Time Warner New Interface - Love It? Hate It?

no idea KW. We had Dirct TV until a month ago, so TW is new for us. But, I do have an EXTREMELY important question. Can you tape two shows at one time as long as you keep one of the channels on (and not switch to a third channel)? It seems to be working fine, but I will be dead meat if this Eagles game doesn't tape (and I really want to record Project Runway :).

I like the old one better too. It's sluggish! How could an upgrade be slower than the old system??

anybody? anybody? this is the first time i've tried...then you can carry on about interfaces....

you have always been able to tape two shows on twc. should not be a problem. you can't watch a third while doing it though.

"I like the old one better too. It's sluggish! How could an upgrade be slower than the old system??"

Microshaft Vista

yes, at least if your box is a scientific atlanta it should be a dual-tuner box

Thanks jk. you're about as fast as facebook, which gave me the same response. should have researched this before 8:00.

Worth reprinting here from the other TW thread. DIVVIE nails it!

divvie
about 2 hours ago
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"Who HATES the new interface? Who finds the DVR functions are all BUGGY!"

Moi.

1. Recorded shows list does not stay on the show you just finished with (or just above if you delete it) - just goes right back to the top - huge pain when you are 95% full spread across 120GB internal and 500GB external drives.
2. Skip forwards 15 mins with every press of right arrow when in fast forward mode - gone. Actually that is a bigger pain.
3. Sometimes the list of recorded shows does not show up at all.
4. Incredibly slow scrolling sometimes - about 5 second delay - I had to reboot once to fix this
5. Reboot capability from the front panel has now gone - now need to pull the plug
6. No indication that you have actually started a recording when you manually hit record

Good things:
1. Sort recorded shows by title - but you still lose your place each time
2. Time remaining
3. This upgrade enabled 700 to show HD on demand

Hate it! When you hit "info"button,you can"t check whats on other channels.When you turn the set on
it is always on channel 1,not even 701(HD).Bring back the old system!

Quick Project Runway question that I can't believe I'm asking. Is there no HD Lifetime channel other than that Lifetime Movie channel?

jojo - it's almost unspeakable, isn't it?

I have no new vs. old TW comparison, but it's completely inferior to DirectTV. The "always on channel 1" thing is super annoying (I actually thought that was just my TV). The rewind/FF function just sucks(way way way too slow, even on #3, and it seems to overshoot). Give me time, I'm sure I can come up with more.

plus, seems like i have to push the "on/off" AND "power" buttons at least 3 times each before i can get anything to come on in unison.

I agree that the new TW software is annoying. However, the solution to the channel 1 problem is to never turn off the cable box--just the tv. Then when you turn on your tv, its on the same channel you left it on. And what's more, if you use speakers for the audio, you can use digital music channels while the tv is off.

uwsmom- that seems to happen more frequently now (uncoordinated on/off) with the new system.

As for having channel 1 be your default -- I thought you could reprogram the box so your default channel was a different one. Can't remember how I did it before, or if it will work with new interface though....

"the solution to the channel 1 problem is to never turn off the cable box--just the tv." - yeah, I can't figure out how to do just that with the TW remote.

after being frustrated beyond belief by all the cable DVR boxes' shortcomings (TW, RCN), I finally gave up and got a tivo last fall and never looked back.

If my building offered easy, equal alternatives to TW, I'd abandon Time Warner in a heartbeat. Their infuriating customer service phone trees, the appointment bullsh-t, the senseless rearranging of channels, and rolling out a new interface that has been beta tested (!!!) and yet is FULL of bugs... WHO IS RUNNING THIS COMPANY? What benefits them the most is an essential monopoly on cable service and customer inertia. If my building went to VIOS, I'd be willing to try it.

Seriously, how do you beta test this interface and roll it out in this condition? Why would you knowingly piss off huge swaths of customer base? Morons.

welcome to the world of monopoly. as noted...verizon is as bad as well. my favorite TW story was my attempt to get my modem's speed to function correctly. first four people who came including hot shot supervisor insisted that the wiring in the whole apartment was bad and needed to be "ripped out." (which would have involved significant painting and plastering, etc). i continued to insist that there had to be another way---fifth guy who came took one look at the modem and started laughing---said that model was known to be defective. swapped it out in about 15 seconds and speed increased over 10 times.

I hate TW. My building has FiOS ready, and waiting for board approval for installation.
Switching channels, remote response, even their internet can be very slow.

I hate the new interface, many channels appears and disappear like CNN for instance. When i try to load the menu, sometime it reboots without me doing anything. Horrible!

uwsmom, have you programmed your remote to control your TV and other boxes (DVD) yet?
You need to find the three digit remote code for you brand of tv that is listed in the small remote instruction leaflet.

Make sure your TV is on first. You then hold select and the TV button down together (I think - this is also in the leaflet) until the TV button glows red constantly. You should have a small list of numbers for your tv which you should try in sequence until your tv turns off. That will signal that you have found the code for your tv. There is then a button press sequence that will save that code. Perhaps pressing the TV button?

Now that you have programmed your remote for you tv you can power on/off both tv and cable box with the red power button or to power off the tv only press the tv button first and then the green power button.
To control the cable box make sure you always press the cbl button first.

Hope that helps.

ba - your building has FIOS, but you need board approval for the install? That's crazy. If they've already wired the building, everything they do is in your apt - it hardly requires a renovation.

Why doesn't it remember the last channel I watched when I turn it back on? Now when I turn it on, it ALWAYS reverts back to that crappy amateurish NY1!

the answer is somewhere in your cable bill. keep reading.

NYCMatt, who care? Why does it do the following?
1. Recorded shows list does not stay on the show you just finished with (or just above if you delete it) - just goes right back to the top - huge pain when you are 95% full spread across 120GB internal and 500GB external drives.
2. Skip forwards 15 mins with every press of right arrow when in fast forward mode - gone. Actually that is a bigger pain.
3. Sometimes the list of recorded shows does not show up at all.
4. Incredibly slow scrolling sometimes - about 5 second delay - I had to reboot once to fix this
5. Reboot capability from the front panel has now gone - now need to pull the plug
6. No indication that you have actually started a recording when you manually hit record

And guess who owns NY1?

Just kidding. What I mean of course, and this is really Kyle's point, is that they broke a lot of stuff so obviously did not test properly - that's why.

How do you get the non hd channels to expand to fill the screen?
It use to be easy.
Hate the search!
Hate the save!
Go back to the older BETTER way!

Oh yes, I SOOOOOOOOOOOOO hate it. I HATE that I can't reorder my shows for deletion order my way. I HATE that you can change aspect ratio with one button. The finding programs is a royal pain, much clunkier. And the series recording options are so much inferior.

And, yes, its SOOOOOOOOOOO slow. It's painful.

but...

> 2. Skip forwards 15 mins with every press of right arrow when in fast forward mode - gone. Actually
> that is a bigger pain.

I had to look it up... its still there, but now you just hold the fast forward button down for 5 seconds or so.

"after being frustrated beyond belief by all the cable DVR boxes' shortcomings (TW, RCN), I finally gave up and got a tivo last fall and never looked back."

Can you get Tivo if you have TW cable? Tivo is what we had with DirectTV and I loved it. So, regarding quality, its not the provider as much as the box you're using? This is all news to me.

Divvie - thanks. I don't think we've programmed anything yet. Will take a look at that.

uwsmom- this seems to work on our TV- have to hit the TV button first - then hist power. Key is to then hit cable - that lets you change stations. To turn off without turning off cable- hit TV then power.

We have actually posted little notes on all the TV's in the house when guests come over - otherwise everything gets screwed up. And I agree - loved Tivo with DirectTV - but we couldn't get HighDef with our satellite dish, so my husband insisted on going back to Time Warner
Other hateful thing about Time Warner- can'r program anything more than a week in advance - never had that problem with Direct TV

LOL...thanks. my husband has just informed me that "I'm not doing it right". I may end up with a tutorial tonight.

IMO, "All systems go" shouldn't take more than one step/button.

we think they eliminated the 15 minute fast-forward skip (my fave feature of the old system too) so it would be tougher to bypass commercials.

ali, former timeinc. employee

"we think they eliminated the 15 minute fast-forward skip (my fave feature of the old system too) so it would be tougher to bypass commercials."

No, again, they just changed how you do it.

"I had to look it up... its still there, but now you just hold the fast forward button down for 5 seconds or so."

actually, after having replaced the satellite with the Time Warner, and having had to use it for a while, I think I threatened to divorce my husband - but that did seem like an excessive response to a problem with the damned TV

Woah, nyc10022. First I agree with you a few days ago and know I thank you - Thank you. Gonna try that tonight.

Ali, I thought that that was the motive also.

ph41, that's what I told uwsmom to do but also how to program the tv button in the first place if that has not already been done.

uwsmom, you need the cable card option with Tivo. You pay twc for the cable service and the card (much cheaper than a box) and you can then plug this into your tivo.
I haven't researched this in the last couple of years but I do recall that the early cablecards did were only uni directional so you could not order ppv movies if you had a cable card. This may have changed however. google cablecard, twc, tivo etc if you really want tivo back.

"Woah, nyc10022. First I agree with you a few days ago and know I thank you - Thank you. Gonna try that tonight.

Ali, I thought that that was the motive also."

ha. Yeah, I was ready to punch someone with that, so I finally looked it up.

One thing thats happening to me on one of the boxes now is a jump glitch. I have 2 boxes... one a year old that recently got "automatically" upgraded. Then, I have one that was new 3-4 months ago, and had the software first (so I had 3 months of two differnt interfaces).

Well, the newer box very often jumps to the end of a show and then won't leave it. This only happens when I'm "regular" fast forwarding, usually to at least halfway past. It jumps to the end, and won't let you leave there. If you rewind, it jumps you back to the same point. If you replay, jumps you back there. Its like "stuck".

Nothing fixes it, I just assume I lost the show at that point.

the "power on" channel is an option in the menu - old system had the same. it defaults to ny1 but you can change it.

celbrett – HOW?

Does anyone know where they moved Ny1 to? It used to be on channel 1 and now when I turn it to channel 1, nothing comes in.

fios

I had FIOS in my old building and after my move I had to go back to TW. It really, really sucks. Slower internet. HD pictures not as crisp. Telephone service that crackles. I cant wait for Verizon to convert every building in the city so we dont have to deal with this issue. I WANT MY FIOS BACK!!!

inquirer-

find the "menu" button on your remote
go into "settings" using the select button on your remote
scroll (on the bottom of the screen) to "display" and pick using the select button
look for the "power on" option. you can set any channel or pick the last channel option.

I have the Scientific Atlanta explorer 8300 box but would imagine you can do this with any box.

Mr. Front Porch here --

Glad to hear the 15 minute skip function still works, but I agree about most of the problems (only positives in the upgrade are the "% full display" and the search now including on-demand programming). Let me add another few to the list:

*Keyword search no longer an option.

*Scrolling record used to automatically record the last hour of TV, now seems to be down to thirty minutes.

*Program descriptions simpler, sometimes lacking episode titles.

*Picture-in-picture now only available in one size.

Answering uwsmom: we have RCN, but I think you can have a tivo with any provider, basically you buy the tivo box separately (and pay about $12/month to tivo), and replace your cable box with a cable card that goes into the tivo box. I think all providers have to supply the cable cards if you ask them. We had dish network before moving to NYC, and couldn't get used to either TW or RCN DVR boxes (they're basically the same), and the tivo was the solution.

For a couple of days I didn't know what you people were going on about...but finally my bedroom cable box acquired the new interface, which I agree royally sucks.

Luckily, my living room cable box still has the old interface! I wish I could figure out how to preserve it.