Which channels are you able to or not able to record without TVE fall back?
I got my hands on a Prime and want to try Spectrum.
Thanks.
I'm in New York if thats what you mean by New England. My HDhomeRun Prime 3 will only allow basic local channels with my lineup I have from 1 through 22 that arent DRM. All the rest are, out of 300 and something channels. With Spectrum.
Yea looks like they use 2 way communication for channels switching as well which can't be done with the prime also. They have a special adapter they connect for TiVo so it can work.
Here in the Rochester NY Spectrum market almost all non-local channels are DRM, so I only use the Prime for Spectrum local news, which is not on TVE. I would also use it for the local stations, but I have a rooftop antenna and HDHomeRun Quad for that. TVE nicely provides all the other channels in my Spectrum package, with better quality in many cases than the same channel on cable.
What you are talking about is Switched Digital Video (SDV), and it is indeed supported by the Prime. You need to request a Tuning Adapter from Spectrum. It gets installed parallel to the Prime—split the cable, and then connect both the TA and the Prime to the coax—as well as connected to the Prime by USB. Most Charter/Spectrum markets don't charge for the TAs.
If you need more help configuring your Prime and TA, the SD forums might be a better source. They have a hardware-specific forum for these particular types of issues.
Yes I was unaware that the adapter would work on the Prime as it was made for TiVo thanks.
The adapters are made for CableCARD tuners; TiVo is just the brand of CableCARD tuners that cable reps are aware of. When you call for help/support, it's easiest to tell them you have a TiVo, because they're don't understand that there are other options for customer-provided boxes.
Yesterday was my first day at Spectrum and I was talking about getting a cable card and the trainer is what told me these things. He was unaware of it would work on the Prime as he never tried it. I was planning to when I get my service setup. I'll be getting a box and ccard.
Yes, the Tuning Adapter will work with Prime, but it doesn't solve the DRM problem -- you can get the SDV channels but still can't record. What is the huge problem with TVE??? It works just fine and has no DRM.
Not all SDV channels are DRM–flagged. Yes, TVE can give you access to some channels that might be DRM–flagged, it does come with some caveats. TVE streams are only broadcast in stereo, while most HD cable channels have Dolby 5.1 audio (AC-3). Also, TVE streams have much lower bitrates than the same channel coming in via cable.
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Our experience has been that the TVE picture quality is typically superior the the cable channel, in terms of sharpness. Yes, the frame rate is lower, but still like movies or better. For most material the sharper image is preferable.
The bitrates are lower because the compression algorithms are so much better. You get the same or better overall signal quality in the end.
Spectrum cable sucks for Channels DVR. Virtually every channel has DRM, except for the locals, which doesn’t allow recording or even watching the channel live, regardless of whether you have a tuning adapter or not. As was mentioned, a TA does nothing to allow DRM’ed channels to be viewable or recordable. Channels DVR doesn’t support DRM and has no license to do so.
That totally depends upon your market. Where I am in SoCal, our Spectrum (originally Charter) is based in Riverside, and has only a dozen or fewer channels with DRM. Every couple of months a channel or two is newly flagged, but Spectrum is still more than usable with a Prime.
(Spectrum markets that were originally Time Warner Cable seem to have more channels flagged. But it's not fair to use a single market or experience as the benchmark for everyone else.)
OK yeah I can see that. My system used to be Time Warner. Still sucks they use it at all. Most cable co’s only use it on premiums like HBO, Showtime, etc.
The OP will have to either call their engineering Dept and ask or just try it and see what is and what isn’t DRM’ed.
This is very true. I've been in both markets with cable card and the old Time Warner is worthless (you get the locals and that's about it, everything else is flagged copy-once). The old Charter market is fantastic, copy-freely for nearly everything but the premiums. I think Brighthouse is in the same boat as Time Warner in this regard.
I'm amazed to see people claim that the TVE media looks better than the source material from the cable card. That is absolutely not my experience. And of course there is the missing 5.1 channel audio with TVE.
I will get a Ccard with the TA adapter and test it out along with an actual box. If it doesn't work well I'll just see my Prime after.
I use my Prime with cable card for all the local channels, they are not DRM. and I use TVE for all the rest that are DRM through the Ccard. There ARE some higher channels here and there on the Ccard that arent DRM aswell, but very few.
As a side note for installing the CableCard, when you go to call to have it activated there is a good chance, (because of experience) you might have trouble. The key to getting it setup properly ,#1 get someone in cablecard support who knows what they are doing. #2 When you call instead of just telling them you need to activate your Ccard, Let them know!!!! you need it Activated, Validated, and they need to send a Staging hit to the card.
And here is a link to Cisco Diagnostic's for CableCards. very helpful if you continue to have trouble. its a PDF
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwihsdGoxpfpAhXSKM0KHZVlA-oQFjACegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cisco.com%2Fc%2Fdam%2Fen%2Fus%2Ftd%2Fdocs%2Fvideo%2Fat_home%2FCable_Accessories%2F78-4015203-01_D.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1L5J1LOIsKjPlZTLKXtLu3
Where we are that is definitely not the case. TVE picture quality is lower than cable for some channels. Most TVE channels in our area only record at 720p, whereas the TV can have 1080p for some of those channels.