is the sixeers supposed to be hd vs orlando tonight.
not hd on my tv.

It is a replay. They don't do replays in HD.

proves there is such a thing as a stupid question.

all star game was yesterday.

i'm on a roll.

its AI's 60 point game, a instant Classic!!


mitch

Originally posted by QZ1
HD Locals are unencrypted, so, it means that the Digital QAM tuner in your TV will pick them up, without a CableCard. Just do a channel scan on that tuner; the HD locals will be on different channel numbers than the cableco's channel numbers.

The QAM tuner is for off air channels. You'll need to hook up an antenna in order for your QAM tuner to see digital locals. If you want to see them on Comcast's cable feed - and yes, they're available even on the limited basic tier of service - you'll need an HD capable box from Comcast. I got one for no extra charge simply by visiting my local Comcast office (on Columbus Blvd.)

...And don't rely on the Comcast phone reps for accurate information. I talked to three different people who all insisted that I had to get digital cable for $60/month in order to see ANY HD channels. They were either completely ignorant or pathalogical liars.

Thank the god of your parents' choice for DirecTV. I ditched Comcast after years of horrrid customer service experiences.

Rob

Originally posted by rpfotog
The QAM tuner is for off air channels. You'll need to hook up an antenna in order for your QAM tuner to see digital locals.
Nope, QAM is the modulation scheme for digital cable...

8VSB is the modulation scheme for Off-Air DTV...

Originally posted by mitchjs
its AI's 60 point game, a instant Classic!!


mitch

an instant classic that deserves to be replayed in HD!

Originally posted by mjr
Nope, QAM is the modulation scheme for digital cable...

8VSB is the modulation scheme for Off-Air DTV...

So you're suggesting that he can plug in the cable to the QAM tuner and see his cable channels without using the Comcast box to decode the signal? What's the point of the box then? I thought that was where the cable card feature comes in.

Just trying to understand how this all works.

Rob

A QAM tuner will pick up unencypted digital cable, like the HDTV broadcast channels. A Cable Card or digital box is needed for encypted digital cable, like HBO HD.

Originally posted by Carl Jones
I had the same problems last night. It doesn't sound like a box issue. This matched a problem I had last week. Recordings I tried to view last night from ABC, NBC, & CBS would all drop out every 20 seconds or so. I'll call Comcast today & ask for a manager (good luck huh?). I'd suggest you call in as well.

Yeah I'll be calling again. I had my DVR swapped out over the weekend, but my recordings from last night are still dropping audio. I'll be asking for a credit too. This isn't worth $10.00/month.

Originally posted by stoli412
A QAM tuner will pick up unencypted digital cable, like the HDTV broadcast channels. A Cable Card or digital box is needed for encypted digital cable, like HBO HD.

Furthermore - the cablecard/QAM TVs only works in the "download" mode. You can't send info back and so stuff like Pay Per View, Video On Demand and Channel Guides don't work.

Anyway - I'm still trying to figure out how to receive the unencrypted HD channels on my TV. The scan didn't find these channels and I'm trying to figure out what the channel #'s are. Anyone out there watching HD broadcast channels on Comcast in the Trenton area w/o the STB? What are the channel #'s?

Ed

Originally posted by rpfotog
...And don't rely on the Comcast phone reps for accurate information. I talked to three different people who all insisted that I had to get digital cable for $60/month in order to see ANY HD channels. They were either completely ignorant or pathalogical liars.

I have limited basic cable, only because that makes the high-speed service a couple of bucks cheaper overall each month. After speaking to 2 phone reps, and verifying though e-mail, I have learned that I can add the Digital Plus and HD DVR to my basic service, without adding all of the other "standard" cable package channels that I don't watch anyway. Turns out I would be spending about $30 less per month than I am now with my current provider (D*), and I would get the HD DVR without having to spend ~$900 (price for the D* HD DVR).

I know there are gripes about the customer service (and I used to be a Comcast "hater"), but the customer service and support people I have dealt with the past few months have been really good.

For those on Comcast - I have seen some different opinions on the Moto 6412. Overall, are folks pretty happy with this unit? And with Comcast's HD quality?

I love the 6412... not having TIVO, though, I couldn't compare the two. But I do keep a small HD recording of something spectacular from Discovery HD on my DVR Recordings just to show it off.

I LOVE the two tuner thing. We never see commercials anymore. We actually have more free time... :) I have had minimal problems with it (it didn't want to record oprah, so I just cancelled the series)... and I tend to look at my future recordings a few times a week to make sure everything is going to be recording properly... I think mainly because I do that step, I've had very minor to no problems.

I highly recomend it.

As for the HD quality, I've wowed many a friend with something in HD. However, I cannot compare to D*. But... I know that HD quality differs from HD channel to HD channel.. INHD, INHD2, Discovery, ESPN (When it's actually doing HD), and WHYY are GREAT, consistently... the Big three (and fox and WB).. well, that's a hit-or-miss.. though CBS is generally great. NBC has issues (audio out of sync, not flipping the switch... etc.). At this point the only thing we're missing in UPN in HD (I watch Veronica Mars.. which airs in HD, but I've never seen it.
Paid channels are so good, we got them all. We don't rent anymore.

Hope my ramblings helped you.

If you experience dropouts on miscellaneous stations on your 6412, the first thing you should try is the other tuner on the same channels. In delco, I know of a few people who have dropouts on the WB and FOX on one tuner only.

Apparently, it's a known software/firmware issue and supposedly a fix is on the way.

We've had 2 different 6412 units. They are great - two tuner, hard drive is almost silent (compared to single tuner model) etc. They are horrible - get regular (once or twice an hour) lockups - audio and video. Which is a huge pain if you're recording - everything freezes up. you have to change channel up/down a couple of times to get it back, sometimes it just reboots itself.

Comcast says it's a motorola software problem on channels 1-100 (not on HD). Fix is scheduled to go out 3/1 according to svc rep. we'll see.

red

The analog freeze actually effects very few untis. I have never seen it on my 6412. There is a firmware upgrade in the pipeline which is being distributed system by system at this time.

Heck, I get audio dropouts on the SciAtlanta 8000HD. It's not just the Motorola systems!

Hi there.

I am in Mt Laurel, NJ. The unencrypted local channels are on the comcast cable line to be decrypted by your TV. I have a Sony 42WE655 that I purchased just before the Super Bowl. I have done the channel scan twice and on the initial scan it found digital channels but not high def channels. They are also in the process of moving channels around on my Comcast system. I have to put in the channel manually then it was available.

For example 80.1 is a HD Channel... When I get home tonight I'll post the entire list of what I found. Interesting thing is that before Super Bowl I had found the Fox HD channel. Now after the game I did a rescan and can not find it again. Currently I have found NBC, CBS, ABC and WHYY.

IF anyone out there can post an entire list if the unencrypted channel available and their numbers I would appreciate it.

Also there are digital channels that are not High Def. They are in the 77.1, 77.2, 77.3, well you get the idea.

Good Luck,
Charlie

Originally posted by brubacca
Hi there.

I am in Mt Laurel, NJ. The unencrypted local channels are on the comcast cable line to be decrypted by your TV. I have a Sony 42WE655 that I purchased just before the Super Bowl. I have done the channel scan twice and on the initial scan it found digital channels but not high def channels. They are also in the process of moving channels around on my Comcast system. I have to put in the channel manually then it was available.

For example 80.1 is a HD Channel... When I get home tonight I'll post the entire list of what I found. Interesting thing is that before Super Bowl I had found the Fox HD channel. Now after the game I did a rescan and can not find it again. Currently I have found NBC, CBS, ABC and WHYY.

IF anyone out there can post an entire list if the unencrypted channel available and their numbers I would appreciate it.

Also there are digital channels that are not High Def. They are in the 77.1, 77.2, 77.3, well you get the idea.

Good Luck,
Charlie
Charlie - thanks. This is exactly what I've been looking for. I'll try those channels tonight. And I'd appreciate if you could post the other channel #'s when you get a chance.

Ed

P.S. I have the same TV.

For those in Delaware;

Comcast has indeed stated that the audio/video droputs this past week has been on their end & should be fixed by 4:00 this afternoon. Please post here tomorrow if it's not fixed.

Here are the channels that I have:

80.1 - ABC HD
80.2 - NBC HD
81.21 - PBS HD
81.22 - CBS HD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopefully someone else will chime in with other channels...

I also found a bunch of the pay per view movie channels which had the movies open to watch. They are low def, with crazy pixellation.. It is not worth marking them.

Good Luck

I just did a re-scan here in Southern NJ (Turnersville Area, the old Garden State Cable system, now Comcast) with my LG LST-3510A:

76-9 On Demand Ads
77-1 CBS (SD)
77-5 WB (SD)
77-7 TBN
77-8 UPN DT (HD)
77-9 PAX
77-10 UNI
77-11 WFMZ 69
80-1 ABC DT (HD)
80-2 NBC DT (HD)
80-3 ABC 6 News (SD)
80-4 ABC 6 Stormtracker
80-5 NBC 10 Weather Plus
81-21 PBS WHYY DT (HD)
81-22 CBS DT (HD)
81-61 HBO (HD) (I subscribe)
101-65 Shop NBC
101-67 NBA TV
110-31 G4
110-32 NBA League Pass Ads
116-41 WB DT (HD)
116-42 FOX DT (HD)
121-8 E Ads

Unfortunately my LST-3510A won't let me delete sub channels, thus I stuck with all of the "other channel 77 subs" just to get the HD version of UPN. I'd switch to OTA via my silver sensor but I can't get FOX.

I have a CableCard in Cumberland County and I'm getting audio dropouts constantly, especially on ABC-HD. Anyone else experiencing these problems?

Thanks for the digital channel numbers guys. I guess Comcast has a different lineup a little north of you guys. I can't get any of these channels if I try to access directly. I tried rescanning tonite and I'm not getting anything except the Much music channels which are breaking up badly tonite.

So anyone in the Trenton area using their QAM tuner?

Ed

Originally posted by brubacca
Here are the channels that I have:

80.1 - ABC HD
80.2 - NBC HD
81.21 - PBS HD
81.22 - CBS HD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopefully someone else will chime in with other channels...

I also found a bunch of the pay per view movie channels which had the movies open to watch. They are low def, with crazy pixellation.. It is not worth marking them.

Good Luck

my numbers are different everytime i do a scan.

also, if you see a ppv channel it's because someone
on your "line" is watching a ppv.
so you will likely pick that up and eventually see it
"change to a different channel" whileyou are watching.

FYI - Comcast 6412 firmware upgrade (9.15) pushed out here in South Jersey a little before 1:00 AM this morning...about a 10-15 minute DL...just as I was catching the details of the Sixers - Kings blockbuster...

Ed,

Sorry to hear that the channels didn't work for you. Unless someone else near you posts I guess that you will have to do it the really painful way. Last night I was working my way through the Show/Hide Menu on the TV. You have to move over to the 110.4 menu and not just stay on say 110. I found a couple more of those digital channels that Mark521 posted (before I saw his post). It is time consuming, but a last resort.

Another Idea would be to look for a Princeton or even New York channel list. Maybe your cable system is aligned to the north?

Mark521,

Thanks for the channel listing.

Upgrade not pushed out to Bensalem, PA, yet.

I just checked.

No upgrade in Wilmington.

Here's the current lineup for the Levittown (PA) area after Tuesday's reshuffle by Comcast (basic cable, QAM tuner):

102.15 INHD
103.8 INHD2
111.1 Fox 29
111.2 WB 17
114.4 PCN (SD)
118.1 ABC 6
118.2 NBC 10
118.3 ABC NEWS (SD)
118.4 ABC STORM TRACKER (SD)
118.5 NBC WEATHER (SD)
119.1 PBS 12
119.2 CBS 3

I didn't think you could receive INHD, INHD2 via basic cable with QAM tuner?

Originally posted by frankd
I didn't think you could receive INHD, INHD2 via basic cable with QAM tuner?

I get them via my eyetv 500 here in southern chester county...

I didn't think you could receive INHD, INHD2 via basic cable with QAM tuner?


You might be correct - I have the next step up from basic (whatever they call it these days). It probably would have been more accurate to say "analog cable" since I don't subscribe to digital cable.

I'd like to add that I also noticed the audio dropouts and pixelation on my recordings last night (wednesday) here in Philly. I checked my reception today and it is fine on one tuner, but if I switch to the second tuner the dropouts/pixelation are present all the time on at least the HD channels (didn't look at sd). I'm calling Comcast.

Originally posted by sctroy
Here's the current lineup for the Levittown (PA) area after Tuesday's reshuffle by Comcast (basic cable, QAM tuner):

102.15 INHD
103.8 INHD2 . . .

I didn't have high hopes for these channel #s since I'm in NJ but I gave it a shot anyway. Of course they didn't work. Given that the auto scan doesn't find anything, I figure that Comcast must be doing something different in my area. I'll try calling them again, but it's just about impossible to get anyone that has any useful information or even basic understanding.

Ed

Originally posted by krooooog
I'd like to add that I also noticed the audio dropouts and pixelation on my recordings last night (wednesday) here in Philly. I checked my reception today and it is fine on one tuner, but if I switch to the second tuner the dropouts/pixelation are present all the time on at least the HD channels (didn't look at sd). I'm calling Comcast.
For what it's worth, since the switchover here in Center City (happened sometime early Wednesday morning), I have perfect reception on FOX and WB, but constant dropouts on NBC, CBS, PBS and ABC. These channels were perfect before the switch. Has anyone been able to get any new info from Comcast on this? I called today and had no luck getting in touch with anyone competent.

I tell you what's ridiculous, I have had the dropouts for a couple of months and a few weeks ago I really started noticing the analog freezing and it appears to me that it's almost exclusively caused by comcast commercials. It would seem to me that if you had a problem and you knew what the cause was but couldn't fix it for weeks or months that maybe you would stop doing what was causing it.

I'm in Wayne, PA and for the last 6 months I had alot of pixellation and audio drop-outs. I finally got fed up with it (after 10+ visits by technicians that I knew more than) and wrote Brian Roberts a letter. Two days later I had several people from Comcast's Executive Committee call including one of their lead technicians in West Chester, PA. They sent the "crack commando" out and found "So many problems they couldn't believe more people were not complaining". The big problem was water in some of the splice boxes and too strong a signal. Unfortunately I had to elevate it to that level to get the problem corrected but they did fix it and gave me a nice credit. My advice is to keep making the calls and writing the letters because for the amount of money we all pay for their services pixellation and audio-drops should never happen or so rarely that you wouldn't complain.

Originally posted by neeshu89
I have a CableCard in Cumberland County and I'm getting audio dropouts constantly, especially on ABC-HD. Anyone else experiencing these problems?

Audio dropouts are a constant with hd. I've got *D* and I get 'em on every 5.1, and even some dd2.0 sources/channels.

Originally posted by krooooog
I'd like to add that I also noticed the audio dropouts and pixelation on my recordings last night (wednesday) here in Philly. I checked my reception today and it is fine on one tuner, but if I switch to the second tuner the dropouts/pixelation are present all the time on at least the HD channels (didn't look at sd). I'm calling Comcast.

Sound exactly like what is happening in Delaware. Channel rearranging due to digital simulcasting has led to dropouts/pixelation on 4 HD channels on 2nd tuner. Comcast Delaware has acknowledged a problem but doesn't seem inclined to do anything about it. If you can get any action in Philly, have them call Delaware and let them know.

Originally posted by Mark521
I just did a re-scan here in Southern NJ (Turnersville Area, the old Garden State Cable system, now Comcast) with my LG LST-3510A:

76-9 On Demand Ads
77-1 CBS (SD)
77-5 WB (SD)
77-7 TBN
77-8 UPN (SD)
77-9 PAX
77-10 UNI
77-11 WFMZ 69
80-1 ABC DT (HD)
80-2 NBC DT (HD)
80-3 ABC 6 News (SD)
80-4 ABC 6 Stormtracker
80-5 NBC 10 Weather Plus
81-21 PBS WHYY DT (HD)
81-22 CBS DT (HD)
81-61 HBO (HD) (I subscribe)
101-65 Shop NBC
101-67 NBA TV
110-31 G4
110-32 NBA League Pass Ads
116-41 WB DT (HD)
116-42 FOX DT (HD)
121-8 E Ads

Unfortunately my LST-3510A won't let me delete sub channels, thus I stuck with all of the "other channel 77 subs" just to get the HD version of UPN. I'd switch to OTA via my silver sensor but I can't get FOX.

UPN on 77-8 is NOT HD (at least not last night when Ocean Oasis was shown). To the best of my knowledge (aka my LST-3510A's scan ), Comcast in my area does not provide the local UPN in HD.

Originally posted by sctroy
You might be correct - I have the next step up from basic (whatever they call it these days). It probably would have been more accurate to say "analog cable" since I don't subscribe to digital cable.

No sctroy, you are correct. I didn't think you could receive INHD, INHD2 without an HD package and a set top box. I don't know when it started but I get them now as well with the standard package and my TV's QAM tuner.

BUT

I though I would get to see the new version of the Sixers on Saturday night in HD on INHD but instead I got some New York Team.

Thanks for the channel line up. When I do a auto scan my TV finds hundreds of channels/sub channels. Vast majority of them useless. Your list helped a lot finding the "good" channels.

Frank

Comcast called the day of my appointment to say that the problem is a "software bug" and that they are aware that it is affecting many people, and that they are 'working on it'.

Originally posted by frankd
Thanks for the channel line up. When I do a auto scan my TV finds hundreds of channels/sub channels. Vast majority of them useless. Your list helped a lot finding the "good" channels.

You're lucky. Apparently Comcast is doing something different in the Trenton area because I only get the Much Music audio channels.

Ed

In case everyone hadn't heard already the wide-spread roll-out of the 9.15 firmware was pushed back until at least March 1 according to the CSR I spoke to on Saturday; that's tomorrow so who knows if whatever prevented them from doing it last week has actually been resolved.

Had the new 9.15 firmware this morning when i woke up in Montgomery County, PA.

Looks like they kept to the 3/1 date.

Originally posted by jeepmatt
Had the new 9.15 firmware this morning when i woke up in Montgomery County, PA.

Looks like they kept to the 3/1 date.

Noticed here too in New Castle County that Firmware 9.15 is loaded.

The real question is....does it do anything????

I guess I could walk upstairs and check, but I thought I'd sit on my ass and ask people on the internet to check for me!!!

Still audio/video dropouts here on tuner 2 (6412) since digital simulcasts begin 2/16/05. Channes effected; ABC, CBS, NBC, & PBS HD.

Channels simulcasts are;

All services will be 256 QAM
Analog Channels moved to Digital Format


disp.ch#, program, 750 system, Output Port, Output MPEG#

2 COMCAST EXTRA 79 QAM1 1

5 QVC 82 QAM4 10

7 WPHL-17 80 QAM2 5

8 CN8 80 QAM2 12

9 WPSG-57 80 QAM2 8

11 WNJN-23 79 QAM1 3

12 WHYY-12 80 QAM2 4

13 WPPX-61 80 QAM2 9

16 WUVP-65 80 QAM2 10

18 WGTW-48 80 QAM2 7

20 WYBE-35 79 QAM1 12

21 WMCN-44 79 QAM1 6

22 WITN-22 79 QAM1 5

69 WFMZ-69 80 QAM2 11

70 INSP 87 QAM8 8

71 WEATHER CHANNEL 79 QAM1 9

73 LEASED ACCESS 73 79 QAM1 7

76 EWTN 114 QAM1 7

77 C-SPAN 82 QAM4 1

98 C-SPAN 2 82 QAM4 2

99 TV GUIDE 79 QAM1 8

101 WEATHER SCAN 79 QAM1 11

Same with me, still freeze-ups, pixelization, and audio dropouts after the firmware switch.

Same here... still dropouts. I'm not sure about the freezes as I haven't checked on them yet.

For the past couple weeks I've been getting constant dropouts on ABC HD through Comcast. It varies from a few times a minute to every few seconds. I noticed it on Lost last week, the Oscars on Sunday, and on Lost tonight. The picture pixelates and the sound drops out for a second....very annoying. Tonight Lost was so bad to the point of unwatchable, so I had to switch to SD. No other HD channels ever seem to be affected, just ABC.

I'm in the Center City system and have a 6412 DVR with 9.15 firmware. The problem definitely started BEFORE my firmware was upgraded from 9.12. When I shut off the box and check in-band status while tuned to ABC, signal levels are good but I'm getting lots of correctable 5-second error counts. No other channels have this problem.

EDIT: I just verified that CBS, NBC, and PBS HD are exhibiting this problem as well. I guess I didn't notice it on those channels before because I don't watch them very often. FOX, WB, HBO, SHO HD and others seem to be fine.

EDIT 2: Sorry I just searched back through the thread a little and realized that other people in Phila are having this problem too (last time I checked in it was limited to Delaware). On the phone with Comcast now and they seem pretty clueless.

Well guess what??? Here in the little State things were good last night!! No droputs! Check tuners tonight. If you are having trouble on say ABC, switch tuners to see if your dropouts continue. Our problem has been on the 2nd. tuner.

cmon csn wheres my phillies hd schedule!

The problems still exist. It is only on tuner 2 and only on the network feeds (ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS - not sure about fox). I believe I started getting them before the 9.15 firmware update. I first noticed them on my recording of last Wednesday's episode of Lost. Tuner 2 also happens to be the "all digital" tuner.

If you are worried about recordings being unwatchable, just remember to leave your box on tuner two (the messed up one) that way it does its primary recording on tuner 1 (the good one). I forgot to switch it back the other day and ended up with a jammed up recording of Lost again. I had to turn on the captions in order to get through the episode!

Just an FYI:

A new thread was started for Delaware - HDTV (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515937)

I just spoke with a CSR at Comcast about the problems in Philly (which I am sure are the same as those in N Delaware). He informed me that he just received an email about the DVR tuner pixelization and audio dropouts this morning. He said that according to the email it is a "headend problem" that is scheduled to be fixed with a software update that will be rolled out on Monday March 7th.

Keep your fingers crossed.

NOOOO ... I'll miss Carnivale AGAIN! Bastardos.

In Delaware it's ONLY channels ABC, CBS, NBC, & PBS HD. HBO, WB, etc. have not been effected. Sounds like Philly is having the same problem but on different channels??

No, it is only on the ABC NBC CBS and PBS HD feeds...same as yours.

I'm having the problem with BBC America... HBO HD and SHO HD. Not any of the major stations, ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS.

My first post was deleted. I'm in the Philly Suburbs.

The stations I have problems with are FOX and the WB. My problems have been going on since I switched from the 6208 to 6412 in December.

hello folks,

i'm new to this thread and new to philly. i've been having pixelation and audio dropout issues for a few days. especially noticablwe was west wing last wed. night. should i call comcast? also, before i moved there was alot of talk in Northern NJ about digital simulcast of analog channels. can anyone tell me if this is in the works in the philly area. i find the moto 6412 makes my analog PQ look just terrible. thanks.

Does anyone notice comcast raises cable TV monthly fee again?

Originally posted by muniman
hello folks,

i'm new to this thread and new to philly. i've been having pixelation and audio dropout issues for a few days. especially noticablwe was west wing last wed. night. should i call comcast? also, before i moved there was alot of talk in Northern NJ about digital simulcast of analog channels. can anyone tell me if this is in the works in the philly area. i find the moto 6412 makes my analog PQ look just terrible. thanks.

I'm pretty sure that the 9.15 firmware update on monday was the switch to digital simulcast. It appears that all stations on tuner 2 are now digital incuding 2-99.

Originally posted by krooooog
I'm pretty sure that the 9.15 firmware update on monday was the switch to digital simulcast. It appears that all stations on tuner 2 are now digital incuding 2-99.

The switch to digital in the New Castle area of Delaware was 2/16 & includes only the channels I listed in a previous post AND coincides with the date we begin having trouble with the second tuner. The 9.15 firmware update was only to fix issues like box freeze ups.

What puzzles me about the Philly area is the reports of DIFFERENT channels affected vs. what we are reporting??

well, this is a little embarassing, how do i get to the 2nd tuner? i don't know my way around the 6412 too well. and for what it's worth, last night i was watching 'miracle' on one of the HD movie channels and right at the scene of the US power play where they tie the soviets, the whole damn thing froze. i could do nothing to get it unfrozen. i had to shut down my whole system twice to un freeze it. yeah, i've seen the movie before, hell i remember the game! but what a major bummer. any suggestions?

Originally posted by muniman
well, this is a little embarassing, how do i get to the 2nd tuner? i don't know my way around the 6412 too well. and for what it's worth, last night i was watching 'miracle' on one of the HD movie channels and right at the scene of the US power play where they tie the soviets, the whole damn thing froze. i could do nothing to get it unfrozen. i had to shut down my whole system twice to un freeze it. yeah, i've seen the movie before, hell i remember the game! but what a major bummer. any suggestions?

If you have the 'silver remote' the bottom leftmost button should have a label next to it that says swap or switch...

tim-
lucky me, it's labeled 'input' and the button has tv/vcr on it. i assume that's the one? how do i know which tuner is which? a quick back and forth on CNN shows no apparent difference. sorry for the rudimentary questions.

go to channel 231 on both....the one with the audio drops and pixelation is the bad one!!!

Otherwise, got to the channels below 99. put a different channel on each tuner. (say 3 and 6) turn the cable box off and within 5 secs press the OK button. navigate to the line that says current channel status or something like that. Then select that option by pressing OK. The first page will be tuner 1. If you scroll down the next page will be tuner 2. I think that somewhere on each it should say the channel # and also either analog or digital. The digital one should also be tuner 2.

i am getting comcast cable ths week because i need to replace my DSL , but it is cheaper to get the basic cable and internet then just the internet by itself. my question is can i get local HD with the basic cable service. i live in the willow grove area and i have Directv and the samsung 360 box. any help would be great.

Originally posted by tjbay
i am getting comcast cable ths week because i need to replace my DSL , but it is cheaper to get the basic cable and internet then just the internet by itself. my question is can i get local HD with the basic cable service. i live in the willow grove area and i have Directv and the samsung 360 box. any help would be great.

Comcast's basic cable will provide most of your major local digital broadcasts (3, 6, 10, 12, 29, 57 ) via un-encrypted QAM. You must have a QAM tuner to receive them. IIRC, Comcast will rent you a HD QAM STB (tuner) for $5-$10/month if you ask them, but they will try to upsell you to a digital package.

I get comcast's "Preferred Service" (limited basic + expanded service + value pac = $49/month) plus HBO ($20/month). I do not have a comcast supplied STB. I use a VCR to tune the analog cable channels and a LG LST-3510A to tune the QAM HD digital channels.

If the samsung TS-360 has a QAM tuner then you're good to go. If not you'll need a separate QAM tuner.

Today's flyer in the Star Ledger, Cental NJ, WB HD coming in April.

There are reports in the Delaware thread that the previously reported dropouts are clearing up. Any update from anyone in the Philly area noticing changes?

My cable (comcast) has been completely out all morning - anyone else having an outage? I am in southern chester county...

Originally posted by Carl Jones
There are reports in the Delaware thread that the previously reported dropouts are clearing up. Any update from anyone in the Philly area noticing changes?
No change for me so far. In fact, I just lost another episode of 24 (this is the 3rd time) to this stupid 2nd tuner problem. I had the DVR turned on and tuned in to FOXHD on tuner 1, but I got preoccupied with something else and forgot to switch tuners. The season pass had already started on tuner 2 when I realized 24 had been on for 10 minutes, but I figured I'd be ok since I still had the live buffer from tuner 1. So I swap to tuner 2 and stop the recording (which was crap anyway), then swap back to tuner 1 and press record. And what does it do? It switches the recording back to tuner 2 again!! I could tell this because of the pixelation and audio dropouts every 5 seconds. So I cancel it again, change the channel on tuner 2 to ABCHD (thinking it will record from the tuner that was still tuned to FOX), and go back to tuner 1 and press record again. It switches to tuner 2 yet again!! Now here's where I later realize I got screwed. When it switched to tuner 2 to record 24 the 2nd time (after I changed the channel to ABC), it swapped the channels between the tuners! So now ABC is actually on tuner 1, and FOX is on tuner 2, and I lost my previous tuner 1 live buffer. So now my recording only starts from 9:10pm. Argggggggggghh!!!! So apparently all manual recordings start from tuner 2 regardless of what tuner you are actually watching. The only way around it is to start recording something (anything) on tuner 2, then swap to tuner 1 and start recording what you actually want. By this time I had already missed over 15 minutes of the show so I said screw it and deleted all the multiple 1 minute recordings and turned the thing off. I guess I'll have to wait for the DVDs to come out now. I just can't skip an episode, too much goes on in each show to miss one.

While that's a pain that I've been through, I found a new one last night. I have a series recording of 2.5 men and on a number of times it hasn't recorded it. Anyway so last night it said it wasn't going to record it and sure enough it didn't... however it changed the tuner that I was watching to CBS without recording it, thus killing the cache of the show that I was watching.
What's worse is the whole reason I had to do this was Fear Factor was recording on the good tuner from 8-930 and around 8:55 I switched so that 24 would record on the good tuner. Anyway after I finished watching part 1 of my fear factor recording, I deleted and as a result part 2 stopped recording around 915 when the deletion happpened, but I was OK because I had the cache until 2.5 men came on even though it wasn't recording.
This thing makes no sense sometimes.

Double-post

Since Monday, when I first turn on the 6412, I get a black screen. I can access the guide which is up to date, but no picture from either tuner.

I've discovered that if I play anything from the Hard Drive, then hit stop, the picture from the tuner comes back.

Seems like people are having different problems since the firmware update, and I'm thinking that this may be related (as it started right after the update.)

-3nsDan

I have been having the same issue as those in the Delaware forum have been describing (2nd Tuner pixelation/tiling with audio dropouts about every 5 seconds on NBC-HD, PBS-HD and to a lesser extent CBS-HD and ABC-HD), but I live in Philly. I spent 3 hours on the phone with Comcast yesterday (March 9) and finally someone knew what I was talking about.

I told them how I had read on AVSForum that this was a "known issue" in Delaware and that that apparently a fix had been developed. The guy who knew what I was talking about said that that was true but they were not able to get the "bullet" fix from them yet. He thought that it should be done by this weekend at the latest.

Is anyone else in the Philly area having this problem? Does anyone have any more information than I do?

I live in Delaware County and was using the Fusion card to receive HDTV via Comcast. I was able to receive the local channels and InHD1+InHD2. Now, I get nothing. 100% signal, no picture. Is Comcast encrypting all the digital signals?

Originally posted by vpn2001
I live in Delaware County and was using the Fusion card to receive HDTV via Comcast. I was able to receive the local channels and InHD1+InHD2. Now, I get nothing. 100% signal, no picture. Is Comcast encrypting all the digital signals?

Had the same problem last week in Bucks. Re-scan QAM frequencies. They moved all of the digital feeds to another block of frequencies.

Originally posted by vpn2001
I live in Delaware County and was using the Fusion card to receive HDTV via Comcast. I was able to receive the local channels and InHD1+InHD2. Now, I get nothing. 100% signal, no picture. Is Comcast encrypting all the digital signals?
I'm trying to understand - is the Fusion card a PC QAM tuner card (as opposed to a cable card for a TV)?

I have a new TV with a built in QAM tuner. I can't get any HD channels - I was expecting to get the broadcast HD channels (via cable, not ASTC OTA) sine Comcast says in their literature that broadcast HD channel are *included* with basic (analog) cable service.

Ed

Your QAM tuner on your tv should be able to scan and find a number of HDTV signals. You can also search this forum for the actual channels which would be like this 86.1, or 86.2. There's a lot of information here if you use the search function.

Originally posted by Mike3
Your QAM tuner on your tv should be able to scan and find a number of HDTV signals. You can also search this forum for the actual channels which would be like this 86.1, or 86.2. There's a lot of information here if you use the search function.
I understand that it *should* find channels if I scan. But the only digital channels that it finds are music (ie audio only with still picture). I've posted here before asking people what the channel #'s are so that I can tune in directly. But nobody in my Comcast region has ever replied. I have received channel listings from sourrounding regions, but those channels have not worked for me. So I'm wondering whether my broadcast HD channels are encripted and it seems like they should not be - maybe even by law they shouldn't be???

Ed

Originally posted by ekb
I understand that it *should* find channels if I scan. But the only digital channels that it finds are music (ie audio only with still picture). I've posted here before asking people what the channel #'s are so that I can tune in directly. But nobody in my Comcast region has ever replied. I have received channel listings from sourrounding regions, but those channels have not worked for me. So I'm wondering whether my broadcast HD channels are encripted and it seems like they should not be - maybe even by law they shouldn't be???

Ed

ekb- do you know if you have a weak signal or a really long cable drop? I had a weak signal and the channels I would get varied every time I did a scan, with the HD channels being the hardest to get. Also, just because you have normal internet performance, don't assume you have a strong signal. I was getting almost 4Mbit download speeds and yet had trouble tuning the HD feeds with my computer based QAM tuner...(eyetv 500)

good luck,
Zach

Originally posted by zmatzkin
ekb- do you know if you have a weak signal or a really long cable drop? I had a weak signal and the channels I would get varied every time I did a scan, with the HD channels being the hardest to get. Also, just because you have normal internet performance, don't assume you have a strong signal. I was getting almost 4Mbit download speeds and yet had trouble tuning the HD feeds with my computer based QAM tuner...(eyetv 500)

good luck,
Zach
I didn't say anything about cable internet - and I don't have it. I assume that Comcast supplies the signal to my home with suffient power for me to get it. If I knew what the channel numbers were, I could take a look to see what my TV says about the signal strength.

Ed

Originally posted by Mike3
Your QAM tuner on your tv should be able to scan and find a number of HDTV signals. You can also search this forum for the actual channels which would be like this 86.1, or 86.2. There's a lot of information here if you use the search function.

Originally posted by xela19115
Had the same problem last week in Bucks. Re-scan QAM frequencies. They moved all of the digital feeds to another block of frequencies.

I'm in lower Bucks (Jamison headend) and have a Toshiba 46HM94 with built-in QAM tuner. Haven't been using the cable card, because of issues, but was able to get all the in-the-clear network channels and InHD1&2.

I've had the same problem described above for about a week now, that I can't see any of those HD channels (no 24 in HD last Monday). I tried a rescan with no success. I'm aware of the channel realignment/simulcast has been moving my way, and I suspect that's the root cause (the other possibility being defective QAM tuner). But I expected the re-scan should have resolved it. I guess the next step is a hard-reset of the TV (there's a hidden button). The TV is receiving PSIP data, as for example WHYY-HD has been mapped as 12-1, while also appearing at something like 8X.Y. Perhaps those mappings are not properly clearing after the rescan.

Anyone else having similar issues in my area?

Related question, anyone know if the analog channels now simulcast digitally are QAM-in-the-clear as well?

Originally posted by ekb
I assume that Comcast supplies the signal to my home with suffient power for me to get it.
Ed

You have more faith in Comcast than I do...

Zach

I already rescanned for all the digital channels. I would receive the locals and InHD1 & InHD2 when I receive the On Demand feeds. When I do not receive the On Demand feeds, I do not receive the locals and InHD1 & InHD2. I'm making the assumption that Comcast is encrypting all the digital channels.

Originally posted by zmatzkin
You have more faith in Comcast than I do...

Zach
Actually I have very little faith in Comcast. I won't have a problem and I wouldn't be at this forum asking questions if I could simply call Comcast and talk to someone who has the slightest inkling of what's what!

But as far as getting sufficient signal, I figure if couldn't receive a signal due to strength issues, lots of people also couldn't and Comcast would be swamped with calls.

Ed

Originally posted by vpn2001
I'm making the assumption that Comcast is encrypting all the digital channels.
If this is true, then they are lying in their literature that says Local Broadcast HD channels are INCLUDED with limited basic service. Further, doesn't the FCC require them to do this? I know that there has been a lot reported on what cable companies are required to transmit, but all that has just left my head spinning.

Ed

I live outside Lancaster, Pa and have Blue Ridge Cable and they encrypt the HD channels so you have to use there box to get it. But the real killer is that you have to get the full digital package before you can even get the HD package. SUCKS!

Originally posted by shepler76
I live outside Lancaster, Pa and have Blue Ridge Cable and they encrypt the HD channels so you have to use there box to get it. But the real killer is that you have to get the full digital package before you can even get the HD package. SUCKS!
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about channels that are semi-premium like ESPN or Discovery Theater. I'm talking about local broadcast like CBS, PBS etc...

Ed

Yes, I realize that. That's what I am talking about also.

Originally posted by ekb
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about channels that are semi-premium like ESPN or Discovery Theater. I'm talking about local broadcast like CBS, PBS etc...

Ed

I live in Malvern, and I've had to rescan twice since the beginning of the year. The most recent rescan was on 3/2, after they'd made yet another change at the head-end. All of the locals were moved (prior to the change, they were in the 79.X range through 82.X...now they're all the way up in the 114-116 range. Music channels used to all be together, now they're all over the place.

I see some channels in three versions: analog, digital and HD versions of some major affiliates. I still get INHD 1/2, but they moved them from 100.3/100.4 for me to 101.1 and 102.1. Go figure.

I don't use a comcast box, and don't subscribe to digital cable or any pay channels. My TV has a single QAM tuner, so I use that for HD service. I use the TV's non-QAM tuner for my Tivo and analog cable.

Originally posted by maddogFool
I'm in lower Bucks (Jamison headend) and have a Toshiba 46HM94 with built-in QAM tuner. Haven't been using the cable card, because of issues, but was able to get all the in-the-clear network channels and InHD1&2.

I've had the same problem described above for about a week now, that I can't see any of those HD channels (no 24 in HD last Monday). I tried a rescan with no success. I'm aware of the channel realignment/simulcast has been moving my way, and I suspect that's the root cause (the other possibility being defective QAM tuner). But I expected the re-scan should have resolved it. I guess the next step is a hard-reset of the TV (there's a hidden button). The TV is receiving PSIP data, as for example WHYY-HD has been mapped as 12-1, while also appearing at something like 8X.Y. Perhaps those mappings are not properly clearing after the rescan.

Anyone else having similar issues in my area?

Related question, anyone know if the analog channels now simulcast digitally are QAM-in-the-clear as well?

I'm off the same Ivyland head-end and here are my HD/digital lineup with QAM tuner PC card:

102.1 InHD1
103.1 InHD2
111.1 WPHL-DT (WB)
111.2 WTXF-DT (FOX)
114.1 PCN
114.4 EWTN
118.1 WPVI-DT (ABC)
118.2 WCAU-DT (NBC)
118.3 WPVI-DT2 (ABC News)
118.4 WPVI-DT3 (ABC Weather Tracker)
118.5 WCAU-DT2 (NBC Weather)
119.1 WHYY-HD (PBS)
119.2 KYW-DT (CBS)

Originally posted by RichFPAN
I told them how I had read on AVSForum that this was a "known issue" in Delaware and that that apparently a fix had been developed. The guy who knew what I was talking about said that that was true but they were not able to get the "bullet" fix from them yet. He thought that it should be done by this weekend at the latest.
So, Philly people, "this weekend" has come and gone, any change in the drops on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS for you? I'm still having the same problems I've had since the beginning of digital simulcasting and the other stuff. *sigh*

We are STILL experiencing droputs in Delaware, although not as severe & mainly CBS.

Hey Carl. I see that you own the TXM3096WHF Samsung. How do you like the picture? Also, if you don't mind, what are your settings? You can private message me of reply here. Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by xela19115
I'm off the same Ivyland head-end and here are my HD/digital lineup with QAM tuner PC card:

102.1 InHD1
103.1 InHD2
111.1 WPHL-DT (WB)
111.2 WTXF-DT (FOX)
114.1 PCN
114.4 EWTN
118.1 WPVI-DT (ABC)
118.2 WCAU-DT (NBC)
118.3 WPVI-DT2 (ABC News)
118.4 WPVI-DT3 (ABC Weather Tracker)
118.5 WCAU-DT2 (NBC Weather)
119.1 WHYY-HD (PBS)
119.2 KYW-DT (CBS)

Thanks for the info, this tracks what I found so far -- stations at 118-119, but not Fox or WB. I'll check these out tonight (in time for 24).

I'm planning on getting a QAM PC card for my mythtv setup, glad to know it works on our headend. Which one do you use?

Turns out my TV interface is a little funky -- I have to do clear all in the channel add/delete menu when the headend has remapped before rescanning, or else it doesn't release all the virtual channel mappings.

In my painful searching, I didn't see any of the 2-78 digital simulcast channels in-the-clear. And I guess no UPN-HD on our headend yet. My flaky cablecard is useless now, because I think it is trying to load the channel map and use the simulcast channels, which are encrypted, but since the card cannot decrypt them, the TV hangs. Time to get Comcast out to finally replace this.

I have been playing around to get the signal to come in clear, but it's weak. I am in the Eagle (Chester Spring) area. Anyone having problem with UPN 57?

I get all of the other channels at +90% signal (abc, nbc, fox, cbs, whyy, etc). I tried it with and without the antenna amplifier. With the amplifier I get about 60% with a lot of breakup.

I am using the ATI HDTV wonder card.

Thanks,

Nu

Originally posted by maddogFool
Thanks for the info, this tracks what I found so far -- stations at 118-119, but not Fox or WB. I'll check these out tonight (in time for 24).

I'm planning on getting a QAM PC card for my mythtv setup, glad to know it works on our headend. Which one do you use?

Turns out my TV interface is a little funky -- I have to do clear all in the channel add/delete menu when the headend has remapped before rescanning, or else it doesn't release all the virtual channel mappings.

In my painful searching, I didn't see any of the 2-78 digital simulcast channels in-the-clear. And I guess no UPN-HD on our headend yet. My flaky cablecard is useless now, because I think it is trying to load the channel map and use the simulcast channels, which are encrypted, but since the card cannot decrypt them, the TV hangs. Time to get Comcast out to finally replace this.

I use MyHD-130 card. Word of precaution. I do not believe that MyHD-130 has Linux and/or MythTV support. Maybe in the future.

After I posted previous e-mail I rescanned and found un-encrypted simulcast channels. Not HD version but digitally encoded channels. On channel 82.x. And there is UPN-57 in simulcast but no UPN-HD.

If you use a CableCARD you won't be able to get simulcast channels. If you pull CableCARD out and re-scan QAM channels you should be OK. Simulcast channels are in the clear but they are not in an "official" channel map that regular set-tops receive. That's why you cannot get it.

Originally posted by NU2000
I have been playing around to get the signal to come in clear, but it's weak. I am in the Eagle (Chester Spring) area. Anyone having problem with UPN 57?

I get all of the other channels at +90% signal (abc, nbc, fox, cbs, whyy, etc). I tried it with and without the antenna amplifier. With the amplifier I get about 60% with a lot of breakup.

I am using the ATI HDTV wonder card.

Thanks,

Nu

Down in Oxford, UPN coming in like a champ via CM 4228 to Fusion2 card as of 4:15pm.

Originally posted by xela19115
I use MyHD-130 card. Word of precaution. I do not believe that MyHD-130 has Linux and/or MythTV support. Maybe in the future.

I was just curious. I plan on getting an Air2PC card (ATSC & QAM capable), which is more or less supported in the latest Linux kernel 2.6.11 and by mythtv.

After I posted previous e-mail I rescanned and found un-encrypted simulcast channels. Not HD version but digitally encoded channels. On channel 82.x. And there is UPN-57 in simulcast but no UPN-HD.

If you use a CableCARD you won't be able to get simulcast channels. If you pull CableCARD out and re-scan QAM channels you should be OK. Simulcast channels are in the clear but they are not in an "official" channel map that regular set-tops receive. That's why you cannot get it.

I only spent 5 minutes before '24' last night checking QAM channels, but it's possible we're not on the same headend. Maybe I'll get more time tonight, but I didn't see InHD1&2 at the locations you mentioned, though everything else correlates. I did find the block of music channels near there (maybe starting at 101.X), but I can't remember exactly right now. I know sometimes the InHD channels don't show up in-the-clear, I guess because the security setting is changed for a particular program. So maybe they were there but encrypted when I checked.

I'll be checking at 82.X to see if I can see the simulcast. I pulled my CableCard last night because it still refuses to let me change channels, claiming its updating the channel map...for about 24 hours now. I'm aware of the limitations with it installed.

Anyone know what is currently available from the firewire port of a Comcast HD-capable settop? I'm curious how they are handling security on this, as I hope to eventually get a box and use it with my mythtv setup now that it is capable of talking to a firewire interface. Hopefully I'll be able to capture the network HD and basic digital lineup, which I'm unable to record unless I capture the analog output of a settop, which is ugly. I've read that the premium content (HBO/Showtime HD, etc) is 5C encrypted, but I hope basic digital isn't.

Ultimate plan, use the CableCard for most TV watching on the HD set, have the settop next to it but mostly doing mythtv capture, but available for the occasional VOD buy.

Don't know what was wrong with it this morning. The signal was not good. Tonight, I got +90%. Thanks for the reply.

Originally posted by AndyJ682
So, Philly people, "this weekend" has come and gone, any change in the drops on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS for you? I'm still having the same problems I've had since the beginning of digital simulcasting and the other stuff. *sigh*

Still the same thing, just somewhat less severe. Still a real problem.

New boxes on the horizon
Comcast announces deal with Tivo
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2005/03/16tivo,comcastpla.html

Originally posted by xela19115
I'm off the same Ivyland head-end and here are my HD/digital lineup with QAM tuner PC card:
102.1 InHD1
103.1 InHD2
111.1 WPHL-DT (WB)
111.2 WTXF-DT (FOX)
114.1 PCN
114.4 EWTN
118.1 WPVI-DT (ABC)
118.2 WCAU-DT (NBC)
118.3 WPVI-DT2 (ABC News)
118.4 WPVI-DT3 (ABC Weather Tracker)
118.5 WCAU-DT2 (NBC Weather)
119.1 WHYY-HD (PBS)
119.2 KYW-DT (CBS)
I checked last night, and I've got MusicChoice at 102.X and 103.X. I didn't locate InHD, but everything else was the same except that Fox is at 111.1 and WB at .2. Maybe we're on the same headend, but different loops with different mappings? I did see the simulcast at 82.X as you mentioned. I'll keep looking for InHD (not that I watch it very much).

Regarding the Motorola 6412 DVR, there is a well documented problem, but it isn't actually a bug. For recording, the 6412 looks for the call letters of a channel, not the number, so it can record a channel, regardless if it moves to a different number.

The problem is, in many markets, some HD local channels are labeled exactly the same as their Analog conterpart. In this area we have two channels labeled as 'WPVI' (ABC).

Therefore, everytime the 6412 does a re-scan, (there is apparently no set times for this), the scheduled recordings for WPVI (Digital), revert to the lower channel number of the two WPVIs listed, which is WPVI (Analog).

The solution is for them to add 'D' or 'HD' to all Digital channel labels, that have Analog counterparts. (All other Digital channels, whether they be Local, Standard, or Premium, have unique channel labels.)

One of the moderators, from the San Francisco area, said he was going to get some action on this, and there has been progress there, but still our WPVI (Digital) here is not correct.

Can someone get some action on this locally, if not on the Corporate level?

Have WE had an issue yet with this channel, WPVI? I haven't noticed a problem (but don't recall recording any ABC since Lost & Desperate Housewives are in hiatus).

Originally posted by Carl Jones
Have WE had an issue yet with this channel, WPVI? I haven't noticed a problem (but don't recall recording any ABC since Lost & Desperate Housewives are in hiatus).
Do you mean specifically in Wilmington? If so, I don't know.

Because here in the Willow Grove, PA service area, 'WPVI' is still listed for two channels.

As I said, in almost every market one or more Digital channels is mis-labeled.

The changing of the scheduled recording to the Analog channel can happen a number of times in a row, then not for many weeks.

My hope is to get someone to check and correct the Digital channel labels, on all systems in this Metro Area, at least.

Hey how do you figure out which tuner is what? When i turn off the box and hit OK and try to see the info i cant figure out like which tuner if its 1 or 2 is on which channel. When you turn off the Box does it auto go to Tuner 1 when you turn it back on?

I just finally set up my Dish 811 receiver. According to antennaweb.org, I am between 3.0 and 3.4 miles from the Roxborough towers. I can see them from my roof (line of sight). I have a brand new antenna up (25 element yagi - more than adequate for my location). I get in the upper 80s and 90s for all channels except for WTXF-DT. That channel comes in at 49% and maxes out at around 68%., with wild fluctuations. Every other channel is rock solid. What is the problem with receiving their signal? Are they running low power? Is their transmitter in a different location? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

From what I remember, Fox's tower is located slightly further away from the main cluster and it is shorter than the rest. I think they are at full power though.

Originally posted by newsman
WTXF-DT. That channel comes in at 49% and maxes out at around 68%., with wild fluctuations.
Wild fluctuations typically indicates a multipath problem. It's possible a larger (higher gain) antenna may help, as the bigger antennas have a narrower beam-width... You're less likely to pick up those reflections coming in from the sides with such an antenna.

Do you have a rotor? Tweaking the direction of the antenna may help also...

- Mike

I agree with mjr that this sounds like a multipath problem. A lower antenna height this close to the towers would place a very strong ground reflection almost in-line with the line-of-sight path. A difficult geometry problem. Try to peak on a multi-path signal just to see if you can get something usable.

An alternative suggestion:
Consider that you may be too close (!). The close distance may in fact be overloading the receiver, especially with a high-gain antenna. I suspect receiver overload if only 1 channel is acting funny and the others are OK. There are a LOT of transmitters in the Roxborough antenna farm. It may just happen that WTXF-DT is at the magic frequency inside your receiver that is mixing with any number of public service, broadcast FM stations, etc. on the farm towers to cause this problem. At this distance, you need a good receiver front-end to filter out everything.

Something easy to try: Put an attenuator in-line (Radio Shack, at least 6 dB). You shouldn't need a preamp this close. If so, try without it.

Originally posted by QZ1
Do you mean specifically in Wilmington? If so, I don't know.

Because here in the Willow Grove, PA service area, 'WPVI' is still listed for two channels.

As I said, in almost every market one or more Digital channels is mis-labeled.

The changing of the scheduled recording to the Analog channel can happen a number of times in a row, then not for many weeks.

My hope is to get someone to check and correct the Digital channel labels, on all systems in this Metro Area, at least.

I understand (and yes, we in Wilmington get what you get). I was just wondering if this was causing problems yet.

Originally posted by Hubcap
Hey how do you figure out which tuner is what? When i turn off the box and hit OK and try to see the info i cant figure out like which tuner if its 1 or 2 is on which channel. When you turn off the Box does it auto go to Tuner 1 when you turn it back on?

When you first turn on the 6412 it defaults to tuner one.

Anyone else notice that the FOX HD breakup on tuner 2 problem seems to be fixed now? I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but last night it was working good. Hopefully it wasn't just a lucky glitch.

From the CBS 3 web site:

PHILADELPHIA (KYW) Here are the Games on CBS 3 Thursday:

7:27pm (1)Illinois vs. (12)UW-Milwaukee
9:40pm (6)Texas Tech vs. (7)West Virginia


Here are the Games on CBS HD Thursday:

7:27pm (1)Illinois vs. (12)UW-Milwaukee
9:40pm (6)Texas Tech vs. (7)West Virginia


Not only is Channel 3 showing the worst 2 of the 4 games, they are showing the same games on both SD and HD. They should always show a different game on the HD channel than is shown on the SD channel (except Friday when a local school like Villanova is playing).

Is anybody from CBS 3 monitoring this forum? How do you justify this?

Does anyone have a contact at CBS 3 who can be persuaded to change station policy before Thursday's games?

I've noticed that it appears to be fixed and it's about time. I'd like to know what it was and why it took so long to fix.

That's your opinion StuSuss, the number 1 seed game and WVU who beat Wake Forest in double OT - sounds like a good lineup to me...

I'm in Center City Philly and I'm still having second-tuner breakup problems on NBC-HD, CBS-HD, ABC-HD, and PBS-HD. Does anyone have any more information about the status of this problem?

Did anyone else have tons of breakup problems with NBC tonight during West Wing? I'm using the QAM tuner in my Hitachi to get the in the clear channel from my Comcast feed. No tuner box yet, just cable into Antenna 1. It was unwatchable at times. Very annoying. Most other in the clear channels seem to be just fine. Is this a known problem? If not, any suggestions on who to contact to complain.

I don't know who is to blame, Comcast or NBC. We are watching SD now because HD is almost unwatchable.

This stinks.......

Originally posted by RichFPAN
I'm in Center City Philly and I'm still having second-tuner breakup problems on NBC-HD, CBS-HD, ABC-HD, and PBS-HD. Does anyone have any more information about the status of this problem?
Yep, this problem hasn't gotten any better for me, and I still can't get any straight answers out of Comcast. Anyone who's having this problem should bug them.

Originally posted by AndyJ682
Yep, this problem hasn't gotten any better for me, and I still can't get any straight answers out of Comcast. Anyone who's having this problem should bug them.
We've been having this same 2nd tuner breakup problem in Delaware for quite awhile now. Comcast techs and CSRs all seem to have differing opinions as to what causes it (that's if you can get someone to acknowledge that the problem exists). We have effected some change (it was much worse a month ago) through a barrage of phone calls and emails and are continuing such. Hopefully this will be solved soon.

The West Wing problem on HD wasn't Comcast's fault. Some of us actually watch HD via OTA antenna. I was getting the break up as well.

newsman, Thanks for the confirmation. Now, how do we go about contacting NBC10 to complain about the problem?

Good question. Perhaps it was a one time thing? I would watch HD programming tonight and see if it was a one night (one program?) deal.

Phillies HD schedule yet anyone?

isnt joey, supposed to be on in HD tonight?
3/24

please tell me you dont watch that garbage joey

I'm in the Philly market out of Pottstown, PA. I've just installed my first QAM tuner and picked up most of the channels I expected, buy notable absent are KYW-DT and WHYY-DT. I noticed from somebody elses posting that these happen to be on the same channel on their headend (119).

I get stuff on frequencies above this, so I don't believe it's a problem with the signal, I'm guessing these 2 are encrypted as I do get dozens of encrypted channels that get found. The local comcast office is absolutely clueless. Has anybody had success contacting someone at comcast to look at these issues?

Luckily my tuner can do QAM and ATSC with 2 different inputs, so I'm getting WHYY and KYW ok OTA, but it's not a great signal and it breaks up at times...

- Mike

anyone know when the new on screen guide will be available from Comcast for the Moto 6200 HD box? The change was supposed to happen in December but it appears these boxes along with the 5100s never got the new guide.

What channels are the hd phillies games on

EricFinn asked: "Did anyone else have tons of breakup problems with NBC tonight during West Wing? I'm using the QAM tuner in my Hitachi to get the in the clear channel from my Comcast feed. No tuner box yet, just cable into Antenna 1. It was unwatchable at times. Very annoying. Most other in the clear channels seem to be just fine. Is this a known problem? If not, any suggestions on who to contact to complain."

__________________________________

Yes I had break up problems on the recording of the same show that I made with a Comcast 6412 DVR. I recorded from the WCAU-DT as carried by Comcast.

I hope that they fix this by the time the Winter Olympics starts next year.

For those interested in the Phillies games in HD, I would anticipate that a schedule will be posted on the CSN website fairly soon. One of the delays is a question of what road games will be carried in HD and where they will be shown. It is safe to assume that all Phillies home games that are scheduled to be carried by CSN will be in HD provided that there is no conflect with a Sixers playoff game. The season opener against Washington will not be on CSN but KYW. I do not believe it will be carried in HD on KYW-DT. It would appear very likely that some road games will be in HD, such as those involving the Mets. Any others are iffy at this point but are being discussed. The other issue is where some of these HD games will be shown. While no start date has been announded but should be fairly soon, it would appear very likely that any homes games not shown on CSN in HD will be shown on UPN 57 in HD. THis will include the Sunday afternoon home games. The good news here is that in order to assure that there will be people to actually see the games in HD on UPN 57, Comcast has agreed to add UPN 57 to their line-up! Start up date not yet available. Hopefully for the season finale of Enterprise on 5/13 as I would like to record that one. This will also be the case with home Sixers and Flyers games should the NHL ever come back as well as games of the Soul that are shown on UPN 57. When I learn more, I will post it.

JWhip - Thats great news! As always, thanks for the scoop.

It was confirmed for me that the home opener will NOT be in HD on KYW. The game was offered to KYW in HD but turned down. I do not know the reason why$$$$$$.

reposted from HDTV Hardware forum

I currently have DirecTV and have been very happy with their service for the most part. I chose DirecTV when I moved from the Philly area to the DC area so I could get NFL Sunday Ticket and watch all the Eagles games.

Now I am moving back to the Philly area (Narberth) and no longer need NFL Sunday Ticket. Looking at Comcast, they seem to have a nice package and offer the Motorola 6412 HD DVR, which seems very appealing.

I call DirecTV to schedule cancellation of my service. They transferred me to a retention specialist who said that while Comcast receives HD broadcasts in 1080i, they transmit to their subscribers in 480P.

He went on to say that only DirecTV, DISH, and OTA offer true 1080i broadcasts.

FWIW, I currently have a Sony HD100, two UltimateTVs (one upgraded to 120GB), and a couple of standard RCA D* receivers. With Comcast, I would get 2 of the 6412 DVRs and a couple of standard digital receivers.

Narberth appears to be in the Comcast Willow Grove service area. Can anyone comment on the accuracy of these statements? What quality of service can I expect from Comcast in this service area?

Well, thast is just pure BS. Comcast does not alter the HD signals at all other than to modulate to QAM. It passes 1080i and 720p. It is Direct TV who is dumbing down their HD to HD lite. Their HD has been measured at 1280 x 1080, far lower than what Comcast is passing throug. I have experience in this area as I subscribe to Comcast and Direct TV. I get the NFL Sunday Ticket and the HD pack only from Direct TV. Due to terrain issues, I can only get KYW OTA and at times, UPN 57. I have compared KYW OTA and on Comcast and they are identical in all respects. The quality of HD on Direct TV has dropped. ESPN HD and Discovery HD look much better on Comcast than Direct TV. I am watching on a 50" Panasonic plasma. The same is true of viewing on my 42" which is now in the bedroom. Narberth is close to me in Wayne but you are correct that you are in the Willow Grove system. My system is in the Chester County system but the quality of signal is the same in both systems. Please PM me if you want to discuss this further.

Threads merged.

Originally posted by CPanther95
Threads merged.

Thanks CPanther. Figured I should have posted in the local thread after I posted in the Hardware thread.

Originally posted by torno
anyone know when the new on screen guide will be available from Comcast for the Moto 6200 HD box? The change was supposed to happen in December but it appears these boxes along with the 5100s never got the new guide.

As mentioned many times, there is a bug in the software and the guide causes problems. Comcast guys check in here often. But last I heard they said it might be June.

Originally posted by dlipetz
reposted from HDTV Hardware forum

I currently have DirecTV and have been very happy with their service for the most part. I chose DirecTV when I moved from the Philly area to the DC area so I could get NFL Sunday Ticket and watch all the Eagles games.

Now I am moving back to the Philly area (Narberth) and no longer need NFL Sunday Ticket. Looking at Comcast, they seem to have a nice package and offer the Motorola 6412 HD DVR, which seems very appealing.

I call DirecTV to schedule cancellation of my service. They transferred me to a retention specialist who said that while Comcast receives HD broadcasts in 1080i, they transmit to their subscribers in 480P.

He went on to say that only DirecTV, DISH, and OTA offer true 1080i broadcasts.

FWIW, I currently have a Sony HD100, two UltimateTVs (one upgraded to 120GB), and a couple of standard RCA D* receivers. With Comcast, I would get 2 of the 6412 DVRs and a couple of standard digital receivers.

Narberth appears to be in the Comcast Willow Grove service area. Can anyone comment on the accuracy of these statements? What quality of service can I expect from Comcast in this service area?

jwhip is right on the money. I'm more worried about the shared digital bandwidth these broadcasters are using with squeezing Weather crap into the bandwidth. Now NBC is doing it. What gives, how much weather can I take?

Originally posted by T u r b o
I'm in the Philly market out of Pottstown, PA. I've just installed my first QAM tuner and picked up most of the channels I expected, buy notable absent are KYW-DT and WHYY-DT. I noticed from somebody elses posting that these happen to be on the same channel on their headend (119).

I get stuff on frequencies above this, so I don't believe it's a problem with the signal, I'm guessing these 2 are encrypted as I do get dozens of encrypted channels that get found. The local comcast office is absolutely clueless. Has anybody had success contacting someone at comcast to look at these issues?

Luckily my tuner can do QAM and ATSC with 2 different inputs, so I'm getting WHYY and KYW ok OTA, but it's not a great signal and it breaks up at times...

- Mike

These services are being tested by Comcast, I wouldn't be surprised if they come and go at different times. Mine have been appearing and disappearing since Dec. I'm sure when they have it the way they want it, they will post this option of availablity on their website. Those guys check in here every day, so they probably read your post.

In case anyone is interested, UPN 57 will be channel 236.

Veronica Mars in HD would be awesome! When were they planning on doing this?

I do not yet have an exact date yet Dawn. My guess would be within 60 days.

Any word yet on ESPN2 HD and TNT HD?

TNT is coming. No good news on ESPN2 though

Originally posted by Dannytheman
These services are being tested by Comcast, I wouldn't be surprised if they come and go at different times. Mine have been appearing and disappearing since Dec. I'm sure when they have it the way they want it, they will post this option of availablity on their website. Those guys check in here every day, so they probably read your post.

checked on my QAM seeker in Pottstown ..119.1 and 119.2 are good and in clear here. WHYY and KYW.

Originally posted by JWhip
No good news on ESPN2 though

what is the hold up with ESPN2? lack of programing?

That and the fact that ESPN is requiring that Comcast also carry ESPNU.

With these impending additions (UPN & TNT HD) where does that leave us for bandwidth availability for future additions?

Pretty squeezed. Some systems do not have the bandwidth to even add UPN which will be the first addition.

Want bandwidth?
Take the 3 least watched analog channels and convert them
into 256-QAM. Poof, 6 HD channels.

If ESPN won't even bother to carry programs like last night's debacle of a Sixers game in HD, why would we ever need ESPN2 in HD?

I think the answer is simply that we don't need another ESPN network not showing HD content.

I agree. When ever i tune into ESPNHD the content is rarely HD. Yes they have had a few more events on HD, NCAA basketball but come on now. Kinda iritates me that they are showing the NY and Boston season opener on ESPN2HD but hell Im not going to watch it now considering I dont have ESPN2HD. Why not show this on regular ESPNHD.

While i was watching House through my dvr today around 2:45-3:00pm my box shut off twice and started back up???? Does anyone know if there were any kind of updates done today? Didnt notice any new channels. Im not usually home during the day watching TV so i dont kow if this is a usual thing to happen. Im assuming not.

Last I heard, the next firmware upgrade to come out is due 4/16.

Originally posted by JWhip
I do not yet have an exact date yet Dawn. My guess would be within 60 days.

Probably just after the last episode of Enterprise. Veronica Mars is the only other UPN show I watch. Better late then never I guess.

As far as ESPNHD, I think it's worth it just for the Sunday Night NFL games. ESPN HD quality is better then then MNF, IMHO.

Mike3 [/i] wrote: "If ESPN won't even bother to carry programs like last night's debacle of a Sixers game in HD, why would we ever need ESPN2 in HD? I think the answer is simply that we don't need another ESPN network not showing HD content."

____________________________________

I noticed that a Red Sox/Yanks game is being carried on ESPN2 this weekend. I wonder whether that and other MLB games are being transmitted in HD.

After being spoiled by the Fox playoffs last Fall, MLB in SD has become hard to watch.

Yes wednesday night baseaball will be on espn2 hd according to the schedule on espn.com

Phillies HDTV?
2 messages

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@gmail.com> Sat, Mar 26, 2005 at 3:07 PM
To: upn57@wpsg.com
Does UPN 57 carry Phillies home games in HDTV as Sportsnet does? If
so, is it every home game (on 57) or a subset?

Thanks,

*******
Philadelphia


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPN57 <UPN57@wpsg.com> Mon, Mar 28, 2005 at 9:54 AM
To: @gmail.com>
At this point we are not carrying Phillies games in HD - but we are working on the situation and hope to introduce them some time this season.

thanks,
UPN57 Programming

which means no HD on UPN 57 this year, if that is the case don't bother adding UPN57 add ESPN2HD or me and my 150 dollars a month will be going back to DIRECTV

That's not true, actually.. it just means no Phillies in HD this year.. but Veronica Mars is in HD.. and probably reruns of Enterprise will be, too.

Originally posted by lutton
At this point we are not carrying Phillies games in HD - but we are working on the situation and hope to introduce them some time this season.

thanks,
UPN57 Programming

Why do you guys think this means no HD for the whole season? They seem to be saying it might happen during the course of the season. Are you just pessimistic? (realistic?)

Originally posted by bronowyn
That's not true, actually.. it just means no Phillies in HD this year.. but Veronica Mars is in HD.. and probably reruns of Enterprise will be, too.

yipee :rolleyes:

Anyone still have incorrect times on their boxes? Two 5100's and a HD non-dvr and all three are still an hour behind. This is in New Castle Cty, DE.

Did you reboot? Try pulling the plug, let it sit 30 seconds, and power it up again. If that doesn't fix it, time to call Customer Service.

Originally posted by chroma601
Did you reboot? Try pulling the plug, let it sit 30 seconds, and power it up again. If that doesn't fix it, time to call Customer Service.

Left it unplugged for about 2 hours.

so, since theres no schedule anywhere anyone know our first hd game for the phillies?

Originally posted by shades
yipee :rolleyes:

But the Phillies are on Comcast Sportsnet in HD, so if you run to Dish you don't have that.

I figure UPN and the Phillies will work this out. Keep hammering UPN about the HD stuff once it is on Comcast channel 236.

Better use of your time.

im guessing thursday the 7th 1pm is our first HD game on CSN?

That is correct. Yesterday's game was done in Hd but you had to be in the CSN production studio under the Wachovia Center to see it!

so then the next game would be NEXT saturday on csn against the braves?

Originally posted by JWhip
Narberth is close to me in Wayne but you are correct that you are in the Willow Grove system. My system is in the Chester County system but the quality of signal is the same in both systems. Please PM me if you want to discuss this further.
No, I am looking at the Willow Grove pamphlet, and Narberth is not listed. (It isn't even contiguous to the WG service area). I think he would be on the Lower Merion system, as he is right next door to it.

Regarding the Motorola 6412 DVR, there is a well documented problem, but it isn't actually a bug. For recording, the 6412 looks for the call letters of a channel, not the number, so it can record a channel, regardless if it moves to a different number.

The problem is, in many markets, some HD local channels are labeled exactly the same as their Analog conterpart. In this area we have two channels labeled as 'WPVI' (ABC).

Therefore, everytime the 6412 does a re-scan, (there is apparently no set times for this), the scheduled recordings for WPVI (Digital), revert to the lower channel number of the two WPVIs listed, which is WPVI (Analog).

The solution is for them to add 'D' or 'HD' to all Digital channel labels, that have Analog counterparts. (All other Digital channels, whether they be Local, Standard, or Premium, have unique channel labels.)

One of the moderators, from the San Francisco area, said he was going to get some action on this, and there has been progress there, but still our WPVI (Digital) here is not correct.

Can someone get some action on this locally, if not on the Corporate level?

I can't say that I have run into this problem. I go into the guide and hit the record button on the program I want to record on the channel I want to record it on. It works for me on 231.

No problems with WPVI-D recordings for me - I set some scheduled recordings up over the past weekend, and they worked fine (other than the occasional "second-tuner breakup" issue :mad: ) recording from 231, not from 6.

blackngold75 or anybody...

Can someone please explain the "second-tuner breakup" issue...

This might be something that is occuring to me...I lose sound and then picture brakes up into tiles across the screen...

Thanks

Mark

MarkS - not sure where you are located, but there are many of us in Delaware, in particular, who have been seeing "breakups" exactly like you describe on the second tuner of the Moto 6412. These breakups are normally seen on the HD local channels (CBS, FOX, ABC, NBC). Personally, I have not had any problems with other HD recordings from other channels like SHOHD, INHD, DISCHD, etc., only from the HD locals.

I'm sure other forum users will jump in here if I get this wrong...from my understanding, if the Moto 6412 is in the "off"/"standby" mode and has a scheduled recording set up, the box will, by default, use the 2nd tuner to perform the recording. It has been mainly on the 2nd tuner where these breakups have been reported.

I was away over the weekend, and had set up a recording of "Desperate Housewives" - watched it last night, and there several audio/video breakups during the show - mostly audio dropouts. The box had been in standby mode prior to the scheduled recording.

A workaround that has been mentioned is to leave the box "on" and already on the 2nd tuner, that way the "1st" tuner will be used for scheduled recordings. You can jump between tuners by using the "swap" button on your remote, if you have that remote. Comcast is supposedly aware of the problem and working on it, but it still seems to be affecting many of us.

In Delaware County, I had the 2nd tuner problem for months (it only affected Fox and WB), but it was resolved about 3 or 4 weeks ago.

The issue was that every 10 seconds or so there was an audio and video hiccup/dropout that only occurred on the 2nd tuner.

Located in Warminster, PA

Breakup seems to happen on channel 131 (nogin)...

Signal strength was as follows...

Tuner 1
SNR = 30 (Fair)
AGC = 80% (Poor)

I don't recall the number for tuner 2 but
SNR = Poor
AGC = Poor

All this seems to happen this past weekend (When we received the rain)

Cable line run from pole to the side of the house where there is a 2 way splitter (one to cable modem, one to tv), from there there is another 2 way splitter (one to HDTV, one to the rest of the house)


I did run a line from the outside of the house to the cable box and the signal strength did not change much..

I did add an amplifier to my line at the point it reaches the cable box and now my signal strength went to

Tuner 1
SNR = 35 (Good)
AGC = 50% (Good)

tuner 2
SNR = Fair
AGC = Good


I don't know if adding the amplifier is causing this problem or not
or was this the case of the "second-tuner breakup"


Mark

I had breakups previously on both the 6412 box and my regular (non-HD, I don't know the number) box that I had. I had the tech come out, run a line from the cable feed in the back directly to my TV... I was still having the problem. Turnned out, it was the node in my neighborhood. In two days, someone else from comcast was out in my neighborhood working on the node. :)

I think running from the "cable feed" that your whole house uses is a good way to check if it's a problem within your house. I don't know how a layperson would do that, though..

Dawn, did you get my PM?

Blackngold75 is correct except Fox & WB have not been effected here. His suggestion to keep you from recording to the 2nd. tuner is the only way I know to avoid this issue. Although our breakups are much less than they were, they are still occuring.

MarkS,

the problem you describe sounds a lot like the situation I had at first - breakups on many of the digital channels on both tuners, but more frequently on the second tuner. That problem was rectified only when Comcast ran a new line to my house (according to the tech, the signal was really degraded on the original line) which solved most of my problems.
I also usually see better numbers for tuner1 than I do for tuner 2 on the 6412.

To the best of my knowledge, the "2nd tuner breakups" problem has been related to HD local channels, not the SD channels like Noggin

I never check my PMs... :) I'll go look at it. :)

Originally posted by JWhip
I can't say that I have run into this problem. I go into the guide and hit the record button on the program I want to record on the channel I want to record it on. It works for me on 231.
Just because you haven't seen this problem, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. :) That is exactly what everyone does. It is probably that your system never did a channel re-scan. In fact, it is a common problem in many markets. In some markets, a number of channels were labeled the same for Analog and Digital.

Here, it only changed the channel a few times, but it was annoying to have to check the channel number on ABC recordings every day. And if it would change, to re-do the season passes for all the ABC shows.

Anyway, yesterday they changed 231 from 'WPVI' (was same as 6) to 'ABC-HD', so all of my passes for WPVI went to 6, and I changed them to ABC-HD 231, and of course they won't change anymore.

[
Anyway, yesterday they changed 231 from 'WPVI' (was same as 6) to 'ABC-HD', so all of my passes for WPVI went to 6, and I changed them to ABC-HD 231, and of course they won't change anymore. [/B][/QUOTE]

Sounds like your plea was heard!

Sometime yesterday i noticed we were receiving STARZHD, anyone know how long we'll be getting this preview?

I know there was a MESSAGE on the box about it. Maybe, look there and it will say?

I believe starz is free till the 12th

Anyone ever have a problem with the 6412 box crashing when setting a series recording...

I tried setting a series recording for World POker Tour on a couple of ocassions and the box froze on the confirmation page. I had unplug the box to resolve the issue. It's happened with another series or two (always analog from waht I recall).

Mike3; Yes, & discussed quite a bit in the recorders forum.

Email I got back from comcast regarding the Phillies. About time with the damn schedule!


Thank you for your interest in Comcast SportsNet. All Phillies home games will be broadcast in High-Definition. A schedule will be posted soon on www.comcastsportsnet.com.

Thank you.

Comcast SportsNet - Get Your Game On!

Originally posted by Mike3
Anyone ever have a problem with the 6412 box crashing when setting a series recording...

I tried setting a series recording for World POker Tour on a couple of ocassions and the box froze on the confirmation page. I had unplug the box to resolve the issue. It's happened with another series or two (always analog from waht I recall).

From ********** dot com:

4. Avoid Series Recording at This Time Unfortunately, many users report issues with Series Recording including strange behavior surrounding priority rankings, lock-ups when editing Series Recordings and the recording of unwanted episodes because of incomplete Guide data. Additionally, it appears that if you have two Series Recordings scheduled for one time you can only cancel one if needed. Trying to cancel the second brings the first one back. It is the opinion of this site that Series Recording, especially non-network programs, is best avoided until a fix is made in the software.

Wow! asterisks.com!

I must have a secret working 6412. I read all about the issue people are having and I'm not haivng any of these issues. I had tons of problems with the 6208 but the 6412 has worked well for months. Even my series recordings work well.

I'm glad to hear that, I've been thinking of upgrading from my 6208.
dvr no spaces chatter no spaces dot com.

Just getting started with OTA HD reception in Northern Liberties (just north of Olde City) with a DirecTV TIVO HD unit.

With a powered indoor antenna--on third floor--I get 3,6,10 35 (34?) and 57 reliably or better, plus some PAX & Hispanic channels. I have a great deal of trouble locking on to 29, and I do not get 12 at all.

There is a large church steeple which is almost directly between me and the antenna farm in Roxborough.

What are some suggestions for outdoor antennas and installers? (Our house has a small attic--no more than a crawl space really.) I'm considering hiring an installer so they're responsible for tweaking the system, rather than me going up and down a bunch of times.

And what out-of-philly stations should I expect, or not expect, to receive? Allentown? Reading? NJ?

Comcast should be your first option.
Then you can go to www.antennaweb.org and try that.
That was: antenna no spaces web no spaces dot org :)

Comcast is not my first option; I am a directv subscriber, and I would like to get my local HD OTA. I have used the antenna web site already. That's how I know the steeple lies directly between my house and the antenna farm.

I'm looking for suggestions/receommendations regarding antenna installers.

Thanks.

I'm not getting WCAU-DT tonight(Friday) OTA.Anyone else having trouble?

Originally posted by minorthr
I must have a secret working 6412. I read all about the issue people are having and I'm not haivng any of these issues. I had tons of problems with the 6208 but the 6412 has worked well for months. Even my series recordings work well.

People don't usually go out of their way to post about how the box works well. They usually only mention something when there's a problem. So that has given you a skewed view on how functional the 6412s really are.

For those in the Philly market, TNT-HD WILL be added before the end of April. Very possibly by 4/24.

I don't usually watch std def local channels, but have a few times
since Comcast Willow Grove PA moved them to digital simulcast. I
don't know when it happened, but I just noticed the simulcast
channels reverted back to their crappy analog state. Looks
real bad on the Moto 6412 STB.

Anyone else notice this? I have 2 digital boxes, a 6412 and a non HD
non DVR STB, and both are back to analog...

Hi,

I'm in North Wilmington, and have a pcHDTV DH3000 card in a Mythtv box. I'm trying out the QAM support. While I'm able to tune multiple channles, the quality is unwatchable. too many audio dropouts, and continuity errors.

We subscribe only to Analog service, so what kind of support would Comcast give me? Also given that I only have the one card / tuner (I have an Air2PC ATSC card too, but it appears this card has QAM tuning issues and won't work with its current hardware, Next gen card due out in May/June is supposed to fix this). I have no real way to rule out hardware trouble (I am able to recieve some OTA HDTV with the HD3000 fine though).

Originally posted by JWhip
For those in the Philly market, TNT-HD WILL be added before the end of April. Very possibly by 4/24.

what about upn and are they going to show games in HD

I can't wait. Comcast is making me pretty happy. Maybe a BRAVO in there... that would be good.

Does anyone know any other channels in HD? I personally would love it if they make Food Network, HGTV, Sci Fi, CNN (!!), TLC, and BBC America in HD... I'm wondering (maybe someone on this thread can guide me) to where in AVS forum that we can hear about Up-and-coming HD channels.

Originally posted by joef_rgb
I don't usually watch std def local channels, but have a few times
since Comcast Willow Grove PA moved them to digital simulcast. I
don't know when it happened, but I just noticed the simulcast
channels reverted back to their crappy analog state. Looks
real bad on the Moto 6412 STB.

Anyone else notice this? I have 2 digital boxes, a 6412 and a non HD
non DVR STB, and both are back to analog...

As I understand it, Comcast is moving the channels around. What you see as a digital simulcast may or may not be tomorrow as they work through their issues. Of course they all will eventually be simulcast but right now they appear to be doing some experimenting.

Dawn;

I assume you monitor the programming thread? Multiple threads discuss current & upcoming HD channels. Besides the TNT HD & UPN we are about to get, the following are discussed the most;ESPN2, Universal HD, and HDNet.

Dawn;

Here is a thread by KenH (AKA Magic 8 Ball), you might find helpful;http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164671

Originally posted by shades
what about upn and are they going to show games in HD

If you're refereing to UPN57 showing Phillies games in HD, I contacted them about that question in March, and they said there we're working on it, and hoped to provide HD games at some point in the season.

They said they would not be offering HD from the very begining of the season.

Originally posted by bronowyn
I can't wait. Comcast is making me pretty happy. Maybe a BRAVO in there... that would be good.

Does anyone know any other channels in HD? I personally would love it if they make Food Network, HGTV, Sci Fi, CNN (!!), TLC, and BBC America in HD... I'm wondering (maybe someone on this thread can guide me) to where in AVS forum that we can hear about Up-and-coming HD channels.

Scrips (I think that's it) or whomever provides Food Network, Fine Living, etc, is in the process of transisioning to HD. According to some folks who are big fans of the Food Network show "Good Eats" Scripps is targeting a 2006 timeframe for an HD network. At least one episode of "good Eats" was apparantly filmed in HD, but obviously not broadcast that way. Fans of the show were commenting on the different 'look & feel' of the broadcast before the HD news was out.

UPN 57 will not be providing HD games until they pay to install the necessary transmitter at Comcast Sportsnet's facility and until UPN 57 is on Comcast. It was done in Boston already on UPN 38 and is being done in NY on UPN 9. Jusdt be patient. Once I hear that the transmitter has been installed, I will let you know.

Originally posted by lutton
According to some folks who are big fans of the Food Network show "Good Eats" Scripps is targeting a 2006 timeframe for an HD network. At least one episode of "good Eats" was apparantly filmed in HD, but obviously not broadcast that way. Fans of the show were commenting on the different 'look & feel' of the broadcast before the HD news was out.

OT: But, thank you!!! Good eats is by and away my favorite cooking show.

Thanks everyone for giving me that link (I forgot about the programming thread). Interesting that Universal HD IS Bravo HD.. so that's pretty cool.

My local comcast (camden county, south jersey) still has Fox listed as FOXws and WB as WB-HD where as abc and the such are listed as ABChd.

Not that it really matters, but it just looks funny. Well they also never have program information for playboy. Bah!

Originally posted by JWhip
For those in the Philly market, TNT-HD WILL be added before the end of April. Very possibly by 4/24.

wooooohoooo!

Originally posted by drhill
My local comcast (camden county, south jersey) still has Fox listed as FOXws and WB as WB-HD where as abc and the such are listed as ABChd.

Not that it really matters, but it just looks funny.
They probably aren't consistent in most places. What matters most is that the Digitals and Analogs are labeled differently.

Here, they corrected ABC-HD, as I mentioned, plus NBC, CBS, and FOX, all have a '-HD', but they still have WB-HD listed as 'WPHLD' and PBS-HD as 'WHYYD'.

It is annoying that they use network and local affilliate designations interchangebly. But, at least many of the HDs use the network desig., as opposed to the analogs, which are all local aff. desigs.

My Sony kdf60xbr950 states that it can receive Clear QAM unscrambled.

Does Comcast in the Delaware County area even offer that? csr @ comcast said HUGH? 3 times. Is it free or is it all scrambled. My tv doesn't have cable card.

I have analog comcast & OTA for my Digital chanels. I noticed after the last auto program ( cable side vs. ota) chanels in the 80's appeared but blank screen.

Thanks

Originally posted by QZ1
They probably aren't consistent in most places. What matters most is that the Digitals and Analogs are labeled differently.

Here, they corrected ABC-HD, as I mentioned, plus NBC, CBS, and FOX, all have a '-HD', but they still have WB-HD listed as 'WPHLD' and PBS-HD as 'WHYYD'.

It is annoying that they use network and local affilliate designations interchangebly. But, at least many of the HDs use the network desig., as opposed to the analogs, which are all local aff. desigs.

Post 666?!?! Ahh. Consistancy is a problem with comcast. As I just posted in another thread I have never once recieved a message on my boxes about anything in the 7 years of digital cable (give or take) while a buddy who lives 10 minutes away on a different system gets message all the time.

I'm new to this site so forgive me if this subject has been recently discussed. Question: Do I need to buy special "digital" cable wire to run from my digital cable box to the plasma (HD monitor - no built-in tuner) for HDTV, or does regular coaxial cable do the trick?

Threads merged.

rwittman18,

In order to view HD content, you need to connect your digital cable box to your HD plasma via component, DVI, or HDMI (depending on what connections your equipment supports).

I have had the 6412 for five months, with rare problems. Last night, four out of 12 HD channels started to pixelate and drop out, only on Tuner 2.

I checked the SNR and AGC on a number of them, and they were all 'Good'. In fact, the numbers were higher than ever. I used to have Tuner 2 SNRs of 31.2 to 32.5 ('Fair'). Now, they are 33.9 to 34.8. Tuner 1 is also better.

It is ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. It was showing Uncorrectable errors, yesterday, but today it shows no errors, yet the problems persist. The first three are next to each other, PBS is not.

One would think this is a bad tuner, but I read about the problems in DE, so I wonder what is up.

What exactly has been going on there?
How can a system-wide problem only affect Tuner 2 with Good SNR?

BTW, we are on the Willow Grove, PA system.
Anyone else having these problems?

QZ1 - I'm in Center City Philly and have been having the exact same problems for 7 weeks. I've called Comcast about every week and they keep telling me that they're working on the problem. It doesn't seem that this is as widespread in this area as it is in DE, which I guess means they're not going to fix us quickly.

Oh.. also, I've been having trouble on ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS... (not Fox like you). And I also have occasional pixelization and audio droupouts on the first tuner on these channels as well, but not nearly the amount on the unwatchable second tuner.

Does anyone have any more information about when this problem will be resolved? As I've said, it's been over a month and a half and still going.

Originally posted by drpepper
My Sony kdf60xbr950 states that it can receive Clear QAM unscrambled.

Does Comcast in the Delaware County area even offer that? csr @ comcast said HUGH? 3 times. Is it free or is it all scrambled. My tv doesn't have cable card.

I have analog comcast & OTA for my Digital chanels. I noticed after the last auto program ( cable side vs. ota) chanels in the 80's appeared but blank screen.

Thanks

drpepper, I have Comcast in Chester County, in the Malvern-Great Valley area. I have a Pioneer Elite 920 Plasma TV, with a built-in QAM tuner and cable-card slot. I do NOT have a cable card, and receive most of the HD channels over the 'A' Tuner (which has the QAM).

You DO NOT need the digital service, nor do you need the HD service...unless you want things like the cable box for on-demand, pay-per-view, comcast's guide and their (IMHO poor) DVR. You also do not get certain channels, such as Discovery HD or Starz! HD without the digital/HDTV service. It just didn't seem that it was worth an additional $30/month to me (especially as I own two tivos). All you need is to hook the cable up to your QAM tuner, and do a scan. On my TV, it took nearly 15 minutes to complete.

I get all of the music channels (not that I wanted them) ABC, CBS, NBC, WB, Fox and PBS-HD. I also get INHD1/INHD2 and G4 (which prior to 3/1 was HD, as well, but now is not).

Originally posted by RichFPAN
QZ1 - I'm in Center City Philly and have been having the exact same problems for 7 weeks. I've called Comcast about every week and they keep telling me that they're working on the problem. It doesn't seem that this is as widespread in this area as it is in DE, which I guess means they're not going to fix us quickly.

Not what I was hoping to hear; although it took Delaware a while for it to get fixed, and still someone just mentioned that they still have Tuner 2 problems.

Oh.. also, I've been having trouble on ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS... (not Fox like you). And I also have occasional pixelization and audio droupouts on the first tuner on these channels as well, but not nearly the amount on the unwatchable second tuner.

I remembered it incorrectly; it is indeed ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS here, also. So, this appears to be a regional problem.

Does anyone have any more information about when this problem will be resolved? As I've said, it's been over a month and a half and still going.

JWhip are you out there? Maybe he could get some action on this.

Did you try getting the DVR replaced?
Sometimes, that is all it is. Although, when others have the exact same problems, it almost surely is a system problem.

I am waiting, as I don't want to have the DVR replaced, unless it is surely faulty, because one loses all recordings and season passes.

Originally posted by WizarDru
drpepper, I have Comcast in Chester County, in the Malvern-Great Valley area. I have a Pioneer Elite 920 Plasma TV, with a built-in QAM tuner and cable-card slot. I do NOT have a cable card, and receive most of the HD channels over the 'A' Tuner (which has the QAM).

You DO NOT need the digital service, nor do you need the HD service...unless you want things like the cable box for on-demand, pay-per-view, comcast's guide and their (IMHO poor) DVR. You also do not get certain channels, such as Discovery HD or Starz! HD without the digital/HDTV service. It just didn't seem that it was worth an additional $30/month to me (especially as I own two tivos). All you need is to hook the cable up to your QAM tuner, and do a scan. On my TV, it took nearly 15 minutes to complete.

I get all of the music channels (not that I wanted them) ABC, CBS, NBC, WB, Fox and PBS-HD. I also get INHD1/INHD2 and G4 (which prior to 3/1 was HD, as well, but now is not).

I was getting INHD1 and 2 and they disappeared. They were at 100.01 and 100.02. Are you still getting them WizardDru? Were are they now if you are? I rescanned and can't find them anywhere!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by QZ1
[B]Not what I was hoping to hear; although it took Delaware a while for it to get fixed, and still someone just mentioned that they still have Tuner 2 problems.

Problem STILL exists in Delaware.

baeverly
Are you getting any digital over Qam? I tried a channel scan again from the coax comcast cable in, normal analog & what appeared to be comcast digital channels in the 88-110 or so range but no picture. I did a "digital only" scan & it took like 30 minutes but again same result, locks in on the channels (decimal subs) but no picture. I have to go into the digital guide section to "hide" them to get them out of the channel line up. With the analog you just go into add/delete.

Again, when I call Comcast the csr tries to sell digital cable & acts ( is) dumb not sure which.
As stated I'm in Delaware county.
PS Here is info from my xbr sony..."HDTV Reception. Receives free, over-the-air digital broadcasts, where available. Receives Clear QAM unscrambled digital cable channels"

Originally posted by QZ1
Did you try getting the DVR replaced?
Sometimes, that is all it is. Although, when others have the exact same problems, it almost surely is a system problem.

I am waiting, as I don't want to have the DVR replaced, unless it is surely faulty, because one loses all recordings and season passes.

I have two 6412s that do the same thing. Both have been replaced and the problem remains. I think it is a system problem.

Originally posted by drpepper
baeverly
Are you getting any digital over Qam? I tried a channel scan again from the coax comcast cable in, normal analog & what appeared to be comcast digital channels in the 88-110 or so range but no picture. I did a "digital only" scan & it took like 30 minutes but again same result, locks in on the channels (decimal subs) but no picture. I have to go into the digital guide section to "hide" them to get them out of the channel line up. With the analog you just go into add/delete.

Again, when I call Comcast the csr tries to sell digital cable & acts ( is) dumb not sure which.
As stated I'm in Delaware county.
PS Here is info from my xbr sony..."HDTV Reception. Receives free, over-the-air digital broadcasts, where available. Receives Clear QAM unscrambled digital cable channels"

Yes I get all the networks via digital over QAM. Some PPV and I was getting the two INHD but they are gone lately.......I have a MITS with Integrated HD QAM Tuner no cable card as it 3 years old.

Originally posted by baeverly
I was getting INHD1 and 2 and they disappeared. They were at 100.01 and 100.02. Are you still getting them WizardDru? Were are they now if you are? I rescanned and can't find them anywhere!

I was as of last night, at least. I didn't check before leaving this morning for work. They relocated, as of the last update, to 101.1 and 102.1, I think. I'll check when I get home tonight, to verify.

Prior to the last update, all of my HD channels were organized around channels 79-85, with all of the major affiliates together, followed by all the Music Choice channels, and the INHD1/2 (with lots of OnDemand channels and other stuff following). After the update, INHD1/2 moved upwards, all the major affiliates moved to the 114-116 range, and G4 moved down to 88.11 (iirc). The Music Choice channels are all over the board...but I listen to XM, not my TV. :)

Again, I call Comcast (810am 4/15/05)..again I get csr that just tries to "sell" their service & reads off cue cards....

Comcast states that in order to view their digital channels ( sd or hd) you need to subscribe to their digital service. The newer tvs may have the ability to view but only after you pay for the "extra" service.

IS THIS TRUE??? Are there people that can view the digitals (sd or hd) that don't have the digital service? Is this is true, is this like a "bonus" where it tech. is not supossed to happen?

I don't want to pick a fight with comcast to View the digitals that my tv is scanning in but unviewable if what they are saying is REALLY true since I DON"T subscribe to digital cable.
BUT if I should be able to receive & view some I would like it fixed & viewable.
Anybody? Is this maybe a local thing? Malvern sees them but media doesn't but havertown does, etc?
Anyone? Thanks

Originally posted by RichFPAN
QZ1 - I'm in Center City Philly and have been having the exact same problems for 7 weeks. I've called Comcast about every week and they keep telling me that they're working on the problem. It doesn't seem that this is as widespread in this area as it is in DE, which I guess means they're not going to fix us quickly.

Oh.. also, I've been having trouble on ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS... (not Fox like you). And I also have occasional pixelization and audio droupouts on the first tuner on these channels as well, but not nearly the amount on the unwatchable second tuner.

Does anyone have any more information about when this problem will be resolved? As I've said, it's been over a month and a half and still going.

I'm a 6412 user in Delaware. What I can tell you about the 2nd tuner problem is that it is systemic. The 6412 worked flawlessly on both tuners until COMCAST switched our HD QAMs for ABC, NBC,CBS, and PBS to make room for digital simucast of analog chanels.

Individuals that are not reporting the problem don't know they have a problem. I told to two friends who thought they were ok how to do a simple test. They called me and said "Man how did I miss that"

(Simple test: Start with 6412 off (needs to be off so we can be sure that we start with 1st tuner) tune to CBS HD, picture should be ok, hit the swap button to switch to 2nd tuner, tune to CBS HD again. If your problem is as bad as it is in Delaware you should hear an audio drop out followed by video pixelization/tiling within a few minutes.)

Note on test for us in Delaware CBS HD is the worst you may need to find out what channel will work best for your area.

Switching out 6412 box does not help. Having a COMCAST Lead technician come out to your house does not help. Having all connections cut off and new connectors attached does not help. Replacing all cable outside and inside your home does not help. Replacing all splitters does not help. All of this work was done at my home over the course of several visits from COMCAST and the problem still persists.

The last COMCAST tech that came to my house told me that they now think it is a problem with the 6412 and my service ticket was going to be put in a pile until they have enough to convince Motorola that it is a problem they need to address. This doesn't sound to promising.

I really want this to work when it does it works great. The only thing that is keeping me calm is that COMCAST has been crediting my account every month when I call.

I also have the tuner 2 pixelation problem here in center city. I'm wondering if it has something to do the 6412's hardware myself. Here are my thoughts as to possible causes:

1. The signal is not being spilt evenly to both tuners, so tuner 2 is not getting enough signal and that causes the dropouts.
2. There is some kind of slight systemwide interference at the frequencies where the problem channels sit. Slight interference combined with uneven signal splitting could be just enough to cause problems on tuner 2 but not tuner 1. I don't know how often channels move around, but this seemed to start when DS started.
3. There is a hardware or firmware problem when buffering high-bitrate channels from tuner 2, so the signal is fine but is getting messed up in the buffer. However the error counts for tuner 2 on the diagnostics page seem to rule this out.

Of course this is all speculation on my part, but since my local office refuses to even acknowledge there is a problem, I can only make assumptions as to the cause. I just hope they fix it soon. It sucks to have to be home to make sure something records on tuner 1 on the affected channels.

Originally posted by drpepper
IS THIS TRUE??? Are there people that can view the digitals (sd or hd) that don't have the digital service? Is this is true, is this like a "bonus" where it tech. is not supossed to happen?

I only have analog service and I get all the HD locals and INHD 1 and 2 in the clear... And some other stuff... I am in southern Chester county... I have never talked to comcast about it. I almost always use my OTA reception anyway... I am using an Elgato EyeTV 500...Hope this helps...

Originally posted by stoli412
I also have the tuner 2 pixelation problem here in center city. I'm wondering if it has something to do the 6412's hardware myself. Here are my thoughts as to possible causes:

1. The signal is not being spilt evenly to both tuners, so tuner 2 is not getting enough signal and that causes the dropouts....


This is correct if you look at the diagnostic screen you will see that the 2nd tuner typically gets between 2-3db less than the 1st tuner.

Originally posted by stoli412
I also have the tuner 2 pixelation problem here in center city. I'm wondering if it has something to do the 6412's hardware myself. Here are my thoughts as to possible causes:

1. The signal is not being spilt evenly to both tuners, so tuner 2 is not getting enough signal and that causes the dropouts.
But I am getting 'Good' SNR and AGC on Tuner 2. I let it set on the Diagnostic Screen and I saw the errors, yet those number didn't change out of Good range.

2. There is some kind of slight systemwide interference at the frequencies where the problem channels sit. Slight interference combined with uneven signal splitting could be just enough to cause problems on tuner 2 but not tuner 1. I don't know how often channels move around, but this seemed to start when DS started.
You seem to be saying a lower SNR is getting interference and therefore the signal is being degraded. But again, why are the SNR and AGC fine?

3. There is a hardware or firmware problem when buffering high-bitrate channels from tuner 2, so the signal is fine but is getting messed up in the buffer. However the error counts for tuner 2 on the diagnostics page seem to rule this out.
A few days ago, I was getting Uncorrectable errors on Tuner 2, the next day I wasn't though. I think you may be on to something, I think it is the buffering.

Of course this is all speculation on my part, but since my local office refuses to even acknowledge there is a problem, I can only make assumptions as to the cause. I just hope they fix it soon.

Originally posted by quartrj
I'm a 6412 user in Delaware. What I can tell you about the 2nd tuner problem is that it is systemic. The 6412 worked flawlessly on both tuners until COMCAST switched our HD QAMs for ABC, NBC,CBS, and PBS to make room for digital simucast of analog chanels.
But here on the Willow Grove system, they started the Digital simulcast a while ago, I think two months ago, yet the problem here just started three days ago. Herr, maybe they are Digitizing more channels now, than just Locals. (IOW, Delaware was ahead on the Digital Simulcast.)

By switching HD QAMs, do you mean that they changed the frequencies around?

Originally posted by QZ1
...By switching HD QAMs, do you mean that they changed the frequencies around?

Yes

Originally posted by quartrj
This is correct if you look at the diagnostic screen you will see that the 2nd tuner typically gets between 2-3db less than the 1st tuner.
Here, I always set the DVR to the same channel for both tuners, and I see anywhere from 1-3db difference; this is not enough to support the idea that after the first split, it is being split again for the internal modem.

I think the second tuner is just noisier. As I stated, I had Tuner 2 for a long time with a Fair SNR and Good AGC and it was fine.

Recently, they both became Good and soon after the problem occurs. This is definately looking like a systemic problem, what exactly it is, we don't know for sure.

Originally posted by stoli412
I also have the tuner 2 pixelation problem here in center city. I'm wondering if it has something to do the 6412's hardware myself. Here are my thoughts as to possible causes:

1. The signal is not being spilt evenly to both tuners, so tuner 2 is not getting enough signal and that causes the dropouts....

Originally posted by quartrj
This is correct if you look at the diagnostic screen you will see that the 2nd tuner typically gets between 2-3db less than the 1st tuner.

Sorry I only meant that the signal was not being evenly sent to both tuners.

I like everyone else do not know what is causing the dropouts

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by QZ1
...By switching HD QAMs, do you mean that they changed the frequencies around?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by quartrj
Yes

Ok, so I notice that these problem channels are all over 750MHz, I gather that they probably never used those freq. before. I see that ABC, NBC, and CBS are all in a row and poor, but then FOX and WB are fine, then PBS is poor. Does anyone know if FOX and WB are +750MHz?

I still wonder why it is just Tuner 2 though. As much as we discuss this, though, it is still up to them to fix it.

Originally posted by QZ1
...I still wonder why it is just Tuner 2 though. As much as we discuss this, though, it is still up to them to fix it.

I have not been told as much but I'm sure COMCAST's position is that if the signal is good on tuner 1 but not tuner 2 then it must be a problem with the 6412 and therefore a Motorola problem.

Originally posted by quartrj
I have not been told as much but I'm sure COMCAST's position is that if the signal is good on tuner 1 but not tuner 2 then it must be a problem with the 6412 and therefore a Motorola problem.
Yes, if the SNR and AGC are Good on Tuner 2, as is the case with this, you are probably right. It is probably a hardware or firmware issue. Maybe there was a bad batch of DVRs (or all of them), which have Tuner 2s which can't process certain QAM frequencies correctly. I wonder if this can even be corrected with firmware.

I wish we could buy a CableCard Dual-tuner DVR. Tivo is simply going to offer their platform for use on the 6412 and whatever else is offered by Comcast. And there are no ETAs for any other CC Dual-tuner DVRs yet.