As the story goes, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have been the most TiVo-hostile… by blocking video streaming via an inappropriately applied copy flag, relying on switched digital tuning hacks, and BH even having the gall to (previously) charge folks for that bit of unreliable hardware. Well, Christmas has come early to Bright House subscribers in Orlando.
Via DSL Reports, we learn that CCI Byte restrictions have been lifted on everything other than premium movie channels, allowing TiVo, Ceton, and Silicon Dust hardware owners to legitimately stream the cable content they pay for beyond Bright House’s formerly walled garden. And, come January, Bright House’s Tampa customers will similarly experience video liberation.
Having said that, SDV tuning remains a pain point across the board. This CableLabs franken-adapter has never been very reliable and TiVo hasn’t always gracefully handled tuning issues. Lately, some cable providers and/or regions have yet to deploy required firmware updates… resulting in an inability to tune switched channels and emphasizing once again CableCARD customers remain second class citizens.
Motorola/ARRIS Tuning Adapters need to be updated to version 1.40 of the firmware, in order to be compatible with current CableLabs device certificates. We are reaching out to all cable operators to notify them of this issue, and to urge them to update to the latest Arris firmware.