I have the above box, version 2 (at least).

The activation was trivial for my swap. I just took the old box out and plugged the new one in and turned on the power. It automatically booted up and went into the first time use procedure. The only down side is that after you boot your new box the system won't let you use your old one anymore. So I lost all of the stuff that I had recorded. Fortunately it wasn't that big of a deal as I had seen most of it already.

Since getting the newer Cisco HD box I have had only 2 or 3 crashes. This newer box also handles memory control better. I doesn't dump when you are close to running out of memory. I just warns you and takes you to the screen where you can delete recordings before you completely run out of memory.

They seem to have also dealt with the problem of watching an HD program whilst recording an HD program. This was something that would consistently crash my previous box. When I say this I mean 80% of the time.

Glad to see that things are getting better.

Probably means that we could rename the thread, "Cablecom HD Mediabox is less rubbishy."
Brian.

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yes, under guide../settings there is a way in which you delete channels that you are not interested in.

With the new menu, I can set Favorites, but I can't seem to access them. I have also lost the Categories (HD/Movies/etc) that used to be under Guide>Menu>

Maybe the upgrade is in stages?? I like the larger menu, as you can see a lot more of the programming. But I want the Favorites and Categories back.

fduvall

ah...trial and error. I found the Categories by pressing GUIDE and then the RED button on the Cablecom remote. So back to normal.

fduvall

I wish I had read this thread before I decided to upgrade to the Cisco HD recorder box........ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

After a few hours prating about with it, the decision had been made to send it back... Does everything that has been posted already on here...

= CISCO HD RECORDER BOX

Call to Cabelcom Cst Service: 'We need to transfer you to the tech team'

huh??? I just want to send it back....

Tech Team: 'Sorry, you can't return it and your original media box is now inactive and must be returned', 'please look out for the updates'

WTF??????????????????????

Can anybody suggest how I could get my old box working, I still have it and just feel like sticking the return sticker on the new one and sending it back, but the smart card is now inactive!!!

HELP!!! Please

I still think the device is rubbish, particularly because:

- Apart from having HD capability it is still not as good as the good as the previous cablecom box that it replaced (examples: not being able to watch anything else if 2 programs are recording, poor user interface compared to previous, poor stability in that frequently programs are not recorded properly)

- Compared to other solutions (such as the Swisscom option) it fares poorly

- It has the ability to make the simple task for watching television quite frustrating on occasion

In a world where the consumer is increasingly being provided with new options for media consumption Cablecom need to be improving the product, not making it worse.

Yeah, that one really bugs me too

how so? i havent used the swisscom, i would be interested in how it compares to the cablecom box.

anyone else has the swisscom box and can shed light on this?

IIRC, they do actually disable the box in firmware, not just the card; they can't then remotely re-enable it.
Therefore your old one has to go back to them, regardless of whether you revert to the old type of box or not.

Sorree

Yeah I asked the same question on here a few weeks ago as I was looking to switch from SwisscomTV to Cablecom, mainly because they're cheaper. But reading all the horror stories on here has made me reconsider. I'll stick with the Swisscom box thanks very much.

If possible, I'd recommend you take the boxes down to their customer service centre in Zurich. They're quite efficient there (amazing for Cablecom!), and it's much easier than messing around with postal labels.

Must admit that I haven't used the Swisscom box myself, but the principle difference from what I can tell and from what I have heard is that Swisscom offers a modern, smooth and excellent user interface experience. Whereas Cablecom offer a jerky, buggy and tortured experience.

They might have gotten away with it 10 years ago, but it is a pity that they are getting away with it today!

is there anyone who has actually used the swisscom box that can chime in with a hands on opinion?

I have been using Cablecom since 2002. I started out with the cable internet service (which has been very reliable to date). I added the box for additional television channels in 2005. This has been (mostly) a good experience. I just had to accept that usually the first box they send out is faulty and I had to order a second one (after making sure they sent me a prepaid postage sticker to return the first one!) I added the digital phone service in June of last year.

The products work ok, but I have two issues with them.

1) They are constantly lowering prices to attract new subscribers and I feel I have to monitor what they do so that I am not OVERPAYING.

2) THEY HAVE NOT SENT ME A BILL SINCE DECEMBER!

I called them and told them this and they were like "Just send us a payment and we will apply it. Right now we have many problems with our billing system." Um, why should I send you MONEY if you can't competently prepare and send out an invoice?

I don't think it's too much to ask for a regular bill. I am not particularly keen on the idea of getting an invoice for 1200 CHF at the end of the year when I am busy buying Christmas gifts...

Wait... CC's incompetence aside (which is monumental), you know you have a bill coming for a service you are getting, which is accruing, you know how to pay, but your just going to wait until it hits and bitch when it does and it's huge. I was in the same boat, and just made the payment anyway, do you really want the hassle?

But back on topic, I'm nervously going in the service point on Monday to upgrade. Can I ask for a specific box manufacturer (still not sure which is better as both seem to carry issues) or will I just get what I'm given?

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Yes, I've used both. Swisscom is so much better than that piece of junk Cablecom HD recorder that it doesn't even make sense to compare them.

Only disadvantage is that the image quality is not as good on most channels. Very pixelated.

But besides that, you don't think about what problems you might encounter when wanting to watch tv. You turn it on and watch TV.. no waiting around for stupid menus to show up, crash, wonder if recordings worked, wondering why the box is so hot even in standby mode, etc. etc. etc.

Also, you can access the tv guide over the internet and schedule recordings, series recordings, do a detailed search, etc. all from your PC. It's just a much more modern solution that actually works.

That is good feedback. But since I use my cable to watch TV, I think I would prefer better image quality to a good user interface.

My CC HD Recorder is slow, and all of the complaints about it are valid. I hope CC fixes it.

fduvall

This was exactly my reaction on reading the review. it reminded me that i was in the swisscom shop once and i seem to remember that the guy said that the tv picture is delivered over the internet.... made me a bit wary even then.

im not surprised the image is pixellated.

Correct. And the quantity of simultaneous streams and quality of those streams are governed by the phone line internet connection to your house.

With cablecom, you can watch 10 x different programs simultaneously in your house (with enough receivers of course), because all programs are there on the cable, all the time

Swisscom falls over when you want more than 1 program...

It's not *so* bad. Many of the channels look fine, it's only some that look like crap, like BBC and ITV (although BBC HD looks good). I think it has to do with the encoders that they use for each channel, but I have no clue about this kind of stuff. I hope people don't read this and imagine watching youtube on your TV or something It's actually good quality most of the time.

On mine I can record something and watch something else at the same time, or record 2 things but then I can only watch something that has been previously recorded.

Regarding quality of the streams, I think it either works or it doesn't. They don't have a "low bandwidth mode" or something - they have slots of available bandwidth which are used up as you're watching or recording live tv.

Anyway, I think Cablecom would be ok if they allowed their cards to be used in non-cablecom recorders, because they've proven that they can't release a proper recorder. I'm guessing it's their software that's terrible, since it seems to be just as bad on both the Philips and the Cisco boxes. Do they have search yet? For me that was the thing I missed most when switching from the SD to their HD recorder.