DiveFan
02-15-09, 05:20 PM
I've had TWC digital cable (no DVR) here in Hawthorne, Cal for over four years, and I'm Not impressed. At first, all was wonderful - plenty of channels, very good PQ. Then extensive signal compression starting happening to add more junk channels and ultimately HD.
The worst part of the service has been the crappy STBs. The older SD ones (Pioneer, Pace) have noticeably bad analog decoding. All of them (sooner or later) become 'reboot' boxes - at least once a day. At least the Passport software reloads fairly quickly and the program guide works well.
Recently I decided to check out the HD STBs to see if they were any better, since I plan on getting a HDTV soon. First box was a Pioneer - same crap, different day. When tuned to an HD channel, the program guide became unusable (STB proc obviously running at 99%).
The latest one is the well regarded SA 4250HDC - faster processor, more memory, manufactured only a year ago. Unfortunately it's tied to the new OCAP (OCRAP?) Mystro Navigator software and guide (but that's another topic). Even worse, it can't stay up for more than ~6 hours. After two >30 minute sessions of nonstop rebooting over two days I've unplugged it; back to basic analog cable for now.
Based on my observations of TWC customer service, I'm wondering if they even troubleshoot returned boxes. They never record my reported issues. It smells like they use the Fry's Electronics return process - rewrap and resell.
If this is the wave of the cable TV future, I'm off to satellite TV very soon. My Zenith CECB is looking like a good investment now.
The worst part of the service has been the crappy STBs. The older SD ones (Pioneer, Pace) have noticeably bad analog decoding. All of them (sooner or later) become 'reboot' boxes - at least once a day. At least the Passport software reloads fairly quickly and the program guide works well.
Recently I decided to check out the HD STBs to see if they were any better, since I plan on getting a HDTV soon. First box was a Pioneer - same crap, different day. When tuned to an HD channel, the program guide became unusable (STB proc obviously running at 99%).
The latest one is the well regarded SA 4250HDC - faster processor, more memory, manufactured only a year ago. Unfortunately it's tied to the new OCAP (OCRAP?) Mystro Navigator software and guide (but that's another topic). Even worse, it can't stay up for more than ~6 hours. After two >30 minute sessions of nonstop rebooting over two days I've unplugged it; back to basic analog cable for now.
Based on my observations of TWC customer service, I'm wondering if they even troubleshoot returned boxes. They never record my reported issues. It smells like they use the Fry's Electronics return process - rewrap and resell.
If this is the wave of the cable TV future, I'm off to satellite TV very soon. My Zenith CECB is looking like a good investment now.