Page 1 of 1

Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:02 pm
by Mpgrimm2
I'm moving in a week to Greenville, SC... Anyone have any experience with Charter Communications/Cable in that area using win7 MCE?

I'm told that they don't support unencrypted QAM at all (no NTSC rebroadcast. Most stopped a while ago anyway),
so it's either a cable box (12mos free DVR),
my dual Hauppauge PCIe ATSC/QAM,
or my ETH6 and a TA (currently at the wife's house in Va until we sell).

Anyone confirm what Charter uses?
I'd like to use the Hauppauge until my house sells, but it sounds like I may have to get a CC and TA to use MCE with the ETH6 (sorry dear).
Any experience setting up the ETH6 with Charter, issues etc ?

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 2:10 pm
by kd6icz
I think Charter is mostly Cisco. I'm not a fan of the Cisco platform but in my limited experience with my dad's TiVo on Charter a few recent software updates have made it bearable. The one thing I'm not sure if is if the Cisco TA (1250 I think is the model) can support 6 tuners. The ETH 6 can support up to 3 TA's via a USB hub.

Maybe someone can chime in using Cisco?

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 7:07 pm
by RyC
I'm on Charter in a Cisco area with the ETH6 and the STA 1520 and it works with 6 tuners just fine (it may have needed a firmware update, but Charter seems push out the one that's needed). It was a hassle getting everything activated (contractors that usually do the initial install have zero idea what to do/techs forget to bring tuning adapters), but once it's activated, it seems to stay activated. Haven't had any issues since

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 5:19 am
by Mpgrimm2
Thanks for the feedback.

Can anyone confirm that Charter (ie in Greenville SC) is full SDV (ie with a TA), does not broadcast Clear QAM, and requires a Cable Co box or cable card device?

Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:27 pm
by mdavej
I'm in that market. I used an ETH6 for a couple of years.

They are all SDV, no clear QAM. But only about 50 (mostly foreign language) channels are on SDV. They use Moto TAs which are very reliable. No problem using all 6 tuners.

I only experienced the usual ETH6 bugs like the memory leak that causes a spontaneous reboot once a month, and overheating.

Getting the card paired the first time is hit or miss. You'll have the tech there, so don't let him leave until all is working.

Did that answer everything?

BTW, welcome. It's a great town.

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 5:24 am
by Mpgrimm2
Thanks mdavej, that covers it.

I've got at least a few months until my son graduated from high school in VA before I can sell the house and relocate them down to Greenville to join me.

I was planning on pulling the ETH6 from the VA house for the Greenville apt, but just got a letter from Cox cable in Roanoke, va saying they are finally going all digital/encrypted mid April. Which means my wife will need it.
Your feedback confirms that I won't get anything using the built in ATSC/QAM tuner on my TVs or the dual Hauppauge in my Apt PC out of the cable outlet. Dang it!

May have to either try some ATSC cord cutting, look for another cc tuner, or play with the cable Co's free DVR.

PS:
I can't believe Charter Cable doesn't offer any cheaper/slower internet packages than 60mb!? Wtf do I need anything over 15mb for by myself? Cheapest internet/TV package they have is $87/mos ($99 w/taxes) for 60mb and @200 channels!
(I'm currently paying $49/mos for 15mb and and about 50 basic channels w/o a box here in southern Indiana on TWC)

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 3:10 pm
by mdavej
It is expensive, I agree. But look into the Charter Stream service that's essentially basic plus HBO that you stream on a Roku for $20. They give you a Roku for free. No DVR capability with that, but you can stream on demand from some websites like HBO Go. It's similar to Sling TV but better.

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:47 am
by Mpgrimm2
Thanks. I will look into that more this week.

Re: Charter Cable experience in SC?

Posted: Tue May 03, 2016 2:28 pm
by Sammy2
I am happy to have that speed. For a while I was hitting 105mbps with a flashed modem but Charter killed my modem and I ended up just getting one of theirs for no monthly rental cost which is surprising since they make a lot of money on renting boxes to people that do not know any better. I use that speed all the time to keep my library up to date and cannot complain at all about it. It is much cheaper than lesser quality Uverse for sure.