Following up on this week's annoucements

It's been a busy week around here.  Monday, I wrote about the launch of Digital 5.0 and followed that on Tuesday with the advance news about Broadband 30.0.  Customers posted comments and wrote emails sharing their reactions, which I genuinely appreciate.  I thought I would take a moment to discuss some of the more prevalent comments.

All Digital Service

A few questions came in about our all-digital roll-out.  Some customers, who prefer to continue to watch their analog TV's without a set top box, voiced concern that they would now need one.  That is not the case. Customers who do not have a digital set top box will continue to receive our classic cable lineup in analog, allowing their TV's to continue to function.  

A lot of our planning today is about freeing up more bandwidth for more advanced services for all of our products.  Whether it's more HD, faster broadband speeds or new advanced phone features, bandwidth is needed and analog TV channels take up a huge amount of valuable spectrum. 

Therefore, everyone should understand that, although we intend to continue to deliver analog channels for some time to come, the entire television delivery standard in the United States is in a state of transition.   Over the long term, we will phase out most analog transmission and will ultimately require digital-to-analog converters for analog TV's to continue to function -- much like the over-the-air broadcast TV transition last June.

For those of you who have a digital set top box, when you tune to any of our classic channels which were previously available only in analog, you will automatically receive the crisp, clear digital signal we are now transmitting.  

Functionality Improvements

Aside from making every channel 100% digital for great picture and sound quality, we’ve added new DVR features with overlap protection and live recording extension, so you don’t have to worry about recording conflicts if one recording runs long when another is starting.  We also made our on-screen guide easier than ever to use. 

We've also added a great feature to our On Demand service, allowing you to begin watching a program in one room of your home, move to another room and pick up right where you left off to finish it.  It's a great feature that works with all Insight Digital receivers.  And if you don’t have time to finish your On Demand selection, you’ve got more time with extended movie rentals —a number of movies are now available for 48 hours instead of the usual 24.

High Definition Channels

Some of you asked why we didn't launch more HD channels.  I mentioned on Monday that Digital 5.0 wasn't primarily focused on HD, although we did add a few new channels in every district.  Instead, 5.0 was more focused on an upgrade in functionality and video on demand.

That said, we believe HD is in the center of the future of television and we will continue to add more and more HD channels in future digital releases.  As for this release, I'm sure that once you have experienced some of the new features included in Digital 5.0, you will agree that the newest release has some great new stuff.

Broadband 30.0

Advanced broadband users have told us they would like more speed, especially upstream.  On Tuesday, we gave readers a preview that we intend to launch a new 30/3 service in the near future.  Broadband 30.0 will increase download speeds by 50% over our current premium speed and will double our premium upload speeds to 3 meg. 

Some have asked if it will be free.  The answer is no --  there will be a premium charged for the new service.  The new Broadband 30.0 service will be priced at a $15 monthly premium over the cost of our 20.0 service.  For those who really require these cutting edge speeds, I believe we have priced 30.0 to be affordable for most residential users.

Future speed enhancements will come after we launch the next-generation cable modem platform, DOCSIS 3.0.  We are working on the final touches of those plans and will tell you more about it first, right here. 

Meanwhile watch for the availability of Broadband 30.0 in your neighborhood.

In Closing

 As most know, I like to be candid with you so I would also like to answer a couple of specific emails, posts and requests.

"MRN" posted the following comment:

You wouldn't hear anything from Insight on the MLB Network because they are not part owners in it. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share. Insight only carries the NFL Network because of how big a fan Mr. Willner is of the New York Gaints.

Here's the scoop.  We'd love to carry the MLB Network but have not been able to come to acceptable terms with them as yet.  All I can promise at this point is that we will continue to try to reach an agreement during the off season.  As for the NFL -- it's true -- I'm a fervent Giants fan.  But I can assure you that my personal preference has absolutely nothing to do with any of the programming decisions we make.  We have a highly competent and professional team of product specialists who research consumer trends, specifically in our markets, and then attempt to arrive at an agreeable deal for carriage. 

By the way, most of our programming specialists are Cats or Cardinals basketball fans so the theory doesn't hold up.

Others readers were very clear about some of the additional HD signals they would like to see.  While we are getting our network ready for more advanced services and HD channels, we also are working very hard with all of the major programming suppliers to come to acceptable terms to enable us to consistently roll out new HD channels in the coming releases of Digital service. 

So, that's a recap of the week's announcements with some answers to the most-asked questions.  Thanks for your feedback and be assured that we will take your individual suggestions very seriously as we make decisions for future releases.

Comments

[JDF]

I hate it when people put me in the position to defend Insight but... I'm reading some complaints about the picture quality on some of the HD channels and, other than the fact that Insight went to the trouble of adding the channels at all, it is not Insight's fault. You say some HD channel programs look like upscaled SD? Well, surprise! That's exactly what they are, because that is what the channel is broadcasting. Many HD channels have very, very little true HD programming, so you end up with upscaled, sometimes even stretched, SD programming that looks like crap. Those that don't upscale and/or strech may even simply zoom (hello PBS and History Channel). Again, though, not Insight's fault. Maybe the channels aren't really worth of being watched, but Insight likely got a very good deal on the channels for exactly that reason and you can't blame them for adding new HD channels regardless of how much true HD programming is presented on them...

[DM]

JDF,

I don’t think that people are complaining about the lack of HD content or stretching on “HD” channels, rather people are complaining because Insight degrades the quality of actual HD channels by decreasing the bit rate of the MPEG-2 video stream. For example, when I had Insight for TV I saw a lot of pixilation and macro blocking on ESPN and ESPN2. I also saw this during Fox Sports events shown on the “Special Events” channel.

I now have MPEG-4 video streams with Dish Network and do not experience the pixilation or macro blocking. Since the MPEG-4 stream uses less bandwidth, Dish doesn’t have to compress the video stream as much. This is true of other providers that utilize MPEG-4 (non-cable) rather than MPEG-2 (cable).

I guess it may be hard to understand, but if you have never compared the cable HD signal with another provider, you probably wouldn’t think there is a major difference between the two. However, once you do experience the increased quality that an MPEG-4 stream can provide, then it is hard to accept anything less.

[JDF]

DM,

Maybe not everyone was, but that's exactly what it appeared that some were complaining about. Especially when comparing certain channels to others. Not everyone realizes that just because a channel is labeled HD, it doesn't mean that they actually broadcasting all HD programming.

[Ghpr57]

In all fairness I felt I should let everyone here know that yesterday, the 19th, Insight left a message on my voice mail.(It seems that someone from Insight does read these comments). Insight would like to talk to me about the problems I'm having with my service(I guess the slowdown on my broadband). I haven't had a chance yet to return the call. When I do I'll post back here with info on what happened.
BTW: I'm wondering a bit on how they were able to put my comments together with whom I am??? I used a "spam" e-mail address, not my personal e-mail address.

[DM]

JDF,

I get what you are saying. I have a keen eye for such things and can easily spot when content is 4:3 SD and being stretched and upconverted. I will admit that some people can't recognize this as well as others. I don't think it helps that the default DVR box settings stretch and upconvert SD signals either.

Ghpr57,

Perhaps there was information collected at another web site or forum. Also, your IP address may have been logged on this site, as stated in the "Privacy Policy".

[Annoyed]

Anonymous,

I know all about 16x9 aspect ratio and it has nothing to do with the problems we have with Insight's HD. (read: I'm not watching HD in the wrong aspect ratio) If you work for Insight, that shows how much Insight employees know about HD.

It is a bandwidth and compression issue. Period.

[Greg]

I hate when I make a comment about the problems I have with Insight's HD, people assume I'm ignorant and don't know about aspect ratio and SD upconversion.

Let me state this again....

My HD channels through Insight are hit or miss. Some channels look pretty good. Others look pretty bad at times (too much compression). Some of us get a lot of pixelation and macroblocking on our HD channels. Also there are times when my HD channels freeze completely or go black.

My friend has DirecTV HD channels and the picture quality blows Insight away.

[Ghpr57]

DM,
Thanks for that reply. I wasn't thinking about my IP address, Duh! You are probably correct on that. Thanks again!

[ARGO]

I hate to say it but this over-compression issue will probably be around for ten years or until some major software and hardware changes are made.

Welcome to the digital age.

[JDF]

Curious how after being brought up here, MLB just sent out an email this afternoon to people on its mailing list that it identified as Insight customer asking them to call Insight to request MLB Network be added to the Insight channel lineup...

[Ghpr57]

Well I talked to a rep at Insight today. She wanted to know if she could help me with the problems I posted about on here. I explained that I appreciate her contacting me, but it's a day late & a dollar short. When I had Insight's cable service and complained about their Motorola DVR and the remote, I was told "that's just how it is." (Once I was even told "I should turn the DVR off each night & turn it back on in the morning, because it's like a computer and shouldn't be left on all the time.") She apologized for what happened in the past and she said they went ahead and did a check on my broadband and everything checked out fine. She advised me that the next time I experience a slow down, to call Insight right then so they can check it out. I thanked her for her time.

[Rob Jones]

Do to the fact that I am an effective user of the internet for things like, movies, tv, games and demos, software, music, etc. I upgraded to 20.0 to get the extra speed. I was a 20.0 user for about a year. After the economy tanked I recently made budget cuts like canceling cable television and went back down to 10.0.

I wasn't looking forward to the slower speed. After a month on 10.0 I can honestly say that I haven't noticed the difference between it and 20.0. And my use of the internet has slightly increased.

In Hong Kong you can get 100Mbps for $30 per month. The U.S. is so far behind when it comes to internet speeds.

I don't think people download more just because they have a faster speed, they just spend less time waiting for it. Everyones internet use will increase exponentially on a regular basis and ISPs aren't ready for it because their executives need to be super rich and are out of touch with real people.

ISPs should be concerned when John McCain (who doesn't own a computer or know how to use the internet) is trying to help make sure the free internet remains free.

Michael, seeing that you don't even live in an Insight covered area are you qualified to know how good the service is? I know I am, I've been using it since it was @Home. Your new 30.0 is not worth what you be charging for it, I don't care what Time Warner tells you.

[ARGO]

"The new Broadband 30.0 service will be priced at a $15 monthly premium over the cost of our 20.0 service."

Think about this... $15 + two yearly 'across the board' rate increases for just a 1.5meg upload increase.

[Ryan]

So when is 30.0 coming out? So much hype and stating December release. Nothing besides "coming soon"? We are entitled to an update do you think?