Anyone have problems with the Panthers game on FSN-HD tonight? I've got a black bar on the right and another one on the bottom of the screen. The rest of the picture is in HD, though not the best quality I've seen from them.

Yea, something is wrong with their transmission. The SD channel has (had) the same problem as well.

Anyone know why the Duke Game is not on Comcast 401 FSN-HD....the Guide says it should be, the website says it should be.....UGH

Anyone know what happeded to 29-1? Was not there for Daytona 500 and the HD signal from Directv was poor.

Anyone know what happeded to 29-1? Was not there for Daytona 500 and the HD signal from Directv was poor.

I watched the first few minutes on 29-1 and then the reset on D* feed. I had no issues.

29-1 wasn't on the channel guide but 29-2 was. I'll reboot and see what happens.

Watched news about 10:30 PM on 29.1 via OTA, looked normal ( too much makeup). Earlier in the day 29.1 displayed a FOX13 label in the lower right hand corner, strange.

Also WPEC 12.1 was detected on my TV as 13.2.

Looks like too many techs had the long weekend off.

I know this may be answered, but with the mediocre search functionality, I could not found the info.

Is anyone still receive HD channels (other than locals, such as 29-1), such as TNT, DSC using QAM? I lost them several months ago.

What are the least expensive option to get DSC HD given that I have extended cable (analog, through community)? I live in Boynton Beach.

Thanks for any info.

I know this may be answered, but with the mediocre search functionality, I could not found the info.

Is anyone still receive HD channels (other than locals, such as 29-1), such as TNT, DSC using QAM? I lost them several months ago.

What are the least expensive option to get DSC HD given that I have extended cable (analog, through community)? I live in Boynton Beach.

Thanks for any info.Lost them in Palm City also. Comcast is so hard to deal with that I haven't bothered to complain.

From their Form 387 filing on the FCC's web site:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=618820

Anyone else having trouble getting sound on the HD 12-1 E*. I tried to watch last weeks Jericho and it had no sound, then tried to watch old Criminal minds tonight and it had no sound. SD channels OK. Seems like it is just 12-1. Anyone else?

Watched part of Great Performances last night on WXEL, a musical where good audio performance is necessary.

The sound from my optical connected amplifer cut out frequently, apparently caused by an intermittent Dolby signal. This occurred using both OTA and cable connections. Stereo audio from the TV did not break up.

It's sad that after two years or so of digital broadcasts that this station still has the same audio problems. Why can't we get a well-run PBS TV station in this area?

OK, so I love the new HD channels from ComCast, but I have an issue with the HD channels (such as HistoryHD) that display 4:3 material in 16:9 format. I am not talking about the crap stretching that TNT-HD does, I am referring to HistoryHD and a few others that stretch non 16:9 material proportionally through-out the horizontal (I hope that makes sense). I am trying to find a way using the various inputs to get a properly proportioned picture.

BTW I am using ComCast with a Explorer 8300HD converter box/dvr and I have a Toshiba 37HL95 TV

what I'd like to do I guess, is to stretch the picture a little horizontal and alot vertical. between the options for the toshiba and the options for the explorer, dunno if thats possible

Hello,

I am moving to West Palm Beach soon and getting Comcast for cable. I was wondering if anyone knows if they are fully digital on SD channels now? Are the local channels offered in digital or analog still?

Thanks

Analog is analog, no digital simulcast yet. Local HD channels are carried.

Hello,

I am moving to West Palm Beach soon and getting Comcast for cable. I was wondering if anyone knows if they are fully digital on SD channels now? Are the local channels offered in digital or analog still?

ThanksFor the most part both are offered, Comcast carries local analog transmissions in analog and local digital transmissions in digital.

Anyone else with Comcast HD noticing random sound glitches in the audio?

Seems to happen on different HD channels but the video remains ok? It will make an 'ERRRRR' sound. The best I can describe it in text. I wonder if it has anything with the new compression they are using to jam in 3 HD channels on one QAM carrier.

I only hear it on ABC HD, but I'm also noticing pixelization artifacts with fast motion on some HD channels. Seems like you can either have a larger number of HD channels with poor quality or a limited number of HD channels and great PQ. Pick one or the other but you can't have both. The future of HD sure doesn't seem all that shiny and bright from where I'm sitting.

Just noticed that Channel 34 was now carrying MYNetworkTV on Channel 34-3 over the air and Azteca America on Channel 34-2 over the air.

What I find interesting about this is that Channel 34-1 is 1080i, 34-2 is 480i and 34-3 is 480i. Why can't Channel 42 do this?

Now if only this CBS owned station (Channel 34) could carry the CBS network so that those of us north of Stuart could pick it up over-the-air, it would really be great.

Noticed that Channel 42 wasn't doing high definition last night. Just curious, who is their engineer? Since they broadcast from the top of the Channel 5 tower, would it be the Channel 5 person?

When the analog signals discontinue their signals in Feb. 2009, it will free up more room on the Channel 29 tower, the tallest in Palm Beach County. I'm hoping that either Channel 12 or Channel 42 will broadcast from that taller tower.

Just noticed that Channel 34 was now carrying MYNetworkTV on Channel 34-3 over the air and Azteca America on Channel 34-2 over the air.

What I find interesting about this is that Channel 34-1 is 1080i, 34-2 is 480i and 34-3 is 480i. Why can't Channel 42 do this? Well since WTCN is owned by CBS and I think run by WFOR, they might as well. WTCN is low power and does not have a alternate digital channel assignment so it is a way to get them a digital channel. Sucks for people that watch WTVX since it take away bandwidth from the HD channel.

WXEL doen't want to and I don't want them to run sub channels when the HD channel is active. Many of us like quality over quantity.

Now if only this CBS owned station (Channel 34) could carry the CBS network so that those of us north of Stuart could pick it up over-the-air, it would really be great.
WTVX was the CBS affiliate before it moved to WPEC in 1989.

Just had an interesting experience downgrading my Comcast. Since I wired the house for DirecTV, I have no need for the digital service, so I called Comcast many months ago and cancelled the digital service and just left expanded basic.

So, today I decided I don't need expanded basic, here in Boca and just went to Broadcast basic. The Comcast Rep said that they needed to come out to do that... just wondering why, since it seemingly should just be a flip of a switch so to speak to drop the expanded channels.

Anyone have any idea why they "need" to come out?

If you are only going with the basic tier then they will install a filter on your line to block out the expanded analog channels. I guess basic is like channels 2-22. There is no way for them to block then besides filtering them out locally.

OK... I was just really curious about what they had to do. It would seem that with technology today, filters on a line would be obsolete.

Just noticed that Channel 34 was now carrying MYNetworkTV on Channel 34-3 over the air and Azteca America on Channel 34-2 over the air.

What I find interesting about this is that Channel 34-1 is 1080i, 34-2 is 480i and 34-3 is 480i. Why can't Channel 42 do this?

Now if only this CBS owned station (Channel 34) could carry the CBS network so that those of us north of Stuart could pick it up over-the-air, it would really be great.Channel 34-3 decodes as WTCN on my receiver.

Wally, I get a strong signal on 12.1 with an attic antenna. It seems like you should get a good signal from this station with a decent roof-top antenna. (aren't you in PSL?)

all local fox, abc, cbs is not coming in HD tonight.. anyone else experiencing this?

no american idol in HD :(

all local fox, abc, cbs is not coming in HD tonight.. anyone else experiencing this?

no american idol in HD :(

watching CSI-NY is HD on Comcast...

No offense but it always helps to indicate what service you are using..

Anyone else with Comcast HD noticing random sound glitches in the audio?

Seems to happen on different HD channels but the video remains ok? It will make an 'ERRRRR' sound. The best I can describe it in text. I wonder if it has anything with the new compression they are using to jam in 3 HD channels on one QAM carrier.

I only hear it on ABC HD, but I'm also noticing pixelization artifacts with fast motion on some HD channels. Seems like you can either have a larger number of HD channels with poor quality or a limited number of HD channels and great PQ. Pick one or the other but you can't have both. The future of HD sure doesn't seem all that shiny and bright from where I'm sitting.

Got all that but AlSO got a case of the "Kung Fu Movie" style Audio Sync Mismatch even on some regular channels... the Create channel has gotta be the worst in that respect:eek:

I thought it was an HDMI issue but since it varies from channel to channel, obviously it is COMCASTIC !!!

As much as I can't stand Comcast, I'll have to point out that audio sync issues arise from multiple sources, starting with the original capture. Both DirecTV and Echostar as well as OTA show this issue on and off as well.

Got all that but AlSO got a case of the "Kung Fu Movie" style Audio Sync Mismatch even on some regular channels... the Create channel has gotta be the worst in that respect:eek:

I thought it was an HDMI issue but since it varies from channel to channel, obviously it is COMCASTIC !!!

I just heard from former WPEC/WPEC-DT Chief Engineer and current WTVX-TV/WTVX-DT Chief Engineer Keith Betts. Keith informs me that WTVX-DT has put a new ATSC encoder on the air. It's a new, state of the art unit that uses statistical multiplexing, or stat mux to vary the bit rate on channels 34-1, 34-2 and 34-3, depending on the demands of the audio and video of each channel. This way the bit rate of each channel can be optimized, thus minimizing artifacts.

According to Keith, some of us may need to do a new channel scan on uour receivers for some receivers to recognize the station.

I just heard from former WPEC/WPEC-DT Chief Engineer and current WTVX-TV/WTVX-DT Chief Engineer Keith Betts. Keith informs me that WTVX-DT has put a new ATSC encoder on the air. It's a new, state of the art unit that uses statistical multiplexing, or stat mux to vary the bit rate on channels 34-1, 34-2 and 34-3, depending on the demands of the audio and video of each channel. This way the bit rate of each channel can be optimized, thus minimizing artifacts.

According to Keith, some of us may need to do a new channel scan on uour receivers for some receivers to recognize the station.
Thanks.

How long before someone figures out that with one tower mounting 3 antennas multiplexing 5 channels each, broadcasters can save a lot of money my eliminating a lot of high iron and electons?

Did channel 25 do something different recently? For the first time, that I've checked, this morning I was able to pick up their signal on both 25-1 and 25-2 with an outdoor antenna pointed toward the Miami towers.

Did channel 25 do something different recently? For the first time, that I've checked, this morning I was able to pick up their signal on both 25-1 and 25-2 with an outdoor antenna pointed toward the Miami towers.
The WPBF-TV tower is located in Martin County, just west of Palm City.

COMCAST SET-TOP BOX NEWS

Looks like PBC will be stuck with SA boxes. Because my family purchased a new flat screen TV, I picked up a new box to go with that set for my household. Upon first glance at the box, it appeared to be the same SA8300HD Adelphia was distributing. But as I connected it, I noticed a definitive difference on the back of the box: A Cable Card slot (complete with a Comcast Cable Card pre-installed). I then double-checked the model number and - sure enough - it's a completely new model: SA8300HDC (note the 'C'). I then looked it up on the internet. New to this model:

- 160GB hard drive (the 8300HD had 80GB)
- 128MB RAM (the 8300HD had 64MB)
- Cable Card slot using the newer 2-way specifications
- New software for 2-way Interactive TV compatible with the latest Cable Labs specs

Other than those differences, the box is detail for detail the same as the 8300HD, of which I am very disappoined to learn of. This new model, unfortunately, uses many obsolete technologies. Examples:

- 65,000 color graphics processor (used for all interactive services, such as the EPG, On-Demand, etc.). This is separate from the 16 million color MPEG-2 DTV-QAM processor provided by ATI-AMD. 65,000 colors is equivalent to what Nintendo's Game Boy had, but not even close to the 16 million plus colors all of today's PCs, Macs, DVD players, satelite receivers, Tivo/DVRs, and game systems have!

- HDMI 1.0. Our new flat screen has a newer HDMI version specification (haven't memorized the version number). This newer HDMI specification has cool features like Plug and Play, the ability to control and power on and off connected HDMI devices remotely, as well as other useful new features not found with HDMI 1.0. The fact that this new SA model still uses the already obsolete HDMI 1.0 specs is beyond me.

I mean if they are even making an effort to design a new model, why the selectiveness on which standards to bring up-to-date? The Cable Card standard they included is actually proposed as the next generation Cable Card standard. The new Interactive TV software brings this box to current standards in that one area. But for them to outright ignore other current standards (such as HDMI and graphics) when they had an obvious opportunity to bring those things to current standards to me is uncomprehensable.

Even more uncomprehensible is the fact that this new model is finding its way to Comcast customers in PBC. This could only happen if Comcast had recently placed a new order with SA for God-Knows-How-Many units (for its PBC customers). And the fact that one of these has ended up in my living room confirms that Comcast intends on continuing the relationship with SA begun by Adelphia. And that tells me, we - PBC customers - will not be seeing the new Motorola DVRs for a long long time, if ever.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine has completed his move to Utah, where his cable TV service is also provided by Comcast. On-demand, EPG, etc. on his new Motorola is done through a much better User Interface with uncountable additional features and services, I've been told. If we're stuck with SA, I hope at least Comcast plans to change our software!

COMCAST SET-TOP BOX NEWS

Looks like PBC will be stuck with SA boxes. Because my family purchased a new flat screen TV, I picked up a new box to go with that set for my household. Upon first glance at the box, it appeared to be the same SA8300HD Adelphia was distributing. But as I connected it, I noticed a definitive difference on the back of the box: A Cable Card slot (complete with a Comcast Cable Card pre-installed). I then double-checked the model number and - sure enough - it's a completely new model: SA8300HDC (note the 'C'). I then looked it up on the internet. New to this model:

- 160GB hard drive (the 8300HD had 80GB)
- 128MB RAM (the 8300HD had 64MB)
- Cable Card slot using the newer 2-way specifications
- New software for 2-way Interactive TV compatible with the latest Cable Labs specs

Other than those differences, the box is detail for detail the same as the 8300HD, of which I am very disappoined to learn of. This new model, unfortunately, uses many obsolete technologies. Examples:

- 65,000 color graphics processor (used for all interactive services, such as the EPG, On-Demand, etc.). This is separate from the 16 million color MPEG-2 DTV-QAM processor provided by ATI-AMD. 65,000 colors is equivalent to what Nintendo's Game Boy had, but not even close to the 16 million plus colors all of today's PCs, Macs, DVD players, satelite receivers, Tivo/DVRs, and game systems have!

- HDMI 1.0. Our new flat screen has a newer HDMI version specification (haven't memorized the version number). This newer HDMI specification has cool features like Plug and Play, the ability to control and power on and off connected HDMI devices remotely, as well as other useful new features not found with HDMI 1.0. The fact that this new SA model still uses the already obsolete HDMI 1.0 specs is beyond me.

I mean if they are even making an effort to design a new model, why the selectiveness on which standards to bring up-to-date? The Cable Card standard they included is actually proposed as the next generation Cable Card standard. The new Interactive TV software brings this box to current standards in that one area. But for them to outright ignore other current standards (such as HDMI and graphics) when they had an obvious opportunity to bring those things to current standards to me is uncomprehensable.

Even more uncomprehensible is the fact that this new model is finding its way to Comcast customers in PBC. This could only happen if Comcast had recently placed a new order with SA for God-Knows-How-Many units (for its PBC customers). And the fact that one of these has ended up in my living room confirms that Comcast intends on continuing the relationship with SA begun by Adelphia. And that tells me, we - PBC customers - will not be seeing the new Motorola DVRs for a long long time, if ever.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine has completed his move to Utah, where his cable TV service is also provided by Comcast. On-demand, EPG, etc. on his new Motorola is done through a much better User Interface with uncountable additional features and services, I've been told. If we're stuck with SA, I hope at least Comcast plans to change our software!

If you are on an SA system you will never see Motorola gear. The equipment is tied to what is installed at their "Headend" facility. Since the "Headend" equipment is SA that is unlikely to change anytime soon due to the high cost of that equipment. Note that the Palm Beach area was originally served by both Comcast and Adelphia and both used different systems in different areas. Some was Motorola some was SA. It will all be based on where you are located. i.e. Ft. Lauderdale's area may be on a whole different platform then say Davie, Florida as well as areas of Palm beach County.

If you are on an SA system you will never see Motorola gear. The equipment is tied to what is installed at their "Headend" facility. Since the "Headend" equipment is SA that is unlikely to change anytime soon due to the high cost of that equipment. Note that the Palm Beach area was originally served by both Comcast and Adelphia and both used different systems in different areas. Some was Motorola some was SA. It will all be based on where you are located. i.e. Ft. Lauderdale's area may be on a whole different platform then say Davie, Florida as well as areas of Palm beach County.

Which is why I gave up on Comcast except for the Basic BASIC service. Just got tired of not getting the features that other Comcast markets were getting and having CSR's that really had no idea about the differences between Comcast and ComDelphia markets. (i.e. the number of times I was told that On Demand was on channel 1 was too numerous to mention_)

Are you guys getting WPEC via OTA having issues with the HD station? On D* I lost it halfway through the news, and its still not on for Jericho.

Hello,

I just moved from orlando and had a SA 8300HD box and it had the option to stetch any 4:3 picture by default so it would not cut off the borders and fill the screen horizontally also had HD output options like 720p, 1080i, 480p, etc.. I just got my Comcast box(8300HDC) and see no options to able to do that. The only way to stretch the screen from a 4:3 picture is to use the TV remote everytime I am watching SD 4:3, this get annoying b/c then when I flip to an HD channel I have to change my TV stetch mode again and. you get the point. The software looks different on this box than my last one.

Thanks

Hello,

I just moved from orlando and had a SA 8300HD box and it had the option to stetch any 4:3 picture by default so it would not cut off the borders and fill the screen horizontally also had HD output options like 720p, 1080i, 480p, etc.. I just got my Comcast box(8300HDC) and see no options to able to do that. The only way to stretch the screen from a 4:3 picture is to use the TV remote everytime I am watching SD 4:3, this get annoying b/c then when I flip to an HD channel I have to change my TV stetch mode again and. you get the point. The software looks different on this box than my last one.

Thanks

Not familiar with that box & from the sounds of it hoping I never have to get one.

maybe this will help:

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/products/consumers/userguidepdfs/4013171.pdf

what cable box do you have?

what cable box do you have?I have what you had in Orlando, the SA 8300HD box.

Channel 5 uses 3 weather reporting stations in St. Lucie County. They have their own in PSL at Tradition, and in Fort Pierce, they use the St. Lucie County International (yes International) airport, which is northwest of downtown Fort Pierce, and the University of Florida Agriculture service, which is way out by the Turnpike, west of I-95. www.fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/

All of these weather reporting stations in St. Lucie County are miles west of U.S. 1. However in Palm Beach County, most of the weather reporting stations are near U.S. 1 or even next to the ocean, as in Boston's on the beach in Delray.

By using weather reporting stations close to the ocean in Palm Beach County and far inland in St. Lucie County, Channel 5 can start their weather out each morning with "Breaking News," look how much colder it is way up there in St. Lucie County!

NONE of these weather reporting stations are accurate for me as I live on the beach. One morning they said it was 44 degrees in Fort Pierce and both of my gages said 61. My neighbor said his car read 62 degrees.

There hasn't been a frost at my house since the 1989 freeze, but according to Channel 5, there are couple of freezes every year up here. It would be nice if Channel 5 could put a weather sensor on the beach in St. Lucie County.

Well, I got that off my chest! :D

On top of that - weather sensors that have been in place for years and years, while development sprang up around them, now read artificially warm, due to the heat retention affect within dense urban development. So, you can't even trust the reported temps anymore, since they may well now be blasted by surrounding concrete. This is also part of what is fueling global warming hysteria.

Is anyone having recurring problems with the HD channels over the last three days or so? Seems at night, we start getting audio drop-outs and pixelization on the new HD channels around 6 PM or so. After a while, there is a total blank on most HD channels like History and Discovery and this lasts until we go to bed. HBO, Showtime and Starz are not impacted nor are the sports channels.

In the morning, I hear audio only on 414 DCVHD, 420 USAHD, 414 FNHD and 412 DSCHD... no video.

Anyone else seeing this? I absolutely hate calling Comcast support as I know the answer will be "there is no problem" and "we have to set up a tech to come out next week" Given the fact that the channel problems are all interspered with channels that are working I find it incredible that the answer is "it has to be your wiring / amp / connections / box" and not someting at the head end.

Having the same situation here in Delray Beach. The channels listed are the recently added HD channels. Probably is a bandwith problem.

Well.. here it is Friday afternoon on 7 March and 422 History HD and 412 Discovery HD are both showing black screens and only audio is working ... yet again.

I did call Comcast and surprise of surprises there is no problem reported it must be my wiring or amp here in Jensen Beach. Sigh.

DirecTV sure is looking tempting.

Well.. here it is Friday afternoon on 7 March and 422 History HD and 412 Discovery HD are both showing black screens and only audio is working ... yet again.

I did call Comcast and surprise of surprises there is no problem reported it must be my wiring or amp here in Jensen Beach. Sigh.

DirecTV sure is looking tempting.

Channel 412 is ok for me, but 422 is as described above...

Well I have one more month of a $20.00 credit from Comcast, if they do not extend it, i think it will be time to see what D* is offering....

I've had the same problems here in Western Lake Worth (Hypoluxo & Hagen Ranch Road area) for a couple of days now. Btw, 412 is Dicovery HDTheater and wasn't working last night for me. It is one of the original HD channels and not the newer DiscoveryHD channel which is an HD simulcast of the regular Discovery channel.

Anyway, welcome to the wonderful bit-starved world of HD-Lite. I think Comcast's addition of HD-Lite channels sucks but it will squelch a lot of the complaints from people asking for more HD. The problem is that there's not enough bandwith to handle the newer channels and that's one of the reasons why we're having Picture Quality issues (Pixelization and Tearing). Comast is compressing the hell out of the signal now in an attemtp to give us more HD channels but PQ suffers because of it.

This is the same thing many Direct TV subscribers were complaing about before they replaced their older MPEG-2 set top boxes with the newer ones capable of decoding the new MPEG-4 bitstream. MPEG-4 is an improved, more efficient compression algorithm and many subscibers say it gives them a better picture by virtually eliminating the compression artifacts that were associated with MPEG-2. Maybe someone in this thread with Direct TV's new MPEG4 box can tell us what they think.

With regards to Comcast, when we complain about the HD PQ, their new answer is "But look at all of the new HD channels we're giving you". They'll do this as long as they can get away with it. Nothing will change for the good untill enough people switch to Direct TV and it starts to affect their bottom line.

Same here in Boynton Beach...:mad:

No problem with DirecTV's HD. I have an hr20-700 HD-DVR that's updating right now as part of the "Cutting Edge" program (CE). Check DBSTalk for more info. Alsoi HD-TiVo has worked flawlessly for years. If Comcast is that bad then I say change. The only drawback might be rain fade, depending on how strong of a signal you can pull in or how strong the rain storm is.

I was with DTV back several years ago when they only offered 4 or 5 HD channels. I switched to Comcast when they had about double the number of HD channels over DTV. Looks like it is time to switch back now that DTV has gone MPEG4 and have more HD.

I am sick of calling Comcast service and being treated like there is no possible way that there is a system wide problem and that problem either is becuase I am an idiot consumer or that somehow my cabling / amp / hook-up / something at my end is the issue when the problem is exactly the same on all three of my DVRs.

Clearly we can come here and compare notes and see that there IS a systemic problem running across the entire Boynton Beach to Jensen Beach service area yet there is no way to open a trouble ticket to get someone to look at the sending end. All I get is another 4 hour "we may show up then ... we may show later" block of time on Monday to tell me there is no problem at my end.

I suppose the hypothesis that bandwidth and HD lite is the answer. If so, they can delete the shopping channels, the infomercial channels, the music choice channels, the HD simulcasted channels, and most of the on-demand channels as far as I am concerned to free bandwidth.

Thanks for confirming the Comcast problems for me.

I agree that Comcast can be most frustrating to deal with. However, I haven't experienced reduced quality hd-lite as OTA HD is essentially the same as cable for me. Nor have I had resolution or reliability problems with any of the cable only HD channels.

Apparently the problems that many have experienced are localized.

oy vey I see WPTV still doesnt pay attention to the hd feed to realize snl should be in hd here, but they are not passing it through

quick service :D

they're watching us lol

With the new satellite launched last year, and the new one going up on the 17th, DirecTV is poised to have plenty of bandwidth. The new MPEG4 signals are almost indistinguishable from OTA, as compared on my 65" RPTV. Rain fade has not been much of an issue for me, and on the rare occasion, it does not last long. Finally, experiences after the hurricanes - my neighbors with cable were out for weeks, some for months, whilst I had DirecTV as soon as I fired up my generator and put my dish reflector back up.

I'd encourage anyone in S. Fl. who is tired of cable to try a satellite service. Rain fade is, quite simply, not the issue it is made out to be (assuming your tech points the dish well).

I've had the same problems here in Western Lake Worth (Hypoluxo & Hagen Ranch Road area) for a couple of days now. Btw, 412 is Dicovery HDTheater and wasn't working last night for me. It is one of the original HD channels and not the newer DiscoveryHD channel which is an HD simulcast of the regular Discovery channel.

Anyway, welcome to the wonderful bit-starved world of HD-Lite. I think Comcast's addition of HD-Lite channels sucks but it will squelch a lot of the complaints from people asking for more HD. The problem is that there's not enough bandwith to handle the newer channels and that's one of the reasons why we're having Picture Quality issues (Pixelization and Tearing). Comast is compressing the hell out of the signal now in an attemtp to give us more HD channels but PQ suffers because of it.

This is the same thing many Direct TV subscribers were complaing about before they replaced their older MPEG-2 set top boxes with the newer ones capable of decoding the new MPEG-4 bitstream. MPEG-4 is an improved, more efficient compression algorithm and many subscibers say it gives them a better picture by virtually eliminating the compression artifacts that were associated with MPEG-2. Maybe someone in this thread with Direct TV's new MPEG4 box can tell us what they think.

With regards to Comcast, when we complain about the HD PQ, their new answer is "But look at all of the new HD channels we're giving you". They'll do this as long as they can get away with it. Nothing will change for the good untill enough people switch to Direct TV and it starts to affect their bottom line.

I'd encourage anyone in S. Fl. who is tired of cable to try a satellite service. Rain fade is, quite simply, not the issue it is made out to be (assuming your tech points the dish well).
I agree Jeff. The up time for DirecTV is practically 100 percent due to the fact that they are satellite based. They rarely have transmission problems like cable companies do and DirecTV is much more forthcoming when answering end-users questions. DirecTV IMO has more sophisticated hardware available if you want to pay for it. Cable company you get what they give you, and you still pay for it. They are pretty equal when it comes to price though. Especially since DirecTV has raised their prices again. I had to drop down a tier to keep the price reasonable for us.:(

Interesting observation on costs - I dumped cable 10 years ago, so I have no insight, really, on current price comparisons other than what I read on forums, and God knows how accurate that info is. My driver is not so much cost, although I do have a mental block when the price approaches $100 (I am at $85 right now). My main criteria is quality and uptime, and as you pointed out, DirecTV has done a better job in our neck of the woods than cable has.

Interesting observation on costs - I dumped cable 10 years ago, so I have no insight, really, on current price comparisons other than what I read on forums, and God knows how accurate that info is. My driver is not so much cost, although I do have a mental block when the price approaches $100 (I am at $85 right now). My main criteria is quality and uptime, and as you pointed out, DirecTV has done a better job in our neck of the woods than cable has.

I am pretty close to switching to D* but I am not a fan of the 2 yr contract...I tried to get around it, by taking no discounts on anything, but they said NO..

I agree Jeff. The up time for DirecTV is practically 100 percent due to the fact that they are satellite based. They rarely have transmission problems like cable companies do and DirecTV is much more forthcoming when answering end-users questions. DirecTV IMO has more sophisticated hardware available if you want to pay for it. Cable company you get what they give you, and you still pay for it. They are pretty equal when it comes to price though. Especially since DirecTV has raised their prices again. I had to drop down a tier to keep the price reasonable for us.:(

Interesting observation on costs - I dumped cable 10 years ago, so I have no insight, really, on current price comparisons other than what I read on forums, and God knows how accurate that info is. My driver is not so much cost, although I do have a mental block when the price approaches $100 (I am at $85 right now). My main criteria is quality and uptime, and as you pointed out, DirecTV has done a better job in our neck of the woods than cable has.

Agree with both of you. Costs are going up and I, too dropped from the Premier package with D* to the HD Plus DVR package, since we rarely watched the movie channels, never watched the sports channels and the package I went to included the HD and DVR charges that I was paying separately for with the Premier package. Net net savings including taxes was about $50 per month.

My cable bill was astronomical. Now, with basic cable -- very basic, not expanded basic from Comcast, and my D* charges, I'm still running significantly less than when I had both D* and digital cable.

If you are going to be away from home a lot, consider puting up just an antenna. I call DirecTV at the beginning of June and they turn off my service and they put it back on at the beginning of August. When I am home during those dates, I watch the antenna or video.

Excellent point - especially in south county, one can pick up 45-50 OTA channels in two major markets, all of the major networks in HD.

If you are going to be away from home a lot, consider puting up just an antenna. I call DirecTV at the beginning of June and they turn off my service and they put it back on at the beginning of August. When I am home during those dates, I watch the antenna or video.

With the new satellite launched last year, and the new one going up on the 17th, DirecTV is poised to have plenty of bandwidth. The new MPEG4 signals are almost indistinguishable from OTA, as compared on my 65" RPTV. Rain fade has not been much of an issue for me, and on the rare occasion, it does not last long. Finally, experiences after the hurricanes - my neighbors with cable were out for weeks, some for months, whilst I had DirecTV as soon as I fired up my generator and put my dish reflector back up.

I'd encourage anyone in S. Fl. who is tired of cable to try a satellite service. Rain fade is, quite simply, not the issue it is made out to be (assuming your tech points the dish well).


Anyone remember USSB that merged with DirectTV? When I first installed my dish in Jan 98 they used to let you subscribe just to the premium movie channels package and since I already had expanded basic cable through my HOA that's all that I paid for. After the merger, I was grandfathered in and was able to still pay just for the Premium movie channels. It was a pretty sweet deal until I dropped them some time in 2000. My PQ had started to suffer due to their compressing the signals in order to add more channels and I simply didn't want to pay for what I considered substandard PQ.

After dropping DirectTV I only received expanded basic cable with Adelphia until May 04 when they upgraded our community to digital cable and High Speed internet. PQ on the digital channels was great. In Jan 2005 I got a couple of SA8300HD DVR's and and ordered the Ultimate Pak(every channel they offer) and HD service for $99.08 a month with tax. Only about 14 HD channels but they looked great and life was good.

After Comcast took over I was a bit worried what would happen but things stayed the same. Then the hammer dropped. Comcast took away all 24 of the premium channels West Coast feeds, HDNet and HDNet Movies. They added a few HD channels but I was still pretty upset at the time and looked into switching back to DirectTV. It just wasn't as economical to do so with the equipment I'd be required to get. Besides, the PQ was still good.

After the latest slate of HD channels were added I started to notice artifacts in the picture here and there when using my digital projector that's throwing a 120" diagonal image. This blocking/pixelization and digital breakup of the image are the artifacts I was refereing to in my earlier posts. As I understand it, the MPEG2 compression algorithm used to decode the signal is not receiving enough bits of info (the 1's and 0's that make up a digital signal) and this is caused by bandwidth limitations.

Yesterday afternoon I went to Sound Advice and picked up a 50" Pioneer Elite plasma for my family room and after setting everything up, invited a neighbor to come over to see how it looked. As we're watch the National Geographic HD channel, sure enough these same artifacts started popping up here and there.

With a 10' diagonal image it's much easier to see these artifacts and be bothered by them but the Pioneer was in a different room using a different SA8300HD DVR so it's not just an issue with the one that's connected to my projector. I could even rewind the DVR and stop it on the exact frames in the program to show my neighbor and explain to him what it was and what causes it.

JeffBowser, ElectricPickle and anyone else who would like to chime in, those were the reasons why I left DirectTV and would like to know if ...

1.) You've ever seen the artifacts I've described with the older DirectTV set top boxes?

2.) What are the new DirectTV HD DVR boxes that you have ?

3.) Do these new boxes totally eliminate those artifacts or do you still see them occasionally?

4.) What do you pay a month for the HD Channels and the HD DVR?

My Comacst bill every month is now $119.78 and for that amount I get every channel available, 2 HD DVR's and High Speed internet and I'm curious what I can get from DirectTV for around the same money.

Sorry for such a long post but I'm simply looking for some answers. I thought if I provided a little background it would help to understand where I'm coming from. Thanks. I really do appreciate any info that can be provided.

JeffBowser, ElectricPickle and anyone else who would like to chime in, those were the reasons why I left DirectTV and would like to know if ...

1.) You've ever seen the artifacts I've described with the older DirecTV set top boxes?

Are you talking about “Pixilation” from momentary interruption of data in the bitstream? With DirecTV the only time I get that is just before rain fade, usually followed by breakup and loss of the picture. I don’t see random ones like you describe. I receive Over-The-Air (OTA) as well as DirecTV MPEG2 and MPEG4. As for the OTA channels I would say the Picture Quality (PQ) is very slightly better in some cases – but we all know that depends on if our local broadcasters decide that today will be a good day.

2.) What are the new DirecTV HD DVR boxes that you have?

I have 2 Standard Definition TiVo DVR’s, both Hughes SD-DVR40’s. One is unmodified & belongs to my wife; the other is modified and connected to my computer. The media room has the HD TiVo HR10-250 unmodified and the DirecTV HR20-700 (HD DVR) which participates in the DirecTV beta testing (CE or Cutting Edge). The media room DVR’s have only one of the two available satellite inputs used and my external OTA antenna connects to the second tuner of each DVR. This setup allows me to record two OTA programs and two DTV programs at the same time, or four OTA programs at the same time. Keep in mind here that OTA does not rain fade so I don’t record much from the MPEG4 DTV local channels. Rain fade is only a slight problem because there are some palm trees that slightly block my line of sight to the sat. It takes a real “gully washer” for it to happen.

3.) Do these new boxes totally eliminate those artifacts or do you still see them occasionally?

I’m watching on a 55-inch Mitsubishi CRT rear projection TV (I know – it’s old school but it still has a great picture) so I probably don’t notice as much artifact as you would. I have been with DirecTV since 2001 and I have seen big improvements in the last year. I would say their picture quality on all channels is now the best that I have ever seen it. I don’t have cable TV to compare it with though. I started with the TiVo DVR’s so I was not looking forward to having to get a DirecTV branded DVR (required for MPEG4). I have been using the HR20-700 for about a year now and it’s growing on me. I can’t say that I prefer it over the TiVo but it’s as good in my opinion. The only thing you will miss are the TiVo “suggestions” - if you liked them to begin with. I like how TiVo finds and records stuff that I normally would not try. I have found a few good programs that way.

4.) What do you pay a month for the HD Channels and the HD DVR?

I too had the “Premier” package and with the recent price increase I downgraded to the “Plus HD-DVR” package. Here’s the breakdown of the Premier package with the new pricing:

PREMIER Monthly 104.99
HD Access Monthly 9.99
DIRECTV DVR Service $5.99/mo Incl Base Pkg 0.00
DIRECTV on DEMAND -Complimentary 0.00
Additional Receiver 4.99
Additional Receiver 4.99
Additional Receiver 4.99
Adjustments & Credits BellSouth Answers(SM) Savings -5.00 Credit
Taxes Communications Service Tax 17.13
AMOUNT DUE $142.08

Here is what it is now:

Plus HD DVR Service $72.99
Additional Receiver X 3 = $14.97
BellSouth Answers Savings $-5.00
Taxes (Don’t know yet but guessing $15.00)
Total = $97.96

5.) My Comacst bill every month is now $119.78 and for that amount I get every channel available, 2 HD DVR's and High Speed internet and I'm curious what I can get from DirectTV for around the same money.

Does that price include taxes and fees? You won’t get the broadband Internet from DirecTV. I use BellSouth/ATT DSL Extreme with a DirecTV discount for $40 per month. That puts me up to $137.96 (would be $127.95 with only 2 DVR's like you have). So if you go with DirecTV’s full Premier package and get DSL you are talking about $160. But how many channels are you getting with each and are they good channels that are worth your money?

I don't think you will save money - probably be +/- 10% of each other, but a greater differential if you bundle internet access. You have to have other reasons - quality, reliability, hurricane plans, etc..

Other comments inline below:


1.) You've ever seen the artifacts I've described with the older DirectTV set top boxes?

Yes, you can see them on some of the SD channels. The HD channels on the newer MPEG4 data stream have sufficient bandwidth that these artifacts are greatly reduced. DirecTV plans are to go 100% MPEG4, and all of the new HD channels are MPEG4


2.) What are the new DirectTV HD DVR boxes that you have ?

The TIVOs are no longer offered. The latest DVR's are the HR20 and HR21 - one has an OTA tuner, one does not. They are, I think, a really good MPEG4/MPEG2 DVR, with 300MB of disk space.


3.) Do these new boxes totally eliminate those artifacts or do you still see them occasionally?

It's not the boxes so much as it is sufficient bandwidth. DirecTV has plenty of bandwidth, and I do not notice artifacting much except on some of the SD stations that have not yet gone to MPEG4 or HD.


4.) What do you pay a month for the HD Channels and the HD DVR?

As I mentioned in my post, I pay $85 total - that is for 1 DVR, 2 non-DVR HD boxes, and one SD box. I do not subscribe to any premiums (HBO, Showtime, etc...) because when we did, we never watched them anyway. I do however, get all their HD offerings outside the movie channels.

CNET posted this article today:

HD programming compared (http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108854-1.html?tag=nl.e404)
What is the best setup for HD programming? We've taken a look at the pros and cons of antenna, cable, and satellite offerings.

Here are some quotes from the article if you don't have time to read it:

You'll find a lot of information comparing the three ways in which to get HDTV, as well as a fourth (IPTV services such as Verizon's Fios) that are coming on strong. There are many things to consider when choosing a TV provider, but we can't cover them all here. For example, we're not going to get into pricing because it varies widely by locality, packaging, and what promotions are offered. The same goes for HD image quality; we simply can't compare the various cable providers to Fios to satellite with any consistency, and frankly most viewers are perfectly happy with the video and audio quality of their HD programming regardless of provider.
We don't compare cable box DVRs since again they'll vary widely by locality themselves, but in general TiVo and the satellite DVRs from DirecTV and Dish offer significantly better performance than models rented from your cable provider.
The most-popular alternative to cable company boxes is the excellent TiVo HD. It uses two cable cards (or one special "dual-stream" card) to receive and record just about any cable company's digital and HDTV programming. Its users don't need to rent the company's box, but will pay to buy the TiVo box and of course TiVo's own monthly fees, which are higher than what most cable companies charge. Still, the benefits of the TiVo interface and additional features are worth it for some people.
Much has changed with the arrival of MPEG-4 AVC, a video compression technology that crams more than twice as much HD video into the same amount of bandwidth as the current MPEG-2 technology. Combine MPEG-4 with the deployment of new satellites--DirecTV launched the first of five new satellites in May 2005 and has one more slated for March 2008, while Dish Network launched another satellite in February 2006 and plans to launch "at least two more" in 2008 according to CEO Charlie Ergen--and suddenly there's much more bandwidth in the skies.
While HD local channel selection is generally better on cable than satellite, DirecTV and Dish Network each offer significantly more national HD channels than just about every cable provider. Excluding RSNs and pay-per-view channels, as of March 2008 DirecTV offers 59 national HD channels and Dish Network has 47.
We break down those channel lineups in-depth later in the guide, but for now a couple of things are worth noting. Dish's channel selection includes 15 all-HD channels that once were operated by the Voom. While "all-HD" sounds pretty great, bear in mind that none of these channels offer typical programming (for better or for worse) and they all repeat shows much more frequently than typical channels. However, some lesser-known gems can be found on the movie channels, and some offbeat shows on the specialty networks are watchable. But don't expect tier-one programming in most cases on these channels.
DirecTV, on the other hand, is the only place for the HD versions of favorite networks such as Bravo, CNN, Comedy Central, FX, and SciFi. Sure, most of these channels don't show HD all the time, but more often than not popular shows will be in high-definition. That's a huge advantage, and while we suspect Dish will try to catch up by offering these channels sometime in the future, they haven't done so yet.

That's one of the most even-handed articles I have seen, based on your excerpts.

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80

Type in the call sign of the television station, be sure to click on digital and it will tell you how strong the signal is in your area. It also gives you an idea of where the station broadcasts from.

You can see that for Channel 12, Fort Pierce is in a deep purple area, which means you will really have to work at picking up the signal. And in Vero Beach--forget it.

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWHDT-DT%26type%3dD

For a station licensed to Stuart, there isn't much signal there.

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dwpec%26type%3dD

The signal barely makes it to Port St. Lucie, the largest city in the West Palm Beach television market.

I had a lot of Pixelation/audio issues last night on Comcast A&E HD & UHD..anyone else ?

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80

Type in the call sign of the television station, be sure to click on digital and it will tell you how strong the signal is in your area. It also gives you an idea of where the station broadcasts from.

You can see that for Channel 12, Fort Pierce is in a deep purple area, which means you will really have to work at picking up the signal. And in Vero Beach--forget it.Thanks for the link to A very helpful site.

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dwpec%26type%3dD

The signal barely makes it to Port St. Lucie, the largest city in the West Palm Beach television market.There is a channel 13 in Tampa so the FCC has to balance the power so they won't interfere with each other.

Channel 12 is broadcasting digital on Channel 13 at 29.500 KW from a tower that is 303 meters tall.

Channel 13 in Tampa is broadcasting 316.000 KW from a tower that is 434 meters tall.

(Kinda sounds like Fox News, biased and unfair) :D

www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80

Type in the call sign of the television station, be sure to click on digital and it will tell you how strong the signal is in your area. It also gives you an idea of where the station broadcasts from.

You can see that for Channel 12, Fort Pierce is in a deep purple area, which means you will really have to work at picking up the signal. And in Vero Beach--forget it.
An interesting site, but not very accurate which isn't surprising.

According the this site, WTCN analog has approx. the same signal as WPEC analog in Martin County. WPEC is much stronger for me.

It also doesn't know that there is a WTCN digital on 34.3. Apparently this is a subchannel of 34.1 and should have the same coverage area.

Channel 34 is rather clever and ahead of the pack in leasing two of their subchannels to competitors.

I thought CBS owned all three channels, 34, 43, and 48?

I thought CBS owned all three channels, 34, 43, and 48?
That would explain it.

I caught the Miami NBC6 news this morning in digital (up in Ft. Pierce) Quite impressive. Don't tell me that's a spread job, please. :o

Perhaps Channel 12 could play their CBS programming on 29.2 since the Tube is gone? It wouldn't be in HD, but at least people living north of Stuart could pick it up.

I took all suggestions here and made the switch from Comcast to DirecTV.

The continuing HD problems (regardless of whether they were localized or not), coupled with the small number of HD offerings in comparison, coupled with the inability to delete channels from being viewed, coupled with my absolute *hatred* of those NOAA weather alerts that take over every single channel's audio whenever any watch or warning is issued from Vero Beach to Boynton Beach all drove me to give up on Comcast.

I ended up with an H21 HD receiver and an HR21 HD DVR. The HR21 HD DVR is much, much slower in response time to menus and channel changes than the SA 3800 was. Channel changes take 3 seconds each. Browsing by channel surfing is just painful to sit through... I find I have to channel surf using the EPG.

PQ of most DTV HD channels is as good as I saw with Comcast. The fact that I can block what I do not care to watch is a huge plus. I still ended up with 68 HD channels on my favorites list. Some of the HD channels though, like Outdoor HD and Smithsonian HD, were extremely compressed and do not look like HD at all to me. Movie channels in HD are great.

===
Bill

Can anyone with Comcast get the CBS Sports HD on demand programs to work from CBS On Demand? I only receive an Error 232 message that the service is not available.

For the past couple of weeks I have gotten no signal for WPTV 5-1. Normally I get full strength, I live in Wellington ad the antenna farm is just down 441. I use two avermedia a180 atsc tuners in my vista pc. Both tuners show no signal and 12-1 25-1 29-1 ad 42-1 all come through fine, so I don't think the issue is on my end.

Anybody else see this? Thanks

Darkstar. One of the problems is that we live so close to the tower that WPTV-DT uses. We are catching the bottom of the lobe and there are various factors that can cause that lobe to move (or change size due to power output). I suggest repositioning your antenna. Try tilting it a degree or two and see what happens. Unfortunately, you may find that you can't get WPBF-DT 25-1 and WPTV-DT 5-1 at the same time. You may have to do what I finally did and put up an outside antenna (I'm assuming that you are using an indoor or attic antenna).

Can anyone with Comcast get the CBS Sports HD on demand programs to work from CBS On Demand? I only receive an Error 232 message that the service is not available.

not sure when your getting the error message, i have not watched anything, but i was able to look around at all the programs the are available...

I do use a desktop antenna, it came with a HDTV Wonder card couple of years back. What gets me is that it was working so well and then just stopped. I have tried rotation, but not titling. The real trick is getting WTVX and WPBF at the same time! I had to aboandon WTVX to keep WPBF stable.

Thanks

not sure when your getting the error message, i have not watched anything, but i was able to look around at all the programs the are available...Was receiving the error when trying to play the programs. It is working now. Must have been a problem over the weekend that they fix today.

Darkstar, do you have an attic? Put a larger antenna up there and you will get Miami stations.

The Smithsonian should come in as one of the best channels, it is a premium MPEG4 channel - please ensure you have the Hx21 boxes set to output 720p or 1080i, and they are not accidentally outputting 480i/p.

Slow channel changes - if you set your Hx boxes to output a single resolution (for example 1080i only), and turn native off, channel changes will speed up. Some of this slowness is the result of handshaking and resolution changes. Another reason is you are picking a satellite transponder via voltage and tone signals, and that takes an extra bit of time over just selecting a stream from cable.

Menu slowness - the Hx20 series boxes started out very, very slow, and software updates have improved that quite a bit. This may also be the case with the Hx21 series boxes.

I took all suggestions here and made the switch from Comcast to DirecTV.

The continuing HD problems (regardless of whether they were localized or not), coupled with the small number of HD offerings in comparison, coupled with the inability to delete channels from being viewed, coupled with my absolute *hatred* of those NOAA weather alerts that take over every single channel's audio whenever any watch or warning is issued from Vero Beach to Boynton Beach all drove me to give up on Comcast.

I ended up with an H21 HD receiver and an HR21 HD DVR. The HR21 HD DVR is much, much slower in response time to menus and channel changes than the SA 3800 was. Channel changes take 3 seconds each. Browsing by channel surfing is just painful to sit through... I find I have to channel surf using the EPG.

PQ of most DTV HD channels is as good as I saw with Comcast. The fact that I can block what I do not care to watch is a huge plus. I still ended up with 68 HD channels on my favorites list. Some of the HD channels though, like Outdoor HD and Smithsonian HD, were extremely compressed and do not look like HD at all to me. Movie channels in HD are great.

===
Bill

Question: Does anyone know if Channel 42 (PBS) will be broadcasting from the Channel 5 or Channel 29 tower in the near future? According to the maps I have read, Channel 5 will not be as strong when they move from Channel 55 to channel 12 next February.

DirecTV D11 satellite launch time is scheduled for 6:48 ET on March 19. Expected to be on DIRECTV channel 573.
Or watch it live on the Web: http://www.sea-launch.com/current_index_webcast.html (http://www.navigon.net/sl/pictures/)

Adding this satellite to their system should allow DirecTV to broadcast all locals throughout the country in HD. MPEG4 is a beautiful thing.

Slow lately.

The DirecTV satellite successfully launched, and it has "called home". Contrast this to Echostar's failed launch on the 14th. This is a good time to be a DirecTV customer.

COMCAST ADDS USA-HD

Just channel surfing and noticed a new HD addition here in Palm Beach County: USA-HD, Channel 420. Also, the newsletter found in my cable bill that came the other day hinted at major changes concerning On Demand, including many new HD offerings. I did notice HD programs added to CBS On Demand.

oops....

COMCAST ADDS USA-HD

Just channel surfing and noticed a new HD addition here in Palm Beach County: USA-HD, Channel 420. Also, the newsletter found in my cable bill that came the other day hinted at major changes concerning On Demand, including many new HD offerings. I did notice HD programs added to CBS On Demand.

I have had USA-HD since they added the new channels a month or so ago...

I noticed the on demand CBS HD was mostly if not all the NCAA games & info....

I believe USA-HD has been available since Feb. 1st.

After the latest slate of HD channels were added I started to notice artifacts in the picture here and there when using my digital projector that's throwing a 120" diagonal image. This blocking/pixelization and digital breakup of the image are the artifacts I was refereing to in my earlier posts. As I understand it, the MPEG2 compression algorithm used to decode the signal is not receiving enough bits of info (the 1's and 0's that make up a digital signal) and this is caused by bandwidth limitations.

Yesterday afternoon I went to Sound Advice and picked up a 50" Pioneer Elite plasma for my family room and after setting everything up, invited a neighbor to come over to see how it looked. As we're watch the National Geographic HD channel, sure enough these same artifacts started popping up here and there.

With a 10' diagonal image it's much easier to see these artifacts and be bothered by them but the Pioneer was in a different room using a different SA8300HD DVR so it's not just an issue with the one that's connected to my projector. I could even rewind the DVR and stop it on the exact frames in the program to show my neighbor and explain to him what it was and what causes it.


JeffBowser and ElectricPickle,

Thanks for the answers you've provided about the PQ you get with the new boxes from D*TV.

If anyone is curious about the artifacts that I am seeing with Comcast, you can click on the link below. It's a recent thread that has popped up about the poor PQ we're now getting from Comcast. It explains what they're doing (cramming three channels into the space that should only have two) and has pics showing what the picture used to look like and what it looks like after they added the latest HD channels.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

I do use a desktop antenna, it came with a HDTV Wonder card couple of years back. What gets me is that it was working so well and then just stopped. I have tried rotation, but not titling. The real trick is getting WTVX and WPBF at the same time! I had to aboandon WTVX to keep WPBF stable.

Thanks
Same here I lost wptv 5-1 completely today, I had been having problems with it for about 2 weeks or so, I do have an antenna in my attic..bummer

Wow, that's amazing - thanks for posting.


JeffBowser and ElectricPickle,

Thanks for the answers you've provided about the PQ you get with the new boxes from D*TV.

If anyone is curious about the artifacts that I am seeing with Comcast, you can click on the link below. It's a recent thread that has popped up about the poor PQ we're now getting from Comcast. It explains what they're doing (cramming three channels into the space that should only have two) and has pics showing what the picture used to look like and what it looks like after they added the latest HD channels.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

Smithfarmer, that's amazing that Comcast can get away with such a thing. I guess it boils down to the fact that there is no Federal mandate as to what a media company can claim, advertise, and sell as "High Definition".

HD is defined - as 720 progressive lines, or 1080i interlaced lines. Liberties are taken with the vertical resolution numbers, and in compression. It's an aggravating loophole, especially when compression gets really harsh.

ANYONE else with E* notice the new HD local channel next to the regular SD? 29-0 SD then 29-0 HD then 29-1 which is the off air HD. Am I interpreting this wrong or do we now have sat HD locals?

Yep,

They turned on nbc, abc, and fox. cbs was uplinked (put on the satellite) but not made available. Probably doing something stupid like trying to get money for the rebroadcast rights on the sat.

Looks good, I was expecting way too much compression.

Not sure if it's WPEC-HD's audio, or Directv for me but is anyone else think their audio is pretty low tonight? I have the March Madness pack with D* and it's considerably louder on their HD channel for the package. Just curious if anyone else was experiencing it.

Not sure if it's WPEC-HD's audio, or Directv for me but is anyone else think their audio is pretty low tonight? I have the March Madness pack with D* and it's considerably louder on their HD channel for the package. Just curious if anyone else was experiencing it.

although, I have Comcast and I would agree it was low, when i went to another channel it was louder, but the sound has been pretty random the entire tournament, sometimes when they come back from commercial and it's really low, then it slowly gets louder...

MLB Extra Innings Free Preview March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.

Do you love baseball? Then check out MLB EXTRA INNINGS for free on Comcast Digital Cable from March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.
* Even if you live in one city and your team is in another, MLB EXTRA INNINGS lets you see the match-ups you want to watch. See the hottest games and biggest stars throughout the action-packed regular season.

Even though Comcast does not offer any MLb E.I. in HD it's still free for a week..

I am Pretty sure, most cable/satellite companies that offer MLB E.I. are offering this free preview....

figures that dish does not have a retrans agreement for wpec-dt since that's the one that goes in and out most for me being vhf and all

Hey guys. WPTV 5-1 came back yesturday at full strength.
Does ayone know what 63-1 is? It showed up and I never saw it before.
Thanks

Channel 63-1 is WPPB-DT in Boca Raton, actually owned by Broward County Schools.
It's an educational station like WLRN in Miami.

Walt

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="2"]MLB Extra Innings Free Preview March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.

Do you love baseball? Then check out MLB EXTRA INNINGS for free on Comcast Digital Cable from March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.
* Even if you live in one city and your team is in another, MLB EXTRA INNINGS lets you see the match-ups you want to watch. See the hottest games and biggest stars throughout the action-packed regular season.
SNIP


Have subscibed to MLB for quite a few years from D* and last year from Comcast. With the exception of the HD telecasts, the video quality from both providers has been substandard. Not sure if this is poor analog to digital conversion or excessive compression.

This year, the webcast from MLB.TV streams at 1.2 MB. Still not the quality of most cable but getting close. However, some MLB streaming is widescreen; whereas Comcast Extra Innings is not.

The jury is still out on whether MLB.TV can maintain 1.2 MB streaming with lots of viewers. But on a large screen TV, a 1.2MB widescreen is better than 4:3 comcast.

Are we previewing the future of sports broadcasts?

Have subscibed to MLB for quite a few years from D* and last year from Comcast. With the exception of the HD telecasts, the video quality from both providers has been substandard. Not sure if this is poor analog to digital conversion or excessive compression.

This year, the webcast from MLB.TV streams at 1.2 MB. Still not the quality of most cable but getting close. However, some MLB streaming is widescreen; whereas Comcast Extra Innings is not.

The jury is still out on whether MLB.TV can maintain 1.2 MB streaming with lots of viewers. But on a large screen TV, a 1.2MB widescreen is better than 4:3 comcast.

Are we previewing the future of sports broadcasts?

I watched most of the Yankee game on extra innings free preview, I thought the pic was ok(for Comcast) it did make me think how good Yes-HD on D* E.I. Package would be...but not ready for that move(yet)

I then watched the last 2 innings on MLB.TV Premium(on my Laptop) and I tried to watch it at 1.2 and it was awful very choppy, so i tried the 800 stream it was a little better, but still choppy, i ended up watching it at 400, and it was fine. I hope this was because it's new and they are still tweaking it...it will stink if i paid for Premium and it continues to be choppy.

(I have comcast Cable Internet and Wireless N router & Wireless N Cards)

MLB Extra Innings Free Preview March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.

Do you love baseball? Then check out MLB EXTRA INNINGS for free on Comcast Digital Cable from March 31, 2008 - April 6, 2008.
* Even if you live in one city and your team is in another, MLB EXTRA INNINGS lets you see the match-ups you want to watch. See the hottest games and biggest stars throughout the action-packed regular season.

Even though Comcast does not offer any MLb E.I. in HD it's still free for a week..

I am Pretty sure, most cable/satellite companies that offer MLB E.I. are offering this free preview....

I'm going to be at my parents house in Vero this upcoming weekend and was hoping I'd be able to see the MLB EI package down there but wasn't sure if the EI preview was on all Comcast systems.

Also, does the Vero Beach system have access to any HD EI programming (I didn't see a Vero Beach specific thread in the Local HD forum)?

Thanks!

I then watched the last 2 innings on MLB.TV Premium(on my Laptop) and I tried to watch it at 1.2 and it was awful very choppy, so i tried the 800 stream it was a little better, but still choppy, i ended up watching it at 400, and it was fine. I hope this was because it's new and they are still tweaking it...it will stink if i paid for Premium and it continues to be choppy.

(I have comcast Cable Internet and Wireless N router & Wireless N Cards)
I have 6MB DSL, but use wired connection. No chop here on Wed. PM and Wed. night.

My wireless is only G, but I found that with video streaming the actual download performance was a lot less than it should have been. Had to run a cat 5 cable to my family room mini. The problem could be your wireless setup.

I often use Netflix streaming (2.2MB) and rarely have a problem, but I wonder if MLB.TV is setup to handle a popular game such as Sox-Yankees.

I have 6MB DSL, but use wired connection. No chop here on Wed. PM and Wed. night.

My wireless is only G, but I found that with video streaming the actual download performance was a lot less than it should have been. Had to run a cat 5 cable to my family room mini. The problem could be your wireless setup.

I often use Netflix streaming (2.2MB) and rarely have a problem, but I wonder if MLB.TV is setup to handle a popular game such as Sox-Yankees.

I spoke to MLB.TV on Wed they said the choppy issues i had was a known issue and they were working on it, I had no issues last night....

OK i know this is the HDTV Forum, so I apologize ahead of time.

Does anyone have ONLY Comcast High Speed Internet ? and if so have you ever tried to hook it up to a TV and see if you get any Cable Channels ? I recall in the past a friend had only the Internet, but was still able to watch channels 2-79....Feel free to PM me, if the answer is yes, so as not to get "discovered"

Thanks....

Hey, what did channel 25 do recently with their audio ? Both the DirecTV feed, and straight OTA now light up my rear channel decoder, in addition to usual blue light the Dolby Digital indicator. Sounded terrific, whatever they did.

It depends if your installer put a line trap on when they were hooking you up.

It depends if your installer put a line trap on when they were hooking you up.

Well I already have Comcast Cable TV/Internet but I might cancel it all except the Internet and get D*... So i guess it comes down to whether or not they send someone out put on a line trap....

Somebody over on the Miami section mentioned they were picking up ABC Family HD and Disney HD over QAM. Did Comcast add these channels today or are they possibly testing them?

Somebody over on the Miami section mentioned they were picking up ABC Family HD and Disney HD over QAM. Did Comcast add these channels today or are they possibly testing them?

I just scanned through the HD channels and saw nothing, last time they added channels, they were showing up in the program guide in the 1000's, nothing there either...I know D* added those 2 plus ESPN News HD this past week...

No comments on channel 25 ? Nobody up here looking at one of the biggest WPB stations in Dolby Digital ?

They had something set wrong on the encoder that on my receiver made it think they were sending dobly digital es, and that obviously isn't an atsc standard, so it's probably that they fixed it. The next time I'm down there to check it out.

Ah, thanks

This was posted in the "What is the next Comcast HD Channel" Today:

CNN HD, AMC HD, Family, Disney and Science added in Broward County, Florida.

They got ABC Family, Disney and Science in Coral Gables (Miami-Dade).

What did we get in PB as I am not home yet?

They got ABC Family, Disney and Science in Coral Gables (Miami-Dade).

What did we get in PB as I am not home yet?

just checked...I saw nothing new (we already have Science-HD)

Another audio question lol. On FSN-HD for the Marlins games when I switch to it on D*, I hear the audio coming out of my rear surround channel. Sounds like it's stereo coming out of one speaker. It's only like this on this channel, the other's work great. Any one else experiencing this?

P.S. The Marlins keep doing it again. :D

just checked...I saw nothing new (we already have Science-HD)Science HD where? I see nothing. :(

Science HD where? I see nothing. :(

oops my bad, I did not realize Sci-Fi (channel 427) and the Science channel (which I do not have it) were 2 different channels...

Sorry about that Mis-Information

We are officially the red-headed stepchild of the South Florida market. Coral Gables which was formerly Adelphia like us in Palm Beach received new channels but what did we get...nothing. Maybe next week or the week after, one can only hope, but with Comcast and the fact we still don't have Cinemax HD, you never know.

We are officially the red-headed stepchild of the South Florida market. Coral Gables which was formerly Adelphia like us in Palm Beach received new channels but what did we get...nothing. Maybe next week or the week after, one can only hope, but with Comcast and the fact we still don't have Cinemax HD, you never know.

Alas... the main reason I dumped Comcast and went to DirecTV.

Alas... the main reason I dumped Comcast and went to DirecTV.
Me too. Couldn't take Comphia's prices and service. I'm pretty happy with D*, but wish their prices could be cheaper. However I don't mind paying a little bit extra and I get all the HD that is out there (plus the sports packages). In a couple of years if they ever switch fully over to Comcast and aren't on Adelphia's system, I might switch back if the pricing/programming is competitive to D*. Won't hold my breath though.

Me too. Couldn't take Comphia's prices and service. I'm pretty happy with D*, but wish their prices could be cheaper. However I don't mind paying a little bit extra and I get all the HD that is out there (plus the sports packages). In a couple of years if they ever switch fully over to Comcast and aren't on Adelphia's system, I might switch back if the pricing/programming is competitive to D*. Won't hold my breath though.

Hmm... I have the HD/DVR Plus package... no movie channels, since I didn't really watch them when I did have them, all of the HD, 4 receivers (3 HD and 1 SD) and my bill is under $100 per month. When I had Comdelphia I was at $135 with only a single box in the house, the SA 8300 HD DVR, which I absolutely hated.

So, I've saved money (even after the lease fees on the receivers) which were paid off after the first year (at the $37 per month savings over Comcast) and have a significantly better service.

Yesterday I lost HD Channels 412 and 420-427 on Comcast in WPB. Anybody else having the same problem?

Yesterday I lost HD Channels 412 and 420-427 on Comcast in WPB. Anybody else having the same problem?

same problem here :(

I haven't been too happy with WPB Comcast lately. If anyone here that has switched from Comcast to Satellite can share their thoughts (good or bad), I'd appreciate it.

My main concern is getting local channels in HD. I'm not too keen on the idea of using an antenna (I'm not even sure if it's allowed in my community).

Another concern is how the dish would hold up during hurricanes. I have a really bad back, so taking down the dish (then putting it back up) would be a problem.

Lastly, my community gets free basic cable from Comcast. It would be tough to give up free service. :)

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

DirecTV provides the locals in HD, but even so, your community can't disallow antennas, Federal rules trump HOA's.

As for hurricanes, I have found DirecTV to be better than the Cablecos down here - at least you get service back as soon as you can get power. My neighbors satellite dish is in a protected corner of their house, on a side wall - they left it up during hurricanes and it was fine. Mine is on a pole in the ground, dure to line of sight issues, so when I expect a hurricane, I simply unbolt the reflector, take it in the house, and put it back on afterwards. Works well for me.

DirecTV provides the locals in HD, but even so, your community can't disallow antennas
So, then, you do need an antenna for local HD channels, right? Does this antenna go on the roof? Or can it go elsewhere (indoors? on the side of the house?) Also, does this antenna need to come down during a hurricane?

My neighbors satellite dish is in a protected corner of their house, on a side wall - they left it up during hurricanes and it was fine. Mine is on a pole in the ground, dure to line of sight issues, so when I expect a hurricane, I simply unbolt the reflector, take it in the house, and put it back on afterwards. Works well for me.
Interesting. Is it hard to unbolt the reflector, or is it literally just unbolting one bolt? (I don't even know what a "reflector" is, so this is all new to me :))

So, then, you do need an antenna for local HD channels, right? Does this antenna go on the roof? Or can it go elsewhere (indoors? on the side of the house?) Also, does this antenna need to come down during a hurricane?


Interesting. Is it hard to unbolt the reflector, or is it literally just unbolting one bolt? (I don't even know what a "reflector" is, so this is all new to me :))

On DirecTV the you get HD locals (NBC, CBS, ABC, & Fox). You only need an antenna for the other sub channels or CW, PBS, Ion, etc...

I left my dish up for all three hurricanes, and the only problem I had was with Wilma, I just had to realign the dish after the storm. Which was pretty easy since I marked the alignment location on the dish before the storm.

On DirecTV the you get HD locals (NBC, CBS, ABC, & Fox). You only need an antenna for the other sub channels or CW, PBS, Ion, etc...
Really? Wow, I didn't know that. That's great. Personally, I'm mainly concerned with the above 4 HD networks, plus the usual "cable" channels (CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, DisneyChannel, Nickelodeon, etc).

I left my dish up for all three hurricanes, and the only problem I had was with Wilma, I just had to realign the dish after the storm. Which was pretty easy since I marked the alignment location on the dish before the storm.
Very interesting. I'm learning a lot. Thanks! :)

One more question: did you go through DirecTv directly, or through a reseller? Does it matter? Price-wise, service-wise, etc?

Any promos out there right now for new service??

One more question: did you go through DirecTv directly, or through a reseller? Does it matter? Price-wise, service-wise, etc?

Any promos out there right now for new service??

I have been with DirecTV since 1996. Almost all my installations (moving, upgrade to HD, etc...) have been done through DirecTV.

To be safe, I would either order directly from DirecTV, Best Buy or Circuit City. Be very careful of the internet resellers. Especially if you buy from someone on E-Bay.

To be safe, I would either order directly from DirecTV, Best Buy or Circuit City. Be very careful of the internet resellers. Especially if you buy from someone on E-Bay.
I see. Thanks for the tip.

I just came up with a snag, though. We have a package deal from Comcast (Adelphia at the time) for both cable TV and 6 MB high speed Internet access. If I cancel the cable portion of the deal, I'll have to pay full price for Internet, either from Comcast or AT&T DSL. Unfortunately, that will make this switch much more expensive than anticipated. :(

Even if you're only getting basic cable service from Comcast through your HOA, you're still a paying cable customer and entitled to a reduced rate for internet service.

Even if you're only getting basic cable service from Comcast through your HOA, you're still a paying cable customer and entitled to a reduced rate for internet service.
Yeah, that's what I thought too. But according to the Comcast rep I spoke with, I'm grandfathered into an old Adelphia bundled discount... and if I change *anything* on my account I will lose the deal. And, at least according to this rep, having basic cable does not entitle me to a discount on Internet access.

I haven't been too happy with WPB Comcast lately. If anyone here that has switched from Comcast to Satellite can share their thoughts (good or bad), I'd appreciate it.

My main concern is getting local channels in HD. I'm not too keen on the idea of using an antenna (I'm not even sure if it's allowed in my community).

Another concern is how the dish would hold up during hurricanes. I have a really bad back, so taking down the dish (then putting it back up) would be a problem.

Lastly, my community gets free basic cable from Comcast. It would be tough to give up free service. :)

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

I see. Thanks for the tip.

I just came up with a snag, though. We have a package deal from Comcast (Adelphia at the time) for both cable TV and 6 MB high speed Internet access. If I cancel the cable portion of the deal, I'll have to pay full price for Internet, either from Comcast or AT&T DSL. Unfortunately, that will make this switch much more expensive than anticipated. :(


if your basic cable is part of the HOA or your community, why would you cancel it or give it up ?

if your basic cable is part of the HOA or your community, why would you cancel it or give it up ?
I meant that I would have to cancel the "bundle", since if I get Satellite I won't need to pay Comcast for HD, HBO, etc. I would go back to basic cable, which would kill the price-break I get for the grandfathered bundle.

I meant that I would have to cancel the "bundle", since if I get Satellite I won't need to pay Comcast for HD, HBO, etc. I would go back to basic cable, which would kill the price-break I get for the grandfathered bundle.

gotcha....if you have AAA i think this is valid for new D* customers:

Receive a $10 credit each month for 24 months for new subscribers, in addition to nationally advertised offer.* Call 1-800-242-9114.

gotcha....if you have AAA i think this is valid for new D* customers:

Receive a $10 credit each month for 24 months for new subscribers, in addition to nationally advertised offer.* Call 1-800-242-9114.
Good to know since I'm a AAA member. Thanks! :)

Question: I was talking about "Satellite vs. Cable" with a neighbor/friend of mine tonight. He said that satellite has bad reception when the weather is bad, like heavy rain or extra cloudy times. Since that happens fairly often here, this concerns me. So, for the satellite users here in the WPB area, how true is this?

Good to know since I'm a AAA member. Thanks! :)

Question: I was talking about "Satellite vs. Cable" with a neighbor/friend of mine tonight. He said that satellite has bad reception when the weather is bad, like heavy rain or extra cloudy times. Since that happens fairly often here, this concerns me. So, for the satellite users here in the WPB area, how true is this?

This has been discussed numerous times, here are a couple posts about it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11936627&postcount=6900

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11934297&postcount=6899

you might want to search "rain fade" in the top right hand corner.

(i have not subscribed to D* yet but might this week)

you might want to search "rain fade" in the top right hand corner.

(i have not subscribed to D* yet but might this week)

Thanks, I'll do some research.

Are you buying through AAA?

Thanks, I'll do some research.

Are you buying through AAA?

Most likely yes..

Gee, after doing a bit of research on Rain Fade, I'm not so sure about switching. My wife would hate me if we switched then weren't happy! ;)

Does DirecTV offer any kind of satisfaction guarantee? Something that says if we're not happy we can get out of the contract? I can't find any mention of it on their site.

Hey DTV users, how bad is the "lag" when changing channels? I just read about this, and my son changes channels constantly.

I see your questions have mostly been answered. As for channel changing lag - I do not find it objectionable, but it does take a little longer than it does for cable.

Rain-fade - I have been with DirecTV for a decade now - rainfade is actually fairly rare if you have your dish properly aimed (max signal strength), and when it does come, it usually goes just as quickly. It all depends on how heavy the rain is between you and the satellite. When this does happen, this is when having an antenna helps - you will at least get the locals meanwhile.

Gotcha.... thanks, Jeff. It might be a moot point, though. I just got off the phone with DirecTV and got all the pricing info. Here's what I'd be looking at:

DirecTV Plus HD DVR Package
Year 1: $54.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $44.99 / month
Year 2: $72.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $62.99 / month
Year 3 & going forward: no discount = $72.99 / month

The 1st year pricing isn't bad, but beyond that I'm getting a better deal from Comcast since I'm only paying $70-ish for HD + DVR + HBO package + 6 MB Internet access. Plus, the guy didn't mention it, but I saw online that the DVR box would cost me $99.

To make matters worse, he said there is NO WAY to get out of the contract for ANY reason. So if I'm not happy, I'm stuck. Period. This makes me very uncomfortable.

All things considered here, I'm becoming less and less enthusiastic about switching from Comcast. :(

Yes, DirecTV locks you in with a 2yr contract with advanced equipment. You can get out, but you have to pay a termination fee (I'm not sure what that is, but it is calculated on your months remaining). Price alone isn't enough, in my opinion, to decide on. I was with Comcast long enough to know their prices go up constantly. DirecTV has adjusted my price only twice in the 10 years I have been with them (I don't monkey with my programming, so I have a grandfathered package). Consider also, does DirecTV have a better HD lineup (and do you care), andconsider Comcast's technical performance in your area. In my area, Comcast was constantly going down, If it wasn't people stealing their amplifiers, it was weather disruptions. I swear, the cable plant here in NE Boca was so bad, if it rained too hard, cable went out for hours. After Wilma, my neighbors did not have cable for 3 months, and for 3 more months after that it was snowy analog.

Well, in my case I just wanted more HD channels. It wasn't a price issue, and the up-time here is actually pretty good. BUT, if switching means paying a lot more just to get a few more HD channels (that I may or may not actually watch) then I'm not sure it's worth it if I have to lock myself into a contract.

Now, if DirecTV allowed an "out", I'd sign up today. It would allow me to try out the service, the reception, the extra channels, etc. If I liked it, I'd keep it -- probably for many, many years. But if I'm stuck with a 2 year contract, it's too risky a gamble for me.

Personally, I feel that if DirecTV is that confident that we'll be happy with them vs. cable, they really oughtta have a satisfaction guarantee. Not only would I switch, but I know a lot of my neighbors would try them too.

Oh well.

SoundsGood, to answer your previous question and the rain fade, I can report this. I've had it for about 7 months now and only about 3 times I've had a signal loss in real heavy down pours. I think it depends on setup and equipment, since I did have a friend who hated Directv (D*) and said he had signal loss after a cloud would go over his house. So YMMV.

Also, about channel changing I never really noticed it. That's because I strictly use the guide now, I can't channel surf like before. There's too many channels to do that on these new systems. I'll have to try it just to see, but I only use the guide so it really doesn't matter to me.

Gotcha.... thanks, Jeff. It might be a moot point, though. I just got off the phone with DirecTV and got all the pricing info. Here's what I'd be looking at:

DirecTV Plus HD DVR Package
Year 1: $54.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $44.99 / month
Year 2: $72.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $62.99 / month
Year 3 & going forward: no discount = $72.99 / month

The 1st year pricing isn't bad, but beyond that I'm getting a better deal from Comcast since I'm only paying $70-ish for HD + DVR + HBO package + 6 MB Internet access. Plus, the guy didn't mention it, but I saw online that the DVR box would cost me $99.

To make matters worse, he said there is NO WAY to get out of the contract for ANY reason. So if I'm not happy, I'm stuck. Period. This makes me very uncomfortable.

All things considered here, I'm becoming less and less enthusiastic about switching from Comcast. :(

You can't "get out" of the contract, by you can pay your way out of it. Not much better yea, but it is an option.

If the prices bother you, you might want to look at Dish (E*). They're not as good for HD as D* does, but I do believe you can buy your way out of the contract (I think it was $50) and their prices are much better. Plus, they give you a free HD-DVR. Something I wish D* would do. I had to pay for mine, but Comphia was charing me a frakkin' $19/month each for 2 DVRs (I wasn't grandfathered in under the old ones when their pricing changed in July) so I looked at it as it would pay for it's self after a period of time. So that's an option you might want to check out in addition to D*. There's some advantages of going to E* if you don't mind not having some of the sports packages and (at least till now) the HD isn't as good.

This is the way I look at it. I don't mind paying a little more to be able to get the best HD service available. At least now I won't be frustrated at the cable companies about not adding HD channels or sports packages. I'm also so glad to be off of Comphia's clunky HD-DVR and outrageous prices. So really, it's about what matters to you and if you want to live with the 2 year contract. I decided I can.

Specific to rain fade - someone who has bad problems with it is almost always simply suffering from a poorly aligned dish.

SoundsGood, to answer your previous question and the rain fade, I can report this. I've had it for about 7 months now and only about 3 times I've had a signal loss in real heavy down pours. I think it depends on setup and equipment, since I did have a friend who hated Directv (D*) and said he had signal loss after a cloud would go over his house. So YMMV.

I'm confused about that quote, why it goes up between year 1 and year 2 - is there some discount they are offering you other than the $10 AAA ? reason I ask is my rate is also $54.99, and it does not vary. Of course, I also have the DVR fee, and the HD access package, 4 receivers, and with tax, my total bill comes to $90 a month, and has essentially stayed there for the last 5 years...



DirecTV Plus HD DVR Package
Year 1: $54.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $44.99 / month
Year 2: $72.99 - $10 (AAA discount) = $62.99 / month
Year 3 & going forward: no discount = $72.99 / month

I'm confused about that quote, why it goes up between year 1 and year 2 - is there some discount they are offering you other than the $10 AAA ? reason I ask is my rate is also $54.99, and it does not vary. Of course, I also have the DVR fee, and the HD access package, 4 receivers, and with tax, my total bill comes to $90 a month, and has essentially stayed there for the last 5 years...

Year 1 Rebates: AAA(24 Months) 10 bucks, plus the D* 18.00(12 Months)

Year 2 Rebates: only the AAA-10 bucks

I'm also so glad to be off of Comphia's clunky HD-DVR...
Oh? Why do say it's clunky? (it's the only HD-DVR I've used, so I have nothing to compare it to.)

I'm confused about that quote, why it goes up between year 1 and year 2 - is there some discount they are offering you other than the $10 AAA ?
Yep, Stewpidity explained it correctly, above.

Oh? Why do say it's clunky? (it's the only HD-DVR I've used, so I have nothing to compare it to.)
If I remember correctly... First the HDD wasn't the quietest drives I've ever used. On both of my units they got pretty loud at times so that was distracting. I know they were used units, so that could have been part of the problem. The 2nd thing I hated was the series recording options. If I had a series to grab every ep aired (repeats) in every timeslot, the problem would happen when another show aired during that timeslot. There was no way to set a priority so if another show airing during that timeslot you'd have to cancel either one. And if you canceled that one, it'd cancel the entire series! Not just that showing. Unless I was doing something wrong, I found that very annoying. I'd miss a few nights before I realized why the repeats weren't being recorded. I then had to reset everything up again. I think the other thing that annoyed me was the series recording options you had to choose from, there just didn't seem to have that many options. But the other 2 were the biggies. I came from the Moto HD-DVR in Broward, which I found to be a much better DVR. It's amazing how different the Comcast operation over there is vs the Comphia one here. :rolleyes:

There was no way to set a priority so if another show airing during that timeslot you'd have to cancel either one.
I've always wished for a "priority" feature when setting recording options. Are you saying that Directv's HD-DVR has this feature?

Any other features their DVR has that the Comcast DVR does not?

I've always wished for a "priority" feature when setting recording options. Are you saying that Directv's HD-DVR has this feature?

Any other features their DVR has that the Comcast DVR does not?

We getting a little off topic here guys. There is large thread on this in the HDTV Reception Hardware section. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=690198

Joel is right. We have strayed off topic. Howver, in the interest of comparing DirectTV reception and service to our local Comcast cable reception and service, let me try and summarize for SoundsGood. (I've had both services and have no axe to grind here.)

In order to make your decision you have to decide what you want:

1. Do you want the lowest cost service?
If you want the lowest price for the services you describe, Cable wins. No matter how many deals you try and string together, you can't make DirecTV cheaper than your current deal (especially when you include equipment costs, and additional monthly charges to the base package price). In your case with the HOA grandfathered bundle, I doubt it ever will. Cable wins here, hands down.

2. Do you want the most HD channels?
On this one DirecTV clearly wins. Cable isn't even close. Which ones you watch or value is up to you, but there's no debate on HD channels provided. DirecTV wins here.

3. Do you want the best equipment and service?
There are few people (if any), once they try DirecTV's DVR, who like Comcast's DVR better. Also, customer service is clearly much better overall at DirecTV. Having said that, if you like your Comcast DVR and don't have customer service issues, this may not be worth paying extra for. Also, with Cable, you can get basic channels (including local HDs on most TVs with HD tuners) without a box. Here I'd give the nod to DirecTV, but recognize that Cable may win for some people based on not needing boxes on every set.

4. How do you like your outages?
This one is a little trickier. This can vary by customer, but in general, when the cable goes out, it goes out for a fixed period of time (say an hour or a day or whatever). Experiences vary by customer, can vary from "intolerable" to "no problem", and only you can decide how much this bothers you where you live. DirecTV, in contrast, does not have long service outages, but you will likely encounter some rain fade at times during some severe thunderstorms. Proper dish alignment helps, but DirecTV will even tell you it's possible to lose signal in storms, even with a well aligned dish. Like one post said, eight months (i.e. non-thunderstorm season) can go by without any rain fade, but in some storms you will problably lose service for a few seconds to a few minutes, intermittently. If you're watching a baseball game, you may miss a pitch or a batter or two, but you won't miss the whole game. In my experience, this happened much more frequently than cable outages, but I experienced less overall down time than with cable outages. Again, this will vary by customer. Which is more frustrating for you is a personal thing, and people have very strong opinions both ways, as I'm sure you have read.

That's it in a nutshell from a (hopefully) objective point of view.

Personally, I'm with Comcast right now. It's less expensive, the service and the HD channels are adequate and growing, and I seldom have to deal with the morons in their customer service department. DirecTV's rain fade is a relatively minor issue and happens infrequently, but when it happenes it drives me nuts. I wish I had more channels and better service from Comcast, and at some point I may switch back to DirecTV, but for now that's where I am.

...let me try and summarize.
Excellent summary. Thanks very much!

The occasional "fade" problem with DTV would drive my wife nuts, and probably me as well. If we miss a crucial part of a TV show -- which can be just a few seconds in some cases -- I'd be getting cursed at for switching to satellite. ;)

The truth is that we are happy with cable overall. As long as I don't need to talk to a CS rep, I'm good. I just wanted some additional HD channels. But who knows, maybe Comcast will roll out new channels soon.

One thing that intrigues me, though, is the difference between the DVRs. I tried searching Google, but mostly found very old info that probably doesn't apply anymore. I'll keep searching though. Again, it would be nice if I could try it out in my own house without penalty -- but I can't. To me, this is another case of DTV blowing opportunities by not allowing an exit to their contract. If I could try their DVR and liked it better than Comcast's DVR, I'd most likely keep the service. DTV wants the customer to assume all the risk. Personally I think they'd gain more business overall if they allowed people to try the service first-hand without penalty. Makes me wonder why they don't, actually.

Oh well... thanks for the help, guys. I think I'll see what Dish has to offer, since I think they allow an easier out if you're not happy.

In terms of checking out the DVR, if you buy it at a local retailer (Bestbuy or CC) and install it yourself (which isn't difficult), you can return the equipment within 30 days. You used to be able to cancel the contract with DirecTV in the first 30 days too; major hassle, but they'd let you do it. I don't know if they still do, but it may worth asking them specifically. If you're worried about rain fade, though, I'd make sure to try it in a summer (thunderstorm) month, because right now you might not get a significant enough storm to see the problem, or determine if it bothers you enough to discontinue service over it.

Baylor,
I have to agree with your previous longer post. We have Comcast at home in Wellington and it never goes out and we get a good amount of HD. I wish there were more, but it is definitely a lot more than what I get up here at school in South Carolina. We used to have DirecTV, but my mom did not like the dish on the house and such, plus you need all the recievers. But, I agree hopefully there will be more HD with comcast soon and the signal won't have to be compressed and they will upgrade the infrastructure.

Anybody else watching Lost on WPBF-HD? I kept having audio drop-outs through the last half hour of the show. Very annoying. Practically ruined it for me. Probably going to have to download the ep to hear what I missed. :(

I was having digital artifacts from the dish network mpeg4 feed, but I switched to my antenna and it was fine

TNTHD's coverage of The NBA's playoff's looks lousy, tonight.

Does anyone notice a crackling/popping type sound from their left rear speaker when Lost is on? I only get this when watching things on ABC, I also noticed it the other day when Harry Potter was airing.

Does anyone notice a crackling/popping type sound from their left rear speaker when Lost is on? I only get this when watching things on ABC, I also noticed it the other day when Harry Potter was airing.
yes! it's so annoying. at first I thought my speaker had blown, but it only happens on wpbf

also to follow up on my post a week ago, wpbf's encoder still seems to be set the same (incorrectly)

Watching Fox Saturday Baseball Yanks/Indians and it is not in HD....:(

Watching Fox Saturday Baseball Yanks/Indians and it is not in HD....:(

Yea that bites big time. Thanks WFLX. Luckily right now at least I get 99% of a strong signal from WSVN (I do get a bad signal every so often). Switched to that and they're broadcasting it in HD if that's an option for ya.

Yea that bites big time. Thanks WFLX. Luckily right now at least I get 99% of a strong signal from WSVN (I do get a bad signal every so often). Switched to that and they're broadcasting it in HD if that's an option for ya.

no way i can pull that signal :(...really surprised never had this issue with FLX,

So if I had Directv would there be a Fox-HD Feed(Channel 88 on the D* TV listings on there website) that would be showing the game in HD ?

So if I had Directv would there be a Fox-HD Feed(Channel 88 on the D* TV listings on there website) that would be showing the game in HD ?
Nope, you'd have to live out in the boonies somewhere to be eligible for those stations. If you don't have locals in your market you can get a waiver for the East or West stations.

Nope, you'd have to live out in the boonies somewhere to be eligible for those stations. If you don't have locals in your market you can get a waiver for the East or West stations.

Thanks...

Anyone know what is going on with WFLX....Nascar race is not HD today....

Chief engineer there is on vacation until next week. Just tried to get the guy left in charge, and he's unreachable... unfortunately, this is common with our Fox affiliate here.

And dialing the news desk at 29 gets you to channel 12's news department. Nice!:mad:

I guess the "switch" was flipped on...HD now

Does anyone know when RTN will be available on WTVX-DT?

Wow, it's been 10 days since a post. I guess everyone is happy.

Not happy just waiting to see what Comcast does tomorrow. Tomorrow will be 1 month since a bunch of new channels were added to Broward and Miami-Dade. Heck even Coral Gables, which was formerly Adelphia got the new channels. We'll have to wait and see but I don't have my hopes up. :mad:

I guess everyone is happy.

Not if you wanted to watch The Players Championship via Comcast. Pixelation City. :(

I also noticed NBC didn't even have in 5.1 Dolby, which is kind of weak for an HD event.

No comments from me, I have nothing to do with cable, so just keeping my mouth shut.

I'm off of lantana and Jog. What would be a good antenna I should use to receive the best signal? I currentky use a GE Futero indoor. I will say that the performance is exellent for an indoor antenna.


edit: I currently have dish network and I'm looking to move on to bigger and better things. I usually go for Local HD but now I'm caught up with wiring my current system and the dish network two tvs and one and a half box set deals. It really stinks.

At that location, any antenna would be good, unless you are shooting to get Miami, in which case you'd need a large outdoor directional. For just WestPalm, just about anything would be good, and you should be able to keep it indoors, in the attic at least. Is your current antenna giving you some issues ?

Using my Winegard GS2200 Sensar III (I'm pretty sure people in this thread recommended it to me) in my attic in Boynton gives me great results. I can pick up pretty much every channel using it from Broward and PBC. I mostly have problems with 34.1 and 25.1 (sometimes), their signals aren't strong enough I guess. I do get 39.1 really strong though (100%), and 10.1 about 99% good. I did notice that it being on the floor surrounded by the insulation did interfere with the channels. I just moved it above a vent though off the floor and it comes in great now though. Very happy with it, it'd probably work great for you.

Using my Winegard GS2200 Sensar III (I'm pretty sure people in this thread recommended it to me) in my attic in Boynton gives me great results. I can pick up pretty much every channel using it from Broward and PBC. I mostly have problems with 34.1 and 25.1 (sometimes), their signals aren't strong enough I guess. I do get 39.1 really strong though (100%), and 10.1 about 99% good. I did notice that it being on the floor surrounded by the insulation did interfere with the channels. I just moved it above a vent though off the floor and it comes in great now though. Very happy with it, it'd probably work great for you.34.1 and 25.1 transmitters are in Martin County about 50 miles North of you. It is surprising that you get good results from these channels using this type of antenna in your attic.

I got 25.1 here in Boca with a GS2200, it's a good antenna for this area.

I got 25.1 here in Boca with a GS2200, it's a good antenna for this area.

I get 25.1 perfectly with the same antenna in boca... just can't get 34.1. And suddenly, I pretty much lost my Miami stations for some reason. Have to do some troubleshooting.

Just did the math and I'm paying more for DirecTV than I'm paying for gas. Unfortunately, that will probably change in the next year. Go Prius! (Toyota)

Does anyone know when DirecTV will carry 42-1 in HD? Up in Fort Pierce it usually comes in pretty good and then after about 30 minutes, I get freezes.

Does anyone notice a crackling/popping type sound from their left rear speaker when Lost is on? I only get this when watching things on ABC, I also noticed it the other day when Harry Potter was airing.

I get it in both rear speakers. Only on ABC. Very annoying. It's been that way since at least last September. For a while they cut the signal to the rears all together. It still read 5.1 but no audio came from either rear. They reinstated it a few weeks ago and the crackles and pops persist.

I also noticed NBC didn't even have in 5.1 Dolby, which is kind of weak for an HD event.

NBC (WPTV) hasn't broadcast any 5.1 audio on the HD feed since September 2006. I've emailed them about it several times an usually get no response. Back on Feb.18 I finally got a response from their Engineering Supervisor:

"Yes, we are aware of the problem and it will be fixed soon. The replacement equipment is in house and will be configured and installed. I appreciate your patience."

It's May 19 and still nothing. I emailed him again tonight. If I get a response I'll post back.

Just did the math and I'm paying more for DirecTV than I'm paying for gas. Unfortunately, that will probably change in the next year. Go Prius! (Toyota)

Does anyone know when DirecTV will carry 42-1 in HD? Up in Fort Pierce it usually comes in pretty good and then after about 30 minutes, I get freezes.

DirecTV doesn't carry any local PBS broadcasts in HD. From what I hear, they're working on the details, and hopefully that will happen in the near future, just don't know when.

Just did the math and I'm paying more for DirecTV than I'm paying for gas. Unfortunately, that will probably change in the next year. Go Prius! (Toyota)

Does anyone know when DirecTV will carry 42-1 in HD? Up in Fort Pierce it usually comes in pretty good and then after about 30 minutes, I get freezes.

DirecTV doesn't carry any local PBS broadcasts in HD. From what I hear, they're working on the details, and hopefully that will happen in the near future, just don't know when.



They don't carry the CW in HD either which sucks. Luckily (as I stated in a previous post) I get the 39.1 station very good with my antenna. Who really does know when Directv will start carrying either of these 2 channels, though I'm guessing at the latest when the switch occurs in 2009?

They don't carry the CW in HD either which sucks. Luckily (as I stated in a previous post) I get the 39.1 station very good with my antenna. Who really does know when Directv will start carrying either of these 2 channels, though I'm guessing at the latest when the switch occurs in 2009?

I don't think that the issue is digital... it's HD, and just because there's a switch in 2009 it's not to HD, but only to digital, which I think they're carrying right now.

HD (which is what you're getting off of the antenna, has a bunch of different requirements for DirecTV such as expanded bandwith etc. Also, there's a bunch of stations around the country that want way too much money for DirecTV to carry their HD signal... so the lack of "39-1" could be any one of a number of things.

Bandwidth is coming - their 2nd new satellite in a year is now in final parking stages, and should be operational by September at the latest. Supposedly it is going to provide sufficient bandwidth to finish out their locals, and add PBS. Don't know about CW. They will also be adding the few nation HD stations they still don't carry.

Last night was the first night since I attached my antenna to my HDTV I could actually get WPEC without problems. I was surprised I could get WSFL from Miami living in Port St. Lucie.

So far today I've been able to get neither channel. Why is it so hit and miss?

Hi, all! The other day Comcast technicians hooked us up to their new Digital Voice phone service (BTW, I'm very happy with it!). While they were installing the service here, I chatted with them about Comcast's plans for the PBC/Treasure Coast former Adelphia systems. Good news!! ....

These technicians have been informed by their employer that Comcast management has decided to start "test marketing" the new Motorola STB DVR in selected areas within PBC/Treasure Coast! The technicians said they were not told any time frame for the plan or where exactly the tests will be happening.

Did they happen to mention anything about when they will roll out the 6 HD channels they have in Broward & Miami-Dade that we still don't have?

They have MAXHD, TBSHD, TLCHD, FAMHD, DISHD & SCIHD. As much as I wouldn't mind having the Motorolla STB I would much rather have more HD. ;)

Did they happen to mention anything about when they will roll out the 6 HD channels they have in Broward & Miami-Dade that we still don't have?

They have MAXHD, TBSHD, TLCHD, FAMHD, DISHD & SCIHD. As much as I wouldn't mind having the Motorolla STB I would much rather have more HD. ;)

I didn't know about the Broward-Dade additions at that time. I first learned of them moments before I wrote my last post when I read it here in messages by you all. The track record of the way the PBC-Treasure Coast systems shows that new channel additions go live on the 1st day of whatever month they're added. And last time they added HD channels to PBC-TC was at least a couple of months after they were added south. So, if they're not added here tomorrow, they'll be here in another month or so....

For as long as I have followed Adelphia/Comcast it seems that they typically add new stuff on Tuesday. I think it happened to coinside with the 1st earlier this year when they added the new HD channels but I think it was just coincidental.

For as long as I have followed Adelphia/Comcast it seems that they typically add new stuff on Tuesday. I think it happened to coinside with the 1st earlier this year when they added the new HD channels but I think it was just coincidental.
What new HD channels did they add? (I don't recall any being added in quite a while)

What new HD channels did they add? (I don't recall any being added in quite a while)

Last batch of new HD channels included History, Animal Planet, Discovery (not to be confused with Discovery HD Theater, which has different programming but was added back in the Adelphia days), Sci-Fi, USA, HGTV, and Food Network. Before that they added the CW. And before that, Nat Geo, Universal HD, A&E, and TNT. The rest were added by Adelphia before the Comcast takeover.

No new channels today, but I'll give them Monday or Tuesday. If not by then, it'll be at least another month until we're caught up with Dade-Broward.

Guys, we're still on Adelphia's old system. Until they fully switch over to Comcast like they have in Broward, I wouldn't even bother comparing what they have over there and what we get here. Not worth the time or trouble. Just hope they switch soon, if they ever do. :rolleyes:

Guys, we're still on Adelphia's old system. Until they fully switch over to Comcast like they have in Broward, I wouldn't even bother comparing what they have over there and what we get here.
Bummer.

Well, time to drag this thread back to its origins some 200 odd pages ago - local HD, through the antenna. This last month (I guess, fairly recently), I have seen my OTA signal reliability go way down on a number of channels, both in Miami and WPB. Before I go up on my roof and mess with what was once the perfect antenna point, I thought I'd query those of you not married to the local cable monopoly, and see if you have notice any OTA changes lately as well. Channel 5 and 42 in WPB have gone flaky on me, and 2, 10, and 34 in Miami, to name a few....

Last night I ran a channel scan on my PC for digital cable (QAM) channels. To my surprise, I noticed a few new ones that were in the clear (not encrypted). I believe all were SDTV (480i) signals. The channels I can remember off the top of my head are C-SPAN 2, Oxygen, and CMT. The program guide of my STB shows that these channels been moved to the 80-channel range.

I just noticed on my STB Channel 999 "On Demand", a new channel that is currently blocked. Somethings afoot. Could they be testing something equivalent to the "Channel One" found on other Comcast systems?

Also, the channels in the 80's are digitized versions of analog channels that used to be numbered in the 70's. By doing this, they've freed the bandwidth for at least two channels which could be used for additional HD channels. It looks like they've begun to make room for adding the HD channels already added to the Broward-Dade system.

So anything 80 and up is a digital channel?

Found on QAM channel 105.199: the Comcast Channel One On Demand linear video barker stream and right now it's in the clear (unencrypted). On other Comcast systems, Comcast Channel One On Demand is a single channel for all on-demand programming, including "thousands of HD choices", and cool things like customer-created content ala YouTube and on-demand video personal ads - all organized in an interactive video magazine navigation menu. This could be what's currently being tested on channel 999.

So anything 80 and up is a digital channel?

Yes, except for the channels in the 90's.

Yeah didn't except the channels in the 90s to be digital, frankly aren't the channels in the 80s something new? If I recall it jumped from the 70s straight to the few in the 90s then into the 100s.

Also if we are getting Comcast 1, maybe we will finally get switched over to the national lineup and get the channels Broward and Miami-Dade has.

Yeah didn't except the channels in the 90s to be digital, frankly aren't the channels in the 80s something new? If I recall it jumped from the 70s straight to the few in the 90s then into the 100s.

Also if we are getting Comcast 1, maybe we will finally get switched over to the national lineup and get the channels Broward and Miami-Dade has.

Exactly. My point I was trying to make was that by moving channels that were previously analog channels to digital ones, Comcast may be clearing up bandwidth for the new HD channels.

The fact that Comcast claims "thousands of HD choices" on Channel One further makes this subject very relative to HD programming and on-topic.

Peter is our system in Palm Beach County that much different than what they have in Miami-Dade and Broward? If I recall you had some insight regarding this.

Peter is our system in Palm Beach County that much different than what they have in Miami-Dade and Broward? If I recall you had some insight regarding this.

Well, over the years Adelphia purchased or traded systems up and down the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County until they owned every system in these territories. They then merged the systems into one mega system. Meanwhile, Comcast did the same for Broward, Dade, and Monroe. Adelphia then filed for bankruptcy due to a scandal with its previous owner and the courts appointed a new management team to run the company. The courts ordered the new management to spend 100% of any new profits to rebuild the systems with fiber optics and new digital 2-way set top boxes. Once that was completed, the courts ordered the company to auction itself off.

Comcast and Time-Warner won the bidding, splitting Adelphia between the two according to territories contiguous to systems owned by the two companies at that time. Of course, S. Florida went to Comcast because the Broward-Dade system is contiguous. But merging these systems isn't so easy because the set-top boxes and the server equipment aren't compatible. This would mean that Comcast would have to replace all that Adelphia equipment - equipment that Adelphia had newly ordered and installed at great expense because of the court order. Complicating matters, Adelphia had purchased this equipment on credit, debt that now Comcast has to pay.

So then does that mean we are not likely to ever be on their "main" system? Will we ever see the switched video that is in the early stages of testing in certain areas? Can more bandwidth be added to our system?

So then does that mean we are not likely to ever be on their "main" system? Will we ever see the switched video that is in the early stages of testing in certain areas? Can more bandwidth be added to our system?

The short answer is eventually. As the current "new" equipment will eventually become obsolete, next generation equipment purchases for the entire nation will most-certainly include us (one supplier and model for everyone). In the time being, any work-arounds they can come up with to replicate as many services as possible between the systems will be put into play where ever possible that can be implemented reasonably. Also, they will begin a limited test in small sample territories in PBC-TC of system unification to see if there is any significant increase in cash generated to justify the expense of unification.

With "eventually" being the key word do you have any plans of switching to DirecTV? I have thought about it but because of the package (cable/internet) deal I have and part of the total being supplemented by my HOA I have always stayed with Comcast.

With "eventually" being the key word do you have any plans of switching to DirecTV? I have thought about it but because of the package (cable/internet) deal I have and part of the total being supplemented by my HOA I have always stayed with Comcast.

No because most of my favorite channels are already HD and it looks like more HD channels and Channel One will be here soon (no later than 2 months is my guestimation). Also, DirectTV doesn't have OnDemand, phone service, and broadband internet services, which I subscribe to with Comcast with a level-of-service and bundled pricing that I am very happy with.

Oh, also Comcast will soon offer cell phone service! Comcast and Time-Warner are acquiring majority-ownership of Sprint-Nextel!

One thing of note regarding Comcast's internet phone service is that ATT Callvantage is actually cheaper. Comcast offers $29.99 per month for the 1st year but ATT is $29.99 per month period. Is it cheaper with the bundle?

One thing of note regarding Comcast's internet phone service is that ATT Callvantage is actually cheaper. Comcast offers $29.99 per month for the 1st year but ATT is $29.99 per month period. Is it cheaper with the bundle?

They have TripplePlay- Digital Cable, Broadband Internet, phone service with unlimited local and long distance and all the features included for $99/month!

Does the $99/month include 2 HD DVRs and the other extra charges for like the extra HD Tier?

Does the $99/month include 2 HD DVRs and the other extra charges for like the extra HD Tier?

It's $5/month per box rental fee and $5/month for the telephone adapter (which doubles as a cable modem and battery back-up system). The HD Tier was something Adelphia invented and Comcast Digital Cable includes these channels.

Well when Windows Media Center downloaded my channel lineup today on my computer it shows 1 - Channel 1 OnDemand but it doesn't show up when actually watching it yet, so like you said, something is coming and probably soon. ;)

Sorry this is Comcast question, but I think due to the regionalization of Comcast & it's channel offering, going to a National Comcast thread would be useless....

Anyone know what happened to channels 74 - 79, I tried to watch TUF at 10:00 last night on Spike(75) and got flashing ??? (no channel), then i noticed there were a few more missing ?

Comcast has moved some channels around. A couple went digital and some when down to the 20-30 range. Any one still have analog HBO? They left those channels open so I'm wondering if parts of the system still have it. Been gone for year here.

I think they are making room for digital similcast since the number of frequencies freed up makes room for all the analogs to be digital. Maybe even a few more HD channels.

Well, time to drag this thread back to its origins some 200 odd pages ago - local HD, through the antenna. This last month (I guess, fairly recently), I have seen my OTA signal reliability go way down on a number of channels, both in Miami and WPB. Before I go up on my roof and mess with what was once the perfect antenna point, I thought I'd query those of you not married to the local cable monopoly, and see if you have notice any OTA changes lately as well. Channel 5 and 42 in WPB have gone flaky on me, and 2, 10, and 34 in Miami, to name a few....

JEff, I've seen the same thing (and I think we live pretty close to each other). I have the Winegard 2200 and it used to pick up ALL the WPB and Miami stations (with the exception of channel 34 up north on my D* Hr20-700).

Suddenly I have trouble with channels 4, 7, 10 and am getting pixelation more and more on almost all the OTAs.

SO, there's something in either the air, or the broadcast. You confirmed that it wasn't my aiming of the antenna.

Thanks Marty. I'm heading up to my roof anyway. My sat provider is doing a really good job of the WPB locals, so I think I will tweak the antenna to maximize Miami, and let WPB fall where it may. That means I will likely lose 25-1, but I get that via sat anyway.

Thanks Marty. I'm heading up to my roof anyway. My sat provider is doing a really good job of the WPB locals, so I think I will tweak the antenna to maximize Miami, and let WPB fall where it may. That means I will likely lose 25-1, but I get that via sat anyway.

WAnna come over and tweak mine? I need someone else in the house who knows what they're looking at to tweak it properly. I really think that some of my problems are in the HR tuner, since my HD TiVo seems to get just about everything.

I don't really know what I am doing either, I just jump my antenna 10 compass degrees at a time and check signal levels on the sat box until it looks like I have both maximized signal and minimized multi-path (multi-path is usually evidenced by a strong signal that fluctuates up and down a lot). It's just a lot of ladder climbing.

As for the tuners, I presume you speak about the HR20's. These are 5th generaton tuners, they are pretty good, and are a newer generation than the Tivo tuners, I believe. Still, they don't beat the 6th generation tuners I have internally in two of my LCD's - those handle fringe and multi-path much better. I also have a 2nd generation tuner (stand-alone box) - that thing is terrible, a real testament to how far digital TV tuners have come in a few short years.

Moderators note:

This topic is for discussion of all locally related HDTV issues for the West Palm Beach, FL area, including OTA, Cable, and DBS sources. National issues for the cable and DBS providers should be directed to the main HDTV Programming Forum. For local Cable and DBS provider comparison purposes, discussion of HD lineups is minimally allowed.

That's some pretty good moderating - a calm note on what the topic range actually is, and a quiet deletion of the over-emotional keyboard pounding, and we are back in business.

Marty - I forgot to mention - when I find a 10 degree range that is better than others, I then tweak inside that 10 degrees. It's all a matter of compromise, especially if you are like me trying to get both markets.

Well, time to drag this thread back to its origins some 200 odd pages ago - local HD, through the antenna. This last month (I guess, fairly recently), I have seen my OTA signal reliability go way down on a number of channels, both in Miami and WPB. Before I go up on my roof and mess with what was once the perfect antenna point, I thought I'd query those of you not married to the local cable monopoly, and see if you have notice any OTA changes lately as well. Channel 5 and 42 in WPB have gone flaky on me, and 2, 10, and 34 in Miami, to name a few....

Jeff - Assuming you are still on D* and still using the Stealthtenna, are you on the HR20 or HR21??

I have an HR20 and HR21 (with the AM21). I have noticed a big time degradation of OTA signal on my HR20 (HR20-100) after the last update; almost to the point where I can't watch any OTA signal. My HR21 with the AM21 is playing OTA perfectly....

Yeah, still going with the Stealthtenna on an HR20 and a couple H20's. Interesting observation about the reception after the firmware, I'll check against my TV's built-in tuner.

Jeff - Assuming you are still on D* and still using the Stealthtenna, are you on the HR20 or HR21??

I have an HR20 and HR21 (with the AM21). I have noticed a big time degradation of OTA signal on my HR20 (HR20-100) after the last update; almost to the point where I can't watch any OTA signal. My HR21 with the AM21 is playing OTA perfectly....

Seeing the same degradation on my HR20... had to disconnect the AM21 from the HR21-100 because of some booting problems, but I'll reconnect and let you know waht happens. I get much better reception on my TV than I do on the HR's, tho.

Oddly enough, last night I had no problems with any of my tuners via OTA.

Channel 34.4 was on the the air last night. Don't believe they are carried by cable.

As I recall, this station will be part of an old programs network that will commence operations in mid July.

What kind of audio are most of you seeing for sporting events on NBC? My receiver typically shows Dolby 2.0, while some others on the national topics say they get 5.1. What are you guys seeing?

What kind of audio are most of you seeing for sporting events on NBC? My receiver typically shows Dolby 2.0, while some others on the national topics say they get 5.1. What are you guys seeing?

ON Channel 5 I get DD 2.0. I think I get DD 5.1 from Channel 6 in Miami via OTA.

Is the WPB NBC station not setup for Dolby 5.1? Could that be possible?

they tried once, it didn't work. they always manage to get bad equipment

Is anyone else watching the NBA finals game tonight? What in the hell is going on with the audio? I am watching it on Comcast ABC HD in West Palm.

Is anyone else watching the NBA finals game tonight? What in the hell is going on with the audio? I am watching it on Comcast ABC HD in West Palm.

i just noticed it's awful...i think they just changed something, mine got a lot quieter

For those of you that have DirecTV do you need to have multiple dishes for their HD service? Also how do the locals work?

For those of you that have DirecTV do you need to have multiple dishes for their HD service? Also how do the locals work?

one dish: slimline 5-LNB....locals NBC(5), FOX(29), ABC(25), CBS(12)