Las Vegas, NV - HDTV [Text View] - Page 28

xyz.vlad

07-05-08, 05:54 PM

We all want more! The latest changes they made seemed to have a big impact on the valley network and they are looking to work out any bugs before launching more channels. Since the new channels are on higher frequencies, there could be a lot of areas and homes where equipment is unable to correctly tune that high due to old legacy wiring, splitters, and home amps, etc.
As for additions, use the channel request link and name your wanted channels, although I don't think we will ever see the NFL package due to the exclusivity clause and STUPID sports blackout rules.
Once I hear dates for the next round of channels, I will post back ASAP!
vegggas

D* owns Sunday ticket so,dont expect it soon.it will be nice to see the thursday night game ont the NFL network in HD though.
I was actually bored and made a list of channels which Cox have in some markets,but not in Vegas(bold = ones id love to see):
Bravo
CNBC
CNN
ESPN News
HD Net
HD Movies
Lifetime
Lifetime Movies
NFL Network
NHL Network
Spike TV
VS/Golf Channel
Weather Channel

so id love another launch soon...

xyz.vlad

07-05-08, 05:59 PM

Do you have a clear view of the southern sky?

One phone call and you can watch all the games on FSN West, Prime Ticket, and CSN Bay Area in HD.

what is the exact positioning ,George?I have a stupid palm tree in the east corner of my patio and the guy said is probably no go.

Then again he have to reschedule my instalation for missing hardware,and still showed up without the tripod required(made me think his company is kind of useless)...so as a result i had to get cable and kind of hate it...

vegggas

07-05-08, 07:04 PM

D* owns Sunday ticket so,dont expect it soon.it will be nice to see the thursday night game ont the NFL network in HD though.
I was actually bored and made a list of channels which Cox have in some markets,but not in Vegas(bold = ones id love to see):
Bravo
CNBC
CNN
ESPN News
HD Net
HD Movies
Lifetime
Lifetime Movies
NFL Network
NHL Network
Spike TV
VS/Golf Channel
Weather Channel

so id love another launch soon...
All the NFL Network HD games have all been shown on Cox here in Vegas on a temporary alternate channel. The SD content is still shown on the regular SD NFL Network channel on 317.
The HD Net channels are a one off for the OC system who was bought by Cox and still offers the pre-existing channel as a Premium paid service due to franchise contracts. It goes against the Cox corporate motto of "free HD" to its digital customers to get HD for no additional charge. There has been some thoughts about offering it to all subscribers as a premium paid channel, but that hasn't ever been finialized between HDNet, Cox, and their customers.
For the record, I've seen most of the channels listed here and many more as test channels... If you want them added, I urge you to go their website and request them at http://www.cox.com/lasvegas/ChannelRequest.asp This is the only way to give them feedback that they will use when deciding on what channels to add, and they do take written requests as an effective vote for new additions. Cox also seems to take the amount of HD content on a given channel as a factor in adding them. If it's mostly SD content with a few upconverts, then it probably will not get added anytime soon.

vegggas

GeorgeLV

07-06-08, 01:41 AM

what is the exact positioning ,George?I have a stupid palm tree in the east corner of my patio and the guy said is probably no go.

Then again he have to reschedule my instalation for missing hardware,and still showed up without the tripod required(made me think his company is kind of useless)...so as a result i had to get cable and kind of hate it...

The DirecTV satellites are nearly directly south in the Las Vegas sky, so line-of-site problems are rare unless you have an apartment with no southern view. The dish is actually looking about 20 degrees higher in the sky than it appears to be pointing at so unless the tress are directly in front of the dish and about 50 ft tall they're probably not in the way.

Since you say the palm tree was in the east corner of your patio--it definitely was not in the way--the installers probably just wanted to get out of the appointment because they didn't have the equipment in their van.

bruin95

07-06-08, 06:27 PM

although I don't think we will ever see the NFL package due to the exclusivity clause and STUPID sports blackout rules.

What do blackouts have to do with getting a sports package? Granted, COX will not be getting the NFL anytime soon, but it has NOTHING to do with blackouts. I don't even understand that comment. If blackouts had anything to do with whether or not COX carries a sports package, they would not carry MLB Extra Innings. Talk about blackout city! Besides, no NFL games would be blacked out here anyway. That comment was certainly a head scratcher. :confused:

lakerstan

07-07-08, 11:32 PM

All the NFL Network HD games have all been shown on Cox here in Vegas on a temporary alternate channel. The SD content is still shown on the regular SD NFL Network channel on 317.
The HD Net channels are a one off for the OC system who was bought by Cox and still offers the pre-existing channel as a Premium paid service due to franchise contracts. It goes against the Cox corporate motto of "free HD" to its digital customers to get HD for no additional charge. There has been some thoughts about offering it to all subscribers as a premium paid channel, but that hasn't ever been finialized between HDNet, Cox, and their customers.
For the record, I've seen most of the channels listed here and many more as test channels... If you want them added, I urge you to go their website and request them at http://www.cox.com/lasvegas/ChannelRequest.asp This is the only way to give them feedback that they will use when deciding on what channels to add, and they do take written requests as an effective vote for new additions. Cox also seems to take the amount of HD content on a given channel as a factor in adding them. If it's mostly SD content with a few upconverts, then it probably will not get added anytime soon.

vegggas

What exactly is it that keeps Cox from providing these channels to us now? Is it bandwidth? Economics? Quality? Why make us go through the process of asking for them - why not just give them all to us?

vegggas

07-09-08, 01:15 AM

What do blackouts have to do with getting a sports package? Granted, COX will not be getting the NFL anytime soon, but it has NOTHING to do with blackouts. I don't even understand that comment. If blackouts had anything to do with whether or not COX carries a sports package, they would not carry MLB Extra Innings. Talk about blackout city! Besides, no NFL games would be blacked out here anyway. That comment was certainly a head scratcher. :confused:

I mentioned sports blackouts in general, not to mean that we wouldn't get all the games available, but that local events might be pre-empted.
When InDemand networks, on behalf of it's cable providers, matched D*s monetary bid for the NFL Sunday ticket package it asked for the same ownership stakes that D* was getting and they were refused. One of the speculated thoughts on the process of refusal was that while D* has access to local channels for it's customers, it is not mandated to carry them as cable is. With the mandatory local station coverage on cable, local channels did not want locally televised games to compete with the ticket coverage for the same game from an alternate source. Thus they would ask for local blackouts for same games in same markets to protect advertising rights in a market.

vegggas

vegggas

07-09-08, 02:00 AM

What exactly is it that keeps Cox from providing these channels to us now? Is it bandwidth? Economics? Quality? Why make us go through the process of asking for them - why not just give them all to us?
If I had to guess, I would think that the biggest hurdle is still customer premises equipment not handling the higher frequencies used and the channels not coming through correctly. The new channels are above 750 MHz. The use of 750MHz equipment such as splitters, house amps and poor fittings and connectors in a home will cause a rolloff on the higher frequencies. The next stage is to change out the current HD channels with the newer efficient versions, then add new channels as they get contracts in place for the Las Vegas market and then get LOCAL FRANCHISE approval (30 to 90 days?) to launch.
I think that once call volume starts to go down from the launch of the last round of channels, they will probably look at getting the next round of channels. By going to the link to make a request, you are telling their marketing and management exactly what you want to view instead of more shopping channels - You do know that Home Shopping channels are coming in HD soon, don't you?

vegggas

gvc

07-09-08, 10:41 AM

I think that once call volume starts to go down from the launch of the last round of channels, they will probably look at getting the next round of channels. By going to the link to make a request, you are telling their marketing and management exactly what you want to view instead of more shopping channels - You do know that Home Shopping channels are coming in HD soon, don't you?

vegggas

Well, I , for one, dont mind the home shopping channels... the wifey likes them so if they keep her happy she wont complain about my sports watching so much. a little give and take through the years can go a long way.

duplexrj

07-09-08, 02:42 PM

GoldenEarDrum

07-10-08, 02:58 AM

Is anyone here able to use Windows Media Center to view HD Channels using the cable. I'm not talking about using a Antenna, so if anybody is able to use Windows Media Center and is able to scan the cable and pickup HD channels I would greatly appreciate knowing what brand and model TV tuner you are using or if anybody knows that this is physically not possible please let me know.

Are you talking about unencrypted QAM channels (local HD)? Media Center does not support QAM but a couple fo manufacturers (HDhomerun and AverMedia) has some workaround for it.

If you want all the alacart HD channels (the ones you get with the box) with Media Center you'll either have to have a CableCard PC or one that has an HD capture card.

...

duplexrj

07-10-08, 10:29 AM

GeorgeLV

07-12-08, 06:09 PM

Flipping through the channels before the race, I noticed that channel 8 is running the a 30 minute special "UNLV Rebels Down Under". Kevin Janison got to take an HD camera down to Austraila to follow the UNLV Rebels basketball summer camp.

GoldenEarDrum

07-13-08, 02:05 PM

Yes I would only like the local HD channels. I would prefer not to buy the homerun since i already bought two ATI 650's while back. The avermedia i heard the same thing that it might work but i went onto newegg.com and read reviews on the card and it seemed like alot of people complained that it did not work on media center like it claimed. Has anybody had success with the avermedia since i would prefer to install internal tuner cards instead of the external homerun.

Yes it works but some people report some hardware incompatibility problems. You may also need to tweak some bit to make it integrate flawlessly. Go to www.thegreenbutton.com if you want to learn more about it.

...

ProvidenceLV

07-15-08, 08:43 PM

First time poster, though i've lurked on AVSF for the last year or so.

My question pertains to my reception of OTA HD locals. I live in the far northwest (north of hualapai and the 215) and just purchased a DB8 to pick up locals in HD. As a Dish customer, they aren't offered to me through Dish, so i've had to get an antenna.

After installing the DB8, i pick up all the locals but NBC. I'm confused, because antennaweb.org shows that NBC is the same distance and direction from my house as PBS. PBS comes in at a signal strength of 72, and I get 0 for NBC. Why would I be able to pick up one, but not the other? Is NBC's Las Vegas signal weaker than PBS' signal? I'm perturbed, as NBC and the Olympics are the primary reason I decided to make the move to get locals in HD.

Any help is much appreciated.

S88XJ

07-15-08, 09:51 PM

I'm in downtown Henderson, really close to both sets of towers, and I had issues getting a couple of channels, including NBC, with my rooftop antenna, until I got it pointed properly.

I have a different antenna type than you have though, I have a simple cheap-o yagi UHF/VHF antenna from radio shack.

Indeed, NBC 3 is broadcast from the same location as Fox 5, KVMY 21, and PBS. At least in my direction, NBC 3 is considerably less powerful.

Try tvfool.com, and put in your address. Look at the Xmit(kw) column. I'm betting for you, NBC is going to have a much lower number.

I suppose this means that if you are pointing your antenna properly at the tower (horizon ridge by gibson/stephanie from your direction), and you are still not getting the signal, you may need a larger antenna. Perhaps something designed for VHF-low signal. Your model antenna (I've googled it) appears to be designed for VHF-high and UHF signals.

Don't be fooled because you get channel 5, it's really in the VHF-high range...

vegggas

07-15-08, 11:15 PM

NBC digital is on the lowest OTA RF carrier at channel 2. It is very difficult to pick up without a low band VHF antenna as previously mentioned.

I heard that Cox is adding all of the NBC Channels and HD feeds for the Summer Olympic coverage that starts on 08/08/08, including dedicated feeds for Soccer and Basketball. If that's true, look for changes and updates over the next few weeks, and especially look at your existing channels for ANY problems that may pop up as they move things around and start testing the new feeds. Since the new feeds are at higher frequencies, expect growing pains that won't be cured unless you call it in and complain. They have the backbone upgraded and in place and working through the end nodes, but individual streets, or individual homes may have problems with their internal wiring and devices.

vegggas

vegggas

07-15-08, 11:17 PM

Well, I , for one, dont mind the home shopping channels... the wifey likes them so if they keep her happy she wont complain about my sports watching so much. a little give and take through the years can go a long way.

And thus, we lose bandwidth for better content! ;););)

vegggas

GeorgeLV

07-15-08, 11:46 PM

ProvidenceLV, you bought a UHF only antenna. The DB8 antenna will provide usable results for high VHF (7-13), but low-vhf (2-6) is a no go.

For reference the physical digital channel assignments for Las Vegas are:

channel 2 - KVBC NBC 3.1, Wx 3.2
channel 7 - KLAS CBS 8.1, LATV 8.2
channel 9 - KVVU Fox 5.1, weather 5.2
channel 11 - KLVX PBS HD 10.1, Local PBS 10.2, Create 10.3
channel 12 - KTNV ABC 13.1, traffic 13.2
channel 16 - KINC UNI 15.1, TFT 15.2
channel 22 - KVMY MNTV 21.1
channel 29 - KVCW CW 33.1
channel 40 - KBLR TEL 39.1

ProvidenceLV

07-16-08, 01:19 AM

After a lot of tweaking, (over an hour of crouching in the attic yelling to my wife "is that any better?" over and over and over) I am finally able to pick up a signal strength of about 65. However, it is very dicey, and has cut out on me a couple times.

Any recommendations for an in-attic antenna that will pick up both the high and low VHF channels from 30 miles away?

S88XJ

07-16-08, 10:02 AM

this is the antenna I have, it's advertised range is 70 miles, I bought it at a Radio Shack here in the valley for about $60:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103085&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032205&pg=1&searchSort=TRUE&retainProdsInSession=1&y=10&x=9&s=A-StorePrice-RSK&parentPage=family

80" Boom Length, 32-Element Antenna
Model: VU-90 XR | Catalog #: 15-2152

Beware the guy at Radio Shack trying to sell you a mast and other crap. All that comes in the box is the antenna, u-clamps, and the coax dealey. You'll need some sort of pole to mount it on. I'd recommend mounting it on the roof rather than the attic, but you can try it. Just make sure it is pointed towards the towers on black mountain...

davelite

07-16-08, 05:04 PM

Hello All,
I currently have my 8300HD DVR running HDMI to my HK AVR 745 receiver and then running HDMI to my Samsung 56" TV. Having a specific drop out problem on TNT only. It seems that when they switch from HD content to local content (commercials), the signal drops enough for my HK amplifier to stutter and tell me to "Check Signal Cable." Cycling the power on the amplifier fixes the problem although it takes about 10 seconds to do so. This behavior happens on both normal speed playback as well as FF playback. (as I am normally ff the commercials anyway) I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing a similiar issue and some ways of maybe fixing it. I spoke with Cox Cable today, and they did a remote reboot of my box to make sure that I am updated on my software, but the problem still remains. Any help is greatly appriciated as I would prefer to continue to use HDMI instead of switching to Component cables.
Thanks.

David M. Schulman
davelite@davelite.com

GeorgeLV

07-16-08, 07:01 PM

vegggas

07-16-08, 08:54 PM

I heard that Cox is adding all of the NBC Channels and HD feeds for the Summer Olympic coverage that starts on 08/08/08, including dedicated feeds for Soccer and Basketball. If that's true, look for changes and updates over the next few weeks, and especially look at your existing channels for ANY problems that may pop up as they move things around and start testing the new feeds. Since the new feeds are at higher frequencies, expect growing pains that won't be cured unless you call it in and complain. They have the backbone upgraded and in place and working through the end nodes, but individual streets, or individual homes may have problems with their internal wiring and devices.

vegggas
See, I mention something here and it makes news the next day...:rolleyes:
Cox upgrades HD lineup in time for Olympics
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/07/14/daily48.html
it was a non-specific press release and they didn't mention the Olympic Basketball channel, but they were acknowledged.

vegggas

Demodave

07-17-08, 12:56 AM

See, I mention something here and it makes news the next day...:rolleyes:
Cox upgrades HD lineup in time for Olympics
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/07/14/daily48.html
it was a non-specific press release and they didn't mention the Olympic Basketball channel, but they were acknowledged.

vegggas

Yes...but that story appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal. I don't think that it is for Las Vegas. Note that they say that one of the new channels coming on July 21st is USA HD. LV already has the channel.

I'm sure we will get some HD love from Cox Las Vegas before the olympics. You always have the inside scoop. I just wanted to make it clear that the article you referenced is for Phoenix.

vegggas

07-17-08, 01:22 AM

Yes...but that story appeared in the Phoenix Business Journal. I don't think that it is for Las Vegas. Note that they say that one of the new channels coming on July 21st is USA HD. LV already has the channel.

I'm sure we will get some HD love from Cox Las Vegas before the olympics. You always have the inside scoop. I just wanted to make it clear that the article you referenced is for Phoenix.

Notice the sarcastic smiley :rolleyes:
I knew it was a Phoenix story, it was just ironic that I mentioned it here and it showed up in the news a few hours later. I think we should should be getting the Basketball and Soccer channels as well as CNBC and maybe something else for the olympic coverage.

vegggas

vegas-steven

07-20-08, 07:27 PM

anyone else see the ad cox is airing? it says that you can get regular programming in HD on DEMAND.

yes that is what it says:
HD FREEZONE ON DEMAND

Channel 699 only has AMC HD, and some series called mad men. the quality looks good to me.

anyone else find it funny that there is no AMC HD for cox las vegas? yet we can see it on the HD on demand.

When can we get MORE...

bsquare

07-24-08, 02:01 PM

Greetings all. New to your thread. Considering re-locating to Las Vegas for a few months to take care of some family issues. Checked your Cox Cable channel offerings and there's no HDNET !!!!! Yikes - that's the single best HD channel out there in terms of variety program content and HD quality. I've seen some of your posts about wanting it, but it's going to take a widespread effort on the part of everyone here to get it. I also found out that if they offer HDNet to all subs, it's only about 30 cents a sub. That kills their excuse that it costs too much. Right now they are considering offering it in the future in a Premium Tier but even that isn't firm and it will cost a lot more.

I've written to the GM and Cox Corporate. Here's the number for Cox corporate in Atlanta: 404-843-5000. I'm sure you can find out your local Cox number. Anyone with a nice HD TV needs to be able to watch HDNet and everyone should call, email, or write to let them know. Tell them that 30 cents isn't too much to pay for this great channel. I understand the Weather channel costs around $1.50 - which would you rather have?

If you haven't gotten to watch HDNet, they a wide variety of programs: Cool travel shows - some serious & some hosted by cute gals, sports, racing, & tons of stuff. Best of all it's 100% HD with NO Stretching. They use the best cameras & post production to deliver an amazing picture. Even here in Hawaii where we aren't exactly "leading edge", we've had the channel for several years!

Good luck to all of us.

foghorn2

07-24-08, 08:04 PM

Ken H

07-29-08, 01:08 AM

Off topic posts deleted.

LVseller03

07-29-08, 02:08 AM

lakerstan

07-29-08, 02:28 AM

gvc

07-29-08, 10:50 AM

I've had Cox for 9 years, and cable all of my adult life. I'm considering going to DirecTV, mostly for the plethora of HD channels and the NFL package. Are there any dirty little secrets about them that I need to be aware of? I read, for example, that PBS and CW aren't available through DirecTV in HD. I don't really want to have the dish AND and OTA antenna...

Your right. PBS and CW are not available as of yet. But D*s new satellite is scheduled to go operational soon and they are adding more HD channels next month, but it still may be a while before PBS is added. The old receivers used to come with a built in OTA antenna tuner hookup and it was no problem getting most all the locals but now the new receivers don't have that option.

HiHoStevo

07-29-08, 11:51 AM

The old receivers used to come with a built in OTA antenna tuner hookup and it was no problem getting most all the locals but now the new receivers don't have that option.

Actually DTV is now "selling" an additional box for those that have the HR21 HD-DVR's that do not have the OTA capability. This additional box adds the OTA capability and I they told me the charge was $50 for the box.

S88XJ

07-29-08, 11:39 PM

foghorn2

07-30-08, 01:13 AM

I do recall that dish network has an HD box that has an ATSC tuner as well.

Dish Network doesn't have vegas HD locals, but if you're considering an antenna too, might as well look at it as an alternative. With an antenna you will always get all of your locals in HD.

Correct, I get all my locals with a Channel Master Stealth antenna fed into 2 VIP622 DVRS. The tuner is the best in its class. There is a box coming out with a 2 OTA tuners with built in slingbox pretty soon.

ck007

07-30-08, 02:28 AM

S88XJ

07-31-08, 10:11 AM

Correct, I get all my locals with a Channel Master Stealth antenna fed into 2 VIP622 DVRS. The tuner is the best in its class. There is a box coming out with a 2 OTA tuners with built in slingbox pretty soon.

Definetely an alternative.

I think people generally don't like using antennas, although the new technology with ATSC broadcasts and tuners is really a good thing... great quality. I have a dish and an antenna and couldn't be happier.

gvc

07-31-08, 10:47 AM

....."Cox announced Wednesday that several of its systems will provide enhanced coverage of the 2008 Olympics, including its 1.6 million-subscriber Hampton Roads, Va. unit. In upgraded areas of the system, Cox will offer more than 800 hours of high-definition Olympics coverage, including dedicated NBC Olympic soccer and basketball channels.

A Cox spokesman said not every Cox system will offer the enhanced HD and linear channels, declining to identify the markets..."

GeorgeLV

08-01-08, 09:04 PM

Updated to reflect recent additions to Dish Network lineup.

Broadcast Networks OTA Cox DirecTV Dish (mapdown)
------------------ ----- ----- --------- ----------------
ABC (KTNV) 13-1 713 13
CBS (KLAS) 8-1 708 8
Fox (KVVU) 5-1 705 5
NBC (KVBC) 3-1 703 3
PBS (KLVX) 10-1 710
CW (KVCW) 33-1 706
MyTV (KVMY) 21-1

Cable Networks
------------------
A&E 732 265 9419 (118)
ABC Family 9434 (180)
Animal Planet 758 282 9489 (184)
Biography 266 9443 (119)
Bravo 273 9492 (129)
Cartoon Network 296 9463 (176)
CMT 327
CNBC 355 9439 (208)
CNN 202 9436 (200)
Discovery 725 278 9487 (182)
Disney 290 9433 (172)
Food Network 742 231 9462 (110)
Fox Business 359
FX 248
Hallmark Movies 9444 (187)
HGTV 755 229 9461 (112)
History 743 269 9491 (120)
Lifetime 9470 (108)
Lifetime Movie Network 9471 (109)
MTV 331
National Geographic 702 276 9429 (186)
Nickelodeon 299
Planet Green 9457 (194)
Science Channel 284 9490 (193)
Sci-Fi 745 244 9432 (122)
Spike 241
TBS 707 247 9499 (139)
TLC 733 280 9488 (183)
TNT 718 245 9420 (138)
Toon Disney 292 9449 (174)
Travel 766 9437 (215)
USA 734 242 9431 (105)
VH1 335
Weather Channel 362 9438 (214)
WGN America 9446 (239)

HD Only Networks
------------------
HD Theater 770 281 9421
HDNet 306 9422
HDNet Movies 552 9423
MGM 255 385
MHD 791 332 9469
Mojo 793
Smithsonian 267 374
Universal HD 792 259 9427

Premium Networks
------------------
HBO East 501 9456 (300)
HBO West 800 504 9478 (303)
HBO 2 9455 (301)
HBO Comedy 9451 (307)
HBO Family 9453 (305)
HBO Latino 9459 (309)
HBO Signature 9454 (302)
HBO Zone 9452 (308)

Cinemax East 512 9458 (310)
Cinemax West 810 514 9440 (311)
5-Star Max 9441 (314)
ActionMax 9479 (313)

The Movie Channel East 544

Showtime East 537 9460 (318)
Showtime West 820 540
Sho Too 538

Starz East 520 9435 (350)
Starz West 830 521 9498 (351)
Starz Comedy 519 9486 (354)
Starz Edge 522 9496 (352)
Starz Kids & Family 518 9497 (356)

Encore East 9505 (340)

Sports (* games only)
------------------
Big Ten Network 610 9500 (439)
CBS College Sports 613 9495 (152)
ESPN 730 206 9424 (140)
ESPN2 731 209 9425 (144)
ESPN News 207 9494 (142)
FSN West 692 5417 (417)*
FSN Prime Ticket 694 5411 (411)*
FSN Arizona [note 1,2] 686-1* 5415 (415)*
CSN Bay Area [note 3] 696-1*
Fuel 612
Golf/Versus HD 604 9468
NBA TV 601 9466 (402)
NFL Network [note 4] 212 9426 (154)
NHL Network 215 9540 (403)
Speed 607
Tennis 217 9442 (400)
World Fishing Network 394

1 - MLB D'backs only. Other pro teams blacked out.
2 - NHL Coyotes in Pahrump and some other outlying zip codes, blacked out in Las Vegas valley.
3 - MLB Giants and A's. Other pro teams blacked out.
4 - In the past Cox has carried the regular season games on a part time channel

Sports Subscriptions
------------------
MLB Extra Innings HD ??? yes no
NASCAR Hot Pass HD no yes no
NBA League Pass HD ??? yes yes
NHL Center Ice HD ??? yes yes
NFL Sunday Ticket HD no yes no

GeorgeLV

08-02-08, 02:38 AM

Passing around some info I saw in another thread:

The Mtn. is coming to DirecTV August 27th on channel 616.

http://www.themtn.tv/mtn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=267&Itemid=85

Great news for all the local Rebels fans.

tazlv

08-11-08, 11:30 AM

Dont know if this is permanent, but NFL Network HD has been up since at least Friday on Channel 780.

Demodave

08-11-08, 11:58 AM

Dont know if this is permanent, but NFL Network HD has been up since at least Friday on Channel 780.

That's odd. I posted this info several days ago....and my post is gone. And I am noticing that several other posts from August 1st thru today are gone.

What happened?

rboster

08-11-08, 12:33 PM

At the top of the main forum page you'll see this notice

AVS Forum Community:
On the morning of August 11, AVS Forum suffered a major failure in the database and backup storage. As such, we have no choice but to recover from August 2nd.

This represents tens of thousands of lost posts and new threads for the last week. There is nothing we can do about it at this time but move forward. We are sorry about the loss and will work to be sure this does not happen again. We are as upset about this as you may be, more than likely even more.

Regretfully,

AVS Forum

vegggas

08-13-08, 10:25 AM

Been gone a while again... Nice to come back to a bunch of new HD stuff, especially the HD Freezone OnDemand to watch some of the Olympic matches and opening ceremonies in HD. Looks like there is other stuff from SpeedHD, SundanceHD, and various Music types of channels. The preseason games on NFLNetwork in HD are not too bad either...
I'll be back in a few days as I catch up locally.

vegggas

S Dayton

08-14-08, 09:54 PM

What happend to the ondemand HD movies.I see that ondemand HBO/Cinemax/ Showtime is on channel 699 now but none of the movies are in HD.

GeorgeLV

08-14-08, 11:40 PM

What happend to the ondemand HD movies.I see that ondemand HBO/Cinemax/ Showtime is on channel 699 now but none of the movies are in HD.

I don't know about Cox, but DirecTV just added HD selections to the Showtime on Demand library and only their original series are available in HD so far.

vegggas

08-15-08, 07:30 PM

What happend to the ondemand HD movies.I see that ondemand HBO/Cinemax/ Showtime is on channel 699 now but none of the movies are in HD.

Must be something being updated in your local node area. On my channel 699, I have the Freezone HD with Mad Men and about 50 titles in the HD Movies category and a few titles in the RHI categoty.
On Channel 1, I have the Freezone HD category with all of the olympic coverage and some of the non premium cable channels HD offereings, like AMC HD, BET HD, Dew Action Sports HD, Fuse HD, MTV HD, Speed HD, Sundance HD, and VH1 HD.
The premium HD content for HBO/Cinemax/ Showtime should be added soon, and maybe your area is under test. The SD version of On Demand for those premium channels has been there for a few years.

vegggas

vegggas

08-15-08, 07:40 PM

How has the quality on HD channels (excluding locals) been lately? I heard that they are all but complete on the changeover to the national 3HD into 1 Qam network. They were changing out channels for the last few months and it appears that all that were scheduled to be changed out have been done.
Anybody notice? They look the same to me, but recordings of the same shows are taking up less space on the DVR than they used to.

Opinions?

CoyoteAZ had complaints with the Phoenix additon of HD channels using this method, but I think they had other issues down there.

I know we just got a few channels added for the olympcs, ike NFL HD, CNBC HD, and two olympic sports feeds, but I am hearing there are more channels coming in small additions every month for the near future.
I think on the near horizon will be Bravo, Lifetime, Cnn, Planet green, chiller etc. I should be able to get more info this weekend.

vegggas - don't kill the messenger!

coyoteaz

08-15-08, 08:53 PM

foghorn2

08-15-08, 09:15 PM

Trip in VA

08-16-08, 01:12 AM

Anyone here using OTA with a computer-based receiver on XP or XP MCE? Have some free time to give me a hand with something? Send me a PM if so...

Thanks. =)

- Trip

foghorn2

08-16-08, 09:42 AM

Anyone here using OTA with a computer-based receiver on XP or XP MCE? Have some free time to give me a hand with something? Send me a PM if so...

Thanks. =)

- Trip

I have an HTPC with a DVICO Fusion 5 tuner hooked up to a Channel Master Stealth Antenna. What kinda help do you need? We can talk publically if it help others too.

Trip in VA

08-16-08, 10:17 AM

Sure. I use data from TSReader Lite to populate my website and figure out bitrates for the various OTA stations. I wanted to know if you or someone else would send me such data. If you would like me to post some kind of analysis of the data on the forum, I can do that. (Which station has the highest HD bitrate, etc)

http://www.coolstf.com/tsreader/

There's the program, it asks you to register with the site when you go to download it, but you can leave all the fields blank and hit submit without issue. When you run it, it asks what driver to use; you have the same tuner I do and so I know for a fact that the driver is ATSCBDA Source. Then you enter the physical channel number (not the mapped channel) and then it disassembles the bitstream for that channel. I can answer any questions you have about what it's displaying for you.

What I specifically need is for each station, to go to Export > HTML Export, check all of the boxes in that window except "EIT" an "Thumbnails" and then save it, zip it up with all the other stations, and e-mail it to me. (My e-mail address is listed here (http://www.rabbitears.info/contact.php)) Then I'll pick through the data and use it to populate the Las Vegas section of my website. I also post the raw data publicly on the site, you can see that here (http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps).

You'd be credited for your help on my site's Credits page however you like.

Thanks, and I hope you're willing to give me a hand. =)

- Trip

foghorn2

08-16-08, 12:00 PM

Trip in VA

08-16-08, 12:05 PM

Well, if you have the equipment to do it, it's not too difficult to do really. I could walk you through it in more detail than I did on here. It's just a matter of installing the software and running it once on each station.

And yes, Rush is awesome. =D Witch Hunt is my favorite song, with Subdivisions as a close second. It's not possible to sort songs beyond that, there's so many awesome ones.

- Trip

gvc

08-16-08, 05:07 PM

I know we just got a few channels added for the olympcs, ike NFL HD, CNBC HD, and two olympic sports feeds, but I am hearing there are more channels coming in small additions every month for the near future.
I think on the near horizon will be Bravo, Lifetime, Cnn, Planet green, chiller etc. I should be able to get more info this weekend.

vegggas - don't kill the messenger!

Vegggas, they announced the addition of BravoHD,LifetimeHD effective on 9/16. Chiller will be added Oct 7

GeorgeLV

08-16-08, 06:22 PM

I think GeorgeLV is probably the best person in this forum for this endeavor.
What do you say George?

I'm in Pahrump more than Vegas right now so it would be a bit difficult for me to collect the data. I could probably hook up my USB tuner to a laptop and use some rabbit ears, but I probably wouldn't be able to get any good readings from KVBC with that setup.

If your tuner card is in good working order, it shouldn't take to long to figure out how to get TSReader working.

foghorn2

08-17-08, 12:07 AM

I'm in Pahrump more than Vegas right now so it would be a bit difficult for me to collect the data. I could probably hook up my USB tuner to a laptop and use some rabbit ears, but I probably wouldn't be able to get any good readings from KVBC with that setup.

If your tuner card is in good working order, it shouldn't take to long to figure out how to get TSReader working.

Allright, I might have some time on monday morning. As Scotty would say, "I'll let you know".

BTW I'm also picking up 32.1- some mexican channel from Laughlin, the picture is all messed up and looks analog although they are transmitting digital.

Trip: my favorite songs are Neurotica and Animate.

Trip in VA

08-17-08, 12:28 AM

Allright, I might have some time on monday morning. As Scotty would say, "I'll let you know".

BTW I'm also picking up 32.1- some mexican channel from Laughlin, the picture is all messed up and looks analog although they are transmitting digital.

Trip: my favorite songs are Neurotica and Animate.

Alrighty, sounds good to me! PM or e-mail or IM or whatever you want to do, if you need any assistance. I'm glad to help you out.

KMCC has an on-channel repeater doing 5 kW on channel 32 from what appears to be the same tower as KLAS-DT. So you're not actually seeing Laughlin, you're seeing a repeater they have up. Coverage map care of the FCC:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1175563.html

I, too, like Animate. I love the way it opens, especially. Can't say the same for Neurotica... I'd much rather hear Bravado or Ghost of a Chance off of RtB. I heard the latter live last month, it was amazing.

- Trip

foghorn2

08-18-08, 02:31 PM

I'll just post this publically for a week. Take it and grab it while its there:

Channel 32 was very weak so not much was captured.

[expired links

_________________________________________
Now here some inspration:
"I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermon, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace"

bsquare

08-18-08, 03:59 PM

Is LV scheduled to get Verizon Fios anytime soon? That should knock Cox down a few notches.

lvthunder

08-18-08, 04:05 PM

Is LV scheduled to get Verizon Fios anytime soon? That should knock Cox down a few notches.

No. That would require Verizon buying Embarq. FIOS only goes to people who have local Verizon phone service in their area. Unless Verizon wants to rip up every road in town and install new conduit which is unlikely.

foghorn2

08-18-08, 04:35 PM

Is LV scheduled to get Verizon Fios anytime soon? That should knock Cox down a few notches.

Yeah, it seems Cox is doing hardly NOTHING thanks to Embarq not competing and playing the getting all it can from the current customer game.

vegggas

08-18-08, 07:40 PM

USA HD and Universal HD are blocky messes any time there's moderate to heavy motion on the screen. CNBC HD is mostly good with some occasional blocking. Olympic Soccer HD is excellent, but it's running at 16+ Mbit/s sharing a channel with mostly nullpackets. The only technical issue we've had recently is the absence of SDV, which was supposed to roll out for a bunch of SD channels in July but still hasn't happened.

Again, you are in Phoenix, Not Las Vegas. I'm not exactly sure of your image quality details in Phoenix, although I heard Phoenix may be going to SDV soon (nothing heard about Las Vegas ever going SDV).
If you never had Universal HD before than you might not know that they have been blocky and pixelated since it launched several years ago. There are or were many threads dedicated to these issues among all the providers back then. When USA HD was added to the mix, it too has had the same pixeation and low bandwidth issues as seen on Universal, long before Cox implemented 3-1 Qam mapping.
I am asking if anyone had noticed a CHANGE in programming image quality between Cox's remapping of 2-1 direct sat feeds to the new 3-1 national feeds of the same channels. All but the local channels were changed out to 3-1 mixes over the last six to eight weeks or so. They were done in batches and groups at a time to see if thre would be any feedback from customers if there were problems moving to the higher frequencies.
My initial testing has confirmed that there is little to no differences between the old and new feeds when comparing image quality over realtime viewing. As a baseline, I used The HDTheater's presentation of "Preying Mantis -Alien Insect" as one of the tests for image quality. One copy from over a year ago recorded on two different DVR's (HD&HDC), and one just recently recorded on those same DVRs. Side by side (2 identical 40" 1080p sets) they are identical when playing back, on either combination of DVR's and displays, but during pause, frame by frame or slowmotion playback, unseen playback errors (not seen during real time playback) or lack of I-frame details are more evident on the newer feeds. Fast forward and rewind playback is also less smooth as evidence of possible fewer I-frames or other stream data that is reduced.
My conclusion, based on many tests like the Mantis test, is that image quality does not seem to be reduced with the new compression methods Cox is using. Stream integrity, however, may be an issue if you are pausing or attempting to go frame by frame in a video and have less data to build a complete frame or rebuild a lost packet due to a lower interleave method.

I would still like to hear from others in Las Vegas that can either confirm or refute my findings. There may be certain combinations of channels that may get bandwidth priorities over adjacent channels on the same QAM, but that is yet to be determined with any certainty and would be controlled on the national level.

vegggas

vegggas

08-18-08, 07:50 PM

Vegggas, they announced the addition of BravoHD,LifetimeHD effective on 9/16. Chiller will be added Oct 7

Slipped my mind. :o
More are coming as carriage rights are getting through. I found out that only a handful of channels are on national rights, but even those few channels still have to be agreed on locally by all of the franchises.

vegggas

vegggas

08-18-08, 08:08 PM

I'll just post this publically for a week. Take it and grab it while its there:

Channel 32 was very weak so not much was captured.

2/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/2.htm)7/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/7.htm)9/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/9.htm)11/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/11.htm)12/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/12.htm)16/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/16.htm)22/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/22.htm)29/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/29.htm)32/ (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/32.htm)40 (http://members.cox.net/foghorn02/40.htm)

No need for any glory, like Neil, I'm pretty humble.
_________________________________________
Now here some inspration:
"I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermon, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace"
foghorn,
Thank you so much for that OTA data. I think everyone should at least view the data and take a look at the last section "PID Usage Chart" to see where the actual bit rates are running as compared to what is expected. NBC's OTA Olympic channel is a prime example (3.3) it's a pixelated mess running at 2.48 Mbps and PBS main HD channel was running at 6.61 Mbps.
Keep in mind that the bit rates are varible and are statmuxed by the local station, but you can see where they are capped by the Program Map Table(s). Some are capped at the max level, or in the case of KTNV 90Mbps:eek:, while others like PBS are capped at a lower level of under 12Mbps.
Good read, and if Fog keeps it on his pages, or if GeorgeLV would consider hosting it, the info could be viewed by many others.

vegggas

Trip in VA

08-18-08, 08:11 PM

I'll just post this publically for a week. Take it and grab it while its there:

Channel 32 was very weak so not much was captured.

No need for any glory, like Neil, I'm pretty humble.
_________________________________________
Now here some inspration:
"I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermon, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace"

Hehe, that's my favorite song off of S&A. :)

I've gone ahead and updated my site with the data contained in the captures: http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=51

A couple of things that stood out to me:

KMCC-DT looks like they've seriously misconfigured their bitstream, assuming it's not being caused by the flaky signal. Somehow, I'm not surprised.

KLVX-DT is using 1.15 Mbps on some type of datacasting that I can't figure out. They are also doing 3.0 audio on the HD feed, it appears.

KVBC-DT is doing everything right except for transmitting on channel 2. If I had to allocate bandwidth on a station doing 1080i plus 2 subs, I'd do EXACTLY what they're doing. They've knocked the audio feeds on both subs down to 96kbps, and the video resolution was cut to 352x480i rather than the standard 704x480i. That allows the absolute bare minimum bandwidth to be taken from the HD. If they get themselves moved off of channel 2, they'll be an example for others to follow, in my opinion.

EDIT: I'll be hosting the raw captures on my website very shortly. I have to rename them first and do some processing on KMCC-DT...

EDIT2: I've gone ahead and uploaded the data, it's linked under Technical Data on each station's listing, or you can just see the files here: http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/nv-las/ The JPG files are screencaps I took when I was in Vegas a few years back. I still have to do some work on KMCC, but it can wait.

- Trip

vegggas

08-18-08, 10:03 PM

KVBC and KTNV just upgraded their local studios not too long ago.
If possible, I think foghorn should try to do a capture during primetime so that most or all of the stations are actually broadcasting HD content. I would, but no longer have an adequate antenna. Tonight, (Monday) at 9:01PM, It seems there is an abundance of HD from the local stations.
One thing that stood out to me with the captures is how low the actual Main HD channels video bitrates actually are compared to what they were at the start of 2007.
(pulled from foghorn's posted links)
2 KVBC-HD = (75.11% - 14.56 Mbps)
7 KLAS-HD = (67.48% - 13.09 Mbps)
9 KVVU-HD = (77.16% - 14.96 Mbps)
11 KLVX-HD = (34.07% - 6.61 Mbps)
12 KTNV-HD = (60.89% - 11.88 Mbps)
22 My LVTV = (56.73% - 11.00 Mbps)
29 TheCWLV = (69.64% - 13.50 Mbps)

There are some null packets that are floating around that are not being used during daytime encoding, and a good capture during primetime would probably even things out and show more of a real world primetime example.

vegggas

foghorn2

08-19-08, 11:01 AM

I'll have some time Friday night so I'll repost the data then.
The picture on KMCC-DT is all screwed up, yeah the signal is weak but the picture looks like its a weak analog signal from a distant place.

GeorgeLV

08-22-08, 11:13 PM

KLVX-DT is using 1.15 Mbps on some type of datacasting that I can't figure out.

Per their Wikipedia entry, it's for the Digital Emergency Alert System.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLVX

lvthunder

08-23-08, 12:04 AM

That was an interesting read George. I never knew KLVX was owned by the school district. So what happens to the translators when the digital conversion is complete. Did they all need to be replaced?

Also can someone with D* post their signal strengths. I think the wind moved my dish again. These last couple days I've noticed a lot of audio hickups.

GeorgeLV

08-23-08, 12:47 AM

Also can someone with D* post their signal strengths. I think the wind moved my dish again. These last couple days I've noticed a lot of audio hickups.

Here are my numbers for the HD satellites. Even though my 99 signals are a bit low (my pole-mount probably isn't plumb) I'm not having any issues.

99c
1-8: 56 69 51 64 56 71 55 67
9-14: 60 73 60 69 69 74

99s
1-6: 96 0 96 0 95 77

103c
1-8: 77 82 78 80 79 82 79 79
9-14: 83 82 83 80 85 86

foghorn2

08-23-08, 11:13 AM

George wev'e known now for a while that your pole is never plumb. :D

Do you guys over at Erectv ever get rain fade?

rsblaski

08-23-08, 01:16 PM

George wev'e known now for a while that your pole is never plumb. :D

Do you guys over at Erectv ever get rain fade?

I've had DIRECTV for about nine years now--7 years in Henderson and now two years in Pahrump. I have never seen rain fade either on live or recorded programs. Out here in Pahrump we get some insane winds and my dish has never lost signal due to that either.

lvthunder

08-24-08, 01:42 AM

Thanks for the number George. Mine are defiantly lower then that. Although they seem better today then they were yesterday.

Out of the 6 years or so I've lived in my house I had rain fade for a total of 5 minutes. I've also never had any problems with the wind moving my dish until they replaced the 3 Sat dish with the 5 Sat dish.

Killi

08-26-08, 12:39 AM

Has nobody else been getting SD picture only on Channel 13 OTA for the last few days? Sat sunday and today, no HD, it is full screen SD

lvthunder

08-26-08, 12:51 AM

They are having problems. Here's the article they posted about it.

http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=8888458

Killi

08-26-08, 01:06 AM

thank you

hdtvxpert

08-27-08, 09:00 AM

A new crane erected at the City Center project blocks KTNV's studio to transmitter signal path for their HD feed. They say they are working on getting the crane moved. I wonder what they plan to do when the building is up? Are they going to try to move that? In any case don't plan on seeing any OTA HD from them for a long time. Stretch-O Vision is back! Directv has been authorizing ch. 397 KABC-HD during prime time only.

GeorgeLV

08-27-08, 01:52 PM

With KTNV's transmitter woes, how about some good news?

DirecTV has picked up The mtn., the RSN for our UNLV Rebels and other Mountain West Conference teams (BYU, Utah, etc) just in time for the start of football season.

FPEMiller

08-27-08, 09:14 PM

Hey Guys,
In the recent bandwidth testing / packet sniffing, did anyone notice if KLAS (CBS) is transmitting the TVGOES (digital) data yet (OTA)? CBS is suppose to be taking over from PBS when TVGOES (analog) is dropped in Feb. Some CBS affiliates across the county are already transmitting.

Thanks
MK

Trip in VA

08-27-08, 09:30 PM

FPEMiller

08-27-08, 10:18 PM

Ok, now this is getting more serious. I just discovered that I have not been receiving the VBI packets from KLVX (PBS) the last few days, losing my Gemstar-TVGOS data/updates since about Monday. For the last year I have been getting the data from ch10 OTA. Anyone else having problems?

Regards,
MK

Update 9/1: Sent KLVX (PBS) an email to their engineering section inquiring if there were any problems. Didn't receive a response, but the next day the VBI packets were transmitting and the TVGOS schedule was starting to repopulate.

trdn1

08-28-08, 04:46 PM

lvthunder

08-28-08, 05:10 PM

Hello all, just a simple question that I think I know the answer to...but before I make the jump to digital cable thru COX I thought I'd ask it...

I am currently a basic cable+ subscriber, I get the broadcast channels in HD and the rest (ESPN etc) in SD. Just wondering if, after the switch in Feb, COX will be sending the HD version of ESPN, Discovery etc over the basic cable feed? Since everything will be sent QAM over the cable line, I assume this COULD be done, but for $$$ reasons, I can see them still requiring the HD capable digital cable box.

Thanks in advance...

Mike

The switch in February is just over the air channels. Cox will be doing nothing different. They could take the encryption off the channels if they wanted to, but they want you to pay for either a cablecard or cable box, and get digital cable so they won't.

GeorgeLV

08-28-08, 08:45 PM

After a week of outages, the KTNV HD feed has been restored to DirecTV.

Does anybody know if it's also back OTA, or does DirecTV now have a direct fiber feed?

HiHoStevo

08-29-08, 12:30 AM

Simple Question guys.........

Cox called and is offering my basic cable and telephone for $20 per month.

If I take this "basic" cable and I have ATSC tuners built into the TV's and satellite receivers... will I be able to access HD-local broadcasts?

Thank you

GeorgeLV

08-29-08, 01:07 AM

HiHoStevo

08-29-08, 02:32 AM

No, Cox uses QAM, not ATSC.

Thanks George...

Do you happen to know if DirecTV's HR20 HD-DVR happens to have a QAM tuner built in?

hdtvxpert

08-29-08, 09:15 AM

None of Directv's recievers have a QAM tuner.

HiHoStevo

08-29-08, 11:06 AM

None of Directv's recievers have a QAM tuner.

Thank you

foghorn2

08-29-08, 01:24 PM

Do Cox's boxes have Satellite tuners? :D

foghorn2

08-29-08, 01:26 PM

Funny how "your freind in the digital age" wont pass ATSC though their cables. Is it because they want you to rent their Volvo's? :D

Brandon_Vegas

08-29-08, 04:17 PM

Yes KTNV's OTA signal is back in HD. Along with the traffic sub-channel on 13.2

coyoteaz

08-30-08, 12:46 AM

Funny how "your freind in the digital age" wont pass ATSC though their cables. Is it because they want you to rent their Volvo's? :D
Either that, or because 256QAM is twice as efficient as 8VSB and allows them to carry 2 OTA channels' worth of digital TV in 1 cable channel. Besides, cable and OTA channel mappings aren't even close once you get beyond 2-13, and very very few tuners will pick up 8VSB using cable channel mappings.

gvc

08-31-08, 06:10 PM

Cox is adding CNNHD CHANNEL 720 and GreenHD channel 771 on October 9

bsquare

09-02-08, 12:44 PM

Cox is adding CNNHD CHANNEL 720 and GreenHD channel 771 on October 9
They have room for the Green HD channel, And yet no room for the best HD channel - HDNET. I've heard that it only costs about 30 cents/sub for HDnet - but Cox's stubborn GM won't do it. What a loser cable service.

S Dayton

09-02-08, 07:11 PM

vegggas

09-05-08, 10:10 PM

Heading back to Vegas - Notes from an airport...
From the Cox Las Vegas Website http://www.cox.com/lasvegas/whatsnew.asp it has the following:
Effective 10/4/08, Cox is adding Versus–Golf Channel HD on channel 781!
Mexicanal Network will replace KTNV on channel 121 October 1st
KTNV (ABC) has made the decision to cease operations of KTNV Traffic (ch 121) effective Wednesday, 10/1 2008 and will replace it with Mexicanal Network. Mexicanal’s lineup features Spanish-language content of news, culturally significant programs, sports and more. Visit their website at mexicanal.com/english/about. ABC is removing their traffic subchannel and replacing it with an alternate language program.
Cox will be launching CNN HD on October 9, 2008 channel 720
Cox will be launching Planet Green HD on October 9, 2008 channel 771

vegggas

vegggas

09-05-08, 10:17 PM

They have room for the Green HD channel, And yet no room for the best HD channel - HDNET. I've heard that it only costs about 30 cents/sub for HDnet - but Cox's stubborn GM won't do it. What a loser cable service.

I believe the reason we wont get HDNET is because COX also co-owns the MOJO Network.

In the past, HDNet offered its programming at about $1.00 per channel per sub per month, or $2.00 for every subscriber who has an HD STB, and it had to remain on the basic tier of service required to get premium HD channels. That means that you would be forced to pay for the channel if you had an HD STB, even if you didn't want those channels. The OC system has those two channels available as an extended service to the prior customers who were bought out by Cox in that market, and they are purchased a la cart for the cost of the channels as an agreement for that system only.
With the agreement with Comcast and HDNet this week, maybe Mark Cuban is thinking more about total subscriber numbers instead of individual revenues and is offering the service with a lower price and fewer restrictions...
Stay tuned for more HD announcements in the following weeks as agreement are made.
vegggas

vegggas

09-08-08, 09:42 AM

I heard over the weekend that Lifetime HD was supposed to be launched in the next group of channels. Instead, Lifetime is doing a scheduled maintainance for about a month that could cause disruptions with the channel and could cause blackouts and downtime as new equipment is installed at the facility and to MSO's . Because of this, Cox is waiting to launch the channel once the changeout is complete.

vegggas

bruin95

09-09-08, 01:39 AM

doormat

09-10-08, 09:31 PM

Post-Feb 17, 2009 will local stations be broadcasting their digital signal on their proper channel assignment? e.g. KVBC on 3 instead of 2 (its current digital simulcast channel assignment)

I thought I remember something about stations trying to keep both their old analog and new digital channel assignments, or something like that.

Trip in VA

09-10-08, 09:38 PM

doormat

09-10-08, 10:15 PM

Thanks trip, and in record time!

gvc

09-12-08, 10:22 AM

Gold/Versus HD cox channel 781 coming Oct 4

TazVegas

09-13-08, 01:54 AM

Golf/Versus HD cox channel 781 coming Oct 4

Will be watching more hockey this year for sure...only had NBC last season to watch games in HD.

gvc

09-17-08, 08:12 PM

WAKE UP LAS VEGAS...bravohd now available on 753. LifetimeHD channel active but no signal due to lifetime maintenance until Oct1

foghorn2

09-20-08, 10:23 PM

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

cricket, cricket, toad, toad, cricket, toad, cricket, cricket, toad, toad, cricket.......................

bsquare

09-22-08, 03:58 PM

RE: Cox Cable SA 8300HD DVR

Can anyone tell me the Hard Drive size & HD recording capacity of the Cox HD DVR? I emailed their customer service they replied with 80GB & 30-50 hours of recording - that doesn't make sense. I rarely trust customer service clerks to know this stuff - would appreciate hearing from someone who knows!

Thanks.

Demodave

09-22-08, 05:19 PM

The 8300HD features a 160GB hard drive. For more info than you can shake a stick at, check out this link:

AVS Forum 8300HD Info Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859)

Demodave

09-22-08, 05:24 PM

And since we're talking about the 8300HD DVR, is there any more talk about Cox Las Vegas changing from SARA to whatever the next OS is supposed to be? I thought this was supposed to happen in 2008.

bruin95

09-22-08, 06:09 PM

bsquare

09-22-08, 07:47 PM

And since we're talking about the 8300HD DVR, is there any more talk about Cox Las Vegas changing from SARA to whatever the next OS is supposed to be? I thought this was supposed to happen in 2008.
Demodave:

Don't be in a rush to give up Sara. The Navigator that might replace it has far less recording versatility than Sara Has. Plus numerous bugs & problems. Sara is rock solid reliable and works with e-sata drives, supports Switched Digital video, and offers a multitude of manual recording options. Sara doesn't have a usable search function, but you can search much easier on your PC anyway, so no biggie.

If you visit the Navigator thread, you'll see what a mess that is. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know"

gvc

09-24-08, 11:55 PM

anyone else having problems with cox channel 713 abchd?

Rick89114

09-25-08, 01:18 AM

anyone else having problems with cox channel 713 abchd?

Cox tonight 703 blocky mess, 705 like a slideshow, 708,713 sound with no picture. Called and got a message that some customers may have blocking and/or no picture on the HD channels. About 9pm all seemed to be fixed.

gvc

09-25-08, 08:43 AM

thats correct..for a while last night no local HD channels were available on cox. If you had any advanced recordings for those channels, they may have been screwed up for a short while. Also, today i have noticed there is absolutely no guide data available for Wed Oct 1. I have rebooted , but the guide data for next wednesday did not load.

gvc

09-28-08, 12:14 PM

well i, its just after 9 am on Sunday morning and Cox channel 708 is a blank black screen. I switched over to my satellite dish and D* channel 08 is the same.

doormat

10-02-08, 10:21 PM

When are we supposed to get CNN HD again? IIRC, it was Oct 15, which is the last debate....

foghorn2

10-02-08, 11:09 PM

When are we supposed to get CNN HD again? IIRC, it was Oct 15, which is the last debate....

We already have CNN HD, just watched the debate! All of Peggy Hill's wrinkles were eveident, and she really aint that pretty :D

doormat

10-02-08, 11:17 PM

CNNHD doesnt show up on my list.

lvthunder

10-02-08, 11:59 PM

Peggy Hill???

doormat

10-03-08, 12:33 AM

Peggy Hill???

Oddly enough, I didn't get the connection until he brought it up. And then I laughed.

bruin95

10-03-08, 01:41 AM

CNNHD doesnt show up on my list.

And it won't because COX doesn't have it yet. I have no idea what Foghorn was seeing.

raftboy

10-03-08, 02:27 AM

CNN HD and Planet Green(whatever the hell that is) on October 9th, next Thursday.

Versus/Golf Channel HD on Saturday October 4th(NHL season kicks off, coincidentally).

lvthunder

10-03-08, 11:08 AM

And it won't because COX doesn't have it yet. I have no idea what Foghorn was seeing.

Probably Directv

JoustGod

10-03-08, 12:54 PM

And it won't because COX doesn't have it yet. I have no idea what Foghorn was seeing.

Most likely Dish is what he was seeing as he has made it obvious that he regularly takes big gulps of Dish Kool-Aid. This is a forum that encompasses at least 4 ways to get HD. We just need to be clear when we post as to what way (Cox, Dish, DTV or OTA...) we receive HD programming.

gvc

10-03-08, 01:30 PM

CNN HD and Planet Green(whatever the hell that is) on October 9th, next Thursday.

Versus/Golf Channel HD on Saturday October 4th(NHL season kicks off, coincidentally).

not HD but Chiller will be added october 7

bruin95

10-04-08, 01:50 AM

not HD but Chiller will be added october 7

Chiller is a bit of a disappointing channel. They edit their movies and show commercials.

antoine62

10-04-08, 11:49 AM

I checked out channel 702 this morning (on COX). They have a statement saying MOJO HD will be taken off the air on 11/4/08 (to be expected since it is being canceled by the parent company). It will be replaced by Spike HD, MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD and Nickelodeon HD

raftboy

10-04-08, 03:38 PM

that sounds pretty decent. Would still like Fox Sports West HD or something like that.

S Dayton

10-07-08, 12:37 AM

Where is chiller going to be in the channel lineup?

doormat

10-07-08, 01:36 AM

gvc

10-07-08, 11:57 AM

where is chiller going to be in the channel lineup?

369

mallah26

10-07-08, 07:30 PM

Here is a list of all new channels recently added and coming to Cox Las Vegas.
121 Mexicanal Network New! 10-01-08
127 Universal Sports New! 10-01-08
148 Mun2 New! 09-25-08
369 Chiller New! 10-07-08
370 Mun2 New! 09-25-08
720 CNN HD New! 10-09-08
723 Nickelodeon HD New! 11-04-08
726 Lifetime HD New!
729 Spike TV HD New! 11-04-08
735 CNBC HD New!
737 MTV HD New! 11-04-08
739 VH1 HD New! 11-04-08
753 Bravo HD New!
757 CMT HD New! 11-04-08
771 Planet Green HD New! 10-09-08
780 NFL Network HD New! 10-09-08
781 Versus-Golf Channel HD New! 10-04-08
793 MOJO HD Removal on 11-04-08

bruin95

10-08-08, 02:28 AM

Here is a list of all new channels recently added and coming to Cox Las Vegas.

780 NFL Network HD New! 10-09-08

COX has had this channel for quite some time now.

gvc

10-08-08, 11:12 AM

COX has had this channel for quite some time now.

yeah, but the only shows they have in HD are the NFL games and replays. all the in studio shows are still SD.

vegas-steven

10-09-08, 10:52 AM

I got up and wanted to check on the quality of these tow - problem is they are not available for me as of 7:30am on the 9th.

Usually cox adds the around 2am. It seems that if our Dvr ever thrus off it is at 2am.
-
As for a new guide:

ALL I WANT IS A BETTER GUI.
This doesn't mean cox has to deploy new dvr software. Just give us a front end that looks good and is as intuitive as all the other technology out there now.

Put it this way:

My wife and father are not technology people but they enjoy the devices we have. They can pickup and simply use iPhone, vista media center, xbox 360 a however most people I know ask me at least one question about the dvr. The interface just is not that good.
It is at lease 7 years old from a design standpoint and I know for a FACT that cox services in other places run the same guide but at least slot cleaner and high resolution.

Maybe vegasss can explain this?

Demodave

10-09-08, 05:16 PM

Wow Steven...did you have a little Bailey's in the coffee this morning? That post is an English teacher's nightmare. :eek:

I just inquired about new software for the DVR. I guess that the new software that some markets are trying is not ready for primetime. In fact, it has less features than the current SARA software. As for a new GUI, I don't expect any changes in the near future. I know that my family has no problem running the DVR.

Tivo may be an option...but it is unknown when that may happen for the Las Vegas market.

vegas-steven

10-09-08, 05:35 PM

nah but my iPhone thinks it is a know it all with auto correct so it sort of makes me look intoxicated LOL.

Fwiw I've read that the comcast TiVo rollout has been poorly received from the get go. I would rather have a smooth os than a pretty one (windows vista for example).

I always thought that the GUI of the box is a front end that can be skinned, however I may be wrong.

Anyhow I need an iPhone disclaimer 'cause I don't like to look dumb LOL!

hdtvxpert

10-13-08, 06:01 PM

Don't get too excited over VH1 HD, CMT HD, MTV HD and Nick HD. They are nothing more than SD content on an HD channel. We have had them for nearly a year on D* Give us some real HD channels!

lakersraidersfan

10-13-08, 11:01 PM

coyoteaz

10-13-08, 11:11 PM

Only locals.

lakersraidersfan

10-13-08, 11:17 PM

Only locals.

Bummer! :( MNF in SD....yuck

Thanks for the quick response....

foghorn2

10-14-08, 12:24 AM

I have the COX basic cable subscription and recently purchased a Samsung LCD (Model-LN40A650). What QAM HD channels should i be able to receive other than ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS? Was hoping for ESPN HD but cant seem to find it.

Thanks in advance for any info....

All you would get is what you would get with Rabbit Ears. You are better off with a Direct or Dish at this point.

mallah26

10-14-08, 09:37 PM

To be honest you get more from Cox than you would get with rabbit ears when speaking about SD channels (and HD channels depending on recption in your area), and then you'd get more local HD channels then you would with satellite since DirecTV doesnt get local CW HD or PBS HD and Dish Network does not support Las Vegas local stations in HD yet. You'd be better off staying with Cox cable and just getting an HD box or CableCard. For just a little bit more you'll get
699 HD Movies On DEMAND
701 HD PPV
703 NBC HD
705 FOX HD
706 The CW HD
707 TBS HD
708 CBS HD
710 PBS HD
713 ABC HD
718 TNT HD
720 CNN HD New! 10-09-08
723 Nickelodeon HD New! 11-04-08
725 Discovery Channel HD
726 Lifetime HD New!
729 Spike TV HD New! 11-04-08
730 ESPN HD
731 ESPN2 HD
732 A&E HD
733 The Learning Channel HD
734 USA Network HD
735 CNBC HD New!
737 MTV HD New! 11-04-08
739 VH1 HD New! 11-04-08
742 Food Network HD
743 History Channel HD
745 SciFi HD
753 Bravo HD New!
755 HGTV HD
757 CMT HD New! 11-04-08
758 Animal Planet HD
766 Travel Channel HD
770 Discovery HD Theater
771 Planet Green HD New! 10-09-08
791 Palladia (Music HD)
792 Universal HD
And you get a few more HD channels when you uprgrade to a digital tier, but these are all the HD channels you get with just the preferred basic channels and digital equipment.

lakersraidersfan

10-14-08, 11:29 PM

mallah26

10-15-08, 04:12 PM

Hey, how long have you been working for COX?

I've worked for Cox Las Vegas for about 3 years now, and for Comcast in the Bay Area before that. Please don't disregard the facts I mentioned above just because I work for a cable company, that is partially the reason I am educated in the matter. Just to be clear, I have nothing to gain personally or financially by contributing to this site no matter how many people subscribe to cable. I make the same pay regardless. However, I do believe that cable is the better choice and that’s why I chose to work for Cox Communications. I would hope that people working for satellite companies would be avid readers of AVS forums as well.

lvthunder

10-15-08, 04:23 PM

Well welcome mallah26. I'm glad to know that someone with Cox is reading this thread. Even though I have Directv my parents have Cox so I very much welcome your participation here.

Demodave

10-15-08, 04:29 PM

mallah26

10-15-08, 05:25 PM

Mallah,

We always appreciate any contributions to the local forum here. And working for Cox, if you are ever privy to any "inside" information, such as new channels coming, we always love to hear it.

Speaking of which heres an announcement I just got in my email. The channels we were going to launch on November 4th have been pushed up a day early. This means that starting November 3rd, Cox Las Vegas customers with a CableCard or Digital Box and a Preferred Basic package will begin to receive:
723 Nickelodeon HD
729 Spike TV HD
737 MTV HD
739 VH1 HD
and
757 CMT HD
free of charge. I know I announced these channels earlier, but just thought you all might like to know you can begin enjoying these channels a day early now. :D

lvthunder

10-15-08, 05:53 PM

Too bad some of those channels don't have any thing in HD at all. I'm not sure if CMTHD has had anything broadcast in HD.

mallah26

10-16-08, 02:22 PM

Too bad some of those channels don't have any thing in HD at all. I'm not sure if CMTHD has had anything broadcast in HD.

I'm not sure either. I've never seen the HD version of any of these channels before. Heck, I hardly watch the SD versions too. I would hope that they would show the HD version of music videos, shows, and movies when available. What I find upsetting is when someone like A&E airs The Godfather Trilogy, but they don't show it in HD. Even worse, they take a 4:3 version of the film and stretch it out for the 16:9 ratio of the A&E HD channel. I'd rather have them keep bars on the left and right than have them stretch the picture. I ended up watching it on the SD A&E channel. Unfortunately, all of those decisions are made by the broadcaster and not the consumer or cable and satellite companies.

lvthunder

10-16-08, 02:29 PM

Last time I checked CMT the stuff they were showing on CMT was SD while the same thing on MHD was HD. But as far as I'm concerned it's a waste of a channel if there is no real HD. Plus they rarely have country music on anymore, but that's a whole new topic entirely.

bruin95

10-16-08, 06:59 PM

My feelings are if the "HD" channel doesn't have, at least, 50% of it's content broadcast in HD, they should not be allowed to call it an HD channel, or even be able to launch the channel at all. I strongly feel that there should be some kind of law put into place that would not allow these broadcasters to get away with this crap. But we all know that is never going to happen. There are many "less informed" people out there who are actually being fooled into thinking that they are seeing HD just because the channel is labeled HD. It's just not right.

lvthunder

10-16-08, 07:17 PM

No the cable companies should just not carry channels until there is that much real HD content. We don't need more laws.

bruin95

10-17-08, 12:08 AM

No the cable companies should just not carry channels until there is that much real HD content. We don't need more laws.

If that were the case, COX would NEVER add any channels. ;)

lvthunder

10-17-08, 12:57 AM

If that were the case, COX would NEVER add any channels. ;)

Sure they would. Fox News, MGMHD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, and more HBO's immediately come to mind. I would add any of those before I would add something without any HD at all. Why waste the bandwidth with those fake HD channels?

coyoteaz

10-17-08, 01:35 AM

$$$

Cox's contract with Viacom was probably due for renewal, and Viacom probably offered an incentive if Cox would start carrying all their HD networks.

bruin95

10-17-08, 01:53 AM

Sure they would. Fox News, MGMHD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, and more HBO's immediately come to mind. I would add any of those before I would add something without any HD at all. Why waste the bandwidth with those fake HD channels?

OK, then where are they? Instead of real HD channels, we're stuck getting these upconverted and stretched SD channels being passed off as HD, all for the sake of $$$$$$$$$$.

Rick89114

10-17-08, 02:37 AM

gvc

10-17-08, 11:06 AM

D* just added FOX NEWS HD channel 360

doormat

10-18-08, 12:18 PM

Rick89114

10-18-08, 11:12 PM

Nope. Locals only.

Thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

superdud1400

10-19-08, 03:33 AM

Don't get too excited over VH1 HD, CMT HD, MTV HD and Nick HD. They are nothing more than SD content on an HD channel. We have had them for nearly a year on D* Give us some real HD channels!

Nick HD is just starting to air things in HDTV :)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8243/snapshot20081018120338bc3.jpg

mallah26

10-20-08, 04:14 PM

Anyone know if there are anymore ClearQAM channels on Cox other than the ones listed here

http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/lineupui?
Cmd=LocationProgramsWeb&Country=US&Postcode=89134 (http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/lineupui?Cmd=LocationProgramsWeb&Country=US&Postcode=89134)

Trying to get a computer ClearQAM tuner to work with Vistas WMC. Got the Locals working wondered if there were anymore.
How did you get your ClearQAM tuner to work with Vista WMC? I've been trying to get mine to work to no avail. What make and model is your tuner, perhaps I need to get a new one. I've been trying with an Avermedia Bravo Hybrid PCI-E.

Rick89114

10-20-08, 10:21 PM

How did you get your ClearQAM tuner to work with Vista WMC? I've been trying to get mine to work to no avail. What make and model is your tuner, perhaps I need to get a new one. I've been trying with an Avermedia Bravo Hybrid PCI-E.

Vista must have SP1 and you need to "find" and install the "TV Pack". I have a hauppauge 1800 PCI-e card. After installing the TV pack the QAM tuner shows up in WMC. I scanned for channels and it found alot of channels but none showed any video (locked channels?). Go into setup > tv > guide > add missing channels. You then add the channels from the site listed in my previous post (ie 102.1 qam 256 for KTNV). Thats how I got it working. Now I just need to mess with it a bit more to get the channel numbers correct and linked to the guide correctly. I used Cox digital for my guide at setup and later foud out its supposed to be easier if you select the OTA for the guide setup then add the channels and it easier to link them to the correct giude info.

mallah26

10-21-08, 02:18 PM

Vista must have SP1 and you need to "find" and install the "TV Pack". I have a hauppauge 1800 PCI-e card. After installing the TV pack the QAM tuner shows up in WMC. I scanned for channels and it found alot of channels but none showed any video (locked channels?). Go into setup > tv > guide > add missing channels. You then add the channels from the site listed in my previous post (ie 102.1 qam 256 for KTNV). Thats how I got it working. Now I just need to mess with it a bit more to get the channel numbers correct and linked to the guide correctly. I used Cox digital for my guide at setup and later foud out its supposed to be easier if you select the OTA for the guide setup then add the channels and it easier to link them to the correct giude info.

Great, I'll give that a try. I already have service pack 1, so I guess all I need to have is the "TV Pack". For anyone else whose interested I found a new version of the "TV Pack", posted October 14th 2008, here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956147). Thanks Rick! :D

KRiS1

10-26-08, 12:33 PM

Does anyone know if COX will be deploying Tru2way anytime soon?

mallah26

10-27-08, 02:52 PM

Does anyone know if COX will be deploying Tru2way anytime soon?

I haven't heard any official announcements, but I believe it will happen sometime 2H 2009. Comcast just launched Tru2Way in Denver and Chicago, but the only available Tru2Way devices are two TVs from Panasonic. More companies should have CableLabs certification for Tru2Way TV sets and STBs in early 2009. I would expect Tru2Way to be ready for Las Vegas as soon as there are more products that support it. I expect Tru2Way to become a standard feature on TVs just like cable compatibility is a standard today. BTW, in an unrelated topic, we just got news that we will be launching our cellular service in 2009. First in conjunction with Sprint, then we will have our own 3G network, and then we will have our own LTE network, probably in 2010-2011.

gvc

10-27-08, 04:26 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2008-10-26-cox-communications-wireless-cellphone_N.htm?csp=34

fisherman39

10-28-08, 06:48 PM

mallah26

10-28-08, 09:45 PM

Now that CenturyTel is taking over Embarq, I wonder if they will bring Fios-like Television service to Las Vegas? CenturyTel offers fiber-based TV in some of it's markets, where Embarq did not invest in fiber. I'm hoping for it, my brother has AT&T's U-Verse and it is great.

By the time the new company (CenturyTel and Embarq will have a new company name, not yet decided) upgrades the old Embarq network with fiber, Cox will already have DOCSIS 3.0, Switched Digital Video, and possibly Mpeg-4, while possibly removing the analog spectrum and limiting the amount of homes per node. Cox could also run fiber to the home after DOCSIS 3.0, so I wouldn't hold you breath on Embarq competing with cable. Besides, the fastest internet speed CenturyTel has at the moment is 15Mbps, and thats with their "all fiber" network. Our DOCSIS 3.0 will get speeds of up to 160Mbps and possibly more if Cox decides to use 8 channel bonding (320Mbps). AT&T's U-Verse does have some cool features as well (their 4 tuner all home DVR for instance), but most of their users only get up to 25Mbps, and that has to be shared with all services. Imagine a 4 tuner DVR using up all your bandwidth so you can't surf the web. The only service outside of cable that I have a lot of respect for is Verizon's FiOS.

lvthunder

10-28-08, 10:18 PM

SuperOcean

10-30-08, 10:40 AM

lvthunder

10-30-08, 10:53 AM

gvc

10-30-08, 11:31 AM

I'm thinking of signing up again with Dish for their VIP722 HD/DVR since I've heard that that's a good hd/dvr. But now that I hear that local chanels are not in hd, I'm reconsidering. Most of the programs I watch and record are on local so I'm thinking maybe Directv would be better. What does Cox charge for HD service? I hate looking at their stupid promo rates I never see what the packages are and what they will cost me after the promo period. Would you guys mind sharing with me what package you have with who and what you pay?
Thanks

https://www.cox.com/lasvegas/hdtv/pricing.asp

SuperOcean

10-30-08, 12:56 PM

If you are talking about price you need to tell us how many TV's you want connected and if you want any premium channels (IE sports package, HBO, and such).

I have Directv, but I also have a package that they don't offer anymore.
I've got 1 HDTV and 1 old TV. So I want a dual tuner HD DVR. I'm on Americas top 200 w/100hr DVR right now and would like similar programming except with HD and DVR. I also got Cinemax for 1 penny with autopay.

Cox seems to charge for install and cost $11.95 for DVR and $5.25 for HD. So i guess that's almost a push if you consider $5.95 for DVR and 9;99 for HD on Dish if I can get free install. With Cox, will I need a 2nd receiver for 10 bucks? How many hours does the cox dvr hold?

mallah26

10-30-08, 02:05 PM

Hello to all. I just found this post, been a lurker on AVS Forums for a while and finally decided to speak some more.

I'm in the southwest and I'm on Dish/DVR w/o HD. Paying about $60/mo for the service. Anyhow, looking for a HD transition now that I've got a HD tv and no longer on contract with dish.

I'm thinking of signing up again with Dish for their VIP722 HD/DVR since I've heard that that's a good hd/dvr. But now that I hear that local chanels are not in hd, I'm reconsidering. Most of the programs I watch and record are on local so I'm thinking maybe Directv would be better. What does Cox charge for HD service? I hate looking at their stupid promo rates I never see what the packages are and what they will cost me after the promo period. Would you guys mind sharing with me what package you have with who and what you pay?
Thanks

Thank you for your question. Cox does not charge for HD channels, we only charge for our HD box. If you have a HDTV with a clear QAM tuner than you can get local channels simply by signing up to our limited basic package for $11.50. HD channels that come with limited basic are:
Limited Basic
699 HD Movies On DEMAND :cool:
701 HD PPV :cool:
703 NBC HD
705 FOX HD
706 The CW HD
707 TBS HD :cool:
708 CBS HD
710 PBS HD
713 ABC HD

:cool: = you will need a digital box to get these channels with this package.

For an extra $36.45 you can upgrade to expanded basic. For the expanded basic HD channels you will need a digital box. HD expanded basic channels are:
718 TNT HD
720 CNN HD New! 10-09-08
723 Nickelodeon HD New! 11-03-08
725 Discovery Channel HD
726 Lifetime HD New!
729 Spike TV HD New! 11-03-08
730 ESPN HD
731 ESPN2 HD
732 A&E HD
733 The Learning Channel HD
734 USA Network HD
735 CNBC HD New!
737 MTV HD New! 11-03-08
739 VH1 HD New! 11-03-08
742 Food Network HD
743 History Channel HD
745 SciFi HD
753 Bravo HD New!
755 HGTV HD
757 CMT HD New! 11-03-08
758 Animal Planet HD
766 Travel Channel HD
770 Discovery HD Theater
771 Planet Green HD New! 10-09-08
791 Palladia (Music HD)
792 Universal HD
793 MOJO HD Removal on 11-03-08

The cost of an HD box is $5.25, with an additional $5.50 charge for digital services, so basically $10.75. Basically that gives you all of these channels with an HD box for $58.70, plus an additional $10 for DVR services since I assume you want that.

So those are a few of your options. If your HDTV has a Clear QAM tuner you could keep Dish and then just use our limited basic to get your local channels until Dish starts supporting local channels in HD, or switch to Cox for everything. Please keep in mind that their are special promotions for people switching from Dish, as well as our bundled rates. The more services of ours you carry the more you can save.

I hope this helps!:)

mallah26

10-30-08, 02:18 PM

So how much is Cox going to charge for 160Mbps.

With Comcast's recently deployed wideband service it's going to cost a pretty penny.

The Extreme 50 option will enable downstream speeds of up to 50 Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 10 Mbps, at a price of $139.95 per month. The Ultra tier will offer 22 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream at $62.95 per month. And that comes with a 250GB cap.

Unfortunately I have no idea how much we'll charge for those packages. I do know that they will be competitive to whatever our competition has available. Comcast's wideband pricing is a bit much, but they also increased the broadband speeds and those prices haven't changed. I expect we'll do the same. So basically your current 8Mbps will turn to 16Mbps, but you'll still pay the same rate you've been paying.
I'm not sure what kind of caps we'll place for wideband, but usually our caps aren't enforced. It's more a legal statement for the cases in which they need to be enforced. I know my friends and I have gone over our caps many times. I hope that we do place a 250GB cap however, since I think thats unattainable for most users and clarify our policy to our customers. I don't think I've ever downloaded that much in a month and I download a lot, and watch a lot of Hulu.

mallah26

10-30-08, 02:46 PM

I've got 1 HDTV and 1 old TV. So I want a dual tuner HD DVR. I'm on Americas top 200 w/100hr DVR right now and would like similar programming except with HD and DVR. I also got Cinemax for 1 penny with autopay.

Cox seems to charge for install and cost $11.95 for DVR and $5.25 for HD. So i guess that's almost a push if you consider $5.95 for DVR and 9;99 for HD on Dish if I can get free install. With Cox, will I need a 2nd receiver for 10 bucks? How many hours does the cox dvr hold?

With our Dish Winback promotion you will get free install, plus $15 dollars of of cable and internet (for each service, so up to $30) for six months (and I believe there's a 12-month promotion that may still be available).
The Cox HD DVR will hold approxitely 95 hours of SD recording and about 26 hours of HD recording. However, our DVR's SATA ports are activated and you can purchase an eSATA external hard drive to add additional storage. Just about any external harddrive with the name DVR Expander (sometimes Xpander) will work. http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AtMPM6VPkXCXjNjVvQFX3wMbFt0A?p=dvr+expander&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
A 500GB harddrive will give you an additional 300 hours in standard definition or an additional 65 hours of HD recording. All of these estimates are approximate and might vary by a few hours. You can also use larger harddrives. I recommend drives from Western Digital, Iomega, or Apricot.
If you have any further questions I recommend you speak to our sales department at 702-383-4000, and please be sure to mention your switching from Dish and would like to know about our Dish Winback promotion. It will save you quite a bit. Also, the more services you have with us the more you'll save since our bundled packages are not promotions and do not run out. Just to clarify, while on the DishWinback promotion you are eligible for bundled pricing, so if you have more than one of our services you will save, and then the savings of $15 off each service on top of that.

rightonbro

10-31-08, 02:18 AM

Can someone give me some noob advice about getting OTA? I just bought a house in Summerlin (at Charleston & Desert Foothills) and would like to get NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, and PBS. I don't really care about any other channel.

From what I read here, NBC might be a problem, but can be solved with a Channel Master Stealth antenna mounted outside. Does that sound right? Will these antennas hold up in the rough winds and temperatures here?

Also, the house came with two (?) dishes installed. Would I be able to take down the dishes, mount the antenna where they used to be, and then use the existing wiring to run the signal into the house? It would be cool if I could get the antenna signal split so it goes into each cable outlet in the house - is something like this possible? Do the dishes have any resale value if I end up not using them?

And finally, can someone recommend a good local installer in case I need to do something different?

Thanks for any advice you can provide. Where I'm from, I just an an antenna I built myself that worked better than the expensive Terk indoor I tried. I have a pretty sweet Media Center setup and don't feel the need for cable TV.

SuperOcean

10-31-08, 07:47 AM

With our Dish Winback promotion you will get free install, plus $15 dollars of of cable and internet (for each service, so up to $30) for six months (and I believe there's a 12-month promotion that may still be available).
The Cox HD DVR will hold approxitely 95 hours of SD recording and about 26 hours of HD recording. However, our DVR's SATA ports are activated and you can purchase an eSATA external hard drive to add additional storage. Just about any external harddrive with the name DVR Expander (sometimes Xpander) will work. http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AtMPM6VPkXCXjNjVvQFX3wMbFt0A?p=dvr+expander&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
A 500GB harddrive will give you an additional 300 hours in standard definition or an additional 65 hours of HD recording. All of these estimates are approximate and might vary by a few hours. You can also use larger harddrives. I recommend drives from Western Digital, Iomega, or Apricot.
If you have any further questions I recommend you speak to our sales department at 702-383-4000, and please be sure to mention your switching from Dish and would like to know about our Dish Winback promotion. It will save you quite a bit. Also, the more services you have with us the more you'll save since our bundled packages are not promotions and do not run out. Just to clarify, while on the DishWinback promotion you are eligible for bundled pricing, so if you have more than one of our services you will save, and then the savings of $15 off each service on top of that.

Mallah, thanks for your clear full explanation. I'll definately have to call and find out what the price will be with cox and compare it with dish and direct before making my decision.

foghorn2

10-31-08, 11:22 AM

Now we will see a reply from a COX advocator to use these boards to promote their service, waiting..............................................

primet

10-31-08, 08:20 PM

GeorgeLV

11-02-08, 12:11 PM

mallah26

11-03-08, 02:20 PM

Now we will see a reply from a COX advocator to use these boards to promote their service, waiting..............................................

I can understand your cynicism; however I am not doing this for Cox Communications. My intentions are not to promote Cox products, but to help others in the forum by answering any questions they might have about our services.
I am not a sales person and I will never profit from posts in this site. If anything I am sticking my neck out by posting on this site. I was never asked by my superiors or anyone else at Cox to post on AVS Forums. I assume that as long as I answer questions and represent the company in a professional manner than it will not be a problem when they find out.
I have used AVS forums to get answers to my questions for years, however I felt obligated to post a message after I read...well, it was actually a post you made. You said that with Cox Cable one would "only get the same HD channels they would with rabbit ears" and they'd be "better off with Dish or DirecTV". I knew for a fact that wasn't true and I felt obligated to correct your misinformation.
I have no problems with a DirecTV, Dish Network, or Embarq employee/customer helping out in the forums as long as they are honest and accurate with their information. If you find anything I've said in the past or will say in the future as false then please correct me. Thank you.

mallah26

11-03-08, 02:38 PM

Yo Horn,
STFU...Please!.
(I said PLEASE)
I find it very simulating to have a Cox rep involved in our forum. One thing though...He needs to use a handle that makes more sense...like

Cox Rep!!
Cox Tech!!
JFJjr !!!

I have used Cox since Prime Cable days and wil always use them for my net (@ least) so as I do put up with your spam..you need to not walk on other opinions/help.

Yes it is PrimeTrouble...(the REAL one)..and I've lurked here for years as our newsgroup went to SH+T! Feel free to Google.

Primet

Thank you for your support and advice. I think that is a good idea about using a name such as "Cox Rep".
Here's why I currently do not:
When I first signed up for AVS Forums 2 years ago (have been using the site for much longer) I never intended on posting anything related to Cox, so I just used a common user ID of mine. However, last month I read a post that I felt obligated to reply to. After that soemone asked how long I've been working for Cox, so I than felt obligated to answer that question honestly. Since I had already posted a reply and informed the readers I was a Cox employee I figured I might as well check back and see what people think about that. So far the feedback has been positive. Some readers have sent me private messages to answer questions about Cox services.
Now that I have stuck my neck out and have announced myself as a Cox employee perhaps I should change my user ID so that future readers will know who I am and who I represent. Unfortunately, I think that means I will have to notify the big wigs here at Cox of what I've been up to, ask persmission to continue, and if they mind me using a name such as "Cox Rep".

mallah26

11-03-08, 02:41 PM

The Mtn. is doing an HD special event for the Colorado State/Wyoming and the huge BYU/Utah football games on November 22.

DirecTV will carry the HD feed. No word yet on Cox, but given that they haven't added any of our RSNs in HD it is doubtful.

http://www.themtn.tv/mtn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=326&Itemid=85

I doubt it as well, but I'll ask around to be sure. It might take awhile to find out since the game is a few weeks away, but I would assume that we will not carry the game in HD. :(

bsquare

11-03-08, 03:32 PM

mallah26

11-03-08, 04:21 PM

mallah26:

Suggest you get permission from your supervisor to do this. You don't want to get yourself in trouble as others have in the past. This is a great service to our board & want to see it continue.

Also, are you ever going to carry the best HD channel - HDNET? This is a huge omission in your offerings. Mark Cuban has offered the channel to your system for what I consider a very reasonable price. Mr. Brennan needs to see the light on this one.

Thank you for your advice and for your great question. I just asked one of our directors here and he recommended I take it up with Human Resources. I have called them and am waiting to hear back.

As for HD Net, I would also like to see all of the HD Net channels on our network (I know Comcast recently signed an agreement with them and the rest of the cable industry usually follows them) however I would not expect that to happen in the very short term. To add, I don't believe Mr. Brennan would be the decision maker in this instance. Although he is in charge of Cox Las Vegas, as far as i know there are no Cox markets that carry HD Net channels. I beleieve this would be a decision that has to be made by Cox corporate in Atlanta, Georgia. My guess is they might feel there are more popular HD channels that need to come first before adding HD Net. I'm sure HD Net is on corporate's radar though because it is a highly requested channel with great content so for Cox customers it just might take some patience until we add it in our line up.

coyoteaz

11-03-08, 05:36 PM

Trip in VA

11-03-08, 05:55 PM

mallah26, might I suggest that you identify yourself as Cox employee by setting a custom title in your User CP? Simply click the UserCP tab at the top, then Edit Your Details on the left side. You can put in something like "Cox CSR" which will show under your ID on your posts.

Mallah26:

Other employees of TV stations and cable companies here put a disclaimer in their signature lines about not representing the views of their employers and all that. Might be a good idea, since you're not officially representing Cox here.

- Trip

VegasFlyby

11-03-08, 09:17 PM

Can anyone else tell me if their HD locals are down with Directv. Mine just died about 20 minutes ago and standard troubleshooting stuff isn't working.

gvc

11-04-08, 10:10 AM

Can anyone else tell me if their HD locals are down with Directv. Mine just died about 20 minutes ago and standard troubleshooting stuff isn't working.

I was watching 13hd last night when it suddenly went out (771 searching for satellite signal). That was the first time I was actually watching a local channel when getting that message. Occasionally I get it when I first switch to a local channel from another. sometimes it takes a short while before the receiver/satellite can actually lock on to the local signal. sometimes I have to switch to another channel then come back. Last night I did try a receiver reset to see if that would fix it but it didnt. I have the luxury of switching to cox cable so thats what I did for the rest of the evening . the D* locals are ok this morning.

VegasFlyby

11-04-08, 10:25 AM

They're ok again this moring for me, too. Must've been a local outage. Of course no one at D* knew about it. I don't get how At&t can know a certain cell tower is down but D* doesn't know an entire city's HD locals are down. Of course they scheduled a service call for me. Now I have to call them back to cancel...

bsquare

11-04-08, 10:27 AM

mallah26

11-04-08, 01:19 PM

mallah26, might I suggest that you identify yourself as Cox employee by setting a custom title in your User CP? Simply click the UserCP tab at the top, then Edit Your Details on the left side. You can put in something like "Cox CSR" which will show under your ID on your posts.

I will do that as soon as I get permission from people at Cox. As of now I'm just a person on the forums like everyone else who happens to work for Cox Communications. If I put it in my name then I am saying i represent Cox and that's why i need to get permission first.

mallah26

11-04-08, 01:20 PM

Mallah26:

Other employees of TV stations and cable companies here put a disclaimer in their signature lines about not representing the views of their employers and all that. Might be a good idea, since you're not officially representing Cox here.

- Trip

That's a great idea! I think that should be okay, but now that the cats out of the bag at work I need to discuss it with HR first. Thank you for the idea and I'll be sure to bring that up.

mallah26

11-04-08, 02:17 PM

I spoke with someone in programming at Cox corporate, and she told me they DO have HDNet in their Atlanta Market. In terms of the rest of the cable industry following Comcast, Time Warner in Hawaii has provided HDNet for the past FOUR YEARS. It is Cox & Comcast who are lagging big time. And yes, HDNet is Mr. Brennan's call. I have spoken to Mark Cuban at length about this. At approx. 30 cents per subscriber, there is no good reason to not carry that great channel. I also notice that you are giving away your HD market to Satellite. And you won't get them back easily.

Cox does not carry HD Net in Atlanta. Cox doesn't even have an Atlanta market. There is only one Cox market in Georgia called Middle Georgia, and it doesn't include Atlanta. Cox Corporate is based in Atlanta, but isn't allowed to own a cable system there since we own newspapers and news stations in the area, although I read that law has recently been changed. Regardless, Cox does not have a cable system in Atlanta. If the Cox system in Georgia has HD Net than that is a good indication we will get it here, but looking at their HD listings it states they do not. (http://www.cox.com/middlega/cable/hdtv/programming)
As for Comcast, I stand behind my claim that the rest of the industry usually follows Comcast. Some cable systems have their own advancements like Time Warner with "Start Over" or Charter with their "Remote-DVR" service. Time Warner's Hawaii market has been the most progressive of all Time Warner markets (they're like the test market for TWC); however that does not go against my claim. Although you're correct that Time Warner Hawaii has HD Net you stated they've had it for four years. That means that the rest of the industry has not followed Time Warner Hawaii (aka Time Warner Oceanic). I still believe now that Comcast has reached an agreement with HD Net more MSOs will too. After all, my statement didn't mean Comcast is first with everything, but once they do something other cable companies usually follow suite. They may not start the trend, but they are the trend setters.
As for your talk with Mark Cuban, I not only doubt it, but I wouldn't trust Mark Cuban as far as I could throw him. Why Mark Cuban would be talking to you at great lengths about his discussions with Leo Brennan (if there's even been any) and adding HD Net to the Las Vegas market is beyond me.
I recommend that if you want a channel added in the Cox line up that you call our customer service line and request it. The customer service rep will fill out an “Internal Channel Request Form” and then at a meeting or conference call Cox Las Vegas will tell Cox Corporate, “Hey, we have very high demand for this one channel in our area. Here is the data we’ve pulled from our channel request form.” After all, companies like data and facts.
It is my understanding that its Cox Corporate's decision as to what channels are added to the Las Vegas market. I think you're misunderstanding Mr. Brennan’s role. Sure, Mr. Brennan, and others, can ask Cox Corporate if we can add HD Net, but it's not his call. That’s like saying an owner of a McDonalds Restaurant can start putting his home cooked dishes on the menu. He would need permission from corporate just like any other franchise.
And oh yeah, the views listed here are my own and do not represent my employer. Thanks Trip in VA.

bsquare

11-04-08, 02:30 PM

mallah26

I think you'll find HDNet is carried by many if not all TWC areas. It's also carried by Verizon Fios in all areas. I have the email from MC with the subscription rate & have relayed it to Mr. Brennan. Not only do I trust MC, I commend him for creating a channel that provides some of the best HD video and production quality I've seen compared to other channels. As far as internal procedures at Cox, you're right I don't know. All I see is a great channel that is carried in most areas of the US and missing in Las Vegas. I understand a premium tier is being considered that will include HDNet, but who knows how long that will take.

coyoteaz

11-04-08, 03:47 PM

lakerstan

11-04-08, 04:37 PM

DirecTV channel 352 has an "Election Mix" for this evening's events...

mallah26

11-05-08, 03:08 PM

Pretty much every MSO except Cox and Comcast have had deals with HDNet for years. Comcast has one signed but they only have it implemented in the Houston market. The Houston market had a previous deal in place from when it was TWC; it was swapped to Comcast as part of the deal when Comcast and TWC bought out Adelphia.

Cox currently offers HDNet/HDNet Movies in Orange County, California (http://www.cox.com/ocpv/hdtv/programming.asp) as part of a $4.95/mo HD Tier, which also includes HD Theatre.

Thank you Coyoteaz, that is a great find. I would not be suprised to see HD Net coming soon now that I know its in Orange County. It looks like it was added sometime in July ( http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2008/07/03/cox-adds-more-hd-channels-regular-line-up-now-up-to-42/2991/ ). I still recommend calling in to 702-383-400 and requesting HD Net channels to increase the chances of us carrying them. Most Cox Markets don't carry HD Net so if you want the channels it's best to be assertive about it and have an internal channel request form filled out. I wouldn't be suprised if Cox Orange County added HD Net based on demand in the area from those familiar with HD Net from previously living in a TWC area of Los Angeles.

lvthunder

11-05-08, 03:50 PM

The reason Orange County has HDNet is because they had it when Cox took them over.

mallah26

11-05-08, 05:58 PM

The reason Orange County has HDNet is because they had it when Cox took them over.

I'm sorry for my ignorance on this issue, but I haven't heard about any take overs in Orange County. Before working at Cox 3 years ago I worked for Comcast in the Bay Area, so this might have gone under my radar. I have to ask: Who was the company Cox took over? Why is Cox adding the channel to more areas in Orange County if HD Net was only grandfathered in? And why then would they release a press release in July of 2008 saying they were adding HD Net?

lvthunder

11-05-08, 07:00 PM

I'm sorry for my ignorance on this issue, but I haven't heard about any take overs in Orange County. Before working at Cox 3 years ago I worked for Comcast in the Bay Area, so this might have gone under my radar. I have to ask: Who was the company Cox took over?

I think I read about it on these forums a couple years ago. I could be wrong though.

Why is Cox adding the channel to more areas in Orange County if HD Net was only grandfathered in?
They finally came to their senses.
And why then would they release a press release in July of 2008 saying they were adding HD Net?
Maybe in July was when they signed a National agreement. If you look back in this thread I've been wanting HDNet and HDNet Movies on Cox for a long time.

superdud1400

11-05-08, 08:26 PM

Ok so Cox just added the Viacom package which i have been in LOVE with i am soo happy with it. I was just wondering if anyone knows when Cox will add the Disney package? like Disney HD and ABC family HD. I would like to have them add ABC family HD before Kyle XY season 3 airs in january :) so i can watch it in HD. So yeah does anyone know?

bsquare

11-06-08, 12:43 PM

I think I read about it on these forums a couple years ago. I could be wrong though.

They finally came to their senses.

Maybe in July was when they signed a National agreement. If you look back in this thread I've been wanting HDNet and HDNet Movies on Cox for a long time.
Those most passionate about wanting HDNet are those who lived elsewhere (which is almost everywhere else) and have enjoyed it before. This probably explains why there are so many satellite dishes here - even in apartment complexes. Cox has pretty much handed over the HD market to D & DTV. The cable industry as a whole has lagged in the adoption of HD and it is evident in their earnings reports and will continue to get worse as people buy HDTV sets. They deserve to lose big on this.

mallah26

11-06-08, 02:47 PM

Those most passionate about wanting HDNet are those who lived elsewhere (which is almost everywhere else) and have enjoyed it before. This probably explains why there are so many satellite dishes here - even in apartment complexes. Cox has pretty much handed over the HD market to D & DTV. The cable industry as a whole has lagged in the adoption of HD and it is evident in their earnings reports and will continue to get worse as people buy HDTV sets. They deserve to lose big on this.

I understand that to the average user excuses don't matter and all that matters is "am I getting more HD channels". I am fully confident that in 2009 Cox Las Vegas will have 75-100 HD channels.
Keep in mind that we will not be adding HD PPV channels that show the same movie over and over again and be calling them HD channels like satellite does. These will be real HD channels. We are also expanding our HD On-Demand content such as providing the show Mad Men on AMC HD even though we don't carry AMC HD. With HD On-Demand we can provide the shows in HD that customers care about before we are able to carry the channel for whatever reason.
Cox has many tricks up its sleeve whether it’s upgrading to a 1 GHz infrastructure (which we've done), DOCSIS 3.0 (coming soon), converting channels to SDV to save bandwidth (coming soon), using the MPEG4 codec to save bandwidth (we’re waiting for Cisco to deliver the boxes), and eventually removing our analog spectrum for pure digital (will probably have to wait until 2012). And just wait until you see what we have planned for wireless (LTE anyone?).
Again, I must reiterate that you should call in and request the channels you want. If we have data to show corporate than they will make those channels a top priority. I apologize that we don’t carry HD Net in Las Vegas yet, but I know what we have coming and I think its reason enough to be excited.

mallah26

11-06-08, 03:12 PM

Just an FYI: Effective 12/8/08, Versus/Golf Channel HD (channel 781) will split into two separate channels. Versus HD will be on channel 767 and Golf HD will continue to be on channel 781. More coming.......

Demodave

11-06-08, 06:24 PM

I noticed last night that MojoHD was still on. I thought it was going away on November 3rd.

Roscoe

11-06-08, 07:19 PM

Keep in mind that we will not be adding HD PPV channels that show the same movie over and over again and be calling them HD channels like satellite does. These will be real HD channels.
My beef with the content providers is when the create an HD channel and all they do is take SD material and stretch it to fill the screen. HGTV (My wife's favorite channel) does this a lot, and one of the Atlanta stations (TNT or TBS, I forget) does this with a lot of their movies. Why can't they just show it like a DVD and not try to dork with it...who in their right minds told them that this is what we want.

Like mallah26 says, ya gotta provide feedback or nothing will change. Of course, I've not had much success either way so....

gvc

11-07-08, 09:40 AM

mallah26

11-07-08, 01:59 PM

I noticed last night that MojoHD was still on. I thought it was going away on November 3rd.

It was announced it would be. I just checked my emails and I missed one saying it would be dalayed until November 6th. My bad.

mallah26

11-07-08, 02:07 PM

My beef with the content providers is when the create an HD channel and all they do is take SD material and stretch it to fill the screen. HGTV (My wife's favorite channel) does this a lot, and one of the Atlanta stations (TNT or TBS, I forget) does this with a lot of their movies. Why can't they just show it like a DVD and not try to dork with it...who in their right minds told them that this is what we want.

Like mallah26 says, ya gotta provide feedback or nothing will change. Of course, I've not had much success either way so....

Yes, I was thinking of that when I wrote that statement to. However, that is not satellite or cables fault so I decided to leave that part of the whole "real HD channels" statement, but you raise a good point. I hate it when broadcasters stretch a 4:3 format to 16:9. The final straw for me was when A&E stretched "The Godfather" movies from 4:3. You just don't do that. Well, maybe to part III. :D

And everyone, please don't stop providing feedback. Although you may not have luck there is strength in our numbers. I'd advise you all to even have your friends call in. Even if they don't know what the hell you're talking about spoon feed them a message to send. If one person calls in the problem won't be addressed, but if 12, 20, 100 call in, then they know there needs to be change. Most corporations are reactive and not proactive, so a poke won't do anything, but a push might.

mallah26

11-07-08, 02:35 PM

that may be true, but ,imo, sd content looks better to my eyes on an HD channel as compared to its SD counterpart.

That's true. HD channels showing SD programs use a higher bit rate and upconvert the resolution, so the same SD program will usually look better on the HD channels over the SD channels. However, the horrible method of taking a 4:3 SD image and then stretching it out to 16:9 makes things appear wider than they should be. They should either leave the film in the 4:3 format they use for the SD channel, with bars on the sides, or instead show the widescreen version of the film on the HD channels. Preferably the latter. If a viewer wants to stretch their picture from 4:3 to 16:9 they can do that through the cable box or HDTV remote, but the broadcaster should not do that. They should show films and shows the way the producers and directors intended. Please remember that satellite and cable companies do not do this and this is up to the stations. Personally, I think doing this to films like "The Godfather" should be punishable by death.:mad: BTW, "The Godfather I and II" look great on Blu-ray. Okay, now I'll shut up about "The Godfather". ;)

mallah26

11-07-08, 02:50 PM

coyoteaz

11-07-08, 03:56 PM

doormat

11-07-08, 10:10 PM

Cox has many tricks up its sleeve whether it’s upgrading to a 1 GHz infrastructure (which we've done), DOCSIS 3.0 (coming soon), converting channels to SDV to save bandwidth (coming soon), using the MPEG4 codec to save bandwidth (we’re waiting for Cisco to deliver the boxes), and eventually removing our analog spectrum for pure digital (will probably have to wait until 2012). And just wait until you see what we have planned for wireless (LTE anyone?).

Any idea when SDV is coming to Vegas or the Cox system at large? As a owner of TiVo HD unit, I will be sad that I have to get an external tuner (though at least the box is supposed to support H.264).

Roscoe

11-08-08, 12:10 AM

One comment about the stretch, the warp or fish-eye stretch that channels like Food and TNT HD use can't be unstretched correctly by anything.

Exactly...

bsquare

11-09-08, 05:55 PM

Oh, I should add that a little fix for when stations stretch the pic is to use your tv's remote to change the widescreen image to 4:3. All TV remotes are different, but a button to look for would be "Aspect", "Ratio", "Aspect Ratio", "Wide", "Screen Size", "Pic Size", "P.Size", and "Format". Some TV's have limited options when receiving a 1080i or 720p picture, so not all TV's will do this. And please be sure to set the aspect ratio back when you're done watching the stretched image that you had to un-stretch.
You can't reverse the effects of the "FlexStretch" that HGTV, A&E, TBS, TNT use. The sides of the picture are stretched more & the center is stretched less. Makes people look weird. I hate it. But I hate all SD & would rather watch something I like less in HD than something I like more in SD.

mallah26

11-10-08, 01:31 PM

Any idea when SDV is coming to Vegas or the Cox system at large? As a owner of TiVo HD unit, I will be sad that I have to get an external tuner (though at least the box is supposed to support H.264).

No idea as of yet. I would imagine we're waiting to see how it does in other markets before taking the plunge here. As for the additional tuner, I'm not 100% on this, but I believe it will actually connect to the TiVos usb port and you will use the TiVo as you normally would. The CablCard TV's will have to use a seperate tuner entirely, but TiVo has a bit more hardware, and standard hardware, to work with. I know TiVo is important to the cable companies and we are working with TiVo on the matter. Personally, I'm waiting for a Tru2Way compatible TiVo.

mallah26

11-10-08, 01:33 PM

One comment about the stretch, the warp or fish-eye stretch that channels like Food and TNT HD use can't be unstretched correctly by anything. At least the linear stretches employed by History and A&E can be reversed by many TVs.

I'll have to take a look at those. I never really watch those channels. Maybe theres a fix by using the seperate stretch features of the box and the TV combined. I'll check it out and post if I find anything helpful.

mallah26

11-10-08, 01:36 PM

You can't reverse the effects of the "FlexStretch" that HGTV, A&E, TBS, TNT use. The sides of the picture are stretched more & the center is stretched less. Makes people look weird. I hate it. But I hate all SD & would rather watch something I like less in HD than something I like more in SD.

That sounds like a horrible technique they are using. I'll have to look into it some more. If it is like you say then I would have to agree with you guys there are no settings that can fix that.

TazVegas

11-11-08, 04:36 PM

The latest HD additions....from what I have seen only Spike and Nickelodeon have shown programs in HD!.....MTV, VH1, and CMT has shown NOTHING in HD.

bsquare

11-12-08, 10:35 AM

lvthunder

11-12-08, 10:46 AM

mallah26

11-12-08, 01:57 PM

mallah26

While I have an HD DVR with 2 tuners, sometimes I need to watch a 3rd HD channel live so I also hooked up the cable directly to the TV tuner. I scanned for digital channels, but found no HD channels. I believe I saw a post from you that said the 5 networks are available in HD on the cable to those with a QAM tuner. Can you tell me the channel numbers of the HD channels that are available? Thanks.

LVThunder is corredct in his channel listings, although sometimes theres also a .2 or .3 or .4 as well, such as PBS. I don't remember which ones exactly are HD, but I can check when i get home. However they are all of the local 3,5,8,10, and 13 OTA stations. I believe the CW should also be available and that would be 6.1, but I'll have to confirm that when I get home as well. Also, are you sure you have a clear QAM tuner? It should pick up on those HD channels. You might want to look at your TVs manual. Your tv might have more than one coaxial input and the TV might need it in a certian one. If you could provide me with your tv's model number I could look it up for you as well.

mallah26

11-12-08, 06:42 PM

Heres some new channel additions for Cox Las Vegas scheduled 12-17-08.
HD Channels - AMC HD – channel 752 and LMN HD – channel 793
SD Channels - MLB Network – channel 314 (This will be offered to subs who receive the Digital Bonus Tier as well as the Sports and Info Tier. This means that a sub need only subscribe to one tier in order to get MLB on the Digital Bonus Tier. Blackout rules apply as with MLB Extra Innings)
WE tv – channel 342 (Variety Tier)

The GoScout Autos – channel 117 Is being removed from our line up.

bsquare

11-13-08, 10:40 AM

mallah26

11-13-08, 04:51 PM

LVThunder: Thanks, all those channel numbers worked. I didn't expect the low numbers so I probably didn't pay attention. The TWC market I came from used high numbers for the local clear channels.

Malah26: This is my TV: Latest model TH-C42HD18 & yes it has QAM tuner.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11292542&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

Just got it at Costco & The picture is amazing - compared to anything else I saw in this size or smaller. I also have the Panasonic TH50PC77U at my condo in Hawaii & that has a great picture, too. In a smaller place now & the 42" is more suited. I'm still a fan of Plasma over LCD for natural & realistic colors especially skin tones. I also find that the 720P plasmas seem to produce more natural skin tones than the 1080p models. With cable locked into 720p/1080i for probably decades, the 1080p offers no advantage for me espcially in the 50" or smaller sizes.

Yes, plasmas definately appear more realistic. I think it's because they can go completely black on a per-pixel basis where as 99% of lcd monitors still have the backlight on, reducing details in dark scenes and creating a washed out effect. With the right settings an lcd can be pretty nice though.

As for being locked into 720p/1080i for decades, I dont think so. I imagine we'll have boxes capable of 1080p output (through upconversion, possibly on demand) in the not too distant future. I would think that once Comcast, TWC, and Cox begin to use mpeg4, and SDV, and the Tru2Way compatible boxes are sold in stores you'll start seeing more and more 1080p capabilities. I bet it will start with upconversion, than EOD, and than broadcasters adopting it and cable companies sending it out to the consumers. Many of the boxes we carry today we're designed before you could even find a 1080p TV, yet alone for under $7,000. Now it's hard not to find a 1080p TV and they're available for under $1,000.

The real quesiton is will todays tv's with clear QAM tuners accept a 1080p mpeg2 (or mpeg4) signal. If not than that will affect the choices cable companies have. In a way cable companies choices are dependant upon what consumers can buy in stores. We have to make sure our most limited services will work with any TV sold in stores where as satellite requires you to use their equipment no matter what.

coyoteaz

11-13-08, 06:22 PM

TazVegas

11-15-08, 11:19 PM

The new Home Team HD channel (HOMHD)
Anyone notice that Thursday's UNLV/Wyoming game was shown on 785 labeled as HOMHD, it was broadcast by CBS College Sports HD (the channel disappeared shortly after the game) The PQ was very good, by the way....Looks that might be the HD Channel for UNLV football and basketball games from CBS College Sports and the MTN's HD feeds (just a guess).....Might be nice to see Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket's occasional HD showings of the Lakers/Clippers/Angels/Dodgers/Kings/Ducks on the HOMHD channel.

mallah26

11-17-08, 05:10 PM

mallah26

11-17-08, 05:26 PM

There isn't even a consumer standard for 1080p60 in any compressed format, so don't count on seeing that any time soon. 1080p24 was a part of the ATSC standard, so theoretically anything on the market should be able to decode it. Whether or not the box is capable of 24p or 1080p60 output is anyone's guess. No TVs and few cable STBs support MPEG4, so I wouldn't expect to see deployment of that for quite a while.

Although what you're saying is partially true there are a few corrections I would like to make. When I mentioned 1080p I was not referring to it being 60fps. The ATSC standard does support 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, as well as 60 frames per second (aka Hz) and supports MPEG4/H.264 (aka AVC) video codec as of July 2008. http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_72_part_1.pdf

coyoteaz

11-17-08, 07:40 PM

50/59.94/60Hz is only specified for 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p and 1080i. Also, just because the standard was updated to include AVC doesn't mean there's any equipment that can support it yet. Motorola's newest boxes do support AVC, but I'm not aware of any currently-deployed Cisco/SA boxes that support it, meaning that it will still take Cox a few years to test, iron out bugs, and implement the large amount of new equipment involved, and even longer until the installed base is sufficient to start rolling channels over to the new standard.

TazVegas

11-18-08, 02:00 AM

Post #7000 in a forum that has pretty much come to a crawl the past few months. I've been reading this forum since February 2004 (as tazlv-previously). I come here every day to check up on Las Vegas HD and enjoy it. Thanks to all the informed posters (gvc, bruin95, demodave, GeorgeLV, coyoteaz, doormat, hiho stevo, vegas-steven, lvthunder, foghorn2 (for entertainment..lol), bsquare, especially Vegggas (where u at?), and now mallah 26-picking up the slack) that keep me up to date on things HD in Las Vegas.

hdtvxpert

11-18-08, 09:23 AM

mallah26

11-21-08, 01:40 PM

Don't worry Taz in a just a few more months when analog gets shut off, things will really go crazy. The S* will hit the fan when all those who rely on OTA will discover their favorite VHF channels just don't come in with rabbit ears on their little $40. boxes they bought at Walmart. I have been doing some testing all over the valley with my laptop and some rabbit ears. Unless you have a good outdoor antenna, your pretty much screwed wherever you live around here. I foresee Cox, D* and E* getting a lot of new subs come Feb. 18th.

I'd have to agree. I have one of those digital to analog converter boxes in my car connected to a 7" screen and TV antenna. Although it doesn't work well while moving I do get good signal while standing still. However, there's only one location in Henderson where I'm able to get all of the main networks. I also assume that many OTA consumers will find some of the channels they had before are no longer working. By using the nations average estimate for consumers that will be left in the dark compared to the Las Vegas population I figured there's a possible 18,000 customers for cable and satellite to fight over. For those of you that plan on sticking with OTA I recommend this site for the reception in your area (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx). For those of you with cable you have nothign to worry about. As long as your TV is connected to cable you wont even notice the transition on February 17th, 2009 because we will continue to send the analog signal for our analog customers.

mallah26

11-21-08, 01:53 PM

Don't worry Taz in a just a few more months when analog gets shut off, things will really go crazy. The S* will hit the fan when all those who rely on OTA will discover their favorite VHF channels just don't come in with rabbit ears on their little $40. boxes they bought at Walmart. I have been doing some testing all over the valley with my laptop and some rabbit ears. Unless you have a good outdoor antenna, your pretty much screwed wherever you live around here. I foresee Cox, D* and E* getting a lot of new subs come Feb. 18th.

I've also driven around town looking for good signal. I have a Magnavox digital to analog converter I got with my government coupon back in July. I attached it to my decks 7" screen and I've tried a couple of different antennas. The signal isn't too good when i drive fast, but when I'm parked or in bumper to bumper it works pretty good. However, theres only one area in Henderson where I've found I can get all of the main networks. (close to the corner of Horizon Ridge and Arroyo Grande). By using the FCC's estimate of consumers that will be willing to switch to a pay service in order to get good signal I've estmated there are 18,000 potential customers in Las Vegas for cable and satellite companies to fight over. For those of you sticking to OTA I recommend this website (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx) to check the signal quality in you're area. If you have cable than don't worry about the digital transition. We will continue to send analog signal and it won't even affect you. In fact it might make are signal a little better since we'll no longer have interference from OTA analog signal. :D

mallah26

11-21-08, 02:14 PM

Just got an email:
Cox proudly presents a LIVE HD broadcast of the CSU @ Wyoming and BYU @ Utah games on channel 785 from 10a – 7p. Schedule is as follows:
Pacific Time
10a – 11a: MWC Football Saturday
11a – 2p: CSU @ Wyoming Game
2p – 3p: Post/Pre-game
3p – 6p: BYU @ Utah
6p – 7p: Post Game
Enjoy sports fans!:cool:

doormat

11-21-08, 05:09 PM

Wouldn't some of the reception problems be due to the stations not transmitting at full power like their analog stations are now?

andy.s.lee

11-22-08, 04:06 AM

theres only one area in Henderson where I've found I can get all of the main networks. (close to the corner of Horizon Ridge and Arroyo Grande).

Henderson is right underneath the transmitters! Your reception problems are probably caused by one or more of the following:

1) too much signal overloading antenna's built-in amp (if there is one)
2) too much signal overloading your converter box's input
3) too much reflected multi-path signal going into the receiver

Was the antenna inside your car? All the metal parts of a car might do strange things too, which vary depending on which directions the windows are facing relative to the transmitters. The "metal shell" of the car means radio waves inside will behave very differently than what you'd expect to get in a residential building.

For a more realistic feel for available channels, you ought to be using a UHF/VHF combo antenna (because you have a mix of both UHF and VHF channels) with no amplification. Something like the Terk HDTVi (not the "a" amplified version) would work. You should also get the antenna out of the car. The rabbit-ears portion of the antenna needs to be extended quite a bit in order to properly pick up the VHF stations.

You are so close to the transmitters that signal strength should not be a problem. In fact, you may need to intentionally point the antenna AWAY from the transmitters to avoid causing overload on your converter box.

BTW, are you able to see the analog stations as well? If you observe a lot of ghosting, herringbone, or loss of vertical sync on the analog stations, it gives you a clue as to how bad the digital signals are also being corrupted by multi-path or too strong of a signal.

Las Vegas is mostly flat and open, so signal coverage is generally very uniform and good. By the time the February transition is complete, digital coverage of the major networks should be about as good as (or perhaps even slightly better than) the analog coverage now.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=124910&stc=1&d=1227344071

Best regards,
Andy