Newtown, CT - Charter

Service is OK. I use the SA3250HD (no DVR) and the quality can be excellent. There are more break-up/interruption problems on 782 and 785 than the other channels. 772 is blank/silent most of the time but, even when not, all it has are Yankee games.

Kal

Added to the thread Index under NYC DMA. Could take a day or two to show up.

I would complain to Charter via e-mail to register your displeasure, I did. I'm going to let them know that I want our SARA software upgraded as well since we're on an older version.

HA! I just spent a lot of time with Charter over this and the supervising agent said that they will NOT upgrade the software as a matter of policy. He said that they lacked the bandwidth to do this. He even said that it is unfortunate that SA says that they update the cable companies and that they, the service providers, will update the s/w.

In other words, no way. The only offer was to give me a new DVR/box but I have no need for the DVR and its additional cost. Oh, and even then, there was no guarantee of updated s/w.

MTVHD is such crap....what a waste of channel space...CWHD is one that they need to get on the lineup and of course ABC. They must hae gotten MTVHD for next to nothing...which is exactly what it's worth...IMHO.
Bob

On Sunday I was watching Football in HD. I left the room and when I returned the picture was 4:3 and appeared to be 480i. I checked the display and it said it was receiving 1080i. All the HD channels acted the same. Later in the evening everything was back to normal. Was there a problem with Charter late Sunday afternoon?

I live in Thompson (very northeast corner) and unfortunetly I have charter and they stink. I will say the HD is better than is was less than a year ago but it still stinks considering I pay $140 a month for TV and internet. I currently get

FOX Sports NE
ESPN
NESN
Discovery
HBO
Cinemax
PBS
WB or what ever it changed to
CBS
NBC
FOX
TNT
Universal HD
MTVHD

Just last night TNT and NESN were out and during the Bruins game. Still no ABC which stinks and its odd, I went on direct TV's website and they told me no ABC in HD for my zipcode as well. Anyway, if anyone knows any updates on ABC it would be great.

Also, I used to work for Time Warner Cable in North Carolina and we always updated all of our equipment over the air with the new software. So charter is full of it!

Thanks,
Chris

The WTNH ABC issue is not limited to Charter. I live in Southington and have Cox and we also don't have access to the WTNH signal due to the LIN ownership, except OTA since it is so close to us we can pick it up with a paper clip). This is a LIN issue countrywide for most cable companies.

Cox does not carry any LIN owned station in New England due to the amount of money and carriage concessions that LIN wants WTNH/WCTX in CT and FOX in RI.

Neither does DirecTV - same issue. Blame lies with LIN, not with WTNH.

Of course, they are. But by telling me that they will never do it, I can now stop asking/waiting.

Hi,

does anyone know which channels are 'in the clear' and can be received using a QAM-256 tuner ? I have subscribed to Charters 'Biggest Value Package'.


Thanks,

Dirk

772- YES Network (HD Feed)
782- WEDW (PBS)
783- WFSB (CBS)
785- WVIT (NBC)
786- WTIC (FOX)

Well, I kinda' expected this for the HD tier, but also none of the SD channels (>100) ? Crap, this is disappointing...

But thanks a lot for the info, Boomer !


Dirk

Do you leave the box on at night and just off the TV?

I have an SA8000HD (i've had it for a while) and I recently got the 4th arrow in rewinding and fast forwarding (which is nice), but I still get kicked out (happened Monday night with 24) when the show ends if I haven't caught up. Could this problem be fixed in the 8300 and not the 8000? I would think the software is essentially the same on both, so why would they fix on one and not the other? There have been occasional times where I haven't been kicked out (over the past 4 years), but I attributed that to a loophole (like if it was recording the next show on the same channel or all the moons of Mars were in alignment or something). That really is my biggest issue with the DVR at this point.

As for Charter in general, I would love ABC-HD (I understand the LIN issue is somewhat out of their control) and ESPN2-HD (not sure where that is???). MHD actually has some pretty good Storytellers programming, so besides the omitted channels, their lineup isn't half bad.

My frustration with their recent bill increase has led me towards investigating D*, and I must say they intrigue me. I'm sure the D* DVR will be an improvement over the SA8000HD. I also see the HD channel lineup isn't far off from Charter's (no ABC there either). But, some areas of Charter's coverage may be eligible for ABC HD out of NYC, so that's what really piqued my interest. And, I think (not sure) that, with an OTA antenna hooked into the D* DVR, you can receive WTNH-DT and even DVR it? It would be nice if Charter gave us that functionality as well.

AFAIK, the Charter areas that will allow for WABC-DT out of NY on DirecTV are limited to the Fairfield County towns - Newtown, Monroe, Trumbull, etc.

If you're not in Fairfield County, you're probably stuck.

It does sounds like the power save feature. It's there to minimize the activity on the HDD and attempt to prolong it's life. From what I understand there should be a package they can assign to your account to disable that called "DVRPSF".

Just noticed this afternoon that many the channels added to other Charter systems around the country were quietly added here in New Milford. Most really don't appeal to me (lots of stretch-o-vision stuff), but it is a forward step. There still is a desperate need to get WTNH-DT added to this lineup, especially since both Comcast and Cox have been able to complete negotiations with LIN Television in this state (though the drop of all LIN stations by Metrocast shows that there is still too much greed at LIN). TBS-HD would have been nice for the next week or so for baseball playoff games, but no luck there since that is a national issue. It is interesting to notice that the channels were added before the removal of G4 from the analog lineup, suggesting that there is quite a bit of capacity in the current system.

HD Channels:
734 - A&E HD
735 - History Channel HD
742 - MOJO

SD Channels
80 - Game Show Network (digital?)
310 - ESPNU (Sports Pak)

Here's my problem:
For the past 3-4 months, I get intermittent and irregular interruptions in the sound on the music channels. The interruptions run only 0.5 to 3 seconds and can occur every 5-10 minutes or with intervals of more than an hour but they are annoying and unpredictable. I believe the problem has to be on their real estate since my preamp/processor shows the disappearance of the carrier on its display before the signal returns and it relocks to it. I have changed pre/pros twice and had the same problem.

Charter has changed the STB (SA3250HD) twice and checked signal strength. They are supposed to do a signal check now starting at the head end and conclude by visiting me again but I believe they believe that I am hallucinating. The last supervisory CSA reminded me that if the problem was with my equipment there would be a $35 service charge.

Has anyone experienced this sort of problem?
Has anyone had it resolved?

BTW - reports on the Boneyard (UConn board) that SNY blackouts of UConn games (incorrectly blacked out) have been fixed.

I'm on D*, so don't put up with Charter for TV, but worth noting...

Any news when the new HDMI set top boxes will be available from Charter (I am in Monroe, CT)...

Chris

They are available and have been for a long time, the 8300HD that is.

Current choices are:
Explorer 8300HD - DVR
Explorer 8300HDC - DVR
Explorer 4250HDC

Yesterday I had a cable guy come to fix up the wiring to my HDTV and he replaced my box with the Explorer 3250HD box. He connected it to my Samsung 4254 HDMI input using a DVI cable, as the 3250 had no HDMI output. Previously, I had been using simple S-Video cable, so I expected better picture. But since he has left, I am unsure that my picture is improved, and actually feel it may have gotten worse. Is it possible that it takes a couple days before signal strength improves? Has anyone had any experience with this box? I don't know a lot about DVI vs. HDMI, so I don't really know what to expect. Is it possible to exchange my box for one with HDMI capability, or will it make no real difference? Thanks.

I use the 3250HD DVI out to a DVI-HDMI cable and it is substantially superior to S-video. No time needed.