TWC Local on the 8's question

[susquvalleywgal 491]

Evening everyone. I hope this weekend finds you all well.

 

I recently upgraded to FIOS here in Harrisburg and just have a quick question. The TWC SD channel has the local conditions on the bottom of the screen and forecasts but on the HD channel it does not. Still national ticker/conditions and national forecast.

 

Anyone want to explain why??? Thanks!!

 

-- Matt

[ToriElectra 291]

Because not many TV providers have invested in HD Intellistars yet. Ask Hulkie about it; he knows his Weather Channel.

[Jess 1110]

I understand I've been summoned?

 

To generate Local on the 8s, The Weather Channel's feed must be processed through a machine called an Intellistar. The Intellistar generates the bar at the bottom of the screen that contains the local forecasts (named the LDL, or Lower Display Line) as well as the full-screen Local Forecasts. The overwhelming majority of providers have an Intellistar 1 unit, which was designed to be more cost effective than the third generation WeatherStar unit (the WeatherStar XL). The IS1 is essentially a BSD Unix machine running specialized software developed by the Weather Channel.

 

Local Forecasts on Weather Channel HD requires a separate, more powerful unit called the Intellistar 2HD. That unit was heavily delayed because TWC had to develop the software AND hardware internally. The result is an extremely powerful unit that contains a VizRT renderer amongst other things. It's also apparently extremely expensive. Cable companies have to purchase their Weather Channel equipment from The Weather Channel, and the price for the IS2HD was, by all accounts, more than many providers were willing to pay. Some did, but Comcast and Verizon were notable holdouts.

 

Fortunately, it looks like I can use the past tense. Comcast has started adopting IS2HDs, and Verizon Fios is in the testing stage with the units, and should hopefully be deploying them later on this year. But until they do, TWC HD on those systems is the national feed.

 

---

 

The price issue is also why you still see some WeatherStar 4000s and WeatherStar XL units hanging around. That, however, is changing.

 

The legacy units are dependent on The Weather Channel's analog feed. TWC is ceasing its analog feed in just a few months, and is shipping a brand new SD unit to replace them. It's named the Intellistar 2 Jr. The units being rolled out now have not been updated to the "Weather All The Time" graphical look, and are running Lot8s that resemble what the IS2HD was using up until November. (They should be getting upgraded in the next month or so.) The chief difference between the IS1 and the IS2HD/IS2Jr., when all is said and done, will likely be the Vocal Local. The IS1 uses Allen Jackson, while the IS2 family features the Jim Cantore voiceovers. Here's a glimpse:

 

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In other words, if you have a 4000 or an XL, start recording.

[Weeters 1805]

 

Because not many TV providers have invested in HD Intellistars yet. Ask Hulkie about it; he knows his Weather Channel.

 

And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some never make that investment. Let's face it, It's a waste of cash to invest in hundreds of limited, specialized computers when most cable boxes already have the capabilities to generate content locally, especially on services like FiOS and Uverse (which I know already does this on TWC to a degree). Give it a few years and you'll probably see seamless hyperlocal content being generated from your set top box, just like you can on your computer and tablet and phone. Investing literally millions of dollars (Viz units alone are like, $30k each, or more, times how many cable headends a company operates) in a computer that can only go "HERE'S THE FORECAST FOR [broad area]" is silly when most people can now get minute-by-minute predictions of when it will rain at their exact location on a mobile device. That's what they're going to want to move towards.

 

 

Local Forecasts on Weather Channel HD requires a separate, more powerful unit called the Intellistar 2HD. That unit was heavily delayed because TWC had to develop the software AND hardware internally. The result is an extremely powerful unit that contains a VizRT renderer amongst other things. It's also apparently extremely expensive.

 

A while ago I spoke to a VizRT employee who was actually present at The Weather Channel relaunch last year. At least on the national feed, everything is being run from Viz Ticker and Viz Multichannel. I'd imagine the Intellistar 2HD is just a Viz unit with modified templates and software. Again, that's probably also why it costs so much.