Time Warner Cable HDTV - Page 303

Thank you for your suggestions and replies.

I have a SA 8300HD connected to my AVR via component video cable and the audio by optical. No external HD connected.

Up to just a couple months ago, I was using a SA 4250 box and never experienced any issues. Actually still have the 4250 on another tv at the moment.

My original 8300HD had a bad hard drive and was replaced about a month ago; recording now possible. I rebooted the box Friday night but still getting the annoying freezing issue about once every 40 min of watching. The audio/video freezes for about 10-15 seconds, then the program resumes, skipping over the content that was aired while frozen. Only happens with cable box as source.
Edited by bmurray716 - 2/4/13 at 7:50am

Had a service tech at the house Sat morning and he replaced the SA 8300 HD with a SA 8300 HDC; essentially identical box but with a cable card installed. Service Tech indicated that the 8300 boxes were obsolete and TWC is replacing them with a newer box as supplies become available. Apparently, new boxes, which there are two different ones (Samsung and Cisco) have better/more current software and larger hard drives. I think he said the Cisco ones were 500 GB and the Samsung were 1TB, or something like that. He also indicated that because the newer boxes are in short supply, that one can request to be placed on waiting list by contacting the Service Center.

I tried that today and SS claimed that there is no waiting list, and the only way to get one of the new boxes is to request one in person. Anyone know anything more about these "new" dvr boxes?

Anywho, the freezing problem has apparently been resolved, so that is a plus.

All the set tops run the Navigator software and are susceptible to all the glitches that come with it. There is a dedicated thread here on AVS for Time Warner Navigator HERE. Also, they want you on a unit that supports Cloud based functions because they are going to start charging you more to have that kind of set top box. You can read about new box fees HERE.
Edited by BenJF3 - 2/11/13 at 12:09pm

Boxes newer than any 8300 series are actually not so new.  Samsung 3090 and 327x and Cisco 864x and 874x series boxes have been available for some time (at least three years for the 3090, two years for the 327x and 864x, and a year for the 874x).  There may be some newer yet boxes that truly are new, but improving on an antique 8300 box doesn't necessarily require the very latest box.  In general, the newer boxes have 320GB drives, or 500GB drives if they are configured for whole-home DVR.  Some divisions have been known to give out whole home boxes even if you are not a whole home DVR subscriber.  The whole home capable boxes typically have a last digit of "2" in the model number.  Also note that there are both 160GB and 320GB versions of the 3090 out there.  The 8300HDC (and the virtually identical 8240HDC... same box sans analog tuner) that you now have is probably the worst box (certainly the slowest) in the TWC inventory.

 

Regardless of the vintage of the box, Navigator software itself has problems that can occur on any of the boxes (although the 8300HDC has it's own issues... it runs Navigator at a snail's pace, making menu and guide navigation a painful experience at times).

Thanks for the responses guys.

Yes Ben, I was aware of both of those threads and follow those as well. As for price increase I am locked in for a year starting last month, but fully aware that that doesn't mean they may not try, so again, thanks for the heads up.

calabria, the Service Tech did not indicate model numbers so hard to tell exactly what he was referring to. I understand my box may be the worst of the bunch, but currently happy that the freezing issue was resolved and also enjoying the ability to record/pause programs. I've never really noticed a slowness when navigating the menu, but I guess with nothing else to compare with, I'll take your word for it. I mean, when I page down, it pages nearly instantly. When I select a program, it displays the program right away. Maybe I am just not understanding what you mean by "slow". Anyway, again, thanks for your responses.

The 8300HD actually runs a different version of the software than the other boxes called MDN. It's faster and the box itself the box is faster, regardless of its age. And the nice thing about the "HD" boxes running MDN is they readily accept expansion drives, making your DVR storage footprint almost unlimited. I've got nearly a total terabyte of space with my 750 GB expansion drive, and larger ones work just as well. The HDC boxes run the ODN version of Navigator and do not work with expansion drives, so you're stuck with whatever size the internal drive is.

Yep, everything keeps going up.

At least you apparently received some kind of notice. I didn't find out until I got my latest billing.

I only have basic (they still require it for internet access here). Last month they digitized some of the analog channels and now require a box to receive some of them, then moving a couple channels I watched but can't get over the air to different plans so I lost them completely, and my basic went up almost 3 dollars month. The box will be free thru December and then cost 99 cents per month. The basic plan is now pretty much just the local channels I can get OTA, so I won't be getting the box.

Lose channels and get charged more. Nice!

But with Basic cable you will get all those great home shopping channels

Not with basic. Everything has been moved to the standard package or higher. The only thing basic gives us now that we can't get OTA is the local education and government channels. Those require a box to decode them (why?). The only good thing about having to have basic is that I can get the CW in 16:9. The local provider hasn't upgraded their equipment yet and provide both ABC and the CW. They have two physical channels so should be able to provide 16:9 for both once they get equipment upgrades (at least we all hope so). I'm going to be really pissed at having to spend over $20 to get basic once the local provider can provide the CW in 16:9 OTA (not that I'm not pissed now at the price).

Gee...both QVC and HSN are on my local basic cable.And there's one or two others on ClearQAM. Makes sense, since they give the cable company a cut of local sales.

ClearQAM in our division gets you all locals, TBS, YNN and a few others. My brother gets these with an Internet only subscription.

Basic Cable on my TWC System (Liberty) gets me the following (in analog):
Locals + ESPN, FX, VH1, & CSpan

If I didn't have a low-pass filter on my drop, according to scuttlebutt, I would get the following digital channels:
Locals (w/ all sub-channels), plus ESPN, FX, Discovery, CNN, TNT, WGNAmerica.

Cheers!
-Doug

So nice that everyone has different numbers of channels or different channels in the same plans (e.g., basic, standard, etc.). Wonder if pricing for each plan is anywhere close. Maybe some divisions are just more greedy than others so offer less channels.

Time Warner Cable Launches TWC TV™ Channel on Roku®
Published: March 7, 2013 Updated 15 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Time Warner Cable today announced the launch of the TWC TV channel on Roku players. Customers will be able to stream up to 300 channels of live programming in their homes through the Roku device at no additional cost.

“This fourth platform launch for TWC TV represents a new viewing experience for our customers. It’s a great complimentary service in the home, offering thousands of programs at their fingertips,” said Mike Angus, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Video for Time Warner Cable. “We’re proud to add TWC TV for Roku to the growing collection of devices our customers use to watch content in the home.”

Key features on TWC TV for Roku include:

Access to up to 300 channels of live programming
Ability to browse carousels of genre-grouped titles
Option to view recently viewed channels and create favorite channel list
Parental control channel blocking
Time Warner Cable plans to add On Demand content to the offering later this year. TWC TV for Roku is available to Time Warner Cable video subscribers with a TWC authorized modem and a Roku 3, Roku 2, Roku HD, Roku LT player or Roku Streaming Stick™. Customers also need their TWC ID and password. Channel line-ups vary per market and depend on which video subscription package a customer subscribes to. TWC TV is also available on Apple iOS, Android devices and PCs and Macs via www.TWCTV.com.

For a complete channel lineup and more information on the app, please visit the Untangled blog at www.twcableuntangled.com.

About Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) is among the largest providers of video, high-speed data and voice services in the United States, connecting more than 15 million customers to entertainment, information and each other. Time Warner Cable Business Class offers data, video and voice services to businesses of all sizes, cell tower backhaul services to wireless carriers and managed and outsourced information technology solutions and cloud services. Time Warner Cable Media, the advertising arm of Time Warner Cable, offers national, regional and local companies innovative advertising solutions. More information about the services of Time Warner Cable is available at www.twc.com, www.twcbc.com and www.twcmedia.com.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/03/07/4674671/time-warner-cable-launches-twc.html

Yes been discussed in other threads. Mine is missing locals, ESPN and the Weather Channel but otherwise is much like the iPad app.

My grandparents live in the Syracuse NY area. My parents just went up there. They have HD which they have had for a few months but my dad found out it was not an HD box so he had to pick up one then that broke after 30 minutes and had to get another one.

My main question is about HD. My dad told me if there is an HD version of a channel it will always choose that even if you go to where the SD was located.

Channels like Cartoon Network, TBS,TNT stretch programs that are 4:3 some other channels do as well which for me makes them unwatchable.

Is there a way to get the SD version if you wanted to?

Turn OFF the HD Autotune function.

Cox now has a prompt to press a certain button on the remote (I don't remember which button) to go from a SD channel to its HD version. This is a better solution, IMO.
Edited by domino92024 - 5/21/13 at 1:17pm

T
Thanks

Yeah I would prefer the way Cox does it as well.

FIOS maintains both channel mappings but displays a "Press "C" on your remote to watch in HD" banner if you tune to an SD channel that is available in HD.

Syracuse doesn't apply AutoHD to the channels he mentions. Syracuse only auto tunes the non SDV channels. Basically the locals and a few sports channels. If you want the HD version: Hit Select/Ok and then choose the Watch in HD option.

And this is different from what Cox is doing...how?

Syracuse is already or is fixing to eliminate AutoHD completely and just go with the HD feeds on all channels that have an HD feed this is done by channel mapping and Hob has already said it has been applied in Syracuse already a month before the channel lineup shift to the new format of HD boxes having an HD/non HD version SD channel map for HD boxes and an SD channel map for SD boxes that starts on June 18th.

Yup, was aware this was coming. It just wasn't in place at the time in question. Too bad they are staying with SDV and Navigator.

Us on the West Coast have a different issue. Many (most) of the HD channels are still on East Coast feed and the SD are West Coast feed so they are different at any given moment. Nice because 9PM shows can get recorded at 6PM in HD and watched whenever in the evening instead of 9PM and watch the next day. Also nice if you happen on a show, you can record 3 hours later. More channels are changing to both on West Coast feed (another 3 early June), but slowly. /Dan

We on the west coast...