Source
r/Tivo•
Hot-In_Tx

Unsupported Channels on Cable Card

Today a cable card expert from Xfinity called me after spending fruitless hours with telephone support yesterday.
There are many channels that I cannot receive even though they are included in my plan. Such as: Smithsonian HD, Sundance TV HD, AMC. Message channel unavailable D261 The Xfinity tech tells me some channels are now broadcasting on an “internet protocol” and the cable card cannot connect to these channel changes. Unless TiVo updates their tech, more channels will be unable to be viewed on TiVo. Has anyone else been experiencing this issue?

Posted Apr 21, 2021, 9:19 PM UTC

917
wallyps•

It was published by Comcast a year ago that they were moving the channels to IP. Tivo says they have no interest in upgrading their boxes to support that. :(

All part of the move to more DRM.

6
Hot-In_TxOP•

That really sucks! I’ve loved and hated my TiVo for 10 years. I like the user interface and commercial skip. What other DVRs should I consider if I trash my Bolt?

2
wallyps•

I checked with Silicon and their cable card system doesn't support it either.

3
onelongerusername1•

If you want to stay on Xfinity and have a DVR with all Xfinity channels, you'll have to use the X1 DVR (and pay their monthly fee).

Channels DVR could work on Xfinity by recording TV Everywhere (TVE) streams. But not all channels are available on TVE and it might not be reliable.

2
solidsnake222•

The number of major channels that this effects is insane. I couldn’t even use Cartoon Network for Rick and Morty the other night. Luckily I can use Xfinity stream if I want to watch something live, but losing out on my TiVo recordings is very disappointing. I can’t believe TiVo refuses to support their line and stick with the times. They will be extinct soon if this is how they want to operate.

3
mattyro78•

your loss of Rick and Morty and The Cartoon Network is another issue altogether. It has been moved to another package and is still available thru cablecard. Ya just gotta pony up the dough!!! Check this out: www.xfinity.com/CTN it will get you the $18 package for $10/mnth for 12 months.

2
solidsnake222•

Seriously, they think an additional $10 a month is a special offer? That should be a normal add on price if they were going to pull this in the first place. What a rip off. Thanks for the information though

2
DavidBlackledge•

I had a to make a full spreadsheet to figure out what I was really getting. All the SD vs HD vs IP vs duplicates to make the numbers look planned vs other languages vs. not interested. So I’m cross referencing them with sling and OTA to know what my options really are and how little I’d really lose. But it all comes back to my live tv buffer (and CSPAN), so as long as the equipment isn’t dead and channels aren’t all IP, I’m stuck with Comcast. FYI the total is about 124 unique stations of value, 26 of which I could get OTA. If it all goes to hell, my stream 4K plus sling blue may work. Maybe two of them on different inputs to deal with commercials.

3
gfm1973•

Yeah. I use the Xfinity app for those channels and to stream on demand.

2
newspix100•

Thank you for this!! I was planning to call Comcast tech support to see if they could flash my cable card or something.

2
Glass-Conclusion-424•

The end is near. Using SilconDust and ChannelsDVR for now. May want to check PlayOn to see if those IP channels are supported.

2
Hot-In_TxOP•

Can you fast forward or skip commercials?

2
Glass-Conclusion-424•

Yes, automatically skip commericals with an open source project called comskip (although it's not always accurate). Otherwise the fast forward buttons can be set to 30 second or 2 mins, similar to Tivo. I even bought a Tivo remote on ebay and paired it to my Apple TV. Most of the buttons work just like they do with Tivo, but some don't.

2
TianaOdysseus•

... So does this mean that Comcast is slowly changing into a purely streaming service then?

2
JMN10003•

Comcast is real BS but the only game in town for me (which sucks),

With my TIVO DVR, I can no longer access the Italian Package (RAI & Mediaset) as they have migrated it to the 3000 range (requiring an X1 DVR). Those channels aren't available via TVE and I can't access them via SiliconDust HDHR (cable card). Of course, Comcast has many channels broadcast on 2-3 channel #'s. The only rationale is that rather than putting some of these channels on accessible channels they want to force the user to pay the toll for X1 DVR.

For the Italian channels, the last laugh will be on them as when I get to my house in Italy, I'll set it up to stream ALL the RAI channels back to the US for when I am here.

BTW, I tried to go with Tivo's Stream 4k (for remote continuity for my wife) but it is such a piece of garbage that I disconnected it and hooked up my Amazon Firestick - it's not perfect but it works reliably which is a lot better than the Tivo which started with some bugs/idiosyncrasies and only got worse with updates. The Tivo Stream 4K is true testimony to the complete incompetence that Tivo has become.

2
PulledToBits•

yes, it really is... try watching youtube tv on the tivo stream 4k. 7 months now it hasnt been working right.

1
oneunknownphantom•

Each individual cable company would have to provide the support for the IPTV channels as they control the DRM and there is no national standard for cable IPTV like there was with the cable card mandate.

2