I already have Navigator that supported E-sata its the new version of Navigator that has removed the E-sata support .. seems like they have disabled it so no more external Drives :(

mine still works... make sure you have an 8300 hd not and hdc....

422

Here in MDR (former Comcast) as well. DCH3416, channel 22. 1080i.

Don't know about picture quality yet, as they're running commercials and coming attractions until the next Woody Allen movie starts. I also don't know yet if they have commercials during the movies. I guess I'll find out soon.

But looking at the upcoming Guide info, I'm very pleased.

422 up and running in the O.C. at least here in Westminster off of Bolsa Chica ...looks pretty darn good...

Looks like Navigator finally coming to SoCal. Go to the "8300HD and External SATA - It Works!! " AVS group. The latest Navigator the rest of the country is getting broke the eSata again. I am not sure, but you also may need to reformat when you change from Passport to any Navigator. I have been waiting to go external until Navigaor is here and stable with eSata. Last couple months looked like things were going to be fine until last week. /Dan

mine still works... make sure you have an 8300 hd not and hdc....

I do have the 8300 hd (family room) that's still on the old software. I have the 8300 HDC in my office . I am sure that eventually they will upgrade the HD model and then that's it for DVR expansion :(

i am not sure you have long left

MGM HD showed up in Torrance today too @ 422

I do have the 8300 hd (family room) that's still on the old software. I have the 8300 HDC in my office . I am sure that eventually they will upgrade the HD model and then that's it for DVR expansion :(

i am not sure you have long left
well i heard back in december that the hdc doesnt work cause its ocap and cause its cable card. the 8300 hd is just moca with no cable card.

well i heard back in december that the hdc doesnt work cause its ocap and cause its cable card. the 8300 hd is just moca with no cable card.

Thats not true I been using my DVR extender for about the last 6 months. on my 8300HDC with cable card.

What happened is they upgraded the OS the guide is all new with different colors during the upgrade the disabled the E-sata port and my dvr is not recognized. I called TWC and i got the external drives are not supported line

I travel a lot and don't get a chance to watch the shows i want too. I had whole seasons of shows recorded and ready to watch and there all gone..

I know they don't support the drives and there not responsible for there failure but that's my choice if the drive goes bad i can accept that. but i am paying 15 dollars a month to them for the box and DVR service and I can only get a few HD shows on it

Does anyone know if there is another box out there with a bigger hard drive?

Thats not true I been using my DVR extender for about the last 6 months. on my 8300HDC with cable card.

What happened is they upgraded the OS the guide is all new with different colors during the upgrade the disabled the E-sata port and my dvr is not recognized. I called TWC and i got the external drives are not supported line

I travel a lot and don't get a chance to watch the shows i want too. I had whole seasons of shows recorded and ready to watch and there all gone..

I know they don't support the drives and there not responsible for there failure but that's my choice if the drive goes bad i can accept that. but i am paying 15 dollars a month to them for the box and DVR service and I can only get a few HD shows on it

Does anyone know if there is another box out there with a bigger hard drive?
edwardo the hdc with esata worked for me untill the update navigator. I then got a new box an 8300 hd with navigator on it and it still works. If i were you i would go out of your way to get an 8300hd. I have had navigator on it since december 21 and i have not lost any shows or had any other problems. hope that helps. and yes the esata is the supported, the tech who brought me the 8300 hd said they same, i showed him the opposite

Thats not true I been using my DVR extender for about the last 6 months. on my 8300HDC with cable card.

What happened is they upgraded the OS the guide is all new with different colors during the upgrade the disabled the E-sata port and my dvr is not recognized. I called TWC and i got the external drives are not supported line

I travel a lot and don't get a chance to watch the shows i want too. I had whole seasons of shows recorded and ready to watch and there all gone..

I know they don't support the drives and there not responsible for there failure but that's my choice if the drive goes bad i can accept that. but i am paying 15 dollars a month to them for the box and DVR service and I can only get a few HD shows on it

Does anyone know if there is another box out there with a bigger hard drive?

It's Called TiVo, and I am strongly considering switching myself. I care nothing for on-demand stuff, so it sounds like a pretty good route to go.

I've stated many times in this thread and various others, that I tried TIVO on TWC and it was totally NOT the cats meow like everyone makes it out to be. The interface is really slow and ugly, the guide is absolutely from the early 90's and it takes too many clicks to get where you want to go. The Dish DVR software BLOWS AWAY TIVO, and I'm hoping someday TWC can get it together and get us a nice 16x9 guide that looks and performs halfway decent. I was completely unimpressed with it and sent it back 3 days later.

I've stated many times in this thread and various others, that I tried TIVO on TWC and it was totally NOT the cats meow like everyone makes it out to be. The interface is really slow and ugly, the guide is absolutely from the early 90's and it takes too many clicks to get where you want to go. The Dish DVR software BLOWS AWAY TIVO, and I'm hoping someday TWC can get it together and get us a nice 16x9 guide that looks and performs halfway decent. I was completely unimpressed with it and sent it back 3 days later.Unfortunately, you didn't get any an accurate impression of TiVo if you returned it after three days.

From the TivoHD FAQ (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11126048#post11126048):I just got the TiVo and it seems kind of slow. Will responsiveness improve with newer software?

Yes, TiVo significantly improved performance in v9.4 and again in v11.0.

Most TiVos ship with the relatively slow v8.1.7 software from 2007. Furthermore, all guide databases must be indexed in the background for the first ~48 hours after initial setup. The background indexing noticeably slows responsiveness during that period. Most users receive an update to the latest software (now 11.0b) after 4-5 days, and guide data must be re-indexed for another ~48 afters after that update, temporarily slowing responsiveness again. The TivoHD does not reach full responsiveness until 48-72 hours after the v11.0 install.
Now, no program guide is as fast as the Dish Network ViP622/ViP722. But as far as a menu navigation, a TiVo running the current software is significantly faster than the TWC DVR. And trickplay (replay, 30sec skip, ffw, rew, etc) are much more responsive.

edwardo the hdc with esata worked for me untill the update navigator. I then got a new box an 8300 hd with navigator on it and it still works. If i were you i would go out of your way to get an 8300hd. I have had navigator on it since december 21 and i have not lost any shows or had any other problems. hope that helps. and yes the esata is the supported, the tech who brought me the 8300 hd said they same, i showed him the opposite



I might do that this weekend I will ask for one with out the C :) but I hope they don"t plan to upgrade the 8300hd boxes

Still no dedicated channels for FSN and Prime Ticket.Who do we complain to?Will it do any good?Just about every Dodgers and Angels game will be in HD this year,but there will many times that we will only get one,or maybe none while the Lakers are still playing.
TWC Orange County

Still no dedicated channels for FSN and Prime Ticket.Who do we complain to?Will it do any good?Just about every Dodgers and Angels game will be in HD this year,but there will many times that we will only get one,or maybe none while the Lakers are still playing.
TWC Orange CountyPositive for Dodger fans is they are usually on KCAL. Hopefully Angels will be HD when on KCOP. Anyway, I would think if FOX sports was set-up to do the game in HD than TWC would be the place to complain. TWC would have access to the feeds and are not showing it. /Dan

The "To Be Announced" bug has returned for me a few times in the last month. Re-booting had cured the problem, but this last time, it didn't seem to completely fix the issue. Apparently, this hasn't been addressed on the TW end since the last time I called. I'm not sure if getting a new box would help, but if another re-boot doesn't work, I may have to try.

TBA is worse for me now than a week ago when I reported it here. I may reboot after the Laker game, but it always takes a week to re-populate the guide. It's frustrating because I rely on the guide.

There is no vbi data on the specially allocated channel 94 for the last several days making anyone with tv guide equipment unable to see the guides and/or making recordings.Of course no one at customer service has any clue what this even means.

Where are you? In Thousand Oaks VBI is on 97 (KCET ala 28, no real digital AFAIK like 2-1) with cablecard.

Where can I get the HD dodger game? Chanel 61 hurts my eyes.

Chanel 61 hurts my eyes.

I thought you were supposed to dab it behind your ears :)

Mad Mac that made me laugh out loud....LOL....good one

Still no dedicated channels for FSN and Prime Ticket.Who do we complain to?Will it do any good?Just about every Dodgers and Angels game will be in HD this year,but there will many times that we will only get one,or maybe none while the Lakers are still playing.
TWC Orange County

i emailed TWC around 8 months ago and they said this

Thank you for your inquiry. We appreciate your feedback in regards to the channels FSN HD and FSN PT HD . Currently these channels are not in our lineup. Here at Time Warner we make every effort to provide our customers with the services they enjoy and as our customers requests grow, we will make every effort to provide the channels they would like to see. We thank you for your patience and support with this issue.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the number listed below. Our telephone representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For those of us that have not yet seen the light, and have stayed, this may be the best motivator.
Link to the article (http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/time-warner-cable-lays-out-broadband-capping-plans-says-150-fo/)

Rudy

For those of us that have not yet seen the light, and have stayed, this may be the best motivator.
Link to the article (http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/time-warner-cable-lays-out-broadband-capping-plans-says-150-fo/)

Rudy

I pray every morning that Verizon FIOS becomes available in West LA.

I hate Satellite and will never go back. But I'm dropping TWC the second FIOS arrives.

I'm waiting for FiOS, too. Is PacBell/ATT leaving SoCal anytime soon?

Unfortnately there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a broadband alternative in my culver city condo complex. I had AT&T DSL years ago and it was pretty unreliable. I was never sure if it was the service or the telephone wiring in the complex. Anyone have any idea if DSL is any better these days?

I pray every morning that Verizon FIOS becomes available in West LA.

I hate Satellite and will never go back. But I'm dropping TWC the second FIOS arrives.
In the 5 years that I have lived here in WLA I've asked every 6 - 12 months and the response is always the same. "It is not available now and we have no idea when it will be" Meaning there are no plans at the moment.
A couple of years ago another WLA resident from these forums Joe has switched to DirecTV and he raves about the service and the PQ. He had like 3 DVRs if I remember correctly.
I'm waiting for FiOS, too. Is PacBell/ATT leaving SoCal anytime soon?
PacBell/ATT have a similar offering called UVerse, although I know little about it as I live in Verizon area.
Unfortnately there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a broadband alternative in my culver city condo complex. I had AT&T DSL years ago and it was pretty unreliable. I was never sure if it was the service or the telephone wiring in the complex. Anyone have any idea if DSL is any better these days?
I find the quality of DSL is very much area dependent. I also find that my VoIP provider knocks my connection out more than the actual broadband provider.

Rudy

In the 5 years that I have lived here in WLA I've asked every 6 - 12 months and the response is always the same. "It is not available now and we have no idea when it will be" Meaning there are no plans at the moment.
A couple of years ago another WLA resident from these forums Joe has switched to DirecTV and he raves about the service and the PQ. He had like 3 DVRs if I remember correctly.

PacBell/ATT have a similar offering called UVerse, although I know little about it as I live in Verizon area.

I find the quality of DSL is very much area dependent. I also find that my VoIP provider knocks my connection out more than the actual broadband provider.

Rudy

I still hang here, my condo has TWC so I can't get rid of it totally. Just that my invoice comes every so often with $0.00 due. Yes I'm still happy with D* but they are certainly not perfect. Still, very good overall though. Oh and 2 DVRs and one HD-Tuner. ;)

Hey Joe.

Good to see you. In retrospect your timing was just about perfect as TWC now compresses even the broadcast networks in our area. Good thing you didn't wait for FiOS. :O

Rudy

Is anyone else in the west LA vicinity experiencing total cable TV outage? (With internet still up?)

Unrelatedly, who here would get very, very, very upset if they couldn't watch Lost tonight?

We have a reasonably good view of Mt. Wilson, which should make it easy to get a good OTA signal. As a bonus the OTA signal will look better than the compressed TWC signal. Give it a whirl.

Rudy

Hey Joe.

Good to see you. In retrospect your timing was just about perfect as TWC now compresses even the broadcast networks in our area. Good thing you didn't wait for FiOS. :O

Rudy

Thanks! I use the QAM tuner in my kitchen TV via TWC. I also use it in the other TVs where needed. Like when the DVR is recording two shows simultaneously. I was really happy when the locals wen to 2-1 etc in the QAM section. Made programming the Harmonies much easier.
Too bad more HD isn't up ther. I think we're down to Discovery now?? Haven't checked lately.

Thanks! I use the QAM tuner in my kitchen TV via TWC. I also use it in the other TVs where needed. Like when the DVR is recording two shows simultaneously. I split the cable into the DVR and TV (tuner) so when 2 shows are being recorded I can change the main TV to tuner and watch something direct. /Dan

Anybody else have outer limit of Guide info stuck at Thursday 4/30 at 1:30PM? That's less than 13 days, and no progress seems to be happening.

I've been waiting for several days now for the complete Thursday 4/30 schedule to be available, to set my DVR to record "400 Years of the Telescope" on KCET-DT at 9PM. Should have happened yesterday, but it didn't.

Last night those cells were largely "TBA" and most (but not all) are filled in now. But it's a day behind.

Any one out there on TWC with a Sony DHG HD DVR with TVGOS?
If so do you get VBI on digital anywhere? Like on 402 or 2-1 or other digital station?
I'm in Ventura County. I know 97 has it, but I believe that is analog.

i dunno if the weather has anything to do with it.. but every time there are extreme temperature changes like the past few days, the signal on my cable gets really bad

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/4935/picturex.jpg

I've been getting really bad pixellation on FOX for the past few days.

I completely lost signal a few times last night on all channels.

I just received a letter from TWC saying "On May 19th, 2009 TWC will be performing enhancements to our cable system in your neighborhood as part of our ongoing goal to bring you the increased reliable, up-to-date, high-quality video, high speed internet, and digital home phone services. These enhancements will further enable our cable system to bring you the latest entertainment and programming."

I already got all the HD channels so maybe this "enhancements" will fix the compression/picture quality on the TV.

last night the SNR on abc was 30.4 (fair) and once the weather hit 90 degrees near the end of the lakers game this afternoon it went down to 25.7 (poor) and there was massive macroblocking. it got so bad that i had to watch the end of the game on my laptop with my OTA HD antenna.

I just received a letter from TWC saying "On May 19th, 2009 TWC will be performing enhancements to our cable system in your neighborhood as part of our ongoing goal to bring you the increased reliable, up-to-date, high-quality video, high speed internet, and digital home phone services. These enhancements will further enable our cable system to bring you the latest entertainment and programming."

I already got all the HD channels so maybe this "enhancements" will fix the compression/picture quality on the TV.In our area it was replacing boxes on the poles. I believe widening the frenquency range to 1000MHz from 800MHz. /Dan

Anybody else have outer limit of Guide info stuck at Thursday 4/30 at 1:30PM? That's less than 13 days, and no progress seems to be happening.

I've been waiting for several days now for the complete Thursday 4/30 schedule to be available, to set my DVR to record "400 Years of the Telescope" on KCET-DT at 9PM. Should have happened yesterday, but it didn't.

Last night those cells were largely "TBA" and most (but not all) are filled in now. But it's a day behind.I think most (like me) in SoCal still only get 7 days of Guide. But, we are able to set manual recordings with Passport. /Dan

I just received a letter from TWC saying "On May 19th, 2009 TWC will be performing enhancements to our cable system in your neighborhood as part of our ongoing goal to bring you the increased reliable, up-to-date, high-quality video, high speed internet, and digital home phone services. These enhancements will further enable our cable system to bring you the latest entertainment and programming."

I already got all the HD channels so maybe this "enhancements" will fix the compression/picture quality on the TV.

Wow, I must be lucky. TWC performed this kind of 'upgrade' in my area about two years ago. Yes, it did seem to resolve most of the digital cable PQ issues that customer 'service' was in Absolute, Complete Denial about!

danki6x and other DVR customers, consider yourselves lucky to get Seven days of PG. Apparently NON-DVR customers (like me) are programmed to get only between 4 hours and two days of guide (even on a new ODN SA4250HDC box). Or am I wrong? Yeah, that new bandwidth really helps the program guide caching........Not

Has anybody still NOT gotten Speed HD added to their lineup? The areas surrounding me all seem to have it (on ch 468) but TWC here in El Segundo (and presumably Torrance since we're on the same network) still hasn't added it to their lineup. It was promised several months ago, but the CSRs can't tell me when it will be added.

Yeah, no Speed here Randy...

Yeah, no Speed here Randy...
No Speed here in WLA either. Nor do we have MGMHD which every other area seems to have gotten.

Rudy

Also in West LA, also no SpeedHD.

And lately, the damn cable box is SO slow in responding! (I have the DCH3416)

No Speed in Westminster in the O.C.

no speed hd in la habra, but we did get mgm hd like 2 weeks ago.

I like the first one and noting a couple other changes. Looks like they are trying to make HD tier worth something other than 2 channels:

Effective May 27, 2009, FSN HD (part-time) on channel 413 be removed from the channel lineup and will be replaced by Fox Sports West HD (24/7) on channel 463 and Prime ticket HD (24/7) on channel 464.

Effective May 27, 2009, KCOP (MyTV) HD will move from channel 410 to channel 413.

Effective May 27, 2009, HDNet will move from channel 420 to channel 459.

Effective May 27, 2009, Smithsonian HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 420.

Effective May 27, 2009, KPXN (ION) HD will be launched on the Broadcast Basic service level (HD equipment is required) on channel 410.

Great news there danki...thanks a lot!

I like the first one and noting a couple other changes. Looks like they are trying to make HD tier worth something other than 2 channels:

Effective May 27, 2009, FSN HD (part-time) on channel 413 be removed from the channel lineup and will be replaced by Fox Sports West HD (24/7) on channel 463 and Prime ticket HD (24/7) on channel 464.

Effective May 27, 2009, KCOP (MyTV) HD will move from channel 410 to channel 413.

Effective May 27, 2009, HDNet will move from channel 420 to channel 459.

Effective May 27, 2009, Smithsonian HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 420.

Effective May 27, 2009, KPXN (ION) HD will be launched on the Broadcast Basic service level (HD equipment is required) on channel 410.

WOW where did you get that info from! I would LOVE that!!! Kings hockey in HD!

Time Warner adds HD movie channel, expands HD tier 33%
April 28th, 2009, posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Time Warner Cable added the MGM HD channel in all areas on Channel 422, as part of its sparsely populated HD Tier.

About time! The sad HD tier, until now, had a measly three channels and charged $5/month. Its only saving grace is that pretty much all of the other HD channels are included for free with digital TV service and an HD box. With four channels in the HD tier, that comes out to $1.25 each per month.

While it may seem odd to only have 3 or 4 channels in a $5 tier, other TV services are offering something similar. AT&T’s U-verse’s “HD Premium Tier” only has 4 channels for $5 extra per month, Cox’s “High-Definition Plus Tier” is $4.95 and has 3 channels, while DirecTV’s “HD Extra” pack includes six channels for $4.95/month.

Why? Not sure. I’ve never asked. But I have a theory. The channels in these special tiers are from HDNet and other channels that only broadcast in HD. They have no standard-definition counterpart. When a company like Time Warner negotiates with a TV channel on whether it will add it to the lineup, I’m sure it tries to include the network’s catalog of channels — be it high def or standard def.

The MGM HD addition brings Time Warner’s HD offering to approximately 51 channels, if you include the HD tier (4 channels) and premium HD channels (4 channels).

And as a TV service, Time Warner is still playing major catch-up with the rest of the county’s offerings. Here are the latest numbers from the various TV services. I counted up the HD channels listed on the companies’ Web sites. Yes, some companies say they offer more, but if so, they certainly don’t publicize what channels those exactly are:

TV company HD channels
Verizon FiOS 115
AT&T U-verse 106
DirecTV 104
Dish Networks 88
Cox Cable 53
Time Warner 51

http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/04/28/time-warner-expands-hd-tier-by-33-adds-1-channel/12995/

Time Warner adds HD movie channel, expands HD tier 33%

TV company HD channels
Verizon FiOS 115
AT&T U-verse 106
DirecTV 104
Dish Networks 88
Cox Cable 53
Time Warner 51I don't think this count for TWC is accurate. I think it's low.

The current TWC/LA channel list for my 90292 area shows about 60 HD channels (less 4 duplicates, for the premium movies) not counting the latest four new HD channels arriving on May 27 and the corresponding loss of FSNHD on that date:

401 KVEA HD (Telemundo)
402 KCBS HD (CBS)
404 KNBC HD (NBC)
405 KTLA HD (CW)
407 KABC HD (ABC)
408 KOCE HD (PBS)
409 KCAL HD (Ind)
410 KCOP HD (myNetworkTV)
411 KTTV (FOX) HD
412 KCET HD (PBS)
413 FSN HD
414 Palladia HD
415 TNT HD
416 HD Theater
417 TBS in HD
418 Discovery Channel HD
419 Universal HD
420 HDNet
421 HDNet Movies
422 MGM HD
423 The Golf Channel HD
424 ESPN HD
425 ESPN2 HD
426 ESPNews HD
427 HBO HD (West)
428 Showtime HD (West)
429 Starz HD (West)
430 Cinemax HD (West)
431 HD (Pay-per-view)
432 CNN HD
433 HGTV HD
434 Food Network HD
435 Disney Channel HD
436 ABC Family HD
437 TLC HD
438 A&E HD
439 History HD
440 National Geographic HD
441 USA HD
442 Bravo HD
443 Sci Fi HD
444 CNBC HD+
451 Animal Planet HD
452 Travel Channel HD
453 Planet Green HD
454 The Weather Channel HD
456 FX HD
457 BIO HD
460 Science Channel HD
461 Toon Disney HD
462 Cartoon Network HD
465 Fox News HD
466 Fox Business Network HD
467 ESPNU HD
468 Speed HD
469 Versus HD
470 MLB Network HD
471 NHL Network HD
473 The Tennis Channel HD
475 Lifetime Movie Network HD
476 Hallmark Movie Channel HD
481 HBO HD (East)
482 Cinemax HD (East)
483 Showtime HD (East)
484 The Movie Channel HD
485 Starz HD (East)
502 HBO HD
522 Cinemax HD
552 Showtime HD
572 Starz HD

Effective May 27, 2009, HDNet will move from channel 420 to channel 459.

Effective May 27, 2009, Smithsonian HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 420.So does this mean HDNet is going to be "freely available" and removed from the HD Tier, or is it just a channel change to make room for Smithsonian and HD Tier will still include HDNet? The absence of any mention that it would be removed from HD Tier suggests that it will still be in HD Tier.

So I don't see why they didn't put Smithsonian up at 459 instead (it still could have been classified as part of HD Tier since that's where HDNet will now be... and presumably it's still going to be in HD Tier since they didn't announce it would now be for free) unless the channel numbers are supposed to be tier-related as best as possible? In that case, it would seem HDNet is being removed from HD Tier, making it freely available presumably since the announcement did not say it was being placed into some other tier.

They already have another seeming mistake on the alerts page regarding MGMHD going to 421, when that's currently occupied by HDNet Movies and MGMHD has been free-previewing for a while on 422.

I guess we'll find out the answers to these Earth-shaking questions in a few weeks.

So does this mean HDNet is going to be "freely available" and removed from the HD Tier, or is it just a channel change to make room for Smithsonian and HD Tier will still include HDNet? Just a channel change since that is mostly all you get for HD tier (couple otheres being added). /Dan

WOW where did you get that info from! I would LOVE that!!! Kings hockey in HD!Ducks and Angels HD hopefully regular now.

When you go to the main Socal site:

http://www.accesstimewarner.com OR http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/

Click on: "What's on TV"
Choose: "Click here to view the most current Programming Alerts"

This will get you the updates coming and being announced.

/Dan

2 issues:

1) Why don't I get Animal Planet, Green, and Travel channel in HD? I called up and they said I need to subscribe to Variety Tier yet I get all those channels in SD and the website does not include the SD in Varitety Tier, just digital cable package. It's all so confusing.... if I get it in SD why should I have to pay for the HD??

2) The Iguide menu system background gets distorted within a day after resetting the box making it barely readable to see the guide and navigate with the remote, epecially the On Demand stuff. This is with a 3416. Would getting a new box be effective or is this a known problem with all 3416's and 6416's.

Synchron :cool:

2 issues:

1) Why don't I get Animal Planet, Green, and Travel channel in HD? I called up and they said I need to subscribe to Variety Tier yet I get all those channels in SD and the website does not include the SD in Varitety Tier, just digital cable package. It's all so confusing.... if I get it in SD why should I have to pay for the HD??I don't know what channel lineup you're looking at, but all three of these channels ARE in the Variety Tier (at least for my Westchester/Hollywood former Comcast location channel lineup).

If you're currently getting them in SD but have not actually subscribed to Variety Tier and been paying for them, consider yourself quite lucky. Sounds more like a screwup on their part that you have them in SD.

Nevertheless, I've sent you a PM.


2) The Iguide menu system background gets distorted within a day after resetting the box making it barely readable to see the guide and navigate with the remote, epecially the On Demand stuff. This is with a 3416. Would getting a new box be effective or is this a known problem with all 3416's and 6416's.Never saw a symptom like this on my 3416 or my previous 6412. Sounds like a new box is your best solution, if this is an ongoing problem for you.

ABC-Live Well showed up on Channel 445. Why do any of these programs need to be in HD taking away valuable bits from Lost and the NBA playoffs? :mad:

ABC-Live Well showed up on Channel 445. Why do any of these programs need to be in HD taking away valuable bits from Lost and the NBA playoffs? :mad:
I agree, the picture quality on KABC-HD is noticeable.

Also, TWC may remove the channel from the lineup:

We may cease carriage of KABC’s multicast service currently provided on channel 445 no earlier than June 5, 2009.

And also this relating to KABC:
We are currently taking steps to ensure that all of our customers, regardless of equipment, will continue to be able to view KABC after the end of the broadcasters’ DTV transition on June 12th. However, it is possible that we may be required to cease carriage of KABC in analog and standard definition formats on channel 7. Regardless, KABC’s HD signal will remain available on channel 407 to customers with HD converters and will continue to be accessible on direct-connect digital televisions and other devices that include a QAM tuner.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/learn/programming/local/alerts.html

Anyone have a list of the QAM OTA channels? Got a new Toshiba and it can't seem to find any.

Anyone have a list of the QAM OTA channels? Got a new Toshiba and it can't seem to find any.They all seem to be mapped the same whether over-the-air (antenna) or over-the-cable (cable line). 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, etc. I did get a small Viewsonic TV that could not find any off the cable line and needed a very strong signal. Went out in the backyard and hooked the main drop into the TV and it found 100s (mostly scrambled and can't view) where before it found 0 and even replaced the TV thinking TV problem. So, some TVs need strong signal to find, but should be OK once found. If over the air is really what you meant, there is a forum for Los Angeles HD OTA and again they will map to "normal" channel numbers. Real numbers not needed. That group can give them to you if needed.
/Dan

Effective May 27, 2009, KCOP (MyTV) HD will move from channel 410 to channel 413.

But will we actually receive a feed out here in Tarzana, or will it remain blank like the last 12 months, even thought programs are listed.

fitprod

But will we actually receive a feed out here in Tarzana, or will it remain blank like the last 12 months, even thought programs are listed.

fitprodCall and ask. Ours has been fine on 410 (other than nothing much in HD and I hardly ever watch it except the rare Angels game). /Dan

Glad to see the HD lineup expanding. However, friends in another state who subscribe to Comcast have had premium channels in HD on Video on Demand for a good 2 years now! What the heck is Time Warner waiting for?

edit. sorry posted in the wrong thread.

Why don't we have Big Ten Network yet in LA? San Diego has it on TWC I believe. If we don't get it before football season, I'll be very tempted to dumb TWC for DTV.

Yep San Diego has it in both SD and HD. You'll need the sports pack for it though.

Why don't we have Big Ten Network yet in LA? San Diego has it on TWC I believe. If we don't get it before football season, I'll be very tempted to dumb TWC for DTV.
Why are you waiting for the start of the football season? What is it that makes you feel that cable is a better offering than Fibre or Satellite?

Rudy

Why are you waiting for the start of the football season? What is it that makes you feel that cable is a better offering than Fibre or Satellite?

Rudy

Maybe price when you have about 5 or 6 TV's in the house and don't need decoder boxes on 4 of them. with the TV's in the Kids rooms and the kitchen one I still like just being able to plug a cable in the back and get cable basic

Why are you waiting for the start of the football season? What is it that makes you feel that cable is a better offering than Fibre or Satellite?

Rudy

Price mostly, but also my Tivo Series 3 won't work with Satellite. So TWC has to really piss me off for me to switch. A good start is not letting me watch football.

I'm surprised no one else has posted this information yet.We are loosing the best oar uncut commercial free movie channel out there for what reason exactly?http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/18/time-warner-cable-loses-hdnet-at-the-end-of-the-month-says-bei/

HDNet Movies is my favorite source of HD movies. I guess TWC wants more subs for premiums channels.

Price mostly, but also my Tivo Series 3 won't work with Satellite. So TWC has to really piss me off for me to switch. A good start is not letting me watch football.
For me, with a single TV TWC is the most expensive of all offerings actually. Also I heard that the DVR of one of the Satellite providers is quite good, as good as a Tivo or close. May have been Dish. So if you do go for it, it may all work out for the better.

Rudy

I'm surprised no one else has posted this information yet.We are loosing the best oar uncut commercial free movie channel out there for what reason exactly?http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/18/time-warner-cable-loses-hdnet-at-the-end-of-the-month-says-bei/

i mean....are they TRYING to get us all to cancel?

this is bullshit.

anyone think its a ploy, like the contract is up and hasnt been renewed? or is it definitely gone? that movie channel was the best thing they offered in hd

Just in passing... looks like they've updated the Programming Alerts page.

It now at least leaves the door open a little bit, and says:

"Effective May 27, 2009, Smithsonian HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 420."

"Effective May 27, 2009, we will be required to cease carriage of HDNet and HDNet Movies unless an agreement with the programmer is reached. If an agreement is reached HDNet will move from channel 420 to channel 459 and HDNet Movies will move from channel 421 to channel 458."

No mention of whether or not the HDN channels would be moved to "free" status or would still be part of HD Tier as part of the channel number reassignment.

If they take away HD Net and HD Net Movies,
won't that just leave Smithsonian & MGM & Universal on the HD Tier? Certainly not for $5/month.

I Tivo most of my movies of HDNM, and hope TW decides to keep it,
otherwise it will be an easy choice to cancel the Tier and save the $$$



FCD

Let's all call and complain to Time Warner and let them know if they get rid of HDNET that we will get rid of them as our cable provider.

C'mon guys. HDNet isn't going anywhere. Contract/licensing negotiations are ongoing, and TWC's threat of dropping HDNet and HDNet Movies is being used as leverage. The same thing happened with the Viacom "scare" a few months ago.

Now if TWC rearranges the channel lineup and puts HDNet/HDNet Movies in another tier that involves an increase (modest, I would suspect) in monthly charges to recoup its loses, maybe that's a cause for griping. As it stands now, I refuse to believe TWC, as one of the largest cable providers in the country, would be so foolish as to drop the best HD movie source and leave us with the likes of MGM-HD and Universal-HD. :eek::D

The new HD tier according to the news will be MGM, Universal, Smithsonian and Crime & Investigation HD. At least I can now dump the HD Tier in favor of the Variety Tier which will actually give me more HD channels.

I lived in Massachusetts last year, and the local Comcast cable provider dumped HDNet on us despite the constant AVS forum chatter to keep it on.

I would not be surprised if TWC does the same.

I lived in Massachusetts last year, and the local Comcast cable provider dumped HDNet on us despite the constant AVS forum chatter to keep it on.

I would not be surprised if TWC does the same.

Officially, they've already dumped HDNet effective May 27, 2009. Whether Mark Cuban agrees to a price cut in the channel in the next 7 days is another story.

Officially, they've already dumped HDNet effective May 27, 2009.
Well, that's not quite right, is it? TWC's current licensing agreement with Cuban apparently ends May 27th, and, if the two sides can't come to terms over a new deal, then TWC will not be allowed to carry HDNet. To say TWC has "already dumped HDNet" is a little premature.

Besides, if negotiations do fail, for all we know if may be Cuban who "dumps" TWC.

Well, that's not quite right, is it? TWC's current licensing agreement with Cuban apparently ends May 27th, and, if the two sides can't come to terms over a new deal, then TWC will not be allowed to carry HDNet. To say TWC has "already dumped HDNet" is a little premature.

Besides, if negotiations do fail, for all we know if may be Cuban who "dumps" TWC.

It's official enough that they've put out multiple press releases saying they're dumping HDNet.

It's official enough that they've put out multiple press releases saying they're dumping HDNet.

There's a big "if" in there...

There's a big "if" in there...Here's a Copy/Paste from TWC Programming Alerts:

"Effective May 27, 2009, we will be required to cease carriage of HDNet and HDNet Movies unless an agreement with the programmer is reached. If an agreement is reached HDNet will move from channel 420 to channel 459 and HDNet Movies will move from channel 421 to channel 458."

I'm hoping they come to an agreement, losing HDNet would suck.

Referring to HDNet, T-W Cable’s PR boss Robyn Watson said: "There's a limited appeal for the programming. In a world with more than 100 HD channels, being in HD is not enough. We are adding other channels in HD to give our customers more choice."

The way Mark Cuban is talking it is a done deal. No more HDNET for TWC. Instead we get to "enjoy" Crime and Investigation and Smithsonian both of which I am willing to bet won't even be in HD at least half of the time.

Is anyone with an HD DVR having pixelated and sound bleeps from recording from MGMHD? All that I've done so far is that way and I'm trying to determine if the channel or my cable box is the problem. Thanks.

Is anyone with an HD DVR having pixelated and sound bleeps from recording from MGMHD? All that I've done so far is that way and I'm trying to determine if the channel or my cable box is the problem. Thanks.

Probably the channel last time I checked it the sound was out completely. It seems fine now, about 11:30pm Friday night.

I've stated many times in this thread and various others, that I tried TIVO on TWC and it was totally NOT the cats meow like everyone makes it out to be. The interface is really slow and ugly, the guide is absolutely from the early 90's and it takes too many clicks to get where you want to go. The Dish DVR software BLOWS AWAY TIVO, and I'm hoping someday TWC can get it together and get us a nice 16x9 guide that looks and performs halfway decent. I was completely unimpressed with it and sent it back 3 days later.

Slow sometimes, ugly maybe, more reliable than cable company dvr's without doubt. You might want to try out the new MOXI also.

From the latest Programming Alerts page (http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/learn/programming/local/alerts.html), it now looks like the two channels which will be replacing HDNet and HDNet Movies will be:

Effective May 27, 2009, Smithsonian HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 420.

Crime & Investigation HD will be launched on the HD Tier (an HD box is required) on channel 421 on June 19, 2009 with a preview beginning May 27, 2009.


I'm still going to cancel HD Tier and Choice Tier next week as my small protest to the fact that they could not resolve their petty disputes with Mark Cuban.

Per a personal email response from Mark to another forum subscriber on the national TWC HDTV thread:

"Sad. we reduced the cost of the networks by about 75pct and they said it was still too much.

"Unfortunately we dont have the leverage that big companies have so TWC thinks they can abuse us."


TWC apparently also had no problem coercing MLB into accepting a non-free distribution arrangement, placing MLB into Variety Tier for $5/month rather than "digital basic" (for free to all subscribers).

According to the MLB announcements on their web pages, the intent was to make MLB available FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE to all "digital basic" subscribers. You had to at least be a "digital" subscriber to your content provider whatever service levels that required, but there would be no additional charge for the new MLB and MLBHD channels.

Of course, the cleverly constructed tier arrangement for TWC/LA has no such thing as "digital basic", so instead of just adding the MLB channel for free to every one of their optional tiers (which would define 100% of all "digital" subscirbers) they decided to add it to only one tier, Variety, which required me to pay an extra $5/month to receive MLB since I had previously NOT subscribed to that one... though I'd subscribed to several of the other optional digital tiers.

True, this was my choice, but TWC didn't have to distribute MLB in only one tier. It could have been in all tiers and then for sure it would have been "no additional charge for digital basic subscribers" as MLB had wanted. I think MLB got snowed and just ignored the issue, and we got screwed.

This latest HDNet and HDNet Movies story just makes me angrier.

On another matter...

Anybody else notice that the Internet download speed has gazoomed UP??? I'm paying for Turbo, which should be throttled to 10Mb... as it has always been.

And yet, speed tests run just now have confirmed what I had noticed of late, that download speeds are now much faster.

DSL Reports: 12Mb
Speakeasy: 15Mb
Speedtest: 24Mb

I honestly don't know why the three measurements vary so much (especially the Speakeasy and Speedtest sites, which I thought used the same measurement engines).

But the three measurements confirm what I'd suspected, that either they're doing some work tonight and they have removed the "throttle" (temporarily?), or they've boosted what the Turbo limit is and just not announced it.

I know I've received a card in the mail telling me that there might be a disruption in my area on May 27 because of infrastructure work (tied to the loss of HDNet????). But this increased download speed has been with me for a while now.

Anybody else??

Note that I'm not complaining about this one.

DSL Reports: 12Mb
Speakeasy: 15Mb
Speedtest: 24MbWell, further tests are a bit more consistent but again suggest something's changed:

DSL Reports: 15Mb
Speakeasy: 20Mb
Speedtest: 24Mb

It almost looks like they've for sure allowed a very high-speed burst for about 5 seconds, after which they seem to slow things down somewhat. But definitely not down to the old 10Mb I thought they had limited Turbo to.

It almost looks like they've for sure allowed a very high-speed burst for about 5 seconds, after which they seem to slow things down somewhat.

That's exactly what it is (Powerboost).

Mark Cuban offers to cut the cost of HDNET by 75% to cheap TWC but they still say it is too much. They never seem to have any problem jacking up our rates while their costs GO DOWN.

Time to say no more to cheap, shoddy, lousy picture quality Time Warner.

That's exactly what it is (Powerboost).I wasn't aware of this.

----------------------------------------------------

From a web description regarding TWC Dallas:

"Time Warner Cable North Texas has launched PowerBoost. PowerBoost is a new technology being deployed that allows Road Runner Turbo customers to temporarily experience download speeds significantly faster than their current speed of 10 Mbps. With PowerBoost, Turbo customers will see download speeds increase to 16 Mbps while downloading large files from the Internet when network capacity is available."

"We are very excited to be delivering the free, time-saving feature to our Road Runner Turbo customers," said Robert V. Moel, North Texas Division President. "PowerBoost will jumpstart a large file download reducing overall download time, and giving users more time to enjoy the multitude of media available online, including that made available through RoadRunner.com."

"The speed provided by PowerBoost is in relation to the level of Road Runner service a customer is subscribed to. An example of PowerBoost speeds are as follows; Road Runner Turbo customers with a current speed of 10 Mbps will enjoy PowerBoost up to 16 Mbps. Once a PowerBoost is completed, a download in progress will continue at the normal provisioned speed."

-----------------------------------------------------

My experience this weekend is that the "boost" is beyond 16Mb. I'm at 20Mb right now.

Anyway, no complaints here.

Thanks for the info.

Is anyone with an HD DVR having pixelated and sound bleeps from recording from MGMHD? All that I've done so far is that way and I'm trying to determine if the channel or my cable box is the problem. Thanks.

Yes it has been exactly like this ever since this channel(422)was added and it is the only channel behaving this way so it's not the box.
(Hollywood Hills-Eagle Rock)

They made the changes a day early in West LA.
HDNet and HDNet Movies are both gone, Smithsonian and Crime are active.

I just got off the phone canceling the HD Tier.

Unfortunately, but true to form, the TW CSR didn't seem to care when I told him why I cancelled. So much for Customer concerns.

FCD

Crime and Investigation and Smithsonian are total jokes compared to what HDNET was. Both in content and PQ.

I'll be canceling the HD Tier as well. $5 for what they now offer is a joke.

The channels changed here in the O.C. too....

Most of the source material on Crime and Investigation is in SD, just stretched to fit the screen is all.

LOL!! at Time Warner for selling us SD as part of the HD Tier.

Yeah, absolutely pathetic...but we can expect this kind of crap from Crime Warner can't we...why haven't we switched yet??

i canceled. they didnt care. they offered me starz for $9 a month. yawn.

Yeah, absolutely pathetic...but we can expect this kind of crap from Crime Warner can't we...why haven't we switched yet??
Unfortunately I subscribe to the $55 a month package that includes everything. There is no way I can cancel just the HD Tier without getting rid of the package in which case I would still pay at least 55 bucks a month.

But wait until Verizon FIOS is available here and I will completely axe Crime Warner.

Hey Guys. Check out Chan 410 ION TV. It is just SD paid infomercial hour after hour. What a COLLOSAL waste of an HD channel.

Hey Guys. Check out Chan 410 ION TV. It is just SD paid infomercial hour after hour. What a COLLOSAL waste of an HD channel.

Maybe we won't have to suffer it for long.....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/business/epaper/2009/05/20/0520ionmedia.html

This was the "successor" to PAX TV.

I like the Smith channel thus far but it in no way replaces HDNet/HDNet movies. I'm getting very close to switching to DirecTV.

I like the Smith channel thus far but it in no way replaces HDNet/HDNet movies. I'm getting very close to switching to DirecTV.
Be sure and tell Crime Warner why you are switching!!

The launch of Fox Sports West HD (24/7) on channel 463 and FSN Prime Ticket HD (24/7) on channel 464 previously scheduled for May 27, 2009 has been has been delayed by the programmer. FSN/Special Events HD (part-time) on channel 413 will be moved to channel 463 on May 27, 2009. Fox Sports West HD (24/7) and FSN Prime Ticket HD (24/7) will be launched on channels 463 and 464 as soon as they are available.

boo

Cool, with IONTV (410) & MyTV (413) we now have two wasted spaces of HD bandwith in Tarzana. Nothing on the channels at all.

I've got to talk to my apartment manager and see if I can put a satellite dish on top of the building, Time Warner need to die.

fitprod

TWC website still has HDNet and HDNMV listed as part of the HD Tier. What exactly is in the HD tier now?

I think it is three mostly useless channels.

Universal HD, Smithsonian HD, Crime and investigation HD, MGM HD....and all are worthless, yes I am canceling the HD Tier as well.

Universal HD, Smithsonian HD, Crime and investigation HD, MGM HD....and all are worthless, yes I am canceling the HD Tier as well.I might just cancel TWC altogether and switch to DirecTV. I watch HDNet a lot, and my GF likes HDNet Movies. TWC has been promising Speed-HD for about 6 months now but i still haven't gotten it while most of the surrounding areas do have it.

I can return my Tivo S3 to Costco for a full refund and switch to DirecTV and get everything i need, including HDNet and SpeedHD. And i would finally stop getting all the dinnertime phone calls from TWC salesdroids trying to get me to add their phone service and internet service, even though i've asked them repeatedly to take me off their call list.

And here's something weird - i know it must be a glitch, but my Tivo Series 3 (with CableCards) is still showing HDNet on channel 420 and HDNet movies on ch 421, even though the guide data says they're now SmithsonianHD and CINHD. Right now i'm watching Get Out on ch 420 and Wayne's World on ch 421. But on my TWC SA8300HD these channels are actually showing Stonehenge and Swat so TWC still is connected to HDNet somehow.

Yesterday one of my Tivo HD boxes stopped tuning channels except for the non-encrypted HD (402, 407, etc. and a few SD). On others, switching to the channel causes the cablecard paring screen to come up. In talking with a few on my buddies that are in the same Ontario/Fontana/Rancho Cucamonga area, they too are having problems with their Tivo and cablecards.

Anyone else out there wake up to non-functioning TiVo's on TWC Socal?

When I called in to support last night, they all ready had five calls on it so I suspect it's a system-wide issue.

Universal HD, Smithsonian HD, Crime and investigation HD, MGM HD....and all are worthless, yes I am canceling the HD Tier as well.


I'm holding out for MGMHD to replace HDNMV for me but I don't think it will happen. HDNet was good for an occasional MMA match, too.

Is anyone having trouble with the Music Choice channels. I get a no signal error on all of them on both of my S3 TiVos and on my TWC DVR. I don't have any problems on any other channels.

I'm pretty green when it comes to all this stuff, but here it goes:

I live in Los Angeles and have been using an OTA antenna to pick up stations on my Panasonic TH-42PX80U. Reception was spotty and an outdoor antenna is out of the question. I recently got fed up, bought a splitter and 50-ft RU6 coax, split the cable modem line, and ran it to my tv. After scanning for analog and digital, I'm able to pick up ABC, FOX, and KCAL9 (local independent channel) in HD. I also get a smattering of SD channels, including, oddly, a bunch of OnDemand channels that go in and out.

I don't subscribe to TW Cable, but my understanding is that the local nets (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) are supposed to be unencrypted and free by law. Why can't I pick up NBC and CBS? Is my understanding of the situation correct?

Cool, with IONTV (410) & MyTV (413) we now have two wasted spaces of HD bandwith in Tarzana. Nothing on the channels at all.

fitprodThen yesterday, Ch13 advertised the Angel game and the ad was in HD format. The game was not as it never is on MyTV. :mad: /Dan

I'm pretty green when it comes to all this stuff, but here it goes:

I live in Los Angeles and have been using an OTA antenna to pick up stations on my Panasonic TH-42PX80U. Reception was spotty and an outdoor antenna is out of the question. I recently got fed up, bought a splitter and 50-ft RU6 coax, split the cable modem line, and ran it to my tv. After scanning for analog and digital, I'm able to pick up ABC, FOX, and KCAL9 (local independent channel) in HD. I also get a smattering of SD channels, including, oddly, a bunch of OnDemand channels that go in and out.

I don't subscribe to TW Cable, but my understanding is that the local nets (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) are supposed to be unencrypted and free by law. Why can't I pick up NBC and CBS? Is my understanding of the situation correct?

What has happened is either cable or a signal from a Dish has given you some free HD...so you are getting unencrypted channels...the OnDemand channels are basics with cable and Directtv so that was a dead give away as to where you are receiving the signal...it's not illegal if it is inside the wiring of your house...usually a dormant coax line will only give you snow until you have the signal activated...

I'm pretty green when it comes to all this stuff, but here it goes:

I live in Los Angeles and have been using an OTA antenna to pick up stations on my Panasonic TH-42PX80U. Reception was spotty and an outdoor antenna is out of the question. I recently got fed up, bought a splitter and 50-ft RU6 coax, split the cable modem line, and ran it to my tv. After scanning for analog and digital, I'm able to pick up ABC, FOX, and KCAL9 (local independent channel) in HD. I also get a smattering of SD channels, including, oddly, a bunch of OnDemand channels that go in and out.

I don't subscribe to TW Cable, but my understanding is that the local nets (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) are supposed to be unencrypted and free by law. Why can't I pick up NBC and CBS? Is my understanding of the situation correct?
Hi Sammy.

Since you asked. :)
If TWC finds out what you had done there will be repercussion. How serious depends on the TWC tech that discovers it. And of course, ethically speaking, (since you asked) what you are doing is deriving a benefit from a service you have not payed for. Having said that I want to tell you that TWC has a subscription layer called "Broadcast Basic" that costs about $14 a month. They never advertise it, for obvious reasons, but are required to offer it I believe. This will give you all the local channels available in HD. It will also resolve the legal and ethical issues you are having.
Unfortunately, TWC has not figured out a way to scramble those Pay Per View channels over QAM, which is why you are able to see them. Basically whenever someone on your grid orders a movie you'll be able to see some part of it. However, a word of caution. Be careful going through those channels with children around, as people order all kinds of "movies" at all hours of the day, that you definitely don't want children to see. :eek:

Rudy

Time-Warner East San Fernando Valley has changed CBS's QAM from 2.1 to 542.1.

Seriously, does this make sense?

Just to add to Rudy's comments above:

1) If you don't subscribe to "Broadcast Basic", you shouldn't be getting those channels. TW should fit a "trap" to block it out. However, from what I've heard/read elsewhere, they don't seem to be making the effort to block that tier. I'd notify them about this in writing (spend the couple of bucks on a certified letter with delivery confirmation) so that if there is some comeback later, you can prove that you notified them.

2) Broadcast Basic - I believe it's an FCC requirement to offer this service tier. It's also a requirement that if they offer them digitally, they must do so in such a way that the subscriber is not required to rent equipment from the cableco i.e. they must be in clear QAM. I retained it for my garage and PC TVs when I switched to Direct last year. It's now running at $17/month in my area - price went up about 15% just before the DTV transition was about to take place. Draw your own conclusions.

Got a letter from TWC that for the next three Mondays they will "upgrading our network facilities serving your neighborhood". So be ready for outages for hours on end and rebooting you modem every morning. Here are the dates:
06/08/2009
06/15/2009
06/22/2009

Rudy

hmm.. my cable isnt working right now. i just got home and turned on the TV and i have no signal on any channels. TVs without a box arent working either. im in the eagle rock coverage area. maybe this has to do with the sudden rain storm?

hmm.. my cable isnt working right now. i just got home and turned on the TV and i have no signal on any channels. TVs without a box arent working either. im in the eagle rock coverage area. maybe this has to do with the sudden rain storm?
Sounds more like Crime Warners standard level of service!

Yep, same here nothing live and no guide data, but the recorded stuff is there and it works.

edit: fantastic! internet and phone down too...

My connection went down last night around 10pm for the night. Appears to be back this morning.

Rudy

Time-Warner East San Fernando Valley has changed CBS's QAM from 2.1 to 542.1.

Seriously, does this make sense?

Me too in West LA. :confused:

Well, it looks like I don't have to wait until Monday to experience connection outages, as I have had one at least once a day every day now.

Rudy

Sshhh... don't tell anyone...

According to the Channel Lineup pages...

Not that I watch it, but when the new HD channels first came out many months ago I discovered that LMNHD (475) which is supposedly part of Variety Tier was actually available to me even though I did not subscribe to Variety Tier at that time. It meant zero to me, but I thought it was just part of the rough edges of the channel rollout and would eventually be corrected. I don't think it ever was corrected (but since I now subscribe to Variety I can't be sure).

Well today, much to my surprise, I discovered that TNNSD (473) which is presumably in Sports Tier to which I do not subscribe, is actually available to me (as is the SD version on 264)! So either they decided not to put this channel in the Sports Tier but rather in Variety (or make it available for free with Cable Basic), or as with LMNHD they simply made a mistake that's never been corrected.

Anyway, watching the French Open (and hopefully the rest of the Slams, if this continues) in HD (even with only 2-channel stereo sound) when not covered by NBC or ESPN (with its irritating non-stop crawl and other obscuring graphics) is a treat.

No complaint.

nice.. im watching espn news right now and my receiver just restarted out of nowhere


*EDIT*
15 minutes later and it does it again

TWC did some rebooting around 2 am yesterday.

Everything is OK except now on HD stations only and using "full pixel" on my screen setting, I now have a thin green vertical line on the right edge of my screen.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a new overscanning issue that I will just have to live with if I want the full image on HD channels?

I talked TWC customer service but naturally couldn"t explain this.

slow internet speed in tarzana as of 30 min ago

Fox Sports West HD (24/7) and FSN Prime Ticket HD (24/7) will be launched on channels 463 and 464 as soon as they are available.
Both channels are available now since this morning.

TWC did some rebooting around 2 am yesterday.

Everything is OK except now on HD stations only and using "full pixel" on my screen setting, I now have a thin green vertical line on the right edge of my screen.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a new overscanning issue that I will just have to live with if I want the full image on HD channels?

I talked TWC customer service but naturally couldn"t explain this.

I'm in West Hollywood and i'm getting the same green line on the right side of the image, also there is a little strip of image on the left that is "shifted". I'm also at 0% overscan. No one will notice this if their tv overscans by 2-3%.

Free preview of HBO and Skinemax this weekend. Today through Sunday.

Rudy

Free preview of HBO and Skinemax this weekend. Today through Sunday.

RudyActually through Monday. /Dan

Sshhh... don't tell anyone...

...I discovered that TNNSD (473) which is presumably in Sports Tier to which I do not subscribe, is actually available to me Gone. History. No longer available for Wimbledon.

Anyone else notice KCET on Channel 6 in WLA (or whatever your analog KCET channel is) tht the picture is shrunk both top/bottom and sides with a black border. Even more on the top and bottom for shows is 16:9 format and including large borders on the sides as well?

I found that TWC moved 4 QAM stations. Here's what I have now:

KCBS 542-1
KTTV 548-1
KCAL 547-1
KCOP 553-1

All are the HD versions (. or -) as needed by your TV

I'm still looking for KNBC 4 and KTTV 11 here in Torrance, they disappeared a while ago and have not shown back up...they were 4.1 and 11.1 before.

I found that TWC moved 4 QAM stations. Here's what I have now:

KCBS 542-1
KTTV 548-1
KCAL 547-1
KCOP 553-1

All are the HD versions (. or -) as needed by your TV

Except they moved KCOP back to 13-1.
I swear Time Warner slays me.

If I was a cynical person, I'd say that they're doing this just to screw with QAM viewers.

I'm still looking for KNBC 4 and KTTV 11 here in Torrance, they disappeared a while ago and have not shown back up...they were 4.1 and 11.1 before.You may have to do a re-scan. They're somewhere, you just have to find them. These two disappeared several days ago here in El Segundo (same network as Torrance) on my little Haier 7" LCD TV and my 19" Toshiba LCD TV. On the Haier i found KNBC-DT on channel 5-148 and KTTV 11 on 102.548, and on the Toshiba i found KTTV on 112.7 sumthin and gave up looking for KNBC. But tonight KNBC and KTTV are back on 4-1 and 11-1 as they should be. They've been doing this a lot more often over the past several months just to piss us QAMers off.

I ended up putting the Toshiba back on my roof antenna so now the little Haier is the only TV in the house using QAM :)

Except they moved KCOP back to 13-1.
I swear Time Warner slays me.

If I was a cynical person, I'd say that they're doing this just to screw with QAM viewers.

Still the same here. No change, yet.

You may have to do a re-scan. They're somewhere, you just have to find them. These two disappeared several days ago here in El Segundo (same network as Torrance) on my little Haier 7" LCD TV and my 19" Toshiba LCD TV. On the Haier i found KNBC-DT on channel 5-148 and KTTV 11 on 102.548, and on the Toshiba i found KTTV on 112.7 sumthin and gave up looking for KNBC. But tonight KNBC and KTTV are back on 4-1 and 11-1 as they should be. They've been doing this a lot more often over the past several months just to piss us QAMers off.


The funny thing is that the OTA rebroadcasts had been pretty stable for the last 6-7 months or so.
And right after the OTA analog shut down they start playing channel reassignment games.

Coincidence?

At least they seem to be broadcasting Seinfeld in HD now.
(Although the cropped 16:9 version.)

The funny thing is that the OTA rebroadcasts had been pretty stable for the last 6-7 months or so.
And right after the OTA analog shut down they start playing channel reassignment games.

Coincidence?

At least they seem to be broadcasting Seinfeld in HD now.
(Although the cropped 16:9 version.)

I haven't looked in at Seinfeld yet. Is it "Stretch-O-Vision" ala TNT or real HD 15:9 ala Hogan's Heroes on HD Net? I believe Seinfeld was shot on film, so if the protected for 1:85 like they should have it can be redone. I'm waiting to see if the MTM library (all on 35mm film) get's the retelecine treatment.

But tonight KNBC and KTTV are back on 4-1 and 11-1 as they should be. They've been doing this a lot more often over the past several months just to piss us QAMers off.

Thanks for the heads up Randy, got my 4 and 11 back last night...

Everything is OK except now on HD stations only and using "full pixel" on my screen setting, I now have a thin green vertical line on the right edge of my screen.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a new overscanning issue that I will just have to live with if I want the full image on HD channels?

I talked TWC customer service but naturally couldn"t explain this.

I'm not only seeing the green line on all of my HD channels, it is also showing up on HD recordings that I've made as far back as a year ago. It previously was not on these recordings.

Any explanations for this? I realize that calling TW will be futile.

I haven't looked in at Seinfeld yet. Is it "Stretch-O-Vision" ala TNT or real HD 15:9 ala Hogan's Heroes on HD Net? I believe Seinfeld was shot on film, so if the protected for 1:85 like they should have it can be redone. I'm waiting to see if the MTM library (all on 35mm film) get's the retelecine treatment.

I'm not a big Seinfeld person but I remember reading that they aired some episodes on HDNet (I think).
Apparently Seinfeld was shot on film but 4:3.
They are cropping the top and bottom to get 16:9 but I think that most of it was framed so that you aren't loosing much.

In other news KCOP flipped back to 553-1.

KTTV
KCOP
KCBS
KCAL.

Is Time Warner in a pissing matching with Fox and CBS?

I'm not only seeing the green line on all of my HD channels, it is also showing up on HD recordings that I've made as far back as a year ago. It previously was not on these recordings.

Any explanations for this? I realize that calling TW will be futile.

Pull the power on your box and wait about a minute, then plug it in to reboot it. I sometimes get three pixels flashing up in the right corner in the black border, rebooting the box eliminates it...very strange.

In Anaheim KCAL 9 (9.1) and KTTV (11.1) are missing. I am very close to going OTA for all my TVs.

In Anaheim KCAL 9 (9.1) and KTTV (11.1) are missing. I am very close to going OTA for all my TVs.

Try rescanning. TW moved them next to KCBSD in the 553 range

Try rescanning. TW moved them next to KCBSD in the 553 range

In San Bernardino, TWC has moved KCAL and KTTV back to 9.1 and 11.1 as how yesterday Fri. 6/26.

Since the DTV transition though, Palladia seems to have disappeared off of QAM clear. Happen to anyone else?

WestLA is all mixed up again, too. My Mitubishi couldn't find any QAM as it always has. My HP/Sharp is confused. Oy! So am I. :confused:

Update:
I had to hard reset the big Mits to get it to scan again! All QAM locals are back at their normal numbers like 2-1 etc.

Same here in East San Fernando Valley.

Now if they could actually transmit KCET in 720P.

I haven't looked in at Seinfeld yet. Is it "Stretch-O-Vision" ala TNT or real HD 15:9 ala Hogan's Heroes on HD Net? I believe Seinfeld was shot on film, so if the protected for 1:85 like they should have it can be redone. I'm waiting to see if the MTM library (all on 35mm film) get's the retelecine treatment.


Seinfeld has not been stretchovision on TNT for a good year. It's in true HD with some slight cropping to make it 16:9.

I'm not only seeing the green line on all of my HD channels, it is also showing up on HD recordings that I've made as far back as a year ago. It previously was not on these recordings.

Any explanations for this? I realize that calling TW will be futile.


Have you done any changes on your set in regards to overscan that you hadn't done before? In addition to resetting your cable box?

Tyrant, any luck after my suggestion ??

Pull the power on your box and wait about a minute, then plug it in to reboot it. I sometimes get three pixels flashing up in the right corner in the black border, rebooting the box eliminates it...very strange.

I had the same issue with the green line and immediately unplugged my box for a minute. That didn't fix it. I haven't tried again, since I figured I would still get the same green line.

Have any local broadcasters chosen the option of delivering their original full bit rate of HD programming to TWC Los Angeles cable head ends for retransmission?

Have any local broadcasters chosen the option of delivering their original full bit rate of HD programming to TWC Los Angeles cable head ends for retransmission?

Depends what you mean by "full bit rate".

When I first subscribed about 18 months ago, the locals were delivering the same transport stream to TW as they were sending to their transmitters, and TW was just passing it along. This is still HIGHLY compressed compared to original raw camera acquisition (around 18 megabits vs. 1.5 gigabits, about 80:1), but at least TW subs saw the same signal people with antennas saw.

Then some time last summer (I think), the TS data rate dropped to around 13 or 14 megabits. The obvious physical indicator was that the same types of shows took significantly less space on my S3's hard drive - copies of ER went from around 6 gig per episode to around 4.2 gigs.

I don't have off-air here, so I can't say whether the broadcasters turned the screw on compression to accommodate more of those SD bullshit "side-channels" or TW was actually going to the trouble of recompressing the stream further.

Whichever it was, things got significantly worse on fast motion or complex scenes, with a LOT more blockiness, pixellation, and signal breakup.

I'm waiting to see the new DTV TiVo box. If it's a decent dual tuner box with upgradeable hard drive or external storage (or preferably both), and allows me to transfer shows around on my home network as I can now, I'll switch.

Thanks Doug for the answer. I just downloaded and watched the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" trailer in HD. First time in awhile I’d seen true HD.

Thanks Doug for the answer. I just downloaded and watched the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" trailer in HD. First time in awhile I’d seen true HD.

I see "true" (camera original) uncompressed HD almost every day on very expensive (>$20K) monitors and projectors, and the only thing that comes even close to reproducing that quality at home is the rare well-authored BluRay disk.

The highly compressed "good enough" stuff being fed from antennas, cable, fiber, satellite, Amazon, Netflix, etc. is utter junk in comparison. All those providers are trying to squeeze 200 lbs. of manure into a 5 lb. bag.

As long as people settle for crap, crap is what they'll get.

I see "true" (camera original) uncompressed HD almost every day on very expensive (>$20K) monitors and projectors, and the only thing that comes even close to reproducing that quality at home is the rare well-authored BluRay disk.

The highly compressed "good enough" stuff being fed from antennas, cable, fiber, satellite, Amazon, Netflix, etc. is utter junk in comparison. All those providers are trying to squeeze 200 lbs. of manure into a 5 lb. bag.

As long as people settle for crap, crap is what they'll get.
The question is what can we really do about it? The geniuses at FCC are actually demanding that the networks multicast to promote "diversity".:rolleyes:

Rudy

The question is what can we really do about it? The geniuses at FCC are actually demanding that the networks multicast to promote "diversity".:rolleyes:

I don't think the FCC demands multicasting. Stations are pretty much free to use as much or as little of their allotted bandwidth for those side channels as they wish. They were thrown into the mix as a bone to the broadcasters so they could charge for more advertising to compensate them somewhat for the cost of going digital.

The only way to do something about lack of quality is to vote with your dollars.

And the only way to make sure you're heard is NOT by talking to some bored CS rep who's reading from a script and doesn't give a crap about anything, but to write emails and letters to TW (or whomever) execs, outlining your complaint and why you canceled that tier or left the service altogether.

TW exec emails are on their site. Use them.

Agreed serious matters are best handled by more formal means however an informal option is now available. Let us know at this thread your outcome.

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Can someone tell me if Encore has HD channels?

For a few weeks I have noticed that recorded programs are starting late. This morning I tested by set a manual program. Both times, the recording was about 90 seconds late as determined by my watch, which is synced by the Atomic clock in CO.

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

I live in Santa Clarita, CA near Magic Mountain Park.

:confused:

I don't think the FCC demands multicasting. Stations are pretty much free to use as much or as little of their allotted bandwidth for those side channels as they wish. They were thrown into the mix as a bone to the broadcasters so they could charge for more advertising to compensate them somewhat for the cost of going digital.

The only way to do something about lack of quality is to vote with your dollars.

And the only way to make sure you're heard is NOT by talking to some bored CS rep who's reading from a script and doesn't give a crap about anything, but to write emails and letters to TW (or whomever) execs, outlining your complaint and why you canceled that tier or left the service altogether.

TW exec emails are on their site. Use them.
Here's a link that discusses FCC and multicasting:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1155830

You decide what level of influence it is from FCC to the broadcasters. I will say however, that whatever FCC may be pushing the multicasting is most likely done from the Broadcasters themselves.

Not sure what you mean by voting with my dollars, since multicasting is done by the OTA broadcasters which are free.:confused:
As for paying services all of them compress their signal, and will continue to worsen the picture quality further, except perhaps Verizon FiOS which is not available in my area and most likely will not be in my time residing here.

As for emails, if you actually have an email address of an individual(s) at the network that actually gives a crap about what we think, feel free to post their email address or PM me with it. I'll be more than happy to send them a polite email and to let them know that multicasting is evil.

Rudy

Can someone tell me if Encore has HD channels?

Encore HD is available in a few select areas on TWC but none of their multiplex channels are available anywhere in HD.


Can someone please tell me what the best HD-DVR currently available for Time Warner SoCal customers is? I have an older Motorola with 160gb limit currently.

For a few weeks I have noticed that recorded programs are starting late. This morning I tested by set a manual program. Both times, the recording was about 90 seconds late as determined by my watch, which is synced by the Atomic clock in CO.

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

I live in Santa Clarita, CA near Magic Mountain Park.

:confused:
Have not noticed it in over a year. I remember I used to have to set everything to start 1-2 minutes early to catch the beginning. The displayed time was off. Can try unplug/reboot. Check the time on the display versus "real" and also the cable time that shows on the screen (on ch 1 ?). /Dan

Can someone please tell me what the best HD-DVR currently available for Time Warner SoCal customers is? I have an older Motorola with 160gb limit currently.

The TiVo HD is the best HD DVR available.

The TiVo HD is the best HD DVR available.May be (though it, too, is not perfect)... but no active firewire port for archiving any HD recording to DVHS is a deal breaker for me. I'll stick with Moto-family DVR (e.g. my DCH-3416) and live with its minor limitations and inconveniences (at least for me) for just this reason. I find it perfectly acceptable.

Have not noticed it in over a year. I remember I used to have to set everything to start 1-2 minutes early to catch the beginning. The displayed time was off. Can try unplug/reboot. Check the time on the display versus "real" and also the cable time that shows on the screen (on ch 1 ?). /Dan

Unfortunately, if I set start 1 or 2 minutes early, it usually conflicts with other programming. I will try your suggestion to unplug and reboot. Thanks,

Can someone tell me if Encore has HD channels?

The TiVo HD is the best HD DVR available.

Not even on the radar. I'm not buying a box that doesn't allow video on demand or payperview.

Does no one on the thread really have any idea if TWC is offering HD-DVR's with more than 160 gb of space?

Can someone tell me if Encore has HD channels?I just saw a note on the TW HD board that San Diego is getting Encore HD. /Dan

Not even on the radar. I'm not buying a box that doesn't allow video on demand or payperview.

Does no one on the thread really have any idea if TWC is offering HD-DVR's with more than 160 gb of space?

I've got 750 GB in one TiVo and 1 TB in the other, and I archive shows on my PC that I can stream at any time back to either TiVo. I never order PPV, and the only On Demand I watch is Howard TV, which I am going to cancel because TWC doesn't show it in HD and I hate the DVR interface, and because I just don't have time to watch it.

Depends what you mean by "full bit rate".

When I first subscribed about 18 months ago, the locals were delivering the same transport stream to TW as they were sending to their transmitters, and TW was just passing it along. This is still HIGHLY compressed compared to original raw camera acquisition (around 18 megabits vs. 1.5 gigabits, about 80:1), but at least TW subs saw the same signal people with antennas saw.

Then some time last summer (I think), the TS data rate dropped to around 13 or 14 megabits. The obvious physical indicator was that the same types of shows took significantly less space on my S3's hard drive - copies of ER went from around 6 gig per episode to around 4.2 gigs.

I don't have off-air here, so I can't say whether the broadcasters turned the screw on compression to accommodate more of those SD bullshit "side-channels" or TW was actually going to the trouble of recompressing the stream further.

Whichever it was, things got significantly worse on fast motion or complex scenes, with a LOT more blockiness, pixellation, and signal breakup.

I'm waiting to see the new DTV TiVo box. If it's a decent dual tuner box with upgradeable hard drive or external storage (or preferably both), and allows me to transfer shows around on my home network as I can now, I'll switch.

I have a HD TiVo and live in the Time Warner West Valley area and frequently monitor the different bit rates. KTTV and KCBS are passed through without compression (KTTV was compressed by about 30% in February but I complained to the station and TWC reverted to passing the signal through). KTLA is sometimes compressed, but only at say 13.5 Mbps verses 14.1 Mbps. KCAL is knocked down from 17.9 OTA to about 15.5 on cable. Unfortunately, the most bit starved stations, KNBC and KABC, are usually compressed the most by about 2+ Mbps, depending on what is being aired at the time.

I have a HD TiVo and live in the Time Warner West Valley area and frequently monitor the different bit rates. KTTV and KCBS are passed through without compression (KTTV was compressed by about 30% in February but I complained to the station and TWC reverted to passing the signal through). KTLA is sometimes compressed, but only at say 13.5 Mbps verses 14.1 Mbps. KCAL is knocked down from 17.9 OTA to about 15.5 on cable. Unfortunately, the most bit starved stations, KNBC and KABC, are usually compressed the most by about 2+ Mbps, depending on what is being aired at the time.We were in Playa Del Rey watching "So you think you can dance" on KTTV-HD via their Time Warner feed. I can assure you they weren't getting full OTA bandwidth. Whenever the strobe light would kick on, the picture would deteriorate horribly. That's expected to some extent, but not that degree. We watched the same show again when we got home via DIRECTV and it was nowhere near as bad.

We left Time Warner due to poor PQ and I'm disgusted that they still haven't addressed it. They started re-compressing near the time they announced new HD channels were coming. Prior to that, the channels were pristine, and appeared to be equivalent to OTA.

From your description they're only knocking off 2 maybe 3 mbps. All that visible degradation to save the space of 1 SD channel!? Come on Time Warner! HD networks have to be some of the most watched stuff on your system. Give them the bitrate they need!

Just in passing...

I noticed yesterday as I was going through the upcoming two weeks of Guide info to set DVR [Moto DCH-3416] recordings for some HBOHD/SHOHD/FXHD series I watch regularly that the critical "(NEW)" item was only present on the genuine FIRST showing of these series episodes each week, even when that same week's fresh episode was shown multiple times during the week and even multiple times on the first night.

Previously, in order to gain the convenience of a "series recording" for these it was necessary to either accept multiple recordings and then delete the unwanted ones (either before or after they were actually made), or as I had always done just go through the Guide every two weeks and manually set upcoming recordings to ensure only one was made.

Greatly encouraged to find that TVGuide had apparently improved their info which is so crucial to how the iGuide software schedules recordings, I manually un-set all of my manual upcoming recordings and then re-set them as "series recording" entries.

Sure enough... now there's just one recording per week scheduled!!! And automatically!!! No unwanted duplicates, and no more manual schedule scanning every two weeks.

WHEW!!! FINALLY!!!


(Note: my sister in Chicago still has a terrible time with this on her Comcast system, also using Moto-family DCT-6416 DVR. There the iGuide info provider has not yet made the same improvement, thus causing many unwanted duplicate recordings since my sister refuses to set individual recordings manually but only records what she wants via "series", preferring to spend the time deleting duplicates AFTER the fact rather than manually set only the correct single desired recording BEFORE they occur.)

I see "true" (camera original) uncompressed HD almost every day on very expensive (>$20K) monitors and projectors, and the only thing that comes even close to reproducing that quality at home is the rare well-authored BluRay disk.

The highly compressed "good enough" stuff being fed from antennas, cable, fiber, satellite, Amazon, Netflix, etc. is utter junk in comparison. All those providers are trying to squeeze 200 lbs. of manure into a 5 lb. bag.

As long as people settle for crap, crap is what they'll get.


I've fought with TW over picture quality ever since they took over for Comcast. BD and HD DVD is what I stick with most of the time.

The only reason I still have TW is for the rest of the family who watches on smaller sets and don't care about picture quality like me. I watch something here and there every couple of days, but the picture quality just gets me fired up.

I'm watching The Tour de France on Versus, and this is the first year for HD on the tour, and I really wish it wasn't so damned compressed viewing it on TW!!

Just in passing...

I noticed yesterday as I was going through the upcoming two weeks of Guide info to set DVR [Moto DCH-3416] recordings for some HBOHD/SHOHD/FXHD series I watch regularly that the critical "(NEW)" item was only present on the genuine FIRST showing of these series episodes each week, even when that same week's fresh episode was shown multiple times during the week and even multiple times on the first night.

Previously, in order to gain the convenience of a "series recording" for these it was necessary to either accept multiple recordings and then delete the unwanted ones (either before or after they were actually made), or as I had always done just go through the Guide every two weeks and manually set upcoming recordings to ensure only one was made.

Greatly encouraged to find that TVGuide had apparently improved their info which is so crucial to how the iGuide software schedules recordings, I manually un-set all of my manual upcoming recordings and then re-set them as "series recording" entries.

Sure enough... now there's just one recording per week scheduled!!! And automatically!!! No unwanted duplicates, and no more manual schedule scanning every two weeks.

WHEW!!! FINALLY!!!


(Note: my sister in Chicago still has a terrible time with this on her Comcast system, also using Moto-family DCT-6416 DVR. There the iGuide info provider has not yet made the same improvement, thus causing many unwanted duplicate recordings since my sister refuses to set individual recordings manually but only records what she wants via "series", preferring to spend the time deleting duplicates AFTER the fact rather than manually set only the correct single desired recording BEFORE they occur.)

comedy central hasnt gotten this. recorded about 10 reno 911s last night from 2005. have the season pass set to new only.

Just in passing...

I noticed yesterday as I was going through the upcoming two weeks of Guide info to set DVR [Moto DCH-3416] recordings for some HBOHD/SHOHD/FXHD series I watch regularly that the critical "(NEW)" item was only present on the genuine FIRST showing of these series episodes each week, even when that same week's fresh episode was shown multiple times during the week and even multiple times on the first night.

Previously, in order to gain the convenience of a "series recording" for these it was necessary to either accept multiple recordings and then delete the unwanted ones (either before or after they were actually made), or as I had always done just go through the Guide every two weeks and manually set upcoming recordings to ensure only one was made.

Greatly encouraged to find that TVGuide had apparently improved their info which is so crucial to how the iGuide software schedules recordings, I manually un-set all of my manual upcoming recordings and then re-set them as "series recording" entries.

Sure enough... now there's just one recording per week scheduled!!! And automatically!!! No unwanted duplicates, and no more manual schedule scanning every two weeks.

The exact opposite is happening for me. While before I would occasionally get duplicate shows, this week *EVERY* show is recording 8 or 10 times. I must have had 35 things set to record today and I think 2 were legit.

What do I do here? It's recording shows not marked "NEW" even though I have the series recordings set only to record new.

The exact opposite is happening for me. While before I would occasionally get duplicate shows, this week *EVERY* show is recording 8 or 10 times. I must have had 35 things set to record today and I think 2 were legit.

What do I do here? It's recording shows not marked "NEW" even though I have the series recordings set only to record new.Well, I guess that I too need to modify my earlier comments a bit. It seems to be better than it was, but inexplicably not perfect. Now I'm stumped, since I thought it was the presence of "(new)" which was the key ingredient.

However I have had to delete unwanted recordings of the late-Saturday versions of "Lost" that ABC is broadcasting, which do not show "(new)".

Also, next Friday I see scheduled a whole series of "Time Warp" which also do not show "(new)". Actually, these are from last year I think and I'm glad to view them, but their scheduling is a mystery.

Also, there appear to be several upcoming non-Friday "Realtime, Bill Maher" scheduled recordings which also do not show "(new)" that I've now been forced to negate.

On the other hand, one-and-only-one scheduled series recording per week is seemingly successful for "Weeds", "Nurse Jackie", "Hung", "Rescue Me" and "Entourage".

Perhaps there's more in the Guide INFO (other than "(new)" that is not being displayed (e.g. a "first shown" date which perhaps is not always present, but which we know is available since TitanTV shows it, but which if present would surely eliminate it as "first run only") but which is causing or preventing the unwanted duplicate scheduling.

Perhaps it has something to do with the existence of at least one prior recording for that show in your DVR list (to compare INFO against?) in order to have a second double-check triggering the scheduling or non-scheduling instead of just relying on "(new)"?

Anyway, it does seem "mostly successful" for my series recorded shows (i.e. the opposite of how it used to work), so based on "least inconvenience" I think I'll still go with this alternative approach from now on.


NOTE: I wonder if there's some late-night DVR re-scheduling that goes on (e.g. after a forced re-boot, or nightly daily schedule change/update or something), which might cause these duplicates? For example, I can look ahead now and see the upcoming Saturday night "Lost" episodes scheduled (and manually negated), but I could swear that these were not present last week. Also, same with some "Bill Maher" episodes, as well as with "Make Me A Supermodel" (when it was on the air), "America's Next Top Model", whose Friday/Sunday repeats do not show up earlier in the week but somehow mysteriously appear as recorded on that repeat night... seemingly scheduled by themselves, since "to be announced" was not in their Friday/Sunday cell on the Guide but rather the actual show info correctly appeared all week!

I know that any "manual negates" have to be re-visited and re-set when you add a new series recording (since the whole previously set list of series and manual recordings seems to be re-examined at this time, probably to ensure no scheduling conflicts with the new series recording, and all previous "manual negates" unfortunately appear to get un-done as an unintended consequence). So perhaps something like this gets done (by unwanted accident?) through some head-end command overnight when the next 2-weeks-out scheduling updates are sent?

I guess only iGuide could answer these questions and explain all the anomalies.

Hey guys, I'm in the 90027 area of LA (I think I have the Eagle Rock channel set) and I was wondering if anyone knows if G4 shows up on QAM? My building comes with cable, but not the digital box and G4 is the only one I'm really missing.

Thanks

Did anyone note the time when KCBS-2 shut down their nightlight signal ? I was getting their 59.750 MHz audio at 2248Z today (with the "ad" for Southern California Lincoln-Mercury dealers) here in San Antonio. Within 2 hours of that someone reported them as no longer on.

Hey guys, I'm in the 90027 area of LA (I think I have the Eagle Rock channel set) and I was wondering if anyone knows if G4 shows up on QAM? My building comes with cable, but not the digital box and G4 is the only one I'm really missing.

Thanks

G4 has not been in the clear since late last year or so. Too bad as I liked watching the "Women of Ninja Warrior".:D

People in the SA areas should be getting Navigator pretty soon.

Tyrant, any luck after my suggestion ??

It didn't work. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Just got a letter from TWC West Valley to all CableCard customers stating all the HD channels minus the premiums and networks will be shifted to SDV. Also moving are a lot of the Spanish and Asian-language SD channels. Hopefully this means we'll be getting some more HD channels in a couple months...

I hope the switch to SDV will mean that TWC can get rid of the compression that causes nasty artifacts on all of the HD channels. In Simi Valley, the quality seems to be getting worse rather than better.

I hope the switch to SDV will mean that TWC can get rid of the compression that causes nasty artifacts on all of the HD channels. In Simi Valley, the quality seems to be getting worse rather than better.Just out of curiosity, were you "former Adelphia"? Are you using SA equipment or Moto equipment? Did you previously have SA, Moxi, or Moto equipment?

Here in my area of Marina Del Rey ("former Comcast") we are part of a Moto infrastucture and have always had Motorola boxes... STB or DVR. I've never really noticed a problem with quality on the "high-end" HD channels (i.e. the primary ones which have been available since the start).

As far as quality for the more recently born and more recently available additional HD channels on the greatly expanded HD channel list, well I probably ascribe as much of the blame for lousy artifacts and picture quality as much to the broadcaster as anywhere else. Certainly any channel which is willing to put out stretch-o-vision can't be expected to give one hoot about "HD quality".

In other words, unless it is clearly the fault of re-compression (and reduced bit rates, to fit within infrastructure bandwidth limits) from the originally provided broadcast by TWC, then the true fault for lousy quality has to start at the beginning: from channels who don't care that they provide stretch-o-vision, believe that their viewers "can't tell the difference", upconvert SD content and call it HD, send out 2-channel stereo instead of DD5.1, etc. I myself have observed that FXHD broadcasts are horrible when fast motion is involved (e.g. "Nip/Tuck", "Rescue Me", etc.) but ok when the image is stationary. Couldn't this be crummy encoding on the part of FX?

There's probably shared blame at work here, because I do believe reports of people with Tivo recorders claiming "smaller file sizes" for recordings via TWC than OTA (which is certainly shameful for local network broadcasts).

during weather on the local evening news on both KCBS DT and KABC DT I see picture degradation via cable on multiple occasions which never appear ota.

I see "true" (camera original) uncompressed HD almost every day on very expensive (>$20K) monitors and projectors, and the only thing that comes even close to reproducing that quality at home is the rare well-authored BluRay disk.

The highly compressed "good enough" stuff being fed from antennas, cable, fiber, satellite, Amazon, Netflix, etc. is utter junk in comparison. All those providers are trying to squeeze 200 lbs. of manure into a 5 lb. bag.

As long as people settle for crap, crap is what they'll get.

I agree. I also see REAL HD on set all the time and nothing even comes close on CABLE or DISH or FIBER... Very Sad... :'(

Most of the BluRay I have seen don't look any better than a normal DVD ether... I gave up trying to find the good ones...

Just out of curiosity, were you "former Adelphia"? Are you using SA equipment or Moto equipment? Did you previously have SA, Moxi, or Moto equipment?

Here in my area of Marina Del Rey ("former Comcast") we are part of a Moto infrastucture and have always had Motorola boxes... STB or DVR. I've never really noticed a problem with quality on the "high-end" HD channels (i.e. the primary ones which have been available since the start).

As far as quality for the more recently born and more recently available additional HD channels on the greatly expanded HD channel list, well I probably ascribe as much of the blame for lousy artifacts and picture quality as much to the broadcaster as anywhere else. Certainly any channel which is willing to put out stretch-o-vision can't be expected to give one hoot about "HD quality".

In other words, unless it is clearly the fault of re-compression (and reduced bit rates, to fit within infrastructure bandwidth limits) from the originally provided broadcast by TWC, then the true fault for lousy quality has to start at the beginning: from channels who don't care that they provide stretch-o-vision, believe that their viewers "can't tell the difference", upconvert SD content and call it HD, send out 2-channel stereo instead of DD5.1, etc. I myself have observed that FXHD broadcasts are horrible when fast motion is involved (e.g. "Nip/Tuck", "Rescue Me", etc.) but ok when the image is stationary. Couldn't this be crummy encoding on the part of FX?

There's probably shared blame at work here, because I do believe reports of people with Tivo recorders claiming "smaller file sizes" for recordings via TWC than OTA (which is certainly shameful for local network broadcasts).

DSperber,

I am in a former Adelphia area. I originally had a Moxi DVR. Now I have a Motorola 3416.

My broadcast HD channels -- and most of the other HD channels -- looked great until September of last year, when the first round of new HD channels were added. This leads me to believe that the artifacts are a bandwidth or compression issue. Friends and relatives of mine, who live in Simi Valley, Chatsworth, Santa Clarita and Camarillo, noticed the same degradation of quality starting last September.

An engineer from TWC came to my house recently to see the artifacts on recordings I had saved on my DVR. He said he had never heard of the problem before, so I gave him copies of several posts from this forum. He didn't offer any solution, and he never got back to me.

The quality of my HD channels -- broadcast or otherwise -- is absolutely terrible now, with multiple incidents of nasty artifacts during every half hour or one hour show. Personally, I rather have fewer HD channels with excellent quality than more channels with crappy quality, which is what I have now.

-Gary

The quality of my HD channels -- broadcast or otherwise -- is absolutely terrible now, with multiple incidents of nasty artifacts during every half hour or one hour show. Personally, I rather have fewer HD channels with excellent quality than more channels with crappy quality, which is what I have now.

-Gary

This, plus the loss of HD-Net and HD-Net Movies was why I left TWC after 20+ years and switched to Verizon FIOS last month.

Best TV related move I ever made. NO picture quality problems, lower price and more HD channels. Can watch recorded DVR movies on any box in the house.

Plus this weekend they activated their media manager that lets you listen to the PC's music, view pictures and now watch PC movies in a wide variety of formats--flv, avi, etc

I loved my MOXI box, problems and all, but the FIOS is now a better provider, at least for me.:)

This, plus the loss of HD-Net and HD-Net Movies was why I left TWC after 20+ years and switched to Verizon FIOS last month.This would be a no-brainer for pretty much everyone, I suspect... if everyone had the option.

Unfortunately FIOS is not available in my area or at least to my building, even though I'm in a Verizon area.

My nephew in Chicago just bought a new house and went with AT&T u-Verse (which was available in his area). Despite quite a horror story getting the whole thing installed (phone, plus 6 TVs and 4 computers and whole-house networking for DVR playback), it's apparently now fully operational and compared to Comcast which he previously had he is now absolutely thrilled.

I only wish that I, too, had the option. Oh well. Maybe someday.

This, plus the loss of HD-Net and HD-Net Movies was why I left TWC after 20+ years and switched to Verizon FIOS last month.

Best TV related move I ever made. NO picture quality problems, lower price and more HD channels. Can watch recorded DVR movies on any box in the house.

Plus this weekend they activated their media manager that lets you listen to the PC's music, view pictures and now watch PC movies in a wide variety of formats--flv, avi, etc

I loved my MOXI box, problems and all, but the FIOS is now a better provider, at least for me.:)

Does Fios allow people to put in a zip code and tell them when Fios may be coming to their area? Or is it still just "sorry, Fios is not available in your area".

Does Fios allow people to put in a zip code and tell them when Fios may be coming to their area? Or is it still just "sorry, Fios is not available in your area".

Based on personal experience, you will know. Local newspaper flyers, door to door, booths on Main Street, ...

Does Fios allow people to put in a zip code and tell them when Fios may be coming to their area? Or is it still just "sorry, Fios is not available in your area".

I have a Verizon phone number and I keep trying it on their site from time to time and it's still not available in my area. I signed up to be notified also. I wish they would come here. They run adds in the local paper but when I search by address or my Verizon phone number nothing. :mad:

I get lots of breakups on TWC HD recordings lately. Couple of weeks ago The Closer was terrible. Finally had to watch it on the SD side. I'm still pissed over the HDnet,HDnet Movies thing also.

Jim

No sooner did I ask about getting Navigator on my box and BAM, Navigatored last night. Dare I say, so far I'm pretty impressed with the 5 mins. I played with it before work. VERY fast on my 8300HD box, colors look great, as was already said On Demand looks great too. Version I have is 2.4.4-16. I had tons of "unknown" recordings show up in the recorded list and it said the box was 82% full, I just deleted em' and I'm all good now. I'll play with it during lunch and see what else I see...

I agree. I also see REAL HD on set all the time and nothing even comes close on CABLE or DISH or FIBER... Very Sad... :'(

Most of the BluRay I have seen don't look any better than a normal DVD ether... I gave up trying to find the good ones...

Haven't seen it myself yet, but I have been given to understand by people whose opinion I value that this one is outstanding:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CDLATE/

Most of the BluRay I have seen don't look any better than a normal DVD ether... I gave up trying to find the good ones...
Check out the Bluray PQ Tiers thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316) for reference quality BRs.

No sooner did I ask about getting Navigator on my box and BAM, Navigatored last night. Dare I say, so far I'm pretty impressed with the 5 mins. I played with it before work. VERY fast on my 8300HD box, colors look great, as was already said On Demand looks great too. Version I have is 2.4.4-16. I had tons of "unknown" recordings show up in the recorded list and it said the box was 82% full, I just deleted em' and I'm all good now. I'll play with it during lunch and see what else I see...We got it here in El Segundo sometime yesterday or the night before. I didn't know it at the time because when i turned my TV on i was not getting a picture and couldn't bring up any menus or anything. I did notice that the output format on the front display was now indicating 480i where i always had it set to 1080i and my TVs will not accept a 480i signal over HDMI. I checked my other 8300HD and it too was now showing 480i on the front panel and that TV (my oldest plasma) and also would not display a picture or menus.

I called TWC and got a pretty cool CSR and when i asked him if we finally got Navigator he said yes, but that all my settings should have carried over. I asked hime if he had a way for me to change the output resolution using the front buttons and he started giving me the instructions for a Motorola box using buttons that my 8300HD doesn't have, then he realized i don't have a Motorola. He checked his documentation and asked some other people at his office but they couldn't come up with a way for me to change the output resolution using the front buttons. I presume there must be a way but they didn't know, and i couldn't find info on the web (although i didn't look very long). So i asked him if he has the remote key sequence to access the menu and enable the 1080i setting which would get the picture working and he tried to walk me through it from the manual but he apparently wasn't getting the sequence right.

So i hung up and just disconnected the HDMI cable, connected a Component cable, and was able to get a picture and change the setting from 480i to 1080i. Re-installed my HDMI cable and now the TV is getting the signal.

I haven't even explored this new Navigator software that much and i already miss Passport :(

I have a Verizon phone number and I keep trying it on their site from time to time and it's still not available in my area. I signed up to be notified also. I wish they would come here. They run adds in the local paper but when I search by address or my Verizon phone number nothing. :mad:

I get lots of breakups on TWC HD recordings lately. Couple of weeks ago The Closer was terrible. Finally had to watch it on the SD side. I'm still pissed over the HDnet,HDnet Movies thing also.

Jim

I am the exact same way. I check verizon's site every now and then, hoping against all odds, they will Fios. I mean, I live in freaking West LA near Bundy & Santa Monica. How much denser of an area do you want?

Please Verizon, PLEASE... I hate TWC, and I will switch the DAY Fios is available to me.

I have a Motorola 6416 (I think thats the model), the one with both analogue and digital tuners. I am forever having to check the future recording list and tell it not to record episodes I've already seen. But more often than not, as soon as I exit the screen, it reschedules these recordings. I therefore am constantly having to delete recordings, and missing shows due to the hard drive always being full.

Is this a common problem? I'm on the verge of trying out Uverse since Fios isn't available in my area. I haven't called TW because I know they will simply have me re-set the box (which I've done many times).

Is Navigator only for the 8300? I'm pretty sure I have the 3416.

I have a Motorola 6416 (I think thats the model), the one with both analogue and digital tuners. I am forever having to check the future recording list and tell it not to record episodes I've already seen. But more often than not, as soon as I exit the screen, it reschedules these recordings.

Is this a common problem? I think the software in the older 6416 is pretty guilty on this issue. I know I used to have it (when I had one of those boxes) and my sister in Chicago has the same issue with hers (on Comcast).

The problem is primarily in the Guide Info itself, which may or may not provide "(new)" and which is primarily what the software looks for. However even when this information is present, if it appears on the Info for multiple showings then the software is confounded. Also, if there is no such "(new)" then the software doesn't really have any way at all to decide, and obviously often makes wrong decisions.

I believe the newer DCH-3416 box (which I have) does a much better job of preventing these duplicate recordings from ever happening (although it is still not entirely foolproof). You might consider bringing your old 6416 into TWC and trading for a new 3416 (which is faster and more reliable anyway, and never exhibits the "delayed response" symptom so common on the older hardware/software).

Also, if you record shows that are shown dozens of times a week or day you might consider NOT using the "series" recording method and just manually setting the recording (still using the Guide cells) individually for that show, for that once per day or once per week that you know the first run is on. I realize you'd have to sit down for 10 minutes once every two weeks to do it, but it would probably be worth the effort. Seems like the lesser of the inconveniences. You'd NEVER get duplicates that way, though I realize "series, first-run, on this channel only" should work in an ideal world (assuming Guide info was perfect).

Moto With Alzheimers

Yes I experince the exact same annoying problem. I take a different approach and mark important shows as only deleted by me, but it is certainly far from an ideal solution.

In my opinion, it is a simple software bug. If you set the box to record only new episodes, it should record only episodes flagged as "new". What is does is record episodes flagged as "new" and episodes without any flag.

An even better solution would be for the box to remember recently deleted episodes, so that it would record the "new" or unflagged episodes, but only if they have not been recently deleted.

I wouldn't hold my breath on a real solution to this one anytime soon.

If you’re a Time Warner Cable customer and you spot this on your TV:

… you can start getting excited. This blue screen of annoyance is a sign of new features to come.

Time Warner Cable's Start Over service. Image from NYTimesBesides the debatable improvement in the program guide, the new Mystro Navigator software, which replaces Passport software in Time Warner’s Scientific Atlanta boxes, paves the way for the “Look Back,” “Start Over” and switched digital video, all features that Time Warner mentioned to us last year.

These features will let viewers watch a TV show they didn’t record for a day or two after its initial broadcast, or restart a show if you tune in after it already began. Time Warner, essentially, is upgrading its on-demand service and creating a networked DVR, allowing for some shows to be stored at the company’s offices rather than the home DVR box itself. Though there are unwanted consequences for some users (see earlier story, “More HD channels coming to cable TV, TiVo users impacted“), this also means customers will get a massive on-demand library of current TV shows they can view at the touch of their remote.

“It’s going to create a system for bandwidth to open up for more HD channels and it’s going to prepare us for the services we’re going to be introducing, Start Over and Look Back,” said Darryl Ryan, a Time Warner Cable spokesman.

Exactly when? Ryan doesn’t know or he won’t say. He’ll only say, “It’s still in development and should be coming very very soon.” But when we first learned that the features were coming, Time Warner gave us a mid-2009 launch date (strum fingers repeatedly).

Mystro software coming to Time Warner Cable.The Mystro software began rolling out to Southern California customers last year, Ryan said. Those of us getting it now should be on the tail end of receipt, though Ryan won’t confirm.

My personal experience is that when Time Warner surreptitiously updated my HD-DVR box yesterday, I was stuck staring at the blue “DO NOT POWER OFF YOUR BOX” screen for more than eight hours! Apparently, that was a local problem. Ryan said that the upgrade shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. If customers do experience issues, it could be old wiring or some other specific reason. Those customers should call for help, at 888-TWCABLE. The update works fine for me today.

While I haven’t heard of any upgrade issues from readers, there’s a lot of debate online about the good but mostly the bad of Mystro. Google, for example, hasn’t been kind to Mystro and its top search results focus on how terrible Mystro is. There are complaints about the box freezing, not being ready for prime time and even a video showing how lousy Mystro is.

Time Warner's Mystro software offers DVR capacity indicator.

But customers can instantly look forward to other new features: On-screen caller ID for those with phone service, a DVR storage capacity indicator (see image on right — yup, I keep my DVR that full), and ability to view recorded shows by name or date. I haven’t fully checked out all the new features, but I noticed that blogger Selfish Mom offers an overview.

Mystro has been waiting for its public debut for a very long time. The technology, touted as TV’s first server-based, time-shifting service (in essence, the first TV-recording technology that stored recorded programs on the TV provider’s servers rather than on a home DVR box), has been around since at least 2001, when Cable Hall of Fame inductee Jim Chiddix founded the company (see the article, “Fiber and a Charmed Career” from Communications Technology) while working for Time Warner. I first mentioned the feature in an article in 2007, “What’s next for TV service.”

But it’s taken sooooo long to roll out. A big delay has been in getting permission from the TV stations to rebroadcast shows. But that appears to be resolved. Start Over and Look Back features started rolling out in 2006 in areas like New York, so we can get a glimpse of channels that will let us really Start Over:

NY1 , Nickelodeon, CNBC, USA, Syfy, VH1, Cartoon Network, truTV, Spike TV, BET, Comedy Central, Oxygen, TV Land, G4, Boomerang, SOAPnet, MTV2, Noggin, Nicktoons Network, CMT (Country Music Television), LOGO, The Movie Channel, Fox Movie Channel, Showtime HD, Starz HD, Encore HD, NY1 HD, WCBS HDTV, TNT HD, WNYW HD, TBS HD, WWOR HD, CNN HD, Palladia HD, FX HD, ABC Family HD, History HD, Fox News HD, A&E HD, Disney HD, Food Network HD, BIO HD, HGTV HD, National Geographic HD, SPEED HD, Animal Planet HD, Travel Channel HD, and Versus/Golf HD

Then there was an issue with a cable company storing TV shows at its offices instead of on a home user’s DVR. This was resolved earlier this year when Cablevision won a lawsuit filed by the TV networks allowing the cable company to offer the networked DVR service.

Let’s hope that the Start Over and Look Back service is worth waiting for. Cox, Orange County’s other cable TV provider, is also rolling out switched digital video and currently offers several prime-time shows on demand (see the earlier “Time Warner Cable looking more like Hulu“).

For Recent Time Warner Cable news check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/guide-to-paid-tv-services-in-oc/
http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/07/23/coming-soon-to-time-warner-rewind-shows-you-forgot-to-record/17715/

More HD channels coming to cable TV, TiVo users impacted
Switched video adapters for TiVo.

Sooner than later, Orange County cable TV customers may notice a lot more high-definition channels.

This is not an easy task, by the way. Cable providers have struggled to offer more HD channels because their aging systems are near capacity. Now, thanks to new technology called switched digital video, they have figured out how to get more room: Stop broadcasting every single channel 24/7.

By turning some of the least popular channels into on-demand channels, cable companies can use that newly opened space to squeeze in more HD channels. Channels that do go switched digital are still accessible. But there may be a slight delay after turning to that channel, as the cable box sends the request back to the main station. The delay should be just a split second and unnoticeable to viewers, the cable companies say.

But one reader from Yorba Linda, who uses a CableCARD and TiVo to watch cable TV, alerted me that some switching might be going on in his neighborhood. He woke up one day to find very few channels showing up on his TV — Food TV yes, but not the HD version; no Bravo and absolutely no HBO. A Time Warner customer service representative mentioned to him the cable provider was switching to this new technology.

I checked with both local cable companies — Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications — and both plan to implement this technology. But Time Warner has not yet. Cox, however, is testing it out in Orange County.

“While our current network infrastructure is powerful, we know our customers want more from their Cox digital services,” said Cox spokeswoman Lana Ong. ”In order to provide our customers with new services and more HD channels, we’re currently using switched digital technology — this is transparent to our customers. Switched digital allows Cox to maximize our network capacity and offer more services including a variety of digital and HD channels to our customers.”

Cox is using switched video on about 90 channels in Orange County. Affected are some pay-per-view channels, foreign language channels and some digital channels, like FitTV and Jewelry TV, Ong said.

COX UPDATE, July 9, 2009: Since the cable provider is testing the TiVo adapter, they are not yet available. But when they are, Cox will be contacting customers to let them know an adpater is availalb e for free to eligible customers.

Time Warner, which has a special page dedicated to the topic, has not started switched video in Orange County but is testing it in part of the San Fernando Valley.

TiVo It’s all good. Unless you’re a TiVo user who watches cable via a CableCARD, a thick credit-card-like device that slides into TiVos or other computer to decrypt the cable signal. Affected TiVos are TiVo Series 3 DVR, TiVo HD DVR and the TiVo HD XL DVR.

The problem with TiVo/CableCARDs and switched video is that switched video requires two-way communication — the user requests the channel, the cable company delivers. But cable cards are one way. If a cable system goes switched video, a TiVo user will see nothing on those channels, as was the case last year in Hawaii when Time Warner began testing the service. (Read: Time Warner Cable plans more channels in O.C. despite fines. The fines, by the way, were later lifted).

“It is just important that any customer requesting a CableCARD understand that some of our channels are being delivered using technology known as Switch Digital Video,” said Darryl Ryan, a Time Warner spokesman, said that TiVo customers could get a free set-top box.
“This means the current generation of devices like TVs and TiVos even though they have CableCARDs, they were not designed to receive any service delivered using the Switch Digital Video technology. So, it is best to (request a) set-top box to be able to access all the services and channels we offer such as Video On Demand, Pay Per View, guide channel and On Demand,” Ryan said.

Of course, that would defeat the purpose of having a TiVo and CableCARD.

But there’s an easy, simple fix from both companies: A free adapter, which became available last fall. Time Warner, which says it has plenty, plans to offer them to TiVo users when the technology launches (You can order an adapter HERE). Cox also has an external tuning adapter that will be free to TiVo users with CableCARDs, but Ong adds, “We are currently in testing mode.”

Switched video adapters for TiVo.

TiVo’s Jim Denny, vice president of product marketing, said that TiVo has been working with various cable providers nationwide to offer a tuning adapter that turns a TiVo with CableCARD into a two-way device.

“If there are reports of it being out of stock, I will escalate that to our (cable TV) corporate contact,” Denny said. “What a TiVo subscriber should also do is call our customer support and say, ‘Hey, I’m trying to get a TiVo adapter.’ … Our motivation is to get (potential and existing TiVo subscribers) through this.”

Back to the Yorba Linda reader, we figured out that switched video wasn’t the problem. Time Warner told him it was auditing CableCARDs and sent a technician to his house to take the serial number and re-input the cards. It took 90 minutes to do four cards. Everything is now working, reports the relieved yet frustrated reader.

This story was edited from the original version published here on July 3, 2009.

Around the web:

Company sites:

* Switched Digital Video - Will it impact you? (TiVo) http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/307/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvc2lkLzhhQmxoVkJq
* Switched Digital Video Tuning Adapter FAQ (CableLabs) http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/Switched-Digital-Video-Tuning-Adapter-FAQ.pdf
* How to install a Tuning Adapter for switched digital video (TiVo) http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/133
* Time Warner’s guide to Switched Video (Time Warner Cable) http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/learn/cable/sdv/default.html
* Order a switched video adapter from Time Warner (Time Warner Cable) http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/learn/cable/sdv/ordersdv.html

News:

* Current State of Switched Digital Video (SDV) and CableCard compatibility (Green Button Forum for Windows Media Center users) http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/260679/ShowThread.aspx
* TiVo and cable industry unveil Switched Digital Video workaround (CNET’s Crave) http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9823095-1.html
* FCC Vacates SDV Rulings Against Time Warner Cable, Cox (Multichannel News) http://www.multichannel.com/article/306974-FCC_Vacates_SDV_Rulings_Against_Time_Warner_Cable_Cox.php


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/guide-to-paid-tv-services-in-oc/
http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/07/03/more-hd-channels-coming-to-cable-tv-but-tivo-users-impacted/16527/

I think the software in the older 6416 is pretty guilty on this issue. I know I used to have it (when I had one of those boxes) and my sister in Chicago has the same issue with hers (on Comcast).

The problem is primarily in the Guide Info itself, which may or may not provide "(new)" and which is primarily what the software looks for.

I am aware of that issue, but that is not what I'm talking about.

Go to scheduled recordings for any given day (Menu/DVR/Future Recordings).

Tell the software, "Do not record this specific showing". The program name remains, but the "record" icon has a line through it, signifying it will not be recorded.
Exit the screen.

Go back to scheduled recordings, and that program now shows that it will indeed be recorded after all. "Screw what you want, Mr. subscriber." "We're doing things my way!!!"

What I'm saying is, I am un-able to cancel a scheduled recording other than deleting a series recording.

Yes, I could set recordings by date, time, and channel, but sometimes showtimes are changed. Besides, why am I paying TW $10 a month? I could just go back to using a VCR.

Go to scheduled recordings for any given day (Menu/DVR/Future Recordings).

Tell the software, "Do not record this specific showing". The program name remains, but the "record" icon has a line through it, signifying it will not be recorded.
Exit the screen.

Go back to scheduled recordings, and that program now shows that it will indeed be recorded after all. "Screw what you want, Mr. subscriber." "We're doing things my way!!!"

What I'm saying is, I am un-able to cancel a scheduled recording other than deleting a series recording.I assume you're talking about a particular recording for a "series" recording which you are unable to actually inhibit (which certainly should end up with the red "series record" icon with the line through it)? Or are you just talking about any random one-off show recording which you are unable to actually inhibit (expecting it to disappear entirely)?

Can you give a specific example of what you're talking about? I, myself, have no such similar experience using the DCH-3416. I've never not been able to successfully prevent any series-scheduled individual recording from recording and have it stay that way even after exiting the dialog and re-entering to investigate. But I do recall having similar issues at my sister's DCT-6416 machine (Comcast) in Chicago, when trying to prevent extraneous episodes of "Rescue Me" from recording on FXHD.


Yes, I could set recordings by date, time, and channel, but sometimes showtimes are changed. Besides, why am I paying TW $10 a month? I could just go back to using a VCR.I'm not suggesting you use date, time and channel to schedule the recording. Completely unnecessary and obviously undesirable.

What I'm suggesting is that you just DO NOT SET UP A SERIES RECORDING FOR THE PROBLEM SHOWS, the method which seems to be fraught with software and Guide issues and results in duplicate unwanted recordings and your report about even being unable to inhibit some scheduled recordings.

Instead, just use the Guide approach for convenient one-click creation of a one-off show recording (which you'll do once every two weeks, accomplishing exactly the same result as you really want the "series" event to accomplish but without any errors or unwanted duplicates). Open up the Guide, find the show (e.g. on Monday night for "Weeds") and navigate to its Guide cell, push the Select button on that show to get into the control dialog for that show, and then push the REC icon to initiate the record dialog FOR THAT ONE SHOW.

I realize this one-off approach does not deal with some pre-emptions, some time changes after you've set the recording event, etc. You'll have to deal with that yourself (assuming you hear about any change). Also, it requires that you make your own decision as to whether or not to record the show depending on whether it's a repeat or not, etc. But at least it does handle length and starting/ending oddities (assuming the Guide Info is correct for that cell and gets updated to reflect the scheduling change applicable for the cell which has the recording set) for unusual presentations. It just doesn't handle all late Guide changes automatically if the network makes an after-the-fact adjustment and did manage to get it into the updated Guide info sometime later... which would be automatically dealt with by the "series recording" software... though it probably will handle most late schedule changes that keep the show in that cell. Also, remember that even "series recording" will miss a show that gets moved to a different night for some special reason if that change does not make it into an updated Guide so that it can be seen by the software in the box.

So in the absence of perfect Guide Info and software in the box, it's your choice. Deal with unwanted duplicate recordings (and possible drive filling) from "series recording" flaws, or deal with what I feel are very minor and rare inconveniences by doing the "one-off single-click individual recording scheduling from the Guide cells every two weeks" and run the one-in-a-million risk of losing a show that gets shifted to a different night at the last minute (any changes to the scheduled show on the same night will still automatically be handled even by the one-off method).

I think we're both agreed that these "series recording" issues only affect series that are presented multiple times throughout the week. There is no problem for once-only-per-week series (e.g. "So You Think You Can Dance") where using the "series recording" technique works flawlessly.


Again, I do believe the DCH-3416 is much better (and faster, and more reliable) than the DCT-6416 and has the same hard drive capacity. So I still recommend you ask TWC to switch boxes, and I'm sure you'll be somewhat happier.

I assume you're talking about a particular recording for a "series" recording which you are unable to actually inhibit (which certainly should end up with the red "series record" icon with the line through it)? Or are you just talking about any random one-off show recording which you are unable to actually inhibit (expecting it to disappear entirely)?


Yes, the former (series recordings). The one's like "Monk" that are repeated several time during the week (or even on the same day). I go through future recordings and attempt to delete scheduled recordings of shows I've already watched. Exit the menu. Return to check and the scheduled recordings have changed from the line through it to the full red dot.

As for your suggestion of scheduling my shows on a weekly basis rather than schedule a series recording, that "one-in-a-million risk" is mush higher in my case due to my horrible memory.

I will attempt to switch boxes after I finish viewing what I have already recorded. Guess I better do it b4 September!

Yes, I could set recordings by date, time, and channel, but sometimes showtimes are changed. Besides, why am I paying TW $10 a month? I could just go back to using a VCR.Not once you get Navigator :mad: /Dan

for some reason i can only record local channels through firewire now. i recorded the ESPYs fine last week from ESPN onto my computer but now only locals work. i have a motorola dch-3200 box.

*EDIT*
seems like TWC is encrypting all the channels that arent local now. terrible.

Not once you get Navigator :mad: /Dan

I thought Navigator was only coming to SA boxes?:confused:

Currently TWC does not have a specific time for introducing Navigator for Motorola boxes but are working to launch it as soon as possible hopefully before December but there is no specific date.

Gees...anyway to lower the dam TW bill? I'm now at $105 with Surf N Go and 6 speed Internet...still $105. Really wish U-Verse would get here.

Currently TWC does not have a specific time for introducing Navigator for Motorola boxes but are working to launch it as soon as possible hopefully before December but there is no specific date.

This might be very interesting. I think the DCH/DCX boxes could run ODN since it's already being used in SA boxes and is compatible with both SA and motorola since it's java based. I think it could also be 1 version that supports the Moto API. Who knows really. I think it's going to cause problems to the old DCT2000 boxes that lack the performance to run it. The older SA and Pioneer boxes also seem to have issues with Navigator due to a lack of ram.

Yes, the former (series recordings). The one's like "Monk" that are repeated several time during the week (or even on the same day). I go through future recordings and attempt to delete scheduled recordings of shows I've already watched. Exit the menu. Return to check and the scheduled recordings have changed from the line through it to the full red dot.Further interesting observations on this issue...

I think there must be special logic in the "detection algorithm" dealing with the definition of "first run" when there is not a "(new)" shown in the Guide Info which double-checks against any recordings that might already exist on hard drive. If there is such a show already recorded which has the identical Guide Info in it (disregarding a "(new)" or "(repeat)" if present in either the new show or recorded show), then the new show is considered an unwanted duplicate and not scheduled for recording.

This prevents the duplicate shows from being scheduled for recording as long as you keep an earlier recording of the same show on your hard drive. But as soon as you delete it (i.e. you watch it, and then delete it, as would obviously be 100% perfectly normal behavior) that opens the door up to the "ambiguous" subsequent showings without the double-check to prevent unwanted recordings, and once again a later showing that week is once again scheduled even though we all know it's clearly not a true first-run.

I had this happen several times this week, as I gradually began to work my way through the accumulated backlog of "Nurse Jackie" and "Weeds". Sure enough although duplicate episode recordings during the week had definitely not been scheduled previously, as soon as I caught up and watched this weeks episodes (and then deleted them) lo and behold later recordings for this week were magically suddenly scheduled!! They weren't scheduled before, but as soon as I deleted a recorded show from this week (and thus deleted the double-check information basis) the first upcoming showing later this week suddenly got scheduled!

Also, I absolutely know for sure that "Bill Maher" was only scheduled once, on last Friday night, and not scheduled again until this coming Friday night. Absolutely, for sure. I frequently check all upcoming scheduled recordings going out two weeks to inhibit any duplicate series recordings I see that got mistakenly scheduled. Well once I watched last Friday night's show and deleted it, all this week I've been seeing unwanted duplicate recordings showing up in MyDVR list, which obviously came from "suddenly scheduled" recordings that got auto-scheduled once I deleted the hard drive "original" first-run recording from last Friday (i.e. the basis for the double-check logic to avoid recording any unwanted duplicates).

Also, even when I discover an upcoming unwanted non-first-run recording and inhibit it, I check to be sure there are no further unwanted scheduled recordings later in the week and there aren't. Only that one first upcoming (and unwanted duplicate of a previous first-run) showing is scheduled, nothing further. But once that inhibited showing gets passed, the next one showing gets auto-scheduled by itself (but again, nothing further beyond that).

Obviously the logic is trying to avoid scheduling unwanted duplicates of these kinds of shows. And the logic includes double-checks against (a) already scheduled upcoming showings, as well as (b) already recorded showings of the identical program. And this seems to work, mostly... unless both kinds of double-check data points are deleted (or passed in time). And that seems to be what causes these unwanted duplicate scheduled recordings to occur.

Interesting. Can't see any logical solution, in the absence of a self-contained and indisputable and 100% dependable "this is the very first run showing of the week, and anything else is not the first run showing " flag bit in the Guide Info provided by TV Guide which the scheduling logic could reliably depend upon.

Once again, I'm afraid that to avoid all of this nonsense, and possible duplicate recording (if there's no existing recording for double-check) which runs the risk of causing your hard drive to fill up at worst but also requires that you at least delete the duplicate recordings if they're made or manually "inhibit" upcoming unwanted scheduled recordings at best, the only other practical solution is manually setting your weekly recordings (by Guide cell, not date/time/channel/duration).

For all you guys with DVRs: I have only a STB (Moto 6200) and use my media PC as a DVR. I record via firewire with a small program that works in conjuction with Vista Media Center. What happens is two recordings are made simultaneously -- one by VMC (which, of course, is not hidef) and the other via firewire (which is). If the recording is successful, the program deletes the VMC recording, and I'm left with an OAR recording @ 1080i.

This has worked great for the past few years, but lately I'm noticing on some channels (Palladia and MGM-HD, so far) that I'm no longer getting that firewire recording (only VMC's SD one), while on others (CBS-HD and TCM-SD) I still am. So my question is, since I haven't been following the discussion here re: DVRs, etc., have the flags on some of these hidef channels recently (like in the last week) been changed to "record once" or something similar? That's the only thing I can think of that might be causing this behavior. I believe there is a way to check the 6200 menu to see if a channel is 5U-compliant (if that's the right terminology), but don't know if that's the answer I'm looking for.

EDIT: Make that "5C-compliant." Anyway, I dug up the readme file for my recording software and it got me into the 6200's menu where I could check which channels are 5C-compliant, and, sure enough, every one I checked that is not digital SD or local HD stations is "copy once." So I guess the free-wheeling days of recording HD movies, ESPN and HD concerts are done <grrrr>. Still, this must have been a very recent change, because, as I said, it's only come up in the last week or two.

Did anyone else experience this strange glitch just now. I was waching a dvr recording of last night's Jimmy Fallon show. All of a sudden, it booted out of that onto what appeared to be a home shopping network, but with no sound. I lost all control of DVR functions and the display on the DVR showed : "EA5" or "EAS." I rebooted once with no luck. I rebooted again and now all appears normal. Very strange. Just wondering if there was some sort of TWC problem or hack, or maybe my DVR is on the fritz.

Does anyone get frequent intermittent pixelation on Chans 441, 442, and 443 in the Ventura County area?(Occurs simultaneously on all three channels at intermittent intervals varying from 5 minutes to 2 hours. A Time Warner Servicemen came out last December and said they did not know the cause and that it was affecting all of Ventura County. Of course it has not been fixed SEVEN MONTHS later. It really makes it irritating to watch USA-HD. I wish they would move USA to Chan 465 and put silly Faux News on 441 if they can not fix it.

Time Warner Cable losing basic, premium subscribers
July 29th, 2009, 9:04 am · 14 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Time Warner CableOur favorite cable TV company released its second-quarter earnings report this morning and its CEO is pleased.

A look at the numbers http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/07/twc2q09a.jpg

Time Warner Cable continued to make more money, netting income of $316 million in the three months, ending June 30. In the same time last year, it made $277 million. Sales also grew 4 percent, or $176 billion, to $4.5 billion in the three months.

Nearly every segment of Time Warner grew — subscriptions were up 6 percent to $4.3 billion, video revenues grew 3 percent to $2.7 billion, Internet revenues were up 9 percent to $1.1 billion, and digital phone revenues were up 19 percent to $471 million.

The only areas that declined were basic and premium video subscribers and advertising, which was down a hefty 25 percent to $174 million. (And no wonder! One premium channel is $15 a month. And if you order all five premiums, that adds $53 to your monthly bill.)

If you’re scowling at this report because your cable bill went up this year, Time Warner said that its costs have risen, too. Video programming expenses, which include the per-subscriber fees paid to TV networks for the right to broadcast their channels, jumped 7 percent to $1 billion.

Time Warner Cable's customer count, as of June 2009That brings us to the number of subscribers: It had 14,652,000 million, as of June 30, 2009. That’s down 11,000 from March’s 14,663,000 subscribers.

Those who remain with the company continue to switch services around — perhaps tempted by a offer to bundle? Many are jumping to Time Warner’s triple-play bundles, which is going for $99 a month right now. That includes TV, Internet and phone service. Triple-play customers numbered 3.3 million, up 90,000 new customers during the quarter. The number of customers who order just one or just two cable services declined.

Phone subscribers were also up to 4 million, Internet subscribers were up to 8.8 million. But overall video customers were down to 13 million. Click chart on right to enlarge details.

Based on its penetration rates, Time Warner is losing its hold on customers. The penetration rate — or the number of households who order service in communities where it’s available – is shrinking. Its video penetration rate dropped to 48.4 percent by June, down slightly from the 48.7 percent in March. Two years ago, that number was above 50 percent.

This compares to the inroads TV service rivals like Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse have made into Time Warner territory. While much smaller, FiOS and U-verse penetration rates continue to increase. FiOS TV, for example, was up to 24.6 percent penetration in its communities in June, compared to 19.7 percent a year earlier (see “Average Verizon FiOS bill is $135; TV service still growing“).

With competition heating up, Time Warner is looking into other areas to grow, such as wireless phones and web TV content. Reuters reminds us that the company joined Comcast Corp. and Clearwire Corp. last year in a 4G wireless partnership. Also, the company previously said it would be testing a “TV Everywhere,” allowing customers to watch cable TV shows on the Web.

Comments:
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July 31, 2009 at 2:17 pm

My beef with TW is that they don’t understand “TV Guide OnScreen”, also known as “Guide Plus+”.

My DVR became almost useless last year when TW quit passing through the analog TVGOS signal. This was somewhat to be expected with the “digital switchover”, but many cable systems are converting digital TVGOS to analog TVGOS for their customers. Not TW.

In January we bought a Sony HDTV with digital TVGOS and that worked for a while, but toward the end of May the digital TVGOS went away, too.

Contacting TW about this is hopeless. They have no clue what TVGOS is, and don’t understand why anyone would care since they have their own TV listings service. Not that it’s usable by my TV or DVR.

Macrovision (now Rovi) used to provide a page for users to complain about cable systems that weren’t carrying TVGOS, but they don’t even bother any more. They just say “We have confirmed with your cable provider that you should receive TV Guide/Guide Plus+ listings after the digital transition. If you are not receiving listings or if your listings discontinue, please contact your cable provider for more information.”
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Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress says:
July 31, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Doug — I don’t know much about TV Guide’s feature either. BUT this may help. Another reader had what I think is the same issue and somehow he resolved it. He, too, has a Sony and Time Warner Cable. Anyway, he said he redetected the stations using an antenna instead of his Time Warner basic cable feed (w/out any cable box). He told me: “The next day the TV went through a software update (detected somehow through the RF antenna). Then the TV rebooted/restarted, completed the software update. Then the TV guide function (embedded in the TV) was available and functioning. Neither Sony nor Time Warner could adequately explain why neither of these functions worked through Time Warner. The Sony Rep said the TV Guide function had been giving a lot of trouble and should be updated in about a month.” … Anyway, maybe that will help? Good luck.

wthitc says:
July 29, 2009 at 8:54 pm

Screw a bunch of TW. So their cost went up… did they even try to negotiate with the networks. Of course not because they are in collusion with the networks to rip us all off so they can post a profit and the CEO can be pleased. The CEO obviously has not listened to the complaints from his subscribers about poor customer service and high pricing. Is he pleased with that also??

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urbutt says:
July 29, 2009 at 3:26 pm

i was on hold for over an hr.
my bill went from 51.46 to 80.22.
you SERIOUS????!!! im sure they’re not getting charged that much more.
i hate TIME WARNER CABLE!!!!!!

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OC Tax payer says:
July 29, 2009 at 3:18 pm

I can believe it!
$65 for crap basic cable!
I wish my landlady would let me put up my dish!
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Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress says:
July 29, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Hey OC Tax payer (hey, that’s me too!) — I’ve mentioned this before and it may help you: Apartment owners are required by law to allow outside antennas to improve TV reception but only if it’s on a renter’s private balcony or patio area. Here’s the FCC’s recap page: FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule, see 47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000, which “prohibits restrictions that impair a person’s ability to install, maintain, or use an antenna …” There are exceptions, of course. But if you have questions or need more info, call the FCC: 888-CALLFCC (toll free) or (202) 418-7096.
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o
OC Tax payer says:
July 30, 2009 at 8:50 am

Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Thanks again for the info however my apartment has no balcony or patio or anything I can put a dish on without attaching it to the building and my windows are facing east (so I cant have the dish inside)
So I am stuck
Its even worse for the disabled and low income seniors who only have rabbit ears on analog TV
Now with Digital they get one or two channels if they are lucky
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Bobomo says:
July 29, 2009 at 2:19 pm

Why can’t I turn to my boss and say “my costs have gone up, I’m passing them on to you”? Because there’s competition in the labor market, but not in the “de-regulated’ cable market. Interesting.
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Patty says:
July 29, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Time Warner sells/gives/trades your home address and UNlisted phone # to Whitepages,com
When I called to talk to someone about this invasion of privacy, I only got to email someone in India, never could get a phone #, name of a supervisor or anyone that I could talk to. period. If you call the local office they refer you to a website, hence the emails to India. There was a good reason for me to have an unlisted phone #, now that person whom I didn’t want to have it, not only has my phone # but my address also. I only had a phone with them (their package deal) for a month before they gave my #. to the white pages. In one of the emails I was told “I don’t know how your information got from here to there” !
DON’T USE TIME WARNER PHONE PLAN IF YOU WANT AN UNLISTED PHONE # TO STAY PRIVATE.
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Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress says:
July 29, 2009 at 1:51 pm

That reminds me of a recent LA Times column on unlisted numbers. Time Warner, like many other telephone companies, charges a recurring fee to keep the info unlisted. If you’ve been paying that fee and your information is still public, let me know and I’ll try to look into it.
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DREY says:
July 29, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Their service is horrible. Not only do they keep sending us the bill in SPANISH, but refuse to send one in english!!! BYE BYE Time Warner!!! or should I say……Hasta LaVista ? @@

Check out the Gadgetress http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/07/29/time-warner-cable-losing-basic-premium-subscribers/17919/

I think there must be special logic in the "detection algorithm" dealing with the definition of "first run" when there is not a "(new)" shown in the Guide Info which double-checks against any recordings that might already exist on hard drive. If there is such a show already recorded which has the identical Guide Info in it (disregarding a "(new)" or "(repeat)" if present in either the new show or recorded show), then the new show is considered an unwanted duplicate and not automatically scheduled for recording.

This prevents the duplicate shows from being auto-scheduled for recording as long as you keep an earlier recording of the same show on your hard drive.

But as soon as you delete it (i.e. you watch it, and then delete it, as would obviously be 100% perfectly normal behavior) that opens the door up to the "ambiguous" subsequent showings later in the week without the double-check data present to prevent unwanted recordings, and once again a later showing that week is suddenly auto-scheduled even though we all know it's clearly not a true first-run.

Obviously the logic is trying to avoid scheduling unwanted duplicates of these kinds of shows. And the logic includes double-checks against (a) already scheduled upcoming showings, as well as (b) already recorded showings of the identical program. And this seems to work, mostly... unless both kinds of double-check data points are deleted (or passed in time). And that opens the scheduling door again to pick up a new "first run", and it is this which seems to be what causes these unwanted duplicate scheduled recordings to occur.

I give up.

I'm back to my own every-two-weeks manual scheduling of the true first-run-only showing of the shows which are involved (for me) with this problem. This works perfectly, and is of minimal inconvenience to me especially when compared to the annoyance of what happens when "series" is used for these problem shows.

While the auto-scheduling process seems to look good early in the week, as the week moves on and I watch and delete the recording made early in the week the later showings in the week spontaneously auto-schedule themselves, as explained by my earlier post!

And even if I manually inhibit those later recordings (because I want to keep the "series" recording, to retain the benefits of that kind of an event) when the inhibited recording date/time passes the auto-scheduling door opens yet again and the next upcoming showing will once again be spontaneously auto-scheduled!!

Yes, it looks like only one recording at a time for a given show is scheduled if you check out the rest of the week's upcoming recordings. But this changes dynamically as the week moves on, and there seems to be no way to prevent this from happening.

===>> manual Grid-based recording scheduling for these shows every week or two seems to be the only solution given the Moto DVR implementation of "series" and "first-run" and the TV Guide info that supports the process.

Does anyone get frequent intermittent pixelation on Chans 441, 442, and 443 in the Ventura County area?(Occurs simultaneously on all three channels at intermittent intervals varying from 5 minutes to 2 hours. A Time Warner Servicemen came out last December and said they did not know the cause and that it was affecting all of Ventura County. Of course it has not been fixed SEVEN MONTHS later. It really makes it irritating to watch USA-HD. I wish they would move USA to Chan 465 and put silly Faux News on 441 if they can not fix it.
Same exact problem. Had two techs out last week. They changed out some of the connectors but there was no improvement. I'm going to keep hammering on them until they get it fixed as we watch USA-HD more than any other channel. The upside is that the spray paint guys from Verizon FiOS have been on our street - hopefully this will be my solution as I don't believe that TW really cares.

Same exact problem. Had two techs out last week. They changed out some of the connectors but there was no improvement. I'm going to keep hammering on them until they get it fixed as we watch USA-HD more than any other channel. The upside is that the spray paint guys from Verizon FiOS have been on our street - hopefully this will be my solution as I don't believe that TW really cares.
I called them way back LAST DECEMBER!!! And it is still not fixed. The tech measured signal level and there was no problem.

Question: Does anyone know if Time-Warner will be showing the 3rd season of "Mad Men" HD on demand as they did the last 2 seasons?

Goodbye TWC. I finally got D* installed. Got my hdnets back and I am enjoying MUCH better PQ than TWC Orange County was providing. I know D* has it's own issues,but PQ isn't one of them. I will be keeping TW for my internet....for now. Good luck guys.

Goodbye TWC. I finally got D* installed. Got my hdnets back and I am enjoying MUCH better PQ than TWC Orange County was providing. I know D* has it's own issues,but PQ isn't one of them. I will be keeping TW for my internet....for now. Good luck guys.

Outstanding choice. The more people leave Time Warner the better. As soon as FIOS is available here I will be a happy ex- TWC customer also. Time Warner doesn't care about us so why should we care about them by providing a check to them every month?

Outstanding choice. The more people leave Time Warner the better. As soon as FIOS is available here I will be a happy ex- TWC customer also. Time Warner doesn't care about us so why should we care about them by providing a check to them every month?

Yep. Satellite is not an option I am willing to consider.... but I'm good as gone the day FIOS is live in my part of West LA. Hopefully soon.

so, for the past year and a half i got TW "broadcast basic" package and my qam tuner was able to pick up the HD channels without any problems. In the last week, all HD channels were gone.

I spoke with their customer service and they say that I shouldn't be getting broadcast HD channels and said they will give me an upgrade for digital cable for $83.

Then they recanted and said i should be getting the digital HD channels but I need a STB.

I fought them on that and so they sent out a technician. He has no idea what I'm talking about and when i explained to him what a QAM tuner does, he stared blankly back at me.

is anyone else having the same problem as I am with TW "broadcast basic" and getting HD channels with QAM?

All i want are the FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC in HD.

Thanks.

so, for the past year and a half i got TW "broadcast basic" package and my qam tuner was able to pick up the HD channels without any problems. In the last week, all HD channels were gone.

I spoke with their customer service and they say that I shouldn't be getting broadcast HD channels and said they will give me an upgrade for digital cable for $83.

Then they recanted and said i should be getting the digital HD channels but I need a STB.

is anyone else having the same problem as I am with TW "broadcast basic" and getting HD channels with QAM?

All i want are the FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC in HD.Could be some semantics here, and confusion caused by ambiguous terms being used. TWC doesn't have something called "broadcast basic" or "digital basic".

According to the "TWC Channel Lineup" there is a group called "Broadcast", which includes the local OTA channels in both SD and HD. These cannot be encrypted and must be provided by TWC "in the clear", meaning they do not need a STB to receive. The QAM tuner in your TV should work, just it would if you had an OTA antenna. Perhaps the channel assignments have changed recently. Have you tried re-scanning?

Then there's a separate group called "basic cable". These are the very common long-standing cable channels, many of which have been around for decades. Used to be what we now refer to as "analog" but now many of these have HD counterparts to their SD versions. By all accounts on this forum, many LA area users used to get these channels unencryted via QAM tuner on their TV's (myself included, for a while). And then they went away (actually, they got encrypted, making them untunable to those QAM tuners if no CableCard was in use).

Then there's something called "digital cable package", which appears to be the sum of "broadcast" and "basic cable". The "broadcast" channels would be unencrypted and accessible to QAM tuners without CableCard, but the "basic cable" channels should now be inaccessible to QAM tuners without CableCard.

Then there are optional "tiers", a choice of at least one of which along with "digital cable package" is part of what I think they might think of as about the closest thing to what's called "digital basic" in other parts of the country. Again, all of these tiers are encrypted and thus off-limits to QAM tuners without CableCard.

So, only the OTA networks (SD and HD) are absolutely available unencrypted in the minimum "broadcast" group, and should be available on your coax. As I understand the restrictions from the FCC, you shouldn't need to pay for a CableCard or STB or DVR to tune them with your QAM tuner in your TV because they are not allowed to be encrypted. At least I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Anything else... you need either CableCard or STB or DVR to tune encrypted channels, which is the rest of TWC's channel offerings.

I think that's the story.

so, for the past year and a half i got TW "broadcast basic" package and my qam tuner was able to pick up the HD channels without any problems. In the last week, all HD channels were gone.
<snip>
All i want are the FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC in HD. Thanks.

TWC might have moved these streams to a different channel(s) on the cable; their STB will automatically map 'real' to 'virtual' channel numbers to keep the latter the same. Broadcast (OTA) locals must be unscrambled somewhere on the cable. Have you tried rescanning?

CS reps are Not Programmed To Respond in that area (direct connected DTVs with QAM tuners); TWC is keeping it simple for the Great Non-technical Masses.

OTOH your conversation with their field tech is disturbing but not unexpected - sounds like a recent grad from Matchbox Installer School. As a minimum they should be able to check your cabling, splitters and most importantly signal levels. Sometimes you only get 'the minimum'.

Gees...anyway to lower the dam TW bill? I'm now at $105 with Surf N Go and 6 speed Internet...still $105. Really wish U-Verse would get here.
Without knowing What Level of TV service you want, we can't help that much.

If you don't talk much, get a regular land line phone. AT&T starts at about $20 in my hood.
If you don't game or stream a lot of video, 6Mbps is overkill. I'm happy with my 1.5Mbps DSL from DSLExtreme for about $25. NO DOWNLOAD CAPS or filtering like TWC and the other MonsterCos love to impose.

Goodbye TWC. I finally got D* installed. Got my hdnets back and I am enjoying MUCH better PQ than TWC Orange County was providing. I know D* has it's own issues,but PQ isn't one of them. I will be keeping TW for my internet....for now. Good luck guys.
Congrats hobbs on a well made decision. You didn't mentioned rate difference though.
Yep. Satellite is not an option I am willing to consider.... but I'm good as gone the day FIOS is live in my part of West LA. Hopefully soon.
How come? WHy would you not consider satellite?

Rudy

Congrats hobbs on a well made decision. You didn't mentioned rate difference though.
Rudy

Cost is close for both services for my package. For what I am getting with D* in the PQ department, I would gladly pay more.

Cost is close for both services for my package. For what I am getting with D* in the PQ department, I would gladly pay more.

Welcome to Dish Network Hell. If you thought TWC was bad, wait until you need some help with your Dish installation. You'll pay everytime a service person comes out after your "warrenty" expires.

Also their customer no-service has really gone downhill... check out these reports from consumer reporter Clark Howard found on this website (http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2009/07/21/16252/#framesize_190)

Jul 21, 2009 -- Dish Network agrees to customer restitution
Dish Network has reached a deal with the attorneys generals of 46 states over allegations that it cheated customers during a 5-year period. The states of California, North Carolina, Illinois and Ohio are still holding out for a better settlement with the satellite TV provider.

Among the allegations, Dish Network is said to have passed off used equipment as new; charged penalties when you canceled the service; required a minimum term of service in order for you to get advertised deals; and made their promised rebates virtually impossible to get.

Dish Network has not admitted any wrongdoing, but it has agreed to pay restitution to customers. The company has also agreed to provide clearer disclosures in the future.

When Dish Network launched in 1994, the market was wide open for them because people hated their cable monopolies. All that Dish Network needed to do was provide a good customer experience. Clark will never quite understand how they blew it.

Today the consumer champ puts out a renewed call to the company to rethink how it builds relationships with customers. Dish Network honcho Charlie Ergen is welcome to come on the show and explain his side of the story.

If you filed a complaint against Dish Network between Jan. 1, 2004 and July 9, 2009, you may be eligible for compensation. Call Dish Network customer service at (888) 825-2557 or contact the office of your state's attorney general for more details.

Welcome to Dish Network Hell. If you thought TWC was bad, wait until you need some help with your Dish installation. You'll pay everytime a service person comes out after your "warrenty" expires.
[/URL]

D*=Directv I do not have Dishnetwork.

Does anyone know if the HDMI cable TWC gives you with the box is 1.3?

I am the exact same way. I check verizon's site every now and then, hoping against all odds, they will Fios. I mean, I live in freaking West LA near Bundy & Santa Monica. How much denser of an area do you want?

Please Verizon, PLEASE... I hate TWC, and I will switch the DAY Fios is available to me.

Hey Rajuabju... I'm near Wilshire and Bundy, also waiting for FIOS. I can't stand TWC, they drop the ball on so many opportunities and price-gouge like no tomorrow. I would love to switch back to Verizon (once FIOS arrives), even their internet was better at the 3.0 Mbps than TWC's 6.0 Mbps.

I called TWC yesterday complaining about the DVR recording repeats to the point that my DVR is filling up, so aggravating. During this call, I asked whether Navigator arrived and maybe once the software is upgraded the problem will be solved. The lady said I should already have it, as should most of L.A. She told me to restart my DVR and see if the "Maestro" logo appears. I have no idea what she is talking about, but restarted the DVR and I never get got this "Maestro" thing.

A technician is coming out tomorrow, I am starting to think TWC has no idea what is going on with anything at this point. At least they can do evening service calls, that's the only bright side so far.

Cost is close for both services for my package. For what I am getting with D* in the PQ department, I would gladly pay more.

Welcome to Dish Network Hell. If you thought TWC was bad, wait until you need some help with your Dish installation......D* is short for DirecTV, not Dish. Dish Network is E*, which is short for Echo Star. My experience (at my workplace) with DirecTV's customer service is that it's not quite as bad as Dish Network's customer service. First we had E*, now we have D*, and soon our company will be dumping it all and just using a roof antenna in the customer area. I spent almost a half hour on the phone today trying to get my local channels back after they stopped working. Again. But Dish CSRs were worse, and we had more heavy-rain blackout problems with Dish (LAX area).

Does anyone know if the HDMI cable TWC gives you with the box is 1.3?TWC gives you an HDMI cable?

And exactly why do you need it to be 1.3? Do you need 1.3 for something?

TWC gives you an HDMI cable?

And exactly why do you need it to be 1.3? Do you need 1.3 for something?

Yeah, picked up the HD box today and it included an HDMI cable, no component. I don't need it to be 1.3 even though my new TV supports xv color. But i bought an HDMI cable at Radio Shack because i wasn't expecting an HDMI cable from TWC, i may as well get my money back from RS.
What really sux is the On Demand feature. I thought i could get free HD movies but it's just for crappy Food Network etc. I was hoping to watch The Fifth Element in HD but all the premium movies in On Demand are SD. Why the hell?

Hey Rajuabju... I'm near Wilshire and Bundy, also waiting for FIOS. I can't stand TWC, they drop the ball on so many opportunities and price-gauge like no tomorrow. I would love to switch back to Verizon, even their internet was better at the 3.0 Mbps than TWC's 6.0 Mbps.

I called TWC yesterday complaining about the DVR recording repeats to the point that my DVR is filling up, so aggravating. During this call, I asked whether Navigator arrived and maybe once the software is upgraded the problem will be solved. The lady said I should already have, as should most of L.A. She told me to restart my DVR and see if the "Maestro" logo appears. I have no idea what she is talking about, but restarted the DVR and I never get got this "Maestro" thing.

A technician is coming out tomorrow, I am starting to think TWC has no idea what is going on with anything at this point. At least they can do evening service calls, that's the only bright side so far.
Hey TheWaxGrid.

Not sure how long you've been in this area, but I too am near Wilshire and Bundy, and have been waiting for FiOS for over 5 years. It is nowhere near being even layed down in our area as I believe they still need to get the permission from the city to do so. But even if they got the permission tomorrow it would still be years before the service became available. Maybe 2 - 3 years.
Although, things may have changed since the few months ago that I asked.

Rudy

Hey Rajuabju... I'm near Wilshire and Bundy, also waiting for FIOS. I can't stand TWC, they drop the ball on so many opportunities and price-gauge like no tomorrow. I would love to switch back to Verizon, even their internet was better at the 3.0 Mbps than TWC's 6.0 Mbps.

I called TWC yesterday complaining about the DVR recording repeats to the point that my DVR is filling up, so aggravating. During this call, I asked whether Navigator arrived and maybe once the software is upgraded the problem will be solved. The lady said I should already have, as should most of L.A. She told me to restart my DVR and see if the "Maestro" logo appears. I have no idea what she is talking about, but restarted the DVR and I never get got this "Maestro" thing.

A technician is coming out tomorrow, I am starting to think TWC has no idea what is going on with anything at this point. At least they can do evening service calls, that's the only bright side so far.

I'm @ Santa Monica & Bundy... Hi neighbor :)