TimeWarnerCable may pass satellite in HD channels

[ignatius]

Yes, but it's mo betta now.  At least I had problems recording over firewire and it now works flawlessly.

[phuqueue]

That's great news.  Damn TCM usually keeps my DVR nearly full and I've got a 750 gig external hard drive just sitting around mostly empty.  I had always heard that the ports were disabled so I never even bothered to try.

[ignatius]

^Needs to be a 3Gbps SATA drive with eSATA connection.  IDE won't work.

[ignatius]

For firewire recording,  you need to add drivers to computer to use the cable box..

http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/

Only for the technically competent.  Load drivers above, DVR content first, play into VLC via firewire, optionally convert to DVD with Nero Vision or other DVD maker.

Again, TWC does not support firewire or eSATA connections.  Don't call them about it or they may shut it off.

[Cyclops]

This is only half true.  Old movies can definitely do HD.  Film is an analog format, so you can't really directly compare it to digital HD, but the level of detail captured (and thus the theoretically possible resolution of the digital image) by 35mm film stock far surpasses digital 1080p.  Old TV shows that were shot on video are doomed to an eternity of blurry, grainy SD hell, but anything that was shot on film can absolutely be remastered in true HD.

HD Video gets compared to film all the time. Film still wins in my book, but I'm a bit biased, although the advances in technology with HD and 4K are creeping up. Look up the RED camera, the Thomson VIPER, etc.

http://www.red.com/

http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/produ ... iper/ 

There is actually more DETAIL in HD then film. (I consider detail the amount of crap I see on an actors face) Film has much more LATITUDE than video which means that it has 5-6 stops of usable range living on the negative. Film has a much more ORGANIC feel than HD which is what most people react to when they can't put their finger on why they like film better. HD video shot with the standard zoom lenses and especially digi primes (digital prime lenses made by fujinon or Zeiss) is very crisp. Actors hate them. "You can see my wrinkles"

Grain is inherent to film not video. Video has no grain. just noise.

The RED camera, which uses a full 35 mm gate and can capture up to 4K, is the closest I have ever seen to the look of film. But more importantly it utilzes 35 mm film lenses which gives the camera a depth of field comparable to film cameras. It also outputs direct to hard drive (no tape) which makes it a real workflow quagmire for most of the post houses.

The world, it is a changing....

[KC0KEK]

Interesting stuff, Cyclops. Sounds as if you work in that industry.

I read an article yesterday that said the Blu-ray release of Patton is stunning because the film was shot in 65 mm.

[DaveKCMO]

Another 11 are tunable but not active yet.  Should be coming any day now.
1014 TBS HD
1023 Science HD
1040 The Learning Channel HD
1044 CNN HD
1050 Travel HD
1055 Golf HD
1057 Animal Planet HD
1060 Fox News HD
1202 Outdoor HD
1217 Biography HD
1226 Planet Green HD

these are all active now.

[LenexatoKCMO]

these are all active now.

Sometimes 

[ignatius]

More HD likely coming by end of next month (possibly sooner) after they free up some bandwidth on low def channels.  KC/TWC has more HD channels than all other TWC markets at the moment as it is, except for NYC market, which is about the same.

Here's a comparison of most HD providers, which should give an indication what is coming soon to TWC.  KC has nearly all of the 'limited' rollout channels.

[DaveKCMO]

Sometimes 

yes, i've seen channels switch to the "call to order" screen, but that's usually fixed when i turn off/on the cable box.

[LenexatoKCMO]

yes, i've seen channels switch to the "call to order" screen, but that's usually fixed when i turn off/on the cable box.

Yeah I get that and sometimes I get the "unavailable at this time, try again later" message.  Sometimes its just a black screen.  None of our on demand channels have worked since the "upgrade" either.  I am scared to try turning the box off since it took it 3+ days to reboot last time. 

[ignatius]

I'm not having any issues at all.  I wonder if there is different behavior based on model of box.  I have the SA8300HDC DVR.  It could also possibly be related to signal strength/quality.

[49r]

I have TiVoHD and haven't seen any new HD channels yet, am I to infer by this that the new HD channels are SDV then (even though TWCKC has sent several letters to me inferring that SDV will not be used on HD channels just yet)?  I'm hoping the "tuning resolver" comes this fall as promised...

Anybody else using TiVoHD boxes that can share their experiences?

[ignatius]

Yes, the Tivo users are out of luck until they come out with the resolver.  SDV-capable and two-way CableCard boxes have been out of quite a while.  Tivo seems to be taking their time and is not keeping up.

[KCPowercat]

actually aren't  the cable companies supposed to provide the converter so those using cable cards can see all programming?  that's what my friend with tivo told me.

[KC0KEK]

actually aren't  the cable companies supposed to provide the converter so those using cable cards can see all programming? 

I don't think so. For customers, part of Cable Card's attraction is that cable ops charge less for them (e.g., $3/month for a CC vs. $5/month for a set-top box). Plus, most households will have at least one STB, so they can watch programming there that they can't watch on a TV with only a CC.

[KCPowercat]

its part of the fcc ruling that customers should have a choice other than renting stb boxes from cable companies...and get full capabilities 

[ignatius]

It's Tivo's problem from what I understand.  They don't have two-way capable boxes, which is required to do SDV. 

[KCPowercat]

there are devices that sit between the cable and a tivo for the switched video to work...not sure who has to provide those.

[ignatius]

I believe TWC only provide the cablecards, not the tuners.  Not sure.