I am now the proud owner of two, highly anticipated, much desired SA8000HD High Definition, DVR-enabled cable boxes from Time Warner Cable in Manhattan. It is hard to describe how much I wanted these boxes. HD DVR, yum, yum! Only a wirehead like me could actually care about having such a thing.

I learned that they were available after being on hold for 25 minutes (BTW, if you wondered what happened to all of the elevator music - it's found a new home on telephone hold) the customer service person told me that I didn't need to wait six days for an appointment, I could pick up the box myself at the "self serve" Time Warner Cable store on 23rd street. Excited beyond my dreams of avarice I rushed down to pick up my prize. Upon arrival I received a "bakery number" and, after a short 45 minute wait was told that I could not have an HD box because I didn't already have an HD box.

Five minutes later I left with two SA8000HD's in hand. (We'll save the part about how I convinced the TW clerk to give them to me for another column) and hurried home to set them up.

Now, here's the fun part. The SA8000HD ships with a DVI, S-Video, RGB and RF output. It has a optical digital audio out, an RCA digital audio out, a stereo analog audio input and a composite video and additional analog audio input. Sounds great. Most HD ready monitors have DVI inputs - including mine.

Let's cut to the chase. Time Warner has disabled the DVI output, the RF output and the S-Video output on the box. The only way to get HD cable is with a component video pigtail cable. This is not a huge problem unless your monitor takes BNC or D-sub 15 component inputs like most professional monitors. Those cables can not be found at Radio Shack or Best Buy or anywhere else that normal humans travel. It's CablesToGo.com or make them yourself.

Keeping my reputation as an ubergeek, I just happened to have an RCA to D-sub 15 cable lying around (don't ask). And of course, I had an optical digital audio cable. OK-CABLE, I was hooked up and ready to go. Glorious HD was only seconds away.

What! No volume control? Nope, the digital audio output is not controllable from the cable remote. Sorry, if you want to control the volume, you'll have to settle for the analog audio outputs. Well, I didn't really want digital audio anyway ... so, a quick switch and ...

What the @#$%^? This can not be an HD set top box. No way! What's all of that digital noise, why does the picture stop and start? What are all of those artifacts? Why does the box use gray letterboxing for 4:3? Why is my 1080i picture so blurry? How could 480p SD look this bad? If I thought that switching a digital cable channel was painful, just add the aspect radio adjustment for an extra two seconds to make the channel switch weigh in at an impressive 3.5 seconds per. How is this experience worth the $10,000+ I spent to achieve it?

Undaunted, I made the assumption that all of this was Sony's fault. After all, this is a brand new 50" Sony FWD-50PX1 which is just a monitor, perhaps the experience will be better on the 42" Viewsonic VPW425 LCD monitor in my bedroom? Nope!

$6,000 for the Sony monitor, $3,500 for the Bose Lifestyle Audio System, $1,000 for custom installations, cables, etc. $135/month for the "all you can eat" TW cable television service and the picture is about 1/2 as good as the $2,000 36" Sony WEGA SD set it replaced. Yes, DiscoveryHD and ThirteenHD look like HDTV, but the other 300 channels are practically worthless.

The reason for this rant is pretty simple - HDTV is not ready for prime time and it is certainly not something you need to rush out to buy. In fairness, I have seen other HD installs that look "right." But, TW cable does not fully control its bandwidth. The quality of your service depends on where you are and how many people share your feed. Remember, DVD's are not HD, most television is not HD. Without a true source of HD content shot in HD for HD, the viewer experience is truly sub-optimal.

Comments

[Casey]

It's not ready OTA in NYC either. I get 2, 5, 7-1 and 7-2, 9, and 11. 4 and 13 are missing in action, despite a huge antenna, a great location, and perfect analog signals. I have a HDTV STB feeding a 480i Sony 4:3 with RGB inputs. Most of the digital signals are Standard, with letterboxing. ABC 7 is very good, as is 2, but 5, 11 and 9 tend to pixellate. (over compressed ?) Short answer-for the $200 walmart STB, it's fun, but if I'd purchased a $4000 flat screen, I'd be really unhappy. Until NBC and PBS see a real need to go "digital", it's only a toy for geeks (guilty) The colors for HD sourced video are wonderful, ABC's Political conventions and Fox sports. However, the aspect ratios differ from station to station, and 99.5% of the TV market are not going to deal with the "tech issues". I'll buy an HDTV when there's more content, and there is a set with INTERNAL tuner which can seamlessly program digital 2, analog 4, etc. It's not there yet. Casey

[Joe]

I have had RCN in Manhattan HDTV on my Toshiba HDTV for 3 years at 2 different addresses, one in Battery Park City and the other in the West Village The picture was incredible, no artifacts, crystal clear picture, switched aspect ratios when switching between high-def chanels and normal chanels. My cable internet was lightning fast, speed tests on the internet were always way above a t-1. Unfortunately I moved into a building in the financial district that is not wired for RCN and I am stuck with Time Warner. I was origonaly set up with a non High Def box, and the picture looked beter than the High Def box they replaced it with. The feed is blurry, there are lots are artifacts, pixilation. It is just sub par. Road Runner internet is very slow. Also, Time Warner customer support has been rude, they never showed up for an appointment that I confirmed three times, then lied and said they showed up (I was home and have a full time doorman), and made me schedule the next available appointment almost a week later. From my experience with RCN, the technology is there and capable. Time Warner just doesn't have the backbone and bandwidth to support it. If you want to see for yourself, find someone in Manhatan with a High Def TV, and an RCN High Def Box and have them put on PBS in high definition. It by far the best high chanel I have seen and looks beutiful on RCN. Joe

[Brad]

SO... I am in Inwood (Northern tip of Manhattan) and I too am stuck with TWC, and the horrible 'Explorer 8000HD' I have not really had any problems with them, (my television, and cable internet) for the last 7 years... UNTIL RECENTLY. First off, my cable internet has always been blazing fast. Much faster than most of my friends online. But recently my performace has been cut almost in half. I have had technicians out to my apt at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks. I find it ironic that also in the last two weeks TWC RoadRunner has just begun to advertise that their performace is '50% faster' Promising boosts in speed from 3mb/sec download up to 5mb. In the past i was getting the promised 3mb/sec. But since they made all these new promises for more bandwidth I have gotten the shaft. Here is my 2nd complaint... I too am a gearhead. I too ran out to get the 8000HS the day it was available. And I too was horribly disatisfied to find my picture was absoulutely horrible. I called and called, and had a technician out on two occasions. The technicians answer to my problems was to simply say... "Oh yeah... this is an LCD television.. shoulda got a plasma... LCD Technology is no good. Thats why there pixelation" I was like...Oh my god... you are an idiot. I sell these tvs for a living... I know about technology and what is sub par technology. I am glad to read that you too have had the same experience aas I had with the 8000HD. I was beinging to think that i made the wrong chouce in television purchases. So now here is my question. Since RCN is not available... What options have we in Manhattan for HDTV? I called DirecTV and got a quote. To get the same package i have with TWC Would litterally cost me double what i am paying now. It is hard for me to stomach a $130.00 television bill monthly, that does not include my broadband internet. Anyone have any broght ideas out there? What do i do??? Brad

[HDTV or Stress free living?]

I have the SAHD-DVR and it is great except for the DVI-out being, well, just for show. The guy that TWC sent to install the SAHD-DVR claims that a firmware upgrade will be out shortly to support the DVI-out. The opt-digital audio-out I send straight to my SSound system so np there. At the end of the day, HD content is years behind the hype and tech that supports it!