Los Angeles, CA - TWC - Page 286

SB6580 arrived yesterday afternoon.

I installed it myself, first powering all things off (and removing the battery from the Arris modem). This included my PC, Arris modem, and my old Netgear WNR3500 router (which was being removed, to be replaced by the SB6580).

Then I disconnected the cable coax from the Arris modem and screwed it onto a splitter, and then fed the two outputs from the splitter to both the Arris modem and the new SB6580.

Then powered up things, with PC last.

Not surprisingly, I still had phone service (through the Arris modem).

And I was also able to use Firefox to communicate with the new SB6580 (via documented 192.168.100.1 or 192.168.0.1 as is shown by IPCONFIG). I explored around a bit in the Motorola firmware (it's clunkier than the Netgear firmware, but still usable) and changed a few settings per my setup.

Then I called TWC to get them to activate the SB6580 (and remove Internet from my Arris modem so that I would no longer be charged $3.95/month). They must be having thousands of these requests, because they actually have a special announcement on the recording offering "more info, if you've recently bought your own modem". At the end of this little blurb (which simply asks that you have your HFC MAC address from the bottom of the modem available for the technician) they even have a "press 1 if you want to talk to a technician to activate your modem"), which is all surprisingly thoughtful and convenient.

So, in just a few moments I was talking to a knowledgeable tech, who did everything he needed to do (which included sending out "reset" instructions to the SB6580, etc.). Within minutes my account had been updated to reflect the Arris modem now only used for phone, and the new SB6580 was now bonded to TWC and fully functional! Everything was now operating normally.

All of my home LAN devices are set for "automatic DHCP" lease assignment of IP addresses, so they didn't have a problem when powered on now that they were on a 192.168.0.* LAN scheme, rather than the 192.168.1.* scheme formerly used by the Netgear WNR3500.

And that's it! Up and running. I've run some Speedtest timings and it's absolutely top notch for what I'm paying for (Turbo, 15Mbps down, 2Mbps up). It actually does seem to be "snappier" when going to new URL's than it was when I was using my old Netgear WNR3500 through the Arris modem. Perhaps this DOCSIS 3.0 and latest-and-greatest modem/router technology from Motorola makes a small difference in high-speed performance. I don't think I'm connected to a different/faster DNS, but whatever the explanation I'd have to say that subjectively it seems "faster".

Whatever... I'M HAPPY! Up and running without a problem.

I'll be interested in how you fare with it over the long run, as I may be in the market myself (although I prefer a wired LAN, or at least the option). Mixed reviews at Amazon.

I've been having problems with my DCX-3400 lately. One time, I was watching a show and wanted to record it to finish it later. When I pressed record it said my recording started but the box didn't show it was recording and the red light didn't turn on. I had to turn off the box then turn it back on to record but once I did that the beginning of the program wasn't recorded since the buffer is deleted once you turn the box off. Another time, I tried to rewind a show while I was watching and the progress bar was white instead of green and I couldn't rewind. A few days ago I also noticed that the hard drive has been making a loud whurring sound like it's about to fail. Should I get it exchanged?

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. I wonder if this DVR has any SMART sensors, logging, diagnostics, etc. Time to start think about replacing it from those symptoms.

Channel 225 is now Cozi TV. Here's the web site for the new channel: http://www.cozitv.com/

Hmmm, my BBC America HD has always been channel 448, and still is.

Ch 484 is The Movie Channel HD (for me at least), not BBC America.

I guess it's just a typo.

With the new year we will be getting some new HD channels, according to the TWC programming legal notice. For example, SoCal is finally getting the HD versions of truTV, OWN, TV Land, and other channels previously unavailable in HD. Other TWC divisions have had these for quite some time. (The legal notice does not list the channel numbers that they will be on, just that these networks' HD versions will be added.) Click the above link for more.

Thankfully, none of these channels is at all of interest to me... since I'm in Hollywood/Westchester (former Comcast) which is Motorola infrastructure and does NOT require SDV and a tuning adapter... at least not yet, for 99% of the available channels which currently can still be received directly using existing STB/DVR or cablecard.

I did receive a letter from TWC advising that they will begin the transition to SDV in my area soon, but again the so far channels being made available in this manner are low-interest (and zero-interest to me).

Hopefully any large scale or total SDV/TA transition in my area will either never arrive, or will be years away.

Doesn't look like I'll ever have a true FIOS option (including fiber TV, not from DirectTV).

SDV has gone live in the Former Comcast areas It is just less channels are switched in those areas due to having the expanded basic analog yanked a few years ago. SDV is from what used to be analog 71 (507MHz) to 86 (597MHz). SDV has been active in the former comcast areas before the last batch of HD channels that launched which included: Sundance Channel HD, Fox Deportes HD, Hub HD, Fox Movie Channel HD, Tennis Channel HD, Fearnet HD, beIN Sport HD, beIN espanol HD, Encore HD TV Japan HD and there may be a few that I am forgetting but yeah you need to go get a tuning adapter as you are already missing those HD channels as they are SDV.

Hmmm... maybe that will explain a mystery I've been dealing with...

I have an M-Card cablecard setup, for my Ceton InfiniTV 4-tuner HTPC. And the Guide info is provided by Zap2it (through MS's Windows Media Center). And the current channel lineup provided by Zap2it does not include these newly added channels:

339 The Hub HD
342 Nat Geo WILD HD
349 Encore HD
350 Sundance Channel HD
351 Fox Movie Channel HD
352 FEARnet HD
355 NFL Network HD
356 Red Zone HD
369 Pac-12 National HD
370 Pac-12 LA HD
378 beIN SPORT HD
379 beIN SPORT en Espanol HD
380 Fox Deportes HD
389 Azteca America HD (KAZA)
390 MundoFOX HD (KWHY)
391 MLB Network Strike Zone HD
392 ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater
394 Fox Soccer Channel HD
395 FOX Soccer Plus HD
396 GOL TV
397 Galavision HD
398 HBO Latino HD (West)
399 KFTR HD (Telefutura)

Nor does it reflect the move of HBOHD (East) from 481 to 521, to make room for Deportes on 481.

I had written to Zap2it to show them the new channels, which I assumed would be available to me through my M-Card, as they had "ordinary channel numbers".

Are you saying that I will not be able to receive these new HD channels (specifically 350 and 351 are all I'm really interested in out of this whole bunch) unless I get a TA?

The Ceton card does support SDV/TA, although I don't have it configured for that functionality at the moment. I really didn't want to have another box involved, with the TWC coax currently going straight from the wall to the Ceton card at the moment (and which has always been acceptable, at least until now).

But I still don't see how this would impact the channel numbers shown as "available" from Zap2it, no matter whether a TA is required or not to actually receive them. I still think Zap2it needs to update their channel lineup, and then I need to try tuning to 350. If I get it, great. If not, then a TA is needed and I'll just have to get one. But first it needs to be shown in the available channels list, which it is not.

Well, I guess I need to add a post-script to my comments just above.

Turns out Zap2it now HAS updated the TWC/LA channel lineup using the set of new channels I sent them (matching the above list). Sure enough, I now show 350 and 350 and all the others in my Guide from Windows Media Center.

However, as you suggested, I cannot actually tune to 350 and 351 through the Ceton card.

So apparently they WERE added through SDV, and I will now need to get a TA for my HTPC. One more thing on tomorrow's TO-DO list.

Oh well. What's one more small box on the floor behind the computer?

At least the Ceton card can support both TA and non-TA channels simultaneously and transparently to me, and that's really all I care about.

Today all of the shows were erased from the DVR and we were only about 15% full. I have TWC West Valley--did this happen to anyone else?

Not here (Silverlake).

But a LONG time ago, with a much older DVR model I kinda remember something strange like the HD memory being out of whack. A hard reboot seemed to fix it (unplug the power). I don't think the shows were gone though?

Can it still record? Could be that your DVR might be on the way out...

Anybody know anything about the HD DTA's? Time Warner's 2013 Unreturned/Lost/Damaged Equipment list has HD DTA's as costing $83. I did find it odd that regular SD digital converters and SD DVR's now have a cost of $0, but that is another story.

Anyway for those that do have a HD DTA, how much is the rental cost per month? Also, how does it compare to a regular HD box or cablecard? Is it comparable, or are the HD DTA's only for channels listed under Broadcast Basic and Basic Cable?

The new channels showed up in my Tivo as well,
although their guide data hasn't caught up yet as Tivo's grid lists them as To Be Announced.

Similarly, they TW is giving up the West Coast feed of EncoreHD ( 349) but my grid data is for the East.

Hopefully Tivo gets things caught up.

FCD

Zap2It hasn't yet upgraded its guide listings for West Los Angeles TWC (Digital) so I can't get the new stuff, even with my tuning adapter. I sent them a cap of the current TWC lineup for the area yesterday. Hopefully they'll make the correction soon. I would love to watch BBC World News, I grew to really like it when traveling in Europe and it was one of my few English language options on TV.

I got my latest bill notification yesterday and thought the amount looked a little high, about $12 too high. So I viewed the statement online and, sure enough, I was being billed for a second phone line I hadn't ordered.

I called them up and the rep was very courteous and adjusted my bill. However she had no idea why it was just showing up a good 3 months after I had phone service installed.

I guess it's always good to pay attention. I'm paperless and have automatic payments set up, so it would've been easy to miss.

I knew this would eventually happen.
When I got my digital cable service six years ago it took me twelve STB exchanges over the course of two years to get a stable one; pretty obvious that TWC can't test or repair squat.
Today my faithful 4250HDC rebooted midday and now refuses to do anything except that for any requested action.
Went to the Hawthorne office this pm - a sign was posted that NO HD boxes are available in the Hawthorne - Gardena - Torrance area. Major WTF! Who runs out of working STBs?
Looks like 'DVD Home Theatre' here for a while ....

Go to the twc office in westchester, they should have boxes.

The only problem with that is that the Westchester (actually Culver City) office only has Motorola boxes. From reading DiveFan's signature, I can see that he has a Scientific Atlanta box that kicked the bucket, so if I'm not mistaken (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), he can only replace it with another SA box.

Don't know, but not sure why you would need an SA box since the motorola boxes work on the TWC system. In fact, I recommend the new "MOCA" motorola boxes which you can then control via your iphone/ipad. Obviously he should make the call and find out.

well motorola and Cisco boxes don't play well in each other's respective headend environment so if you are on a SA system you must get a Cisco box, Samsung, or Scientific Atlanta box while motorola area's can only use motorola boxes.

A couple of weeks ago the guide data for TWC West Los Angeles (Digital) was updated to WMC including all the new channels. I can now tune (using a tuning adapter, WMC and the Ceton InfiniTV USB) almost all of the new HD and SD digital channels. One, however is unable to be tuned, 226 BBC World News.

Several phone calls to tech support, both the cable card setup folks in San Diego, and the Ceton/Tivo call center in Buffalo have not helped. They had a "senior" tech sent over who confirmed that everything is working except channel 226.

Anyone else able to tune 226 in Los Angeles using a cable card and tuning adapter?

I have the same setup as you. I can get the channel above and below, but not 226. Hope this helps.

On a Tivo, there is a signal meter which shows something even if a channel is encrypted. For 226, there is no digital signal. Same thing applies here with Military Channel HD on 348? Is it just me? Can anybody get 348 in the TWC Eagle Rock region?

You are old Adephia there as I am in West LA. I assume you have a Motorola tuning adapter.

BBC World News does come in while using a Motorola DCT box on channel 226.

Must be a channel mapping problem.

I'm in MDR (Hollywood/Westchester, former Comcast) and also have a Ceton card along with a recently added Motorola MTR700 Tuning Adapter.

And I have no problem tuning to channel 226 (along with all the other new HD channels in the 349-399 range available through SDV and the TA).

Despite the tech's desire to "daisy chain" the coax from wall through the TA and then out of the TA to the Ceton, I refused. I followed Ceton's installation instructions and split the coax, sending one side of the split directly to the Ceton and the other side of the split to the TA. There is nothing connected to the coax output of the TA. And of course then a USB cable from TA to the PC.

Yes, I'm getting both of these with a DCX-3200 box here in Los Feliz (Eagle Rock).

I also get 348 and 226 in the Eagle Rock office (Silverlake), Moto DCX3400 DVR.

You're on a different head end in MDR (ex-CommuniCom/Comcast) that uses Cisco/Scientific Atlanta equipment which explains why something works for you and not for those of us in a Motorola head end (ex-Adelphia).

Ceton has revised its installation instructions. Daisy chaining through the tuning adapter is fine for a single TA installation. But doesn't work for when using two TAs (no longer necessary due to TA firmware updates allowing use for one TA with four tuners) https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cetoncorp.com%2Fdocuments%2FInfiniTV_4_Detailed_Installation_Procedure_v1_4.pdf

So 226 is working with the Motorola boxes, but apparently not working for the Motorola tuning adapters. Thanks for the info.

If anyone else with a tuning adapter is not getting 226, please report that to TWC tech support, with enough reports, perhaps they will realize there is indeed a problem.