one for the content providers as a block. That means that, should they vote in unison, the cable MSOs would always carry a majority. And you’d actually need two MSOs to break ranks and vote with the other blocks to swing the majority. But the vote is also only advisory and non-binding, so I’m not sure what it is in aid of other than as an opinion poll for the parties involved. And, of course, the FCC still has final say in the end.

CableLabs also agrees to approve or disapprove any new digital output system or content protection system within 180 days of the proposal being submitted by an Adopter, on a ‘reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis’. This will probably come into play with technologies akin to TiVo’s TiVoGuard, which protects TiVoToGo transfers. As CE vendors look to innovate and develop whole home distribution systems, etc, there may be new technologies developed to satisfy the rights holders that their content is being protected. And if CableLabs disapproves the technology, or simply fails to act within 180 days, then the Adopter can appeal to the FCC which is expected to handle the appeal in a 90-day process. Remember that a while back the NFL and MPAA tried to block TiVoGuard and TivoToGo, but the FCC approved it.

But there’s another way to get a new technology approved. If four members of the MPAA agree that the new system provides adequate content protection, then that technology will be automatically approved by CableLabs.

If tru2way is sunset and CableLabs defines a successor to CableCARD or tru2way (such as DCAS) then Adopters who are party to the MOU may participate in the development of the successor.

The definitions have some interesting tidbits. Under the MOU, ‘Digital Cable System’ only covers systems with one or more QAM channels, operating with a capacity of 750MHz or higher and with a minimum of 5,000 basic cable subscribers.

Not a lot of information, really, but it is clearly a compromise with some give and take by both the cable MSOs and the consumer electronics vendors, which is what we needed to un-roadblock two-way cable development. It is interesting that Charter gets an extra year to complete their tru2way roll-out, compared to the other five Founder MSOs. I guess Charter must be further behind in their progress than the others. Of course, I just happen to currently reside in Charter territory. Note though that the dates are for completion of deployment, some areas already have tru2way support and many more will before the year is out.

Their press release:

Contact:
Mike Schwartz
CableLabs
303-661-9100
m.schwartz@cablelabs.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cable Tru2way™ Platform Gains Endorsements from Major CE and IT Companies

ADB, Digeo, Intel, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony sign Accord with Cable Industry

Louisville, Colorado, June 9, 2008 — Major consumer electronics (CE) and information technology (IT) companies have signed binding memorandums of understanding (MOU) on tru2way™ technology with the top six cable operators in the United States.

Companies that have signed to date now include consumer electronics manufacturers Panasonic Corporation of North America, Samsung Electronics America, and Sony Electronics. Other companies signing include set-top makers ADB and Digeo, and chip manufacturer Intel Corporation.

As previously announced, Intel plans to build a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will support a variety of tru2way devices, including DTVs, set-top-boxes, DVRs, and other devices.

The cable operators that have announced support for the tru2way platform on their networks are Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Cablevision, Charter and Bright House Networks, together representing over 80 percent of all cable subscribers and 105 million homes passed.

Glenn Britt, President of Time Warner Cable said, “Tru2way technology will allow the industry to continually enhance the customer experience, ensuring that the latest features and technology are available to our customers nation-wide. Time Warner Cable has already distributed nearly a million tru2way devices, and this agreement further supports the industry’s efforts.”

Dr. Richard R. Green, President and CEO of CableLabs, said: “This is a momentous achievement that again validates the tru2way technology platform for delivering interactive digital cable services to wide variety of devices. We stand ready to support the cable operators and the manufacturers in the rollout of tru2way devices for the benefit of our mutual customers,” he added.

The multi-industry agreement is embodied in a joint MOU that supports and endorses the tru2way technology platform developed by CableLabs® for delivering 2-way interactive digital cable video services. Detailed terms of the MOU have not yet been released while other potential signatories complete their review of the document.

Tru2way technology creates a national footprint for the creators of interactive services to develop products that work on cable systems in nearly every U.S. market so that consumers who purchase digital cable ready devices will be able to receive new and innovative interactive cable services now and in the future. The platform uses the same popular Java-based technology that is used in cell phones, interactive broadcasting and high-definition Blu-ray Disc players, and brings a large developer community that allows networks, content owners, cable operators, and manufacturers to develop creative interactive services that can be provided directly to cable customers.

About CableLabs

Founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry, Cable Television Laboratories is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains web sites at www.cablelabs.com; www.packetcable.com; www.cablemodem.com; www.cablenet.org; and www.opencable.com.

So it looks like OCAP/tru2way will end up the industry standard, and the DCR+ push is likely to fade away now. The full terms of the Memorandum of Understanding that covers the agreement have not yet been released, giving other potential signatories time to review it. I’ll keep an eye out for those terms once they’ve been released.

I’m just glad to see an apparent end to the stalemate. If the CE industry in general embraces tru2way then it opens the floodgates for more advanced cable products for consumers, which is a good thing.

The press release announcing the agreement is below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sony Electronics and Major U.S. Cable Operators Negotiate National “Two-Way” Plug and Play Solution

Agreement Establishes Platform for Retail Devices to Receive Interactive Cable Services

WASHINGTON, DC, May 27, 2008 – Sony Electronics and major cable operators which together pass over 105 million U.S. homes have negotiated and signed an agreement that will enable consumers to purchase innovative “two-way” digital televisions and other devices that can receive interactive digital and high-definition video services without a set-top box, Sony and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced today. The terms of the agreement are embodied in a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) negotiated by Sony Electronics and the six largest cable companies – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House Networks – which serve more than 82 percent of all U.S. cable subscribers.

Other consumer electronics companies will be beneficiaries of this new national two-way “plug-and-play” platform and have also been invited to formally join the MOU.

This negotiated industry agreement establishes the fundamentals for a competitive retail market for “two-way” digital cable-ready devices. It addresses how such products will be brought to market with interactive services like video-on-demand, digital video recording and interactive programming guides.

In addition, the agreement makes it clear that consumers will be able to enjoy a choice of differentiated two-way products at retail and through cable operators from a variety of consumer electronics and information technology manufacturers. The agreement includes safeguards to facilitate the development of a robust, two-way retail market and to ensure that cable operators can continue to develop and offer new competitive services.

Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), a senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the leading advocates in Congress for new technology and consumer freedoms said: “I congratulate Sony and the major cable operators for achieving consensus on a set of core principles that will speed the introduction of new two-way plug-and-play devices.” Representative Boucher added: “With this groundbreaking compromise, these industry-leading companies and other major cable companies will ensure that consumers will have broader access to innovative competitive cable ready navigation devices from commercial retailers and will have expanded options to enjoy cable programming, including video on demand and other interactive programming options.”

As part of the agreement, the parties will adopt: the Java-based “tru2way” solution as the national interactive “plug-and-play” standard; new streamlined technology licenses; and new ways for content providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, information technology companies and cable operators to cooperate in evolving the tru2way technology at Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), the cable industry’s research and development consortium.

The agreement will encourage the development and distribution of interactive and high-value digital content. Key elements of the agreement relate to the deployment of a platform for “write once, run anywhere” applications, and to the incorporation of secure digital interfaces that protect consumers’ home recording rights along with copyright owners’ rights to secure their digital content. Detailed terms of the MOU have not yet been released, while other potential signatories complete their review of the document.

“This marketplace agreement is good news for consumers,” said Edgar Tu, Sony Electronics’ Senior Vice President of TV Operations of America. “A national plug-and-play digital cable standard for interactive TV receivers, recorders and other products that is transferable and viable wherever you live is ideal for today’s mobile society.”

“This is a landmark agreement which will provide a national, open and interactive platform resulting in more choices of services and products for consumers,” said Kyle McSlarrow, NCTA President & CEO.

“We are pleased that this technical challenge has been addressed through a voluntary, private-sector solution,” said Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “We look forward to working with our cable colleagues to ensure Americans across the country have access to high value cable content while using the equipment of their choosing.”

###

NCTA is the principal trade association for the U.S. cable industry, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s cable television households and more than 200 cable program networks. The cable industry is the nation’s largest broadband provider of high-speed Internet access after investing more than $130 billion to build a two-way interactive network with fiber optic technology. Cable companies also provide state-of-the-art digital telephone service to millions of American consumers.

Since this is long, I’ll cut it.

On Saturday around 14:00 I got a call from Charter’s automated system asking me to confirm my appointment and, once I had, informing me that the technician’s expected time of arrival would be between 14:30 and 15:30. The window was 13:00 to 15:00. Not bad at all for a cable appointment, IMHO. The tech showed up around 15:00.

She was a little nervous once I filled her in, because she apparently had never worked with CableCARD and wasn’t sure about them. As I’ve repeatedly said, cable MSOs need to train their field techs better. She was polite and professional, which I will say just about all the Charter techs I’ve worked with have been, and determined to figure things out. As it turned out, she had her work cut out for her.

After my original post I had a brainwave and used the TiVo’s internal diagnostics to check on the signal strength. I probably would’ve thought of that earlier if I hadn’t been running on three hours sleep since Thursday. (I’m crazy/stupid like that – I ended up staying up after my nap Friday afternoon until about 05:30 – Sunday. Including going out to the bar Saturday night. I have no body clock.) Sure enough, all of my channels were showing a low strength. Where I used to get 80s and 90s – and even 98-100 on some channels – I was getting mid-50s, some 60s. And 0 on the three channels that were out. Which, interestingly enough, were all on the same frequency, 735000KHz. Which is interesting because Charter runs a 750MHz system in my area, which means that’s one of the highest frequencies, and if the high end was being attenuated it would be one of the first to go. In fact, I believe it is the highest frequency used on the channels I receive, so it’d be the first to go for me. And the CableCARD diagnostics showed no channel or frequency lock, and the modulation kept flipping between QAM64 and QAM256 – when it should be QAM256 – which basically meant the signal was too weak for it to lock on and tell.

So when the tech arrived I already suspected that it had nothing to do with the CableCARDs and everything to do with the signal. Well, I was pretty much sure of it, I’d suspected it all along since I’ve had my cards get de-paired before and the symptoms were different.

She checked my signal – and sure enough, it was way low. First she checked it off the 4-way splitter I have feeding the TiVo (TiVo Series3, Pioneer DVR-810H (TiVo Series2), TV, and Slingbox PRO) and thought maybe the splitter was bad. But she checked from the wall and it was low there. Still, she replaced the RCA splitter I had with one from Charter to be sure. And she replaced the pass-through on the wall plate. But it didn’t bring it up by much really, certainly not enough.

So then it was outside, where she re-did the splitter in the drop-box. My house has been remodeled a few times, and was even a day care center for five years or so, so there are unused drops, old wires, etc. I’m only using two drops now, living room and bedroom, so she cleaned up the distribution. But even then the signal was low. And she determined that it was low coming off the pole.

So up the pole she went. Turns out the drop from the pole to my house was bad. The insulation had been worn, or maybe chewed, off in places and water had gotten into the line. So she ran a new drop from the pole into the box. Signal strengths on most channels went from mid-50s to high 60s, and that fixed the pixelation issues. But the three HD channels were still dead. She felt the signal strength was low, but within acceptable ranges. So she suspected something with the cards was not right, that maybe they weren’t mapping the channel to the right frequency or something. And she turned the issue over to the head end CableCARD guy. She took my card info – serial, host ID, etc, and called it in. And the head end said it would take a half an hour or so to check on things and they’d call me. So she left, thinking that was it.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The office did call me back as promised, but the problem wasn’t resolved. So they booked a second visit for Sunday morning, between 08:00 and 12:00. I almost missed the appointment because, as I said, I’d been awake from about 17:30 Friday until 05:30 Sunday. I thought about trying to just stay up for the appointment, but my body decided it would really like some sleep now, thank you very much. So I set my alarm for 07:30 and thought I’d take a short nap.

Around 11:00 I woke up. My alarm was still set and on, I can only believe I must’ve been pressing snooze every nine minutes in my sleep. My alarm is right under a window, which was open, so that must have been annoying/amusing to my neighbors, who were having a yard sale and were just outside all morning. I was still pretty exhausted and I ended up just laying there half asleep until someone was banging on my door, around 11:30 I think. Fortunately my neighbor is a nice guy and he knew I was home. The Charter tech, a guy this time, had knocked but I didn’t hear (I probably dozed off) and was going to leave, but my neighbor, knowing I was inside, banged on the door which roused me.

So I filled in this tech on the story so far, and he took readings, and felt the signal levels were way too low. So he went around taking more readings, and decided the cable run from the box to the set might be the issue. You couldn’t get the TV further from the box – the box is on the right-front corner of the house, the TV is in the left-rear corner. So the cable runs down the side of the house, then across the back. He replaced that entire run with new cable – and signal levels on most channels jumped to high-70s. And the three dead channels came back! Huzzah! But they have signal strength in the low-50s, like around 52, sometimes sitting right at 50. So I feel they’re borderline.

The tech feels that the signal strength is too low, even from the pole. And once you add in the long run and the splitter, it is marginal. So they’ve done everything they can in the house, and he said he’ll call it in as a line issue. Since there was water in my drop line, he feels water probably infiltrated the drop on the pole and that could be why all my signal strengths are lower. And it is spring in New England, which means rain, and a lot of it. So it makes sense that water could have infiltrated the line on the pole. At this point I don’t have to be involved, since it is a line issue they don’t need to get into the house. They can come around and check out the lines on the pole and my drop whenever they want.

The whole visit is a little hazy, I think he was gone by 14:00 and I crashed again and didn’t get up until after 22:00. I really needed that sleep.

So I have the channels back, for now at least. But my signal is definitely being attenuated right from the drop. Hopefully they’ll be able to sort that out and boost my signal strength so I have more margin before they cut out. There are other drops available on the pole, so they could switch me to another one if it comes to that.

Both techs were professional and polite, and did their best to figure out the issue. And I was surprised to get appointments so quickly, and on a holiday weekend to boot. Part of me wonders if they have me flagged in their system now after the fiasco last time. Which I didn’t blog about, BTW, because it involved the install for the TiVo HD which I had before the release to review. I didn’t want to blog about anything to do with the HD, even if I didn’t reveal it specifically, just to be safe rather than sorry with the NDA I was under.

But my experience with their online support system, detailed in the last post, and the techs themselves just reinforces the fact that Charter, and cable MSOs in general, need to train their people better with respect to CableCARD. When someone calls with a CableCARD issue you don’t ask the customer to go mess with their unrelated cable box in the other room. Asking if the channels work on the box, sure, that could make sense be cause it would help determine if it was a larger issue or not. But when the cable box is SD-only, and the problems are on HD channels, I really don’t see what playing with the box would accomplish.

And they have good field techs, in my experience, but it is hard for them to do their job if they aren’t given the training to prepare them. I’m surprised, though I probably shouldn’t be, that they still have techs who have never worked on CableCARD. Which also shows that the FCC mandate for cable MSOs to use CableCARD in their own boxes isn’t really helping. The intent was to give cable MSOs more experience with the cards, and make them dependent on them and so to ensure they established a stable CableCARD infrastructure. That part seems to be working. But the other part was giving people in the field more experience with them as well. That part is not working because the MSOs pre-install the cards in the warehouse before shipping the boxes to customers. So field techs gain no experience with the cards used in the cable boxes. They’re already paired and configured, so installing the box is no difference from the old boxes with security ‘baked in’.

Anyway, I’m happy at this point. I have the channels back and the pixelation is gone, and I’m hopeful that they’ll sort out the line issue in the next week or two, bringing my signal back to where it used to be. I’ll check the TiVo’s signal strength meter periodically. The techs they have are solid, but need better training on CableCARD. And they need better scripts for the support people. They don’t seem to cover CableCARD, and you just have to get lucky and get one of the support reps who knows about them.

OK, so I turned to the web site. I normally avoid the online support because it is so much easier to explain to someone over the phone what is going on and I find it generally takes me much less time to cut to the chase and get a result on the phone. But since the phone wasn’t an option, I decided to try the online chat.

I’ll but this behind a cut since it gets long.

This is my first attempt to use the online support. It did not go well.

A representative will be with you shortly.
You have been connected to TTD Jackielou .
TTD Jackielou : Thank you for contacting Charter Communications. My name is Jackie. How may I assist you today?
Mr MegaZone: I was wondering if there is a service outage – I’ve lost most of my HD channels, and 1800GETCHARTER seems overwhelmed – fast busy when I dial.
TTD Jackielou : I’m sorry to hear that. I would be more willing to assist you with your HD channels issues. Afterwards, I will take a look at your services to make sure that Charter is meeting your needs.
TTD Jackielou : For me to assist you further, as well as for account security reasons, may I please have your complete name, the last four digits of the account holder’s Social Security Number, security code, the service address, and the telephone number on the account?
Mr MegaZone: Name: MegaZone, Last 4: xxxx, security code – I think that’s xxxx, address xxxx, and phone is xxxx I believe
TTD Jackielou : Thank you for the information. One moment please while I pull up your account.
TTD Jackielou : Thank you for patiently waiting.
Mr MegaZone: No problem
TTD Jackielou : There doesn’t seem to be any problem with your account. There is also no outage in your area.
TTD Jackielou : May I know what HD channels you are experiencing a problem?
Mr MegaZone: Well, then I suspect my CableCARDs lost auth since it is just select channels. Off hand A&EHD, HistoryHD, MOJOHD – and I believe some others, I’m going through them all now.
TTD Jackielou : Okay, let’s try to do the basic troubleshooting. Kindly unplug the power cord of the box from the power outlet, wait for 30 seconds then plug it again. Please inform me immediately if it has corrected the problem or not so I can send a signal to your box. May you also provide me with the serial number of the box? It should start with SA located at the back, bottom or side of it.
Mr MegaZone: I don’t have a cable box.
Mr MegaZone: I have CableCARD
Mr MegaZone: I have a TiVo Series3 using CableCARDs – and I did try rebooting the box, but it didn’t resolve it.
TTD Jackielou : As I checked here in your account you have a cable box.
TTD Jackielou : May I know if this problem also happening with a cable box?
Mr MegaZone: I do have an SD cable box in the bedroom – but since it is SD I can’t tune the missing channels on that box.
TTD Jackielou : Okay. Let’s try the basic trouble shooting with your cable box, please.
Mr MegaZone: Hmm, going through the channels it looks like it may actually just be those three channels – and they’re contiguous in the lineup.
Mr MegaZone: Okay, the cable box seems ro be working fine – what would you like me to do?
TTD Jackielou : Let’s try to do the basic troubleshooting. Kindly unplug the power cord of the box from the power outlet, wait for 30 seconds then plug it again. Please inform me immediately if it has corrected the problem or not so I can send a signal to your box. May you also provide me with the serial number of the box? It should start with SA located at the back, bottom or side of it.
Mr MegaZone: How is rebooting the SD cable box in the bedroom, which doesn’t have any error, going to affect the CableCARDs in the TiVo in the livingroom which are missing HD channels? I’ll go reboot the box, but I don’t see the connection. Back in a few minutes, it is on the other side of the house.
TTD Jackielou : Okay.
TTD Jackielou : Please let me know if you are still connected to the chat session at this time.
TTD Jackielou : Due to the current inactivity length, this session will be closed. If you have additional concerns or need additional assistance, please do not hesitate to initiate a new chat session.
TTD Jackielou : Thank you for choosing Charter Communications. Answers to frequently asked questions and self-help options can be found by looking in the “Customer Help” menu at www.charter.com. If you have further questions, please chat with us again. Our chat support is available from 7:00 AM through 1:30 AM central time, 365 days a year. Have yourself a great day!
If you require further assistance, go to www.charter.com/contact
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.

OK. This seems to be someone stuck in a script and unfamiliar with CableCARD. I have a problem with HD channels on my TiVo with CableCARD – and you want me to mess with the SD cable box in the other room? What will that prove? The channels that aren’t working can’t be tuned on that box, ever. I knew it was pointless, but I decided not to fight it and just humor her by doing as she requested, figuring it wouldn’t fix anything (of course) and we could just move past it and get to the real problem.

Only, after saying I’d be a few minutes, I come back to find myself disconnected! That’s a nice customer experience right there.

So then I steamed a bit, calmed down, and tried calling some more – with no luck. So I resigned myself to diving into online support once again. This time this went a bit better.

A representative will be with you shortly.
You have been connected to TTD Sheryl .
Mr MegaZone: Hello
TTD Sheryl : Thank you for contacting Charter Communications. My name is Sheryl. How may I assist you today?
Mr MegaZone: Hello – I seem to have lost three of my HD channels – A&EHD, HistoryHD, and MOJOHD. But is seems just those three. I was talking with rep Jackielou a few minutes ago but we got disconnected.
Mr MegaZone: This is on a TiVo Series3 using CableCARD
TTD Sheryl : I do apologize for the inconvenience. May I please if Jackie had sent a signal to your cable cards?
Mr MegaZone: No, not yet.
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
TTD Sheryl : In order to assist you better, may I please have your full name, address, your phone number registered on the account, account number, the last four (4) digits of your Social Security Number, and the security code for verification purposes?
Mr MegaZone: Name: MegaZone, Last 4: xxxx, security code – I think that’s xxxx, address xxxx, and phone is xxxx I believe
TTD Sheryl : Thank you.
TTD Sheryl : May I please know if you’re not getting these channels in all of your cable cards?
Mr MegaZone: I only have two cards currently in service, both in the same TiVo – and neither tuner is receiving those channels.
Mr MegaZone: There are 4 cards on my account, but two of them aren’t currently being used – I had a second TiVo but it is not installed right now.
TTD Sheryl : I see. SinceWEre you able to view these channels previously?
TTD Sheryl : I see. WEre you able to view these channels previously?
TTD Sheryl : May I please have the channel numbers?
Mr MegaZone: I think HistoryHD was working earlier today, let me double check the last time I recording something from that.
TTD Sheryl : Sure.
Mr MegaZone: Sure – 734 (A&EHD), 735 (HistoryHD), and 742 (MOJOHD)
TTD Sheryl : Okay. Thank you.
TTD Sheryl : We will do basic troubleshooting.
TTD Sheryl : One moment please while I get the instruction from my tool.
Mr MegaZone: ok
Mr MegaZone: Hmm, the last recording I see that I know was successful was 8AM Thursday, 5/22. From 8-10AM. So I know HistoryHD was working then. Still looking to see if I had anything else record between then and now – I caught it at 10PM tonight when a scheduled recording failed due to there being no signal.
TTD Sheryl : Please try the troubleshooting steps which can be found at this link: http://www.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?supportarticleid=1868
Mr MegaZone: That looks like the last I can 100% confirm the channel was working – nothing was set to record after that until tonight.
Mr MegaZone: OK, let me bring that up.
TTD Sheryl : If it doesn’t work, we will send a signal to it.
TTD Sheryl : Thank you.
Mr MegaZone: OK, I tried a reboot earlier, but i hadn’t tried to remove, reboot, then re-seat the cards so I’ll do that. It’ll take a few minutes.
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
Mr MegaZone: okay, doing the first restart
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
Mr MegaZone: sorry, it takes a couple of minutes for it to reboot
TTD Sheryl : Sure. No problem.
TTD Sheryl : Please let me know if you are still connected to the chat session at this time.
Mr MegaZone: It’s taking longer than normal, sorry about that.
Mr MegaZone: Ah, looks like it is finishing the first restart now, let me check the channels
TTD Sheryl : Sure.
Mr MegaZone: No joy with the power cycle, moved on to restarting without the cards, then I’ll reseat them and restart with them again.
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
TTD Sheryl : Please let me know if you are still connected to the chat session at this time.
Mr MegaZone: Yep.
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
Mr MegaZone: OK, rebooted with no cards, basic services work
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
TTD Sheryl : Will I send a signal already?
TTD Sheryl : Is the cable card already in place?
Mr MegaZone: Cards back in, the unit is rebooting
TTD Sheryl : Okay. Sir, please tell me if I will have to send the signal already. Thank you.
TTD Sheryl : Okay. Sir, please tell me if I have to send the signal already. Thank you.
Mr MegaZone: I’ll let you know as soon as it is back up.
TTD Sheryl : Thank you.
Mr MegaZone: Sorry that it takes so long to complete a reboot…
TTD Sheryl : It’s alright.
TTD Sheryl : Please let me know if you are still connected to the chat session at this time.
Mr MegaZone: Yes
Mr MegaZone: And it is back up… and the channels still aren’t working. Looks like it is time for the signal.
TTD Sheryl : Okay.
TTD Sheryl : One moment please.
TTD Sheryl : I have already sent a signal to your cable card. Please allow to refresh setup completely at the maximum of 30 minutes. However, if the problem is not solved, please contact us again to set up a service call.
TTD Sheryl : Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Mr MegaZone: So give it 30 minutes and if it isn’t working setup a call? OK. And no, that was all. Thank you.
TTD Sheryl : Yes, that is correct.
TTD Sheryl : You are very much welcome. Thank you for choosing Charter Communications. Answers to frequently asked questions and self-help options can be found by looking in the “Customer Help” menu at www.charter.com. If you have further questions, please chat with us again. Our chat support is available from 7 AM through 1:30 AM central time, 365 days a year. Have a great day!
If you require further assistance, go to www.charter.com/contact
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.

Sheryl was much more helpful and patient, and she seemed to understand CableCARD – at least she didn’t ask me anything about the cable box or send me off to do pointless things to it.

Unfortunately, here we are over and hour later and the channels still aren’t working. So I guess I’ll be setting up a service call. Here we go:

A representative will be with you shortly.
You have been connected to TTD Marifi .
TTD Marifi : Hello, my name is Marifi. Thank you for contacting Charter. How may I help you today?
Mr MegaZone: Hello – I need to setup a service call. I’ve lost three HD channels on CableCARD and I worked with a rep earlier. She told me that if they didn’t come back in 30 minutes to setup a call.
TTD Marifi : I will be happy to help you out with your concern. Afterwards, I will take a look at your services to make sure that Charter is meeting your needs. I will also inform you about the Charter bundle.
TTD Marifi : For me to assist you better, may I please have your full name, the last four digits of your Social Security Number, and the telephone number registered on the account?
Mr MegaZone: And it has been more like 90 minutes now. Sure
TTD Marifi : I am sorry about that.
Mr MegaZone: Name: MegaZone, SSN xxxx, phone xxxx
Mr MegaZone: No problem.
TTD Marifi : Thank you for the information. Please give me a moment to pull out your account. By the way, am I chatting with the account holder?
Mr MegaZone: Yes
TTD Marifi : Thank you. One moment, please.
TTD Marifi : Is the number listed on your account the number we should call you on the day of your appointment, or is there any other number we may reach you at, on the day of your appointment, as we now offer a call-ahead confirmation to ensure that we meet our scheduled appointment with you?
Mr MegaZone: xxxx would be better, that’s my cell
TTD Marifi : Thank you. One moment, please.
TTD Marifi : Thank you for waiting. The earliest possible schedule for you is on 05/24, between 1pm to 3pm. Is that okay with you?
Mr MegaZone: Tomorrow? Sure.
TTD Marifi : Please remember that an adult must be at home during the appointment and have access to all areas of the premises. Also, if you have any pets, please have them restrained. If for any reason you will not be available for your appointment, please be sure to contact us back to reschedule. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Mr MegaZone: No,that was all – I’ll be home tomorrow, 5/24 between 1 and 3. Thank you.
TTD Marifi : You are welcome.
TTD Marifi : Thank you for choosing Charter Communications. Answers to frequently asked questions and self-help options can be found by looking in the “Customer Help” menu at www.charter.com. If you have further questions, please chat with us again. Our chat support is available from 7 AM through 1:30 AM central time, 365 days a year. Have a great day!
If you require further assistance, go to www.charter.com/contact
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.

I’m actually stunned – tomorrow? Not a week from now? I must’ve hit the jackpot. Now I just hope they show up – the last time I needed a visit they blew me off four times before I went into the local office in person and talked to a manager. No show, no call – nothing, just failed to arrive. The explanation I finally got was a miscommunication within Charter, the server dept kept marking the ticket as completed or something like that so they never dispatched anyone from the local office.

I’m hoping it is just some kind of signal issue.

Ben Drawbaugh from EngadgetHD was at The Cable Show and he got a picture of the unit on display. Is it just me, or does it look like a slightly shorter (no optical drive so I guess they didn’t need the room) version of the now defunct Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR? Only in black instead of white. I have to admit, while I thought the Mutli-Room HD DMR was hideous, this one is only bland. The change in color helps.

According to the press release:

The announcement marks the first order and deployment of Digeo’s second generation offering which incorporates a dual HD-tuner digital video recorder (DVR). The Moxi 3012 also includes the Emmy(R) award-winning Moxi Menu user interface, along with the following advanced features:

* Full DVR functionality
* CableCARD(R) multi-stream 2-way support
* Remote web scheduling capable
* External storage options up to 1TB
* Extensive data mining through the Moxi portal for real-time customer usage insights

So it is a dual-tuner CableCARD DVR. Sounds like it relies on M-Card, which fits with what was known about their canceled consumer products. They don’t disclose the internal storage capacity, but given the ’3012′ naming scheme, I’d guess at 120GB. ‘Remote web scheduling capable’ is interesting, but the question is will Charter enable it? They don’t say if the external storage is USB or eSATA, and I can’t tell from Ben’s photo. The data mining is both intriguing and worrying. Is it anonymized? Just how much data do they track? How personal is it? Some people dislike even TiVo’s anonymized, aggregated data collection. And this is ‘extensive’ and ‘real-time’.

While they mention 2-way CableCARD support, they don’t specifically mention what is supported – SDV? VOD? PPV? I’d venture a guess that SDV is supported, since the Tuning Resolver Adapter is close to finalized. They could build that capability into the box. Since this isn’t a consumer device and the software can, and probably will, be customized for each MSO, I think it is reasonable to expect they’ll be supporting VOD & PPV. But without an OCAP platform I don’t know about advanced cable services in general.

And, according to the press release, Digeo is continuing to work on an OCAP/tru2way version of their Moxi platform.

I have Charter, though they never offered Moxi in my neck of the woods. If they do start offering this Moxi 3012 in my area I’ll get one, at least for a while, to see how it fares.

EDIT: I received the following via the contact form after originally posting this:

On your press release of the 3012 I have a few answers to your speculation

1) Remote scheduling will be enabled, current Digeo Moxi 9012 users already enjoy this feature. Scheduling is done by logging into the charter.net portal with your charter.net email address and going to the TV section. First time users will have to associate the box with their email there.

Unfortunately at this time it requires that the customer have our High Speed Data product in addition to the DVR and that both services be on the same account.

2) Expansion
This is already an option on the older 9012 and 9022 boxes as well. Currently the older boxes only supported USB expansion. I would assume that the 3012 is the same (unless it has eSATA ports)

3) 3012 model name.
Unless Digeo’s changed their naming scheme the 12 in 3012 should stand for 1 TV, 2 Tuners.

In the 9000 series there were two models, 9012 and 9022. The 9022 supported two TVs through the usage of a “moxi mate” box

I’m guessing givng the 9022 configuration that the 3012 should have no less than a 160 gig base hard drive (to compete with the Motorola 6416 which offers 160 gigs)

Hope this information is helpfull!

James Doster
Digital Coordinator
Charter Communications

The press release:

May 19, 2008 06:00 ET

Charter Communications to Deploy Moxi Cable HD DVR 3012 from Digeo

Charter first to offer next generation Moxi for Cable

NEW ORLEANS, May 19 /PRNewswire/ — Digeo, Inc., today announced that Charter Communications, Inc. will begin deploying the new Moxi Cable HD DVR 3012.

The announcement marks the first order and deployment of Digeo’s second generation offering which incorporates a dual HD-tuner digital video recorder (DVR). The Moxi 3012 also includes the Emmy® award-winning Moxi Menu user interface, along with the following advanced features:

* Full DVR functionality
* CableCARD® multi-stream 2-way support
* Remote web scheduling capable
* External storage options up to 1TB
* Extensive data mining through the Moxi portal for real-time customer usage insights

“Charter’s support of our newest version of the Moxi platform marks an important milestone for Digeo,” said Greg Gudorf, CEO of Digeo, Inc. “We’re confident that Charter’s customers will enjoy the many new features that the Moxi 3012 provides.”

“Charter is committed to providing its customers a superior video service,” said Ted Schremp, Senior Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Charter. “The Moxi platform is very popular with our video customers for its ease of use and functionality. The Moxi 3012 HD DVR has even more of the features and interactivity our customers value, and we are excited to bring the next generation of Moxi to our customers’ homes.”

The Moxi Cable HD DVR 3012 is targeted for deployment to Charter customers in the third quarter.

About Digeo, Inc.

Digeo, Inc. creates state-of-the-art home entertainment technologies, including digital media recorder (DMR) platforms and services. The company’s mission is to enable the best consumer experience in high-definition entertainment for the connected home.

Digeo’s flagship product — the two-time Emmy® Award-winning Moxi Media Center — serves as a hub for whole-home distribution of digital entertainment and more than 400,000 units have been shipped to more than 100 markets by eight cable operators nationwide. The company also licenses its technology to third-party companies as the user interface, application or customer connection portal to drive their products or services. Additionally, Digeo recently reached an agreement on a tru2way host device license with CableLabs and is developing a Moxi application for tru2way. Backed by Paul Allen’s Vulcan, Inc., Digeo is based in Kirkland, Wash. For more information, please visit http://www.digeo.com/.

Digeo, Moxi, and their respective logos are the trademarks of Digeo, Inc. Use of the trademarks and service marks of the National Television Academy (“NTA”), including the mark EMMY®, requires the prior express written permission of National Television Academy. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

For more information, media only:
Elissa Everett, Digeo, Inc.
425-896-6279
elissa.everett@digeo.com

Anita Lamont, Charter Communications
314-543-2215

Marc Finer, Communications Research, Inc.
412-765-3535
mfiner@comm-res-inc.com

Source: Digeo, Inc.

CONTACT: Elissa Everett of Digeo, Inc., +1-425-896-6279,
elissa.everett@digeo.com; or Anita Lamont of Charter Communications,
+1-314-543-2215; or Marc Finer of Communications Research, Inc.,
+1-412-765-3535, mfiner@comm-res-inc.com

Web site: http://www.digeo.com/