TWC Consumer Input Thread [Text View] - Page 3

bgooch

02-25-07, 12:10 PM

Posted on Sun, Feb. 25, 2007
INDUSTRY BANKING ON NEW DEVICE TO KEEP ITS TV KING ROLE
PETER GRANT, Wall Street Journal

When it comes to innovation, the cable TV industry has been long on talk but slow on action. For years, cable executives have promised viewers they'd soon be using remotes to shop, play games, interact with advertisers and vote contestants off the island. But these and many other features, for the most part, haven't been delivered.

Meanwhile, innovations appear daily on the Internet. Some prognosticators predict the Internet eventually will beat cable in the battle for the living room, with most of the entertainment Americans consume piped over the Web to television sets. That would leave cable operators with the unglamorous and less lucrative job of providing the pipes.

But now, there is something that may tilt the playing field more to the cable guys' advantage. After more than six years of development by the industry's research and development arm, cable operators are rolling out technology that could facilitate new applications and help cable TV maintain its dominant position in home entertainment.

The technology addresses an age-old problem at the root of the cable industry. Because the industry grew up as thousands of separate systems, there was little consistency in the technology used, making service upgrades difficult. This remained true even though many systems were consolidated by giants such as Comcast and Time Warner. Just to add a feature like a news ticker on the bottom of the screen, for example, software has to be modified many times to fit different set-top boxes and network gear in a multitude of systems.

The new technology, with the cumbersome name of OCAP, for Open Cable Application Platform, is software that behaves like an operating system that runs on digital cable set-top boxes and other devices. OCAP, then, is to set-top boxes what Microsoft Windows is to computers. Adding a new feature, like the ticker, is an easy task regardless of the cable system. That ease is expected to spark a flurry of creativity among software companies, as new applications will no longer have to be tailored to fit separate cable systems.

Even better, manufacturers such as Panasonic, Samsung and LG already have designed OCAP TV sets that will eliminate the need for set-top boxes, the scourge of many a home-entertainment center. With OCAP TVs, scheduled to be available as early as this year, users just have to attach a cable and the set will get video-on-demand, advanced program guides and other interactive features from cable.

OCAP also enables manufacturers to design a unit combining DVD players, digital video recorders and other devices within a set-top box. And any OCAP device bought from an electronics retailer will do the trick, as long as the cable system has been upgraded for it.

Some manufacturers predict a slew of new devices to follow, such as one that could pipe in cable TV while grabbing photos, music and videos off home computers. Some see OCAP even helping to solve that other curse: multiple remotes.

But be patient. Like any new technology, OCAP faces significant obstacles and uncertainty. It will have an impact only if it's used in enough systems to attract the attention of software companies and device makers who need to sell in large volumes. And OCAP works with digital cable, not the more common analog cable that still comes into many homes.

The good news is that a few of the largest cable operators are moving quickly to deploy OCAP. Time Warner plans to install its first OCAP set-top boxes in subscribers' homes in May, and is scheduled to have all of its systems OCAP-ready by July. Time Warner Cable subscribers will first see the benefit of this later this year, when the company uses OCAP to enhance its program guide.

But no matter how fast cable operators move, their progress in deploying OCAP is going to be limited by the tens of millions of digital cable boxes already in place. Most of those boxes don't have the memory or the processing power to run OCAP. For OCAP to reach critical mass, cable operators must offer enough advanced features -- at a good price.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/16779442.htm

Crazywoody

02-26-07, 12:53 PM

If Diana would just come back and post and let us know what is being done to improve NAVIGATOR it would be a big help,Let us know if any new features comeing and what is being done to stabilize the old features.If it every did TIME WARNER needs a voice in here NOW.Come on back Diana help us at least with new information.

archiguy

02-26-07, 04:05 PM

I agree. We need somebody from TWC to come on here and talk to us about Navigator. Let us know if they're aware of the problems and are working on solutions before they continue with deployment, or...... not. Since this was originally Diana's thread, it would be helpful if she wasn't such a stranger. The natives are getting restless.....

bgooch

03-01-07, 06:53 PM

Time Warner Faces Inferior DVR Legislative Action
By Davis Freeberg | Filed under PVR / DVR, TiVo @ 9:54 am

Forrester recently did a survey where they asked consumers an open ended question about how they felt towards their DVR and 20% of the respondents used the word love to describe their relationship with the gadget.

When a consumer electronic device can generate this type of an emotional response, it’s safe to assume that for better or worse, the technology is going to have an impact. On a positive note, Forrester’s study revealed that this passion translates into DVR owners churning less and being more likely to pay for premium services.

less than 2% of people who owned DVRs have stopped using them. While today’s DVR owners are demographically mainstream, they are off the charts in their adoption of premium TV services and home electronics. Nearly half of them have a home network, which is four times the penetration of a typical online household.

When DirecTV first partnered with TiVo, not only were they able to use the DVR to attract cable subscribers to satellite, but they also saw a significant reduction in churn from subscribers who were using the box. Unfortunately for TiVo, when technology can have this signficant of an impact on a partner’s core business, companies will naturally want to bring it in house.

As long as DVRs work properly, consumers are in love, but when things start going wrong, this very passion can swing the other way and creates some real problems. In the case of DirecTV, by cutting TiVo out of their DVR equation, they’ve alienated a significant portion of their subscriber base, have subjected their customers to public beta tests and now they risk dramatically increasing the number of people who churn from their service, just so that Rupert Murdoch can make a few measly extra bucks.

As more and more cable companies have begun deploying their own DVR solutions, they’ve quickly found that the middleware has been more challenging then what they expected. While any product introduction is likely to have it’s fair share of glitches, because of the passion that consumers feel over the DVR, it’s creating some real headaches for telco execs.

Case in point is Time Warner cable. Considering that Time Warner owns 4.5% of TiVo’s stock, I’ve never understood why they haven’t been more willing to partner with TiVo, but the company has consistently chosen to cut them out and apparently their DVR is so bad, that it’s inspired Government officials in Lincoln City Nebraska to actually holding a public hearing to address whether or not Time Warner should be forced to give up some of their exclusive franchise rights over the bugs.

While a public hearing in Nebraska isn’t likely to force Time Warner to change their minds about supporting a more elegant DVR solution, it does speak volumes about how frustrated consumers are getting from being locked into a single brand. Once they try DVR technology, the know that they love it, but with cable companies allowed to lock up their systems from outside competition, it’s created an environment where bugs and glitches are considered acceptable as long as they don’t cost too much.

Considering that the cable companies have been locked in a battle with the FCC to extend a decade old requirement to open up their set top boxes to competition, this kind of consumer backlash doesn’t speak well for their chances of getting another stay on implementing cablecard technology into their own boxes. Someday I hope that consumers will be able to choose between one of many different operating systems for their DVR needs, but for the time being, the cable and satellite companies need to be more mindful of the lengths that their customers will go to, if you break something that they love.

Davis Freeberg is a technology enthusiast living in the Bay Area. He enjoys writing about movies, music, and the impact that digital technology is having on traditional media. You can read more of his coverage on technology at www.davisfreeberg.com. Davis owns shares of TiVo stock.

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2007-03/time-warner-faces-inferior-dvr-legislative-action/

ultraviolet353

03-02-07, 03:08 PM

I would love to see a feature where you can prevent a show from recording more than once within a 24 hour period. I watch a lot of cable news (Keith Olbermann, Daily Show, etc.) and they air multiple times a day, and are technically all "first run." So when I "Record Series" on one of these shows, it schedules all airings within that given day (which causesd a ton of recording conflicts)--or this could be achieved by having the guide mark subsequent airings (within that day) as "repeats."

I am using iGuide, after using Moxi for the past few years.

Also, would love to know when Navigator will be deployed in Los Angeles.

archiguy

03-02-07, 03:33 PM

Time Warner Faces Inferior DVR Legislative Action
By Davis Freeberg | Filed under PVR / DVR, TiVo @ 9:54 am

Case in point is Time Warner cable. Considering that Time Warner owns 4.5% of TiVo’s stock, I’ve never understood why they haven’t been more willing to partner with TiVo, but the company has consistently chosen to cut them out and apparently their DVR is so bad, that it’s inspired Government officials in Lincoln City Nebraska to actually holding a public hearing to address whether or not Time Warner should be forced to give up some of their exclusive franchise rights over the bugs.

While a public hearing in Nebraska isn’t likely to force Time Warner to change their minds about supporting a more elegant DVR solution, it does speak volumes about how frustrated consumers are getting from being locked into a single brand. Once they try DVR technology, the know that they love it, but with cable companies allowed to lock up their systems from outside competition, it’s created an environment where bugs and glitches are considered acceptable as long as they don’t cost too much.

*sigh* The guy writing this article seems unable to differentiate between hardware and software. The SA8300 DVR is a superb device. It has it's detractors, but I find it to be a terrific piece of hardware. It's the software, specifically the new Navigator software that's been the problem everywhere it's been rolled out. Not once in the article does he acknowledge this; he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. :rolleyes:

Crazywoody

03-02-07, 05:02 PM

I agree the 8300 works great for me.It just needs better software.The Sara 1.89 is getting the 8300 to acceptable.However a better search engine is a must.The recordingoptions are now where they should be and my manual recordings work great now (sigh still wish the name displayed instead of manual recording)but recording works great.Play from beginning option and auto jumpback are great additions.SIGH now that SARA is almost there NAVIGATOR LOOMS.Hope it is fixed by time us SARA 1.89 users get it.With the problems it has shown and the slowness of the Greensboro TWC to upgrade I give SARA at least another year here.At least thats my hope.Notice with the new SARA upgrades and the failure of Navigator SARA users seem to like it more everyday.I used to be a bad SARA basher-niw I appreciate it more every day.

Crazywoody

03-02-07, 06:41 PM

ultraviolet353

03-02-07, 07:18 PM

Ultraviolet the 1.89 SARA software has the on this day at this time recording option.Also my sara software only records one copy when set to first run unless the ipg not listing programas new show.Are you on sara or passport?

I am not sure--because I just switched from Moxi. I know it is the iGuide on Moto 3416. How I can find out which software I am running--

Rob052067

03-03-07, 12:15 AM

Passport allows you to record a series on a specific day, time and channel. I like this option much better than selecting to record 'first run' only for several reasons. One is that the guide is not always right, and sometimes programs don't indicate new or first run, so you either get no recording or multiple recordings of the same show. Another is that I may not want to record the show when it first airs but prefer a different airtime (ie: I record the 1am airing of The Daily Show because I normally have other things to watch on both tuners at 11pm when the new episodes originally air.) Another reason is that I may only want the program when it airs on a certain channel and day of the week (ie: PBS MotorWeek airs locally on PBS, PBS-HD, and PBS-Digital at various days and times.)

I'm a happy TWC customer with an SA8300HD with Passport. I'm dreading the day that Navigator is thrust upon us in Columbus, OH.

ultraviolet353

03-03-07, 12:31 AM

Another is that I may not want to record the show when it first airs but prefer a different airtime (ie: I record the 1am airing of The Daily Show because I normally have other things to watch on both tuners at 11pm when the new episodes originally air.)

Another great point--Passport sounds pretty cool. I really wish that stupid iGuide was better--

Crazywoody

03-03-07, 07:45 AM

I hear that Navigator has just added the time/channel recording option.Anyone can correct me if I am wrong.SARA 1.89 has first run,any time,this slot ths time every day(for a daily show)also this time ths channel this day recording options.Manual options let you do single recordings.individual days like every mon at 7 ect.weekly, daily,only weekends ect.SARA 1.89 has almost all recording options covered.All my optins all well tested and work very well.What are the Passport and Navigator options anyone?Just like to compare the 3.

DoubleDAZ

03-03-07, 08:20 AM

The problem with not using the First Run option is that you then always get reruns, especially during the rerun seasons, which seem to be more frequent and longer these days. I use both techniques depending on show and channel. I do get a daily email from HDTV Magazine that lists HD programming and indicates New programs. Where the IPG has been wrong, the email has been right and I adjust accordingly.

HuskerHarley

03-03-07, 11:37 AM

I use both techniques depending on show and channel. I do get a daily email from HDTV Magazine that lists HD programming and indicates New programs. Where the IPG has been wrong, the email has been right and I adjust accordingly.

Thanks for the tip...I just suscribed... ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our local newspaper (Lincoln Journal Star) will be running two articles in the Sunday edition concerning 'TWC' about Monday's public hearing.

I'm usually slow/lazy on Sunday's, if i don't see the stories posted here when I get around I'll paste it with a link.

HH

joe221

03-04-07, 02:10 AM

HuskerHarley

03-04-07, 07:48 AM

Well,,,Here are a couple of articles in today's paper:

Navigator's choppy maiden voyage draws city's attention

By JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007 - 12:04:12 am CST

Time Warner Cable said there was no specific reason it chose Nebraska as the place to introduce the Navigator program guide to its customers.

“With all products and services, they are deployed at different divisions at different times,” said Ann Shrewsbury, Nebraska division public affairs director. “Other divisions were the first to launch Road Runner, video-on-demand and digital simulcasting.

“We were at the top of the list for Navigator.

“We’re the only cable company in town, but we’re still in a competitive environment,” Shrewsbury said. “There are lots of options, and we know that.”

Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable company, has been under fire locally since it dropped the contracted Passport channel guide last fall in favor of the company-created Navigator.

The change affected 46,000 digital cable subscribers. Time Warner has 110,000 television subscribers in Southeast Nebraska.

The new guide has been beset with problems since its introduction. Complaints have ranged from the guide itself — ugly graphics, incomplete information, etc. — to problems with slow-reacting cable boxes and DVRs after the software was loaded into them.

Lincoln City Councilman Jonathan Cook recently introduced a resolution calling for a performance evaluation of and a legal investigation into Time Warner’s new Navigator program guide and DVR software. The City Council will hear public testimony on the resolution on Monday.

Time Warner changed the guide to make it compatible with other software programs coming down the line such as “start over” and “look back” functions.

“Start over” will allow subscribers to replay nonrecorded programs from the beginning, while “look back” will let viewers replay any nonrecorded program aired in the past 24 hours.

Current changes include more parental controls and previews of on-demand movies.

Shrewsbury said Time Warner recently downloaded a software upgrade and followed it up last week by calling subscribers who have been having problems.

“It went very well,” she said. “Eighty four percent are not having problems any more.”

The other 16 percent were forwarded to technical services, she said.

Shrewsbury said the cable company is compensating subscribers who have endured or still are having persistent problems. Compensation is determined on an individual basis, she said.

Time Warner is slowly rolling out Navigator in two other markets. About 100,000 of 1.5 million subscribers in southeast Wisconsin have it, as do 40,000 of 350,000 subscribers in the Kansas City, Mo., area.

Tim Cuprisin, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel media reporter, said he hasn’t heard many complaints since late December, when 8,000 viewers were affected by a glitch in the new guide that blacked out their digital cable service.

“It wouldn’t shock me if they’ve laid off the transition,” he said after hearing about Nebraska’s problems. “(Time Warner is) pretty savvy. If there’s a problem, they’ll try and fix it.”

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/04/news/local/doc45ea3a3d136ea228904106.txt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HH

HuskerHarley

03-04-07, 07:49 AM

#TWO:

It may not be cable, but TV competition exists

BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007 - 12:04:12 am CST

Say there’s no cable competition in Lincoln and you’ll get a chorus of disagreement.

“We feel like we’re in a highly competitive market,” said Ann Shrewsbury, director of public affairs for Time Warner Cable’s Nebraska division.

She pointed out the variety of companies offering satellite television as well as the fact that Time Warner’s franchise agreement with the city of Lincoln is nonexclusive, meaning a competitor could come in and make a bid to offer service.

Brad Hedrick also disputes the notion that Time Warner Cable has no competition in Lincoln.

Hedrick, vice president and general manager of local phone provider Windstream, thinks satellite television is a perfectly good alternative to cable. Windstream offers Dish Network, one of two major satellite TV services.

Without providing numbers, Hedrick said Windstream’s Dish Network subscribers have been growing.

“We do feel we are competing with Time Warner,” he said.

At least half a dozen other businesses in Lincoln offer Dish Network or the other major satellite service, DirecTV. Customers also can order service directly from the two providers.

But not everyone is a fan of satellite TV.

It’s more prone to weather disruptions than cable, and local subscribers don’t get public access channels or Omaha broadcast stations like cable subscribers do.

So for those who want a true cable choice, there really is no option locally.

Despite moves by the federal government and some state governments to make cable competition easier, it remains an uphill battle for companies that want to challenge the local cable provider.

In December, the Federal Communications Commission passed a series of measures meant to make it easier for cable competitors to get access to new markets.

Several states, including Missouri and Kansas, also have passed laws allowing telecommunications companies to offer television service without having to obtain a local franchise, which can be a long and costly process.

Iowa legislators are considering a similar bill, but so far, none has been introduced in Nebraska.

Shrewsbury said legal issues are less a barrier to cable competition than cost.

“It’s a very expensive business to operate, so in a lot of cities you don’t see more than one cable provider,” she said.

She also pointed out that Time Warner and other cable companies have to pay a franchise fee to local municipalities — Lincoln’s cut of Time Warner’s gross revenue is 5 percent — while satellite providers pay nothing.

Expense is one of the reasons Windstream has chosen not to join some other phone companies in offering its own television service, Hedrick said.

Doing so requires a “huge capital investment,” he said.

Windstream chose to offer Dish Network because “we wanted to compete right away.”

Ironically, one of Windstream’s predecessors, Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph, held the early rights to Lincoln’s cable television franchise but had to divest those rights in the 1970s because of changes in federal regulation, Hedrick said.

In 1995, the federal government changed the regulations again to allow telephone companies to offer television service.

Telephone providers are logical candidates to offer television service because they already have infrastructure connected to homes.

Among those doing so are Verizon and AT&T.

Verizon’s Fios TV is available on a limited basis in 10 states, while AT&T’s service is in the early stages of being rolled out in various markets across the company.

Both services, to one degree or another, are provided over fiber optic cables.

Windstream has laid fiber optic cable all over Lincoln and last year began installing it directly to homes in new subdivisions.

Those connections will allow the company to provide television service, if it chooses.

“We may make a decision to go down that path,” Hedrick said.

But for now, he said, Windstream plans to concentrate on increasing its satellite subscriber base.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.

http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/04/news/local/doc45ea48c983128542790048.txt

HH

Brad Smith

03-04-07, 09:20 AM

By JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007 - 12:04:12 am CST

...

Shrewsbury said Time Warner recently downloaded a software upgrade and followed it up last week by calling subscribers who have been having problems.

“It went very well,” she said. “Eighty four percent are not having problems any more.”

The other 16 percent were forwarded to technical services, she said.
How are they getting those numbers? I know of no single person who is happy with or thinks their problems are fixed with the latest Navigator software release.

HuskerHarley

03-04-07, 10:10 AM

I'm with ya,,,I've talked with them several times and NO ONE from TWC called me to ask what I think since I last talked with 'THEM' over a month ago, to fill me up with false promises and BS.

Navigator is still a JOKE and they will say anything to justify what they are doing,,,Dragging there big fat bully feet all over us here in Lincoln and raising rates.

Easy solution: Bring back Passport and start with improvements from there, instead of going 'FORWARD IN REVERSE' (NOT MY QUOTE)

HH

SoopahMan

03-04-07, 11:02 PM

But...

People with problems tend to speak up while people who no longer have problems tend to stop talking and just enjoy whatever it is they had spoken up about prior. So maybe their numbers are based on the number of repeat callers with a problem.

The above statistic seems to closely relate to the majority of the content of this thread... .

HuskerHarley

03-05-07, 10:06 AM

Crazywoody

03-05-07, 10:57 PM

Two questions (1)Anyone kow why Navigator lacks the manual recording option?I'm on SARA 1.89 but find manual recording useful also.(2)How many recording options does Navigator have?

archiguy

03-06-07, 06:56 AM

Advisory panel to review Time Warner problems

BY DEENA WINTER/Lincoln Journal Star
Monday, Mar 05, 2007 - 11:00:45 pm CST

In addition to Lincoln, the new channel guide was rolled out early in Charlotte, N.C., Milwaukee, and Kansas City, Mo. The change affected about 46,000 digital cable subscribers in southeast Nebraska, including about 35,000 in Lincoln.

Time http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/06/news/local/doc45ecf3ff5e793858046256.txt

HH

No, thank the gods they're wrong about this - unless they've deployed Navigator on the SA3250HD STB's (I no longer have one of those, thank goodness). We're still running Passport on the 8300 DVR's (I have 2 of them). Everyone's on pins and needles here, though, waiting for that accursed Navigator hammer to fall.... :(

HuskerHarley

03-06-07, 06:57 AM

Advisory panel to review Time Warner problems

BY DEENA WINTER/Lincoln Journal Star
Monday, Mar 05, 2007 - 11:00:45 pm CST

If Time Warner Cable customers wanted an apology for problems they’ve endured for months with their new channel guide and digital video recorder software, they got one Monday from Beth Scarborough, president of Time Warner Cable Nebraska.

“Nobody’s sleeping very well at night around Time Warner,” she said. “I do think we deserve to be called to task… and I would like to take this opportunity to personally apologize to anyone we’ve disappointed.”

Her repeated apologies were in response to legislation introduced Monday by Councilman Jonathan Cook calling for an unusual performance evaluation of Time Warner by a cable advisory board and an investigation into the problems.

Time Warner has been under fire in Lincoln and elsewhere since it dropped its old Passport channel guide last year and switched to a company-created guide called Navigator — software that allows customers to get programming information and is the interface for video on demand and DVRs.

In addition to Lincoln, the new channel guide was rolled out early in Charlotte, N.C., Milwaukee, and Kansas City, Mo. The change affected about 46,000 digital cable subscribers in southeast Nebraska, including about 35,000 in Lincoln.

Time Warner has fielded about 5,500 complaints since August and has issued credits, such as free premium channels, to half of them.

Scarborough said a performance evaluation would be an overreaction, but that didn’t deter the City Council, which voted to proceed with a review by a vote of 4-3.

The advisory board could recommend Time Warner offer refunds or credits to customers.

Scarborough asked for more time to work out the bugs in the system, and instead suggested a more informal review. She was disturbed by allegations that the company doesn’t care about the problems.

“I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth,” she said.

People are mistaken if they think Lincoln was considered “some small backwater” that could be used as a “small beta test market.”

She said Time Warner switched to its own software so it could eventually provide customers with more features such as a “start over,” “look back” and caller ID function.

She said complaints had dropped since a recent software upgrade. But during the meeting, she heard more as Time Warner customers recounted repeated rebooting and hours without service. One called the software “Laughigator.”

“It was like going from a brand new Mercedes Benz to an old Ford,” Harley Horton said of the switch from Passport to Navigator. “It’s like going from a roadrunner to a snail.”

And yet he’s still paying full price for cable.

“They haven’t screwed that up,” he said. “They’re doing a very good job of making sure they take the money out of my account every month.”

Will Kerns, who said he tests software for companies, said customers deserve to be compensated when they pay full price for a product that’s not 100 percent effective.

“Navigator was a complete debacle from the time we got it,” he said. “It doesn’t work, period.”

And Councilman Cook hammered Time Warner for making excuses, taking advantage of customers by making them pay for an “inferior product” and raising rates in January.

“The expectations are now so low that Time Warner thinks that people should be happy if they don’t have to unplug their cable boxes twice a day,” he said. “Any competent programmer would be embarrassed to be associated with it.”

His resolution was opposed by Republicans on the council who argued that this is a private matter and that Time Warner should be given more time to work through the problems.

http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/06/news/local/doc45ecf3ff5e793858046256.txt

HH

Riverside_Guy

03-06-07, 08:43 AM

I've spoken to many people that are aware of problems with Navigator but don't take the time to voice there complaints and or frustrations to TWC...I believe that only a small % of the info is getting back to them,,,

I'm always amazed at how people will just accept what is dumped upon them and complain to each other, but not to the proper ears...IMO

HH

I've said this before, but it is worth repeating. Complaining in a forum with fellow users absolutely has value in regards to shared consternation (it's comforting to know you have compatriots). But getting anything noticed by those that CAN make a difference, it serves little use.

To get "them" to really notice, file a complaint with the local franchising agency. Records are kept there and in my experience, the "complaint" actually gets to someone whose job it is to record and respond to complaints AT the cable company (usually this gets to public relations, not customer service). Will it immediately fix any problem? No, but the more folks who MAKE the effort to get their issue noticed by the MSO, the closer it may be to getting resolved.

DJshay

03-06-07, 04:51 PM

I have been trying to get some information out of my TWC office here in Charlotte, NC about the upgrade. Here is the response I got from them.

Thanks for the reply. The Navigator is the end user interface. Passport is the Operating System of the digital receivers. This is not changing.

Am I missing something? I thought Passport was the software and the Navigator was replacing Passport.

Crazywoody

03-06-07, 05:31 PM

Somebody at TWC has mastered double speak.

DJshay

03-07-07, 09:25 AM

archiguy

03-07-07, 10:01 AM

I just got another reply from Time Warner and they said that there are no plans to change the guide at this time. Is there anyone else out there in the Charlotte area that has noticed any changes in the guide or functionality? I have read 2 separate articles that mention that Navigator has been rolled out in Charlotte.

As I mentioned just 6 posts back, if indeed Navigator has been rolled out in Charlotte, then it must be on the SA3250HD STB, not the SA8300 DVR. I used to have a 3250 and "traded it in" on a second 8300 so I cannot test this theory. They clearly have not pushed Navigator to the HD-DVR's yet (and, hopefully, won't until the problems are ironed out). If anyone monitoring this thread in the Charlotte area has just an HD STB please reply and let us know if they've pushed Navigator onto it recently.

DJshay

03-07-07, 11:15 AM

archiguy

03-07-07, 12:07 PM

I have the 8300HD, so this is probably why I haven't seen anything yet. Obviously they (the TWC cust serv people) know that Navigator is coming, but can't or won't say when it will be fully implemented in this area.

I suspect there's a lot of hand-wringing at TWC High Command about Navigator right now. They're so used to the public just taking whatever they dish out with nary a peep that they were caught by surprise when the poor beta-tester peasants in Lincoln actually revolted, and got media coverage for it.

It's not surprising that we're having difficulty finding anyone who's an AVS member who just has an HD-STB. The only reason I had one for a few years was because it was the model that they gave to the handful of gearheads that requested active firewire ports (per FCC mandate - otherwise they wouldn't have done even that much). Now that they've apparently stuck a thumb in the eye of the FCC (and those few customers) on firewire by universally disabling those ports, why on earth would anyone want an HD STB without DVR functions? I suppose there is a tiny minority that wants to save the $8/month DVR charge....

In any event, the switch to Navigator on non-DVR HD boxes probably doesn't have much impact, other than slowing the guide down. The really big problems with Navigator become evident with DVR's, evidently.

AndyHDTV

03-07-07, 03:28 PM

your input is needed

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9966217#post9966217

Crazywoody

03-17-07, 01:30 PM

Just a question.I know most passport users wish to keep it.How mant SARA 1.88 or 1.89 customers rather keep SARA than get Navigator.I for one would rather have SARA (if they would add a proper search engine).SARA is at least stable and well tested when features added andthey work.Please let the room know if you would perfer to get Navigator or keep SARA.

davehancock

03-17-07, 01:36 PM

I could care less about the "search" and other guide related functions that stem from the TiVo paradigm (I come from the VCR paradigm). Further, I am quite happy with the state of SARA since our last upgrade. So I DO NOT welcome the thought of Navigator at all. Too much risk for too many changes. Besides TW has a dismal track record of adequately responding to systemic problems (witness Lincoln or even LA).

Ted W

03-19-07, 07:27 PM

I finally switched my old Comcast package over to TW last week here in Los Angeles. Despite being told differently, I lost three channels: MTV Hits, MTV Jams, and VH1 Soul. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is if you're a music video director, as I find myself without music videos for the first time in, oh, twenty or so years (the legacy MTV and VH1 channels no longer, of course, play music videos). Not to mention the principles of being promised one thing and receiving another and the idea that moving from one top-tier package to another should result in any loss. We're not talking rocket science or brand-new channels; these have been cable staples for years. Does anyone have a similar problem or information on who at the Goliath of TW might be the complaint contact?

jmp_nyc

03-19-07, 09:26 PM

Does anyone have a similar problem or information on who at the Goliath of TW might be the complaint contact?

If they're anything like their corporate sibling in NYC, the only way to get a meaningful response is to complain to the local regulatory body that oversees their cable franchise.
-JMP

mpgxsvcd

03-20-07, 08:51 AM

Riverside_Guy

03-20-07, 11:42 AM

If they're anything like their corporate sibling in NYC, the only way to get a meaningful response is to complain to the local regulatory body that oversees their cable franchise.
-JMP

In my experience that gets you into public relations who should "know more" than the front line CSRs. I'm batting 66%, out of three "complaints" I have 2 resolved correctly, one one I got fed a mistruth (that they "intend to do something" that never happens).

justpassinthru

03-20-07, 11:56 AM

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=868377#post868377

Thanks you Ms. Wiltmer!

Satch Man

03-20-07, 09:51 PM

Greetings,

Can anyone tell me in the Milwaukee Area when the Pioneer Boxes with Passport on them are to be updated to Navigator by Time Warner? I would like to get a date or at least narrowed down to the week when the upgrade is scheduled to "prepare" for the change-over.

Also, who determines when the upgrade is to take place? Is it the office manager, a head technical supervisor, or the President of the local division of your TWC company?

Jack

Crazywoody

03-21-07, 04:28 PM

Satch Man

03-21-07, 05:15 PM

I am a Raleigh NC TWC customer and my SA Explorer 8300HD DVR began acting up last night. It won’t tune in ABC at all and several other channels like discovery HD won’t tune in either. The weird thing is that the SD ABC won’t tune in either. Has TWC lost the rights to ABC? I will switch to satellite instantly if that is the case? Was there an update made to the software for the 8300HD DVR recently?

Have you tried a Cold Boot of your DVR? Unplugging the DVR for 5-10 minutes, than plugging it back in and than rebooting? Sometimes the 10 second time that TWC often gives you isn't enough to clear any intrusive data. All of your scheduled recordings SHOULD (knock on wood) still be intact.

Jack

Riverside_Guy

03-22-07, 02:05 PM

Time Warner needs Diana or someone to come on this board and let us know what is going on with Navigator.Also let us know about any improvements that are comeing.Diana at TWC started this board then abandoned it.A HUGE MISTAKE!If you keep customers in the loop they will work with you more than if you dump something on them and then say it's great bye bye.Feel like we are left swingingin the wind.

Well, she started the thread with one very specific intention. Soon, the thread turned into a general bash TWC one. I think her last post was what she saw the results were in summary and she left. Doesn't surprise me all that much.

While I sure as hell agree that someone from there should be tasked with hanging around here, I also know that they will also have to deal with a boatload of crap they just aren't responsible for.

Besides, they are very much organized by markets, so in some (like mine) they realistically are the ONLY game in town (most of the people where I live have 2 choices, TWC or ONLY watch DVDs on their TVs, many folks don't even have an OTA possibility). Like all corporations, where they feel no footsteps, they could care less what you think. It's all about pushing the market for all it's worth.

Crazywoody

03-22-07, 02:32 PM

I feel if someone from TWC would return this board could be guided back to a constructive conversation between TWC and it's customers>We all do not want to bash TWC.We just want a good product that works like SARA and PASSPORT.It would help TWC gleam what customers want on their dvr and yes give some a way to vent without acting stupid.I belive Diana should give the board another try if only to cool off some mad customers.

SoopahMan

03-22-07, 04:01 PM

It seems to me the only reason the bashers have quieted down is because they don't feel like their bashes will be as effective if TWC isn't listening. Diana's smart for abandoning this thread.

Like I said earlier, it's not TWC's job to keep this thread on track, it's the community's. Because some here couldn't be constructive and act like adults, spamming the thread with their whining, we've lost participation by TWC and I don't blame them. Maybe if some here can grow up a little, we won't screw it up next time.

DoubleDAZ

03-22-07, 10:31 PM

This is not the first thread Diana has had to abandon, and for all the same reasons. Unfortunately, by abandoning the thread altogether (vs simply ignoring various posts/posters), she loses any meaningful exchange of ideas with those of us prepared to discuss things rationally. Just because someone posts, doesn't mean she has to respond. Ignore long enough and even the most obnoxious eventually get tired and go elsewhere. :(

CANNON-FODDER

03-22-07, 11:29 PM

But, as your signature attests*, ignoring is tough business sometimes...

*and the posts/conversations it [appeared] to spring from...

v/r,
C-F

DoubleDAZ

03-23-07, 12:18 AM

But, as your signature attests*, ignoring is tough business sometimes...

*and the posts/conversations it [appeared] to spring from...

v/r,
C-FThere is no doubt about that. I suspect she follows the thread, but when is the last time something on-topic was even posted? When she started this thread, I told myself it wouldn't be 10 posts before it started going downhill. Folks here just can't resist picking apart someone else's idea or bashing a comment they don't agree with/like. Then too, they'll quite naturally try to squeeze info out of a representative regardless of the thread topic or stated objectives and they'll complain to no end about any problems they are having or anything they don't like. I do applaud her for trying though, I don't see many (and?) other cable reps participating here.

Bulldog1975

03-25-07, 10:44 PM

Put your Mouth where your Money is!

Advisory panel to review Time Warner problems

...

Time Warner has been under fire in Lincoln and elsewhere since it dropped its old Passport channel guide last year and switched to a company-created guide called Navigator — software that allows customers to get programming information and is the interface for video on demand and DVRs.

...

Scarborough said a performance evaluation would be an overreaction, but that didn’t deter the City Council, which voted to proceed with a review by a vote of 4-3.

The advisory board could recommend Time Warner offer refunds or credits to customers.

...

HH

As a followup to the article which HuskerHarley forwarded to this thread, the Lincoln Cable Advisory Board has met a couple of times and will have a hearing regarding Navigator and/or other customer service issues with Time-Warner Cable. Hearing is this coming Tuesday evening, March 27, 7:00 p.m. until ???, at the City-County Building in Lincoln.

I'm a newbie to this forum and am not allowed to post URLs yet until I reach five posts, (tried to cheat the system a couple of times but was unsuccessful) but you can find the details by going to lincoln.ne.gov, click "Public Hearing on Time Warner" if it's still there in the big box in the middle of the screen, or if it disappears, click "Government" then in the City of Lincoln section click "Departments", then in the Mayor's Department section click "Citizen Information Center", then "Media Release", then "Cable Advisory Board set Public Hearing for MARCH 27." (Sorry about the wordiness; somebody please feel free to post an actual link!)

Whether you're thrilled with the Navigator or less so, come on down to beautiful downtown Lincoln and state your thoughts. (Most helpful if you already live here and subscribe to TWC, but out of towners are always welcome!)

jasonvr

03-25-07, 11:09 PM

Put your Mouth where your Money is!

(Sorry about the wordiness; somebody please feel free to post an actual link!)

Here ya go: link (http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/mayor/media/2007/032007.htm)

Crazywoody

03-27-07, 08:20 AM

I for one have tried to post on topic on this board and not bash TWC.I have seen no responce from TWC which is sad.For those of us who would like to carry on a constructive conversation with TWC it feels like a door has been shut in our face.Someone from TWC that could field serious rational questions on here would be appreciated.Has the board gotton off topic at times YES.Are there TWC bashers here YES.However there is many many on here that only wishes information on Navigator and to help TWC make it the berst product available.I only wish TWC would open the door to serious conversation again.

DoubleDAZ

03-27-07, 10:06 AM

Well, I must admit that it's not like Diana to just leave without any warning. The last time she left a thread, she at least gave her reasons before bowing out. :(

Riverside_Guy

03-27-07, 11:27 AM

Indeed it would be fabulous if we had an actual contributing member who really represented TWC. But I also realize that they are also human beings and can get intimidated and mercilessly bashed to the point where they question continuing to be an active participant. I agree w/Dave, she should have left a message about no longer monitoring the thread.... but that's what I read when she "summarized" the responses to her original inquiry.

Crazywoody

03-27-07, 02:26 PM

Wonder if Diana even still is employed by Time Warner?

Crazywoody

03-27-07, 02:27 PM

If Diana has left Time Warner wonder why?

bgillyjcu

03-27-07, 02:55 PM

When are we going to get more HD offerings. The amount of HD channels has been unchanged for sometime...in fact we lost INHD2 and only have INHD now...

Crazywoody

03-27-07, 07:12 PM

Has anyone spoken to anyone at TWC that actualy kows whats up with Navigator fixes and any new features that have or will be added?

Riverside_Guy

03-28-07, 03:32 PM

When are we going to get more HD offerings. The amount of HD channels has been unchanged for sometime...in fact we lost INHD2 and only have INHD now...

Ha, you think that's bad? How about a frakking neighborhood in my city (AKA a borough) getting 3 BRAND NEW HD channels by tomorrow while we get none of them? Same cable co, same city, same rates.

Satch Man

03-28-07, 05:16 PM

In Milwaukee,

I have been very pleased with the level of service and programing on TWC. However, it appears that on a national level this quality has greatly fluctuated from place to place. I agree with many of the issues above. The Public Relations clientèle needs improvement. One of the ways is to maintain a stronger communication base between all operations of the company. This should include:

1. Customer service representatives
2. Programing departments
3. System Engineers
4. Service Technicians.

The way it stands now is that there are too many gaps, holes, or breakdowns, in the level of communication between examples 1-4. Many CSR's are not properly trained to answer basic level questions and are often forced to read management scripts or form letters to explain things. 2-4 fair a little better, but it is very difficult to talk to them on a one to one basis.

A SUGGESTION IS TO SPEAK TO A SUPERVISOR WHEN YOU CALL. Don't be afraid not to. I was getting a run around with two buggy SA boxes years ago. I e-mailed and requested a supervisor. The problem was that when ordering PPV on two SA boxes, when entering Purchase Pins through the IPG, the box would go to the top right of the screen in the IPG and freeze there instead of disappearing when the numbers were entered. The supervisor not only replaced the box, but said he would contact SA the next day with a complaint that the IPG screens were not compliant with the head-end software.

In most cases, your not going to get those kind of responses from a level 1 customer service rep who is just answering the phone because they don't know how to go beyond the script. The supervisors actually seem to know what they are doing, and would be better sources of communication contact for such things as:

Navigator roll-outs

Navigator updates and fixes

Programing changes

Cable maintenance questions

The only thing is, sometimes cable operators are still trying to engage in reciprocity contractual commitments for new channels and how they should be managed or packaged. Due to the lack of information not being finalized, they can't give out such programing information till they know that a deal has been reached.

I think going to the department supervisors when calling, e-mailing, or snail-mailing, may get some more of our answers resolved.

Jack

HuskerHarley

03-29-07, 06:32 AM

'Lincoln Update' (http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/28/news/local/doc4609d6fe73c8c700904801.txt)

Husker

Crazywoody

03-29-07, 06:35 AM

Does anyone know if Diana Smith who used to field quetions on other boards for TWC is even still employed by Time Warner?

Bulldog1975

03-29-07, 10:33 AM

'Lincoln Update'
Husker

Check it out for yourself (if you have RealPlayer on your computer); show is on the City website.

I'm still "link-challenged" and can't post URLs to this site (will be up to four of the required five posts after this message) so I again have to tell you a non-optimal way of getting to the show; if someone wants to post a separate message with the URL within the hour that would probably be helpful. To get there, you can go to lincoln.ne.gov, click the box on the right hand side of the screen that says "5CITY-TV", then on the page that pops up, click "Video On Demand", then click the "Public Service Announcements" link which takes you towards the bottom of the page, then click "Cable TV Advisory Board" and you should be there. You may want to skip the first two or three minutes; board did a couple of business items (introduction of members, reading of Minutes) before the actual hearing began.

You may want to pay particular attention to the testimony of Beth Scarborough from TWC, beginning about 43 minutes into the show. (Note that she predicts in public testimony that TWC will go nationwide with Navigator by July 1st, due to an FCC ruling on separable security.)

Beyond that, I'm in a position where I need to refrain from commenting positively or negatively. (Specifically, I'm one of the people that you'll see up on the dais. I'll have comments at some point, after all the information is collected, but need to keep an open mind for now. And you can quote me on that!)

AndyHDTV

03-31-07, 12:16 AM

Does anyone know if Diana Smith who used to field quetions on other boards for TWC is even still employed by Time Warner?

yes she is, and she is very busy.

Crazywoody

04-02-07, 02:40 PM

Glad Diana is very busy maybe she can fix NAVIGATORS!

davehancock

04-02-07, 05:09 PM

Glad Diana is very busy maybe she can fix NAVIGATORS!I doubt that - but maybe she keep the NAVIGATORS from spreading any further till they ate TOTALLY FIXED (and the poor souls stuck with them agree)!

Crazywoody

04-04-07, 07:15 AM

bgooch

04-04-07, 10:39 AM

Time Warner has been using Lincoln Nebraska residents as guinea pigs.
Staff Editorial: Customer complaints show Time Warner is not quality cable
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Opinion

These are the words of one Lincolnite who appeared at last week's Cable TV Advisory Board meeting, and that cable customer is right.

Since last fall, Time Warner Cable has been testing new digital cable software in Nebraska, affecting about 46,000 digital cable subscribers in the state. The company maintains the new software promises to be better and faster than the original, but so far all we've heard is complaints.

Complaints about lost programs that customers recorded. Complaints about channels freezing up. Complaints about no service. Complaints. Complaints. Complaints.

And considering those complaining customers didn't have a choice in whether or not Nebraska was chosen as a test state, those complaints are warranted.

They also raise issues about Time Warner's priority to give quality service to its customers, something we think it could improve on.

It is great that Time Warner has been listening to the customer complaints and is participating in a customer evaluation process. However, this evaluation process didn't happen until a City Council resolution demanded the cable board start an annual performance evaluation of Time Warner. Apparently, customer complaints were not enough.

But why weren't those complaints enough? After all, Time Warner doesn't provide cable to the city; it provides cable to the city's residents. Therefore, it should serve and satisfy its customers first and foremost without having to be prodded by the City Council or an advisory board.

After all, we are the ones filling out Time Warner's paychecks.

But despite the fact it took a resolution to get the ball rolling, we are still happy that ball is on its way. However, Time Warner needs to concentrate on fixing more than just its new digital software.

Customers haven't only been complaining about the software glitches, but also about the way Time Warner does business.

Some complaints have involved the way Time Warner introduced the new system. At the cable board meeting last week, one customer said the company was not professional and that the process was not businesslike, according to a Lincoln Journal Star article on the board meeting. In that customer's words, "They didn't do their job."

That job is to not only provide cable to Time Warner customers, but to also make sure those customers are happy.

And if you're one of those customers who isn't happy, make sure Time Warner knows it.

You wouldn't want to miss an episode of "Desperate Housewives" or "Grey's Anatomy."

http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2007/04/04/Opinion/Staff.Editorial.Customer.Complaints.Show.Time.Warner.Is.Not. Quality.Cable-2821695.shtml

archiguy

04-04-07, 11:01 AM

If TWC wanted a good guide they should have looked at TIVO.I know TIVO has lot of copyrights but a license fee for a few of them might have really helped NAVIGATOR.Both PASSPORT and SARA license features from TIVO why not TWC?

Yeah, this is the part I don't understand either. I get it that they want a unified platform that can handle SDV. But why not contract it out to the Aptiv people (who do the Passport system) or TiVO, who know how to do DVR software right...? Instead, they seem hell-bent on developing Navigator in-house, and the results have been predictable.

The way things are looking, they may have to scrap Navigator altogether and go hat-in-hand to Aptiv or TiVO anyway to bail 'em out and get this thing done properly. Which is what they should have done in the first place. :rolleyes:

Riverside_Guy

04-04-07, 01:52 PM

If TWC wanted a good guide they should have looked at TIVO.I know TIVO has lot of copyrights but a license fee for a few of them might have really helped NAVIGATOR.Both PASSPORT and SARA license features from TIVO why not TWC?

I ALWAYS thought this was a far better deal for TiVo then selling hardware and subscription services. While I have NO actual knowledge, I'd put money that talks were held and that TiVo lost out because they wanted too much money for the service. I don't think TiVo's business model can carry them much farther.

Riverside_Guy

04-04-07, 01:59 PM

Yeah, this is the part I don't understand either. I get it that they want a unified platform that can handle SDV. But why not contract it out to the Aptiv people (who do the Passport system) or TiVO, who know how to do DVR software right...? Instead, they seem hell-bent on developing Navigator in-house, and the results have been predictable.

The way things are looking, they may have to scrap Navigator altogether and go hat-in-hand to Aptiv or TiVO anyway to bail 'em out and get this thing done properly. Which is what they should have done in the first place. :rolleyes:

First, the 2 major issues for TWC (IMO) are SDV and OCAP. I'd bet OCAP is actually more important as it represents actual new business. In truth, there's probably not near as much potential revenue gain with SDV.

I can't imagine that TiVo is anywhere on those 2 technologies.

There has been some interesting speculation that TWC should have gone to whomever makes SARA (which is already SDV compatible) and have them add OCAP and some operating features from Passport.

Logically, they may be spending more to go the ODN route, BUT that they totally own while doing a SARA deal means they are just a licensor, not the owner.

davehancock

04-04-07, 02:55 PM

There has been some interesting speculation that TWC should have gone to whomever makes SARA (which is already SDV compatible) and have them add OCAP and some operating features from Passport.

Logically, they may be spending more to go the ODN route, BUT that they totally own while doing a SARA deal means they are just a licensor, not the owner.A couple of points on this:
1) SARA owners (Scientific Atlanta) are adding OCAP capability (it may be there already).
2) I have the feeling (from being a SARA user) that Scientific Atlantic has NOT been as responsive to requests for changes, "fixes", etc. as TW would like - thus they have had the desire to get more control. The obvious problem being, that TW really didn't know what they were getting into, nor how to deal with it.

Scarlett

04-04-07, 05:02 PM

There has been some interesting speculation that TWC should have gone to whomever makes SARA (which is already SDV compatible) and have them add OCAP and some operating features from Passport.
I'm not sure what you mean by "SDV compatible." I have SARA, and I am unable to schedule recordings on switched channels. Well, I can schedule the recording, but the DVR cannot tune the channel and begin recording at the specified time. This results either in no recording at all, or getting a few minutes of the program occasionally. In addition, in some instances, a program on the Speed channel has been scheduled, and instead the DVR will record the MTV channel. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't call that "compatible." :(

Scarlett

davehancock

04-04-07, 05:28 PM

Scarlett, the problem that you are having with SDV is much more likely due to problems on the TW network. - you should complain to them.

Crazywoody

04-04-07, 05:42 PM

One reason it seems that SARA is not as fast to change as TWC wants is that they TEST and RETEST what they put in the field.I understand Scientic Atlanta is developing a nifty new search engine for SARA simular to PASSPORT.However i dough any TWC SARA users will ever see it with the TWC rush to NAVIGATOR.The upgrades we have received from SARA in the last few year are good improvements that are well tested and work.Would i like more YES but not at at the expence of a flawed system.TWC could do worst than makeing a improved sara is operateing system.

Scarlett

04-04-07, 06:18 PM

Scarlett, the problem that you are having with SDV is much more likely due to problems on the TW network. - you should complain to them.Well, I do know that most of the complaints are coming from customers who are on the same hub, so perhaps you are correct about its being a network problem--and complaints have been registered, but the problems remain unfixed. Would you care to hazard a guess as to the most probable network issue that is causing this behavior? Tech Support is clueless, and any suggestions we can offer can't do anything but help. Since it started after the upgrade, I assumed it was something in the new firmware that the DVR couldn't handle. Is your area using SDV also?

Scarlett

davehancock

04-04-07, 06:28 PM

Well, our area was reported as being one of the first with SDV. But that turned out not to be true! Early in the year I had some discussion with the head end technical chief, who told me that they had not started to use it yet. Further, version 1.89.xx.xx of SARA has diagnostic screens for SDV. I checked those screens and tuned to one of the "supposed SDV" channels - the diagnostic screens showed that the channel was not SDV.

Satch Man

04-05-07, 10:38 PM

Well, I do know that most of the complaints are coming from customers who are on the same hub, so perhaps you are correct about its being a network problem--and complaints have been registered, but the problems remain unfixed. Would you care to hazard a guess as to the most probable network issue that is causing this behavior? Tech Support is clueless, and any suggestions we can offer can't do anything but help. Since it started after the upgrade, I assumed it was something in the new firmware that the DVR couldn't handle. Is your area using SDV also?

Scarlett

Yes Scarlett,

I would like to hear from others in additional states who have Navigator in addition to the people of Lincoln Nebraska, so that this can be determined if this IS an issue exclusive to Lincoln Nebraska for Time Warner Navigator, or if ALL areas with Navigator are experiencing the same problems. My guess is that this issue is in all versions of Time Warner's Navigator system, but with Lincoln Nebraska being the earliest test market for the new software, you guys REALLY got the short end of the stick. I feel your pain.

Is there additional information that suggests that other states with Navigator are doing a little better? It does seem interesting, as you said, many of the issues and problems are coming from Lincoln Nebraska's TWC head network.

Jack

Bulldog1975

04-06-07, 08:22 AM

Yes Scarlett,

I would like to hear from others in additional states who have Navigator in addition to the people of Lincoln Nebraska, so that this can be determined if this IS an issue exclusive to Lincoln Nebraska for Time Warner Navigator, or if ALL areas with Navigator are experiencing the same problems.

I agree with Satch Man; I'd like to hear how others are doing.

Both pro & con please; I'm one of the Cable Board members in Lincoln who's trying to work with TWC to help them resolve the problems, and I've heard plenty on the con side but not so much on the pro side. Some who think that Government should stay out of the issue, let the buyer beware, etc, but right off the bat I can't think of anyone who actually has said they prefer Navigator to Passport. Are there users out there who think the Navigator is better in some areas?

I'm especially interested to find out how people with DVRs are doing vs people with other kinds of boxes; it seems here in Lincoln that the DVR subscribers are the ones that are being hit the hardest. Not so sure how good of a business model it is to drive away your high-end customers, but I guess that's TWC's call.

davehancock

04-06-07, 11:30 AM

Yes Scarlett,

I would like to hear from others in additional states who have Navigator
But Scarlett doesn't have Navigator - she has SARA. Also this thread isn't the Navigator thread. She made an observation about problems that she was having that might relate to SDV.

But we do feel the pain of the TWC customers suffering with Navigtor.

xnappo

04-06-07, 11:38 AM

Scarlett, the problem that you are having with SDV is much more likely due to problems on the TW network. - you should complain to them.

Why would it only do it when you are recording and not watching if that were the case? Personally I think that when the non-primary tuner is recording it doesn't tell the hub 'HEY I'm watching the speed channel!'.

Scarlett - I am curious what would happen if you scheduled both a normal 'guide' based recording and manual recording at the same time to force both tuners to tune Speed (I don't have Speed)...

I don't think it is your hub - I think it is just that not many people record the SDV channels. I don't watch anything on any SDV channels.

xnappo

le_vampyre

04-09-07, 04:32 PM

Some who think that Government should stay out of the issue, let the buyer beware, etc,

Thank you. Indeed, that is a great point and would work well in a pro-market environment that fosters competition.

But to take that position, Government should also allow multiple cable companies to compete with the same cable customer in the same market and not grant monopoly (what's the politically correct word they use? Franchise?) to a single company.

If the cable customer had a choice between a cable company offering them a high end product like Passport and TWC shoving down their throats an inferior product like Navigator and charging them more money for it which do you think they would choose?

Unfortunately, cable is a monopoly. Government interference in the cable industry has already led to larger companies buying their competitors and then saying to the consumer "Take it or we'll shove it down your throat" as they did Navigator. There's no other real choice...

Crazywoody

04-10-07, 09:03 AM

Has NAVIGATOR launched in any new TWC divisions or have they frozen the launches to repair or rethink.Sorry PASSPORT folk hope us SARA folk do not see Navigator anytime soon.They have just gotton SARA to where a proper dvr should be.(Minus a decent seach engine)that isto come on the next software upgrade that we may never see due to Navigator.

Crazywoody

04-17-07, 10:36 AM

After seeing the new options being added to Navigator (if they work)I would like to have NAVIGATOR.The new software makes it almost PASSPORT like.Series priority added,jump back added,new conflict options,more recording options,FUEL GAGE (YES),The series manager now a true series manager.I'm stillon SARA 1.89 but the new options get me excited.Time Warner if you would ony add keyword to search you might be there.SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IS LISTENING.(Finally)

Crazywoody

04-17-07, 10:42 AM

Time Warner if you are listening please add the play from beginning while recording option to the dvr software.I use this oprion a lot on sara 1.89 and find it very very useful.

xnappo

04-17-07, 10:54 AM

Crazywoody

04-25-07, 06:23 PM

Anyone have any news on how the new Navigator upgrades work?Are they stable or still flaky?How do they perform. Greensboro NC SARA 189.17.4

Satch Man

04-27-07, 12:24 PM

CABLE TIP:

If your converter is rebooting like every day or every other day, you have some fuzzy interference on channels, or your digital channels are "Pixiated," (i.e. they break up into little pixels) this can very likely mean that data from the cable lines has intruded into your converter.

BEFORE CALLING FOR SERVICE, YOU CAN OFTEN FIX THESE PROBLEMS YOURSELF. TURN OFF YOUR CONVERTER AND UNPLUG IT FROM THE WALL OR SURGE PROTECTOR FOR ABOUT 3-5 MINUTES. THAN PLUG IT BACK IN. IF THE POWER BUTTON DOES NOT RESPOND WHEN YOU TURN OFF THE CONVERTER ON THE BOX OR REMOTE, UNPLUG YOUR CONVERTER FOR 3-5 MINUTES. THAN PLUG IT BACK IN AND ALLOW THE SYSTEM TO REBOOT AND THE CORRECT TIME TO BE DISPLAYED BEFORE TURNING THE BOX BACK ON.

This does more than a warm reboot by just holding in the power button and waiting for a reboot. A cold reboot with the system unplugged first for several minutes will:

1.) Clear out any intrusive data.

2.) Make sure that the newest information is received from the server. Your box will behave better often after doing this process.

Jack

Crazywoody

05-06-07, 08:40 AM

This thread has pretty much died i urge all to move to the NAVIGATOR THREAD.

bgooch

05-08-07, 10:29 AM

archiguy

05-08-07, 06:32 PM

At the NCTA cable show this week, Time Warner Cable announced they'd soon be offering customers a new service called "Catch-Up," which allows subscribers to watch previously broadcast episodes of popular TV series, and "Quick Clips," which would offer video content from the web via the company's Scientific Atlanta DVRs. Industry execs say they're just scratching the surface of VOD; will the cable industry ultimately try to replace the DVR with VOD?

If they try, the backlash among their customers will be unlike anything they've ever seen. Once people get used to DVR's, they won't accept anything that gives them less control. The cable companies have pushed the DVR on their customers; they won't easily be able to take them back. Every month that goes by will make it harder.

davehancock

05-08-07, 07:01 PM

If they try, the backlash among their customers will be unlike anything they've ever seen. Once people get used to DVR's, they won't accept anything that gives them less control. The cable companies have pushed the DVR on their customers; they won't easily be able to take them back. Every month that goes by will make it harder.I think that what will happen is that customer-owned DVRs (read TiVo Series 4,et al) will be integrated into the cable system. That is the goal of OCAP, and we should start to see a lot of OCAP enabled products next year.

bgooch

05-15-07, 12:18 AM

Operators Think Out Loud on What They'll Roll Out
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 5/14/2007

Las Vegas — As the nation's cable operators move inexorably toward implementation of new interactive services using the Open Cable Application Platform, cable executives say they are still unclear on what key applications they would like to run utilizing the standard.

They are sure, though, they want to deliver enhanced TV services that end users can exploit with the same ease as watching analog television. And they want OCAP application developers to know that.

“We see a lot of companies with cool applications, but we have limited resources,” Mike Hayashi, senior VP of advanced technology and engineering at Time Warner Cable, said during a panel session at The Cable Show. “I just want an application that runs!”

The wish lists of other major operators: Comcast wants applications that work across all set-top boxes, said James Mumma, director of iTV product development; and Cox Communications would like programs that are simple to run and can be integrated across platforms, said Chris Bowick, Cox CTO and senior VP of engineering. Those integrated programs would allow Cox to make video, voice and data products more meaningful, stickier to subscribers, while making customers lives' simpler, Bowick added.

The executives made their comments to application developers during a panel on OCAP deployment Sunday at The Cable Show.

CableLabs and the NCTA put a major emphasis on OCAP here, scheduling 11 educational sessions on the topic Sunday and Monday. This session, on MSOs' OCAP objectives, was moderated by Leslie Ellis.

Some interactive products are already in consumer homes. Bright House Networks customers in Tampa and Orlando now look to their televisions for caller IDs when they hear the phone ring, as an example. That application, along with others in the field, will be ported to run on OCAP set-tops and digital TV sets, said Arthur Orduña, senior vice president of policy and product for Bright House parent Advance/Newhouse Communications.

Every time they look at that TV, the product reminds consumers they subscribe to Bright House “because we do cool stuff,” said Orduña.

“We need you to work together to tell us what OCAP can do,” Orduña told developers. “My job is to be amazed by your creativity … I've yet to see a push-the-envelope app.”

The operators represented on the panel are making strides in OCAP equipment and software deployment. Cox is trialing “OCAP Onramp” technology, providing enhanced services in two markets with Java programs to legacy set-top hardware, according to Bowick. The trial will expand to five markets by the end of the year with a goal of national deployment in 2008.

Bowick said Cox is close to delivery of video mosaics, games and caller ID on TV with call disposition (sending calls to another number).

Cox is also working on an interactive version of the Music Choice digital music service.

Seventy percent of Time Warner's customers are served with Scientific Atlanta set-tops, while about 30% use Motorola hardware, Hayashi said, so the company is focusing on OCAP capability using the SA hardware first. This week, Cox takes delivery of SA OCAP-compatible DVRs, he said. After July 1, the company's purchases will all be OCAP capable.

Comcast is doing OCAP technical trials in Denver; Philadelphia; Union City, N.J., and Boston using multiple architectures, said Mumma. Those test results will be used to “spring board us” into other markets later this year.

One thing OCAP capability isn't likely to prompt: Internet browsing via the TV. Even with cable modems embedded in boxes and set-top gateways in place, web browsing doesn't seem like a business, executives said.

Cable companies will more likely use the interactive communication capability to improve communications over their own networks, they said.

The executives said the biggest opportunities for program developers are bound applications — enhanced content bound to currently showing television programming, for instance — and in creating programs that break down silos so applications can link various products in the bundle.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6441550.html

Nets: Make OCAP Happen
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 5/14/2007

Las Vegas— Three top TV programming executives said cable operators have been slow off the mark in deploying a standardized platform for interactive television, making it impossible to launch applications on any sort of scale.

The hope is that the industry is now serious about adopting CableLabs' OpenCable Application Platform, which would provide a common middleware for programmers and advertisers.

“We want the operators to raise their hands and say, 'We'll make [OCAP] happen,'” said Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for the Disney ABC Television Group, at a panel discussion at The Cable Show here.

The pace of OCAP deployments has been “slower than we'd like it to be,” The Weather Channel CEO Debora Wilson said, though she noted that “operators have had a lot on their plate,” including the move to add more HD programming.

Added Wilson, “We as programmers support OCAP because it allows us to publish and deploy broadly. Otherwise, you have a really difficult, and probably impossible, environment to program content and advertising against.”

Cable has been working on OCAP for at least eight years and operators still have yet to move beyond limited market trials on the technology. Recently the industry pledged to widely roll out the technology by the third quarter of 2008.

In the absence of a common ITV platform, programmers have been doing more work with interactive video applications on the Internet, as they race to keep up with the YouTubes of the world to find new ways to engage the next generation of viewers.

“We're competing with folks who can take our content, unpaid for, and take it wherever they want and do whatever they want with it,” NBC Universal chief digital officer George Kliavkoff said. With interactive TV, “we need to figure out how to make the experience better for the consumer, and there's not a lot of time to get it perfect.”

The Weather Channel has developed an OCAP-based application, which allows a viewer to see weather information for different areas and see what programs are coming up on the network. But today, Wilson said, there aren't many cable operators that have OCAP-enabled set-tops or headends to run such an application. “We have to have the ability to deploy,” she said. “That's a fundamental, sort of gatekeeping thing.”

ABC developed a prototype of an OCAP application for the show Lost, which provided a trivia game that viewers could play during the show. However, Cheng said, “We didn't think this would be a great viewer experience. People are so used to the 10-foot application; it was more distracting and less entertaining.”

Cheng said with ITV applications, ABC is leaning away from content and toward ads. “We really feel the advertising opportunity is greater,” he said. “We've focused on delivering a better message for [advertising] clients.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6441551.html

OCAP Inches Closer to Reality

05/14/07 (Broadcasting and Cable)

More than any new-product release, the biggest news from last week's NCTA show in Las Vegas concerned vendors' and operators' showing steady progress in rolling out standard technologies. This new development should allow cable to offer more hi-def and on-demand content, deliver targeted advertising, and explore new interactive programming applications.
One such technology is the long-percolating OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) standard that allows programmers to deploy interactive applications across a variety of set-top platforms. OCAP, an extremely popular topic on the show floor, is the byproduct of a government-mandated initiative to make set-tops a retail product by standardizing various functions.
OCAP will put common software, or "middleware," in digital set-tops, allowing Java developers to create an application that will then run on any set-top. It will also run on new "digital-cable'ready" TVs that include slots for CableCARD'the removable security technology'allowing interactive applications to be delivered without a set-top at all.
With OCAP, programmers and operators no longer have to create customized applications for each set-top in order to provide simple interactivity, such as graphic overlays that feature targeted advertising, polling applications, or links to weather and traffic information.
"We're happy about OCAP because it rationalizes the fractured platform environment," says Weather Channel President Debora Wilson, who demonstrated an OCAP application that would let viewers call up detailed local weather information, as well as access current conditions for up to 40,000 cities.
In the long run, the Java development community could foster richer applications that leverage the power of the two-way plant, giving operators a leg up on satellite. Several panel speakers referred to creating a "killer app" for the set-top that would be the equivalent of a ringtone for a cellphone.
"The potential next year is for a big network to build an application and have it on 10 million or 15 million boxes, for the same cost as putting it on 100,000," says Patrick Donoghue, VP of ITV product management for Time Warner Cable.
While the industry believes in OCAP's potential, it isn't rushing it to the market. Time Warner Cable is further ahead than other operators in deploying OCAP, because Scientific-Atlanta, which supplies some 70% of its set-tops, is ahead of Motorola in supporting OCAP. Time Warner Cable has taken delivery of some S-A, OCAP-enabled DVRs, says Senior VP of Advanced Technology Mike Hayashi, and is already releasing select Samsung OCAP-enabled HD set-tops. By July 2007, he expects Time Warner systems to be OCAP-capable on the S-A platform.
Even though the industry has been developing the OCAP technology for 10 years, Hayashi cautions that "OCAP is still early." Actually running a new OCAP application on the S-A platform would require significant testing, he says.
"One issue is the performance of OCAP integration," he says. "If [an application] showed up today, we would be concerned about performance, how much memory it takes up, etc. We want the same flexibility analog TV had."
Advance/Newhouse Communications is on a similar OCAP-pace to Time Warner, says Arthur Orduna, senior VP of policy and product, because the vast majority of its set-tops are S-A boxes. Cox, which has about a 50/50 split between Motorola and S-A boxes, has been working with a transitional step to OCAP called OnRamp, a Java-based application standard that is transferable to OCAP boxes, says Chief Technology Officer Chris Bowick. Cox is also testing OCAP in two markets.
"We'll have a national footprint in the first half of '08," says Bowick.
Comcast, with a high percentage of Motorola set-tops, has OCAP trials in several markets, but it won't roll out until early 2008, says James Mumma, director of video product development. For the near term, it is working with the Enhanced TV standard, also known as "EBIF," or "Enhanced Binary Interchange Format," to enable interactive applications. EBIF can work on legacy set-tops, such as the widely deployed Motorola DCT-2000 set-top; Tandberg Television was demonstrating such functionality'a T-commerce application with Home Shopping Network on a DCT-2000'in its booth.
"We're invested in EBIF," Mumma says. "It runs on a low-end set-top box, which is key as we put together a product plan and a roadmap [to OCAP].

http://hd.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=139390

RussB

05-15-07, 02:58 AM

Time Warner Cable's original network DVR service "Mystro" received rave reviews from trial participants, but the company scratched the system because of legal threats from the broadcast industry. Networked DVRs, which store your content at the network head-end, scare copyright holders and broadcasters, who believe they violate existing laws and threaten their control of their content. Cablevision recently scuttled a similar effort for the same reasons.

Time Warner Cable then revamped (read: scaled down) the idea, launching a VOD service dubbed "start-over" in several markets. As the name indicates, the service only lets you start programs over -- while content is still stored remotely. Unfortunately, the "DVR-lite" service won't let you fast forward through ads. It also only works for "selected" shows and channels, according to Time Warner, though that lineup is ever growing.

At the NCTA cable show this week, Time Warner Cable announced they'd soon be offering customers a new service called "Catch-Up," which allows subscribers to watch previously broadcast episodes of popular TV series, and "Quick Clips," which would offer video content from the web via the company's Scientific Atlanta DVRs. Industry execs say they're just scratching the surface of VOD; will the cable industry ultimately try to replace the DVR with VOD?

visit below for links
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/83634I don't think VOD will replace the DVR. "Mystro" was the only service that could replace the DVR and it was stopped because of legal threats from the broadcast industry. "Catch-Up" will never cover all TV shows to replace the DVR because of the same legal threats from the broadcast industry. Most people with DVRs would rather skip commercials using fast forward and would only use "Catch-Up" if they forgot to DVR a show or there was a problem with the DVR recording it. The courts have ruled against Cablevision's Networked DVRs, but Cablevision is in the process of appealing the ruling. If Cablevision wins the appeal, I think Networked DVRs could replace having DVRs at each customer's location. Both DVRs and VOD will continue to coexist for a long time.

archiguy

05-15-07, 04:48 PM

I don't think VOD will replace the DVR. "Mystro" was the only service that could replace the DVR and it was stopped because of legal threats from the broadcast industry. "Catch-Up" will never cover all TV shows to replace the DVR because of the same legal threats from the broadcast industry. Most people with DVRs would rather skip commercials using fast forward and would only use "Catch-Up" if they forgot to DVR a show or there was a problem with the DVR recording it. The courts have ruled against Cablevision's Networked DVRs, but Cablevision is in the process of appealing the ruling. If Cablevision wins the appeal, I think Networked DVRs could replace having DVRs at each customer's location. Both DVRs and VOD will continue to coexist for a long time.

I don't think VOD will ever replace the DVR unless it has all the functionality of the DVR, and yes, that includes full use of the FF button. Otherwise people won't buy into it. You can't give people capability, allow them to get used to it, and then take it away. And every day in the marketplace, DVR penetration grows. Soon it will hit "critical mass", where the cable companies dare not take it away.

bgooch

05-16-07, 07:58 PM

What's it worth? Time Warner customers sound off
BY JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 12:35:04 am CDT

Rudy Anderson had enough.

Frustrated with Time Warner Cable’s new program guide, he returned his digital video recorder to the cable company and dumped his digital service in favor of cheaper basic cable.

Then he bought a TiVo.

“I gave (Time Warner) until April 1 to do something,” he said. “I have since taken care of my particular situation.”

Anderson, by the way, is one of Time Warner’s customers who has received compensation.

The company credited his account $53.70 for problems relating to company-created Navigator, which replaced Passport last fall.

But no amount of money is worth continued aggravation, Anderson said.

“My thought is it will take at least a year to get Navigator to the level of Passport (Time Warner’s old guide),” Anderson said.

“If we didn’t like TiVo, I knew we could live with it for at least a year. It turns out we like it.”

Anderson was one of several digital television subscribers the Journal Star contacted to ask how Time Warner should compensate them for their Navigator woes.

Specifically, what’s all of this worth to them?

The months of rebooting boxes? The time spent driving to exchange boxes? The time spent waiting for remotes to respond? The time spent waiting on hold? The unrecorded programs?

Responses varied, but the bottom line was this: Just make the guide and converter boxes work again.

“Dump it,” said Donna Adams, who also received compensation for her troubles. “It failed. Go back. That’s all I want. I don’t care about any more compensation. It didn’t make a difference. It’s still a headache. I’m still having a problem.”

An apology or, better yet, having Time Warner admit Lincoln was a test site would go a long way as well, subscribers said.

“If they had informed us it was a beta test at the start, 90 percent of us would have understood that,” said subscriber Don Brooks, who as a retiree from a large corporation said he sympathizes with Time Warner’s situation.

“They needed to tell us we’re lucky,” he added. “That we’re the one city chosen out in the U.S. to get to be the test site for a new product that will allow for all these great enhancements in the future.”

Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable company, has been under fire locally since it dropped Passport last fall in favor of Navigator.

The company changed the guide to make it compatible with other software programs coming down the line.

The change affects 46,000 digital cable subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, including 33,200 in Lincoln. Time Warner has 110,000 cable TV subscribers in its coverage area, with 75,000 in Lincoln.

A digital subscriber pays $68.70 per month. The service includes basic cable, the digital product tier, the sports tier, Navigator and one converter box. DVR (Digital video recorder) service is an additional $5.95 per month.

The city’s Cable TV Advisory Board will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday at the County-City Building to discuss a rebate request, which it will forward in its report to the City Council as part of the city’s performance evaluation of the cable company.

The board’s two subcommittees recommended 15 percent and 50 percent per month rebates, respectively, or about $10 and $34 excluding taxes and fees.

The city can request compensation but doesn’t have the authority to force Time Warner to provide rebates to its customers.

Meanwhile, Time Warner isn’t considering a blanket rebate for its digital subscribers, said Ann Shrewsbury, public affairs director for its Nebraska division.

The company determines compensation on a case-by-case basis, she said.

For example, if a subscriber is having issues relating to a DVR, Time Warner will compensate the customers three to six months for the DVR service, Shrewsbury said.

In other cases, it’s been digital service credits or free access to premium channels.

“We want to do what is of value to the customer,” she said.

Shrewsbury urged digital subscribers who have not inquired about compensation to do so.

“If you’re having issues, we’re happy to compensate,” she said. “We want you to know your voices are heard. We do care. We’re listening to your suggestions.”

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/05/16/news/local/doc464a2f3ba9ee3337110583.prt

wraunch

05-17-07, 02:27 PM

davehancock

05-17-07, 03:09 PM

I need some help with a problem with my TWC HD-DVR, the 8300HD. I have it hooked up with HDMI cables to my Onkyo txsr604 and from that to my TV. I keep having problems when I change from something on the DVR to live tv or sometimes changing from HD to non-HD channels that I lose all audio and my receiver shows No Signal meaning that no audio is being sent to it. What can I do to stop this?This really isn't the right thread to get help like this. There are two specific SA8300 threads on the AVSForum that address problems like yours. Which one depends on the software that your system uses: With few exceptions they are:

For SARA Software (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859&page=1)

For Passport Software (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453804&page=1)

If you don't know which you have, check the first post on the SARA thread.

Which software you have depends on the particular system that you are on - that's why it is really useful if you include your location in your profile. :rolleyes:

ttexas22

05-17-07, 03:49 PM

wraunch

05-17-07, 04:00 PM

Thanks!

AndyHDTV

05-22-07, 10:46 PM

Bulldog1975

05-23-07, 08:05 AM

hey guys, we are all waiting for TWC's new "MDN" Mystro Digital Navigator to pop up.

Heres what Verizon is going to be releasing this summer.
In my opinion, it looks better that MDN.

http://verizonfios.com/img/

I agree that it looks good, however I hope you'll forgive me if I have to see it before I buy it.

There was a great deal of enthusiasm for the MDN as well, before it started getting out on the streets and the bugs started popping up. Compare the enthusiasm of the early posts to the Time Warner Cable Navigator (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=723830) thread with the feelings expressed in more recent posts of the last few months after people actually started using the product, and you'll see that at least for MDN the initial enthusiasm has generally waned.

If the Verizon product looks as good on TV as the media presentation looks on PC, there's hope, but I'm keeping my options open.

DoubleDAZ

05-23-07, 09:56 AM

Nice presentation, but a little sparce on details, like DVR capability re dual-tuners and HD capacity/expansion, though those answers are probably available somewhere. It also makes me wonder how much of this would be available if they had to support legacy equipment, the bane of cableco's everywhere. MDN will surely get better, but they definitely made a wrong turn somewhere releasing it in it's current state and I seriously doubt their reasoning. Even if it's needed for new stuff coming, it certainly could have been better tested or Lincoln could have been given a significant reduction in price to be the guinea pigs.

Crazywoody

06-05-07, 07:15 AM

The rumor is that Time Warner plans a national launch of Navigator in mid July or August.Do not know how accurate my source is but just thought i would put it out there as a heads up.My source is someone who is in Time Warner.

Crazywoody

06-08-07, 08:19 AM

Man has this thread died or what?Urge all to migrate to Navigator thread.Time Warner and Diana have abandoned us.

bgooch

06-09-07, 09:33 PM

Cable-TV Industry Tries to Shake Bad Reputation

Friday , June 08, 2007
NEW YORK — Even though U.S. cable companies have had success in winning customers with all-in-one packages of video, Internet and phone services, they still struggle with a reputation for poor customer service.

Top cable operators such as Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) are expanding their customer service operations to make common complaints -- like waiting all day for the cable guy -- a thing of the past. But analysts say it won't be easy.

Cable's service shortcomings are one of the reasons satellite television providers are adding more new customers than cable, even with cable's success in offering competitively priced combined TV, Internet and phone packages.

"Satellite leads because they place so much emphasis on customer care," said Tuna Amobi, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. Cable operators have done a much better job in recent years, but they still have a ways to go, he added.

Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, said it plans to hire nearly 6,000 new customer service staff and field technicians this year, after hiring around 6,500 in 2006.

The expansion is a drive to keep up with rapid growth. Comcast sold more than 5 million new services to customers last year and expects to sell 6.5 million in 2007.

Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, said it is also expanding its customer service, in line with a similar rate of growth in products being sold to customers.

Annual surveys by J.D. Power and Associates show satellite TV service providers DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) and EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH) have a significant lead over cable providers in overall customer satisfaction.

Improving customer service has become increasingly important for cable operators as phone rivals Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and AT&T Inc. (T) have become more aggressive in trying to win over TV customers.

AT&T's new chief executive, Randall Stephenson, said he hopes to improve service over time. "Right now the installation time line is very similar to the cable experience," he told Reuters in a recent interview. "All of our technicians are brand new hires, so they're going up the learning curve."

Publicly, cable companies say customer service has moved higher on their agenda. For example, Comcast and Time Warner Cable say they have cut things like all-day appointment windows to an average of between two and four hours.

But privately, cable operators say customer service is a difficult thing to get right because half the challenge is with perception. They say that while 99 percent of customers get serviced without any problems, it is the ones who have a bad experience who call the media or write to their congressmen.

One of the most viewed video clips on YouTube last summer was of a Comcast technician caught sleeping on a customer's couch as he waited more than an hour for his office to verify the installation.

Cable operators are emphasizing new services to help improve their image.

Comcast has introduced a service called "Dynamic Dispatch," which uses mobile devices and GPS systems to enable up-to-the-minute communications between customer centers and technicians.

"Do we want to strive to get better? Absolutely. Are we doing a lot to get better? Absolutely," said Comcast Senior Vice President of Customer Care Suzanne Keenan.

As for Time Warner Cable, it offers a Call-To-Meet service in most of its regions: A customer receives a call when a technician is en route, reducing the time customers waste waiting at home.

"I would say that over time we have continued to put increasing emphasis on customer care," said Tom Kinney, senior vice president corporate customer care at Time Warner Cable.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,279474,00.html

Crazywoody

06-28-07, 07:06 PM

Time Warner thread REST IN PEACE_Join the Navigator thread for information and conversation.

craftech

06-29-07, 10:32 AM

I would like Time Warner to cough up a few bucks and replace the cables and equipment in older areas to keep up with the increased number of customers. If it weren't that I like Road Runner so much I would get Direct TV in a heartbeat and dump TWC.

I have lived with a lousy picture for twenty years. Twice I have called customer service and gotten the run around. Both times I moved the television OUTSIDE the house onto a table in the yard connected DIRECTLY to the pole to show the service tech the lousy picture. Despite going through the motions of checking the pole both techs wrote up the service call in the way Time Warner tells them to write it up................."the problem was INSIDE the customer's house".......... despite the fact that I wouldn't let the techs inside my house because I knew that scam was "standard procedure" for cable companies. Neither of them told me that they were going to write it up that way. They both told me they couldn't find the problem. So either they or someone at the office entered it into the computer that way as follow up phone calls revealed.

As soon as a decent alternative for the internet becomes available Time Warner is history. You see, if I drop the bad cable service and just have Road Runner the price goes out of site. Monopolies are growing in the US thanks to legislation passed in the last 12 years. XM is looking to merge with Sirius by getting a waiver to the already lax FCC merger rules. In every case these monopolies argue that mergers will provide "better service" to the customers. They use their shills in the other media areas they own to sell this garbage (CNN, Time Magazine, etc in the case of TW) to the public and keep those who work against the public interest in office by manipulating the "news". Understand this:

MONOPOLIES ARE NEVER GOOD FOR THE PUBLIC.....PERIOD.

John

TruthSquad

06-29-07, 11:04 AM

craftech

06-29-07, 11:45 AM

John, In most areas there are local franchising authorities that maintain oversight of these monopolies (utilities). Sometimes these authorities are an effective place to lodge complaints about service (or lack of it).

I'd also like to point out that the quality of service of any area may differ radically from that of another. For example: heads rolled at TW in LA after a badly botched transition from Adelphia to TW.

Hasn't stopped TWC from raising the cost of the bad service on a regular basis without addressing these issues. Forgot to mention that I called a third time and asked to speak to a supervisor about the problem. Since others in my neighboorhood have all been experiencing the same problem for twenty years I said to the supervisor - "What would happen if 40 or 50 people in the neighboorhood signed a petition indicating that they all had a lousy picture? Would you begin the process of addressing whether or not the area needed and upgrade?"
His answer - "We would send out 40 or 50 separate service calls".

Obviously, they are not going to spend the money because they were granted monopoly status by a government interested in media consolidation so they can control the flow of information better. TW is one of only five corporations that are in control of the flow of misinformation to the public which explains why we are in the mess we are in worldwide. I know of no organizations in my area that can effectively take on a powerful corporation like Time Warner.

John

Satch Man

06-29-07, 02:49 PM

Here in TWC-Milwaukee,

We haven't had any major problems for several years. In the 20 years I have had cable, we had maybe 5 service calls and two of them were to replace buggy digital boxes. Only one tech seemed incompetent. I don't have Navigator, just a regular Pioneer digital box, and it has worked great for the past 5 years.

Customer Service has had longer hold times because of the gradual change-over to Navigator, which i know almost everybody hates, so I am not looking forward to that. When I did get a run around regarding a digital box's operation, I was able to get a supervisor AND a senior tech to come out to the house and they were most helpful and supportive.

Have any of you tried the call back feature if your local TWC office has that, rather than waiting on hold? Supposedly, you can keep your place in line and get a call back in approximately the same number of minutes that you would have had to wait on hold? I haven't used TWC call back service yet, but was wondering if you had? What about E-mail and on-line chat with a tech? We also have those other options here in Milwaukee.

Jack

Crazywoody

07-18-07, 08:00 AM

POOR TIME WARNER THREAD "REST IN PEACE" Anyone interested in latest Navigator news go to the NAVIGATOR avs thread.

manofice

07-18-07, 10:21 AM

I have timewarner cable and they do nothing for their current customers :/ Deal wise

Riverside_Guy

07-18-07, 04:01 PM

I have timewarner cable and they do nothing for their current customers :/ Deal wise

Not true at all! In my city, one neighborhood (borough) gets big (20%) discounts for signing up for 1 or 2 year commitments. The rest of us get the shaft, we pay full blown pricing.

Oh, that borough not only get the big discount, but they also get 4 HD channels the rest of us do NOT get.

Obviously, they give some customers far, far more value and lower cost than others in the exact same damn city. Bastards.

No surprise nobody will admit working at TWC around here...

bgooch

08-08-07, 08:43 PM

Time Warner Cable pushes back rollout of OpenTV to 2008

August 8, 2007 – Time Warner Cable has delayed the commercial rollout of OpenTV middleware in its Motorola set-top box markets to 2008, due in part to other priorities.

OpenTV CEO Alan Guggenheim confirmed the delay during the company’s second-quarter conference call, stating that the change in deployment timeline was due partly to other projects that have a higher priority for Time Warner Cable, including deployment of switched video.

“While this gives us an opportunity to deliver additional products to Time Warner, it means that the commercial launch timing will need to be pushed back to 2008,” Guggenheim stated. The executive also said that the delay will give OpenTV more deployment opportunities in international markets that use the Motorola set-top box platform.

Time Warner Cable was expected to use OpenTV’s Core 2.0 middleware to ensure legacy Motorola set-top boxes could run the operators in-house guide and navigation system. Time Warner Cable is believed to be using OpenTV’s solution to help bridge the transition as it migrates to the OpenCable platform. The operator is estimated to have deployed 3.5mn to 4mn Motorola set-top boxes.

http://www.connected-home-news.com/content/view/333/47/

bgooch

08-12-07, 09:08 PM

The New York Times
August 13, 2007
By LOUISE STORY

In a move that is certain to delight advertisers, Time Warner Cable is about to offer its customers a free recording feature for their televisions — one that will not allow them to zap through the commercials.

The service, called Look Back, will let cable customers watch certain shows later on that they missed, just the way a digital video recorder does, but without an extra monthly fee. The fast-forwarding function will be turned off, however, and consumers will be limited to watching programs later on during the day they are shown, anytime before midnight.

Time Warner Cable plans to start offering Look Back in October in South Carolina and then gradually introduce it around the country.

The service will be something of a test case both for consumers, who will have to weigh how much control they need over their television viewing and how much they are willing to pay for it, and advertising executives, who in the past refused to pay for commercials shown during time-shifted viewing because they thought most advertisements were skipped.

Time Warner Cable, which is taking a radically different approach from other companies that sell DVR services, is convinced that the interests of advertisers and consumers are more closely aligned than is commonly assumed.

“Many customers do fast-forward through commercials when given the choice, and that is an obvious and undeniable benefit of a digital video recorder,” said Peter Stern, executive vice president for new product development at Time Warner Cable. “But the digital video recorder is principally about enabling customers to watch what they want, when they want. It returns control to customers over the television schedule.”

Under pressure from advertisers, the Nielsen Company, which rates TV viewing, introduced a system this year that shows how many people were tuned in during commercials, a departure from the old measure of how many people watched the program. Confronted with Nielsen data showing that many DVR viewers do watch advertisements, most advertisers agreed this year to pay for television viewing based on how many people watch their commercials either live or on DVR within three days of the initial showing.

In essence, Look Back will provide the kind of time-shifted television viewing that has persuaded millions of Americans to pay $10 or so every month to cable companies or to TiVo. DVRs are now in about 17 percent of American households, but that figure is growing rapidly as more cable operators sell the service.

Time Warner Cable is the nation’s second-largest cable provider, behind Comcast, and — as with most cable companies — it benefits when people watch commercials, because it often sells many of the local ones.

But the company, a unit of Time Warner, has other reasons for wanting to make sure customers watch the commercials on its system. For one, Time Warner has been a leader in developing ways to deliver more interactive and customized commercials, and it is in the company’s interest to find ways to keep people watching those advertisements.

Perhaps more significant, the cable operator is part of a large media company that has long earned much of its money by selling advertisements. Time Warner includes Warner Brothers Entertainment, the producer of many television shows; AOL, the online company that aims to make most of its money selling advertisements; and Time Inc., which includes magazines like People, Time and InStyle.

The point is not lost on Time Warner Cable executives. “We have a particular sensitivity to the needs of business in every stage in the value chain, because we’re part of a diversified media company,” Mr. Stern of Time Warner Cable said.

Time Warner started down this path in late 2005, when it introduced a free feature called Start Over. Now available in six of its 23 cable markets, Start Over allows viewers to begin watching television programs from the beginning, after they have started playing. During a half-hour show, for example, viewers can start fresh anytime within 30 minutes of when it began.

Similar to Look Back, which will allow late viewing until the end of the day, the fast-forward feature is turned off in Start Over. Time Warner plans to introduce Start Over in eight more of its markets by March.

Another benefit of both free services is that neither Start Over nor Look Back requires viewers to remember to record programs. But unlike DVR services, Look Back will not let people keep a library of older recorded programs. Time Warner does not pay networks for the content — but because it blocks the fast-forward feature, networks are assured that their advertisements are not being skipped.

Time Warner is also hoping to persuade Nielsen that the shows viewed on Start Over and Look Back should be counted as live viewing, rather than delayed viewing, because the ads cannot be skipped.

Time Warner has negotiated deals with TV networks and program producers to store the shows on its own servers. For Start Over, the cable company has deals with every major network except CBS, Mr. Stern said. Time Warner is negotiating deals for Look Back. MTV Networks, which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, has agreed to have its programs become part of Look Back, an MTV Networks spokesman confirmed.

Other cable companies, which do not have the same goals as Time Warner, are not focusing on blocking fast-forwarding. Comcast, for example, offers 9,300 programs through video-on-demand, where many of the programs are free and allow fast-forwarding through commercials.

Comcast is planning to offer a Start Over tool similar to Time Warner’s, but has not decided whether to disable fast-forwarding, said Derek Harrar, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager of video services.

Charter, another cable operator, announced a video-on-demand deal this spring with ABC, where fast-forwarding is turned off for several of the programs.

If more cable operators begin providing time-shifted television watching at no cost, it will be hard to predict whether sales of DVRs and DVR subscription services will taper off. TiVo, whose surveys have routinely showed that viewers value time-shifting more than fast-forwarding, is aware of this potential threat and has begun offering new services, like downloads and searches of Internet content.

TiVo has also built a business — sold on a subscription basis to companies in the media industry — of monitoring which advertisements people tend to skip and which they seem to like. “People are voting with their remotes on what they do want to watch or what they don’t want to watch,” said Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of audience research and management at TiVo.

Time Warner is aware that it may lose some DVR subscribers as its Start Over and Look Back features become more widespread, Mr. Stern said. But it believes it can make more money in the long run by providing free time-shifting, accompanied by ads.

“People are used to advertising. A good number of people like the advertising,” said Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the president of Time Warner Inc. at a cable industry conference in late July. “Our research and our in-market tests show people would rather have free everything you want, when you want.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/business/media/13adcol.html?_r=5&oref=login&ref=business&pagewanted=print

davehancock

08-12-07, 10:42 PM

We've had "Start-Over" for about a year - big yawn!

1) Only available on a limited number of channels.
2) Not offered on any of the HD channels.

Don't see where "Look Back" will be much different.

Bulldog1975

08-13-07, 06:28 AM

“People are used to advertising. A good number of people like the advertising,” said Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the president of Time Warner Inc. at a cable industry conference in late July.

Of course I like the advertising. That's the only time that I get to go to the bathroom!

:rolleyes:

manofice

08-13-07, 05:27 PM

I'm so pissed at TWC. Of course they jump the price after 6 months for $44 for roadrunner and won't even budge on my price! It's a rip off...service goes out all the time. And I tell them this stuff and the reps never even care...pfff

bgooch

08-13-07, 09:09 PM

Cable companies may hate TiVo, but at least they've come to accept that digital-video recorders are here to stay. Or have they? Time Warner Cable is introducing a DVR-like service called Look Back that lets viewers time-shift shows but doesn't let them fast-forward through the ads. (Time Warner Cable is a sister company of my employer, Time Inc.).

From a viewing-experience point of view, Look Back is a step backwards compared to a full-throttled DVR like TiVo. You can only watch shows from earlier the same day and you are forced to watch the ads. The whole point of DVRs is that they allow you to watch shows when you want to watch them, which might include catching up on a whole week's worth of The Daily Show at 3 AM on a Saturday. Being limited to one day's worth of TV sort of defeats the purpose.

And don't underestimate the appeal of being able to skip through the ads. It makes the TV-viewing experience both more enjoyable and more efficient (you can watch more actual TV when you strip out the ads).

So what are the folks at Time Warner Cable smoking? They are betting that people will put up with their hobbled, networked version of a DVR because it will be free. (TiVo, in contrast, charges an extra $13 to $17 a month for its service). It's amazing what people will put up with if they think they are getting something for free.

But this is a stop-gap measure at best. If the cable companies really want to counter the threat of TiVo, they are going to have to come up with a service that is better than TiVo. Not one that is worse, but free.

Posted by Erick Schonfeld on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 10:00 AM

Comments

Regarding your statement, "If the cable companies really want to counter the threat of TiVo, they are going to have to come up with a service that is better than TiVo...Not one that is worse, but free", if a significant portion of TiVo's customers or prospective customers value $180 (a one year subscription for Tivo based on your numbers) more so than having to watch commercials, then this Time Warner service will help TV networks maintain advertising rates (by stemming any decline). In turn, TW will boost the value of their cable system to these television networks, and thus TW will be be in a better position to sustain or increase their own rates charged to the networks. Because TiVo's real threat to TW is declining revenues brought on by the fall of ad revenue at the TV network level, this move can help counter the threat of TiVo without having to displace TiVo entirely.

http://blogs.business2.com/business2blog/2007/08/time-warner-cab.html

optivity

08-14-07, 07:53 AM

If the cable companies really want to counter the threat of TiVo, they are going to have to come up with a service that is better than TiVo.They already have & it's called: Switched Digital Video (a.k.a. SDV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched_video)), which is the only way Time Warner can manage its bandwidth to provide additional HD programming. Once fully implemented, the TiVo S3 & HD will be unable to record any channel being delivered via SDV.

archiguy

08-14-07, 08:33 AM

Start Over, Look Back, whatever. :rolleyes:

These "services" have nothing to offer above and beyond the now-ubiquitous DVR besides being "free". It will appeal only to those so cheap that they feel the $14/mo or so DVR rental/guide fee is unaffordable. That type of person is probably not going to be subscribing to the higher-profit packages/bundles anyway; those bigger-spending folks have gotten used to the DVR and they'll only get them out of circulation by prying them out of our cold, dead fingers.

So, if "exciting new services" like Start Over and Look Back can appease the Hollywood Studio Monster and keep the current ad-supported network model alive, then I'm fine with it. Just don't even think about taking away my full-featured (yes, that includes a working FF button), dual tuner HD-DVR. They already got rid of the elegant software-based 30 second skip feature. That's a compromise we can all live with, but it better stop there.

MordredKLB

08-14-07, 06:56 PM

They already have & it's called: Switched Digital Video (a.k.a. SDV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched_video)), which is the only way Time Warner can manage its bandwidth to provide additional HD programming. Once fully implemented, the TiVo S3 & HD will be unable to record any channel being delivered via SDV.I don't understand this statement at all. Time Warner implemented Switched Digital Video on some (west coast feeds usually) of their premium channels here in Texas. I know this because I was able to tune to some channels I didn't actually purchase. When I asked the installer about this he said it was because someone else in the neighborhood did have them and if they had tuned them in, I'd be able to watch them too.

I have no idea why you think this feature would disable S3 or HD Tivos though. I don't know if Cable card allows two way communication, but even if it doesn't shouldn't the TiVo accept the HD video from the cable box?

davehancock

08-14-07, 08:13 PM

I have no idea why you think this feature would disable S3 or HD Tivos though. I don't know if Cable card allows two way communication, but even if it doesn't shouldn't the TiVo accept the HD video from the cable box?First, ALL CableCards ALWAYS "allowed two way communication" - but they are only a security device and the job of 2-way communication rests with the hardware (be it a TiVo S3, or a TV).

Now the "problem" with any TiVo (or most any CableCard host not provided by the cable company) is that it cannot communicate back with the cable network. SDV depends on that communication - so SDV won't work with the current TiVos or most any other other CableCard device.

But stay tuned, that situation will be changing (S4 TiVo anyone?)

Crazywoody

08-21-07, 07:43 AM

STARTOVER YAWNNN.Had it about a year.It's only on a few select channels.Nice to have but would not give up my 8300 dvr for it.TWC trying to launch poor mans dvr service with no features.

aparis99

08-26-07, 06:14 PM

...but despite the lack of bandwidth...

Explain that!

Explain that!

bgooch

08-27-07, 10:58 PM

NCTA Opens Window to Switched Channels

(Multichannel News) _ Cable Offers to Develop 'Tuning Resolver' for CE Devices to Receive Switched Linear Channels

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, while maintaining that the industry's OpenCable Platform technology is the "optimal path" for accessing two-way cable services, has offered to develop a small "tuning resolver" to allow consumer-electronics devices to receive switched linear channels, the group said in a filing Friday with the Federal Communications Commission.

The NCTA said cable has worked with individual consumer-electronics makers ' it cited TiVo ' to develop a solution that can provide two-way switched digital video channels to unidirectional digital cable products. This tuning resolver option requires a firmware update and a Universal Serial Bus 2.0 device.

The tuning resolver, the NCTA said, is "for CE manufacturers who believe that all [unidirectional digital cable products] need for success as a 'good' product is the ability to receive 'switched' linear cable channels."

The NCTA's proposal comes after Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) voiced concern in May that switched digital video rollouts would limit the usefulness of third-party set-tops, like TiVo's digital video rec http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6441564.htmlorders.

Besides OpenCable and the switched-channel resolver, the NCTA had a third suggestion: a standard for interactive services that would work across all multichannel video providers -- not just cable, but also on satellite and telephone companies' networks. "The cable industry could work on such a solution should the commission bring those networks into meaningful regulation," the association said.

But the NCTA reiterated that the OpenCable platform http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6441569.html is its preferred standard for set-top boxes, TVs and other digital devices to access video-on-demand, electronic program guides, switched digital video or other services.

The Consumer Electronics Association has already rejected the OpenCable option as unduly expensive and cumbersome to develop into products http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6390288.html. Instead, the CEA wants cable to provide a way for devices to support "basic" interactive services, including VOD, SDV, EPGs and pay-per-view, in the way that low-end digital cable set-top boxes do today.

In its comments to the FCC Friday, the NCTA opposed the CEA's proposal, saying it would "strip away the most exciting interactive services and features that distinguishes [sic] cable from its competitors."

Some consumer-electronics companies have been receptive to OpenCable, most notably early licensees LG Electronics, Panasonic and Samsung Electronics.

Most recently, Intel in June said it would license the OpenCable Platform http://www.opencable.com/ocap -- previously called the OpenCable Application Platform, or OCAP -- for future system-on-a-chip products. As part of that announcement, Comcast said it would work with Intel to bring an OCAP-enabled set-top box to market in the next two years http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6458113.html.
http://ibc.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=175784

purpleosmosis

09-02-07, 05:02 PM

Where do I return the jar of Vaseline?

DVRWOODY

09-05-07, 03:18 PM

Anyone have any idea when Navigator will hit SARA systems?

davehancock

09-05-07, 05:56 PM

Anyone have any idea when Navigator will hit SARA systems?You were the only one (at least Crazywoody was) that had any idea.

DVRWOODY

09-05-07, 10:05 PM

Well my source has dried up since my last info.My Passport info was dead on but when it comes to SARA things have gotton quite murky.I would not be suprised to see it start soon but my gut tells me look out for first quarter of next year.Was only wondering if anyone had any current info since my source dried up.TWC might be just as confused about sara as we are.

davehancock

09-05-07, 10:13 PM

Well, My guess is that it will be quite some time (year of so). SARA does everything that TW wants it to (SDV, CallerID, etc.) and apparently it does not cost them much (if they keep buying SA equipment). At some point, they MAY get it (Navigator) working alright - but so far we haven't seen encouraging things from Lincoln and now Passport customers who are getting CableCard boxes.

PS I've heard on some local threads that some local TW managers are saying 1st Qtr next year, but I frankly have my doubts.

DVRWOODY

09-06-07, 09:41 AM

Dave unless they get Navigator fixed I hope you are right.Maybe we will get to see the new search engine for sara i heard they were working on.Fingers crossed.

Riverside_Guy

09-06-07, 01:07 PM

Anyone have any idea when Navigator will hit SARA systems?

After it's fully rolled out in Passport areas.

DVRWOODY

09-07-07, 11:26 AM

It seems NAVIGATOR despite all the fixes is not yet ready for prime time.

DVRWOODY

09-18-07, 07:09 AM

Understand a :new: version of Navigator being prepped for launch to sara customers first quarter of next year.

Satch Man

09-23-07, 10:34 PM

I have a question on ordering TWC PPV:

I have a new DVR with the Passport IPG. When ordering a PPV Special Event through the IPG, what are the prompt screens when selecting a PPV event and "Buy and Record this Show" is selected? (Note that I do NOT have the Parental Control Purchase Pin or Blocking Pin enabled?)

Jack

bgooch

12-07-07, 09:02 AM

December 07, 2007

Navigator

It's been a rough year for customers of Time Warner Cable, Kansas City's leading cable provider and possibly the leader in TV-related headaches. Time Warner would like to apologize for that, and we would like to accept its apology -- mostly, though, we hope it's learned its lesson.

The trouble started in January, when Time Warner started “upgrading” people's set-top boxes with new software to control the on-screen guide, DVR recording and other features. And then there was the ongoing soap opera with the NFL Network, which wasn't Time Warner's fault (in my opinion) but still resulted in a lot of angry customers wondering why they couldn't get the Packers-Cowboys game Nov. 29. In between, a channel-changing snafu irked some fans of A&E (the channel, not the newspaper section).

Above all, though, there was the Navigator debacle. In January I wrote that Time Warner was rolling out a new menuing system for its cable boxes. I quoted a local spokesperson who said Navigator had been developed “so we can be more responsive to our customers.” Famous last words. Since then, customers have flooded Time Warner's help lines, and my mailbox, with horror stories of sitting down to watch a recorded show, only to discover their DVRs had been wiped clean by the new software. Others were put off by the new menuing system, or driven mad by the three-second response times each time they pressed a button on their remotes, or felt like they were in a car with bad brakes each time they tried to fast-forward through a show ... the list went on.

“I have never seen my wife so frustrated with anything, (and) that is an area where she usually counsels me in patience,” wrote Chad Colgan of Lenexa. On Aug. 28, Time Warner switched his HD-DVR to Navigator, erasing the entire fourth season of “Battlestar Galactica,” which they were saving up for one of those viewing marathons that DVR users look forward to.

Two months later, when I checked in again with the Colgans, they were still having trouble. “When the DVR works we don't have many complaints,” said Colgan, “but the 50% of the time it hangs or freezes, like a slow computer, you want to yank it out of the wall.” Not only is he considering a switch to Everest, so is his brother-in-law. His cable hasn't been upgraded yet but is spooked by Colgan's tales of woe.

That's the kind of word-of-mouth damage Navigator can do to Time Warner's business, and not just in Kansas City. Its customers in Lincoln, Neb., also got “upgraded” this year, and the ensuing debacle led the city council there to pass a resolution calling for an investigation. The city's cable advisory board concluded that Time Warner had “beta-tested” Navigator on the unsuspecting people of Lincoln. (The AVS Forum's Navigator complaint thread scores high in Google search.)

I could go on: Jim Savage, HD-DVR customer, reports that “Navigator still gives me headaches as it is still incredibly slow, poor resolution, among other issues,” months after it was installed. Rebecca Tasler: “We had been so dissatisfied with the new Navigator software that my husband talked a tech into reinstalling the old Passport software system.” After that, recorded shows looked “horrible,” were heavily pixellated — what a surprise, my Passport-enabled box is suddenly doing the same thing. So now it’s not just Navigator.

Scott Simerly, who called my attention to the troubles in Nebraska, called Navigator’s interface “downright prehistoric. I fail to see any improvements in the functionality and the keyword search is horrible in comparison to the old system (Passport).”

And yet, the vast majority of people reading this are, according to Time Warner, having no problems at all. That's because they are using set-top boxes that have been tested with Navigator and work fine. The problem, says Damon Shelby Porter of Time Warner Cable Kansas City, is that there are some four dozen different cable box models in use around the area. And while Porter said Navigator has behaved well with “97 percent” of them, getting the software to behave with them all has been a bear.

“It was tested by our lab, it was tested by our employees in their homes but -- mea culpa -- it's really taken much longer for us to iron out the problems than we had hoped,” Porter said. “We're very frustrated.”

Not as frustrated as I was when I had to return my Navigatored HD-DVR to Time Warner for a replacement. To my relief, the new DVR hasn't been upgraded, because it's a different model and Time Warner has slowed the rollout of Navigator.

There was also that matter of Time Warner moving A&E to Channel 35 without telling anyone (although technically it did warn those of you who read the legal notices in the business section). Porter said a new process was put in place so future channel changes get better publicity.

And another thing — at some point, TWCKC pulled the plug on Turner Classic Movies' secondary audio (or SAP) channel. Time Warner hadn't gotten back to me by the time I filed this report, but a reader and I each independently confirmed you can't get the audio description of many TCM films offered on the SAP channel for viewers with visual disabilities. That feature should be available to everyone with cable, set-top box or not, and needs to be restored pronto.

Channels changing: On Jan. 1 Court TV, best known for launching Nancy Grace's career and for its gavel-to-gavel coverage of headline-grabbing trials, will become truTV (small “t”). Trials will still air during the day, but the channel's new owners -- what do you know, Time Warner again! -- will expand the evening lineup to include other types of mayhem besides criminal. Among its new series are “Sky Racers,” which will follow TV news choppers; and “One False Move,” focusing on people whose jobs or adventures take them to the edge of death.

Discovery is also rebooting two of its digital-tier channels in January. Discovery Times, which was launched in 2003 as a joint venture with the New York Times, petered out after three years. It's been quietly rebuilt around in-depth documentaries, and now the channel will be known as Investigation Discovery.

Planet Green is the new name of Discovery Home & Leisure, focusing on eco-friendly programming. You may have already heard of one program it's launching in 2008, “Greensburg Eco-Town,” which will document efforts in tornado-devastated Greensburg, Kan., to rebuild using environmentally friendly materials.

Meanwhile, another year has passed without a single international news channel being added to Time Warner's -- or Comcast's, or Everest's -- digital tiers. Al Jazeera, BBC World and France 24 are all there for the taking. This lack of public responsibility in a post-9/11 era is disheartening.

Posted by Aaron Barnhart on December 07, 2007 at 07:12 AM in TV Barn
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2007/12/this-is-an-upgr.html