I just had an interesting service call from my Time Warner cable guy that I wanted to post here.
I was having probs with my Time Warner DVR. (I have a DVR from them, and my homebuilt system with two tuners. The DVR is not hooked into my system.) The probs turned out to be a bad harddrive in the DVR unit, but in the course of the service call, here's what transpired.
As soon as the cable guy saw my computer next to the TV, he said that it was
"illegal" to record from cable onto a computer for two reasons.
- First, TW doesn't allow it because of RIAA copyright laws.
- Second, computers hooked into cable (TV) introduce voltage back into the cable line, causing problems with everyone else hooked into that node.
Supposedly these are in the Timewarner contract.
He then stated that he was going to have to make a note with the paperwork that we have a computer hooked to cable TV and that from now on if we have a problem, they would charge us a $75 fee just to come out to our house.
Also, if too many people in our neighborhood complained of problems (specifically pixelation probs), that they might drop our contract.
Also, some people have had their computers seized for the content recorded on them.
Now, remember, this is what HE said. He wasn't very specific on how much voltage was introduced (or even why a computer power supply would do this but not a TV power supply).
Anyone else ever hear of any of this?
I haven't read my TW contract, so I'm not sure of the wording that would cover this.
Lisa