Should the STARs 4000 and Jr. retire?

[WeatherSTARIII]

Lately, alot of 4000s and Juniors are showing alot of aging. Its almost the end of the year and almost the end of the 2000s. Some of the Junior units are already failing to sound off their alert tones. I have a bad feeling that the 4000 may be next too. The 4000 had been around since 1990 while the Junior had been around since 1993. Do you either one or both WeatherSTARs should retire?

[Mike M]

I'm sure they will eventually, but not anytime soon.

[TWCToday]

Let them run until they drop I say

[gt1racerlHDl]

Both of them will not go away until twc phases them out around 2012

[Tyler]

Where did you get the 2012 date???

[gt1racerlHDl]

from this email about star enhancements

Alex-
 
Star software enhancements happen all the time.  Since I am not on the engineering side of the business, I do not know exactly what they are or when they occur.  Sometimes these changes are visible to the consumer, however often they are not.  We anticipate phasing out the older model Stars (XLs and 4000s) over the next couple of years due to their age, reliability issues and the high cost or maintenance.  More importantly however, contrary to your feelings about the XL, most people would prefer the better graphics, radar and detail that the IStar offers.

[TWCToday]

Simply means when the old stars fail or the cable co is willing to pay an upgrade price they will switch it out. The jrs should be just fine for a long time hardware wise. Not sure how long some of the 4000s will hold up

[WeatherSTARIII]

from this email about star enhancements

Alex-
 
Star software enhancements happen all the time.  Since I am not on the engineering side of the business, I do not know exactly what they are or when they occur.  Sometimes these changes are visible to the consumer, however often they are not.  We anticipate phasing out the older model Stars (XLs and 4000s) over the next couple of years due to their age, reliability issues and the high cost or maintenance.  More importantly however, contrary to your feelings about the XL, most people would prefer the better graphics, radar and detail that the IStar offers.

Maybe this has something to do with analog cable.    The FCC will be discontinuing analog cable in 2012. I don't think neither the Juniors, 4000s, or XLs are able transmit a output signal through the digital cable signal. The last major upgrade for the 4000s and Juniors came around 2002 when TWC discontinued using NWS forecasts. Maybe this may be the last version of both the 4000s and Juniors (possibly the XL too).

[narunetto]

from this email about star enhancements

Alex-
 
Star software enhancements happen all the time.  Since I am not on the engineering side of the business, I do not know exactly what they are or when they occur.  Sometimes these changes are visible to the consumer, however often they are not.  We anticipate phasing out the older model Stars (XLs and 4000s) over the next couple of years due to their age, reliability issues and the high cost or maintenance.  More importantly however, contrary to your feelings about the XL, most people would prefer the better graphics, radar and detail that the IStar offers.

Maybe this has something to do with analog cable.    The FCC will be discontinuing analog cable in 2012. I don't think neither the Juniors, 4000s, or XLs are able transmit a output signal through the digital cable signal. The last major upgrade for the 4000s and Juniors came around 2002 when TWC discontinued using NWS forecasts. Maybe this may be the last version of both the 4000s and Juniors (possibly the XL too).

All of the encoding to digital gets done by a device separate from the STAR itself, so they would be just fine.

[TWCToday]

from this email about star enhancements

Alex-
 
Star software enhancements happen all the time.  Since I am not on the engineering side of the business, I do not know exactly what they are or when they occur.  Sometimes these changes are visible to the consumer, however often they are not.  We anticipate phasing out the older model Stars (XLs and 4000s) over the next couple of years due to their age, reliability issues and the high cost or maintenance.  More importantly however, contrary to your feelings about the XL, most people would prefer the better graphics, radar and detail that the IStar offers.

Maybe this has something to do with analog cable.    The FCC will be discontinuing analog cable in 2012. I don't think neither the Juniors, 4000s, or XLs are able transmit a output signal through the digital cable signal. The last major upgrade for the 4000s and Juniors came around 2002 when TWC discontinued using NWS forecasts. Maybe this may be the last version of both the 4000s and Juniors (possibly the XL too).

All of the encoding to digital gets done by a device separate from the STAR itself, so they would be just fine.

Yea that shouldn't be a problem

[cc17926]

A. I heard 2013 was the retire date of those systems.
B. The rate that TWC actually moves on things, do not be supprised if that date does not holds up.
C. It's inevitable to happen one day, just enjoy them while they last, or enjoy an emulator of that star.

[Joe The Dragon]

from this email about star enhancements

Alex-
 
Star software enhancements happen all the time.  Since I am not on the engineering side of the business, I do not know exactly what they are or when they occur.  Sometimes these changes are visible to the consumer, however often they are not.  We anticipate phasing out the older model Stars (XLs and 4000s) over the next couple of years due to their age, reliability issues and the high cost or maintenance.  More importantly however, contrary to your feelings about the XL, most people would prefer the better graphics, radar and detail that the IStar offers.

Maybe this has something to do with analog cable.    The FCC will be discontinuing analog cable in 2012. I don't think neither the Juniors, 4000s, or XLs are able transmit a output signal through the digital cable signal. The last major upgrade for the 4000s and Juniors came around 2002 when TWC discontinued using NWS forecasts. Maybe this may be the last version of both the 4000s and Juniors (possibly the XL too).

Does not have anything to do with analog cable the JR and 4000 use the analog satellite to get there data and you can put like 4-5 HD in the place of one analog satellite feed.

[Trevor]

I Say: TWC Should Let The Older WeatherStar's Stick Around Until Atleast 2014. Why Delete A Good Working System Like The 4000?