Los Angeles, CA - TWC - Page 280

How do you like FIOS? Especially for HD content (on a big screen if you have one?)?

Are you in an area in which FIOS is fiber optic all the way to your house, or just partial?

From the latest Programming Alert:

On or after October 1, 2012, TWC SportsNet, TWC SportsNet HD, TWC Deportes and TWC Deportes HD will be made available to customers with subscription to the Basic Cable tier.

/Dan

On that programming alert, it says that CBS Sports Network will now be on the Variety tier in addition to the Sports tier. That change seems to be related to the announcement that Time Warner Cable SportsNet will be carrying some basketball & football San Diego State, UNLV, and Fresno State games. What seems to have happened is that CBS gave the broadcast rights to these games to Time Warner in exchange for TW giving CBS Sports Network a larger subscriber base.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-twccbs-20120828,0,3913895.story

I'm really digging FIOS. The picture quality is comparable to TWC, if not, slightly better. Another thing I like is that 95% of the premium channels are available in HD, but unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network are not.

On the internet side of things, I'm seeing an average speed of 30Mbs/23Mbs on a 25 down / 25 up connection! With TWC I was getting an average speed of 7Mbs/2Mbs on 15Mbs/(can't remember upload speed) connection.

As for your second question, I'm not completely sure. I think it might be completely fiber.

Everything FiOS is fiber-to-the-home.

Don't confuse FiOS with U-Verse.

Looks like TW is doing 2 year bundles again. At least that it says in an ad retrieved from my mailbox. For 2 years at $89 a month, you get triple play. Earthlink Broadband at up to 10mbps, some tv package, and unlimited nationwide calling which includes Canada and Puerto Rico. The current deal on their website is $89 a month for only 1 year, but you do get a $150 Target gift card instead.

My question is for the $89 a month package, what level of tv service do they give you? Is it digital cable + 1 tier, or is it something else?

Weird that they mention EarthLink from TWC mailing.

Not really. The bundles in the past used to always mention Earthlink. It should not matter though as it is my recollection that TW lets you choose either the Time Warner or the Earthlink brand. Not sure if there is even any difference between the two.

Interesting. My parents recently got the bundled triple, but it was from TWC directly so no EarthLink.

What tv package do they get? I would think it was broadcast basic + basic cable + 1 tier.

However when I went through the choices on TW's website for the $89/1yr deal, there were no options to select which digital tier. Only choices were selecting premiums. That's why I am wondering what channels you actually get for this price.

Variety Tier is the default tier for digital cable in Socal so if you have digital cable and did not specify what tier you want you automatically get the variety tier. The Variety tier is called Digital basic in Texas which carries pretty much the same channels.

In the last promotional package I had with TWC, internet was provided by Earthlink. The only difference between the two is that for any internet related customer / tech support you have to call Earthlink. You also receive a static IP address over TWC's dynamic IP address.

I had the EarthLink through TWC for years. What finally got me to move was they wanted $10 more per month the last time I called for a deal (only RR had the $10 off). RR also had "TurboBoost", TWCWiFi access, and tablet cable TV access (forget the name of that item since I am not using it right now). You could not get these since you need an RR email address to access. I did keep EarthLink email for a year (about $50) to give me time to get everything changed. Only advantage EL had was a personal webspace, so had to make a change on that (but actually still have with the email only service but it will be going away soon). /Dan

http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/FAQ/Documents/iGuide_A28_UserRefManual.pdf doesn't seem to answer this starting on its pages 27. How do I permanently save my live TV recordings (up to two hours) to the DVR's HDD?

Thank you in advance.

i dont know if you can save the entire 2 hours. i just tried it and all it saved was the 30 min episode i was watching. nothing before that.

That's a bummer. Sorry, I didn't mean the whole two hours or show/series/game/whatever. I meant how to save ANY live recordings I just did.

The automatic buffer only holds 30 minutes at a time, or until you change channels. If you want to save a show that is longer, you must press RECORD at the beginning of the program for the DVR to save the whole thing.

Wait, 30 minutes? I thought the manual said up to two hours.

It might be up to 2 hours for an SD program, but it's only up to 30 minutes for an HD program.

It's the size of the "recording buffer" which is key here. When you push the REC button having watched a program for a while, that "in-memory" (actually on hard drive) buffer is simply converted to a named actual recording on your list of recorded programs. It's already been temporarily buffered through hard drive, and they simply convert it from "temporary" to "permanent" (giving it the appropriate identifiers for your list of recorded programs to show).

So the size of 30-minutes of HD on hard drive is about the same size as 2-hours of SD on hard drive, both being probably in the 3-4GB range depending on bitrate. It is that file size which determines the max duration of the "live buffer" you can PAUSE/REW/PLAY, or REC from if you suddenly want to.

Oh that sucks. I was hoping it had a long time for live record as long as there was enough free disk space like on computers and other DVRs.

So if I want to keep my recording of whatever I am watching (a sport game), then I will have to use scheduled recordings instead?
Edited by phildaant - 9/5/12 at 11:53am

If there is even a slight chance you want to keep it, just record it! You can always delete it.

That's true. iGuide should just always assume viewers might keep it. I wonder if Navigator does this too.

No... you're misunderstanding what the REC button does, and how the "recording buffer" works..

The recording buffer is emptied immediately whenever you change a channel, and starts "filling" again on the newly selected channel. It remains filling as long as you remain tuned to that channel, up to a maximum size. In the case of HD, that maximum size file is about equal to 30 minutes.

But this 30-minute HD recording buffer "slides forward" in time, along with real time. So as you continue to watch that channel, the oldest contents of the buffer are deleted from the end of the buffer, and the current contents (i.e. of what is "live TV") get continually added to the front of the buffer.

So the buffer is always the most recent 30 minutes.

Now, at any time you can push PAUSE or REW or PLAY, and navigate through that buffer... essentially providing complete replay capability for the most recent 30 minutes. And of course if you are watching something old in that buffer on your screen (say that was shown 15 minutes ago), while you are watching the "sliding-forward 30 minute buffer" continues to "slide", emptying out at the oldest end and continuing to fill at the newest end. So you can continue to re-watch what was shown 15 minutes ago and that "15 minute" marker will "slide forward" with everything else, effectively putting on the screen a 15-minute delayed image, if you get my drift.

As long as you don't change channels (which is critical, else you're instantly purge the recording buffer and start all over with a brand new one for the newly tuned-to channel) the recording buffer will continue to operate in this way, always holding the most recent 30 minutes maximum, and always "sliding forward" in time. You always have "instant replay" (or, say, re-watch something on a show that happened a while ago with a person who just entered the room) ability within this "up to the last 30 minutes" recording buffer.


Now... whenever you push the REC button when you are also watching LIVE TV (i.e. one of the two tuners in the DVR is in the "foreground", and sending its output to your HDTV display screen), that initiates the RECORDING function of the DVR for the current "foreground tuner". And that means the currently tuned channel of that foreground tuner starts recording, putting out a named recording on your hard drive based on that program/channel in the Guide.

And that manually initiated recording process on that channel will continue for as long as you don't stop the recording, up to the end of the program as specified in the Guide. It will stop recording automatically at the end of the program however long the Guide said it was.

While this manually initiated recording continues, you can also then "swap viewing tuners" (bringing tuner 2 to the foreground so that it's tuned channel is visible on your screen and moving tuner 1 which is doing this recording to the background where it is "invisible" but continues to record, or vice versa depending on which tuner was in the "foreground" and on the screen at the time when you swapped tuners) and the manually initiated recording for that channel you were just watching "live" WILL CONTINUE TO RECORD IN THE BACKGROUND. The duration of that manually initiated now-background recording is however still just long that program is, in the Guide, and no longer . It's effectively as if you'd pre-scheduled that program to be recorded and the tuner that got assigned for recording was the background tuner. So you'll end up with a recording that is no longer than the program itself.

In other words pushing the REC button on the DVR is not entirely like pushing the REC button on a VCR, where you have to then push STOP to stop recording. With an "intelligent" DVR, the STOP button is conceptually automatically pushed for you when the program logically ends per the Guide.


Anyway, when you did initiate that manual recording by pushing REC while you were watching "live" TV, however long the current recording buffer is and however much you have in it (up to the max of 30 minutes of HD, but it could be less if you only recently just tuned to that channel, watched it for a while, and decided you'd like to record it) is changed on hard drive from its current status of "temporary unnamed recording buffer up to the last 30 minutes" to become the beginning of the newly properly named (according to the program info in the Guide) recording. And new ongoing continuing "live" TV is added after that on hard drive and continues normally.

You actually still do have that very same "sliding 30-minute" recording buffer even when you're truly doing this manually initiated recording of "live" TV, but it's just that instead of working in a general unnamed temporary recording buffer, you're actually looking at the past 30-minutes of your newly accumulating named recording of that program on your hard drive.

So, what you end with in your "named recording" when the program ends (or whenever you might manually choose to STOP that recording by pushing the STOP button on the remote while the recording tuner is in the foreground and its program is shown on your screen) always begins with however large that initial recording buffer was when you first pushed REC. If it was the full 30-minutes and "sliding", you'll get those most recent 30 minutes at the front of your named recording. If the buffer was something less than that 30 minutes, then that's all you'll get at the start of that named recording.

And, however long the rest of the program is per the Guide, that will define the end time for the automatic STOP (recording) to kick in, exactly as if you'd previously scheduled the program to be recorded.

So the final named recording will include the sum of (a) however much was in the recording buffer at the moment you pushed REC, up to a max of 30 minutes since that's the limit of the recording buffer, followed by (b) as much remaining there is in the program per the Guide info. It's exactly like a pre-scheduled recording at its upper end, automatically stopping exactly the same way. You've simply initiated the recording start manually by pushing the REC button, at which time however large the current existing recording buffer is becomes the front of your named recording to start. New "live" recording then goes onto hard drive right after that current recording buffer content used to start the named recording.
Edited by DSperber - 9/5/12 at 4:02pm

Interesting. It sounds like my DVR is always recording whatever it is on for up to 30 minutes until changing channels, stopping, etc. I thought one had to manually record for live recording. I need to play with this DVR some more. When I was using it, it was confusing me because I was expecting to find it in my recordings list when I started a live record.

Though not to confuse the poster, previous to the 3400 series moto box I had the 3416 (or 6416?) and those boxes allowed live buffer recording even when switching between 2 channels (the same 2 channels). So I was able to get 30 mins HD buffer between 2 different channels (w/o hitting 'rec'). As long as I didn't switch beyond those 2 channels (say, 407 and 402), it didn't 'purge' the buffer.

I really liked that feature, but it is no more on the 3400 box..

I think perhaps you're thinking about the fact that EACH TUNER HAS ITS OWN 30-MINUTE BUFFER, regardless of whether it is in the foreground or background. As long as you don't change channels on either of the two tuners, its specific dedicated recording buffer continues to operate independently of the other dedicated recording buffer for the other tuner.

So you can actually watch two programs simultaneously, on the two tuners, randomly swapping back and forth to bring one into the foreground and then the other. And this foreground/background swap function does not impact the ongoing operation of each of the two associated recording buffers. So you can also do PAUSE, REPLAY, REW/FF, PLAY, etc., navigating through each tuner's recording buffers while it's in the foreground, and thus go back and never miss anything from the past 30 minutes ON EITHER CHANNEL THAT THE TUNER WAS TUNED TO.

When you refer to your previous "switch between 2 channels" are you actually describing "swapping tuners", with tuner 1 tuned to one channel and tuner 2 tuned to a second channel? As I described above, swapping between the two tuners has no impact on behavior of their two dedicated recording buffers, as long as the tuner does not change channels.

That's how you get two totally independent 30-minute buffers on two different channels simultaneously... by swapping between the two tuners, each of which has been tuned to the two channels you want to manipulate in this way.

This independent dual-tuner/dual-buffer functionality and the ability to swap foreground/background tuners and bring the related recording buffer with it has always been present on the dual-tuner Motorola boxes... as long as you use "swap" as you method.

That is exactly right. The DVR is ALWAYS buffering what you're watching "live", accumulating it (up to 30 minutes) on the hard drive as an "unnamed temporary buffer" that supports PAUSE, REW/FF, PLAY, etc. for whatever has been buffered for up to the past 30 minutes on the currently tuned channel.

I don't follow what you're describing here.

The ongoing recording buffer for "live" TV is unnamed, and will not show up on your recorded programs list. But you can navigate through it with PAUSE, REW/FF, PLAY, etc.

Only when you push the REC button while watching "live" TV will that current recording buffer content (however large it is, up to 30 minutes max) now be "named" on your hard drive with the program name you're watching (per the Guide, just like you'd scheduled a recording and it gets saved with the name from the Guide). That recording buffer becomes the beginning portion of the manually initiated recording of the current program on hard drive, which will then be added to in real time from the ongoing program. Now it's there permanently and can be watched whenever you want. It will stop recording automatically when the current program ends (per the Guide).

OK, I think I get it now. Whatever is in the 30 minutes temporary "always" live recording will get saved permanentently when I hit record button. I am going to have to play with this more soon before I really use it a lot with the upcoming TV shows coming back.

Exactly.

Not to try to influence your TV-watching habits, but the whole idea behind a DVR (for me anyway) is to NOT watch "live" TV. I don't want to sit through commercials. I don't want to spend an hour watching 40 minutes of content.

So I set up "series" recordings, which allows the DVR to be my slave/robot and record whatever I believe I might want to watch... without requiring that I be home to push REC, just to have a "permanent copy". And what's the purpose of that "permanent copy" you just pushed REC for... to watch again later? To be able to go to sleep and watch the rest tomorrow? You're probably going to delete it after you watch it, so it's really only being recorded so you can watch it (or the rest of it) later.

So why not just set up the pre-scheduled recordings, either one-off or series, and then watch your recordings later when you actually have time? Just record everything you're interested in... "defensively". And then you can always browse through those recording during whatever few hours you actually have time to watch TV, picking and choosing what to watch partially or completely, or delete.

Once a program's been recorded you can now opt to watch it whenever and however you want. And you can use the 30-second skip to move through commercials without wasting any time. You can use the PAGE-UP/DOWN to navigate quickly through the program 5 minutes at a time, or use the FF/REW button to quickly and visibly move through the recording.

Why ever watch anything truly "live"? That's what DVR's are really good for: releasing you from the obligation to sit in front of the tube at a fixed time on a fixed night, just to see a program that was aired at that time.

Time-shifting. That's the ticket. Comes with lots of other benefits.

AFAIK, my RC currently can't do skip 30 seconds. I'd need to get a different RC at a later time. I do watch live for sport games. I do record with buffer like 8 minutes for a 30 minutes or 15 minutes for one hour.

Once in a while, I just randomly channel surf and watch whatever what hits my eyes. Then, I might do a record on it whatever was shown that wasn't planned ahead.