Rochester, NY - HDTV - Page 2

Please forgive me if i had posted this in the wrong area.
I live in rochester ny and just purchased my first hdtv.
Its a panasonic ct-34wx54
I purchased it for under a thousand, is that a good price???
What would be a better way to spend that much money???
My options are Time Warner Cable, dish network, or direct tv. What is my best choice?
My tv doesnt have 720P is that going to be a major draw back for the future of HDTV?

Thank you for reading this post and possibly helping me with everything!!!

Threads merged.

I'm a little surprised that your set does not accept 720p (at least the manual that I looked at seems to imply that). But, no big deal - the HD STB that you get (either cable or satellite) will allow you to force the HD output to 1080i.

The price seems reasonable(even good). I personally prefer Sony's 34" set, but this Panny is decent.

RE: Cable vs Satellite: Now you can get into religious wars! For HD if you go with Time Warner you won't have any outlay of cash, or any long term commitments. With either of the Sat outfits you either have a major cash outlay OR a long term commitment. The downside of Time Warner is that they don't currently carry WUHF (Fox) HD and it is doubtful that they will carry WROC's HD signal when they go HD ("any time now"). The Satellite HD STB's have a built-in ATSC (HD) tuner so you can pickup local OTA HD broadcasts.

One plus for Time Warner, is that they will rent you a HD DVR for an additional $10/month. It's no TiVo in regards to user interface BUT it does record 2 HD programs while viewing a previously recorded one. But if you really want to see "24" in HD, it looks like you are out of luck with TW.

A caution on either of the satellite outfits: For future expansion of HD they need to go to a new compression technology (MPEG-4). All of the current hardware is the current technology (MPEG-2) only, the current equipment can't be upgraded, and neither outfit has yet made any hard commitments for free upgrades.

I have been watchin HD from Time Warner through my new JVC LT-40FH96 set. My complex pays for standard cable so it's free! All I had to do was find the channels. Well I had INHD, INHD2 (channels 1014,1015), and Discovery
Theater (channel 1031). Now they are gone.... Anyone know why??

Does anyone here go to RIT, or live close? I am wondering how OTA reception is in on-campus apartments. I'm thinking about getting a HD tuner card for MythTV, but wondering if I'll be able to pull anything in.

I'm in Henrietta and get good local hd reception using my Directv hughes hdr-250 reciever and an over the air antenna that mounts to the dish.The only channel that I don't recieve in hd is CBS.Do they even transmit in this area in hd yet?

No, not yet. This has been an ongoing saga for along time now and they keep saying in 2 weeks it will be up but that has been many months now.

sorry guys, new to hdtv so i've got a couple general questions. I've got "free" (direct connect at box, no filters, etc)hint hint... at my place, i always thought it was anolog, I get the standard channels through 77 i think, but i tied my neighbor on it and hes got an hdtv and he recieves the digital music, and hdtv in like the 800 range channels. I told him to disconnect and run through a vcr or something before it would get zapped or traced. Now i'm curious, I just got a new hdtv projector and would love to view a hd image on it. Can I use a regular cheap satalite reciever people got laying around collecting dust to recieve OTA signals, I see alot listed on ebay like that, and they say they recieve digital cable too. what happens if I hook one of these up on my cable line. Will it get a bullet, will it get traced, will I recieve DTV, etc. etc. My neighbor was able to for a few days until I told him to disconnect. Was that a good idea, or is he fine with his big screen hdtv with built in tuner.. And if not, i can still use a regular sat reciever (thinking hues direct tv cause i know of some just laying around) for OTA. Thanks guys, send private messages to lostsoul74 at hotmail. I really appreciate the response. Rochester NY Time warner digital

I don't necessarily have definitive answers for all of your questions - but I'll give it a try.
1) First when you say "free" I assume you mean that you subscribe to "expanded basic" cable and pay TW something like $40/month for that.
2) There are HD channels available on TW that are available at no extra cost (even with the $10/month "Lifeline" basic service. They don't publicize this as they would rather that you had a set top box that they could charge you for AND that would be easy to order additional ($$$$) services.
3) With those basic set-ups (using the HDTV's internal QAM tuner) there is no capability to send data back to TW. No need to disconnect anything.
4) Never heard of any satellite receiver that had a HD QAM tuner. Most HD satellite receivers do have over the air (ATSC) HD tuners - though I've heard that you need to subscribe to the satellite service to enable the tuner.

Now, if you guys have strung wires from somewhere and have illegally taped into cable, you are stealing the basic service. But if the basic service is included in your rent or something, you are OK. Also, if you are illegal, I doubt that they would ZAP you or anything like that, but they are likely to call your illegal connection to your attention, offer to sign you up - and then take legal action if you don't comply.

So I need to search for "qam" tuner for something in my needs that doesnt send a signal back. And a qam tuner will enable me to recieve the same digital music channels, and the upper hdtv channels that he recieved. And he is safe having his hooked up without without having any signals back or bullets. Lets just say I've had it for several years, and dont want to raise any eyebrows with TW.

Should I be looking more under tv tuners rather than cable recievers for my specific needs. Perhaps something like this:

Ebay item 5861725067 SAMSUNG HDTV DIGITAL TV TUNER SILVER SIRT351

Model numbers are great, expecially older ones that i can find on ebay cheap. Let me know what to look for, or not to look for.

Or perhaps, for my needs since it's main intent is for a projector as I dont have an hdtv regular tv, just a regular 36'. Should I look more into pc cards as theyre half the cost and would do the same. Should I want something with "clear qam", unencripted. To insure that there is no signal transfer. And do we have "clear qam" in our area????? as I see most of the pc cards state. Thanks in advance for your help guys.

All you need is a QAM tuner. It does not send any data back. Most TV's & tuners with a QAM also have a CableCARD slot. If you rent a CableCARD from TW, it (the card) has one-way communication with TW so a decryption key can be loaded into that card, enabling the reception of "subscribed" services (HBO-HD for example). But even that card is just one way (from TW to your set).

The only device that communicates back to cable is the cable box (or computer modem or phone modem). So they really can't tell what you have.

I personally do not have an internal QAM tuner - I rent a HD DVR from TW, so that's the way I get my HD. While I have installed several systems that use a QAM tuner I can't go and check what is there.

One last thing: The digital (HD and other) channels are at fairly high frequencies (as high as 735MHz) on cable and signal strengths are critical for digital tuners - you might need to replace splitters and amplifiers with ones that are rated flat to 1GHz. Most of us can just call TW when we have problems and let them take care of any such issues.

As of Sunday night, I have been able to recieve channel 8.1(WROC HD) with an over the air antenna.So I think they are finally going to be transmitting all the time.To bad they missed the entire NFL season.

Ogreuazhol,

Thanks for the info! I was able to tune into WROC with a good, strong signal. It's the strongest signal of all the locals for me, now. Too bad Survivor isn't broadcast in HDTV, but it appears to be one of the best standard def digital signals that I get.

I still get occasional dropouts on WHAM due to mulitpath interference, but I am using an attic antenna and have 2 layers of roofing shingles. I think I'll move it to a roof mount this spring. That should give me enough additional gain to eliminate any dropouts.

Jim in Pittsford

I've just gotten a Sony HDTV and called TWC to set-up a time to get a cablecard installed and to expand my service to digital cable.

I was informed that TWC does not recommend using the cablecards with Sony HDTVs b/c they are getting a 161-1 and 161-2 error. The customer service rep said there is damage to the TV from using the cablecard and Sony repair services are having to come out to fix TVs after cablecards are used.

Is TWC just trying to get me to use a set top box? Is there anyone with a Sony HDTV is this area who is using a cablecard?

I have (limited) access to the Sony service site and checked - it does not look like there is an unusual amount of Service Bulletins about Cable Card. I understand (from other sources) that the cable people are having a hard time with cable card issues - more because it is new, and they have to deal with different sets implementations. Component connections are the simplest for them.

Anyone with TW know if YES network HD is broadcast in the clear or if it is 5C encrypted?

I'm early in the learning phase with a lot of this stuff and am trying to determine my best option for recording games this summer. Planning to finally get on board with the 21st century and get my first HDTV within the next few weeks. The #1 reason is so I can watch the Yanks in HD and I do want to be able to record when I am unable to watch them live. Setting up one of the PC-recording options has been my preference but from what I've been reading here, that won't work for encrypted broadcasts. So, I may go with a DVR/PVR or DVHS unit. But I'll probably only do that if absolutely necessary because the cost is quite high.

From what I have seen from our local RochesterHDTV forum, YES is scrambled. Note, this is different than 5C, which controls the recording of an HD signal. To receive YES-HD it looks like you will need to subscribe to TW digital cable. If your set has CableCARD, you might save a couple of bucks by going that route. However, if what you really want is to record for time shift purposes (to see the game when you get home from work) what you REALLY want is to get the TW HD DVR. You CAN record the games on that DVR for sure. Don't know if you can later transfer them to D-VHS (not sure that Firewire is enabled for D-VHS, and if YES games are 5C encoded - but I would doubt if they are).

The neat thing about the TW DVR approach is that you can reduce your service to a lower level when baseball season is over.

I plan to switch from DirecTV to TW (digital) cable specifically for the YES HD channel. Hopefully they can provide an appropriate tier for what I want that doesn't rape me by making me pay for a lot of channels I don't want but I'm half expecting to pay substantially more than what I'm paying now to essentially add one channel, but I digress.....

The TW DVR is certainly an option but wouldn't purchasing my own DVR or D-VHS also work? Good chance I'll start off with the TW box anyway but I tend to dislike "renting" stuff and would prefer to pay a larger one-time start up cost rather than have a constant monthly drain. On the other hand like you said, being able to cancel it 5 months out of the year would be a plus.

I agree with you and also plan to buy as the TW 8300HD DVR is just full of problems still after two years now. I just got another beta version of software today as they try to fix my problem of almost a year now. The only reason I've stuck with this so long is I've been waiting for TiVo to release an HD box that works with cable. Looks like my wait is almost over.

I would recommend you wait and buy the TiVo Series 3 that will work with TW using a cable card.

Thanks. That sounds like it will have a really good feature set. Being able to get content off the DVR and onto your PC for archiving particularly interests me.

Any chance you know if it will have commercial skipping (in some form).

Also, I'm really not going to hold my breath on this one.....but do you know if it will come with free Tivo "Basic" service like some standard-tv units have in the past?

Yeah it does look to be an amazing box. The networking and free TiVo2go software they give you lets you do so much. Like even bring a show down and convert to your iPod. For commercial skipping nothing automatic but they have a 30-second skip.

I doubt it will come with free TiVo Basic, but who knows we will have to see when it is released.

Hello fellow TWC customers, the following is info gathered from emails to TWC Executive Fred Dressler. These are his quotes.

Future HD channel update

ESPN2-HD - hopeful to have espn2hd in time for baseball.
STARZ-HD - End of the year at the earliest
CINEMAX-HD - is almost done
TMC-HD - is done
Wealth TV-HD - are not in the works
Outdoor Channel 2-HD - are not in the works
MHD (MTV) - will take many months to conclude.
National Geographic-HD - No Word
Food Network-HD - Scripps has not yet made us a proposal.
HGTV-HD - Scripps has not yet made us a proposal.

If I only have the TW basic cable service which gives you channels 2-19, am able to receive over the air HD channels? My TV has an HD tuner built in so with rabbit ears I would be able to but I'm wondering how to do it using the cable service.

cprovo,

Please add your location Greece, Fairport, etc.) to your profile, as it helps to allow us to answer your question that is relevant to your location. This is particularly true when talking about over the air reception.

RE: TW basic cable. You should also be able to receive a limited number of HD channels if your set has a built in QAM tuner - in all likelihood it does. TW does not really publicize this, cause they would rather sell you their digital service, etc. However, TW does not currently have WROC-HD (CBS) and WUHF-HD (Fox) because the owners of these stations are attempting to extort payments from TW.

Here is a link to a posting I made on that specific subject:
http://www.rochesterhdtv.com/viewtop...ighlight=#9436

RE: OTA - what antennas work are highly dependent on where you are. The site above has lots of specific info on OTA around Rochester.

Depending on the TV you have, you might be able to set it up for both cable and an antenna. TW has a few HD channels on their basic service that are not otherwise available (INHD1, INHD2, TNT HD, Discovery HD and WB-HD, there are reports of a bad picture on QAM on this one)

I just updated my profile and added my location. I live in Webster.

I do not believe that my TV has a built in QAM tuner. The TV I have is the Syntax Olevia lt42hvi. I'm not all that familiar with the QAM tuner but I just read the specs and it is not listed. What does this mean - am I able to purchase an external QAM tuner to receive the HD OTA channels through cable? I guess the other option is to plug the antenna into the DTV slot and receive them this way.

Well, you could purchase an external tuner that has a QAM tuner - but most any that you buy will also have an ATSC tuner - so you are paying for both. I know that the LG-LST 3510a has both (and is an upconverting DVD player as well). You can find refurbushed ones on the internet for around $200. This unit can only be set-up for OTA HD OR cable QAM, not both. Further, it does not have a CableCARD slot, so if you want to get some premium cable channels in the future, you are out of luck. So that one is probably not a good choice.

But remember, WUHF HD and WROC HD are not on TW. So you may well want to get an antenna. While some indoor antennas may work in Webster, you are probably better off with an outdoor antenna. Check out the RochesterHDTV site.

That is great news! Hopefully the TWC Rochester system has the bandwidth to support potentially three new HD channels in the short future. Between just adding Universal HD and the digital simulcast and the fact they have to carry locals from three markets I hope they can stay consistent on picture quality. HD picture quality is superb, SD digital picture quality is better then DirecTV IMO.

For SD, are you guys in Rochester experiencing the full digital simulcast or is it supposed to be a few channels at a time? In Erie (aka Area 6) the following analog channels are being simulcast in digital. Lifetime Movie Network, Outdoor Life Network, YES, Oxygen, FX, Hallmark Channel and ESPN was on test channel 1174 for a while.

BTW - I live in a small little town that most of you have never heard of that's located 60some miles west of Rochester. I live in the Buffalo market, 12 miles away from the city line, but live right on the Adelphia/TWC cable border and am lucky enough to get my cable service from Time Warner Rochester. We get most of the same content as those that actually live in Rochester except for locals and we're lacking a few channels, no PBS Kids, no WGN, no NBC 10 Weather Now and no CSPAN 2 on 117. Digital Phone isn't offered here yet either.

TWC updated the SARA software in the 8300HD boxes the night before last. We now have a fourth fast forward speed and don't get dumped out of delayed viewing when show recording ends. We'll see if any new glitches develop....

Time Warner Cable Has added Starz-HD & Cinemax-HD in Austin & San Antonio, ask them about your area receiving these channels.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/sanan...g/updates.html

I live in Webster and plan to purchase an HDTV in the late summer/early fall. I'm one of the few holdouts that doesn't have cable TV. I was wondering if anyone in this area, particularly Webster, had any experience picking HD signals OTA. If so, what antenna are you using?

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim