Bright House to add 4 HD channels tomorrow

[Bschneider]

Bright House to add 4 HD channels tomorrow

Orlando was first to add some new HD channels two weeks ago and now the Tampa Bay area will start to receive some new HD channels. They are:

CNN HD - Channel 728
Disney HD- Channel 735
ABC Family HD - Channel 736

MGM HD available with the HD Pak - Channel 710

It is believed that these channels will be distributed via SDV. That means that those with CableCARDS will not be able to enjoy these channels at this time.

Also, there should be more HD channels to come in the next couple of months.

UPDATE: These channels are NOT using SDV. But the channels still can't be viewed by CableCARDS. More to follow.

UPDATE2: Bill Futch a VP at BHN, has confirmed that BHN is not using SDV and that CableCARD users should have access to these new channels.

[AmelFl]

let me just say

F yea for CNN HD and MGM HD!

[FTBoomerIII]

Damn, CNN but no Fox News, everyone knows Fox News has all the HOT chicks!

Didn't know BHN leaned so far left.

[AmelFl]

Damn, CNN but no Fox News, everyone knows Fox News has all the HOT chicks!

Didn't know BHN leaned so far left.

lol what!?!

are you serious 8-O :D

[FTBoomerIII]

lol what!?!

are you serious 8-O :D


Haha No, not really (well maybe kinda serious, FN does have hotter female hosts). I do watch FN over CNN though (except for Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News). Other than that, CNN has nothing to offer me.

[bdraw]

I didn't think FN had an HD channel yet. I know Fox Business News does.

Congrats BHN users, I'd be jealous if I wasn't a CableCARD user.

[FTBoomerIII]

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3338/jbwt0.jpg

[rossinfl]

if only bhn would add these hd chnls b4 or during july :

fx, usa, mtv, starz ( multiple ), cinemax ( multiple ), espn news, fsn, etc.

im sure im missing a bunch

[FTBoomerIII]

Just checked them out, All I can say is WOW, what a waste of time, money and bandwidth.

[Palmateer]

Thanks.

Anybody know the channel for the MGM?

[FTBoomerIII]

Thanks.

Anybody know the channel for the MGM?

BHN 710

[AmelFl]

Just checked them out, All I can say is WOW, what a waste of time, money and bandwidth.

are you serious???....I'm at work till 7pm, I didnt check them out yet

[FTBoomerIII]

are you serious???....I'm at work till 7pm, I didnt check them out yet

FamilyHD showing SD 700 Club
DisneyHD Hannah Montana (I have no more young'ens, don't need Disney)
CNNHD (Nuff said, most is in SD pillarboxed)
MGMHD - Fearless Frank from 1967 - woohoo

[AmelFl]

FamilyHD showing SD 700 Club
DisneyHD Hannah Montana (I have no more young'ens, don't need Disney)
CNNHD (Nuff said, most is in SD pillarboxed)
MGMHD - Fearless Frank from 1967 - woohoo

LOL :D

[FTBoomerIII]

LOL :D


I know.

Even the CNNHD studio shots are SD pillarboxed....WHY!?!?!?!?

[skottey]

Bright House to add 4 HD channels tomorrow

Orlando was first to add some new HD channels two weeks ago and now the Tampa Bay area will start to receive some new HD channels. They are:

CNN HD - Channel 728
Disney HD- Channel 735
ABC Family HD - Channel 736

MGM HD available with the HD Pak - Channel 710

It is believed that these channels will be distributed via SDV. That means that those with CableCARDS will not be able to enjoy these channels at this time.

Also, there should be more HD channels to come in the next couple of months.

This is great... I get them all on DirecTV except ABC Family and have no interest in that channel but I am very glad to see BHN adding HD channels. I don't keep a $68/month HD-DVR box around for nothing. I don't get MGM with BHN because I just have the bare bones digital cable with the non-HD pak HD channels. They all look great but at the risk of sounding snooty, I have to say that CNNHD looks better on DirecTV than it does on BHN. But not by much. The reason I bring up CNNHD is because they were currently airing crisp and clear HD looking content, where ABC Family and the Disney Channel were airing non-HD stuff.

Keep it up BHN.

Also, I am a fan of MGM on my DirecTV and have recorded several movies. Good channel, it is.

[skottey]

One thing I forgot.....

It was not a good business move for BHN to give no notice of these new channels. They should advertise it and use it as a selling point. I have already gone DirecTV with no turning back for a while but if they want to keep people from jumping ship they should market these new channels for all they are worth.

I will be very jealous if they add Fox News HD before DirecTV gets it. I watch Fox News and Fox Business all the time. My only BHN box is not in my office but in my bedroom, which means I won't get to enjoy it much if BHN adds the HD version and DirecTV does not.

[skottey]

Damn, CNN but no Fox News, everyone knows Fox News has all the HOT chicks!

Didn't know BHN leaned so far left.

Even DirecTV isn't carrying Fox News HD yet. I can't wait for that one.

[skottey]

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3338/jbwt0.jpg

I like... same style sort of as Fox Business with the extra stuff to the right.

[skottey]

I know.

Even the CNNHD studio shots are SD pillarboxed....WHY!?!?!?!?

Yes it is pillarboxed but I don't think it is just an upconverted. The picture is way too sharp. I think it is HD just not widescreen. I hate CNN but the picture looks good in HD.

[jaye]

how can this be SDV when I am still running the old original Scientific Atlanta operating system/GUI that came with my original Explorer 2000(I am now running the 8300HDC), I had thought only the new navigator software that said in my May bill would be "coming soon"... now I am wondering if it is coming at all with what other cable system customers are reporting including central florida, did it scare this division into a slower rollout because of the post-WWII retirees throughout Florida. I bet these channels even work with one way cable cards without the need for <tru2way> cards for anything SDV, this launch? is going to last long after Verizon is done with its fiber it seems.

[Bschneider]

how can this be SDV when I am still running the old original Scientific Atlanta operating system/GUI

Because the box is two way..

[bdraw]

Yeah, BHN has been using SDV for at least a year now, when I switched to FiOS last August I couldn't watch Golf/Versus on my Series3 TiVo and it was confirmed by BHN that it was distributed via SDV.

As for why BHN doesn't advertise these channels before their launch. My understanding is that no announcements are made until after negotiations are completed (for obvious reasons) and the window between when the deal is done and the channels are actually added is very short.

[Palmateer]

At noon today (Wednesday), the CNN HD program was in full HD.

Guess that will be the case for some of the main primetime shows.

[Palmateer]

Yes, I see it now, thanks!

You would think MGM could have picked a better selection of movies for new HD customers.

BHN 710

[AmelFl]

At noon today (Wednesday), the CNN HD program was in full HD.

Guess that will be the case for some of the main primetime shows.

I think all primtime shows are in full HD

[skottey]

Because the box is two way..

And... SDV is the back end method of transmitting the signal so it would work fine with any two way box. They could (and it sounds like they have) just make the change and you wouldn't necessarily know it. From our perspective, we just get the new channels.

I still don't have the new guide either but have the new channels. I would never have known it had I not read it online. Even the BHN Tampa website doesn't have them posted yet. Maybe everybody in the Tampa market isn't getting them yet. I am in St. Pete though.

[skottey]

As for why BHN doesn't advertise these channels before their launch. My understanding is that no announcements are made until after negotiations are completed (for obvious reasons) and the window between when the deal is done and the channels are actually added is very short.

I'll take your word for it on this one but we knew and anticipated for several months that we were getting those seven or so channels in December. Maybe this time they signed a deal yesterday for these channels. But if that was the case, why would Orlando get them two weeks ago? They must have known about them with some advance knowledge.

[skottey]

You would think MGM could have picked a better selection of movies for new HD customers.

What do you mean? You think MGM has garbage and since the Tampa market added them today they should have gone out of their way to make a good first impression by playing better movies on such a day?

I am sure cable markets across the country get MGM added on a weekly or monthly basis and MGM doesn't know the exact day in advance that they will be added to a new market (any more than we do).

I have had MGM HD on DirecTV for about a month now and have DVR'd several good movies. Just like HBO or anything else, they have their share of garbage. But keep watching. MGM has a great picture and sound and I think most of you will be happy with the add.

[Bschneider]

jaye -

why are you posting on other sites that these channels are not SDV? They are using SDV for these channels..

[jaye]

I was under the assumption that the old original SARA Scientific Atlanta UI wasn't capable of doing SDV, that was one of the reasons I thought we were going to get the new navigator software in the area as stated in our bills(mine in the May bill). if you read Engadget and PDF files from TW on the navigator software it was listed as one of the "features" for this buggy new software that should have graced our cable boxes by now but for some reason hit Orlando without anyone mentioning they had anything printed or told to them like the Tampa market. So this crappy UI is SDV capable and i take it "plug-in component" compatible like the navigator software claims is another new feature. No wonder this is compared to an XP / Vista type upgrade...vaporware for a while and then just a clunky eye candy upgrade.

[LonghornXP]

My 8300HD boxes in the diag mode says SDV isn't authorized so I'm pretty sure these HD channels aren't using SDV unless they changed this since I last looked which was this morning.

[Bschneider]

Does your 8300HD show the VERSUS/GOLF HD channel? That channel is confirmed to be using SDV. I know the one at my office has no problem with the channel.

But I'll talk to my contacts at BHN to double check that they are using SDV or not..

[jaye]

My 8300HDC also says SDV is not enabled in SARA diagnostics mode. The software that still seems to be on a majority of the cable boxes in the Tampa Area is still the generic OS, SARA Home Server CableCARD Edition 1.2 unlike most other Brighthouse and Time Warner Cable markets which run a proprietary system that they wrote from the ground up to serve the systems of all Time Warner properties (i.e. Brighthouse 50/50 share, Time Warner Cable) called Navigator/Mystro. Starting a few months ago, customers of the Tampa Bay Brighthouse Market sent out bills with information inserted about the new Navigator Software that was to grace our Scientific Atlanta boxes and reinvent the way we received services from Brighthouse with eye candy that rivals that of the current Prodigy Look-A-Like turn of the millennium decade old Town Square theme. This should not be the UI of the second largest cable cluster in the US.

[bdraw]

The problem is that SDV channels can change every day, so really the only way to tell is to try to watch a channel with a 3rd party CableCARD STB.

As for which boxes can do two way. If your box does VOD, then it does two-way. And I'm pretty sure just about every BHN HD STB for the past 7 years will do VOD.

[AmelFl]

watched 360 on CNN last night

picture was great...really enjoyed it

[Bschneider]

Ok.. so I have no problem admiting when I am wrong. I haven't spoken to BHN yet but it difinately appears that SDV isn't being used yet in the Tampa division.

Our BHN boxes currently are SDV capable but it's not being used. So I am wrong..

I'm kinda of curious as to what BHN will say.

[bdraw]

I asked Bill Futch a VP at BHN, and he confirmed that BHN is not using SDV and that CableCARD users should have access to these new channels.

I do still believe that at one time Golf/Versus were distributed by SDV, or at the very least blocked to CableCARD users, as last July -- just before I switched to FiOS -- I wasn't able to watch the channel on my Series3 TiVo and when I filed a complaint with the FCC, Bill was the one who offered me a free STB so that I could watch the channel.

[Bschneider]

Thanks for the confirmation.. I've updated the first page to reflect this info..

Sorry about that jaye and longhornxp.. you were right..

[Bschneider]

For those Bright House customers that are using CableCARDS, please post if you are or not are getting ALL of the HD channels from Bright House.

[LonghornXP]

Not a problem Bschneider and just remember you were right on what was really important which of course was the addition of the HD channels you talked about.

Thanks again for letting us know about the additions and please keep us all updated on anything and everything new coming over the bay.

[Palmateer]

Yeah. Too bad Wolf Blitzer and Larry King are still shown in low-res.

watched 360 on CNN last night

picture was great...really enjoyed it

[CactusJack]

Well, I thought I'd give it a few days before I formed an opinion. As of now, my opinion is that for the most part the new "HD" channels are a waste of bandwidth. The only one on which I've actually seen any HD content is MGMHD. I'm surprised that on Disney and ABC Family, even though the shows on when I surfed 'em were recent productions, they were NOT in HD, and in fact, the PQ on ABC Family was terrible! It looked like a really bad SD broadcast.

A co-worker said that he HAS seen some HD shows on Disney and ABC, so that's just a matter of when I was checking them, although it was during "prime time".

Jack

[AmelFl]

Disney and ABC are absolutely horrible and IMO not HD at all

[jaye]

for CNNHD....if the show is live or recorded from the Time Warner Center in New York everything was built from the ground up there so everything is already HD, even remotes. Sometimes the HD bars will not go away even when the show is HD(all of primetime in new york, all of sunday morning in new york) unless they forget to "switch" that overlay off for the HD feed....call em if you see it when the picture is clearly in HD, and you can tell...I love CNNHD for the SD and HD cameras and the side-by-side boxes showing how crappy the old technology really was....

[Palmateer]

Some of the Disney was in HD last night.

Disney and ABC are absolutely horrible and IMO not HD at all