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View Full Version : To Gmclaughlin (A few problems and questions):


LonghornXP
02-13-2006, 08:28 PM
First I do understand that your mainly in the Central Florida area and not the Tampa Bay market but maybe you could answer these questions.

1. Quick question which is does the Tampa Bay market have plans to simulcast the analog channels in digital like Central Florida areas have done. I've spoken with both Shelly and Mike in the marketing department quite a while ago and I've never got much information from them so I'm hoping you could shed some light.

2. Mike told me about a year ago that they had plans to swapout all DVR boxes to something new sometime in early 2006 but he wouldn't say what boxes and/or software would change but he was clear that a complete swapout of all DVR boxes needed to be done. So what do you know about this.

3. Now I've been having problems with my three HD DVR boxes and all customer support tells me is that they know nothing about it and I don't want to bother having a tech come out as they can be some of the worst people on these issues. I'll list a few of the problems I've been having within the last two weeks to several months.

Anytime a scheduled recording comes up it switches over to that recording. It doesn't make one bit of difference of anything. For example I would only have one show scheduled to record between 8-9pm and I could be tuned to another channel and the second the clock hits 8pm it switches off my current channel onto the recording channel. When I try to switch back to my previous channel using the LAST button the whole screen goes gray until I again change the channel up or down and go back and it comes in fine. It does the same exact thing at 9pm too once the scheduled recording finishes.

Again just to make sure this isn't a two shows recording at once issue. For example I could be playing back a recording and if just one show starts recording it kicks me off my played back recording onto the live TV recording channel. Lets just say this drives you nuts and it was hell when they had the Fox issue when it would record into 8 different sections. After the Fox issue was fixed this issue was fixed but it popped back up again about two weeks ago. This happens on all three of our HD DVR boxes which are 8300HD series boxes. The problem is that customer support is about as worthless as it can get considering I pay what 220 bucks a month to this company. I also suggest they stop charging 17 bucks a month per box until they provide a box I don't want to throw out the fricking window every half hour.

If I record just two 30 minute shows it would cut me off 3 times but now that shows are are going between 8-9pm and another between 8:03-9:03 it becomes hell dealing with this as I would get cut off 4 times each hour times two hours. Also Lost last week cut two minutes off and had two different sections for the same show on all three boxes and no power went out as all three of them have UPS devices and I do reboot every box once every Sunday Night. I'm starting to worry about another round of shows going into 8 segments but worse missing two minutes of the show here and there.

These are one of the reasons I'm begging for a statewide franchise agreement to get in place so I can get Verizon FIOS TV service. There DVR can't be any worse and with that said I would rather get something for the amount of money I'm spending. Maybe a few more HD channels, Starz On Demand and an all digital lineup isn't too much to ask of BHN when your paying over 200 bucks a month.

Bschneider
02-14-2006, 07:28 AM
LonghornXP -

Greg is no longer in the Central Florida Area. He is the MAN for the Tampa Bay Area, the Assistant General Manager of Hillsborough County for BHN!!

LonghornXP
02-14-2006, 05:28 PM
LonghornXP -

Greg is no longer in the Central Florida Area. He is the MAN for the Tampa Bay Area, the Assistant General Manager of Hillsborough County for BHN!!

That is very good to know and with that said I'm hoping that he can get this crap figured out.

DSquare
02-14-2006, 08:38 PM
I have the same problem that you describe in #3. I havent called tech support because I figure there is nothing they can do till a new update comes down the pipe for the boxes. None the less, it is truly annoying.

LonghornXP
02-14-2006, 09:26 PM
I swear I just noticed another problem and first I don't know if the network went out or not but this is my problem. One of my three HD DVR boxes recorded two shows on 2-5. These shows were Gray's Anatomy and Primetime. When I try to playback both of them it tunes to channel 899 but does nothing but sit at the a screen saying playback channel. Its like the file isn't there or nothing was recorded. I've lost a few recordings before on CBS but the whole hour would have a white screen saying this station is having problems type message. But in this case nothing plays not even an error page saying the network is having problems.

I'm getting so sick of this damn DVR I'm about to bring this fing thing back to them and tell them to shove it up their butts. These boxes just can't be worth 51.00/month and if they want to continue to charge this much they better provide a box that work because these boxes have become pieces of crap. BHN either lower your prices or provide a box that works. Heck I don't want extra features and all I just want a box that does two things.

1. Records the damn fricking shows.
2. Doesn't have bugs that drive me insane so that I want to throw it out the window.

These two things aren't that much to ask are they because if they are maybe your franchise agreement should be revoked until you provide a working product as advertised. I have a few friends that might be able to pull off a revoking of your franchise agreement as this is very very very close as grounds for it considering BHN isn't doing anything to fix the problem, trying to find out what the problem is and/or informing the customer its a known problem. Even without that I might still get my buds to revoke it if I get pissed off enough. Maybe this will be the only thing that could get this company off their behinds and start fixing these problems because every single fricking month more and more problems have popped up and they are getting worse and worse to boot. Software updates should fix problems not create more severe problems.

Enough excuses okay BHN.

bdraw
02-14-2006, 09:30 PM
These problems and many more were there when I bought my HDTivo and went with DIRECTV over a year go. Recently I tried to use a Windows MCE bow and record via 1394 from BHN but since most of the channels were 5C protected I am still with DIRECTV. I don't blame BHN for 5C, since I understand it is neccessary. But why can't BHN either get SA to update the software or to switch to the other OS.

Bschneider
02-15-2006, 06:56 AM
Greg just started his job in Hillsborough just a little while ago. Let's give him just a little time to figure out what is going on with the boxes.

chad2323
02-21-2006, 09:16 PM
Having the same problem here. I will be watching a channel and it will switch to a program that is being recorded plus I'm having a few more problems sometimes it don't record my show like Boston legal and it just happen again a few minutes ago. Boston legal came on and I notice on the box there was no red light but when I went to that channel it shows it being recorded this is very aggravating. I called brighthouse and they had no clue at all the one guy said it's suppose to switch channels and I told him it never did that before. Now to my last problem I went to watch a show I recorded called the Crumbs it shows it was recoded for 30 min so I went to click on it and it was Greys Anatomy and it was recorded for 60 min so I don't know whats going on and getting very tired of it. maybe it's time to switch to Direct TV.

LonghornXP
02-22-2006, 02:39 AM
Having the same problem here. I will be watching a channel and it will switch to a program that is being recorded plus I'm having a few more problems sometimes it don't record my show like Boston legal and it just happen again a few minutes ago. Boston legal came on and I notice on the box there was no red light but when I went to that channel it shows it being recorded this is very aggravating. I called brighthouse and they had no clue at all the one guy said it's suppose to switch channels and I told him it never did that before. Now to my last problem I went to watch a show I recorded called the Crumbs it shows it was recoded for 30 min so I went to click on it and it was Greys Anatomy and it was recorded for 60 min so I don't know whats going on and getting very tired of it. maybe it's time to switch to Direct TV.

In my case the redlight was showed on the box and in the program guide and the list screen also showed it being recorded but quess what. Nothing is listed on the now playing list screen which means nothing got recorded. So another show that failed to record on this shitty DVR service. I haven't been watching much TV lately on one of my TV sets so I'm thinking about bring it back when the lobby is busy and tell them every single show their DVR didn't record and say all of these little problems with them. I want to make sure that the customers in the lobby hear this as maybe they might be having the same problems but not saying anything and they might speak up. I will also ask why am I paying 50 bucks a month for these boxes when you can't even get them to even work.

I'm just getting so sick of these boxes and this company I'm to the point of dumping them and going without TV.

Max_Gator
02-22-2006, 02:46 PM
I've had some of the same problems. It is very irritating, I agree to get bounced to the recording when it starts and stops, which is the only problem I seem to be having. Oh, and also why now can I only record two channels but not watch a 3rd?

I would be as irate as Longhorn if I had three boxes. With one I still feel somewhat glad to be able to record stuff this way at all. It should work right for what we pay, though.

DSquare
02-22-2006, 05:53 PM
Oh, and also why now can I only record two channels but not watch a 3rd?


I've never been able to record 2 channels and watch a 3rd. I always assumed that the box had only 2 turners in it thus preventing this. Only time I can watch something when Im recording two shows at once is a recorded show.

CableGuy
02-22-2006, 06:28 PM
Let me see if I can shed some light on this. I have seen all this in the field. The recording issue of bouncing to the recording at startup and ending is due to a configuration issue within the converter. You have to do a reinitialization with the converter, if you know the steps, it will work. It is the same as doing a hard drive format but instead of hitting the list button 3 times, hit the stop button 3 times.

That has corrected the problem every single time except a few and in that case a new converter did the job. I did have to reinitialize the new converter also, but it isnt a difficult task.

Harry
02-22-2006, 06:49 PM
Max there are only two tuners in the DVR. If you are recording two shows tha leaves no tuners. You can watch a previously recorded show at the same time but that is it.

Harry

pilotbob
02-23-2006, 12:17 PM
It is the same as doing a hard drive format but instead of hitting the list button 3 times, hit the stop button 3 times.


Can you provide the full list of steps. Will I loose any settings/recordings when doing this?

BOb

CableGuy
02-23-2006, 04:07 PM
I would advise against you trying to do this yourself as you can loose everything stored on your harddrive. Best thing for you to do if you dont know the procedure is to call for a tech to come out, look at your issue and go from there. Like I said before, it doesnt always fix the issue.