So, I am thinking about buying a TiVo Series 3 and I have a few questions about the TWC capabilities.

I know that you need to use CableCARDS with the TiVo. My question is... Do you get access to all the same channels with the TiVo that you do with the HD cablebox? Do you get the digital channels? Do you get all the HD channels? What about pay per view and premium?

I looked on the TWCNC website and of course, the info there is extremely vague.

Could someone out there with a TiVo and TWC please help me out?

Thanks.

1/8/2009 5:46:37 PM

i have a S3 with time warner, been using it since december of last year
i've had tivo for almost 7 years now, haha

the biggest issue you're going to have is finding an installer who knows what they're doing. cable companies absolutely HATE having to provide cablecards so they make no effort to make the process easier. an S3 HAS, i repeat, HAS to have two cards, whether they are S-cards or M-cards. they will try to tell you that you only need one card. only the TiVoHD can work with 1 M-card. then, they'll try and charge you DOUBLE the installation fees because you're getting two cards. this is bullshit, just keep saying no until they transfer you to someone that can authorize it - that's what i did. they're both going into the same device. it's ridiculous enough that they won't let you come pick up the cards yourself and install them (all you have to do is call TWC and give them your CPE mac, it's easy) and they FORCE you to pay for an installation... but you should not be charged for the installation of two cards if both are going into the same device.

after that, cross your fingers and hope the installer has done this before. mine said that he had, and my install took a little over 3 hours. your installer will also probably try and convince you that you only need 1 M-card. again, he's wrong. you can either tell him that up front, or let him go through the install and then try and figure out why your tivo reverted to single tuner mode. we had to try 6 different cards before we found two that got provisioned successfully. one card took literally an HOUR to provision itself... the other took two days.

my advice: take a day off work and schedule your appointment for the morning.

you get the vast majority of channels available. you don't get any channels that TWC has switched over to SDV (switched digital video) but they've designed a tuning adapter that will remedy this and should be coming out soon. TWC has put basically all of their new HD channels on SDV and some of the lesser-watched digital tier channels as well. you can't access any of the on demand channels (this includes pay per view since you have to order from a menu)

basically, anything that has an interactive component (VOD, PPV, etc) is not accessible.

in a nutshell, it's a huge hassle to get them installed and working correctly, and this is on purpose - cable companies want to do everything in their power to make it as hard as possible for you to use cablecards. they only provide them because the FCC says they have to. once they're working, however, that's usually it, they'll just *work*. i haven't had any problems, and it's been a year since i got them installed.

1/8/2009 6:53:51 PM

is switched digital video the reason why HD + TW DVR has sucked so much in the past six months?

1/8/2009 7:03:21 PM

no, TWC's HD sucks because they compress the hell out of it

their DVR sucks because the software it runs is the most god awful system i've ever seen. it crashes all the time, randomly decides not to record shows, etc.

1/8/2009 7:06:09 PM

^^^Thanks

Another question: Do I have to wait for TW to provide the TV Resolver to access the SDV or is there an good after market one I can snag? Also, will the PPV channels work once a SDV resolver is installed?

1/8/2009 7:59:28 PM

^no, it has to be programmed to TWC's head end. they are supposed to let you know when they have them available. so far, very few areas on any cable system have them...

you won't be able to access PPV as it still requires interaction with a menu. same for VOD.

1/8/2009 9:18:26 PM

Does anyone have a list of SDV channels on TWC? Just wondering how many channels that I would actually watch are effected. Any help is appreciated.

1/9/2009 9:34:00 AM