I've waited until HD was available, but am now in need of a good ISF calibration and surround sound check. Any recommendations for North Fulton?

Has anyone tried to see if the USB or ethernet ports are active? I recall that someone has already posted that DVI-D is not passing a signal.

This may have already been covered elsewhere, but does anyone know if the video and audio in inputs on the back or front of the DCT5100 (used with a VCR or game system, for example) will upcovert the signal to 1080i or 720p?

Thanks,

jdp

Originally posted by jdp_atl
Has anyone tried to see if the USB or ethernet ports are active? I recall that someone has already posted that DVI-D is not passing a signal.

I tried the DVI-D port and it's not active. The USB and ethernet ports are input ports and the only way to see if they are doing anything would require firmware and software support in the 5100 itself so one can configure and use the ports. IOW, if you connect a USB cable to it, nothing would happen because there's no interface to see what's connected to it. If it were a device connector, e.g., like a printer, then one could connect the box to a computer and then see the box as some kind of device. Same thing with the ethernet port. You connect that port to a switch but that's it, there's no way to tell the box to configure it or use it.

This may have already been covered elsewhere, but does anyone know if the video and audio in inputs on the back or front of the DCT5100 (used with a VCR or game system, for example) will upcovert the signal to 1080i or 720p?

Thanks,

jdp

It already down converts from 1080i to 480i in the S-video and composite output ports. Therefore, it would not be far fetched to expect it to upconvert the composite input. However, there's no way to tell because the audio/video inputs are not enabled.

From the FAQ (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/miatasm/HT/5100FAQ.htm):


The ports you see are for future use. As of now, the IR Blaster port, DVI-D video output, Smart Card, Composite Video & Audio inputs, USB ports, & Ethernet (Cable Modem) are all NOT active. These can be activated by firmware updates if your Local Cable Provider wishes to do so. For now, all of the other ports that are blanked over, Firewire IEEE-1394, Printer port, & HPNA ports, will not be provided or supported.

Luis,

Did you call the Service & Repair number or Sales. I called Service and they are supposed to send a maintenance guy out today to check my line.

I cannot hear any of the 800's with my 2200 or even with the 5100 box.

Larry Medena

Tech just left...all went well. He said this was his first HD install, my head just dropped. But to his credit it all went well. He had to call in a few times with questions but that is cool....sometimes we all need a little help from our friends... :)

I see how the FOX broadcast is 4:3 stretched and CBS and NBC have the black bars...but my understanding is that will change especially during prime time broadcasts. I noticed that when CBS whent to an NCAA update, the side bars had colors...picture was great.

All is working....I have FOX, CBS, NBC....any word on ABC?

Also Dolby Digital is working to my AV unit on the HD broadcasts but it doesn't look like surround...maybe that will change with a primetime broadcast.

One question about the box...I need to try to find in the FAQ. In the 5100 menu what is 4:3 Overide Mode? 480i, 480p, off?

THANKS

Originally posted by l_medena
Luis,

Did you call the Service & Repair number or Sales. I called Service and they are supposed to send a maintenance guy out today to check my line.

I cannot hear any of the 800's with my 2200 or even with the 5100 box.

Larry Medena

I called repair, which is where I got the trouble ticket opened. They said it should be fixable from their end because I have no problem getting 806 and 809, and thus we know the HDTV signals can get here and the box can decode it, but just in case, I got another appointment for Saturday in case they need to come to the house.

Forgot a question. You think the component cables the techs bring with them are any good? Should I spend the money for a better set?

Thanks

Carl

Just went to my local office during lunch and set up an install for the morning of 3/31. I will be taking a vacation day and thought I would take a chance since I am giving up a working digital cable service with free OTA HDTV for fewer HD channels via cable. Of course, I will then be ready to go whenever Comcast gets ESPN HD online and will also have access to HBO HD which I do not have today. I cannot get ABC via HD today anyway since I have the Samsung SIRT-150 with the dropout problem which makes WSB unwatchable via the Sammy.

So, will report back on the install after it happens. Would still like to hear more reports on the quality of the non-HD cable channels via the Moto 5100 box.

Luis,

Thanks for the response on my questions above. I was pretty sure that the USB, ethernet, etc. wasn't operational but figured it's always good to throw the question out there (maybe they would try something new or new firmware in the Altanta market).

Thanks again,

jdp

I'm having all sorts of problems here. Btw, I'm inside the city in buckhead. I think those who are not having problems are in the suburbs.

Anyways, yesterday I was getting the local HDTV channels, but no premium HDTV channels. Today, nothing is coming in HDTV, only the regular cable channels are showing up.

This has been very frustrating.

Yep, I'm in the burbs with no issues. I think my complete lack of installation problems might have a bit to do with me being in a neighborhood less than 2 years old, and the line running from the street to the house was just run in January.

Originally posted by cwick
Forgot a question. You think the component cables the techs bring with them are any good? Should I spend the money for a better set?

Thanks

Carl

I'm not a cable expert but the ones I got were thick enough to fool the naked eye. I have monster component cables coming out of the DVD player and free always wins against $70+, which is what those monster cables cost me, especially when 99.999 percent of the population (including me) cannot tell the difference between the two cables.

IOW, they were good enough for me.

--

I have a 16 foot long BetterCables.com Silver Serpent component cable (not cheap!) going to my projector , but I just ordered two 2 foot long component cables from bluejeanscable.com to hook the 5100 and DVD player into my pre/pro. They were under $40 each and are made with Canare cables and connectors. We'll see how they work out.

My personal opinion is that under 2 meters, buy a good cable ($20-$40). Over 2 meters, buy a great cable ($100-$300).

Well, talked to the comcast operator, and they said they were working on the system in the city, and it would be down for most of today. Hopefully, it will be back on sometime. I've yet to see on HDTV image with all the war stuff on tv.

Getting a great picture of the NCAA basket ball games...but seems that I am not getting input to my center chanel speaker. Is the Dolby Digital not 5.1?

THANKS

Getting true DD5.1 now on the basketballs games. Must have been a broadcast issue.

I had HDTV for about 10 minutes while the Cable guy was at my house, then he left and it went away. Any suggestions?? Let me fill you in on the details.

Originally had a 3-way splitter off the main line into the house. One split ran to the HDTV room and was split again to enter the TV (for analog picture in picture) and the Digital Box.

Cable guy replaced the 3-way splitter with a 4 Way splitter, because he combined it with another splitter located in the basement, which was not a part of the line running to the Digital Box. Anyway, even with those splitters, we had all of the HD channels while he was here. When he left, I went downstairs and when I came back up, I had the dreaded message, of Channel will be available shortly. I have not had any of the HD channels since. Comcast reset my box on the phone, but no luck. I also tried to increase the signal strength by re-replacing the 4-Way splitter the cable guy installed with just a 2-Way, and then eliminating the second splitter I had for the Picture in Picture. Still no luck. I am very frustrated.

They are supposed to come back out on Tuesday, but I don't know what made the signal fade after he left.

Is there another way to reset the box, or to restart it??

Oh, and I did get the audio for all of the HD channels with my old Digital Box, so the theory that if you get the audio you won't have a problem doesn't hold true.

P.S. When I tune to an HD channel and get the message screen, when I tune back to another channel CNN for example, it looks horrible. But if I tune to regular HBO 301 for a few minutes, when I tune back to CNN it looks a million times better??

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Although I think it might be the box. My analog audio outs to the VCR don't work either.

Thanks

I finally have a signal. It was out all day. But it keeps skipping with little pixels. Locals are coming in, HBO is not. Theres no telling what tomorrow will bring.

Man, this HD stuff is nice!!!! I'm down here on the Georgia Tech campus and it couldn't have taken no longer than 10 minutes to get my service installed. HBO looks pretty good (on most of the programming). The NCAA game on CBS looked very good. I also watched Fastlane in High Def. I might decide to add Showtime when I get some more money. My only complaint is how come we don't have all local HD channels? Most of the channels are already broadcasting OTA so what's the deal? Any word on Comcast offering HDnet and Discovery-HD? I'm hoping very much that they change their stance on ESPN-HD. I'd love to see all sports programming in HD.

Well, solved my initial problem of getting the signals. The installer had added a 1-foot section of cable and used a Female/Female connector and had barely screwed in the cables. He probably gave each 1 or 2 twists. So Frustrating.

Anyway, new question.

My regular channels look like crap. Channel 2 barely comes in and the other non-HD channels look horrible when compared to the previous box. HBO/Starz look pretty good, but they look about as good as the old lower channels, and they also have degraded in quality from their previous look with the old box. Anyone else noticing this?? Do I need to check for things like grounding the spiltters?? Just curious if there are any suggestions out there.

Thanks

flynbw01, all of my non-HD channels actually look a little better w/ the 5100

8:55pm : Anyone else not getting a picture or sound on Fox-HD (804)?

Also, so far I think the picture quality on CBS has been pretty poor. Anyone else observing this? I was excited to see the basketball games in HD, but they don't look that great. At this moment Billy Madison on NBC and both HBO's blow away the picture quality of the game.

I concur on both points greggz. I have not seen a nice CBS-HD picture yet. I, too, cannot get Fox-HD. I had the same problem last week w/ WXIA.

Same issue here with Fox last night.

I haven't really watched CBS enough yet to say much about the picture quality. Not much of a B-ball fan until the final four. Tonight will be the test with CSI: Miami, which I think is normally the best show in HD, at least with OTA. We'll see.

My 804 was down Sunday as well....I had called twice...they tried some sort of reset to my box, did nothing. It was still down this morning but is working now.

I was bummed....I'm not a Nascar fan but I did want to see how the race looked yesterday in HD ;-)

There is no HD on fox. The best they can do is widescreen but still 480i.

CBS HD looks great both OTA and on cable.

I still cannot get HBOHD or 804 (fox), they just have no idea was wrong. I'm the only one in my area with HD and thus, they cannot isolate where the problem is. I'll have to keep calling I guess.

Originally posted by lcaamano
There is no HD on fox. The best they can do is widescreen but still 480i.


I thought Fox was 480p?

I've now been told that there is a problem at the head-end in my area (Perimeter Mall) and that there is nothing wrong with my house.

A tech cancelled an appearance today because he said it was a maintenance issue and there was nothing he could do. 5 days after the initial install and I haven't seen 1 HD picture.

A CSR just had to ask 'are you sure your TV is capable of HDTV?'

I also had the problem with Fox yesterday. Has anyone experienced audio dropouts on CBS? They have been pretty consistent. Thanks!!

Fox was DOA for me as well yesterday on Comcast but is was alive and well OTA.

-Skip

Originally posted by greggz
8:55pm : Anyone else not getting a picture or sound on Fox-HD (804)?

Also, so far I think the picture quality on CBS has been pretty poor. Anyone else observing this? I was excited to see the basketball games in HD, but they don't look that great. At this moment Billy Madison on NBC and both HBO's blow away the picture quality of the game.

I'd have to agree with greggz's assessment too. The CBS HD feed was not that great. I don't get CBS OTA from my place so I couldn't compare it. Did anyone compare OTA to Comcast for the games last night?

Steve

Does anyone know when/if ABC will be offered by Comcast Atlanta? My sister just signed up. Install on Wednesday (rather quick). I currently have OTA HD and will report back with picture quality comparisons. :)

Matt

Originally posted by SteveOwens
Did anyone compare OTA to Comcast for the games last night?

Steve

I did and all the HD games were equally beautiful on Comcast as they were OTA with the 165. I could even mix sound/video from both sources transparently. I even caught some audio hiccups on both of them.

The Oscars on ABC (OTA) were pretty impressive too except for two or three drop outs.

I've not been able to get Leno in full 16:9 high definition. The picture is very good, but there are black bars on the sides. Is Leno not being broadcast via Comcast in high definition? Or is it a problem with my setup? Any responses/comments are appreciated. Thanks.

Koopdog

Haven't actually checked myself, but this is likely the cause:

NBC has suspended HDTV due to news coverage
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=240320

Is anyone noticing lip sync problems with the hd channels? We noticed this on all the channels last night, switched over to analog and no problems.

I noticed lip synch problems on Fox from 8-9 last night, didn't check the other channnels.

I noticed synch problems on the show a few minutes before CSI: Miami started on CBS. I powered off the cable box, and back on, and didn't notice them after that. Might all just be in my head though.

Does anyone know if the lip synch problem is a known one with the 5100? Thanks!!

Hello all,

Well, we finally have the Showtime HD West feed on channel 891. They came out to today to confirm I had a problem, but apparently it was an "engineering problem," so the tech left. Very shortly after someone called to have me check to see if I had the channel yet. I didn't but they had obviously had done some sort of reset on my HD cable box, because it had turned itself off, and when I turned it back on it was in the same state as if you unplugged it and plugged it back in with no program or channel info. When I told them I still didn't have 891, then it seems they did something else, cause a few minutes later there was channel 891, not only on my hdtv box, but also listed in the guides of my regular digital cable boxes.

So when the guy called again shortly thereafter, I was able to tell him that all was well.

If this setup had firewire for my DVHS, and the rest of the locals I would be almost in HDTV heaven, but for someone who had no HDTV on cable last week, I feel pretty good, and was quite impressed that they solved my Showtime problem so quickly.

I kept my old cable box for my TiVo Series 2 and and since they recently added serial control for Comcast Motorola DCT2000 series boxes, the Tivo controls it that way, though I had to block the DCT2000's IR sensor, since both cable boxes use the same remote.

A few more locals and some way to timeshift the HD programming --- (hopefully with a PVR cause DVHS is too cumbersome for me after using TiVo for so many years), and all would be perfect, but as I said this is a great step in the right direction. Especially since we live in an apartment and satellite is not an option.

Thomas

Originally posted by harpshutler
Hello all,

Well, we finally have the Showtime HD West feed on channel 891. They came out to today to confirm I had a problem, but apparently it was an "engineering problem," so the tech left. Very shortly after someone called to have me check to see if I had the channel yet. I didn't but they had obviously had done some sort of reset on my HD cable box, because it had turned itself off, and when I turned it back on it was in the same state as if you unplugged it and plugged it back in with no program or channel info. When I told them I still didn't have 891, then it seems they did something else, cause a few minutes later there was channel 891, not only on my hdtv box, but also listed in the guides of my regular digital cable boxes.


So that's the name for my problem, eh? "an engineering problem." :rolleyes: I now have my third appointment set up for tomorrow when I expect the tech to come in and "confirm that I have an engineering problem." I got the CSR to escalate my problem so maybe I'll get an engineer involved.

I Guess that's a light I see at the end of the tunnel.

Is anyone still having "lip flap" problems?? The past two nights I haven't gotten a matching signal from CBS. Even turning it off and on doesn't solve it. I had the same problem with Fox, but that seemed to work itself out in turning the box off and on. Just curious if it is a CBS problem, a Comcast problem, or my problem??

I notice the lip sync problem on CBS the most.

Lip sync seems to be a problem with HDTV of all types (Comcast, OTA or Dish). It is something to complain about, but I don't know who really is responsible to fix it and there are a lot of people for each group to blame it on.

Showtime HD on 891 magically appeared for me last night. I didn't have it at the time of installation or as late as Sunday, but last night it was there with Jimmy Neutron.

Steve

I have the lip sync problem with CBS, its way off. NBC only seems to be slightly off. However, OTA is perfect - with a much better picture than Comcast cable.

I'm still only receiving two HDTV Channels on Comcast - CBS and NBC. Second visit by the technician yielded no results this morning. Said they would have to get an engineer out here or something. These guys seem so clueless.

SupraLB,
Check out all on the modifications on your incoming line, which the tech made. I was not home for the install, my clueless roommate was. And, the tech replaced my high quality splitters, with crappy ones, and did some very odd changes like putting a 4-way splitter in place of a 2-way because he told my roommate that would strengthen the signal!?!?! My problem was a 1-foot piece of cable he inserted in the line for no reason (other than to have more slack in the line) and the tech barely screwed the conector together. Probably not your problem, but I would check.

Hello All,

I had my installation today with no success whatsoever on the HD channels (no sound or picture). The tech said that sometimes it takes a while for the box to download (or activate) so we waited, and waited, etc.... Now the story is that some HD hardware on their end towards the north of the city is "out" and should be corrected within the next couple of hours, we'll see...

Also, has anyone had any success finding remote codes for the Mot5100 box? It sure would be nice to get back to one remote control. The remote provided seems not to like my Yamaha digital ss receiver.

Thanks to all for the posts and information - it really helped me make a (somewhat) educated decision on this. I'll post again when/if my HD channels suddenly spring to life.

Regards,
Bryan

Originally posted by flynbw01
SupraLB,
Check out all on the modifications on your incoming line, which the tech made. I was not home for the install, my clueless roommate was. And, the tech replaced my high quality splitters, with crappy ones, and did some very odd changes like putting a 4-way splitter in place of a 2-way because he told my roommate that would strengthen the signal!?!?! My problem was a 1-foot piece of cable he inserted in the line for no reason (other than to have more slack in the line) and the tech barely screwed the conector together. Probably not your problem, but I would check.

Thanks for the advice Flynbw01. I was home when they made the first and second install attempts and they did not adust the splitters on either occasion. I checked the connections and they are all tight and secure.

I called today again, and explained the problem. They are supposed to send a maintenance/engineer guy out within 72 hrs.

I anyone else still getting the bad lip sync problem with CBS? Its completely off here by almost 2 seconds. I'm still watching everything OTA.

I have been using the RCA DTC100 receiver for about a 1-1/2 years now and the lip sync problems appear to be getting worse. I thought it was my equipment but it appears to be widespread. CBS is by far the worst, although it appears on all OTA Channels. Has any one talked with the station to see if they have an answer.

On another note, I can receive all of the Digital channels with a solid lock. The only one that I have trouble with is CBS. I was wondering if other people have the same problem.

Had my HD cable box "installed" this morning and it turned out to be a rather pleasant experience surprisingly. First of all, the tech added a cable jack in the room for no charge as there was one on the opposite side of the same wall. While he did that, I switched out the box which was easy.

Initially there was a problem getting picture because I was using the component output for all channels. Interestingly, the component output ONLY works for the HD channels and I had to use S-video for regular digital cable. With the component hookup I'd say the picture is the same as OTA.

My observations are that I'm not having lip-synching problems but I've only had the box for a matter of hours. I currently have sound going through the analog inputs as I haven't hooked up the SPDIF yet. Also, the box is much better in terms of overall picture quality for the analog cable channels. Lastly, the ability to "surf" is much better. The old box had an annoying delay when channels switched. This box is much more responsive. Lastly, I like having a clock on the cable box which my old box did not have.

Overall a vast improvement over my prior digital cable box. I'm looking forward to adding a few more HD channels, esp ones that we don't have access OTA (Discovery, HDnet, etc.).

Hey lcaamano,

Did you ever get your installation up and running (HD)?

Also, if anyone has heard from a tech what the solution to the "One Moment Please..." problem is I would love to hear about it.

My repair appointment is for tomorrow, I would like to get some explanation of this problem from Comcast so that we all could benefit.

i use component for everything and it works fine. The rookie tech was telling me that i would need the s-video, but that isn't true. Luckily he had a friend with him who knew a little more. But yeah, componet should work for everything. Phil :)

Originally posted by bryanb426
Hey lcaamano,

Did you ever get your installation up and running (HD)?



No, I still cannot get 804, 880, or 881 but I can get 806 and 809
perfectly.

They still don't know how to fix it. I've had three different techs in 8 days and they all find that everything is fine on my end. At this point, I'm convinced that neither the tech nor the CSR at repairs can do anything about it. I managed to get the direct phone numbers of two different area managers (for my area), both of whom I'm calling tomorrow.

Although I cannot get HBO HD, I do get HBO DD 5.1, which makes channel 301 and family a lot better.

Oh, I did get my bill. They were charging me half a month for the HD box and they did not take out the old 2200 box, that is, they were charging me the full extra $9 for the HD box. I got them to credit me the whole 1/2 month (because HD was not working yet), and to take out the additional standard box ($4.80) that is already included in the silver package.

Later ...

Have you tried turnning it on and off. Mine was out tonight along with regular HBO. After turnning it on and off and unpluging it a couple of times it came back on.

Originally posted by lcaamano
No, I still cannot get 804, 880, or 881 but I can get 806 and 809
perfectly.

They still don't know how to fix it. I've had three different techs in 8 days and they all find that everything is fine on my end. At this point, I'm convinced that neither the tech nor the CSR at repairs can do anything about it. I managed to get the direct phone numbers of two different area managers (for my area), both of whom I'm calling tomorrow.

Although I cannot get HBO HD, I do get HBO DD 5.1, which makes channel 301 and family a lot better.

Oh, I did get my bill. They were charging me half a month for the HD box and they did not take out the old 2200 box, that is, they were charging me the full extra $9 for the HD box. I got them to credit me the whole 1/2 month (because HD was not working yet), and to take out the additional standard box ($4.80) that is already included in the silver package.

Later ...

Lcammano -
I am having the EXACT same problem as you. Where do you live? I live in Buckhead. I am having my 4th tech crew coming tomorrow. I have the RCA 38in HDTV. I think we might be on the same grid which is having the problem. I am not sure if it means anything or not, but the back of my box has a sticker labeled "vinings." I guess thats my cable source.

well my box has been acting up all night, it worked for the sorprano's after a few minutes of turning it off and on, but now it won't go above 300. Every time i try too it freezes up. And when i get to a 800 or 300 it says this chanel will be available as soon as we get our heads out of our asses.

I had been hoping all this was because they were adding more HD stations(yeah right). But now i guess its just crappy equipment or that they weren't really ready for this rollout. :(

Lcammano,

Thanks for the information. I live near the corner of Glen Arden and N. Highland in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood (remember, we spoke a few months ago regarding an antenna that you wanted to test?).

Tech visit number #2 yielded "it must be the box". They are coming by this morning with another 5100 and low expectations. They also made an interesting comment yesterday that there was someone else in my neighborhood (Amsterdam and Monroe) that was having the exact same problems??? Is this person out there? If so, we should keep in touch. They also said that this neighborhood was in a certain "zone". I believe they said it was "84" and we were the only two customers with this box.

By the way, I completely agree with your 301 comments. I am also enjoying the DD5.1 on that channel. The upconvert on the other HBOs is pretty decent as well.

I really hope to watch CSI on Thursday night in all of its glory!

Originally posted by SupraLB
Lcammano -
I am having the EXACT same problem as you. Where do you live? I live in Buckhead. I am having my 4th tech crew coming tomorrow. I have the RCA 38in HDTV. I think we might be on the same grid which is having the problem. I am not sure if it means anything or not, but the back of my box has a sticker labeled "vinings." I guess thats my cable source.

I'm a couple blocks South of Fernbank Museum on Clifton Rd,
and the boxes I have also say "Vinings."

Originally posted by bryanb426
Lcammano,

Thanks for the information. I live near the corner of Glen Arden and N. Highland in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood (remember, we spoke a few months ago regarding an antenna that you wanted to test?).


Yes, I remember. Actually, I wanted to see if I could get ABC HD on the Samsung OTA decoder using your antenna because I couldn't get it at my place. In the end, I just needed to put the RS double bow tie antenna in a special place in the room.


Tech visit number #2 yielded "it must be the box". They are coming by this morning with another 5100 and low expectations. They also made an interesting comment yesterday that there was someone else in my neighborhood (Amsterdam and Monroe) that was having the exact same problems??? Is this person out there? If so, we should keep in touch. They also said that this neighborhood was in a certain "zone". I believe they said it was "84" and we were the only two customers with this box.

They've told me I'm the only one in my area. All three techs tried to find if there was anybody else in the area to see if they were having the same problem or not. Unfortunately, I was the only one. However, by now I know it has nothing to do with my area. It's just a "tiering" problem I bet.


By the way, I completely agree with your 301 comments. I am also enjoying the DD5.1 on that channel. The upconvert on the other HBOs is pretty decent as well.

I really hope to watch CSI on Thursday night in all of its glory!

CSI is pretty good. Specially the transition shots of Las Vegas at night from a helicopter.

Atlanta Area Comcast: FOX unwatchable for past two days, NBC/CBS audio drop outs...
Am I the only one experiencing this in Atlanta on Comcast HD? Fox was completely unwatchable (pixellization and audio dropouts 90% of the time...), CBS was only watchable using analog audio due to frequent audio drops, and NBC had some isolated problems (usually during commercial breaks). HBOHD and SHOHD both seemed immune to these problems, so I doubt it is my signal strength.

Anyone else experiencing this?

... fourth down ready to punt... (Is it football season yet).

Third tech visit completed after 6 pm tonight. I still have no audio or video on all of the HD channels. The tech is returning in the morning with someone from "engineering". Ironically, the Atlanta technicians are attending a breakfast in the morning sponsored by the HDTV "people". Can't wait to hear about other techs' comments and questions - oh, to be a fly on the wall.

These guys are being very nice, seem to know their troubleshooting pretty well, and are offering free service until they get this problem corrected. Everyone seems to be under the impression that the boxes are functioning properly, just the network (i.e. infrastructure) is not ready to handle this technology.

The saga continues tomorrow...

Originally posted by Yharr
Atlanta Area Comcast: FOX unwatchable for past two days, NBC/CBS audio drop outs...
Am I the only one experiencing this in Atlanta on Comcast HD? Fox was completely unwatchable (pixellization and audio dropouts 90% of the time...), CBS was only watchable using analog audio due to frequent audio drops, and NBC had some isolated problems (usually during commercial breaks). HBOHD and SHOHD both seemed immune to these problems, so I doubt it is my signal strength.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Got my install yesterday, no problems with the installation. Fox was a frozen screen during the day, but worked ok last night. Starting with the HD shows at 8PM (K of Q, Yes, Dear) there were problems on CBS audio on 806 but this cleared up at the end of Yes, Dear and was ok for Raymond, Still Standing and CSI Miami. My wife likes not having the antenna in the room anymore.

The "engineering" crew showed up this afternoon while I was at work. I come home and VIOLA! I have all the HD channels and SOUND! As you can tell I'm very excited...

Here's the explanation from the technician on what was happening. As we all know from previous posts the HD signal is very sensitive. In my neighborhood there was a "jumpout" in the "hardline" that was "causing ingress" into the signal. I think one of the connectors in the "jumpout" was old, broken, etc and needed to be replaced.

The only reason I am posting the above is in the hope it will help someone else. If you are having this problem you can e-mail me at the address below and we can get the technicians talking (I have their cell numbers).

So now the million $ question. What's on in HD tonight???

:D

The answer: Not much. :D At least not for Comcast/Atlanta folks. We *really* need HDNet and Comcast Sports Network (Yes...Comcast has their own HD sports net...).

Finally,

I have an HDTV signal. After 9 phone calls, 3 tech appointments, 2 engineering crews, and 12 days past my original install.

I have every channel now except Showtime (which I don't subscribe to) and the picture is crystal clear.

The engineer said that it was a bad piece of cable underground that had to be replaced.

I'm just hoping more channels will be picked up in the near future because I haven't watched NBC or CBS in over 3 years.

Larry Medena

2 Comcast Tech's came by this morning to replace my 5100 box. They said that would fix the lip synch problem. CBS was the biggest problem. Couldn't tell very well since "The Price is Right" was on. Later I checked when Y&R was on in HD and lip synch problem still there. Oh well.......

I have a friend who gets HD OTA and he notices the lip synch problem on CBS as well.

Also, Comcast tech's said 2 new channels were being added in the next month but didn't know which ones.

2 new channels huh? Great!

Wonder what the'll be? I think Comcast has ABC in some markets, anyone know why they don't here?

Please let there be ESPN, oh and Discovery too.

Also, Comcast tech's said 2 new channels were being added in the next month but didn't know which ones.

My guess would be ABC and PBS.

I emailed WGCL and got this response from their engineering department, although cycling the box off and on doesn't seem to work for me.



"I spoke with Comcast this morning and indeed they are passing our DTV signal with “lip flap” (we were not aware of the problem as we are not yet able to monitor their DTV feed of WGCL). The issue is caused by the switch between 5.1 audio (NCAA games, Masters…) and the normal DTV AC3 audio. According to Dolby Labs, some receivers get confused with the way CBS is causing us to switch this audio. The solution (for now) is to cycle the power on the receiver. We were able to recreate the problem here with one of our newer off air DTV receivers and this reset procedure worked.

I have passed this information along to Comcast for them to reset their receiver(s). Comcast has issues with the fiber feed from our studio and for now receives us off-air to distribute our DTV signal to their customers, when they get the fiber working properly this will no longer be a problem from their cable head end(s) to you.

They way that the system is supposed to work is for CBS to send metadata down the network to “talk” with the downstream Dolby equipment. CBS has plans to create and pass this metadata along the network but its implementation is sometime in the future. Here at WGCL we want to provide the experience of Dolby 5.1 audio to our DTV viewers and our intention is to continue to switch to Dolby 5.1 audio when it is available. But be aware that even after Comcast switches to fiber and until CBS provides metadata, your set top box might exhibit “lip flap” again and if it does cycle the power to reset it.

Thanks for watching,

Don Cox
Director of Engineering & Operations
CBS 46 "Atlanta's News Channel"

Okay, so i just moved to Atlanta from Satellite Beach, Florida (a small town southeast of Orlando), where I had been serviced by Time Warner digital cable, and had a pretty good experience with my receiver and HDTV signal. At the time, I thought the selection of only 8 channels (NBC, CBS, ABC, an extra DTV signal from the ABC affiliate with news/weather/traffic reports, Fox, WB, PBS, and HBO-east) was a bit minimal and needing of expansion, but for the most part, I was happy. The HD service was free if you were a digital cable subscriber, and Time Warner distributed HD-capable boxes to all digital cable subscribers. The only thing you needed to get HD channels was an HDTV/HDTV-ready set.

So I am highly disappointed with Comcast right now. If you ask me, their approach to HD is inexcusably bad. First, they discourage customers from adopting HDTV by forcing them to pay extra for the STB, and then they only give you 3 more channels when you go for it.

If it was a good box (like with PVR or something), I might be willing to go for that, but compared to the Scientific Atlanta box Time Warner gave me in Florida, this thing sucks. The component-video output isn't pre-aspected, so it's all stretched on a widescreen, and on non-HD channels looks like total crap (basically I can't tell the difference between S-Video and Component video on my set). Also, the channel-guide is a complete monstrosity.

The Scientific Atlanta and Pioneer Digital boxes (the pioneers got gradually phased out when HD became available, because they weren't HD compatible) used an on-screen menu/guide that allowed you to contintue watching your program while browsing the guide. The screen would condense to the upper right corner of the screen, the guide would fill the bottom half, in a TV-guide-like format showing the next 2 hours of programming for 6 channels that you could page through, and the upper left quadrant would display info for any program in the guide you highlighted. There were no ads, and it was blazing fast, used anti-aliased fonts that looked great, and it was just a lot easier to use than the craptacular on-screen display that Comcast has opted for.

Furthermore, the component video output was smooth and delicious-looking for all channels, not just HD ones. The display was pre-aspected and letterboxed off on the sides for most channels, except for HD channels broadcast in widescreen mode. The picture looked "soft" and natural, not harsh and sharp (with jagged edges on objects and stuff) the way S-video does on rear-projection TVs.

My new roommates were excited to hear that I'd be bringing an HDTV along with me when I moved in, because they were wanting to check it out, and now we're completely disappointed and will probably cancel the service because there is absolutely NO value over regular digital cable in it. I'm frankly disgusted, personally, but since our house is surrounded by trees, satellite isn't an option.

Fortunately, this situation is only temporary. My roommates are moving out in September to go to grad-school, and I will probably be buying my own house and moving to a more permanent residence at that time. Unless Comcast does some MAJOR shaping up of this service I'll be making sure I'm in a location serviceable by satellite and OTA HDTV signal, and drop this crap for good.

I'm sorry for venting all this, but I really can't believe that in a city the size of Atlanta, this type of service is actually flying, and people are accepting it. It certainly does NOT live up to the expectations I've come to have for digital cable in general, and HDTV roll-outs in particular (why even roll-out until you have at least 5 non-premium channels...AT LEAST get the gorgeous PBS feed, for cying out loud) from living in Central Florida, and visiting New York.

I hope people who haven't yet decided to go with Comcast for HDTV in this area take note and think hard about going with an alternative like satellite/antenna if it's available, and those who have, should definitely complain, because however good you think this service is, it's absolute rubbish compared to what is possible.

/rant

btw, nice to meet you all.

Welcome to Atlanta, I think:)

I definitely agree with your assessment of the guide on the cable system, but it has been around for at least the last owner (AT&T Broadband, maybe as far back as Mediaone), so I'm not sure that's entirely comcast's doing. If I didn't primarily use Tivo's guide, I wouldn't have it.

Personally, I do think what we have with Comcast HD is better than a dish though. Mainly because I have had so many issues with OTA reception. But also because of equipment cost. Biggest difference I see between Cable vs. Dish HD is cost of the box. Most people thougt I was nuts to pay $550 for my RCA DTC-100, and I think most newer boxes are quite a bit more than that. While the box from the cable company is 5 or 10 bucks a month. I think cheap availability of cable HD boxes like that will help alot with getting the masses to adopt HD, which is good for all of us.

Although I am not in a Comcast service area, I wish them the best as they roll out their new service. Perhaps in the fullness of time they will improve a great deal.

However, the RCA DTC 100, warts and all, is still a good solution for many.

-Because of the RCA DTC 100 I have been able to enjoy HDTV since the launch of the HDTV service on DirecTV back in the dark ages

-At that time I lived in the Northern Va area and also enjoyed HDTV OTA from both Baltimore and DC.

-Speaking of OTA, antenna installation is for either gifted armatures or the pros, but there is rarely a reason to settle for anything less than solid reception. It may take a little time, effort and skill, but all of my friends that have had problems now have solid reception if they have requested assistance and followed advise (after they have tried all of the "magic" fixes that rarely work). There is much excellent advise on this forum to solve the more difficult installs.

-The cost of equipment with Sat is a deterrent for many, but you pay for it one way or the other. The lower box rental on cable is most often offset by higher monthly fees with cable for a given set of channels.

I am , again , highly encouraged by the effort to date by Comcast. At least they are offering HDTV while every other cable co in Atlanta is sitting on their thumbs.

Competition is a wonderful thing.

Regards:

-Speaking of OTA, antenna installation is for either gifted armatures or the pros, but there is rarely a reason to settle for anything less than solid reception. It may take a little time, effort and skill, but all of my friends that have had problems now have solid reception if they have requested assistance and followed advise (after they have tried all of the "magic" fixes that rarely work). There is much excellent advise on this forum to solve the more difficult installs.


Yep, unless you live at the bottom of the hill or right in the middle of all of the antennas (like myself). It still amazes me that here we are in the 21st century and we're putting antennas on our roof. Thomas Edison must be rolling in his grave... :)

By the way, with two professional installers and countless attempts with rotators and the like for the last two years I have finally thrown up the white flag and subscribed to Comcast. I no longer have to deal with bad weather, windy conditions, or any other atmospheric anomalies to interfere with my OTA reception. How much is _your_ time worth? I run my own consulting business and am well aware of this figure. If you take the cost of Directv with a similar package from Comcast (including box rental) I'm paying about $20 more a month. Pays for itself within 15 minutes of antenna frustration, plus I get to play with my son more...

All is _not_ well in OTA reception land.

Anyone gets info on the two new channels Comcast is supposed to add, please pass it along.

THANKS

Anxious to learn which 2 are the 2 new channels also :cool: :cool: :cool:

Anyone else having problems with the local HD channels? I could not tune any of the channels last night, though the HBO HD channels worked fine. Today I am getting some signal but bad breakups on 806 and 809. Hoping to see the NCAA final four tonight but not looking good at the moment. Weird that the HD HBO still looks just fine.

I only get the three 'free' channels...CBS, FOX, NBC. All were coming in fine this weekend...in fact, this was the first weekend FOX worked and I caught some of the Nascar race in HD. For the past couple of weekends Fox was froze up on Sunday.

CBS gets out of synch with the audio from time to time, that has been discussed earlier in the thread.

So does anyone know a method or something i can do to fix the sound sync problem on CBS?

Originally posted by cwick
I only get the three 'free' channels...CBS, FOX, NBC. All were coming in fine this weekend...in fact, this was the first weekend FOX worked and I caught some of the Nascar race in HD.

For the record, FOX is NOT HD. It's just widescreen 480p.

I just received by Comcast HDTV service Friday. My only problem so far is I have to use seperate inputs on my HDTV for the SD and HDTV channels.

Is there anyway to get the SD channels upconverted to 1080i by the box?

Is there anyway to get the SD channels upconverted to 1080i by the box?

No, but it will convert SD 480i to 480p. Turn the box off and press the menu button on the remote. On the 3rd menu choice, change the 480i to 480p.

Originally posted by greggz
No, but it will convert SD 480i to 480p. Turn the box off and press the menu button on the remote. On the 3rd menu choice, change the 480i to 480p.

If you set the override to 'off' it will upconvert to whatever
resolution you have the component output set to. If it's
1080i, it will upconvert to 1080i anything that is not 1080i.

The problem with that is that on most TVs, like my Sony 34XBR800,
you will not be able to use the wide screen stretch modes
because the input signal will be 1080i. This is the reason
I have the override set to 480i, so I can stretch at will.

Called to cancel my DirecTv this morning. (I thought you guys would get a kick out of this...) The reason given by me for cancelling service was because I could not get any major networks (local or otherwise) in HDTV. The CSR calmly replied, "Actually sir, we are the only provider to offer complete 100% digital, high definition broadcasts of the major networks". Of course, I had to ask how I might get these digital, high definition broadcasts of my local channels - she put me on hold.

Several minutes later (after much giggling on my end) she had to admit that no, my local channels are not available in high definition. :eek: Now for the digital part, so you mean to tell me that my WGCL local broadcast that I'm seeing on my high definition box is a digital picture? Where's the Dolby 5.1 and why does the broadcast look so bad? Five more minutes of hold, more giggling, finally she admits that it is an analog picture that is being converted to digital signal and then being uploaded to the satellite. But she could instantly give me discounts that would lower my monthly rate to $29.95 a month...

Felt like I was buying a used car. Do I get a set of ginzu knives with that??? I was pretty sure by the end of the conversation that she was wearing plaid pants and a striped golf shirt...

By the way, the HD broadcasts on Comcast looked great over the weekend. CBS made me feel like I was watching a bad Bruce Lee movie ("I am the dragon" followed by the lips moving a couple of seconds later).

So when are we getting these two new channels - I want more!!! :D

Originally posted by bryanb426
Called to cancel my DirecTv this morning. (I thought you guys would get a kick out of this...)

LOL! :) I did get a kick, thanks for posting it.

Called to cancel my DirecTv this morning.

bryanb426, can you compare/contrast satellite vs cable (may be too early)? I'm about to dump Dish to get Comcast for HD and am concerned over the SD PQ. I've got a 10' front projection screen and am pretty happy with the PQ from Dish. I'm a bit concerned over get bad PQ blown up to 10'.

Also, does anyone know what PVR options Comcast has? I have a 501 (PVR) from Dish and the family is quite set on it (Wiggles day and night).

Thx

where can I buy the fujitsu in Atlanta area?

Hi Java,

I'm using a 40'' Toshiba so I have a little bit of screen envy... ;)

From what I can tell the 480i picture is very good on the non-HD channels. The local channels look much better than what was being fed on the satellite (I was using a Toshiba DST-3000). The HBO with 5.1 feed looks pretty near HD after a couple of beers... There is really no discernable difference on the non-HD TVs, but that is to be expected.

As far as programming, I think I've lost one Disney channel in the conversion. We don't have a DVR so we must plan ahead or have DVDs at the ready for my two year old. He hasn't been too interested in the Wiggles so far and we haven't lost our morning dose of Elmo so everything is cool in that department.

Watching CSI last Thursday with no cut-outs and no lip synch problems was a definite treat. I'm making my way to the TV now to see what the game looks like. :D

Overall I've been please with Comcast. The techs and CSRs haven't been overly knowledgeable, but they have been nice. And I haven't had to go through twenty menus like I did when I called DTV this morning.

Best of luck to you!

Java: The lip sync problems not withstanding, ou may want to hang on to your Dish equipment for a while, at least until you see for yourself how the analog cable channels look on a 10' screen. The
SD "Digital" channels are not that great on a larger screen either.

There are no announced plans for a PVR device. Hopefully this will change. At any rate, those accustomed to a DirecTiVo or equivalent will suffer withdrawal pains.

The HD channels are OK, but the color resolution appears to be not up to speed as yet.

I am sure that in the fullness of time Comcast will pull it together.

By the way, the most efficient way to manage a DirecTV account is on their web site.

Originally posted by jcthomas

The HD channels are OK, but the color resolution appears to be not up to speed as yet.



Maybe you have better equipment, but I can't say that I can tell a difference between the Comcast HD channels and the OTA delivery of the same channels on my Panny 53". Looks good to me. I am pretty well pleased except for the lack of ABC and of course hoping for ESPN-HD and other channels to be added in the future.

- By the way, the most efficient way to manage a DirecTV account is on their web site.


I agree as far as "maintaining" your DTV account (i.e. changing service options, ordering PPV). I will also respectfully "eat crow" if you can provide me a web link that I can use to cancel my DTV subscription. I honestly looked all over for it and then called.

For that matter, how many menus in the phone system do you have to go through before getting a "live" person??? I counted eight the other day and I had to type in my "home" phone number twice. Of course, the CSR asked for this same information at the beginning of the call... :D

By the way, if I call the local 678 Comcast number I get asked if I need information in English or Espanol, I hit "service" and I have a live (real) person immediately. Do you get the impression that I hate phone menu systems?

There are no announced plans for a PVR device. Hopefully this will change. At any rate, those accustomed to a DirecTiVo or equivalent will suffer withdrawal pains.

Comcast hasn't announced it, but there is already a Motorola 5200 box which is a HTDV decoder and PVR (they aren't very clear on whether or not it records in HDTV). I'm sure it will be available as soon as Comcast can figure out how to charge too much for it. ;)

http://broadband.motorola.com/catalog/productdetail.asp?ProductID=178

http://broadband.motorola.com/catalog/product_documents/DCT5200.pdf

Anyone else's Comcast HD box still not updated the time? My regular cable box updated the day of the time change, HD box still an hour behind.

ditto on my hd box time. 1 hour behind.

Ok, I love direcTV. I don't want to get rid of it, but I've come to the realization that they won't carry hd locals. So heres the question: Has anyone asked Comast, or does anyone know if it would be possible, to just get the hd locals? Even if I had to pay 20 bucks a month, it would be worth it. I have too many antenna problems living on the second story of an apt building facing inwards to the rest of the complex.

My 5100 was still on central time as of last nite so I called them and the CSR updated my box while I was still on the phone. Took all of 3 minutes.

Concerning the question of locals only, my understanding is that Comcast cannot force you to sign up for one of their digital packages. You should be able to sign up for basic service, tell them you want the 5100, and that combo should give you the locals in HD. I've seen posts from other folks who have the 5100 and basic cable service.

-Skip

I have gone through this nightmare with Comcast. I am currently getting the Gold package at half price for two months, and have been assured by the latest person I spoke with that I will be able to get locals +5/month for the 5100. We shall see if they make good on their promises. :( *crossing fingers for the 5200, abc/pbs/hdnet*

I got the comcast hdtv installed. The hdtv and local channels are great. The rest of the channels(espn, hgtv, food, etc.) are much better on my satellite than on comcast. Is this fixable?

Rumor has it that Atlanta Comcast will be adding WSB-TV very very soon on channel 803. Can anyone confirm this?

go1bills: The issue you mention is fixable. Perhaps the question is will they fix it?

I am also running both sat and cable, and from a pure PQ issue, sat wins at this time. I will wait and see what develops on the analog SDTV stations, the "Digital" SDTV stations AND the HDTV stations. PQ on the cable HDTV stations is OK on a 100" screen, but not yet as good as that from sat, both OTA and sat (same projector, cables, screen, etc.) in an A/B comparison.

Regards:

Install Experience

My install went fairly well this week. The installer was pretty experienced with HD and ended up installing a new drop. A couple of the HD channels weren't coming in so he isolated the problem to a bad drop. [A by-product was that my cable modem gained about .2 meg download :)].

HD Experience

The PQ is unbelievable. I'm fairly used to 480p on my system (10' LCD front projector), but HD blew me away. Video sources (Masters, Leno) are really cool. I'm a movie buff and HBO/Showtime movies in HD are incredible. My only gripe is that I can't adjust the color. My projector locks color on the component inputs. I hope I can use the DVI inut eventually, because I can adjust a VGA input.

5100 Impressions

You've probably heard this already but the HD set top box (moto 5100) is great for HD, but not for SD. I'm finding myself using the svideo output (480i) vs the component (480p) for SD. It's a shame, because it should rock in 480p. I haven't noticed any lip sync problems with CBS unless I use the analog audio. I don't see any yet with spdif (5.1 rocks, btw).

It took me a bit to understand why some of the programs (commercials, news, etc) was not full screen. On my 4:3 screen, non HD programs are shown as in the same 16:9 frame but without the width. I wish the 5100 would let you "pan and scan" the 1080i output, because the SD signal is sweet on the HD channels.

Comcast vs Dish

I've been a loyal dish user for a while (501/PVR and all), so it's a bit hard to drop them. All in all, I think I'll go with Comcast. The PQ on all the other sets (set top and non) is better than dish. I also added all of the kids rooms for no extra cost (it would have killed me per month, if even possible, to add 3 receivers). We miss the PVR and the online guide (Comcast's is clunky), but all in all the family is happy.

I hope this helps some still on the fence. It's a quick and cost effective way to get HD.

Java, glad to hear that your installation went smoothly. Consider yourself one of the "lucky ones"... :)

Is anyone else still seeing a noticeable lip synch issue with WGCL (CBS)? The interviews after the last round of the Masters yesterday were almost unwatchable. I'm not seeing this issue on any of the other HD channels and haven't seen anything recently from the OTA message board on Yahoo.

Just curious if anyone else is seeing this before I put in a call to Comcast.

Hey fellow Atlantan's, I need some advice.

My current setup is ...

DirecTV (triple LNB dish)
Samsung 160 receiver
Attic Antenna with pre-amp
Tivo (once you've tried it, you'll never go back)
50" Mitsubishi RPTV
MediaOne / ATT Broadband / ComCast cable tv (with internet)

Here's my dilema. I got the Samsung because "most" of the Atlanta local HD is available over the air, and there is at least some HD content on D*. However, the Masters this weekend made it clear to me that my many hours of work on the antenna setup still hasn't gotten me OTA reception stable enough to enjoy. I had repeated dropouts from my OTA config. Bad and frequent enough that I had to give up on HD and watch the last couple of hours in SD. A very low point in the Wife Acceptance Factor of money spent so far,,,,,,,

When I built the antenna setup, Comcast HD was not available. Now, I'm beginning to re-think my decision.

1) Those of you who caught the Masters on HD / Cable this weekend.... What was your experience? I had a very sharp picture OTA, if it were not for those annoying dropouts. Any significant dropout problems (audio or video)?

2) What's the minimum ComCast config I can get away with if I just want the locals on HD? I've got all my premium stuff off Directv, and since I had to sign up for an additional year when I bought the Samsung. I'm stuck there for now. I'm thinking I need to upgrade to digital cable (unless I already have it by virture of my internet service, but I don't think so) which will add a few $ to my cable bill, and then I need one of the 5100 HD Cable boxes, which is what, $10 a month?. I should not have to buy any premium channels from Comcast to get the locals in HD.

3) I'm gonna want to keep my Tivo for the SD stuff, but I believe that Tivo will work with the 5100. But, does the 5100 have simultaneous output on both the SD and component outputs? (I know, I should read the thread. Have you seen how looooonnnnnnggg that thing is?). If I'm right, the 5100 does not have a serial input, so I assume the 5100 would be controlled by an IR blaster.

So, what do you all think? Is it worth dumping my antenna, and getting my HD locals from Comcast?

Thanks in advance for your help

Originally posted by izzicat

1) Those of you who caught the Masters on HD / Cable this weekend.... What was your experience? I had a very sharp picture OTA, if it were not for those annoying dropouts. Any significant dropout problems (audio or video)?



I had both OTA and Comcast. I had no need to switch to the 165, except to compare one or two times. In other words, channel 809 was flawless all three days. No audio or video drop outs at all. I've had OTA for a few months now and there's no comparison. OTA is out (I believe it could've been different had they chosen COFDM over 8VSB, but hey! that's what they wanted, bad OTA so everybody goes to cable -- that's my conspiracy theory).

Originally posted by izzicat

3) I'm gonna want to keep my Tivo for the SD stuff, but I believe that Tivo will work with the 5100. But, does the 5100 have simultaneous output on both the SD and component outputs? (I know, I should read the thread. Have you seen how looooonnnnnnggg that thing is?). If I'm right, the 5100 does not have a serial input, so I assume the 5100 would be controlled by an IR blaster.


I have a replayTV and yes, the 5100 downconverts HD to SD in a 16x9 frame to composite and S-video outputs. However, I had no need to record the HD channels yet. I have the 5100 set up so that it outputs 480i on S-Video.

I had to tweak the replayTV IR blaster settings to make it work. I had to change the code from 4476 to 0476 (or 0276?). That was it. The IR blaster works perfectly.

In summary, the only effective change to our replayTV is that now the input is S-video instead of composite.

lcaamano: Do you see a PQ difference between recording the downconverted HD signal and the SD signal?

Originally posted by brol
lcaamano: Do you see a PQ difference between recording the downconverted HD signal and the SD signal?

I have not recorded the downconverted channel but I would expect to see the same PQ as the SD signal when playing back. I don't expect it to be better enough to make me change the recording channel.

It would still be worse than HD, which is why I now try to watch CSI live instead of from replayTV. I'd watch Leno live too if it wasn't that late. It hurts to watch Leno from replayTV knowing how good it would've looked if I could record it HD.

bryanb426, I am still having significant lip synch problems with cbs. I live in woodstock, where are you located? Since no one else seems to have the problem maybe it's a location problem.

I'm in Woodstock, and always have lip synch errors with CBS. I've given up trying to watch it. :(

Lip synch is not exclusive to Woodstock

I'm in Virginia-Highlands in Midtown. Looks like this is a city-wide issue. Let me ask another question - is anyone NOT experiencing problems with WGCL HD broadcasts?

I know I was having this problem when receiving them OTA, Luis do you still have your OTA setup?

I'm still up in the air whether I call the station or Comcast...

(sorry, that was actually TWO questions)

I watch both CSIs (Monday and Thursday) in HD, I watched almost all the HD madness games, I watched all three days of the Masters and I do not have any lip sync issues, neither OTA nor on Comcast. If I see a lip sync problem, which I rarely do, it usually goes away pretty soon. In other words. I've never had to go SD because of lip sync problems in HD.

My OTA setup is down now, the buyer is picking it up tonight, but I can tell you that whenever I saw a problem on Comcast's 809, either lip sync or pixelation (rare), I also saw it OTA.

I still do not have HBO or WAGA on Comcast. :( I know the maintenance crew is working on it though.

Just in case it matters, I use optical DD 5.1 connections from both the Samsung T165 OTA receiver and Comcast's 5100.

watch the Masters in HDTV from Atlanta ComCast 809. it was great. my wife even agreed that there was a big difference.

i am looking forward to a CSI in HDTV this Thursday !!!

...but I can tell you that whenever I saw a problem on Comcast's 809, either lip sync or pixelation (rare), I also saw it OTA.

I believe I read in one of the posts in this thread that the fiber link between Channel 9 and Comcast was down and the currently Comcast was just rebroadcasting Channel 9's OTA signal. That would explain why the problems that did occur occurred with both. But, since the problems were faithfully reproduced by Comcast,we could probably infer that Comcast doesn't make anything worse, which is a plus. And, we might even go so far as to hope that when they get their fiber link fixed, that Comcast channel 809 might even be less problematic than OTA HD channel 9. :)

Did anybody have problems with fox audio last night?

FYI

I watched CSI last night on 809 (Thursday, 4/17) and it was flawless. No lip sync issues and no pixelation (no dd 5.1 :) either).

I have been having severe lip sync problems with WGCL on Comcast HD lately, and since last night cannot even tune channel 809. I get a black screen for this one, though Fox and NBC local digital channels along with HBO HD East and West are ok. Have been having pixelation lately as well. Could this be my own local signal problem or is anyone else seeing this problem?

Things were working fine before this.

It's been a great learning experience reading these posts, but now I was hoping some of you could give me advice. I live in Marietta (East Cobb). I switched to Dish about a year and a half ago because I hated being forced to watch commercials on the crappy slow scrolling TV Guide channel, having unexplained outages and poor reception that they refused or could not fix. Man, I hated, hated, hated cable. So now here we are, I like the Dish signal. But...I'm finishing my basement starting in May and putting in a Panasonic L300u LCD projector and a 45x80 (92" diagonal) screen. I'll need to get the free LNB upgrade for PBS, then an upgraded switch to add a 5th and 6th box, an OTA HD decoder or the new or to be released Dish box with dual PNRs and both Dish and OTA HD decoder for about another $700+. Now I've read these posts and some people seem to be saying that it's more cost efficient to go back to cable for HD AND that the PQ is the same or better b/c Cable. I'm a newbie to all this stuff and not as advanced as most of you. I'm not clear on how cable can be better over coax - and how, whether the cable HD standard is 1080i or 720p, it can be better than OTA or Dish HD. So here are my questions - PLEASE help!

1. Is Cable HD better than Dish HD and OTA HD?
2. Is the problem with OTA HD based on location and ability to pull in a signal such that if you could come up with an optimal antenna (I need an attic antenna) and pre-amp, I wouldn't need to switch and wouldn't need Dish HD - since the hardware is so expensive?
3. Anyone in or near marietta have any luck with OTA HD with an attic antenna - can anyone recommend a "red" zone one - including where to buy a pre-amp and antenna and whether any store installs? (HiFi Buys does, but I'm not convinced they knew more than me, didn't seem to have many choices and were expensive).
4. Is there a device for cable like TiVo? I love the PVR.

I want HD, but don't want to go to cable to get a few HD channels if the rest of cable will be worse than Dish on a 92" screen making it unwatchable. I also hated the customer non-service and all the other issues so much I'd like to never give them money again - I know there have been 2 ownership changes, but there's a cultural monopoly arrogance I hate, as you can tell. That all said, if cable is really better for HD and the same for SD, but less money for so many TVs, I'd be foolish to let me anger linger on forever.

Thanks very much!!!

I'm not a cable subscriber, but I'm in a similar situation as you. Though I do currently have a HTPC to get OTA signals (and record them)...

1. I would always expect OTA to be the best quality signal, as cable and sat providers have the ability to further compress the signal if desired (to save bandwidth).

2. OTA can be tricky to get setup depending on where you live. Once you get the antenna situation taken care of, you should be ok.

3. I'm in Alpharetta, with a less than optimal location (in kind of a low spot in my neighborhood), but I didn't need a fancy antenna rig. Just a Radio Shack double bow-tie in the attic.

4. I'm not aware of a Comcast PVR. There are standalone TiVos, but they are expensive and limited to a single tuner. That is the reason I can't leave DirecTV; the DirecTiVo is absolutely amazing, especially given the low cost. There is talk about an upcoming Motorola 5200 HD PVR coming out, but no word of when/if Comcast may use it.

I was very excited to hear about Comcast offering HD, but it just isn't enough for me to drop satellite just yet. Whoever gets the HD PVR solution first will likely get my service for a long time.

Chris

Originally posted by DDisney
since last night cannot even tune channel 809. I get a black screen for this one

I also got a black screen on 809 last night, around 10:00pm. It's the first time I see something like that. It's like if they had disconnected the signal feed from WGCL. Definitely not the "available shortly" problem.

I didn't check this morning though.

According to SWMBO, channel 809 is working ok today. Good news since CBS has more HD than most other stations.

For what its worth, I have the comcast 5100 box set up to always output 1080i, with no 4:3 override. The analog/digitized channels look quite a bit better in this mode than in 480i or 480p on my widescreen tv.

Originally posted by Yharr
For what its worth, I have the comcast 5100 box set up to always output 1080i, with no 4:3 override. The analog/digitized channels look quite a bit better in this mode than in 480i or 480p on my widescreen tv.

I will try that tonight and let everyone know my experience with this setting on my Panasonic PT-53WX42. I believe that I have the override set to 480p at present and the output is fair to good depending on the channel.

Got my install yesterday, and it was flawless. I had everything prepared, the tech came in, and I just plugged it all in. His head was spinning when he left - said he never had an installation like that!

Just before he arrived, I rescanned all the locals off air one last time. Wouldn't you know they all came in 5X5?!!! But, I am happy with the cable. PQ is as least as good as OTA or on my DirecTV system.

Originally posted by Yharr
For what its worth, I have the comcast 5100 box set up to always output 1080i, with no 4:3 override. The analog/digitized channels look quite a bit better in this mode than in 480i or 480p on my widescreen tv.

Well, I tried this but immediately switched back to 480p override as my Panny widescreen won't let me stretch the 1080i signal. Thought the channels are definitely more clear with this setting I have the 4:3 feed with black bars on each side in this mode for non-HD channels/feeds and I prefer the full screen effect even if it is not as clear on all channels.

I am only able to get one stretch mode in 1080i, which does a linear streatch with no vertical zoom. I try not to watch *too much* in 4:3 mode, but it sure looks a lot better with black bars than gray ones a la mitsubishi.

The 'in-between' stage is always riddled with obstacles and compromises...

Last night WGCL reconnected the 5.1 digital sound circuitry, reintroducing the LipSynch delay into the comcast signal. I believe this also affects OTA viewers. has anyone else noticed this?

Yup, we had the lip synch problem also.

We're running out of month, where's those two new channels that were rumored? Anybody heard any more on this?

Originally posted by Yharr
Rumor has it that Atlanta Comcast will be adding WSB-TV very very soon on channel 803. Can anyone confirm this?

Lest this one get lost in the shuffle, has anyone heard anything else about this? I spoke with a service tech today who said she thought it would be added, but she had no dates.

Comcast better hurry up and start adding channels they promised, or bring out the 5200 box, or both... Dish Network just announced they are adding HDNet and HDNet movies to their HD lineup...

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030501/15710_1.html

Hey all...

I am new to all of this. I just got a new house, and the wife has given me the ok to turn one of our bedrooms into a media room. So I am in the process of hooking everythng up.

Comcast has forced me to get basic cable (because they want to charge an extra $15 for High-Speed Internet). So my question is, Is it true that you only need basic cable to get HD from Comcast? I am going to get DirecTV, but would like to get local channels. I don't want to put up an OTA antenna.

I have been trying to read through this thread, but couldn't find a firm answer on the subject.

Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks!

You have to have the digital package. Then for an extra 5.00 per month you get the hd box.

Comcast Cable Extends Its Relationship with Motorola Broadband as Its
Primary Provider of Digital Cable Technology and Network Support
Services

Motorola will continue to provide innovative and reliable digital
set-tops and ongoing network support to the leading cable operator in
the United States.

HORSHAM, Pa., May 8, 2003 - Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Broadband
Communications Sector and Comcast Cable, the cable division of Comcast
Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSK; CMCSA), today announced a multi-year digital
cable agreement. Motorola will provide Comcast with a broad spectrum of
solutions, including two advanced interactive set-tops from the recently
announced DCT6000 family - the cable industry's first platform to
integrate personal video recording (PVR) and high-definition television
(HDTV); the Motorola DCT1800 - a modified version of the
feature-simplified DCT1700 digital set-top; as well as network support
services and personnel training programs. Additional details were not
disclosed.

Under terms of the agreement, Comcast will offer digital subscribers the
Motorola DCT6200 and DCT6208 set-tops. With these advanced interactive
set-tops, Comcast will be able to provide multiple-service customers
with compelling, on-demand entertainment experiences offering HDTV and
PVR. Both set-tops feature an "Entertainment Package" which includes
1394-DTV and DVI interfaces for direct digital connections to consumer
High-Definition receivers, DolbyR 5.1 surround decoding. The set-tops
also are equipped with an integrated, DOCSIST-compatible cable modem.

In addition to the DCT6000 set-tops, the deal names Motorola as the
primary provider of basic interactive digital set-tops to Comcast, who
will be the first operator to deploy the Motorola DCT1800. The new
DCT1800 supports video-on-demand (VOD), pay-per-view and electronic
program guide (EPG) services.

Motorola will also provide Comcast with a complete range of network
service functions to support the complex software and system management
processes associated with deploying advanced interactive services.
Comcast will gain access to the Motorola Technical Resource Center for
the most efficient resolution of technical-related issues. Motorola will
also manage the rapid deployment of software upgrades to Comcast's
access control and head-end management systems. Finally, Motorola will
provide ongoing training to Comcast personnel on system operations,
which will assist in the rapid launch of new services.

"Motorola has provided us with a complete digital package and
comprehensive service and support programs that help ensure we can meet
the needs of our growing and demanding customer base," said Steve Burke,
president of Comcast Cable. "We are pleased to strengthen our business
relationship with Motorola Broadband through this agreement."

Added Dan Moloney, executive vice president, Motorola Inc., and
president and chief executive officer, Broadband Communications Sector,
"Motorola is pleased to expand our strategic partnership with the
country's leading cable and broadband communications provider. Comcast's
selection of Motorola Broadband reaffirms our commitment and ability to
help operators meet the growing demand for interactive services -
through innovative features in our digital products and with our ongoing
support for the systems and network infrastructure."

About the Motorola DCT1800
As an interactive, feature-simplified digital set-top solution, the
Motorola DCT1800 enables operators to offer in-demand interactive
services, including video-on-demand (VOD), Internet access, impulse
pay-per-view, and electronic program guides (EPGs). The DCT1800 is
identical to the popular DCT1700, adding a volume control and switched
accessory outlet.

About the Motorola DCT6000 family
The Motorola DCT6000 set-top family presents operators with a single,
integrated solution for PVR, HD, and advanced interactive applications.
The Motorola DCT6000 family increases processing power over 150 percent
over its predecessor (the DCT5100), while adding consumer digital
interfaces, an integrated DOCSIS - compatible cable modem, and features
such as pausing live TV and recording programs through an electronic
program guide interface.

The Motorola DCT6200 is an enhancement of Motorola's popular DCT5100
platform. This digital set-top enables a direct digital connection to
consumer audio and video devices via 1394-DTV and DVI interfaces. The
Motorola DCT6208 is the cable industry's first fully integrated,
solution for HDTV, PVR, and advanced interactive features. The set-top
extends the feature set of the DCT6000 family to include an internal 80
GB hard drive, which is operator selectable, for direct disk recording
of standard- and high-definition programming.

About Comcast Cable
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast
Corporation, a developer, manager and operator of broadband cable
networks and provider of programming content. Operating in 17 of the
United States' 20 largest metropolitan areas, Comcast is one of the
leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world.
Providing basic cable, digital cable and high-speed Internet services,
Comcast Cable is the company to look to first for the communications
products and services that connect people to what's important in their
lives. The company's 55,000 employees, in six divisions, serve more than
21 million customers.

About Motorola Broadband Communications Sector
The Motorola Broadband Communications Sector provides a scalable,
integrated end-to-end system for the delivery of broadband services that
keeps consumers informed, entertained and connected. Its technology
enables network operators and retailers to create and execute on new
business opportunities by providing innovative products and services to
the home. Customer-responsive design and manufacturing expertise further
contribute to the company's position as the world's leading supplier of
digital cable set-tops and cable modems. More information about the
Motorola Broadband Communications Sector can be found at
www.motorola.com/broadband.

About Motorola
Motorola, Inc., is a global leader in providing integrated
communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2002 were
$27.3 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen dedicated to
ethical business practices and pioneering important technologies that
make things smarter and life better for people, honored traditions that
began when the company was founded 75 years ago this year. More
information can be found at www.motorola.com.
# # #

Media Contact:
Motorola
Jeanne Russo
1-215-323-1873
jeanne.russo@motorola.com

Comcast Cable
Jenni Moyer
1-215-851-3311
jenni_moyer@cable.comcast.com

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent &
Trademark Office. DOCSIS is a trademark of Cable Television
Laboratories, Inc. Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing
Corporation. All other product or service names are the property of
their respective owners. C Motorola, Inc. 2003

6208, baby, ooh yeah. BUT WHEN!? Comcast tech support hasn't a clue. :(

Originally posted by Yharr
6208, baby, ooh yeah. BUT WHEN!? Comcast tech support hasn't a clue. :(

Do they, or anyone else, have a clue when we might see the local ABC station (WSB) in HD? I am happy to have CBS and NBC along with HBO HD for sure, but would trade Fox for ABC in an instant.

I want to echo that question. I *really* want to see Comcast become a real HD provider for the Atl local market...all they need to add is ABC and PBS. They finally seem to have worked out the issues with audio dropouts and lipsynch issues on CBS. Looking forward to the Country awards show tonight on CBS as a matter of fact!

Hopefully ABC by this fall...

ANYONE AT COMCAST READING THIS? COME ON GUYS!

*whisper....HDNET.....*

You can't have PBS since it doesn't yet exist digitally on the air in Atlanta. UPN would be a nice addition, after ABC and WB, which actually have HD programming. Then TBS and perhaps PAX for completeness, but that would be the last priority.

Thomas

I did not know that. Could the 720p issue be a reason for the delay in getting ABC in Atlanta Comcast?

Hey all,

Any word on new developments? I put in a call to see if there was a timetable for adding new HD channels. No news there, but they did tell me that they are beta testing the Motorola 6208 (new model STB with an 80 GB HD PVR) in Austell right now and should be offering it to all Comcast customers in the late summer or fall. So, if the HD rollout is any indication, looks like we may have the option of an HD PVR by Christmas...

Check this out:

http://www.twice.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=120650&display=breakingNews

Motorola already has 6200 series boxes with 120 GB and 160GB hard drive options and multi-tv media centers slated for release late in 2003. I may have to hold off on the 6208 for one of these bad boys...

jdp

This is good news indeed. I have a suspicion that Atlanta is not one of the 'select' markets that will see the early rollout, although my hopes say differently.

I am very close to ditching comcast due to the lack of HD locals in lieu of an antenna and MyHD card.

*waves goodbye to Comcast*

Going with MyHD and Satellite again (DTV). Comcast is way too slow to add channels!

Anyone heard anything lately about new channels? It's getting close to football season, and I was hoping to at least have ABC, if not ESPN also by now. Getting impatient (especially since I just sold my DirecTV receiver)

I moving next month, and i'll be making the switch over to DirecTV. The channels and the signal quality of Comcast are horrible.

Just finished moving the other week, I asked the comcast guy if any new HD channels would be added and he said that they are supposed to be adding somemore channels in August.

Not holding my breath for more channels. Has anyone heard anything about the new box with a 60hr recorder??? If not, guess I'll join the Tivo crowd.

BB

Getting 846 ESPND...when did that start???

Me too. Feeling a little better about selling that DTV receiver now. One more (ABC) and I'll be content for at least through the NFL season.

Unbelievable. No announcement from Comcast but the channel is broadcasting perfectly. Not a lot of HD programming but it's better than nothing. Here's the ESPNHD link:
http://msn.espn.go.com/espnhd/whyhd.html

Why is there no HD ABC on Comcast in ATL? Comcast has ABC in other cities. My OTA recption of WSB is spotty.

Also - for ATL Comcast subscribers out there, how do you get a new box with DVI output when initially signing up for service? Do you need to make a special request or is this now standard issue if subscribing now? I need to make a decision about comcast vs DTV with OTA within the next few weeks (I am nearing the end of the 30 day return period on my Samsung 160 box)

Just an FYI from over on the west side of Roswell, I'm not seeing the 846 ESPNHD channel yet. Here's hoping it will be soon.

Thats odd Steve. I've got ESPN-HD 846 and I'm on the Duluth/Alpharetta border.

Comcast is not carrying ABC/ WSB-TV because of prolonged contract negotiations. It is WSB-TV's fault not Comcast's.

Also, I live in E. Cobb and got ESPN HD last night.

Originally posted by SteveOwens
Just an FYI from over on the west side of Roswell, I'm not seeing the 846 ESPNHD channel yet. Here's hoping it will be soon.

May want to call and have them do a reset of your box.

Thanks for the tip. I'll make the call tonight.
Thought it would be something that would just happen...

Did anyone catch the Yankees at Red Sox game last night in HD?
Braves at Cardinals are coming up on the schedule on Sunday, 8/10 at 8:00.

Steve

Originally posted by SteveOwens
Braves at Cardinals are coming up on the schedule on Sunday, 8/10 at 8:00.

Steve

I wouldn't expect to see that one. Seems like I read in some other threads that local games on Sunday night baseball are being blacked out on ESPN HD and non HD. Don't quote me on that though.

I'm having some issues with my HD channels since they added ESPN. I've got channel 846 showing up, but when I switch to it, all that happens is that the channel I was watching previously freezes. Also, I'm no longer gettign SHO-HD on 891 (as a channel or showing up on the guide).

Anyone else having similar problems?

I've had ESPN-HD for about a week, but lost 891. 804 seizes up my STB. Has anyone received new box with DVI output? Comcast is installing new unit tomorrow and I'd like to know whether they've rolled out Moto 6000 generation yet.

Sunday night games on ESPN are national and should NOT get blacked out.

CFC
Originally posted by ChrisATL
I wouldn't expect to see that one. Seems like I read in some other threads that local games on Sunday night baseball are being blacked out on ESPN HD and non HD. Don't quote me on that though.

I am having Comcast installed this weekend. Are they using the DVI capable box yet?

Justman,

The boxes they are installing have DVI but it is not capable (yet).
__________________________________________________________

Comcast says 891 was replaced by ESPN-HD. No plans to bring back the second SHO-HD feed. No news on ABC. Now 809 is seizing up for me. I'm getting less happy w/ Comcast (before 846 was added I had no problems). However, that Giants game last night looked great!

Got my HDTV installed this weekend, very upset that ABC and PBS is not included. I read that other Comcast areas have ABC why not Atl.

No worries though, I got an integrated tuner and hooked up an antenna in the attic to get ABC, but still having problems with PBS. The reception is good but it was very choppy last night. Also sometimes I get some sound lose on ABC and Fox.

Oh, the tech said 809 (cbs) was out , is anyone having the same problem ??

From what I have heard (on this board and others), CBS has been out for almost a week now. Anyone have any news on this? Also, I've been hearing conflicting stories about ABC - can someone "in the know" post something here?

Thanks.

When will Comcast ATL add WSB (ABC). Now that WSB OTA is offline for a few weeks, there is no HD ABC in Atlanta! MNF is fast approaching!

WSBTV will be back on line before MNF starts for those of you who have OTA HDTV.

"If you have a HDTV set and use it to watch WSB-TV/Channel 2, please be aware of a technical upgrade we are about to implement that will affect your service.

In order to improve the station's digital transmission, WSB-TV will remove the broadcast signal, beginning Wednesday, Aug. 6. The outage will last between 10-12 days.

We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause our HDTV users. "

Does anybody know if there is a number or email address that we could call to get Comcast to pickup WSB?

I just bought my brand-new Sony KDP-51WS550 HDTV! It should be here in about a week.

Now.... With what method should I watch it? I am very confused at what is going on in Atlanta (I live in Alpharetta).

My set has a built-in tuner, so I could just go OTA.

I currently have DirecTV, so I could spend ANOTHER $700 and buy a DirecTV HD box, but I still won't get any local channels or network programming in HD.

I have access to Comcast, but I hear they're not much better. No ABC. CBS seems to be broken. I try to get technical information from Comcast like what model box they use. Does it have a HD PVR in it? But the person on the phone doesn't have a clue!

I finally got her to ask someone and it appears they are still using the ancient Motorolla 5100 series with NO DVI output!! I rememebr seeing a press release here in this group from last May that said Comcast was switching over to the new Motorolla 6100 series that had a HD PVR. Anyone know what happened to that? That's what I really want. I'm not home much and EVERYTHING gets recorded on my DirecTV Ultimate TV. I'm not sure I EVER want to go back!

Is it just me or is this whole HD thing just a series of finger-pointing and no one wants to take the lead on anything?

Anyway, past all that I would very much appreciate feedback on the best way to get programming on my new TV.

Best regards,

Stacy
Alpharetta

Comcast is still using the 5100. The current 5100 they are issuing has a DVI port but it is not activated yet - No one has any idea when this may be activated or when they will move up to the new 6000 boxes with PVR. The phone reps at comcast are clueless - they are likely to give you wrong info because they often dont understand HD technology.

I am currently using OTA and Comcast for HD. I would have preferred Direct TV but I could only get the A satellite and not B & C satellites (which are needed for HD) because of some big trees. I have been a direct tv subscriber (SD only).

The first step may be to see if you get good OTA reception - but this may take some trial and error with an antenna (or pay HiFi Buys or some other installer to do it for you.) antennaweb.org will help you dertermine the direction of th HD towers.

For me personally, if I could get the HD satellites I would drop comcast and use a combination of OTA and Direct tv HD. However OTA reception can be a little tricky.

I still cant believe that Comcast does not have ABC HD yet!

I also have Comcast 5100 box and it does have DVI, not sure if it's active or not. I recall the tech saying it was, but i wasn't paying attention. When the tech came to install my stuff about 2 weeks ago, he said they were still experimenting with PVR, not sure when it will be out though.


The only reason why I got Comcast is for ESPNHD, if they didn't have it I would have drop it long time ago. Digital cable recption sucks, definatly not as good as DTV, but I don't want to spend that type of cash for HDTV DTV receiver.I did not have a lot of problems with setting up my antenna for OTA HD.

The previous owner had a large antenna in the attic, I just ran some cable from there to my TV and BOOM HDTV... I guess i'm lucky. The only problem that I have is TBS goes in and out all the time, as a matter of fact it's been out for last 2 days. With the exception of TBS, I have no problems getting CBS, ABC, NBC, UPN, WB, FOX and UPI(mexian channel?) I'm hoping that comcast gets more channels soon....


Check out www.antennaweb.org, this will help you figure out where to point your antenna if you decide to go that route.

Also if you get a chance check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ahdtv ; a lot of good people and quick repsonses.

The only two reasons I can think of getting Concast HD are:

You can't get OTA and
You just gotta have ESPN HD

In my case, I get everything OTA and ESPNHD is not worth the expense.

Originally posted by Paul Hives
The only two reasons I can think of getting Concast HD are:

You can't get OTA and
You just gotta have ESPN HD

In my case, I get everything OTA and ESPNHD is not worth the expense.

The only two reasons YOU can think of? Sad.

What if one doesn't want to deal with an antenna? The potential best case for cable HD is just soooooo much more appealing than the potential best case for OTA/Satellite.

Picture this. You have cable already, you just bought an 50+" Samsung DLP tv to watch DVDs. Wow, they look great. You see that Comcast has HD ... you wonder. It's Monday, make a call, get an appointment for Thursday, the guy shows up, replaces the box you have with a new one, and changes the channel to 880. Bang!!! you get HD widescreen full on your new TV in about 10 minutes.

Wait, it's Thursday! Let's check out CSI on 809! Bang!!! Widescreen HD CSI. Your jaw drops.

But wait, 11:35pm is coming up, let's watch Jay Leno!!!! Your jaw drops again.

All that for an extra $5 bucks a month. No attic, no antenna, no decoder.

Come on ... there's no comparison.

Dreaming? ... I know a couple guys that had this experience just like that. Also, I know one guy, myself, who had to deal with not getting HBO for almost 6 months. The potential worst case is pretty bad too but not as bad as the potential worst case on OTA. Think about those guys on the ahdtv group that are still calculating the wavelengths of pine needles to see if that's what causes the tiling they see every now and then.

In my opinion, you have to really hate cable to muster enough patience to deal with the Satellite and OTA problems when HD cable is also available to you.

I did the OTA for about 4-5 months and I was never comfortable enough to call anybody to see anything on my TV, e.g., SuperBowl, because I didn't know if it was going to work or not that particular day. In contrast, I called the neighbors as soon as ESPN HD showed up to see that Titans game a couple Fridays ago.

OTA sucks ... If they had use COFDM instead of 8VSB there's a good chance things might have been different for OTA.

it does have DVI, not sure if it's active or not. I recall the tech saying it was

I would not rely on comcast employees for HD info (either the phone reps or installers). They dont seem to understand HD tech issues and you can get wrong info (its not intentional). My installer did a great job and was very knowledgeable about cable in general. he also thought I could use dvi but when I pressed him on it I realized that he did not really understand what DVI was - he just new it was on the box. I got the same type of response from a phone rep.

The DVI is not yet active in Atlanta as far as I know. If anyone knows when this will change Please post.

I believe in order to get the DVI active there needs to be a firmware upgrade on the box from the current version
(mine is firmware 08 50.00-1078)

Your post got me curious enough to try it since I have a DVI cable - I just hooked it up and the monitor said "DVI - no signal"... well it was a longshot.

Anyone out there work for comcast and know the following?:

1. when will WSB HD be added (ABC)?
2. will the DVI be active on the 5100 at some point?
3. when will the new Motorola 6000 series boxes with PVR be available in Atlanta?
4. When will Michael Vick return to 100%?

There is nothing wrong with OTA..myself and many of my neighbors are getting it..and we are 40 miles to the south...plus which I can't get all the channels I want on Comcast...and I am forced to buy more equipment...slapped an antenna in the attic and never had to look back..have had superbowl parties w/HD last 3 years

I can switch channels and get all the banging I want as you say...from CSI to Leno...so what am I missing..ESPN HD..big deal

As far as HBO or Showtime..I'll take my tweaked DVD any day..much rather rent the movie

Can't we all just get along?

Sorry for the interruption. Please let me know directly if this happens again.

Paul,

Good points about OTA. I think if I were in your situation and could pick up all of the HD stations by pointing an antenna in one direction I would do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, many of us in ATL live either downtown (in between all of the towers) or live in neighborhoods with very large trees (which prevents us from getting all three satellites). In my case, I have both of these issues and have opted for the Comcast route.

I completely agree with you on the HBO/Showtime deal. I will drop these as soon as they are not free anymore. A progressive scan DVD player gives a much better picture/sound combo in my opinion anyway.

FYI, here is my decision path for this.

DTV
Good: Nice digital pictures, HDNet looks really cool.
Bad: Have to use rotator or multiple antennas for OTA. Also have to chop down trees to see all of the satellites. Also, heavy rain or thunderstorm generally knocks out both.

Comcast
Good: No reception problems. Can watch ESPN HD even during a thunderstorm (like I did last week). Don't have to deal with an antenna/rotator setup.
Bad: No ABC as of yet (so no MNF). Having to deal with the idiots at Comcast customer support. Well, they are in Canada after all... :)

Regards,
Bryan

hi all.....been on the forum for a little while, but my first post in this board. i just had comcast upgrade my digital cable box about 2 weeks ago to the new silverish motorola HD box (i guess that's the 5100 model you guys are talking about?). i have a horror story to tell.....so i'm gonna vent....

i had a horrible experience getting it installed. just like most of you say, the tech's/installers aren't very up-to-date with this stuff.....as a matter of fact, i was surprised my installer could read. it took him about 1 1/2 hours to switch out the cable box.....something just about any of us could have done in about 2 minutes. plus, he hooked it up incorrectly......he used the composite coax cable to go from the box to the TV (doesn't that defeat the whole purpose???....i had an S-video cable to begin with!!!). when i noticed that he hadn't brought in any extra cables (which i've heard they were supposed to supply), i said something and he ran down to get the monster video component cables. the idiot plugged those in along WITH the composite cable.....so i had two video signals going to the TV.....guess the signals messed each other up, cause it looked horrible. not only that, but he took the RCA audio cables off my dvd player and hooked them up to the HD box as well....he stole my own cables! now i had 3 different cable connections going to the TV. when i noticed that he took my dvd cables, i said something and he ran down again and got some monster video audio cables. fine. during this entire time, he's trying to program the box or whatever, so he's calling back and forth to his supervisor saying, "ok, i plugged it up, now what do i do?" what the hell?! hasn't he ever hooked up a box before? apparently this was the 4th HD box he'd done that day too. no wonder he got to my house after 8pm.....it took him forever to even get a working picture on the screen. i finally just said that it looked fine and got him to leave so i could get back there and re-wire everything myself. needless to say i wasn't impressed at all.

well, now that that's off my chest.....i have some questions and concerns. i had been watching FOX, NBC, CBS, ESPND and SHOD up until a few days ago. the FOX channel (804) had always been very choppy....was this a common problem? the others were always fine. however, a few days ago, i lost FOX and ESPND! what happened? did comcast drop these two channels, or are they trying to reprogram something? when i turn to 804 or 846 it just says, "one moment please....this channel will be available shortly." and that's it. is there something wrong?

also....i just ordered a DVI cable....did i waste my money, or is the DVI output a definite possibility for the near future? thanks....:cool:

no idea whe DVI will be activated - if you are only buying it for the 5100, then I would wait if I were you.

I had mine installed about 2 weeks ago and had no problems. the Comcast tech took about 5 minutes to hook up and another 15 minutes to call it in to activate the HD. I see so many post about un train techs from Comcast I figure I would post a positive experience.

By the way what do you need the s-video for? HD set top box will only work with components or DVI for HDTV reception.

Have had no problems with any of my channels , all works prefectly.

just saying that my old standard digital cable box was hooked up with s-video.....it had a better picture than the new HD box on HD channels when the tech was done installing it. that was a problem ;)

as far as buying the box now instead of waiting.....it's only $5 more per month. i think the box looks better than the old digital cable box (it matches my dvd player). i at least get a few HD shows in prime time, even if my FOX and ESPND aren't working right now. and the quality of cable hookup increased from s-video to component, and eventually DVI. i think the picture looks slightly better right now because of that, but it's hard to tell. ;)

anyone else having trouble with HD channels right now?

My box got firmware 51.22 the other night. Does any1 know whats new in this update? Any chance of DVI? I have no cable to test with. Thanks.

S/W Ver: 51.22 - 2002
Firmware: 02

dogongt,

I would call comcast if i were u, those 2 channels should be working.

My box got firmware 51.22 the other night. Does any1 know whats new in this update? Any chance of DVI? I have no cable to test with. Thanks.

Has anyone else in Atlanta had a firware upgrade? Mine still shows as

SW 50.00 1078
FW 08

Channel 876 inHD, but no signal. It says "Not Authorized in HD". Everybody else also getting this?

Originally posted by justman
Has anyone else in Atlanta had a firware upgrade? Mine still shows as

SW 50.00 1078
FW 08

Same here

Originally posted by TomGivan
Channel 876 inHD, but no signal. It says "Not Authorized in HD". Everybody else also getting this?

Showed up on the guide last night with no audio or video. However, I just checked and it has both! No programming on at present time, however, just random images, but that is a start!

There was a movie at 7 tonight

I just received my Sony KDP-51WS550 a few days ago and am now going through the long process of deciding to spend the money to install OTA antenna or go with (yuck) Comcast.

One of the features of the TV is that it has a QAM6 Digital Cable Tuner built-in. According to Sony, if the cable company uses this standard for digital cable distribution, I don't need a digital cable box, except if I want to receive HBO or other premium channels.

Does anyone know what Comcast uses?

And WHAT IS UP with Comcast not carrying ABC? I'm sure it's got something to do with somebody trying to make more money than their entitled to.

Also, why doesn't comast carry HDNet or Discovery Channel HD-Theatre?

I guess what I'm asking is WHY DOES CABLE SEEM TO BE STUCK IN THE 1980's ????

Here's to hoping I can see SOMETHING in HD someday soon!

Originally posted by srothwell
One of the features of the TV is that it has a QAM6 Digital Cable Tuner built-in. According to Sony, if the cable company uses this standard for digital cable distribution, I don't need a digital cable box, except if I want to receive HBO or other premium channels.

Does anyone know what Comcast uses?



I think it's more of a question of whether or not Comcast is encrypting the signals. If Comcast is broadcasting any of the signal in the clear (un-encrypted) your TV should be able to get those signals without a seperate cable STB. I thought I read something about local channels having to be unencrypted, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. However, for the premium channels those I'm betting are encrypted and you'll need the Motorola 5100.

Originally posted by srothwell
And WHAT IS UP with Comcast not carrying ABC? I'm sure it's got something to do with somebody trying to make more money than their entitled to.


I didn't realize there was a list of how much people/companies are entitled to make.

Anyway, whatever your past experience with cable companies, and I've had a bad one too, I find Comcast much better than DirecTV/OTA for HD. I switched at the beginning of the year and won't go back. I guess if your in the right place and get a big enough antenna, it's OK. But even then, you have to pay hundreds of dollars for a receiver. Only +$5 a month for one from Comcast.

No ABC is my only gripe. Rarely watched HDNET anyway.

Originally posted by srothwell
I just received my Sony KDP-51WS550 a few days ago and am now going through the long process of deciding to spend the money to install OTA antenna or go with (yuck) Comcast.

One of the features of the TV is that it has a QAM6 Digital Cable Tuner built-in. According to Sony, if the cable company uses this standard for digital cable distribution, I don't need a digital cable box, except if I want to receive HBO or other premium channels.



I don't think you will be able to see HD with that tuner. The old Moto DCT-2200 I used to have also had a QAM6 Digital cable tuner and it couldn't do HD. Does your TV have a DD 5.1 optical or coaxial output? You'll need one to "hear" HD.

The integrated tuner you want is not in TVs yet as they (the cable and manufacturers) are still discussing the finer points of the integrated tuner agreement. Perhaps this time next year we'll the first TVs with the integrated cable tuners that will be able to decode digital and HD content from cable companies (using new technology available today from CableLabs).

My HD signal is unbelievable.

However for non-hd local channels, especially CBS my picture quality is lousy. As anyone else noticed this problem.

I have the Motorola 5100 and i only have the component cables hooked up.
So both my HD and non-HD channels are viewed using the component cables.

My TV has optical digital output. I'm having comcast installed a week from Friday. I'll be sure to let everyone know if a built-in digital cable tuner will work.

Regards,

my local channels aren't LOUSY, but they could definitely improve. i have the same setup, and i agree, the HD channels are awesome (although FOX could improve a bit).

Originally posted by srothwell
My TV has optical digital output. I'm having comcast installed a week from Friday. I'll be sure to let everyone know if a built-in digital cable tuner will work.

Regards,

I just took a quick look at that TV, it's pretty cool. It has an integrated ATSC tuner. If they say it does QAM in addition to 8VSB, then I expect it to decode anything that comes in the clear. In theory, you should be able to see at least channels 804, 806, and 809 if the tuner goes that high. You can get those OTA too if use an antenna.

Let us know what you can see.

off the current topic.....but.....i hadn't been receiving channels 804 or 846 for the past few days, so i finally called comcast. what was their solution? jiggle the coax cable! wouldn't you know it....it worked! what the hell is that? wouldn't you think that with the technology of the current cable boxes (or anything else for that matter) that to fix the HD reception by jiggling the cable is ridiculous? just thought i'd share.....kind of makes me mad, but at least i'm getting what i'm paying for now. :rolleyes:

the HD channels are awesome (although FOX could improve a bit).

Fox is not HD. It could improve a bit - like from 480 to 720.

Check this link for an article about Panasonic's new digital cable HDTV-ready TVs.

http://www.cablelabs.com/news/newsletter/SPECS/JulAug_2003/index.html

I had my 5100 installed a couple weeks ago. The installer seemed adequately trained. He brought up the box and the cables (not monster but seem decent enough) but I hooked them up myself. It did take him a little while on the phone to get them to activate the box and start the download, but not too bad. He did insist on turning the sharpness all the way down which might be good for the basic cable channels, but not what I want for HD... I have the Hitachi 51F500 and after much reading in the RPTV forum and experimenting with the tweaks I was able to greatly improve the picture quality. I should be getting my Avia disk in the mail from Amazon tomorrow (which I realize may not make the same improvements on my TV input, but some should help). My very unscientific ratings would say that basic cable is "Fair-Good", digital cable is "Very Good" and true HD programming is "Great". I've caught a couple of NFL preseason HD broadcasts as well as the new ESPN show "Playmakers", some U.S. open tennis, Jay Leno, and the movie channels which have all been a real joy to watch.

And now for my complaints...
1) No ABC! I've been looking through this thread and haven't seen anything that might even be a rumored date for ABC, but I really REALLY want my MNF (and Alias in a few weeks).
2) The non-HD content on Fox and ESPN is stretched and my TV doesn't have any way to correct that. I have to go into the Motorola setup menu and change the signal to 480p if I want to be able to watch it in 4:3 or 4:3 expanded modes.
3) My Showtime channel has almost constant dropouts of video and sometimes audio. Does anyone else get this? I suppose that could be a signal strength issue but all of the other channels are fine.

I'm excited about the addition of INHD. Too bad the U.S. Open has been almost entirely rained out, but when INHD first showed up on my listings this weekend I sat and watched the preview loop about 10 times in a row because the images were so awesome.

1) No ABC!

WSB & Comcast - please make a deal soon. Anyone out there work for WSB or Comcast? Please give give us an update. 5 Days to MNF opener and counting.

I've started a thread which encompasses the issue of Comcast and WSB:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2626506

I have been doing some more research into my problems with Showtime dropouts. I know that you can see some signal strength measurements in the setup menu so I checked out all of my HD stations.

804, 806, 809, 846, 880, 881 are all measuring SNR ~ 32.5 and AGC ~55%.

However, my Showtime (890) and the newly added InHD (876) are measuring SNR 26.4 and AGC 99%!

What exactly do these numbers mean? There is an obvious difference here but the strange thing is that I haven't noticed any dropouts on InHD... Showtime has video pixelation every few seconds and the audio drops out every so often too. What's the deal? Should I call Comcast out here or should I try out the Motorola signal booster?

Originally posted by tdejong01
I have been doing some more research into my problems with Showtime dropouts. I know that you can see some signal strength measurements in the setup menu so I checked out all of my HD stations.

804, 806, 809, 846, 880, 881 are all measuring SNR ~ 32.5 and AGC ~55%.

However, my Showtime (890) and the newly added InHD (876) are measuring SNR 26.4 and AGC 99%!

What exactly do these numbers mean? There is an obvious difference here but the strange thing is that I haven't noticed any dropouts on InHD... Showtime has video pixelation every few seconds and the audio drops out every so often too. What's the deal? Should I call Comcast out here or should I try out the Motorola signal booster?

How many splitters do you have between the street pole and the back of the 5100? Signal losses are huge after more than one splitter. 3.5 to 7db per split. Check the 5100 upgrade thread and look for any of miatasm posts. In his signature, he has a link to the 5100 faq and a link to a spreadsheet you can use to calculate signal loss based on the cable type, number of splitter, and a few other variables.

Believe me, I was not able to fix my problem until we installed a cable modem two-way splitter designed to pass the signal with zero loss on one side and with a 7db loss on the other. With that splitter I now have the signal coming in straight from the pole with zero loss to the 5100, and the other side I use for the analog stuff, TV, VCR, and ReplayTV, which doesn't care about the 7db loss.

Are you guys actually getting a picture on 876 (inHD)? All I get is the black screen with the "This channel will be available shortly" message.

Ive been getting 876 no problem. US OPen has been on at night and an HD demo loop all day long.

I also just received the firmware update to:

S/W Ver: 51.22 - 2002
Firmware: 02

I will experiment later to see what may have changed - At first glance the PQ on analog cable thru component is still terrible.

just for your info.....SNR is "signal to noise ratio"......applies to all kinds of signals (picture, sound recording, etc.).....and the higher the number, the better. just for some comparison, an average car stereo cd player has an SNR of around 98-100 dB. where exactly do you find that information in the cable box menu?

anyway, i'm getting all the HD channels just fine now. try jiggling or repositioning the coax cable going into the back of your cable box. when my cable was hanging down freely, the picture was choppy and/or non-existent with 804 and 846. now i have the cable kind of propped up so there is no pressure being put on the cable box itself.....all channels look great. just an idea.

greggz - yes, INHD channel listing and picture appeared for me sometime this weekend. The demo loop is a good way to show off the potential of your HDTV. They have been running old movies at night and the U.S. Rainathon Tennis. If yours isn't coming in, I would suggest a call to Comcast and ask them to re-download your channels.

dogongt - thanks for the explanation of SNR. It is strange to me that I have 2 HD channels that are about 20% less, but only Showtime has problems. InHD is fine. I will try your idea if playing around with the cables. I might also pick up the Motorola signal booster... if it doesn't work I will just take it back to CC.

If you want to get into the system menu on the Motorola 5100, just hit Power (Off) and then Select on the STB within 1-2 seconds. The signal strength measurements are d04, so you have to tune in each channel individually and then do PowerOff-Select to read the measurements. I don't know what most of the stuff means, but I have seen a lot more info in the Motorola 5100 upgrade thread. I would be interested to know what readings you get on yours...

876 is coming in loud and clear in the Brookhaven area. Just when I was thinking about switching to DirectTV they had to add this. <grin>

-Skip

Thanks for the feedback and the inspiration to tinker. I went and uplugged the main cable from my splitter and put it straight into the HDTV box. *BOING* 876 comes thru.

I reworked my octopus of splitters so that the HDTV box comes out of a 2-way splitter (as opposed to the 8-way it was on) and now all is good.

My box got firmware 51.22 the other night. Does any1 know whats new in this update? Any chance of DVI? I have no cable to test with

SPiFF-HD,
I got the upgrade last night to 51.22-2002. Tried the DVI cable and
the DVI port is still not active (it was a longshot anyway). The
analog channels thru component still look terrible so this was not
resolved.

I'm pretty excited about this INHD channel (channel 876). The picture is GORGEOUS! Some of those clips from the nature shows are stunning.

According to a post by a Comcast employee over on HDGalaxy's forum, INHD will be FREE and is Comcast's equivalent offering to HDNET.

Full-time programming doesn't really get going until Sept 15th, but there will be more content (less demo loop) starting to appear over the next week.

If you haven't done so, check out their website at www.inhd.com and you can see what shows are coming up. According to the website, there is an INHD² channel as well. Haven't seen that one show up on Comcast yet, but maybe it will be there by 9/15.

Anyone else in Atlanta using Comcast HD service having problems with ESPN HD on channel 846? I lost the signal for this channel a few hours back (shows on guide but no audio or video) and have called Comcast. CSR said to power off the Moto 5100 for 30 seconds but this did not help.

This channel has been working fine until today. Don't want to miss the HD game tonight but not looking good. Other HD channels coming in ok.

You are not alone. I have no pic or sound on ESPNHD/846 either.

Originally posted by greggz
You are not alone. I have no pic or sound on ESPNHD/846 either.

Thanks. Anyone else having this problem please call Comcast. The typical clueless CSR response is that my box needed to be reset, which it has been. I also powered down and let the box reload to no avail. Second call to CSR indicates that I have to wait 24 hours for channels to reload. Need to have more reports before they will do anything.

i had the same problem with 846 and 804. comcast told me to check the coax connections from the wall and into the box. after jiggling the cable in the back of the box, both of the channels came back perfectly. give it a try.

I am getting 846 fine

Originally posted by dogongt
i had the same problem with 846 and 804. comcast told me to check the coax connections from the wall and into the box. after jiggling the cable in the back of the box, both of the channels came back perfectly. give it a try.

Tried that first. I was receiving this channel just fine earlier today and then it just went out and all other HD channels working ok. Maybe a local signal problem. Guess I am just SOL at the moment.

846 is out here too. Nothing.

On hold with support now.

She checked, and said they have received calls. Said Tech is in route to check a problem with a tower or something and hopes to have it restored ASAP.

I still have 846 in powder springs - strange that one channel would be out in some locations but not others.

Originally posted by justman
I still have 846 in powder springs - strange that one channel would be out in some locations but not others.

Maybe a local headend problem but it is still out for me. Frustrating since we did not get the CBS HD game today and Comcast does not carry local ABC (though available OTA) so we may be 0 for 3 for opening weekend counting MNF for HD football. Rats!

Yeah, still out here. Just down the road from you in Snellville, so that might be it. Comcast has shut down their support numbers now, so no more complaining for the night I guess.

At least the Falcons won. Looked pretty good except for a couple shots on Fox.

I get my Comcast HD installed on Friday. Here's a trivia question.....

With OTA, you get sub-channels (like 11.2, 11.3 etc). I think WXII on it's .2 channel has doppler radar. Does Comcast pass this through or do they strip it when they recompress the signal?

Originally posted by srothwell
I get my Comcast HD installed on Friday. Here's a trivia question.....

With OTA, you get sub-channels (like 11.2, 11.3 etc). I think WXII on it's .2 channel has doppler radar. Does Comcast pass this through or do they strip it when they recompress the signal?

No, we do not receive any subchannels via Comcast.

Current HD channels are:

804 (Fox digital, not HD)
806 (NBC)
809 (CBS)
846 (ESPN HD)
876 (INHD preview)
880 (HBO E HD) if you get HBO
880 (HBO W HD) if you get HBO
890 (SHO HD) if you get Showtime

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DDisney
[B]No, we do not receive any subchannels via Comcast.

Oops, that should be 881 for HBO HD W

I contacted Comcast headquarters to find out when they will be distributing the new Motorola 6208 HD Digital Cable Box which has a built-in PVR (both SD and HD).

I finally got a call back from someone at Comcast in Atlanta today. He said they would begin marketing the upgraded boxes some time in January 2004. He didn't have any pricing.

Originally posted by srothwell
I finally got a call back from someone at Comcast in Atlanta today. He said they would begin marketing the upgraded boxes some time in January 2004. He didn't have any pricing.

Oops, that's not good. If they said January 04, then it's going to be April '04. :(

Luis-the-one-that-predicted-march-03-for-HD-Caamano

Did you ask if they will activate DVI on the new box? Also wondering if and when dvi will be activated on the 5100.

Hilarious!!! Can you give me some lotto numbers too! So does anyone know of a TIVO like device for Comcast???

Yes, I already know about the device known as a VCR that's been around since 1982... ;^)

This is what I got back per my query about ABC (WSB) in Atlanta and high definition.

It was really funny because a CSR told me on the phone last week to send in a written query on their web site!!! I know these guys are in Canada, and I know several Canadiens so please don't judge my next statement too harshly... I haven't spoke to a CSR yet that I thought had an IQ greater than a fruit fly.

The following was their (as always) informative e-mail response. Msg to DirectTV, please, please, please get network HD programming, I'LL COME BACK I PROMISE!!!





PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL. IT WAS SENT FROM AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND REPLIES ARE NOT MONITORED.

Thank you for sending an e-mail to Comcast. At this time, we are unable to respond to messages sent from your local service area. We appreciate the time you have taken to ask your question, and sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. We are working hard to offer all of our customers the ability to contact us through e-mail in the coming weeks. Please check back soon, as we are continually updating our Web site to better serve you.

To contact a customer service representative who can immediately address your questions or concerns, please call us at:

Billing Questions: (678) 545-2455
Buy New Services: (678) 545-2289
Moves/Change of Service: (678) 545-6683
Service & Repair: (678) 545-7372

Will we be getting INHD 2?

Yes, I was just going to ask the same thing... I had my fingers crossed for some INHD2 today. Anyone know anything?

Originally posted by tdejong01
Yes, I was just going to ask the same thing... I had my fingers crossed for some INHD2 today. Anyone know anything?

Both channels showing up on the guide, but no audio/video yet. Screen for both shows "This channel will be available shortly".

Channels in the guide are 876 and 877. Until today, the INHD preview was on 876, now that channel is dark.

I was watching 876 at around 4 PM today. Now it's black here too. Hung up much like ESPNHD was a week ago.

876 has been working fine since at least 5:30 PM. I now have a 'black' 877. I am guessing that will be INHD2.

876 is working just fine and the guide bar is up for 877 actually listing it as INHD2 and showing the current program, but the screen is black and says will be available shortly.

Anyone here in Atlanta getting a signal on InHD2 (877) other than, "This program will be available shortly."?

-Skip

As of 8:30 this morning I'm getting a "Not Authorized - call to order" message on 877. INHD1 is coming in great on 876.

Originally posted by Skipm
Anyone here in Atlanta getting a signal on InHD2 (877) other than, "This program will be available shortly."?

-Skip

I checked about 8AM and both channels were working at that time.

Originally posted by DDisney
I checked about 8AM and both channels were working at that time.
same here :D

I am new to the forum, but I recently purchased an HD-ready TV (Toshiba 57Hx83) and I am thinking about setting up Comcast HD in my apartment. First of all, could you give me suggestions on the best way to set this up as far as good deals (i.e., things you've seen or done to negotiate lower monthly rates). I do want to pay as little as possible . For instance, I don't want to pay for Plantinum digital if I can get basic digital and add HD. Also, how much does it cost to add premium channels like HBO HD? Let me know as I am about to get this set up. I can't miss my SEC football this weekend in HD!!!

Originally posted by keferg1996
I am new to the forum, but I recently purchased an HD-ready TV (Toshiba 57Hx83) and I am thinking about setting up Comcast HD in my apartment. First of all, could you give me suggestions on the best way to set this up as far as good deals (i.e., things you've seen or done to negotiate lower monthly rates). I do want to pay as little as possible . For instance, I don't want to pay for Plantinum digital if I can get basic digital and add HD. Also, how much does it cost to add premium channels like HBO HD? Let me know as I am about to get this set up. I can't miss my SEC football this weekend in HD!!!

I would suggest checking out the online pricing at the Comcast website. Just plug in your zip code to get local pricing, at least for the various packages including different tiers of digital cable. If you want to play CSR roulette, give them a call and see if they tell you they require a digital package or not in order to get HD. Some say yes, some say no. The pricing difference that I remember between the different tiers to include a movie channel like HBO (which gives you two HD channels of HBO) was $9 incrementally. Atlanta now has the two INHD channels available with the HD service as well as ESPN HD, Fox (digital, not HD), CBS, NBC and Showtime and HBO (2) HD if you get those services.

Originally posted by jdp_atl
As of 8:30 this morning I'm getting a "Not Authorized - call to order" message on 877. INHD1 is coming in great on 876.

Never mind - 877 was working when I got home from work last night. Looking good! Now if we could only get ABC...:rolleyes:

What is the best way to put pressure on WSB to enable HD broadcast via Comcast? I'm really looking for someone in the "know" and method so that everyone here (myself included) can stop complaining and take some action. Basically, I'm tired of waiting for "someday, somehow" for this to happen...

So, what's the best way?
Letter writing? If so, I'll be happy to author a vanilla MS Word document that everyone can sign at the bottom and mail in.

E-mail? What person at WSB can we e-mail? I've sent e-mail to their generic e-mail box and never received a reply.

Phone calls? Same thing - who do we call?

Should we contact WSB, Comcast or the FCC? (or all three)

I'm ready to get serious about this, with the addition of more channels (inHD and inHD2) the exclusion of WSB is becoming more and more apparent.

I have been calling Comcast over the last few days to set up service for my new apartment and the apartment is showing in the computers as "non-serviceable." They said that it could take up to 90 days to have a technician come out to survey the area. I love in an apartment where all of my neighbors have Comcast (they even called the apartment to verify). They told me it doesn't matter...a technician still needs to come out. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. No wonder people hate this company. Has anyone else heard of similar stories? Also, do you think there is another route I can go besides sales to get this process moving more quickly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I do not want to wait 3 months to get cable.

I aggree We need to put presure on WSB and Comcast. I cannot belive that we are missing Monday Night Football in HDTV here in Atlanta just because they don't get it together. I am up for it.

Originally posted by bryanb426
What is the best way to put pressure on WSB to enable HD broadcast via Comcast? I'm really looking for someone in the "know" and method so that everyone here (myself included) can stop complaining and take some action. Basically, I'm tired of waiting for "someday, somehow" for this to happen...

So, what's the best way?
Letter writing? If so, I'll be happy to author a vanilla MS Word document that everyone can sign at the bottom and mail in.

E-mail? What person at WSB can we e-mail? I've sent e-mail to their generic e-mail box and never received a reply.

Phone calls? Same thing - who do we call?

Should we contact WSB, Comcast or the FCC? (or all three)

I'm ready to get serious about this, with the addition of more channels (inHD and inHD2) the exclusion of WSB is becoming more and more apparent.

Does anybody have any new information on the status of WSB in HDTV thru Comcast???? When is this going to take place??? HOw much longer we have to wait?????

back on another topic....as i complained in an earlier post, i'm having trouble pulling in HD FOX and ESPN (804 and 827 i think). the fix is simple....jiggle the cable. they've worked great for the past few weeks, but today while watching the falcons game the picture started freezing and pixelating randomly (anyone else notice this?). so go behind the cable box and jiggle cable. gets a little better for a while, but it comes back. after about an hour of going back and forth, i now cannot get FOX or ESPN HD at all! it progressively got more and more touchy with those two channels. jiggling the cable, holding it in different positions, propping it up, weighing it down, etc etc. nothing is working now. every other channel comes in perfectly clear. anyone have any ideas? do i maybe need a new box? would that even make a difference? i just don't want to have to deal with some dumb service tech again and waste 8 hours waiting for them. thanks.

Originally posted by dogongt
back on another topic....as i complained in an earlier post, i'm having trouble pulling in HD FOX and ESPN (804 and 827 i think). the fix is simple....jiggle the cable. they've worked great for the past few weeks, but today while watching the falcons game the picture started freezing and pixelating randomly (anyone else notice this?). so go behind the cable box and jiggle cable. gets a little better for a while, but it comes back. after about an hour of going back and forth, i now cannot get FOX or ESPN HD at all! it progressively got more and more touchy with those two channels. jiggling the cable, holding it in different positions, propping it up, weighing it down, etc etc. nothing is working now. every other channel comes in perfectly clear. anyone have any ideas? do i maybe need a new box? would that even make a difference? i just don't want to have to deal with some dumb service tech again and waste 8 hours waiting for them. thanks.

First off, ESPN HD is channel 846. Sounds more like a cable or connector problem than a box problem. I would certainly try another cable before calling for service.

I've had no problems with fox or ESPN. I watched the falcons today with no problems - so it was not a source problem.

Incredibly happy to join you all's company!

If you have TIVO and HD Comcast please read on....

Just got set up with comcast HD and Samsung DLP and have what may be a very easily answered question.

I have a stand-alone Tivo unit.
HD box is run with components to component input on TV
HD box is also run with composites to tivo, then S-video to S-video input on TV.

Obviously I have to switch inputs on the TV (that Samsung makes very difficult) everytime I want to go to HD channels from regular tivoed cable.

Of course Tivo can't handle HD source, nor does it even have component in's. So, I think I'm kind of stuck.

So, is their a solution?

I have basically the same setup except my Samsung is an almost 3 year old Tantus model. Mine's pretty easy to switch to HD input and back though. I'm surprised they made it so difficult with the DLP's. Can't think of another solution, sorry.