From: cambler	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:28 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I'll do you one better.

I own my own box (Motorola DCP-501) because my provider didn't offer boxes with serial ports.

After taking the better part of two weeks to get it activated (they thought I was doing "something" illegal), they flashed the box and disabled all of the extra features.

It took a contact to our county's cable ombudsman and a threat of contacting an attorney who understands the rules before they were able to find a way to not send my box disabling commands.

I suppose Comcast can disable anything they want on their own boxes - but if you own your own equipment, they're not allowed to do that.

	From: stile99	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:33 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

"Seems to". Strange little phrase, that. "Seems to" me, you can blame almost anyone for anything, and as long as you claim they 'seem to' be doing it, rather than say outright that they are doing it, you can later freely backtrack.

As you state, they don't support the serial port. For all you know, this 'quiet disabling of said function' is nothing more than a firmware update. When the programmers asked how much time they should spend on making sure the serial ports work, they were told "we don't care if they work or not, you worry about the features we specified". So now here's a new firmware...with no serial port.

Are Comcast dicks? Hell yeah. But that's not up for debate, is it? Are they doing this deliberately to piss people off? Of course not. What part of no support for the serial port is confusing? They dedicated no resources to making sure it works. They dedicated no resources to making sure it doesn't work. If it does, they don't care. If it doesn't, they don't care.

	From: strangeanimal	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:43 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Rather than get into an argument here, I'll clarify:

Yes, a Comcast rep told us it was a firmware upgrade.

Yes, I and others are pissed off at Comcast. So I vented a little.

So I'm warning other Comcast clients in this community that they might be facing a similar situation.

	From: stile99	Date: November 13th, 2007 11:39 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I see.

So you advocate calling innocent frontline support people and making their lives miserable due to a decision that not only wasn't made by them, wasn't even made by those higher than them? You now admit this was done by a firmware update rather than malice. (I'm wondering exactly how 'tech-savvy' these customers are if their first thought was malice rather than firmware). Venting is allowed. Taking it out on others that had nothing to do with it is not.

	From: tmesser	Date: November 13th, 2007 05:14 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

It's my belief that customers have the right to complain, but it's clear that nobody should expect serial support to return.

If Comcast changes something that makes life harder for their customers (regardless of how few they may be), they deserve to hear about it. I interpret the lack of support for this feature as "don't expect the functionality to ever come back."

I don't believe this was done out of malice, but with Comcast's rising DVR rates and what often seems like outward hostility from CSRs and installers toward TiVo users ("How dare you not use our DVR! We're going to overbill you for CableCARDs and HD charges!"), it's understandable for someone to initially perceive it as such.

	From: strangeanimal	Date: November 14th, 2007 12:09 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

tmesser, you took the words right out of my mouth.

	From: kviri	Date: November 13th, 2007 03:30 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Comcast of Waltham, MA checking in. One of my two cable boxes is now serial-disabled, and I'm keeping a very close eye on the other.

I'm not pleased. (Not least of which because I had to do on a scavenger hunt to find the IR blasters again. I'm still missing one pair, but luckily the third TiVo is hooked straight into coax, so I don't need to find its blasters yet.)

	From: howief	Date: November 13th, 2007 05:56 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Worst case scenario Tivo sells the IR blasters for $7.

https://www3.tivo.com/store/accessories.do

Maybe Comcast should reimburse you?

	From: strangeanimal	Date: November 13th, 2007 10:31 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, considering they never "officially" supported the functionality they just zapped.

What ticks most of us off is that everything was working just fine, a lot of people chose their particular cable box *because* it had a serial port, and now poof. :p

	From: kviri	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:33 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

And, there goes the other box. (Its serial port was disabled sometime between midnight and 2am, based on what did and didn't record properly.)

	From: scarymike	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:40 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

That sucks. Lack of serial support is one of the biggest reasons I don't have digital cable, just basic analog cable for my series 2.

I feel you pain. I hate IR cables for changing channels. However, if you HAVE to go that route, I highly recommend the sticky flat kind. those always worked better for me than the "L" shaped ones. (http://www.smarthome.com/8170.html)

Also, build an "IR TENT" around your Ir blasters. That will help too.

Lastly, Tivo S3 or HD use cable cards, hence NO issues changing channels. But then again, there is a cost involved, and a lot of cable companies are dicks about installing cable cards.

Good luck.

	From: kviri	Date: November 13th, 2007 02:51 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

Yep. I dealt with the IR blasters for years on my old Series 1, I think I still remember all the tricks. (Though I hadn't seen the sticky-flat IR cables, and may look into that. Those definitely work with a Series 2?)

Coincidentally, I actually have a TiVo HD "out for delivery" on the UPS truck as we speak. We're hoping to get a house and move in June, though (possibly to non-Comcast country), so I hadn't actually decided whether I wanted to go through the immense hassle of a CableCard install (or, rather, talking Comcast through a CableCard install) for such a short time. I only bought the HD now instead of later because of the lifetime-service promo.

This might tip the balance, though.

	From: scarymike	Date: November 13th, 2007 03:06 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

"Those definitely work with a Series 2?"

yes, I used them for years with mine.

	From: strangeanimal	Date: November 14th, 2007 12:08 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Our IRs have already screwed up once. :p We're ditching our digital package and going analog this weekend ourselves... it'll be very satisfying to give Comcast their cable box back.