Last night during the millionaire show on ABC I was getting a real bad signal on WOLO-DT (on cable, not ota) so I switched to channel 5 on TWC. The analog channel of WOLO was worse than the digital one. It seems to me that a station that broadcasts would have to have some sort of way to guarantee that their signal gets out in bad weather so that they could do emergency broadcasts and the like. Last night the weather was not bad at all here and I dont know how bad it was up in Charlotte since thats where the signal is coming from. But I imagine up in Charlotte they just got a little snow. I'm from Buffalo, NY and you could get 3 feet of snow overnight up there and the tv's and power never went out just because of snow. Seems like there probably are some sort of FCC regs to say that. I'm no expert, just makes sense to me.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I'm no expert.

Obviously so.

When snow fall rates exceed the de-ice capacity of the antenna, that happens. This only affected ABC network, not any "emergency broadcasts". Since FOX is digital, there was enough margin for it to punch through, (they come from the same antenna).
Of course, you are welcome to come try and shovel 13" of snow out of a
7 meter and 10 meter antenna if you'd like to see a clear picture :)
:D

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Last night during the millionaire show on ABC I was getting a real bad signal on WOLO-DT (on cable, not ota) so I switched to channel 5 on TWC. The analog channel of WOLO was worse than the digital one. It seems to me that a station that broadcasts would have to have some sort of way to guarantee that their signal gets out in bad weather so that they could do emergency broadcasts and the like. Last night the weather was not bad at all here and I dont know how bad it was up in Charlotte since thats where the signal is coming from. But I imagine up in Charlotte they just got a little snow. I'm from Buffalo, NY and you could get 3 feet of snow overnight up there and the tv's and power never went out just because of snow. Seems like there probably are some sort of FCC regs to say that. I'm no expert, just makes sense to me.

Well, I did not watch ABC last night and so did not experience the signal problems you did but I am not all that suprised. Charlotte had one heck of a storm yesterday receiving around 13 inches of snowfall. That is a bunch for folks down here. We don't generally plan for such rare events whereas Buffalo and the like who get say 150" of snow per year must. I imagine that WOLO's ability to send out local information regarding the weather (or similar emergency) was not so affected; just their feed from NY was, and that was temporary. Sometimes bad weather just happens.

I don't know how long the station was having problems, I got mad and changed the channel. I love that show and couldnt watch it so I was mad. But what you are saying is that the local transmission tower wasn't affected just the satellite up in charlotte that recieves the main network feed? I guess that makes sense to me. I didnt turn back to see the news at 11pm to see how it looked so I dont know how it was.

Understand that, it is a popular show.
yes, ABC only..news was fine..It's way to dangerous in a snow storm at night to try and shovel out large antennas..take it from someone who has fell 10 feet out of a 10 meter before..fortunately, I landed in the big pile of snow I had just shoveled out. But my arse was a bit sore..

Are the posts above in reference to the HORRIBLE reception the local SD channels are having lately? ABC was particularly bad (especially during the Bachelorette last night), but WIS was pretty bad this morning as well. The DT signals (even though not in HD) were markedly better last night, though I couldn't test WIS this morning because of their AM blackout.

As for the actual problem, there is a tremendous amount of "static" and lines running across the screen on the local SD channels. Strangely, the reception is only really bad from the TWC 8000HD-DVR box feed. When I go to the coax-direct feed, the picture is much, much better (maybe because of my set's comb-filter?).

I was beginning to wonder if it was some type of interference in my system alone, so I checked in here to see if others are experiencing the same. Just wondering if that was what the above posters are referencing. Would appreciate any input, thanks.

wdbarnum & Kevinivey,

I downloaded both manuals awhile back. Thanks for the info too. :)

Irmogamecoq... Are you saying that when you run the cable directly into your tv set and use the tv's tuner for the analog cable stations (2-99) that the picture looks better than when you let the cable box tune the station for you?? If so, I may try that then, because all of my analog cable stations look terrible on my set. The digital stations (101-up) look pretty good, and obviously the HD channels look great. Only thing is then I would lose the onscreen info and the program guide if I used the tv's tuner for channels 2-99. I have the SA3250HD box not the SA8000HD box but I imagine that they would perform similarly.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Irmogamecoq... Are you saying that when you run the cable directly into your tv set and use the tv's tuner for the analog cable stations (2-99) that the picture looks better than when you let the cable box tune the station for you?? If so, I may try that then, because all of my analog cable stations look terrible on my set. The digital stations (101-up) look pretty good, and obviously the HD channels look great. Only thing is then I would lose the onscreen info and the program guide if I used the tv's tuner for channels 2-99. I have the SA3250HD box not the SA8000HD box but I imagine that they would perform similarly.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. It was explained to me before that my Toshiba HD set's comb-filter only works for the coax inputs and s-video inputs, so when connecting via composite or component, the picture is transmitted "as is" with all the static and "trash" intact. I don't know how accurate that description is, but the proof is certainly in the pudding. My PQ for analog channels is FAR superior when using the coax input, compared to the same channels via the cable box and component inputs.

This has been especially true over the past week, when the analog local channels PQ have completely fallen off the map reception-wise. I don't know what happened, but there is a lot more snow and blurry lines all over the screen than there was previously. It's strange, but I guess the weather is to blame.

Give it a try and see what you find out...I just split my cable BEFORE it reached the TWC cable box...then sent one of the coax to the cable box and the other directly into the TV. Let us know how it goes.

On another topic...

A possible SA8000HD DVR bug?

Sometimes, my DVR will "crackle" on playback of shows I've recorded. It's an annoying "pop" coming from the speakers that sounds just like a scratchy vinyl record. Anybody else ever have this problem?

The only "fix" I've found is just turning the box "off" and then back "on" again. Once that's done, the "crackle" disappears for awhile. Fortunately, it does save the spot of the recording you're watching, so you can pick right back up where you've left off.

There is a large thread under HDTV Recorders for SA8000HD info. Crackle is a known problem with playback on some recordings, especially 5.1 recordings. If you just let it play it will play correctly. 99% of what my wife and I watch is recorded programming. This audio glitches seem to be the only real issue except not being able to use S-Video for SD.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=352604&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
Your dvr postings would be welcomed:

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Irmogamecoq... Are you saying that when you run the cable directly into your tv set and use the tv's tuner for the analog cable stations (2-99) that the picture looks better than when you let the cable box tune the station for you?? If so, I may try that then, because all of my analog cable stations look terrible on my set. The digital stations (101-up) look pretty good, and obviously the HD channels look great. Only thing is then I would lose the onscreen info and the program guide if I used the tv's tuner for channels 2-99. I have the SA3250HD box not the SA8000HD box but I imagine that they would perform similarly.

The SA3250HD has all outputs active, the 8000HD does not.

Could it be that our local SD stations TWC transmissions are degrading due to cable system bandwidth being realocated to other channels (like all the new HD programming we love)?

Originally posted by wdbarnum
Could it be that our local SD stations TWC transmissions are degrading due to cable system bandwidth being realocated to other channels (like all the new HD programming we love)?
I don't think so. TWCSC recently dropped some PPV channels just so they could make some room for the new HD channels. The analog channels are not compressed and I would question the need for them to compress their SD even more. A similar question recently came up regarding compression of the HD channels and we have been assured that is not happening. Still, some have been reporting audio glitches including me. I don't have enough data yet to pinpoint the when, how, what, if recorded or live, etc. In time hopefully we will have a better picture of what is happening and then get it fixed.

Originally posted by IrmoGamecoq
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. It was explained to me before that my Toshiba HD set's comb-filter only works for the coax inputs and s-video inputs, so when connecting via composite or component, the picture is transmitted "as is" with all the static and "trash" intact. I don't know how accurate that description is, but the proof is certainly in the pudding. My PQ for analog channels is FAR superior when using the coax input, compared to the same channels via the cable box and component inputs.


It depends on what year your Toshiba was made as to how the noise reduction circuit works. All TVs use some sort of comb filter, either analog or digital, on the RF and composite inputs. The comb filter is not needed for S-Video, Component, and DVI since the Luminance and Choma signals are already been seperated.

I believe what you are seeing is the noise reduction circuit in your Toshiba. Depending on what model year you have, it may work on just the RF input, or it may work on RF, Composite, and S-Video. It operates kind of like this. Remember that most static only comprises one frame of video at a time. It moves very rapidly around the screen, and is very rarely at the same place in the video screen in consecutive frames. Actual picture information, such as a person, is at roughly the same place on the screen frame by frame. The circuit takes one frame of video and holds it. It then compares it with the next video frame. Any information the it sees is different between the frame gets canceled out, leaving only the original picture information. This only campares the current frame with the upcoming frame, so there is extremely little blurring or softening of the picture.

Smart, huh?

I just got my 8000hd yesterday, recorded a TV show (non hd), and noticed the very obvious "crackle" static on the sound (see above).
Kevin, what do you mean by "If you just let it play it will play correctly"?

Charlie,
There is a large thread over in HDTV Recorders and I believe that is more appropriate place to discuss the 8000HD over there. There are some known audio and video issues with the 8000HD. We should try to keep this thread to discussions about local HD reception.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=352604&perpage=20&pagenumber=18

Originally posted by enoree
Has WACH-DT had problems as of late? I normally can pick it up OTA in the evenings and see at least some signal strength indication during the day, but lately I don't even register any signal.
I like to flip to the OTA version to watch in better quality than cable, but it hasn't been there for days...

Enoree, sorry I missed replying to your question. FWIW, WACH-DT is coming in here fine this morning and I know it was working Wednesday afternoon as well. At that time I was testing antennas and noted they were up. No idea if the station has changed anything; I have not talked to anyone there in a long time.

Thanks for the info, guys. Sorry about the DVR posts, I just knew that we had talked about that here before so I thought it was okay. I'll look at the thread linked above though, thanks.

I think my analog channel reception is a local problem, because it has persisted through the weekend (so weather is obviously not a problem). I think I'm getting some local intereference, because I noticed increased static on screen when my wife was using an electrical appliance in the next room. I've never had this problem before. The only change I've made in my system is that I had a splitter on the audio-out of the cable box, so I could run sound to both my AV receiver and my TV itself (just so we wouldn't have to fire up the AV receiver when we're watching regular programming).

Could this be the problem? I just can't understand how a change to the audio-output could have such an effect on the PQ, but I don't know what else it could be. Would appreciate any suggestions/info, thanks.

IrmoGamecoq,

The only plausible way your wiring changes might cause PQ problems would be if you introduced a ground loop. Are all of your pieces of equipment plugged into the same surge supressor or at least the same AC outlet? In a previous house, I had a problem when the TV was plugged into a different outlet than the stereo and I connected the TV sound to the stereo.

Originally posted by Brent Hutto
IrmoGamecoq,

The only plausible way your wiring changes might cause PQ problems would be if you introduced a ground loop. Are all of your pieces of equipment plugged into the same surge supressor or at least the same AC outlet? In a previous house, I had a problem when the TV was plugged into a different outlet than the stereo and I connected the TV sound to the stereo.

Hmmm, good question.

Some of my components are plugged into each other, but they all go through the same surge suppressor in the end. Could that still have an impact?

IrmoGamecoq: suggest you work backwards on all recent changes to see if one thing you did perhaps somehow caused the problem ... remove audio splitter; remove surge supressor... plut stuff into the wall; remove any coax splitters. Also check your cables and swap them to see if maybe one is damaged and/or more susceptable to RFI than others. Do let us know if you get it resolved!

BobDavis: kudo's to the WOLO crew for a very good broadcast last night of the Academy Awards on ABC-HD!

In general: I think my analog audio crackes seem to have gone away; anyone else notice that too or am I dreaming? Hope is permanent and not just temporary.....

Originally posted by bdenman
IrmoGamecoq: suggest you work backwards on all recent changes to see if one thing you did perhaps somehow caused the problem ... remove audio splitter; remove surge supressor... plut stuff into the wall; remove any coax splitters. Also check your cables and swap them to see if maybe one is damaged and/or more susceptable to RFI than others. Do let us know if you get it resolved!

Good idea, Bruce. I'll do that, thanks for the suggestion!

On another note, did anybody notice any audio drop-outs during the Academy Awards last night? On two occasions, the sound dropped out, and the video got kindy screwy, like it was being paused and then fast-forwarded. This was on the TWC broadcast, not OTA. Anyone?

Originally posted by IrmoGamecoq
On another note, did anybody notice any audio drop-outs during the Academy Awards last night? On two occasions, the sound dropped out, and the video got kindy screwy, like it was being paused and then fast-forwarded. This was on the TWC broadcast, not OTA. Anyone?
Yes. However most if not all the audio/burps you saw were from the national feed and not locally generated. I also watched the Academy Awards via TWC and experienced several audio/video burps. However, I was also simultaneously monitoring the Oscar thread here at AVS and those same brief glitches were seen and reported by many others as well.

Originally posted by bdenman
... However, I was also simultaneously monitoring the Oscar thread here at AVS ...
PIP? :D

On a serious note, I would also like to thank WOLO for providing a good CC for this broadcast - this does not happen often with other networks.
We put our baby in bed and CC helped alot with dialogs.

Kirill

Nah, I have a old laptop (recent gift) and I setup a wireless net and I can now use it to surf with during commercials and other boring stuff on live TV.

Voom's OTA reception in South Carolina is good. This box is more steady then past boxes of mine. I can now recieve Fox....and that is a first. V* HD is something to look at!!!!!!!!!!I can also pick up Columbia OTA since I only live 60 miles from the towers there. Thanks evryone at this thread, for all your support.

Originally posted by butlers
Voom's OTA reception in South Carolina is good. This box is more steady then past boxes of mine. I can now recieve Fox....and that is a first......I can also pick up Columbia OTA since I only live 60 miles from the towers there. What channels does the VOOM STB map in your area?

I have a question for anybody in here. WWMB channel 21 in Florence is carrying the jefferson pilot broadcast of the clemson-unc basketball game tonight at 9pm. Is there anyway to watch that game here in columbia? I think it may be an espn full court game, but I don't want to pay 70 bucks to watch one game. Anyone have any ideas if you can pick that station up with an antenna in columbia? Is it possible to buy just that one game from Time Warner Cable?

I really hate the fact that no station here in columbia ever picks up the jefferson pilot games during the week, only on the weekends.

How good is the antenna for OTA reception with voom and what type of antenna is it? I am in Myrtle Beach , so I am about 80 miles from Charleston. Would I be able to get ota reception here? Specifically wciv and wcsc? I have stayed with TWC because I thought my ota reception options were limited, but they continue to drag their feet on getting the Charleston ABC affiliate, WCIV on their digital lineup. I need to look at other options. Thanks for any info you can provide

V* currently has mapped 5.1 and 5.2 ( CBS) , 2.1(NBC), 24.1(Fox) and 36.1(UPN). I spoke to Wilt VP of Engineering at V* and he will Fix 4.1(ABC) and 49.1,2,and 3 (PBS ) for me. I was also able to get a couple of Columbia stations with the Samsung 160 From Columbia when the installer turned the Antenna the opposite direction. I am going to get a second antenna and point towards Columbia.....

Summerville is Generic......I believe you are getting Driving directions. But I have a 2 story home and my antenna sits approximately 45 ft in the air. Anyway I don't want to type all the details as I'm obviously not as educated as you in this stuff. I travel to Columbia on buisness , maybe I could take you to lunch and we can discuss in it in person.I think it would be neat to meet some of you guys up there. I'll be glad to bring pictures and everything...

Any Gamecock games gonna be in HD this year???? Still SEC game of the week with CBS??

Air miles and Driving miles can be really different; it is over 40 miles for me drive to go to Two Notch area; 24 miles for radio wave from from the Elgin towers to here. If you had your geographic coordinates, you could go to www.ardman.net and get the exact mileage to the various towers (zipcode will work somewhat). Scott Burns in Florence used to get WRAL in Raleigh on a regular basis with his 7ft tall CM UHF parabolic dish; but he was still dependent on weather and signal skipping off the troposphere.

Thanks.....I am approximately 67 miles. There are several UHF antenna's that can reach that distance. In Charleston CBS is only transmitting at full power. I know that has alot to do with it. I'm just wondering If I will be better trying to get Columbia stations. Do they transmit at full power. Kevinkinney.....What are your thoughts??

Anybody watching the news at 6 on WIS? Judy Gaston is doing a series this week on HDTV (I missed yesterday). Tonight they covered Plasmas and tomorrow will be LCD. Not having seen last night I don't know what they plan per se for the week but I do hope they cover some more reasonably priced models. Tonight they seemed to define HDTV = Plasma and even called 42-43" "large". Of course they also mentioned the price range from 3k to 8k or more as I recall. And the pics from high end a/v stores showed only the sexy "6" deep models. Wonder if/when they will cover the more reasonable choices... DLP and/or CRT based RPTVs or even the other end of the sprectum.... the high end FPTVs?

Originally posted by butlers
Thanks.....I am approximately 67 miles. There are several UHF antenna's that can reach that distance. In Charleston CBS is only transmitting at full power. I know that has alot to do with it. I'm just wondering If I will be better trying to get Columbia stations. Do they transmit at full power. Kevinkinney.....What are your thoughts??

At 67 miles the Columbia towers are technically iffy due to earth curvature. But tower altitude may help you. So, if you are of a mind to and have the antenna hardware (large Yagi or Bowtie) and a decent pre-amp give the UHF stations a shot; you never know. WLTX normally operates at half power but a decent setup in Rock Hill gets them just fine. WOLO should be receivable too but will require a VHF or UHF/VHF-combo antenna. WIS is unknown, I don't know their power level and/or reach. WRLK is out due to limited range but you should have your own SCETV down there anyway. As for WACH... I just don't know what their signal range is either. Good hobby! (I have tried Charleston from here; nada results so far).

Are any of you guys having problems with the 8000HD losing it's list of "Programs to be Recorded"? I've set my season passes (I know it's a TiVO term, but it seems appropriate nevertheless) several times now and I've never had them "stick". The list is constantly getting reset, and every week I end up entering everything back in, making sure to select "All episodes" but to no avail. We've missed several episodes of shows because we thought they were being recorded and they were not.

I hope I'm just missing something quite basic here...

Isnt Frazier supposed to be in HD tonight? I'm not getting HD on TWC 805

Originally posted by tigers
Are any of you guys having problems with the 8000HD losing it's list of "Programs to be Recorded"? I've set my season passes (I know it's a TiVO term, but it seems appropriate nevertheless) several times now and I've never had them "stick". The list is constantly getting reset, and every week I end up entering everything back in, making sure to select "All episodes" but to no avail. We've missed several episodes of shows because we thought they were being recorded and they were not.

I hope I'm just missing something quite basic here...
Tigers, can't say I have been experiencing that here but I do have only a couple of programs setup that way (and they are all SD ones I might add). Instead, I have been setting up my HD recordings individually and so far so good.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I have a question for anybody in here. WWMB channel 21 in Florence is carrying the jefferson pilot broadcast of the clemson-unc basketball game tonight at 9pm. Is there anyway to watch that game here in columbia? I think it may be an espn full court game, but I don't want to pay 70 bucks to watch one game. Anyone have any ideas if you can pick that station up with an antenna in columbia? Is it possible to buy just that one game from Time Warner Cable?

I really hate the fact that no station here in columbia ever picks up the jefferson pilot games during the week, only on the weekends.

Short Answer YES - Right now PPV Channel 554

Longer Answer - sorry for the delay, I was watching Wisconsin beat MSU, which puts Illinois in the Driver's Seat to win the Big Ten, but more importantly

ESPN FULL Court is available as a Package of all games for one price Channels 570-575 or on a PPV basis on Channels 550-555.

Thanks, Diana.

Ouch, just looked, its $9.99. Guess I'll just have to watch the gametracker from the Clemson website.

Originally posted by tigers
Are any of you guys having problems with the 8000HD losing it's list of "Programs to be Recorded"? I've set my season passes (I know it's a TiVO term, but it seems appropriate nevertheless) several times now and I've never had them "stick". The list is constantly getting reset, and every week I end up entering everything back in, making sure to select "All episodes" but to no avail. We've missed several episodes of shows because we thought they were being recorded and they were not.

I hope I'm just missing something quite basic here...

That happened to me this past week (since the Leap Year Bug that wasn't supposed to effect the HD DVR). I took my converter into the Engineers to examine and everything was working, so they thought the reboot (when I unplugged it to bring it in) was the key.

So, I hate to sound redundant on this, but have you tried to reboot since the week before Leap Year?

Travel Update.

Leaving tomorrow afternoon for Charlotte around 3. Will be in Charlotte in Meetings all day Thursday, till noon on Friday, but don't know if we will make it back into the office Friday afternoon.

No internet access - NO ILLINOIS V PURDUE ON ESPN GAME PLAN - No, Diana, we can't go to a Sports Bar, we have to have a fancy smancy dinner with the NC Division people......

Also, no news on the date of the March update yet. I checked this morning and they are waiting on the Corporate stamp of approval for the download.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC

So, I hate to sound redundant on this, but have you tried to reboot since the week before Leap Year?

By reboot, do you mean just pull the plug? If so, then no I haven't done that.

This issue has been ongoing since I first got the unit, but I kept thinking I was losing my mind, or the programs were changing times or something, but It's happened enough times now that I don't think it's user error.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Isnt Frazier supposed to be in HD tonight? I'm not getting HD on TWC 805

Had my set tuned to Wis at 8:00 when HD started and the audio was out of sync . They may have switched to the SD feed.

Originally posted by tigers
By reboot, do you mean just pull the plug? If so, then no I haven't done that.

This issue has been ongoing since I first got the unit, but I kept thinking I was losing my mind, or the programs were changing times or something, but It's happened enough times now that I don't think it's user error.

Yes on the reboot clarification.

If this has been going on that long, I'm thinking we may want to switch you out with a new one. Since you got yours in one of the first batches, it just may not have been cooked yet. You can either bring it in to one of the front counters or email me for a service call.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Yes on the reboot clarification.

If this has been going on that long, I'm thinking we may want to switch you out with a new one. Since you got yours in one of the first batches, it just may not have been cooked yet. You can either bring it in to one of the front counters or email me for a service call.

Thanks. I'll try and bring it in sometime this week and swap it out.

Originally posted by kevinivey
Had my set tuned to Wis at 8:00 when HD started and the audio was out of sync . They may have switched to the SD feed.

I was just wondering if NBC failed to do another show in HD. They've been doing that more often lately. I noticed WIS was back in HD at 10pm.

I'm glaad that someone else noticed that WIS HD was out of sync. I email TWC and they sent me to this group because no one else has noticed the problem. Maybe now that others are noticing the trouble maybe they will look into it.

____________
Paul Frederick
Chapin

Originally posted by paulfhme
I'm glaad that someone else noticed that WIS HD was out of sync. I email TWC and they sent me to this group because no one else has noticed the problem. Maybe now that others are noticing the trouble maybe they will look into it.

____________
Paul Frederick
Chapin

Mr Frederick,

I'm terribly sorry you interpreted my directing you to this forum as a method to put you off. That was not my intent and I just have just not done a good job at expressing myself.

The fact that WIS was out of sync is a WIS issue, not a TWC issue. My hope in bringing you hear was for you to (1) identify others who also saw the problem, which as now happened and (2) find out from existing members how they relay information of this type to the local broadcast affiliates.

Again, I do apologize. I did not intent to shirk responsibility, simply to provide you with additional resources. Please feel free to email me at twcscnews@twcable.com if you have any other specific issues you would like me to address.

I just read on Turner's website that TNT-HD is going to be officially on the air in May of this year. They plan on rolling it out in time for the NBA Western Conference playoffs. Thats good news. It also said that they already have been making some TNT original movies in HD to release that month on the channel too. I'm hoping that they will also upconvert everything else that they show on regular TNT and broadcast it simultaneously on the HD channel. I watch TNT alot in the evenings and at night, they have syndication rights to some good shows such as Law & Order, ER, and NYPD blue. Hopefully TWC will have an agreement with them in place to carry that channel as soon as they get up and running.

I also just got this email response from WACH:

Thanks for your interest in WACH DTV. We are presently in negotiations with the various cable providers in the Columbia area for the purpose of including our DTV signal in their service. No timetable is set for when that will happen as yet. We broadcast 27/7 on DTV channel 48. Thank you again.



Sincerely,



Dan Orta

Chief Engineer

WACH-TV 57

WACH DTV 48

It only took about a month to get a reply to my email I sent them.
Hopefully TWC and WACH will get a carriage agreement worked out so when FOX starts up their MLB saturday baseball schedule I can get it in widescreen and 480p. Their MLB game of the week kicks off Friday 4-16-04 with the Red Sox and Yanks, and its going to be broadcast nationally. GO YANKEES!!!

CBS Sports' Coverage of 13 PGA TOUR Tournaments
Beginning With

"MCI Heritage" to be Broadcast In High Definition
Television Format Including 5.1 Digital Surround Sound

CBS Sports announced today it will broadcast an
unprecedented 13 PGA TOUR events, totaling 80 hours,
beginning with the MCI HERITAGE from Hilton Head,
S.C., on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
Once again, CBS Sports will broadcast the 2004 Masters® in HDTV on April 8-11.

It would be great if Wltx-DT could broadcast this with DD5.1 sound. I not sure however what the overall benefit would be to have golf broadcast in 5.1.:)

The USA Network does the first two days of the Masters so should that be April 10-11?

Excellent point Gary....I'm sure Mr. Kinney didn't mean to mislead anyone. We are all friends here. I have VOOM and am currently looking to have Columbia OTA stations mapped to my VOOM(Awesome) Box. I'm glad I can participate in this thread so I can get all kinds of good info about Columbia,SC local HDTV, so that I can get the most out of my VOOM OTA tuner.


Kevin.....Did your post get deleted the other day...I could have swore you posted something...and whammo it was gone. Oh well.No hard feelings

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Thanks for your interest in WACH DTV. We are presently in negotiations with the various cable providers in the Columbia area for the purpose of including our DTV signal in their service. No timetable is set for when that will happen as yet. We broadcast 27/7 on DTV channel 48.
Ummmm, maybe they narrowcast it somtimes because I see 'weak signal' and a black screen rather often.

In general, the analog cable channels here all have varying amounts of static. I guess that's part of why the 8000HD does such a crappy job of digitizing them. Digital-tier channels all look much better, and digitize well. HD-tier (pay or not) channels are best looking all the way around. WACH should move to a HD channel because it's waaaaay overdue for a quality improvement...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=374596

Who is Mr. Kinney? Who is really misleading who?

Last year CBS broadcast The Masters the first two days on their HD channel only. USA also broadcast in HD . They were both on TWC on side by side channels. The USA HD broadcast was noticeably sharper and was less prone to motion artifacts.

I'm not sure. I am defenitely not an expert on that subject. I will just enjoy the show...whoever broadcasts it!!

Originally posted by Gary Rhine
The USA Network does the first two days of the Masters so should that be April 10-11? No word yet on USA again doing HD coverage of early round Masters. Here is the CBS HD schedule. Two years ago the early round CBS coverage was commercial free.

2004 The Masters in HDTV
Broadcast Dates And Times (PM, ET)
Apr. 8 (4:00-6:30)(11:35-11:50)
Apr. 9 (4:00-6:30)(11:35-11:50)
Apr. 10 (3:30-6:30)
Apr. 11 (2:30-7:00)

I noticed WIS wasn't in HD last night at 10pm, were they in HD earlier on? They seem to have the most problems, can't go more than 3-4 days without losing their HD signal. Wonder why? Using lesser quality equipment or lesser quality employees? WOLO and WLTX do such a fine job of HD transmissions.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I noticed WIS wasn't in HD last night at 10pm, were they in HD earlier on? They seem to have the most problems, can't go more than 3-4 days without losing their HD signal. Wonder why? Using lesser quality equipment or lesser quality employees? WOLO and WLTX do such a fine job of HD transmissions.
D-rock,
While I understand your frustration, wording it the way you did is the best way to alienate the station engineers.
What we want here is the constructive dialog with the stations' representatives.

Thank you,
Kirill

Maybe I did word it improperly, but its pretty bad when there is only a 50-50 chance that when I turn on WIS-DT that I actually get the HD feed and not some SD upconverted.

I have been too lazy to post this, but it's starting to bug me enough...maybe someone here has an idea?

I have the SA3250 box, and noticed that I NEVER have descriptions of the show or the movie when looking at the guide. Very annoying since this feature used to work fine.

Have switched out the box...still does it.

For instance, you can see the movie title and the star rating (sometimes) but there is almost never a description.

Anyone run into this before?

TIA

Bruce (E)

I had the SA3250 for 6 months and never had a problem with the guide or description. I switched to the SA8000HD.

Originally posted by rodeoclown
For instance, you can see the movie title and the star rating (sometimes) but there is almost never a description.

Did you try forcing a description reload by going to the Guide then hitting Info?

The Guide frequently fails to update itself, so at least a few times a week I have to do this...

Also, if you turn your box off (standby) at night after all viewing is done it will not fail to update. Since I started do this with the 8000 it has never failed to update.

I have the 3250HD box and unless I turn it off every single night it does the exact same thing. The program guide is supposed to load for 7 days at a time, but I have to turn it off every night otherwise the next day it has no program info. Even when trying to manually force it to load the info by going to guide and hitting info button it only loads it for that hour's programming. Just turn it off at night is the easiest way to work around it.

I have 3 cable boxes, the regular 2100, the 8000, and the 3250HD. I leave the other ones on all the time and they always have program info. The 3250HD is the only one with this problem.

for all the responses about the weird missing descriptions...I don't remember the 3000 (was that the last HD box?) having this problem.

Must be a bug in the 3250...I will try your suggestions, but what a pain to have to remember to turn it off every night...(most of the time I don't)

Will try the guide/info force refresh also.

Originally posted by rodeoclown but what a pain to have to remember to turn it off every night...(most of the time I don't)
[/B]

You should be able to set it turn off (and on) at a set time each day. I have my SA8000HD set to shut down at midnight for just this reason.

I had some audio drop outs during ABC's broadcast of "Frequency" Saturday night. It got to be fairly annoying because it happened so often (seemed like every 10 minutes or so).

Was that a local or a national problem?

I noticed that I couldnt watch any HDTV channels yesterday (WIS, WOLO, WLTX) through TWC, I dont have a ota receiver so I couldn't check them that way. I guess HDTV signals dont react well with wind either. When it rains and when it snows they go out too. Must be a fair weather only TV. :)

Now, don't you know that cable doesn't go out when it rains like the mini-dish does..? Have you not seen or heard the cable ads?

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I noticed that I couldnt watch any HDTV channels yesterday (WIS, WOLO, WLTX) through TWC, I dont have a ota receiver so I couldn't check them that way. I guess HDTV signals dont react well with wind either. When it rains and when it snows they go out too. Must be a fair weather only TV. :)


Watched a recorded showing on "Cold Case" from WLTX-DT last night and had no dropouts at all. I just checked a recording of "Law and Order Criminal Intent" I recorded last night at 10:00 from WIS-DT and it is ok.

I posted over on the DVD Recorders forum but thought I'd mention it here since I'm stumped.

As of yesterday, my 8000HD will not record or "pause live TV" any SD programming. Playing back already recorded SD works fine and all of the expected functionality with HD works fine. Any ideas what to do?

Got a question about the 8000HD DVR. I searched in the setup wizard, the brochure and the 60+ page manual. Let's say your watching primetime and it's 8pm and you see a show in the guide that starts at 10pm but your afraid you'll forget to turn to it. Is there an option to have the cable box turn to the show/channel automaticely at the time of the show without recording it?

Below is all I found the manual about this on page 11.
Select a program from the guide.
1. Press Guide. The next 7 days apear in the guide.
2. Press the directional keys to hilite the program you want to watch.
3. Press Select. If the program is on the guide closes and the program appears. If the program is on in the future, a future program screen appears.

Well for what it's worth, unplugging the power cord to force a reboot solved the problem at least for now. It's working normally.

After Select just choose Set a Reminder.

Butlers, why?

As always, if I'm misusing the forum a moderator is welcome to point it out and I'll try to comply with their suggestions. Likewise, any constructive advice from a fellow member is appreciated.

The comment from butlers doesn't appear to be either of these so I don't see a problem.

Originally posted by Brent Hutto
I posted over on the DVD Recorders forum but thought I'd mention it here since I'm stumped.

As of yesterday, my 8000HD will not record or "pause live TV" any SD programming. Playing back already recorded SD works fine and all of the expected functionality with HD works fine. Any ideas what to do?

FWIW, I had the exact same problem and solved it with the exact same method.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Now, don't you know that cable doesn't go out when it rains like the mini-dish does..? Have you not seen or heard the cable ads?

LOL... Yeah right. Somebody can spit outside and my cable goes out. I hate that commercial, its such BS. I used to have a satellite and it'd have to be like a hurricane outside before it would go out. Then I moved and dont have any clear sky in the direction I need so I have to have cable and its always going out.

To answer your question.....in all fairness, what is good for the Goose is good for......Well you know the rest. It can't be both ways. I make a post about Voom to give HD fans heads up on the $0 upfront offers and wham .....the TWC loyalists go up in arms and are whinning to the moderator. My posts don't belong in this forum Etc....... I believe you were even nice enough to map the distance of my location to the Columbia towers for me. I had several of my posts deleted etc.... So as it is my right to do so , I asked the moderator what the rules were and it became perfectly clear that these rules were broken on several occassions, in this thread. So I was concerned that some of you only became up in arms when it was a negative TWC pro Sat post. The funny thing is, is that I have seen all of you gripe about your HD offerings in one form or another, so my post about V* was a legitimate heads up , and my thoughts about TWC remain the same. I do Think Diana's presence on this forum, her being the DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, not DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING< OR SOME KIND OF TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, is a bit questionable. But anyway my intentions were good, but the TWC loyalists jumped all over it and had the moderator watching my every post. It is apparent that Diana and TWC is using this thread as a marketing tool. I'm sure everyone is happy she helps, but it is the integrity of the issue. TWCSC is gertting tons of free marketing and advertising on this thread. With several of her posts not complying with forum rules. She is not on this thread to be a participant, she is here to help her company. I have reported this to an AVS administrator as it goes against the purpose of this forum. I am a customer, when I post something there is no profit for the company I work for or incentive for me. The same can't be said about Diana, and it's hard for you guys to see that because she assists you and that is the selfishness in us all. Bottom Line I mean no Ill Will, but maybe you guys should think about changing your thread to TWCSC Columbia Users, then I will not post on that thread. Anyway I just thought I would explain myself as I know Mr.Hutto and Mr. Ivey were very against my posting of V* info.

[moderately witty comeback deleted]

Please..Yall quit this P'n Match. Sheesh..

No keep going... at least I have something to laugh about here at work.

Originally posted by Daryl L
Got a question about the 8000HD DVR. I searched in the setup wizard, the brochure and the 60+ page manual. Let's say your watching primetime and it's 8pm and you see a show in the guide that starts at 10pm but your afraid you'll forget to turn to it. Is there an option to have the cable box turn to the show/channel automaticely at the time of the show without recording it?

Below is all I found the manual about this on page 11.

It will give you a reminder timer of the program, but it will not force tune the channel.

Thanks Gary and DianaTWCSC. Much appreciated. To bad they didn't add a force tune option in the SA's.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Please..Yall quit this P'n Match. Sheesh..
Bob's right. First Kevin gives him an opening and then I add my two cents worth. It's a no-win situation. No more rising to troll-bait for me from here on out.

I love this thread. The TWC thread.

There was a SC-Columbia-HD-cable thread..where did it go?
Be glad when Bruce gets back in town..he'd know..

Let's see......How many people are TWC subscribers in this forum?

Me.
Plus OTA...
Plus Duhwrektv..
Plus DeeshNetwurk..

I guess you could say I'm nuetral?

Makes two of us. With the execption I won't have cable in my home,but
then thats my choice and has nothing to do with TWC.

Originally posted by Daryl L
Thanks Gary and DianaTWCSC. Much appreciated. To bad they didn't add a force tune option in the SA's.


I agree, as do most customer comments on the topic. This has been shared with SA, but I don't know what will happen from there.

I have TWC but only because I can't get satellite where I live, if I could, I possibly would look into getting V*. I had D* where I used to live and it was great.

So D Rock........Do you think there is anything wrong with posting about new offers etc......Also step out the box and if you were a Sat customer in Columbia, do you feel this thread is more geared toward TWC or Local HDTV Reception. I just want your thoughts, you seem objective, you to mr BFox, sorry about butchering your username, but you know The neutral one....what are your thoughts. Does anyone else want to see more diversity and objectivity in this thread???

I am working on a Time Warner Cable South Carolina Thread. The reason why I am doing this is obvious. There are so many different items to discuss that the Columbia thread gets overwhelmed with TWC related post. I will still post in the Columbia Reception thread. Just not cable related stuff, except for specific local channels.


EDIT:
Nope, not gonna do it.

I think that is the correct thing to do!!

Also, I promise not to ever post in the Charleston, SC thread as I do not live there.

Kevin.......Can we still be friends!

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
There was a SC-Columbia-HD-cable thread..where did it go?
Be glad when Bruce gets back in town..he'd know..

It was a general thread about SC HD CABLE and we had several post from the lowcountry. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=274985&perpage=20&pagenumber=3

I guess I could modify it to suit, but I think it was to broad a area to get many post.

Originally posted by butlers
So D Rock........Do you think there is anything wrong with posting about new offers etc......Also step out the box and if you were a Sat customer in Columbia, do you feel this thread is more geared toward TWC or Local HDTV Reception. I just want your thoughts, you seem objective, you to mr BFox, sorry about butchering your username, but you know The neutral one....what are your thoughts. Does anyone else want to see more diversity and objectivity in this thread???

I thought thats what this is, a place for people in Columbia, SC (or close to it) to post info about HDTV services available. But I just looked closely at the name of this thread "Local HDTV Info and Reception." So I guess technically what that entails is just the local affiliates?? I personally didnt see any problems with posting some info or questions about satellite providers, cable companies, and ota locals since there really are so few people here in central SC that have made the move to upgrade to HDTV. It seemed like a positive thing to have so that everybody get some answers. I guess TWC got brought into the discussion because they offer the local affiliates in HDTV on their cable system. I personally didnt see anything wrong with you (butlers) posting that V* had begun offering a no money down deal to lease their equipment for HDTV service. What I think (IMO)got you into trouble was when you started bashing on Diana. But I dunno though, "I am not a smart man." :D Cant we all just get along? Its my dream that satellite people, and cable people, and even OTA people can all just watch HDTV in happiness.

Its my dream that satellite people, and cable people, and even OTA people can all just watch HDTV in happiness.
I think that's what we have. HDTV reception depends on several things working correctly:

1) The network originating the programming
2) The local affiliate (in the case of broadcast networks)
3) My service provider (the cable company in my case)
4) My set-top box
5) My television

What is nice about this topic is that if there is a problem with #1 or #2 it will probably affect every HDTV viewer in Columbia, #3 will probably affect all TWC subscribers in Columbia and even #4 is something I have in common with a lot of Columbia TWC subscribers. So when I look or post in this topic the odds are extremely high that I will find something useful about the problem I'm researching.

Enough said.

On a different note, when is ESPN-HD coming to Columbia on cable?

Sheesh, I leave town and all heck breaks out.

Okay. First, we are guests of this forum. There are rules.. please try to live by them or leave. Others have ignored AVS's rules and have had their AVS priviledges revoked (kicked off AVS is another way of saying it). If you don't like what someone has said please ignore it or report it and then ignore it. Don't start or feed troll-type issues; we don't need major arguments here.

Second, if you want to start an OTA thread for Columbia go for it! I have said it before and it seems to have gone unread by some...... this is a Columbia forum and concerns local issues. There was another one started by Kevin that pertained to TWC in SC (not just Columbia). If our discussions bother you then please leave and/or start one of your own. I have tried to steer the group with Columbia viewing area issues. And much of what is talked about here however does concern the local DTV channels on TWC.

However how well the cable hardware works is discussed too. Why? It is a fact that how well your cable box or DVR works depends very much on your local cable unit. If you don't believe that go read the E8000 thread over on Yahoo groups and see how many people hate their 8000s reliability. Mine works pretty darn good. Many folks in Texas/Florida/NYC don't share my success. I believe the reason is TWCSC. If that is a blatant commecial so be it. Anyone touting their provider being best is essentially doing the same. Anyway, I believe it is pertinent we discuss those things here. End of story.

General DVR questions can and should be addressed over in the General DVR forum but of course simple ones can answered here if short (you know, be polite). Programming discussions that relate to the networks belong over in Programming. (hint: look there before you blast WIS, WOLO etc to see if the network is the problem vice the local station). VOOM OTA issues are fine here as well as are DirecTV and Dish's. General Voom/Dish/DirecTV programming discussions however belong elsewhere.

And that is how I see it sitting here in Texas!

Originally posted by D-rock0030
On a different note, when is ESPN-HD coming to Columbia on cable?

The question is probably best stated as: When will TWC and Disney complete their negotiations concerning coverage of ESPN-HD?

And that answer to that, when available, will spread like wildfire across these very forums! But for now the answer remains.... no one knows.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I noticed that I couldnt watch any HDTV channels yesterday (WIS, WOLO, WLTX) through TWC, I dont have a ota receiver so I couldn't check them that way. I guess HDTV signals dont react well with wind either. When it rains and when it snows they go out too. Must be a fair weather only TV. :)

i didn't have problems with any of the HD channels during the windstorm sunday night. it kind of surprised me because i've lost cable and power during lesser storms.

Originally posted by scruffy7
i didn't have problems with any of the HD channels during the windstorm sunday night. it kind of surprised me because i've lost cable and power during lesser storms.

Well Sunday afternoon all three channels, 805, 810, and 815 were "blocky" like when D* loses signal reception, they were coming and going constantly all afternoon. I figured the wind was buffeting TWC's OTA antenna causing the problem, but I was also being somewhat facetious as TWC has all these ads saying they are better than satellite providers because their service doesnt go out because of the weather, which is 100% BS. But if I was the only one with the problem (which I doubt) then thats another TWC issue I have in my neighborhood. If I see that "Singing in the Rain" commercial again on TWC I think I may put my foot through the TV. I can't stand that commercial, its so false. I've called TWC and raised cain every time my service goes out and its raining outside, just raining mind you, not an electical storm. I would like them to send somebody over to witness the fact that my cable is out, but its funny I can never get through to customer service because thousands of other are calling in at the same time, but yet we keep seeing that same fat azz cable guy singing and bouncing around in the rain using a satellite receiver as shelter :)

Originally posted by bdenman
The question is probably best stated as: When will TWC and Disney complete their negotiations concerning coverage of ESPN-HD?

And that answer to that, when available, will spread like wildfire across these very forums! But for now the answer remains.... no one knows.

Yes I understand that. I was partly trying to be funny by inserting a different topic into their argument. But in all reality I read other forums where other cable providers are expanding their HD service a lot faster than TWC is. Comcast has picked up StarzHD, BravoHD, ESPN-HD, and other HD channels that TWC hasn't even mentioned trying to get. We have 2 HDnet channels and 2 INHD channels that basically have nothing worthwhile on, just shows that look great but are so boring to watch. If its a bandwidth issue, drop the west feeds of HBO and Showtime and give us StarzHD and CinemaxHD. And PLEASE ESPN-HD and Fox Sports South HD when they go HD and I'd be very happy. :D

Originally posted by D-rock0030
I thought thats what this is, a place for people in Columbia, SC (or close to it) to post info about HDTV services available. But I just looked closely at the name of this thread "Local HDTV Info and Reception." So I guess technically what that entails is just the local affiliates?? I personally didnt see any problems with posting some info or questions about satellite providers, cable companies, and ota locals since there really are so few people here in central SC that have made the move to upgrade to HDTV. It seemed like a positive thing to have so that everybody get some answers. I guess TWC got brought into the discussion because they offer the local affiliates in HDTV on their cable system.Right, and pretty obvious on all counts.




I personally didnt see anything wrong with you (butlers) posting that V* had begun offering a no money down deal to lease their equipment for HDTV service.Right again.




What I think (IMO)got you into trouble was when you started bashing on Diana. 3 for 3, with the addition of frequent long posts about Voom, which belong in the HDTV Programming Forum.



Local forums & topics are primarily for local issues. This entails local DTV, local cable & local issues related to sat equipment reception. Because cableco's also carry other HD programming, limited discussion comparing these to sat providers is also fine. Extended discussion of sat issues belongs in the HDTV Programming, Recorders, or Hardware forums.

Contrary to other opinions, AVS encourage participation from local providers. This includes DTV stations and local cableco's. In spite of comments that TWC's reps are using this forum as their own personal propaganda forum, it's again obvious the participation of local providers brings great value to this and other local forums.

I'm going to be as clear as possible on this issue: Any attempt to interfere with interaction between members and local provider reps will not be tolerated. Long, frequent post about satellite providers will not be tolerated. Further comments about this policy will not be tolerated. Members who do not comply with this policy will be banned from participating. This entire subject is a waste of forum bandwidth and has gone on long enough.

If members wish to start another topic specifically for local TWC issues, I will monitor it, and decide if it's viable on it's own.

Questions can be addressed to me via AVS Private Message.

D-Rock,

Please read my PM. Thanks,

Originally posted by Ken H
Contrary to other opinions, AVS encourage participation from local providers. This includes DTV stations and local cableco's. In spite of comments that TWC's reps are using this forum as their own personal propaganda forum, it's again obvious the participation of local providers brings great value to this and other local forums.

LOL thats what this is a propaganda forum for TWC!! I think we figured it out now. :p

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
D-Rock,

Please read my PM. Thanks,


Umm I dunno how to read a PM???

Its under your User CP (link at the top of this page)

Maybe it should not be a PM anyway. If it's about programming can't you let us all in on it?

Actually I would like to help with D-Rocks service issue, but I didn't want to be accused of blatant behavior, so I took it to PM.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Its under your User CP (link at the top of this page)

Thanks Diana. I found it and replied with my address.

HaHa. Well, when you have some programming news feel free to be a little blatant. :)

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Actually I would like to help with D-Rocks service issue, but I didn't want to be accused of blatant behavior, so I took it to PM. Feel free to assist as needed.

You got it - how about a teaser....

We should get the March Madness Schedule from WLTX this week and I'll post it as soon as I can. Don't know for sure, but we MAY be getting more than one HD game per time frame this year!

Go Illini!

Originally posted by Ken H
Feel free to assist as needed.


Thank you, I appreciate that!

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
You got it - how about a teaser....

We should get the March Madness Schedule from WLTX this week and I'll post it as soon as I can. Don't know for sure, but we MAY be getting more than one HD game per time frame this year!

Go Illini!

Awesome! Go Terps!

Maryland '69

Ah; memory jogged today... my latest understanding (but not yet verified by all stations or TWC) is that all four major OTA DT stations with HD now feed TWC their digital signals via fiber optic cable. Not sure about WACH however. Perhaps Diana can confirm this from TWC engineers?

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Ken H. Now he is obviously a very intelligent man. His wisdom and knowledge are appreciated. He's very enlighted take on this situation has caused me to rethink my position./

Originally posted by bdenman
Ah; memory jogged today... my latest understanding (but not yet verified by all stations or TWC) is that all four major OTA DT stations with HD now feed TWC their digital signals via fiber optic cable. Not sure about WACH however. Perhaps Diana can confirm this from TWC engineers?

I'm pretty sure they are all on fiber to the headend - but I will check tomorrow.

How's Texas Bruce?

Originally posted by bdenman
Ah; memory jogged today... my latest understanding (but not yet verified by all stations or TWC) is that all four major OTA DT stations with HD now feed TWC their digital signals via fiber optic cable. Not sure about WACH however. Perhaps Diana can confirm this from TWC engineers?

Translated, does that mean their HD is forthcoming on TWC?

Not related.

Originally posted by Gary Rhine
Translated, does that mean their HD is forthcoming on TWC?

Gary: Already is in our area but I don't know about your area. We now have ABC/WOLO, NBC/WIS, CBS/WLTX, and SCETV/PBS/WRLK digital/HD broadcasts on TWC in the Columbia viewing area (including Orangeburg and Sumter). Other areas in SC though have different stations and I am not familiar with your stations lineup (sorry).
Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
I'm pretty sure they are all on fiber to the headend - but I will check tomorrow.
How's Texas Bruce?

If the fiber aspect is correct; then TWC should be getting the identical feed that the station's transmitters are getting. So no weather affects to worry about. I imagine that OTA is available for some stations as backup.

Regarding Tejas.... its doing great! Family visit is going very well; weather is excellent .... sunny; mild temps; no rain... and no yellow/green pine pollen! Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaa! Course.. no hdtv here where I am at! (sniff sniff... cable no; OTA signals probably not; sat yes; capability to receive nope). oh well! Back to SC soon....

:)

Diana, any update on possible modifications to the the channel
guide/remote to allow users to have only their favortie channels listed?

This would be a major improvement.

jdjackson,

Short Answer, no.

Longer Answer -
I do not know where the Corporate initiative is for creating a uniform guide for all TWC Divisions. Haven't really seen anything on this initiative for several months.

Seems like SA is always doing updates and software patches. Some of which are VERY important to all, like the upcoming activation of the DVI outputs on the 8000HD, others you wouldn't even notice. I honestly don't know when or if something like your request would happen from them.

I have passed on your comments/likes/dislikes as I receive them - when that translates to actual, substantial change on something like the guide is a matter that is beyond my area of control.

I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance here

Hi Diana,

I'm hoping ther DVI activation will improve the HD picture, and I'm also hoping the new software itself tweaks the picture quality.

Any word on the new software, wasn't it supposed to be March timeframe??

Take care,

-- Cain

Good Morning,

Currently we are in the final approval stage of the March Software Download. With any luck, it will occur sometime before the end of this week. I will do my best to get the information out asap upon confirmation of the download.

FYI - I will be out of town most of the day tomorrow attending a Memorial Service, so I won't have the capability to update on this issue until late afternoon. I know you guys, you will probably 'know' before I do, so I just wanted you to know I won't be available for questions if you see anything tomorrow morning.

Do you know if this update to the 8000hd has resolved the problem with certain tv's ( I know the Samsung DLP's) sporadically getting the error message about tv being non- hdcp compliant when using dvi? I know the 3250 had this problem, and you guys were working on a fix, but I never heard whether it was resolved. Thanks

We (the engineers and myself) have not yet received a complete list of what this upgrade will accomplish. Once received though, I will share.

Promise

Don't shoot the Messenger.....

The Software Download for the DVI output has been postponed approximately 2 weeks...

Think of it this way, it doesn't work correctly yet, so you don't want it until it works right....

ETV's fourth DTV station, WRJA-D (chan 28) Sumter, went on the air yesterday. At this time the channel lineup is the same as the Columbia station, WRLK-D (chan 32).

-Shaun

Excellent news Shaun; thanks for the update. Wish I were there today to check it out! soon though...

Gamecocks versus Tigers in HD on CBS at 12:30 on Friday. I wonder if Wltx will turn off the weather radar and give its viewers full power HD?

Re: WRJA-DT/Ch 28 Sumter
Originally posted by sbennett
ETV's fourth DTV station, WRJA-D (chan 28) Sumter, went on the air yesterday. At this time the channel lineup is the same as the Columbia station, WRLK-D (chan 32).
WRJA-DT/Ch 28 is coming in here very well with my indoor RS DBT. The meter on my Samsung SIR-T150 shows a much "better" signal (six bars) than I get from Cola's WRLK-DT using my CM 3021 (1 to 2 bars).

Thanks!

Where did you see that the Carolina Shamecocks were playing in HD?? Only thing better than seeing them lose is watching them lose in HD!!! :)

Here is a quote from the CBS press release announcing HD coverage for the first and second round games in Kansas City (which does include the USC game), the third and fourth round games from St Louis, and then the final four games in San Antonio:

"There is nothing like March Madness, and there is nothing like March Madness in HD and 5.1 surround sound on CBS," said Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports.

Too bad our local affiliate doesn't support 5.1 surround sound.

What I'm wondering is will WLTX-DT show all the HD games while WLTX analog shows the SD games for the local teams or will WLTX-DT just show whatever is going to be on the analog station upconverted. I dont think there will really be any conflicts during the first two rounds but for example in the regionals in Atlanta Duke and UNC play on the same two days as Kentucky and Ga Tech play in St Louis (where the HD is at), normally wltx would show the the two "local" teams. Will I be able to watch the HD feed on WLTX-DT while the analog station still shows the SD broadcast of the "local" teams or will WLTX-DT just be an upconverted simulcast of the analog station??

I hope I got that question across, I know its all confusing with all the different games going on across the country at the same time.

March Madness - Columbia DMA Schedule

Thursday, March 18 - no HD Games scheduled

12:20pm
Channel 9 - Florida/Manhattan
Channel 810 - Florida/Manhattan
Channel 811 - Texas Tech/Charlotte
Channel 812 - Maryland/UTEP

2:40pm
Channel 9 - Alabama/SIU
Channel 810 - Syracuse/BYU
Channel 811 - St. Joe/Liberty
Channel 812 - Wake Forest / VA Commonwealth

5:00pm
Channel 9 - regular programming
Channel 810 - regular programming
Channel 811 - Stanford/Texas San Antonio

7:00pm
Channel 9 - Duke/Alabama St.
Channel 810 - MSU/Nevada State
Channel 811 - U Conn/Vermont
Channel 812 - Texas/Princeton

9:30pm
Channel 9 - UNC/Air Force
Channel 810 - Seton Hall/Arizona
Channel 811 - DePaul/Dayton
Channel 812 - Gonzaga/Valparaiso

March Madness - Columbia DMA Schedule

Friday, March 19th Schedule - all games on 810 in HD

12:30pm
Channel 9 - SC/Memphis
Channel 810 - SC/Memphis
Channel 811 - NC State/LA Lafayette
Channel 812 - Illinois/Murray State

2:50pm
Channel 9 - Georgia Tech/Northern Iowa
Channel 810 - Oklahoma St/E. Washington
Channel 811 - Vanderbilt/W. Michigan
Channel 812 - Cincinnati/East Tennessee

7:00pm
Channel 9 - KY/Lehigh or FLA A&M
Channel 810 - Providence/Pacific
Channel 811 - Mississippi St./Monmouth
Channel 812 - Wisconsin/Richmond

9:30pm
Channel 9 - Xavier/Louisville
Channel 810 - Kansas/Illinois Chicaco
Channel 811 - Washington/UAB
Channel 812 - Pittsburgh/Central Florida

Cool, Thanks Diana

My fav time of year. Now if only WLTX had a dolby digital decoder or whatever they're lacking we'd be set.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99727&perpage=20&pagenumber=32

Quality versus Quanity?

Its the only way I get to see Illinois, so I'm happy.

For what its worth I picked Illinois for the Sweet Sixteen. Also, USC will win its 1st round game.

Originally posted by kevinivey
[url]
Quality versus Quanity?


For a few days out of the year and a few hours out of the day, I'm going to have to pick quantity. Our customers do as well. We received a great deal of positive feedback last year for this initiative. Remember all Digital Customers benefit from the extra programming.

Come on Kevin - be happy for us!

How gosh can one be..no 5.1 on a ball game..why don't they just leave
the color out as well?? :rolleyes:

Diana - PLEASE have someone at TWCSC write a check and buy Comporium Communications in Fort Mill. We desperately need a decent cable company here.

Originally posted by kevinivey
Quality versus Quanity?

I must agree, I'm all for great picture quality, but to get all the games at once I'll settle for a little less PQ.

GO anybody but South Carolina or Duke!!!

Originally posted by D-rock0030
GO anybody but Carolina !!

May the best Tarheel lose! :D

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
How gosh can one be..no 5.1 on a ball game..why don't they just leave
the color out as well?? :rolleyes:

Don't roll your eyes. When the President of CBS sports is bragging about doing NFL, NCAA basketball and Golf in HD and 5.1 surround sound it might be nice to get it!! And when the reason we can't get it is that our local affiliate is too "thrifty" to spend $20k so that us viewers can listen to the full audio along with the great video. There is a huge difference between watching a show on WOLO and WLTX. The true DD5.1 on WOLO is 10 times better than the DD2.0 on WLTX even when run through Dolby Pro Logic II. You can roll your eyes or whatever all you want, but its just plain being cheap :mad:

Originally posted by kevinivey
For what its worth I picked Illinois for the Sweet Sixteen. Also, USC will win its 1st round game.

I had Murray St upsetting Illinois on my bracket and had it filled out before the two players for Murray St got busted for drugs and were suspended. So I guess I got hosed on that one. But I have the winner of the Cincy - East Tenn St game advancing anyways.

Not necesarily. If I were WLTX, I'd make the same decision. And, since I'm in the business, I have. It cost only $3000 to add the 5.1 to WOLO,
because ABC uses a different distribution method. In tight times,
of reduced revenue and short-staffing, you expect WLTX to spend $20K
for a limited improvement in audio that will provide absolutely no additional revenue nor viewership? If not having 5.1 bothers someone that much, maybe they should turn off the HD and watch the analog feed..which I might add does generate revenue and pays for the HD service.............

Doesn't the quality of programming the viewer gets count for anything?? What a crock! I saw in the press release that CBS put out when they announced a sponsor for the PGA coverage they will have in HD later in the summer, that they will have something like 35-40 weekends this year with HD sports coverage all in 5.1 sound. So for them to spend $20k so us viewers can get the best quality audio along with CBS's high quality video is ridiculous for me to think that? Yeah whats wrong with me, its all about pinching a few pennies. I have heard that their excuse is that "CBS rarely does programming in 5.1" But thats just not so. that 35-40 weekends was before the announced NCAA basketball tourney coverage too. What bothers me is that CBS is spending the time and money to record their programs in 5.1 and some bean counter figures that its just another way for them to cut a corner and skimp, damn the viewers lets just protect our precious bottom line. The cost of the equipment when amortized and written off would be small potatoes. It just boils down to their attitude towards customer satisfaction. If I knew off a way to complain to CBS headquarters I would and often too.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
If not having 5.1 bothers someone that much, maybe they should turn off the HD and watch the analog feed..which I might add does generate revenue and pays for the HD service.............

Maybe they'll just change the channel and watch a different network, then the other network would get the ratings and money for that?? But thats a real fine attitude towards the customer.. "Don't like it, go somewhere else"

I worked my way through high school and college in a local hardware store, we used to treat the customers with respect and listen to their opinions, not bash them for offering them.

Originally posted by CPanther95
Diana - PLEASE have someone at TWCSC write a check and buy Comporium Communications in Fort Mill. We desperately need a decent cable company here.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

The big time world of cable system trading and wheeling and dealing is WAYYYY out of my balleywicke though.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Ouch - that left a mark..... :(

Sorry, its that whole 5 vs 12 thing in the tourney and with the Big 10 being down this year and Wisconsin schooling them in the Big 10 title game Sunday I just thought Illinois was ripe for an upset. But not now, they should win.

Excuse me guys, but what does it have to do with the local HDTV reception?
Discussing the games is for another forum IMO.

Kirill

not being a basketball fan (heresy!) i thought i was the only one whose eyes were glazing over with all the game talk.

5.1 would be great but i'm just glad that i haven't been hearing all that awful clipped audio on WLTX lately. does anyone know if they got their new receiver?

Wow, a couple of posts about the games themselves and people have a hissy fit.

Messages deleted - I apologize for overstepping lines.

I'm getting tired of these local stations attitude toward the HDTV viewers. You have a real take it or leave it attitude about your quality. You snap at us about the HD is not the money maker at your stations, but I notice you care enough to block us from other sources of your network(Direct TV,Dish Network,CBand) via wavers for HD feeds. I didn't have advertisements to help pay for my equipment. What are your plans when the HDTV is your only signal output. Where will you tell us to view when you can't get it right then.

That's a good point TechMan. I have a few friends that wanted to get the SuperBowl from D*. WLTX said no way on giving them a waiver so that they could get CBS-HD from the satellite. If the station has no revenue stream for the HD service then what do they care where you get it from then? They act like giving a waiver to somebody will kill them.

On Tuesday afternoon at 2PM I was watching an HD show I had previously recorded on my TWC SA8000HD and the show stopped playing, and I realized that the digibox had shut itself off. Annoying, but just one of those things one gets to expect with complicated electronics. Then on Wednesday, I was again watching a recorded show at 2PM and the same thing happened. And no, we were not having any power problems, and no there was not some other device being turned on at the same time each day on some circuit in the house. Only commonality was the playback and the time. What gives??

Originally posted by wdbarnum
What gives??

Poltergeist

I have a call into my Headend Tech to see if anything was going on at that time. I'll keep you posted.

Any news on ESPN-HD coming to TWC yet? March looks like a slow month for them doing anything in HD only a handful of events but MLB fires up in April it would be nice to have it by then.

Still in negotiations at the Corporate level. Unfortunately, there is no projected date.

Does TWC plan on offering any of the new HD channels that have came out lately? Such as Starz-HD, Encore-HD, Bravo-HD, Cinemax-HD, TMC-HD, etc?? If not, why not?

"Will I be able to watch the HD feed on WLTX-DT while the analog station still shows the SD broadcast of the "local" teams or will WLTX-DT just be an upconverted simulcast of the analog station??"

We will carry the true HD games in HD when available. For example, all of the games from Kansas City will be in HD tomorrow. So 19-1 will be different from analog 19. Enjoy the games

Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV;WLTX DT

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
March Madness - Columbia DMA Schedule

Thursday, March 18 - no HD Games scheduled

12:20pm
Channel 9 - Florida/Manhattan
Channel 810 - Florida/Manhattan
Channel 811 - Texas Tech/Charlotte
Channel 812 - Maryland/UTEP



I don't see anything on 811 or 812.

Channel 811 and 812 are working. Let me know if you still are not getting these two channels and I will ask the engineers for more info

I am still not getting 811 and 812 here in the Georgetown market.

I set up a test today - at 2 PM I was again watching a recording - just like Tuesday and Wednesday - yep! got knocked off again. Had to hit the power button on the remote to turn the SA8000HD back on. What is going on? (I do not believe it is ghosts or goats or whatever)

Whats going on with all the basketball games? I am watching on cable and channels 810-812 are freezing up and the audio is cutting out.

Now channel 810 is all the way out, nothing on it and 805 and 815 are breaking up too.

I cant get any of the extra basketball games on my other cable box. Last year I didnt have an HD cable box and I was able to get them, why is it different this year?

wdbarnum, I noticed my regular SA8000 cable box just turned off automatically at 2pm also. I wasnt even watching any recording just regular TV and it just powered off.

Originally posted by Gary Rhine
I am still not getting 811 and 812 here in the Georgetown market.

We do not have permission to show these games in the Florence-Myrtle Beach DMA, which includes the Georgetown market. We only have permission for the Columbia DMA.

Please note the game information was only posted in the Columbia Thread and it was titled Columbia DMA

Is anybody else having problems with the games on their cable??

We have having issues with Channel 810 for those watching with a Digital Basic Converter. We are activily working on this issue with WLTX to resolve it.

D-ROCK - I have not seen these issues on Channel 811 and 812 at the SD DVR in my office, perhaps it is time to utilize the information we discussed last week.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Does TWC plan on offering any of the new HD channels that have came out lately? Such as Starz-HD, Encore-HD, Bravo-HD, Cinemax-HD, TMC-HD, etc?? If not, why not?


STARZ! & Encore HD - Contract Negotiation
Bravo HD - Contract Negotiation

Cinemax HD & TMC HD - we have opted to NOT launch these services at this time due to 'concern' about future bandwidth options. We want to make sure that we have bandwidth available for HD launches of the most frequently requested services when those channels become available, ie ESPN, WACH, TNT, BRAVO, WB, etc.

Diana actually now on my 3250 box 810-812 are breaking up really bad coming in and going out. Do you want to send the guy out or do I need to call that number?

Please call the number I gave you, that will be the fastest way to address the situation because he can two-way a service tech in your area.

Thanks.

Ok I called that guy Matt and he said he would pass it on to his supervisor and try to get somebody over here. Thanks for your help.

Diana, anything from the head end regarding the 2 PM power downs?

D-rock0030 - I presume you are a big NBC fan - i.e. 30 Rock!

Diana,

Its weird because 813 comes in perfect, its just 805,810-812, and 815 that are freezing.

wdbarnum, what do you mean? D-rock is like a nickname my friends gave me and I'm 30 yrs old.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Diana,

Its weird because 813 comes in perfect, its just 805,810-812, and 815 that are freezing.




The only difference there is 813 is a duplication of the IN HD feed and the others are all Broadcast networks. But, all the broadcast nets come into the headend via fiber, so.... If I speculated I would probably get it wrong, so I'm gonna leave it to the pros.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wdbarnum
[B]Diana, anything from the head end regarding the 2 PM power downs?


They are all very busy working to straighten out the Basketball games on Channel 810. As soon as that is resolved, they will investigate and get back to me.

3:50pm Status report from the Sumter Viewing area (Cola DMA):

- TWC Channels 810, 811, 812 all working fine.
- OTA Channels 19.1, 19.2. 19.3 are all working fine as well.

FWIW, my 8000HD DVR box did not take a nap at 2pm today. It has been on all day (set was off however) and I don't think they have an option to awake by themselves. When I went to check on the BB I noted it was already on. My SD SA8000DVR box is currently off and I have no idea if that is because the wife turned it off this morning or if it suffered the 2pm nap syndrome as reported by others.

Guys - sorry to be off topic, but with so much going on right now with TWC I just wanted to give a head's up that I have to leave the office right now and will not be able to get back on line for several hours.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
D-rock is like a nickname my friends gave me and I'm 30 yrs old. 30 Rock is the nickname for NBC's HQ at 30 Rockefeller Center on Manhattan. It's the place where the ice rink is, and where they light the NYC Christmas Tree.

Diana,

A guy came out and checked everything. Turns out somebody was stealing cable from my lines under the building they had installed spliters and had wired their apartments off of my lines. So he disconnected everything and hooked only mine up and the signal strength went way up. I think it was -20dB before and now its -9dB, he said thats good. I know the picture looks a lot better now. Thanks again for your help.

I don't know how you got any HD at all with that signal strength.

Originally posted by Gary Rhine
I don't know how you got any HD at all with that signal strength.

Yeah, I dont know what the acceptable range is supposed to be. But I have been flipping through the channels and the picture looks better all the way around. I am pleased with it. I am even more pleased to know that those sorry SOB's that were getting free cable wont have it when they come home this evening and cant watch TV :)

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Cinemax HD & TMC HD - we have opted to NOT launch these services at this time due to 'concern' about future bandwidth options. We want to make sure that we have bandwidth available for HD launches of the most frequently requested services when those channels become available, ie ESPN, WACH, TNT, BRAVO, WB, etc.
In an economy move, I dropped Cinemax but kept Showtime just to have all the HD content I could.

In a heartbeat, I'd switch back to Cinemax for a HD version. SHO/TMC doesn't have as much stuff I watched as all the Cinemax channels did.

Concerning bandwidth: can that be opened up as time goes on, like how my RoadRunner is now supposed to be 3Mbps and in theory could go 10Mbps before the wires wouldn't handle it?...

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
STARZ! & Encore HD - Contract Negotiation
Bravo HD - Contract Negotiation

Cinemax HD & TMC HD - we have opted to NOT launch these services at this time due to 'concern' about future bandwidth options. We want to make sure that we have bandwidth available for HD launches of the most frequently requested services when those channels become available, ie ESPN, WACH, TNT, BRAVO, WB, etc.

if bandwidth is a consideration why not lose the west coast hbo and showtime channels?

D-Roc,
Ken H gave the correct explanation. When they do the shot looking down on the Today show studio with the Dean and DeLuca on the left side of the screen, 30 Rockefeller Center is the building on the right side of the screen. The big Christmas tree is put up right in front of the front doors to the NBC building (it says GE on the top). The actual "entrance" to the NBC studios is around the corner.

Originally posted by wdbarnum
Diana, anything from the head end regarding the 2 PM power downs?



My headend techs went through all their programs and they aren't running anything at 2pm that would cause this. They have taken the issue to SA. There is now an open ticket on the issue. As soon as I get word I will share it.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
Diana,

A guy came out and checked everything. Turns out somebody was stealing cable from my lines under the building they had installed spliters and had wired their apartments off of my lines. So he disconnected everything and hooked only mine up and the signal strength went way up. I think it was -20dB before and now its -9dB, he said thats good. I know the picture looks a lot better now. Thanks again for your help.


Cable Theft is a very bad thing in many different ways. Thank you so much for letting us come out and resolve this issue.

Thanks Diana,
I was starting to think I was nuts (no comments, please) until D-Roc30 had it happened to him also. I will be out playing golf today, so I won't be able to monitor what happens at 2PM today.

Originally posted by scruffy7
if bandwidth is a consideration why not lose the west coast hbo and showtime channels?


Because our current HBO and Showtime customers are receiving 2 HD channels each. To drop the West Coast HD feed of HBO or Showtime to add Cinemax HD would mean a customer would have to pay more to regain the same number of HD screens they have now. Our preference is to avoid causing this type of situation that would probably result in customer aggravation.

Diana-
Does it have more to do with the carriage agreement with HBO/SHO
requiring TWC to take both, as in all or nothing?
I'd bet MOST would be willing to make that trade for West Coast feeds..
I know I would..

Originally posted by mikepaul
In an economy move, I dropped Cinemax but kept Showtime just to have all the HD content I could.

In a heartbeat, I'd switch back to Cinemax for a HD version. SHO/TMC doesn't have as much stuff I watched as all the Cinemax channels did.

Concerning bandwidth: can that be opened up as time goes on, like how my RoadRunner is now supposed to be 3Mbps and in theory could go 10Mbps before the wires wouldn't handle it?...


Again, to maintain the same number of HD premium channels you have now (2 HBO, 2 Showtime = 2 Pay package $16.95). You would have to spend more to keep the quantity you have now (2 HBO, 1 Cinemax and 1 Showtime = 3 Pay package $22.95).


Bandwidth is currently limited right now to 750 Mhz. We can do alot within that amount of bandwidth to maximize our offerings, ie migrate the NVOD like we did in January, upgrade equipment that provides better compression rates for digital channels, etc. But as I have stated before, all HD is allocated 19.8 mps and that won't change and as time goes on the 750 Mhz can and will be entirely used up. We are already investigating the pros and cons of upgrading to 860 Mhz v 1 M as our next step.

So, while we are not going to run out bandwidth tomorrow, we are cautious of launching services now just because they are available which might limit our future options.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Diana-
Does it have more to do with the carriage agreement with HBO/SHO
requiring TWC to take both, as in all or nothing?
I'd bet MOST would be willing to make that trade for West Coast feeds..
I know I would..


No - not an obligation. At the time, there were not too many HD options available for us to give our customers so we took everything we could in South Carolina. I don't even know the extent the West Coast feeds are offered in other TWC Divisions.

I don't understand your last sentence?

Having TWC,DirecTv,and Dish, I have all the HD channels available. With that said, I could care less about having the west coast feeds of HBO/SHO,
so I would gladly trade the west coast HD feeds for additional content.
I'd bet others would as well.

It sounds like that is a nice way of saying TWC hasn't much bandwith left. That is interesting as I wasn't aware that cable companies suffered from bandwith issues. I thought it was only satelitte. Anyway I hope things get better in the future as I might be relocating there.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Having TWC,DirecTv,and Dish, I have all the HD channels available. With that said, I could care less about having the west coast feeds of HBO/SHO,
so I would gladly trade the west coast HD feeds for additional content.
I'd bet others would as well.


Thank you for the clarification. I do respect your opinion, however at this time, we prefer not to force customers into higher rates to have the same number of HD screens they currently have. Its simply not a good move in our competitive environment.

Diana and group,
Sorry for the problems at the beginning of the South Carolina game. CBS told our Sat. receiver to switch but it did not. Then it started switching all over the place. What a mess. Should be O.K. now. Sorry for the trouble.
Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV:WLTX-DT

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Its simply not a good move in our competitive environment.

Agreed, I would want other channels in place of the West Coast feeds,
at the same price. Of course I'm sure that does not readily fit with carriage agreements.

NCAA Basketball Schedule - Columbia DMA

Saturday, March 20th

Channel 9 and 810 (no games today in HD)
1:00pm - Duke/Seton Hall
3:40pm - Manhattan/Wake Forest
5:40pm - Syracuse/Maryland
8:10pm - UNC/Texas

Channel 811
3:40pm - Nevada/Gonzaga
5:40pm - Stanford/Alabama

Channel 812
5:40pm - St. Joseph/Texas Tech
8:10pm - DePaul/UConn

I must admit I enjoyed having the HBO and SHO time west coast HD channels to supplement the east coast feeds (when we sub'd to them). Gave one a bit more flexibility and is something that not every MSO provides. Twas a bit extra and up to now I would have said keep them. On reflection I must ask are they really needed with the redundancy of HBO and SHO with all their encore showings? I suspect it might be worth it for Diana to float a questionaire around to see if HD viewer folks would be willing to give up the west coast feed of say HBO or Showtime for one feed of Cinemax-HD. Perhaps this is not even possible. Do note that I am not suggesting that the SD west coast feeds be dropped at this time.

I realize I am not Joe Average viewer but personally I am find that I/we watch very little of the offerings on regular plain old HBO and we don't even bother with SHO now. That fact is really nothing new for we ended our subscription to HBO and SHO about a year ago for that very reason. We just recently added HBO back and Cinemax too (new) this past February (hello Sopranos). We actually have found more on Cinemax now than HBO that we would like to watch. I hate to and often don't because its only SD and P&S 4:3. Given the way it is now, once the Sopranos is over both HBO and SHO will go away. A Cinemax HD however might be worth trying out.

I have subscribed to Sho and HBO for 2 years now. With the HD DVR there is no need for the west feeds in my home. With that said, in my opinion Cinemax is merely a rehash of HBO ,and TMC is a rehash of Showtime. Starz HD would be attractive in that it has entirely different programming. I believe from other postings that most TWC upgraded systems carry both East and West feeds of Sho and HBO. I would like to see channels added to the HD tier, and I would also like to have the option of HD ppv.

Perhaps my time viewing Cinemax has been too limited to make major decisions. I do know I have watched little on HBO for the last month (when here or later via 8000 recordings) except for the Sopranos. I/we have watched however a number of movies on Cinemax. My preference still runs to renting widescreen DVDs over 4:3 P&S movies on cable (whether subscription channels or PPV).

IMO, if TWC were about to run out of room, they could drop the west coast feeds to get room to add more HD channels, especially as pointed out earlier a lot of people have the 8000HD DVR. I also understand TWC's point that you would have to pay more to get the same number of HD channels, I guess dropping the west coast feeds could be a last option. Me, personally, I know I would be happy with more different HD channels to watch.

I think I read where Diana said that equipment that better compresses digital channels was an option, if that means more compression and lesser picture quality, I would like to vote against that (as if I have a vote). I watch Starz and Encore movie channels more than HBO or SHO and think the PQ on the Starz family channels is very good. It is a lot better than the PQ on D* since they've upped their compression. I would like to get Starz-HD and Encore-HD, I would love to see the Lord of the Rings on Starz-HD, I bet it looks great.

I dont know how many people watch or listen to those music channels, I know I have never even used them, IMO they could drop them. I dont know how much bandwidth that would save.

On a separate note I thought the PQ was pretty good on the HD basketball games today. I read the posts from last year where some people were criticizing the quality of the HD. I thought today's games looked very good especially considering that there are 2 SD and 1 HD channel running simultaneously in the 19.4 bandwidth. I mean it wasnt as good as it normally is on CBS but that is to be expected but the dropoff was minimal. I saw where Diana said that this extra coverage was here in the Columbia TWC area only, I guess its just something that WLTX is doing. I must say I really love the Tourney (I use vacation days just so I can watch all the games all day) and am very glad that WLTX is giving us these extra games, I think its great. When I had D* I had to pay extra every year to get the March Madness package from them. Just wanted to say thanks to WLTX for that.

Originally posted by D-rock0030
if TWC were about to run out of room,

I think I read where Diana said that equipment that better compresses digital channels was an option, if that means more compression and lesser picture quality,

I dont know how many people watch or listen to those music channels, I know I have never even used them, IMO they could drop them. I dont know how much bandwidth that would save.

I saw where Diana said that this extra coverage was here in the Columbia TWC area only, I guess its just something that WLTX is doing. I must say I really love the Tourney (I use vacation days just so I can watch all the games all day) and am very glad that WLTX is giving us these extra games, I think its great. When I had D* I had to pay extra every year to get the March Madness package from them. Just wanted to say thanks to WLTX for that.

To address these issues:

We are not about to run out of room. We are simply being aware of the fact that bandwidth is not unlimited. That being the case, at this time we have made the decision to keep two channels of HBO and Showtime and not launch Cinemax or TMC. This is our current strategy, not set in stone.

The equipment I was speaking of on compression rates does not diminish PQ. It allows us to better manage the bandwidth usage of digital channels.

The Music channels are in fact very popular and all told they take up very, very, very little bandwidth.

WLTX and TWC did this last year and this year in a combined effort. They can't show it without our bandwidth - that we are not almost out of! That said, we are very grateful to work with WLTX on this opportunity to provide extra programming to our shared customers.

Now - time for the 7pm games to begin.

Diana, I believe these games are available over the air with a atsc tuner(19-1, 19-2 , and 19-3 ). How can TWC help Wltx broadcast subchannels ota?

Kelvinivey.
You are right . I live in Darlington and watch the games ota on 19-1, 19-2, and 19-3.

My wife said the TWC SA8000HD powered itself off at 2 PM again today. Any word from SA on the trouble ticket?

The 750 MHz Coax/Cable hybrid system that we have here in Columbia was state of the art for cable companies in the mid 1990's. The improvements have been made in the conversion to digi boxes and digital head end sites, from the old analog ones, which has allowed more content to be aired. However, with the demand placed on this old technology backbone network by HD (which does suck up a lot of bandwidth) and by the addition of "new", "better", and "more" SD channels it behooves the Cable Companies to "spend" their limited bandwidth wisely. They found out many years ago, if you rush out and fill up your spectrum right away, then when something new comes along you have to kill off something that at least some of your viewers liked. This ends up badly for the cable company, since the "new" thing will probably cost them money and they are then put in the position of taking something away from their customer base, but increasing the cost. This is a losing situation and they learned it back in the late 1970's and 80's. (witness the argument regarding the loss of the West Coast feeds)

The cable companies are in a bind, since the cost of upgrading the backbone network is very expensive and they (the cable industry) just got into the black from the conversions to digital. I doubt we see any backbone upgrade for quite a while, and I expect that we will get additional HD slowly, very slowly.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents.

Originally posted by wdbarnum
My wife said the TWC SA8000HD powered itself off at 2 PM again today. Any word from SA on the trouble ticket?

This isn't meant to insult you, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet...
The box has options to turn itself on and off at certain times of the day. Are you sure you don't have the setting to turn itself off enabled?

Originally posted by kevinivey
Diana, I believe these games are available over the air with a atsc tuner(19-1, 19-2 , and 19-3 ). How can TWC help Wltx broadcast subchannels ota?

I did not know that - my bad. Sorry for the presumption then and a VERY LARGE THANK YOU to WLTX for letting us be a part of their wonderful gig.

Gene S
I am not insulted, I am not an expert on this box, by any stretch of the imagination. I just checked the box setting and sure enough there is a setting for "power off" and for some reason it was set to "2 PM weekdays" - not something I set, so it had to come from TWC set like that. Which is probably why D-Rock30 has the same thing going on. Thanks, for the heads up!

Diana can now close the trouble ticket with SA.

thanks again,

"WLTX and TWC did this last year and this year in a combined effort. They can't show it without our bandwidth - that we are not almost out of! That said, we are very grateful to work with WLTX on this opportunity to provide extra programming to our shared customers."

Diana,
This is a joint agreement between TWC and WLTX to carry the NCAA multi-cast on TWC. We can carry ALL of the games on our digital channel. We wanted to give access to the games to as many people as possible. Thus TWC added the third sub-channel. You guys are in fact picking the games up ota and rebroadcasting them as quam on you cable system. If we couldn't do three channels ota due to bandwidth, then TWC would not have the games as well.

Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV: WLTX-DT

Any word on when the March Software update for the SA800HD will be available?? the update to enable DVI ??

Thx!!

-- Cain

As of Friday, it was still in the lab with no definitive eta for download.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Again, to maintain the same number of HD premium channels you have now (2 HBO, 2 Showtime = 2 Pay package $16.95). You would have to spend more to keep the quantity you have now (2 HBO, 1 Cinemax and 1 Showtime = 3 Pay package $22.95).
1 Cinemax HD trumps 2 Showtime HDs...

No, Diana I'm sorry I didnt mean to not thank you too at TWC. To clarify it all I thank WLTX and TWC for the awesome basketball coverage.

Thx Diana,

OK, who do we have to shoot, or pay-off to get CSS here in Columbia ??

My wife and I are BIG USC basebal fans, and we really want to watch our team play on CSS.

I would gladly pay for it, perhaps add it to a sport package, it will sell like hotcakes around here.

-- Cain

Your correct, CSS would really drive the Sports Tier. We tell our corporate office that pretty much every week, but it is a regional sports service that is only applicable to SC and Memphis Divisions and Memphis doesn't get the same level of requests as we do. Regional Sports Services are very expensive so, unfortunately, negotiations are not going so well to date.

Much thanks to Dan and WLTX for using the OTA subchannels to show
additional games.

PIP and multiple games was pretty cool.

However, were there problems with the HD digitizing during motion?
Oklahoma St. vs. Memphis in particular. Was that the national feed or my
OTA reception or just that CBS uses 1080i?

"However, were there problems with the HD digitizing during motion?
Oklahoma St. vs. Memphis in particular. Was that the national feed or my
OTA reception or just that CBS uses 1080i?"

Since we were using 6 meg of bandwidth for the two sd channels, there was some digitizing in the HD channel. We will be going back to our normal 17.5 meg HD and 1.5 SD channel plan soon. (After the NCAA) For the rest of the NCAA we will be running 15 meg on the HD and 4 meg on the SD channel. This should really help with the pixelization.

Enjoy the rest of the NCAA tourney.
Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV:WLTX-DT

Originally posted by uscboy
However, were there problems with the HD digitizing during motion?
Oklahoma St. vs. Memphis in particular. Was that the national feed or my
OTA reception or just that CBS uses 1080i?

I noticed it was worse on Sunday than on Friday. But having all the games for free was definitely worth the pixelation. Now that there wont be as many games at one time it shouldn't be an issue.

I have the SA3250HD cable box and noticed it has what looks like the little 1394 firewire port on the front. Is that what you need to have to hook to a D-VHS recorder for recording in HD?? Is that port activated now? I read on another forum that by April of 2004 the FCC is requiring that the cable company provide you with a cable box that has an active 1394 port for just this purpose (for hookup to a D-VHS or a HDTV that has a 1394 input). Thanks for the help, I was thinking it would be nice to be able to record in HD and be able to save it and watch it anytime you wanted or with out having to have an HD DVR.

I'm on a conference call Wednesday about his issue. I'll give a full report on how we are going to comply on Thursday.

The front port on the SA3250HD is a USB port and is not active.

Thursday, March 25 - Columbia DMA only

March Madness Schedule

7:00pm
Channel 9 - Vanderbilt/UConn
Channel 810 - Vanderbilt/UConn
Channel 811 - Pittsburgh/Oklahoma State

9:30pm
Channel 9 - Alabama/Syracuse
Channel 810 - Alabama/Syracuse
Channel 811 - St. Joseph's/Wake Forest


Dan, can you clarify if the feed on 810 will be HD or SD? We were not provided that info on the grid we received yesterday. Thanks

A question for other Road Runner users here at AVS... are any of you getting email notifications on new postings to subscribed threads? I am not; they stopped coming Monday afternoon. I contacted David Bott/AVS who says they get a "service unavailable" response from Road Runner. Road Runner in turns says AVS has to provide a detailed error report regarding them blocking the emails. Apparently what I provided to RR from David at AVS was not enough. My guess is it is all they had. Stalemate. I am curious if it is just me being blocked or if other SC RR are being locked as well.

I just got one on this thread through RR/Earthlink SC.

I also have Earthlink via TWC/RR and it seems to work fine. I made a change in my profile to force a confirmation E-mail and it came through immediately. However, that's through Earthlink's mail servers so it is probably non-responsive to Bruce's question, alas.

Bruce,

Road Runner has implimented some 'blockers' recently in an attempt to reduce spam. I'm not totally versed on the ins and outs of what they have done, BUT I do know that whatever it is has caused problems and delays for our monthly email newsletter to RR subs.

I'll forward your info to our HSD staff here. Thanks

"Dan, can you clarify if the feed on 810 will be HD or SD? We were not provided that info on the grid we received yesterday. Thanks"

The games on 19-1(810) for Thursday and Saturday will be SD games upconverted to 4x3 HD. The games on Friday and Sunday will be true HD(1080i). CBS only has one HD production truck so only one region at a time can be in true HD. That region this week is St. Louis.


Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV:WLTX-DT

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Bruce,

Road Runner has implimented some 'blockers' recently in an attempt to reduce spam. I'm not totally versed on the ins and outs of what they have done, BUT I do know that whatever it is has caused problems and delays for our monthly email newsletter to RR subs.

I'll forward your info to our HSD staff here. Thanks

Thanks Diana (and to Brent and Gary as well!). My conversation (chat) with RR Technical Support last evening did not go quite as well as I had hoped. Perhaps your assistance will help for the problem otherwise has been left languishing.

Originally posted by bdenman
A question for other Road Runner users here at AVS... are any of you getting email notifications on new postings to subscribed threads? I am not; they stopped coming Monday afternoon. I contacted David Bott/AVS who says they get a "service unavailable" response from Road Runner. Road Runner in turns says AVS has to provide a detailed error report regarding them blocking the emails. Apparently what I provided to RR from David at AVS was not enough. My guess is it is all they had. Stalemate. I am curious if it is just me being blocked or if other SC RR are being locked as well.
"Hurricane Electric" owns the block 216.66.0.0/18 and is known to host some spammers. AVSforum mailer fractal.avsforum.com (216.66.21.36) is in the "Tailor Made Servers" block 216.66.21.0/24 that in turn is part of the mentioned above "Hurricane Electric".
I wonder if RR denied access from the whole "Hurricane Electric" block?

Kirill

Originally posted by Dan'sHiPix
"Dan, can you clarify if the feed on 810 will be HD or SD? We were not provided that info on the grid we received yesterday. Thanks"

The games on 19-1(810) for Thursday and Saturday will be SD games upconverted to 4x3 HD. The games on Friday and Sunday will be true HD(1080i). CBS only has one HD production truck so only one region at a time can be in true HD. That region this week is St. Louis.


Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV:WLTX-DT


Great - thanks for the clarification. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Final Four and Championship will all be in HD. We want to get this in advertising for next week but want to confirm first.

Originally posted by DianaTWCSC
Great - thanks for the clarification. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Final Four and Championship will all be in HD. We want to get this in advertising for next week but want to confirm first.


Yes, they are both in HD.

Dan Stalnaker
Director of Technology/Operations
WLTX-TV:WLTX-DT

Dan - Wonderful! Thanks for the info.

Bruce - The gentleman you need to speak with (Tier 3 Security) is out of the office today. I will give him your phone number tomorrow to call and talk though. He will need info like IP address, etc. Sorry for the delay.

Diana