Sacramento, CA - SureWest - Page 30

Upgraded to the Media Room on Friday from the ADB boxes. The interface was a huge step forward, however PQ took an equal step back.

I have two TVs installed. One Samsung 61" A750 LED DLP set and the second a Visio Plasma 32". Watching the sharks playoff games up to Friday on the older ADB boxes, and then watching the next game that night on media room was a dissapointment. Compression artficats were very noticable especially on the chicago red uniforms, player shadows, and stadium details (especially the logos and barriers when the cameras moved). When watching non sports related you can see the difference in the details, especially with skin tones.

I noticed the difference right away on the 61" but kept quiet to see what my wife would say. She's noticed the same PQ loss within a few minutes and was dissapointed as well. We both have some personal experience with digital compression, I with physical media to digital for streaming and my wife with Digital photography, but I believe anyone could see those problems.

The SD channels in addition also took a PQ hit, almost as if I'm watching TV on a 80's set due to the interlacing and compression artficats. I could still see the compression issues on the smaller visio, but obviously more noticable on the larger tv.

I messed around with TV settings on both sets to see if I could improve the quality with no success. I have a case opened with second level for followup after going through some troubleshooting steps with level one with no change. I had already gone through confirming resolutions for both setups and etc to exclude a config issue.

To exclude the placebo affect I reattached my OTA antenna to compare the sharks game this evening. It was very noticable switching between the two inputs.

I'm hoping my problem is unique, but based on the few reports that had both I'm concerned this may be the norm.

Just commenting on the apparent setup for fiber customers. Internet and tv work over all ports. The router is where you lose tv due to filtering multicast. On vlc, you get channels for the most basic tv lineup only, higher tier channels are mac filtered to the cable box. Mac spoofing does allow you to get your full channel lineup for your account. You can (at least in my house) connect a computer to the tv ethernet jack and browse the internet. Some routers will even let you separate the multicast tv data to a specific port, allowing tv and internet connection from 1 router.

Sadly, Im moving within 3 miles of my current house. Literally 1 or 2 development projects over. There is no fiber at the new place. Tv quality will be better with directv but Im stuck with comcast internet or att dsl...comcast wants to charge $60 per month plus $100 install, no deal for new customer with one service. Hello more expensive but much slower internet

10 mbps isn't good enough for you? That must be some good porn you're downloading.

I use a LOT of Internet. I download many HD podcasts from Revision3 and a few other sources in addition to streaming video from sources like Netflix and Vudoo. I am also a fan of Ubuntu Linux and I have a torrent server sharing the many flavors of Ubuntu. I have activity in the terabytes per month. All this without porn or illegal activity. I actually downgraded my service a few months ago from 25 Mbps to 15 Mbps, and things are still fine. Not worth the extra expense for the speed difference.

Getting ADTV next Friday, what should I expect in terms of installation? I only have Coax running to each room, is that okay for the installer?

I'm planning on rewiring the entire house with a proper structured wiring system (2 RG6, 2 CAT6) around the holidays, but I'm assuming Coax should be fine until then.

They CAN run it over coax, but obviously not ideal. The biggest issue concerns streaming of HDTV channels.

When you run CAT6 wiring, plan on dedicated runs for Internet & video separately. As I've mentioned several times on this forum, I am glad I wired mine the way I did. I have all runs terminate in a closet where I have a patch panel. I then ran 6 CAT6 lines to where the fiber comes to the house. This allows me to make changes how I see fit. In my front room, I have a SureWest STB, a PS3 & Roku box, all on their own dedicated CAT6 line (PS3 & Roku routed to Ethernet switch & SureWest STB to fiber gateway). Similarly, in bedroom, a Blu-ray player (with BD-Live, Netflix & other streaming capabilities) a STB, and another DLNA media player. I did all the hard work once & I can change connections as I want.

for those with media room, has the picture quality increased at all yet or has surewest at least said anything about it?

i still haven't switched over yet and i don't really want to if the quality is worse.

NFL Network comming very soon...

Figured... thank you. It's getting installed this Friday, I will report back with my experience.

Did you do the wiring yourself? I'm currently looking for a quality low-voltage telecom contractor to do the work in my house, can you refer me to who you used or if you did the work yourself, are you interested?

Has anyone confirmed the decrease in bitrate with MediaRoom versus Minerva? I'm pretty sure what they've done is consolidate their FTTH markets in Roseville and Elk Grove with their bonded-copper customers in the ILEC markets to get served off of a single encoding profile. This makes sense from an infrastructure and business perspective but will mean U-Verse like compression on SD and HD channels, which is a complete waste of all that glorious active fiber they have deployed.

I did all the work myself. I'm not a professional installer, but I researched as best I could. For the most part, I'm proud of my work... but in other ways, I know there has to be a better way. I have a closet with a ton of wires coming in from the ceiling. I need to create some type of box to hide the wires. I typically keep the closet door closed. That closet contains several computers that are running different tasks, such as a file server, a Linux-based router/firewall, and a development web-server (for the "not-quite-ready-for-prime-time" changes).

Got the service installed and it's pretty clear that they are serving their copper and fiber customers off of the same plant with the same bitrate limitations. I haven't tapped the network connection yet, but the picture looks terrible, this is a huge disappointment, there's almost no reason to stay with Surewest, fiber and all.

Also, the reason djBEER is seeing the same bitrate pre and post Mediaroom is because he's still seeing the same stream. He's literally still accessing the Minerva feeds that he was getting before the switch, Mediaroom stream's are completely encrypted top to bottom and it's not a trivial task to sniff the multicast traffic.

I saw the snail-mail glossy saying NFL network was comming in Aug. I am not seeing it on my box yet - I dont see anything on the website. Anyone have any inside information on when they will add the channel?

I received a reply from surewest to an email question. NFL is coming tomorrow in HD (later in SD). I have included some of the text below with dates:

New Channel Currently available:
KCRA 3.2 (More TV) 171

Coming Aug 31:
MGM HD 639
MLB Network HD 625
KQCA, My 58 HD 604
NFL Network HD 624

Launching in September:
Discovery Investigation HD 622
Discovery Kids HD 621
Fox Soccer 158
Fox Soccer HD 657
Fox Soccer Plus 159
Fox Soccer Plus HD 658
MLB Network 157
NFL Network 156
KSPX, ION HD 614
MSNBC HD 649
Lifetime HD 662
Lifetime Movies HD 663
BBC America HD 670
Crime & Investigation HD 659

It is about time they get KQCA 58 in HD, but I wished it were at the beginning of the month instead of the end, as they are the pre-season carriers of Raider football. I have made multiple attempts at getting an antenna to work at my house, but have not been able to pick up the channel due to falling in the shadow of my neighbor's 2-story house in a direct line to the transmitters. I had to watch the games in Dallas and Chicago in an extremely poor resolution on the SD station.

About the other channels, I am happy to see the NFL Network being added as there are live games that are exclusively on this poorly implemented channel. At least we will finally get it. I also always like the Discovery channels & the Investigation channel sounds kind of cool.

I'm happy to see the new channels. Since I was able to get NFL Network, I was able to watch the Raiders game against the 49er's in HD (I originally recorded on SD on channel 4, but the quality was atrocious.) I was able to re-watch to realize that BOTH times the Raiders were called for pass interference on 49er 4th downs were absolutely bogus, without any merit at all, meaning the 49er's should have had 6 fewer points, therefore the Raiders should have won the game. On the second 4th down pass interference call, there WAS actually pass interference... offensive pass interference. Thankfully this game doesn't count, but it is always frustrating when officiating hands the win to a team that didn't earn it.

Finally - NFL Network!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Four new soccer channels!! Welcome back Fox Soccer Channel.

I think HD broadcasts are a boon for sports on TV. Surewest recognizes this and has added more sports channels.

Now we have a great line-up of channels (except Comedy Central and Travel Channel in HD) how about giving us some of the functionality of Mediaroom 2.0, like watching shows on the computer.

Wow. Just signed up with surewest - switching over from comcast on a 90 day trial to surewest - and I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. The hd picture quality is noticably worse than I had with comcast. Definitely missing that HD pop. What a colossal waste of time. Now I have to get comcast hooked back up. Oh well, at least I can scratch surewest off the list. Internet is fast though.

Unfortunately, once SureWest went to their new system, the picture quality of HD deteriorated dramatically. Initially, when I first made the switch from Comcast to SureWest, the picture quality improved dramatically... This was back when SureWest was delivering HD in MPEG2 at 15-20 Mbps per stream... that picture quality was awesome, the same quality of over-the-air HDTV with a great signal. It is always frustrating when changes to newer technology deteriorates quality. Internet speed and reliability is more important to me, so I will stay with SureWest.

Hi folks.. I have been a comcast customer since I moved to Sacramento..Last year wife signed 2 year contract with Comcast for $99/mo and now we pay approx $133..

Internet was fine (have mine own cable modem) until they moved to xfinity.. My cable modem have to be reset each time to get back good speeds (at least twice a week), getting tired off it..

So Surewest came by door couple of weeks ago offering a deal like ZacJones..
Convinced wife to do the switch.. Now I am beginning to panic..

I just happened to see this thread via google..They are coming today to install.. I do not know if it is a big mistake yet or not.. I am guessing I will have to convince him not to cut off the comcast line, so I can try their stations for a week..

Here's my 2 cents: The surewest phone service is just like any other. No better, no worse. I've had both copper and currently have their digital service (over fiber).

Where surewest shines though is with their internet. I've had no hiccups since installation (2 -3 years ago). The only thing I've had to do is reset the router. Big woopee. Other than that, I had 20mb/20mb then downgraded to 10/10 then they upgraded us for free to 15/15. All the speedtest come in at pretty much advertised speeds.

The tv wasn't so great. I just recently bit the bullet and paid the ECF and am going back to directv. The mediaroom makes the PQ dark. The lack of HD ppv and on demand HD. Also, with the NBA season on the horizon, they don't offer a league pass package.

Hope this helps. Good luck to ya!

Well they came on Saturday install went fine but they the TV was not HD and the billing was way off meaning when the sales rep he came and wrote on a sheet like a contract the price I would be getting for the trial and after the trial..

The tech called CS and that is how I found out.. I called the rep who came by and mentioned he would fix it by Monday.. and today not fixed and nor have I got a call back...

So the installer managed to do everything not to interfere with comcast connections.. So if it is not resolved by Thursday I am cancelling the service.. and reconnect comcast stuff myself..

I have the whole room dvr and it is fine so far with regular stuff and do not how it works with HD.. Like it much better than comcast though as I can get subtitles with it as well...

When watching a recorded show on my bedroom TV (non-DVR set), the recording starts, stops, freezes and then repeats. It makes the recording totally unwatchable. Strangely, this problem only occurs in the evenings and occurs whether or not another show is being recorded at the time. I've tried to replicate the situation in the afternoon by recording 2 HD shows and watching a SD channel on the main TV and have had no problems watching recorded material on the bedroom set. SureWest has come out to address the issue and ran Cat 5 to the bedroom, but the main DVR TV still is piped by coax. Although the issue seemed to get a little better, it still occurs. For reference, my house is supplied by fiber. Wondering if anyone else has had similar issues? Is this a mediaroom thing or possibly due to pipeline clogging? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

MSNBC HD 649 showed up yesterday and looks lovely

What about the other channels that were promised to be launching in September:

Discovery Investigation HD 622
Discovery Kids HD 621
Fox Soccer 158
Fox Soccer HD 657
Fox Soccer Plus 159
Fox Soccer Plus HD 658
MLB Network 157
NFL Network 156
KSPX, ION HD 614
MSNBC HD 649
Lifetime HD 662
Lifetime Movies HD 663
BBC America HD 670
Crime & Investigation HD 659

I've watched quite a bit of both

NFL HD 624
MLB HD 625

Can't comment on the others

OK. I got the latest from Surewest:

3 new HD channels released Thursday:
614 - KSPX ION HD - True HD
649 - MSNBC HD - True HD
659 - Crime & Investigation HD - True HD


The following channels are scheduled for testing this week with a
tentative launch to customers next week:

622 - Investigation Discovery HD
621 - Discovery Kids HD
670 - BBCA HD
662 - Lifetime HD
663 - Lifetime Movies HD

Fox Soccer Channel (SD & HD) and Fox Soccer Plus (SD & HD), we are
looking at a tentative launch date of October 25 for these channels.

As these channels are released, the set-top boxes will be updated
accordingly. If for some reason you still do not have the channels as
they're released, rebooting the set-top box by holding down the power
button for at least six seconds should suffice.

I'm not getting any of those new channels even after a reboot. I don't have the DVR or Mediaroom.

Mike

I've read that media room can "restart a show from the start even when it was tuned in to after it had started."

Can this be done with Surewest?