First, I suspect that if want a TWC that "cares to provide their customers with good service", you had better define what you mean by "customers". I suspect that the best way for TWC to provide what a large majority of customers want is to abandon HD entirely. My guess is that HD is pretty much a loss leader right now (OK, maybe a break even product) to position themselves for the future. I wonder what percent of TWC's customers have HD. Since HD owners are probably big spenders, I'd guess that the percentage of revenue from HD owners is bigger than the user percentage, but I'd bet it's still pretty small.

Another guess on my part, but given the way technology is moving around in a scattergun manner (satellite, FIOS, Internet TV, distribution over power lines), I doubt that TWC expects to be a monopoly for long (maybe a few years, but no longer). In fact, they are (incorrectly in my mind) already arguing that they are no longer a monopoly.

I've actually been moderately happy with TWC customer service -- I guess my expectations are lower than yours. In any event, one has to balance customer service with price and product to reach a decision. For example, suppose that there was a new cable company (call it TWC2); now suppose that they offered exactly the same products that TWC does, but TWC2 had excellent customer service. Would you be willing to pay $10 a month more for this? How about $50? Frankly, I think I'm paying enough right now, and I'm getting enough customer service to take advantage of the service. Yeah sometimes I get pissed at their inanities, but they do provide me with a working cable system with lots of programs that I like to watch, and they are remarkably reliable.


I should have been clearer. I didn't read the statement as TWC promising that the NFL network would be available by the time the channel is airing games. That's what I expect from a cable company that cares to provide their customers with good service. I expect that if TWC wants to maintain a monopoly, they should be forced to provide the kind of service they would have to provide if they had truly viable competition.

Sure, they're trying to manage expectations now, but that's a day late and a dollar short. I've been hearing the same excuses and getting the same shoddy customer service for years. At this point they have to do more than manage expectations to win me over. They have to provide outstanding customer service, and they aren't anywhere close.
-JMP

I think people define "customer service" in vastly different ways. Some seem to say they have bad customer service because they don't carry tons of HD channels...

For me, there customer service is OK, not great, but not the pits. Around Xmas I had a service issue and they missed 2 appointments. I complained and they comped me an entire month of all services.

For me, there customer service is OK, not great, but not the pits. Around Xmas I had a service issue and they missed 2 appointments. I complained and they comped me an entire month of all services.

Considering that TWCNYC was legally required to give you two months' free service, I'd call that pretty rotten customer service. Look here. (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/faq/faq.shtml)

Anyone know if TWC is going to offer some more reasonable service plans when these new channels eventually hit?

About a year ago I dropped the It's-All-Here package because it was an extra $20 for essentially one channel ... Showtime HD. If I'd been getting Starz, Cinemax, etc in HD, that would have been different, but I just couldn't justify the premium price for just one extra premium channel.

But I called asking about that old package deal, only to be rudely told it was gone, and that I'd have to add packages of premiums individually for much more money (seems operators can't understand why people discount the value of SD premiums).

Just wondering if any new plans are on the horizon.

I had inquired about the light gray/bright sidebars/pillars (seems to be an issue with using a HD TV w/ a SA 8300HD under Passport/Echo) being majorly annoying and only got a suggestion I move to another city that has a cable company that uses a different OS on their cable box (real helpful suggestion!). I'm surprised that there aren't a ton of folks who are as annoyed as I am (it really tends to kill watching 4:3 content because of the bright bars right next to it).

Well, I figured a way around it... while normally my 8300 goes to the TV via HDMI, I routed an S-Video cable from the 8300 to my receiver, then ran an S-Video cable to the TV on one of their S-Video inputs. I KNOW there's a lot of difference, but we ARE talking SD video here.

Spent some time going back and forth between the S-Video input and the HDMI input and I gotta say I do NOT see any real appreciable differences. PLUS, in this mode I get black sidebars!

Not happy I have to go switching inputs, but happy it works and I get black sidebars.

I had inquired about the light gray/bright sidebars/pillars (seems to be an issue with using a HD TV w/ a SA 8300HD under Passport/Echo) being majorly annoying and only got a suggestion I move to another city that has a cable company that uses a different OS on their cable box (real helpful suggestion!). I'm surprised that there aren't a ton of folks who are as annoyed as I am (it really tends to kill watching 4:3 content because of the bright bars right next to it).

Well, I figured a way around it... while normally my 8300 goes to the TV via HDMI, I routed an S-Video cable from the 8300 to my receiver, then ran an S-Video cable to the TV on one of their S-Video inputs. I KNOW there's a lot of difference, but we ARE talking SD video here.

Spent some time going back and forth between the S-Video input and the HDMI input and I gotta say I do NOT see any real appreciable differences. PLUS, in this mode I get black sidebars!

Not happy I have to go switching inputs, but happy it works and I get black sidebars.


A simpler method (which may or may not work depending on your display's picture modes) is to just use HDMI and set the Aspect Ratio setting on the 8300 to 16:9 and 4:3 Stretch for SD channels and keep it on 16:9 and 4:3 Sidebar for HD channels (this setting can be different for each output format - so as long as you enable 480i or 480p for SD channels you can independently set SD vs. HD aspect ratios). When you are watching an SD channel it will be stretched (i.e. no side bars) but then on your display, put it in 4:3 mode (or whatever your display calls it) and it should shrink the picture back to normal size with black sidebars (assuming your display inserts black and not gray). For HD channels leave your display on Wide/16:9 mode (or whatever your display calls it). No degredation in PQ. Only annoyance is the menus a squished when watching an SD channel but not a big deal.

Ah ha! VERY interesting Eric. Gotta say at first I had some disbelief... because I didn't realize the TV itself would be that smart. I thought once you set it to a given input (HDMI) everything through that input is treated the same. Obviously, I was incorrect.

Funny, I notice a quick glimpse of the squished picture with gray sidebars before the TV switches to the correct aspect ratio. And you're correct, the cable box's menus (actually, the settings menus look normal, but the guide shows the gray sidebars) do look squished... but behind them, you see the squished 4:3 picture with the gray sidebars!

In playing with those settings on the 8300, I did notice that it seemed impossible to set 480i. If I try both 480i and 480p, only 480p shows up. If I turn off 480p and set 480i, no 480 at all shows up. Could this mean that the 8300 is "up-converting" all SD from 480i to 480p?

You're done me a GREAT favor...thanks so much!

Glad I could be helpful.

In terms of 480i vs. 480p you are right that most SD channels come through as 480p in NY. There are only a handful of true 480i channels through the 8300. So you are better off just picking 480p and leaving 480i off so that the box doesn't upconvert the 480p channels to 720p or 1080i.

Yanks on YESHD....but not in HD.

Not sure if this is just a mistake on the guide, i know there was a list on the forums about what road games are in HD, thought this was one of them

Yanks on YESHD....but not in HD.

Not sure if this is just a mistake on the guide, i know there was a list on the forums about what road games are in HD, thought this was one of them
This is one of the "enhanced" definition games. June 2-4 in Baltimore are supposed to be the next road HD games.
Link (http://www.yesnetwork.com/network/news.asp?news_id=1623&print=yes)

A simpler method (which may or may not work depending on your display's picture modes) is to just use HDMI and set the Aspect Ratio setting on the 8300 to 16:9 and 4:3 Stretch for SD channels and keep it on 16:9 and 4:3 Sidebar for HD channels (this setting can be different for each output format - so as long as you enable 480i or 480p for SD channels you can independently set SD vs. HD aspect ratios). When you are watching an SD channel it will be stretched (i.e. no side bars) but then on your display, put it in 4:3 mode (or whatever your display calls it) and it should shrink the picture back to normal size with black sidebars (assuming your display inserts black and not gray). For HD channels leave your display on Wide/16:9 mode (or whatever your display calls it). No degredation in PQ. Only annoyance is the menus a squished when watching an SD channel but not a big deal.

Hi, I just got my 8300HD. Can you elaborate on how to set the aspect ratio for SD vs HD. I'm not showing an option for this. Under settings -> output format, I currently have 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i all enabled. Under settings -> aspect ratio, I can only chose one tv type and picture setting. Thanks.

In playing with those settings on the 8300, I did notice that it seemed impossible to set 480i. If I try both 480i and 480p, only 480p shows up. If I turn off 480p and set 480i, no 480 at all shows up. Could this mean that the 8300 is "up-converting" all SD from 480i to 480p?
When my 8300HD is connected with HDMI it will not pass 480i to the set at all .All SD is upconverted to 480p and the 480i choice in settings is not available. If 1080i is the only the only resolution you select than all SD content will be 1080i. Component connection will pass 480i and this is the connection I prefer because SD looks better to me at 480i.

Is it me or is the 705 Fox 5 icon in the lower right of the screen cut off??

My tv is in the natural setting and box is set for 16:9 normal.
This is the only channel that does it.

Anyone else?

Is it me or is the 705 Fox 5 icon in the lower right of the screen cut off??

My tv is in the natural setting and box is set for 16:9 normal.
This is the only channel that does it.

Anyone else?
I've noticed it too.

Hi, I just got my 8300HD. Can you elaborate on how to set the aspect ratio for SD vs HD. I'm not showing an option for this. Under settings -> output format, I currently have 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i all enabled. Under settings -> aspect ratio, I can only chose one tv type and picture setting. Thanks.

That's right - there is only one tv type / aspect ratio setting but you can set it differently depending on the resolution of the current channel when you enter the menu. So first set your output formats so at least 480p, 720p and 1080i are enabled. Then tune to an SD channel (should be 480p) and set the aspect ratio to 4:3 stretch. Then tune to an HD channel (you should probably do this twice for a 720p and 1080i channel) and set the aspect ratio to 4:3 sidebar. You only need to set this once for each type of channel and then the settings should hold going forward. That's how it works on my setup anyway.

Thanks, I'll try it.

Is it me or is the 705 Fox 5 icon in the lower right of the screen cut off??

My tv is in the natural setting and box is set for 16:9 normal.
This is the only channel that does it.

Anyone else?

yeah I notice it all the time on my 16x9 set, My 4x3 set shows the entire HD picture from top to bottom and the entire fox5 logo can be seen.
I prefer their old logo.
Unfortunately most all 16x9 sets have overscan, stations have to appropriately place their logos.

yeah I notice it all the time on my 16x9 set, My 4x3 set shows the entire HD picture from top to bottom and the entire fox5 logo can be seen.
I prefer their old logo.
Unfortunately most all 16x9 sets have overscan, stations have to appropriately place their logos.
Ok, good I thought it was my set or something worse but if you all are seeing it i feel better...lol

Thanx

OMG. I'm cancelling all my premiums except hbo & Showtime until january 07'. If they have any competence at all it better be up and running by then.
Already done here over a year ago (as most out there already should've done along with writing a letter to Fred Dressler telling him exactly why they're losing your money). No point in paying for crappy SD movie channels when we have excellent HD film choices.

Is there a way to transfer saved shows from the DVR to my pc rather than having to capture the show to my pc? I noticed the firewire ports on the back of the unit but has anyone had any luck using them? If so, do you still have to capture the show or can you just copy it to your pc?

Thanks

Is it me or is the 705 Fox 5 icon in the lower right of the screen cut off??
Same here. But I would argue that's for the better! That means less overlap into the actual picture. :-)

Glad I could be helpful.

In terms of 480i vs. 480p you are right that most SD channels come through as 480p in NY. There are only a handful of true 480i channels through the 8300. So you are better off just picking 480p and leaving 480i off so that the box doesn't upconvert the 480p channels to 720p or 1080i.

Oh, it gets stranger than that! Like I said I can ONLY choose 480p; I know my sister was also bugged by the gray sidebars, so I went over to her place to do your magic. One block apart, same service, same STB, same 40" LCD, but she's got the XBR and I the 4092. She CAN have both 480i and 480p set.

But I am still curious about the 480 issue... it still seems to me that the 8300 HAS to be doing the upconverting... might you know for sure?

FWIW, before setting the 8300 to 4:3 stretch, I HAD to set the XBR to "full" for both 16:9 and 4:3. Both, or one of the other got distorted. Once I set the 8300 to 4:3 stretch, I HAD to set both to "Normal" to get it functioning corectly.

this might sound like a dumb question, but I'll ask it anyway.

I have a Sony XBR400 and the 8300HD. My set is 4:3 but 36" so it's not terrible, but I am planning on getting a true WS plasma in the semi-near future. Anyway, it is connected to the set via s-vdeo & component cables. When I switch to an HD input channel & watch, ie, HBOHD. the picture looks fantastic (assuming the programming is HD) but when I chenge the cable channel to an SD channel, say regular HBO, the picture shifts to a much darker look, and even fuzzy. Now if I switch the TV input channel to the s-vid input, SD looks much better.

Is there something wrong with my setup, or could it be the way the TV is handling these signals? I don't have anther HD set to test this on. I mean it's not a big deal to switch between inputs, but I would think the component signal would be markedly better than the s-vid.

Yanks on YESHD....but not in HD.

Not a rabid watcher this early in the season, but I have been checking in with a lot of current games because I just got HDed. FWIW, I'd say the picture YES is putting out is the absolute best one I've seen, it's spectacular. I checked in the a Mets broadcast the other day and while it said it was 1080i, the picture wasn't near as good as the Yes one.

I like that Yes puts a pattern for the 4:3 commercials, but I do NOT like that it's a light blue. Much better for them to just inject solid black. Then again, who cares about commercials!

Then tune to an HD channel (you should probably do this twice for a 720p and 1080i channel) and set the aspect ratio to 4:3 sidebar. You only need to set this once for each type of channel and then the settings should hold going forward. That's how it works on my setup anyway.

Curious, what set do you have?

I just went to double check my setup and whaddya know? I got the light gray sidebars again! I thought I was looking at a SD channel (the quality of the picture was pretty bad; it was a live video, news thing), but it turns out I was looking at 702... the TV said it was 1080i. Not even close. Checked some SD channels, they are all fine, with black sidebars. On those channels, the 8300 is set to 4:3 stretch and the TV to 16:9. On HD channels, the 8300 is set for 4:3 sudebar and the TV to 16:9. This is Samsung.

Checked some other HD channels and where they had 4:3 images, the sidebars were black. Perhaps this is a CBS thing?

Curious, what set do you have?

I just went to double check my setup and whaddya know? I got the light gray sidebars again! I thought I was looking at a SD channel (the quality of the picture was pretty bad; it was a live video, news thing), but it turns out I was looking at 702... the TV said it was 1080i. Not even close. Checked some SD channels, they are all fine, with black sidebars. On those channels, the 8300 is set to 4:3 stretch and the TV to 16:9. On HD channels, the 8300 is set for 4:3 sudebar and the TV to 16:9. This is Samsung.

Checked some other HD channels and where they had 4:3 images, the sidebars were black. Perhaps this is a CBS thing?

Here's some comments (if I'm reading what you said correctly)...

The 8300 will always say on the front display that the HD channels in the 700's are 720p or 1080i, even though a program isn't necessarily HD - for the most part (there are some exceptions), with the local tv channels (2,4,5,7,11) - the only HD content is when the channel is broadcasting the national affiliate (mainly prime time on weeknights, sporting events during the day on weekends - things like that). (1 exception is some local news shows have an HD traffic cam)

702 - WCBS, will add the gray bars themselves when showing their local content (news, local commercials during national shows) - note CBS national doesn't add them, its WCBS.

The 8300 will always say on the front display that the HD channels in the 700's are 720p or 1080i, even though a program isn't necessarily HD - for the most part (there are some exceptions), with the local tv channels (2,4,5,7,11) - the only HD content is when the channel is broadcasting the national affiliate (mainly prime time on weeknights, sporting events during the day on weekends - things like that). (1 exception is some local news shows have an HD traffic cam)



This isn't just something that the DVR "says." HD channels always broadcast either a 720p or 1080i signal, even when the underlying program is SD (480i).

This isn't just something that the DVR "says." HD channels always broadcast either a 720p or 1080i signal, even when the underlying program is SD (480i).


Right.. of course....

I was just refering to the actual content...

Same here. But I would argue that's for the better! That means less overlap into the actual picture. :-)


I thought it meant that FOX 705 is actually strectching/zooming it somewhat on there end......

Curious, what set do you have?

I just went to double check my setup and whaddya know? I got the light gray sidebars again! I thought I was looking at a SD channel (the quality of the picture was pretty bad; it was a live video, news thing), but it turns out I was looking at 702... the TV said it was 1080i. Not even close. Checked some SD channels, they are all fine, with black sidebars. On those channels, the 8300 is set to 4:3 stretch and the TV to 16:9. On HD channels, the 8300 is set for 4:3 sudebar and the TV to 16:9. This is Samsung.

Checked some other HD channels and where they had 4:3 images, the sidebars were black. Perhaps this is a CBS thing?

I actually have two different Samsungs, both connected to 8300's:

1) Samsung HLP5063 (DLP) - connected via an HDMI/ DVI cable

2) Samsung LNR328W (LCD) - connected via an HDMI / HDMI cable

Both work fine using the stretch/shrink method, although the DLP is actually smart enough (still haven't figured out how or why yet) to change the picture size on the display automatically so I literally don't need to touch anything when switching from an SD to an HD channel to get the right aspect ratio. On the LCD, I need to manually toggle through the Samsung's picture modes (put it on 4:3 for SD shows and Wide for 16:9 shows). Very simple, even the gf knows how to work it.

As for the gray side bars on CBS, as others have pointed out, CBS inserts them, not the 8300 or the Samsung. When I record shows like Survivor that don't come in as 16:9, I will actually record them on 2 instead of 702 so I can have my black sidebars instead of the gray (the gray is very distracting when watching in a dark room). But most CBS shows that I record (CSI, CSI Miami, Without a Trace, etc) are in 16:9 and look great.

Interesting read regarding the possible future of our DVRs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060530/media_nm/media_cablevision_timewarner_dc_1

Just received my TWC bill today, reading the side note news "In the Know" on the left hand side of my bill, TWC posted this info.....

"Effective 6/28/06 Showtime will move from Ch.48 to Ch.79,
FSNY from Ch.79 to Ch.48,
AZN from Ch.500 to Ch.581,
International Movies on Demand will launch on Ch.500, and PPV-HD on Ch.720 will no longer be carried[I]."

I think people define "customer service" in vastly different ways. Some seem to say they have bad customer service because they don't carry tons of HD channels...

For me, there customer service is OK, not great, but not the pits. Around Xmas I had a service issue and they missed 2 appointments. I complained and they comped me an entire month of all services.

Good customer service is when you call to report an outage, the CSR punches a few things into the computer, and immediately tells you that it's a known issue. With TWC, I have several times had the experience of having the first CSR I speak to go through all sorts of troubleshooting (including the farce of rebooting my box multiple times, because the 4th reboot will do something the first 3 didn't) only to put me on hold for 15 minutes before telling me that it's a system/neighborhood wide problem and that the techs have been working on it for a few hours.

Good customer service is when a customer knows that if they schedule an appointment to have an HD DVR installed, the tech will show up with an HD DVR. I've had a tech show up for such an appointment, work order in hand, only to disappear for 45 minutes because he had to drive to a TWC facility to get an HD DVR.

Good customer service is when a tech shows up with a work order outlining a specific task that needs to be done and does that job. Bad customer service is when the tech shows up, looks at the work order, looks at the apartment, looks at his watch, proclaims that his shift is over and he doesn't have time, then leaves without doing anything. Even worse customer service is when this isn't counted as a missed appointment. (Yes, this really happened to me, with an order to re-run the cable in my apartment. The cable was finally re-run on the 3rd appointment after the service call in which the techs identified that the cable needed replacing, but wouldn't do it themselves because they belonged to the wrong union.)

Good customer service means that a customer working with the company on resolving a recurring issue that takes many phone calls to resolve is given a way to directly contact a representative familiar with their case. Bad customer service means that you have to go through the first phases of troubleshooting every time you call with the same problem, even if it has been long since determined and accepted that the problem won't be solved that way.

Good customer service means treating customers as if their time is worth something. For example, keep hold times to under 5 minutes. Bad customer service is sitting on hold for an hour being subjected to listening to a recording tell you that "at Time Warner Cable, we value your time." In the last 5 years, my average hold time before reaching a human when calling TWC is 14 minutes. My average total hold time is 28 minutes, as anything that involves a supervisor requires extremely long hold times.

I've dealt with companies--some of them very big--that have far better customer service than TWC. The sort of customer service experiences I have had are the sort that leave me wondering whether or not TWC has any interest in retaining me as a customer. That's why I insist that TWC has bad customer service.

There is no excuse for any one of these experiences. There is certainly no excuse for one company having all of these problems. It's the definition of bad customer service...
-JMP

I have also found the TWC customer service people to be a disaster, especially when you call them. I ordered the Extra Innings package at the start of the baseball season, and after 3 weeks came home to find it wasn't active anymore. So I called them, they couldn't figure out what happened, but they turned it back on. Last week (a couple of weeks later), I came home to find the same thing had happened again.

This time, when I called, I got a CS rep who told me that I had to tune to channels 441-449 to find the games. I pointed out to her that I have been watching the games all year, and I know where they are, but they are not showing on my TV. She then checks my account and tells me that I have subscribed to EI. I politely told her that I have. I called on opening day and signed up and have been watching all season. She told me that (a) there is no record of me signing up and (b) I haven't been receiving the games. [She actually told me this!] When I told her that I have been receiving them, she didn't want to believe me.

Anyway, she then asked for a number to call me back at, because she needed some time to look into something. When I gave her my number (a Boston cell phone- I have no NYC landline), she told me that she can't call that number, because it's long distance. [That seems weird, since they have called me on that # before.] So I told her I'd hold on, even if it was a long time. I figured that this was a good idea anyway, since in my experience, CS reps tends not to call back.

When she came back on, she said that there is no record of me having ordered it or of having paid for it. This was surprising, because I had ordered it, but looking back at my bills, it was never charged to me. So it seems like they rep I talked to when ordering it never put the order through, though he did activate it in the system. As did the second rep who I spoke with the first time it went off (which, for the record was after the inital free trial period). But here's the best part- the rep went on to tell me that it was too late to order the package, and there was nothing she could do. I asked her how that could possibly be. All they need to do is activate the channels and bill me. She told me that the ordering window had passed, and I couldn't get it anymore. Even after I pointed out that this whole problem was a result of them not properly processing my order, she insisted that there was nothing that could be done.

I then asked to be put through to a manager who could authorize my order. She told me that there was no reason to do, because there was nothing that could be done. After I insisted, she patched me through. After another 5 minute wait, I was put in touch with a manager who listened to my store and activate the package and charged me right away.

That is my worst experience with them, and I have had several other bad ones, including the time my new HDTV arrived 2 days late, and so the TWC guy came to the house before it arrived. Even though he wired the room for cable, he told me that he is not allowed to leave a box without a TV there. I told him I'm happy to pay, the TV is coming the next day, and I can easily hook it up to the TV. He said that there's nothing he can do because it's policy, because they are short on boxes. Of course, if they actually were short on boxes, he wouldn't have one for me. Instead, I had to make a new appointment for someone to come out, which I was only able to make for like 2 and a half weeks later. If I'm willing to pay for it, what does it matter if there's a tv there? They get the same revenue and profit from me. Would they take it away if I didn't turn my TV on for a month?

These things are just stupid issues that should never happen. And don't even get me started on not having ESPN2-HD in time for the World Cup....

So I told her I'd hold on, even if it was a long time. I figured that this was a good idea anyway, since in my experience, CS reps tends not to call back.

After dozens of promised callbacks that never came, I have a standard procedure when someone at TWC promises to call me back. I explain that after too many of their colleagues failed to follow through on promises of call backs, I want to make sure that they understand that I treat a promise of a call back as if it were an appointment. If they promise to call me back within an hour, I have an appointment to receive a call from them. If they fail to call within the promised time frame, that constitues a missed appointment, and I expect to be compensated accordingly. Usually, they try to refuse, but I've done this enough times that it's actually noted in my records at TWC that I will expect this treatment if promised a call back.

Interestingly, when I don't make it clear that I consider a promise of a call back to be equal to an appointment, I get called back about 5% of the time. When I do make it clear, I get called back within the promised time frame 90% of the time, even if it's just a call back to say that the problem is more complicated than anticipated and they just wanted to let me know that it's being worked on.

These things are just stupid issues that should never happen. And don't even get me started on not having ESPN2-HD in time for the World Cup....

I can't even seriously chalk it up to corporate greed when I think about the number of person-hours wasted by TWC not equipping their personnel properly. Is it really an efficient use of anyone's time and resources for a tech to have to spend 45 minutes going back to get a box after arriving at my apartment when the work order specifically said that the service call was to install an HD-DVR? If front-line phone CSRs had relatively immediate access to known issues affecting the area from which a subscriber is calling, how much time and money would be saved by having them skip the low end troubleshooting (or having to spend 10 minutes putting the customer on hold only to find out it was already a known issue)?

If TWC really set out to put in place the sort of systems that would improve customer service, I bet that the savings on wasted labor alone would pay for the system inside of a few years, even if it has zero effect on the number of customers simply because they've already pretty much saturated their markets. Not putting these kinds of improvements in place represents a level of shortsightedness that will punish TWC's bottom line in the long run, if not by lost business, then by unnecessary costs. Unfortunately, those unnecessary costs get passed along in our cable bills.
-JMP

Funny, I have now read authoritative posts (here and elsewhere) that gray bars are put in:

1. by the STB
2. by the broadcast station
3. by the TV manufacturer

Oddly enough, the most logical was the TV manufacturers... the explanation was that black means no video signal... right next to a "full blown" signal and that was more likely to cause burn-in, so they make it gray so that there is a "equal amount" of video signal in that area. Like I said, I don't know if this is true, but it sounds reasonable. Of course, that engenders the whole "does burn-in effect LCDs or not" and I do NOT want that one in a thread that should be strictly about TW.

The 720 PPV HD channel seems to never have any content on it anyway, so no loss. Looks to me that there are no PPV HD movies... dumb move on their part.

Funny, I have now read authoritative posts (here and elsewhere) that gray bars are put in:

1. by the STB
2. by the broadcast station
3. by the TV manufacturer

Oddly enough, the most logical was the TV manufacturers... the explanation was that black means no video signal... right next to a "full blown" signal and that was more likely to cause burn-in, so they make it gray so that there is a "equal amount" of video signal in that area. Like I said, I don't know if this is true, but it sounds reasonable. Of course, that engenders the whole "does burn-in effect LCDs or not" and I do NOT want that one in a thread that should be strictly about TW.

The 720 PPV HD channel seems to never have any content on it anyway, so no loss. Looks to me that there are no PPV HD movies... dumb move on their part.

I think you may be reading some things out of context - technically all three devices can insert sidebars but the annoying gray sidebars you are seeing on the 8300 are most definitely put there by the STB. The one exception to this is CBS HD, which inserts the gray sidebars directly. The display can also insert sidebars but only if you have a 4:3 picture mode selected on the display.

Think about it this way - if a channel is 16:9 then the STB is getting a 16:9 image from the broadcaster, so any sidebars you see are put there by the broadcaster - everyone besides CBS uses black sidebars, while CBS uses gray.

Now on any 4:3 channel the STB is getting a 4:3 image and is adding the sidebars itself to make the image fit a 16:9 screen (unless you have it set to stretch or zoom mode, in which case the STB is stretching or zooming the image to fill it out). As long as you keep your display in a "Wide" picture mode the display does nothing to the sidebars. If you set the display to a 4:3 mode then the display will insert it's own sidebars over the image - what color those are depends entirely on your display. The reason the "stretch/shrink" method works is because the 8300 is stretching the image (i.e. no sidebars) and then the display is shrinking the image (on most displays this inserts black sidebars).

As for why the sidebars are gray, I think you are right - the gray sidebars are designed to prevent burn in. Unfortunately, since burn in really only affects plasmas (and older ones at that), it's annoying for users of any other technology (i have DLP and LCD) to not be able to choose black sidebars.

Make sense?

Funny, I have now read authoritative posts (here and elsewhere) that gray bars are put in:

1. by the STB
2. by the broadcast station
3. by the TV manufacturer

All three are correct, in different circumstances.

1. The SA8300HD will put gray bars out over the component or HDMI outputs whenever a non-widescreen channel is being viewed and the option to stretch the image has not been selected.

2. On stations that broadcast in widescreen, the station puts in their own bars when broadcasting non-widescreen content. Some stations, like ESPN-HD, put in graphic sidebars. Others, like WNBC, put in black sidebars. Some, like WCBS, use gray sidebars. These are all but impossible to get rid of, since they're part of the image as broadcast.

3. When a non-widescreen signal is sent to a TV (over composite, S-Video, or component -- if component is set to be received as non-widescreen), the TV will put in its own sidebars if the user hasn't selected the option to stretch the image.


Now, generally, most users have their sytems configured in such a way that they will never experience both 1 and 3, as things are usually set up so that either the settop box or the tv itself deals with non-widescreen channels. Everyone gets 2 when watching one of the channels that inserts them.
-JMP

"and PPV-HD on Ch.720 will no longer be carried[I]."

didn't get that part of the announcement on my bill???

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6339548.html?display=Breaking+News

The Tube Music Network will make its Big Apple debut Thursday as a digital-multicast channel on WPIX-TV, the flagship of The WB, with a larger rollout expected by midsummer on cable systems throughout the New York metro area, officials said Wednesday.

WPIX -- known as WB11 and owned by Tribune Broadcasting -- will carry The Tube on channel 11.2.

MTV veteran Les Garland, The Tube’s CEO, called the launch on WPIX in New York a milestone for the three-year-old multicast network.

“We’ve been amassing momentum since we launched in Los Angeles earlier this month, and we’ll continue to fuel it as we roll out the network in Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and other markets this summer, eventually broadcasting The Tube Music Network in nine of the top-10-DMA markets on Tribune stations and 71 of the nation’s top 100 markets counting the stations owned by Tribune, Raycom Media [Inc.] and Sinclair Broadcast Group [Inc.],” Garland said in a prepared statement.

Initially, viewers will need digital tuners to pick up The Tube’s free over-the-air multicast signal in New York. But WPIX is in negotiations with cable operators in the metro area to secure carriage for The Tube, getting the digital network channel slots on local cable systems, a spokeswoman for the TV station said. The Tube expects to be on cable lineups in New York by midsummer.

Tribune’s KTLA is carrying The Tube in Los Angeles, while the broadcaster’s WGN station in Chicago will soon start multicasting it.

The Tube’s play list includes major- and independent-label videos, as well as exclusive performance clips. In a departure from the way music has traditionally been presented on television, classic performances from legendary artists are featured alongside just-released videos by current artists. Live and conceptual clips from Led Zeppelin, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, U2 and The Eagles are mixed with videos from today’s best-selling acts like James Blunt, Sheryl Crow and Coldplay.

Garland served as a cofounder and originator of both MTV and VH1. In the 1990s, he played an essential role in the domestic and international launch of interactive music channel The Box, acting as senior executive vice president.

MSG Network to Sing a Different Tune
Entertainment Fare To Be Regional Net's Baseball Raincheck

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6338772.html

I just had my 8300 replaced because it kept restarting, well the twc guy came today and gave me what i thought was a new box. It turns out that its somebody else's box with all their recordings scheduled and everything. IS this normal, has anybody else had this?? I think its BS, they should have given me a new box or at least formatted!

didn't get that part of the announcement on my bill???

Don't know what to tell ya Andy, but it's on my bill. Guess just wait until 6/28/06.

Is the HD DVR Time Warner is currently shipping the 8300HD or the 8300HDC? Also, does anyone know if the Serial ATA port on this box is active - in other words, can I add an external Serial ATA drive for additional storage capacity?

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6339548.html?display=Breaking+News

The Tube Music Network will make its Big Apple debut Thursday as a digital-multicast channel on WPIX-TV, the flagship of The WB, with a larger rollout expected by midsummer on cable systems throughout the New York metro area, officials said Wednesday..
This initially excited me but it doesn’t say anything about it being in HD?!
If we should get it on our TW system, it will be another waste of bandwidth. We don’t need a multicast SD music channel. What we do need is a 24 hour HD music channel, more than anything else. We have sports, movies, general entertainment but no full time HD music channel.

Is the HD DVR Time Warner is currently shipping the 8300HD or the 8300HDC? Also, does anyone know if the Serial ATA port on this box is active - in other words, can I add an external Serial ATA drive for additional storage capacity?

What is the diff between 8300HD & 83000HDC??? :confused:

... Also, does anyone know if the Serial ATA port on this box is active - in other words, can I add an external Serial ATA drive for additional storage capacity?

If you're in Staten Island, yes. Manhattan, not yet.

Hows about Brooklyn? And that seems so weird that SI sets would have this activated and not Manhattan ones...

This initially excited me but it doesn’t say anything about it being in HD?!
If we should get it on our TW system, it will be another waste of bandwidth. We don’t need a multicast SD music channel. What we do need is a 24 hour HD music channel, more than anything else. We have sports, movies, general entertainment but no full time HD music channel.
Definitely not in HD. None of the subchannels are in HD, and worse yet, the picture is HORRIBLE on all of them (look in the 730 channel range for the subchannels). Ugh.

I am in 100% agreement with LL3HD -- we need MHD ASAP!

Yes, we get about 2 hours of music a day on HDNet and a couple of hours of music a day on INHD2 (the same content on a seemingly endless repeat...), but there is no channel that we can turn to for HD music 24/7 (like Rave-HD on VOOM).....

Hows about Brooklyn? And that seems so weird that SI sets would have this activated and not Manhattan ones...
Not in Brooklyn or Manhattan. SI is the only borough that has the latest firmware update to the SA8300. I suspect that TWC-NY was using SI as a testbed for the new version of the OS (and based upon complaints, it has failed miserably), so I suspect that they might be waiting for a newer version to fix the problems that are currently being seen in SI....

Thanks so much to EricScott & jmp_nyc for a most lucid explanation about those damn bars!

Ah, so it seems that not all is lost (additional drives) with Passport/Echo.

As for "used" boxes, remember they aren't "selling" you a box, you are renting it (part of the monthly service fee). When I picked up mine, they had tons and tons of them, all neatly stacked up and NOT in boxes. Mine was clean internally, but had slight marks where obviously other equipment had been stacked on top. The saving grace here is that you always have an option of swapping it out for another box. No issues with warranty to anything like that.

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/06/01/cable-companies-continue-to-strugle-with-limited-bandwidth/

When will TWC bump up our cable modem speeds, and how much does it effect our bandwidth.

"Already up and running in several markets, “PowerBoost” gives customers tapping the 6-megabit-per-second “Comcast High Speed Internet” service a boost to 12 mbps, and those on the 8-mbps service can see speeds of 16 mbps."

I think Cablevision is up to 15mbps.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6340045.html?display=Breaking+News

Just received my TWC bill today, reading the side note news "In the Know" on the left hand side of my bill, TWC posted this info.....

"Effective 6/28/06 Showtime will move from Ch.48 to Ch.79,
FSNY from Ch.79 to Ch.48,
AZN from Ch.500 to Ch.581,
International Movies on Demand will launch on Ch.500, and PPV-HD on Ch.720 will no longer be carried[I]."
I just looked at my statement online and it says exactly what was posted above, 720 HD-PPV is being dropped.

Yes. Move to a city where the SARA operating system is used on the 8300HD. Black bars are not an option with the Passport OS used by TWCNYC.

Using both SARA (in NJ) and Passport (TWCNYC) boxes, let me tell you, you do not want a SARA box. That OS is awful.

I just looked at my statement online and it says exactly what was posted above, 720 HD-PPV is being dropped.

*FINE*.....let 'em drop it. It was a useless channel *anyway*. It would be SO nice if they put some HD =programming= in that now-empty space...almost ANYTHING will do. :(

I've searched this thread for this problem, but I can't find anything about it...sorry in advance if this has been discussed. I am new here after all!

I just purchased a Samsung 46" DLP and I'm having a problem connecting my SA8300 to the t.v. via HDMI. I'm posting this in this forum since I do have TW cable in Brooklyn and I'm reluctant to believe that I got a new t.v. with 2 bad HDMI ports.

When I got my first SA8300 box, I connected it to my t.v. via HDMI to no avail. It recognized that I was connected, but it told me there was no signal. I then hooked up my box with component cables to check that the box was sending me 480p or better and it was. I tried HDMI again, but nothing. The next day, I tried again and everything worked just the way it should but only for a while. In the middle of watching a program, it gave me the "no signal" screen again. I decided to switch out the box for a new one, but that one doesn't work either.

Is anyone else having this problem or did I actually buy a t.v. with two bum HDMI ports?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

*FINE*.....let 'em drop it. It was a useless channel *anyway*. It would be SO nice if they put some HD =programming= in that now-empty space...almost ANYTHING will do. :(
Agreed. I was hoping that at some point we would see some HD PPV movies, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen this decade.

Is anyone else having this problem or did I actually buy a t.v. with two bum HDMI ports?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Only real way to know for sure that it's not the HDMI inputs on the display is to connect a different HDMI source to it. Do you have an HDMI dvd player (or can you borrow one from someone)? It is possible that if one HDMI input went bad that they both would as they are most likely on the same digital board.

That being said, the 8300 is pretty flaky over HDMI, although I don't have many problems connecting my 8300 to my Samsung DLP (but that's HDMI to DVI on the Samsung).

Is anyone else having this problem or did I actually buy a t.v. with two bum HDMI ports?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

try a different hdmi cable?

Ah, I think I may have your answer, same thing happened to me... go into the cable boxes setting for "Output Formats." Make sure it's set for 1080, 720 and 480. When I first hooked up my 8300, I got no signal message on my Samsung LCD. Don't really remember what output formats were chosen, but I'm sure there was only one (like 480i possibly). It might have worked that way on SD channels, but as soon as the box booted, I immediately went to 701 and got no love!

Sometimes it pays be be a newb to answer a question like this! At least I hope this is the answer<g>!

Ah, I think I may have your answer, same thing happened to me... go into the cable boxes setting for "Output Formats." Make sure it's set for 1080, 720 and 480. When I first hooked up my 8300, I got no signal message on my Samsung LCD. Don't really remember what output formats were chosen, but I'm sure there was only one (like 480i possibly). It might have worked that way on SD channels, but as soon as the box booted, I immediately went to 701 and got no love!

Sometimes it pays be be a newb to answer a question like this! At least I hope this is the answer<g>!

This definitely could be it. Most samsungs (at least the two I own) don't accept 480i over HDMI.

I don't have another HDMI cable readily available. I will pick one up though as it seems it is the only way that I'll be able to figure out if my HDMI ports are bad on my tv or if the problem is with the box.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Ah, I think I may have your answer, same thing happened to me... go into the cable boxes setting for "Output Formats." Make sure it's set for 1080, 720 and 480. When I first hooked up my 8300, I got no signal message on my Samsung LCD. Don't really remember what output formats were chosen, but I'm sure there was only one (like 480i possibly). It might have worked that way on SD channels, but as soon as the box booted, I immediately went to 701 and got no love!

Sometimes it pays be be a newb to answer a question like this! At least I hope this is the answer<g>!

I'm pretty sure that I did that, but I will try it again tomorrow just to be sure. If not, it's on to other HDMI cables!

Thanks for the suggestion...fingers are crossed that I missed this the first time around.

This definitely could be it. Most samsungs (at least the two I own) don't accept 480i over HDMI.

Ah, I had wondered about that. I know one can select 480i on the 40" XBR LCD... but not my 40" LCD Sammnie!

We're going to carry all the high-def channels we can get our hands on," Britt said. "We'll be fully competitive with satellite."

TWC's Britt on switched video and HD, excerpted from this
Cable Digital News (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7764281&&#post7764281) article. Thanks to PaulGo for the post. Hope NYC's TWC isn't at the tail end of an estimated 3-year TWC changeover to switched video. Also covered in this earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7723666&&#post7723666) here. -- John

This morning I switched the outputs to 480p, 720p, and 1080i and when I reconnected the HDMI cable, all was well and working again. Hopefully this does the trick and it doesn't stop working again like the last time I had it up and running.

Thanks for helping out the newbie!

I've got one more question for those who suggested switching on 480p. I had already been telling the box to output 720p and 1080i, how did also switching on 480p fix my situation? I had known about the inability to send 480i over HDMI, but I just assumed that sending anything higher than that would work. Just wondering.

Thanks again!

This morning I switched the outputs to 480p, 720p, and 1080i and when I reconnected the HDMI cable, all was well and working again. Hopefully this does the trick and it doesn't stop working again like the last time I had it up and running.

Thanks for helping out the newbie!

I've got one more question for those who suggested switching on 480p. I had already been telling the box to output 720p and 1080i, how did also switching on 480p fix my situation? I had known about the inability to send 480i over HDMI, but I just assumed that sending anything higher than that would work. Just wondering.

Thanks again!

That's kind of strange. If you had only 720p and 1080i enabled that should have worked. That being said, you are better off also enabling 480p as the STB has to do less work (just deinterlacing; no scaling) to display SD channels. And in NYC most of the SD channels are 480p anyway and as soon as you hit pause on a 480i channel the 8300 switches to 480p.

So not able to answer you question about why it's working now, but at least it's working. HDMI is so quirky on this box that it could have been a one-time glitch.

TWC's Britt on switched video and HD, excerpted from this
Cable Digital News (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7764281&&#post7764281) article. Thanks to PaulGo for the post. Hope NYC's TWC isn't at the tail end of an estimated 3-year TWC changeover to switched video. Also covered in this earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7723666&&#post7723666) here. -- John

"Time Warner spent $10 million, or $16 per home passed"

If that's truly how much they spent per home down in SC & TX, then the amount they would have to spend here will be enormous. As much as we pay they better make the investment.

http://www.cabledatacomnews.com/jun06/jun06-3.html

"Time Warner spent $10 million, or $16 per home passed"

If that's truly how much they spent per home down in SC & TX, then the amount they would have to spend here will be enormous.

Yep, which is why we tend to be the last to get new things, not the first.

I'm not completely sure but I think our cable system is at 860mhz, how hard and costly is it to upgrade to a 1ghz system?

That's enough bandwidth for (23 - 6mhz slots), or 46 uncompressed HD channels and a little extra space for BS SD channels.

I dunno, I would think installing theses switches for SDV would take a very long time. Something they would have to do on every block or worse every building.

Stations and other program sources aren't delivering 480p to TWC, just 480i. A 480p setting on a cable STB just deinterlaces the 480i to 480p. Only Fox used to provide 480p ED (extended definition) SD before its 720p changeover.

On $16 per customer for switched broadcasting/video changeover (above), that sure would be a large NYC cost. Got the impression from reading the Columbia, S.C. thread that hardware in the home remains the same. Not sure, but believe hardware must be installed at cable hubs, between head ends and customers, and presumably at the head ends, too. Perhaps someone familiar with switched-video changeovers can amplify.

Recall some cable-system articles suggesting 860-Mhz systems, like NYC TWC's, already can operate somewhat above 860 MHz. While the distribution cabling can handle 2 GHz (2000 MHz) or more, it's the amplifiers that must be upgraded for reliable 1 GHz performance. Recall starting a thread several years back about a New England firm that introduced amps, based on special germanium-silicon transistors, that could pass ~2-GHz signals. -- John

Hope NYC's TWC isn't at the tail end of an estimated 3-year TWC changeover to switched video. Also covered in this earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7723666&&#post7723666) here. -- John

My question would be "is not having switched video REALLY an impediment to TWC giving us HD channels that have long been available?"

I'm not an engineer (and I'd bet not all engineers would be in agreement anyway) but I think not. I think it's more about them rolling out more "pay for" things.

I doubt this would ever happen, but take one small thing... no Cinemax or Starz HD channel here even though they are available. If we all dropped these premium services until they carried their HD channels, how long do you think it would take? Not that long I'd say!

I've read that there is an update to the Passport/ECHO software powering our 8300HDs that enables the SATA port so we can add additional HD space. But that it's only available in Staten Island.

Is it as simple as that?

Anyone here from SI that can tell us what I've read is actually true? i.e. they have added an additional drive AND can see they got the extra space?

Exactly when did they get this capability?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-06-04-cable-hdtv_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

My question would be "is not having switched video REALLY an impediment to TWC giving us HD channels that have long been available?"

I'm not an engineer (and I'd bet not all engineers would be in agreement anyway) but I think not. I think it's more about them rolling out more "pay for" things.

Recall some estimates in one tech paper link (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:TuZe-Rp0jkEJ:www.bigbandnet.com/documents/BigBand_Networks_-_The_Statistics_of_SWB.pdf) I'd filed. (Not sure if a pdf version showing the figures in still on line someplace.) The topic gets complex quickly, involving statistics similar to telephone switching estimates, which permits calculating how much bandwidth SV will free up by estimating how many channels will be watched by subscribers at one time. And yes, the excerpt below suggests variious 'services' such as more PPV could be delivered with SV . But the number of potential new channels, from the freed up space, also becomes huge.

Figure 11 – Expected utilization of 500-channel, 1000-channel and 1500-channel Switched Broadcast tiers based on Zipf modeling of trial dataNote that despite fairly conservative parameter estimates, considerable channel savings can be obtained by putting a large number of services on the switched broadcast tier. A 500-channel system is calculated torequire 187 active streams, or 19 256QAMs. A 1000-channel system is calculated to require 276 active streams, or 28 256QAMs. And a 1500-channel system is calculated to require 352 streams, or 36 256QAMs. This yields a remarkable ratio of 1500/36 = 41 programs/256QAM, easily three times the efficiency achievable by even the best closed-loop encoders on the market today. 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 21
Summary The statistics and subsequent analysis of data from real-world Switched Broadcast trials have provided a before-unseen insight into the viewing patterns of digital subscribers. Furthermore, a mathematical framework can be fitted to this viewer behavior. This allows the development of tools that can reliably assist in the dimensioning of Switched Broadcast system designs, as well as assist the development of accurate forecasting of capital needs as Switched Broadcast systems are expanded. Although first coined by cable industry executives, the proverbial “500-channel system” was first realized by the satellite industry. Switched Broadcast allows the leveraging of cable’s two-way interactive network to offer and deliver catalogs of programming that are not practically achievable using a pure broadcast paradigm.

Oh I have little doubt SV is a good thing... but still have serious doubts about it being essential for them to allow us access to a few more HD channels! Especially when we kinda are paying for it (i.e. a premium payment gives us HBO and SHO w/ one HD channels, but not any of the others (Cinemax, Starz, Encore).

Of course, I could get greedy and say "what about ALL the HBO cahnnels and HBO OnDemand in HD?" For that I might give them a break in needing SV!

My Email:
Hello Mr.Southwick, I was told by a executive at Time Warner Cable that STARZ-HD could possibly finally be added to it's lineup later this year.

There are many Starz subscribers that own HD sets and have been patiently waiting for this channel for years now and are on the brink of canceling.

I recently canceled my Starz subscription because I can't bring myself to watch the standard definition version of Starz anymore on my HD set.

So, will TWC be getting STARZ-HD before the end of the year?

Unfortunately I can't get Dish network as I heard they will be adding STARZ-HD.


Mr.Southwick:
This is entirely the decision of Time Warner. We are happy to make Starz HD available to them free of charge. They just have to decide to take it and make room for it on their cable system.
--
--
--
hear that folks, all we need is a slot for this channel, that's all!!!

...no Cinemax or Starz HD channel here even though they are available. If we all dropped these premium services until they carried their HD channels, how long do you think it would take? Not that long I'd say!
Done, and informed TWC executive Bob Watson (who actually personally responded to me) by email that I did this and exactly why I did it and how much money they're losing from me each month due to this.

I encourage you all to do the same. Bob Watson's email address can be found some pages back in this thread.

I don't understand why ANYONE with HD would subscribe to Starz!, TMC, or Cinemax at the current time, with no HD versions.

Mr.Southwick:
This is entirely the decision of Time Warner. We are happy to make Starz HD available to them free of charge. They just have to decide to take it and make room for it on their cable system.
--
--
--
hear that folks, all we need is a slot for this channel, that's all!!!
Somebody please forward this response to Bob Watson!!!!

I don't understand why ANYONE with HD would subscribe to Starz!, TMC, or Cinemax at the current time, with no HD versions.
Agree! I wish I was subscribed to them (starzz, TMC, cmax) just so I can dump them. :D

I can’t remember the last time I checked to see on the program guide what the other HBO or Showtime channels were showing. They are more wasted bandwidth for anyone with HD.

Any movement with ESPN2HD? I can't remember the last time i even turned on regular espn2, it just looks SO BAD!

That's kind of strange. If you had only 720p and 1080i enabled that should have worked. That being said, you are better off also enabling 480p as the STB has to do less work (just deinterlacing; no scaling) to display SD channels. And in NYC most of the SD channels are 480p anyway and as soon as you hit pause on a 480i channel the 8300 switches to 480p.

So not able to answer you question about why it's working now, but at least it's working. HDMI is so quirky on this box that it could have been a one-time glitch.

I recently got the 8300 HD and today I got my HDMI/DVI cable. Hooked it up to my TV next thing I know 480i was selected. When I had it on component video I had it set for 480p and up. Strange how moving to the HDMI connection it would turn on 480i. :confused:

Agree! I wish I was subscribed to them (starzz, TMC, cmax) just so I can dump them. :D

I can’t remember the last time I checked to see on the program guide what the other HBO or Showtime channels were showing. They are more wasted bandwidth for anyone with HD.

Yeah, I'd gladly dump all of the SD HBO's to save $1/month! Total waste considering if we were desperate enough to watch SD programming we could just watch HBO on demand and get all the low definition shows we wanted. With the on demand channels is there really any reason to have multiples of each premium channel?

A "subscription" to a premium channel means a collection of SD channels, one HD channel, and a very limited On Demand channel (currently only HBO and SHO for TWC-NYC). I seriously doubt you can "drop the SD HBO channels" and retain the HD one.

Outwardly, the "multiple channels" appears to be an attempt to set up theme channels. Practically, to me it provides a substantially wider choice of movies to watch. While there certainly are a number "currently playing on the main channel" movies (there's a benefit there... I want to see movie x, it's playing this week on a sub channel but not the main channel), there also are one that are not playing on the main channel (this month, or this set of 2-3 months). The fact that we're paying the same for this as when they only had one channels sure seems like a good thing!

Nice summary piece covering switched video (with a $5/subscriber conversion estimate versus ~$16 estimate earlier above). Also, dropping analogs, DBS, FIOS, competition, etc.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-06-04-cable-hdtv_x.htm?POE=TECISVA
--John

Practically, to me it provides a substantially wider choice of movies to watch.
To me, the multiplexed channels provide nothing, since I can't bring myself to watch movies in SD anymore. Even if the picture quality were "acceptable" (which none of the SD channels really are on our system), the movies are horribly panned and scanned (or just cropped) on all of the SD HBO channels.

Before I was an HD customer I did like multiplexed channels, though. But the "on demand" was a waste to me and I cancelled it once I got a DVR -- why should I pay to get programs on-demand when I can make my own "on-demand" service by recording the things that I want to see on my DVR (which I'm also paying for)? Seems like redundant services to me....

My Email:
Hello Mr.Southwick, I was told by a executive at Time Warner Cable that STARZ-HD could possibly finally be added to it's lineup later this year.

There are many Starz subscribers that own HD sets and have been patiently waiting for this channel for years now and are on the brink of canceling.

I recently canceled my Starz subscription because I can't bring myself to watch the standard definition version of Starz anymore on my HD set.

So, will TWC be getting STARZ-HD before the end of the year?

Unfortunately I can't get Dish network as I heard they will be adding STARZ-HD.


Mr.Southwick:
This is entirely the decision of Time Warner. We are happy to make Starz HD available to them free of charge. They just have to decide to take it and make room for it on their cable system.
--
--
--
hear that folks, all we need is a slot for this channel, that's all!!!

Well on 6/28/06 there will be an open slot since on my bill TWC states they will be dropping Ch.720 PPV-HD, so maybe this is in a move to add another HD Ch? Maybe Starz-HD, or CinMax-HD or ESPN2-HD? Hmmmm........ ;)

Well on 6/28/06 there will be an open slot since on my bill TWC states they will be dropping Ch.720 PPV-HD, so maybe this is in a move to add another HD Ch? Maybe Starz-HD, or CinMax-HD or ESPN2-HD? Hmmmm........ ;)
No way that will happen. Channel 720 takes up no bandwidth at all, since nothing is ever broadcast on it!

So no bandwidth will be freed up when it is removed. They were probably tired of people calling and asking what that channel was for!

If anything, my suspicion would tend to be that the channel might be repurposed in the future as the long-awaited (by some) high definition version of Howard Stern on Demand? (though I have no inside information whatsoever that leads me to believe this....)

Hi

New to plasma and hdtv. I have an sa8300hd and a panny 60U. Watching Star Wars on HBO HD and the pictur is great but im in widescreen with a black letterbox. Is this normal or should i be seeing no letterbox at all?

My STB is set to 19:9 and stretch 4:3. My output is set to 1080i and 720p

My Panny is on the FULL option.

Im using component cables.

Cheers.

Hi

New to plasma and hdtv. I have an sa8300hd and a panny 60U. Watching Star Wars on HBO HD and the pictur is great but im in widescreen with a black letterbox. Is this normal or should i be seeing no letterbox at all?

My STB is set to 19:9 and stretch 4:3. My output is set to 1080i and 720p

My Panny is on the FULL option.

Im using component cables.

Cheers.

Normal, the movie is 2.35:1 OAR. Set STB to 16:9 and NORMAL, pressing "Video source" button cycle until you see that and exit when done.

So I suddenly found myself with a wierd problem starting this past Sunday...

While using my HDMI cable, my box is now stuck using 1080i output mode for all channels. When I go into the settings menu, and changes I try make are ignored by the box as soon as I leave the menu....

This only happens as long as the HDMI cable is plugged in - taking it out and using component -and all output modes work fine... but as sson as I plug HDMI back in - back to 1080i only.

Any suggestions on how I might be able to get my box to output all modes using HDMI again?

Pretty sure it's not a TWC update... I've tried unplugging the box..

I believe it is time to go another route.

George.Bodenheimer AT ESPN com
VP of Programming at ESPN

RE:ESPN2HD
ANY RESPONSE?.......2 DAYS TO GO!!!

RE:ESPN2HD
ANY RESPONSE?.......2 DAYS TO GO!!!

In a sense 4 days.

The US game!

Yeah - kind of bummed that I bought an HD for the World Cup (since I couldn't go this time - I decided to sell my tickets and use the money to buy one) and I can only watch a handful of games on it...

So I suddenly found myself with a wierd problem starting this past Sunday...

While using my HDMI cable, my box is now stuck using 1080i output mode for all channels. When I go into the settings menu, and changes I try make are ignored by the box as soon as I leave the menu....

This only happens as long as the HDMI cable is plugged in - taking it out and using component -and all output modes work fine... but as sson as I plug HDMI back in - back to 1080i only.

Any suggestions on how I might be able to get my box to output all modes using HDMI again?

Pretty sure it's not a TWC update... I've tried unplugging the box..

Where in NY are you? If you are in Staten Island and received the latest software update (I forget the version), this is a widespread problem. Apparently the newer version of the software communicates improperly with your display when connected via HDMI (there is no two way communication via component) and disables all outputs other than 1080i, which the box thinks is the only format your display supports. Really annoying. I'm in Manhattan and fortunately haven't received the update yet. The way to tell if you have the newest version is to reboot the box - if it says "Aptiv" instead of "Pioneer" on the splash screen you have the newer version.

To me, the multiplexed channels provide nothing, since I can't bring myself to watch movies in SD anymore. Even if the picture quality were "acceptable" (which none of the SD channels really are on our system), the movies are horribly panned and scanned (or just cropped) on all of the SD HBO channels.

Before I was an HD customer I did like multiplexed channels, though. But the "on demand" was a waste to me and I cancelled it once I got a DVR -- why should I pay to get programs on-demand when I can make my own "on-demand" service by recording the things that I want to see on my DVR (which I'm also paying for)? Seems like redundant services to me....

I've now spent more time watching SD and honestly, I don't in any way find it so terrible. It seems to follow the exact same "path" that it did long before I got a HD set; in that some channels really had bad pictures and some had very good ones. I found the broadcast channels PQ to be visibly worse than, say, the premium channels. The same holds true watching on the HD set. I really think my HD set's SD display is very much the same as my 6 year old CRT that died so I HAD to get the HD set! My guess would be that some of the "complaints" are more about the difference between SD and HD, not a comparison of what SD looked like "before."

As for the On Demand, it's part of the premium "subscription," at least it sure is here in NYC. I did catch that there was a price on it, but my guess that was if you didn't subscribe to the "regular" premium service. Like you could "pay" for HBO On Demand while not paying for the full premium service.

On another front, I I took the suggestion to write a (polite) e-mail to Bob Watson voicing my two major concerns (paying for but not getting the HD channel on Cinemax, Starz) and not having the ability to add additional hard drive space as many other do have). Anything I hear back will, of course, be reported here!

Where in NY are you? If you are in Staten Island and received the latest software update (I forget the version), this is a widespread problem. Apparently the newer version of the software communicates improperly with your display when connected via HDMI (there is no two way communication via component) and disables all outputs other than 1080i, which the box thinks is the only format your display supports. Really annoying. I'm in Manhattan and fortunately haven't received the update yet. The way to tell if you have the newest version is to reboot the box - if it says "Aptiv" instead of "Pioneer" on the splash screen you have the newer version.


I know about the Staten Island update.... but I'm in Manhattan (UWS), and I still get the Pioneer splash logo... (I've tried all sorts of reboots...)

RE:ESPN2HD
ANY RESPONSE?.......2 DAYS TO GO!!!

not a peep, they must know they're wrong!

Hi

New to plasma and hdtv. I have an sa8300hd and a panny 60U. Watching Star Wars on HBO HD and the pictur is great but im in widescreen with a black letterbox. Is this normal or should i be seeing no letterbox at all?

My STB is set to 19:9 and stretch 4:3. My output is set to 1080i and 720p

My Panny is on the FULL option.

Im using component cables.

Cheers.
Everything is fine -- Star Wars Episode 3 is being shown in it's original aspect ratio on HBO-HD this month, and since its OAR is wider than 16:9, it does have some letter boxing on the top and bottom of the screen. Now, if you have "window boxing" on the left and right side of your screen as well, then you have a configuration problem.

If Satelite TV didn't have the issues/problem with weather interference, I would have cancelled my Cable a long time ago & gone with Satelite HD TV, since they also offer far more HD Chs & programing than anything currently Cable does or will.

I've now spent more time watching SD and honestly, I don't in any way find it so terrible. It seems to follow the exact same "path" that it did long before I got a HD set; in that some channels really had bad pictures and some had very good ones. I found the broadcast channels PQ to be visibly worse than, say, the premium channels. The same holds true watching on the HD set. I really think my HD set's SD display is very much the same as my 6 year old CRT that died so I HAD to get the HD set! My guess would be that some of the "complaints" are more about the difference between SD and HD, not a comparison of what SD looked like "before."
It’s not picture quality that keeps me from watching the non HD premium channels. For me, the main reason I detest an SD movie channel, (as in the other HBO’s or Showtime’s) is because of the screen formatting. I hate to watch something on a 16 X 9 screen that’s broadcast in a 4 X 3 format AND its original aspect ratio is anything but 4 X 3. Even if I were to use one of the many “stretch” options between my display and the set top box, this just magnifies the ridiculousness of the picture cropping. If one of these non HD channels was to broadcast a movie in the original aspect ratio, or, any form of letterboxing, then I can deal with it utilizing my various “stretch’ modes. This is acceptable but rarely do we have anything but a 4 X 3 image on the SD channels.

Everything is fine -- Star Wars Episode 3 is being shown in it's original aspect ratio on HBO-HD this month, and since its OAR is wider than 16:9, it does have some letter boxing on the top and bottom of the screen. Now, if you have "window boxing" on the left and right side of your screen as well, then you have a configuration problem.


THANKS. Yes just the top and bottom. I never knew that there was a 3rd OAR setting. Its annoying that i now know this having come from 4:3 world to think all my issues would be solved....ah well.

Is there any way for the SA8300 to automatically be in one OAR mode, standard for HD and stretch when i goto an SD channel or program.

THANKS. Yes just the top and bottom. I never knew that there was a 3rd OAR setting. Its annoying that i now know this having come from 4:3 world to think all my issues would be solved....ah well.

Is there any way for the SA8300 to automatically be in one OAR mode, standard for HD and stretch when i goto an SD channel or program.

There are way more than 3 different ARs - 2.35, 1.85, 1.78 (16:9), 1.33 (4:3), etc.

Yes you can set the aspect ratio settings independently for each resolution. So as long as you have more than one supported resolution enabled (e.g. 480p, 720p and/or 1080i) then you can have a different setting for 480p (SD) channels than you do for 720p/1080i (HD) channels. You simply need to tune to a single channel for each format then set your aspect ratio setting (Stretch / Sidebar / etc) in the Settings / More Settings menu. Then tune to a single channel for a different format and repeat. Based on what you said you wanted, tune to an SD channel and set it to "Stretch". Then tune to an HD channel and set it to "Sidebar" - this should be what you are looking for.

...I never knew that there was a 3rd OAR setting...
nycnigel,
Check out this AVSer’s posting regarding aspect ratios and the black bars. This is a must read for anyone unaware of the multitude of aspect ratios. It’s filled with information.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=328207

THANKS. Yes just the top and bottom. I never knew that there was a 3rd OAR setting. Its annoying that i now know this having come from 4:3 world to think all my issues would be solved....ah well.

Is there any way for the SA8300 to automatically be in one OAR mode, standard for HD and stretch when i goto an SD channel or program.
Ugh. Stretched SD pictures give me a headache! Who wants to watch a TV program where everybody looks stretched out and fat??

Just accept that you are trying to watch essentially a "square" picture on an essentially "rectangle" TV and let the TV/cable box add bars on the left and right.

Similarly, not all films are shot at the exact 16:9 ratio that your TV is formatted to -- many of them are shot in varying wider ratios (with some being as much as twice as wide as they are tall), so they require some black bars at the top and bottom if you want to preserve all of the picture (and not miss things on the left and right that would be cropped if they zoomed it to fill your screen). You can always press the "zoom" button if you don't mind missing some of the movie and REALLY want to get rid of the black bars.....

Sometimes you might not miss much, but sometimes the framing of the picture really does suffer (remember -- a good director looks through the camera and frames a particular shot in a particular way for a reason, assuming you'll be able to see the entire frame).

Hope that helps!

Scott

Used to watch most 4X3 programming on my 16X9 with a stretch mode (S-video). But with the 8300HD, changed to YPbPr inputs, keeping the 4X3 format, plus gray side pillars, which minimize burn-in for my CRT RPTV. The best 4X3 sources are those already with top/bottom black bars (letterboxed); then the 8300HD remote's zoom mode (# key) fills a 16X9 with virtually no distortion of human figures, etc. IFC, Sundance, and some PBS programs are often letterboxed like this (with side pillars). Keep the 8300HD set for only 1080i out, and 480i usually looks great upconverted to 1080i by the STB. -- John

this is from another forum:

LorghornXP:
"I'll tell you exactly what the problem is with this channel. First Starz is telling you a little white lie while TWC also is a big part of this problem too.

First Starz "will not" give TWC a contract for Starz HD without Starz On Demand and Encore On Demand. Now Starz also wants all customers to get all Starz services free of charge which includes the On Demand services. So if you order Starz that customer gets Starz On Demand at no extra charge.. Also if you order the Encore package Starz wants all Encore customers to get Encore On Demand at no extra charge too.

Now TWC wants to be allowed to charge extra for these On Demand services if they so please. Right now nearly all TWC areas give customers On Demand access to all premium channels they subscribe to if they order two or more premium channels. Now TWC doesn't count Starz and Encore so if you order Starz and HBO only you must still pay an extra 6.95/month for Premiums On Demand just to get HBO On Demand. But if you order Showtime and HBO you will get HBO On Demand and Showtime On Demand at no extra charge.

I hope your picking up what I'm trying to say. So in simple terms if a customer just ordered Starz TWC wants to be able to charge that customer an extra 6.95/month for Starz On Demand while Starz wants Starz On Demand to be free for Starz customers no matter what they order.

Now the TWC contract with Starz Encore Group runs out around years end so I expect TWC to cave in and accept Starz's terms or risk losing access to all Starz channels. In simple terms TWC knows they will have to cave in but they are just waiting as long as they can until their contract runs out.

Do you notice how many other cable companies who offer Starz HD also offer Starz On Demand at no extra cost. This isn't just by chance its for a reason. Now Starz doesn't require satellite companies to carry Starz On Demand as they aren't able todo so which is why you see Dish Network with Starz HD. Also notice that Verizon also carries Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Encore On Demand as part of their 11.95/month movie package which also includes Showtime On Demand, TMC On Demand, Showtime HD and TMC HD."

Thanks for the OAR tutorial. Hopefully ill get it all figured out before fridays kick off.

So the NBA game is on ABC tonight...TWC says it's being broadcast in HD "but not all HD broadcasts are available in all areas"...will we (in Manhattan) benefit from the HD?

So the NBA game is on ABC tonight...TWC says it's being broadcast in HD "but not all HD broadcasts are available in all areas"...will we (in Manhattan) benefit from the HD?

WABC braodcasts all available ABC-HD content.

That line you refered to is meant for people in areas whose local ABC affiliate doesn't not yet have a HD simulcast channel available.

So don't worry....

It will be in HD. I’m still waiting to find out if it will be in DD 5.1 from posters on the programming threads. Unfortunately, the audio has been in DD 2.0

Excellent, thanks! I have yet (in the 4 days i've had HD) to watch HD programming aside from on the 7xx channels, so I was a little worried...:)

Excellent, thanks! I have yet (in the 4 days i've had HD) to watch HD programming aside from on the 7xx channels, so I was a little worried...:)


You are aware that ABC HD content is on channel 707, not 7, right?

(HD content is only available in the 700 range)

Excellent, thanks! I have yet (in the 4 days i've had HD) to watch HD programming aside from on the 7xx channels, so I was a little worried...:)
Congrats, and welcome to the wonderful world of glorious HD! Enjoy! :cool:

Ahh, that would explain the confusion...well color me an idiot. Thanks guys...

Ah, that's very interesting about Starz... I have long wondered why there was no Starz On demand. I didn't know about the pricing thing with multiple premiums (I had originally gone for a very good deal with 4 premiums that essentially had the last 2 cost about 4 bucks each); I incorrectly assumed that if you paid for the premium, you got the On Demand (as you said, that's what Starz wants).

DVRs in a lot of ways change the landscape for such channels. However, I also have always felt those channels were more for experimenting that any favor to the customer; I think all those guys are looking towards a complete pay per movie type to deal. And I'd guess they know how not ready the technology is (how many times have you anted to watch something on those channels and found yourself looking for something different?).

On the distaste for SD because it's 4:3, I do understand. The curious thing is that when I was 4:3 only, I HATED when they broadcast a 16:9 inside of it everything appeared so much smaller). I wasn't exactly overjoyed with DVDs either; but I knew that someday I'd be 16:9 equipped! I really did prefer a little panning and scanning.

Little factoid some may not know; my favorite director (Stanley Kubrick) shot in 4:3. He wanted it that way. But he used a mask so his top and bottom could be cut off to make it seem widescreen. Now, he didn't tell me this directly, but when his films first started appearing on DVD there was a HUGE debate; many folks were incensed they weren't released as widescreen. By contract, they HAD to be released 4:3, that's what he wanted. Second interesting thing... the recent War of the World's DVD looks to be 16:9. My guess is it was presented in theaters as 2.35:1. So was it panned and scanned to fill 16:9?

Little factoid some may not know; my favorite director (Stanley Kubrick) shot in 4:3. He wanted it that way. But he used a mask so his top and bottom could be cut off to make it seem widescreen. Now, he didn't tell me this directly, but when his films first started appearing on DVD there was a HUGE debate; many folks were incensed they weren't released as widescreen. By contract, they HAD to be released 4:3, that's what he wanted.
:cool: I’ve always been a big fan of his but didn’t know (or most likely forgot) that aspect ratio fact you quoted. I did a quick google and came up with additional interesting stuff on that topic. Scroll all the way down to question 11 and 11a. Obviously you’re probably aware of this information but here it is…
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/

Anyone seeing YES=HD on 708? I'm not getting anything in Manhattan.

Anyone seeing YES=HD on 708? I'm not getting anything in Manhattan.

Not getting YES HD or the INHD feed of the game. My cable box locks up and I have to reboot everytime I try to watch either.

Also TWC still hasn't fixed the ability to schedule recordings of Yankees HD games in advance. No ESPN 2 HD for world cup. If I had an alternative I would drop TWC in a second. What a crap company.

Anyone seeing YES=HD on 708? I'm not getting anything in Manhattan.

Ditto, and not happy about it!

it's baaaackk!

Wow the nations largest cable company, Comcast added ESPN2-HD and nations 2nd largest cable company TWC did nothing.

Let's all give TWC a round of applause for their hard work!!!

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=147565&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=870634&highlight=

Wow the nations largest cable company, Comcast added ESPN2-HD and nations 2nd largest cable company TWC did nothing.

Let's all give TWC a round of applause for their hard work!!!

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=147565&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=870634&highlight=
Wow, what a bummer. :mad:

You’d think that the ‘brains’ :rolleyes: of TWNY would recognize that this city is the most ethnically diverse area in the world and what a major impact ESPN2 HD would have- with the World Cup as its ‘inaugural’ programming offering.

But, wait a second, I thought they already knew that. Isn’t that why we have all of these other foreign language cannels? :rolleyes:
They’d rather use up the bandwidth with other nations local news channels so their countrymen can see the highlights of the Cup in their language as opposed to watching it on ESPN2 HD.

Lets all email again, to hear their excuses

Germany VS Costa Rica although non HD the feed looks pretty good

TWC could win me over for a long time if they added ESPN 2 HD now - even just temporarily - didn't they just nix an HD channel? Instead - I will be switching to DirecTV as soon as possible. I just bought a 37" LCD HD for this reason and I can only watch a handful of games...

Then again - it's kind of annoying that ESPN relegated the World Cup to the Deuce - what's on the regular flavor? College baseball. COLLEGE!

Wow the nations largest cable company, Comcast added ESPN2-HD and nations 2nd largest cable company TWC did nothing.

Let's all give TWC a round of applause for their hard work!!!

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=147565&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=870634&highlight=


:mad: This is very frustrating. TWC needs to get there act straight.

Also the Germany v. Costa Rica game probably looks good because its being down converted from those nice HD cameras. :(

My email to Mr. Watson and Mr. Dressler:
Fred.Dressler@twcable.com, Bob.Watson@twcable.com

Gentlemen,
My wife and I have been longtime TWC customers. I have recently seen many advertisements on television and on billboards and busses in the NYC area saying that we would be able to enjoy the World Cup in High Definition on ESPN-2 HD. I am very disappointed to see that TWC is lacking this channel during the World Cup. Currently the many other cable providers and satellite providers are offering ESPN-2 HD for their customers to enjoy the world cup in high definition. Time Warner Cable's decision to not offer me the oppourtunity to watch the games in HD has caused me to seriously rethink my cable provider/satellite options.

Once upon a time someone posted a link to some consumer commision or something like that were we could email complaints about TWC. This actually got me a nice phone call from some TWC upper person who seemed to want to help, on tech issues I had, she avoided at all costs my questions about missing channels.
ANyways, does anyone remember that post, and where we can find that link, it might be worth a few emails to that complaint board to express our dissatisfaction about no world cup in HD, and our having to wait 4 more years for the possibility.
Thanks

Once upon a time someone posted a link to some consumer commision or something like that were we could email complaints about TWC. This actually got me a nice phone call from some TWC upper person who seemed to want to help, on tech issues I had, she avoided at all costs my questions about missing channels.
ANyways, does anyone remember that post, and where we can find that link, it might be worth a few emails to that complaint board to express our dissatisfaction about no world cup in HD, and our having to wait 4 more years for the possibility.
Thanks
Link to DOITT (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/consumer/consumer_cable_service_form.shtml)
this is a sure fire way to get a call back from TWC.

Mr. Watson's response:

We would like to offer ESPN2 HD, but have been unable to reach an agreement with ESPN to do so. We understand that the World Cup would have been a great opportunity to begin offering the channel. WABC HD will be airing some of the games in HD when they have a game on their regular channel. Sorry for the inconvenience.





Bob Watson

VP Programming & New Business Development

Time Warner Cable of NY & NJ

120 East 23rd Street

New York, NY 10010

212-598-7363 | Fax: 212-364-9810

Email: bob.watson@twcable.com

Link to DOITT (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/consumer/consumer_cable_service_form.shtml)
this is a sure fire way to get a call back from TWC.


Thank You

wow, I recorded a couple games today on espn2 "SD" and as I was playing them back I spotted a lot of commercials advertising our TWCNYC. They got some dam nerve.

I saw World Cup Live on ESPN. Obviously since it was in HD they had HD clips of Germany/Costa Rica and Poland/Ecuador games. Its even more frustrating now. Also as lambretta76 pointed out it was college baseball on ESPN for most of the day today. What is worse Sport Center is from 5am to 12pm. There are no words...

i need help.
freaking time warner in queens center mall royally screwed me today.

so my tivo died, so i figured hey ill do dvr for a few months and rough it until the hd tivo comes out in the fall.

so i go to twc in the qcm. well i asked the lady for a dvr hd box that features a dvi output. she gives me a box, with hdmi, i say no no good. so then she says we donthave any.. so i say fine give me my old box back forget it.
insted she gives me a scientific atlanta 8250 box saying how this is the new box they offer and she has to give me this one.

i getpissed and leave with the new stupid albeit smaller box in hand.

takeit home ALL MY FREAKING SD CHANNELS are de-interlaced and offsync audio. PLUS they are HIGHLY PIXILATED. I am furious. 2 dead end calls to CS, they are sending a rep to my home on FRIDAY!!!!!! to see what the problem is, no one will tell me how to fix this problem.

i may go to the mall monday and see if i can swap back for a pioneer box, hopefully i can, does anyone have any suggestions as the composite and dvi to hdmi BOTH look like p.o.s. in sd, only the hd comes in clean.

the other 3 boxes in my home are working fine.

oh and if anyone can tell me what to do about a bad drive possibly without spending 130 bucks through weaknees it would be greatly appreciated, i can mimmic drives through getdatabacknow i think.

Oh if there are any hacks using this box, ex. i can use the 2 firewire ports orthe usb to hook upto my pc and an external drive to use it as a pcdvr type dilly that info would be great. thx.

They may have given you the wrong box for your borough. Each TW Center carries boxes for other boroughs. They are not always careful. I know. Call TW CS or Tech and read them the serial.

i need help.
freaking time warner in queens center mall royally screwed me today.

so my tivo died, so i figured hey ill do dvr for a few months and rough it until the hd tivo comes out in the fall.

so i go to twc in the qcm. well i asked the lady for a dvr hd box that features a dvi output. she gives me a box, with hdmi, i say no no good. so then she says we donthave any.. so i say fine give me my old box back forget it.
insted she gives me a scientific atlanta 8250 box saying how this is the new box they offer and she has to give me this one.

i getpissed and leave with the new stupid albeit smaller box in hand.

takeit home ALL MY FREAKING SD CHANNELS are de-interlaced and offsync audio. PLUS they are HIGHLY PIXILATED. I am furious. 2 dead end calls to CS, they are sending a rep to my home on FRIDAY!!!!!! to see what the problem is, no one will tell me how to fix this problem.

i may go to the mall monday and see if i can swap back for a pioneer box, hopefully i can, does anyone have any suggestions as the composite and dvi to hdmi BOTH look like p.o.s. in sd, only the hd comes in clean.

the other 3 boxes in my home are working fine.

oh and if anyone can tell me what to do about a bad drive possibly without spending 130 bucks through weaknees it would be greatly appreciated, i can mimmic drives through getdatabacknow i think.

Now I'm really pissed off about not having ESPN2-HD
what's with all this advertising if they can't get us the channel?

http://www.timewarnercable.com/nyandnj/programming/worldcup.html

HD Specials channel 712

06/13 - 7:30 - NY Liberty

06/16 - 7:30 - NY Liberty

I was over at a friends house who still has a analog box. I was channel surfing and noticed that the channel "WE" was cut off and a message saying to upgrade to DTV to get WE, was showing.

I can only hope that sometime next month they use the reclaimed bandwidth for HD and not more SD & VOD!

I was over at a friends house who still has a analog box. I was channel surfing and noticed that the channel "WE" was cut off and a message saying to upgrade to DTV to get WE, was showing.

I can only hope that sometime next month they use the reclaimed bandwidth for HD and not more SD & VOD!

Actually that's been on there for a few months now, can't tell exactly how long though.

1:17 and No YESHD here in Queens. Called TW and they said it wasn't showing in HD. Told them they were wrong. Had to be content to say that if it is switched on sometime soon I could be happy with the knowledge they were wrong. Anybody else not getting it?

1:17 and No YESHD here in Queens. Called TW and they said it wasn't showing in HD. Told them they were wrong. Had to be content to say that if it is switched on sometime soon I could be happy with the knowledge they were wrong. Anybody else not getting it?

It was on from the start in UWS Manhattan

Response from F. Dressler:

"it is not our "decision" to not offer this service. espn is breaching its contract by not providing it to us. we are working to fix the problem."

Is this guy serious

Response from F. Dressler:

"it is not our "decision" to not offer this service. espn is breaching its contract by not providing it to us. we are working to fix the problem."

Is this guy serious
Well, at least he's hearing enough complaints that he sounds a bit annoyed. :-)

Time Warner Cable Chairman & CEO Glenn Britt said the operator would install OCAP headends in systems serving a combined 2.5 million cable customers starting this year in New York City; Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wis.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Waco, Texas. At the conference, the operator also demonstrated an OCAP-compliant TV made by Samsung that supported Time Warner's OCAP Digital Navigator interactive program guide, video-on-demand and third-party applications, including a weather and news program from BIAP Systems.
The examples of support demonstrate "some concrete steps to show that this (OCAP) is real," Britt said.
Time Warner's commitment follows an OCAP-related memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Samsung announced at last year's show. The MOU, which also involved Advance/Newhouse Communications, called for the MSOs and Samsung to write specs for OCAP-compliant TVs and how they operate on a cable network. Since then, Time Warner has begun to test OCAP-based TVs from Samsung in Gastonia, N.C.

http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6303851.html

I want ESPN2HD as bad as anyone else, but worrying about missing 1-0 Thrilling soccer game doesn't worry me :)

Soccer bleeping blows

Well, at least he's hearing enough complaints that he sounds a bit annoyed. :-)

I wonder if anyone has a contact email for espn or espn-2 corporate people so that we could inquire with them about their breach of contract.

Is there anyone with an updated 8300 and a DVCR who can comment on the current state of Firewire affairs?

Mike

I want ESPN2HD as bad as anyone else, but worrying about missing 1-0 Thrilling soccer game doesn't worry me :)

Soccer bleeping blows


real atheletes running for 90 minutes with no commercial breaks(sorry timeouts)...yeah thats kinda stupid.

I want ESPN2HD as bad as anyone else, but worrying about missing 1-0 Thrilling soccer game doesn't worry me :)

Soccer bleeping blows

I think the world as a whole disagrees with you

Has any one get a up date on a 8300HD box in man. :cool:

I think the world as a whole disagrees with you

1.3 BILLION watched the last World Cup Final. Yes, with a b.

90 million watched the last Super Bowl worldwide.

I think that proves your point.

Can’t wait ‘till they get to my neighborhood…..

Verizon Communications Inc. signed a multi-year deal with the YES Network that gives FiOS TV subscribers high definition access to Yankees and New Jersey Nets games, the latest salvo in an ongoing battle to gain market share from cable rivals like Cablevision Systems Corp.

...Verizon says it currently carries 23 high definition channels in New York area markets, more than any non-satellite television provider in the area...

...To get the YES network, customers must subscribe to the FiOS TV Premier, which offers 180 channels for $39.95 a month...

Full story …
http://newyorkbusiness.com/news.cms?newsId=13888

Can’t wait ‘till they get to my neighborhood…..[/url]

Same here Larry. No time frame if and when Fios will be available anywhere in or near our area. I heard Bay Terrace is being worked on with fiber upgrades and Fios is going to be rolled out there, but no info if that is just internet or if it includes TV also.

I have been seriously thinking about jumping back to Dish Network. TWC's PQ has really taken a hit lately. Even Discovery looks bit starved. The only thing keeping me right now is YES-HD and SNY-HD. Dish's HD offering is becoming hard to resist.

Lately what annoys me most is the advertisements for Howard TV (Howard Stern's On Demand Channel) in HD. The show is shot in HD yet it is not available in HD. I can't bring myself to subscribe knowing it is available in HD and not being able to get it.

I've resisted ranting lately, but I am getting close to the end with TWC.

Same here Larry. No time frame if and when Fios will be available anywhere in or near our area. I heard Bay Terrace is being worked on with fiber upgrades and Fios is going to be rolled out there, but no info if that is just internet or if it includes TV also.

I have been seriously thinking about jumping back to Dish Network. TWC's PQ has really taken a hit lately. Even Discovery looks bit starved. The only thing keeping me right now is YES-HD and SNY-HD. Dish's HD offering is becoming hard to resist.

Lately what annoys me most is the advertisements for Howard TV (Howard Stern's On Demand Channel) in HD. The show is shot in HD yet it is not available in HD. I can't bring myself to subscribe knowing it is available in HD and not being able to get it.

I've resisted ranting lately, but I am getting close to the end with TWC.

I dumped road runner for FIOS Internet a few months ago and I'm just waiting for Verizon to sign a franchise agreement and start rolling out FIOS TV here in SI. I haven't heard when it's going to happen, but now that FIOS has YES there will be nothing to hold me back from switching.

Can’t wait ‘till they get to my neighborhood…..

I have been following the FIOS project for some time now. I will be making the switch when the service goes live in NYC.

Cable companies have too much work ahead of them in terms of upgrades to produce a sufficient number of HD channels with regards to bandwidth issues whereas FIOS does not suffer from those limitations.

I called FIOS recently trying to find out what their schedule for Manhattan was. I was told that there is now only one central office (location undisclosed) in the city that is FIOS-capable and that the fiber optic wiring to the area to be served was incomplete.

I would also like to see FIOS happen right now, but based on information like that, I think that TWC will remain in our lives for some time.

Mike

1.3 BILLION watched the last World Cup Final. Yes, with a b.

90 million watched the last Super Bowl worldwide.

I think that proves your point.

Well, i've been to other countries, and the only other sports they have are rowing, track and field and racing.

No wonder soccer is so popular :)

I actually am starting to like the world cup...gulp.

I sent a email to an executive in Verizon asking about Fios, apperently he thought I was somebody else within the Company. A MUST READ

My Email:
"Mr. Pizzirani, can you tell me when Fios will be available in Manhattan?
07, 08?"
thank you, Andy

Email Routed:

"Andy,
John Schommer on my time can provide you more insight.
Thanks, Chris
John,
Please respond to Andy’s question. Thanks, Chris"

Response:
"Andy,
I assume that you are the Andy ******* (NY Field Tech). As I wouldn't want
to share this information externally just yet.
We are in Manhattan today, but only in a few locations where MDU
renovations have taken place (still considered a Greenfield). The biggest
issues with Manhattan are 1) permitting, and 2) TV franchising. We
anticipate the Video franchising sometime in mid 2008 - therefore you won't
see a large scale build in Manhattan until late 2007 or early 2008. Of
course, competitive market changes could also expedite these decisions and
deployments.

Note: These are not committed timeframes and should no be shared outside of
the company."

John R. Schommer
-
-
-
their u have it folks, ETA 2 years

Well, i've been to other countries, and the only other sports they have are rowing, track and field and racing.

No wonder soccer is so popular :)

I actually am starting to like the world cup...gulp.
CRICKET is very popular througout the former British Empire...
And don't forget CHEESE ROLLING ...I've seen in both Netherlands and Italy...making it an International sport....

Somehow I have this notion that TWC-NYC in Manhattan does have a lot of fiber around.

I DO remember being off put when a good bud down in alphabet city (east village) got digital service and RoadRunner way before I got them (I'm UWS). But about 4 months ago, I was having a problem with spotty service and was told at one point they were "looking" at one of the fiber distribution points. This was 1/2 of a block away from my building... for the better part of a day I saw a truck there with clear markings that it was doing fiber, not cooper repairs.

Turned out that the issue really wasn't in the street, but several floors below me.

Note: These are not committed timeframes and should no be shared outside of
the company."



Ooooh, this info was shared outside the company. (jking)
Great work and many thanks.

Someone earlier posted that channel 720 will not be posted but I, along with some other people I guess, didn't receive this notice. However, I just got the TWC bill online (For July) and now it's saying what was posted earlier, on June 28th channel 720 will no longer be carried. Does this mean that another HD channel will replace it?

Someone earlier posted that channel 720 will not be posted but I, along with some other people I guess, didn't receive this notice. However, I just got the TWC bill online (For July) and now it's saying what was posted earlier, on June 28th channel 720 will no longer be carried. Does this mean that another HD channel will replace it?
NO. 720 is not a "real" channel. There is nothing ever on it, so it is not taking up any bandwidth at all.

For the record, "on demand" channels can be added ad infinitum because (sort of like switched broadcasting), no matter how many On Demand channels they add, the most you can ever be watching is one at a time. Obviously, a hi-def On Demand channel will have a higher bandwidth requirement than a standard-def one, but the same rules still apply.

I sent a email to an executive in Verizon asking about Fios, apperently he thought I was somebody else within the Company. A MUST READ

My Email:
"Mr. Pizzirani, can you tell me when Fios will be available in Manhattan?
07, 08?"
thank you, Andy

Email Routed:

"Andy,
John Schommer on my time can provide you more insight.
Thanks, Chris
John,
Please respond to Andy’s question. Thanks, Chris"

Response:
"Andy,
I assume that you are the Andy ******* (NY Field Tech). As I wouldn't want
to share this information externally just yet.
We are in Manhattan today, but only in a few locations where MDU
renovations have taken place (still considered a Greenfield). The biggest
issues with Manhattan are 1) permitting, and 2) TV franchising. We
anticipate the Video franchising sometime in mid 2008 - therefore you won't
see a large scale build in Manhattan until late 2007 or early 2008. Of
course, competitive market changes could also expedite these decisions and
deployments.

Note: These are not committed timeframes and should no be shared outside of
the company."

John R. Schommer
-
-
-
their u have it folks, ETA 2 years

You do realize that Verizon will track you down and, if you're not blacklisted and in jail in two years time, you will be denied FIOS service for spilling the beans on the company's inner plans. Unless, of course, you go undercover and change your name/identity (which is worth it to get from under TWC)!

Somehow I have this notion that TWC-NYC in Manhattan does have a lot of fiber around.

I DO remember being off put when a good bud down in alphabet city (east village) got digital service and RoadRunner way before I got them (I'm UWS). But about 4 months ago, I was having a problem with spotty service and was told at one point they were "looking" at one of the fiber distribution points. This was 1/2 of a block away from my building... for the better part of a day I saw a truck there with clear markings that it was doing fiber, not cooper repairs.

Turned out that the issue really wasn't in the street, but several floors below me.
Fiber nodes typically serve some 500 cable customers, which covers my building, so have always suspected we have a TWC node in our coop's basement. The bandwidth blocking points, though, are the coax-cable amplifiers, typically limited to <1000 MHz; TWC here has a 860+ MHz system. But NYC's TWC sure has plenty of fiber for its backbone system, the main fiber bundle linking head ends and neighborhood nodes. Recall posting this 1996 Lucent press release link (http://www.lucent.com/press/0696/960610.nsa.html ) earlier, which indicates the backbone has 288 single-mode fibers within a 1-inch-diameter bundle. An excerpt:

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- Lucent Technologies and ANTEC today announced a multi-million-dollar contract for specially-designed cable for deployment in Time Warner Cable's New York City network. The 50 miles of High Fiber Count AccuRibbon® Cable are designed to meet Time Warner's unique installation requirements to deliver high-bandwidth, reliable cable TV and telephony services in Manhattan, N.Y.

Bell Labs' unique high fiber count AccuRibbon Cable design consists of a 288 single-mode fiber cable based on 24-fiber factory-made ribbons -- an industry first. Eight miles of the specialized high fiber count cable has been installed since April 1996.

The cable is specially designed for installation in relatively small duct spaces in Time Warner's existing underground conduits. In addition, the cable is designed to optimize mass fusion splicing technologies in bundles of 12 fibers each. . (Mass fusion splicing allows a technician to splice multiple fibers at one time, as opposed to one at a time.) Both of these features will allow Time Warner to build its network faster and less expensively....
--John

Ah, I love "notions" turning into facts! Thanks so much John...

I know there needs to be something that connects the fiber to cooper... what is that called? I assume the "amp" you speak of is another device that's deployed along the cooper to keep the signal up over run lengths...

Is it fair to say that there are essentially (i.e. in practice) no "bandwidth blocking" on the fiber to the neighborhood nodes? What about transmission of 1080p content on the fiber?

Of course, one obvious notion is fiber to the building. And I'm curious about the FIOS thing... is Verizon going fiber to the building?

You do realize that Verizon will track you down and, if you're not blacklisted and in jail in two years time, you will be denied FIOS service for spilling the beans on the company's inner plans. Unless, of course, you go undercover and change your name/identity (which is worth it to get from under TWC)!

Jail on charges of what?

He committed no crime. He was accidentally and voluntarily sent a wrong e-mail message by someone within the company who was not careful to validate whom he was communicating with. The only one who will possibly get into any trouble here is the gentleman whos signature is on the bottom of the e-mail message.

Jail on charges of what?

He committed no crime. He was accidentally and voluntarily sent a wrong e-mail message by someone within the company who was not careful to validate whom he was communicating with. The only one who will possibly get into any trouble here is the gentleman whos signature is on the bottom of the e-mail message.

As long as he never signed a non-disclosure agreement he's cool. He posed an honest inquiry and they answered, their fault for not looking at the email address and realizing that it wasn't an internal email.

As long as he never signed a non-disclosure agreement he's cool. He posed an honest inquiry and they answered, their fault for not looking at the email address and realizing that it wasn't an internal email.

yup, I wonder if i should reply to his email and tell him that i'm not the guy he thinks I am? and then tell him all of NYC now knows about their plans.

Mr. Watson, I was told that TWC would drop analog channels as soon as it had the contractual right to drop the analog version.

EX: "WE" moving to DTV only.

From what I understand, if one analog channel is cut off then 2 HD channels or 3 compressed HD channels can take it's place.

So with that said, WILL TWC of NYC drop any more analog channels this year? and If so how many analog channels this year and when?

Response:
"Consideration to drop channels extends beyond just the contractual right to do so. While 2-3 HD channels can fit into the space of one analog channel, so can 10-14 SD channels, more capacity for VOD streaming, higher speeds for internet service, phone traffic, etc."

thanks, bob

Bob Watson
VP Programming & New Business Development
Time Warner Cable of NY & NJ
120 East 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010
212-598-7363 | Fax: 212-364-9810
Email: bob.watson@twcable.com

Ah, I love "notions" turning into facts! Thanks so much John...

I know there needs to be something that connects the fiber to cooper... what is that called? I assume the "amp" you speak of is another device that's deployed along the cooper to keep the signal up over run lengths...

Is it fair to say that there are essentially (i.e. in practice) no "bandwidth blocking" on the fiber to the neighborhood nodes? What about transmission of 1080p content on the fiber?

Of course, one obvious notion is fiber to the building. And I'm curious about the FIOS thing... is Verizon going fiber to the building?
Think I'll leave the detailed coax/fiber linkup description to those doing the engineering or wiring. :-). But yes, the amps referred to are typical distribution amplifiers on building floors and farther back the line to fiber in a hybrid (fiber/coax) distribution system. Some newer amps have ~2 GHz bandwidth and the coax itself matches or exceeds that.

AIUI, all-fiber distribution has theoretical unlimited bandwidth since with wavelength multiplexing (adding light 'colors'), many new signal bands can be sent along just one fiber. Scientific Atlanta's site shows some of this hardware. But, as some of the long FIOS threads point out, Verizon and others are using a blend of standard cable and fiber hardware, at least initially, which practically puts some limits on bandwidth.

1080p seems feasible with fiber, switched-video, and other IPTV (Internet protocol systems) since, depending on the frame rate used, instead of rate shaping etc. to limit bandwidth and squeeze 2-3 HDTV channels into 256-QAM 6-MHz-wide cable slots, they could deliver only one ~39-Mbps channel per slot--the equivalent of the upcoming Blu-ray DVDs. -- John

My brother in law is a Verizon tech and is actually employed in the process of laying what they call "fttp" - fiber to the premises - in the Hamptons. Fiber right to your door.

Do NOT expect this in Manhattan until pigs fly. They're going to have to come up with a way to get the bandwidth from the street/basement to all the individual units with the inhouse wiring already in place. No WAY the vast majority of coops and condos are going to allow new runs of fiber to be run up to each unit.

TM

My brother in law is a Verizon tech and is actually employed in the process of laying what they call "fttp" - fiber to the premises - in the Hamptons. Fiber right to your door.

Do NOT expect this in Manhattan until pigs fly. They're going to have to come up with a way to get the bandwidth from the street/basement to all the individual units with the inhouse wiring already in place. No WAY the vast majority of coops and condos are going to allow new runs of fiber to be run up to each unit.

TM
The output of the FIOS ONT (Fibre to Video) converter is a Coax cable carrying analog and
QAM channels 2 through 130, just like a normal 55-870 MHz Cable Coax. "All" the condo has to do
is select Verizon as their new cable provider and use EXISTING wiring.

Here is one of several different multiple dwelling ONTs:
http://www.tellabs.com/products/1000/tlab1600ont_641.pdf
To which you may want to add additional Phone and I-N ONTs...

If you checkout the FIOS threads, you can see that their video service looks no different to
the user as Cable, including direct connect for analog channels, CableCards and a variant of the
Motorola 6416 HD-DVR that adds an IPTV type service.

Apparently Starz-HD and Cinemax-HD has popped up in TEXAS on TWC!!!

San Antonio, TX:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=69061

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7847102#post7847102


Austin, TX:
http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=26114

The output of the FIOS ONT (Fibre to Video) converter is a Coax cable carrying analog and
QAM channels 2 through 130, just like a normal 55-870 MHz Cable Coax. "All" the condo has to do
is select Verizon as their new cable provider and use EXISTING wiring.

I might be wrong, but I believe the wiring is still owned by the cable company, not the condo.

"All" the condo has to do is select Verizon as their new cable provider and use EXISTING wiring.

In many condos, the developer sells the rights to the cable wiring to a particular company for a certain number of years at the time that the building is built. This is a way for a developer to make additional money from the building. If a competitor wants to come into the building, they will not be allowed to piggyback onto those wires and will have to re-wire the building - a process which is expensive and can require cutting through decorated hallways.

I might be wrong, but I believe the wiring is still owned by the cable company, not the condo.

Actually, in NYC, the cable company (in our case TWC) is the monopoly provider as granted by the city, and TWC has an "as of right" ability to bring cable directly to any potential subscriber (whether co-op, condo, or straight rental) that it wants...and the monopoly provider also has to guarantee to the city that it will make its "best effort" to provide service to all potential customers. Thus, a building owner (again, whether co-op, etc) cannot block TWC from wiring their building...though the owner can negotiate the manner in which it is done. Verizon does not, at this time, have the same ability to rewire buildings...as when the cable franchises were awarded, no one viewed telcos as competitors of cablecos. In this new world, it will be up to the city to determine how to proceed as the franchise agreements come up for renewal. Telephone service providers (in our case Verizon) also had monopoly status, but under different regs....state Public Service Commission in NY...so access rules are not controlled by the municipality.

So the bottom line for 99% of NYC residents (particularly Manhattanites) is that we're stuck with TWC for the immediate and near future (1-5 years) with D* and E* as our only realistic alternatives to cable (assuming of course you live in a building that allows residents to add a dish to the building). 5+ years from now some of us might be able to choose FIOS or other telecom alternative, but the vast majority of neighborhoods (like Harlem where I currently reside) will still be wired in such a way that TWC is the only supplier of choice.

Is it any wonder TWC service reps. are so shoddy and useless? Why invest money or train people to be nice to customers that can't switch to a competing service? Between ESPN 2 HD not being available for World Cup matches, the limited HD choices and the chance we might miss eight regular season NFL games because of TWC's refusal to carry the NFL Network in the Fall (how are those negotiations going BTW?) those E* incentives to switch to satellite look more and more appealing by the day! :mad:

So the bottom line for 99% of NYC residents (particularly Manhattanites) is that we're stuck with TWC for the immediate and near future (1-5 years) with D* and E* as our only realistic alternatives to cable (assuming of course you live in a building that allows residents to add a dish to the building). 5+ years from now some of us might be able to choose FIOS or other telecom alternative, but the vast majority of neighborhoods (like Harlem where I currently reside) will still be wired in such a way that TWC is the only supplier of choice.

Is it any wonder TWC service reps. are so shoddy and useless? Why invest money or train people to be nice to customers that can't switch to a competing service? Between ESPN 2 HD not being available for World Cup matches, the limited HD choices and the chance we might miss eight regular season NFL games because of TWC's refusal to carry the NFL Network in the Fall (how are those negotiations going BTW?) those E* incentives to switch to satellite look more and more appealing by the day! :mad:Verizon's Staten Island FiOS rollout is almost complete. No TV yet, but that should happen somewhat soon. But Verizon's reputation here is so piss poor, that I don't know how many TWC customers will actually switch from cable when FiOS TV becomes available.

Several years ago, for a project that largely had to do with getting rid of wires running around hallways, my coop did a project of bringing a bundle of wires (hidden) into each unit. I think there were 2 coax lines, 2 telco type lines but I don't think there was a fiber line. Part of the theory was that any service had to "go through" this system. I know the Verizon part was wired into the system in the basement. BUT, TWC already had a jacketed system (metal pipes running up the stairwell with junction boxes on each floor). Not sure how this came about, but it seems that TWC simply ran exposed coax from their junction box to the junction box in the stairwell that represented the "house" system.

As for alternatives, what are D* and E*? AFAIK, our alternatives are RCN and some form of satellite (Dish or Direct TV??). I know RCN used to have a requirement that the entire building had to choose them for the sole provider; that has changed. With my "building re-wire" supposedly I could switch to RCN, which would not need to run cooper to my apartment, but jack in at the basement level. As for satellite, I realize not everyone can get/use a dish. I live on the top floor and have terrace around 70% of my apartment, so it shouldn't be an issue (I doubt the co-op could block me, but they do have a say in how a disk is mounted).

As for FIOS, I seriously doubt they'd wire the whole boro then "turn it on." TWC when it did it's massive process of fiber rolled out digital service, Road Runner access neighborhood by neighborhood. It really pissed me off that a good pal got his in the lower east side (alphabet city) 2 freaking years before I got it (I'm on the UWS, near Columbia University).

FWIW, I think we'll be happier with TWC once they start rolling out a lot more HD... and my guess is that within the next 2 years, we're going to be a lot happier than today! At least I sure hope so...

Somehow I have this notion that TWC-NYC in Manhattan does have a lot of fiber around.

I DO remember being off put when a good bud down in alphabet city (east village) got digital service and RoadRunner way before I got them (I'm UWS). But about 4 months ago, I was having a problem with spotty service and was told at one point they were "looking" at one of the fiber distribution points. This was 1/2 of a block away from my building... for the better part of a day I saw a truck there with clear markings that it was doing fiber, not cooper repairs.

Turned out that the issue really wasn't in the street, but several floors below me.
Right now two trucks puting down wire between w70st & w71st on br oadway.The trucks say verizon on them. :cool: I think the wire are fiber :)

Response:
"Consideration to drop channels extends beyond just the contractual right to do so. While 2-3 HD channels can fit into the space of one analog channel, so can 10-14 SD channels, more capacity for VOD streaming, higher speeds for internet service, phone traffic, etc."

Not a surprise -- and no wonder we are always "OUT OF BANDWIDTH" in NYC and cannot add any more HD channels -- the bandwidth is NOT being used for TWC's primary business of providing cable TV service -- it's being used for providing phone service (their latest obsession), internet service, etc.

Ugh. Just keep piggybacking more services on the same lines and degrading the quality of our cable signal. Thanks, TWC.

Not a surprise -- and no wonder we are always "OUT OF BANDWIDTH" in NYC and cannot add any more HD channels -- the bandwidth is NOT being used for TWC's primary business of providing cable TV service -- it's being used for providing phone service (their latest obsession), internet service, etc.

Ugh. Just keep piggybacking more services on the same lines and degrading the quality of our cable signal. Thanks, TWC.In all fairness, the internet service is just as important as TV service. I really think the phone service is stupid.

In all fairness, the internet service is just as important as TV service. I really think the phone service is stupid.
I agree, to some extent. BUT, TWC has a monopoly in terms of Cable service. They don't have a monopoly in terms of their high speed internet service (though options might be slim, they do exist).

If the quality of their internet service goes down, you can choose another provider. If the quality of their cable service goes down, most of us in NYC have no options whatsoever. This means that they have a major incentive to draw resources (bandwidth, customer support personnel, etc.) away from the service that they're *mandated* to provide so as to improve the service in areas in which they have competition.

Anyone else watching the Mets game tonight on SNYHD (741)? It does not appear to be in HD. Anyone know why?

I was watching the NBA playoffs last night on ABC-HD (707) and couldn't believe how bad the sound was. I thought it might be crappy TV speakers so I ran the audio through my receiver with Bose speakers. The audio still sounded like it was coming from a tin can. I switched to SD ABC and though the PQ was so-so, the audio quality was very rich. Is this a bandwidth problem or just bad engineering?

Doug in Manhattan

question - i was just watching a movie on hbo hd which i recorded. About 10 times during the movie the sound dropped out for a second - sometimes the pic froze for the 2 seconds too. This is fairly common when im watching hd, is this normal/acceptable??? Is there anything I can do to fix it??? its getting to be a pain in the azz.

Anyone else watching the Mets game tonight on SNYHD (741)? It does not appear to be in HD. Anyone know why?

I too have noticed the last home games on SNY look like 480p. I'll post again as soon I know something.

I just spoke to the chief engineer on location at Shea and is telling me SNY is having problems receiving the HD signal, what you see is analog 480i, they hope to fix it for the next game.

I was watching the NBA playoffs last night on ABC-HD (707) and couldn't believe how bad the sound was. I thought it might be crappy TV speakers so I ran the audio through my receiver with Bose speakers. The audio still sounded like it was coming from a tin can. I switched to SD ABC and though the PQ was so-so, the audio quality was very rich. Is this a bandwidth problem or just bad engineering?

Doug in Manhattan

I have had the same problem during just the NBA playoffs. I've been watching the World Cup on ABC in HD and no problems form the crowd noise there. But the crowd noise in particular is really bad for the NBA HD games...

Not your system for the crap for audio on the NBA game; I surfed to it to watch some but quickly left as I found the audio so bad.

As for the Stanley Cup, although it was DD, there seemed no crowd noise from the surrounds. Not all the time, but I have heard YES using the surrounds for the crowd noise in the Stadium; now THIS is good sound design!

Ah, good sighting of Verizon in Fairway territory, but they could have just been doing cooper repairs. FWIW, the TWC truck I saw on my street was clearly labeled that it was only doing fiber work; I also noticed that the light in the manhole was incredibly bright, much brighter than I've ever seen in a manhole. I could be wrong, but logic tell me they need much more light to work on fiber than cooper.

As for the audio drop-outs, I think that's a generic issue with "digital cable." I certainly have seen issues like this ever since I got hooked to "digital cable." Interestingly, 2 years ago it was both audio and video that "broke up." While I still occasionally see video glitches, the audio ones in the past two weeks are annoying to be sure; mostly because they can be more numerous than one would want.

I remember back a bit when we were having some major storms... one movie I was trying to watch I had to stop because the "glitching" was so terrible.

I think the issue is that the error correction process just isn't as good as it should be. They do work on it, I do not see some of the glitches these days that I did see a year and longer ago.

I was watching the NBA playoffs last night on ABC-HD (707) and couldn't believe how bad the sound was. I thought it might be crappy TV speakers so I ran the audio through my receiver with Bose speakers. The audio still sounded like it was coming from a tin can. I switched to SD ABC and though the PQ was so-so, the audio quality was very rich. Is this a bandwidth problem or just bad engineering?
Doug in Manhattan
You’re absolutely correct; the audio is horrendous on ABC. As I posted here a few months ago- ABC does much of its broadcasting in DD 2.0. Some posters here are in denial of this fact since I could not get accurate verifications on this thread at that time. Some folks did responded, thankfully.

This crappy 2 channel audio is not the case for all of ABC’s programming, which could be the reason for the lack of verifications, but it seems like everything that I watch on ABC is DD 2.0. Two shows that come to mind- Jeopardy and any sporting event. Regardless, 2 channel audio is unacceptable in 2006.

With DD 2.0 on my system (optical in, to a Denon receiver, set up for 7 channel), the sound only come through on the main left and right speakers. The only way to have full audio through the other channels, even though it’s simulated surround, is for me to switch from the optical digital to the analog input. This gives me a better bogus ‘surround’ sound but it lacks the clean punch and true separations of digital. Also, the ability to balance the announcer’s voices with the arena’s ambiance is lost.

question - i was just watching a movie on hbo hd which i recorded. About 10 times during the movie the sound dropped out for a second - sometimes the pic froze for the 2 seconds too. This is fairly common when im watching hd, is this normal/acceptable??? Is there anything I can do to fix it??? its getting to be a pain in the azz.
Yes, this does happen on occasion. If you want to minimize the audio dropouts, you should reboot your box with a soft boot (hold down the power button until it says "boot") at least twice a week (or more often if you want), and do a full cold boot (unplug the box, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in) weekly.

You'll notice that things you record soon after a reboot will be less likely to have audio dropouts....and as time goes by, the audio dropouts become more frequent.

Scott

I just spoke to the chief engineer on location at Shea and is telling me SNY is having problems receiving the HD signal, what you see is analog 480i, they hope to fix it for the next game.


Lol, thanks for clearing that up for me, I switched to SNY-HD to peep some Baseball in HD & said to myself the PQ looked crappy & not as sharp & clear as before, I came to post about it when I read your post.

Thanks.

I have to agree about the terrible sound in the NBA playoffs. It was actually hurting my ears the other day through a very high quality sound system - even when I turned it down really low. I kept saying it was almost like nails on a blackboard or something.

Anyone else experiencing occasional dropouts of service. It seems to be happening on any channel. I was watching Sci Fi a bit earlier and it was happening then, but now its happening on ch. 5 as well. The dropout are very brief, only about a second.

EDIT: Checked other boxes, but didn't notice anything. Could this be a 8300 issue?

Anyone else experiencing occasional dropouts of service. It seems to be happening on any channel. I was watching Sci Fi a bit earlier and it was happening then, but now its happening on ch. 5 as well. The dropout are very brief, only about a second.

EDIT: Checked other boxes, but didn't notice anything. Could this be a 8300 issue?
Also noticed this last night on various channels; only have a 8300HD. Connected to the S. Manhattan head end here. -- John

question - i was just watching a movie on hbo hd which i recorded. About 10 times during the movie the sound dropped out for a second - sometimes the pic froze for the 2 seconds too. This is fairly common when im watching hd, is this normal/acceptable??? Is there anything I can do to fix it??? its getting to be a pain in the azz.

I too have been having these occasional drop-outs since I first got HD a year and some ago. In the past month, dropouts on Showtime HD have been happening for me about every 10 mins. In the past week, it's started getting worse and showing up on a variety of channels, SD and HD, very frequently, with some changing from audio drop-out/frozen picture to continuous macroblock glitching for 20 mins or more.

Rebooting my box doesn't seem to help. I've been in contact with TWC for a month. It's taken 7 visits, swapping my box, checking my line, replacing my entire line, and bringing in their own box and HDTV before they believed it was a problem outside my apartment. Then about a week ago they confirmed it was a problem at an amplifier station or something along those lines. Nothing further has been done to my knowledge, but they don't consider this normal service and are figuring out the next step.

Bottom line: If it's happening to you too, call them and complain! So far, they say I'm the only subscriber in my area, UES, who's ever called them about this. I could only hope more people having the same issue would motivate them to actually fix it.

Not exactly TV related, but what's up with ESPN 360 and it not being available through Time Warner's internet connection? I clicked on a video on the ESPN website but it told me that my internet provider doesn't offer ESPN 360. Since when does an internet provider have to "offer" a video? It looks like the days of net neutrality are nearing an end.

ESPN 360 is an internet service that is offered through internet providors.... obviously espn has some issues with time warner... so its not there....

ESPN 360 is an internet service that is offered through internet providors.... obviously espn has some issues with time warner... so its not there....

I guess I just don't understand what the ISP has to do with this particular service. Are the feeds stored somewhere on the individual ISP's servers to lessen the load on ESPN.com?

I guess I just don't understand what the ISP has to do with this particular service. Are the feeds stored somewhere on the individual ISP's servers to lessen the load on ESPN.com?

$$$$

I received some interesting news today from Verizon regarding their FIOS rollout in Manhattan. A Verizon rep called me this morning regarding access to several properties I manage in the East Village. She told me that they were in the process of running fiber and needed me to faciliate access. I immediately asked her if this had anything to do with FIOS and she said absolutely! We talked for a few minutes about their plans and she was able to give me a little info. She said that she is working on one grid in southern Manhattan, and that the biggest problem they've been facing is getting cooperation from property managers to make the installations happen. She said that they are working all over the city to get the new fiber in. I asked her if she had any kind of timeline as far as when they were hoping to get the city up and running. I told her I wouldn't hold her to the number, but was Verizon thinking more in the lines of 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years. She said they wanted to get it done now! She's emailing me some more information and if I get anything interesting I'll let everyone know.

All we can do is cross our fingers. I am jealous of all the posts I read over at the BBR forums with those users who have FIOS installed.

I know we're all praising FIOS... but look here (http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/Includes/FiOSTV/NY_New%20York%20Area.pdf) - no MSG or FSNY (SD or HD)

Unless this is something that still has to be worked out with cablevision (and I assume it is and it never will be worked out, since Cablevision wants its monopoly in its areas...) - there may be a problem.....

I know we're all praising FIOS... but look here (http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/Includes/FiOSTV/NY_New%20York%20Area.pdf) - no MSG or FSNY (SD or HD)

Unless this is something that still has to be worked out with cablevision (and I assume it is and it never will be worked out, since Cablevision wants its monopoly in its areas...) - there may be a problem.....

Nice link. :cool:
Who knows what they will add by the time we have it available to us?
Personally, I’m just hoping that things get rattled up a bit with this competition. Hopefully the consumers will benefit.

I know we're all praising FIOS... but look here (http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/Includes/FiOSTV/NY_New%20York%20Area.pdf) - no MSG or FSNY (SD or HD)

Screw those networks, I don't watch them and can't wait to get FIOS into my life and kick TWC the f*** out of my life. Yes, I'd rather have Verizon than TWC, that's how freaking BAD the latter is! :mad:

So I did a soft boot on my 8300HD, as recommended to limit drop outs last night, and today it would not work. I did a hard boot, and instead of going straight to booting, it started a sort of count down, and eventually went to the boot sequence. I was told by Time Warner that it was downloading something when it does that. However once it was rebooted, I could not access my Harddrive. It recommended I reboot when I accessed it, and if this does not work to contact time warner. I rebooted, and now they are sending a tech out on Tuesday.
2 things:
Is my hard drive fried, or can the tech actually make a difference?
If there is anything people can recommend I do, such as go into diagnostics to repair it, I would appreciate it.
I had some recent tapings I would like to keep, but if its dead I would just as soon get a new box as wait until Tuesday.
----Matt

I received some interesting news today from Verizon regarding their FIOS rollout in Manhattan. A Verizon rep called me this morning regarding access to several properties I manage in the East Village. She told me that they were in the process of running fiber and needed me to faciliate access. I immediately asked her if this had anything to do with FIOS and she said absolutely! We talked for a few minutes about their plans and she was able to give me a little info. She said that she is working on one grid in southern Manhattan, and that the biggest problem they've been facing is getting cooperation from property managers to make the installations happen. She said that they are working all over the city to get the new fiber in. I asked her if she had any kind of timeline as far as when they were hoping to get the city up and running. I told her I wouldn't hold her to the number, but was Verizon thinking more in the lines of 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years. She said they wanted to get it done now! She's emailing me some more information and if I get anything interesting I'll let everyone know.

Solid !

I'm thinking of getting a Slingbox to hook up to my 8300HD. The sling accepts S-Video, composite or coax so I would imagine I would hook it up via S-Video. Only problem I'm anticipating is the insertion of the gray sidebars/letterboxing by the 8300 (like it did w/ my previous dvd recorder).

Does anyone here have a slingbox connected to an 8300? If so, how does it work and is there anyway to eliminate the gray bars on the remote PC using the sling software? Also does the emitter work well w/ the 8300 in terms of controlling the box?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Very interesting info broadwayblue. I find it interesting that TWC wired the East Village with fiber and rolled out DTV and RR broadband first in that area (I was way jealous of a bud on 10th who got these services way before I did).

My best guess is that the overall subscriber base may be a lot smaller; that does make a kind of sense to roll it out to fewer customers to start with; easy to troubleshoot major technology roll-outs that way.

I think the pisser is that the issue of access is probably way easier up here, there are way more large multi-unit buildings, a lot are co-ops and have had stuff "worked out" to better provide access (my building did a wiring project 2 years ago so Verizon would have a very easy time as they only have to hook into out system in one place). HOWEVER, there is a question you might ask at some point; are they talking about fiber INTO the apartment unit?

All of which means that I'm looking at a good 2 years after it's rolled out and functioning in you're hood! Then again, no matter what the schedule is, TWC must be hearing footsteps, and that HAS to be good for existing customers!

Very interesting info broadwayblue. I find it interesting that TWC wired the East Village with fiber and rolled out DTV and RR broadband first in that area (I was way jealous of a bud on 10th who got these services way before I did).

My best guess is that the overall subscriber base may be a lot smaller; that does make a kind of sense to roll it out to fewer customers to start with; easy to troubleshoot major technology roll-outs that way.

I think the pisser is that the issue of access is probably way easier up here, there are way more large multi-unit buildings, a lot are co-ops and have had stuff "worked out" to better provide access (my building did a wiring project 2 years ago so Verizon would have a very easy time as they only have to hook into out system in one place). HOWEVER, there is a question you might ask at some point; are they talking about fiber INTO the apartment unit?

All of which means that I'm looking at a good 2 years after it's rolled out and functioning in you're hood! Then again, no matter what the schedule is, TWC must be hearing footsteps, and that HAS to be good for existing customers!


You guys are talking Manhattan, hi-profile Manhattan...but i won't be holding my BREATH that out here in 3rd world Jackson Hts Queens, those changes will be coming any time soon to MY neighborhood or coop building. :(

On Discovery Channel HD 3:45 pm, a special about animal responses to earthquake with only ambient sound, msuic, sounds olf the animals -- no voiceover track. -- very strange. Interesting effect.

To those with dropout problems please keep calling. I did it and now it seems as if things are better.

I have a Slingbox connected to my 8300HD. I don't have sidebars on the remote picture if watching in 4:3 mode at home. If I go to stretch mode, the remote picture remains in a "non-stretched" mode. I'm using the composite video output to connect the Slingbox. The IR controls work fine. There are two sending units and I have both attached the the 8300, one pointing down and one pointing up. I suspect only one is really necessary.

Your box is toast. I had the same thing happen and had to exchange the unit at 23rd Street.

I have a Slingbox connected to my 8300HD. I don't have sidebars on the remote picture if watching in 4:3 mode at home. If I go to stretch mode, the remote picture remains in a "non-stretched" mode. I'm using the composite video output to connect the Slingbox. The IR controls work fine. There are two sending units and I have both attached the the 8300, one pointing down and one pointing up. I suspect only one is really necessary.

Cool. Thanks for the response. So it sounds like the 8300's aspect ratio settings don't mess w/ the Slingbox's picture. What happens when you try to watch a widescreen HD channel via the slingbox? Do you get a widescreen picture? Not even sure how the composite outputs handle this.

So I did a soft boot on my 8300HD, as recommended to limit drop outs last night, and today it would not work. I did a hard boot, and instead of going straight to booting, it started a sort of count down, and eventually went to the boot sequence. I was told by Time Warner that it was downloading something when it does that. However once it was rebooted, I could not access my Harddrive. It recommended I reboot when I accessed it, and if this does not work to contact time warner. I rebooted, and now they are sending a tech out on Tuesday.
2 things:
Is my hard drive fried, or can the tech actually make a difference?
If there is anything people can recommend I do, such as go into diagnostics to repair it, I would appreciate it.
I had some recent tapings I would like to keep, but if its dead I would just as soon get a new box as wait until Tuesday.
----Matt


Techs are completely worthless! I had a guy come out to look at my connection as it was pixelating and breaking up alot on OD, and he walked in, some little skinny kid with PAIN tattoed on his f'n neck.

COME ON! Where are they finding these guys, Rikers Island?

Some sort of ex-con work program??

He walked in, said "oh the cable is kind of loose:, tightened and left

Worthless

I am in Queens NY with an 8300 box. My current Passport version is 1.8.112. Is there a newer update out? Is there a way for me to get this update or do I just have to wait?

Thanks!

I hear Staten Island is into the 2.5.x range. Manhattan is 1.8.112. AFAIK, the 2.5 and up range is where the SATA port get enabled...

Don't some areas outside of Manhattan have service other than TWC? And don't some have a choice (like you could have TWC or Cablevision)?

I hear Staten Island is into the 2.5.x range. Manhattan is 1.8.112. AFAIK, the 2.5 and up range is where the SATA port get enabled...

Don't some areas outside of Manhattan have service other than TWC? And don't some have a choice (like you could have TWC or Cablevision)?

My only choice is TWC.

I hear Staten Island is into the 2.5.x range. Manhattan is 1.8.112. AFAIK, the 2.5 and up range is where the SATA port get enabled...

Don't some areas outside of Manhattan have service other than TWC? And don't some have a choice (like you could have TWC or Cablevision)?

Some residents of Manhattan and Queens have the option to switch to RCN. I don't know one area within the Five Boroughs that have both TWC and Cablevision as an option for an MDU or PH. You either have one or the other. Not both available.

I was riding on the J line into Brooklyn and was amazed to see the number of homes hooked up with DirecTV. Had to be in the hundreds.

I hear Staten Island is into the 2.5.x range. Manhattan is 1.8.112. AFAIK, the 2.5 and up range is where the SATA port get enabled...

Don't some areas outside of Manhattan have service other than TWC? And don't some have a choice (like you could have TWC or Cablevision)?Staten Island is TWC only. Most people here have been customers since the SI Cable days, when the service was a hell of a lot cheaper than TWC service is now.

TWC and Cablevision operate under territorially-exclusive cable TV franchises awarded by the City of New York. RCN is considered to be an "Open Video Services Provider," not a cable company.


http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/images/charts/franchise_territories.jpg

Staten Island is TWC only. Most people here have been customers since the SI Cable days, when the service was a hell of a lot cheaper than TWC service is now.
Even in Manhattan, with Time Warner Cable, the service was a hell of a lot cheaper about 5 years ago than it is now! ;)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Berk32
I know we're all praising FIOS... but look here - no MSG or FSNY (SD or HD)



Sportsnet NY will be available on FIOS TV. IT is currently listed on channel 512 for Fios. I live in Staten Island and we should be getting FIOS TV first quarter 2007.

Sportsnet NY will be available on FIOS TV. IT is currently listed on channel 512 for Fios. I live in Staten Island and we should be getting FIOS TV first quarter 2007.


I never said anything about sportsnet NY

Quote:

Sportsnet NY will be available on FIOS TV. IT is currently listed on channel 512 for Fios. I live in Staten Island and we should be getting FIOS TV first quarter 2007.

1st qtr '07....
Did you hear this from a reliable source?

Since so many people appear to be desparate for FIOS, there's a lot of speculation and mis-information going around on other forums.
My co-worker just had FIOS installed last Friday in SI. He's now considering his 1st HiDef TV. I think if FIOS TV becomes available soon in NYC, he'll pull the trigger into the HiDef world.

Sportsnet NY will be available on FIOS TV. IT is currently listed on channel 512 for Fios. I live in Staten Island and we should be getting FIOS TV first quarter 2007.

did anyone else hear when FIOS TV will be available in staten island..

ALso anyone know is SI got any new software updates on the 8300HD-DVR boxes that will fix the HDMI problem and DD sound problem

did anyone else hear when FIOS TV will be available in staten island..I know my block hasn't even been wired for FiOS internet yet, even though all the blocks around it have the fiber on the pole.

I find it ironic that the season sponsor for the Staten Island Yankees is Verizon FiOS, despite the fact that FiOS is unavailable for purchase north of the Staten Island Expressway (where the stadium is).

I haven't heard anything but rumors regarding when SI will get FIOS tv. What I do know is that TWC in SI probably has more cable modems then they know what to do with thanks to all the people who have switched to FIOS Internet already.

Thanks for the graphic Manatus, boy what a crazy patchwork quilt. As we know, what you can get can be very different between Cablevision and TWC, yet the city allows this disparity to continue.

Some postings imply that FIOS TV and FIOS Internet are two separate things, that some areas one can one but not the other. This really makes no sense at all... is this specifically true?

Aren't Dish and Direct TV 2 separate satellite services?

grrr!!!
Last night on one of the HD+ channels the guide said 'The Omen 2006' with Julia Stiles. I said Holy F!!! already. maybe INHD had some sort of deal to show the movie to HD customers. I call TWCNY to confirm. They say that the menu was correct. I go ahead and finally sign up for the HD extra package. 9pm switch to the movie and ta da...
the 70's version is playing, after all the exclamitories I spewed, I am considering keeping the extra package, is there anything of worth on these channels besides ESPN?
thanks

Thanks for the graphic Manatus, boy what a crazy patchwork quilt. As we know, what you can get can be very different between Cablevision and TWC, yet the city allows this disparity to continue.

Some postings imply that FIOS TV and FIOS Internet are two separate things, that some areas one can one but not the other. This really makes no sense at all... is this specifically true?

Aren't Dish and Direct TV 2 separate satellite services?
In SI FIOS Internet is available, however Verizon must first get a franchise agreement with the town/city before they can offer TV service, which they haven't done yet here.

In SI FIOS Internet is available, however Verizon must first get a franchise agreement with the town/city before they can offer TV service, which they haven't done yet here.That's not entirely accurate. FiOS is only available south of the Expressway. 50% of Staten Island's population lives north of the Expressway, so most of us can't get FiOS yet.

That's not entirely accurate. FiOS is only available south of the Expressway. 50% of Staten Island's population lives north of the Expressway, so most of us can't get FiOS yet.
Yes I left that part out, hopefully by the end of year the north shore will be fully wired.

grrr!!!
Last night on one of the HD+ channels the guide said 'The Omen 2006' with Julia Stiles. I said Holy F!!! already. maybe INHD had some sort of deal to show the movie to HD customers. I call TWCNY to confirm. They say that the menu was correct. I go ahead and finally sign up for the HD extra package. 9pm switch to the movie and ta da...
the 70's version is playing, after all the exclamitories I spewed, I am considering keeping the extra package, is there anything of worth on these channels besides ESPN?
thanks

LOL, I fell for that screw up too.
We were actually going to see the new Omen this past weekend on the recommendation of friends but got too involved in the World Cup, Yankees, rain, etc., never got around to it. My friends wanted to chat up the movie yesterday and were annoyed that we didn’t see it but last night, when I saw the guide and the listing for it, man I was psyched. Screw the fifty dollar noisy, dirty theatre. I’m watching this in my house. Wait until I tell these non HD converts what I watched last night. Oh boy!

What a fool.
When that grainy old 20th Century Fox logo hit the screen- man was I pissed off. Thank god I didn’t get crazy and break out the chips and dips and invite folks over for a Monday night fright party.

The thing that convinced me to buy into this swamp land debacle was the fact that they actually listed the new movie in the guide. Why would they have this accurate description of the new version in their system? I’ve seen plenty of mix ups with older movies and remakes but a new movie? If it were April 1st, I could understand.

Im really hoping the Verizon gets a Staten Island TV franchise, I am getting pretty P.O. at TWC's horrible service. For those of us who know SI, I find it no surprise that they only rolled out FIOS south of the expresway(Mason Dixon line of SI).

grrr!!!
Last night on one of the HD+ channels the guide said 'The Omen 2006' with Julia Stiles. I said Holy F!!! already. maybe INHD had some sort of deal to show the movie to HD customers. I call TWCNY to confirm. They say that the menu was correct. I go ahead and finally sign up for the HD extra package. 9pm switch to the movie and ta da...
the 70's version is playing, after all the exclamitories I spewed, I am considering keeping the extra package, is there anything of worth on these channels besides ESPN?
thanks

Indeed I also got fooled... I set it to record the middle of the night showing. Shoulda known this was a mistake!

I dropped Cinemax because they aren't carrying it's HD channel and I saw some interesting things on the HDXtra tier (my cable bill actually went DOWN by $1.05/month). It looks like you get a fair amount of music, concerts, things like that. Plus 2 of the channels have movies... far as I can tell ALL are in HD (not all movies on HBO HD or SHO HD are HD!) plus TV shows, mostly fairly recent stuff (one of them is running SciFi's BattleStar Galactica, a favorite of mine). As for ESPN, it seems they don't really carry any sports... it seems to be 24/7 of news (oh, I think I saw they had some college basketball one time...).

I'd love it of all NYC HD fans would drop either MAX or STARZ in favor of HDXtra AND let them know why. Both MAX and STARZ have had HD channels for quite a while... and TWC won't let us have them. So you're paying for something you don't get!

I'd love it of all NYC HD fans would drop either MAX or STARZ in favor of HDXtra AND let them know why. Both MAX and STARZ have had HD channels for quite a while... and TWC won't let us have them. So you're paying for something you don't get!
This has been discussed on a number of occasions in the past, and a bunch of us have done exactly this. Page back about 4-5 pages in this thread....I even provided an email address so you can email a TWC executive the reasons that you're dropping the premium services, so it will actually make a difference....

Here, it's not a claim of whether TWC will "let" us have them or not -- the execs are claming that they're out of bandwidth space to add new HD channels here in the NYC area....so technically they can't let us have them without doing something else to add capacity.

Im really hoping the Verizon gets a Staten Island TV franchise, I am getting pretty P.O. at TWC's horrible service. For those of us who know SI, I find it no surprise that they only rolled out FIOS south of the expresway(Mason Dixon line of SI).Yeah because Verizon must think everyone north of the expressway is poor, which isn't true at all.

I'm glad I'm moving off the island in September.

Yup, another foolee here with the '06-Omen listing. I've seen this happen with other films in the guide. Maybe whoever is writing up the guide uses the IMDB site. A title search there turns up both films (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=Omen) and frequent duplications of other titles with searches.

INHD2 may be boosting its HD movie content. Caught the well-made "...Killing the Great Chefs of Europe" yesterday. Only problem: that overly plump INHD logo, bottom right, on screen.

BTW, can't agree with an earlier post mentioning lack of ESPN-HD content. There's quite a bit of 720p there as the listings at the HDsporstguide (http://www.hdsportsguide.com/) shows. Also see this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=692545). Now we need ESPN2, too, (among other channels) since we're missing good HD programming there now. -- John

Funny that you guys are all clamoring for Verizon service. I guess you haven't had much of any experience with Verizon beyond "regular" services (i.e. turn on my phone line please) b/c if you had then you'd know what an absolutely abysmal company they are from a technical (in the field) standpoint. I remember when they first rolled out DSL - what a frickin fiasco. Took almost a year before anyone inside the company knew what the hell they were doing with it. I can't imagine FIOS will be any different.

And no, TWC isn't great in this regard either. Just don't hope for a panacea if you switch - you won't get it. The best hope is that 12-24 months after FIOS is widely available it will have created sufficient pricing and service pressures that both Verizon and TWC will have to improve their offerings.

TM

Funny that you guys are all clamoring for Verizon service. I guess you haven't had much of any experience with Verizon beyond "regular" services (i.e. turn on my phone line please) b/c if you had then you'd know what an absolutely abysmal company they are from a technical (in the field) standpoint. I remember when they first rolled out DSL - what a frickin fiasco. Took almost a year before anyone inside the company knew what the hell they were doing with it. I can't imagine FIOS will be any different.

And no, TWC isn't great in this regard either. Just don't hope for a panacea if you switch - you won't get it. The best hope is that 12-24 months after FIOS is widely available it will have created sufficient pricing and service pressures that both Verizon and TWC will have to improve their offerings.

TM
I know how bad verizon is as a company. I think we're all so disgusted with TWC at this point that we'll take any kind of alternative, and the hope that this will in turn force TWC to later rates at some point.

Funny that you guys are all clamoring for Verizon service. I guess you haven't had much of any experience with Verizon beyond "regular" services (i.e. turn on my phone line please) b/c if you had then you'd know what an absolutely abysmal company they are from a technical (in the field) standpoint. I remember when they first rolled out DSL - what a frickin fiasco. Took almost a year before anyone inside the company knew what the hell they were doing with it. I can't imagine FIOS will be any different.

And no, TWC isn't great in this regard either. Just don't hope for a panacea if you switch - you won't get it. The best hope is that 12-24 months after FIOS is widely available it will have created sufficient pricing and service pressures that both Verizon and TWC will have to improve their offerings.

TMI'm well aware how much Verizon sucks. I live 1/4 mile from the Forest Ave Central Office and DSL service inside my house was total crap, constantly dropping the connection. Verizon basically forced me to get a cable modem. My POTS service goes down more frequently than it should, and it takes them days to fix it.

I do worry that FiOS will be unreliable, but I can't see it being much worse than Verizon's current offerings.

... The best hope is that 12-24 months after FIOS is widely available it will have created sufficient pricing and service pressures that both Verizon and TWC will have to improve their offerings.

TM
That's what it's all about. :cool:

I took a ride on Forest Hill Road today near the SI Mall and saw Verizon trucks installing FiOS at a house. They put signs on the front lawn that said "FiOS Installed Here!"

I'm not really sure that I would want to have Verizon advertising on my front lawn.