My HDTV Odyssey Continues

I mentioned over a week ago in a blog article here that I was endeavoring to get my new HD television and Tivo operating. They are still not married up in harmonious bliss. I've had half a dozen visits from Cablevision technicians and the service is still not working properly.

I can tell from the conversations I've overheard between the technicians and the main office that their readings in the home office say my system is working fine, while the technicians are getting different readings in my house and seeing clear evidence of a problem. 

The problem since the beginning has been a little black box that Cablevision installs to regulate premium channels. This Cisco tuning adapter (pictured above, sitting atop a Tivo device) doesn't communicate properly with the cable card they installed in my Tivo device, and the two in concert keep disallowing certain HD channels like HBO from appearing on my screen. They also interfere with my other channels from time to time, like some sort of gremlin terrorists. Sometimes I get BIG LETTERED NOTICES across my screen that say I should contact my cable company about a cable card issue, then the show freezes or the screen turns gray. If you leave it long enough, it will recycle through the steps. Other times the screen is simply gray, or, better yet, the remote skips over the "offending" channels. I keep reminding myself that it isn't my tv's fault -- and that keeps me from throwing things at it.

I sense that the Cablevision folks are getting frustrated at how long this is taking to fix. I was tossed into the category of special cases today. The lady promptly started asking about the Tivo device, like it was the one misbehaving here. That little song and dance is going nowhere with me.

So, my march into technological nirvana has instead been utterly nervewracking. This isn't the way it is supposed to go, is it? I had hoped that by waiting a couple of years, most of the kinks of being on the cutting edge of HD technology would have been cleared up. I had expected to walk into the future with a smile on my face and an HD remote in my hand. Alas, it hasn't come to pass yet. They're planning to try again on Monday.