Of course, this will all change when the analog channels go dark in a year and a half. I doubt that any local PBS stations will simply carry the national feed then.

Hopefully, there will be a transition to 16x9 for all programming, like Austin City Limits is now. A repeat Austin City Limits show will indeed be on 8-01 tonight, direct from the National PBS feed as they are doing in the evenings.

Roy

Given the disappointing PBS service provided by RMPBS locally, does anyone have experience with PBS broadcasts over the Direct to Home (DTH) satellite services (DTV or Dish) or even C/Ku-band feeds? Do the DTH services carry the national feed? If so, is it in "true" HD? Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions.

Re: plasmas that don't buzz
I've had a Panasonic Commercial (TH-50PHD8UK) for two years that is inaudible from a foot away. It's rated to 10,000 ft. My house sits at 6737ft acc'd to Google Earth.

Re: PBS National Feed on DTH Satellite Service?

To get PBS via Sat, I think you have to qualify to receive HD locals and I believe COS does not qualify. Of course you could always 'move' ;)

Re: PBS National Feed on DTH Satellite Service?

To get PBS via Sat, I think you have to qualify to receive HD locals and I believe COS does not qualify. Of course you could always 'move' ;)

Rmassey - Yeah, unfortunately I think you are right. RMPBS local programming can be really bad sometimes. And, I don't think its all related tofunds available for program purchases. Other stations in smaller markets have better programming from what I've seen in my travels around the US. I'd like to see an independent line by line audit and review of their income/spending. The constant begging ... eek! Still I wonder, can you get equipment to receive a C/Ku-Band national satellite feed?

Still I wonder, can you get equipment to receive a C/Ku-Band national satellite feed?
Equipment is available to recieve unencripted SD and HD digital satellite signals if they are in the most common digital format known as mpeg2 DVB, 4PSK 4:2:0 modulation. I do recieve HD programming in this manner. Changes in these settings can make a particular signal unavailable to home C-band dish owners.

I don't mean to be cryptic but, as a C-band dish owner and hobbyist, I follow my committment to not post specific feed availability on an open forum such as this.

If you would like more information about the hobby, send me a Private Message. :)

Roy

Got Comcast VoIP installed Friday (so far, so good), and while the tech was there, I quizzed him on various topics, including ADS (analog-digital simulcasting) and to my suprise, he said it was active.

I told him I hadn't notice any quality change for channels 0-99, so he checked my STBs, made a call and told me I was all set. Apparently, there wasn't a mass conversion and right now, each box needs to be individually modified remotely.

So anyway, I'm all digital now and knocked my voice/data/video monthly fees down quite a bit for the next 12 months.

The Broncos game on Saturday night sure was hard to watch in more ways than one. The picture quality was atrocious. I noticed during the game that it was advertised as being broadcast in HD but obvioulsy KKTV did not have the capability of sending us the HD feed. On Sunday I was flipping through some channels and caught a repeat showing of the game on the NFL network. It was in HD with the same announcers as we had Saturday night. Does anybody know if it is a hardware limitation with KKTV on not sending the HD feed from channel 4 in Denver? I know it is only pre-season and we should have most of the regular season in HD but every little bit helps.

The Broncos game on Saturday night sure was hard to watch in more ways than one.....Does anybody know if it is a hardware limitation with KKTV on not sending the HD feed from channel 4 in Denver?
My guess would be that KCNC wasn't sharing it's HD broadcast of the game. Also, KCNC is CBS O & O, and KKTV is independent. I'll bet that KREX in Grand Junction had the same crummy SD feed.
....jc

That wasn't SD, it was SSD.

"Sub Standard Digital"

:)

Do you all see an audio sync problem on NBC 5-1? Most every time when I see a music group on Leno, the drums are noticeably off between the video and audio, same with lead singers, etc. I think it's all the time but it's less obvious in sitcoms or dramas. I doubt it is my HD-TiVo because it's mainly this channel. Anyone else see this?

TallGuy,
Wish I could reply to your question directly but I don't have HDTV yet :-(. However, I do have a question related to Cable/DTH advertising vs the reality of OTA I've seen lately. Comcast has been stating in their ads lately the usual "You get the advantage of receiving local channels, Satellite can't offer that" blather. It made me wonder though, Channel 9 on the local cable is the "weather/traffic channel" with information coming from KOAA. I wonder is that channel broadcast OTA as one of the secondary digital channels (like 5.2)? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Do you all see an audio sync problem on NBC 5-1? Most every time when I see a music group on Leno, the drums are noticeably off between the video and audio, same with lead singers, etc. I think it's all the time but it's less obvious in sitcoms or dramas. I doubt it is my HD-TiVo because it's mainly this channel. Anyone else see this?

I will check.

It made me wonder though, Channel 9 on the local cable is the "weather/traffic channel" with information coming from KOAA. I wonder is that channel broadcast OTA as one of the secondary digital channels (like 5.2)?
No, KOAA does not multicast, at least not yet.

Roy

No, KOAA does not multicast, at least not yet.

Thankfully! Although today they could have put the Jerry Lewis telethon on 5-1 using say 20% of the bandwidth, for SD, and then put the golf tournament on 5-2 in HD using 80% of the bandwidth -- that would have been brilliant...

I had to watch PGA in crappy looking SD on CW57. What's wrong with NBC?

They said available in HD. Is there a separate NBC sports feed in HD available for cable companies to consume? Maybe it was in HD on Direct TV.

I had to watch PGA in crappy looking SD on CW57. What's wrong with NBC?

They said available in HD. Is there a separate NBC sports feed in HD available for cable companies to consume? Maybe it was in HD on Direct TV.

Hmm...wonder if it was on Universal HD.

I'm new to this and need a little help. I've got an 1080 HD TV and just got an antennae to receive local over the air HD broadcasts, when I did the search for local HD it didn't find the KKTV HD channel. I looked in the middle of the day on Monday is it just timing? I want to be able to watch the Broncos in HD on Sunday. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

I turned on my TV this morning and noticed the Moxi menus looked a little different. Sure enough, the box has been upgraded to version 4.1.94LR-P.160450. It doesn't look like the external disk drive feature has been enabled though. :(

I hope Comcast just wants to let the upgrade soak for a few days before turning that feature on.

I'm new to this and need a little help. I've got an 1080 HD TV and just got an antennae to receive local over the air HD broadcasts, when I did the search for local HD it didn't find the KKTV HD channel. I looked in the middle of the day on Monday is it just timing? I want to be able to watch the Broncos in HD on Sunday. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks


What kind of antenna did you buy? UHF?

KKTV is VHF channel 10

You need an antenna that picks-up VHF & UHF

You have THREE DAYS before the game !!!!!!

:)

I had to watch PGA in crappy looking SD on CW57. What's wrong with NBC?

They said available in HD. Is there a separate NBC sports feed in HD available for cable companies to consume? Maybe it was in HD on Direct TV.

Hmm...wonder if it was on Universal HD.

I don't think it was on Universal HD - I think KOAA decided to pre-empt NBC-HD and show the telethon, and gave the feed to channel 57. 57 had the worst looking SD I've ever seen. We got hosed, but I think it was only in our little burg.

I turned on my TV this morning and noticed the Moxi menus looked a little different. Sure enough, the box has been upgraded to version 4.1.94LR-P.160450. It doesn't look like the external disk drive feature has been enabled though. :(

I hope Comcast just wants to let the upgrade soak for a few days before turning that feature on.

Oh man...I gave up my MOXI after hearing that Comcast wouldn't push the 4.1 upgrade! Is the GUI faster?

Have been out of the Comcast game for about six months now. Just had Extended Basic (without HD) and ran the coax right into my Sony 42" HDTV. Picked up HD channels with the integrated tuner and was wondering if this is still a doable option? Before I had no trouble picking up Fox, ABC, Discovery and ESPN in HD. Anybody able to pick up CBS and NBC now? Any others?

Oh man...I gave up my MOXI after hearing that Comcast wouldn't push the 4.1 upgrade! Is the GUI faster?
Noticeably... :)

I hope Comcast just wants to let the upgrade soak for a few days before turning that feature on.

I have some bad news I must share. I am attending CEDIA up in Denver this weekend and Diego has a booth showing off the retail version of the Moxi that will be released before the end of the year. I asked them about the 4.1 update in Colorado Springs, and they did confirm that they were rolling it out this week over 4 days or so. That's the good news. The bad news is that they said that Comcast will NOT be enabling the external hard drive support in Colorado Springs. The reason is Comcast doesn't want to drive demand for the Moxi since they are phasing it out in favor of the Motorola boxes. I think he said that the Motorola boxes that Comcast gives out can't support external hard drives, so they don't want everyone asking for a Moxi. Damn shame, I must say.

Guy

Have been out of the Comcast game for about six months now. Just had Extended Basic (without HD) and ran the coax right into my Sony 42" HDTV. Picked up HD channels with the integrated tuner and was wondering if this is still a doable option? Before I had no trouble picking up Fox, ABC, Discovery and ESPN in HD. Anybody able to pick up CBS and NBC now? Any others?

You should be able to pick up ABC, PBS, CBS, NBC and FOX, but I think they are encrypting all other HD channels. The last scan I saw was here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11153163#post11153163)

I have some bad news I must share. I am attending CEDIA up in Denver this weekend and Diego has a booth showing off the retail version of the Moxi that will be released before the end of the year. I asked them about the 4.1 update in Colorado Springs, and they did confirm that they were rolling it out this week over 4 days or so. That's the good news. The bad news is that they said that Comcast will NOT be enabling the external hard drive support in Colorado Springs. The reason is Comcast doesn't want to drive demand for the Moxi since they are phasing it out in favor of the Motorola boxes. I think he said that the Motorola boxes that Comcast gives out can't support external hard drives, so they don't want everyone asking for a Moxi. Damn shame, I must say.

Guy

How's the new MOXI look? Any pricing info?

Since football has started, for real, I've been enjoying the games. For some weird reason I've got 2 sets going at once :eek:. One using OTA digital and one using the cable feed here in WP. On KOAA & KKTV everything is cool. KXRM however, has about a 2 second delay. It's like having a replay on every play!

Who's the Dog? Well it's the digital feed from KXRM. The analog feed from the cable company is about 2 seconds earlier. Talk about weird.
....jc

Who's the Dog? Well it's the digital feed from KXRM. The analog feed from the cable company is about 2 seconds earlier.
What is KXRM doing to introduce this delay? I switched to their analog broadcast, and it's in sync with the cable feed up here. Since this is a football game(Chicago vs San Diego) it's a live broadcast.

What are they doing with their digital feed?
....jc

Both my SD and HD E* PVR Guides are dysfunctional for all local channels.

Anyone else?

Do you pay for locals thru dish? if not there will not be guide info from E*

Well, I got the new Moxi software upgrade (whether I wanted it or not) and I have to say I am underwhelmed.

Is it faster? Yeah, quite a bit.

But it just looks and feels...cheap. The fonts are ugly, and the way the channel info pops up is just (to me) annoying. And the sounds are more clunky.

Oh, and there is a bug. My VOD is missing, and the carousel is broken. When it gets to where VOD should be, it just hangs there. It comes back to life, shortly. But it is very upset.

Overall, without the external hard-drive support, who cares?

Well, I got the new Moxi software upgrade (whether I wanted it or not) and I have to say I am underwhelmed.
This is exactly why some of us are willing to pay $400-$600 for an S3 Tivo.

it's expensive as he!!, but worth it IMO.

How's the new MOXI look? Any pricing info?

The new retail Moxi software looked very similar to the current Moxi's, with just a few more features. They said they were not ready to release pricing yet. They'll release it closer to their December release. I got the impression they are waiting to see how the competition prices things before announcing it. I thought the unit itself was kind of big and ugly, but the interface and features were nice. It uses a multi stream cable card.

Guy

There was a post above indicating that he got Comcast to turn on digital/analog simulcast for channels 0-99. That way your analog TVs can still pick up the analog signals and your digital TVs or cable boxes pick up the better quality digital version of the channels.

Anyway, does anyone know how to tell if we are getting simulcast?

Thanks,
Guy

There was a post above indicating that he got Comcast to turn on digital/analog simulcast for channels 0-99. That way your analog TVs can still pick up the analog signals and your digital TVs or cable boxes pick up the better quality digital version of the channels.

Anyway, does anyone know how to tell if we are getting simulcast?

Thanks,
Guy

If you have a Mot 64xx, you can try this (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Configuration#How_To_Check_if_Analog-Digital_Simulcasting_.28ADS.29_is_Enabled).

The new retail Moxi software looked very similar to the current Moxi's, with just a few more features. They said they were not ready to release pricing yet. They'll release it closer to their December release. I got the impression they are waiting to see how the competition prices things before announcing it. I thought the unit itself was kind of big and ugly, but the interface and features were nice. It uses a multi stream cable card.

Guy

Yeah, I'm thinking it will be very similar to the TiVO HD in pricing and features. Just hoping they have an SDV solution out of the box.

Has anybody got Comcast analog-digital simulcasting (ADS) enabled on their Motorala DVR? I talked to Comcast today and they said ADS was still in the process of being deployed so they couldn't enable it yet.

Finally upgrading my 921DVR for a VIP722. Anyone else have one yet? Impressions?

I watched the Bronco’s “suckout” :p today on 11-1 OTA on my D* H20 and had bursts of pixelation about every minute or so. Is it my equipment or CBS?
Did I mention, I’m not a Bronco fan?:)

Sorry, Not Bronco Fan, no help with your question.























:D J/K
Same thing here.

I had the same issue and I'm using OTA equipment.

I also had the issue with OTA equipment. I think it was because KKTV was simulcasting 11-1, 11-2 (ooooolllld movie), and 11-3 (sucky weather station). Too many bits being used by 11-2 and 11-3 and their encoder couldn't keep up.

no issues on comcast, in fact, cbs looked the best of all games aired yesterday.

btw - watching on 105" hd rear projection system...

Fox and NBC were definitely better than CBS OTA yesterday.

I had the same problem with KKTV OTA during the Broncos games. One problem I saw this weekend on KRDO, KKTV and KXRM was after a local commercial break, when they went back to the network feed, it wasn't in HD. This has to be a local problem. Do those stations run or pass video through a server? If so, can't they add a secondary event that would automatically switch on the HD feed when they come back from a local commercial? Saturday, I noticed it during MLB on KXRM and during the USC/Neb. game on KRDO. I didn't notice this problem on KKTV this wknd, but have noticed it in the past.

There was a weather delay and those of you with satellite know what heavy cloud cover will do. It's hard to tell after the fact and no notes were left for me so I'm trying to see if I can find anything out.
On the switching from HD to SD local that will be addressed at a later date. Upgrades are not done. It takes a lot of time to get the gear and to put it in. Everyone is in the same boat. Remember we are still in the early days of HD and some things are still being work out in the industry. You will see more changes and more HD in the next few years.

So I saw an 8.2 simulcast channel. Why would PBS want to simulcast?

I had the same issue with KKTV OTA. I also noticed that my signal strength all of a sudden dropped on Sunday. Saturday while watching college footbal my OTA signal was in the 90's. Before the Bronco game I could not get a strong signal. It was showing in the 60's. After reajusting my OTA ant. I was able to get my signal to be in the 70's. but lots of pixeling. Maybe something was wrong with their equipment? My ant. was not moved from Saturday night to Sunday morning so I know it was not mine equipment.

So I saw an 8.2 simulcast channel. Why would PBS want to simulcast?

It is a national Spanish language PBS channel.

Roy

Interesting that the Comcast feed didn't have the issues that the OTA feed had.

KKTVBob - is Comcast now getting a direct HD feed from KKTV instead of receiving it OTA? If so, does Comcast get a higher bandwidth feed than the 14-15 Mbps that you give the 11-1 OTA subchannel?

OTA for now

Lately I have been getting low signal strength from KXRM - down in the 70% range. I get all of the other locals above 90% and KXRM used to be up there as well. The signal fluctuates to low enough levels that I get noticeable dropouts. Is anyone else seeing this and/or does anyone know the reason for it?

Lately I have been getting low signal strength from KXRM - down in the 70% range. I get all of the other locals above 90% and KXRM used to be up there as well. The signal fluctuates to low enough levels that I get noticeable dropouts. Is anyone else seeing this and/or does anyone know the reason for it?

I have noticed the same issue. I'm using an E* VIP 622. I also had video breakup during the Bronco game on Sunday. It was not a case of bit starving or multicasting issue.

I notice it on KXRM as well as KKTV..both in the low 70's, sometimes upper 60's.

KOAA and KRDO are in the mid-90's.

I'm using a VIP 622

I have noticed the same issue. I'm using an E* VIP 622. I also had video breakup during the Bronco game on Sunday. It was not a case of bit starving or multicasting issue.
I tried contacting them at the e-mail address on their web site (feedback@kxrm.com), but got an "unknown mailbox" reply. Too bad we don't have "KXRMJoe" as a counterpart to kktvbob.

Not that this is new news, but when the Rockies play on UPN my20 out of Denver, there isnt coverage here in the Springs, at least none that I can find. For some reason, I recall that back in the days of Adelphia, we had ch 32 which was called Adelphia Sports Network. This channel would essentially cover Rockies and Avs games when the game was only local in Denver, generally on this very UPN network.

Does anyone know if this still exists or has another way to get my20. And is there anyone at Comcast to directly contact about this.

Any other details would be greatly appreciated...

KKTV-DT 11-1 a.k.a. Pixel City, Bronco game today worse than last week, many breakups (OTA) :(. Even the commercials were bad:eek:. Must be the multicasting, but they won’t quit it so I guess we have to put up with it. How was the feed on Comcast? It is a shame that the FCC allowed multicasting in the form of a "Bone" thrown to the local broadcasters.

Comcast had the same pixel city for that horrible Broncos game...

What is the deal KKTVBob? :confused:

Not that this is new news, but when the Rockies play on UPN my20 out of Denver, there isnt coverage here in the Springs, at least none that I can find. For some reason, I recall that back in the days of Adelphia, we had ch 32 which was called Adelphia Sports Network. This channel would essentially cover Rockies and Avs games when the game was only local in Denver, generally on this very UPN network.

Does anyone know if this still exists or has another way to get my20. And is there anyone at Comcast to directly contact about this.

Any other details would be greatly appreciated...
It's been a while since I had Adelphia cable, but they did pick up the games that were on the Denver local station KWGN. I don't know if Comcast is now but I thought they were - seems like the Gazette might show a channel number for it.

Along these lines however, I believe DirecTV and Dish customers outside of the Denver market are hosed for these games - no possible way to get them from DirecTV as a Colorado Springs market person, and you get blacked out by MLB even if you wanted to pay extra for Extra Innings or the online package. The Rockies and MLB and my20 don't notice or don't care - you're supposed to live in the Denver DMA or have cable outside of Denver...

KKTV-DT 11-1 a.k.a. Pixel City, Bronco game today worse than last week, many breakups (OTA) :(. Even the commercials were bad:eek:. Must be the multicasting, but they won’t quit it so I guess we have to put up with it. How was the feed on Comcast? It is a shame that the FCC allowed multicasting in the form of a "Bone" thrown to the local broadcasters.

Multicasting is ridiculous and if this trend continues, all of us who have spent several thousand dollars on our home theaters will watch less network HDTV (which is becoming EDTV) and more HD DVD or Blu-Ray, which actually has enough bandwidth to blow us away like HDTV used to.

KKTVBob, should we send a petition to the President and GM of KKTV to try to explain that trying to get a few extra viewers on 11-2 is actually annoying your main viewers and pushing many of us away from 11-1? (OK, we're stuck for the Broncos games, but we don't have to watch CBS primetime every night since there are other alternatives.)

The irony is that in many markets across the country, CBS O&O stations don't multicast because CBS nationally doesn't permit it, and CBS is the best picture and bandwidth in the market. And often NBC multicasts their weather station or whatever and is notorious for having the worst HD in the market. Here in Colorado Springs, our CBS and NBC are the opposite. Last time I checked, KOAA was full-bandwidth on 5-1.

I'm having a hard time believing that the video breakup on KKTV is caused by multicasting. Many times the issue occurred when there was no motion in the picture. Pixelation and bit starving occur with multicasting during fast action scenes and close ups with motion. I think that this is an issue with how the signal is broadcast from the station. I am no expert and hope that KKTVBob will enlighten us. We have unfortunately had the multicasting on KKTV for awhile and I don't recall seeing this problem until recently. Please address it KKTVBob. I am viewing KKTV OTA via Dish VIP622 with a signal strength of 95

RJO, you may be right. Multicasting is not the only cause, poor MPEG2 implementation certainly contributes. Many of the breakups were at scene changes, very typical of MPEG glitches. Trying to cram too much into a 6mhz. band and the MPEG “hitting the rails” are likely causing the problem.
I had a signal strength of a constant 90 the times I checked during the game, there could have been short drops that the STB meter couldn’t pickup. In any case, I will avoid KKTV as much as possible, for now.

I watched “The War” on KTSC 8-1 yesterday (great program) and they also had a few bursts of pixelation. Sadly, they are now multicasting some Spanish language crap on 8-2. Their HD used to be great.

Sorry about that but it's not the multi casting. It's the way it's coming in from CBS. Both of our feeds were that way. Denver had the same thing. The problem maybe the sat. feed from the game and that is out of our hands. We can only feed what we get.

I called CBS New York and that is were the problem is at. They are working on the problem. They said that they hope to get it fixed by Sunday. I hope they do also.

Sorry about that but it's not the multi casting. It's the way it's coming in from CBS. Both of our feeds were that way. Denver had the same thing. The problem maybe the sat. feed from the game and that is out of our hands. We can only feed what we get.

Hmm, that's interesting that you say that because I watched the game on the Sunday Ticket Channel on DirecTV and did not notice one problem! Now, I was flipping back and forth between the Bronco game and the Radier game, but they were both CBS games and I didn't see any problems.

With all the problems you guys are seeing on NFL games on 11-1 , I guess I will continue to watch eveything on the Sunday Ticket Channels!!

Rob

It's not the up link, It was in New York when they feed to the stations. They have new equipment that is not working correctly.

Haven't seen this posted, so figured I'd share. Just a mashup of some more Comcast stuff. The articles mention that Comcast will soon offer 28 total HD stations. I think we get 19 here now. It'll be interesting to see what we have in the next few months.

Enjoy! (this is the link, but it is SLOW...www.tvpredictions.com)

Washington, D.C. (September 24, 2007) -- Comcast today confirmed that it's adding CNN HD and USA Network HD to its high-def lineup next month.

TVPredictions.com reported yesterday that the cable operator last week posted a legal notice in the Houston Chronicle's classified section saying it will add several high-def channels in Houston on October 23, 2007, including CNN HD and USA Network HD.

Chris Ellis, a Comcast spokesman, today confirmed that the cable op will add CNN HD and USA HD in Houston and "other markets."

However, he said he could not confirm the names of the other markets -- or their launch dates -- at this time.

Comcast now has approximately 25 high-def channels in most markets. The cable operator last week confirmed that TBS HD would be added to at least one market (Baltimore) on October 1.

The addition of TBS HD -- and CNN HD and USA HD -- would give Comcast 28 high-def channels.
=====

Washington, D.C. (September 24, 2007) -- Comcast will soon add five new High-Definition TV channels in Philadelphia.

Chris Ellis, a Comcast spokesman, says National Geographic HD, Food Network HD, HGTV HD and A&E HD will be launched tomorrow in Philly.

And in early October, TBS HD will be added to the cable op's high-def lineup in Philadelphia.

Comcast earlier announced that TBS HD, which will carry first and second round baseball playoff action this year, will be added in Baltimore on October 1.

The other four HD additions in Philadelphia are already available in several Comcast markets.

yep, most certainly the bronco game looked horrible this past week. very annoying and very obvious.

this week, i thought fox looked the best...

If anyone is interested send me a PM.

Dishnetwork Receivers

921DVR $200
6000 $75

any idea what is going on with KXRM. It is 5:15 and there is no digital signal. Trying to call them but of coursetheir switchboard is closed. when trying to leave a message it says the mail box is full.

Edit - got a hold of someone in the news room who checked around and it appears some of the engineers areup on the mountain working on the ant. signal. The lady I spoke to did not know if and when the signal would be back up. So, if you have shows recording tonight on fox 21-1 you might want to set up a recording on the analog channel

any idea what is going on with KXRM. It is 5:15 and there is no digital signal. Trying to call them but of coursetheir switchboard is closed. when trying to leave a message it says the mail box is full.

Edit - got a hold of someone in the news room who checked around and it appears some of the engineers areup on the mountain working on the ant. signal. The lady I spoke to did not know if and when the signal would be back up. So, if you have shows recording tonight on fox 21-1 you might want to set up a recording on the analog channel

I noticed the same problem, already have a few messed up recordings. Thanks for calling and finding out. ;)

Question....I just had E* VIP722 installed. When I had the basic 303 reciever, the picture filled my screen. Now, with this new piece of equipment, the only way I can get analog or SD signals to fill my screen is to "stretch" or "zoom" the picture, which then cuts-off the top/bottom and ends. Is there anyway to fix this so when I do watch SD feeds, it is "normal"? By the way, the digital channels, like ESPN-HD look great.

Question....I just had E* VIP722 installed. When I had the basic 303 reciever, the picture filled my screen. Now, with this new piece of equipment, the only way I can get analog or SD signals to fill my screen is to "stretch" or "zoom" the picture, which then cuts-off the top/bottom and ends. Is there anyway to fix this so when I do watch SD feeds, it is "normal"? By the way, the digital channels, like ESPN-HD look great.
I assume that you have an HDTV with 16x9 wide screen. If so, the old reciever must have been connected to your set through a non digital input. Either your TV or the old dish tuner must have stretched the picture to fit. Otherwise, you would have black bars on the sides of the analog pics. Maybe you didn't notice that the pic was stretched because you just had SD?

On DishNet tuners, SD and HD channels are identified separately. You can therefore set the SD channels to be stretched if you wish while leaving the HD channels set in non stretched mode. When watching SD channels, stretched mode should not cut anything off, while Zoom will.

What brand and model of TV do you have?

Roy

I assume that you have an HDTV with 16x9 wide screen. If so, the old reciever must have been connected to your set through a non digital input. Either your TV or the old dish tuner must have stretched the picture to fit. Otherwise, you would have black bars on the sides of the analog pics. Maybe you didn't notice that the pic was stretched because you just had SD?

On DishNet tuners, SD and HD channels are identified separately. You can therefore set the SD channels to be stretched if you wish while leaving the HD channels set in non stretched mode. When watching SD channels, stretched mode should not cut anything off, while Zoom will.

What brand and model of TV do you have?

Roy

Roy,

That makes sense now. I have a Panasonic TH-50PX60U. Now that I have an HD satellite reciever, it is hooked up through an HDMI input in the back of the set when before my set was hooked-up to my sat receiver through the color coded cables. I have figured out that I can set my SD and HD differently. Thanks for the reply.

This is exactly why some of us are willing to pay $400-$600 for an S3 Tivo.

it's expensive as he!!, but worth it IMO.

Man, you ruffled some D* feathers over on tivocommunity. Rock on! :)

Man, you ruffled some D* feathers over on tivocommunity. Rock on! :)

ya think ;)

...to the broadcasting industry, for ruining a nationwide HD football broadcast with endless drivel. Some highlights:

Weather:
Storm Tracker 13 Alert!
There is a chance of rain in Colorado...
This potential rain could cause you clothes to become wet...
If see clouds, please for your own safety, seek shelter!
Kid Hurt:
Kid Tracker 13 Alert!
A 13 year old boy stubbed his toe on a North Academy sidewalk...
Our reporter aimless Amy has reported that blood was visible at the scene...
Film at 10...
Fires:
Fire Tracker 13 Alert!
A fire in a wheat field threatens field mice...
The Humane Society is on the scene, and is using tiny little nets to try and save these precious critters...
Update at 10...
Sports:
Sport Tracker 13 Alert!
A Italian Mellon kicker broke her ankle while attemping to score at the International Mellon Kicking championships...
The Mellon could not be saved...
See Sports at 10...
Please enjoy our not-so-HD broadcast of the USC vs Washington football game...

KRDO - Southern Colorado's Leader in Drivel...

Just what is the problem with KRDO (other than being an ABC affiliate and the lowest class operation I've ever encountered)? I'm a college football fan and am totally disgusted with both ABC and KRDO, both of which are inconsistent at best with HD broadcasts.

I tuned in tonight to the USC-Washington game which is supposed to be in HD and it's not only not HD, but even a pathetic analog signal. I get my HD with an OTA antennae, and have regular DirecTV also. The signal from KRDO is even unwatchable on my analog set (with either DirecTV or the antennae) let alone on my Plasma.

Does anyone have Comcast, Dish, or DirecTv HD that is getting this game in HD? I wondered if they give you an ABC feed (or if you have access to the national feed) or if you have to put up with the KRDO signals also?

Does anyone have Comcast, Dish, or DirecTv HD that is getting this game in HD? I wondered if they give you an ABC feed (or if you have access to the national feed) or if you have to put up with the KRDO signals also?
Basically, to get the game from another source(non-KRDO) you need to have a waiver from a satellite company for 'Distant Network Signals'. And, yes there is definitely a national ABC HD feed of this game. Of course, for us in Colorado, it would come from LA, and there could be sewage alert for the beaches there.

It's always something...

My hate for KRDO has reached new levels. This is unacceptable. The fact that they don't run their ridiculous crawler over the commercials is what makes me so mad. So, the situation is so dire that you need to run it constantly, except when there are commercials? The situation then is ok to leave the crawler off? Give me a break. Total amateur hour over there. They should be embarrassed.

They seem to get their rocks off by being the "stormtracking leader" like anyone cares. I'm sure the 5 people that even get the HD feed out in eastern colorado are tuned in to your station reading the same crawling information for the last 2.5 hours. Yeah, you're that important.

ya think ;)

Got a TiVO HD about 10 days ago. I sure have missed that interface.

It has lost all video processing functionality 3 times though. Some new issue it seems. Hope the 9.1 release fixes it; if not, it's going back. I can get that kind of instability from comcast for far cheaper :D

For those complaining about KRDO (KKTV does this a lot with weather warnings too), do you have satellite? If so, just "move" to Denver and you'll get Denver locals in HD as well as Springs locals if you have an OTA antenna. I have both, and Denver's ABC affiliate was broadcasting in HD all night while KRDO was warning us that it might sprinkle some showers somewhere near Kansas.

My hate for KRDO has reached new levels. This is unacceptable. The fact that they don't run their ridiculous crawler over the commercials is what makes me so mad. So, the situation is so dire that you need to run it constantly, except when there are commercials? The situation then is ok to leave the crawler off? Give me a break. Total amateur hour over there. They should be embarrassed.

I think this makes a valid point. The argument from all broadcasters that have been publicly addressed in this forum have been to the tune of "These warnings are valid and necessary" and "Our equipment cannot overlay the crawler on HD broadcast" ... I hadn't even noticed that the crawler wasn't EVER EVER EVER on a commercial ...

I have said this before ~ if the ADVERTISERS only knew the demographic they pander to, maybe they'd press for quality over number of slots at peak hour ... but multicasting is where the broadcasters want to be, HD & quality programming is where the VIEWERS want to be & advertisers only care to be where the viewers are ... I see a cycle that cannot be rebuilt unless the viewers make certain to force the break. Refuse to watch since admission is paid by the advertisers & the ADVERTISERS are paid by the viewers/consumers ... Imagine how quick the quality control would change at the broadcaster's end if the advertisers demanded to placed only in HD spots ...

doGlooP

For those complaining about KRDO (KKTV does this a lot with weather warnings too), do you have satellite? If so, just "move" to Denver and you'll get Denver locals in HD as well as Springs locals if you have an OTA antenna. I have both, and Denver's ABC affiliate was broadcasting in HD all night while KRDO was warning us that it might sprinkle some showers somewhere near Kansas.
I could see why it would be tempting (to my friend, not to me of course.) I had thought that "moving" to Denver was a more dicey proposition because Denver HD locals are now carried on spot beams which may or may not cover various locations in the Southern Colorado area of the Colorado Springs DMA.

Hypothetically, of course, are you aware of whether they are on spot beams for DirecTV and/or for Dish? (two separate questions)

P.S. Wouldn't it be nice if all the stations could do a warning at the beginning of every show to say that if there are clouds above, the chances of getting wet are between 0% and 100%...

Also, no need to talk about the Broncos today - how about those Rockies winning 11 in a row, 13 of their last 14, and getting help from the Brewers beating the Padres the last 2 days, to force a tiebreaker game at Coors Field tomorrow night? Another heart attack game today, but they got it done.

Tiebreaker game is at 5:37 PM Monday on TBS-HD nationally (according to the TBS HD thread on AVS). Glad that DirecTV turned on the 21 new HD channels last week including TBS-HD, on MPEG4 boxes like the H20 and HR20.

Hopefully Fox Sports Rocky Mountain won't be able to black out TBS-HD for Colorado viewers, since FSRM-HD isn't on D* quite yet (but soon, supposedly, with Altitude-HD too for the Nuggets and Avs seasons coming up).

Got a TiVO HD about 10 days ago. I sure have missed that interface.

It has lost all video processing functionality 3 times though. Some new issue it seems. Hope the 9.1 release fixes it; if not, it's going back. I can get that kind of instability from comcast for far cheaper :D

sorry to read this. I have a THD too (in addition to my S3), since late August and so far no problems at all. of course I don't use cable cards. do you use CCs?

On Oct. 1, 2007 The Tube will cease its national broadcast.

Per a statement at The Tube's website, the network announced that they were suspending operations, effective October 1, 2007 (though some stations closed the feed earlier). According to the statement, "financial limitations ultimately contributed to its incapacitated state". Many stations carrying the station have been informed to direct viewers to http://www.thetubetv.com/ for futher information and several are now searching for content to replace the channel over the air and on cable systems.

What a sad, sad day IMO. I really kinda enjoyed the Tube. Even though it was 480i SD - low rez, it was fun to flip it on an SDTV and let the vids play.

I could see why it would be tempting (to my friend, not to me of course.) I had thought that "moving" to Denver was a more dicey proposition because Denver HD locals are now carried on spot beams which may or may not cover various locations in the Southern Colorado area of the Colorado Springs DMA.

Hypothetically, of course, are you aware of whether they are on spot beams for DirecTV and/or for Dish? (two separate questions)

P.S. Wouldn't it be nice if all the stations could do a warning at the beginning of every show to say that if there are clouds above, the chances of getting wet are between 0% and 100%...

For Dish, Denver locals are NOT on a spotbeam (I have Dish). For Direct, they ARE on a spotbeam. However, the spotbeams are WIDE and for sure would cover CO Springs. Just search Google for some spotbeam maps and you'll see what I mean. I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble receiving Denver locals with Direct. Hopefully someone here will chime in.

sorry to read this. I have a THD too (in addition to my S3), since late August and so far no problems at all. of course I don't use cable cards. do you use CCs?

Yeah, but others have reported the problem who don't use cards. First report I can find is from 9/12 (the day I bought mine). Otherwise, it's nice to have the interface & features. Will be very nice once they've enabled the eSATA port...just in time for Christmas :D

Will be very nice once they've enabled the eSATA port...just in time for Christmas :D

I just added a 1TB WD drive via eSata to my S3. I now have 1.25 TB and can record 165 Hrs of HD or 1561 Hrs of SD :D

BTW, RockyMountainD - if you do use CC's, how did the install go with Comcast? Were they clueless or did they fight you on the install or anything? What do they charge you per CC for the THD. I am OTA HD for now w/o CC's but I may opt for them someday if they offer enough compelling HD content.

I just added a 1TB WD drive via eSata to my S3. I now have 1.25 TB and can record 165 Hrs of HD or 1561 Hrs of SD :D

BTW, RockyMountainD - if you do use CC's, how did the install go with Comcast? Were they clueless or did they fight you on the install or anything? What do they charge you per CC for the THD. I am OTA HD for now w/o CC's but I may opt for them someday if they offer enough compelling HD content.

Ah...TB for HD. One day soon...

Was a mixed bag with Comcast. I educated myself before calling, so I wasn't suprised. They said they had no M-cards (which the HD can use), so I asked them to bring multiple S-cards. New hire contractor shows up with 4 and has no idea what a cable card is, but said that a more experience co-worker was on his way. The 2nd guy had done CC installs, but had never seen an HD. Great.

They must have a book that says "put in both cards, call them in and you're done." I told them to do 1 card at a time, but oh well. He puts both in. The first card is up and running in 5 minutes. Connected, authorized, channels mapped, everything. 2nd card is dead. As is the 3rd. 4th card appears to work, but never correctly paired. Spent an hour on it, then I told them to come back with more cards. He brings 4 more the next day and the 1st one worked perfectly.

The key is to know what values to expect on the "network status" CC screen and which channels to check before they leave. And to have a big stack of cards :)

Expecting my first bill next week. That should be fun.

No baseball fans here, huh? Rockies game on TBS-HD is looking great, especially compared to dozens of blurry games I've seen this season on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (was always SD on D*). The sound and graphics are good too, though the sound cut out a couple times. I'm about 40 minutes behind live so hopefully this first inning Rockies rally continues...

No baseball fans here, huh? Rockies game on TBS-HD is looking great...

i'm jealous; all those new hd channels w/directtv...

fuzzy ole tbs here.

Over the last few months we have developed an intermittent problem with our Moxi DVR on Comcast. The problem is that occasionally shows are recorded without any sound. So far it seems to only happen on channel 10 KKTV (CBS). It was pretty rare, but yesterday I taped the whole Broncos vs. Colts game and came home to find the whole recording had no sound. My wife said it happed with some other show today too. I tried to watch a few minutes of the game by reading closed captioning, but a football game just isn't the same without sound. It was just an SD recording, and my sound setting on the Moxi is set to "Stereo". I couldn't find any other setting that sounded like it my be related to this.

I don't know if it's my Moxi, my signal strength, my Comcast feed, or something else. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Guy

Just found out - D* is carrying the Rockies-Padres in HD on channel 95 (MPEG-2), not just TBS-HD channel 247 (MPEG-4), so any HD receiver can tune it in.

Over the last few months we have developed an intermittent problem with our Moxi DVR on Comcast. The problem is that occasionally shows are recorded without any sound. So far it seems to only happen on channel 10 KKTV (CBS). It was pretty rare, but yesterday I taped the whole Broncos vs. Colts game and came home to find the whole recording had no sound. My wife said it happed with some other show today too. I tried to watch a few minutes of the game by reading closed captioning, but a football game just isn't the same without sound. It was just an SD recording, and my sound setting on the Moxi is set to "Stereo". I couldn't find any other setting that sounded like it my be related to this.

I don't know if it's my Moxi, my signal strength, my Comcast feed, or something else. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Guy

I've been out of the MOXI loop for a while. Maybe the FAQ (http://users.adelphia.net/~ksoltmann/SPLMoxiFAQ.htm) has some things to check.

Just found out - D* is carrying the Rockies-Padres in HD on channel 95 (MPEG-2), not just TBS-HD channel 247 (MPEG-4), so any HD receiver can tune it in.

Bummer that I didn't think to check that last night!!! :(
I watched the 13th inning in crappy SD!
Oh well, at least I happened to pick the perfect time to tune in - right as the 12th inning was ending!!

Go Angels & Rockies!

Regarding the recent posts about poor digital TV (and HD in particular) here in Colo Spgs. I wonder if enough of us individually forwarded our concerns through letter writing and/or e-mail or as a group in a petition to the FCC, Congressman, Senators, City of Colo Spgs (Cable franchiser), state representatives, and/or the state Public Utilities Commission could lead to service improvements. Granted digital and HD TV are undergoing growing pains right now. However, some of the things that have happened and service (or lack of) should not be taking place. Rather than grouse about it among ourselves, it might be worthwhile to forward enlightning commentary to regulatory and political organizations en masse with the hope that they will force improvement.

It seems that there is little incentive for local TV stations and the cable company to change things. Perhaps I'm wrong on this and over time things will improve. I'm not optimistic though. I've been griping about Channel 8 being on Channel 8 on the cable with its attendant multipath interference from cable leakage for years. Comcast has Channel 11 on Channel 10, so why can't the same thing be done with Channel 8 (i.e. move to Channel 9 or 7 on the cable)?

Anyway, just a thought ...

For the person that asked, Comcast did carry the UPN20 game on Saturday on Channel 2. Adelphia did have a channel called Adelphia Sports Net (ASN) that did sports programming deals. The channel went off the air with Adelphia.

The Moxi's have an issue with the tuner not shifting well in large channel hops. For some reason, they will go off on audio sync or drop the audio all together. Unfortunately, the best solution is a new moxi box...but they are no longer being deployed. The solution, if you are willing to give up the Moxi is a new HD/DVR...but the guide leaves some folks with prior moxi experiences somewhat unsatisfied.

I've been out of the MOXI loop for a while. Maybe the FAQ (http://users.adelphia.net/~ksoltmann/SPLMoxiFAQ.htm) has some things to check.

Thanks. I did check the Moxi FAQ and didn't find any mention of a problem like this.

Guy

KRDO's and KKTV's obsession with continues weather updates for minor concerns is so infuriating. Their SD picture (particularly ch 13) is of very poor quality. I will give credit to channel 5. Their weather crawl was only for a min or 2 and it continued into the commercial. The picture switched to SD but it was still sharp and clear, not blurry and loss of contrast that the other 2 mentioned channels have. If I ever run into Matt "every viewer out of danger" Meister, I will give him an earful of my discontent. I don't think they give the rural viewers any credit for knowing how to take care of themselves when the weather is not ideal. They being treated as complete idiots as if they don't know the rain is coming down a little harder and their might be some extra water. Most of them have lived there for their entire lives and know what to do.

So I called KXRM today to inquire about the antenna signal. They said that starting 2 to 3 weeks ago they had to reduce there power output to 60% because another station is installing a new tower next to theirs. They believe it will be mid to late october before they'll be able to return to full power. Unfortunately, I can't get any signal on my HTPC up in monument so I guess I just have to record the analog feed until things return to normal.

-Mike

For those that asked....Comcast will have TBS in HD available by noon in Colorado Springs on channel 759 and in Pueblo on channel 678. In time for the Rockies game.

For those that asked....Comcast will have TBS in HD available by noon in Colorado Springs on channel 759 and in Pueblo on channel 678. In time for the Rockies game.

You sound like you know something about the local goings on of Comcast. If so, then you're just what we've needed in the forum :)

You sound like you know something about the local goings on of Comcast. If so, then you're just what we've needed in the forum :)
I'd be happy to help with any questions folks may have about Comcast in Southern Colorado. I've watched this board since moving here and finally registered so I can hopefully provide some valuable explanations.

I'd be happy to help with any questions folks may have about Comcast in Southern Colorado. I've watched this board since moving here and finally registered so I can hopefully provide some valuable explanations.

Most excellent, thank you. I will now take you up on the offer :)

Does Comcast plan on rolling out SDV in Colorado Springs in the next year? If so when? What channels will go first? etc.

Just found out - D* is carrying the Rockies-Padres in HD on channel 95 (MPEG-2), not just TBS-HD channel 247 (MPEG-4), so any HD receiver can tune it in.

Tried to tune in to Ch. 95 this afternoon but couldn't get the game.
Tech people @ DirecTV said only MLB Extra Inning subscribers would get this channel!

Tall guy, do you subscribe to MLB EI?

Most excellent, thank you. I will now take you up on the offer :)

Does Comcast plan on rolling out SDV in Colorado Springs in the next year? If so when? What channels will go first? etc.
Switched digital is not currently rolling in the Springs. It is being tested in other markets. Once they make it work well, it will roll nationwide. All-digital, however, is being offered throughout the Springs. Current customers have not been switched, but as new customers come on, they are being brought on under 100% digital. If a current customer wants all-digital, the digital box just needs a 'hit' and map update. For those that don't call, they will eventually be rolled to all digital in a rolling launch (don't want to cause too many service calls).

Comcaster,
First, thank you for being willing to stand up and provide some technical information to many long standing questions (and perhaps misunderstandings). People can get pretty passionate about TV and taking slings and arrows is not always the most pleasant of things. I know, I've been there. As the handle implies, I'm working in the satcom industry and understand how simple questions can sometimes have complex answers that are not always what the inquirer wants to hear. :)

That being said, I'm curious about Channel 8 service here locally. Several years ago, Ch 8 apparently moved their transmitter from Pueblo to Cheyenne Mtn. Shortly thereafter Channel 8 picture quality on cable went to pot (at least in my part of town over in Norwood). There was really bad ghosting which exists to this day and I even see it over here in Briargate occaisionaly. It seems there is multipath interference from a now much stronger Ch 8 OTA transmission leaking into the cable on Cable Channel 8. Actually, one channel must be arriving slightly later (delayed) than the other, thus the ghost. KKTV Ch 11 and KRDO Ch 13 must have had similar problems (or recognized as potential problems early on) so they are transmitted on the cable as Channels 10 and 12 respectively.

So my question is this: Is there any technical reason why Ch 8 can't be moved to Ch 7 for cable channel transmission (and move the current Ch 7 to Ch 8)? I emphasize the term "technical" in my question because I know there's always those pesky cost factors that often make company non-technical management types reluctant to implement change.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the matter.

Cheers.

Switched digital is not currently rolling in the Springs. It is being tested in other markets. Once they make it work well, it will roll nationwide. All-digital, however, is being offered throughout the Springs. Current customers have not been switched, but as new customers come on, they are being brought on under 100% digital. If a current customer wants all-digital, the digital box just needs a 'hit' and map update. For those that don't call, they will eventually be rolled to all digital in a rolling launch (don't want to cause too many service calls).

I'll vouch for ADS! The quality of channels 0-99 increased tremendously once my two 6412s were were hit.

Thanks for the info on SDV. I know it's hard to give timelines. It'll be interesting to see if the "tivo killer" gets here before the "tivo dongle" appears :)

Thanks, I appreciate the warm welcome. I am happy to provide whatever I can...

The ghosting is absolutely caused by delayed signal matching which is coming from ingress. The ingress is coming from one or more of the following: loose cable fittings, bad cable fittings, damaged cable and /or poor shielding in a TV/VCR/DVD etc (which may or may not be coming from your house specificially - it could be a neighbor).

A solution is to move the carrier off of the frequency as you suggested. Unfortunately, it is not the best solution as it really just masks the problem. It absolutely will make channel 8 look better, but the ingress will still be present which can do all sorts of nasty things to digital and internet carriers in the plant that affect not just the person with the ghosting, but potentially within the node. Short story turned long, there has been discussion on switching the carrier, but the preferred solution is to fix the points of ingress.

So, what does that mean for you? There are really two solutions: 1) Comcast needs to fix the ingress in your home (provided it is not coming from your electronic devices) and/or neighborhood - a service call from a qualified technician would hopefully move you in the right direction. 2) Bypass worrying about it as channel 8 is being simulcast on the digital platform. If you have digital cable, call in and get moved to the digital map - you will get all channels in digital (including 8) and the ghosting will be gone. Frankly, I would strongly suggest both options in tandem as #1 will fix the real issue and #2 will give you great pictures right away.

For those that asked....Comcast will have TBS in HD available by noon in Colorado Springs on channel 759 and in Pueblo on channel 678. In time for the Rockies game.
Not up here in the northeast part of town as of 5:30 pm... Glad to hear its coming though! Any chance of Speed HD being picked up by Comcast when it goes on air next year? :)

Comcaster:

Good to have a voice from Comcast on the forums.

- So is 759 (TBS HD) going to be lit up on the boxes soon and it be there permanently?

- I've heard that Comcast is adding CNN HD and USA HD around the country - When will they arrive in CS?

- Based on the last question, is CS pretty much last man on the deal when it comes to new rollouts in the Comcast network?

- Fox Business channel - They're launching October 15th in HD. Will both the SD and HD versions be available in CS?

- NFL Network in HD - Any chance we get it this year?

- Any other tidbits you can give us when it comes to HD would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

TC

I read the tivo forums but I am confused and hope someone here can help me.

1. I have D*tv and the HR10-250. As I understand it, I cannot receive the new HD channels that are the MPEG4 format. I would need a new receiver and dish.

I am trying to decide if I should call them and get a deal on the new stuff (been reading threads on that) but my big question is about the HD access fee. Currently, with the HD10-250, I get and record my HD locals and then I pay for the HD programming package. Is it true that if I switch to the new receiver I will have to continue to pay for the HD programming package but ALSO pay this HD access fee just to be able to record my local HD? Or is that HD access fee only to be able to record HD OTA if i DON'T have the HD programming package? I am not sure about doubling my HD programming fees. I may just keep my HD10-250, drop the HD package with the few HD channels I can get with it and continue to record OTA HD for free.

2. Is it true the new dish cannot go on the old pole? Our pole is embedded in our new stucco.

3. If I get the new receiver (and hopefully pay very little since I am a long-time customer) do I also have a monthly leasing fee?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Susan

hopefully, comcast will begin to add/match the latest developments occuring with D*. the thought of switching has already crossed my mind. i will not be patient too long...

Not up here in the northeast part of town as of 5:30 pm... Glad to hear its coming though! Any chance of Speed HD being picked up by Comcast when it goes on air next year? :)
if you didnt get TBS HD, your box needs a hit. It was live throughout colorado springs at 12:10.

- TBSHD is permanent on 759.
- CNNHD and USAHD are on the list. There are actually about 10 on the list to add. I would hate to give out dates and disappoint....but expect quite a bit more HD VOD as well as linear channels.
- Springs won't be last on the totem pole much longer The last year has been significantly more difficult that was imagined in terms of upgrading the physical plant. It was in much different shape than was expected at the acquisition. Springs should be on par with other markets in the next couple of months. From there out, it would be expected that new technology will implement at similar speed to that of Denver.
- Fox business will launch on Comcast in late December in SD. Haven't heard about Fox BusinessHD launching.
- NFL net HD will launch before the first football game they carry (november?)

if you didnt get TBS HD, your box needs a hit. It was live throughout colorado springs at 12:10.
Is that something I can force? I already red-buttoned the Moxi and that didn't do it. Would I need to call Comcast or will it happen on its own in the next day or so? Thanks for the info!

Comcaster-

I cant thank you enough for providing some level of insight on the plan at Comcast. I dont know how many times I have tried to talk to someone over there halfway knowledgeable but got someone who barely knew what HD was.

Do you mind sharing the list of "10 or so" HD channels in the works? I dont mind being disappointed as I would rather know what the plan is. There are many here who are debating whether or not to switch to Direct or Dish. Personally, I am going to go where the content is. Direct's recent upgrades are tempting. To me, knowing nothing of he plan is much worse than knowing the plan and not liking it.

Another couple of questions (you have opened a pandora's box ;) )....
When is the planned implementation for Tivo in the Springs? Any plans to support external HDDs so we can record more than 10hrs of HD DVR?

On a completely different topic, I am a big fan of tuning into Denver news (KUSA9 on ch2 and KCNC4 on ch99), for their extra Broncos coverage on Sundays. However, these feeds are clearly set up on timers and often end too early or dont start on time. (eg, Broncos Xtra ends 5min too early on Sun at 11PM, other eg, Broncos game ends at 4:45 instead 5pm and we miss postgame). What would it take for someone to switch these on instead of relying on a timer?

Is that something I can force? I already red-buttoned the Moxi and that didn't do it. Would I need to call Comcast or will it happen on its own in the next day or so? Thanks for the info!
Ah, yes...the Moxi. It is on a different platform from the majority of boxes that are out there. A call into the call center for a 'box hit' should work. I will check with some folks to make sure that the Moxi's had the appropriate update to take TBSHD.

Response to "HateNewNHL" part one of....

"On a completely different topic, I am a big fan of tuning into Denver news (KUSA9 on ch2 and KCNC4 on ch99), for their extra Broncos coverage on Sundays. However, these feeds are clearly set up on timers and often end too early or dont start on time. (eg, Broncos Xtra ends 5min too early on Sun at 11PM, other eg, Broncos game ends at 4:45 instead 5pm and we miss postgame). What would it take for someone to switch these on instead of relying on a timer?"

---> You are correct, they are on timers. Comcast cannot show duplicated programming in Southern Colorado that is shown by the local broadcasters. That means that news and other non-network or syndicated shows are allowed. Unfortunately, it is fairly intensive to keep up with. A plan is being worked on to implement some software that will better handle the denver programming. Comcast added "Total Access" on KCNC to the timer list about a month ago. Perhaps it is time to review the timers again. We will get on that.

Response to "HateNewNHL" part two of....

"When is the planned implementation for Tivo in the Springs? Any plans to support external HDDs so we can record more than 10hrs of HD DVR?"

No named launch dates for either in southern colorado.

Tried to tune in to Ch. 95 this afternoon but couldn't get the game.
Tech people @ DirecTV said only MLB Extra Inning subscribers would get this channel!

Tall guy, do you subscribe to MLB EI?

So was anyone with an MPEG-2 HD receiver able to see the baseball games on channel 95 on Wednesday?
And if so, did you subscribe to MLB Extra Innings this year?

Thanks,
Rob

Response to "HateNewNHL" part two of....

"When is the planned implementation for Tivo in the Springs? Any plans to support external HDDs so we can record more than 10hrs of HD DVR?"

No named launch dates for either in southern colorado.

Please let us know if you want "friendlies" to help test locally. We know the meaning of NDA & beta. SDV and ADS. USB and eSATA. VOD, PPV and GUI. HD, SD and even ED. Progressive, interlaced, fixed-pixel, 120Hz...we love it all :)

I read the tivo forums but I am confused and hope someone here can help me.

1. I have D*tv and the HR10-250. As I understand it, I cannot receive the new HD channels that are the MPEG4 format. I would need a new receiver and dish.The new HD channels are indeed in a MPEG4 fromat (from sat 103b) and do require new equipment. First, you need a 5 LNB dish, then a new STB, the HR20 is the one you would need. Don't allow them to send a HR21 since it will not allow you to receive or record OTA content.

I am trying to decide if I should call them and get a deal on the new stuff (been reading threads on that) but my big question is about the HD access fee. Currently, with the HD10-250, I get and record my HD locals and then I pay for the HD programming package. Is it true that if I switch to the new receiver I will have to continue to pay for the HD programming package but ALSO pay this HD access fee just to be able to record my local HD? Or is that HD access fee only to be able to record HD OTA if i DON'T have the HD programming package? I am not sure about doubling my HD programming fees. I may just keep my HD10-250, drop the HD package with the few HD channels I can get with it and continue to record OTA HD for free. D* has just added 27 new HD channels and it's up in the air if costs will go up. If so, it'll be an additional $4.95 for the few HD channels that don't have a SD counterpart, or so they say.

2. Is it true the new dish cannot go on the old pole? Our pole is embedded in our new stucco.THe new 5 LNB dish is bigger/heavier and the required pole size has been increased to a 2" diameter. It won't fit your old pole. Additional mechanical supports are also required. The installers want to roof or ground/pole mount and some refuse to mount the dish on the side of the house.

3. If I get the new receiver (and hopefully pay very little since I am a long-time customer) do I also have a monthly leasing fee?If you are persistant, you might be able to upgrade with little or no cost, being a "long term customer". Of course, dealing with the D* CSRs is always a crap shoot. If you don't get what you want just hang-up and call again. See this forum/thread for what deals people are presently getting;
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=62089&page=122

I'll vouch for ADS! The quality of channels 0-99 increased tremendously once my two 6412s were were hit.

Thanks for the info on SDV. I know it's hard to give timelines. It'll be interesting to see if the "tivo killer" gets here before the "tivo dongle" appears :)

Did you have to call in, as Comcaster suggested, in order to receive ADS or were you hit automatically? I'm running a Moxi BMC9012 (ver 4.1) so I have to ask if going all digital would apply to my hardware as well or is it limited only to the 6412's?

Did you have to call in, as Comcaster suggested, in order to receive ADS or were you hit automatically? I'm running a Moxi BMC9012 (ver 4.1) so I have to ask if going all digital would apply to my hardware as well or is it limited only to the 6412's?

The tech who was setting up my voip called in and had me hit.

Not sure if the 9012s need anything other than a hit. Call them and have them hit it; doesn't hurt to try.

The tech who was setting up my voip called in and had me hit.

Not sure if the 9012s need anything other than a hit. Call them and have them hit it; doesn't hurt to try.

Thanks for the information. I guess we'll try it tonight and see. Anyone else out there tried to "hit" a Moxi 9012 into ADS? Did it work?

the HR20 is the one you would need. Don't allow them to send a HR21 since it will not allow you to receive or record OTA content.

Really? Is this just temporary or is this D*'s long term plan to get subs to pay for local HD content via Sat?

Edit: OK, I see the HR21 does not even include an ATSC tuner, so this appears as way for D* to force subs to pay for HD locals and looks like a revenue enhancment scheme to me. This plan does not really work for those markets that D* does not offer HD locals does it?

Thanks for the information. I guess we'll try it tonight and see. Anyone else out there tried to "hit" a Moxi 9012 into ADS? Did it work?
A phone call is required. You will also need the customer agent to actively switch you to the digital map. A simple "box hit" will not do it. Make sure they put you on the "ADS map". It will work for any digital box (moxi or otherwise). Good luck.

Is that something I can force? I already red-buttoned the Moxi and that didn't do it. Would I need to call Comcast or will it happen on its own in the next day or so? Thanks for the info!
I checked in on the Moxi's. The TBS HD guide data did not load. The channel is there, but you will have to direct tune to it (punch in 759). The channel 759 should show in the guide, but it will not have a channel name or guide data. Additionally, it will not show up in the HD menu as there is no guide data for it to know better. This should be resolved in the next day or two. In the meantime, punch 759 into your remote and you should be good to go.

A phone call is required. You will also need the customer agent to actively switch you to the digital map. A simple "box hit" will not do it. Make sure they put you on the "ADS map". It will work for any digital box (moxi or otherwise). Good luck.

Well, I gave it a shot. The tech I talked to on the phone told me that it's being rolled out automatically and that there wasn't anything I needed to do. I had to explain what ADS was...! Anyway, he told me since I already had a Moxi box that I was already receiving all digital channels. I told him that I wasn't and that the 0-99 channels are still analog. I said they're still analog. He said how can you tell? I said I can tell the difference between SD and Digital. He said you can't because there won't be any difference in quality between the two types. Huh? I told him that there is a distinct difference between SD and digital but it didn't believe me.

Then he proceeds to tell me that they cannot go to ADS because, once activated, all analog channels will be gone and anyone without proper equipment will lose all their analog channels. Needles to say this guy confused me.

So, there's my experience. Anyone have any suggestions?
ps I also tried to tune in Ch 759 for the Rockies game but didn't get anything. It's not listed as an available channel. Even punching it in directly didn't produce anything.

Well, I gave it a shot. The tech I talked to on the phone told me that it's being rolled out automatically and that there wasn't anything I needed to do. I had to explain what ADS was...! Anyway, he told me since I already had a Moxi box that I was already receiving all digital channels. I told him that I wasn't and that the 0-99 channels are still analog. I said they're still analog. He said how can you tell? I said I can tell the difference between SD and Digital. He said you can't because there won't be any difference in quality between the two types. Huh? I told him that there is a distinct difference between SD and digital but it didn't believe me.

Then he tells me that the reason they're rolling out ADS slowly is because, once activated, all analog channels will be gone and anyone without proper equipment will lose all analog channels.

So, there's my experience. Anyone have any suggestions?
ps I also tried to tune in Ch 759 for the Rockies game but didn't get anything. It's not listed as an available channel. Even punching it in directly didn't produce anything.
This is not okay and I am sorry for your experience. I will send you a "private message" with my email address. I want this to work for you.

Well, I gave it a shot. The tech I talked to on the phone told me that it's being rolled out automatically and that there wasn't anything I needed to do. I had to explain what ADS was...

This is an all too familiar experience when most of us call Comcast.

Comcaster, when we call, can we ask for a "level 2 tech" or something like that to get connected so someone who really understands what is going on? Is there such a thing or is it strictly luck of the draw?

Your advise is greatly appreciated.

Well, I gave it a shot. The tech I talked to on the phone told me that it's being rolled out automatically and that there wasn't anything I needed to do. I had to explain what ADS was...! Anyway, he told me since I already had a Moxi box that I was already receiving all digital channels. I told him that I wasn't and that the 0-99 channels are still analog. I said they're still analog. He said how can you tell? I said I can tell the difference between SD and Digital. He said you can't because there won't be any difference in quality between the two types. Huh? I told him that there is a distinct difference between SD and digital but it didn't believe me.

Then he proceeds to tell me that they cannot go to ADS because, once activated, all analog channels will be gone and anyone without proper equipment will lose all their analog channels. Needles to say this guy confused me.

So, there's my experience. Anyone have any suggestions?
ps I also tried to tune in Ch 759 for the Rockies game but didn't get anything. It's not listed as an available channel. Even punching it in directly didn't produce anything.

In the MOXI's OSD menu, you can get tuner info (Hardware Diagnostics Menu > Tuner Information). The State will read either "Digital Locked" or "Analog Locked". That'll teach 'em :)

So I called KXRM today to inquire about the antenna signal. They said that starting 2 to 3 weeks ago they had to reduce there power output to 60% because another station is installing a new tower next to theirs. They believe it will be mid to late october before they'll be able to return to full power. Unfortunately, I can't get any signal on my HTPC up in monument so I guess I just have to record the analog feed until things return to normal.

-Mike
That makes me feel better, I guess, that it's their setup and not mine. The breakups on 21-1 are horrible here, and I was dreading trying to move the antenna a 1/2 inch to try and make it better and not worse on other channels. Tonight was brutal between 8 and 9 pm, but now that I check it on my PC tuner, it appears to be 26-29 db which is pretty strong and shouldn't break up. In any case, the reason sounds weird but at least it will go back to normal in the future.

Wonder what is the new tower being installed up there... Can't be TV-analog, so is it HDTV for CW/57, or a new FM, or something completely different?

Tried to tune in to Ch. 95 this afternoon but couldn't get the game.
Tech people @ DirecTV said only MLB Extra Inning subscribers would get this channel!

Tall guy, do you subscribe to MLB EI?

Sorry man, hadn't read the board in several days and I missed a lot! (Lot of Comcast, but who can blame them for asking good questions.)

I've never been an Extra Innings subscriber, and normally don't get any of the 'extra' HD sports programming on 95 or 96 etc., but my HD-TiVo (HR10-250) does get all the baseball games on 95. No idea why that would work for me and not you. I don't have a huge programming package with D*. :confused:

I just got my Mot 6412 DVR switched over. I have made several phone calls and online chat sessions. When you call Comcast many of the reps do not know what ADS is and will try to convince you that even your analog channels are "digital". I think the key is to use the phrase "I want my DVR/Cable box switched over to the ADS map".

Reps who don't know will say the switch over is automatic. It is not (at least now), you have to make the call.

Really? Is this just temporary or is this D*'s long term plan to get subs to pay for local HD content via Sat?

Edit: OK, I see the HR21 does not even include an ATSC tuner, so this appears as way for D* to force subs to pay for HD locals and looks like a revenue enhancment scheme to me. This plan does not really work for those markets that D* does not offer HD locals does it?

I thought the HR21 was a high-end box (for example, it's for rack mounts, and has the technology for a long-run thin fiber cable to a projector or something) and so I'd be surprised if they were pushing it on regular subscribers who are just trying to work with a basic HD setup.

I can now confirm that ADS is available through the Moxi 9012 and appears to be working just fine. Thanks to help from Comcaster I am now enjoying all digital channels. Even punching #759 in takes me to TBS HD.

Only two channels left to go on my HD wish list: CW and Scifi

I thought the HR21 was a high-end box (for example, it's for rack mounts, and has the technology for a long-run thin fiber cable to a projector or something) and so I'd be surprised if they were pushing it on regular subscribers who are just trying to work with a basic HD setup.I think you are describing the HR21 Pro model (not yet released), the ordinary HR21 for us mortals is similar to the HR20, shiny black but w/o ATSC tuner. The lack of the ATSC tuner (even if D* ever does carry our HD Locals) will not give us an option when rain/snow fade sits in.

Comcaster, one more thank you. This group is not your normal customer and appreciates your willingness to answer our questions and provide techinical info.

...but the guide leaves some folks with prior moxi experiences somewhat unsatisfied.

My Moxi committed hari kari last week and now I have the "new" Scientific Atlanta (?) HD-DVR box. I have to say I am very disappointed in the box, the UI, the remote responsiveness, etc. Is there any way to request a Moxi box?

Is anyone else having audio dropouts on KOAA, its only a second or two about once every half hour? I thought it was my SageTV setup, but I am experiencing it on my Comcast HD-DVR too.

I went to check on the Yankees game and punched in channel 139 on my Dishnetwork receiver. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the TBS channel was in HD. It wasn't there for Wednesday's Rockies game. Glad to have another HD channel.

Is there any way to request a Moxi box?
Is anyone else having audio dropouts on KOAA, its only a second or two about once every half hour?

Good luck getting the Moxi back. The word from Comcast is they are going to phase out the Moxi and I don't think they will give them out anymore. But hey, it's worth trying. The phase out was also the reason why the external hard drive was not enabled with the 4.1 Firmware release. :(
I'm going to hang on to mine for dear life until I can pull the trigger on the Tivo S3.
I've noticed the occasional audio drop outs too. Will have to confirm the channel though. I was not sure if it was the Moxi or something else.

A phone call is required. You will also need the customer agent to actively switch you to the digital map. A simple "box hit" will not do it. Make sure they put you on the "ADS map". It will work for any digital box (moxi or otherwise). Good luck.


ACK! I'm trying to follow the thread but feel lost (and I'm pretty technologically savvy). I had a couple of questions about the above comment.

What is a "Box hit"? What does it do?
Same thing for an "ADS Map". What is it and what does it mean to be put on the ADS map?

Finally, is there a forum or site that gives the basics on DVRs (like TiVO, Moxi, etc.)?

BTW the other half has a Replay (Blue Sonic) 5540 that's still working great. It was purchased several years ago. Doesn't have HD capability of course, but I really liked its interface and user control.

Only question there that I could answer is that www.tivocommunity.com has a ton of helpful information on all kinds of TiVos. For the other boxes, there are probably applicable threads in the hardware forum here at AVS.

ACK! I'm trying to follow the thread but feel lost (and I'm pretty technologically savvy). I had a couple of questions about the above comment.

What is a "Box hit"? What does it do?
Same thing for an "ADS Map". What is it and what does it mean to be put on the ADS map?

Finally, is there a forum or site that gives the basics on DVRs (like TiVO, Moxi, etc.)?

BTW the other half has a Replay (Blue Sonic) 5540 that's still working great. It was purchased several years ago. Doesn't have HD capability of course, but I really liked its interface and user control.

I might be able to help with some of this:
ADS, Analog Digital Simulcasting is when a cable company provides a signal where the analog channels are duplicated as digital channels. In order to receive this channel the tuner has to be programmed to receive the digital rather than the analog. The benefit here is that the tuner does not have to convert the analog to digital, it's coming in digital already. Getting on the ADS map simply refers to having the cable company switch you off of the analog road map to the digital road map, so to speak.

Usually a "hit" refers to the cable company sending a signal of some sort to the box to perform different types of software service i.e maintenance.

Clear as mud? :)

I might be able to help with some of this:
ADS, Analog Digital Simulcasting is when a cable company provides a signal where the analog channels are duplicated as digital channels. In order to receive this channel the tuner has to be programmed to receive the digital rather than the analog. The benefit here is that the tuner does not have to convert the analog to digital, it's coming in digital already. Getting on the ADS map simply refers to having the cable company switch you off of the analog road map to the digital road map, so to speak.

Usually a "hit" refers to the cable company sending a signal of some sort to the box to perform different types of software service i.e maintenance.

Clear as mud? :)

nth - Thank you so much for confirming what I thought! The jargon and complexity of digital/HD TV and all the related technologies makes my eyes glaze over, sheesh. It shouldn't be so difficult, and I'm an engineer in satcom biz (as the handle implies) so technically competent. Of course I can still remember the good old days of B&W analog OTA TV with only 6 channels (sometimes 7 or 8 when there was good tropospheric ducting) in San Jose. When planes landing at Moffitt Field flew by we'd get fluttering from multipath. Hopefully digital TV will make that a thing of the past. LOL The good old days of tubes made TV repair simpler too. Sigh.

I might be able to help with some of this:
ADS, Analog Digital Simulcasting is when a cable company provides a signal where the analog channels are duplicated as digital channels. In order to receive this channel the tuner has to be programmed to receive the digital rather than the analog. The benefit here is that the tuner does not have to convert the analog to digital, it's coming in digital already. Getting on the ADS map simply refers to having the cable company switch you off of the analog road map to the digital road map, so to speak.

Does this mean that if I switch to ADS that I will need a TV with a QAM tuner or a 'box' from Comcast to get "normal" analog channels?

Only question there that I could answer is that www.tivocommunity.com has a ton of helpful information on all kinds of TiVos. For the other boxes, there are probably applicable threads in the hardware forum here at AVS.

Tallguy,
Thanks for the info. Tried doing a google search on DVR (and associated terms), and did not get much success. Couldn't find a good link on AVSForum either (Did I miss something? Sometimes I find navigating around AVSForum a little difficult - at least in terms of finding the right forum because there are so many). Lots of info on DVD recorders, not much about DVRs (even on CNET). Guess there aren't a lot of DVRs out there. Who makes them besides TiVo, Motoroloa, and Scientific Atlanta? These seem to be the only ones I see discussed here. I see ReplayTV is still out there and in fact made a product announcement for a PC based system to come out this fall. Wonder if this can be integrated into a full up video system. Hmmmm. Thanks again for the comments and suggestions.

Does this mean that if I switch to ADS that I will need a TV with a QAM tuner or a 'box' from Comcast to get "normal" analog channels?

No, all your other "regular" TV's will still receive the regular analog channels 0-99. Only the digital box will be mapped to the digital signal. I have 5 regular analog sets in my house and all of them continue to function as normal while my Sony HD (connected to my Moxi) is receiving all digital signals.

Finally, is there a forum or site that gives the basics on DVRs (like TiVO, Moxi, etc.)?.

Here is the main links to DVR's (aka. PVR's) in AVS:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=100
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=42

Tivo
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=722696
http://www.tivocommunity.com/

Replay
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=27
http://www.replayfaqs.com/

Moxi
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=412846&highlight=moxi
http://users.adelphia.net/~ksoltmann/SPLMoxiFAQ.htm#RemoteControl
http://forums.moxi.com/

There's more out there, but this is a good start.

I've also found it is more useful to use Google to search AVS rather than the AVS search tool. For example if I wanted to search the term "Tivo" I would input "tivo site:www.avsforum.com" in the the Google search line.

Enjoy!

jla,
Thank you very much! Hopefully this will help others also on the same learning curve as I.

No, all your other "regular" TV's will still receive the regular analog channels 0-99. Only the digital box will be mapped to the digital signal. I have 5 regular analog sets in my house and all of them continue to function as normal while my Sony HD (connected to my Moxi) is receiving all digital signals.

Thanks nthdgreee, thats what I hoping for.

The last time a Comcast came by the house he mentioned if you complained about picture quality on the analog channels they would give you a "paperback book size" box to hook up to get better picture. He said the picture quality was great, etc., but the last thing I want is another remote/box.

I'm glad that it appears that all of the Comcast answers seem to be in hand! Just for any amount of clarification over the last group of postings:

- What is a "hit"? This is a signal to the box that is sent via the Comcast billing system and set-top box controller. I should say that this actually applies to Comcast and satellite. There are generally two types of "hit" - first a refresh, this just tells the set top box to confirm what it has and make sure it has what the controller says it does. Second is a 'init' (initialization), this scrubs the box clean of it's knowledge of what it has and sends a command with all of the programming and settings it is supposed to have. The first will have little impact on the viewing experience, while the second will cause a complete box reset.

- What is a "map"? Well it really is "what is a channel map"? There are a number of channel maps in cable and satellite and they essentially tell the set top box where to look for the various signals that carry the channels we are all looking for. Not to speak down to anyone, but analog and digital channels are carried on various frequencies. In the 'olden days', the analog channel corresponded to the OTA frequency of that channel. KOAA 5/30, for instance is carried on a certain megahertz and is also carried in an analog plant on the same frequency. This all changes in digital, where actual analog frequency no longer matters. KOAA, for example, may be carried at 650mhz. The box is told that it is there, goes and finds it and then maps it to the 'display channel', which is what you and I look to in order to see the channel. So, the channel map takes the signal from a predetermined frequency and essentially routes it to a display channel.

- What is ADS? This acryonym has taken on many different translations - All Digital Simulcast, Analog to Digital Simulcast etc. Any way you slice it, it means that the cable system has taken all of the normal cable channels (generally found between 2-99) and are broadcasting them in a digital format along side the normal analog format - they are doing both. This is important because TVs with set top boxes now get digital reception on all channels (100% digital picture and sound), while TVs without digital boxes can still get channels 2-99 without a box. The beauty is that a customer can have both within the same home. If you have a digital box on 3 TVs in your house, you get all digital on all three of those TVs....while the 2 other TVs in your house without a box will continue to operate without adding a box (or expense) to those sets. It is a significant differentiator from Satellite - with which, you need a box (or feed from a box) on every TV you plan to watch. The main benefit, however, is that a customer gets the best picture on every channel and satellite cannot tell people that cable is not digital.

- Can I have a Moxi box? No. Much like Frontier airlines decided that maintence and support would be easier by having only Airbus airplanes, Comcast is focused on having Motorola DCT series boxes (in most markets - there are markets that have Scientific Atlanta or even Microsoft boxes). Unfortunately, this gets complicated because, like Airbus, there are a zillion types of DCT box. The baseline industry standard DCT2XXX, HD54XX and HDDVR34XX or HDDVR64XX are the main contenders, but there are also DCT700's, DCT2600's....and in some markets a Pace SDDVR. Directv and Dish have the same issue - if you try to build off of multiple platforms, you quickly box yourself into some technical limitations - or have a nightmare trying to train your employees to understand the functionality of different box types. Anyway, long answer to a simple question. One more thing to add to Moxi discussion...rumor has it that Moxi is planning a retail (best buy, circuit city) cable box that folks can buy and use on a cable system.

Comcaster,
First a hearty thanks for taking the time to write so much! That was most welcome information. Your note sparked a couple of follow-up questions though:

1. Based on your second paragraph, when TV is all digital (2009? - We hope), will there be any need to refer to local channels by their cable number? For example, when we punch in Ch 11, we'll really get Channel 11 (instead of entering Ch 10 as we do now). Seems like there won't be any need to use the analog cable number scheme in place now. As you say, Ch 11 could be transmitted anywhere in the RF/digital spectrum, the TV/Settop box would just have to know where it is in the spectrum and then map to the display channel.

2. On the matter of Set Top Boxes (STB) and in concert with the last sentence in your paragraph 4, there is FCC interest in allowing customer ownership (vis-a-vis lease from the cable company). This is similar to when you leased your phone from the phone company, rather than owned it. Then the FCC said you could buy your phone. It appears there is similar interest on the STBs. I know cable companies are resisting this. The arugument is that the STB also includes encryption etc. The FCC is saying that there is basic functionality that the customer can own and the cable company can retain the proprietary component (probably as a non controllable hardware appliance between the cable entry and dispalys). It appears that some form of STB ownership could happen. With this may come more opportunities for DVR (integrated into STBs), and/or expanded STB type capabilities within the display technology. An interesting battle appears to be shaping up on this. I suspect this primarily will affect those with analog TVs that need the digital conversion. Hear any rumblings about customer ownership of STBs?

1. Based on your second paragraph, when TV is all digital (2009? - We hope), will there be any need to refer to local channels by their cable number? For example, when we punch in Ch 11, we'll really get Channel 11 (instead of entering Ch 10 as we do now). Seems like there won't be any need to use the analog cable number scheme in place now. As you say, Ch 11 could be transmitted anywhere in the RF/digital spectrum, the TV/Settop box would just have to know where it is in the spectrum and then map to the display channel.

--> The answer is yes, you could do whatever you want in terms of frequency and display channel. Essentially this is being done on the ADS platform as well as on Directv and Dish Network. The frequency is nowhere close to the OTA frequency. I do think, however, that there won't be much change in terms of display channel after 2009. The TV stations identify themselves so much with their display channel and people are so accustomed to their channel line up, that it won't make much sense to change it. It's possible that 12 could go to 13 and 10 to 11, however as there would not be a technical reason to keep them 'off-channel'.

2. On the matter of Set Top Boxes (STB) and in concert with the last sentence in your paragraph 4, there is FCC interest in allowing customer ownership (vis-a-vis lease from the cable company). This is similar to when you leased your phone from the phone company, rather than owned it. Then the FCC said you could buy your phone. It appears there is similar interest on the STBs. I know cable companies are resisting this. The arugument is that the STB also includes encryption etc. The FCC is saying that there is basic functionality that the customer can own and the cable company can retain the proprietary component (probably as a non controllable hardware appliance between the cable entry and dispalys). It appears that some form of STB ownership could happen.

--> This is already taking shape. As of July 31st, cable companies were required to ship only STBs that have removable security. Therefore all NEW boxes deployed have a cable card in them. Without the FCC ruling, the STB universe is starting to go retail anyway. Witness the new TiVO HD/DVR available at BB and CC. You buy the cable box and 'rent' the cable card for access control. Also true with many HDTVs available. Unfortunately, we are still in one-way cable card land....meaning no VOD - the killer cable app. Two way cable cards should be out in mass soon.

I can't speak to the reasons the FCC wanted the ruling or why the cable co's do or don't want the ruling, but I can make the following argument over renting your equipment: comcast HD is $7.00/mo box and programming, no contract, no equipment fee. Current DTV customers pay $299 + $24.95 shipping + potential install fee. Then there is a two year contract. And you pay $10-$15/mo for the access. And two years down the road my DTV equipment is out-of-date (witness mpeg4) and I have to start over again. When I rent my gear from the cable company, I just bring it back and exchange - nothing out of pocket. Hopefully this comment won't stir a hornet's nest, but I just don't understand it.

Hi Comcaster, welcome to the discussion.

Can you comment on the general confusion about CableCard installation and billing for the new Tivo S3 and THD DVRs that seems to be so common across the country?

In this thread, many comment on how Comcast has incorrectly billed customers for CableCards. Most attempts to resolve the billing error requires several phone calls, sometimes every month. Some customers have just given up and accept the billing errors.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=368831

thanks for your comments here at AVS.

Hi Comcaster, welcome to the discussion.

Can you comment on the general confusion about CableCard installation and billing for the new Tivo S3 and THD DVRs that seems to be so common across the country?

In this thread, many comment on how Comcast has incorrectly billed customers for CableCards. Most attempts to resolve the billing error requires several phone calls, sometimes every month. Some customers have just given up and accept the billing errors.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=368831

thanks for your comments here at AVS.
Well, no one should accept billing errors...keep talking to the supervisor of the person you are talking to until you get satisfaction.

You are correct, there is quite a bit of confusion. I think it was caused by three things happening at once - surprise, ownership and scale.
- Surprise: Very few front line folks knew this box was coming out until it showed up on the shelves, then it was a scramble to understand it. Add in that it has two cable card slots and everyone is trying to understand how to tie two cable cards to one piece of CPE. The billing systems were not happy as it is like no other.
- Ownership: Since the equipment is a TiVO box, there is no demo box or test lab for call center agents to play with or test the box. All other equipment sits at the call centers where agents can poke it, test it and drive it right with you on the phone. That is not the case with this box - I would guess that a majority of folks have never seen one (and many have never heard of it, see below).
- Scale: With a WAG of 3 million digital STBs going into cable homes each month, the TiVO box at probably 5k deployed (maybe) is difficult to keep track of - a bit like a square peg on a round peg assembly line.
The good news is that the industry will get there...and folks that have an issue just need to keep working for those answers and take heart in the fact that they are the cool early adopters. :-)

So what is the correct billing amount in Colo Spgs for two SA CCards? I see prices all over the map from first one free + $1.50 to 2 x $10. Also when will MCards be available in CS?

TIA

How much does getting a cable card cost in Southern Colorado on Comcast? It is the same as if you get a digital STB...so assuming you have some level of digital cable:

First STB or Cable Card on your account is $0.00/mo
Total of two (2) STB's and/or Cable Card's on your account is $6.95/mo
Total of Three (3) STB's and/or Cable Card's on your account is $9.95/mo
Total of Four (4) STB's and/or Cable Card's on your account is $14.95/mo
Total of five (5) STB's and/or Cable Card's on your account is $19.95/mo
Total of Six (6) STB's and/or Cable Card's on your account is $24.95/mo

Hope that helps!

Thanks Comcaster, so with my two Tivos @ 2 cards each, cost would be $14.95. Seems expensive to me. I'll stick to OTA. Any ETA on Mcards for CS. Once the S3 accepts an mcard, I could opt for one for $0.00.

I also do not fully understand the pricing above, with + $3 charged to go from 2 to 3 Ccards, and + $5 is charged to go from 3 to 4, 4 to 5, 5-6. This seems odd.

RockyMountainD, please report back when you are billed to let us know if these prices apply.

Thanks Comcaster, so with my two Tivos @ 2 cards each, cost would be $14.95. Seems expensive to me. I'll stick to OTA. Any ETA on Mcards for CS. Once the S3 accepts an mcard, I could opt for one for $0.00.


DirectTV charges me $5 for each receiver whether or not its a TIVO dual tuner or a simple single tuner. I'd think it be better for Comcast to charge $5 per device such as a S3 TIVO whether or not it has a single card or multiple cards.

What does one pay for an S3 and for getting the schedule/channel guide data these days (i.e. TIVO subscription if it still exists)?

Russ

Thanks Comcaster, so with my two Tivos @ 2 cards each, cost would be $14.95. Seems expensive to me. I'll stick to OTA. Any ETA on Mcards for CS. Once the S3 accepts an mcard, I could opt for one for $0.00.

RockyMountainD, please report back when you are billed to let us know if these prices apply.

I did get charged an extra $9.95:

Digital Additional Pkg 9.95
Includes: Digital Additional Service On 2
Digital Converters And 2 Remotes.

I called CS and explained I didn't have 2 converters and 2 remotes. The rep was friendly, but clueless. He spoke to his supervisor and assured me that I'd be credited for the $9.95 going forward. I'm hoping this is a billing modifier used for cable card customers, where the base billing system has to charge, but then another job comes by and credits. Sloppy, but it works and it takes care of the issue until the main billing software can be modified.


--> This is already taking shape. As of July 31st, cable companies were required to ship only STBs that have removable security. Therefore all NEW boxes deployed have a cable card in them. Without the FCC ruling, the STB universe is starting to go retail anyway. Witness the new TiVO HD/DVR available at BB and CC. You buy the cable box and 'rent' the cable card for access control. Also true with many HDTVs available. Unfortunately, we are still in one-way cable card land....meaning no VOD - the killer cable app. Two way cable cards should be out in mass soon.

I can't speak to the reasons the FCC wanted the ruling or why the cable co's do or don't want the ruling

Competition...makes everything better :)

but I can make the following argument over renting your equipment: comcast HD is $7.00/mo box and programming, no contract, no equipment fee. Current DTV customers pay $299 + $24.95 shipping + potential install fee. Then there is a two year contract. And you pay $10-$15/mo for the access. And two years down the road my DTV equipment is out-of-date (witness mpeg4) and I have to start over again. When I rent my gear from the cable company, I just bring it back and exchange - nothing out of pocket. Hopefully this comment won't stir a hornet's nest, but I just don't understand it.

Definitely pros to leasing. No upfront money & no repair costs. No worries about the equipment being compatible with new features.

Of course, you're locked in to whatever hardware/software the cable company is using & you pay a higher monthly fee. You get no advanced DVR features such as transferring to PCs, other DVRs or portable devices, no online scheduling, no expandability of storage via external HDD, etc. And to be honest, iGuide is the worst DVR interface I've ever used.

I have a leased 6412 & a purchased TiVO HD so I can praise and/or rag on both :)

DirectTV charges me $5 for each receiver whether or not its a TIVO dual tuner or a simple single tuner. I'd think it be better for Comcast to charge $5 per device such as a S3 TIVO whether or not it has a single card or multiple cards.

What does one pay for an S3 and for getting the schedule/channel guide data these days (i.e. TIVO subscription if it still exists)?

Russ

The TiVO HD is $260 or so. You can pay anywhere from $8/month to $17/month for the service (depending on how long you want to commit) + $1.50/month for the cable cards.

+ $1.50/month for the cable cards.
except that +$1.50/mo is not what was quoted above. You also have billing errors to resolve, which seems to be the norm for ALL Comcast customer that request/install cable cards.

DirectTV charges me $5 for each receiver whether or not its a TIVO dual tuner or a simple single tuner. I'd think it be better for Comcast to charge $5 per device such as a S3 TIVO whether or not it has a single card or multiple cards.

The difference is with a Tivo S3/HD you buy the HW and pay a Tivo Sub fee, whereas with D*, they supply/subsidize the HW. $5 seems more reasonable with D*. $5 seems high for just a few CCs IMO, given the purchase price of the Tivo and additional sub fee.

except that +$1.50/mo is not what was quoted above. You also have billing errors to resolve, which seems to be the norm for ALL Comcast customer that request/install cable cards.

I was just quoting what it would cost above and beyond what you're already paying for digital cable.

And yes, you definitely pay with your time once the bills hit ;)

Hi,

I'm in Monument, and as of two weeks ago I can't get NBC on ATSC 5.1. I looked on Antennaweb and it indicates that the orientation is the same as always. It's the same as all the other digital stations. I used to get it NBC fine. No changes in my setup. Anyone else have problems? Any solutions?

Thanks. BrianinColorado

I live near Monument and recorded all the NBC prime time stuff just fine last night. What was/is your signal strength?

My signal strength is at 44%. Not sure what that means. All the other channels come in perfectly.

44% is not enough to get a signal lock. I suspect something went wrong with your system, check your ant direction, coax connections, pre-amp (if you have one). etc.

What ATSC tuner are you using? Can you try another tuner?

Hi,

I'm in Monument, and as of two weeks ago I can't get NBC on ATSC 5.1. I looked on Antennaweb and it indicates that the orientation is the same as always. It's the same as all the other digital stations. I used to get it NBC fine. No changes in my setup. Anyone else have problems? Any solutions?

Thanks. BrianinColorado

I've also been having more trouble staying locked on KOAA 5-1 here in Gleneagle the past month, and it was fine for several months before that. Now I get about 95% of the show recorded, and major macroblocking otherwise, with no change to my antenna, preamp, amp, or DVRs. I wonder if they've either tweaked the power level or the primary tower broadcast direction away from us poor suckers to the north. I think each house can be a unique situation depending on terrain, houses in the way, multipath, type of antenna, or whatever... But it is starting to drive me crazy...

I just checked my signal strength (S3 TIvo) and it's 92-94% for KOAA, 10 PM Tuesday.

The other weird thing is that all of the sudden I've been having intermittent problems with other channels that used to be rock solid too. So maybe my preamp or amp died, or a mouse in the attic threw off the orientation of the antenna... argh

On the other hand, I know CDB in these forums lives in Gleneagle on a large hill with a clear view, and he has more trouble than me getting 5-1 with a big antenna...so I just don't get it.

Is there any way to get a comprehensive list of QAM clear signal channels, and their paramaters?

I have a mythtv box, and I have a QAM receiver. I am able to receive all the clear/unencrypted digital channels, but configuring the channels was a pain in the rear, because Comcast doesn't seem to want to transmit any EIT data or channel data on the QAM signal. And now, it appears that sometime in the last week everything changed?

Have the clear/unencrypted QAM channels all gone encrypted? Or did they get moved around?

I just want to ask, before I go in and spend several more hours trying to figure out why my mythtv box doesn't see the Digital AE channel anymore. I was starting to like the SD version of 24 over the analog version.

Tallguy and the rest with signal strength/reception problems,

I suspect the only realy way to find out what is going requires some sophisticated (expensive) test equipment like a Vector Network Analyzer and Spectrum Analyzer. There might be something more exotic than these two valuable tools tailored to video/Radio Frequency transmission testing used by industry. Unfortunately, the cost to own one is probably high. I wonder though, what if a group of us got together and rented one for a month or so going around doing some tests at affected locations. Hmmmm

Is there any way to get a comprehensive list of QAM clear signal channels, and their paramaters?

I have a mythtv box, and I have a QAM receiver. I am able to receive all the clear/unencrypted digital channels, but configuring the channels was a pain in the rear, because Comcast doesn't seem to want to transmit any EIT data or channel data on the QAM signal. And now, it appears that sometime in the last week everything changed?

Have the clear/unencrypted QAM channels all gone encrypted? Or did they get moved around?

I just want to ask, before I go in and spend several more hours trying to figure out why my mythtv box doesn't see the Digital AE channel anymore. I was starting to like the SD version of 24 over the analog version.

WOW...This is exactly what I have been doing and looking for. I have a Myth box with a QAM/HD tuner. It works with the QAM channels and local HD channels.

Apparently even comcast doesn't know whats on QAM. They seem to not even know what QAM is when I talk to them. I'd love to get a listing.

From what I am seeing some channels have moved while others are still there. Comedy Central, ESPN and VH1 have moved while DISC and HIST are there. I'm sure there are more but like you I don't have all day to hunt for these channels.

I'd love to compare notes. I've got about 40ish channels mapped in Myth but never finished when they started to move. Seemed like a wast of time. The local channels used to have channel info in them as well like KRDO-HD but now I have to manually tune everything and edit Myth accordingly.

I'm still looking and if I hear anything I add it here. As long as I can still capture my NASCAR, as I never seem to be here, I'm happy.

A friend on mine has an HDHomerun tuner and has the same problems as I do.

Anyone in the Springs have a SONY KDP-51WS5500 Rear Projection TV and Comcast? Mine doesn't tune QAM even though Sony says it will and documentation says is has a QAM tuner.

Any thoughts?

Anyone in the Springs have a SONY KDP-51WS5500 Rear Projection TV and Comcast? Mine doesn't tune QAM even though Sony says it will and documentation says is has a QAM tuner.

Any thoughts?

Odd, my KDFE42A10 picks 'em up fine.

Anybody run a scan recently? Can't seem to find TBS, Disc or ESPN in HD... everything else is coming in just fine. :confused:

A customer service rep will generally not know what a QAM is. It's like asking a United reservations agent what a gyroscope is. Yes, it is critical to flying the airplane, but 99% of customers don't know and don't care. QAM assignments change as bandwidth needs change. I've never heard of them being published.

FYI, I called Comcast today to ask them to switch me to the ADS map so I would get Analog / Digital Simulcasting. The second person I talked to went away for a while, and came back and said I already had it. I quizzed her on what she meant and it seemed like she understood what I was asking for.

So, I went and checked Hardware Diagnostics Menu > Tuner Information on my Moxi and the State read "Digital Locked" rather than "Analog Locked".

So it would appear that some of us have already been updated to the ADS map automatically, and you may not need to call after all.

Guy

WOW...This is exactly what I have been doing and looking for. I have a Myth box with a QAM/HD tuner. It works with the QAM channels and local HD channels.

Apparently even comcast doesn't know whats on QAM. They seem to not even know what QAM is when I talk to them. I'd love to get a listing.

From what I am seeing some channels have moved while others are still there. Comedy Central, ESPN and VH1 have moved while DISC and HIST are there. I'm sure there are more but like you I don't have all day to hunt for these channels.

I'd love to compare notes. I've got about 40ish channels mapped in Myth but never finished when they started to move. Seemed like a wast of time. The local channels used to have channel info in them as well like KRDO-HD but now I have to manually tune everything and edit Myth accordingly.

I'm still looking and if I hear anything I add it here. As long as I can still capture my NASCAR, as I never seem to be here, I'm happy.

A friend on mine has an HDHomerun tuner and has the same problems as I do.

Thanks for the info.

I did some more investigating over the weekend, and the main channel that I have noticed missing is A&E, which is a bummer, because I was hoping to get the SD versions of 24. Oh well, back to analog.

I have found 2 ways to analyze channels. One of them seems to be intermittent, and I need to figure out why, if I can.

Anyway, I have a windows machine where I have TSReader Lite. There was a period of time where I could use azap to tune in a multiplex. Then, on the same box, I could use 'dvbstream 8192' to push the TS stream out via multicast rtp. Then on my windows box, I could use the MulticastRTP client of TSReader Lite to scan and analyze the Transport stream. That worked pretty nicely, and it would give mini-pictures of each channel. If you also have VLC installed, then you could double click a channel, and watch it via VLC.

Unfortunately, for some reason, my windows box isn't seeing the UDP streams any more. I'm not sure what the problem is. I thought it might be the network card I put into my mythtv box, but I have another linux box that can see the multicast stream.

Which leads to the other way to investigate the streams. Do the same thing on the myth box with the DVB card. But on a linux/windows box, run VLC and set it up to receive a multicast stream by "Open a Network Stream". Then select UDP/RTP Multicast, put in the dvbstream output, which is 224.0.1.2 / 5004 by default. This is slightly more cumbersome, because to select channels, you have to go to the Video Menu, and select each program/service id to investigate it. TSReader makes it much quicker, as you don't have to select each channel individually. It also shows which channels are encrypted very quickly.

If you like, I can dump my channel output. It's fairly similar to the one shown before, but I think I identified a couple of extras. For instance, where he has Jetix, it's actually TOOND.

Any Avs fans out there? Nice to see that DirecTV is giving us the Altitude HD feed tonight on channel 95 for the Colorado-Calgary game in HD. I knew last season they always put on the Avs or Nuggets games on 95 on the MPEG-4 satellite for the Denver market, but not Colorado Springs for some reason. At first tonight, I was thinking they were going to do this for us for all Avs or Nuggets games here in the COS market this year in MPEG-4, but now that I see it's on my MPEG-2 HD-TiVo also, it may just be a one-time thing, since we know they don't have much extra capacity on the old MPEG-2 satellites. Anyway, tied up 4-4 after 2 periods.

I'm hoping the full-time Altitude HD channel starts up soon on the D* MPEG-4 satellite for the Nuggets regular season. It is on the list to be added this fall, and they have started adding regional sports networks in the last few weeks. Sports in standard definition should be pretty much gone for me for good...

FYI - Comcast will add NFL Network in HD around 11/19 in colorado springs and pueblo

FYI - Comcast will add NFL Network in HD around 11/19 in colorado springs and pueblo

Excellent news!

Thanks

This thread is starting to look like a Comcast love fest :rolleyes:. I am on D* and now have so many HD channels it’s hard to decide what to watch. The MPEG4 PQ is great and more HD channels still to come. Some of the new channels are not HD all the time but improving daily. As yet, no HD locals for CS, but I get them OTA via my Sat box. I could be wrong but IMHO it will be hard for Comcast to match the quantity and quality of D*’s HD programming at this point. :)

I don’t know what happened to 8-1 but it has been black for days now.

...it will be hard for Comcast to match the quantity and quality of D*’s HD programming at this point...

HDLite?

;) just kidding...

Has anyone had a chance to sample the new MPEG-4 streams for bitrate?

The other weird thing is that all of the sudden I've been having intermittent problems with other channels that used to be rock solid too.
I've also started having issues with other local OTA channels that I used to get just fine.

[QUOTE=Snuffy101;11931764] IMHO it will be hard for Comcast to match the quantity and quality of D*’s HD programming at this point. :)

Snuffy - As someone that has worked for both satellite (Directv) and cable companies directly, I'm just gonna have to respond....

Quantity:
Directv, after promising 150 HD channels has now launched "72" <-- please note the quotation marks. Of those "72":

- 5 are time shifted feeds of the same channel. I assume you have a DVR which means these are wasted/fake channels
- 9 are regional sports nets that will black out anything professional (which is what is being filmed in HD) unless you live there (and if you are in Southern Colorado, you don't).
- 8 are PPV
- 8 are Local in HD which are not available in Southern Colorado.
- 2 are channels that are merged into one everywhere else to maximize actual HD content (Vs./Golf).

So now we are down to 40 channels by my count. We could argue about the amount of actual HD on these remaining channels, but that discussion has been held elsewhere.

On the Comcast side in Southern Colorado there are currently 20 HD channels. Considering Directv had 11 HD channels last week, but just now has added more only means they have more this week. Next week, next month or perhaps early next year who will have more? The technology and capacity is there to do whatever is wanted. The feature that makes a winner is Video ONDEMAND where there are more than 220 things to watch in pure HD whenever you want to (going to over 400 soon). That is over 9 days of HD viewing if you did it back-to-back 24hours a day....and 25% of the content is shifted out every week. Bottom line, there is always something you want to watch in HD (and a majority of it is included in the service with no extra fee). One way satellite technology can't do this. I think it may be important to shift the conversation from old-school linear thinking to content/assets or titles because that is what we are really talking about....and Comcast has over 240 assets in your TV right now, at this very moment while DTV's linear technology is limited to less than 40 (considering many of the channels have a majority of programming in either stretch-vision or just upconverted).

Now on to your next statement, which is one of picture quality. Directv has advertised that they have the best SD picture quality. If you had not noticed, that claim is no longer in their ads...why? Because they got sued and lost and had to remove those statements. On the HD picture quality side, Comcast has claimed that it has the best HD picture quality through an independent study. Comcast was also sued...but Comcast won...and the statement stands.

Bottom line is that there is a lot of hype out there. Directv has done a good job with their advertising essentially positioning a service that everyone has as something Directv owns (the same formula they use with sports).

IMHO...well that's a stretch, probably just IMO :)

...So now we are down to 40 channels by my count. We could argue about the amount of actual HD on these remaining channels, but that discussion has been held elsewhere...

I think I counted 30 HD channels on D* not on Comcast, only 24 if you don't count the premium movie channels multiple times (Starz Comedy, Starz Edge, Showtime Too, etc.). Of those 30, the only ones I really want are NFL and SciFi (wouldn't mind the Discovery suite though).

Comcast, OTOH, has the locals & HD VOD (although I'm not interested in all 240 HD VOD choices just like I'm not interested in CNBC HD, Food HD, Fuel HD, etc. on D*).

Seems like it's a matter of personal preference, and you really can't loose. More channels on D*, but not necessarily more programming worth watching. Fewer channels on Comcast, but a decent selection of HD VOD and you don't have to worry about the signal strength of the locals.

I'm just glad to see more choices for us HD-junkies. Period.

For those having problems pulling HD OTA, word is that they are building a new tower on Cheyenne Mtn. When they get to certain stages of construction, all of the broadcasters are required to lower their power by 1/2 (or more) so it is safer for the construction workers (cancer is a bad thing). Not sure when they will be done with construction, but that is why the signal has been weak.

OK Comcaster, IMO your previous post #5193 crossed the line of providing information to full blown marketing. if you want to retain any credibility here I suggest you stick to providing info only.

BTW, of the current 20 CC HD channels offered (5 of which I can get free OTA), I have mild interest in about 4 of them. VOD, sports, premiums are not my thing. Yes, I know I am in the minority here. Oh and where the heck are HDNet and HDNet movies on CC? When I was a D* sub, these were two HD channels I actually watched.

OK Comcaster, IMO your previous post #5193 crossed the line of providing information to full blown marketing. if you want to retain any credibility here I suggest you stick to providing info only.


baloney, nothing wrong with him stating his opnion, this is a public forum after all.

he is VERY credible in my eyes.

baloney, nothing wrong with him stating his opnion, this is a public forum after all.

he is VERY credible in my eyes.

Yeah, I'm sure many here will share your opinion. No problem. I'll crawl under my OTA rock for a while. :cool:

[QUOTE=Rmassey;11938327]OK Comcaster, IMO your previous post #5193 crossed the line of providing information to full blown marketing. if you want to retain any credibility here I suggest you stick to providing info only.
QUOTE]

I was probably too much of a blow hard in that post. Sorry about that. I will tone my bias down a couple of notches.

Thanks for the info.

I did some more investigating over the weekend, and the main channel that I have noticed missing is A&E, which is a bummer, because I was hoping to get the SD versions of 24. Oh well, back to analog.

I have found 2 ways to analyze channels. One of them seems to be intermittent, and I need to figure out why, if I can.

Anyway, I have a windows machine where I have TSReader Lite. There was a period of time where I could use azap to tune in a multiplex. Then, on the same box, I could use 'dvbstream 8192' to push the TS stream out via multicast rtp. Then on my windows box, I could use the MulticastRTP client of TSReader Lite to scan and analyze the Transport stream. That worked pretty nicely, and it would give mini-pictures of each channel. If you also have VLC installed, then you could double click a channel, and watch it via VLC.

Unfortunately, for some reason, my windows box isn't seeing the UDP streams any more. I'm not sure what the problem is. I thought it might be the network card I put into my mythtv box, but I have another linux box that can see the multicast stream.

Which leads to the other way to investigate the streams. Do the same thing on the myth box with the DVB card. But on a linux/windows box, run VLC and set it up to receive a multicast stream by "Open a Network Stream". Then select UDP/RTP Multicast, put in the dvbstream output, which is 224.0.1.2 / 5004 by default. This is slightly more cumbersome, because to select channels, you have to go to the Video Menu, and select each program/service id to investigate it. TSReader makes it much quicker, as you don't have to select each channel individually. It also shows which channels are encrypted very quickly.

If you like, I can dump my channel output. It's fairly similar to the one shown before, but I think I identified a couple of extras. For instance, where he has Jetix, it's actually TOOND.

Sure...I'd be curious to see what you have. I'm confused about the TSReader parts. Are you saying that there is channel information in the stream somewhere just need a program to read it? I'll do some research and see. My only QAM tuner is on my Linux machine so I'll need a Linux tool if one exists...

For those having problems pulling HD OTA, word is that they are building a new tower on Cheyenne Mtn. When they get to certain stages of construction, all of the broadcasters are required to lower their power by 1/2 (or more) so it is safer for the construction workers (cancer is a bad thing). Not sure when they will be done with construction, but that is why the signal has been weak.
That is very interesting. I wonder if they can turn it up in the evenings, or are they already, when there is no construction going on. I'll be glad when these breakups stop, and it's good to know it's probably temporary. Do you know what station is building the new tower?

OK Comcaster, IMO your previous post #5193 crossed the line of providing information to full blown marketing. if you want to retain any credibility here I suggest you stick to providing info only.Ditto! :D

I think Comcaster has been a great asset and I really appreciate the information he has provided.

The bigger issues when it comes to DirecTV vs Comcast in Colorado Springs is the rollout factor. We're the 100th largest market in the country and most of the time will be last man on the deal team.

DirecTV's huge advantage over Comcast and specifically CS Comcast is rollout. They can roll out everything at once.

DirecTV HD Link (if the forum would let me)

I have to say, its very impressive lineup especially with the other HD channels "planned" for by this winter (I'm sure that means by March 21st, 2008), but still...

If there wasn't a chance that we'd be moving, I'd probably consider a switch to DirecTV now.

However, the great thing about this is that Comcast will have to work their asses off now to catch up. DirecTV just blew past them. I know Comcaster will tells us that things are coming, but for most people its all about the now.

I'm sure Comcast New England and Philly areas will have a lot of channels added in the next 75 days, but us folk in Southern Colorado are probably in for a wait.

TC

to put the comcastor thing into perspective, if one were to question your own vocation, ask yourself if you would stand idly by?

if somebody were to make a comment that dell is better than the worlds #1 technology company, for which i'm employed and with facilities in southern colorado, i for one would defend my loyalties as well.

for those who have been on this board for years, it is obvious that the two who have spoken out over this situation have always been opinionated and arguably somewhat biased.

now on a similiar note, if comcast doesn't begin to add some hd content soon, well, d* here i come... :)

I don't mind Comcaster's point of view. If he beat that drum every day, then it would get old, but once it a while it's fine to say what you really think about an issue like that.

For instance, I'm glad D* has all these new channels and hopefully more to come... I'm also thankful for my Comcast high-speed cable internet...

Good night all...

for those who have been on this board for years, it is obvious that the two who have spoken out over this situation have always been opinionated and arguably somewhat biased.


Nice, thanks for the personal attacks, eddie - way to go.

I said it politely, Snuffy agreed, Comcaster acknowledged it, enough said. Need we go on?

As of Sunday morning I am able to get KXRM on my HTPC again. I don't know if they've returned to full power, but let's hope so.

KXRM - I'm getting 27-29.7 dbs here which is as good as ever. I hope it's not just for Sunday because there's no tower construction nearby today - hopefully they're done up on the mountain for good. I was getting concerned that I'd be watching the Rockies in the World Series with my HD breaking up all over the place, so I hope they're full power again. Maybe KKTVBob knows if all the stations have been permitted to resume full power.

KOAA's 5-1 signal was really weak here tonight. The old HR10 HD-TiVo couldn't lock onto a signal and only recorded about 20 minutes of the Broncos game. The newer HR20 could get a signal for most of the game, with short breakups every couple minutes, except it couldn't find the signal at all for the last minutes of the 4th quarter and we didn't see anything after the Daniel Graham catch was challenged. The computer HD tuner is getting KOAA at 18-20db instead of its normal 22-25 so apparently they're still doing the low power thing. A couple nights ago, both DVRs recorded The Office just fine, so something changed (nothing with my setup though). This is getting annoying...let's get back to full power soon.

On the other hand, the Broncos beat a good team, and the Rockies are going to the World Series, so life is good...

KOAA's 5-1 signal was really weak here tonight. The old HR10 HD-TiVo couldn't lock onto a signal and only recorded about 20 minutes of the Broncos game. The newer HR20 could get a signal for most of the game, with short breakups every couple minutes, except it couldn't find the signal at all for the last minutes of the 4th quarter and we didn't see anything after the Daniel Graham catch was challenged. The computer HD tuner is getting KOAA at 18-20db instead of its normal 22-25 so apparently they're still doing the low power thing. A couple nights ago, both DVRs recorded The Office just fine, so something changed (nothing with my setup though). This is getting annoying...let's get back to full power soon.

On the other hand, the Broncos beat a good team, and the Rockies are going to the World Series, so life is good...Do you think is possible that wet snow accumulation on their transmitting antennas has caused signal degradation? I don’t know if that’s possible but I know it sure messed up my reception via the D* dish until I swept it off. Another reason not to mount your dish on the roof.

MY OTA reception of NBC was flawless but FOX was terrible throughout. I live in a strong signal area, 14 mi. LOS from the towers.

Do you think is possible that wet snow accumulation on their transmitting antennas has caused signal degradation?
Possibly. I do know that last year, many of my signals from Denver were disruppted by the heavy snows up here. All that I can think of is that the accumulation on the trees blocked the signals. In the spring when the snow melted, the signals were restored. Then of course, it could also be reflections off of the snow!
MY OTA reception of NBC was flawless but FOX was terrible throughout. I live in a strong signal area, 14 mi. LOS from the towers.
I am now inside the city of WP, and yesterday, Fox, NBC & CBS all had good signals at my location.

Good thing CBS isn't broadcasting the World Series......you know if there was a trickle of drizzle out in places like Campo, Colorado they'd have to have the weather crawler up and ruin our games :p

Any one out there own a Dish 622 that either watched and or recorded Bones tonight. The reason I ask is that when I went to watch Bones from the recording I have no sound. Great picture in HD just no sound. Was not sure if this is just my issue or if others experienced it as well.

If you were doing OTA, I have noticed that Fox digital 21.1 has had audio problems as far back as Sun. for football. Right now Wed. 11:45 there is no audio 0n 21.1 but there is on 21.0. I do not watch Bones so really can not say for sure. I do have a 622.

I recorded and watched Bones OTA on my DTV HR10-250 TiVo. It was perfect so it wasn't the source.

I don’t normally watch the 10:00 news on KOAA-DT 5-1, but last night, I did and the studio PQ looked very good (OTA). Although still 4:3 with their blue curtains, I think the best of the local broadcasters. They must have upgraded some equipment. Anyone else notice this?

PS. "Bones" was great on 21-1 and so was the DD 5.1 audio, OTA.

No audio on 21 for the World Series? WTF!

Cheyenne mtn tower construction should be done in a week or so. Powering down to 30% during day, full power at night.

No audio on 21 for the World Series? WTF!
We had audio on 21-1 the whole time, but they showed a horror movie by mistake.

Oh well, if we hadn't lost 13-1, we would have lost 2-1 the way Beckett was pitching tonight.

Cheyenne mtn tower construction should be done in a week or so. Powering down to 30% during day, full power at night.

Good to know. For whatever reason, I'm getting KOAA 5-1 a couple of db's stronger tonight than previous nights, at 21-23 db, which is enough for the TiVo to lock in the signal.

Any one out there own a Dish 622 that either watched and or recorded Bones tonight. The reason I ask is that when I went to watch Bones from the recording I have no sound. Great picture in HD just no sound. Was not sure if this is just my issue or if others experienced it as well.

So it happened again last night for the Wrold Series. Before World Series started I had no audio. Did a power down and power back up and audio was fixed. Watched up to the 4th inning and all was good. Watched some recorded shows until about 10:30. Came back to Fox OTA HD and had no sound again. This time it was back to SD on the digital channel but no sound. Did another power down and power up but did not fix it this time. Any ideas.

Yes, I experienced exactly the same thing. Was recording w/o sound. Had to power-cycle to get it to return (during World Series on 10/25). Same thing this morning, turned on, and only SD channels had sound. Had to power-cycle twice to get it back this time. I suspect Dish downloaded new firmware that broke something with Local-HD & Sound.

A few weeks ago, I had somthing similar with OTA reception on my D* H20, where the audio went away. I found it was the DD 5.1 that was at fault. I turned 5.1 off and the sound returned. I could be comparing apples and prunes, though.;)

So it happened again last night for the Wrold Series. Before World Series started I had no audio. Did a power down and power back up and audio was fixed. Watched up to the 4th inning and all was good. Watched some recorded shows until about 10:30. Came back to Fox OTA HD and had no sound again. This time it was back to SD on the digital channel but no sound. Did another power down and power up but did not fix it this time. Any ideas.

Yeah I have a Dish 622 and have had the same thing happen with KXRM a couple of times and had to power down the system. I thought it was just my DVR all screwed up until I read about it here.

Any one out there own a Dish 622 that either watched and or recorded Bones tonight. The reason I ask is that when I went to watch Bones from the recording I have no sound. Great picture in HD just no sound. Was not sure if this is just my issue or if others experienced it as well.

Yes, I am having the same problem, which is why I asked about no sound for the World Series on channel 21. It's not 21, it's the 622. (and 722's)
Apparently Dish has DL'd a new software upgrade(?!) to our 622's (L446) that has things screwed up for OTA audio.
See www.satelliteguys.us DishHD section for a thread about this. http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-hd-discussions/111936-i-think-l446-broke-my-ota-audio.html

Call Dish tech support and let them know they need to fix this!

Hi Comcaster,
Friday night while attempting to watch Video on Demand, kept getting error messages and very slow response to commands through the cable box. Could it be that there is too much downstream (or upstream) demand for cable bandwidth from other users that caused this problem? And where would the saturation occur? Are there ultrahigh bandwidth fiber trunk cables around town with coaxial cable branches in the neighborhoods? If so I can only presume the saturation is occuring "locally" on the distribution branches and not on trunks. Is that a fair statement? If so, can additional capacity be added to prevent this from occuring (or at least minimizing it)? Or is cable run like telephone service where a certain percentage of blocked calls (using an Erlang B formula for example) is allowed as a trade-off against overbuilding capacity that is rarely used and providing little revenue. Thanks for your thoughts.

Cheers.

Satcom15 - Many things could be causing the delay. Did you perhaps notice the error message? This will help define what specifically happened for you. Looking for something like "Meta6" or "SRM8000"....did you notice?

Hi Comaster,
Thank you for the response. There were actually several types of error messages. One was a greneric message something like: "Can't access On Demand Service, Try again later or call Comcast, 1-800 COMCAST." Then there were a couple of error messages with codes. There was a Meta 6 error message and one that I think said Error code CC-FM. I'm afraid I didn't document them. I did call Comcast around 8PM. The representative sent a reset command to the box which cleared things up for a few minutes. Next pause (we were interrupted so were pausing and watching the PPV movie), the same type of problem popped up. Its worth noting that errors and inability to connect were occuring around 7-8PM Friday night, no doubt very busy On Demand Service periods. After 8:30 everything worked fine. Thanks again for your thoughts. Hope you had a great weekend.

Cheers.

So it happened again last night for the Wrold Series. Before World Series started I had no audio. Did a power down and power back up and audio was fixed. Watched up to the 4th inning and all was good. Watched some recorded shows until about 10:30. Came back to Fox OTA HD and had no sound again. This time it was back to SD on the digital channel but no sound. Did another power down and power up but did not fix it this time. Any ideas.

So it happened again on Sunday while watching football and NASCAR. Football on 21 and Nascar on 13. it appears tied to watching another OTA channel then changing channels to Fox. The reason I think this is becuase when it happened to me, I switched to a regular sat channel (like USA) then back to fox and it was fixed. It happened a couple of other times during the world series and I would change channels to USA and back to fox and it worked everytime. I have not had a chance to call Dish tech yet. Planning on doing that tonight, but wanted all to know what has worked for me.

Comcaster,

Ever since I traded in my DCT 6412 boxes for DCH 3416s, I've been getting the "green screen" HDCP problem that plagued earlier versions of the firmware (prior to 16.35).

I get the error, intermittently, on both boxes. Both are connected via HDMI; one to a 1 year old Samsung DLP and one to a year old LG LCD. The 6412s never had the issue.

Current fw version is 18.21. Seems like 18.35 might have fixed the problem. Do you know if the Springs is scheduled to upgrade anytime soon?

Thanks.

So it happened again on Sunday while watching football and NASCAR. Football on 21 and Nascar on 13. it appears tied to watching another OTA channel then changing channels to Fox. The reason I think this is becuase when it happened to me, I switched to a regular sat channel (like USA) then back to fox and it was fixed. It happened a couple of other times during the world series and I would change channels to USA and back to fox and it worked everytime. I have not had a chance to call Dish tech yet. Planning on doing that tonight, but wanted all to know what has worked for me.

I found a thread on satelliteguys.us, but can't post the url since I'm under three posts. But, some of the posters there say it's the latest software update, and when they've called customer service, they get a canned response that "Dish is aware of the problem and plan on releasing an update next week."

I found a thread on satelliteguys.us, but can't post the url since I'm under three posts. But, some of the posters there say it's the latest software update, and when they've called customer service, they get a canned response that "Dish is aware of the problem and plan on releasing an update next week."

Here's the url:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-hd-discussions/111936-i-think-l446-broke-my-ota-audio-16.html

Hi Comaster,
Thank you for the response. There were actually several types of error messages. One was a greneric message something like: "Can't access On Demand Service, Try again later or call Comcast, 1-800 COMCAST." Then there were a couple of error messages with codes. There was a Meta 6 error message and one that I think said Error code CC-FM. I'm afraid I didn't document them. I did call Comcast around 8PM. The representative sent a reset command to the box which cleared things up for a few minutes. Next pause (we were interrupted so were pausing and watching the PPV movie), the same type of problem popped up. Its worth noting that errors and inability to connect were occuring around 7-8PM Friday night, no doubt very busy On Demand Service periods. After 8:30 everything worked fine. Thanks again for your thoughts. Hope you had a great weekend.

Cheers.

Sorry for the delay in response, but i wanted to find the source issue to the problem that you were having. It was a piece of equipment that started acting up last week in the headend. It is/was an intermittent equipment failure problem and a new piece of gear was ordered. So you should be good to go for the future. It is not a volume of service/bandwidth issue...big fat pipes are good.

For future reference fun, here is what some error codes mean (hopefully you wont get them, but if you do...):

Meta6 - STB cannot communicate with server software which won't let your STB transfer to the VOD platform for further communication. Essentially a packet problem. This can be caused by wiring or equipment failure.

SRM codes - STB got instructions where to pick up streams but cannot find that stream. This is usually a signal level at the box issue

CM-FF - caused by an error when vcr-like functions are being used. probably caused by a combination of above.

Comcaster,

Ever since I traded in my DCT 6412 boxes for DCH 3416s, I've been getting the "green screen" HDCP problem that plagued earlier versions of the firmware (prior to 16.35).

I get the error, intermittently, on both boxes. Both are connected via HDMI; one to a 1 year old Samsung DLP and one to a year old LG LCD. The 6412s never had the issue.

Current fw version is 18.21. Seems like 18.35 might have fixed the problem. Do you know if the Springs is scheduled to upgrade anytime soon?

Thanks.

I have not heard of this happening with the 34XX boxes. It sounds like you have the new separable security box...so you have a box that has been 'on-the-market' for only a couple of months. I have one as well and have not had any problems. I will check into this and see if i can find something for you.

I have not heard of this happening with the 34XX boxes. It sounds like you have the new separable security box...so you have a box that has been 'on-the-market' for only a couple of months. I have one as well and have not had any problems. I will check into this and see if i can find something for you.

Thanks.

Yes, the DCHs have the multi-stream cable card (locked behind a wire cage). Most other markets seem to be on firmware version 18.35, but I have 18.21. Wondering if it was a known issue that was addressed after 18.21.

The symptom (screen goes completely green) seems to be an HDMI/HDCP issue. I've noticed it occurring more frequently when the tuner I'm watching is on an HD channel and I start to watch an SD recording (ex: I'm tuned to Discovery HD Theater and start an SD recording of Dirty Jobs). Sometimes, I can exit the recording, tune to an SD channel, then resume the recording and all is well. Other times, once I've seen the green, everything's green and the only solution is to unplug the box :(

As you said, these are relatively new, so I'm not suprised there haven't been many other reported issues. I didn't notice one poster from Pittsburgh reported (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11808193#post11808193) it earlier this month. I've asked him what fw version he's on.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated as this is not only annoying, it's starting to upset the wife :)

Anybody notice that KOAA is broadcasting the HD signal to the analog channel?

Was watching TV in the bedroom on an analog TV and you can see in the bottom left corner the thingy that says NBC HD...and the pictures all weird likes.

Not to mention, their 5-1 OTA signal is dead... 0 db... not transmitting. No Steve Carell on the Tonight Show in HD for us...

This is interesting because HD is coming in fine (Comcast is connected directly to studio via fiber - no OTA), but the SD feed is pretending to be HD. Something must be going on at their uplink in Pueblo that is putting the HD feed on the SD channel....and then they are not getting the HD up to the OTA site somehow.

In reading old editions of the Gazette today, I thought I saw Andy Wineke say that The Amazing Race looked great this season in HD on his (pre-release) version of the season premiere. But it's not HD tonight...huge bummer...

I have not heard of this happening with the 34XX boxes. It sounds like you have the new separable security box...so you have a box that has been 'on-the-market' for only a couple of months. I have one as well and have not had any problems. I will check into this and see if i can find something for you.

Comcaster, I've been able to duplicate this issue at will now:

Tune to HD channel. Click My Dvr, go to list of recordings, select SD recording and play. On HDMI, I get a green screen. On component, I get a black screen. If I'm initially tuned to an SD channel though, no problem. This behavior occurs on both tuners.

Strangely enough, if I use the "last" button to exit the recording and again to go back to the recording, there is no problem. So toggling bewteen an HD channel and SD recording works fine. Weird.

Thanks.

Yesterdays Bronco game was a disaster, and maybe not worth watching, but why can't the folks at KKTV get their HD feed correct? It seems like everytime after a local commercial break, they come back and don't go to the HD feed. It happened yesterday after the end of the 3rd quarter. It took them about 10-minutes to realize it wasn't in HD. There has to be something that switches the feed to HD so we don't have to rely on a master control operator to make the switch. :(

Yesterdays Bronco game was a disaster, and maybe not worth watching, but why can't the folks at KKTV get their HD feed correct? It seems like everytime after a local commercial break, they come back and don't go to the HD feed. It happened yesterday after the end of the 3rd quarter. It took them about 10-minutes to realize it wasn't in HD. There has to be something that switches the feed to HD so we don't have to rely on a master control operator to make the switch. :(I have this mental picture of the KKTV SD/HD switching; A gum chewing 10 year old kid with his baseball hat on sideways, Ipod buds in his ears, and his hand on a big old knife switch like in the old Frankenstein movies.:rolleyes:

I hate that stupid HD logo that NBC added. Why do they keep messing with things. It's ugly.

Comcaster - which of the local stations are connected to Comcast directly without OTA? In these cases, does Comcast receive or send to customers a better signal than the compressed OTA MPEG-2 stream? Some of our HD stations are 10-12 Mbps on the main channel and some are 18.7 Mbps, which nearly the max that OTA can handle. I suppose cable could send a higher bandwidth signal if it was receiving one from the station, or could send lower bandwidth than OTA if it needed to save bits.

when comcaster mentioned the direct feed for nbc, i began to take notice of the signal quality, especially during SNF; fwiw, the game did seem to have less artifacts/more clarity then earlier games on fox and cbs.

when comcaster mentioned the direct feed for nbc, i began to take notice of the signal quality, especially during SNF; fwiw, the game did seem to have less artifacts/more clarity then earlier games on fox and cbs.

Plus, the game itself had a more favorable outcome :-)

Comcaster - which of the local stations are connected to Comcast directly without OTA? In these cases, does Comcast receive or send to customers a better signal than the compressed OTA MPEG-2 stream? Some of our HD stations are 10-12 Mbps on the main channel and some are 18.7 Mbps, which nearly the max that OTA can handle. I suppose cable could send a higher bandwidth signal if it was receiving one from the station, or could send lower bandwidth than OTA if it needed to save bits.

KOAA is fiber fed in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. KKTV is soon in Colorado Springs. It applies to not only the HD feed, but also the SD signal(s). If cheyenne mtn goes down, Comcast customers won't even know it. In terms of bandwidth, I don't know. I would assume full pipe, but I am not an expert.

Comcaster, I've been able to duplicate this issue at will now:

Tune to HD channel. Click My Dvr, go to list of recordings, select SD recording and play. On HDMI, I get a green screen. On component, I get a black screen. If I'm initially tuned to an SD channel though, no problem. This behavior occurs on both tuners.

Strangely enough, if I use the "last" button to exit the recording and again to go back to the recording, there is no problem. So toggling bewteen an HD channel and SD recording works fine. Weird.

Thanks.

Okay, hopefully a helpful answer will follow. I was unable to duplicate the issue you list above, but I perhaps can shed some light. The black screen is a 'no signal' in component mode, while a green screen is a 'no signal' in HDMI. So, your TV is losing signal, meaning nothing is transmitting, when you perform this function. Best guess is a firmware or hardware (tuner) issue that is not handing off to the recorded content at the right time.

Regarding your question on firmware. You are correct that colorado springs DCH boxes are running 18.21. You are also correct that other markets are running 18.35. All DCH's will likely be upgraded to 18.35 within the next 4 or so weeks. The update is bug fixes primarily - whether it will fix yours is unknown.

Recommendation: Replace your DVR. It's free. There is very little downside outside of the inconvenience of stopping at the local office and having to set up your recordings again. If you are not up for that, you could keep the box for the next month until you see the new firmware. If it fixes the problem, then you are golden. Otherwise, you can then replace the box.

Okay, hopefully a helpful answer will follow. I was unable to duplicate the issue you list above, but I perhaps can shed some light. The black screen is a 'no signal' in component mode, while a green screen is a 'no signal' in HDMI. So, your TV is losing signal, meaning nothing is transmitting, when you perform this function. Best guess is a firmware or hardware (tuner) issue that is not handing off to the recorded content at the right time.

Regarding your question on firmware. You are correct that colorado springs DCH boxes are running 18.21. You are also correct that other markets are running 18.35. All DCH's will likely be upgraded to 18.35 within the next 4 or so weeks. The update is bug fixes primarily - whether it will fix yours is unknown.

Recommendation: Replace your DVR. It's free. There is very little downside outside of the inconvenience of stopping at the local office and having to set up your recordings again. If you are not up for that, you could keep the box for the next month until you see the new firmware. If it fixes the problem, then you are golden. Otherwise, you can then replace the box.

I appreciate the answer. Unfortunately, I have two and both exhibit the same behavior. Not sure if a box swap will take care of it. I think you have a magic one or something :)

I'll wait for the firmware update before deciding.

Thanks.

Does anyone have any idea when we might see the CW go to HD in Colorado Springs?

Oh, and by the way, my Moxi DVR finally gave up the ghost. It started rebooting on it's own and never came back up. I had to go down and exchange it for the DCH3412.

Now I know what you guys are talking about concerning the guide (awful). Yeah, my Moxi had a smaller hard drive but other than that was working great. I'd glady take it back over this thing. Immediately I noticed a picture difference in both HD and Standard. The quality isn't as good. Maybe it's because the DCH doesn't have pass through - I don't know. At any rate I've tried multiple configurations (1080i 720p etc), it just looks...."pixelly". I seem to notice quite a bit more artifacts, not nearly as much on HD (there is still some) but quite a bit more on SD. I'm on ADS and my Moxi diaplayed these channels so much better than then my current DCH3412. I'm running this through a component hook up directly to my Sony 55" HD. I suppose I could try HDMI but from other posts I've read it doesn't sound like it makes any difference. Plus, I'd have to go down and buy some cables.

My firmware is 18.21. Perhaps that'll be changing soon as Comcaster indicated in the post above.