Tired of emailing

[borghe]

In the month that I have owned my HDTV receiver I have managed to email every junk Milwaukee station that feels they don't need to listen to their viewers. I have shared most of those with you. I am now saying that I am tired of trying. They don't care about me, I'm done caring about them. I'm done emailing them, I'm done trying to tune in Faux 6, or even checking signal strength on the allocated stations. Done with all of it. I'll enjoy my shows on 4, 58, HBO, HDNet, and Showtime.

And to everyone who had their system before me (which is probably all of you  ) I honestly and truly sympathize with the fact that you have been dealing with this aggravation longer than the tiny month I have. To sink so much money into it and basically be told to p*ss off by most local stations is just plain disrespect.

Someone wake me when it's over.

[Mike Sheahan]

Amen!

[Tom Snyder]

As a guy who has had his HDTV since 2000, I guess I've just resolved myself to the fact that the local switch to HDTV in Milwaukee ain't gonna happen quickly. And sometiomes it seems like it's going backwards.

When I first got my set, 10 played the HD loop all the time, except when they were passing through a Hi Def feed from National (at the actual time printed in that schedule). Even saw The Great Circus Parade in HDTV that year! Both presidential conventions, and the Inauguration were in HDTV as well. Life was good. Now it's 4 channels of Teletubbies and an eagle. Progress? Not!

Thank goodness for HBO, HDNet and DVD's!

[Matt Heebner]

After hearing Tom and knowing that there have been true "early" adopters before me, sometimes I feel like a lame'o' demanding stations put out HD now. I've only really had HD for the last 8 months or so, and some nights I have watched from 7 to 11:30pm nothing but HD programming.
I know patience is a virtue, but it's very hard to wait for stations who do a lot of feet dragging.

Matt

[Gregg Lengling]

And then you have the changes for the worst like Stargate SG1 leaving ShowTime HD for SciFi channel.  You would think if any channel should be hidef it would be the geek channel of scifi....oh well go figure.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
gregg@camelcomm.com

[kjnorman]

 

And then you have the changes for the worst like Stargate SG1 leaving ShowTime HD for SciFi channel. You would think if any channel should be hidef it would be the geek channel of scifi....oh well go figure.

Yes it kills us!  SciFi is one of our favorite channels (originally B5 and now Farscape) but it has appalling picture quality.  Watching letterboxed Farscape zoomed to 50 inches is not a pleasant experience.  Its a shame as I like the series but I am getting seriously turn off watching SciFi channel.

Knowing that programs like Farscape is filmed in widescreen I would be happy if we could only get it in a 480p digital widescreen picture.  That would still be a monumental leap in PQ over the current dross that SciFi offers us.  Oh well....

Perhaps I will give up watching TV?

Kerry

[gparris]

As I understand you have a TWC system not Sat so I have seen your screen mess already. On an analog and digital screes (both) I watched side by side comparisons of channel 55 (SCI-FI channel) from TWC and they are awful, even on so-called "digital cable". The problem here is guys, is that TWC is not really "digital" until you get to the 100's so the sets are fighting to clean up TWC's awful signal with their comb filters and such and the result is worse,not better. NOW: Try SCI-FI on Sat (either one) with a Digital set at 480p with 3:2 pulldown and you get a smoother and cleaner picture; its not HD but looks like what I have seen from the FOX network has in other cities that have it on a decent cable system (not TWC Milwaukee). Try it : visit a friend that has a decently calibrated set and satellite and watch SCI FI - NOT TWC and it looks much better.

[kjnorman]

Yes Milwaukee's TWC below 100 is purely analog, however some are actually pretty good.  Alas SciFi just sucks.  What makes ours even worse is that everything is Tivo'd and so we get a bad feed, which freaks out the Tivo's MPEG compressor which then "pixallates" all the analog noise even more.

Unfortunately changing out our equipement to a DirectTivo and a separate HD box is not within our financial budget, but I would be interested in seeing what I am missing.

So who has a set up they wouldn't mind showing for the price of a beer?

Kerry

[This message has been edited by kjnorman (edited 07-25-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

Boy it would be nice if I my doctor would allow me back on alcohol, maybe I'd be more coherent.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[gparris]

 

Originally posted by kjnorman:
Yes Milwaukee's TWC below 100 is purely analog, however some are actually pretty good.  Alas SciFi just sucks.  What makes ours even worse is that everything is Tivo'd and so we get a bad feed, which freaks out the Tivo's MPEG compressor which then "pixallates" all the analog noise even more.
Yes- with a package like you have-the TWC and TIVO box- not the DIRECTV/TIVO setup-SCI FI is messy at best. Glad I never went that route. You see, the DIRECTV/TIVO box combo's recorded picture never changes from broadcast AND you don't get "pixalation" or degraded picture. You also get something when you record - sound in Dolby Digital: try that on your separate TIVO/TWC setup-you can't. My Phillips-brand TIVO cost me $99 at Circuit City and the RCA DTC100 with Oval Dish a little more from American. Recently, Jeff B. came over and ran the cables on the multiswitch to make it all work. Best of both worlds and NOT THAT EXPENSIVE.          
Unfortunately changing out our equipement to a DirectTivo and a separate HD box is not within our financial budget, but I would be interested in seeing what I am missing.

So who has a set up they wouldn't mind showing for the price of a beer?

Kerry

[This message has been edited by kjnorman (edited 07-25-2002).]

[gparris]

I don't know HOW my message got screwed up about the SCI FI channel and TWC/TIVO but my answer is that it is a shame that you have to put up with that mess, and that SCI FI does not have a HD version like Discovery has. Sports and action shows are great in HD so that is where the changeover will occur. "Oddessy 5" on Showtime is great,it was "filmed" in HD. So is HDNET-better than watching the "eagles nest", and Cuban even shows non-PPV movies  (in DD 2.0 but its free). I wish your spouse could see the waste of TWC and cough up a few hundred and get it over with.

[borghe]

Unfortunaetly your return on investment with satellite is years. Not a problem if you plan on keeping it for years, but still. If someone can conifrm this for me. You pay $xx extra for digital, then you pay $xx extra for the 3100HD box. So you will eventually recoup your costs with a STB, it will just take a few years. As for DTivo, unless you already have a Tivo you are not losing anything by not going to DTivo. If you already have a Tivo, then you can just use that with satellite until the Series 2 DTivos come out.

Yes there is an expenditure with satellite HD, but as long as satellite is around for years to come and you stick with it, eventually that expenditure turns into a cost savings compared to cable.

[gparris]

 

Originally posted by borghe:
Unfortunaetly your return on investment with satellite is years. Not a problem if you plan on keeping it for years, but still. If someone can conifrm this for me. You pay $xx extra for digital, then you pay $xx extra for the 3100HD box. So you will eventually recoup your costs with a STB, it will just take a few years. As for DTivo, unless you already have a Tivo you are not losing anything by not going to DTivo. If you already have a Tivo, then you can just use that with satellite until the Series 2 DTivos come out.

Yes there is an expenditure with satellite HD, but as long as satellite is around for years to come and you stick with it, eventually that expenditure turns into a cost savings compared to cable.

First-remember that the Series 2 Tivos are only analog add-ons. NOTHING in their website informs you of a DIRECTV and TIVO system as a "Series 2", because the original works fine...digitally. If EchoStar and Hughes merge, TIVO will come along with a combined,longer-recording ( including HD ) but now it waits for the outcome. And if you are telling yourself to wait for the merger(if it is ever approved) so you won't buy the wrong equipment - the rules in the merger state that all customers will get free equipment exchanges for what they originally had - the same thing that happened when DIRECTV bought Primestar. If you get a DIRECTV/TIVO and the Hughes HD box with the sat dish-You can't lose anything in the long run. (Unless you aren't planning to watch TV in the future?) DIRECTV even has a "mover's plan" that gets you a new dish and installs it for a few bucks,if you move. Add up the fees you pay for that "digital upgrade" and the TWC box rental and remote rental and "additional outlet" monthly fee  and other Digital box and remote "rental". Add to that the analog TIVO box at $12.95/month for EACH ONE!! DIRECTV has it at $9.95 a month for just the TIVO adder and you can have multiple TIVO's in you house for the same price (one charge not multiple charges). Do the math...TWC's LIES have everybody fooled. Even you.

[Todd Wiedemann]

Hey, Kerry ...

I have DirecTV and a ReplayTV on my Mits 55819. As I've offered before to other group members, you are quite welcome to check out the picture quality.

Post here or private e-mail me if you want ...

Todd.

[borghe]

gparris - First let me apologize. The intent of my letter was to say that DirecTV is certainly a better deal. apparently you misunderstood me. As anyone who has read my posts knows, I am anything but a fan of TWC.

I was saying that the switch over to DirecTV isn't that bad, considering the equipment will pay for itself eventually. If you already had a Tivo it would work just fine with satellite.

As for a series 1 DirecTivo.. unfortunately, I can't agree with you. These things are becoming increasingly harder to get right now. If you are a new customer you MIGHT still be able to find a new subscriber deal, but those frequently go in and out of stock. Existing subs will usually have to pay well in excess of $400 and again, those frequently go in and out of stock. I didn't use the DTivo as a selling point because right now, it just isn't that viable. It is an amazing product, but Tivo has really hurt themselves for the time being by lack of availability. I imagine that will all be resolved when the Seires 2 combo boxes are released (hopefully) later this year. As for $12.95/month, I believe that you can get a lifetime sub for all of your SA's, not to mention DTV still charges you $5/recevier/month.

Anyway, I certainly take DTV over TWC any day of the week, I was just painting a realistic picture about switching.