Got a 12:15 call from Charter telling me they'd be here around 1pm for an 8-noon install window. 1:15 and they still aren't here. Am I the only one who has trouble like this with Charter? They have been late for at least 2 other appointments and no-showed on one. Incredible.

Originally posted by bluedevil23
Got a 12:15 call from Charter telling me they'd be here around 1pm for an 8-noon install window. 1:15 and they still aren't here. Am I the only one who has trouble like this with Charter? They have been late for at least 2 other appointments and no-showed on one. Incredible.

Call and complain that you had to take extra time off from work, and you should get the $20 no show/late credit.

Tim

bluedevil,

The appointments issue is one of the leading complaints by cable television customers across the country. It's not just Charter, and to be fair, it's difficult to predict exactly how long it is going to take to resolve all of the service issues scheduled during the course of a day, so appointments can definitely be a hit-and-miss thing.

Of course, there's no excuse for a no-show, at least not without calling you and offering you some sort of apology/discount/freebie.

FWIW, when I lived in NYC, Time-Warner had an ongoing promotion that if they missed an appointment, you received a full credit for a month of service. Not surprisingly, TW improved its on-time performance massively as a result.

Honestly, I have had this issue with the majority of service people that I have made appointments with in the past: Charter, SBC, Dishnet, Water Co., etc etc.... Generally if the appointment was for 8am-Noon, I would usually get a call at 12:15 saying they would be late, or something similar.

I wouldnt make this a 'cable only' issue, because in my experience it is not.

My appointment today was also scheduled between 8am-noon, went home for lunch around 11:45 figuring the guy wouldn't show until noon or so, wife informed me that he did call and would be there around 12:30, wife called and said he showed about 1:20pm and is still there trying to get the box up and running. She hasn't called back yet so maybe everything is going smoothly. When they came to install the HD receiver she called me and I had to try a walk the install guy thru the process of setting up the receiver etc.....When I got home the box was set to 480i and no sound, he had the box set wrong and my optical cable was plugged into one of the analog audio connections.

Well the "2" installers are still there, the original installer had to pick up another guy because he had never installed a Moxi and was given a paper explaining how to install it just today. The gentleman he picked up had only installed one and that was yesterday. My wife said both of them commented on how none of the installers that they know have had any training on how to install and set up the Moxi box, they were just given a sheet of paper. I have a strange feeling that I won't have the box working today. So if any of you out there are still waiting for your installer today this should explain why they are running so late.

3rd post in a row, well I just got off the phone AGAIN! with my wife. I finally told her to tell them if they can leave the box they can leave and I would try to figure it out over the weekend. The problem as it stands is there is no picture or sound, without having seen there work once the unit is connected correctly and if the problem still exists do I need to go into a service menu for the Moxi and make some changes to the settings? If so how do I get to the menu? Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

With my install, we got the menu, etc immediately. They had to 'send a hit' to my box to get the channel list to pop up.

I suspect if they are not getting any video/audio that the unit is NOT connected properly yet.

Good luck

One thing to make sure of is that the box is hooked up to an input that accepts 480i. This is because the moxi box defaults to 480i when it is first plugged in. I know on my TV (Samsung DLP) there is no one input that accepts 480i AND hi-def.

So you've either got to hook it up to the 480i input, change the settings via the moxi menu to 1080i, and then quickly hook it up to the 1080i input OR, you're supposed to be able to press the OK button and the Live TV button simultaneously on the box, and it will then show the output resolution on the LED display on the front of the box which you can then cycle through using the channel up/down buttons. I couldn't get this to work, so I used the "quick switch" option.

As for you setting it up yourself, good luck. I know when my installer was out (and he was very knowledgable about the box), he had to call in the DOCSIS number on the box and they then sent an update that loaded up the channel guide, etc.

Good Luck!

How quick was the channel guide update? The installers just left here about 15 minutes ago and I still have no guide info. I'm also getting the sports tier, which I don't subscibe to, and I'm not getting the HD tier, which I do. The installers said it was the first DVR box that they've installed so I guess the city installs have just started.

I'm leaving in an hour or so to head down to Busch Stadium to attempt to get World Series tickets so I guess I'll just let this thing sit and see if anything happens while I'm gone. If not, I guess Charter will be getting a call tomorrow.

Well they supposedly did do the download and they saw it download, the clock is working, I have to assume the 480i setting might be the problem, the installers had no clue as to a set up guide for the box. Thanks for the info and quick response.

When he first plugged in my box, I got every channel too, with no guide data. He then called in the DOCSIS number from my box, and they sent a "hit" that updated the guide data and properly displayed my channels. This took maybe five minutes.

Bob,
Sorry to report that my LG 3510A box has gone back to BB. I need the money for other things right now. I might pop for another one down the road, or just buy the Zenith 318 dvd player, which does upconvert through the component outputs with no problems. I remember the LG's program guide to be much quicker and a bit more detailed than the one in my Sammy T165. However, some channels still offered only a generic "dtv program" designation.

Request: whoever gets called next for their Charter Moxi install, could you get a call back number for Marty, or a working email address, and PM me? Thanks.

It's good that the people who are running Charter are there instead of being responsible for something really important...like air traffic control, a hospital emergency room or the St. Louis Cardinals.

The floor is now accepting nominations for the nine other slots on this list... :D

Originally posted by DroptheRemote
MSloss,

I think the DirecTV rep you spoke with must have been a Charter refugee... :D

Seriously, I had the same issue with the x721 message, but I called DirecTV and explained that I was in a FOX owned & operated market and that channel 88 should have been turned on for me automatically.

It took the better part of 15 minutes on the phone while the CSR checked with his supervisor, but it was ultimately turned on just before the game.

What I found interesting is that AFTER the game, the channel was available but instead of showing whatever was being broadcast by the NY FOX station, DirecTV was showing the blue and white DirecTV logo slide. This makes me think that channel 88 will be available ONLY when there' s something shown in HD.

That seems a strange way to approach this, but maybe it was just a one-off occurrence.

Edit: My DirecTV receiver is the DTC-100. I didn't notice any lip-sync problems with Channel 88, and by and large there wasn't any major picture quality difference between it and OTA.

OK, I'm still trying to figure out if this a hardware or account issue.

Did any HD Tivo owner get 88 last night? The CSR sent a reset several times with no luck.

Mike

Originally posted by DroptheRemote
It's good that the people who are running Charter are there instead of being responsible for something really important...like air traffic control, a hospital emergency room or the St. Louis Cardinals.

The floor is now accepting nominations for the nine other slots on this list... :D

9) They don't have a problem sending your bill out on time?

8) They don't waste their employees valuable time with boring meetings about product offerings, rollout dates, and troubleshooting of equipment

wilkemp,

I don't think your 9) qualifies (that's for another list). However, I think we can rework 8) as follows:

"It's a GREAT place to work! The managers there don't waste an employee's valuable time with boring meetings about product offerings, rollout dates or how to troubleshoot equipment."

Works for me

Not sure if this was already posted or if it's in the instruction manual, butI was playing around with my new box today and found a way to throw different kinds of food at the screen. If you push "back, next, back, next, back, next" in succession pretty fast you'll get a piece of food in the center of your screen. You can then move it around, change the food and then throw it at the screen and it "splats." Clear will clear the screen of your mess.

You sure it wasnt your wife trying to get you to move out of the way?

Originally posted by Dyaus
Not sure if this was already posted or if it's in the instruction manual, butI was playing around with my new box today and found a way to throw different kinds of food at the screen. If you push "back, next, back, next, back, next" in succession pretty fast you'll get a piece of food in the center of your screen. You can then move it around, change the food and then throw it at the screen and it "splats." Clear will clear the screen of your mess.

I just tried it... That's hilarious!!! I think you have to be in the Moxi menu when you start the "back, next, etc." routine. Then you hit next and back to cycle through the food choices (pie, tomato, strawberry, grapefruit, egg) and OK to throw. That may really come in handy today when Clemens is on the mound.:D

Originally posted by jedi35
Request: whoever gets called next for their Charter Moxi install, could you get a call back number for Marty, or a working email address, and PM me? Thanks.

I thought others may be able to use this as well. I got Marty's extension when they called to do my install a month ago. It is ext# 31188

Originally posted by wilkemp
he had the box set wrong and my optical cable was plugged into one of the analog audio connections.

You have got to be kidding !

I hope he at least plugged it into the one marked L (for light) :)
Wasn't the tosslink connector damaged ?

FWIW I can't imagine why, unless it's a new service install where running new cable is required, a tech is required to install a cable converter. Anyone who can hook up their TV or VCR could accomplish this given simple instructions.

The telco's don't roll trucks on DSL installations anymore. You get your router and a sack of filters in the mail, plug it in, and get phone assistance if you run into trouble.

I think it's more of a $$ grab.

Anybody else noticing some ocassional switching of some sort during the game play of today's Card's game? I'm watching OTA.

I finally am getting 88 after talking with the 3rd CSR at DirecTV. Turns out you have to be subscribed to Fox to get it (no cost, they just have to add it). Funny the first 2 people coudn't get that figured out! Anyway, that's what you need to tell them if you are getting the 721 message.

Mike

I just noticed I'm getting ch 88 and I didn't even have to call :)

Originally posted by Kurt K
Anybody else noticing some ocassional switching of some sort during the game play of today's Card's game? I'm watching OTA.

Yes, I keep seeing some strange dropout. It happens on both OTA (Fox local) and D* 88 (Fox East) , so it must a problem with Fox network.

I am one of the [probably clueless] people with Charter. We have every premium channel, HDTV service, Moxi box, broadband and 2 lines of telephony thru Charter.

We have been on the 'big value pack' for TV/Broadband which was a basic price of $89.99 plus some little prices here or there.

Today I get my bill and its gone up over $40. Basically I am now being charged $10 for PVR service [which i was aware of] and now the
'big value pack' has omitted broadband, making broadband its own single price. These two lines now add up to over $40 more than my previous 6 months of bills.

I call Charter to discuss and after some fact finding, the csr informs me that adding PVR service has kicked me out of my 'pricing tier'. 1) it would have been nice that they informed me of this when I called up and added PVR. 2) Charter is going penalize people who have every stinking service they offer?? You would think they would actually reward good customers.

I am currently on-hold attempting to get this resolved to my satisfaction. I will edit this post when I know more, but the point is:

If you added PVR Service....CHECK YOUR BILL!!! There's a good chance they're trying to milk more $$ out of you.

Disgruntled,
Bruce


EDIT-

I was talking with a csr from the regional office in Orlando. She put me on hold and spoke with the local office. After awhile she came back on and said "i should be put back in the special pricing that I had before. She stated to call back on Monday to check out my current billing.

I can hear Doug starting to type already.... This crap is ridiculous. All these double-secret billing tiers. With satellite it seems like the price you see is the price you get. Not the case with cable. I make it a habit to call every 3 months or so to see what new pricing I can have myself put in. Kinda goofy that I have to waste my time doing it.

Honestly, I would change in a second, but I do actually pay less for Charter than I would with Satellite/SBC. Also my wife loves VideoOnDemand and I enjoy the HD recording with Moxi. I admit that sometime I will eventually return to a pretty lil' dish on my roof, but just not sure I can make the pricing currently work. However this b.s. always pushes me towards that end.

Go ahead Doug, rip away.... ;)

Bruce,

I actually started to tee this sucker up, but decided it was too easy. So instead of taking shots, I'll break it down from a business case.

My take is that the basic problem is that Charter has its back up against the wall financially. They're trying to wring everything they can out of the business before they lose control -- either as a result of being acquired, a major divestiture of regional cable systems or (worst case) bankruptcy.

As a result, the view of current management is that customers are nothing more than assets to be milked. I don't think pricing policies like the one you've been victimized by are accidental -- Charter will make exceptions when you squeal, but they're proactively counting on x% of their customers to be blissfully ignorant of what they're paying. Cash flow is more important than anything else (such as treating customers with integrity), because their credit rating is sliding off the cliff.

I expect this sort of behavior will continue until one of the three end-games plays out.

Despite the venom I've directed toward Charter over the past couple of years, I've consistently hoped they'd get their act together for the sake of long-term competitive balance. But I've given up on that line of thinking. To me, Charter's a completely lost cause, and the best to hope for is that a more enlightened (relatively speaking) cable company comes in to sweep up the crumbs.

I think either Time Warner Cable or Comcast would be no-brainer upgrades.

This DVR box is lovely. I reset it after the guide didn't come up after the "couple hours" the tech suggested and now get a "We're sorry, there's a problem with your account status. Please call Customer Service for help." message on my tv. Called Charter last night and the two guys I talked to were absoultely cluess on the DVR (kinda expected it since it was rather late on a Friday night) but the one took down everything and sent it on to another department that would "fix it tomorrow". Come home from working all day today to no change. Time to call them back. ::grumble::

Originally posted by dwette
Yes, I keep seeing some strange dropout. It happens on both OTA (Fox local) and D* 88 (Fox East) , so it must a problem with Fox network.

I see it too OTA. Just got my first HDTV and was hoping the problem wasn't on my end. It seems to occur when switching cameras. Boy, I'm loving this. It sure beats camping out in the cold waiting for seats.

Has anyone with DTV been able to get the ok for the east or west cost feeds of the majors through DTV? (NBC, CBS,etc HD feeds)?

Originally posted by bluedevil23
This DVR box is lovely. I reset it after the guide didn't come up after the "couple hours" the tech suggested and now get a "We're sorry, there's a problem with your account status. Please call Customer Service for help." message on my tv. Called Charter last night and the two guys I talked to were absoultely cluess on the DVR (kinda expected it since it was rather late on a Friday night) but the one took down everything and sent it on to another department that would "fix it tomorrow". Come home from working all day today to no change. Time to call them back. ::grumble::

If you have any problems, I'd suggest going through the automated number punches to get to the internet side...they handle all the HD and DVR problems.

Originally posted by hall316
Has anyone with DTV been able to get the ok for the east or west cost feeds of the majors through DTV? (NBC, CBS,etc HD feeds)?

Here in the St. Louis area, unless you live REALLY far out, you'll only be eligible for the Fox HD feed when it becomes available.

The other distant HD networks would require waivers, which won't be easy to get...

KMOV forgot to flip the switch for the Chiefs game in HD today. Can someone call or post the number?

I'm calling..

314-444-6333

The news guy said they are having signal problems in NY with the HD feed.

Keep calling!!!!!!!!

Funny how the other markets are getting it.

Originally posted by wmschultz
The news guy said they are having signal problems in NY with the HD feed.

Keep calling!!!!!!!!

I just made my call :)

I called and spoke with a photographer that answered - he said he didn't know of any problems and wouldn't know how to fix the issue (and no station engineers were there today). This happens all the time with KMOV during their football broadcasts and it's very frustrating. I don't understand why they feel the need to stretch the picture when the program isn't in HD - and then they consistently have problems switching to HD when a program is actually in HD. Has anybody else noticed this and/or talked to someone at the station as to why they do this?

Originally posted by Robert Simandl
Here in the St. Louis area, unless you live REALLY far out, you'll only be eligible for the Fox HD feed when it becomes available.

The other distant HD networks would require waivers, which won't be easy to get...

When the CSR added FOX for me to get 88, he asked if I wanted to have them apply for waivers to get NBC and CBS HD. I said go ahead and try.... nothing to lose.

Mike

Since it is impossible to do a search for "5C" due to search limitations and "Charter AND 5C" give no results, can someone from the local group do me a favor and tell me if any of the HD channels are unencrypted before I bother with upgrade hassle from W2K to WXP for firewire capture? I use MyHD for OTA now so capturing cable channels (especially HDNet) would be the only reason for me to hang on to this box.

Thnks,
J

Hey Mike,

I asked KMOV for a waiver back in 1998 for the distant analog signal. They denied it. :(

What was really hilarious was, at the same time, I asked KTVI (Fox owned and operated) for a waiver (to get WNYW, another Fox owned and operated station). They also denied it!

Never tried NBC. Let us know if you get it!

For two weekends in a row I have lost my HD channels on the Charter MOXI box. Had to call tech. service and they had me go through the routine of unplug the box and replugging it. Tonight when I got home the Fox HD channel was gone but the rest of them were there. After a few minutes the Fox HD channel was back. Anyone else having problems? The tech. told me on Saturday that if I lost the channels again I should call them. He thinks it is the box. So I will be calling on Monday.

I have not had any issues with my Moxi, so it just might be the box...

On Saturday I made a slight change to my cable service, and, as usual, asked about future HD channels. The lady said "were getting abc and discovery". I asked, "when"? She put me on hold to "ask someone", than came back and said, "next month".

I'm assuming this won't happen, and its just more mis-information.

Please don't kill me, I'm just passing on the message.

Thanks for the help with the Moxi setup, the installers did have it connected correctly although they had both the digital audio and the analog audio hooked up, major echo. I just held down the OK and live tv buttons on the box and then SD showed on the display panel, used the channel button to toggle to 1080 and everything worked fine.

I really like the menu, sometimes it reacts a little slow but overall not a problem, occasionally though the menu gets screwed up and the listing repeat themselves or it shows programming for the previous hour but that is easily fixed. Also lose sound, but I just turn the my receiver off and on and it comes back. SD channels are worse than the HD box but not terrible, I do have a 27" TV so that probably helps. Games section is neat, VOD started working this morning which was great, and the DVR functionality is awesome.

Side note, the installer left a couple of messages for me over the weekend he was curious to know if I had got the box working and to let him know how I did it, only if Charter had that kind of customer service.

Oby, now look what you have started;)

Games section is neat, VOD started working this morning which was great, and the DVR functionality is awesome.

VOD is working? good news.

Quick question: Is VOD incorporated in the moxi menu? Or is it just a thing where you go to channel 999?

Maybe Jim can let us know if there's any realistic prospect of KDNL being added to Charter "next month."

It seems that based on wilkemp's experience that Charter takes customer service quite literally -- as in, "customer service thyself."

To be fair, at least the installer stepped out of the way when he couldn't get this right and cared enough to find out how to handle that situation in the future. Not exactly a gold star, but definitely commendable.

Did anyone watch ER on Thursday night? I watched it on the HD TiVo last night, and it looked really, really grainy. At least the beginning was. I was pretty tired last night, so I don't actually remember if the PQ improved or if I just got used to it.

Craig

VOD is on the Moxi menu, works great.

Originally posted by wilkemp
VOD is on the Moxi menu, works great.

Do you mean that VOD is a separate selection like Kids, Sports, Movies are?

I just checked and I still don't have anything. I also went to channel 999 and got the "this is a subscription service blah blah" message. Maybe the upgrade hasnt been sent to my box yet.

Yes, the listing says On Demand, then after the selections show up you get your choices of movies, HBO-Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, NFL network and a new one on the presidential debates where you could watch 2-3-4 and the other choices that were there on the old HD box. When I got the box Friday I had the On Demand category but when highlighted I got nothing. Last nite when I went to On Demand the additional menu popped up I could go to all the choices and see listings of movies etc but when I tried to view I either got the error message of server lost or not a subscriber. This morning On Demand worked, so they are probably sending the software updates, maybe you should try a reboot of the box.

bl738,
Thanks for Marty's ext. number.

BPGuy,
I believe that Charter is not encrypting the firewire output, as I have been able to record all the hd channels with no problems on my JVC 30K dvhs deck. I love it!!

tcfila and GlendaleHDTV,
Thanks for the PMs.

1. Is it just me, or have all three Channel 9 Digital channels (9-1, 9-2 & 9-3) been dark for almost a week?

2. Can someone help me understand why Channel 4's digital channel is 4-1, Channel 5's is 5-1, Channl 11's is 11-1...etc, yet Channel 2's digital channel shows up on my TV as 43-1?

Charter is such a joke and getting on my last nerve. I've had this same error message on my DVR box since Friday night. None of the people I've talked to on the phone have any clue how to fix it and they had me leave Marty a message Saturday night and told me he'd call me when he came in Monday. Nothing so far and I call back and they tell me they have no idea how to contact him. This is such a freaking joke.

Originally posted by bluedevil23
Charter is such a joke and getting on my last nerve. I've had this same error message on my DVR box since Friday night. None of the people I've talked to on the phone have any clue how to fix it and they had me leave Marty a message Saturday night and told me he'd call me when he came in Monday. Nothing so far and I call back and they tell me they have no idea how to contact him. This is such a freaking joke.

Have you tried going through the automated number punches to get to the internet side. They can usually see if Marty is there.

GlendaleHDTV pm'd me Marty's number. I called and left him another message, now it's time to continue the waiting game....

Is anyone here using Vonage? How do you like it?

Sorry, its OT, but I'm really close to ordering it. Our $30 phone backage with Charter is $41 after taxes. I know taxes aren't their fault, but I have a problem paying $40 for a phone line we hardly use.

Craig

moman,

I think it's probably just you. I've been getting 39-1, 39-2 and 39-3 (PSIP option off) for the past week.

I've been meaning to note that 39-4 seems to have disappeared and wonder if anyone is still getting it. I don't really mind, but was curious and wondered if maybe KETC decided the additional program stream was a back breaker.

The electrical storm this morning turned my Charter cable modem (3Com) into a chunk of useless plastic. Maybe this means someone at Charter is reading this forum after all? ;)

Seriously, when I called Charter Pipeline support, the guy on the phone mentioned that I wasn't the first person to call with that problem this morning and that there were also a few customers calling about TVs that had been zapped.

The good news was that I was able to take the retired modem and power supply to my local Charter office and swap it for a new one. Took me only 5 minutes, including the time I spent to make sure I had a keeper by unpacking it and plugging into a wall socket (experience pays).

The rep asked me if I wanted to buy the modem instead of continuing to lease it, and even though it was only $45 to buy, after thinking about it a bit I decided if someone's equipment was going to be nuked, I'd rather it wasn't mine.

When I got the modem back home, I still had some problems, as the power surge also took out one of my network hubs (but not my router). Ended up rewiring things to eliminate the need for the hub, so it definitely wasn't as bad as it could have been, dollar-wise.

It did take a few hours to get the new modem "provisioned," but everything seems to be back to normal.

KTVI-DT (FOX) is showing the analog upconvert of Yanks-Red Sox so that it can provide the onscreen graphics for the current tornado warning. It would be nice to be able to switch over to DirecTV, but cloud cover is making that unavailable just at the moment.

Tornado watch is currently scheduled to expire at 6 p.m., so hopefully the Cards game won't be affected...though (in more ways that one) it didn't look very good Sunday afternoon.

Any one know why the base ball gane this afternoon is not in HDS?

John

I mean HD not HDS.

JDKH -

Look up...

Thanks - didn't see that!

Just got the moxi installed.....Seeing FOXHD and NBCHD, but no other HD....Also, does anyone know how to get the channel number on the box instead of the time?

Thanks

I'm getting D* 88 Fox just fine, with the HD feed for baseball.

Will be switching to 30-1 for Rams later on though. Hope it works well this eve.

Does anyone know if the Yanks/Sox game is in HD yet. I think all the warnings are gone, but I'm not sure if it is b/c I dont know if the Moxi is working right. Thanks

Tim

DirecTV showing the HD baseball games on channel 88 is sure coming in handy with KTVI doing only SD tonight!

As I type this, the warnings are gone from 2-1 but the picture is still 4x3 upconverted SD.

It's making me remember what I liked about the SuperStations and distant nets on Dish Network.

Never mind, just called KTVI and informed them that the weather problems were over and they did whatever they needed to, to get it to HD

Anyone with Moxi who has anything set to record on NBC-DT (channel 785) may want to check their "scheduled to record" menu. It appears KSDK (or Charter, or whoever) has finally updated the channel guide so that channel 785 now shows up as NBC-DT with the peacock logo. It used to show up with just a generic icon, with the NBC-DT and logo showing up on channel 786 (channel 5-2).

Well, since they made this change, any season passes I had on 785 were still out there, but don't show up as scheduled to record. I went in and deleted the existing NBC season passes and added them again and everything appears to be set to go now. Not sure if KSDK has gotten rid or 5-2 or if its just a Moxi channel guide issue.

I'm really frustrated with D* right now. I haven't received 88 since the first night it was on. I tried two CSR's, then a 'specialist', then a supervisor trying to get it turned on for tonight's Cards game (about 40 minutes hold time). They kept giving me the run around, saying if I were supposed to receive it, I'd receive it. I explained I knew at least three other people getting, but they wouldn't help me out. They said since the contract with Fox isn't in place yet, only certain people could receive it, and if I wasn't getting it, I wouldn't get it. I explained that Fox here is O&O; they didn't care. Very frustrating. I finally told them, "Thanks for the help, even though you weren't any." and hung up. I went back to my tv and about 30 seconds later 88 came up. It was Yankees-Red Sox but it was still HD hehe. 89 is not active by the way. Hopefully it will stay on when the NY-Bos game ends so I can see the Cards in high def. My OTA reception is pretty poor tonight. I can't pull KTVI OTA at all, but KDNL is pretty solid.

A bit off topic, but I've been meaning to ask this for some time now and have never gotten around to it. Doug, you seem to be very highly regarded around here, so I'm going to bug you for a minute (of course, anyone else can feel free to chime in!)

I have a Sony KP46WT510 42" RPTV. I really like it, but I have one huge, enormous problem with it. I'm somewhat familiar with the service menus, so I was hoping that you'd know a little about this problem and could tell me if there's a setting that I'm not aware of to fix the problem.

I recently got an HDTiVo, and I have it hooked up via the HDMI->DVI port. I also have various other things hooked up to the component inputs (directly and through a Denon 3801). The problem is that the picture on the components is centered, but the DVI input is not (it's shifted quite a bit to the left). I've had a couple of different things hooked up via the DVI port, and they've all had the problem. I've adjusted the HPOS variable, but it looks like that is a global setting. Centering the DVI input pushes the component inputs off to the right. I really need to only adjust Video 7 (the DVI port). All the research I've done leads me to believe that there isn't an input specific horizontal position variable, but I thought I'd run it by someone that knows what they're doing to try to determine if it's a hardware or confguration issue.

I bought the TV from Circuit City and even had a guy come out to look at it. He didn't really know anything about how to fix it (I'm not sure he'd ever even seen a TV before), but he called in to someone that was supposed to be an "Expert." The expert suggested splitting the difference, but it's too far off for that to work. I have until the end of the year before the warranty is up, but to get it worked on again I either have to ship it (ha ha), take it somewhere (HA HA) or pay someone a ton of cash just to come out (HAHAHAHA). The only one I can really do is pay someone to come out, but if I was going to do that I'd rather just have you come out and calibrate it, if centering is part of the deal. Unfortunately, I just bought an HDTiVo, so I'm a little strapped for cash (would you even come down to Arnold, anyway?).

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to check with you (and everyone else in this thread) in case you know something I don't. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Mose,

I've done around a half dozen of these sets (both the 500 and 510s, which are largely the same). I didn't remember seeing separate geometry adjustments for DVI, and I just checked the service manual for the 500 and there's nothing like that available.

(I don't have a 510 manual, but I wouldn't expect the 510 to differ in that particular area; generally a manufacturer designs a chassis and pretty much sticks with it for two or three years before making major changes.)

Also, as you point out, the HPOS control in the 2150-D2 menu is a global control that covers the 1080i mode as well as the Full/Norm, Zoom and Wide Zoom display modes -- changing it in one mode makes the same change for all the other display modes.

I suspect that the DVI problem is that the set is expecting a different flavor of DVI. It's likely that Sony designed this chassis/set when DVI was still a moving target. The fact that the 500 model also included a DVI input is another indicator of that being the case.

From the sound of it, you're using HDMI-DVI because you've run out of component ports on the set and your A/V receiver. If not, by all means switch to component, because I seriously doubt there's any image quality benefit going HDMI/DVI. Most CRT RPTVs convert DVI to component when the DVI signal enters the set. It would be better to just convert directly to RGB since that's the underlying format for DVI, but that's another story.

I assume that you're aware that there's been a ton of reports about the HDMI port on the HD TiVo being a problem. But from what I've read those problems fall into two general categories that don't bear much resemblance to what you're describing -- the DVI image gets squeezed vertically and horizontally and covers only about 60% of the screen, or the HDMI port eventually fails completely with no image available.

It's probably a longshot, but another angle to pursue would be to find out if there's an accessible service menu in the TiVo HD system, and if so, whether there might be some geometry controls for the HDMI output. I did a couple of quick searches for that over at TiVo Community, but came up empty.

Arnold is definitely in my coverage area, so if you figure out how to navigate past this problem and decide you'd like to get the set calibrated, just let me know and we can get something set up.

Mose, feel free to drop me a private message if you have any follow-up questions on anything here, or if there are other avenues that you'd like to discuss regarding the DVI issue.

Fireshoes, it sounds like you and i went through the exact same thing. I first when through 3 customer service reps, the first two of which were as much help as talking to my 2 year old. The 3rd rep at least took a while to research the situation, but still had to pass me along to a specialist. The specialist told me that receiving channel 88 was an issue that i needed to speak with the Eligibility Group about, which he past me through to. It sounds like I got the exact same runaround as you - if i was supposed to get it, I already would. He gave me a list of criteria - i needed either the HD package or the local programming package (i have both), I needed the HD equipment (obviously got that covered), and that Fox needed to actually own the channel that it was broadcasting from in the St. Louis market. i don't even have a clue what that is supposed to mean, but after I asked if I found that if this was true, would they hook me up with the signal, he said 'no'. Gotta love it.....

Two questions here - has it been sufficiently determined that it's either hit or miss in St. Louis with with getting the Cardinal playoff games on 88, or should I keep pushing?

Question 2 is that i get the same screen message (To Order service, please contact blah blah blah) for the CBS and NBC channels in HD (i don't know the channel numbers off the top of my head, but I believe they are in the 80s). Am I supposed to get these? The guy from the Eligibility Group gave me the same answer for these channels as he did for 88 - if I was supposed to get 'em, I would be getting them. Is this true?

Sorry for the ramble, and thanks in advance for the feedback,
Chris

No call back from Marty today and I'm still sitting here with a worthless DVR box. All of the techs I've talked to have the same clueless response when it comes to DVR, gotta love Charter.....

cdog,

There are basically three ways that you can qualify to get the out-of-market network HD feeds. In a nutshell:

* You are in an area where reception from your local station is a known and documented problem. You don't get to decide if it's a problem, there are tests conducted to determine reception-challenged areas for a local market station, and if you're outside the area where the signal can normally be received, you qualify;

* You receive a written waiver from your local station that allows you to receive the network satellite feed. This is very difficult to obtain, as the local station's advertising rates are determined by number of viewers, so they really have zero incentive to grant these.

* Your local station is "owned and operated" by the network. For example, KTVI is owned by Fox Broadcasting, unlike KSDK, which is owned by Gannett, and KDNL which is owned by Sinclair. Because the network owns the FOX station, the local advertising issue is a moot point (or more moot) than when the ad dollars only accrue to the local station.

In St. Louis, you're probably only going to qualify for FOX and you can pretty much forget about the others.

Originally posted by cdog222
Fireshoes, it sounds like you and i went through the exact same thing. I first when through 3 customer service reps, the first two of which were as much help as talking to my 2 year old. The 3rd rep at least took a while to research the situation, but still had to pass me along to a specialist. The specialist told me that receiving channel 88 was an issue that i needed to speak with the Eligibility Group about, which he past me through to. It sounds like I got the exact same runaround as you - if i was supposed to get it, I already would. He gave me a list of criteria - i needed either the HD package or the local programming package (i have both), I needed the HD equipment (obviously got that covered), and that Fox needed to actually own the channel that it was broadcasting from in the St. Louis market. i don't even have a clue what that is supposed to mean, but after I asked if I found that if this was true, would they hook me up with the signal, he said 'no'. Gotta love it.....

Two questions here - has it been sufficiently determined that it's either hit or miss in St. Louis with with getting the Cardinal playoff games on 88, or should I keep pushing?

Question 2 is that i get the same screen message (To Order service, please contact blah blah blah) for the CBS and NBC channels in HD (i don't know the channel numbers off the top of my head, but I believe they are in the 80s). Am I supposed to get these? The guy from the Eligibility Group gave me the same answer for these channels as he did for 88 - if I was supposed to get 'em, I would be getting them. Is this true?

Sorry for the ramble, and thanks in advance for the feedback,
Chris

Chris and Fireshoes-

See my earlier posts. I went through the same thing until an escalation CSR figured out that they needed to add Fox to my package. That is what you need to tell them to do, and if they don't know how, ask to be escalated higher to someone that does.

Apparently D* CSR's were tired of Charter getting all the attention and wanted to show they can be just as frustrating. :rolleyes:

On Q #2 - No NBC and CBS without waivers.

Mike

I'd really like to clean up the wiring of my DVI cabling, and go with wall plates from DVI Gear.

Does anyone know of someone that will pull a wiring run for an existing room? I'd like to have the run terminate into wall plates at either end, and then have the cable run from the ceiling to the projector be "prettier".

I have about 2-3m of excess that I can get rid of if I do this.

I don't want to cut off the ends and reterminate, lord knows I have enough trouble with a Cat5 cable :D


Cheers,

Stopped in to watch the Rams/Bucs and Cards/Astros game with some friends at the new Hot Shots in Fenton (by I-44 and Bowles)

I was encouraged to see what looked like to be some HD capable TVs and screens. (Two large rear projection widescreen TVs and one front projection screen.) However they were all displaying stretched SD, whether it was the Rams football game or Cards baseball game. I asked the manager on duty and he didn't understand. I explained what HD was and he didn't seem to have a clue. I looked at their equipment and all they have is 12 standard-def DirecTV boxes.

The aproximately 25" SD TVs they have all over the bar can either run of DirecTV or off Charter cable. (After the games ended they were switching most of the SD TVs from channel 2 or 12 to all the familiar sports channels on Charter. On a couple the changed to Video 1 input and that looked to be the DirecTV input for that TV.)

The Hot Shots website is under construction so I can't send an email. I wonder if it's worth the effort to talk to the head manager? Try and explain they spent a bunch of money on TVs that could be looking and working a lot better if they invested a little more money in HD capable DirecTV boxes and an HD capable antenna.

dweebe,

Some people just don't understand it yet. It would be nice if the bars would put forth an effort to show HD.

Good luck in your efforts. I hope you succeed!

Craig

Well, this is still going nowhere fast. Here's an update....

Called the internet side of tech support last night and got a person who was actually able to get rid of the error message on my DVR box, but was unable to get the program guide working. He told me the modem inside the DVR box needed to be added to my account and he didn't have access to do that, nor did anyone else there at the time (it was 1am). He left an e-mail for a supervisor to do that in the morning and told me I should be good by noon or so today. I get home from work at 3:30 and still no program guide. I call back and get someone who tells me that the modem in the DVR boxes are currently not functioning and it has nothing to do with why I get no program guide and they need to replace the box. I'm not sure if that is right or not, but at any rate they're sending out a tech tomorrow morning. ::sigh::

dweebe - I noticed the same thing at Hot Shots West county this weekend. It is VERY disappointing, but I too figured they had no idea. I would imagine though that they paid someone to set it all up and that is the super-genius that didn't educate them about HD.

Hotshots also has no idea how to stock a variety of GOOD beers either...

I apologize if this question was asked and answered before, but how do I program my Moxi remote to control the volume on my TV? I have no manual, and the installer had no clue how to do it. Thanks.

Originally posted by davidnark
I apologize if this question was asked and answered before, but how do I program my Moxi remote to control the volume on my TV? I have no manual, and the installer had no clue how to do it. Thanks.

What kind of TV do you have? I have a book with a list of codes that was left here with the box.

I'd suggest checking the Charter web site to see if you can find the Moxi manual there.

But that would be cruel... :D

Originally posted by bluedevil23
What kind of TV do you have? I have a book with a list of codes that was left here with the box.

I have a Hitachi 51F500.

Also, how long does it take for my program lineup to be activated?

Thanks again!

Mine still isn't working and they're insiting it's the box and coming out to replace it tomorrow. No one there seems to know how these things work though. Rather frustrating. At any rate, here's the remote instructions:

Press the Moxi and the OK button simultaneously until the top LED blinks twice. Enter one of the device codes then hit OK. The LED will blink twice. Press the power button to test. If it doesn't work, repeat with a new code.

Here are the Hitachi codes: 0145, 0056, 0016, 0032, 0038, 0095, 0097, 0151, 0173, 0227, 0279, 0409, 0413, 0578, 0577, 0583, 0723, 0770, 1145.

Originally posted by davidnark
I apologize if this question was asked and answered before, but how do I program my Moxi remote to control the volume on my TV? I have no manual, and the installer had no clue how to do it. Thanks.

Here is a link to the online manual. http://broadband.motorola.com/noflash/customer_docs/user_guides/506820-001.pdf

Thanks guys. My volume now works. I am on hold with Charter customer service to solve the programming guide problem.

Let me know who you talked to if you have any success with that.

To those that provided feedback on my channel 88 issue (Fox HD), your help and a little persistence on my end has finally paid off - I'm now watching the Yanks and Sox in HD on channel 88! Thanks again for the help, it is most definitely appreciated. Now let's just hope that the Cards can hold off the Astros tomorrow night...

Chris

Originally posted by bluedevil23
Let me know who you talked to if you have any success with that.

I spent about an hour and half on the phone with a rep regarding the program listings. She was on the phone with some technical guy who was suppossed to know how to fix the problem. They tried something on their end a few times that didn't solve the problem. Supposedly, this Marty guy is going to call me in the morning and try some other test. If he can't solve it, they are going to send out another technician.

Our install rep was supposed to be out between 8 and noon this morning. When my wife called at noon, they told her he would be out within twenty minutes. She called again at 1:30, and they told her that he had reported that he was here at noon. He finally showed up at 5:00 and had absolutely no idea what he was doing. After he left, I looked at my ticket and he wrote down that he was here from 4 - 4:10.

Originally posted by hall316
Has anyone with DTV been able to get the ok for the east or west cost feeds of the majors through DTV? (NBC, CBS,etc HD feeds)?
I won't name names, but lets say someone very close to me has all feads, east, west, and locals for DTV. All that person did was ask (beg) the CSR to turn 'em on and he did. Sometimes just asking for what you want works. Good luck to all that try.

davic, that was exactly what happened with me, but Marty never called. A technician is coming out tomorrow to replace the box (which I'm guessing won't help, but we'll see). Was the installer from WGI? They're the contract company in my part of the city and they are about as clueless as it comes.

Anyone else having problems receiving 2-1 ota? In the last week or so I get nothing. Problems seem to have started when they switched to 720P but I did get it a short while after the switch. All others come in good. Receiver is Panny HDS20. Did they by chance move the tower.

Originally posted by b_sing
Anyone else having problems receiving 2-1 ota? In the last week or so I get nothing. Problems seem to have started when they switched to 720P but I did get it a short while after the switch. All others come in good. Receiver is Panny HDS20. Did they by chance move the tower.

2-1 OTA has been pretty much fine for me, except the odd occasional dropout. I am wondering if it is my receiver though....

FOX has been having lots of problems with their HD post-season baseball broadcasts. It got particularly bad during the late innings of the Yankees-Red Sox game on Tuesday evening, though it cleared up around the end of the eighth inning.

It looks like the video stutters for a moment, the picture briefly moves down the screen and then everything snaps back into place. At one point last night this was happening about every 10 to 15 seconds.

I've seen this happening on both the OTA and DirecTV channel (88).

Doug, I have been seeing that same thing randomly with all of Fox's MLB playoff broadcasts. Some games have been maybe 5 times total, some have been more frequent.

Bruce,

I don't watch much football (hardly any, actually) but I wonder if the same thing is happening with FOX's HD football broadcasts.

If not, I wonder why it's happening on all of their baseball broadcasts...

It's been there with the baseball broadcasts, but I don't ever remember seeing it during the last few weeks of football games.

Originally posted by bluedevil23
davic, that was exactly what happened with me, but Marty never called. A technician is coming out tomorrow to replace the box (which I'm guessing won't help, but we'll see). Was the installer from WGI? They're the contract company in my part of the city and they are about as clueless as it comes.

The installer was a contractor, but I don't know if he was with WGI. He was incompetent regardless. I also live in the city.

Let me know how the tech's visit goes.

To contact Marty, call 636-207-7044 and ask the operator for extension 31188.

I too have never seen this issue on Fox's football games, only the MLB playoff games.

I understand everyone's frustration with the installers, but to be fair Charter is providing them with no hands on training, just a sheet of paper explaining basic install of the box, how to hook up cables.

My frustrations with WGI happened long before the DVR install, but I do agree that Charter isn't training them well enough.

My Moxi box is finally working. The tech came out and was talking to someone who walked him through a few things only to find out that they had put the mac address where the box address should have been so it wasn't provisioned correctly. Basically if the people I had talked to on the phone knew what they were doing this could have been solved Friday. The tech was pretty frustrated that he was sent out for something that could have been fixed on the phone and I don't blame him. Long story short, if you still don't have the guide, have them double check the information on your account, it's probably something there.

From The Evening Bridge (fomerly MarketClose):

TOP STORY - TiVo said more than 4,000 retail stores will offer its TiVo Series2 DVR this holiday season, the result of recently completed efforts to expand its retail footprint and bring suggested retail pricing for the DVR product to below $100 after rebate.

TiVo's roster of national and regional retail partners includes Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sam's Club, Costco, CompUSA, Dell, Tweeter, Ultimate Electronics, Fry's and Good Guys.

So does FOX generally have the worst HD broadcast, or is it just during these baseball games? The reception I'm getting drops out a lot today ... while ABC, NBC, CBS and WB11 are coming in fine. I'm new to this OTA HD thing so I'm just trying to see how things work in the Lou.

black mac,

As noted earlier on this page, there have been some technical glitches with the HD baseball games coming from FOX this postseason. However, I haven't seen any of those glitches this afternoon, but it is possible that I may have missed some as I've been going back and forth between my HD and SD sets.

It sounds like what you're talking about is reception issues, which are much more a function of your location. FWIW, my reception from KTVI-DT (FOX) is rock solid and I can't recall the last time I had even a single reception blip during a prime-time show or sports broadcast.

But as noted, your reception mileage may (and probably will) vary...

Well I played with my antenna and its better now, so probably user error :D

While reading up on all this stuff though, I understood HD reception to be all or nothing - ie. no "snow" or bad reception, just perfect reception or nothing. So I assumed pixelation and drops were due to the broadcast and not reception. Like if it were my reception, I would just get a "no signal" message on my box.

Anyhow, just newbie fault here I suppose. Go Cards!

FWIW I am so happy with the reception I'm getting that I cancelled the locals on my E* account. Can't see paying them for crappy local color ... the difference is amazing and I'm amazed this stuff comes in off the air in 5.1 HD ... pretty cool. I refuse to pay E* for their limited HD package too, as I would have to give up my PVR receiver or pay $1,000 for a HDPVR unit, which is ridiculous. I bought the OTA receiver to tide me over til satellite catches up - I mean, they should have EVERY channel in HD right? and we should have flying cars by now.

Just an update - the prob was my antennae, one of the Radio Shack ones. I went to Sears and got the Silver Sensor and now I'm getting everything - even stuff I didn't know I could get, like the PBS kids feed. And its all nice and clear with no dropouts.

black mac,

Good to hear you resolved your reception issues.

Also, just an FYI -- if you were getting the main KETC (PBS HD) signal before, you were also receiving the PBS Kids channel. The multiple PBS channels are in effect all part of the same signal, with multiple program streams embedded in the signal you receive from KETC (9-1, 9-2, 9-3, etc).

In effect, it's all or nothing. Part of what your OTA receiver does is process the datasteam and extract and create the main and subchannels as appropriate.

Not sure why you weren't seeing PBS Kids before, but I suspect that it probably has something to do with the way your receiver was set up. Or maybe you just overlooked the Kids channel previously, or it wasn't broadcasting (part of the datastream) when you were surfing through your available channels previously.

No I wasnt getting any PBS at all before, or UPN.

Originally posted by black_macleod
No I wasnt getting any PBS at all before, or UPN.

No UPN...That's a shame :rolleyes:

From today's Evening Bridge (formerly mediabiz.com's MarketClose):

In order to increase their available bandwidth, cable operators have begun to test a new service known as "switched broadcasting" for their systems. On its most simplistic level, the service takes certain channels and makes them available to cable subscribers ONLY when a subscriber has tuned to that channel. In short, if no one's watching, the channel occupies no bandwidth; it only appears (and uses space) when called upon. According to Seth Kenvin of BigBand Networks, his company is currently testing switched broadcast in the field. "We think this will be a commercial initiative by next year," he says. For more information on switched broadcast and other bandwidth solutions for cable operators, check out the November issue of The BRIDGE at: http://www.mbc-thebridge.com

If anyone missed the last two episodes of LOST, ABC will be airing them again this Saturday night at 7PM, the same way they did with the first two episodes a couple of weeks ago.

I'll be rolling the ReplayTV on the "walkabout" episode because the first time it aired, it was without sound for the first minute, switched to upconverted SD the next minute, then finally good HD. This will be a good opportunity to re-do the DVD I made from it.

Still no VOD, but when I got home from work, I noted that the moxi ticker now works and there is now a "games" menu choice. Played a little black jack - not bad.

Originally posted by GlendaleHDTV
Still no VOD, but when I got home from work, I noted that the moxi ticker now works and the there is now a "games" menu choice. Played a little black jack - not bad.

color me jealous....no updates for me yet.

Maybe someone can help me with this:

I took my Samsung 351 back to Sears as the audio was dropping out badly, and picked up an LG 4200A instead. Here's the weird part ... I'm still getting audio drop outs, but only on FOX (like during the game). Now to complicate matters if I switch from Dolby to PCM in the LG prefs, the audio is fine. I have viewed 5.1 broadcasts on other stations with no problem.

I tried switching from optical to coax with no difference. I also pondered that maybe my optical cable and/or receiver was acting up, but the DVD player works fine with it. Also the audio rarely drops out during commercials (how annoying.)

I'm getting about 75-85 signal on FOX. Picture looks awesome.

Any thoughts?

FWIW, the LG is a much better receiver than the Samsung ... the guide and remote alone make it worth the extra $30. Picked it up at Hi Fi Fo Fum on Big Bend.

Cheers
Greg

Originally posted by GlendaleHDTV
Still no VOD, but when I got home from work, I noted that the moxi ticker now works and the there is now a "games" menu choice. Played a little black jack - not bad.

I just got in a little poker on mine. :) I'd prefer VOD over games, but I'm not complaining, my VOD never worked on my old box anyway so if it works now i'll be impressed.

The ticker is pretty cool.

Bob,

Thanks for the heads up concerning LOST. I'm sure those dvds will be great. Over the past couple of weeks I taped 80 of the 88 hours of the Farscape series on SciFi, and found a dude who's sending me the missing 8 hours on dvd, plus the rest of the series when he has time. Between you and this other guy, I'm getting my favorite shows on dvd now!! I can then save my svhs tapes for hd recording on the dvhs deck.

Doug,
I have found out that the velocity scan modulation can in fact be turned off in the service menu of my Pioneer rptv. Could you explain what this feature is, and why it's popular to defeat it? What improvements should I expect to see?

Dyaus,
"a little poker"??? Sounds like you really love your new Moxi box(just kidding).

jedi,

SVM is essentially a form of edge enhancement. It basically kicks in where there are dark-to-bright transitions within an image, for instance a white shirt against a collar of a black suit. It creates an artificial edge or outline that makes the picture appear sharper, but once you see and understand the effect it's extremely annoying.

To be fair, SVM can be helpful in making compressed SD satellite or cable (480i) images look a bit cleaner and this is probably why most manufacturers persist in including it and setting it at or near the maximum level by default. But it's definitely surplus to requirements for either DVD or HD (or any other high-quality source).

If you have a copy of Video Essentials or AVIA Guide to Home Theater, the best way to see the effect of SVM is to put the needle pulse pattern on the screen and take the SVM control up and down. You'll see that where the white line on a black background becomes a black line on a white background that the width of the line changes as you change the SVM value. SVM should ideally be reduced to the point where the width of the line, both it's black and white sections, are the same.

Bob,

Likewise, I appreciate the "heads up" on LOST, but unfortunately this looks to conflict with the World Series. Looks like I'll need to wait around for the summer repeats.

On the other hand, I'd be extremely interested in seeing the first couple of episodes of Desperate Housewives, as I caught just the last half of Sunday's show. It looks extremely promising and the HD picture was extremely nice-looking, though I will admit to the possibility of being unduly biased by Teri Hatcher laying naked in the shrubs. :cool:

Hey Doug,

I too will be watching the World Series now that I know the local gang is in it.

But down in the basement, the HTL-HD will be feeding Lost to my ReplayTV so I can make a 16x9 DVD and watch it later. Ain't technology great? :D

Robert -

Indeed it is.

My ReplayTV died recently and the withdrawal symptoms have been tough. But rather than replace it, I'm waiting on the TiVo HD, though (like you) I'd really love to see a HD version of Replay.

Thanks for the info Doug.

Anyone getting Medical Investigation in HD? Or is it another fell asleep at the switch?

I will be moving to the St. Louis area shortly and am preparing to make an offer on a house in St. Charles County near the intersection of 40 and MO-94 more particularly near the intersection of 40 and Weldon Spring Road. I think the village name for the area is Dardenne Prairie. I am inquiring as to the quality of OTA HDTV reception I will be able to get there with an attic or outdoor rooftop antenna, preferably with an attic antenna, and which brand and model antenna would work the best. Any recommendations/alternatives (cable for local HDTV) would be appreciated. Also, recommendations for an antenna installer would also be helpful.

Thanks!

Hey welcome to the neighborhood!

You'll be about 10 minutes west-south-west from me. My OTA with a rooftop yagi (basic 8-10 footer) is great, but then I live in a valley.

A friend of mine lives near Highway K and Laura Hill Road (a little north of your future place, and farther out from the stations than me), and since he's higher up than me elevation-wise, the yagi in his attic does great for him.

I am wondering if anyone else is having problems picking up CBS and FOX in HD. turned the tv on this morning and my HD-Tivo can not find 4-1 and is having problems with 2-1 to. I am using a HD tivo. never had problems with anything but ABC before this morning. Weird hope it comes back befor the Cards game tonight.

Originally posted by pjohearne
I am wondering if anyone else is having problems picking up CBS and FOX in HD. turned the tv on this morning and my HD-Tivo can not find 4-1 and is having problems with 2-1 to. I am using a HD tivo. never had problems with anything but ABC before this morning. Weird hope it comes back befor the Cards game tonight.

Fox is fine for me, but CBS is completly dead for me as well.

Just hooked up my HDTivo!!!

My HD Tivo can't pick up 4-1 right now, either. But 2-1 is coming in fine and dandy. If you get HD from DirecTV and 2-1 is still giving you problems at game time, try channel 88 on *D tonight.

4-1 is out for me too.

CBS HD on charter is also out.

Called charter and they said KMOV was doing some updates to their HD channel. IMO, Saturday afternoon is a wonderful time for that.

Originally posted by hdspartan
I will be moving to the St. Louis area shortly and am preparing to make an offer on a house in St. Charles County near the intersection of 40 and MO-94 more particularly near the intersection of 40 and Weldon Spring Road. I think the village name for the area is Dardenne Prairie. I am inquiring as to the quality of OTA HDTV reception I will be able to get there with an attic or outdoor rooftop antenna, preferably with an attic antenna, and which brand and model antenna would work the best. Any recommendations/alternatives (cable for local HDTV) would be appreciated. Also, recommendations for an antenna installer would also be helpful.

Thanks!

Welcome! I am a few miles further west (off Bates & N) and get the OTA fine with a yagi in the attic. It is a Channel Master I picked up at Lowes.

Mike

Originally posted by comp1040
CBS HD on charter is also out.


Is anyone having problems today picking up Charter CBS HD? I get nothing but an error message.

CBS-HD is currently not working for me either with Charter.

This morning during the Sunday Morning show hd channel 4 went out about 8:30. It appears to be back at 3:00. This may be part of the changing we were told they were doing on Saturday.

Ron

My OTA 4-1 is still out. Anybody know the channel number for 4-2, OTA?

What a horrible time for them to do maintenance, during the NFL games.

I turned 4-1 on at work at about 3:15 or 3:30 via Charter and it was on. I know earlier in the day it was out.

I don't think there is a 4-2, is there?

I'm not aware of any 4-2...

Well gang, I gave up on the baseball game when the Red Sox made it 6 runs.

Has this been a crappy weekend for St. Louis sports fans or what?????

Sure hope the Birds can turn things around at home this week.

As for the Rams, they were just plain embarrassing.

and don't forget -- no Blues season at all

:-(

Why is it that FOX2 Digital shows up as 43-1 on my TV? All other locals appear similar to their analog counterparts: 4 is 4-1, 5 is 5-1, etc....


My receiver is a Dish Network 811. Even the channel directory of the receiver displays Fox as 43-1. Although it allows users to edit & rename channels (which I did to 2-1), It revertrs back to 43-1.

Any clues?????

I find it very interesting that many of you guys who have the Moxi box are just now getting the games and still no VOD. When my box was intalled the games were available and playable, my VOD has been working for over a week now with no problems. I watched Halloween 8 Saturday nite on Showtime VOD with no problems. I have been PM with Tcfila, he has been in touch with Marty and has been told activation is about 60 days away.

Can DirecTV HD receivers, like the Samsung 360, be used as OTA receivers only?

Toeside,

As far as I know, all DirecTV receivers can be used as OTA receivers without having an active subscription to DirecTV.

I used my DTC-100 for a couple of months last year as an OTA receiver, just before DTV added their HD package.

It's possible that this may have changed on newer STBs, but I haven't heard that anywhere.

Originally posted by DroptheRemote
Toeside,

As far as I know, all DirecTV receivers can be used as OTA receivers without having an active subscription to DirecTV.

I used my DTC-100 for a couple of months last year as an OTA receiver, just before DTV added their HD package.

It's possible that this may have changed on newer STBs, but I haven't heard that anywhere.

Doug,

Thanks for the quick response. I know this is possible with the HD TiVo (but you lose the TiVo functions), but this was more specifically about the other HD Receivers.

A friend of mine is currently working out a deal with 'notmestl' for his Samsung 360, so I just want to confirm it can be used as OTA only. He has no intention of activating it as a DirecTV receiver until there are more HD channels.

notmestl, you out there? You have a PM! :D

Craig

Anyone else getting a weak channel 11 signal compared to the other locals? Others come in at about 90 while KPLR-DT comes in at about 65, causing much pixelization with occasional total breakup & freeze up.

I'm in the Olve/270 area.

Originally posted by moman19
Anyone else getting a weak channel 11 signal compared to the other locals? Others come in at about 90 while KPLR-DT comes in at about 65, causing much pixelization with occasional total breakup & freeze up.

I'm in the Olve/270 area.

I experienced the same issue on my mits OTA last night while watching everwood. Must have been the station.

Scott

Have two MYHD's and one without a roof top antenna has been unable to hold the 11 signal and record it for the past several days. Thought it was the weather at first but it hasnt come back.

Ron

Hello
I posted a while back about moving to stl, and it looks like it is a done deal. I was wondering if anyone has any input on locations to live. I will actually be working in Il, near Hartford. I am orginally from NE Missouri and though I would like to live on the MO side I am not opposed to living on the Il side. I would like to rent a house versus an apartment, but that will depend on costs. My only real requirements are access to somesort of broadband (cable/dsl) and the ability to rcv HD OTA with in say a 45 min drive of Hartford IL, the closer the better. I know this is off topic, but I really appreciate any info you can you share, feel free to PM or email to keep the board from getting cluttered.
Thanks
Jamie

Quite a bit of foul language has left my mouth concerning the weakness of the 11-1 signal lately, as I record Everwood and Smallville in hd on dvhs. A huge problem with this is that my Sammy T165 tends to power down and reboot when the tuner is set to 11-1 and the signal is too weak. It doesn't do this for any other channel, and I have missed some hd recording because sometimes the timer info gets wiped when it reboots. I have gone back and forth with a RadioShack hdtv powered antenna and a Zenith Silver Sensor. Moving them around doesn't seem to do that much good. I wound up having to place the Zenith down right in the middle of my bed(the equipment is in another room) for a hlfway decent signal, so it will have to be moved every night. Crazy. It's good to hear that others are having problems too, so I can assume that it's the station's fault.

marlowsa,
Do you have any back episodes of recent Everwoods? I have missed a few for this season.

Does anyone now what's going on with Leno? I don't really watch it on a regular basis, but I have tuned in from time to time over the last few weeks, and I haven't seen it in hd recently. Is someone asleep at the switch??

Originally posted by jedi35

Does anyone now what's going on with Leno? I don't really watch it on a regular basis, but I have tuned in from time to time over the last few weeks, and it haven't seen it in hd recently. Is someone asleep at the switch??

The tape delay for Cards Plus/Rams Plus, etc. causes Leno to be SD.

Mike

Originally posted by jamiecrane
My only real requirements are access to somesort of broadband (cable/dsl) and the ability to rcv HD OTA with in say a 45 min drive of Hartford IL, the closer the better.

At least you have your priorities in the right order. If everyone thought that way, the world would be a better place!

Originally posted by hdspartan
I will be moving to the St. Louis area shortly and am preparing to make an offer on a house in St. Charles County near the intersection of 40 and MO-94 more particularly near the intersection of 40 and Weldon Spring Road. I think the village name for the area is Dardenne Prairie. I am inquiring as to the quality of OTA HDTV reception I will be able to get there with an attic or outdoor rooftop antenna, preferably with an attic antenna, and which brand and model antenna would work the best. Any recommendations/alternatives (cable for local HDTV) would be appreciated. Also, recommendations for an antenna installer would also be helpful.

Thanks!

I live in O'fallon very near hwy k and fallon pkwy. I get perfect reception with an attic antenna from Terk.
Welcome to the area.

Scott

OT, but HD Tivo owners beware of a possible Season Pass glitch that I read about on the tivocommunity board. The CBS shows last Wed that were postponed at the last minute (King of Queens, Center of the Universe, and CSI:NY) will be shown tomorrow, but the TIVO will think it already recorded those episodes last week since the guide wasn't updated in time. You will have to manually record them since it will treat them as repeats.

Mike

Originally posted by moman19
Why is it that FOX2 Digital shows up as 43-1 on my TV? All other locals appear similar to their analog counterparts: 4 is 4-1, 5 is 5-1, etc....


My receiver is a Dish Network 811. Even the channel directory of the receiver displays Fox as 43-1. Although it allows users to edit & rename channels (which I did to 2-1), It revertrs back to 43-1.

Any clues?????

Ahhh... the infamous 811 huh? Yeah, I had one... for about 2 weeks. PLENTY of time to realize i needed to return that piece of junk and get my year's HD contract nullified and my $200.00 back. I'm switching to DirecTV on Saturday... getting high def receiver (choice of 3 different units that actually work), standard receiver with TIVO, standard package + sports package + high def package for $41.00/month.

But if you insist on keeping the 811, here's a great forum thread where all the issues are revealed and possibly some solutions found. Welcome to hell ;).

Satellite Guys Forum Thread (http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=46)

Rod.

Doug,
I'd love to know your thoughts on a problem I'm having with correct aspect ratio on some Farscape(original series on SciFi) dvds someone sent me. Since the show was done for television, I'm assuming that the picture was mastered in full screen pan and scan. I can choose 4:3 or 16:9 for my Benq pj. When I select full screen for the dvd player and the pj, shapes are stretched too long and thin. When I select widescreen for both, shapes appear too short and fat. No combination of modes seems to corect things either. It appears that I'm not dealing with anamorphic or enhanced for widescreen tv dvds. Any thoughts or suggestions? Right now I'm thinking that I need to hit the service menu in my Benq, as there are lots of AR modes there to play with.

It appears that PSIP on 43-1 is messed up, which is why the 811 won't keep the 2-1 mapping for the local Fox affiliate. IMO, if you manually configure a station, the receiver should keep the mapping stored.

Unlike Rod, I find that the 811 is well worth the few issues I've had, and since I got my unit (I had one in early December 2003) I've seen improvements in performance with every firmware upgrade. The latest software (2.81) even fills guide data in for local HD stations when they can map the data in. The only stations I don't get guide data for are Fox (see above) and PBS.

Cheers,

Don't know how or why but as of this morning my On Demand for Moxi is completely gone, I don't even have the menu box. Also I have to keep resetting my video output option back to 1080i every morning. I think my box is getting and update every night.

jedi,

You have a private message...

Rod,

I'm assuming that the sweat deal you're getting from DirecTV is exclusively for new customers. Is this going to be your billing over the long run, or is this just for the first few months?

C' mon, Rupert -- show some love for your longtime customers...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by John Kotches
[B]It appears that PSIP on 43-1 is messed up, which is why the 811 won't keep the 2-1 mapping for the local Fox affiliate. IMO, if you manually configure a station, the receiver should keep the mapping stored.

This is what is really strange. I did manually configure the station as you suggest. First, I deleted 43-1 and re-entered it as 2-1 FOX. It appeared to take, but only on occasion. Believe it or not, one day it shows up in the directory as "2-1 FOX". The next day it shows up again as "43-1". The next day, "2-1 Fox"is back. The cycle repeats and I'm doing nothing.

Also, does anyone else think it's stupid to only offer 4 choices of network affiliation (ABC, NBC, CBS & NONE) when manually progamming a station? No FOX? No UPN? No PBS? What are they thinking?????

Originally posted by wilkemp
I find it very interesting that many of you guys who have the Moxi box are just now getting the games and still no VOD. When my box was intalled the games were available and playable, my VOD has been working for over a week now with no problems. I watched Halloween 8 Saturday nite on Showtime VOD with no problems. I have been PM with Tcfila, he has been in touch with Marty and has been told activation is about 60 days away.

I got the update in the last week. However, I wish I hadn't. I can't believe no one else has complained. They took away our 30-second advance. The skip button now skips 15 minutes instead of 30 seconds. !@#&$!

In addition to being convenient for skipping commercials, it was also convenient for catching up to real-time when watching football. It essentially allowed you to skip the 30 seconds of time between each play very easily.

I'm sure this is Charter effectively disabling this feature because they don't want to make it easy to skip commercials. This kind of decision to try to force me to watch TV the way they want won't work. I'm sure I will eventually buy an HD PVR and go to Satellite or something else like SBC's plans to provide video in the next few years.

I just flipped over to FOX-DT a few minutes ago and there's nothing there. My DTC-100 indicates "weak signal."

I wonder if this is a technical problem or a "vox populi" referendum on the quality of World Series play so far... :rolleyes:

I get basically the same thing on my moxi box. I hope this clears up in the next 15 minutes. I can't imagine watching the game in SD.

workign fine here
OTA

ditto on my Zenith HDV-420... woah! it just came on at 2 minutes till 7:00! That was a close one!

Woo Hoo! Works now. Go Cards!

And now, to top it off, Charter's HD Fox channel is not working (782) just in time of the World Series. It had been working on and of for the last few hours and I called them at 6:00 pm about it. They hadn't heard from anyone else about it, they said. Now, when I call there is a recording saying they are "aware of the problem and are working to correct it".

It actually just started working again....
If this happens in the middle of the WS game, @#&$%!

I assume this is a Charter problem. Is anyone having similar problems with OTA?

Originally posted by StLouisRod
ditto on my Zenith HDV-420... woah! it just came on at 2 minutes till 7:00! That was a close one!

It came on, but it's SD, at least for me through Charter. The KTVI DT bug is being shown, so I assume this would be the same for OTA too.

I am trying OTA on 2-1 and the signal just went away. It was SD up until the signal loss. I hope they fix this since we can't get the national FOX feeds off DTV.

Originally posted by skippy_rq
I am trying OTA on 2-1 and the signal just went away. It was SD up until the signal loss. I hope they fix this since we can't get the national FOX feeds off DTV.

Yeah. It's gone for me too...
Nice timing.

Of course to add to the insult, my SD quality through the Moxi makes it almost unwatchable.

Anyone have the phone number for KTVI ?

314-647-2222 I think engineering is option 8. It just dropped again. This time it appeared to be HD non WS before it was lost.

Option 9 .... left voice mail :(

Arrrgghh.. I sent e-mail and left voice mail.

Cheers,

Originally posted by davesalaman
Option 9 .... left voice mail :(

Me too...

hmmm its all SD here now crap OTA

News Stories, Press Releases, or News Tips:
314-644-7541

They say, its broke. Something in LA...

Yeah, well channel 88 on DirecTV (WNYW HD feed of the same game) is fine and dandy.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals aren't playing any better on channel 88 than they are on 2-1.

Is there something wrong with local OTA channels in general tonight?

I got tired of watching the Cardinals lose again, so I started up my Tivo'ed copy of LOST from 30-1 tonight. For the second time in three weeks, it started out with no sound, then flipped to upconverted SD for a while, then back to HD with no sound, then back to the upconvert, and back and forth a few more times before there was HD with sound.

Got annoyed with that and flipped over to the Tivo'ed copy of Smallville from 11-1 tonight. Upconverted SD.

Add in 2-1's problems with the World Series, and that's THREE local HD channels not giving us reliable HD tonight.

What's up with this???????????

Its the Lunar Eclipse!!!!!

Don't these stations know anything about quality control. Don't they at least have an HD monitor and someone watching to see that they're advertised broadcast is not as it should be. Or, if they have a technical problem, they could at least put a disclaimer up so that we don't go bald pulling our hair looking for a problem that is not ours.

After watching the first 4 innings, I am embarrassed that I own a Marquee.

Walt

How about CSI NY???? I can't get it to come in on 784 with Charter.

Anyone else?

looks good OTA

Sounds like I'm not the only one that gave up on the World Series....

:(

Originally posted by wilkemp
I find it very interesting that many of you guys who have the Moxi box are just now getting the games and still no VOD. When my box was intalled the games were available and playable, my VOD has been working for over a week now with no problems. I watched Halloween 8 Saturday nite on Showtime VOD with no problems. I have been PM with Tcfila, he has been in touch with Marty and has been told activation is about 60 days away.

Word of warning to those who have or will receive the Moxi update. If you have any recordings scheduled for 785 (or potentially others), they may not continue to record. I found that I had a few 785 recordings scheduled and previously, the icon which identified that station was the generic orange diamond. After the update, it shows the NBC logo. But, the scheduled recordings still showed the generic diamond and the recordings don't happen. I had to delete them and recreate them.

Bob, you can add me to the list of people that gave up on the WS too. I couldn't take it, especially since it wasn't in HD tonight. OTOH, I'm a bit sad that I didn't watch it, because I would have found out about the eclipse soon enough to go outside and see it. Was it clear enough for a good viewing? Anybody catch it?

Just as the game was starting, 2-1 was gone for me too. I called DirecTV and added FOX HD from NY for $1.50.

Is everyone who has FOX HD on DirecTV paying $1.50 for it?

Craig

Originally posted by Toeside
Just as the game was starting, 2-1 was gone for me too. I called DirecTV and added FOX HD from NY for $1.50.

Is everyone who has FOX HD on DirecTV paying $1.50 for it?

Craig

It should be free if you subscribe to the HD pkg or locals, Craig. They messed up.

Mike

I could be wrong on this, but I believe if you subscribe to *D locals and to the HD package, Fox on 88 should be added for free.

I can tell you I never had to call and ask for it. It just showed up on its own when the NLCS started.

I have been on the "list" to get the DVR box since August. I have called 5 times since then, each time with them saying they have no boxes and will add me to the list. Last week when I called the rep took my cell phone number and said she would call me back that day. I never heard back.

Yesterday was their rollout to their internal customers, so I figured by now I should be able to get one. I called up, and was still told they had no boxes that I needed to be added to a list (yes the same list I have been added to four times already).

From reading these forums I already knew much more then the rep I was talking to, and that seemed to anger her. Having gone through this same fight to get the HD box, I was thinking of throwing in the towel and going with voom. I asked the rep , "What are my options here if I have been told time and again charter will be calling me but they never do, should I just switch to Satalite? Shockingly, her response was a semi-muffled "Whatever".

Now, I have been on the receiving end of some bad customer support before, but before she said that I was only mildly annoyed. I nicely but firmly demanded to speak to her supervisor immediatly. She responded several times saying one would call me, and tried to deny that she had said it. Eventually after demanding very firmly I was placed on hold for about 10 minutes then forwarded to a supervisor.

I explained my discontent, and that I found the behavior on the phones extremely unprofressional. This supervisor, sadly I did not get her name was very polite and said she would take care of it. She then said she would nextel the keeper of the "list". After another 10 minutes or so I was forwarded to another person, who said I can not come pick up the box, but they will come out to give it to me. I do have to pay 10.69 for them to come out however, which I am finding rediculous.

I am losing my patience with charter, this is just another of their repeated shortcomings. I think their upper management has the right idea with the services they want to offer. But my goodness, their implementation always falls so short.

Sorry for the problems in switching to Lost in HD. We're still operating on some temporary equipment that sometimes drops the audio. There is no way to switch in and out smoothly...we're working on it however!
Jim

Hey Jim,

Given Sinclair Broadcasting's reputation, I'm guessing that equipment's probably a lot less temporary than you'd prefer? :D (not really expecting an answer to that) :D

Annoyances with Sinclair aside, we haven't forgotten that it was primarily your Herculean efforts that got HD going on KDNL in the first place. And we do still appreciate it.

Thanks, Jim!

Now if he could only get Sinclair and Charter to agree...

raborj,

Tell them you find the upgrade charge crazy and they'll remove it. I got it taken off for me when I complained. Also, if the installers are late at all, make sure you call up because it is Charter policy to give you a $25 credit, something else I found out through my ordeal getting the DVR box. Now that it's working, I'm loving the box so far.

Originally posted by Robert Simandl
I could be wrong on this, but I believe if you subscribe to *D locals and to the HD package, Fox on 88 should be added for free.

I can tell you I never had to call and ask for it. It just showed up on its own when the NLCS started. I can confirm this. I had to call last week to get it added but there is no charge as long as you have D locals and the HD package. Apparently, the key to whether it just showed up or not is whether you had the line FOX_HD* on your *D account. I did not have that line, once it was added, I started receiving the channel.

For all of us who have the ability to record HD, Sunday nite at 11pm HDnet Movies has there first showing of "The Terminator" I for one am hoping for a great transfer on this one.

Sunday on the WB the Lord of the Rings in HD and 5.1 surround, guess I have to hook up the ole' 420 to watch this.

I was mentioned awhile back that someone had spoken with a CSR at Charter and they said they would be adding two more HD channels which would be great, anymore news on that? Just to add a disclaimer my recent Charter bill mentioned two new station Fine Living and Outdoor something, NON-HD channels which is probably what the CSR was referring to.

I'm going to try to make a point of periodically providing reminders about the fact that the beginning of this discussion thread includes a couple of fairly lengthy posts containing general information about OTA reception in the St. Louis area:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2995679#post2995679

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2995718#post2995718

If you haven't previously seen and read these messages, it might be worth your time to go through them. I'd also like to open the floor to any suggestions for revisions or other issues that you think it would be helpful to include in these messages. There's no promise that I'll be able to followthrough completely or immediately, but I'll do what I can to make those more useful to new and long-time participants (and the many lurkers) here.

I 'd also like remind everyone again that Toeside has recently arranged for this thread to be set up as a "redirect link." What this actually means is that you can use the redirect link to jump directly to the last message in this thread and then read backward through the messages until you are up to date.

The redirect URL is:

www.stlhdtv.com

I'd also like to encourage you to remember this link and also pass it on to anyone in the St. Louis area who might be a newcomer to HDTV or Home Theater. Needless to say there's a great group of people here on a daily basis and this is a incredibly useful resource for anyone who's just starting out on the Home Theater learning curve, as well as a great place to discover and discuss more advanced aspects of our "benign addictions."

Perhaps you could add to those posts which stations broadcast 5.1 (and why you can't see 20% of the picture on KMOV when they broadcast analog ;)).

fireshoes,

Good suggestions -- both have been covered here in some detail, particularly the wacko aspect ratio issues that some stations use (or have used in the past). That should be largely a cut/paste job, if I can track down some of my previous posts on this.

On the 5.1 question, I'm not completely sure myself which stations are 5.1 capable, so I'll throw that out here for feedback. Note that I'm making the "capable" distinction here. For example, KMOV appears to be 5.1 capable but as far as I know this is largely limited to sports.

My 5.1-capable take, as follows:

FOX (KTVI) - yes

CBS (KMOV) - yes

NBC (KSDK) - yes (flip the switch already)

ABC (KDNL) - no (but reportedly soon)

WB (KPLR) - ???

PBS (KETC) - no

UPN (WRBU) - c'mon, get serious

HBO - yes

ESPN - no (5.1 Circle Surround)

Bravo - no

Discovery - yes

HDNet Movies - yes

HDNet - yes

FOX Network feed - yes

About the www.stlhdtv.com redirect:

I used the "getnewpost" function in the redirect, so, on a properly cookied browser, http://www.stlhdtv.com should take you to the first unread post since your last visit. Of course, if you hang out in different parts of AVS and don't catch up here before you leave, it will be a little out of sorts when you return.

So, is anyone besides me actually using the redirect?

Craig

Not using it myself, but I've given it to a few friends and I'll no doubt be giving it to members at work that show an interest in this stuff....

wilkemp,
Lord of the Rings will be of WB11 on Sunday Nov. 7th, not this Sunday. I remebere that one clearly because I'll be playing a concert at the Fox(The 3 Irish Tenors) and won't be home to pop in a second dvhs tape. I'm going to have to figure something out.

Doug,
If your reference to Bravo was really meant for BravoHD+, I seem to remember getting the Olympics in 5.1 sound on that channel. Anybody else?

jedi35,

I don't remember BravoHD+ being around for the Olympics. I think it came on after the special Olympic channel went off the air. That, however, was 5.1.

I use the redirect, it is quite handy. Thanks much for setting it up.

Ditto on the redirect!

I just got my Moxi box today. I have a question that I hope someone can answer. On the old HD box, I had the resolution set for 1080i. When I switched over to a standard definition channel, it defaulted back to 480i. On the Moxi, every channel seems to be coming in at 1080i no matter what channel I have it on. Is there a setting I can select to make the Moxi box act the same as the old box or is this one of the draw backs of the Moxi?

Scott

Originally posted by Scroft391
... On the old HD box, I had the resolution set for 1080i. When I switched over to a standard definition channel, it defaulted back to 480i. On the Moxi, every channel seems to be coming in at 1080i no matter what channel I have it on... In current software, you can to go to Settings to change the resolution manually. In our next major software upgrade, we'll have native mode passthrough, which means that we'll automatically switch the output resolution to match the input resolution.

Guys,

Thanks for the clarification on Bravo HD. I wasn't sure about this one, as I'd never seen anything in 5.1 and considering the various music programs they show it sort of led me to conclude that 5.1 was a no-go. I'll amend this when I incorporate it into the resource items.

I don't watch much WB programming (apart from baseball), so if anyone can set me straight on the sound situation there, I think I'll have all the info I need on this...

A quick but late programming note:

ABC (KDNL-DT) is showing "Monsters, Inc." tonight, beginning at 7 p.m. CDT in HD.

Should a nice visual feast, considering how good the DVD was.

Moxiguy,

Thanks for the info. When is the ETA on the next major software update?

Scott

Originally posted by Scroft391
When is the ETA on the next major software update? It's just entering the final testing and validation process. Depends what turns up. Can't say yet whether Santa will bring it or St. Valentine.

Originally posted by Scroft391
When is the ETA on the next major software update? It's just entering the final testing and validation process. Depends what turns up. Can't say yet whether Santa will bring it or St. Valentine.

Nice to hear that the passthrough issue is being addressed. I have a 4:3 TV and I liked the way the Motorola HD box handled the resolution switching. I don't like watching things in widescreen if I don't have to.

BTW, I also use the redirect, very handy.

Toeside,
Thanks for the correction. I must be remembering the US OPen tennis stuff on BravoHD+. Yeah...Maria Sharapova in hd(...wipes drool off keyboard).

Well......what the f***. Is Fox at it again? What happened to HD in the Vikings game. Half way through the 2nd quarter it went away. Is anyone getting the game in HD?

Is anyone getting serious dropped frames in the KC game?

Rams have a by. Why are we only getting one NFC game?

Walt

Originally posted by aspec2
Rams have a by. Why are we only getting one NFC game?

Walt

I don't follow the Rams closely, but based on what I heard about last week's performance, maybe they're limiting the number of out-of-market games here to stem possible defections... :)

I was wondering if KMOV is doing some of their maintenance again on their digital transmission? I live about 70 miles S of STL and their signal is very weak today. Not coming in at all. Normally KMOV(4.1) is one of my stronger signals out of STL.

I have seen other threads on here over the last several weeks stating that KMOV had been having some problems with their digital transmission.

Thanks for any information.

Good call Doug. I think if they want to stop defections, they should get a coach and put Big Mike back in the booth.

Fox went HD for the half time show then back to SD for the game. They then switched to the D/D game in HD. All highlights from the Vikings game have been in SD since. Perhaps they have a problem in the Twin Cities. I still wish they would put up some sort of information when this happens. Hardware problems I understand. Hard head problems are maddening.

Walt

since Fox switched away from the Vikes-Giants game, i have been able to catch the game on Sunday Ticket in full HD. So it seems that the problem was not in the Twin Cities.

Couple of OTA observations:

* Is anyone else lacking audio on KPLR-DT? At 7:05, I have video, but no audio.

* Also, last night as I surfed past WRBU, I noticed that the picture appeared to be B&W and that it was doing a horizontal roll (haven't seen that analog phenomenom in nearly a decade). Since I don't watch anything on WRBU, I didn't give it much thought. However, tonight I noticed it's (still?) doing the same thing.

I guess it's actually a good thing that WRBU doesn't carry any UPN HD content...

Noticed it earlier sometime around 6:00. Haven't checked it since then.

Ron

Originally posted by DroptheRemote

* Also, last night as I surfed past WRBU, I noticed that the picture appeared to be B&W and that it was doing a horizontal roll (haven't seen that analog phenomenom in nearly a decade). Since I don't watch anything on WRBU, I didn't give it much thought. However, tonight I noticed it's (still?) doing the same thing.

I guess it's actually a good thing that WRBU doesn't carry any UPN HD content...

I first noticed that Friday night when I tuned in to watch Enterprise. It's been doing it it at least that far back.

I suppose the eight of us who can actually receive that signal are out of luck. What a loss.

Hmm, I guess you're telling me my recording of Enterprise from last Friday's gonna be doing that, too?

'fraid so :(

Surfed by 46 a while ago, looks like it's fixed now.

You should definitely try to catch last week's episode somehow. It's the first of the three Brent Spiner episodes and was pretty good.

There was only one game on Fox because this is the CBS doubleheader weekend. It alternates each week which channel carries two games. I was happy that KMOV managed to figure out how to turn on the HD feed this week.

Has anyone else with Charter HD noticed the video freezes on HDNet?Movies? Is it just me? Maybe I need to reboot my box. I'm trying to tape Terminator in HD, and these darn freezes are pissing me off. They've been happening for the last couple of days, and don't seem to affect the other HD channels. Wazzup???

BTW, the HD transfer of Terminator looks darn good to me, and the sound is killer(minus the freezes).

Has anyone gotten an explanation from Fox on what is wrong with their signal? I lost the signal about the time the World Series started and I haven't gotten it back yet.

My location is about Hwy94/MidRivers Mall drive.

Doug

Is anyone else lacking audio on KPLR-DT? At 7:05, I have video, but no audio.


My OTA Channel 11 last nite was gone too...


Best
Dave

wmschultz,

I've had FOX back for a couple of days now. It might be worth powering off your receiver and then restarting it...

It's not your box, b/c I noticed it happening a few times when I was watching their cheesy horror fest this weekend, and I'm using a CableCard

Originally posted by jedi35
Has anyone else with Charter HD noticed the video freezes on HDNet?Movies? Is it just me? Maybe I need to reboot my box. I'm trying to tape Terminator in HD, and these darn freezes are pissing me off. They've been happening for the last couple of days, and don't seem to affect the other HD channels. Wazzup???

BTW, the HD transfer of Terminator looks darn good to me, and the sound is killer(minus the freezes).

FOX-DT is now staying mapped to 2-1 on my Dish 811, so there's definitely something going on for the better.

Best Regards,

Originally posted by John Kotches
FOX-DT is now staying mapped to 2-1 on my Dish 811, so there's definitely something going on for the better.

Best Regards,

Not mine. It still flips back & forth between 2-1 and 43-1. I cannot explain why. Also, when it's listed as 2-1 I can see program data. When it's 43-1 the gude says "Local Digital" in all time slots. Only Fox2 does this. All other stations are stable. My guess it's an 811 issue because it's related to the channel I'm on. If the receiver stays on a digital local for any length of time, the guide looses all program data. Switch to a satellite channel and the guide quiclky fills in.

It's definitely a buggy box.

moman:

I haven't lost Fox2 on 2-1 for about a week now.

It's a shame they can't fill in the PBS affiliate too in the guide.

Cheers,

Apologies for my editorializing headline, but when cable is on side and the broadcasters on the other, finding objectivity can be challenging... :rolleyes:


The following is from SkyREPORT E-News:
________________________________________

Broadcasters Submit DTV Plan, Cable Cries Foul

Saying they are committed to serving the needs of TV viewers and ensuring a smooth switch to digital television, broadcaster interests recently submitted to the Federal Communications Commission their version of a digital TV transition plan.

The proposal sent to the FCC late last week, from the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television, emphasized the need to keep over-the-air broadcasting viable for the delivery of critical local news and information, and the groups pointed to the billions of dollars already spent by stations for the switch to digital TV. The plan also addressed multicast carriage issues.

The groups suggested in their plan that cable systems carrying a broadcaster's digital signal - whether under a must carry requirement or a retransmission consent arrangement - must not be permitted to strip out or degrade that digital signal. And the groups said that just because consumers subscribe to a pay service they should not be denied additional free over-the-air programming that digital broadcasting offers, an item referring to multicast content that may come from a broadcaster.

Also, an anti-degradation principle that is part of analog carriage rules should be adapted and preserved in the digital environment, the groups said. And the FCC should implement the same anti-degradation principles for satellite TV, they added.

The broadcaster groups also said cable systems should be subject to "transitional carriage rules." With this proposal, cable systems could be required to transmit a broadcaster's full digital signal or provide for downconversion in subscriber homes with analog sets, the groups said.

In response, Robert Sachs, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said the broadcast industry proposal "is simply a recycled version of broadcasters' previous demands that cable operators be required by the commission to carry half a dozen or more video channels per broadcast station rather than let multicast carriage be determined by market competition with other program networks."

Sachs said the FCC has held that that the Communications Act only entitles broadcast stations to must carry of a single digital video channel, and the latest FCC filing from broadcasters offers no new legal justification for the commission to reverse that position.

"The broadcast industry's submission does nothing to advance the digital TV transition or promote a serious discussion about how to complete the transition," Sachs said. "Meanwhile, cable operators are voluntarily carrying the digital signals of more than 450 stations that offer HDTV and other compelling digital content. It's unfortunate that a majority of broadcasters have yet to offer any high definition programming."

________________________________________

Originally posted by John Kotches
moman:

I haven't lost Fox2 on 2-1 for about a week now.

It's a shame they can't fill in the PBS affiliate too in the guide.

Cheers,

John, that's odd. Why the difference among 811's? I even tried to delete and then add the channel manually as 2-1. It quickly reverted back to 43-1. Do you have any suggestions?

To all of those who are waiting for the call to install their DVR. Take note that I had mine installed about a month ago. They are still calling me about getting mine install. So they are calling people sometimes twice. :)

In the course of calibrating one of the new Mitsubishi DLPs yesterday, I saw the Charter DVR product and had a chance to play around with it a little bit afterward.

I have to say that I really liked the general operation of the product and I thought the menuing/user interface was very cool, though it might be a bit on the complicated/convoluted side for someone new to this sort of product. Seems like it might be helpful to have two levels of menus -- basic and expert -- in order to flatten the learning curve.

HD playback looked just the way it should, with no detectable difference from the original. The analog channels, however, looked like death in the desert sun, though these problems have been noted here and elsewhere in detail.

Although this is just an initial impression based on 30 minutes or so with the product, overall I thought it was a very impressive product. Two thumbs up.

FWIW, the customer was a new subscriber to Charter and had never been on a waiting list. He signed up for cable, told them he wanted the DVR product and it was delivered in short order.

notmestl, are you out there? I sent you a couple PMs.

Originally posted by StLouG
To all of those who are waiting for the call to install their DVR. Take note that I had mine installed about a month ago. They are still calling me about getting mine install. So they are calling people sometimes twice. :)

I just got my first call last night even though I got on the list twice early. Must be my location (Clayton/St. Louis city border) that held it up.

Originally posted by DroptheRemote
In the course of calibrating one of the new Mitsubishi DLPs yesterday, I saw the Charter DVR product and had a chance to play around with it a little bit afterward.

What do you think about the new Mits DLPs? How much tweaking did you have to do? Did you remove that horrible glare screen?

I've been eyeing the new Mits DLPs. Best Buy in Chesterfield has one on display with the screen removed. Looks so much better.