Jan

What’s The Deal With This TWC Letter?

In the late fall Time Warner Cable subscribers received a letter informing them of the digital migration of channels like C-SPAN, CMT, OWN, etc. The letter notes that starting around December 4, customers would only be able to tune the channels mentioned using a digital set-top box. While confusing and possibly irritating, this trend isn’t over.

Back in 2007 CED Magazine and Engadget’s Ben Drawbaugh wrote about the difficult cable digital transition (not to be confused with the over-the-air “digital transition” that got so much attention.) The articles explain that while companies like Time Warner Cable have a vast installation of wiring installed in our cities, that network, like a highway, can only handle a certain amount of traffic.

The classic method of delivering a cable signal, “analog”, is like a series of wide-load trucks barreling down the highway. Digital signals are like motorcycles on the highway, so many more of these signals, or channels, are able to fit in the existing network. Customers want more channels, so instead of going through the costly process of digging up the city again, cable companies are converting channels over to the digital method of transmission and shutting off the old analog signals.

The problem with the cable digital transition, is that digital signals need to be received with special equipment. Hearing your neighbor lean out the window yelling,”Hey YO”, doesn’t require equipment, but to receive their telephone call, one has to have compatible equipment on his or her end to receive the neighbor’s call. Our old TVs could only receive these analog shouts, but needed a digital cable tuner to receive the other channels. Newer TVs have a digital tuner only in them, so they can receive digital signals (that aren’t encrypted).

So Time Warner Cable is, rightfully, in the process of converting its cable signal from analog to digital, and in the process is carrying one of each version of the most popular channels. That’s hogging a lot of bandwidth! The letter we received is simply notifying us of the next wave of channels that will be taken off of the analog package of signals. Eventually all of the analog channels will be shut off, requiring every TV to have a digital tuner to receive the signal. This will allow companies to offer faster internet and more HD channels without radical infrastructure improvements.

What’s this CableCARD thing they mention?

Because some people in the 90s were fed up with the cable companies’ crappy cable boxes and numerous remote controls, the cable companies agreed on a standard key that could be inserted into the customer’s own equipment, allowing the customer to get all of the digital signals on his or her equipment. The CableCARD dream was for all TVs to have a slot where the key, the CableCARD, could be inserted, unlocking all of the channels and allowing the user to use the TV’s remote control to see the guide data and all of the channels. Unfortunately the cable companies’ agreement was simply to placate congress, and the companies did everything they could to make the CableCARD concept fail in the marketplace. They discouraged TV manufacturers from implementing the technology and they changed their own technology to make CableCARD incompatible with all offered channels and any on-demand items. CableCARD is still a great option though, allowing superior DVRs like Windows Media Center and Tivo to exist.

What about watching WRAL on 5.1, not with a box?

Ahh encryption. To circumvent piracy cable companies started encrypting their signals, which requires even more specialized equipment to receive and decode the signals. Time Warner’s boxes and DVRs do all of this behind the scenes work for the customer. Currently all channels above 99 are encrypted, and require a Time Warner box or CableCARD to decode the signal, not just receive it. Until October, however, federal law stipulated that cable companies could not encrypt signals that were also available over-the-air, ie in the public domain. This meant that cable companies had to provide channels like WRAL, WTVD, PBS, etc to all customer TV sets without requiring special equipment (“in the clear”). This allowed customers who don’t want a Time Warner cable box to scan the channels and get HD signals for WRAL on 5.1, for example, instead of just watching the SD signal on channel 3.

Not anymore. On October 12, 2012, the FCC ruled that cable companies are allowed encrypt our local stations, requiring customers to have their special equipment to tune content that is also carried via the public trust of the airwaves. Time Warner Cable has made no reference to this and has not stated any intention of requiring equipment to tune the major networks, however the gate is open for them to do so, which would disable customers’ abilities to tune WRAL-HD with their TVs on 5.1.

I’m just going with U-Verse or satellite

We certainly have options these days, which is great, but Time Warner Cable remains the only option that currently doesn’t require a settop box at every TV, allowing customers to tune programming with the TV’s integrated tuner. My prediction, however is that supplier’s logic will trump market demand and we will all have to have a converter box on every TV regardless of provider.

I’m pulling the plug and going with AppleTV

Apple, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Hulu, Roku, Boxee, etc are all trying to figure this out. Currently these companies offer equipment that users plug into the internet and to their TV. While these boxes do use the internet provider’s pipes, they pull their content from sources other than Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately they don’t currently provide the content most users want. Live sports, live news, the latest movies, and the most popular TV shows are difficult to find through these services, and will continue to be as long as cable and satellite providers hold on to content for dear life. Eventually these challengers will win, and companies like Time Warner Cable will continue to thrive as metered internet providers, as will as internet-based video providers. The concept of a live stream that offers shows at certain times will be a thing of the past, and local TV stations will have no role other than as local news agencies. However that day is still a long, long time coming.

If you are interested in sports, pulling the plug will definitely leave you very disappointed. The content offered outside of the mainstream providers is still too scant for most people. These alternative companies are definitely on to something, but the current model of delivering video content to customers is here to stay for quite a while longer.

16 Comments

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Anonymous Said:
January 16th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Some additional information for anybody who received this letter:
– TWC allows you have up to 3 of the little Digital Adapter (DA) boxes for free through the end of 2014 (at least that was what I was told a couple of weeks ago when I got mine). You can call the number on the letter to get them – they’ll FedEx them to you – or go to a TWC site like the one on Atlantic to pick them up.
– The TWC Rep I spoke to suggested I get all three now, as she could not guarantee that the “free through 2014” deal would be available later – if I got one now then asked for 2 later, I might be charged for the latter two prior to 2015.
– The DA boxes do allow for HD local channels, plus a few others – just not at the 5.1, 17.1, etc. locations we’ve been getting them on. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could get 1105, 1111, 1117, 1122, 1128 and other related channels using the DA box. In addition, 1300 (USA) and 1301 (TNT) were available, along with ESPN (1500). However, other HD channels like ESPN2 (1501) and TBS (1302) were not.
– If you are looking for HD news stations, you are SOL. (Fox is available in HD, but I noted NEWS, not propaganda)
– Many stations are available in the 300-900 range – I actually get more channels with the DA box than I did when the coax cable was plugged directly into my HD TV.
– The DA boxes MUST be activated by calling the number on the letter enclosed with the box.

It was a bit frustrating trying to figure out what channels are available, but that frustration is lessening as I get used to the DA box.

Now, do I believe that TWC will leave these boxes at $0.99/month starting in 2015? Not a chance – my guess is that the price will jump to $1.69 or something like that in 2016 (just like TWC has, “to better serve me”, started charging $3.99/month for my cable modem).
Anonymous Said:
January 16th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Tim,
This is great information! Can you be more specific about the DA box you were given? What brand and model number is it?
Anonymous Said:
January 16th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
I do not remember the brand/model offhand – I’ll try to remember to post the info when I get home.

FWIW – it came with the standard TWC remote, which I was able to program to work with my TV… only one remote to worry about. In addition, it included an HDMI cable and remote sensor – if you want to hide the little DA box you can use attach the sensor to the side of the TV.
Burgeoningfoodie Said:
January 16th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
So I have a SiliconDust Homerun and was thinking of getting rid of TWC set top box and getting a cable card. What channels sans tuner would I be able to get? I was going to pair this up with Media Center server and front end.
Anonymous Said:
January 16th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
The HDHomeRun is great, and you will salivate when you go to Media Center. I had the first gen HDHR, but it only picked up the locals (no CableCARD), not analog or digital cable channels. I have a Ceton internal tuner, so I’m not as familiar with the newer HDHR (I assume you got the one that has 3 tuners in it? -they just announced a 4-tuner one). You’ll need to get one or two SDV Tuning Adapters from TWC. (can’t remember if the HDHR limits you to only two tuners per SDV adapter or if it is four. I believe it is four). When you order your CableCARD (which required a truck roll two years ago – not sure if they do now or not), be sure to ask for these SDV adapters (several channels are offered via SDV. If you have problems with pairing the CableCARD, try calling TWC’s national CableCARD line at (866) 532-2598 (don’t deal with local people on this, and BTW, the installer, if you have to have one, will be utterly clueless on this equipment. He’ll be a spectator).

You’ll get all of the channels on my alphabetical guide that do NOT contain “On Demand”

http://www.gogoraleigh.com/2011/04/15/gogos-twc-channel-guide-shows-you-where-the-damned-channel-is/

For me this is everything I need. I got a free TWC box with my subscription, so I switch over to it if we want to do an On-Demand movie in the den.

You’ll then want to get some XBox360s or Ceton Echos to go in each room
http://cetoncorp.com/products/echo/

Media Center is great. We run our den TV as the monitor for the server. This affords full net streaming and Netflix viewing in that room. It’s plenty powerful to run 4 extenders that we have in other rooms. The only drawback is that Media Center does go through flaky periods now and again. Sometimes it is slow to zero in on tuning a channel, and we get artificial recording failure messages, but the benefit of being able to hold 2TB of recorded TV, offload any non-protected items to other devices, and live in that UI is absolutely worth it.
Drr2 Said:
January 17th, 2013 at 4:15 am
TWC is one of the companies, along with BofA, thats needs to go the way of the dinosaurs. Hopefully Apple TV starts driving the spikes in the coffin.
Anonymous Said:
January 17th, 2013 at 9:01 pm
The DA box I was given is the CISCO DTA 170HD. It is about 3.5″x4.5″x1″ in size.
Anonymous Said:
January 17th, 2013 at 9:01 pm
The DA box I was given is the CISCO DTA 170HD. It is about 3.5″x4.5″x1″ in size.
Anonymous Said:
January 17th, 2013 at 10:13 pm
That’s really interesting. It sounds like this is the box I heard about a couple of years ago that cable companies would probably have to give away. From its instructions it sounds like it connects to a static input on your TV (HDMI or channel 3/4), and the box does the heavy lifting (tuning), which requires using its remote and not the TV’s natural remote. Sounds like the intent here is to sustain the life of the old TV in a bedroom or kitchen, really, however the offering of some extra HDs is fascinating, and makes an HDTV a little better than just getting 0-99 and the HD locals.

One thing is for sure…the days of plugging a TV directly into the wall are definitely ending.

Thanks so much for posting about this!
Anonymous Said:
January 18th, 2013 at 4:26 pm
You are correct – the DA box can connect to the TV using coax or HDMI (maybe a 3rd method – I don’t have it in front of me any more). If coax, you can select either channel 3 or 4. I use the HDMI connection, fwiw. Since the remote they included will handle my TV, the TV’s remote is now stored away.

Another FWIW – figure on TWC moving other channels from analog to digital, so if a TWC customer does not get one of these boxes (or the normal digital box) for their TV, they will lose access to more and more channels over time.
dennis Said:
January 20th, 2013 at 11:38 am
You are wrong about one thing. UVERSE has an all around wireless reciever now and you can run multiple TV’s off of it. I would never pay for TWC again. their service is disgusting.
Matt Said:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:06 am
I have a HDHomeRun Prime and the cablecard does not require a truck roll, and only requires one tuning adapter (giant cisco box). I just had to pick up mine at the tw office along with the TA and make a call.

I use a few hacks for windows media center to give me more rows in the guide and icons, and I use comskip for the non copy-once channels and recordings from my OTA tuners. It works out pretty nicely.

The HDHomeRun Prime is doing some interesting stuff with DLNA/DTCP-IP which will allow it to stream protected content to devices (ex PS3) other then windows media center. WMC is great and all, but it is the _only_ thing that can currently do the protected content and it has pretty much been abandoned by microsoft.
Dana Said:
January 22nd, 2013 at 9:27 am
Thanks for the clarification, Matt. I think I put my system together in ’09, and it’s hard to remember the details of changes along the way.

Though Microsoft has disassembled the Media Center team, I’m approaching it from the angle of this being an appliance that was produced in ’09 that they can’t take away from me. If I have to stay on Windows 7, at least it all works… which leads me to my rant about Windows 8..

Of course the Metro layer will have its own apps for vendors, such as a Netflix app, a Hulu app, a Watch ESPN app… etc. So obviously MS wants users to live in that space. Why not break out Media Center’s essential modules (Guide, Live TV, Recorded TV/Movies) to their own apps? That way MS would have a product that serves every aspect of the TV ecosystem during this transition away from linear TV. The answer I’ve gotten is that it would require too much investment. That’s absurd though. I’ve already fixed the deep link problem (see http://www.blog.danamccall.com/?p=389 ), all MS would have to do is put in a UI switch to convert the remote’s Green Button to a Windows Start button. They would also need to change the behavior of the “Back” button in a few places.

It just kind of breaks my heart that Microsoft not only wrote the best DVR software ever written, it is probably my favorite piece of technology ever created…then abandoned it for a model that is many, many years away from being as serviceable to the end user.

Like I said, ultimately these providers will merely be ISPs, especially if Net Neutrality can stay like it is.
Nick Said:
May 12th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
In NYC we are allowed 4 boxes. Yesterday I received my 4 Cisco DTA 170HDs. Analog drop-dead date on Staten Island is 6/25/2013. Free through the end of 2014, 99 cents/month after that.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/residential-home/support/topics/tv/digital-adapters.html

http://www.timewarnercable.com/content/dam/residential/pdfs/support/tv/DCI/dci_nyc_schedule.pdf
Guest Said:
May 13th, 2013 at 12:48 pm
A follow up on the “another fwiw”… As time has gone by, more HD channels have become available via the digital converter box. Besides the various local channels and side-channels in the 1100-1199 range, there are now 18 HD channels. TWC finally added their own news channel 1414 to the mix, and ESPN2 has joined ESPN.
JohnP Said:
June 29th, 2013 at 4:26 pm
This little box sucks. I connected one today and the output is of lower quality than what the HD TV tuner pulls in. Even when using an hdmi connection. Time Warner has managed to do more stupid things with their service to drive users away. I’m going back to straight cble on the TV I tried this box on until finding another vendor to go with. I will try AT&T Uverse next.