Charlotte, NC - TWC [Text View] - Page 21

GrouchoDude

03-03-09, 12:21 PM

FX!, just in time for Rescue Me on April 7th. Well, I have to hand it to TWC. I'm now recommitted to cable. I was seriously looking at moving back to DBS last summer and fall but now cable pretty much has everything I could want.

Don't watch that one; my FX viewing is limited to the aging 'Nip/Tuck' and the flat-out brilliant 'Damages', both of which will likely finish their seasons before we get FX-HD added here.

However, for fans of those shows, all is not lost! I discovered just last week that the HD Showcase on Demand channel (859 on the TWC lineup) has the HD versions of these shows! Who knew? :confused: Unfortunately, I was forced to watch half of the 'Damages' and 'Nip/Tuck' seasons in crappy SD before I discovered this. :(

VorlonFog

03-03-09, 05:40 PM

pumbaa071

03-04-09, 03:18 AM

i am currently with dish network. i had time warner before going dish for about 2 years, and i still have road runner. now with the bundle i can get and dish raising their prices im going to go back to time warner. my questions are 1. is the dvr still terrible or have that upgraded and updated it 2. is customer service any better? with dish i love 24hr online supports since im a night owl and 3. how is the hd? is it still really really compressed? or is it comparable to dish?

sccofer

03-04-09, 08:31 AM

In my opinion the HD is much better than DISH...DVR isn't bad, it's no TIVO but it gets the job done just fine for me.

VorlonFog

03-04-09, 03:52 PM

I'm a TiVo HD user with one multi-stream Cable Card and a Cisco Tuning Adapter for SDV. Early Tuesday morning channel 214 was showing the informercial from Sci-Fi and channel 215 was dark. When the tuning adapter was installed last Friday morning, I was really ready for BSG in HD Friday evening, but Sci-Fi HD wasn't available on either 214 or 215 for me. :confused: Anyone know what's up?

Following up, after briefly tuning digital 214 Tuesday evening. I received approximately 60 to 90 seconds of Sci-Fi HD on channel 214 last night, then the picture froze. Switching to analog channel 64 showed the movie titles continuing to display, but 214 was no longer receiving any video signal. Repeated attempts over the next few minutes were fruitless.

Is this a TWC Charlotte-wide problem or is it local to my area? :confused:

EDIT:
Although this TWC webpage (http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/support/policies/channelchange.html) says this change should have occurred on 2/15/09, Vinnie at TWC Tech Support tells me it should occur Thursday 3/5/09 instead.

EDIT2:
The date above was incorrectly shown as 3/15/09 originally. I've corrected it to 3/5/09. Apologies.

jcalabria

03-04-09, 05:38 PM

Following up, after briefly tuning digital 214 Tuesday evening. I received approximately 60 to 90 seconds of Sci-Fi HD on channel 214 last night, then the picture froze. Switching to analog channel 64 showed the movie titles continuing to display, but 214 was no longer receiving any video signal. Repeated attempts over the next few minutes were fruitless.

Is this a TWC Charlotte-wide problem or is it local to my area? :confused:

EDIT:
Although this TWC webpage (http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/support/policies/channelchange.html) says this change should have occurred on 2/15/09, Vinnie at TWC Tech Support tells me it should occur Thursday 3/15/09 instead.

There were no SciFiHD issues last night at my house... I will check again later this evening. I am not using a tuning adaptor, however... just a TW-issued 8300HDC DVR.

Update: SciFi HD looks fine tonight as well.

jcalabria

03-04-09, 09:47 PM

I know that some of us have wondered what's going on with some of the channel changes that were announced but haven't happened. I just came across some new information that has not been posted on the website yet:

Effective date 3/5:

The News 14 simulcast on 214 goes live. It will be on 114 up in Iredell.
Sci-Fi HD goes to 215 to make room for News 14.
National Geographic On Demand will become part of News & World On Demand and cease to exist on its own.
Also, the Game Show Network move to Digital variety is postponed until further notice.

thegraz95

03-04-09, 10:06 PM

pumbaa071

03-04-09, 11:29 PM

In my opinion the HD is much better than DISH...DVR isn't bad, it's no TIVO but it gets the job done just fine for me.

the dvr is great on dish, but i can live with a less "pretty" interface as long as it works. im paying almost as much just for dish as i will for cable and road runner. plus the on demand is gonna be nice to have again. now i just have to find someone with a tall enough ladder to get to my 2nd story roof so i can give dish back their lnb.

jcalabria

03-05-09, 07:30 AM

chuckf1

03-05-09, 09:51 AM

Changes are live.

Darn, and me not at home to watch News 14 on Channel 214. :eek:

Is it in glorious stretch-o-vision?

jcalabria

03-05-09, 10:42 AM

Darn, and me not at home to watch News 14 on Channel 214. :eek:

Is it in glorious stretch-o-vision?

No, lol... its exactly what you see on 14 remapped to 214 by the box. In fact, you can tune between 14 and 214 and nothing happens, no glitch, no nothing... its the exact same stream mapped to both channels numbers.

I think the bigger concern for most people was SciFi HD moving to make room. I had to edit my favorite channel list!

hamstang

03-05-09, 04:38 PM

the dvr is great on dish, but i can live with a less "pretty" interface as long as it works. im paying almost as much just for dish as i will for cable and road runner. plus the on demand is gonna be nice to have again. now i just have to find someone with a tall enough ladder to get to my 2nd story roof so i can give dish back their lnb.

Did you need to clear the snow off the 2nd story dish recently? A friend of mine needed to Sunday night and was not a happy satellite customer. My TWC never missed a beat during the recent Winter Blast 2009....:D

pumbaa071

03-05-09, 04:54 PM

Did you need to clear the snow off the 2nd story dish recently? A friend of mine needed to Sunday night and was not a happy satellite customer. My TWC never missed a beat during the recent Winter Blast 2009....:D

:mad: dont remind me i dont have a ladder tall enough to get to the 2nd story so i just had local ota channels. yeah thats another reason im leaving dish. does anyone know if i can rent a ladder for like 1 hr lol.

ke4pym

03-05-09, 05:39 PM

Did you need to clear the snow off the 2nd story dish recently? A friend of mine needed to Sunday night and was not a happy satellite customer. My TWC never missed a beat during the recent Winter Blast 2009....:D

And that's what you get for putting your dish up on the roof. I don't get why people let the installers do that. 99.9% of the dishes in my hood could be mounted on a pole in the yard and they'd be fine.

Guess they don't mind for the day or two every year or so it's a problem.

chuckf1

03-05-09, 06:04 PM

No, lol... its exactly what you see on 14 remapped to 214 by the box. In fact, you can tune between 14 and 214 and nothing happens, no glitch, no nothing... its the exact same stream mapped to both channels numbers.

I think the bigger concern for most people was SciFi HD moving to make room. I had to edit my favorite channel list!

I'm feeling your pain, bro. I had to edit Sci-Fi HD on my universal remote.

jcalabria

03-05-09, 06:08 PM

I'm feeling your pain, bro. I had to edit Sci-Fi HD on my universal remote.

Crap!!! I forgot about that... gotta update the Favs on the Harmony One.

chuckf1

03-05-09, 06:25 PM

Crap!!! I forgot about that... gotta update the Favs on the Harmony One.

Glad I could help a fellow Harmony One owner out.

Robert_W

03-05-09, 08:42 PM

:mad: dont remind me i dont have a ladder tall enough to get to the 2nd story so i just had local ota channels. yeah thats another reason im leaving dish. does anyone know if i can rent a ladder for like 1 hr lol.

Ask if you can keep the dish for the next snow fall. I'm sure it would make a wonderful saucer for sliding down hills. :)

Bob.

pumbaa071

03-05-09, 08:43 PM

And that's what you get for putting your dish up on the roof. I don't get why people let the installers do that. 99.9% of the dishes in my hood could be mounted on a pole in the yard and they'd be fine.

Guess they don't mind for the day or two every year or so it's a problem.

in my case it 100% could not be mounted on a pole. it had to go onto the roof for line of sight. i live in a townhouse and it just had to im not very happy about it and now its causing problems :(

mfogarty5

03-05-09, 09:18 PM

the dvr is great on dish, but i can live with a less "pretty" interface as long as it works. im paying almost as much just for dish as i will for cable and road runner. plus the on demand is gonna be nice to have again. now i just have to find someone with a tall enough ladder to get to my 2nd story roof so i can give dish back their lnb.

TWC is offering a Price Lock Guarantee that includes digital cable, road runner and a DVR for 99.95 a month. The price is locked for 2 years.

I think the list price for those 3 things is $125.

pumbaa071

03-05-09, 09:45 PM

TWC is offering a Price Lock Guarantee that includes digital cable, road runner and a DVR for 99.95 a month. The price is locked for 2 years.

I think the list price for those 3 things is $125.

thats why im coming back to tw cause dish is just overpriced and under featured now. wasnt the case when i went from tw to dish.

thegraz95

03-06-09, 09:59 AM

I'm paying around $150/month for my bundled services, saving around $40/month with the price lock. I know because they failed to deduct the discount from my bill last month and I freaked, thinking it was just increases.
Essentially the price lock cut my digital variety pak in half.
I have Road Runner Turbo, 1 DVR, Digital Variety Pak, digital phone w/voice mail and id blocking.
I have to say, as bad as cable service is with Time Warner, the digital phone is equally as good. Very reliable, clear audio, I am very happy with it. Caller ID on the TV is nice to have, I just wish they would leave a little phone icon or something at the corner of the screen when there are new calls.

stannc

03-06-09, 01:46 PM

strutter

03-06-09, 02:42 PM

Ask if you can keep the dish for the next snow fall. I'm sure it would make a wonderful saucer for sliding down hills. :)

Bob.

most of the time dont they just leave them anyway? unless you request to have them taken down.

father in law has one on his house, one on a pole, one laying in the weeds, and huge one in his yard. he has been between direct and dish a couple of times. each time they just want the recievers and stuff back. they never come out to get the dishes, and each time he switches back the equipment is out dated or something and they put up a new one. dont know why he doesnt just tell them to take them but they end up leaving them for some reason.

strutter

03-13-09, 02:38 PM

noticed CBSC (CBS college)today. is this a permanent channel or just a temp for Basketball?

jcalabria

03-13-09, 02:44 PM

noticed CBSC (CBS college)today. is this a permanent channel or just a temp for Basketball?

I don't know about up there in Statesville, but in Charlotte it has been on the digital sports tier (Ch 139) for some time now.

popweaverhdtv

03-13-09, 03:00 PM

noticed CBSC (CBS college)today. is this a permanent channel or just a temp for Basketball?

Most cable operators are offering CBS College Sports as a free preview during the NCAA Tourney. Here in WNC, the channel is on the Digital Sports Tier, but just began its Free Preview today in time for the bulk of the regional tourneys.

Source: http://www.multichannel.com/article/189803-CBS_College_Sports_To_Roll_Out_Ball_Befoer_50_Million_Subs_W ith_Free_Preview.php?rssid=20062&q=CBS+College+Sports

strutter

03-14-09, 10:24 AM

thanks. i dont sub to any sports tiers. so when it showed up sandwiched in between WBTVHD and WTVIHD i was surprised. yesturday when i posted that it was live showing a game. later that day and right now it says to receive the channel to call customer care.

jcalabria

03-14-09, 09:43 PM

They duplicated it here on 226 (between WBTV-HD and WBTV-SD) but its still encrypted... pops in for about a second then the usual not authorized screen pops up. Same on the regular channel 139... no free preview.

pumbaa071

03-15-09, 02:19 AM

i just tried to call and order services since i just got home from work, and they are closed anyone have a 24hr number to call to order since i really need to get rid of dish right now.

ybsane

03-20-09, 06:44 PM

Cable Package Charlotte systems Iredell Launch Date

Daystar Digital Basic 101 220 3/20/09

Starz On Demand Free with Starz 377 875 3/25/09

FX HD Free HD 267 678 4/02/09

AMC HD Free HD 271 680 4/02/09

Outdoor Channel HD Free HD 269 727 4/02/09

Travel Channel HD Free HD 268 656 4/02/09

HBO West HD Free with HBO 319 820 4/02/09

Showtime West HD Free with Showtime 356 821 4/02/09

Science Channel HD Free HD 266 635 4/02/09

Peachtree TV* Digital Basic 134 424 4/07/09

Shopping Plus/TW Marketplace* Digital Basic 85 85 4/16/09

pumbaa071

03-23-09, 10:58 PM

so i have had tw for about 4 days now, i can say while the dvr isnt the greatest, and there is less hd the picture looks just as good, and with them adding new channels i can say i am liking it so far. not to mention i am saving 50 bucks a month. also how much is hbo, or any of those channels and are they running any promos for free 3 months or anything like that.

strutter

03-24-09, 09:32 AM

jcalabria

03-24-09, 10:49 AM

sccofer

03-24-09, 01:41 PM

“We have been successful in reaching mutually acceptable agreements with all other cable operators. The fee we are asking from Time Warner Cable is substantially less than what other program suppliers are receiving from them. While we are hopeful that we can resolve the issue with Time Warner Cable before April 1st we have to recognize that there are substantial issues that still need to be addressed," Pomilla said.

Other program suppliers don't offer a free product that you can receive OTA. They are simply trying to extort a fee from cable subscribers for a product that is free to everyone else. Complete nonsense, when people wonder why their cable bill increases every year this is one reason.

bdfox18doe

03-24-09, 02:46 PM

“Other program suppliers don't offer a free product that you can receive OTA. They are simply trying to extort a fee from cable subscribers for a product that is free to everyone else. .

FREE on DirecTV? Dish? U-Verse? Your argument does not hold water here.

sccofer

03-24-09, 04:22 PM

jcalabria

03-24-09, 04:30 PM

my point being that if it is free over the air there should be no re-transsmission consent agreement for any provider, DISH, U-Verse, et al.

The locals shouldn't get paid when the same signal is sent over a different medium.

The option is the broadcasters... they can either request must-carry status and the cable op is obligated to carry them, or they can opt for retransmission consent and begin negotiating with the cable op for a mutually agreed upon fee for the cable op to pay in return for the broadcaster allowing their signal to be carried.

There are many factors that go into which a broadcaster elects... but unless its a fringe station that would have no viewers in a market unless it elected must carry (e.g., WHKY), the broadcaster must balance what it percieves to be a worthwhile product that enhances the desirabilty of the cable service against the viewers the cable system brings to its table. Both sides stand to lose/gain depending on the outcome of the negotiations, but it is pretty safe to say that everybody loses (broadcaster, cable op and cable subs) when no agreement can be reached at all.

Until and unless we know what the rejected terms are relative to the terms of other stations in the market, it is wouldn't be fair to characterize either side as being unreasonable.

thegraz95

03-24-09, 04:33 PM

jcalabria

03-24-09, 04:56 PM

Typical negotiating BS. How could it possibly benefit WSOC to not be on TWC in Charlotte, their largest market. They want all of the cable customers to go running to TWC, crying, 'please pay whatever it takes, I have to have my soaps'.

I don't care. Mostly crap on broadcast networks anyway. I can watch the local news anywhere.

It can't benefit them to not be on TWC, but at the same time they must feel the need to maximize any and all revenue streams they can muster.

My guess is that this is all 11th hour posturing and that an agreement will be worked out.

I don't care either way because I can watch WSOC with very nice HD PQ OTA at the touch of the remote control. Same for WAXN, but I don't ever watch anything there.

rdgcss

03-24-09, 07:40 PM

Typical negotiating BS. How could it possibly benefit WSOC to not be on TWC in Charlotte, their largest market. They want all of the cable customers to go running to TWC, crying, 'please pay whatever it takes, I have to have my soaps'.

I don't care. Mostly crap on broadcast networks anyway. I can watch the local news anywhere.

60% of the households in the US get their TV via cable. Local TV stations get their revenue from advetisers, the amount depends on lots of factors, but a lot depends on the number of viewers.

I can't believe that WSOC would be willing to give up 60% of their viewers.

mfogarty5

03-24-09, 11:18 PM

they just announced on WSOC news that we will be loosing WSOC and another local (darn brain fart, cant remember) on april 1st. they said that TWC has rejected all of their proposals. they also said we can still see them with an antenna.

i know this situation happens alot and usually a deal is struck last minute. but normally it is announced that we may loose a channel not that we will.

just thought id forward this info for those that didnt see it.

This really angers me, not because I'm upset about losing WSOC, but because WSOC, and all other broadcast stations, only exists because it has been granted access to publicly owned air waves. They now feel that in addition to a free asset they are entitled to receive payment from us.

Verizon and AT&T just paid the federal government billions of dollars to access the exact same airwaves that these tv stations vacated for the dtv switch.

WSOC should be paying us a dividend each month.

Cable channels are different because they aren't using the public airwaves.

On a related note, TWC itself only exists because our local government has granted it a franchise to operate here.

sccofer

03-25-09, 08:35 AM

thegraz95

03-25-09, 09:31 AM

I'm not a big fan of TWC, but I generally side with them in these extortion tactics. WSOC says they just can't reach an agreement with TWC. Well why is it TWC can reach an agreement with everyone else?
WSOC has a lot more to lose than TWC.

ke4pym

03-25-09, 09:53 AM

Cable channels are different because they aren't using the public airwaves.

Technically, they do. With exception of fiber delivery, they are delivered to cable systems through-out the US via satellite.

I say good riddance. WSOC has a horrible product all the way around. But, at 11pm on 3/31 they'll magically come to an agreement. Except with the NFL network. ;)

jcalabria

03-25-09, 12:03 PM

Story on TWC/WSOC in today's Observer:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/620213.html

TW spokesperson quoted in article claims that WSOC is asking 5x the highest rate TWC currently pays to any other broadcaster.

strutter

03-25-09, 02:14 PM

this morning on the news they changed the will loose to may loose and added that they hope they can work out a deal.

eacalhoun

03-25-09, 02:17 PM

ad revenues drop and WSOC see's a chance to fill the gap...I hope TWC sticks to it's guns and doesn't give in. I remember reading about this same thing in another TWC market and they ended up letting the channel drop for a few weeks but they were handing out free OTA antennas.

Handing out free OTA antennas won't be as easy of a fix here -- for cable-ONLY customers -- at least after June when analog broadcasts cease as most cable subs may not have a DTV-ready TV set or a converter box. Most likely, this TWC/WSOC standoff will be resolved by then. However, one probably wouldn't need much of an antenna to receive WSOC in the Charlotte area -- would a coat hanger suffice?

bdfox18doe

03-25-09, 02:25 PM

However, one probably wouldn't need much of an antenna to receive WSOC in the Charlotte area -- would a coat hanger suffice?

This here is yer boy bubba! Who needs cable or satellite with this baby!

http://diyfreetv.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-build-tv-antenna-from-beer-can.html

chuckf1

03-25-09, 04:22 PM

This here is yer boy bubba! Who needs cable or satellite with this baby!

http://diyfreetv.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-build-tv-antenna-from-beer-can.html

What about those of us who only drink bottled beer. What are we going to do?!? :p

jrs

03-25-09, 08:03 PM

What about those of us who only drink bottled beer. What are we going to do?!? :p

Lots and Lots of bottle caps?

bdfox18doe

03-25-09, 08:16 PM

What about those of us who only drink bottled beer. What are we going to do?!? :p

Ummm...More Beer?? :D

ybsane

03-26-09, 05:52 PM

Ummm...More Beer?? :D

Yes Sir...

Beer is proof that God loves us. "Ben Franklin"

chuckf1

03-27-09, 06:28 PM

jcalabria

03-27-09, 09:15 PM

The following HD test channels are now live:

Ch. 1001 --- FXHD
Ch. 1002 --- AMCHD
Ch. 1003 --- OutdoorsHD
Ch. 1004 --- TravelHD
Ch. 1006 --- ShowtimeWestHD

Channel 1005 is HBOWestHD but is showing only a message that it's currently unavailable.

I'm getting the Currently Unavailable message on 1006 Showtime West, too.

Also on 1007 (Sci HD), 1008 (Peachtree TV) and 1009 (TW Marketplace).

bennyt

03-29-09, 06:13 PM

I wish I knew where those test channels are on the statesville system:(

jcalabria

03-29-09, 06:19 PM

Lots of SDV issues all weekend... not just the test channels.

strutter

03-30-09, 12:12 PM

I wish I knew where those test channels are on the statesville system:(

i spent a long time one day a few months ago, when it was posted here that there were some test channels up, going through inputting channels that werent in the guide. i never did find any test channels. but i also didnt make it through all the channels before i just gave up. i did go from 602-866 and tried a few in the 1000's.

jcalabria

03-30-09, 12:26 PM

i spent a long time one day a few months ago, when it was posted here that there were some test channels up, going through inputting channels that werent in the guide. i never did find any test channels. but i also didnt make it through all the channels before i just gave up. i did go from 602-866 and tried a few in the 1000's.

Assuming you folks have Navigator up there in Statesville, its quicker to look in your favorites setup list... they will show up there and you can scroll through pretty quick. If you add them as favorites, you can scan them as favorites as well.

In Charlotte, there are a dozen or more semi-hidden channels (between 1001 and the 1600's...) at any given time... not all have live programming all the time but occasionally they do. They'll get skipped by a normal channel scan but they are listed (and can be added) in the favorites setup and can be direct accessed once you know the channel number from the setup list.

jcalabria

03-30-09, 01:56 PM

I sent the following message to WSOC-TV on their website's Feedback Page:
Your messages posted during your news shows are very misleading and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You and you alone control whether TWC carries your signal after 4/1. They cannot continue to carry your stations without your consent, which expires on 4/1. They are required to drop your signals if you do not renew that consent. Wording your statement so that it appears that TWC is unilaterally pulling WSOC from their lineup is not just putting your spin on the situation, its a bald-faced lie.

Your current tactic of demanding unreasonable fees from TWC, and thereby from TWC subscribers, is nothing short of extortion. If you truly intend to make up for your advertising shortfalls by extorting money from the majority of your viewers (cable subscribers), at least have the decency not to lie about it and attempt to blame it on TWC.
I'm sure WSOC could care less, but I had to vent, lol.

strutter

03-30-09, 05:33 PM

Assuming you folks have Navigator up there in Statesville, its quicker to look in your favorites setup list... they will show up there and you can scroll through pretty quick. .

yep navigator MDN v.2.4.4-14 for me.
i checked and dont see anything in the favorites set up thats not also listed in the guide.
benny do you see anything that i maybe missed?

jcalabria

03-30-09, 05:36 PM

yep navigator MDN v.2.4.4-14 for me.
i checked and dont see anything in the favorites set up thats not also listed in the guide.
benny do you see anything that i maybe missed?

Sounds like you may not have the test channels then... at least not set up the same way they do down here. That's OK, they weren't working very well this weekend anyway... even the ones that sometimes worked had frequent SDV issues.

VagueRant

03-30-09, 09:40 PM

Anyone else get an all channel freeze around 9:24 or is it just me? On a side note they removed the Gameshow Network move from sports to variety to be determined and I was looking forward to that, I wonder if that is still in the works or gone forever.

The freeze lasted till 10:59 anyone else or is this a local deal.

ECUPirates

03-31-09, 06:40 PM

According to the 6:00 news on WSOC and their website http://www.wsoctv.com/station/19056810/detail.html an agreement with TWC has been reached.

ke4pym

03-31-09, 09:15 PM

According to the 6:00 news on WSOC and their website http://www.wsoctv.com/station/19056810/detail.html an agreement with TWC has been reached.

Giant shocker, there. I look forward to the price increases this fall.

mfogarty5

03-31-09, 09:57 PM

So what's the over/under on how long it takes TWC Charlotte to implement the product below? They are facing a bandwidth crunch and so far their solutions have been SDV and stuffing 3 HD channels in each QAM.

Unlike Comcast, TWC has shown no interest in reclaiming analog channels and moving them to the digital tier to free up space.

I guess they are afraid of losing customers like jcalabria who have CRTs scattered throughout every room in the house.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/03/30/cable-hd-compression-gets-turned-up-a-notch-in-the-electra-8000/

jcalabria

03-31-09, 10:59 PM

I guess they are afraid of losing customers like jcalabria who have CRTs scattered throughout every room in the house.

Hey Hey now!:D

The bastards fired me after my former employer of 18 years formed a "joint venture" with them, so I have had a very good reason to find somebody else to spend my dollars with. Yet, 15 years later, I am still paying them my money because of that very reason. It is a strong hook into a significant percentage of their subscriber base. And its not just because 10 of my 11 TVs are CRT's... if they were all 50" flat panels I would still need need boxes on them that I (nor most people) could afford. Believe me, THEY believe that the most significant advantages they have vs. most of their competitors are unrestricted secondary basic outlets, phone/internet bundles and, believe it or not, local news and sports (i.e., News14).

Tru2way will eventually change all of this, but it will still take a while to reach critical mass. In the meantime, they will balance things as best they can to keep as many happy as possible. Honestly, how many worthwhile HD channels are we really missing here in Charlotte? A full complement of HBO multicasts is about the only thing I can think of. I really don't think too many Charlotte customers are complaining about a lack of HD programming (especially if they visit their unfortunate relatives in Cornelius, as I have, that have less than ten basic HDs on their cable system, for which they pay only ~$3/mo less than we do!)

I hate to admit it, but TW Charlotte has done a respectable job balancing things so far, particularly in the past 9 mos or so since SDV came online here.

GrouchoDude

04-01-09, 03:57 PM

Now that they've added the HD versions of SciFi, USA and Golf, with FX and AMC coming online tomorrow, as well as the recent addition of Cinemax and Starz, I think I have all the HD channels I currently desire. Never thought I'd live to say that! :eek:

mfogarty5

04-01-09, 09:22 PM

Believe me, THEY believe that the most significant advantages they have vs. most of their competitors are unrestricted secondary basic outlets, phone/internet bundles and, believe it or not, local news and sports (i.e., News14).

Well that internet bundle theory is about to get a test now that TWC is implementing 40GB internet caps in Greensboro! I'm curious to see how many people drop TWC for tv and internet because of this.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Time-Warner-Cable-Expands-Metered-Billing-101655

Honestly, how many worthwhile HD channels are we really missing here in Charlotte?

My issue is that HD quality has suffered by stuffing 3 HD channels in one QAM.

ttrue88

04-02-09, 05:44 AM

Robert_W

04-02-09, 07:06 AM

We just plugged into digital/HD this last week with a new Samsung dvr box. Sometimes we notice the sound dropping. Last night before 9 pm it was dropping every 4 minutes for 1 to 4 seconds on TNTHD. It drops on WCNCHD and FOXHD and SPEEDHD that we have noticed, and crackles on the music channels.
We changed the cable from the TV to the Box, same thing. Don’t feel it’s the tv it’s new with the latest firmware. This was not happening the week before when we watched the HD stations with out having digital cable. It’s not all the time, some days it never happens. We are new to this so we were wondering if occasionally it happens when work is being done by TWC.

I'm sorry I cannot answer any of your questions regarding the audio drop outs. We have a digital DVR but we didn't watch TV last night.

I'm replying regarding your Samsung cable box. Is this a TWC product or did you purchase it through a retail outlet? Also, does this STB have the cable card inputs? I've been wanting to purchase one of these boxes for quite a while.

Thanks,

Bob.

strutter

04-02-09, 09:27 AM

a new Samsung dvr box.

i'd like to hear more about your new Samsung box. could you post the model number? hard drive size? please.

there has been some talk concerning Samsung being the replacement for the scientific atlanta over in the navigator thread. so if you got this box from TWC you'd be the first post i've seen of the Sammy DVR being handed out.

ttrue88

04-02-09, 01:30 PM

Sure, Samsung DVR is model SNTH3090. Lady that gave it to us said it was brand new.

Anyone on the sound issue?

ttrue88

04-02-09, 01:31 PM

Sorry, I believe the hard drive size was 320

jcalabria

04-02-09, 01:31 PM

Sure, Samsung DVR is model SNTH3090. Lady that gave it to us said it was brand new.

Oh Boy!!!... with a 320!! TW doors will be knocked down now. First I hear they are available in Charlotte my 8300's black level issue will suddenly become a major problem in need of a replacement.

DancingBear

04-02-09, 01:47 PM

Sure, Samsung DVR is model SNTH3090. Lady that gave it to us said it was brand new.

Anyone on the sound issue?
You are going to have a lot more interest in the box. Maybe after we all rush out to get them, we will be able to help with the issues.

Which office did you go to?

strutter

04-02-09, 02:14 PM

You are going to have a lot more interest in the box. Maybe after we all rush out to get them, we will be able to help with the issues.

yep, but i'll take a stab. it could be a box issue. we cant help with that right now. or it could be a signal issue, cableing, splitters. no one else has popped in to say they had the same problem so its probably not a system problem. if it continues call TW and have them roll a truck out.

now back to the box. is the guide 16x9? (assuming you have a widescreen TV).

jcalabria

04-02-09, 02:16 PM

Which office did you go to?

I think he mentioned that he was up in Kannappolis.

cratch

04-02-09, 07:48 PM

I'm heading over to Pineville tomorrow to drop off a box at the TWC kiosk. I will see if they have that Samsung available.

cratch

04-02-09, 07:51 PM

Sure, Samsung DVR is model SNTH3090. Lady that gave it to us said it was brand new.

Anyone on the sound issue?

You sure it isn't SMT-H3090?

supasexyp

04-03-09, 09:40 AM

Did anyone have a chance to get the new Samsung box? If so, what office? Is it an upgrade?

rcase13

04-03-09, 10:29 AM

Did anyone have a chance to get the new Samsung box? If so, what office? Is it an upgrade?
http://www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/2008/05/09/smt_h3090twc/SMT-H3090_080205.pdf

If it is then according to the above it does home networking (DLNA!!) and the harddrive can be up to 320GB.

strutter

04-03-09, 12:09 PM

just picked up one of the 2 they had at the statesville office. traded a spare 3250HD for it and kept the old 8300dvr. havent hooked it up yet. it is an SMT-H3090. it has a seagate pipeline HD 320 GB part number 9GC132-193. cable card installed. came with no booklets or cableing. she said the same remote worked with it also. the conections in back are the following. 1394, e-sata, spdif, s-vid, y,pb,pr. 2 vid out, 2 left rca, 2 right rca audio out, digital out, hdmi, usb, LAN. On the front it says Home Network.
thats all i know right now.

RobbK

04-03-09, 12:19 PM

First time poster.

Take it for what it's worth, but I called up TW customer service to ask about these Samsung boxes, and she said they do indeed have Samsung DVR's available now. I don't know how knowledgeable she acutally is on the subject, and she may have just said that to appease me not actually knowing the answer.

She said it was against policy for her to give me the phone number of a local office/billing center (which is ridiculous), so I have no way of calling them and asking if they do have any in stock. I think I'll stop by one this afternoon and look into it. She did say that none of the local offices had sent any messages noting short supplies. Again, don't know how accurate that statement is.

If they do have some available this afternoon, I'll see if I can pick one up.

cratch

04-03-09, 01:52 PM

RobbK

04-03-09, 02:05 PM

If it is then according to the above it does home networking (DLNA!!) and the harddrive can be up to 320GB.

That feature excites me. I have been wanting to get a small PC to use as a media center to stream music and videos from my home server. If this Samsung box supports UPNP, then that would allow me to do so without having to purchase a media center PC. Too bad I don't have a network jack at the location of my television. I guess I need to look into that powerline adapter that turns a power outlet into a LAN connection.

jcalabria

04-03-09, 02:32 PM

I just got back from the Pineville location and hooked up the new Samsung DVR.

I can't get ESPN HD or some other HD channels. It tells me to call TWC and order.

I called and the "tech support" lady told me to unplug the box and reboot. We tried twice and nothing changed.

She sounded like she's my mom's age and is clueless about technology. She told me to return it for another box.

That pretty much SOP when a new box is placed on an account. Both times I have done that, certain channels remain unauthorized for an hour or so after connection. Also happenned when my original Pioneer unit was "upgraded" from Passport to MDN. Give it a little time for the full cycle of authorizations to go around.

strutter

04-03-09, 02:34 PM

I called and the "tech support" lady told me to unplug the box and reboot. We tried twice and nothing changed.

.

i've had channels not come in after a power outage. usually unplugging the power and the cable coax, letting it sit for about 10 min. then connecting the cable first then the power has solved the problem. the one time this didnt work i called support and they resent the info to my box. the box rebooted itself and everything was fine after that.

sccofer

04-03-09, 03:40 PM

That feature excites me. I have been wanting to get a small PC to use as a media center to stream music and videos from my home server. If this Samsung box supports UPNP, then that would allow me to do so without having to purchase a media center PC. Too bad I don't have a network jack at the location of my television. I guess I need to look into that powerline adapter that turns a power outlet into a LAN connection.

Check out the popcorn hour, its a network media tank. All you need is the PCH box and a big USB drive and you are ready to roll..I couldn't live without mine..

bdfox18doe

04-03-09, 03:51 PM

..I couldn't live without mine..

Me too . Love my A110!! :)

RobbK

04-03-09, 04:07 PM

Check out the popcorn hour, its a network media tank. All you need is the PCH box and a big USB drive and you are ready to roll..I couldn't live without mine..

Yeah, I've seen those. I already have the storage space, as I have about 1.5Tb of storage on my home server up in my office. I have looked at the popcorn hour, the apple TV, and a mac mini all as ways to stream the media from my server across my LAN to my TV. Just haven't made the jump as money is getting tight. I'm hoping this Samsung DVR will do just that, because then I won't have to buy anymore hardware

I stopped by the TW booth at Northlake Mall and they have the Samsung SMT-H3090 HD DVR in stock. I'm waiting on my wife to get home from work in just a few, and we're going to take our 8300HDC up there to swap it out.

After I get some time to play with it, I'll post some impressions and whether the UPNP works as I hope and will stream from my server that supports UPNP. As I said earlier, I'm new here, so if I can figure out how to photos, I may throw up some of those as well.

GrouchoDude

04-03-09, 04:19 PM

Do any of you guys picking up the Sammy box have a D-VHS player? I'd like to know if the 1394 port works on this model (been disabled on the SA boxes for a few years now). Also, the e-SATA port for drive expansion. Thanks.

sccofer

04-03-09, 04:22 PM

anxiously awaiting your testing, as I have another TV I was thinking about purchasing a 2nd PCH for but if I could stream it to the DVR it would be most excellent. With all of the copyright concerns, etc I am not holding my breath though that TWC hasn't crippled the functionality...Hope not...

chuckf1

04-03-09, 05:53 PM

I just got back from the Pineville location and hooked up the new Samsung DVR.

I can't get ESPN HD or some other HD channels. It tells me to call TWC and order.

I called and the "tech support" lady told me to unplug the box and reboot. We tried twice and nothing changed.

She sounded like she's my mom's age and is clueless about technology. She told me to return it for another box.

Glad for the heads up 'cause that's the TWC location near me. Give us an update, if you will, on the new box.

Good luck!

RobbK

04-03-09, 07:19 PM

Glad for the heads up 'cause that's the TWC location near me. Give us an update, if you will, on the new box.

Good luck!

Well, I've had a few minutes with the box, and I really don't have too much to report that is very exciting. It still runs Navigator, so it functions and acts like the 8300HDC. It looks pretty nice being all black, and matches my A/V hardware pretty nicely. The best thing so far is that the processor can actually keep up with my remote presses. It actually reacts when I push up and down, and doesn't sit there for a few seconds before deciding to jump up 3 stations in the guide. It makes the user experience a bit more pleasing since the box does what I ask it to immediately.

The guide is now full screen. But, it looks like the stretched guide on the 8300HDC. I wish it had an additional time column instead of just stretching across the screen and slightly distorting the text.

I'm not sure if the UPNP or DLNA features are functional. I don't know if TWC has to add that into the Navigator interface. I cannot find any options in the menu's to do anything with it. I have not hooked up an ethernet cable yet because I don't have a jack nearby. But, I will try and take it upstairs to the office and take my 20" TV in there, hook up the LAN and see if I can get access to anything on my Home Server with UPNP. However, I am doubtful, unless hooking up an ethernet cable adds some extra menu items.

chuckf1

04-03-09, 07:22 PM

Well, I've had a few minutes with the box, and I really don't have too much to report that is very exciting. It still runs Navigator, so it functions and acts like the 8300HDC. It looks pretty nice being all black, and matches my A/V hardware pretty nicely. The best thing so far is that the processor can actually keep up with my remote presses. It actually reacts when I push up and down, and doesn't sit there for a few seconds before deciding to jump up 3 stations in the guide. It makes the user experience a bit more pleasing since the box does what I ask it to immediately.

The guide is now full screen. But, it looks like the stretched guide on the 8300HDC. I wish it had an additional time column instead of just stretching across the screen and slightly distorting the text.

I'm not sure if the UPNP or DLNA features are functional. I don't know if TWC has to add that into the Navigator interface. I cannot find any options in the menu's to do anything with it. I have not hooked up an ethernet cable yet because I don't have a jack nearby. But, I will try and take it upstairs to the office and take my 20" TV in there, hook up the LAN and see if I can get access to anything on my Home Server with UPNP. However, I am doubtful, unless hooking up an ethernet cable adds some extra menu items.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like that except for the increased recording storage space, at this time the Samsung isn't all that great, as compared to the 8300 HD-DVR.

strutter

04-03-09, 07:54 PM

Thanks for the input. Sounds like that except for the increased recording storage space, at this time the Samsung isn't all that great, as compared to the 8300 HD-DVR.

is it better/worse than the 8300? from my experience so far i wouldnt say it isnt better or worse. yep, the guide is stretched (thats a negative)but other than that its like a 8300 with a bigger drive (a big positive). i can live with the guide as a trade off for a bigger HD. but yes the guide could look better. but i'm glad the side bars are gone. could a lot been better than the 8300? yep, but it aint no worse. i'll take a bigger drive for the same monthly rental ;)

heres a link to the navigator thread where i just posted some pics and if you scroll down a few posts you can see a vid clip i took.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16192088#post16192088

chuckf1

04-03-09, 08:09 PM

RobbK

04-03-09, 08:29 PM

is it better/worse than the 8300? from my experience so far i wouldnt say it isnt better or worse. yep, the guide is stretched (thats a negative)but other than that its like a 8300 with a bigger drive (a big positive). i can live with the guide as a trade off for a bigger HD. but yes the guide could look better. but i'm glad the side bars are gone. could a lot been better than the 8300? yep, but it aint no worse. i'll take a bigger drive for the same monthly rental ;)

heres a link to the navigator thread where i just posted some pics and if you scroll down a few posts you can see a vid clip i took.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16192088#post16192088

I generally agree with all of that. The bigger HD is definitely a huge plus. I browsed the diagnostic, and it had an approximation of 80 hours of SD recording. Does that sound right?

A few other observations. One of my gripes about the 8300 was that the analog channels were SO much louder than the digital channels. On this new Samsung, all the channels appear to be the same volume. And it is the louder volume as well. I use to watch analog channels at a volume of about 10 on my TV, and digital channels at about 50. Now, they all sound good and loud at around 10, which is a big plus for me as well. No longer do I have to jump way up and way down in volume when changing channels.

I also tried connection to my LAN. I could never get the "Home Network" light on the front to illuminate. During the initial boot POST, it turns on for a second as a test. So, I know the light works. But, when hooking it up to my LAN, i got nothing. My router couldn't see it. So, I don't think the LAN is active.

I also hooked up an external hard drive to the firewire/1394 port, flipped the hard drive switch to on, and got nothing either. The drive didn't spin up nor did the drives light illuminate. It seems the firewire port is deactivated as well.

So, basically, the box really doesn't offer anything more than the 8300 at the moment, but the bigger HD and the faster processor are welcomed additions. I hope TW pushes out some software/firmware updates and gets some of the extra ports like the LAN and firewire ports activated. This would be very useful in streaming video and audio around the household.

strutter

04-04-09, 09:27 AM

^^^
does it seem to you that FF is faster? it does to me. on the 8300 i had perfect timing when FFing at 3x speed to push play just right for the 30sec jump back to be exactly where i wanted when coming back from a commercial. now the 2x speed seems faster than the 8300's 3x and 3x on the sammy is lightning fast.

and i too noticed i didnt have to turn the volume up as high.

jcalabria

04-04-09, 09:40 AM

strutter

04-04-09, 11:34 AM

I'm intrigued by both of your comments about the audio levels... when I had my Pioneer box it was just the opposite... the analogs were awfully low in level compared to the digitals. With my 8300HDC there was never any difference, although now I think we have everything on digital simulcast so there wouldn't be a difference anyway.... speaking of which, has anybody figured out if these even have analog tuners in the first place?

BTW, I've been watching my recordings since 5:15 this morning so I can go pick one up without losing anything, lol.

i cant say that i ever noticed a difference in audio levels from analog to digital. but with the new box i dont have to turn the volume up as high on the TV to get the audio levels i like. on the both boxes i keep the box volume maxed out and control the volume via TV. perhaps the max volume on the sammy is greater than the 8300. IDK

jcalabria

04-04-09, 12:20 PM

i cant say that i ever noticed a difference in audio levels from analog to digital. but with the new box i dont have to turn the volume up as high on the TV to get the audio levels i like. on the both boxes i keep the box volume maxed out and control the volume via TV. perhaps the max volume on the sammy is greater than the 8300. IDK

OK... but that is what Robbk reported and I thought you were concurring. I have all my inputs matched with the trim controls in the receiver, so if I noticed a lower level from the 8300 I adjusted it and forgot about it months ago. But the Pioneer used to drive me nuts because the analogs were 10dB lower than the digitals.

If/when I swap out the 8300 for the 3090 I'll know if the levels are different but once I retrim the inputs at the receiver it won't matter again.

EDIT: I just checked my current receiver input trim settings... All of my digital sources (8300, Panny DVR, Panny Blu-ray & Sammy TV) are zeroed out... the only input that is adjusted is the internal tuner of the receiver, which was dropped 6dB to match the others. So, for me, the 8300 wasn't any lower in level than any of the other digital sources. They all match pretty well.

ke4pym

04-04-09, 01:48 PM

pumbaa071

04-04-09, 01:50 PM

does anyone know if the northlake mall locataion has the samsungs? i found a number for the kiosk but i cannot for the life of me get someone to answer. the number i have is 704-596-2259. does anyone know if that is the correct number? the 8300hd drives me nuts with the delay in key presses so i really want to get ahold of the samsung

ke4pym

04-04-09, 01:53 PM

jcalabria

04-04-09, 01:54 PM

Does the Sammy have a eSATA port on it? Drive size really hasn't been a complaint for me because you can just slap a bigger drive into the eSATA port on the 8300.

Also, FWIW, I don't have an issue with the 8300 having different volume levels on analog/digital channels. They're all the same.

I use the TOSLink fiber output from the 8300 into a receiver.

I now have a 2009 Mac Mini attached to the big screen and have Plex running. Plex is freaking fantastic.

Sammy has eSATA, but no reports on its functionality.

I've never had any audio mismatches with the 8300, and I really don't think anybody would have mismatches currently, since the digital boxes don't ever see analog anymore... virtually everything is now simulcast digitally in Charlotte.

pumbaa071

04-04-09, 02:01 PM

You should be able to call the main number 704-377-9600 and they should be able to check the stock for you at a given locale.

thanks will do. guy said he couldnt give me the number or the stock. seems like if you dont want it from them at the main number you get no help.

pumbaa071

04-04-09, 05:59 PM

just wanted to say that the northlake mall does have them, hopefully when i get there tomorrow they will have atleast 1 last. the samsung boxes were not under the cabinet they said they were in some storage room.

chuckf1

04-04-09, 07:51 PM

jcalabria

04-04-09, 07:56 PM

chuckf1

04-04-09, 09:10 PM

It uses the same command set as most of the SA/Pioneer boxes have used for years. If you are set up for an SA8300, nothing should need to change.

TW is not handing out different remotes for the Sammy, either... just keep the one you've got.

Good to know. Glad for the information.

alleg23

04-05-09, 05:54 PM

jcalabria

04-05-09, 11:34 PM

for those who have the New Samsung DVR, how does PIP work?

where is the pip located? does it do more than 1 size? does it work: can you switch back and forth with out the box freaking out in someway?

thanks.

Swapped an 8300HDC for the Sammy this afternoon. PIP works exactly as it did on the HDC (same version of ODN in both... 3.1.0_11). 4 positions, 1 size, swaps just fine. PIP aspect appears to be true 16:9. Other than stretched guide/banner graphics and larger HDD, the operation of the Sammy is essentially indistinguishable from the 8300HDC I returned. They are running the same ODN software, so that is to be expected.

Honestly, I never had any issues with PIP on the 8300HDC/ODN3.1.

Interestingly, the dates of manufacture of the two boxes were less than a month apart (10/08 vs 11/08).

RobbK

04-06-09, 09:17 AM

Here's an interesting issue for those of us who have Harmony universal remote controls. Just checked the Harmony web-site and the new Samsung box is not in their system yet. Meaning, per the below link, you can't upload the commands, via computer into your Harmony.

I have a harmony remote, and it works perfectly with the Samsung box. I didn't have to change a single thing. When the guy at TW told me to keep my remote, I was quite glad that I wouldn't have to reconfigure and update my harmony, because I had it working exactly as I wanted it to with the 8300.

Answering a few other questions...

Also, regarding the volume that a lot of people are talking about. As I mentione earlier, on my 8300 I had a huge volume discrepency from what I referred to as analog channels and digital channels. By analog, I meant essentially regular cable channels (1-about 99). All the digital channels (above 99) were much quieter and softer than the channels below 99. I have my TV hooked up with HDMI, and the audio output feature on the box was set accordingly. I don't know why I it appears I was one of the only ones with that problem, but it was a huge discrepency in sound level. Channels below 99 were 2-3 times louder than the ones above 99. Anyways, the Samsung box has correct this problem for me. So, if anyone else out there has this problem, the Samsung box appears to clear it up.

Yes, Northlake mall has (or at least did on Friday) the Samsung's. That is where I picked mine up on Friday.

I haven't messed with PIP, but I'll have a look at it tonight. You all have got me wondering if it will actually make use of the full widescreen TV, or if it still drops the PIP box in the 4:3 zone on the TV.

I have had a few small problems/bugs with the box. One instance occured when I turned the box on in the morning. I had no audio. I had to reboot the box to fix the problem. Hasn't happened again, so I'm hoping that was a fluke. Also, had some trouble with the guide not showing up. The picture would minimize to the upper right hand corner as usual, but where the guide would typically be displayed, I just had a black screen. I didn't have to reboot, it just took me a few channel changes before the box started to function properly. Again, hasn't happened since, but it appears there are a few kinks or bugs in the software/hardware/firmware combination that some people may experience over the next little bit if making the transistion to the new Samsung box.

cratch

04-06-09, 09:37 AM

I'm taking my Samsung box back to TWC today. The FF speed is sporadic and a PITA. Also- when you FF then hit Play, it goes back too far.

The same goes for RW.

Not worth the hassle.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 09:59 AM

Strange little glitch with the Sammy last night. I was using the Find Shows keyboard search function to rebuild my DVR schedule... I backspaced six consecutive times to erase a word and all of a sudden the curser just started and kept scrolling upwards... reappearing at the bottom and repeating, ad infinitum. Nothing else worked in the menu system, but it did let me exit the menu system. The box functioned for tuning/watching but there was no menu access of any sort after that. Required a reboot to restore any menu functions. It was too late (~2am) to try again to see if it was repeatable or just a fluke, but I will try to repeat the issues tonight.

That's about it... other than the stretched graphics there is essentially no difference in operation versus the 8300HDC.

Nice to see lots of hours available for recording (when empty, the diagnostic screens reported 97 hours of SD available).

BTW, both the "Select then Down" and the "Vol+/Info" combo press work to enter the diagnostics modes. The first one works from the remote or box, the second only from the box. There is no indicator light to tell you when you have pressed them long enough, though... you just have to hold them for a while then release and the diagnostics screens will pop up.

There is also a mini-diagnostic screen on channel 1611, same as in the 8300HDC.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 10:02 AM

I'm taking my Samsung box back to TWC today. The FF speed is sporadic and a PITA. Also- when you FF then hit Play, it goes back too far.

The same goes for RW.

Not worth the hassle.

Only did one (successful) test recording last night. Didn't notice any issues with FF/REW for the little I played with it... we'll see how things go with tonight's DVR schedule and subsequent playback.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 10:11 AM

I have a harmony remote, and it works perfectly with the Samsung box. I didn't have to change a single thing. When the guy at TW told me to keep my remote, I was quite glad that I wouldn't have to reconfigure and update my harmony, because I had it working exactly as I wanted it to with the 8300.

Answering a few other questions...

Also, regarding the volume that a lot of people are talking about. As I mentione earlier, on my 8300 I had a huge volume discrepency from what I referred to as analog channels and digital channels. By analog, I meant essentially regular cable channels (1-about 99). All the digital channels (above 99) were much quieter and softer than the channels below 99. I have my TV hooked up with HDMI, and the audio output feature on the box was set accordingly. I don't know why I it appears I was one of the only ones with that problem, but it was a huge discrepency in sound level. Channels below 99 were 2-3 times louder than the ones above 99. Anyways, the Samsung box has correct this problem for me. So, if anyone else out there has this problem, the Samsung box appears to clear it up.

Yes, Northlake mall has (or at least did on Friday) the Samsung's. That is where I picked mine up on Friday.

I haven't messed with PIP, but I'll have a look at it tonight. You all have got me wondering if it will actually make use of the full widescreen TV, or if it still drops the PIP box in the 4:3 zone on the TV.

I have had a few small problems/bugs with the box. One instance occured when I turned the box on in the morning. I had no audio. I had to reboot the box to fix the problem. Hasn't happened again, so I'm hoping that was a fluke. Also, had some trouble with the guide not showing up. The picture would minimize to the upper right hand corner as usual, but where the guide would typically be displayed, I just had a black screen. I didn't have to reboot, it just took me a few channel changes before the box started to function properly. Again, hasn't happened since, but it appears there are a few kinks or bugs in the software/hardware/firmware combination that some people may experience over the next little bit if making the transistion to the new Samsung box.

Same here... the Harmony doesn't know or care that I swapped the box from the SA unit. Anybody setting things up from scratch can just base it on an SA8300HDC until Harmony gets the Sammy 3090 into the database. I'd love to know if Samsung slipped in some discrete power codes to this box's command set... none were ever found for the SA boxes.

My earlier audio experiences were just the opposite when I had my Pioneer box... analog much lower than digital. Never had any imbalance with the 8300, and the Samsung audio level (DD via coax, fixed level) was not noticeably higher or lower than the SA after swapout. Also, its been a while since there have been any analog channels to watch with a digital box in the Charlotte system.

Northlake still had plenty in the cabinet at 3pm Sunday. That would normally be way out of the way for me except I was heading up to visit my brother in Cornelius so it was on the way. I just placed my 8300HDC on the counter and told the lady "I'd like to swap this for one of the new Samsungs." She said, "Sure" and I was out the door in a couple of minutes.

RobbK

04-06-09, 10:45 AM

Same here... the Harmony doesn't know or care that I swapped the box from the SA unit. Anybody setting things up from scratch can just base it on an SA8300HDC as well.

My earlier audio experiences were just the opposite when I had my Pioneer box... analog much lower than digital. Never had any imbalance with the 8300, and the Samsung audio level (DD via coax, fixed level) was not noticeably higher or lower than the SA after swapout. Also, its been a while since there have been any analog channels to watch with a digital box in the Charlotte system.

Northlake still had plenty in the cabinet at 3pm Sunday. That would normally be way out of the way for me except I was heading up to visit my brother in Cornelius so it was on the way. I just placed my 8300HDC on the counter and told the lady "I'd like to swap this for one of the new Samsungs." She said, "Sure" and I was out the door in a couple of minutes.

Thanks for the clarification on the Analog and Digital. That was just the best way I knew to describe the different channel sets. Just to clarify, I too also have my A/V receiver connected via digital coax, and have never had the audio issues there. The A/V receiver never had a volume imbalance from channel to channel. This only happened over HDMI through my television's speakers. So, if you are using an A/V receiver for sound, you probably won't have this problem. Mine only occured over HDMI through my TV's speakers.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 11:17 AM

Thanks for the clarification on the Analog and Digital. That was just the best way I knew to describe the different channel sets. Just to clarify, I too also have my A/V receiver connected via digital coax, and have never had the audio issues there. The A/V receiver never had a volume imbalance from channel to channel. This only happened over HDMI through my television's speakers. So, if you are using an A/V receiver for sound, you probably won't have this problem. Mine only occured over HDMI through my TV's speakers.

I'm swapping out my receiver this week (Onkyo TX-NR801 to TX-SR876) and will begin using HDMI through the receiver for audio... we'll see how that works.

strutter

04-06-09, 11:36 AM

Only did one (successful) test recording last night. Didn't notice any issues with FF/REW for the little I played with it... we'll see how things go with tonight's DVR schedule and subsequent playback.

i think i posted over in the navigator thread that the trick to pause before playing when rewinding to prevent the 30sec jump back doesnt work any more. it still jumps back. it seems to work when FF'ing.
i also posted somewhere that FF'ing was a lot quicker on this box than my previous one. 2x on the sammy is comparable to 3x on the MDN8300.
i also notice that when FF'ing it doesnt stop FF'ing when i push play. it FF quite a ways more after pushing play. its like the box is taking too long to recognize the command.
i think these things are what cratch is talking about. it is quite annoying. its definitely different that my 8300MDN box. i even went back to that box and rechecked just to make sure. see if you have any of that stuff happening.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 11:44 AM

i think i posted over in the navigator thread that the trick to pause before playing when rewinding to prevent the 30sec jump back doesnt work any more. it still jumps back. it seems to work when FF'ing.
i also posted somewhere that FF'ing was a lot quicker on this box than my previous one. 2x on the sammy is comparable to 3x on the MDN8300.
i also notice that when FF'ing it doesnt stop FF'ing when i push play. it FF quite a ways more after pushing play. its like the box is taking too long to recognize the command.
i think these things are what cratch is talking about. it is quite annoying. its definitely different that my 8300MDN box. i even went back to that box and rechecked just to make sure. see if you have any of that stuff happening.

If the HDC/ODN box also did that trick, I never knew about it or used it. Not sure I would even if I knew about it... sounds too much like video game button combos to me (my video game peak was at Atari 2600 / Mattel Intellivision, lol)I gave up on video games

The little bit I played with the test recording I really didn't notice a difference, but I was more concerned with making sure I got a scheduled recording and that it played back OK. I'll have to fast forward through some commercials on House, Chuck and 24 tonight to see how FF/REW works.

On my 8300HDC, pressing Play NEVER stopped a FF or REW operation... the FF or REW only stops when you RELEASE the Play button. When I would FF through commercials, I would click FF three times then immediately press Play, holding it until I saw the show start then releasing the Play button. I had the timing down pretty good so that it would consistently jump only 5 seconds or so back into the commercial. Sounds like I'll have to relearn my timing.

The not-canceling-FF-until-releasing-the-play-button-thing seems to be an ODN/Harmony thing. If I use the TW Synergy V remote it doesn't do that, but it does with the Harmony. Don't know exactly why, but once you realize what it is doing its not really a problem. I will play tonight to see if the Sammy behaves the same way.

strutter

04-06-09, 11:55 AM

If the HDC/ODN box also did that trick, I never knew about it or used it.

The little bit I played with the test recording I really didn't notice a difference, but I was more concerned with making sure I got a scheduled recording and that it played back OK. I'll have to fast forward through some commercials on House, Chuck and 24 tonight to see how FF/REW works.

If it would just stop FF or RW when i tell it to i could more easily deal with the rest. As it is i end up using 1x speed and try to predict when the show will begin. With the 8300 at 2x or 3x speed i could time it 100% of the time perfectly to jump back to the right spot when returning from commercial. with this its impossible to do right now.

strutter

04-06-09, 12:05 PM

On my 8300HDC, pressing Play NEVER stopped a FF or REW operation... the FF or REW only stops when you RELEASE the Play button. When I would FF through commercials, I would click FF three times then immediately press Play, holding it until I saw the show start then releasing the Play button. I had the timing down pretty good so that it would consistently jump only 5 seconds or so back into the commercial. Sounds like I'll have to relearn my timing.

The not-canceling-FF-until-releasing-the-play-button-thing seems to be an ODN/Harmony thing. If I use the TW Synergy V remote it doesn't do that, but it does with the Harmony. Don't know exactly why, but once you realize what it is doing its not really a problem. I will play tonight to see if the Sammy behaves the same way.

the way i am accustomed to doing it is to ff then when i see the show start i quickly (click) press and release play. usually this gets me exactly in the black between commercial and program. doing it this way it seems to want to keep FFing.

thanks for that little tid bit. that little trick should make it much easier. yep, i'm using a harmony. havent even tried FF with the synergy remote.
i wonder if logitech could fix it if they knew about it. apparently it's an ODN/harmony thing because my MDN/harmony combo didnt behave that way.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 12:10 PM

well, thanks for that little tid bit. that little trick will make it much easier. yep, i'm using a harmony. havent even tried FF with the synergy remote.
i wonder if logitech could fix it if they knew about it. apparently it's an ODN/harmony thing because my MDN/harmony combo didnt behave that way.

I tried learning the Play command from the Synergy instead of using the library command, but it worked the same way. I did not try learning it in RAW mode or contacting Harmony. Honestly, once I figured out how it was working it was easy to adapt to. I actually kinda like it (seems I can time the release better than the press, lol). But I was a bit frustrated about its seeming unresponsiveness at first until I realized it was responding to the release, not the press.

Either way, I wouldn't take it out on the Sammy for this one, as the ODN 8300 behaved the same way with the Harmony.

Hopefully cratch will read these before he gives up on the Sammy (if he originally had an 8300HD and they give him an 8300HDC in return for the Sammy he may be surprised to find the same behavior in the HDC as he is complaining about in the Sammy).

strutter

04-06-09, 12:17 PM

^^^
yep, its not a deal breaker. just an annoyance that i should be able to adapt to.
i wouldnt take the sammy back because of it. the 320 g means a lot considering the inconsistency of the esata

cratch

04-06-09, 12:24 PM

I don't understand. I use the Synergy remote. I hit PLAY when I want it to stop FF/RW.

What should I be doing?

jcalabria

04-06-09, 12:41 PM

I don't understand. I use the Synergy remote. I hit PLAY when I want it to stop FF/RW.

What should I be doing?

If your not using a Harmony than I think you can disregard the earlier posts, but it still may be worth verifying whether your box is responding to the press or release of the Play button when cancelling FF mode.

I will experiment tonight with both remotes (damn, I hate using that Synergy remote, lol. I don't know where any of the buttons are and its not backlit. I have to keep a flashlight handy to use it at night.)

strutter

04-06-09, 09:10 PM

mfogarty5

04-06-09, 09:21 PM

I think it is your box. I set my 8300HD to record the game earlier this evening and after reading your message I checked and it was recording.

thegraz95

04-06-09, 09:32 PM

Well here's a question on recording.
With all these 'new, free' HD channels, when I'm flipping through my Faves in many cases I get the blue screen of death saying the channel is not available, try again later. Gee thanks. What's up with that, is it an SDV thing? Maybe not enough people in my neighborhood want to watch that channel? If so, that sucks, and what happens if I had scheduled a recording of a show at that time?

Thought I had seen everything, tonight I went to 14 TWC News Channel and it said to call Customer Care if I want that channel! And the Guide said it was 'available for purchase'!

And I too was getting huge volume disparity between lower and upper channels on my 8300HD. They came and replaced it with an identical 8300HD because I was getting pixelating, stuttering, etc. on some channels, and it is much better, although still there somewhat. But now I don't have to turn Fox Bus. News all the way up to hear it.

jcalabria

04-06-09, 10:16 PM

had the ncaa game tonight scheduled to record. at 9pm i noticed the sammy wasnt recording. i checked my scheduled recordings and it wasnt scheduled. so i opened the guide and clicked record. the program turned red but wasnt recording. i backed out then back into the guide and it wasnt red anymore. so is this an issue with the box or is the game flagged for no recording?

I didn't schedule the game to record, but all the others that I did (House, Chuck & 24). I just hit the record button after reading your post and the game started to record instantly.

So far, no recording issues here with the Samsung.

jcalabria

04-07-09, 06:54 AM

If your not using a Harmony than I think you can disregard the earlier posts, but it still may be worth verifying whether your box is responding to the press or release of the Play button when cancelling FF mode.

I will experiment tonight with both remotes (damn, I hate using that Synergy remote, lol. I don't know where any of the buttons are and its not backlit. I have to keep a flashlight handy to use it at night.)

Checked it out last night... with BOTH the Harmony and the Synergy remote, it responds to the RELEASE of the Play button, not the press of the Play button. This is exactly how my ODN 8300 also worked with the Harmony (at least).

Once you know that there is nothing really erratic about the FF function. 15 minute skip still woks, too.

strutter

04-07-09, 09:46 AM

I think it is your box. I set my 8300HD to record the game earlier this evening and after reading your message I checked and it was recording.
interesting..after posting that, as a test, i had it record a program on another channel in the same time slot and had no problem. but it wouldnt record the game on CBS.

strutter

04-07-09, 09:57 AM

I didn't schedule the game to record, but all the others that I did (House, Chuck & 24). I just hit the record button after reading your post and the game started to record instantly.

So far, no recording issues here with the Samsung.

IDK what was happening for me. the box recorded house at 8. it deleted the set up for the game then when i was on the channel and pushed record
the guide turned red but the box light wasnt on indicating it was recording. when i backed out then back into the guide it wasnt highlighted red anymore. i tried that 3 times. then i went to WTVIHD on the guide and pushed the record button and it began recording. o stopped that recording and went back to CBS in the guide and it still wouldnt record the game.

no biggie i was watching it anyway. i had set it up to record just in case i fell asleep before it was over. but this recording problem has me confused.

strutter

04-07-09, 10:29 AM

Once you know that there is nothing really erratic about the FF function. 15 minute skip still woks, too.

i realized yesturday that the 15min skip works, but differently that on MDN.
on MDN if i want to jump 15min multiple times i could just hold the FF or RW button down and it would continuously jump in 15min blocks untill i released the button. on ODN i have to release the button at each 15min skip.

after 5 days with ODN i've come to the conclusion that it is slightly less user friendly than MDN.
it requires extra button presses to do various simple things.
why the heck would they make anything function with the release of a button, i cant think of any other piece of electronics i have that does that.
but i guess i'll get used to it, probably just before they fix it.

jcalabria

04-07-09, 11:19 AM

i realized yesturday that the 15min skip works, but differently that on MDN.
on MDN if i want to jump 15min multiple times i could just hold the FF or RW button down and it would continuously jump in 15min blocks untill i released the button. on ODN i have to release the button at each 15min skip.

after 5 days with ODN i've come to the conclusion that it is slightly less user friendly than MDN.
it requires extra button presses to do various simple things.
why the heck would they make anything function with the release of a button, i cant think of any other piece of electronics i have that does that.
but i guess i'll get used to it, probably just before they fix it.

My MDN experience was with a non-DVR Pioneer Voyager HD box... the ODN 8300 was a breath of fresh air after that, so I'm partial to ODN. Hard to tell with the stretched graphics of the Sammy, but ODN looked MUCH better than MDN on the 8300's.

The play button press (or release) worked the same way on the ODN/8300 (as did the 15 min skip), but the video samples during FF/REW were totally different. On the 8300 the samples came at shorter intervals and the intervals between samples shortened up as you went from 1x to 2x to 3x, giving you the feeling that you are actually speeding up. On the Sammy, the samples update at a slower rate and the update rate does not change as you go up to 2x and 3x, only the "distance" between samples. This does not give you a good feeling of the different FF speeds, and coupled with the longer sample hold times gives a choppy non-linear to feel to it. But it is consistent and will just take a little time to adapt to it. Not a major problem.

Besides the prime time fare last night, I also recorded the HD Hogan's Heroes marathon on UHD. Something like 18 half hour shows. Hardly made a dent in the HDD capacity. The quality of that show on UHD is amazing... real HD, full 16:9 (not stretched), perfectly clean film transfers. Plus that really was a funny show.

strutter

04-07-09, 01:08 PM

My MDN experience was with a non-DVR Pioneer Voyager HD box... the ODN 8300 was a breath of fresh air after that,
i imagine so, i never had that box but from what i've read it was horrible with navigator.

Hard to tell with the stretched graphics of the Sammy, but ODN looked MUCH better than MDN on the 8300's.
if i set the aspect of my TV to show the guide on the ODN sammy as 4x3 it looks exactly like the guide on my MDN8300. absolutely no difference in graphic quality.

jcalabria

04-07-09, 02:41 PM

if i set the aspect of my TV to show the guide on the ODN sammy as 4x3 it looks exactly like the guide on my MDN8300. absolutely no difference in graphic quality.

The basic layouts are the same, but the colors are different on the MDN installations I see at friends houses down here in Charlotte... more like the old all-blue instead of the (darker) blue/white/gray of the current ODN. The 3D edge detail on the banners is also different, and ODN doesn't have transparent banners, which I don't like on MDN. They're just transparent enough to look washed out but not enough to really appreciate any transparency. Not huge differences but noticeable to me, nitpicker that I can be, lol.

strutter

04-07-09, 03:40 PM

The basic layouts are the same, but the colors are different on the MDN installations I see at friends houses down here in Charlotte... more like the old all-blue instead of the (darker) blue/white/gray of the current ODN. The 3D edge detail on the banners is also different, and ODN doesn't have transparent banners, which I don't like on MDN. They're just transparent enough to look washed out but not enough to really appreciate any transparency. Not huge differences but noticeable to me, nitpicker that I can be, lol.
i've been known to nit pick a little myself.

my MDN8300 v2.4.4-14 has the same color scheme as the ODN v3.1.0_11 sammy (the (darker) blue/white/gray, highlights in yellow). the MDN does have the transparent banners, never mattered to me either way but the wife liked the transparent because she could still read the closed captioning through it (she dont hear so good).

my explorer 3250HD non DVR still has the old light blue on blue. it has transparent banners also. diag. says its MDN v 2.4.1-108

frooggy

04-08-09, 12:31 PM

Well here's a question on recording.
With all these 'new, free' HD channels, when I'm flipping through my Faves in many cases I get the blue screen of death saying the channel is not available, try again later. Gee thanks. What's up with that, is it an SDV thing? Maybe not enough people in my neighborhood want to watch that channel? If so, that sucks, and what happens if I had scheduled a recording of a show at that time?

Thought I had seen everything, tonight I went to 14 TWC News Channel and it said to call Customer Care if I want that channel! And the Guide said it was 'available for purchase'!

The channel unavailable is a SDV thing. Your box isnt able to send the request to turn on that stream for you. You will probably need a service call. Unless you are running through a surge protecter for cable. Those will not allow return on the box sometimes either. The channel 14 issue might be related. If the box cannot communicate with TW it will goto brick mode and some channels will say to call for service. Have them come check the return from your outlet to verify this.

RobbK

04-08-09, 08:34 PM

I didn't schedule the game to record, but all the others that I did (House, Chuck & 24). I just hit the record button after reading your post and the game started to record instantly.

So far, no recording issues here with the Samsung.

**EDIT: Just rebooted the box, and this appears to have fixed my issue. This box definitely has a few bugs that need to be worked out.**

Is anyone having success recording CBS with the Samsung DVR? All of my shows from the past day or two on CBS have not recorded. They show up as "red" in the DVR, so it recognizes the episodes, but it fails to record them. I can't record the show manually by pushing record either. This is only happening with CBS.

Pretty similar to the basketball issue someone had the other day. That game was on CBS.

So, is anyone able to record on that channel, because my Samsung box seems to fail to do so.

jcalabria

04-08-09, 08:43 PM

**EDIT: Just rebooted the box, and this appears to have fixed my issue. This box definitely has a few bugs that need to be worked out.**

Is anyone having success recording CBS with the Samsung DVR? All of my shows from the past day or two on CBS have not recorded. They show up as "red" in the DVR, so it recognizes the episodes, but it fails to record them. I can't record the show manually by pushing record either. This is only happening with CBS.

Pretty similar to the basketball issue someone had the other day. That game was on CBS.

So, is anyone able to record on that channel, because my Samsung box seems to fail to do so.

No problem with NCIS last night. I got home about 8:15 and watched from the beginning while it was still recording. Just added Criminal Minds to the schedule at 9... we'll see what she does. Life was already scheduled, so both tuners will be in action (Chuck and House were simultaneous on Monday with no problems, but neither of those was CBS.)

jcalabria

04-08-09, 09:14 PM

No problem with NCIS last night. I got home about 8:15 and watched from the beginning while it was still recording. Just added Criminal Minds to the schedule at 9... we'll see what she does. Life was already scheduled, so both tuners will be in action (Chuck and House were simultaneous on Monday with no problems, but neither of those was CBS.)

Criminal Minds kicked off right on schedule, along with Life.

thegraz95

04-08-09, 11:09 PM

The channel unavailable is a SDV thing. Your box isnt able to send the request to turn on that stream for you. You will probably need a service call. Unless you are running through a surge protecter for cable. Those will not allow return on the box sometimes either. The channel 14 issue might be related. If the box cannot communicate with TW it will goto brick mode and some channels will say to call for service. Have them come check the return from your outlet to verify this.
Thanks for the explanation.
The Ch 14 only happened once, so I'll just toss that one.
The other is intermittent, but happens on some channels virtually every night, and seems like it is never just one. But other times it is fine. So why is that, because there are only some times that it has to send the request?
They just replaced the terminal because of stuttering/pixelating on some channels, the old one did the same thing. So I'm guessing its not the terminal, and there is no surge protector. I guess I'll give them a call.
Yesterday, the video was just an orange screen. Orange. The day before that it turned gray. Banners, guide, etc., fine. Had to re-boot both times. Today video froze on one of the HD channels. It is something EVERY DAY.

jcalabria

04-08-09, 11:28 PM

Thanks for the explanation.
The Ch 14 only happened once, so I'll just toss that one.
The other is intermittent, but happens on some channels virtually every night, and seems like it is never just one. But other times it is fine. So why is that, because there are only some times that it has to send the request?
They just replaced the terminal because of stuttering/pixelating on some channels, the old one did the same thing. So I'm guessing its not the terminal, and there is no surge protector. I guess I'll give them a call.
Yesterday, the video was just an orange screen. Orange. The day before that it turned gray. Banners, guide, etc., fine. Had to re-boot both times. Today video froze on one of the HD channels. It is something EVERY DAY.

My 8300HDC occasionally went all gray/green/pink/orange with good local graphics just like yours. Reboot was only fix as well. Just swapped it for the new Samsung box. So far, so good. Double the DVR capacity, too.

thegraz95

04-09-09, 07:52 PM

My 8300HDC occasionally went all gray/green/pink/orange with good local graphics just like yours. Reboot was only fix as well. Just swapped it for the new Samsung box. So far, so good. Double the DVR capacity, too.

I don't really need the extra dvr capacity, so I'll probably just stick with this one for awhile as long as it doesn't have to be re-booted every day. Wondering if the Sammy will be more reliable.

jcalabria

04-09-09, 08:14 PM

RobbK

04-09-09, 08:28 PM

I don't really need the extra dvr capacity, so I'll probably just stick with this one for awhile as long as it doesn't have to be re-booted every day. Wondering if the Sammy will be more reliable.

I'm not having as much luck as J is. I've had to reboot my box 3-4 times in the past week. Today is the second day in which my Samsung box has not recorded a show when it has needed to use both tuners. Yesterday it was CBS, today it was NBC.

I had 2 shows scheduled to record at 8pm tonight. Both shows showed up colored red in the guide, so the DVR was aware of the recordings. I started watching Fox, while NBC was to be recording on the second tuner. I then noticed that the NBC show had turned gray in the guide, and had the broken record symbol. I was also unable to manually record the show after this happened. I had to reboot the box. As soon as it rebooted, it began recording both shows as it should have in the first place.

Needless to say, I might be swapping my box out for a new one this weekend if this keeps up. I'm not sure why the Samsung I have is neglecting to record shows even though the show is red in the guide before the show starts, but then shows them as "non-recordable" after the show begins.

chuckf1

04-15-09, 06:49 PM

ke4pym

04-15-09, 08:30 PM

From the TWC-Charlotte website: May 28, 2009: HD Net will be moved from the HD Tier to the Free HD service which requires Digital Cable service with an HD Converter and an HDTV. Smithsonian HD will be added.

Not much in May.

Smithsonian HD will be added in place of HD Net on the HD Tier? Or will be be down to 3 channels on the HD Tier now?

gimphboi

04-16-09, 03:23 PM

I think I saw one or two posts regarding the bandwidth cap policy that TWC is implementing in various states. Any idea how long it will be before we see it here? Does a 2 year price lock buy you any additional time?

I've been monitoring my bandwidth for the last month and from the looks of things, I easily exceed the 40GB cap.

Before anyone says anything, let me say, I rarely use torrent software (and when I do it is completely legit) and I don't DL from newsgroups.

Much of the content I'm guessing comes from my use of Hulu, ABC, Fox, etc. to stream various shows, as well as DL demos from the PS Store.

Anyone here think we'll somehow be spared?

Thanks,

Tony

jrs

04-16-09, 03:57 PM

By "monitoring", do you mean just guestimating, or is there some way to check online?

I found this, which talks about their tiered structure:
http://www.timewarnercable.com/corporate/announcements/cbb_faq.html

I work at my computer all day-- uploading, downloading, etc, but really have no idea how much of the pipe I use.

jcalabria

04-16-09, 04:04 PM

Anyone here think we'll somehow be spared?

Thanks,

Tony

Maybe...

http://www.multichannel.com/article/196377-Time_Warner_Cable_Postpones_Internet_Billing_Trials.php

ybsane

04-16-09, 06:29 PM

Zaxcom

04-16-09, 06:34 PM

Thank God!!! :)

jcalabria

04-16-09, 06:38 PM

Amen :D

mfogarty5

04-16-09, 08:56 PM

mfogarty5

04-16-09, 09:01 PM

Smithsonian HD will be added in place of HD Net on the HD Tier? Or will be be down to 3 channels on the HD Tier now?

TWC updated their site. Smithsonian HD will be added to the HD Plus Tier.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/support/policies/channelchange.html

jcalabria

04-16-09, 10:24 PM

Maybe ybsane can comment here, but in all the discussions about downloading caps the opponents state that wholesale prices are declining and that it only costs $60-$100 per house to rollout docsis 3.0.

What no one ever states in the discussion is where TWC would get the spare channels necessary to bond together to implement docsis 3.0.

I think the only way for TWC to free those channels is to reclaim analog channels which causes problems with carriage agreements and with customers like jcalabria who have 17 CRTs around the house.

TWC has repeatedly stated that they do not want to rollout docsis 3.0 so I think the caps were a way to avoid doing so.

Thoughts?
Hey... watch out... its only 11, lol. Even if the Flat Panel Fairy dropped off 11 brand new TVs, I still couldn't afford to add 11 boxes to my account, lol.

sccofer

04-17-09, 09:27 AM

ke4pym

04-17-09, 09:44 AM

TWC has not said they don't want to rollout DOCSIS 3.0, they are marketing the fact that they will be launching it at something like 50mbps up 10 down in several markets.

The bandwidth capping trial has been DELAYED until Oct to better educate their customers prior to launch. If you take a look at the markets they are rolling it out in initially they are all areas where there isn't a lot in the way of competition. Charlotte might dodge the bullet because of AT&T.

They are trying to protect their turf pure and simple, HULU, Netflix, etc..The CEO has mentioned that "cord cutting" is in the initial stages of impacting their subscriber base. Clearly they weren't prepared for the response their plan has received. Short sighted thinking if you ask me. People will get their content how they want it with TWC or without, 4G is coming soon to a city near you...

AT&T isn't enough of a competitor in broadband internet for TWC to care. The only way AT&T is going to be able to compete, seriously, is if they roll FTTH. Then they will have the capacity to keep up.

As it stands now, you've got to be something like 25 feet (kidding, more like 1,000) from a fridge sized cabinet (hope they don't plant one of those in your front yard) before you can even sign up for UVerse.

4G will be a solution if Verizon doesn't continue the 5GB/mo cap (and at 170Mbps that cap will come fast). Local WISPs would be a better solution to competing with TWC.

ybsane

04-17-09, 07:58 PM

Maybe ybsane can comment here, but in all the discussions about downloading caps the opponents state that wholesale prices are declining and that it only costs $60-$100 per house to rollout docsis 3.0.

What no one ever states in the discussion is where TWC would get the spare channels necessary to bond together to implement docsis 3.0.

I think the only way for TWC to free those channels is to reclaim analog channels which causes problems with carriage agreements and with customers like jcalabria who have 17 CRTs around the house.

TWC has repeatedly stated that they do not want to rollout docsis 3.0 so I think the caps were a way to avoid doing so.

Thoughts?

Docsis 3.0 is coming this year to Charlotte..!! It will be set to run in the Raleigh/Greensboro first than will be here right after that..Zaxcom will be the first to know after I do trust me..

The upstream change from 16-QAM to 64-QAM is seemless just like changing the upstream frequencies which happen all the time.

Right now the upstream QPSK for the boxes is at 20mhz and will not change, leaving from 22.5mhz upto 38 mhz to use for the CMTS frequencies.

Zaxcom

04-17-09, 08:00 PM

bdfox18doe

04-17-09, 08:19 PM

Good. That should not interfere with QAM 130...:)

Zaxcom

04-17-09, 08:22 PM

I will be needing a new modem... hint hint hint

mfogarty5

04-18-09, 04:50 PM

AT&T isn't enough of a competitor in broadband internet for TWC to care. The only way AT&T is going to be able to compete, seriously, is if they roll FTTH. Then they will have the capacity to keep up.

As it stands now, you've got to be something like 25 feet (kidding, more like 1,000) from a fridge sized cabinet (hope they don't plant one of those in your front yard) before you can even sign up for UVerse.

4G will be a solution if Verizon doesn't continue the 5GB/mo cap (and at 170Mbps that cap will come fast). Local WISPs would be a better solution to competing with TWC.

Don't forget Clearwire announced that they would be converting their network here in Charlotte to Wimax by the end of the year. It should be as fast as AT&T's legacy DSL(non u-verse) product.

mfogarty5

04-18-09, 04:52 PM

Docsis 3.0 is coming this year to Charlotte..!! It will be set to run in the Raleigh/Greensboro first than will be here right after that..Zaxcom will be the first to know after I do trust me..

The upstream change from 16-QAM to 64-QAM is seemless just like changing the upstream frequencies which happen all the time.

Right now the upstream QPSK for the boxes is at 20mhz and will not change, leaving from 22.5mhz upto 38 mhz to use for the CMTS frequencies.

So TWC Charlotte can implement docsis 3.0 without reclaiming analog channels?

pumbaa071

04-18-09, 10:05 PM

AT&T isn't enough of a competitor in broadband internet for TWC to care. The only way AT&T is going to be able to compete, seriously, is if they roll FTTH. Then they will have the capacity to keep up.

As it stands now, you've got to be something like 25 feet (kidding, more like 1,000) from a fridge sized cabinet (hope they don't plant one of those in your front yard) before you can even sign up for UVerse.

4G will be a solution if Verizon doesn't continue the 5GB/mo cap (and at 170Mbps that cap will come fast). Local WISPs would be a better solution to competing with TWC.

the hoa president here is an at&t engineer, we are getting u-verse but its june 16, that is 81 days after i started my price lock so i dont know what to do.

spidrw

04-20-09, 12:06 PM

I would suggest cancelling your price lock contract now (and going back to the usual price), then looking into u-verse in June. If you don't like u-verse, call up TW and start the price lock contract over.

jrs

04-20-09, 12:52 PM

I wonder if AT&T would pay to get you OUT of your contract...

spidrw

04-20-09, 03:47 PM

They're already offering $200 for online signups. That's probably to ease the pain of breaking your contract, although I'd much rather have $200 in addition to what it costs to break.

sccofer

04-24-09, 09:15 AM

tarheelone

04-24-09, 11:41 AM

Before I start my rant, did I miss something or was the Canes game not broadcast in HD last night?

It was on FSN, the HD FSN channel was black and then it was supposed to be on VSHD (the last 1/2 hour) blacked out of course...

I can't believe they aren't broadcasting a game 5 with the series tied in HD...It is honestly distracting now trying to watch anything in SD, so spoiled have I become!

You have game 5 and game 6 confused. Game 6 will be in HD and will be carried locally on FS CarolinasHD and VersusHD for the rest of the country. Of course if the Rangers finish off the Caps tonight then it will be on NBC instead.

Supposedly FS South,the three networks it is divided into(FS Carolinas, FS Tennessee and FS South) plus it's sister station SportSouth only has access to 2 HD trucks which is why they say the haven't had all the games in HD. I guess with Braves games and the Hawks in the playoffs both trucks are in use.

supasexyp

04-28-09, 11:27 AM

I am looking at purchasing a new panasonic plasma with tru2way tech. Does anyone know if this technology works with TWC?

steve1022

04-28-09, 11:08 PM

RobbK

04-29-09, 09:35 AM

Hi everyone,

I dropped in here because I read that the Samsung 3090 was supposed to be available in the KC market and plan to get one soon but wondered if anyone here can tell me if the new box has the same HDMI issues that the 8300HDC has? The issues I mean are flickering picture and sound that can only be fixed by switching from HD channel to SD channel then back to HD channel. Also when i changed to output only 720p on my 8300 it would default back to 480i, 720p & 1080i the second I turned off my AVR. Thanks for any help.

I'm on my second Samsung 3090 due to my first one missing a TON of scheduled recordings. My new one is working very well. However, I never had this flickering issue you speak of on either of the two Samsungs I have had. I also never had this problem on the 8300HDC that I used for over a year with HDMI.

Not sure if that answers your question, but I have never had this flickering issue with either the 8300HDC or the Samsung 3090, both of which I have been using with HDMI.

ybsane

04-29-09, 08:27 PM

I'm on my second Samsung 3090 due to my first one missing a TON of scheduled recordings. My new one is working very well. However, I never had this flickering issue you speak of on either of the two Samsungs I have had. I also never had this problem on the 8300HDC that I used for over a year with HDMI.

Not sure if that answers your question, but I have never had this flickering issue with either the 8300HDC or the Samsung 3090, both of which I have been using with HDMI.

Same here, have both the Samsung and the 8300HDC, also asked around and no one here even knows of any such problem with the HDMI flickering...?

steve1022

04-29-09, 09:15 PM

I'm on my second Samsung 3090 due to my first one missing a TON of scheduled recordings. My new one is working very well. However, I never had this flickering issue you speak of on either of the two Samsungs I have had. I also never had this problem on the 8300HDC that I used for over a year with HDMI.

Not sure if that answers your question, but I have never had this flickering issue with either the 8300HDC or the Samsung 3090, both of which I have been using with HDMI.

Thanks for the reply, the HDMI issue happen when I have my home theater receiver in the mix. Appears some with the 8300HDC have the problem and some don't.

steve1022

04-29-09, 09:17 PM

Same here, have both the Samsung and the 8300HDC, also asked around and no one here even knows of any such problem with the HDMI flickering...?

I have the problem when adding my home theater receiver with HDMI

RobbK

04-30-09, 07:44 PM

I just thought I would throw this out there. As I had mentioned earlier, I swapped out one of the Samsung 3090 boxes for an identical model due to my first one missing tons of recordings. My first box had a 320 Gb hard drive for the DVR.

I just noticed on my new box that I had already filled it to 38% capacity. I checked the capacity in the Samsung diagnostic screen, and noticed that my new box only has a 160 Gb hard drive! I'm a bit disappointed that I now have a box with half the capacity of my first one.

So, If any of you are looking to get one of these new Samsung DVRs, have a look through the top of the vent on the box before you leave the TWC office and read the label on the hard drive, because it appears that there are at least two versions of this Samsung box containing different sized hard drives. If you get a 160 Gb, you might want to consider asking for another box until you find one with a 320 Gb hard drive.

swamphhh

05-01-09, 03:45 PM

jcalabria

05-01-09, 04:10 PM

I need some help. I'm almost embarrassed to ask. I can't beleive I can't figure this out. I just swapped out DVRs today and got one of the Samsung SMT-H3090 units. Problem is that I can not get it to output dolby digital via HDMI. I get sound and a digital signal but no multichannel even when I tune to a movie or a show that has it. I can confirm this by checking out my other old box. Like right now on 318, vertical limit. All I get is pcm, stereo.

Known issue, for which I recently posted the fix and related info in TW Navigator thread:

Discovery: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16324754#post16324754
Procedure: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16360153#post16360153
Screen shots: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16324711#post16324711
Don't be embarrased... its an important setting that is unfortunately buried beyond obscurity in the Samsung Diagnostic Menus. Beyond that, the setting should be defaulted the other way in the first place.

BTW... you might want to keep tuned into the Navigator thread... that's where most of the STB tech info for TW Navigator systems is posted and discussed.

swamphhh

05-01-09, 06:38 PM

jcalabria,

Dude, thanks. That was perfect.

You're right too. I can't believe such and important setting is even buried, let alone turned off by default. Crazy.

bdfox18doe

05-01-09, 07:24 PM

. I can't believe such and important setting is even buried, let alone turned off by default. Crazy.

It seems as if product designers these days never use the products they design..If they did, they'd work a lot better than they do...You wonder if they even get out of their cubicle, much less go on a date..:rolleyes:

jcalabria

05-01-09, 11:36 PM

jcalabria,

Dude, thanks. That was perfect.

You're right too. I can't believe such and important setting is even buried, let alone turned off by default. Crazy.

Glad it helped.

bearxor

05-06-09, 01:51 AM

Hey guys,

Does anyone know what's up with Comporium HD channels over unendrypted qam? Last week they just went off. They're still being transmitted and my Phillips TV can pick them up, but it gives them a channel # of 0, so I don't know the frequency to tell my MCE machine to guns them in. I'm in Rock Hill, but the same thing happened to a friend of mine in Lake Wylie.

swamphhh

05-06-09, 09:24 AM

Count me in as having a Samsung DVR that failed to catch a recording. Not sure what to think about this box. Spec-wise it should be better. But I don't think the SciAtl box ever failed to record a selected channel. Of course it rebooted itself like twice a day.

I'm also getting a lot of signal flicker, lines of digital artifacts with a sound pop or two. Mostly on the newer HD channels but also on network HD channels. Rescue me was pretty bad last night both at 10 and 11. And RealTime on Friday was unwatchable. I wonder if this box is just more sensitive to signal issues in general or if TWC is having signal issues with their SDV channels. Or maybe my neighborhood has developed an issue. Thing is, I never saw this with the old box, crappy as it was.

jcalabria

05-06-09, 10:33 AM

strutter

05-06-09, 01:13 PM

dropzone7

05-06-09, 02:12 PM

Does anyone know if this new Samsung box supports 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 colorspace or is it just RGB like the SciAtl box?

jcalabria

05-06-09, 02:36 PM

i hadnt had a missed recording since the NCAA final just after getting the box. a reboot seemed to have fixed the issue. but this week i missed recording house, american idol and fringe, all on fox. i did catch idol and fringe live but i'll have to watch house on the 8300 in the other room. which sucks cause that 40" is so little. LOL.
i rebooted the box last night after not recording fringe. hopefully this will solve it for awhile.

jcalabria can you post again how you did the factory reset. i seem to have lost it in the navigator thread. thanks.

There's gotta be a reason why WBTV and WCCB are the ones that keep getting missed for all of us in Charlotte... and it doesn't seem to be happening in other TW systems... perhaps there's an issue with the guide data here... who knows??? :confused: Mine's been OK over a week now.

Don't complain about the 40" set... 37" is my "big" set, lol.

Samsung Factory Reset (I don't think I posted as a procedure before):

Enter diagnostics by holding [Vol+] and [INFO] simultaneously on the front panel for about 10 seconds, then release.
Once you enter the diagnostic mode, use the arrow keys (on remote) to enter the "Extended Diags"
Once in Extended Diags, go to "Diagnostics" - it is password protected... "3090"
Once you are on the password protected Diagnostics page, enter "08" then "Select" to reset and reboot.
FYI...

After the box reboots, it will initially go through its normal boot routine, but instead of going to the Mystro loader countdown, you will first see a bunch of status screens as a fresh copy of Navigator is loaded from the headend. Takes a while but the status screen show download progress, so you should know that things are proceeding and not hung.
Any customizations that you may have made in Settings > Device menu will be lost.
If you changed the "Allow AC3 over HDMI" setting in the Samsung diagnostics, that will be reset to "No".
You will lose your favorite channels.
Previously recorded shows should remain intact.
Strangely, my Series Manager entries initially appeared to be intact and actually worked... but as soon as I added an additional show, the old series disappeared and I had to reenter them. So keep an eye on your schedule for a bit after the reset.

strutter

05-06-09, 03:01 PM

^^^^
thanks. you da man.

cratch

05-07-09, 10:01 AM

Does anyone have any tips on how to get a good deal on a price lock?

UVERSE came to my house this morning to install, but I am 3000 FT from the VRAD so I canceled the install. I'm so p!ssed!!!

spidrw

05-07-09, 01:50 PM

Does anyone have any tips on how to get a good deal on a price lock?

UVERSE came to my house this morning to install, but I am 3000 FT from the VRAD so I canceled the install. I'm so p!ssed!!!

I just called and said 'what can I get with Price Lock?'. I've got basic digital, DVR, and (supposedly) 7 meg RR for $99 and some change, after taxes. I suppose I could have haggled to have it knocked down more, but my bill was in the $130s, so I was happy with $99. Besides, on more than one occasion I've successfully negotiated a great price, only to find on my next bill that I was wrong and of course TW had no record of what I was promised. At least with this, it's in writing.

cratch

05-07-09, 02:07 PM

I ended up getting all the movie channels and RR Turbo for $179 with tax. $10 cheaper than previously with added movie channels and upgrade in RR.

ke4pym

05-07-09, 02:11 PM

Does anyone have any tips on how to get a good deal on a price lock?

UVERSE came to my house this morning to install, but I am 3000 FT from the VRAD so I canceled the install. I'm so p!ssed!!!

That's why I keep saying that UVerse isn't a valid competitor to TWC. Call them up, tell them that AT&T gave you a fantastic package deal and ask what TWC can do.

They will try to sell you HARD on Digital Phone. I told them no thanks and still got a reasonable deal. HDDVR, HD package, RR Turbo for $120.

strutter

05-11-09, 10:35 PM

i'm really considering the price lock @ $99 for standard RR and digital cable.
i plan on dropping all my premium channels anyway. just dont watch hbo, sho or starz much. my bill right now is $143.37 and bellsouth DSL is about $38.

i assume they have to run another coax which is about $20 but what other installation cost are involved?

can anyone who has this price lock share with me what your total bill is with frachise fees and taxes included?
thanks.

jcalabria

05-14-09, 04:52 PM

Just noticed that the channel change page no longer indicates that HDNet is moving to Digital Basic/Free HD... It only lists the addition of Smithsonian HD to the HD Tier with no mention of any other changes for May 28:

Current Message:

May 28, 2009: Smithsonian HD will launch on Channel 294 in the HD Plus Tier.

Previous message:
May 28, 2009: HD Net will be moved from the HD Plus Tier to the Free HD service which requires Digital Cable service with an HD Converter and an HDTV. Smithsonian HD will launch on Channel 294 in the HD Plus Tier.

Grateful11

05-17-09, 10:15 PM

strutter

05-18-09, 12:40 PM

I scanned over the last several pages as it's been a month or so since I've been
here. The Samsung box isn't the only one skipping recordings, our SA8300HD box
is also skipping WBTV and WCCB, it skipped recording Family Guy tonight but we
caught it in time and it's skipped CSI Las Vegas like 3 weeks in a row. There's no
conflict, it will be red hours or days before but then once underway it has the
broken box symbol. It's ticking me off, I've had this bow for about 9 months and
other than this problem has been a good box, I've had like 5 in the last two years.

If someone has an answer please post.

thanks for posting this. its been kinda dead here in this thread. been waiting to see if anyone else was having this problem. the 3 or 4 of us with this problem on the samsung have mostly been posting in the TW Navigator thread. youre the first report of an 8300 missing recordings that i've seen in a long time. my 8300HD has never missed a recording but the sammy sort of comes and goes.
a reboot solved it for me for awhile then it started missing everything on those 2 channels again. i was about to try the factory reset but then i just thought maybe i'd try something else. i rerouted my cable so it wasnt going through a surge suppressor and magically it started working right. i'm not confident its fixed because i know my signal levels were fine before. perhaps, for me, disconnecting the cable for awhile when i was rerouting it caused it to download something it needed but IDK. i doubt it. it seems to be a charlotte area problem because no one else in the navigator thread is having the issue.

cadams

05-18-09, 03:09 PM

chuckf1

05-18-09, 06:53 PM

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/18/time-warner-cable-loses-hdnet-at-the-end-of-the-month-says-bei/

TWC dropping HDNet and HDNet Movies at the end of the month

Mighty minds do think alike. I was about to post the same info but you beat me to the punch. I would hope that we're getting two channels, at least, to make up for it.

BTW---TWC Charlotte's website does not reflect the change.

Skipdrive

05-19-09, 10:43 AM

tarheelone

05-19-09, 10:49 AM

Gads, I hate these guys. Where the hell is FIOS?

I hate to tell you this but FIOS isn't coming anytime soon if EVER...

http://investor.verizon.com/news/view.aspx?NewsID=987

jcalabria

05-19-09, 11:32 AM

I hate to tell you this but FIOS isn't coming anytime soon if EVER...

http://investor.verizon.com/news/view.aspx?NewsID=987

It's quite unfortunate that BellSouth/AT&T adopted the "dslTV" model.

strutter

05-19-09, 12:40 PM

I don't know about the rest of ya'll, but the HDNet's have always been two of my favorite channels. HDNMovies, in particular, is the very best movie channel out there. They consistently honor OAR and the director's vision. They've had films like Lawrence of Arabia, Blade Runner, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and now The Godfather trilogy not to mention hundreds of others presented the very best way they can be presented. They've always done it right, and real movie lovers appreciate that.

HDNet has a couple of terrific news programs in HD as well as concerts that we watch frequently. They are two of my most-watched channels, and have been for years. Saying they're taking them away to give us "more choice" is as despicable an example of Orwellian corp-speak as I've ever heard. You got to remove something to give us "more choice"? How about Home&Garden-HD or any of the several other tiny, niche channels they recently added that nobody asked for. Are they trying to drive their most profitable customers to satellite?

Gads, I hate these guys. Where the hell is FIOS?

i agree. i only watch those channels on occasion but certainly more than a couple others they recently added. hdnet has lots of original programming that they dont re-air a gazillion times in a week every week and then continue re-airing over and over and over 10 year old crap.
the PQ on those channels is stunning even with TW compression and rate shaping.
if they want to give us "more choice" they certainly can without removing those 2. hell, i'd gladly give up 2 of the 5 sidebared espns that are never really HD.
but thats not really necessary either. we all know they have plenty of space to add more channels without removing any.
if they really want to do something for us how about delivering real HD quality, not over compressed, pixelated crap and stretch o vision.

RobbK

05-19-09, 12:41 PM

thanks for posting this. its been kinda dead here in this thread. been waiting to see if anyone else was having this problem. the 3 or 4 of us with this problem on the samsung have mostly been posting in the TW Navigator thread. youre the first report of an 8300 missing recordings that i've seen in a long time. my 8300HD has never missed a recording but the sammy sort of comes and goes.
a reboot solved it for me for awhile then it started missing everything on those 2 channels again. i was about to try the factory reset but then i just thought maybe i'd try something else. i rerouted my cable so it wasnt going through a surge suppressor and magically it started working right. i'm not confident its fixed because i know my signal levels were fine before. perhaps, for me, disconnecting the cable for awhile when i was rerouting it caused it to download something it needed but IDK. i doubt it. it seems to be a charlotte area problem because no one else in the navigator thread is having the issue.

I'm still fighting the missed recordings as well, despite this being my second Samsung box. I returned the first one hoping a new one would remedy the problem. I have had pretty good success the past few weeks, however, my Samsung missed "NCIS", "How I Met Your Mother", and "CSI" in the last week or so. Of course, those shows are on CBS.

I actually never had this problem with the 8300HDC like someone just recently has reported.

I'm going to reboot and hopefully the problem will be corrected for another week or two. However, I'm pretty close to taking this second Samsung box back and picking up an 8300HDC again, until they can get this pretty major issue worked out. Afterall, the one thing a DVR needs to do is be able to record programs, and this Samsung box just isn't doing that.

strutter

05-19-09, 01:01 PM

I'm still fighting the missed recordings as well, despite this being my second Samsung box. I returned the first one hoping a new one would remedy the problem. I have had pretty good success the past few weeks, however, my Samsung missed "NCIS", "How I Met Your Mother", and "CSI" in the last week or so. Of course, those shows are on CBS.

I actually never had this problem with the 8300HDC like someone just recently has reported.

I'm going to reboot and hopefully the problem will be corrected for another week or two. However, I'm pretty close to taking this second Samsung box back and picking up an 8300HDC again, until they can get this pretty major issue worked out. Afterall, the one thing a DVR needs to do is be able to record programs, and this Samsung box just isn't doing that.

we all keep hoping they'll fix this. supposedly there is an update coming down the pipe in San diego ca. area for the soon to be released sammys. maybe we'll get that too. who knows if that would even fix it. theres some speculation that it might be a head end problem especially after the report of the 8300 missing recordings. but my 8300 in another room still has never missed a recording.
on the + side most all of my normal series recordings have aired their season finales. so i shouldn't be running into the problem very much for awhile.

BTW am i the only one to notice the absence of several "insiders" in this thread. you know, the ones who seemed to have a little more knowledge than average folk concerning the workings at TW and cable services in general. :confused:
I'd like to know if the engineer has any info concerning missed recordings on FOX.

jcb3716

05-19-09, 11:19 PM

I read on panthers.com that the preseason games will be in HD this year. The update noted Panthers Huddle, but was not clear if it will also be broadcast in HD this year. Does anyone know about if Panthers Huddle will be in HD?

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-1/panthers-tv-adds-new-features/8dc96f39-4231-47cf-8899-7aaa246ecfbf

jcalabria

05-20-09, 03:21 PM

jcalabria

05-20-09, 03:26 PM

Anybody else notice that all the Music Choice channels 500-544 are now being simulcast on channels 1500-1544.

Maybe they are getting ready to clear out the 500s for all the new HD programming coming our way. :rolleyes:

chuckf1

05-20-09, 04:29 PM

New Update to the Charlotte TWC Channel Changes Page:
May 31, 2009: HD Net (Channel 292) and HD Net Movies (Channel 293) will no longer be available on the Digital Cable HD Tier. The following channels will be added to the HD Tier:

Smithsonian Channel - Channel 292
MavTV - Channel 293
Hallmark Movie Channel HD - Channel 294

Hallmark Movie Channel. I think I'll poke my eyes out now. :eek:

Seriously, there was some good stuff on both HDNET and HDNET Movies and I'll be sad to see them go.

jcalabria

05-20-09, 04:59 PM

Hallmark Movie Channel. I think I'll poke my eyes out now. :eek:

Seriously, there was some good stuff on both HDNET and HDNET Movies and I'll be sad to see them go.

I didn't subscribe to the tier but was tempted fairly often because of HDNet. There is nothing here that inspires me to ante up for the HD tier at all.

strutter

05-20-09, 05:53 PM

New Update to the Charlotte TWC Channel Changes Page:
May 31, 2009: HD Net (Channel 292) and HD Net Movies (Channel 293) will no longer be available on the Digital Cable HD Tier. The following channels will be added to the HD Tier:

Smithsonian Channel - Channel 292
MavTV - Channel 293
Hallmark Movie Channel HD - Channel 294

Smithsonian looks to be a cousin of discovery channel
MavTV i've never heard of but by the web site it looks like a SpikeTV wanna be.
Hallmark Movie .WTF,.............. 'nuf said

strutter

05-20-09, 06:06 PM

I didn't subscribe to the tier but was tempted fairly often because of HDNet. There is nothing here that inspires me to ante up for the HD tier at all.
at one time hdnet, hdnet movies, mojo and starz were the only HD channels i had. its all the old adelphia system offered. they were packaged together for $5. the cost hasnt changed but the channels sure have since then. IDK if i'll keep that tier without the hdnets.

jcalabria

05-20-09, 06:46 PM

at one time hdnet, hdnet movies, mojo and starz were the only HD channels i had. its all the old adelphia system offered. they were packaged together for $5. the cost hasnt changed but the channels sure have since then. IDK if i'll keep that tier without the hdnets.

The ex-Adelphia areas that are now MI Connections still don't have much... My father and brother both live in Cornelius and have ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Discovery HD Theater, ESPN and not much else. They have like 9 HD total, including HBO. That's really bad. And they're rate is only like $2-3 per month less than what I pay for 50+ basic HDs.

These three new ones coupled with returning tier-mates UHD, MGM and MOJO don't really do much for me. UHD was running clear QAM much of the winter months and was good for catching up on missed Burn Notice notice episodes... but I'm caught up and don't miss it now that they have re-secured it.

supasexyp

05-22-09, 09:58 AM

New Update to the Charlotte TWC Channel Changes Page:
May 31, 2009: HD Net (Channel 292) and HD Net Movies (Channel 293) will no longer be available on the Digital Cable HD Tier. The following channels will be added to the HD Tier:

Smithsonian Channel - Channel 292
MavTV - Channel 293
Hallmark Movie Channel HD - Channel 294

When will TWC finally add NFL Network HD? I think they need to have a poll on what the customers want.

ke4pym

05-22-09, 10:02 AM

When will TWC finally add NFL Network HD? I think they need to have a poll on what the customers want.

Hopefully not until such time as the NFL allows TWC to put it on a premium sports tier so that the majority of us who do not want the NFL network don't have to pay for it.

chuckf1

05-24-09, 03:39 PM

If anyone wants a sneak peek at Smithsonian HD, TWC has it on test channel 1001, whose numbers must be entered manually in your remote, in order to access the channel.

jrs

05-28-09, 07:36 AM

What is up with these samsung boxes people are mentioning? Are they better than the 8300HD? Do they have more storage capacity built in?

We rarely use our TWC DVR, mostly stick with the tivohd.

jcalabria

05-28-09, 08:59 AM

What is up with these samsung boxes people are mentioning? Are they better than the 8300HD? Do they have more storage capacity built in?

We rarely use our TWC DVR, mostly stick with the tivohd.

The Samsung SMT-H3090 DVR is a mixed bag right now.

On the plus side:

Some of them (but not all) have been issued with 320GB HDDs, which is double the drive capacity found in the SA8300HD/HDC boxes (and some of the Samsungs).
They are OCAP/tru2way boxes, so they run the ODN version of Navigator, same as the 8300HDC boxes. Personally, I much prefer ODN to MDN (what runs on the 8300HDs). Unlike the 8300HDC boxes, they were designed from scratch with ODN in mind and have the necessary processing power to do it with speed and grace.
Another personal opinion is that they just plain look better than the the funky silver spaceship 8300 boxes.
Now the bad news:

The current version of ODN (especially in Charlotte, which is at least one version behind every other system running the Sammies) is not "optimized" for the Samsung boxes:

Instead of having true widescreen GUI graphics (which the box supports), the same 4:3 GUI from the SA boxes is just stretched to fill the wide screen.
There have been problems with Navigator crashing. The box keeps running in its native GUI mode (very limited features) but no Navigator guide, DVR or menus of any type are available.

The boxes have been refusing to record CBS and FOX programming at times. This seems to be a Charlotte exclusive issue and may yet prove to be a headend or guide data issue... there have been some reports of SA boxes also having problems with these two channels but not as widespread as it seems to be with the Sammie.
If your setup requires DD/AC3 audio over HDMI, it is disabled by default. This is easily correctable... but can be maddening if you don't know how to activate since the setting is buried in an obscure password protected diagnostics page.
The HDMI video resolution keeps reverting to 720p on its own regardless of settings or program native format. The Navigator status page shows the correct resolution, but the box outputs 720p.
Unless you really need the 320GB drive or have that patience and curiosity that I do, I suggest you wait until the kinks are worked out.