Bright House Goes All Digital

[stevenl]

Mirage its impossible for your 15year old tv to be watching a digital signal without a converter box.. if thats why your complaining about reception then its because its still analog... your tv cannot process the digital 01010101 signal, without a box to convert it to analog so your tv can read it. impossible. and being a video editor your use to looking at pictures directly at the source.. the picture will never look like that on analog wiht such great distance to travel to get to your house. even though our system is limited to no more then 5 amps in cascade you still have noise added to the line. If im reading what you say correctly sounds to be you are expecting to get production qulaity from analog broadcast...

 

[mirage426]

I hear what you are saying, but tell that to my tv... the picture I am receiving gets all of the digital interference...stuttering, freezing and the digital "pixellating noise" in the dark backgrounds...without a cable box. *shrug shoulders* and the analogue signal was converted to digital here in Altamonte a few weeks back. The tech that was reciently here, last week saw it and confirmed it. It is a digital source.
And... I had a great "production quality" picture from an analogue broadcasting source before, even before digital was even thought about, in NJ... and a svhs casette to prove it, so why isn't it possible?
DVD recordings I made from older Vhs Cassettes that I converted using a stand alone consumer brand DVD recorder and a VHS player with no enhancing equipment- (the quality that was captured from an analogue source) People I gave the DVD's to thought they were from another DVD, not a VHS cassette or an analogue broadcast.
That's where the true test comes in.

 

[cablewithaview]

I hear what you are saying, but tell that to my tv... the picture I am receiving gets all of the digital interference...stuttering, freezing and the digital "pixellating noise" in the dark backgrounds...without a cable box. *shrug shoulders* and the analogue signal was converted to digital here in Altamonte a few weeks back. The tech that was reciently here, last week saw it and confirmed it. It is a digital source.
And... I had a great "production quality" picture from an analogue broadcasting source before, even before digital was even thought about, in NJ... and a svhs casette to prove it, so why isn't it possible?
DVD recordings I made from older Vhs Cassettes that I converted using a stand alone consumer brand DVD recorder and a VHS player with no enhancing equipment- (the quality that was captured from an analogue source) People I gave the DVD's to thought they were from another DVD, not a VHS cassette or an analogue broadcast.
That's where the true test comes in.

The digital feeds are converted back to analog. you are seeing a digital feed in analog format.

 

[mirage426]

That's just great. Then why did the "upper level" cable tech tell me it was pure digital? Not analogue/digital or whatever it is?
That really sucks...and I'm even more disappointed now..if that's true. (no offense to anyone, there are alot of concepts bouncing around, but no definate answer.)
and the fact that the picture quality is the exact same on the other TV that does have a "cable box" hooked to it. ???
which is another "non digital" sony tv
Sorry, but when you think about it, things do not make sense.. (no offense to you guys) sounds like a lot of heresay, but no actual solid proof...anywhere.
But then... if the "cable box" converts the analogue signal to digital, That means the movie channels are transmitted in analogue, also, then converted through the box as well?
Then That does explain why everything looks so bad. The conversion is only as good as it's master source. You can only enhance something soo much. (blow up a video source from 320 to 740 and you will know what i'm talking about.)

and actually, Tivo technology does that conversion (to digital) as well. There is a slight enhancement done during the process, but you still need a good signal to start with.

 

[stevenl]

mirage, why want you pay attention to what i say? The signal for The lower channels 1-77 are sent on an analog format, on low band freq. (55-350mhz'ish give or take a few mhz) They are also sent in digital format on a super band (above 550mhz) So there are 2 feeds of the exact same channel, at 2 differnet freqs, now if you dont have a cable box your tv picks up and reads the analog version of the channel (say for instance ch2 you read it at around 60mhz) then if you have a box it automaticly looks up high for the digital ch 2 on around 575mhz or so. Your tv without a box DOES NOT get a digital picture. Also your TV with the box gets a digital signal to it, but since your TV is not using a digital input the box converts it (hence the name 'converter box') to analog so your tv can understand it. Im not sure who this 'high level' tech your talking about but obviously he doesnt know what hes talking about or he explained it wrong/ or you heard it wrong. Your tv qualty also has alot to do with the qualtiy as well, i have 3 tvs in my house the living room which is a new model sony wega tv has a super sharp picture on all channels (with the hd-dvr) the JVC 27in in the master bedroom has a semi ok picture (some noise which is caused by the tv) then i have an old 13inch which has a super great picture probley better then my wega =\ heh and its plugged with no box. so go figure... you cant compare nj to fla or cali to washington. you cant compare sony to toshiba to roadrunner to @home. each is its own and each will be differnt results.

 

[mirage426]

*ultra sigh* I did see what you said, stevenl, but the dude that comes to your house to work on the service, with the fancy schmancy title and supposed 10 year experience in the cable field, he's supposed to know this stuff, and give us correct answers. Right?
More of the reason i am overall annoyed w/BHC. I Can't get a straight answer. If i gave clients/customers wrong info at my job, I'd be fired.
Plus just the simple fact that I NEVER EVER had the problems I have w/BHC. All the times I've moved. Both of my tv's picture quality was usually dead even broadcast quality or slightly off, but not EVER as bad as it is now. I'm just used to overall better, higher quality, I guess.
That's why i laugh (no offense) when I hear someone say their picture is great, when they don't have anything to compare it to. Or never saw a better picture. Those kiosks at the malls are a riot, the tv's showing HD had blurry text and when I questioned it, the answer I was given was "Why would you need to read type on a TV?" So I just walked away...
and now knowing the signal is still analogue when I was told it was transmitted in digital from the "station" really burns me. Might as well put regular gas in my car and just tell me you put premium in, so you can charge me the premiun price.
So forgive me for doubting you it's just that like I said before, there is too much of "what it should be" and "what it really is" with BHC for me to be satisfied with the service.
Also, how long am I supposed to wait until the whole game of "jerk the customer around" is finally finished and we will have a stable quality picture?
Cause my patience has now dropped into the warning levels...

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

And... I had a great "production quality" picture from an analogue broadcasting source before, even before digital was even thought about, in NJ... and a svhs casette to prove it, so why isn't it possible?

Because a SVHS under the very best circumstances can only show about 400 lines of resolution instead of 480 lines - or 20% less.

*sigh*

And judging by your statements and post, i seriously doubt your 15 year old TVs can even do 480.

 

[mirage426]

Because a SVHS under the very best circumstances can only show about 400 lines of resolution instead of 480 lines - or 20% less.

*sigh*

And judging by your statements and post, i seriously doubt your 15 year old TVs can even do 480.

Dude, this is exactly what I mean, a 1/4 of the answer is given to the question.

But, There's an original tactic... blame the customer's equipment, that's another 20 year old ploy to get us to conviently rent equipment.
Gee, I never had any of these problems with any other cable or satellite companies, I dealt with before, but it must be my equipment. *rolls eyes*
Oh, but there's more...that's not the tv i have the most problems with, it's the newer sony that has a cable box connected to it, I have tons more glitching, stuttering, pixellating and freezing with.(on anything channels 100 +)
Maybe if BHC used better name brand equipment, other that SA, things might be better... And neighbors I spoke with told me of they were experiencing the same trouble, when they called in, they were told "that's normal" for digital. They didn't buy it , either. Once in a while, I'd understand, but constantly, no way, Dude.
Read the rest of the posts, you will see that I say regardless of whatever, the overall picture quality is horrible and it isn't my TV's, cause I know plenty of people with "brand-new" tv's and the quality is just as bad.
and out of the 15 years of owning that peticular tv, I never had a problem like this..ever.
and I notice you did not comment on the part i wrote about the DVD's I made from those same svhs that people thought were store bought quality...interesting.
but at least you didn't insult me this time...

 

[iceturkee]

i'm not going to try and get into a pissing contest, here. but i've had both cable and satellite, on and off, more than one time. right now, the pq on my 13 inch daewoo looks better than anything i've had of late with directv.

on my 21 inch sony wega, its unbelievable. i'm sure there are products out there much better. right now, i can't complain too much about brighthouse. and lord know, i've done my fair share of complaining to them in the past!!!

 

[Jim12473]

Bright House - Picture Freezes

I am glad I found this site, I started looking on the net today when I have gotten completely frustrated with Bright House. I have had it where my picture freezes for about 3 seconds or so, then clears and it does it again a little bit later. I have had the Bright House Tech's out twice now. The first one replaced a plate that connects the cable to the wall. That fixed the problem for about a few days until it started again. The next Tech comes in and stays 5 minutes tightens up the wire, (Thanks for coming!) yet the problem is still there with it freezing.

I am going to take the cable box in and get another to see if this resolves the problem. If not, I am seriously considering going to Direc TV. I have had this problem with the picture freezes since at least February 7th if not earlier of this year. Last year, I had no where near the problems I am having this year. I was wondering who else have had this issue and what steps they have taken to resolve the issue? The one constant that I have noticed is that it occurs in the evening hours and of couse it has to happen on ESPN/ ESPN2. Although I noticed local CBS and UPN 65 also now starting this trend.

 

[vlj9r]

I am glad I found this site, I started looking on the net today when I have gotten completely frustrated with Bright House. I have had it where my picture freezes for about 3 seconds or so, then clears and it does it again a little bit later. I have had the Bright House Tech's out twice now. The first one replaced a plate that connects the cable to the wall. That fixed the problem for about a few days until it started again. The next Tech comes in and stays 5 minutes tightens up the wire, (Thanks for coming!) yet the problem is still there with it freezing.

I am going to take the cable box in and get another to see if this resolves the problem. If not, I am seriously considering going to Direc TV. I have had this problem with the picture freezes since at least February 7th if not earlier of this year. Last year, I had no where near the problems I am having this year. I was wondering who else have had this issue and what steps they have taken to resolve the issue? The one constant that I have noticed is that it occurs in the evening hours and of couse it has to happen on ESPN/ ESPN2. Although I noticed local CBS and UPN 65 also now starting this trend.

I would think twice before switching to Dtv. I have my DTV Tivo turned on last night to compare their digital channels against BHN and to me, BHN was the CLEAR winner. DTV's picture is very soft and the colors are not as bright as BHN. I did the comparison using my Sony KDSR60XBR1. I can't comment on DTV's HD channels since I do not have an HD receiver but I'm going to check them out at a friends house who happens to have the same tv set and he has both systems.

 

[vlj9r]

I forgot to mention, to definitely swap boxes. My first 2 8300HD boxes were deffective. The first one had a problem with the DVI port. Picture looked very yellow. The second one the picture looked good but when viewing and HD channel, the picture would blink every 5 secs or so at random. So maybe your box has gone bad.

Good Luck!

 

[mirage426]

I would think twice before switching to Dtv. I have my DTV Tivo turned on last night to compare their digital channels against BHN and to me, BHN was the CLEAR winner. DTV's picture is very soft and the colors are not as bright as BHN. I did the comparison using my Sony KDSR60XBR1. I can't comment on DTV's HD channels since I do not have an HD receiver but I'm going to check them out at a friends house who happens to have the same tv set and he has both systems.

That is very interesting, because the picture quality you speak of is exactly the same crap I had w/BHC. Flat colors and the black was really gray... not to mention the tons and tons more digital pixellization interferrence on a daily basis. But of course, none of the techs noticed that, until i put in a dvd recording I made from a satellite broadcast to compare to it. Then they noticed. Big difference. satellite was brighter and sharper.
and my, and my sister "dtivo", has not had the problems you speak of, either. Did you connect through the coax cable or s-video? I personally can see a pic degregation using coax after a box to the tv.
and there are different brands you can buy to use w/Dtv, not just the"SA" cable provides to you that you have to settle with.
Had BHC for 6 months of nothing but problems, had all the same issues as Jim12473, nothing was ever resolved it was was really disappointing to me, so I'm not a big fan of BHC, sorry.

 

[vlj9r]

and my, and my sister "dtivo", has not had the problems you speak of, either. Did you connect through the coax cable or s-video? I personally can see a pic degregation using coax after a box to the tv.
and there are different brands you can buy to use w/Dtv, not just the"SA" cable provides to you that you have to settle with.

Amazing how people can have differenct experiences. I had Dtv for several yrs and watched it on non HD sets. It looked good. This yr I bought a new Sony HD set and switched to BHN because of the initial high cost of getting HD thru DTV. $599 DVR + $99 Install - $200 MIR. So last night I called DTV and had them turn on my tivo dvr just to compare and I was shocked. I tried connecting to the tv thru the composite video, S-video and coax. I did a pip of american chopper and the tatoos on senior looked sharper and you could make them out on the BHN transmission. On the DTV they looked smear. This whole transition period (growing pains) just sucks. Personally, I think DTV is pumping too many channels so they have to compress a bit too much. BHN, needs to go all digital and maybe cut back on the compression as well.

The other thing is too many customers just want to know how many channels. Company A has 150 & company b has 190. Let's go with company B. I would rather settle for Good quality and content of 120. I guess the problem lies in picking those 120. ARGH!!!!