Los Angeles, CA - TWC - Page 263

@fleaman -- it takes a lot of information to paint frames during stobe effects, because in the milliseconds that the strobe is black the entire image changes, so there's no carry-over of pixel info as there would be in more static shots. The entire frame has to be re-painted with new info rather than just the parts that have changed. The same applies to rapid pans. If the channel has low bandwidth, it can't keep up accurately and has to guess and/or extrapolate info which makes it looks blocky.

BTW, this isn't the kind of pixelation I was talking about earlier with Paladia and TcM-HD. I am seeing quick flashes of thin blocks of pixels (using in a straight line) that are missing/mis-colored and last just a fraction of a second.

@DSperber -- you're right about InHD, they used to be on 414/415 when I got my first DLP in 2004 (when there wasn't much true hidef to choose from).

Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation. Yeah, it's definitely 'blocky'. Is 'pixalation' the wrong description?

I guess this gets into bitrates, but how do other competitors fair in this regard, directv, Dish, etc.?

No, that's definitely pixelation. Perhaps I'm mis-using the term to describe what I'm seeing. Maybe "glitch" is better.

My understanding is that before TWC added all of these HD stations, satellite broadcasts were always more compressed in order to use lower bandwidth. Don't know if that's the rule anymore. As to why some channels look worse than others -- maybe the amount of $$ TWC makes from them is directly proportional to how much bandwidth they're allotted. I really don't know, though, just guessing.

Video streams can and are compressed at several places along the broadcast chain, including at the time of recording, during playback at the satellite uplink center, and at the TWC headend before its sent along the fiber/coax system to your set top box or receiver.

Over-the-air broadcasts are also compressed, especially if the station is using digital sub-channels for additional channels like KNBC and KABC are doing. And of course the source material may have been compressed before the station gets their hands on it. You notice this a lot with news broadcasts where images are being sent in from many different sources.

Its not the revenue TWC is making that determines how much compress, rather they are using the most compression on the channels where customers are less likely to notice and complain (think Home Shopping) vs. those where the most number of viewers expect to see a good picture (think HBO, ESPN or a NBC/ABC/CBS/Fox).

And, yes, strobe lights are extremely hard on any compression scheme since the picture changes completely every frame. So the compression algorithm cannot use information from a previous frame to paint the next one. One clip, that was broadcast numerous times on many different channels was the scene of Prince William and Kate getting engaged. The flashes from the photographers pixilated the scene no matter what channel I saw it on.

with SDV the HD bitrate is constant for all switched SDV and the SD channels have the same constant bitrate set for all SD SDV channels. I would like to say the SDV HD come in at around 12.0mbps and SDV SD channels come in at around 4.0mbps constant due to only having 38.8 mbps capacity per QAM.

Ever since the addition of the new HD channels I now get a new error message...

"channel (from 433 to 500 ) is unavailable please try again" then there is the familiar yellow triangle with try again near it...if you click on it the channels will either load or the box will reboot...what is up with that?

I would try calling 888-TWCABLE and choose the "reauthorize" item under cable problems which does not require talking to someone. Then reboot the box (pull plug for 1/2 minute). /Dan

I have been having this recurring issue on my DVR where the channels sometimes freeze, then say not available... other times the say Cable Card Pairing Not Available. Sometimes the channels come back, sometimes I have to reset the box. This ONLY seems to happen on HD channels.. but not all HD channels...and it happens all at once. For example, HD Comedy Central will lock up, but I can still watch HD NBC or standard def Comedy Central. It is really weird and seems to only happen on the higher level HD channels. It makes it almost impossible to record any type of "cable" channels because they freeze even when the DVR is running and I am not watching the channel. Also, this only happens on one of my DVRs (the DCX3400, I have an older Motorola in the other room).

Now for the fun part. I have had time warner out to my place 3 times (fourth time will be this saturday). First time, they replaced the box, said it was fixed. Nope. Second time, they replaced the splitter from the main feed into my condo and did some "adjustments". Nope. Third time, they did nothing but call and IM someone back at home base on their little portable laptop and said it was fixed. Nope. The issue persists. Also, times two and three were so-called "supervisor" techs or specialists or whatever.

Anyone hear of a similar problem, encounter this problem, or know a solution or suggestion I can tell the tech on saturday. The techs have never asked or gone to the actual location in the garage where the main feed is that splits off into each condo unit - I asked them if they needed to check and they said since the signal is coming in good it can't be the problem. Could this be a network issue, account issue?

I also have roadrunner turbo, and it works great. 20/2 all the time.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Last night i noticed the addition of a Start Over icon in my SA8300HD's banner that was never there before. When i went to Time Warner's So Cal website to read up on it it said that Start Over is not available in Southern California LOL. Kinda funky, can't FF through commercials, don't think i'll be using it much.

The Start Over feature jumps to the beginning of the show, correct?

Are you saying that after it skips to the beginning you can't FF skip through commercials anymore? That somehow your normal FF skip feature is disabled?

That is one of the requirements for the station to allow TWC the rights to "start over" is that you must watch everything. If you use "start over" you cannot fast forward. If recorded on DVR (or in the buffer) you can rewind and fast forward.

Our start over started a couple days after the new HD channels were added last month. Only available on a few channels that the channel owner allows TWC to use it on. I have not actually tried it yet and have not seen the pop up in a while now that I think of it (I was on vacation a while).

/Dan

TWC is giving out these new model remotes.

This remote model will not allow programming a 30 second skip with a dvr.

If you need a new remote, don't get one of these...

That's correct on all counts.

I just checked all channels between 400 and 500 and Start Over is only available on four channels: DISC 418, Food 434, Toon 462, and VH1 491.

Yawn

Strange they would disable (or not allow) via the 'remote', when they could do it via software on the DVR.

Hopefully that won't happen, as that would kill that feature for everyone (with the old remotes and programmed universal remotes).

If that did happen, I would probably drop TWC and move onto another provider that allowed the skip feature...

Still the best plan, if your home network can support it and are fed up with TWC: Windows 7, Windows Media Center as DVR software, Ceton 4-tuner card, M-Card, 2TB hard drive, xBox or Linksys extenders around the house to deliver all content to your multiple HDTVs.

Can't believe they're now giving out 1056B03 remotes from UEI that do not support the 30-second skip EFC code. There's no such issue with the Windows Media Center remotes. Furthermore, you can even push a number first (e.g. 6) and then the "forward skip" button, and it will skip forward [6] x 30-seconds.

Fortunately there are plenty of 1056B01 remotes on eBay for less than $10. I have a stockpile as the keys seem to get gummy after 2 or 3 years.

I mistakenly bought a 1056B03 and found that it also is not JP1.3 programmable, despite having the connector in the battery compartment.

I'm a long-time southern california Time Warner Cable customer.

I have two cable-boxes (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD), one is integrated into my home theater system (rack) in living room, the other is installed into my bedroom TV set-up cabinet.

I'm wanting to get rid of one STB to save costs. Was hoping I could move to one STB and a splitter. This way I would keep the STB in my home theater system. Run the second (split) coax line to my bedroom system, directly connected to a new Samsung UN22D5000 LCD TV.

I finally tested my Samsung TV last night and this morning, picture so far is "so-so". Slightly washed out on some channels. I'm only getting standard definition channels so far. Can't seem to tune into HD channels (like local NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.,...). Also can't tune to SPEED, Versus, and others I prefer.

The traditional local standard definition network channels are numbered using simple logic (ie. 02, 03, 04, 05, 07, 09, 11, etc.,...). While local network HD counterparts are numbered into the "400" level (ie. 402, 403, 404, 405, 407, 409, 411, etc.,...respectively). SPEED and Versus channels are 266 and 267 (standard def). HBO channels are "500" series (ie. 502 HD East, 503 SD, 504 SD, 505 SD, 506 SD, 507 SD, 508 SD).

So far can't tune to any HBO channels, SPEED or Versus, or local network HD channels. Guess I have to play around with "Channel List"?

By "split", I assume you mean split the cable line before the STB. If you set-up your TV to 'cable' and scan for channels, it will find the channels. But, the TV can find QAM channels, but can not unscramble scrambled channels. It will also probably "convert" the channel numbers to over-the-air (OTA) numbers. Most TVs do. I do this on a small HD TV in the kitchen. 4-1 will be NBC-HD, 2-1, 5-1, 7-1, 9-1, etc for the local HD channels. Since not using the STB, they are not converted to the 'cable' company channel locations but are on the OTA channels. Now, non-OTA channels (DISC, SPEED, etc.) are scrambled and need the STB to verify your ability to watch them to unscramble and will not work without a STB. /Dan

Assuming your Samsung HDTV has an ATSC/QAM tuner, it will only be able to receive the clear-QAM channels provided by TWC over the coax.

You will need to do a "channel scan" with your TV's tuner, in order to have it find the QAM channels. They are not the same as the 402, 404, etc. that you see with your DVRs. Nor are they likely to show up as 2.1, 4.1, etc., which are OTA designations (although your TV may display that information from the PSIP data). But they should be found by the TV once you do a channel scan. The clear-QAM channels are essentially all of the local OTA network channels, and virtually nothing else.

However you will NOT be able to see virtually any other basic/premium cable channel directly via coax. TWC/LA delivers virtually ALL of its cable content as "copy-once" and encrypted, which requires either a STB or DVR (both with a built-in cablecard) in order to view. If your TV has a cablecard slot, you can rent one of those and put it in your TV, and you will then be able to view the copy-once/encrypted channels delivered via coax.

I see, thanks! So looks like I probably will not be able to receive HBO without a cable-box or cable-card?

I'm afraid that's the situation.

thanks. Yeah that's too bad.

never heard anything about "HBO Go", thanks!

went out to Best Buy today, bought a few HDMI and component video cables. Came back home and re-configured my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD box to my new Samsung UN22D5000NF LCD TV, Phillips DVR, and Toshiba DVD/VCR player.

For some reason I can't seem to get normal TV broadcast from cable box (via HDMI/DVI-2 input on Samsung TV). I'm getting the TWC channel bar down below, you can actually see the channels changing (HD and SD), but no video or audio, just black screen?

I switched inputs to Toshiba DVD/VCR (HDMI 1 on Samsung TV), I'm getting good play-back.

When I switch input to DVR (component video), no video or audio. Although when I play back material recorded on hard-drive I get playback. Just can't get "live" video play-back from TV feed.

Looks like cable box is not outputting video/audio. So I did a hard re-boot. While coming back on-line, I'm getting the "CISCO" screen, it goes through it's firmware mostions. But at one point it just "freezes" (on CISCO screen). Re-booted again, it did the same exact thing again.

Called TWC technical support, they recommended coming in and getting a new cable-box. The rep explained that she's seen this behavior before- someone gets a new TV, connects HDMI, and things become all hacked-up. hmmmm?

I've been googling like crazy to find out if I can purchase from Craigslist or ebay a high def cable box/DVR and use it with my newly aquired time warner cable tv so I don't have to pay their rediculous rental fee. Every response from the internet to my google querries were so freakin' old that they were worthless. So I called customer service 7 times and got answers from definitely no to positively yes. The yesses were conditional on my buying a unit that time warner is compatible with, but that it would work. I notice many of the ebay ads for cable box/DVRs won't take returns and state that you need to check with your cable company. I'm kind of in the dark and need some help. Can anybody explain it to me? Or direct me to a thread that does?
Thanks

While someone else can probably explain the particulars of cable box DVR's that work with TWC (cable cards, etc.), I just wanted to remind you that even if you don't 'rent' a DVR box from TWC, (I think) you still have to pay a monthly 'DVR service fee' if you use Any DVR, which is $11 a month, plus a $2.75 a month cable card rental fee (card that plugs into your non-TWC DVR box). I have a TWC supplied DVR, so I may not know the exact particulars, but I assume they still charge the $11 DVR service fee, then the $2.75 Cable card fee for a total of $13.75 a month?

What you save by buying your own DVR box is the DVR box rental fee, which is $7.99 a month for the HD DVR (I don't think there are std def DVR's from TWC cable anymore?). And if I'm calculating correctly, if you deduct the $2.75 cable card fee from the $7.99 DVR box rental fee, you'd only be saving $5.24 a month by using your own non-TWC DVR?

You cannot activate cable company boxes acquired through 3rd parties like Ebay or Craigslist. You can however use a few units out there that have cablecard slots like Tivo or Moxi. With a Tivo, you would pay a monthly cablecard fee to Time Warner & a fee (monthly or lifetime) to Tivo. There is no dvr fee paid to TW in this case.

When i see "DVI" i immediately think "Not HDCP Compliant". The fact that you can see the channel bar on the screen but you're getting no video tells me that the "HDMI/DVI" input on that TV is not HDCP Compliant and/or not suitable for use with an 8300HD or any other Cable Box. And the fact that you're also not getting audio through that HDMI/DVI input on the Samsung TV also makes me think that the TV must also have a separate DVI-Audio input jack which would indicate to me that this particular HDMI/DVI input is really more for use as a digital PC input, and not really intended to be used with a Cable Box or DVD Player etc (which require a digitial input to be HDCP Compiant). A 22" screen size is more of a PC monitor size so it's likely that this little TV is more of a hybrid TV/PC Monitor.

Once (as an experiment) i connected my 8300HD to the DVI input on my Viewsonic 23" PC monitor via HDMI and like you, i could see the channel banner but i got no video - just a black screen. When i checked the specs in my Viewsonic's manual, there is no mention of the DVI input being HDCP Compliant.

To test my theory, disconnect everything from your new Samsung TV and connect your 8300HD to the regular HDMI input (not the HDMI/DVI input). Turn the TV on first, then turn on the 8300HD and see if you get a picture. If you do, then that kinda confirms that the HDMI/DVI input is not suitable for use as a cable box input. I'm pretty sure this is the case.

Also, check your TV's operating manual to see if that HDMI/DVI input is HDCP Compliant like the regular HDMI input is.



Do you have this Philips DVR connected to your 8300HD's yellow composite video output to get a cable signal? If so, the 8300HD will not output live audio or video from this output if you also have an HDMI cable connected to the HDMI port. This is how it is on my 8300HD. If this is not what you're doing, then tell us exactly how this Philips DVR is connected to your "TV feed" source.