The DVI connection on my 6412 died this morning, It comes on for 5 seconds then the picture goes black like theres no input signal at all:( Comcast is coming tomorrow to swap out boxes and hopefully I can get a new remote too. Another issue i;ve been having is that I cannot change channels when recording 2 shows at the same time!

Originally posted by xboxjunkie
The DVI connection on my 6412 died this morning, It comes on for 5 seconds then the picture goes black like theres no input signal at all:( Comcast is coming tomorrow to swap out boxes and hopefully I can get a new remote too. Another issue i;ve been having is that I cannot change channels when recording 2 shows at the same time!

xboxjunkie:

The 6412 has only two tuners in it. If you are recording two shows at the same time, both tuners are being used. So, if you want to change to a channel other than the two being recorded, a message will pop up saying "Continue action, cancel recording?". You will then need to decide which recording to cancel (through the Swap button) if you need to watch a third channel.

The same thing goes for recording two shows and watching a previously-recorded show at the same time - not possible with the 6412. Unless someone comes out with a 3 or 4 tuner DVR, we're stuck with only two concurrent actions on the 6412.

Originally posted by tennberg
xboxjunkie:

The 6412 has only two tuners in it. If you are recording two shows at the same time, both tuners are being used. So, if you want to change to a channel other than the two being recorded, a message will pop up saying "Continue action, cancel recording?". You will then need to decide which recording to cancel (through the Swap button) if you need to watch a third channel.

The same thing goes for recording two shows and watching a previously-recorded show at the same time - not possible with the 6412. Unless someone comes out with a 3 or 4 tuner DVR, we're stuck with only two concurrent actions on the 6412.

You can record two shows and watch a previously recorded show at the same time. The 2 tuners are only used for tuning and recording, the box is capable of outputting a different program all together. I do this all the time.

I understand that but I cannot switch between the 2 shows being recorded at all (swap)

Originally posted by tennberg

The same thing goes for recording two shows and watching a previously-recorded show at the same time - not possible with the 6412. Unless someone comes out with a 3 or 4 tuner DVR, we're stuck with only two concurrent actions on the 6412.

This is not true, you can watch a recorded show while recording 2 shows!

"You can record two shows and watch a previously recorded show at the same time. The 2 tuners are only used for tuning and recording, the box is capable of outputting a different program all together. I do this all the time."



You guys watch way too much tv. HD is great, but there is much more to life than this.

-Ken

Originally posted by kenvt
[BYou guys watch way too much tv. HD is great, but there is much more to life than this.

-Ken [/B]

If i'm paying for a service I want it to run like its supposed to!

Originally posted by kenvt
"You can record two shows and watch a previously recorded show at the same time. The 2 tuners are only used for tuning and recording, the box is capable of outputting a different program all together. I do this all the time."



You guys watch way too much tv. HD is great, but there is much more to life than this.

-Ken

Its tough to watch or record anything with all the crashing and freezing. Its tough to justify the cost to the Mrs. as we sit there and get nothing but glithces. Its us customers that keep Comcast employees in a job. You should hope that people are watching or trying to watch. It would be considered an "Unfair Buisness Practice" if Comcast knowling deployyed and still deploys boxes with known issues.
If it is only the early boxes that have problems then where is the recall? Where is the reaction from Comcast to right the wrong? Why are they still deploying these old early boxes to the field if they know they have problems? Typical Comcast lost of questions and no answers or results. Well I do have my muddy floors from all the techs if you can call that a result.

my point wasn't the glitches and such...just that if you are taping two shows and watching a recorded show (and you do this often) then possibly you need to get outside and breathe some fresh air !!

-Ken

p.s. - I agree that comcast should get their act together, but they are taking advice from Microsoft. This is why I still have a 6200 and refuse to pay $10 per month for shoddy dvr service.

Originally posted by kenvt
my point wasn't the glitches and such...just that if you are taping two shows and watching a recorded show (and you do this often) then possibly you need to get outside and breathe some fresh air !!

-Ken

p.s. - I agree that comcast should get their act together, but they are taking advice from Microsoft. This is why I still have a 6200 and refuse to pay $10 per month for shoddy dvr service.

I'm not going to get into a debate here but I work all day 12+ hours and when I get home and 2 shows are being recorded and I want to watch a something thats already been recorded, why not bang out 3 shows in a 2 hour span, whats wrong with that? Maybe you spend tooo much time worrying about what other people are doing on here? Maybe you need to get out and breathe some air!

QAM 256 here in Chelmsford, and it makes no difference in picture quality as was suggested it might.

-Ken

Are all channels above 100 suppose to be 256 QAM ? I was watching alot of the NFL Network, channel 265 in my town and I did noticed improved picture quality so I check the diags and it was being sent using 256 QAM.

kenvt, srry I misread it :) Point taken...

For those who are unhappy with 6412 or 6208, why do you keep it ? I know I keep it because it is far superior to Tivo. With Tivo you still need a STB in order to get the digital channels and now you have two boxes and no guarantee that Tivo will properly change the channel of the STB. You also just lost the ability to record HD. I know I would much rather have the buggy motorola firmware and buggy feature-less 3rd party software on the 6412 and be able to record HD and always tune to the right channel then have Tivo.

BTW - I just read on AVS that Verizon will be using MPEG4 for video so any TV with a built tuner will not work and need a STB.

I for one keep the DVR in hopes they will get their act together. Personally I don’t care if I need an STB with Verizon, when they come out.
If you are happy with a buggy system then good for you. I know I am not. I simply want what they are advertising nothing more nothing less.
As for Verizon, nothing is set in stone on what they will be doing. Its all rumors and conjecture at this point. They are also supposedly looking at IPTV partnered up with Microsoft. How many more channels would they be able to deliver then Comcast? As many as they wanted without the bandwidth issues but again nothing is rolled out and the competition will be good for everyone regardless of who you end up using to provide services.
Im not trying to bash Comcast or Cheer on Verizon I just want better service for the $ and service that works as advertised. I could care less who my provider is as long as it works and right now it dosent.

When RCN came into the Natick they didn't lower their rates. Comcast might offer more competitive services but when was the last time a cable co lowered their rates?

Either way, I live in an apt complex so I won't be getting FIOS any time soon. I don't have RCN available either, even though they're supposed to offer it to the whole town unconditionally.

I think I'll keep the DVR only because it's only $7 more under the new pricing scheme.

I really find the cable HD providers (for movies) as mostly a dissapointment. It's either cropped, or the bit-rate is too low, ID bug, etc. After watching a D-Theater tape I know what HD can be. I think my movie watching is going to shift to HD DVD. I only hope I don't have to buy a new TV to do it (no DVI).

What kind of bothers me about the rate increases:

Comcast may have implicitly decreased their $/mb/sec rate for internet by increasing the download speed (enough to cancel out the > cost of living rate increase? - I'm not sure), but they don't offer any bottom line cheaper service.

And at the same time, there's no mention of whether they've also increased the double-secret undocumented trap-door download cap that they use to discontinue service.

Help...I've been spoiled by great HD.

I've read through a good amount of posts in this thread, but don't feel like I was able to answer my question (so I apologize if this has been addressed already). I live in Cambridge and have been receiving HD content via a Motorola 6200 for over a year now. The picture quality was crystal clear for many HD programs (ex. Pats on CBS, Sox on NESN, and I-Max shows on the INHD channels). Lately, the picture looks grainy on some of the same HD channels and programs that used to look crystal clear. I usually adjust the 6200 to output the native signal to my TV (i.e. 720p for Fox, 1080i for CBS).

I'm just wondering if the inferior PQ is because Comcast has changed something or if it's localized to my feed. Any thoughts would be appreciated. If this is too vague, I can provide more details about my setup.

Originally posted by DaveFi

I really find the cable HD providers (for movies) as mostly a dissapointment. It's either cropped, or the bit-rate is too low, ID bug, etc. After watching a D-Theater tape I know what HD can be. I think my movie watching is going to shift to HD DVD. I only hope I don't have to buy a new TV to do it (no DVI).

I am almost 100% sure you will need DVI or HDMI in order to watch HD DVD.

Anyone know when HD DVD players will be available at a reasonable cost ?

dozens, it's not really clear. Manufacturers really hasn't said either way whether HDMI only or not. Even downrezzed to 480p over component it will be better than DVD.

Player prices haven't been announced and Blu-Ray is an unknown quantity. Blu-Ray already has a recordable format, HD-DVD does not.

I sent in a letter and email this Am to corporate and received a call from Comcast’s Executive account team. Finally some answers. I was told this is a known problem, Crashing and Freezing (Like it is on Pause). That again they are working on a patch but it will not be deployed until late this month or possibly March. A blanket credit is being looked at when they fix the problem but not until then. After some negotiation I received another credit for this month and last. It was relayed again that they are not sure its their problem it might be Motorola’s but again I know it shouldn’t be my problem and they agreed. From the sounds of it I was told that a new box will probably not help and they are going to talk to the field supervisor to confirm that and call me back... At least there are some answers. I asked why the CSR’s seem to be in the dark on these issues and was told they do push down the information and they are not sure why they don’t know.
The saga continues.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Fees are killing me. I'm seriously considering dropping the DVR, SHO and maybe HBO too.

I'll probably go back to just 6200 w/Basic Cable and Digital Classic.

Ditto.

Slightly OT, but it is amazing how telecommunications costs have changed over the years. When I was but a youngin, I paid less than $20 for a phone line and happily dealt with 1200 baud modems. At the same time I MIGHT have spent $20 for cable.

Now lets see. I've got cable (plus digital), broadband, cellular phones. Instead of $40/month I'm a lot closer to $250/month!!

Help?
-Kevin

Edited: OK, maybe its way OT. Forgive me ;)

Yeah, this latest round of rate increases pushed my monthly bill to just shy of $170/month, and I'm really starting to ask myself "why???"

Especially if I cannot look forward to additional seasons of Dead Like Me or The Wire, I can think of at least two premium channels I could drop.

I look at it this way- All the best shows will be on DVD/HD DVD anyways, and costs the same price as a month or two of cable.

So if I'm only watching 1 or 2 shows regularly on the premiums, why bother?

And the whole movie watching aspect of HBO with their cropping and stuff is just totally disapointing. I'd rather just save the money and buy a DVD.

What I find particularly confusing on the latest bill is this:

01/28 - 02/27 DVR Box/rem With HDTV 15.00
Includes: Hd Box $4.75, Remote $.30, DVR Service $9.95.

OK, but if I went to the 6200 alone it costs $8.25/mo. That makes no sense. Wonder what they'd do if I told them I wanted to cancel the DVR service yet keep the 6412?

Originally posted by DaveFi

01/28 - 02/27 DVR Box/rem With HDTV 15.00
Includes: Hd Box $4.75, Remote $.30, DVR Service $9.95.

OK, but if I went to the 6200 alone it costs $8.25/mo. That makes no sense. Wonder what they'd do if I told them I wanted to cancel the DVR service yet keep the 6412?

Thats a great idea, someone give it a try and let us know.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Remote $.30, DVR Service $9.95.

OK, but if I went to the 6200 alone it costs $8.25/mo. That makes no sense. Wonder what they'd do if I told them I wanted to cancel the DVR service yet keep the 6412?

its not possible, its one or the other, a 6412 for $15.00 or a 6200 for $8.25

Then someone in marketing is not doing a very good job. They should list the 6412 as costing $14.70 and advertise FREE dvr service :)

Originally posted by dozens
Then someone in marketing is not doing a very good job. They should list the 6412 as costing $14.70 and advertise FREE dvr service :)

LOL that would in line with the Free OnDemand (Cough, rate increase for new services)...

Originally posted by SamAdams
Help...I've been spoiled by great HD.

I've read through a good amount of posts in this thread, but don't feel like I was able to answer my question (so I apologize if this has been addressed already). I live in Cambridge and have been receiving HD content via a Motorola 6200 for over a year now. The picture quality was crystal clear for many HD programs (ex. Pats on CBS, Sox on NESN, and I-Max shows on the INHD channels). Lately, the picture looks grainy on some of the same HD channels and programs that used to look crystal clear. I usually adjust the 6200 to output the native signal to my TV (i.e. 720p for Fox, 1080i for CBS).

I'm just wondering if the inferior PQ is because Comcast has changed something or if it's localized to my feed. Any thoughts would be appreciated. If this is too vague, I can provide more details about my setup.

I "sort of" see the same thing you're talking about. DISC-HD is at times not as clear as when it was first provided by Comcast and I also noticed that the INHD2 NESN broadcasts are definitely not as good. Last night the Beanpot was broadcast by NESN and it was not even close to last season's Bruins HD broadcasts. I've read on this forum that NESN is also doing the Celtics home games and they too aren't what I consider top-notch HD.

On the other hand, the Fox broadcast of the superbowl seemed to be better than other FOX-HD broadcasts I've seen but was still not up to CBS-HD standards.

I wonder if we're all just victims of multicasting?

Originally posted by kenvt
"You can record two shows and watch a previously recorded show at the same time. The 2 tuners are only used for tuning and recording, the box is capable of outputting a different program all together. I do this all the time."



You guys watch way too much tv. HD is great, but there is much more to life than this.

-Ken

Surely you jest? This coming from someone... ahh nevermind. When you have one big TV in the house, a 3yo and a wife, you tend to record alot of things.

Originally posted by kenvt
my point wasn't the glitches and such...just that if you are taping two shows and watching a recorded show (and you do this often) then possibly you need to get outside and breathe some fresh air !!

-Ken

p.s. - I agree that comcast should get their act together, but they are taking advice from Microsoft. This is why I still have a 6200 and refuse to pay $10 per month for shoddy dvr service.

Okay, now I will say it. Get some fresh air? This from a person who lurks this board and posts mostly complaints about one thing or another. I work 60-80 hours a week and have little time to sit down and watch TV so generally I'm 2 or 3 days behind in shows.

I have a question about the COMCAST boxes and how to set them up for my HD set.

I am using composite connections for my HD channels. They are fine.

But my SD channels are disappointing. So I ran a coaxial cable from the box into my TV and I watch SD channels via that hook up. It is marginally better.

I am looking for the optimum set-up for SD channels. Any suggestions?

Also, when you use the COMCAST HD coaxial cable as a splitter in this fashion is there much degradation of the signal?

Well...I did spend all weekend having a great time with my sons's boys scout troop camping in wood stove heated cabins...the kids had a blast in the snow !! It was a fun time and I did miss my TV a wee bit.

I do love my hd, but sometimes the thing does get the better of me and my ass becomes sore from sitting in front too long...then I realize I need to get out and take a walk.

Sorry if I offended anyone, I just think that sometimes we get carried away and are impatient about getting our new dvr box, more hd channels, upn, universal,hdnet etc, QAM256, ADS, etc etc etc....

Lets be happy with what we have (well except for all the glitches) and realize that sometimes we need to shut the damn thing off (of course feel free to keep the dvr running :-) )

-Ken

Has anyone here ever tried to record BattleStar G? Every time I record it I only get half hour never the full hour. I tried a manual record last night and it decided to record nothing instead of even the half hour. Though all the other shows seem to record fine... Maybe I have gremlins in the walls..

Originally posted by SamAdams
...I'm just wondering if the inferior PQ is because Comcast has changed something or if it's localized to my feed. Any thoughts would be appreciated. If this is too vague, I can provide more details about my setup.
Since we haven't been hearing anything similar in this region, it probably isn't anything that Comcast has done. It might either be your set-up or a new problem with your box. You could call Comcast to arrange a box swap. It might also be just you, adjusting to HD and noticing more granular differences. Not all HD has the same crystal clear PQ. Some movies and some primetime shows are either dark or grainy.

Mickey

Is everyone enjoying the free hbo preview ? I was suprised to see that it not only included every regular SD channel but also included the HD channel and the on demand !!

-Ken

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Has anyone here ever tried to record BattleStar G? Every time I record it I only get half hour never the full hour. I tried a manual record last night and it decided to record nothing instead of even the half hour. Though all the other shows seem to record fine... Maybe I have gremlins in the walls..

This could be related to your freeze issue. I got a fairly knowledgeable CSR that said it is an issue with the corrupt closed captioning on analog channels. Motorola is very close to releasing a fix for it... hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

Anyways, I've gotten half recorded programs as well... usually when you goto the program in your recorded programs menu it will tell you the recording was interrupted.

ScoopsHD, Thanks Scoops makes sense. Their exec team said somthing simmilar to me yesterday. Hopefully this month maybe next month. Then they will decided on a Blanket credit.

Originally posted by kenvt
Is everyone enjoying the free hbo preview ? I was surprised to see that it not only included every regular SD channel but also included the HD channel and the on demand !!

-Ken

Sadly, I'm not. I called Monday night to ask why it wasn't available. The Grandfathered Digital Standard 3 pack that I have does not allow it. I would need to upgrade to Digital Classic or above to get it. But if I upgrade my digital package, I loose a $16 bundled credit I get on my phone service.
I even called back a second time and got the same answer.

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Has anyone here ever tried to record BattleStar G? Every time I record it I only get half hour never the full hour. I tried a manual record last night and it decided to record nothing instead of even the half hour. Though all the other shows seem to record fine... Maybe I have gremlins in the walls..

Tsunamii:

I have BG set up as a series recording. It has recorded the full hour each and every time, though I do wish I got Universal-HD to recored the HD version.

Is it possible you have another series recording set up that is broadcast on the half hour and has a higher priority than BG? That's the only thing I can think of at the moment.

I have that same $16 credit problem. When they raised the comcast phone to $30 I was going to go back to Verizon for less, but I would have lost that discount. Same thing would happen if I wanted to drop Digital Bronze.

I would like to try vonage phone service but I'm stuck !!

-Ken

tennberg, I haven't had a chance to even set up anything else to record. The last box did the same thing once then when I set it to record the series I was all set. I guess I should just go back and record the series. I was kind of baffled that it totally ignored my manual record though. I even checked it before I went to sleep and it said it was all set. The next AM nothing was there. Dunno but I think ill stay up the Fri and just watch it when its on.

Loosing credit???

I called about the free HBO too. She told me I had an old plan. All I had to do was change to a new one. She changed me to a plan that got more channels for $4.00 less. I asked the question, "will I be losing anything?" She said only the Bloomberg channel. She never told me upgrading the service would cause me to lose my credit!

Originally posted by Bapon
Loosing credit???

I called about the free HBO too. She told me I had an old plan. All I had to do was change to a new one. She changed me to a plan that got more channels for $4.00 less. I asked the question, "will I be losing anything?" She said only the Bloomberg channel. She never told me upgrading the service would cause me to lose my credit!

its only if you have Comcast phone service.

L Supreme:

I have cable tv, phone and internet.

if you were getting $16 off your phone, you lost it by changing, but there is semi good news if you do, i thik the new phone packages can save you some $

Looks like 5C flag is back on? I am only able to record off the OTA channels, and nothing previously recorded, either. >:

Originally posted by JDLIVE
Looks like 5C flag is back on? I am only able to record off the OTA channels, and nothing previously recorded, either. >:

What are you trying to record ? WHat are you recording with ? You can check 5C status in the diags, I think it is screen d11.

Yeah, I know I can check the status, it was getting late last night and I couldn't remember how. ;) It seemed pretty clear though, I could record CBS/ABC/NBC but nothing else.

I'm using my HTPC via firewire. I know a bunch of updates came down from MS, I supposed it's possible one of those broke something, but that seems unlikely to me. I'll have to do some more research this evening.

again, law and order wasn't widescreen last night, and west wing had balck bars on the top and bottom of the show?
has NBC given up on HD programming??

I wasn't paying particular attention, since i was watching the HD channel in SD on an old TV, but I noticed that about 3/4 of the way through West Wing, it flopped from full-screen to windowboxed.

If I were watching on my HD set, I'd have been upset.

Originally posted by YesJim
...I also noticed that the INHD2 NESN broadcasts are definitely not as good. Last night the Beanpot was broadcast by NESN and it was not even close to last season's Bruins HD broadcasts. I've read on this forum that NESN is also doing the Celtics home games and they too aren't what I consider top-notch HD...

I wonder if we're all just victims of multicasting?

Thanks for the info. It was during a Celtics game that I started questioning my setup. I think it might be just what you said. NESN-HD, which I remember being very clear from previous stuff, didn't look so good. I assumed it was something wrong on my end. Also, I read up on multicasting...not encouraging.


Originally posted by MickeyGee
...It might also be just you, adjusting to HD and noticing more granular differences. Not all HD has the same crystal clear PQ. Some movies and some primetime shows are either dark or grainy.

Mickey

I think it's a little bit of both of what you and YesJim mentioned. I'm definitely more sensitive to the quality of the source than I was when I first started receiving HD content. After seeing a bunch of quality HD, it's hard not to.

I may be upgrading to a new box with a dual tuner soon. I received Tivo as a christmas gift, so it seems like a good excuse for an upgrade.

Thanks again guys. Great forum for the locals...Wish some of the bar owners would start showing more stuff in HD. So many plasmas...such crappy use of them.

anyone know if you buy a Motorola HD cable box on ebay or such can you still get reg channels and HD channels(non-paying) without registering it ?

ANY news on HD channel additions from comcast?????anything?!?!?!??

Just speculation on my part:

1) They'll promise some huge number of new HD channels by the end of the year.
2) They'll delete a bunch of analog and other digital channels, making room for more PPV VoD services
3) The HD channels won't materialize
4) They'll hit us with a rate increase that's at least twice the cost of living, and say it's for the additional services they implemented in the preceding year

Or at least so it seems, based on past experience.

NESN's 2005 Red Sox Schedule:

Including some Road HD games & Some Spring Training games in HD!

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/aboutus/news/02_09_05_sox_on_nesn/

Originally posted by jaydee353
NESN's 2005 Red Sox Schedule:

Including some Road HD games & Some Spring Training games in HD!

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/aboutus/news/02_09_05_sox_on_nesn/

It's a shame UPN still gets the Friday night games. Once I got addicted to NESN's picture quality, it was painful to watch WSBK's broadcast in analog!

Does anyone know why UPN gets to show these games? Any idea if it's a contract and, if so, how much longer will it be in effect? I'd love to see NESN broadcast all Sox home games.

toots, you left off... then market that these things are "free"... LOL

Originally posted by macd23
ANY news on HD channel additions from comcast?????anything?!?!?!??


You'll lbe a lil happier shortly :rolleyes:

wb {wlvi} is a done deal, should be here in less than a month.

Does anyone know if NESN's Red Sox road games in HD will be done using NESN equipment or will they simply retransmit the signal of whoever is covering that stadium?

OT: Have any Comcast cable internet users noticed that their connection has been very slow late? I thought it was just me. Comcast confirmed the 4Mbps configuration file is on my modem. Further searching showed this to be a nationwide Comcast issue.

Dating on Demand has shown up in OnDemand. I watched some of the profiles, kind of interesting but pointless because they're all from other cities.

I just swithed over to comcast from D* so i could have HD for the Superbowl. The PQ for the HD channels are great but must say the SD channels are just horrible especially after watching in digital on D* for the last 4 years. The tech that did my installation said that comcast will be going all digital in the near future. Any truth to this because I don't know how long I can take of this quality!

Originally posted by Lodef
I just swithed over to comcast from D* so i could have HD for the Superbowl. The PQ for the HD channels are great but must say the SD channels are just horrible especially after watching in digital on D* for the last 4 years. For analog channels I use my SA Tivo tuner. It's much better than the Comcast analog tuner.

tennberg, Have you used a speed check like speakeasy? 9 times out of 10 this test is right on the money. It could be your PC.

nyc.speakeasy.net (if you have never used it before)

Tennberg, it never hurts to go to http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/ and downloand "CWshreader" and "Hijack this" and run them to see what you find...

Originally posted by tennberg
It's a shame UPN still gets the Friday night games. Once I got addicted to NESN's picture quality, it was painful to watch WSBK's broadcast in analog!

Does anyone know why UPN gets to show these games? Any idea if it's a contract and, if so, how much longer will it be in effect? I'd love to see NESN broadcast all Sox home games.

i agree. here's the trick. watch it on INHD2 or whatever (it shows on upn and inhd on friday nights), obviously no HD but it will be upconverted 1080i stretched....mess with your tv settings to unstretch it and enjoy, it looks pretty damn good.

Originally posted by jaydee353
NESN's 2005 Red Sox Schedule:

Including some Road HD games & Some Spring Training games in HD!

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/aboutus/news/02_09_05_sox_on_nesn/

wow, some road games in HD...this is just awesome news.

Originally posted by L Supreme
You'll lbe a lil happier shortly :rolleyes:
How about a bit more information. What channel? When?

Originally posted by MickeyGee
How about a bit more information. What channel? When?

its a local station & March is all I can say :D

Originally posted by L Supreme
its a local station & March is all I can say :D Hey, the addition of one new channel is way better than none at all, right? So let's not worry about which channel it will be - let it be a wicked big surprise!

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Tennberg, it never hurts to go to http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/ and downloand "CWshreader" and "Hijack this" and run them to see what you find...

What do these programs do ?

Agreed any new channel is a step in the right direction :)

Originally posted by L Supreme
its a local station & March is all I can say :D
There are only 2 local channels I can think of that are not already carried in HD here: WB56 and UPN38. Which would people prefer?

We're getting UPN-38 first. It's practiacally guaranteed.

I would rather have LVI, because they have more HD content, although I can see why UPN would popular...if the Sox are HD on Friday nights.

If I had a choice id go with UPN and watch the final couple episodes of Enterprise in HD :)

OT: Apparently, Comcast had a nationwide problem with one of their routers that was slowing down their internet downstream speed to nearly half the usual rate. I have their 4Mbps plan and was getting anywhere between 1.8 - 2.1Mbps across a variety of speed tools. Everything seems back to normal now.

I really wish we would get something like Universal-HD way before WB-HD or UPN-HD. What's the added benefit of getting an HD channel if you can count the number of shows they broadcast in HD on one hand? At least with the main 3 broadcasts, the premiums, Disc-HD, INHD/2, etc., they have way more HD content than WB or UPN could ever hope to have.

why UPN first? Baseball. the WSBK friday night games WILL be in HD according to my sources. i will let you know soon if they will be ready for the first friday broadcast. and for those outside the boston DMA who have to watch friday nights on NESN, you'll be happy to know there are discussions underway to carry the WSBK feed as opposed to upconverting.

and i told you all about WB a while back so not exactly breaking news. 256 QAM rolling on and ADS will be next so those coming from satellite will be please to have an all-digital service in the near future.

Avic, Thanks for the update :)

Originally posted by avic
why UPN first? Baseball. the WSBK friday night games WILL be in HD according to my sources.
Now it makes sense. Thanks Avic.

Originally posted by tennberg
OT: Apparently, Comcast had a nationwide problem with one of their routers that was slowing down their internet downstream speed to nearly half the usual rate. I have their 4Mbps plan and was getting anywhere between 1.8 - 2.1Mbps across a variety of speed tools. Everything seems back to normal now.


I am still getting speeds between 1.8 to 2.0 Mbps. Any ideas?

Originally posted by jdoe7890
I am still getting speeds between 1.8 to 2.0 Mbps. Any ideas?

what ever you do don't uplug your modem this weekend. if you do you wont have your service till monday

avic-

You mentioned WB-HD by the end of April. Is that still on or has that now been pushed back with the ADS stuff?

Thanks for all your info,
Chris

Originally posted by L Supreme
what ever you do don't uplug your modem this weekend. if you do you wont have your service till monday

L supreme:

Why the warning? What is being done this weekend that would cause this to happen?

I was just about to say to jdoe that he should unplug his modem for 60 seconds and power it back on.

I'm surprised that Comcast would do such work that would cause a weekend interruption without notifying its customers of such an action. That is a very bad business practice. At my work, if one of our servers is ever planned to be down, we notify all our users. Then again, it's Comcast, so I have average expectations for them.

new systems being implemeted, there's no way to do it at any other time. normally things are done when they won't impact customers but its not possible in this case.

as long as the modem doesnt get powercycled you'll be fine.

WB-HD will be here first week in March, with a caveat, but let's not worry about that for now since it may never be an issue. As for UPN, it's a little fuzzier but I doubt we wont have it worked out and added by the first WSBK HD Sox broadcast. OT: only 19 out of 161 games will be in SD this season, the rest in glorious HD, nothing less for the world champs!

Well, something between my cable modem and the network at large keeps going down tonight. Or so says traceroute.

dang annoying, it is.

Originally posted by avic
WB-HD will be here first week in March, with a caveat, but let's not worry about that for now since it may never be an issue. As for UPN, it's a little fuzzier but I doubt we wont have it worked out and added by the first WSBK HD Sox broadcast. OT: only 19 out of 161 games will be in SD this season, the rest in glorious HD, nothing less for the world champs!

OT: Quote from NESN's website on Boston.com:

"In 2005, NESN will for the first time deliver HD broadcasts from the road, adding 40 road games and 3 spring training games for a total of 106 Red Sox games in HD!"

Most of the road games, most of the spring training games, and WSBK's Friday night games will all be shown in SD.

avic: What is this caveat for implementing WB-HD? Although you say it may not be an issue, I'm curious nonetheless.

Also, how soon before we get something like Universal-HD? I really could care less about WB-HD and UPN-HD? I'm sure you must have some insight into this.

I have little to no interest in sports, and it's looking more and more like Comcast HD is a wash for me. I really wish they'd add more free movie channels like Encore-HD. I'm very close to dropping all my premium channels- I don't feel like the HD content is very compeling on HBO and SHO, and I don't watch either channel all that much.

I really hope HD DVD gets rolling soon.

DaveFi :

Sports and Sex are what sell, and Comcast doesn't have the cajones to have a HD sex channel (not yet anyway) so what you do get is tons of sports. I would love a 24 hour per day HD concert channel but I'm sure that I am in the minority.

-Ken

Originally posted by L Supreme
new systems being implemeted, there's no way to do it at any other time. normally things are done when they won't impact customers but its not possible in this case.

as long as the modem doesnt get powercycled you'll be fine.

Thanks for the headsup. Should I powercycle my cable modem on Monday for the low download speeds.

i'd do it after noon on monday. you'll be fine then.

Originally posted by tennberg
OT: "In 2005, NESN will for the first time deliver HD broadcasts from the road, adding 40 road games and 3 spring training games for a total of 106 Red Sox games in HD!"

yes we all read that. that doesn't count the UPN HD broadcasts which would add 28 HD games. once i get more scoop on that i'll pass it along.

Most of the road games, most of the spring training games, and WSBK's Friday night games will all be shown in SD.

who cares about spring training. my point was/is that there are only 19 regular season SD games scheduled on NESN. the rest will be in HD either on NESNHD, UPNHD, ESPNHD and FOXHD.

avic: What is this caveat for implementing WB-HD? Although you say it may not be an issue, I'm curious nonetheless.

not allowed to say, just my sick way of teasing. ;)

Also, how soon before we get something like Universal-HD? I really could care less about WB-HD and UPN-HD? I'm sure you must have some insight into this.

nothing else in the pipeline. if HD is your thing then go check out voom, they're still taking orders and u wont have to deal with bad old overpriced comcast! :p

Avic ,do you still think ADS should be implemented in March. 256QAM has still not been implented in Burlington.

I found this to be a good link to what channels are broadcasting in HD and what shows are availble:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5119938.html

Assuming we get WB-HD and UPN-HD before anything else, I'm sure we Comcast customers can't wait to watch Summerland: Beginnings on WB-HD and Veronica Mars on UPN-HD...*barf* :-)

Originally posted by L Supreme
new systems being implemeted, there's no way to do it at any other time. normally things are done when they won't impact customers but its not possible in this case.

as long as the modem doesnt get powercycled you'll be fine.
Hmmm, I powercycled my modem (we just moved, and we had to rearrange furniture, etc.) and I'm back online. Luck of the draw, I suppose.

Originally posted by jdoe7890
I am still getting speeds between 1.8 to 2.0 Mbps. Any ideas?


A full 4.1 megabits here :)

Originally posted by tennberg
I found this to be a good link to what channels are broadcasting in HD and what shows are availble:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5119938.html

Assuming we get WB-HD and UPN-HD before anything else, I'm sure we Comcast customers can't wait to watch Summerland: Beginnings on WB-HD and Veronica Mars on UPN-HD...*barf* :-)

Some people will. I really enjoyed watching JOA in HD when I had my box.

I think next week I will look into getting one back.

Has ABC NewsNow been taken out of the Comcast lineup? It's no longer on 194. I noticed it tonight browsing through channels. I don't recall hearing anything from Comcast about it.

May be a bit OT, but anyone has VoIP yet? My inlaws got an advertisement for it ... It's not available here in Sterling yet. I'd be interested in the quality.

Chris

ABC News Now was taken out of the lineup because it was no longer free to comcast. ABC News Now now charges a fee and comcast didn't want to pay.

As for VOIP, a friend of mine has Vonage and loves it. Vonage is much cheaper than comcast, I would look at them before Comcast.

-Ken

Originally posted by kenvt
ABC News Now was taken out of the lineup because it was no longer free to comcast. ABC News Now now charges a fee and comcast didn't want to pay.

As for VOIP, a friend of mine has Vonage and loves it. Vonage is much cheaper than comcast, I would look at them before Comcast.

-Ken

ABC News Now was taking out of the lineup because WCVB is no longer carrying it. They dropped ABC News Now and put up Doppler radar. Cost had nothing to do with it. Do you really want yet a 3rd Weather Channel? :)

As for Vonage, I use it. Its pretty good and inexpensive. The only problem I have with it is when I get onto conference calls for my job usually people can't hear me... I have to yell to be heard. Vonage says its an upstream bandwidth problem, but my work pays for a business speed cable modem just for work and phone. So nothing else is running on it usually except for my Vonage service and it has 512k up.

Do any of our Comcast freinds here have any idea when the software patches are going to be rolled out to fix all the the crashing and freezing issues? Are we still looking at weeks or is it months? I have been told anywhere from the next 2 weeks to April. Any insight?

I just switched from Comcast's phone to CallVantage. It costs a little more then Vonage but is a much bigger company and has better support. I think Vonage is getting too big for itself. I will switch back to Comcast VOIP (once it is offerd) if it cost the same before bundle discounts :)

The sports fan in New England have a tough choice when it comes to a video provider. On one side there is DirecTv which I believe will show every football game in HD next season and on the other is Comcast with Red Sox and someday Bruins games in HD. Comcast will not be getting Sunday Ticket anytime soon but if DirecTv manages to get NESN HD and locals in HD via satelite then they will clearly have an advantage.

Can you get NESN-HD and ESPN-HD if you get the basic, HDTV package from Comcast?

I was wondering if it is still true that you can get HDTV channel with Basic (not extended Basic) with Digital Classic for about $25 total. I am trying to cut my cable cost. Can somebody confirm that you get ESPN-HD and NESN-HD?
Thank you in advance.

you can but you will only get 802,04,05,07 & 825. no ESPNHD,DISCHD or INHD1 or 2. but so you basically need expanded basic and digital classic ($5.95) ?

I only saved $20 off my bill by downgrading and getting rid of HBO. total rip! also turned in my HDTV Motorola Box that I used in my HT, so a total of just over $30 off my bill. I just could not stand spending over $100 a month for channels I never watch. will miss the HDTV box in the HT but I guess If I need to watch something in the HT I will steal the one I have on my Sony Wega XBR in the living room.

Originally posted by bruman
you can but you will only get 802,04,05,07 & 825. no ESPNHD,DISCHD or INHD1 or 2. but so you basically need expanded basic and digital classic ($5.95) ?

I only saved $20 off my bill by downgrading and getting rid of HBO. total rip! also turned in my HDTV Motorola Box that I used in my HT, so a total of just over $30 off my bill. I just could not stand spending over $100 a month for channels I never watch. will miss the HDTV box in the HT but I guess If I need to watch something in the HT I will steal the one I have on my Sony Wega XBR in the living room.

I don't watch the expanded basic channels,but do miss INHD1 and 2.
I HAD Digital Platinum with premiere pak and was getting digital platinum only ,but after extended basic was taken off I had to play a DVR recording in order to access my digital channels.
Therefore i ended up turning in my DVR completely. :( <NO HD>

I would like to get Digital Plus back and the local HD channels. (DVR back WOULD be nice but if they insist on expanded basic,I don't need it as I do not miss expanded basic or its costs.)

I do know they HAVE to give you HD locals for basic AND A BOX (ATSC tuner is useless) :(
since it looks like 38 and 56 are on the horizon.

838 for WSBKDT,856 for WLVIDT I assume. :)

I will moist likely be asking Comcast about it this week.

Originally posted by chitchatjf

I would like to get Digital Plus back and the local HD channels. (DVR back WOULD be nice but if they insist on expanded basic,I don't need it as I do not miss expanded basic or its costs.)




you can get a dvr with basic cable

So far I have been enjoying my 6412 for about two months. I was not experiencing any of the problems mentioned. I am now getting the freezing problem. Any update on when it will be fixed? I wonder why it started after a few months. Is tha the same for others? It may have to do with file space management. The most disk space I have used has been 47% but it could become rather fragmented over time.

Elbig,
I was told sometime between now and the Beginning of April. I had a tech at my place Friday, Comcast wanted to test the connection to make sure it was just the box. He was a bit surprised by PA saying beginning of April. He thought it was in the next few weeks. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between.

Still 64 QAM on the digitals here in Watertown.

Even after powercycling my cable modem a couple of times , I am getting a max download speed of 1.6 to 2.0 MBps for my internet service. I used to get 2.4 to 2.8 MBps when the max spped was 3.0MPbs. Now when Comcast has increased it to 4.0 MBps , I am only getting the reduced speed.

Please advise.

Originally posted by L Supreme
you can get a dvr with basic cable

This is good to know. When I am ready I will ask. The fact that I have been a GREAT customer (Digital platinum for 4 1/2 years, have HAD a DVR in the past,and stressing I DO NOT WATCH expanded basic enough to justify the cost should prove helpful.

OT:
Comcast Digital Voice
Features customers expect:
-Keep your current phone number.
-Popular calling features - enjoy 12 popular calling features like Caller
ID, Call Waiting, Call Screening, Call Forwarding and more.
-Keep your touch-tone phone - Comcast Digital Voice will work with their
current touch tone phone.
Enhanced features:
-Online account summary - customers can check to see who they called and how
often they called them with our online account summary and call log.
-Web access to Voice mail - Provides customers with the ability to listen to
and manage their home voice mail messages from anywhere. Only for this
feature, customer must have a computer connected to the Internet. (Internet
and/or computer is not required to have Digital Voice, only for this
feature)
-Quality of service better because will be more controllable since Comcast
owns & operates its own networks unlike its competitors.
-No degradation of service if on the internet and phone at the same time as
possible with competitors
-Since Comcast owns its own network, after a power outage phone is usable
(on battery life)
-911 capabilities with no set-up; With competitors, customers need to self
enroll 911 capability.
-Competitors not compatible with some alarm systems
-No contract with Comcast

Sounds good, when can I sign up and will Comcast pay my cancellation fees from CallVantage ?

Originally posted by dozens
Sounds good, when can I sign up and will Comcast pay my cancellation fees from CallVantage ?


its still only in western mass, i doubt comcast will pay cancellation fees, but will give promos for people who switch

not sure on when it will be fully rolled out.

Watching right now on Comcast in the Boston area, on a Moto 6412, and switching back and forth between the Beanpot on NESN HS (on INHD2) and the Jazz-Suns game on NBA TV (on INHD1), there's a big difference in PQ. The basketball game looks stunning, while the hockey game is clearly lagging behind. I'm not really sure how to explain it, since I've only been watching HD for less than a month -- pixilated? Upconverted from a lower res? (Though upconverted HD looks great on ABC, ESPN, Faux, etc.)

This isn't really a complaint; more like a concerned question. If this is normal, it won't be much of an issue when Sox games in HD start next month -- it'll still be leaps and bounds better than SD NESN, to say nothing of UPN38's abysmal PQ.

Originally posted by caernavon
Watching right now on Comcast in the Boston area, on a Moto 6412, and switching back and forth between the Beanpot on NESN HS (on INHD2) and the Jazz-Suns game on NBA TV (on INHD1), there's a big difference in PQ. The basketball game looks stunning, while the hockey game is clearly lagging behind. I'm not really sure how to explain it, since I've only been watching HD for less than a month -- pixilated? Upconverted from a lower res? (Though upconverted HD looks great on ABC, ESPN, Faux, etc.)

This isn't really a complaint; more like a concerned question. If this is normal, it won't be much of an issue when Sox games in HD start next month -- it'll still be leaps and bounds better than SD NESN, to say nothing of UPN38's abysmal PQ.

It's definitely not right. The Bruins games last season didn't do this. I notice the tiling when there's fast moving items on the screen. For example when BU scored in OT to win and everyone piled up on the ice the entire picture was a pig pile of tiles. I had previously guessed multicasting or something but haven't heard any more about it. I hope this is not the new status quo for NESN broadcasts because even Celtics HD broadcasts (carried by NESN I heard) don't do this.

I has none of these problems (tiling, etc.) watching last week and last night - the games looked terrific. But I'm on Adelphia with a SA8300HD DVR - Adelphia dedicates a channel to NESN rather than putting it on InHD. Don't know if this factors in or not. Even though my display (Sammy DLP) is 720p native, NESN's 1080i still looks fantastic...only DD2.0 though.

Did not notice any difference from the Bruins games last year.

Oh, and btw...way to go BU! 26 out of 53 ain't bad, baby!!!:D (even if they did get outplayed the whole tournament...they just win Beanpots!!)

Cable went out last night (well, early this morning). Called Comcast to B&M about it. They said that they were doing "emergency repairs" in my area.

Just out of curiosity, checked the maintenance menus later this morning when it'd come back. Sure enough, BBCA was 256QAM, where it wasn't just a few days ago.

Then again, it might also have been actual repairs, since the S/N and AGC numbers were also greatly improved.

In any case, the 256QAM changeover seems to have happened in part of Southern New Hampshire.

Originally posted by ScoopsHD
ABC News Now was taking out of the lineup because WCVB is no longer carrying it. They dropped ABC News Now and put up Doppler radar. Cost had nothing to do with it. Do you really want yet a 3rd Weather Channel? :)



ABC chose to no longer distribute ABC News now via that format.
Personally I would have kept the weather radar.

ABC News Now... And Later
Multi-platform news service will relaunch TV channel

By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/24/2005

In this story:
“Anytime, anywhere”
Expanding reach


ABC News Now, the digital 24-hour news channel birthed for the presidential election, will become a permanent channel in the spring. But starting Jan. 30, the service will “take a breather” from TV, says ABC News President David Westin. The division will spend the next few months hiring staff, hammering out distribution deals and strengthening programming. While ABC News Now will vanish from TV, it is still available via the Internet and wireless devices.

The network will invest $7 million to $10 million to beef up Now’s technical infrastructure, on-air look and personnel. Mike Clemente will head up the effort as executive producer, moving from his senior broadcast producer role at 20/20.


“We proved the success of the editorial product,” says Westin. “I’m convinced this service is the future. It’s just a question of what is the best distribution model.”

Originally posted by chitchatjf
ABC chose to no longer distribute ABC News now via that format.
Personally I would have kept the weather radar.

LMAO!!!! Id rather watch Doppler then Ted Koppel any day. From the news on the wire ABC may have the same idea. The main stream media demonizes the bloggers and new format media news to their own peril. I for one would rather read news then a politically slanted hour of dogma from the left, or right for that matter.

24+ hours with no new replies, it seems like a 1st.

Originally posted by L Supreme
24+ hours with no new replies, it seems like a 1st.

It must be the warmer-than-normal weather. Everyone's outside letting their eyes rest.

On another topic, it seems like Medford's going to be the last one to get the 64QAM->256WAM conversion. I checked about 5 minutes ago and 223 is still running at 64QAM. I recall someone saying that Medford was scheduled for February 13. Oh well.

On yet another topic, I really need to sit down one night (or several) and catch up on my DVR watching. I have 5 episodes of Alias, 5 episodes of Carnivale, 1 episode of Desperate Housewives, and 1 episode of Lost to watch.

Originally posted by tennberg
On another topic, it seems like Medford's going to be the last one to get the 64QAM->256WAM conversion. I checked about 5 minutes ago and 223 is still running at 64QAM. I recall someone saying that Medford was scheduled for February 13. Oh well.

forgot to mention that it got pushed back

Burlington is still 64QAM. The conversion was supposed to happen a month back. Some of the New Jersey cities already has ADS done for some of the channels.

L Supreme , Do you know when Burlington will have the 256 QAM.

Originally posted by toots

Just out of curiosity, checked the maintenance menus later this morning when it'd come back. Sure enough, BBCA was 256QAM, where it wasn't just a few days ago.

In any case, the 256QAM changeover seems to have happened in part of Southern New Hampshire.

Didn't get a chance to verify a lot of other channels myself, but I can confirm that BBCA is also running 256QAM in Nashua, NH as well.

256QAM here in Chelmsford, but I see marginal if any improvement. I don't understand the hype.
Don't lose any sleep waiting for it. I hope ADS is a different story.

-Ken

It's really not about picture quality improvement. It's about freeing up space to make room for more digital (and potentially HDTV) channels. Moving from 64QAM to 256QAM allows the cable operator to squeeze more digital channels into a 6MHz frequency range without a drop in quality. It's just a more efficient method of transferring the data from the headend to your cable box.

Originally posted by kenvt
256QAM here in Chelmsford, but I see marginal if any improvement. I don't understand the hype.
Don't lose any sleep waiting for it. I hope ADS is a different story.

-Ken

I don't think you should expect to see a big difference ... as I understand it this is much more about HOW data is packaged then it is about WHAT data is packaged.

I think the move to 256QAM is a necessary step before ADS can be implemented, and perhaps before more digital content in general can be added. THAT's the hype.

Originally posted by khauser
I don't think you should expect to see a big difference ... as I understand it this is much more about HOW data is packaged then it is about WHAT data is packaged.

I think the move to 256QAM is a necessary step before ADS can be implemented, and perhaps before more digital content in general can be added. THAT's the hype. CORRECT. and we never hyped 256 QAM conversion! ADS is what will change your life ;) but no 256 QAM=no ADS, no WB/UPN, etc. Sit tight it's moving along.

Ok I understand now. Will ADS be implemented after ALL towns are converted to 256QAM, or might I see ADS soon now that my town is converted ?

Sorry to sound stupid but what is ADS?
FREAK!

Originally posted by avic
CORRECT. and we never hyped 256 QAM conversion! ADS is what will change your life ;) but no 256 QAM=no ADS, no WB/UPN, etc. Sit tight it's moving along.

Exactly. No 256QAM = no ADS. ADS is what I am looking for.

I believe ADS = analog (to) digital simulcast

Instead of transmitting analog channels in analog form where your cable box would then have to digitize it on the fly (thus the current crappy analog picture quality), they would transmit those channels digitally (having already been digitally encoded by a much better encoded at the headend).

End result is better picture quality for the currently "analog" channels.

comcast guru's.....

can you own your own motorola dct5100 or 6200 and have it registered on comcast ? i called and they say no but they didnt really know what I was asking I think. I heard you can. can anyone confirm ? I am tired of paying $10 a month for a box I will never own.

Originally posted by bruman
comcast guru's.....

can you own your own motorola dct5100 or 6200 and have it registered on comcast ? i called and they say no but they didnt really know what I was asking I think. I heard you can. can anyone confirm ? I am tired of paying $10 a month for a box I will never own.

How are you going to buy your STB ? I use to have the same feeling but realized it doesn't make alot of sense for me. Lets say I buy a 6412 for $500, not sure what the street price would be. Comcast charges me $5 a month for box and $10 for DVR service which I assume I would still need to pay for. At $5 a month it will take 100 months or over 8 years to break even, I am sure by then Comcast will have gone to MPEG4 and my box would be useless. I might make more sense it you could buy a digital STB for little money but even then if you have multiple boxes you would still probably have to pay the "replication" fee for your digital package.

Originally posted by kenvt
Ok I understand now. Will ADS be implemented after ALL towns are converted to 256QAM, or might I see ADS soon now that my town is converted ? the sooner you got 256 QAM the sooner you will get ADS, using same order. and keep in mind even areas which begin receiving ADS wont have ALL analog channels simulcast digitally, only major networks first then the B channels, then the community channels. Point is: it's a process, one which is underway but still not expected to be complete until spring/summer. then you'll start hearing noise about new HD channels. can't fit any more at the moment on the 64 QAM systems and imagine the hate if some towns get UPN and WB for a while others wait and wait.

Some of the other folks on the board here indicated that 38 and 56 were going to be HD here in a month or so, not the summer.

Originally posted by avic
the sooner you got 256 QAM the sooner you will get ADS, using same order. and keep in mind even areas which begin receiving ADS wont have ALL analog channels simulcast digitally, only major networks first then the B channels, then the community channels. Point is: it's a process, one which is underway but still not expected to be complete until spring/summer. then you'll start hearing noise about new HD channels. can't fit any more at the moment on the 64 QAM systems and imagine the hate if some towns get UPN and WB for a while others wait and wait.

Forgive my ignorance but please explain how digital simulcasting will increase bandwidth.

If it is actually an Analog to Digital Switch then I can see that but how will people w/o STBs get any channels? Will the FCC allow that?

Thanks.

was my earlier post really so difficult to understand? i'll repeat what i said: systems on 64 QAM can't fit anymore channels in. - which is why the 256 QAM conversion is underway. what i also said is that QAM will come before ADS. i didn't say they had anything to do with each other. QAM is to bandwidth as ADS is to PQ. and it's ADS -S as in SIMULCAST, so digital customers get digital and analog get analog. the whole point of it. side note: i'm good for posting scoop and tidbits when i get them, anyone else feel free to step up and take over the FAQ and 'how stuff works'. seems the group has gotten a bit green lately.

avic,

If I read his post correctly (granted, that's a big if), allow me to paraphrase :

If they're already transmitting an analog signal, won't adding ADS also add a digital copy of the orginal analog signal ? If that's true, where's the bandwidth savings ? Or, will ADS eventually result in the removal of most (all?) analog signals, such that most (all?) channels be transmitted digitally ?

I think they plan on getting the bandwidth savings by converting existing 64QAM channels to 256QAM. More bitrate for the same frequency allocation. Given the freed up bandwidth, they then have "room" to add the digital copies of the analog channels.

Granted, you can fold more 256QAM channels into the same given bandwidth. That's step #1 of the ADS gameplan, for sure. What happens to the analog channels once they've been digitally simulcast ? Do they stick around for backwards compatibility, or do they get deleted ? The big bandwidth win comes if and when they completely remove the analogs and go completely digital. That frees up a LOT of bandwidth for future stuff...

Originally posted by Paul Simoneau
Granted, you can fold more 256QAM channels into the same given bandwidth. That's step #1 of the ADS gameplan, for sure. What happens to the analog channels once they've been digitally simulcast ? Do they stick around for backwards compatibility, or do they get deleted ? The big bandwidth win comes if and when they completely remove the analogs and go completely digital. That frees up a LOT of bandwidth for future stuff...

The analog stick around. The extra space comes from making Ch 201-799 256 QAM.

If thats not good layman's talk or inaccurate, I'll delete it...

avic:

I did some searching on the internet and found another modulation method called SDM. In particular, it mentioned 6SDM (18MHz), which can stream even more data than 256QAM (6MHz) could ever hope to achieve. Would moving to SDM require an entirely new infrastructure or can it work on a QAM infrastructure? I'm curious if moving to 256QAM was the only available modulation method for Comcast.

tennberg, check your qam

When the 256 QAM takes place will even say an analog chn 004 show 256 QAM or will it just be the digital stations that show the conversion? I am seeing 256 on my digital stations but the analog still say analog and not the 256. Just curious.

my bad, misread the post

only digital station will say 256 qam

Hoorah . Burlington digitals are now at 256QAM. Hopefully ADS will be next.
WB and UPN HD next . TNT HD and Universal HD ........

jdoe - you forgot HDNET :-)

Thanks L Supreme
Looks like we made the switch here then also
Did anyone catch the headlines on Reuters yesterday..
"U.S. wants to speed digital TV"
If intrested here is a reprint..
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050217.gtdigital0217/BNStory/Technology/

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Thanks L Supreme
Looks like we made the switch here then also
Did anyone catch the headlines on Reuters yesterday..
"U.S. wants to speed digital TV"
If intrested here is a reprint..
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050217.gtdigital0217/BNStory/Technology/

Very interesting! At the risk of going OT, I presume that in this context Digital tuners are not ones that have push buttons to go up and down or type in a channel number in a remote?

Originally posted by L Supreme
tennberg, check your qam

L Supreme:

Thanks! I checked last night and 223 was showing up as 256QAM. I also noticed that the AGC across all channels (digital and HD) was a lot lower than usual. It was usually around 70-75% where as now it's around 50-55%. It seems the lower it is, the better.

Originally posted by Kaiser-Soze
Very interesting! At the risk of going OT, I presume that in this context Digital tuners are not ones that have push buttons to go up and down or type in a channel number in a remote?

What they are reffering to is ATSC tuners. Comcast (and other cable providers) use QAM.

256QAM here in the Natick area.

One thing I do notice is it takes longer for the box to lock-on to the 256QAM SD channels, so we're back to the pixelating thing the old boxes had.

Originally posted by DaveFi
256QAM here in the Natick area.

One thing I do notice is it takes longer for the box to lock-on to the 256QAM SD channels, so we're back to the pixelating thing the old boxes had.

if your getting alot pixelations due to the upgrade to 256 QAM. I'd have a tech out there to tweak the wires to stop this from continuing

my SNR is down to fair and that has not happened before. I have a drop amp too. wonder whats up with the signal ?

No PBS-HD all day. Anyone else?

no PBS here either in Lowell, MA all day. wtf ?

Same here in Medford. No PBS-HD. Switching to it causes the current channel to freeze. Tried some things to get it to work, no results.

Plus, since the 64->256QAM switchover, it seems a handful of digital channels don't resolve fully until a few seconds after tuning to them. They will be a bit pixelated and then fill in. This was on only 5-7 out of the MANY digital channels.

No PBS HD in Maynard...

Originally posted by kenvt
jdoe - you forgot HDNET :-)

I think Comcast would like to "forget" HDNET too. And that's sad. But we still keep reminding them.

Rich N.

256 here in Watertown, too.

So is the 256 conversion complete now? Is the way cleared for ADS to start rolling out?

anyone know anything about the law and comcast having to let customers own and use own equipment ?

I bought a 6200 Motorloa box off ebay and it was not used on comcast or another cable co. I called comcast and they had no clue and told me they wont reg it even though its clean.

whats up with that and is that legal for them to do ? as I thought they have to let you use your own equipment and own your own box. they said it wont work on system and Motorola said comcast is full of BS and that they just have to reg it for me for it to work.

is there is a law and want to know and look into this so they cannot bully me. I dont mind renting a box, but $11 for the second one in my HT thats only used for sports events and dvd seems a waste and tired of paying for it. thats over $120 a year for a box hardly used that I will never own. I got this new 6200 cheap.

any comcast techs here who can shed some light ? the law owning own equipment ?

Originally posted by BobColby
256 here in Watertown, too.

So is the 256 conversion complete now? Is the way cleared for ADS to start rolling out?

Hudson as well. we can only keep our fingers crossed...

Plus, since the 64->256QAM switchover, it seems a handful of digital channels don't resolve fully until a few seconds after tuning to them. They will be a bit pixelated and then fill in. This was on only 5-7 out of the MANY digital channels.I already mentioned I had the same problem. This is like it was before I had the HD boxes.

As for not being allowed to use your own HD box, you should have called to ask. I'm not sure what the Open Cable rules are, but they should allow you to at least use your own 6200/64xx boxes.

I'm not sure how you managed to buy a "clean" one though. AFAIK nobody can buy them except for the Cable co's, and if you did purchase one through eBay it might be hot, or one some cable co forgot to pick up when someone moved.

I am also not sure why you wanted to purchase one, considering the rental charge is negligable, and by he time you recoup the cost the technology quite possibly will have changed again.

That said, I will probably buy my own box when someone offers one with all the features of the current 6412 and more. It's probably 1yr+ away, but enevitable.

actually the price of the box will be made up in one year. @ over $120 a year for renting the box thats the price i got my box for. I have already paid for the box in one year when I could have paid one and owned it, would have been paid off by now. I doubt these new boxes will be out of date HD wise anytime soon. the signal isnt gonna change anytime soon and thats all i want the box for is for HD channels. it get the locals as its illegle for comcast to scramble those but I am paying for the others and by them not reg it for me is denying the money I spend to see those channels. I dont mind paying for one box but the second in the HT is not used as much and money out the window. trust me in one year this box will pay for itself and i highly doubt it will be useless in 2 years. people are still using boxes from 15years ago that still work. my aunt is one of them. although I told her to turn it in for a new one she wont. but as for the box changing technology , again the HD signal...unless it takes on some major change wont outdate my box anytime soon.

it legal to buy these boxes in canada, UK...etc. Motorola doesnt sell them in the US. I emailed Motorola and they said as long as its not a comcast owned box it should be no problem. its not illegle to own a box from canada ..etc

do you know when the current HD technology was implemented? along time ago now and still working on old boxes.

It's $8.25/mo to rent the box here. I couldn't see myself without DVR functionality now.

It's total worthless if you can't use it. I suggest you try to talk to a manager. Good luck.

its $8.25 for the first box and $11 for every other box after that.

seeing what I can do. its complete BS.

the box will work, it needs to be registered in your area. the reason why comcast wont activate is because motorola only sells the boxes to cable companies & the one you probably have was either stolen or never returned. I knowwhen it goes all digital, meaning when the gov makes analog tvs obsolette then 3rd party digital boxes will be available.

motorola sells to public in other countrys. I emailed them and they said only the US it is not and only US cable co's can buy them. as long as it is not a comcast box...stolen or not motorola even said comcast should not have a problem reg it as long as it was not stolen from comcast and it does not belong to them.

this was straight from motorola tech support.

Originally posted by bruman
motorola sells to public in other countrys. I emailed them and they said only the US it is not and only US cable co's can buy them. as long as it is not a comcast box...stolen or not motorola even said comcast should not have a problem reg it as long as it was not stolen from comcast and it does not belong to them.

this was straight from motorola tech support.


I'm not saying it won't work if it was just registered with the Comcast system. If it was done before motorola sells the boxes to customers direct it will promote equipment theft. All that can be done is wait until you can buy you own box or get a tv with a cablecard slot.

Originally posted by L Supreme
I'm not saying it won't work if it was just registered with the Comcast system. If it was done before motorola sells the boxes to customers direct it will promote equipment theft. All that can be done is wait until you can buy you own box or get a tv with a cablecard slot.

But the downside of Cablecard right now is that it's only uni-directional. No OnDemand, no PPV, etc. Plus, with no STB, no DVR. Perhaps someday TVs will have DRVs built-in and you can then load whichever guide on it your local cable company uses.

On another note, L Sup., as progress toward adding another HD channel to our Wonderful Boston lineup nears, how soon might we see Universal HD through Comcast? Since it's an NBC station and we can get NBC-HD, I don't see Comcast going through the legal wranglings to get this channel as they would, say, HDNet. I just really need my Battlestar Galactica in HD. I can't take analog for much longer.

Originally posted by tennberg
On another note, L Sup., as progress toward adding another HD channel to our Wonderful Boston lineup nears, how soon might we see Universal HD through Comcast? Since it's an NBC station and we can get NBC-HD, I don't see Comcast going through the legal wranglings to get this channel as they would, say, HDNet. I just really need my Battlestar Galactica in HD. I can't take analog for much longer.

I haven't heard anything about Universal HD yet

Originally posted by tennberg


On another note, L Sup., as progress toward adding another HD channel to our Wonderful Boston lineup nears, ......

I was wondering what this "progress toward adding another HD channel " actually is. We haven't even got ESPN2HD which should have been a "no-brainer". Many Comcast subs just assumed we'd have it by now.

I am upset that we only get 4 of 9 national HD channels from the largest (by far) cable company in the US.

Rich N.

raid- for the money we spend on cable it should not take this long to add more HD channels. I think its a shame its been so long since a new channel has been added. god knows we pay enough money!

Slightly OT:

I've been seeing these new DirecTV commercials which tout that their new service will offer 1300 HD channels and to be on the lookout. First, did I hear them correctly about 1300 channels?! Second, since there are 9 national HD channels and a service like VOOM had something like 30-40, how does DirecTV get 1300?

If it's even slightly true, Comcast has some serious catch-up to do.

the 1300 channels being referenced are mostly the LOCAL channels in each market so it is really a bit misleading.

-Ken

Why cant Comcast move just 2 or 3 channels from analog to digital? That would open up 12-18 MHz of bandwidth for more HD ,digital SD, and VOD.

They did that last year. They moved some premiums, and they eliminated a lot of the digital PPVs. All of it seems to have gone toward VoD. It was finanaced by our yearly greater-than-cost-of-living rate increase.

This year, they've freed up bandwidth with the 256QAM changeover. I'm sure that from that, we'll get more pay-for services, along with another basic cable rate increase.

They still have HBO on analog (Ch.72). That should be digital only. Would QVC, HSN, ESPN Classic,Outdoor Network, EWTN,Travel Channel be missed by many if moved to Digital Classic from analog.

i agree with you mgpt6.

also your right. why is HBO still on analog ?????? its not like you can get a good deal getting on HBO on expanded service. so it makes no sense why they leave HBO on analog when its already on digital.

Two possibilities why HBO is still on analog:

1. - License agreement with HBO to maintain the analog version for the duration of the HBO contract

2. - Too many analog customers subscribing to HBO, and comcast doesn't want to fear losing the $$ if they don't upgrade to digital

HBO ( Channel 72) is digital and encoded at 256 QAM.

So it is.

Huh. Wonder when that happened.

Originally posted by jdoe7890
HBO ( Channel 72) is digital and encoded at 256 QAM.

When you get it on the digital box it has always been like that.

on the digital box,channel 72 is a remapping of channel 301.

What I had:
Comcast kisses my ass package.
Digital phone TWO lines.
Digital cable Platinum with Premiere,Standard cable,HD and a two tuner DVR.
Second HD box.
High speed internet

What I have:
Basic cable only
High speed internet

What I want:
Digital cable Plus ,BASIC cable only (do not wish to pay 38.89 for channels I really do not watch) HD and a two tuner DVR.
High speed internet

When you call comcast they generally want you to call from your home phone. I only have a cell and a test Voip service I have been using (the price is right)

I could use some reassurance from this group that I will be able to get this before i call.~ I assume some folks will be under the impression that you must have STANDARD cable before getting ANY Digital programming,which is sort of what the comcast-ne site imply but the NATIONAL site says "HDTV broadcast feeds are included in limited basic service."

I also have a friend who lives in an adjacent town who also have basic and would be interested in digital classic with the audio music channels and on demand . She is willing to pay $23.05 (Basic,Digital classic,and one box) but not $57.73 (Standard cable,digital classic and box)

I think she would be able to pick up her box at the office. Could I?

I turned my boxes in because of finances and the fact I was unsure where I was going to live. My finances are a little better and I know i will be staying where I am at. (what stinks is I could have afforded to keep Digital plus with DVR -and see Super Bowl 39 in HD :( )

Thank you

Originally posted by chitchatjf

What I want:
Digital cable Plus ,BASIC cable only (do not wish to pay 38.89 for channels I really do not watch) HD and a two tuner DVR.
High speed internet



Yes you can get this package. The website lists standard because thats what the majority of customers are looking for when they get cable. Also your friend can get the package she wants and you can pick it up at the local office yourself.

Originally posted by L Supreme
Yes you can get this package. The website lists standard because thats what the majority of customers are looking for when they get cable. Also your friend can get the package she wants and you can pick it up at the local office yourself.

This is good to know. I will call to assure they will have a 6412 for me. Joan only needs a 2000 as she still has just analog.

When they did install the HD DVRs (I had the one tuner for around 2 /12 months with the 2 tuner for a mere one month) the installed admitted i knew as much <and in the case of the one who hooked up the two tuner box> or even more then they did.)

I would even use my own cable if I had to as I turned in their Component cable when I turned in my DVR box.

Not being required to get extended basic in order to go digital is a nice cost effective compromise to the "all channels a la carte" that some folks would like to have.

It gives me the programming I REALLY WANT (the800s,500s too and a few channels in the 200s ) AND the DVR for LESS then MANY folks pay for just standard cable with no box.

What channels would you get with the package you described? Do you still get 24-69?

Originally posted by chitchatjf

I would even use my own cable if I had to as I turned in their Component cable when I turned in my DVR box.


If you need component cables, when you go to the office to pickup the equipment tell them that you need them & they will give you a set.


What channels would you get with the package you described? Do you still get 24-69?

no you would only get 2-23 roughly & chnls 200+

To those intrested in the doings with the FCC and Broadcast flags..
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5585533.html

WASHINGTON--A federal appeals court on Tuesday sharply questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to ban certain types of digital TV receivers, including peripheral cards, starting in July.


Two of the three judges on the District of Columbia Circuit panel said the FCC never received permission from Congress to undertake such a sweeping regulation, which is intended to encourage the purchase of digital TV receivers that curb Internet distribution of over-the-air broadcasts of programming such as movies and sports.


"You're out there in the whole world, regulating. Are washing machines next?" asked Judge Harry Edwards. Quipped Judge David Sentelle: "You can't regulate washing machines. You can't rule the world."


In November 2003, the FCC said that every product sold in the United States after July 2005 that can receive digital TV broadcasts or digital TV streams must be able to recognize a "broadcast flag." Such products--ranging from TV sets to computer tuners made by Elgato Systems and Hauppauge Computer Works--are permitted to deliver high-quality digital output only to devices that also adhere to the broadcast flag specification.


The groups challenging the FCC's broadcast flag regulation include the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They argue that the FCC exceeded its authority, that Congress should be responsible for making copyright law, and that librarians' ability to make "fair use" of digital broadcasts will be unreasonably curtailed.


But one of the judges, Sentelle, suggested that the library and other nonprofit groups challenging the FCC's rule would not suffer the kind of particular harm necessary to allow the case to proceed.


"You have to have a harm that distinguishes you from the public at large," Sentelle said during oral arguments. "If there is not a particularized harm, you do not have standing...There may be someone from the industry who can come forward." Edwards also said he was concerned about the groups' "standing," referring to the judicially recognized right to sue. Special rules exist for organizations suing federal agencies.


From the perspective of the entertainment industry, the broadcast flag is needed to encourage over-the-air distribution of valuable content. Without the FCC's action, the Motion Picture Association of America has argued, the threat of Internet piracy would imperil the future of digital TV.

OT a bit:

Here in Medford, a couple channels (non-HD) that I'd like to see Comcast add to their lineup are:

1. Game Show Network/GSN
2. Tennis Channel

It seems other towns on Comcast get GSN, just not Medford. As for the Tennis Channel, since tennis is a year-round sport, it would be a nice change of pace from the seasons of football, baseball, basketball, and, eventually, hockey.

Originally posted by tennberg
OT a bit:

Here in Medford, a couple channels (non-HD) that I'd like to see Comcast add to their lineup are:

1. Game Show Network/GSN
2. Tennis Channel

It seems other towns on Comcast get GSN, just not Medford. As for the Tennis Channel, since tennis is a year-round sport, it would be a nice change of pace from the seasons of football, baseball, basketball, and, eventually, hockey.

Strange about GSN. On the few times, I've gone to it, the Guide is completely different than whats on. I agree on the Tennis Channel. There is that one celebrity match on INHD that they show every now and then...

I get GSN in southern NH... sorta.

At midnight, they switch it over to some QVC clone. Any time I'd want to record anything off it, it'd be after midnight, so basically, I never watch it.

In ref. to earlier post: Since when has HBO on channel 72 been digital and 256QAM? I tuned to it for some reason and though "wow, that picture doesn't look half bad." Then I find out its 256QAM and digital. I thought everything from 2-194 (back when ABC News Now was broadcast) was analog, and anything 200+ was digital and everything 800+ was HD.

It now seems everything from 2-71 is analog and 72+ is digital. Has 72 always been digital and I just didn't realize it? On my channel guide sheet from Comcast, it says 72 is in their analog line-up. Any insight?

Tennberg:

Quoting Chitchatjf:

"When you get it on the digital box it has always been like that.

on the digital box,channel 72 is a remapping of channel 301."

-Ken

Originally posted by toots
I get GSN in southern NH... sorta.

At midnight, they switch it over to some QVC clone. Any time I'd want to record anything off it, it'd be after midnight, so basically, I never watch it.

They only show it part time . At least from midnight to noon it is this informerical network and whenever someone wants to lease space for some show like something you may see on a public access channel it goes here as well.

I say they should judst have GSN FULL TIME on digital.

Originally posted by tennberg
In ref. to earlier post: Since when has HBO on channel 72 been digital and 256QAM? I tuned to it for some reason and though "wow, that picture doesn't look half bad." Then I find out its 256QAM and digital. I thought everything from 2-194 (back when ABC News Now was broadcast) was analog, and anything 200+ was digital and everything 800+ was HD.

It now seems everything from 2-71 is analog and 72+ is digital. Has 72 always been digital and I just didn't realize it? On my channel guide sheet from Comcast, it says 72 is in their analog line-up. Any insight?

The premium channels on the digital box were ALWAYS digital.
Although earlier models of the 2000 boxes had an oiption for an analog addressable descrambler, Media One chose not to use it,instead remapping the digital version.

HBO1 is now the only channel that is duplicated on analog and digital. (until ADS)

Channel 72 on the digital box is really 301.

Of course those who read this thread really watch HBO 1 on channel 870. :)

Originally posted by L Supreme
Yes you can get this package. The website lists standard because thats what the majority of customers are looking for when they get cable. Also your friend can get the package she wants and you can pick it up at the local office yourself.

I called them this evening . They said NO problem. They did admit that they do not empasise that expanded is not required to get digital cable (Technically since the tier buy through rule dosen't apply to digital cable ,they could require it for anything EXCEPT HD locals,and some systems won't even DO that..

They also said NO problem about picking it up at the office,and said there would be a 6412 waiting for me :)

My total bill before taxes $77 (INCLUDING 42.95 for Internet)

Video programming : $34.05 including equipment.

and to think my friend in Methuen is paying 46.58 for JUST Standard.

Is it worth 38.89 for just 45 channels (We still get ESPN 1 on ch 849) only 2 or three I MAY watch if at all?

OTOH $36 would get you ALL the movie channels,but I can live without those as well (for now)

I had to be up super-early this morning and when I walked by the cablebox, I noticed that the time wasn't being displayed. I forget the 2 letters, but it wasnt DL. I checked again a few minutes later and the time was showing. On a hunch, I turned it on, checked the firmware and 9.15!

Let us hope that this is the holy grail that we have been waiting for!

Originally posted by travis33
What channels would you get with the package you described? Do you still get 24-69?

That is the point. you do NOT!
This means for news,you have to stick with NECN. No CNN or Fox News.
For weather you have to stick with Weatherscan. (No biggie there as I like Weatherscan BETTER then The Weather Channel)
NO Espn unless you have HD and no ESPN2.
NO Sci Fi

OTOH you get the HD channels and the DVR and you pay LESS then getting Standard with NO BOX!

since i spend most of my at home time on the internet,this is a cost effective way to get my HD and DVR back. (Had Platinum with Premiere and standard at one time)

Bwahaha! Woke up this morning and my 6412 refused to power-on. I had to unplug-replug it, and when I turned it back on it started to do a "DL" to firmware 9.15.

Between the reboots and the other various glitches these boxes are definitely not ready for prime-time. If I try to do a recording somewhere between 3-4am my box will reset almost every time.:(

I guess I'll try another box.

With Alias and Lost on tonight I hope my box is still working ! I usually start watching around 8:30 and can skip through all the commercials in both shows.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Bwahaha! Woke up this morning and my 6412 refused to power-on. I had to unplug-replug it, and when I turned it back on it started to do a "DL" to firmware 9.15.

Between the reboots and the other various glitches these boxes are definitely not ready for prime-time. If I try to do a recording somewhere between 3-4am my box will reset almost every time.:(

I guess I'll try another box.


Any work needed to be done that interupts service normally is done between 2-5 am. If there is work going on it will mess up your recording.

Originally posted by L Supreme
Any work needed to be done that interupts service normally is done between 2-5 am. If there is work going on it will mess up your recording.
L Supreme:

Does 9.15 fix any of the current problems being discussed here?

Mickey

Originally posted by MickeyGee
L Supreme:

Does 9.15 fix any of the current problems being discussed here?

Mickey

yes it should fix the freezing issue

Originally posted by L Supreme
yes it should fix the freezing issue
Fantastic. Thanks.

Mickey

Originally posted by L Supreme
yes it should fix the freezing issue

Man I hope it does!!! Last night was one of the worst nights yet for freezing on my set.

Originally posted by L Supreme
yes it should fix the freezing issue

L Supreme:

Are you referring to the problem where iGuide will freeze and remain on the screen even if you hit exit, and if you press any buttons when it freezes, it will do those actions all in a row once it unfreezes, and during all this, the picture remains normal and does not freeze on both audio or video? That is the problem I was having.

Originally posted by tennberg
L Supreme:

Are you referring to the problem where iGuide will freeze and remain on the screen even if you hit exit, and if you press any buttons when it freezes, it will do those actions all in a row once it unfreezes, and during all this, the picture remains normal and does not freeze on both audio or video? That is the problem I was having.

yes

I searched back through the thread and didn't find an answer, but my apologies if this has already been answered.

Is NESN-HD encrypted or in the clear? From a look at the channel status on my non-HD box last night, it appears to be encrypted (assuming I picked the right channel!). Can anyone confirm?

I was getting all psyched up over the MyHD MDP-130 yesterday until I realized that NESN was not necessarily in the clear.

Thanks,
Gary

NESN-HD is encrypted.

L Supreme, what about the other freezing issues? Will this fix those also?

Originally posted by Tsunamii
L Supreme, what about the other freezing issues? Will this fix those also?

what other freezing issues are you talking about. all the freezing i know about are related to the guide, which this will fix

Originally posted by tennberg
avic:

I did some searching on the internet and found another modulation method called SDM. In particular, it mentioned 6SDM (18MHz), which can stream even more data than 256QAM (6MHz) could ever hope to achieve. Would moving to SDM require an entirely new infrastructure or can it work on a QAM infrastructure? I'm curious if moving to 256QAM was the only available modulation method for Comcast.

I know this was addressed to Avic, but since I haven't seen a reply, I thought I would chime in.

SDM (Sub-band Division Multiplexing) looks like a more efficient means of modulation, however, as far as I know there are no major manufacturers that have deployed SDM capable modulators or (a much bigger deal) SDM capable demodulators (i.e. set top boxes).

As far as infrastructure is concerned, it should work on the cable plant just as well as 256 QAM does, but like I said, there doesn't seem to be much out there to get it onto the plant or off of it.

I think if this particular scheme is ever going to be implemented, it may be around the time that the analogs go away completely, because you would have to simulcast both QAM and SDM until the QAM tuner devices are replaced. For those folks with QAM TV's, I imagine a SDM to QAM converter would be needed... :)

L Supreme, the other freezing is when the screen freezes as if its on pause no audio just a frozen pic. If you change chnls up and down it will come back. Along with that you get the box to crash sometimes.
I went over it with the Field Supervisor after sending in a letter to Corp HQ and hearing from them. All said it is a known issue and they are working on a fix. It was supposed to be here by the EOM.

Originally posted by Tsunamii
L Supreme, the other freezing is when the screen freezes as if its on pause no audio just a frozen pic. If you change chnls up and down it will come back. Along with that you get the box to crash sometimes.
I went over it with the Field Supervisor after sending in a letter to Corp HQ and hearing from them. All said it is a known issue and they are working on a fix. It was supposed to be here by the EOM.

I have to look into that I'l get back to you about it tomorrow.

Originally posted by D_Doherty
NESN-HD is encrypted.

Thanks! Not what I wanted to hear, but better to confirm now rather than later. Guess I see a 6412 in my future . . .

-Gary

The Mute/Power-On during record bug is still there with 9.15. You'd think that one would be high on the list.

Originally posted by DaveFi
The Mute/Power-On during record bug is still there with 9.15. You'd think that one would be high on the list.

thats not a bug, its intended to do that.

I picked up the samsung sir-t451 today to test out.

it picks up CBSHD and FoxHD bit not the other that are in the clear. wonder why that is. I have and excellent signal with no splitter and a drop amp so signal is not a problem. even took off the drop amp and still didnt find the others. I have the box setip right too. too bad, I had high hopes of sending a comcast box back and using this in the HT.

Originally posted by L Supreme
I have to look into that I'l get back to you about it tomorrow.
My Mother In law was babysitting today and said it didnt freeze so finger crossed.

Originally posted by Tsunamii
L Supreme, the other freezing is when the screen freezes as if its on pause no audio just a frozen pic. If you change chnls up and down it will come back. Along with that you get the box to crash sometimes.
I went over it with the Field Supervisor after sending in a letter to Corp HQ and hearing from them. All said it is a known issue and they are working on a fix. It was supposed to be here by the EOM.


i checked & it took care of that problem aswell

I noticed more freezing tonight then I ever had with my DVR :(

Ever since that update early yesterday morning, my recordings have been screwed up. I have American Idol and West Wing on my series priority list, and it didn't record either tonight (But DID record Simple Life). In checking tomorrow, I see that it will record Survivor, Apprentice, and ER, but NOT the OC. And it says, "No Listings Available" for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but then shows up again on Monday. I did a manual recording that will hopefully get the OC. I'm just glad I have both of my TiVos set to record as backup for this nonsense.

L Supreme, thanks for the info. Im still running with no freezing so far. Knock on wood.

Dozens, did you check to see if you got the update also? Believe me I know how frustrating the freezing can be. The only weird thing I noticed last night was during Lost I paused it and when I started it back there was no audio. I went live and just rewound and the audio was there.

Dwiller1, It almost sounds like you box had crashed at some time and you lost some settings? I known when mine used to crash I would have similar behavior.

Yes, my freezing started after the 9.15 update.

Originally posted by DaveFi
The Mute/Power-On during record bug is still there with 9.15. You'd think that one would be high on the list.

Just leave the box on. There is no need to turn it off. Then, this will not be an issue.

My 6412 got the 9.15 update last night. I have't seen any freezing. I did however loose audio on both cable and recorded shows. I was forced to unplug the box and loose the guide data as described in the 6412 thread. That didn't solve the problem and I was about to give up but tried playing a recording. Audio came right on and has been fine since.

To all:

It seems the freezing is back on my 6412. I checked and I have firmware 09.15 installed. However, on several occassions tonight, I would info a show and then try to exit, only to have iGuide not respond. After 10 seconds or so, it would finally quit of of the guide. This would also happen when going to "My DVR" and trying to exit, going to the OnDemand screen, etc. I just wanted to make others aware of my situation.

I just said goodbye to Digital Gold and went back to Digital Classic- Saving me $20 a month. I found I could do without the movie channels but not the DVR.

Originally posted by DaveFi
I just said goodbye to Digital Gold and went back to Digital Classic- Saving me $20 a month. I found I could do without the movie channels but not the DVR.

Im still at Digital Plus On the other hand at one time I had Digital platinum WITH Premiere pack and also had Stanbdard cable. Today just Basic cable with Digital plus.

Still have my DVR and LOVE those HD channels :)

Anyone has any further word on WSBK-DT and WLVI-DT?

BTW 256 QAM in Lawrence.

Originally posted by chitchatjf
Im still at Digital Plus On the other hand at one time I had Digital platinum WITH Premiere pack and also had Stanbdard cable. Today just Basic cable with Digital plus.

Still have my DVR and LOVE those HD channels :) When I say "Digital Classic" I mean the $6 package with BBC America. You get INHD/DISCHD/ESPN with it. You don't need any of the more expensive "Digital" packages to get those channels. I never watched the SD channels anyways.

Originally posted by DaveFi
When I say "Digital Classic" I mean the $6 package with BBC America. You get INHD/DISCHD/ESPN with it. You don't need any of the more expensive "Digital" packages to get those channels. I never watched the SD channels anyways.

I got Digital plus mainly because I wanted access to Sundance and the ?Encore movie channels. (I know SD but i still like them ,and when comcast brings us Encore HD I will most likely get that as well.)

I saw my March bill. No charge for the box :) and no installation charges (Why should there be? I picked up the box and installed it myself,I can see the $1.99 fee which was not charged either) :)

Lastnight while watching Jay Leno, the picture froze for a good 5 mins. but could still hear the audio. tried power on/off, change channels nothing worked. When the picture did come back it was in SD. I think it was the NBC feed as it seems to have problems almost every night, but with all this freezing up talk i'm not sure anymore and am wondering if it's the comcast system. Anyone else experience this. BTW all the othe HD channels were fine.

With the BASIC package with HD, do you still get ALL the available HD channels ( INHD1+2, DISC, ESPNHD, etc.)? How about future added HD channels (ESPN2HD, HDNET TNTHD, etc.)? I know that I couldn't get HBOHD and SHOWHD.

What about ON DEMAND?

What are the available (if any) channels that are accessable?

Thanks, Travis.

Originally posted by travis33
With the BASIC package with HD, do you still get ALL the available HD channels ( INHD1+2, DISC, ESPNHD, etc.)? How about future added HD channels (ESPN2HD, HDNET TNTHD, etc.)? I know that I couldn't get HBOHD and SHOWHD.

What about ON DEMAND?

What are the available (if any) channels that are accessable?

Thanks, Travis. Travis, in order to get the HD box you need at least Basic Cable ($6/mo here) which is the very most basic local analog channels. You will only get the local HD channels, NBC, ABC, FOX, etc.

If you want INHD/DISC-HD/ESPN you need to shell out $6 more for the DC package. And yes, I get all the free OnDemand stuff. If you don't want HBO, SHO, etc, it's the best HD package. Don't even need Extended Basic ($40/mo).

Will you get NESNHD (for sox games)?

How bout Celtics games on INHD? (I take it you don't get Celtics away games on FSNE.

So, you are able to watch MTV ON Demand shows? That seems a little weird (but very good) because with the Basic+DC you don't get MTV.

The Mute/Power-On during record bug is still there with 9.15. You'd think that one would be high on the list.
thats not a bug, its intended to do that.
What does that mean? You're supposed to not be able to hear anything? What kind of "feature" is that?

Originally posted by travis33
Will you get NESNHD (for sox games)?

How bout Celtics games on INHD? (I take it you don't get Celtics away games on FSNE.



Celtics and Sox games are on Ch 882 (INHD2) You WILL get them :)
I would not mind a speraste channel because a few times there has been a program on INHD2 i would not mind watching,but there was a local game on.



So, you are able to watch MTV ON Demand shows? That seems a little weird (but very good) because with the Basic+DC you don't get MTV.

This is correct. You still get MTV2 and VH1 Classic. Digital plus adds MTV hits ,MTV Jams ,and MTV espanol. along with VH1 country and VH1 soul.

Many systems would require the FIULL standard cable to even get HD locals. Not Comcast.

I will probably go back to Digital Classic as well once college hoops season is over. Showtime is great for OAR, but not worth the $$ for the 3-4 movies a month that are actually decent.

I'm about to drop down a few notches as well.

Right now I have the "pay through the nose" plan. It's supposed to give me everything, but every couple of months, they add a couple new third tier channels that aren't in my grandfathered lineup, and would require me to sign up for a newer (more expensive) plan to get.

If Showtime has indeed cancelled Dead Like Me, and I can't count on another season of The Wire from HBO, I'm pretty much running out of reasons for carrying any of the premiums.

I probably would hang onto it anyway, except that my cable bill's gone up about $50/month since I signed up 4 years ago, and it's just getting too crazy to continue.

Originally posted by chitchatjf
Anyone has any further word on WSBK-DT and WLVI-DT?

WB - 2nd week in March
UPN - still TBA, though i can't see it not being added once upn starts broadcasting hd sox. there will be pressure from alot of sides.

Originally posted by caernavon
What does that mean? You're supposed to not be able to hear anything? What kind of "feature" is that? for 6412-specific issues please visit the 6412 Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5239072#post5239072). the mute feature and everything else 6412 is covered there.