How come Cogeco, Mountain and Source cable havent switched their HD feeds to Buffalo, dont the same CRTC rules apply to them as well?

Gave me a ticket number.If you provide the ticket number, then people could simply e-mail Rogers with the same information and the ticket number so that we reinforce each other.

I don't believe the ticket numbers refer to customers, only problems.

Here's the reply I got from Rodgers.
Interesting to note they make no mention of a CRTC requirement to change to Buffalo. They say that they changed to Buffalo because they thought that we'd appreciate Buffalo more than Detroit. I don't know who's feedback led them to this, I know I was happy with Detroit, even liked the different commercials.
Maybe with enough feedback on the change the'll switch back, come on people tell Rogers you hate Buffalo's HD.

****

Thank you for your email. We appreciate your feedback. We substituted
the Buffalo channels when they became available in place of the
Detroit channels because customer feedback had led us to belive that
the Buffalo channels would be more popular with Toronto area
audiences.

We regret that the Buffalo channels may not be as technically adept as
the Detroit ones (if this is in fact the case), however we have
confidence that they are diligently striving to remedy any defects in
their service and we appreciate their commitment in this respect. We
trust that you will notice an improvement in HD reception on these
channels in the foreseeable future.

Please be assured that we appreciate your feedback, which we have
forwarded to our programming department for review.

Thank you for choosing Rogers.
*****

Wow, a "non-canned" response. Did you see post 162?

Wow Buckster, you got a better response than I ever did! I seem to basically get form letters sent back, telling me to remove splitters......

At least they seem to agree that Buffalo isn't quite upto speed yet re. HD. As for prefering Buffalo over Detroit - who suggested that I wonder?

Oh I meant to mention that I even wrote to WKBW (ABCHD) complaining about the problems we get, plus asking them why they keep switching to SD in the middle of an HD program. So far I have yet to hear back.....

My ticket number is DSR 00402888, if people want to relate to it.

The Rogers guy came over today. As I figured, the signal strength was very good, both in the basement looking at the output of the video amplifier I have, and going into the PVR on the 2nd floor.

I had recorded Letterman the other night and I knew there was a glitch near the beginning, so I played it back to show the guy exactly what we're seeing. On ABCHD though, the glitches are much worse.

He looked via the diagnostic screens at the frequency ABCHD is on and the other HD channels. Both ABCHD and CBSHD are on the same frequency but NBCHD, PBSHD, and FOXHD are all on different frequencies. ABC and CBS are both on 807. He had a chart with him which showed possible interference from cell towers etc and which frequencies are likely to be affected. Guess what - major cell tower frequencies are between 806 and 809. He said the Buffalo feeds are picked up OTA so he thought it was possible that these glitches are not from Buffalo stations but are actually interference from cell phone towers. Of course that doesn't explain why ABC keep switching into SD mode in the middle of an HD program or why they don't transmit in 5.1 surround.

Anyway, he's made notes of what my complaints are plus the frequencies most affected (ABC and CBS). He thinks it's a head-end problem and will contact the engineers in that area.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'm not holding my breath re. Desperate Housewives though!

PS re. the above : I think the frequencies mentioned are correct but 807 may really be 870 etc. Anyway, the intent stays the same regardless of the exact figure!

Looks like they switched Fox back to Buffalo

A quick question, WHY!!!!!!! is my program guide here in london, showing buffalo shows but the stations are still detroit???????? (all USA hd east channels) I can't record shows or even see what is on that channel unless I tune to it, b/c buffalo and detroit have different schedules. are all guides showing buffalo? or is london going to change to the buffalo channels now too?

A quick question, WHY!!!!!!! is my program guide here in london, showing buffalo shows but the stations are still detroit???????? (all USA hd east channels) I can't record shows or even see what is on that channel unless I tune to it, b/c buffalo and detroit have different schedules. are all guides showing buffalo? or is london going to change to the buffalo channels now too?


I would email Rogers and if they send a canned response, write back as suggested earlier by 57. Phoning seems to be a complete waste of time.

A quick question, WHY!!!!!!! is my program guide here in london, showing buffalo shows but the stations are still detroit???????? (all USA hd east channels) I can't record shows or even see what is on that channel unless I tune to it, b/c buffalo and detroit have different schedules. are all guides showing buffalo? or is london going to change to the buffalo channels now too?

This has been going on for 2 weeks...its been really hard to get Rogers to do something about it. More people need to call in and give them hell !!!!

BTW its channels 527, 528, 529, 531

Last night, and on previous nights too, The Tonight Show was a complete mess - the signal kept blacking out completely. Not glitches and audio dropouts but complete absence of a signal. When I phoned in to complain the tech support guy said he'd been getting a lot of calls about this. I also emailed Rogers, yet again, plus mentioned that ABCHD keeps switching to SD from HD in the middle of an HD show (I'm assuming others see this too as I can't see my PVR doing anything like this on just the one channel!). Again I asked about switching back to Detroit.

Well I just got a reply. They have booked a technician to come over again to "investigate your reception issues". They also went on to say,

"As well, we have sent a trouble ticket to our network engineers to see
if anything can be done from our end to rectify the issue. The ticket
number for this issue is DSR00406016.

The reason that the HD Detroit signal was switched to the Buffalo signal
was that CRTC policy mandates Rogers to provide the corresponding HD
signal (when available) for stations which are carried on our Basic
cable service."

I've written back telling them to forget sending a technician, plus mentioned the reply someone got back from the CRTC regarding which HD channels Rogers can carry. I'll wait and see what develops.

Oh, I also mentioned in my first email last night 'In your advertising Rogers boasts it has the best HD service. I beg to differ - it's the worst.'

Last night, and on previous nights too, The Tonight Show was a complete mess - the signal kept blacking out completely. Not glitches and audio dropouts but complete absence of a signal.


Same thing with HD Conan too, literally unwatchable :(

And it has nothing to do with the one's STB, just crappy HD NBC feed from Buffalo.

This was an NBC network problem. Check out the AVS forum if you want more info.....

It was happening during ER last night in the Detroit feed. What was especially annoying (other than the black parts and some breakup) was that the STB would also loose the audio and you had to change channels and then go back to hear the audio again.

This was an NBC network problem. Check out the AVS forum if you want more info.....

It was happening during ER last night in the Detroit feed. What was especially annoying (other than the black parts and some breakup) was that the STB would also loose the audio and you had to change channels and then go back to hear the audio again.


Maybe we should be asking for the Boston feeds if Detroit is having problems!
I still can't fathom out why ABC Buffalo keeps switching to SD from HD in the middle of a show.

One other thing I noticed last night, the Conan show wasn't in HD but it looked like a reduced 16x9 with grey bars on each side. Anyone else see this?

One other thing I noticed last night, the Conan show wasn't in HD but it looked like a reduced 16x9 with grey bars on each side. Anyone else see this?

Yep, the show started in HD, then after few breakups the picture switched to 4:3 letter-boxed SD image (pillar-boxed for widescreen)...

WGRZ-DT on Rogers is bad right now -- but worse on OTA (right now).

I'm having the same problem with WGRZ-DT OTA. In fact it is worse -- it's gone more than on -- and WGRZ (analog) over regular cable has the audio cutting in an out.

WGRZ-DT on Rogers is bad right now -- but worse on OTA (right now).

I'm having the same problem with WGRZ-DT OTA. In fact it is worse -- it's gone more than on -- and WGRZ (analog) over regular cable has the audio cutting in an out.


I wonder why that is? I'm coming to the conclusion that HD service in the US isn't quite ready for prime time yet.

If this is the case, you'd think Rogers would have some method of informing us when we complain, and point out it's the US networks having the problems which is out of Rogers' hands.