Milwaukee HDTV User Group

Hi Seymour,

I've been running an HDHRPrime on Time Warner Cable for a while now, and I had the same issue when I was setting it up. The short version: the channel scan doesn't work, but you don't really need to do it. If the card is activated, it will "just work" from your media center app. Which are you using? I went with Windows Media Center running from a computer with Windows 7 Professional. Once you've gone through the activation sequence for CableCard and downloaded the guide, it works pretty well.

Shoot me an email if you have any specific questions and I'll try to answer them.

Mike

beerbrat - thanks very much for the positive review! I would be interested in knowing a bit more about your setup. I.e. what software are you using with your HDHRPrime? How many TV's are you running? We have 2 TVs in our setup (family room and bedroom), and my minimum requirements are:

1. Be able to watch live TV programs in both locations
2. Be able to watch recorded programs in at least the main (family room) location: the bedroom location would be a plus
3. Be able to schedule programming via a program guide (TWC or 3rd party)

and most important:

4. it has to be "wife friendly" (I know that sounds sexist, but my wife is the least sophisticated computer user in our household. If there is a steep learning curve, this probably isn't going to work for us)

Thanks again,

... and if it is, I will happily move to the right one. Anyway, we'll start with a brief intro.

I'm a long-time Time Warner Cable customer. Satellite isn't an option for us, and AT&T Uverse isn't offered in our neighborhood. I currently have the Whole House DVR option from TWC (Samsung DVR and Cisco remote box without storage), and while it works well enough, I've decided that in the near term, I want to "roll my own" DVR solution via hardware that I would purchase myself and use in conjunction with a CableCard rental. I've started researching the various options, and there seem to be quite a few choices: for tuners, there are the HDHomeRun Prime, Ceton InfiniTV 4 and Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650. For software, there's Windows Media Center and a bunch of others (MythTV, XBMC, MediaPortal, etc.)

Now, the purpose of this thread isn't "tell me which option(s) I should go with", although ultimately, I have to decided this. What I want to find out is this: has anyone out there already done this, specifically with TWC in the greater Milwaukee area? Are there any special considerations with regard to getting the CableCard working properly? Do they require a service person visit, or can I do it myself? I should mention here that I'm fairly technical: I know how to set up and install hardware and software, I have mostly Windows computers at home, but I'm not adverse to installing Linux (or something else) if that's the best way to go.

So to reiterate, I am mainly looking for success (or failure) stories from other folks who have already done what I'm trying to do with Time Warner Cable, so I can make more informed decisions.

Thanks in advance!

My 2 cents:

Searching on the cable box has always been a frustrating experience for me, especially having to use the cursor-based "keyboard" to enter my text. When I don't want to "go all the way to the computer" for a search, I use the TWC app on my tablet or iPod to find the show I want to record. There are versions available for iPod/Phone/Pad and for Android phones and tablets.

I agree with you that the search function on the cable box is limited and could be better. I just wanted to mention that the mobile device apps are another alternative, for folks who have them.

Quote from: budda;58992Have a friend who has RR. He uses a RR Samsung box no DVR. Has only a optical out on it. I ran the cable checked settings on his stereo unit and the cable box has anybody have any insight or is this a known issue. He will call for service he just wants to make sure it is not on his end. Has HDMI running to TV. Optical to stereo receiver.. Thanks

I don't have one of these, but here is something he should check. In the setup menus, there are options to pick what type of digital audio you are using: HDMI versus SPDIF/optical. There are also options for how the data is encoded (i.e. PCM, I forget the other choices). In the past when I was using the optical out, I had to mess around with these settings to get digital audio working. Today I am using HDMI exclusively (my receiver has HDMI in & out and handles the switching to my TV).

Good luck!

Quote from: newscutter;58624Finally!  IMO it looks great.  Very refreshing new look from the old grey.  

http://i.imgur.com/1PZ2g.jpg

It's hard to tell from your picture, but it looks like the program guide fills your entire wide screen. On my two cable boxes, the guide is in a 4:3 area with side-boxes.

Is there a setting to enable the guide & other screens to use my full 1920x1080 frame?

Quote from: ArgMeMatey;57934I noticed in this week's Menards ad that they are selling 100' RG6 Quad Shield that offers "3 times faster reception than standard RG6 coaxial".  (301-3777, page 9)

Impressive.  How exactly does that work, by the way?  

http://menards.inserts2online.com/loadServletXml.jsp?adId=38747&showFlash=true

I think they enrich the wire with some of those CERN neutrinos. ;-)

Quote from: WPXE ION;57329Last night around 7 a sales rep from TWC showed up at the door trying to get us to add phone service, cable, and upgrade our internet. Are they getting that desperate?

Anyone else have them show up?

We had a guy show up, and he actually convinced me to add RoadRunner and phone to my existing cable. His combined price was $35/mo less than my combined bills were before (I had AT&T land line & DSL), the price is guaranteed for the next 24 months, and no cancellation penalty if I change my mind. Plus I got new phone features (caller ID, etc.). Not a bad deal actually.

Quote from: oz;57136Has anyone tried this yet?

Announced yesterday, Time Warner Cable's iPad app arrived via iTunes as scheduled this morning to meet the rest of the pay-TV provider apps sporting its one key feature: live TV streaming of 32 cable channels.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/15/twcable-tv-app-for-ipad-now-available-but-dish-has-something-to/

Kind of sucks that they only support it on the iPad and not my iPod Touch 4th gen (which has almost the same resolution as the iPad - 960x640 pixels)

I don't have any experience with it, but Hauppauge makes a less expensive ($199) device that records from HD component video (but no HDMI):

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

Quote from: brewtownska;57039Thanks for the heads up guys!  With Dish Network's ability to remotely set programs to record, I can now watch this tonight.

Actually that works for TWC too. I just scheduled the recording for 1:30pm

Quote from: METROmilwaukee;53402I finally got my first box (tuner) from TWC integrated and activated. There should be no reason why it takes ~5 seconds for a channel to change. I've got some real viewing and usage adjustments to make now that we have been "upgraded." The rest of the software we are using via the tuner's User Interface is also very sloooooow.

Is there any way to cache or improve performance when interacting with the tuner they gave me?

It might not be just the box; your TV could be part of the delay. Some HDTVs take time to change resolutions when you change from a channel that is broadcasting 1080i vs. 720p vs 480 i/p. If you want to test this, change between two channels that are broadcasting at the same resolution (i.e. 504 and 512) and see how long the delay is. Now, change from channel 504 to 506, and see if the delay is the same.

If it's the same, I can't help you If it's different, you can minimize the delay by telling your cable box to always output in one resolution (i.e. 1080i), although this might not be desirable from a picture quality point of view on the 720p stations.

Anyone else have any better ideas?

Quote from: LoadStar;51746TiVo is a specific brand; the term you are looking for is DVR, or Digital Video Recorder.

TWC has two models they are using for (HD) DVR service; the Cisco (formerly Scientific Atlanta) 8300HDC and the Samsung SMT-H3090.

The DVR service is $8.95/mo, plus $7.95/mo box rental ($7.65 + .30 remote rental).

There is no other advantage to the DVR box, other than the DVR service.

Just a quick comment: the $7.95/mo for the box rental on the DVR is NOT in addition to what you are already paying to rent the 4250HDC you currently have. I.e. the monthly cost to rent the box is the same, regardless of whether you have a plain or DVR box. The cost difference between non-DVR and DVR service is just $8.95/mo.

Also, if I recall correctly, the 4250HDC (which I have on the bedroom TV) doesn't have two tuners, so you can't do PIP. The DVR box (which I have on the family room TV) lets me do that. It can be handy if there's a sports event on at the same time as a program you want to watch live.

Quote from: PaulKTF;51150How did you get to that link?

They don't make it easy to find, but you can get to that page via this route:

From the home page, click the "Learn" drop down, and then click "Programming". On the next page, click the Sports "Learn More" link. This displays a menu on the left that has "Legal Notices". Click that, and you are at the posted URL.

Maybe there's an easier path, but I couldn't find it.

Quote from: LoadStar;50716Heh - I was just watching Idol on my DVR, saw this commercial, and had to come here and see what everyone else's reaction was.

The problem is, it was somewhat of a self-defeating commercial, because when they show the banners like they did all stacked up on top of each other, FOX 6's banner doesn't look any different than the other networks they were ridiculing.

Well, in the screen capture here, the Fox banner is smaller, and doesn't have a "bug" that takes up the bottom 25% of the screen. Maybe that's the point they are trying to make with their "less is more" slogan.