me either.... it took months of begging to convince my wife that I need a Sony Grand Wega III 42"

Hey mikey, the turnaround time was two weeks, but the guy working on my display was on vacation during that time for a week. The freight outfit (Watkins) was top notch. The tech in Atlanta also fixed my overscan on wide mode SD material as well as adjusting the color. It looks great.

Uh Oh.... now you made him want to send his away for "repair".

Comeon....get the 61", I will happily take the 50" off your hands to put in my bedroom. I still think that my projector looks better than the 50" Plasma in the dark. Cant beat 110"

Same.... I know my AE700 looks better than any other TV Ive seen in the dark... maybe sans the F38310.

EDIT: I quizzed the cox installer about the "rebuild" and he said alot of areas are already done.... he said they are working form the outskirts of south college station (pebble creek etc) and are working in so dave your area has probably already been upgraded.... Once they get to around the university they are moving to north bryan and work in and finish right at the cox station. He said they plan on being done by the end of summer.

I meant to ask if once your upgraded if you get the new channels automatically or if theyre going to wait until everybody is done but I forgot.

He also said right now FOX and ABC are the biggest priorities to add.

That's good news, except for the fact that I live 0.25 miles from Cox.. lol I guess I'll be the last one in the boat.

Maybe they'll have ABC and FOX by then, that would be a nice present.

Any news on your poor signal jag?

Originally posted by jagouar
... he said they are working form the outskirts of south college station (pebble creek etc) and are working in so dave your area has probably already been upgraded....

Yeah, probably so. Those guys dug a hole in my backyard and then realized that their cable was on the property behind me. Dumbarses!

Its better... (he replaced the outside line ends and splitter) and there was a unnecessary splitter in the attic we replaced.

I am now teetering on the fair/good line now so hopefully this will work.

And yeah dave that sounds about right.... ;) (Ive seen lots of the rented cable guy trucks on Glade lately (adding new lines) which is fairly close to me so hopefully I will be upgraded soon). Im between SW Parkway and 2818.

Ive also been in email contact that that guy from texags (supposedly hes reading this... dunno why hes scared to post ;)).... but I am waiting for answers from that highup at COX.

I think I called him a Cox sucker once. My bad. ;)

Originally posted by elspankdog
I think I called him a Cox sucker once. My bad. ;)

shoulda know it was you....

HDNET TO BROADCAST GAMES 2-5 OF FIRST ROUND IN PLAYOFFS

For Immediate Release- April 23, 2005

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks and HDNet announced today that fans will
be able to watch Games 2 through 5 of the Mavs vs. Rockets Round 1
Playoff Series in high-definition on HDNet in Texas.

"There's nothing more exciting than playoff time, especially when you
have a match-up featuring two Texas teams," said Mavs owner Mark Cuban.
"HDNet and the Mavs want to give viewers at home an experience that is
almost as good as being there."

Co-founded by Cuban and General Manager Philip Garvin, HDNet provides
viewers with exciting and topical news, sports, music and entertainment
programming. The network features up to 20 hours of original
programming each week, all produced in the highest quality 1080i HDTV
format - more original high-definition programming than any other
network.

HDNet news and entertainment includes original series "HDNet World
Report," "Face 2 Face with Roy Firestone," "Art Mann Presents," "HDNet
Concert Series," and "True Music," as well as every episode of the
acclaimed Warner Bros. series "Smallville." Live sports productions
include NASCAR auto racing, National Hockey League and Major League
Soccer games.

HDNet Movies, the company's second network, shows a wide selection of
major studios' theatrical releases - all uncut, unedited, and appearing
in their original aspect ratio. The network also features movies
produced and finished in true 1080i high-definition, including movies
premiering day and date with their theatrical releases.

Fans can contact their cable or satellite providers or visit www.hd.net
for more information. Comcast does not currently carry HDNet and HDNet
Movies, so Mavs Playoff games in HD are not available to Comcast
customers. Comcast customers are asked to call their local office and
let them know they want HDNet and the Mavs in HD.

MAVERICKS 2005 PLAYOFF HDNET SCHEDULE
(All Times Listed CT)
Game 2 Mon., April 25 - Rockets @ Mavs 8:30 p.m.
Game 3 Thurs., April 28 - Mavs @ Rockets 8:30
p.m.
Game 4 Sat., April 30 - Mavs @ Rockets 4:30 p.m.
Game 5 Mon., May 2 - Rockets @ Mavs, if necessary TBD

Sweet!

I could care less about both teams (Go Spurs!), but any HD basketball is good to me.

Edit: Looks like B/CS won't be getting the games. Looking at the NBA HD thread, we're not in any of the allowed zip codes. We're in Rockets territory. :(

Not that it really matters but why was that posted in almost every local thread... This doenst actually apply to us since we cant get HDnet OTA here.

and dave Im going to get to see one spurs game before TNT goes away ;)

Maybe Ken posted it in Texas threads. It sounded like it was available to all of Texans, but looking into it further it's just like the regular season Mavs games.

:( At least I can hope D* has TNT next year.

Im hoping COX gets TNT soon as well.... Hopefully when the rebuild is done they will add more than UHD.

Well dave.... Spurs are in HD :) (not going to have very many more chances so figured id rub it in a bit)

Game looks good (about the same as espn games yesterday)....

I do hope COX adds the channel or D* stops screwing people into buying equipment and adds TNT. They have that "Into the West" show that looks interesting. Shame voom wont be around in june for me to see it.

The way Ive read things though cox isnt adding anything new until end of the year and same for D* (plus they wont lease until next year)

Howdy Ags!

Just found this thread a couple weeks ago. I have been lurking in AVS for awhile. Took a week to read this thread!

I have been Voom'n for about 5months and the ride is about to crash this week. Shame to see such a good service go, especially since our options here are so limited. It looks like I will be going with Cox for time (my wife wants a DVR).

Very good information in this thread. I had spoken to Cox right before I signed with Voom and was told I had to get the digital cable in order to receive HD. VERY happy to hear that isnt the case.

Anyway, glad to find such a good place for info about our area.

Welcome... remember one thing... dont get offended by ANYTHING posted here... The D* fiends like beating up on anybody not in the D* cult... ;)

and your making the right choice on cox... they have NBC-HD that you wont get from anybody else right now (and the grandfathered D* people dont count since no new subs will get it). And not getting tied to one company right now is the way to go with verizon eventually coming to town.

I agree. For the price and quality, Cox isn't a bad choice at all. I've been with Cox since the release of HD on June 15th of last year and have enjoyed it. It's nice not having to mess with a dish and to be stuck in a contract.

One word of caution about Cox, that I'm sure you most doubtably have read in this thread, is that they're rather poor in the customer service / sales department. I never believe anything they say on the first call. You can call 5 different times and get 5 different answers. By far, the easiest and most effecient method to find out what is available and how much it will cost is to go to the B/CS Cox office on 29th and ask them in person. Even though I've been lied to there before, they have the most up to date information about our local area.

The DVR is nice and quite affordable too (I believe I pay $10/mo for the HD-DVR converter). Not a huge selection of HD content, but not too shabby either. You can check out the listing of coverage on page 1 of this thread, of course.

If you decide to go with Cox, welcome aboard and join the club! (Well, the non-D* club that is).

Marc

Originally posted by jagouar
Welcome... remember one thing... dont get offended by ANYTHING posted here... The D* fiends like beating up on anybody not in the D* cult... ;)
Hmm, I don't exactly recall throwing the first punch.... http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Angel.gif
Anyway, welcome to our group!!

So, am I the only one on Dish. You guys make it seem like TNTHD is gold. I have been watching HD basketball for months now. Yall need to get with it. Just kidding, but seriously they have one of the best HD crews outta all of them. The games always look great. Even though I'm not to much of a NBA fan, I'm sure I'll watch the playoffs. And voomers don't count for getting TNT b/c it will be a moot point in a few days.

TNT is gold IMO (far better than UHD).... And yes you will be the only one with tnt come may 1....

And I dont remember who started things (and im sure not going through 127 pages to find out) but the anti-cox as has been around from the beginning (im sure over all my posting i did a little ribbing too).... and i got some ribbing with voom until the ring leader esp decided to come to the darkside ;)

I do have one question about the HDtivo... is there any way to edit existing recordings in the actual tivo device? It would be nice to be able to cut a small section out of a long recording for archiving purposes and really wouldnt require too much software to do since its already buffered (also thinking about the cox dvr). It wouldnt need too many options but something to the effect of "cut viewed section" and a few other options. Of course Id rather have the missing features of the Cox DVR fixed first (widescreen gui, the ability to remove channels from guide, folders).

Ive heard they are working on atleast the last 2 features in an upcoming software release (maybe the new may one) and Id assume eventually they will make the gui 16x9 selectable. They do those 3 things and as far as Im concerned they 6412 will be just about perfect.... esp since they will be coming out with the ucentric whole house system and expandable storage (via firewire external drives).

Originally posted by jagouar
I do have one question about the HDtivo...
Why????

Originally posted by labmansid
Why????

Because Id like to know.... :) I just happened to be watching stuff on the cox dvr and was thinking a feature like that would be nice.... I know you can manually stop recordings to get just a snippet out but I rarely watch stuff live anymore (sans sports, you just cant not watch sports live) so it would be nice if one show had real nice PQ but it an hour long so unless I want to save 10 gigs worth I cant get a sample.

Thats the advantage with the cox dvr Im not tied to one provider. ;)

If/when D* offers a completly leased pvr they will get a serious look from me but not until then.... btw any news on the houston mpeg4 upgrade? I got thats mits still to add to somebodys account (to see if the D* insallers will be stupid :))

Programs on any Tivo device are not "editable" AFAIK using the Tivo itself. Even the ones with a built-in DVD recorder only record the entire program. It would be nice to have that feature, but might make the unit/software too complicated for some.
The newer R10 D*Tivo (and, I think, standalones) does have the folders feature already. Series2 Tivos can be hacked to include them, as well. All D* boxes, including Tivos, have the ability to delete channels from the program guide, although when some updates are downloaded some channels (especially shopping ones) seem to find their way annoyingly back into the guides.

Ok thats what I though on the editing.... I really dont think it would be that hard though... it doesnt need alot of options to be able to work... just a "delete after this point" and "delete before this point" would suffice. Granted it probably wont happen though because all the extra places for bugs in added features.

And it will be interesting to see what the new software to the cox dvr adds... theres been lots of requests for folders, removing channels, and the 30 second skip (really sad because its avaliable in comcasts hd-dvr's which is the same hardware as cox's but they use iGuide so they get a 30 sec skip)

Commercial skip features are pretty heavily lobbied against by advertisers. Most Tivos have a code you can punch in to allow the 30-sec skip, but some model's newer software updates did away with that feature. :mad:

I don't think I've ever used the 30-sec skip. I've just gotten really good with fast-forward x2 and x3.

Yeah, that's what we usually do anyway.

Well once you get used to it with replay you dont want to go back.... and comcasts dvr's dont allow it per se... its a hidden feature like the tivos but its a single code you can reassign to any button on comcasts dvr.

On a separate note... does anybody have a firewire cable? I really want to test and see if cox has the firewire ports active but a single firewire cable is 25 bucks at the retail outlets around here and it would take too long to get one online.... you would think id be able to get one at work since i basically do computer tech support but firewire isnt used much and i havent been able to find one (tons of USB 2.0 drives though).

Originally posted by jagouar
Welcome... remember one thing... dont get offended by ANYTHING posted here... The D* fiends like beating up on anybody not in the D* cult... ;)

Oh, I think it's pretty obvious to newcomers who has the inferiority complex around here... :D

On a separate note...

(Mainly to the HD-Tivo owners, but anyone may chime in)

1.) Is there any way to stop the "live recording function" on the Tivo? (like just until you press "pause" or something like that?)

2.) Is there a key to getting the thing to stop recording when it is on "standby"? (When I power up after standby I can go back 30 minutes into whatever channel it was left on prior to standby.

I normally wouldn't care, but I am starting to have the "freezeup" issues that have plagued so many others and would like to minimize the processor and hard drive operations. Rather frustrating.

3) If my hard drive is actually going bad... do any of you know how to replace the current hard drive with another? Is the software the system runs on a part of the hard drive? (i.e. it will have to be transferred over)

Cool, thanks for the help.

I'm pretty sure Sid and Dave can swap the drive out for you. I think I've done four drive swaps/upgrades on TiVos over at Sid's. I think BB or maybe CC has a Western Digital 250 GB on sale for $100 after rebates. I prefer Maxtor, but I've bought WDs for my TiVos in the past as well.

If you suspect the hard drive is going bad, I recommend either-
(1. Get it replaced by D* before the warranty goes out if recorded shows are not that important to you.
(2. If you really want to save the shows on it now, unplug it before the drive gets worse and copy the whole drive to a new one. It's not that hard to do, just takes 8-12 hours for 250Gb if the drive is still running OK. I have the software to do it if you want to try it.
(3. As Brian said, you can just replace the drive, but you still lose all the shows that were on it. Yes, the OS is on the hard drive, so that needs to go on any new drive.

On a related note, my old Phillips SD-Tivo kicked the bucket a few days ago, one of the upgraded drives went belly-up. :( The original drive had already gone bad, but I had socked it away just in case I needed to ever return it. I fiddled with it for a while, but decided it was time to return it to CC under the service plan I bought with it, one of the few times one of those plans was bought by me. :) I took it up there during lunch. Long story short I get to see the new 6.1 software on the R10 they swapped it for! :D I may not even try to upgrade the drive on this one, it comes with a 80Gig on it. Plenty of space for the wife's "Carol Duvall" and "Good Eats"! ;)

Completly different topic here (really only applies to the COX DVR people unless you want a firewire cable fairly cheap) but newegg is doing bulk pricing on their firewire cable. Me and Ish are for sure going in.

Units Price Shipping
1 $6.99 $4.99
2+ $2.90 $3.49 ea.
5+ $2.80 $1.99 ea.
10+ $2.70 $0.99 ea.

If you want in LMK.... firewire cables are very expensive in town (25 bucks at BB and walmart). Were not 100% sure it will work (which is why were getting them... but there are threads saying you can off load content to a computer from the cox dvr)

Buy one at walmart....if it doesn't work take it back. They'll let you return anything.

Originally posted by bmh2208
Buy one at walmart....if it doesn't work take it back. They'll let you return anything.
Hey, you're good!! :)

What size drive comes in the Cox DVR? If its only 80gig I will have to look into getting a firewire drive (assuming its active).

120 gig.... and i thought about that but i the return lines at walmart are ALWAYS long. Plus if it doesnt work I do need a firewire cable anyways.

And you cant get a firewire drive yet.... if the firewire port is active we will be able to download ts digital recordings to our pc's.

Even if they arent active right now Id bet the texags guy who knows the highup at cox could help is AVS'ers out... ;)

Ive also been reading there is a "phase 3" 6412 that has a sata output specifically designed for more storage.... but theres not telling how long it would be before we see them.

A friend just emailed a link to the Eagle about Cox selling off their Texas assets.
(sorry, it won't let me post it as a URL since I'm a lurker *blush*) The story is off the frontpage right now. theeagle dot com.

Just when I begin to think Cox is viable until Dish and Direct get moving (more). I guess the ABC and FOX HD feeds are a lost cause now, I wouldn't think they'd spend the money if they're trying to sell it off at the same time. And of course we'll probably end up with some small company instead who can't find the capital to properly deploy HD. I hope it truly does take 18 months so Dish and Direct will have their ducks in a row so I can go back.

Link: http://www.theeagle.com/businesstechnology/042605cox.php

Jag, please don't switch to D*. Your last two providers are really having issues. ;)

Wow I think Im officially cursed....

This could end up being good though (we all know how much cox sucks)... if comcast or Time Warner come in Id say it would be a good thing (provided they dont require a subscription to "digital cable")... but it doesnt look terribly good atm.... guess well have to wait it out. Should be interesting to see what they do with the rebuild.

Nice first post foo00. I love the mayor's quote:

We get all sorts of complaints about the price, and the service has been terrible at times. I’m concerned we have good service for a reasonable price with whoever owns it.

You know something else interesting to see is if verizon would throw down a bid and then run the cable co until they get fiber ready.... the cable co isnt that important to them but that franchise agreement is.

Texas is probably going to go fairly cheap for somebody like verizon and they could quickly gain more than a few franchise agreements.

TW in Waco Channel Lineup:
http://www.timewarnercable.com/waco/products/cable/hdchannels.html

and their pricing
http://www.timewarnercable.com/waco/products/price/waco.html

All in all not bad. I think TW would be good for the area.

Very interesting to say the least.

My parents are sitting on TW in Temple and it seems to be far superior to Cox... they're generally on the leading edge of technology where Cox always was a few years behind.

I guess time will tell... this is quite a suprise though.

EDIT: On a side note (completely off topic). I just received confirmation that Pei Wei Chinese Bistro will be opening this fall across from the Hilton on University. Any of you who have ever eaten at PF Changs or Pei Wei know how exciting this is. Awesome food!

Cool news (the restaurant that is). I think TGIF has also submitted plans, and they're in negotiations with Carrabba's. If Pei Wei is even close to PF Changs, I'll be very happy.

Yeah, we saw the article this weekend. I've eaten at both (Pei Wei and Chang's) several times, and we are chomping at the bits for this to open. Yum Yum!! :D

Originally posted by elspankdog
Cool news (the restaurant that is). I think TGIF has also submitted plans, and they're in negotiations with Carrabba's. If Pei Wei is even close to PF Changs, I'll be very happy.

Pei Wei is the same food (more or less) as PF Changs, but in a "bistro" style (no tipping!). It's also a bit cheaper than PF Changs.

Quick question from the little info in the article. Is it even possible for Verizon to buy our market alone since they're selling all the markets as a package deal? It also mentions that whoever buys it will be in the 10-year deal with B/CS. So if they're bad, we get 10 years of bad.

yeah....

i do think verizon could buy it.... it just might suck for a few months while they get more programming agreements in. The cable company isnt whats important to cox.... the franchise is.




got this email back from tom way (this was all before the sale announcement)

When will the rebuild be complete and new channels added (I see Universal and Starz already listed) but is there anything else new when the rebuild is done? the upgrade will be completed in August for College Station but is still a year away for Bryan. Universal and Starz is the only HD adds at this point, however you will continue to HD adds as retransmission agreement come up for renewal over the next year. The new lineup currently adds about 100 additional channels to the digital lineup and offer the flexibility of service tiers similar to pay services. You choose the tiers that fit your viewing desires...Sports & Information, Variety and so on.

What about completing the HD locals? Will it be similar to how KCEN does it? Since were not going to see a KMAY-HD feed for a long time (KCEN lets us see the HD version?)... KMAY is a low power channel incapable of delivering an HD feed, that's why we deliver KCEN in HD. As it currently stands the local ABC does not offer a true HD feed although it does offer a digital feed. I'm currently working with both ABC and Fox for an HD feed, however they both have technical issues to work out. I expect this to start bearing fruit sometime in early 06.

If I subscribe to extended basic only will I still have access to any new HD channels added? Only the broadcast channels. However, we offer a basic buy-thru package which allows you to recieve basic and buy thru to digital without adding expanded basic. This works for some although you would lose out on sports channels like FOX and ESPN.



HD DVR questions:

When will there be an option for more capacity? I'm told that the next version is supposed to offer more capacity through higher compression rates. I hear there’s a way to download recorded content via Firewire-out but haven’t tested this yet. Any info on that? The Firewire, like the USB ports are a function that's currently turned off until the FCC determines some rules around copyright infringement although ther are ways around recording copyright material if you get creative.

Are software upgrades continuous and automatic? YES Do they require a reboot of the DVR to become effective? Yes, but this is done thru a global refresh during out maintenace windows and does not require anything from the end user. Two issues that specifically need to be addressed:

There needs to be an option to set the guide/recorded list to 16x9 window instead of the current 4x3 one. I'm unclear on this question of what your asking...

Also, I would like to be able to remove channels I don’t subscribe to, not just to clean up the guide some but there’s no need to have the DVR possibly record a channel I don’t get. The best way to achieve this is through setting up your favorites list and work off that for your recordings. The guide offers no flexibility to the end user as far as content control.

Is there any chance we’ll ever see different software for the DVRs? I’ve seen iGuide (Comcast) and heard the Microsoft software are both better than Passport. I know for example iGuide will let you put in a 30 sec skip...and the minimode for tuning channels is a really nice feature. As long as we remain COX , I don't see the guide changing . The Echo guide is constantly under software and firmware upgrades. I feel in the end it will win out over the others. IGuide has some has some great features although it is not as scalable as the Echo which will allow for seamless integration with future VOD and complete home control features that will be released in the near future. Microsofts products are unproven at this point , but I do expect them to make great stides in the next couple of years.

Well I guess Verizon will have to deal with those same "technical" issues when it comes to ABC and Fox. :(

Actually I wouldnt think they would.... if Waco has fiber as well theres more than enough bw to cover 2 HD channels coming in from waco.

We know PBS already comes down off internet2 so Verizons fiber network should be able to handle it.

So, did anyone catch Conan on KPRC last night? Well it wasn't in HD.

I checked it out this morning and they never flipped the switch. I wonder if it is because they show it later than normal? I'm off to send an e-mail.

:) how sad is it when cox (kcen) gets something right. (I got it recorded if anybody really wants to see it. ;))

And your not going to see conan in HD for a while still because they dont air it at the right time and NBC doesnt know how to archive HD programs for later showing.....

I thought some of you qualified for NBC-HD from waviers on D*... but labman asked me as well what KCEN was like so maybe thats not the case. BTW any news on losing the waviered networks later in the summer because the upgrade front?

Yeah, I figured it was because it was on later. I don't really watch Conan, but it's always cool to see some new HD.

I never applied for waivers since I've always had service in Houston.

I guess I could shoot for KCEN, but I don't feel like ever moving my antenna. It'd be to much of a pain in the ass.

I don't think anyone knows what will happen when locals are offered for Houston. One of us is going to have to be the guiniea pig. :D

I watched it off D* and KCEN-OTA, or the first 30 minutes anyway. I have it on the HD-Tivo also. He was having a little fun with the HD aspect of the show (his hands are scary!!).

Looking at the Conan thread, KPRC will have it in HD in July.

Someone had a screenshot of the hand. That was kind of scary.

Originally posted by dave99ag
I don't think anyone knows what will happen when locals are offered for Houston. One of us is going to have to be the guiniea pig. :D

Figured but hadnt heard anything in a while.... I only see you working it out if teh D* installers are willing to "bend" the rules and you go down to your houston address and restup all your equipment down there and have them come.

If you try to get them to come up here Im virtually certain they are going to drop all your waviers when they realize your not actually in the houston DMA and if you try to not get upgraded at all and they move to mpeg4 Im betting they kill all waviers for a HD-LIL city since you wouldnt technically need waviers anymore.

Going to be real interesting to see how this plays out (and how pissed people are going to get if they lose waviers, not just our local D* people but others around the country but since houston is in the top12 markets you will find out first)

I watched it OTA on KCEN-DT, on D* on NBC-E, and I recorded it later off of NBC-W. Just rubbing it in. It's good to be the HD leader. :D

I forgot to mention, it looked fine out of Dallas and Austin, too!
:p :p

well atleast labman is ready to lose all his locals on D*.... ;)

Originally posted by elspankdog
It's good to be the HD leader. :D

And you only get to be the HD leader for 3 more days then you have to go back to the "HDlite leader"

I have no waivers, so that's not a issue for me.

The only tricky part is getting the new equipment. I probably won't be the first to upgrade as I want a DVR and that won't be out until later this year.

If I can't upgrade, then I'll just stay the way I am for a bit longer.

Well you "live" in houston dont you?

If so when they schedule your upgrade they will remove all your locals since you will be able to "see" the houston HD channels but these will be mpeg4 only so you wont be able to "see" them until you get new equipment.

And as soon as they finish with the houston upgrades they will remove all houston o&o feeds to see the national channels (as they wont be needed anymore so you would be able to wait too long I wouldnt think... unless D* is going to be very laxed with setting the cutoff date)

I see what you're getting at now. If they kill my O&O feeds because I haven't upgraded, oh well. I can handle not having ABC and Fox. I don't know how they're going to handle that.

There should be some other "movers" that will have to handle the upgrade before I do, ie. non-HD Tivo users. Can't wait to see how this plays out.

Worst case scenario:

They kill my DNS feeds 'cause I live in H-town (NBC, ABC)
They kill my O&O feed (Fox)
I move back 'cause I can't get new gear (lack of DVR, requires install, etc.)
I apply for temporary HD waivers from KYLE, KCEN, and KHRD
I submit these to a specific individual at D* as outlined here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515808)
I have everything I use to have plus the addition of Fox-W

Well im guessing here (I have no idea how thyere going to handle the dvr people) but I see them scheduling an appointment and upgrading everybody in a set timeframe... (say a cutoff in november sometime).

The DVR makes things interesting though.... Im wonding if they are going to make a non networked dvr to give to all the people because even if they let people wait the earliest it would be avaliable would be next year (and with revolutionary products like this they never ship on time, see the voom dvr and how long it took and they never did get it out)

That link is interesting esp.... we will have to see if KYLE, KCEN, KXXV etc can deny waviers since all the "main" stations broadcast digital (and were inside that DMA).

I don't think they'll cutoff anyone with an HD-Tivo until a replacement is availabe. Like you said, probably not until 2006.

Isn't there a rumor that Sunday Ticket people will also be upgraded? If that's true, I can move back, but ST, get the upgrade and the move back to Houston. Dog's solution is feasible too.


The convoluted things we do for HD. LOL

yeah... its going to be interesting to say the least to see how this all plays out.

I just hope cox gives us the rest of the locals in early 06 because it looks as if D* wont be able to offer me much locals wise(unless you have luck with requesting waviers).

with the sale its very possible cox/the new company could raise rates and raising rates by more than 10-15 bucks would be a death blow IMO and would very seriously look back to dbs and locals would be in the top 2 or 3 things that are important to me (a completly leasable dvr is #1).

If I have to beg for waivers I think these items might be key to my success:

-be polite
-write letters, not emails
-stress "temporary" HD waivers until HD lil is available or they are at reasonable power
-stress that I want HD waivers, not digital waivers
-maybe include an FCC letter
-be persistent

There's also the rare chance that my waivers will stay there when I move back. Then I only have to worry about Fox. Of course, they'll probably be the most difficult since Lou has stressed before that there was no separation of SD and HD with the FCC.

Originally posted by dave99ag
Isn't there a rumor that Sunday Ticket people will also be upgraded? If that's true, I can move back, but ST, get the upgrade and the move back to Houston. Dog's solution is feasible too.

I like that plan. Seems nice and simple; the DVR being the only holdup.

Maybe by the end of the summer we'll have more answers and probably lots of questions.

Did any of y'all watch the sat launch? It was replaying last night. Pretty cool stuff. My wife just rolled her eyes when she saw what I was watching. I told her that sat was going to bring her HGTV in HD. She shut up. :)

Originally posted by dave99ag
Maybe by the end of the summer we'll have more answers and probably lots of questions.

Did any of y'all watch the sat launch? It was replaying last night. Pretty cool stuff. My wife just rolled her eyes when she saw what I was watching. I told her that sat was going to bring her HGTV in HD. She shut up. :)

you should know better than to promise HD to the wife.... especially with D*. Now shes going to bug you about it every month or so and your going to have to tell her to keep waiting.... that will go on for a few years and maybe eventually she will forget about it. ;)

I can't wait until you get married. ;)

Yes, it will be quite interesting to see how this plays out. I called both KXXV and KWKT a few minutes ago to see if there are any updates on HD status for us and to feel them out about HD waivers. KXXV said they are working on a HD solution for us, although I think their main focus is getting on cable here. Of course there was no mention of when, just the usual "We're working on it". :mad: I think waivers are not something they will be willing to do, either, from my conversation. KWKT-FOX said they are expecting delivery of a new transmitter next month, installing it "sometime before the end of the year". :confused: Lou was in a meeting, and he is the one that handles waivers, so no insight on that angle yet.

Originally posted by jagouar
....with the sale its very possible cox/the new company could raise rates and raising rates by more than 10-15 bucks would be a death blow IMO and would very seriously look back to dbs and locals would be in the top 2 or 3 things that are important to me (a completly leasable dvr is #1).
Jag, I'm beginning to think you change TV providers about as often as you change underwear!! :D ;)

Originally posted by labmansid
Jag, I'm beginning to think you change TV providers about as often as you change underwear!! :D ;)

well Ill be sure if I change to D* to bring the provider death plague with me as well... :)

Well cable doesn't equal a solution in my mind. I mean, cable isn't even available to you Sid.

Originally posted by elspankdog
I can't wait until you get married. ;)

I second that!

Jag, the bachelor of HD providers. :D

Dont worry im in no rush.....

Originally posted by labmansid
Yes, it will be quite interesting to see how this plays out. I called both KXXV and KWKT a few minutes ago to see if there are any updates on HD status for us and to feel them out about HD waivers. KXXV said they are working on a HD solution for us, although I think their main focus is getting on cable here. Of course there was no mention of when, just the usual "We're working on it". :mad: I think waivers are not something they will be willing to do, either, from my conversation. KWKT-FOX said they are expecting delivery of a new transmitter next month, installing it "sometime before the end of the year". :confused: Lou was in a meeting, and he is the one that handles waivers, so no insight on that angle yet.

And yeah sid Ive always got the impression that ABC/FOX/NBC were going to go cable/sat only with very low power OTA.

I see them all pulling a KCEN and giving us the HD feed via cable (if you look when KCEN advertises their HD page it doesnt even list OTA, just the 2 cable companies channels)

Have we settled on a date for this get together? I'll try to tow Richard along as well (he posted a few things last December)...

Originally posted by jagouar
I see them all pulling a KCEN and giving us the HD feed via cable (if you look when KCEN advertises their HD page it doesnt even list OTA, just the 2 cable companies channels)

What's sad, is that ad is letterboxed, but shown in SD.

As for the get-together, still waiting to hear back from mikey.

yeah... its not HD but really thats not a suprise. They barely do HD to begin with so naturally they wouldnt be able to make HD content. Im suprised KAMU has the equipment but not the truck to broadcast..... people still seem only half concerned with HD (doing as little as they can).

I doubt we will have the 880 before the party esp.... they keep pushing it back. I did get my MX3100 the other day (wireless keyboard/mouse combo) and its very sweet so logitech is still getting my money.

Hey Jag, I was at BestBuy during lunch and I saw they had a HD-Tivo on the shelf with your name on it. :)

hahahahahhahahaha.... not for the price bestbuy wanted for it.

Here's KPRC's response on why Conan wasn't in HD:

"No sir, dave99ag, I'm not sure why that happened. That is strange!

Have a pleasant evening!"

I don't think I got the chief engineer as he'd probably give me a real reason. Oh well.

BTW dave rub it in one more time.... Spurs/Nuggets up in HD... :)

LOL

Enjoy TNT-HD while it lasts.

yeah i know.... i only have a few more beloved days. ;)

Anyone here have the Cox DVR and a Harmony remote?

I can't seem to get the model to pull up in the Harmony setup. The bottom of the unit shows the model as DCT6200/1000 but this does not come up on the Harmony website.

If someone else has set theirs up, what model did you choose?

I have it working fine (680)....

Cable Box - Motorola PVR (DCT6412/2000)

Thats what I used.

Well after some lookin around on the net, it appears I ended with an older model, the 6208.

Single tuner and only 80gb hard drive...

Hmm interesting... take it in and demand the dual tuner 120 gig one.

Either way you should be able to use the 6412 codes... its the same hardware just more drive space and dual tuner.

BTW esp, you see the Dish news? May 1 they are offering 10 of the voom21 channels.

Oh the irony here.... you were finally going to get your "HD leader" status back on D* and E* goes and trumps that... ;)

And no I wont be getting them atleast not as long as they plan on charging $250 just to rent the HD-DVR. Plus I would be suprised if they offer the 10 voom channels as part of the HD pack so there might be a smaller charge added on.

Originally posted by jagouar
BTW esp, you see the Dish news? May 1 they are offering 10 of the voom21 channels.
If they offer the "Divine" channel I'm sure he will be on it!!
:D :D

Originally posted by labmansid
If they offer the "Divine" channel I'm sure he will be on it!!
:D :D

LMAO.... or in the real world he will deny it by saying he always watches GuyTV , Rave and Monsters. ;)

Well were now into may...... still no definate plans on the party?

Originally posted by labmansid
If they offer the "Divine" channel I'm sure he will be on it!!
:D :D

Don't worry. I got to see way too much "Divine" stuff in the Quarter this weekend.

I will bug my dad about the party. He has been going out of town to miami and las vegas the last couple of weeks for some installs for work.

So will I soon be the HD-leader with Dish?

Damn...It looks like I need another dish to pick up 61.5.

Anyone got a spare Dish and LNB lying around? Voomers? I know you don't need them anymore. I will take it off your hands and your roof for FREE!!!

I guess it is time to better mount my dish(s). My chain link fence pole seems inadequate to support 2 dishes, not to mention....where the hell is 61.5 (N,S,E,W)?

your going to need a sw21 switch as well..... and 61.5 is actually pretty hard to see (because it has about 10 degrees of elevation above the horizon).

Im keeping my voom dish pointed at 61.5 (incase I ever get a cheap 811 I will sub to the HD pack and voom locals only).

Does E* allow you to subscribe to the HD pack only or do you have to have a base package?

you can pay $5 access fee + $10 for the HD pack + $5 for voom pack

the catch is you HAVE to own equipment.... cant get anything from Dish and sub to HD only.

What's ebay like? Will they activate old gear?

they will activate old gear but im going to wait a few months, all the dish receivers are going for alot more than normal right now.

you also have to have 2 dishes.... one for the HD pack (ESPN, TNT, Universal, etc) and the voom pack is on the existing 61.5 voom dish but you also need a SW21 (or better) switch to combine the 2 sats cables. I want to get it done by June for "Into the West" sicne there really isnt a whole lot on right now HD wise.

Im also debating "sharing" this with a few people... maybe even get bmh to proctor it since he already has an acct....

Ive already got the 2 dishes and the sw21 switch so all i need is the 811 receiver.....

That means I would have to add a third dish for TNT. :( I guess it has to be an E* dish as well. I have plenty of old D* dishes laying around. Might have to call my friendly E* subscriber, aka my little brother.

Actually a D* dish might work (Dishs' main dish is a dual lnb one 110/119) but I dont know which sat holds the HD programming. I know a D* or the voom dish will work for the voom exclusives.

Regardless it you would need a SW 21 switch if you want TNT and the voom's.

What about your old 6000? lol

Even if I still had the 6000 I wouldnt use it now.... But I sold it long ago.

I need to find a cheap 811 (less than 125) because I placed an order for my PB10 today.....

There's nothing wrong with a 6000(that is wha I have). Other than..no psip for HD OTA channels, loses program guides daily, only sees 1hr in advance in the guide. It does work and it was cheap.

Yeah, I meant to add I need a SW21 switch as well. The DirectTV and Voom dishes should both work as indicated on Satguys.

No prob with adding subs to my acct. I think you can have a total of 8 per houshold....I've got room for 5 more.

Well the one problem would be that we dont want all the rest of your programming.... ;)

I know all Im interested in is the HD pack and the voom channels.... maybe we can work out a deal where I pay for those only. It would make your bill alot cheaper too if you added on 2 or 3 receivers (costs you $5 monthly and we would pay somewhere in the $10 range)

Ok, so could I use my current D* 3 lnb dish for 110? I would like to take an output from my 4x8 Terk multiswitch and combine it with my voOm dish at 61.5. Is that possible or will I need to put up an old D* round dish for 110. I really didn't want to put up a third dish. jag, did you get an email about the E* offer for old voOmers?

I think you need another dish (can be D*) pointed at 110 and the 61.5 voom dish. (you might be able to use the D* dish but you would need some way to switch between them). I have an old SD dish receiver if you want to test (you can get into the menu and look at if its getting any signal).

And I got an email from whatever company (not dish) saying they wanted to sidegrade me from voom to dish. Didnt get anything from dish.

Here's the deal:

http://www.dishtv.com/voomhd.jsp?dxmed=dishemail&dxadv=VOOM&dxcpn=may02&dxstr=EMAIL&dxbid%2520=VOOM0054254

Originally posted by jagouar
.... because I placed an order for my PB10 today.....
What prompted that?? Neighbors not complaining enough yet?
;)

I would only charge the $5 mirror fee, plus whatever the HD pack costs, I think $5 for the basic and $5 more for the Voom channels. Maybe we can work a deal for less then $15 dollars...closer to $10.

This is sounding good. Just gotta find an E* HD receiver for cheap.

yeah... and that deal isnt from Dish (look at the website name) its an installer company like Starfire here. Price only good for 3 months and your screwed into a 1 yr commitment (and we all know how I feel about commitments ;))

and yeah sounds like the best deal will be to go with bmh and paypal him money monthly or something.....

And the PB10 was ordered because i sold my other one... it was starting to act up some and figured Id offload it to somebody else (already confirmed the warranty is transferrable if they are hearing the same things it wont be a problem to get SVS to fix) and upgrade mine in the process :)

Ok so here is my setup. I was wondering if there is something I could use in place of the question mark to extract 110 from the multiswitch or perhaps nothing is necessary. However, I fear that a third dish for 110 might be the answer.

yeah i know what your saying.... I dont think your going to be able to have both on at the same time (but you could possibly get a switch if they even make them) and output only dish or only D* at a time.... But if you go through all of that it probably would be easier to just get a single new dish. you could know for sure if you hook my dish SD box into your D* lines and see if it can see signal.

BTW bmh, I have a 18 inch dish that should work for voom's if your interested (I dont know that it works though and I dont have an extra SW21 switch).... maybe I could get a free month or something for it ;)

I might just try for the voOm channels for now. I don't want to put up a third dish (I have extras too, can I get free programming? :D), and then they move the channels again in the near future (148, etc.). Are you going to be around Saturday? Maybe we can try your old E* receiver out.

BTW, did anyone catch the article in the Eagle about Verizon this weekend? It was about the bill to get Verizon, SBC, etc. a state franchise for TV. It passed some kind of preliminary stage.

sweet.... and yes ill be around this weekend.

I just remembered that I had an old dual lnb laying around with a SW21 built in. Wondering if I can take it apart and extract the switch (I'm sooo cheap!)

Anyone heading to BB today?

What your not? I was sure you were. $250 is crazy though.... I can wait a few weeks till bluedo or surfremote get it at $160.

Just to let yall know I changed my screen name from bmh. bmh was my old login at tamu, and my new one goes with my gmail account.

Peace

Man crush on ol' Bill? ;)

Originally posted by dave99ag
Man crush on ol' Bill? ;)

Im thinkin penis envy....

Originally posted by jagouar
What your not? I was sure you were. $250 is crazy though.... I can wait a few weeks till bluedo or surfremote get it at $160.

You know I'm going by there at lunch. You have 30 days to return it right? Have it now for $160 if you catch my drift. That's assuming we even got one.

Give em a call... I was tempted to drop by at lunch just to see if they made any real changes from CES (and yes it looked crazy cool at ces). I cant wait to see that motion sensor in action....

Its funny now that i think about it because Ive had the almost every harmony remote since the 659.. ;)

and if you do get some pics up (high resolution ones) with the backlight ;)

the one real kickass feature of harmony is you can very quickly upgrade remotes... just plug the new one in and login to your account and it does the rest... very helpful since Ive done alot of work on my profile. :)

and Id be tempted as well to get the harmony but that SVS has put a little dent in my credit card. If you borrow my dish receiver this weekend I expect to play with the new one some.... ;)

Well, they say they don't have it, but I'll probably go up there at lunch and snoop around anyway.

Originally posted by elspankdog
Well, they say they don't have it, but I'll probably go up there at lunch and snoop around anyway.
That's giving it the old college try, elsnoopdog!!
:p

Well, they were out. They have a place on the shelf for it, but the 3 units they got yesterday were all gone. Apparently, employees bought two of them. They're sending me one from Willowbrook. Looking at the Texas inventory page at the store, most stores got a couple of them. Mine won't be here until Monday/Tuesday. Saturday, I'm taking my wife to a baby shower in the Temple area, and I might head up to Killeen or Waco to go ahead and buy another (that way we can play with it on Sunday beeoch!). D@mn, I'm impatient.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.... baby shower. You do know shes supposed to go to those by HERSELF. Course I should expect nothing less from the figurine.

BTW stop by greens sausage house and get me 50 bucks worth of the best sausage on the planet, im good for it.

Also on a unrelated matter.... SVS Customer Service kicks ass. I ordered the PB10 yesterday and then noticed that they had a white "bstock" on avaliable and tried to email to get it changed to that one (was 30 bucks cheaper than the new one after my discount) but mine had already shipped. What did they do you ask? Gave me the "bstock" price on a brand new one. :)

So I have a new PB10 and new tshirt (part of my deal) coming.

Originally posted by jagouar
BTW stop by greens sausage house and get me 50 bucks worth of the best sausage on the planet, im good for it.


There are WAY too many ways to respond to that!!
:D :D

Speaking of BB, I talked to the salesguy about the HD-TiVo (they had a couple of them on the shelf). He said they have had no problem moving them. They got them in stock because people kept asking for them. He said Cali is only getting them (I don't know if I believe that). Of course, they don't mention that they will be obsolete in the future.

Originally posted by elspankdog
Of course, they don't mention that they will be obsolete in the future.

You've been listening too much to the HD-Tivo haters. :)

Originally posted by jagouar
[B]HAHAHAHAHAHA.... baby shower. You do know shes supposed to go to those by HERSELF. Course I should expect nothing less from the figurine.


I've said it once and I'll say it again... I can't WAIT for you to get married.

No envy. I wanted to get billgates when I first signed up for gmail account a while back for the off chance that Billy Bob actually wanted one (just a shot in the dark). Of course it wasn't available, so I chose CEO to add to the end. It's more for the WTF factor when I give out my email address.

btw esp

http://www.techonweb.com/products/productdetail.aspx?id=B63085

and I hear people have reported getting BB to pricematch with this one:
http://www.computerhq.com/Logitech_Harmony_880_Advanced_Universal/966187-0403/products/partinfo-id-544335.html

$180 is better than $250.

the source: http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/thread.cgi?2015,3

But I paid tax ($20) on that $250 too. I'll probably take the one I buy online with no tax and hopefully free shipping back to BB. That way I won't have to reprogram.

Figured I would throw this out there.... I was talking to ish earlier about his 6412 review that never seems to get done. and I mentioned I am in the planning stages of a mini trip to dallas saturday may 21.

At 3 PM the Astros are at Texas in Arlington (tix arent too bad $ wise).... then after

Star Wars: EP III is playing on the DLP cinema in Plano (on both theaters) and if youve never see DLP this is the one to see. (If you want to EXPERINCE StarWars, not just see it)

This is all in the early stages (Im not 100% sure Im going at this point).... but we could maybe turn this into the "meeting" that never seems to happen.
I am guessing most of you are going to be ball and chained into rubbing your wives feet or something though. :)

the one negative is if i try to make it a 1 day trip i would be getting back very late.... or could shack up at the motel 6 or something.

Well guess what? My wife will be studying abroad then, but I might have a bachelor party to attend that weekend.

Did everyone get their D* DVR 6.2 upgrade notice in the mail? I think it will happen sometime around the 16th. I hope they eventually upgrade the HD-TiVo as well and not let it go until the MPEG4 DVR is out.

Getting ready:
http://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/kk/kbtx_cbs3_bryan.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/kk/kamu_pbs15_bryan.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/kk/kcen_nbc6_waco.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/ww/wabc_ch7.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/ww/wnbc_ch4.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/ww/wnyw_newyork.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/kk/kabc_ch7.gifhttp://www.satlogo.com/icon/tv/kk/knbc4_la.gif

Originally posted by jagouar
...I am guessing most of you are going to be ball and chained into rubbing your wives feet or something though. :).....
I rub the feet, she rubs the..... oh well, most of you get the picture!!
:p :p

why did you link those pictures esp? I dont recognize any of them past kcen.

Originally posted by labmansid
I rub the feet, she rubs the..... oh well, most of you get the picture!!
:p :p

Except you can get the same w/o having to rub anybodys feet for ALOT less ;)

Originally posted by elspankdog
Did everyone get their D* DVR 6.2 upgrade notice in the mail?
Nope. 6.1 is basically the same. Would be nice for the HD-Tivo. Folders are :cool: !

Originally posted by jagouar
why did you link those pictures esp? I dont recognize any of them past kcen.
Those are the DNS from D* (NYC and LA stations).

Originally posted by jagouar
Except you can get the same w/o having to rub anybodys feet for ALOT less ;)
Rosy's just not the same!
:)

yeah were supposed to be getting folders on the cox dvr update at the end of the summer....

and on the DNS stuff.... what does the HDtivo software have to do with the dns feeds? dont you have them already? (assuming you dont lose them once houston goes mpeg4 ;))

Those logos may be in reference to the Harmony 880 "coming soon".

Those are my favorite channel icons for the 880. But that is assuming I can use them as channel macros with the 880 like I do with the Pronto.

ahhh... i got ya now. and i think i read the guide stuff wont be ready until next month. their engineers are still working on it. (or you talking about using the buttons you can now edit with pictures?)

But yes the 880 will rule all remotes :)

Im particularly looking forward to the motion sensor.

I don't know what I'm talking about. I've never had a Harmony. I just know some guy linked that logo site and was talking about the favorite channel screen. I'm not sure how they can be incorporated. Could the buttons on the side do a macro for the channel of the pic next to it?

I dont have the new harmony so i cant say how it works compared to the one I have (680)... but on the 680 there is a "guide" (exactly like your guide on the D* receiver) and allows you to choose your show. I disable this though because its much easier to use the receivers guide.

Now with the 880 is possible/probable you can assign pictures to the top buttons, the ones that coorespond to the lcd screen (which is why that guy was looking for pictures). It cant do real macros on the assigned buttons but harmony tech support can do them and there are ways to trick it into doing macros but its far easier to call tech support.

And they have probably the best tech support ever.

My Jointenna arrived yesterday from Warren Electronics. It was a two-week wait for the part from Channel Master.

I pull it out and I see nice packaging for channel 12. I open it up and the box is for channel 10. WTF!!? I hooked it up anyway and it's marginal at best in getting KAMU. Luckily Warren had another in stock. I told them to open it and check the model before sending it to me. Maybe I'll get lucky on this one. :)

Man, don't you just hate when that happens! :mad:

Luckily they had another in stock otherwise I would have had to wait another two weeks. I want my Smart Travels! :)

Its nice to not have to worry with antennas ;)

Well has the Harmony 880 come in yet?

Just put it on the charger. :D
http://elspankdog.com/images/stories/Hometheater/880 004 small.jpg

nice.... be ready to throw that pronto in the trash right now because once you start with the harmony theres no going back.

SurfRemote or bluedo better get these quickly... dont know how long I will be able to last you telling me how good it is.

Already have my 680 sold to a friend for 90 bucks so teh first person to have them at $160 gets my business..... Cant spend more than that with the PB10 coming tuesday. And Im spending ~60 bucks to refit my HTPC to make is silent.

Looking forward to seeing your impressions of it.

You know I have 2, right?

BTW, Cowboy Mouth rocks!

2 prontos?

And I bet I know where you were tonight.... how was the free concert? I was watching the mavs/rockets game 7. Had I know it was going to be a blowout I would have gone.

Harmony rocks as well! I was amazed at how easy it is to setup. There were some minor hiccups like each new activity shutting down a previous activity's gear and multiple TiVos, but I found the fixes. The favorite channel thing works as well with those logos I posted earlier. You can have up to 16 favorite channels.

Jag, the motion detector is the sh!t, and I have two 880s and only one Pronto.

I'M ALIVE!!! How does either 5/21 or 5/28 look for everybody, around 5pm? Let me know if these are bad dates for any of you, and I will try to pick one that fits most schedules for a get together. I'll grill dinner for everyone.

Mikey

ahh... well let me "play" with one :)

BTW why did you get 2 of them? I do have one questino about the sensor. Does it have multiple settings? Specifically can you set 2 different "types" of motion? Like one when you pick it up (and have it turn on the glow when you pick it up) vs just moving very slightly... I can see problems because I tend to move the remote slightly (I leave it on my foot stool)

and mikey, 5/21 is out for me... my trip to dallas for rangers/stros and EPIII on the DLP theater.

5/28 is better but still might not work (dont know yet). My little bro is graduating from consol the 27th and I dont know when my parents are planning on having the party. Im betting Bryan is doing their graduation teh 28th (dont know if any of our other members are involved with bisd)

I get the second one on Tuesday. I'll probably return it the same day.

As for the glow/sensor, it's pretty darn sensitive. The only settings I see are that you can disable the sensor or reduce the amount of time the remote will glow; the default is 20 seconds.

Pretty cool:
http://elspankdog.com/images/stories/Hometheater/880 008 small.jpg

wheres the second one coming from?

BB in Houston. I had the local store transfer one last week, but I had to pay up front. Then this weekend, I picked one up in Killeen.

ahh... i figured it was something like that. I thought for a second you were holding out on me and one of the online places had them.

You should put the second one up on fleabay... damn things are going for over 300 bucks atm.

Atleast when tuesday comes Ill have something to keep me occupied (PB10) and reconfiguring my sound to best match it. Then thursday my new computer parts come in to make my pc virtually silent.

well the pb-10 is out for delivery... :)

well esp, you had the remote for a few days... how is it?

It's growing on me. The ease of setup will always give the Harmony the edge in my mind now. I played with the sensor last night, and I don't think you will have any problems. I moved the remote side to side without waking it up. Picking it up and slightly tilting it is what activates the remote. Is there any way to rearrange the activites listed? I'd like to move Watch HD-TiVo and Watch SD-TiVo to the front page.

Yeah I never got the activities to list right.... but with 8 activities on the front page how many activities do you have?

And you can call harmony support and they can fix it real quick.

Main Room:
Watch HD-TiVo
Watch SD-TiVo
Watch DVD
Watch VHS (haha)
Listen to CD
Listen to SACD/DVD-A

Bedroom:
Watch HDTV
Watch SD-TiVo
Watch DVD
Watch DVD-Changer

House:
Sleep
Amy's Morning Jam
Listen to MP3
Listen to CD
Love Statue Surveillance

It adds up (and to think I just lost voOm, but will soon replace it with E*). I guess I could use the Pronto for the bedroom, but right now I like walking around the house with the 880. I need a clip for my belt. Is calling support better than emailing them?

Originally posted by elspankdog
... Is calling support better than emailing them?
What, you're afraid to actually talk to someone??
;)

Hey jag, I found this in the FAQ:

No. At this time the default Activity images cannot be customized.

No custom projector icons for you.

ehh ill get it done.... harmony cust support is the best.

And HAHAHAHA... you really need 2 of them (I can see you carrying it around like a cell phone, for some reason that mental image is hillarious).

I have a total of 4 activities on mine.

Listen to MP3 player
MCE2005
DVD (TheaterTek)
HDTV (COX DVR)

I PM'd penisenvy (probably shouldnt call him that when asking for stuff ;)), but I inquired about getting him to call and see what dish will offer him to get receivers from them as Im sure your aware ebay prices for the 811 have jumped to 2x what they were recently going for (running 170-250 now vs the 125 a few weeks ago). We may get a better deal getting them new through dish. But I have yet to get a reply.

Let me know what he says. I could hit my brother up also. I did see an 811 go for $73 the other day on ebay. They couldn't confirm the balance though. When are we going to test that old E* receiver?

I can test whenever you want.... tonigh will be bad for me though (unless you just want to pick it up).... Im going to be playing with my new toy tonight.

Originally posted by jagouar
I can test whenever you want.... tonigh will be bad for me though (unless you just want to pick it up).... Im going to be playing with my new toy tonight.

are you married yet?

Originally posted by Ishman
are you married yet?

you should know better than to ask me that.

Doesn't sound like that is going to happen anytime soon!!

im in no rush to get whipped.... its funny because all my friends tell me to not ever get married. im sure ill eventually find somebody right but im not going to force things like most people these days.

Im perfectly content to keep spending my money on the theater instead of a chick ;)

Yeah I missed the penisenvy callout. Doesn't bother me at all...I sent you a PM. For some reason there isn't anywhere that shows me I have a waiting PM.

yes there is... atleast on mine when i get a pm it pops up a window.

Gets through firefox + adblock (which i might add is mighty nice on this website ;))

Well, good news and bad news for me...

Good news (sort of) - My hard drive on the HDTivo finally went into the crapper. Simply stopped working for the most part - I did the "clear and delete all" thing and it simply froze. The real good news about all of this is that I called D*'s HD line and without much hassle at all - they just sent me a new one to replace the old one. That's pretty damn sweet if you ask me. They sent me a new replacement to a machine I never paid for and had no warranty on! :D I think I'll be getting the protection plan now as I don't quite trust this machine to hold up long term. It just has to last until I can trade it in for the new MPEG 4 equipment...

Bad news - when the chick last night activated the new receiver she wouldn't let me get locals along with my DNS feeds. She said the FCC rules state I can only have one or the other. Damn, and I thought I was not in the group this applied to. It could be the lady simply didn't know what she was doing. I'm just going to have to keep calling until I can get someone to turn both of them on at the same time (if they actually can).

Glad to hear you got a replacement. The warranty on the new box is for a year, so you should be good until the MPEG4 switch. My HD died a few weeks ago too and all is well now with the replacement.

That sucks that they won't turn on both. I guess it doesn't matter if you're grandfathered in.

Originally posted by dave99ag
Glad to hear you got a replacement. The warranty on the new box is for a year, so you should be good until the MPEG4 switch. My HD died a few weeks ago too and all is well now with the replacement.

So are you saying that when they send you a replacement, you actually get a one year warranty to go along with it, regardless of when your previous warranty expired? That would be sweet.

Originally posted by dave99ag
That sucks that they won't turn on both. I guess it doesn't matter if you're grandfathered in.

My understanding was that this "not both" thing only applied to those who received waivers prior to 1999. Obviously this lady last night did not think so. I'm going to have to make some phone calls to double check on this.

Originally posted by mwesson
So are you saying that when they send you a replacement, you actually get a one year warranty to go along with it, regardless of when your previous warranty expired? That would be sweet.

From what I gather, yes. It's a one year warranty on the actual device.

Just curious how you got an HD tivo without paying for it in the first place?

What locals do you get, and where do you "live" to get them?

Bill

Originally posted by txag93
Just curious how you got an HD tivo without paying for it in the first place?

What locals do you get, and where do you "live" to get them?

Bill

Fluked into it my man. Fluked into it. That's really all I can say.

I get local CBS-HD over the air and national feeds of NBC-HD and ABC-HD through waivers which I acquired 2-3 years ago. (Getting these waivers now is pretty much impossible). Not getting the "locals" package robs me of receiving PBS and Fox in SD. Not a big deal for me as I don't really watch anything on either of these two networks (except for House on Fox which I will miss).

If HD is not the concern, then you can get all the normal locals in SD through D* with no problem. Of course, I find it difficult to watch SD channels at this point.

I guess they've got better at looking at what programming you have when you activate new gear. When I activated my replacement HD-TiVo (which was after the new legislation was in place), they didn't touch my waivers, and I had Bayou City locals as well. Wonder when my waiver luck will run out. They've survived two moves (Bryan to CS and CS to Htown) as well as equipment removal (F38310/DTC100) and gear replacement (HD-TiVo).

I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with the DNS issues. I only have to deal with "moving" and how to get the upgrade. Y'all have several hoops to jump through. :)

dp

good ole wavier/moving talk.... im going to laugh later this summer i think when you guys figure out what your going to have to do to keep the locals.

I see dave right now getting ready to move down to houston and setup a tent at his "address" and wait for the d* installer.

On a different note, the PB10 rocks.... a definate upgrade to my cs (which is sad because i had a 12 inch woofer and now have a 10 but its alot better)

LOL

I'm going to run a long extension cord from my inlaw's house to the lot where my TV is. I'd love to see the look on the installer's face if I tried that.

HAHAAHAH..... i thought i remember your address being in a field but wasnt sure it was you.

well possible huge news... a guy at texags is reporting the firewire is active (he says hes got it working) on the B/CS COX HD-DVR.

I need to find a firewire cable now.

I thought you and Ish were already working on that.

we decided not to get cables after the email we got back from the insider at cox.... he made it sound like firewire was disabled.

Well there is no way I could afford D*, E*, and Cox, but wouldn't your own HD media server be the sh!t. I think the HD-TiVo is doable, but the firewire route just seems so much easier.

:) exactly.

I already have 320 gigs of drive space on my 2 computers (120 on HTPC and 200 on Desktop, but its networked to eachother as mapped drives)..... plus the 120 on the dvr. And thats straight storage, have dedicated drives for my OS.

Of course, you could fill my server (you know us HD-TiVo guys got 250 gig drives lying around everywhere). No ABC movies though. :( I wonder if the premium channels are doable as well?

I beleive everything is doable... and yes no abc or fox yet. still will be nice to have permenant storage.

hopefully cox adds abc/fox pronto..... if it happens by first of next year I will be mostly happy.... granted I want abc before superbowl (they have it this year dont they?).

HAHA!! I saw that post this evening, too, and just knew you would soil your pants when you saw it, jag!! :p I still can't believe you haven't gotten a firewire cable yet.

yeah i know..... well i figured tom way knew what he was talking about since he bought the dvr's in the first place.

If I get confirmation that the guy in in B/CS Im ordering a cable tomorrow.

He had better not be jerking everyone's chain, huh!! :eek:

yeah.... im going to hunt him down in the texags style and berate him.

If you can rip stuff off it that will definately makeup for the few lacking software features.

Especially since from what I can see COX doesnt downrez/convert any of their HD signals and they all did look better than voom from what I could compare. Will be interesting to compare against dish.

BTW, esp what new toy are you buying? (from your pm earlier)

I told yall a long time ago to get the firewire cable and check it out. This news makes me want to go to COX and maybe just keep the HD pak from Dish.

Oh yeah..I still need to find a PC that has storage. Still living in the dark ages with 40GB 1GHz VIA PC. My laptop does have firewire though.

Whatever, I still have an 800 MHz I use for the internet.

Ha, I still have a 266 that's used for Tivo upgrades!:p

Well seems I got the newest computers here too....

HTPC AMD64 2800+
Desktop AMD64 3200+ (much more tricked out computer, geforce 6800GT, Raptor drive, gig of ram, dual monitor etc).

I do have lots of old crappies but dont use any of them anymore.

Just ordered 2 cables for myself.... so I will have one extra one whoever wants to buy a 6 pin to 6 pin one.

Originally posted by jagouar
Well seems I got the newest computers here too....

HTPC AMD64 2800+
Desktop AMD64 3200+ (much more tricked out computer, geforce 6800GT, Raptor drive, gig of ram, dual monitor etc).
Isn't that just a little overkill for downloading porn!?!?

cant be too fast... just need that fios now.

But I dont use my desktop for that anyways... I do some gaming on it (dont have ps2/xbox, spend all my ps2/xbox money on the computer).

looks like none of you are going to be able to go the mpeg4 route for ST.... that pricing even suprised me. (not in a good way) ;)

That'll make you create a "joint" account for ST real fast. I'll pay it for the "move" if that is the only route, but d@mn! Guess that tent idea wasn't that crazy.

yeah i can see you all now getting on a big joint acct.... seems D*'s last big "advantage" over other providers is gone (tivo and now ST)

Got that firewire going yet?

I've been playing with my first DVD-As. I got the Flaming Lips Yoshimi and Linkin Park Reanimation. My universal player isn't here yet so I've been listening to the Dolby Digital version via my old DVD/SACD player, but they still rock. I actually found both discs in town; Yoshimi at BB in the CD section and Reanimation at CC (their hirez music section consists of about 15 titles).

no just ordered firewire friday... wont be here until tues.

So was there ever any decision on the party? Actually it looks like I may not be making the pilgrimage to dallas this weekend so this weekend would work for me.

And esp now that youve had the remote for a while now, whats the overall feeling? June is coming up quickly and with it me getting my 880.

Also any news on Dish billgates? June is coming up quickly and with it "Into the West" which Id like to have dish before that (or atleast watch it somewhere with HD ;))

Originally posted by mikey h
I'M ALIVE!!! How does either 5/21 or 5/28 look for everybody, around 5pm? Let me know if these are bad dates for any of you, and I will try to pick one that fits most schedules for a get together. I'll grill dinner for everyone.

Mikey

Both of those days work for me mikey.

jag, as for the 880, it's growing on me. The buttons were a little tricky at first, but once I got accustomed to the layout, it's been ok.

Pros
-Painless setup
-Handles everything: 3 TiVo activities, 2 HD boxes, 3 DVD players, 2 Sony AVRs with different addresses, sleep, morning radio, etc...
-Love the charger and the tilt sensor.
-Reliable channel macros.
-I love the way when you setup a TV activity for say a TiVo, it puts an aspect ratio button on the lcd screen. I also added a soundfield (Logic 7) button. I might also add a signal strength button.

Cons
-For TiVo users, the placement of the the clear button is kind of awkward. It's a stretch from the bottom left corner to the ok button.
-There also seems to be a delay sometimes; especially with the ff button. I think this might be a combination of my IR system and the 880. I'll be tweaking the IR system soon so we'll see it that helps. I'm getting a new IR target that hides in the center channel; no more IR box in plain view.
-While the channel macros are reliable, they are slooooooow.
-I had a problem with the battery going dead one time. I don't think the remote was seated well on the charger, and I think the slideshow ran the battery down.
-No way to rearrange activities at the moment

I'm sure I'll think of something else I left out.

you can adjust the speeds of the remote..... look in the properties of each device under timing (atleast in the 680). they are defaultly a bit slow because the need to keep it from sending multiple commands too quickly (it is sending out a pretty complex macro). It was hard to figure out that adjusting the speed of each device makes macros faster.

I have all my devices set to 0 delay between button presses (all devices default to 100 ms, and when each device is set to that it adds up quickly) but my receiver and projector need (2 secs and 10 secs respectively to get to a point in turning on where they will accept commands to swich inputs etc)

Well got the firewire cables in today... worked like a charm. I can now download the stream to my computer.

I would like it to be a little better but it works. Just have to play stuff when you transfer because it only captures the stream and not actually downloading the file. Still sure makes me glad I didnt get ripped off on a Hdtivo :)

Still is nice....

FYI cable owns D* (and E* for that matter) pq wise. I was able to verify that:

ESPN 1280x720 at 18 mbit.
KAMU 1920x1088 12.8 mbit
KBTX 1920x1080 18.9 mbit
KCEN 1920x1088 17 mbit
DISC 1920x1088 18.2 mbit
INHD 1920x1080 80mbit (this is wrong but what cap dvhs said)
INHD2 1920x1080 80mbit (again wrong)

For any of you Astro's fans tonight's game is in HD on D* channel 96. :)

Ok jag, I found those delay settings:

SD-TiVo
inter-key delay: 500 ms
inter-device delay: 1000 ms

HD-TiVo
inter-key delay: 100 ms
inter-device delay: 400 ms

So you're saying I should reduce all of these down to zero? Or what is a happy medium?

only the key delay... it lessens the time it waits after sending each "button press" command... primarily used in old equipemnt where it couldnt take commands with a 0 dalay.

I have all the key delay's at 0 and leave the interdevice stuff alone.

Thanks jag, that did it. Now everything works great. No delay on channel macros or when you hit ff three times on the TiVo.

Cool... glad you got it fixed. I dont know why they do that but every device has a delay of atleast 100 ms, Ive heard they do it because of the older equipment not working fast enough to accept commands and it throws all the macros off (better safe than sorry mantra I guess). Sure makes you not want to use those pronto's now though doesnt it? Touchscree flat out doesnt compare to the harmony IMO. SST is one of the best features out there (since my stuff doesnt have discretes).

cant wait to get that motion sensor and color lcd and rechargable base.

BTW I guess theres no party this weekend? Also didnt one of you say you were in the construction science dept? Im debating moving majors again and it would be a help to know somebody in there. (to let me know if its really worth it) :)

Originally posted by jagouar
BTW I guess theres no party this weekend?

Sorry guys for going AWOL again. I've been out of town all week at a tradeshow, and I just got back late last night. Looks like Jag and Elspankdog could make tomorrow for a get-together. Elspankdog next week as well. What works best for the rest of you...tomorrow or next weekend? Next weekend would give me time to recover, but we could do tomorrow if that works better for the majority. Sorry for the late planning, but I have been slammed with work and travel. Let me know ASAP. :rolleyes:

Mikey

Just FYI that the HD-TIVO is down to a list of $699 at CC and BB. I was told you can also get a $50 gift card at BB just for asking making the price $649. Real question is will D* still give up to $250 service credit for hooking 1 up. I'd pay $400 for a 250GB dual tuner Tivo PVR, even knowing it isn't MPEG4.

Bill

Saw that... I know previous voomers were allowed to get a $200 rebate ontop of all the other rebates. you have to remember D* said they plan on starting a lease program. the best option right now is to wait IMO.

Still to me the better deal still is cox.... having more of the networks in HD is nice (and so it not messing with antennas to get nbc). I just hope they add fox and abc by early 06 like they say. Plus having all channels at max bitrate is nice esp on a larger screen.

this weekend would be better for me (little bro is graduating high school next week so I dont know when they are planning on having the party, if its late enough sat night I could probably do it)

Agree that Cox is probably best deal, even $400-$500 is high for a DVR that may go extinct in less than 1 year.

However, I have to have my NFL sunday ticket, and have the opportunity to "share" the D* service and "live" in Dallas so that makes the monthlies less, and currently get 3 O&O stations in HD plus HDNET as a mavericks fan!

Bill

yeah i knew you were a "special" case... ST is really a non issue with me now. I probably wasnt going to pay 200 for it but no way Id even consider 300. You get most of the games as it is now (and this is me w/o fox and abc).

Jag, I was still thinking late afternoon around 5pm, but it could be 6pm if that works better. Earlier I said that next weekend might be better for me, but next weekend weather is an unknown. Tomorrow is sure to be nice. You guys let me know soon. Just post with both dates and a yes or no with each. txag93, what about you? Dave, Sid, Michael, Ishman...are you available either weekend...this or next?

I know ish probably wont make this weekend... (hes on vacation unless he gets back tonight).

6 would probably work for me (the later the better and if its an issue i can always show up late) but i need to see what my parents are planning on doing as far as my bro's graduation party.

I would go ahead and just plan for next week... mainly because most people havent even seen this yet. plus we would need to get directions etc.

I'm still in Dallas, moving that way in the next month or two. Have to find a house and sell one here first!

I will be in town Wed-Sat morning next week if it doesn't work out this weekend.

I know Brandon from work, he can fill you in.

Bill

Originally posted by txag93
Just FYI that the HD-TIVO is down to a list of $699 at CC and BB. I was told you can also get a $50 gift card at BB just for asking making the price $649. Real question is will D* still give up to $250 service credit for hooking 1 up. I'd pay $400 for a 250GB dual tuner Tivo PVR, even knowing it isn't MPEG4.

Bill

I've seen people lately still getting $250 credits on tivocommunity. Just do like the rest of us and call customer retention before you buy for the credit. That way you can just not buy it if you can't get the credit, and they'll apply the credit when/if you activate an HD-TiVo.

As for the party, I would prefer next weekend. I kind of already made plans for the day tomorrow, and I might not be finished, or I might be pooped come 6:00. However, being the young buck I am, if that's the only time we can get together, I'll pony up.

I also see where bluedo is taking preorders for the 880 ($175, I believe).

Unfortunately - I am in Houston tomorrow morning through Sunday night with relatives and am in CA all next weekend.

Either date is OK with me.
The HD-Tivo is listed at Solid Signal (http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=10204&CAT=&PROD=HD-DVR250) for $648.99 with free shipping (and no tax), I believe. Also comes with 5-year extended warranty free. Might have to get one for the bedroom now! :p

OK. It's looking like next weekendis better. Can I hear from the rest of you to know if next weekend is good?

Mike

Originally posted by mwesson
Unfortunately - I am in Houston tomorrow morning through Sunday night with relatives and am in CA all next weekend.
Maybe we could set up a internet video conference?? ;)

I saw bluedo's price too... Its a bit higher than I want to spend so I will hold off until the drop to 160-165.

And next weekend will be fine. My bro is having his party sunday for lunch.

To our esteemed party planner.... probably would be best to get the info up early (ie within the next few days) with the site going in for surgery sunday morning and it being up and down all week. Directions etc.

OK. Heard from Michael via Sid. Is next weekend good for the rest of you?

I'll be digging a pond in my backyard next weekend. Have a beer in my honor.

a pond? you cant sneak away for a few hours? jeez you must be whipped.

Originally posted by jagouar
a pond? you cant sneak away for a few hours? jeez you must be whipped.

Last time she had the cops out looking for him. :D

Would it help if 'dog and jag each brought over a shovel?? :p

Well figured this needed a bump for a few reasons... #1 the party :)

But more importantly big news for Aggie Athletics. I think we all knew it was coming but Im really suprised it was this soon after the season. Will be interesting to see who takes over.

I think we all knew it was coming but Im really suprised it was this soon after the season. Will be interesting to see who takes over.

Oh, I don't think it's that surprising. I like Johnson as a person, but this really should have happened a while back.

I really like the idea of Horton. The guy at UArk is pretty damn good too though.