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Albany, NY - HDTV - Page 103

post #3061 of 4965
10/14/07 at 7:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnythan View Post

TWC will give them everything they need. 30 or so HD channels including all the local broadcast stations.

30 or so??? Not sure what fantasy land you're living in, but there are only 22 full-time HD channels in this market (being charitable to the likes of TBS, TNT, AE)
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post #3062 of 4965
10/14/07 at 7:36pm
Just counted and I've got 26 HD stations. So it's not 30, but it's plenty.
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post #3063 of 4965
10/14/07 at 11:17pm
@HDDEF
Try going to antennaweb.com and tvfool.com for an idea of what to expect.
With just your zip and Berlin NY it doesn't look good.
But you can get down to street level and how tall your antenna is.
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post #3064 of 4965
10/15/07 at 4:30am
Has anyone had trouble with the cablecards in a TiVo? I seem to be getting the locals but not TBS, A&E, et al. (And randomly my BBC America is gone.)
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post #3065 of 4965
10/15/07 at 5:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by soobunny View Post

Has anyone had trouble with the cablecards in a TiVo? I seem to be getting the locals but not TBS, A&E, et al. (And randomly my BBC America is gone.)

CableCARDs do not receive adequate support from CATV providers who want you to rent a STB instead because of the additional revenue it generates.

The only option you have is to contact ATW as often as necessary to have the channels you subscribe to authorized to be accessed by the CableCARD; despite how many unqualified technicians Time Warner may dispatch to your home during this process.
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post #3066 of 4965
10/15/07 at 6:43am
Has anyone gotten an Mcard type cable card from Albany TWC? This is the multi-steam cable card. For example, the TiVoHD has dual tuners and two cable card slots. You can either get two cable cards OR one Mcard. If anyone has gotten an Mcard from Albany TWC, is it the same price as a regular cable card ($1.75 / month)?

From Wikipedia:
Quote:


An "MCard", also known as "MS-CableCARD" or "multiple stream" card, can decode up to six channels simultaneously. MCards were specified in 2003 but have been frequently delayed. They became available prior to July 2007, when the integration ban took effect.

MCards are sometimes referred to as CableCARD 2.0 cards, although they do not themselves provide any of the CableCARD 2.0 features, such as interactivity. MCards are backward compatible with current CableCARD devices. To older CableCARD devices that do not support multiple streams, the card appears to be a single stream card. CE companies have long wanted MCards for their CableCARD 1.0 host devices in order to compete with Cable company devices that use multiple tuners. This is important for products such as Sony & TiVo CableCARD DVRs, televisions with Picture-in-picture and CableCARD-equipped Personal computers, which need to be able to record one show while the user is watching another. Without MCards, these products must rely on two SCards, and installation and support is more error-prone. Simple availability of MCards is insufficient if MCards are not supported on cable company servers by a specified date. No such date exists, and so CE companies are uncertain when they will be able to sell products that rely on MCards.
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post #3067 of 4965
10/15/07 at 2:39pm
20 maple ave, berlin 12022.. thanks all
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post #3068 of 4965
10/15/07 at 5:29pm
Anyone else seeing breakups on WRGB or am I going to have to climb out on the roof again? (over the air broadcast)
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post #3069 of 4965
10/15/07 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BreakStuff View Post

Anyone else seeing breakups on WRGB or am I going to have to climb out on the roof again? (over the air broadcast)

I'm seeing it too, OTA only. It's OK on cable. This is a recurrence of an old problem; if you dig back in this thread you'll find references to it. Some tuners handle it OK, some don't. WRGB needs to reboot something; an encoder, IIRC.

The audio and video pop in and out on all of my tuners. If I set my MyHD card to timeshift, the video is smooth but the audio is gone entirely. Timeshifting my other tuners makes little or no difference (OnAir GT, LG LST-3410A).
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post #3070 of 4965
10/16/07 at 3:19am
I have it too on both TV tuner and DTV tuners wish they would fix it soon. My meters are showing strenth of 100% so I cant figure out what it could be.
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post #3071 of 4965
10/16/07 at 8:03am
WRGB-HD OTA seems to be OK now. I ran short recordings from bad and good periods through TSReader Lite and compared the specs. There were minor differences, of course, but nothing that stood out to my untrained eye.
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post #3072 of 4965
10/16/07 at 8:12am
Just bought a Panasonic Plasma that should be delivered this week. My Dad went to the TWC office this weekend and said we were upgrading to HDTV. They gave him a SA 3250HD box and component cables. We don't plan on getting DVR service, but I would prefer hooking the cable box up using HDMI cables. Does TWC offer a cable box with HDMI output other than the 8300/8000 DVR box? Does it cost more to lease those boxes without subscribing to DVR service than the SA 3250HD?

Thanks
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post #3073 of 4965
10/16/07 at 8:22am
I had the 3250. It had a working DVI port on the back. DVI and HDMI are physically compatible - all you need is a DVI -> HDMI adapter:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Or you can just use a cable that has HDMI on one end and DVI on the other:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2
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post #3074 of 4965
10/16/07 at 10:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bongorific View Post

Just bought a Panasonic Plasma that should be delivered this week. My Dad went to the TWC office this weekend and said we were upgrading to HDTV. They gave him a SA 3250HD box and component cables. We don't plan on getting DVR service, but I would prefer hooking the cable box up using HDMI cables. Does TWC offer a cable box with HDMI output other than the 8300/8000 DVR box? Does it cost more to lease those boxes without subscribing to DVR service than the SA 3250HD?

Thanks

The 4250HDC is ATWs most current non-DVR STB, which became available soon after the Integration Ban.
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post #3075 of 4965
10/16/07 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ebo View Post

WRGB-HD OTA seems to be OK now.

Oops, I spoke too soon. The problem is back.
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post #3076 of 4965
10/16/07 at 5:49pm
Confirmed, here too. Oddly, signal strength seems to STILL(edit) be 77% despite the now non-existent image. Standard def. uplinked through dish network is working fine. Glad I record the standard def., just in case.
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post #3077 of 4965
10/16/07 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechniSol View Post

Confirmed, here too. Oddly, signal strength seems to be 77% despite the now non-existent image.

Appears to be the same issue we've seen before, any info WRGB?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...41#post6373841

Hey Look, its almost 2 years to the date, the things that make you go hmmm...
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post #3078 of 4965
10/17/07 at 7:06am
Hi,

I have an HD DVR from TW Albany and a 32 inch Samsung TV. When I use an HDMI cable to connect the two, the only channels I get is the HD tier 1800+. I spoke with TW over the phone and was informed that HDMI only carries digital signal hence only the 1800+ working, if I want to see any of the other 100+ channels I have to use composite, but it doesn't make sense. I have digital cable so why don't the rest of the channels work? When I use composite cables I can see everything.

Does this make sense to anyone?

I'm also not terribly impressed with the HD quality it seems to be a bit grainy and not as sharp as I'd like. I'm new to HD and cable so I'm not sure how to go about adjusting it or getting the most out of HD. Does anyone have any suggestions?
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post #3079 of 4965
10/17/07 at 7:19am
The TW tech is totally wrong.

I use my 8300 HD DVR hooked up via HDMI for all channels.

As for the grainy/low quality HD, I imagine that you have some setting wrong on your DVR.

Where do you live?
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post #3080 of 4965
10/17/07 at 7:46am
I live in Cohoes, actually almost in Latham, what settings can I check? I didn't actually poke around the settings, I thought the TW tech would optimize it.
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post #3081 of 4965
10/17/07 at 7:49am
I haven't gone through the settings on my box in quite a while, so I can't tell you much off the top of my head.

I live right in Troy. I could stop by during a lunch break or after work one evening to help you get things squared away if you wanted.
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post #3082 of 4965
10/17/07 at 7:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnythan View Post

I haven't gone through the settings on my box in quite a while, so I can't tell you much off the top of my head.

I live right in Troy. I could stop by during a lunch break or after work one evening to help you get things squared away if you wanted.

As you can probably understand I'm hesitant to let a complete stranger (message board guy) into my house. I'll poke around on my own and see if I have any further questions. Perhaps in your leisure you could poke around your DVR and see if anything comes to mind otherwise I'll see what I can do on my own. I'm pretty savy with electronics, just new to DVR's and cable. Always used OTA signal for TV.

I appreciate the assistance.
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post #3083 of 4965
10/17/07 at 8:06am
LOL, of course. I don't blame you. I'm just trying to be neighborly

I'll take a look at the exact settings on the DVR to let you know what to check.

Your TV should have some way - often a "display" button or through the menu - to display the resolution it's receiving from the STB. Use this when viewing HD channels to see if the STB is sending out an actual HD signal.

By the way, even the HD channels show a lot of SD content. If you watch Seinfeld, for instance, on NBC HD, you're not watching HD content, so it won't look very good at all. Discovery HD, InHD, and HDNet Movies are good channels to check because they pretty much have HD content on 24/7.

What model TV do you have?
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post #3084 of 4965
10/17/07 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnythan View Post

LOL, of course. I don't blame you. I'm just trying to be neighborly

I'll take a look at the exact settings on the DVR to let you know what to check.

Your TV should have some way - often a "display" button or through the menu - to display the resolution it's receiving from the STB. Use this when viewing HD channels to see if the STB is sending out an actual HD signal.

By the way, even the HD channels show a lot of SD content. If you watch Seinfeld, for instance, on NBC HD, you're not watching HD content, so it won't look very good at all. Discovery HD, InHD, and HDNet Movies are good channels to check because they pretty much have HD content on 24/7.

What model TV do you have?

It's all good, and I appreciate the neighborly assistance.

I have a "SAMSUNG Black/Silver 32" 16:9 8ms Wide HDTV with Integrated ATSC Tuner Model LNS3241D" link
I did some research buying it but since it was my first HDTV purchase I really didn't know what to look for. Hope I did OK with this TV.

My buddy from Mass was over last weekend and he has Comcast HD, we were just scrolling through channels and he was like...my HD looks so much better then yours and when I went to Discovery channel which usually shows the best he still said it looks much inferior to his Discovery Channel. Now I know there is a difference between carriers, TV's etc. and this was just his opinion but it made me think.........am I getting all I can out of my current setup?

Why would the TW tech on the phone tell me that you can't display regular non HD digital cable signal trough an HDMI cable? It didn't make sense then, and it doesn't make sense now. I really have to get into the STB and see whats up.
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post #3085 of 4965
10/17/07 at 9:04am
No, HD should look awesome. Discovery HD especially looks incredible. Something has to be wrong with your setup.

I don't know why the tech would say that. They were totally full of it.

First thing I'd do is turn on Discovery HD and hit the Display button on the TV remote to see what resolution the input is.
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post #3086 of 4965
10/17/07 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ebo View Post

I'm seeing it too, OTA only. It's OK on cable.

The problem was back Tuesday night during The Unit and Cane. It was even worse Tuesday than Monday, since the SA8300HD had problems with The Unit as well as OTA problems on other receivers.

Wednesday morning I tried recording one of the HD soaps OTA with my S3. Everything seemed to be fine again.

Let's hope the problem is fixed.
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post #3087 of 4965
10/17/07 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bosiydid View Post

I live in Cohoes, actually almost in Latham, what settings can I check? I didn't actually poke around the settings, I thought the TW tech would optimize it.

I don't guarantee that these would be your settings, but they should be close.

On my SA8300HD cable box:

1. Press Settings on your remote to bring up the Quick Settings screen.

2. Press Settings again to bring up General Settings.

3. Use the arrow keys to highlight Set:Picture Format.

4. Either press Select or the right arrow

5. Either Upconvert-1 or PassThru works fine with my Samsung HLR4667W HDTV.

Your Samsung TV may be different than mine, but here are the ones on mine:

1. Press Menu to bring up the TV settings menu

2. Use the arrow keys to highlight Picture and press enter to bring up the picture settings

3. Use the arrow keys to highlight Size and press select

4. Mine shows 16:9, Panorama, Zoom1, Zoom2 and 4:3 as the choices if you were on a SD channel, only 16:9 and 4:3 if you were on a HD channel

5. Try selecting 16:9

6. Press menu twice to exit from settings

If your remote is the same as mine, you should also be able to press the Info button to show what the Resolution is that you are receiving from your cable box.

You should check your picture during prime time on one of the major networks, since that is your best chance of finding a program that is in HD.

If you are still having problems, send me a PM and I will give you my phone number so we can discuss it further.
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post #3088 of 4965
10/17/07 at 5:46pm
[quote=AlbanyHDTV;11907665]Has anyone gotten an Mcard type cable card from Albany TWC? This is the multi-steam cable card. For example, the TiVoHD has dual tuners and two cable card slots. You can either get two cable cards OR one Mcard. If anyone has gotten an Mcard from Albany TWC, is it the same price as a regular cable card ($1.75 / month)?


When TW came out to fix my CC issue last week, they eventually tried an MCard after two other CCs wouldn't fix the problem (TBS HD on ESPN HD, among other issues). But that's for my TV, I don't have TiVo. Price is still $1.75 as far as I know.
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post #3089 of 4965
10/17/07 at 6:54pm
WRGB-HD OTA is dropping in and out here again tonight. Anybody else? I noticed it about 9:35PM, or so -seems about an hour later than last night. Odd???

WRGB Engineering Dept, tell us you're on top of this? Please?
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post #3090 of 4965
10/18/07 at 5:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceS View Post

I don't guarantee that these would be your settings, but they should be close.

On my SA8300HD cable box:

1. Press Settings on your remote to bring up the Quick Settings screen.

2. Press Settings again to bring up General Settings.

3. Use the arrow keys to highlight Set:Picture Format.

4. Either press Select or the right arrow

5. Either Upconvert-1 or PassThru works fine with my Samsung HLR4667W HDTV.

Your Samsung TV may be different than mine, but here are the ones on mine:

1. Press Menu to bring up the TV settings menu

2. Use the arrow keys to highlight Picture and press enter to bring up the picture settings

3. Use the arrow keys to highlight Size and press select

4. Mine shows 16:9, Panorama, Zoom1, Zoom2 and 4:3 as the choices if you were on a SD channel, only 16:9 and 4:3 if you were on a HD channel

5. Try selecting 16:9

6. Press menu twice to exit from settings

If your remote is the same as mine, you should also be able to press the Info button to show what the Resolution is that you are receiving from your cable box.

You should check your picture during prime time on one of the major networks, since that is your best chance of finding a program that is in HD.

If you are still having problems, send me a PM and I will give you my phone number so we can discuss it further.

Bruce,

I didn't see your message until this morning (at work), I'll have to wait 'till tonight when I get home to run through these. Thanks for your help, this forum is one the best and most informative forums I've ever come across. It's great to be able to come and work through something with people who know what they are talking about or at least willing to help. Thanks
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