Time Warner Cable Navigator - Page 65

I believe there are two flavors of Navigator (Mystro). ODN and MDN. ODN is OCAP Digital Navigator which is self explanatory. MDN is Mystro Digital Navigator which is being developed for the legacy boxes. MDN may allow them to get off Passport and churn the legacy boxes off the system on their schedule. As opposed to swapping out all the boxes quickly.

I belive MDS is the one SARA customers will begin to see next year if they do not have 8300HDC boxes.A lot of 8300hd and a ton of the 8300SD boxes are out there.MDS will probably replace non hd passport and sara software and non hdc software.

MDN (my bad typo) 1.89.17.1 sara Greensboro NC

I have an SA 8300HD DVR box,

So, am I correct in assuming that they are going to download the guide to the HDC boxes fist and than the SA DVR's? I know that here in Metro-Milwaukee Wisconsin, we have about 50% with Navigator and 50% with Passport. (No Sara systems here.) I guess what I am asking is, is there an average time frame when SA 8300 DVR owners can expect the download of Navigator to begin on their boxes?

I can not even begin to imagine how the old Pioneer, Pace, and lesser memory non-DVR boxes are going to be able to run ANY version of Navigator. What's the memory on those old Pioneer boxes again? If TWC learns over time from the Navigator Nebraska debacle, the thing to do is to just let those legacy boxes die of natural causes due to age. (And we know that there are 1000's of them out there.)

I guess the question raised from this is, since TWC will not pay the licensing renewal for Passport to Aptiv TV, when is TWC OBLIGATED TO NO LONGER HAVE ANY VERSION OF PASSPORT IN CIRCULATION? In other words, is there a month deadline, where due to TWC's decision not to renew the licensing rental fees due to Aptiv that Navigator MUST be put on new boxes or downloaded to old boxes regardless of how many bugs may still remain in the software?

Jack

You are right, that is obviously bad. I guess it is dependent on display device; probably there is some issue with communication between the projector and the DVR. You may be better off with component cables then. FYI, I have Panasonic TH-58PZ700U, so at least this model is known not to have that issue with the DVR. I'd be curious to see exactly which display devices have the issue - maybe projectors more than TVs?

No, that's the Show List. Actually, "Recording Log" is a misnomer. Actually, it is "Failed and deleted recordings log". It is useful to show to TWC tech that you really have "channel not available" bug.

You may want to set it to stretch or zoom in the DVR (under Settings/Display). Then you can use TVs format options on it. I trust TVs internal upgrading of 480i more than DVRs, but that is TV dependent. Granted, most 4:3 480i stuff does not look good, either way (DVR or TV upgrading), but I've noticed that the stuff that was recorded in HD originally, then downgraded to 480i since channel is non-HD (most of SciFi channel stuff that looks letterboxed on 4:3 TVs), look decent when zoomed in (not HD good, but decent).

Sony XBR910 won't allow you to change aspect ratio with HDMI -DVI.
Epson HC400 with HDMI allows a stretch mode.
I don't like how the stretch looks. Keep the aspect ratio.
Settings in the cable box is only useful to zoom 4:3 picture frame.
I'd rather disable 480i and 480p with the cable box.
1080i for XBR910 and 720p for HC400.
Picture looks great now.

8300HDC OCAP with Navigator:
Has anyone else had this problem: Last week my box shut off and rebooted. When it came back on, it said it's not authorized, call customer service. I called and they said to reset it again and then it worked. It was OK for a few days.

Now the DVR feature doesn't work at all. In the guide, there is no "Record" option and the DVR menu doesn't show up when List is pressed on the remote or box. It looks like all mys hows are gone and it was only about 35% full.

I've had the "channel not available" problem before and also the DVR would randomly stop working. Sometimes it would not buffer live programming. Also, the sound cuts in and out on recordings, especially on HD channels. The worst one was WJW-DT FOX.

I've had the OCAP box since mid-August and it was new out of the box when the tech came. He did say they have problems with them and they are being recalled. I HATE Navigator and when I call I'm ready to ask if I can get a Passport box again. Are there 8300 boxes w/ Passport that are HD? I've had the 8300 SD with Passport and loved it!

If you are lucky you might be able to find an old 8300HD. Since July 1, all new cable boxes (SD or HD) have to use CableCards per FCC regulations. These CableCard boxes require certain changes in their software and TW has decided not to pay the Passport folks for the upgrades. Instead, they have elected to use their own (Navigator) software on the CableCard boxes. Regulations do permit the cable companies to "recycle" old boxes that have been turned in, and those probably still work with Passport. Unfortunately, it may be a matter of "luck" in finding one of those boxes. I'll bet that the TW folks are saving those for their own use.

Has anyone had any experience with Navigator on 8300sd boxes? Sara 1.89.17.1 Geensboro NC

Navigator Week 4
In the past few days, new bugs have cropped up. I missed the last half of the Ohio St game in HD, got a blue screen that said to receive this channel, contact your cable provider....waited on hold for 45 minutes for them to reboot the box(I'll only make this mistake once).

Tonight while my wife was watching recorded Desperate Housewives in HD, it would only display 480i...then about 15 minutes in, it switched all by itself to HD. Then, at 8 it froze completely and I had to reboot. I figured out that at 8pm 2 series recordings started at once but it didn't prompt to chose how to solve the conflict.

Unfortunately the recording for Desperate Wives was preserved.

I watch Desperate Housewives with the wife. This week was worth it just to see Terri Hatcher in the lingerie she had on! Plus Dana Delany was a great addition to the cast.

Anyway, back to Navigator. These reports of more and more bugs are not boosting my confidence at all! One would think that after a year in the marketplace things would be getting BETTER, not worse. I'm afraid that my six month window I'm willing to give Time Warner once deployment will be missed and DirecTV will gain another sub.

The thing is this: There was just an article in our local paper which TWC says they are not carrying TBS HD (due to the MLB playoffs) here because they don't have the capacity. The TWC rep states that after the first of the year when they convert to a switched video system that they will then have the capacity to carry all the channels DirecTV has and more. However, we are on SARA and they could technically deploy SDV right now! I think this is a telltale sign that Navigator is coming and they are waiting to use SDV until it is deployed.

This is going to stink more than outhouse in July!

A bit paranoid are we?

Wouldn't you be worried if you had a system that worked to your satisfaction being replaced with a piece of crap that must help the sale of Bayer?

I had that problem last Friday before the DVR completely stopped working. After recording "Dr. Phil", the box shut itself off and re-booted. I thought it was just it's "usual (almost)daily reboot". When it came back on, NONE of the channels or menus worked. Just a blue screen that said the box was not authorized and to call customer service. Typical Time Warner operation: the last number was cut off on the screen. On the phone, they told ME to unplug the box and turn off the TV, the box rebooted and when it got to L-13, it shut off again and rebooted again. It worked after that until the DVR stopped working over the weekend. The LIST button does nothing. the record option is gone and the progress bar is gone. Time to call again and go through all the BS to get someone on the phone. Oh, and I missed Terri Hatcher b/c I was watching the Indians. THANKS FOR NOTHING, TIME WARNER!!

Except that TW really has no motivation to dump SARA - it does everything that they want (without the proven hassles of Navigator). I am not a "the sky is falling" person.

Northeast Ohio is split: The "legacy" Akron system is Passport and has been since digital cable started with Pioneer boxes(BD-V1000).
The former Adelphia systems use SARA and SA boxes. Navigator is just being introduced on the new OCAP boxes. I was in the "unlucky few" to get the new box in August. I had an 8300 SD with Passport and it was great, then two 8000HDs. Those were CRAP! One did not work at all and the other 8000HD worked for an hour before the whole thing fried itself and did not work at all.

Terri makes it somewhat easier for sure...but the play on the field stands. She also watches Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

A guy can only take so much...of course its the football game that crashes...not her shows.

I'm actually OK with Grey's. I like medical show plus Meredith and Izzy aren't bad to look at!

No "sky is falling" mentality here. We were told by the same person (Head of Public Relations) to expect Navigator the 1st quarter of 2008. His recent statements seem to enforce this, that's all. I was mainly commenting on the current state of Navigator and the fact that even people who have had it for over a year now still see little improvement with it. Taking these factors into account, I have no reason to believe it will be "fixed" when they deploy it here. I hope they prove me wrong and release a version as stable and reliable as SARA, but past practice says not to get my hopes up.

PR folk are usually the least informed of what's going on (I'll bet he thought that Navigator was great!) But enjoy your paranoia then.

I've been following this thread for awhile and when I switched from Directv back to TWC Charlotte about 2 months ago I made sure to get a Passport box and not an "OCrAP Navigator" box because of what I read here.

Anyway the consensus here seems to be that TWC is rolling out Navigator in Passport markets because Passport cannot handle SDV, however, it appears that TBS HD became the first SDV channel here when it went live last week. People with TiVo HDs report that they cannot get the channel, but I can get it with my Passport Echo box.

Can anyone confirm that TBS HD is an SDV channel here in Charlotte? If so, it means that Passport boxes can receive SDV channels and markets that use them might have more time before the dreaded Navigator conversion.

On a side note, there were a couple of TWC techs outside my house today and I talked to them about SDV, etc. When I mentioned the term "OCrAP Navigator" box they looked at each other and chuckled.

From a poster earlier in this thread on Navigator:


Has an update been made so that you can now reboot the boxes by using the power button?

Jack

it also seems that a properly working DVR is another Passport trademark protected process!

Other than unplugging it, you can also reboot the boxes by holding the INFO, Vol + and Vol - buttons on the front panel. As anyone with Navigator likely knows, that's CS's suggestion for seemingly everything.

I'm in Charlotte. What channel is TBS HD? I haven't seen it and I subscribe to the HD tier.

What about the people with Sara IPG's. How do they reboot? To be honest, I think it's pretty stupid that Passport has copywritten the hold power button to boot process. This is something that should be a conventional standard for all digital boxes.

Knowing Navigator, the Info Vol+/Vol- for a box reboot won't be the final release. In TWC's wonderful program design of Navigator it will be the steps below:

(HERE IS A FUNNY PARODY OF TWC INSTRUCTIONS FOR NAVIGATOR ON THE BASIS THAT THE HOLD POWER BUTTON/BOOT DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE WITH NAVIGATOR.)

TO REBOOT BOX:

1.) Press the Info Button 5 times.

2.) Point your Remote toward the Northeast hitting the Guide Button 3 Times.

3.) Nod your head up and down 10 times, than stop for 5 seconds.

4.) Now, looking straight at your TV, say, "I Love My New Navigator Guide" 10 times, pausing for 5 seconds in between talking. YOU MUST SAY THIS DURING THE REBOOT PROCESS OR YOUR BOX WILL NO LONGER WORK! (You will than need to call our professional CSR representatives to assist you, or bring in your box to your local TWC office, or have a trained TWC tech come to your home to exchange the box.)

Now press the power button and during the reboot process, you must only think positive thoughts about your Navigator Guide. Any negative comments about the Guide or about the company will be recorded in the Conflct Log, to be read by our head-end server, and will cause your system to crash. In that case, re-follow the above step. (step 4)

5.) When your Guide comes back on your default channel, make sure to say, "I Love Navigator" again. Than yell, "WOOOOO HOOOOOO!" This will keep it working.

Thank you for choosing TWC.

Jack

While I can't confirm that, I can give you some insight into what TW is apparently doing on the way to SDV.

First, they won't likely be implementing SDV in any Passport system while a large part of their HD customer base is still running Passport.

Second, I know in other cities (like where I am) TW has not made new HD channels available to CableCard customers. For quite awhile, that made folks here think that SDV was active - but it really wasn't. What TW is apparently doing in these cases, is simply to restrict availability of new channels that ultimately be on SDV. That way, there won't be customer outrage when they finally do go switched.

FWIW

I got the new HD channels (well, TBS HD Anyway) over Navigator. I was told my box has 2 cable cards in it...so wouldn't that mean its SDV?

All these acronyms flying around, I confess I don't keep up to date.