Cablevision promises TV, VOD streaming to iPads, other networked devices -- but only at home
By Richard Lawler 
posted August 6th 2010 8:31AM
posted August 6th 2010 8:31AM
We suppose the good news is that Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge mentioned the intent is to bring all of its services -- broadcast TV, video on-demand -- to networked devices capable of displaying video, specifically mentioning the iPad, and that it is also working on program guide software for Android and PCs. Unfortunately, unlike the TV Everywhere websites from others like Comcast, or Dish's Sling-powered placeshifting Cablevision only plans to allow access within the residence. According to Light Reading, the comments came during the company's second quarter earnings call, when he also noted that the PC to TV Media Relay for bringing web video to the cable box was still undergoing testing ahead of a fourth quarter launch, while the long awaited network DVR is in its second phase of testing will also begin rolling out later this year. We're not sure if Cablevision's reluctance to extend video beyond our four walls is a technical issue, greed, or if it's simply tired of fighting Hollywood over content rights after the network DVR legal battle, but we're still hoping for a change of plans down the line.
Anyone else read that as "Colecovision" and get a little excited?
@dab Yeah, I was a little nostalgic for about 3 seconds.
@dab Cablevision is the worst company in USA. It employs people who are nastier and dumber than Post Office or a welfare office.
Few months ago i moved to a different place, called them up, they said the guy will come in week and a half. So on the day of the appointment the guy does not show up. I call them they tell me well the guy did come but you weren't home. I said i took a day off just to be here. So they made another appointment for next week..........same story. This happened 5 times in a row and every time i called they kept telling me that i was not at home.
I finally called corporate HQ, so nasty, uneducated trash picks up the phone and tells me she will look into this.........never called back, nothing ever happened.
They are the WORST.
@Sea Urchin
If a company is in one or more of the mobile phone, cable, internet, or television industries, rest assured they have horrible customer service. It's science.
That said...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision
@Sea Urchin Which area do you live in? I'm having just the opposite experience with their customer support. Nothing but good vibes. I suggest you join on yahoo groups to cablevision_digital and post your complain there. There are some high in the food chain people (like Wilt Hildenbrand) browsing those groups and they can escalate issues to a pretty high levels...
Isn't this inevitable for just about any cable provider? It's kinda cool to see it happen, but at this point I'm kinda feeling like "it's about time".
@icepop77 It would be if everyone could get behind AllVid. Then we wouldn't need extra boxes and all that crap from the Cable Co. We could pipe TV to numerous devices all over the house.
Cablevision is also saying that EVERY TV in your home must have a cable box to get service now, starting in September..
@wArri FiOS and Comcast are the same. At the very least, you have to have a small digital cable converter box. No more analog straight to the TV like the good old days.
So if they are checking that your coming from a Cable Modem IP, cant you just VPN or tunnel to home and proxy your traffic? There you go. TV everywhere.
i guess if you're in bed with an ipad like device or on the toilet with your phone for hours this might be nice
I currently use my Slingbox/iPad combination more inside my house than outside. It's surprisingly convenient to be able to drag TV around with me to wherever I happen to be working in the house.
Sweet, just wish they would start rolling out some new equipment, even a new hdd dvr, because their current hw sucks.
@Xcharles718
Thats why I switched to FiOS, I couldn't stand them anymore. It would take 2 minutes for the guide to load and everything else was paindfully slow. Now they are showing up at my house everyweek saying if I switch back they can save me $1200 a year (How the F*** can they do that?)
@CTTHosting
Thing is that my brother gets employee discount @ half off. So we currently have optimum online ultra & io gold at $86 after tax. Just can't stand the stb anymore. May get fios, but love ultra, normally avg 81mbps.
@Xcharles718
I also got a sick deal… io silver w boost Internet and phone , with showtime, 3 cablecards (for the tivos, no need to use their crap DVR), a digital adaptor and a STB. I pay 107$ after tax, which is less than I did on fios, for more features. Anyway, get tivos or a media center and you don't have o use their garbage HW!
@DTJ
Still using their stb(for now)
TiVo is great. I have to pay for a lifetime sub for each box. It's worth it, until you desire to upgrade to another TiVo. To get the best experience possible with media center, I virtually have to build another pc. Moxi is great but doesn't allow to move recordings off and to use netflix, you pc must be on. Hopefully someone would now offer embedded media center boxes. Trying to built and patent one now.
why does anyone need TV viewing on network devices in the home? If i want to watch TV in my home ILL WATCH IT ON MY LARGE HDTV.. why would i choose to watch tv on a smaller screen network device?
if your not bringing me TV to outside the home dont even offer the service. Its a waste of time.
@neeko18
It's just like Facetime, it will expand in the future.
@neeko18 Apparently you don't live in a cablevision household with multiple boxes. Each box is 6 dollars a month. One Multistream cablecard is 2 dollars a month. With that one multistream tuner you can watch 4 channels at once, and extend the channels you aren't watching to extenders. This is the dream, cablevision knows it, and Verizon and DirecTV (their biggest competitors) have beat them to the punch with multiroom DVRs, so now they have to one up them in order to keep a competitive edge.
Who cares about VOD when it still takes 5 seconds to change the freaking channel?
I have Cablevision or iO or whatever they like to call their service and its horrible.
They haven't updated their STB in about 10 years. The menus and OnDemand screens are slow and sometimes fail to play a rented movie.
Their solution was to try renting at a different time of day. And if the box seems slow to reboot it. Well it doesn't fix anything. And why should it matter when I rent. My PS3 rentals work nearly instantly on my Cablevision internet connection.
Their internet is great. I have no problems with it.
The TV and related hardware/software is from the 90's
- 5 second channel changes (not just menu options, but channels)
- DVR that mis-labels shows making them worthless cause you can't find what you recorded
- the personal weather/options don't help anything at all
- opening the VOD menu sometimes take a 60 seconds or more.
This is my 5th cable box with these issues because the others were even worse. It's not that I have bad hardware... the software is junk.
They just need to start adding more HD channels like FSC HD, GolTV HD, and BBC America HD.
@Proghog That's the plan apparently, hence why they're killing analogue and Clear QAM channels. Doesn't make a difference since Cablevision has the shittiest HD in the country thanks to their compression techniques.
This defeats the purpose of having TV everywhere. Here we go again with the red tape. No problem I can alway direct network traffic elsewhere. So big middle finger to Cablevision.
Typical crapovision
Snagging the customers that can't get fios but bet this wonderfull deal will be tight up to their triple play from he'll. I love their bogus commercials ..fios this and that but with the triple play there's no catch. Yeah right like if you eliminate one of the service they drag you down to the scared the crap out of you hell(yet they have no contracts and they have the double play) so like I say to crapovision ..YOU CAN GO TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET FOR ALL I CARE!!!. Ok now I vented now I fell better ....umm Beer
Someone wanna put my telly on house arrest?
I...want...my...V..P..N..
http://openvpn.net/