For cable subscribers, this going to make stand-alone DVD recorders a lot harder to use:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/165545/how_the_unknown_digital_tv_transition_could_screw_you.html

Yes, many consumers have been (sometimes angrily) demanding more HD channels, and faster HSI, that now the legacy cable companies are beginning to put those consumer demands over the desires of other consumers to continue to use their older technology. In that way, they are beginning to operate more and more like their numerous competitors (i.e., Dish Network, RCN, DirecTV, FiOS, U-Verse, etc.) and moving cable networks from the wasteful analog service (480i over 6 MHz) to the more efficient digital service (480i over approx. 0.8 MHz).

As you can imagine: When the battle is, as in this case, between customers who pay more and customers who pay less, eventually, the customers who pay more, win.

This will hit me in October, when the local Comcast Head end goes digital. I will no longer be able to record my four series recordings, and TCM movies on my DVDR. I already have a Comcast two-tuner DVR, but times that I want to record overlap. They are offering a free digital converter, but it is not programmable.

The silver lining with Comcast though, is that in areas that they have introduced these DTA boxes, all channels at the digital starter level and below, are now sent "ClearQAM" So any DVD recorder, HTPC, or HDTV with a QAM tuner will be able to see the familiar "cable" channels from 30ish-99.

The big deal and what that article talks about certainly will apply if Comcast gets a waiver for the DTA boxes and turns on privacy mode. But for now and in the short term, digital recording/viewing devices with a QAM tuner get all of those cable channels. In the interim, limited basic subs even get those channels without paying for them....

However, it is only necessary for that to be the case with ADS channels. They wouldn't have to unencrypt the HD versions of those channels. For anyone in an area that has introduced DTAs, where previously the ADS channels were encrypted, now have them unencrypted: Did they also remove the encryption on the HD versions? or did they leave that encrypting intact?

The silver lining with Comcast though, is that in areas that they have introduced these DTA boxes, all channels at the digital starter level and below, are now sent "ClearQAM" So any DVD recorder, HTPC, or HDTV with a QAM tuner will be able to see the familiar "cable" channels from 30ish-99.

This is the missing piece of the puzzle that's caused me not to set up and activate the two DTA boxes we have. I was fearful that with activation of DTAs that Comcast would go ahead and scramble or eliminate the clear QAM sub-channels we receive in the 73-118 range. One of their techs advised me that those channels will be scrambled, but he said nothing about the channels in the 32-72 range being "clear QAM," just that we'll need their equipment to receive digital signals.

One of the bad things that I'm hearing is that none of these basic DTA boxes have a "reminder" feature like the fuller-featured, older boxes do. Which means they're really doing their best to railroad you into renting and using their DVR (I mention this because this is the DVD Recorders forum, and I know a lot of people here use their own, standalone DVR's to record from cable).

This is the missing piece of the puzzle that's caused me not to set up and activate the two DTA boxes we have. I was fearful that with activation of DTAs that Comcast would go ahead and scramble or eliminate the clear QAM sub-channels we receive in the 73-118 range. One of their techs advised me that those channels will be scrambled, but he said nothing about the channels in the 32-72 range being "clear QAM," just that we'll need their equipment to receive digital signals.
I'm doing the same. I finally got the three lousy boxes they give you and I'm totally unimpressed. Analog A/V through rca's and RF only to the better one and RF only with the DTA's.
Then you have to hook up all three supposedly and tell them the serials so they can "activate" the boxes which probably means if you have any non standard cable wires running to hook up your extra TV's it might not work and they'll want to come out and charge extra to wire up outlets then charge a extra monthly fee for them:mad:
This whole digital transition mainly was so the government could sell off a large chunk of our bandwidth and make truckloads of money, so now the cable Co's, which are pushing to buy much of this bandwidth, can make extra monthly fees from forced upgrades, and at the least get folks to buy on demand movies they didn't have access to before .

The only semi-good news in that article is for Cox and Time Warner customers. Cox is committed to at least 3 more years of analog service and TW plans to stick with switched digital to free up bandwidth (except for certain parts of LA and NYC). Of course, I don't trust them to stick to their word either.

I'm already starting to wonder whether I should sell one of my Magnavox 2160's. I've invested $500 on two units which could be severely crippled in three years or less. The sad part is I'd spend at least that much for three years of DVR service from the cable company and have nothing to show for it in the end.