Tag Archives: cable

new samsung tv

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I bought a new HDTV/computer monitor.  I’m only using it as a TV, but they brand it as both.  Which is good as I can easily use it as a second monitor if I want to.  I went to B & H to see it in person before I bought it.  I like seeing electronics in the store.  The TV came well wrapped a few days later.

The missing manual

Setting it up was easy.  However, there was no manual.  Instead there was a CD which I imagine has the manual on it.  I say I imagine because the CD can only be used on Windows.  While I haven’t gotten rid of or given away my old Windows laptop, I don’t particularly want to take it out to open this CD.  The manual was downloadable via a PDF online.  I printed it and now have a printed manual.  Now I’ll grant you they saved paper not shipping a manual.  But there was plenty of other paper junk in the box.

The devices I actually use

All the devices a normally plug into the TV work fine.  It’s my first HDTV so I still need to plug in the HD cable from Time Warner.  I’m sure that is easy.

Over the air tv

I own a standalone antenna and digital converter box so I can provide tech support  for those to devices to family.  I’m considering upgrading said family’s tv so I decided to try out over the air tv to see what happened.

  1. With the cable box still plugged in, I scanned for over the air channels.  Three channels were found.  One of which came in poorly.  And one of which was displaying FOX on a channel number that should have been NBC.  None of the three channels came in well (analog fuzziness) and none of them had sound.
  2. I read online and tried changing a number of settings.  None worked.
  3. I emailed Samsung who suggested I check my connections.
  4. Then it occurred to me to try the standalone antenna.  I unplugged the cable box, plugged in the antenna and tried again.  (I do own an a/b switch letting me use both, but I’m not leaving the antenna plugged in long so it is easier to switch out.)  I have 47 channels over the air!  All of which come in decently to well.  For those who haven’t used over the air tv since before the digital cutover, each station can broadcast more channels now so there is a 2-1, 2-2, etc.

Is it worth having cable?

Probably not.  Now that over the air comes in, I imagine buying tv shows individually over hulu and watching streaming for events is more cost effective.  That would require faster internet though so I’ll revisit it when FIOS comes to town.  (Opportunity here for Scott to tease me about Tivo or Apple TV.)

Why did reception suddenly get better?

I have two things that changed.

  1. The new TV that doesn’t require a digital converter box.
  2. I moved since I last tried to watch over the air tv. (when the cable went out a few years ago.)  I suspect this is more significant as the current location of the antenna faces Manhattan – where broadcasting comes from.  Before I moved, it didn’t.

I was under the impression the HDTV had an internal tv tuner.  Not sure if it as an antenna, but probably not.  That explains why plugging in the antenna helped.

I tried my old tv with the external antenna and digital converter box.  The reception was good as well implying it is my new location more than the tv that helped.

Time Warner shame on you (the case of the missing vcr timer)

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What happened

Time Warner Cable (in New York City) pushed a software upgrade to the cable box that got rid of the VCR timer feature.  This feature has existed since I got cable and allowed you to set the cable box to turn on/change channels automatically so you could record them on your VCR or standalone DVR.  I relied on this feature heavily.  I’m quite annoyed both by the fact the feature is gone and the way it was taken away.

Why tell your customers when you get rid of features?

I found out the VCR timer feature was gone when I got home last night.  I had set it on Wednesday night to record two shows from 8-10.  When I got home after 10 on Thursday to relax and watch one of them, I learned that my VCR had recorded two hours of blank screen.  While the shows are on cbs.com and hulu.com, they weren’t up last night when I was planning to watch them.  I also now have to watch them on a small computer screen rather than the TV.  It’s like I didn’t have cable yesterday.  Only it wasn’t due to a power outage; it was due to an intentional change by Time Warner.

I went back online to check last month’s bill.  Nary a mention of such a pending change.  Surely they didn’t think nobody used this feature.  A month’s notice would have been nice so I could have prepared in advance and not missed TV content.  Plus, why let people program a timer if you are planning to delete it.

What not to tell irritated customers

  1. You can use the power on to a specific channel timer. – Umm.  I can do that if I only want to record one channel each time I go out and never go on vacation.
  2. It’s better than before.  You can do <marketing blurb here>. – I’m mad, not stupid.  I used to be able to record shows for free*.   Now it’s $10 a month to do that plus some features I don’t need.  That’s not better. (As an aside, I used to be able to watch one show on network TV and record another for free before I got cable.  It’s sad when cable takes away a feature you get on regular TV.  I’ve been using an A/B switch and over the air antenna for that problem.) * Ok fine, it isn’t free.  I bought the VCR.  But that was a one time cost.  And I bought it when movie rentals came on videocassettes so I needed it anyway.
  3. I’ll give you one month of DRV free as an inconvenience credit because you sound annoyed. – While I’ll take the $10, I’m not any less annoyed.  An inconvenience credit works for an actual inconvenience (like the fact that my tv didn’t work yesterday from my point of view.)  It doesn’t make up for a new fee.  Hey Time Warner – I’d like to suggest a deal to you: I give you $10 once and then you give me $10 a month every month.

Why worry about customer usability when you have a monopoly?

My area has three choices for TV: Time Warner Cable, Verizon Direct TV or Verizon FIOS.  My building isn’t yet wired for FIOS and Direct TV requires a satellite (many apartment buildings don’t allow you to put up a satellite.)  Which means Time Warner is my only choice.

What this boils down to

Cable just went up $10 a month plus taxes.  I’d actually rather they have just raised the price of cable.  For that you’d get notice and it would be at the end of your contract.  This is just plain sneaky.

And guess what, you get to go the Time Warner store tomorrow

Ok.  So now I need a DVR.  There are two ways you can get one.  Go the the Timer Warner store or (wait and) pay for installation.  I don’t remember how much customer service said the installation visit is because I need to get this on a timely basis.  I’m rarely home when I want to watch TV and I resent paying the cable bill for TV I can’t watch.  So regardless of the other things I need to do tomorrow, I have to get myself to the Time Warner store to exchange my cable box for one that includes a DVR.  Assuming there wasn’t a run on them today from other people in the same situation.

And what went well

  1. The customer service rep was calm and polite.
  2. You can cancel dvr at any time.  I don’t think Time Warner will reverse their decision to force people to pay for a DVR.  However in the unlikely event they do, I’m not stuck with the DVR.  (even if I like the DVR, I don’t like that they are forcing me to get one.)
  3. Edited to add -the actual exchange and setup of the new box went well.  DVRs are certainly nice and I had been thinking of getting one when my VCR broke.  It was just that I wanted to do it on my own schedule.

And a big thanks to both CBS and ABC via Hulu for making it possible to watch the shows I missed.

http://tv.about.com/od/hdtv/qt/ABswitch.htm