Just thought I would quickly share the complaint / feedback I just sent to Cablecom regarding their diabolical HD mediabox. I'll let you know if we ever get any feedback, but until then I'd recommend the Swiscom TV route if you have a choice.


Dear Cablecom,

Last week we installed our new HD mediabox, replacing the Cablecom digital TV recorder we have been using for the past 3 years.

We are writing to tell you how disappointed we are. The HD box crashes frequently, usually needing to be reset at least once per day. Its interface and menus are slow, awkward and generally very poor compared to the previous recorder. In this regards your product has taken a big step backwards.

The HD box is always very hot, even with plenty of ventilation and when in standby mode. I wouldn’t like to guess how much energy it is using.

So bad is the experience that today I tried to reinstall the old digital TV recorder, although it seems that the smartcard is inactive now that we have used the HD mediabox. This is a pity, the frustration of using the device isn’t worth it for a few HD channels.

I do hope you will soon deliver a major and much needed software upgrade. Otherwise I expect we will soon be switching to Swisscom.

Best regards,
etc

Agree with you on every point!

I do the Cablecom sidestep every time I see one of their sales reps lurking in a shop ready to ponce, sometime with a comment along the lines of "Cablecom - nein danke".

I'm sure they have many satisfied customers but I was not one of them.

We've just moved ot Pfäffikon SZ, and had issues with Cablecom.

We regsitered the move 2 weeks before hand, and we're told that an electrician needed to take a look at the sockets.

Well he did this, and we were told all was fine.

Upon moving in nothing worked (internet and digital phone) and upon ringing them they told me that there is no digital contract with our house, and we should have been told......

So after expressing my disspointment to them over the phone, we've cancelled the whole lot and gone to Swisscom, and their casa trio package (HD TV, phone, and 20mbit internet) which works out about 10 CHF a month cheaper than CC.

First impressions of the Swisscom TV are very good. It's quiet, hasn't given us any issues and the quality is excellent.

I wish i'd made the move earlier.....

Agreed. I called when mine broke. When I told him the box was super hot, the guy on the phone joked that some people like to fry eggs on their cable boxes (not amusing when your box is banjaxed) - then he gave me some set of random buttons to press to reinstall software. It didn't work, needless to say and I lost (a year's) the recordings on the hard drive.

We have a lengthy thread about the shortcomings of the Cablecom HD Mediabox here: Cablecom "Mediabox HD receiver" [Likes & dislikes]

But I am glad that you wrote to them. Maybe I will do the same, as I am disappointed with this box, too. I am curious about the power issue...

Let us know if you receive a reply!

fduvall

Are you talking about the mediabox HD receiver or the mediabox HD recorder? I had endless problems with the mediabox HD receiver and after lengthy conversations with Cablecom (I think I have become quite good at winning then on the phone before hammering them), they acknowledged that they have been having a lot of problems with it and that they think nearly all of the boxes are faulty. As a result, I was upgraded (free of charge) to the mediabox HD recorder which works much better Only minor thing is that it is a bit noisy due to the hard drive fans so I just switched it off at night

By the way, since Friday and by Cablecom magic I somehow have access to ALL channels, even to those I am not subscribed to

Cheers,

Cablecom is c**p! I say this after suffering for years with their hopeless support, random removal of stations and pushy salesmanship. After being pounced on one time too many, I gave the Cablecom salesman a loud litany of my displeasure in the middle of Mediamart to his embarassment and the great interest of a gathering crowd.

When Swisscom came out with Bluewin TV I requested a trial at home, which was granted and after a week signed up. I have no regrets and recommend the service (now Swisscom TV) to everyone. The support is first class - with my first problem a Swisscom expert spent an hour on the phone with me until the problem was 100% resolved

The HD Recorder. I've been looking at some other threads in the meantime and I see that the receiver sounds even worse. Which is hard to imagine..

Thanks for all your replies though. Good to know that I'm not alone.

I'll let you know if I get any response..

Did you get the Philips or the Cisco HD recorder?

Philips:


Cisco:

It's the Cisco recorder (the bottom one)..

Meanwhile I'm just hoping that they have a good long hard look at the software that powers it and release a significant upgrade..

I had the exact same problems with the old (Philips) box. It was hot, it crashed very often, and it was slow and frustrating to use.

What about the 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio switching? Does the Cisco box also stretch the image when the program is in 4:3?

I remember Cablecom said that it was caused by the fact that it's connected over HDMI. I accepted it and switched manually on my TV. Then, when I got my Swisscom box, also over HDMI, the automatic aspect ratio switching worked fine - so much for the hdmi theory. The tv actually stays in 16:9 but the software displays black bars on the sides.

Yep, it stretches it.

My favorite glitch is when you select guide, then 'my favorites', but if you don't wait for at least 5 seconds inbetween then it will just go back to the TV and won't display the guide. In general the usability reminds me of a 1981 PC..

Same for me, now I have access to the channels of the "Cablecom Collection" package. I checked on the web on the support page to see if by mistake they "subscribed" me to it but they didn't. I guess there's a technical problem.

Knowing how they work....I expect soon to be billed for these channels that I didn't order

I think someone mentioned on another thread that it is a promotion that is running right now. Funny, though, that you don't know it is a promotion...

From TalkieToaster...http://www.digichris.info/?p=1081

fduvall

So glad I read this, we are on Cablecon and were thinking of switching from the existing media recorder (which is ok, although we have had problems with it recently) to the HD, but think well park that.

Despite the problems with this box, I really like the HD stuff. I think someone else said that you will get used to the 'foibles" which I am...slowly. And my new internet speed (50Mb/s) is great! Personally, my experience with Cablecom has been very good. Customer service has been attentive (in English) and fast. In fact, when I upgraded on a Friday afternoon, I had the new box and modem on Tuesday. So fast that i was not yet provisioned on the Cablecom side. Another call on Wed morning and that was solved within an hour.

To the original issue, hopefully the note sent by marklad will get a response. Maybe if we ALL send one, something will happen!

fduvall

Interesting - I have the Philips one, which is complete s**t, and had thought of switching to the Cisco recorder. The Philips recorder is the most buggy consumer electronics device I have ever come across.

Interesting news, not only they suck at customer service but even at marketing They don't advertise it, not on the web, didn't send a mail or a letter...bah!

Yep, i said that and stand by it.

Get over the fact that you have to wait 5 seconds to use the guide. Just get over that and a few other things, and just live with it.

Ultimately, I am happy with this device, and i am a very fussy bugger when it comes to these things.

Just want to add some late night perspective to all the haters out there.

I like the HD too, but I wish I could choose my own recorder, rather than Cablecom's poor choice.

Recently (with the Philips box) I've been getting worse degradation of the picture, with much more pixelation, and it's still crashing and rebooting during recordings causing unknown annoyance.