Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 40 of 64
  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    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.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by Jarhead View Post
    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.
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    wilmington, nc
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    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.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    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.

  5. #25
    alteran is offline All-American, Honorable Mention
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham-- 2 miles from Cameron, baby!
    Quote Originally Posted by devil84 View Post
    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.

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by alteran View Post
    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.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!

    And now for some nice words for TWC's DVR

    The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! 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!
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! 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.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    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! It is high, it is far....
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    raleigh
    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...

  11. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    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.

  12. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    The latest software upgrade to TWC's DVR is a return to the past! 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.

  13. #33
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by devil84 View Post
    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.
    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!
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by devil84 View Post
    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.
    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.

  15. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    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 about protecting yourself when you order...

  16. #36
    Just saw a couple of things on the DirecTV website that might be of interest.

    http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/conten...RHP_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.
    "There can BE only one."

  17. #37
    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.
    "Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR

  18. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by HaveFunExpectToWin View Post
    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.
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  19. #39
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    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.

  20. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    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.

    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.
    "Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR

Similar Threads

  1. Fox Deal with Time Warner
    By diveonthefloor in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 01-02-2010, 11:29 AM
  2. cable vs. Direct TV
    By BCGroup in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 11-30-2009, 03:25 PM
  3. Time Warner is going to up your internet bill
    By CameronBornAndBred in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 54
    Last Post: 05-13-2009, 06:41 PM
  4. cable television
    By Channing in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 03-31-2009, 06:21 PM
  5. Ditching cable for the web..
    By bluebear in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 01-31-2009, 03:10 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •