Well guys my decision of which provider to go with comes down to TWC and Dish. When I got Voom I scaled down my dish to the base package and HD lineup. I already have my roadrunner through TWC and I think I remember someone saying that they could out at the poll give you more bandwith has anyone heard of this? When I had cable before the signal was dismal to say the least. I'm willing to upgrade my roadrunner subscription to the fastest roadrunner and maybe get digital phone system but is the picture at least bearable now guys?? I live in NC so if anyone has switched lately let me know the scoop on the signal quality.
Considering TWC...have questions need answers
- Thread starter Richard Fuller
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Richard,
I'm in raleigh, and I just recently switched to tw from voom. I had cable several years ago and my quality was terrible, so I was a little worried. Turns out that when they came to install, the installer realized that my feed from the pole was split with a two way splitter with my neighbors feed. The installer also told me that I needed new cable run from the pole to my house and all new wiring in the house. They actually did all that, including fixing the pole problem and I can tell you that the quality is pretty good. The lower "basic" channels look bad, lots of snow on my 46" (although they look ok on my smaller bedroom tv), but the digital SD channels look a little better than voom in my opinion, and the HD is probably equal to voom (although far fewer HD channels). I also got roadrunner at the same time and according to a couple of speed test sites on the internet, I get about 4 - 4.5 Mb download. If you have any other questions, let me know, I'll answer if I can.
pc
I'm in raleigh, and I just recently switched to tw from voom. I had cable several years ago and my quality was terrible, so I was a little worried. Turns out that when they came to install, the installer realized that my feed from the pole was split with a two way splitter with my neighbors feed. The installer also told me that I needed new cable run from the pole to my house and all new wiring in the house. They actually did all that, including fixing the pole problem and I can tell you that the quality is pretty good. The lower "basic" channels look bad, lots of snow on my 46" (although they look ok on my smaller bedroom tv), but the digital SD channels look a little better than voom in my opinion, and the HD is probably equal to voom (although far fewer HD channels). I also got roadrunner at the same time and according to a couple of speed test sites on the internet, I get about 4 - 4.5 Mb download. If you have any other questions, let me know, I'll answer if I can.
pc
Thanks man that's the kind of info I was looking for. I have a 58inch and projector in the den. Last time I had cable the picture was almost unbearable on the 58 inch. I'm going to see if they will do all new wiring for me to. Do you have the HD Dvr? I'll need 2 of those and one regular DVR and wiring to 2 other rooms so it will be 5 all together.
I did get the hd dvr. It's allright. It's great to have a dvr again, I had one with directv before voom. Their program guide could use some improvement, though. You can't program out the channels you don't get / don't watch, so you have to scroll through all the channels to see what's on. Also, if you decide to go with them, tell you're switching from satellite. You'll have to show them your voom bill, but you get a special rate for 18 mos. I forget exactly what the deal is, cuz the hd tier and hd dvr are extra, but I got what they call the digipac 2000 (includes 2 premiums - I chose HBO and Showtime cuz they are the only two premiums that they offer with an HD feed) with HD tier, HD DVR, cinema choice (Fox Movie Network, Sundance East and West and Flix east and west) and the Encore Pak for right around $70 after taxes. I also got two hookups in my bedrooms but without boxes. If you end up going with them let me know it works out.
phil
phil
I went from DirecTV to Dish and noticed little to no difference. When I dropped Dish (leasable HD-DVR) for TW, I was very disappointed in ALL of the analog channels. They plain sucked. The digital channels were a good improvement but still nowhere near Dish's quality. Luckily, my wife and I seem to end up watching our local channels anyway ... which are carried in HD. 
The HD is beautiful !
The HD is beautiful !I just had TWC installed today. What a disappointment. The SD channels are not nearly as clear as the voom SD channels were. Even the HD channels don't look as clear. I have a 60" LCD and a 42" plasma and I'm very disappointed. The only positive is that the cable cards that they brought are working very well. I was very spoiled with voom's picture quality though.
Be Careful!
I am not near you but in Rochester NY. However, I went from Dish to V* and back to TW. Have the HD with TW and had V* overlap for 2 days. TW was equal if not an edge better in HD and fairly close in Digital to V*'s non-HD. The reason I went with TW (who I hate for the years of raping us) is they are month to month and allowing me to go to D* (better customer service) when they get the new sats running and with hope offer V-21. Then again it may come down to who has the better deal. Understand that the dish companies are in a MAJOR changeover with all their equiptment to mpeg4 so be careful with any investment. What ever equiptment you get now you may have to change in a few mos.
-scott
I am not near you but in Rochester NY. However, I went from Dish to V* and back to TW. Have the HD with TW and had V* overlap for 2 days. TW was equal if not an edge better in HD and fairly close in Digital to V*'s non-HD. The reason I went with TW (who I hate for the years of raping us) is they are month to month and allowing me to go to D* (better customer service) when they get the new sats running and with hope offer V-21. Then again it may come down to who has the better deal. Understand that the dish companies are in a MAJOR changeover with all their equiptment to mpeg4 so be careful with any investment. What ever equiptment you get now you may have to change in a few mos.
-scott
I recieved the deal with TWC for their Digpic 4000 and all the movie channels and the hd suite for $69.99 a month for a yr. that way whenever the mpeg 4 thing shakes out I can go to whom ever has the best deal. I'm hoping the picture is equal to or close to voom's picture quality.
Richard Fuller said:
Dude, from a long-time subscriber to TWC in Winston-Salem... Signal quality is actually well above par (at least on the digital tier...). In regards to your bandwidth, all you need to have done is reset your cable modem (as in, unplug it...) within the last six months and it will modify itself. As for their "Roadrunner Premium", it's a joke, unless you are running hardcore gaming and file servers. Roadrunner's basic plan is one of the best cable services available anywhere. Also, a word about digital phone... It rocks, but you have cheaper, and better options. The ONLY reason I use TWC's digital phone *instead* of Vonage, is because of compatibility with an alarm system. While Vonage *can* be used with an alarm system, it requires much tweaking on the vonage end, and the user end. Also, a service like Vonage is going to be 15-20 dollars cheaper/mo. than TWC's digital phone, and has many more included features. Anything further, please ask in this forum. I'll try to check here every few days. I've been with TWC for several years (I had one of the first HD boxes in western NC...) and only switched recently for Voom. I have since switched back to TWC.
Richard Fuller said:
Been using HD-DVR for about a year now... It has been growing better by leaps and bounds. Also, TWC has already FIELD TESTED multi-room DVR, and it should be available widespread very soon.
Just curious...
Interesting... The quality on my sets are comprable to Voom... I run a Sony 51" rear-projection crt, and a Sony 42" lcd. One boone to the cablecard is that it's only uni-directional at this point, so you don't get control of On-Demand or any of the cool programming guide stuff. (Samsung has successfully tested a two-way cablecard, at this years CES). Further, your quality must be noted as being decoded by your television, instead of a dedicated STB. When you use a cablecard, you are relying on your television's internal decoding capabilities. As we all know, a dedicated component is usually better!
sjones said:
Interesting... The quality on my sets are comprable to Voom... I run a Sony 51" rear-projection crt, and a Sony 42" lcd. One boone to the cablecard is that it's only uni-directional at this point, so you don't get control of On-Demand or any of the cool programming guide stuff. (Samsung has successfully tested a two-way cablecard, at this years CES). Further, your quality must be noted as being decoded by your television, instead of a dedicated STB. When you use a cablecard, you are relying on your television's internal decoding capabilities. As we all know, a dedicated component is usually better!
I live in an apartment complex and was to have Dish Network installed. However, the installation could not be done due to grounding source issues and my local retailer does not do apartments.
I have signed up for TWC DigiPic 4000 with HD Tier and it gets installed Saturday. I already have RoadRunner at my apartment. The CSR told me the installer would be getting the CableCARD and digital set top box and would decide at the time of installation which would be better (?). I am a newbie to this technology.
If I do get a CableCARD, it seems I will not be able to record shows, etc., like you can on a HD DVR. Also, in case the installer gets the HD DVR, which one do they get? The website shows 2 models - SA3100HD and SA3250HD. The latter one has the DVI out, which is what I would prefer since my TV has a HDMI input. The VOOM receiver had a DVI out as well and for that reason, I had purchased a DVI-HDMI cable, and with the 3250 model, I could use that cable.
In case the installer gets the 3100 HD DVR, I hope he does replace it with the 3250. I would prefer a HD DVR in order to record shows. I guess that won't be possible with a CableCARD. Also, which technology provides better quality? CableCARD or set top box? Has anyone used the 3250?
Thanks.
I have signed up for TWC DigiPic 4000 with HD Tier and it gets installed Saturday. I already have RoadRunner at my apartment. The CSR told me the installer would be getting the CableCARD and digital set top box and would decide at the time of installation which would be better (?). I am a newbie to this technology.
If I do get a CableCARD, it seems I will not be able to record shows, etc., like you can on a HD DVR. Also, in case the installer gets the HD DVR, which one do they get? The website shows 2 models - SA3100HD and SA3250HD. The latter one has the DVI out, which is what I would prefer since my TV has a HDMI input. The VOOM receiver had a DVI out as well and for that reason, I had purchased a DVI-HDMI cable, and with the 3250 model, I could use that cable.
In case the installer gets the 3100 HD DVR, I hope he does replace it with the 3250. I would prefer a HD DVR in order to record shows. I guess that won't be possible with a CableCARD. Also, which technology provides better quality? CableCARD or set top box? Has anyone used the 3250?
Thanks.
Sazkin, how many TV's do you have? If you have only 1, then I don't understand why you would want to install the Cable Card since the Digipic 4000 package includes the DVR in the price. With just 1 TV, the Cable Card would be overkill and just an additional, unnecessary cost (although little $'s a month).
As to picture quality, you'll probaly get answers both ways. Some will say the Cable Card is better PQ because it is a straight shot for the cable from the wall to your TV. Others will say the digital tuner in the stb is probably better quality than the one in your TV and will give a better picture. I'd say if you have just one TV, don't worry about the Cable Card, just have them install the dvr and that's it.
As to picture quality, you'll probaly get answers both ways. Some will say the Cable Card is better PQ because it is a straight shot for the cable from the wall to your TV. Others will say the digital tuner in the stb is probably better quality than the one in your TV and will give a better picture. I'd say if you have just one TV, don't worry about the Cable Card, just have them install the dvr and that's it.
I had VoOm hooked up using the DVI and there was no problem before going back to TW. The 3250 model has some issues with the DVI cable. At the cost of those cables if it does not work go with the component wires. You might even like the picture better.Sazkin said:
-scott
Sazkin said:
Dude, don't bother with the DVI port, it is useless, as TWC did not have Scientific Atlanta activate them. Also, use the set-top box if you have the option. You will receive better decoding, as well as on-demand and DVR features (as you said) not available with a Cablecard. As a side note, (according to Scientific Atlanta's website) the over-the-cable update to enable said DVI ports is supposed to be available sometime this year.
Thanks for the replies. I'll be going with the set top box - I have only 1 TV.
I was looking at SA website and it lists the Explorer 3250 as a HD receiver (like Voom's) and not a HD DVR. On TWC web site for my location (Waco, TX), when you go to "HD DVR" from the Products menu, it lists the 3100 and 3250 on that page. So are these both HD DVRs?
I also read some posts here that mention the Explorer 8000 and Explorer 8300 that TWC provides. SA site lists them as HD DVRs. It seems TWC does not have those 2 for all regions.
Thanks. I hope the install goes fine tomorrow.
I was looking at SA website and it lists the Explorer 3250 as a HD receiver (like Voom's) and not a HD DVR. On TWC web site for my location (Waco, TX), when you go to "HD DVR" from the Products menu, it lists the 3100 and 3250 on that page. So are these both HD DVRs?
I also read some posts here that mention the Explorer 8000 and Explorer 8300 that TWC provides. SA site lists them as HD DVRs. It seems TWC does not have those 2 for all regions.
Thanks. I hope the install goes fine tomorrow.
The HD-DVR from Time Warner will be either the SA 8000HD or the newer 8300HD. The 3xxx models you mention are NOT DVRs, they're just HD set-tops.
I assume you're referring to this page, http://www.timewarnercable.com/waco/products/cable/hddvr.html . If so, it's wrong.
I assume you're referring to this page, http://www.timewarnercable.com/waco/products/cable/hddvr.html . If so, it's wrong.
The box I had installed on the 28th of April did work. However there are 3 different cables for DVI. One is unique to TW's box. At 80-90 a cable just go with the component wires. I looked at the two views side by side and I would have to say after several people looked at it the component had an edge.optimusprime said:
-scott
Rogster said:
An independent decoding device, as opposed to a chip/ processing means integrated with other components contained within the television. If you install a high end home theatre, you have a separate component to drive a particular function. If you're on a budget, or don't want a home theatre, you buy a device that is a dvd player, av receiver, xm radio, and whatever else all in one. It WILL NOT provide quite the same output as a component designed for one explicit purpose. A set-top box's job is to decode your satellite / cable signal, nothing more. The set-top boxes from Scientific Atlanta and Pace Micro (to name a few...) are far superior (at this point in time) to any decoding mechanism built in to a television.
