Los Angeles, CA - TWC - Page 287

I think you've got the situation confused.

The former Comcast areas (such as where I live) use Motorola infrastructure, not SA equipment. This is referred to as "Hollywood/Westchester" even though I'm obviously in Marina Del Rey.

I believe the "former Adelphia" areas are the ones that use the Scientific Atlanta equipment. This is referred to as "Marina Del Rey" (which is of course confusing).

Anyway, I have never used Scientific Atlanta STB's or DVR's. In the Communicom days I think they used Jarrod or General Instrument STB boxes, but I have ALWAYS been Motorola, going back to the original DCT* equipment when this area was still AT&T Broadband before it got acquired by Comcast and then traded to TWC.

But for sure, I am absolutely in a Motorola area (came through DCT, DCH and DCX equipment) and currently have an M-Card in my Ceton tuner, and also have a Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter. And I CAN RECEIVE 226 without a problem.

Didn't know that they'd revised the instructions to show that either approach is "acceptable". But I'm quite satisfied with my splitter approach and the resulting signal strengths seen by the four Ceton tuners.

Again, you've got my statement incorrect.

I DO have a Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter working in conjunction with my Ceton card and M-Card (connected to coax via splitter as I've described, not daisy-chained). And I get 226 perfectly.

Don't know what the problem is with your location or setup, but my setup does NOT have a problem tuning to 226 through the Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter, Ceton tuner, and M-Card.

Anyone having cable and internet outage in the Marina del Rey area? I'm having all kinds of problems.

I'm in a former Adelphia area and have always used Motorola equipment.

Same here.

Always been Moto boxes, even when I had Adelphia, never SA or anything else.

Same here in Pacific Palisades. Its been Motorola for well over a decade, never SA digital equipment. My parents home was wired by Theta Cable, in the pre-box days back in the late 1960s and we used the analog tuner in the black and white TV to get channels 2-13, the had KCET on analog 6 even way back then. When they launched the Z Channel they put it on analog 98 or 99 (can't remember exactly which) which required a corded converter. They still have the same RG-59 drop to the house today, now with Motorola digital DCX boxes serving their HD sets.

Adelphia (before that Century Cable and Theta Cable) served the Los Angeles County area of Marina del Rey (west side of Lincoln Blvd.) while CommuniCom (later American then Comcast now TWC) served the east side of Lincoln Blvd, including Venice, through Culver City and on to the Hollywood/Wilshire area of Los Angeles north of I-10 up to Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. Theta built the Santa Monica Mountain area of the city from the Hollywood Hills west to the sea from Hollywood and Sunset north to Ventura Blvd. They also built the City of Santa Monica. what is now West Hollywood and hilly parts of Beverly Hills, Westwood, Bel-Air, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades.

When digital came around, the former Comcast areas used SA equipment, while Adelphia used Motorola. These areas are still served by different headends (though with digital even that term is somewhat muddied with the fiber loop serving most of the now TWC franchise areas with digital transport of both broadcast and satellite delivered programming.

So to be clear, SA/Cisco boxes get BBC America. Motorola boxes do, too. Its the Motorola tuning adapters that have a problem with 226 right now.

The history is very interesting.

I live east of Lincoln, am certainly in the "Hollywood/Westchester" definition of "channel lineup" as far as TWC's web site (and Zap2it for WMC Guide selection) is concerned, and used to be serviced by what was then called CommuniCom.

This eventually also became AT&T Broadband for Internet (I had an @ATTBI.COM certainly in 2002) email address, before the area eventually becoming Comcast, and today TWC.

Still gotta disagree with your statements.

I have NEVER been Adelphia where I live (east of Lincoln), and I have NEVER had SA equipment. I have ALWAYS had Motorola equipment from Comcast/TWC, going back to the very first single-tuner DVR (DCT6208) in 2004 I think, and progressing forward from there.

I do have a friend who lives up in Oxnard in what was a former Adelphia area, and they used BMC equipment (also on Motorola infrastructure), so it's possible I suppose the former Adelphia may have also been Motorola. But I was never former Adelphia, and was always former Communicaom/Comcast and have always used true Motorola DCT/DCH/DCX equipment. Never ever used SA equipment.

Just to be contradictory again, I DO HAVE A MOTOROLA MTR700 TUNING ADAPTER running perfectly with my Ceton M-Card-enabled tuner card in my PC.

AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM RECEIVING CHANNEL 226.

Before going to Ceton and my HTPC, I had multiple DCH3416 and DCX3400 DVR's around my house, which as you know are Motorola boxes (not SA) and that's because I'm in a Motorola (not SA) infrastructure area. I'm on Redwood Ave in MDR (east of Lincoln, south of Washington, north of Mindanao), former CommuniCom former ATTBI former Comcast and now TWC (Hollywood/Westchester).

This is a Motorola area, and I have a Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter, and have no problem receiving channel 226 on my WMC/Ceton/TA setup.

That's just the true story. Not making it up.

You can see the LA City franchise map at this link http://ita.lacity.org/stellent/groups/departments/@ita_contributor/documents/contributor_web_content/lacity_000981.pdf

The "I" franchise area was the original CommuniCom build out. I live in the "F" area, originally Theta Cable.

I'm former Adelphia, and you're not. Can't disagree there. Other former Adelphia subs report the problem. So its not the equipment used, but it certainly is the different channel line-up between West Los Angeles (Digital) and yours in what used to be called the Hollywood/Wilshire franchise area.
Edited by SPDICKEY - 1/22/13 at 6:41pm

Yes, I live in "I", which is titled "Hollywood/Wilshire".

Also notice that just south Marina Del Rey is the "J" area, which is titled "Westchester".

And the channel lineups (and presumably infrastructure and delivery systems) must clearly be the same for "I" and "J", since on the TWC web site this whole mega-area is referred to as "Hollywood/Westchester" when you want a channel lineup.

But the western area running out to the ocean and covering that MDR community is actually further sub-divided into two parts: "west of Lincoln" and "east of Lincoln". The "west of Lincoln" area is referred to as "Marina Del Rey" from TWC's (and Zap2it's) channel lineup perspective (and I believe former Adelphia, which I had always thought used SA equipment, but maybe I'm wrong here), whereas "east of Lincoln" (where I live) is referred to as "Hollywood/Westchester" from TWC's (and Zap2it's) channel lineup, and is definitely former Comcast (and which I know absolutely always used Motorola equipment).

Fair enough. And my report, with my specific situation and details, is that I have no problem getting 226... through a Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter and a WMC/Ceton setup in my Hollywood/Westchester (former Comcast) location.

This is most likely the real issue here. There is no question at all that your West LA (Digital) area ("F") has a genuinely different channel lineup (and infrastructure/delivery system) from my Hollywood/Westchester channel lineup.

In fact, I think your "F" would seem to coincide with the "Marina Del Rey (former Adelphia)" west of Lincoln area as well. I had always thought this was an SA infrastructure area, but maybe I'm wrong and it's Motorola as well... but came from Adelphia rather than from Comcast.

In any case, I am absolutely in a Motorola area, not SA. And I absolutely use an MTR700 tuning adapter. And there's absolutely no question my channel lineup (Hollywood/Westchester) is conceptually separate from "Marina Del Rey", which is probably the same as your "West Los Angeles" lineup (don't know your zip code). So it's possible that "west of Lincoln" does also exhibit your 226 issue, whereas my "east of Lincoln" does not... using the same Motorola MTR700 tuning adapter, if we're both in Motorola areas as I guess is true... even if you're former Adelphia and I'm former Comcast (and definitely NOT from an SA infrastructure area), which clearly have conceptually separate channel lineups. It makes sense that SA/TA architecture would also be conceptually separate/different since our channel lineups are conceptually separate/different.

Anyway, I get 226 without a problem through my WMC/Ceton/MTR700 setup.

The LA County area of Marina del Rey west of Lincoln Blvd. was originally built by Theta Cable in the 1960s. After several ownership changes from Group W to Century to Adelphia. The area you live in east of Lincoln in the City of Los Angeles was originally built by CommuniCom cable in the 1980s. It too went through several changes in ownership from American Cable, to Comcast.

The area I live in, 90272, also started as Theta Cable as part of the West Los Angeles system and had a different channel line-up from the Marina area. Though both were operated out of the still existing Santa Monica office location now used by Time Warner. Both areas used Jerrold/General Instruments/Motorola equipment. Marina del Rey has a different channel line-up than I as they are in a County area and I am in the City of Los Angeles.

When CommuniCom built the system where you live (where I worked from 1984-87 specifically in your neighborhood) we were just upgrading to Tocom 5503 converters.
.

Tocom became Jerrold In the late 1990s, The Jerrold name went out of use, and General Instrument merged with Motorola becoming the Motorola Connected Home Solutions division.] By 2005 most cable companies have discontinued use of Jerrold equipment in favor of digital cable.

And as of today, I still can't get 226 BBC World News using the Ceton, Motorola Tuning Adapter and Windows Media Center. Though neighbors with Motorola DCT receivers do get it. Still seems to be a channel mapping problem in my area since every other channel I want I can see.
Edited by SPDICKEY - 1/31/13 at 4:00pm

Anyone else in Metro LA area having issues with TWC PPV of the UFC fight tonight? I purchased it earlier today, but when it started I received a pop-up informing me there was an issue and I need to call TW-Cable.

I've tried to call them 3 times now, but each time I do it tells me TWC is experiencing technical difficulties and to call back later.

-JR

Looks like they fixed the glitch here in the Eagle Rock territory regarding 226 and 348 not being available with a tuning adapter. It seems as though Time Warner rebooted TA's remotely because the Tivo's popped up a screen saying that a TA was now detected. Issue must have been only with cablecards with tuning adapters because my SD box did not have any issue with 226.

226 BBC World News began working here yesterday as well. However in the process I am not getting guide updates for TWC Los Angeles West (Digital) non-broadcast channels. I did get updates for the local terrestrial channels, just not anything else.

So I went back to setup, entered my ZIP code and now find that there is no line-up available for LA West (Digital) anymore! I selected the next closest, TWC Westchester, which is almost, but not quite the same as mine. Now getting guide listings for almost everything, but a few channels are not in the right place (including BBC World) so I lost that one again.

I'll email Zap2It and see if they can restore the WLA line-up.

Oh well!

UPDATE: 2/8 Sent in a report to Zap2It. They replied that they know the listings are missing and are all ready in the process of returning them to the service in a few days.
Edited by SPDICKEY - 2/8/13 at 9:32am

Time Warner yesterday updated their video portal: TWCTV.com. Once you sign in using your TW account, you now can access the freebie VOD shows you could get with a box. So if you are only using a cablecard and could not get the free VOD shows before, now you can do it on your computer. Already on the site was a number of (of course not all) cable channels that you can watch live. There is also a tab for Guide but it must not be working correctly because it has always given me New York listings. In the near future, there is supposed to be a TWC Roku channel which means you should be able to watch some cable content on a TV in your house that is not connected with coax provided you have a Roku device.

This is the first time I had heard about TWCTV.com, and after checking it out, I've come to the conclusion that it's a great addition to my cable service. I can watch channels in full HD in a window while working on other things on my desktop computer. Full screen viewing or back again is just a click away. The Live TV function is well-implemented too, with the alphabetically listed channels easy to find, switching between channels quite quick, and video quality uniformly high. There are problems, however:
1. As you point out, the Guide and all functions related to Favorites, searching content, etc. are totally useless because the channels in the Guide have no correspondence whatsoever to the channels I receive (while the channels on Live TV correspond exactly, including time zone, to what I receive).
2. Registering and logging on are very tedious and error prone. While registering, and several time while logging on, the process failed for unexplained reasons. They require the password used to be complicated, which is not a problem in itself, but they've found a way to incapacitate password managers (or at least the one I use, Secure Login, which is normally quite robust), so logging in is a chore.
3.At various apparently random times, a channel in Live TV will fail to start - it just keeps buffering endlessly. Usually quickly switching to another channel and back again will solve the problem, but I have run into a situation where ALL the channels fail to start up for a fairly brief (15-20 seconds or so) period of time.

Adding TWCTV.com to my desktop shortcuts on my cable card equipped home theater PC, gives me another excuse why not to switch to Dish Network and their very cool Dish Hopper DVR. Unless Dish starts offering stuff online as well.

EDIT:
I watched the streams on my 60" plasma, and they look okay. Full frame but of course not entirely 720p, and they are a bit jerky sometimes. But entirely watchable. Nice part is getting access to the "watch later" of broadcast network programming. Not sure what the non-functioning DVR tab is, might be a connection to an in-home set top device for remote programming, which I don't have. But if its a record to the cloud service coming later, I'd be ecstatic.
Edited by SPDICKEY - 2/21/13 at 10:06am

Today, Game Show Network moved from Choice tier to Variety tier. Since GSN is jointly owned by DirecTV and Sony, I wonder if this switch was part of a deal with a different channel. For instance, is the move related to DirecTV carrying Time Warner SportsNet? Sony does own some cable channels, but none are something that most everybody on TWC gets.

On the other hand, maybe the parties just changed the terms of their contract. Something like lesser fees per subscriber for a better tier.

It have been both or either. Perhaps DTV horsetraded paying TWC for SportsNet in exchange for a switch to GSN's carriage. Or it just might simply be Sony/DTV lowering their per subscriber cost to get on a higher penetrated tier. With the additional viewers GSN could net out with the same subscriber fee, and have more eyeballs to sell to advertisers.

My guess its a combination of both. Since both carriers are also program suppliers I wouldn't doubt that some trading was going on here.

At this point, the DVR tab isn't very useful. It basically tells you what shows you have set to record on your DVR. You can edit these, pad shows, even edit series recording settings. I haven't seen a way to set series priority, which would be nice since that takes forever on my DVR. Maybe there are more options depending on what DVR you have, I don't know. I have an SA 8300HDC which I'm going to trade in tomorrow to get something better (or at least try to).


EDIT:

Well that was a huge waste of time and gas. Ever since they closed the Orange branch office, we've been stuck having to go to either Westminster or Garden Grove (really Cypress as far as the damn location is), in order to get boxes that work here. Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton are all on the old Adelphia/Comcast systems.

Anyway, I head to Garden Grove looking to exchange my box, and all they have are 8300HDCs. So I decide to try Westminster as well, and I get the same response: all I can get is the same old piece of crap I've had since 2008. This is despite the fact that they had a Samsung box on display in the showroom! Ohhh but that's only for the whole house people, according to the guy I talked to. Is it really this hard to get a modern DVR? Something that can hold more than 25 hours of HD? Do I really have to call them, and hope a technician shows up with a newer box?

Does anybody in Orange County have anything other than an 8300HDC? (not counting Motorola areas of course)
Edited by TheKing75 - 2/25/13 at 4:48pm

KTLA, KDOC and KPXN (and probably other channels) disappeared on my Windows 7 Media Center and I have not been able to find them even after re-scanning.
They do appear on my Olevia TV's scan. But I cannot figure out how to manually add them in Media Center. The TV shows KTLA and KDOC with their re-mapped virtual channel numbers (5.1 and 56.1) so that's no help. KPXN shows as 90.2 and no name on the TV but adding 90.2 in the Media Center add QAM channel screen just gives no picture regardless of whether I choose QAM64 or QAM256. The Hauppauge Signal meter does show my HVR-950q has locked on a QAM256 channel though.

Any tips on how to proceed?
I'm in West LA near Culver City. Based on the LA city franchise map I think I'm in the Hollywood/Wilshire area.

I had an announced firmware update at 1:00am this morning. Watching a movie, it was suddenly interrupted for the update. With a reboot of the box, it took about 45 min. Anyone know what this firmware update did?

Do you have the Motorola DCH-3200 with the iGuide software or the Motorola DCX-3200M with the Navigator software?

I saw this on TWC's legal notices page:

What is going to be on this "TWC Sports Channel" of which it speaks? I am fairly certain it is different from the upcoming SportsNet LA (where the Dodgers are going to be televised starting in 2014). And judging by the wording of this channel addition, am I right to assume that the standard-definition version will be available somewhere in the range of channels 2 through 99 as is the case with TWC SportsNet and TWC Deportes? In other words, will it be available in analog in areas where analog expanded basic is still offered (i.e. former Adelphia and legacy TWC lineups)? I ask because nowhere does it say what either the SD or HD channel number will be.

If it's anything like Ohio's TWC Sports Channel, it will have high school sports, and maybe a local college game or two, plus related feature programming.

There actually a website for TWC Sports Channel. It just says: Coming Soon.

http://twcsportschannel.com/

Maybe this is just a rebranding of twcsocal101. Maybe it is a national version of SportsNet that shows sporting events that Time Warner currently has the rights to air in other regions. If not, then what could Time Warner possibly put on that channel?

In case you missed it, Hallmark Movie Channel 294 & 476 will be available on Variety Tier starting May 2. Channels will still be on the Movie Tier.

I am posting this message here since I am not sure where else to go. I have EL Paquetazo package with Internet service and internet service. I am using a cableCard and my own modern. I had the sam package last year but with TWC own modern and I was able to get the TWC Ipad App. Now, I am not able to get the app to work, and Tier 4 services at TWC HAS NO CLUE ON HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM.


After four months of calling Tier 4, I was told today that the reason why I am not able to get the service is because I am not subscribe to Basic cable channels. I am not sure if this is true, since I was able to get the app to work last year, so I decide to add the service to see if this was true. The app is still not working, and now they tell me that I have to wait 24 to 48 hours for this to work.

So, I am now sitting idle for the next 24 to 48 hours to see if what they are saying is true. Has any one of you have a clue on the authentication process that the app goes through to see if I am subscribe to Video services?

You might want to try http://www.dslreports.com/forum/timewarnertv as well.

The app is buggy ...I close it out...double tap the home button and bring up the little red slashes and close out the app...then click on the app again and it works...the app is handy for setting up recordings for my DVRs....it works about half the time without having to close it out....but when it works it is great....it doesn't work however if I am out and about and want to set up a recording on my Iphone...it's suppose to work with a 3g network but it gives me the error message that I need to be at home with my wifi to work....it does work wonderfully when it works but they need to tweak it...they know there is a problem because it is updated frequently....my HBO to go and CineMax apps work well...its nice to watch a movie in the back yard on my Ipad...they are at least trying.....too bad its not perfection yet.....the authentication process has only once asked me to prove who I am...usually it works automatically...even if I temporarily close out the app it keeps my authorization....I have all channels including premium channels so maybe that makes a difference but it shouldn't....close out the app and see if that reboot works...you pay for it so you should get your monies worth....

The TWC app has recently been added to Roku. It allows you to stream live most of the channels you get on your subscription. No local broadcast nets, though. And you can't just lend your password to your friend. They must be connected to the internet via a TWC IP address for it to work. Roku is the best under $100 TV investment I've made.

BYUtv coming soon to Variety Tier. I am guessing this is a virtually no-cost channel to TWC. Perhaps there is even a net benefit in adding them.