Alienware Won't Sell Consumers CableCard PCs

An anonymous reader writes "Alienware doesn't think CableCard is ready for the mass market. The Dell subsidiary is coming out with some high-end Media Center PCs but won't sell them directly to consumers because the HD-enabling CableCard 'requires the expertise of a reseller and installer.' CableCard was supposed to be the savior for Windows Media Center, which has been held back by its inability to support high-def content. Alienware made its mark selling tricked-out computers to gamers, so it's telling that the company doesn't think its traditional geeky customer can handle CableCard without professional help."

Comments

It's telling, but of what?

[bigstrat2003]

Is this an indicator that CableCard really is awful, and should be avoided like the spawn of Satan?

Or is this an indicator that Alienware has been completely absorbed by Dell, and has nothing left of what once made it good?

I'm gonna go with the latter here, although the former may be true as well.

Re:It's telling, but of what?

[Arthur Grumbine]

To build off of that, and in response to the summary. Maybe it's not so much that the "traditional geeky customer" "can't handle it", as that they don't want to handle it, and Alienware knows this.

Re:It's telling, but of what?

[garcia]

Is this an indicator that CableCard really is awful, and should be avoided like the spawn of Satan?

Or is this an indicator that Alienware has been completely absorbed by Dell, and has nothing left of what once made it good?

Its an indicator of both of those things including the simple fact that Dell doesn't want to deal with any customer calling up to complain about the thing not working. Regardless of how many people can actually get it to work just fine, means that a good number of people won't and will call up and waste their CSRs call time fixing problems caused by clueless owners.

Re:It's telling, but of what?

[__aawkdb2598]

I bought an Alienware PC (I'm using it to type this post) a few years ago. I'd agree with GP, though perhaps with a slightly different choice of words.
Now, I literally would not buy from them if you payed me money to do it. It's just not worth it. "Best support in the industry"? Bull. My computer was an absolute lemon and Alienware did nothing to fix it except lead me around until my warranty expired. Plus they falsified my support records. Failing videocard? Only a few months old? Went down on the books as "Customer had loosely plugged in video card. Fixed." More like "Video card defective, about to explode." Which it did, right after my warranty expired. I've had just about every type of problem you can imagine with this machine, and Alienware has treated me like crap the whole time.
I'd never buy from them again, and the fact that Dell bought them cheapens Dell in my eyes, not the other way around.

Re:It's telling, but of what?

[mabhatter654]

CableCard on Windows can actually lock out our PC from using cablecards as well as the actual CableCard. Weren't there reports a few months ago about that?

That would mean the PC would have to be RETURNED to the vendor after so many failed attempts.... and they're LEGALLY BOUND by silly cable rules not to tell you how to reset the PC side to try again. It's quite nasty and poorly implemented even for Microsoft standards.

I must be missing something

[NeverVotedBush]

If the card even works, why can't they put together a manual that would allow users to get the things running? Do they not even work? What's the deal?

Re:I must be missing something

[MBCook]

I've got a Series 3 ( fanstastic device). I've read those stories. I offered to install the cards myself. I'm smart enough to stick two cards in two slots and call the numbers on them in. Heck, TiVo included a nice guide on how to install them... for the installers. That's how frequently cable cards were used last year when the Series 3 came out.

I had some decent luck. When I called Comcast after getting my S3 the person who answered the phone actually knew what a cable card was (which was an improvement of some of the stories I've heard). I set up an appointment and a week or so later when it arrived I got my cards. They did function to a certain degree (the channel mapping worked, for example).

That said, I couldn't watch certain channels (Discovery HD being the one that really got me). They twice sent out technicians to check signal level and other things. I had to confirm everything with them, and they discussed replacing the cards and everything. That's what the third guy came out to do.

He figured it out in 30 seconds on a hunch.

I didn't have HDTV. I could watch local HD channels thanks to the must-carry rules, but they hadn't enabled HDTV on my account, so the channels (which had great strength) were black (because they weren't authorized).

This despite how I upgraded my package. "I just got an HDTV and would like HDTV service." "So this will give me all you HDTV channels that aren't premium like HBO?", "And I'll get Discovery HD, right?"

I love HDTV. I especially love how Comcast really can't screw up the picture quality like they can with all my analog channels. But they managed to mess up putting two identicle PCMCIA cards into two identical slots and clicking the appropriate box on their sales screen for the package I specifically asked for.

I got off REAL easy compared to some others. This may be due to lack of complete and utter incompetence on my local Comcast's part. This may be due to me waiting a month or two after the S3 came out to buy it (so others already went through things). This may have just been the best luck I've ever had with Comcast.

I've setup at least a half-dozen DirecTV receivers over the years. Easy a pie. There is no technical reason I couldn't do the cable card install myself. The only reason I can think of would be they wanted the service charge. Worst case scenario, it didn't work and they had to send a guy out anyway. I'd have taken that risk.

Worse than the hassles of getting the cards installed are the prices for the things. I'm being charged a few dollars a month for each card, despite the fact both are in the same device (and there are two only because Comcast isn't using multi-stream cards, I'm guessing so they can charge more). Some people don't get charged at all (at least for the first TV). Some people get charged $10 or more per month per card. From what I remember reading it isn't consistent in operators. It seems to be up to the local Comcast, Time Warner, or whatever office how they want to handle it.

Considering those problems, the worries about copying (which is why the SATA port on the S3 hasn't been active and TiVo2Go and Multi-Room Viewing don't work, stupid Cable Labs) I'm not surprised they aren't rushing to let Windows Media Center boxes work, let alone Media Center boxes built by individuals and not companies like Alienware.

Re:I must be missing something

[Anonymous Coward]

i work as cable service technician, and i can say from much experience with them... installed/serviced probably somewhere between 250 and 300 cable cards in the system where i work, and they're awful. they do not work properly, and are very unreliable. i agree we need an open standard for third party hardware vendors, and cable card is nice in theory, however, we need something more robust, and preferably something that supports 2 way communication for interactive services.

now, i will say this, a shotty cable system can make cable cards even more of a nightmare. but i work in one of the cleanest and most state of the art systems in the midwest(went through a complete rebuild within the last 5 years). and they're still awful here. i would never recommend one, or install one in my own house.

Re:I must be missing something

[RpiMatty]

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ocur
Maximum PC ran an article about trying to get a cablecard installed into an Alienware rig they got to review.
Didn't get it working. They were hoping the bugs would be worked out before consumers could buy them... guess that didn't happen.

Comcast Tech: Hey, this is ** from Comcast. I'm trying to hook up a customer's PC to our system, but I can't get it to work. Can you help me out?

From the article
Microsoft Guy: Yeah, well, we don't have our tiered tech support set up yet, but I can try to walk you through it. What are you hooking up?

CT: Well, he has two computers, one from Voodoo PC and one from Velocity Micro.

MSG: He's got both those machines?! That's $13,000 in computers!

CT: Yeah, he's reviewing them. He's an editor at Maximum PC.

MSG: Oh.... Sh*t, they're supposed to tell us before they send those things out to the press.

CT: Both these machines have internal OCUR cards, too; I've never worked with the internal cards before.

MSG: [Still unaware he's on a speakerphone] Yeah, those are really tricky. But don't tell the guy that, or he'll write it up. You're gonna start seeing Dells like that come through your system like crazy.

Re:I must be missing something

[mkraft]

I can't speak for other devices, but the S3 was designed to be idiot proof. There is only 2 places to insert the cards with a big label saying which slot to use first. Basically if someone can make toast, they can install a cable card. After that the software does the rest. A screen pops up with the numbers that need to be given the the Cable Company.

It's impossible to insert the cards in backwards (they won't fit) so the worst someone could do is not figure out where to put the cards or call the wrong numbers in. In which case Comcast could send out a technician. There's no reason to not allow customers to install it themselves.

My experience has been that the reason probably is more of a training issue. My CARDs lost provisioning (completely my fault) and I figured I'd call in to give Comcast the new pairing numbers. Well it took 4 calls, speaking to a manager (who told me I needed a service call) until I finally found someone who would take the pairing numbers (after originally telling me it wasn't possible and then only after I verified my last 4 digits of my social). The whole technical process took a few minutes, yet I had spent hours on the phone. This indicates training or policies problems more than actual user intelligence problems.

Re:I must be missing something

[Znork]

"a perfect example of why government shouldn't interfere in the free market."

Exactly! If the government didn't interfere in the free market with legislation such as 'copyright', this wouldnt be a problem.

Without such government interference, consumers and hardware vendors would simply figure that the whole conditional access crap of cable networks was too much of a pain, dump it, and simply use torrent capable media devices that accessed trackers with the whole worlds media on them. Instead of a paltry selection of what someone else thinks you should want to watch, you'd have the whole library of everything humanity ever made at hand to choose from.

I tried to use CableCard....

[Above]

My TV supports CableCard, so I tried to use it. Before I moved I got it working. First trip, dead cable card. Second trip, tech brought an HD Box rather than a cable card. Third trip, bad cable card. Fourth trip tech brought two, one worked, one did not. The one that worked finally was set up and worked.

But of course, the Cable Company decided not to provide ANY guide info via the Cable Card interface, so the cable card showed nothing. But it worked.

For two months. When it died. They brought two more that didn't work, I told them no more.

So I moved to a new location, and a supposedly better cable company. When I got here they didn't have any, and I was told they had no eta. I called back three times, unable to even make an appointment to get one installed because "they don't have any".

Nevermind even if I wanted one I would have to take a day off work and wait for an "installer" to insert a PCMCIA card and phone in two numbers.

I am convinced of two things.

1) Cable card manufacturers, Motorola in particular, seem to make junk. Having multiple DOA cards (that are supposedly new) is just amazing in this day and age. Junk, junk and more junk.

2) Cable companies don't want to support it. Maybe #1 justifies a installer, I don't know. But I should be able to pick one up at my local store, install it myself, put the numbers in a web site and be good to go in a few minutes. I should get guide info. They don't do it because they want you to get their two way box, not because it's hard or expensive.

Cable companies didn't want cable card, so they have managed to kill it by making it as broken as possible while still offering it.

Re:I tried to use CableCard....

[rsmith-mac]

2) Cable companies don't want to support it. Maybe #1 justifies a installer, I don't know. But I should be able to pick one up at my local store, install it myself, put the numbers in a web site and be good to go in a few minutes. I should get guide info. They don't do it because they want you to get their two way box, not because it's hard or expensive.

The thing is, #2 doesn't make sense any more. The FCC is making the cable companies eat their own dog food, so to speak, as any new boxes they deploy must use CableCards instead of integrated security. So I'm not sure what's going on at this point, as they're obviously doing okay using their own CableCards.

Re:Who writes this crap?

[lusid1]

You had me until "and records just fine at HD resolutions." I have to call BS on that one. There isn't an input device in existence that can take a 1080i analog signal into a media center pc and record it. Your only HD input options are RF (QAM/OTA) which your settop box does not output in HD, and Firewire which is 5c encrypted, so not usable. Are you one of those people that think they're watching HDTV over svideo?

Re:Cable card in brief and explanations

[azrider]

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the cable techs are incompetent with respect to setting up HD equipment. The last time I had a tech actually touch any of my stuff, he ended up misconfiguring the outputs of the box such that I couldn't actually get any HD content to my TV.

When my dad had HD installed (bought a 42" LCD), the installer told him that he:
1) Needed the component video cable.
2) Could only hook the STP directly to the monitor.
This, despite the fact that the original (non-HD) STB was hooked (S-VHS video and digital optical audio) to the receiver and working fine.

Dad ordered the requisite cable and rescheduled.

When the tech came out, after making the same claims, Dad called me. I told him to tell the tech to:
1) Unplug the S-VHS and optical cables from the existing box.
2) Plug the S-VHS and optical cables into the new box.

After doing so, the tech brought up "I Love Lucy" (I kid you not) and told Dad "See, you are not receiving HD-TV". Once he was told to actually tune a High Definition channel, everything was fine.

That is, until the "upgraded" STB they brought out 3 months later refused to display the channel guide/none of the remote control "advanced" functions/PVR could not be programmed (but that is another story).

My next "fun" project is to remind my cable operator (TW) of the following:

FCC mandate Title 47, Chapter 1, Subchapter C, Part 76, Subpart K requires that all cable operators that have not received an explicit exemption from the FCC offer any customer who requests it a high-definition cable box with an operational firewire port.

Switched Video is killing CableCARDs

[Secrity]

I have an HD TiVo with 2 CableCARD; setting them up took three installer trips and three stacks of cards.

Yesterday I received a call from a cable company rep telling me that a large number of digital channels will cease working with my CableCARD. She read off a very long list of channels, most of them were foreign language and weird channels that I had never heard of; she also said that any newly added channels will not work with CableCARD. The only channel I cared about was NASA, and I am not going to rent a cable box jut to get NASA.

When I asked why these channels are going away, she assured me that they were not going away, i just won't be able to receive them without a cable box. When I kept pressing, she told me that they were adding Switched Video.

Free Market?

[DingerX]

Dude, what kind of world are you in? The Cable industry is created and sustained by regulation. You can't lay cable without government approval. Why? 'Cos you have to dig up the whole town to do so. So what's wrong with the communities saying "Okay, you can dig up our town, but if you do so, it has to be in the potential interest of the whole town" (And not just the dense nucleus, where putting cable would cause maximum disruption to the community for only a portion of the population, yet maximum profit for the cable company). And even if you let four cable companies maintain redundant infrastructure (magnifying costs), you'll still end up with an oligopoly at best.

The point is, if you're going to privatize infrastructure items, like power, communications and transportation, the consumer is not the individual, or the household, but the whole community. Any appointed representative of the community who favors the producers over the community is acting in bad faith.

Governments have every right to specify to producers what it is they want, just as producers have every right not to produce.