I just had to call and get TWC to correct yet another billing mistake ... added the HDXtra package with DVR for $15, but they neglected to remove the existing 8.95 DVR charge and had done a partial month charge for the HDXtra package on top of the existing charge ... bunch of criminals. Lucky I caught it.

Also ditched the dBest package, because I never use the premium SD channels or the ondemand crap. Got the EntertaiNET package instead, and ended up saving over $18 and losing only Showtime (with INHD and HDNet I won't really be missing it).

The prices they charge for such crappy HD channel selection are horrible. Setting up a friend with an HD set and looking over his choices from Cablevision ... a full slate of HD channels at no extra charge. We're seriously getting bilked with TWC.

No CinemaxHD? No MovieChannel HD? No StarsHD? No UniversalHD? No Hi-Def On demand? Or FoxSportsHD or MSGHD? I won't be going back to their dBest package until they start carrying more of the HD premiums I was paying for in SD.

Just noticed that 708 has the Yankees game listed in the guide so now those of you looking to record the game can without having to worry about losing all of your recordings.
The bad news for me is that my 8000HD has apparently died after just 1 month so I have to go swap it tomorrow. I'm praying that they've got the 8300HD on SI now.

i have a billing question guys, twc is charging me 15.00 dollars for hdtv xtra, which i thought included the dvr, but twc is also charging me an extra 8.95 for hd dvr service, so it comes out to over 15.00 just for the dvr. that cant be right?

You don't have your location filled out, but here's how it works (I think) in Southern Manhattan. Without any packages, I think it works like this:

HD-DVR $8.95 per month per DVR box
HDXtra $8.95 per month
DVR Service $8.95 per month per DVR box

Originally posted by margoba
You don't have your location filled out, but here's how it works (I think) in Southern Manhattan. Without any packages, I think it works like this:

HD-DVR $8.95 per month per DVR box
HDXtra $8.95 per month
DVR Service $8.95 per month per DVR box

I think there is a small discount if you get the HD-DVR and HDXtra together.
I'm not sure but I think its $15 for both.

That's correct: $15 for the HD package + the HD DVR box.

TM

thanx guys, Wow thats expensive :-O

What happened to YESHD? 708 is back to HD Specials, and no game!

Originally posted by bigd86
What happened to YESHD? 708 is back to HD Specials, and no game!
They're on the road so no HD tonight.

Originally posted by QMAN71
They're on the road so no HD tonight.

Sure, that makes sense-but what worried me was that the channel designation in the guide for 708 has reverted to HD Specials instead of YESHD. I hope this is only when there is no game scheduled!

I think it will continue to say HD Specials as the channel, but hopefully the yankee home guys will continue to pop up in the guide.

BTW I just noticed that the Yankees/Blue Jays game tomorrow (Thurs.) night will be on INHD.

Not for us in NYC, it blackedout on INHD

Are you sure? When the yanks were in Boston there was a game on INHD that wasn't blacked out.

hi folks...

new around here.

i just got a 42" EDTV plasma, and have scheduled an appointment to get an HD-DVR box. i insisted they note the 8300 on the order request, after reading all the bad press on the 8000.

my question is this: if i DO end up with the 8000 (highly likely), will i be able to notice the diminished resolution on an EDTV?

another question: i was under the impression that either box could be set to pass-through, so the plasma's native aspect modes could be used instead of the box's. am i mistaken?


thanks!

-VA

Originally posted by VicAjax
i was under the impression that either box could be set to pass-through, so the plasma's native aspect modes could be used instead of the box's. am i mistaken?


thanks!

-VA

"Pass-through" is a feature found on DVRs running the SARA operating system, not the Pioneer Passport system used by TWCNYC on the 8000HD and 8300HD. Both of those, however, can be manually configured to output whichever formats the user wants them to (except for 480i on the 8300HD).

Manatus - thanks for the quick reply. so, if i configure the STB to output 480p, 720p and 1080i, it will enable my tv to do all the scaling, as well as allow me to use my tv's aspect options?

Well actually what it means is that the box will do the scaling so that you can feed a single that is native for your TV. For instance, if your TV has a native resolution of 1280 x 720, then if you have the box output only 720p, the tv does not have to scale it and it will map pixel for pixel.

The advantage is that these boxes have good scalers and therefore the image does not get manipulated more than once. Thus you can have 480i sources upconverted to 720p and 1080i downconverted to 720p.

if you want the tv to do the scaling, then I would just output everything, 480i,p 72op, and 1080i and let the tv convert the signal...

Someone correct me if i m wrong....

Originally posted by VicAjax
my question is this: if i DO end up with the 8000 (highly likely), will i be able to notice the diminished resolution on an EDTV?
Wouldn't think so. 8000HDs here (TWC-NYC), last I measured, deliver only ~890 lines per picture width maximum ( resolvable detail (http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2118466#post2118466)), about that of EDTVs. -- John

Originally posted by John Mason
Wouldn't think so. 8000HDs here (TWC-NYC), last I measured, deliver only ~890 lines per picture width maximum resolvable detail), about that of EDTVs. -- John

thanks for your response.

i think i'll wait to see if they honor my request for an 8300, reluctantly accept the 8000 box, then raise a big stink if i'm dissatisfied and jockey for some compensation in the form of discounts. :D

IMO the 8000HD also produces a slight fog - similar to that produced by the 3100HD - which diminishes PQ. It's more than a question of resolution.

TM

A recent CNET review of the SA 8300HD by a TWCNYC customer:

Free HD TiVo knockoff: is it worth it? (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6209060-1.html?tag=nl.e729)

you sound a little immature there but i understand your frustration. good news is WPIX-HD will be on channel 711 hopefully before summer ;-)


Originally posted by Jose
That was CLASSIC, jmp_nyc!!!!!
:D :D :D

Yeah, I've done the same thing to them once or twice.
That's en-ter-tain-ment!!!

TWC and Cablevision can both go to HELL!!! They deserve each other.

Hey Insider,

Thanks for the great news, and thanks for your continued participation here, especially in the face of flames :) What are your thoughts on the new version of the 8300HD (shown at NAB) that has an on board DVD recorder that allows you to record HD (even if you can only watch it on the box with which it was recorded)? You think TWC NYC will roll it out when SA makes it available?

TM

Wouldn't it be nice if that new DVRw/DVD would allow you to use the DVD as a computer data disk, and thus allow you to back up shows (and schedules?) from the DVR. The show backups would have to be encrypted which would minimize their value, but they would still be useful.

-barry

Originally posted by twcinsider

you sound a little immature there but i understand your frustration. good news is WPIX-HD will be on channel 711 hopefully before summer ;-)

Might as well get my $$$ worth now that I can't watch my Mets anymore;). Believe me, if I had other options.....

But seriously, thanks for the tip. Any news worth posting about the TWC/CV dispute?

Jose.

Originally posted by anthonymoody
IMO the 8000HD also produces a slight fog - similar to that produced by the 3100HD - which diminishes PQ. It's more than a question of resolution.

Anyone think the 8300HD has a slight fog, too? Generally avoided using my briefly-kept 8000HD, prefering my RCN Motorola DCT6208 DVR, which seems to have really deep blacks with no hint of fog (too-light blacks)--as well as 1335-line resolution compared to the 8000HD's 890 lines, and the 3100HD's and 8300HD's 1290 lines. (A resolution reading (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4664241#post4664241) from anyone with the Pioneer HD converter would be most welcome, BTW.) My 8300HD seems slightly foggy compared to my DCT6208.

Besides ruining blacks, as I discovered with my old 2000HD, A-B comparing TWC's earliest 8VSB delivery of HBO and CBS HD (discontinued), fogging diminishes higher-resolution detail in motion-video images by spoiling the good contrast vital to seeing such details. -- John

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Hey Insider,

Thanks for the great news, and thanks for your continued participation here, especially in the face of flames :) What are your thoughts on the new version of the 8300HD (shown at NAB) that has an on board DVD recorder that allows you to record HD (even if you can only watch it on the box with which it was recorded)? You think TWC NYC will roll it out when SA makes it available?

TM

Insider, Thanks for the great news on 711. At least we know that we can count on someone to deliver facts when there is news to promote.

TM, I saw the HD-DVR-DVD combo unit out at NCTA in San Fran earlier this month. The product manager gave a nice demo of the unit, and it is a neat product. However, it comes with way too many restrictions to really be of much use as it has a lot of limitatios on how you can use the media that you ultimatley burn to the DVD. For example, any show with any type of protection flag can only be played back on that DVD player. HD shows only have abuot 30 min of storage on a DVD, although I think you can down res them and keep the aspect ratio. I asked questions for about 10 minutes one on one with the rep and the more we spoke the more it was clear that there is no way this product it ready for prime time. End users just aren't savvy enough to figure out this STB/DVD player and its limitations. She did say that the external sATA drives should work but that it would be carrier specific. This seems the better solution for archiving if you are forced to playback the media only on this unit. Or maybe a BluRay device with larger capacity.

Drew

Hey people, first post in this forum, though I did a search through this thread and I seem to have something of a unique situation (or maybe not)...

I'm still on an old 27" analog TV and will be until I move, but I have been extremely disappointed with my SDTV digital cable box picture quality for ages and just never thought there was much I could do about it. After being spoiled by the HD sample clips I've downloaded off the net and viewed through my Media Center PC (which is connected to the same 27" CRT TV), I've now got a pretty simple question:

Can I use Time Warner's HD box on a strictly analog SDTV set? I don't want their HD-DVR - I have my Media Center PC for that - I'm just curious about their regular HD STB. I know it has s-video output but how does this work, it downconverts any HD signal to the same analog output? Would the picture still be as clean as I've gotten in the sample HD clips I've downloaded and then watched on this set? Obviously I know I wouldn't get HD resolutions, but I'm hoping I'll get quality similar to the quality I get when watching DVD's right now.

Also, am I correct in that firewire must be enabled on these boxes? I'd heard this was an FCC requirement, but do I need to request it from TWC? I'd like to be able to record via firewire on my PC occasionally.

One last Q, though not sure if anyone here would know - does Windows Media Center have any trouble controlling TWC's HD boxes, and would it get confused if I had the HD box connected via the s-video input on my capture card? (I can ask this in the HTPC forum if it's too much of a PC question, but as it directly relates to the HD boxes TWCNYC is using, I thought I may as well ask here first as long as I'm already asking something else...)

Danke...

Originally posted by drew138
She did say that the external sATA drives should work but that it would be carrier specific. This seems the better solution for archiving if you are forced to playback the media only on this unit. Or maybe a BluRay device with larger capacity.

Drew


Hey,

Has anyone tried or gotten a SATA hard drive to work w/ the 8300HD? It'd almost be worth it to buy an extra drive for it so I don't have to keep erasing stuff i want to watch! Any info would be appreciated.

I believe several folks with the SARA software have been successful at adding SATA drives, but I've not heard of any Passport successes.

-barry

John,

I think the PQ of the 8300HD is quite good, and highly source/signal dependent. I DVR'd an HD nature show (something on Discovery about bugs) and it's literally the clearest, best picture I've ever seen in my home set up - by far. A real jaw dropper, and no sign of haze at all. I use it as my demo :) That said, who knows? Maybe there's fog there too but I can't see it. Or maybe the fog is introduced elsewhere in TWC's chain and sometimes doesn't appear?

Drew,
Thanks for the write up, and thanks for grilling the guy :) A real shame that it's not ready for prime time. I was under the mistaken impression that you could somehow get 90 minutes of HD onto the DVD (not sure where I read that). 30 minutes is not particularly useful! And once you get into providing a sliding scale option, useability for the average joe goes down. Here's hoping for better solutions down the road...

Barry et al,
If anyone wants to buy a drive and bring it to me I'd try it and report back :) Actually, thinking about it more seriously, if someone can source the correct drive cheaply enough, maybe we could pool together to buy one to test?

TM

Originally posted by anthonymoody


Barry et al,
If anyone wants to buy a drive and bring it to me I'd try it and report back :) Actually, thinking about it more seriously, if someone can source the correct drive cheaply enough, maybe we could pool together to buy one to test?

TM



Already attempted in NYC on the Passport software and there has been no success.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=516559&perpage=20&pagenumber=7

Some guy borrell tried the solution that worked for the SARA software folks. Personally, I've seen SARA and I'd rather have the Passport software on the 8300 rather than the SATA drive. Of course, both would be preferred :)

Drew

FIY: just dropped back to basic DTV, no prems, only have the HD-tier. I figure the money I'm saving can go to PPVs and rentals. I do miss Sho and HBO HD. Don't know if I'll be able to last. Somehow my bill only dropped 45.00.

Drew

Drew,
Thanks for tracking that down. Bummer! But I agree I'd rather have Passport..

TM

Does anyone know exactly which HD channels are included with the TWCNYC Intro ($39.95) DTV package? Other than HBO (701) and Showtime (703), between 701 and 715, I am getting everything but TNT-HD (710). Is that normal, or is it a mistake?

Threads merged.

Originally posted by cdimase
Does anyone know exactly which HD channels are included with the TWCNYC Intro ($39.95) DTV package? Other than HBO (701) and Showtime (703), between 701 and 715, I am getting everything but TNT-HD (710). Is that normal, or is it a mistake?

INHD 1&2, HDNET, HDNET Movies and ESPN HD are all part of the HD package/tier of service. If you are receiving them for the intro price than great :) They may include the HD Tier for the 39.95 package period. How long is that good for? 6 months?

http://www2.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=hdeftv/hdtv

WPIX will come on sometime before summer... on 711. we think...

Drew

I know this is off topic but...
It’s interesting to know what’s happening with our neighbors…
so much for our bragging rights…



Cablevision Airing YES in Hi Def
April 27, 2005
By Megan Larson

Cablevision Systems picked up the YES Network (Yankees
Entertainment & Sports) in high definition it was announced Wednesday, bringing the cable operator’s total HD offerings to 17 channels.

It launches Thursday at 7 p.m. with the Yankees playing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The channel will be offered to Cablevision’s digital customers on channel 715 and will feature Yankees and New Jersey Nets home games as well as select away games against The New York Mets and Boston Red Sox.

“We are committed to delivering an extensive and compelling array of high-definition programming to our iO digital cable customers at no additional charge, both as a significant value add and key differentiator over satellite television providers that offer less HD and force customers to pay additional charges in
order to see it,” said Kristin Dolan, Cablevision’s senior vp of product management.

Cablevision added nearly 100,000 high definition customers in 2004, bringing total customer count to 133,000 at the year’s end.

Originally posted by CPanther95
Threads merged.


Curious…
Forgive my ignorance but I see this “threads merged” post appear on many threads.
What the heck does this mean?

I actually get 721-725, but only because I also pay for the HDExtra package. What I'm really trying to figure out is whether all of the HD stations between 701 and 715 (save for the two premium channels, HBO and Showtime), are included in the Intro Pack. I get everything but TNT-HD for some reason.

Larry, threads merged results from a moderator shifting another thead from elsewhere, where it doesn't belong or is a duplication/related, to the current thread.

cdimase,
If customer service hasn't tried it already, might try calling (I use 212 674 9100) and using TWC's touch-tone automated method of 'authorizing' your converter. It's part of the initial call-in selection menu (cable problem) and they tell you how to do it before reaching a customer service rep. -- John

Last night and again tonight channel 708 on TWC Staten Island has a grey screen although the guide says Yankees vs Angels. I called customer service and the response was "yeah we had some calls yesterday and reported it to our tech department." Anyone else having this problem?

Originally posted by beatles6
Last night and again tonight channel 708 on TWC Staten Island has a grey screen although the guide says Yankees vs Angels. I called customer service and the response was "yeah we had some calls yesterday and reported it to our tech department." Anyone else having this problem?
Same here also on Staten Island. Quite annoying, hope they fix it sometime soon.

My 708 was working tonight from about 9:00 until the end of the game here in Queens.

By the way, my guide still doesn't list anything other than HD Specials. Maybe a reboot it in order? I'd hate to since everything otherwise has been perfect last few weeks.

for 8300 users :

Im sorry if this was addressed 100 pages or so ago but I want to be clear & get the right answer from you guys, instead of from someone who might just tell me what I want to hear (aka TWC Customer Support).

I know the 8300HD has all of the video outputs enabled (HD, S & Composite), but does it also record in all formats, or just in HD? In other words, if I want to record Survivor (which I watch in SD since its not broadcast in HD), can I record it & watch it in SD, or will it record it in HD mode (forcing it to "fit" witht he addition of the grey bars since I have a 4:3 TV)? I'm hoping it gives me the option to record in either mode.

Also for you Staten Island folks : I called TWC last night because I was having MOD issues (which got resolved with a hard boot), and asked about the 8300HD availability - the rep said that they are being rolled out & SI should have them - so check the cable express center.

Originally posted by Goatweed
for 8300 users :

Im sorry if this was addressed 100 pages or so ago but I want to be clear & get the right answer from you guys, instead of from someone who might just tell me what I want to hear (aka TWC Customer Support).

I know the 8300HD has all of the video outputs enabled (HD, S & Composite), but does it also record in all formats, or just in HD? In other words, if I want to record Survivor (which I watch in SD since its not broadcast in HD), can I record it & watch it in SD, or will it record it in HD mode (forcing it to "fit" witht he addition of the grey bars since I have a 4:3 TV)? I'm hoping it gives me the option to record in either mode.

Also for you Staten Island folks : I called TWC last night because I was having MOD issues (which got resolved with a hard boot), and asked about the 8300HD availability - the rep said that they are being rolled out & SI should have them - so check the cable express center.

The SA 8300HD and 8000HD both record SD as SD and HD as HD.

thanks Manatus, much appreciated.

Is there any way to automatically delete channels that you don't want to see from the channel listings? In other words, if I want to scroll up and down without some of the SD channels in between can I delete them?

No, but you can add them all to your favorites, but that doesn't affect the program guide.

Yet another reason why this box ain't no Tivo. This is one of the more annoying aspects to me, do other DVRs (provided be cable companies) have this ability?

Originally posted by Goatweed
for 8300 users :

I know the 8300HD has all of the video outputs enabled (HD, S & Composite), but does it also record in all formats, or just in HD? In other words, if I want to record Survivor (which I watch in SD since its not broadcast in HD), can I record it & watch it in SD, or will it record it in HD mode (forcing it to "fit" witht he addition of the grey bars since I have a 4:3 TV)? I'm hoping it gives me the option to record in either mode.


Actually. if you record something on the Hi Def channels, regardless if it is an HD or SD broadcast, it will take up as much space as any HD recording, as the channels broadcast the video along with the grey sidebars. If you want to record Survivor in SD, record channel 2, not 702.

Originally posted by Mattdoc
Actually. if you record something on the Hi Def channels, regardless if it is an HD or SD broadcast, it will take up as much space as any HD recording, as the channels broadcast the video along with the grey sidebars. If you want to record Survivor in SD, record channel 2, not 702.

that's the channel (2) I would be recording - on the 8000, ch 2 was "squished" since the box was set to output HD only for me (I couldnt change it between SD & HD for some reason - and quite frankly didnt want to bother with that anyway) so when it recorded SD programming, it did so in HD mode (which didnt look good at all).

Originally posted by John Mason
Larry, threads merged results from a moderator shifting another thead from elsewhere, where it doesn't belong or is a duplication/related, to the current thread.

cdimase,
If customer service hasn't tried it already, might try calling (I use 212 674 9100) and using TWC's touch-tone automated method of 'authorizing' your converter. It's part of the initial call-in selection menu (cable problem) and they tell you how to do it before reaching a customer service rep. -- John


Thanks for the tip. I did try calling, but couldn't find a way to access the touch-tone authorization menu. Any idea as to which options to select from the main menu (and sub-menus) to get to it?

They can do the same channel authorization via compter from their end, cdimase. Surprised this wouldn't have been tried by a CS rep initially. This assumes others at your NYC location, not given, are getting TNT. -- John

I called TWNYC to sign up but the cs said that in order for me to get even local HD I need to sign up for the $55/month package. I asked three times about the promotional $39.95 plan and she said that I can not get any HD with that.

I was going to do this:

Promotional $39.95
HDextra + 8300HD dvr $15

She says I need the $55 package first.

How should I proceed? Thanks.

Originally posted by Goatweed
for 8300 users :

Im sorry if this was addressed 100 pages or so ago but I want to be clear & get the right answer from you guys, instead of from someone who might just tell me what I want to hear (aka TWC Customer Support).

I know the 8300HD has all of the video outputs enabled (HD, S & Composite), but does it also record in all formats, or just in HD? In other words, if I want to record Survivor (which I watch in SD since its not broadcast in HD), can I record it & watch it in SD, or will it record it in HD mode (forcing it to "fit" witht he addition of the grey bars since I have a 4:3 TV)? I'm hoping it gives me the option to record in either mode.

Also for you Staten Island folks : I called TWC last night because I was having MOD issues (which got resolved with a hard boot), and asked about the 8300HD availability - the rep said that they are being rolled out & SI should have them - so check the cable express center.
Goatweed, let us know if you get the 8300HD. I was at the Richmond Ave. service center last week and they didn't have them at that time. As soon as I know for sure they have them in stock I'll be heading over there. :D

Originally
II called TWNYC to sign up but the cs said that in order for me to get even local HD I need to sign up for the $55/month package. I asked three times about the promotional $39.95 plan and she said that I can not get any HD with that.

I was going to do this:

Promotional $39.95
HDextra + 8300HD dvr $15

She says I need the $55 package first.

How should I proceed? Thanks.

I thought you could get the HD channels even by subscribing to the analog tier, although you would have to get a digital tuner to get the stations. I know those with CableCard TVs on analog tiers are getting the HD channels.

Drew

Originally posted by QMAN71
Goatweed, let us know if you get the 8300HD. I was at the Richmond Ave. service center last week and they didn't have them at that time. As soon as I know for sure they have them in stock I'll be heading over there. :D

will do! Hopefully I'll be taking a week off from work in the next few weeks, so Im gonna do the potential swap then - plus add a few more boxes to the house (non DVR). Id rather do it while I'm off so I can return everything to them if things go awry (like the 8000 fiasco did).

order promo package, wait a few days and go to walk in center to swap box for 8300hd and then call to add hdextra. sales reps work on commission and will always push higher priced packages. there's a high turnover for sales reps and not all of them are knowledgable :-X



Originally posted by MAB
I called TWNYC to sign up but the cs said that in order for me to get even local HD I need to sign up for the $55/month package. I asked three times about the promotional $39.95 plan and she said that I can not get any HD with that.

I was going to do this:

Promotional $39.95
HDextra + 8300HD dvr $15

She says I need the $55 package first.

How should I proceed? Thanks.

Ok, thank you for your input.

Any ideas if we will be able to watch the Mets game on ESPN HD tonight. Last time, they blacked it out. According to the schedule, this is the only broadcast channel( 8:05 Sunday Night Baseball Broadcast)?

Originally posted by CITY HDTV
Any ideas if we will be able to watch the Mets game on ESPN HD tonight. Last time, they blacked it out. According to the schedule, this is the only broadcast channel( 8:05 Sunday Night Baseball Broadcast)?

It shouldn't be blacked out tonight. At least not according to the MLB blackout rules. The last time the Mets were on ESPN, it was not a Sunday Night game.

The rules are as follows: There are exclusive national broadcasts on ESPN on Sunday nights and Fox on Saturday afternoons. During those broadcasts, those networks are the only ones allowed to broadcast MLB games. (ie: There's only one Sunday night game, which is on ESPN, and the only Saturday day games after Fox starts their game of the week in June will be on Fox.) ESPN also broadcasts additional games during the week, usually on Wednesdays, but often on other days as well. For those games, ESPN's broadcast is blacked out in the teams' local markets.
-JMP

twcinsider you rock - thanks for your continued participation!

TM

I called TWC customer service about this, but wanted to be sure I am not getting the run around. I am being charged $15/mo for the HDXtra Combo Pack PLUS $7.60 for the DVR service. Is this correct or is TWC taking me for a ride?

As an aside, when I called, the service rep asked "how are things going? Do you like the service?" I made a snide comment about the Mets situation and he actually seemed happy to hear the complaint. He said he would make a record of it. Maybe they are trying to compile the number of complaints for leverage with Cablevision, but I'm not really sure how that helps TWC's position.

It should be $15 for the combo package-- the DVR and the HD special channels, (Inhd, hdnet, etc).

Got to keep checking the monthly statements. They did the same to me last month. Billed me for the combo package and then billed me $9.95 for the DVR. Had to call and complain and get credit. This is the second time. It is very irritating, like we have nothing better to do-- double checking to see if they are screwing us.

But the $7.60 DVR charge doesn’t make sense. Double check.

As I understand it, what you are getting with that selection is:
HD Xtra $8.95
Box Rent $8.95
DVR Service $8.95

Your combo pack gives you the first two for $15. I'm not sure why you are paying less for the DVR service but it seems like you are getting a moderate discount on the whole selection.

FYI to all of the "Big Mets Fans" out there:

Today I called for an update on the TWC/Cablevision dispute that is holding Mets fans hostage, depriving us of quality sports programming, and leveraging the passion of the fan base to make an extra dollar on their piles of millions.

I told them that I felt that the $2 rebate and addition of two channels that are not relevant to me was "grossly inadequate". Without too much of a question, they increased my rebate from $2/month to $10/month. If you're a Mets fan and you feel like me, you too can get this rebate, just by calling.

$10 bucks off is nice for me. In volume, it might help put more pressure on TWC to at least have a dialogue with Cablevision. This is a serious issue that really goes beyond just the Mets.

If you're affected, call this number. It took me all of two minutes:

212-358-0900

$10/Month X 2.4 Million Subs = $24 Million/Month in lost revenue.

Sounds like a response to the legislation that was announced yesterday. The folks in Albany are talking about legislation that would require each customer to receive $0.10 per day from each TW and Cablevision for the duration of the outage. That would be a total of $6 per month total, split between the two companies.

Personally, I think they should offer not money, but the replacement cost. That is, the cost of actually seeing every game that would be broadcast. I'll leave it as their problem that Shea doesn't hold 2.4 million people, and that some of the games are pretty far away...
-JMP

JMP - we think alike. I actually asked for Season tickets. They offered me one pair, or the $10/month option. I took the $10/month.

Originally posted by randymac88
JMP - we think alike. I actually asked for Season tickets. They offered me one pair, or the $10/month option. I took the $10/month.

how does this work?
what do you need to say?
do they give this to you easily or do you need to argue?

I just tried calling about the $10/month. They wouldn't offer it to me because my building already gets a discounted bulk rate. They did however, offer to trade my $2/month discount for 2 tickets to a game.

Originally posted by margoba
As I understand it, what you are getting with that selection is:
HD Xtra $8.95
Box Rent $8.95
DVR Service $8.95

Your combo pack gives you the first two for $15. I'm not sure why you are paying less for the DVR service but it seems like you are getting a moderate discount on the whole selection.

Actually, the $15.00 combo pack includes #1 and #3. The box rental is the same as any other rental and if you have a one of their bundled packages it is typically included in those (the first box that is).

I really didn't need to argue much at all. Just don't hang up the phone until they give it to you. But it literally took all of two minutes for me...I think the rep was a fellow Mets fan so he understood. But no, not much of a fight at all. They have to give it to you.

I also read a story about a guy who got the tickets AND the $10/off, so if you're insistent and maybe a little pissed, you can do it.

I just called too, didnt take too long but I think the rep tried playing the whole "My system is down so I cant help you" routine, but I just stayed on the phone and said that I would wait until her system was up again. After she gave me the
rebate, she told me that I only got it because I'm a valued TW customer and not to tell anyone about this. Needless to say I called everyone I know with TWC and told them about it. Thanks for the info randymac.

I just got the $10 rebate also. The CSR actually went out of his way to research the availability of this special rebate. When he came back on the phone, he said he would apply the discount as of today. Took about 10 minutes including the hold time.

Grumble.

I'm apparently not eligible for the $10/month rebate, since my building sold its soul to TW in order to get a group discount.

I hope Eliot Spitzer gets off his ass soon and forces these companies to play together, or at least locks the CEOs in a room together without food or water until they reach a deal.
-JMP

Talks on Cable Standoff Resume
By THE NEW YORK TIMES


Negotiations have resumed to end the blackout that has kept Cablevision's MSG Network and Fox Sports New York off Time Warner's cable systems, but there is still no certainty that the 59-day impasse will be resolved soon.

The dispute has kept Mets games and other sports events from 2.4 million cable subscribers in the metropolitan area.

The discussions, which started last week, "prove that Cablevision was wrong and that we can come to an agreement in the old-fashioned way," Harriet Novett, a Time Warner spokeswoman, told the City Council Zoning and Franchise Committee.

The committee has held two hearings on the standoff in the past 16 days.

Cablevision has insisted that given the failure of negotiations, the only resolution to the dispute is through binding arbitration, a claim that Time Warner rejects.

At the second hearing, Kevin McGrath, a Cablevision consultant, moved away from that position slightly.
He said the "only way to put games back on is if Time Warner agrees to binding arbitration or both parties agree to a solution."

Councilman Tony Avella, a Queens Democrat who chairs the zoning and franchise committee, suggested that the two sides try to negotiate a one-year deal rather than a long-term contract in order to restore MSG and FSNY faster.

Novett said Time Warner would be happy with a one-year agreement, but McGrath would not address the subject.

Avella also said that the inability of fans to see local sports events on television when media conglomerates like Cablevision and Time Warner get into a pricing squabble would be a factor in renewing each company's cable franchise. The franchises expire in 2008, but talks with the city will begin later this year.

Thanks guys.

I just called and got my $10 rebate.
Took a bit of arguing and the CSR put me on hold to check with his supervisor.
Took about 5 mins for me.

Originally posted by twcinsider
order promo package, wait a few days and go to walk in center to swap box for 8300hd and then call to add hdextra. sales reps work on commission and will always push higher priced packages. there's a high turnover for sales reps and not all of them are knowledgable :-X

I did pretty much exactly that, and now i get all the HD channels except for TNT... MAB, did you try doing this, and if so, do you get TNT-HD? twcinsider, did TNT-HD work for you after switching out your HD DVR?

try calling CS and tell them to send out a signal.....usually after you get a new or upgraded box it takes a while for all the channels to come up, especially hd and ondemand channels......

also do a hard reboot first b/c they'll just tell you to do it anyway!

Thanks to everyone for their responses.


Originally posted by margoba
As I understand it, what you are getting with that selection is:
HD Xtra $8.95
Box Rent $8.95
DVR Service $8.95

Your combo pack gives you the first two for $15. I'm not sure why you are paying less for the DVR service but it seems like you are getting a moderate discount on the whole selection.

Is Fox Sports in Espanol (Ch 822) owned by Cablevision, as it is currently working and showing Mexican Leagus Soccer live no less?

Originally posted by CITY HDTV
Is Fox Sports in Espanol (Ch 822) owned by Cablevision, as it is currently working and showing Mexican Leagus Soccer live no less?

It's probably Fox O&O.

Way back when, FSNY was Sportschannel, which was owned by Cablevision, and broadcast the Mets, Yankees, Islanders, Devils, and Nets. MSG, which broadcast the Knicks and Rangers was owned by Madison Square Garden, which in turn was owned by ITT and later Viacom.

When Cablevision bought The Garden, they consolidated their sports coverage operations, putting MSG and Sportschannel under unified management, shifting the Yankees to MSG, since it made sense to have the Yankees and Mets on different channels.

In the mid-late 1990s, Fox started buying up regional sports networks to make up FSN. Cablevision maintained ownership of the NY, Chicago, and New England FSN outlets (all formerly Sportschannel), but use the FSN name and get FSN national content.

As a result, when TWC and FSN put out a press release a couple of years ago saying that TWC franchises would carry HDTV feeds from all Fox O&O FSN outlets, FSNY was not included in that deal because it is not owned by FSN. Fox Sports en Espanol and Fox Sports World are not considered regional networks for this purpose.
-JMP

Just called TWC. The regular CSR only offered me 2 tix to one game (like that would remotely satisfy me) above and beyond the $2/mo rebate. After I told him it was not satisfactory, I asked to speak to a supervisor who offered $10/mo without hesitation. By the way, it's for 6 months or until the situation is resolved, whichever comes first...

TM

PS - thanks for this info guys...

Originally posted by anthonymoody
By the way, it's for 6 months or until the situation is resolved, whichever comes first...

Right, because anyone who's complaining vocally about MSG/FSN right now is most likely a Mets fan (with all due respect to Metrostars fans), and 6 months from now, the Mets will have had their last broadcast on those channels.

I wonder if TWC would consider dropping the channels altogether after baseball season if the NHL is DOA in the fall. God knows the Knicks aren't worth watching...
-JMP

The more I think about it, there is no way TW is going to come to an agreement. They need to just hold out for this year, then they can stick it to Cablevision by never signing MSG and FSN since the Mets will be on their own channel. Then, the Knicks will get screwed, but of course Cablevison owns themm so it hurts even more.

TW would sign an agreement in a heartbeat if it expired right after baseball season ends. They might even go for a 1 year agreement. Their main argument against binding arbitration is that they don't want to get stuck paying the same amount for MSG/FSN next year as this year, since it's worth substantially less after this year. Cablevision wants a long term deal precicely because they know the channels are worth less after this year...
-JMP

Those of you complaining about MSG/FSN must understand TWC's position on not agreeing to pay what Cablevision asks. Programming costs are out of control especially sports programming. ESPN made outrageous bids for NFL games, who do you think ultimately pays? YOU whether you're a sports fan or not. ESPN/ABC is by far the toughest networks to neogtiate with and they will never allow ESPN on anything higher than the Standard Tier. Cablevision is on a downward spin with this MSG/FSN ordeal, VOOM shutting down, unsuccessful bid for MTA railyards and Adelphia. Trust me when I tell you it's a matter of time when Dolan will sell his cable empire to TWC.

twcinsider,
While I appreciate and understand this, it's a symptom of the bigger problem with the cable industry.

The FCC has instituted deregulation of the cable industry without significant regard for consumers. Sure, we've all got more channels, but most people are just paying more money to get more channels that they never watch. The deregulation only makes sense in places where there is genuine competition between multiple cable companies, since in that case consumers can vote with their feet.

Instead, the FCC allows cable companies to dictate tiers to the customers, and allows channel owners to dictate packages of channels to the cable companies. So, cable companies are forced to pay for channels that don't really have significant demand in order to get the channels that people want, which in turn takes up bandwidth that might otherwise be used for channels that consumers actually want. Courts have ruled this sort of practice illegal in other industries (think Microsoft), yet the FCC specifically allows it.

Because the FCC allows tiers, the cable channel owners can use tiers as a negotiating tactic. Hypothetically, if the cable companies were to declare that they were abolishing tiers and making all channels a la carte, there would be a major thinning of the numbers of channels being produced. TWC offered to make MSG/FSN a pay package, but Cablevision refused, since they might get more $$ per viewer, but there would be far fewer viewers. (God forbid they should be forced to set a price point that agrees with what the market will bear.) Among the reasons this doesn't happen is that many of the channel owners are also cable operators.

When local phone companies were allowed to enter into the long distance market, it was under the condition that they establish local competition first. Cable companies didn't have to jump through any such hoops before they could get the advantages of deregulation.
-JMP

twcinsider - You can't expect us to understand. We don't have a choice in the matter. I think it is incredible BS that Mets games are not on in NYC. It may not be TWC or Cablevision's fault, maybe it's the way our laws are. But I don't care. It is still BS that we cannot see Mets games in NYC.

Originally posted by twcinsider
... Trust me when I tell you it's a matter of time when Dolan will sell his cable empire to TWC.

I don’t’ see that day coming.

There will never be a dismantling of the Dolan empire, regardless if it’s logical. They’re blind to any intelligent business visions.

They scuttled two sports franchisees. They turned the world’s greatest arena into a decrepit run down gymnasium. They conduct their business like childish, impetuous, spoiled, bully brats in the playground. They will keep on making abysmal decisions until there is no more sand left in the sand box. Their colossal ego will continue to swell until their heads explode.


The bottom line is, if it came to TW buying CV, this new imp wouldn’t benefit us. We, the consumers, will be stuck with the tab for all of their slipshod business deals. We’re the ones that will suffer the strangle hold of a bigger monopolistic monster.

We need to have a choice in picking a cable provider.


On another topic,
Thank God for TNT HD! Currently, my favorite HD channel.

Sorry for straying off topic here, but I'm having a major problem loading the twcnyc website. Every time I try to load it it never works. Is this a common issue with their site? Or do I have to change my browser settings to load the page? Hopefully someone can help me out with this, it's frustrating me to no end. Thanks.

Try this

http://www2.twcnyc.com/index.cfm

I also had that problem yesterday when I tried logging on to the site. The link I had in my bookmarks didn't work. I googled twc nyc and got this address, it is different from the one I had. This address worked.

Nothing doing with that link. Thanks for the response, though. Lol, I may have to throw in the towel on this one--never had so much trouble loading a website. And I really wanna sign up for cable, too. Oh, well...

Hey guys,

Long time lurker here. I just got my 8300HD and my Sharp Aquos LC-37GB5U. I've read through this post and heard a bunch of people complaining about the HDMI connection. It seems people are having handshake issues with the box.

Before I go out an buy one of these cables, have any of these issues been addressed as of yet? Is the PQ improvement using HDMI that much better than Component? When people get the error message that their display is not HDCP compliant, do you have to reboot the cable box, or just switch channels?

Maybe it is better to wait a few months for the issues to be cleared up.

Thanks.

I have a very similar setup to yours: the 8300HS and a Sharp LC-37G4u (last year's model?). I tried HDMI and, to my eyes, the picture is considerably worse! I suspect that with some tweaking of the TV settings, I could fix it, but it was just not worth it for me. I'm sticking with component.

BTW, when there is a HDCP error, all you have to do is power down the 8300 and then power it up - two remote clicks. Warning: one particularly annoying way of getting HDCP errors is when you are recording a program to VCR for later use. I often start the recording and then turn off the TV while the recording continues. This does not seem to upset HDCP, but it I later turn the TV on to check on the progress of the recording, I get an immediate HDCP error, ruining the recording.

For me HDMI was too much of a pain.

-barry

I wouldn't say HDMI is much better on my direct view, though it is probably noticeably better on the aquos. I needed HDMI to free up the other two component slots...

briguynyc,
Please note that the suggestion above, that all you need do is power cycle the box off and on again does not work consistently, or at least didn't for me. In fact, it got worse over time (i.e. less successful), not better. I then had to resort to rebooting. Then even that didn't work. I've since switched to component out and have my pre/pro convert it to HDMI. PQ seems about the same on my PJ. And my HDMI DVD player handshakes quickly and easily with my PJ all the time, so I know it's the friggin cable box. An NO, TWC has done nothing to solve these issues to my knowledge.

I emailed Bob Watson to bitch about this and he told me he was passing it to the engineers, but that was the last I heard (many moons ago).

TM

With Echostar picking up about 21 of VOOM's HD channels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5550945#post5550945), and Rainbow supposedly offering them to both cable and satellite companies, anyone know when NYC's TWC will be offering them? :rolleyes: --John

hello all...

my TWC HD DVR (i requested an 8300) will be installed on tuesday, for use with my panny 42PD50U EDTV. i'd like to get audio through both my tv speakers and my HT setup, and i have a couple of questions:

if i run HDMI to the tv from the STB, can i run optical from the STB to my receiver, or will only one audio out work at a time?

also, i've been reading about all the sporadic problems with HDMI with this box, so i'm also considering just using component video and analog audio RCA IC's to the from the STB to the TV, and then running optical audio from the STB to the receiver.

can anyone give me recommendations on these or other possible setups?

thanks in advance:
VA

Originally posted by LL3HD
I don’t’ see that day coming.

There will never be a dismantling of the Dolan empire, regardless if it’s logical. They’re blind to any intelligent business visions.


It's only a matter of time before TWC/CV are integrated. A public TWC will provide the capital, but I don't know that TWC can afford CV customers. Part of any cable acquisition is the fundamental belief that you can improve operations and drive increased revenues. Cablevision has great penetration in all their products, which makes there per sub valuation higher than others. However, its hard to believe that TWC will not find a way buy CV.

Drew

I just heard on Mike and the Madd dog that starting tonight Mets games will be back on air.

Originally posted by cap_167
I just heard on Mike and the Madd dog that starting tonight Mets games will be back on air.

I heard them just say it also. I wonder if this new long term deal includes MSG-HD and FSNY-HD? Without them, I could care less and would rather have the $10 rebate...

I know that some of you reported seeing this earlier, but at my apt. in the West Village, I finally noticed the Yankee games (along with the pregames, etc.) properly showing up in the guide on Ch. 708 this past weekend.

Just a heads-up.....

WABC-TV just reported this also.

Originally posted by cap_167
I just heard on Mike and the Madd dog that starting tonight Mets games will be back on air.

Check out the story on NY1 (http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=50734).

Note that they don't seem to say that the companies reached an agreement, just that the games are back on the air as of tonight. I would bet that if what they've got is a temporary stay of execution, we won't ever see the games in HD.

BTW, is anyone else seeing TWC banner ads on this site? I find it mildly offensive that they flash ads saying "Now anything's possible" in a discussion forum in which we talk about all the things we wish they provided...
-JMP

Time Warner, MSG Settle Sports Spat
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable

Time Warner Cable and Cablevision’s Madison Square Garden Networks settled their rate dispute and cut a multiyear carriage agreement to return MSG Network, Fox Sports Net New York and three other Fox Sports digital networks to Time Warner Cable systems in the New York area tonight.

Time Warner Cable systems in the New York City area and upstate New York will have the networks by the time tonight’s Mets/Cubs game airs on Fox Sports Net New York at 7:30 p.m. Additional terms of the long-term agreement were not disclosed.

MSG Networks and TWC had been engaged in a spat since last summer over the cost of carriage for the regional sports networks. Time Warner pulled the channels from area systems July 31, leaving some 2 million subscribers without Mets games—except for a few games on WPIX and Fox Broadcasting’s WNYW, which had the broadcast game-of-the-week contract. Having called a temporary truce to get the networks back on-air in August, MSG Networks and TWC permanently resolved the issue in an all-day session today with help from New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer.

Cablevision wanted TWC to pay about $2 per subscriber for the two channels—an 18% hike—and add two local Metro channels as part of the deal. Not interested in Metro, TWC said the sports network increase was too high, given that the Mets will leave MSG/Fox Sports New York when the team’s contract expires after next season. Having lost the Yankees four years ago, the sports channels will be left with the New York area’s three hockey teams, the NBA’s Knicks, WNBA’s Liberty and pro soccer team The Metrostars.

The two companies have also traded lawsuits over Cablevision-owned cable channel AMC. TWC says the network’s more recent titles and its decision to take ads violate its carriage agreement.

So what are the HD possibilities now, since it's a long-term agreement. Is it a matter of money or bandwidth or both?

Cablevision wanted TWC to pay about $2 per subscriber for the two channels—an 18% hike—and add two local Metro channels as part of the deal. Not interested in Metro,

I noticed last night that, while the MSG/FSNY channels were back, the Metro channels (95 & 150) are still displaying a message that they are blacked out due to negotaitions.

While I'm not a huge watcher of either of the 2 channels, the Metro channel 150 does occasionally play some live music programs that I enjoy (between its seemingly never-ending parade of fashion shows).

I wonder if we can call and complain and get some restitution for still not having those 2 channels?

In a long-term deal brokered by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Time Warner Inc. will return the two channels that broadcast Mets games, MSG network and Fox Sports Net New York, plus three other Fox Sports digital channels to its cable TV packages.

What are those three other channels? Are 2 of them the Metro channels, because if not, then the Metro channels aren't part of the deal, could be room for HD.

edit - they're not the Metro channels, the Metro channels are MSG. But are they back?

Too bad, I preferred the $10/mo discount...

TM

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Too bad, I preferred the $10/mo discount...

TM

I know how you feel. I LOVED getting the rebates for a year out on the Island when Cablevision wasn't showing the Yankees!!!:D

I get all the regular channels and HD channels fine.

But the premium channels (201 etc) have stopped coming thru, even after a hard reboot. (They do come thru on my other TV set, which has a different STB, however). The tech is coming tomorrow. Anyone has had this problem before? Thank you.

a look ahead.....

higher cable modem speeds, when and how much will depend on many factors mostly what our competitors are doing. we expect some verizon users to come back because they are dropping their wifi hotspots in manhattan

VOD to be encrypted

analog foreign language premiums (bq systems) to be dropped by year end. they are duplicated in the low 500's #

analog premiums same as above hopefully by mid '06. will eliminate piracy and free up bandwith. new installations will get digital set tops

john mason, i personally don't think twc is in a rush to add anything from cv/rainbow. there's still contractual issues with metro channels which has also lost value. no more innovative original shows and sports overflow programming unless you consider fashion shows and music choice stuff as value. amc is another channel that twc claims to have dramtically changed programming format in violation of programming contract.

Thanks for the update twcinsider. What about HD content? I know you mentioned WPIX-HD earlier on. Will that even happen now that the Mets are back on?

Why is it that the deal for MSG and FSNY made no mention of adding the HD counterparts? Where are UPN-HD, Universal-HD, Starz-HD, Cinemax-HD, TMC-HD...the list goes on.

Thanks again for the info and the participation.

Originally posted by twcinsider
unless you consider fashion shows and music choice stuff as value.

Actually, I do consider the Metro channel as valuable. Not for the fashion shows, but for the Music Chocie stuff. When they show Music Choice stuff on ch. 94, it's all but unwatchable -- there's something really screwy about the broadcast audio and video on that analog channel; so I prefer the versions that they show on ch. 150....

Originally posted by twcinsider
john mason, i personally don't think twc is in a rush to add anything from cv/rainbow. there's still contractual issues with metro channels which has also lost value. no more innovative original shows and sports overflow programming unless you consider fashion shows and music choice stuff as value. amc is another channel that twc claims to have dramtically changed programming format in violation of programming contract.
Thanks for all the insider info.

Since TWC and CV don't seem on especially good terms, and E* has picked up some/most of the ZOOM channels, hope TWC is rapidly ramping up its own equivalent of ZOOM HD channels. Presume there's nothing preventing TWC from forming its own all-foreign-film HD channel, for example, just as it pioneered HBO and the whole satellite/cable-delivery industry. To avoid additional bleeding of cable customers to DBS, this should be a Manhattan-Project-style undertaking; IMO, of course. -- John

Originally posted by John Mason
Presume there's nothing preventing TWC from forming its own all-foreign-film HD channel, for example, just as it pioneered HBO and the whole satellite/cable-delivery industry.

That's a slightly revisionist outlook. HBO was originally a joint venture between Cablevision and Time Inc., back when Cablevision was still part owner of the southern Manhattan cable franchise, and the northern Manhattan franchise was owned by Group W, which was a Westinghouse subsidiary. Cablevision provided the ideas, and Time provided capital for the project. When Cablevision overextended, it lost the Manhattan franchise, and Time took full control of HBO, which became a major attractive asset in the Time-Warner merger. (The merger was way ahead of its time, being the first major partnering of a movie studio with a television outlet.)

Cablevision was once a leader in the field. They stalled out somewhere around the time they realized that they couldn't sell cable to more than 100% of the households on Long Island.


Before we all know it, the City will be deliberating the terms of the renewal of TW and CV's franchise agreements. The current agreements dictate things like the 4 hour appointment windows and a free month for a missed appointment. Assuming that the city isn't really going to yank the franchises, this is the time to get guarantees of higher levels of service locked in.

I've got a couple of ideas of things to ask for. For example:
* The city could specify that a customer must be able to speak to a human representative within 10 minutes of initiating a phone call.

* The city could specify that a promise of a call back constitutes an appointment, and that a missed callback should be treated like a missed appointment.

* If a tech shows up for an appointment but leaves without doing or checking anything, it should count as a missed appointment if there was indeed something to be done or checked. (I once had a tech show up at the end of his shift with a work order to rerun all the cable in my apartment. He took one look at the work order and the apartment, threw up his hands, announced that his shift was over and that he didn't have time for it, and left. TW claimed that this wasn't a missed appointment.)

* The city could specify that customers be given the option of paying a fee to guarantee that their service call is the first one made by a technician during the appointment window. (Assume that for every 4 hour window there are a certain number of techs out there. Each one of those makes a first stop somewhere. Selling the right to be the first customer visited would be found money for TW, while allowing people who place a value on their time to pay more to take up less time.)

* The city could specify that any time a customer has a service issue that requires more than 1 service visit to resolve, that customer should be given a direct phone number to use that will immediately reach a person who is already familiar with their case, rather than having to go through phone hell only to have to explain the same story over and over to new people who will insist on trying things that didn't work the first time.

* If a CSR schedules a completely unnecessary service appointment (like my call a few weeks ago about WPIX-HD, when the CSR wanted a tech to come out to fix things), including for an issue that is already well known within the company or something that is not a malfunction at all, the customer should get a free month of service just for following through with the appointment. (This will prevent CSRs from trying to pawn off customer service issues on the technicians at the cost of the customer's time.)

All of these would vastly improve the customer service experience for cable customers in NYC. There is some irony in the fact that the last three items on this list would either increase TW's revenue or greatly reduce the number of CSR-hours spent on cases.

Thoughts?
-JMP

Thanks for the history, JMP. Service refinements always help. My own preference would be something in the contract--if that's what it takes--that specifies rapid deployment of HD delivery via Internet Protocol, or any other technique, such as abandoning analog delivery for adequate digital bandwidth, that boosts the annual NYC-TWC HD trickle to a flood. -- John

John,
That might get into some sticky legal territory.

Local governments are allowed by the FCC to issue franchises to cable companies, but they are not allowed to dictate which channels the companies do/don't carry, other than being allowed to specify a small number of local interest channels, such as CUNY-TV.

Now, the terms of the franchise agreement might not fall under the city government legislating channel lineups. It could be that it would be legally defined as a private contract between two corporations. (Thanks to the neat little trick that in the US, cities are corporations.) Any lawyers want to weigh in on this one?
-JMP

Originally posted by jmp_nyc
John,
That might get into some sticky legal territory.

Local governments are allowed by the FCC to issue franchises to cable companies, but they are not allowed to dictate which channels the companies do/don't carry, other than being allowed to specify a small number of local interest channels, such as CUNY-TV.

Now, the terms of the franchise agreement might not fall under the city government legislating channel lineups. It could be that it would be legally defined as a private contract between two corporations. (Thanks to the neat little trick that in the US, cities are corporations.) Any lawyers want to weigh in on this one?
-JMP

While the City of New York is a corporation, not all cities are, and the City's authority to issue cable franchises and the terms of those franchises have nothing to do with a "private contract between two corporations." The City Charter empowers the City to issue such franchises, the scope and terms of which are set forth in the City Council's latest resolution on this subject: Resolution 475 of 1998 (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/downloads/pdf/res475_1998.pdf)

Originally posted by Manatus
While the City of New York is a corporation, not all cities are, and the City's authority to issue cable franchises and the terms of those franchises have nothing to do with a "private contract between two corporations." The City Charter empowers the City to issue such franchises, the scope and terms of which are set forth in the City Council's latest resolution on this subject: Resolution 475 of 1998 (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/downloads/pdf/res475_1998.pdf)

Right, but that resolution is permitted under FCC Regulations & supporting legislation. (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/csgen.html) Unfortunately, the FCC preempts the local franchising authority's ability to regulate channel lineup. (Look under the heading of "State and Local Regulation of Cable Systems" in the previous link.

Looking further at the FCC site, there are some interesting tidbits. Among them is the bit about subscriber calls to a cable system:
A call to a cable system must be answered -- including time the caller is put on hold -- within 30 seconds after the connection is made. If the call is transferred, the transfer time may not exceed 30 seconds. Also, cable system customers may receive a busy signal no more than three percent of the time. Although no special equipment is required to measure telephone answering and hold time, cable operators should use their best efforts in documenting compliance. These requirements must be met 90 percent of the time, measured quarterly, under normal operating conditions.

Has TWC ever met these requirements? I've never gotten to a representative in under 5 minutes, and when transferred, I've never had a hold time of under 3 minutes.

I'm curious what TW reports as their level of compliance with this regulation. I have a hard time believing that it's anywhere near 90 percent of the time. Of course, TWC probably claims that NYC itself constitutes conditions outside of normal operating conditions...
-JMP

Thanks for the updates TWCInsider. Can we assume that dropping the various channels you mentioned will result in adding the HD channels Phil mentioned?

And I 2nd JMP's thoughts - those seem like they'd be great additional service requirements/refinements. The nonsense that goes on today is ridiculous. How about one more: cablecards can be user installed and must be made available both via mail and in the walk in centers?

TM

Great news on the RR speed bump. I would be interested in the timing of this bump? I would also be interested in how many residential subscribers pay for the higher tier of RR service.

Glad to hear that Analog channel lineup continues to shrink. I suspect that your fraud conversion (to digital) rate will balloon after cutting the foreign language premium channels off the Analog tier. Hopefully this will mean more HD.

What does it mean when you say VOD will be encrypted? Does that mean Analog customers cant get VOD or PPV? I was under the impressions that your couldn't get any VOD over analog? I am confused...?

Did you say that the Analog tier will not have ANY premiums by the end of '06, i.e., HBO, MAX, SHO, etc??? Wow, that would be a huge change in philosophy! And a good one for the better.

Is this part of a larger initiative to 'actively' migrate analog customers to a digital tier? It sounds like TWC will re-create an analog tier but provision it via digital STBs. That would be great.


JMP/John, there is a quite movement within cable right now to make a move to a full IP based network and you're starting to see some lobby activity already. You'll notice that the VOIP services are not regulated by the FCC since they are issued over an IP network. Well, I predict that the cable industry will make a major attempt to further reduce its regulation by moving to an IP distribution strategy. Will take several years but its coming.

Anyway, MORE HD!

Drew

PS: thanks twcinsider for the continued facts. much appreciated.

Originally posted by anthonymoody

And I 2nd JMP's thoughts - those seem like they'd be great additional service requirements/refinements. The nonsense that goes on today is ridiculous. How about one more: cablecards can be user installed and must be made available both via mail and in the walk in centers?

TM

I like JMP's thoughts too, but man that guy must have some time on his hands and a serious beef with TW to take the time to draft up those additions. ;) I suspect he's involved with legislation somehow.

TWC will always require a site visit anytime you add a new 'box' to your account. Cablecards are included. There are strict policies in place that are rarely circumvented, and if they are, its against pollicy.

As for new policy, how about "al a carte" programming!

Drew

PS: I'm also hoping Verizon starts a plan to roll out FIOS in NYC. If for no other reason than to push TWC to more agressively expand service. Hmmm, maybe Verizon will buy RCN? doubt it.

Originally posted by drew138
I like JMP's thoughts too, but man that guy must have some time on his hands and a serious beef with TW to take the time to draft up those additions. ;) I suspect he's involved with legislation somehow.

Nah. Last year I dropped out of the workforce to become a full time student again. I'd forgotten how much free time students actually have. The more TWC pisses me off, the more I make them a little hobby of mine.

Anyway, the service changes I suggested are taken directly from the letter I sent to TWC in April 2003 after it took 8 service appointments to get my cable service working. You try spending 32 hours waiting for TW service appointments without coming up with a list of things they could do to improve customer service. TW never responded with anything more than "thank you for your letter." They certainly didn't put any of the suggestions in place, even the ones that would obviously save them money if implemented reasonably well.

As for new policy, how about "al a carte" programming!

A la carte programming won't happen without Congressional action. The FCC rules specifically permit cable carriers to require that channels be purchased in tiers, and the city can't override that rule no matter how much the City Council might want to. Because the FCC allows cablecos to require customers to buy tiers, the channel owners then negotiate contracts with the cablecos that essentially fill up some of those tiers with junk in order to get the more desirable channels on the air. (ie: look at how many variations of the Discovery Channel there are other than Discovery and Discover HD Theater.)

If the FCC changed their rule to be in line with FTC rules about product bundling, dozens of channels would disappear forever. Of course, the channels that would disappear would be the ones that no one actually wanted to pay to be able to see. As an exercise, take your monthly cable bill, subtract the Roadrunner charges, then divide by the number of channels you get. Now multiply that by the number of channels you actually watch for at least a half hour every three months. I'd bet it's a small fraction of your current bill. (I know it wouldn't really work like that. We'd pay more for ESPN than for the Game Show Network, but there wouldn't be any bandwidth wasted on channels people don't want to watch. The allocation of bandwidth for new channels would be directly related to the demand for those channels, rather than being beholden to long term contracts that serve the corporate owners of the channel and the cableco, but not the customers.

BTW, I contacted DOITT about the 30 second rule I cited earlier from the FCC website. Since the FCC says that the cableco is responsible for reporting their own compliance quarterly, I'm curious to see what TWC reports about themselves. I'm going to submit a FOIL request for the info next week. I'll be sure to share hilights with everyone. I'd love to see the City Council charge DOITT with actually enforcing that rule, with fines for failure of more than a certain percentage of spot checks...
-JMP

Originally posted by twcinsider
analog premiums same as above hopefully by mid '06.

Is moving HBO from Ch. 32 to Ch. 80 a move designed to relegate the analog premiums to high numbers now that their days on analog are numbered?

Originally posted by drew138
TWC will always require a site visit anytime you add a new 'box' to your account. Cablecards are included. There are strict policies in place that are rarely circumvented, and if they are, its against pollicy.


Drew,
Are your sure about that? I'm pretty sure you can go to a walk in center and walk out with an additional box (i.e. not a trade in). This may not have always been the case but I believe it is now, so long as you already have an open account and at least 1 box already in the home. And what do you mean by strict policies? Something set outside of TWC (i.e. legislated)? If it's internal, that's what we're trying to change after all. If it's external, same thing. Requiring "installation" visits for cc's is preposterous, even moreso than for STBs. Both should be optional IMO. Think about it - we ALL pay every time one of these "technicians" shows up somewhere...

TM

Originally posted by drew138
...PS: I'm also hoping Verizon starts a plan to roll out FIOS in NYC. If for no other reason than to push TWC to more agressively expand service. Hmmm, maybe Verizon will buy RCN? doubt it.
According to the Staten Island Advance, Verizon started its FIOS rollout on SI in November. I'm very excited by this, but it will probably be some time before the rollout is complete.
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1114348765232130.xml

There are few more happy than i am that TWC and Cablevision have settled their dispute. The big question remains, however, why no Mets on HDTV. Bob Watson of TWC emailed me a few months ago to say an agreement on HDTV would have to follow the general MSG agreement. Okay, times up. Also, why hasn't the medi piucked up on this noticable omission. The Yankees are offered on HDTV, why not the Mets.

There are few more happy than i am that TWC and Cablevision have settled their dispute. The big question remains, however, why no Mets on HDTV. Bob Watson of TWC emailed me a few months ago to say an agreement on HDTV would have to follow the general MSG agreement. Okay, times up. Also, why hasn't the medi piucked up on this noticable omission. The Yankees are offered on HDTV, why not the Mets.

Originally posted by pgershon
There are few more happy than i am that TWC and Cablevision have settled their dispute. The big question remains, however, why no Mets on HDTV. Bob Watson of TWC emailed me a few months ago to say an agreement on HDTV would have to follow the general MSG agreement. Okay, times up. Also, why hasn't the medi piucked up on this noticable omission. The Yankees are offered on HDTV, why not the Mets.

re: "Okay, times up."

It took about 2.5 years to negotiate the general MSG agreement. I figure you'll get your HDTV agreement in late2007.

re: "why haven't the medi picked up on thes noticable omission"

Because the population that cares about HDTV is so miniscule that the media sees no need to cater to them.

-barry

Originally posted by margoba
re: "Okay, times up."

It took about 2.5 years to negotiate the general MSG agreement. I figure you'll get your HDTV agreement in late2007.

re: "why haven't the medi picked up on thes noticable omission"

Because the population that cares about HDTV is so miniscule that the media sees no need to cater to them.

-barry

Except that several TWC representatives had said that TW intended to make HD part of the new agreement, whenever it came. The new agreement has come. If HD was part of it, where's the announcement? If HD wasn't part of it, why did they change their position?

Last week, they were trying to give me some excuse about not having the bandwidth for it, which is complete and total BS. Yankee games are only broadcast in HD when they're home (or at Fenway or Shea). Likewise, Met games are only broadcast in HD when they're at home. Since MLB tries to schedule things so that most of the time the two teams are not playing at home at the same time, there would only be a half dozen or so dates on which the HD broadcasts would both happen on the same days. Surely YES-HD doesn't have a claim on 708 on the days when they aren't broadcasting in HD.

The fact of the matter is that TW has decided that they place a higher value on Yankee fans than on Met fans. YES asked for more money and TW gave it right away. CV asked for more money and they refused. It's now 4 years since the Mets started broadcasting in HD, and TW still doesn't carry any of the channels that carry the games in HD, while they moved heaven and earth to make sure that YES-HD was on the air for the very first HD broadcast. At the very least they could give us WPIX-HD to catch a handful of games in HD, but they won't even do that.

Something has got to change.
-JMP

Originally posted by jmp_nyc
MLB tries to schedule things so that most of the time the two teams are not playing at home at the same time


Did you guys know that the entire MLB schedule is put together by a couple who live on Staten Island?

TM

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Did you guys know that the entire MLB schedule is put together by a couple who live on Staten Island?

I'd heard that it was put together by a couple a while ago. I didn't recall that they were on Staten Island.

Baseball scheduling gets really complex when you take into account the overlap with scheduling for other sports. The simple ones are making sure that the Red Sox are home on Patriot's Day (the day of the Boston Marathon) or that the Mets are on the road for the first week of the US Open. The more complicated bits are coordinating with the NFL so that the Twins/Vikings and A's/Raiders are never home on the same weekend. (This used to be much more complicated, since it also had to be done at various points for the Mets, Yankees, Philly, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincy, Denver, Washington, Houston, Anaheim, St. Louis, and Seattle.) There are also places where MLB parks share parking facilities with NBA arenas.

I recall hearing at some point that the same couple does the scheduling for all four major sports to keep everything straight. That may or may not be true anymore. (Of course, anyone can do NHL scheduling these days.)
-JMP

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Did you guys know that the entire MLB schedule is put together by a couple who live on Staten Island?

TM
Unfortunately, not any more.
http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/sports_business/general/2004/11/15/pittsburgh_story7.html?page=1

I can't help myself here: General gripes:

(1) TWC has no excuse for npt giving Mets HDTV and not discussing. They did say it would be part of new agreement, but now we get silence. No one will say anything. Bob Watson no longer answers his emails from me (he used to).

(2) TWC continues to be inept with Cablecard service. Took me three calls to get a hit to my TV. First rep transferred me to Ms. Ramrain, who runs installation (I got voicemail). Second rep did not know what a cablecard was and insisted it was not TWC equipment. Third rep sent the signal and go things fixed. process took 40 minutes.

(3) I really hope new Mets network does not include Fran Healy. That guy is so painful to listen to. I have never understood how he got or maintains his job. he came up with Yankees cable but has been doing Mets for over 20 years. 20 years of complete mediocrity. And again, the media never complain. I have never heard anything good said about him, he just exists as a fixture on Sportchannel/FoxNY/MSG.

Maybe they should hold off on advertising features (http://www2.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=dtv/cablecard) until they tell their CSRs about them. This goes back to my gripe about the flow of information to CSRs...
-JMP

QMAN,
Dang I didn't know that they lost the contract. Too bad :(

JMP,
I hear you on that - I can never quite decide whether the average CSR or the average install tech is less informed.

TM

Originally posted by pgershon

(3) I really hope new Mets network does not include Fran Healy. That guy is so painful to listen to. [/B]

Off topic, but unfortunately true. I've been hearing rumors about Howie Rose for the new Mets network. Cross your fingers! I guess he'd be hard to pull from the radio though.

Hi All,

Just got a notice from my building manager they want my D* dish taken down.
I live in Queens, New York and will have to switch to TimeWarner. I pay $42 with D* for basic service and OTA HDTV. I have a Panny 50LC13 that I use the DVI connection from my Samsung TS360.

What cable box should I try to push for if I want to use the DVI connection and not have to go with a DVI to HDMI cable or worse, component?

What kind of deals did you guys get?
I guess I'll package everything together then (phone, highspeed and DTV). I pay about $130 now, I guess it will go up now.

Thanks,
Jason

Sorry if this was covered many pages ago...

I finally hooked up my 8300HD to my Sharp Aquos LCD in the bedroom via HDMI cable. There's no question at all that the picture is inferior to component. The picture isn't quite as sharp, and there seems to be a slight (very slight) haze or fog.

What's the general impression of the picture quality of the 8300 when hooked up via HDMI?

Again, sorry if this was covered pages ago!

My impression is exactly the same as yours: 8300HD to Sharp LCD via HDMI is worse than component.

But this appears to be TV dependent. In my office 8300HD to Sony Rear Projection LCD, HDMI is equal to, or slightly better than, component. Even so, I'm using component in the office due to all the HDMI annoyances (HDCP errors).

-barry

Originally posted by jayboy

Just got a notice from my building manager they want my D* dish taken down.
If it's installed at a private-access location, such as a balcony, FCC regulations say you can have a DBS dish. They override local or private rules. There are numerous threads in most AVS forums detailing these regs and how to notify management of them. A search of the FCC site should uncover them, too.

Suggest avoiding (and exchanging) NYC TWC's 8000HD (a DVR model). It has poor fidelity (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4664241#post4664241) here. The 8300HD is a better DVR, and some here say the non-DVR Pioneer HD converter has still better HD fidelity. Have the "It's all Here" package, myself, outlined at the nyctwc.com site, but not the telephone service. -- John

Anyone else down? I live in Brooklyn NY 11209 and the cable is down.

I tried rebooting and nada!

Anyone know the number to call?

Thanks so much

Blue

Well i finally got thru to tech support and they told me to call back in a half hour that there's nothing they can do right now!!

What the @#$#%^&

What kind of c ra p is this!! I tried rebooting and unplugged the set but nothing.No picture or sound.

Can you believe after waiting for them to pick me up they tell me to call back..

I hope they drop !!!!

I get to the passport and it gets stuck on the first dot and never moves then it's gone.

Anyone know what it could be?

Blue

i called back and they said to call back in 45 minutes...what kind of service is this !!!!

I would cancel and break the box to pieces but no other game in town.Co-op board doesn't allow dishes.

Call DOITT and tell them about the runaround that TWC is giving you. They are supposed to enforce rules about restoration of service...
-JMP

Will the Yankees game tonight be shown in HD?

Originally posted by Maurice2
Will the Yankees game tonight be shown in HD?

It's on both WPIX11 and WWOR9, neither on which we get in HD, and it is not listed on 708, so I doubt it.
However, tomorrows game is on FOX 705, and Sunday's game, on YES, is listed on 708, so 2 out of 3 really isn't so bad (especially since I will be at tonight's game:D )

Go METS!!!

Originally posted by Maurice2
Will the Yankees game tonight be shown in HD?

The Mets broadcast on WPIX will have HD equipment, sending an HD signal to WPIX. WPIX, in turn, will be broadcasting an HD feed of the game. Time Warner has chosen not to carry WPIX's HD feed, so tonight's game will not be available for TWC subscribers in HD. (But it is being shown elsewhere in HD.)
-JMP

Originally posted by Blue Rain
i called back and they said to call back in 45 minutes...what kind of service is this !!!!

I would cancel and break the box to pieces but no other game in town.Co-op board doesn't allow dishes.

The co-op board cannot prevent you from getting a dish.

See this link: Over-the-Air Reception Device Rule (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html)

The definition of "antenna" includes dishes:

Q: What types of restrictions are prohibited?

A: The rule prohibits restrictions that impair a person's ability to install, maintain, or use an antenna covered by the rule. The rule applies to state or local laws or regulations, including zoning, land-use or building regulations, private covenants, homeowners' association rules, condominium or cooperative association restrictions, lease restrictions, or similar restrictions on property within the exclusive use or control of the antenna user where the user has an ownership or leasehold interest in the property. A restriction impairs if it: unreasonably delays or prevents use of; (2) unreasonably increases the cost of; or (3) precludes a person from receiving or transmitting an acceptable quality signal from an antenna covered under the rule. The rule does not prohibit legitimate safety restrictions or restrictions designed to preserve designated or eligible historic or prehistoric properties, provided the restriction is no more burdensome than necessary to accomplish the safety or preservation purpose.

Originally posted by jergans
The co-op board cannot prevent you from getting a dish.

Yes, but the co-op board can prevent you from installing it in a place where it will work. The law only says that the building cannot restrict installation of an antenna in an area controlled by the owner.

For example, I live in a condo. My windows face north, so installing a dish even on the outside of one of my own windows would be an exercise in futility. I do not have access to install a dish on the roof, since that's a common area, nor do I have access to the conduits I'd need to use to run cable between my apartment and the roof. The law simply says that the building can't prohibit me from installing it in areas I control. It doesn't say that the building has to give me access to a place where the dish will work.
-JMP

I have to ask why co-op boards are so ______. What the hell difference is it going to make to anyone if a small satellite dish is on the roof? Most people on co-op boards think they're living in the freakin' Taj Mahal.

One reason a co-op board would prohibit this is the liability the co-op might face from someone getting hurt while up on the roof (or worse, falling off of the roof).

Originally posted by bigd86
It's on both WPIX11 and WWOR9, neither on which we get in HD, and it is not listed on 708, so I doubt it.
However, tomorrows game is on FOX 705, and Sunday's game, on YES, is listed on 708, so 2 out of 3 really isn't so bad (especially since I will be at tonight's game:D )

Go METS!!!
Apparently tomorrows fox game will NOT be in HD, and no regular season Fox games will be HD this year.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=541461

Also, in the case of my building, there are 34 floors. Right now, the bulding has agreements with two companies to use conduit runs that span the height of the building: Time Warner Cable and Verizon. If everyone put their own dish on the roof, that would be 600 dishes on the roof, and 600 cables running down through the conduit. If things were done slightly more sensibly and the apartments made use of shared dishes (for argument's sake, let's say 1 DirecTV and 1 Dish Network), while there would only be 2 dishes, there would still be cable running down the height of the building, with splitters at every floor.

If you have a house, and you get a dish put on the roof, you're responsible for maintaining the cable between the dish and yoru tv. Who would be responsible for the cable runs from any dishes on the roof? Who would be responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the conduit? Those in the building who don't partake of the dish shouldn't have to pay for it, but DirecTV doesn't have a setup for maintaining that wiring between the dish and individual apartments. TW does have a standard procedure for maintaining the wiring up to the apartment itself, so TW gets the contract.

The problem is that when the building negotiated the contract with TWC, they didn't build extra service guarantees into it. I've suggested to the board that when the contract is renegotiated they should specify that TW has to give residents a phone number that goes straight to a human and guarantees smaller appointment windows. It's perfectly legal for the building to try to negotiate that, it's just a question of how TW would respond. The 1200 apartments in the complex are just enough to make it interesting for TW.
-JMP

Originally posted by QMAN71
Apparently tomorrows fox game will NOT be in HD, and no regular season Fox games will be HD this year.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=541461

I just read the thread. Amazing! Even though the cameras, infrastructure etc. will all be HD capable, Fox will still show the game in 480P widescreen!
Doesn't make any sense! Does it cost so much more to pick up the signal (and probably convert it from 1080i to 720p) and send it out?
No respect at all for the customers!!!
Or am I missing something?

OK. I don't know why I went off like that.

Originally posted by bigd86
I just read the thread. Amazing! Even though the cameras, infrastructure etc. will all be HD capable, Fox will still show the game in 480P widescreen!
Doesn't make any sense! Does it cost so much more to pick up the signal (and probably convert it from 1080i to 720p) and send it out?
No respect at all for the customers!!!
Or am I missing something?

I was very disapointed in that at first, then I realized that it is still 100 times better than the SD picture I'm usually forced to watch, all the while being remined that Cablevison and WPIX has the games in HD.

Still wish it was HD.

Big surprise, my 8000 HD is finally crapping out. It lasted about 5 weeks, which is longer than I expected!

Can someone tell me if I can walk into the service center at the Queens Center Mall and swap the 8000 for an 8300? I had a CSR on the phone but I certainly wasn't about to ask her.

Thanks.

Originally posted by margoba
My impression is exactly the same as yours: 8300HD to Sharp LCD via HDMI is worse than component.

But this appears to be TV dependent. In my office 8300HD to Sony Rear Projection LCD, HDMI is equal to, or slightly better than, component. Even so, I'm using component in the office due to all the HDMI annoyances (HDCP errors).

-barry


I've found the opposite to be true on my Aquos GX45. HDMI looks noticably superior to Component in the area of black detail and general clarity. I'm not an expert by any means, but even my girl picked HDMI as the superior input when I flicked back and forth last night.

Component from the 8300, "out of the box" with identical settings on both inputs on the Sharp, does seem to have deeper colors for some reason, but when adjusted, I feel the HDMI is slightly better. Just more detail to my eye.

I bought my HDMI cable from bettercables.com, so maybe that's part of it.

I just watched the Mets/Yanks game on the 8300-or at least TRIED to watch it as the picture constantly broke up, pixellated, sound muted out, etc. I went live to 705, M*A*S*H was on-and even live the picture was still breaking up and pixellating. All other channels are fine!!! Preakness on NBC looks good.
Did any one else experience this?

Originally posted by nbuubu
I've found the opposite to be true on my Aquos GX45. HDMI looks noticably superior to Component in the area of black detail and general clarity. I'm not an expert by any means, but even my girl picked HDMI as the superior input when I flicked back and forth last night.

Component from the 8300, "out of the box" with identical settings on both inputs on the Sharp, does seem to have deeper colors for some reason, but when adjusted, I feel the HDMI is slightly better. Just more detail to my eye.

I bought my HDMI cable from bettercables.com, so maybe that's part of it.

Thanks for the thoughts. I think we have different models of Aquos, so that may be it.

The quality of HDMI (or DVI) cable doesn't make a difference with a digital signal. With a digital signal, either all the information makes it from one device to the other and you have picture and sound, or you're missing one bit (or more) and you get nothing.

I have the Aquos 37G4U, so maybe the model does make a difference. I do have a cheapie HDMI cable, but I agree that if it works, it should work fine.

With my TV, when I use HDMI, it's kind of like there's a film over the screen or something: colors are mutes, and resolution appears less.

-barry

I have the Aquos 37G4U, so maybe the model does make a difference. I do have a cheapie HDMI cable, but I agree that if it works, it should work fine.

With my TV, when I use HDMI, it's kind of like there's a film over the screen or something: colors are mutes, and resolution appears less.

-barry

Same model as me and that's exactly what I find. A slight film or haze with HDMI.

Anyway, back to our TWCNYC discussion...

I recorded Grey's Anatomy on ABC-HD tonight on my 8300HD. For about the last 5 minutes of the show the top half of the screen was covered with a pattern that looked a bit like a magnified view of wool cloth. No picture was visable behind this pattern. The bottom half of the screen was fine.

Anybody else have this problem?

-barry

I recorded Grey's Anatomy on ABC-HD tonight on my 8300HD. For about the last 5 minutes of the show the top half of the screen was covered with a pattern that looked a bit like a magnified view of wool cloth. No picture was visable behind this pattern. The bottom half of the screen was fine.

Anybody else have this problem?

-barry

I did too tonight. Watched it around midnight and missed the top half of the last five minutes.

I wonder if it happened in the live feed too...

I just watched the Mets/Yanks game on the 8300-or at least TRIED to watch it as the picture constantly broke up, pixellated, sound muted out, etc. I went live to 705, M*A*S*H was on-and even live the picture was still breaking up and pixellating. All other channels are fine!!! Preakness on NBC looks good.
Did any one else experience this?You might have a signal strength issue. A couple months ago I was getting very poor reception on Fox (same sort of constant pixelation, etc.), then I finally had no picture at all. All of my other channels worked fine. I scheduled a TWC appointment and they told me my signal was weak -- intstalled a booster and now it's working better (although still get some occasional pixelation on all HD channels). For some reason Fox seems the first to go with a weak signal, although I don't know why that would be.

dpc

I watched Grey's Anatomy live via cable and had the same problem at the end of the show. It went away after the show finished.

Cynthia

Looks like it was some sort of wide-spread cable glitch. I'm sorry you folks had problems too, but I'm kind of glad it's not a problem that's specific to my unit.

Thanks,

-barry

p.s. I have a friend who watched the SD version of "Grey's Anatomy" over the air, and had no such problems, so it was either an HD problem or a cable problem.

-b

Was there a software upgrade last night for the 8300HD?
From the time I got it until last night it would buffer 1 HR. of HD material.
This morning the buffer will only hold 1/2 HR. of HD material.
Very strange!


5:30PM update-I got home this afternoon, and the buffer was back to 1 HR.
Nevermind!

For RCN users: what stb do they provide?
I've got a single-tuner DCT6208 DVR from RCN, and have read some locally now have the double-tuner DCT DVR update.

RCN's 6208, perhaps coupled with its less-jammed cable lineup, provides very slightly crisper images: 1335 lines maximum with HDNet's resolution wedges (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5175424#post5175424) versus 1290 lines with my TWC 8300HD (and former 3100HD). BTW, still hope someone will measure the Pioneer converter's HD rez. I'd drop RCN, rent a Pioneer for viewing HD, and keep the 8300HD for recording if the Pioneer, as some here claim, is measurably better.

RCN does have CBS now, as well as Starz! and Cinemax HD compared to TWC. Believe there's new change on the way from RCN, too, as twcinsider tells us there is with TWC's channel 11 addition soon. -- John

A friend of mine is moving to a new apartment in Queens and upgrading from his current basic TWCNYC cable setup to digital, with Roadrunner and a SD-DVR. When he placed his order, at my suggestion, he specifically requested a SA8300 (instead of a SA8000) and a Toshiba (instead of a RCA) cable modem. The TWCNYC CSR accepted his request to have the new cable lines (in 4 rooms) installed inside the apartment's walls or behind the existing moldings.

Cableman showed up this afternoon with a RCA cable modem and without any DVR. The work order didn't even mention wiring the apartment. Cableman tells friend that TWC will wire within walls in Manhattan (which I doubt) but not Queens. But he kindly offers to return over the weekend to do that work if friend will pay him $150.

"Welcome to Time Warner Cable, the place to be ___________" (fill in the blank).

The Yankees game last night on YES HD (708) was unwatchable -- constant picture breakups. It was fine on YES (channel 80). I thought that perhaps the whole HD reception was in trouble, but 706 was fine. Anyone knows what was the problem?

Had the same problem in Queens. I thought it was a weather thing but no other channels were skitzing out like 708.

Had the same problem with the Yankee game last night. Of course, it was the night my parents were over, and I wanted to show them how good HD looked! We ended looking at fish on Discovery HD-and they were still amazed!!!

I sincerly hope that TWCinsider or Bob Watson reads this:

We had an appointment scheduled from 10-2 today to fix the cable signal in our bedroom. At 10:40, I received a voicemail on my cell saying "Sorry for missing you, please call TWC back to reschedule."

My wife and our nanny were home the whole time. Plus we live in a doorman building. No one from TWC showed up. So, I called back, and was on hold for 35 minutes (no joke). The woman I spoke with said she would contact the dispatcher and call me back.

At noon, still no return call, so my wife called TWC. They told her the technician showed up to the building and were told we were not home. Completely untrue. Anyway, my wife said, please send them back before 2, and it will be okay. They say they'll call back within half an hour.

By 1 pm, no call. So I call TWC once again. I'm told that the workman cannot make it to us today, and they are sorry for not calling us to tell us. I said, (1) I need to be the first appointment on the day we reschedule since we both work and have already given up a wasted day and (2) I'm entitled to a free month.

They said (1) was impossible. As for the free month, they said that we are not entitled to anything because they tried to reach us by phone and "when you did not call back within 30 minutes, you are noted as not being home." When I said that I was on hold from 10:55-11:30 (they called at 10:40), I was told that that's too bad, but since I didn't return the call in time, I was SOL.

This is the fourth time in 2 1/2 years that someone from TWC has either not shown up or brought the wrong equipment necessitating anoter appointment. This is completely unacceptable service, but since they essentially have a monopoly, there is NOTHING that I can do.

I'm completely fed up. If anyone has a direct phone number for someone at Time Warner New York who can possibly help me out (other than Bob Watson, who's a programming guy), I would be extremely appreciative.

Sorry for the rant and the non-HDTV related post.

there is NOTHING that I can do.



If nothing else, you can file a DoITT (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/consumer/consumer_cable_service_form.shtml) complaint.

Sorry you had a problem. Did you get a call from TWC the day beofre the appointment to confirm it? That is SOP in Queens. If you have a doorman and the TWC tech did not report to him, he never showed up. TWC is relying on info from their tech which appears to be untrue. Call NYC Consumer Affairs and file a complaint.

Regards....JL

Big bummer, lousy way to start the holiday weekend.
Definitely file a complaint as Manatus suggests. I had success with that method.
Hit ‘em hard!

.... Did you get a call from TWC the day beofre the appointment to confirm it? That is SOP in Queens.... Call NYC Consumer Affairs and file a complaint.




I get a little crazy with the confirmation of my scheduled appointments. I’ll confirm and reconfirm several times and always the morning of—not that I should have to, or if I didn’t, I’m to blame.

I'm completely fed up. If anyone has a direct phone number for someone at Time Warner New York who can possibly help me out (other than Bob Watson, who's a programming guy), I would be extremely appreciative.

Sorry for the rant and the non-HDTV related post.

Call Ed Urbanowski in the TWC-NYC Public Affairs Office. His direct line is (718) 670-6626. If you can't reach him, try Molly Adams (his supervisor) at (718) 670-6624.

File a complaint with DOITT anyway. Remember that TWC is obligated by FCC regs to keep hold times to under 30 seconds on 90% of calls. Somehow everyone here always manages to be in the other 10% ;-)
-JMP

Thanks for all the help! I'll file a complaint with DOITT.

My wife's on the coop board of my building and is more frustrated with TWC than I am. As I said above, similar things have happened a number of times. Maybe now I can convince her to discuss with the Board having DirecTV wire the building. I know D* has its own problems (HD-Lite, etc.), but it would be nice to have choices.

[QUOTE=John Mason]I've got a single-tuner DCT6208 DVR from RCN, and have read some locally now have the double-tuner DCT DVR update.

RCN's software update 10 days ago or so fried my box while I was on vacation (so they tell me). They brought a new box yesterday but w/o the DVR (they told me I never had the DVR, news to me since I used it all the time).

Anyway they came back today with a new box and although I didn't request it, didn't know they had it, got a dual tuner DCT6400. Totally psyched about this and besides the dual capability the DVR functions seem to be a lot better, for example unlike on my old box when fast forwarding you now can see where you are in the program timewise.

Wonder if a TWC firmware update has screwed up the 8300HD one-button inset-image channel-swap feature? It worked fine a few weeks ago, but now mine causes a reboot; tried several channel retunes/swap attempts. (Last-channel one-button switching works fine.) Also tried a cold boot that didn't help. Is swap working for the S. Manhattan head end or elsewhere? Thanks. -- John

I have had a Pio 3510 for a year. It reboots at least once a week, ruining my ReplayTV experience (thank god for Poopli).

Me thinks its time for a new HD box? Considering I have two ReplayTVs, what's the best HD cable box I can get from TWCNYC? And how do I get it?

You're probably not going to like this, but I used to have a ReplayTV and a TWC SD cable box. About a year ago, I gave the ReplayTV to a friend and switched to the 8000SD DVR box. I loved it. No more problems with the IR blaster: the Replay's very slow channel surfing (via IR blaster), the reboots that you mention, and the occasional 'user error' when I knocked the IR blaster off the cable box.

By now, I've upgraded to 2 8300HD DVR's, and I love them.

-barry

After paying for lifetime activation on the Replay... no i dont like it. But I do appreciate the honesty. Are there any other non-DVR options?

You're probably not going to like this, but I used to have a ReplayTV and a TWC SD cable box. About a year ago, I gave the ReplayTV to a friend and switched to the 8000SD DVR box. I loved it. No more problems with the IR blaster: the Replay's very slow channel surfing (via IR blaster), the reboots that you mention, and the occasional 'user error' when I knocked the IR blaster off the cable box.

By now, I've upgraded to 2 8300HD DVR's, and I love them.

-barry

I have had a Pio 3510 for a year. It reboots at least once a week, ruining my ReplayTV experience (thank god for Poopli).

Me thinks its time for a new HD box? Considering I have two ReplayTVs, what's the best HD cable box I can get from TWCNYC? And how do I get it?

I used to have the Pio 3510 in my living room before upgrading to the 8300HD DVR, and it was a great box, though it had its quirks. I have an SA 3250HD in my bedroom, which I love. The picture quality is excellent, and the box seems to behave very well. Out of all the non-DVR cable boxes I've had, the SA 3250HD is my favorite. I would recommend getting one if you can. You can walk into any TWC center with your old box to make the swap, though they won't guarantee any particular model to be in stock. But I would imagine they would, as I believe it is the current preferred model they are using now.

Thanks Mike, I will try and get one tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes.

I used to have the Pio 3510 in my living room before upgrading to the 8300HD DVR, and it was a great box, though it had its quirks. I have an SA 3250HD in my bedroom, which I love. The picture quality is excellent, and the box seems to behave very well. Out of all the non-DVR cable boxes I've had, the SA 3250HD is my favorite. I would recommend getting one if you can. You can walk into any TWC center with your old box to make the swap, though they won't guarantee any particular model to be in stock. But I would imagine they would, as I believe it is the current preferred model they are using now.

Hi guys... i'm a tech for time warner.. just figured i'd share a few things with you guys

Its dispatches job to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. they will tell you that the tech with bring this or that and that we will have the model box you ask for, the tech will be spanish speaking, he will have the newer remotes etc. the fact is that they have no way of quarenteeing ANY of that being that the next time the tech see's the notes is when he downloads the job on his handheld which is pretty much right before he gets to your house. The warehouse give us our equipment at the start of each day. we have no control over what boxes we get, and most of the time what we get is outdated.

if you want to make sure you get the newest box your best bet is to pick it up from the service center (queens center mall or the manhatten center.. i forgot where that one is) if you want a DVR swapped i highly recommend going to the center as the boxes that we get are pretty much tossed around and i woudlnt' trust the hard drives. MANHATTEN BOXES DO NOT WORK IN QUEENS AND VICE VERSA DESPITE WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE TELLS YOU. the channel mapping is different and the guide will not work and the box will shut off after a few days.

every customer asks for remotes.. if you have a later call chances are we won't have any left and they are not always new.. we only get a few from the shop when we request them

the newest boxes seem to be the SA3250 for SD and HD boxes. pioneer no longer makes boxes... they were horrible anyway. the 8300 and 8300 HD are the newest DVRs... if you get an 8000 take it to the service center and swap it out... not worth the time or effort to use them. we rarely get these boxes on the truck. the newest modems are the RCA's btw, they gray ones not the white ones... toshiba no longer makes modems.

sometimes on heavy load days (we get about 13- 14 calls a day as opposed to verisons 2 - 3 calls ) sometimes shortcuts are taken ... sorry to say but its true. keep your phone on you at all times because if they call and you don't answer you'll be out of luck. Also we show up earlier then you'd think... most of the guys i work with are closer to the beginning of the appointment then the end.

anyway that's all i got for now. feel free to ask me questions

Matt

MANHATTEN BOXES DO NOT WORK IN QUEENS AND VICE VERSA DESPITE WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE TELLS YOU. the channel mapping is different and the guide will not work and the box will shut off after a few days.

Is that new? I live in Queens and I've swapped boxes out at the Manhattan location before, never with a problem.

Also if your phone number on the work order is 212-000-0000 or 212-999-9999, you're screwed. Techs can easily tell the dispatcher customer is not home and they will have no way to verify. This is typical on new installs since new people don't have a landline installed yet and the person taking the install order will put one of those numbers in. Most installs by the way are done by lousy contractors and then cleaned up by in-house techs. Also a lot of times techs don't actually go to the building to ring your buzzer or ask the doorman to see if you're home, they'll call the phone number listed on the work order and if no one picks up, they're not going to go crazy looking for a place to park (or double park). A lot of time a nanny or someone is home but won't pickup the phone but will pick up the intercom when the doorman downstairs is calling. Does that sound right Matthew? ;-)

Hi guys... i'm a tech for time warner.. just figured i'd share a few things with you guys

Its dispatches job to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. they will tell you that the tech with bring this or that and that we will have the model box you ask for, the tech will be spanish speaking, he will have the newer remotes etc. the fact is that they have no way of quarenteeing ANY of that being that the next time the tech see's the notes is when he downloads the job on his handheld which is pretty much right before he gets to your house. The warehouse give us our equipment at the start of each day. we have no control over what boxes we get, and most of the time what we get is outdated.

if you want to make sure you get the newest box your best bet is to pick it up from the service center (queens center mall or the manhatten center.. i forgot where that one is) if you want a DVR swapped i highly recommend going to the center as the boxes that we get are pretty much tossed around and i woudlnt' trust the hard drives. MANHATTEN BOXES DO NOT WORK IN QUEENS AND VICE VERSA DESPITE WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE TELLS YOU. the channel mapping is different and the guide will not work and the box will shut off after a few days.

every customer asks for remotes.. if you have a later call chances are we won't have any left and they are not always new.. we only get a few from the shop when we request them

the newest boxes seem to be the SA3250 for SD and HD boxes. pioneer no longer makes boxes... they were horrible anyway. the 8300 and 8300 HD are the newest DVRs... if you get an 8000 take it to the service center and swap it out... not worth the time or effort to use them. we rarely get these boxes on the truck. the newest modems are the RCA's btw, they gray ones not the white ones... toshiba no longer makes modems.

sometimes on heavy load days (we get about 13- 14 calls a day as opposed to verisons 2 - 3 calls ) sometimes shortcuts are taken ... sorry to say but its true. keep your phone on you at all times because if they call and you don't answer you'll be out of luck. Also we show up earlier then you'd think... most of the guys i work with are closer to the beginning of the appointment then the end.

anyway that's all i got for now. feel free to ask me questions

Matt

If there is no return path, box will never completely boot and clock will not display current time

I get to the passport and it gets stuck on the first dot and never moves then it's gone.

Anyone know what it could be?

Blue

Is the SA 3250 both for SD & HD? Two different versions or one box does it all?

Can anyone confirm if the speed channel is included in the $39.95 package?

If there is no return path, box will never completely boot and clock will not display current time

cable might be disconnected at the pole. usually that's the case when you can't get past one dot and the time is wrong.

make sure that your address is right on your bill so that you don't get disconnected by accident. many people dont' correct wrong apt numbers because the name is on the bill and the other tenants know where its going anyway

Also if your phone number on the work order is 212-000-0000 or 212-999-9999, you're screwed. Techs can easily tell the dispatcher customer is not home and they will have no way to verify. This is typical on new installs since new people don't have a landline installed yet and the person taking the install order will put one of those numbers in. Most installs by the way are done by lousy contractors and then cleaned up by in-house techs. Also a lot of times techs don't actually go to the building to ring your buzzer or ask the doorman to see if you're home, they'll call the phone number listed on the work order and if no one picks up, they're not going to go crazy looking for a place to park (or double park). A lot of time a nanny or someone is home but won't pickup the phone but will pick up the intercom when the doorman downstairs is calling. Does that sound right Matthew? ;-)

never actually seen a listing like that as a main # but that would be a dead give away.. also cell phones as home #'s make it very tempting not to ring the bell and just call. The contractors are pretty lousy... and the Time warner installers have too much work to really do a thorough job sometimes. Here's somethign that more people need to do though... LABEL YOUR DOOR BELLS! most techs dont' want to wake up a whole building at 8 in the morning because they don't know which bell to ring for the person to come down. i'd say that's a pretty instant home verify.

one thing that really bugs me is that the contracters never seem to want to set the aspect ratio or the resolution on the box... and then dont' tell the customer where it is. they dont' even tell people where the HD channels are... kinda of funny to go into a house and have someone complain that the HD looks horrible when what they are watching is regular TV with a scaled 1080i connection.

Matt

Wonder if a TWC firmware update has screwed up the 8300HD one-button inset-image channel-swap feature? It worked fine a few weeks ago, but now mine causes a reboot; tried several channel retunes/swap attempts. (Last-channel one-button switching works fine.) Also tried a cold boot that didn't help. Is swap working for the S. Manhattan head end or elsewhere? Thanks. -- John


I’ve encountered the same problem.

Every time I use the pip swap button the remote’s functions freeze up and the box inevitably reboots. This has been happening consistently since Friday. I attributed this freezing up to the hard drive since it was close to full.

It has been especially annoying since many things have been on at the same time these past several days—NBA, MLB, etc.

By using the last channel buttons and the swap buttons I have good control for four channels but not when the box chokes. I wasn’t aware of a soft ware up grade. I’ve been trying to get the hard drive freed up asap, assuming that this would solve the problem.

Will the 3250 boxes let you set the color of the sidebars?

matthewr or twcinsider I am a twc customer in queens, i have the 8300hd dvr box, i was wondering if the hdmi is active, because I just got my tv and it said no signal with the hdmi but works fine with component.
please advise!
thanks

I'm not matthewr or twcinsider, but I have the 8300hd box in Manhattan, and the HDMI definitely works on my box. I've used both HDMI to HDMI and HDMI to DVI with a converter cable.

HDMI is very sensitive to the order in which you turn things on. Try turning the TV on first, then a few seconds later turn on the cable box. If that fails, try cycling the cable box on and off - sometimes that helps.

The moral of the story (for me) is that HDMI is too finicky for my tolerance level, and I switched back to component. Also, on one TV I cannot tell the difference in PQ, and on the other TV, component was definitely better PQ than HDMI.

-barry

Hey TWC insider and matthewr - THANK YOU for your continued participation here. We may not love TWC some of the time (we may also hate it from time to time :D but in fairness when a new HD channel is added we're all quite pleased :)) but trust me - we definitely appreciate having you guys here.

TM

All,

I went to 23rd street to swap out my PIO3510 for a SA3250, i was sadly informed they did not have any. Even tho I own two ReplayTV's, I picked up an 8300HD because I didnt want to go home empty handed after waiting one hour at 23rd street.

So I hook up the 8300HD and ...

WOW.

I didnt realize how much the PIO3510 sucked until I saw the picture on the 8300HD. What a crime that TWC is still peddling the 3510. SD looks 10x's better on the 3510, and HD looks better too.

I originally made the move because the 3510 reset every couple of days, screwing up my replay... now I think I am getting rid of at least one of the Replays and keeping the 8300HD... I hate to say it... but TWC is gonna get their money from me.. the 8300HD rocks... Dual Tuners, PIP, Image Resizing from the converter... doesnt have all the fancy moves (record in one room and play in another) of the Replay.. but you can't argue with Dual Record HD Quality.

So.. there's my update.

matthewr or twcinsider I am a twc customer in queens, i have the 8300hd dvr box, i was wondering if the hdmi is active, because I just got my tv and it said no signal with the hdmi but works fine with component.
please advise!
thanks

the HDMI is active... not sure why you are having that problem.. what the other guy said is right though.. you have to make sure you do everythign in the right order

quick note about the HDMI on the 8300 box... if you plug it into a tv that doesnt' have a 5.1 decoder then the digital audio out will only output stereo sound... dont' know if there has been a fix for it yet but as of a month ago this was true

mabrym - as far as i know no box lets you set the color of the side bars... i'm trying to remember which box is grey and which is black but i can't remember off hand.

Hey TWC insider and matthewr - THANK YOU for your continued participation here. We may not love TWC some of the time (we may also hate it from time to time :D but in fairness when a new HD channel is added we're all quite pleased :)) but trust me - we definitely appreciate having you guys here.

TM

its nice to be appreciated... i'll even forgive that you are a yankee fan =P

Matt

All,

I went to 23rd street to swap out my PIO3510 for a SA3250, i was sadly informed they did not have any. Even tho I own two ReplayTV's, I picked up an 8300HD because I didnt want to go home empty handed after waiting one hour at 23rd street.

So I hook up the 8300HD and ...

WOW.

I didnt realize how much the PIO3510 sucked until I saw the picture on the 8300HD. What a crime that TWC is still peddling the 3510. SD looks 10x's better on the 3510, and HD looks better too.

I originally made the move because the 3510 reset every couple of days, screwing up my replay... now I think I am getting rid of at least one of the Replays and keeping the 8300HD... I hate to say it... but TWC is gonna get their money from me.. the 8300HD rocks... Dual Tuners, PIP, Image Resizing from the converter... doesnt have all the fancy moves (record in one room and play in another) of the Replay.. but you can't argue with Dual Record HD Quality.

So.. there's my update.

was the PIO3510 a pioneer dvr? is that what they use in manhatten? i know SI and So. manhatten use different boxes but i didnt' know which ones... i do know this though.. the pioneer HD is always foggy... but you dont' have to worry about that anymore because as far as i know we dont' carry pioneer anymore because they stopped making boxes.

Matt

mabrym - as far as i know no box lets you set the color of the side bars..

The SARA versions of the SA8000HD and SA8300 do, and, I believe, so does the SA3250HD.

No. the 3510 was my first HD box. But it basically sux in comparison to the HD DVR and apparently the 3250 too...


was the PIO3510 a pioneer dvr? is that what they use in manhatten? i know SI and So. manhatten use different boxes but i didnt' know which ones... i do know this though.. the pioneer HD is always foggy... but you dont' have to worry about that anymore because as far as i know we dont' carry pioneer anymore because they stopped making boxes.

Matt

I was just wondering if the 8300HD DVR is available in Staten Island? I'd call but I'm not sure they'd tell me the truth even if they had it cause they don't like the idea of everybody exchanging and TWC getting stuck with all those 8000's. :o

No. the 3510 was my first HD box. But it basically sux in comparison to the HD DVR and apparently the 3250 too...

Some of us older types here recall fighting to get TWCNYC to offer the Pio 3510HD because it was much better than TWCNYC's first HD box, the SA3100, and then waging a second battle to get the company to activate its DVI port. Even today, I believe that with my display, it produced a slightly better PQ than even the SA8300HD.

I posted this on the HDTV Programming board, but I would think it belongs here;

In anticipation for my HDTV being delivered, I swapped my current cable box for a HDTV STB. Though I wanted the SA8300HD, all they had were the Pioneer boxes that Time Warner offers (the Voyager, or something).

Anyway, here's the kicker; I now have every channel. All the Premium channels (including the ones I'm not supposed to have), and HDXtra channels come in. Now, normally I would just chalk this up as being one for me, zero for Time Warner and hope I don't get billed for it, but the On-Demand channels don't work (I subscribe to 4 premium movie channels)! They give the subscription service message. That's too huge to overlook. We have another regular box in the house, and the service coming in is normal (i.e. only what we're paying for).

What's going on? Is this a hacked box? I got it at the Queens Center mall location, if that means anything...

On a side note, HDTV channels look pretty damn good even on my non-HDTV...regular SD channels look worse than before, however. Thought that was kind of weird.

Can anyone offer a more precise description of the Pioneer HD box's fidelity beyond it rocks, sucks, etc.? If it's significantly better than the 8300HD, whatever that is, I'd like to try one. For example, using HDNet with this technique (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5175424#post5175424), I get 1290 lines from TWC with the 8300HD. and 1335 lines with another converter (DCT6208) from RCN. This difference is obvious with HDNet's resolution wedges and somewhat noticeable with some HD programming but often requires fast A-B switching to see the improvement. -- John

This is normal when you pick up a new box. They don't always initialize the unit right away, so you just get the default channels until they do. You can call them, but either way it will be corrected within a few days.

Of course, sometimes they don't properly initialize the box, and after a few days you get no service at all on that box (this happened to me twice), instead just a message that says "Your digital cable service has been disconnected -- Call your cable operator" If that happens, call TWC and they'll fix it.

I posted this on the HDTV Programming board, but I would think it belongs here;

In anticipation for my HDTV being delivered, I swapped my current cable box for a HDTV STB. Though I wanted the SA8300HD, all they had were the Pioneer boxes that Time Warner offers (the Voyager, or something).

Anyway, here's the kicker; I now have every channel. All the Premium channels (including the ones I'm not supposed to have), and HDXtra channels come in. Now, normally I would just chalk this up as being one for me, zero for Time Warner and hope I don't get billed for it, but the On-Demand channels don't work (I subscribe to 4 premium movie channels)! They give the subscription service message. That's too huge to overlook. We have another regular box in the house, and the service coming in is normal (i.e. only what we're paying for).

What's going on? Is this a hacked box? I got it at the Queens Center mall location, if that means anything...

On a side note, HDTV channels look pretty damn good even on my non-HDTV...regular SD channels look worse than before, however. Thought that was kind of weird.

I was just wondering if the 8300HD DVR is available in Staten Island? I'd call but I'm not sure they'd tell me the truth even if they had it cause they don't like the idea of everybody exchanging and TWC getting stuck with all those 8000's. :o
I'm also waiting for confirmation of this. Goanna (a member here and SI resident) was able to get an 8300HD by filing a DOITT complaint a couple months ago. I haven't seen him post in awhile so he must be pretty happy ;)
Anyway, as soon a I hear that they have the 8300HD at the service center I'll be swapping my 8000HD.

The SARA versions of the SA8000HD and SA8300 do, and, I believe, so does the SA3250HD.

Only SARA software has an option to change the color of the sidebars - if you have Passport, no matter what box you have, you are stuck w/ the sidebars as is. The Pioneer 3510HD had black sidebars but the SA 3250HD, 8000HD and 8300HD all use gray sidebars, which you can't change. This is one of the few features of SARA that would be nice to have access to in Passport (along w/ the HDMI digital audio fix).

This is normal when you pick up a new box. They don't always initialize the unit right away, so you just get the default channels until they do. You can call them, but either way it will be corrected within a few days.

Of course, sometimes they don't properly initialize the box, and after a few days you get no service at all on that box (this happened to me twice), instead just a message that says "Your digital cable service has been disconnected -- Call your cable operator" If that happens, call TWC and they'll fix it.

Good call, man. I checked this morning, and it was back to normal...oh well, it was exciting while it lasted.

Hey John,

Apologies for the non-scientific description. I was just so astonished by the difference between to 3510 and the 8300. To be clear, what is most significant to me is the improved clarity of SD with the 8300. The 3510 showed SD images which were extremely grainy. The 8300's pictures are much smoother, not as good as HD of course, but superior to my CRT image. This was not the case with the 3510.

That being said, I was told that the 3510 would display SD better over S-Video. But I didnt want to get into complex switching, so I just got used to the grainy SD over component picture.

Unfortunately I am not equipped to explain how (or if) the 8300 HD picture is better than the 3510. To me its a moot point because of the dual HD tuners and DVR. Even coming from a person (me) with two networked ReplayTVs who uses Poopli and DVArchive... the 8300 wins by a slim margin. Too often did slow channel switching and powered off cable boxes cause me to miss a show. The 8300 while unable to allow unlimited storage and room-to-roon viewing, trumps the replay with dual HD recording... but this of course is just my humble opinion... if you value infinate storage, than a Replay can beat the 8300... but give it time.. I think the cable companies are catching up... and ReplayTV is standing still.

Anyway... not to turn this into a replay forum... just highlighting the virtues of the 8300... keep in mind, I have only owned it for a few days.

Hope this helps.


Can anyone offer a more precise description of the Pioneer HD box's fidelity beyond it rocks, sucks, etc.? If it's significantly better than the 8300HD, whatever that is, I'd like to try one. For example, using HDNet with this technique (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5175424#post5175424), I get 1290 lines from TWC with the 8300HD. and 1335 lines with another converter (DCT6208) from RCN. This difference is obvious with HDNet's resolution wedges and somewhat noticeable with some HD programming but often requires fast A-B switching to see the improvement. -- John

That being said, I was told that the 3510 would display SD better over S-Video. But I didnt want to get into complex switching, so I just got used to the grainy SD over component picture.


Well, it makes sense now. I got the 3510 box last night, and to my surprise S-Video looked much better (at least for the SD). Enough so that I stuck with the S-Video over component. I'm hoping I'll have more luck with HDMI or component on the 8300HD.

Oh, I saw this posted a few times:

HD Xtra $8.95
Box Rent $8.95
DVR Service $8.95

Now, the Box Rent charge doesn't mean I will incur any new charges by swapping out my old standard box for an HDTV box, will it? The TWCNYC site says there are no new charges involved.

I believe my charges are actually... 15.95 for HD Xtra and DVR Service combined.
I am also on Dbest.

No additional Box Rent Charge.




HD Xtra $8.95
Box Rent $8.95
DVR Service $8.95

Now, the Box Rent charge doesn't mean I will incur any new charges by swapping out my old standard box for an HDTV box, will it? The TWCNYC site says there are no new charges involved.

I won't use DVI or HDMI -- only S-video and component. I've been happy enough with the Pioneer 3510HD. Would a SA 3250HD give me a better PQ -- for SD and/or HD? Thank you.

I posted this on the HDTV Programming board, but I would think it belongs here;

In anticipation for my HDTV being delivered, I swapped my current cable box for a HDTV STB. Though I wanted the SA8300HD, all they had were the Pioneer boxes that Time Warner offers (the Voyager, or something).

Anyway, here's the kicker; I now have every channel. All the Premium channels (including the ones I'm not supposed to have), and HDXtra channels come in. Now, normally I would just chalk this up as being one for me, zero for Time Warner and hope I don't get billed for it, but the On-Demand channels don't work (I subscribe to 4 premium movie channels)! They give the subscription service message. That's too huge to overlook. We have another regular box in the house, and the service coming in is normal (i.e. only what we're paying for).

What's going on? Is this a hacked box? I got it at the Queens Center mall location, if that means anything...

On a side note, HDTV channels look pretty damn good even on my non-HDTV...regular SD channels look worse than before, however. Thought that was kind of weird.

for some reason the box # wasn't entered into your account, or it didnt' process. i would call customer service and confirm that the # on the back of your box is in the account or your service will be cut off in a few days.

as far as the SD channels looking worse go into the settings menu... to more settings... and set the aspect ratio and the choose the correct resolutions for your tv.. that shoudl make them look better. the pioneer box doens't do SD channels especially well unfortunatly

Matt

Only SARA software has an option to change the color of the sidebars - if you have Passport, no matter what box you have, you are stuck w/ the sidebars as is. The Pioneer 3510HD had black sidebars but the SA 3250HD, 8000HD and 8300HD all use gray sidebars, which you can't change. This is one of the few features of SARA that would be nice to have access to in Passport (along w/ the HDMI digital audio fix).


as far as i know time warner is stuck with the passport software for a while... i believe it was a stipulation of us switching from the PIO boxes to the SI a while back.

Matt

SA 3250HD: better PQ than Pioneer 3510HD?
I won't use DVI or HDMI -- only S-video and component. I've been happy enough with the Pioneer 3510HD. Would a SA 3250HD give me a better PQ -- for SD and/or HD? Thank you.

Good question. I've been thinking of switching my PIO 3510 for a SA 3250. Anyone with experence with both?

go with the 3250 if you are using component.... s video i couldn't say

My original plan was to get a 3250. 23rd street didnt have any. Is there a way to get one for sure?

go with the 3250 if you are using component.... s video i couldn't say

Good question. I've been thinking of switching my PIO 3510 for a SA 3250. Anyone with experence with both?

I've had both. The Pio 3510HD is a good box, but I found it has its share of quirks. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the SA 3250HD is probably my favorite non-DVR cable box of all the ones I've had. The picture quality is excellent and I haven't had a single glitch as of yet (and I've had the box since November). Whereas the Pio would sometimes be slow to change channels or freeze up and require a reboot, I've had none of that with the SA 3250HD. I definitely recommend it if you can get it (The Gizzard wasn't able to get one at 23rd Street the other day, though that's where I got mine, so getting it may just be a matter of luck).

Has anyone tried to connect the new Sony DVR (DHG-HDD500) to TW Cable in New York City (especially Staten Island) via a CableCard? There is only one representative for the whole city that can process a CableCard request. She insists that this DVR is NOT supported via a CableCard on NYC's TW Cable. Sony says that it is supported. I do not know how to convince the representative that it is supported.

Cynthia

So, is TWC NYC going to be last on the upgrade list for switched-broadcasting (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5702312&&#post5702312) slated to free up lots of cable spectrum for new channels and more VOD? The writeups--here's a more-detailed description (http://www.freelists.org/archives/opendtv/06-2005/msg00012.html)--indicate some testing before a '06 nationwide rollout. -- John

Has anyone tried to connect the new Sony DVR (DHG-HDD500) to TW Cable in New York City (especially Staten Island) via a CableCard? There is only one representative for the whole city that can process a CableCard request. She insists that this DVR is NOT supported via a CableCard on NYC's TW Cable. Sony says that it is supported. I do not know how to convince the representative that it is supported.

Cynthia

There is no doubt that TWC's cablecard will work will the Sony DVR. Not sure why you would want it though over TWC's dual tuner DVRs? Anyway, CableCard is a mandated standardized device and TWC is obligated to deliver one to you if you request it.

Drew

drew138,

I agree with you that it will most likely work. However, I have tried twice to get an appointment to install the CableCard. The representative insists that it will not work. She says someone else tried this about a week ago and it didn't work. She also said that some Sony CableCard TV's also don't work. This applies to all of NYC TWC. She said she would discuss it with management and call me back. No call yet! Think I will get a call???

I am about to give up and get an 8300HD. The big question is are these available yet on Staten Island. No one has confirmed this yet.

Cynthia

There is no doubt that TWC's cablecard will work will the Sony DVR. Not sure why you would want it though over TWC's dual tuner DVRs?

Sorry to sound stupid, but what exactly does dual tuner mean?

Sorry to sound stupid, but what exactly does dual tuner mean?

You can watch or record two different channels at once. For example, Record Lost at Wednesday night at 8pm and watch Law and Order at the same time.

And in the case of the 8300HD, record one and watch the other in Picture In Picture.... and of course do both in HD. pretty neat stuff.

Here's my question for the Informed:
I have a Sharp LC32D5U showing up tomorrow and want to get HD cable set up through TWC. I don't want to DVR, so that's not a worry. What setup should I get for best results? And, will a cablecard work for me as far as getting real HD, or is a set-top box the way to go (and if so, which one)? Thanks for the advice!

Firespinner,

If you don't care about On Demand then go w/ the CableCard. It's cheaper, less obtrusive and supposedly picture quality is better than using a STB. You should be able to get all of the channels (HD and SD premiums, etc) that you would otherwise get over CC.

It's really funny that you just posted this, b/c I was literally just about post a question asking how the CC on the Sharp LCDs looks. I am about to get the exact same model that you have (or possibly the Samsung) and was curious if the CableCard worked well. So I would love to hear how it goes.

Firespinner,

If you don't care about On Demand then go w/ the CableCard. It's cheaper, less obtrusive and supposedly picture quality is better than using a STB. You should be able to get all of the channels (HD and SD premiums, etc) that you would otherwise get over CC.

It's really funny that you just posted this, b/c I was literally just about post a question asking how the CC on the Sharp LCDs looks. I am about to get the exact same model that you have (or possibly the Samsung) and was curious if the CableCard worked well. So I would love to hear how it goes.


Does TWC charge you for a cablecard?

dont' be so fast to pick up a cable card... i've had mine for 3 days.... the guide is pretty much useless... it seems to DL data when it wants to, don't notice any difference in picture quality with the box and i've had to refresh it a few times. i may have a bad card but that doesn't really explain the guide not working.. i can live withough on demand since i have it on all my other tvs but not the guide

Matt

What kind of display are you using Matt? Do you have the TVGOS built in? That would be a deal breaker for me too if the guide data was choppy. That's why even though I think it would be nice to spend the extra money to get CC now, it seems like it may not be ready for primetime.

I should point out that I've never actually used cable card so my recommendation was purely based on "how" it should work. And if you already spent the money for the TV with cablecard, that obviously changes the analysis.

Gizzard - I think TW charges $2/mo for a cable card vs. ~$10 for a STB.

i've got the sammy R4667... the guide so far has been useless... can't tell you whether it is the tv or the system. i'm using Time warner in nyc, and gemstar and time warner both blame each other. i'll be honest with you the only reason i even have the card is beacuse i work for the company. i'm anal about keeping things streamlined but this has pretty much ruined it for me. i'll try one more card when we get some in the office. the odd thing is... when i did have program data the pop up info display would not show the program playing.. this leads me to believe that it is a tv problem but i cant' be sure. i guess when i wake up tomorrow i'll see what happens

the card is either 1.50 or 1.75 a month..


Matt

Eric:
Thanks for the advice. I don't care at all about On Demand, my only concern was making sure I'd get the real HD. The operator at TWC didn't know anything about and insisted that I could ONLY get HD from a settop box. I'm looking into that though. Even she admitted that she has no idea how it all works. I'll let you know how the D5U works out.

Matthew:
I've read a lot of posts on conflicts b/t cablecard and tvgos, especially with Sharp and Sammy. They seem pretty defeatable. In most of the threads that I've read, the problem was a bad card.

Just made the appt. with TWC to install a cablecard next week. I'll let you all know how it goes...

Good luck. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing.

The CSR had no idea what she was talking about. With the cablecard you should be able to get all of the channels (including HD, premiums, etc) that you could otherwise get with a STB. What you won't be able to get are the "two-way" features of the STB including Pay-Per-View, On Demand and the programming guide.

Firespinner/Matthew,
There were some posts many pages ago where people were saying that the TWC techs were showing up with 3 or more cards since so many are bad...some wouldn't work (outright) and some had hiccups. If that's the case then it sure sounds like it's worth trying another card Matther.

TM

Anyone know if the SA 8300HD is available at the Queens Center Mall location (or the Atlantic Ave. spot)? I went to Queens Mall last week, and got stuck with a Pioneer box.

It sucks that you can't call these places to see what they have in stock? Anyone picked up a 8300HD in Queens recently?

Anyone know if the SA 8300HD is available at the Queens Center Mall location (or the Atlantic Ave. spot)? I went to Queens Mall last week, and got stuck with a Pioneer box.

It sucks that you can't call these places to see what they have in stock? Anyone picked up a 8300HD in Queens recently?


You went to the Queens Center for a DVR and they gave you a Pioneer box? This doesn’t make sense. TW, as far as I know, only carries SA DVRs, not Pioneer.

I haven’t been to the Queens Center but I’d be pretty surprised if they didn’t have the SA 8300 HD DVRs in stock. Make some noise, don’t take no for an answer. The 8000HD is only going to be a waste of your time.

You went to the Queens Center for a DVR and they gave you a Pioneer box? This doesn’t make sense. TW, as far as I know, only carries SA DVRs, not Pioneer.

I haven’t been to the Queens Center but I’d be pretty surprised if they didn’t have the SA 8300 HD DVRs in stock. Make some noise, don’t take no for an answer. The 8000HD is only going to be a waste of your time.

Yeah, I was there last week and they told me all they had were the Pioneer boxes. Am I better off with the Pioneer than the SA 8000HD?

I'm thinking of going back tonight to try for the 8300HD, but it'd be nice to have some confirmation that it's there before doing so.

If you’re not interested in a DVR then the Pioneer HD box is fine. I haven’t seen any professional specifications comparing one box to another but there has been plenty of arm chair positive feedback regarding the Pio box on this forum.

If you want a DVR then get the 8300.

I want to make the swap mainly for the HDMI connectivity...but I have heard the 8300HD has a better picture than the Pioneer set that TWC provides.