Cox’s special TiVo adapters now available in O.C.
November 27th, 2009, 8:10 am · 10 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
UPDATE, 11/30/09: Cox confirms the tuning adapters are now available at Cox stores in Rancho Santa Margarita, Quail Hill and Laguna Niguel.
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After what was an apparently successful test run, Cox Communications has begun rolling out a special adapter for customers who prefer to record cable TV using a TiVo rather than a Cox recorder.
Thanks to reader Roger Elliott who spotted the message on the TiVo forums, Cox notified users this week that “Tuning Adapters are now available and are being offered to Cox Orange County and Palos Verdes / San Pedro Digital Cable customers with a CableCARD in a TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL digital video recorders at no charge.”
I’m still waiting to hear officially from Cox. I’ll post any update here.
If you’re among those affected, another reader Michael Taube encourages you to get your adapter today. In an e-mail, Taube said this after getting his adapter:
“Well, I reviewed every single blessed HD channel Cox offers, now that I have my free, trusty Motorola Tuning Resolver (MTS). The picture quality on ALL HD channels is simply amazing! It makes my previous HD reception look positively awful. Please urge your TiVo audience to run, don’t walk, to their nearest Cox store to obtain their MTS. It makes a HUGE difference!”
Without such a device, TiVo users who rely on CableCARDs are unable to get several channels.
Since cable companies have limited space in the cable pipes to a customer’s home, they are trying to find new ways to squeeze more channels in the available space. Cox is using “switched digital video” technology to free up its broadcast stream for new HD channels. But it means some channels turn to on-demand status, making it impossible for CableCARD users to tune in.
The majority of customers probably won’t notice the change to switched digital. There could be a slight delay when selecting a switched channel, but just like an on-demand movie, the channel should tune in quickly. To see the channels affected, read the earlier story, “Cox moving 100 channels to on-demand format.”
CableCARD customers, however, who buy small cards to insert into TiVo boxes, TVs, computers or other devices in order to skip a cable set-top box, won’t be able to request those channels based on the limited technology of CableCARDs.
They will need an adapter and right now, Cox is providing one from Motorola for free to affected TiVo customers. Non-TiVo CableCARD customers are still waiting for an adapter. In the meantime, Cox is providing an HD receiver free for six months or a standard digital receiver for $1.99 a month for the first year. If you’re interested in one of these, you can call Cox at 888-246-3465.
For those who want to order the new tuning adapter, call Cox at 1-888-246-3465. The adapters can also be picked up at all of Cox’s local retail centers except the Queen Creek Quail Hill, Laguna Niguel and Rancho Santa Margarita offices (updated 11/30/09). Here’s a link to locations: Visit Cox retail stores.
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Picked one up at the Quail Hill store today. Happy to say that it seems to work! One piece of advice to those installing — make sure you allow the full 20 minutes for the amber light to become steady after installing the device. Don’t panic and assume it isn’t working — it just takes some time to download all the channel information.
And all I can say to Cox is — it’s about time!
Glad you got one TiVoGirl… Was going to personally message you but it’s just been one of those weeks. Thanks to all the readers who have helped me keep track of what Cox is doing — or not doing
I’m installing my adapter now. I’ll provide an update once everything is running smoothly.
The Cox store in Quail Hill, Orange County is undergoing major renovations. Although nothing is official, Cox has hinted to me in the past that new services are coming. The store stated that new services are coming which is why they were renovating but did not have any details. Who knows, maybe they are finally giving their DVR service multi-room viewing or some other enhancements that actually provide value to their customers.
Cox is NOT support Media Center enven though windows 7 fully supports it. They will NOT allow media center to sync with their network.
Everything Seems to be working great. I’m looking foward to adding to my home network now that the SDV issue is resolved.
I had two two tuning adapters delivered for our two TIVO’s on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Neither one will connect and very few at Cox know how to support them.
According to one tech at Cox, they are simply ‘supposed to work’. A Cox technician is coming out tomorrow as they think our signal is too week. I’ll post a follow up as soon as they come by.
Don’t expect a lot of support for at least another week or so. Very few people at Cox know about the adapters, let alone how to support them.
Good luck!
I just got my two adapters today. Both are finally up and running but it took a bit of time and effort. I called the activation number a couple of times and the amber light was still blinking (I waited over 30 minutes each time). So I called the customer support number and she “aligned the adapters with my account” then resent the signal to the adapters. Still no luck. I did another call to CS and he had no other answers for me so we set up a service call on Monday. Then for some reason, they started working a couple hours later. Maybe it took a long time to download all the info? Who knows, but at least now I can get all the channels I pay for! For what it’s worth, COX customer service was great when I picked up the boxes and when I had to call for help.
Does Cox Video on Demand work with the adapter?
No, On Demand isn’t supported. Hopefully sometime in the future!
Your blurb/quote from Michael Taube makes you, and this article sound very NAIVE.
A SDV tuner DOES NOT CHANGE your HD reception quality. It only lets you tune to channels hidden under SDV.
It’s just a simple pass-through that just happens to be able to tell the head-end “hey, I want to watch channel NNN” which the default cable-card TiVo can not do.
As for the TA, I got it Nov 23, and it’s been working flawlessly after getting past the activation question. Just plug it all in (coax and USB), call CS (which shunts you to a special department) to activate it, and then wait ~20 minutes for it to become active. There’s threads on tivocommunity and avsforum that explains these pretty well.