A spokesperson at Time Warner Cable confirmed to me today that Time Warner's updated "Navigator" on-screen guide will be rolling out to Northeast Wisconsin "over the next four weeks." Navigator, which has been available in Southern Wisconsin for some time, replaces the antiquated guide that I, for one, have come to know and loathe compared to the cleaner, more-functional offerings by AT&T, TiVo and others.
While in the past few years, users who have been upgraded to Navigator have experienced a glut of technical problems, the software has reportedly undergone tweaks to improve the experience.
In other markets recently upgraded in the past few months, the Navigator upgrade was said to precede further feature enhancements, including multiroom DVR and remote scheduling. It is not yet known what additional features, if any, are also on tap for Northeast Wisconsin. So far, only the Navigator upgrade has been confirmed to us. We have scheduled a meeting with Time Warner next week to get a demo of Navigator, and will bring you more as we know it.
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Ohhh my! It is about time!
Ohhh my! It is about time! I'm sick on the TWC guide looking like my TI-86 Calculator did when I was in high school. Four years ago, when I was going to school in Madison, we had Charter. Even Charter's guide then was way more advanced and streamlined than Time Warner Cable.
I for one cannot wait for this change. Multiroom DVR and remote scheduling really would be all I need to never think of going to UVerse. Paying for a 2nd DVR right now is a ripoff at an additional $10 a month. (Plus the cost of a box)
I'm curious to see if it's
I'm curious to see if it's coming as part of this upgrade, and how that will work. Right now I have two HD DVRs, one with a one-terabyte hard drive attached to expand the space. If I can continue to do that, I could see changing one box to a plain receiver, or adding a second plain receiver if I can access DVR recordings throughout the house. Definitely think those two features (and all the HD channels they've been adding) go a long way towards really competing with AT&T U-Verse.
Again, I should stress, nothing outside of the Navigator upgrade is confirmed at this point.
IF whole home DVR would work,
IF whole home DVR would work, I wouldn't mind renting more boxes as they'd have a much higher value. We have 3 HD displays in the house right now, and only two connected to a box. The on in our bedroom relies on QAM channels to watch Conan in HD every night. (crosses fingers we can still do that in a month)
Totally agree. I don't know
Totally agree. I don't know for sure it's coming, but I really think it will. There has been talk of Time Warner getting this for years (I count at least two articles I've written in the past couple years where it was talked about)
Remote scheduling is also a good improvement if it happens. I hope Navigator is better about scheduling shows that intersect. TiVo is a hell of a lot smarter about that than what we have on Time Warner now.
The first thing I think of
The first thing I think of when I hear about Multiroom DVR becoming available on cable is: Will existing equipment work by just getting a firmware update or are you going to need new set-top boxes? The second thing that comes to mind is: How well will this work with current wiring in peoples homes? There are many, many, many homes out there that are not ideally wired. In my previous experience working for TWC and AT&T there are so many homes out there that are wired with splitters on splitters on splitters. There is plenty of poorly shielded RG-59 still out there. With standard analog cable this really doesn't seem to be an issue but once you start throwing in HD and "fancy" features I am willing to bet it will become an issue. I am willing to guess that if you got multiroom DVR and are not wired with one main splitter and at least RG-6 you are going to find this service having issues. The last thing that comes to mind is: Will it be a free service? If you have Verizon’s FiOS you would have to pay $20 a month for multiroom DVR service. AT&T Uverse is free.
This is great news. While I
This is great news. While I work for TWC's competition, new technology always makes for better competition.
launches 1/19/10 at 1am-5am.
launches 1/19/10 at 1am-5am. all northeastern wisconsin. update should take about 20mins.
I'm meeting with Time Warner
I'm meeting with Time Warner on Wednesday afternoon to get a demo of the new features. If it does go live on Tuesday morning, I'll probably know everything before I get there :)
Tuesday already, wow, nice
Tuesday already, wow, nice job TWC! I look forward to your meeting notes Mark. Maybe they'll be able to offer a bit of insight into total home DVR in the future.
I would be very curious IF,
I would be very curious IF, WHEN and HOW they'll do Total Home DVR, and whether setups like mine (with multiple splitters) will gunk things up.
Total Home DVR is one of the
Total Home DVR is one of the main reasons I'd switch to UVerse. If TWC does not offer this when my contract is up a year from May, I will likely switch. (Or, TWC can stop charging the extra $9.99 "technology fee" for each DVR in the home [on top of the basic box fee])