Cleveland, OH - TWC - Page 501

Ditto Trip, If Cable is what you all enjoy, so be it. I only had this service a bit over a year when it was forced to me in an apartment. I've only had OTA myself, if that somehow vanished, I'd likely just watch DVD's or rent movies... better yet the Library is free!

I'm sure many of you remember in the back of your mind TELEVISION IS NOT A UTILITY!! The original concept of subscription TV was a) to bring TV service into areas that had no service b) to provide COMMERCIAL FREE TV for a price.

I also do without a Cell phone or DSL for that matter (& bottled water too). & YES $96 a month is a lot to me also. All fine & good if you are doing well, but I've learned over time that the 'Great Job' that pays for all this neat stuff may not be there tomorrow.


The partial reason of this financial crisis, is that people over that past few decades have been 'brainwashed' to believe they 'need' all these innecessities they have done without for years, & are living well beyond their means & 2 weeks away from bankruptcy.... sad.

Unfurtunately, the banks currently pay VERY little in return, almost wonder why they are in trouble, defaulted loans?

Ouch!!! Lets now return to Cable TV Banter , a few of my neighbors are still insisting that TWC is charging them for a box just to get ANY HD, period, including the locals.

If they don't have a QAM tuner this is true. Or, they have a QAM tuner and either don't know they have it or don't know how to use it.

Technically they are. Unless you want to play around with the freeloader method of using the ATSC tuner to get the channels. I like the cable box. I turn it on and watch TV. No need to worry if a channel is moved or deleted and you have to re-scan to find it. Plus I have a 7 day grid guide and a banner that tells me what's on, every channel all the time. Local newspapers don't even publish the schedule anymore and TV guide only shows network TV primetime and cable.

I've tried it all. I accidentally discovered the "in the clear" channels and used them in between boxes, but I could not stand the weird numbers. I like the current 400 numbering over the weird positions like 104-2 etc. Also, the SD digital picture on the under 100 channels is far superior to the analog garbage I get without a box. The grain/interference/fuzz was unwatchable after seeing the HD channels and even the few odd SD digital channels thrown in.

I've also tried OTA. Not as a primary source, but on the side. I live in an old house and it has the antenna on the roof and the wiring inside. I was able to get 5, 19, 43, 45, 55, 61 and 67. 3 and 25 NEVER came in. But they usually don't. 19 was kinda buggy.

That's because you live in Akron, not Parma or Seven Hills.

Presumably, that'll change when 3/25 go full power from their new tower, and 3 moves to DT 17...

OK, I just got done with everything. I got an 26LG30 for the wife. I hooked it up and tried using just qam. Well, it took me a bit to figure it out and I thought, "geeze, my wife won't be able to use this." And since all the jewlery channels are on that list of SDV I say the heck with it and off I go to TW Macedonia.

It took her 20 minutes and several p.o.'d people left because she was having trouble adding showtime. I mention the SDV coming and she says she hasn't heard a thing about it. I said, your kidding, people are getting this in the mail. Nope, she says doesn't know anything about SDV coming soon. She checks with her manager and he says "not around here."

So I come home and I say, "Hey, this is a better TV then the one hooked up in the bedroom so I'll use the HDMI on this." I do and I kind of calibrate it and I go back to hook up the TiVo to the components.

But TiVo says no, we are not using components or I'll give you this funny looking picture. Well, either TiVo or the television said it so I switched back.

Then I went and set up the remote which was an adventure as there was only one code for LG and it was wrong. So I try the auto thing and I'll be darned if it isn't like the fifth one it tries. But I'm tired and slow and I can't figure out how to set it up. Finally I read the directions again and after about, oh another 1/2 an hour that's done.

So I'm going to order an HDMI cable for this thing and hopefully find a good calibration. I kind of used the one on my 37LG30 and it seems to at least be close. For some reason it won't let me use the "Just Fit" but that may because it's on component.

Anyway, SDV? Nobody knows nothing. I haven't got a letter, the jewlery channels come in fine.

I think you guys are making all this stuff up.

I lug the old 19" television down to the basement and let me tell you, that sucker was heavy.

Yes, I pay about 7 dollars a month for 2 cablecards. Worth it to me not to have the set-top box, and also to have the TV decode the signal. Mitsubishi puts out several largers sets that have the orginal cable cards. Pretty good sets and one of them has a soundbar. I would pick one up if I didn't think tru2way was so close. I might pick one up anyways if the price goes down some more, if only we knew for sure when SDV is coming to NEO.

But those sets with cable cards will not work with Tru2Way. The hardware is not capable of two way communications.

You'll end up getting a box for your current set, unless you have TiVo.

Oh I understand the value and benefits of CableCards, wasn't questioning that aspect. There seems to be confusion out there (again) regarding Tru2Way and whether or not CableCards are needed with it.

The few articles I've read regarding Tru2Way make it very clear "no STB needed" ...... but then either completely neglect to mention the need for the CableCards or bury that info deep in the article. Even the CNet reviewer got it wrong.

Now that I've had a chance to play around with this I have to give this STB a complete thumbs up. The remote that comes with it has some additional features I haven't seen before, like a one push favorite button, but more importantly this STB has HDMI.

Of course TW doesn't give you the HDMI cable, because since they think like you, they want you to have to deal with 5 cables instead of just 1.

I guess the argument on this would be older models of HD televisions may not have HDMI.

Now I had mentioned that they took a long time getting the STB to add Showtime. When I looked at it last night did add Showtime. Along with HBO, Starz, and Cinemax.

But only on that television. My TiVo's are not receiving that.

Still I didn't want any unexpected surprises so I just called TW and I told them what was going on and he said the he just shows me being billed for Showtime.

I said that's all I wanted to know, I kind of heard a smile in his voice and he said you have a great day sir.

One other thing. I mentioned that I was having difficulty with a setting on the 26LG30 called "Just Fit" which set's it for the program that is coming through. I called LG and the guy said it was the cable box and of course he was right, I didn't set it for pass thru. Once I did that the problem was fixed.

While I had him there I asked if he had any specs for callibration and his response was, "You should not change those. I know many people think they need to do this but this will cause software problems."

In all the years I've dealt with HDTV's I haven't heard that. Also the callibration for my LG3730 was from CNET!

I think this guy is just a CSR (not in America) and probably just being told to tell people this. Anybody else ever hear of anything like this?

No STB will be needed so long as you have a cable card and the Tru2Way hardware. If you don't, then you will need a STB or DVR.

I don't remember if this was discussed in this thread or in another, but it's likely that your STB isn't fully registered on the network. Can you use any of the PPV/OnDemand features of the box (for PPV can you tune to a PPV channel and get the message that says you can buy the program)?

It will be interesting to see how cable companys treat tru2way rolls. Its the same cable card that needs to be installed in the TV; but now the cable company gets all the benefits of a set top box (PPV, Guide, SDV), without actually having one there. I have a feeling that suddenly all the problems that they had installing cable cards will vanish.

I had a 32" Sony I 'inherated' that was sitting in storage for 8 months before I finally got help from 2 others to move this finally last month. This was a 3 person operation, as one person has to keep it from tipping forward over the weight of the tube.... now THAT was heavy! it actually started to bend a 2 wheeler that was rated for 350 lbs due to its uneven weight & shape.

Oh yes, I finally found the 27" Console a good home, that had such a good picture I hated to part with it.

I used to have to program the Ex GF's about once every 6 weeks & write down where the Local HD's were, but now she said she could no longer find them after TWC called & told her she now needed to rent a box for this. She also had a few extra HD channel's like GSN & a few others but it was purely random, in fact they were testing some channels once when I was reprogramming this, they were showing Borat & Happy Feet, just after they were available on DVD, but not yet on the premiums.

That's funny, because I have a Philips 30" HD set that is in my bedroom. Last year I brought up the stairs by myself and on to the top of our dresser in the bedroom. That was not very smart, because my back has not been the same since. I had back problems even before that, so it was dumb on all kinds of levels.

I've got a 32" Toshiba tube set that's still sitting where I had it. I just put the LCD in front of it.

Put a piece of plywood on top of it and throw a table cloth over it .

Seriously though, if you (and anyone else) don't want it anymore, you should get at least a couple hundred bucks for it off Ebay. ...or even Craigslist, which is free to use.

Only if I can convince someone to schlep here and carry it out from my second floor loft. I don't think I'd get $100 for it, though, as it's an old analog set I paid $399 for a few years ago. I'm assuming analog sets aren't exactly in demand as we approach 2009, though it does have component inputs.

When I get tired of staring at it, then I'll probably do something.

^My bad, was thinking it was an HD CRT set. I gave my old anlog 32" to my sister... she loves it .

I saw 2 console TV's sitting on the tree lawn in my subdivision. They put a sign on them "Free TV". I wonder if they had any takers?

If it's free, and it works, someone is going to take it... wether it's a tv or whatever.

Be careful about what you hear about cablecards; there's an awful lot of misinformation about them out there. Whenever I run across a question about them, I always go straight to CableLabs, the standards body that wrote the specs for cablecards. They have the entire spec available for download, including a snyopsis of what happens when a card is plugged into a host device, all described in exquisite detail. Here you'll find the answers to all of your Tru2Way questions.

I don't know if anyone remembers but I gave away my old Sony 32" HD CRT. It weighed 200 lbs.

Inundated, you've got to be single to get away with that! I still have the step ladder upstairs where the new HDTV is. And it's going to stay there until the HDMI cord arrives! If my wife complains I'll tell her fine, you move it and you bring it back.

Actually 205 lbs.
JJK

Well, it gets more bazzar. I can get HBO and Cinemax on Demand, but I can't get Showtime (which I do pay for), Starz, or The Movie Channel on Demand. However I get all their channels.

I don't know, wife says don't do anything but I'm afraid this is going to bite me on the butt sometime. I may call my headend contact.

Terminally single, as I say. The first step is to get women to stop running away...

No, seriously, my Toshiba isn't even an HD set. It's a standard, 4:3 CRT. You remember it - I was watching downconverted HD programming on it for years, and you kept razzing me about it.

I should be so lucky that someone would come in here and take it away, even for free, assuming I'd feel safe inviting someone into the house...

Just when you get to the point of acceptance, that's when something will happen. Just keep that in mind when it does.


I don't think Goodwill picks up anymore, but call and see. If not, you can't donate it to some other charity? Nobody will help you at least get in in the car so you can go to Goodwill and drop it off?

And that television sounds like a 200.00 tax write off to me. If you itemize.

I agree on the tax write off. We do the max every year.
I don't know about Goodwill, but Amvets comes by my house every month for a pickup.

As a measure of last resort you can always try http://www.freecycle.org/
I've successfully gotten rid of nonworking computers, snow blowers and a 30 year old lawnmower. Two simple rules: giver cannot charge any money, receiver must pick it up.

Of course this involves letting someone in your house. Maybe you'll get a date out of it???

One mans trash is another mans treasure.