 WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22
1 edit | DTA's and encryption - A message from WOW! Hi. My name is Dan Della Terza and I am a WOW! employee. I’m part of the Engineering team and work in our Network Operations Center. I was asked to be the “official” WOW! spokesperson here on this forum by our CTO and others in the company in order to help provide any insight and answers as I am able to. I plan to check in periodically to see what topics are of interest and being discussed, and will chime in wherever it makes sense.
At the moment I know our digital transition is a hot topic with lots of questions about what are we doing with encryption. As you know, Cleveland is our first market where we have started to drop and add channels. Obviously you guys know that we are currently encrypting our signals there. Having heard our customers with QAM tuner TVs raise their concerns about that, we have changed our position. So for customers who live in Columbus, Michigan, Illinois and Evansville this won’t be a problem when we get to your markets. If any of you living in Cleveland have a QAM tuner TV, we are working on a solution and should have it ready in a couple of weeks. At that point the channels that we’re converting will be in the clear and you can go back to using your QAM tuner TV without a digital adapter hooked up to it. You’ll also be able to see your local broadcast HD channels without an A/B switch. If you want us to notify you directly after we unencrypt, please send your email address and phone number to Larry Burruel at l_burruel20@wideopenwest.com and we’ll get you taken care of. We know this part of the process wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked, but we are listening to our customers and working to improve things.
I can’t necessarily check in everyday, but I will as often as I can. Thanks for your patience as we get through the digital transition. When it’s completed we’ll about double the number of HD channels available and we’ll have positioned ourselves to be able to introduce some really great new services in the future that I’ll be excited to share with you in the next couple of months. |
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mtoy
join:2005-08-08
Troy, MI | This is fabulous! We spent some time yesterday going through channels to see what we were going to get after we dropped WOW cable, with this news we won't be leaving. Thank you Dan, and thank you WOW for listening to your customers! |
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Does this mean that the letter that I received in the mail instructing me to order a DTA, which I did, receiving 2 when I only ordered 1, installing the DTA won't be needed now for my 42' Visio? |
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as for new HD why no plan for CSN + HD you where able to add fsn detroit + HD be for the analog cuts there so why not after them in IL?
as for clear QAM HD some systems also put wgn america HD (part of Basic) in clear QAM HD as well
any planes to add CLTV SD? and or CLTV HD? |
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amungusPremium
join:2004-11-26
America | reply to WOW_Dan
Did I read this right? Am I awake? A cable company that is going clear QAM for channels that people subscribe to so that not every TV needs a box?!
Holy crap I wish Cox would take a look at this post and consider doing the same! |
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WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22 | reply to go blue
said by go blue :Does this mean that the letter that I received in the mail instructing me to order a DTA, which I did, receiving 2 when I only ordered 1, installing the DTA won't be needed now for my 42' Visio?
You will not need the DTA for your 42" Vizio, as long as it has a built in QAM tuner. Feel free to use the DTA on another television, or return it to WOW if you do not need it.
said by Joe12345678:as for new HD why no plan for CSN + HD you where able to add fsn detroit + HD be for the analog cuts there so why not after them in IL?
as for clear QAM HD some systems also put wgn america HD (part of Basic) in clear QAM HD as well
any planes to add CLTV SD? and or CLTV HD? We are working on adding channels all the time, but I do not know any specific channel additions that aren't already scheduled. I will pass your request along for those channels though. You can also request channel additions through our website at »www.wowway.com/cable-tv-service/···channel/. |
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All I can say, is THANK YOU!!! |
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I have received and set up the digital adapter for my HDTV this morning. I am not happy with the results. While the cable channels reception is working fine, I'm not too f**king happy to be stuck with an inferior WOW remote control, the ability to change channels, the slow-down transition from channel to channel (took about less than 2 seconds to change channels), and the ability to screen the channels digitally in 480 format. POOR, POOR QUALITY!!! 
My Tobisha 32" HDTV is already designed to receive 720" and 1080i" formats in HD. Before I got the digital adapter hooked, I was able to watch the HD basic channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX and the CW). Now with the DA hooked, I cannot see them and I'm forced to watch the basic channels in the inferior quality 480 format!!
I prefer to flip channels with my Tobisha remote control and it's much faster to change channels with it than with the WOW remote control. Worst, with the DA hooked up, I have few channels that I do NOT wanted to flip through or watch. From my Tobisha TV menu setting, I can remove few channels that I'm not interesting in.
Please bring back the ability to send HD basic channels to my TV under the DA and the ability to remove few channels I'm not interesting in or flipping through.
A dissatisfied and displeased WOW customer in Columbus, subscribed to Basic Cable and 2 Mbps package. |
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steven sPremium
join:2002-09-14
Dearborn, MI Reviews:
 ·WOW Internet and..
 ·AT&T U-Verse
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Props to WOW for actually listening to their customers. When Detroit gets a competitive HD lineup in a few months, I will probably switch over to WOW.
Anyone know of any plans for a whole-home DVR? That's one thing I love about my U-verse and wouldn't want to give up. |
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| Seems like WOW will be fulfilling all your wishes  .
»New receiver in the works (finally) |
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steven sPremium
join:2002-09-14
Dearborn, MI Reviews:
·WOW Internet and..
·AT&T U-Verse
| Awesome! There was this annoyingly persistent WOW rep who visited my house probably 5 times after moving in (kept on saying I was in a contract with AT&T, but he never gave up). When WOW upgrades their HD lineup in May, if he's still with WOW, he'll be getting a call. |
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WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22 | reply to robwow24
said by robwow24:Please bring back the ability to send HD basic channels to my TV under the DA and the ability to remove few channels I'm not interesting in or flipping through.
You will no longer need that DTA on your TV if it has a digital QAM tuner in it. If you were able to receive all your basic and HD channels before without an adapter, you can remove the DTA and return it to WOW. Only older analog televisions without digital QAM tuners will require those adapters. This is exactly one of the situations we're hearing about from our customers, and that's what this change is intended to fix. |
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| Then, if I remove the DTA from my TV, would I still be able to view the channels in the digital format starting today with the Digital Transition??
Thanks. |
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WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22 | said by robwow24:Then, if I remove the DTA from my TV, would I still be able to view the channels in the digital format starting today with the Digital Transition??
Thanks.
I can not speak for your TV, as models vary. If you were previously getting all your basic channels and local HD's without a DTA, then you will no longer require the DTA. To make sure a TV is compatible, check any manuals or the company website to see if your model includes a digital QAM tuner. Most sets made in the past few years will have one. |
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1 edit | Okay, I will check out my TV after I remove the DTA. When I received a letter from WOW about Digital Transition, it didn't address anything about subscribers having old analog TVs and WOW assumed that I have one, despite the fact I told WOW more than a year ago that I have a HDTV that is able to broadcast HD channels. The letter made me assumed that as long as I have Basic Package (not Digital Value), I would not be able to view the channels after the digital transition/conversion and that I should get a DTA as soon as possible. 
UPDATE: I removed the DTA, turned on the TV and got channels 53 to 93 all color bars with message that each of these channels has been transitioned to a digital format. I assume that happened after I activated the DTA at WOW website this morning. Now calling WOW customer support.  |
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DennisDPremium
join:2003-08-30
united state | reply to WOW_Dan
Thank you, thank you, thank you! |
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amungusPremium
join:2004-11-26
America Reviews:
·KCH Cable
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to WOW_Dan
This topic is very interesting to me - can you clarify that clear QAM channels are above and beyond "basic" ones, such as "expanded basic" channels on most systems, such as SyFy, History, CNN, TBS, etc???
Either way, props to doing something awesome. QAM tuners are as "cable ready" in the digital era as anyone has, so far, and it's nice to read about a cable company that realizes this  |
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WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22 | reply to robwow24
said by robwow24:Okay, I will check out my TV after I remove the DTA. When I received a letter from WOW about Digital Transition, it didn't address anything about subscribers having old analog TVs and WOW assumed that I have one, despite the fact I told WOW more than a year ago that I have a HDTV that is able to broadcast HD channels. The letter made me assumed that as long as I have Basic Package (not Digital Value), I would not be able to view the channels after the digital transition/conversion and that I should get a DTA as soon as possible.
UPDATE: I removed the DTA, turned on the TV and got channels 53 to 93 all color bars with message that each of these channels has been transitioned to a digital format. I assume that happened after I activated the DTA at WOW website this morning. Now calling WOW customer support.
You may need to do a channel scan in order to pick up the channels on their digital frequencies. You're probably seeing color bars on the old analog channels. |
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WOW_DanPremium
join:2011-03-24
Naperville, IL
kudos:22 | reply to amungus
said by amungus:This topic is very interesting to me - can you clarify that clear QAM channels are above and beyond "basic" ones, such as "expanded basic" channels on most systems, such as SyFy, History, CNN, TBS, etc???
Either way, props to doing something awesome. QAM tuners are as "cable ready" in the digital era as anyone has, so far, and it's nice to read about a cable company that realizes this
The basic channels that will be broadcast on clear QAM will be everything in the 2-99 range as well as the local HD channels. This does include the SD versions of those channels you listed, but not their HD versions. |
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1 edit | reply to WOW_Dan
Oh, my Lord, channel scan...
UPDATE: Channel scan is done, picked up several digital frequencies. Didn't work, still have color bars on channels 53 to 93. |
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