TWC HD issues

[radman_w156]

On any given day there are at least two if not more TWC HD channels that are unwatchable-breaking up, pixelated, sound breaking up etc. Today of all days it's TBS HD so it looks like I will be watching the Brewers in LD! History HD is almost always messed up. And I pay money for this? Is this just my system for some reason or are others experiencing the same?

[TonyC]

For me it happened almost everyday for months (I finally switched off of TWC).

Seems worse after they add more channels (like the recent new HD ones). Since they repackage local channels as well as HD channels it appears like everything is breaking up. Even bypassing their SA boxes and directly to an TV tuner showed the same, so its most likely signal delivery.

Customer service and technical support don't talk to each other, so good luck. Don't bother trying to help them troubleshoot either - they ignore you (BER rates, screen captures, etc). I wasted hours on the phone re-explaining over and over the symptoms, even had the line on probation for two weeks - all along being told "everything looks fine".

For what its worth, receiving local channels are much better OTA (and free). I can't believe how nice TV looks/sounds again.

[LoadStar]

No issues here in New Berlin. Sounds like you need to have TWC out to check the power levels and signal-to-noise ratio on your line.

[Jack 1000]

For me it happened almost everyday for months (I finally switched off of TWC).

Seems worse after they add more channels (like the recent new HD ones). Since they repackage local channels as well as HD channels it appears like everything is breaking up. Even bypassing their SA boxes and directly to an TV tuner showed the same, so its most likely signal delivery.

Customer service and technical support don't talk to each other, so good luck. Don't bother trying to help them troubleshoot either - they ignore you (BER rates, screen captures, etc). I wasted hours on the phone re-explaining over and over the symptoms, even had the line on probation for two weeks - all along being told "everything looks fine".

For what its worth, receiving local channels are much better OTA (and free). I can't believe how nice TV looks/sounds again.

Tony,

Since you have HD, you deserve the best possible pictures from both your equipment and line signal.  Call TWC, say "My picture is breaking up on my HD channels."  They will go through the script and have you reboot and all that crap, but ask for a tech to come out.  (Say you have had techs in the past that didn't help, and see if you can get a supervisor tech to come out instead of an independent contractor.)  Than, a few minutes before he comes, tune to your worst pixiated HD channel and show it to him when he is there.  This will get him (and them) aware of the problem, and he will be able to run signal tests on your line.

I only have an SD set, but once our lines in our neighborhood were so bad that the guy came out, put some new amps on the lines.  (neighbors had the same problem.)  Six hours later it came back, and we all complained.  (If you get six or more people at once on the same issue in the same node, it activates their automated response service.)  The second tech came out and replaced our old analog outside line with a digital one and that solved the problem.

Some of your neighborhood cables may be so old, that they can't handle the strength of HD signals.  Let us know how it turns out.

Jack

[TonyC]

Jack,
 Thanks for the reply. I went thru all of this, starting last December when we upgraded from "Standard" service to the new "Digital Tier". A tech came out in January, replace the entire drop from the pole to the house (rabbits chewed the line going into the house). They also replaced all connectors on the RG6, added a new splitter and checked for leaks - all was fine.

 Then, a few weeks later and repeating randomly, we would have both Analog and Digital channel dropouts, sound "data bursts" (think modem sounds), etc which made the TV unwatchable. I called Customer Service over and over, had six "in-house tech" service calls, two "line-tech" service calls (including a supervisor) and two weeks of probational monitoring - all without finding anything. Each time the problem wasn't happening when they were there, but seemed like an "on-the-hour" occurrence. When the problem was occurring, I could put my SA3100 in diagnostics mode (and was chastised for a customer looking at that information) and observing a bit-error-rate (BER) in the red (typically 5.69x10-3) on QAM256 channels. Signal levels typically were -2dB and S/N around 34dB (I'm no tech dummy but they sure didn't care what I helped them with). Seemed more of a Forward channel issue also...but what do I know?

 I finally gave up on their ability to find the problem, and was told a few times that "no one else was calling", so I was on my own. Ironically, this weekend my neighbor told me he had the same problems...but never called.

 What I hated the most was feeling powerless and waiting on others to do nothing.

TonyC

[Jack 1000]

Jack,
 Thanks for the reply. I went thru all of this, starting last December when we upgraded from "Standard" service to the new "Digital Tier". A tech came out in January, replace the entire drop from the pole to the house (rabbits chewed the line going into the house). They also replaced all connectors on the RG6, added a new splitter and checked for leaks - all was fine.

 Then, a few weeks later and repeating randomly, we would have both Analog and Digital channel dropouts, sound "data bursts" (think modem sounds), etc which made the TV unwatchable. I called Customer Service over and over, had six "in-house tech" service calls, two "line-tech" service calls (including a supervisor) and two weeks of probational monitoring - all without finding anything. Each time the problem wasn't happening when they were there, but seemed like an "on-the-hour" occurrence. When the problem was occurring, I could put my SA3100 in diagnostics mode (and was chastised for a customer looking at that information) and observing a bit-error-rate (BER) in the red (typically 5.69x10-3) on QAM256 channels. Signal levels typically were -2dB and S/N around 34dB (I'm no tech dummy but they sure didn't care what I helped them with). Seemed more of a Forward channel issue also...but what do I know?

 I finally gave up on their ability to find the problem, and was told a few times that "no one else was calling", so I was on my own. Ironically, this weekend my neighbor told me he had the same problems...but never called.

 What I hated the most was feeling powerless and waiting on others to do nothing.

TonyC

Tony,

When the problem does occur, say "on the hour" how long does it last?  I would say, you might want to try to get as many neighbors as you can to complain.  (If a neighbor has the exact same issues, others may be having the same things as well.)  If friends can get 6 people in the same area to call TWC within the same node, an automated response is sent to do diagnostics in your area.  But the thing is, how big of a concern is it to the rest of your neighborhood?

Damn!  Sounds like you did everything on your part, but given your problems aren't being resolved, have you looked at other options?  Dish or U-Verse?  Do you have TWC Road Runner or Digital Phone?

Jack

[TonyC]

First, my apologies to radman_w156 for seeming to hijack this thread...hopefully it will shed some light on his original question of others having similar/worse problems.

Jack1000, I've already switched to Dish/OTA and am very happy. I've asked TWC to come out and remove the drop and gray box from my house completely. I balked at their question about bundling services together when they can't even get TV working right.

The "issue" would last between 1-3 seconds typically to as long as 30 minutes - all channels were affected. I did keep a log as requested by them - one day had 26 occurrences. Wasn't just pixelization but full disruptions/drop outs - almost like RFI style interference, all along they showed "no problems with my signal".

Maybe others can band together and complain to them - I've wasted enough of my families time doing so.

[radman_w156]

Thanks for the replies all. It appears I am not alone.
Interestingly, I called TWC and in the process of our discussion discovered that my box should have upgraded to the new UI by now but it hasn't.
In addition to the "bad channels" (usually TBS HD and History HD) I also can't tune to some of the new HD additions I have been reading about here. They are just blank and seem to "hang" the DVR for awhile. Not sure if they are all up yet or not but I see there is quite a list of new ones. In general it just seems "funky" when changing HD channels. TWC wants me to swap out the DVR first since it never upgraded. Once I watch the recordings I want to see I guess I will swap it and then see what happens from there.

[Jack 1000]

Thanks for the replies all. It appears I am not alone.
Interestingly, I called TWC and in the process of our discussion discovered that my box should have upgraded to the new UI by now but it hasn't.
In addition to the "bad channels" (usually TBS HD and History HD) I also can't tune to some of the new HD additions I have been reading about here. They are just blank and seem to "hang" the DVR for awhile. Not sure if they are all up yet or not but I see there is quite a list of new ones. In general it just seems "funky" when changing HD channels. TWC wants me to swap out the DVR first since it never upgraded. Once I watch the recordings I want to see I guess I will swap it and then see what happens from there.

I would also recommend if you have an issue that comes and goes as this has occurred with some people that the problem is not happening when the tech is at your residence.  You should tape/DVR/or DVD-R the problem as it happens or is happening and than show it to the tech.  If the tech says it's  the tape or recorded device, show him another recorded tape, disk, or DVR show as evidence that the problem is with the cable.

This is very helpful for problems that just pop up and are not occurring all the time.  This way, he can see exactly what is happening.

Jack

[greenskingIV]

I always have the pixel problem with HGTV HD. I just got over it yesterday after having it for 3 days. I thought maybe I had this problem because I have a cablecard.

[mhz40]

All you can do is make sure all fittings are tighter than 'finger tight'.  After that, a service call required, plain & simple.

I find it ridiculous that the level of other complaints has any bearing on a decision to look into a reported individual problem.  Would GM wait for thousands of reported brake failures before a recall is warranted?  Errr uhhh... Strike that.

Anyway, I'm confident a solution will be found if you can get boots on the ground in your back yard...

Also, I wouldn't lie about how many times someone has been out to look at the problem... its an easy thing for the company to validate and only works to discredit your real concerns if you are lying.  If you feel you need 'management' to get involved, I'd simply ask for it.

[benski007]

I had Time Warner cable for 3 months and experienced many of the same problems that you faced.  I won 3 months of free cable and didn't pay anything for it.  It has made me realize that if I ever decide to pay for cable, I will never get Time Warner.   Their HD lineup sucks and their pixilization and dropout is horrific.  I honestly don't know why anyone would pay for Time Warner.  Cable always talks about how 'reliable' their signal is to satellite, but I have had DirecTV in that past and DirecTV is a million times more reliable then Time Warner.  Cable just doesn't have the capacity to handle HD.  My advise, drop Time Warner and go with someone else.

[tencom]

I had Time Warner cable for 3 months and experienced many of the same problems that you faced.  I won 3 months of free cable and didn't pay anything for it.  It has made me realize that if I ever decide to pay for cable, I will never get Time Warner.   Their HD lineup sucks and their pixilization and dropout is horrific.  I honestly don't know why anyone would pay for Time Warner.  Cable always talks about how 'reliable' their signal is to satellite, but I have had DirecTV in that past and DirecTV is a million times more reliable then Time Warner.  Cable just doesn't have the capacity to handle HD.  My advise, drop Time Warner and go with someone else.

I don't agree with you I never had many problems with TWC HDTV  and  believe TWC has a greater fade margin then any satellite service apparently you have a inadequate signal to noise ratio problem either at your location or in your neighborhood and anyone could check for SNR by going into the service menu of
STB  and and checking  each digital channel and should be between 32 to 34 Db. 28,2 Db is considered the minimum SNR  for QAM 256 reception. Since I have a technical background and believe I have more  expertise on this matter,  then most people.  So please don't give advise unless your technically  qualified to do so since your experience with TWC is an exception, and not the norm.

[benski007]

I don't agree with you I never had many problems with TWC HDTV  and  believe TWC has a greater fade margin then any satellite service apparently you have a inadequate signal to noise ratio problem either at your location or in your neighborhood and anyone could check for SNR by going into the service menu of
STB  and and checking  each digital channel and should be between 32 to 34 Db. 28,2 Db is considered the minimum SNR  for QAM 256 reception. Since I have a technical background and believe I have more  expertise on this matter,  then most people.  So please don't give advise unless your technically  qualified to do so since your experience with TWC is an exception, and not the norm.

I was well aware of checking the channel signals within the menu.  All of the channels were in the range you quoted.  I have had directv and time warner service within the last few years. I thought directv was a lot better since I rarely had any of the above problems.

[radman_w156]

Follow up to my original post that started this thread:
I swapped out the box at TWC's recommendation and much to my suprise, my "pixelation" and drop out problems disappeared. Coincedence? Probably not but who knows, could happen I guess. Been over two weeks though. I still have this maddening issue when many of the HD channels are blank and/or dispalying the "Not Available" message. It seems to be the latest crop of channels and only those. The long term channels are never an issue. And is also appears to happen when they add channels. For a while I couldn't get the batch of channels they added a few weeks ago and then all of the sudden one day they were fine. Now it is happening again and there appear to be some channels I hadn't noticed before.
:bang: