Has anyone have any experience using DigiCard (CI+) directly in their Smart TV? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Yep, we installed two of them about two weeks ago in our TV's. The setup was a bit cumbersome (we even had to call Cablecom) but once up and running it was ok. We subscribed last week for an extra package (called green, I believe) and didn't work, so a technician is scheduled to come this afternoon to check (accodirng to their initial assessment the signal is too weak for those channels).

Every time we turn on the TV's it takes a few seconds (about 5) to decode the first channel, but after that all others come ok.

Silly advise, but make sure that your TV supports the card. Cablecom has a tool on their site for the verification.

My Smart TV allows digital channels to be recorded via USB to an external hard drive. Does anybody know if this is still possible when the signal is first decoded by the Digicard? If so, are you limited to recording only the channel which is currently being viewed on the TV?

All the digicard does it switch off the encryption

The amount of channels that you can view and record at the same time is limited by the number of tuners in your TV receiver

My TV has one tuner, so I can watch one channel at a time

My settop box has 6 tuners, so I can watch one channel, preload a 2nd channel, and record 4 other channels at the same time

I would guess (without knowing what model TV you have) that your TV only has one tuner. So you are limited to recording only that channel that is currently being received.

Thanks for being a friendly Kiwi!

Hello FriendlyKiwi

i am interested in recording via digicard.

you say "All the digicard does it switch off the encryption"


so is that yes.

If I have a digicard and I plug in an external HD I can record a program I am currently watching to my external HD.

or

Can I use EPG and record programs while I am away to the external HD

If this is the case I will change my mediabox for a digicard ang get a big external hard disk.

Thanks

John

The ability to record from the TV is determined by the TV, and NOT by the DigiCard. (All the DigiCard does is decrypt).
You must read your TV owners manual to determine if you can record from your TV, and find out what recoding functionality exists in your TV, and what type of storage media you can record to (harddrive or USB stick, what type, what speed, etc).
Recording demands high performance from the harddrive or USB stick.
Slow harddrives and slow USB sticks will give you problems with lost data.
Refer to your TV owners manual to see what the TV manufacturer recommends for your TV.

PS You can test the recording easily without the DigiCard: there are many TV channels that are NOT encrypted (and therefore no DigiCard is required), eg: SF1.

I have a UPC Cablecom DigiCard installed in Philips 40PFL5507K.

Pros:
- you avoid another box (important if your TV hangs on the wall)

Cons:
- if not in a promotion, you need to pay 100 CHF for it

* Possible Cons:
- after 5-15 sec. after you've turned on your TV, a box appears saying "please wait while beeing authenticated" or sth like this, which interferes with whatever your doing at the moment. I use my TV mostly to watch movies from my USB Drive, but he doesn't even check if you are in TV or Monitor mode
- sometimes I get "the channel is not in your abo" which disappears after changing channel

* by possible I mean, it could have happened with a box as well, but since I don't have anything to compare it to...

Keeping it short, I would never pay for it, unless the "no additional box" would be my top priority.

we got one and paid the 100 CHF for it - I have no problem with that - it is now mine to keep whereas before we were paying 20 CHF per month for the media box, I think.

Ours works great. We have it hooked up to our Samsung tv via a Samsung Blu Ray/tuner/recorder. I really do like it, and must admit I was skeptical at first reading some of the reviews on Amazon about the tuner/blu ray recorder. But we haven't had any troubles, takes a little while to get used to finding how to use the buttons - the only button I can't find is "last channel" and I hope I find it! (but based on reviews on Amazon, I think it isn't there...)

Instead of searching for 4 different remotes, now we just need 1!

Does your Blu ray/ tuner/ recorder have a slot to take the card?

Well, the DigiCard isn't free either(I think). In UPC the difference between box and DigiCard Abo is 4-5 CHF. And you don't get the ability to record (unless your TV can do it). And you have to pay this 100 CHF in front. I'm also not sure if you can re-program it to use it in a non-UPC network, so the fact, that it is yours, may just give you nothing.

But agreed - I forgot about the best advantage of them all - you need only 1 remote!

But Cablecom have unencrypted their digital TV since October-ish last year? So if you have a TV that supports DVB-C, you should be able to plug the aerial cable straight into the TV without using the mediabox. Details here.

I'm hoping so, I just bought a 2nd hand DVB-C capable TV and it would be handy if I can connect it to another Cablecom TV socket in the house without a 2nd mediabox

Richard

Partly true.

upc cablecom decrypted SOME but not ALL of their digital channels.
If the unencrypted channels are enough for you, you don't need anything.
But if you want some extra (encrypted) channels then you must buy a subscription for the extra channels you want. Then you need the DigiCard.

Ah, OK, thanks

So I tried this with my new (old) DVB-C TV - as per above, most of the channels are still encrypted (specifically, most of the English language channels ). Still useful if you have multiple Cablecom outlets around the house though, and the core Swiss channels are fine.

Follow up question though - does anyone know whether the CI+ card from Cablecom works in older CI only TVs? If I use the their online tool, it tells me it may work, but has never been tested...

Thanks, Richard

No.

CI+ is not supported in CI slots, (when CI was defined, CI+ did not exist).