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bgooch

03-15-07, 09:23 PM

Time Warner Cable exec ousted over poor service
By James S. Granelli, Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2007 update

Time Warner Cable Inc. forced out its chief cable guy in Southern California on Wednesday, but you may not want to throw that help number away just yet.

Roger Keating, head of Time Warner's regional office since 2003, was done in by an avalanche of complaints about Internet and e-mail outages, TV channel lineup changes and pressure to sign up for digital service. Customers were most annoyed by maddeningly long — and sometimes futile — waits to reach a human by phone.

Keating and his bosses "agreed it was a good time" for him to exit, according to a memo to top managers from Chief Operating Officer Landel Hobbs. Keating will be replaced by two Time Warner executives who Hobbs said had "a different set of leadership skills."

They have a tall order ahead in repairing strained relations with customers and winning back the more than 10,000 people who have canceled their subscriptions since October.

"I've given up calling them," said John Toal of Culver City, who owns a photo business that went 10 days without Internet service last month. "I can't stand staying on hold for an hour and a half."

Once a small player in Southern California, Time Warner Cable ran into big trouble when it began integrating its TV and Internet service operations with properties it acquired last summer from Comcast Corp. and bankrupt Adelphia Communications Inc.

After teaming up with Comcast to buy Adelphia's assets and then swapping some with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, which is a subsidiary of New York-based media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., became the leading cable provider in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area with 1.9 million customers.

Keating was in charge of combining technologies, billing systems, computer servers, programming and Internet and e-mail services.

"It has not gone smoothly," said Aryeh Bourkoff, an analyst with UBS Securities.

Some would say that is putting it lightly. Often-furious subscribers overwhelmed Time Warner's five local call centers and swamped city halls throughout the region.

"Their systems got overloaded and people were not able to get through to the company, and we got a lot of complaints," said Marc Jaffee, executive director of a cable authority for Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Westminster and Stanton.

Complaints about cable service in Los Angeles nearly trebled since October to 1,732 from the same period a year earlier, according to figures compiled by the city. Oxnard, Moreno Valley and other cities reported similar huge jumps.

Despite stories of marathon sessions on hold, the average wait time, which hit a high of nine minutes late last year, is now down to five minutes for many billing and technical calls, said Eric Burton, who oversees the company's five customer call centers in Southern California. His aim is to reduce the wait to the early-2006 average of 30 seconds.

Time Warner has made "significant progress," Burton said. The centers, which receive about 1.7 million calls a month, are staffed with 1,650 representatives, and Burton said an additional 250 would be on board in the next month.

"We are absolutely not where we want to be," he said. "But we do feel comfortable that the quality is at a level that we can build on."

The turnaround, though, might not be swift. Company executives have said that they don't expect to stem the loss of subscribers and start rebuilding the customer base until the second half of the year.

Working on that will be Barry Rosenblum, an executive vice president based in New York, who will replace Keating and work out of New York and Los Angeles. Stephen Pagano, former head of Time Warner Cable's Albany, N.Y., division, will move to Los Angeles to handle day-to-day operations.

With its expansion last year, "people got very excited about the growth potential for Time Warner," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research. "But they overestimated how easy it was going to be."

Getting it right is particularly significant in Los Angeles.

"L.A. is a very important market for Time Warner Cable," UBS' Bourkoff said.

The merits of the Comcast and Adelphia deal "will be largely determined by the company's success in L.A.," Bourkoff added. "If Time Warner is going to try to do more deals and pursue consolidation in the cable industry, the precursor is whether the integration is successful — and the L.A. market is key to that success."

As Time Warner has lost subscribers, rival DirecTV Group Inc., a satellite TV provider, has gained. It saw Los Angeles-area subscriptions rise 10% in the last three months of last year.

"To see that kind of a spike, it was clear we were attracting a lot of agitated Time Warner customers," said Robert Mercer, a spokesman for El Segundo-based DirecTV. "We also knew that because we were getting feedback at our call centers."

For Charles Golvin, who lives near Century City, the answer to his Time Warner problems is AT&T Inc., which is upgrading its network to sell TV and Internet service.

"I'd be very likely to switch because of these experiences with Time Warner customer care," said Golvin, who happens to be a telecommunications industry analyst at Forrester Research Inc.

It could be a year or more before AT&T rolls out that service in his area, giving Time Warner time to repair its reputation and win back customers.

One who needs winning is Travis Arnold of Hermosa Beach, who said he was told he would have to wait five days for service after the cable connection crashed while he and his father were watching a boxing match in February.

After hours on the phone and a fruitless visit to a Time Warner office, Arnold snagged a company worker whose truck he spotted and pleaded for help. The worker found mislabeled connections in a neighborhood junction box.

Jonas M. Grant of Studio City said he had called repeatedly since mid-December to complain about being double-billed and still had not received a refund.

"Time Warner call centers have wait times of 20 to 30 minutes, even during the Super Bowl, when I figured no one would be on the line," he said. "And even at 2 a.m."

james.granelli@latimes.com

*

Cable disconnect

Number of complaints before and after Time Warner took over Adelphia's cable system, by category*

Consumer service

After: 720

Before:341

---

Technical service

After: 508

Before: 297

---

Miscellaneous service**

After: 394

Before: 89

---

Billing

After: 375

Before: 257

---

*August to February compared with the same period a year before

**Including cable guide, programming, public access services and content

---

Source: City of Los Angeles
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cable16mar16,0,4697940,full.story

bgooch

03-16-07, 12:10 AM

Time Warner Shakes Up L.A. Division
By Steve Donohue 3/15/2007 6:03:00 PM

Time Warner Cable said late Thursday that Los Angeles division president Roger Keating had left the company, and that 27-year veteran Barry Rosenblum – currently head of its New York division – would run the Los Angeles division as well.

Keating, a former Comcast executive, joined Time Warner Cable as president of its national division in 2002. He was named head of the L.A. division in April 2003.

The moves put Rosenblum in charge of two of Time Warner Cable’s largest divisions, which encompass more than 3 million basic-cable subscribers. Its Los Angeles division counts about 1.9 million customers, while New York has about 1.2 million subscribers.

Rosenblum will maintain offices in both New York and Los Angeles, according to Time Warner Cable senior vice president of corporate communications Mark Harrad.

One of Rosenblum’s tasks will be to help integrate the subscribers Time Warner Cable acquired from Adelphia Communications last month.

Rosenblum is recruiting Time Warner operations executives from its Northeast Region to help run the Los Angeles region, including former Albany division president Stephen Pagano, New York division chief financial officer Nini Facini and New York division chief marketing officer John Keib.

Harrad said Pagano will relocate to Los Angeles, while Facini and Keib will work out of both New York and Los Angeles.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6425094.html?display=Breaking+News

Blasst

03-16-07, 01:19 AM

TNTHD has gotten even worse. :mad:

I was just watching the Miami Heat - New Jersey Nets game and it looked like you know what.

I decided to cap it and the bitrate turned out to be 11.33mbps @ 1920x1080i resolution. Absolutely terrible!

I hear you my friend!!! I've been posting about this, and have had TW out 4 times this month. I'm hearing they are having problems with the old network that Adelpia used, and that they might have to replace the network.

The worst HD channels for me are Discovery, HDNET movies, TNT, lots of blocking, pulsation... blah blah blah:) How is everyone else with their TNT HD quality? And what size displays are you using?

Blasst

03-16-07, 01:21 AM

twelvepbrs

03-16-07, 01:37 AM

bgooch

03-16-07, 01:49 AM

twelvepbrs

03-16-07, 02:10 AM

The corporation had no choice. They had to bring in the big guns. Otherwise the rhetoric "most technologically advanced" would blow up in their faces. Only time will tell if TWC overpaid for the Adelphia systems.
considering how "honesty" and "competence" were plentiful at the top of Adelphia I'm sure TWC got their money's worth :rolleyes:

bgooch

03-16-07, 07:17 PM

"Keating was handed a pretty difficult task: Time Warner Cable's subscribers in the region jumped from 350,000 to 1.9 million. Rumored (future) TWC acquisitions are a long shot until the Adelphia integration can be worked out. As one Verizon tech notes in our (broadband reports) forums, the company has looming Verizon FiOS TV competition to look forward to in the region, too."

more interesting comments here (http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/82318)

bgooch

03-16-07, 08:57 PM

Cable Disconnect (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=77810&stc=1)

WSR35

03-17-07, 04:07 AM

For the first time ever, I am seriously researching switching over to DirecTV. Too bad cable seems to have fallen behind the times (at least, as far as I understand it).

bgooch

03-17-07, 05:30 AM

I would also except I won't be locked into a long term contract for the time being.

Have you explored Verizon's FIOS, AT&T's U-verse or AT&T's Homezone?

Announcements pertaining to this region are expected.

finetunes

03-17-07, 04:20 PM

I hear you my friend!!! I've been posting about this, and have had TW out 4 times this month. I'm hearing they are having problems with the old network that Adelpia used, and that they might have to replace the network.

The worst HD channels for me are Discovery, HDNET movies, TNT, lots of blocking, pulsation... blah blah blah:) How is everyone else with their TNT HD quality? And what size displays are you using?

The TW HD channels were especially bad last night. Discovery has been terrible since the Adelphia switch over. I was watching Rome on HBO and the pixelization made it unwatchable. TNT was its usual mediocre quality. It seems to be getting worse, not better. They know there is a problem but can't seem to fix it.

I'm viewing on a 60" display.

jasonvr

03-17-07, 05:37 PM

The TW HD channels were especially bad last night. Discovery has been terrible since the Adelphia switch over. I was watching Rome on HBO and the pixelization made it unwatchable. TNT was its usual mediocre quality. It seems to be getting worse, not better. They know there is a problem but can't seem to fix it.

I'm viewing on a 60" display.

Hmmm, this must be a localized issue. I was watching Discovery HD last night and didn't see any pixelation. I'm on a 55" RPTV Mits.

Adelmoxi

03-18-07, 06:30 PM

I would like to see TW offer the TiVO software like Comcast and Cox plan to. I do not like iGuide but I heard Navigator is even worse.

twelvepbrs

03-19-07, 12:17 AM

Dropped my cablecard off on friday, so my next bill should only have HSI on it, since my apartment comes with free basic i'm going to see if i can make it to football season (hopefully by then i'll be able to get ESPN2HD), FYI, if anyone is part of the "West Valley" (canoga park) area of TW, my clear-qam channel scan is below, i couldnt find TNTHD, DiscHD, MHD or FSN-HD and i'm pretty sure they are encrypted, i'm debating arguing with the cable company about whether the channels should be encrypted, since my apartment complex pays for basic for everyone, and those channels are listed as "HD Basic" in the channel lineup (it would be nice to have FSN-HD once baseball starts), there was a channel that showed the "You must have a digital receiver" message, wonder if maybe that was one of the "HD Basic" channels, TW appears to be sending out SD-Digital versions of all the local networks in addition to the HD versions, i should have copied down all the real channel numbers when i still had the cablecard but oh well!
KABC-WN 0
STB nfo 0
Ads 0
CW 84-5
ABC 84-7
KCAL 84-9
KTTV 84-11
KCAL 84-13
KCBS 84-22
KNBC 84-44
TWC 85-1
TWC 85-7
TWC 85-16
LMN 86-10
KCET-HD 88-1
KTTV-HD 88-2
KLCS 88-3
KLCS 88-4
PPV 100-8
VOD 100-10
Gala 103-2
KCET-HD 108-1
KNBC-HD 108-2
KCBS-HD 108-3
PBS 116-2
KABC-HD 116-3
KCAL-HD 116-4
KCET 118-4
KNBC-WP 118-6
Ads 118-7
VOD 121-4

RudyG

03-19-07, 02:22 AM

Dropped my cablecard off on friday, so my next bill should only have HSI on it, since my apartment comes with free basic i'm going to see if i can make it to football season (hopefully by then i'll be able to get ESPN2HD), FYI, if anyone is part of the "West Valley" (canoga park) area of TW, my clear-qam channel scan is below, i couldnt find TNTHD, DiscHD, MHD or FSN-HD and i'm pretty sure they are encrypted, i'm debating arguing with the cable company about whether the channels should be encrypted, since my apartment complex pays for basic for everyone, and those channels are listed as "HD Basic" in the channel
......

Those channels should be encrypted because there is a tier below Basic Cable called Broadcast Basic. And if they unencrypt those channels then people who only pay for broadcast basic will be able to see those channels that they have not payed for. You can see those channels if you'd like however you'll need to use the TWC receiver. If I were to debate TWC on anything, it would be on whether they should be charging rent for the basic receiver or not, for people who are already paying for the Basic Cable subscription. Which is not exactly cheap.

Good Luck.
Rudy

twelvepbrs

03-19-07, 03:01 AM

Those channels should be encrypted because there is a tier below Basic Cable called Broadcast Basic. And if they unencrypt those channels then people who only pay for broadcast basic will be able to see those channels that they have not payed for. You can see those channels if you'd like however you'll need to use the TWC receiver. If I were to debate TWC on anything, it would be on whether they should be charging rent for the basic receiver or not, for people who are already paying for the Basic Cable subscription. Which is not exactly cheap.

Good Luck.
Rudy
TNTHD and DiscHD were unencrypted up until around the end of last year (for me in canoga park), i really dont care about them that much though, it's just nice to have more HD content (not that i'd call TNTHD legit HD but...) i'm curious if the service that my apartment complex pays for should include TNTHD, DiscHD, etc... wonder if i could get a cable card to just tune those without having to pay extra for the CATV service

SoopahMan

03-19-07, 05:48 AM

Mogur2

03-19-07, 08:00 AM

Hi,
I have a tech support guy who services both satellite and cable customers. Since I have two HD DVRs, he said that either satellite company will charge me for such a setup. I guess I have to wait until TMC decides to provide more HD channels.

For the first time ever, I am seriously researching switching over to DirecTV. Too bad cable seems to have fallen behind the times (at least, as far as I understand it).

twelvepbrs

03-19-07, 01:09 PM

National Geographic is on Analog even if it isn't in-the-clear on QAM, for those interested in tuning it on TWC. This contrasts with Animal Planet which, while in-the-clear on QAM, used to be in Analog and seemingly had its channel retired... the channel (67 I think it was?) is just unused now. I don't see why they couldn't just leave it... .
It's helpful when we make gross generalizations about what channels are available in particular formats accross the Los Angeles area, since TW has about 20 different channel lineups, many people have vastly different offerings; National Geographic is only available on channel 215 encrypted-qam for me in canoga park; i don't get NG in analog so if i want it i have to sign up for digital cable; here's my lineup: http://www.timewarnerla.com/channellineups/CLUPDFs/WOW/West_Valley_WOW.pdf (animal planet is digital 216)

When discussing what channels are analog, digital, in the clear, channel numbers, etc...please state what part of LA in which you are watching tv

RudyG

03-19-07, 01:57 PM

TNTHD and DiscHD were unencrypted up until around the end of last year (for me in canoga park), i really dont care about them that much though, it's just nice to have more HD content (not that i'd call TNTHD legit HD but...) i'm curious if the service that my apartment complex pays for should include TNTHD, DiscHD, etc... wonder if i could get a cable card to just tune those without having to pay extra for the CATV service

Sounds like you guys were lucky there for a while. :) I can't wait for TWC to sign National Geographic channel in HD already.

Rudy

markt170

03-19-07, 02:30 PM

I've read several posts critical of TNT HD's basketball game picture quality, but it looked ok to me. Last week, the Lakers played Denver, and the game was on both KCAL 409 and TNT HD, which provided a good comparison. It appeared to me that the picture on 409 was noticeably superior to TNT. I have not noticed any problems with Discovery HD.

limacharliewhisk

03-19-07, 02:52 PM

I noticed that the Clippers game on Sunday (vs. the Nets) had especially bad HD reception, looking almost like SD instead of HD, far worse than their normal HD clarity.

ghettogreg

03-19-07, 04:11 PM

I noticed that the Clippers game on Sunday (vs. the Nets) had especially bad HD reception, looking almost like SD instead of HD, far worse than their normal HD clarity.

I didn't see the game, but it was probably bad because it was an away game. KTLA doesn't broadcast Clippers away games in HD like KCAL does for the Lakers

Mogur2

03-19-07, 05:22 PM

RudyG

03-20-07, 03:27 AM

I heartily agree with you. I have been calling monthly to Comcast and TWC ever since NGC started HD in Jan. 2006. So what do we get-Channel 409 with one or two Lakers games with poor quality and 413 which may have something available twice a month.

I wonder, is National Geographic costing that much? I just watched the first part of the Galapagos series. Good, but would be so much better in HD.

From Santa Clarita, CA
According to eriv TWC is in the middle of negotiations with NGC right now. Although he posted that probably around a month ago. Not sure how long these things take.

It is very likely that NGC has the most, original HD programs of any network out there. And it is actually somethings that is worth watching unlike local news. :O :D Reminds me a little of TLC when it used to be good.

A few posts earlier someone posted a link to an interview of a TWC exec. That lady that was being interviewed said that they'll dance with D* toe to toe in the number of HD offerings by the end of the year. In fact TWC is suing D* over this. This would mean that TWC will have to increase their HD offerings five fold by the end of this year. Seems quite impossible to me, but who knows. Maybe they are negotiating all 80 contracts right now. :)
This makes me wonder if there are even that many HD networks out there.
In any event I do wish them luck,and hope they can bring it to us at a reasonable cost.

Rudy

twelvepbrs

03-20-07, 03:55 AM

According to eriv TWC is in the middle of negotiations with NGC right now. Although he posted that probably around a month ago. Not sure how long these things take.

It is very likely that NGC has the most, original HD programs of any network out there. And it is actually somethings that is worth watching unlike local news. :O :D Reminds me a little of TLC when it used to be good.

A few posts earlier someone posted a link to an interview of a TWC exec. That lady that was being interviewed said that they'll dance with D* toe to toe in the number of HD offerings by the end of the year. In fact TWC is suing D* over this. This would mean that TWC will have to increase their HD offerings five fold by the end of this year. Seems quite impossible to me, but who knows. Maybe they are negotiating all 80 contracts right now. :)
This makes me wonder if there are even that many HD networks out there.
In any event I do wish them luck,and hope they can bring it to us at a reasonable cost.

Rudy
i think i'm going to set the bar at ESPN2HD, once they get it, i'll think about signing up for more than the free basic i get now, especially since they told me i'd get it last fall, and eriv said april a while back, but i'd be surprised if that even happened

Mogur2

03-20-07, 07:36 AM

It is my feeling that if any channel was created for HD it is the NGC. I just watched the Galapagos show was clear, even if it was not HD.

Has anyone seen "Winged Migration" from the Discovery HD Theater. Mind blowing!!!

It is very likely that NGC has the most, original HD programs of any network out there. And it is actually somethings that is worth watching unlike local news. :O :D Reminds me a little of TLC when it used to be good.

Rudy

jasonvr

03-20-07, 11:00 AM

A few posts earlier someone posted a link to an interview of a TWC exec. That lady that was being interviewed said that they'll dance with D* toe to toe in the number of HD offerings by the end of the year. In fact TWC is suing D* over this. This would mean that TWC will have to increase their HD offerings five fold by the end of this year. Seems quite impossible to me, but who knows. Maybe they are negotiating all 80 contracts right now. :)

I believe D* is advertising 5x more HD CAPACITY than cable, not more channels. TWC is suing because they believe that SDV, which will be rolling out in most markets soon (according to the article), will give them the same capacity that D* is boasting. Neither is saying that they will have channels to fill that capacity. It's kind of like having a bunch of little blue bags from Tiffany's and saying "I'm so rich", but then everyone finds out the bags are empty.

Pye in LA

03-20-07, 01:47 PM

It is my feeling that if any channel was created for HD it is the NGC. I just watched the Galapagos show was clear, even if it was not HD.

Has anyone seen "Winged Migration" from the Discovery HD Theater. Mind blowing!!!

DiscoveryHD has the astonishingly well-reviewed 11-part series "Planet Earth" beginning March 25th. It's from the producers of the brilliant "Blue Planet" 4-part(?) documentary. This is not to be missed!

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/planet-earth.html

RudyG

03-20-07, 03:17 PM

I believe D* is advertising 5x more HD CAPACITY than cable, not more channels. TWC is suing because they believe that SDV, which will be rolling out in most markets soon (according to the article), will give them the same capacity that D* is boasting. Neither is saying that they will have channels to fill that capacity. It's kind of like having a bunch of little blue bags from Tiffany's and saying "I'm so rich", but then everyone finds out the bags are empty.

Ahhh I see. So there was no need to get overly excited. :)
One thing that has puzzled me since reading that article though, was whether SDV or whatever TWC calls the technology of channel on demand, will work with their existing equipment. It would have to in order for them to roll it out before the end of the year.

Having my expectations adjusted, :) I suppose I'll settle for TWC matching the number of HD channels of E* by the end of the year, but with better PQ of course.

Rudy

dagware

03-20-07, 04:23 PM

Can someone else who is serviced from the Fullerton/Placentia office tell me what HD channels they get? Thanks.

-Dan

twitchee3

03-20-07, 05:32 PM

bgooch

03-20-07, 10:36 PM

L.A. takes Time Warner to task
A cable TV watchdog calls the merger of three systems a 'near failure' and seeks answers.
By James S. Granelli, Times Staff Writer
March 20, 2007

A top Los Angeles cable TV watchdog on Monday called the merger of pay TV and Internet systems in the city a "near failure" for subscribers and asked Time Warner Cable Inc. to explain what went wrong, how it would fix the problems and how soon.

Citing city statistics and a Times story from last week, Dean Hansell said in a letter to the cable firm that it had gone from being a "model franchise operator" to "providing a level of service that is unacceptable." Hansell is president of the mayor's Board of Information Technology Commissioners.

The city and Time Warner have been inundated with complaints since mid-October, when the company began combining systems it acquired from Comcast Corp. and bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp.

The merger propelled Time Warner from one of the smallest operations in Southern California to the dominant cable company, with 1.9 million customers in the five-county region.

But its reputation took a major blow as it tried to integrate the TV and Internet systems from three companies that use separate technology platforms. Complaints from October through February nearly tripled from the year-earlier period, and Time Warner lost more than 10,000 subscribers.

Hansell said subscribers were reporting "substandard and erratic service," long waits on hold, "rude and inadequately trained" customer service agents and repair technicians who were late or failed to show up.

"The deplorable results reflect a failure on the part of Time Warner Cable to take these issues seriously," he wrote.

Company spokeswoman Patricia Rockenwagner said Time Warner Cable was "committed to making improvements in our acquired properties and returning to having the best customer service record in the city."

She said the company had moved Stephen Pagano, who ran its Albany, N.Y., operations, to Los Angeles "to work with local management to expedite those improvements." Barry Rosenblum, an executive vice president, will oversee Pagano from New York. Hansell's letter questioned how Rosenblum planned to do so while running the company's Northeast division.

Time Warner Cable had expected to complete the integration in six weeks, but three months after that deadline, it decided not to set a new deadline.

In the face of an avalanche of complaints, the company slowed its changes and roll-out of new products to focus on managing its customer service quagmire.

Hansell said in an interview that his board and staff at the city's Information Technology Agency predicted the Time Warner Cable problems and sought assurances from the company that it would have the staff and expertise to manage the integration.

"This was a massive transition, and we knew there would be issues about different technologies, channel lineups, pricing and so forth," he said. "They were clear that these were not issues that they hadn't thought about."

Hansell said the board wasn't likely, therefore, to accept any excuse indicating that the company got more complaints or had more problems than it anticipated.

The company has until April 13 to reply in writing. The board can recommend a series of administrative sanctions or even fines, but Hansell said he expected the company to comply with his request.

james.granelli@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cable20mar20,1,7690596.story?coll=la-headlines-business

bgooch

03-21-07, 03:23 AM

I'm sure I will sleep better tonight knowing the top cable watchdog from the Board of Information Technology for the City of Los Angeles is now on the case. Asking the tough questions and demanding answers.

Gimme a break. The Information Technology Agency predicted the problems and all they could do was issue a statement after-the-fact saying they told us so? But the bureaucrats are covered because they “sought assurances”. This is at the point where I realize my issue is with local government and not the private enterprise that would like nothing more than continue charging full price yet deliver a half baked service. Oh yes I forgot Time Warner Cable will credit your account all of 1 buck and change per day if you call it in. Nevermind how long it takes to actually reach a person on the phone.

Defenders of industry say it's local municipalities own fault they're losing franchise authority over subscription TV service providers to state and possibly federal regulators. Unreasonable demands exceeding reasonable and customary fees have now opened up the possibility of reducing or eliminating public, education and local government channels. If that happens I believe the responsibility fairly rests with the incompetent local franchise boards. And forget about universal service. If the DSL rollout is any example TWC may not have anything to worry about for some time.

bgooch

03-21-07, 11:53 AM

L.A. Calls Rosenblum on Carpet
By Linda Haugsted 3/21/2007 11:06:00 AM

Time Warner Cable's newly named Los Angeles executive vice president, Barry Rosenblum, already received a Southern California invitation: a request from Los Angeles' Board of Information Technology Commissioners to appear in person to explain how the operator so poorly executed its system takeover in the city from Adelphia Communications and Comcast.

In a letter from the commission dated March 19, president Dean Hansell wrote that Time Warner has gone from a "model cable-franchise operator" to providing a level of service that is unacceptable.

Prior to the transition, Time Warner had the lowest rate of complaints per thousand consumers in the city. But in an interview, Hansell said complaints have more than doubled. City statistics provided by Hansell showed that Time Warner generated 984 complaints to the city from August 2005-February 2006. The complaint level for the same months in 2006 into 2007 was 1997.

"That's quite an enormous spike," he said, adding that he was especially concerned about a ninefold increase in the number of complaints of busy signals or unanswered calls. As a result, Time Warner lost about 10,000 customers, Hansell said, which is of concern to the city because defections to direct-broadcast satellite services costs the city franchise fees.

The city commission gave Time Warner until April 13 to provide a detailed written explanation of what went wrong the transition, resulting in Internet outages and long hold times, and details on exactly what the operator is doing to rectify the service level in the city.

Hansell also wants Rosenblum to appear in person to address customer-service issues and assure the city that a New York-based executive will be responsive to regulators and consumers.

California is one of the states that are moving franchising authority away from cities, but Hansell said Los Angeles will retain jurisdiction over customer-service issues even after franchise authority over incumbent cable operators moves to the state Public Utilities Commission in 2008.

The city of Los Angeles has its own customer-service regulations with penalties that could be assessed if Time Warner does not improve service.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6426449.html?display=Breaking+News

markt170

03-21-07, 01:22 PM

fareal

03-21-07, 02:08 PM

DVR "MUTE" Problem:
My neighbor's dvr (6416) displayed a "mute" message on the tv screen, and muted the sound coming from the receiver. The next day the problem went away. This has happened a couple times. He called TWC and was told this is an occasional problem with the dvrs, and that one way of avoiding it is to leave the dvr power on all the time. I've been on this forum for over two years, and I've never heard of such a problem. Anyone heard of this? Also, my Moxi's are on all the time anyway, but the 6416 can power off and still record. Do those of you with the 6416 leave the power on for this or for some other reason?

Yes, I had it happen to me, then found this..
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs#Picture_but_no_sound_.28.22MUTE.22_may_be_superimposed_ over_top-center_of_picture_in_small_white_letters.29

So now I leave the Power On all the time to avoid the problem.

I've also experienced this problem with the series priority list, but haven't wasted my time deleting and reinputing all my series recordings to resolve it..
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs#In_the_series_priority_list.2C_there_are_duplicate_numb ers.2C_missing_numbers_or_problems_moving_entries_up_or_down _the_list

And I've also experience loss of audio where changing the channel back and forth (perhaps from dolby digital to normal audio) usually resolves it.

bgooch

03-22-07, 10:06 AM

Council unhappy with Time Warner service

By Anna Bakalis, abakalis@VenturaCountyStar.com
March 21, 2007

Janice Parvin didn't think upgrading to a large flat screen TV would be so hard.

But after waiting patiently, then not so patiently, for a live person to help, the Moorpark city councilwoman thought customer service at Time Warner Cable Inc. could use the upgrade.

Since the cable giant took over Adelphia last summer, Parvin and other city officials have seen their cable frustrations mirrored in other residents of Moorpark.

People were experiencing technical problems, long waiting times, no one to talk with and telephone prompts that didn't lead to the right answer. It's been a problem since August, when the switch was made. And the complaints keep rolling in.

"They say they're working on it, but we've heard it all before," Parvin said. "It's kind of falling on deaf ears."

Parvin is on the cable TV ad hoc committee, along with Councilman Keith Millhouse, and they help oversee the city's cable franchise.

Tonight, the Moorpark City Council is expected to vote on how to handle Time Warner's customer service performance.

The council is demanding more accountability, including tracking telephone response time. Parvin said a recommendation from the cable ad hoc committee might include a fine of $25,000, as is set in the franchise agreement as compensation.

Tonight's meeting follows last week's ouster of Time Warner Cable's top regional cable executive, Roger Keating, who oversaw the very issues Moorpark and other Southern California cities have been complaining about. Keating, head of the regional office since 2003, was forced to resign last week after a deluge of complaints. Keating oversaw combining technologies, billing systems, computer servers, programming and Internet and e-mail services.

He's been replaced with two other executives.

Moorpark is calling for better accountability, including keeping a better log of calls that come just from Moorpark. Calls are tracked as part of a region that spreads across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

"If you look at the reporting data, it's covering a gigantic area," Parvin said.

Patricia Fregoso-Cox, the vice president of Time Warner Cable, north division, said the company looks forward to a collaborative and cooperative relationship with the city.

"We are committed to quality service and customer care, and look forward to a long relationship. We're honored to be working with the city," she said.

Fregoso-Cox didn't want to comment specifically on what might be considered in tonight's meeting.

In October, the regional call center, based in Palmdale, received more than 2 million phone calls, up from about 960,000 in August. In January, the most recent reporting data available, there were more than 1.6 million calls, with 26 percent of the calls abandoned, according to Time Warner Cable statistics. That's up from 7.5 percent last September.

Contract agreements require a live person answer within the first 30 seconds. But Parvin said they fulfill that agreement by answering by the 30-second mark, then transferring the caller to another line, often with questions going unanswered.

Time Warner Cable's troubles began when it began integrating its TV and Internet service operation with properties it purchased from Comcast Corp. and Adelphia Communications Inc.

After teaming up with Comcast to buy Adelphia's assets and then swapping some with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, which is a subsidiary of New York-based media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., became the leading cable provider in Ventura County.

The Moorpark Council will meet tonight at 7 in the community center, 799 Moorpark Ave.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/mo/article/0,1375,VCS_167_5432162,00.html

bgooch

03-22-07, 10:10 AM

Time Warner fined for poor service

Moorpark officials unhappy with long phone waits

By Anna Bakalis, abakalis@VenturaCountyStar.com
March 22, 2007

Failing in its agreement to answer customer calls in 30 seconds or less, Time Warner Cable Inc. was slapped with a fine of up to $25,000 by the Moorpark City Council Wednesday night.

Moorpark officials said they were fed up with the technical problems, long waiting times and telephone prompts that didn't lead to the right answer.

While getting a live person to help in less than 30 seconds won't be the outcome of the council's action, it is now on record that the leaders and residents of Moorpark are dissatisfied with the nation's second-largest cable company. The council did not mention Wednesday if the fine would be used as refunds to Moorpark customers.

"Time Warner has, for a period of time, not lived up to the obligations that are required for the citizens of this community," said Councilman Keith Millhouse.

The vote was 4-0. Mayor Patrick Hunter was absent.

No one from Time Warner commented on the council's decision at the meeting.

City officials looked to the franchise agreement, which says: "Telephone answering time shall not exceed 30 seconds ?"

"There has to be better service and better response," Millhouse said.

Since early this year, city officials have written letters to the cable company and met with cable representatives seeking a resolution. They wanted to know how many Moorpark customers were asking for help. None of those calls were answered, either.

Critics say the company didn't have what was needed for a successful transition, and customers are paying for it now.

Millhouse serves with Councilwoman Janice Parvin on the cable committee, formed in December to address the complaints that were pouring into the city.

Horror stories of waiting times and bad service have circulated everywhere, not just city halls, officials have said. "Everyone is experiencing this shortfall in Time Warner," Millhouse said.

The councilman said he was frustrated that state and federal governments have taken control away from local jurisdictions.

"We live with these people, we experience the same problems they do, and, quite frankly, I think we care more than the people in Sacramento or in Washington about the outcome," Millhouse said.

Calls to Time Warner are tracked as part of a region that spreads across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In some cases, calls have tripled since the August changeover.

The council's action follows last week's ouster of Time Warner Cable's top regional cable executive, Roger Keating, who oversaw the very issues Moorpark and other Southern California cities like Los Angeles have been complaining about.

In October, the regional call center, based in Palmdale, received more than 2 million phone calls, up from about 960,000 in August. In January, the most recent reporting data available, there were more than 1.6 million calls, with 26 percent of the calls abandoned, according to Time Warner Cable statistics. That's up from 7.5 percent last September.

URL: http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/mo/article/0,1375,VCS_167_5434753,00.html

twelvepbrs

03-22-07, 12:20 PM

bgooch

03-22-07, 06:34 PM

If you live in the OC The Orange County Register would like to here from you; and if it is not too much trouble post your remarks here too.

Share your Time Warner Cable experience
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

If you receive cable service from Time Warner Cable Inc. tell us your experience with the company since it acquired Comcast Corp. and Adelphia Communications Corp. Tell us if you previously were a customer of one of the other companies. How is the service? What kind of treatment do you receive when you contact the company?

Send your comments to marketplace@ocregister.com.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/article_1627158.php

bgooch

03-23-07, 03:48 AM

Time Warner cable unit could face fine
By James S. Granelli, Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2007

Moorpark became the second city this week to demand that Time Warner Cable Inc. comply with customer service standards — and the first to threaten a fine of as much as $25,000 or more.

Exercising its waning local control on the cable TV industry, the City Council late Wednesday initiated a procedure that could result in fines next month for the company's prolonged difficulty in merging pay TV and Internet systems.

Time Warner has struggled to combine operations it acquired last summer from Comcast Corp. and Adelphia Communications Corp.

"Time Warner either had actual knowledge of its inability to provide adequate customer service or it completely mismanaged this merger. Either situation is unjustifiable," Councilman Keith F. Millhouse said.

Moorpark has 7,400 Time Warner customers.

A state law that took effect this year is removing much of the control that municipalities have in overseeing cable TV. Starting next year, cable firms can shed local contracts after new competitors, mainly AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., enter their markets.

Once it receives a formal notice from Moorpark, Time Warner will "respond accordingly" and will "work with the city to resolve the issues satisfactorily," spokeswoman Patricia Rockenwagner said. "Moorpark started a formal process, but there are no fines and no findings yet," she said.

On Monday, the city of Los Angeles asked Time Warner to explain what went wrong and how and when it would solve the problems.

Cities in the company's five-county service region, and Time Warner itself, have been inundated with complaints since October when work on integrating the systems began.

The merger propelled the company from one of the smallest operations in Southern California to the region's dominant cable firm, with 1.9 million customers. But complaints nearly tripled in Los Angeles alone as customers cited service outages, long wait times, shabby customer service, channel lineup changes and pressure to buy higher-priced digital service. The company lost more than 10,000 subscribers.

At Wednesday night's Moorpark council meeting, Benjamin Hall of neighboring Simi Valley told the council members that to get the same channels he had with Adelphia, he said, he paid Time Warner about $20 more a month because he had to move from analog to digital service and get a new device that lets him record the way his old videocassette recorder did.

Millhouse, the councilman, said he waited on hold an hour for a Time Warner agent last month. He said a fine could total $200 a day for every incident.

He said he hoped Moorpark would spur other Southern California cities to take action against the company.

As part of its contract with Moorpark, Adelphia set up a $25,000 line of credit that the city could tap to collect fines for such breaches as poor customer service. Once that money is gone, the cable company, now Time Warner, is required to replenish the credit line.

Rockenwagner said few cities had similar terms.

james.granelli@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cable23mar23,1,1066865.story?coll=la-headlines-business

Arvy

03-23-07, 10:37 PM

WSR35

03-23-07, 11:17 PM

Anyone else getting terrible pixelation on the USC/UNC game? I know it's always there when there is a lot of quick movements, but this is much worse than usual.

Adelmoxi

03-25-07, 01:28 PM

Since the realese of the OCAP version(for Moto STB'S) of TW Navigator was pushed back, and since the version on SA STB'S is still being tweaked, I think TWC should bring back the MOXI infostructure.

DSperber

03-25-07, 04:52 PM

Just in passing, I note that TWC has apparently finally completed their "electronic audit" of my Comcast legacy "Digital Platinum" package under their new channel lineup and tier structure.

I have, indeed, lost all of those new "HD Tier" channels initially available to me [by accident, clearly] right after the changeover.

No more UHD, HDNet, or HDNMV. They're now "unauthorized".

But I continue to have all of the old HD channels I had from Comcast: DISCHD, TNTHD, all the local "HD Broadcast" channels (including the newly available KCALDT, and the old KTLADT which I had as a Comcast subscriber), plus the premium HBOHD, SHOHD, MAXHD, and STZHD which were part of "Digital Platinum".

I also have newly available MHD which is part of the new "HD Basic" tier, as well as ESPNHD and INHD which are currently part of "HD Tier" but were previously part of "Digital Platinum".

So after everything's finally settled down, my NET GAIN is: KCALDT and MHD. Nothing's been lost from "Digital Platinum".

Now, since I never watch STZHD and MAXHD, and since I watch ZERO SD via TWC (instead watching SD through my four D* receivers/D-VHS VCRs), and since my homeowners' association "bulk contract" pays for my underlying basic/digital service, I'm going to call them to change my service, and save some money.

I will ditch what I have and take only what I want from TWC, meaning their underlying digital service ($44.95, paid for by homeowners' contract), HBO+SHO ($15 each), DVR ($9.95 for DVR rental plus $4.95 for service), and Internet Service (reduced from $44.95 to $39.95 for their RoadRunner, because of my multi-product Cable TV service discount as well), plus HD Tier ($5).

That's going to add up to a total net savings for me of $15/month over my current pricing arrangement for "Digital Platinum" legacy, at the expense of losing STZHD and MAXHD and all non-basic SD (which I never watch), while gaining UHD, HDNet and HDNMV (which I might actually watch).

twitchee3

03-25-07, 05:46 PM

Does anyone in the area have a QAM tuner card that actually receives in the clear from coax cable? I'm only exploring possibilites for capturing local HD channels since firewire from a Moto 6416 III is pretty much out of the question.
Any QAM tuner should be able to pick up the networks in HD through a direct connection to the cable feed. It is illegal for TWC to encrypt any of the broadcast locals in HD, thus they are forced by law to broadcast CBS HD, NBC HD, ABC HD, FOX HD, and PBS HD on the clear QAM for all basic cable subscribers. If you cannot pick these channels up, contact TWC, and if they are no help, tell them you're going to the FCC.
Since the realese of the OCAP version(for Moto STB'S) of TW Navigator was pushed back, and since the version on SA STB'S is still being tweaked, I think TWC should bring back the MOXI infostructure.
Time Warner Cable, as far as i understand it, does not have a deal with Digeo (makers of the Moxi) for support of future units, and they have simply "inherrited" the old Adelphia Legacy Moxi's. Time Warner uses ONLY the DCT 64XX HD DVR's for markets with Motorola based head ends.

Actually, using the Moxi does not require any change in infrastructure, as the Moxi's are designed to be used on Motorola systems, just like the DCT 64XX models, and many markets have both Moxi's and DCT units running out of the same head end simultaneously.

Arvy

03-25-07, 07:41 PM

I was just curious if anyone has successfully captured or viewed HD OTA cable through a QAM tuner card [because I sure can't through the firewire ports].

twitchee3

03-25-07, 07:52 PM

I was just curious if anyone has successfully captured or viewed HD OTA cable through a QAM tuner card [because I sure can't through the firewire ports].
Firewire port functionality is completely different from clear QAM programming because the firewire feed is routed through the STB, and thus is at the mercy of the firmware/software installed on the unit, as well as 5c flags and cable company encryption.

I have successfully, and am currently, viewing the networks in HD by connecting the direct cable feed (coax) into my QAM enabled Panny Plasma. This method should actually produce slightly better PQ, as the video processors in the QAM enabled devices are generally regarded as better than the processors in cable company provided STB's. This does not apply if you are using an HDMI or DVI connection from your STB to your display, however, because it will pass the digital signal and will not employ the STB's video processor for decoding.

twelvepbrs

03-25-07, 08:21 PM

I was just curious if anyone has successfully captured or viewed HD OTA cable through a QAM tuner card [because I sure can't through the firewire ports].
I was able to get a kworld-115 pci tuner card to tune clear qam after lots of experimentation, but have settled on a product called hdhomerun, which is it's own box that streams digital channels over your local network, it will tune OTA or clear qam-cable and has two tuners meaning you can use it to record two channels at the same time, i'm using it with gbpvr to schedule and record on my desktop PC, and it works great for both OTA & QAM as i stated, plus there are someother benefits; my local TW feed includes SD-digital local channels, (the HDhomerun only tunes digital channels), and the SD channels are low enough bitrate that i can stream them over wireless to my laptop, meaning i can take my laptop out to the pool (just outside my apartment) and watch tv when lounging in the pool or the spa

bgooch

03-26-07, 10:33 AM

Updated Monday, March 26, 2007

Redondo Beach cable provider reacts to a host of complaints
Time Warner received dozens of calls after it started doing required city wiring inspections and upgrades. Some residents complained to the city that workers left a mess of holes and wires behind.

By Kristin S. Agostoni, Staff Writer

Time Warner Cable is trying to mend ties with customers in Redondo Beach after a slew of complaints concerning city-mandated wiring inspections.

When the beach city transferred its franchise agreement last year from Adelphia Communications to Time Warner, local leaders added a clause requiring the new company to ensure home connections meet national electric code standards.

As a result, workers last month began walking through neighborhoods at the north and south ends of town, in hopes of meeting in the middle by June 30. At that point, Time Warner is expected to have checked and repaired cable connections at 6,700 addresses and roughly 12,000 homes citywide.

The so-called "Cure Plan" requires Time Warner to ground wires directly to subscribers' houses to prevent fires and electrical shocks.

But the work in Redondo Beach is piling on more headaches for Time Warner, which has faced a barrage of service complaints from customers around Los Angeles since the company integrated its TV and Internet service operation with properties acquired from Comcast Corp. and Adelphia Communications Inc. last summer.

Earlier this month, the chief of Time Warner's regional offices was forced out amid gripes over Internet and e-mail outages and TV channel lineup changes.

In Redondo, residents have complained that crews wanting to check cable connections showed up without advance notice, pushed holes through ceilings and left unsightly ropes of colored wires hanging from the walls.

Rochelle Kelley, who lives in south Redondo, said she arrived home from work one day last month to find tacks and nails scattered around her daughter's play area. The drop ceiling in her living room had been cut so wires could run through. Her grandmother opened the door for the workers, but Kelley said she didn't know about the inspection.

"They drilled over 30 holes in the side of my house, and they drilled into my fireplace," said Kelley, who heads a neighborhood watch group.

Outside the 1956 stucco home, she added, "I have both white and black cables. They dropped the actual cable all the way down the wall."

Earlier last week, Time Warner representatives took a beating from the City Council. Maggie Healy, assistant to Manager Bill Workman, said she's logged roughly 70 complaints from residents questioning the need for the work, as well as the quality and aesthetics.

Photos projected on a side wall in the council chambers showed one home sporting a mass of wires.

"If you came home from a hard day's work and that was your house, you'd be fuming," Councilman Steve Aspel said.

Time Warner spokeswoman Patti Rockenwagner said officials have already taken steps to "fine tune" operations in Redondo, which she identified as the only South Bay city to mandate inspections with its franchise agreement. "Time Warner Cable is working through all of the complaints," she said. "We're going back and fixing where we need to fix. We fully expect to collaborate with the city to get that done."

Time Warner's reach stretches from El Segundo to the Harbor Area, with the exception of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the southern tip of San Pedro, which are serviced by Cox Communications.

Although Time Warner had already been giving Redondo residents at least 48 hours' advance notice, Rockenwagner said, the company has since redesigned its door hangers to offer a clearer explanation.

"We've done these types of projects in other communities, and we always inform people before the work is being done," she said. "Obviously, we keep the city and the community apprised."

And officials have been training workers to be more careful with the way they leave work sites and string wires, she added. "We've coached the staff about better clean-up opportunities. Where we've had aesthetic issues, we've coached," Rockenwagner said.

Stephen Sawyer, director of government affairs for the company's Los Angeles division, also told city leaders Time Warner has hired roughly 400 more customer service representatives to reduce the amount of time callers are placed on hold.

The company has finished roughly 40 percent of Redondo's mandated inspections, and Rockenwagner said the company plans to meet its June deadline.

She stressed that the "Cure Plan" is meant to bring every home into compliance and replace dated equipment, but "doesn't necessarily mean people weren't safe."

kristin.agostoni@dailybreeze.com
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/6701542.html?showAll=y&c=y

Mogur2

03-26-07, 04:31 PM

Hi,
After reading the recent posts, I called Santa Clarita City Hall to register my frustration with lack of new HD channels and what I consider a lack of programming options.

I mentioned the addition of 409 and 413 which rarely show any HD programming while NatGeo and ESPN2 are not available.

Programming function is frustating because SCI FI, BBC, and other channels broadcast "new" episodes several times and the DVRs will record all unless manually removed from the queue. When Comcast had the system, I do remember being able to do a manual setting that could limit which day, week days, weekends that one particular time could be repeated. Now, at least here in Santa Clarita, even the manual selection does not have these options.

finetunes

03-26-07, 05:39 PM

SoopahMan

03-26-07, 05:40 PM

It's helpful when we make gross generalizations about what channels are available"Gross generalization" is taking a bit far. So what's Channel 37 for you if not National Geographic?

twelvepbrs

03-26-07, 11:13 PM

"Gross generalization" is taking a bit far. So what's Channel 37 for you if not National Geographic?
37 is "Educational Access" for me, whatever the hell that is, i know i NEVER watch it, here's my lineup (http://www.timewarnerla.com/channellineups/CLUPDFs/WOW/West_Valley_WOW.pdf)
And i can just about gaurantee that all the analogs (except for the locals and TVGS) are different than yours, the digital channels may be the same except for different channels being available to you or me (i don't get ESPN2HD, which is one of the reasons i cancelled my cable service) Here, dig around and try to find your lineup (http://www.timewarnerla.com/channellineups/dsp_chOutput.cfm?luType=B)

Last night I watched Discovery HD's Planet Earth but the pixelization in the fast moving scenes was even worse than usual. Anyone else in the South Bay notice this? The TW personnel I have spoken to are still blaming the picture quality problems on issues arising from the changeover from the old Adelphia system. Discovery HD used to be nearly flawless. HD Net rarely is a problem. This would seem to indicate excessive compression on certain HD channels. I've had a tech out before and have another appointment this Saturday.
tell TW that's BS, it's a digital signal so unless there is just complete garbage data due to low signal or noise on the line, problems with the picture quality (at least ignoring any limits in your setup, which could be another big part) are most likely due to over-compression (assuming the source material is good), since it's digital any "problems" as TW describes them would result in no picture at all or complete garbage pictures due to zero symbol quality after demodulating the transport stream, i think TW is hoping that people assume digital tv transmission quality degradation is similar to analog, where you can keep dropping/corrupting/splitting the signal and you'll still get a picture but it will keep getting worse, but overall when a digital signal is degraded/split/etc... you very quickly go from perfect picture to no picture at all, so if you're seeing the whole picture coming through in DHD, it's either the source material is bad, or over-crompression (which may or may not be TW's fault)

on another note, it's a bit OT, but can anyone give me a referal for video calibration service in the LA area (i'm in canoga park)? i'm thinking of having my DLP cal'ed

Arvy

03-27-07, 03:53 AM

I was able to get a kworld-115 pci tuner card to tune clear qam after lots of experimentation, but have settled on a product called hdhomerun, which is it's own box that streams digital channels over your local network, it will tune OTA or clear qam-cable and has two tuners meaning you can use it to record two channels at the same time, i'm using it with gbpvr to schedule and record on my desktop PC, and it works great for both OTA & QAM as i stated, plus there are someother benefits; my local TW feed includes SD-digital local channels, (the HDhomerun only tunes digital channels), and the SD channels are low enough bitrate that i can stream them over wireless to my laptop, meaning i can take my laptop out to the pool (just outside my apartment) and watch tv when lounging in the pool or the spa

That's really encouraging. My interest is mostly with capturing HD locals. I'm reading that you have a cox feed from TW into the hdhomerun which is what I'd do, splitting a line or using an extra line running though the house. The firewire ports were working for the same reason up until the time TW took over Adelphia and I miss the ability to have extra disk space available for time shifting shows, especially locals. I can see how you'd enjoy moving the laptop for live TV, but that's not as important to me. Maybe in the future, though.

Just to recap:
1. hdhomerun caps HD locals and digital channels over coax and/or antenna without an STB?
2. gbpvr is a simple, viable Windows XP solution for software and downloads a channel listing (freely)?
3. what glitches in the device should be noted?

bgooch

03-27-07, 07:05 AM

Tuesday, March 27, 2007
What's next for TV service?
The promise is more ways to watch what you want, when you want.
By TAMARA CHUANG
The Orange County Register

If Kip Simonson has his way, Cox Communications subscribers will be able to pause a recorded high-definition TV show in one room and watch the ending in the master bedroom. Or in the kid's room. Or in the family room. Or in all four rooms simultaneously.

And each room can pause, rewind and watch a different part of the same show without disrupting viewers in other rooms.

Simonson, a technology consultant to Cox, recently demonstrated Motorola's "Follow Me" technology and other new services at Cox's headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita. While many technologies have been available for years, consumers are only now asking for them, said Simonson.

"We've had all of these products in search of a consumer," said Simonson, who has spent more than 20 years in the cable industry.

Cox isn't alone. Last week, Verizon introduced its fiber-optic TV service called FiOS TV to Orange County. FiOS offers nearly the same number of channels, plus a lot of extras cable users may not be used to, such as on-screen widgets to quickly see the temperature, a link to YouTube and easy access to photos on an attached computer.

And Time Warner Cable has been upgrading its network to handle the ultimate video-on-demand service. Someday its subscribers will be able to watch many shows they missed – and forgot to record – up to 24 hours later.

The roundup of what's new and coming:

TV anytime in any room: Verizon calls its product Home Media DVR or Multi-room DVR. Cox, which hasn't launched its product yet, refers to it as "whole home DVR." The similar technologies vary slightly in the services they offer.

The Follow Me service Cox demonstrated consists of one digital video recorder that feeds up to three boxes anywhere in the house. Every box can access recorded shows – even high-definition TV – from the single DVR. Live or recorded programs can be viewed in up to four rooms simultaneously.

All the boxes are connected directly to the main feed from the cable company and can attain the high transfer speeds using a home networking standard called Multimedia over Coax Alliance, or MoCA. It can share high-quality multimedia at speeds exceeding 100 megabits per second.

Users can replace the regular boxes in the other rooms with dual-tuner DVRs, allowing them to record and share 8 shows at the same time.

The Cox Zone: Expected to launch in the next few months, Cox will offer at least three "mega" channels that show what's playing on six other channels in thumbnail-like screens "so customers can monitor the feeds," Simonson said. The channels will be dedicated to sports, news and kids shows. Select any of the six screens to hear audio from that channel.

Start Over and Look Back: If you get home late and start watching TV 15 minutes into a show, the Start Over feature (coming to O.C. this fall from Time Warner) goes back to the start of the show. This is independent of a digital recorder. All you'll need is a digital cable box. One catch: No fast forwarding. That was the only way Time Warner could get agreements from 35 channels. Soon after Start Over launches, Time Warner also hopes to roll out Look Back, which is similar but will take you back 24 hours to watch other missed shows.

Cable TV cell phones: Cox, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks all got together to make an agreement with Sprint to offer certain TV services on a cell phone. The service lets cable subscribers access their TV listings, check e-mail and program their home DVR on the phone – and even watch certain cable channels live. Cox already sells its own branded cell phones in San Diego and hopes to launch its Pivot service in Orange County this year. Time Warner expects to launch this year, too.

Home automation: Using the Internet to see what's going on at your house when you're not there is a service available from quite a few security companies, such as iControl Networks in Palo Alto. Sensors and Web cams placed strategically in the house will let you know when someone breaks in to the liquor cabinet, when the sink is leaking and who's at the front door. Cox plans to test this service in south Orange County. This would be full service with installation and upkeep all part of the cable bill.

Complete integration: Now that phone companies are offering TV and Internet service, and TV companies are offering Internet and phone service, the three technologies are merging. The phone number from an incoming call will pop up on the TV so you can decide whether to answer the phone. Cox showed a demo of how you can listen to voice mail using your television.

Interactive TV: The buzz word of the 1990s that never came to be. We still can't watch a TV commercial and hit the remote to visit the company's Web site. But companies continue to experiment. The latest incarnation is a transparent overlay that sits on top of the current channel you're viewing, similar to the first-down lines in a football game. The added information could be traffic and weather reports, sports scores and stock prices.

Contact the writer: 714-796-4952 or tchuang@ocregister.com
VIDEO: Click below and then link to see Follow Me TV in action.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/article_1631943.php

jasonvr

03-27-07, 11:08 AM

Cox isn't alone. Last week, Verizon introduced its fiber-optic TV service called FiOS TV to Orange County.
Anyone out there know where in Orange County Verizon started deploying FiOS? Everytime I use their "Qualify your address" tool, nothing happens. I just end up at another screen where I can enter my address.

sakaike

03-27-07, 12:46 PM

Last night I watched Discovery HD's Planet Earth but the pixelization in the fast moving scenes was even worse than usual. Anyone else in the South Bay notice this? The TW personnel I have spoken to are still blaming the picture quality problems on issues arising from the changeover from the old Adelphia system. Discovery HD used to be nearly flawless. HD Net rarely is a problem. This would seem to indicate excessive compression on certain HD channels. I've had a tech out before and have another appointment this Saturday.
I saw the exact same thing in North Redondo (zip 90278), except worse. The audio and video would completely drop out (black screen) for several seconds at a time intermittently. Personally, I think the cause is either new compression or a new drop in bandwidth. This was not happening in the past (pre-TWC). I can't believe I'm saying this, but performance and service was better with Adelphia.

Blasst

03-27-07, 03:36 PM

twelvepbrs

03-27-07, 04:35 PM

twelvepbrs

03-27-07, 04:48 PM

...Just to recap:
1. hdhomerun caps HD locals and digital channels over coax and/or antenna without an STB?
2. gbpvr is a simple, viable Windows XP solution for software and downloads a channel listing (freely)?
3. what glitches in the device should be noted?
1) HDHomerun has two tuners, and you can configure either or both to do OTA, or unencrypted digital cable channels (yes you can have one OTA and one QAM, which is nice because my TW doesn't offer KTLA-HD), the device will tune the channel and then output the digital stream over 100Mbit ethernet to whatever computer-like device you want to play or record the stream; note the HDhomerun does not have any "conventional" video output, it streams the data to a network, and you must use a computer or something that can stream video over UDP to display or record, so in a sense you still need a set-top box, but it could be any device that can do what i described above, meaning you could build a computer or use an xbox-media center (can't handle the 1080i stuff and the 720p stuff is "framy")
2) GBPVR seems to work pretty good, it seemed like the best free option considering my hardware/OS, but there are lots of other options, since you're basically just streaming a file via network to disk (there's no encoding going on), VLC is included with the HDHomerun software and works pretty well too, but is very barebones, GBPVR has a ton of bells and whistles to tweak if you want or you can just disable them since most of the software is bundled as plugins
3) I'm not sure if i'd say there are "glitches" given an understanding of what the device does, the HDHomerun unit itself has been relatively bullet-proof so far, most of the "glitches," if any, will appear on the computer you use to control it, there's GUI software to do channel scan and set a given tuner to a channel/sub-channel and then launch VLC to start streaming the video to your computer, most of the setup issues have been documented and just require reading the HDHomerun forums, VLC forums, or GBPVR forums

Since the device has two tuners it seemed like a relative bargain considering the flexibility it offers by streaming up to two HD video feeds to a computer (meaning it's easy to use it with any computer, not just a single HTPC)
HDHR Forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=731457)

Fred C. Dobbs

03-27-07, 08:25 PM

I'm in West LA, and I had bad pixelation during Planet Earth,
as well as a couples, 4-5 second audio/video drop outs during the back half of the Pole to Pole episode.

rob

twelvepbrs

03-28-07, 02:23 AM

anyone having problems with FOX-HD (in west san fernando valley)? i'm going through the digital tuner in my tv for clear qam and my hdhomerun box, and FOX-HD is completely untuneable/unwatchable; everything else seems to be working fine, i'd call but since i don't have cabletv listed on my account i'm sure i'd have to jump through hoops before they even listen to my problem (i'm not a theif, i just get free basic through my apartment complex)
::Update::
I called right after this post, and after the CSR put me on hold to go "check something" it cleared right up

Arvy

03-28-07, 12:36 PM

Since the device has two tuners it seemed like a relative bargain considering the flexibility it offers by streaming up to two HD video feeds to a computer (meaning it's easy to use it with any computer, not just a single HTPC)HDHR Forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=731457)

Considering TWC's track record with me and the Moto's firewire ports, I'd be lucky receiving QAM clears over coax at all. Having a ReplayTV and Moto DVR is enough to record a decent amount of programming for viewing at my leisure, but my interest is in offloading 'extra' shows. Since firewire is inoperable, an hdhomerun seems like a workable solution. I only have to justify the cost. Thanks for the infos.

dagware

03-28-07, 02:59 PM

I live in Placentia, which is serviced out of the Fullerton office. Right after TW took over from Adelphia, I checked to see if we'd be getting any of the new HD channels TW was carrying (HDNet, etc). They told me that our system had to be upgraded before this could happen, and that's basically what Adelphia had been saying for a while.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to call TW again and see if anything's changed. The lady on the line said her system showed that I could indeed get the other HD channels. She temporarily turned it on and right away I got HDNet. I couldn't get any of the other HD channels that I was missing, but the price of the new package with the tiers I wanted was less than what I was paying now, so I went ahead and switched to the new package.

After a little while I checked the other HD channels, and I get them all! The only channel not offered is ESPN2HD, which I can live without. So believe it or not, TW actually is giving me better service than Adelphia did. Considering how much they've screwed everything else up, the law of averages says they'd get *something* right, right? :p

Anyway, I'm a happy camper. I'm paying less and getting more. When was the last time that happened with cable TV? Ever??

-Dan

jasonvr

03-28-07, 03:28 PM

Anyway, I'm a happy camper. I'm paying less and getting more. When was the last time that happened with cable TV? Ever??

Are you on a temporary promo that is causing your bill to be less, or is it a permanent price (until the next rate hike)? Every time I've looked at changing my packages, I can get a little discount by doing a promo, but after it expires, I'd end up paying more for the exact same level of service.

dagware

03-28-07, 03:44 PM

Are you on a temporary promo that is causing your bill to be less, or is it a permanent price (until the next rate hike)? Every time I've looked at changing my packages, I can get a little discount by doing a promo, but after it expires, I'd end up paying more for the exact same level of service.
Nope, it's just the standard price. Maybe my Adelphia deal wasn't very good! :o

This is from memory but I think it's right:

$44.95 - cable and one tier
$10.00 - 2 more tiers
$13.?? - DVR package
$39.95 - cable

Also, tax and stuff. This comes out cheaper than what I was paying before. Not by a whole lot -- $10 or $12 or something like that, but as I said previously I get new HD channels also, so it's a no-brainer for me.

-Dan

bgooch

03-28-07, 04:39 PM

Time Warner Cable CFO Sees More Industry Consolidation
By Ellen Sheng
Last Update: 2:49 PM ET Mar 28, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Time Warner Cable Inc. sees more consolidation in the cable industry in the next few years and plans to participate "only if it makes sense."
Speaking at a conference sponsored by Bank of America, Chief Financial Officer John Martin explained that further acquisitions are "not a strategic imperative" because "at size and scale we are, we're big enough that we can compete effectively." Nonetheless, the company will be opportunistic about acquisitions, he said.
Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable company in the country behind Comcast Corp., is currently digesting its recent acquisition of Adelphia Communications, a cable operator that has been in bankruptcy protection. As part of the acquisition, Time Warner swapped some properties with Comcast. Time Warner is now upgrading many of the networks and bringing them up to speed. The integration and other costs are expected to increase spending by $600 million to $800 million in 2007.
Martin said he expects operating metrics at the acquired properties to improve once the upgrades are completed. As things stand now, both average revenue per user and profit margins are significantly lower at the former Adelphia properties than in Time Warner Cable properties.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/time-warner-cable-cfo-sees/story.aspx?guid=%7bC2C34FD6-5A79-4441-9948-34D9AA272ED6%7d&print=true&dist=printBottom

twelvepbrs

03-28-07, 04:58 PM

Are you on a temporary promo that is causing your bill to be less, or is it a permanent price (until the next rate hike)? Every time I've looked at changing my packages, I can get a little discount by doing a promo, but after it expires, I'd end up paying more for the exact same level of service.
one of the things that really pisses me off about TW is that they don't print the relevent info regarding the numerous discounts into your bill/statement, i noticed that my bill went up a couple months ago, and after i called they said it was because i had been getting promo-pricing; it'd be nice if the printed the promotion expiration date and the discount amout in each statement they send out, although god forbid they try to give the consumer more information; cuz we might decided to try to make an informed choice :rolleyes:

dagware

03-28-07, 05:02 PM

cuz we might decided to try to make an informed choice :rolleyes:
Where's the fun in that? LIVE ON THE EDGE! :rolleyes: :D

-Dan

Blasst

03-28-07, 09:45 PM

37 is "Educational Access" for me, whatever the hell that is, i know i NEVER watch it, here's my lineup (http://www.timewarnerla.com/channellineups/CLUPDFs/WOW/West_Valley_WOW.pdf)
And i can just about gaurantee that all the analogs (except for the locals and TVGS) are different than yours, the digital channels may be the same except for different channels being available to you or me (i don't get ESPN2HD, which is one of the reasons i cancelled my cable service) Here, dig around and try to find your lineup (http://www.timewarnerla.com/channellineups/dsp_chOutput.cfm?luType=B)

tell TW that's BS, it's a digital signal so unless there is just complete garbage data due to low signal or noise on the line, problems with the picture quality (at least ignoring any limits in your setup, which could be another big part) are most likely due to over-compression (assuming the source material is good), since it's digital any "problems" as TW describes them would result in no picture at all or complete garbage pictures due to zero symbol quality after demodulating the transport stream, i think TW is hoping that people assume digital tv transmission quality degradation is similar to analog, where you can keep dropping/corrupting/splitting the signal and you'll still get a picture but it will keep getting worse, but overall when a digital signal is degraded/split/etc... you very quickly go from perfect picture to no picture at all, so if you're seeing the whole picture coming through in DHD, it's either the source material is bad, or over-crompression (which may or may not be TW's fault)

on another note, it's a bit OT, but can anyone give me a referal for video calibration service in the LA area (i'm in canoga park)? i'm thinking of having my DLP cal'ed
http://www.avical.com/ David Abrams is your man, and he is here on AVS.

finetunes

03-29-07, 11:27 AM

I saw the exact same thing in North Redondo (zip 90278), except worse. The audio and video would completely drop out (black screen) for several seconds at a time intermittently. Personally, I think the cause is either new compression or a new drop in bandwidth. This was not happening in the past (pre-TWC). I can't believe I'm saying this, but performance and service was better with Adelphia.

I am also in North Redondo 90278. Thanks for confirming the problem.

Picture quality was better with Adelphia. Discovery HD used to be our favorite channel because of the programming and excellent picture quality. I could see no noticeable defects before and now it is terrible. It's the same on all three tuners (cable card to 60" Sony XBR2 and dual cables cards to Tivo Series 3). If you are watching on a large set, I don't see how the difference is not readily apparent.

One of the techs I talked to suggested that it may have been related to a change in location away from Hermosa Beach and the transmission of the signal via the TW system. In any event, something has changed and not for the better.

twelvepbrs

03-29-07, 09:09 PM

I am also in North Redondo 90278. Thanks for confirming the problem.

Picture quality was better with Adelphia. Discovery HD used to be our favorite channel because of the programming and excellent picture quality. I could see no noticeable defects before and now it is terrible. It's the same on all three tuners (cable card to 60" Sony XBR2 and dual cables cards to Tivo Series 3). If you are watching on a large set, I don't see how the difference is not readily apparent.

One of the techs I talked to suggested that it may have been related to a change in location away from Hermosa Beach and the transmission of the signal via the TW system. In any event, something has changed and not for the better.
since it's digital, if the picture/audio is completely dropping, it is likely a signal/noise problem, however if both are coming through, but just look/sound like crap, then it is extra compression, if this is the case it might be worth asking someone with a different provider how discovery HD looks, maybe ask some friends that have D* how it looks (although who knows what they think if they're use to watching hd-lite)

twelvepbrs

03-30-07, 08:29 PM

according to my previous statements there is supposed to be a free preview of HBO & Skinemax from April 6th through April 11th, does anyone have any idea how they allow customers to access this? do the HBO's go out as unencrypted? or to they ping everyones boxes/cablecards to have access to the channels

avguygeorge

03-30-07, 09:36 PM

Over here in the 'much better' part of the valley (via TWC) The pixelization had been BAD for weeks and weeks.--Others in my building have the same problem.
It is so bad it reminds me of Voom,in a heavy rain.

williamkusumo

03-31-07, 01:06 AM

Is anyone having problem with TV Guide? A lot of the channels are showing "To Be Announced". How can I fix this?

Thanks!

jasonvr

03-31-07, 01:45 AM

Is anyone having problem with TV Guide? A lot of the channels are showing "To Be Announced". How can I fix this?

Thanks!

"To Be Announced" program listings on Moto boxes (non Moxi) is usually a sympton of a recent reboot (either manually or power outage). After such an event, the guide will very slowly repopulate, possibly over many, many hours.

DSperber

03-31-07, 04:18 PM

"To Be Announced" program listings on Moto boxes (non Moxi) is usually a sympton of a recent reboot (either manually or power outage). After such an event, the guide will very slowly repopulate, possibly over many, many hours.DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS....

Eventually, it's done.

twelvepbrs

04-01-07, 02:08 PM

anyone here starting to get ESPN2HD, particularly in the West San Fernando Valley (i know there's a lot of people that already had it, but if anyone has just now started to get it), it sounds like TW signed a new contract with ESPN, and the ESPN2HD switch is getting flipped in a lot of TW areas nationwide

delrmx01

04-03-07, 05:19 PM

Question, and hoping I can get a quick reply. I just called my local TWC office and was advised that the new Motorola units are in. Will I be able to hook this unit up myself (current MOXI user) or will I need a tech to come in and replace the MOXI?

Not sure if the rep at the local office is full of hot air, but she said I could go there and trade-in the MOXI.

Thanks in advance for any help !

bgooch

04-03-07, 07:02 PM

xrtfan

04-04-07, 09:35 AM

bgooch

04-04-07, 10:31 AM

Time Warner Cable, Walt Disney Enter Distribution Agreements For Carriage Of KABC 7, Disney And ESPN Media Networks' Products And Services - Update

Wednesday, April 04, 2007; Posted: 09:18 AM

(RTTNews) - Wednesday, before the bell, Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC | charts | news | PowerRating), a company owns and manages cable television operations, and Walt Disney Co. revealed that they have entered into comprehensive multi-year distribution agreements. Walt Disney is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise. (ed.)

Time Warner Cable said that the deal will extend retransmission consent for the ABC-owned broadcast television stations carried in Time Warner Cable systems, and provide for carriage of a broad array of Disney's leading networks and services including: ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Pay-Per-View, SOAPnet, and Toon Disney. The company further said that additional terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

In addition, Time Warner Cable noted that it will introduce ESPN2 HD and ESPNU later this year, and certain systems will also offer Disney Channel on Demand subscription VOD and ESPN Deportes. Three new high-definition services from Disney and ESPN Media Networks-ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD and ESPNEWS HD-will launch in Time Warner Cable systems when they become available in 2008.

Additionally, both the companies agreed to make available certain shows from some of the networks on Time Warner Cable's Start Over platform. Time Warner Cable noted that the Start Over functionality provides the company digital cable subscribers in some areas the ability to restart certain live programs, which are in progress, without any preplanning or in-home recording devices.

The Walt Disney will also provide content from certain networks to Time Warner Cable's Quick Clips platform.

Glenn Britt, President and Chief Executive Officer, of Time Warner Cable, commented, "This agreement will give our customers access to an even wider array of sports and high-definition programming. It will also allow us to expand our Start Over and Quick Clips services. Start Over has proven to be one of the most attractive advanced video features we've ever offered."

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/526696/

twelvepbrs

04-04-07, 10:52 AM

...In addition, Time Warner Cable noted that it will introduce ESPN2 HD and ESPNU later this year...
I'm pretty sure August 2009 isn't later this year :rolleyes:
there was a lot of "later this year" last year

dagware

04-04-07, 12:24 PM

Called TW yesterday to see when the HD channels that show on my channel list would start broadcasting in HD. I live in Thousand Oaks and when they changed the lineup, 4 HD channels were on the list but blocked. The rep said they are available. He said they were an extra 5$ a month. Also was told I was paying $1.50 a month for ESPNHD. He removed that cost as ESPN is included in the HD Tier. So now INHD, HDNet,HDNet Movies and UniversalHD have been added to my lineup..pretty cool.
I just did this also, and it is indeed cool. Especially since Universal HD is going to broadcast Thursday and Friday of the Masters in HD. For a golf lover like me, that is as close to heaven as possible, without actually going there!

-Dan

delrmx01

04-04-07, 12:43 PM

Go pick it up. If they were to give you a hard time (which they shouldn't) ask to speak with a supervisor and tell them you were instructed by their representative to pick up the new box.

If you have had any problems with the Moxi STB I'd be asking for a credit to the account as well. Go in prepared with when the problems occurred and how long they lasted.

The more information you have about disruption to your service the larger credit you can expect.

I would also confirm no additional charges will be added to your account for swapping STBs.

Thanks gooch, but I've had zero problems with the MOXI, although rather slow, and no chance of me getting the 4.1 FW-- I would like to get a bigger drive. I guess I'm a little confused, on my earlier post I mentioned a Motorola box however, I went on TWC site and found the SA 8000 or 8300 model as the required equipment (not quite sure where I came up with the Moto thing).

Can you or anyone confirm if it's a Moto or the SA? Also, how about installation-- is it difficult or no brainer type of deal?

Thanks again !

Adelmoxi

04-04-07, 08:03 PM

Thanks gooch, but I've had zero problems with the MOXI, although rather slow, and no chance of me getting the 4.1 FW-- I would like to get a bigger drive. I guess I'm a little confused, on my earlier post I mentioned a Motorola box however, I went on TWC site and found the SA 8000 or 8300 model as the required equipment (not quite sure where I came up with the Moto thing).

Can you or anyone confirm if it's a Moto or the SA? Also, how about installation-- is it difficult or no brainer type of deal?

Thanks again !

It is still a Motorola headend(with mostly6416 and some MOXI's from Adelphia). The TWC webmasters are just idiots for posting SA user guides.

p.s. if you still have the MOXI I read of a rumor of TWC contacting subscribers that still have MOX'S, at the end pf this month.

rdsport323

04-05-07, 06:39 AM

bgooch

04-05-07, 08:04 AM

Time Warner to offer Bollywood on demand
By Businessofcinema.com Team
2 April 2007, 10:35 AM

MUMBAI: BODVOD and Los Angeles based Time Warner Cable have tied up to bring the newest Bollywood hits to their US customers through International Movies on Demand.

The cable company has teamed up with BODVOD, a company that holds exclusive rights to popular Indian movies from Bollywood studios such as UTV and Adlabs, says a release. Time Warner Cable is also sponsoring the fifth Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) being held in southern California. The partnership with IFFLA will help BODVOD and Time Warner Cable reach more Indian audiences.

2006 was a record-breaking year for Hindi films at the US box office, with seven of the 14 foreign language films that grossed over $2 million, being Hindi films. Spanish, despite being spoken by millions of Americans, trailed far behind as the next most popular foreign language at the US box office with only two films above the $2 million benchmark last year, the release says.

Until now, Bollywood films have mostly been available in Indian theaters and small video shops outside of Los Angeles. With the International Movies on Demand launch, however, Time Warner Cable hopes to make these films available to viewers on their own schedules without leaving the comforts of home.

Many new Bollywood films have made their on-demand premieres, including the Hrithik Roshan starrer Krrish. Next on the list are Shah Rukh Khan's action blockbuster Don, the New York-set comedy Jaan-E-Mann, and the epic Moghul-era romance Umrao Jaan, starring newly-engaged Bollywood power couple, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

Says Time Warner Cable executive vice president Roger Keating, "By creating a separate international category to showcase films from around the world, Time Warner Cable connects people to the many diverse cultures represented in the southland on the most convenient, easy-to-use platform cable has to offer."

The fifth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles will run from 17 to 22 April 2007.

http://www.businessofcinema.com/?file=story&id=2906

Adelmoxi

04-05-07, 02:00 PM

I am a former Adelphia customer, and I still have the MOXI dvr... i hate it.. the thing is so damn slow.. and changing channels is a f*cking joke. Ill try calling TWC tomorrow to see if I can bring it in for replacement..

anyone else dislike their MOXI? or is Moxi better than what they are offering now?

Well.. the Moto 6416/3416(one an "all digital the other analog and digital) are not as graphical as the MOXI'S but, they do have a bigger HDD(160 to the MOXI"S 80). The 6416/3416's have an active HDMI port. So goo luck

twelvepbrs

04-05-07, 02:04 PM

Well.. the Moto 6416/3416(one an "all digital the other analog and digital) are not as graphical as the MOXI'S but, they do have a bigger HDD(160 to the MOXI"S 80). The 6416/3416's have an active HDMI port. So goo luck
what do you mean by "all digital"? is TW sending out boxes that don't tune analog? is the entire lineup available in digital in the former adelphia area?

OldSamsungDrone

04-05-07, 02:51 PM

Does anyone notice a difference in the quality of the picture when using the DVI port on their moxi as opposed to the component output. When I use DVI i notice a vertical blue line going through the center of my picture. This is mostly illiminated when i uncheck 480i on the hdtv settings. But the trade off is a much softer and blurrier picture on all non-HD channels. Is there any advantage in using the DVI as opposed to the component with this box.

jasonvr

04-05-07, 03:12 PM

Adelmoxi

04-05-07, 07:12 PM

what do you mean by "all digital"? is TW sending out boxes that don't tune analog? is the entire lineup available in digital in the former adelphia area?

I've only read on the this forum some headends are all digital

finetunes

04-06-07, 12:05 PM

Anyone in the Southern California area having a problem receiving INHD (422)? The last couple of days I have been receiving a "not authorized" message.

Mogur2

04-06-07, 01:44 PM

Hi,
I have two Motorola HD DVR that freeze just often enough to be very annoying. For several years I used Replay units and do not remember this problem.

Both tuners are dual. Is the Moxi better and is it available as dual tuners?

Thanks,

alaindelon

04-07-07, 07:34 AM

rdsport323

04-07-07, 08:19 AM

twelvepbrs

04-07-07, 02:05 PM

I just noticed that HBO HD(427)and Cinemax HD(430) are coming through free and clear in Hollywood Hills right now,i watched King Kong on HBO HD and it looked very nice.There must be some sort of free preview during Easter that i have not heard of.There also seems to be a general improvement in PQ on all HD channels lately.
anyone know what the actual physical channel and subchannel numbers are? the PSIP in west san fernando valley has been messed up since december (for instance what would be 411-KTTVHD for you's guys is 88-2 for me)
i just did a channel scan and i'm comparing it to a scan from about a month ago,
the good news:
i'm getting TNTHD in the clear
the bad news:
i can't find any other unencrypted channels that werent there before, infact it looks like several channels switch from unencrtyped to encrypted in the last month :( IOW i can't find HBOHD or CINHD in the clear

joe221

04-07-07, 05:15 PM

joe221

04-07-07, 05:16 PM

Anyone in the Southern California area having a problem receiving INHD (422)? The last couple of days I have been receiving a "not authorized" message.

No problem...

RudyG

04-08-07, 05:20 PM

alaindelon

04-08-07, 07:20 PM

It seems i spoke to soon about improved PQ on the HD channels.As late as yesterday most of the channels exept for HD NET Movies looked pretty nice and improved but when trying to watch Discovery HD today it is a pixellated mess when anything moves quickly on screen.Even MHD looked fine for a while but we again have pulsating and pixellation.I have a theory why these problems are worse at certain times: FSN 413-Whenever programming is on this channel such as during today's Dodger game,PQ suffers on the other HD channels.Like TW has a specific bandwith spectrum for all HD channels(like a combined total bitrate) and when an extra channel is turned on,every HD channel suffers degraded PQ.This also does not appear to impact the regular network HD channels(402,404,407,409,411 & 412)wich seems to have had enough bandwith for quite some time.

Mad Mac

04-08-07, 07:31 PM

Mogur2

04-08-07, 09:48 PM

My good news is that I get great pictures 95% of the time in Santa Clarita, CA.

My problem is that the Motorola HD DVR lock up to many @#$$% times. I have two of them and they both have this problem. A call to tech support brought the promise that a techncian could come by next Tuesday. Very timely.

When I reboot, it sometimes takes up to 24 hours to reset the program guide.

Several weeks I contacted my Santa Clarita City Hall to complain about the limited HD selection. I received a return call from TWC the next day.

I guess it needs another call to city hall.

twelvepbrs

04-09-07, 01:05 AM

Anyone been having problems with the clear QAM broadcast of this? I've been having intermittent issues for some time receiving it via my HD card in my PC, and a check on the main set revealed that TW appears to have changed the subchannel (was 104-2 on the main set, now 104-1).
i had a lot of problems in the past with KCALHD, they were basically encrypting, and yet still not letting me get it through cablecard

Adelmoxi

04-09-07, 01:29 PM

just outa curiocity, (for those of you lwho are lucky)does KTLA-HD have shows in HD (including newscast, or is it just Clippers games? KCAL-HD 9 only has Lakers games in HD and nothing else.

twelvepbrs

04-09-07, 01:36 PM

just outa curiocity, (for those of you lwho are lucky)does KTLA-HD have shows in HD (including newscast, or is it just Clippers games? KCAL-HD 9 only has Lakers games in HD and nothing else.
i don't have KTLA-HD through cable, but i also watch it OTA, and there is plenty of other HD programming
KTLA HD Shows (http://ktla.trb.com/entertainment/hidef/stv-wb-hdtv-fall05b,0,4692419.story)
I don't believe that list is complete and up-to-date so there are likely even more shows on in HD

limacharliewhisk

04-09-07, 05:24 PM

I just noticed that HBO HD(427)and Cinemax HD(430) are coming through free and clear in Hollywood Hills right now,i watched King Kong on HBO HD and it looked very nice.There must be some sort of free preview during Easter that i have not heard of.There also seems to be a general improvement in PQ on all HD channels lately.
Yeah, there is a free preview of HBO and Cinemax from April 6 thru 11. It had been advertised in the past couple of bills that this free preview was coming.

HBO HD does look pretty good, but the when I watched Dukes of Hazzard last night, during some of the action scenes there was some macroblocking pixellation. Wasn't in all the scenes, but just a few.

twelvepbrs

04-09-07, 05:30 PM

Yeah, there is a free preview of HBO and Cinemax from April 6 thru 11. It had been advertised in the past couple of bills that this free preview was coming.

HBO HD does look pretty good, but the when I watched Dukes of Hazzard last night, during some of the action scenes there was some macroblocking pixellation. Wasn't in all the scenes, but just a few.
so is anyone here considered to be in TW's West San Fernando Valley area (gets service out of chatsworth)? i've been trying to find the HBO or Cinemax channels in the clear since the 6th and still no luck, can someone confirm that they are getting the free preview in the west SFV?

Mogur2

04-09-07, 06:08 PM

Hi,
Here in Santa Clarita, I have KTLA-HD and the morning, evening news as well as several night time shows are in HD

KCAL9-HD seems to have problems. The few basketball games I watched had voice sync problems.

just outa curiocity, (for those of you lwho are lucky)does KTLA-HD have shows in HD (including newscast, or is it just Clippers games? KCAL-HD 9 only has Lakers games in HD and nothing else.

SirJW

04-10-07, 08:57 AM

Time Warner Gets Versus/Golf HD Rights:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/twversus040907.htm

Blasst

04-10-07, 05:49 PM

twelvepbrs

04-10-07, 09:06 PM

anyone here get a promotional phone call from TW about MLB? i was busy when they called so i didnt even listen to the offer, any idea what it might have been?

llabine1

04-11-07, 07:09 PM

I have TW here in Westminster in the O.C. .....when I am watching HD content on 402-416 the picture will black out for a second then come back on..it happens 99% of the time during commercials...what's up ....

Mogur2

04-12-07, 09:45 AM

dlt21

04-12-07, 11:02 AM

The CBS HD signal was out till that time I have D* and had to watch SD till about 9:30

LambentMaterial

04-12-07, 11:47 AM

anyone here get a promotional phone call from TW about MLB? i was busy when they called so i didnt even listen to the offer, any idea what it might have been?

MLB Extra Innings is having a free preview from April 5 until the 15th...on channels 701-709 I believe....

SirJW

04-12-07, 12:14 PM

Use this link to request channels.

http://www.timewarnerla.com/support/feedback/

hockeyamd

04-12-07, 12:39 PM

The CBS HD signal was out till that time I have D* and had to watch SD till about 9:30

It went out about 8:40 during Jericho. I forgot how much SD sucks!

pyser

04-12-07, 01:01 PM

anyone here get a promotional phone call from TW about MLB? i was busy when they called so i didnt even listen to the offer, any idea what it might have been?

buy the year for 159 i think

twelvepbrs

04-12-07, 01:17 PM

buy the year for 159 i think
that's not a promo, that's just the early-bird rate from last year, buncha a-holes....i already went with mlb.tv and i'm satisfied

limacharliewhisk

04-12-07, 01:30 PM

Did anyone else have problem recording "Criminal Minds" last night. When I went to watch, it started at about 28 minutes in. I tried to rewind, but there was only garbage.

Recorded on MOTO 6416 in Santa Clarita
The CBS HD signal went out at about 8:48PM during Jericho. Had to flip over to the SD channel to watch the rest of the episode.

Not sure if it was just a Time Warner issue or a nationwide CBS issue. When I flipped to other HD channels like NBC, WB, and ABC, they were transmitting fine, so it wasn't a HD issue in general.

finetunes

04-12-07, 02:13 PM

This is what I continue to see also. The pulsing and blocking with fast motion, with HD Net movies always looking like something is way out of whack. I have some Head End people coming out to have a look at what is going on.

Good luck - I've tried this with no success. The problem is higher up the food chain.

llabine1

04-12-07, 02:52 PM

Mad Mac

04-12-07, 06:31 PM

well I am relieved that you guys are also having HD signal problems....the Jericho thing really made me mad because it was a pivotal episode...TW needs to get their act together on their HD channels...my cable bill is high and Verizon and Directtv are sending me very attractive offers....

This appears to have been a widespread issue - we've seen posts from Santa Ana and Santa Clarita, and my KCBS HD was out in Moorpark at the same time. I'd venture to suggest that this was outside TW's control on this occasion.

kenwebb

04-12-07, 08:28 PM

ADD Fullerton to the list, I lost jericho! I had set it to record on my DVR 6400, watched it to about 50 minute mark and recording ended. The black guy had just taken old mayor's son into shed to show him the A-Bomb. He was telling the old mayor's son he was really CIA. I sure wish I had last 10 minutes of that episode I would love to know what happened in the shed.

twelvepbrs

04-12-07, 08:34 PM

some of the issues from today could be due to the high winds, i know the power flickered on/off a few times here in canoga park

jasonvr

04-12-07, 09:29 PM

Blasst

04-12-07, 10:00 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blasst
This is what I continue to see also. The pulsing and blocking with fast motion, with HD Net movies always looking like something is way out of whack. I have some Head End people coming out to have a look at what is going on.

Good luck - I've tried this with no success. The problem is higher up the food chain.

We'll just work our way up then!

kenwebb

04-13-07, 02:52 AM

jasonvr:

Yes I found that out, and did :)

alaindelon

04-13-07, 04:03 AM

Wasn't KCBS & KCAL going to start local news in HD on April 12th?I seem to remember this from a previous post but i can't find it now.Does anyone know when this will happen?

xrtfan

04-13-07, 08:37 AM

Wasn't KCBS & KCAL going to start local news in HD on April 12th?I seem to remember this from a previous post but i can't find it now.Does anyone know when this will happen?

No believe it was the 21st.

Mad Mac

04-13-07, 12:43 PM

Correct, date is now April 21st. Auntie Pat in HD in the evenings :D

llabine1

04-13-07, 06:44 PM

twelvepbrs

04-13-07, 08:31 PM

speaking of adding HD content anyone know if there is a timetable on when KTLA will be in HD...I was surprised to see that it is not in the HD lineup...also when Directtv starts to broadcast 100 HD channels in the future will TW follow suit...as you can see I am now seriously addicted and I need to feed my habit...LOL... :D
i think TW will have to do SOMETHING to increase their HD offerings, otherwise they won't be around much longer, even with my free basic cable, i'd gladly sign up for digital cable if TW would just add ESPN2HD in my neck of the woods, but if they don't get it by football season i'm going to D* (but i'll still have free expanded basic :cool: ) and what's really frustrating is that the system i'm on is higher bandwidth (750MHz+ or 800MHz+ maybe) because we have a ton of analog channels, if they would just drop one or two analogs that would be enough room to at least provide the HD's that TW has contracted for national that haven't yet been given to LA customers, i don't know why they are so worried about losing the "you don't need a STB with us" advantage, i mean eventually just about everyone will need a STB or cable-card (unless a few other steps are taken by cable-co's) i think if they would just improve their service and channel offerings while keep rates the same, not as many rats would be jumping ship into D* waters

kenwebb

04-13-07, 09:24 PM

I would like to see KTLA, as well as sci/fi channel and NGEO channel in HD, animal planet channel in HD would be nice also

twelvepbrs

04-15-07, 01:09 PM

i know there has been a lot of ragging on TNTHD picture quality, does anyone know for sure if one of the problems is that they don't deinterlace the material correctly before upconverting? i'm seeing some bad interlacing problems on a progressive display, and the large size of the scan lines that are visible during fast motion scenes leads me to believe that there is still interlacing at 480 lines

kenwebb

04-15-07, 07:34 PM

twelvepbrs

04-16-07, 12:07 AM

TNTHD, dont get me started on this channel, poor picture, and 9 out 10 shows the video is out of sync with audio, I have no idea what TW is doing with the TNTHD feed but its only channel that I notice audio sync seems to need correction.
are you sure TW is monkeying around with it? sure it's not GIGO? i mean it seems like a lot of people with different cable/dbs service complain about TNTHD

kenwebb

04-16-07, 03:27 AM

I don't know, but what I do know is, every time try watch it, my eyes are drawn to the mouths as its very clear the video and audio are not sync'ed and picture is no way HD, its most times worse then OTA SD

llabine1

04-16-07, 12:35 PM

I would like to see KTLA, as well as sci/fi channel and NGEO channel in HD, animal planet channel in HD would be nice also

Ken you and I are tv buddies...we watch the same stuff....I love the SciFi channel....can you imagine Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis in HD...we deserve that...I can also imagine those little Meercats popping their heads up in HD on Animal Planet...I want KTLA because everyone else has it and I am a big fan of Smallville and Supernatural...not to mention the KTLA morning news...come on guys throw us a crumb.....

joe221

04-16-07, 01:30 PM

Ken you and I are tv buddies...we watch the same stuff....I love the SciFi channel....can you imagine Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis in HD...we deserve that...I can also imagine those little Meercats popping their heads up in HD on Animal Planet...I want KTLA because everyone else has it and I am a big fan of Smallville and Supernatural...not to mention the KTLA morning news...come on guys throw us a crumb.....

I saw an ad on Universal HD for Stargate Atlantis, in HD!

kenwebb

04-16-07, 01:59 PM

llabine1

You might want to try setting your cable box to 16:9 1080i and 4:3 480i off I find that the 4:3 channels look a little bit sharper in 1080i and blink when box changes to a 4:3 is gone as its always in 1080i, now this could be in my case that my mitsubishi 1080P HDTV likes 1080i signals better then 480i, but still SG1 or SGA in 4:3 should be sharper this way I hope.

It's not HD but it's still SG hehehe, I also find since I have Motorola 6400 that even when I'm home I will set shows to record then start watching about 10 or 15 minutes in so that I can speed past the ads, DVR is a great thing :)

eriv16

04-16-07, 02:32 PM

ESPNHD 2 to be launched on 04/18

bgooch

04-16-07, 07:29 PM

Time Warner Promises Change in L.A.
Operator Promises to Correct Outages, Customer-Service Issues
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 4/16/2007 3:46:00 PM

Time Warner Cable’s metropolitan Los Angeles division will "slow the face of customer-facing change" in the region while refocusing on the integration of the physical plant it inherited from Adelphia Communications and Comcast and resolving customer-service issues, according to a letter from the company to the city of Los Angeles.

The operator is under fire in the region for video- and Internet-service outages and long on-hold times related to changes necessary as it becomes the area’s dominant cable provider. The city demanded that the operator explain why executives hadn't anticipated the problems it is having unifying the operation.

In a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, council members and the city's board of information technology commissioners, the company blamed part of its problem on the former Adelphia plant.

Although the company did due diligence as it approached the acquisition, it did not know until it took possession that the plant was "neither robust nor reliable enough" to support the advanced services, such as HD channels, that it wants to offer, Time Warner said.

Time Warner hired new customer-service representatives and technicians, and it is taking contracted work in-house and creating neighborhood work areas to improve service, according to the April 13 letter.

As an olive branch to Los Angeles Time Warner is constructing a fiber network in the two buildings that make up City Hall, which will allow officials to order cable services, HD channels, digital-video-recorder services and video-on-demand at discounted prices. The operator will assume the cost of the network installation.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6434261

bgooch

04-16-07, 07:37 PM

Time Warner cable has caught a lot of heat for poor service and now that it has expanded its footprint in Los Angeles with the acquisition of Adelphia cable assets, the problems might only get worse—unless you happen to have an office in City Hall!
In what Multi-Channel News calls “an olive branch to Los Angeles,” Time Warner is installing a fiber network for City Hall, entirely on its own dime.

Multi-Channel News reports that the new network will allow “officials to order cable services, HD channels, digital-video-recorder services and video-on-demand at discounted prices.”

That’s great for City Hall, but what about spotty service that plagues the rest of Time Warner’s Los Angeles customer base? Well, the company addresses that issue, in a letter to Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council. According to the MCN article:

“Time Warner Cable’s metropolitan Los Angeles division will "slow the face of customer-facing change" in the region while refocusing on the integration of the physical plant it inherited from Adelphia Communications and Comcast and resolving customer-service issues..."

(Just try and translate that into English… I dare you!).

http://www.lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2741

twelvepbrs

04-16-07, 09:03 PM

ESPNHD 2 to be launched on 04/18
where? West San Fernando Valley?

Time Warner cable has caught a lot of heat for poor service and now that it has expanded its footprint in Los Angeles with the acquisition of Adelphia cable assets, the problems might only get worse—unless you happen to have an office in City Hall!
In what Multi-Channel News calls “an olive branch to Los Angeles,” Time Warner is installing a fiber network for City Hall, entirely on its own dime.

Multi-Channel News reports that the new network will allow “officials to order cable services, HD channels, digital-video-recorder services and video-on-demand at discounted prices.”

That’s great for City Hall, but what about spotty service that plagues the rest of Time Warner’s Los Angeles customer base? Well, the company addresses that issue, in a letter to Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council. According to the MCN article...
wow, what a bunch of slimeballs, i'd much rather have them do things behind the scenes, like take the pols to lakers games, and give them handjobs in a private suite, maybe instead of doing this BS they should give everyone a $50 refund, and slash rates in half for a year for current customers

llabine1

04-16-07, 09:20 PM

where? West San Fernando Valley?

wow, what a bunch of slimeballs, i'd much rather have them do things behind the scenes, like take the pols to lakers games, and give them handjobs in a private suite, maybe instead of doing this BS they should give everyone a $50 refund, and slash rates in half for a year for current customers

Twelve I love your way of thinking....a refund would certainly soothe my wounds...I have been on a 2 month odyssey of being hung up on by TW by a recording no less when I was trying to get an HD box this happened 2x within a 24 hour period...my bill is now $239 and rising...in fairness I am an all-in-one person and I have almost everything they have to offer but nothing pisses me off more than to be paying outrageous prices and be faced with spotty service

Not only are my HD channels blacking out every once in a while but I have voice synch problems on every cable box in my house and I have 5 boxes ...4 digital and one HD box... on my own I found the solution to this..go up one channel or down a channel and it synchs but tech support was absolutely no help..they had no idea what HDMI was..I was flabbergasted.....I did not even get the box I ordered because there were none...I have a SA3100 instead of the DVR HDMI supported box I wanted...there just aren't any.....I take that back they gave me one that looked like it fell off the back of a truck and the picture pixelated so much it was not worth it...I am on the list for a new on...in the meantime I happily accept the 3100 which is giving me a glorious picture...

we want programming...it's as simple as that....why is that so hard....I don't get it...

Lynda...llabine1

WreckLeSS213

04-16-07, 09:55 PM

TNTHD, dont get me started on this channel, poor picture,.
I would have to agree some of the shows on TNTHD look awful and some are pretty decent but the picture quality on the NBA games is very good.

I get 14 HD channels (excluding the premium HD channels) all in excellent picture quality, there’s nothing I can really complain about TWC other then the long hold time

WreckLeSS213

04-16-07, 09:57 PM

TNTHD, dont get me started on this channel, poor picture, .
I would have to agree some of the shows on TNTHD look awful while some are pretty decent but the picture quality on the NBA games is very good.

I get 14 HD channels (excluding the premium HD channels) all in excellent picture quality, there’s nothing I can really complain about TWC other then the long hold time

twelvepbrs

04-16-07, 10:11 PM

I would have to agree some of the shows on TNTHD look awful and some are pretty decent but the picture quality on the NBA games is very good....
i believe the general concensus is that NBA-TNT looks like crap when compared to local RSN-HD coverage like FSN-HD, IMHO, if you are that satisfied with TW's service you are either not using many of their services, or you just aren't paying attention

WreckLeSS213

04-16-07, 10:40 PM

i believe the general concensus is that NBA-TNT looks like crap when compared to local RSN-HD coverage like FSN-HD,
FSN-HD channel 413 rarely comes on and when it does it get alot of macro blocking. The only service I get from TWC is cable and I'm very satisfied.

twelvepbrs

04-16-07, 11:54 PM

FSN-HD channel 413 rarely comes on and when it does it get alot of macro blocking. The only service I get from TWC is cable and I'm very satisfied.
um....i don't see how anyone could combine those two statements....do you think FSN is passing along a stream with all that blocking to TWC? part of the reason 413 rarely carries games is because TWC doesn't carry half the stuff that FSN produces in HD, because TWC is well clueless, there were countless football and baseball games last year during which i would have to call TWC and yell at them, at which point they would say that FSN wasn't showing anything in HD, then i'd check hdsportsguide.com and FSN's website, call some friends with D* and they would verify that it was coming through in HD, then i would call back and TWC would "look into it" then 15 minutes later viola!!! FSN-HD comes through

joe221

04-17-07, 01:36 AM

twelvepbrs

04-17-07, 02:05 AM

Lately many of my HD channels have been digitizing or pixelating. I was figuring I was lucky that this wasn't happening to me so much. Well that's changed, the last couple of days have been a blocky nightmare. It seems to be on any HD channel.
:( :mad:
starting to see the same thing in canoga park on my HDHomerun, my big mits (WD-62627) still seems to tune fine though, we'll see how long that lasts

twelvepbrs

04-18-07, 12:27 PM

ESPNHD 2 to be launched on 04/18
anybody confirm if they are receiving ESPNHD2 (other than people who already had it of course!)

DSperber

04-18-07, 12:48 PM

No ESPN2HD for me. Nothing in the "HDTV" channels of the DVR Guide, nor shown otherwise (e.g. 425, which seems like the likely place to plant it if we were really going to get it).

eriv16

04-18-07, 02:08 PM

Sorry, my bad, ESPN2 HD is going to be channel 425, and it's going to be on tomorrow 4/19. I was told the 18th, but at the last minute i was told not to put it on the channel maps, until tomorrow.

DSperber

04-18-07, 02:53 PM

Sorry, my bad, ESPN2 HD is going to be channel 425, and it's going to be on tomorrow 4/19. I was told the 18th, but at the last minute i was told not to put it on the channel maps, until tomorrow.Is it going to be in "basic HD" available to everyone, or is it packaged as part of the "HD Tier"?

Blasst

04-18-07, 08:25 PM

Sorry, my bad, ESPN2 HD is going to be channel 425, and it's going to be on tomorrow 4/19. I was told the 18th, but at the last minute i was told not to put it on the channel maps, until tomorrow.
eriv, why add the HD channels when they can't get the ones we have now, to look like they should?!") Way too much damn compression. Pass that along to the powers that be.:)

twelvepbrs

04-18-07, 09:14 PM

Is it going to be in "basic HD" available to everyone, or is it packaged as part of the "HD Tier"?
ummmmm....of course it will be in the HD Tier, time warner's gots to gets paid, dey gots kids to feed!
(this assumption is based on the fact that ESPNHD is inthe HD Tier for me)

guamster

04-19-07, 04:40 PM

Sorry, my bad, ESPN2 HD is going to be channel 425, and it's going to be on tomorrow 4/19. I was told the 18th, but at the last minute i was told not to put it on the channel maps, until tomorrow.

ESPN2HD was not available when I checked this morning (TWC-Chatsworth/West San Fernando). Has anyone been able to verify that they are now receiving ESPN2HD?

PictureCutter

04-19-07, 04:41 PM

I'm in Woodland Hills. Is ESPN2 really being added? It wasn't today.... I still don't understand why TW doesn't tell anyone what will be added and when like every other company out there.

twelvepbrs

04-19-07, 05:37 PM

I'm in Woodland Hills. Is ESPN2 really being added? It wasn't today.... I still don't understand why TW doesn't tell anyone what will be added and when like every other company out there.

Do you know which head you're on? i believe some parts of woodland hills are on a different system (NOT Chatsworth), ie is your comedy central 47? TBS 38? etc...?

ESPN2HD was not available when I checked this morning (TWC-Chatsworth/West San Fernando). Has anyone been able to verify that they are now receiving ESPN2HD?

I'm assuming both of you guys reset your boxes to double check?

ptchristensen

04-19-07, 05:43 PM

ESPN2HD was not available when I checked this morning (TWC-Chatsworth/West San Fernando). Has anyone been able to verify that they are now receiving ESPN2HD?

ESPN2 was present this morning in Hollywood/Marina Del Rey.

guamster

04-19-07, 06:01 PM

Do you know which head you're on? i believe some parts of woodland hills are on a different system (NOT Chatsworth), ie is your comedy central 47? TBS 38? etc...?

I'm assuming both of you guys reset your boxes to double check?

I did a re-boot. I assume that re-sets the box. No?

auh2o

04-19-07, 06:24 PM

ESPN2HD showed up in Redondo Beach today. I did not have to re-set my DVR.

Adelmoxi

04-19-07, 06:25 PM

ESPN2-HD, is an all go here in Ventua County(Newberry Park headend). Now if they only added KTA-HD we will be set....

DSperber

04-19-07, 06:27 PM

ESPN2 was present this morning in Hollywood/Marina Del Rey.Confirmed. ES2HD is now 425.

I did recently give up my Comcast Digital Platinum legacy pricing and go to TWC tiers (including adding HD Tier and giving up Starz-HD and Max-HD while retaining HBO-HD and SHO-HD), at a net savings of about $13/month. So it's not obvious to me whether ES2HD is in HD Tier or basic HD (for everyone).

twelvepbrs

04-19-07, 06:44 PM

so nobody on the chatsworth head-end can verify ESPN2HD?

EDIT: Went by the Chatsworth office around 5:00 on the way home from work, and none of the three SA 8300HD's in the lobby listed ESPN2HD, hopefully all the other TW's will also get KTLAHD and Sci-Fi HD before we get anything else in the west san fernando valley :( :mad: (yes, i'm both)

pyser

04-19-07, 09:42 PM

was there a firmware update?

im on 16.35 now, it seems (silver lake)

hockeyamd

04-20-07, 01:16 AM

ESPN 2 HD is on channel 425 in Santa Ana now

SPDICKEY

04-20-07, 01:29 PM

was there a firmware update?

im on 16.35 now, it seems (silver lake)

I've noticed some small enhancements including changes to the FF and RR bar while in VOD (its now the same as the DVR) and some different indications in the program guide including HD in the listings.

SPDICKEY

04-20-07, 01:30 PM

kenwebb

04-20-07, 01:36 PM

ESPN 2 HD is on channel 425 in Fullerton now

SoopahMan

04-20-07, 01:42 PM

ESPN2 HD is here in the clear in Woodland Hills

dylan24

04-20-07, 02:09 PM

Now that former Comcast people have ESPN2-HD, what's the chances that former Adelphia people will get KTLA-HD?

guamster

04-20-07, 02:14 PM

ESPN2 HD is here in the clear in Woodland Hills

I hope that means ESPN2 HD is available in Canoga Park as well. It was not on there this morning when I checked.

motoman

04-20-07, 02:45 PM

I checked last night and we have ESPN2 HD in Oxnard. Now I can watch the Nascar Busch races in HD. :D

Jim

PictureCutter

04-20-07, 02:51 PM

It came up for me with a reboot this morning (Woodland Hills).

twelvepbrs

04-20-07, 05:35 PM

ESPN2 HD is here in the clear in Woodland Hills
do you know if your cable service comes out of the chatsworth office? how close are you to ventura blvd? are you south of ventura blvd? is your comedy central channel 47? i'd check for ESPN2HD in the clear but my power is out at home (i'm at work) :mad:

WeHoMyke

04-20-07, 10:25 PM

Now that former Comcast people have ESPN2-HD, what's the chances that former Adelphia people will get KTLA-HD?

That would be nice.

avguygeorge

04-20-07, 11:49 PM

I'm in Chatsworth and see the duce in hd;'bout time. I can't wait till next week to see NHRA. ---Maybe some tennis in HD??(soon). I have the tennis ch.(264) and this week I can never see the ball when it's on the other side of the net.
I was with D* for 10 years. I just got fed up with all the promises. I switched to TWC in Dec./06. I am still very happy.--Dodger games look good/ Laker games,same. TWC just gives us more sports. Overall PQ ain't that hot,I keep hoping it will get better.

twelvepbrs

04-20-07, 11:54 PM

...TWC just gives us more sports...
um.....yeah....i don't know about that, if your basing it on the fact that D* doesn't carry KCALHD, that's pretty weak, considering any self-respecting D* sub should have an OTA antenna anyways, and if cable had let MLBEI get away no sane person could ever say anything about TWC and sports, ...
Still, it's good to hear that the duce is finally here in our area (I'm in canoga park), I'm assuming it's channel 425?, i'll probably stop by the TW office in chatsworth to verify, and maybe setup new catv service in a month or two (they have a promo price for six months, and i'd like the six months to run out at the end of the NFL reg' season)

avguygeorge

04-20-07, 11:55 PM

I wanted to mention; as a former Boston resident--Aren't we glad the Yankees never traded Maraino R. ??? Well, I guess.---12 blown saves vs the sox;and counting.--

twelvepbrs

04-20-07, 11:56 PM

I wanted to mention; as a former Boston resident--Aren't we glad the Yankees never traded Maraino R. ??? Well, I guess.---12 blown saves vs the sox;and counting.--
OT, i hate the yankmees but have arod on my fantasy team, tonight was awesome!!! too bad manram can't remember to bring his bat to the plate

avguygeorge

04-21-07, 12:10 AM

Yes, I still have my roof-top; It ain't even hooked up. What I based my opinion on is with D* they never added stuff like KCAL-HD or special events like 413/yes I've seen a few. Then D* don't even got the tennis ch.----I just know I have seen more sports in hd,or sd. than when I was with D*.----With D* they just gave you less and took stuff away. Seems like every new ch was in a special package that I didn't get; even tho I was paying $98. per.---Heck D* don't have the HDMI-out on there dvr.

twelvepbrs

04-21-07, 12:37 AM

xrtfan

04-21-07, 10:30 AM

Anybody know whether the current HD-DVR box from TW has HDMI output? I have the Adelphia Moxi box which has Composite and DVI output but no HDMI.

Arvy

04-21-07, 12:05 PM

The Moto 6416 HDDVR has an HDMI output and component plugs, too. There are also S-Vid cable and composite outputs. This STB has two tuners. I have the HDMI going to an HDTV and the S-Vid to a CRT TV. There are pics of the box's backside on Moto's website.

xrtfan

04-21-07, 01:43 PM

eddy_winds

04-21-07, 03:56 PM

Anybody know whether the current HD-DVR box from TW has HDMI output? I have the Adelphia Moxi box which has Composite and DVI output but no HDMI.
My STB Does
8300HD

SirJW

04-21-07, 06:19 PM

FYI; KCBS Sports Central is up and running in HD. News should debut in a few hours...

alaindelon

04-21-07, 09:20 PM

CBS 2 local news looks fantasic from their new studio,even better than KABC.Nice graphics(except for weather related graphics that suffers from artifacts) and the studio is beautiful.This is our best looking local station because of no multicasting.

SoopahMan

04-23-07, 05:42 AM

I would have to agree some of the shows on TNTHD look awfulTNT HD looks great here in Woodland Hills (south of Ventura Blvd) but maybe it's the shows I pick - I caught the Lord of the Rings series in HD which was incredible given that it'd take a Blu-Ray disc to BUY the movie at that quality level - instead I watched it for free. X-Men 2 was a good watch, and I get Law & Order in HD on it now and then.

Adelmoxi

04-23-07, 12:18 PM

For the small percentage of you on an SA headend, have you started working with Navigator, or do you still have Passport?

bgooch

04-23-07, 07:17 PM

Do Diligence

(Multichannel News) Time Warner Cable had big plans for its Los Angeles cable division once it took over systems with 1.6 million subscribers in August 2006 from former area operators Adelphia Communications and Comcast.

The second-largest U.S. cable operator would be the dominant provider of subscription television and related services in the second-largest metropolitan market. It planned to swiftly realign channels, standardize pricing and introduce advanced services, such as digital phone service and more high-definition channels.

The Los Angeles division could use mass media to advertise the arrival of advanced services to the 1.9 million customers it would begin to serve across five counties.

But now, in an April 13 letter to the city of Los Angeles, the company states that it "moved too rapidly" with all the changes necessitated by the system integration.

The lesson for cable operators: There's much to gain from taking over a valuable franchise. But more than money is at stake. And it can take more than time to recover from trying to do too much at once.

"Time Warner came to town and fragile networks crashed. Instead of being the white knight charging into town, they've become the troll under the bridge," said Jonathan Kramer of Kramer.Firm, an attorney and engineering consultant to cities in the area.

The cable operator has told Los Angeles city officials it will "slow the pace of change" while focusing on core business operations. Those tasks include making sure all parts of its physical plant are operating properly and improving the performance of call centers so customers can swiftly reach a live operator who will resolve requests on the first call.

The company will also "demonstrate its commitment to the city of Los Angeles" by engineering and constructing a new fiber backbone and network within the two towers that comprise City Hall, at no charge to the city.

The report was a response to a request from the city's Board of Information Technology Commissioners. That panel had called on the cable company to account for the service failures during last fall's takeover of the Adelphia and Comcast systems, part of Comcast and Time Warner's joint purchase of the bankrupt Adelphia. The change in control resulted in 1,997 complaints to the city between August 2006 and February 2007, compared to 984 complaints in that period a year earlier.

Time Warner's regional task was to integrate the operation of 16 headends, 69 hubs, 30,000 miles of plant in five counties, three different billing systems, 100 channel lineups, eight different models of set-tops in the field, four brands of cable modems and three different video-on-demand platforms.
Time to Take Stock Lessons for cable operators from Time Warner Cable's attempts to deliver advanced services to as many former Adelphia and Comcast customers in Los Angeles "as quickly as possible.'' Culled from interviews with consultants, engineers and marketers and from Time Warner Cable's report to the city.

Keep Doing Diligence : Planning based on the kinds of due-diligence inspections that are done before an acquisition doesn't provide the key ground-level details needed to fully anticipate possible problems in existing physical assets.

Allow Extra Time : Time Warner Cable says the first remedial action it's taken in Los Angeles is to "slow the pace of customer-facing change" and focus on physical plant integration, call-center performance and resolving customer issues on the first call.

Clean Up First : Carve out time to clean up billing databases and systems, before launching other physical changes, regulatory officials and consultants interviewed said.

Do It Yourself : Time Warner Cable used contractors as field-service technicians, following past practice in the systems. Now it's shifting to using company employees "to further ensure quality control" and has added to that workforce by 10%.

Think Regionally, Act Locally : Time Warner is adopting a "community-based structure" that uses smaller, neighborhood work areas that get field-service employees "closer to the communities they serve."

Don't Overpromise : Make sure DVRs or HD-enabled set-tops are in stock before marketing new services to customers.

Take It Easy ' On Yourself : Time Warner's marketing slogan was "It'll Be Just That Easy." It wasn't.
NOT THAT 'SIMPLE'

The operator's report to the city indicates that its timetable was too ambitious. The multiple-system operator could not live up to consumer expectations, fostered by advertising, that promised the transition would be "just that simple."

Ads showed a service truck changing from Adelphia to Time Warner in the blink of an eye, and the system's Web site assured consumers the transition required no action on their part.

Consumers would complain the quality of bedrock services, such as the TV picture itself, suffered. And delivery of new products was stymied when potential subscribers couldn't get through on the phone or were told, once they reached a live operator, that popular items such as digital recorders were not in stock.

Time Warner found out that the basics matter. Most complaints to city officials surrounded the rearrangement of channel lineups, as well as service interruptions.

Channels were moved around the dial as Time Warner tried to unify the 100 different lineups it inherited, grouping networks in the regional lineup according to genre. Former Adelphia customers found themselves wholly without the NFL Network, which did not have a carriage agreement with Time Warner.

Many of the service problems were attributed to the condition of the plant inherited from Adelphia, according to the report to Los Angeles. Despite "rigorous due diligence" prior to the acquisition, "the cable infrastructure we had acquired was neither robust nor reliable enough to support these services," according to the report released 10 days ago.

City officials around the region, though, insist they told Time Warner executives about some of the Adelphia operation's problems at the time of the local franchise transfer.

Officials in Redondo Beach warned Time Warner about degraded grounding wires attached to Adelphia plant. The infrastructure, which prevents the cable plant from becoming an electrocution danger, would have to be replaced before the new owner could launch new services in the city, said Maggie Healy, assistant to the city manager.

"They knew about this; we let them know," Healy said. "They underestimated how quickly they could have it done."

Time Warner began repairs last November, but the improvements themselves prompted a round of angry consumer calls to the city, according to Healy.

The New York City-based cable operator hired subcontractors to do the repair work, she said. The city official said field workers are required to give a consumer an explanatory letter when they enter private property to access easements. This was not done and when homeowners challenged the strangers on their property, the workers were rude, according to Healy.

Now, Time Warner is trying to correct mistakes, using its own technical crews, Healy reported, but damage has been done.

"Redondo Beach is very unhappy with Time Warner," she said.
WELCOMED CHANGE

That was a frequent refrain among regulators, their consultants and the engineers interviewed for this story.

Time Warner officials declined to comment, beyond the text of its report to the city.

Prior to the acquisition, Time Warner enjoyed a good reputation in the Los Angeles market, and was noted by city officials and for its cooperation and responsiveness to problems. Most communities ' and especially those where Adelphia was the incumbent ' welcomed the change in system ownership.

But by moving too fast, the company has damaged its own good name, local officials said.

"They had a plan for melding the systems that was ambitious and probably feasible," had Adelphia plant been comparable to that of other operators, Kramer said.

But maintenance had been deferred while Adelphia operated under the protection of the bankruptcy court. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2002, in the wake of a massive accounting scandal that landed its founder, John Rigas, in prison for 15 years on fraud and conspiracy charges.

According to Kramer, who handled communications between cities and the operator's engineers, Time Warner discovered problems with degraded plant, especially between local distributions hubs and the neighborhood nodes, where the signal are converted off of fiber optics and onto coaxial cable for distribution to individual homes.

The links could not handle the data traffic that would result from providing high-speed access to the Internet, videos delivered on the demand of any customer and all the other products planned by Time Warner. The plant needed to be replaced or upgraded before it could handle the traffic of new products, according to Kramer.

Decisions on the integration, such as timing of customer transitions and product launches, are driven by regional and divisional management, not corporate executives, according to Time Warner.
UNANSWERED CALLS

In March, local president Roger Keating was replaced. New York division president Barry Rosenblum is now assigned to run the Los Angeles unit, aided by Stephen Pagano, former head of the Albany, N.Y., division.

City officials such as Healy said the biggest problem became, and remains, access to customer-service representatives. Calls to 1,350 service agents in six regional centers began to escalate almost as soon as the new owner took over in August 2006. The company added 300 agents to respond.

The terms of the merger transaction prohibited Time Warner from contacting or training Adelphia and Comcast employees it inherited until after the deal actually closed, Time Warner said. Once that occurred, it hired the workers and launched in-house training.

The staffing challenge and high call volumes led to unanswered calls, unacceptable hold times and "admittedly unacceptable service," according to the company's report to Los Angeles officials.

To retain customers while the deal was pending, Adelphia offered discounted video and Internet service packages to keep consumers from fleeing to satellite providers, according to company employees.

Direct-broadcast satellite providers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications targeted Adelphia customers during the bankruptcy, playing on consumer fears about continuing operation by the financially troubled company. Satellite has had great success in the Los Angeles region against all cable providers: analysts put the regional DBS penetration rate at 28%, a high percentage for an urban market.

When Time Warner took over and instituted its pricing, the first wave of calls hit those centers, as consumers called to complain or change their packages. Those calls may have reached the new Time Warner employees who weren't up to speed on the new owner's billing software or familiar with all of its prices, leading to long transaction times, according to consumers.

Then, from September into February, the operator began revising channel lineups, changing set-top hardware for customers who upgraded and physically migrating customers from Adelphia and Comcast's high-speed services to Time Warner's Road Runner service, necessitating a change of e-mail addresses.

Consumers complained to regulators and the local press of Internet outages of up to two weeks, of e-mail misdirected to old Adelphia or Comcast addresses instead of new Road Runner addresses, and of an inability to reach Time Warner to seek help with the problems.
SOFTWARE ISSUE

Some of the Internet outages were caused by Time Warner provisioning software, according to an individual involved in the changeover. The software wizard for activating Internet service failed to recognize the former Comcast and Adelphia customers, he said.

Exacerbating the problem: the operator's marketing department sent out a mailing which specified the day when all consumers should activate service via the new servers, the person said. Because of the size of the market, not all Internet customers could be activated on the Time Warner computers on the same day. Nor did engineers intend for Internet customers to move all at once.

Customers also had to reconfigure their e-mail program. If they did not properly complete the process, the Microsoft Outlook program would freeze up.

Time Warner declined to describe how it rectified the problems. Some were resolved with remote diagnostics and software changes. Some required visits by service technicians.

Because of the Adelphia transport problems, Kramer said, integration changes resulted in Internet outages; pictures that disintegrated into meaningless forms, went dark and then spontaneously resolved; and channel drops for video customers.

Steve Grace of the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles woke up Jan. 12 to find that his TV selections had diminished to channels 2 through 15 and his Internet connection was inoperable.

Grace, who runs a regional sports Web site, said he had welcomed Time Warner, telling all his friends the company would be the best fit for Los Angeles.

"Given the huge market share here for DirecTV, it seemed the perfect time for [Time Warner] to come in and hit it out of the park," he said.

But his praise died after he had to make multiple calls to get Internet service restored. During one call, he was told the problem was his computer, only to be told later that service to 15% of his neighbors was out, too. He drove to a local cable office to get the "straight story," he said, only to discover his Thursday repair appointment was the following Thursday, 10 days away. He called AT&T to sign up for its high-speed Internet service instead, he said.

Difficulties also surfaced in the conversion of billing systems. Comcast, Time Warner and Adelphia each used a different vendor. Ed Hession, a Brentwood Hills real-estate investor, signed up for Time Warner service when it was announced that company would take over from Adelphia. When his cable service disappeared, he found out Time Warner had disconnected its own, new connection, rather than Adelphia's old hookup.

He also found himself accused of nonpayment. He hunted down the local office and drove there, he said. His Internet bill payments from his bank had been credited to the old Adelphia account and were not cross-referenced to the Time Warner billing system, he reported.

Hession's home is in the coastal hills. He needs cable service just to watch broadcast TV and the telephone companies don't even offer digital subscriber line Internet access where he lives.

"If this was a true free market, I wouldn't be with Time Warner," he would fume.

Complaints to the city of Moorpark in Ventura County caused that city to declare Time Warner in breach of contract for failing to live up to customer-service standards.

"They've been woefully out of compliance for six to eight months," assistant city manager Hugh Riley said. Local rules mandate that consumers get live help within 30 seconds of calling in 90% of the time, among other standards. Riley said 50% or fewer calls reach that standard.
INROAD FOR AT&T

Aggravation with Time Warner could prompt quicker negotiations with AT&T, which has approached the city to launch U-Verse TV, its Internet Protocol television service. But Riley said that provider won't get its approvals until Moorpark has seen a master plan for deployment.

"If they're going to cut streets, we want to know right away," he said.

Moorpark is not expected to use its contract breach process to try to get rid of Time Warner. Instead, the city is "harping" on the only power it has left: customer-service enforcement. Officials just want Time Warner to fix it, Riley said.

Time Warner has until the end of this month to respond to the city's official notice, indicating how it will cure service deficiencies noted by Moorpark officials.

Other cities, including Palmdale and Simi Valley, have determined that the amount of complaints there do not warrant action by local regulators.

Time Warner officials said customer-service calls are decreasing. Complaint calls spiked in March but have declined by 38%, according to the company. The company attributes the decline to increased service personnel and completion of some of the integration steps. The Comcast e-mail migration has been completed, according to the company.

Time Warner added hundreds of customer-service representatives during the spike. It now says 1,650 service agents are in place, each of whom has completed 160 hours of instruction and 80 hours of on-the-job training.

In the field, the company is now employing its own technicians for field work, rather than relying on contract labor. To get technicians closer to the communities they serve, the company is breaking its organization into neighborhood work areas, the report to Los Angeles added.

Time Warner's recovery in the Los Angeles market is vital to the cable division. During a Feb. 28 conference call, chief operating officer Landel Hobbs noted the Los Angeles and Dallas markets now represent nearly half of all Time Warner Cable's subscribers, following the Adelphia acquisition and related swaps with Comcast.

Both Dallas and Los Angeles were hit hard by transitional challenges: of the 52,000 customers lost by the company in the fourth quarter, 80% were in one of those two markets.

Hobbs said Time Warner expects to add 200,000 digital phone subscribers in the acquired markets by year's end. The systems also need to focus on another corporate goal Hobbs identified for 2008: narrowing the $18 gap in average revenue per unit earned by the former Adelphia systems, compared with traditional Time Warner systems.

Achieving that goal could turn on such questions as: Will consumers who have suffered the loss of video and Internet services, some for as long as a week, trust a cable operator to provide vital telephone services?

Time Warner "may have poisoned the well before anyone even had a chance to drink," Kramer said.

But jumping to another provider isn't always a panacea. Grace, the customer who said he'd jump to DSL? He's still a Road Runner customer. AT&T promised immediate delivery of a self-install kit, but it took repeated calls to get the kit and get it working. He's using both DSL and Road Runner now.

The plan to provide an upgraded cable network to Los Angeles City Hall, contained in the report to the city, may raise eyebrows among officials elsewhere who are clamoring for Time Warner to focus on service issues.

According to the report, the company recently supplied the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with digital-cable service and digital video recorders to "facilitate news gathering" by his staff. As a result, there have been requests from other municipal offices for access to advanced services.

Some of those services were in place last week, but it will take two months to complete construction of the network in City Hall. Municipal offices will have access to services including basic and digital cable, high-definition television, DVRs and video-on-demand at a discounted rate, according to Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner, demonstrating its local commitment, will maintain and repair this "state of the art system" at "no cost to the city."

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=131075