WholeHome

If it has not hit your area yet, it will, and soon. Change is part of life. Before I tear into them, let me say I am a loyal Comcast customer and a huge fan. BUT the latest digital move is a crock and makes me want to rethink my whole relationship with them. i.e. This SUCKS.

Marketing at cable and satellite companies is now completely out of hand – you get about the same thing with any of them yet they insist on trying to compete with each other by making my life harder. The ONE distinguishing characteristic of cable (not having to have a set top box under every TV) is now gone. Just to keep what I have I now must pay Comcast MORE for renting a new cable box for every TV. Really?

Lets examine:

• Do I really need them to “add more bandwidth” so I can get another hundred worthless cable channels? NO
• Does my cable bill go up? YES
• Do people really like having extended basic cable service directly to every TV? YES
• And what did they replace my beloved SciFi channel with ?? You guessed it – QVC – again really?
• BOCS really does make it all better – yeah, I’m shameless, but it is exactly the feedback I’m getting from new customers!

Want more information – I just published a new page describing the whole conversion, what you have to do to get ready, and how to cope.

I also previously did a little presentation on why digital gives you more channels with some cool graphics to make the technology come to life.

Couple of quick comments on the “DTA” (the new little cable box) Comcast wants you to put on every TV:

1. It does NOT have a guide – you get channel up/dn and a very basic Comcast remote.
2. ONLY the new remote works with it – you need to reprogram any universal remote you have – see my XMP posts for more information
3. It does NOT have power off pass through – so if you want analog cable and/or BOCS with it you MUST use the RCA jacks.

So – Comcast… you suck, but like everything else, we Americans have a short memory. We will adapt and forgive you before our morning coffee. sigh…

DF

I did a post a while back on XMP based remote controls, and I’ve noticed a LOT of interest in the subject so it’s time to give a bit more detail since Comcast, in particular, is beginning to hand those remotes out like candy.

So, let’s start with the basics – most people are trying to get more information because they got a new Comcast DVR and suddenly neither their old Comcast remotes or their fancy universal remote will work with the new box. In fact, in many cases, a code does not exist in your universal remote nor can it learn the codes for the new box. Your first thought is, “What, are they insane? – putting out a system that completely cripples all my controllers dooming me to have to explain to my wife again how all the fancy toys are worth it when no one can even change the TV channel anymore…”

There are three “typical” remotes being handed out right now, and it is easy to tell the difference -

The one on the left is the standard Comcast remote and works all of the legacy Motorola and Scientific Atlanta Boxes. The old familiar black(SD) and Silver(HD and DVR) boxes as well as the newer “compact” SD box (Not the DTA) all work with the legacy remote only.These are the ones to look for…

Newer boxes – namely the Cisco RNG/PNG200 series and the latest Motorola boxes (look for the more square front ones)

and the new Mot boxes (the top one in this pic) use the newer XMP protocol (the middle remote above – the “dark grey one”)

The bottom box is a DTA – and uses a completely different remote… (The litle black one in the top picture)

One note, some of the newer Motorola DVRs will accept EITHER the legacy silver comcast remote or the dark grey one – A very nice thing indeed.

To decode a little, the silver remote uses a legacy code that nearly every universal remote already has in it and it is easily learnable.

The dark grey remote uses the XMP protocol and the DTA is different than both of them.

The XMP protocol is a new development from Universal Electronics – bottom line is that it functions much like a standard code but they tightened up the specs. Specifically the tolerances are such that without a patch, a standard universal remote cannot learn the codes. Why? because according to the older specs, it is ok to be a little sloppy – that rising edge of the pattern might be off by 7% or so and nothing in the system really cares. The new protocol has to be much more accurate. Here is the really fun part, most legacy UEI remotes cannot even learn the new codes. In their brilliance, UEI made it so they obsoleted many of their own remotes in the field.

Why would they do this? Opening the door for later two way communications is one good reason – future remotes that can actually receive data about what is being played and show it right in your hand – cool (but dont count on ever getting anything like that free from Comcast – are you kidding?)… More likely it is a competitive thing – what better way to step on UEI competitors than making it so that the latest cable systems won’t work with competitors products – because UEI has BOTH Comcast, DirecTV and Dish contracts as well as a very healthy stand alone universal remote  business. For shame.

And, Cisco implemented the remote receiver extremely poorly – even with a really good remote control, the suckiness of the Cisco box means you almost have to be right in front of it to change the channel – forget about changing the channel from the kitchen. Makes sense I suppose as Cisco is new to the business just having purchased Scientific Atlanta, and when one company buys another they always seem to know more about how to do things than the expert company they bought – this is the perfect example. My suggestion, if Comcast tries to hand you a Cisco box – refuse – demand Motorola.

As a side note, BOCS systems actually use a uEI chip and a simple firmware upgrade solves the issue (more suspiscion that this is a competitive strike), and like new DVD encryption that comes out periodically (like on the latest Twilight-New Moon DVD) it is quickly broken and systems are patched.

Bottom line – if you got a new dark grey comcast remote and your older universal will not work with your new set top box, go to your universal remote’s website and see if there is an upgrade – likely it will take a little work but you can do it.

I’ve collected a LOT of data and scope/screen shots of the new protocols and happy to share that with anyone that wants to take the next investigative step -

Good luck and don’t forget that with the new Comcast “going all digital” changeovers, there is no better way to get all your channels back than to install a new BOCS system.

DF

So, you have a TiVo, you recorded a really great episode of CSI and you want to share it with your best friend. If it is not clear, TiVo absolutely does not allow that, and while the networks also frown on it, you really really want to do it. Keep in mind that before the days of Comcast DVRs and TiVos there was a nifty startup called ReplayTV that allowed just this sort of thing – sharing between boxes and even [carefully] over the internet. TiVo, however, is careful to encode/encrypt everything and make it nearly impossible to access anything beyond the confines of their own walled garden.

There is a Chinese company, Moyea, that has released a new version of their video transcoder software that at least offers some hope in this area. I’ve purchased previous versions of their software – specifically to convert my video camera files to flash (Check out my flash creation – I sneak out from behind an active BOCS demo on the virtual BOCS page). Their software is extremely easy to use and worked exactly as advertised.

But, there are a few issues: Getting video off of a TiVo is a real pain in the first place. For some reason, downloading video from a TiVo (Series 2 and beyond only) is about the most frustrating thing a human can do. It is basically only a real time transfer – meaning a one hour show takes an hour or longer to get it off the TiVo. They have posed plenty of excuses, but personally I think they did it on purpose – perhaps even at the request of the ever-evil MPAA. So once you get it off of a TiVo, run it through the Moyea conversion software (assume again at least real time kind of time to convert unless you have a screaming computer) and then the time to upload… Yes, you can share your stuff with a friend, but something like three hours of effort to share a 1 hour show? It better be a friend-with-benefits. All kidding aside, this is at least a good step in the right direction…

DF