TWC Consumer Input Thread - Page 9

In urban areas that means within a half block or so of your building (my fiber node is 1/2 block away). I have seen it said that TWCs guideline is 500 customers to a node.

I am curious about your QAM assertion. I don't THINK my STB has a QAM tuner, so my assumption is QAM isn't "needed" for SDV. I associate QAM with a tuning device built into some displays that can "tune" unencrypted channels, both SD and HD by connecting directly to the cable without any form of STB in the path.

The curious thing is that we've been so primed that SDV is the ONLY way... but TWC-NYC just added 2 complete new HD channels and made a part timed one full time with seeming no degradation in PQ on existing HD channels. Losing InHD2 (which is on a pay tier) means they could go with ESPN2 HD as that tier already carries ESPN HD, assuming the business issues don't impede it. At that point, I don't think there are that many "missing" HD channels (i.e. not as widely desired). NOW, I am looking to Mystro more for proper external HD support than ability to use SDV.

I would say so - except I don't know when the capacity of street level cable may be reached.

Diana? (We know you are dealing with relocation issues, but wonder what your take on these developments is?)

I just heard from a Timewarner employee that after the first of the year in my service area(Raleigh/Durham) we will be getting the "Start Over" feature and the ability to access the cable from a phone and schedule recordings. Is any of that correct? Will the start over feature only be on a few channels or all of them?

Start-Over is just starting up here in Rochester. We are supposed to be the 2nd market to get it. It is supposed to be available in my neighboorhood sometime today - but I just tried and it is apparently not enabled yet. As I understand it, it will just be available for all programs (TW needs agreement from the program suppliers) and/or stations. There are also specific limitations (must tune in while program is still on, can't FF past commercials [but can pause and RW]). I don't (yet) know if they are doing HD.

No doubt Diana has access to details about TWC's switched-broadcasting system (or switched digital video, SDV). But, regarding switched channel capacity, Fig. 11 in this pdf paper on the statistics of SB charts offered channels versus peak use. Here's the caption to the Fig. 11:

Also, Fig. 2 of this CED Magazine article is a basic diagram of SB operation, showing how a channel request from a subscriber's STB activates a edge-QAM source, delivering the channel with the current QAM (modulation) method. That selected channel is accessible by everyone and is 'broken down' (shut off) by the SB system when all subscribers stop accessing that channel.
--John

So that channel that's "broken down" is no longer sent at that point to the edge-QAM or to the client boxes? If it's the edge-QAM that means the next person to "first" ask for that channel again does have to wait. Not a huge problem but an important caveat.

We have SDV in Rochester on UniversalHD. It takes no longer (less than 2 sec) to get that channel than any other (non-SDV) HD one.

But - what about being the "first" person to request a channel, as opposed to a channel already being fed to the edge-QAM? If the delay without this wait time is just less than 2 seconds, waiting for a new feed to reach your local QAM would probably take more than 2 seconds.

Believe me, "UniversalHD" is so unwatched around here, that I am sure that I was the "first" person this afternoon to tune it. I just did that when I posted earlier (how many people in a 1 mile radius would watch that in the middle of a Friday afternoon?). I've tuned to it several times in the past and didn't notice any delay. I think that a lot of us associate delay with various "on demand" services, but there data has to be spooled from the head end to the local server. A more realistic test of local system response (latency) is watching something on "on demand" then hit RW. How long does it take to start to back up? I just tried and it was less than a second.

Well hitting rewind could just back up through the video buffer sitting on your client box - I imagine you're just testing the performance characteristics of your box there.

I'm not asking about local system response though, but rather the time for the following actions to occur:
Client box asks for channel
Local QAM checks for channel, doesn't have it
Local QAM asks for channel from cable's servers
Channel feed begins to QAM
Buffers
Feed begins to your client box
Buffers
You see the channel

Which is why I'm skeptical of whether you were the first. The timeout on these channels could be 10 minutes, an hour, 24 hours, a week... .

I guess that you just really want to be skeptical about SDV. All I can tell you is that it has worked well (done all of your above steps)within 2 sec - no difference than "full time" HD channels, every time that I tried it.

I'm a skeptical person :O) I'll stop dragging the thread off-topic though.

Is this the place to vent at TWC? I was a long time Comcast user until TWC took over and TWC is so bad i'm thinking about switching to satallite. Comcast was dependable with service and programming, TWC has LESS programming and service is horrendous. Picture goes out at least once a day, i have to unplug the set for 10 seconds then plug back in. Yesterday about 10 cities lost cable for half the day. I'm in the L.A area and pay over $150 month for this crap. Less programming, less features, more cable outages means TWC is history. I have always preferred cable but not if it's TWC.

Not really...take some time to read the first post.

More likely HERE
.
You are not alone! I've never thought about satellite, until now.

It is nice to have it available, at least on some channels/programs. Handy if you're channel surfing It's been live in Columbia, SC for several months now. At present it is solely SD content.


On another note... Diana, happy to see you still navigate these occasionally choppy waters!

Currently I am an Albany Time Warner Digital Cable subscriber who has been paying his cable bill on time every month for the past 25 years. Since I purchased my first HDTV during 2001 and because of my experience with TWs support for one-way CableCARDs combined with your company's draconian DRM policies that treat honest consumers like some kind of digital pirate, I've managed to pare my cable bill down from $150 to $75 per month. Currently, I use Verizon DSL + their wireless phone service and Verizon FiOS cable has been installed on my street. The day Verizon FiOS TV becomes available in my area... I will be switching providers... perhaps for nothing more than spite.

So... what will Time Warner do to keep me as a customer? How about updating your SA8300 DVR?

TimeWarner's great out here in LA so far except for the confusion about what number if any you can call for Customer Service. I'm saving money over my Comcast bill I had in Boston, I've got more channels, and the internet reliability and speed is comparable.

1) It is not TW that is imposing "draconian DRM policies" - it is the content owners.
2) According to a critical viewer on another AVS thread, FiOS TV is no better (probably worse) in quality than he had with cable (Comcast in his case). So don't be so sure that FiOS will solve anything (other than satisfy your unreasonable spite).

I'm confident the cable MSOs can exert some influence over the content providers regarding DRM. My opinion is cable companies have basically paid lip-service to the FCC regarding the implementation of an OpenCable environment in order to prevent the subscriber from having a choice of plug & play DCR devices rather than being forced to use the STBs that are offered by their cable company.

So how about a new DVR from TW?

I've been using their SA8300 for about four years, which make this product rather antiquated when compared to current A/V technology.

No one likes a monopoly... and the best thing to occur for TW Cable subscribers is Verizon FiOS TV. A little competition is a good thing.

I have a question regarding unencrypted availability of QAM channels. My local market, Buffalo, just started a new pricing polkicy where digital is less expensive than regular analog. When I asked the local rep if the digital channels would be available via QAM he responded that he didn't know what QAM is...

Any thoughts?

That seems to be pretty typical of cable CSRs - they have no idea of what their employer is providing! FCC rules state that any local OTA channels carried not be encrypted! So they can't prevent you from receiving CBS HD, for example, by plugging your cable into your QAM equipped TV without a cable card. Now, TNTHD, DiscoveryHD, etc. is an entirely different matter. They can put those on any tier, encrypt them and charge whatever they like.

I'm curious what you mean about a "new pricing policy where digital is less expensive than regular analog". That seems odd. Basic analog cable is usually around $8-$9/month. It's hard to see where digital cable will be less than that. Perhaps, they have some special where digital is less than expanded basic (usually in the $30-40/month range). Or are they talking about packages where a STB (Set Top Box) is involved. I'm sure that they are trying to get rid of the old analog STBs so that they can drop a lot of the bandwidth hogging analog channels.

And there was at least one example quoted on here of someone calling a cable company and, when they said they couldn't receive any channels via QAM, was advised to call QAM for assistance......

Fact is, the people in the call centres do a difficult job. Any job where you deal with the public WILL present its own challenges. However, the public are rather more "clued-up" than they were, say, 20 years ago, and the people handling the calls need appropriate training or support to deal with exactly that kind of question.

Actually, the issue really is the contents of the database that the CSR uses. Cable companies (in general) don't seem to want to include QAM in that - they want to sell more advanced features and naked QAM (or even with CableCards) don't support that.

Sorry for the diversion, because this thread is all about gathering input to increase the value to the consumer of those advanced features (which I, for one, love).

By basic cable I meant the regular Ch2 -70 variety without a box. TW just took over from Adelphia and the price for digital cable is now $1 lower than what I am curretnly paying (no doubt to get more cable boxes out there for VOD). If I went to a box I would get an addiitional 20 or so channels for less money. But I have a QAM enabled TV in an armoire with no room for a box. So I keep asking them why these additional channels can be open via QAM.

And my apologies if this is considered a thread hijack. I was just hoping the TW person who started the thread might see it. Whenever I email the local support I get the same guy and the same answer. He doesn't even realize that I can get the HD locals without a box... and refuses to believe me when I say I can.

5-8 years ago I recall that "digital service" carried an additional premium. Now, AFAIK there is no way to get "analog" service, it's all digital. TWC's pricing seems to centralize around packages, and all of them are digital based. AND I think it's in the MSOs big interest to see their analog transmissions "go away." My firmly rooted in the past parents had analog service... despite the fact they got a digital box a few years ago when their old box malfunctioned. I found out that at some point, that analog cable service was going to be discontinued. For almost 2 years I tried to get them to shift their account to digital, all it meant was one phone call, they had the right box already AND they'd get "more stuff" as soon as they changed the account. Finally it happened... oh, there was no cost differential, well I think their monthly bill went down by a quarter or so.

This can only mean that worlds are about to collide!

TWC has been a COLLOSAL SCREWUP since they officially took over here about 4 weeks ago in NW Pennsylvania(Near Hermitage,PA).

Especially for me.

My analog service quality has gone to spit on certain channels. My digital signal for CLEAR QAM coming to the house DISAPPEARED the evening they did the switchover from Adelphia, and has never returned(what I mean is that there is now NO DIGITAL SIGNAL PERIOD coming into the house. The signal meter on my LG LST-4200A for a digital signal from the cable company is NON-EXISTENT)

Even after reporting it(and the guy I talked too was knowlegable and friendly. I will give him that) they NEVER came out to check anything. I even suggested coming out with an addressable converter box to show the technician that there is now NO DIGITAL CABLE SIGNAL coming into the house after there switchover. Nothing.

This either looks like a bunch of headaches for me in the future with this company, who so far seem LOUSY!!! to me. They are puching me to either one of the satellite companies for immediate change, or to wait until Verizon FIOS arrives(possibly by 1 QRT Jan. 2008 for me) and then leave.

I never bought into alot of the trash talk about Time Warner Cable. I looked at as people being overly harsh to them. I had my problems with Adelphia, but they were few and far between, and were resolved immediately.

TWC has so far given me the impression of a collosal waste of time of a company. Ever since they took over near me, there has been nothing but problems, and issues, with NO RESOLUTIONS, which is the biggest problem IMHO.

And that is really sad. No wonder people are fed up. I now know why first hand, unfortunately.

I'm having the same problem with Albany Time Warner Cable. I thought the local stations had to be sent unencrypted with TWs digital tier... but I guess the rules don't apply to Time Warner.
I dropped Time Warner's broadband Internet service and switched to Verizon DSL. There are going to be a lot of TiVo Series 3 owners who will be mad as hornets when Time Warner migrates to SDV in order to conserve bandwidth, which will obsolete DCR devices with one-way CableCARDs.
I predict Verizon FiOS TV will be the panacea of the Cable industry. Competition will force Time Warner to provide better service and customer support in order to retain it's subscriber base.

Ha, no wonder we aren't seeing much of Diana around this thread. It seems to have morphed into a compendium of complaints against the company, not a communication of what video services we'd like to see implemented.