Oceanic installed my 8300HD today. Not surprised by how good the HD channels look but was shocked by how much better SD channels look through its component output than they did through the S Video output of the dish box. The tech said the box scales the image to 1080i. Don't know what chip set it uses but haven't seen any motion artifacts yet.

On the bad side, didn't realize how little ABC programming we watched until I started saving future programs. That REALLY is the only HD network they carry? My guess is we will watch alot of lizards and such on DiscoveryHD.

Haven't hooked up the HDMI yet. Need to drill some holes. Should be better yet.
Huh? Is HDMI on the 8300 active now? *runs to check*

Huh? Is HDMI on the 8300 active now? *runs to check*

Gai,
Before I spend $80 at Radio Shack for an HDMI cable that would be $50 at one of their mainland stores and costs Monster a buck'anaquarter in China, PLEASE let me know if it doesn't work. Tech support said it was a DVI, it works but they don't support it.

Also, is that port in the front Firewire or another HDMI?

Howzit fellow locals.:) Just upgraded to an Syntax 32" LCD-TV and have been reading this thread for a couple of months.

Anyway, currently have the SD3250HD box and just was wondering how much better SD would look with the newest 8300HD box through component (Acoustic Research cables)? I already have my OPPO DVD player using the single DVI port on my TV so right now it is not an option. Tried the DVI port through the 3250 and not much of a difference anyway. HD is vibrant and breathtaking so no problems there.

The reason I ask is that to get the 8200 I must also upgrade to the HD package and pay the monthly cost of the 8200 rental too. I already have a Panny DVD recorder as well as a ReplayTV unit hooked up to the TV/Cable box (get every channel on both) so I do not need the recording features of the 8200.

If Oceanic would just offer more choices on HD then I would get the 8200 and pay for the HD package.

Mahalo,
Robert (Hawaii Kai)

Gai,
Before I spend $80 at Radio Shack for an HDMI cable that would be $50 at one of their mainland stores and costs Monster a buck'anaquarter in China, PLEASE let me know if it doesn't work. Tech support said it was a DVI, it works but they don't support it.

Also, is that port in the front Firewire or another HDMI?


The port in front on the 8300 is a USB port. I tried the HDMI last night again but still is buggy when changing channels(colored snow...takes about 4-5 secs when guide is pressed, etc.). You can get a good decent HDMI cable on ebay for about $10. Screw the Radio Shack one...even the WalMart Phillips one at $43 is a rip.

The HD Oceanic package isn't half bad for the price.

On another side note...I notice the HD on demand channel is now working in Hilo (Chnl 977). And on yet another note...my 8300 has been booting up a lot this past day...are they adding updates this week a lot or is my box becoming wonky? I first noticed it when the last 3 times I checked, the box reset itself (chnl 1 when turned on, vol at default..haven't checked teh firmware versions).

"Anyway, currently have the SD3250HD box and just was wondering how much better SD would look with the newest 8300HD box through component (Acoustic Research cables)?"

I Have both the 3250HD and the 8300HD connected via component to my set and I cannot see a difference in PQ on either SD or HD channels. I DO have them both set to pass-through to let my TV do the scaling and the PQ is quite good IMO.

Gai...I saw both my 3250HD and 8300HD reboot one after the other early last night, so it isn't your box acting up.

Gai...I saw both my 3250HD and 8300HD reboot one after the other early last night, so it isn't your box acting up.


My box now reboots everytime I turn it off now after a couple minutes...Oceanic says something is definitely wrong if it's booting during the day repeatedly.

Hmm.....your box doth protest 9th Circuit Court ruling.

Imua !!

;)

delar said, I Have both the 3250HD and the 8300HD connected via component to my set and I cannot see a difference in PQ on either SD or HD channels. I DO have them both set to pass-through to let my TV do the scaling and the PQ is quite good IMO.

Thanks. No sense then until Oceanic adds more HD channels. Pass-through on mine as well and yes, SD is quite good with HD stunning to me.

Robert

I just scheduled an install for the "package" that Oceanic offers: digital cable w/DVR + internet + HD. Earliest date I could get was 25 Aug!

Hadn't read this post prior so I think I'll call back and make sure I get the 8300 box. Looking forward to seeing HD for the first time and will post when everything is setup. :)

I just scheduled an install for the "package" that Oceanic offers: digital cable w/DVR + internet + HD. Earliest date I could get was 25 Aug!

Hadn't read this post prior so I think I'll call back and make sure I get the 8300 box. Looking forward to seeing HD for the first time and will post when everything is setup. :)

Make sure to say 8300"HD".

I didn't and even though I signed up for HD service the installer brought out a non HD 8300. I live in Puna. He had to go back to the warehouse in Hilo to get the HD version.

Make sure to say 8300"HD".

I didn't and even though I signed up for HD service the installer brought out a non HD 8300. I live in Puna. He had to go back to the warehouse in Hilo to get the HD version.

You'd think they'd know that it the HD one might come in handy for HD programming. :D

Make sure to say 8300"HD".

I didn't and even though I signed up for HD service the installer brought out a non HD 8300. I live in Puna. He had to go back to the warehouse in Hilo to get the HD version.

This happened to me, not once, but twice. The first time I lived in Honokaa. We ended up having to pick up the HD box from Hilo ourselves. The second time I lived in Kona. I ended up having to pick up the HD box myself. Both times I emphasized the HD and asked that they make a special effort to see that they did bring the HD version. Both times the installer said "It doesn't say HD on the order."

So merely requesting HD doesn't mean you'll get HD.

Hi, I'm new the world of HDTV and wondering if anyone in the Moanalua Valley area is able to catch any digital channels over the air. Also what antenna are you using and where you bought it from. Is it worth it or should I just wait for Oceanic to cover the rest of the local channels over digital signal. I appreciate any info... Thanks...

-DaBuggah :)

Hi, I'm new the world of HDTV and wondering if anyone in the Moanalua Valley area is able to catch any digital channels over the air. Also what antenna are you using and where you bought it from. Is it worth it or should I just wait for Oceanic to cover the rest of the local channels over digital signal. I appreciate any info... Thanks...

-DaBuggah :)

Buggah,

My friend lives in Moanalua valley and cannot get a good signal for KITV's OTA HD channel. When KGMB was broadcasting in HD OTA (they don't seem to be doing it anymore) he was able to get slightly better reception, but still couldn't get a locked in signal to watch a whole show uninterupted by dropouts. Since only KITV is broadcasting in HD OTA, I don't think it's worth buying a seperate HDTV tuner, but if you already have the built in HD tuner in your tv it might be worth a shot to stick some kind of antenna on the tv and see what you get. My friend tried one of those old fashioned rabbit ears, and tried my indoor antenna that I bought from Walmart which only got slightly better results.

Thanks RobertCEO. My HDTV does have a tuner so I think I'll find an antenna and try it out.. Bummer though if KGMB stop broadcasting HD.... :(

Hi,
I am fairly new to the HDTV subject. However i spend the last couple of days looking for a straight answer to some basic questions (including searches on google and this great forum). Since I finally made the step and got myself a 42"HD plasma I am eager to experience HD content (DVD of course is fabolous already).


1. For Oahu (Honolulu-Waikiki area), what is the best option to receive HD content (either dish or cable)?
2. Is it worth the extra bucks for a handful of programs (compared to the mainland choices)?
3. What channels are currently boradcasted in HD by provider.


Overall I did not hear/read too many good things about Oceanic and their crappy service when it comes to HD (Decoder not up-to-date, no DVI/HDMI out).
And the satelite companies, at least their websites are not very specific when it comes to Hawaii.

My apologies if I overlooked any past postings that answer my questions. The only detailed postings I could find where rather old (03 and 04) and i assume there has to be some progress since then.

Thanks a lot for any comments.

Hi,
I am fairly new to the HDTV subject. However i spend the last couple of days looking for a straight answer to some basic questions (including searches on google and this great forum). Since I finally made the step and got myself a 42"HD plasma I am eager to experience HD content (DVD of course is fabolous already).


1. For Oahu (Honolulu-Waikiki area), what is the best option to receive HD content (either dish or cable)?

CABLE

2. Is it worth the extra bucks for a handful of programs (compared to the mainland choices)?

YES

3. What channels are currently boradcasted in HD by provider.

KITV (ABC), ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, DiscoveryHD, INHD, INHD2, HDNET, HDNET Movies, HDSports (occasional Fox Sports HD feeds), HD On Demand

Overall I did not hear/read too many good things about Oceanic and their crappy service when it comes to HD (Decoder not up-to-date, no DVI/HDMI out).
And the satelite companies, at least their websites are not very specific when it comes to Hawaii.

U get more HD on Oceanic than the sats right now. Oceanic isn't crappy...they are bleeding edge technologically. It's the cable box manufacturers that are crappy.

My apologies if I overlooked any past postings that answer my questions. The only detailed postings I could find where rather old (03 and 04) and i assume there has to be some progress since then.

Thanks a lot for any comments.

acont,

Cable has more HD offering than the sats. I'm pretty sure there's nothing on the sats here that Oceanic doesn't have already. Look back a few weeks; someone posted whats available for DISH in HD. I agree with egcarter that Oceanic is pretty good for HD stuff. It's the local stations here that suck. Only KITV (ABC) right now is broadcasting in HD OTA and their signal isn't the best. If you get the digital recorder, the 8300 has the HDMI output working. It works perfect for my tv (Sony 34-XBR960) but I read reports here that on some plasmas there is some kind of static when changing channels. Don't know if it's still the case, but it works perfectly for me right now.

Thanks guys for your reply. That makes my decision easier. I will go with cable instead of satelite. It's the easier installtion anyway.
Any other comment what to look out with Oceanic is of course more than welcome. ;)

acont,

Cable has more HD offering than the sats. I'm pretty sure there's nothing on the sats here that Oceanic doesn't have already.

<devils advocate> Now, Yes......but it's looks like a couple of suprises are in the cards.<devils advocate>
<cough>VoOm<cough>
<cough>NFL Network<cough>

:D

Last time I checked, you could see the HD Cable offering in the Sears Stores in Honolulu - they had a SA8000DVR that could do HD last time I checked.

You will be hard pressed to get Satellite from Waikiki. I know people on the big island that need dishes of a size you could never use in that area to pull in 110W and 119W.

Thus, as you say, the decision is really sort of made for you.

There will be a firmware upgrade going out Real Soon Now (maybe as soon as next week) that Oceanic will be doing to try to get our firmware revisions up-to-date with the released Scientific Atlanta versions. HDMI compatibility should improve with that update; all digital ports should be working on all boxes very soon as well.

Cablecard should still be avoided...there are all kinds of issues going on with that mess.

Eric

Hi, been kinda quiet here lately, guess nothing new happening. Can anyone confirm that KGMBDT/CBS still not broadcasting HD OTA? I took a look at their titan schedule and it says that it does but I don't want to buy an antenna and then find out they're not broadcasting HD... :( I'm doing okay with Oceanic but having just ABC of the big networks in HD kinda sucks... :eek: Thanks for any info... -DaBuggah

So often, in the islands, the things we buy cost lots more than on the mainland. For this reason I thought I should mention that Costco has a special on a really good HD plasma this week.

The Visio P50HD has the latest Korean glass and one of the better line processor chip sets. Its on coupon special for a pretty amazing price for a 50". If you can get a mainland coupon, its $200 less.

There has been much discussion about this on the forum at: "Official Vizio P50HD 50" Plasma Disscusion & Experiences!!!

Many AVS members have bought these and everyone agrees that it has a great picture. Some people are having noise problems from the fans but Visio says that they will fix these.

I know this is a little off topic but you gotta have a TV if you're gonna watch HD. If this posting bothers anybody, I'll remove it.

There will be a firmware upgrade going out Real Soon Now (maybe as soon as next week) that Oceanic will be doing to try to get our firmware revisions up-to-date with the released Scientific Atlanta versions. HDMI compatibility should improve with that update; all digital ports should be working on all boxes very soon as well.

Cablecard should still be avoided...there are all kinds of issues going on with that mess.

Eric

Anxiously awaiting.
:)

Well, the promising recent news is that Emmis Broadcasting has come to terms to sell 9 of their TV stations (all small markets)...they are still negotiating to sell their Honolulu properties (KGMB, KHON). There apparently has been a lot of interest. They expect to announce something soon. Hopefully they will break up the stations and go to different purchasers. Time Warner should have far less in the way of issues of getting their digital signals carried on the systems.

Eric

Well, the promising recent news is that Emmis Broadcasting has come to terms to sell 9 of their TV stations (all small markets)...they are still negotiating to sell their Honolulu properties (KGMB, KHON). There apparently has been a lot of interest. They expect to announce something soon. Hopefully they will break up the stations and go to different purchasers. Time Warner should have far less in the way of issues of getting their digital signals carried on the systems.

Eric


That's good to hear...I'd love to finally see them on Oceanic.

Today's Star-Bulletin(8/24) confirms what's been known for sometime KHNL/KFVE will be going the multicast route.
http://starbulletin.com/2005/08/25/business/index3.html

One correction: it's KFVE-DT that will multicast "The Tube" not KHNL-DT.

As for KGMB/KHON, the most interested party in those stations is also a hard case in cable retrans consent, plus with duopoly issues it may be '07 before the stations change hands.

P.S. Hilo Hairy...was at Iwilei Costco yesterday and those Vizio 50" PDP's are fine looking displays.

You are dreaming.

Honolulu is a HORRIBLE market for broadcasting - Radio and TV.

It's why they were unable find a buyer for the station(s) to spin off before and had to ask for a hardship ruling to keep both (this was not permitted at the time under FCC law of 1 to a market).

If you examine the announced sale, you will find that Topeka wasn't announced either. The ABC station there has been trying to find a buyer for a year and the Newspaper from some small town between Topeka and Kansas City finally purchased them and it is supposed to close the end of this month. Emmis couldn't find anyone willing to take them - or Honolulu without literally giving them away.

They were not able to get the premium they want for Orlando to cover these ailing markets - and thats why Orlando, Kansas and Honolulu were not part of the initial announcements.

It's just not a growth market for advertising sales and it is a hostile business enviroment.

:mad: I agree with HDTVFanatic 100%. Not sure if this is what he was talking about, but the radio & tv stations here suck big time. It's shocking how bad the radio stations here are for an island with a population of a million people. No variety; basically it's just 3 stations playing the same crap. We need to able to get Sirius or XM here, this is torture. TV stations suck too; the picture quality of KHNL is terrible-- doesn't NBC have standards that affiliates have to abide by? The picture was fine when KHON was NBC, but when they made the switch to KHNL the picture was noticebly worse. I assume people here just don't notice or realize how bad the picture quality of the tv stations are. I use to live in San Diego, L.A. and Houston and the picture is noticebly worse here for tv. When I first moved here a few years ago, the awful local newscasts were starting 5 to 7 minutes after the hour, as were the rest of the prime time programming, just so the stations here could cram more commercials in. I couldn't believe they were getting away with this kind of stuff for years. At least they did away with it. And why is KITV the only station broadcasting in HD? How many major cities in America only have one network broadcasting in HD, with a signal so weak that maybe only a fifth of the population can get a decent picture? I think the people here are just use to this kind of stuff and just don't care.




You are dreaming.

Honolulu is a HORRIBLE market for broadcasting - Radio and TV.

It's why they were unable find a buyer for the station(s) to spin off before and had to ask for a hardship ruling to keep both (this was not permitted at the time under FCC law of 1 to a market).

If you examine the announced sale, you will find that Topeka wasn't announced either. The ABC station there has been trying to find a buyer for a year and the Newspaper from some small town between Topeka and Kansas City finally purchased them and it is supposed to close the end of this month. Emmis couldn't find anyone willing to take them - or Honolulu without literally giving them away.

They were not able to get the premium they want for Orlando to cover these ailing markets - and thats why Orlando, Kansas and Honolulu were not part of the initial announcements.

It's just not a growth market for advertising sales and it is a hostile business enviroment.

:mad: I agree with HDTVFanatic 100%. Not sure if this is what he was talking about, but the radio & tv stations here suck big time. It's shocking how bad the radio stations here are for an island with a population of a million people. No variety; basically it's just 3 stations playing the same crap. We need to able to get Sirius or XM here, this is torture. TV stations suck too; the picture quality of KHNL is terrible-- doesn't NBC have standards that affiliates have to abide by? The picture was fine when KHON was NBC, but when they made the switch to KHNL the picture was noticebly worse. I assume people here just don't notice or realize how bad the picture quality of the tv stations are. I use to live in San Diego, L.A. and Houston and the picture is noticebly worse here for tv. When I first moved here a few years ago, the awful local newscasts were starting 5 to 7 minutes after the hour, as were the rest of the prime time programming, just so the stations here could cram more commercials in. I couldn't believe they were getting away with this kind of stuff for years. At least they did away with it. And why is KITV the only station broadcasting in HD? How many major cities in America only have one network broadcasting in HD, with a signal so weak that maybe only a fifth of the population can get a decent picture? I think the people here are just use to this kind of stuff and just don't care.

No, that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about advertising REVENUE which it takes to pay the bills and buy things....like HD Equipment.

Last I heard, there was NO projection of growth - ZERO GROWTH - for any advertising dollars for the next 5 years.

Consider that expenses go up and there is no added revenue to pay for it, you think people are going to go out and buy expensive HDTV Equipment?

Now, Honolulu and Anchorage were slow to roll out HD because of an issue with the FCC Monitoring stations which DTV interfered with. Congress had to make funds available to move them out of the population centers (Honolulu and Anchorage) so the the stations could start with DTV. Blame that one on the Government - not the stations.

However, with Emmis knowing they were going to sell these stations (or at least one), just like the ABC in Topeka - there is no way someone is going to invest in buying HD Equipment when they are getting rid of the operation. It makes no sense financially.

However, I am not sure that they would have paid for DTV conversion even if these factors had not been in play - as Honolulu has had zero revenue growth for several years now.

And finally, Honolulu has too MANY radio stations - which is one of the reasons the business is bad and things are not getting better. Between Cox and Clear Channel, they take about 84% of the revenue out of the market - and KSSK is probably the only thing making and sembelance of money.

That leaves all the other operators to scrap for about 16% of the revenue - which isn't enough to make any type of profit on.

Of course its better than Maui where 16 stations fight for $5Million in Revenue - Hardly enough to pay the electric bills.

Hey, one bright spot to report. I did watch the Indy vs. Denver game on Sat. broadcast in HD KGMB/CBS. Was awesome, saw our boy "Lelie" catch a 40yd TD... :D
Bummer though, they didn't broadcast "Cold Case" in HD last night... I'm able to pull in KHON-DT and KGMB-DT along with KIKU-DT, KBFD-DT and KHWET-DT... KIKU and KHWET are kinda weak and KHON goes in a out every once in while. I'm catching these stations with $10 philips OTA antenna from wal-mart, using my TV's turner from the Moanalua Valley area... I can't wait till the regular football season starts... ;)

-DaBuggah

No, that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about advertising REVENUE which it takes to pay the bills and buy things....like HD Equipment.

.

Hehe-- I knew that wasn't what you were talking about, i just figured it would be a good opportunity for me to vent. Living in Honolulu is wonderful and I love it here, but for a video/electronics geek like myself it's not the greatest place to be. :(

Heh... let's see if KGMB and KHON turn on their HDTV equipment tonite as two shows start up their new seasons on those channels. KGMB having David Letterman switch to HDTV and Prison Break starting on KHON. But for some reason I think I'm going to be disappointed...

On the "bright side" it was great to have the last two games of the Little League World Series on KITV's HD feed. ;)

I just got this reply from KGMB when I asked about their HD programming:

Dear KGMB DTV Viewer,

Thank you for your email concerning our Digital TV Broadcasts. At this
time, our engineering department is trying to repair a problem in our
High-Definition Record/Playback system. Therefore we are not capable of
broadcasting CBS prime-time HD programming at the correct time here in
Hawaii. As always, we continue to broadcast all available live sports
programming in HD as we have been doing since 2003.



So far I think it's been about a month of them trying to repair this problem. How long can it possibly take?

Bah, they keep saying something is wrong with their equipment. It did work for like a week then it was really inconsistent to non-existant thereafter. Granted live events are nice in HD, more regular shows would be nice too.

Let's cross our fingers and toes that maybe most/all of the local HD channels will have their HD systems up and running for the fall season premieres that mostly start in the next few weeks (with the exception of some that have already started).

I can hope :)

I want more HD from Oceanic. It'd be nice to get Universal HD.

I was hoping local boy boxer Brian Viloria's first title shot was being broadcast on HBO this Saturday afternoon, but unfortunately HBO is only showing Eric Morales vs Zahir Raheem and Manny Pacquiao vs Hector Velasquez. Brian's fight appears to finish just before they start their broadcast. Too bad. This would have been great to see, especially in HD.

UPDATE.......and SPOILER.....




Brian wins the WBC mini-flyweight title with a first round KO of Eric Ortiz. Congradulations Brian!!! It was so short, maybe they will show it on the broadcast after all.

Hi, Happy to report that both stations KHON and KGMB broadcast the live football games in HD. Just hope they get their HD recording system working again soon...

Anyone know what happened to Chad Owens? I watched the whole game and didn't see him play at all? :(

-DaBuggah

Is it just me or do the HD movies on Oceanic look like 480i from a DVD? Maybe upconverted through a nice scaler. Kinda soft. None seem to have the resolution that Discovery or sporting events do.

Is this the "film-like" look that we're supposed to treasure?

Hilo Hairy,

Any specific examples? Every movie looks different...there are many factors here. I know Oceanic is hurting for bandwidth, too.

Eric

Hilo Hairy,

Any specific examples? Every movie looks different...there are many factors here. I know Oceanic is hurting for bandwidth, too.

Eric

What made me think about it was first, the original "Ocean's 11" from the early 60s when it was on a week ago. Looked great. So good, it was hard to believe that all its stars were long dead. Looked like a pretty good DVD. Then tonight, watched "The Messenger." Remembered it as looking very good when we rented it. Looked good tonight too. Just not better. Wish I had the DVD around for comparison. Since the movie is on the DVR, I may rent it for comparison. I would be surprised though if the feed looks any better than the DVD.

As I write this, "Charlie's Angels" is on in HD. Not the movie, the TV show from 30 years ago! While it looks better than it did on the 21" Zenith I had back then, they are wasting bandwidth if this is coming through in 720 or 1080. VERY VERY soft.

Maybe what I should be wondering is if we have reached and passed the level of performance needed to reproduce film and now have standards only needed for live feeds where you can take advantage of the detail available from direct feeds from HD cameras.

Just watched Dancing With Wolves on HDNet Movies tonight. Nice, crisp PQ....nothing soft about it. Other movies are soft....some very much so. I believe the differences have more to do with things other than Oceanic's bandwidth, or lack thereof, like quality of the source material, quality of the transfer, whether the movie is zoomed or not, etc. Bandwidth may play a part, but it's effect is more likely to be seen as macroblocking and shimmering effects rather than softness.

watched sf vrs phil on khon 2.1 was very crisp & clear too bad the game was only eye candy not a competition. just purchased a rca antenna from home depot . i just bolted it to a pole in my upstairs bedroom that is not being used. a question: my sony tv has a diagnostic setting and it shows i have a strong signal on 8.1 kgmb but i have yet to see anything from them not even the live game today . do they send out any thing? i get strong sig. on k5.1 khon2.1 khnl35.1 @ some other religious and korean st.

watched sf vrs phil on khon 2.1 was very crisp & clear too bad the game was only eye candy not a competition. just purchased a rca antenna from home depot . i just bolted it to a pole in my upstairs bedroom that is not being used. a question: my sony tv has a diagnostic setting and it shows i have a strong signal on 8.1 kgmb but i have yet to see anything from them not even the live game today . do they send out any thing? i get strong sig. on k5.1 khon2.1 khnl35.1 @ some other religious and korean st.

Hi James, I caught the Broncos/Chargers game in HD yesterday on kgmb, weird though my kgmb says 9.1 instead of your 8.1.... -DaBuggah

.....Bandwidth may play a part, but it's effect is more likely to be seen as macroblocking and shimmering effects rather than softness.

Glad you mentioned that. Was that what I was seeing last night on the HD presentation of "Pearl Harbor"?

Throughout the scenes showing the attack on Oahu there was one huge block with shimmering edges that would appear and disappear on the left side of the screen whenever there was a lot of movement. It took up about 20% of the screen! Always the same size and placement. Did anybody else see that or is it the documented macroblocking problem of the Faroudja chip in my Vizio plasma screwing up?

Glad you mentioned that. Was that what I was seeing last night on the HD presentation of "Pearl Harbor"?

Throughout the scenes showing the attack on Oahu there was one huge block with shimmering edges that would appear and disappear on the left side of the screen whenever there was a lot of movement. It took up about 20% of the screen! Always the same size and placement. Did anybody else see that or is it the documented macroblocking problem of the Faroudja chip in my Vizio plasma screwing up?


I've been seeing that block on KITV for the past few days as well. A rectangle slightly above mid-height on the left side of the screen. I don't think it's the marcroblocking problem. I first thought it was something with my digital box screwing up, but it seems to be some other hardware issue on KITV or abc's end.

And I'm really getting frustrated at trying to find OTA signals. I've only been able to get kgmb's HD signal (can get kfve and khnl, but they're not HD :mad: ). Last week, I was able to get a nice strong signal, but yesterday, it was no where to be found :confused: . As for khon, never been close to sniffing a signal. Probably a combination of my antenna (TERK) and location (mauka side in an apartment in Makiki).

hi BUG DO YOU USE AN ANTENNA OR CABLE ALSO WHAT PART OF THE ISLAND IS HOME FOR YOU. I'M IN THE WAIAU TOWNHOUSES MAYBE 9'S SIGNAL IS TOO WEAK FOR ME

My 8300HD is zooming all my channels, including the HD ones, even though it is set to pass-through. I first noticed it last night when watching Rome on HBO. The opening credits were cut off on the sides. The SD channels now fill the frame instead of having bars on the side. Resetting the pass-through setting and unplugging the box did not correct it. My 3250HD however is passing through the signal correctly. Anybody else seeing this with their 8300?

Hit the # key on your remote. It should toggle through the different zooming settings.

Dear All,

I moved to HI two months ago to take a new job. I am considering using the cable card by Oceanic. Since cost is a concern, I do not know whether I should use, a HD box or a cable card.

Here is my question: If I subscribe to a basic cable and rent a cable card by $1.75 a month, could I get all digital, HD and HBO channels?

The question may seem very silly, but I called Oceanic and the CSR didn't know the answer either.

Thanks!

SuJialin,

The folks in charge of the boxes at Oceanic have told me point blank that they are having significant difficulties with them (the entire industry is), so they advise steering clear of Cablecard for now.

Eric

The $1.75 a month is just the rental fee for the card itself. You would still have to subscribe to and pay for the individual channel tiers and packages in order to receive them. With the cable card you can get all the channels Oceanic offers except for the interactive ones. I'm with egcarter in recommending you not go this route. I tried Oceanic's cable card last year. It worked for a couple of months until they tried upgrading the firmware. From that point on I was never able to get it or replacement cards to work with my set. Ended up taking it back for their new 8300HD DVR and never looked back.

Thanks a lot, Delar and Egcarter. I will go with the cable box then.

Anyone notice on KITV-DT, that it appears that the screen is divided into 6 pieces and one of the "pieces" is very distinct. On the left side in the second 1/3 of the screen (from the top) there's a box that appears and disappears when there's panning or fast motion. Seems to happen on both my 3250HD and 8300HD boxes. Anyone else notice this?

DJDigital,

Yep...the dreaded macroblocking. Saw it last nite during DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES in the first few minutes.

Eric

Anyone heard anything new from KHON or KGMB (or KHNL and KFVE for that matter) about the status of their showing prime-time things in HDTV yet? I just love to ask this question every so often to see if anyone else is as disappointed as I am. Fall season has started and it's a shame I can only see it in SD *grumble grumble* So many new things to watch and a lot are in HD, just not shown in HD here :P The sooner these stations show more in HD, the sooner, hopefully, Oceanic will pick those up on their HD tier (which would be great for me since I can't get KHNL or KFVE from Manoa).

Anyone notice on KITV-DT, that it appears that the screen is divided into 6 pieces and one of the "pieces" is very distinct. On the left side in the second 1/3 of the screen (from the top) there's a box that appears and disappears when there's panning or fast motion. Seems to happen on both my 3250HD and 8300HD boxes. Anyone else notice this?

I noticed this on their broadcast of Pearl Harbor about two weeks ago and reported it here. Doesn't look like they notice or care. Does anyone know anybody at the station? If they knew that we can see it, maybe they would do something about it.

Anyone heard anything new from KHON or KGMB (or KHNL and KFVE for that matter) about the status of their showing prime-time things in HDTV yet?
Apparently KHNL and KFVE will not do HDTV but will multicast a weather and music channel. There was an article in the paper a month ago. Go back a couple of pages in this thread and you'll find a link to it. The best you can hope to see on those stations in the next few years is widescreen PDTV 480p. Seems it's cheaper for them to receive HDTV and downconvert to 480p/i, if that's what they are (planning on) doing. All primetime programming is timeshifted in Hawaii and they don't want to upgrade their DVRs… I guess.

I'm on the Big Island and channel 22 KHBC-DT (KHNL repeater in Hilo) may be broadcasting. This site says so (http://www.tvradioworld.com/region2/hwa/tv_information.asp) and I saw the DT call letters on an ad from the station between shows last week. Has anyone picked up KHBC-DT and have details? I'm on the other side of the island.

I noticed this on their broadcast of Pearl Harbor about two weeks ago and reported it here. Doesn't look like they notice or care. Does anyone know anybody at the station? If they knew that we can see it, maybe they would do something about it.


It tends to come and go....sometimes it's very noticeable and sometimes...nada.

I have had HD cable for a couple of weeks now and generally have enjoyed it.

I ran a DVI to HDMI cable from my SA3250HD and got a picture, but not as good as from the component out. (Also I got an error message each time I switched to that input channel.) So I think I'll stick with component out for now. Any news as to if and when the digital out from these boxes will be officially turned on by Oceanic (it seems to be a function of the local cable company policy)?

Also, I have had the 3250 freeze and then go black on me once, then slowly reboot. I was on an HD channel and it just seemed to freeze. (Not related to the digital out issue above - I was using the component out at that time.) Does this happen from time to time? The unit did not appear overly warm, so I don't think it was overheating. Anyone else have this happen? I don't know if this is an Oceanic issue, or a hardware issue for another forum.

Thanks to all on this forum for the good information that you have shared.

Aloha,
Bob

KHON Sold!!

A Mainland investment group has reached a deal to buy KHON-TV and 3 other Emmis stations (not including KGMB, thank gawd) for $259 million. Hopefully, this will lead to HD on Oceanic!

Eric

Apparently KHNL and KFVE will not do HDTV but will multicast a weather and music channel. There was an article in the paper a month ago. Go back a couple of pages in this thread and you'll find a link to it. The best you can hope to see on those stations in the next few years is widescreen PDTV 480p. Seems it's cheaper for them to receive HDTV and downconvert to 480p/i, if that's what they are (planning on) doing. All primetime programming is timeshifted in Hawaii and they don't want to upgrade their DVRs… I guess.

I'm on the Big Island and channel 22 KHBC-DT (KHNL repeater in Hilo) may be broadcasting. This site says so (http://www.tvradioworld.com/region2/hwa/tv_information.asp) and I saw the DT call letters on an ad from the station between shows last week. Has anyone picked up KHBC-DT and have details? I'm on the other side of the island.

I vaguely remember that article, but I was hoping that was only a temporary thing. It's kinda misleading to me for them to have an HDTV channel when they're only doing 480i or even 480p :( (yes I know the DT really just means digital-tv, but still)... They should just invest the money and the technology will probably be valid for at least 10 years (and if they get the right ones wil probably be compatible with new standards that will come out later).

I can hope ... :)

KHON Sold!!

A Mainland investment group has reached a deal to buy KHON-TV and 3 other Emmis stations (not including KGMB, thank gawd) for $259 million. Hopefully, this will lead to HD on Oceanic!

Eric

I think that will only happen if KHON starts to show more than 50% of their shows in HD regardless of the owner. Same goes for the other stations with digital channels.

Is there any reason oceanic kitv does not show LOST in 5.1?

HONOLULU -- The parent company of Honolulu television station KHON said it's selling the Fox affiliate along with three other stations.

Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. said it's selling the four stations to affiliates of Blackstone Group and SJL Broadcast Group for $259 million.

It's part of the company's plan to exit the TV business. Emmis previously announced plans to sell nine of its stations to separate buyers. All sales are subject to approval by federal regulators.

Emmis also owns CBS affiliate KGMB in Honolulu, but the company has not announced plans for that station or two others in New Orleans and Orlando, Fla.

The radio station operator got into the TV business in July 1998 when it purchased KHON and three other Fox affiliates. Emmis acquired KGMB two years later along with seven

Is there any reason oceanic kitv does not show LOST in 5.1?

Actually even OTA its not in 5.1, and I noticed the macroblock problem there too :( Wonder if someone flipped a wrong switch. Seems like everything from last week was also in 2.0

KHON Sold!!

A Mainland investment group has reached a deal to buy KHON-TV and 3 other Emmis stations (not including KGMB, thank gawd) for $259 million. Hopefully, this will lead to HD on Oceanic!

Eric


That will be a glorious day!! :)

Actually even OTA its not in 5.1, and I noticed the macroblock problem there too :( Wonder if someone flipped a wrong switch. Seems like everything from last week was also in 2.0

Follow up to this post:

Apparently KITV never did feed 5.1 sound for their broadcasts. They only can pass along stereo due to the problems with 5.1 in the past. They're in the process of getting new equipment to fix this problem since the 5.1 feed is more stable and equipment to fix the macroblocking problem which they are aware of.

I must say I was really impressed by the response I got from the station. They were the most upfront and knowledgeable about the situation compared to the other stations.

Hi all,

I'm just about to take the HD dive. Gonna pick up the HDTV this weekend so I wanted to ask, what's the best HD box to get from Oceanic? No need for DVR at the moment so the 8300 is out. Is the 3250 the best box they have available?

Thanks

Hi all,

....what's the best HD box to get from Oceanic? No need for DVR at the moment so the 8300 is out. Is the 3250 the best box they have available?

Thanks

Since they don't charge for the 8300HD, why not get it? I can't believe they will give them away forever. The DVR for Dish costs several hundred dollars.

Until you have a DVR you won't know how much it changes your viewing experience. Ask any friends who have them. For HD I think its more important because there isn't that much HD in the islands. There is a constant stream of movies in HD. We check out what's coming and record what we are interested in. We haven't rented a film since we got the box. I have to admit that some don't look any better than on DVD but some look fantastic.

If the 8300 is $3 more as it is in most markets, why not get a DVR?

It's a no brainer.

I would also agree - for the minimal difference that getting a DVR would cost, get the DVR. If you've never had a DVR before, you have no idea how different your TV viewing will be. Of course, the software is nowhere near as sophisticated as Tivo ... but it'll do until the Cablecard HD Tivo comes out.

Spleen

Of course, the software is nowhere near as sophisticated as Tivo ... but it'll do until the Cablecard HD Tivo comes out.

Spleen

Yeh, its not up to TIVO but its a whole lot better than the Dish DVR. At least when a program changes time it trys to track it. With Dish, every year when the mainland changed from daylight savings time I had to spend an hour changing all the settings.

Wish it had a jump forward button though. :(

If the 8300 is $3 more as it is in most markets, why not get a DVR?

It's a no brainer.

Actually, DVR will be an additional $10.

Thanks for all the replies. Since you all love DVR so much, maybe we should check it out.

I rent both boxes According to my bill, the 8300 is $9.95 a month and the 3250 is $7.00 a month. I agree that for $3.00 more it's a no-brainer. Also, the 3250 seems to be a tad slower changing channels and responding in general when compared to the 8300. My 3250 also has a recent problem with the inability to show the black bars on the sides on SD channels. I get 3 shades of grey bars only.

All television sets in American households must air digital-only broadcasts by spring of 2009, according to a draft Senate bill slated for consideration next week.

The five-page draft, which has been circulating this week, calls for a "hard date" of April 7, 2009, by which broadcasters must abandon the analog spectrum. That's slightly later than the Jan. 1 mark lawmakers had suggested during hearings convened by the Senate Commerce Committee this summer. That committee plans to take up the measure at a mark-up session on Wednesday.

Under current law, the switch must occur on Dec. 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of American households are able to receive the digital broadcasts--whichever comes first.

By one consumer group's count, as many as 80 million television sets rely on analog signals, and would need to be wired for digital cable or have not been outfitted with "set-top boxes" designed to convert digital signals back to analog. But by 2009, only about 7 percent of television viewers--still several million--will be relying solely on analog, "over-the-air" broadcasts, according to Consumer Electronics Association estimates. Converter boxes are expected to cost about $50, according to industry estimates.

But in Hurricane Katrina's wake, lawmakers have been especially vocal about the need to set a hard transition date sooner than later, citing concerns about lack of available spectrum for first responders, who conduct their emergency communications on the analog side.

The government plans to set aside some of the available airwaves for emergency communications and to auction off the rest--as a federal fundraiser of sorts--to commercial wireless companies.

Mobile industry representatives testifying at the summer committee hearing said they hoped to buy spectrum and use it to create more affordable, widespread wireless broadband networks. That's because the analog spectrum is located at a lower frequency, which, by nature, allows signals to travel in a straighter line and, at least in theory, longer distances.

Licenses to use the newly freed-up spectrum would be put up for sale beginning Jan. 28, 2008, according to the draft proposal. Of the money raised, $4.8 billion would have to be transferred to the general Treasury fund by Oct. 2, 2009, to offset other federal expenses or tax cuts.

Other proceeds would go to a fund specially designated for subsidizing the cost of digital-to-analog converter boxes, converting low-power TV stations from analog to digital, and "providing systems to coastal states affected by hurricanes and other disasters."

That fund would also bankroll programs to implement the Enhance 911 Act of 2004. That measure calls for upgrades to emergency call center answering points so that they can access the "enhanced" 911 network, which is able to pinpoint a caller's geographic location.

The digital switchover also has received a ringing endorsement from a group of high-tech industry leaders, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Actually, DVR will be an additional $10.

Thanks for all the replies. Since you all love DVR so much, maybe we should check it out.

Assuming you have Road Runner already:

Ask for the DVR Surf Pak (Includes Standard, Digital Cable Service, Box, DVR and Road Runner) for $91.95. That's a 19.95 saving compared to if you were to purchase them seprately.

Consider adding HBO package (includes HBO HD) which cost seven dollars for the first six months - 13.95 thereafter.

Just got my DVR two months ago.... and I'm loving it!!!

Actually, DVR will be an additional $10.

Thanks for all the replies. Since you all love DVR so much, maybe we should check it out.

Not according to Delar:

I rent both boxes According to my bill, the 8300 is $9.95 a month and the 3250 is $7.00 a month. I agree that for $3.00 more it's a no-brainer. Also, the 3250 seems to be a tad slower changing channels and responding in general when compared to the 8300. My 3250 also has a recent problem with the inability to show the black bars on the sides on SD channels. I get 3 shades of grey bars only.


Also, the SA3250 is capable of less than 1000 lines of the 1920 possible resolution. The SA8300HD is reported to have over 1200.

"Also, the SA3250 is capable of less than 1000 lines of the 1920 possible resolution. The SA3250 is reported to have over 1200."

I think you mean the 8300 has over 1200 lines, but can you elaborate a bit more on this statement? Does this effect 1080i channels in any way?

"Also, the SA3250 is capable of less than 1000 lines of the 1920 possible resolution. The SA3250 is reported to have over 1200."

I think you mean the 8300 has over 1200 lines, but can you elaborate a bit more on this statement? Does this effect 1080i channels in any way?

You are correct - I will correct that post.

The 3250HD using the HDNET Test Patterns on Tuesday Morning gives off less than 1000 lines of resolution out of the 1920 (1920x1080) lines possible.

The 8300HD using the HDNET Test Patterns on Tuesday Morning gives off around 1250 lines of resolution out the 1920 (1920x1080) lines possible.

Cable Cards using the HDNET Test Pattern on Tuesday Morning give off around 1600 lines of resolution out the 1920 (1920x1080) lines possible.

There are varies thread on avs concerning this.

Different STB Models have different looks on the output as all Analog and DVI/HDMI circuits are different.

The 3250 doesn't have a great DVI circuit. SA doesn't build great circuits.

The 8300 has a much better circuit than the 3250. It should as its technology is about 2 years older.

It still doesn't match the cable card as there is no DVI/HDMI interface - its built into the TV.

I think that will only happen if KHON starts to show more than 50% of their shows in HD regardless of the owner. Same goes for the other stations with digital channels.

DJDigital,

No, Time Warner corporate and Emmis Broadcasting have been haggling for many months now on a contractual arrangement for TWC to carry Emmis stations signals in HD. Emmis wants too much money for the deal. This is regardless of the HD broadcasting OTA in Hawaii. Oceanic has to wait for TWC corporate back in NY to make national deals.

Eric

Assuming you have Road Runner already:

Ask for the DVR Surf Pak (Includes Standard, Digital Cable Service, Box, DVR and Road Runner) for $91.95. That's a 19.95 saving compared to if you were to purchase them seprately.

Consider adding HBO package (includes HBO HD) which cost seven dollars for the first six months - 13.95 thereafter.

Just got my DVR two months ago.... and I'm loving it!!!

I already have RR, but not digital cable, so that's an interesting offer to me... Does the Surf Pak price stay that way after you order or does it only last 6 months? Does it include the HD pak (inHD 1 & 2, DiscoveryHD, HDnet)?

Doing the math from the prices on the Oceanic TW site (http://www.oceanic.com):
$49.80 - Standard + Digital channels
$7.00 - addressable box fee
$9.95 - DVR
$44.95 - RoadRunner
----------
$111.70 + $2.40 franchise + $4.65 tax = $118.85

Yup, about a $20 savings, since the DVR surf pak would come out to about $98 after tax, by my calculations. I'm not sure if you normally have to pay $7 for the box plus $10 for the DVR. Is that right?

I already have RR, but not digital cable, so that's an interesting offer to me... Does the Surf Pak price stay that way after you order or does it only last 6 months? Does it include the HD pak (inHD 1 & 2, DiscoveryHD, HDnet)?

Doing the math from the prices on the Oceanic TW site[/url]:
$49.80 - Standard + Digital channels
$7.00 - addressable box fee
$9.95 - DVR
$44.95 - RoadRunner
----------
$111.70 + $2.40 franchise + $4.65 tax = $118.85

Yup, about a $20 savings, since the DVR surf pak would come out to about $98 after tax, by my calculations. I'm not sure if you normally have to pay $7 for the box plus $10 for the DVR. Is that right?

Your caculation is correct. You would normally pay for the box and the DVR services. The surf Pak does not end after six months - this only applys to the HBO offer!

Just got my 8300HD and it looks great, except for ESPNHD and TNTHD. What's up with these channels? Sometimes I get a lot of artifacts and sometimes no picture at all. Is this due to a weak signal coming in or something else? I am hooked up via the component cables Oceanic provided.

Also, it's been a few days now and I still have all the channels except for the PPV ones? Are they giving me a free preview so that maybe I will subscribe? Kinda like the drug dealers giving free samples. Anyways, is this the case with everyone else? And how long before I get the unauthorized message?

ESPN-HD looks spectacular here. TNTHD is a crappy channel mostly stretched, upconverted SD material. Sometimes they show a movie in real HD...looks OK when they do so. Live HD sports looks great.



Eric

ReplayJanitor,

KHBC-DT has been active for a couple of years now. Just SD stuff. The station said that they just aren't equipped for HD as yet and they were delaying as long as possible!

Eric

Just got my 8300HD and it looks great, except for ESPNHD and TNTHD. What's up with these channels? Sometimes I get a lot of artifacts and sometimes no picture at all. Is this due to a weak signal coming in or something else? I am hooked up via the component cables Oceanic provided.

Also, it's been a few days now and I still have all the channels except for the PPV ones? Are they giving me a free preview so that maybe I will subscribe? Kinda like the drug dealers giving free samples. Anyways, is this the case with everyone else? And how long before I get the unauthorized message?

It's probably a weak signal. I'm not having problems with those channels in my part.

Peanutz, your guess at a free preview is a correct one. Those channels you aren't paying for will go away shortly (if they haven't already).

Like the others, ESPN-HD and TNT-HD are fine here over the 8300.

Also, it's been a few days now and I still have all the channels except for the PPV ones? Are they giving me a free preview so that maybe I will subscribe? Kinda like the drug dealers giving free samples. Anyways, is this the case with everyone else? And how long before I get the unauthorized message?

All receivers are shipped authorized for all channels. As soon as they send out the next batch, you will be down.

When using HDMI with my LCD TV, outlines of the image remains when the screen flash to black. Tracing, outlining, ghosting (I don't really know what’s called) also happens in scenes where there's a lot of black on it. When using component, I do not have this problem....

What's causing this problem?

When using HDMI with my LCD TV, outlines of the image remains when the screen flash to black. Tracing, outlining, ghosting (I don't really know what’s called) also happens in scenes where there's a lot of black on it. When using component, I do not have this problem....

What's causing this problem?

Slow LCD Panels.

Slow LCD Panels.

This doesn't happen when using component cables. Is there anything I can do to stop this when using HDMI?

Can you test with any other component? A DVD player with HDMI to check to see if it's the source or the panel that's doing it?

Spleen

The problem is, with HDMI it's not so clear-cut which component is "at Fault" with problems. I put in a system for a client with Denon DVD player with HDMI, Integra receiver with HDMI switching and a SIM2 projector with HDMI. DVDs were all greenish going via HDMI with these components. Run the DVD straight to a Panasonic LCD with HDMI and it was fine. Integra? SIM2? Nope, turned out to be the Denon DVD player. A firmware upgrade fixed that problem.

Eric

Can you test with any other component? A DVD player with HDMI to check to see if it's the source or the panel that's doing it?

Spleen

I connected the DVR using the same HDMI cable on my HD CRT, and I did not have this problem. It seems it's only a problem with the LCD TV. I don't have DVD with an HDMI output.

It "sounds" like my Pioneer plasma panel is exhibiting the "macroblock" rectangle on the left side. It almost looks like a "picture in a picture" outline but showing a slightly out of sync image during image movement. The only time I see it is when watching KITV-HD and they are showing 4:3 content (black bars on the sides) and it does'nt show on the regular SD channel (grey bars).

Is there a fix?

It "sounds" like my Pioneer plasma panel is exhibiting the "macroblock" rectangle on the left side. It almost looks like a "picture in a picture" outline but showing a slightly out of sync image during image movement. The only time I see it is when watching KITV-HD and they are showing 4:3 content (black bars on the sides) and it does'nt show on the regular SD channel (grey bars).

Is there a fix?

Happened to me last night while watching Alias on KITV-HD. From what I understand, its a problem with KITV's equipment and not our sets.

Is it possible to pick up any DTV stations on the west/dry side of the Big Island (Kona, Waikoloa, Waimea, etc)?

In Waikoloa I've noticed that the 5 OTA analog stations I can pick up are all coming from Maui. That includes FOX 7, PBS 10 (weak), ABC 12, NBC 15, WB 27 (weak), with CBS notably missing. DTV OTA stations in Maui (live or not) are NBC 16, CBS 24, ABC 29, PBS 30, FOX 36. ABC should be live, but the others probably aren't. I don't have a OTA DTV tuner to check them out, yet.

ReplayJanitor,

I seriously doubt it. I don't think any DTV stations are operating on Maui as yet. Only Honolulu and Hilo. You should get CBS on channel 3. As they all broadcast from atop Haleakala, those signals can travel a long way!

Eric

Does anyone know if Oceanic Cable will carry MTV's MHD which will launch on Jan 16, 2006?

Does anyone know if Oceanic Cable will carry MTV's MHD which will launch on Jan 16, 2006?


As Time Warner continues to make the programming deals for many of these systems, I am 100% sure there are other HD Channels that will be in line prior to MTV HD - you know - channels that people actually watch :D

Is it possible to pick up any DTV stations on the west/dry side of the Big Island (Kona, Waikoloa, Waimea, etc)?

In Waikoloa I've noticed that the 5 OTA analog stations I can pick up are all coming from Maui. That includes FOX 7, PBS 10 (weak), ABC 12, NBC 15, WB 27 (weak), with CBS notably missing. DTV OTA stations in Maui (live or not) are NBC 16, CBS 24, ABC 29, PBS 30, FOX 36. ABC should be live, but the others probably aren't. I don't have a OTA DTV tuner to check them out, yet.


As Eric mentions, the digital stations on Maui are not on the air. The State and Feds are forcing the stations off the top of Haleakala. At this point it won't be unitl '07 when the DTV stations are on the air from a new tramsmitter facility near where several Maui FM stations transmit from.

Sorry I couldn't deliver better news.

Can anyone tell me if its worthwhile to switch from my current 8000HD DVR to the newer 83000HD DVR?

I know most of you still remember your old 8000...

What are some of the improvements?
-is the picture really better?
-ease of use?
-same interface? (I like the 8000's software and am used to it by now)
-I know there is an auto conversion from 4801 to 1080i.

Anything else?

Just like anyone else we all want the best possible product but is it really worth breaking down my current set-up (component cables, wires etc...) or am I truly missing out on something really great?

Any comments appreciated! :cool:

keric,

here's a post in this thread that will answer some of your questions:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5975065&&#post5975065

I myself will stay out of the HD game until TWC adds ESPN2HD or next June, since I'd like to see the 2006 Soccer World Cup in HDTV and most of the games will be in HD on ESPN2. It's a shame that we only have a single local station (KITV) doing all the HD shows from the mothership. Hawaii must be the only DMA market in the top 100 in this situation pertaining to local HDTV broadcasting. By the way, does anyone think KHNL will go HD at least before the 2009 superbowl? :laugh:

Can anyone tell me if its worthwhile to switch from my current 8000HD DVR to the newer 83000HD DVR?

I know most of you still remember your old 8000...

What are some of the improvements?
-is the picture really better?
-ease of use?
-same interface? (I like the 8000's software and am used to it by now)
-I know there is an auto conversion from 4801 to 1080i.

Anything else?

Just like anyone else we all want the best possible product but is it really worth breaking down my current set-up (component cables, wires etc...) or am I truly missing out on something really great?

Any comments appreciated! :cool:

Why not? It won't cost you any!!

Can anyone tell me if its worthwhile to switch from my current 8000HD DVR to the newer 83000HD DVR?

I know most of you still remember your old 8000...

What are some of the improvements?
-is the picture really better?
-ease of use?
-same interface? (I like the 8000's software and am used to it by now)
-I know there is an auto conversion from 4801 to 1080i.

Anything else?

Just like anyone else we all want the best possible product but is it really worth breaking down my current set-up (component cables, wires etc...) or am I truly missing out on something really great?

Any comments appreciated! :cool:

8000 is a p o s compared to the 8300.

Just out of curiosity… are any digital channels on Oceanic cable in clear QAM that can be picked up with an HDTV tuner/set top box?

Can anyone tell me if its worthwhile to switch from my current 8000HD DVR to the newer 83000HD DVR?

I know most of you still remember your old 8000...

What are some of the improvements?
-is the picture really better?
-ease of use?
-same interface? (I like the 8000's software and am used to it by now)
-I know there is an auto conversion from 4801 to 1080i.

Anything else?

Just like anyone else we all want the best possible product but is it really worth breaking down my current set-up (component cables, wires etc...) or am I truly missing out on something really great?

Any comments appreciated! :cool:



-is the picture really better? Yes
-ease of use? Just as Easy
-same interface? Same interface

All you really will be doing is disconnecting your box and exchanging it with the new one...you can leave the wiring connected to your TV etc. The 8300HD is faster (when changing channels etc), runs cooler, and also has pass through compared to the 8000's HD or SD only modes.

This is a little off topic?

But does anyone in the "inside" (in Oceanic Cable) know whether Oceanic Cable has plans of adding a new Filipino Channel (e.g. GMA 7's Pinoy TV)?

My friends are moving to Kohala Ranch later this year. They currently have 2 Directv HD receivers. I'm trying to advise them on keeping the D* setup or going with cable. I've read much of this thread and it seems to focus on cable with little mention of D*.
Questions:
1 Can they receive all 3 D* satellites in new location?
2 How does D* handle networks and local stations?
3 Is it realistic to expect to get OTA digital stations in their location? My research looks like transmitters are in Hilo and quite a distance away.
4 Can you get LA DNS network stations in HI via D*?

Thanks for any advice.

John,

1. Kohala Ranch does not have cable.
2. DirecTV does not have Hawaii local stations (as yet). Dish does.
3. No OTA digital stations. You can get the Maui transmitters OTA, but they have no digital transmissions as yet. Forget about Hilo. Mauna Kea (plus Kohala, which they are on) are in the way.
4. I don't think one qualifies for the out-of-market stations there. But it doesn't hurt to try!

Eric

John,

I'm on the Big Island but pretty near Hilo.

I had Dish for seven or eight years before going to cable six months ago. Even though I could get (not very good) over the air, I got permission to receive LA signals for NBC and CBS. I believe these cost me an extra $2 each/mo. I couldn't get permission to get mainland ABC or my first choice of mainland signals from San Francisco. At the time, my Dish installer told me that some of his customers got permission from Oahu to get ABC as well. That I should keep requesting it. That they weren't that organized in denying the service, but honestly, after a while I forgot about doing so.

The only people I know of who use D* here, have it because of the foreign language stations. I missed my D*/TIVO box but got used to the Dish DVR. Its software has gotten pretty good by now.

Eric,

Didn't know there wasn't cable in the north. Wow! What do the gentleman ranchers do for high speed internet?

Guys,

Why do we all say "D*" here? Is there some rule like the site has about quoting prices? It must be confusing to newbees.

1. Yes, you can get all 3 Directv satellites but will need much larger dishes. Directv recommends 3 90cm dishes. (that's why there is little mention of Directv)
2. Directv does not offer Honolulu local stations.
3. What Eric said. :)
4. I checked Directv's DNS lookup, looks like only CBS is eligible:

Eligibilty review for the following:

Kamuela, HI 96743
Standard Distant Network Service
Network Affiliate Channel Status
ABC KITV 12 Grade A (strong signal)
CBS Eligible
FOX KHON 7 Grade A (strong signal)
NBC KHNL 15 Grade A (strong signal)

Digital (HD) Distant Network Service
Network Affiliate Channel Status
ABC KITV-DT 12 Grade A (strong signal)
CBS Eligible
FOX KHON-DT 7 Grade A (strong signal)
NBC KHNL-DT 15 Grade A (strong signal)

Hope this helps,
Charles

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like a DVR and LA DNS stations is possible. I get a grade B signal using their address on the Directv site. If that doesn't work they can at least enjoy DVD's on their HDTV.

... If that doesn't work they can at least enjoy DVD's on their HDTV.

Its not that bad. Worst case, they can have HD and a DVR from Dish.

I went to the Oceanic kiosk at Ala Moana Sears yesterday and the gal there told me that neither Lost nor Monday Night Football were sent in HD by Oceanic.
Is she correct?

gerryko,

She is very wrong. We have all the ABC HD stuff here over Oceanic.


Eric

It's in HD no 5.1 though.

Aloha everyone,

newbie to the forum,about to take the plunge after viewing the new sony LCoS system SXRD 50" and 60" gotta have one, a HD with what appears to be true black.

I'm presently a happy dish network user with the digital dvr set up. In my humble opinion their present and future HD packages looks promising.

So I've got a few question for the dish network man Charles O, if you could lend your dish network knowledge to a neophyte.
? Any preference for the dish installer? I used microcom originally.
? I've got a clear line of sight to Diamond head from my roof top in Westloch on the Ewa plains, and I noticed on a earlier post you wrote"Dish's HD receivers have built-in OTA tuners so no extra box to receive the Digital stations is needed." Does this mean I don't need a OTA separate antenna?
?Contemplating the dish player DVR 942 also, any thoughts?
? And lastly are their any Imaging Science Foundation TV tweakers on island? whats the going rate?

I'm not Charles but to quickly answer one of your questions - you will still need a separate antenna for OTA HD. Terk sells one that's designed to mount on top of the satellite dish so it's a very "hidden" type of installation but you do still need one. Haven't heard all that great things about the Terk one though.

I remember getting a quote from an ISF guy before to tweak my plasma - he was located in Mililani if I remember correctly. Don't remember exactly how much it was going to be but it was around $100-200. Didn't end up doing it after all since I had problems scheduling a good time for both of us (he was tied up doing an install on an outer island) and I was pretty satisfied with the gray level adjustments I was able to accomplish with just the regular picture settings and using a combination of DVE and Avia.

Spleen

Thanks for the info Spleen. Noticed your in the Ewa Beach area also, what kind of antenna are you using for your OTA HD?

Fyaman

I'm not. I get my HD through Oceanic. I've been tossing around the concept of putting up a Silver Sensor indoors and trying to aim it towards town to see if I can catch anything but it would require getting a OTA HD decoder as well and I've got plenty of other things to spend money on right now even as is ... ;) The only channel that I would get in addition to KITV already would be KGMB and it's probably not worth the hassle for one more channel.

Spleen

Howzit fyaman,

? Any preference for the dish installer? I used microcom originally.

Actually I installed my own dishes. :) But I do hear good things about Microcom.

? I've got a clear line of sight to Diamond head from my roof top in Westloch on the Ewa plains, and I noticed on a earlier post you wrote"Dish's HD receivers have built-in OTA tuners so no extra box to receive the Digital stations is needed." Does this mean I don't need a OTA separate antenna?

Like spleen said, you will need an aerial antenna for the OTA digitals, avoid the Terk clip-on it's a P.O.S...BTW doesn't the Sony have a built-in OTA digital tuner?
The Ewa plain is a very good area for receiving the OTA digital although only KITV, KGMB and KHON offer any HD.

?Contemplating the dish player DVR 942 also, any thoughts?

If you must have a DVR, the 942 is a good choice.

? And lastly are their any Imaging Science Foundation TV tweakers on island? whats the going rate?
His name is Glenn Watase, here's his website: http://www.wdshawaii.com
Personally, I would use the HDNet test patterns first before using a ISF tech...but that's just me.

Hope this helps and enjoy the new toys,

Charles

Hi! Has anyone in Mililani tried using an antenna to catch over the air broadcasts? How is the picture quality? If so, what kind of antenna are you using. Especially since Mililani covenants do not allow roof antennas.... I assume only the big three channels broadcast HD.

Thanks again to Spleen and Charles for the invaluable info.

BTW doesn't the Sony have a built-in OTA digital tuner?

The Sony does have the onboard tuner, just need the antenna at this point.

Aloha, Fyaman

Hi, I'm a total newbie; last weekend I hung a panasonic AE900U projector from the ceiling and a 106" screen on the wall. The picture from the dvd player looks pretty good but now I want HDTV. I want to get the most and best HDTV; who should I pick, oceanic, dish or or directv? Also, I know directv has the nfl sunday ticket, but do they have any more games in HD than the others?

Thanks,

Jack

I just got the 8300HD and need to connect to the HDMI port with the other end connected to the DVI port on a Syntax Olevia 27" HDTV.

Will this setup work:

1) DVI-D single link Male to HDMI Female adapter.
2) 6FT DVI-D Dual Link Digital Extension M/F 28AWG Cable. One end is DVI Male and the other is DVI Female.

Both products can be found at MonoPrice.com. First item #2544 and second item #243. $14.50 shipped to Hawaii.

If someone has a better way then please enlighten!:)

Mahalo,
Robert

Jack,

Directv offers an add-on package to NFL Sunday Ticket called "Superfan" that offers all HD telecast from CBS and FOX, it's $99 extra.

As for which HD service, if you already have Oceanic(especially Oceanic Digital) it's just a matter of switching boxes. Oceanic's HD service is $7 more a month.

Here's a basic breakdwon of each:
Oceanic: ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, InHD, FSN-HD, KITV-DT, Universal HD (Coming Soon)
Dish: ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, NFL Network Game of the Week, NBA-TV(Occasional), Voom HD(requires a 3 dish setup)
Directv: ESPN and ESPN2HD, DiscoveryHD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Universal HD, NFL Network Game of the Week, NBA-TV(Occasional).

All three services offer HD channels of HBO and Showtime, Oceanic offfers the West Feed, Dish and Directv offer the East Feed.
Subscibers of NHL Center Ice on Dish and Directv receive occasional HD feeds.
Dish and Directv HD receivers include OTA tuners(requires use of an OTA antenna) and for many areas of Oahu South Shore receive HD programming from KITV, KGMB and KHON as well SD digital programming froim KFVE, KHNL, KIKU, KWHE and KBFD.

Hope this helps,

Charles

Here's a basic breakdwon of each:
Oceanic: ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, InHD, FSN-HD, KITV-DT, Universal HD (Coming Soon)


COOL ANOTHER HD CHANNEL FOR OCEANIC!!! Do you have more info redgarding Universal HD?!

I live in Miliani, about 20 miles from the loca lstations. Will an internal antenna work or do i need to got rooftop?

Here's an email I got from KHNL:

We currently broadcast DTV (Upconverted analog to 1080i) in Honolulu on
channel 35. We are making provisions to pass true HD in the near
future, hopefully by the end of the year.

Jamie Inayoshi
Community Services Coordinator
KHNL/KFVE

I live in Miliani, about 20 miles from the loca lstations. Will an internal antenna work or do i need to got rooftop?


I got a HUMAX HFA100 OTA HD Receiver and have been playing with it for the past three days. I tried 3 Indoor antennas, two Phillips, powered antennas I got from the Mililani Walmart and a ZHDTV1 antenna I got from Amazon along with the tuner. I can "receive" two channels. KIKU and KAAH (a Religion channel). I ONLY receive picture from KAAH, but this is intermittent. I get a very good signal from KIKU and receive programing info, but no picture. I emailed KIKU about this, but I have not received any response. Picture quality compared to analog cable for KAAH via OTA is noticeably better.

I was hoping to get atleast KITV because I'm a big fan of Lost, but I'm a bit discouraged. Is anyone having better luck in Mililani (Mauka)?

Here's an email I got from KHNL:

We currently broadcast DTV (Upconverted analog to 1080i) in Honolulu on
channel 35. We are making provisions to pass true HD in the near
future, hopefully by the end of the year.

Jamie Inayoshi
Community Services Coordinator
KHNL/KFVE
I thought they announced only a few months ago that they were only going to multicast and do no HD for awhile, so that's a pretty fast change of heart. Maybe we'll see some HD from KHNL by the end of next year, after all.. "passing" true HD probably means only live stuff in HD, though. But I might very well be wrong, and they might very well get an HD timeserver, since Sunday Night Football on NBC will probably have to be delayed like MNF is on ABC.

More encouraging news for HD (or at least DTV) in Hawaii:
From: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (http://starbulletin.com/2005/11/06/business/engle.html)
... PBS Hawaii switched on new digital master control equipment Nov. 1.

The $2.5 million equipment will enable the station to broadcast multiple streams of programming, versus the single stream analog transmission allows. That may begin in February, McCartney said.
Not much else about digital or HDTV in that article, except talk of PBS on-demand stuff on Oceanic cable.
So, maybe next summer we'll see some HD from PBS Hawaii? Am I being optimistic?

I wasn't going to mention it, but since someone else did...I scooped the Star-Bulletin by about 4 months on the new digital master control. :D
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5934039&&#post5934039

And to answer the question, KHET will be able to offer HD content.

UniversalHD is an all-HD channel that features programming from the various NBC Universal properties (NBC, Sci-Fi, Bravo, Universal Pictures, etc.). Time Warner corporate made a deal to carry the channel nationally recently. It just started up in a South Carolina Time Warner franchise this past week, I believe. Included in the deal was that new VOD channel that will carry all kinds of programming from lots of vendors...the one where you will be able to watch prime time TV episodes on demand without commercials for a fee.

Hawaii is no longer a DirecTV poor relation. We now have all of the same programming available here that the mainland has. Next month they will start carrying Honolulu locals, too.

Eric

Forgot to mention Dish Network has made FSN West2 available in Hawaii. Although not an HD channel, Dish does carry the Dodgers HD games from FSN West2. Previously Dodgers telecast were blacked out in Hawaii due to FSN West2 being not available here.

More good news. :)

Hawaii is no longer a DirecTV poor relation. We now have all of the same programming available here that the mainland has. Next month they will start carrying Honolulu locals, too.

Eric


Eric,
Can you provide more details? D* website still says they have no plans to offer locals. Do you know if they install the standard 3 lnb dish?

I wasn't going to mention it, but since someone else did...I scooped the Star-Bulletin by about 4 months on the new digital master control. :D
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5934039&&#post5934039

And to answer the question, KHET will be able to offer HD content.
You sure did and knowing that the digital master control was coming is what made me look at the PBS article.

It's nice to know that PBS Hawaii has taken a solid step towards HD, instead of the "will happen... possibly... maybe... around such time". I'm guessing they need to get their transmitter in order now, right?

John,

Apparently DirecTV sent a letter to the FCC this week crowing about how they are no longer stiffing Hawaii, as has been complained over the years. It's thanks to a new satellite that they launched not long ago...now in service.

They also indicated that the locals are coming sometime in December. I'm not sure what the dish requirements will be to get the locals here.

Eric

Thanks Eric,
I did find that article on another forum. Wish I could find out which technology D* plans to use. My friends are moving in several weeks and I have a Gainmaster dish they could take with them but that would be a waste if they need the new AT9 for mpeg4.

My oceanic cable picture is being stretched or zoomed on all channels. Is any one else noticing this? I am trying to watch the football game on digital CH 87 but can’t see the score or any of the stats at the top and bottom of the screen because they are getting cut off. I do have a HD wide screen projector but until today only the HD CH where wide screen. Even the HD channels are being stretched or zoomed so they are getting cut off also. This is not cool. Oceanic is doing something weird. My cable box is the 8000hd box and it is set to pass thru so it should not be wide screen like that.

Tim

Tim,

Try the "#" key on your remote.

Eric

Thanks that worked. I dont use the cable box remote that is issued with the box and did not know that my CH master remote had the pound key listed. Someone must have been playing with the remote last night and hit it acidently.
Tim

As for which HD service, if you already have Oceanic(especially Oceanic Digital) it's just a matter of switching boxes. Oceanic's HD service is $7 more a month.

Here's a basic breakdwon of each:
Oceanic: ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, InHD, FSN-HD, KITV-DT, Universal HD (Coming Soon)
Charles,

You list FSN-HD in your channel breakdown for Oceanic. What channel is it?? I'm on Maui and I don't see it listed in the channel lineup on Oceanic's site or in the channel guide listings. Thanks for any info.

it's listed as HD Sports Ch.950

John,

Apparently DirecTV sent a letter to the FCC this week crowing about how they are no longer stiffing Hawaii, as has been complained over the years. It's thanks to a new satellite that they launched not long ago...now in service.

They also indicated that the locals are coming sometime in December. I'm not sure what the dish requirements will be to get the locals here.

Eric

Thanks to everybody who helped me choose which service to get. I chose DirecTV and the installer told me they will have locals beginning on December 8. We'll see.

Jack

Thanks to everybody who helped me choose which service to get. I chose DirecTV and the installer told me they will have locals beginning on December 8. We'll see.

Jack

Can you tell me what dish they installed?

it's listed as HD Sports Ch.950

HD sports channel should be taken off Oceanics list of HD channels. It may be misleading people into subscribing to the HD channel tier thinking there might actually be some kind of sports programming on the channel. For the whole baseball season there wasn't 1 game shown; the only time they had a game on their was no sound. Rest of the time it was blank/off the air. Don't know what it's going to be like for basketball this season but I expect the same. All they did last year was show the same game that's on the INHD channel at the same time. What is the point of this station?

HD sports channel should be taken off Oceanics list of HD channels. It may be misleading people into subscribing to the HD channel tier thinking there might actually be some kind of sports programming on the channel. For the whole baseball season there wasn't 1 game shown; the only time they had a game on their was no sound. Rest of the time it was blank/off the air. Don't know what it's going to be like for basketball this season but I expect the same. All they did last year was show the same game that's on the INHD channel at the same time. What is the point of this station?

AGREE

Can you tell me what dish they installed?

Sorry John, I can't tell you. They put three dishes up there but gave me no information about what they are.

Sorry John, I can't tell you. They put three dishes up there but gave me no information about what they are.

Actually that answers my question if they are all round and each dish has a single LNB. Did you place your order directly with Directv and have them arrange the install?

For those of you interested in more information on UniversalHD, looks to be a little "sparse" on selection choices, but at least it's something...

I'd post the link to their(UniversalHD's) homepage, but I haven't made 5 posts which prohibits me from entering a URL, and I've yet to figure out a way to post the link, which is rather frustrating, so, we'll have to do the long way (or just google "universalHD" and click the first result...

3 w's, followed by a period, followed by universalhd, followed by another period, followed by the letters c, then o, then m

For those of you interested in more information on UniversalHD, looks to be a little "sparse" on selection choices, but at least it's something...

I'd post the link to their(UniversalHD's) homepage, but I haven't made 5 posts which prohibits me from entering a URL, and I've yet to figure out a way to post the link, which is rather frustrating, so, we'll have to do the long way (or just google "universalHD" and click the first result...

3 w's, followed by a period, followed by universalhd, followed by another period, followed by the letters c, then o, then m

I'll help you out....but know their schedule on their website is often full of errors and you will learn to hate UHD - and the 68 movies in their library.

http://www.universalhd.com/

Universal HD has one of my fave shows...the new Battlestar Galactica. Can't wait to see it in High Def when it returns.

I called Oceanic and they told me they have no plans in adding a new HD channel any time soon???

Well, Time Warner did sign a national deal to carry UniversalHD...it's just a matter of time before poor bandwidth-constrained Oceanic adds the channel to the lineup. Trio disappears from the planet in January...maybe that will free up a little space.

Eric

Hi all.

I am hoping someone can point me to a Honolulu sports bar that has HDTV(s) so that I can watch the football games there this weekend.

Thank you very much

Well, Time Warner did sign a national deal to carry UniversalHD...it's just a matter of time before poor bandwidth-constrained Oceanic adds the channel to the lineup. Trio disappears from the planet in January...maybe that will free up a little space.

Eric
Oceanic is hurting for bandwidth??? How could that be? Maybe they have too many analog channels? They can always lose "Fit TV" or "Discovery Health" from analog and free 12 MHz.

If they are bandwidth-starved, then they might be in trouble when PBS Hawaii and KHNL put up an HD feed. KHON might make HD available, too, when they change owners and other HD channels coming out in 2006.

Now I'm curious to know this. How many MHz of the cable spectrum does a 1080i or 720p channel use? I guess a better question is what's the relationship between MHz on the cable and Mbps on an MPEG stream.

Yes, Oceanic is hurting for bandwidth. All those durn analog customers on the system! Not to speak of the interactive services. They need to add more fibers to the infrastructure to enable them to carry more stuff.

Eric

Oceanic is hurting for bandwidth??? How could that be? Maybe they have too many analog channels? They can always lose "Fit TV" or "Discovery Health" from analog and free 12 MHz.

If they are bandwidth-starved, then they might be in trouble when PBS Hawaii and KHNL put up an HD feed. KHON might make HD available, too, when they change owners and other HD channels coming out in 2006.

Now I'm curious to know this. How many MHz of the cable spectrum does a 1080i or 720p channel use? I guess a better question is what's the relationship between MHz on the cable and Mbps on an MPEG stream.

Most cable systems are using 256k QAMs for their signal. That means in a 6Mhz Analog Channel Block you can have 38.81mbps of bandwidth.

Considering that you need around 14Mbps for 1920x1080i, that means only 2 HD Channels can be put on a 256QAM (Unless you really want to kill the bandwidth and soften the picture).

Likewise, SD can be put on with 3.5mbps, so you can easily put 10 SD channels on a QAM.

Thus you will need to drop a lot more than 2 or 3 SD digital channels to make room for 1 HD channel.

I would *assume* Oceanic is built out to 750mhz but have no first hand knowledge of such.

You should be able to make a good educated guess going into the diagnostic menus of the STBs and going through the channels - and noting where the highest QAM frequencies are. That should give you a good idea if the system is built out to 650Mhz, 750Mhz or above.

Oceanic has a bit of room for some new stuff, but they are really tight on bandwidth. I was told that some techies there were considering downrezzing some HD channels to save space!! Not acceptable, of course.

All of those interactive features are gobbling up space...ordering pizzas, adopting a pet, etc.

Eric

I was told that some techies there were considering downrezzing some HD channels to save space!!Eric

Oh, I wish I hadn't read that so early on this Saturday. Now I feel sick. :(

Most cable systems are using 256k QAMs for their signal. That means in a 6Mhz Analog Channel Block you can have 38.81mbps of bandwidth.

Considering that you need around 14Mbps for 1920x1080i, that means only 2 HD Channels can be put on a 256QAM (Unless you really want to kill the bandwidth and soften the picture).

Likewise, SD can be put on with 3.5mbps, so you can easily put 10 SD channels on a QAM.

Thus you will need to drop a lot more than 2 or 3 SD digital channels to make room for 1 HD channel.

That's really helpful. So, if they drop a couple of 6MHz analog channels it's room for 4 HD stations. They'll need that kind of room soon. Believe it or not, FitTV and Discovery Health are part of the analog channel line-up and channel 78 has color bars or something in my area. Do digital channels have to be at a higher frequency, though? Because if they do, then my idea is useless.

ReplayJanitor,

Regardless of moving analog channels to the digital tier, most of the Oceanic subscribers still have analog-only boxes (or no boxes at all)...if they were all converted to digital, that would go a LONG way to helping the problem. But that is a VERY expensive and politically sensitive proposition. I heard there are EIGHTEEN (!) different models of boxes in the Oceanic system.

Eric

I can understand why people want to keep their analog connections though. I just put in a new LCD TV and got a chance to do a back-to-back comparison between analog cable going through the TV's tuner versus output from a 3250HD box - for the SDTV stations, the picture from the TV tuner was clearly superior.

Spleen

spleen,

That's not the primary reason people want to keep their analog connections...it's $$. They charge for cable boxes, after all.

What would some little old lady know about analog vs. digital picture quality? Nada.

Eric

Eric - very true. But from the quality standpoint, it's also true that ironically, the low-tech analog connections give superior PQ in certain circumstances. ;)

Spleen

That's really helpful. So, if they drop a couple of 6MHz analog channels it's room for 4 HD stations. They'll need that kind of room soon. Believe it or not, FitTV and Discovery Health are part of the analog channel line-up and channel 78 has color bars or something in my area. Do digital channels have to be at a higher frequency, though? Because if they do, then my idea is useless.

Well, are you sure those are part of the analog lineup?

A digital QAM Channel fits inside a 6Mhz analog channel. It takes up the bandwidth - digital instead of analog. Analog not efficient.

Again, 38mbps go in a 256QAM channel which would go in a 6mhz analog frequency.

In most cases, most MSOs will not run an analog channel above the mid 70s which is around 525mhz with the exception being 95-99 where they reuse the FM Band.

Thus on a QAM channel a HD feed really needs about 15mbps and a SD feed needs about 3.5mbps. Thus, dropping the 3 obscure SD feeds that you mention most likely will give them 10.5mbps - hardly enough for 1 HD channel replacement unless you bit starve it unless those channels are in the lower analog portion.

The big question is what frequency is the headend built out to and what frequency is the system out the houses built out to.

There's all this talk about removing analog channels and degrading current HD channels. What about simply boosting the bandwith capacity? Wouldn't that be the better route?

DirecTV Inc. launched its high-powered Spaceway F2 satellite last month, enabling it to deliver high-definition television (HDTV) signals from local broadcast stations in 36 markets by early 2006. The local HDTV rollout, which started with the Detroit market and will extend to Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco by the end of the year, will cover 57 percent of U.S. television households.

Together, Spaceway F2 and the previously launched Spaceway F1 bird will support DirecTV's rollout of up to 500 local HDTV channels. DirecTV plans to launch two more satellites in 2007, enabling it to beam down at least 1,500 local and 150 national HDTV channels.

Perhaps Satalite will be a better alternative to Oceanic?

There's all this talk about removing analog channels and degrading current HD channels. What about simply boosting the bandwith capacity? Wouldn't that be the better route?
Upgrading their infrastructure would require a substantial investment. It's far cheaper to compress channels.

Perhaps Satalite will be a better alternative to Oceanic?
The sat providers, including now D*, are downrezing some of their HD channels in an effort to save bandwidth. This appears to be a unfortunate trend.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=611874&page=1&pp=30

Ever since the torrential downpour on Sunday several of my HD channels are completely out and others PQ is degraded. I contacted CS yesterday and after rebooting the box and bringing up some stats it looks like something at the street. I was told others in the area had reported problems also. They say the earliest someone can come out and take a look will be the 14th. They said I would get some kind of credit until it's fixed, which I appreciate, but I would appreciate it being fixed sooner more. If it was just my house it would be different but if many of us in the area are affected you would think they would find a way to come out sooner. I was told one thing we had working against us, to have anything done sooner, was the fact that it seemed to be affecting only the HD channels. It seems they would want to keep the HD customers happy but I guess we must be in the minority and the wheel that squeaks the loudest gets oiled first. I had been considering getting the digital phone service from OTW but I shudder to think what would happen if they have problems with it.

The 14th seems an AWFULLY long time off for them to get around to looking at the problem. Funny that they wouldn't want to do something before then. I feel for you ...

Spleen

Directv now offers Honolulu Locals:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=794253&highlight=

Need a H20 receiver and a 1.2m dish. YIKES!!!
Seems that they are being transmitted in MPEG4 on Spaceway1(SD not HD).
Missing KBFD, KWHE and KPXO.

What's up guys, I'm glad I found this thread!

I live in Mililani Mauka, I just got a new SXRD, and have Oceanic HD. The HD channels look great, but I'm disappointed in the lack of HD channels. I at least hoped to have the broadcast channels in HD, so I could watch Conan O'Brien in 1080i :D But why is it that the HKITV channel still has black bars on the sides -- isn't it supposed to be in HD?

Anyway, I just a n00b to all this, so please bear with me if I have questions... I'm still learning to be more tech savvy. For instance, my tv has settings on the Picture Format of the set: Fixed, Pass-Through, Upconvert-1, and Upconvert-2. Which setting should I put it to?

And also, if possible, any SXRD owners have their sets calibrated and care to share their settings? Any local stores sell DVE or AVIA?

Not all shows are on HD. Good Morning America and most prime time shows are broadcast in HD.

What's up guys, I'm glad I found this thread!

I live in Mililani Mauka, I just got a new SXRD, and have Oceanic HD. The HD channels look great, but I'm disappointed in the lack of HD channels. I at least hoped to have the broadcast channels in HD, so I could watch Conan O'Brien in 1080i :D But why is it that the HKITV channel still has black bars on the sides -- isn't it supposed to be in HD?

Anyway, I just a n00b to all this, so please bear with me if I have questions... I'm still learning to be more tech savvy. For instance, my tv has settings on the Picture Format of the set: Fixed, Pass-Through, Upconvert-1, and Upconvert-2. Which setting should I put it to?

And also, if possible, any SXRD owners have their sets calibrated and care to share their settings? Any local stores sell DVE or AVIA?

What's up guys, I'm glad I found this thread!

I live in Mililani Mauka, I just got a new SXRD, and have Oceanic HD. The HD channels look great, but I'm disappointed in the lack of HD channels. I at least hoped to have the broadcast channels in HD, so I could watch Conan O'Brien in 1080i :D But why is it that the HKITV channel still has black bars on the sides -- isn't it supposed to be in HD?

Anyway, I just a n00b to all this, so please bear with me if I have questions... I'm still learning to be more tech savvy. For instance, my tv has settings on the Picture Format of the set: Fixed, Pass-Through, Upconvert-1, and Upconvert-2. Which setting should I put it to?

And also, if possible, any SXRD owners have their sets calibrated and care to share their settings? Any local stores sell DVE or AVIA?


Which box did Oceanic give you? Explorer XXXXHD?

8300hd

Setting your box to Pass-Through shouldn't hurt.

Now if Oceanic would just enable that on all boxes... :mad:

Aloha,

Can anyone please e-mail me the set-up and user guides for the 8300HD?? I downloaded the same for the 3250HD the other day from the Scientific Atlanta site, but for some reason I'm unable to log into the Explorer Club today. Send me a PM and I'll provide my e-mail address. Thanks for any help...

Nevermind! Found it somewhere else. Thanks.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use a Sony HD-DVR (DHGHDD500) with Oceanic?

I am currently using Oceanic's HD-DVR and like it but the hard drive is rather small plus I'd like to store specific shows that appeared in HD on the hard drive. (Cant burn them to DVD in 1080i)

The Sony has a 500gb hard drive. (Thats a lot of HD shows that can be saved)

The only problem that I foresee is the "programming guide". Will I still be able to use Oceanic's guide or one from the mainland. (TV Guide)

Will it work with Oceanic's digital service?

Any input appreciated.

keric,

Sorry, no, you can't use that product with the cable system. Why don't you try adding an external SATA drive to the 8300HD if you need more storage? Doesn't the 8300HD downconvert HD programs to SD through the Video Out using the "Save to VCR" option?

Eric

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa103.html
More detail on the Hawaii locals on Spaceway 1. Confirms no HD.

Hawaii isn't scheduled to get HD locals over DBS for quite awhile. They are just rolling it out to the biggest markets now, no?

Eric

Hey all,
Just checking if anyone is receiving the KITV-HD signal OTA. I'm in Mililani, and was receiving there signal (with drop outs every once in awhile) but for the past couple weeks I haven't been able to get anything. Just wondering if I'm not getting there signal, or if they aren't broadcasting it anymore.

All of those interactive features are gobbling up space...ordering pizzas, adopting a pet, etc.
Do the interactive features really use a lot of bandwidth? They seem to work by downloads, and since you can only download one thing at a time, it's not obvious why additional features would require more bandwidth.

Do the interactive features really use a lot of bandwidth? They seem to work by downloads, and since you can only download one thing at a time, it's not obvious why additional features would require more bandwidth.


I have been told that they require lots of infrastructure and set-top box resources. The fact that we have all of these legacy analog users gobbles up a huge portion of the bandwidth in the system. If everyone could be converted to the digital platform, then it wouldn't be much of an issue at present. I think Road Runner traffic only consumes the equivalent of a few channels of bandwidth.

Eric

Mele Kalikimaka everyone ! :-)

Eric, can you check on something for me. I've just been reading an interesting thread in the HD Recorders forum.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=603278

It appears that under federal law, any STB or DVR acquired by a cable company after July 1, 2005 must have a functioning IEEE 1394 interface (firewire). This would include the SA8300HD that Oceanic issues to it's customers. My 8300 does not have a firewire port, but it was acquired prior to the July 1 date. I'm sure that since that date Oceanic has purchased several batches of the 8300. Here is the letter of the law:

47CFR76.640

(4) Cable operators shall:
(i) Effective April 1, 2004, upon request of a customer, replace any
leased high definition set-top box, which does not include a functional
IEEE 1394 interface, with one that includes a functional IEEE 1394
interface or upgrade the customer's set-top box by download or other
means to ensure that the IEEE 1394 interface is functional.
(ii) Effective July 1, 2005, include both a DVI or HDMI interface
and an IEEE 1394 interface on all high definition set-top boxes acquired
by a cable operator for distribution to customers.

I rent both the 8300HD for it's DVR ability and the 3250HD for it's firewire ability only. I should be able to return both these boxes and pick up the newest 8300HD so I can have both these abilities in one box. I can save myself a bunch of dough as well. Can you ask your contacts at Oceanic about this please. Thanks.

delar,

Sure! I'll ask what the status is of this. I know that they met the 4/1/2004 requirement. That's how I got my firewire-enabled 3250HD last year. The issues holding other stuff up have largely been software compatibility ones.

Eric

So does that mean that the HDMI ports on our cable boxes need to be functional by federal law at this time? Are they?

Spleen

My 8300HD's HDMI ports worked when I first got it several months ago. They just didn't work properly! Everything had a strange color cast over it. That was a box software issue. I haven't checked since to see if it has been fixed. I called to find out a couple of days ago, but it's the Holiday season...

Eric

Eric - thanks for checking for us. Might be impetus for me to finally get around to swapping my 8000HD for a 8300HD if they're finally up (course, I'll need to get a DVI-HDMI cable first). Mele Kalikimaka to all of us!

Spleen

My 8300HD's HDMI ports worked when I first got it several months ago. They just didn't work properly! Everything had a strange color cast over it. That was a box software issue. I haven't checked since to see if it has been fixed. I called to find out a couple of days ago, but it's the Holiday season...

Eric


HDMI works fine on my 8300 -- It's been working ever since I got the box when they first came out. It's a good thing too, because for some reason the component out on this box produced some kind of wavy type interference on the picture which was really noticeable when looking at the menus-- I was almost going to return it because of this but instead just bought the HDMI cable.

Does anyone know if Oceanic plans to carry the Multi-room DVR? I'm renting 2 8300's, and the 3250 for the firewire port only and would like to cut down on my cable bill.

I've gleaned a bit more information regarding the 8300HD and the firewire port from the HD Recorders forum. It seems that around the country there has been varying degrees of success using this port to the DVHS and the PC. It's said that the 8300HD firmware is a bit buggy and SA has been working on it these last few months to correct the firewire problem and a few others, along with adding new features. Supposedly some cable companies have adopted the beta versions of these firmware revisions while others are waiting for the final release, which I've read was supposed to be before the end of the year.

What does seem clear is that Oceanic should have 8300HD's with active firewire ports in their stock (since it's mandated that all new STBs/DVRs have firewire ports, SA will probably manufacture/sell firewire-portless 8300s by special order only). One might have to get Oceanic to set aside one of these new boxes lest the service counter or field tech gives you one from their old stock. Of primary concern to me besides being able to get rid of my 3250HD would be the continued ability to archive to the PC via firewire and archiving a time-shifted program to the DVHS or PC via the 8300HD hard drive.

For those interested, there is some discussion of all this in the following threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=581843
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6380734&&#post6380734

Sorry for the long post. It is a rare day off for me.

Right now the Cable people have a D-VHS of mine at their Network Operation Center and are trying to determine why the 8300-HD is not working with it.

They have brought SA into it so we should get a definitive resolution on why it is not working - although I do not know the time frame over the holidays.

When they get that working, all questions and answers should come together.

If I were you, I would make no mention that you can record to a PC at this time because that is the fastest way to loose it and have 5c turned on - which will eventually happen at sometime when they run an audit.

Consider yourself lucky now.

HDTVFanAtic,

Where are you located? The situation is different in Hawaii than anywhere else, as we have custom software in our boxes due to the fancy interactive infrastructure here.

Eric

Just tried the HDMI on my 8300 and my Panny LCD...works fine now, no "snow" like a few months before when changing channels or using the guide etc. :)

keric,

Sorry, no, you can't use that product with the cable system. Why don't you try adding an external SATA drive to the 8300HD if you need more storage? Doesn't the 8300HD downconvert HD programs to SD through the Video Out using the "Save to VCR" option?

Eric

I have tried to use the "save to vcr" option but pq seems to be really bad. I found out that you can use the output 2 composite or the s-video output for the "save to vcr" function but both look the same. Seems like it is missing horizontal scanlines. Does anyone know if there is a fix for this?

If I were you, I would make no mention that you can record to a PC at this time because that is the fastest way to loose it and have 5c turned on - which will eventually happen at sometime when they run an audit.

Consider yourself lucky now.
Thanks for the warning. Of course I would never mention this to the people at Oceanic, but frankly I don't think the techs there really give a hoot whether you are doing this or not.

Eric, is the infrastructure here in Hawaii really all that unique? From what I understand, most TWC systems have varying amounts of interactive programming already, and it's been said that TWC corporate is pushing for more and more of this in the future.

I look forward to hearing from your Oceanic contact. Perhaps they are ahead of the game on this 8300HD/firewire issue.

HDTVFanAtic,

Where are you located? The situation is different in Hawaii than anywhere else, as we have custom software in our boxes due to the fancy interactive infrastructure here.

Eric

I have a place in Waikiki as well as the Four Seasons on the Big Island and spend weeks a year there.

The software is no different than other systems. I looked at 2 years ago at the Sears in several malls because the Sears on the mainland were touting Voom instead and there it was Oceanic. It hasn't changed since. (Why was I in several Sears on 3 Islands? I was looking for the JVC 30k that all had on demo and blew out 2 years ago).

All TWC and TWC Manged Systems have fancy interactive features these days.

HDTVFanatic,

Yes, other TWC systems have fancy Interactive features...where do you think they got them from? <g> The pioneering work in all of that stuff has been done here in Hawaii. When Oceanic does the tweaking along with the several middleware companies that they work with, the code is disseminated to the other companies and SA, too.

It's not just the code in the boxes, but the code in the headend equipment at the cable company that needs to be custom tweaked. That's why they can't just update the boxes to the latest code versions from SA when they are released, because there is a lot of additional testing and development that must be done to assure that it will work here.

Eric

What is the best provider of HD content for Hawaii? After reading a few of the previous threads, it seems like Oceanic just doesn't have a good HD line-up. Direct TV and Dish seem iffy on local channels. Haven't tried OTA. What do you think?

I am located in Mililani if that makes a difference.

Tigershark,

It's actually probably Oceanic at present. DISH is missing some of the HD content...I don't think we can get the VOOM HD channels over DISH in Hawaii now (not quite sure). DirecTV may be a better choice if you are a football fanatic because you can subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket in HD. Otherwise, it's Oceanic. And there will be more HD channels from all of those sources in the forseeable future.

Eric

Tigershark,

It's actually probably Oceanic at present. DISH is missing some of the HD content...I don't think we can get the VOOM HD channels over DISH in Hawaii now (not quite sure). DirecTV may be a better choice if you are a football fanatic because you can subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket in HD. Otherwise, it's Oceanic. And there will be more HD channels from all of those sources in the forseeable future.

Eric

Thanks for the quick reply. Oceanic is definitely the easiest way to go, and until Satellite improves their offers, it looks like I will be going with Oceanic's offerings.

HDTVFanatic,

Yes, other TWC systems have fancy Interactive features...where do you think they got them from? <g> The pioneering work in all of that stuff has been done here in Hawaii. When Oceanic does the tweaking along with the several middleware companies that they work with, the code is disseminated to the other companies and SA, too.

It's not just the code in the boxes, but the code in the headend equipment at the cable company that needs to be custom tweaked. That's why they can't just update the boxes to the latest code versions from SA when they are released, because there is a lot of additional testing and development that must be done to assure that it will work here.

Eric

It's actually done in Charlotte NC. That is the TWC test bed for the OS.

Right now the Cable people have a D-VHS of mine at their Network Operation Center and are trying to determine why the 8300-HD is not working with it.

They have brought SA into it so we should get a definitive resolution on why it is not working - although I do not know the time frame over the holidays.

When they get that working, all questions and answers should come together.

If I were you, I would make no mention that you can record to a PC at this time because that is the fastest way to loose it and have 5c turned on - which will eventually happen at sometime when they run an audit.

Consider yourself lucky now.

If they get it working, will you let us know and tell us what model DVHS you use? For long term archiving this would be much better than an external drive.

I am a little concerned that the SA engineers will make sure it won't work. I would think that DVHS copying is almost the same to them as computer copying. If I'm wrong about this, please tell me why.

If they get it working, will you let us know and tell us what model DVHS you use? For long term archiving this would be much better than an external drive.

I am a little concerned that the SA engineers will make sure it won't work. I would think that DVHS copying is almost the same to them as computer copying. If I'm wrong about this, please tell me why.
Properly implemented, that's what the 5c copy protection flag is suppose to do.....allow you to archive, for personal use only, programming to tape or disk (fair use), but prevent you from making additional copies for further distribution. I don't think SA has any vested interest in suppressing this ability, and I imagine doing so purposefully would be criminal.

I find myself using DVHS less these days. While it works well, tape recording seems like an old technology to me. Compared to a disk, the tape media is bulky, not to mention a bit expensive (a true DVHS tape anyway). If I can one day copy a program in full res HD and burn it to a blue-ray disk that cannot be copied further, I'll be happy. There are far worse alternatives being conjured up.

Properly implemented, that's what the 5c copy protection flag is suppose to do.....allow you to archive, for personal use only, programming to tape or disk (fair use), but prevent you from making additional copies for further distribution. I don't think SA has any vested interest in suppressing this ability, and I imagine doing so purposefully would be criminal.


Is this similar what HBO is now doing in regards to recording anything off of
Cinemax/HBO. In essence you can make only one copy and thats it ?



Evidently there is DVD Recorders out there that won't record anything that
uses Copy-Never Signals which HBO uses, so your SOL if you have one of
those recorders.

I would cite the URLs but the system won't let me until I make 5 posts.

Here are the cited links {since I saw I reached the 5 post threshold}

http://www.hbo.com/corpinfo/faq/cgmsfaq.shtml#jump3
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14581864

Don't know much about it, but it appears to be designed to accomplish the same thing. I personally haven't encountered it..............yet.

You really should drop discussion of this subject for reasons stated above.

The system works fine with D-VHS recorders - of which Sears had a close out on in Spring of 2004 which is why I was in the Sears on Maui and Oahu picking up the last ones that had not been spoken for. There was essentially one on display in every Sears in America, however I doubt one was ever sold - nor were most even connected up to a TV.

I have been able to use a DVHS recorder to record from a SA3250HD since April of 2004 and they are working with SA to make sure the SA8300HD has the same functionality over its IEEE 1394 connections.

You really should drop discussion of this subject for reasons stated above.



I was just trying to help, if that is a crime please let me know right now ?
I was just trying to understand and interject what I have run into in
regards to this. I might as well clam up and stop posting here.

Hi, I'm another noob here. Been lurking a little while, but only just registered.

We're shoppong for an HDTV, it was bad enough trying to research the TVs themselves, now I've got to think about how I want to connect it to cable. :( My head is beginning to spin! :(

My question is, what's everybody's take on using the CableCard feature instead of renting TW's 3250HD/8300HD, letting the TV do all the tuning internally? I checked Oceanic's prices and the card is only like $1.75 vs $7 for STB... Or am I completely misunderstanding how all this works? Help :confused:

The CableCards have been somewhat unreliable (this might be an understatement). Also, they do not allow for PPV or the usage of Oceanic's program guide as I understand it. Just some things to keep in mind.

Spleen

Spleen thanks for the reply.

Yeah I figured I'd lose the program guide. And in the past 10 years I think we've only ordered PPV once (analog box days), so losing PPV is no biggie. But reliability is a concern so thanks for the heads up.

BTW I'm so glad to have found this thread. :)

We had finally settled on a particular RP-LCD model at Circuit City... but discovered that Costco has the same model for several hundered $$$ less, and it includes the stand!!

Has anyone had good/bad experiences with the local Costco (we go to the Waipio one) in regards to large electronics items like HDTVs?

I'll be checking with them this weekend on their return policy, from what I've read elsewhere (from mainland Costco customers anyway), Costco has a pretty liberal return policy. This is a concern for me as I don't think they offer extended warranties.

One big problem for me if I go the Costco route is that I have to lug the TV into the SUV (no delivery like CC or Sears)... I think the box is too tall by a few inches. How bad an idea is it for me to lay the TV on its back (screen facing up) in the box, in order to fit it into the SUV? :eek: I did notice at Costco that one of the Bravia TVs (still in the box) was lying in this position on the pallette... :eek: I'll have to check again, but I don't recall seeing any "this side up" arrows on the box, so I'm wondering if this position is also deemed acceptable by Sony for shipping.
Other than that, I'd have to rent a U-haul pickup truck for a day.

Bob,

Two words.....Costco Rocks!!!

As for the CableCARD, for the most part they have become pretty stable. The problem is that most of the early adapters gave-up on them and if a problem does develop tech support is iffy. The biggest pain with CableCARD is most set makers use TV Guide On Screen for an EPG and it is flakey as hell.

BTW...YES the Voom channels as well as soon ESPN2HD and Universal HD are available in Hawaii from Dish Network(via E5 at 129w), but it requires a 3 dish setup which is a PITA to do...but i may just do it anyway. :D

I was just trying to help, if that is a crime please let me know right now ?
I was just trying to understand and interject what I have run into in
regards to this. I might as well clam up and stop posting here.

If a Coke machine is giving you free cokes without putting in any money do you post an announcement on the internet or buy an ad in the newspaper to tell everyone?

How long do you think it will be until Coke fixes the machine?

When the coke machine gets fixed, we can just send everyone over to your house for a visit.

Bob - on a RP LCD, it probably won't be a problem if you lie it down flat. On a plasma or a flat panel LCD, you'd prefer it upright but people have transported them flat with the screen facing downward on a soft towel. You're probably OK.

Or like you said, grab one of your friends with a pickup truck. :)

Spleen

Concerning transporting plasmas...DO NOT transport it lying down! Yes, folks have gotten away with murder by lying it flat with a cushion underneath...however, don't tempt fate.

And the manufacturers ALL say to transport it UPRIGHT. That's the way the packaging is designed and it's best for the unit.

Eric

These days Cablecard incompatibilites are largely on a per set (or manufacturer) basis. Sony and Mitsubishi have had lots of problems and are constantly working on upgrades to help.

As for DISH and their HD channels, did you hear that they are de-rezzing some of them now? (like VOOM) It's HD-Lite at DISH. 1280 x 1080i.

Eric

If a Coke machine is giving you free cokes without putting in any money do you post an announcement on the internet or buy an ad in the newspaper to tell everyone?

How long do you think it will be until Coke fixes the machine?

When the coke machine gets fixed, we can just send everyone over to your house for a visit.

And what is your point ? That being said your being a jacka$$ and guaranteed
a spot on my ignore list.

We had finally settled on a particular RP-LCD model at Circuit City... but discovered that Costco has the same model for several hundered $$$ less, and it includes the stand!!


Are you sure it's exactly the same model? A friend of mine bought a SamSung DLP from Costco just last week, thinking it was the same as one at Circuit City. However, when he got home, he found out that it didn't have PIP and only had 1 turner. So, he ended up returning the Costco one, and getting the Circuit City one. Just make sure before you buy.

Lindakoy is right. Make sure it's the same model at Costco. Costco frequently gets closeouts or models that are made especially for them and Sam's Club. There's nothing wrong with those sets, they are sometimes missing one or two important features (like a Pioneer plasma they sell that has no discrete IR codes power codes...the similar Pioneer model that is available through regular dealers does have them.)

Eric

I'm looking hard at a Sony Bravia LCD for my parents. It would be their first foray into HD. They are on analog now with no cable box and they don't want one with the Sony. Cablecard is the only option. I'm one of those that gave up on the Cablecard because of problems with the card, it's firmware, and/or Oceanic's head end. That was a year ago and I have not inquired about it's reliability since. I'd hate to buy this set only to find out that the Cablecard is still problematical. The Bravia doesn't appear to have cablecard problems in other regions. Anyone reading this have any first hand experience with Oceanic's cablecard service?

delar,

The cablecard problems are not just here. I have heard of problems all over the place.

Eric

And what is your point ? That being said your being a jacka$$ and guaranteed
a spot on my ignore list.

Congratulations jacka$$. You have managed to tell Oceanic their 5c isn't turned on and implimented properly.

Your continuation to talk about it will most likely ruin EVERYONE's ability to to record from their IEEE 1394 port to a computer.

Hope you are happy.

You really are a jacka$$ who couldn't keep their mouth shut and ruined it for eveyone.

Bet you will be the most popular guy on the Islands shortly.

(ahem) ...

I agree with Eric regarding both the plasma tranport issue and the Cablecard issues. Personally, I'd never consider transporting a plasma flat ... but I have heard of success stories of doing so, so just passing that along. When my plasma showed up, I checked the tip indicators on the box to make sure that it hadn't spent any time on its side. :) Regardless, a RP LCD shouldn't have issues being flat since the actual LCD panel is so small. And also agreed regarding CableCards - not just Oceanic but have heard of problems all around the US.

Spleen

Congratulations jacka$$. You have managed to tell Oceanic their 5c isn't turned on and implimented properly.

Your continuation to talk about it will most likely ruin EVERYONE's ability to to record from their IEEE 1394 port to a computer.

Hope you are happy.

You really are a jacka$$ who couldn't keep their mouth shut and ruined it for eveyone.

Bet you will be the most popular guy on the Islands shortly.


Sheesh you really need to take chill pill and get a grip. Where does it say anything
about what your talking about in what I posted. You really need to walk away from
the computer, and turn it off and drink a cup of coffee.

Thanks for the replies. We picked it up on Saturday at Costco. We ended up going the safe route and rented a U-haul pickup to transport it upright. Can't beat $19.95 per day! :) After mileage (Waipio to Waikele) and LDW insurance, it was still less than $40. :) :) I verified w/ Costco about their return policy, and it is indeed very open-ended, ie, return it "within a reasonable amount of time."

Regarding the same model between CC and Costco... Yeah, it was the same exact model, Sony KDF-E50A10. Not the top of the line, but the picture still looks fabulous to my poor aging eyes. I was absolutely stunned the first time I realized Costco's price included the stand. CC wanted $349 for that thing!!!

We also made a trip to Oceanic in Mililani that day. The guy there told us they were all out of the HD-DVRs (and they're out at all their other locations too). He said there was a surge in demand just before the holidays. Hello waiting list. :( :(

So in the meantime I've just plugged in the basic cable and stuck some rabbit ears on it. I was surprised that SD actually looked pretty decent, even w/ plain vanilla cable (but remember my eyes). Can't catch many OTA signals in Waikele with my 15 year old rabbit ears though. I hope the HD-DVR comes in time for the Superbowl.

DesmoBob,

Glad to hear your new set is spiffy. How does Costco do it? They make almost no money on selling you that stuff! The vast majority of their profit is from the membership fees.

BTW, Oceanic's waiting list for HD DVRs has reached monstrous proportions!! I just heard on Friday that it's up to 1,000. <sigh>

Eric

Bob,

Congrats on the purchase. Don't know if you've had much time to setup the TV yet. But you can enjoy at least one HD channel on Oceanic without the HDDVR. KITV's HD signal is available in QAM for free. If I remember it's channel 114.1. FSN-HD(HD Sports) is also in the clear but looking at the schedule there are only 2 games scheduled for the rest of the month. Raptors at Lakers Sun 1/22 4:30pm and Edmonton at LA Kings Thur. 1/26 5:30 pm., don't know what the ch. # is but a channel scan might reveal it.
That set also includes a ATSC tuner for OTA digital, but with the exception on KHON(DT 8) all the others are UHF, so a UHF centric antenna is needed. Waikele should be a fairly good reception spot for OTA digital, don't know if the set has a manual tune feature but here are the digital channel numbers and locations.

Honolulu Transmitters:
KHON DT 8
KGMB DT 22
KWHE DT 31
KBFD DT 33
KITV DT 40

Palehua Ridge(above Makakilo):
KHET DT 18 (Feb)
KIKU DT 19
KFVE DT 23
KHNL DT 35

BTW: The Superbowl is on KITV this year so unlike the last two years it will be available on cable statewide.

...you can enjoy at least one HD channel on Oceanic without the HDDVR. KITV's HD signal is available in QAM for free. If I remember it's channel 114.1. FSN-HD(HD Sports) is also in the clear.Charles,

I'm on Maui and have the 42" model of the forementioned set and I've tried entering the KITV channel you mention manually, but it says it cannot decode it. It did find ESPNHD on channel 952 though. I've tried doing another "Auto Program" to see if it could find any other HD channels, but no luck. Is there a list of the channels that are available so I can try to enter them manually???

Also, do you think I can pick up any HD channels OTA if I hook up an antenna to this set?? Thanks for any help.

BTW: The Superbowl is on KITV this year so unlike the last two years it will be available on cable in HD statewide.FINALLY!!!

Thanks for the replies. We picked it up on Saturday at Costco. We ended up going the safe route and rented a U-haul pickup to transport it upright. Can't beat $19.95 per day! :) After mileage (Waipio to Waikele) and LDW insurance, it was still less than $40. :) :) I verified w/ Costco about their return policy, and it is indeed very open-ended, ie, return it "within a reasonable amount of time."

Regarding the same model between CC and Costco... Yeah, it was the same exact model, Sony KDF-E50A10. Not the top of the line, but the picture still looks fabulous to my poor aging eyes. I was absolutely stunned the first time I realized Costco's price included the stand. CC wanted $349 for that thing!!!

We also made a trip to Oceanic in Mililani that day. The guy there told us they were all out of the HD-DVRs (and they're out at all their other locations too). He said there was a surge in demand just before the holidays. Hello waiting list. :( :(

So in the meantime I've just plugged in the basic cable and stuck some rabbit ears on it. I was surprised that SD actually looked pretty decent, even w/ plain vanilla cable (but remember my eyes). Can't catch many OTA signals in Waikele with my 15 year old rabbit ears though. I hope the HD-DVR comes in time for the Superbowl.

Try the Oceanic at Sears Ala Moana. I was on the waiting list for several months and one day I tried Sears and walked out with 2 8300HD's. The lady said they had more in the back also. It may just be worth the try.

And yes Costco does have a outstanding return policy. I remember returning my Akai 42" after a looong time for cash. I felt a little bad but that was the reason I bought it from them. Other than that I am very happy with my purchases. The X1 was the best. It still looks good after all these years.

DesmoBob,

Glad to hear your new set is spiffy. How does Costco do it? They make almost no money on selling you that stuff! The vast majority of their profit is from the membership fees.

BTW, Oceanic's waiting list for HD DVRs has reached monstrous proportions!! I just heard on Friday that it's up to 1,000. <sigh>

Eric
Costco does make lots money on membership fees, but they do make good money on the products they sell too. The vendors who want to sell their products in the Costco warehouses have to greatly reduce their wholesale prices to Costco. Some sell at breakeven or even at a loss just to get product exposure. It's a priviledge to have your product sold in Costco.

And about that waiting list......wow! That is some backorder.

The guy there told us they were all out of the HD-DVRs (and they're out at all their other locations too). He said there was a surge in demand just before the holidays. Hello waiting list. :( :(

So in the meantime I've just plugged in the basic cable and stuck some rabbit ears on it. I was surprised that SD actually looked pretty decent, even w/ plain vanilla cable (but remember my eyes). Can't catch many OTA signals in Waikele with my 15 year old rabbit ears though. I hope the HD-DVR comes in time for the Superbowl.

Get a SA3250HD until the 8300HD comes in. Or for best quality, get a cable card if the Sony has it available.

<banging head on the wall>Arrrrrrrrrggghhhh!!!<banging head on the wall>

Well, with thanks from a local retailer, I played around with the Sony sets hooked up to cable and it seems Oceanic has some very interesting channels not encrypted QAM. But also that the Sony's has a querky way of handling non-encrypted QAM, especially the Music Choice and FM stations. Non of the HD channels showed up in the clear, but KWHE-DT showed up as C14.1"KWHE-DT", KBFD showed up as C82"DKBFD"...could be the Sony, could be Oceanic. I also thought the Sony was kidding to take 50+ minutes to scan the digital channels...but IT DID TAKE 50 MINUTES...WTF!

Yawny, since ESPN showed up as 952 (it's cable ch. no.) try 936 for KITV...can't hurt. As for the OTA digitals, it's not likely on Maui, that's nearly 100 miles from the HNL towers and all of the stations operate at lower ERP and use directional patterns.

, but KWHE-DT showed up as C14.1"KWHE-DT", KBFD showed up as C82"DKBFD"...could be the Sony, could be Oceanic.

Charles - Yeah, those numbers (C14.1, C82, etc) make more sense if you look at antennaweb.org and compare them to Oceanic's channel lineup. For example, C14.1 (I've hypothesized that the "C" denotes the direct cable input) on antennaweb essentially says KWHE-DT = channel 14.1 = UHF/VHF frequency 31. It just so happens that Oceanic doesn't list KWHE-DT in their channel lineup on their website, even though you can get it when you tune the TV to it on cable.

For the KITV thing, I tried 114.1, but it didn't find anything. It could be another number though, but I stopped the auto-setup when it was about 90% done, so it might have found it elsewhere if I let it finish. :o I'll probably try it again tomorrow after work.

Surprisingly I got a couple of OTA digital (but not HD) channels with a pair of ancient rabbit ears! :eek:
I'm also thinking about getting a Winegard SS-1000 which will give me a lot of in-house location options in the attic or on the 2nd floor (can't use roof units due to common roof). But $100+ for something that may/may not work is kinda steep, esp if I have to pay shipping twice if it doesn't work in my house. Still trying to sift through the antenna thread.

(BTW, what does QAM stand for?)

KDTVFanAtic - that's a good idea about the 3250 as a stop-gap solution, as long as Oceanic doesn't try to charge me again for installation/setup/etc when I exchange it. Personally I'm not all into the HD-DVR idea, but the gf is pretty hard set on it. We already have an SA3250 non-HD in one room, an SA8000 non-HD DVR in another room, I don't see the need for yet another DVR, be it HD or otherwise... but alas I can't really argue with the gf. :(

freek - I'll try Sears, thanks for the heads up... except now all the people on the waiting list that read this thread will be rushing for Sears LOL :p

I'm learning stuff every day. This avsforum is da winnaz! :D

the Sony's has a querky way of handling non-encrypted QAM, especially the Music Choice and FM stations. Non of the HD channels showed up in the clear

Ahh my bad about the 114.1 thing... I just re-read your post and only now did I see that. It's past my bedtime.

Back to my 3250/8300 dilemma.
Those of you who have the 3250-HD, does it have the DVI out? (and is it active?) I was trying to look at the specs, and it lists it as an option, so I'm wondering if OTW ordered the units with DVI, just curious.
But ultimately I think I'll have to admit defeat to the gf and get the 8300-HD. I know she'll think it's because I'm giving in to her DVR demands, but I really do want the HDMI. grrr..

Bob,

QAM is the modualtion scheme that cable uses for digital channels. Maybe it's due to CableCard, but when I had Oceanic and cable on the mainland years ago, they used the analog channel number and it's subchannels to list the channel. The cable box software would then remap it to it's listed channel. From what i remember it was like this:

KGMB 108.1
KFVE 108.2
KIKU 108.3
KHNL 108.4
KITV 114.1

Like I said it's possible that some STB or TV's that can accept QAM may see it that way or that the Sony's "read" the remap instead....the more that I think about it would explain why it takes forever to scan the digital channels.

Couple of things on OTA digital. KITV is currently the only station that airs HD in Primetime. KHON and KGMB only air live progamming, meaning mostly sports. KHNL and KHET are expected to offer at least some HD in the near future.

Best Buy offers the Square Shooter antenna locally, I'd be real intersted in how well that antenna works here.

Best of Luck,

Charles

ABack to my 3250/8300 dilemma.
Those of you who have the 3250-HD, does it have the DVI out? (and is it active?) I was trying to look at the specs, and it lists it as an option, so I'm wondering if OTW ordered the units with DVI, just curious.
But ultimately I think I'll have to admit defeat to the gf and get the 8300-HD. I know she'll think it's because I'm giving in to her DVR demands, but I really do want the HDMI. grrr..

I don't know about DVI, I'm disabled and can't get to the back of my box to check, nor do I have a DVI cable. But it does NOT have Pass-Through enabled over the component outs, which is just plain ridiculous at this point! (It's been more than a year since I first asked customer support about it.) That is unless your one of the privileged few they let have a firewire enabled box. :mad:

I don't know about DVI, I'm disabled and can't get to the back of my box to check, nor do I have a DVI cable. But it does NOT have Pass-Through enabled over the component outs, which is just plain ridiculous at this point! (It's been more than a year since I first asked customer support about it.) That is unless your one of the privileged few they let have a firewire enabled box. :mad:
If you really want passthrough enabled, just have your box swapped with a 3250 that has firewire. Oceanic is no longer allowed to withhold such a box from the customer if he/she doesn't have a DVCR to connect to. If they have one in stock, they are required to fullfill your request. It's the law.

If you really want passthrough enabled, just have your box swapped with a 3250 that has firewire. Oceanic is no longer allowed to withhold such a box from the customer if he/she doesn't have a DVCR to connect to. If they have one in stock, they are required to fullfill your request. It's the law.

Oh, I wasn't aware I could get one. That's good to know. Might Sears have one, or would I have to call Cust. Service you think? BTW, how does it work at Sears? I have to bring in my box first or at the same time I would get the new one? Or can I just pick one up anytime they have one, then turn in my old one sometime after that?

Thank YOU for the info...no thanks to Oceanic

:cool:

redsandvb, I sent you a PM

Those of you who have the 3250-HD, does it have the DVI out? (and is it active?)When I picked up my 3250HD, I asked about the DVI port and was told it was inactive. My TV has an HDMI port, so I needed to get a DVI/HDMI cable anyway. While I was waiting for the cable to arrive (monoprice-dot-com), I hooked the box up to my TV by component.

After you hook up the box, you need to use the Setup Wizard on the 3250HD so the box knows which screen size you have (4:3 or 16:9) and also which signals your TV accepts, 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, etc. You can then select Pass-Through in the Picture Format option in Settings and the box will pass any signal you told it to in the wizard.

After I received my DVI/HDMI cable, I hooked it up and, low and behold it worked!!! I was then able to select Auto DVI in the Picture Format option which, according to the instructions in the wizard, is the same as Pass-Through but for DVI. Oceanic doesn't tell you this, but trust me it works. At least it does on my box.

You can download the wizard from Scientific Atlanta. It's in .pdf format and only 225KB. I already have it, so if anyone wants it, PM me with your e-mail address and I'll be glad to send it to you. Can't wait for the Super Bowl in HD!!!

You can download the wizard from Scientific Atlanta. It's in .pdf format and only 225KB.

Found them. Got the wizard plus the user guides for both the 3250 & 8300.

OTW update:
Went to Sears today, OTW is officially out of all HD boxes. :(
They are on order, but no ETA for arrival.