Forum Discussion

otterbay's avatar
otterbay
Contributor
6 years ago
Solved

Picture Time-out

How long does a channel have to be dormant, i.e. without a channel change, before Cox throws up the automated "this channel is now blank due to inactivity" screen, 4 hours - 6 hours, 8 hours - what i...
  • otterbay's avatar
    otterbay
    6 years ago

    Didn’t older, analog, uncompressed qam cable eat more bandwidth?  Some of us use NON-COX dvr systems (not based on cable card), and our recordings often are ruined because of this.  It’s really too bad we can’t do as we wish with the feeds, bandwidth and channels which we, your customers, PAY FOR.  Still having a hard time buying the concept that one, heavily compressed digital channel eats enough bandwidth to make this necessary.   

BrianM's avatar
BrianM
Moderator
No, this is part of switched digital technology. If there is no response within the time period, the channel automatically stops playing in order to conserve bandwidth.

Brian
Cox Support Forum Moderator
otterbay's avatar
otterbay
Contributor
6 years ago

Didn’t older, analog, uncompressed qam cable eat more bandwidth?  Some of us use NON-COX dvr systems (not based on cable card), and our recordings often are ruined because of this.  It’s really too bad we can’t do as we wish with the feeds, bandwidth and channels which we, your customers, PAY FOR.  Still having a hard time buying the concept that one, heavily compressed digital channel eats enough bandwidth to make this necessary.   

  • otterbay's avatar
    otterbay
    Contributor
    6 years ago

    Hello?  Any chance anyone can answer that last question?  There must be a way for paying customers to do with the signals we're paying for as we wish, no?  Essentially what you're saying is a family of six, each streaming, watching video while changing channels every 5.5 hours are more important than a SINGLE person, watching a single channel all the time.  So the bandwidth argument really isn't honest, is it?

    • BrianM's avatar
      BrianM
      Moderator
      6 years ago
      No, switched digital is not a feature that you would be able to control. That is something that is controlled from our end.

      Brian
      Cox Support Forum Moderator
      • otterbay's avatar
        otterbay
        Contributor
        6 years ago

        Who do I contact to lodge a complaint about this.  If I want to leave a single TV on a single channel for whatever my private reason, I really don't think that's any of Cox's business.  And again, my single TV on a single channel isn't using anywhere near the bandwidth of a family of four, all streaming or watching shows on different rooms.  If I'm subsidizing their bandwidth usage, and not being given a massive reduction in fee structure, then there's something wrong with that.  Please forward me where to send my complaint.

        Thank you