Time Warner DVR Pixelation-- Too Many Channels?

Greystone · 10-04-2009, 01:09 PM

New to the forum and haven't seen anything on this yet. I have TW HD service in the Austin TX area. They gave me an Explorer 8240HDC DVR which they have not been able to cure of constant pixelation on all channels (HD or regular digital) after several senior tech visits. They installed a line amp and this didn't help either. I even swapped out the box for another one and still no joy.

My question: Since broadband requires so much bandwidth, I am wondering if the problem might be in the size of my package (did I really say that

) What I mean to ask is whether paring down the number of HD movie packages would have any effect on the signal problem that is causing the issue?

Also, would purchase of an aftermarket DVR with better decoding be the answer? Moxi makes one.

Loves2Watch · 10-04-2009, 02:09 PM

It sounds like a compression issue on TW's part and another DVR would not solve the problem.

Greystone · 10-04-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loves2Watch

It sounds like a compression issue on TW's part and another DVR would not solve the problem.

Ok, I appreciate the bad news. So if compression is the issue, is there fix that TW is working on? If not, how about a new Scientific Atlanta DVR fix with either software or firmware? Just curious to see if anyone has a clue here.

The bizarro part for me is that the DVR we have in the back bedroom doesn't have nearly the same level of hiccups, buzzing, and pixelation as the one in the LR. I have even gone to the extent of buying a brand new Quad RG6 cable and connected it to the wall in the back bedroom but still get the same bad juju. I connected this very cable through the house to the outside box directly on the TW feed and still get the same issues. It's a long stretch from the street to the DVR box in question-- perhaps 250 feet-- but surely this has been addressed by the TW geeks?

Stumped.

Loves2Watch · 10-04-2009, 03:06 PM

Is one HD and the other SD?

Greystone · 10-04-2009, 03:38 PM

Nope... Both are HD DVR's: LR = 8240HDC (bad picture); BR = 8300 HD (ok). Tomorrow I will take the 8240 down to the TW office to see if I can get a swap (again) for an 8300 and/or see if they have a timeline on the issue of the new Samsung SMT-H3090 that is being introduced. Perhaps the compression issue can be solved by a newer box.

Sykotic · 10-04-2009, 07:35 PM

a drop that exceeds 200 feet should be ran with RG-11 for its low signal loss. Also a weak tap at the street could be to blame. Either way, dont pay until the problem is resolved.
GL

Loves2Watch · 10-04-2009, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sykotic

a drop that exceeds 200 feet should be ran with RG-11 for its low signal loss. Also a weak tap at the street could be to blame. Either way, dont pay until the problem is resolved.
GL

If either of those were the problem, both of his boxes would exhibit the same symptoms.

It must have something to do with the 8240 box...

Sykotic · 10-04-2009, 08:51 PM

ask for another 8300.

unr3a1 · 10-05-2009, 04:57 PM

I am a Tier 3 Support Tech for TWC. Not in the Austin office, for my job sake, I will refrain from revealing which division I work for, but the x240 line of boxes were a recent addition. I do not know how they are different from their x300 bretheren, but they are. There are numerous problems with x240 lines. I would recommend that you swap the box out for a standard 8300HD DVR.

Greystone · 10-06-2009, 04:15 PM

Appreciate all the comments. Today the "Senior" Time Warner tech guy for my town showed up. He even called up the "Senior" signals guy to come out and test some signals stuff. Turns out I am on the very end of the cable signals drop for my street, which should not be an issue, since the previous visit by their tech guys resulted in the installation of an amplifier to make my QAM DbmV readings well within acceptable ranges.

So this Senior Tech guy, who sounded very knowledgeable and looked the part, watches my recording of an NCIS Los Angeles program from last week-- which looks like it was recorded by a meth addict with ADS-- and the guy announces that it's probably an issue of "connections."

Ok. I spent 22 years flying airplanes in the USAF and I understand that sometimes the avionics in aircraft can get affected by faulty connections. Maybe he's right. But intellectually I am struggling with the notion that my RoadRunner internet has worked just fine for twelve years and that my neighbor's HD service works just fine and that my Sunday Night Football recordings look like they were done with a 10-year-old cellphone on low batteries by a crack head. He tightened all my connections and now I wait to see the results.

At the end of the day, the Senior tech sez he is going to try to find me an 8300HD to swap out with my 8240 HDC. The newer Scientific Atlanta box (8240) apparently has "issues." YGBSM!!! This is really what's going on here??? TWC cannot figure out that it's newer Scientific Atlanta DVR's have issues??

It's a good thing I am not a TV addict or I would be checking into the Betty Ford Clinic right now to wean myself away from the tube forever. You go out and spend a couple of $k on a nice big flat screen HDTV so you can watch Tiger Woods drop a 30-foot putt on Sunday, and all you get are sputters and spurts and and hiccups from Time Warner's cable box. Sheesh. Think I'll take up knitting.

Chief_10Beers · 10-06-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greystone

Appreciate all the comments. Today the "Senior" Time Warner tech guy for my town showed up. He even called up the "Senior" signals guy to come out and test some signals stuff. Turns out I am on the very end of the cable signals drop for my street, which should not be an issue, since the previous visit by their tech guys resulted in the installation of an amplifier to make my QAM DbmV readings well within acceptable ranges.

So this Senior Tech guy, who sounded very knowledgeable and looked the part, watches my recording of an NCIS Los Angeles program from last week-- which looks like it was recorded by a meth addict with ADS-- and the guy announces that it's probably an issue of "connections."

Ok. I spent 22 years flying airplanes in the USAF and I understand that sometimes the avionics in aircraft can get affected by faulty connections. Maybe he's right. But intellectually I am struggling with the notion that my RoadRunner internet has worked just fine for twelve years and that my neighbor's HD service works just fine and that my Sunday Night Football recordings look like they were done with a 10-year-old cellphone on low batteries by a crack head. He tightened all my connections and now I wait to see the results.

At the end of the day, the Senior tech sez he is going to try to find me an 8300HD to swap out with my 8240 HDC. The newer Scientific Atlanta box (8240) apparently has "issues." YGBSM!!! This is really what's going on here??? TWC cannot figure out that it's newer Scientific Atlanta DVR's have issues??

It's a good thing I am not a TV addict or I would be checking into the Betty Ford Clinic right now to wean myself away from the tube forever. You go out and spend a couple of $k on a nice big flat screen HDTV so you can watch Tiger Woods drop a 30-foot putt on Sunday, and all you get are sputters and spurts and and hiccups from Time Warner's cable box. Sheesh. Think I'll take up knitting.

Did the "Senior Tech" measure signal strengh in db at the DVR? Easy enough to do thru the 8240 service menu.
How many spliters and splices are on yer Cable and how are they configured.........

Sykotic · 10-06-2009, 07:52 PM

try swapping the boxes, if same box still acts stupid, get another box, if the other box craps the bed, its the line....
Or its a broken flux-capacitor

unr3a1 · 10-07-2009, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greystone

Appreciate all the comments. Today the "Senior" Time Warner tech guy for my town showed up. He even called up the "Senior" signals guy to come out and test some signals stuff. Turns out I am on the very end of the cable signals drop for my street, which should not be an issue, since the previous visit by their tech guys resulted in the installation of an amplifier to make my QAM DbmV readings well within acceptable ranges.

So this Senior Tech guy, who sounded very knowledgeable and looked the part, watches my recording of an NCIS Los Angeles program from last week-- which looks like it was recorded by a meth addict with ADS-- and the guy announces that it's probably an issue of "connections."

Ok. I spent 22 years flying airplanes in the USAF and I understand that sometimes the avionics in aircraft can get affected by faulty connections. Maybe he's right. But intellectually I am struggling with the notion that my RoadRunner internet has worked just fine for twelve years and that my neighbor's HD service works just fine and that my Sunday Night Football recordings look like they were done with a 10-year-old cellphone on low batteries by a crack head. He tightened all my connections and now I wait to see the results.

At the end of the day, the Senior tech sez he is going to try to find me an 8300HD to swap out with my 8240 HDC. The newer Scientific Atlanta box (8240) apparently has "issues." YGBSM!!! This is really what's going on here??? TWC cannot figure out that it's newer Scientific Atlanta DVR's have issues??

It's a good thing I am not a TV addict or I would be checking into the Betty Ford Clinic right now to wean myself away from the tube forever. You go out and spend a couple of $k on a nice big flat screen HDTV so you can watch Tiger Woods drop a 30-foot putt on Sunday, and all you get are sputters and spurts and and hiccups from Time Warner's cable box. Sheesh. Think I'll take up knitting.

I found out how the 8240's differ from the 8300's. The 8300's actually have a digital tuner and an analog tuner. They do not use their analog tuner even for the analog channels.

If you have gone through your channels, you will notice that you actually have TWO channels of every analog station. Take ESPN for example. I don't know what channel # it is for you, but where I live it is channel 24. The digital version of this channel is 601. So when I tune to channel 24 on my cable box, the box is actually grabbing the digital channel 601, but basically masking it as 24 to avoid confusion. So the analog tuner is not used at all, which allows for TWC to say that they are an "all digital provider" because no matter what station you tune to, you are tuning to a digital channel.

Because the 8300 doesn't use its analog tuner, it's not needed. So SA has started to develop these 8240's which are (according to them) 8300's with the analog tuner removed. They are supposed to match the 8300's hardware specs, just minus the analog tuner. I am not sure what they did differently in the manufacturing process of these boxes, but something else is obviously different. I receive calls about these boxes all the time, and it seems that right now the only way to resolve the issues is to swap out the 8240 for a 8300.

Please let us know what happens when you get the box traded out for the older model.

Greystone · 10-14-2009, 01:03 PM

Since you were all good enough to comment, let me share my latest results:

After the senior tech came out and tightened up all the cable connections, he promised to come back and swap out the 8240 box with an 8300. I will not disclose the rationale for this change out, since I do not wish to point any fingers. Suffice it to say that the 8240 HDC was not a suitable DVR for us.

After three days of continuous experimentation in recording shows in the HD spectrum-- from Monday Night Football to afternoon news commentary-- it appears my solution has been found. For now. All the recordings have been sharp with no pixelation or sound blips.

I was on the verge of either purchasing a high-end stand-alone DVR, or switching to satellite, depending on how this swap out worked. I now am convinced that the 8240 was part of the problem. I have an SATA hard drive connected to the 8300 and have ample recording space for our needs. I recommend that anyone who has a similar frustrating experience with TWC find a way to get the 8300 HD DVR and get rid of the 8240. The Samsung box has had issues, so I do not recommend this as a substitute.

Thanks for the comments.

10-04-2009, 01:09 PM	#1
Greystone My plasma is High Def. Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5	Time Warner DVR Pixelation-- Too Many Channels? New to the forum and haven't seen anything on this yet. I have TW HD service in the Austin TX area. They gave me an Explorer 8240HDC DVR which they have not been able to cure of constant pixelation on all channels (HD or regular digital) after several senior tech visits. They installed a line amp and this didn't help either. I even swapped out the box for another one and still no joy. My question: Since broadband requires so much bandwidth, I am wondering if the problem might be in the size of my package (did I really say that ) What I mean to ask is whether paring down the number of HD movie packages would have any effect on the signal problem that is causing the issue? Also, would purchase of an aftermarket DVR with better decoding be the answer? Moxi makes one.

10-04-2009, 02:09 PM	#2
Loves2Watch Ohmmmmmm Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: AZ, NM, TX, MX Posts: 16,549	It sounds like a compression issue on TW's part and another DVR would not solve the problem. __________________ Friends don't let friends buy Korean brand TV's or Blu-ray players. Main HT Room - Panasonic PT-AE4000U, Draper Premier 119" 16:9 Projector Screen, Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.

10-04-2009, 03:06 PM	#4
Loves2Watch Ohmmmmmm Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: AZ, NM, TX, MX Posts: 16,549	Is one HD and the other SD? __________________ Friends don't let friends buy Korean brand TV's or Blu-ray players. Main HT Room - Panasonic PT-AE4000U, Draper Premier 119" 16:9 Projector Screen, Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.

10-06-2009, 04:15 PM	#10
Greystone My plasma is High Def. Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5	Appreciate all the comments. Today the "Senior" Time Warner tech guy for my town showed up. He even called up the "Senior" signals guy to come out and test some signals stuff. Turns out I am on the very end of the cable signals drop for my street, which should not be an issue, since the previous visit by their tech guys resulted in the installation of an amplifier to make my QAM DbmV readings well within acceptable ranges. So this Senior Tech guy, who sounded very knowledgeable and looked the part, watches my recording of an NCIS Los Angeles program from last week-- which looks like it was recorded by a meth addict with ADS-- and the guy announces that it's probably an issue of "connections." Ok. I spent 22 years flying airplanes in the USAF and I understand that sometimes the avionics in aircraft can get affected by faulty connections. Maybe he's right. But intellectually I am struggling with the notion that my RoadRunner internet has worked just fine for twelve years and that my neighbor's HD service works just fine and that my Sunday Night Football recordings look like they were done with a 10-year-old cellphone on low batteries by a crack head. He tightened all my connections and now I wait to see the results. At the end of the day, the Senior tech sez he is going to try to find me an 8300HD to swap out with my 8240 HDC. The newer Scientific Atlanta box (8240) apparently has "issues." YGBSM!!! This is really what's going on here??? TWC cannot figure out that it's newer Scientific Atlanta DVR's have issues?? It's a good thing I am not a TV addict or I would be checking into the Betty Ford Clinic right now to wean myself away from the tube forever. You go out and spend a couple of $k on a nice big flat screen HDTV so you can watch Tiger Woods drop a 30-foot putt on Sunday, and all you get are sputters and spurts and and hiccups from Time Warner's cable box. Sheesh. Think I'll take up knitting. Last edited by Greystone; 10-06-2009 at 04:47 PM.

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10-04-2009, 03:38 PM	#5
Greystone My plasma is High Def. Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5	Nope... Both are HD DVR's: LR = 8240HDC (bad picture); BR = 8300 HD (ok). Tomorrow I will take the 8240 down to the TW office to see if I can get a swap (again) for an 8300 and/or see if they have a timeline on the issue of the new Samsung SMT-H3090 that is being introduced. Perhaps the compression issue can be solved by a newer box.

10-04-2009, 07:35 PM	#6
Sykotic Got HD? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Institutionalized Posts: 561	a drop that exceeds 200 feet should be ran with RG-11 for its low signal loss. Also a weak tap at the street could be to blame. Either way, dont pay until the problem is resolved. GL

10-04-2009, 08:51 PM	#8
Sykotic Got HD? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Institutionalized Posts: 561	ask for another 8300.

10-05-2009, 04:57 PM	#9
unr3a1 TWC Tier 3 Rep Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 10	I am a Tier 3 Support Tech for TWC. Not in the Austin office, for my job sake, I will refrain from revealing which division I work for, but the x240 line of boxes were a recent addition. I do not know how they are different from their x300 bretheren, but they are. There are numerous problems with x240 lines. I would recommend that you swap the box out for a standard 8300HD DVR.

10-06-2009, 07:52 PM	#12
Sykotic Got HD? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Institutionalized Posts: 561	try swapping the boxes, if same box still acts stupid, get another box, if the other box craps the bed, its the line.... Or its a broken flux-capacitor

10-14-2009, 01:03 PM	#14
Greystone My plasma is High Def. Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5	Since you were all good enough to comment, let me share my latest results: After the senior tech came out and tightened up all the cable connections, he promised to come back and swap out the 8240 box with an 8300. I will not disclose the rationale for this change out, since I do not wish to point any fingers. Suffice it to say that the 8240 HDC was not a suitable DVR for us. After three days of continuous experimentation in recording shows in the HD spectrum-- from Monday Night Football to afternoon news commentary-- it appears my solution has been found. For now. All the recordings have been sharp with no pixelation or sound blips. I was on the verge of either purchasing a high-end stand-alone DVR, or switching to satellite, depending on how this swap out worked. I now am convinced that the 8240 was part of the problem. I have an SATA hard drive connected to the 8300 and have ample recording space for our needs. I recommend that anyone who has a similar frustrating experience with TWC find a way to get the 8300 HD DVR and get rid of the 8240. The Samsung box has had issues, so I do not recommend this as a substitute. Thanks for the comments.