Rogers Analog TV

[jpc82]

Does Rogers still offer basic analog TV?

I have tried looking for pricing online and all I ever find is digital cable.

Does anyone know how much basic analog cable costs?

[trublu]

Does Rogers still offer basic analog TV?

I have tried looking for pricing online and all I ever find is digital cable.

Does anyone know how much basic analog cable costs? costs depends which province you're in,i paid $29 tax included in toronto for basic till last week when they offered me a free for 12 months digital cable box

[jpc82]

Sorry, forgot to mention. I will be living in Vaugan.

[Dr.Dan]

Yes, they still offer analog cable in 2 tiers... Basic and Ultimate (or something like that), but you can't find it on their site since all they want you to get is digital TV

Look here to see what you can get
http://www.downloads.rogers.com/digitalcable/channellineups/Scarborough_Pickering_860MHz.pdf

The first 2 pages and the top of the third is what you'll get on analog (don't worry that it says 100% digital on the page)

As for pricing, I think you'll have to call 1-800-Rogers1 to find that out.. but I know the Ultimate pack it only about $6 less that getting Digital TV... so it might be worth stepping it up to get the extras ;)

[smirnoff]

Not that this matters much since digital is only as good as the amount of data in it and rogers has far less in there streams then sat.

Thats why you still see grainy tv depending on hwere you are and how good your tv is.

[jpc82]

Thanks for the help. Its hard to believe that rogers basically completly wiped out all traces of analog cable.

I guess I will have to call rogers to find out.

All I want is the basic cable. I am buying a new house and I am trying to save as much money as possible. So I don't want to have to pay for anything but the basic channels and don't want to have to rent a box for each tv.

[Dr.Dan]

That's fine... just tell them all you want is the basic analog cable TV.

Even if you do get digital TV package, you can still hook the others up to normal analog... that's what I had; one digital box and 2 other TVs running just the analog channels.

[smirnoff]

You have to remember its not quite true digital in channels from 5 to 72 so theres no issue with it working with older tvs and no other equipment is needed.

[Dr.Dan]

You have to remember its not quite true digital in channels from 5 to 72 so theres no issue with it working with older tvs and no other equipment is needed.
Nope, not anymore. All channels with a digital box are digital...
not that makes it look any better :rolleyes:

[Rustynut]

Well I for one am not impressed at all with the digital channels, I ended up buying a signal booster so that my vcr also could recieve channels as before.
Hooking up the digital box was not the best thing at all, most channels on the lower band would pixillate or black blotch if they came in at all.
So I waited until this weekend with the box disconnected and once I got the booster I hooked it all up again.
That fixed the problem of pixillation / blotching and the vcr now works again as before.

To say digital is worth it, the jury is still out and a descision will be made in a couple of months.

Personally I see very little difference in the digital format as compared to the direct analog hookup. The difference I do notice is that people are not shortened and fattened as much in the wide screen mode.
Either way a crisp clean picture is what I get, but then again the set is new.
Time will tell.

[smirnoff]

Nope, not anymore. All channels with a digital box are digital...
not that makes it look any better :rolleyes:


They actually got it changed over?..took them long enough.

Yeah digital is all great and fine but its only as good as the amount of data in the signal .

Rogers puts the least amount they can get away with in the basic signals trying to force you into buying the digital service which isn't what it should be.

[Dr.Dan]

They actually got it changed over?..took them long enough.

Actually, it was done a long time ago... almost 2 years ago now (summer '04)

Originally it was placed in the 800's for testing... then they swapped it over to the regular numbers and the analog went to the 800's

And to be honest, the picture quality I get on sat is about the same as it was on digital cable.
Some channels look good and some look like crap... same on both... so it would seem that it comes right from the source before it ever gets into the feed (cable or sat) ;)

But if you have crap cable in your area, then you're going to have crap signal... and picture.

[smirnoff]

Your one of the lucky ones down here both digital and basic are total crap and they have yet to get the digital completed down here.

I never understood why they upgraded from the outside in.

[Dr.Dan]

I never understood why they upgraded from the outside in.
It's easier that way ;)

[Exmortis]

Not that this matters much since digital is only as good as the amount of data in it and rogers has far less in there streams then sat.

How do you figure that?

[smirnoff]

Every watch basic cable on a 42 plasma or newer tv?

Looks like crap because rogers only puts enough data in the stream to support the older tv and just barely that.

Where as most sats put out streams with more data in them (varies with the channel) add this to the fact that theres nothing inbetween to kill the signal and you get a better picture.

[Dr.Dan]

Yes, I have.

My dad has a 42" DLP and runs a Rogers HD box.

HD programming looks great; regular digital channels look good; and straight analog cable (input for PiP) looks 'OK'

[Exmortis]

Every watch basic cable on a 42 plasma or newer tv?

I have a 40" LCD and a 105" projection in the basement. HDTV looks absolutely awesome and SDTV is quite fine too. Looks like your unit may need a calibration.


Where as most sats put out streams with more data in them (varies with the channel) add this to the fact that theres nothing inbetween to kill the signal and you get a better picture.

And how do you figure this fact? What's the bit rate each are using? You call is a "fact", but where's the data to back it up?

[Exmortis]

Where as most sats put out streams with more data in them (varies with the channel) add this to the fact that theres nothing inbetween to kill the signal and you get a better picture.

I checked with my neighbor who's a Bell Expressvu installer. Bev caps their HD bandwidth at 15MBps, but is often lower. Satellite is physically unable to transmit a 1080i signal so they'll always have 720p max. In the US, some satellites are as low as 9Mbps. Rogers varies between 15 and 18Mbps if there are 2 channels per QAM. It caps at the max needed of 19.4MBps if there's 1 channel per QAM. You can verify this number easily in the receiver's firmware. Shaw cable compresses their signal while Rogers is not.

So considering this, how is Rogers putting out less data in their stream?

[smirnoff]

I checked with my neighbor who's a Bell Expressvu installer. Bev caps their HD bandwidth at 15MBps, but is often lower. Satellite is physically unable to transmit a 1080i signal so they'll always have 720p max. In the US, some satellites are as low as 9Mbps. Rogers varies between 15 and 18Mbps if there are 2 channels per QAM. It caps at the max needed of 19.4MBps if there's 1 channel per QAM. You can verify this number easily in the receiver's firmware. Shaw cable compresses their signal while Rogers is not.

So considering this, how is Rogers putting out less data in their stream?


I agree with all of that.

Problem is that by the time its gets to alot of people its not even close to that.
Its fine to talk about the maxs and minuses but the realty is when you send a signal over lines that are as old or older then us you loose a great deal.

Now it does greatly depend on the area , since newer areas have newer equipment and cable.

Sat is unaffected by any of these concerns unless you have had a bad install or equipment.

Now as stated its the area that affects rogers since the outer areas have been upgraded much more then alot of the core areas.

[Exmortis]

Well, that's a much differerent topic than Rogers not packing as much data in their stream than satellites...

[smirnoff]

One also has to realize that those are ideal situations since alot of areas don't get that kind of signal.

[smirnoff]

In the end i guess i the same problem with dsl and cable.

It really depends on the area and what works best, for me its never been rogers as the age of our lines is shocking along with the equipment in the area.


On a side note Exmortis is there anyway to avoid feed back from baseboard heaters On sound system.

[Dr.Dan]

Get out of the city smirnoff... you'll see that the signal quality is pretty good in most places these days.
Sooner or later thay'll finish Toronto too... I think their ETA is sometime this year (IIRC), but those schedules always get pushed back by one thing or another... but they will get to it soon.

Feedback from baseboard heaters?!? :eek:
Is it just a lil 'tic' as it turns on and off? or is it humming the whole time they're on?

[Exmortis]

On a side note Exmortis is there anyway to avoid feed back from baseboard heaters On sound system.

Let's take a left turn on off-topic alley, shall we? ;)

What do you mean by feedback? You mean rattling of the element inside? Echoing inside the alluminum frame? If this something caused by sound or vibration from your subwoofer?

[Dr.Dan]

Let's take a left turn on off-topic alley, shall we? ;)
Yeah, I was thinking that too after I posted... not to talk about the thread hijack ;)
Maybe a new thread should be started... or this one split.. ???

[smirnoff]

lol.. Actually i was thinking about it as we where talking about tv.

The new place has electric base board heating and i noticed if the speakers or subwoofer are anywhere near it that i get our never so lovely humming.

Also i saw the pics of Exmortis setup and very likely knows more then i do in that area.
One of these days dan all get out of the core, although all likely end up where theres no cable...lol.

Sorry for the hijack...lol

[Exmortis]

The new place has electric base board heating and i noticed if the speakers or subwoofer are anywhere near it that i get our never so lovely humming.

Ahhh heck... I might as well continue. Do you have any THX certified DVD in your collection? If so, look for a feature on them called the THX Optimode and use the audio feature. If memory serves me right, there is a frequency ramping test that will start with a very low frequency and slowly ramp up.

Start the test and listen to your baseboard heater. You should be able to tell if the noise comes from floor vibrations or a specific sound frequency. A calibration DVD like DVD Essentials could help you more, but THX Optimode is a good start.

Once you can reproduce this sound at will, then you can experiment with speaker position, maybe put some piece of furniture in the way, anything to disrupt the sound field a bit to stop the annoyance. The problem with a heater is that you can't move it or stuff it to prevent vibrations.

[smirnoff]

Yeah i do.

Have to update cables or get off my butt and make better ones.

Thanks for the advice.