drslash
Goya Asma
Premium
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA
| reply to Anonymous
Re: [Cable TV] Des Moines - Headend issues & Mediacom's Response
said by Anonymous  :I think they are simply not focusing on analog service any more... Mediacom does this at their own peril.
There will be major changes/shifts in consumers wants and needs for TV service over the next few years. There is nothing in Mediacom's history to convince me that they will be any where near the leading edge. Their history tells me that they will be lagging in fulfilling consumer's aspirations for a superior TV service and lagging in robust technology to deliver service.
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Save water...drink beer! |
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The wait
@mchsi.com
| reply to Turbocpe
You guys are lucky i can't even get them to come to my house. They schedule a time, I have to take off work to wait around from 8-12pm for them and they never show up, then make some lame excuse about why they never showed up and then they reschedule and we do the whole thing over again and again. Not only do I know have service but I'm loosing money because I have to take off work to wait for a guy who never shows up. Can't we do mass reporting to the BBB or something? |
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maintech
join:2008-05-18
Des Moines, IA
 ·Mediacom
| reply to Turbocpe
I too live in Des Moines yet I have had very few of the issues that have been discussed here. I have had occasions of tiling and snow but these almost always occur around 2-3 am when most folks are in bed. These instances also almost always coordinate wit comlete outages on other channels so I just assume that they are related to maintenance of some kind. I can also say that very few times have these issues been bad enough to cause problems with my television viewing. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| said by maintech :I too live in Des Moines yet I have had very few of the issues that have been discussed here. I have had occasions of tiling and snow but these almost always occur around 2-3 am when most folks are in bed. These instances also almost always coordinate wit comlete outages on other channels so I just assume that they are related to maintenance of some kind. I can also say that very few times have these issues been bad enough to cause problems with my television viewing. I have to admit that as of late, it isn't as bad as what it used to be. Not sure how long you have been keeping track or have had the service, but based on the messages I received offsite from this thread, as well as the responses in this, it pretty clear to me that it was widely noticed and experienced in a rather long time frame by other viewers. |
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maintech
join:2008-05-18
Des Moines, IA
·Mediacom
| Been here for 3 years and have had mediacom cable and HSI from day one. I assume I am on the same headend as everyone else but i really have had very few problems over the time I have been here, atleast problems I can blame on MC. Back last fall I had several alot of distortion for about a week, But I found several problems with the splitter at the line entrance, loose connection on two cable lines and the ground was pulled off. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
1 edit | said by maintech :Been here for 3 years and have had mediacom cable and HSI from day one. I assume I am on the same headend as everyone else but i really have had very few problems over the time I have been here, atleast problems I can blame on MC. Back last fall I had several alot of distortion for about a week, But I found several problems with the splitter at the line entrance, loose connection on two cable lines and the ground was pulled off. I had asked since you are a newer member. Welcome. I've had cable TV & Internet for the past 10 years - back when it was being served by AT&T/@Home.
I would gather since you are in Des Moines, you would have noticed the same issues. Some of the City Council members throughout Des Moines area, and people speaking to them, had acknowledged of this exact issue - so it was definately widespread and occurred enough times to raise awareness. |
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maintech
join:2008-05-18
Des Moines, IA | Maybe I just watch TV at the wrong times, but I have not really noticed any major problems, Or possibly I am just used to much worse. Like the Comcast service I had in KY prior to moving into the Mediacom service area. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| reply to Turbocpe
Well since this thread got bumped to the top, and because there is another outage, thought I'd mention that the following channels starting breaking up, then went offline and have been offline for several minutes now:
17
23
29
30
31
43
Channel 43 is the only one showing "No Signal" while the rest are simply black. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| reply to Turbocpe
Well, looks like the some of these issues are back, again.
17
23
24
25
27
28
29
30
31
33
37
41
42
53
54
55
69
71
72
77
Are all the channels that are off-air, and have been off-air, for a while now.
Of course this is on the "analog-only" extended package. |
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OldCableGuy
@mchsi.com
| I've followed this thread for a long time. I didn't have similar issues with the transition to a digital headend & delivery in Cedar Rapids, but I had plenty of other ones. The only thing I can say, is to vote with your wallet. Get basic services from Dish or DirecTV if you can, it might cost a bit more to get boxes for each TV, but Mediacom has no incentive to fix these issues until people are fed up and do something about it. |
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drslash
Goya Asma
Premium
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA
| reply to Turbocpe
I reported several issues out of the Cedar Rapids head end up thread in May. Since then the digital issues have subsided. There is a problem that persists and is sporadic; video audio sync. Many channels at a time will have very noticeable and very annoying loss of sync between the video and audio. It seems that the sync can be off by about 1 second some times which is very annoying and will continue for hours at a time.
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Save water...drink beer! |
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wth
Premium
join:2002-02-20
Iowa City, IA
·Mediacom
| reply to OldCableGuy
said by OldCableGuy :
I didn't have similar issues with the transition to a digital headend & delivery in Cedar Rapids
Get basic services from Dish or DirecTV if you can
It was never really a problem in Iowa City, and as for Direct, watch out as they don't have an retrans agreement with KCRG, so no ABC-HD.
I cured one persons problem with Direct last Sat as this person has mediacom hsi & phone. Just needed to connect mediacom cable to his tv cable jack, he's happy now. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| reply to drslash
said by drslash :I reported several issues out of the Cedar Rapids head end up thread in May. Since then the digital issues have subsided. There is a problem that persists and is sporadic; video audio sync. Many channels at a time will have very noticeable and very annoying loss of sync between the video and audio. It seems that the sync can be off by about 1 second some times which is very annoying and will continue for hours at a time. We had that issue many times. I'm not a lip reader, but that was pretty annoying and distracting issue to have.
One issue that I don't see disappearing, and I guess is the disadvantage of digital and not exactly a Mediacom issue, is the pixelation. I'm guessing this is due to high compression. It's very noticable on the Discovery channel, and in fast-motion scenes.
Overall, I admit the issues with the head-end analog/digital haven't been as bad, lately. But we still experience periods of time where blocks of channels break up and freeze, or go completely offair. Because this happens on "family extended"/"analog-only" package, it's not a customer's signal levels or equipment. |
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wth
Premium
join:2002-02-20
Iowa City, IA
·Mediacom
| reply to Turbocpe
You'll find most lip sinc issues were the fault of the local channels equiptment in eastern Ia and not the cable companys. Even ota was affected. Go here: »www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···&page=74 and do a search for "lip" for eastern Iowa issues. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| said by wth :You'll find most lip sinc issues were the fault of the local channels equiptment in eastern Ia and not the cable companys. Even ota was affected. Go here: » www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···&page=74 and do a search for "lip" for eastern Iowa issues. None of my "locals" had the audio/video sync issue. SpikeTV is one of the channels that Mediacom had with audio/video sync issues. There was a few other 20's channels here in DSM, but nothing "local". |
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drslash
Goya Asma
Premium
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA | I agree, I have not seen the locals with bad sync. I have seen CNN, Fox News, VH1, CNBC, MSNBC, and a few others with bad sync.
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Save water...drink beer! |
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JasonU
join:2006-01-06
Memphis, TN
| reply to OldCableGuy
said by OldCableGuy :
I've followed this thread for a long time. I didn't have similar issues with the transition to a digital headend & delivery in Cedar Rapids, but I had plenty of other ones. The only thing I can say, is to vote with your wallet. Get basic services from Dish or DirecTV if you can, it might cost a bit more to get boxes for each TV, but Mediacom has no incentive to fix these issues until people are fed up and do something about it.
I have to agree with this. I recently moved from Iowa, and decided to go with DirecTV over the local cable franchise. I wished I'd made the switch years ago in Iowa. I'm so much happier, and paying (even with box lease fees) about the same amount of money I paid for Extended (analog) basic, and I get HD channels and digital SD channels that all look better than the fuzzy poor PQ I put up with for years in DSM. Not only that, but I was able to get 1 HD (not a PVR) and 2 SD boxes free, no upfront cost.
I've also not had to put up with the constant cablebox issues I read about on here.
I do have to say, there is an occasional sync problem with a few channels (usually FX), but it's never more than a few hours at a time, instead of days like with Mediacom. |
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Scott72
join:2008-01-02
Mcgregor, IA
1 edit | reply to wth
said by wth :said by OldCableGuy :
I didn't have similar issues with the transition to a digital headend & delivery in Cedar Rapids
Get basic services from Dish or DirecTV if you can
and as for Direct, watch out as they don't have an retrans agreement with KCRG, so no ABC-HD. That's an easy fix. If you're not able to get KCRG's signal via OTA, then you're eligible for the digital distant New York HD feed. Just had mine turned on a few days ago. All locals are in HD now. Life is good. |
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