8300HDC boxes have no two-way communication:

[LonghornXP]

I couldn't get a good signal at all from DirecTV at my new place in Florida so I had to switch to Bright House Networks. So I had three 8300HDC boxes installed today and it seems that none of them work at all with On Demand content. They all boot up without any issues and all channels (including HD channels) look 100% great. Also all the guide data is available and present and working as expected. The issue is that none of the On Demand content works at all. So I called BHN support and they tell me that none of my boxes have a working two-way signal. The last rep in the digital multimedia department said that the servers refresh once a day at midnight and when this occurs all the boxes will be setup. He said the problem was that I still had an open work order because the phone service was installed just not activated until Monday. It was this work order not being closed that might have delayed everything. Either way he did tell me that all new boxes added to an account won't be fully activated for On Demand etc until midnight.

So my question is what is the real issue on this. Do these boxes have any known issues or do I just have to wait until midnight as told. Also all of these boxes have multistream cable cards installed in them so I'm worried this might be the issue.

 

[stevenl]

they also run the new beta software its horrible. What a hunk of junk those boxes are f**king FCC and their sh!tty mandates

I haven't heard about on-demand or 2-way services not working. It should work right away. I think the tech was blowing you off because he didnt want to fix the issue or figure it out, id recommend calling for a service call if its not working by tomorrow.

EDIT: You said the person on the phone. Thats total Bullsh!t, there is nothing special that needs to refresh at midnight for the services to work (least not in orlando area)

Sometimes those boxs if not provisioned right at the warehouse will have problems if the "card" inside is not paired properly to the box your two way services and premium services want work.

 

[jcarrera]

steven, the FCC didn't write the software that doesn't work!! That was done by either subcontractors to the cable companies or by their suppliers. In either case, the cable company is responsible...either their subcontractor failed and was not corrected by the cable co, or the cable co. selected a defective product to provide without checking it out.

Could it be that the cable companies don't want it to work well?

 

[Khandurian]

Steve hit the nail on the head. If you are unable to view PPV or On demand, the card is not married to the box. Call back, and have a tech come out with another one. If I was at work, I would get my notes out and tell you how to check to see if the card is married to the box.

As for them saying that the box doesn't support 2 way communications... Uh... What?

 

[LonghornXP]

Just an update....All of my premium channels are now working again without doing anything except waiting. Also unlike before the premiums On Demand channels (ie HBO On Demand, Showtime On Demand etc) now show the list of available programs instead of the press the "B" button to order this service.

Beyond the above nothing On Demand will play at all without getting the timeout error (ie error 1112). Also the cablecard diag screens (press and hold select until mail light flashes and press info) show that the cablecard is indeed married to the host unit (ie the box itself) and is working fine. Beyond that the cablecard diag screens just say "none yet" under the IP address section.

 

[iceturkee]

gee, longhorn, back in our fair state with no verizon fios or directv, i do hope you survive!!

 

[LonghornXP]

gee, longhorn, back in our fair state with no verizon fios or directv, i do hope you survive!!

Please don't remind me again okay!

I just got in contact with a network operations manager finally who informed me that this is a system wide current issue and has been for the last 16 hours but its very close to being fixed. The issue is with "just" the 4250HDC and the 8300HDC boxes. I'm posting a list below of the problems they are having with them.

1. All two-way communication from the set-top box with the headend/hub has been lost for nearly all the boxes presenting issues.

2. All VOD programming isn't working because of issue number one above. Most customers will get a timeout error 1112 when trying to play any content assuming they can access the list of content of course.

3. Many customers have lost "all" features of their boxes including "all" channels and the program guide as well. It appears as a dead box to the consumer.

4. Beyond the above many customers have lost some or all of these specific services. Analog channels (ie digital channels 2-99 on these specific boxes), digital channels (all channels above 99), HD channels, VOD access and DVR Service.

In my case this issue has caused me to lose all VOD playback ability (via no two-way communication), all my premium channels including HBO HD and Showtime HD. Beyond the above my boxes work for recording shows and watching all other channels beyond the premiums including all HD channels.

I hope this now gives a better overview of my issues and for anyone reading this thread who is having these issues with these specific boxes just hold on a bit longer as they are fixing these issues.

 

[jcarrera]

Will they give you a credit for the lost service you did not receive?

 

[LonghornXP]

Will they give you a credit for the lost service you did not receive?

So far its about 25 bucks but I doubt I'd get more.

 

[jcarrera]

Well, I have to give them credit (haha) for that.

 

[stevenl]

Well seeing how you only lost service for what 2 days? 25$ is very generous heh.

Thats another issue I have problems with is customer credits. but thats for another topic.

And JC I know the cable companies/vendors write the software, the problem and as such I mentioned how it sucked (hence the smilie when I said FCC)

Its still stupid the FCC to mandate it. You wonder why cable/dish etc are so expensive? Government butting in has a bit to do with it for sure.

 

[LonghornXP]

Well seeing how you only lost service for what 2 days? 25$ is very generous heh.

Thats another issue I have problems with is customer credits. but thats for another topic.

And JC I know the cable companies/vendors write the software, the problem and as such I mentioned how it sucked (hence the smilie when I said FCC)

Its still stupid the FCC to mandate it. You wonder why cable/dish etc are so expensive? Government butting in has a bit to do with it for sure.

StevenL just keep in mind that I have a very long history with BHN from major service issues without hardly any credits. I also was about to call Knology to switch all my services away from BHN. I told them I was going to cancel everything (yes I was ready to cancel and would have done it) and they finally after almost two days told me it was a known issue that would be fixed without my doing anything. After this statement was when they offered me the credit and yes I gladly took it after all the major outages I have in the past that resulted in a credit of 83 cents crap.

I just wanted you to know the whole picture because yes the credit was very high but the above is the reason for this. Oh and yes I'm with you on the cablecard requirement of the cable companies. I can understand the FCC forcing cable to offer and support cable cards for customers Tv sets that have a cable card slot. I just don't see the point to require the cable companies rental boxes to need a cable card. Hey if SA sold an 8300HDC box at Best Buy I can fully understand the FCC requiring that BHN etc offer and support a cable card for that bought device. But when the box is paid for by BHN, rented to customers (not owned by customers) for BHN services only I don't see why the heck the FCC should or could require them to use a cable card in their devices.

All the specific issues on the 8300HDC I blame on the FCC alone because without their stupid makes no sense mandate we would still have working 8300HD boxes in my home. Yes blame can be put on SA and BHN but I view it was this would never have been a problem if the FCC was fair on this.

 

[Khandurian]

Wow! A system wide outage? This sounds to me like a BHN problem completley. If there is truly a system wide outage, then this has nothing to do with the FCC.

Hope they get everything back up and running. Good to hear that box and card are married. Thats the biggest problem were having in our area.

 

[LonghornXP]

Wow! A system wide outage? This sounds to me like a BHN problem completley. If there is truly a system wide outage, then this has nothing to do with the FCC.

Hope they get everything back up and running. Good to hear that box and card are married. Thats the biggest problem were having in our area.

It seems that the issue has been fixed within Pinellas County but I still don't have two way communication and thus no VOD access at all. I have a tech visit on Tuesday to check signal strengths etc.

Also just for kicks how can you tell if the card is married to the box correctly. Can you check this via a menu and if so how can the menu be viewed and where would I look for the information to find if its married or not.

 

[LonghornXP]

Sorry for such a late post but this has been a very bad weekend. It seems the issue in Pinellas has been fixed but my boxes still don't have any two-way communication nor VOD access. Beyond the above I lose channels off and on each day with no warning along with DVR Service. I could at anytime schedule a recording, play one back or just pause live TV and get the error DVR Service not authorized. I also lose my premium channels a couple of times a day saying I don't order them but they come back in just fine.

So I ended up having a tech come out Sunday afternoon and he replaced the cables and got rid of my splitters and used "one" four way splitter. He also checked the wiring outside my apartment and found to his surprise that all of it was brand spanking new and in great shape with no splits to other units. He also checked each cable at all points from box to box and found that his meter showed full two-way ability and very good signal strength.

So at this point he swaps my three HD DVR boxes out for another three 8300HDC boxes. He calls them in and gives the SN and reads back the Host ID and cable card ID numbers from the diag screens. This still doesn't fix the issue at all. So he tried using one of the older 8300HD boxes and this also didn't work at all. So at this point he gives up and calls his boss and his boss told him that some boxes left the warehouse without the cable cards being married to them. At this point he told me he would come back Monday (today) at 11am with three new working boxes that aren't from the bad batch. Well the tech calls at 11am sharp to tell me that he cannot get any boxes and none of his supervisors can be reached and that maybe I should try calling BHN to see if they have more information today compared to Sunday.

So I called today and spoke with a normal CSR who transferred me to a supervisor who will now take over my case and get to the bottom of it. This is the place I'm at now and again just like everything else I still don't know if they know what the issue is nor when it will be fixed if ever. I did however ask for kicks for a free months service for my troubles and was quite shocked when they said yes. So I'm getting one hundred bucks in credits now. Of course I didn't get a month free of my internet and phone service but I also never expected it as my internet was working 100% fine. Now if my phone service isn't activated by say 9pm tonight I might think very differently about it though.

At least I feel for the first time that BHN may have some type of control over this whole entire issue which is a very good start. Either way I expect so much better from a company that has no competition at all. I cannot get Dish Network, DirecTV, Knology nor Verizon FIOS TV service so yes I expect far more from them.

 

[jcarrera]

Hey, it's only five days of aggravation with BHN so far. You're just getting started.

Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. Just had new sprinkler pump and electronic timer system installed (almost $1K). It doesn't work (they don't know why), there are two leaks at PVC couplings which have no more room to cut and re-couple, and the well head has a leak (24 years old)--well work is VERY expensive.

And I've gained 9 pounds.

Don't reply to that; it's off topic.

 

[Khandurian]

Did he put a meter on the line and check reverse? Do you have cable modem? Is that working?

 

[stevenl]

thats odd the regualr 8300hd didnt work.. If it was only a card issue that would of worked (unless he didnt call it in to activate it) even the nit should at least pull an IP. Very weird, Its good they gave you the month credit the situation surly warranted it. Those cable cards were always crap now forceing them in boxs is even worse. The manufactures have not perfected the technology and the FCC wants to force it right out. Hope they get it resolved, soon.

 

[LonghornXP]

Hey, it's only five days of aggravation with BHN so far. You're just getting started.

Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. Just had new sprinkler pump and electronic timer system installed (almost $1K). It doesn't work (they don't know why), there are two leaks at PVC couplings which have no more room to cut and re-couple, and the well head has a leak (24 years old)--well work is VERY expensive.

And I've gained 9 pounds.

Don't reply to that; it's off topic.

Hey don't worry I feel your pain and your case is far worse than mine as far more money is involved. Maybe one day this country will go back with service as the number one goal.

 

[LonghornXP]

To Khandurian & StevenL: Yes the tech used the meter to check the reverse. I'm using my high speed road runner connection right now and have been for the last several days without any issues at all. My current speed test from speakeasy Atlanta server is as follows.

Download is 6882Kbps.
Upload is 488Kbps.

I just have the normal road runner account that is included in the digital combo plus package which is 7Mbps so I'm sure the speeds above are more than fine. Also my digital phone service was activated this afternoon and thus far works without any problems. I can make and receive phone calls with great call quality and Caller ID etc works on both my phone itself and all three of my HD DVR boxes show the popup window when somebody calls.