New TWC HD Channels in Test Mode!!!

[wireblsam]

The test channels are active and showing a picture, but no guide data.

[gparris]

The test channels are active and showing a picture, but no guide data.

I would rather have TWC be cautious than not, these will come in good once they figure out what happened before, with all the pixelation.

[Jack 1000]

The Viacom Channels Are Now Active in Their Official Guide Postions Today!

MTV HD-1250

Comody Central HD-1207

Spike HD- 1206

Bet HD- 1216

Nickelodeon HD- 1103

VH1-HD- 1252

CMT-HD-1254

Jack

[gparris]

Thanks Jack 1000, I will check it out-hope there is little or no pixelation this time!:wave:

[LoadStar]

I'm surprised... they even got right on the ball and notified Tribune Data Services right away as well. I got the PTCM on my TiVo letting me know about the new channels on Thursday night.

[gparris]

What with all the new HD channels TWC locally has added, they continue to show on their site the following:
 "WPXE HD, HBO Signature HD, and HBO Comedy HD will join the digital lineup."

I know ION HD is a local, that will be good, but these HBO's are adders from their own TW company - HBOHD channels have been slow in coming and there is still no HBOHD-On Demand channel, but there is a ShowtimeHD-On Demand channel, which is rather odd.:rolleyes:

Starz! HD offers at least 5 HD channels and TWC here has only one and that maybe why it is in contract negotiations with Starz!/Encore, this again, per their site.

Point is, TWC has not added anymore HD channels like they used to do, maybe since their recent "meltdown" of (March 23rd), they are more worried about alienating current subs that way - or - these new channel additions are in just the planning stages.:huh?:

[Jack 1000]

What with all the new HD channels TWC locally has added, they continue to show on their site the following:
 "WPXE HD, HBO Signature HD, and HBO Comedy HD will join the digital lineup."

I know ION HD is a local, that will be good, but these HBO's are adders from their own TW company - HBOHD channels have been slow in coming and there is still no HBOHD-On Demand channel, but there is a ShowtimeHD-On Demand channel, which is rather odd.:rolleyes:

Starz! HD offers at least 5 HD channels and TWC here has only one and that maybe why it is in contract negotiations with Starz!/Encore, this again, per their site.

Point is, TWC has not added anymore HD channels like they used to do, maybe since their recent "meltdown" of (March 23rd), they are more worried about alienating current subs that way - or - these new channel additions are in just the planning stages.:huh?:

I will cut them some slack,

 However, I have no explanation for why TWC-Wisconsin offers Showtime On Demand-HD but not HBO On Demand-HD, especially like GP said, HBO is an off-shoot of their own company!

There's only been about a month transition with the new HD additions.  I would expect them around the first week of May.

There are also rumors of Navigator program guide updates coming out around June into the summer, so they may not want to strain the system preparing it for that.  They just recently added WPXE-HD as a coming soon station.  I would expect that along with the new HBO HD channels at about the same time.

I am VERY PLEASED with our current HD line up on TWC.  We now have over 100 HD channels and I don't think there are too many more that I couldn't live without.  Yes, HBO On Demand-HD and WGN America-HD as well would be cool.  But I am just trying to think of what else they should carry in HD.

To increase bandwidth, if that is a problem, they SHOULD just drop channels 2-99 and put whatever is missing from the digital tier (100 and above) to the appropriate digital station categories.  We have for instance TWO TV Land Stations (61 and 114) and TV Land-HD is coming to San Diego.  If we get that, TWC-Wisconsin will have three TV Land stations with the HD channel at 1114.  We now have THREE places for CNN-Headline News, (Channel 11 on Broadcast Basic,  351 for Digital AND 1351 for HD.

That duplication causes bandwidth limitations and while some people may not like the idea of going to a digital box, this should have been done coinciding with the digital TV conversion.  Less duplication means the potential for better picture quality and signal strength.

I think TWC is just taking a little break from channel additions so as not to overload the system.  I would hope that by next month we will have the new HD stations for HBO and WPXE.

Jack

[gparris]

May isn't too far away, let's wait and see.

The meltdown in March we had as subscribers was just unacceptable.:bang:

I still experience pixelation on fast moving scenes on HD channels. so TWC is running bandwidth-scarce and its SDV system is not working as well as it should.

[oz]

I'm really looking forward to HBO-HD-On Demand.

[Jack 1000]

Hey,

Several new HD channels in test mode!  They will probably be launched later this month.  Do you know the Navigator Guide Trick?  Press Settings on the Remote.  Now scroll to Favorite Channels.  Next enter a channel like 1999.  Now scroll up, and you will see a bunch of new HD channels!  Note the following:

1.) You can only get to them by entering the channel number directly.  You must exit out of any guide screen for them to work.  Enter them individual.  I don't think you can go up or down or use Last Channel recall for test stations.

2.) They are not official yet, so are not recordable from the Time Grid.  Have not tried from the B "Find Shows" Menu.

3.) Did not get a chance to see the exact channel  numbers.  Sure someone will post.  I think they were all active, except for HBO-On Demand-HD!  Glad that is coming!  I believe the test channel ranges are 1800 to 1999.

Post what you know about this topic in this thread.

Jack

[LoadStar]

Hey,

Several new HD channels in test mode!  They will probably be launched later this month.  Do you know the Navigator Guide Trick?  Press Settings on the Remote.  Now scroll to Favorite Channels.  Next enter a channel like 1999.  Now scroll up, and you will see a bunch of new HD channels!  Note the following:

1.) You can only get to them by entering the channel number directly.  You must exit out of any guide screen for them to work.  Enter them individual.  I don't think you can go up or down or use Last Channel recall for test stations.

2.) They are not official yet, so are not recordable from the Time Grid.  Have not tried from the B "Find Shows" Menu.

3.) Did not get a chance to see the exact channel  numbers.  Sure someone will post.  I think they were all active, except for HBO-On Demand-HD!  Glad that is coming!  I believe the test channel ranges are 1800 to 1999.

Post what you know about this topic in this thread.

Jack

According to my TiVo:

1971: TRUHD
1972: LIFEHD
1973: DIYHD
1974: COOKHD (does not come in for me)
1975: CIHD (does not come in for me)
1976: NGWHD
1977: FSC+HD

[gparris]

HBO-HD On Demand is on 1998 from what I can see, so that looks like there will be a good amount of HD channels TWC is ready to add, hopefully soon.

The analogue channels TWC eliminated more recently probably lead to to the addition of these HD channels, many of which they had kept noting in their legal notices section for very many months.:rolleyes:

Looks like TWC, even with SDV, is bandwidth-starved, even the installer I talked to at the gas station, filling up his truck, agreed. He said the the higher speed internet TWC is promising, though not avaialable everywhere yet, is just one more thing to jam up the "pipe" along with everything else.:eek:

[PONIES]

Time Warner really needs to just finish killing off the analog channels. They are a complete waste of time.

[Jack 1000]

Time Warner really needs to just finish killing off the analog channels. They are a complete waste of time.

I agree,

If channels 2-99 were eliminated, and the required FCC mandated public access channels on that tier were moved to digital, this would help with bandwidth a great deal.  I heard TWC recently did a bandwidth update.  The pixiation problems that I had on and off on channels 1005 (CBS 58-HD) and 1012 (ABC-HD) seemed to have stopped after waiting six months for them to be fixed.

Jack

[PONIES]

I agree,

If channels 2-99 were eliminated, and the required FCC mandated public access channels on that tier were moved to digital, this would help with bandwidth a great deal.  I heard TWC recently did a bandwidth update.  The pixiation problems that I had on and off on channels 1005 (CBS 58-HD) and 1012 (ABC-HD) seemed to have stopped after waiting six months for them to be fixed.

Jack

Jack, you seem to know a lot about TWC. So I am wondering if you could assist me. Is this the "pixellation" I always see people talking about with Time Warner?:
http://i.imgur.com/UZTJW.jpg

I see these video errors occur fairly often. An hour long show will usually have an average of 3 or 4 of these video frames with an error in them. They can be quite irritating, but they are rarely as bad as this picture. This is a more blatant example I've selected. I never get audio errors, video errors only.

I have been assuming this is just Time Warner Cable's MPEG2 encoders sucking because I see a lot of people complain about "pixellation." As well, my signal levels on my DVR seem to be fine:
http://i.imgur.com/8nIiK.jpg

-10 to +10 with SNR of ~37 are adequate signal levels, yes?