Cisco STA1520 SDV tuning adapter impressions
Setup
Hookup of the STA1520 couldn't have been easier -- we routed the cable through the box to the TiVo, plugged in the included USB cable to an open port on the TiVo and powered the STA1520 up. Right off the bat, the green LED on the STA1520 started blinking and the TiVo put up a notification screen. The TiVo diagnostic screen for the tuning adapter, however, indicated "No channels available." Time to call the cable company.
As is always the case with phone support, the CSR (customer service representative) is the biggest factor in how successful your call will be. Thankfully for us, we got paired up with a knowledgeable CSR on the first attempt. After a little account management that amounted to associating the cable card in our TiVo to the Tuning Adapter, sending "hits" from Cox down to our STA1520 made the green LED stop blinking. We'll admit we think we got lucky in this round of CSR roulette, but to be fair, Cox is doing the right thing with a "no service fee" policy on getting the Tuning Adapters up and running -- even if it involves a truck roll.
Once the initialization of the tuning adapter was complete, the TiVo diagnostic screen allowed us to change channels through the STA1520, confirming that everything was working correctly.
Results
So, installation was straightforward, but whether you really need a Tuning Adapter is entirely dependent on a combination of your service provider and the programming you really want. In our particular locale and at this time, Cox has moved about 40 channels to SDV, with about half of those channels in its "Paquete Latino" tier. Our own subscription only saw seven channels move to SDV, including some religious programming, a local real estate channel and C-SPAN 2 and 3. All in all, nothing that even constitutes a small morsel of our TV diet, and chances are even if our Tuning Adapter totally failed, we'd never notice or miss those channels.
Which brings us to one thing we really like about the Tuning Adapter -- it has a passive passthrough of the cable signal -- even when switched off, the non-SDV channels can be tuned in from the TiVo. Also, we were happy to see that the Tuning Adapter didn't produce any noticeable degradation in picture quality, which was more than we could say for some of the cable set-top boxes we've had experience with.
Conclusion
SDV is here, and even if your favorite programming hasn't been moved into and SDV channel yet, it just might in the future. Based on our experience so far, the Tuning Adapter and our TiVo has been getting along just fine. Perusing some discussion boards around the internet, however, does turn up some complaints of adapters needing restarting, which can be really annoying if you lose signal right in the middle of a recording. While the TiVo will receive non-SDV channels even when the adapter is turned off, it does require about 30 seconds to re-tune.
If we've got any nits to pick with our experience, it'd be the sheer presence of yet another box in our AV setup -- consider what programming a Tuning Adapter will open up before you decide you absolutely must have one. While it is annoying to pay the cable company for channels you can't receive, the hour or so spent in getting set up and the hassle of finding a nook to stuff the adapter in might not be worth the effort.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lawrence @ Apr 8th 2009 4:11PM
I've had mine for a couple months and my experience has been less than satisfying. The regular channels work just fine, but there are often problems with the SDV channels. Sometimes, the sound cuts out for a few seconds, sometimes the video gets fragmented like scrambled porn, and then other times, I can't get the SDV channels at all.
I forget what the message says exactly, but basically, the Tivo is telling me that the Tuning Adapter is unable to receive the channel. I assume I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. For now, it's fine. I'm a patient person. I've waited a long time for this technology. I can wait a while longer for them to iron out the bugs and correct these problems.
But so far so good, I suppose. I'm much happier having all these "new" HD channels on my Tivo instead on just on the CableCo's POS DVR.
Miguelito @ Apr 8th 2009 5:11PM
I've got one of these with TWC in San Diego. They mysteriously showed up a few weeks ago. Found out through the mail list grapevine at work. I picked up 2 (S3 and HD) and they both hooked up and worked right away. Only glitch I've seen is the one on the S3 went back to flashing the next morning, but after a tivo restart (which had been mentioned as possibly being needed on S3s in the install sheet) it's been rock solid ever since.
Picking up the TA was kind of funny. The girl at the walk in center said that the demand they'd had in just 2 days was insane. That was before they'd sent out any notices.. the word had spread so fast on the tivocommunity forums that they had to keep shipping more units to the walk-in center. Kudos to TWC for keeping up with demand, not charging an install fee (for once) and actually delivering on something... finally.
2 days after I hooked them up, I finally got an automated email form letter from TWC that they were available, since I'd signed up to be notified online. Nice timing.
Vince @ Apr 8th 2009 6:42PM
Got mine today from Cablevision here in NJ. Not sure if it's me or the box but it's not downloading the channel map.
loadstar81 @ Apr 8th 2009 7:52PM
I'm on Time Warner in the Wisconsin region, and I had both a CableCard and a tuning adapter installed about a week and a half ago.
Getting the cablecard working was a pain - it took the installer almost two hours, but that was only because the central office apparently has issues reading, and completely FUBARed copying the CableCard ID number that the tech texted back to the office into the authorization system. On the other hand, the tuning adapter was literally plug and play - no issues at all to speak of. As soon as the cablecard was working, the tuning adapter started working as well.
Since then, the worst issue is that a channel just stays black as I'm "flipping." If I tune off and back onto the channel, it comes in just fine. Everything else has been absolutely perfect, and let me tell you, I so do NOT miss the craptastical Time Warner "Navigator" software on their cable boxes. Ugh.
(As a side note, I've been extremely happy with my experience working with Time Warner. Before the service visit, I got a call from a very cordial and knowledgeable tech, who spent time finding out what kind of TiVo I had, letting me know that he would try to pull one of the area's first M-Cards for me, and he spent time to make sure I didn't have any questions. The techs that came out didn't seem to mind at all spending the two hours that it took to get it working.)
Rob @ Apr 9th 2009 8:32AM
These became available From Cablevision on Wednesday too.
Shawn Schrager @ Apr 9th 2009 10:13AM
The tuning adapter is working fine for me in Charlotte, but how come no one is talking about one of the other issues associated with using them?
HD and Series 3 Tivo users are seeing problems with their multi-room viewing.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=414223&highlight=mrv+tuning+adapter&page=2
The other Tivos on the network can no longer see any shows recorded on the HD/Series 3 boxes. It's been going on since the adapters started going out and TiVo acknowledges the problem randomly depending on the customer service rep that picks the phone up.
SUOrangeman @ Apr 10th 2009 9:44PM
I think the TiVo users here in northern Virginia have noted that shows recorded via the tuning adapter aren't properly marked for copy protection. This results in not being able to pull recordings to PC.
I had been gifted with a TiVo HD but sent it back. knowing that the CableCard+Tuning Adapter situation here wasn't flawless. I think Cox is moving in the right direction, but I'm just not ready to spend money (lifetime subscription, CableCard fee, hard drive upgrade) until things are darn near perfect.
harma41 @ Apr 9th 2009 2:03PM
They couldn't have made it any bigger. I have no more room, and this thing now has to live below the entertainment center. I don't know what the future holds for TAs, but I hope it is worth the size of the unit.
kj @ Apr 9th 2009 2:29PM
Does this work with CableCard enabled Vista Media Centers as well? All of the links I can find on TheGreenButton and and Chris Lanier's blog are just speculation.
Vince @ Apr 9th 2009 5:12PM
Quick update: After letting the adapter sit for a while disconnected from the TiVo, its channel map finally downloaded and all is working well now. I will, however, check into the MRV issue mentioned by Shawn.
Jake @ Apr 9th 2009 6:18PM
There are actually two "MRV" issues with these damned boxes (yes, I have one, and yes, I hatelove it). One is that Series2 boxes can no longer access the Now Playing List of a Series3/HD that has a tuning adapter attached. The second is that some carriers, like Cox in Northern Virginia, are locking down most of the non-OTA-network content. So even if your Tivo CAN see the Now Playing List (for instance, if both are HD units), you can't transfer much of your content anyway because the CCI byte is set to 0x02. And this is not just on SDV channels. There are lots of channels that are not delivered via SDV that are all "red x's" all the time, simply because the tuning adapter is attached.
Oh, and did I mention the frequent and random reboots that disable the Tivo until you click "okay" on the "A tuning adapter is connected" screen.
Not ready for prime time. Yet it gives me the HD cable channels that I NEED. So I'll keep on inviting it over, and take its abuse with a healthy helping of self-loathing.
Miguelitosd @ Apr 14th 2009 5:53PM
With Time Warner in San Diego, they apparently started setting entire networks (especially pay ones like SHO) as copy protected long before the TAs came out. It's been months since I've been able to MRV anything from SHO or a whole slew of other channels. Even things like BBCA seem to be set to block MRV for everything.
L @ Apr 22nd 2009 11:47AM
TW in L.A. has just started distribution of this same unit (beginning last Monday). SDV turn-on is slated for today. While their original notification letter (announcing SDV) said that the tuning adapters were free and that only standalone basic HD converters for non-TiVo cableCARD customers might be vulnerable to a fee after a year, their second letter now is using the same wording for the tuning adapter ("free for at least a year, but there may be a fee to keep it after a year). So it's not clear if they'll be staying free, or what they'll cost if charges begin to apply. I'm not hooking it up until I'm sure that SDV is up and running.