Having Trouble with Time Warner’s Digital Adapter?

A while back I wrote about how some changes were coming if you are a Time Warner Cable subscriber.  The company is dropping the analog cable service and all subscribers will be required to have a special digital adapter if they do not already rent a set top box from the company.  Well, the deadline is fast approaching and from my emails and comments it looks like some people are having problems getting these adapters to work.

Just to review: Ever since the cable companies began providing digital cable, a system that was much superior to the old analog system, the companies have essentially operated two separate systems. Initially this was done so customers with older TVs could easily hook up their sets.  Now that most people have digital wide screen TV sets, the analog system is no longer required.

Many customers have several TV sets connected to the cable.  Some of the sets make use of the set top box but others, up until now, could be connected directly to the cable using the TV set’s internal QAM (cable) tuner.  By the end of April, the QAM tuner will not be compatible with the cable signal so a special digital adapter, provided free by the company, will be required for each cable-connected TV set if it does not use a set top box.

For most people, setting up the digital adapter is very easy by following the directions that come in the shipping box.  However, some have found that no matter what they do they can’t get the adapter to work.  In most cases the root problem is in the quality of the cable signal running throughout the house to the TV sets.  The digital signal is not as robust as the old analog signal.  A bad cable or a cable of inferior quality could pass the analog signal and the only issue was a less than perfect picture.  Digital signals are prone to the “cliff effect.”   Essentially this means you have a perfect picture or none at all.  So if the signal in the cable is not adequate, the TV set will display nothing. 

There are some fixes for this situation.  First make sure your cable runs are as short as possible. Invest in higher quality coaxial cable for use within your house. The cable guy may be able to help you.  Keep the number of cable splitters to a minimum as each one will weaken the signal passing through it.

If all else fails call the cable company.  It is in their best interest that you are a happy customer.