What is the deal with WACH lately?

Usually, they are 100% when it comes to switching to HD for network feeds, but
Monday and Wednesday they were SD all night.

it's apparent that the equipment is just junk.

If that is what you believe then you might want to find a different provider.

What is the deal with WACH lately?

Usually, they are 100% when it comes to switching to HD for network feeds, but
Monday and Wednesday they were SD all night.


I have no idea, but if they miss the switch at 8 they have never corrected it until the next day.

What is the deal with WACH lately?

Usually, they are 100% when it comes to switching to HD for network feeds, but
Monday and Wednesday they were SD all night.

Yep, looks like someone missed the swith last night for sure. The lip-synch issues were terrible on the HD channel (820?), too.

Didn't see any lip sync issues during AI last night.

Didn't see any lip sync issues during AI last night.


I didn't see any sync issues on 820 last night either (on DVR).

I watched Prison Break Monday in HD, but when I went to watch 24, something funky happened. I was recording 24 in hd, and I started watching in the middle.. when I rewinded it, it switched over to SD and I couldn't fix it at all.

Since everything is still new to me, I am not sure if It was my fault, my tv's or the 8300..

I didn't see any sync issues on 820 last night either (on DVR).

I didn't see any lip sync issues either, but AI wasn't in HD last night.

Watching the OC right now with my wife and that isn't in HD either. Something's going on with WACH and their HD feed the last few nights. :(

I know it wasn't a figment of my imagination. My wife pointed it out to me during AI last night. It was painfully obvious once she pointed it out. I was only half-watching until she pointed it out. Were you guys watching and admiring Ryan S. too closely to really notice it? :p

The funny thing was....when we turned to channel 06 there were NO lip synch issues...it was perfectly synchronized.

If that is what you believe then you might want to find a different provider.


4 bad units on 18 months... Ok it's not junk, but how can you blame me for this conclusion? My post was not meant as a rant on TWC, I am really trying to decide what to do here. I want to keep it, but if I can't use it, and lose all my content every 12 months, well that makes me think twice. I wonder if they try to fix the DVR's. That would be good. And what's with the rude statements? Way to be helpful. TWC is a monopoly. Satellite is not even a viable option.

Rolling bands on the screen is indicative of grounding problems.

Well now it seems that the digital out is failing on the 8300. On DVR contect, live tv, anything, the bitstream comes on and off. A reboot was no help.

by 'digital out' i guess you mean HDMI. have you tried disconnecting it and using the component outs instead? i have my DVR connected to my Sony via HDMI-DVI and occasionally when switching from 480i to 1080i or vice versa the signal will become choppy. i just toggle back and forth again and it will stabilize. i never have this problem with the component outs but currently all the component ins on my Sony are being used so i have to use the DVI for the DVR and it doesn't happen enough to me to be troublesome.

i think a lot of your other problems might be indicative of a signal problem coming into your home. i've been the victim of intermittent problems that all were in the main line. these are hard to fix because the way TW troubleshoouts is from the end of the line (the connection to your DVR) back. it takes a lot of service calls before they begin to consider that it could be a main line problem and then it has to be referred to a different crew. call every time your RR is down or you can't get VOD. it's a pain but the only way to get something fixed. the bright side is i never encountered anyone who didn't really want to get my problem fixed, the down side is it's taken many more calls than i thought were necessary.

No, I mean the digital audio out. I don't use HDMI

And to the other poster, no, this isn't a grounding problem. I had that and fixed it. It is the color disappearing completely from thw picture beginning with the rainbow flashing. The tech saw it and I don't think he knew what it was. I guess I'll take the box back next week when I find some time, I just don't know if I'll get another one yet. Hopefully I can get a credit for the few days, I can't watch anything on the DVR box at all.

by 'digital out' i guess you mean HDMI. have you tried disconnecting it and using the component outs instead? i have my DVR connected to my Sony via HDMI-DVI and occasionally when switching from 480i to 1080i or vice versa the signal will become choppy. i just toggle back and forth again and it will stabilize. i never have this problem with the component outs but currently all the component ins on my Sony are being used so i have to use the DVI for the DVR and it doesn't happen enough to me to be troublesome.

i think a lot of your other problems might be indicative of a signal problem coming into your home. i've been the victim of intermittent problems that all were in the main line. these are hard to fix because the way TW troubleshoouts is from the end of the line (the connection to your DVR) back. it takes a lot of service calls before they begin to consider that it could be a main line problem and then it has to be referred to a different crew. call every time your RR is down or you can't get VOD. it's a pain but the only way to get something fixed. the bright side is i never encountered anyone who didn't really want to get my problem fixed, the down side is it's taken many more calls than i thought were necessary.

you could always just ask me to set up a service call at your convenience..... given the history that might be more productive and time-efficient for you...

just a thought

No, I mean the digital audio out. I don't use HDMI

And to the other poster, no, this isn't a grounding problem. I had that and fixed it. It is the color disappearing completely from thw picture beginning with the rainbow flashing. The tech saw it and I don't think he knew what it was. I guess I'll take the box back next week when I find some time, I just don't know if I'll get another one yet. Hopefully I can get a credit for the few days, I can't watch anything on the DVR box at all.

so, have you tried the other audio digital out? i'm a bit confused by your posts--i thought from your original post that the disappearing color was with your 2100 and the only DVR issue you had was with the digital out.

regardless, if you've read back far enough in this thread you'll see that nobody else has had the same degree of problems that you have had. otherwise we'd all be agreeing with your 'junk' assessment and none of us would be using it.

i don't know that just swapping the box yet again for another one will solve your problems. you've self-diagnosed the problem with being the SA soft/hardware but don't be so quick to rule out other things. i would definitely take up Diana's offer to set you up with a service call, and keep calling until they get it right. good luck.

I have a wierd problem. There is some sort of interferince coming through my cable (I think). It looks like its "ghosting" the image. As best I can tell its only on analog channels and not on anything digital. I eliminated the STB as the problem as well

Anyways, I don't know what the problem is, but when I was hooking and unhooking the coaxial cable coming from the wall I noticed something very strange. There is a small electrical current comeing from the cable. When ever I touch it to something grounded, I see it arching. Whats up with that? Is that normal? I can feel the current when I'm unscrewing it as well.

Could this be the problem?????

Who do you call? Ghostbusters! Multiple images or ‘ghosts’ are caused by the broadcast signal travelling to the viewer’s TV receiver via more than one path. This happens when part of the signal reflects off hills or tall buildings. The reflected signal travels a greater distance than the direct signal and so it arrives at the TV receiver a moment later, producing another image or ‘ghost’. If the ghosting is continually changing rather than static, it may be caused by the signal bouncing off a flexible object such as trees.

This is not OTA signal though. This is TWC. It looks similar to that though.

No, I mean the digital audio out. I don't use HDMI

And to the other poster, no, this isn't a grounding problem. I had that and fixed it. It is the color disappearing completely from thw picture beginning with the rainbow flashing. The tech saw it and I don't think he knew what it was. I guess I'll take the box back next week when I find some time, I just don't know if I'll get another one yet. Hopefully I can get a credit for the few days, I can't watch anything on the DVR box at all.

I had a problem that was extremely similar on a sony tv. Although it wasnt an HDTV it was a sony wega 27". And I had a DVD player hooked up to it via the S-Video and after about 10 mins the picture would kind of rainbow for a few seconds then go to b&w and remain on B&W for the remainder of the movie. It really pissed me off, I thought it was a bad DVD player so I bought a new one, it did the same thing. Turns out the S-Video jack on the rear of the tv started coming loose inside the tv, I could wiggle it and the colors would immediately come back but once I let go of it they would immediately drop out again. So I started using the composite video input and havent had a problem since. You never specified what kind of cable you were using to connect to the tv, but S-video and Component video inputs are very similar in that they break the picture apart into B&W and then the separate colors, wiggle the cables on the rear of your tv and/or cable box. It may be a bad input on the tv since you've gone through multiple cable boxes with the same problem.

As far as RR goes, I think its level of service is excellent, its rarely out and once in a while when I go to my computer and I can't load a webpage all I do is reset the cable modem by unplugging it for a few mins then plug it back up and restart the comp. and it works gain. I think if you leave the comp on too long the DHCP lease expires and you have to reset the modem manually to have it get a new IP lease from the RR servers. This happens every so often.

Is NBC-HD 's flashing-pixel NHL coverage as good as it will ever get?...

anyone having any problems with Fox tonight during American Idol?? the cutouts got so bad that my wife had to turn it to the Fox SD channel

as cowell would say, it's absolutely dreadful.

Local problem both TWC and OTA are dreadful. Glad I was watching live, because that would had been a nasty recording.

I believe it is time to go another route.

George.Bodenheimer@ESPN.com
VP of Programming at ESPN

Somebody should be fired for that mess on Fox HD (820) tonight. I guess it must be some of that leading edge technology the media companies are using to bring us these broadcasts.

well, at least I know it wasn't anything to do with my setup..

It sad that it is almost impossible to reach WACH when thing like this happen. I think they have some big problems ahead because even their SD OTA is SCREWED UP BIG TIME!!

Noticed no problems at all with their SD channel via TWC.

Agree. The SD channel was flawless.

Fox-HD however was a total mess. Absolutely unwatchable. We normally record this channel for AI too. Glad we didn't decide to wait til later to watch it.

Yea, my SD fox channel was fine. But man it hurt to have to watch it on that channel when I know what i should be getting on HD.

my wife must be blind because she can't tell the difference in the two!!!

my wife must be blind because she can't tell the difference in the two!!!

most can't for some reason.. my wife watches her tivo on extended EP recording speed.. drives me nuts.. :mad:

Look who is back. How did that bit rate shaping for TWCSC study go?

Supportive documentation has been provided to TWC management.

And it is classified secret information?

Supportive documentation has been provided to TWC management.

Will you pm me a name please?

Made a few changes to WOLO-DT's audio configuration this afternoon. Let us know what you think.

Drama ;)


Tried to watch a little NBA on TNT-HD ,and motion artifacts were a plenty.

What little we saw, it looked like Fox-HD was back to normal last night.

Lost looked great, as usual, though.

Made a few changes to WOLO-DT's audio configuration this afternoon. Let us know what you think.

Lost looked and sounded great last night. If there were changes in the audio then I didn't notice it sounding any different than usual. Should we have noticed a difference?

Actually, now that you mention it, I did notice the surrounds a little more during Lost last night. Particularly the use of the rear surrounds. May have just been one of those episodes where there was more being sent to the rear speakers though.

Good. Thanks.

Bob - You gonna share what it is that you did?

I feel like I'm the subject of a Lost experiment here. :)

He-He.. :) ok..
Slight changes in bass redirection per Dolby's instructions. Shouldn't really be that noticeable. But, could have made local really "boomy" which we didn't want.

He-He.. :) ok..
Slight changes in bass redirection per Dolby's instructions. Shouldn't really be that noticeable. But, could have made local really "boomy" which we didn't want.
UhOh, they didn't have you lower the X-over point sending lower frequencies to the main channels did they? :)

Thanks, Bob.

I thought Lost sounded great last night, but we were watching in a just-finished home theatre so I wasn't sure if that was it or not.

Bob -

Out of curiosity, what's up with the local ABC news bits during the commerical breaks of Lost being so much louder than anything else?

Thanks,

Kevin

Depends on whether you'r talking about local or network breaks.

It is extremely hard to match local and network audio levels.Especially when network varies so much. We get more complaints on that than anything.

I was referring to the local breaks with the local anchor (sorry, don't know his name). But I suppose that answers that – just curious, really. Thanks again for the great HD! I appreciate the hard work you guys put in for a fairly small viewing population.

You can reduce the variation by changing the DynRange setting in your receiver or dolby decoder to "min".. but, most tv's and cable boxes don't allow access to these settings.

Bob, the local anchor insert are scary loud, and have been for some time.

That remedy's in the works. Currently testing a system on WCCB..

WOLO-DT's really sick tonite, and TWC is aware, they actually caught it when we did and called. So don't call them complaining!

There' no HD tonite which is a good thing. We (well, I'm..) Working on it and hopefully will have back ASAP..

WOLO-DT's really sick tonite,
On my set it was more like dead than sick.

It's amazing, though, how the ugly radar channel (816) was its normal self.

Just a heads up (cough WACH), the Prez is pre-empting network programming tonight to talk about immigration. SUPPOSEDLY Prison Break and 24 will be aired in their entirety following the President's speach, but I'm willing to bet that WACH will screw it up again and we'll lose the last 20-30 minutes of 24 tonight.

Great.. who can we contact to make sure it doesn't happen.. Prison break is having its season finale.

Thanks for the heads up though..

Fox (Wach) is handled by a splicer directly from Fox. In theory there should never be an issue, but that hasn't been the case.

"ONLY" if the splicer is properly interfaced to the master control switcher's tally, and NOT under manual control by Human..

"ONLY" if the splicer is properly interfaced to the master control switcher's tally, and NOT under manual control by Human..

That answer I do not know.

Hi There,

We got permission to get the Turner South home games in HD again - but not in time to get tonights game on... They will air on Channel 814 and the schedule is

http://www.twcsc.com/AllHosted/DigitalSportsTier/BravesInHD2006.aspx

These games will be available in Columbia, Sumter, Orangeburg, Summerville and Florence areas, but not The Grand Strand.

Excellent News Diana!! thanks for the update. I was hopeful of this after I kept seeing the Braves highlights on ESPN in HD from the turner south HD signal.

Fox-HD was back to normal for AI last night. Looked/sounded great.

Why does Fox Sport Net South look so crappy on my TV?

while I will say that I think the picture quality is a bit lower with TWC than with my Dish, I have adjusted to it and think it is ok. I am also getting use to having a new HDTV, so I am viewing everything much larger and we all know how SD looks on a big screen..

However, this channel is killing me. Very Blurry and everything looks a bit out of focus. I notice what we call in digital photograpy as sharpening "Halos"

I watch all my SD content Stretched on my tv and this magnifies the problem, but it is still bad at 4:3

It is the same on my other 25inch SD set, but isn't as noticable since the picture is smaller.
There is a bit of this on all channels, but it is worse on 31.

The HD channels are Perfect!! they look great. no complaints there..

Just wondering if it is my setup, or a common issue.

Why does Fox Sport Net South look so crappy on my TV?

while I will say that I think the picture quality is a bit lower with TWC than with my Dish, I have adjusted to it and think it is ok. I am also getting use to having a new HDTV, so I am viewing everything much larger and we all know how SD looks on a big screen..

However, this channel is killing me. Very Blurry and everything looks a bit out of focus. I notice what we call in digital photograpy as sharpening "Halos"

I watch all my SD content Stretched on my tv and this magnifies the problem, but it is still bad at 4:3

It is the same on my other 25inch SD set, but isn't as noticable since the picture is smaller.
There is a bit of this on all channels, but it is worse on 31.

The HD channels are Perfect!! they look great. no complaints there..

Just wondering if it is my setup, or a common issue.

It looks "crappy" on my Sony, too. In fact, just last night, watching ESPN Sports Center on channel 950 after the game, the replays of the Braves/Marlins were much, much better than the picture on channel 31 DURING the game. If you think it looks bad on a 31", you should try watching that garbage on a 50 incher.

It does seem as though Fox SportsNet is worse than many of the other SD channels.

Ok. Thanks for the info. So it seems TWC is getting a crappy feed from FSN or something along those lines.

Yea, it looks bad enough on the 37 inch screen, couldn't imagine trying to watch a game on a 50 or 60 inch screen. I would have to sit 100 feet away. My eyes already hurt after watching a game now..

Before I left for work this morning I noticed that the cable box in my bedroom was off, i.e. the time was not on the display and no other lights were on. I just figured it had rebooted overnight or something. I didn't have time to try turning on the TV or rebooting the box. I'm at work now and just tried to access the TWCSC site and am getting an error. Is something going on with TWC?

The server went down and our webmaster didn't get an alert, so sorry about that. It is back up now.

We didn't do a forced reboot this overnight last night, so not sure why your converter had a reaction.

Anyone else not getting HD on WACH?? 8pm 24 finale..

I am not getting 24 in HD and the channel it is on keeps boggin down.

This seems to happen a lot on the FOX HD for some reason

Seems to be working now..

yes it came back.

The folks at TWC know what is up.

OMG!!!!!!! What the fu*k was up with the cable today or should I say LACK of cable for almost 4 hours.

I couldn't get through when I tried to call in. it took me 4 tries and 3 hrs into it being out before I got an answer!

Another day like today and I am Satellite bound. There is no excuse for the lack of product (cable) and the lack of customer service!

NONE!

Can someone tell me why the Braves game on 813 today is not in 16:9 format? It is in 4:3. Honestly, I can't tell whether its in high definition or not.

Good Question. I am watching it also.. It is not in HD as far as I can tell. It looks better than SD, but it isn't comng through as true HD

Good Question. I am watching it also.. It is not in HD as far as I can tell. It looks better than SD, but it isn't comng through as true HD
It switched to HD widescreen for about 1/2 inning and then went back to the old setting. Is it TWCSC or TBS/TS?

The telecast went back and forth from widescreen to 4:3 a few times and when it was 4:3 it was hard to tell if it was HD or not, but, I was like oceangrace, it was still better than SD. I called TWCSC and they said they were getting the same thing. The CSR said she could notify TBS (?) of the problem. Shortly after that, the problem seemed to disappear. I say "seemed" because, with the LAD pummeling the Braves, I wasn't watching the game as closely.

I noticed that it finally switched over to HD at exactly 2pm edt.
I have no idea technically how things work at TWC, but the program guide doesn't have a listing for Braves Baseball on channel 813 when they are on, it is just a random Special Events guide that is alway on there. They are usually in blocks of 4 hours and there was a new block that ran from 2pm to 6pm on Monday. Maybe it was set to switch at 2pm or something..

Diana,
How come the program guide doesn't have the correct information when the baseball games are on? It prohibits you from recording a Game to your DVR unless you set the time Manually.

I noticed that it finally switched over to HD at exactly 2pm edt.
I have no idea technically how things work at TWC, but the program guide doesn't have a listing for Braves Baseball on channel 813 when they are on, it is just a random Special Events guide that is alway on there. They are usually in blocks of 4 hours and there was a new block that ran from 2pm to 6pm on Monday. Maybe it was set to switch at 2pm or something..

Diana,
How come the program guide doesn't have the correct information when the baseball games are on? It prohibits you from recording a Game to your DVR unless you set the time Manually.


We get it as they send it. If it wasn't in HD its because we didn't have an HD signal to provide you.

The reason its not listed in the program guide is (1) it would be a manual process that someone in my office (probably me) would have to type up and send in every day and I don't have enough hours in my day as it is and (2) additional costs from the guide vendor because it would be a manual process rather than an automated one.

Thanks, I was just wondering, not too big of a deal I guess...

The Braves game isn't on tonight on Channel 814 like the schedule says. It is a Turner south game. Soccer is on instead. The soccer game just started. Tennis was on before hand.. Its not on 813 either, I checked in case it was on that channel instead.

oh, for some reason, on the schedule on the TWCSC website, the games on turner south are listed as AM instead of pm. I assume that is just an entry error and doesn't effect the actual broadcast.

We get it as they send it. If it wasn't in HD its because we didn't have an HD signal to provide you.

The reason its not listed in the program guide is (1) it would be a manual process that someone in my office (probably me) would have to type up and send in every day and I don't have enough hours in my day as it is and (2) additional costs from the guide vendor because it would be a manual process rather than an automated one.
Well, let's see....you get it as they send it. Does that mean they are sending nothing since the game isn't on 814, as of 7:55 pm, as the TWCSC website indicates? And if they are sending nothing how is it on Turner South SD (channel 21) now?

snip

The reason its not listed in the program guide is (1) it would be a manual process that someone in my office (probably me) would have to type up and send in every day and I don't have enough hours in my day as it is and (2) additional costs from the guide vendor because it would be a manual process rather than an automated one.
Dear TWCSC,

I was wondering.....I'm really busy over the next few months and I don't have time to deal with my cable bill, so it'll be OK if I send it whenever I have the time to deal with it, right? And, geez, while we're at it, my funds are quite low right now, so, is it OK if I knock $50 off the bill I'll be paying (much) later?

It'll be OK if I do this and it will have no repercussions regarding my future service, right?

oh, for some reason, on the schedule on the TWCSC website, the games on turner south are listed as AM instead of pm. I assume that is just an entry error and doesn't effect the actual broadcast.

That's a typo, doesn't impact what goes on the air. I'll get it fixed asap.

As soon as I got the info on 814 I called the headend manager - it was the 6th inning. He was going to try to locate the issue.

If anyone noticed it being resolved, I'd appreciate the input.

Dear TWCSC,

I was wondering.....I'm really busy over the next few months and I don't have time to deal with my cable bill, so it'll be OK if I send it whenever I have the time to deal with it, right? And, geez, while we're at it, my funds are quite low right now, so, is it OK if I knock $50 off the bill I'll be paying (much) later?

It'll be OK if I do this and it will have no repercussions regarding my future service, right?


Ok, so next time if I don't think you'll like the answer, I'll either ignore the question or make something up.

Nucleartiger , thats noting i had no cable, phone or internet for 8 hours sunday...i called them twice. once at 2:30 and then again at 5:30 but they still had no update. missed the indy 500 and half the coca-cola 600. had to break out the TRUSTY rabbit ears around 7:00pm. I couldnt take it anymore.

I couldnt take it anymore.
It would have been a living hell 100 years ago. You would have had to read a book, take a walk, smell the roses, etc.

Diana,
I quit watching about the 5th inning or so.
When I did think about it and turned it back around 10:30 or maybe even 11pm to channel 814, the Phillys-Nationals game was still on that channel. Not sure if the braves ever made it on in between..

Ok, so next time if I don't think you'll like the answer, I'll either ignore the question or make something up.

Diana,

Please ignore his comment and keep up the great work you do here. We like and need you. I usually can just "lurk" here now since you arrived. The answers to my questions are usually answered by you before I even right a note.

So thanks for being here and not ignoring the problems and giving straight answers.

Al

Nucleartiger , thats noting i had no cable, phone or internet for 8 hours sunday.... I couldnt take it anymore.

Bummer.. and on such a pretty, bright sunny day to boot!

I'll take 8 hours without a phone ANY day!

The Braves game on 813/814 are a bonus, right?

If so, why get so cranky about the program guide not always being perfectly accurate?

First post.

OK, so yesterday, I swing by the TWC office in Five Points and there's a line of about two dozen people. Never seen such a line in that office in my life; usually, you can walk right up to the counter. But it's OK, I'll wait, I just need to pick up an 8300 box for my new HDTV. Twenty minutes later, I finally get to the counter, only to be told they're all out of 8300s.

So I'm a little peeved, especially after the 20-minute wait, but I say, "OK, so when will you have more?" And the guy says, "Maybe tomorrow." I ask, "Maybe? So maybe you won't." He says, "Right, but you can call to find out." I sigh and so, "OK, well let me go ahead and reserve one." Dude says, "No can do."

So let me get this straight. I've been a loyal TWC customer for 5 years running. I've got full digital tier, plus HBO & Showtime, plus RoadRunner to boot. My monthly bill is right about $120. That comes to about $7000 worth of business I've done with TWC, and that's just since I moved to Columbia.

So after all that, you mean to tell me that I can't reserve a freaking box? Because I'm already perturbed about the whole "no ESPN2HD, no 1/2 the World Cup" thing, and now I'm this close to saying screw it and going DirecTV or Dish.

Speaking of which, any chance of resolving the ESPN2HD issue before the World Cup? Or at the very least getting the USA/Czech Republic game slated as a Special Event?

Hmmm, you get HBO & Showtime for $120/month? I pay $121.45 per month and dont even get any premium channels. Have the Speed of Light package(which is just regular digital cable plus Road Runner, doesnt include a cable box, its supposed to be cheaper), 1 HD-DVR, and HD tier and thats it.

Yea the whole TWCSC not adding any new channels is getting pretty freaking ridiculous. They started up this SDV and digital simulcast and tell us now we'll have lots of bandwidth for new HD channels only to add nothing. They add like 10 on-demand channels that are basically all advertisements. The analog channels are all still the same volume but now the digital versions of the channels in the range of 0-99 are all at different volumes. For example channel surfing in the 20's and 22, National Geographic, is so low you cant hear it, so you crank the volume on the stereo up then a few mins later switch to 23 and BOOM you're blowing your speakers out. Why in the H*LL cant they regulate the volume before sending out the signal?

The analog channels are all still the same volume but now the digital versions of the channels in the range of 0-99 are all at different volumes. For example channel surfing in the 20's and 22, National Geographic, is so low you cant hear it, so you crank the volume on the stereo up then a few mins later switch to 23 and BOOM you're blowing your speakers out. Why in the H*LL cant they regulate the volume before sending out the signal?

Because they "groom" the program streams onto the system and have no way of changing the audio. It's a programmer issue, not TWC.

Followup on earlier post:

Just got off phone with TWC. They don't have any boxes today. They might Thursday or Friday, but won't promise. They might next week, but won't promise. And they will not reserve one. "First come, first serve." Which is great, 'cause, y'know, it's not like some of us have jobs. Meanwhile, my HDTV bought on Saturday continues to sit in its box.

Why shouldn't I switch to satellite again?

Followup on earlier post:

Just got off phone with TWC. They don't have any boxes today. They might Thursday or Friday, but won't promise. They might next week, but won't promise. And they will not reserve one. "First come, first serve." Which is great, 'cause, y'know, it's not like some of us have jobs. Meanwhile, my HDTV bought on Saturday continues to sit in its box.

Why shouldn't I switch to satellite again?
A standard HD converter... a SA3250HD ... might be a suitable temporary box until they do get some HD DVRs in. Also, you did not mention what kind of tuner your new HDTV has, but if has an ATSC tuner is it QAM capable? If so, then you should be able to get the local HD channels via standard digital cable w/o a box . If not QAM capable; you still may be able to get the locals HD broadcasts OTA using a small antenna. As far as TWC's policies ... guess I am satisfied enough with their service (HD now five years plus) where switching to either Dish or DirecTV has never been necessary or desirable. YMMV.
____
Bruce

Has anyone ever had any issues like this..

I am using a 8300HD receiver set to Pass through via componet to a Dell 37 inch HDTV

Sometimes when I switch from an HD channel to a SD channel, the signal gets messed up.
its hard to explain, but it is most noticible in the text on logos, and on the On screen guide from the cable box. The graphics have lines through them like they are doubled up..

I can correct the issue by switching back to the HD channel, letting that channel come in good and then switching back.

I can also correct the issue by using the zoom button on my DVR, I zoom in and then when i get back to normal, the picture is corrected.

Not sure if this is the TV, or the cable Box...

Bob, the local anchor insert are scary loud, and have been for some time.


This is still a problem. I jump every time they cut away to a local news promo. The local commercials seem fine, though.

Maybe their new downtown studio has new extra-sensitive microphones?

That remedy's in the works. Currently testing a system on WCCB..

Posted sevral days ago..not online yet for WOLO

Diana,

Please ignore his comment and keep up the great work you do here. We like and need you. I usually can just "lurk" here now since you arrived. The answers to my questions are usually answered by you before I even right a note.

So thanks for being here and not ignoring the problems and giving straight answers.

Al
Isn't it rather sexist to say, "...ignore his comment..."? How do you know "his" gender? For all you know, you may have offended me, but I'll try to ignore it.

My comments weren't directed toward Diana as much as TWCSC in general, hence the "Dear TWCSC" salutation. The local monopoly they have for cable service leads to apathy on TWCSC's part about doing things RIGHT. I'm sure Diana has all the work she can do. Might that signal they need more people to do the stuff their customer base might want or that they aren't efficient with the employees they have?

Let's just say I appreciate Diana participating here but I am no big fan of TWCSC.

It would have been a living hell 100 years ago. You would have had to read a book, take a walk, smell the roses, etc.

Bummer.. and on such a pretty, bright sunny day to boot!
I'll take 8 hours without a phone ANY day!

It was a nice day...i had steaks on the grill, cold budlight in the fridge and no INDY 500. that really makes me want to smell the roses.

Isn't it rather sexist to say, "...ignore his comment..."? How do you know "his" gender? For all you know, you may have offended me, but I'll try to ignore it.

My comments weren't directed toward Diana as much as TWCSC in general, hence the "Dear TWCSC" salutation. The local monopoly they have for cable service leads to apathy on TWCSC's part about doing things RIGHT. I'm sure Diana has all the work she can do. Might that signal they need more people to do the stuff their customer base might want or that they aren't efficient with the employees they have?

Let's just say I appreciate Diana participating here but I am no big fan of TWCSC.


USAGE NOTE Traditionally the pronouns he, him, and his have been used as generic or gender-neutral singular pronouns, as in A novelist should write about what he knows best and No one seems to take any pride in his work anymore. Since the early 20th century, however, this usage has come under increasing criticism for reflecting and perpetuating gender stereotyping.•Defenders of the traditional usage have argued that the masculine pronouns he, his, and him can be used generically to refer to men and women. This analysis of the generic use of he is linguistically doubtful. If he were truly a gender-neutral form, we would expect that it could be used to refer to the members of any group containing both men and women. But in fact the English masculine form is an odd choice when it refers to a female member of such a group. There is something plainly disconcerting about sentences such as Each of the stars of As Good As It Gets [i.e., Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt] won an Academy Award for his performance. In this case, the use of his forces the reader to envision a single male who stands as the representative member of the group, a picture that is at odds with the image that comes to mind when we picture the stars of As Good As It Gets. Thus he is not really a gender-neutral pronoun; rather, it refers to a male who is to be taken as the representative member of the group referred to by its antecedent. The traditional usage, then, is not simply a grammatical convention; it also suggests a particular pattern of thought.•It is clear that many people now routinely construct their remarks to avoid generic he, usually using one of two strategies: changing to the plural, so they is used (which is often the easiest solution) or using compound and coordinate forms such as he/she or he or she (which can be cumbersome in sustained use). In some cases, the generic pronoun can simply be dropped or changed to an article with no change in meaning. The sentence A writer who draws on personal experience for material should not be surprised if reviewers seize on that fact is complete as it stands and requires no pronoun before the word material. The sentence Every student handed in his assignment is just as clear when written Every student handed in the assignment.•Not surprisingly, the opinion of the Usage Panel in such matters is mixed. While 37 percent actually prefer the generic his in the sentence A taxpayer who fails to disclose the source of ____ income can be prosecuted under the new law, 46 percent prefer a coordinate form like his or her; 7 percent felt that no pronoun was needed in the sentence; 2 percent preferred an article, usually the; and another 2 percent overturned tradition by advocating the use of generic her, a strategy that brings the politics of language to the reader's notice. Thus a clear majority of the Panel prefers something other than his. The writer who chooses to use generic he and its inflected forms in the face of the strong trend away from that usage may be viewed as deliberately calling attention to traditional gender roles or may simply appear to be insensitive

It was a nice day...i had steaks on the grill, cold budlight in the fridge and no INDY 500. that really makes me want to smell the roses.

Well no wonder you're annoyed! The cold budlight should have been in your hand! :D

PS: I got my 8300HD last night. They'd gotten a shipment in the afternoon, and I managed to snag the last one. And they gave me some added discounts, which may or may not have been because of my whining, but more likely was because they're still wrestling with this new billing system and couldn't figure out how to give me the regular "new HD subscriber" discounts while keeping other discounts I have in play active. I'm still bumming about the "no ESPN2HD, no 1/2 of the World Cup in HD" thang, but I'm a lot more agreeable now that my HDTV (I just got the Hitachi 42HDS69 that came out this week) is up and running.

The local monopoly they have for cable service leads to apathy on TWCSC's part about doing things RIGHT.

i'm guessing you never experienced cable service during the 70's and 80's when they were a true monopoly. i'm old enough to remember when the "weather channel" on cable was a b&w camera that panned back and forth in front of a bunch of analog displays for temperature, wind speed, humidity, time, etc. a lot of the channels were snowy and tough luck if you didn't like it. nobody was going to spend any time to try and get you a clear picture and if you wanted a service appt. you would be laughed at if you expected something within the next few days in a 3-4 hr. window. the only alternative was a big dish which was not comparable price-wise at all.

now you may believe that TWC is a monopoly but they don't. maybe i've just been lucky but whenever i've had a service issue i've never encountered anyone there who did not want to get it resolved. there are too many alternatives now that they can't afford to be complacent about it anymore.

re: Braves games in the program guide, i guess i just don't understand what the big deal is. you never know how long a game will go so you have to pad the end time. it's not that much more work to just schedule it as a manual recording.

Let's see...it's nearly 8 p.m. and the Braves aren't on 813 like the TWCSC website indicates. Wonder what's the problem now. Is everyone else getting it and it's just me or did TWCSC drop the ball again?

I just spoke with the headend and they are aware of the issue and working to resolve it.

At first you said 814. Did you make a mistake?

i'm guessing you never experienced cable service during the 70's and 80's when they were a true monopoly. i'm old enough to remember when the "weather channel" on cable was a b&w camera that panned back and forth in front of a bunch of analog displays for temperature, wind speed, humidity, time, etc. a lot of the channels were snowy and tough luck if you didn't like it. nobody was going to spend any time to try and get you a clear picture and if you wanted a service appt. you would be laughed at if you expected something within the next few days in a 3-4 hr. window. the only alternative was a big dish which was not comparable price-wise at all.

now you may believe that TWC is a monopoly but they don't. maybe i've just been lucky but whenever i've had a service issue i've never encountered anyone there who did not want to get it resolved. there are too many alternatives now that they can't afford to be complacent about it anymore.

re: Braves games in the program guide, i guess i just don't understand what the big deal is. you never know how long a game will go so you have to pad the end time. it's not that much more work to just schedule it as a manual recording.

I didn't have cable in the 70s, granted, but I did starting about 1980 or '81. So your guess is wrong. I'm old enough to remember the days when my grandmother had a car with no air conditioner, but that doesn't mean I will settle for a car now that has a defective air conditioner. I can remember when we had a TV that was only black and white, but that doesn't mean I am going to settle for a sorry color TV now. Geez.

TWCSC absolutely has a local monopoly on cable service...there is NO denying that. What I would like to see is some cable competition. And don't give me the excuse that it's too complicated or too much fixed cost, trouble, etc. to have cable companies compete. We put men on the moon over 30 years ago, computer chips have been developed that can do billions of calculations per second, and most of the things related to the Internet have only been around for a relatively short period. We can do all of that but we can't figure out a way to let cable companies compete? Unbelieveable. I think Ted Turner was right.

I just spoke with the headend and they are aware of the issue and working to resolve it.
It's on now, Diana. Thank you very much for your prompt attention to this.

I didn't have cable in the 70s, granted, but I did starting about 1980 or '81. So your guess is wrong. I'm old enough to remember the days when my grandmother had a car with no air conditioner, but that doesn't mean I will settle for a car now that has a defective air conditioner. I can remember when we had a TV that was only black and white, but that doesn't mean I am going to settle for a sorry color TV now. Geez.

TWCSC absolutely has a local monopoly on cable service...there is NO denying that. What I would like to see is some cable competition. And don't give me the excuse that it's too complicated or too much fixed cost, trouble, etc. to have cable companies compete. We put men on the moon over 30 years ago, computer chips have been developed that can do billions of calculations per second, and most of the things related to the Internet have only been around for a relatively short period. We can do all of that but we can't figure out a way to let cable companies compete? Unbelieveable. I think Ted Turner was right.

well, that's where our perspectives differ; you view cable service as equivalent to a car with a defective air conditioner. while not perfect, i think it's much better than it's ever been. and it's because of competition. if you insist on a narrow view of 'monopoly' then yes, you can only get ESPN-HD via cable from TWC, but there's also satellite and soon probably telephone delivery. more competition=more choices=better service for everyone.

just curious though, how do you propose cable competition should work? do you think another company would want to come in and wire up the city from scratch? or should they be able to lease TWC's lines? i guess they already do it with Roadrunner/Earthlink. you might end up with a different channel selection but basically the same service issues. heck, i know people in other states who wish their systems would add HDNet. the grass is always greener...

At first you said 814. Did you make a mistake?


Last night was TBS so it was 813. Earlier this week it was Turner South, which is 814.

I just spoke with the headend and they are aware of the issue and working to resolve it.

Diana, just tell them to "flip the switch".. :D

It would have been a living hell 100 years ago. You would have had to read a book, take a walk, smell the roses, etc.

Please don't be a retard!

100 years ago he wouldn't be paying 150 dollars (or more) a month for dead air on arguably the biggest day of the year as far as motorsports are concerned.

Diana, just tell them to "flip the switch".. :D

Is that the magic word.... now things will run smooth!

Are both games going to get on today?? I know it will be off schedule because of the rain out last night. the 1pm game is on turner south and the 7pm game is on TBS..

"well, that's where our perspectives differ; you view cable service as equivalent to a car with a defective air conditioner. while not perfect, i think it's much better than it's ever been. and it's because of competition."

I guess that's where our perspectives differ; you view The Weather Channel vs. a b&w camera panning back and forth in front of a bunch of analog displays as "much better than it's ever been" when you are talking about something around 25 years+ chronologically and eons technologically. Sorry, but I don't consider that to be tremendous progress. Tremendous progress would be where I could pick the company I want as my cable provider. Instead, tremendous progress would seem to be the ability to simply reserve a cable box when TWCSC temporarily runs out of them.

"if you insist on a narrow view of 'monopoly' then yes, you can only get ESPN-HD via cable from TWC, but there's also satellite and soon probably telephone delivery. more competition=more choices=better service for everyone."

I don't think I have a "narrow view" of monopoly but I suppose we can agree to disagree on that and agree to agree on "more competition=more choices=better service for everyone."

"just curious though, how do you propose cable competition should work? do you think another company would want to come in and wire up the city from scratch? or should they be able to lease TWC's lines? i guess they already do it with Roadrunner/Earthlink. you might end up with a different channel selection but basically the same service issues."

You asked, so here goes...cable competition would have a better chance to work if we would stop the owners of the cable companies, typically the large media companies, from collaborating to inhibit competition. Ted Turner, former Time Warner Vice Chairman of the Board, has said large media companies don't compete, they collaborate to inhibit competition. The free market would take care of the wiring, the length, or even existence, of the franchise agreement with the local government, the channel line-up, quality of customer service, etc. if true competition was effected.

"heck, i know people in other states who wish their systems would add HDNet. the grass is always greener..."

Heck, I know people in our state who wish our system would add ESPN2HD, or NFL Network, or National Geographic HD to name just a few.

I had twc about 1&1/2 years ago but switched to directv. I am getting ready to move and considering twc again, but wanted to see if their dvr was any better now than before. I used to have shows that would not get recorded and the "season passes" would work for a few weeks and then all of a sudden stop recording for no reason at all. Admittedly I am a tivo user and I know I will never like the sa explorer hd dvr near as much as tivo, but I do expect the basic functions of a dvr to work and I certainly want to know if I set up a repeated recording of a show that I can depend on it to record it without any problems. When I had the sa hd dvr, it had just come out, so I am hoping they have worked many of the bugs out and was just wanting to ask everyones opinion and hear their recent experiences before deciding to make the switch back to twc.

Bran... fwiw... I don't like the 8300 HD DVR from twc near as much as I liked my old 508 DVR that I used with my dish service for over 4 years. Their box was better 4 years ago than the TWC box is today. (i am not sure how long the 8300 has been out)

I am glad though, that I can now record HD without having to pay what I would have had to with dish to get an HDDVR. So, that proabably outweighs the things I dislike. I guess I will get use to the way their developers wrote the software as time goes on.

I can't say that I have noticed a ton of "Bugs" with the 8300, but I have only had it for about 2 months. I haven't lost any recordings or anything. The things that I don't like are not "bugs" but rather just features in the way the box was designed. And yes, there is a big difference between a bug in the software and features that you would rather see. Its only a bug if it doesn't do something exactly the way the developer intended it to do.

I think that SA isn't developing the receivers the way people would like for them to work. I am not sure if I can blame TWC for this or not. I guess it is their choice as to who they pick to supply their receivers. They would probably be better off building and developing them from the ground up like Dish and Directv does.

Of course the programming guide is another story..here is a great example of inept developing... ( and I know because I have worked in the software development and testing fields before)

This is stupid.....
when you are watching a channel, say channel 27 and you want to change to channel 28, 29, 30, 31 to scan the channels, which button do you choose on the remote??? You press the channel "UP" button on the remote.. yea, the button that is on top of the channel "Down" button..

Now, when you go into the program guide and you want to check out what programs are on different channels, like if you are on 27 and want to see 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and so on, which button do you press???? the "up" arrow right?? No...... you have to press the "down" arrow button to scroll up the channel numbers.

That is just stupid and makes no sense and the person who decided that should be fired!!! one way you press the up button and another way you press the down arrow..

If there is a setting somewhere that you can change how the channels are displayed in the program guide to reverse this, I will say I am wrong.. If there is, please tell me where, cause I can't find it.. (of course the default setting should be the other way)

ok.. that is my rant for today!!

Now, when you go into the program guide and you want to check out what programs are on different channels, like if you are on 27 and want to see 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and so on, which button do you press???? the "up" arrow right?? No...... you have to press the "down" arrow button to scroll up the channel numbers.

That is just stupid and makes no sense and the person who decided that should be fired!!! Where is the higher number channel on the screen? Uh.... down.

Where is the higher number channel on the screen? Uh.... down.


Right, the higher channel is down lower.
I am not sure what you are trying to say..

I am saying it is dumb to have the higher channels lower on the guide. you use the down arrow.

When regularly changing channels, you don't press the channel down button do you? no you press the channel up button..

it would be better in the guide if a higher channel was above a lower one..

Of course most people don't care and probably don't even notice. I may not have even notice if it were not for the fact that it was the other way around on my old program guide with my dish box.. thats why I mentioned it..

Right, the higher channel is down lower.
I am saying it is dumb to have the higher channels lower on the guide. you use the down arrow.

Look at any channel listing on the WWW or in the newspaper. Channels are listed low to high. Face it - You're FIRED !.

Yea, I also don't have to scroll 5 channels at a time when I am looking in the newspaper. wait a minute. I don't even look in the newspaper..whats the point, the listings are on the on screen guide.


Another thing that i noticed that made me bring this up is the difference in the two remotes. on my dish remote, I didn't have a separate channel +- button to go along with the up,down,left,right buttons. The up,down,left,right controlled the channels regardless of if you were in the program guide or just on a normal channel. Thats probably why I noticed this and was annoyed by it.

i just noticed Toy Story on ABC is not showing on ABC HD.. it is just blank. It was on channel 5 but not the hd channel. don't know how long it has been this way, not really watching it... just wanted to let everyone know.

WOLO did the blackout on AFV the other day as well.

Did anyone else consider the volume out of the 8300HD way too low this weekend?

I noticed my speakers were humming, and traced it back to needing to crank up the TV's volume to unusually high levels to hear. The box's volume was maxed out, but that wasn't enough for some channels. My hearing hasn't gone bad: DVDs played through another input didn't need extra volume...

Right, the higher channel is down lower.
I am not sure what you are trying to say..

I am saying it is dumb to have the higher channels lower on the guide. you use the down arrow.

I think this is a pretty small issue to be arguing about, but if you list anything numerically you always start with the lower number at the top of the page and proceed to the higher numbers down the page. Its been about 4 years but when I had satellite service their program guide was the same way, you pressed the down arrow to scroll down the program guide thus showing the listing for higher channel numbers. I dont see the big deal with that. TWC's HD-DVR's do have more than their fair share of bugs but I dont see that as being one.

As far as the record a whole season of a show, that function has never worked on my DVR, have to remember each week to go in and record it.

My Email:
Hello Mr.Southwick, I was told by a executive at Time Warner Cable that STARZ-HD could possibly finally be added to it's lineup later this year.

There are many Starz subscribers that own HD sets and have been patiently waiting for this channel for years now and are on the brink of canceling.

I recently canceled my Starz subscription because I can't bring myself to watch the standard definition version of Starz anymore on my HD set.

So, will TWC be getting STARZ-HD before the end of the year?

Unfortunately I can't get Dish network as I heard they will be adding STARZ-HD.


Mr.Southwick:
This is entirely the decision of Time Warner. We are happy to make Starz HD available to them free of charge. They just have to decide to take it and make room for it on their cable system.
--
--
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hear that folks, all you need is a slot for this channel, that's all!!! And unlike other TWC markets u have all the space in the world. what's TW's excuse for u guys.

Did anyone else consider the volume out of the 8300HD way too low this weekend?

I noticed my speakers were humming, and traced it back to needing to crank up the TV's volume to unusually high levels to hear. The box's volume was maxed out, but that wasn't enough for some channels. My hearing hasn't gone bad: DVDs played through another input didn't need extra volume...

Yeah I noticed the same thing. That and alot of drop outs, pixelations, and video/audio stuttering.

Nucleartiger,
I think I saw where you had posted that you both an 8000HD and an 8300HD. If that is true, have you noticed any differences in picture quality, performance, etc.?

TIA

the 8300 seems to be faster as far as getting around in screens. Otherwise I really haven't noticed too much of a difference between the two. PQ seems to be the same. I may just not pay that much attention between the two.

the 8300 seems to be faster as far as getting around in screens. Otherwise I really haven't noticed too much of a difference between the two. PQ seems to be the same. I may just not pay that much attention between the two.


Thanks. I was planning to trade the 8000 for the 8300 to use HDMI, but wanted to make sure I wasn't asking for other problems. From what I've read here and elsewhere, they both can have their issues. Since switching over to the new HDTV, I'm having a lot of channels drop out (running the 8000HD via component) but I'm not sure of the cause. I guess I need to give TWC a call.

My Email:
Hello Mr.Southwick, I was told by a executive at Time Warner Cable that STARZ-HD could possibly finally be added to it's lineup later this year.

There are many Starz subscribers that own HD sets and have been patiently waiting for this channel for years now and are on the brink of canceling.

I recently canceled my Starz subscription because I can't bring myself to watch the standard definition version of Starz anymore on my HD set.

So, will TWC be getting STARZ-HD before the end of the year?

Unfortunately I can't get Dish network as I heard they will be adding STARZ-HD.


Mr.Southwick:
This is entirely the decision of Time Warner. We are happy to make Starz HD available to them free of charge. They just have to decide to take it and make room for it on their cable system.
--
--
--
hear that folks, all you need is a slot for this channel, that's all!!! And unlike other TWC markets u have all the space in the world. what's TW's excuse for u guys.


I don't know who Mr Southwick is... at this point we have not been told by our Corporate Programming group the deal is executed so we cannot add the channel. As to what will be charged for it at the corporate level... I don't ever get to read the final contracts so I wouldn't be able to confirm or deny the rate or lack thereof...

Thanks. I was planning to trade the 8000 for the 8300 to use HDMI, but wanted to make sure I wasn't asking for other problems. From what I've read here and elsewhere, they both can have their issues. Since switching over to the new HDTV, I'm having a lot of channels drop out (running the 8000HD via component) but I'm not sure of the cause. I guess I need to give TWC a call.

I will say we have had an issue with a limited number of Digital channels dropping out over the past-weekish. I am confident that yesterday and today some challanges were overcome and we are close to final resolution.

Certainly you are welcome to call and receive some basic troubleshooting but phone traffic is very high and hold times are long right now.

I don't know who Mr Southwick is... at this point we have not been told by our Corporate Programming group the deal is executed so we cannot add the channel. As to what will be charged for it at the corporate level... I don't ever get to read the final contracts so I wouldn't be able to confirm or deny the rate or lack thereof...

Tom Southwick is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Starz-Encore. I wish I had someone like you in my TWCNYC thread, but the issue here is not the price of the channel, Instead of just waiting I took the initiative and found out information that helps all TWC "subscribers" know what's going on. My market might not have the space to currently carry STARZ-HD but I know Columbia & Austin does because of SDV. So please put some pressure on the suits for all of us with little voices. thanks

...almost 30 mins into the Braves game and no broadcast on 814 as advertised on the TWCSC website.

My cable box has rebooted twice in the past 15-20 minutes. Is anyone else having these problems?

Drock.. like I said, the main reason it annoyed me is because I was used to doing it the other way with my Dish Receiver. I understand that it is usally done this way when listing numbers..

I just noticed it within 10 minutes of using the 8300. I guess when you get use to something you notice changes easily. I liked using the same button to browse the guide as I did to change the channel when not in the guide..


LexHidef. Looks to be a normal occurance with the braves games not getting on..
and this was one of the deciding factors to go ahead and go with TWCSC... very disappointing..


Diana, why are we still having this problem?? thanks

I will say we have had an issue with a limited number of Digital channels dropping out over the past-weekish. I am confident that yesterday and today some challanges were overcome and we are close to final resolution.

Certainly you are welcome to call and receive some basic troubleshooting but phone traffic is very high and hold times are long right now.


I've had the new TV up and running for almost a week, and seemed that it was a problem since I hooked it up. The local HD channels have rarely come through on the box. I even hooked up some rabbit ears to confirm that there was something being broadcast. I'll take another look tonight and see if anything has improved.

Diana, why are we still having this problem?? thanks


Last night for some inexplicable reason FOX Sports decided we didn't have authorization for the feed. My headend tech called their Hot line when it didn't come in - then he called me at home - I called FOXs VP of the SE region at home - he called the hotline and spoke with someone- then called me to have the headend tech call the hotline back with technical info - I then called the headend and told them to call back and who to speak with and then he called FOX Sports hotline back and got it resolved. Unfortunately it wasn't a quick fix, and it certainly isn't your problem where the issue was located, but it really wasn't on our end last night and we resolved it as quickly as possible.

I've had the new TV up and running for almost a week, and seemed that it was a problem since I hooked it up. The local HD channels have rarely come through on the box. I even hooked up some rabbit ears to confirm that there was something being broadcast. I'll take another look tonight and see if anything has improved.

The issue I was referring to should not be a problem for local HD Broadcasters... just some digital tier channels. Please email me your home number at twcscnews@twcable.com and I'll have someone make sure your converters are 'balanced'.


For everyone, we converted to a new billing system over Memorial Day and there is a new step involved for customer service that requires them to make sure equipment is 'balanced'. There seems to have been a small percentage of customers who 'came over' from the previous billing system to the new billing system unbalanced. If you are missing any digital channels email me and I'll have my staff check your account. If you don't know if your missing anything and still want to check we will do so, but please let me know that when you send the email so that we might prioritize the process for those who we know have a problem.

My cable box has rebooted twice in the past 15-20 minutes. Is anyone else having these problems?


I don't know of any reason why... please let us check your equipment balance.

Thanks!

Tom Southwick is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Starz-Encore. I wish I had someone like you in my TWCNYC thread, but the issue here is not the price of the channel, Instead of just waiting I took the initiative and found out information that helps all TWC "subscribers" know what's going on. My market might not have the space to currently carry STARZ-HD but I know Columbia & Austin does because of SDV. So please put some pressure on the suits for all of us with little voices. thanks

FYI - I wrote an articulate answer to this earlier this morning, but by the time I was done the AVS Server was down for some reason, so now I'm at work and you get a shorter, less thoughtful answer...


Here's what's in my control -

Telling Corporate Programming we want a service (telling them loudly and often)
Getting a channel on the air asap upon resolution of the deal

Both these items I believe I do a good job with


Here's my thoughts on the fact that this gentleman says the programming is free - PLEASE KEEP IN MIND I DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE ACTUAL STARZ DEAL, THIS IS SIMPLY A LOGICAL VERSION I CAN SEE BASED ON 13 YEARS IN THIS INDUSTRY.

We pay XYZ channel 1 apple a month for their service. There is a contract negotiation, ownership of XYZ channel says here's our proposal:

1. Pay 3 apples a month for XYZ channel and we'll give you XYZ HD free

or

2. Pay 1 apple a month for XYZ channel and 3 apples a month for XYZ on Demand and we'll give you XYZ HD Free


I have no doubts that STARZ is offering their HD channel without an associated rate per month - I'm not so certain there aren't strings attached that include increased rate that would potentially be paid by you know who...


Just my cautionary tale on a sales guys presentation of deal points based on years of industry experience.

I don't know of any reason why... please let us check your equipment balance.
Diana, I have been thinking of changing to the 8300HD cable box from the 3250. If I do that this week, will the 8300 be "balanced" already or are you referring to more/other stuff?

Ok forget Starz. How many apples for ESPN2HD?

CinemaxHD is worth another avocado a month to me...

I dont know how the rest of you guys feel but as far as i'm concerned they can take INHD 1&2 and the two HDNet channels and throw them in the garbage, there is never anything on worth watching and they replay the same stuff so often its ridiculous. If ESPN-Hd wasnt in that HD tier I'd have cancelled a long long time ago. I'd rather them dump those 4 channels and get 4 better channels, ESPN2-HD, NFL-HD, Starz-HD, Cinemax-HD, National Geog HD (I really want that one), etc.

I'm still waiting for them to make worthwhile use of all this new bandwidth they created since going to SDV. Havent seen one iota of benefit.

Diana, I have been thinking of changing to the 8300HD cable box from the 3250. If I do that this week, will the 8300 be "balanced" already or are you referring to more/other stuff?


All converter types have to be balanced in the new billing system. This is a new step in the process whenever a new customer gets Digital or an existing customer exchanges their converter. Its a learning curve for our CSSRs at this point.

I dont know how the rest of you guys feel but as far as I'm concerned they can take INHD 1&2 and the two HDNet channels and throw them in the garbage, there is never anything on worth watching and they replay the same stuff so often its ridiculous. If ESPN-Hd was in that HD tier I'd have cancelled a long long time ago. I'd rather them dump those 4 channels and get 4 better channels, ESPN2-HD, NFL-HD, Starz-HD, Cinemax-HD, National Geog HD (I really want that one), etc.

I'm still waiting for them to make worthwhile use of all this new bandwidth they created since going to SDV. Have seen one iota of benefit.

I tend to agree except once in a while they do show some HD sports on those channels -- last nights Stanley Cup game and lots of other hockey for example plus some HD baseball and the rare college football game. But I really have it for ESPN HD and would gladly pay another $7+ a month for ESPN2HD NFL Network, ESPNU etc but TW only gives us what is good for their bottom line. The ESPN2 is a gunfight as to who will blink first. ESPN wants to make money -- TW could care less about what channels it offers as long as it makes money so if ESPN is going to cut into the bottom line no ESPN2HD for us. I really don't understand this we don't buy the HBO and the like but we do buy the football package, hockey package, baseball package so if you are going to charge me another $7 to$15 a month for what I would like to have instead of all the channels we never watch why can't I pay for that. I'm have many of the channels blocked because I don't want the garbage they spew in my home -- like all the religious channels and Fox news.

There used to be a service we had called Starsight that was an early on screen guide, It was great, when we blocked a channel on Starsight it was gone! We also could rearrange the channels in the order we wanted so all the sports were together etc. When the cable companies went to on screen guides Starsight went out of business -- ah progress.

Diana,

Do you have any information From ESPN regarding the NCAA Baseball Super Regionals for this Weekend between USC and Georgia??

The Saturday game is going to be on ESPN2. The Sunday game is listed as ESPN/ESPNU.

Here is part of the story on the ncaa website

A minimum of 45 hours of super-regional television will be provided by family of ESPN channels, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Consult local listings for specific games shown in each area of the country. As many as 15 national broadcast windows could appear on the three ESPN networks from June 9-12.

With TWCSC not carrying ESPNU, is anything going to be done to ensure that Columbia will be able to watch the game on Sunday and monday if ESPN decides to put our game on ESPNU??

Thanks

Diana,


With TWCSC not carrying ESPNU, is anything going to be done to ensure that Columbia will be able to watch the game on Sunday and monday if ESPN decides to put our game on ESPNU??

Thanks

I have nothing additional on the schedule at this point.

If its on ESPNU it will not be on TWCSC.

what a shame....

Ok forget Starz. How many apples for ESPN2HD?

I would be willing to shell out quite a few apples for ESPN2HD, considering the World Cup starts tomorrow and most of the 1st round games are on ESPN2 :(

So, there will be no communication between TWC and ESPN regarding the games and channel scheduling? This would mean that we are basically at the mercy of what ESPN Might decide about what channel to show the game on Sunday...

I would think that ESPN would want the USC fans in Columbia to be able to see their school play on Sunday and I would also think that TWC would want people in columbia to be able to see the games?

I guess if this is the case, we just have to hope and pray that we get lucky and espn decides to show our game on the flagship station...

if they decide to go the espnu route, the time warner offices might want to get ready for a ton of calls complaining... Luckily I have a friend with Directtv that has invited us over if it does end up there..

We have no control over how the games are programmed. We did tell our sales rep we certainly wanted all the local games on ESPN or ESPN2, but he has no control over it either.

The group that schedules the games doesn't have anything to do with the Affiliate Sales Group and they probably have no idea where ESPNU is actually carried. It is a situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

For example - ESPN Scheduling put together a stunt once for ESPN Classic in which there were a series of Clemson v Carolina games on - all of which Clemson won. They came to us and asked if we would hype it. We said no - it has to be at least 50/50 on the outcome or we will get killed. They didn't care, they didn't understand why we wouldn't partner with them and they aired the games as they had already scheduled them even though we were about a month out.

HD Sports News

Comcast has reached a deal to carry ESPN2HD just in time for the World Cup!

Earth to TWC - time to act.

For example - ESPN Scheduling put together a stunt once for ESPN Classic in which there were a series of Clemson v Carolina games on - all of which Clemson won. They came to us and asked if we would hype it. We said no - it has to be at least 50/50 on the outcome or we will get killed. They didn't care, they didn't understand why we wouldn't partner with them and they aired the games as they had already scheduled them even though we were about a month out.

I appreciate that concern!

Comcast has reached a deal to carry ESPN2HD just in time for the World Cup!


they also have a deal to provide TiVo branded DVRs, which i'd take over any additional HD channels.

If I wanted to watch the Hopkins-Tarver fight tonight on HBOHD-PPV, would I be able to on TWCSC? If so, can someone tell me what channel it's carried on and how I order?

Thanks.

Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins
$49.95
Event starts at 8:30pm with 30 minute countdown show
Channel 601 - Standard Definition
Channel 604 - High Definition

Tune to 604 and press the B button to "Buy"

Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins
$49.95
Event starts at 8:30pm with 30 minute countdown show
Channel 601 - Standard Definition
Channel 604 - High Definition

Tune to 604 and press the B button to "Buy"

Thanks for the info, Diana. Well, except for that price. Geez, I was hopin' for no more than $29.95. Thanks again for the info.

Price is not our doing.... that is set by the Promoters...

We have no control over how the games are programmed. We did tell our sales rep we certainly wanted all the local games on ESPN or ESPN2, but he has no control over it either.

The group that schedules the games doesn't have anything to do with the Affiliate Sales Group and they probably have no idea where ESPNU is actually carried. It is a situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

For example - ESPN Scheduling put together a stunt once for ESPN Classic in which there were a series of Clemson v Carolina games on - all of which Clemson won. They came to us and asked if we would hype it. We said no - it has to be at least 50/50 on the outcome or we will get killed. They didn't care, they didn't understand why we wouldn't partner with them and they aired the games as they had already scheduled them even though we were about a month out.


Haha, It would be too much trouble for them to actually have to sift through all those years to find 5 games that Carolina won.

I would love to get some more HD channels as well or at least a re-arranging of the number of ones that we currently have.

Personally I would like to see ESPN 2 HD on the HD Tier and hopefully we could get the CW in HD when that channel hits the airwaves.

I know the politics with all of this must be incredible.

In an article from Cnet.com comes this quote:

"There's been a lot of talk about integrating all kinds of interactive features into TV," said Rick Thompson, a senior analyst at Heavy Reading, an industry analyst group based in New York City. "But in the short term, the biggest differentiator will be who has the best content package, and part of that will be how much HDTV you have."

I really think this is what it is all about. I really see very little, if any, use for any of the interactive features that TWC has added. I don't ever use the news one since it mostly out of date and very slow. The start over makes me lose too much flexibility with my DVR -- no FF, etc. -- so we really have never used that. It just seems to slow down getting to the picture I would like to see! I have invested a great deal of money in a large screen HDTV and home theatre system, I would like to have the channels to watch. I realize that is a corporate issue and not resolved at the local level but TWC corporate does not seem to care to want to resolve those issues. I am referring mainly to the sports channels but there are other channels that people want. It appears that we will go another season without ESPN2HD football and NFL Network football games but I got my start over that I never use so that must be good because TWC corporate cares about me :p

I really see very little, if any, use for any of the interactive features that TWC has added.

Same here. I just want to watch the duggum tv. Same for the cell phone, drop all the interactive crap and give me a phone that works RELIABLY..

So he does not like interact features. What is it costing him? I do not think they come at the expense of additional channels.

http://news.com.com/HDTV-the+clincher+in+war+between+cable+and+phone/2100-1033_3-6083040.html?tag=nefd.lede

I'd like to think TWC would race to fatten the pipes to current customers' homes to stay ahead of Verizon, but I begged BellSouth to get DSL to my area for over a year before ditching them. I don't think I need to beg anymore...

http://news.com.com/HDTV-the+clincher+in+war+between+cable+and+phone/2100-1033_3-6083040.html?tag=nefd.lede

I'd like to think TWC would race to fatten the pipes to current customers' homes to stay ahead of Verizon, but I begged BellSouth to get DSL to my area for over a year before ditching them. I don't think I need to beg anymore...

Were already ahead of them with a fatter pipe, so I don't really follow you...

Were already ahead of them with a fatter pipe, so I don't really follow you...

i think he is talking about verizon installing fiber right into homes.


I really see very little, if any, use for any of the interactive features that TWC has added.

i like some of them, StartOver is handy to catch top of the hour news and i like the Columbia forecast on the Weather Channel (although the audio level is too low). the author's argument is only valid if he can prove that these features are coming instead of HD channels which i don't think he does.

i think he is talking about verizon installing fiber right into homes.

Where it hits the same home wiring as your cable does... so the miniscule amount of benefit you theoretically gained in a lab somewhere by that 30 to 60 feet of fiber is immediately negated... Oh yeah, but there is all the extra capital they have to get back from the consumer...

ii like some of them, StartOver is handy to catch top of the hour news and i like the Columbia forecast on the Weather Channel (although the audio level is too low). the author's argument is only valid if he can prove that these features are coming instead of HD channels which i don't think he does.


FYI for everyone - These features are absolutely NOT coming instead of HD channels. The engineers who work on these features are worlds away from the lawyers who do the programming deals.

Same here. I just want to watch the duggum tv. Same for the cell phone, drop all the interactive crap and give me a phone that works RELIABLY..


Charlotte doesn't even have any ITV features launched....

Were already ahead of them with a fatter pipe, so I don't really follow you...Wait a moment, here's part of that piece:
Right now, in terms of network architecture, Verizon Communications is best equipped to deliver multiple HDTV streams. The phone company is building a network that extends fiber directly into homes, giving people almost limitless bandwidth capacity. Adding more HDTV streams over this infrastructure shouldn't be an issue.Are they lying (OK, exaggerating) about Verizon's available bandwidth? With no completely compression-speckle-free HDTV showing up from TWC yet, I think 'almost limitless bandwidth' makes for a much better ad campaign...

Lets just call it an aggressively optimistic spin.

Think about it this way... unless its fiber to the TV, there is the same 'bandwidth limit' for either product.

PS - is that buildout to every house in every neighborhood......

Well, I expect a new fibre cable will push through the wall to each HDTV box involved. Whatever "cable" modem gets included would also have fibre directly to it. I see they upped their Internet service to 10Mb/2Mb back in May, and have higher speeds for the needy.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1956454,00.asp

With fat enough cables, I imagine shotgunning stuff through multiple strands would come into play. There'a an awful lot of light you can pack into a cable that still bends enough to install in a wall...

Well, I expect a new fibre cable will push through the wall to each HDTV box involved. Whatever "cable" modem gets included would also have fibre directly to it. I see they upped their Internet service to 10Mb/2Mb back in May, and have higher speeds for the needy.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1956454,00.asp

With fat enough cables, I imagine shotgunning stuff through multiple strands would come into play. There'a an awful lot of light you can pack into a cable that still bends enough to install in a wall...


I think your expectations for their service is beyond what will be delievered.

Bottom line - you will not be able to tell the difference between service we provide Fiber to the Ped or they provide Fiber to the home. the 30 to 60 feet just don't make a discernable difference.

Are they lying (OK, exaggerating) about Verizon's available bandwidth? With no completely compression-speckle-free HDTV showing up from TWC yet, I think 'almost limitless bandwidth' makes for a much better ad campaign...

you can read their spin on it here:

http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/about+fios+tv/about+fios+tv.htm

the channel lineup does look pretty good...

http://www22.verizon.com/Content/FiOSTV/Channel+Lineup/Channel+Lineup.htm

When will Verizon be offering home HDTV cable service in Columbia?

When will Verizon be offering home HDTV cable service in Columbia?

when LexHiDef's dream of free market cable competition comes true. :p

Are they lying (OK, exaggerating) about Verizon's available bandwidth? With no completely compression-speckle-free HDTV showing up from TWC yet, I think 'almost limitless bandwidth' makes for a much better ad campaign...

No exaggeration. Verizon is fully capable now in the FIOS areas of offering 644Mbit internet d/l bandwith to each customer without affecting the video and phone side of FIOS. They currently don't as there is nothing out on the internet that requires that amount of speed (yet). However they do offer a 30Mbit d/l package that costs less than TWC Premium RR :eek:

When will Verizon be offering home HDTV cable service in Columbia?


Not unless we can get Bellsouth (now back to ATT) to release their *monopoly* on Columbia.

Sumter, MB, and other SC areas that currently has Verizon home phone service "may" see FIOS rollouts next year. Of course it will have to be cleared by the local governments.

you can read their spin on it here:

http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/about+fios+tv/about+fios+tv.htm

the channel lineup does look pretty good...

http://www22.verizon.com/Content/FiOSTV/Channel+Lineup/Channel+Lineup.htm

The channel lineup IS damn good and will only get better.

Reason...... Verizon doesn't do much of the BS "negotiation" routines that other companies do. It's pretty much "We want it...how much does it cost?"

It one thing to have a market, and it's entirely a different thing when your trying to establish one.

TWC will most likely add these channels shortly. The reason why is it now makes good business sense. The sales of HDTV has boomed, and they need to keep the customers they have, and they need to add more customers.

It one thing to have a market, and it's entirely a different thing when your trying to establish one.

TWC will most likely add these channels shortly. The reason why is it now makes good business sense. The sales of HDTV has boomed, and they need to keep the customers they have, and they need to add more customers.
IMO, Time Warner and Disney will probably come together at some point (in Disney's favor). It will happen when TWC figures they will keep/add more subs than they will lose when they do add ESPN-2. If I remember correctly what has been written here at AVS in the past, Disney is bullying TWC given the ESPN-2 fee schedule is based upon a total subscriber basis and not just HD-Tier subs. I (like many I suspect) are neutral/ambilvilent in regards to TWC adding ESPN-2 to the lineup..... as long as it does not cost me money. Raise MY monthly bill by $4 to $5 (or whatever) so you can have that one extra HD channel would (will) raise my ire quite a bit. YMMV but some of do have a ceiling of what we will send to TWC each month. Now as to why they have not added some of the other channels given they have SDV, not sure.. especially for those that are subscription/premium services.
____
Bruce

I suspect little or no channel changes before August. Time Warner plans to spin off Time Warner Cable as a separate publicly traded entity after the Adelphia transaction closes, expected by July 31.

....I (like many I suspect) are neutral/ambilvilent in regards to TWC adding ESPN-2 to the lineup...

You must not be a soccer fan...The world cup has been amazing in HD via Directv. Even today during all the rain ;)

You must not be a soccer fan...The world cup has been amazing in HD via Directv. Even today during all the rain ;)

NO, he is just like the other 90% of Americans that think Soccer sucks!

For example - ESPN Scheduling put together a stunt once for ESPN Classic in which there were a series of Clemson v Carolina games on - all of which Clemson won. They came to us and asked if we would hype it. We said no - it has to be at least 50/50 on the outcome or we will get killed. They didn't care, they didn't understand why we wouldn't partner with them and they aired the games as they had already scheduled them even though we were about a month out.

Sorry but there just isnt that much footage of games where carolina actually beats Clemson. Blame carolina for that not ESPN. :D

Not unless we can get Bellsouth (now back to ATT) to release their *monopoly* on Columbia.

Sumter, MB, and other SC areas that currently has Verizon home phone service "may" see FIOS rollouts next year. Of course it will have to be cleared by the local governments.

I wouldnt expect to see it in Sumter any time soon, the telephone infrastructure there is so outdated. They cant even offer DSL service there, except to a limited few.

...It appears that we will go another season without ESPN2HD football and NFL Network football games but I got my start over that I never use so that must be good because TWC corporate cares about me :p

I couldnt agree more with every single word you just said.

TWC is a joke. Until there is actually some competition you will get what they want you to have or what is finacially beneficial to them to give to you. I mean who really gives a rip about the interactive info or start over? I've never used either one of them.... ever. I too, want more channels. Is TWC too blind to see that if you give us more channels we'll all be happy instead of spending all that money on the other crap that no one gives a rats azz about?

And I know Diana is a wonderful person who is kind enough to help us all out, but take what she says with a grain of salt when it comes to the Verizon or cable over telephone lines issue. She is Director of Marketing for TWCSC not Verizon or an indepent company. She's not going to say "Oh yeah Verizon will kick our azz if they ever get to come into SC but we are spending millions lobbying the legislature so that never happens." Shes doing what cable companies have always been good at, using what I call cable-speak. Rightfully so though, TWCSC is her employer and its her job to defend them and bend facts to make them look better.

NO, he is just like the other 90% of Americans that think Soccer sucks!

Soccer doesnt suck. And there is no way that 90% of Americans think that. Youth soccer is second to little league baseball in sports participation. Its like golf though, great sport to play, terrible sport to watch on tv. Has to be the more fun to watch paint dry than to watch a soccer match on tv. Then they play the American game during the middle of the day, while everybody's at work.

TWC is a joke. Until there is actually some competition you will get what they want you to have or what is finacially beneficial to them to give to you. I mean who really gives a rip about the interactive info or start over? I've never used either one of them.... ever. I too, want more channels. Is TWC too blind to see that if you give us more channels we'll all be happy instead of spending all that money on the other crap that no one gives a rats azz about?


so because you've never ever used any of the interactive features or start over nobody should be interested in them, right?

once again, the validity of your argument is dependent on the premise that it is an either/or thing and i don't see what they have to do with adding HD channels.

it seems like everyone is indulging in idle speculation, so i guess i will too...the deals are made at the corporate level and cover all TWC systems. i don't know how many have switched video and can afford the bandwidth yet but i'd guess it's not the majority. maybe they are not making these deals until most systems can add the channels when the deals are made? i dunno, but sounds as reasonable as anything else.

and i'll side with Bruce on being neutral/ambivalent about ESPN2-HD...i only watch the occasional baseball game on ESPN and more than enough of my monthly bill goes to them already...

"Oh yeah Verizon will kick our azz if they ever get to come into SC but we are spending millions lobbying the legislature so that never happens."
Perhaps you should educate yourself about the COPE Act before you babble on much further.

Originally Posted by DianaTWCSC
For example - ESPN Scheduling put together a stunt once for ESPN Classic in which there were a series of Clemson v Carolina games on - all of which Clemson won. They came to us and asked if we would hype it. We said no - it has to be at least 50/50 on the outcome or we will get killed. They didn't care, they didn't understand why we wouldn't partner with them and they aired the games as they had already scheduled them even though we were about a month out.



Sorry but there just isnt that much footage of games where carolina actually beats Clemson. Blame carolina for that not ESPN.

Not to worry Carolina fans, CSS never shows a Clemson game in which they win!!!!

I wouldnt expect to see it in Sumter any time soon, the telephone infrastructure there is so outdated. They cant even offer DSL service there, except to a limited few.


You can blame the Sumter government for that.

Perhaps you should educate yourself about the COPE Act before you babble on much further.

What does the COPE Act have to do with Verizon FIOS coming to Columbia?

What does the COPE Act have to do with Verizon FIOS coming to Columbia?
The thinking is video, voice and data markets will open up without local franchising as you now know it.

The thinking is video, voice and data markets will open up without local franchising as you now know it.

Local franchising? You're kidding right? TWC has a strangle hold on Columbia and will not allow any other "smaller" cable co enter this market if they want to use TWC lines. Same goes for Bellsouth (now ATT).

Verizon has the cash and will power to lay their own lines, but have to deal with local governments and the local 'competition" regarding that buildout.

Shouldn't the COPE Act be directed to TWCSC and ATT?

If I'm missing something, please enlighten me.

Local franchising? You're kidding right?
If I'm missing something, please enlighten me.
The COPE bill (passed the House, in the Senate) would replace local cable franchises with national franchises (FCC). Do the research.

Not unless we can get Bellsouth (now back to ATT) to release their *monopoly* on Columbia.

Sumter, MB, and other SC areas that currently has Verizon home phone service "may" see FIOS rollouts next year. Of course it will have to be cleared by the local governments.


Its being installed in NMB now, the fiber is already in the ground in some places. Its going to be turned on in area's from what I understand, but I'm not sure of the timetable. It will be phone and internet at first, then video sometime later.

Verizon doesn't appear to be pushing the video all that hard for now except where its already on. I think they are still working on everything trying to make sure its like they want, before they have too many subscibers. There are rumors they want to change cable boxes from Motorola to a tivo based unit, with 6 tuners.

There is plenty of information about how verizon's FIOS really works, one just has to read in the right places. A verbal war has been going on for quite awhile between Comcast and Verizon, about fiber to the home. Its been kind of amusing actually.

Verizon is installing FIOS for the future, finally replacing the copper. The only real way for existing cable to actually compete is with new technology, like SDV and other things. Its true they're already doing more with copper than anyone thought possible just a few years ago.

Of course the bandwith isn't limitless but they can offer high speed internet, like 30mb/5 (and faster) with hundreds of HD channels, without doing the tricks cable is having to already do. Also they were running CAT5 wire and still will, but they can use existing coxa.

Of course the bottom line is its still just a picture to the TV so it will be interesting to see how it works out. Verizon won't be everywhere anyway. I would like to see that COPE bill past myself, plenty of states already have their on version of it. SC has something going on like that , but I don't know where it stands now, because of course there are some against it.

....passed the House, in the Senate....

then we're screwed

There is another issue in COPE. The issue is Net Neutrality. It goes like this. If the bill passes the senate then TW as RR can decide what web sites we get to use based on whatever TW wants -- maybe $$. So Google won't pay TW enough so no Google or it becomes a real back door to get there. This is not a porn issue this is an issue about what sites your server will let you get to. So it could be the only home page you might have is RR -- maybe you like that page -- I don't but you would not have a choice. TW could decide that they don't like certain bloggers so those sites won't be on RR and so on. So this COPE bill is not a great deal. I have been working hard to get it defeated in the Senate. WE knew we would lose it in the house but it should not pass the senate. Our two boys are for it by the way. You may want to out and Google Net Neutrality -- while you still can :eek:

I think the way it works out is you can still get to everything but money will change hands between big companies with big net traffic and those that provide the traffic superhighways. We still get it in the end - in more ways than one.

There is another issue in COPE. The issue is Net Neutrality. It goes like this. If the bill passes the senate then TW as RR can decide what web sites we get to use based on whatever TW wants -- maybe $$. So Google won't pay TW enough so no Google or it becomes a real back door to get there. This is not a porn issue this is an issue about what sites your server will let you get to. So it could be the only home page you might have is RR -- maybe you like that page -- I don't but you would not have a choice. TW could decide that they don't like certain bloggers so those sites won't be on RR and so on. So this COPE bill is not a great deal. I have been working hard to get it defeated in the Senate. WE knew we would lose it in the house but it should not pass the senate. Our two boys are for it by the way. You may want to out and Google Net Neutrality -- while you still can :eek:

Well, they are always attaching things to bills that kind of screws things up, but something should be done to help stop Local governments from making it impossible for competition.

when LexHiDef's dream of free market cable competition comes true. :p
And it's way, way, way overdue.

So how's the audio levels on WOLO-DT?

The TWCSC website and hdsportsguide.com both indicate tonight's Braves game was to be on TurnerSouth HD (channel 814 on TWCSC), however, the game is on FoxSportsSouth (or FSN or whatever) in terrible SD.

Diana, I realize that , most probably, TWCSC nor you had anything to do with this, but can you help me understand the reason the game was switched, apparently with little or no notice to TWCSC or HD Sports Guide?

Thanks in advance.

So how's the audio levels on WOLO-DT?


Seems like you reverted back a couple of years in your audio setup. I prefer center channel for vocals, and having forced stereo in the fake 5.1 is a real bummer.

The TWCSC website and hdsportsguide.com both indicate tonight's Braves game was to be on TurnerSouth HD (channel 814 on TWCSC), however, the game is on FoxSportsSouth (or FSN or whatever) in terrible SD.

Diana, I realize that , most probably, TWCSC nor you had anything to do with this, but can you help me understand the reason the game was switched, apparently with little or no notice to TWCSC or HD Sports Guide?

Thanks in advance.

I sent an email to FOX Networks to ask why.... will let you know what they say

Somebody there in Columbia tell WIS to flip the damn HD switch on the golf.

Again, thanks.

Now...I don't necessarily like to be a pain in the rear end, but I like to get what I am promised and pay for.....why is the US Open golf telecast not in widescreen HD right now? The picture is good and I can't really tell whether it's HD or not but it definitely isn't widescreen.

That's a question for WIS. we pass through as they send it.

I called WIS about 1:15 and they guy "flipped the switch". I have had the most luck with that. Call the station directly when you know a show is supposed to be in HD and become a polite pain in the :mad:

First of all, we shouldn't have to call anyone...it's ridiculous. Secondly, I send my money to TWCSC and they ARE my cable provider so why shouldn't I expect them to make SURE I have what I am supposed to have from my cable?

Thanks for calling the station....apparently you are the reason they finally got a clue. I did send them an email through their website but they were probably asleep at the wheel where that is concerned too.

I would think TWC gets plenty of calls of this sort. The casual cable HD viewer's first thought is probably to call the cable company. It seems TWC could avoid a lot of trouble calls and undeserved blame by having an interest in alerting the stations themselves.

You guys sure make it sound easy... We just pay someone to watch tv all day and we're done.

It's bad enough I can't get ESPN2 in HD for the World Cup. It's bad enough that WOLO, in their infinite wisdom, preempted the first 75 minutes of today's opening game for a paid infomercial from Kenneth "Love Jesus And Make Millions!!!" Copeland. But now the game's on, and the friggin' idiots haven't flipped the HD switch. And no one in engineering or programming is picking up a phone.

Then again, what do you expect from a station that cares enough about the community to move their news operations to Charlotte? WOLO is a third-rate operation.

First of all, we shouldn't have to call anyone...it's ridiculous. Secondly, I send my money to TWCSC and they ARE my cable provider so why shouldn't I expect them to make SURE I have what I am supposed to have from my cable?

Thanks for calling the station....apparently you are the reason they finally got a clue. I did send them an email through their website but they were probably asleep at the wheel where that is concerned too.



Oh STOP! You buy cable service from TWC to provide you what the stations send.
It does not occur to me that TWC is at all responsible for what the station sends.
TWC should only be responsible for getting a good representation of what the station is sending to them. With your understating you'll want them to do the producing as well very soon. :-)

Diana - I've emailed you. This weekend has been a nightmare and the blame falls squarely on TWC. I still have no service and no idea what is going on.

Please read the email and see what you can do. I'll leave the details off of here as YOU have personally been very helpful. It's the others at the mill who are driving me nuts. I'm posting from a friend's home, and obvisouly, since I have no working phone, tv, or internet, will not be able to check this board for any information. My contact info is in the email.

Oh STOP! You buy cable service from TWC to provide you what the stations send.
It does not occur to me that TWC is at all responsible for what the station sends.
TWC should only be responsible for getting a good representation of what the station is sending to them. With your understating you'll want them to do the producing as well very soon. :-)
Let me see if I understand what you are suggesting here.

A consumer goes to Dillards, Belks, Louries, or other clothing store and purchases an article of clothing. They get home and discover that it is defective, i.e., a zipper appears to be coming undone or there is a hole in the garment. Since the clothing store is only selling the consumer a "good representation" (whatever that means) of the manufacturers goods, should the consumer then contact the manufacturer of the clothing directly for proper handling of the problem? Or should they contact the store?

You go to the grocery store and buy a melon. You get home, cut it open and it is rotten inside. Do you track down the farmer or distributor of the melon for resolution of the problem or do you look to the store? After all, the store is only selling a "good representation" of the farmer or distributors goods.

Based on my interpretation of what you advocate here, you would suggest contacting the clothing manufacturer or farmer/distributor for rectification of these problems. Am I right or wrong?

By the way, what did I understate?

And, no, I don't want them producing anything....they have a hard enough time getting what they are doing now right.

To unsubscribe from this thread, please visit this page:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/subscription.php?do=usub&t=99727 :eek:

Let me see if I understand what you are suggesting here.

A consumer goes to Dillards, Belks, Louries, or other clothing store and purchases an article of clothing. They get home and discover that it is defective, i.e., a zipper appears to be coming undone or there is a hole in the garment. Since the clothing store is only selling the consumer a "good representation" (whatever that means) of the manufacturers goods, should the consumer then contact the manufacturer of the clothing directly for proper handling of the problem? Or should they contact the store?

You go to the grocery store and buy a melon. You get home, cut it open and it is rotten inside. Do you track down the farmer or distributor of the melon for resolution of the problem or do you look to the store? After all, the store is only selling a "good representation" of the farmer or distributors goods.

Based on my interpretation of what you advocate here, you would suggest contacting the clothing manufacturer or farmer/distributor for rectification of these problems. Am I right or wrong?

By the way, what did I understate?

And, no, I don't want them producing anything....they have a hard enough time getting what they are doing now right.

well, you seem to be putting a lot of work into trying to get a decent analogy; this appears to be version #3...i hope i'm not jumping the gun here before v4 is released.

so, every time you find a web site is down do you call your ISP and ask why you can't connect to that one site? just wondering.

i think that it's more useful to let the source of a problem know when possible. the local stations don't put a lot of effort into HD because they don't view it as a moneymaker yet. WIS is especially bad in this regard and i think directing your ire their way might get better results.

You guys sure make it sound easy... We just pay someone to watch tv all day and we're done.

Can I apply for this job????

To unsubscribe from this thread, please visit this page:
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Not a bad idea.....

Apparently Starz-HD and Cinemax-HD has popped up in TEXAS on TWC!!!

I know their's space on Columbia's system for these channels, are u getting them?

San Antonio, TX:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=591537#post591537

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7847102#post7847102


Austin, TX:
http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=26114

Intersting - first I have heard of it, so right this second still no change in SC plans.

Thanks

Can I apply for this job????


Weel - lets see - 24/7 exclusive TV watching on 5 different HD lineups - that's got to be 15 Full Time and at least 5 Part Time heads .... so sure I think you probably have a chance

Let me see if I understand what you are suggesting here.

A consumer goes to Dillards, Belks, Louries, or other clothing store and purchases an article of clothing. They get home and discover that it is defective, i.e., a zipper appears to be coming undone or there is a hole in the garment. Since the clothing store is only selling the consumer a "good representation" (whatever that means) of the manufacturers goods, should the consumer then contact the manufacturer of the clothing directly for proper handling of the problem? Or should they contact the store?

You go to the grocery store and buy a melon. You get home, cut it open and it is rotten inside. Do you track down the farmer or distributor of the melon for resolution of the problem or do you look to the store? After all, the store is only selling a "good representation" of the farmer or distributors goods.

Based on my interpretation of what you advocate here, you would suggest contacting the clothing manufacturer or farmer/distributor for rectification of these problems. Am I right or wrong?

By the way, what did I understate?

And, no, I don't want them producing anything....they have a hard enough time getting what they are doing now right.
You are buying a service with TWC. That service does not include (in anything I can find/read) that says that TWC is responsible for anything but supplying what the stations supply to them.

When I buy from a store I am buying a product that the store has indicated, in their written policy, that I may return a defective product to them and they will deal with the problem from that point.

Weel - lets see - 24/7 exclusive TV watching on 5 different HD lineups - that's got to be 15 Full Time and at least 5 Part Time heads .... so sure I think you probably have a chance

I think you should give the job to Lex, he notices EVERYTHING that goes wrong.

If I were as miserable as Lex, I would sell all my stuff and live in a cave.

I would like the position of Corporate AVS Forum reader several of the folks here write their long-winded tirades of HD channels we don't have in our area to. :D

You are buying a service with TWC. That service does not include (in anything I can find/read) that says that TWC is responsible for anything but supplying what the stations supply to them.

When I buy from a store I am buying a product that the store has indicated, in their written policy, that I may return a defective product to them and they will deal with the problem from that point.So when I'm hitting the Favorites button looking for something to watch and a channel turns up blank, I still have to figure out if it's TWC or not in order to complain? Seems like a lopsided deal there for something I run into more often than I like.

How about we call TWC, then they immediately figure out if it's their fault (receiver down for repair, etc.) and if not THEY call the broadcaster to get them on the stick?

One TWC number, NOT the main customer service number for other issues, give them the channel number(s), let them deal with it as part of good customer service?

NAh, that'd be too convenient...

the proof is in the picture, call TWC and demand it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7856370#post7856370

It's bad enough I can't get ESPN2 in HD for the World Cup. It's bad enough that WOLO, in their infinite wisdom, preempted the first 75 minutes of today's opening game for a paid infomercial from Kenneth "Love Jesus And Make Millions!!!" Copeland. But now the game's on, and the friggin' idiots haven't flipped the HD switch. And no one in engineering or programming is picking up a phone.

Then again, what do you expect from a station that cares enough about the community to move their news operations to Charlotte? WOLO is a third-rate operation.


Ahh yes.. typical uninformed comments from a "newbie". The infomercials were ordered and booked way in advance of the "WORLDCUP" schedule.To pre-empt these air the world cup would have resulted in substantial revenue loss and client irritation. We asked, but ABC/Disney would NOT allow us to air the game seperately on the HD during this time period as CBS does with some games.

And, for the record, WOLO's news originates from downtown and Main and Gervias
across from the capitol building. (that's the really big dome beside the USC campus) And there's really big signs on our building that read "ABC Columbia".
Of course,any skilled "reporta" would know the facts... :)

What really burns me up is that HBO is cancelling Deadwood, and so far TWC has done NOTHING to stop it!

:rolleyes:

The TWCSC website and hdsportsguide.com both indicate tonight's Braves game was to be on TurnerSouth HD (channel 814 on TWCSC), however, the game is on FoxSportsSouth (or FSN or whatever) in terrible SD.

Diana, I realize that , most probably, TWCSC nor you had anything to do with this, but can you help me understand the reason the game was switched, apparently with little or no notice to TWCSC or HD Sports Guide?

Thanks in advance.

Response from FOX Cable Networks:

"It was driven by a TBS rainout earlier in the year. In order to make all schedules (FSN, Turner South and TBS) whole, TBS took a FSN game, FSN took Friday’s game, and Turner South gets an additional game in July. Why these games? I am sure that it was driven by schedule opportunities and production truck coordination."

Diana,

What are the chances of Columbia receiving StarzHD and CinemaxHD by weeks end?

Don't know yet - I have to depend on others to answer my inquiries to develop a plan and right now I have a lot of unanswered questions out there.

As always i PROMISE to let you know as soon as I know

So when I'm hitting the Favorites button looking for something to watch and a channel turns up blank, I still have to figure out if it's TWC or not in order to complain? Seems like a lopsided deal there for something I run into more often than I like.

How about we call TWC, then they immediately figure out if it's their fault (receiver down for repair, etc.) and if not THEY call the broadcaster to get them on the stick?

One TWC number, NOT the main customer service number for other issues, give them the channel number(s), let them deal with it as part of good customer service?

NAh, that'd be too convenient...


Lets see, you call TWC and so do a lot of others, now how many calls is that and how many CR's are answering your type of calls instead of serious calls. Results, long hold times at TWC. Why not just ignore it as most of the time TWC engineers will notice and fix the problem.

Point is, they most likely do not need your call.
Most likely you won't speed anything up. They do have people that will catch the problem. Maybe not as fast as you want but, "Hey, it's TV" Read a book or watch another channel.

Lets see, you call TWC and so do a lot of others, now how many calls is that and how many CR's are answering your type of calls instead of serious calls. Results, long hold times at TWC. Why not just ignore it as most of the time TWC engineers will notice and fix the problem.

Point is, they most likely do not need your call.
Most likely you won't speed anything up. They do have people that will catch the problem. Maybe not as fast as you want but, "Hey, it's TV" Read a book or watch another channel.Do you get cable for free? Just wondering why you think wasting it on dead channels is acceptable.

Here's an easy way. One 'CSR', one phone that'll hold maybe 10 complainers at once. CSR sits at/near the head end, so immediate access to the cause of a channel outage can be determined. As soon as somebody complains, a message will be displayed on the channel that "Trouble has been reported. Fix due ASAP", which will let people know that TWC no longer needs them to call about it. This would cover audio troubles too, when the center channel is out and you can't hear what people are saying. If TWC has 10 or more channels in trouble at once, perhaps it's time to reevaluate the staff.

Yes, it will require a few bucks and won't be a necessity when things are going well. Yes, the CSR might need something extra to do, like the other CSR-related calls. Yes, it will make a few customers happy.

Now it will be waived off as unneeded and a waste of money, I'll be told again to suck it up and read a book while still paying the full bill, and life will go on...

I don't mean to downplay your concern, or your desire for the best possible cable service you can receive, however I do have to say that a scenario as simplistic as the one you envision is not realistic on several levels. To take one point, the billboard capability alone would be Tens of Thousands of dollars in capital - which would come have to come from somewhere ... like maybe new HD converters and we all know how persons on the forum feel when they are not able to immediately obtain the converter model they want.

Again I'm not trying to make light of your optimal system, just point out that the interworkings of an operation this size, and the implications on other customer facing aspects are a bit beyond what you are envisioning.

Do you get cable for free? Just wondering why you think wasting it on dead channels is acceptable.

Here's an easy way. One 'CSR', one phone that'll hold maybe 10 complainers at once. CSR sits at/near the head end, so immediate access to the cause of a channel outage can be determined. As soon as somebody complains, a message will be displayed on the channel that "Trouble has been reported. Fix due ASAP", which will let people know that TWC no longer needs them to call about it. This would cover audio troubles too, when the center channel is out and you can't hear what people are saying. If TWC has 10 or more channels in trouble at once, perhaps it's time to reevaluate the staff.

Yes, it will require a few bucks and won't be a necessity when things are going well. Yes, the CSR might need something extra to do, like the other CSR-related calls. Yes, it will make a few customers happy.

Now it will be waived off as unneeded and a waste of money, I'll be told again to suck it up and read a book while still paying the full bill, and life will go on...

i think this has all gotten way too complicated. it started out because LexHiDef was upset because WIS didn't 'flip the switch' to HD at the start of a golf game. in my experience when this happens it is always a local HD station (usually WIS) and usually their fault. i've never sat down to watch a HD cable channel (HD tier, premium HD channel or other non-local HD channel) and had it flip in and out of HD. maybe it has happened, just not to me. if i'm watching a channel where the center audio channel is missing that usually means i've landed on WLTX-DT with their ongoing audio problems. if 10 channels are out then by all means call TWC because something's wrong. and if you're having that bad service, ask for a credit on your bill. i don't think TWC owes you anything because WIS can't get HD right, or WLTX is still working out their 5.1 kinks though.

for those who can't get enough, try this--

http://titanium.directv.com/

better act fast, i hear that this is an introductory 25% off offer, let me know how you like it.

Again I'm not trying to make light of your optimal system, just point out that the interworkings of an operation this size, and the implications on other customer facing aspects are a bit beyond what you are envisioning.
Perhaps, but reusing existing pieces of the current system (emergency message generator targeting individual channels instead of all) might yield acceptable results, except when the idea is never discussed beyond this venue...

It is illegal to use the VBI for anything other than EBS messages.

I get the impression you are suggesting something disingenuous about my responses.


I will not participate in this line of discussion any further.

it started out because LexHiDef was upset because WIS didn't 'flip the switch' to HD at the start of a golf game. in my experience when this happens it is always a local HD station (usually WIS)
The was me not him. Although it could have been him :). All I am saying is if the CSR had a direct line to WIS to tell them to flip the switch they might save untold numbers of calls like it.

If the other networks would provide a full-time, 100% HD feed like FOX does, flipping the switch would not be an issue. Stations could automate the HD switching to always take the HD feed like we do here with FOX.

Great. Multiple segment recordings on all channels (still happens on WFXB occasionally).

Audio track has been missing from at least 8pm. No audio whatsoever. This ain't good in any regards. Please fix it!

yea.. working on it..suspect ups failure producing "dirty" power. Lots of strange occurrences today. :mad:

Great. Multiple segment recordings on all channels (still happens on WFXB occasionally).

Made changes to the WFXB stream last week, hope it's better now?? :confused: