We have completed the install of the new FOX splicer. We shall see if it works at 7:30 when net hits the air for Game 1. I will be here to be sure if it smokes, there is a record of it! ;)

We have completed the install of the new FOX splicer. We shall see if it works at 7:30 when net hits the air for Game 1. I will be here to be sure if it smokes, there is a record of it! ;)

foxeng, I'm too lazy to read back through the posts. :) Remind us uninitiated viewers what the splicer will mean for us.

Unlike the other networks, FOX uses something called a splicer that takes the satellite network HD signal and "splices" into our digital signal. We have no control over it other than to put it on air. This is the only way FOX gives us to put the HD signal on the air. They are replacing the older version (v1) from 2004 with new suped up versions (v2). We got a BRAND NEW software update today (we are the first in the country to get it) so we are nervous about tonight. Once we can get past the first time on air with it and works, then we can breath easier. If it blows up, Game 1 will be in 4:3 SD and I will burning the phone lines up from here to LA.

Whoo! Hoo! It works! Dodged another bullet! :D

Got word that our SA8300 is to get "Navigated" Tuesdayish. I'll start recording my saved things today.

Has anyone with an 8300HD DVR been "gatored" this week in the TWC Triad area? I had a phone call a week ago saying it would be done either Tues or Weds of this week but, so far, no "gator".

Has anyone with an 8300HD DVR been "gatored" this week in the TWC Triad area? I had a phone call a week ago saying it would be done either Tues or Weds of this week but, so far, no "gator".

I was off yesterday. Took my 8300HD in traded it for a new 8240HDC right out of the box. No Samsungs yet. POOF hooked it up and now got NAVIGATOR on both my boxes. It was a easy shortcut. Got ODN rather than MDN which was nice. NAVIGATOR picture on 8240HDC blows my old 8300HD away. I could not belive the difference. It is a lot faster also. The HDC boxs have a lot more ram than the older 8300HD and SD units.

I was off yesterday. Took my 8300HD in traded it for a new 8240HDC right out of the box. No Samsungs yet. POOF hooked it up and now got NAVIGATOR on both my boxes. It was a easy shortcut. Got ODN rather than MDN which was nice. NAVIGATOR picture on 8240HDC blows my old 8300HD away. I could not belive the difference. It is a lot faster also. The HDC boxs have a lot more ram than the older 8300HD and SD units.

That's good Woody .... however I have an external drive which we use a lot, so until they get ODN fixed to allow the esata to work I'll wait for MDN. I may switch later if they ever get esata working on the HDCs.

Has anyone with an 8300HD DVR been "gatored" this week in the TWC Triad area? I had a phone call a week ago saying it would be done either Tues or Weds of this week but, so far, no "gator".

I got the same phone message and I too have not yet been Gatored. (I am not complaining.)

I was off yesterday. Took my 8300HD in traded it for a new 8240HDC right out of the box. No Samsungs yet. POOF hooked it up and now got NAVIGATOR on both my boxes. It was a easy shortcut. Got ODN rather than MDN which was nice. NAVIGATOR picture on 8240HDC blows my old 8300HD away. I could not belive the difference. It is a lot faster also. The HDC boxs have a lot more ram than the older 8300HD and SD units.

Thanks for the heads up. If I ever get Gatored and find it slow, I'll keep this in mind as a possible solution.

NAVIGATOR picture on 8240HDC blows my old 8300HD away. I could not belive the difference.

Are you saying the picture quality is better on the 8240HDC than it was on the 8300HD?

Are you saying the picture quality is better on the 8240HDC than it was on the 8300HD?

Yes the picture quality was vastly improved on the 8240HDC over my old 8300HD. I was very supprised at the difference in the HD and Digitial picture quality.The speed was also faster.

My next door neighbor has a 8300Hd and he got Navigator last night. We live off Friendly Avenue and both my neighbors were Navigated last night the other one has a 8240HDC that had SARA but now Navigator.

i traded my 8300hd in for the 8240hdc and i can also tell a big improvement in the motion in basketball games in hd , it looks to have less blurr in programs that have fast movement, TW says boxes are the same but the pic is sure different and i like the navigator guide alot faster than old one

WGHP officially files to move its DTV to 35.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-2339A1.pdf

WGHP officially files to move its DTV to 35.

Sweeet! :) And the NEW splicer to boot! :D

WGHP officially files to move its DTV to 35.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-2339A1.pdf

so does this mean instead of FOX8 it will become FOX35?

so does this mean instead of FOX8 it will become FOX35?

No. We will still be FOX8 like WFMY is still channel 2 (RF 51) and WXII is still channel 12 (RF 31).

The notice that Theo1080 lists is the notice for public comment on our filing of Oct 14th. The FCC hasn't granted the channel change yet. It says the FCC agrees with our reasons and wants the public to comment on the change in a 10 day window after it is published in the Federal Register (so the window hasn't opened yet) and a reply period starting 25 days after it is published in the Federal Register, if they so feel like it before they adjudicate our request. It is SOP for the FCC in a matter like this.

My guess is it will be after first of the year before this is adjudicated and Bob (down boy) will not be able to turn up WOLO until sometime in the spring at the earliest since once the FCC (hopefully) approves this, we then have to file more paperwork to be granted a Construction Permit to build what we already have built and on the air. Once that is granted, we can then file paperwork to license channel 35 and then we can look at turning channel 8 off. It isn't as easy or takes place as quick as it looks.

i traded my 8300hd in for the 8240hdc and i can also tell a big improvement in the motion in basketball games in hd , it looks to have less blurr in programs that have fast movement, TW says boxes are the same but the pic is sure different and i like the navigator guide alot faster than old one

Your correct the sports shows are a lot more crisp and clear on the 8240HDC over the 8300HD.

I'm not sure if it's a Navigator issue or a Triad one, but several of my series recordings haven't updated and scheduled for the week. One should be set for Sunday night. I checked - the series recording is still set and the show is labeled as new, but it's not on the list. A few times - since the 'upgrade' - it has taken a day or two after a recording for the list to repopulate for the next week, but I've not seen anything like this.

Since I'm still learning/deciding about Navigator, I was hoping someone might have some advice: Do I need to reboot the box? Manually set only this one showing? Delete and redo the series schedule?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I'm not sure if it's a Navigator issue or a Triad one, but several of my series recordings haven't updated and scheduled for the week. One should be set for Sunday night. I checked - the series recording is still set and the show is labeled as new, but it's not on the list. A few times - since the 'upgrade' - it has taken a day or two after a recording for the list to repopulate for the next week, but I've not seen anything like this.

Since I'm still learning/deciding about Navigator, I was hoping someone might have some advice: Do I need to reboot the box? Manually set only this one showing? Delete and redo the series schedule?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Just to be on the safe side. When I first got Navigator I deleated all my series and reset them. Have not had a single problem. No one told me to do this but in the change from SARA to NAVIGATOR I did it just to err on the side of caution. How it would have worked long term without doing that I have no idea.

When I first got Navigator I deleated all my series and reset them.

I never used any kind of series recording settings before this 'upgrade' so all of the series scheduling is new since Navigator. Since I never got any kind of manual for the box during my install, anything I learned was trial and error. Kind of like I;m doing now, albeit with some expert advice here.

It doesn't help that I'm frustrated right now by burning a recording to DVD. Since the background copy featured was deleted during my software improvement, I can't do anything else with my TV until the recording is finished. :mad:

The future copy to VCR feature in Navigator may respect the copy flags. This could make archiving harder as sometimes they abuse the copy flags. If a channel is marked Copy Once then making an archive of a DVR recording violates the flag. Copy Never is just that. You can't make a copy of it.

If you copy Copy One Gen marked content, after it's done the source is supposed to render the copy on the source unusable (eradicated if possible) not just un-copyable. You get to keep one copy, period.

The cable providers used to play fast-and-loose with copy protection such as marking Copy One Gen content Copy One Gen on output (should be marked "Copy No More" and marking PPV and pay-VOD as "Copy Never" on output, but allowing copies of it to be made on their own leased DVRs, but now that they have to use CableCARDs in their leased equipment, any such games become licensing contract violations. The CableCARD, DFAST and the new <tru2way> licensing agreements (as well as 47 CFR §76.1904) very clearly say what you can do with content which emerges from a CableCARD (protected by DFAST) according to how its marked.

Analog channels can also have this kind of copy protection. Normally they only use copy flags on Premium channels and keep the rest at copy freely. If not they could use it on everything but some channel providers want the flags enabled.

Your correct the sports shows are a lot more crisp and clear on the 8240HDC over the 8300HD.

I swapped out my 8300HD (still SARA) for a 8240HDC (Navigator). I can't tell any difference in the PQ. Doesn't seem much faster than SARA was on the 8300.

My big complaint is there is no progress bar when you pause, etc. a recorded show.

The future copy to VCR feature in Navigator may respect the copy flags. This could make archiving harder as sometimes they abuse the copy flags. If a channel is marked Copy Once then making an archive of a DVR recording violates the flag. Copy Never is just that. You can't make a copy of it.



Analog channels can also have this kind of copy protection. Normally they only use copy flags on Premium channels and keep the rest at copy freely. If not they could use it on everything but some channel providers want the flags enabled.

From what I understand you will be able to make copys from your dvr to the dvd burner of material you have recorded from cable channels. The new software I am told will let you make one copy and one copy only of a paid on demand movie. Their even might be a charge to copy a pay for view movie. It would be like buying a cheap dvd Copying dvr recordings would still be free..

I swapped out my 8300HD (still SARA) for a 8240HDC (Navigator). I can't tell any difference in the PQ. Doesn't seem much faster than SARA was on the 8300.

My big complaint is there is no progress bar when you pause, etc. a recorded show.

My picture quality improved at least 30%. Sports games are now more focused also. If you look at the upper left corner of the banner it gives you your progress. Strange place to put it but it's there.:)

Still waiting (with fear) on Navigator here.

I did go to my brother's house Friday night and didn't feel much better about it when seeing it on his 8240HDC. First off, I didn't notice any particular improvement in image quality (we have nearly identical TV sets). It also looked slow, slow, slow. They were particularly vocal about how much they hated the fact when you scrolled up it wouldn't skip over channels you aren't subscribed to, and then you would get stuck on that channel (without being able to flip away) for a long delay until the screen showed up saying you don't have the channel. Everyone I personally know locally who has it has said they don't like it. (This is around 5 households.)

I was supposed to get it this week, but I am getting a brief respite. I still may consider the 8240HDC after I get it, if it truly runs it better than an 8300HD. If what I saw Friday was faster, then I shudder to think what it will be like on my box when it gets here.

I'm not sure if it's a Navigator issue or a Triad one, but several of my series recordings haven't updated and scheduled for the week. One should be set for Sunday night. I checked - the series recording is still set and the show is labeled as new, but it's not on the list. A few times - since the 'upgrade' - it has taken a day or two after a recording for the list to repopulate for the next week, but I've not seen anything like this.

Since I'm still learning/deciding about Navigator, I was hoping someone might have some advice: Do I need to reboot the box? Manually set only this one showing? Delete and redo the series schedule?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Happen to me with Heroes AND House the week after the update.....had to go back an set it up to record those 2 shows again and now if works fine

had to go back an set it up to record those 2 shows again and now if works fine

I rebooted the box and it had no effect. I have no problem deleting the series and rescheduling any or all of them, but, since this is a new process for a lot of us in the Triad, I wanted to check first to see if others were having similar problems. I read where there were some Charlotte issues (with FOX and CBS I think), but my problem seems to have no pattern as to networks.

I may just go back to scheduling everything manually - if the series scheduling is subject not to work, and I have to check manually to see if it's going to record, I might as well keep my finger on it so I don't inadvertently forget one by trusting the auto settings.

If you look at the upper left corner of the banner it gives you your progress. Strange place to put it but it's there.:)

Problem fixed. There was no progress info in the banner, until I did a hard re-boot. Now all is well.

I rebooted the box and it had no effect. I have no problem deleting the series and rescheduling any or all of them, but, since this is a new process for a lot of us in the Triad, I wanted to check first to see if others were having similar problems. I read where there were some Charlotte issues (with FOX and CBS I think), but my problem seems to have no pattern as to networks.

I may just go back to scheduling everything manually - if the series scheduling is subject not to work, and I have to check manually to see if it's going to record, I might as well keep my finger on it so I don't inadvertently forget one by trusting the auto settings.

After the reset series recording has worked 100% for me. I have arround 40 series includeing several news and sports.

After the reset series recording has worked 100% for me.

After resetting most of mine, it still seems to be hit and miss. I'm hoping that the schedule will fill in before it's due to record, but I'm having to keep watch, defeating the purpose of scheduling.

That reminded me of a question... what's the recommended way of making requests/expressing displeasure to TWC in the Triad? Is there someone local to contact directly? Just call the generic number and talk to a CSR? An e-mail address to use?

Thanks for any guidance.

That reminded me of a question... what's the recommended way of making requests/expressing displeasure to TWC in the Triad? Is there someone local to contact directly? Just call the generic number and talk to a CSR? An e-mail address to use?

Thanks for any guidance.

I had a couple email contacts within TWC Triad's engineering office but the last time I emailed them an issue the emails were bounced by their email server. I plan to send my next request to the regional VP of Operations, Carol Hevey but I am going to have to guess at her email address. Based on previous email addresses I had hers "should" be carol.hevey@twcable.com . Try that and see if it gets through. Let us know if your message gets thru.

My experience with the generic number and the random CSR is that the only solution they have in their bag of tricks is to reboot the box and if that doesn't work to schedule a field tech to come to your house. Sometimes I think I know more about their system than the average CSR.

After resetting most of mine, it still seems to be hit and miss. I'm hoping that the schedule will fill in before it's due to record, but I'm having to keep watch, defeating the purpose of scheduling.

That reminded me of a question... what's the recommended way of making requests/expressing displeasure to TWC in the Triad? Is there someone local to contact directly? Just call the generic number and talk to a CSR? An e-mail address to use?

Thanks for any guidance.
I have two ideas to assist you. First have you rebooted your box since getting Navigator. If not unplug it, wait 30 seconds then replug. See if that helps. Also have you gone to your series manager and under series priority set up your shows priority yet. That may help out a lot. Hope one of these solves your problem. Cheers
:)

Still no Navigator for 8300HD on Tower rd.......

Has TW changed the QAM channels again?

My brother in W-S is only getting a couple of stations, not nearly all the broadcast stations he used to get.

Isn't it a law that the cable companies pass local broadcast station's HD on QAM?

-amos

Still no Navigator for 8300HD on Tower rd.......

I would call TWC and ask when. You could also trade in your box for a 8240HDC and that would mostly assure you of Navigator. Cheers

Still no Navigator for 8300HD on Tower rd.......

You're not alone. I'm in Greensboro as well (down by Sedgefield) and my SA8300HD has not been "gatored". So far, they are late by a week from when they indicated to me it would happen.

You're not alone. I'm in Greensboro as well (down by Sedgefield) and my SA8300HD has not been "gatored". So far, they are late by a week from when they indicated to me it would happen.
Yep me too ... we were notified last week that it would be Tues or Weds, but so far no go. I am not in any hurry to get it, when it comes it comes. I am not interested in any HDC box since the ODN software does not support eSATA and I have an external drive connected to my 8300HD. BTW I live off Westridge near Hobbs.

Hey all,
I have the navigator and also the 8240HDC box. My question is will this new navigator support adding an external drive? Also if anyone is using an extra drive what kind will work with the 8240. THANKS for any help. Rod

Has TW changed the QAM channels again?

My brother in W-S is only getting a couple of stations, not nearly all the broadcast stations he used to get.

Isn't it a law that the cable companies pass local broadcast station's HD on QAM?

-amosYes, the ATSC standard is enacted as law by reference and it includes the use of QAM on cable systems. CFR specifically says that local stations are not to be encrypted. CFR also talks about publishing programming lineups, but for some reason this apparently isn't enforced for QAM clear channel assignments.

Hey all,
I have the navigator and also the 8240HDC box. My question is will this new navigator support adding an external drive? Also if anyone is using an extra drive what kind will work with the 8240. THANKS for any help. Rod

Check out the following thread ... Navigator does not support external drives on HDC set top boxes. It may in the future.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1183217

Hey all,
I have the navigator and also the 8240HDC box. My question is will this new navigator support adding an external drive? Also if anyone is using an extra drive what kind will work with the 8240. THANKS for any help. Rod

Sadly no. The 8300hd boxes did. Both Navigator but different versions.

Yes, the ATSC standard is enacted as law by reference and it includes the use of QAM on cable systems. CFR specifically says that local stations are not to be encrypted. CFR also talks about publishing programming lineups, but for some reason this apparently isn't enforced for QAM clear channel assignments.
has anybody else in the triad noticed the QAM channels missing? What are you guys getting now?

I'm in the Winston-Salem area, and am still getting the ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, 3 UNC-TV channels, THIS (movie channel), and a couple of others whose names escape me. I haven't seen any recent changes (other than Time Warner occasionally moving a couple of them around). I also haven't found any of the new HD channels they were supposed to add (I guess they didn't put them in the clear).

I've had Navigator for almost a month and it's definitely better than SARA. And definitely slower. But one feature I really like is when you're fast forwarding through the commercials and you hit play, even if it's a minute into the show, it will automatically start at the point the show starts.

Also, at work in downtown GSO, we had a old SA 2200 box that was upgraded to Navigator and the channel bar at the bottom of the screen is semi-transparent, a real nice effect and good for plasma screens. But here in WS, my 8240 has only solid channel bars. I wish we had the option to change the transparency or even the colors.

Anyone else have transparent channel bars?

I've had Navigator for almost a month and it's definitely better than SARA. And definitely slower. But one feature I really like is when you're fast forwarding through the commercials and you hit play, even if it's a minute into the show, it will automatically start at the point the show starts.

Also, at work in downtown GSO, we had a old SA 2200 box that was upgraded to Navigator and the channel bar at the bottom of the screen is semi-transparent, a real nice effect and good for plasma screens. But here in WS, my 8240 has only solid channel bars. I wish we had the option to change the transparency or even the colors.

Anyone else have transparent channel bars?
I also love the 15 minute skip feature when you are watching a show or movie and want to move forward fast.

We have beaten the radio stations to the water hole this year. Exclusively for over-the-air viewers WGSR's 47.3 channel is now all Christmas programming, and most of it locally produced.

At present, we are airing Christmas parades from some of your favorite towns and cities from years past, but The Christmas Channel will be THE place to see what's going on for the holidays.

Put us on the television for all of your Christmas parties and see your neighbors celebrating the season. And of course, let us know what you think of the idea.

Later . . . .

Sometime in the past day or so, D* has added to the Program Guides of H20's, HR20's and those receivers with the AM-21 OTA receivers, not only our channel 8 OTA signal, but also the channel 35 OTA signal labeled as WGHPSTA. We didn't tell them to do that. I assume they must have seen the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on our request to go back to 35 permanently and must still have had the channel 35 setup still in place and turned it back on. As far as we know, D* (and E* by default since they use the same receive equipment) still has channel 8 on the satellite. Our plan is to alert the MSO's who receive our signal of the channel change when the Notice is approved and we file for the CP for channel 35. This will give them a short time to go ahead and get switched to 35 so when the License to Cover is filed for 35, we can turn off channel 8.

Last night, (11-9) did those of you on TWC in Greensboro experience any issues on any signal? We have reports that all the local channels in Greensboro were out during prime time and into the 10 o'clock hour.

Last night, (11-9) did those of you on TWC in Greensboro experience any issues on any signal? We have reports that all the local channels in Greensboro were out during prime time and into the 10 o'clock hour.

RoadRunner and all channels on TWC were completely out in my area (Westridge and Hobbs) during that time.

On an unrelated note, anyone else noticing major macro-blocking on WFMY via TWC, especially during sporting events? The college and NFL games have been horrendous the past few weeks. Wondering if it is a local problem (WFMY and/or TWC-Greensboro), or a bigger issues??

Last night, (11-9) did those of you on TWC in Greensboro experience any issues on any signal? We have reports that all the local channels in Greensboro were out during prime time and into the 10 o'clock hour.

Had this occur at my home too. Lost all the broadcast channels and most cable channels. Finally came back on around midnight. I live north of Friendly between Holden and Westridge.

Not on Tower, we had locals as of 9pm last night when we turned the TV off.

RoadRunner and all channels on TWC were completely out in my area (Westridge and Hobbs) during that time.

On an unrelated note, anyone else noticing major macro-blocking on WFMY via TWC, especially during sporting events? The college and NFL games have been horrendous the past few weeks. Wondering if it is a local problem (WFMY and/or TWC-Greensboro), or a bigger issues??


I haven't noticed it on WFMY, but ESPN-HD has looked horrible via TWC recently. Almost as bad as CBScollegesports HD, which looks horrendous.

I haven't noticed it on WFMY, but ESPN-HD has looked horrible via TWC recently. Almost as bad as CBScollegesports HD, which looks horrendous.

College sports and NFL on CBS (WFMY) is what I meant. They have had almost unwatchable macroblocking on TWC (not sure about OTA).

Not on Tower, we had locals as of 9pm last night when we turned the TV off.

It didn't happen until about 9:25.

College sports and NFL on CBS (WFMY) is what I meant. They have had almost unwatchable macroblocking on TWC (not sure about OTA).

I know you meant WFMY. I was pointing out that CBScollegesports looks bad -- even worse than WFMY.

NBC17eng in the Raleigh thread said Time Warner was going to be changing QAM frequencies on Wednesday (I think it was) in the Triangle area. I wonder if that is part of what is going on around Greensboro as well?

A co-worker complained to me that his cable went out during Lie to Me last night. I just skipped through my DVRed episode from last night and we didn't appear to have an issue here out on the NW fringe of Greensboro. (Still no Navigator here either, btw...)

It didn't happen until about 9:25.

I live on Rock Haven, off Westridge near Hobbs and I just checked our recordings of Trauma and Lie to Me and they both cut off around 9:25. Not sure when the stations returned.

BTW still no Navigator (not complaining though). I am one of the rare folks who doesn't mind Sara, it does what I need it to do.

It appears TWC lost a node in that general area and that was the problem according to my contact.

RoadRunner and all channels on TWC were completely out in my area (Westridge and Hobbs) during that time.

On an unrelated note, anyone else noticing major macro-blocking on WFMY via TWC, especially during sporting events? The college and NFL games have been horrendous the past few weeks. Wondering if it is a local problem (WFMY and/or TWC-Greensboro), or a bigger issues??

yeah i have seen same thing on cbssports 590 and 520 but wfmy9 was ok and the weather channel had pixiling too ,sometimes sound breaks up also

Hear are some thoughts of a TWC user in Milwaukee on Navigator. It appears they have had it for quite some time.

As I sit here reflecting over Time Warner's actions the past several months here is my take on Time Warner.

1. Navigator - Still buggy. After 3 stb's in the last 4 months I still get random re-boots. Also series recording is still flawed as I have had several recordings stop after only 5 minutes. Keyword seach - not available. In fact try searching for a movie that is on right now. It is a major task. Also the so called Start Over doesn't work.
2. Theme lineup - Totally useless. Now you must jump around to view your channels. And what is up with that new Digital Choice package? Here I thought I paid for the top tier. Ha! Now I should pay $4 to $5 for a few channels? The only one in the pack I would ever watch is C & I. Plus they are not commercial free.
3. Removing WTTW from the Kenosha lineup. TWC says they did it to save bandwidth. Why not knock off a few of those shopping channels?
4. When will we get the HD channels we all want? Come on TWC, get on the ball.
5. NFL Network - Here again TWC wants to charge for this so we will not get it for free. But watch, when NFL & TWC ever agree, they will probably put the NFL network and MLB network in the Sports Tier and charge us another $4 or $5.
6. The Remote - Still bugs me that I can't control my surround volume without switching modes. What the heck, TWC get with the home theater program.
7. I have two different stb's, the SA8300HDC and the Samsung SMT H3090 and the only differences I see is the Sammy has a stretched program guide and the SA8300HDC is silver and the SMT H3090 is black.

It appears TWC lost a node in that general area and that was the problem according to my contact.

There is a major hub at Westridge and Whitehurst, that is probably the one.

Hear are some thoughts of a TWC user in Milwaukee on Navigator. It appears they have had it for quite some time.


6. The Remote - Still bugs me that I can't control my surround volume without switching modes. What the heck, TWC get with the home theater program.



Why dont you get with the "home theater program" and not use the standard remote. Universal remotes available for a reason.

Hear are some thoughts of a TWC user in Milwaukee on Navigator. It appears they have had it for quite some time.

As I sit here reflecting over Time Warner's actions the past several months here is my take on Time Warner.

1. Navigator - Still buggy. After 3 stb's in the last 4 months I still get random re-boots. Also series recording is still flawed as I have had several recordings stop after only 5 minutes. Keyword seach - not available. In fact try searching for a movie that is on right now. It is a major task. Also the so called Start Over doesn't work.
2. Theme lineup - Totally useless. Now you must jump around to view your channels. And what is up with that new Digital Choice package? Here I thought I paid for the top tier. Ha! Now I should pay $4 to $5 for a few channels? The only one in the pack I would ever watch is C & I. Plus they are not commercial free.
3. Removing WTTW from the Kenosha lineup. TWC says they did it to save bandwidth. Why not knock off a few of those shopping channels?
4. When will we get the HD channels we all want? Come on TWC, get on the ball.
5. NFL Network - Here again TWC wants to charge for this so we will not get it for free. But watch, when NFL & TWC ever agree, they will probably put the NFL network and MLB network in the Sports Tier and charge us another $4 or $5.
6. The Remote - Still bugs me that I can't control my surround volume without switching modes. What the heck, TWC get with the home theater program.
7. I have two different stb's, the SA8300HDC and the Samsung SMT H3090 and the only differences I see is the Sammy has a stretched program guide and the SA8300HDC is silver and the SMT H3090 is black.


Gladly I have had nothing but a great experiece with Navigator. Not any of this fellows problems. I understand keyword seach is to be added early next year. All I can report own are my on experience which has been very pleasant so far. Is Navigator perfect no. But it's a huge upgrade over SARA which almost made me ill to use. I have used TIVO and PASSPORT and at this point both are still superior to Navigator. Haveing said that Navigator is a good 10 years ahead of SARA. SARA was one of the worst IPG's I have ever exoerienced.

I know you meant WFMY. I was pointing out that CBScollegesports looks bad -- even worse than WFMY.

Just to add to the discussion. I mainly only watch the HD channels on TWC, I have notice a sharp decrease in visual quality over the past month or so, as well as pixelation on fast moving scenes. I would get that randomely in the past, it seems to be happening more often. I know its not the tv as my blu-ray looks flawless.

Is it them jamming more HD channels into limited space? Or some other reason?

Hope it gets better soon.

I have notice a sharp decrease in visual quality over the past month or so, as well as pixelation on fast moving scenes.

For me, the pixelation has been in the last week or so, on just about anything we've watched live or played back from the DVR (mainly HD channels for both live and recorded stuff). The quality has seemed really good until this.

Is it them jamming more HD channels into limited space?

Short answer, YES.

For me, the pixelation has been in the last week or so, on just about anything we've watched live or played back from the DVR (mainly HD channels for both live and recorded stuff). The quality has seemed really good until this.

Agreed. I've noticed the degradation of the signal on most of the channels, mainly during fast-moving scenes. I hope TWC addresses this major issue. Of the channels I watch, ESPN-HD has been the worst.

WXII was unavailable for about 10 minutes tonight on DirecTV. It just came back up. DirecTV had a message up about it saying that they were aware of the problem and not to call.

As if you guys weren't having enough fun with Navigator right now...


http://www.wxii12.com/money/21598710/detail.html

As if you guys weren't having enough fun with Navigator right now...


http://www.wxii12.com/money/21598710/detail.html


Thankfully I still have a year and a half on the price lock guarantee.

Besides, I got a letter in the mail today about Clearwire's 4G internet service is available in Greensboro/Winston Salem. So anyone can switch to them and then either get Dish/DirecTV.

So, I guess that everyone is not getting "Free HD", so what is the difference if you pay $10 extra for HD on Dish/DirecTV.

I got a letter in the mail today about Clearwire's 4G internet service

Any pricing info or specific web address given in the letter for further info?

So, I guess that everyone is not getting "Free HD", so what is the difference if you pay $10 extra for HD on Dish/DirecTV.

No one gets "free HD". You pay for it one way or another. It is just called something else if not disclosed up front. Just more marketing BS.

Any pricing info or specific web address given in the letter for further info?

http://www.clear.com

has time warner compressed some of their HD channels in last few days especially espnhd and speedhd just dont have the clairty they did have or maybe its just me idk

It's not just you. Ballgames looked horrible yesterday with tons of compression artifacts. Don't know what's up.

WFMY looked awful yesterday. Usually, I think the networks look just fine on cable, but the pixellation was off the charts for USC/Florida. The other HD games I was watching looked much better at the time.

Still no Navigator to my SA8300HD box. Anyone else in Greensboro that got left behind?

Still no Navigator to my SA8300HD box. Anyone else in Greensboro that got left behind?

Yes, and may I remain behind! :)

Thank God I got Navigator the SARA interface almost made me puke.

Still no Navigator to my SA8300HD box. Anyone else in Greensboro that got left behind?

still not here (Rock Haven and Westridge) and I'm not complaining ....

Not here either.

Just got a call from CS and he said that due to some scheduling problems the downloads have been pushed back but he thinks the boxes should get updated within 1-2 weeks if things go right.

"Besides, I got a letter in the mail today about Clearwire's 4G internet service is available in Greensboro/Winston Salem. So anyone can switch to them and then either get Dish/DirecTV."


Two words for you:

Bandwidth Cap.


And $10 per gig of data that you go over.

$10 PER GIG! That's ridiculous. Streaming video from netflix et al will eat that up.

Have heard from a source that keyword search , manual recording and copy to vcr should be added to Navigator as new features early next year.

Have heard from a source that keyword search , manual recording and copy to vcr should be added to Navigator as new features early next year.I had a call a few weeks ago that Navagator would be deployed to my HD boxes in mid-October.
It was from Time-Warner... also got a nice postcard in the mail... stating the same. It is close to a month's delay from the advertised schedule... and I still have the old SARA interface.

Clearly the deployment is not going according to schedule. I have little faith that any future enhancements will be on schedule either. It is good the features are being re-added next year. who knows... by the time Navigator is deployed to us, they might already be part of it.:D

I had a call a few weeks ago that Navagator would be deployed to my HD boxes in mid-October.
It was from Time-Warner... also got a nice postcard in the mail... stating the same. It is close to a month's delay from the advertised schedule... and I still have the old SARA interface.

Clearly the deployment is not going according to schedule. I have little faith that any future enhancements will be on schedule either. It is good the features are being re-added next year. who knows... by the time Navigator is deployed to us, they might already be part of it.:D

I have 2 8240HDC boxes both have had Navigator deployed on them. My neighbor has a 8300HD and has gotton Navigatpr. Which box or boxes do you have.

two boxes... a 8300HD and a 3250HD

two boxes... a 8300HD and a 3250HD

You should be getting Navigator within the next 7 to 10 days according to TWC. All the new HD channels they have added or are adding put them 2 weeks behind schedule on Navigator. CHEERS

You should be getting Navigator within the next 7 to 10 days according to TWC. All the new HD channels they have added or are adding put them 2 weeks behind schedule on Navigator. CHEERS


I dont mind getting navigator, but I wish they would fix their ****** picture quality as of late, before allocating more company resources to rolling this thing out... If it gets any worse its not going to matter which GUI is on my box, I'm not going to watch it...

I dont mind getting navigator, but I wish they would fix their ****** picture quality as of late, before allocating more company resources to rolling this thing out... If it gets any worse its not going to matter which GUI is on my box, I'm not going to watch it...

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has noticed the crappy picture lately. CBSHD and ESPNHD have looked like garbage. I hope it's not permanent. I don't really care about navigator. Just hope they improve the picture quality.

FYI - For those with 4:3 TV's with tuners that use the AFD aspect ratio code (not all do, some CECB's do and some don't), I have "turned it on" (wish it were THAT simple) and it appears to be working as expected. I tested it yesterday with a LG CECB and a multi thousand dollar AFD decoder and they both worked the same. (whoo hoo!) Those programs in 16:9 that we air are now being letterboxed when broadcast. Everything else is 4:3 center cut. The news is still coded 4:3 center cut even though it is broadcast widescreen (please don't ask, it's a news thing). Our default when no coding is present is 4:3 center cut. FOX Network programming has had the AFD code letterbox for several months now with scripted programming (like House, Lie to Me, Glee, etc) and certain other programming while sports and reality (Dance and Chief Ramsey, etc) has been coded 4:3 center cut. Not sure what they are going to do with American Idol. And not sure how many cablecos are using AFD for the SD downconvert either. I know DirecTV isn't, so far (but they have OTHER issues I wish they would fix first with our signal) and TWC is looking at doing it (talked to their headend engineer yesterday) and those are the only ones I am aware of. This is still all beta at this point, but I would hope we would adopt this as the norm to handle those with 4:3 formatted TV's. Of course the final decision is WAY above my pay grade! I just make it work! :D

Just as a sidebar, WXII appears to be AFD coding during at least network (NBC has been a large supporter of AFD so no surprise there) and coding 4:3 center cut for their news. I am never around to see if their widescreen syndicated programming is coded AFD letterbox yet (my guess is if the code is on the programming it is but I am not sure if they are using it on local programming other than a 4:3 center cut default which many stations are using off their encoders). WFMY doesn't appear to be coding with AFD. They always come up letterbox no matter what the programming. CBS Network doesn't support the use of AFD anyway so they may be following CBS' lead. Haven't talked to anyone over there in a while. WXLV appears to be AFD coding network only that I can see. ABC also supports AFD.

WFMY looked awful yesterday. Usually, I think the networks look just fine on cable, but the pixellation was off the charts for USC/Florida. The other HD games I was watching looked much better at the time.I seem to recall that they must pass OTA broadcasts with the equivalent bandwidth, but whether they actually do is another story. Cable networks are only subject to agreements between the network & the cable company. I think HBO used to have some requirements in this area, but they may have abandoned them as their mangement is taking a very different view towards original programming.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has noticed the crappy picture lately. CBSHD and ESPNHD have looked like garbage. I hope it's not permanent. I don't really care about navigator. Just hope they improve the picture quality.

Agreed. ESPNHD has been unwatchable.

Agreed. ESPNHD has been unwatchable.

Agreed.

And the Florida/SC game last Saturday looked horrible too on CBSHD. But OTA it looks great. Just sucks when you have to DVR some games.

No one has asked, but I did find out what happened to WXII yesterday. For those on TWC, WXII was off the air from shortly after noon to almost 8pm last night. WXII has a fiber link to TWC so those subscribers didn't notice anything. Anyway, it seems that since the transition, the air conditioning on the mountain is not working as hard since the UHF transmitter is water cooled, there is very little if any heat given off and of course there is no VHF transmitter running producing heat to keep the moisture down when the air is brought in as fresh air since the outside temp is low enough and with it, laden with moisture from all the rain last week, the humidity was up in the transmitter room. Someone mopped the floor yesterday morning and it raised the humidity up enough that it arced one of the power supplies in the transmitter and shut it down and it wouldn't come back up. It took hours to track the problem down and after having to fly in new parts that still didn't bring it up, they found the humidity problem. They brought in dehumidifiers and after the humidity went down, the transmitter fired right up again. They have no backup transmitter nor backup antenna system. That is what happened.

Agreed. ESPNHD has been unwatchable.

I read somewhere, don't know if was here or on another website, that TWC has there SDV channels based in Raleigh and they have it fiber fed into Greensboro and Charlotte. Although, I thought that ESPNHD is not on the SDV unless TWC has moved it to SDV or that Raleigh has the HD channels as well.

I know I did not dream this up. :)

alot of time warners hd channels have been compressed since they have added the new ones recently is what i was told by a tech that came to my house and he said he didnt know if it was going to change anytime soon since bathwith was becoming a big problem with channel missing in some nodes, i think we all should get half price since it seems to be half PQ that it was a month ago , sports are extremely bad now

Does anybody know when Uverse will be here in GSO?

...Someone mopped the floor yesterday morning and it raised the humidity up enough that it arced one of the power supplies in the transmitter and shut it down and it wouldn't come back up.
I'm curious if you know how high the humidity was, or if there is a typical level that would cause such a problem? I'm sure there are operating ranges listed on the equipment, but still, that's pretty crazy.

I'm curious if you know how high the humidity was, or if there is a typical level that would cause such a problem? I'm sure there are operating ranges listed on the equipment, but still, that's pretty crazy.

My guess is, no one thought about it since it hadn't been an issue before when the VHF air cooled transmitter was on the air.

You have to keep air moving around the transmitters, even water cooled ones. When the temp drops low enough (usually below 60 degrees), to save the equipment and operational cost, HVAC units will pull in outside air instead of using the compressors for cool air. When this happens, any moisture in the air gets sucked in too. If you don't have some mechanism to dehumidify the air, condensation (cool, moist air) builds up on surfaces and in a UHF transmitter, you have high levels of voltage on surfaces, starting at 500 volts up to 35,000 volts. Water is a great conductor of electricity and at those volt potential levels, a relatively small amount of moisture can cause an arc over creating havoc.

When we ran the old air cooled tube channel 8 transmitter in the old transmitter building, we had to keep a LARGE amount of air flowing through the building year round (the air intakes were in the back doors of the transmitter racks) due to the radiant heat load coming off the transmitter. We had no heating in the building. Didn't need it with a 25,000 watt heater sitting there running 24/7 (we would recirculate the exhaust to heat the building in the winter). In the winter time, we pulled in outside air and moisture was always an issue. Since the transmitter ran all the time and produced heat all the time, moisture inside the transmitter was never an issue. Moisture everywhere else inside the building was another story! Rust would appear on exposed metal surfaces like the metal clip on clip boards and metal chairs and desks and equipment and racks within a month or two every winter when the temps dropped below 60 degrees and stayed there as outside air was pulled in 24/7 for circulation. Remember this transmitter alone pulled 12,000 CFM to keep it in it's operating temperature range of 150 degrees! That is A LOT of air flow!

I know WXII uses a water cooled Harris UHF transmitter that doesn't produce much ambient heat like the old air cooled VHF transmitters did, even solid state. I also suspect they are not using a variable speed fan on their HVAC system so it is sucking max all the time whether it is needed or not and with all the wet weather over the last week, the humidity builds up since there is no heat to dry the air out, the humidity hangs around and settles on things in and outside the transmitter.

My channel 8 solid state air cooled digital transmitter running 1.2 kW produces way more radiant heat than my water cooled 50 kW UHF digital transmitter does. In the analog days, when the same channel 8 solid state transmitter ran 32 kW of analog, with no HVAC running, it would raise the room temperature 30 degrees in 10 minutes. We ran 30 tons of HVAC to keep that one room at 72 degrees and in the summer with outside temps at 100 degrees, that system was running flat out and was having a hard time keeping up. In contrast, my UHF transmitter room, it too has a 30 ton HVAC system, but unlike the channel 8 HVAC system, the channel 35 system runs not only the that transmitter room, but the rest of the building, less the channel 8 room and it has a variable speed fan that runs at 30% speed because the heat load is so much smaller. This also means that less moisture is pulled in when operating in "economy mode" in the winter when it is pulling in air from the outside and the normal heat that is given off from the equipment keeps the moisture in check. We have FOX to thank for all that one, it was their idea. I would suspect WXII's and WFMY's transmitter buildings are not that sophisticated in their HVAC since it does cost more money to do it this way, but we don't have to worry about moisture though.

Pay me now. Pay me later. Yeah, it is a science and some black art this HVAC stuff! ;)

Does anybody know when Uverse will be here in GSO?

att said it would be in winston salem in mid 2010 when i checked a few months ago , so greensboro souldnt be far off if not ahead of it

Does anybody know when Uverse will be here in GSO?

I heard in 3 years.

Northstate is offering a service called Plex to people in their service area. Beside High Point I'm not sure who else is served by Northstate.

Here's a link to see if it's in your area

http://www.northstate.net/area_search.php

I know Northstate is associated with AT&T so I have wondered if Northstate's Plex service is a rebranded version of U-Verse since Plex is an IPTV service like U-Verse and FiOS. If it is really is U-Verse I wouldn't get it. I've read about some of U-Verse's technical limitations and these would keep me from getting it. However, FiOS doesn't have the same issues and I would love to get FiOS.

Humidity

It's a wonder mold doesn't grow. When you have no sunshine to burn off the humidity, like what we have been having down east for the last few weeks, and have temps not too hot or cold to run the HVAC, the air gets very heavy. Several times at home, I have had to turn on the A/C, even though the temperature wasn't more than 74 F I run the A/C for around a half hour to lower the humidity, then turn on the heat to warm it back to 70. The humidity had been 70% in the house, and that is too high.

I know Northstate is associated with AT&TThat association is only with wireless. AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular) operates in Northstate's PCS spectrum. Under that agreement they can resell the wireless service.

Did anyone else have trouble watching or recording Flashforward on ABC 45 last night? I tried to watch it about 10 minutes delayed on my DVR but found it unwatchable, with video and audio dropouts, images freezing and/or pixelating, and other issues. The feed also seemed to be switching between HD and SD. I just had DirecTV installed on Wednesday so I'm wondering if there might be a problem on my end.

Did anyone else have trouble watching or recording Flashforward on ABC 45 last night? I tried to watch it about 10 minutes delayed on my DVR but found it unwatchable, with video and audio dropouts, images freezing and/or pixelating, and other issues. The feed also seemed to be switching between HD and SD. I just had DirecTV installed on Wednesday so I'm wondering if there might be a problem on my end.

It happened to me too. I have Time Warner and it was happening on both the HD and SD channels and also with the OTA antenna. Seems like an issue on ABC45's end.

You can view it online for anybody that missed it.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/109167/flashforward-believe

Thanks! I got a little paranoid after reading some posts on dbstalk about problems with D* recordings after the latest update, so I'm glad that's not it. At least the internet comes to the rescue when this happens.


It happened to me too. I have Time Warner and it was happening on both the HD and SD channels and also with the OTA antenna. Seems like an issue on ABC45's end.

You can view it online for anybody that missed it.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/109167/flashforward-believe

We were supposed to get the following today. As of 6 p.m est they are not available on my box.


November 23, 2009: The following channels will be added:

* HBO Signature HD - Channel 452 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Family HD - Channel 453 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Comedy HD - Channel 454 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Zone HD - Channel 455 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Latino HD - Channel 456 (requires subscription to HBO)
* Showtime Too HD - Channel 470 (requires subscription to Showtime)
* Action Max HD - Channel 461 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
* Cartoon Network HD - Channel 507 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* WE HD - Channel 508 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* IFC HD - Channel 509 (Movie Tier)

We were supposed to get the following today. As of 6 p.m est they are not available on my box.


November 23, 2009: The following channels will be added:

* HBO Signature HD - Channel 452 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Family HD - Channel 453 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Comedy HD - Channel 454 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Zone HD - Channel 455 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Latino HD - Channel 456 (requires subscription to HBO)
* Showtime Too HD - Channel 470 (requires subscription to Showtime)
* Action Max HD - Channel 461 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
* Cartoon Network HD - Channel 507 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* WE HD - Channel 508 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* IFC HD - Channel 509 (Movie Tier)
They were on mine much earlier today.

Joe L.

I received my new channels this evening as promised. Hope they are not going to be freezing like some of the others.
King, NC



* HBO Signature HD - Channel 452 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Family HD - Channel 453 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Comedy HD - Channel 454 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Zone HD - Channel 455 (requires subscription to HBO)
* HBO Latino HD - Channel 456 (requires subscription to HBO)
* Showtime Too HD - Channel 470 (requires subscription to Showtime)
* Action Max HD - Channel 461 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
* Cartoon Network HD - Channel 507 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* WE HD - Channel 508 (Basic Cable plus HD converter)
* IFC HD - Channel 509 (Movie Tier)

I got the message on my TiVo about the lineup changes, but I didn't look to see if they were up yet.

They were on mine much earlier today.

Joe L.

Weird, as of this morning 11/24/09 I still dont have the HBO's or the other additional HD channels listed. I always thought Winston Salem was controlled by the Greensboro "office, headquarters, whatever", I guess not as noted GBORO has already received...

Weird, as of this morning 11/24/09 I still dont have the HBO's or the other additional HD channels listed. I always thought Winston Salem was controlled by the Greensboro "office, headquarters, whatever", I guess not as noted GBORO has already received...

Strange you should have them by now. They were on my Navigator box when I awoke yesterday.

Weird, as of this morning 11/24/09 I still dont have the HBO's or the other additional HD channels listed. I always thought Winston Salem was controlled by the Greensboro "office, headquarters, whatever", I guess not as noted GBORO has already received...

Reboot your box, sometimes I have to do this to get new channels. It's supposed to do it automatically but sometimes there can be a glitch.

Reboot your box, sometimes I have to do this to get new channels. It's supposed to do it automatically but sometimes there can be a glitch.

Got it, I will give it a shot when I get home. Never had any issues on past additions. We'll see if it works. Thanks.

Will a DVR Extender work on a 8240HDC DVR from TWC? If so, what do you recommend?

Will a DVR Extender work on a 8240HDC DVR from TWC? If so, what do you recommend?

The research shows that the external drives (E-SATA) work better with the non-C MDN boxes with based on what I have read and heard about a 75% success rate.

The C-boxes run ODN and only have about a 25% chance of success with E-SATA drives. However, a TWC HDC box user in Charlotte North Carolina posted on the AVS forum that he got past the typical "We don't support E-SATA drives" and needed one for his HDC box. A higher level tech said that "they" were testing E-SATA drives with the new HDC boxes. However, it is unclear whether or not he meant testing at the corporate level or testing in that North Carolina division.

Anyway, shockingly, the tech e-mailed the user a list of compatible drives with the HDC boxes. This is what the user told our AVS forum:

**********************************

Just wanted to let folks know what I was just told- I called TWC tech support about transferring a TIVO lifetime subscription and when the tech asked why I stated that I was dissatisfied with the storage of the 8300hdc. He stated,"You know you can add an external hard drive..."
I told him that I had heard other wise and he said that they had been testing drives, and were still testing drives, but had a list of compatible external drives, and that he would email that list to me.
He did. Here is the list he sent

Seagate models: ST3160801XS (160GB) and ST3400832AS (400GB)
Maxtor models: Quickview P01K160 (160GB) and J01M300 (300GB)
Western Digital: models: WDG1S5000 (500GB), WDXS1600JDNN (160GB) and WD2500JD-56HBC0 (250GB).

*********************************

That's all I know. Good luck!!!

Jack

Just a note, we are getting close to having our HD server on line. I hope next week or week after, depends on how the testing goes. We have had one factory rep in for the server and now waiting on the automation reps to finish the interfacing. We will take it slow on ingesting HD material to start with (only Seinfeld at 11pm at the beginning) to be sure it is doing what it needs to do, not only playback but recording since it will record the Seinfeld HD feeds at 12:30am! So, no we don't want any issues there! Once we get it up and running at full speed sometime after the first of the year, we will then be well on our way. Of course, the economy will drive how fast anything after that goes. But at least we can now put live non network HD events on air (just haven't had anything yet) and will be able to put HD programming on the air. The Weather Center can go HD to air now, but we haven't had a need to put it on the air. The weather crawl info is also in HD now.

This HD stuff is pretty involved. It really isn't as easy as it looks. It just takes forever, but we are getting better at it. (I hope!)

After HD Box hard reboot, still no new HD channels supposed to be available as of 11/23/09 in Winston Salem. Anyone else in Winston having the same issues?

*update spoke with an online "tech" he tried pushing some signals to the DVR box as well as having me reset through the vol - vol+ and info button method. Still no luck. Going to send out a tech.

Anyone else in Winston having the same issues?

I just checked - I do have 507, 508 & nonfunctioning 509.

Just a note, we are getting close to having our HD server on line. I hope next week or week after, depends on how the testing goes. We have had one factory rep in for the server and now waiting on the automation reps to finish the interfacing. We will take it slow on ingesting HD material to start with (only Seinfeld at 11pm at the beginning) to be sure it is doing what it needs to do, not only playback but recording since it will record the Seinfeld HD feeds at 12:30am! So, no we don't want any issues there! Once we get it up and running at full speed sometime after the first of the year, we will then be well on our way. Of course, the economy will drive how fast anything after that goes. But at least we can now put live non network HD events on air (just haven't had anything yet) and will be able to put HD programming on the air. The Weather Center can go HD to air now, but we haven't had a need to put it on the air. The weather crawl info is also in HD now.

This HD stuff is pretty involved. It really isn't as easy as it looks. It just takes forever, but we are getting better at it. (I hope!)

I must say that without even being in HD the PQ of your newscast on your digital channel is very good. Better than the other channels.

I must say that without even being in HD the PQ of your newscast on your digital channel is very good. Better than the other channels.

Thanks for the kind words. It is amazing just what a camera change out will do. Yes, the cameras are HD and they are feeding 720p out, (and the picture looks fabulous in HD too!) they are being downconverted to the SD production switcher and then the production switcher is being upconverted back to 720p to the HD Master Control switcher for broadcast. That is why if we had to do a weather cut in straight from the Weather Center through Master Control, that camera would be in HD along with the weather graphics. Unlike a lot of stations (I don't know if this is true at WXII or WFMY) they still have SD Master Control switchers and have what is called a "HD island" where the SD switcher is upconverter to HD and then run through an inexpensive 10 or 12 input router on to air for HD sources. It is a cheaper way to get on in HD, but it has a lot of drawbacks through like still having SD graphics and such. We don't do that. We installed a completely new HD switcher and each source goes straight into the HD switcher and if the source needs to be upconverted, it is at the input to the HD switcher so when that source becomes HD natively, we just take the upconverter out of line. That is how we can have HD graphics natively on the air now from Master Control. It is a step by step building process and the switcher graphics are HD natively.

We may not be the first with HD news in the market, but we intend to do it right out of the gate and usually that takes more time than just "getting it on as fast as possible." With what it costs to convert to HD news these days with the economy the way it is, you can't just be willy nilly with it, in my opinion. Of course I have no say in timing or what we purchase. I don't become involved until it arrives on the loading dock, whenever that is.

But it seems we are always having a parade of product demos these days as companies are out beating the bushes for sales (they are really hurting too since no one is buying right now). We see some pretty neat stuff but the cost seems to always be too scary!

In the end, no one is going to really remember or care who was the first with HD news, like no one unless you have been around since 2001 remembers who was on the air first digitally or who had the first HD programming on air. In the big scheme of life, it doesn't really matter. You can't live on past glories forever. It is the old saying, what have you done for me lately?

In the end, no one is going to really remember or care who was the first with HD news, like no one unless you have been around since 2001 remembers who was on the air first digitally or who had the first HD programming on air. In the big scheme of life, it doesn't really matter.

I'm definitely a believer in doing it the right way, but I think the potential opportunity other stations might hope for is to gain viewership by being in HD first ... in which case, being first may be critically important. Of course the quality of the news/programming is important too, but given all other things equal, I'll take the HD.

I'm definitely a believer in doing it the right way, but I think the potential opportunity other stations might hope for is to gain viewership by being in HD first ... in which case, being first may be critically important. Of course the quality of the news/programming is important too, but given all other things equal, I'll take the HD.

With less than 35% of all HD sets (which only equal about 50% at this point, 35% of 50%) in the marketplace connected to any HD service, that argument doesn't hold much water. The rest won't know the difference anyway. Those who watch HD just because it is HD doesn't last too long. Content has always won out. Yes, there will be a bump in the beginning, but that usually doesn't last long if the content isn't there. It takes both to succeed. Besides, if HD is so important to you, if you have a station that is in HD with content you don't like and a station with 16:9 SD with content you do like, you will gravitate to the SD 16:9 with the content you like over a 4:3 SD with content you like. That is being proven in markets all over the country which is why you are seeing about half and half of stations going HD vs 16:9 SD. They both beat the 4:3 SD station.

...Besides, if HD is so important to you, if you have a station that is in HD with content you don't like and a station with 16:9 SD with content you do like, you will gravitate to the SD 16:9 with the content you like over a 4:3 SD with content you like. That is being proven in markets all over the country which is why you are seeing about half and half of stations going HD vs 16:9 SD. They both beat the 4:3 SD station.
I agree. I'd love to have everything in HD, but sometimes I'm sitting there thinking, "I'd be happy if they'd just make this 16:9.

I agree. I'd love to have everything in HD, but sometimes I'm sitting there thinking, "I'd be happy if they'd just make this 16:9.

To be completely honest here, we will not stay SD 16:9 forever. That is not in the plans. This is just an interim stage. As to when we might go HD for news, that I don't have an answer to. I haven't been told. I do have an idea of a possible time frame, but I would rather not say in public at this time since I have no evidence to back it up, yet. There are just too many variables at the moment.

Yes, there will be a bump in the beginning, but that usually doesn't last long if the content isn't there. It takes both to succeed.


That's why I said the content is important as well. 16:9 SD is certainly better than 4:3 and you're right, it's completely watchable. But, if all things are equal (as I said) I'd choose HD and being first opened that door. But I'm a technology freak.

Network TV may be a bit different -- a few years back (and I don't remember specifics) I remember changing my viewing habits based on the HD content. In some cases, networks didn't offer HD -- in other cases, the carrier didn't offer them. Just last week, I canceled HBO (Directv) due to lack of HD support (they only have the 1 HD channel -- I don't count east/west as two separate channels). It wasn't until recently that NHL Center Ice was HD ... that too prevented me from ordering it. (Today they have it, but I don't have the time... go figure.)

From all of us at FOX8 WGHP, Happy Thanksgiving Day!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/WGHP.jpg

I'm home for thanksgiving -- I'm from the Raleigh metro area and have TWC with an HD8300 at our house. The HD8240 at my parents' house seems MUCH slower to respond to command inputs, and half the time I can't even get FF/REW to work on HD channels. Is this a normal situation for subscribers in this area? I'm wondering if there's that much difference between the 8300 and the 8240, or if maybe there is something else going on?

I'd estimate that a channel change on the 8240 here takes twice as long, and the responsiveness in the general menu settings is even worse.

I'm home for thanksgiving -- I'm from the Raleigh metro area and have TWC with an HD8300 at our house. The HD8240 at my parents' house seems MUCH slower to respond to command inputs, and half the time I can't even get FF/REW to work on HD channels. Is this a normal situation for subscribers in this area? I'm wondering if there's that much difference between the 8300 and the 8240, or if maybe there is something else going on?

I'd estimate that a channel change on the 8240 here takes twice as long, and the responsiveness in the general menu settings is even worse.

Strange my 8240HDC it twice as fast as the 8300HD. It has more ram and no analog tuner to slow it up. Prehaps it's just your unit.

The research shows that the external drives (E-SATA) work better with the non-C MDN boxes with based on what I have read and heard about a 75% success rate.

The C-boxes run ODN and only have about a 25% chance of success with E-SATA drives. However, a TWC HDC box user in Charlotte North Carolina posted on the AVS forum that he got past the typical "We don't support E-SATA drives" and needed one for his HDC box. A higher level tech said that "they" were testing E-SATA drives with the new HDC boxes. However, it is unclear whether or not he meant testing at the corporate level or testing in that North Carolina division.

Anyway, shockingly, the tech e-mailed the user a list of compatible drives with the HDC boxes. This is what the user told our AVS forum:

**********************************

Just wanted to let folks know what I was just told- I called TWC tech support about transferring a TIVO lifetime subscription and when the tech asked why I stated that I was dissatisfied with the storage of the 8300hdc. He stated,"You know you can add an external hard drive..."
I told him that I had heard other wise and he said that they had been testing drives, and were still testing drives, but had a list of compatible external drives, and that he would email that list to me.
He did. Here is the list he sent

Seagate models: ST3160801XS (160GB) and ST3400832AS (400GB)
Maxtor models: Quickview P01K160 (160GB) and J01M300 (300GB)
Western Digital: models: WDG1S5000 (500GB), WDXS1600JDNN (160GB) and WD2500JD-56HBC0 (250GB).

*********************************

That's all I know. Good luck!!!

Jack


Thanks for the info. I went out to Best Buy and bought a Western Digital 1TB DVR Expander. Took only a few minutes to hook it up and it is working. My usage went from 80% full to 9% full.

Has anyone heard about this.

http://www.rolloverorgettough.com/

Saw this in the Greensboro paper about networks wanting to charge us more, so TWC is asking us if we want to pay the price or lose the network. Heard this involves FOX, The Weather Channel. There might be more, but I don't know. While I hate to see our prices go up, but do we really want to lose FOX or any other channel. I can't make the argument about going to satellite, because there prices go up as well.

Directv and Dish has several pricing tiers and you pay for the channels that you want. Why can't Time Warner do this? Have a TW Silver, TW Gold, and TW Platium tier pricing.

Has anyone heard about this.

http://www.rolloverorgettough.com/

Saw this in the Greensboro paper about networks wanting to charge us more, so TWC is asking us if we want to pay the price or lose the network. Heard this involves FOX, The Weather Channel. There might be more, but I don't know. While I hate to see our prices go up, but do we really want to lose FOX or any other channel. I can't make the argument about going to satellite, because there prices go up as well.

Directv and Dish has several pricing tiers and you pay for the channels that you want. Why can't Time Warner do this? Have a TW Silver, TW Gold, and TW Platium tier pricing.

This is TWC's way of trying to combat retrans cash that is about to hit. They know if the locals hit them with cash retrans deals, it will price them way above the other providers. Remember, they built RoadRunner off the monies of the TV side so they had to raise the TV rates to do it and now they are on the edge of pricing themselves out. If you go to the roll over side, they force you to go to the get tough side and "vote" the way they want you to. It is a total farce.

With other cablcos that tried to lockout stations who wanted money, in the end it cost the cableco subs who went somewhere else and didn't come back and they had to pay the stations anyway. This is all smoke and mirrors. This is a dumb tactic.

After HD Box hard reboot, still no new HD channels supposed to be available as of 11/23/09 in Winston Salem. Anyone else in Winston having the same issues?

*update spoke with an online "tech" he tried pushing some signals to the DVR box as well as having me reset through the vol - vol+ and info button method. Still no luck. Going to send out a tech.

* Another update, I had two technicians come to the house yesterday. They ran some diagnostics on my box, sent a few signals, and still no luck. They switched out my 8300HD with another one and still no luck. They felt it was either 2 things: The new channels weren't pushed to my "node" yet or the old sara software was not recognizing the new channels. My father has Sara and was getting the channels so I figured it couldn't be that. I entertained the idea and traded in my 8300hd for a 8240hdc with navigator... lo and behold the new channels showed up... So who knows. I like the look of the navigator, but it is a tad bit slower.

I am signed up with TWC under the 2 year "Price Lock" contract. I have about 1.5 years left on it. If TWC does take away a network channel, wouldn't that be a breach of contract on there end?

This is TWC's way of trying to combat retrans cash that is about to hit. They know if the locals hit them with cash retrans deals, it will price them way above the other providers. Remember, they built RoadRunner off the monies of the TV side so they had to raise the TV rates to do it and now they are on the edge of pricing themselves out. If you go to the roll over side, they force you to go to the get tough side and "vote" the way they want you to. It is a total farce.

With other cablcos that tried to lockout stations who wanted money, in the end it cost the cableco subs who went somewhere else and didn't come back and they had to pay the stations anyway. This is all smoke and mirrors. This is a dumb tactic.

I've taken this thing as TWC's way of putting the blame of higher prices on the program providers, deflecting the blame away from themselves. But higher programming costs doesn't explain why the cost of road runner is going up. My RR (the only thing I get from TWC) bill went up $5 dollars. As we learned when TWC tried to put download caps in place, TWC infrastructure costs for RR have actually gone down. So TWC jacking up the RR is either a way of covering other expenses or just plain ol corporate greed.

I am signed up with TWC under the 2 year "Price Lock" contract. I have about 1.5 years left on it. If TWC does take away a network channel, wouldn't that be a breach of contract on there end?

My guess is not because the fine print of these types of contracts always state that TV provider (in this case TWC) can change programming at any time. This kind of question came up when Directv lost Versus over a contract dispute with Comcast, the owners of Versus.

Anyone else having problems with their tuning adapter today? It started last night for us where none of the SDV channels are coming through.

Anyone else having problems with their tuning adapter today? It started last night for us where none of the SDV channels are coming through.

Had the same problem with my tuning adapter losing sync with TWC the past 4 months. I would call and they would send a hit and that would fix the problem. They even had a tech come out to my house and they would send a hit and the SDV channels would come back. TWC did not want to switch out the tuning adapter even though I was having problems with it. About two weeks ago, the tuning adapter had problems again, so I just got frustrated and switched back to there DVR.

Has anyone had any success complaining to TWC about the horrible PQ on the ESPNHD nets? I shot off an e-mail and got a response saying my box had been reset and to see if that fixed the problem. Obviously, it didn't.

I am having an issue tonight with "channel not available" problems, so, after rebooting the box twice and the problem persisting I decided to call TWC. After waiting on hold for about 20 minutes imagine my surprise when I discover that the tech support person is located in "Central America"!! When did TWC relocate their tech support for the Carolinas to Central America? I thought the CSRs were bad when they were in this country but this guy I spoke to could speak barely passable english and had no idea what I was talking about when I suggested the problem was probably an SDV issue rather than a problem with my box. What a joke!!

Now I have learned that there is an outage in my area and they have no idea when it will be repaired.

Can someone suggest a contact email address for TWC in Greensboro? I had the addresses of a couple of engineers in the office on regional road but the last time I sent them an email they were bounced by the TWC server. So their addresses changed or they are no longer with TWC.

Has anyone had any success complaining to TWC about the horrible PQ on the ESPNHD nets? I shot off an e-mail and got a response saying my box had been reset and to see if that fixed the problem. Obviously, it didn't.

I called TW, because espns have poor PQ during live games esp. during fast motion and the NBA leage pass channels look like the PQ is from the 80s era so they sent a tech out and I spoke to a tech supervisor Jay Murphy, they keep saying it has always looked like that but finally said it could be that the last few HD channels that they added they did some compressing of some of the HD channels, but I see pixiling at times also that means there a line issue also somewhere, then some of the other channels I"ll get a message on screen saying channel not avilable please try back later, I would get Directv but I'd have to cut a tree down, might be an easier fix for me though :(

Finally got around to getting a hdhomerun tuner for my htpc and I am curious as to what clear QAM channels are available through TWC in WS? I ditched my 10 year old TWC HDDVR and I love the layout of using Vista Media Center, not to mention it dropped $90 off my bill every month! So is the qam, just going to be the broadcast channels or are we lucky enough to get others as well?

I called TW, because espns have poor PQ during live games esp. during fast motion and the NBA leage pass channels look like the PQ is from the 80s era so they sent a tech out and I spoke to a tech supervisor Jay Murphy, they keep saying it has always looked like that but finally said it could be that the last few HD channels that they added they did some compressing of some of the HD channels, but I see pixiling at times also that means there a line issue also somewhere, then some of the other channels I"ll get a message on screen saying channel not avilable please try back later, I would get Directv but I'd have to cut a tree down, might be an easier fix for me though :(

If you have a clear view to the eastern sky, then you can get Dish Network. I face the same problem with Directv. I don't have a clear view of the SE because of trees, but I can get Dish since they have a new dish that points to the East. I would have them install, but I don't want to pay TWC $150.00 to cancel my 2 year "Price Lock" contract.

Anybody heard much about North State's Plex TV and broadband? The broadband allegedly offers 20Mbps downloads for $50/mo. I was painting at a friend's house all weekend and kept hearing the commercial over and over again.

Anybody heard much about North State's Plex TV and broadband? The broadband allegedly offers 20Mbps downloads for $50/mo. I was painting at a friend's house all weekend and kept hearing the commercial over and over again.

I'd be interested in this as well, but is it available in Summerfield? I thought it was down in High Point...

My bedroom TV got Gatored last night here on the NW fringe of Greensboro. (I think it's a SA 3250HD or some # like that.) My 8300HD in the living room is still clinging to SARA like grim death! Hold out DVR!! :)

I'd be interested in this as well, but is it available in Summerfield? I thought it was down in High Point...
Good question, I checked their website, but it doesn't say anything about location availability, just wants you to put in your contact info. I was hoping they'd have a spot for you to put in your zip or address to see if it was available.

Good question, I checked their website, but it doesn't say anything about location availability, just wants you to put in your contact info. I was hoping they'd have a spot for you to put in your zip or address to see if it was available.

If I'm not mistaken, I think it's only in Davidson County maybe some of Guilford County, High Point/Thomasville for certain. Just plug your info in, I did and they sent a response stating they do not service Winston-Salem. I had heard they were having issues galore when they initially started with the fiber, but I think it has gotten better. Living in WS, I think I'll have to hold my breath for Verizon or AT&T to bring fiber here:(

My bedroom TV got Gatored last night here on the NW fringe of Greensboro. (I think it's a SA 3250HD or some # like that.) My 8300HD in the living room is still clinging to SARA like grim death! Hold out DVR!! :)

My 8300HD still has SARA as well. I'm in SW Greensboro, down in Grandover area. I think it's comical as to how badly they meet their promised rollout dates...both original and revised. It is now getting close to two months delay from when they called and told me when to expect it. I am actually looking forward to getting Navigator as I cannot stand the dated look of SARA. It kind of reminds me of transitioning from MSDOS6.22 to Windows 3. DOS was faster and still very usable....but Windows sure looked pretty.

-John

I'm sure this was initially discussed, but why are there not sub-threads in this forum? It seems a little silly to have 264 pages of individual posts and no grouped threads? I'm just throwing that out there, but I can deal. Thanks!

I'm sure this was initially discussed, but why are there not sub-threads in this forum? It seems a little silly to have 264 pages of individual posts and no grouped threads? I'm just throwing that out there, but I can deal. Thanks!

When the thread structure was set up years ago by CPanther95 (one of the moderators), there wasn't enough traffic to warrant sub-threading as in other markets. Still isn't actually. Back then it was all OTA discussion since none of the cablecos' had any HD offerings.

We still go days without a single posting and then a flurry for a day or two and then nothing for days and it is still a mix of OTA, station activity in general and of late, TWC's "gatoring" all the boxes. When that dies down, the conversion will move to something else.

Good question, I checked their website, but it doesn't say anything about location availability, just wants you to put in your contact info. I was hoping they'd have a spot for you to put in your zip or address to see if it was available.

Use this link to check availability

http://www.northstate.net/area_search.php

I'm in High Point and it isn't available in my area which irks me because they have sent me multiple ads in the mail but it I can't get it. Don't send me advertisements in the mail until it's available in my area.

However, while Plex offesr 20 mbps download speeds and TWC RR is only advertised as 10 mbps I've run tests and have gotten 18 mbps downloads with TWC RR.

And speaking of station activities, if all goes as planned (and who REALLY knows until air time) we hope to have our first NON network HD program on the air. It will be the 11pm airing of Seinfeld tomorrow night (Wednesday 11pm). The show recorded this morning at 12:30am just like it was suppose to, it was prepped in our HD server with no problems, and is ready to go. Now, if we have Traffic upstairs and the automation in Master configured correctly, it should run. If something happens before or after the start, then we have a SD 16:9 backup that will also roll off air on tape at the same time. Wished they hadn't moved Seinfeld from 7:30p to a double run at 11p. I don't know if I can stay awake until then if something goes wrong!

For the time being only the Seinfeld first run at 11p will be in HD while we work the bugs out of the system over the next few weeks. Then we will start adding more HD content as we get more comfortable with the system, like the second run of Seinfeld and the weekend runs as well as Dr Oz and the weekend runs of Bones and Grey's Anatomy.

High times and a little scary times too around here to say the least!

Got "Navigator" last night on my SA8000HD box (Forest Oaks in SE Guilford County). My neighbor across the street has had it for weeks. Just started playing with it, but so far, I like it better than SARA.

High times and a little scary times too around here to say the least!

Exciting news! Good luck tonight. Will you guys be the first among the locals to air non network prograaming in HD? (Excluding Raycomm)

No. WXII airs ET in HD along with Ellen and WFMY airs Wheel and Jepardy! in HD. They rushed to do those as soon as they came out. Seinfeld has been available in HD for about 2 years.

Your comments go back to validate my statement a week or so ago about HD programming. If the content is compelling, people will watch it no matter what format it is in. You are BIG into HD and you didn't know what shows the other stations aired in HD. Like I said, we may not be the first with HD news, but when we do it, we will take our time and get right and no one will really remember who was first and who wasn't in the end. We aren't the first with non network HD programming, but we are trying to do it right.

No. WXII airs ET in HD along with Ellen and WFMY airs Wheel and Jepardy! in HD. They rushed to do those as soon as they came out. Seinfeld has been available in HD for about 2 years.


(Smacks head!) I had completely forgotten about Wheel and Jeopardy. I didn't know about ET, but I probably should have since my wife watches it.

I agree about your comment on content trumping HD. But, I am much MUCH more likely to find new content when it's in HD nowadays. I rarely flip to any SD channels now.

When I had TW, I would exclusively watch the 5xx channels, and would grumble when a non 16:9 show came on. Personally, I'm not so concerned about HD, but more true 16:9 (not stretched) AND CONTENT. The main shows I watch seem to be on FOX and NBC, mainly due to the show concept (I really only watch ABC and CBS for sports). Everything else was just there if I had time to surf. Now that I also use HULU, I can pinpoint exactly what I want, with no surfing. I think it will be interesting in the next few years to see where the online content is going and how it will affect the providers and to some degree local stations.

Use this link to check availability

http://www.northstate.net/area_search.php

I'm in High Point and it isn't available in my area which irks me because they have sent me multiple ads in the mail but it I can't get it. Don't send me advertisements in the mail until it's available in my area.

However, while Plex offesr 20 mbps download speeds and TWC RR is only advertised as 10 mbps I've run tests and have gotten 18 mbps downloads with TWC RR.

The 18mbps is likely w/ powerboost and won't be sustained (but nevertheless, 10, 18, 20 are all great). It's the upload that stinks. Their 768k is better (though sad that 768 is "better").

I put in my address in the area search and it said my area was expected to have service soon. However, I plugged in an old NY address and it said the same thing.

Well my 8300HD was gatored last night. How does one get to the diagnostic screen to determine the MDN ver which is running on the box? I tried the previous method I have used of holding down the pause button until the message light lit on the box but it never lit. Any suggestions?

My first impressions are OK visually, but I haven't used it yet other than to turn it on and confirm it was different.

When I had TW, I would exclusively watch the 5xx channels, and would grumble when a non 16:9 show came on. Personally, I'm not so concerned about HD, but more true 16:9 (not stretched) AND CONTENT. The main shows I watch seem to be on FOX and NBC, mainly due to the show concept (I really only watch ABC and CBS for sports). Everything else was just there if I had time to surf. Now that I also use HULU, I can pinpoint exactly what I want, with no surfing. I think it will be interesting in the next few years to see where the online content is going and how it will affect the providers and to some degree local stations.

As far as HULU type sites, get ready to start paying for content. That is the next step for those sites and they are already movng in that direction as we speak. It is all over the trades.

I got Navigator last night her in the west side of Greensboro. It's certainly much more visually appealing. Look forward to playing around with it tonight.

As far as HULU type sites, get ready to start paying for content. That is the next step for those sites and they are already movng in that direction as we speak. It is all over the trades.

I've seen that reported and I could see this happening for a short period, however, they are currently ad supported with no way of skipping commercials. With the majority of content that is regularly accessed being NBC/FOX shows, they can be accessed free over the air. Most folks who would access Hulu, are savvy enough to figure that out. I don't see them being able to charge more than $5-$10 mo and get away with that model. Why would I want to pay them to watch shows with commercials? (I'll do it for free)

And my 8300 HD was Gatored last night. A co-worker's DVR also was Gatored. All I did on my DVR was see if the recordings were still there. (They were.)

I've seen that reported and I could see this happening for a short period, however, they are currently ad supported with no way of skipping commercials. With the majority of content that is regularly accessed being NBC/FOX shows, they can be accessed free over the air. Most folks who would access Hulu, are savvy enough to figure that out. I don't see them being able to charge more than $5-$10 mo and get away with that model. Why would I want to pay them to watch shows with commercials? (I'll do it for free)

The plan is to have both subscriptions and ads. It is called a "dual revenue stream."

And my 8300 HD was Gatored last night. A co-worker's DVR also was Gatored. All I did on my DVR was see if the recordings were still there. (They were.)Mine too...

But... the listing of prior recordings was present, but none of them would play.:confused:

I had to power cycle the external SATA drive AND then reboot the 8300 for it to recognize the external disk, and then they would play.:D

Joe L.

Just an update, Seinfeld at 11p last night didn't run in HD. There was an issue with the comm between the automation and the server and when the server was commanded, it ran for 0 seconds not the time it was suppose to! So a tweek in the config is needed today. Will try again tonight!

On a separate note, we are operating at 50% power on channel 35 (full power on channel 8) as we had a power supply die yesterday morning and parts are to arrive today. We hope that will get it back up and running at full power. It is always something.

Mine too...

But... the listing of prior recordings was present, but none of them would play.:confused:

I had to power cycle the external SATA drive AND then reboot the 8300 for it to recognize the external disk, and then they would play.:D

Joe L.

let me know how navigator runs on your 8300hd, I recently had an 8300 hd dvr but they had to switch it out for a 8240hd dvr recently... My navigator seems severely lagged during channel changes menu selection etc... I may go back and get a 8300 if the box software combo is the issue.

let me know how navigator runs on your 8300hd, I recently had an 8300 hd dvr but they had to switch it out for a 8240hd dvr recently... My navigator seems severely lagged during channel changes menu selection etc... I may go back and get a 8300 if the box software combo is the issue.

To this point I haven't really watched a lot of TV on either of my Gatored boxes. However, so far I have been pleasantly surprised. In Wilmington, my in-law's box is slow as molasses switching channels. So far, neither of my boxes has been too bad. There are very preliminary impressions. I believe there was talk earlier in the thread suggesting that the 8240HD DVR might have run Navigator BETTER than the 8300 HD. So, you may want to swap boxes even if you don't switch box types.

To this point I haven't really watched a lot of TV on either of my Gatored boxes. However, so far I have been pleasantly surprised. In Wilmington, my in-law's box is slow as molasses switching channels. So far, neither of my boxes has been too bad. There are very preliminary impressions. I believe there was talk earlier in the thread suggesting that the 8240HD DVR might have run Navigator BETTER than the 8300 HD. So, you may want to swap boxes even if you don't switch box types.

If I were you and I am haveing a couple of 8240HDC boxes. I would wait. The new Samsung boxes are to be in stock in Greensboro after the first of the year. I hear they are a lot faster than the SA boxes and have a 350 mg hard drive compared to the 160 in the SA units. This means twice as much HD recording storage. Since both my 8240 units are new I am going to wait a bit then trade them for the new Samsung units which I hear still have a few bugs that are still being worked out. I also hear the Samsung units have a full screen guide. It's a streatched version but it is full screen. CHEERS

As far as HULU type sites, get ready to start paying for content. That is the next step for those sites and they are already movng in that direction as we speak. It is all over the trades.

At least as far as Hulu is concerned it sounds like for now they won't be going to a pay service now that Comcast is taking over.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/03/comcast-takes-control-of-nbc-promises-not-to-crush-hulu-like-a/

As expected, Comcast announced its buyout of NBC this morning, and we have a few details of interest to Engadget readers and fans of rom-coms alike. Essentially, Comcast now owns 51 percent of NBC-Universal to GE's 49 percent and will manage the entity -- leveraging the newly acquired content with their infrastructure. On an investor call (reported by All Things Digital) a short time ago, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts emphasized that the company bought "a bunch of profitable cable channels" and "some theme parks, too" (we think that last part was a joke). Not so funny, of course, is the film studio that's seen better years and the broadcast network that's been described elsewhere as "faltering." When asked about TV Everywhere and Hulu, Comcast COO Steve Burke notes that "NBC has been careful not to put too much cable content on the Internet. We think that's a smart strategy... We think that going forward, you're going to continue to have free broadcast stuff on Hulu, and cable stuff on TV Everywhere." As for rumors of Hulu Premium? "That's certainly not in the cards." Web-based TV fanatics will be pleased to note that Roberts appears to be in your court: "We love Hulu and have no intent to crush it like a bug." That's all well and good, but as we know nothing's final until the government has its say: the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Justice Department are all sure to have strongly held opinions on the matter. PR after the break.

have a 350 mg hard drive compared to the 160 in the SA units. This means twice as much HD recording storage.

Do you know if TWC HD content is MPEG4 or MPEG2? MPEG2 is about twice as big as MPEG4. With my Directv HR22 HD DVR, which has a 500 GB hard drive, I can record 100 hours of MPEG4 HD content but only about 50 hours of MPEG2 HD content. If TWC is using MPEG2, converting to MPEG4 would help with bandwidth and over compression concerns that they seem to have right now.

Do you know if TWC HD content is MPEG4 or MPEG2? MPEG2 is about twice as big as MPEG4. With my Directv HR22 HD DVR, which has a 500 GB hard drive, I can record 100 hours of MPEG4 HD content but only about 50 hours of MPEG2 HD content. If TWC is using MPEG2, converting to MPEG4 would help with bandwidth and over compression concerns that they seem to have right now.

not sure on that.

December 16, 2009: The following channels will be added:

Logo - Channel 146 (Digital Tier)
Sundance Channel - Channel 159 (Movie Tier and Digital Tier)
NBA TV - Channel 184 (Games and Sports Tier and Digital Tier)
NBA TV HD - Channel 544 (Games and Sports Tier and Digital Tier)
HD Titles On Demand - Channel 1002-1009


December 30, 2009: The following channels will be added:

History International HD - Channel 598 (Digital Tier)
RFD HD - Channel 599 (HD Plus Tier)
Showtime Showcase HD - Channel 471 (requires subscription to Showcase)
Showtime Extreme HD - Channel 472 (requires subscription to Showcase)
MoreMax HD - Channel 460 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
ThrillerMax HD - Channel 462 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
Blue Highways - Channel 160 (Digital Tier)


Hallmark Movie Channel HD will be moving from the HD Plus Tier to the Digital Tier.

Navigator ...

Just had a "pop-up" dialog box show up on screen. It said something like this:

"Press any button to continue to watch this channel"

The bottom border of the dialog box had a single yellow triangle with the letter "A" in it.

I tried pressing the "Select" button... no effect... I tried others... no effect.

Only the "A" triangle button on the remote would dismiss the dialog. No other button would do anything to it. (If it happens again I'll take a picture.)

Is there a list of known "Navigator" bugs?

Joe L.

December 16, 2009: The following channels will be added:

Logo - Channel 146 (Digital Tier)
Sundance Channel - Channel 159 (Movie Tier and Digital Tier)
NBA TV - Channel 184 (Games and Sports Tier and Digital Tier)
NBA TV HD - Channel 544 (Games and Sports Tier and Digital Tier)
HD Titles On Demand - Channel 1002-1009


December 30, 2009: The following channels will be added:

History International HD - Channel 598 (Digital Tier)
RFD HD - Channel 599 (HD Plus Tier)
Showtime Showcase HD - Channel 471 (requires subscription to Showcase)
Showtime Extreme HD - Channel 472 (requires subscription to Showcase)
MoreMax HD - Channel 460 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
ThrillerMax HD - Channel 462 (requires subscription to Cinemax)
Blue Highways - Channel 160 (Digital Tier)


Hallmark Movie Channel HD will be moving from the HD Plus Tier to the Digital Tier.

Great. Picture quality is gonna get crapier.

Great. Picture quality is gonna get crapier.

Seriously. I was actually starting to think TWC is looking better that DTV on HD lineup, but not at the expense of quality.

For those who care. Channel 35 is back to full power after repairing the Filament power supply.

Seriously. I was actually starting to think TWC is looking better that DTV on HD lineup, but not at the expense of quality.

PQ has been so poor as of late, I'm considering switching to DirecTV. I'm holding out hope that TWC will address this very serious issue before the end of the year.

PQ has been so poor as of late, I'm considering switching to DirecTV. I'm holding out hope that TWC will address this very serious issue before the end of the year.

That's exactly what I did, and why (plus better equipment). Couldn't be happier!

PQ has been so poor as of late, I'm considering switching to DirecTV. I'm holding out hope that TWC will address this very serious issue before the end of the year.

Has anyone contact TWC on this?? We all see the drastic reduction in picture quality, ( I assume due to the bandwidth issues and the compressing needed to add additional channels) I would like to see what their reaction to this is, and/or possible solutions. SDV is obviously not working.

That's exactly what I did, and why (plus better equipment). Couldn't be happier!

Me too, and for the most part I'm happy. Definitely glad the equipment works, reliable, no more SDV problems, no missed recordings, etc. Most of my complaints are minor -- missing a few HD channels that seem obvious annoys me. But, I'd rather have less HD than crappy quality.

PQ has been so poor as of late, I'm considering switching to DirecTV. I'm holding out hope that TWC will address this very serious issue before the end of the year.

im calling Directv Friday and see what they have to offer, right now I have 2TW hddvrs and pay 79.31 and thats a promo offer but PQ on the espns is terrible now and they say its bathwith/compress issue, when a tech comes out but as far as them saying they will fix it soon they never will answer that the lat few hd channels they added hurt the PQ the most

im calling Directv Friday and see what they have to offer, right now I have 2TW hddvrs and pay 79.31 and thats a promo offer but PQ on the espns is terrible now and they say its bathwith/compress issue, when a tech comes out but as far as them saying they will fix it soon they never will answer that the lat few hd channels they added hurt the PQ the most

Yea after the recent price increases by TWC i am paying 104.85 total for cable services Digital Cable, HD DVR, HD Specialty Tier, DVR Rental, and HBO.

from the Direct TV websites I can get mostly the same package for an introductory price that is better but after the first year it is more expensive. All of their online packages contain 3 months free showtime and stars and continue to have them in the 24 month price projections. If i can get that package without those channels that would be well worth me switching.

For you guys/gals who are considering switching to Directv, note that Directv is launching another satellite on December 28th at about 7:22pm our time (actually Decemeber 29th in Baikonur Kazakhstan where it is being launching from). This will give Directv room for about 80 more HD channels. Of course this doesn't guarantee that there will be 80 more HD channels right away because you need carriage agreements for all of those additional channels. This new satellite will be probably start broadcasting it's new channels late April/early May.

Some Gator growing pains noticed tonight as my box was recording reruns as well as first runs of all shows. Managed to fix that after I figured out to go to "series" settings instead of scheduled recordings. I wish some shows like "House" which aren't airing (new episodes) for a while would show up there, but I guess I'll have to wait till next year to fix it.

I remain pleasantly surprised by the lag, as it hasn't been too bad or nearly as bad as my in-laws' box is.

So I remember Crazywoody talking about Navigator having a commercial skip button/feature to rapidly skip 30 seconds or something...? How do I do this?

Some Gator growing pains noticed tonight as my box was recording reruns as well as first runs of all shows. Managed to fix that after I figured out to go to "series" settings instead of scheduled recordings. I wish some shows like "House" which aren't airing (new episodes) for a while would show up there, but I guess I'll have to wait till next year to fix it.

I remain pleasantly surprised by the lag, as it hasn't been too bad or nearly as bad as my in-laws' box is.

So I remember Crazywoody talking about Navigator having a commercial skip button/feature to rapidly skip 30 seconds or something...? How do I do this?

It's easy. When in fastfoward hold the ff key down you will see it slow down almost stop. Release the key and it will jump forward 15 minutes. Great way to get ahead in a movie or show. When jumping thru commericals once you get past the commerical Navigator now has the TIVO and PASSPORT ECHO feature of jumping back so your show mostly starts at end of commerical. I now have used it enought to almost always start back exactly when show starts again. I am loving Navigator more every day.In commericals use reg fast forward not the 15 minute jump feature. The 15 minute jump is another Passport and Tivo feature we have now gotton. What I like now is you an use your fav channel button while in guide to see whats on while watching your current show in PIP. Also to jump forward in guide by days just press the number of days you want to jump say 6 then press the right arrow key and it jumps you fast. Also while in the guide say your on channell 520 and want to see whats on channel 150 but hate scrolling. Just type in 150 and it takes you right there. I hope you start to enjy Navigator instead of hateing it. It's light years ahead of our old SARA. Most missing PASSPORT and SARA features are to be added to NAVIGATOR as new features next year.

Yea after the recent price increases by TWC i am paying 104.85 total for cable services Digital Cable, HD DVR, HD Specialty Tier, DVR Rental, and HBO.

from the Direct TV websites I can get mostly the same package for an introductory price that is better but after the first year it is more expensive. All of their online packages contain 3 months free showtime and stars and continue to have them in the 24 month price projections. If i can get that package without those channels that would be well worth me switching.

You get 3 months of Showtime and Starz with Directv for free, but you can remove those channels when your 3 months is up. The 24 month thing is your contact that you keep Directv as your service.

You get 3 months of Showtime and Starz with Directv for free, but you can remove those channels when your 3 months is up. The 24 month thing is your contact that you keep Directv as your service.

I did my order today for the Directv hd dvr and hd box $55 without tax for first 12 months then $78 I went to Bestbuy and checked it out on their tv there first to see PQ , the channels appeared tobe almost perfect compared to TW as of lately, I think I'll just keep roadrunner for my internet $24.95 not many others to choose from around here and get ATT for phone Im paying TW $43dollar which without cable will be $48 to $50 dollars for local usage plan ATT is around $40 and you dont have use a modem

You get 3 months of Showtime and Starz with Directv for free, but you can remove those channels when your 3 months is up. The 24 month thing is your contact that you keep Directv as your service.

My brother in law in Raleigh got direct tv. He had so many problems with it he dumped it and went back to TWC. Hope you have better luck. CHEERS

I did my order today for the Directv hd dvr and hd box $55 without tax for first 12 months then $78 I went to Bestbuy and checked it out on their tv there first to see PQ , the channels appeared tobe almost perfect compared to TW as of lately, I think I'll just keep roadrunner for my internet $24.95 not many others to choose from around here and get ATT for phone Im paying TW $43dollar which without cable will be $48 to $50 dollars for local usage plan ATT is around $40 and you dont have use a modem

You might want to look at Vonage for phone service.

Having problems since the software update. Now when not on HD channels the picture is no longer stretched to fit the screen. How do I fix this? Worked fine before the "upgrade". Thanks.

You might want to look at Vonage for phone service.

Or do what I did. Go cell phone only.

My brother in law in Raleigh got direct tv. He had so many problems with it he dumped it and went back to TWC. Hope you have better luck. CHEERS

Or he could be like me and have very few complaints and have it for 14 years and counting. One person having good or bad service/experience is no guarantee for the next customer.

The only service I would consider switching to is FiOS. There are issues that I have with Dish Network, U-Verse and TWC that would keep them from switching to them. However, I'm not totally anti-TWC. I've had their road runner service since 99.

Or he could be like me and have very few complaints and have it for 14 years and counting. One person having good or bad service/experience is no guarantee for the next customer.

The only service I would consider switching to is FiOS. There are issues that I have with Dish Network, U-Verse and TWC that would keep them from switching to them. However, I'm not totally anti-TWC. I've had their road runner service since 99.

Exactly my point. One person haveing a bad experience with Time Warner or Navigator does not mean that there or not dozens of happy satisfied customers siting at home enjoying their cableCHEERS.:)

Happy DirecTV customer since 1997.

Earlier in the thread there was a fast discussion about HULU. Here is the latest on HULU and its fate of pay or no pay. From Broadcast and Cable article a "Top 10" list of what the industry, analysts and lawyers thinks will happen if the NBCU-Comcast deal goes through.

7 Hulu. Last week, the Comcast execs said they could see network programming stay available for free on Hulu, with cable programming living behind an authentication wall to protect cable operators. By the time this deal closes, there will be a pay model for Hulu, so despite what the bigwigs said, it's really not that simple. I'm not sure a Comcast-Hulu marriage will last; at the very least, it should see some Eldrick-Elin-type bumps.

http://mobile.broadcastingcable.com/article/438679-10_Things_to_Watch_About_Comcast_NBCU.php?rssid=20065

I'm happy with Directv, except for their prices. I have never had serious technical issues. When I first signed up in 98, I only payed about $32 a month. Now it is nearly $85 for the same package + HD. If I pay for the channel one time, why should I have to pay extra again just because it is an HD version? This is no different, and even worse with TW.

I suspect the reason why we have to pay the HD fee is because there are separate carriage agreements for the SD and HD channels. For instance we get the Travel Channel in SD but not in HD. A separate carriage agreement is needed to get the HD version of the channel.

I agree that it isn't right but for now HD is treated as a luxury item, not the norm. So like with a car you have to pay extra to get leather seats even though the car already has seats. Maybe someday HD will be the normal standard thing and separate HD fees will go away.

Happy DirecTV customer since 1997.

Happy Time Warner Cable customer since 1994.

I was a happy TWC customer in 94. But in 95 I moved into a new house and TWC refused to hook cable to my house even though the neighbor across the street had it and told me to wait six months. So I told them to stick it and I got Directv. When they tried to get me to get it later at the same house I laughed at them and hung up the phone on them.

I was a happy TWC customer in 94. But in 95 I moved into a new house and TWC refused to hook cable to my house even though the neighbor across the street had it and told me to wait six months. So I told them to stick it and I got Directv. When they tried to get me to get it later at the same house I laughed at them and hung up the phone on them.

At least you were happy for a while. Merry Christmas. CHEERS

Very happy D* customer since 1995. Have a fond memory of installing the dish on the roof and puling coax on Christmas eve. Back then install was strictly DIY. Kind of miss that.

The hardware was quite expensive. $1500 for a dish and two Sony SAT-A1 sd non DVR's. And the second IRD was back ordered for 4 months.

I lived in Hickory, NC at the time. After moving there in 1992 had to wait over a year for cable to come down the street. Put up a giant antenna on a mast with a high gain preamp to be able to receive the Charlotte locals.

The cable service was awful. Terrible PQ and mono audio. OTA looked and sounded far superior.

At the time I had a Pioneer Elite 60" RPTV. That Christmas eve switching between cable and SAT made for a fun evening. I remember thinking "it doesn't get much better than this". :)

From comments here it sounds like things haven't changed much.

Now back to the last of the Sunday Ticket games.

Joe

I was a TWC customer in 94 and I WASN'T happy. The rate increases every 6 months and paying almost $70 a month with NO premium channels on two TVs. Don't know if they still do this or not, but back then, you had to pay $7 a month for each REMOTE for the STBs! Even then they were nickeling and diming you.

By the time 1997 rolled around, I had had enough. I bought TWO DirecTV receivers (installed those and every dish since myself) and began paying $60 a month for two TV's and HBO with Starz/Encore. More programming than I had with TWC even then. I have never looked back. I pay more now than I did then but not that much when you consider I have added other receivers and HD as well and I still pay less than most TWC people I know for the same service.

But the thing that sealed it for me NEVER getting TWC again was when I canceled. It took FOUR MONTHS for them to STOP sending me a bills for service after I canceled. I finally had enough and when the 4th bill came in, I called down there and told them I had canceled 4 months earlier, and I had the receipt to prove it. I wasn't paying then a penny and if I got another bill, I was going to the state Attorney General's Office. I never for another bill.

Bare in mind, I know a lot of the techs at the head end at TWC, and many know I have no intention of ever having their service. They don't fight it.

Wow, $7 per month for a remote? Did they have unique IR codes that would not work with a universal?

One more part to my story. In 1995 I did not cancel cable for about a month after D* was up and running. Showed the comparison to neighbors during that period.

At least 8 in the neighborhood switched after the demo.

Then when I did cancel a cable guy came out to cut the service and put a lockout filter on the line to my house in the distribution box. He rang the doorbell. Noticed the D* dish. He had never seen the service in action. Invited him in. After at least 30 minutes viewing his only comment was: "we really s***" .

In fairness the cable service was not TWC. It was some minor player. Don't remember the name. No converter boxes just an RF connection.

Happy Holidays All,

Joe

Wow, $7 per month for a remote? Did they have unique IR codes that would not work with a universal?

Back in those days, "universal" remotes like we think of today, didn't exist. Universal then only worked with TVs and VCRs, not cable STB's. It wasn't a problem for cable then.

Just wanted to let everyone know I made the switch and Direct TV is coming to the house this Saturday to install. I just couldn't take the most recent rate increase, and decreases in picture quality. Paying much less and getting more than my current TWC service for the first year, still coming out better in the second year.

When the digital converter boxes were made available with the government coupon, I got 2 just in case we needed them in the future. (Got the 'free' Dish DTVPal.)

After a move, I ended up with a spare TV so I set it up at my dad's office with a converter so he could have a diversion on lousy days like yesterday. I bought an inexpensive (but recommended) set top antenna from Radio Shack to use with the setup.

Yesterday, I happened to be in there helping a friend of his. WXII has always come in strong (showing something like 85% signal strength). Most of the other Triad stations are fair to middling but I noticed that WGHP had ZERO signal strength. I can't remember that I've ever received their signal there.

Is it a directional issue? What steps/solutions should I try?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Just wanted to let everyone know I made the switch and Direct TV is coming to the house this Saturday to install. I just couldn't take the most recent rate increase, and decreases in picture quality. Paying much less and getting more than my current TWC service for the first year, still coming out better in the second year.

I ordered Directv also suppose to be out to intall it Monday, im glad ,because half of TW channels have the message channal not available today tech was just out and and talk to tech supervisor last Thursday , they are saying its too many people in my node right now, hope Directv is good as it was in the late 90s when I had it before.

Yesterday, I happened to be in there helping a friend of his. WXII has always come in strong (showing something like 85% signal strength). Most of the other Triad stations are fair to middling but I noticed that WGHP had ZERO signal strength. I can't remember that I've ever received their signal there.

Do you know if that was channel 8 or 35? Channel 8 in Winston-Salem on rabbit ears is a hit and miss thing. Try our channel 35 signal. If has better coverage than channel 8. Also, you may have to move the antenna around to get a signal. DTV and rabbitears do not play together well like analog did.

I ordered Directv also suppose to be out to intall it Monday, im glad ,because half of TW channels have the message channal not available today tech was just out and and talk to tech supervisor last Thursday , they are saying its too many people in my node right now, hope Directv is good as it was in the late 90s when I had it before.

My next door neighbors looks amazing, and he has no complaints.

Folks who have switched to DirecTV -- what did TWC say when you told them you were leaving because of their horrible PQ?

Do you know if that was channel 8 or 35?

I wasn't sure, so I checked it out today. Channel 8 was the only WGHP station listed, so I went through the setup/channel discovery process again. WHen it completed, channel 35 still did not appear in the list.

Folks who have switched to DirecTV -- what did TWC say when you told them you were leaving because of their horrible PQ?

they offered me one 20 dollar credit if I signed up for 2year price contract , which to keep what I had would have cost me $15 more a month , as far as the PQ they said it might improve but things had to be done to keep up on HD channels so it sounds like it is they are compressing the picture more and more to save bandwith.

they offered me one 20 dollar credit if I signed up for 2year price contract , which to keep what I had would have cost me $15 more a month , as far as the PQ they said it might improve but things had to be done to keep up on HD channels so it sounds like it is they are compressing the picture more and more to save bandwith.

Anyone remember the days when all you heard was how bad the HD PQ was on D*? My how things have changed!

Anyone remember the days when all you heard was how bad the HD PQ was on D*? My how things have changed!

D*'s conversion from MPEG2 to MPEG4 really helped as MPEG4 needs less bandwidth to produce good PQ. Also helping was new satellites for D* in which they are putting no more than 5 channels on each transponder and in some cases less than that.

Now with D* soon adding capacity for about 80 more HD channels I wonder what TWC will do to keep up once D* starts adding channels again (springtime). TWC has really improved their HD lineup and are competitive in this regard and in some cases have passed D*. But it seems like they did it at the expense of PQ. So aside from further degrading the PQ I wonder what options they have.

If TWC is using MPEG2 compression then switching to MPEG4 would help things a lot. But you have to have receivers capable of decoding MPEG4. I have no idea if TWC's newest boxes can decode MPEG4.

Also maybe TWC can get rid of the analog channels completely. But then that would force everyone to get receivers for every TV they want to hook up to cable. I know from reading here that some people don't want Directv or Dish Network because they don't want a box for every TV. Not to mention all of those new boxes would carry additional fees and that would make customers mad.

D*'s conversion from MPEG2 to MPEG4 really helped as MPEG4 needs less bandwidth to produce good PQ. Also helping was new satellites for D* in which they are putting no more than 5 channels on each transponder and in some cases less than that.

Now with D* soon adding capacity for about 80 more HD channels I wonder what TWC will do to keep up once D* starts adding channels again (springtime). TWC has really improved their HD lineup and are competitive in this regard and in some cases have passed D*. But it seems like they did it at the expense of PQ. So aside from further degrading the PQ I wonder what options they have.

If TWC is using MPEG2 compression then switching to MPEG4 would help things a lot. But you have to have receivers capable of decoding MPEG4. I have no idea if TWC's newest boxes can decode MPEG4.

Also maybe TWC can get rid of the analog channels completely. But then that would force everyone to get receivers for every TV they want to hook up to cable. I know from reading here that some people don't want Directv or Dish Network because they don't want a box for every TV. Not to mention all of those new boxes would carry additional fees and that would make customers mad.


Dish Network has it where you can hook 2 TV's to one receiver. If you have HD, then HD will be on TV1 and TV2 will have SD.

Dish Network has it where you can hook 2 TV's to one receiver. If you have HD, then HD will be on TV1 and TV2 will have SD.

You can do the same thing with DirecTV's receivers as well.

I looked up the Samsung boxes that Time Warner is going to roll out sometime, but the Samsung does have MPEG-4. The old SA boxes only does MPEG-2, so everyone that has a SA box will have to go to Samsung for TWC to go all MPEG-4. That is a huge overall!!!

I looked up the Samsung boxes that Time Warner is going to roll out sometime, but the Samsung does have MPEG-4. The old SA boxes only does MPEG-2, so everyone that has a SA box will have to go to Samsung for TWC to go all MPEG-4. That is a huge overall!!!

Yeah -- if they have to support MPEG-2, that will kill bandwidth. Also, they need to kill off analog. I realize this is big selling point for cable, but it consumes a lot of bandwidth.

Now, I can't comment on PQ on TWC but I recall the "HD-lite" that DirecTV went through awhile ago. Terrible. But what got me to ditch TWC is the failing SDV. Maybe it was both of my boxes, maybe it was my node -- I don't really care. I just want it to work.

It will be interesting to see what they do. You can't keep analog + add more HD.

How are other cable networks (Comcast, et.al.) in other parts of the country doing this? Seems that TWC needs some infrastructure upgrades.

Yeah -- if they have to support MPEG-2, that will kill bandwidth. Also, they need to kill off analog. I realize this is big selling point for cable, but it consumes a lot of bandwidth.

Now, I can't comment on PQ on TWC but I recall the "HD-lite" that DirecTV went through awhile ago. Terrible. But what got me to ditch TWC is the failing SDV. Maybe it was both of my boxes, maybe it was my node -- I don't really care. I just want it to work.

It will be interesting to see what they do. You can't keep analog + add more HD.

How are other cable networks (Comcast, et.al.) in other parts of the country doing this? Seems that TWC needs some infrastructure upgrades.
Belive it or not TWC is 1 to 2 years ahead of Comcast in it's infrastructure. Comcast is going SDV also but is 18 to 24 monts ehind TWC. Look for TWC picture quality to vastly improve after the first of the year. Oh yes TWC is rolling out a Cisco SA8642HDC in certain select areas. It fully supports external hard drives but also has a 500 gig hard drive.

Look for TWC picture quality to vastly improve after the first of the year.

I haven't seen anything to substantiate that statement and I talk to the TWC head end people frequently.

I thnk TWC could easily just keep 14 channels analog for the major networks and then offer one FREE digital cable box for the basic tier. Dumping 60 something analog channels should free up enough bandwidth.

Dish Network has it where you can hook 2 TV's to one receiver. If you have HD, then HD will be on TV1 and TV2 will have SD.

The way Dish Network does this is one of the primary reasons I don't get Dish Network. With their setup, 2 TVs/rooms have to share one hard drive and just 2 tuners. I find that too restrictive. I have 5 TVs and they each have their own DVRs with their own individual hard drives and tuners. I have 9 active tuners in my house. Dish Network will only lease 4 tuners. If you want more you have to buy the equipment which costs a lot more.

If my living room (currently has a HD DVR and 2 tuners) and my den (currently has a SD DVR and 2 tuners) had to share one hard drive and 2 tuners (with Dish Network they would have to) I would never be able to record any of the shows I want to watch. My 14 and 10 year old daughters, who are the primary users of the den DVR, are always recording shows of theirs plus their hard drive is almost always full. Because of their usage I would have a harder time finding tuners not in use and no room to record my shows.

Using as many tuners as I have also keeps me from U-Verse. Plus I've read some not so good things about U-Verse's PQ.

Dish's setup does provide mutli room viewing but Directv will soon have this available via your home network. It's in beta testing with other websites and will soon be available to the public. With Directv's MRV, each DVR still has their own hard drive and tuners. Later in the future Directv will add MRV via coax.

I haven't seen anything to substantiate that statement and I talk to the TWC head end people frequently.

I would concur as well. From the individuals I know they haven't given any indication of increased picture quality. They feel it will get worse toward the end of December with the additional channels being added.

Look for TWC picture quality to vastly improve after the first of the year. Oh yes TWC is rolling out a Cisco SA8642HDC in certain select areas. It fully supports external hard drives but also has a 500 gig hard drive.

I hope I live in one of these exclusive select areas, because TWC is on the verge of losing me as a customer. I'm giving them until the first of the year to get this PQ issue worked out.

I haven't seen anything to substantiate that statement and I talk to the TWC head end people frequently.

I stand by my statement. That is all I can say at this point.

The nice thing about comeing in here is our free exchange of views. If you like Dish, Directtv or TWC that is your right and your view. This is one of the things that still makes our country great. The right of free expression. So to all who disgree and to those who agee with me. HAVE A VERY JOLLY AND HAPPY AND GREAT CHRISTMAS. CHEERS

I went through the setup/channel discovery process again. When it completed, channel 35 still did not appear in the list.

I've looked through the user's guide and don't see anything helpful for this issue. I guess I'll try adding channel 35 manually. Does anyone know if there's any info I need to gather about the station, signal, etc., before attempting a manual add?

Belive it or not TWC is 1 to 2 years ahead of Comcast in it's infrastructure. Comcast is going SDV also but is 18 to 24 monts ehind TWC. Look for TWC picture quality to vastly improve after the first of the year. Oh yes TWC is rolling out a Cisco SA8642HDC in certain select areas. It fully supports external hard drives but also has a 500 gig hard drive.

It's interesting then that they'd sacrifice picture quality so much _now_ by adding channels when the bandwidth is set to increase after the 1st.

I suppose this may be true, but then again every company (including Directv) seems to say things are rosy on the horizon. Bottom line for me is that SDV is a failure, I tried giving TWC time to fix it (6 months or so) but to no avail.

If comcast is going SDV, it was a brilliant move to wait.

Unbelievable how some people will bend over backwards to make a huge company look good, when they deliver crap technology which doesn't even work a lot of times, and that is over priced. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures! (not just on this board, but some of my own friends who seem to kiss the ground cable walks on)

Just my observations and opinion! Merry Christmas. :)

Unbelievable how some people will bend over backwards to make a huge company look good, when they deliver crap technology which doesn't even work a lot of times, and that is over priced. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures! (not just on this board, but some of my own friends who seem to kiss the ground cable walks on)

Just my observations and opinion! Merry Christmas. :)

Just remember. If you are happy with what you have and I am happy with what i have, That makes neither of us wrong. It's the American way.If you are not happy with what you have you have the God given freedom to change to something that will make you happy, May you have a wonderful Christmas filled with happy times. Cheers

Just remember. If you are happy with what you have and I am happy with what i have, That makes neither of us wrong. It's the American way.If you are not happy with what you have you have the God given freedom to change to something that will make you happy, May you have a wonderful Christmas filled with happy times. Cheers

Crazywoody, I'm curious -- how's the PQ on your ESPNHD via TWC? Do you not see the horrible PQ or do you live in an area that's connected to a node that isn't overly-compressed?

my TW node is off US52 and Clemmonsville Rd and it was terrible , but they installed my Directv Monday and I compared channels on TW ,Directv side by side on two alike tvs and directv is the winner to me ,the PQ on the espns is the best ever seen no picture blurr during fast movements or actifacts

Crazywoody, I'm curious -- how's the PQ on your ESPNHD via TWC? Do you not see the horrible PQ or do you live in an area that's connected to a node that isn't overly-compressed?

My PQ is very good to excellent. Cheers

My PQ is good to excellent. Cheers

Can I come over to your house to watch bowl games? :D

Can I come over to your house to watch bowl games? :D

Bring beer and popcorn.:) CHEERS

I know a few members have either recently switched to Directv or will soon be so I'm posting a few helpful links about Directv's service and the HD DVR.

DBStalk.com - Beginners FAQ (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=151213)

DBStalk.com - HD DVR FAQ (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=76617)

DBStalk.com - Undocumented HD-DVR+ Tips & Tricks (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=72648)

DBStalk.com - Fall 2009 Software Update
(http://hr20.dbstalk.com/docs/Fall%2009%20First%20Look.pdf)

From the fall software update the most significant update was the addition of dual live buffers aka Double Play.

Double Play
Q. Can I switch back and forth between two shows without missing any content?
A. Yes, by using the new feature called “Double Play.” To activate it, press the down arrow twice.
After it is activated, you can switch between your shows at any time by pressing the down
arrow again.
Q. Does Double Play let me pause one show and switch to another?
A. Yes, when it is activated, Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Previous Channel functions work
independently for whichever channel is currently being viewed.
Q. If I activate Double Play, does it stay active forever?
A. No, it will become inactive if not used for two hours or if a recording is scheduled to start,
either by timer or manually.
Q. If I pause a show and use Double Play to view another channel, how long will it stay paused?
A. The maximum length of time for the inactive channel is 90 minutes.
Q. I f a show is paused and I return to viewing it using Double Play, does it stay paused?
A. No, the show will begin playing at the pause point when you switch back to viewing it.

Also for me the most significant undocumented feature is the enabling of the 30 skip feature. By default a 30 second slip is in use when hitting the jump ahead button.

To enable go to the search function (hit the menu button on the remote and choose search function) and then do a keyword search. use 30SKIP as the keyword in the search. 30SLIP will go back to the default.

Also while fast forwarding at any speed (goes up to 4x) hitting the jump ahead button >| will cause the DVR to automatically jump to the next 15 minute tick. While rewinding at any speed (goes up to 4x) hitting the jump back button will cause the DVR to automatically jump back to the previous 15 minute tick. In both instances the DVR will continue to FF or RW at the previous speed.

Directv's DVRs feature a 90 minute buffer (two 90 minute buffers on the HD DVRs) and you can catch up to live TV from the buffer by pressing and holding the jump forward button until the TV returns to live TV. Also while the DVR is off, the buffer is still buffering (is that a word?). So whenever the DVR is turned on, 90 minutes worth of buffer is available on whatever channel the DVR is currently on.

Also, depending on which HD DVR model you get, you'll get either a 300 GB or 500 GB hard drive. However you can add an external eSata hard drive. I've seen people use at least a terabyte hard drive. I don't know if you can beyond that. The only downside is the your internal hard drive is disabled until the eSata is unplugged.

And one other thing, when you are on a menu and use the select button to select an option and go to the next screen, hitting the left arrow will almost always return you to the previous menu.

For those interested, we ran into some issues with our new HD server playing back content so we haven't had it on the air yet for programming with our automation system. We have a tech in house today and tomorrow and we think we have it running now. We did a lot of testing today with the backup system and it worked just it was suppose to. We ran a new promo on air this afternoon around 4:15 and it played just like it was supposed to (first time without jury rigging it). So tonight we will try and air the 11pm Seinfeld off the new HD server. It will not be in HD but an SD 16:9 version. The operators failed to set the server to record tonights HD version on the server so we put the SD 16:9 tape version on the server. If it runs like it should off the main system, then it will play the HD version as well. We have tomorrow nights HD version ready to run off the HD server if all goes well tonight.

We have our fingers crossed!

Or he could be like me and have very few complaints and have it for 14 years and counting. One person having good or bad service/experience is no guarantee for the next customer.

The only service I would consider switching to is FiOS. There are issues that I have with Dish Network, U-Verse and TWC that would keep them from switching to them. However, I'm not totally anti-TWC. I've had their road runner service since 99.


What issues do you have with Dish? They have an HD package that seems to be what I want for a good price. I've heard their customer service is awful but so is everyone else.

It appears we had a successful on air test of the HD server last night! (FINALLY!) Looks like we will try a REAL HD Seinfeld tonight at 11.

What issues do you have with Dish? They have an HD package that seems to be what I want for a good price. I've heard their customer service is awful but so is everyone else.

Refer to this post of mine on the previous page.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17678814&postcount=7979

For those interested, we are poised to run our first non network HD program tonight at 11pm. Seinfeld. The server passed its check outs, the automation software was successfully upgraded, the HD version is loaded and ready. Just waiting on 11pm now.

Seems a few are changing to DirecTV.

A neighbor sent me an email asking about detail on D* service. He is switching from TWC.

The reason for this post is, as an afterthought , I remembered the "refer a friend program". It used to be $50 in bill credits to both the current sub and the new. Now upgraded to $10 per month/10 months for both.

All you need is the current subscribers account number.



Oh, someone commented about what we used to call D*'s "hd lite" . It was true. MPEG4 has made a big difference. I just installed a new BenQ W6000 1080p pj in my HT. Replaced a BenQ PE-7700 720p model. My screen is 133".

After the first hours, dedicated to calibration discs and a few BD's, I watched "Patriot Games" on Cinemax HD from D*. This was of course sent as a 720p encode. Scaled by my Integra DTC-9.8 to 1080p it looked great. I will have to pop for a D* 1080p pay per view and see what that PQ affords.

Joe