Time Warner cable stinks

[JEFF MC]

Left Dish and went back to the Time Warner buy back program. It started out great but soon ran into big problems on the HD side. I kept having pixing, bad pixing problems on certain network channels. They replaced my HD-DVR 8300 5 times. Replaced wiring in house 2 times. Finally they said they found a bad laser on the main line. It would work for a few days and start again. Then I was told it had something to do with Quam issues. This has gone on for 3 months since leaving Dish Network. I have used about 3 days of personal vacation to meet them here for work. HBO on demand works sometimes, sometimes not. Analog is terrible. If you thought dbs was a little washed, cable analog is bleached. This has been the nightmare from heck. Digital is no better than standard dbs. Its great for a year, than it will cost a fortune to maintain anything worthwhile.
They have been responsive, but I am sick of this crap. I am watering at the mouth to get a 942 and come back home. Go ahead, try these satellite buy-back programs if you want to, but you will regret it. The above statement in reality is about 10 percent of the problems I have had. I have to pull my foot out of my ***, and admit that Dish is still the best. Now just get the 942 out there, so fools like me can correct their mistakes.

Man, did I ever screw up.

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

I did, with Mediacom, had their DVR on for a whole 6 hours, same things, HD was HD lite, Analog was Crap/Snow, Digital SD was about the same as Dish in PQ.

But I didn't drop Dish until I found out if I would like it, so took their Slow motorola DVR back to them next day. Now I have a 921, which is pretty stable, more stable than the Motorola crap and I am DVRn HD stuff left and right.

I am sure their is quality cable out there, but neither of us have found it.

 

[BFG]

Glad you learn your lesson bad boy, haha.

Heh, in all fun. welcome back and welcome to satelliteguys!

 

[Zookster]

I got really impatient for an HD DVR myself after upgrading to the 811 in Dec. 04 and signed on with Cox. I am now loving my SA 8300 and watching all my favorite shows in HD without commercials. It's not perfect, and of course with cable nothing's cheap, but the PQ is up to snuff. I'm only subscribing to the limited basic cable, which includes the local HDs, PBS HD, and a local exclusive sports channel which will be broadcasting 110 San Diego Padres Games in HD. I'm under contract with DISH through Dec. 05, so will continue to get my other channels through them. I do hope DISH comes up with better HD offerings by then, or I may just be sticking with cable.

 

[dtanderson]

Left Dish and went back to the Time Warner buy back program. It started out great but soon ran into big problems on the HD side. I kept having pixing, bad pixing problems on certain network channels. They replaced my HD-DVR 8300 5 times. Replaced wiring in house 2 times. Finally they said they found a bad laser on the main line. It would work for a few days and start again. Then I was told it had something to do with Quam issues. This has gone on for 3 months since leaving Dish Network. I have used about 3 days of personal vacation to meet them here for work. HBO on demand works sometimes, sometimes not. Analog is terrible. If you thought dbs was a little washed, cable analog is bleached. This has been the nightmare from heck. Digital is no better than standard dbs. Its great for a year, than it will cost a fortune to maintain anything worthwhile.
They have been responsive, but I am sick of this crap. I am watering at the mouth to get a 942 and come back home. Go ahead, try these satellite buy-back programs if you want to, but you will regret it. The above statement in reality is about 10 percent of the problems I have had. I have to pull my foot out of my ***, and admit that Dish is still the best. Now just get the 942 out there, so fools like me can correct their mistakes.

Man, did I ever screw up.

I had the exact same problem when I left DirecTV and went to Time Warner. It took them months to get the problem fixed (mine was laser related also). I was so disappointed with the picture quality and as soon as my required time was up at Time Warner, I switched to DishNetwork as fast as I could

 

[kbohip]

I checked into digital cable for my parent's. Man what a complete joke. First of all it's $15 a month more than either Dish or Directv. Now the best part. Only channels above 100 are actually digital, the rest are still analog! I mean c'mon, that technology is how old? It was fine when William Shatner was still playing Captain Kirk but times have changed.

I don't know why ANYONE would have cable anymore. They're still paying less with Directv now than they were with cable, and they now have 2 Directivo's.

 

[Zookster]

Why cable? Two words: Leasable HD-DVR.

Once the 942 is out, and was guaranteed to be upgraded to MPEG-4 when the time comes, I would consider paying $250 for the distinct honor and privilege of renting one. Cox sent me theirs (took one day) via UPS for 15 bucks (with no additional installation fees)

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

Yep, if Dish was leasing the DVR for 8-10 bucks a month with no down, that would be nice. That is one of the few areas that cable has them beat.

 

[NightRyder]

Yep, if Dish was leasing the DVR for 8-10 bucks a month with no down, that would be nice. That is one of the few areas that cable has them beat.

It will be interesting to see how cable reacts when the higher maintenance/replacement costs associated with DVRs starts to hit, or if theft becomes an issue.


NightRyder

 

[mike123abc]

I am on the verge of going back to TWC. I have cable modem so, I get the full feed to my house. I went out and disconnected the modem line and connected the cable feed (I have been using the cable feed for OTA antenna).

This let me do a careful comparison of TIC vs Dish. Of course this only applies to my house since every other person reading this will have a different cable plant, different wiring to their house, different distance from the cable fiber drop, etc:

1. Local channels: TWC was far superior to Dish. Dish in this area is obviously getting OTA locals and uplinking them. TWC has a fiber feed from the stations. You can easily see ghosting on the Dish LIL. It is not severe ghosting, but when comparing to TWC it shows. It is also obvious that the Dish channels have FAR, FAR, FAR more compression, the faces look clay like on Dish. Dish does has one advantage, believe it or not it is the 921. TWC is currently only carrying CBS in HD. With the 921 I can receive ABC in HD also (NBC/FOX are just 480i) and record it. The cable DVR does not record OTA, so I would be limited to only recording CBS in HD. TWC of course claims that they will be getting ABC HD soon, but who knows.

2. Analog channels other than locals. It is about 50/50 here. Some channels on TWC look worse than Dish, others look slightly better. It is pretty close on most channels. Now I will say some of the analog TWC clearly stink compared to Dish, but Dish has some channels that are pretty low bandwidth. In my particular case the channels I watch are pretty much the same. The only thing I worry about is how much the picture will degrade when the Motorola 6412 records them, the 921 of course records the bits so it does not degrade.

3. Digital TWC. Well I do not have a cable card installed (since I do not sub TWC), but they surprisingly had about 8 channels that were not encrypted. Here I give the PQ to TWC. TWC appears to be using less compression.

4. HD.. TWC and Dish are not very different. TWC has more HD. I was only able to compare the unencrypted channels of course (TNT, FSN, DHDT, CBSHD).

TWC is much cheaper with the buy back program ($56/month cheaper with cablem modem). Without the buyback, it is slightly cheaper ($9+/month) but they also give a $15/month cable modem fee break.

So, it comes down to:

Dish: 921 has more recording time plus OTA HD recording (perhaps short lived advantage). At 114.94/month

Cable: more HD channels, cheaper price. at $106.23/month (not factoring in cable modem). With promo pricing it will be $73.22/month.

Of course right now TWC is out of the HD DVR. I am on a waiting list. When it comes in I will probably switch over. After a year I will see what Dish has to offer again. I will save about $672. Perhaps by then Dish will have MPEG-4 with a ton of YD and then blow TIC away...

 

[Hall]

Why cable? Two words: Leasable HD-DVR.

Yeap, that's what got me to go back.... Unlike the OP, I have no problems -- knock on wood, of course.

 

[Hall]

3. Digital TWC. Well I do not have a cable card installed (since I do not sub TWC), but they surprisingly had about 8 channels that were not encrypted. Here I give the PQ to TWC. TWC appears to be using less compression.

The head network engineer at my local TW told me they pass the signal, as they recieve it, on to us *un-touched*. Why invest in more equipment, software, etc, etc when they have the capacity/bandwidth to feed everything full-rate (not saying what they receive is full-rate).

TWC is much cheaper with the buy back program ($56/month cheaper with cablem modem). Without the buyback, it is slightly cheaper ($9+/month) but they also give a $15/month cable modem fee break.

I'm paying the same - for one year - that I was paying Dish previously. I had AT120 and (1) 522 DVR. With TW, I have their Digipic 2000, the digital "Value" Tier, my choice of (2) premium movie channels (currently have Starz and Cinemax and can change them anytime I want), and most importantly, an HD-DVR.

 

[mboy]

Much happier with me cable

Dumped Dish end of Feb and went back to Cablevision. While the 8300HD DVR may not have as polished a user interface as some of the Dish DVR's, it works great for me. PQ is noticeably better on all channels, not washed out on my Sony kv32hs420, even analog lok decent. Not as compressed as sih, that's for sure. ALtho I do miss hdnet adn discovery, I am enjoying 3xs more HD channels then dish offfers and didn't have to lay out $250 for the privi of leasing a DVR for another $10/mo.
I think the way Dish is heading, I will NEVER go back to them, but will look and see what Direct hasin a year or 2 when MPEg 4 is sorted out.

 

[WorkOutMN]

I moved to Time-Warner in Minneapolis back in January and I regret it not one bit.

Spending only $20/month more than I was with Dish, I get:

a. Three receivers (1 HDDVR, 1 HD, 1DVR) instead of two (both HD-only)
b. $325 from selling my Dish receivers
c. All digital/HD locals (PBSx5, CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, UPN) without an external antenna
d. INHD1 & INHD2
e. Both HD feeds of SHO & HBO, not just the east feeds
f. Better-quality HD video
g. Responsive tech support for the boxes (How long before the 811 got the full DD/optical fix? When's the 921's firewire being activated? Oh, you own them -- Dish doesn't care then.)

I'm under no obligation to stay with Time-Warner and can leave at any time. I paid $0 up front for the three boxes I have -- not even $250 for the "privilege" of leasing any of them -- so when I do leave (I'm moving in September), I don't have to try and sell off those boxes to get my money back.

 

[Ceas2182]

I remember when i was little in the 90's, Paragon Cable was awesome until they merged with Time Warner it stinks now.