Time Warner Cable Navigator - Page 2

This is a little off topic but I saw where TWC coumbia SC added a patch to there sara software last night that added several new features.The playback while recording feture was added plus a fourth fast forward and rewind speed.Any one else in the Greensboro market know if we will be getting this patch (upgrade)?I feel like TWC greensboro is always the last to add any new features.Wish we now had Navigator or at the least passport.

"MDN - Mystro Digital Navigator - new Interactive Program Guide that will be available to all TWC Digital Equipment (SA & Pioneer) by the end of 2007. The reason Gastonia and Nebraska are getting this first is because they are Passport systems (Pioneer), so they can't get any of the features we have in SC (Start Over, ITV, ETC, SDV) until they upgrade to MDN. This is the one instance when SARA Divisions go last"

this was said by:
Diana Smith
Director of Marketing for Video Services
TWC South Carolina

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...84#post8464784

Everything? What about an active external drive connection? That's been active for 2 years or so!

And what makes this an exclusive Passport thread? Since you've switched to TiVo, why are you attempting to hijack this thread and use it primarily as a vehicle to trash the 8300?

You do have a couple of good points there (just returned from a tasting tour of wine country).

Yes it is YOUR thread (though you are still apparently trying to use it to trash the 8300 as you have done elsewhere).

Opps, I did not realize I had clicked on the wrong quote (wine effect I guess).

So sorry on both points - BUT, this thread did start out looking like it was an honest attempt to gather information about the TW Digital Navigator (so sorry that it isn't supposed to be that way).

You still did not answer the question:
That was asked because you implied that SARA users should be elsewhere in your statement:

This
doesn't square with this:
But I do agree:

Diana was just saying that in the TWC world, the SARA markets got things before the Passport markets. If you really read the post, she mentions things like Start Over, ITV, ETC, SDV, all of which have nothing to do with SARA specifically, they just happen to be available in SARA markets. All she was trying to do was explain why the 2 markets were getting Navigator first, not making any statement about SARA, Passport, or the 8300. Why anyone would jump on that to bash the 8300 in this Navigator thread is beyond me, at least other than just another cheap shot for no reason. In the first place, the dissatisfaction is with SARA, not the 8300. In the second place, Navigator will be running on the 8300, as will Tivo software at some point. Neither of these would be happening if TWC or Tivo had any doubts about the 8300 as a viable DVR platform.

But none of this, including the original post, really has anything to do with Navigator and how it works. I too would like to see someone from Nebraska post their experiences.

Come on guys lets not trash anyone.We all want better software and Navigator looks to be it.At least TWC is ending the passport -sara debate by doing away with both and replaceing them with Navigator.In the end we will all have Navigator and we can all talk about one guide.Until then let's just get along.Remember both sara and passport will both soon be history.

Jacksonian,

I try to keep up with all IPG interfaces, including the new S3 thread, so I can submit my requests for features and test things on SARA. As part of our recent discussions I've already found that SARA now has a priority scheme to avoid 3-way conflicts.

At any rate, I tried to stay out of this fight between you and Dave, but I think you misunderstood Diana's post and wanted to set the record straight rather than let you gum up this thread too with 8300 bashing. Diana used to be very active in the SARA thread until folks started taking her posts out of context and started complaining to her about their problems that were not even remotely related to TWC. She even tried to intercede with other cableco's on some folks behalf, but all that did was lead to more bashing, etc., so now she sticks to the SC thread and that's been a big loss for the rest of us. Hopefully, she'll findthis thread and psot, but for some reason I doubt it.

I've also tried to find a TWC-Nebraska thread to see if we can get someone there to post their experience with Navigator here, but so far all I've found is the Omaha-Lincoln thread and that is Cox oriented.

CrazyWoody is absolutely correct that soon both SARA and Passport will be history on TWC systems and this thread is to discuss Navigator, not inject 8300/SARA/Passport bashing. I simply set the record straight regarding Diana's post, I didn't bash anyone or make any negative comments about Navigator. I'm as anxious as anyone to see how it works. Hopefully, I'll be able to test Tivo on the 8300 when it comes to Cox-Phoenix and it helps to know what to look for. The only way to do that is to keep up with other IPGs and Navigator shows a lot of promise, so here I am. I didn't post until I saw some misinformation that needed correcting, simple as that.

Spoke to my brother i law in Raleigh today.He said a friend of his who works at TWC Raleigh.He said that Raleigh was gearing up to receive the Navigator software.New York is to receive it first,then TWC texas markets then Raleigh and Charlotte.Have no idea when us long suffering sara folks will get it.Just my gut feeling with no inside info is we might get it the secoand quarter of next year.Raleigh andCharlotte will be happy navigators while we wait.

Well, if that turns out to be true, I hope I'll be able to get some first-hand information then from my daughter in Fayetteville, since she's on the Raleigh system AFAIK.

Time Warner is looking for opinions on the Mystro Navigator development...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=733414

its really not all that cool. The best I can say is that it is pretty stable and seems equal speed it both HD and SD. Honestly it looks like commodore64 would compare to windows. I didn't get it on the SA8300HD dvr box but on the Pace HD box. Functionally its ok, but it really is displeasing to look at.

On the plus side, I posted my comments on their website and they actually called me to hear more about my comments. If they listen to me (yeah right) we'll get color coded shows and a customizable list of channels in the guide. But they did actually seem interested to hear my comments.

Cheers

I actually have two tw boxes. The other is a SA8300HD running Passport. Passport is definately cooler to look at. In fact the box they changed had SARA until last week. The HD dvr's osd is really polished. The old osd on the updated box was not so polished but still better looking than Navigator.

They seem so concerned about what people think, so I'm sure they'll polish the looks (hopefully not at the cost of speed). I cant' be the only one who thinks it looks old school.

crashdumy thanks for your post.Could you tell us about the recording options on Navigator.Also is manual recording still available.In closeing puting looks aside how wold you rate it to sara and passport since it seems you have both.Again thanks for your info.

I like the way it functions. Functionally it is up there with all of the other boxes I've had from TW (6 now I think). The path to acessing menus and programing is improved. Example: Hitting the A button brings you to the Acess menu. From there are now horizontal options on the bottom of the screen, similar to what you find in the on demand programing. They include Free on Demand, Premium n demand, sports now, news and weather now, HDTV now, and Home which includes: Settings, Movies on Demand, Wisconsin on Demand (where I live), and Find Shows. Find shows is the same as hitting the B button in the guide. Which is now improved. It is now kind of a combo of the other boxes I had. It offers a list of programs (alphabetical) or a keyboard search similar to my other box (passport Echo). There is now several ways to get to the same thing ie. acess menu, settings button. Most of the available settings are the same although it seems I can zoom or stretch any program, not just those that don't match my display.

I do have one beef though. It seems to load all program data each time. If you go to search you have to wait for it to load a whole list of every program before you can do anything (about 10 seconds). It seems to me that the other boxes kept a program list in memory and loaded when you went out 3 days. This one seems to load each time. From the normal program guide, looking at the current time, its not so bad.

Oh yeah. There is a sound leveling option now. Don't think it works perfectly but none of them do.

Unfortunately, they didn't update my DVR box. Just the normail HD converter. So I don't know what recording options there will be. When I talked to them on the phone I got the impression that they are starting with the non-dvr boxes, 1500 at a time, taking feedback and hopefully improving it.

Its hard to describe it well but keep the quesitons coming. I don't mind.

Just curious, but what is it about what he said that makes you think that it's an incremental improvement over Passport?

crashdumy--you said that your Pace STB used to be running SARA while your DVR was running Passport Echo. Interesting. I didn't know that SARA ran on Pace boxes (though I'm not doubting it). I've also never heard of Passport and SARA being mixed on any system; how confusing for people like you who had both.

yeah I may be an idiot and typed too soon. Honestly I only had the Pace box for about a week before they changed in on me and its on the tv that I don't watch much. I was picturing a differenst splash screen than the 8300HD but now that I think more about it, it couldn't have been SARA just an older version of Passport. When did they add a keyboard search? The Pace box still had color customizable layout and the old program search. The new HDDVR has a keyboard search and one color.

I think that the Passport on the DVR is 2.5.066. Couldn't tell you for sure what was on the Pace.

I don't think that it is an improvement at all. Some of the functions are easier to get to. Like HDTV now shows you what is on in HD but I think that they all do that if you go to theme in the program guide. mostly the same features, accessed a different way. Basically it just assigned functions to the ABC buttons that can be used from any screen. It would be hard to make the DVR functions much better than the 8300 though. I've never used TIVO so maybe I don't know what I'm missing but if you can record only new episodes and choose how many to keep for how long I guess I can't think of what I would want besides that. I wouldn' t mind them organized better than the LIST that they give you now. Setting a program to record online would be cool. But I don't think they will go that far. COMMERCIAL SKIP - I don't see it happening, people who pay for advertising frown on that sort of thing - Maybe a 30 second skip though. All in all I thought that the 8300 recording options were miles ahead of the 8000 (which I traded for the 8300 about 2 months ago).

Basically if you like the way that you access your options now, then this navigator will probably just bother you. You'll have to get used to the layout and the ugly font and colors. If you use on demand alot its probably an improvement. I think I've used that twice is 5 years. What I do like is how they seem concerned what people think. This may be the best chance we'll have for a while to add features that you have always wanted. Find someone who has it (me if you want) and get them to offer feedback on the web. They may not be as interested in the feedback of those who don' t have the navigator yet. What would you like to see different? I thought this thread was pretty cool: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=733414