Mike Garcen's Blog

Does anyone see this in their Extras Library?  If so, are you running the hack?

I don't think it shows if it detects that CableCARD support is already enabled in Media Center, which is the case if you are running the hack or have an OEM compliant system. The tool is for systems that don't already have it enabled.

Just to to be clear. I have an OEM compliant system and the tool isn't showing up, so I assume what I described above is what's actually happening.

Got it last night.  "If you do not see the Digital Cable Advisor in the Extras Library, then confirm that automatic downloads are enabled in your Media Center Settings (Settings | General | Automatic Download Options).  You can also choose the Download Now option from this location."

figures, cable is getting turned off tomorrow and switching to directv.....so any news on sattelte tuners, lol

I live in kirkland, wa and i ordered a ati tv wonder digital cable card tuner. does anyone know what the cablecard from comcast will cost me?

re: I live in kirkland, wa and i ordered a ati tv wonder digital cable card tuner. does anyone know what the cablecard from comcast will cost me?

The first cablecard shouldn't cost you anything except for the service call from comcast. (they insist that they send a tech out to set it up.)

Additional cablecards are currently $4.00 per month.

I tested the Copy Freely feature of the new firmware by recording content on a computer running Windows Vista Home Premium with the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner and a Cablecard from Comcast. I wasn't expecting this to work on Windows Vista, but it seems to be working. Small point, but nice for those of us who haven't yet upgraded to Windows 7 (I'll probably upgrade this weekend).

I posted a little more information about my testing on my blog.

Cheers!

Jason Gerend

re: I live in kirkland, wa and i ordered a ati tv wonder digital cable card tuner. does anyone know what the cablecard from comcast will cost me?

The first cablecard shouldn't cost you anything except for the service call from comcast. (they insist that they send a tech out to set it up.)

Additional cablecards are currently $4.00 per month.

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Just did this a couple weeks ago (I'm in Seattle).  I just went into the Comcast store and traded my DVR for two cards.  I haven't seen a bill yet but think the total for two cards was somewhere around $6/mo.  They didn't make me have a tech come out but it did take a couple phone calls to get them paired right. Works like a charm now.

In Clyde Hill, Comcast is charging me $5.10 per month for 2 cable cards. I have a single stream card in each of 2 ATI DCTs.

First one free? Apparently not.

OK, so I just ran the advisor on a box I've been watching HD on for over a year via HD HomeRun boxes. The advisor tool gave my graphics hardware a "fail" and reported that to use a cablecard I'd need to upgrade my graphics hardware. What is this "advisor" looking for? In various configurations I've used this box to view OTA and local HD via ClearQAM, in addition to the current HD HomeRun config. And the advisor tells me my box is a FAIL? Really?

Sure, it's not high-end hardware; the Windows Experience Index scores only a 3.3 for both Aero desktop and for 3D graphics. But I've had NO issues watching HD...so the requirement seems to be set a bit too high.

I'm tempted to throw in a high end graphics card (with a loud fan that is very TV-viewing-unfriendly) just to pass the test, and then go back to the on-board graphics.

I would guess your hardware does not have a hardware-assisted MPEG2/H.264 decoder.

can not download digital cable advisor in MCE.  I have run the update and still don't see it.  My computer gives me the message "your computer is not digital cable ready".  Need to run the tool but can't get it loaded.  Anyone have some ideas?  Thanks, Rich