Installing a Vista CableCARD Media Center PC (part 2): Perfecto!

So, how many people did it take to install my Vista CableCARD Media Center PC back west in SF?

The answer is four, but had Microsoft not been there to supervise, it would have been one.

You read how Peter's install was, well, less than ideal to say the least. Mine couldn't have gone better, though. Excepting the time it took for Microsoft to come in and set up the rig (which it's assumed you will have all done before your cable installer gets there), getting CableCARD DVR functionality took no more than 20 minutes, tops. Yeah, Microsoft was there to supervise my installation too, but in all reality they didn't need to be, considering what a breeze it was. Read on for the (comparatively brief) blow-by-blow of a CableCARD-enabled Vista PC install gone horribly, horribly right.

11:45AM - Craig Cincotta and Joe Chauvin from Microsoft and Janet Argentin from Waggner Edstrom show up -- the same team from last time. This time they brought their pal from Comcast, my cable provider out in San Francisco. They brought the exact same rig (Dell XP 410, 24-inch monitor, external ATI tuner, etc.); my Dell also has a floppy -- can't wait to have our intern standing over the unit, swapping out disks as it futilely tries to record some HDTV to the A drive.

11:54AM - Comcast is testing the lines and checking to see how the levels are; we just had a Series3 dual CableCARD install, so we're hopeful things will be in tip top shape.

11:59AM - Comcast is wrapping up the line testing; Craig and Joe are ready to rumble with that PC.

12:08PM - Everything is hooked up and ready to go; they're just running through the regular install routines -- the stuff that the cable company would expect you to already have done, like turn on your computer, flip on the Media Center interface, download your local EPG...

12:14 - All set, now they're pairing the CableCARD to the DCT.

12:19 - Ok, we're in! Man, it looks great -- unlike Pete's install there's zero stuttering, jitter, glitching, etc. Piping it through hard Ethernet to the Xbox 360 looks perfect too, the experience is flawless.

12:22 - Weird, the EPG is two hours off... oh, just turns out the computer is set to CST, not PST. Problem solved. And with that they're done!

Epilogue:

I kind of wish I had more to write about -- Pete's installation experience is a harrowing, if hilarious ordeal. I was there, I got to see the night and day difference two installs can have on the end user experience. It's amazing how many variables there are, between digital cable (and all the DRM there), the reportedly high failure rate of CableCARDs, the wonky ATI DCTs, and issues with the ever-present Windows x-factor. Still when it all comes together and works, it just works so well, and all things said and done, this install was even easier than our recent dual-CableCARD TiVo Series3 install. And really, it's impossible to argue with the awesomeness that is watching three flawless simultaneous HD streams -- one on the main head, two to Xbox 360s -- all at once.

[Keith @ May 21st 2007 10:02PM]

I got a HP 8010 with ATI Digital Tuner on Saturday. Cablevision in NJ came over today and hooked up the cable card. The experience took less than 15 minutes. It was extremely easy and works great! Luckily no horror story here.

I'm a happy customer.

-Keith

[e_rocm @ May 21st 2007 11:35PM]

I was just wondering how you got the 8010 with ATI's digital tuners. Their website doesn't seem to have them as an available option.

Thanks.

[Phour ZwanZig @ May 21st 2007 10:23PM]

Welcome to the world of cable cards.. :)

I know how this can be.. I myself have been rather lucky lets say, in istalling cable cards in TVs.. But yet we still have a few that just dont go well..

One TV wouldnt let us install a cable card until the date was set on the TV..

[Joey Geraci @ May 21st 2007 10:55PM]

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2959&p=1

Anandtech's similar experience with Vista Media Center and CableCARD's, along with the requisite coterie of advisors that was apparently required to get the install working without significant problems. They also include a nice mini-review of Vista Media Center and, most important of all, lots of pretty pictures!!

[Sam @ May 21st 2007 11:00PM]

I feel very fortunate that most of what I watch in HD comes through in unencrypted QAM. I'll stick with my HDHomeRun/XP MCE/360 for a while.

[eric @ May 22nd 2007 12:49AM]

Sounds like it may be an Scientific Atlanta -vs- Motorola issue. They use similar, but not the same, encryption and totally different authorization systems.

Just another reason to wait for cablecard 2.0 equipment.

[Ismael @ May 22nd 2007 11:23AM]

Well there you have it apple fanboys who say everything microsoft makes is crap.

[jsn @ May 22nd 2007 5:26PM]

it's a shame cablelabs has to screw things up so much with their insistance on tight DRM. This could really move the industry (the HTPC industry that is) forward in a big way. How cool would it be to have one HTPC with 4 HD tuners to feed all the tv's in your house? That's the future and it should be here now. I wonder if any of this will change now that the some of the original DRM stalwarts (microsoft, apple, etc) are starting to turn away from DRM. It would be nice to be able to pay for the signal and use it how we wish rather than pay for the right to watch the signal. Owell, maybe it'll happen.

[rokstar66 @ May 23rd 2007 12:25AM]

Can you clarify if this is an external cablecard plugin device that can connect to any Windows PC or if you have an officially approved cablecard PC?

[MikeN @ May 24th 2007 1:01PM]

You have to purchase it with a new, Cablelabs certified PC

[mike hart @ May 31st 2007 6:04PM]

Alright, i have the answer to why the two installations went in entirely different directions.
Comcast = good: they usually have their crap together, their technicians are for the most part knowledgable, and their cable infrastructure is robust and well maintained (like i said, for the most part)
Time Warner Cable in NYC = monkey copulating with a football: The knowledgebility of their technicians is spotty you have about a 1 in 2.5 chance of getting someone who knows how to do anything but check the signal level, scratch their heads and call the central office. Their infrastructure in NYC is HORRIBLE. I have just your standard HD tuner and it stutters all the time, drops the commercials on TNT (maybe a good thing...) resets itself about twice a week, constantly has no program info available on the EPG, and every week you have to perform a voodoo VOD dance to get VOD to work, or completely unplug the unit from the power source and reset it entirely. Also, never (and I mean NEVER) put the full guide on the screen when you are watching an HD channel as 79% of the time it locks the box up and gives you video garbage with audio. and this is just my personal experience, i have other horror stories from everyone in my neighborhood in brooklyn because TWC has the only service in the neighborhood and it sucks. No verizon DSL, No FIOS, No comcast, No cablevision.
Anyways, just wanted to shed some light on why your install was much smoother than the other one.