HDTV Not Ready for Prime Time? (Click Network, Tacoma)

kwiebe · 01-19-2006, 10:53 AM

I've had HDTV (from my cable provider) for almost two years. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still a disappointment, in my opinion. There are audio cutouts, popping, video tiling and freezing, and other anomalies my regular CATV service does not suffer from. Don't get me wrong - when HDTV is not suffering these ills, it is great: Pristine, clear picture and sound. Beautiful. But the problem is, this quality is not consistent and maintainable across the channels, or even within a channel, for very long. At least with my regular CATV I know what to expect.

Is this normal?

As I said, it used to be a lot worse. Many channels were routinely unwatchable. That is now rare, but even so I can still tune to just about any HD channel at any time, and within a few moments there will be a glitch of some kind.

When the problems first started, I worked with my provider, Click Network, which is run by Tacoma Power in Tacoma, WA. Click acknowledged they had forgotten or were temporarily unable to provide the necessary error-checking at a certain point within the delivery stream. They installed some new equipment and it did make a dramatic difference. However, sporadic problems remained. After again inquiring of Click, I was told that any remaining problems were just a reflection of the degraded signal Click was getting from the individual channels. Classic fingerpointing (maybe justifiable, but still fingerpointing).

So here's my question:

Why is there no customer-oriented quality control in HDTV? Click was able to correct a flaw in their delivery once, by installing error-checking equipment somewhere in their system. Why can't this same type of approach be used upstream to ensure Click gets a good signal from the channels? And why does it take me, as a customer, to let Click know they have a problem? Shouldn't there be a digital way for Click to know the signal it is getting from the channels isn't up to snuff? Without that, there's no incentive for the channels to improve.

I just find it hard to believe that in a digitally-oriented medium, there is such a shortcoming in quality control and signal monitoring. I thought that was one of the main advantages of digital technologies. As data (and that's all it is) passes from point A to B, a check is made to ensure there has not been any corruption. If there has been, the receiver asks for retransmission. This is all buffered and queued so that, even with retransmissions, a reliable video signal can be delivered to the customer, and the customer gets what he pays for: A quality-checked digital stream which is the same group of bits at the destination as it was when it originated at the source.

I guess HDTV does not currently have the same capabilities as other digital transmission systems, so apparently it is not ready for prime time. In any event, I'm not getting what I thought I was paying for. My regular CATV, being more consistent, has higher quality overall.

01-19-2006, 10:53 AM	#1
kwiebe Click Network Customer Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1	HDTV Not Ready for Prime Time? (Click Network, Tacoma) I've had HDTV (from my cable provider) for almost two years. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still a disappointment, in my opinion. There are audio cutouts, popping, video tiling and freezing, and other anomalies my regular CATV service does not suffer from. Don't get me wrong - when HDTV is not suffering these ills, it is great: Pristine, clear picture and sound. Beautiful. But the problem is, this quality is not consistent and maintainable across the channels, or even within a channel, for very long. At least with my regular CATV I know what to expect. Is this normal? As I said, it used to be a lot worse. Many channels were routinely unwatchable. That is now rare, but even so I can still tune to just about any HD channel at any time, and within a few moments there will be a glitch of some kind. When the problems first started, I worked with my provider, Click Network, which is run by Tacoma Power in Tacoma, WA. Click acknowledged they had forgotten or were temporarily unable to provide the necessary error-checking at a certain point within the delivery stream. They installed some new equipment and it did make a dramatic difference. However, sporadic problems remained. After again inquiring of Click, I was told that any remaining problems were just a reflection of the degraded signal Click was getting from the individual channels. Classic fingerpointing (maybe justifiable, but still fingerpointing). So here's my question: Why is there no customer-oriented quality control in HDTV? Click was able to correct a flaw in their delivery once, by installing error-checking equipment somewhere in their system. Why can't this same type of approach be used upstream to ensure Click gets a good signal from the channels? And why does it take me, as a customer, to let Click know they have a problem? Shouldn't there be a digital way for Click to know the signal it is getting from the channels isn't up to snuff? Without that, there's no incentive for the channels to improve. I just find it hard to believe that in a digitally-oriented medium, there is such a shortcoming in quality control and signal monitoring. I thought that was one of the main advantages of digital technologies. As data (and that's all it is) passes from point A to B, a check is made to ensure there has not been any corruption. If there has been, the receiver asks for retransmission. This is all buffered and queued so that, even with retransmissions, a reliable video signal can be delivered to the customer, and the customer gets what he pays for: A quality-checked digital stream which is the same group of bits at the destination as it was when it originated at the source. I guess HDTV does not currently have the same capabilities as other digital transmission systems, so apparently it is not ready for prime time. In any event, I'm not getting what I thought I was paying for. My regular CATV, being more consistent, has higher quality overall.