Time Warner Cable HD question

Dalboz

Okay, first of all, let me say that any suggestions to just dump Time Warner altogether and get satellite or FioS will not be considered as they are not an option for me, so please don't reply if that's your suggestion.

Basically, I can't seemed to find a straight answer to this question, or my Google-fu is weak tonight. I'm looking to trim the fat on my cable bill. I have digital cable, HD everything (TV and tuner/DVR). I'm looking at dumping all of my tiers and just sticking with basic cable, since I can watch most everything online anyway and have Netflix at my disposal, and I'm just not watching that much TV anymore. If I cut the HDTV tier, do I still get HD channels? It kind of looks like the HD channels are included with digital cable anyway, and the HDTV Tier only gives me three channels. Is this true? Like I said, I'm having trouble finding a straight answer to this question.

Tomanta

You could possibly get HD channels over the air, and maybe, depending on your TV, get HD channels that they do not require decoding. I do not know about Time Warner, but the cable company I work for has a few HD channels that come 'with' the digital box and other HD channel tiers that you have to pay for.

You could just call them and ask.

Dalboz

I forgot to mention that over the air isn't really an option either since I don't have an antennae. I'm suspicious of an answer that I would get from TW, that's why I'm hoping that someone here might know.

Captain Vash

it sounds to me like the hdtv option might be the rental fee for your hd set top box...
at least thats how it works with comcast.

TechBoy

I also use TW. To the best of my knowledge, there are a bunch of HD channels that come with their regular cable plan. HD forms of all the local channels, plus some cable ones like Discovery, SciFi, etc are included. I believe the HD tier is a bunch of extra HD channels not included with the regular HD set.

I think all you need to get these HD channels is a regular cable plan with them and an HD cable box (which you must already have if you're getting HD). The regular HD programming is free, I think it's a promotional scheme as they've been blasting lots of ads lately about "FREE HD CHANNELS!".

Evil_Reaver

I'm a TW customer as well. The way the customer service people explained it to me is that the "HD Tier" (those 3 additional HD channels) are the HD channels you actually have to pay for. The other HD channels that have a standard definition equivalent are "free" in the sense that you don't have to pay extra to get them in HD ("free" because you're still paying for the digital cable).

Dalboz

Evil_Reaver wrote: »

I'm a TW customer as well. The way the customer service people explained it to me is that the "HD Tier" (those 3 additional HD channels) are the HD channels you actually have to pay for. The other HD channels that have a standard definition equivalent are "free" in the sense that you don't have to pay extra to get them in HD ("free" because you're still paying for the digital cable).

So the only channels I lose by cutting off the HD Tier is Universal HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies, but I still get to keep all the others (broadcast HD, SciFi HD, History HD, etc.)?

Liquid Hellz

Dalboz wrote: »

Evil_Reaver wrote: »

I'm a TW customer as well. The way the customer service people explained it to me is that the "HD Tier" (those 3 additional HD channels) are the HD channels you actually have to pay for. The other HD channels that have a standard definition equivalent are "free" in the sense that you don't have to pay extra to get them in HD ("free" because you're still paying for the digital cable).

So the only channels I lose by cutting off the HD Tier is Universal HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies, but I still get to keep all the others (broadcast HD, SciFi HD, History HD, etc.)?

I think only your local stations (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS etc) broadcast in HD so that you can receive it. Are you talking about getting rid of the box altogether and just going with a cable straight to the tv? Thats what I have in my bedroom and I only receive local channels in HD on that. I have Bright House Networks, I believe they are a sub of Time Warner.

illig

Dalboz wrote: »

So the only channels I lose by cutting off the HD Tier is Universal HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies, but I still get to keep all the others (broadcast HD, SciFi HD, History HD, etc.)?

yeah, i did that with TW in NYC

Dalboz

Liquid Hellz wrote: »

Dalboz wrote: »

Evil_Reaver wrote: »

I'm a TW customer as well. The way the customer service people explained it to me is that the "HD Tier" (those 3 additional HD channels) are the HD channels you actually have to pay for. The other HD channels that have a standard definition equivalent are "free" in the sense that you don't have to pay extra to get them in HD ("free" because you're still paying for the digital cable).

So the only channels I lose by cutting off the HD Tier is Universal HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies, but I still get to keep all the others (broadcast HD, SciFi HD, History HD, etc.)?

I think only your local stations (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS etc) broadcast in HD so that you can receive it. Are you talking about getting rid of the box altogether and just going with a cable straight to the tv? Thats what I have in my bedroom and I only receive local channels in HD on that. I have Bright House Networks, I believe they are a sub of Time Warner.

No, I'd still keep the cable box (HD DVR), but I subscribe to multiple tiers of channels, one of which is the HD tier. Since I'm not watching much TV lately, and I get my movies through Netflix, I'm looking at cutting off a bunch of the tiers and just sticking to basic and digital cable.

But it looks like illig has the answer, that I only lose three channels by getting rid of the HD tier, but will still receive all the other HD channels as part of regular digital cable. It looks like the HD tier is an enormous waste of money.

Liquid Hellz

Ah yes, I understand what your saying now. You are correct. I have the same tier system and only subscribe to basic but pay extra(10$ mo) for the hd box and get all the hd channels.