Aug 26 2010

By: Scott Pleyte at 05:59 pm

16 Responses to “Why I Watch HDTV Instead of Standard TV”

1. William Wilcoxen

   Aug 29, 2010
   at 12:01 pm

   Where is Southeast Ohio,such as Belpre,Ohio? Have almost made up my mine to switch to DISH.TW is doing nothing for us about HD.No large cities in this part of the state.MONEY,MONEY,that is what it is all about !!!!!

2. dread pirate roberts

   Aug 31, 2010
   at 10:44 am

   @William Wilcoxen

   Money Money Money, it’s called a BUSINESS and that’s what’s it’s all about!!! Nice to see you’ve woke up sir!! It’s about the stock holders, and the bottom line. That while trying to produce a product that will make 25 million subscribers happy, it’s a tough job! TWC does a great job IMHO BUT I want NFL network and they won’t get it. Not in line with the bottom line. Understand?

3. dread pirate roberts

   Sep 28, 2010
   at 2:34 pm

   When are we getting HBO HD OD???

4. Ben

   Oct 07, 2010
   at 5:41 am

   Then why make it such a pain to find the HD versions of channels??? Our channel alignment (Central NY) is so bad that I often find my customers watching SD content because the HD version is buried in the 800′s somewhere and on a different sub number than the SD. I tried explaining it to a customer once that all HD channels where badly placed in the 700, 800, 900 and 1000 channel tiers. I started explaining how Food Network is channel 39 in SD, but they have an HD channel, guess where? The customer said “839??” Nope, 827 – he replied, “but TNT is 27 with a confused look”. I explained what a mess it was. He then asked “Why can’t I just delete the SD channels and show only what I want?” Answer, Time Warner doesn’t allow that with their “new & improved” guide. Even though Dish has had that feature since 1998!

   I implore the powers that be at Time Warner to please add detailed Guide Filtering and Keyword Search ASAP! If you can do such an overbearing detail parental control, you should be able to do a Guide Filter equally as powerful!

5. Jeff Simmermon

   Oct 07, 2010
   at 8:05 am

   Ben,

   I see your point. I think that HD channels got added whereever they could be whenever they could be added in the rush to simply have HD channels Now that it’s grown as fast as it has, we’re looking at migrating channels to 1) free up bandwidth and 2) make exactly that — a more rational channel lineup. They’ve done something like this in the Carolinas already, and I imagine it will be rolling out to other areas as time and technology permits. Each region has its own technological/engineering quirks though, and some areas are faster to implement than others.

6. Jack

   Oct 07, 2010
   at 10:04 pm

   Dear Tech Team,

   Several customers who have been converted to the most recent ODN Navigator update, version 4.0.24 are experiencing a black screen when changing channels. This has been seen in areas of New York and San Diego. Hope a patch for this problem can be applied soon. I am on ODN 3.0.15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was initially looking forward to this update, but now, not until this bug is fixed. .

   However, a big plus is the speed boost! Hope you will work on the changing channel Black Screen bug. Thank you.

   Jack

7. WRCFanatic

   Oct 08, 2010
   at 4:53 pm

   It will be patched in the next version of ODN. Just sit back and relax, and I haven’t experienced it that often, but it can and will happen once in a while.

8. Craig

   Nov 26, 2010
   at 9:06 pm

   I completely agree with Ben. Before I moved to Kansas City where my only choice of provider was Time Warner (I live in a high-rise apt bldg where satellite and telco providers aren’t an option) , I had a different cable provider who offered a guide that was customizable, which was wonderful. I frankly am unclear as to why Time Warner does not offer a customizable guide to it’s customers. There are literally about 150 channels that I will NEVER watch, and at least 50 more I can’t watch without paying more money, yet I have to scroll through all of these channels on the guide to find what I want. It’s stupid and quite irritating.

9. dread pirate roberts

   Nov 29, 2010
   at 12:27 pm

   @ Craig, they don’t want the channels hidden. There may be something you see that intrests you or a new channel comes available. Then subs miss it due to the channel hidden, then whine thay don’t have what they pay for. Then you tell them thats because you had it hidden and then the cus will be mad because TWC KNOWS what ch are hidden and you didn’t inform me!! LOL but it’s true. Can’t satisfy all the customers all the time. Some are never happy!!

10. dread pirate roberts

    Nov 29, 2010
    at 12:29 pm

    @Jack, you sure the “black screen bug” is not the box auto detecting what it needs to be set at? 1080/790/480 It’s an option to auto detect, it goes to the channel, and when it checks it, it goes black for a second then reappears. If you set your setting to a designated display as always, you won’t get that black screen thing.

11. Jack

    Nov 29, 2010
    at 3:34 pm

    Jack@Dread Pirate Roberts,

    Personally, I cannot report directly on the Black Screen bug, because I have never experienced it on my box, or at least have no recollection of it. However, a couple that had this bug DID have multiple output resolutions set and when I said, “Try setting your output resolution on the box to the maximum setting your TV supports, it went away.

    Most customers seem to be familiar with a quick black screen that may appear if all output resolutions are enabled. But from the information they tell me, that’s not the black screen bug.

    What the black screen bug is, after Navigator 4.0.24 was pushed out in a few divisions (NOT a widespread issue.) some customers would change channels and get a black screen where the black screen would stay, They would than have to change channels again or re-punch in the channel to get the picture to come back.

    I asked customers, “When does this happen?”, and they said the range was rarely to from time to time.

    That’s all I know about this bug.

    Jack

12. dread pirate roberts

    Nov 30, 2010
    at 11:54 am

    @Jack, Thanks for the reply. I’ve seen more error messages recently, “your channel is not available” and it’s on a black screen. It usually is on an HD channel and comes back if I channel off and back on. Have you seen the screen saver that pops on if you have it paused for a few minutes? It’s the “eye and ear” TWC logo. LOL Can we change it I wonder? never seen an option for it, anyone know??

13. Jack

    Nov 30, 2010
    at 3:50 pm

    Jack@Dread Pirate Roberts,

    If you are getting regular intervals of “Channel Not Available,” say more than maybe two to three times a month, I would schedule a service call to have your signal levels and cable line checked. Most of the time, these issues can be fixed by the techs by replacing the line, or sometimes putting an amplifier on the line to improve signal strength. It could be the box too. But ask the tech to please check your wiring and signal levels first.

    Oh that screen saver is a built in Navigator function to prevent burn-in. Yea, it’s the TWC logo and the clock. On ODN models (Samsung and C boxes, it fills up the whole screen as it should.) On legacy MDN boxes, the screen saver is stupid, because it only fills a 4:3 image area leaving the sides of the picture still showing. (Unless this was fixed by a recent MDN update.) Note that it has been quite a while since I had an MDN box.

    Jack

14. Adam

    Dec 02, 2010
    at 4:32 pm

    I know cablevision automatically defaults to the HD feed of a channel. for example if ABC is channel 7, and ABCHD is 707, tuning to channel 7 will yield an HD signal, if using an HD box/HDTV. I am not sure why TWC does not do this. It makes it much easier to tune into the proper HD channel. When my cable box goes up to over 1000 channel numbers, it can be difficult to find the right HD channels

15. Jeff Simmermon

    Dec 02, 2010
    at 4:34 pm

    That’s in the works, but I’m not sure when it’s coming. We’ll announce it as soon as we’re able.

16. Jack

    Dec 02, 2010
    at 10:19 pm

    On the issue of having the box default automatically to an HD station’s channel.. I think this could be made an option. One problem is that sometimes I will record something on an SD channel to save DVR storage space, or I may want to deliberately record the SD channel if the HD channel is not showing a program in HD.

    I think you could have a Settings prompt in a future update for Navigator that says, “Tune HD Channel?” in the Quick Settings Menu, with an On/Off prompt. Customers who turn this feature on would get the HD version of the corresponding channel by default when tuning to its SD counterpart. In contrast, customers who had DVR’s with smaller hard drives, would be able to turn this feature off to save DVR space, by switching the “Tune HD channel” prompt to “Off” in the General Settings menu.

    A CRITICAL ISSUE for discussion with the Navigator program developers, is you need an on/off prompt for this feature because if the HD version goes out, which happens sometimes with our local channel 12 here in Metro-Milwaukee Wisconsin, (HD channel 1012 does not come in.) I tell the family to switch to SD channel 12 until the signal comes back. I still would want to be able to have them do that if there is a problem with the HD feed not coming in or pixiation on the HD station. Jeff, please made a note of this and pass it along to the development team!

    As long as the above is implemented, this feature would work similarly to the “Nearest Tune” option on all Navigator ODN boxes now, and on the MDN boxes with the 3.0 update.

    Jack