What's up with Time Warner Cable?

[Jarhead]

Just came in the mail, the US mail, an announcement that they are changing just about all of their channel numbers, except 1 through 85 which do not change. They provided a chart, which requires a magnifying glass to read, but they gave a link that got me to this PDF file (http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/4/144/Content%20Management/Documents/CDL/Fayetteville_Suothern%20Pines_Dunn.pdf). That is for the Fayetteville/Southern Pines region, but I imagine other regions will see something similar. It's going to take place on June 2, 2010, and when the change is made, it will also change any settings that the user may have set including favorites and DVR recording selections. I'm worried. This may have a global effect just like the typo last week at the NYSE.

Actually, it is hard to criticize TWC for this, since their channel alignment has been terrible since forever. I found one criticism, though. Seeing this now, it shows up TWC for a fraud, because they have been doing a lot of bragging on the number of channels available with their service. Just take a look at the redundancies it exposes. For example, those channels that do not change, 1 through 85, will show all material in standard definition and include all of the over the air local stations. So does the new set of channels numbered 105 through 199. Same material, in standard definition. Then we have a whole flock of categories, sports, premium movies, news, entrainment, etc., all having 3 digit channel numbers. No HD to be found here. You have to look at those numbered over 1100. That's where the HD is on the chart. All HD appears to duplicated in SD, but not all SD stuff is duplicated. A bunch are not. What are they waiting for?

It would have been nice if TWC had generated two separate charts, one each for SD and HD. Mrs. Jarhead and I never watch things in SD any more, except certain very rare occasions. (All that money we spent on our two HD flat panels demands we use them as designed.) We have had trouble locating some of the HD channels, though. Now we can find them easily. We can just put all HD channels in which we are interested in our favorites list, and we won't need to hunt for them, any more.

[alteran]

All HD appears to duplicated in SD, but not all SD stuff is duplicated. A bunch are not. What are they waiting for?

It would have been nice if TWC had generated two separate charts, one each for SD and HD. Mrs. Jarhead and I never watch things in SD any more, except certain very rare occasions. (All that money we spent on our two HD flat panels demands we use them as designed.) We have had trouble locating some of the HD channels, though. Now we can find them easily. We can just put all HD channels in which we are interested in our favorites list, and we won't need to hunt for them, any more.

HD blows through bandwidth like you wouldn't believe. TW is facing a real bandwidth crush. The problem is coax-- you can only cram so much stuff in coax. It's already completely saturated, at this point any extra HD gains come from compressing what's left.

IIRC, satellite has more HD. Please verify that before making any changes, consult with your physician, etc.

[dukeblue1206]

I live in Wilmington and have TWC. They already made those channel changes here about 3 weeks ago. Takes some getting use to cause even though the channel set-up was kinda random before, I knew by memory where everything was. Now I have to learn it all over again...bummer...May be switching to DirecTv or Dish Network soon anyway since I think I am paying way to much for cable and internet now after losing my special I had and them being jerks about not wanting to work out something new to keep me. Have to weigh the pros and cons

[Kdogg]

They switched over my part of SC a month ago. It's still a pain to relearn the channels. Although I have no proof I think they are trying to eventually cut off the analog channels (or any channels you can get without a box). They take more bandwidth and unlike most of the digital channels are always "on." TW is using switched digital video for most channels above 100. I guess in a few years you will be forced to get a cable box.

[Jarhead]

HD blows through bandwidth like you wouldn't believe. TW is facing a real bandwidth crush. The problem is coax-- you can only cram so much stuff in coax. It's already completely saturated, at this point any extra HD gains come from compressing what's left.

IIRC, satellite has more HD. Please verify that before making any changes, consult with your physician, etc.

Yeah, I can see the bandwidth problems every day. HD not only eats up bandwidth, it sits on gazigabytes of disk space on the DVR. I'm sort of locked in with TWC. No satellite for me. We live in a pretty dense pine forest, and the southern sky is difficult to impossible to draw a bead on the satellite. I'm not removing any of the trees. It costs a bundle to remove just one of these 60 and 70 foot long leaf pine trees. I've got about fifty of then in my yard. (Think about that the next time you think about buying a house on a forested lot.) You ought to see the pine cones. Some are as big as footballs. I'm waiting for U-verse, but in the meantime I have to endure TWC. Bummer.:(

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Yeah, I can see the bandwidth problems every day. HD not only eats up bandwidth, it sits on gazigabytes of disk space on the DVR. I'm sort of locked in with TWC. No satellite for me. We live in a pretty dense pine forest, and the southern sky is difficult to impossible to draw a bead on the satellite. I'm not removing any of the trees. It costs a bundle to remove just one of these 60 and 70 foot long leaf pine trees. I've got about fifty of then in my yard. (Think about that the next time you think about buying a house on a forested lot.) You ought to see the pine cones. Some are as big as footballs. I'm waiting for U-verse, but in the meantime I have to endure TWC. Bummer.:(
I have about 30 days left (out of a 60 day "trial" period) before I'm locked into TWC for 2 years. When my 1 year "special pricing" because I griped so much deal expired, I called and they came up with a new "special" for me, but this time lock me in for 2 years at about $20 more per month, but still less than the regular price. When I consider DirecTV, and I got a flier in the mail yesterday, by the time I hook up all 5 TV's, including the one in the guest room that hardly gets used, I just don't save enough (or anything) to make it worthwhile changing.

[allenmurray]

I've said this on these boards before, and I may be thbe only person in the universe to have this experience, but the customer service I have gotten from Time-Warner has always been fantastic - so good I haven't even looked at other options (even though them might save me some money).

[Olympic Fan]

Allen,

I share your experience with TWC -- I've had nothing but positive experiences.

[Jarhead]

I have about 30 days left (out of a 60 day "trial" period) before I'm locked into TWC for 2 years. When my 1 year "special pricing" because I griped so much deal expired, I called and they came up with a new "special" for me, but this time lock me in for 2 years at about $20 more per month, but still less than the regular price. When I consider DirecTV, and I got a flier in the mail yesterday, by the time I hook up all 5 TV's, including the one in the guest room that hardly gets used, I just don't save enough (or anything) to make it worthwhile changing.

Good point. What we are dealing with seems to be the marketing of an immature product masquerading as state of the art. Or maybe it's immature marketing telling us they are providing a service. It's really hard to tell. Maybe it's both. It would be revolutionary if one of the involved service providers was totally fair and honest with us. Their closest to honest answer would probably be, "It doesn't work that way." It's an interesting thought that wireless isn't involved in this, yet the wireless folks are trying their hardest to join in. On the surface that seems like the answer. No wires at all. Well, except for electricity. That's another complicating factor.

Problem is that it would cost me a bundle of money to take advantage of it. We have mobile phone service, but we have to walk out to the mailbox, or out on the golf course to use it. To get satellite service and wireless comm service we'd have to move somewhere else. There you go. You know how much that would cost?:mad: I'm not wealthy, so forget about it. Time Warner Cable has a tight hold on me.:(

[theAlaskanBear]

I've said this on these boards before, and I may be thbe only person in the universe to have this experience, but the customer service I have gotten from Time-Warner has always been fantastic - so good I haven't even looked at other options (even though them might save me some money).

Charlotte Time-Warner users here...have had completely opposite experiences.

We have a defective box, one that often freezes a channel and then force reboots itself which is a 10-15 minute wait, if it doesnt freeze in the rebooting process. The most annoying thing though is I can be watching something, then I will flip the channels during the commercials or to check the score....and then when I flip back the screen blacks out and then punts you to a blue "This channel is not currently available" that lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to over an hour or all day. Some channels are affected more than others....some will be not available most of the time with rare windows of viewing power.

Each time we get them to look at our box they say they fixed it, but it still doesnt work properly. Maybe because the problem is intermittent they cant find it.

Plus, its super expensive, we are paying almost $100 for cable and DVR, no HD and no internet or phone service. We are looking for a different provider, but we cant install any satellites because we are in an apartment.

Anyone have recommendations?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Charlotte Time-Warner users here...have had completely opposite experiences.

We have a defective box, one that often freezes a channel and then force reboots itself which is a 10-15 minute wait, if it doesnt freeze in the rebooting process. The most annoying thing though is I can be watching something, then I will flip the channels during the commercials or to check the score....and then when I flip back the screen blacks out and then punts you to a blue "This channel is not currently available" that lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to over an hour or all day. Some channels are affected more than others....some will be not available most of the time with rare windows of viewing power.

Each time we get them to look at our box they say they fixed it, but it still doesnt work properly. Maybe because the problem is intermittent they cant find it.

Plus, its super expensive, we are paying almost $100 for cable and DVR, no HD and no internet or phone service. We are looking for a different provider, but we cant install any satellites because we are in an apartment.

Anyone have recommendations?
Have them bring you a new box. Or, find out where their store is and take your box there and exchange it. Either way, it's free and should solve your freeze problem. They do have some new boxes available (from Cisco and Samsung), but I don't know that they do other/better/different things than the Atlanta Scientific box you probably have now. The hard drive is the same size, dammit. They also have several models of the AS box in service. Just know that anything you have stored on your current box will obviously not be on the new box, and you'll have to re-enter your series to be saved. There is no charge for you to get a new DVR box.

[allenmurray]

We have a defective box, one that often freezes a channel and then force reboots itself which is a 10-15 minute wait, if it doesnt freeze in the rebooting process. The most annoying thing though is I can be watching something, then I will flip the channels during the commercials or to check the score....and then when I flip back the screen blacks out and then punts you to a blue "This channel is not currently available" that lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to over an hour or all day. Some channels are affected more than others....some will be not available most of the time with rare windows of viewing power.

Plus, its super expensive, we are paying almost $100 for cable and DVR, no HD and no internet or phone service. We are looking for a different provider, but we cant install any satellites because we are in an apartment.

Anyone have recommendations?

I had that problem once. Rather than calling I unplugged the box myself and took it to the service center. With no questions at all they simply gave me a new (brand new) box. I plugged it in and was ready to go. I brought in my American Scientific box and the person at the service center said, "these are crap". She replaced wit with a Samsung.

I agree it is expensive, but with my phone/internet/cable bundle it isn't a whole lot more than the best deal I could put together doing those things separately.

[theAlaskanBear]

I had that problem once. Rather than calling I unplugged the box myself and took it to the service center. With no questions at all they simply gave me a new (brand new) box. I plugged it in and was ready to go. I brought in my American Scientific box and the person at the service center said, "these are crap". She replaced wit with a Samsung.

I agree it is expensive, but with my phone/internet/cable bundle it isn't a whole lot more than the best deal I could put together doing those things separately.

We dont want to bundle, because we get internet service included in our rent, and as college students with cell phones, having a land line is useless to us. I will check about getting a new box, we do have a scientific atlanta!

[alteran]

Plus, its super expensive, we are paying almost $100 for cable and DVR, no HD and no internet or phone service. We are looking for a different provider, but we cant install any satellites because we are in an apartment.

Anyone have recommendations?!

I don't have cable, and am a certified TV addict.

I use an antenna. If you're near the towers (say, 10-15 miles or so-- you can check the distance from your abode to the towers here (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx)) you might be able to use an over-the-air antenna, supplemented with a computer (for Hulu, ESPN 360, etc.) hooked to your TV. I can get the vast majority of available entertainment that way. The big hole is sports programming. For some people that is non-negotiable. For me, since I can get everything else functionally for free, I can't justify $80-$100 a month just for access to sports programming.

You will have to "bring your own DVR," however, if you consider a DVR a necessity.

[CLT Devil]

I spent a lot of brain matter memorizing those channels...as little sense as they did make, at least I had them figured out. Now I have to start all over. I, too, am locked into a 2 year deal but got a deal deal on the pricing. TWC service have been great recently, and unlike other providers (ATT) they stand by their equipment and will come out and fix it for free. The channel chagnce took me by surprise, but other than that no complaints. And I agree, it's easier to just go in and exchange boxes, as they will try to do everything they can to bandaid the one you have.

[allenmurray]

I don't have cable, and am a certified TV addict.

I use an antenna. If you're near the towers (say, 10-15 miles or so-- you can check the distance from your abode to the towers here (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx)) you might be able to use an over-the-air antenna, supplemented with a computer (for Hulu, ESPN 360, etc.) hooked to your TV. I can get the vast majority of available entertainment that way. The big hole is sports programming. For some people that is non-negotiable. For me, since I can get everything else functionally for free, I can't justify $80-$100 a month just for access to sports programming.

You will have to "bring your own DVR," however, if you consider a DVR a necessity.

Funny - I watch very little TV, but I won't do without cable. About the only thing I watch with regularity is live sports. Without cable that just doesn't work out too well (not to mention having an 11 year old and a 16 year old, and a wife who does like to watch TV).

[2535Miles]

Charlotte Time-Warner users here...have had completely opposite experiences.

We have a defective box, one that often freezes a channel and then force reboots itself which is a 10-15 minute wait, if it doesnt freeze in the rebooting process. The most annoying thing though is I can be watching something, then I will flip the channels during the commercials or to check the score....and then when I flip back the screen blacks out and then punts you to a blue "This channel is not currently available" that lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to over an hour or all day. Some channels are affected more than others....some will be not available most of the time with rare windows of viewing power.

Each time we get them to look at our box they say they fixed it, but it still doesnt work properly. Maybe because the problem is intermittent they cant find it.

Plus, its super expensive, we are paying almost $100 for cable and DVR, no HD and no internet or phone service. We are looking for a different provider, but we cant install any satellites because we are in an apartment.

Anyone have recommendations?
Former Charlotte TWC customer. I switched to AT&T U-Verse about a month ago and I could not be happier with the service and product for the price. I'm paying the same cost for high-speed, unlimited long distance, and HD with DVR but I'm getting more channels and faster uploads/downloads. AT&T has a decent tool for displaying the channel lineups by package so you can compare.

About my experiences
I work from home, so having internet and reliable phone service is a must for me. Strangely enough, TWC's basic service was faster and more reliable than upgrading to the next higher speed. My bills went up, but upload speed dropped in half and download speeds only improved marginally, video conferencing quit working entirely. Time Warner refused to address the issue and stated that I had not ordered the upgrade even though I added two new services (phone and cable) to the existing service as part of bundled deal.

My phone line failed two or three times a week without warning. I would discover the line was dead only when I'd pick up the phone to make a call and hear nothing. TWC denied the problem was on their end and could do nothing to improve the service.

AT&T in contrast has been amazing, especially their support. My router died and then I had some problems with an emergency that forced me to reschedule the service appointment for later in the afternoon. Somebody made a mistake and forgot to update the service appointment, when I called at 4:15 and explained nobody had called or shown up yet, they immediately moved me to a priority queue and two techs showed up within 45 minutes, stayed past normal working hours and made sure the new router worked, updated the firmware, and double-checked the phone, cable and outside lines.

So I'm paying the same money, but getting a much better product and service, not to mention $350 in Visa Cash Cards which help to pay the $150 Termination Fee for TWC. See if they're in your area.

[2535Miles]

See Moonpie's thread about uverse. (http://dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16605)

[aimo]

I've said this on these boards before, and I may be thbe only person in the universe to have this experience, but the customer service I have gotten from Time-Warner has always been fantastic - so good I haven't even looked at other options (even though them might save me some money).

A Time Warner contractor backed over my peach tree. A pretty good representation of how all my experiences with Time Warner have been.

[Jarhead]

Former Charlotte TWC customer. I switched to AT&T U-Verse about a month ago and I could not be happier with the service and product for the price. I'm paying the same cost for high-speed, unlimited long distance, and HD with DVR but I'm getting more channels and faster uploads/downloads. AT&T has a decent tool for displaying the channel lineups by package so you can compare.

About my experiences
I work from home, so having internet and reliable phone service is a must for me. Strangely enough, TWC's basic service was faster and more reliable than upgrading to the next higher speed. My bills went up, but upload speed dropped in half and download speeds only improved marginally, video conferencing quit working entirely. Time Warner refused to address the issue and stated that I had not ordered the upgrade even though I added two new services (phone and cable) to the existing service as part of bundled deal.

My phone line failed two or three times a week without warning. I would discover the line was dead only when I'd pick up the phone to make a call and hear nothing. TWC denied the problem was on their end and could do nothing to improve the service.

AT&T in contrast has been amazing, especially their support. My router died and then I had some problems with an emergency that forced me to reschedule the service appointment for later in the afternoon. Somebody made a mistake and forgot to update the service appointment, when I called at 4:15 and explained nobody had called or shown up yet, they immediately moved me to a priority queue and two techs showed up within 45 minutes, stayed past normal working hours and made sure the new router worked, updated the firmware, and double-checked the phone, cable and outside lines.

So I'm paying the same money, but getting a much better product and service, not to mention $350 in Visa Cash Cards which help to pay the $150 Termination Fee for TWC. See if they're in your area.

As I stated earlier in this thread, I'm waiting for U-verse, but in the meantime I have to endure TWC. To find out if U-verse is available in your area click here and they will tell you (http://www.att.com/u-verse/availability/). If they cannot find your address then their service is not available. There apparently is no way to see if there is a timetable for service in your area.

[Jarhead]

Latest problem with TWC -- an over night change -- on the Guide, all favorites were sorted in numerical order and listed before all other channels. That's the only use for favorites, and now when we go to Guide we see all of the other garbage channels we have no interest in seeing mixed in with our favorites. I am real worried about June 2.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Latest problem with TWC -- an over night change -- on the Guide, all favorites were sorted in numerical order and listed before all other channels. That's the only use for favorites, and now when we go to Guide we see all of the other garbage channels we have no interest in seeing mixed in with our favorites. I am real worried about June 2.
Got the new channel guide in the mail yesterday. I noticed that ESPNU (and HD) and ESPNNEWS (and HD) were shown in pink rather than black, indicating they were part of a premium package. I called the 800 # to ask if I would still get those channels as I do now and the girl said she didn't have the guide on her screen so she didn't know if we would continue to get them as part of the standard digital package. The June 8 change date is within my 60 days, so I may yet change to satellite TV, and I told her so. She didn't care.

[dukeblue1206]

Got the new channel guide in the mail yesterday. I noticed that ESPNU (and HD) and ESPNNEWS (and HD) were shown in pink rather than black, indicating they were part of a premium package. I called the 800 # to ask if I would still get those channels as I do now and the girl said she didn't have the guide on her screen so she didn't know if we would continue to get them as part of the standard digital package. The June 8 change date is within my 60 days, so I may yet change to satellite TV, and I told her so. She didn't care.

Yeah most of the people you talk to at customer service could careless if you tell them you are planning to switch. Used to be a time you could call and tell them something like that and they would work out a new deal with you. Now it is very rare that happens. I did just such a thing a few days ago, with no results, and just had DirecTv installed yesterday. Now I did already get the new channel lineup with TWC before I switched and I still had ESPNU and ESPNNEWS, both in HD, after the change, but I do not remember what package I had but do not think it was any kind of premium package. See how long it takes for me to become unsatisfied with Directv. Not that it really matters cause I am locked in for 2 years, but at a better price at least then what TWC was offering.

[devil84]

Got the new channel guide in the mail yesterday. I noticed that ESPNU (and HD) and ESPNNEWS (and HD) were shown in pink rather than black, indicating they were part of a premium package. I called the 800 # to ask if I would still get those channels as I do now and the girl said she didn't have the guide on her screen so she didn't know if we would continue to get them as part of the standard digital package. The June 8 change date is within my 60 days, so I may yet change to satellite TV, and I told her so. She didn't care.

The pink lines are part of the Digital Tier. If you already have it, there shouldn't be a change. IIRC, we got it when we bought the HDTV.

Not a fan of the new software, which went in yesterday. Like Jarhead, I've lost the grouping of my favorite channels in the Guide. Haven't figured out what else we lost in this "upgrade." I'm still perturbed that two upgrades ago we lost the ability to see a list of a category (movies, sports, etc) sorted by start time starting with what is on now. Made it really, really easy to see what movies just started or will start in the next hour or so (before we run out to Redbox or Blockbuster). Other than the menu being blurrier (looks awesome on the HDTV *bleh*) and the loss of favorites grouped together, I'm not sure what this "upgrade" has given us (or taken away).

As far as customer service, TWC has been pretty good. If I call and complain about the rates every, oh, 18 months, they lower them for me. The last call saved me $30/month, and the person would NOT lock me in for 2 years (she sounded like she HATED that plan and just wouldn't offer it!). We're on our third or fourth Scientific American DVR box, this new one is a newer version and is about 6 months old. I concur...these are crap. The newer one is much better than the others, but that's not saying much. As soon as we watch what we've got recorded, I'll unplug it and take it in for a new one. We've returned lots of cable boxes and modems, and they always take them cheerfully (or at least without grunting and eye rolling) and give you a new one, usually with plenty of commiseration and editorializing on how bad the old ones were and promising the new ones to be better.

[alteran]

If I call and complain about the rates every, oh, 18 months, they lower them for me. The last call saved me $30/month, and the person would NOT lock me in for 2 years (she sounded like she HATED that plan and just wouldn't offer it!). We're on our third or fourth Scientific American DVR box, this new one is a newer version and is about 6 months old. I concur...these are crap. The newer one is much better than the others, but that's not saying much. As soon as we watch what we've got recorded, I'll unplug it and take it in for a new one. We've returned lots of cable boxes and modems, and they always take them cheerfully (or at least without grunting and eye rolling) and give you a new one, usually with plenty of commiseration and editorializing on how bad the old ones were and promising the new ones to be better.

If my experience was like yours, I'd still have TWC. They refused to lower my price, even though the guy grudgingly agreed that hardly anyone was paying as much as I for the most basic HD package you could get.

I get the feeling talking with people anecdotally that TW is playing hardball these days with more and more people on lowering rates. Maybe that's just Durham, or maybe me and my friends have been outliers.

I definitely second the suggestion that if you have problems with the DVR, drive it over and they'll hand you a new one. Just be prepared that sometimes they simply don't have any to give you.

[allenmurray]

I definitely second the suggestion that if you have problems with the DVR, drive it over and they'll hand you a new one. Just be prepared that sometimes they simply don't have any to give you.

My experience is that they are much more likely to have one available at the service center on East Club Blvd than at the kiosk at Southpoint Mall.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! :cool::D They have brought back functionality that I found very useful and complained bitterly to their support people when it went away. ~2 years ago they reduced the "realtime" recording of the DVR to save memory, not recording the second tuner at all and going so far as to put the recording (when not actively recording a program) into a sleep mode when the DVR buttons hadn't been pushed for more than 2 hours. As of this weekend, no more sleep mode. Turn your TV on in the morning, or evening when you get home from work, and whatever was on tuner 1 has the last 2 hours available to watch! You get home just after the game started, or miss the weather on the 6:00 news? No problem, just hit the back button and get caught up. And the second tuner? Over the weekend that had 2 hours recorded as well, but just double checking it a few minutes ago, it didn't. But it started recording after my first check. Why is this important? Ever watch 2 games at the same time, "really watching" one and monitoring the other? Now, when something interesting happens in the second game you can flip the primary and secondary picture and rewind the game to see the play that caught your attention! Couldn't do that for the last two years. This also works well if you're really watching a program/movie and monitoring a game, say a baseball game. After checking out the game and "re-flipping the two channels, you can get caught up on your original program/movie and not have missed anything!

One complaint - the controls are now very slow to react. Pressing the FF, Rewind or Play buttons seem like they are stuck in the mud. I thought my remote batteries might be dieing, so I put in knew batteries and saw no improvement. FFing through commercials (on x3) is much tougher to time to get the start of the program, and sometimes it takes several presses to get any reaction at all, then it remembers all the presses and really screws things up. Don't know if this is a function of my DVR, or the new software. I'm probably going to get a newer DVR this week (I'll go to the Garner store location and get either the Cisco or Samsung box, dumping the AS box), but I don't know if this will help the problem or not.

But overall I am very pleased with the "retro" software upgrade!

[Jarhead]

The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! :cool::D They have brought back functionality that I found very useful and complained bitterly to their support people when it went away. ~2 years ago they reduced the "realtime" recording of the DVR to save memory, not recording the second tuner at all and going so far as to put the recording (when not actively recording a program) into a sleep mode when the DVR buttons hadn't been pushed for more than 2 hours. As of this weekend, no more sleep mode. Turn your TV on in the morning, or evening when you get home from work, and whatever was on tuner 1 has the last 2 hours available to watch! You get home just after the game started, or miss the weather on the 6:00 news? No problem, just hit the back button and get caught up. And the second tuner? Over the weekend that had 2 hours recorded as well, but just double checking it a few minutes ago, it didn't. But it started recording after my first check. Why is this important? Ever watch 2 games at the same time, "really watching" one and monitoring the other? Now, when something interesting happens in the second game you can flip the primary and secondary picture and rewind the game to see the play that caught your attention! Couldn't do that for the last two years. This also works well if you're really watching a program/movie and monitoring a game, say a baseball game. After checking out the game and "re-flipping the two channels, you can get caught up on your original program/movie and not have missed anything!

One complaint - the controls are now very slow to react. Pressing the FF, Rewind or Play buttons seem like they are stuck in the mud. I thought my remote batteries might be dieing, so I put in knew batteries and saw no improvement. FFing through commercials (on x3) is much tougher to time to get the start of the program, and sometimes it takes several presses to get any reaction at all, then it remembers all the presses and really screws things up. Don't know if this is a function of my DVR, or the new software. I'm probably going to get a newer DVR this week (I'll go to the Garner store location and get either the Cisco or Samsung box, dumping the AS box), but I don't know if this will help the problem or not.

But overall I am very pleased with the "retro" software upgrade!

We've had some of those same experiences. It was as if you had dropped by our house to watch our television. Let me modify that a little bit. It seems as though they are making changes as they go. We have seen some new features come, and then go away. One change that has stayed around -- favorite channels. The only use I see for the feature is to allow us to sort our favorites at the top of the list in the guide screen. That is gone, but it is still possible to mark a channel as a favorite. What does that do for us? I don't get it. I still dread the coming of June2.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Last night the controls performed "normally" about 90% of the time - no abnormal delay while FFing @ x3 and pushing Play. I tried this both playing a recorded program and while watching House slightly time delays and skipping the commercials.

And boy, did the PIP recording while monitoring come in handy last night in the bottom of the 9th between the Yanks and Sox! :D It is high, it is far..... :cool:

[moonpie23]

i kicked TWC to the curb and got ATT U-VERSE...


one thing i was HATING was the new TWC guide.....the old one was so much easier to search with.....the new one has much suckage...

[jimsumner]

Moonpie,

Let us know how U-Verse is working for you. We were that close to switching from TWC to U-Verse until I discovered U-Verse doesn't have Extra Innings or MLB. Deal Breaker. But only through September.

I'm no fan to Time-Warner. But I don't want to to that whole frying pan/fire thing, so I'm looking for feedback on U-Verse before/if we jump.

[devil84]

The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! :cool::D They have brought back functionality that I found very useful and complained bitterly to their support people when it went away. ~2 years ago they reduced the "realtime" recording of the DVR to save memory, not recording the second tuner at all and going so far as to put the recording (when not actively recording a program) into a sleep mode when the DVR buttons hadn't been pushed for more than 2 hours. As of this weekend, no more sleep mode.

I'm so glad that the sleep mode is gone! Every time we wanted to rewind live TV it seemed to be sleeping. And if you don't rewind in a 3 hour movie, that annoying popup telling you to press a key to not go into sleep mode would activate only at the most critical scene in the movie.

Glad to know that the old functionality is back. However, it's packaged in the new "Surprise Me" feature.

What is the "Surprise Me" feature, you ask? Aaahhh, it's fun! If you hit the rewind button just right (I think by holding a fraction of a second too long, but I can't make it happen consistently), you'll pop back two hours instead of starting the rewind. Then try to fast forward (when the Play button didn't register the first six times you pressed it), and you'll pop right back to live TV -- or start the fast forward process.

A cool feature (that seems to work consistently) that complements the "Surprise Me" feature nicely is that if you press and hold the rewind or FF buttons once the function starts (assuming you're not a victim of the "Surprise Me" feature), it will skip in 15 minute increments.

The "Surprise Me" feature also works in the programming guide. If you opt to record a program in the grid, sometimes it'll choose the next time slot to record.

It's even in the List feature, selecting the program that's next on the list to show instead of the one you really wanted.

Yep, we LOVE the "Surprise Me" feature. It's highly entertaining -- unless you're the one attempting to do anything with the remote. :D

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I'm so glad that the sleep mode is gone! Every time we wanted to rewind live TV it seemed to be sleeping. And if you don't rewind in a 3 hour movie, that annoying popup telling you to press a key to not go into sleep mode would activate only at the most critical scene in the movie.

Glad to know that the old functionality is back. However, it's packaged in the new "Surprise Me" feature.

What is the "Surprise Me" feature, you ask? Aaahhh, it's fun! If you hit the rewind button just right (I think by holding a fraction of a second too long, but I can't make it happen consistently), you'll pop back two hours instead of starting the rewind. Then try to fast forward (when the Play button didn't register the first six times you pressed it), and you'll pop right back to live TV -- or start the fast forward process.

A cool feature (that seems to work consistently) that complements the "Surprise Me" feature nicely is that if you press and hold the rewind or FF buttons once the function starts (assuming you're not a victim of the "Surprise Me" feature), it will skip in 15 minute increments.

The "Surprise Me" feature also works in the programming guide. If you opt to record a program in the grid, sometimes it'll choose the next time slot to record.

It's even in the List feature, selecting the program that's next on the list to show instead of the one you really wanted.

Yep, we LOVE the "Surprise Me" feature. It's highly entertaining -- unless you're the one attempting to do anything with the remote. :D
The Surprise Me feature was there back when, too. It seems like it does that only when the sleep function would have been working if it hadn't been taken out, ie, the first time you hit rewind after a prolonged period of inactivity. If you hit the "live" button, it'll take to back to current time and then the rewind is a normal x1, x2 or x3. I haven't found the 15 minute interval function yet. That would be nice!

[Jarhead]

I'm so glad that the sleep mode is gone! Every time we wanted to rewind live TV it seemed to be sleeping. And if you don't rewind in a 3 hour movie, that annoying popup telling you to press a key to not go into sleep mode would activate only at the most critical scene in the movie.

Glad to know that the old functionality is back. However, it's packaged in the new "Surprise Me" feature.

What is the "Surprise Me" feature, you ask? Aaahhh, it's fun! If you hit the rewind button just right (I think by holding a fraction of a second too long, but I can't make it happen consistently), you'll pop back two hours instead of starting the rewind. Then try to fast forward (when the Play button didn't register the first six times you pressed it), and you'll pop right back to live TV -- or start the fast forward process.

A cool feature (that seems to work consistently) that complements the "Surprise Me" feature nicely is that if you press and hold the rewind or FF buttons once the function starts (assuming you're not a victim of the "Surprise Me" feature), it will skip in 15 minute increments.

The "Surprise Me" feature also works in the programming guide. If you opt to record a program in the grid, sometimes it'll choose the next time slot to record.

It's even in the List feature, selecting the program that's next on the list to show instead of the one you really wanted.

Yep, we LOVE the "Surprise Me" feature. It's highly entertaining -- unless you're the one attempting to do anything with the remote. :D

These things you describe are also happening right here. There are only slight variations between the two cable boxes in use. At least the folks at TWC are showing some consistency. Let me add that at times when we fast forward over commercials we end up back at the start of the commercials. If I back it up and then fast forward it works okay.

[moonpie23]

Moonpie,

Let us know how U-Verse is working for you. We were that close to switching from TWC to U-Verse until I discovered U-Verse doesn't have Extra Innings or MLB. Deal Breaker. But only through September.

I'm no fan to Time-Warner. But I don't want to to that whole frying pan/fire thing, so I'm looking for feedback on U-Verse before/if we jump.

TV service has been really good.......love their DVR and the guide is about as crappy as TWC, maybe a little better...

BUT....be sure and browse THIS THREAD (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19220) about protecting yourself when you order....

[Highlander]

Just saw a couple of things on the DirecTV website that might be of interest.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/directv/technology/wholehome?ICID=PRHP-SLOT4-MRV&lid=PRHP_promo2_MRV

First, they now have a feature where you can network your DVR's and view/record content from any other TV in the house. There is a one time setup fee, and maybe a $3 per month charge.

Second, there is a program you can download which will allow you to stream Satellite content onto your computer. I'm not sure if you can also pull DVR content off of your TV and record it on your PC, but if so, that would be a great way to archive off old basketball games.

Current DirecTV DVR's already allow you to play video, pictures, and mp3/audio from your networked PC directly through your TV.

Anyway, it is one of the reasons I have thoroughly enjoyed satellite over cable, and don't think I'll ever go back. Sorry for those of you who have no other option; you're truly missing out.

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

For those interested in signing up for DirecTV, you may want to wait until the newer HR24 HDDVRs come out. The processors are much more powerful and the guides are much faster that the current HR23s. They'll also have the DECA home networking bulit in as well as keep the 100 hours of HD recoding etc.

If I didn't work for Verizon and live in a FiOS area, I would most likely go back to DirecTV for TV service. It's just really, really good.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

For those interested in signing up for DirecTV, you may want to wait until the newer HR24 HDDVRs come out. The processors are much more powerful and the guides are much faster that the current HR23s. They'll also have the DECA home networking bulit in as well as keep the 100 hours of HD recoding etc.

If I didn't work for Verizon and live in a FiOS area, I would most likely go back to DirecTV for TV service. It's just really, really good.
More details please! I made a "soft" commitment to sign up with DirecTV today. If there are reasons I should back out and wait, tell me! The DVR they offer has 100 hours of HD recording time (and 400 hours of non-HD recording). Is this the old one or the new one? When will the new one be out? I have ~2 weeks before I'm locked into TWC for 2 years.

[Jarhead]

More details please! I made a "soft" commitment to sign up with DirecTV today. If there are reasons I should back out and wait, tell me! The DVR they offer has 100 hours of HD recording time (and 400 hours of non-HD recording). Is this the old one or the new one? When will the new one be out? I have ~2 weeks before I'm locked into TWC for 2 years.

I'd like to know how it turns out for you. Oz. I've been hesitant in making any such change, and I've been wondering what the impact would be, since I have Roadrunner and digital phone service from TWC. I don't want to change either of those two services.

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

More details please! I made a "soft" commitment to sign up with DirecTV today. If there are reasons I should back out and wait, tell me! The DVR they offer has 100 hours of HD recording time (and 400 hours of non-HD recording). Is this the old one or the new one? When will the new one be out? I have ~2 weeks before I'm locked into TWC for 2 years.

You're likely going to get the HR-23 DVR, which holds a ton of content on it's 500 GB drive, but isn't the speediest of DVRs. I wouldn't call it slow, but there's room for improvement.

The one I'm talking about, the HR24, is supposed to be quite good. The geeks over at dbstalk.com wrote this preview (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=172657).

I'm not sure if it's worth it to cancel an order over, but if you have the option to wait a month or so, you might as well. Then again it's tricky to gurantee which DVR you get with DirecTV, unless you head to a Best Buy or something.

[Highlander]

DirecTV Customer Service is usually excellent. If you mention to them that you'd like to switch later, they may give you a loner or something. One disadvantage is that you have to pay $100 for the receiver to get it installed, so if they won't give you a credit for a later upgrade, you'll be out $100 to upgrade later.

That being sadi, I have an HD DVR for 3 years now and have been very happy with it. I can't think of any problems I have ever had with it. Out of the box I was able to get it networked with my home PC for sharing static content (pictures, mp3's, etc). I agree if you can wait for the new one, do so. However, the old one is significantly better than the SA one I had while at TWC.

[2535Miles]

My final experience with TWC left such a bad taste in my mouth that it will take a long time, or a monopoly in the market before I'll consider purchasing their service.

My service was disconnected on a Monday. One week later I received a phone call from Time Warner asking when I was going to make the final payment. I explained that it had only been a week and that I had not even received my last billing statement. The operator stated that she would note my account and that we shouldn't receive another phone call until the end of the month.

The next day I received two phone calls, and the next, and the next and then the next day. This continued every single day until I paid my bill. Every time I explained what was happening, the operator would note my account. Near the end of it all, one of the operators said "I'll just note your... whoa, it looks like it has already been noted. That's strange".

Really it was just the last straw on the camel's back.

Thanks for the year of horrible service and deception. I feel like a real shmuck for giving you my hard-earned money.

[DukieInKansas]

:( :mad: The feature I miss on my TWC remote is the C button in the guide mode. I lost this function several "updates" ago. If you were in the program guide, you could hit the C button and get a list of other programs of that type. So, if you were in the guide and highlighting college basketball, you could hit C and get a listing of the college basketball games airing on any channel starting at the current program and going out several days. It made verifying the air time of Duke basketball much easier. I need to lobby TWC to get that function back.

[ohioguy2]

:( :mad: The feature I miss on my TWC remote is the C button in the guide mode. I lost this function several "updates" ago. If you were in the program guide, you could hit the C button and get a list of other programs of that type. So, if you were in the guide and highlighting college basketball, you could hit C and get a listing of the college basketball games airing on any channel starting at the current program and going out several days. It made verifying the air time of Duke basketball much easier. I need to lobby TWC to get that function back.

I agree. That feature is the most missed one in our household. If you find someone "live" at TWC to listen to you, tell them others agree with you also. Bring back the "C" feature.:mad:

[Kimist]

My major and continuing complaint against TWC is simply trying to get a straight answer, especially on costs other than the "for the next 12 months...." type plans they tempt you with.

"Free HD" is a joke - you must have a digital (extra $) plan to view most of their channels - which I already pay for! - in HD. But I can already view the HD over-the-air broadcast channels (in this area 11.1, 5.1, 17.1, 4.2) without the doggone extra plan. (I think the FCC makes TWC provide them for "free" ??) But I cannot view ESPN et al in HD.

Salesmen tell me I am not "seeing" HD on those channels - sorry, the picture/sound quality say otherwise when compared to the "regular" comparable channels for the same stations.

You can get HD for only "$9/month" is their standard verbiage..or is it "free HD" instead?? When I ask them if I don't ALSO need to rent (not purchase) a converter box, and same for remote control necessary in order to use the "$9 service" I get non-answers. And if I ask them what a less expensive non-addressable "cable box" might involve, I get complete "I have no idea!" type answers from TWC salesmen.

It also bothers me that my very nice multi-functional remote that came with my recently-purchased LG set becomes more or less worthless. And why even have a channel selector on the TV itself? - just hardwire everything to channel 3/4 and go forward.

I do not watch that much TV - although much more during football/basketball seasons - so I really resent having to pay for a bunch of services/hardware that TWC forces on me.

Oh yes - for reasons not relevant here, I have cell phone service with a provider and land line/DSL internet service with another provider. I simply do NOT want to give TWC complete control over my needs, in spite of their fervent wish to do so.

OK - rant is now concluded.

k

[OZZIE4DUKE]

As I type, I'm on hold waiting to cancel the DirecTV installation.* I spent close to an hour on the phone with Time Warner (retention department) getting my bill reduced and various free services added, all without having a 2-year "commitment" and no cancellation fees if I change my mind again and decide I want DirecTV after all!

First, let me give you the direct number for TWC's retention department, so you don't have to go through the customer service phone tree:

800-761-2289

I have reduced my bill from ~$131/mo to $115.00/month including taxes and fees for 6 months with one HD DVR (with a new $2 price reduction over the standard price), Digital Variety programming package, free Showtime and the Movie Channel for a year, free HBO for a month, and upgraded my Road Runner internet from the standard 7 MB speed to the Turbo 10 MB speed (that's the 6 months part, otherwise the rest of my pricing is good for a year, and I'll either get a new promotional price on the Turbo RR or drop back). Doing the speed check on the RR, the upload speed, which was a glacial ~370 kbps on the standard service, now measures at ~490 kbps, so my photos may upload a bit faster next time :cool:

When it's convenient I'll go to the Garner store and get a new Cisco or Samsung DVR to replace the AS unit I've got now, just because.

Just thought y'all might want to know.

*Hold time was about 5 minutes, and it took less than a minute to cancel the installation with all charges to be credited in 7 to 10 days, with no attempt by the agent to talk me out of canceling.

[Lid]

TWC update for Durham folks: the East Club store no longer exists; it's now in the shopping center on N Pointe across from Costco. I don't know if the Southpoint one ever swapped out DVRs, but they don't now, so don't try that one.

We've had a TWC DVR just for the last 6 months or so (changed over from TiVo when we finally got HD), and it's been a disappointment all the way through. We put up with the worse DVR for convenience, but last week, the DVR finally kicked the bucket. I took it in to swap today and got a "new" one which, of course, doesn't work. After spending too much time on the phone with the service tech, he said I should go swap it again. Of course, by this point, the store is closed, and none of them are open on Sunday except Southpoint, which doesn't swap out equipment. So now I have to take off work at some point on Monday if I want it to work again. Frustrating!

I'm looking at DirecTV now. I'm just not sure if a dish will work at our house due to trees. Here's hoping.

[Lid]

If anyone is interested, DirecTV is offering the HR24 HD DVR now.

[DevilBen02]

We've had a TWC DVR just for the last 6 months or so (changed over from TiVo when we finally got HD), and it's been a disappointment all the way through.

We actually made the switch a couple of months ago back to TiVo when we realized the newer TiVo boxes are compatible with TWC with HD. We just got a cable card and a tuning adapter from Time Warner, turned in our DVR, and have been very happy having user-friendly TiVo on our big TV in HD, and actually lowered our cable bill in the process. I think the only functionality we lost was the use of the On-Demand channels (And with RedBoxes everywhere, we don't miss that option at all). If you're fed up with the Time Warner DVR don't want to make the jump to satellite, it's a nice option.

[Lid]

We actually made the switch a couple of months ago back to TiVo when we realized the newer TiVo boxes are compatible with TWC with HD. We just got a cable card and a tuning adapter from Time Warner, turned in our DVR, and have been very happy having user-friendly TiVo on our big TV in HD, and actually lowered our cable bill in the process. I think the only functionality we lost was the use of the On-Demand channels (And with RedBoxes everywhere, we don't miss that option at all). If you're fed up with the Time Warner DVR don't want to make the jump to satellite, it's a nice option.
Thanks for the advice -- I'd actually considered this, but when I called TWC to ask about tuning adapter availability, they made it sound like I wouldn't be able to get one anytime soon. I guess that was their way of trying to keep me hooked into their DVR service instead.

In any case, we're loving DirecTV so far. The DVR is leaps and bounds better than the one we had from TWC. When I press "play" it... wait for it... plays! The search feature doesn't just search, it actually finds. Still not as good as a TiVo, but much better than what we were dealing with. The installer was on time and polite, and we already got a call from a real person asking if we were satisfied so far.

[alteran]

Thanks for the advice -- I'd actually considered this, but when I called TWC to ask about tuning adapter availability, they made it sound like I wouldn't be able to get one anytime soon. I guess that was their way of trying to keep me hooked into their DVR service instead.

In any case, we're loving DirecTV so far. The DVR is leaps and bounds better than the one we had from TWC. When I press "play" it... wait for it... plays! The search feature doesn't just search, it actually finds. Still not as good as a TiVo, but much better than what we were dealing with. The installer was on time and polite, and we already got a call from a real person asking if we were satisfied so far.

Next time TW gives you a lame-(wanker,etc) excuse for not having a CableCard, tell them you'll call the State Utilities Commission and ask if they have any lying around because Time Warner doesn't. I guarantee your case will get escalated. If not, actually call the UC. I don't know why the companies fear the UC, but they do.

I once called the UC on Verizon for delaying my installation of 3rd party DSL thinking nothing would happen, and Verizon's rep called me every day for a week with progress reports until the problem was solved.

[moonpie23]

hmmm....the utilities commission.....i hadn't thought of that one.....


so, twc, uverse, et al are regulated utilities???

i think a person at the NC attorney general's office of consumer complaints told me that they were NOT regulated....


oooh, another avenue to cause them friction.......
love it..

[Jarhead]

hmmm....the utilities commission.....i hadn't thought of that one.....


so, twc, uverse, et al are regulated utilities???

i think a person at the NC attorney general's office of consumer complaints told me that they were NOT regulated....


oooh, another avenue to cause them friction.......
love it..

I don't think so. Utility commissions customarily regulate privately owned companies that provide a service in a non-competitive market. Typical such companies include electric power utilities, telecommunication utilities providing local service, natural gas utilities, and sometimes water and sewer utilities. Services not regulated by a PUC would include cable television, mobile phone and satellite services, internet service providers, DSL and other broad band providers, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services, and others. Most of these services related to communications may be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. Some states may have a different set up on this, though.

[alteran]

I don't think so. Utility commissions customarily regulate privately owned companies that provide a service in a non-competitive market. Typical such companies include electric power utilities, telecommunication utilities providing local service, natural gas utilities, and sometimes water and sewer utilities. Services not regulated by a PUC would include cable television, mobile phone and satellite services, internet service providers, DSL and other broad band providers, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services, and others. Most of these services related to communications may be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. Some states may have a different set up on this, though.

Hmmmm. I'm not sure I'm parsing what you're saying here correctly, but I can tell you for a fact that the NC UC regulates internet service providers, or at least they did in 2001.

When Verizon kept making lame excuses for not being able to make their lines available for a 3rd party DSL company in 2001, the action I got after calling the NC Utilities Commission was stunning. I was assigned a representative at Verizon the next day, and this representative called me daily with a progress report, and they wanted me to tell the UC when I considered the problem solved.

I think what you are saying is basically that the UC is only useful/valid when a monopoly provider is not complying with regulations. I think the CableCard situation here fits this. CableCard isn't something cable companies provide because they want to, they were made to. In short, it's a regulation. And saying, "oops, we're out, bummer, don't know if we're ever gonna get any more in" is exactly the kind of lame crap that I was getting from Verizon when the NC UC kicked their (wanker, etc.).

Bottom line, if you hate TW's PVR, and they give you the runaround on CableCards, the call can't hurt.

[moonpie23]

i'm gonna call them tomorrow......
i'll report back

[Jarhead]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure I'm parsing what you're saying here correctly, but I can tell you for a fact that the NC UC regulates internet service providers, or at least they did in 2001.

When Verizon kept making lame excuses for not being able to make their lines available for a 3rd party DSL company in 2001, the action I got after calling the NC Utilities Commission was stunning. I was assigned a representative at Verizon the next day, and this representative called me daily with a progress report, and they wanted me to tell the UC when I considered the problem solved.

I think what you are saying is basically that the UC is only useful/valid when a monopoly provider is not complying with regulations. I think the CableCard situation here fits this. CableCard isn't something cable companies provide because they want to, they were made to. In short, it's a regulation. And saying, "oops, we're out, bummer, don't know if we're ever gonna get any more in" is exactly the kind of lame crap that I was getting from Verizon when the NC UC kicked their (wanker, etc.).

Bottom line, if you hate TW's PVR, and they give you the runaround on CableCards, the call can't hurt.

I find that late hour parsing can be difficult, but I think you are saying that the NC Public Utility Commission has a regulatory interest in cable companies. In a check of their website I find this (http://www.ncuc.commerce.state.nc.us/industries/telecom/telecomm.htm):



The Commission regulates, to varying degrees, 16 incumbent local exchange companies (ILECs), 193 competing local providers (CLPs), 379 interexchange long distance carriers (IXCs), 215 payphone service providers (PSPs), and 22 shared tenant services providers (STS).

The Commission does not regulate telephone membership corporations, cable providers, satellite providers, commercial mobile radio service (including cellular service and paging service), data and internet service providers, or the rates of IXCs and CLPs.

The largest ILECs operating in the State include AT&T North Carolina (AT&T) with 1,714,943 access lines; Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company (Embarq) with 1,011,712 access lines; Verizon South, Inc. (Verizon) with 268,073 access lines; and Central Telephone Company (Embarq) with 235,598 access lines. The other 12 ILECs in the State serve a total of 499,049 access lines. CLPs provide service to 746,433 access lines in the State, with 377,048 of those lines being residential lines and 369,385 of those lines being business lines.
My interpretation of that is that cable providers are not on their to do list, nor are cell providers. You can call the Utilities Commission if you like, but it seems that the FCC would be a more appropriate place to call. Your call to the NCUC folks regarding Verizon had to do with traffic via DSL service over their hard wired access lines, an area of interest of the commission. Cable providers are specifically excluded. I searched their site for "cable card" finding nothing (http://www.ncuc.commerce.state.nc.us/zoomsearch/search.asp?zoom_query=%22cable+card%22&Search=Search).

[alteran]

My interpretation of that is that cable providers are not on their to do list, nor are cell providers. You can call the Utilities Commission if you like, but it seems that the FCC would be a more appropriate place to call. Your call to the NCUC folks regarding Verizon had to do with traffic via DSL service over their hard wired access lines, an area of interest of the commission. Cable providers are specifically excluded. I searched their site for "cable card" finding.

Thanks for the synopsis. Methinks that despite surface similarity in the cases, you are probably right.

[Jarhead]

Thanks for the synopsis. Methinks that despite surface similarity in the cases, you are probably right.
You're welcome. I was lucky. I happened to enter the right argument in my Google search box.:)

[Rogue]

I am really surprised at so many TWC users.
I also realize that every TWC market can be different. Where I live on the coast, MASN is not available along with a few other sports channels that I get in my standard package with Direct TV ,, NFL Network..

I've had Direct TV for 5 yrs and love it.
Even 5 yrs ago, when Ophelia ( class I hurricane ) visited, I never lost my signal,, while my neighbors in TWC lost TV and their digital phones for 3-4 days.

Each area of Direct TV can be different also.. I don't get local channels in HD via Direct TV.. I have to have a seperate antenna to pick up local channels in HD.. the local TV stations won't grant waviers either..

All in all, I find Direct TV a lot better option than TWC

( not to mention I get 3 History Channels,, my spouse calls them the Hitler Network,, that you can find Hitler on one of the channels 24/7 lol )

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

If anyone is interested, DirecTV is offering the HR24 HD DVR now.

Good news. The multi room DVR option is now live too. For $3 a month you can network your DVRs and share recordings between them. Getting 2 HD DVRs would effectively give you 200 hours of HD recording time. That's a lot of Duke BBall.

[Highlander]

Has anyone with DirecTV come up with a clean way to get video content off of their DVR and onto a computer or DVD? I have had two DVD recorders (both panasonics), and neither lasted more than 2 years before it completely died. Not being willing to pay the $75 fee to replace a $150 device, I trashed it.

Would love to be able to pull off a couple of national championship games from this spring and burn them to a DVD for personal use.

[ThePublisher]

This change is going to completly screw up my channel surfing. Right now I can look around the 500's and find my HD stuff. With this new lineup it looks like HD will be all over the place. Which makes things difficult. That's how directv is set up and its awful. I don't watch anything non-HD so it makes sense to have them grouped together.

Time Warner Sucks. I will be changing to ATT Uverse as soon as its available in the Triad.

[Highlander]

This change is going to completly screw up my channel surfing. Right now I can look around the 500's and find my HD stuff. With this new lineup it looks like HD will be all over the place. Which makes things difficult. That's how directv is set up and its awful. I don't watch anything non-HD so it makes sense to have them grouped together.

Time Warner Sucks. I will be changing to ATT Uverse as soon as its available in the Triad.

With DirecTV, the HD channels are typically right next to their non-HD equivalents. You can set up a custom playlist which only shows the channels you want. So for someone with HD, just go through and uncheck all the non-HD channels and voila! You've got a playlist with one ABC, one NBC, one ESPN, etc and they're all in HD. You can also remove all the PPV movie and shopping channels you never watch from your list if you like.

You do have to go through periodically and check for new stations (e.g. Comedy Central HD was added recently, but I didn't know b/c I hadn't updated my custom list in awhile), but I can live with that.

I like it a lot better that way than having HD channels in one place and non-HD in another, but maybe that's personal preference.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

First, let me give you the direct number for TWC's retention department, so you don't have to go through the customer service phone tree:

800-761-2289 (Note: this was included in the copy because it is such a handy number to have!



When it's convenient I'll go to the Garner store and get a new Cisco or Samsung DVR to replace the AS unit I've got now, just because.
I got the new Cisco HD DVR box today! I went to the TWC office in Clayton about a month ago and they said they didn't have any, but would call me when they got some in. They called Wednesday and I picked it up this afternoon. Plugged it in and connected the cable and connections, and it booted right up! Operation is like on the old SA box, but much faster reaction to commands! This box is supposed to have twice the HD drive space, but since it is 0% full, I can't verify that yet. I'll let you know. :cool: