[Bardman]

I'm trying to figure out if I'm just going a bit crazy, or if there is really a method to my madness....

I'm moving into my new house in Greensboro, NC next weekend (labor day wkend) and I think I've decided to start there with Time Warner's digital cable.

I've been a E* sub for 5 years now and have been constantly trying to hit the "guide" button as well as the "PVR" button on my hotel remote that aren't there (but were on my 501).

I will eventually become a D* sub, (since they offer Greensboro locals and E* told me I couldn't keep my grandfathered E/W nets) but am choosing to wait for DTivo2 and get a couple 'o them hoping they will allow me to share programs thru the house (eventually).

I was an Adelphia Powerlink (Cable modem) subscriber in AZ, and have been having broadband withdrawl in my hotel room.

I'm thinking I'll start with TW Roadrunner Internet with DigCable to start, then switch to DTivo2 when they're available.... figure it'll complete the WAF when she can't rewind the cable box..

Does this sound like a decent strategy, or Have I gone off my rocker???

 

[Neil Derryberry]

No, I don't think so. This late in the merger game, a wait and see approach may be the smartest one.

 

[razorbackfan]

You're moving from Arizona to North Carolina? What are you crazy! (Couldn't resist - have fun with the humidity)

 

[Mike123abc]

You will think you are crazy when you get the bill for digital cable. I have TW cable here, and the bill shot up 5-10%/year. To get the same programming I get on Dish is now up to $116/year

 

[Nick]

Are you living in a hotel room to wean yourself from the addiction of PVR control?

When I travel, hotel cable TV is very frustrating. No PVR, poor to lousy PQ, limited channels, only one or NO movie channel, usually a small 20" TV and quite often no ability to adjust (correct) picture attributes.

I recently tipped (bribed) the maintenance guy $5 to upgrade me from a 20" to a 27 incher taken from an empty suite.

While driving, I often have the impulse to rewind the radio.

 

[Bardman]

Nope, living in a Hotel 'cause I've started the new job and had to wait on the closing of the new house... even though I'm in a Residence Inn "penthouse" (the two story room w/Loft), we're gettin' cabin fever after two weeks (one week to go).

Just last nite, I was watching the 'Huskers beat up on ASU and my son changed the channel while I was on the phone... it took me 3 circuits thru the channels to re-find ESPN!!! UGH!!

like I said earlier though, I'm mainly "trying" digicable to tie me over until DTivo2 is out. and get my cableinternet hooked up in the process. I asked my local Telco (North State Communications) about DSL, and they just said to "fill out an app, and we'll check on availability for you"--- wrong answer.

I can't help but notice how many Time Warner Cable commercials they insert into the programming here.... 'guess TWC needs to remind their subscribers frequently.

 

[kmccoach]

Whatever you do don't get NorthState Internet Service. Unless you are in the Randleman area, you should have access to much better than that. I ran an electronics store that sold computers and had to set them up for customers. None of the customers I knew liked the service and they went to roadrunner. Haven't heard to many complaints about roadrunner even though I don't have access to it where I live. Welcome to NC.

Keith

 

[Bardman]

Well now I've done it...

TW cable will be at my house between 3 & 5 Friday afternoon to install the cable modem and 2 digital boxes. (extra box is costing me $7 a month i believe).

They have a special on now that makes my bill 1/2 price for three months...

normal Digital cable price..... $57/month for "180 channels" --- I'm anxious to see how many are music channels & PPV -- argh..

They did tell me that the $44.95 for Roadrunner is the same whether or not I get TV also. That's good for my future!

They also said my digital box will have optical DD out... will believe that when I see it.

I mentioned I have a router to plug in my computers to and that didn't faze the service rep either.

Wish me luck Friday!!

 

[STXJim]

Bardman,
I'm from Greensboro and my folks live about five minutes from my wife's folks.
Anyway, my dad stuck with analog cable and my wife's dad went digital.
On a recent trip to visit family...when we went from house to house, I would compare the two services.
Digital cable's PQ really impressed me. Analog was; lets just say analog.
As far as the program guide goes.......They both sucked! Unless there was a digital guide that I was unable to find because the only thing my father-in-law knows about his service is how to turn on the TV. Let me know.
Good luck living in Greensboro...
It's freezing in the winter and hot and humid as hell in the summer. At least you won't have to worry about hurricanes. They just fizzle out to a storm by the time they get there.
Be sure to go to Stamey's and order a chopped BBQ sandwich.
And then eat a second one for me.

 

[MarkA]

"Unless there was a digital guide that I was unable to find"

Every digital cable service I've ever seen has a far better guide than that on DISH. IMHO, that's one place where cable has the advantage (unless the ads on most of them annoy you...)

 

[James_F]

Originally posted by Bardman
They also said my digital box will have optical DD out... will believe that when I see it.

Cox here in phoenix has optical DD out, but they aren't sending any DD encoded shows yet...

 

[MikeW]

Cox Vegas has PCM RCA DD. All Showtime, TMC, Encore, Starz and a couple of HBO are delivered in Dobly Digital. They've got Dish beat! If I wasn't able to "live" in a white area that gets me Fox Sports Bay Area, I'd go back to Digital Cable.

 

[Bardman]

Well, TWC installed me yesterday. They said 3-5 and the "cable guy" was here promptly at 3:10.

since I didn't have my computer yet set up, he just gave me the cablemodem to connect myself later.... I've got to run coax to my den anyway (installer said he could do it, but i'd cost me like $100)

I was pleasantly suprised, the Digital cable boxes both had S-video and coax DD output. Of course, he hooked them to both my TVs using plain ol' coax (and short ones he found in his van at that... he had to move one box from on top of my 20" to the side of the TV to get the coax to reach.....)

I did have to call in to "remind" them I ordered HBO so it would come on, but that was a quick call.

Now for my opinion of the General Instrument Explorer 2100 boxes: The software driving these things stinks!!

1) The interface is slow.... slower than my old E* 4000 was.

2) Every time I hit "guide", it opens the guide at channel 1... and an hour into the future!!! Gotta use the pgup/pgdwn or arrow keys to get to the point in the guide i was just watching.

3) HBOs are in the 400s, I pop up the guide, punch "400" on the keypad to shoot the guide to HBO, and the box tunes to HBO and quits the guide..... 'guess I am spoiled by how the Dish EPG works.

4) Remote isn't laid out very good... I'm constantly adjusting my grip to hit the required button while surfing the guide.

Roadrunner cable modem was a snap for setup (of course, I've had my computer on a cablemodem before). Just hooked it all up (including my Linksys router) and was surfing high speed!! TWC's roadrunner help web-site was even very helpful with giving me the info to setup my Outlook2000 for email (and creating sub-email accounts)

Overall, so far I give Roadrunner Internet access two resounding thumbs up!! I give TWC thumbs up for their service (I was only on hold 10 seconds when I called about my missing HBO). At this time, I'm reserving judgement on the actual digital cable service (not enough time in front of it yet), but will give the hardware a thumbs down.

More reports to come...

 

[Nick]

Interesting chronology, Bardman. Keep us advised.

 

[kyoo]

Brad,

I know what you mean about the guide popping up on channel 1 and an hour or so into the future.. I see that happen at my friends' houses when I use their digital cable boxes. I thought they were Scientific Atlantic machines, but just in case it's the same as what you have, check for a button on the remote labeled C.. I guess there are macro buttons, A, B, and C.. or multi colored. One of those might open the guide the way you'd expect it to.

Retarded, I know.

 

[Bardman]

Thanks Kyoo for the heads up!!! Once in the guide, "C" does jump you to current channel & Current time, but I'm still sad that now my guide opening process is a two button experience (and two that aren't very close to each other to boot...)

While doing some surfing and watching this weekend, I have a couple more observations....

The analog channels (anything below 100.. I know this from my recent all-analog stay at a local hotel and the channel numbers mesh perfectly) I've noticed do not have really good PQ... FX is grainy (hard to watch the "24" marathon with this much graininess), and some channels have some pretty good ghosting.

Most of the digital channels are true Multiplex stuff... all premiums (15 HBOs) as well as a slew of music and PPV channels... there's not too many "real" channels above 100.. Makes me wonder what they count when they told me "180 channels"

One thing my wife mentioned that I hadn't noticed, was that the channels are not clustered together nicely like on DBS (example, all "kids" channels on E* in the 160s or so), instead, they're all over the place... guess she was spoiled by having ToonDisney, Cartoon Net, Boomerang, etc right next to each other when tuning in for our 4 year old.

An annoying thing I found: even though the box supports Dolby Digital (using Coax not Optical), it only sends signal digitally when there's DD signal present, whereas Dish boxes output PCM when there isn't DD signal... This is causing me to change my AV amp into and out of digital input mode (more button pressing, arghhh) Of course, this goes hand in hand with the difference in Audio levels across the channels.. I've noticed that the Analog channels in general are "quieter" than the digital ones, thus I'm always fiddling with the volume on my AV amp.

There's today's Two cents....

 

[MarkA]

" Makes me wonder what they count when they told me "180 channels""

Music channels Sometimes PPV...

Just be glad you've never experienced the speed (or complete lack thereof) of a GI DCT-1000