Complaint / Review
Time Warner Cable Of New York
Remotely and Secretly Disabled Pre-Existing Functionality of leased equipment Already In Place in customer's homes during software 'Upgrades'

Do you have (http://www.timewarnercable.com/northeast / Time Warner Digital Cable, and an Old TV with a single input connection? If you do, then you should check what their recent upgrade did for you! Try watching a DVD, a VCR tape, or playing a game on your game system, and See if it still works.

If your DVD, VCR or game system no longer work, then You Are a Victim of the recent "upgrade".
Unbeknownst to all of the Upstate NY Time Warner Digital Cable customers, as part of the recent software upgrade they sent to our cable boxes, they remotely, silently and secretly Deactivated ALL the physical input ports on those leased devices.
Because they did this without providing any notice about disabling features or functionality, I personally spent almost an hour going through the cable box menus trying to figure out why the "Video Source" button on my Time Warner remote control (http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/FAQ/Remotes/synergy_RT-U63CP. Pdf) no longer worked.
After becoming sufficiently frustrated, I decided to call Time Warner only to have their phone technician tell me that those ports have now been disabled, that the cable box manufacturer had requested they turn off those ports, and that there was nothing he could do.
Then I decided to rewire my entertainment system to attempt to get my DVD to work once again, only to find out that that was not possible as the coaxial output on the DVD recorder is only a pass-through connection. At this point I decided to call back Time Warner and ask to speak to a manager.
I did so, when the second technician finally stopped stalling and put me through to a Call Center Manager I was told that yes this functionality had been turned off, and that "It was never supposed to work". Looking at their remote (and the manual for it on their own website), I guess that would be why there is a Video Source button on their branded remote.
Furthermore, I asked if I was going to be compensated for my time (now hours), inconvenience and the fact that discontinuing this feature as part of their service was now going to Require me to FIND and BUY another piece of equipment. I was told that we were never supposed to have that feature anyway (that must be why it was on their remote), and that there would be no compensation, and that he was sorry.
Thank you Time Warner...