[ariesmars]

changed to comcast and need a cable box for each TV??? What the hell for? You just need 1 descrambler (cable box) at the input of the coax cable and then split to all the tv's!!! How freaking stupid are cable companies, or more likely its just a hugh scam to 1. either sell and have more hardware/labor to keep employees busy. 2. to prevent recording and watching a different program at the same time, forcing use of other crap devices (tivo). I swear id rather do without tv, if i wasnt hook, then fall for this crap.

[nonightowl]

I wouldn't put it past them....I hate big companies like Time Warner and AT&T. And credit card companies are trying to sell you something too.

Greed, greed, greed... Yesterday I had to call the card company to just activate my credit card. Instead of it just being an automated process, it forces me to talk to someone who then goes into her sales pitch.

Speaking of cable, I wish we could just subscribe to the channels we actually WATCH instead of getting them in bundles!! I must have about 200 channels but don't even watch a quarter of them. And some of them have duplicate programming.

[AAAAA]

When I inquired about this very policy with our cable company they said to was to prevent programming theft. What? The same exact company in a MUCH larger town does not require a box for every tv (at the time my complaint was that it interferred with taping one show and watching another). The difference is the larger town has more competition. It is all about making money. You pay for rental, you pay for service to each box, and you pay to upgrade.

[lynn P.]

We don't have cable in our area but I think its a rip off when we did live in a different area. Used to have satellite but now we can't afford it so we just have plain old TV. What I'm thinking about getting and I think you should consider this if you like movies is get Netflix for less than $10 a month and you can get it through your computer or through your gaming system like Xbox or Wii. That's a much better deal IMO

[AAAAA]

I am very angry that Netflix is doubling their fees as of September 1st. I do not know if I am going to keep it after that. It is handy, but I may cancel on principle.

[ariesmars]

i only wantcertain channels that i watch like history channel, discover comedy central, pbs, nik at night, tbs and tv land are main channels. i only have a super nintendo and gameboy. i no interest in those other games systems. we had cable tv before we swithed to a deal that had interent, phone, and tv and i want to know who it was we had before for tv and my parents dont remember. thing is they dont remember anything anymore.

as for stealing cable..???i pay to have it into the house therefore i own it, why does it matter how many tvs i have in my house. the only way it could be stole is if the black cable is slip of and runs outside to another house, which the signal would degrade with length of cable. and a long black cable hanging outside or on ground would be noticed, its just not pratatical and neither are boxes for each TV!! GRRRR.....

[AAAAA]

The way it was explained to me by the cable company was that if they only used the single descrambler, I could run a cable to the neighbors and we'd all be getting the cable with one bill. It was a rural community and that would have been a long friggin cable! But as I said in a larger actual city, the same exact company offered the service I wanted. Neighbors were much closer together not to mention apartment buildings etc. so if there was going to be theft then it would seem to me that it would be more likely there. But they could not continue to compete with the other name brand companies with such an archaic set ups.

[ariesmars]

i guess one word. SCAM.

[wiprwill]

could not get rid of my tv I'm addicted to HGTV

[whenwillitend]

I've never even thought about that. We only have two tv's, and only the one upstairs has a Comcast cable box. The one downstairs only gets basic cable.
I could never get rid of cable tv, I love watching tv in the evenings when the kids are in bed, it's relaxing, and it doesn't require me to be too awake.

[nonightowl]

I've heard of "cable splitters", but I didn't know this means I can have just one cable box, and not one for each TV? I mean boxes for cable itself, not a converter box for over-the-air TV. Of course this wouldn't tell people this.

Does anyone have a way they can access their DVR listings from any TV/room? If so, how is this done? As it stands now, I only have a DVR in the living room, but I can only watch the programs in there. I don't know how they would "send" the list to the other TV. With a cable splitter??? I've seen commercials for it, but I can't read the fine print of course.

And there's no competition here anymore. Time Warner is the only cable company around here now. There used to be more, but it seemed they served only certain areas. Now it seems TWC "ate" them all up, like some big monster.

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by nonightowl

I've heard of "cable splitters", but I didn't know this means I can have just one cable box, and not one for each TV? I mean boxes for cable itself, not a converter box for over-the-air TV. Of course this wouldn't tell people this.

Does anyone have a way they can access their DVR listings from any TV/room? If so, how is this done? As it stands now, I only have a DVR in the living room, but I can only watch the programs in there. I don't know how they would "send" the list to the other TV. With a cable splitter??? I've seen commercials for it, but I can't read the fine print of course.

And there's no competition here anymore. Time Warner is the only cable company around here now. There used to be more, but it seemed they served only certain areas. Now it seems TWC "ate" them all up, like some big monster.

As it was explained to me, you need to have special boxes in the other rooms. For DTV it is the HD boxes and pay for HD on every TV. Then you can record on one and it accesses all TVs. I believe the way they do it via the splitter at the point of entry.

[nonightowl]

Thanks, AAAA. I knew you must need additional boxes to access the DVR listings from any TV or room. What is DTV? Digital cable? And this convenience of accessing the DVR list is only available with HD????

Otherwise, someone told me with a cable splitter, you can't control the TV's independent of that box. I mean, you could have 3 TV's hooked up to just one box, but they all have to be tuned to that same channel. And if you want to change the channel, you have to do it from the "main room (where the box is)". No remote control channel changing! I know I wouldn't like that.

And if someone has kids who want to watch one thing in one room, and the adults want to see something else in the other room, you'd have to have separate boxes for each TV. Or everyone is forced to watch the same thing.

[seeker1950]

Originally Posted by ariesmars

changed to comcast and need a cable box for each TV??? What the hell for? You just need 1 descrambler (cable box) at the input of the coax cable and then split to all the tv's!!! How freaking stupid are cable companies, or more likely its just a hugh scam to 1. either sell and have more hardware/labor to keep employees busy. 2. to prevent recording and watching a different program at the same time, forcing use of other crap devices (tivo). I swear id rather do without tv, if i wasnt hook, then fall for this crap.

I was paying over $100 for cable. I cancelled cable, but kept my highspeed Internet from same company (Suddenlink). I found, because I kept the highspeed Internet, I can still pick up some basic cable channels...not many, mind you, just the three basic networks and PBS, but, hey...I was disgusted by the offerings on all the "extended package" channels I was paying for, so this is okay.

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by nonightowl

Thanks, AAAA. I knew you must need additional boxes to access the DVR listings from any TV or room. What is DTV? Digital cable? And this convenience of accessing the DVR list is only available with HD????

Otherwise, someone told me with a cable splitter, you can't control the TV's independent of that box. I mean, you could have 3 TV's hooked up to just one box, but they all have to be tuned to that same channel. And if you want to change the channel, you have to do it from the "main room (where the box is)". No remote control channel changing! I know I wouldn't like that.

And if someone has kids who want to watch one thing in one room, and the adults want to see something else in the other room, you'd have to have separate boxes for each TV. Or everyone is forced to watch the same thing.

DTV = Direct TV. There are boxes out there that have extended remote capability. That is one of the “perks” that Dish Network claims. Through DTV we have four boxes for four TVs. Dish says that they will save us money because we will only need two boxes. But you see the problem both have DVR capabilities which means you have access to three things. You can record two things at once (watching either or watching a previously recorded show).

We have in the past had several TVs hooked up to a single box. But as you mentioned every TV must watch the same channel, and the quality of the picture does suffer.

I miss good cable, I would much prefer it to DTV. The cable company available to us currently has the “new” system that the programs are unlocked at the point of entry and all TVs have access to all programing. BUT their service really sucks. Anything above channel 30 on this side of town has poor reception, on the other it is below 30. It was very frustrating.

[nonightowl]

AAAA, what do you mean by access to three things, with just two boxes? (But you have 4 TV's, right?) I always get DirecTV and Dish Network mixed up for some reason. They are both satellite providers, maybe that's why.

With the DVR, I can record two things at once, and I found out by accident that I can watch something that I recorded while both tuners are busy recording. I've seen commercials for boxes that can record 4 programs at once, but there's not that many things I want to record.

[racee]

$160 this month.(for phone internet and cable) ohh... back in the good ol' days when i was jus a teenager living in a crappy apartment in a bad part of town no money, hardly any food, and FREE cable with all the cahnnels thanks to our neighbor who unknowingly loaned us the line and my cousin who used to work for at&t.

i don't even have hd yet and i'm looking at the prices for that they are charging more! how about those 3d channels starting up. i watched a movie from someone who had a 3d t.v. and it's cool yeah but i'm one of those where my eyes hurt and everything is real fuzzy for awhile after i take the glasses off. it confuses my eyesite really bad (i don't know if far sitedness has anything to do with it. (don't know why would)

i want a dvr again but that will be $10 more

[eskielover]

I live on a farm out in the country. My only phone is my cell phone because AT& T was going to charge me a pole charge for haing a land line. I decided NOT to have any TV at all. I didn't bring one from California & didn't have money to buy one. The owners before me had sattelite TV. The only internet we can get is something that is transmitted to our houses from the equipment on top of our water towers to the antenna's on top of our house. Works ok except in bad weather. I would rather live in the country than have TV any day.

[nonightowl]

Originally Posted by racee

$160 this month.(for phone internet and cable) ohh... back in the good ol' days when i was jus a teenager living in a crappy apartment in a bad part of town no money, hardly any food, and FREE cable with all the cahnnels thanks to our neighbor who unknowingly loaned us the line and my cousin who used to work for at&t.

i don't even have hd yet and i'm looking at the prices for that they are charging more! how about those 3d channels starting up. i watched a movie from someone who had a 3d t.v. and it's cool yeah but i'm one of those where my eyes hurt and everything is real fuzzy for awhile after i take the glasses off. it confuses my eyesite really bad (i don't know if far sitedness has anything to do with it. (don't know why would)

i want a dvr again but that will be $10 more

3D gives me headaches! Like you, I feel sort of sick afterwards, and I'm prone to motion sickness anyway (Can't read in a moving vehicle or while walking on a treadmill like some people can)

Time Warner promotes their HD programming as free, but of course you need an HD TV and HD box, which ISN'T free...My box that has a DVR is HD capable, but I have a regular TV. It works fine and meets my needs....They want you to spend more money. They do charge additional fees for having a DVR on a box.

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by nonightowl

AAAA, what do you mean by access to three things, with just two boxes? (But you have 4 TV's, right?) I always get DirecTV and Dish Network mixed up for some reason. They are both satellite providers, maybe that's why.

With the DVR, I can record two things at once, and I found out by accident that I can watch something that I recorded while both tuners are busy recording. I've seen commercials for boxes that can record 4 programs at once, but there's not that many things I want to record.

With a DVR you have three choices of what to watch. If you are recording Channel 1 and Channel 2 you can watch either of those OR something that you previously recorded.

[nonightowl]

Originally Posted by AAAAA

With a DVR you have three choices of what to watch. If you are recording Channel 1 and Channel 2 you can watch either of those OR something that you previously recorded.

Yeah, that's what I meant above. It was an accident that I discovered that. I thought that with both tuners recording something, I cannot watch anything other than one of those two channels.

I may be wrong about this, but I think the DVR list is physically stored on a disk in the box? This is why I wonder how the list could be "shared" with the other TV? As it is now, I can only watch DVR stuff from that TV it's connected to.

Right now I don't want to talk to the cable company. But someday I will want to ask them how I can do this. Also, I noticed with HD (I don't have HD), you can't record as much on the DVR. Apparently, HD programming takes up way more space.

It can store 90 hours of standard programming, or only 20 hours of HD. I think that sucks. 20 hours is not even an entire season of a show.

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by nonightowl

Yeah, that's what I meant above. It was an accident that I discovered that. I thought that with both tuners recording something, I cannot watch anything other than one of those two channels.

I may be wrong about this, but I think the DVR list is physically stored on a disk in the box? This is why I wonder how the list could be "shared" with the other TV? As it is now, I can only watch DVR stuff from that TV it's connected to.

Right now I don't want to talk to the cable company. But someday I will want to ask them how I can do this. Also, I noticed with HD (I don't have HD), you can't record as much on the DVR. Apparently, HD programming takes up way more space.

It can store 90 hours of standard programming, or only 20 hours of HD. I think that sucks. 20 hours is not even an entire season of a show.

I think the amount of hours you can record depends entirely on the unit you buy. I was VERY angry to buy my own DTV DVR (they have never given us ANY free equipment) and my mother was given one by DTV that can literally hold 10 times what mine can. (Neither of us uses HD)

[nonightowl]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think Time Warner sells their boxes to customers at all. You lease them every month, but it's always their equipment. The downside to having to purchase the box is that I would have to take care of any repairs it needs, since it's not their equipment. I don't know if I'd want to do that.

A friend told me there's a way I can expand the space in the DVR without dealing with them, but right now I'm "making do" with it.

I didn't think about how much space I would need, and I thought they are all the same anyway! Now I know better, LOL. At the time I asked for a DVR, I didn't specifically say how much recording time I needed. Besides, at that time I didn't even know yet.

This same friend has DirecTV, and the DVR can hold 200 hours of programming, compared with my measly 90!

I don't know if I'm going to want to get a box with more space. Right now, I don't feel like dealing with the cable company.

[nonightowl]

I know this thread doesn't seem to be active anymore, but this is a good place to vent about the DVR from Time Warner. BTW, thanks for starting this thread, Aries.

You can't just "set it & forget it". You have to baby sit it. I found out it goes by what's in the program listings, and if the network makes a last minute change, the DVR still "thinks" it's recording the right show.

Case in point: Blue Bloods is on Fridays at 10pm. On Oct 28th, they aired something else, but the DVR still recorded it since the listings still said Blue Bloods.

The next week, Nov 4th, they aired the episode they SHOULD have on Oct 28th, but because the DVR "thought" it already recorded it, it didn't record it. Pissed me off. It was listed as "new" which it is, and I have it set to record only new episodes. But it "thought" it was a repeat since it was "aired" last week according to the DVR.

It also happens with reminders. If you have it set to remind you to watch Desperate Housewives, and something else airs in that place, it will stop remind you EVEN when the program listings ARE updated! So you see a reminder to watch some program you don't want to watch. In that case, I think the reminders are going by the day & time of the reminder, not the program you want to remember.

Thankfully, I discovered the Blue Bloods I missed is available On Demand. That way I don't have to wait for the STUPID NETWORK to show the rerun. I hate it when they make those last minute changes, and the DVR isn't smart enough to detect it, or they can't update the listings. Surely the technology exists to do it.

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by nonightowl

I know this thread doesn't seem to be active anymore, but this is a good place to vent about the DVR from Time Warner. BTW, thanks for starting this thread, Aries.

You can't just "set it & forget it". You have to baby sit it. I found out it goes by what's in the program listings, and if the network makes a last minute change, the DVR still "thinks" it's recording the right show.

Case in point: Blue Bloods is on Fridays at 10pm. On Oct 28th, they aired something else, but the DVR still recorded it since the listings still said Blue Bloods.

The next week, Nov 4th, they aired the episode they SHOULD have on Oct 28th, but because the DVR "thought" it already recorded it, it didn't record it. Pissed me off. It was listed as "new" which it is, and I have it set to record only new episodes. But it "thought" it was a repeat since it was "aired" last week according to the DVR.

It also happens with reminders. If you have it set to remind you to watch Desperate Housewives, and something else airs in that place, it will stop remind you EVEN when the program listings ARE updated! So you see a reminder to watch some program you don't want to watch. In that case, I think the reminders are going by the day & time of the reminder, not the program you want to remember.

Thankfully, I discovered the Blue Bloods I missed is available On Demand. That way I don't have to wait for the STUPID NETWORK to show the rerun. I hate it when they make those last minute changes, and the DVR isn't smart enough to detect it, or they can't update the listings. Surely the technology exists to do it.

This is not unique to TW. I have DTV and it is a crap shoot whether a CBS show will be properly recorded. Some shows or games run long and I get 15 minutes of the 1 hour program that I wanted to watch. I went to watch House a couple weeks ago. I have NO idea what program it recorded, but it definately wasn't House! It seems to me that there used to be a DVR that used these problems as a selling point. That "their" DVR tracked your show. Right now my DVR is set to record 15 minutes before and after a show to increase my chances of getting a whole program.