Any experiance with TimeWarner? Possible Defector here :(

[blueaurora]

Time Warner just offered me 18 months with their service HD plus two prem. packages all for less than my normal top 120 + HD no premiums!

They seem to have all the HD that Dish has plus INHD 1+2 as well as all my HD locals except my CBS feed which I can receive OTA. FOX, WB, ABC, PBS. They also have the Animenetwork and almost all channels dish has in their 180 plus some!

Good God! My contract is up in less than a month and I am seriously leaning on leaving. My only saving grace would be a clear direction from dish about upcoming locals or new HD. How can dish compete or at least why won't they compete?

I liked dish for their HD when I first signed up. Why won't they at least show us their vision of the future? I am guessing it is clear that they have no vision.

Does anyone have time warner and their HD DVR box? I am curious about the quality.

 

[rickshobbies]

Well, I switched from TW to Dish Network recently. Here is what I noticed:

Dish
- Limted HD offerings, no local HD (so, I didn't go for it)
- 522 dual tuner DVR works well so far
- PQ for SD is "acceptable", compression artifacts very noticable
- Remote is the best I have used

TW Digital Cable
- A fair amount of HD offerings. I took their HD package.
- Explorer 8000HD DVR dual tuner worked well, but required an occassion reboot. All signals can be upconverted to 1080i if you choose. The 8300HD DVR is coming soon and should be a much better unit.
- PQ on SD is "acceptable", some channels appear a little grainy. Compression artifacts visible on some channels. My locals were on digital simulcast.
- Remote is so-so

I actually find that I miss TW. I had CBS, NBC, ABC, KCET and KTTV in HD. If they managed to get WB and UPN in HD as well, I would be very tempted to switch back. If they added Universal HD, then it would be a no brainer for me.

As far as PQ goes, with Dish you get clearer SD in that there is no graininess, BUT you get far more compression artifacts. With TW, there is some graininess but far less compression artifacts (they tell me that the channels that I was watching were digital, though they still have analog channels too that are slated for conversion this year).

I have no idea about PQ on HD for Dish, but on TW, it was crystal clear. No sign of artifacts, grain, noice, nada. I could't ask for a better picture and I was displaying it on a Mitsubishi 55515 55" widescreen, so I tend to notice image defects.

As for me, I watching to see when they expand their HD lineup and get the 8300HD in my area (Los Angeles, Canyon Country) and then I may consider my options again. Oh, and as for price, I am paying about $20 a month less for Dish, but I don't have the HD package so it's not a good comparison I guess.

I hope that helps some!

R

 

[WorkOutMN]

I also just left Dish a month ago and signed up for Time Warner here in Minneapolis, and it's been excellent so far!

Just the day after they were introduced, they installed for me two SA8300 DVR's - one HD and one not - and an older SA3250HD box. They've been working quite well so far. The programming has been awesome -- all the HD stuff that Dish had (well, less the Dish demo channel) PLUS all the local HD channels (less WB) so no more hassle of an OTA antenna, plus INHD1 and 2, plus on the premiums I get both east and west feeds instead of just the east feeds. And I get these three boxes for the same price that Dish was charging me for two non-DVR boxes.

As far as how the 8300 is performing, I can't speak to the non-HD model - my roomie's using that one. But the HD one has been great with only two quirks.

One, the sleep timer doesn't appear to work properly, so every once in a while I'm watching something and it'll warn it's going to sleep and I should press a button to keep it from sleeping. Pressing buttons does nothing but cause a soft reset, however, so I just turned off the sleep feature altogether and no trouble since then.

The other quirk is particular to the FOX HD feed, and I think it may be more a problem at the local FOX affiliate than with Time-Warner. Some of the FOX stuff I record is broken up into multiple recordings of varying lengths. It's all there but in chunks (i.e. American Idol is listed in six chunks -- 3 minutes, 9 minutes, 2 minutes, 36 minutes, 2 minutes, 8 minutes). Watching the Super Bowl last night gives me the impression it has to do with when the local affiliate switches from the national feed to local programming, like when doing ad inserts into national programming or the beginning of local news.

As for picture quality, the HD stuff is noticeably better than Dish -- much less compression, though it's still not perfect. The SD stuff is more all over the place -- some are better than Dish, some worse. All in all, I'd have to say the picture quality on my local TW is a step above.

So, blueaurora, I'd say switch!

 

[korsjs]

my 8300 from brighthouse in tampa does the same thing for fox. i had about 30 recordings of the pregame and game. that is the only flaw i have seen it it.

The other quirk is particular to the FOX HD feed, and I think it may be more a problem at the local FOX affiliate than with Time-Warner. Some of the FOX stuff I record is broken up into multiple recordings of varying lengths. It's all there but in chunks (i.e. American Idol is listed in six chunks -- 3 minutes, 9 minutes, 2 minutes, 36 minutes, 2 minutes, 8 minutes). Watching the Super Bowl last night gives me the impression it has to do with when the local affiliate switches from the national feed to local programming, like when doing ad inserts into national programming or the beginning of local news.
!

 

[blueaurora]

I know this has been touched on in other threads but I was curious about returning to dish in the event I don't stay with TW or sign up with DirectTv if I feel they aren't keeping up with new HD content.

I had read rumors about dish requiring a new 2 year agreement if you reuse them. That makes sense if they are providing the equipment. As per my contract I own my 811 and If I keep my dish and decide to come back to dish does dish still enforce such a requirement even after installing the dish myself?

I know I could get around it with my wifes informaiton but I was just curious.

On a side note:

I hate to come off so unloyal but my loyalty lies in whom ever gives me the best HD, DVR, Picture Quality options per dollar. I like to call it selective froogleness!

By the way after all the seriously crazy things that were said by Charlie keep his customer base happy over the years that didn't come to fruition. Why is he being so tactful when it comes to HD? I think it lends perfectly to the idea that Charlie has NO HD vision for dish network and he isn't even sure where he is going with his new aquisition of Voom's satellite spots. He just wants to keep his options open while he has them. It maybe that he can't envision a future of HD without a wealth of HD to offer the HD hungry.

Perhaps with the implementation of Mpeg4 he maybe able to add all the content he can get his hands on starting with those new satellites and ever ounce of HD he can through onto them.

Who knows- All I know is for a man of his uncontrollable idealistic hoopla he is out of character with the relative silence on the HD front.

 

[scottss810]

If I ever have to spend big bucks for one more piece of equipment, I own 2 811's, plus
an OTA antenna, plus a quad LNB, I'd switch to cable (Comcast) here in the DFW area.
I'll admit I'm pleased finally with the 811's with the last software update, I don't even
think I'll accept the 285 release until I see what experience others have, all I use is
the OTA stuff since there's nothing compelling out there in HD (the brain washing must be working Charlie). But if the introduction of 4MPEG turns my 811's into coffee cup warmers, I'm out of here!!! Cable is on the upswing in some markets.

PS I sure didn't like the point a couple of weeks ago when a DISH CRS called me to try to sell me a 921 for only 549.00 I had to really bit my lips and not let him have it.

 

[satvad]

I know this has been touched on in other threads but I was curious about returning to dish in the event I don't stay with TW or sign up with DirectTv if I feel they aren't keeping up with new HD content.

I had read rumors about dish requiring a new 2 year agreement if you reuse them. That makes sense if they are providing the equipment. As per my contract I own my 811 and If I keep my dish and decide to come back to dish does dish still enforce such a requirement even after installing the dish myself?

I know I could get around it with my wifes informaiton but I was just curious.

On a side note:

I hate to come off so unloyal but my loyalty lies in whom ever gives me the best HD, DVR, Picture Quality options per dollar. I like to call it selective froogleness!

By the way after all the seriously crazy things that were said by Charlie keep his customer base happy over the years that didn't come to fruition. Why is he being so tactful when it comes to HD? I think it lends perfectly to the idea that Charlie has NO HD vision for dish network and he isn't even sure where he is going with his new aquisition of Voom's satellite spots. He just wants to keep his options open while he has them. It maybe that he can't envision a future of HD without a wealth of HD to offer the HD hungry.

Perhaps with the implementation of Mpeg4 he maybe able to add all the content he can get his hands on starting with those new satellites and ever ounce of HD he can through onto them.

Who knows- All I know is for a man of his uncontrollable idealistic hoopla he is out of character with the relative silence on the HD front.

As far as coming back to dish, if you are in lease plan (DHA) they may say you have to choose same plan again. But you could cross that through communicating with ceo channel. After three months on DHA plan I discontinnued. Later on I bought my equipment from ebay and was able to come back to dish through ceo email. No one year contracts etc. I am free to choose the whatever channels I want. So it is possible to come back with out any problems, unless they make any new changes in their rules to come back.

 

[bhawley]

No 30 sec. skip is a deal breaker at my house