Talk Back: Is the Cable-TV Industry Getting Smarter?

[dang]

Checkout our latest Talk Back: Is the Cable-TV Industry Getting Smarter?

[ECA]

No they aint.
They are finding reasons to charge you more, any reason will do.
europe installed top of the line equipment and upgrades it all the time with no real price increase.
The US companies only install what will work, not looking into the future. Then has to RE-install the whole thing.

1. FCC told all Cable co. to make it so we could order 1 channel at a time.
2. FCC is forcing ALL broadcasts to go to HDTV.
If cable dont upgrade it will be THERE LOSS. Public Tele, has already converted.

[timalpr]

The FCC is forcing all stations to go digital, not necesarily HDTV. There is a big difference there. They are supposed to comply by 2006, but that deadline probably will not be concrete.

[brucepat]

I have a new 23" Sony LCD panel TV with high definition capability, and have it hooked up to the Time Warner HDTV cable box, and to a TW DVR cable box with the ability to record programs like a Tivo. It is irritating that the DVR does not support the HDTV signal, so I can't record the HD programming. I have both boxes attached to the same TV, which TW said was not possible, but it works like a charm. Either remote will work either cablebox, which is nice. I wish more of the TW cable offerings were HD, and find it odd I have to go to channel 704 to watch channel 4 (NBC) in hi-def. My experience is that the HD quality is mixed. The Tonight show is stunning, but some programming is of lesser quality. It is particularly irritating to receive normal 4:3 aspect ratio at 720 progressive, and have this called hi-def. When viewing normal 480p digital programming though the HD box, the picture is not as sharp as when usinf the normal TW cable box signal. The HD signal is hooked up using a DVI connector and the regular box is hooked up usinf s-video. One would thing the DVI connector would give a better signal. Maybe it is just the idiosyncasies of my Sony TV. I had a 30" samsung crt tv for a few days before I got the Sony, and the picture was much worse, muddy color and not as sharp.

Having an HD TV has spoiled me for regular TV pictures, and I am amazed at the quality differences I see from channel to channel and program to program, even among the regular channel programing.

It would be great to be able to have connection to cable throough the cablecard, although it sounds as if this will be available to me only if I purchase a new TV. TW has said they will eventually (soon I hope) have a DVR taht has an HD capability, so I won't have to continually switch between my two cable boxes.

[macwhiz]

I currently receive HDTV via Time Warner Cable in Kingston, NY. I'm not particularly satisfied with the service.

The image can look stunning. However, there are visible artifacts in high-motion scenes. The opening credits of "ER" are particularly blocky. I'm told that cable operators recompress HDTV to fit their networks; if so, TWC must be really cranking down the feeds here.

Also, the HD signal tends to cut out a lot. There are times where the picture freezes for a few seconds, just as a DBS system can during a heavy rainstorm. Sometimes the signal is all messed up for no apparent reason -- such as half of the screen being black.

Frequently, the audio is out of sync by a fraction of a second on WNBC, making everyone seem like they're in a badly dubbed movie.

SDTV channels viewed through the Pioneer HDTV box's component outputs look too dark and distinctly low-res on my Sony WEGA 32" tube set. The box has a terrible color filter compared to most HDTV sets I've seen, so any analog channel suffers.

One plus of the Pioneer box I was issued: HDTV channels are sent to the S-Video and composite outputs as anamorphic 480i, so my TiVo can capture the signal and play it back later if I'm out. (I need to set my TV to 16:9 mode manually, though.) You'd think this would give a DVD-quality image, but the conversion suffers from the aforementioned quality problem.

The box, installed in February 2004, has no FireWire outputs.

I've previously had HD through Time Warner in Rochester, NY, using a S-A 3400HD box. Image quality was better on the limited channels provided, but the coax digital sound constantly dropped out. The box couldn't output downconverted HD to the analog ports, couldn't do menus or overlays on HD channels, and was generally far more limited.

We get NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, and Discovery HD, plus optionally HBO and Showtime in HD. That leaves out a number of other stations carried in analog, such as UPN and the WB. (Odd that Time Warner cable doesn't carry the Warner Bros. network in HD. Odder that they didn't carry it in Rochester, either, where the WB station was a cable-only station run by the cable company.) We're also missing other basic-cable HD stations like ESPN HD.

There were problems getting the box to work at first; the outsourced install contractor didn't seem to care about signal levels, etc. He didn't notice that the house's internal wiring was mostly Radio Shack 70% braid RG-59 antenna wire (no good for digital), and he didn't notice that squirrels had chewed up the aerial drop for a massive signal loss. That took a while to get straightened out, and left me with the impression that the local Time Warner franchise isn't very interested in their customers, and that Corporate could care less about problems at their franchises.

I've noticed that cable rates are getting high -- far too high for what I get. I'm forced into tier packages that require overspending just to get one or two good channels. The digital tier is filled with useless filler channels -- they seem to exist only to justify a hefty premium for digital. (Of course, I've seen providers like Cox try to break up their tiers... by making sure the desirable channels are spread across the new tiers... such that, if you want all the channels you were getting, you needed to take another tier, and a bunch more filler, and wind up paying more...

[randykay]

My local Cable operator in Idaho Falls (cable one) doesn't know when they will have cable cards. It appears that the July 1st deadline set by the FCC does'nt mean anything. I would bet that Idaho Falls is more the norm than the exeption. So if I want to get rid of the Set Top Box I'll have to wait until the cable company is ready to comply with FCC rules.

[ECA]

Hey randy,
Welcome...
Yep, Im west of you in wendell.
I waited 5 years for them to get Internet high speed here.
And you are right.

They WONT put anymore into improvements until "THEY" are forced to, or they can see a Profit in it.
They wont see a profit, until they put it in.
They wont put it in until they can MAKE more money from those using the service, by charging you an arm and leg, and your first born.

Interesting;
When cable first went in, they SPENT there own money. and Recovered after it was installed, NOW they want the money FIRST, and then they install it.
Unless you can show that 10+% want it and will use it and will PAY(extra) for it(if they can get it) they WONT put it in.

PS.
YOU do have a right. You can BUY your OWN box. Its in the FCC guide lines, that you DONT have to LEASE that box. Ask them if they are supplying the signal YET. Then ask them WHICH box will be used for the signal, and you are SUPPOSED to be able to go out and purchase it.
It will probably be EXPANCIVE. Even tho its proven technology(CHEAP) they want every cent they can get.

[znaps]

Originally posted by ECA

1. FCC told all Cable co. to make it so we could order 1 channel at a time.

ECA, is that law through now? Can I for example call Time Warner Cable and tell them that I want the basic package and one single digital channel (Fox Sports World)?

[ECA]

Well,
Its come thru, but its the FCC inforcement thats lacking.
And probably wont be REALLY active for another 5-10 years, the way things go.

[ECA]

I could suggest that you DECLINE PAYING for channels you DONT want.
But, it would take ALOT of us to do it.

I figured I only watched 10 channels, and when ESPN wanted more money from cable(I dont watch ESPN) my rates went up. They told me there was nothing I could DO... I found something, I dropped cable. Im looking into OLD time SAT.
IF enough of us, ***** and complain, we may get what we want.