This information is very out of date - it was last updated on May 25, 2004.

Reno HDTV - Charter Communications

Charter cannot charge for the local HDTV stations. While these are still available with an HD tuner and antenna, there may be a mountain between you and the towers, making OTA reception impossible. However, if you are only interested in the local stations and don't care to purchase the HDTV package, many tuners (like those in Mitsubishi sets) are capable of tuning cable HD channels. This means if you already have cable, and a tuner that can tune QAM channels, you can get some HD for free. This is available on all levels of service, including the basic analog package.

The city of Reno recently signed a 15 year agreement with Charter Communications, so they'll be the only game in town until 2019. The RGJ ran a story about it, plus some letters to the editor.

HDTV Cable Box

Charter's HDTV service comes with the Motorola DCT6200 cable box.

If you've ever had digital cable you know how horribly slow the onscreen guide is. I was pleasntly surprised to find that it's much more responsive on the 6200, albiet the exact same level of information as other models Charter has. (I much prefer the guide on my Dish Network receivers.) As far as HDTV goes, you basically have two and a half options to get the signal from the cable box to the TV:

• Component Video (YPrPb)
• DVI/HDCP
• FireWire (IEEE 1394)

The first two are standard methods. The third - or the "half" option - is the 6200's FireWire jacks. I mention it as the "half" option because it's usefulness is limited. Most HDTV's don't have a FireWire input, and the onscreen guide doesn't display over the FireWire output. However, if you are interested in being able to record, then FireWire is what you need. I tried to view and record programs on HDNet, ESPN HD, KTVN on Charter, the History Channel, and History Channel International with mixed results. The results are discussed below in another section.

You won't really notice a difference in quality between component and DVI. The real advantage is being able to free up a component video input if you need it for something else. Cables don't have to be expensive, either. Don't fall for the expensive DVI cable hype; it's a digital signal. Cables like these are just as good as the very expensive alternative.

The cable box provides analog stereo, coaxial digital, and optical digital audio outputs. Again, there isn't any difference between the optical and coaxial digital audio; the signal is the same, the transport method is different. I ended up sticking with optical since the unused digital input on my amp was optical.

As far as cables go, I've had good experiences with the folks over at Blue Jeans Cable; they carry coax and DVI cables. If you need a component video switchbox, the Audio Authority Model 1154 is nifty. I have a handful of these optical audio cables and they're excellent.

Reader Feedback

One anonymous reader had the following to say about Charter's HD service: "... I got the Charter HD package last month and haven't decided whether it's worth it to keep it. KTVN looks great, but KOLO doesn't really look any better than it's regular broadcast. Their HBO-HD and Showtime-HD are very clear with 5.1 Dolby Digital, but the picture gets pretty pixilated when there is a lot of motion. I have a Sony Wega, and I connected to the TV with component cables, so I'm guessing the problem with the picture is from their signal. Just doesn't seem worth the extra money."

My experience: Most of what I watch is on CBS, which I can get from OTA from KTVN. Charter is also slower to add new channels when they come online - such as UPN - when I can get them instantly with an antenna. I don't subscribe to any of the premium channels, so Charter's HD service only allows me to watch three more channels: HDNet, HDNet Movies, and ESPN HD. I already had everything else thanks to my OTA tuner. However, this service will be of great value for anyone who is in the wrong location for OTA to work.

Recording Over FireWire

Since the HD cable box I got from Charter had active FireWire jacks, I tried hooking it up to my laptop running VirtualDVHS to see if it would let me record anything. Since I'm a college student, I rely on timeshifting to watch my favorite programs (mostly CBS) in HD. I tried recording a 15 second clip from HDNet, ESPN HD, KTVN on Charter, History Channel, and History Channel International. Here's what happened:

HDNet: Audio and video displayed fine when the cable box was selected as the input device (using FireWire) on the TV, and it allowed VirtualDVHS to capture the stream. However, the stream was encoded and unplayable on the TV and laptop. My FireWire sniffer revealed the Charter box only had an output channel, so the stream couldn't be played back through the box for decoding. The same thing happened with ESPN HD.

KTVN was successfully recorded by VirtualDVHS. The bitrate of the capture was slightly less than that of an OTA capture, which I suspect is due to the separation of the KTVN weather feed on Charter. Both the TV and my laptop were able to decode the captured stream and play it back.

The History Channel also recorded successfully. While it isn't HD, it is recordable. The bitrate hovered around 8 Mb/s during capture. Both the TV and my laptop were able to decode the captured stream and play it back. All of the analog basic and expanded basic channels are equally recordable over FireWire.

History Channel International wouldn't display or record, nor would any other channel in the Digital Tier. The only exception is the HDTV channels, as mentioned above.

Charter QAM Channel List

Right now, this is just a basic survey of me flipping through channels and seeing what's on. After I see what channels aren't scrambled, I'll go back and figure out which ones they are. Most of the listed ones had a logo on screen that made it easy to figure out.

The QAM channel was determined with the built in HD tuner on a Mitsubishi WS-55511. The STB (set top box) channel is what you'd get if you were using a digital cable box from Charter.

The first time I was scanning through the list below I encountered reception problems (pixelation, no audio, frequent dropouts and image shearing) on higher channels. The problem turned out to be the RG-59 in the walls. Luckily I had installed new RG-6 everywhere last year, including bypass runs out to the cable box. After switching to the RG-6 runs, all reception problems vanished.

(This list is current as of May 25, 2004, and is subject to change at any time. Updates and corrections are welcome.)