I remember getting something in the mail from TWC in June stating that they would transmit ESPN HD in the clear after some date.I didn't think about it until tonight because MNF interferes with my HD Net programming(i have one cablecard enabled dvr and pay for the HD tier).So i poked around and found a picture only feed of ESPN HD on channel 103-518 on my other receiver.Does anyone know what Qam channel has ESPN HD with sound?
Where are you? I've looked for it in the clear a couple of times, I thought they were just moving it out of the HD Tier, which means it could still be encrypted, just like Discover HDT, TNTHD (in some areas), FSN-HD all are typically encrypted, but not part of the "HD Tier"

Well I guess I would look at this from a different perspective. TWC is basically offering you free cable service until they come out and move the service onto your name....What do you think about this?

Rudy


Rudy I think you misunderstood. They were scheduled to go out to my house today, which I've now owned for 10 days and physically disconnect the cable. (its a condo acutally.... and its on a slab so no crawlspace below)


Fortunately, I found a moment of brilliance.


Prior to now, everytime I called, the system would take my call and route it to the retention department. So I called, and "set up new service" by starting a whole new account at the old address, telling them I intended to keep service at my old address as well.

They still gave me a little grief over the issue with the previous owner having an open order for today, and fortunately, Josh, a floor supervisor in TW's Colorado Springs facility, was able to close the order on their end, and open my account all without sending a tech.

Took my boxes over to the new place today and voila! they work. Josh told me I can just call tech support and dispatch can migrate my boxes over to the new account and once thats done, I can cancel the old account without any hastle.

Success! (I hope)

I remember getting something in the mail from TWC in June stating that they would transmit ESPN HD in the clear after some date.I didn't think about it until tonight because MNF interferes with my HD Net programming(i have one cablecard enabled dvr and pay for the HD tier).So i poked around and found a picture only feed of ESPN HD on channel 103-518 on my other receiver.Does anyone know what Qam channel has ESPN HD with sound?

I have it on the same channel here in West LA, and also without the sound. It's been that way for almost 2 weeks now. There is no other ESPN HD feed.

Rudy

Rudy I think you misunderstood. They were scheduled to go out to my house today, which I've now owned for 10 days and physically disconnect the cable. (its a condo acutally.... and its on a slab so no crawlspace below)


Fortunately, I found a moment of brilliance.


Prior to now, everytime I called, the system would take my call and route it to the retention department. So I called, and "set up new service" by starting a whole new account at the old address, telling them I intended to keep service at my old address as well.

They still gave me a little grief over the issue with the previous owner having an open order for today, and fortunately, Josh, a floor supervisor in TW's Colorado Springs facility, was able to close the order on their end, and open my account all without sending a tech.

Took my boxes over to the new place today and voila! they work. Josh told me I can just call tech support and dispatch can migrate my boxes over to the new account and once thats done, I can cancel the old account without any hastle.

Success! (I hope)

No no. I understood what you were saying, even if I didn't properly explain what I meant with my comments. :) You bought a condo at which address the previous owners still had an open account with TWC. What I was trying to say was. That if their account is still open then TWC is still sending the cable feed into that condo. So you can simply plug in your equipment and use that feed until TWC is able to switch that address into your name. In other words TWC is forcing you watch cable for free. :) :D

But anyway, it's not important now since you got it resolved. Enjoy your new home.

Rudy

Not sure how many of you guys have seen this chart but it looks very interesting. Basically shows HD offerings, current and announced, for all the providers. Check it out:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=419472

Notice how National Geographic Channel and Food Network are in limited availability for TWC but not in our market. I wonder why and even more importantly when?

Rudy

twelvepbrs:Where are you?
Hollywood Hills

Hi,
I have the new Motorola 3416 box. I cannot see where the remote sensor is. I need to attach the connection to my universal remote. Does anyone know where it is?

Thanks

Hi,
I have the new Motorola 3416 box. I cannot see where the remote sensor is. I need to attach the connection to my universal remote. Does anyone know where it is?

Thanks

It's just to the right of the time/channel display. Shine a flashlight through the black plastic and you'll see the sensor. That's where I put my Sling contoller.

Thanks, that was it. I took the remote adapter and just ran it across the front panel while click on the control unit.

BTW, I see some mention of external hard drives in the manual. Can an external drive be added?

Thanks, that was it. I took the remote adapter and just ran it across the front panel while click on the control unit.

BTW, I see some mention of external hard drives in the manual. Can an external drive be added?

Prolly not in our life time...The Comcast folk can now. At least in some areas.

The Texas game contains the same horrible pulsing artifacts as last weeks USC game.I'm quite amazed that it doesn't seem to bother very many forum members.Is this the best TWC can do with channel 413?

Well, the Dodger games are certainly better quality than that SC game on 413. I'm assuming it was the source.

I had the bad picture with the SC Idaho game here in Chatsworth, I went to my cousin's house last week and he had the bad picture for the TCU Texas game and he has Time Warner Cable in Monrovia.

Dodger games look awesome !

I only notice the bad picture during the late night FSN football games, afternoon games are fine.

TWCs picture isn't as bad as DTV with blurriness and pixelation. Plus my internet is blazing fast :D But DTV is launching a new satellite and switching to MPEG4, so that may remedy the problem. If you need football that bad then go for it. Most people on here have the cash anyway :(

My internet is slow as sh*t. Seems to be DNS latency. Thanks TWC. I used to get full bandwidth. Now they ask you to pay for it. Thanks TWC.

try http://www.opendns.com/

try http://www.opendns.com/

Yup! Beat me to it! ;)

I've been thinking about moving from my Verizon DSL service to the TWC service. I have just the basic Verizon DSL service and called last week about getting a faster connection and got the royal run around. I already have TWC for cable and was thinking about adding their internet service. Any pros or cons? Reliable internet and e-mail service?

Thanks for your help.

Jim

I've never had a problem with reliability but then again I only use it for 2 hours a day. Their email service is okay but rather small with only 10mb storage per address. I rarely use it.
Whatever tier you decide to get subtract 2-3 Mbps. Very seldom will you get the actual download speed although upload speeds are accurate.
To get the low down on TWC service go to:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cable,rr

There you'll get a collection of gripes, grumbles and occasionally something nice regarding TWC.

I've never had a problem with reliability but then again I only use it for 2 hours a day. Their email service is okay but rather small with only 10mb storage per address. I rarely use it.
Whatever tier you decide to get subtract 2-3 Mbps. Very seldom will you get the actual download speed although upload speeds are accurate.
To get the low down on TWC service go to:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cable,rr

There you'll get a collection of gripes, grumbles and occasionally something nice regarding TWC.

10mb per email address??? I think you are looking at the default size. Using the webmail interface you can change the amount each account uses. I have a total of 100MB. 50MB is dedicated to the master account and 10MB each to 3 separate sub accounts. I still have 20MB unallocated.

I never got it to work, but i have gmail so whatever. Also i hit 97** or 98**kbps all the time, except during peak hours. Oh and the Dodger games have to be the worst sportscast i've seen in HD.

Can anyone confirm what QAM channels I should be getting on TWC in the Mid-Wilshire area (Park LaBrea, to be exact)?

I just bought the El Gato HDHomeRun and it's not finding any QAM channels at all. I was really hoping I could pull down at least the networks in HD, as my apartment is facing almost exactly the opposite way it should be to receive OTA signals (and the walls are solid concrete).

Any ideas?

Can anyone confirm what QAM channels I should be getting on TWC in the Mid-Wilshire area (Park LaBrea, to be exact)?

I just bought the El Gato HDHomeRun and it's not finding any QAM channels at all. I was really hoping I could pull down at least the networks in HD, as my apartment is facing almost exactly the opposite way it should be to receive OTA signals (and the walls are solid concrete).

Any ideas?
Do you mean it's finding any unencrypted channels? or it's finding zero qam channels? I have an HDHR and used it successfully when I lived in the valley (Chatsworth), but it didn't work once I moved to Westminster (Silicondust is sending me a replacement) I'm not sure what the interface looks like on a Mac, but if you have a PC handy you could try the software on Silicondust's website (http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/downloads)
They have a utility that will list all the programs on a given QAM channel (even if they are encrypted) so you can at least tell if the channels are there

TWCs picture isn't as bad as DTV with blurriness and pixelation....But DTV is launching a new satellite and switching to MPEG4, so that may remedy the problem.

It's my bet that based on past performance, DTV is going to use MPEG4 to raise the compression level on their programming even further so they can generate more revenue for adding even more useless shopping channels.

I was with DTV for seven years, and the very last thing they're interested in is image quality. Their pictures got worse every year for 7 years while their prices increased, until I finally had enough.

The pictures on their VERY expensive football package are absolutely crap - horrendous compression artifacting which makes wide shots of players running down field look like they're being chased by a swarm of mosquitoes.

And when I told them why I was leaving, they were shocked that the reason was image quality. They just kept repeating that they were DIGITAL, FOR GOD'S SAKES, and their pictures were perfect as a result.

And don't even get me started on their HD image quality. Beyond crap.

yer right jasonvr. i didn't know we could change the size of storage. thanks for the info.
also internet speeds seem to be faster on my xp pc over my vista. I'm getting at least 9*** with xp. weird but true. maybe it's a firewall issue.

For the last few days, my internet has been on the blink. It be just fine and then my modem will start blinking indicating it lost connection to the cable network. Then it will come back and then out again. Of course, I have Vonage VOIP phone service, so when it goes down, I have to call on my cell phone to Tech Support. She tried the standard things, sending a signal, have me unplug the modem (which I had already done), etc, all of which did not fix it. She then says she can set up a trouble ticket but it will be the 20th before someone can come out!! I asked to talk to a supervisor. I hear a lot of typing on her end and eventually, she comes back and says "My supervisor says that she has no more control over the appointment times". I politely say, "I did not ask you to talk to a supervisor, I asked to be connected to a supervisor so that I could talk to them". More typing... "She says that she can't do anything because the appointment times are given out by the local office and they (tech support) only have what is given to them". (Please note, that I never said I wanted to talk to the supervisor about getting an earlier date, just that I wanted to talk to one). At this point, I tell her that she can tell her supervisor (since apparently I am not allowed to talk to one) that I will be cancelling my service as soon as I find an acceptable replacement and I hang up. I pay $155 per month for my cable + internet service and I really don't appreciate being treated like this.

Obviously (since I am able to post this), my internet has decided to come back on, but who knows how long for.

And wouldn't ya know it, as I was on the phone tech support, AT&T knocked on my door touting their TV and internet service. Unfortunately, I was a little rude to them since I was already fed up with TWC. After I hung up with TWC, I hunted them down at a neighbors house and apologized and invited them back to hear their speech. As far as I can tell, there is only one downside, they only support one HD stream to a house at a time (up to 4 SD streams though). Their prices are about the same or cheaper. Internet is faster, but not by much. I would get all the channels, instead of just the analog basics on my second TV since it comes with 2 boxes. If they had been able to support 2 HD streams, I would have signed up on the spot. I took the information and now have to contemplate their service.

I did call back the retention department after AT&T left and at least got a token. I'm not sure how they decided what they should give me, but they gave me my DVR service for free for the next 12 months (a whole 4.95 per month) and $20 off my cable service for the next 3 months. No discount on my internet service though.....

Any opinions on AT&T or another replacement? Also, they (AT&T) said that I will never see Verizon FIOS because it is an AT&T region. They claim it is federally regulated so that they can't go into each others regions. Somehow, that doesn't seem right. If it is right, how does that not violate anti-competition laws?

Ok, my rant is over. Time to start contemplating other options for my viewing pleasure.

Any opinions on AT&T or another replacement? Also, they (AT&T) said that I will never see Verizon FIOS because it is an AT&T region. They claim it is federally regulated so that they can't go into each others regions. Somehow, that doesn't seem right. If it is right, how does that not violate anti-competition laws?

Utilities aren't in competition with each other other than to capture an area/location/region etc. A city contracts with a cable company to have exclusive rights to the area. The city may also allow several services, if it so chooses. SoCal Edison has rights to some areas while the DWP has others. SCE doesn't do L.A. I cannot get local phone service from anyone but PacBell (discounting VoiP, cable, etc.) in Arcadia. The own the wires here. TWC (previously Adelphia) owns the fiber carrying my TV feeds. Exclusive area rights are granted because of the high cost of installing service (among other reasons). Pricing competition is more acroos areas/regions than within a relatively small community. Satellite and now phone companies are the widest spread alternative to exclusivity.

At least this is my understanding of the situation. The was/is a TahDoo about cable companies being required to allow phone companies to carry each other's feeds for a price, but I never paid attention.

As far as I can tell, there is only one downside (with AT&T service), they only support one HD stream to a house at a time

I've never even heard of AT&T offering this service. Does one HD stream mean that only one of all the receivers can get HD at a time?

What is their wiring? Fiber? Coax?

I've never even heard of AT&T offering this service. Does one HD stream mean that only one of all the receivers can get HD at a time?

What is their wiring? Fiber? Coax?

AT&T U-Verse (https://uverse1.att.com/launchAMSS.do). I believe it is fiber to the neighborhood, but copper to the house. One HD stream means exactly that. The entire house can receive 1 HD stream, no matter ow many boxes you have or how many TV's. It also negates the possibility of a dual tuner HD DVR.

There are some threads on U-Verse. I received a flyer in the mail and immediately saw the 1 HD stream restriction (although it was buried in tiny print), but wanted to confirm it with AT&T.

AT&T U-Verse (https://uverse1.att.com/launchAMSS.do)It also negates the possibility of a dual tuner HD DVR.This isn't true. All it takes is a built-in splitter in the DVR, and you have all the makings of a dual-tuner DVR with just a single coax to the box.

That is certainly how the current Moto and SA DVR's work... single coax, dual-tuner.

IIRC, it was only the satellite-based dual-tuner DVR's which required dual coax feeds. Not cable company DVR's. And there was a technology reason for this, which is also why the dual-tuner cable DVR's do not require dual coax feeds.

This isn't true. All it takes is a built-in splitter in the DVR, and you have all the makings of a dual-tuner DVR with just a single coax to the box.

That is certainly how the current Moto and SA DVR's work... single coax, dual-tuner.

IIRC, it was only the satellite-based dual-tuner DVR's which required dual coax feeds. Not cable company DVR's. And there was a technology reason for this, which is also why the dual-tuner cable DVR's do not require dual coax feeds.

It's not a problem of single coax to the house. It's a problem of a single stream to the house. U-Verse might as well be SDV (it essentially is). They only send you the stream (channel) you request. They only allow a single HD stream into the house. The service will support up to 4 SD streams simultaneously, and I think they can all be recorded simultaneously (although I am not sure), but onyl 1 HD. I am quite familiar with a dual tuner DVR as I have a Moxi (which I love) currently.

I've been thinking about moving from my Verizon DSL service to the TWC service. I have just the basic Verizon DSL service and called last week about getting a faster connection and got the royal run around. I already have TWC for cable and was thinking about adding their internet service. Any pros or cons? Reliable internet and e-mail service?

Thanks for your help.

Jim

I recommend against it. I made the move and now would like to move back. RoadRunner that provides the internet connection for TWC charges more and gives less speed.
I only did it because I use VoIP, and wasn't able to get Dry Loop DSL in my place. Now that I can I really want to switch back to Verizon DSL.

Just my .02c
Rudy

"How can you tell if a channel that you're paying for as part of a digital tier is actually being delivered to you as an analog channel instead, and should you care?

Answering the latter question first, of course you should care! You're paying for digital, you should get digital. Outside of the lower video and audio quality that can be present on many analog feeds, third-party devices (like cableCARD TiVos) which could otherwise record a digital signal directly, will be forced to re-digitize an analog signal, with inevitable quality loss in the process.

But how to know for sure if a channel is digital or analog as received? Without access to the diagnostic pages of cable company boxes, this can be tough. However, some third-party devices will reveal the truth very quickly. I've heard examples of these situations from various areas, but here's a case that I'm dealing with myself right now.

The TiVo HD has easily accessible diagnostic modes which clearly spill all the beans relating to these issues. Here in the West Valley (Los Angeles) system of Time Warner Cable, I can clearly see that, at the moment, virtually all basic cable channels in the digital tiers that have simulcast analog (under channel 100) equivalents, are actually being delivered as analog channels, at least to my cableCARDs.

Example: When I tune to History Channel on channel 212 in a digital tier, the main channel displays all do say 212, but diagnostics tell me that I'm actually tuned to analog channel 39 -- the analog version of History Channel -- explaining the lower quality image and resulting recording issues on the TiVo. This is in fact the case for essentially the entire set of channels that exist in both digital and analog tiers on this system right now."


In case you haven't seen this piece by Lauren Weinstein, you can catch it at http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000291.html

"How can you tell if a channel that you're paying for as part of a digital tier is actually being delivered to you as an analog channel instead, and should you care?I thought the DCT/H-3416 boxes from Motorola were intended for cable systems that were "all-digital", as compared to the 64xx versions that supported analog as well as digital channel delivery.

If TWC is distributing the 34xx boxes now (e.g. I, myself, have one) for here in MDR (former Comcast), shouldn't that mean I'm being provided with only digital versions of channels?

Even more perplexing, how is it that I can tune to the channels under 100, if these are supposed to be the analog versions? Are they in fact being "reverse mapped" up to the digital versions?

Not that I normally watch anything at all that's not in the HD tier, but I have recently started to vastly prefer the TWC digital versions of some SD channels (e.g. E!) above 100 which look SO MUCH BETTER viewed on my 34XBR960 via component video than the similarly digital SD version provided by D* but displayed in analog via S-video on my SD TV's. Same comment holds regarding viewing the same TWC channel via S-video to my XBR960 (using analog SD S-video input instead of component video)... it is really quite remarkable how much better watching a digital SD channel looks using component video.

NOTE: I use component video to my XBR960 instead of HDMI only because there is zero difference in quality and I already had a Zektor component video switcher.

Just to pour salt on our open wounds :)

E* has added 6 new HD channels to their lineup. All this time D* was spending oodles of money on advertising new HD offerings. In the meantime E* is quietly delivering. E* already offers the most HD channels of any provider and this past weekend they added six more.

Rudy

Just to pour salt on our open wounds :)

E* has added 6 new HD channels to their lineup. All this time D* was spending oodles of money on advertising new HD offerings. In the meantime E* is quietly delivering. E* already offers the most HD channels of any provider and this past weekend they added six more.

Rudy

Oh joy, and TWC*, just watching. :(
But hey! I can get Ultimate Fighting on Demand for $40! :rolleyes:

"How can you tell if a channel that you're paying for as part of a digital tier is actually being delivered to you as an analog channel instead, and should you care?...

I know I was getting cheated by TW when I lived in Canoga Park, I don't remember exactly how, but using the QAM tuner in my TV with and without a cablecard I was able to determine that several supposed "digital" channels were actually remapping of analog channels from the double-digits. Good examples were Comedy Central, ESPN's, TBS, History, TLC, Discovery, Cartoon Network, etc... Now ESPN's don't matter, but back in those dark days we still didn't have ESPN2-HD

Well, today I signed up for AT&T U-Verse. I am switching both my television and internet over to them. The package I signed up for was the top of the line U400 w/ HD + fastest internet. Monthly price is $139 before taxes which is still cheaper than TWC. They offer more HD channels than TWC (as far as I can tell, I do lose KCAL 9, but that's it). I will retain all my premiums and the HSI is claimed to be a bit faster than what I currently receiving (they claim 6 down/1 up). The DVR supports up to 4 simultaneous SD recordings or 1 HD and 3 SD (I believe). Those of you who read my previous post, I still have some heartache about the single HD stream, but I do have OTA and the times when I have multiple HD programs I'm interested in, I tend to watch one and record one (vs recording both) and they are both on the big 4 networks.

As part of my install, they will phsyically disconnect my TWC feed and use the existing coax (or soI am told). I will get two boxes, one of which is a DVR. I think the rate includes either 3 or 4 boxes.

I had planned on keeping TWC for at least a month (so that I could compare), but since they are disconnecting my feed, that isn't really an option. I am hoping all will go well, but I may be back to TWC if I don't like their TV service. At the very minimum, this will get me off of TWC's internet since that is what initially started all this (again see previous post). AT&T won't install the U-Verse Internet alone as they are trying to pitch their TV service, but if I don't like the TV after the first month, I can disconnect for free and keep the internet (or so I am told). First month of TV is a free, no risk trial.

Of all the things with TWC, I will most likely miss my Moxi the most, but seeing as man may inhabit Mars before TWC pushes the 4.1 update, it's probably not so bad. I will still keep an eye on this forum to see how TWC fares in the coming months (since I may be back). I'll also try to post first impressions to keep other possible defectors informed. My install is scheduled for Thursday (which BTW is still earlier than TWC said they could get someone out to look into my Internet problem). It is an all day affair apparently (average of 5-8 hours....)

It's been an interesting ride on the Adelphia/TWC rollercoaster in Orange County (Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills).

Well I just singed up to add Road Runner to my TWC account. I was told that a "information" packet will be mailed to me. Any ideas what this could be? Also, we may add on dgital phone, how is the service?

try http://www.opendns.com/

Does this actually work? Does it speed up your connection?

Is anyone getting a CIU error when changing channels? I probably have to rebbot the DVR but dread doing so!
:confused:

What's a CIU error?

Are we going to have TBS-HD before the baseball playoffs? I'm in Chatsworth.

Are we going to have TBS-HD before the baseball playoffs? I'm in Chatsworth.

SURE! BTW I believe in the Tooth Fairy too! :rolleyes:

What's a CIU error?

Beats me?? But rebooting the DVR fixed it.
It kept popping up every channel change. It said it couldn't delete something...:confused:

Noticed the Encore Mystery channel pop up today on QAM 68.288. It's in 480i though so not all that exciting of a news.

Rudy

Not sure if it is new or not, but G4 is there.

By the way, do you guys still get NBA TV, CNBC World, and MTV Jams? I just purchased a tv with a QAM tuner last week, so I was wondering if it is my tv or are the channels no longer in the clear?

I know I was getting cheated by TW when I lived in Canoga Park, I don't remember exactly how, but using the QAM tuner in my TV with and without a cablecard I was able to determine that several supposed "digital" channels were actually remapping of analog channels from the double-digits. Good examples were Comedy Central, ESPN's, TBS, History, TLC, Discovery, Cartoon Network, etc... Now ESPN's don't matter, but back in those dark days we still didn't have ESPN2-HD

According to an announcement from them some time ago, all the channels were supposed to be digital, not just the triple digit channels. I know I see no difference in quality between the double digit and triple digit channels.

Not sure if it is new or not, but G4 is there.

By the way, do you guys still get NBA TV, CNBC World, and MTV Jams? I just purchased a tv with a QAM tuner last week, so I was wondering if it is my tv or are the channels no longer in the clear?
Nope it is not your TV. The channels are in fact no longer in the clear.

You lost me on G4. What is that?

Rudy

Thanks. G4 is a gaming channel.

http://www.g4tv.com/schedule/index.html

Just a heads up, got a message from TWC saying that there will be a free preview of the Showtime and Movie Channel on Sept. 28 thru Oct. 1. I imagine this will be very similar to the HBO/CMAX free preview we had back in April.

From what I can tell, there is only 1 HD Showtime channel, 552, which is the Pacific feed for the main Showtime channel. There doesn't appear to be any HD Movie Channel.

I recommend against it. I made the move and now would like to move back. RoadRunner that provides the internet connection for TWC charges more and gives less speed.
I only did it because I use VoIP, and wasn't able to get Dry Loop DSL in my place. Now that I can I really want to switch back to Verizon DSL.

Just my .02c
Rudy

I got the self-install kit (for Road Runner) and thinking of taking advantage of the 30 day trail period. But I am hanging on to DSL just in case things go south.

ok this is funny. I just moved from one TWC Area (Beverly Center) to another Area (Sherman Oaks). I've had TWC installed at my new place September 1. I guess I came from former Comcast to former Adelphia areas. I thought the transition for TWC happened in October of last year? I guess not. First I brought, on advise of TWC Operator, my cable dvr box with me from my old place to my new place (the distance of 5 miles). They could not initiate my old box. I had to return it to the TWC Office near my old residence. I had to get a new box from the TWC Office near my new residence.
This is quite comical because I moved all of maybe 5 miles north. Ok, but that is not all. Yesterday I noticed that I now don't have KTLA Channel 5 in Hi-Def. What's up with that? It is like a local channel, right? I am too lazy to unplug my box and to plug the cable into my tv to see if KTLA is in the Clear QAM, but it is strange, I had KTLA in HD and now I don't have it? Same cable company? 5 miles distance? What is going on there? Channel 405 is just not available for us in Sherman Oaks?

This is quite comical because I moved all of maybe 5 miles north. Ok, but that is not all. Yesterday I noticed that I now don't have KTLA Channel 5 in Hi-Def. What's up with that? It is like a local channel, right? I am too lazy to unplug my box and to plug the cable into my tv to see if KTLA is in the Clear QAM, but it is strange, I had KTLA in HD and now I don't have it? Same cable company? 5 miles distance? What is going on there? Channel 405 is just not available for us in Sherman Oaks?

I think Comcast had a deal for KTLA which carried over to TWC. Adelphia did not have an agreement in place, thus former Adelphia regions don't get it (I'm in a former Adelphia region and don't get KTLA via TWC in HD).

ok this is funny. I just moved from one TWC Area (Beverly Center) to another Area (Sherman Oaks). I've had TWC installed at my new place September 1. Channel 405 is just not available for us in Sherman Oaks?

You guessed it. Areas south of the old Adelphia/Century Cable/Group W/Theta Cable areas (built in the late '60s) like Beverly Center and Hollywood/Wilshire (built by CommuniCom in the 1980s) have different channel lineups. Sherman Oaks south of Ventura were originally Theta also built nearly 40 years ago while north of Ventura were built by United Cable (then TCI then Adelphia) in the 1980s. So different systems had different line-ups. KTLA is still talking to TW about getting on the rest of the LA systems, we'll have to wait to see what those negotiations go. With Tribune now playing CW (CBS/Warner Bros.) programming perhaps Time Warner Corporate would like to see some cooperation with Time Warner Entertainment (who runs the cable systems).

Wait and see.

Just a heads up, got a message from TWC saying that there will be a free preview of the Showtime and Movie Channel on Sept. 28 thru Oct. 1. I imagine this will be very similar to the HBO/CMAX free preview we had back in April.

From what I can tell, there is only 1 HD Showtime channel, 552, which is the Pacific feed for the main Showtime channel. There doesn't appear to be any HD Movie Channel.

They put out free previews all the time for both new and current customers who don't subscribe.

ShowtimeHD is channel 428, I believe. TMC is affiliated with Showtime, i.e. when subscribing to S* you get TMC, too (or is that Cinemax with HBO or Starz?).

Just a heads up, got a message from TWC saying that there will be a free preview of the Showtime and Movie Channel on Sept. 28 thru Oct. 1. I imagine this will be very similar to the HBO/CMAX free preview we had back in April.

From what I can tell, there is only 1 HD Showtime channel, 552, which is the Pacific feed for the main Showtime channel. There doesn't appear to be any HD Movie Channel.

I've been getting Showtime HD for a couple of days now. I watched Hostel 2 nights ago.

According to an announcement from them some time ago, all the channels were supposed to be digital, not just the triple digit channels. I know I see no difference in quality between the double digit and triple digit channels.
Well then you have been taken by the placebo effect (or something like it), if I still lived in the valley, and still had a cablecard I would post pics of my TV's cablecard diagnostic screen. The double-digit versions of all the channels I previously mentioned (ESPN, ESPN2, Comedy Central, TLC, History, Cartoon, TBS, etc...) are DEFINITELY analog. This varies depending on which area of Los Angeles you live in, but if you are connected to the Chatsworth head this was the case over the last couple of years. I don't know what the deal is now, since I moved out of the valley in late July.

I just want to confirm somethings -

I am using a Cat's Eye 150 OTA tuner which I originally got so I can watch the FUNmation channel locally which has gone off line since FUNmation didn't renew its contract.

Anyway, now that the NFL is here, I can watch NFL games in HD (maybe later this season I am locked into working all day on Sunday) and College games on Saturday.

Minor Issues -

On KCBS-HD, I get low volume on voices and the soundtrack is much louder

What would cause something like that???

On KNBC-HD, I get slight studdering/clipping of the video and it causes the video to hang.

Now this channel maxes out my CPU (2.4Ghz non HT P4) I am considering an upgrade to P4 3.06Ghz to solve that problem as MS recommends a 3.0Ghz processor for HD content. I am assuming that because its broadcasted in 1080i its causing that problem.

KABC-HD is perfect, audio is little lower than KNBC but much closer to Analog "loudness" via my Direct TV STB which I get my other content from. But again the audio is a bit soft, then the crowd would clap or laugh and its noticeably louder than the normal voices.


I am guessing because its 720i it doesn't stress the system like 1080i does, however....

KCET-HD is fine, no problems what so ever. HD content looks great and its 1080i so I don't quite understand the problem.

The RS HD broad ant is mounted in the top left hand corner of my bedroom window as its the best location (above the stone retaining wall) and pointed straight at Mount Wilson (between a tree and some bushes)

I still can't get Fox HD which kinda doesn't make any sense, since most ant are on Mount Wilson.

Am I on the right track???

anyone around Marina Del Rey have any problem getting ESPN Gameplan? The CSR type people said they couldn't provide it even though I've had it in past years, and other TW customers around LA have it

Anyone else lost this on the clear QAM cable signal? I'll re-tune my HD card and see what happens.

........

KCET-HD is fine, no problems what so ever. HD content looks great and its 1080i so I don't quite understand the problem.

Am I on the right track???
Isn't KCET-HD 720p?

Rudy

I was wondering if anyone can help me on this.

I have the Hauupauge PVR-150 and OnAir GT HD.
The PVR-150 is only good for analog signals while the OnAir does both and can also receive unencrypted QAM SD and HD channels.

Scenerios
-=-=-=-=

1. Get TW Digital Cable. I know the PVR-150 won't work but will the OnAir GT HD work?

2. Get TW basic Analog package. I know both PC cards should work but will I be limited in receiving only the "lower channels" so no HGTV for example even if it is unencrypted QAM?

I am asking this because I want to use my computer as PC-DVR. I know "standard" analog cable works with what I want but it is actually more expensive the digital cable and less channels too. The other possible route would be to get "basic" analog package since it is the cheapest and if it allows me to pick the higher digital channels with my PC QAM tuner then that would be ideal.

Thanks for any info!

It seems the more i call TWC to complain about the poor PQ on 413 the worse it gets,tonights UCLA game had so many artifacts and smearing/trails that i just had to turn it off.Maybe by next week there will not be any signal left.Even the SD feed is riddled with digital artifacts.I really don't understand how supposed professionals are having such a hard time to fix this.

Companies lure consumers with phone, TV and Internet deals
By JASON GERTZEN, The Kansas City Star
Posted on Sat, Sep. 22, 2007

One of the fastest-growing phone companies today was not even in the business a few years ago.

“Time Warner Cable now is the seventh-largest telephone company in the country,” said Dale Fox, a Time Warner vice president in Kansas City.

After introducing its service branded as Digital Phone to this region in 2004, Time Warner now has signed up 105,000 phone customers, more than one-third of its cable television and Internet subscribers in the area.

Nationally, Time Warner has more than 2.5 million phone subscribers. Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company, has 3.5 million.

Time Warner’s Kansas City milestone, acknowledged by Fox last week, is an indication of how much consumers are facing intriguing new communications choices. And how phone companies that long enjoyed near monopoly power are facing substantial new competition.

Signing up with a single company — either a cable or traditional phone company — for a package of phone, high-speed Internet and video services could shave at least a few bucks off a monthly bill. Sometimes more.

The heightened competition also has encouraged companies to develop innovative services such as unlimited long-distance calls and voice mails that can be checked on a phone or a computer.

“It’s always good to get a new competitor,” said Bob Williams of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. “Nobody needs competition more than the phone company. Monopolies are never all that good for consumers.”

Time Warner, Comcast Corp. and Everest Connections all are local examples of cable companies that have gotten into the phone business.

AT&T Inc. and Overland Park’s Embarq Corp. are not sitting back while interlopers poach their longtime local phone customers. They have crafted partnerships with satellite television companies and, in some cases, made multibillion-dollar investments in building new networks so they too can offer triple-play packages of phone, Internet and video.

The new communications alternatives were seen somewhat as a novelty when cable companies began selling phone service a few years ago and companies such as Vonage began offering phone calls over the Internet.

Consumers eager to be first with the latest high-tech gadgetry rushed to sign up. Others were enticed by new bundles of services, attracted either to lower prices or the simplifying prospect of a single bill for multiple services.

Now these services have gone mainstream.

Cable phone subscribers surged from 2.6 million at the end of 2005 to 6.4 million last year and are expected to double again to more than 12 million by the end of this year, according to SNL Kagan, a market research company that tracks the communications industry.

Others expect the growth surge to gain additional momentum. TeleGeography, another telecommunications research firm, projects that within four years, Internet phone services will claim 23 million subscribers, or nearly 20 percent of the nation’s households.

Embarq

These types of figures certainly aren’t news to Harry Campbell, one of Embarq’s top executives.

Embarq, the former Sprint Nextel Corp. unit that sells local phone service in portions of 18 states, is in a pitched battle with cable competitors in many of its markets. Embarq has a small customer base in the Kansas City area.

Cable rivals now offer phone service in about 60 percent of Embarq’s territory. Company leaders expect to lose an additional 6 percent of their phone lines in 2007 to cable and other competitors.

“Cable is growing fast,” said Campbell, president of consumer markets for Embarq.

Embarq is involved in a new alliance to cooperate with its telephone company peers when subscribers move from one company’s territory to another’s. The idea is to lessen the chances that the subscriber will be picked off by a cable company if he is moving.

If a customer living in, for example, Las Vegas calls Embarq to cancel phone service because he is moving to Seattle, the call center worker will ask if he would like to be connected with the telephone company in the new city. Embarq executives would hope to benefit from reciprocal arrangements when customers are moving from other cities into their territory.

In addition to reaching out to potential customers more aggressively than in the past, Embarq has devised new innovations. The company, for example, is offering a single voice-mail box for messages left on multiple phone lines.

“Competition makes us better,” Campbell said. “It keeps your pricing strategy in line. ”

AT&T

As cable companies got into the phone business, AT&T executives decided to get into the television business.

AT&T still is the dominant local phone company in this region. The company served about 2.4 million phone lines in Missouri and about 1 million in Kansas as of the end of 2005. Executives declined to release more current information last week.

As part of a strategy intended to expand, or at least hold on to, much of this customer base, AT&T now is stringing fiber-optic cables across the country. This technology allows the sale of a package of high-speed Internet and video services with a product branded as U-verse.

AT&T said this month that it had signed 100,000 U-verse customers in less than a full year of operation.

It offers the service to more than 10,000 homes in the Kansas City area, reaching out to neighborhoods in Leawood, Lenexa, Mission Hills, Olathe and Roeland Park. The company soon will begin offering it in metro area neighborhoods in Missouri.

The new services are helping boost customer loyalty and have proved highly popular, said Mark Thompson, an AT&T vice president for this region.

AT&T has obtained an edge by devising special pricing for triple-play bundles that have video services including various movie channels and digital video recorders, he said.

“It is the features we bring that get most of our customers to come over,” Thompson said.

Phone companies such as AT&T once were widely criticized as slow-moving monopolies offering few new services or improved prices. The innovations exemplified by U-verse shows how that perspective, if it ever was true, doesn’t hold today, Thompson said.

Time Warner

Even after launching its Digital Phone service, Time Warner has contributed additional innovations to the thrusts and parries of competition in the local phone market.

“In three years we have learned a lot,” said Time Warner’s Fox.

The most popular package has been a bundle for about $115 a month that includes digital cable television, high-speed Internet and phone service that includes unlimited local and long-distance calls, call waiting and caller ID.

Moving away from charging by the minute for long-distance calls was an attractive innovation that set Time Warner’s service apart from many other options initially, Fox said.

Time Warner found, however, that not every customer made many long-distance calls. The company recently added another plan with a stripped-down version called Digital Phone Local. This week it is launching a new version that provides a flat-rate international calling plan.

Early on, Time Warner had to answer such concerns as whether its phone system would provide sufficient information to emergency dispatchers or work in a power outage. The phones will provide a caller’s address and other details to 911 centers, and the equipment includes backup batteries providing two or three hours of service after an outage.

While pleased with going from nothing to more than 100,000 local phone customers in three years, Time Warner’s Kansas City executives are optimistic about opportunities to capture an even larger share of the market, Fox said.

Consumers are enjoying savings because of the new competition, said Williams of Consumers Union.

Far fewer people have separate long-distance bills because these calls tend to be included in their basic service, he said. Buying a cluster of services often is accompanied by a discount, though consumers should be aware of the potential for price increases after promotional rates expire.

All of these new opportunities require consumers to invest more time in researching the options, Williams said.

It can be a challenge.

It doesn’t just involve picking the best phone service. When buying a bundle, the consumer must pick the best Internet connection and video service as well.

“You have to do your homework,” Williams said.

Price snapshot
•One of Time Warner Cable’s most popular packages is called Triple Play Digital, which costs $114.95 a month for digital cable, high-speed Internet service and Digital Phone.

•Popular AT&T packages with its U-verse service are the U400 “pro” bundle for $119 a month and the U400 “elite” bundle for $129. These packages include more than 300 video channels and high-speed Internet service. Depending on the specific community, basic telephone service is available for about $16, plus taxes and franchise fees.

Information please
Capitalizing on the new communications options requires research.

When picking among phone service options, Consumers Union says:

•Consider how and how much you use phone service. Do you make many long-distance calls? Do you require both a cell phone and a home phone?

•Determine whether a company’s offer includes promotional pricing that can later jump. Determine whether the price requires signing a contract that includes penalties for early cancellation and, if it does, when that provision would expire.

•Note that many listed prices do not include fees and taxes that can add about 30 percent to a monthly bill.

To learn about different types of phone service and issues that consumers should consider, go to www.hearusnow.org. For more information, as selected by the Johnson County Library, go to KansasCity.com and click on Business.

To reach Jason Gertzen, call 816-234-4899 or send e-mail to jgertzen@kcstar.com.

http://www.kansascity.com/business/v-print/story/286676.html

Damn it!! Ken Burns: The War is finally on, and the audio is not sync'd with the picture so the people's lips are not matching the words as they speak.

I hate this crap!!

Agree with you on that! I noticed it was happening last night too. Is anyone at KCET watching the program?

For the record. I recorded this show with my Vista MCE PC from an OTA signal from KCET. It was out of sync. :(

ok this is funny. I just moved from one TWC Area (Beverly Center) to another Area (Sherman Oaks). I've had TWC installed at my new place September 1. I guess I came from former Comcast to former Adelphia areas. I thought the transition for TWC happened in October of last year? I guess not. First I brought, on advise of TWC Operator, my cable dvr box with me from my old place to my new place (the distance of 5 miles). They could not initiate my old box. I had to return it to the TWC Office near my old residence. I had to get a new box from the TWC Office near my new residence.
This is quite comical because I moved all of maybe 5 miles north. Ok, but that is not all. Yesterday I noticed that I now don't have KTLA Channel 5 in Hi-Def. What's up with that? It is like a local channel, right? I am too lazy to unplug my box and to plug the cable into my tv to see if KTLA is in the Clear QAM, but it is strange, I had KTLA in HD and now I don't have it? Same cable company? 5 miles distance? What is going on there? Channel 405 is just not available for us in Sherman Oaks?

I had the same issue. I moved from La Brea/Melrose to Sherman Oaks into the Ex-Adelphia area and had to do all of the above. Kind of stupid. I also had to have my email address change. Luckily I'm fully on gmail now, so it wasn't too bad of a change, but my wife was plenty peeved.

The lack of KTLA is pretty dumb too. You'd think they would have all of this sorted out by now.

I'm getting very very tempted to get DTV. One of the only things stopping me is the up front money for 2 dual tuner HD boxes. The other is having to run another wire to keep my cable modem going.

September 24, 2007

Motorola DCT HD-DVR

Ok maybe it's not the worst DVR ever made Oh yes it's the worst. And it's not just me, customers hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. I'm writing this post to let Time Warner LA know that this cannot stand for long before customers such as myself switch back to satellite providers. I'm talking very soon, like as soon as I can get a day off from work to have an installer come by my house.

What sets this HD-DVR piece of garbage apart from the competition is...if you tell it to record a series it will record every friggin instant of the show, even if you tell it only to record one copy of each new episode. I end up with 10 recordings of the Daily Show every day.

But worst of all it crashes whenever it feels like it.

And it's not the individual machine. I've been through 3 of them. 2 at my previous apartment. Oh, and I love it when the machine lags, than jumps 5 minutes all of a sudden...hit jump forward more than once and you're asking for it. I've spoiled the ending of Top Chef twice this way.

Not cool.

The New Moxi HD-DVR boxTime Warner Cable LA County has totally phased out all other HD-DVR models, but rumor has it that they are bringing back the new MOXI at no extra charge if you call and badger them for it. You can check it out here. Good luck getting one from them.

It seems however that nothing short of a miracle will shake the monstrous business deal that Time Warner Cable/Comcast made with Motorola to put a DCT ****-Commander DVR in every home in LA County. It is for this reason I encourage all readers to seek alternatives aggressively.

One alternative is to buy your own TiVo HD, which now only costs $300 (down from $800). Monthly charges start at a hefty $17/month however most TiVo users swear it is worth it.

Another alternative is to try AT&T's new U-Verse cable and high speed internet package. This is a good switch if you're only sticking with Time Warner because they are discounting your internet and television together. I'm paying $85 a month plus tax for 200 channels + HD programming + High Speed Internet. U-Verse comes in at the same price basically at $84 (including HD package). By switching to AT&T you can tell TWC to take their cable and internet and shove BOTH up their a**. Unfortunately you'll be signing with AT&T, which may/may not be a poorer decision. No New AT&T, we have not forgotten the horrible demon that was the Old AT&T.

Dish Network is currently offering free setup. One HD-DVR receiver with 200 channels (including local) will come out to $55/month. This does not include internet of course.

The last major option is go with DirecTV, which currently offers their HD-DVR package (195 channels) for $65/month (steeper than the others), PLUS you have to buy the box yourself for $300 (before $100 rebate). It's $70/month after 4 months. What a burn.

Perhaps our readers can weigh in with their own experiences and advice.

By Henry David in Gadgets
http://laist.com/2007/09/24/time_warner_cab.php

Comments

That Daily Show thing happens with Tivo too. It's just the way they list the show. Still sucks though.

[1] Posted by: Jacy Young | September 24, 2007 11:35 AM

I have the same exact problems with that POS DVR! I had TWC out multiple times because of issues with my cable and the DVR. I used to have MOXI when Adelphia was my provider and loved that one compared to the Motorola unit.

I thought that Adelphia was bad until I was switched to Comcast. I thought that Comcast was bad until I was switched to Time Warner. It keeps getting worse.

[2] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:40 AM

I had the Motorola box for a whopping 8 hours before I called TW back and asked them to deliver me Cable Cards for my new HD TiVo (which I had yet to buy). It took 2 techs and a good 4 hours of on-site time to get them to work, but I'm never going back. The HD TiVo is the way to go, 100%, no question.

About the only thing you can't do with the TiVo that you can with their DVR is OnDemand and PPV.

[3] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:53 AM

That daily show thing is a user error. If you'll set the preferences to only record new episodes,a nd to keep at most 1, that won't happen. (It will continue to re-record the same episode, but will always only maintain a single copy.) Of course, then, you can't store up a few days' worth, but you couldn't under the other system, either. (You'd end up with five from one day instead of five different episodes.)

[4] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:56 AM

With my Tivo, I only have trouble with the Daily Show thing on Mondays and when they're on vacation. You could just set up a manual recording from 11-11:30 (or whenever you prefer) on Monday through Thursday.

[5] Posted by: BrianneG | September 24, 2007 12:07 PM

I have Dish Network and I love the DVR they offer. It's only $5 extra a month and it works for 2 tvs. I don't have the issue with the daily show because I can tell it to only record daily Mon-Fri.

[6] Posted by: AlyC | September 24, 2007 12:17 PM

Wow... I have been complaining about the exact details in this post for the last year (that is, since TWC replaced Comcast).

I have also had 3 of those Motorola boxes. The first was replaced when I complained about the box recording a ridiculous number of episodes of Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Keith Olbermann. It soon became clear that TWC does not properly list first run episodes, so that problem wasn't solved by replacing the box. The next two were replaced because they froze randomly and failed to record any programs. Each time, we lost all of the programs we had recorded over months of time. We did, however, convince them to refund three months of our service for the inconvenience.

Anyway, the problem doesn't lie entirely with the box itself. My parents have the same DVR box with their Comcast service in Seattle and it has vastly better features: it can distinguish first runs from repeats, it has a great fast-forward system (it jumps back a few seconds after you terminate FF, so you don't miss the first few precious seconds of Jon Stewart), and it doesn't ****ing freeze. Frankly, I blame the programming and general incompetence over at TWC.

Alas, I am stuck with their service, as the cost of basic cable is included in my rent.

[7] Posted by: coreyander | September 24, 2007 12:28 PM

When we got our HD TV TimeWarner said they were out of the newer HD boxes and offered me an older adelphia box. I hate it for many reasons. My friends in Studio City have a different box with a much more user friendly interface that I suspect is equally bad. Even when I used Tivo (before I went HD) I didn't have a season pass set for the Daily Show because it would pick up repeats and I would manually set it for every showing. This happens because of the way the show is labeled and it is not a hardware issue (You'd think the cable company would have the ability to make sure this info is always correct...). I'm thinking about going back to TiVo now that their 2 tuner HD box is in the affordable range. Someone mentioned they have it in an earlier comment... is it a true 2 tuner or can you not record 2 pay channels at once (aka can I record HBO and Showtime at the same time or can I only record one pay channel and one basic channel)?

[8] Posted by: polaroidgirl | September 24, 2007 12:50 PM

Just to pour salt on our open wounds :)

E* has added 6 new HD channels to their lineup. All this time D* was spending oodles of money on advertising new HD offerings. In the meantime E* is quietly delivering. E* already offers the most HD channels of any provider and this past weekend they added six more.

Rudy

TWC is starting to look pretty pathetic with their limited number of HD channels. Direct TV will have a 100 HD channels by year end. TWC has about 16 depending on your package. :(

September 24, 2007

Motorola DCT HD-DVR

Ok maybe it's not the worst DVR ever made Oh yes it's the worst. And it's not just me, customers hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it.

What sets this HD-DVR piece of garbage apart from the competition is...if you tell it to record a series it will record every friggin instant of the show, even if you tell it only to record one copy of each new episode. I end up with 10 recordings of the Daily Show every day.

But worst of all it crashes whenever it feels like it.

Don't get me wrong... I don't look forward to a power outage that after power returns requires 3-4 days for the 2-week GUIDE to fully repopulate.

However regarding the "multiple instance recording" complaint, well that's just getting old. The problem is not with the box, the problem is with the info provided by TV Guide which provides the info that the box works off of. And the use of the same box by Seattle Comcast cannot be compared to the LA TWC situation... if the provided info is different (i.e. if it says "(new") only on the true first-run, and not on repeat/encores) then the box will work as designed and intended (and expected by the user). If Seattle Comcast's provider does a better job than LA's TWC TV Guide source, then Seattle users are luckier than we are.

The solutions are multiple, each with downside and upside. The easiest and most useful is just to use the onscreen GUIDE and set manual recording instances for the once-per-day first showing with a single-click RECORD dialog. Yes, you have to do that every week or two, but the results are what you want and the MyDVR list shows the name of the show. The common other approaches, i.e. setting a manual recording for M-F at 11PM on Comedy Central channel, doesn't get the "Daily Show" show name in the recordings list (although it's time/channel would be recognizable).

Again, the blame lies with the info source and whether "(new)" appears or not only once per day.

As far as crashes... well my new DCH-3416 which I've had for two months now has not crashed even once. Nor has it hung, or "lagged", or exhibited any of the well-known symptoms of my older DCT-6412 II which I'd had for over two years and finally swapped for a brand new 160GB model. Obviously Moto/TWC has resolved many of the software problems that plagued earlier models.

Finally, the fact is that the Moto DVR is THE ONLY DVR out there with a working 100% operational and reliable firewire port that supports offloading to D-VHS (for temporary timeshifting to supplement limited hard drive capacity, or for permanent D-VHS copies of content you want to keep in your HD tape library). For me, this is absolutely the biggest reason I have stayed with Comcast/TWC... beginning with the 6208 tuner, and then going with the 6412 DVR, and now with the 3416 DVR. I have a D-VHS tape library of movies, segments, shows, etc., and would not want to give that up capability even to get a superior DVR capability. D-VHS via firewire is an absolute requirement for me, and I'm not giving it up.

Sure, I'd like to see lots more HD channels (in particular, I'd really like to have NGC-HD), but for my needs the 3416 is perfectly adequate and I've just learned to live with workarounds for some of its shortcomings. Isn't this what we do with every piece of technology that is "not quite perfectly designed to meet our own particular needs"?

TWC is starting to look pretty pathetic with their limited number of HD channels. Direct TV will have a 100 HD channels by year end. TWC has about 16 depending on your package. :(

You are so right, very pathetic. Direc TV just added 21 new channels today. It is so sad, we live in the entertainment capital of the world and we only have 16 HD channels. I realize that some of these new HD channels do not have a lot of HD programming on them yet, but at least give us some of the channels that do like National Geographic HD.

TWC better turn on some new channels next month. I'm starting to see more Direc TV vans than TWC vans, at least in my neighborhood.

I couldn't agree more. I don't even understand what the issue is with TWC anymore. I'm starting to get tired of paying for 200 SD channels I don't even watch while at the same time hearing about how TWC doesn't want to negotiate to get more HD channels in the lineup. I'd happily lose 50% of the SD channels just to get half of the new HD stuff that is being added to D**

I had the same issue. I moved from La Brea/Melrose to Sherman Oaks into the Ex-Adelphia area and had to do all of the above. Kind of stupid. I also had to have my email address change. Luckily I'm fully on gmail now, so it wasn't too bad of a change, but my wife was plenty peeved.

The lack of KTLA is pretty dumb too. You'd think they would have all of this sorted out by now.

I'm getting very very tempted to get DTV. One of the only things stopping me is the up front money for 2 dual tuner HD boxes. The other is having to run another wire to keep my cable modem going.
As a recent D* convert, I can say that you don't HAVE to run a separate cable for your cable-HSI, I currently have D* with all the new HD channels AND cable-HSI and unencrypted cable QAM channels all going through the same cable into my living room using a diplexer (http://www.google.com/products?q=satellite+diplexer) (kind of looks like a splitter, but not the same thing). Officially this isn't supposed to work for the new HD channels but it's been working for the last couple of days (i have the b-band converter before the first diplexer). Depending on how the cable is run through your house (if your cable modem doesnt have to share a cable with your HD tv-set) a diplexer should be guaranteed to work. As I said, it may depend on how the cable is run through your home, if it all branches out from where the cable enters your home, you're in much better shape; if the cable just runs from room to room to room, going through splitter after splitter after splitter, things will be more complicated. I think what would piss me off the most if i was still with TW, would be missing the NLDS and NLCS in HD, I think the only thing I miss from TW is the 8300HDDVR's PIP functionality, my TV has PIP but it's not as easy to use or as configurable

I couldn't agree more. I don't even understand what the issue is with TWC anymore. I'm starting to get tired of paying for 200 SD channels I don't even watch while at the same time hearing about how TWC doesn't want to negotiate to get more HD channels in the lineup. I'd happily lose 50% of the SD channels just to get half of the new HD stuff that is being added to D**
Don't forget that a single analog SD channel is equivalent to two (or maybe three) HD channels; so, in theory, if they were to just drop a couple (or replace with the digital-SD) of analog-SD's they would have plenty of room for HD's

so has TWC said anything about new HD Channles? i am very close to going over to dish or direct. seems like direct is a little more expensive then dish (with the dvr and hd package)

You are so right, very pathetic. Direc TV just added 21 new channels today. It is so sad, we live in the entertainment capital of the world and we only have 16 HD channels. I realize that some of these new HD channels do not have a lot of HD programming on them yet, but at least give us some of the channels that do like National Geographic HD.

TWC better turn on some new channels next month. I'm starting to see more Direc TV vans than TWC vans, at least in my neighborhood.

Does TWC think that the number of SD analog and digital channels they should offer is directly propotional to the number of 4:3 analog/digital televisions in use in the greater Los Angeles area? I'd venture to answer my own question with a yes although I have no actual numbers to support the idea.

As a recent D* convert, I can say that you don't HAVE to run a separate cable for your cable-HSI, I currently have D* with all the new HD channels AND cable-HSI and unencrypted cable QAM channels all going through the same cable into my living room using a diplexer (http://www.google.com/products?q=satellite+diplexer) (kind of looks like a splitter, but not the same thing). Officially this isn't supposed to work for the new HD channels but it's been working for the last couple of days (i have the b-band converter before the first diplexer). Depending on how the cable is run through your house (if your cable modem doesnt have to share a cable with your HD tv-set) a diplexer should be guaranteed to work. As I said, it may depend on how the cable is run through your home, if it all branches out from where the cable enters your home, you're in much better shape; if the cable just runs from room to room to room, going through splitter after splitter after splitter, things will be more complicated. I think what would piss me off the most if i was still with TW, would be missing the NLDS and NLCS in HD, I think the only thing I miss from TW is the 8300HDDVR's PIP functionality, my TV has PIP but it's not as easy to use or as configurable

Yeah I forgot about the diplexer. I could do that. It's a newer house, so the cable from the outside comes to the closet and then gets split out to 3 rooms.

How much are you paying for your dtv a month?

Yeah I forgot about the diplexer. I could do that. It's a newer house, so the cable from the outside comes to the closet and then gets split out to 3 rooms.

How much are you paying for your dtv a month?
It's not exactly cheap, but for the amount of content I'm getting...
they still have a promo where if you get NFLST you get four months free of their premier package (which is pretty much EVERY channel), so I'm paying like $80/month but that includes NFLST (which includes just about all the games in HD too) all the premiums and all the HD's (about 30-40 right now, with more in October), pretty sure if you didn't want NFLST you could get away with somewhere between 30-50/month, one sticky point is getting the HDDVR (which i don't have), but some people have been able to sweet-talk deals on them out of the D* CSR's, just go poke around on their website, the prices aren't quite as hidden as they are on TW's site

It's not exactly cheap, but for the amount of content I'm getting...
they still have a promo where if you get NFLST you get four months free of their premier package (which is pretty much EVERY channel), so I'm paying like $80/month but that includes NFLST (which includes just about all the games in HD too) all the premiums and all the HD's (about 30-40 right now, with more in October), pretty sure if you didn't want NFLST you could get away with somewhere between 30-50/month, one sticky point is getting the HDDVR (which i don't have), but some people have been able to sweet-talk deals on them out of the D* CSR's, just go poke around on their website, the prices aren't quite as hidden as they are on TW's site

Yeah I currently have 2 HD DVRs from TW and that's around 600+ dollars from D* i believe. The main reason I want to switch is the NFLST. I miss my Skins!

Don't forget that a single analog SD channel is equivalent to two (or maybe three) HD channels; so, in theory, if they were to just drop a couple (or replace with the digital-SD) of analog-SD's they would have plenty of room for HD's

Yeah, thats what I've been thinking. I can't believe that there are at least 20 Spanish only channels out of the maybe 50 where the Spanish is already an alternate audio selection within the English versions of the same channels. And I wonder about the music channels they keep adding....

...And I wonder about the music channels they keep adding....
I'm pretty sure that music channels take up very little bandwidth, unless they are sending out the video portioin at the same bit-rate as all the other digital-SD channels, in which case they are morons, since that would be enough bandwidth to add at least a couple more HD's

Don't forget that a single analog SD channel is equivalent to two (or maybe three) HD channels; so, in theory, if they were to just drop a couple (or replace with the digital-SD) of analog-SD's they would have plenty of room for HD's

This may be your answer:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=906984&highlight=the+end+of

This may be your answer:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=906984&highlight=the+end+of
Ok, that takes care of the local analogs, but what about all the cable channels that are analog?

Well it looks like I have almost have had it (again) with Time Warner. Last week we decided to try RR and ditch our Verizon DSL for a couple of weeks (speeds great at their Standard speed @ 5.9 MB, when not connected through my wireless router) Just logged on to view my bill on line and saw my bill at a stuning $114, is this outrages? Looking back at my previous montshs statement I was being charged for two tiers, last time I checked you get 1 tier with digital cable and $5.00 for each additional. Was I misled? But in all fairness when I cclicked on the PDF link to view this monts statement it redirected me to the prvevious months, so maybe it is being updated?

Does anyone's showtime vod work for the free preview

I get Showtime HD on 428 but there is a glitch:a clear line runs through the whole picture horizontally about 1/8 from the bottom that distorts the viewing experience.Very noticable on text,graphics and end credits.Showtime also seems to have most of the programming just SD upconverted compared to HBO wich seems to be the other way around.Very uninpressive if you are trying to sign up new customers.FSN 413 continues with heavy artifacts on anything related to college football(CU vs OSU just ended)but when they are showing baseball there is no such problems(PQ is still not anywhere near ESPN wich also is 720p).

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/24/time-warner-cables-new-hd-channels-in-october/

Rudy

My Mits found Sho-HD in the clear on QAM at 120-524.
Figure it's for the weekend and it's gone. But, if you don't have a box!:cool:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/24/time-warner-cables-new-hd-channels-in-october/

Rudy


Cool

My Mits found Sho-HD in the clear on QAM at 120-524.
Figure it's for the weekend and it's gone. But, if you don't have a box!:cool:
And almost all the films they showed on it so far have been non HD films.
Cool
Of course, most of the stuff in that article is pure speculation, unless he has a source within TWC. Then again October is, well, tomorrow so we'll know soon enough.

Rudy

Isn't KCET-HD 720p?

Rudy

I noticed I recorded the war on KCET and it is reporting 720p, I thought it was 1080i regularly, can anyone else confirm the native resolution of KCET and the program "the war"

Well, as of today I cancelled my TWC service. I attempted to downgrade my service to just Broadcast Basic so that I could keep my HD locals and then keep my Moxi while I was evaluating AT&T Uverse (lack of dual tuner HD recording capability is a big downside of AT&T). They confirmed that it could be done, however, they were going to have to send a tech out for 20 bucks!! I asked for an explanation and they said they were going to have put a filter on the line to ensure I only get the right channels. I told them it was ridiculuous for them to charge me a fee to downgrade my service since the only reason I was doing it was because they completely ignored me as a customer. (Note that I had already been transfered to the retention department at this point). She didn't even try to keep me as a customer. No offers, no free service call to put on the filter, no attempt whatsoever (she knew I was downgrading to keep a minimum level of service while evaluating a competitor). At this point, I was completely fed up and told her to just cancel it all. I'm dropping off my beloved Moxi tomorrow (one of the main things I wanted to keep from TWC) at the local TWC office. Congratulations TWC, $155/month is gone (Digital+All Premiums+HSI+HD+DVR). I was half expecting her to tell me that there was a fee to disconnnect as well.

Now I know, some people may say that they had no incentive to keep me as a customer since I had already had AT&T put in. However, I told them I was evaluating the service and might not keep it. If they had actually wanted to keep me around, they could have comped a month, or comped the service call, or something. And yet.... no attempt.

For the initial story, see this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11633960#post11633960)

Well, as of today I cancelled my TWC service. I attempted to downgrade my service to just Broadcast Basic so that I could keep my HD locals and then keep my Moxi while I was evaluating AT&T Uverse (lack of dual tuner HD recording capability is a big downside of AT&T). They confirmed that it could be done, however, they were going to have to send a tech out for 20 bucks!! I asked for an explanation and they said they were going to have put a filter on the line to ensure I only get the right channels. I told them it was ridiculuous for them to charge me a fee to downgrade my service since the only reason I was doing it was because they completely ignored me as a customer. (Note that I had already been transfered to the retention department at this point). She didn't even try to keep me as a customer. No offers, no free service call to put on the filter, no attempt whatsoever (she knew I was downgrading to keep a minimum level of service while evaluating a competitor). At this point, I was completely fed up and told her to just cancel it all. I'm dropping off my beloved Moxi tomorrow (one of the main things I wanted to keep from TWC) at the local TWC office. Congratulations TWC, $155/month is gone (Digital+All Premiums+HSI+HD+DVR). I was half expecting her to tell me that there was a fee to disconnnect as well.

Now I know, some people may say that they had no incentive to keep me as a customer since I had already had AT&T put in. However, I told them I was evaluating the service and might not keep it. If they had actually wanted to keep me around, they could have comped a month, or comped the service call, or something. And yet.... no attempt.

For the initial story, see this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11633960#post11633960)
You "could" have gotten around this (AFAIK), just call to say you're dropping cable-TV but keeping the HSI, they'll come out to put a filter on for free (at least they did for me with out any hassle, the filter pretty much just blocks all the analogs so I still get all the locals in HD but the only thing on my bill is HSI. I suppose in your case you could have tried this, and then just call back to say you're going to cancel (although I'd guess they might come and put on another filter that blocks everything, but who knows?). If you have a QAM tuner built into your tv or somewhere else (PC, HDHomerun) you might want to check to see if the filter they put on blocks all the digital channels (i think sometimes they don't bother to block these since the sig majority are encrypted anyways which to date hasn't been cracked)

You "could" have gotten around this (AFAIK), just call to say you're dropping cable-TV but keeping the HSI, they'll come out to put a filter on for free (at least they did for me with out any hassle, the filter pretty much just blocks all the analogs so I still get all the locals in HD but the only thing on my bill is HSI. I suppose in your case you could have tried this, and then just call back to say you're going to cancel (although I'd guess they might come and put on another filter that blocks everything, but who knows?). If you have a QAM tuner built into your tv or somewhere else (PC, HDHomerun) you might want to check to see if the filter they put on blocks all the digital channels (i think sometimes they don't bother to block these since the sig majority are encrypted anyways which to date hasn't been cracked)

Most likely the will come (for free) and physically cut the cable. It may take them awhile, but he's on the off list now.

I was wondering if anyone can help me on this.

I have the Hauupauge PVR-150 and OnAir GT HD.
The PVR-150 is only good for analog signals while the OnAir does both and can also receive unencrypted QAM SD and HD channels.

Scenerios
-=-=-=-=

1. Get TW Digital Cable. I know the PVR-150 won't work but will the OnAir GT HD work?

Thanks for any info!

I have TW Digital Cable and the PVR-150. I get all channels on the 150 up through 99.
The 150 is not receiving anything on air.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/24/time-warner-cables-new-hd-channels-in-october/

Rudy
So, any word on if and when TWC adds TBS-HD? It's ridiculous that it's nearly 2008 and we have to watch baseball playoff games in standard def.

I read earlier people were having issues with 413 FSN HD. I continue to have artifacts and PQ issues every saturday during college football.... it is so annoying.

anyone else still having issues?

I read earlier people were having issues with 413 FSN HD. I continue to have artifacts and PQ issues every saturday during college football.... it is so annoying.

anyone else still having issues?
Yes - the UCLA game was almost unwatchable. However, as others have noted, Dodger games seem to be ok. Weird.

Also, another quirk - it was almost impossible to control the FF and REW on the DVR for ch 413. It either went too fast or too slow, or the REW would send it back to the beginning of the game. This quirk was limited to 413 only.

I'm hoping they gives us TBS-HD before the Wednesday.
I'd love to watch the Angels in HD. kinda wished I still had DirecTV.

I'm hoping they gives us TBS-HD before the Wednesday.
I'd love to watch the Angels in HD. kinda wished I still had DirecTV.
Angels will be on FOX, only the NLDS and NLCS are on TBS (and tonight's NL wild-card play-in game), everything else is on FOX...so from that point of view, I guess it's a good thing the Dodgers didn't make the playoffs :rolleyes:

Angels will be on FOX, only the NLDS and NLCS are on TBS (and tonight's NL wild-card play-in game), everything else is on FOX...so from that point of view, I guess it's a good thing the Dodgers didn't make the playoffs :rolleyes:

It looks like both Divisional series will be on TBS.

NLCS on TBS
ALCS on Fox
WS on Fox

Does anyone's showtime vod work for the free preview
The free Showtime VOD has worked for me over the weekend. No HD VOD, though, just SD stuff.

Only watched Failure to Launch on their HD channel. I was kind of surprised to see them maintain the 2.35:1 OAR. During the HBO/Cinemax free preview, HD channels seemed to zoom everything to 1.78:1.

Showtime HD looked pretty good, less artifacting than HBO.

It looks like both Divisional series will be on TBS.

NLCS on TBS
ALCS on Fox
WS on Fox
My bad, read that the ALDS was sposeda be on FOX earlier this year when there was all the battling about MLB EI on cable, this really sux for baseball nuts who don't get TBS-HD yet (at least the sunday night game will be on TNT-HD, maybe...)

My bad, read that the ALDS was sposeda be on FOX earlier this year when there was all the battling about MLB EI on cable, this really sux for baseball nuts who don't get TBS-HD yet (at least the sunday night game will be on TNT-HD, maybe...)
As a Cubs fan, it's killing me that we don't have TBS-HD yet, although I haven't given up hope since it looks like they are announcing the roll out the day the station launches.

Anyway, according to the schedule listed on mlb.com, the only LDS game that will be on TNT will be the Cubs/Dbacks Sunday game. The rest (including all Angels games) will be on TBS.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/ps/y2007/index.jsp

Only watched Failure to Launch on their HD channel. I was kind of surprised to see them maintain the 2.35:1 OAR. During the HBO/Cinemax free preview, HD channels seemed to zoom everything to 1.78:1.Corporate philosophy difference. HBO believes their viewers want the entire screen filled. SHO believes their viewers want OAR, just as the director made it.

If your free preview is still open tonight, don't miss Brotherhood, Dexter, and Weeds. You'll enjoy them all.

SHO has excellent HD picture quality and sound. Their original series are terrific.

September 24, 2007

Motorola DCT HD-DVR

Ok maybe it's not the worst DVR ever made Oh yes it's the worst. And it's not just me, customers hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. I'm writing this post to let Time Warner LA know that this cannot stand for long before customers such as myself switch back to satellite providers. I'm talking very soon, like as soon as I can get a day off from work to have an installer come by my house.

What sets this HD-DVR piece of garbage apart from the competition is...if you tell it to record a series it will record every friggin instant of the show, even if you tell it only to record one copy of each new episode. I end up with 10 recordings of the Daily Show every day.

But worst of all it crashes whenever it feels like it.

And it's not the individual machine. I've been through 3 of them. 2 at my previous apartment. Oh, and I love it when the machine lags, than jumps 5 minutes all of a sudden...hit jump forward more than once and you're asking for it. I've spoiled the ending of Top Chef twice this way.

Not cool.

The New Moxi HD-DVR boxTime Warner Cable LA County has totally phased out all other HD-DVR models, but rumor has it that they are bringing back the new MOXI at no extra charge if you call and badger them for it. You can check it out here. Good luck getting one from them.

It seems however that nothing short of a miracle will shake the monstrous business deal that Time Warner Cable/Comcast made with Motorola to put a DCT ****-Commander DVR in every home in LA County. It is for this reason I encourage all readers to seek alternatives aggressively.

One alternative is to buy your own TiVo HD, which now only costs $300 (down from $800). Monthly charges start at a hefty $17/month however most TiVo users swear it is worth it.

Another alternative is to try AT&T's new U-Verse cable and high speed internet package. This is a good switch if you're only sticking with Time Warner because they are discounting your internet and television together. I'm paying $85 a month plus tax for 200 channels + HD programming + High Speed Internet. U-Verse comes in at the same price basically at $84 (including HD package). By switching to AT&T you can tell TWC to take their cable and internet and shove BOTH up their a**. Unfortunately you'll be signing with AT&T, which may/may not be a poorer decision. No New AT&T, we have not forgotten the horrible demon that was the Old AT&T.

Dish Network is currently offering free setup. One HD-DVR receiver with 200 channels (including local) will come out to $55/month. This does not include internet of course.

The last major option is go with DirecTV, which currently offers their HD-DVR package (195 channels) for $65/month (steeper than the others), PLUS you have to buy the box yourself for $300 (before $100 rebate). It's $70/month after 4 months. What a burn.

Perhaps our readers can weigh in with their own experiences and advice.

By Henry David in Gadgets
http://laist.com/2007/09/24/time_warner_cab.php

Comments

That Daily Show thing happens with Tivo too. It's just the way they list the show. Still sucks though.

[1] Posted by: Jacy Young | September 24, 2007 11:35 AM

I have the same exact problems with that POS DVR! I had TWC out multiple times because of issues with my cable and the DVR. I used to have MOXI when Adelphia was my provider and loved that one compared to the Motorola unit.

I thought that Adelphia was bad until I was switched to Comcast. I thought that Comcast was bad until I was switched to Time Warner. It keeps getting worse.

[2] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:40 AM

I had the Motorola box for a whopping 8 hours before I called TW back and asked them to deliver me Cable Cards for my new HD TiVo (which I had yet to buy). It took 2 techs and a good 4 hours of on-site time to get them to work, but I'm never going back. The HD TiVo is the way to go, 100%, no question.

About the only thing you can't do with the TiVo that you can with their DVR is OnDemand and PPV.

[3] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:53 AM

That daily show thing is a user error. If you'll set the preferences to only record new episodes,a nd to keep at most 1, that won't happen. (It will continue to re-record the same episode, but will always only maintain a single copy.) Of course, then, you can't store up a few days' worth, but you couldn't under the other system, either. (You'd end up with five from one day instead of five different episodes.)

[4] Posted by: guest | September 24, 2007 11:56 AM

With my Tivo, I only have trouble with the Daily Show thing on Mondays and when they're on vacation. You could just set up a manual recording from 11-11:30 (or whenever you prefer) on Monday through Thursday.

[5] Posted by: BrianneG | September 24, 2007 12:07 PM

I have Dish Network and I love the DVR they offer. It's only $5 extra a month and it works for 2 tvs. I don't have the issue with the daily show because I can tell it to only record daily Mon-Fri.

[6] Posted by: AlyC | September 24, 2007 12:17 PM

Wow... I have been complaining about the exact details in this post for the last year (that is, since TWC replaced Comcast).

I have also had 3 of those Motorola boxes. The first was replaced when I complained about the box recording a ridiculous number of episodes of Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Keith Olbermann. It soon became clear that TWC does not properly list first run episodes, so that problem wasn't solved by replacing the box. The next two were replaced because they froze randomly and failed to record any programs. Each time, we lost all of the programs we had recorded over months of time. We did, however, convince them to refund three months of our service for the inconvenience.

Anyway, the problem doesn't lie entirely with the box itself. My parents have the same DVR box with their Comcast service in Seattle and it has vastly better features: it can distinguish first runs from repeats, it has a great fast-forward system (it jumps back a few seconds after you terminate FF, so you don't miss the first few precious seconds of Jon Stewart), and it doesn't ****ing freeze. Frankly, I blame the programming and general incompetence over at TWC.

Alas, I am stuck with their service, as the cost of basic cable is included in my rent.

[7] Posted by: coreyander | September 24, 2007 12:28 PM

When we got our HD TV TimeWarner said they were out of the newer HD boxes and offered me an older adelphia box. I hate it for many reasons. My friends in Studio City have a different box with a much more user friendly interface that I suspect is equally bad. Even when I used Tivo (before I went HD) I didn't have a season pass set for the Daily Show because it would pick up repeats and I would manually set it for every showing. This happens because of the way the show is labeled and it is not a hardware issue (You'd think the cable company would have the ability to make sure this info is always correct...). I'm thinking about going back to TiVo now that their 2 tuner HD box is in the affordable range. Someone mentioned they have it in an earlier comment... is it a true 2 tuner or can you not record 2 pay channels at once (aka can I record HBO and Showtime at the same time or can I only record one pay channel and one basic channel)?

[8] Posted by: polaroidgirl | September 24, 2007 12:50 PM
I have the SA8300 and it rocks.....the picture quality is superb..I can record only new shows...I can add minutes at the beginning and end when things cut off...I have one in the bedroom and one in the living room...every once in a while the one in the bedroom will make a noise for a split second in the middle of the night when I have turned it off but other than that I love it...I wish I could record more than 20 hours of HD content ...if I could do that it would be perfect...

I have the SA8300 and it rocks.....the picture quality is superb..I can record only new shows...I can add minutes at the beginning and end when things cut off...I have one in the bedroom and one in the living room...every once in a while the one in the bedroom will make a noise for a split second in the middle of the night when I have turned it off but other than that I love it...I wish I could record more than 20 hours of HD content ...if I could do that it would be perfect...
As much as I hated TW's service, the 8300HDDVR was great (except for the occasionaly HDCP hiccup), loved being able to do HD-PIP
In terms of the capacity, some people have reported success adding an eSATA external hard-drive (dig around on the forums and you can find the threads)

Anyone else here seeing what I'll call a waterfall effect on NBC-HD (404)? I'm seeing very sparse single white'ish pixels occasionally twinkling in the bottom 20%, middle third of my screen when the background is dark, this isn't showing up on either DirecTV feed (crappy hdlite mpeg2, or actual local mpeg4), but is showing up through Time Warner's NBC-HD feed (i'm using my TV's internal QAM tuner, no idea if this will show up if you use a STB) AND off my OTA antenna

So, any word on if and when TWC adds TBS-HD? It's ridiculous that it's nearly 2008 and we have to watch baseball playoff games in standard def.
Sorry dylan, I wish I had an update for you. A couple of guys from TWC post here from time to time but I hadn't seen them in a while. All of my info comes from other threads on this avs forum. :):o
Up until I saw that article, the word of the day was that TWC will add some HD channels, five was the number I saw, in the first quarter (or half) of 2008. The other thing to note is that the article never makes any mention of any of the regions, and we know TWC is very regionalized. I also know from 25+ years of experience of subscribing to Century/Adelphia/TWC and whatever other names were in the bag ....
That the market they serve always gets everything last. For any kind of technology. Be it internet, new channels or whatever.
I'll give you a perfect example. My phone provider was Sunrocket, who have quite infamously and spectacularly gone out of business. So I went looking for a phone provider but really did not want a land line from Verizon. So I went to TWC for a bid and was told that they still do not offer phone service in my area, even though they are my cable and internet provider. Now to an outsider this would seem either funny/shocking or absurd/incomprehensible. But I took it very matter of factly. It's just the way things have always gone. So I'm not going to make myself antsy or excited with anticipation. Deep down inside I know when those channels are coming. ;) And I know that we will get them after ALL the markets have them.
In the mean time I have one eye on the DirecTV forums as the early reports indicate a very high picture quality on MPEG4 streams exclusively. Whereas Dish network picture quality on the same MPEG4 streams has been taking a beating. Incidentally for those who didn't see a post above, DirecTV has added the first wave of 21 HD channels to their lineup 9 days ago. No one has done any kind of tests of the quality of the signal yet. So that is what I'm waiting for. And then who knows. :)
Another note the folks in the New York/New Jersey market did get TBS-HD as of today, specifically because of the playoffs as I understood it. So I guess the article wasn't wrong after all :) just not for us.
Speaking of picture quality, most people agree that the TWCs PQ so far has been the best as compared to satellite. My guess is that it is probably due to the limited HD offerings and therefore as more HD content is offered the more bandwidth will become an issue. And as bandwidth becomes an issue the Picture Quality will begin to erode. So I guess it remains to be seen how TWC solves that problem. So even if we do get what we are clamoring for it may come with unwanted side effects. :)

Rudy

Probably the main reason I stick with TWC is the supposed better pq over DirecTV. Please provide further updates on that issue for those who don't go to the DirecTV forum that often.

anyone know how can I get a good deal about the cable service? I am located in the Socal, LA area, thank.s

My stupid 80G TW MOXI box really pisses me off sometimes. For no apparent reason, when there was only one show recorded, it just did not record TWO HD shows last night - PRISON BREAK! and Kville! It just says 'not recorded (error).'

This happens at least a few times a month, but usually when there are a lot of shows recorded and it is running out of space, but this time that was not the case. It is really frustrating when I miss my favorite shows (like prison break) for no apparent reason!

Has anyone seen this issue, and do you have any solutions? I am using DVI to my TV and component to my projector. Is it worth upgrading, or will I end up with other issues? Which is the best box currently available with TW for DVI and component outputs with 120G or 160G (or more?) of HD space?

anyone know how can I get a good deal about the cable service? I am located in the Socal, LA area, thank.s

and, you've read this forum?? :confused::eek:

My stupid 80G TW MOXI box really pisses me off sometimes. For no apparent reason, when there was only one show recorded, it just did not record TWO HD shows last night - PRISON BREAK! and Kville! It just says 'not recorded (error).'

This happens at least a few times a month, but usually when there are a lot of shows recorded and it is running out of space, but this time that was not the case. It is really frustrating when I miss my favorite shows (like prison break) for no apparent reason!

Has anyone seen this issue, and do you have any solutions? I am using DVI to my TV and component to my projector. Is it worth upgrading, or will I end up with other issues? Which is the best box currently available with TW for DVI and component outputs with 120G or 160G (or more?) of HD space?

Just go into your local store with your MOXI and see what the give you. Most likely it's the Moto DCH-3416.
Good luck, it's not a MOXI, but nothing else is...it's a bird, it's a plane ... it's MOXIGuy! :(

It sucks for us baseball nuts who don't get TBS-HD
:(

I was actually surprised on how decent the TBS-SD quality was last night. I'm used to watching FSN or 13, which are pretty bad, for angel games.

I'm still hoping for HD though.

RudyG :Speaking of picture quality, most people agree that the TWCs PQ so far has been the best as compared to satellite. My guess is that it is probably due to the limited HD offerings and therefore as more HD content is offered the more bandwidth will become an issue. And as bandwidth becomes an issue the Picture Quality will begin to erode. So I guess it remains to be seen how TWC solves that problem. So even if we do get what we are clamoring for it may come with unwanted side effects.
In my opinion we are already suffering from poor PQ on many HD channels:

402 CBS:Almost as good as OTA
404 NBC:Worse than OTA(I know there is a subchannel on KNBC but the pixellation is still worse)
407 ABC:Good/Very close to OTA PQ
409 KCAL:Good/Very close to OTA PQ
411 FOX:Almost as good as OTA
412 PBS:Better than before/Almost as good as OTA
413 FSN:Poor to horrendous(college football is basically unwatchable this season but even baseball is sub par)
414 MHD:Poor(heavy pixellation on any movement or strobing)
415 TNT:Ok not great
416 DISC: Mostly ok(again heavy pixellation on movement-try to watch the snowleopard chase from Planet Earth and try to discern any detail at all-the mpeg decoder just gave up)
419 UHD:Ok not great(pixellation on movement.Notre Dame replays should look better than NBC but they do NOT).
420 HDNET:Mostly good(once in a while poor-i have Enterprise recordings wich looks terrible)
421HDNETM:Varies from good to poor with no recognizable pattern similar to HDNET but a higher percentage of poor.
422MOJO:Mostly ok
424 ESPN:Very good,best HD channel together with 425
425 ESPN 2:Very good,best HD channel together with 424
427 HBO:Ok some pixellation
428 SHOW:Ok a little better than 427

This is my experience from having these channels for over 2 years.I have NEVER seen a bad picture on the ESPN's and rarely on the networks(NBC excluded) but during the grammy's even CBS can't handle strobing.

RudyG :
In my opinion we are already suffering from poor PQ on many HD channels:

402 CBS:Almost as good as OTA
404 NBC:Worse than OTA(I know there is a subchannel on KNBC but the pixellation is still worse)
407 ABC:Good/Very close to OTA PQ
409 KCAL:Good/Very close to OTA PQ
411 FOX:Almost as good as OTA
412 PBS:Better than before/Almost as good as OTA
413 FSN:Poor to horrendous(college football is basically unwatchable this season but even baseball is sub par)
414 MHD:Poor(heavy pixellation on any movement or strobing)
415 TNT:Ok not great
416 DISC: Mostly ok(again heavy pixellation on movement-try to watch the snowleopard chase from Planet Earth and try to discern any detail at all-the mpeg decoder just gave up)
419 UHD:Ok not great(pixellation on movement.Notre Dame replays should look better than NBC but they do NOT).
420 HDNET:Mostly good(once in a while poor-i have Enterprise recordings wich looks terrible)
421HDNETM:Varies from good to poor with no recognizable pattern similar to HDNET but a higher percentage of poor.
422MOJO:Mostly ok
424 ESPN:Very good,best HD channel together with 425
425 ESPN 2:Very good,best HD channel together with 424
427 HBO:Ok some pixellation
428 SHOW:Ok a little better than 427

This is my experience from having these channels for over 2 years.I have NEVER seen a bad picture on the ESPN's and rarely on the networks(NBC excluded) but during the grammy's even CBS can't handle strobing.
Just as an observation, many channels you list as Very good appear to be 720p. If you get a chance to edit your post with channel transmission resolutions, then I think it'll be an interesting bit of information to know.

What I find interesting with ESPN is, that even their field HDTV cameras have good images whereas the field cameras for many local news stations have a terrible image considering they are HD cameras. I wonder what is that dependent on?

Rudy

Probably the main reason I stick with TWC is the supposed better pq over DirecTV. Please provide further updates on that issue for those who don't go to the DirecTV forum that often.
It looks like DirecTV folks will get 9 more HD channels tomorrow, in addition to the 21 they got on September 21st.

I also found an interesting article from USATODAY on the struggles of the cable industry with HDTV. Some of the issues in the article were actually mentioned here on this forum. So it's an interesting read.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-06-04-cable-hdtv_x.htm

Rudy

It sucks for us baseball nuts who don't get TBS-HD
:(
In Santa Monica at least, the TBS-HD games -- or the first one, anway -- is on 413 at the moment, even though the TWC weasels tried to keep it a well-kept secret. ROCKTOBER!

In Santa Monica at least, the TBS-HD games -- or the first one, anway -- is on 413 at the moment, even though the TWC weasels tried to keep it a well-kept secret. ROCKTOBER!

Yeah I was ready to just turn off the tube and go to work. But luckily I was just scrolling through the channels when to my suprised 413 has TBS-HD. This honestly made my week.

In Santa Monica at least, the TBS-HD games -- or the first one, anway -- is on 413 at the moment, even though the TWC weasels tried to keep it a well-kept secret. ROCKTOBER!

Thanks so much. I am sooo much happier. PQ is great in West Hollywood. Why is TWC trying to hide this? I certainly hope that we get a dedicated channel. If I have to watch terrible PQ College Football on Saturday instead of the playoffs I am going to be furious.

I just checked it out myself. It was something I was hoping for. I came here to let everyone else know, but you guys are on top of everything.

Go Halos.

Thanks so much. I am sooo much happier. PQ is great in West Hollywood. Why is TWC trying to hide this? I certainly hope that we get a dedicated channel. If I have to watch terrible PQ College Football on Saturday instead of the playoffs I am going to be furious.
I've been checking this forum, and Googling the internets, like crazy all week long! So, I was mucho relieved when I made the discovery by chance after the game started -- it's not even listed on the TWC scroll guide; what a bunch of screw-ups! -- and I felt obligated to join up here, so I could let you guys know. I was dreading the thought of watching the majority of the post-season without HD!

Okay, now back to the game!

For those watching on 413, does it have the horrible macroblocking like on college football? I already set the dvr to record 103. Oh well, I guess I can catch the last 1/2 of the game in hd.

For those watching on 413, does it have the horrible macroblocking like on college football? I already set the dvr to record 103. Oh well, I guess I can catch the last 1/2 of the game in hd.

In West Hollywood it looks great. No macroblocking at all. Similar to TNTHD PQ during NBA season.

The PQ on 413 can always be better, but I won't complain at least they got the game on HD.

Looking great on 413 in West LA!! Thanks for the heads up! :D
Ya'd think TWC could have at least blasted a message to the box! WTFC about boxing! Play Ball!

Looking great on 413 in West LA!! Thanks for the heads up! :D
Ya'd think TWC could have at least blasted a message to the box! WTFC about boxing! Play Ball!
Yeah, I know. I checked the message this morning to see if the games would be available in hd. With no message, I set the recorder for 103. Still, no complaints if we get all the games in decent hd quality.

anyone in former adelphia area getting 413?

anyone in former adelphia area getting 413?

Me.

anyone in former adelphia area getting 413?

me too.

Me three. I love you guys.

Go Halos!

413 Baby ..... wow this is what Baseball is suppose to look like. Fox Saturday baseball sucked. I'm impressed with TBS Baseball.

Was the Rockie game on earlier, and will the cubbies be on later?

In the HDTV Programming forum, a Huntington Beach resident reported TBS-HD being on 417. I'll check it out when I get home tonight.

For those getting it on 413, has Fox Sports HD been moved to another channel?

I don't have channel 417. 413 is TWCHD with nothing on all day, unless Fox has sports. No fox sports on today, so I guess they are just putting TBS-HD for the moment.

L.A. Gets HD Baseball on TBS

By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 10/3/2007 3:36:00 PM

Time Warner Cable engineers in Southern California scrambled to enable the regional system to activate TBS HD, announcing at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 3 that it had managed to add TBS’s high-definition channel in time for the region to watch the Los Angeles Angels in their first play-off game against the Boston Red Sox in the American League divisional play-off.

Time Warner, which serves the majority of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, is offering three ways to watch the local team in the play-offs: in standard definition on TBS’s usual channel placement, in HD on Channel 413, or as a simulcast on CNN en Espanol on Channel 305 with play-by-play commentary by CNN senior sports anchor Diego Bustos.

HD picture quality is excellent.

Of course the non-HD ads, promos and other content indicate quite clearly that just as with TNT-HD, TBS-HD is going to be in 100% absolute stretch-o-vision much/most of the time.

These "suits" are really out to lunch if they think stretched 4:3 is watchable.

And why do they pick up the crummy 4:3 SD versions of syndicated or "repurposed" series which are actually produced in excellent quality 16:9 HD, and then stretch it to 16:9 so that it's unwatchable when presented? Why not just pick up the original HD version?????

Yet another newly delivered but unwatchable channel... except for special HD events like the playoffs.

Still looking for NGC-HD. And SCI-HD.

And is there an HD-simulcast version of Discovery? I mean something other than HD Theater, which has its own independent content? Watching "How It's Made" in SD and seeing an "available in HD" promo makes me wonder. I'd sure like to see this show in HD... also "Dirty Jobs".

There is something wrong with the TWC mpeg encoder on 413.Although the TBS feed is far superior to FSN and in 1080i we still have that weird pulsation artifacting going on.It is not very noticable at first but for those with dvr's if you slo-mo for a few minutes it will show clearly.Still a wast improvement over the FSN college football but once you notice the pulsation it can drive you bananas.

Here's a reply I got at 5:30pm today from an email I sent yesterday about TBS-HD.

Hi Eddie,

Thank you for your email. I just want to let you know that we just
launched TBS HD earlier today, just in time for the MLB Playoffs. It is
currently being carried temporarily on channel 413 and will be moved to
a permanent channel number before the end of the month.

Once again, thank you for your email.

Regards,

Tom


Too bad Lackey blew it. Beckett was just too good. On the bright side, the Angels have lost the first game of every series they ultimately won.

Go you Halos!

HD picture quality is excellent.

Of course the non-HD ads, promos and other content indicate quite clearly that just as with TNT-HD, TBS-HD is going to be in 100% absolute stretch-o-vision much/most of the time.





Actually, I've been impressed with the amount of HD ads, that they've been running. Sure Stetch-O-Vision sux but, the HD part of the content, the game, looks great compared to many! All in all, I'm glad it's there, now let's have MORE!!!

TBS-HD is on 413 in the South Bay former Adelphia. Still listed as FSN-HD off air.

Uggh, I missed the first game.

I called customer service earlier today and they had no idea about TBS-HD. I'm so mad, as I talked w/ a Customer Service Manager and he was clueless. Among other lies or misinformation he tried to tell that there was no such thing as OTA HD and got mad at me when I called him a lackey. He had no idea when we will get or why we don't have Golf/Versus HD, KTLA or and Center Ice in HD, only that they are in negotiations and that each region is different.

Why are those guys so misinformed?

Well it's June 19th, and about an hour since I had my TWC digital telephone service installed. Yes, they showed up at around 11AM, just as promised (between 9AM and noon) and didn't take long to do their thing.

I had them simply replace my existing Motorola SB4100 modem with their Arris TM502G telephony modem, because I didn't want them to cut my existing cable run for a splitter as they were planning to do (ending up with two modems, with the new Arris modem dedicated strictly for telephony). I have a phone jack on the wall near the computer area so there was no problem to do what they had to do. So now the solitary Arris modem supports both my Internet access as well as my 2-line telephone service.

All of my other analog telephony devices around the house (two dial-up modems and a FAX machine) as well as all of existing 2-line my analog phones all appear to work perfectly. Very impressive.

Not only that, but the sound is EXCELLENT! No digitalization effect, no robotic A/D-A/D symptoms... just excellent analog sound. Remarkable. If anything, it is superior (clearer and a bit louder, and with no "noise floor" at all) to my previous Verizon sound.


All in all, an excellent adventure. And I still have my previous two phone numbers. I'll call both Verizon and Sprint (for Long Distance) in another hour or two to ensure that all services and accounts have been terminated.

Highly recommended, especially if you feel you're paying too much to your local phone company and Long Distance provider.

So far, so good.

Could you please describe the install and locations more specifically for me? I ordered Digital phone earlier this week and the date I was given (because of a reschedule on their side) is a date that no one will be at home except for me and I cannot move the furniture (I am wheelchair bound). Does the installer just work with the existing coaxial cable plugged into a cable modem, or does he need access to the cable outlet and splinter?

Could you please describe the install and locations more specifically for me? Does the installer just work with the existing coaxial cable plugged into a cable modem, or does he need access to the cable outlet and splinter?The phone installers claim to have no knowledge of or responsibility for your computer/internet connection. Once in my house their original plan was to cut the coax that went into my existing cable modem, add a splitter and a 2nd run of coax to their own Arris modem, which would be placed on the floor near a phone jack on the wall. The usual install then has them add a "tap" in that wall phone jack, feeding the telephony inputs on the Arris modem.

In other words they normally leave your existing cable modem as is, but split the coax to it feeding one side of the split to the cable modem and the other side of the split to the Arris modem. Then they tap into a nearby wall phone jack and connect it to the telephony connectors on the Arris modem. You end up with two modems, a split coax that wasn't split before, and another piece of gear.

I didn't want that. I knew the Arris modem would work perfectly as a 100% replacement for my Motorola SB4100 cable modem, as well as providing the telephony hardware needed for digital phone. So I insisted they just completely replace my Motorola modem with their Arris modem, connecting the exisiting un-split coax into the Arris modem. They still need to tap into a nearby wall phone jack and connect it to the Arris modem's telephony c connectors, but there's just no need to retain the Motorola cable modem. Who needs two, when one will do?

Now that it's been almost four months that I've had it, I can comment that it's been mostly good and problem-free. However when there's an outage (which has occurred probably five times in the past three months) you lose your phone as well. Previously I could use my dial-up ISP backup since my Verizon phone was unaffected by a Comcast/TWC outage. But no more. Dial-up ISP is worthless, since you need a phone line for dial-up and it's gone!

Also, when they do "plant work" (which they've done several times late Saturday night) that causes a planned outage for 1-4 hours, you lose phone as well as Internet. I guess they don't expect people to be up at 4AM either using their computer or telephone, but if you are you will be screwed for a few hours.

Also, I did have one odd anomaly where my outbound phone/data was perfect but inbound phone/data was highly degraded. In fact, people I was talking to on the phone sounded like old robots... like defective voice synthesizers... like Stephen Hawkings only digitally broken up. Inbound Internet data stream was so inferior that my dial-up backup dialer triggered automatically, thinking I'd lost my connection. Eventually, I just decided to re-boot the modem (you need to remove the backup battery, and then remove the power cord, let it sit for a minute or two, and then reinsert the battery and reinsert the power cord) and magically everything cleared up. Internet returned to normal, and inbound telephone voices again sounded human.

All in all, however, I'm very satisfied with service, quality, and pricing. Haven't had a need for an onsite service call since installation back in June.

The phone installers claim to have no knowledge of or responsibility for your computer/internet connection. Once in my house their original plan was to cut the coax that went into my existing cable modem, add a splitter and a 2nd run of coax to their own Arris modem, which would be placed on the floor near a phone jack on the wall. The usual install then has them add a "tap" in that wall phone jack, feeding the telephony inputs on the Arris modem.

In other words they normally leave your existing cable modem as is, but split the coax to it feeding one side of the split to the cable modem and the other side of the split to the Arris modem. Then they tap into a nearby wall phone jack and connect it to the telephony connectors on the Arris modem. You end up with two modems, a split coax that wasn't split before, and another piece of gear.

I didn't want that. I knew the Arris modem would work perfectly as a 100% replacement for my Motorola SB4100 cable modem, as well as providing the telephony hardware needed for digital phone. So I insisted they just completely replace my Motorola modem with their Arris modem, connecting the exisiting un-split coax into the Arris modem. They still need to tap into a nearby wall phone jack and connect it to the Arris modem's telephony c connectors, but there's just no need to retain the Motorola cable modem. Who needs two, when one will do?

Now that it's been almost four months that I've had it, I can comment that it's been mostly good and problem-free. However when there's an outage (which has occurred probably five times in the past three months) you lose your phone as well. Previously I could use my dial-up ISP backup since my Verizon phone was unaffected by a Comcast/TWC outage. But no more. Dial-up ISP is worthless, since you need a phone line for dial-up and it's gone!

Also, when they do "plant work" (which they've done several times late Saturday night) that causes a planned outage for 1-4 hours, you lose phone as well as Internet. I guess they don't expect people to be up at 4AM either using their computer or telephone, but if you are you will be screwed for a few hours.

Also, I did have one odd anomaly where my outbound phone/data was perfect but inbound phone/data was highly degraded. In fact, people I was talking to on the phone sounded like old robots... like defective voice synthesizers... like Stephen Hawkings only digitally broken up. Inbound Internet data stream was so inferior that my dial-up backup dialer triggered automatically, thinking I'd lost my connection. Eventually, I just decided to re-boot the modem (you need to remove the backup battery, and then remove the power cord, let it sit for a minute or two, and then reinsert the battery and reinsert the power cord) and magically everything cleared up. Internet returned to normal, and inbound telephone voices again sounded human.

All in all, however, I'm very satisfied with service, quality, and pricing. Haven't had a need for an onsite service call since installation back in June.

If I imagine (my setup) correctly the modem uses a standard phone jack to bined the modem and the base of the phone system (correct me if I am wrong).

If I imagine (my setup) correctly the modem uses a standard phone jack to bind the modem and the base of the phone system (correct me if I am wrong).Actually, my setup involves two phone lines. The Arris modem has two telco jacks on it, to support up to two phone lines.

The tap on the wall jack thus sends four wires to the modem (just like any 2-line phone cord would have)... two go to each of the two telco jacks on the modem.

...he tried to tell that there was no such thing as OTA HD...
He actually told you that television broadcasts in HD over the air don't exist?
That's atrocious if he was a manager, if that happened to me and I had the time, I'd try to make sure TW knows they have a manager that's shouldn't be trusted with managing anything more complicated than a coffee pot for the other CSR's (even that might be a stretch...)

Was anyone else impressed by the quality of the SD feed on 103? Most of the digital channels on TWC on bearable but I was shocked how good the feed looked on 103. It was very crisp, not the softness I've gotten used to with their other digital channels. I don't know what they could have done to make it as nice as it was but it was a nice surprise since I didn't know about 413. This was viewing with a Moxi BTW.

I got channel 417 now TBS-HD...... awesome.

413 Football and 417 Baseball on Saturdays.

Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in Chatsworth.

He actually told you that television broadcasts in HD over the air don't exist?
That's atrocious if he was a manager, if that happened to me and I had the time, I'd try to make sure TW knows they have a manager that's shouldn't be trusted with managing anything more complicated than a coffee pot for the other CSR's (even that might be a stretch...)

He was adamant about it. I told him he'd might want to go to google and input HD Broadcasts and over the air reception. He really didn't believe me.

This is what we deal with....

I got channel 417 now TBS-HD...... awesome.

413 Football and 417 Baseball on Saturdays.

Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in Chatsworth.

Not yet in West LA :(
But we have hope :D
But then we remember, it's TWC :(
:confused:

In the HDTV Programming forum, a Huntington Beach resident reported TBS-HD being on 417. I'll check it out when I get home tonight.

For those getting it on 413, has Fox Sports HD been moved to another channel?
TBS-HD was on 413 for me in Costa Mesa. It looks like it will get a permanent channel somewhere, as it continued to broadcast after the baseball games were over.

No 417 on my channel lineup yet.

I totally second this post. I was with DTV for seven years and while I was happy with the reliability of the service I was dismayed by the constantly worsening compression on the SD channels over the years. When it came time to upgrade to HD, the installer they sent seemed to go to great lengths to dissuade me from going through with it -- finally told my landlady he would have to drill 7-12 bolts through the roof to install the new heavier dish (the old one was just clipped to a vent pipe). She nixed the install and I don't blame her.

Anyone in LA County getting Center Ice HD on channel 432? Subs in Orange County are reporting they it.

Anyone in LA County getting Center Ice HD on channel 432? Subs in Orange County are reporting they it.

Not in West LA.

Cool, TBS-HD is currently in the clear as my tv's QAM tuner picks it up.

By the way, will ESPN-HD using a QAM tuner ever have sound? Is there still a glitch somewhere, or is this just a teaser TW is throwing at us to persuade users to upgrade to a higher tier?

Anyone in LA County getting Center Ice HD on channel 432? Subs in Orange County are reporting they it.

if this comes to LA, would it be for all center ice games? or just 1 a day? hopefully its for the full season, and not just the free preview time.

Cool, TBS-HD is currently in the clear as my tv's QAM tuner picks it up.

By the way, will ESPN-HD using a QAM tuner ever have sound? Is there still a glitch somewhere, or is this just a teaser TW is throwing at us to persuade users to upgrade to a higher tier?

About where is it? TBSHD?

Using a Sharp's QAM, it is 100.3.

Using a Sharp's QAM, it is 100.3.
You's guys is lucky, between chatsworth and westminster i've never seen ESPN's or even FSN-HD in the clear (TNT was in the clear off and on though, but is pretty useless)

Using a Sharp's QAM, it is 100.3.


I have an HP (Sharp) and that's exactly where it is. Now to find it on the big Mits! Thanks!

Update: I found it on the Mits at 100-507

if this comes to LA, would it be for all center ice games? or just 1 a day? hopefully its for the full season, and not just the free preview time.


It looks full time but that's what it looked like last season and we never got it.
Here's the schedule that was posted in the CI-HD thread in the programing forum:
http://www.indemand.com/sports/nhl/s...ScheduleHD.pdf
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=891611&page=7

Anyone having cable problems right now? I just woke up and I'm only getting blue screens with sound, on all channels . . .

I'm in the west SF Valley (Tarzana).

Time Warner has agreed to carry the NHL Network, a 24/7 hockey channel which will broadcast 50 games during the year many in HD. Whether your local TW outlet will broadcast in HD is dependant on bandwith.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/twnhl100507.htm

thanks to this wonderful forum I now have TBSHD...if I had not read it here I would have been unaware...Why oh why was it not featured in my enormous cable bill...now I would love KTLA aka the CW...that by far is the worse SD channel on my lineup and I get virtually everything...pumpkin faces greet me when I watch The Morning News ..Maury looks freakish..if I try to adjust it every other station sucks...it's frustrating because my Mitz is the perfect HD set except for this... I pay what once was the equivalent of a car payment for cable every month....we are faced with channels that I will never watch in analog...what's up with channel 3 and their big band music...LOL...I know we have to have a few "local" stations but TW has to wake up to the fact that HD tv prices are falling fast and the average viewer is scooping them up....come on guys....what's the delay...

Anyone having problems with ESPN-HD? It's been looking like crap the last 2 days. Lots of mosquito noise ...especially on the bottom ticker.

What can I do? Is there a number I can call and let them know. I'm in Chatsworth.

Here in West LA all the digital channels are essentially melting down! Anyone else? It's static and stuttering all around!

Here in Westwood, they went out completely. It was out for about 30 minutes. Perfect now.

Yeah, my neighbor told me it went out. I was out to dinner. Better now, here too.

Looks like MOJO is in the clear. Content is not that great in my opinion, but it sure looks good.:D

Looks like MOJO is in the clear. Content is not that great in my opinion, but it sure looks good.:D

And that number is?

Please if any of you find a new HD or other channel in the clear, include the channel and the area you're in. Thanks!

Joe,

Are your HD channels looking bad also?

Weird, yesterday it was MOJO that was open. Today, the channel is occupied by FSN-HD. Are those 2 networks sharing the channel or is just more musical-chairs as typical of TW? Of course, FSN is WAY better than MOJO. I am near downtown LA & the channel is 102.3 on my Sharp.

Weird, yesterday it was MOJO that was open. Today, the channel is occupied by FSN-HD. Are those 2 networks sharing the channel or is just more musical-chairs as typical of TW? Of course, FSN is WAY better than MOJO. I am near downtown LA & the channel is 102.3 on my Sharp.

It has to due with the Baseball playoffs, I saw something on another channel that they moved fox to that station for the day.

Weird, yesterday it was MOJO that was open. Today, the channel is occupied by FSN-HD. Are those 2 networks sharing the channel or is just more musical-chairs as typical of TW? Of course, FSN is WAY better than MOJO. I am near downtown LA & the channel is 102.3 on my Sharp.

My HP found it at 102.2 as FSN-HD Thanks!

I know have TBS-HD as a listed channel in the guide at 417!!
:eek::D

We too now have 417 TBS-HD in the South Bay. 413 is still airing the TBS feed right now and the MOJO has the FSN-HD Football games. I wonder if the Kings will be on anywhere tonight on FSN-HD? Still no 432 CenterIce-HD though...

For those of you who have Center Ice, where do I find the HD games that come with the package? Would they be in the same range of channels? (700s here). I hope it's not just the games on HDNet, etc. that I already get. I'm in the Diamond Bar area. Thanks in advance.

Does anyone have a list of qam channel listings that an HDTV tuner might pick up?

I'm in Oak Park and have Time Warner - the analog basic package. But I have noticed that my HDTV picks up HD channels periodically (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.). I noticed from this thread that the TBSHD feed is coming in . . . but my tuner failed to pick it up. I just dialed in the channel and it comes in perfectly . . . so, I am wondering if there are more HDTV channels out there that I don't know about. I see cable box channel numbers (which don't help for the qam tvtuner numbers - i.e. 94-1, 100-1, etc).

Thanks in advance: BJ

Does anyone have a list of qam channel listings that an HDTV tuner might pick up?

I'm in Oak Park and have Time Warner - the analog basic package. But I have noticed that my HDTV picks up HD channels periodically (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.). I noticed from this thread that the TBSHD feed is coming in . . . but my tuner failed to pick it up. I just dialed in the channel and it comes in perfectly . . . so, I am wondering if there are more HDTV channels out there that I don't know about. I see cable box channel numbers (which don't help for the qam tvtuner numbers - i.e. 94-1, 100-1, etc).

Thanks in advance: BJ

Welcome to AVS! In the upper right section of the page there is a Search tool. Searching "QAM" yielded a bunch of results in this thread including this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10011537#post10011537

Guys, I just discovered that I am getting two new HD channels, TBS-HD and HDT. What is HDT? What kind of programming does it have?

Is HDT a History High Def?

Guys, I just discovered that I am getting two new HD channels, TBS-HD and HDT. What is HDT? Re-branded "Discovery HD Theater". It's now just "HD Theater" (i.e. HDT). Distinctly separate content from Discovery [SD] channel.

This is not the same as the new HD channel from Discovery named "Discovery HD". This channel launched Oct 1 (not carried by TWC) and also is not an HD simulcast of Discovery [SD] channel. Similar but in HD, but not the same shows.

Re-branded "Discovery HD Theater". It's now just "HD Theater" (i.e. HDT). Distinctly separate content from Discovery [SD] channel.

This is not the same as the new HD channel from Discovery named "Discovery HD". This channel launched Oct 1 (not carried by TWC) and also is not an HD simulcast of Discovery [SD] channel. Similar but in HD, but not the same shows.

Boy...this is complicated... Thank you for explanation in any case, I am glad to get any new HD Channel...

For those of you who have Center Ice, where do I find the HD games that come with the package? Would they be in the same range of channels? (700s here). I hope it's not just the games on HDNet, etc. that I already get. I'm in the Diamond Bar area. Thanks in advance.

The HD Games for Center Ice (for me at least (Huntington Beach)) are on channel 732.

Boy...this is complicated... Thank you for explanation in any case, I am glad to get any new HD Channel...

But, as DSperber noted, it's not new just renamed. So far all that's new is TBS-HD on 417. Hopefully more to come this month to try and catch up with D*. TWC is not very talkative about wht's coming. :(

NHL Center Ice free preview is on the QAM channels 108.417 through 108.430.

Rudy

I've just heard that a rollout began this morning in the Time Warner Cable So-Cal region. It should be complete by the end of this week.

A few of the improvements you'll see over 3.2:
Much faster response on menu commands The "Find by Title" widget pops right up without a delay The guide can now advance by 30-minute or 24-hour jumps. (use next and back on your remote for 30-minute jumps; skip & replay for 24-hour jumps) The tool for setting recording options is streamlined. (Note... in this version, you have to set the recording first. then, after the confirmation note clears, press OK to set your options) "Storage & Stats" shows you the percentage of your hard drive capacity that is currently used by recorded programs. It also provides info on your current version, latest updates, and other info. Channel List settings are much more responsive, and now use all the shortcuts you'll find on the main menu (direct number entry to jump to a channel, page up & down with the ch up & down keys) Parental controls are accessible from every program listing, for locking or unlocking. (Look for the "lock" or "unlock" command) There are more lines of program info visible at the top level of the menu including parental control ratings, star ratings (for movies) "see all times" is available everywhere. This is a very useful feature for planning recordings Recorded programs also appear (color-coded gold) in the the category filters Major league sports events are now listed with teams in the main listing. (e.g. "Indians at Yankees" rather than "MLB Baseball" A new "timeslot" option in the recording options to help constrain programs that are repeated multiple times a day without any specific program listings. (e.g. The Daily Show)

There are also numerous behind-the-scenes improvements to performance, reliability, DVR scheduling logic, etc.

Time Warner Cable has decided not to support external drive expansion. I know this will disappoint many of you. But the improvements I listed (and many, many more) will immediately and dramatically improve your experience with Moxi. I'm very happy that the TWC SoCal Moxi community will now get to enjoy them.

Good to see you MG! Are you back in the Moxi fold or just a friendly observer?

OK I posted my frustrations with the lack of HD programming on FSN over in the HD forum of this site and got some bits of info you guys might find useful. Apparently the reason for lack of HD programming on fox is:
FSN is building a new master control facility in Houston. Apparently, their current mc cannot handle very many HD feeds simulatneously.

The facility is supposed to open late this year or early next.
The only problem is that we have no way of knowing when this thing is going to be completed. So if anyone of you knows anyone who lives in Houston, blitzen claims that he has the address of the new facility, so that we can at least get an idea for where the construction is and possibly the completion date.

Additionally, here is a link to the HD programming on FSNW and FSNPT:
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/6471002

Rudy

how much storage do the moxi boxes here have? is it just a firmware upgrade or are bigger boxes being rolled out to the area?

how much storage do the moxi boxes here have? is it just a firmware upgrade or are bigger boxes being rolled out to the area? This is a software-only upgrade. The Moxi boxes currently available in the TWC area have 80GB Hard Disk Drives.

Good to see you MG! Are you back in the Moxi fold or just a friendly observer? Hey, Joe, whaddya know? I just got back from a vaudeville show!

I'm contracting with Digeo to provide coverage for various online communities.

hey guys, just got my LG HDTV LCD television!!
Went to time warner and picked up the DVR HDTV box, here is my observations:

Regular Channels are strethces, nothing big, but after watvhuing the HDTV channles, i never go back to watching regular!.. there is only a few of HDTV channels, I live in Woodland Hills (San Fernando Valley)

HD Channels:
402 CBS - news are great! eveyrhting else average, has black on sides
404 NBC - average, mostly has black on sides
407 ABC - better then 402, news are great! some shows have black sides
409 KCAL - news are good, most shows have black on sides
411 FOX - bad, everything has black on sides, even news
412 KCET - sometimes good, mostly old footage with black sides
413 TWC - showing TBS lately, good
414 MTV - very good, concerts and videos look great, full screen
415 TNT - very good, movies looks great in HD, full screen
416 DISC - amazing, wild life shows and oceans! favorite so far!! full screen!
417 TBS - very good, baseball looks amazing! full screen
419 Universal - Subscription needed
420 HDNET - Subscription needed
421 Movies - Subsciption needed
422 MOJO - very good quality, but programming isnt much fun, full screen
424 & 425 ESPN - amazing! best 2 channels along with discovery! full screen
427 HBO - Subscription needed
428 SHOWTIME - Subscription needed
429 STARZ - Subscription needed
430 CINEMAX - Subscription needed


I found out that whgen i bought my TV 4 daYS ago, that some channels were added recently,. i was wondeirng if you guys knew whats next for TW? any new HD channels coming soon? thanks!

This is a software-only upgrade. The Moxi boxes currently available in the TWC area have 80GB Hard Disk Drives.

bummer. that combined with the inexplicable "didnt record" bug means i wont be getting a moxi for a while. even it misses 1 recording for no reason, thats 1 too many.

So if anyone of you knows anyone who lives in Houston, blitzen claims that he has the address of the new facility

Just a thought..has anyone put the address into Google Earth or similar?

Hey, Joe, whaddya know? I just got back from a vaudeville show!

I'm contracting with Digeo to provide coverage for various online communities.

Good to hear! See you around these here parts! ;)

Ok,I know i'm almost alone in my complaints about channel 413 around here but i will continue to harp about it and hope TW will get it right eventually(I have given them the link to this thread).Right now there is an excellent opportunity to compare PQ because TW has the exact same feed on both 413 & 417 (TBS HD) and you can clearly see the pulsation and pixellation on 413 when it is absent on 417.It is not as bad as it was with FSN but it is still there.It is clearly visible in Hollywood Hills(Silverlake/Eagle Rock headend) but i have seen posts from other areas noticing the poor PQ on 413.

Regular Channels are strethces, nothing big, but after watvhuing the HDTV channles, i never go back to watching regular!.. there is only a few of HDTV channels, I live in Woodland Hills (San Fernando Valley)
I found out that whgen i bought my TV 4 daYS ago, that some channels were added recently,. i was wondeirng if you guys knew whats next for TW? any new HD channels coming soon? thanks!

Go to the settings on your cable remote and you can un-stretch SD channels.

As far as new channels your guess is as good as anyone else here in the forum, TWC is very mum about new channels.

hey guys, just got my LG HDTV LCD television!!
Went to time warner and picked up the DVR HDTV box, here is my observations:

Regular Channels are strethces, nothing big, but after watvhuing the HDTV channles, i never go back to watching regular!.. there is only a few of HDTV channels, I live in Woodland Hills (San Fernando Valley)

HD Channels:
402 CBS - news are great! eveyrhting else average, has black on sides
404 NBC - average, mostly has black on sides
407 ABC - better then 402, news are great! some shows have black sides
409 KCAL - news are good, most shows have black on sides
411 FOX - bad, everything has black on sides, even news
412 KCET - sometimes good, mostly old footage with black sides
413 TWC - showing TBS lately, good
414 MTV - very good, concerts and videos look great, full screen
415 TNT - very good, movies looks great in HD, full screen
416 DISC - amazing, wild life shows and oceans! favorite so far!! full screen!
417 TBS - very good, baseball looks amazing! full screen
419 Universal - Subscription needed
420 HDNET - Subscription needed
421 Movies - Subsciption needed
422 MOJO - very good quality, but programming isnt much fun, full screen
424 & 425 ESPN - amazing! best 2 channels along with discovery! full screen
427 HBO - Subscription needed
428 SHOWTIME - Subscription needed
429 STARZ - Subscription needed
430 CINEMAX - Subscription needed


I found out that whgen i bought my TV 4 daYS ago, that some channels were added recently,. i was wondeirng if you guys knew whats next for TW? any new HD channels coming soon? thanks!

Hi,

I'm in Chatsworth. The only new channel we got is 417.

hey guys, just got my LG HDTV LCD television!!Welcome to the wonderful world of HDTV!


Went to time warner and picked up the DVR HDTV box, here is my observations:

Regular Channels are stretched, nothing big, but after watching the HDTV channels, i never go back to watching regular!As has been pointed out, your DVR has settings that can allow you to watch 4:3 SD channels UN-STRETCHED, if that's what you prefer. I, personally, prefer to watch 4:3 as 4:3 (centered inside the 16:9 screen unstretched, with black bars on left and right). Others prefer filling their entire 16:9 screen, even if it is artificially done and is not "real" and makes people look short and fat.

All 4:3 SD channels are content which is obviously not 16:9 and cannot possibly fill your 16:9 screen unless you stretch it horizontally. Only true 16:9 content can be presented on a 16:9 screen and look "real".

Check your DVR's user guide for instructions on how to set things up if you want 4:3 SD channels to display un-stretched.


HD Channels:
402 CBS - news are great! eveyrhting else average, has black on sides
404 NBC - average, mostly has black on sides
407 ABC - better then 402, news are great! some shows have black sides
409 KCAL - news are good, most shows have black on sides
411 FOX - bad, everything has black on sides, even news
412 KCET - sometimes good, mostly old footage with black sides
413 TWC - showing TBS lately, good
414 MTV - very good, concerts and videos look great, full screen
415 TNT - very good, movies looks great in HD, full screen
416 DISC - amazing, wild life shows and oceans! favorite so far!! full screen!
417 TBS - very good, baseball looks amazing! full screen
419 Universal - Subscription needed
420 HDNET - Subscription needed
421 Movies - Subsciption needed
422 MOJO - very good quality, but programming isnt much fun, full screen
424 & 425 ESPN - amazing! best 2 channels along with discovery! full screen
427 HBO - Subscription needed
428 SHOWTIME - Subscription needed
429 STARZ - Subscription needed
430 CINEMAX - Subscription neededYou will find that TNT-HD (415) and TBS-HD (417) are notorious for presenting anything and everything in "stretch-o-vision". These networks have the philosophy that the complete 16:9 screen should always be occupied by content, even if the original content was 4:3. In other words, rather than leaving it up to the viewer to choose to "zoom/stretch" 4:3 content as desired (based on equipment capability), the networks have already done it and you now have no choice.

Since TNT and TBS typically get "re-purposed" rights to series from other networks but their deal involves the non-HD non-16:9 SD 4:3 versions, the presentation of these shows on TNT-HD and TBS-HD is (to most of us, anyway) absolutely unwatchable. For example, "The Office", "NYPD Blue", etc., as shown on TNT-HD and TBS-HD are strictly the stretched 4:3 non-HD versions of those shows and look like garbage (at least compared to the 16:9 true-HD originals as shown on NBC-HD and ABC-HD).

Anyway, the presence of black bars on left and right when watching the above HD channels is not a bad thing. It only indicates "true 4:3 OAR" from the broadcaster, also indicating non-HD content. You can zoom/stretch it to fill your screen if your TV allows such an option, if that's what you prefer... but remember the underlying content is NOT actual HD content.

True HD content on the above HD channels will always be 16:9, unstretched humans, no black bars on left and right. In particular, live sporting events covered and broadcast in true 16:9 high-quality HD (e.g. the baseball playoffs) will almost always look gorgeous and with unstretched humans.


NOTE: while HD TV shows are produced in 16:9 intended for your home HDTV screen, the aspect ratio of many movies is wider than 16:9 (1.78:1) as is available on your HDTV screen. Most movies are actually at least 1.85:1, if not even wider at 2.35:1.

If shown on a 16:9 screen (which obviously cannot show the complete 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 image without some adjustment) wide movies will either be cropped on the left/right sides in order to use the whole 16:9 screen or they will be shown in "true OAR". Some networks (e.g. HBO-HD) have a philosophy of the crop/pan-and-scan approach thinking their viewers want to see the whole screen filled even if it means losing the left and right side of the frame. Other "purist" networks (e.g. HDNet Movies and SHO-HD) have a corporate philosophy of showing OAR whenever possible.

If shown in OAR on an HD channel on a 16:9 screen, a 2.35:1 movie will necessarily have black bars OVER AND UNDER the picture. This is perfectly normal as it is the only physical way to present a 2.35:1 image on a 16:9 screen, and many of us applaud such presentations as allowing us to see the entire picture frame, just as the director intended and as the original theatrical presentations were shown in theaters.

Actually, even a 1.85:1 movie cannot fit exactly onto a 16:9 (1.78:1) screen without a small bit of black bar on the top and bottom. But it's close to full screen and you probably won't notice (or perhaps a small bit of vertical stretching or horizontal cropping might be done by the network and you probably won't notice that either). However cropping a 2.35:1 movie (resulting in no black bars on top and bottom) vs. showing it OAR (with black bars on top and bottom) will be VERY noticeable.

When can we expect to see broadcasts in 1080P. I have a Samsung 42" Plasma that supports that resolution, but seems like such a waste when so many, if not all broadcasts in the L.A. area are in 720P, from my understanding?

Any response would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Al Torres
Long Beach

When can we expect to see broadcasts in 1080P. I have a Samsung 42" Plasma that supports that resolution, but seems like such a waste when so many, if not all broadcasts in the L.A. area are in 720P, from my understanding?

Any response would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Al Torres
Long Beach

That's a HUGE amount of data to push, so most likely not in our lifetime. Look how long it took to go from 480i to 1080i/720p. Yet another major investment in hardware to the broadcasters, they need to swallow and hell, implement this one. How many are sending out digital, but no HD!!!

When can we expect to see broadcasts in 1080P.No time soon, and possibly not in your lifetime.

The bandwidth required to deliver 1080p is simply not possible given the current physical infrastructure of all cable and satellite systems (at least using current compression methods, including the newly popular MPEG4). Since it can't be delivered to anyone, no broadcaster will seek to provide 1080p. Thus we're locked into 1080i/720p.

So for now and for the indefinite future the only 1080p source will be HD-DVD and BluRay and new HDTV display devices will support 1080p source via HDMI. HDTV via cable and satellite (and OTA) will continue at 720p/1080i via component, DVI/HDMI.

Just a thought..has anyone put the address into Google Earth or similar?
Yup he did. :) However, he says the pictures on Google earth are old and show the site "naked". Whereas he knows for a fact that they broke ground on the construction. So we need a "mole" who is willing to drive by the place and see where the construction is at. :)

Just imagine what's on the other side of that rainbow. All Kings games in HD. :-O Seems unfathomable at the moment.

Rudy

Ok,I know i'm almost alone in my complaints about channel 413 around here but i will continue to harp about it and hope TW will get it right eventually(I have given them the link to this thread).Right now there is an excellent opportunity to compare PQ because TW has the exact same feed on both 413 & 417 (TBS HD) and you can clearly see the pulsation and pixellation on 413 when it is absent on 417.It is not as bad as it was with FSN but it is still there.It is clearly visible in Hollywood Hills(Silverlake/Eagle Rock headend) but i have seen posts from other areas noticing the poor PQ on 413.
You're not alone. 413 looks bad. It looks especially bad for College Football, but the pixellation is noticeable for the other sports as well. Also, I'm wondering why TW continues to show TBS on 413. I appreciated that they put the baseball games on 413 before they got 417 up and running. But, why continue to show TBS on 413? Are we going to miss the football, hockey, and basketball games coming up?

You're not alone. 413 looks bad. It looks especially bad for College Football, but the pixellation is noticeable for the other sports as well. Also, I'm wondering why TW continues to show TBS on 413. I appreciated that they put the baseball games on 413 before they got 417 up and running. But, why continue to show TBS on 413? Are we going to miss the football, hockey, and basketball games coming up?

No.

Looking at the article (http://msn.foxsports.com/story/6471002), it looks like TWC is going to show the FSNHD games on Mojo (CH 422) for October only.

Can anyone tell me why the LA area TW and that also means Fullerton, Brea Anahiem etc has ads on the HD DVR box menus talking about HD on Demand but when you look at the "ON" menus you cant find one listing for a section called HD on Demand. I'm very confused, and all the TW phone help seems to do is tell you to power off the unit, or unplug to reset it, like that will help.

Can anyone tell me why the LA area TW and that also means Fullerton, Brea Anahiem etc has ads on the HD DVR box menus talking about HD on Demand but when you look at the "ON" menus you cant find one listing for a section called HD on Demand. I'm very confused, and all the TW phone help seems to do is tell you to power off the unit, or unplug to reset it, like that will help.
I've been wondering that myself.

Also, that's hilarious about the CSRs telling you to unplug the unit. They tell me to do that also for any issue that comes up, or they'll try to schedule a service appointment when I know for a fact that there's nothing wrong from my end.

I have a weird problem. After 417 TBS, there is a few channles that are subscription only, so i wanted my remote to skip them, i went to parental controls and blocked them, accidentally blocked TBS too, but now i cant unblock because it wants a PIN anmd i never set up a pin, now it says PIn is locked for 180 minutes due to wrong PIN being entered. Anyone got any solution to this, or hot to make some channels skip? thanks!

Also, I called them and asked about HD news, they said only thing planned so far is just showing FOX College Football and NBA games on 422 MOJO! thats the only HD channles news for the foresseing future. sucks!

Does the HD-On Demand have to do with "Former Adelphia"? I've not figured out if that link works. Anyway, last I was told, we're getting HDVOD in March 08.

Wait they don't plan on re-assinging 413 to FSN-HD?

Wait they don't plan on re-assinging 413 to FSN-HD?

It would have been nice if they reserved that number for eventual location of KCOP, they DO have HD content after all. :confused::(

Wait they don't plan on re-assinging 413 to FSN-HD?

The FSN Article says 422 for OCTOBER only. I would that 413 would go back to FSN-HD when games are being shown after November 1.

It would have been nice if they reserved that number for eventual location of KCOP, they DO have HD content after all. :confused::(

Wait.. KCOP has content???? :confused: ;)

And TW wonders why people keep their Cable internet but change over to dishnet or other sat services. you got love TW.

413 for KCOP would have been really nice!
what i really want is CNN, HISTORY, NATIONAL GEORGAPHIC HD! i can care less for KCET

413 for KCOP would have been really nice!
what i really want is CNN, HISTORY, NATIONAL GEORGAPHIC HD! i can care less for KCET
Ouch knocking PBS. :eek: I love PBS in fact I wish we had KOCE and KLCS in addition to KCET. Although the only channel I like from KLCS is the Create network stream (58.3)

On a Separate note DirecTV added four more channels to their HD line up in very highly praised MPEG4, for a total of 37 new HD channels. Here is what they are: CNBC, Food, MGM and National Geographic

Rudy

Did a channel scan and saw that the total number of digital channels has gone from 444 to 446. So there are two new channels floating out there somewhere as of yesterday. Has anyone looked for anything new?

Rudy

When can we expect to see broadcasts in 1080P. I have a Samsung 42" Plasma that supports that resolution, but seems like such a waste when so many, if not all broadcasts in the L.A. area are in 720P, from my understanding?
...
Although everyone else seems to say "NFW" you could still build yourself a top of the line gaming PC and play some of the latest games in 1080P, and i'm pretty sure they would look absolutely f*cking incredible if you spent your $$$ wisely (although this isn't a "broadcast")

Did a channel scan and saw that the total number of digital channels has gone from 444 to 446. So there are two new channels floating out there somewhere as of yesterday. Has anyone looked for anything new?

Rudy

I wonder if it is space for Fox Business and V-Me scheduled to be distributed on Monday, October 15.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/socal/programming/alerts.html

but I can check to see if it is something else.

maybe the nhl channel? has that hit la yet?

maybe the nhl channel? has that hit la yet?

not as of 10:30 PDT this morning.

Any other Center Ice subscribers not receiving a signal? TW says they're having a problem receiving it from InDemand.

I'm getting Center Ice SD just fine in the South Bay right now.

Anyone in LA getting the CI-HD channel?

the center ice feed for the game i recorded last night was beyond atrocious. noise in the picture all the time, freeze ups, audio drops outs...just a mess for the entire game. so i hope they pulled it for the time being to fix it.

Anyone in LA getting the CI-HD channel?

yes.

Channel 732 (GAMEHD)

Are the SA8300 boxes ever upgraded?....it would be nice to have info on them that would tell you how much recording space you have left...and maybe some other little tweaks like the Moxi boxes...also anyone have an eSata that will work with the Passport on the SA box...most work with the other system...TW is not forthcoming with info about this for obvious reasons...

Any other Center Ice subscribers not receiving a signal? TW says they're having a problem receiving it from InDemand.

Called again today. All they had to do was activate my signal. Today's CSR had no knowledge of a problem with InDemand.

No wonder why they have bulletproof glass at the Van Nuys office.

the center ice feed for the game i recorded last night was beyond atrocious. noise in the picture all the time, freeze ups, audio drops outs...just a mess for the entire game. so i hope they pulled it for the time being to fix it.

I've been having the same problem with all of my HD channels. Just when I think it's gotten better for a few days, they'll all start crapping out again.

I've been having the same problem with all of my HD channels. Just when I think it's gotten better for a few days, they'll all start crapping out again.

this was sd!

Called again today. All they had to do was activate my signal. Today's CSR had no knowledge of a problem with InDemand.



heh. This was the second year in a row where my CI subscription was turned off after the free preview. All I did was call, and they refreshed the signal to my boxes and all was good.

I wonder if it is space for Fox Business and V-Me scheduled to be distributed on Monday, October 15.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/socal/programming/alerts.html

but I can check to see if it is something else.


it doesnt say theyll be added in HD, just digital, so i doubt it man

it doesnt say theyll be added in HD, just digital, so i doubt it man

The question I responded to said that there were 2 more digital channels (444 vs. 446), no mention of HD.

When can we expect to see broadcasts in 1080P.

As others have said, not anywhere in the near future. Way too much bandwidth required unless it gets the living hell compressed out it, in which case, what's the point?


I have a Samsung 42" Plasma that supports that resolution, but seems like such a waste when so many, if not all broadcasts in the L.A. area are in 720P, from my understanding?


The following broadcast HD in 720P:
Anything owned by Fox (FOX etc.)
Anything owned by Disney (ABC, ESPN, etc.)


The following broadcast HD in 1080i:
Everyone else.

DirecTV added four more channels to their HD line up in very highly praised MPEG4

Who is highly praising DTV's MPEG4?

Was it Stevie Wonder?

The only reason DTV is going to MPEG4 is so they can compress the images even further to add more channels. Where do you think the added bandwidth for those "hundreds of HD channels" is going to come from? DTV has exactly ZERO interest in image quality. Zero. The company motto, drilled into the CSR's, is "It's digital. It's perfect". That phrase was repeated to me at least five times by a CSR trying to talk me into not disconnecting when I mentioned the reason I was leaving was that their images were not very good.

I was with them for seven years until switching to TW about 10 months ago when I just couldn't stand it another second, and believe me when I tell you, DTV's images are soft, overcompressed crap. I deal with pristine uncompressed and tons of compressed images every day for work, and DTV's "HD-lite" pictures are laughable quality compared to TW's HD channels.

It's a matter of quantity vs. quality, and everyone gets to vote with their dollars which they prefer. I voted for TW with TiVo Series 3 recorders, and am very happy with that choice.

Anyone else get the moxi update lastnight?

Anyone else have the Mojo channel offline? I just have the color bars up.

Anyone else have the Mojo channel offline? I just have the color bars up.

TWC has been using MoJo to host FSN-HD since they're using FSN to host TBS, it's all so confusing :eek::confused:

I was wondering if anyone has come over from Direct TV? I was thinking about switching over for TV, as they have more HD Channels.

Hmmm I thought I replied to this last night, but my post disappeared. Anyway here is a second try at an answer.

As a first reference here is a link to thread that discusses the new MPEG4 channels on DirecTV:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=914047

As a second reference you can check out a poll that also has posts that discuss the picture quality of the new MPEG4 channels on DirecTV:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=918830

Those who want to see the results of the poll have to vote in it. There is an option for those who don't have DirecTV. For those who don't feel like voting here are the results of the poll:
Among the best HDTV I've ever seen, from any source. 177
Among the best HDTV I've ever seen, except for some OTA broadcasts. 111
Significantly better than the old MPEG2 HD channels. 199
Marginally better than the old MPEG2 HD channels. 60
It's about the same as the old MPEG2 HD channels. 25
They are worse than the old MPEG2 channels. 5

As you can see of the 577 people that voted 487 people have a very high praise for the picture quality. That's a healthy 84%.

People have compared the MPEG4 stream from DirecTV to the MPEG4 stream of Dish Network and have found the MPEG4 stream from DirecTV to have a significantly better picture quality. Dish Network is said to be launching another satellite in the near future to handle the additional HD load and some people have implied that the picture quality on Dish might improve after that, but of course only time will tell.

Rudy



Who is highly praising DTV's MPEG4?

Was it Stevie Wonder?

The only reason DTV is going to MPEG4 is so they can compress the images even further to add more channels. Where do you think the added bandwidth for those "hundreds of HD channels" is going to come from? DTV has exactly ZERO interest in image quality. Zero. The company motto, drilled into the CSR's, is "It's digital. It's perfect". That phrase was repeated to me at least five times by a CSR trying to talk me into not disconnecting when I mentioned the reason I was leaving was that their images were not very good.

I was with them for seven years until switching to TW about 10 months ago when I just couldn't stand it another second, and believe me when I tell you, DTV's images are soft, overcompressed crap. I deal with pristine uncompressed and tons of compressed images every day for work, and DTV's "HD-lite" pictures are laughable quality compared to TW's HD channels.

It's a matter of quantity vs. quality, and everyone gets to vote with their dollars which they prefer. I voted for TW with TiVo Series 3 recorders, and am very happy with that choice.

I've got two Moxis working quite nicely at home with two HDTVs and have just been the beneficiary of a free hand me down 34" HDTV. Unfortunately it doesn't have an QAM tuner so I figured I'd just add a digital STB but when I called TWC I found out the price for the STB was the same as adding a 3rd DVR (they waived the DVR fee) so that's what I'm doing.

Now what I don't know is what DVR I will get when I pick it up. Frankly I don't care and it might even be nice to try something different from Moxi. I'm wondering though if you can mix Moxi and non-Moxi in the same household? Will TWC's system freak out? I'd ask the CSR's but I'm sure they have no idea.

just checked the new fox business chanell 223, quality is very good, i even thought it was high def for a second. any thoughts

just checked the new fox business chanell 223, quality is very good, i even thought it was high def for a second. any thoughts

It looks ok. I think CNBC's graphics look better.

It looks like the DirecTV (http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/15/another-week-another-10-new-hd-channels-for-directv/) people are receiving FBN in HD.

I've got two Moxis working quite nicely at home with two HDTVs and have just been the beneficiary of a free hand me down 34" HDTV. Unfortunately it doesn't have an QAM tuner so I figured I'd just add a digital STB but when I called TWC I found out the price for the STB was the same as adding a 3rd DVR (they waived the DVR fee) so that's what I'm doing.

Now what I don't know is what DVR I will get when I pick it up. Frankly I don't care and it might even be nice to try something different from Moxi. I'm wondering though if you can mix Moxi and non-Moxi in the same household? Will TWC's system freak out? I'd ask the CSR's but I'm sure they have no idea.

Quite honestly, I could not answer the question regarding the number of DVR'S in a house hold. But the second question I could answer, I assure you you will get a DCH 3416 (formerly replacing the DCT 6416). TWC has cut off ties with Digeo (very sad in my opinion), and is no longer handing out DCT 6416 because of the FCC's 7/1/07 ruling.

Who is highly praising DTV's MPEG4?

Was it Stevie Wonder?

The only reason DTV is going to MPEG4 is so they can compress the images even further to add more channels. Where do you think the added bandwidth for those "hundreds of HD channels" is going to come from? DTV has exactly ZERO interest in image quality. Zero. The company motto, drilled into the CSR's, is "It's digital. It's perfect". That phrase was repeated to me at least five times by a CSR trying to talk me into not disconnecting when I mentioned the reason I was leaving was that their images were not very good.

I was with them for seven years until switching to TW about 10 months ago when I just couldn't stand it another second, and believe me when I tell you, DTV's images are soft, overcompressed crap. I deal with pristine uncompressed and tons of compressed images every day for work, and DTV's "HD-lite" pictures are laughable quality compared to TW's HD channels.

It's a matter of quantity vs. quality, and everyone gets to vote with their dollars which they prefer. I voted for TW with TiVo Series 3 recorders, and am very happy with that choice.
This is like me saying "I had cable for seven years, but cancelled it several months ago. Cable's customer service IS still terrible."
I didn't vote in the aforementioned poll, but the new mpeg4 HD's look really-really-really good (although some of the new channels have a bit of a shortage of HD content, some are spectacular, like NGC, Smithsonian, and the Starzeseseses). Yes cable HD's are much better than the old mpeg2-hd-lites, but the new mpeg4 hd's are at least as good as any cable HD channel, except for the fact that there are lots of them!!! :)
(they just added 10 more today, 6 national nets and 4 RSN's in HD)

Yes!
Very nice and very fast. 4.1 is everything they said it was.

Yes!
Very nice and very fast. 4.1 is everything they said it was.

Oops. Nothing like a reply without a question. The reply goes with who got the Moxi update last night question above.

Quite honestly, I could not answer the question regarding the number of DVR'S in a house hold. But the second question I could answer, I assure you you will get a DCH 3416 (formerly replacing the DCT 6416). TWC has cut off ties with Digeo (very sad in my opinion), and is no longer handing out DCT 6416 because of the FCC's 7/1/07 ruling.

I figured I'd get the new box and that's exactly what they gave me. I have to agree I can't stand the TV Guide ads and the interface just feels clunky now that I've used Moxi for a year. This sounds weird but one of the things that I never realized is that on Moxi when you're looking at the guide the up button moves up the channels but on the new guide you have to move down to go to a higher channel. I remember that my old DCT6212 was that way with Cox but I never realized how odd that feels to move down to go up.

Everything worked well together at least. After reading the comments on how long it takes for the guide to populate on the DCH3416 I was surprised that it seemed to populate within an hour or two.

I also spoke with the reps at the TWC store and they told me that TWC has scrapped any plans to replace the Moxi's which is why we all got the update. She said they'd had three different replacement dates and each time TWC changed it because people didn't want to give up their Moxi's and also there is a shortage of the new boxes.

TWC is no longer handing out DCT 6416 because of the FCC's 7/1/07 ruling.
I missed this FCC ruling. Any details? I currently have a 6416. Does the ruling have any affect on me. Should I request a 3416?

I missed this FCC ruling. Any details? I currently have a 6416. Does the ruling have any affect on me. Should I request a 3416?

All new boxes need to be cablecard driven.

All new boxes need to be cablecard driven.

So this means we could purchase our own boxes, like a Tivo HD DVR, and watch the same content?