Psssst! Want the new Cablecard HD & HDDVR boxes?

[stevenl]

You are way out their friend. Do you understand how the technology works? Aparently not. Lets go first with a TV and a cable card.

Customer orders a cable card, BHN goes out to the house inserts the card, then programs the card to the TV from the office, (using numbers from the TV a mac address if you will, and device address) So now that card is "married" to the tv it is working as a single unit with the tv.

The same thing is done with the cable cards to the boxes. The boxes have SN's and mac address's that get attached to the sn's and mac address, of the cable card. In order for the "security" to work it has to be "secure" and to secure it it has to be stuck to the device it is secureing. Otherwise whats the point of having a security device if its not secure?

Order your services phone, internet and tv from 3 different providers, see how much you pay. Then order the triple play at BHN and see how much you save. The "you get everything from us" Benefits the consumer as much as it does BHN. or fios or any company offering triple play packs. You save an avg of 30-40$ a month by going to the triple play with BHN vs, getting 3 services from 3 seperate providers easily.

 

[jcarrera]

BHN needs to give you a raise! <G> But nothing you said factually refuted what I said. I understand fully that a set up has to be done to make the host device and card work together. Still, there is no reason whatever it could not have as worked as I posited...put a card from anywhere, that meets the standards, into anybody's box/TV/etc, that meets the standards, feed the proper numbers from both pieces to the central site, and have them send the programming to the units to "marry" them.

I know it isn't done that way. I am saying it could have been done that way, but the cable companies did not want it to happen like that.

Let me be clear: I am not talking about how it =is= done. I am talking about how it could (and should) have been done.

 

[xjestersdeadx]

Hey guys - first time post, howdie. Ok, while you guys are going back and forth about BHN, I am saying...the real point to this thread is WHY would anyone want this piece of crap?! Just got it installed today, yep, as the rep said, for a defective unit.

The software here in the Melbourne area BLOWS. Forgive me, I haven't read the whole thread...but what, BHN paid for 4 years of box upgrades with the other software so they could pay some other contractor to start all over again? And start all over again really badly?

Simple features I have had since my 1999 Tivo are not included, but were included on the 8300HD. The tech told me today that there is a major release that won't come out until Sept. to address several problems.

List of "Even a Caveman Can Do It" items missing:

1. ability to change priority of your scheduled shows - NOT POSSIBLE
2. ability to tell it to record and keep only 1 show - NOT POSSIBLE (min is keep 3 shows)
3. ability to record by time and channel ONLY, i.e., 10 PM Wednesdays Ch. 112 - NOT POSSIBLE - the box looks to the TITLE, and then if you tell it to record the series, it does just like any other show recording. This is VERY annoying because I don't trust the TV guides and networks to always know when a show is new or not, and I don't want the same episode of Seinfeld recorded 92 times in the same week. Also, I can't even tell it to save ONLY ONE to "fix" that issue as stated above
5. Delay when hitting buttons on remote to menu working...1 to 2 seconds
6. Some functionality that used to take one click or two, is now buried into 4 or 5 layered menus.
-- For example-- When searching for a show, and you find the one you want by entering letters into a box onscreen, you can't just hit the red record button. Nothing happens. You have to hit select, then go through the record show/record show with options/record series/ menus.

Some good things - new menus look cool, you now have a "XX% full" indicator. There is a recording log that tells you whats been recorded and deleted. It doesn't reboot and I can actually watch tv unlike the last 8300HD's I had.


My choices are: go get a $279 HD TIVO (seriously considering it since I don't care about on demand) or wait for september for an update.

Anyway, the box sucks guys, wait for the software update or you'll be sorry. Just my two cents.

PS: OMG....I just found out this stupid box has some kind of annoying power standby feature and it throws you into a screen saver if you don't touch the remote for 30 minutes. This is NOT good.

 

[Impala1ss]

Hey guys - first time post, howdie. Ok, while you guys are going back and forth about BHN, I am saying...the real point to this thread is WHY would anyone want this piece of crap?! Just got it installed today, yep, as the rep said, for a defective unit. .

Just to make sure - you are talking about the new 8300HC HD-DVR?

When you call it a piece of crap are you comparing it to a TIVO or to the 8300 HD DVR? I agree that TIVO is the best DVR.:up

Does the screen saver activate while you are watching TV? Without pausing the program?

 

[Khandurian]

or wait for september for an update.

With the problems they just found with these things, I'm almost willing to bet that the update will be sooner than scheduled.

Seems we have alot of the boxes that are not being "bound" or for some of you sat guys, "married" to the box.

There also seems to be a big huge problem with HDMI!

As for

WHY would anyone want this piece of crap?!

Steven already said it and i'll add on to it. It's sheer bragging rights, "Look at me! I got the new box and you don't!"

As with any other piece of crap that any other company releases, theres always problems when it's first released. No matter what company you are.

Jester - as for yours going into "standby" or "sleep mode" you may have made a change and not realized it. I have the box at work, and it sits for hours, most of the time all day on one channel and doesn't go into standby mode.

Steven - We have the SA4250HDC! not the SA3250HDC!

 

[xjestersdeadx]

Just to make sure - you are talking about the new 8300HC HD-DVR?

When you call it a piece of crap are you comparing it to a TIVO or to the 8300 HD DVR? I agree that TIVO is the best DVR.:up

Does the screen saver activate while you are watching TV? Without pausing the program?

Yes - this is the 8300HDC, I have Brighthouse and Myro Navigation software. This thing is a piece of crap compared to the 8300HD with Passport, and its a mushy, the day after you drank to much piece of crap compared to a 1999 Tivo!!

Yes - freaking screen saver activates while you are watching tv!! No way to turn it off. Now I did just reboot, and haven't seen it again in 20 minutes, I will keep you posted if it comes back again. (EDIT: Rebbot takes 9 1/2 minutes....not kidding).

I am 95% sure I am going to buy a Series 3 Tivo this weekend or the Tivo HD now. The tech support at BHN went like this:

"The screensaver is a new feature of this model!"

Me: "You call that a feature????"

"Um...well, its a function of this model....*crickets*"

 

[stevenl]

BHN needs to give you a raise! <G> But nothing you said factually refuted what I said. I understand fully that a set up has to be done to make the host device and card work together. Still, there is no reason whatever it could not have as worked as I posited...put a card from anywhere, that meets the standards, into anybody's box/TV/etc, that meets the standards, feed the proper numbers from both pieces to the central site, and have them send the programming to the units to "marry" them.

I know it isn't done that way. I am saying it could have been done that way, but the cable companies did not want it to happen like that.

Let me be clear: I am not talking about how it =is= done. I am talking about how it could (and should) have been done.

What part of what I said did you not understand? It is technologically not possible to do what you are asking and still maintain security. It just will not work. The card can only be assigned to one device its that simple. Let me break down in even more english ok?

In the system to activate equipment when you install a card ok. You call the person and say "hey im installing a cable card blah blah"

First you need to give them the Cards Serial number and mac, Then you need to give them the TVs Host ID and Mac (Which only displays once the card is inserted) Once you have the four numbers given to the person to authorize the card/tv they insert the numbers (if they do it right) the card will work within a min or so. Now that card is tied to that TV because the numbers are programmed together. You cannot take the card out and put it in another TV because the TV will have a different Host ID and mac. The cards are not little hard drives and cant remember all these numbers, They are designed to handle one device. It just will not work, in order for the card to have any form of security it has to be paired to a device otherwise their is no point in having any security because the card is useless then.

Lets figure out how the security works ok? First off BHN sends channels encrypted ok? That way any joe blow with a digital tuner cant get HBO for free, We establish that encrpytion is needed to protect theft right? The card and the TV have to pair with each other to get the Encryption keys that constantly change, in order to decrypt the TV so you can watch HBO. Lets say you move the card to another TV. No longer does that card talk properly to the device the encryption technology sees it as a bogus connection thus not allowing it to decrypt properly.

 

[jcarrera]

And What part of what I said did you not understand? You keep describing how it works now, and I keep telling you it could be done a different way, but the cable companies don't want to. And you keep coming back describing how it works now. geeesh.

If you can "pair" the card-device one time, you could do that a second time. It's called flash memory. (LISTEN: not now...COULD BE). Understand?

 

[stevenl]

Im telling you how it works, to explain to you WHY it cant be done another way. If they do it any other way then it is no longer "secure" thus making it pointless.

 

[xjestersdeadx]

Ok, just an update on my 8300HDC.

- The screensaver comes on ALWAYS after 10 minutes if you turn the tv on after the box. Obviously, it doesn't detect the tv being on. You must turn off the box and turn it back on, at which point it takes you to the default "channel on" channel, erasing any cache of the show you were watching.

- There are many occasions when you want to quickly record something you are watching. If you hit the record button, and you are recording something on another channel, it cancels the other recording with NO warning at all. This also happens if you hit record, and the program is, say an hour long, and you have FUTURE recordings scheduled, it just cancels the future recording without warning you! Basically you have to go back to the scheduled recordings and check it everytime and figure out yourself if the current program will over write something else. (Most DVR's will come up with a warning giving you a choice to stop the other recordings and which ones you want to stop.)

- Hitting any remote button (guide, pause, play, settings, etc) takes a really hard push for at least 2 seconds before taking effect. It makes you think your batteries are dead or something. When it does take effect, often it will double or triple your input because you have not seen the menu in time to know if your input took effect or not.

- When looking at settings or the guide, and it does finally come up on screen, it says "loading data" for about 2-3 seconds.

- If you do select to record a program, it brings up an annoying, 3/4 screen bright yellow box telling you it is updating data and to wait. You can't watch anything in the little window or anything else, it just sits there for about 10 seconds. (On the 8300HD you can at least watch what was on in the little window).

I have no other options for HD DVR now from BHN. I've gone through 3 used 8300HD boxes and all of them died due to hard drive failure. All new boxes given out are the 8300HDC with this software.

I called and gave a long complaint and list of "suck features" (or lack thereof) but the tech had little knowledge of what I was talking about. (For example, I had to explain what scheduled recordings was). The tech also said that the manuals were online, but they aren't. All the manuals are for the 8300HD or at Scientific Atlanta's site they show the old passport software screens (not the fault of SA of course).

So, I would highly recommend anyone WAIT before getting this box if at all possible. If you don't want to buy a TIVO HD (like I am going to do), then wait to see if the promised software updates actually come along or consider satellite.

I don't know how it would be possible for them to fix all these problems with one update, and honestly, "updates" usually fix a couple things and break something else.
Good luck!!

 

[Khandurian]

Ok, I can see where this is going. Steven, talk to your little puppy in private. He will tell you that if you remove the card it does not make inoperable. You can put the card back in and the box will still work. You just can't move it to another box.

This is the same thing that both satellite companies do. Once you insert the card into the box, the card becomes married to the box.

It wont be long before the <kof>leet<kof> script kiddies figure out they can do the same thing with these cable cards as they can with satellite boxes. Ooops, did I say that?

I do know, that if the box came from the factory with a bad card, it can be removed and a new one put in and the box will work again. I also know if the box died, but the card was still good, you can remove the card, send it back to SA, and they can re-program it for a new box.

However, in light of everything said, the reason it's being done this way, is so that the software doesn't "leak" out. But just like with anything else, just wait, over time, someone over at SA will get p.o.'d and quit and have the software in his brief case, and then Oops! how did that get on Emule/bittorrent?

 

[stevenl]

As I beleive I clarified in an early post I didnt mean to say "break" in the sense it will blow up and not work, that was a mis-wording on my part

 

[Khandurian]

As I beleive I clarified in an early post I didnt mean to say "break" in the sense it will blow up and not work, that was a mis-wording on my part

No worries, I probably missed it.