Is MTS audio a victim of the latest cable company upgrading?

2. > I use the analog signal because I like to be able to use the pip function=

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Cable companies have some very good engineers and some of the dumbest bumpkins you'll ever find. On Cox on the Palos Verdes peninsula CNN headline news analog had NO audio for a month. Since I have no use for CNN I didn't complain. On their website they tell you that ABC and FOX are clear QAM on channel 82 and it was indeed that way for a long time until a couple of weeks ago. I called the cable company and of course they want to come to the house to confirm THEIR error. I asked for and got a supervisor who assured me he'd find out and call me back the next day. He did call back and told me it was moved to channel 132. Now that KCET has partially broken away from PBS they are no longer carried on Cox as an analog channel but they are there in clear QAM digital but you need to get the cable box or have a digital TV.

If you can get to the cable chief you will likely get some results - providing they care about that channel. They are phasing out analog TV as it uses too much real estate for the mediocre pictures it provides.

G=B2

Same problem in New Orleans with the Travel Channel. Local commercials boom through, Travel Channel programming has to have volume turned way up.

Universal Cable rule # 1- They don't care about audio, or visual quality, and will always be geared to please the lowest common denominator.

Universal Cable rule # 2- Even if they DO have a high quality signal available to them, they will compress/mangle it (1080i to 720i, 5.1 to distorted L-R mono) to save bandwidth.

Universal Cable rule #3- Cable companies don't care if you have a $10,000 home entertainment center. Can you see a picture? Good!, and can you hear it? Good!, will always be good enough for them.

Universal Cable rule #4- Charge maximum amount of money for the poorest choice of channels, with the worst possible signal quality. Increase rates at will.

I have no idea what "universe" these "universal" rules are part of, but #1 through #3 don't apply to my local Comcast. 1080i images are presented as

1080i, and when I had more-than-basic service (I've had to cut back due to unemployment), movies and cable-network programs were at least the quality of BD.

NBC (both network and KING) are always 1080i, and the image quality is a consistent knock-out.

I'm watching on Pioneer's last 60" KURO.

I've never connected the audio to my main system, so I can't comment on the sound. I normally listen through a pair of KLH Audio 900B speakers connected directly to the set, which I bought at Best Buy a few years back for $15 -- for both.

File a complaint with the FCC at snipped-for-privacy@fcc.gov

File a complaint with the FCC at snipped-for-privacy@fcc.gov

File a complaint with the FCC at snipped-for-privacy@fcc.gov

Rate increases must be approved by the franchising authority. They can not increase rates 'At will'.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

I was finally put in contact with Charter's corporate office. Soon after, another Charter representative from my local office called me and he wanted to send out their chief tech to inspect the audio problem. Keep in mind that this would have been the third time a tech would have I told them to save their time and just figure out what was wrong with the audio coming out of their offices. He finally relented and alerted the engineers to what I was saying. And what do you know, the problem got fixed. It only took eight days after I first reported the problem to have even someone consider the fact that the problem might be a Charter malfunction. So much time wasted.

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David Farber
Los Osos, CA

I was finally put in contact with Charter's corporate office. Soon after, another Charter representative from my local office called me and he wanted to send out their chief tech to inspect the audio problem. Keep in mind that this would have been the third time a tech would have I told them to save their time and just figure out what was wrong with the audio coming out of their offices. He finally relented and alerted the engineers to what I was saying. And what do you know, the problem got fixed. It only took eight days after I first reported the problem to have even someone consider the fact that the problem might be a Charter malfunction. So much time wasted.

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David Farber Los Osos, CA

*** I had a similar experience except this time with the power company. I check my voltage regularly and several months ago, it started varying widely over a day. It could go as high as 134 volts at times and then drop back to 122 or so. I called the power company and they said they would check it out. They came over and measured 124 volts, said it was in tolerance, and left. I let it go for a few days and called again when the voltage was 132 volts. I mentioned that the voltage can change hour to hour by 10 volts and that I knew that I did not have a high impedance neutral since it was within a volt on each side. They came out again and by then the voltage was back to 124. They tested the neutral and it was fine and again 124 was in tolerance. Over the next several days I created plots of the voltage over time. One day the voltage seemed to waver between 128 and 132 volts for several hours. I called again and said I have plots of the voltage, but they insisted that THEY have to measure the voltage. I checked the voltage while still on the phone and I said come out now since I was reading 130. An hour later, they came and measured 128 and said I had a problem. It was traced to a faulty capacitor bank on the distribution feeder An actual engineer called later to explain the situation and asked me to immediately report future problems. For the last week the voltage has been stable between 118 and 121. The company could have saved several truck rolls if they just believed me or at least put a recording voltmeter on the line. I think there is a built in assumption that the entire public is technically illiterate and they treat everyone accordingly.

David

Most of their employees are under trained. They are like the marketing droids and are taught just enough to barely do their jobs. At the first report they should have set up one of their loggers to track the voltage for a couple days to a week. We had all kinds of power problems at my last job. They wouldn't listen to me, and called the industrial electrical company that designed and installed the wiring when they had the plant built. Two goobers arrived a few days later. They walked around, removing covers from breaker boxes and scratching their asses. A couple hours later they put all the covers back and admitted that they had no clue. Next, they called Florida power who set up a three phase logger. Two days later they informed the owners that all the neutrals were undersized, and that harmonics were causing the problems. This was a well known problem when the plant was built, but the 'Good Ole boys' who owned the company ignored it and followed the long obsolete method of using neutrals that were 2 gauges smaller that the lines, instead of the current two gauges larger to handle the harmonics. Then they had the * 'Monkey Itch' boys back to pull new neutrals all over the 120,000 square foot office and manufacturing complex. They never did admit that they could have saved a couple weeks of problems, or money to repair failed test equipment if they had listened to me.

*

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

This solved all my problems, AND gave me a far superior DVR...

Local Mediacom cable service is HORRIBLE.

Tell me how well it works in heavy rain or fog. I have had outages of over three full days becasue of bad weather, but the local cable system worked after several hurricanes even though there was no electricity in the area for over a month.

Who needs a DVR? There is life outside of watching TV. I spent over a year with no TV or internet last decade, and all I missed was the wether maps on the local TV news.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

Since my system was installed correctly, it works fine in heavy fog or rain. I do lose signal when a squall line comes thru, but only for a couple minutes. After a 13 day power outage due to an ice storm, the system came right back up when power was restored.

So? Your choice to live off the grid was your choice. I choose to watch the TV shows I enjoy, minus the commercials, in HD.

Indeed.

But they CAN, and do increase rates for equipment fees, rental fees, service fees, and anything else that doesn't involve programming.

Big deal. It isn't a problem in your area, but it is in others.

Installed properly? Sigh. I installed the dish and wiring. The drone from dish turned on the account. I installed, upgraded and aimed

5 meter dishes at CATV headends and TV stations. I worked for Microdyne who built the commercial grade equipment. A 'Dish' or Direct TV' antenna is designed to be installed by anyone with a pair of pliers.

What are you smoking? I am not living 'Off grid'

Learn to ignore them. I did, when i started working as a TV broadcast engineer in 1973. There is no programming worth it to me to record to a DVR. If there was, I would build one out of a spare computer. It doesn't take much of a computer these days:

From

Minimum System Requirements:

1.0 GHz x86 or x86_64 Processor 192 MB of system memory (RAM) 2 GB of disk space (Frontend Role) 20 GB of disk space (Backend Role) Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution Supported TV Tuner Card (Backend Role) Recommended System Requirements: 2.0 Ghz x86 or x86_64 Processor 2GB MB of system memory (RAM) 10 GB disk space (Frontend Role) 160 GB+ disk space (Backend Role) nVidia 8xxx+ 256MB+ Graphics Card Supported TV Tuner Card (Backend Role)

I have all of this laying around as spare parts.

Not my problem. I used to work in Cable TV in Cincinnati, Ohio at the top rated system in the region. I maintained the headend for that system, and 35 other systems across the country.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

Sigh. You need to learn what a 'CATV Franchise' means. I was in that business. The only time a equipment fee wasn't regulated was when a new piece of hardware was introduced. Any badly damaged or missing equipment could be billed at full replacement costs, plus all other incurred expenses. My dad had Dish a couple years ago. The day his first year contract was up he received a letter from Dish telling him they were going to sue him if they didn't get their equipment back within 10 days. No mention of renewing the contract, just threats. I boxed it up and dropped it off at the Post Office for him, while he was calling Direct TV for service. He's been with them for more than five years now.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

So? Big deal indeed. Mine works fine, thanks.

And this is relevant in what way to my complete satisfaction with Dish, and the fact that local Mediacom service stinks? BTW, have you installed a three lnb satellite dish lately? And if a pair of pliers is all you used to install the dish, no wonder there were problems.

So you DID have electricity? Fascinating.

Once again, fascinating. I choose to not spend the time "ignoring" them. Saves 20 minutes out of every hour. But of course, being a broadcast engineer from the 70's, you should already know that.

Reminds me of a TV show called "Hoarders". You should check it out. I have it recorded on my DVR.

So? I used to work for the military.

Indeed,

And this is relevant to me in what way? Are you saying that your Dad's cable service is inadequate, so he went with satellite TV? THAT I can relate to.

Only that you have your head where the sun doesn't shine. Dish is far from perfect, and you have a hard-on for cable TV.

Have you ever converted a five meter dish from Cassegrain to prime focus and installed four LNAs. The original feed horn had to be removed and lowered down the side of a hill by rope. It weighed over 125 pounds. Then cut three slots in the dish while hanging from a sling? That conversion took five full eight hour days with three workers. Your three LNB feed is child's play.

Sigh. I have all the tools needed, and a small machine shop behind the guest cottage on my property. I said that it could be installed with a pair of pliers and a lot of installs I've seen looked like that was what they used. Do you have a Sat meter to read the signal level at the dish? I have two, and a Sadelco TV FSM. Do you know how they work? How about an inclinometer?

Hoarder? You're the one collecting useless TV shows. Those parts take up a little over a cubic foot of space. My workshop is 1200 square feet with a nine foot ceiling so that is less than 1/10 of a percent of the space.

The spare parts are used to repair computers for the other Disabled Veterans in my area. I also help low income and other disabled people get a computer or to keep their working. I don't charge them for labor, and tell them where to buy any parts they need. I would rather build or repair something than park my ass in front of a TV and stuff my face like so many drooling idiots. I prefer to read, than watch TV.

So? I was a US Army broadcast engineer for AFRTS. I tested out of the three year school while in Basic training at Ft Knox.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

He wanted a channel he couldn't get on cable. That's reality, and I'm sure you can't relate to that.

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

And yet you say you had a three day outage. Interesting.

All my satellite equipment is already installed and working quite well. I do have a Sat meter, but haven't used it in some time. No need.

Who said anything about "collecting TV shows"? I just don't watch muich live. Its recorded, then viewed, skipping the commercials, then deleted.

Good for you. Since you have already mentioned your guest house, your large collection of tools, your 1200 sq ft work shop, your help for veterans and the disabled, I'm guessing I'm supposed to be awed and impressed. I applaud your altruism, but I downsized years ago (1997 actually) when I retired. Now I only volunteer for the Red Cross.

Bully for you, but how is that relevant to the fact that local Mediacom service sucks? Interesting that Mediacom is now offering their phone and internet service bundle WITHOUT the cable service, to satellite customers. Any port in a storm, eh?

Indeed.