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Konaguy
Live From Hawaii
Premium Member
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom

Konaguy to swintec

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to swintec

Re: TWC rollout of New National Lineup information

My parents bought a HDTV recently, but didn't want a STB out in the living room. They were using a built-in QAM tuner, which seriously hindered the amount of HD channels they could receive.

I picked up a Digital Transport Adapter at Oceanic's Kona office last week. Its only .99 cents a month to rent and allows my parents to watch more HD channels. It won't pick up any SDV channels though.

mm
I Did It My Way
Premium Member
join:2001-04-07
Summerville, SC

mm to motorola870

Premium Member

to motorola870
I was disappointed that TWC could not remap our favorites when they changed the channel lineup. What's worse is the new lineup is retarded in some areas. Why would History and H2 not be next to each other? Why is the CW not with the other local channels? I wish the Favorites would allow us to customize the order of the channels.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

Happydude32

Premium Member

Like I said a page or two ago, the new TW NCL is really one of the best organized line ups around. I absolutely love that they did not place MTV/MTV2/VH1 with the music channels. Although I personally think VH1 Classic has enough music content for it to be placed with the music channels, but knowing Viacom there will be less and less.

As far as History goes, Time Warner did it right. It makes perfect sense where History and H2 are placed. History is in the lower 100s with general entertainment channels. H2 is in the 120s/130s with channels like Nat Geo, Science, Animal Planet, Smithsonian. As of right now H2 seems to show more 'educational' content and fits in better there. History with programming like Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, Ax Men and the scripted drama Vikings is now more of a general entertainment channel. It's just like in the Sports section, ESPN U could be placed with the rest of the ESPN channels, but it makes more sense to place it with the other channels that cater specifically to college sports. Time Warner is placing more emphasis on actual content the channel shows currently, rather then what they air in the past. Another example is AMC and TCM. Both satellite providers have those two 'classic movie' channels next to each other. As we know AMC has changed over the years.

Your CW should be on channel 1212 and it should be also mapped somewhere under 100.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to Konaguy

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to Konaguy
So, this was an HD DTA? I didn't know Oceanic had those...I thought they just had DTA's.

Konaguy
Live From Hawaii
Premium Member
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom

Konaguy

Premium Member

said by Mele20:

So, this was an HD DTA? I didn't know Oceanic had those...I thought they just had DTA's.

This is the channel lineup available using a DTA on Oceanic's system.
»www.oceanic.com/sites/de ··· land.pdf

The DTA won't pick up SDV channels though, but that isn't a big deal to my parents. My mom can watch the two inaccessible channels in the other room.
Satch
join:2009-11-25

Satch

Member

We have been Theme-based with TWC here in Wisconsin, if not much of the Midwest since the fall of 2009 and LOVE the organization of the line up.

Satch
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to Konaguy

Premium Member

to Konaguy
I was trying to find CNN News headlines today. It is not on channel 13 anymore. I looked in the most recent Oceanic brochure that they have sent (which was about a year ago) and it is listed there on channel 13.

I don't see it in DTA channel lineup either. So, the only way to get it would be to get a set top box and digital cable? UGH. CNN Headlines is the ONLY channel on cable that I have ever watched on a semi regular basis and the only channel I care about outside of broadcast channels. I see there is a crappy Fox news channel now. I hate Fox news.

I'd pay 99 cents a month to get CNN Headlines but it is not in the DTA lineup. I am starved for national news. ( I wish KITV would devote the last half hour of their 10PM news to national news. I am NEVER at home during 5-6PM news so to not have CNN Headline news is just awful).

Anyhow, mahalo for the DTA channel lineup.

DocDrew
How can I help?
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join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

4 edits

DocDrew

Premium Member

HLN (Headline News) is on 111. It's part of the Standard tier of service, but it's on SDV.

You'll need a cable box or CableCard device , CableCard, and an SDV tuning adapter to get it. It's part of Standard service so you won't have to buy an additional tier of service, it's part of the one you already have. You just need the additional equipment.

The bad (and good) thing about the HD-DTAs I've seen is the RF remote. It does allow for programming limited TV function of power and volume. The good part is it's RF so it's no longer limited by line of site nor is affected by LED backlighting of some TVs. The bad is the DTAs are RF remote only, so most universal or programmable remotes won't work with it. The very limited on screen guide also hobbles it vs. the full 2 week or more channel guide of most boxes. Good to know what channel you're on, bad to know what the channel is actually playing.

Edit: there's also an analog copy on channel 13 but that's not used by DTAs or cable boxes. Channel 13 on boxes is something else. Somewhat odd oceanic does that, most systems for most providers match digital simulcast channels to their analog counterparts.

Konaguy
Live From Hawaii
Premium Member
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom

Konaguy

Premium Member

My parents are satisfied with the HD-DTA. Its a win-win situation. They don't have a bulky STB next to the TV and they get more channels. Yes, it doesn't pick up any of the SDV channels, but my parents get more channels overall than through their TV's QAM tuner.

motorola870
join:2008-12-07
Arlington, TX

motorola870

Member

said by Konaguy:

My parents are satisfied with the HD-DTA. Its a win-win situation. They don't have a bulky STB next to the TV and they get more channels. Yes, it doesn't pick up any of the SDV channels, but my parents get more channels overall than through their TV's QAM tuner.

here is a question how hard would it be for Oceanic to map HLN to a non-SDV QAM slot for the SD version? I don't think it would be that hard they should have room to add it to non-SDV status. what other channels are SDV on expanded basic? They don't seem to be following the standard that other TWC divisions have that if you go from analog to digital adapter you should receive the same channels and since HLN is analog it seems like TWC is taking away channels from expanded basic customers that get digital adapters. This is why I have never been fond of TWC using SDV for digital simulcast because it seems hard from them to wean off of it for the digital simulcat when they rollout digital adapters.

Konaguy
Live From Hawaii
Premium Member
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI

Konaguy

Premium Member

I suspect SDV's day's are number, as more channels are migrated from analog to digital. This played a part in my decision to get a DTA. We're going to be forced to use these devices sooner versus later, so I decided to take the plunge now.

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

1 edit

DocDrew to motorola870

Premium Member

to motorola870
It's not too hard for TWC to move channels from SDV to linear as long as the QAM space is available.

On the TWC metro network it's all just MPEG video streams for the most part. They're routed to a decoder for analog, a linear edge QAM for always on digital channels, or a SDV edge QAM for dynamically allocated digital channels. Once that is done, it's a matter of channel map configuration. The last mile bandwidth allocation is where the hard decisions are made.

In SoCal they've been moving all the Standard tier off of SDV to linear over the last few months as DTAs have become more widespread. It's become more frequent as analog channels have been removed.

As time goes on, the channel shuffling will become easier. The newest edgeQAMs can handle SDV, VOD, linear, and CMTS channels all out of the same port. The equipment is quickly moving to the point where an entire bandwidth lineup for a group of nodes can come from a single port on one device. They won't have to configure, combine, and balance outputs from multiple devices while being limited to 1-8 RF channels from a port. Once that is done dynamic allocation of channels between linear, VOD, SDV and CMTS channels as needed isn't far off.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to motorola870

Premium Member

to motorola870
I called Oceanic. I was looking for what evidently no longer exists...CNN Headline News which had a wide ticker at the bottom of the screen with current news headlines and a newscaster giving national news which repeated every 20 minutes or so and this was 24/7 unlike CNN itself where you would see a variety of programs as well as some newscasts. Oceanic told me that there have been no changes to analog lineup this year and apologized for my not receiving a 2014 channel lineup pamphlet (mine is dated 1/2013) and they are sending me a new one. Evidently, HNL has been on channel 13 for some time and I was looking for the old CNN News headlines that I used to watch a lot but not in quite awhile until I was looking for it today.

I asked about HD-DTA and asked where the channel lineup for it is on Oceanic's website and I didn't get an answer about where it is on Oceanic's site or why I couldn't find any mention of HD-DTA there and Oceanic has told me several times that we in Hawaii are supposed to never go to national TWC website but only to Oceanic website because Oceanic is completely different from anything found on national TWC site (Verizon wireless partnership with TWC applies to every division but Hawaii evidently along with so much else that applies everywhere but Hawaii). Thus, I asked her how were local customers even supposed to know about the availability of HD-DTA here? I didn't get an answer to that either. I got put on hold about three lengthy times and she was quite pleasant but the only answer I really got was that evidently CNN Headline News channel no longer exists. She seemed flummoxed about HNL and whether that is from CNN or not. This HNL channel is utter garbage...it appears to be NOTHING but something called Forensic Files.

I see from Googling that the channel used to be CNN Headline News and is still owned by CNN but is now this junk HNL channel. I guess I should have Googled before calling Oceanic and saved myself the time.

Konaguy
Live From Hawaii
Premium Member
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom

Konaguy

Premium Member

Mele20 See Profile, here is more information on the HLN channel. CNN scrapped the around the clock news for fluff,entertainment style focus

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HL ··· annel%29

The information regarding the HD-DTA is rather buried on Oceanic's website. In addition, these devices are not widely available yet. I was able snap up the last one at the Kona office before next shipment came in.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

Mahalo! I don't know why I didn't think of Wikipedia. I see from that it is broadcast in HD but only if you subscribe to the HD pack ...who would want that junk in HD and pay extra for that? Damn shame CNN went and changed Headline News.

To me, cable TV is mostly worthless because the channels are shown on EST/EDT not HST. The CSR was trying to get me to upgrade to digital TV but why would I pay for that when the times on cable channels mean that anytime I would watch would be infomercials mostly because local time is not used? Only broadcast channels are shown on HST (and I remember when even for broadcast channels, Hawaii had to wait a week before we got to see the current Hawaii 5'0 for instance as it took that long to send it to Hawaii....almost all programming was a week behind the Mainland. Now broadcast TV in Hawaii is current with the Mainland and shown at its intended time slot but that is still not true for cable channels so to me that is a big reason they are a ripoff).

I'll inquire next week about the HD-DTA at the office. It would be nice to have discovery and national geographic in HD ...I'd like about 2 or 3 of those in the HD pack but not the others. I told the CSR that I would upgrade to digital if Oceanic had a MUCH larger number of stations in HD. I don't want to pay extra for a horrible picture because I was forced to stretch it to 16:9. Samsung says HD TVs are for HD watching and nothing else and cable companies need to get with that. Sony is out of the TV business now and Samsung reigns as number one but TWC seems to hate them as Samsung is the only manufacturer that TWC didn't work an agreement with so you could use your TV's clicker instead of the set top box one. Yet another reason to not upgrade to digital until it is forced whenever analog is killed here.

motorola870
join:2008-12-07
Arlington, TX

motorola870

Member

said by Mele20:

Mahalo! I don't know why I didn't think of Wikipedia. I see from that it is broadcast in HD but only if you subscribe to the HD pack ...who would want that junk in HD and pay extra for that? Damn shame CNN went and changed Headline News.

To me, cable TV is mostly worthless because the channels are shown on EST/EDT not HST. The CSR was trying to get me to upgrade to digital TV but why would I pay for that when the times on cable channels mean that anytime I would watch would be infomercials mostly because local time is not used? Only broadcast channels are shown on HST (and I remember when even for broadcast channels, Hawaii had to wait a week before we got to see the current Hawaii 5'0 for instance as it took that long to send it to Hawaii....almost all programming was a week behind the Mainland. Now broadcast TV in Hawaii is current with the Mainland and shown at its intended time slot but that is still not true for cable channels so to me that is a big reason they are a ripoff).

I'll inquire next week about the HD-DTA at the office. It would be nice to have discovery and national geographic in HD ...I'd like about 2 or 3 of those in the HD pack but not the others. I told the CSR that I would upgrade to digital if Oceanic had a MUCH larger number of stations in HD. I don't want to pay extra for a horrible picture because I was forced to stretch it to 16:9. Samsung says HD TVs are for HD watching and nothing else and cable companies need to get with that. Sony is out of the TV business now and Samsung reigns as number one but TWC seems to hate them as Samsung is the only manufacturer that TWC didn't work an agreement with so you could use your TV's clicker instead of the set top box one. Yet another reason to not upgrade to digital until it is forced whenever analog is killed here.

hmm apparently Oceanic TWC doesn't want to follow traditional policy on digital adapters and you only get a "best of" basic and standard cable on them as they are missing channels such as SyFy, HLN, MSNBC, FSN West, animal planet, OWN,

diesel1
@207.237.90.x

diesel1 to Mele20

Anon

to Mele20
thats what dvr is for.......

too bad what you think is a waste is enjoyed by over 80% of your fellow hawaiians.
said by Mele20:

To me, cable TV is mostly worthless because the channels are shown on EST/EDT not HST. The CSR was trying to get me to upgrade to digital TV but why would I pay for that when the times on cable channels mean that anytime I would watch would be infomercials mostly because local time is not used? Only broadcast channels are shown on HST (and I remember when even for broadcast channels, Hawaii had to wait a week before we got to see the current Hawaii 5'0 for instance as it took that long to send it to Hawaii....almost all programming was a week behind the Mainland. Now broadcast TV in Hawaii is current with the Mainland and shown at its intended time slot but that is still not true for cable channels so to me that is a big reason they are a ripoff).

Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to motorola870

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to motorola870
They list animal planet in HD but they don't list some of the others you mentioned.

I figured that I would still have all analog channels because that can't be turned off in a bulk building and that the adapter would simply give me Discover and National Geographic etc in HD as those are not available in HD via clearqam.

I got to wondering though if I were to get an adapter would I get billed the 5% franchise fee? I am not billed that currently because all I have is Analog bulk TV and Internet. I am also not billed the new broadcast channels fee. I don't want either of those on my bill! 99cents a month to get a few HD channels I don't get via clear qam would be great but not if that means I get billed for franchise fee and Broadcast channels. I don't think the front desk folks at the office will be able to answer this question....may think they can but then they are wrong and I get those two items on my next bill after I get the adapter and even then if I return the adapter maybe I can't get those off my bill....billing like TWC.com website are incompetent so I think I better just leave things as they are and not get the adapter.

I just created an ID with TWC.com to watch tv on my computer. What a mess doing that was! I kept being told cookies were disabled and told that right as I saw Fx ask about did I want to accept the 25th cookie from TWC.com! Damn website kept saying I had cookies disabled yet I had 25+ cookies from TWC.com. Finally, TWC said the ID was successfully created and then gave me an "unknown" esoteric error and would not log me in and couldn't tell me why! UGH. So, I did a chat and was told to use Chrome. I'm gonna kill the next CSR from any place that insists I have to use Chrome. I can't stand that browser and I won't use it period.

So, he said to close the tabs I had open to TWC.com and try again on Fx. Same error. So, reluctantly, I tried IE 10 on Win 8 and got a response from TWC's Apache server saying the service was not available. It was an admin type communication ...not an error a user should see. After more hassle he told me that I should try again a few hours.
Mele20

Mele20 to diesel1

Premium Member

to diesel1
That is something I also hate. DVR. I don't want to watch on demand or record. I had a very expensive stereo VCR back in the 90's and it was one of the dumbest purchases I ever made. I want to watch TV by PLANNING my schedule so I am home in the evenings when there is a drama on broadcast TV that I like. I do not want to record it to watch later. What I am objecting to is seeing an infomercial on cable TV at 8PM because the schedule used by OTWC is on Eastern time not Hawaii time! It makes cable worthless.

There is also the simple fact that I cannot afford anything more than what I pay for right now hidden in my rent (bulk analog) and my 30/5 internet. Further, DVR is completely unnecessary even if I could afford it because I can watch any missed TV shows by going to the broadcaster's web site and clicking on the episode I missed. Or I could subscribe to Hulu Plus or Netflix...why would I need yet another piece of hardware? UGH.