Time Warner Rolling Out Whole-House DVR
While Raleigh was awash in NHL festivities, most may have missed one of the true, life-changing exhibits at the NHL Fan Fair. It appears that the reign of terror by Scientific Atlanta’s cable boxes may be coming to an end.
While Time Warner Cable’s demonstration of Samsung’s active-shutter 3D technology was impressive, it was the presence of the Samsung SMT-H3272 (.PDF) that was most exciting. The device is a tru2way multi-room DVR that will allow customers to share recorded content among all TV’s in the house. The unit has 500GB of storage, which is about 4X to 6X the storage of the currently deployed DVRs by TWC.
Users will likely be excited, too, by the group functionality of the SMT-H3272. If a second unit is added to the house, the cumulative amount of shared storage and tuners goes to 1 TB GB and 4, respectively. As many as 8 of these devices can be used for a total of 4TB GB (1,000 hours of HD, 4,000 hours of SD) and 16 simultaneous tuners (watch/record 16 channels at the same time).
Users will not have to add tuners and storage to extend the experience throughout the house, however. A more inexpensive thin client will also be available, offering simple extension of recorded TV. (Tuner support in the clients was not mentioned, however I surmise that each will have 1 tuner, much like a current standard cable box).
Because the entire system works on MOCA technology, no additional wiring is needed. It works with existing coax cabling (that black wire connected to your TV).
The system will not support 30 second commercial skipping or offloading of content, but will support OnDemand services, Look Back, Caller ID, and other existing features.
The Whole-House DVR system is currently available as part of the SignatureHome package , stand-alone rollout is anticipated in mid February. Pricing is not available, but nobody will be sad to see the phase-out of the Scientific Atlanta 8300HDC, the worst consumer electronics device ever brought to market.
Time Warner Rolls Out More Channels
Time Warner Cable has rolled out a few new channels. They are:
- Comedy Central HD – Channel 1304
- MTV HD – Channel 1450
- BET HD – Channel 1308
- VH1 HD – Channel 1454
- The Hub HD – Channel 1211
- 5 StarMax HD – Channel 1725
- Showtime Beyond HD – Channel 1736
- ESPN Buzzer Beater HD (seasonal replacement for ESPN Goal Line) – Channel 1540
“On or about” January 19, we’ll see Jewelry TV (374), Nickelodeon HD (1205), Spike HD (1310), CMT HD (1460), Disney XD HD (1202), Showtime Next HD (1738), Showtime Women HD (1740).
Russia TV will be coming to channel 183 at a later date.
DVR Alert: Valvano Episode of Cosby Airing Monday
A local favorite episode of The Cosby Show will rerun on Monday afternoon. “
The Getaway
”, which features Jim Valvano and Dick Vitale as motivated furniture movers will by shown on Centric (TWC Channel 458) on Monday (12/20) at 2:30pm.
“My Carolina Today” Features Jerry Nowell
Most students at UNC begin their two years in the school’s General College. It is a college where students take survey courses across the curriculum while seeking an appropriate major. In the course of this study, many students are bound to take a class that is completely perpendicular to their own aptitudes, and the only salvation is a good teacher. One of those teachers for me was Jerry Nowell, a philosophy T.A. that actually make
Immanuel Kant
digestible for a few weeks there in 1990. I glazed over while studying the reading material, but it was only when I heard Nowell’s explanations that I was able to make sense of Kant as well as several political theorists.
Nowell went on to work in his family’s modern furniture business in Cary and has been a strong supporter of the area’s fascinating Modernist Architecture movement. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma earlier this year. His approach to this diagnosis is the subject of Today’s episode of “My Carolina Today” on NBC17 . The show airs at 11am .
Here is the press release:
October 30, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Jerry Nowell, a man who normally prefers to remain in the background running his award-winning store Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture in Cary, is going before the cameras next week to discuss his battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, and the fundraiser he’ll launch in November to benefit Multiple Myeloma Cancer Research at Duke Medicine.
Nowell will be a featured guest on NBC 17’s “My Carolina Today” show on Monday, November 1, at 11 a.m. Joining him will be Dr. Cristina Gasparetto, a specialist in laboratory and clinical research in the field of multiple myeloma at Duke Medicine.
Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow.
Nowell, 49, was diagnosed in May after a routine check up. Since then, he’s been sharing his progress on Facebook and planning “Nowell’s Fund To Fight Multiple Myeloma” in association with the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The furniture store has been sponsoring holiday-season charitable fundraisers for several years. Nowell’s decision to make cancer research at Duke the recipient of this year’s fundraiser was obviously personal.
“While there is currently no cure for multiple myeloma, on-going research raises great hope that emerging therapies may turn it into a manageable disease and, ultimately, lead to a cure,” he said.
Dr. Gasparetto will discuss some of those advances when the show airs.
Traffic Alert: NCSU vs. FSU
![strutwolf[1]](https://www.gogoraleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/strutwolf1.gif "strutwolf[1]")
Tonight’s ESPN College Football Primetime Served by Applebee’s comes live, in stunning HD, from Raleigh’s Carter-Finley Stadium where the North Carolina State Wolfpack play host to the 16th-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Both schools sport printable game notes in PDF format (
FSU
,
NCSU
) for tonight’s matchup. It’s a matchup that could have a major impact on the ACC’s title hunt. With one conference loss, NCSU can pretty much toss aside championship hopes with a loss tonight. However with a win, the Pack is squarely in the conversation for the Atlantic Division title.
Kickoff is at 7:30pm, and all traffic in the western half of Wake County will be extremely heavy . If at all possible, avoid I-40 and the Starplex (Stadium/Arena Complex) area if you are not attending the game!
Gogo’s Guide to the NBA
The NBA regular season tips off tomorrow night with three games on the schedule. It also begins a two week preview of the NBA League Pass package on Time Warner Cable. The preview, showing thru November 2, is our chance to see some of our favorite former college players whose teams never get national TV coverage. Teams like Indiana and Cleveland have tons of area players, and this is our chance to watch them. The Pass is on channels 571-581 (SD) and 1581 (HD).
The NBA rosters are an interesting read every year. There are so many surprises in the rolls, including the coaching staffs, I put together a
master spreadsheet of all NBA players
for readers to enjoy. In order to best utilize the data, log in to your Google account, and then select File | Make a Copy…, and save the spreadsheet into your own
account. Users can then sort the list by Team, Salary, Age, etc. to best comprehend the current rosters.
There are several players from the area in the league. Quin Snyder, Bob Bender, Gene Banks, Chip Engelland, Phil Weber, Nate McMillan, Vinnie Del Negro, Joe Wolf, Bob McAdoo, Pat Sullivan, John Kuester, George Karl, Larry Brown, Dave Hanners, and Phil Ford are all among the coaching ranks. Raleigh natives Chris Wilcox and John Wall are preparing for big seasons as players in the league. Additionally there are also several former local college players in the league, and Duke currently holds the lead. Those players are:
Duke (13)
- Shane Battier (Houston)
- Carlos Boozer (Chicago)
- Elton Brand (Philadelphia)
- Luol Deng (Chicago)
- Chris Duhon (Orlando)
- Mike Dunleavy (Indiana)
- Gerald Henderson (Charlotte)
- Grant Hill (Phoenix)
- Dahntay Jones (Indiana)
- Corey Maggette (Milwaukee)
- Josh McRoberts (Indiana)
- J.J. Redick (Orlando)
- Shelden Williams (Denver)
UNC (11)
- Vince Carter (Orlando)
- Wayne Ellington (Minnesota)
- Raymond Felton (New York)
- Tyler Hansbrough (Indiana)
- Brendan Haywood (Dallas)
- Antawn Jamison (Cleveland)
- Ty Lawson (Denver)
- Jerry Stackhouse (Miami)
- Jawad Williams (Cleveland)
- Marvin Williams (Atlanta)
- Brandan Wright (Golden State)
NCSU (2)
- J.J. Hickson (Cleveland)
- Josh Powell (Atlanta)
Wake Forest (8)
- Al-Farouq Aminu (LA Clippers)
- Tim Duncan (San Antonio)
- Josh Howard (Washington)
- James Johnson (Chicago)
- Chris Paul (New Orleans)
- Ishmael Smith (Houston)
- Darius Songaila (Philadelphia)
- Jeff Teague (Atlanta)
We’ll see if others such as Rashad McCants, Sean May, John Scheyer, and Danny Green can find there ways onto the list…
Time Warner Rolling Out More HD Channels
Time Warner Cable customers in the area recently got a notice that more lesser-viewed channels will be shifted over to the sluggish SDV tuning method. This move opens up bandwidth to add more channels, however, and they will be rolled out over the next month.
On 10/20:
- Wize Buys (376) will be replaced by Liquidation
- Art & Coin Network Channel 377 will be replaced by Black Shopping Channel
- Cornerstone TV Channel 380 will be replaced by Shop Zeal 3
To be added 11/4:
- WEPX HD (1155)
- Comedy Central HD (1304)
- Hallmark Channel HD (1218)
- MTV HD (1450)
- Nickelodeon HD (1205)
- Spike TV HD (1310)
- Nat Geo Wild HD (1254)
- DIY HD (1356)
- NHL Network HD (1526)
- Showtime On Demand HD (1762)
On 11/10:
- Primetime HD On Demand Channel 1195 will be available as a Free On Demand service. Also, on this date, programming from CBS and NBC will move from HD Showcase On Demand to Primetime HD On Demand.
To Be Added 11/23:
- HSN HD (1371)
- QVC HD (1370)
- BET HD (1308)
- VH1 HD (1454)
- The Hub HD (1211)
- Cooking Channel HD (1353)
- Disney XD HD (1202)
- Fox Soccer Plus HD (1536)
- Smithsonian On Demand HD (TBD)
Gogoraleigh’s TWC Channel Guide
Of course, Time Warner has an html channel guide as well as a printable channel guide (.pdf), but they didn’t fill my needs. Instead I created a Google Spreadsheet with the channel lineups . From this I can select channels to skip and see more per page than TWC’s. It is a powerful tool for setting up a Windows Media Center, TiVo, or Sage setup with Raleigh’s Time Warner Cable service (and believe me, bringing your own hardware to the table is essential to making Time Warner’s service enjoyable)
TWC to Show UNC/ECU Game
The UNC/ECU game on Saturday is scheduled for coverage by ESPN3.com. Unfortunately all of the aspects of the recent legal agreement between ESPN’s parent company and Time Warner Cable have not been ironed out yet, and ESPN3.com is not yet available for TWC customers. Thankfully Time Warner announced today that they will air the game on channel 520. Gametime is 3:30.
Do Not Pass Me…
Superchunk made their way to NYC and appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night where they played “Digging for Something”. Catch it before YouTube gets the takedown notice:
As a bonus NBC has posted Superchunk’s off-the-air performance of “Precision Auto” from the (awesome) 1993 “On The Mouth” CD.
Are You Ready For Some…Traffic?
ESPN’s College Football Primetime will air the N.C. State vs. Cincinnati game Thursday night. Kickoff is at 7:30, and the event is expected to draw a full house…and you know what that means:
avoid West Raleigh tomorrow evening
. If you work in RTP, certainly consider a different route home, and realize that others plan to do so as well.
The game will be televised in HD on ESPN, but unfortunately will not be in 3D. The 3D game of the week is Clemson vs. Auburn (Sat., 7pm).
Michael C. Hall Featured on EW Cover
The new special edition “Fall TV Preview” issue of
Entertainment Weekly
is out. Featured on the front is Raleigh native
Michael C. Hall
(lower left), whose show
Dexter
is the issue’s highlight of the upcoming Sunday night TV lineup. Hall, last season’s Golden Globe winner for Best Actor in a Television Series (Drama), is returning from a hiatus where he successfully was treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He says,”I feel great! I’ve gotten my energy and by hair back”. See the article on page 107 of the Sept. 17 issue of Entertainment Weekly for more.
Dexter appears on Sundays at 9pm on Showtime (premiere on 9/26). Its timeslot is followed by another show featuring a Raleigh native, Emily Procter . CSI Miami moves to Sundays at 10pm on CBS (premiere on 10/3).
Mike Posner on Fallon Tonight
Mike Posner
is a Detroit-native, but his academic career at Duke had to be put on hold recently because his music career began to explode. His CD “30 Minutes to Takeoff” sits at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart, led by the single “Cooler Than Me”. Posner is a guest on tonight’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”, airing at 12:30am on NBC. (Will Ferrell is the primary guest, but his Raleigh ties are for another post).
Procter Featured in Guideposts
If case you are stuck in a doctor’s reception area or old-folks home, be sure to check out the August 2010 issue of
Guideposts
magazine. The feature this month
CSI: Miami
star and Raleigh native Emily Procter. There is a nice article titled “What Inspires Me”. Disappointingly it is not about Emily’s lifelong crush on the boy two-doors-down. Instead it is about her friendship with a wheelchair-riding homeless man named Jim. Emily has done a superb job of keeping her feet on the ground in a city and industry full of insanity. People like Jim are the ones who have reminded her about what really matters.
Recent Stories
- North Carolina Loses The Great Teacher February 9, 2015
- City Lays Markings for Currituck Obstacle Course February 4, 2015
- History Making Heels and Wolfpack Prepare for Battle January 14, 2015
- 25 Predictions for 2015 January 5, 2015
- Raleigh’s 10 Biggest Stories of 2014 January 2, 2015
- 2014: The Rain Year January 2, 2015
- Tupelo Honey Sets New Casual Standard December 1, 2014
- 2013 Predictions. A Look Back November 18, 2014
- Wicked Taco Bringing Fresh-Mex to Western Blvd November 17, 2014
- DOT Unveils I-440 Widening Plans November 12, 2014
- County Power Shift Brings Major Changes to Raleigh’s Future November 5, 2014
- Jarrett Bay Store Coming to Crabtree September 25, 2014
- FirstWatch Coming to Glenwood Avenue September 9, 2014
- Big Shindig Releases Set Times September 5, 2014
- Appearance Commission to Review Residence Inn September 3, 2014
