The irony of all of this discussion about cable costs, the quality of programming, and whether or not it's a good value, is that the cable company is also selling many of us Road Runner and IP phone service (for MORE money than the video part of our cable bill) with NO content included at all, just a connection over existing infrastructure. They're laughing all the way to the bank.

Whatever the market will bear.

Unless you have just Basic, RR will be less than any other cable pkg (last time I checked).

Watching "deal" sites, I note that TWC specials are often the worst listed (check the broadband deals at techbargains or dealnews).

Mike

Unless you have just Basic, RR will be less than any other cable pkg (last time I checked).
Actually, you can get Basic, a digital box, and one Premium for less than RR.

On the San Diego TWC Channel line-up, it appears these channels remain mapped to their original channel numbers, while in Raleigh, they are duplicated in the 350+ channel range.

Unless they plan on doing a major channel line-up overhaul (doubtful), it appears that these 15 channels will just show up twice in the line-up. It's a little annoying in that you can't set your set top to skip one of the two assignments. It either skips neither or both.

At least one of the channels (Weather Channel) is not a digital simulcast channel, Curious as to how they remap that analog channel if they "trap" out the analog channels, which they do in San Diego according to their website.
There was an announcement in the newspaper re FAMILY CHOICE, but our local TWC-SD website still doesn't include either the price or the channel numbers....

It currently occupies CH1125 thru CH1038 in San Diego, which are duplicate channel indexes to the usual assignments....but each system is different.

Personally, that's still more than I have time to watch. ...

OTA may have more hours of HD a day than I have time to watch, but then I couldn't watch Discovery-HD, ESPN-HD and HDNet. Add the IMAX movies on INHD and I would be jonesing pretty bad with just OTA.

dslate69,

"jonesing pretty bad with just OTA. "

What does "jonesing" mean?

-DonB2

dslate69,

"jonesing pretty bad with just OTA. "

What does "jonesing" mean?

-DonB2
It means he's not a youngster. :)

One comment I would like to make in regards to ATSC OTA, is that at least in the Raleigh area we have quite a few channel choices. Especially if you include the lower bandwidth multipath channels.

In other parts of the county there are not as many choices of OTA ATSC channels.

-DonB2

One comment I would like to make in regards to ATSC OTA, is that at least in the Raleigh area we have quite a few channel choices. Especially if you include the lower bandwidth multipath channels.

In other parts of the county there are not as many choices of OTA ATSC channels.

-DonB2

I understand what "jonesing" means, but I'm not sure about "lower bandwidth multipath channels". ;) ;) ;)

Pepar,

Thanks, I guess I have not seen that in print before.

Don

Pepar,

Thanks, I guess I have not seen that in print before.

Don
"Got to have a Jones for this Jones for that
This running with the Joneses boy
Just ain't where it's at"

:)

But you're certainly correct. Not something seen often.

pepar.

I guess I just was never in to Boz Scaggs or at least that songs lyrics.

-DonB2

Maybe I need to study up on the new kids lingo for "wanting something, really bad". But the point is still valid, there is a lot of good HD content outside of OTA.
Even if you include "lower bandwidth multipath channels" ? :) ?

"Maybe I need to study up on the new kids lingo for "wanting something, really bad". But the point is still valid, there is a lot of good HD content outside of OTA.
Even if you include "lower bandwidth multipath channels" ? ? "

The best things in life are not free. They just cost around $80.00 / month.

-DonB2

The best things in life are not free. They just cost around $80.00 / month.
If only . . .

:)

"The CW signed 13 more stations to long-term affiliation deals Monday, bringing its current distribution to 79% of the country."*

But not Raleigh or any other "Sinclair" markets.

The best things in life are not free. They just cost around $80.00 / month.

Yea, my mom doesn't have a computer and has never been on the internet and doesn't miss it. Myself on the other hand have tasted the sweet pleasures of such things that require those evil monthly fees.
As much as I like the thought of living off the grid and having a beard Grizzly Adams would be proud of; I need running water,a telephone, electricity, internet, and now HDTV content.
Some would say I am a Weak man. But I would say I am also Fat and Happy. :)

I dumped my Dish Network DVR receiver and signed up for TWC digital cable about 10 days ago.
I'm seeing a great many "hiccups" in the picture--averaging about once every 10 minutes or so (no pattern) .
By "hiccup" I mean
(1) a brief (quarter of a second) freeze of the image or
(2) large areas of MPEG macroblock breakup (checkerboard pattern) that last perhaps a quarter to half second or
(3) random flashing blue horizontal lines at various places in the image each lasting for a frame or two.
These problems seem to happen on all channels and both SD and HD and pretty much all the time, every day.
I'm South of Cary towards Apex. I have TWC's SA8300HD DVR and a new Samsung HL-R5067w (which I love) and I'm using the component video connections. As far as I can tell, everything is working "as designed", certainly, I don't see any such visual artifacts when watching DVDs, so I think it's not the Samsung.
Is this picture quality about what I should be expecting from TWC Raleigh??
In my 8 years with Dish Network, I experienced this kind of image "hiccup" perhaps once or twice a month (disregarding severe thunder storms). If this is TWC's best, I made a big mistake in switching.

I dumped my Dish Network DVR receiver and signed up for TWC digital cable about 10 days ago.
I'm seeing a great many "hiccups" in the picture--averaging about once every 10 minutes or so (no pattern) .
By "hiccup" I mean
(1) a brief (quarter of a second) freeze of the image or
(2) large areas of MPEG macroblock breakup (checkerboard pattern) that last perhaps a quarter to half second or
(3) random flashing blue horizontal lines at various places in the image each lasting for a frame or two.
These problems seem to happen on all channels and both SD and HD and pretty much all the time, every day.
I'm South of Cary towards Apex. I have TWC's SA8300HD DVR and a new Samsung HL-R5067w (which I love) and I'm using the component video connections. As far as I can tell, everything is working "as designed", certainly, I don't see any such visual artifacts when watching DVDs, so I think it's not the Samsung.
Is this picture quality about what I should be expecting from TWC Raleigh??
In my 8 years with Dish Network, I experienced this kind of image "hiccup" perhaps once or twice a month (disregarding severe thunder storms). If this is TWC's best, I made a big mistake in switching.
1) and 2) may go hand in hand, but 3) would not be normal. Not in Raleigh, but that would be my reply wherever you are. On some programming on some nights, I get occasion image breakup. Most times everything is stunning. Have you called your cable provider? Did they do the install and measure signal levels?

Is this picture quality about what I should be expecting from TWC Raleigh??
In my 8 years with Dish Network, I experienced this kind of image "hiccup" perhaps once or twice a month (disregarding severe thunder storms). If this is TWC's best, I made a big mistake in switching.

Can't say that I 've never had image problems but that is usually attributed to the broadcaster. If I get a hiccup on one of the channels it's usually very brief and infrequent and I can't rememeber that happening in the past week.

I dumped my Dish Network DVR receiver and signed up for TWC digital cable about 10 days ago.
I'm seeing a great many "hiccups" in the picture--averaging about once every 10 minutes or so (no pattern) .
By "hiccup" I mean
(1) a brief (quarter of a second) freeze of the image or
(2) large areas of MPEG macroblock breakup (checkerboard pattern) that last perhaps a quarter to half second or
(3) random flashing blue horizontal lines at various places in the image each lasting for a frame or two.
These problems seem to happen on all channels and both SD and HD and pretty much all the time, every day.
I'm South of Cary towards Apex. I have TWC's SA8300HD DVR and a new Samsung HL-R5067w (which I love) and I'm using the component video connections. As far as I can tell, everything is working "as designed", certainly, I don't see any such visual artifacts when watching DVDs, so I think it's not the Samsung.
Is this picture quality about what I should be expecting from TWC Raleigh??
In my 8 years with Dish Network, I experienced this kind of image "hiccup" perhaps once or twice a month (disregarding severe thunder storms). If this is TWC's best, I made a big mistake in switching.

The first thing I would check would be signal level. Enter channel 999 on your 8300. There are several pages of technical status reports. Try to find something referring to RF level @ 74.000Mhz. If it's below a -12db, signal level could be your problem. Might just be a bad box. What you're experiencing is not at all normal.

The first thing I would check would be signal level. Enter channel 999 on your 8300. ......

....and you did get an 8300, not 8000, right?

The first thing I would check would be signal level. Enter channel 999 on your 8300. There are several pages of technical status reports. Try to find something referring to RF level @ 74.000Mhz. If it's below a -12db, signal level could be your problem. Might just be a bad box. What you're experiencing is not at all normal.

I have the same set up with 8300 HD PVR and Samsung. We also get the same thing from time to time. Mostly, however, on network programing. HDNet is usually pure. We've have TWC out several times and our signal strength is fiine. They change out the box and up'd the gain on the signal coming in. Still a problem randomly. Coincidentally, we live also south of Cary (Sunset Lake and Holly Springs).

The first thing I would check would be signal level. Enter channel 999 on your 8300. There are several pages of technical status reports. Try to find something referring to RF level @ 74.000Mhz. If it's below a -12db, signal level could be your problem. Might just be a bad box. What you're experiencing is not at all normal.

My box is an 8300HD.
On the diagnostics summary page I see the following that look like signal levels:
Tuner1 723.000mhz -6dbmv
Tuner2 675.000mhz -6dbmv
FDC 74.000mhz +1dbmv
RDC 20.000mhz +34dbmv

My box is an 8300HD.
On the diagnostics summary page I see the following that look like signal levels:
Tuner1 723.000mhz -6dbmv
Tuner2 675.000mhz -6dbmv
FDC 74.000mhz +1dbmv
RDC 20.000mhz +34dbmv

Your signals levels are fine. Ingress is always a possibility. The best way to clean up ingress is to bypass the box completely, hook the cable directly to your analog tuner, make sure analog cable channels 5, 11, 68-69, 73-74 are clean. If not, you are experiencing DPU (direct pick-up) and you need to clean up and tighten all your connections. Why 68-69, 73-74 ???? The off air signals from 17 and 22 lie under these cable channels, offset by a couple of Mhz.

If that's not the problem, it's either the box, or a transmission anomily from TWC. If the problem persists, call TWC. They are always anxious to clean up system problems.

In as much as these problems occur on all channels, however, it probably is a set top box related problem.

OK, I was watching and listening to American Idol, last night. Poor Bucky. :D

Audio broke up toward end of show. Commercials were fine.
Using an 8300, w/HDMI to a Sony wide screen HD CRT.

Heard problem on all channels that carried the show. :(
Other channels were fine!

Gary
Preston area of Cary

OK, I was watching and listening to American Idol, last night. Poor Bucky. :D

Audio broke up toward end of show. Commercials were fine.


I saw problems as well. According to my log files, the problems started around 9:12pm and lasted until about 9:23pm. The fact that Fox 50 dropped to the SD feed (or at least threw up some grey bars) made me assume that it was some sort of problem at their end. The weird thing was that even after they went SD, there were a few glitches.

And yes, poor Bucky. I'd prefer that Ace or Elliot had bitten the dust.

Drew

I saw problems as well. According to my log files,

Thanks!
OK, gotta know where these files are stored, to save myself some problem rediscovery.


-Gary

My box is an 8300HD.
On the diagnostics summary page I see the following that look like signal levels:
Tuner1 723.000mhz -6dbmv
Tuner2 675.000mhz -6dbmv
FDC 74.000mhz +1dbmv
RDC 20.000mhz +34dbmv

2 things...

1.) make sure your not using a Big Lots splitter on the line going to the 8300HD (preferably any splitting would be done in the box outside the house anyway)
2.) you made a mistake going to TWC if you want a decent HD line-up.

Any reason you left DISH? I'm going DISH as soon as I get some trees limbed up.

Thanks!
OK, gotta know where these files are stored, to save myself some problem rediscovery.

Sorry, I have no idea if your 8300 stores this information. I use a self-built MythTV based HD DVR which runs linux.

Drew

i anyone else having problems still?

Now and the we get a message (only since the software update) at power on that says: Your TV is not HDCP compliant." The 8300 box reboots and then all is well. Not sure what the sequence is for when each item is booted. My Sony TV has to boot, I think before we switch on the 8300, but I am not always there to see what gets switched on when.
Yeah, the Sony has an OS in it and we use an HDMI <==> HDMI connection.

Gary

My box is an 8300HD.
On the diagnostics summary page I see the following that look like signal levels:
Tuner1 723.000mhz -6dbmv
Tuner2 675.000mhz -6dbmv
FDC 74.000mhz +1dbmv
RDC 20.000mhz +34dbmv
posg, can you help me with your determination regarding signal strength? Remember I just got an 8300 DVR and the technician that "installed" it told me I should be looking for as close to -15 as possible for the FDC (he said the range was from 12 to -15) and as close to 55 as possible on the RDC (he said the range was from 25 to 55). I took his "ranges" to be absolutes, but you are saying that it is okay to be anywhere within these windows? Mine has been -12 and 44 since I got it. The way I understood it, I would have said dps was probably not getting good signal strength.

the problems started around 9:12pm and lasted until about 9:23pm. The fact that Fox 50 dropped to the SD feed (or at least threw up some grey bars) made me assume that it was some sort of problem at their end. The weird thing was that even after they went SD, there were a few glitches.


I just received my 8300 from TWC and still have D* until May 5 when I will cancel.

After the problems began I switched our timeshifted playback of Idol from the 8300 to our SD DTivo and it had the same issues--breakup, audio, studdering. It must have been the feed to Fox, not TWC.

--Carl

posg, can you help me with your determination regarding signal strength? Remember I just got an 8300 DVR and the technician that "installed" it told me I should be looking for as close to -15 as possible for the FDC (he said the range was from 12 to -15) and as close to 55 as possible on the RDC (he said the range was from 25 to 55). I took his "ranges" to be absolutes, but you are saying that it is okay to be anywhere within these windows? Mine has been -12 and 44 since I got it. The way I understood it, I would have said dps was probably not getting good signal strength.

You're fine. The FDC is "Forward Digital Carrier", the signal coming TO you, RDC is
"Return Digital Carrier", which is the output of the 8300 transmitting back to the headend.

Digital signals are measured differently than analog signal and are typical considered to run about 10 db lower than analog signals, although this is somewhat misleading, because analog signals are measured at a peak and digital are measured more as an average.

The outputs of taps (the connection point on the pole or pedistal) run in the high teen's, say 18 db. This level is consitant with overcoming drop loss and splitter loss and still delivering an analog signal of 0 to +5db to the tuning device, i.e. converter or TV.

Most consumers will not notice any difference is picture quality between say -5 and +15. Digital signal range would be -15 to +5 or perhaps higher before a tuner becomes overdriven.

Hope that explains things, but you're smack dab in the middle of the range. You're fine.

P.S. The return level is usually dynamic. The cable company can ratchet up or rachet down the transmitter level (RDC) of your converter, modem, etc., to compensate for various installation variables.

Also, if you remove a splitter, you should see the FDC number increase and the RDC number eventually decrease.

2 things...

2.) you made a mistake going to TWC if you want a decent HD line-up.

Any reason you left DISH? I'm going DISH as soon as I get some trees limbed up.

Their tech support was TOTALLY non responsive to a long-standing video distortion problem I was having. They claim to have "award winning" customer service---as far as I can tell the award must have been given by The Association of Echostar Senior Executives' Wives. :cool:
DishNet's HD lineup does not include the local network affiliates in Raleigh NC in HD and no telling when they will get them in HD--thus lacking most of the HD channels I was interested in.
Otherwise, the DishNet HD lineup is about the same as TWC's. (e.g. HDnet). All together, the monthy subscriptions for the programming I wanted was about the same between TWC and DishNet but I'd have to shell out $300 to upgrade to a HD DishNet receiver; TWC was "free".
I will say that the program guide on my DishNet 508 DVR was MUCH easier to use then the TVguide-based system in my new SA8300HD.

drewwho,
What HD card are you using? I'm debating upgrading my myth box (dedicated backend, Xbox-linux frontend) to an HD machine, but that means I'd have to remove the nice, quiet Xbox frontend and put in a noisier PC for the frontend since the Xbox doesn't do HD.
Have you found any good HTPC cases for a PC?

drewwho,
What HD card are you using? I'm debating upgrading my myth box (dedicated backend, Xbox-linux frontend) to an HD machine, but that means I'd have to remove the nice, quiet Xbox frontend and put in a noisier PC for the frontend since the Xbox doesn't do HD.
Have you found any good HTPC cases for a PC?

It is great to see another Myth user!

I have a combined front/backend. It has a second-generation Air2PC card for OTA, which is no longer for sale. My other card is a Dvico Fusion5 Gold. I bought the Dvico because it was supported by linux, and it was the only supported HD card which was also commercially available late last summer. Since then, the Dvico Fusion5 Lite has gotten support, along with the AverMedia card. I'd go for the Dvico Lite today, or maybe the AverMedia.

I have an Antec Sonata case. The case worked out surprisingly well. I'm picky about noise, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Make sure you get a fanless video card, and make sure that you get a fast enough CPU that you can play HD in software, because myth's xvmc support is pretty flakey.

Drew

^ i have the sonata case too. i have the fanless ati radeon 9550 with two 120mm silentX casefans (avaliable at your local intrex stores), zalman cnps7700 cpu fan and fsp bluestorm power supply. it's very quiet; would be a whisper if there's no "Antec" on the sides of the case.

anyway after some rotating and moving furniture (!) i still can't get UNCTV stable but now i can get WRAL, WRDC and WLFL steady at 94%, WRAZ and WTVD at 88%, WNCN at 77-80% and Telemundo at 66%.

perhaps UNCTV should move their tower to Garner...

alot of problems tonight with NBC during Will and grace and Earl. screen would flash black for a second (did this about 10 times) commercial volume levels were all over the place. tons of cracking and popping. the local NBC crew must have been on vacation tonight.

alot of problems tonight with NBC during Will and grace and Earl. screen would flash black for a second (did this about 10 times) commercial volume levels were all over the place. tons of cracking and popping. the local NBC crew must have been on vacation tonight.
Naw, vacation was last week. :) I'll check the Tivo's when I get in. We had a 'mystery' 21 seconds of black during NBC Nightly News the other evening, so it sounds like my sat dish is about to repeat its' issue we had with the LNB last year. The birds like to build a nest in the feedhorn where it is nice and warm from the blowers. I'll get the sat dude on the way just in case! Thanks for the heads up!

i have the fanless ati radeon 9550
<......>
perhaps UNCTV should move their tower to Garner...

Hmm.. A radeon? Do you use MythTV or a windows DVR? I had heard that ATI's linux drivers have a problem with the hardware scaler so that if you're displaying 1080i content, you see a pink bar down the right side of the screen. Does this happen to you?

If you're using DVR software like MythTV which allows an unlimited number of tuners, just get another tuner and a simple indoor UHF antenna and point it at WUNC's tower. It is much easier than trying to find a sweet spot that gets you the Garner situated towers and WUNC at the same time. From my location, WUNC and everything else are nearly 180 degrees apart, so I was originally hoping I could get WUNC "off the back" of the CM 4228 I have aimed at Garner in the attic, but that never worked out. The good news is that my Silver Sensor gets WUNC at about 99% when I point it at their tower.

Drew

Naw, vacation was last week. :) I'll check the Tivo's when I get in. We had a 'mystery' 21 seconds of black during NBC Nightly News the other evening, so it sounds like my sat dish is about to repeat its' issue we had with the LNB last year. The birds like to build a nest in the feedhorn where it is nice and warm from the blowers. I'll get the sat dude on the way just in case! Thanks for the heads up!
thanks NBC17ENG. what exactlly is the crackling and popping noise during commercials?

thanks NBC17ENG. what exactlly is the crackling and popping noise during commercials?
That would be NBC17ENG off camera eating Rice Crispy's. He's muffling the "Snap" in the "Snap, Crackle, Pop". :D

Hmm.. A radeon? Do you use MythTV or a windows DVR? I had heard that ATI's linux drivers have a problem with the hardware scaler so that if you're displaying 1080i content, you see a pink bar down the right side of the screen. Does this happen to you?

If you're using DVR software like MythTV which allows an unlimited number of tuners, just get another tuner and a simple indoor UHF antenna and point it at WUNC's tower. It is much easier than trying to find a sweet spot that gets you the Garner situated towers and WUNC at the same time. From my location, WUNC and everything else are nearly 180 degrees apart, so I was originally hoping I could get WUNC "off the back" of the CM 4228 I have aimed at Garner in the attic, but that never worked out. The good news is that my Silver Sensor gets WUNC at about 99% when I point it at their tower.

Drew

i use windoze ;) with the free software watchHDTV.

i don't think i could add another tv tuner

has anyone used/heard of the winegard sharpshooter? is it a good buy or good bye?

Programming that stays crunchy in milk! Could be!
The crackle and pop is coming from the upstream analog switcher, and it has baffled us and the manufacturer as well. It can't happen, they say, but it is present on my main and back-up switcher, so we know it CAN happen. It does show up on the stream analyzers as a disruption of the bitstream, but not on the analog audio. We're still looking for it.

Their tech support was TOTALLY non responsive to a long-standing video distortion problem I was having. They claim to have "award winning" customer service---as far as I can tell the award must have been given by The Association of Echostar Senior Executives' Wives. :cool:
DishNet's HD lineup does not include the local network affiliates in Raleigh NC in HD and no telling when they will get them in HD--thus lacking most of the HD channels I was interested in.
Otherwise, the DishNet HD lineup is about the same as TWC's. (e.g. HDnet). All together, the monthy subscriptions for the programming I wanted was about the same between TWC and DishNet but I'd have to shell out $300 to upgrade to a HD DishNet receiver; TWC was "free".
I will say that the program guide on my DishNet 508 DVR was MUCH easier to use then the TVguide-based system in my new SA8300HD.

Well I guess this is a case of 'lose one, gain one'.
You can't beat TWC box for a 'no money down, lease'. The guide thing is just one of those things that frustrates me with TWC; updates are all but nonexistent and a 6 1/2 day program guide sucks.

I've heard that DISH customer service has gone down hill fast since I was last a subscriber. I am pretty self sufficient when it comes to most things so I don't see myself calling them much anyway. Unless they over bill me like they did 'posg', maybe I can get them to bill 'posg' instead of me. :)

Enjoy INHD with TWC and don't forget to check out the free VOD's. Those are the things I will miss when I leave TWC.

Programming that stays crunchy in milk! Could be!
The crackle and pop is coming from the upstream analog switcher, and it has baffled us and the manufacturer as well. It can't happen, they say, but it is present on my main and back-up switcher, so we know it CAN happen. It does show up on the stream analyzers as a disruption of the bitstream, but not on the analog audio. We're still looking for it.

NBC17ENG,

Just to add to your to do list (believe me, I know the feeling!)... I've been catching NBC 17 News at 7 the past few nights before heading back to work. During commercial breaks the last 5-10 seconds of the spot, the audio fades out and doesn't come back till about 5-10 seconds into the next spot. I was watching on 17.2; didn't check to see if it was happening on 17.1.

I also noticed the black screen flashing during Will & Grace and Earl last night.

I turned on the TV today and the Output Setting was 1080i (only) and none of the others., which I had set previously.

I have my output settings to 720P, 480P and 480i (only) for the results I desire based on my Sony's native resolution. This provides my preference for filling the screen and eliminating the grey bars using my TV's Wide Zoom while leaving the HD at 16:9 resolution. You're preferences may differ, but that is not my issue.

Has anyone had this happen? Is it something that TWC can trigger (undoing my chosen preferences so I have to reset them)?

I too have a Sony LCD projection 50" and use this technique to successfully replace the gray side bars with black which, for me, is MUCH nicer. I feel like the gray side bars visually compete with the picture area and are very distracting. BTW, another way to accomplish this is to use an S-Video input for the 4:3 material and composite for HD, but this is a real pain because then you've got to switch inputs all the time which Sony makes more diffcult by not having discreet remote encoding for each input source and thus requiring that you rotate through the entire series of inputs to get from 5 to 4.

In any case, I've not yet had my 8300 spontaneously change the output setting. I have had the problem of the audio output auto reverting from digital to stereo which is a known issue with the 8300 - documented here in this forum. The treatment for that is to go into the sub-menu and re-choose 'digital' sound.

I'll stay on the lookout for the problem you experienced.

I too have a Sony LCD projection 50" and use this technique to successfully replace the gray side bars with black which, for me, is MUCH nicer. I feel like the gray side bars visually compete with the picture area and are very distracting. BTW, another way to accomplish this is to use an S-Video input for the 4:3 material and composite for HD, but this is a real pain because then you've got to switch inputs all the time which Sony makes more diffcult by not having discreet remote encoding for each input source and thus requiring that you rotate through the entire series of inputs to get from 5 to 4.
Grey bars are much slower to cause burn-in than black bars.

I too have a Sony LCD projection 50" and use this technique to successfully replace the gray side bars with black which, for me, is MUCH nicer.

By using Wide Zoom I have no bars, grey or black. Its just a personal preference, where others may not prefer using zoom. What I did notice is that the Sony's adjustment (Wide Zoom) handles fitting the screen (bottom scrolling bug bars, etc) better than using the TWC zoom. I don't use "stretch" or anything that simply adjusts horizontally.

By using Wide Zoom I have no bars, grey or black. Its just a personal preference, where others may not prefer using zoom. What I did notice is that the Sony's adjustment (Wide Zoom) handles fitting the screen (bottom scrolling bug bars, etc) better than using the TWC zoom. I don't use "stretch" or anything that simply adjusts horizontally.
Sony's Wide Zoom - Smart Zoom is a better name - does produce acceptable results for news stations, but isn't "offered" with any other input than 480i (I think). I've read of some going through elaborate procedures to get it to work, but I'm an A/R purist wth 4:3 as much as I am with 16:9 and it just seems - to me - to be a lot of work to watch, basically, a distorted picture.

Watching WRAZ over the weekend and periodically the box would just flip to some other channel, and then something looking like "no" shows up on the 8300's display. I punched in the correct channel into the remote and it would stay OK for another 15-20 minutes or so.

Removed the power cord from the 8300; got a cold beverage, came back, plugged cord back in and it seemed to be OK. HD is about half-full with stored shows.

Any clues?

Gary

Grey bars are much slower to cause burn-in than black bars.

Yes this could an issue for plasma owners, however my LCD is not subject to the 'burn-in' problem. :)

BTW, I too find any stretch mode visually disagreeable and will always choose the black (or grey) bars over the distortion of a stretch.

Yes this could an issue for plasma owners, however my LCD is not subject to the 'burn-in' problem. :)
Isn't LCD subject to something akin to burn-in? Persistance, or some such thing?

BTW, I too find any stretch mode visually disagreeable and will always choose the black (or grey) bars over the distortion of a stretch.
That's definitely my preference as well.

Isn't LCD subject to something akin to burn-in? Persistance, or some such thing?

you're thinking of Temporary Image Retention or image sticking. Unlike your regular burn-in, TIR as the name implies isn't permanent and fixes itself.

Isn't it supposedly a problem on RP LCDs and LCoS units as well? I've never seen examples of it however.

Anyone know why the Food network and a few other channels are now also in the 300's in the guide?

Anyone know why the Food network and a few other channels are now also in the 300's in the guide?

As somebody thought previously, they've been split off to make an extra "Family Choice" package.

Kind of ironic that "ABC Family" isn't in there.

kd4pbs,

Thought I'd mention that WLFL doesn't seem to look as "gauzey" lately. Might be that you've tweaked some parameters, or maybe it's just the windex I used on my glasses.

When might WRDC pass HD ???

As somebody thought previously, they've been split off to make an extra "Family Choice" package.

Kind of ironic that "ABC Family" isn't in there.

Yea, we have to get out of the mind set of thinking of channels as individual channels instead of one on a team of channels negotiated by the owner.

If "ABC Family" were in the "Family Choice" they would also demand Disney Channel, ESPN, A&E, History Channel be included. The "Family Choice" package would turn into the basic cable package pretty quick.

I think the system now is a kin to, Michael Jordon signing with the Bulls but forcing them to sign his cousin Clarence, his nephew Alfonzo, and his neighbor Skip. :D

Yea, we have to get out of the mind set of thinking of channels as individual channels instead of one on a team of channels negotiated by the owner.

If "ABC Family" were in the "Family Choice" they would also demand Disney Channel, ESPN, A&E, History Channel be included. The "Family Choice" package would turn into the basic cable package pretty quick.

I think the system now is a kin to, Michael Jordon signing with the Bulls but forcing them to sign his cousin Clarence, his nephew Alfonzo, and his neighbor Skip. :D

I think the "Family Package" is specifically designed to be a failure.

I think the "Family Package" is specifically designed to be a failure.

I concur.

I am actually a little surprised that there is more than one tier now a days anyway.
If the channel providers had their way we would see one tier "Standard" and our only choice would be which "Premium" movie channels to add.

And I know we all don't agree on 'a la carte', but at least it is a shake-up that puts the power in the consumers hands.

Make sure you get a fanless video card, and make sure that you get a fast enough CPU that you can play HD in software, because myth's xvmc support is pretty flakey.

Drew

Thanks, Drew. My backend has a 2.4GHz P4, and I think I read that this would be just enough power to do HD decoding.
It may be moot now; I've discovered that Apple made a "Virtual DVHS" program for powermacs that allow it to act as an AV/C device and act as a DVHS deck. This works out great for me, since my Mits has the HAVI program to allow the TV to schedule recordings and "put" them on the Mac Virtual DVHS machine. I've been playing with it the last couple of days and it seems to work extremely well. Since I had an old Powermac G4 laying around doing nothing, I slapped a 300GB drive in it and now can record all the Hi-Def programming I'll ever have time to watch, and then some. All from the remote on the TV, and not having to fumble with breaking my SD MythTV boxens the wife uses for alot of her "programs" :)
If I ever start on this project in the future, I'll ask you again, just to make sure technology on that front hasn't changed.

The birds like to build a nest in the feedhorn where it is nice and warm from the blowers. I'll get the sat dude on the way just in case! Thanks for the heads up!

Still using that Harris Vertex?

kd4pbs,

Thought I'd mention that WLFL doesn't seem to look as "gauzey" lately. Might be that you've tweaked some parameters, or maybe it's just the windex I used on my glasses.

When might WRDC pass HD ???

I had my assistant clean the HD encoder's fan last week; that must be it!

Seriously, I haven't touched a thing. It looks the same to me, so I don't know if maybe someone at The WB is reading our little section of the AVS forum or what :rolleyes: .

I had my assistant clean the HD encoder's fan last week; that must be it!

Seriously, I haven't touched a thing. It looks the same to me, so I don't know if maybe someone at The WB is reading our little section of the AVS forum or what :rolleyes: .

Must be the windex. ;) ;) ;)

I think the only thing the WB engineering staff is reading is the "Help Wanted" sections of the trade journals.

WRDC??? HD??? This year's budget???

It looks like FSN South will be covering the Canes-Habs series....any word on the chance of FSN doing any of the games in HD?

Howdy all,
I'm over on the west side of Cary, near Green Level and am just in the process of giving first life to a new Mythtv box. (Suse 10.0, pcHDTV3000, 3.0Ghz P4) Absolutely nothing is optimized yet but I'm able to catch most of the local channels and my antenna happens to be pointing directly at WRAL so they are my Gold Standard. The only problem with that is that their absolutely beautiful picture shows some serious "jaggies" wherever motion occurs. It doesn't seem like I should be hardware limited (cpu running 20% decoding their signal). I'm using an Nvidia FX5200 agp with the latest driver and both XvMC and OpenGL vertical sync are on and working. It's been suggested elsewhere that I may have a deinterlacing problem and I'm about to explore that but if anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd like to hear those as well.
Best regards to all,
Chris
Update: The "jaggy" problem is solved. It was caused by an inappropriate deinterlace setting.

Bigchris,

I don't have Myth but I do use OTA ATSC and do not see Jaggies on WRAL on my Pioneer Plasma or on my Dell LCD.

Is your display device fast enough to handle high speed action? Does it display action as on DVD's for example without Jaggies?

-DonB2

It looks like FSN South will be covering the Canes-Habs series....any word on the chance of FSN doing any of the games in HD?

I have been looking, boy I hope so. Of course, I think they have done less games this year in HD, than they did a couple years ago. Think our best chance is to win this series before we get some National HD games.

I would like to see the away games in HD since I'll be at all the home games.

^ FSN didnt do any HD games two years ago as far as I know. You may be thinking of the games FOX50 did (same announcers but different channel). Im hoping we will get some too but I think all but one or two of the FSN HD games we got last year were because the other teams RSN did all of their home games in HD, so they were just sharing resources. The fact that we are playing 2-3 games in Quebec doesnt help either.

Bigchris,

I don't have Myth but I do use OTA ATSC and do not see Jaggies on WRAL on my Pioneer Plasma or on my Dell LCD.

Is your display device fast enough to handle high speed action? Does it display action as on DVD's for example without Jaggies?

-DonB2
Don,
I chased that idea first but it turned out that I had simply forgotten to set up deinterlacing properly and that was what was causing the jaggies. With that corrected WRAL's news broadcasts look like 35 millimeter photos that move! :)

More problems with NBC..

White sparkles on ER tonight all over the picture.

looks like foxports south has game 1 sheduled for HD, we'll see if its true and (in my case) if timewarner gives us a channel for it.

cant post links yet

edit: now i can :D

http://msn.foxsports.com/name/HD#FSSouth

nevermind :confused: in my haste to reach 5 post, i didnt realize that the schedule shows carolina vs. tampa............APRIL 15th :mad:


back to lurking

Bigchris,

I was reminded last night while watching OTA ATSC HD PBS that there is pixelization that you will see. It is mostly in close ups like a water falls or last night, flames filling the screen while PBS reenacted the burning of Rome.

During these close ups you will see pixelization.

Maybe someone else who subscribes to TWC HD package can confirm if this same pixelization appears on TWC.

-DONB2

Typical MPEG macro block distortion... it's what happens when one tries to squeeze 2 tons-per-second of picture into a 1 ton-per-second pipe. Big areas of picture change between fields/frames end up with the blockies. That's the reason I dumped DirecTV 4 years ago. The only fix, at least for ATSC is to either start out with lower resolution pictures before encoding it or devoting more bits per second to that particular stream.

Did anyone notice the Outdoor Channel is now channel 328 and Game Show Network is now channel 329? This makes them part of the digital sports tier for $2.95/month. Now I never watch either of these and if I did, $2.95 isnt THAT high, but still...these channels used to be included with digital cable. I had to call TWC about another issue and inquired about this and was told that the move was made to give non-digital cable subscribers more variety. Ive never heard that you could get digital cable without subscribing to digital cable, but apparently you can. But why should giving these people, whoever they may be, more variety result in taking channels away from other customers? Whats stopping TWC from moving ESPNews, FOX Soccer Channel and Speed to this package? All of the Family Choice channels are mirrors of their 100s counterpart, why not do the same with these two?

Is anyone watching the NASCAR race in OTA HD on FOX 50-1 tonight? I hear the cars but no announcers. I can't figure out what is going on but I sort of like it like this :) I do hear the commercials :(

EDIT: I just figured it out, I just hung a new plasma I got today and forgot that I have not connected my center channel speaker. :eek: I am smarter than a mule and my head aint half as long.

Is anyone watching the NASCAR race in OTA HD on FOX 50-1 tonight? ...

Can't you just watch the news for the Wrecks and the Winnner?
You would have more time for Night Rider. :)

Sorry, the forum was slow. :D

Everyone on this forum needs to call Time Warner and bug them to offer the Scientific Atlanta MCP-100 DVR/DVD burner.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/Source/7007081.pdf

While it uses a proprietary format, allowing discs to only be played back on the unit, it does free up hard drive space. It supports HD as well.

PS, it also funtions as a regular DVD player. It won some kind of award at the CES.

I want one please.

Everyone on this forum needs to call Time Warner and bug them to offer the Scientific Atlanta MCP-100 DVR/DVD burner.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/Source/7007081.pdf

While it uses a proprietary format, allowing discs to only be played back on the unit, it does free up hard drive space. It supports HD as well.

PS, it also funtions as a regular DVD player. It won some kind of award at the CES.

I want one please.

It down converts the HD recordings to DVD resolution.
This to me is a gimmick product. Instead of adding a "Week" to the guide, giving better "Search", "Season Pass" like features and complete the "External HD" they add a DVD Recorder to the bland 8300.

What this offers could be accomplished with a $75 DVD recorder. :confused:

It down converts the HD recordings to DVD resolution.
This to me is a gimmick product. Instead of adding a "Week" to the guide, giving better "Search", "Season Pass" like features and complete the "External HD" they add a DVD Recorder to the bland 8300.

What this offers could be accomplished with a $75 DVD recorder. :confused:

I could be misreading the line under "Additional Benefits":

"Archive capability in secure format for HD content, blah, blah blah..."

I could be misreading the line under "Additional Benefits":

"Archive capability in secure format for HD content, blah, blah blah..."

I found this article on it.
http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6411591.html

I'm watching the FOX50 news tonight OTA on 50-1 and notice the audio and video are out of sync. Is anyone else seeing this?

Also, for anyone at FOX50, please reset your clock you use with PSIP. It's running 3 minutes fast.

Thanks,

Steve

I found this article on it.
http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6411591.html

Do we (anybody) know how it handles 16x9 720p and 1080i source material.

Does it maintain the aspect ratio and downconvert to 480p, or does is simply record the letterboxed output that the box spits out of the s-video and composite jacks at 480i ???

I certainly could live with the first scenerio, the second does nothing to excite me.

"the whole idea of easily making hard copies of your HD recording (down-converted to DVD resolution) . . . "
Nuf said?

Before TWC gets a Setop Box that has a Rotisserie attachment, I want to be able to set my box to record every show that has "Redskins" in the description. (never miss a game or an interview)

Oh and did I tell ya, I want a 2 week guide. :)

"Before TWC gets a Setop Box that has a Rotisserie attachment"

I hope they make it in Stainless!!!!!!

-DonB2

"Before TWC gets a Setop Box that has a Rotisserie attachment"

I hope they make it in Stainless!!!!!!

-DonB2

Stainless or not, I'll bet more than 1 "Grilled Cheese Sandwich" has been made on 8300's or like devices in our college towns across america. :cool:

Let cook for 5 minutes while recoding HDNET. :)

Before TWC gets a Setop Box that has a Rotisserie attachment, I want to be able to set my box to record every show that has "Redskins" in the description. (never miss a game or an interview)

Oh and did I tell ya, I want a 2 week guide. :)

I think you can setup recording for anything that has redskins if you go the search by keywork, type redskins and create a recording on the keyword. I never used it but I noticed the function when trying to find programs for my son.

Francisco

Before TWC gets a Setop Box that has a Rotisserie attachment, I want to be able to set my box to record every show that has "Redskins" in the description. (never miss a game or an interview)

Oh and did I tell ya, I want a 2 week guide. :)

It's called a TiVo Series 3 (with cablecard). ;)

It's called a TiVo Series 3 (with cablecard). ;)

Wouldnt that be two cablecards?? HD Tivo will be wonderful....

Everybody here please email TWC and share your thoughts on new HD channels.
We all have a couple minutes to spare to post here so please Email Corporate.

Fred.Dressler@twcable.com

Let's be civilized.

Everybody here please email TWC and share your thoughts on new HD channels.
We all have a couple minutes to spare to post here so please Email Corporate.

Fred.Dressler@twcable.com

Let's be civilized.

Well, I'd like to know what's the latest status of ESPN2 HD. The world cup is coming and it is going to be available on HD on ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2... but we are missing one of those...

Francisco

Wouldnt that be two cablecards?? HD Tivo will be wonderful....

Until somebody ships a v2.0 multistream cablecard (the series 3 has one v2.0 slot and one v1.0 slot), yes, that would technically be *two* cablecards.

Well, I'd like to know what's the latest status of ESPN2 HD. The world cup is coming and it is going to be available on HD on ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2... but we are missing one of those...

Francisco

Here's the status ... Dressler stated on many occasions that TWC was "close" on ESPN2HD and they hoped to have it in time for baseball. Well, that has come and gone, and guess what ... there is nothing to report on ESPN2HD. Here's a fact--- TWC is the last to add ANY channels of substance (HD and SD). Sorry, bro.

I think you can setup recording for anything that has redskins if you go the search by keywork, type redskins and create a recording on the keyword. I never used it but I noticed the function when trying to find programs for my son.

Francisco

You can search for keywords and then setup individual recordings. You would have to do this every week.

I want an on going event that will always record any show that has "Redskins" in the description. You can do it with TIVO, DISH, and DirecTv; just not TWC (because they are a Monopoly and don't have to innovate) :mad:

Everybody here please email TWC and share your thoughts on new HD channels.
We all have a couple minutes to spare to post here so please Email Corporate.

Fred.Dressler@twcable.com

Let's be civilized.

Andy:

Let's hope Dressler takes us seriously. I've been e-mailing the guy since ESPN2HD launched, and while I've been optimistic with some of his replies, it (and any other HD channel for that matter) remains missing. (BTW ... I know that Universal HD was added-- but, I think you'd agree-- it is absolutely worthless).

I'd encourage everyone, just as you did, to e-mail Dressler. He's a nice enough guy, but he has yet to deliver. Let's inundate him and make him listen. I'd like to think that he cares about all the potential defectors to satellite, but I know he and the TWC brass really don't care.

For all you sports nuts out there, be sure to demand the NFL Network as well. We, as TWC customers, represent the only cable subscribers in the top 5 (and possibly top 10) cable providers to NOT have the NFL Network. As you know, they will have 8 regular season games this year that we will miss if it's not added by the Fall. So EMAIL, EMAIL, EMAIL.

fred.dressler@twcable.com

Thanks.

You can search for keywords and then setup individual recordings. You would have to do this every week.

I want an on going event that will always record any show that has "Redskins" in the description. You can do it with TIVO, DISH, and DirecTv; just not TWC (because they are a Monopoly and don't have to innovate) :mad:

I tried it yesterday, and it prompted me to create a recording based on the keyword (you must have something that matches the keyword first) for either movies or shows (not sure why), so it seems to do what you wanted. Like I said, I never tried creating the recording at this level.

Francisco

I tried it yesterday, and it prompted me to create a recording based on the keyword (you must have something that matches the keyword first) for either movies or shows (not sure why), so it seems to do what you wanted. Like I said, I never tried creating the recording at this level.

Francisco

I will check it out when I get home, thanks.

It would be a shame if the 8300HD has upgraded features in a way that aren't obvious or user friendly. The whole reason you add a feature is to fill a customers need in an obvious way. TIVO is great at this and everyone but TWC is copying their user friendly and feature rich interface .

Andy:

Let's hope Dressler takes us seriously. I've been e-mailing the guy since ESPN2HD launched, and while I've been optimistic with some of his replies, it (and any other HD channel for that matter) remains missing. (BTW ... I know that Universal HD was added-- but, I think you'd agree-- it is absolutely worthless).

I'd encourage everyone, just as you did, to e-mail Dressler. He's a nice enough guy, but he has yet to deliver. Let's inundate him and make him listen. I'd like to think that he cares about all the potential defectors to satellite, but I know he and the TWC brass really don't care.

For all you sports nuts out there, be sure to demand the NFL Network as well. We, as TWC customers, represent the only cable subscribers in the top 5 (and possibly top 10) cable providers to NOT have the NFL Network. As you know, they will have 8 regular season games this year that we will miss if it's not added by the Fall. So EMAIL, EMAIL, EMAIL.

fred.dressler@twcable.com

Thanks. I just contacted the VP of programming for the TWC Raleigh Division. That is who Mr Dressler put me in touch with last time. They actually used my email as part of a conference on HD programming. He gave me alot of good info last time. I will let you know what he says when he gives me a call back.

Everyone on this forum needs to call Time Warner and bug them to offer the Scientific Atlanta MCP-100 DVR/DVD burner.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/Source/7007081.pdf

While it uses a proprietary format, allowing discs to only be played back on the unit, it does free up hard drive space. It supports HD as well.

PS, it also funtions as a regular DVD player. It won some kind of award at the CES.

I want one please.
As fruitless of an endeavor I knew this would be, I did it anyway. I submitted an email and this is the response I got -->

Response:Time Warner Cable does not currently offer or have plans to offer a multi-room unit at this time. Our engineers are currently evaluating this type of equipment and we may decide to offer this equipment in the future.

I expected as much ... but, I suppose this is the first level of consumer input and is probably somewhat necessary.

I want one, too, please.

I just contacted the VP of programming for the TWC Raleigh Division. That is who Mr Dressler put me in touch with last time. They actually used my email as part of a conference on HD programming. He gave me alot of good info last time. I will let you know what he says when he gives me a call back. Ok, got a call back. The local VP for raleigh told me that ESPN2HD is going to be launched very soon here in raleigh. he does hold some credit with me because this is the same guy that told me that Universal will be here to stay after the olmypics before anyone else knew.

he is actually on his way to a meeting in Wilmington and one of the topics is HD programming for our area. he said he will give me a call back again when the meeting is over and he has new info. for now though, he says ESPN2HD launch in raleigh is very soon and many of the other are in the works.

Ok, got a call back. The local VP for raleigh told me that ESPN2HD is going to be launched very soon here in raleigh. he does hold some credit with me because this is the same guy that told me that Universal will be here to stay after the olmypics before anyone else knew.

he is actually on his way to a meeting in Wilmington and one of the topics is HD programming for our area. he said he will give me a call back again when the meeting is over and he has new info. for now though, he says ESPN2HD launch in raleigh is very soon and many of the other are in the works.

Good news.
It's just a shame that we get excited about TWC playing catch up. :(

Ok, got a call back. The local VP for raleigh told me that ESPN2HD is going to be launched very soon here in raleigh. he does hold some credit with me because this is the same guy that told me that Universal will be here to stay after the olmypics before anyone else knew.

he is actually on his way to a meeting in Wilmington and one of the topics is HD programming for our area. he said he will give me a call back again when the meeting is over and he has new info. for now though, he says ESPN2HD launch in raleigh is very soon and many of the other are in the works.


Great news for you guys, I hope it applies to everyone who has TWC. And I know you already know specifically what channels to ask about.

And I know you already know specifically what channels to ask about.
sure do. will update as soon as i have word.

sure do. will update as soon as i have word.

I really hope this isn't a red herring. I'll be very surprised, having heard nothing about a corporate agreement for carriage of ESPN2HD with TWC. Keep us updated.

Now us sports freaks have to apply maximum pressure for the NFL Network!!!!!

I just want the following:

ESPN2HD
ESPN U
NFL Network

I just want the following:

ESPN2HD
ESPN U
NFL Network

Me too, bro. I've been on them for months (make that years). If you take what you've read here seriously, we have ESPN2HD soon ("soon" may mean within several years in TWC terms). But, unfortunately, the NFL Network will not happen for us unless we keep the pressure on Dressler.

Email continuously to:

fred.dressler@twcable.com

Ok, got a call back. The local VP for raleigh told me that ESPN2HD is going to be launched very soon here in raleigh.

The thing is ... until a corporate agreement is reached with ABC/Disney (for ESPN2HD), it will not be launched for any TWC subs. They do not work independently of TWC corporate. There very well be an agreement in the final stages, but to my knowledge nothing has been announced. We're left to wonder what exactly "soon" means. I'm very interested about what this person (Raleigh TWC exec) tells you.

The thing is ... until a corporate agreement is reached with ABC/Disney (for ESPN2HD), it will not be launched for any TWC subs. They do not work independently of TWC corporate. There very well be an agreement in the final stages, but to my knowledge nothing has been announced. We're left to wonder what exactly "soon" means. I'm very interested about what this person (Raleigh TWC exec) tells you.

Yes, the reality is that programming deals are generally done at a corporate level, and there needs to be lots of casual negociations over expensive lunches, a few e-mails, a preliminary proposal, several counter proposals, a draft contract, several contract revisions, more expensive lunches, and THEN the attorneys get involved and the process starts all over again.

The food chain must be fed !!!!

In the early days of cable, we at the local cable company decided over a couple of beers that we oughta add that Atlanta channel cause it had baseball, so we went out to the headend, had a couple of more beers and scabbed it together (nothing of course was scrambled).

Sometimes we might even call them later and tell them we needed them to send us a contract. They were of course delighted to add the eyeballs to thier subcriber count. Back then, most programming was "free" to the cable operator because it was supposed to be advertiser supported.

Later they would come back and ask for fees, after, of course the services had become essential. How naive we were.

posg,

Thanks , I was wondering how it worked.

-DonB2

Back then, most programming was "free" to the cable operator because it was supposed to be advertiser supported. ...

What is your estimation on the revenue percentage now from carriage fees and ad dollars. My guess is ad dollars eclipse carriage fees; like 99% to 1%. Which would support my theory that "al a carte" might turn back the clock to the free carriage days just to keep those "eyeballs".

Interesting development on the CW network front. CW just affiliated as a digital side-car channel of WKRC-DT 12 in Cincinnati, a market comparable in size to Raleigh.

This is the first market in the top 50 to go that route. Anyone who is expecting WLFL to end up with CW by default could be in for a rude awaking, especially the folks at Sinclair.

Could Capital end up pairing it with WRAL or WRAZ ???

Closer to home CW will be digital multicasted on WNCT-DT 9 (10).

I tried it yesterday, and it prompted me to create a recording based on the keyword (you must have something that matches the keyword first) for either movies or shows (not sure why), so it seems to do what you wanted. Like I said, I never tried creating the recording at this level.

Francisco

Thanks again.
It does work. You are correct that you have to have a match for a keyword search in order to create an event recording which blows.

If anyone didn't know (I didn't), you can setup a recording to record all events with "redskins" in the description. Do a keyword search for "redskins" and on the results page highlight "redskins" and hit the "record" button. Choose "show" or "movie" then set it up like normal.

Note: This only works with "redskins" :)

What is your estimation on the revenue percentage now from carriage fees and ad dollars. My guess is ad dollars eclipse carriage fees; like 99% to 1%. Which would support my theory that "al a carte" might turn back the clock to the free carriage days just to keep those "eyeballs".

It varies from channel to channel, but most business models support about a 50/50 split between subscription revenue and ad revenue.

Another caveat in the ad revenue side when talking "a la carte" is that a lot of advertising is purchased across the whole platefull of channels a company operates.

By aggregating audience across several demographically targeted channels, large advertisers can get exposure to more viewers, in the case of a mass appeal product, at a better rate.

In other words, ABC/Disney may sell time to Ford and McDonald "run of channels" rather than a channel at a time.

Magazine advertising is sold the same way. Publisher's need to aggregate several magazines together to make ad buys attractive.

It varies from channel to channel, but most business models support about a 50/50 split between subscription revenue and ad revenue.

Another caveat in the ad revenue side when talking "a la carte" is that a lot of advertising is purchased across the whole platefull of channels a company operates.

By aggregating audience across several demographically targeted channels, large advertisers can get exposure to more viewers, in the case of a mass appeal product, at a better rate.

In other words, ABC/Disney may sell time to Ford and McDonald "run of channels" rather than a channel at a time.

Magazine advertising is sold the same way. Publisher's need to aggregate several magazines together to make ad buys attractive.

Sounds like to me, if a channel is paying the bills with subscription revenue then no one is watching that channel.
It should then be put out of it's misery. ;)

Sounds like to me, if a channel is paying the bills with subscription revenue then no one is watching that channel.
It should then be put out of it's misery. ;)

Well look at it this way, if Discovery Channel has a quarter hour viewship of 500,000 households, and the Discovery Science channel only reaches 50,000, and Discovery Kids only 50,000, by the time you add all the channels in the Discovery Channel suite, plus the Learning Channel, plus the Travel Channel, and whatever else you have, cumulatively you have an audience of 1,000,000. Now you've got something to sell.

It's one of those "sum of the parts" scenerios.

Well look at it this way, if Discovery Channel has a quarter hour viewship of 500,000 households, and the Discovery Science channel only reaches 50,000, and Discovery Kids only 50,000, by the time you add all the channels in the Discovery Channel suite, plus the Learning Channel, plus the Travel Channel, and whatever else you have, cumulatively you have an audience of 1,000,000. Now you've got something to sell.

It's one of those "sum of the parts" scenerios.
Wouldn't advertisers be looking for a la carte as well? Why do they buy packages (bundles) when only one or two channels are really attractive to them?

- temporarily at The Venetian for a trade show -

Wouldn't advertisers be looking for a la carte as well? Why do they buy packages (bundles) when only one or two channels are really attractive to them?

- temporarily at The Venetian for a trade show -

The big guys with deep pockets want broader demograpics than the botique advertisers. Target want to reach anybody. Same with Coke. If they spill some dollars outside of their target demographic, it's OK as long as the get the "cume" they're after. Bundled networks give them that cume. Buying time on a major single network may not.

Channel surfers realize that some advertisers buy "road blocks". They place the same ad on multiple networks at the same time. Others, like local car dealers simply by "bulk"....here's $100,000 for the month, just guarantee me 3 prime times and 12 run of schedules a day, or a percentage of your unsold inventory.

"A La Carte" disturbs the primal forces of (advertising) nature.

What's important to a Viacom, or a Time Warner, or a Disney, or a Discovery Networks is that the cumulative reach of all thier channels reaches a critical mass. That's why they keep adding sibling channels, trying to inch up their overall share.

Returned from work today to find that Ch CBS, ABC and some of the lower tier channels have no reception on my HDTV. My others have reception. Most other channels work, including the HD versions of CBS and ABC. Had some pixelation on ABC HD at first (around 5:30PM).

Called TWC and was told UPN did something to their signal that interfered with TWC transmission, have to send a tech out on Sunday.

Doesn't make sense to me, but was wondering if anyone else is having (or has had) problems. Anyone aware of a change by UPN?

Returned from work today to find that Ch CBS, ABC and some of the lower tier channels have no reception on my HDTV. My others have reception. Most other channels work, including the HD versions of CBS and ABC. Had some pixelation on ABC HD at first (around 5:30PM).

Called TWC and was told UPN did something to their signal that interfered with TWC transmission, have to send a tech out on Sunday.

Doesn't make sense to me, but was wondering if anyone else is having (or has had) problems. Anyone aware of a change by UPN?

WRDC, the UPN outlet, recently went from around 5,000 watts to 1,000,000 on their digital channel 27.

UHF channel 27 occupies 546-560 MHz. Cable channel 78 occupies 548-552 Mhz.

You are getting "ingress" from off air channel 27 that is interferring with the QAM signals on cable 78. Common problem. Bad connection.

You are getting "ingress" from off air channel 27 that is interferring with the QAM signals on cable 78. Common problem. Bad connection.

Thanks. Though you think nothing has changed around the house, somehow there was a loose connection in my panel. I must say I've never had a loose connection where only some channels were impacted and all others were fine.

I can't say the UPN change was the cause, but I'm intrigued by the "ingress" effect.

Thanks Posg

You're fine. The FDC is "Forward Digital Carrier", the signal coming TO you, RDC is
"Return Digital Carrier", which is the output of the 8300 transmitting back to the headend.

Most consumers will not notice any difference is picture quality between say -5 and +15. Digital signal range would be -15 to +5 or perhaps higher before a tuner becomes overdriven.

Hope that explains things, but you're smack dab in the middle of the range. You're fine.

.

Posg,

A question if I may...

I changed some things around today. I have a TWC installed distribution amp on the house input. I switched two outputs on the amp since I needed to move the amp power supply to a different room. I dont recall the original signal strength numbers but they now fall outside your stated 'norms'.

Are these OK?

Tuner 1 591 Mhz -2 dBmV = WRAL HD
Tuner 2 711 Mhz -1 dBmV = Discovery HD
FDC: 74 Mhz -29 dBmV
RDC: 25 Mhx 47 dBmV

Both tuners show SNR's of 36 dB with some BER (1.7x10-6 right now).

Thanks!

UPDATE: Ok... Ive figured this one out... The reason I rearranged the amp power was to get the amp power brick and inserter inside the lightning protection 'zone'. I powered the brick from the UPS and ran the inserter on the 'equipment' side of the panamax. I used the satellite connections instead of the cable because the cable clamped the voltage at too low a level and would effectively short out the amp power. I went digging on the panamax site and found that the satellite protectors had a spec'd frequency range of 950Mhz to 2.?Ghz. No wonder the 74Mhz was getting crushed. Bypassing the panamax solved the problem. Guess its back to the drawing board.

Numbers are now:

Tuner 1 591 Mhz -2 dBmV = WRAL HD
Tuner 2 711 Mhz 0 dBmV = Discovery HD
FDC: 74 Mhz 0 dBmV
RDC: 25 Mhx 46 dBmV


Further question... What does the FDC and RDC represent? Is it the basic communications between the STB and the head end? perhaps for authentication etc etc?

Ok, got a call back. The local VP for raleigh told me that ESPN2HD is going to be launched very soon here in raleigh.

he is actually on his way to a meeting in Wilmington and one of the topics is HD programming for our area. he said he will give me a call back again when the meeting is over and he has new info.

Did he ever call you back?

Posg,

A question if I may...

I changed some things around today. I have a TWC installed distribution amp on the house input. I switched two outputs on the amp since I needed to move the amp power supply to a different room. I dont recall the original signal strength numbers but they now fall outside your stated 'norms'.

Are these OK?

Tuner 1 591 Mhz -2 dBmV = WRAL HD
Tuner 2 711 Mhz -1 dBmV = Discovery HD
FDC: 74 Mhz -29 dBmV
RDC: 25 Mhx 47 dBmV

Both tuners show SNR's of 36 dB with some BER (1.7x10-6 right now).

Thanks!

UPDATE: Ok... Ive figured this one out... The reason I rearranged the amp power was to get the amp power brick and inserter inside the lightning protection 'zone'. I powered the brick from the UPS and ran the inserter on the 'equipment' side of the panamax. I used the satellite connections instead of the cable because the cable clamped the voltage at too low a level and would effectively short out the amp power. I went digging on the panamax site and found that the satellite protectors had a spec'd frequency range of 950Mhz to 2.?Ghz. No wonder the 74Mhz was getting crushed. Bypassing the panamax solved the problem. Guess its back to the drawing board.

Numbers are now:

Tuner 1 591 Mhz -2 dBmV = WRAL HD
Tuner 2 711 Mhz 0 dBmV = Discovery HD
FDC: 74 Mhz 0 dBmV
RDC: 25 Mhx 46 dBmV


Further question... What does the FDC and RDC represent? Is it the basic communications between the STB and the head end? perhaps for authentication etc etc?

Not postitive, but an educated guess is FDC = "Foward Digital Carrier", a reference "pilot" carrier generated at the headend and measured at the set top for the digital signal level reaching you, and RDC = "Return Digital Carrier", which is the transmitting level of your set top box to get signals, i.e. phone, internet, set-top telemetry, back to them. The RDC is dynamic and they can send commands to ratchet up or rachet down the output of your set box to meet connection conditions.

When you improved your signal path, the headend sensed that and ratched down the RDC.

Glad you were able to solve your problem, and glad I could help.

Hint to anybody having reception problems on TWC in Raleigh. With a straight analog connection to you TV set, check for background interference on cable channels 5, 11, 68, 69, 72, 73. If you see anything in the background, you've got a connection problem somewhere, caused by off air channels 5, 11, 17 and 22 "ingressing" into your cable. The higher UHF channels, as noted above will cause problems with your digital channels, causing drop-outs, etc.

Remember this too, a "clean" connection is much more important than strong signal levels.

PS

I figure occasionally offering helpful advice buys me a little license to rant and rave.....

After all, life is all about balance.

8:15 this evening, right as the first period ended in the 'Canes game, my box just rebooted itself. Screwed my recording of West Wing. I had posted a while ago that I had some issues with my box, such as not being able to use the # to change stretch/zoom settings, or that I couldn't go into the extended settings screen. When they pushed out the updates, everything was fine again...Until last week. Same problems now. Sigh.

Did he ever call you back?
no, he hasnt yet but i will give him a call tommorow if i dont hear anything today.

I was reminded last night while watching OTA ATSC HD PBS that there is pixelization that you will see. It is mostly in close ups like a water falls or last night, flames filling the screen while PBS reenacted the burning of Rome.


WUNC's HD has always been pretty bad for pixelization. In my opinion, it is about where NBC17's HD feed was before they upgraded their equipment before the Olympics. According to a friend who pulls PBS of of his satellite dish (free, not a subscription service) the national PBS HD feed is much, much better that what WUNC gives us.

I personally don't consider this to be much of a problem on PBS, since most of their HD is landscapes and such, and there is very little fast motion like you'd find during sporting events.

Drew

drewwho,

I noticed it again last night watching a show on Lions. The good news was that PBS had the show on their 4.1 as well as the 4.2 channel.

On the other hand the better half noticed the Lions turning into cubes. And it is never a good thing when the Better half see pixles - unless it leads to TWC HD or something like that.

Typically I find that PBS will show their prime time advertised show on 4.1 which is not HD and simultaneously on 4.2 will be some repeat show about the civil war in mostly still grainy blown up photographs. Which is not in my opinion the best use of HD.

-DonB2

General Question,

Recently I have noticed on HD channels that the white text disclaimers that scroll up the screen during commercials seem to crawl or shimmer.

Did not notice this in the past. Either my eyes are going or maybe the Plasma is out of adjustment.

This is while watching OTA HD and not on any particular network.

I am using a Pioneer 43 inch Plasma with built in OTA HD ATSC tuner.

Not sure if it also happens on digital/analog broadcasts, but will try and see tonight.

-DONB2

Well, as I watch my HDTiVo reboot for no apparent reason for the second time in the last week, I've come to realize that it probably won't survive until the TiVo Series 3 comes out. I'm holding out hope it will at least make it until the end of the various seasons so I don't have to try to do a swap out during May sweeps.

Anyway, that means I'll be switching back to TWC and looking at the 8300HD as a stop gap until the Series 3 comes out. Or maybe as a permanent replacement if I decide I can live without the TiVo interface and the unit performs well. The one question I have is regarding ATSC. I have an HD antenna on my roof that gets all the OTA stations really well (except WUNC since it's not in the same area), and I'd kind of like to keep using it so that I don't have to rely on the cable company to pass a decent HD signal along. Everything I'm finding online seems to indicate, however, that there is no ATSC tuner in the 8300HD.

Would someone mind confirming that for me? Also, it appears there are two possible software configurations for the 8300HD, so I'm wondering which set of software is on the 8300HD for this area?

Thanks.

The 8300 does not tune ATSC.

The software is Passport Echo.

I don't think you will be disappointed. The 8300 is a great machine. And by the time the series 3 comes out, it will be hard to justify spending all that money up front for equivalent functionality.

I had 1 8300HD and was holding out for the series 3 on our other HD set. But after removal of the lifetime option, i've given up on Tivo.

The 8300 does not tune ATSC.

The software is Passport Echo.

I don't think you will be disappointed. The 8300 is a great machine. And by the time the series 3 comes out, it will be hard to justify spending all that money up front for equivalent functionality.

I had 1 8300HD and was holding out for the series 3 on our other HD set. But after removal of the lifetime option, i've given up on Tivo.

Thanks for the info. One more question I forgot to ask. I see the 8300HD has a SATA port for external storage. Do we have to (or can we) rent the external storage from TWC, or can you just buy an external SATA drive and hook it up?

Thanks for the info. One more question I forgot to ask. I see the 8300HD has a SATA port for external storage. Do we have to (or can we) rent the external storage from TWC, or can you just buy an external SATA drive and hook it up?

The external SATA function isnt officially supported by TWC Raleigh. Functionality reports have varied between works reasonabally well to works poorly. I have a Maxtor Quickview external SATA which I periodically attach (when I get low on space). It works reasonabally well for me. With external SATA attached, the trickplay buffers dont work (no pause/rewind/ff live tv) but I can live with that. If you press record then the trickplays then function on what has been recorded. It has been said that the trickplay problem only occurs if the external drive is targeted for recording (based on which drive has the least used space) but I havent personally validated that. YMMV

CW network update

CW now has affiliates in 26 out of the 30 largest markets. The four remaining, including Raleigh, are all Sinclair markets. It doesn't look like they're even talking. CW wants cash for carriage, and Sinclair won't pay it. (ironic, in that it's a complete reversal from Sinclair's position with cable)

Since Capital Broadcasting (WRAL/WRAZ) has signed with CW in Charlotte, and Media General (pending owner of WNCN) has signed with CW in Greenville, my money is that WLFL will go independent, Sinclair will move it's HD equipment over to WRDC for their MYTV affliation, either Capital or Media General will add CW as a digital multicast, with maybe a HD fiber feed to Time Warner.

Any bets???

CW network update

CW now has affiliates in 26 out of the 30 largest markets. The four remaining, including Raleigh, are all Sinclair markets. It doesn't look like they're even talking. CW wants cash for carriage, and Sinclair won't pay it. (ironic, in that it's a complete reversal from Sinclair's position with cable)

Since Capital Broadcasting (WRAL/WRAZ) has signed with CW in Charlotte, and Media General (pending owner of WNCN) has signed with CW in Greenville, my money is that WLFL will go independent, Sinclair will move it's HD equipment over to WRDC for their MYTV affliation, either Capital or Media General will add CW as a digital multicast, with maybe a HD fiber feed to Time Warner.

Any bets???

As long as Sinclair aren't in charge I'd go with CW being run out of a garden shed from someone on the AVS Forum.

POSG,

So what are you saying CW will be a multicast channel of WRAL ? And both UPN and WB (22 and 28 OTA ATSC) will go away?

I was just getting use to 22 broadcasting on full power and liked watching the Frasier and Raymond reruns that come on at ten PM.

-DonB2

I'd bet on it...

POSG,

So what are you saying CW will be a multicast channel of WRAL ? And both UPN and WB (22 and 28 OTA ATSC) will go away?

I was just getting use to 22 broadcasting on full power and liked watching the Frasier and Raymond reruns that come on at ten PM.

-DonB2

Didn't say WILL be, said COULD be. 28 is already signed up to be a "MY NETWORK TV" affiliate. 22 COULD become an independent. Regardless, it won't affect Frasier and Raymond.

Posg,

Sorry.

I am happy at the full power though.

Not sure if both are full power or just one of them. Of course that could change.

I just hope USDTV does not come swooping in.

-DonB2

Posg,

Sorry.

I am happy at the full power though.

Not sure if both are full power or just one of them. Of course that could change.

I just hope USDTV does not come swooping in.

-DonB2

Yeah, with two stations, Sinclair will have a hard time keeping their pants up when USDTV comes a knockin' ;) ;) ;) ;)

USDTV, a little too little, a lot too late, destined for failure.

USDTV, a little too little, a lot too late, destined for failure.

- I think you are close on that one.

-DonB2

WRDC, the UPN outlet, recently went from around 5,000 watts to 1,000,000 on their digital channel 27.

UHF channel 27 occupies 546-560 MHz. Cable channel 78 occupies 548-552 Mhz.

You are getting "ingress" from off air channel 27 that is interferring with the QAM signals on cable 78. Common problem. Bad connection.

Ha , yeah, it must be the broadcaster's fault... how dare they ingress into the poorly maintained CATV line?!
;)

posg, have you found the answers to the questions you keep asking me and I can't talk about yet? :D

My tongue sure does hurt alot.

So, posg, you never answered my question... do you know first hand about Sinclair's practices, or are you just basing your opinion of the company from things you read on the internet, Or do you resent Sinclair's attempt at creating a different slant to the same old mainstream media?

In case nobody has told you yet, don't believe everything you read about on the internet.

Interesting development on the CW network front. CW just affiliated as a digital side-car channel of WKRC-DT 12 in Cincinnati, a market comparable in size to Raleigh.

This is the first market in the top 50 to go that route. Anyone who is expecting WLFL to end up with CW by default could be in for a rude awaking, especially the folks at Sinclair.

Could Capital end up pairing it with WRAL or WRAZ ???

Closer to home CW will be digital multicasted on WNCT-DT 9 (10).

Care to dig up any more predictions that didn't pan out? :rolleyes:

I'd bet on it...

Gawd, you guys better not stand next to me on a golf course... your luck is not going too well today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLFL-TV

WRAL-TV launches HD weather

From Broadcast Television HD Technology Update e-newsletter

High definition broadcasting pioneer WRAL in Raleigh-Durham, NC, is the first television station in the country to implement a High Definition Weather Center with the early April debut of its Baron Services VIPIR HD weather system.

Baron Services VIPIR HD has higher resolution with 16x9 modes that allow WRAL to take full advantage of the digital signal within the station’s weathercast. Using 1080i resolution, the system’s graphics and content can take viewers to the center of the storm. A wider screen gives WRAL’s viewers and meteorologists a bigger, better picture of the weather.

VIPIR HD is a dual-head solution with one screen used for the graphic user interface and the other used to display weather information. It provides simple customization and set up for multiple profiles for each member of a station’s weather team.

It was confirmed on May 2, 2006 that WLFL-TV will affiliate with The CW.

ROFL!!!

Care to dig up any more predictions that didn't pan out? :rolleyes:

Glad I didn't put any money down. OK, I WAS WRONG !!!

So you mentioned that you golfed??? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

My attitude towards Sinclair is more based on my personal encounter with them in trying to get a satellite waiver a few years back, and getting no response, and then rudely lied to, while all the other local stations responded positively in a timely manner.

I also have a problem with the blatent political bias attempted in the now defunct News Central, deleting (censoring) network programming that is inconsistent with David Smith's personal convictions, and the attempted smear campaign against John Kerry.

Sinclair is simply a low budget operator which is controlled by accountants and not broadcasters.

That said, what's your handicap????

PS Congrats on the CW affiliation. You might want to put the HD feed on Time Warner so people will actually see it. It will be a long time before satellite offers anything but the big 4.

no, he hasnt yet but i will give him a call tommorow if i dont hear anything today.

Sad to say, but I really believe this is standard procedure for TWC:

1. Respond politely to subscriber e-mails to pacify.
2. Give empty promises about channel additions.
3. Ignore when the same subscriber continues to e-mail.

I, too, am sick of getting the terse replies from Dressler about getting <fill in the blank> channel "soon". Or, "we're working on <fill in the blank>". It's a bunch of crap. They haven't added anything (I don't count Universal HD as a quality HD addition) of value for 2 years. I'm not just talking about HD, either. No ESPN2HD, no ESPNU, no NFL Network (or NFL Network HD), no National Geographic HD, etc, etc.

They may have accomplished their goal ... namely, to pat us on the head by leading us on about channels they don't intend to add. If we finally get fed up and leave for satellite ... oh well- they just chalk that up to doing business. All the while, they raise our rates, count our money, and divert it to their many other monolithic money sucking businesses (AOL, Warner Bros movies, Atlanta Braves, etc, etc).

Can someone tell me truthfully, that you would actually choose Time Warner if you were given a choice among several cable providers? Isn't that the definition of a monopoly?

Gawd, you guys better not stand next to me on a golf course... your luck is not going too well today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLFL-TV


Lets' just say that Sinclair's reputation is not too good on the internet and leave it at that...

Nothing personal - directed more at your management...

kd4pbs - well - I'm glad I was wrong...

Can someone tell me truthfully, that you would actually choose Time Warner if you were given a choice among several cable providers? Isn't that the definition of a monopoly?

Except for perhaps Verizon's FIOS, which is only available in a handful of markets, no other cable operator consistently offers across their footprint as comprehensive a package of HD channels, or are as aggressive at instituting technical initiatives as Time Warner.

Given the choice of Comcast, Charter, Cox, and TWC, if you did some hard research, you'd have to choose TWC.

While HD is certainly important to Time Warner, the real short term revenue generating opportunities are in phone, VOD, internet, etc. HD is still in less than 20% of the households they serve. These other services can be sold to anyone NOW. If you were a business person, where would your priorities be???

As long as Sinclair aren't in charge I'd go with CW being run out of a garden shed from someone on the AVS Forum.

Gee, and I'd just finished getting the shed ready. :( :( :(

Except for perhaps Verizon's FIOS, which is only available in a handful of markets, no other cable operator consistently offers across their footprint as comprehensive a package of HD channels, or are as aggressive at instituting technical initiatives as Time Warner.

Given the choice of Comcast, Charter, Cox, and TWC, if you did some hard research, you'd have to choose TWC.

While HD is certainly important to Time Warner, the real short term revenue generating opportunities are in phone, VOD, internet, etc. HD is still in less than 20% of the households they serve. These other services can be sold to anyone NOW. If you were a business person, where would your priorities be???

If I were a Time Warner Cable business person, my priority would be on my customers ... not on continually gauging current subscribers. My comment was solely based on programming ... not on picture quality, VOD choices, etc. I have done hard research, and TWC- while offering as much as some MSOs HD line-up- does not compare to DirectTV (wait until local HDs become available to the Raleigh market ... there will be a mass exodus ... not that TWC cares), Cox and many others. Face it ... Time Warner is ALWAYS last to add any broad-appeal content ... especially in the HD arena.

Just read this and other forums ... TWC subs are by far the most disgruntled.

If I were a Time Warner Cable business person, my priority would be on my customers ... not on continually gauging current subscribers. My comment was solely based on programming ... not on picture quality, VOD choices, etc. I have done hard research, and TWC- while offering as much as some MSOs HD line-up- does not compare to DirectTV (wait until local HDs become available to the Raleigh market ... there will be a mass exodus ... not that TWC cares), Cox and many others. Face it ... Time Warner is ALWAYS last to add any broad-appeal content ... especially in the HD arena.

Just read this and other forums ... TWC subs are by far the most disgruntled.

Am I missing something here????

DirecTV's HD package sells for $9.95 as compared to TWC at $6.95.

DirecTV's HD package is exactly the same as TWC except that instead of 2 24/7 channels INHD and INHD2, they offer ESPN2 which is only occasionally (rarely) in HD.

DirecTV will only offer the 4 major networks in the local HD package for the foreseeable future, no PBS, CW, MYTV, etc.

DirecTV offers only HBO and Showtime premium HD channels as does Time Warner.

DirecTV requires an equipment purchase.

What am I missing????

Oh, and I forgot, all of this in glorious HD-lite !!!!!

POSG,

I agree Direct TV "XM radio" sounds pretty weak in HD lite.

By the way you lease the equipment from Direct TV at present.

But you do pay separate for the TIVO.



-DONB2

POSG,

I agree Direct TV "XM radio" sounds pretty weak in HD lite.

By the way you lease the equipment from Direct TV at present.

But you do pay separate for the TIVO.



-DONB2

If you have Road Runner, you are entitled to AOL high-speed at NO additional charge, giving you access to AOL Radio which has XM radio at 64Kbps AAC+, which IS superior in quality to the XM radio "lite" on DirecTV.

Gotcha !!! ;) :D

Do they lease the "Frank-N-Dish", or do you buy it ???

http://www.solidsignal.com/images/products/AT59_zoom.gif

Do you really want this beast on your roof ???

Am I missing something here????

Rather than getting in a series of replies ... I'll conclude that we disagree about TWC's stance on programming. I'll leave you with this:

Here are some examples of the countless diatribes re: TWC on this forum ...

ESPN2HD are NFL Network/NFL NetworkHD two HUGE channels that Time Warner needs to pick up by the end of the summer, or I will be gone to Dish Network. I have already dumped Road Runner and now have DSL not only due to cost, but also due to the fact that I think Time Warner's customer service is absolutely the worst (pretty bad when they are worse than SBC/AT&T). I despise Time Warner.

__________________________

TWC appears to be a sinking ship. First was the awful AOL deal that sapped its cash on hand. Now its betting on PPV and OnDemand(tm) services to its subscribers to pull it out in the future. The problem is, TWC is being adversely selected against because of its lack of HD content. The people with money, the HDTV owners, are signing up with SAT or FIOS for better HD content. People may keep TWC for HD locals + internet, but thats about it. HD locals can be as cheap as $6.95 in some areas since the HD locals are generally required to be available on the lowest available tier.

The longer TWC waits to add ESPN2HD and other HD stations, the worse the situation will become. Meanwhile, TWC loses its bargaining ability with Disney, etc., because Disney, etc. now knows they don't need TWC or its subscribers to offer profitable HD programming. Meanwhile, they also know that these HD stations are quickly becoming necessities for TWC.

Who has the channels they mention? ... DirectTV as well as most cable providers. In the case of the NFL Network, TWC is the only one of the top 5 MSOs that don't carry it. This is just one example of the dissatisfaction with Time Warner (especially their noticeable reluctance to add available sports programming).

Do they lease the "Frank-N-Dish", or do you buy it ??? -It is free.

This is from a co worker who is dropping TWC and going to DishNetwork come June 1st.

-DonB2

Who has the channels they mention? ... DirectTV as well as most cable providers. In the case of the NFL Network, TWC is the only one of the top 5 MSOs that don't carry it. This is just one example of the dissatisfaction with Time Warner (especially their noticeable reluctance to add available sports programming).

You keep pointing to a couple of channels, ESPN2, which IS carried in at least SD, and actually has a very meager amount of actual HD content, and NFL network, which while not carried at all, also has a very meager amount of HD content.

ESPN2 will happen, NFL I don't know about.

But consider that INHD and INHD2 carry MLB and NHL and NBA in HD from a variety of sources, and that DirecTV doesn't, and can't offer them, I'd say it's pretty much a wash.

If the big draw on NFL Network are HD replays of Sundays games on Wednesday night, well, yawn..., I've got a DVR.

Your attitude towards Time Warner is the same as my attitude towards Sinclair, it's based on emotion, not on facts. At least I'm willing to admit to as much. ;) ;)

PS

As DirecTV and Dish Network scramble to launch HD locals, which will take months if not years, who's playing catch up??? TWC has had HD locals for years.

Do they lease the "Frank-N-Dish", or do you buy it ??? -It is free.

This is from a co worker who is dropping TWC and going to DishNetwork come June 1st.

-DonB2

Make sure to inform your "co worker" to assign power-of-attorney to someone for maintenance of his DishNetwork account in the case of his death. Otherwise his DishNetwork billing will continue until Dish receives and processes a "Death Certificate". And don't expect any relief on that programming contract.

No kidding, that's their policy. And Time Warner has bad customer service?????

Except for perhaps Verizon's FIOS, which is only available in a handful of markets, no other cable operator consistently offers across their footprint as comprehensive a package of HD channels, or are as aggressive at instituting technical initiatives as Time Warner.

Given the choice of Comcast, Charter, Cox, and TWC, if you did some hard research, you'd have to choose TWC.

Same here. I've seen Comcast services in action and checked out the services of some of the others and I wasn't impressed, for either channel availabilty or technology.

FIOS is the only thing I would be really interested in seeing. Extremely high broadband speeds and a system that could have great potential if it gets wider adoption.

posg ,

Sorry I misrepresented my Co worker. He is getting Direct TV not Dish. Sorry for the confusion.

And I would also like to add that you lease the equipment from Direct TV so I can not actually say it is free.

-DonB2

TWC profits:

http://*******.com/e9oyq


The astericks are suppose to be *******. Not sure why they are being removed when I post.



-DonB2

Re: TWC customer service, lineup...I had Bright House in Orlando (Yes, I realize it's basically the same company) and if their content/quality/customer service hadn't been so much better than what I received once I moved to Durham, I wouldn't have dropped TWCNC over a month ago.

(They came out promptly to put on the filter, since we have cable internet. Interestingly, the filter apparently doesn't affect the digital SD/HD broadcast channels.)

TWC profits:

http://*******.com/e9oyq


The astericks are suppose to be *******. Not sure why they are being removed when I post.



-DonB2

Well I'm confused....

Posg,

You are not the only one. I use tiny URL to shrink the long URL name but for some reason the board keeps changing the name to asterisks.

Here is the original URL :

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EARNS_TIME_WARNER?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-05-03-07-36-20

Not sure if it will work either.

-DonB2

TWC appears to be a sinking ship.

I wish MY ship was sinking that fast. 82,000 1st quarter subscriber growth. 60% increase in profit. They must be doing something right.

(See the link in the above post)

Who has the channels they mention? ... DirectTV as well as most cable providers. In the case of the NFL Network, TWC is the only one of the top 5 MSOs that don't carry it. This is just one example of the dissatisfaction with Time Warner (especially their noticeable reluctance to add available sports programming).

Comcast - largest cable provider in the US - currently does not have ESPN2 in Atlanta. It has Starz and Cinemax HD but does not have HDnet 1 or 2. Does that mean they are about to go sleep with the fishes as well?

Since I am having a bad URL day I will just post the text of this page I was on at

Answers.com:

In those media markets where there were separate WB and UPN stations, one local station will be left out in the merger, and will become an independent station, unless it chooses (or has chosen) to affiliate with another network such as My Network TV. In some of the smallest markets only one network is present, or both networks' programming are found on a single station, in which case the transition should be relatively straightforward, but results so far have shown this is not guaranteed. In other cases, excluding markets served by the Tribune and CBS stations, the affiliation will likely be determined by negotiation.

So my questions are:

Is 22 OTA ATSC 22.1 turning into CW at the end of the month?

Or is WRAL grabbing up CW as a multicast channel?

Is 28.1 turning into My Network TV or going independent?

If CW goes to WRAL as a multicast channel does 22.1 become independent?

Or none of the above?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Edit Below:

I think I have answered one of my questions:

In a list of confirmed affiliates of My Network TV, which is scheduled to launch on September 5, 2006, I found WRDC-TV 28

-DONB2

Has anyone else heard that Comcast may be coming to Raleigh?

-DONB2

Since I am having a bad URL day I will just post the text of this page I was on at

Answers.com:

In those media markets where there were separate WB and UPN stations, one local station will be left out in the merger, and will become an independent station, unless it chooses (or has chosen) to affiliate with another network such as My Network TV. In some of the smallest markets only one network is present, or both networks' programming are found on a single station, in which case the transition should be relatively straightforward, but results so far have shown this is not guaranteed. In other cases, excluding markets served by the Tribune and CBS stations, the affiliation will likely be determined by negotiation.

So my questions are:

Is 22 OTA ATSC 22.1 turning into CW at the end of the month?

Or is WRAL grabbing up CW as a multicast channel?

Is 28.1 turning into My Network TV or going independent?

If CW goes to WRAL as a multicast channel does 22.1 become independent?

Or none of the above?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Edit Below:

I think I have answered one of my questions:

In a list of confirmed affiliates of My Network TV, which is scheduled to launch on September 5, 2006, I found WRDC-TV 28

-DONB2

WLFL 22 becomes CW in September
WRDC 28 becomes MYTV in September

Don't know about HD on 28
Don't know about cable carriage on either
Both are now at full power

Also, neither in HD on satellite, only SD for now

posg ,

Thanks for the 22 and 28 info.

-DonB2

Has anyone else heard that Comcast may be coming to Raleigh?

-DONB2

Not likely.

and forget about Comcast in Raleigh.

Ok, I will forget about Comcast.

-DONB2

The only "likely" nearterm landline competitor to TWC would be AT&T's Project Lightspeed, which I'm starting to read may be loosing what little traction it had. The bandwidth from the node to the house may just not be enough.

AT&T will have to do something to remain viable in the marketplace longterm, Lightspeed might just not be it.

The only "likely" nearterm landline competitor to TWC would be AT&T's Project Lightspeed, which I'm starting to read may be loosing what little traction it had. The bandwidth from the node to the house may just not be enough.

In Durham we'll have to wait until Verizon decides we're worth a FIOS roll out. Then I will wait another 5 years *after* that for it to come to my neighborhood (that's how long it was between the primary DSL rollout and when it came to my subdivision).

In Durham we'll have to wait until Verizon decides we're worth a FIOS roll out. Then I will wait another 5 years *after* that for it to come to my neighborhood (that's how long it was between the primary DSL rollout and when it came to my subdivision).

Verizon will only likely deploy FIOS across their telco footprint. AT&T would deploy Project Lightwave across theirs, which, with their pending merger with Bell South, would indicate that AT&T would be the likely suspect in North Carolina.

The reasons are simple. First, the backbone for these future networks only requires upgrading existing infrastructure. Verizon has no infrastructure here to upgrade. Second, the telcos are not likely to engage in turf wars with each other. The battle is between the telcos and the cable operators who are stealing their dial tone subscribers in droves.

The jury is out on Project Lightspeeds technology. AT&T may have to adopt a deeper fiber strategy for any of this to make any sense. We'll see.....

If the big draw on NFL Network are HD replays of Sundays games on Wednesday night, well, yawn..., I've got a DVR.

NFL Network has 8 exclusive games this year (also in HD).

I guess we can all get caught up on Night Rider those nights.

PS

As DirecTV and Dish Network scramble to launch HD locals, which will take months if not years, who's playing catch up??? TWC has had HD locals for years.

"POSTED on SkyReport.com today"

More HD Locals for DirecTV
DirecTV on Tuesday revealed 14 more markets where it will offer local HD channels later this year.
When the markets are added, DirecTV will have local HD programming in 50 major metropolitan areas, representing more than 65 percent of U.S. TV households. The rollout is scheduled to begin in the third quarter, the company said.

The 14 local markets to receive HD programming from DirecTV include Cincinnati, Madison, Wis., Austin, Texas, Memphis, Albuquerque, Portland, Maine, Portland, Ore., Grand Rapids, Mich., Green Bay, Wis., Providence, R.I., Greensboro, N.C., Reno, Nev., Las Vegas, and San Antonio.

DirecTV offers 20 HD local channel markets: Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington, D.C.

DirecTV said that by June it will have local HD programming in 16 more previously announced markets for a total of 36 markets, representing 58 percent of U.S. TV households.

Make sure to inform your "co worker" to assign power-of-attorney to someone for maintenance of his DishNetwork account in the case of his death. Otherwise his DishNetwork billing will continue until Dish receives and processes a "Death Certificate". And don't expect any relief on that programming contract.

No kidding, that's their policy. And Time Warner has bad customer service?????

Does all of your disgruntled antidotal evidence stop at TWC door?

I just had the new DISH HD DVR installed at my moms this weekend, and let me tell you being able to record 3 HD stations at once is sweet. Also having 23 HD channels + all the local HD channels with OTA (including being able to record WB-HD), is a big change from my our TWC. And you can say what ever you want about HD-Lite but when all those channels were filling her 16:9 HD screen no one could tell the difference from the OTA channels.

They are comming to install mine Tuesday, but I am already preparing myself for rejection due to the neighbors trees. :(

They are comming to install mine Tuesday, but I am already preparing myself for rejection due to the neighbors trees. :(
Planted, most likely, by TWC. :D

As I sit here in my hotel room in Pagosa Springs, CO, waiting for my dinner appointment to show up, I must say that this thread is one of the most entertaining on AVS. :)

That said, what's your handicap????

PS Congrats on the CW affiliation. You might want to put the HD feed on Time Warner so people will actually see it. It will be a long time before satellite offers anything but the big 4.

My handicap is a ruptured disc between L4 & L5. On the golf course it's 4 beers. :D

Last time I checked, we're reaching all of our DMA with the HD transmitter, so I don't know why people wouldn't actually see it. If they can't, it's most likely by choice, not by lack of signal strength.

My attitude towards Sinclair is more based on my personal encounter with them in trying to get a satellite waiver a few years back, and getting no response, and then rudely lied to, while all the other local stations responded positively in a timely manner.


So, you still don't have WB22 or UPN28 on your satellite receiver?


I also have a problem with the blatent political bias attempted in the now defunct News Central, deleting (censoring) network programming that is inconsistent with David Smith's personal convictions, and the attempted smear campaign against John Kerry.


So, you feel the same about CBS news and Dan Rather's attempt at smearing George W Bush then, huh? How come I haven't seen you smearing CBS news in this forum as of late? How about the obvious and blatant bias of CNN, and the majority of printed media in this country? How exactly do you know David Smith and his convictions? From reading things on the internet, right?


Sinclair is simply a low budget operator which is controlled by accountants and not broadcasters.

I really don't know what you mean by "low budget", but I can certainly attest that there are alot of TV stations, and other media outlets even in this area that are probably much worse for being "low budget" than the Sinclair stations, but I don't see you publically bashing them. Why not? Can you elaborate?

Answers to above questions:

1) The satellite waiver was for an ABC affiliate in another market over five years ago.

2) Rather was more or less put out to pasture where he belongs.

3) If you're referring to the "Satellator" stations like PAX, Shop at Home, and Univision, those are not really local TV stations at all, just "sticks in a cornfield".

I admire you for sticking up for your employer just like I feel abliged to stick up for the cable industry, which has fed MY family all these years. Apologies for the abuse. You know it ain't personal.

You keep pointing to a couple of channels, ESPN2, which IS carried in at least SD, and actually has a very meager amount of actual HD content, and NFL network, which while not carried at all, also has a very meager amount of HD content.

ESPN2 will happen, NFL I don't know about.

But consider that INHD and INHD2 carry MLB and NHL and NBA in HD from a variety of sources, and that DirecTV doesn't, and can't offer them, I'd say it's pretty much a wash.

If the big draw on NFL Network are HD replays of Sundays games on Wednesday night, well, yawn..., I've got a DVR.

Your attitude towards Time Warner is the same as my attitude towards Sinclair, it's based on emotion, not on facts. At least I'm willing to admit to as much. ;) ;)

Posg,

Facts:
1. I am emotional about TWCs attitude about (NOT) adding quality (not the countless shopping, religious, and spanish-speaking channels that have come along this year) programming (especially HD). I never said that I wasn't, but I prefer that you speak for yourself.
2. I am a sports nut, so I generally restrict my comments to ESPN2HD and the NFL Network- which (as I've pointed out) are carried by many other providers (Cox, Adelphia, DirectTV, etc.).
3. TWC is consistently last to add high-demand HD channels (ex. ESPNHD).
4. This is why I hate these forums-- inevitably, there are personal comments or name calling.

Posg,

Facts:
1. I am emotional about TWCs attitude about (NOT) adding quality (not the countless shopping, religious, and spanish-speaking channels that have come along this year) programming (especially HD). I never said that I wasn't, but I prefer that you speak for yourself.
2. I am a sports nut, so I generally restrict my comments to ESPN2HD and the NFL Network- which (as I've pointed out) are carried by many other providers (Cox, Adelphia, DirectTV, etc.).
3. TWC is consistently last to add high-demand HD channels (ex. ESPNHD).
4. This is why I hate these forums-- inevitably, there are personal comments or name calling.

Apologies if I've offended you (or anybody else). We all come here to gripe. I'm as thick-skinned as I am thick-headed, so negative comments don't bother me. I more or less expect them.

I do always try to indicate when I'm stating an opinion as opposed to a fact, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm wrong when I'm wrong.

Like "pepar" said, this is one of the more entertaining strings, and it's because for the most part we're not afraid to let our passions show. There's nothing wrong with being emotional about an issue, as long as you're honest with yourself (speaking for myself) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

My handicap is a ruptured disc between L4 & L5. On the golf course it's 4 beers. :D

Last time I checked, we're reaching all of our DMA with the HD transmitter, so I don't know why people wouldn't actually see it. If they can't, it's most likely by choice, not by lack of signal strength.

Problem is that over half of the installed HDTV base are "HD-Ready" sets with an NTSC only tuner. Those folks rely on a cable box for their local HD channels. All the signal strength in the world won't help them unless they buy an expensive hard to fine outboard HDTV tuner and antenna.

There are still HD-Ready sets being sold......

THAT's the problem.

Apologies if I've offended you (or anybody else). We all come here to gripe. I'm as thick-skinned as I am thick-headed, so negative comments don't bother me. I more or less expect them.

I do always try to indicate when I'm stating an opinion as opposed to a fact, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm wrong when I'm wrong.

Like "pepar" said, this is one of the more entertaining strings, and it's because for the most part we're not afraid to let our passions show. There's nothing wrong with being emotional about an issue, as long as you're honest with yourself (speaking for myself) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

No problem. I feel exactly the same way. In retrospect, I guess I am too thin-skinned. You're right ... this is the place to unload. If we can't do it here, where can we? We all seem to want the same thing ... more, more, more.

No problem. I feel exactly the same way. In retrospect, I guess I am too thin-skinned. You're right ... this is the place to unload. If we can't do it here, where can we? We all seem to want the same thing ... more, more, more.

Friends ???

As I grow older (and hopefully wiser), I grow more patient with things that aren't really important in the bigger scheme of things, and less patient with ignorance, greed, and hatred.

TV and sports are diversions from the true problems facing the world, but only that.

My 2 cents.

kd4pbs,

I resist making political comments, because this is not the time or place. But one thing is been true over and over in history. The first thing to be eliminated in a totalitarium regime is a free liberal press. We should be thankful we still have one. It is what keeps those in power under control.

dslate69,

"They are comming to install mine Tuesday, but I am already preparing myself for rejection due to the neighbors trees. "

Was that you that was looking for a dish awhile back to test reception?

If so I was thinking about you over the weekend when the neighbor was having some landscaping done and it looked like they were tossing out an old dish as it was thrown on the landscapers trailer. If they had put it on the curb I might have snagged it for you.

Pepar,

"Planted, most likely, by TWC. "

You are too funny!!!

---------------------------
I see my neighbor moved his Direct TV dish from the corner of his House to out in his yard. My new neighbor on the other side has his dish out in the middle of the yard also. Leads me to think that I may not be able to mount one on my roof either. I guess the trees around the house have grown too large. :(

-DonB2

I really don't know what you mean by "low budget", but I can certainly attest that there are alot of TV stations, and other media outlets even in this area that are probably much worse for being "low budget" than the Sinclair stations, but I don't see you publically bashing them. Why not? Can you elaborate?

There are basically four types of broadcasters:

"Full Service Broadcasters", who have a long term investment in the community, high profile local news, maybe local sports production, local advertising production, community involvement, involved in local charity work, and while not locally owned, have a strong local management presence. The weather guy is usually on the grade school circuit. This is where you tune for school closings. Tend to keep up with the latest technolgy. WRAL is a stellar example.

"Non-Comm's", your garden variety PBS outlet. Technically, they range from state-of-the-art to a hodge-podge of hand-me-downs. UNC is at the higher end of the scale.

"Packagers", which do little or no local production, rely basically on network and syndicated faire, have little or no community involvement, and usually are managed from a distant corporate headquaters, and see stations more as real estate investments. Don't replace anything until absolutely necessary. This quarter's bottom line is about as "visionary" as it gets. More concerned about pleasing stockholders than the public trust. Anybody you know?

"Post Office Boxes", referred to earlier as "Sticks in a Cornfield", which are stations which simply pull a satellite feed of a national programming service, either shopping, or Spanish, or "word-faith" based tax shelters, and may run a few hours of local church programs on Sunday. These stations are just as likely to be an LPTV as full power. You know who we're talking about.

I've alway been of the opinion that the FCC should divee up spectrum space and channels for all the obvious reasons, but the local community being served should decide who actually gets the license. The federal government needs not control local needs and tastes.

Answer your questions, or raise more ???

"Packagers", which do little or no local production, rely basically on network and syndicated faire, have little or no community involvement, and usually are managed from a distant corporate headquaters, and see stations more as real estate investments. Don't replace anything until absolutely necessary. This quarters bottom line is a visionary as it gets. More concerned about pleasing stockholders than the public trust. Anybody you know?
"

Is this the same group that have bought up all the FM radio band and produce generic boring music? And the reason why people are turning to XM and Serious subscription radio?

-DONB2

I see my neighbor moved his Direct TV dish from the corner of his House to out in his yard. My new neighbor on the other side has his dish out in the middle of the yard also. Leads me to think that I may not be able to mount one on my roof either. I guess the trees around the house have grown too large. :(

-DonB2

Nothing says "white trash" quite as good as a satellite dish mounted on a 2x4 held down by cinder blocks with cables laying on the ground in front of the mobile home with the faded red 68 Camero parked on the dirt.

I'M DUCKING !!!!!!!!!

"Packagers", which do little or no local production, rely basically on network and syndicated faire, have little or no community involvement, and usually are managed from a distant corporate headquaters, and see stations more as real estate investments. Don't replace anything until absolutely necessary. This quarters bottom line is a visionary as it gets. More concerned about pleasing stockholders than the public trust. Anybody you know?
"

Is this the same group that have bought up all the FM radio band and produce generic boring music? And the reason why people are turning to XM and Serious subscription radio?

-DONB2

You refering to "Clear Channel" perhaps ???

kd4pbs,

I resist making political comments, because this is not the time or place. But one thing is been true over and over in history. The first thing to be eliminated in a totalitarium regime is a free liberal press. We should be thankful we still have one. It is what keeps those in power under control.

But why does it have to be liberal? :(
I would rather the news be presented in the Sports Center format. (nicknames and all) :)

...
Was that you that was looking for a dish awhile back to test reception?

Yea, that was me. Believe it or not Posg "Cables Champion" came thru with 2 dishes for me. (He's alot more abrasive in person :) ) 'Just kiddin' Thanks again Posg'
I could lock in 2 of the 3 fine but I gave up on the 3rd (lower in the sky toward my neighbors trees.
...
I see my neighbor moved his Direct TV dish from the corner of his House to out in his yard. My new neighbor on the other side has his dish out in the middle of the yard also. Leads me to think that I may not be able to mount one on my roof either. I guess the trees around the house have grown too large. :(

My moms Dish had to be moved from the side of the house to a pole in the grass. She was none to happy. But I will be alot happier when I go visit and plop down in front of the tube (we need to change that term) after stuffing myself on moms cooking. :)

"Nothing says "white trash" quite as good as a satellite dish mounted on a 2x4 held down by cinder blocks with cables laying on the ground in front of the mobile home with the faded red 68 Camero parked on the dirt.

I'M DUCKING !!!!!!!!"

Nothing wrong with faded red as long as its rust free. Although I would prefer a Firebird over Camero. Just a personel preference. Was not too many 60's GM's that I didn't like.

-DonB2

"My moms Dish had to be moved from the side of the house to a pole in the grass. She was none to happy. But I will be alot happier when I go visit and plop down in front of the tube (we need to change that term) after stuffing myself on moms cooking. "

My Mom just got cable for the first time last year. When she called up to subscribe they wanted to know who she was with before. She said no one. They would not believe her and thought she was lieing to them.

I can't go there for dinner though, as it is farther North than where Pepar hails from.

-DonB2

Nothing says "white trash" quite as good as a satellite dish mounted on a 2x4 held down by cinder blocks with cables laying on the ground ...

If we can turn a Sat Dish in to a Water Feature or Bird Feeder we could make lots of money. I know some people in apartments place a grill cover over their Dish in a bucket to mask them, of course a grill in the middle of the yard isn't any better. :(
You have forced me to admit Cable is better at not being seen. (especially if you have an appointment for service :) )

But why does it have to be liberal? :(
I would rather the news be presented in the Sports Center format. (nicknames and all) :)

Conservative press in the sense of "towing the party line" as opposed to a Liberal press "questioning the status quo".

As far as news in the Sports Center format, Hardball, O'Reilly, and Countdown are pretty close. ;) ;) ;)

But I can almost hear the "Commy Katey" wisecracks already.

We'd better stop the politics or we'll get zapped by our friendly moderator.

Verizon will only likely deploy FIOS across their telco footprint. AT&T would deploy Project Lightwave across theirs, which, with their pending merger with Bell South, would indicate that AT&T would be the likely suspect in North Carolina.


North Carolina is not that homogonous in terms of carriers. Right now right where I am I can only get Verizon service. Bellsouth/AT&T is not an option. Not at all. My mother-in-law gets her local service from Sprint (Wake Forest). My friends in Raleigh are Bellsouth customers. So what telco sponsored broadband options you have will be based on who services you right now, unless we get some actual telco competition. It's more likely that the FCC will decide that having the cable monopoloy dual with the telco monopoloy is sufficent competition.

North Carolina is not that homogonous in terms of carriers. Right now right where I am I can only get Verizon service. Bellsouth/AT&T is not an option. Not at all. My mother-in-law gets her local service from Sprint (Wake Forest). My friends in Raleigh are Bellsouth customers. So what telco sponsored broadband options you have will be based on who services you right now, unless we get some actual telco competition. It's more likely that the FCC will decide that having the cable monopoloy dual with the telco monopoloy is sufficent competition.

Yea, because of all the mergers and aquisitions, there are some areas that are a patchwork quilt of providers. There are distinct large geographic regions of several states that are, however, dominated by one of the "big 3". Those are obviously the areas which will be deployed first simply out of efficiency. The fact that you are a Verizon subscriber in a sea of AT&T may work against you. Hopefully there will be some horse trading to solidify footprint clusters.

Pepar,

"Planted, most likely, by TWC. "

You are too funny!!!
[Cliff Claven]Yeah, it's part of their neighborhood beautification program.[/Cliff Claven]

We'd better stop the politics or we'll get zapped by our friendly moderator.
There's a moderator on this thread? :confused: :)

There's a moderator on this thread? :confused: :)

Maybe not. Maybe that's why it's so entertaining. ;) ;) ;)

Are you still in Colorado???

Yea, that was me. Believe it or not Posg "Cables Champion" came thru with 2 dishes for me. (He's alot more abrasive in person :) ) 'Just kiddin' Thanks again Posg'

You're absolutely welcome. Be careful, though. Don't ruin my "abrasive" reputation !!!

"Cable Rules!!!" ;) ;) ;)

I admire you for sticking up for your employer just like I feel abliged to stick up for the cable industry, which has fed MY family all these years. Apologies for the abuse. You know it ain't personal.
No problem. The difference is, I don't constantly bash the cable industry, nor do I constantly make false predictions about same.
Can't we all just get along? :rolleyes:

Problem is that over half of the installed HDTV base are "HD-Ready" sets with an NTSC only tuner. Those folks rely on a cable box for their local HD channels. All the signal strength in the world won't help them unless they buy an expensive hard to fine outboard HDTV tuner and antenna.

There are still HD-Ready sets being sold......

THAT's the problem.
Again, that;s the viewer's choice . If the viewer choses to forego the freedom of not having to pay for HD, then that's the viewers choice. In the end, it's indesputably cheaper to pay the money for the equipment to receive HD OTA then it is to pay a cable company to deliver it via a wire.

kd4pbs,

I resist making political comments, because this is not the time or place. But one thing is been true over and over in history. The first thing to be eliminated in a totalitarium regime is a free liberal press. We should be thankful we still have one. It is what keeps those in power under control.
So, the press should be liberal slanted, but not conservative slanted? I'm sorry, it seems awful one-sided in your socialistic world for me.

"Packagers", which do little or no local production, rely basically on network and syndicated faire, have little or no community involvement, and usually are managed from a distant corporate headquaters, and see stations more as real estate investments. Don't replace anything until absolutely necessary. This quarter's bottom line is about as "visionary" as it gets. More concerned about pleasing stockholders than the public trust. Anybody you know?


I think that maybe you really need to take a tour of our facility. You couldn't be any more off in left field as far as the "...until it's absolutely neccessary." comment. I think that part of this may be related to your apparent liberal views. On the other hand, I live by the "if it ain't broke..." adage.

Maybe if you were on this side of the industry you would see things a bit more clearly, and discover that your hard demarcation between what you label as "types of broadcasters" are not as defined as you may think. At least they aren't in this market.

Nothing says "white trash" quite as good as a satellite dish mounted on a 2x4 held down by cinder blocks with cables laying on the ground in front of the mobile home with the faded red 68 Camero parked on the dirt.

I'M DUCKING !!!!!!!!!

Silly white trash. How dare they exist? Why, in the ideal Socialistic government, this type thing would not happen!

Dude, you just lost a bunch of credibility with me in that statement. Not only are you in the dark about alot of things you speak of, but you're a bigot as well.

Time for me to bow out of this thread guys, it's obvious to me this is going nowhere fast.

If anyone needs any professional technical TV or HDTV advice, please give me or NBC17ENG an email.

73
...-.-

Maybe not. Maybe that's why it's so entertaining. ;) ;) ;)
When the cat's away . . :)

Are you still in Colorado???
Yup. In a motel on the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs. Just got back from Durango where I went for dinner. What a cool town!

Time for me to bow out of this thread guys, it's obvious to me this is going nowhere fast.
You let yourself be goaded into resigning? ;)

Silly white trash. How dare they exist? Why, in the ideal Socialistic government, this type thing would not happen!

Dude, you just lost a bunch of credibility with me in that statement. Not only are you in the dark about alot of things you speak of, but you're a bigot as well.

Time for me to bow out of this thread guys, it's obvious to me this is going nowhere fast.

If anyone needs any professional technical TV or HDTV advice, please give me or NBC17ENG an email.

73
...-.-

But it's OK if NBC does a whole series (My Name is Earl) bashing "white trash"??? ;) ;) ;) And Jerry Springer, isn't that just one big "white trash" joke ???

And then there's Larry the Cable Guy (no relation), Jeff Foxworthy, et. al. Anyway, maybe I wasn't politically correct enough. Maybe "red neck" is a more excepted terminology.

The last thing in the world I am is a bigot. Like I said earlier, what really gets my goat is ignorance, greed, and hatred. If that makes me a "liberal", then that's what I am. :eek: :eek: :eek:

I've got a deal for you. No more Sinclair bashing if you accept my apologies. Promise.

I'll even accept your invitation to tour your facilities if you let me buy you lunch sometime.

When the cat's away . . :)


Yup. In a motel on the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs. Just got back from Durango where I went for dinner. What a cool town!

I think I want YOUR job !!! ;) ;) ;)

I think I want YOUR job !!! ;) ;) ;)
:)

It (http://www.agedwoods.com) does take me to interesting, beautiful and/or very cool locations.

More NBC problems.

Nothing but black "flickering" and noise"crackle" during the office and earl. Both on Time Warner and OTA.

Why must we put up with this every week? Cant the local NBC people fix these problems? There is nothing on NBC that intrest me except, Earl and The Office and I have to watch nothing but problems the whole time.

come on NBC17ENG, what is the deal?

More NBC problems.

Nothing but black "flickering" and noise"crackle" during the office and earl. Both on Time Warner and OTA.

DVRd Earl and during the first 10 minutes there were 3 or 4 instances of heavy pixellation and stuttering. Nothing that lasted more than a couple of seconds though, annoying but not devestating.

DVRd Earl and during the first 10 minutes there were 3 or 4 instances of heavy pixellation and stuttering. Nothing that lasted more than a couple of seconds though, annoying but not devestating.
did you watch The Office? almost not watchable.

I've been getting like a quick flash where the video drops out. Almost looks like someone walking in front of the camera. I don't see it on WITN.

One other item of curiosity.

During primetime on NBC, the standard definition content within HD programs looks like it is upconverted. Daytime NBC doesn't have that same punch.

I happened to catch the Norfolk NBC station the other morning, and the TODAY show had that same "upconverted" look. Also, not nearly as much "overshoot" as on WNCN and WITN.

Wondering what the reason is.....

did you watch The Office? almost not watchable.

It is not just The Office, either. Every NBC primetime show I watch is suffering from this (the L&O extended franchise & Earl).

I suppose the good thing is that I'm getting used to it. I didn't even notice it when I watched The Office :) The one thing I did notice is that it totally freaked out the commercial skipping feature on Mythtv (these black frames look too much like the black frames around commercials).

Drew

Watching the Canes game now on NBC and it's blinking in and out every now and then similar to Earl/Office the other night...

Watching the Canes game now on NBC and it's blinking in and out every now and then similar to Earl/Office the other night...
I wasn't watching it but after just reading your post I turned to it on TWC ch.217 and see the same blinking. Blinks black at random intervals. Happened atleast 7/8 times within a minute. It's doing it with the 8300HD and with my tv's built-in QAM tuner.

It's doing it during the Kentucky Derby also.

I was watching the last 10 minutes of the Canes game on Ch 17 OTA and the blinking/flashing was there as well. Very distracting. :-(

Steve

More NBC problems.

Nothing but black "flickering" and noise"crackle" during the office and earl. Both on Time Warner and OTA.

Why must we put up with this every week? Cant the local NBC people fix these problems? There is nothing on NBC that intrest me except, Earl and The Office and I have to watch nothing but problems the whole time.

come on NBC17ENG, what is the deal?
The deal is I can't fix anything I don't know is happening. Yes I saw the flashes on the Canes game, but there's no way I'm stoopid enough to shut it down for several minutes when most likely it was inbound from the source, as is typical with live events. No I did not see it on the Derby afterwards, and since it appeared stable, I went home.

I now have an 8300 in the office, but it only reveals what airs on TWC. I can't compare it with off air at this time, and I have to rely on you folks for that information. Thanks for confirmation it's on both.

That confirms it's inbound from the dish. The satellite dude was here last week, any idea how long this has been happening?

WNCN-DT was flashing several times a minute Saturday at least during the NBC Evening Newscast. Switched to WITN-DT, no problems, so doubt it an NBC problem.

The deal is I can't fix anything I don't know is happening. Yes I saw the flashes on the Canes game, but there's no way I'm stoopid enough to shut it down for several minutes when most likely it was inbound from the source, as is typical with live events. No I did not see it on the Derby afterwards, and since it appeared stable, I went home.

I now have an 8300 in the office, but it only reveals what airs on TWC. I can't compare it with off air at this time, and I have to rely on you folks for that information. Thanks for confirmation it's on both.

That confirms it's inbound from the dish. The satellite dude was here last week, any idea how long this has been happening?

At least a week. It's not just live HD programming on NBC 17. The few weekly NBC series that I do watch (The Office, Medium, SVU) were all awful. Flashes every 15 sec or so.

That confirms it's inbound from the dish. The satellite dude was here last week, any idea how long this has been happening?

It has been happening for a few weeks at least. I think it predates the satellite dude..
HDTV-NUT complained about this on April 14 and you replied to him about it..

Drew

The deal is I can't fix anything I don't know is happening. Yes I saw the flashes on the Canes game, but there's no way I'm stoopid enough to shut it down for several minutes when most likely it was inbound from the source, as is typical with live events. No I did not see it on the Derby afterwards, and since it appeared stable, I went home.
I only watched about 1 to 2 minutes of the start of the Derby then turned away. It may have stopped afterwards but I did see it flash a couple times within the first minute before I turned. I figured it was a network problem. Unfortunately due to my distance from the tower I can't catch WNCN-DT during the afternoon so I couldn't check OTA. ;)

I caught it several times on this morning's local news, so I went in and reset the HD encoder while I was waiting for the manufactures to call back. Never got that call, but I haven't seen it since, either.

A quick glitch like that is hard to determine where it originates from. One report does not mean everyone sees it, but when two or more of you see it, then I can get a better grasp on where to look.

You know I appreciate ya'll, and please feel free to PM here or send email from the website. AVSforum only alerts me once a day when a new post is made, so I haven't had a chance to peek in lately. It does alert me of new PM's, so that's always the best way to get my attention.

:)

The "glitch" now looks like it looses horizontal sync. Doesn't dip to black tho on the brighter side!

Sigh!

The "glitch" now looks like it looses horizontal sync. Doesn't dip to black tho on the brighter side!

Sigh!

Its still there. I noticed it yesterday during the Canes game. Watching Dateline tonight it was there. I used my DVR to rewind and take a slow look. It was completely black for about 1 second (3 taps on the forward (right) side of the remote Select).

Really annoying....

Its still there. I noticed it yesterday during the Canes game. Watching Dateline tonight it was there. I used my DVR to rewind and take a slow look. It was completely black for about 1 second (3 taps on the forward (right) side of the remote Select).

Really annoying....


yup, we are now watching West Wing, that we recorded on our HD DVR it sucks...this was happening on Las Vegas as well.

Seemed worse to me during West Wing, where I'd lose sound here and there along with the picture drop outs.

Found it last night. It was the Neilson encoder screwing it up prior to my encoder. They add data to the video and audio for ratings collection. It picked last night to get worse, but at least bad enough for us to catch it in the act.

Thanks for all your help!

Found it last night. It was the Neilson encoder screwing it up prior to my encoder. They add data to the video and audio for ratings collection. It picked last night to get worse, but at least bad enough for us to catch it in the act.

Thanks for all your help!

It's ironic that a device which is intended to confirm viewership is actually causing viewers to tune out. :eek: :eek: :eek:

If you're like me and love the NFL and college football, here's some more bad news for us- coming this fall (see below). The NFL Network- which we do not have (TWC is the only top cable provider to NOT carry the NFL Network)- is expanding to college football. E-mail, e-mail, e-mail (for what it's worth) to fred.dressler@twcable.com.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-05-07-nfl-network_x.htm

If you're like me and love the NFL and college football, here's some more bad news for us- coming this fall (see below). The NFL Network- which we do not have (TWC is the only top cable provider to NOT carry the NFL Network)- is expanding to college football. E-mail, e-mail, e-mail (for what it's worth) to fred.dressler@twcable.com.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-05-07-nfl-network_x.htm

Thanks for the heads up. I knew they had 8 exclusive NFL games this year, but I didn't know they were late-season (the ones that count).
At least that gives Posg more time to make excuses for TWC not having the channel yet.

Also I think you need to find the email address of someone higher up the food chain. As it's been stated TWC can't add channels regionally. So in other words Dressler has no input on what national channels get added. IMHO

Thanks for the heads up. I knew they had 8 exclusive NFL games this year, but I didn't know they were late-season (the ones that count).
At least that gives Posg more time to make excuses for TWC not having the channel yet.

Also I think you need to find the email address of someone higher up the food chain. As it's been stated TWC can't add channels regionally. So in other words Dressler has no input on what national channels get added. IMHO

Dressler is the top of the food chain. He's the Exec VP for Programming for Time Warner Cable (corporate). You're right though ... the local TWC execs are absolutely powerless about carriage agreements.