TWC Navigator/Box Updates

[Jack 1000]

January 2104-Cable Box Upgrade

TWC subs are expected to receive a software update on the boxes sometime between mid next week and before the end of the month.  The update could happen Monday night into Tuesday morning between 12-5am.  FOR BEST RESULTS, USERS SHOULD NOT BE RECORDING OR WATCHING TV DURING THIS TIME.  There may be up to three software reboots of your cable box during the update process:

Subscribers are expected to get the following features:

* All boxes get the return of DVR Compensation restored to them!

* A feature allowing the user the ability to filter the guide alphabetically in the Time Grid is expected to be added to Guide Filtering options.

*The new Cisco and Samsung boxes begin rolling out cloud based features including:

*A 16x9 HD guide, which will be set by default.  Users with standard definition or smaller HD screens will be able to return to the 4x3 guide in Settings.

*  Cisco and Samsung boxes in some areas also have received new search screens, VOD menus, and a new DVR Management Screen.  The new search has gotten mixed reviews and not all divisions have this update yet.  It is still being rolled out and for now, will only be on the Cisco and Samsung boxes.

*Cisco and Samsung boxes SHOULD get the new HD guide in all updated areas. All boxes get DVR Compensation restored to them.

*Several internal bug fixes with this release.

Jack

[duncantuna]

Sounds like more reasons to get a Cisco or Samsung box.

Last week my 8 year old 8300HDC flaked out, and the tech tried to remotely fix it, but failed.  The next morning, it seemed to be back fine, but I thought, hey, let's swap the box anyhow, get one of those "new" boxes.

Except all they had were 8300HDCs .. which was really astonishing.  I asked the TWC rep how old the phone was in her pocket, 1 year?  2 years old?  Yet somehow, TWC is still handing out 8 year old technology .. and charging consumers for them, too.

I asked politely, how could I obtain a Cisco or Samsung?  Answer: Good luck.  But she gave me her business card and said I could email her and she'd check inventory and set one aside.  I did that .. but got no response.

Anyone else have any tricks on how one could get a newer DVR?

[Jack 1000]

Sounds like more reasons to get a Cisco or Samsung box.

Last week my 8 year old 8300HDC flaked out, and the tech tried to remotely fix it, but failed.  The next morning, it seemed to be back fine, but I thought, hey, let's swap the box anyhow, get one of those "new" boxes.

Except all they had were 8300HDCs .. which was really astonishing.  I asked the TWC rep how old the phone was in her pocket, 1 year?  2 years old?  Yet somehow, TWC is still handing out 8 year old technology .. and charging consumers for them, too.

I asked politely, how could I obtain a Cisco or Samsung?  Answer: Good luck.  But she gave me her business card and said I could email her and she'd check inventory and set one aside.  I did that .. but got no response.

Anyone else have any tricks on how one could get a newer DVR?

I agree with you 100%

Right now in Wisconsin the only way to get the newer boxes (Cisco or Samsung) is to enroll in a Whole House DVR program, which is an additional $10 a month plus the cost of box rental OR enroll in Signature Home, which is $200 a month or $230 a month with HBO/Cinemax/Showtime/Movie Channel/Movie Pass/ added.

Signature Home is Triple Play, plus you get more knowledgeable techs and a personalized number to call with no wait times.  We have some subs on the forum in the program and they like it.  But it is pricy at $200 a month.

Your only other option is to go to one of the TWC offices and literally BEG for a Cisco or Samsung box.  Problem is, inventory changes daily and they might not have them.  The other problem is that ANY box swaps are like Forrest Gump's saying in the movie about the box of chocolates, "You never know what your going to get."  Sometimes the newer boxes can still have issues.

The  one thing that sucks about the new search.  Again, I don't know if we are going to get it or not, but while you can search by Title, Genera, Description, Cast, or Sports, the B button no longer starts the search on the show being watched or the show being highlighted in the Time Grid.  This means that you have to start your searches from the beginning EACH TIME!  Customers around the country have been asking TWC to release an update so that the new search always begins on the show being watched.  Customers have said that the old B search, while dated, seemed simpler to use.  Video On Demand Cover Art is also eventually going to be a part of the new cloud services.

Due to the fact I only have an SA box (SA-8300HDC) I won't be able to provide first hand help about many of the new features from a first-person perspective on the forum.  I have friends and higher ups knowledgeable with TWC updates, so I'll try to pass along what I know.

The other downside is trying to convince our division to start giving out newer boxes in box swaps.  TWC has been testing a six-tuner DVR since 2010 or so.  I really hope that this year at some point they release those DVR's into the field because a two-tuner environment for 2014 just SUCKS!  I think that TWC will probably only make the six-tuner boxes available to Whole House and Signature Home subs at the start.  Than and only than, I predict those old SA-8300 models will be purged from the system.

Actually the NON C SA-8300 was a good fast box. (The SA-8300HDC's are still slow at times, but mine has gotten better with the last several updates.)  The SA-8300's drawback was the small hard drive, but you could hook up a Western Digital Drive Expander and get almost unlimited storage!  No joke that there's a division in New York still giving out SA-8000's!!!  That was TWC's first DVR going back to 2003!!!!!  The HDC boxes are hit and miss (mostly miss) with Drive Expanders.

I'm told  that the new 16x9 guide is cool, but it seems like you have to have at least a 40' screen to read it well.  The out-dated cable boxes for me are the only bad part of TWC's  service experience.  Phone and Internet are AWESOME!  I have Triple Play.

Jack

[duncantuna]

Thanks for the info ..

I wonder .. what if you signed up for Whole House DVR .. got the newer box, then cancelled that service after a few months .. would they let you keep the newer DVR...

[Jack 1000]

Thanks for the info ..

I wonder .. what if you signed up for Whole House DVR .. got the newer box, then cancelled that service after a few months .. would they let you keep the newer DVR...

I would say probably.  You might have to do a little begging.  Other divisions that are happy to give out the newer boxes wouldn't care.  All you;d have to do is just say, "I've had so many problems with the SA boxes and really want to keep the newer Cisco/Samsung because it's faster and has more storage.  

You can shoot me a PM anytime if you want to upgrade to get a better box.  (Don't want to go off-topic with this, cuz this topic is for software update schedules and issues for new guide releases.)  I try to keep in touch with what is going on in other divisions.  If it's any consolation, most other company cable boxes suck too!  It's like they have this love affair with legacy hardware, seriously!  There is still the economic issue of replacing 15-20 million set tops in the field.  All the cable operators have too many boxes, too many nodes, too many venders.

Over time, the legacy boxes are supposed to be moving to a cloud based system with more features coming off the hardware and onto their server networks.  Long range would be that you wouldn't even need a box at all!  Everything would just sit on the server side of the network.  Cable under this system could still go out like your Internet might go out.  But at least you would not lose settings and shows anymore and you would not have to worry about what boxes to get!  When you ordered new services, they would just unlock them from the cloud, and ping them to your account.

Jack

[Kenoman]

(Know this is off topic, sorry). As far as I know here in Kenosha they have been handing out the Samsung boxes but you never know what you will get when you go to the TWC store. One of my boxes has the large hard drive as the other one has the smaller one. I am not on total home.

[grenier]

January 2104-Cable Box Upgrade

TWC subs are expected to receive a software update on the boxes sometime between mid next week and before the end of the month.  The update could happen Monday night into Tuesday morning between 12-5am.  FOR BEST RESULTS, USERS SHOULD NOT BE RECORDING OR WATCHING TV DURING THIS TIME.  

I hope they can give a little more accurate timeframe, I have recordings scheduled.

[Jack 1000]

Sup?

Nothing happened last night.  We are usually tied in with other regions like Ohio who got updated.  Probably something by end of the month though.

Jack

[Jack 1000]

Update is going through this morning.  There is a message on TWC voice-mail.

Jack

[grenier]

The HD guide is nice, but when watching SD programming the sides of the information banner and description are cut off and unreadable.

[Jack 1000]

Cable Box Update-SA-8300HDC- January 14 2014 for Wisconsin


The following features are noted:

1.)   The return of DVR Compensation!
2.)   The "A" Button-Find Shows now actually lists the name of the show being on the system when you select a category from the A menu.  It's like the old "What's on Now" from the Passport Software days
3.)   Improved handling of texts and font sizes.  There was some text overlap on one of my channels it's gone now.  A nice change
4.)    The Record Log is still there.  Some subs in divisions complained it was gone on a few set tops.
5.)   Speed is a little faster.  The bug that sometimes showed the search commands overlapping when moving from categories seems to be gone.
6.)   Search is the same "B" button.  I am REALLY hoping to see the return of a simple keyword search for the next release.  Just have the keyboard search by Titles/Keywords like Passport did ten years ago.  The other new advanced searches are window dressing and not needed.


Notes: Build version here is ODN 7.2.05
   No comments for any of the new 16x9 HD guide or new search/VOD screens even if they currently have been released to Wisconsin.  I do not have a qualifying box.

Jack

[grenier]

No comments for any of the new 16x9 HD guide or new search/VOD screens even if they currently have been released to Wisconsin.  I do not have a qualifying box.

I have a Cisco 8640HDC box, the PIP is now closer to the corners of the screen, it used to be closer to the center of the screen. I see no difference with the search screens. The VOD screen is messed up, it's not in HD, so it's cut off on the sides. Maybe I need to change a setting somewhere.

I have it figured out but I'm hoping someone can help with a box setting. Under Picture Size, there are three options, Normal, Stretch and Zoom, I had it set to Normal and it was causing the problem I mentioned. Does that setting only apply to SD programming? It didn't seem to change the HD picture.

[gparris]

The guide and the DVR fast forward screens are finally set for full HD screens, a very (finally) good addition to what seemed to be a old format for SD TVs that are going away, at least in my household. DVR compensation, something we lost, is now  back and I now have to remember to use it, compensating on my own with the remote took some skill and I have to relearn not to do it.
As far as the other features, I  still use the # button to zoom, normal and stretch on the fly to get un-viewable parts of the screen, that is all I have to mention regarding that, but the upgrade is worth it-I don't watch any SD programming anymore.
My whole house system seems to work well and I did not see any problems last night. Jack 1000, thanks for the info. :wave:

[grenier]

After the update I'm unable to successfully schedule a new series recording. It's showing the program in the Series Manager but it's not scheduling any recordings.

[grenier]

I  still use the # button to zoom, normal and stretch on the fly to get un-viewable parts of the screen, that is all I have to mention regarding that, but the upgrade is worth it-I don't watch any SD programming anymore.

The # button doesn't change the screen size for me, it used to.