256 QAM is almost complete. ADS testing will begin shortly, once any issues that come up are resolved then headends will begin rolling out ADS. first networks, then expanded channels, then comm channels.

Okay, for the slow learners here (I have "extended basic, analog cable", pay $48/mo) what can you get, for (roughly, I know varies by town) channels with these Basic + HD(?) + DC/DP?

I mostly watch the networks, a little sports, south park, then surf with discovery/tlc/hgtv/mtv/vh1/food channel.

Does this mean I get channels 1-22, then ALL the (non-premium) channels over 200, plus on demand stuff? For $20-ish per month (is that right? The website show's DC for $58, DP $64, extended basic (standard) $48. Is the roughly pricing $58 (or $64) less $48 plus $8 (basic), plus box rental?

That would be sweet. I'd lose south park and the food channel (which my wife loves). Looks like everything else I watch there would be a variation that is plenty acceptable. Heck, I might even pay for the DVR at that point.

Originally posted by dc_pilgrim
Okay, for the slow learners here (I have "extended basic, analog cable", pay $48/mo) what can you get, for (roughly, I know varies by town) channels with these Basic + HD(?) + DC/DP?



That is the idea. IN Lawrence,Basic is $8.10,Extended is $37.90. The digital prices are the same everywhere



I mostly watch the networks, a little sports, south park, then surf with discovery/tlc/hgtv/mtv/vh1/food channel.

Does this mean I get channels 1-22, then ALL the (non-premium) channels over 200, plus on demand stuff? For $20-ish per month (is that right? The website show's DC for $58, DP $64, extended basic (standard) $48. Is the roughly pricing $58 (or $64) less $48 plus $8 (basic), plus box rental?



This is the idea. It is because of the tier buy through rule,which required systems to allow people to get pay channels with just basic. They are not required to expand it to digital,but Comcast does.


That would be sweet. I'd lose south park and the food channel (which my wife loves). Looks like everything else I watch there would be a variation that is plenty acceptable. Heck, I might even pay for the DVR at that point.



Extended basic costs around $40 give or take a few dollars. For $40 you can get Digital Silver (classic,plus,and ONE PAY channel <including its multichannels, its OnDemand library,and its HD CHANNEL> PLUS a DVR!)BOX included!

You do have to ASK for this,and cable does have to come and install a filter/trap which will block channels 24-69.

The big thing is
a) HD local broadcast signals are included with Basic Service subscription and HD cable box (see equipment pricing).
b) You do NOT need Expanded Basic in order to get Digital cable.

Originally posted by avic
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.

I was hoping to catch at least the last few episodes of Enterprise in FULL HD.!
Since I have the DVR I could record BOTH enterprise AND JOA BOTH IN HD! :)

Originally posted by avic
256 QAM is almost complete. ADS testing will begin shortly, once any issues that come up are resolved then headends will begin rolling out ADS. first networks, then expanded channels, then comm channels.

When will we know about this,or how?

When they do ADS on the expanded basic,how would that effect those with Basic+digital with NO expanded?

Right now i have those channels locked as they will try to tune it in only to find snow.

I'm not retarded. Really.

But, just to clarify:
By getting the Basic + DC + HD, the only channels I would NOT get are 24-69, adn a few high 200s hat you get with DP.

I would get ALL of the Comcast HD channel, and ALL of the Comcast ON Demmand.

Also, does comcast charge for extra non-HD/DVR boxes for digital cable on other sets in the house? This is because those sets would only be getting Basic with no digital STB.

any of you guys trying to save a buck on another HDTV tv in the house by not renting a box from comcast.

pick up the LG LST-4200A HDTV receiver. it does analog NTSC cable and QAM digital HDTV cable tuning. gets all in clear HDTV and digital channels over cable.

not to mention the picture quality is better than the motorola DCT6200. 1080i is really nice much better than the 6200. colors also really stand out. smoth fluid picture.


I tried the Samsung SIR-T451 and it got 3 HDTV channels and 2 digital, it has QAM tuning but obviously not very good and not half the picture of the LG.

I would say best tuner on the market.

Originally posted by travis33
I'm not retarded. Really.

But, just to clarify:
By getting the Basic + DC + HD, the only channels I would NOT get are 24-69, adn a few high 200s hat you get with DP.

I would get ALL of the Comcast HD channel, and ALL of the Comcast ON Demmand.

Also, does comcast charge for extra non-HD/DVR boxes for digital cable on other sets in the house? This is because those sets would only be getting Basic with no digital STB. Pretty much, as long as you live in the Boston area- I have no idea what it is outside the region. It's confusing, don't be embarrassed, and it's a good deal, probably why Comcast doesn't advertise it.

24-97 or something here is what is considered as "Extended Basic" to that effect- analog stuff like MTV, Nick, Comedy, Sci-Fi, etc. I really don't care much about them, and they'll all be going digital soon anyways.

The "Digital Choice, Classic, etc" $6 package, really offers nothing worth mentioning except for BBC-America, and you get all the other HD channels (INHD/ESPN/DISC).

With any HD box (regardless of the srevice) you'll get all the Music Choice crap (I just use internet radio), and OnDemand stuff.

Comcast charges for every STB.

QAM enabled tuners are pretty much useless because the only channels "in the clear" are the locals anyways. Cable Card 2.0 enabled tuners (2-way, On Demand, etc) are more than a few years away. You might as well just rent a 6200 for $8/mo and you'll get DVI/Firewire port to boot.

my second HD comcast box is $11 a month not $8. some people have more than 1 HD display in their house. @ $11 a month I think its a waste! dont like leasing anything! I like to own stuff. for the price of a few nights out in a month and less than what people spend on booze and cigs I can own my own cable box. @ $120 a year to comcast for a box I hardly use in my HT its worth it to me to take 2 years of payment from a comcast box and own a QAM tuner!!!! especially since I only go down to my HT to watch football in HD and football is not all year long. maybe to go watch some NBC, ABC, CBS or Fox HD programs sometimes when I feel like it. so what am I missing ? ESPNHD(so what, dont watch it enough to miss or justify), DISCHD(how much do I really want to watch on that channel that I have not already seen?), INHD 1 & 2(ok will not get the celtics"they stink" or redsox in HD but football is most important to me)

So I am missing ESPNHD, DISCHD and INHD 1 & 2..... oh boy I watch those enough to justify it! not! most of the HD stuff I watch at night is on the in the clear channels.


firewire port I will never use. I have no interest in recording shows. I have time to watch them. this QAM tuner box has DVI.

to you it might not be worth it , to me it is. the nice part is instead of paying comcast I own a piece of equipment. if I ever decide to do over the air I can do that too down the road. this box also tunes all analog cable channels too. its a nice unit and worth every penny I spent instead of giving it to comcast for basically 3 channels at $11 a month. INHD 1 & 2 only counts as one in my book cause I only watched one of them for local games. if I want to watch them anyway I got a comcast box in the living room on that HDTV. sorry but $11 a month for 3 channels I will hardly watch is not worth it in my book and another payment I will gladly not pay comcast. my cable bill is enough.

not to count six feet under and sopranos isnt on enough to justify HBO. I have seriously lowered my bill. I am now saving $35 a month. that makes me happy. it does add up over the years. a component a year makes it worth it to me.

I was watching Medical Investigation on NBC (84-2 on my Panasonic 25U's buildin tuner) and was having terrible picture problem. It seemed the mpeg stream was breaking off and on all the time. Anyone else noticed that? Is this related to the 256QAM switch?

No, it's related to NBC's ongoing problems.

The HD channels on Comcast have always been 256QAM, so for them, there was no switch.

But, NBC has been having those picture problems for quite some time now.

Collateral in HD-VOD for $3.95. Everything else is $5.95.

If it's not OAR I won't waste my time on it. They're on the right track with the price tho. Ironically Benji was added too and it's still $5.95.:D

the $3.95 was a pricing code error, enjoy it while it's there. that's the SD version price as well.

i checked the status of channels by getting into the Moto 5100 diagnostic menu. South of Boston, the expanded basic channelsare still analog. All the digital and HD channels are in the 550-750 MHz range. Quick question if one oreders just Basic Cable , and they put a filter to block anything over 270Mhz ( Ch.24) wont that filter out the digital signals in the 550-750 MHz range as well as 270-550 Mhz for expanded basic ? Found that Golf Channel Ch74, as a frequency of 533 MHz.

Also, is Comcast Digital Phone Service,not IOP service, in the 550-750 MHz range too?

Originally posted by mgpt6
i checked the status of channels by getting into the Moto 5100 diagnostic menu. South of Boston, the expanded basic channelsare still analog. All the digital and HD channels are in the 550-750 MHz range. Quick question if one oreders just Basic Cable , and they put a filter to block anything over 270Mhz ( Ch.24) wont that filter out the digital signals in the 550-750 MHz range as well as 270-550 Mhz for expanded basic ? Found that Golf Channel Ch74, as a frequency of 533 MHz.

the filters put on the lines don't block digital stations. The digital box/cable card does the filtering for dig stations

When I got assurances from this group I could get HD back WITHOUT having to get Extended basic,i called.

I said upfront I would rather pick up the equipment at the office. I stated that I had had the service in the recent past and was familiar with the installation process. (Hook the box to my HD monitor)

They said no problem,and said a 6412 would be waiting for me at Glen St. .

I went to the cable office and picked it up no problem.

They said connect it to the cable and wait 1/2 hour.

I connected it and then I noticed something My Internet was down :(

I called comcast WITH my cell phone and was able to have my Internet back on.=It seemed in the process of making the order for my cable upgrade they shut off my Internet.

The next day I get voice mail saying the would be coming Saturday.

I called asking why. They said to install an HD box. I said i already had it and then they would cancel the appointment. (not needed as i already have it)

I see my March bill tHey charge me for Basic and Digital Plus,but NO Box (This is a DVR!)

$19.05 as opposed to $34.05

I go to work when I get home i checked my voicemail saying Comcast tried coming by today for their appointment which I had already canceled because I did not need it.

Tempted to not call cause it seems I am not being charged for the DVR.
I don' mind being charged but if theyre not going to,I can live with thst.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Pretty much, as long as you live in the Boston area- I have no idea what it is outside the region. It's confusing, don't be embarrassed, and it's a good deal, probably why Comcast doesn't advertise it.

You cannot order that serivce online. You have to ASK. In many parts of the country you have to get extended to get any digital programming.
I think they do have to give HD locals. Comcast considered HD locals are part of basic,as they should :)



24-97 or something here is what is considered as "Extended Basic" to that effect- analog stuff like MTV, Nick, Comedy, Sci-Fi, etc. I really don't care much about them, and they'll all be going digital soon anyways.

The "Digital Choice, Classic, etc" $6 package, really offers nothing worth mentioning except for BBC-America, and you get all the other HD channels (INHD/ESPN/DISC).

With any HD box (regardless of the srevice) you'll get all the Music Choice crap (I just use internet radio), and OnDemand stuff.


Some folks LIKE the music choice channels,but you do need Digital Classic. I know someone who has just a digital box.

I've pretty much decided on keeping DC WITH extended basic (relutantly). The big factor was that any non-HD sets in the house couldn't get redsox or ESPN. I like to fall asleep to the Sox and what good is the sports lounge in my basement if I can't get NESN or ESPN? I'm not in a position to spring for two more HD sets.

Oh well.

A little OT:

Has anybody seen the INHD program called "Super Speedway"?

It's a 40min IMAX movie about F1 racing. I've found it to be THE reference video for demoing my HT. The picture is obviously better than any DVD, and the sound is incredible- deep bass and loud rears. This movie has earned coveted "save until I delete" status. I can watch it everyday and it still gives me chills.

I wish my g/f didn't think I was crazy.

Super Speedway is reference material. excellent video.

Originally posted by travis33
A little OT:

Has anybody seen the INHD program called "Super Speedway"?

It's a 40min IMAX movie about F1 racing. I've found it to be THE reference video for demoing my HT. The picture is obviously better than any DVD, and the sound is incredible- deep bass and loud rears. This movie has earned coveted "save until I delete" status. I can watch it everyday and it still gives me chills.

I wish my g/f didn't think I was crazy.

It is playing late ron tonight. Set DVR to record!

Originally posted by travis33
I've pretty much decided on keeping DC WITH extended basic (relutantly). The big factor was that any non-HD sets in the house couldn't get redsox or ESPN. I like to fall asleep to the Sox and what good is the sports lounge in my basement if I can't get NESN or ESPN? I'm not in a position to spring for two more HD sets.

Oh well.
A way I could get aroundit a wee bit was I had a plain HD box and when I got the DVR I moved the HD box to Mom's analog set.

Regular HD boxes DO downconvert HD to a letterboxed 480i NTSC signal on channel 3.

The DVRs will also downconvert HD for NTSC sets. :)

The IMAX stuff on INHD is cropped.

All the HD channels are stuttering again tonight.

Originally posted by DaveFi
The IMAX stuff on INHD is cropped.

All the HD channels are stuttering again tonight.

Hope it dosen't happen during my Super speedway recording.

Update: Didn't but it started a few minutes late (I had it set to start at 2:40 the show started at 2:30 the guide said 2:45)

Yes, I have the Super Speedway DVD as well. Great 5.1 audio as well.

Lastnight was the worst, all the HD channels were freezing up. Does anyone know whats going on. I'm North of Boston.

Originally posted by DaveFi
The IMAX stuff on INHD is cropped.


Wouldn't it have to be? What is the original aspect of IMAX?

Rich N.

Originally posted by bruman
Super Speedway is reference material. excellent video.

Not bad,but virtually ANTYTHING on Discovery HD is reference material,as well as most of INHD's other programming.

i would disagree with that.

discovery alot of the time has less than stellar programs. as well as PBS.

INHD also the same. those awful upconverted movies. blah!

Are the people that are having their boxes freeze now have the issue before the new firmware? I had it all the time but after the new firmware I have not had one freeze.

Originally posted by bruman
i would disagree with that.

discovery alot of the time has less than stellar programs. as well as PBS.

INHD also the same. those awful upconverted movies. blah!

Not all of the time.

Originally posted by raidbuck
Wouldn't it have to be? What is the original aspect of IMAX?

Rich N. 4:3 material doesn't have to be cropped to be HD.

Early on INHD did indeed show some OAR HD material, including 4:3. Now it's crop-o-rama on everything.

How do I check my firmware version?

elbig, Go to the main menu select setup then select cable box setup. Under configuration go to the last entry I think its show config. You will see your firmware version here.

Tsunamii: Thx!

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Are the people that are having their boxes freeze now have the issue before the new firmware? I had it all the time but after the new firmware I have not had one freeze.

I never noticed it before the 9.15 update but I have noticed it post update. Just last night I was switching tuners between Independence Day and Collateral Damage and I must of hit the swap button 4 or 5 times because it didn't switch, then about 5 seconds after I stopped trying to swap the boxes did all the swaps.

I have to check the software on my box but the last two days have been HORRIBLE. I had one lockup that was literally 2 minutes long.

Chris

weird that people who didnt have the problem now have it. Im smooth sailing with the new firmware..

Currently am a subscriber to RCN. Just was curious when Comcast plans on releasing their dual tuner DVR model? Oh yeah by the way does anybody subscribe to the Sport Tier Package and if so does Gol TV come in English or Spanish? Thanks...

Dual tuner 6412 has been out for a while now.

Thanks JD. I thought the single tuner was the only one out. I haven't read these threads in a while, but why is everyone having so much difficulty with these DVR's? Maybe I'm glad I don't have one yet since there seems to be too many glitches with them. Or am I wrong?

SonyHD, like everything they have had their share or bugs. Mine seems to be stabilized now. I even got an apology card over the weekend from Corp in PA. Pretty funny stuff a hand with a bunch of roses coming through the front door.

Thanks for the response Tsunammi and JDLive. Maybe a DVR will be in the plans for me afterall. Does anybody have any news though on Gol TV, being broadcast in English? I believe its on Channel 714 on Comcast's Sports Tier. RCN currently does not carry Gol TV.

Originally posted by SonyHD
Thanks for the response Tsunammi and JDLive. Maybe a DVR will be in the plans for me afterall. Does anybody have any news though on Gol TV, being broadcast in English? I believe its on Channel 714 on Comcast's Sports Tier. RCN currently does not carry Gol TV.

I do not get that tier but i believe it IS in English

GolTv is broadcast in english

Great! Can anyone give a review on Gol TV and how it compares to Fox Soccer Channel? My favorite team is Real Madrid and I know that Gol TV broadcasts their games. I'm hoping that Comcast or some other MSO carries the New Real Madrid TV channel, which should be available in English by the Summer or possibly sooner.

sonyhd, you're way OT and essentially starting a new thread. please go to the programming forum. this is local hdtv info and reception for Comcast Boston.

One quick way to see when ADS is in use,look for Dolby symbol on the info bar. It will say "normal" if channels are still analog. Still wonder if 1or 2 analog channels can move taken off the expanded analog tier to digital to free up bandwidth?

Originally posted by avic
sonyhd, you're way OT and essentially starting a new thread. please go to the programming forum. this is local hdtv info and reception for Comcast Boston.

Lighten up Francis. The last time I checked, you were not a forum moderator, please stop continually playing the role of one. People are here to get information.

You guys might be sorry when we get ADS. No more analog to go to when the digital starts breaking up.

-Ken

I was just thinking that the other night.

But then, the analog signal was so bad that I probably ought to just give up TV.

Originally posted by Gabatta
Lighten up Francis. The last time I checked, you were not a forum moderator, please stop continually playing the role of one. People are here to get information.

Yeah, to get info about HDTV with Comcast..
not about GOL TV, or talk about their favorite teams.
A question or 2 OT is ok, but not when it's going to start a huge OT thread..
And AVIC seems to know more of what's going on than almost any other member here, so..

Originally posted by SonyHD
Great! Can anyone give a review on Gol TV and how it compares to Fox Soccer Channel? My favorite team is Real Madrid and I know that Gol TV broadcasts their games. I'm hoping that Comcast or some other MSO carries the New Real Madrid TV channel, which should be available in English by the Summer or possibly sooner.

There will be no Real Madrid channel on Comcast. I get my Real Madrid games on Voom which has the right to all games in HD and the rest of La Liga.

Yes, comcast information, not comparisons between channels some of us probably don't care about. This thread veers often enough as it is that some amount of control has to be put in place by the people posting to it.

Originally posted by kenvt
You guys might be sorry when we get ADS. No more analog to go to when the digital starts breaking up.

-Ken Then I guess they'll have to work extra hard to get it right.

I think we're getting a free Starz preview next week. Noticed something to that effect in the flyer before I threw it away.

Kinda OT but can someone answer a DVI question. If I run DVI from the dual tuner can I also input my DVD into the box with component and out the cable box dvi? Im guess no but thought it might be worth asking.
I set up a pair of DVI cables and the quality is like night and day im loving it.

Originally posted by Tsunamii
Kinda OT but can someone answer a DVI question. If I run DVI from the dual tuner can I also input my DVD into the box with component and out the cable box dvi? Im guess no but thought it might be worth asking.
I set up a pair of DVI cables and the quality is like night and day im loving it.

if by box, you mean the HD box, no becasue the inputs on all dig boxes aren't active

so what do you all think of paris hilton's new hairdo? let's discuss that, it's on tv which is on cable which is on an HD station in Boston. :rolleyes:
and no i'm not a 'moderator' but keep calling me Francis and your login will mysteriously stop working! ;)

Originally posted by kenvt
You guys might be sorry when we get ADS. No more analog to go to when the digital starts breaking up. you can always bypass the box and go direct, with a good splitter.

I was watching House on 85-1 (Panny QAM tuner) this evening and the closed caption was lagging for at least 2 seconds. CBS on 85-2 always has a half second lag with CC but this is the first time it happened on Fox, even in the commercials. And it's really bad.

Is this WFXT's issue or Comcast, or Fox the network?

Originally posted by stephenju
I was watching House on 85-1 (Panny QAM tuner) this evening and the closed caption was lagging for at least 2 seconds. CBS on 85-2 always has a half second lag with CC but this is the first time it happened on Fox, even in the commercials. And it's really bad.

Is this WFXT's issue or Comcast, or Fox the network?


If your getting your HD OTA how can Comcast affect the closed captions when they don't even provide your signal. It must be a station issue.

I am getting my local HD from Comcast by way of the QAM tuner built-in my Panasonic plasma. The locals are free with the bare bone cable package that I subscribe. I figure since I added a $10 basic cable for the $15 discount on HSI, I might as well make the most of it. :)

But I guess you are right anyway. Comcast can't possibly alter the CC info in the data stream.

L Supreme, thanks for the info.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Then I guess they'll have to work extra hard to get it right.

I think we're getting a free Starz preview next week. Noticed something to that effect in the flyer before I threw it away.

Not until early April. I believe during the preview you get 6 channels of starz (Encore is part of Digital plus) and starz on demand.

I believe tonight's Celtics v. Lakers game at the Fleet will be in HD on Channel 882.

Mickey

Originally posted by kenvt
You guys might be sorry when we get ADS. No more analog to go to when the digital starts breaking up.

-Ken

Could still get analog direct from the wire, no? Only the box would map the digital signal to the analog channel number.

Edit: Whoops! I see 'Francis' beat me to the answer! Avic, I am just teasing ... I fully support your position on the use of this thread ... it tends to go way over the edge and there's nothing wrong with a re-direction regardless of whether you or whomever is a moderator.

I rent two HDTV boxes from COMCAST.

I also have an old channel 2-13 TV in a kid's room that I'd like to use.

What are the legalities of using a third party cable box to increase the channels beyond channel 13? I understand that it won't receive any premium channels.

What are sources for purchasing cable boxes that will allow expanded use, particularly in light of the move towards increased digital channels.

Kurchian-

Just get a VCR to get the other analogs... that's perfectly legal. A VHS has the tuner and it's like $40. To get digitals, well, IMO, it's still cheaper to rent a box. Maybe in a few years, but unless you need one of the particular digital channels, I don't think you have to worry about all the digitals moving anytime soon.

Chris

256 QAM Has arrived in Easton.It must have happened in the last few days.Is anyone still at 64.

Originally posted by Defraggerman
256 QAM Has arrived in Easton.It must have happened in the last few days.Is anyone still at 64.

Channel 223 is still at 64 in Middleboro...

I see no difference between the QAM64 and 256 channels, other than the channels now tile when initially tuning into them.

Originally posted by MickeyGee
I believe tonight's Celtics v. Lakers game at the Fleet will be in HD on Channel 882.

Mickey

Yes it WAS!

Not only did we win,but the picture was OUT of THIS WORLD! (AS usual for these telecasts)

I hope danny is not playing with the fans cause if he does not sign walker long term I will not watch the celtice again until they are in the playoffs.

I hope danny learned his lesson. walker deserved a nice contract and is the heart and soul of the celtics. look at pierce.... he was not the same player when walker left. even I thought peirce was the man but it was really walker!

what a line up..... west, walker, peirce, davis & blount. I do hope payton comes back and have west back him up, he still is a rookie no matter how good he is playing. imagine that line up ? payton, walker, pierce and davis are able to score 20 or more on any given night.

the only thing wrong with this team is blount. this guy has alot of tallent and size. but he has no heart and doesnt give his all. I hope walker can change that.

go celtics!!!

sorry, back to the thread. :)

Originally posted by chitchatjf
Yes it WAS!

Not only did we win,but the picture was OUT of THIS WORLD! (AS usual for these telecasts)
Great PQ. It's nice to have the Celts playing well again. It might make the remainder of this hellacious winter easy to endure.

Mickey

Originally posted by MickeyGee
Great PQ. It's nice to have the Celts playing well again. It might make the remainder of this hellacious winter easy to endure.

Mickey

The PQ was great on shots with low motion levels ('Toine sitting on the bench, etc) but it seemed to me that there was a little more tiling than on other HD broadcasts during the fast-action shots.

I'm comparing this to broadcasts like the INHD Imax films, Red Sox, and Pats. It may be that all of them exhibit the same tiling and it shows up more in basketball due to lighting, amount of fast action, etc.

the picture was notbthat good last night. I watch in movie mode as it cuts down on the jaggies and Interlace problems you see in 1080i. even that didnt help like it usually does. its usually a much better picture than last night. it did break up alot.

Originally posted by bruman
the picture was notbthat good last night. I watch in movie mode as it cuts down on the jaggies and Interlace problems you see in 1080i. even that didnt help like it usually does. its usually a much better picture than last night. it did break up alot.
Mine wasn't breaking up or tiling, at least not while I was watching.

Mickey

My 6412 crapped out today, the box wasn't accepting any commnads from the remote or the box for few minutes then it started turning on and off by itself. After I reset it for a few minutes, I tried to play a recorded show (Lost) and the timer showed on the screen but with no picture???? I tried several more times with the same result, good thing I watched this show last night cause I would have been pissed if I missed it. I just went down to local Comcast and switched it out since they couldn't get here till next week. Hopefully the new one will be good to me:)

xboxjunkie, that sux. Lost is a great show too bad you couldnt salvage it.
I have done my fair share of ranting about comcast and I have to say after I sent in a letter the service level is very good. When they were going to change out the HDBox they even offered to switch out the HD so I wouldnt lose any shows. We didnt end up switching out the box and I opted to wait for the new firmware and its been golden since.
Yesterday I got a call from the field supervisor to make sure things are going well. Much appriciated.
Maybe it shouldnt have taken a letter to Corp. But hats off to Comcast for the follow up since. A+ customer service.

least they can do for the money spent and lack of CS.

Originally posted by xboxjunkie
My 6412 crapped out today, the box wasn't accepting any commnads from the remote or the box for few minutes then it started turning on and off by itself. After I reset it for a few minutes, I tried to play a recorded show (Lost) and the timer showed on the screen but with no picture???? I tried several more times with the same result, good thing I watched this show last night cause I would have been pissed if I missed it. I just went down to local Comcast and switched it out since they couldn't get here till next week. Hopefully the new one will be good to me:)

The main reason I turned in the box in December was not because of the $ but because after the extended basic filter was put on my line I could not get ANY channel until I watched a program on the DVR.

Things are OK now

I have tried tWICE to reocrd something that ran bpast 4am and I ghet recording interrupted.

It is like do not record anything around that time :(

Both times were on ch 881

Originally posted by chitchatjf
I have tried tWICE to reocrd something that ran bpast 4am and I ghet recording interrupted.

It is like do not record anything around that time :(

Both times were on ch 881


maintence work done between 2am - 5am, recordings during that time have a higher chancve of being interuppted

Is there a Freeview of all movie channels this week?
Since I put in my new 6412 yesterday, i'm getting all the Movie channels!:)

That happend to me when I swapped out my single tuner DVR for a 6412.. It won't last long :(

BTW, They let me pick up the box at the local office and install it myself..

A few days or 2 before the 9.15 upgrade, I noticed some green lines on WB. Not many, but noticible. Last night while watching Analog 7 then NESN, I noticed more with one audio drop during a commercial.

By no means were they disruptive to the viewing experience, but noticible.

What is the current firmware on a 6200 in Reading. I have 8. something. Thanks

Originally posted by L Supreme
maintence work done between 2am - 5am, recordings during that time have a higher chancve of being interuppted

And I'm so glad they moved it back. It used to start at midnight, and I was constantly having to call to complain.

For those of you in the area with 6412s:

How loud is the box for you from, say, 8 feet away? When I watch TV form my couch, and have the volume set to a moderate level, the HD noise is noticable. At times, it gets so annoyinginly loud that I need to turn up the volume on my pre-amp to about 65 when it's usually at 50-52.

I'm just wondering if this box is inherently noisy or if swapping for another 6412 may help. My mom's SA 8000HD at home in the West is very quiet and not an annoynace while watching shows.

i have been getting blocking as of late it seems.

To be on the same side i'm recording JOA on Ch 4 as well as 804.

I'll watch the 804 broadcast first of course. :)

Originally posted by tennberg
For those of you in the area with 6412s:

How loud is the box for you from, say, 8 feet away? When I watch TV form my couch, and have the volume set to a moderate level, the HD noise is noticable. At times, it gets so annoyinginly loud that I need to turn up the volume on my pre-amp to about 65 when it's usually at 50-52.

I'm just wondering if this box is inherently noisy or if swapping for another 6412 may help. My mom's SA 8000HD at home in the West is very quiet and not an annoynace while watching shows.

I havent heard the HD noise issue brought up in awhile. I'd probably swap it out. I can barely hear mine if the TV is off sitting 6-8 feet away. Much less with the TV on.

I've had my 6412 for 3 weeks now and I also can barely hear it. It has however lost audio twice since the 9.15 upgrade.
I don't know the exact day, but Milford has gone 256 QAM.

I sit about 8-10 feet from my 6412 and the noise can get annoying sometimes. It's not a whine or hiss, but it is like a trickling hard drive action noise. During loud scene's it's not noticeable, but during quiet scene's, I wish it was in another room. I'd turn it off when not in use, but then I'd have no audio for any recordings (because of the silly mute-at-power-on "feature").

Originally posted by C5Bill
That happend to me when I swapped out my single tuner DVR for a 6412.. It won't last long :(

BTW, They let me pick up the box at the local office and install it myself..

In my case,it was more like 5 or 10 minutes. I think it may be because the box was tuned to Ch 322 (Starz theatre,originally on ch 87 in the days of 12 analog PPV channels)

When I got my first digital box in 2000 the "start" channel was 204.

Originally posted by C5Bill
That happend to me when I swapped out my single tuner DVR for a 6412.. It won't last long :(

BTW, They let me pick up the box at the local office and install it myself..

In my case,it was more like 5 or 10 minutes. I think it may be because the box was tuned to Ch 322 (Starz theatre,originally on ch 87 in the days of 12 analog PPV channels)

When I got my first digital box in 2000 the "start" channel was 204.

BTW MY 6412 is QUIET!

I assume WLVI-DT is on for next week.

Any word on WSBK-DT? April 15th would be a nice day.

Originally posted by chitchatjf
I assume WLVI-DT is on for next week.v
on-schedule

Any word on WSBK-DT? April 15th would be a nice day.
got the juicy details, but can't post them, YET! :D

Originally posted by avic


It would be nice to get *every* Red Sox home game in HD this year, rather than getting every Friday night game in analog! Plus with the addition of road games on NESN-HD, and whatever Sox games are broadcast on ESPN-HD or Fox-HD, there should hopefully be a minimum of Sox games that can only be watched in analog.

With UPN-HD and WB-HD both planned for addition, I'd love to see Comcast then move their focus to Universal-HD. avic, put in a good word :-)

Of course you realize that they'll use this to justify another 10% rate increase next january.

It would be wonderful if Comcast could get WSBK/38-HD up in time for that first Friday night Red Sox home game. We will hope that is Avic's juicy detail.

Mickey

WBHD and UPNHD are gonna be added ?????? thats sweet!!!!

since I have a LG LST-4200A in my HT I cannot get INHD anymore but can get all In the clear HD channels. would be sweet to get those and redsox games in HD.

now it will only be celtics I am watching in analog in the HT. I guess 34"'s in the living room is not so bad if I have to watch the celts. :)

I will say this LG unit works great on comcast system. no more renting a box for the HT. was used rarely anyway. rather own.

Also, I can't wait to see some of the Sox road games in HD via NESN this season. Does anyone know which games or which ballparks they will broadcast from in HD?

Mickey

Bruman - Not sure what display you are using but if it has DVI then you should consider getting a LG 3510, combo QAM tuner and dvd player. You do realize that with a Comcast STB you will not get the NESN-HD games on INHD.

Originally posted by MickeyGee
Also, I can't wait to see some of the Sox road games in HD via NESN this season. Does anyone know which games or which ballparks they will broadcast from in HD?

Mickey

Lots of 'em! Here's the NESN schedule (http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/programming/schedules/redsox/).

Originally posted by toots
Of course you realize that they'll use this to justify another 10% rate increase next january. it's debbie downer! wuawuawua :p

as i hinted/mentioned a long while back. there will ONLY be 19 regular season games in analog this year. 19 - that's HOT!

dozens: yes I know I cannot get ESPNHD and INHD. but this is a second box and used in the HT and not used all that much. I have HDTV upstairs in the living room with a comcast box. dont watch much ESPNHD but did like the INHD for sox and celts games but I can watch them upstairs. $130 a year for a second comcast box is a rip considering I can own my own. INHD wont be carrying those games forever. that will change in the future.

so instead of renting I won. sure I dont get INHD but I can get it upstairs on the XBR which is fine for me. the display I am using the LG on is the X1. plus this LG 4200A does have DVI.


owning beats renting. a waste of money on a second box. plus if I really want to watch the sox or celts on the projector it does not take much to bring the comcast box DS. :)

When are we getting that free Starz preview? I thought the flyer said this week, was I mistaken?

Originally posted by MickeyGee
It would be wonderful if Comcast could get WSBK/38-HD up in time for that first Friday night Red Sox home game. We will hope that is Avic's juicy detail.

Mickey

Home Red Sox games are cool but what I really would like to see is ENTERPRISE!

I wonder if UPN38 has an HD recorder tdo they can record the HD feed from Friday to replay on SAturday or do we have to stick with 4:3 letterbox. :(

At least the game on Friday May 13th is a road game ,starting at 10pm (but no HD :( )

I love the Sox as much as anyone ,but I would at least like to see ONE episode of Enterprise in HD!

There was a report today the ST: Enterprise will be going to SpikeTV and the fans will fund the next season in HD. The fans have raised over 3million, and will be getting another 3x1million dollars from 3 very rich fans.

Yabbut SpikeTV ain't in HD is it?

Originally posted by RScogland
I sit about 8-10 feet from my 6412 and the noise can get annoying sometimes. It's not a whine or hiss, but it is like a trickling hard drive action noise. During loud scene's it's not noticeable, but during quiet scene's, I wish it was in another room. I'd turn it off when not in use, but then I'd have no audio for any recordings (because of the silly mute-at-power-on "feature").

That hasn't happened for me as of late.
It may be because I have programmed the AUX for something ,namely my DVD player.

Originally posted by roachxp
There was a report today the ST: Enterprise will be going to SpikeTV and the fans will fund the next season in HD. The fans have raised over 3million, and will be getting another 3x1million dollars from 3 very rich fans.

Read that,but i believe it is quite doubtful. If that proves to be the case,I'll have someone tape it for me,I'm not spending $38 a month.

If it were DEEP SPACE NINE,on the othe hand.

if your box is too noisy call in for a swap.

Originally posted by avic
if your box is too noisy call in for a swap.

I still need to watch 7 episode of Alias and 7 episodes of Carnivale before I can turn in the box. I'll probably do it toward the end of next week. Since it's probably the HD that's the problem, it's not like swapping it into another box would help.

Originally posted by hibricc
Lots of 'em! Here's the NESN schedule (http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/programming/schedules/redsox/).
Thanks. Maybe its me, but when I go to that site I only see a couple of games listed as "HD". I know the NESN and WSBK home games will be in HD, but I am curious about the road games.

Mickey

I imagine it wil be the same as last year with the road games in SD. I think it's because Fenway is hard wired for HD by NESN, but they don't have mobile HD facilities like Fox and ESPN for example.

Originally posted by MickeyGee
Thanks. Maybe its me, but when I go to that site I only see a couple of games listed as "HD". I know the NESN and WSBK home games will be in HD, but I am curious about the road games.

Mickey

Not many pre-season games are, but scroll down into the regular season and I'd say 80%+ are in HD.

Originally posted by tennberg
For those of you in the area with 6412s:

How loud is the box for you from, say, 8 feet away? When I watch TV form my couch, and have the volume set to a moderate level, the HD noise is noticable. At times, it gets so annoyinginly loud that I need to turn up the volume on my pre-amp to about 65 when it's usually at 50-52.

I'm just wondering if this box is inherently noisy or if swapping for another 6412 may help. My mom's SA 8000HD at home in the West is very quiet and not an annoynace while watching shows.

dude have comcast swap out the box. Mine is only audible with the slightest harddrive clicking noises when I mute the tv and sit 2 feet or closer to it.

Originally posted by PaulHikeS2
I imagine it wil be the same as last year with the road games in SD. I think it's because Fenway is hard wired for HD by NESN, but they don't have mobile HD facilities like Fox and ESPN for example.

its been discussed and its listed here http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/programming/schedules/redsox/

NESN has added 40 road games in HD this year.

I am getting Comcast digital this week. I ordered the HD STB box for my new Sony LCD but did'nt order the extra HD service. The Sony has an internal HD receiver that I have been using for OTA (its been fantastic) will I be getting any HD stations such as NESN ..... I'm sure the answer lies in this thread somewhere, but I could'nt find it.

Originally posted by robla64
I am getting Comcast digital this week. I ordered the HD STB box for my new Sony LCD but did'nt order the extra HD service. The Sony has an internal HD receiver that I have been using for OTA (its been fantastic) will I be getting any HD stations such as NESN ..... I'm sure the answer lies in this thread somewhere, but I could'nt find it.

As long as you subscribe to Digital Classic or better you'll get INHD1 & 2 (NESN and FSN broadcast Sox/Bruins(!) and Celtics games in HD on the INHD2 channel 882) plus ESPN HD and DiscoveryHD. If you only have basic then you'll only get the local stations in HD which it sounds like you already have...

Originally posted by Kaiser-Soze
Not many pre-season games are, but scroll down into the regular season and I'd say 80%+ are in HD.
Thanks. Now I see them. It looks like the HD road games will be from a lot of different locations. In addition to watching the World Champion Sox play, it will be interesting to compare and contrast how the different parks look in HD.

BTW: I think tonight's exhibition game against the Yanks might be in HD.

Mickey

Originally posted by MickeyGee
BTW: I think tonight's exhibition game against the Yanks might be in HD.

Mickey

You are correct, sir!

Originally posted by YesJim
As long as you subscribe to Digital Classic or better you'll get INHD1 & 2 (NESN and FSN broadcast Sox/Bruins(!) and Celtics games in HD on the INHD2 channel 882) plus ESPN HD and DiscoveryHD. If you only have basic then you'll only get the local stations in HD which it sounds like you already have...

If I have Basic-I with no extended, and upgrade to Digital Classic and rent a HDTV box will I be able to get NESN-HD?

Originally posted by avic
if your box is too noisy call in for a swap.

I don't want to chance making things worse. (I've never had any missed recordings, never had any freezes watching TV, rarely had any freezes in the menu, just have the silly mute/on issue.) My room is so quiet that I think the standard hard drive noise is more noticeable here than it would be in most other setups. It's the same noise I got from my 6208 before I upgraded to the 6412.

One other thing ... I finally got the silly 12/31/1989 recording showing up. Out of curiosity, I deleted 100% of my recordings and it stayed. I tried to delete it, but could not. What is it, why is it taking up 3% of my recording space, and how can I get rid of it?

Originally posted by roachxp
If I have Basic-I with no extended, and upgrade to Digital Classic and rent a HDTV box will I be able to get NESN-HD?

Yes. I even have the DVR and am paying much less then folks with just standard cable.

I know this has been asked many times, but I can't seem to find the answer..
how many hi-def shows can the 6412 hold?
thanks..

6412 question: Is the IEEE1394 connection functional? I had Comcast about a year ago, and it sent down an upgrade that shut down the firewire port. Can anyone with a Mits set-up verify if it is working or not?

The Firewire port on the 6412 should be working. A friend of mine has had it for a few months and he's been using it to record to D-VHS.

To all:

Any 6412 owners with the new 09.15 firmware still getting freezing issues with iGuide? Last night was a DOOZY! I was playing something off of DVR, hit stop, it got to the iGuide, then stayed there for a good 45 seconds, all the while I'm sitting there pushing buttons. Then, it freaks out and starts performing all those actions in a row. Since getting the 09.15 firmware, the longest it would freeze is 7-10 seconds. (Note: iGuide was freezing before the new firmware as well.)

Does anyone (e.g. avic) know if there have been many instances of the new firmware not solving the freezing issue? I'd be curious to know and also would be glad to give any info if this is still an issue with the 6412s/iGuide.

Originally posted by dag16
I know this has been asked many times, but I can't seem to find the answer..
how many hi-def shows can the 6412 hold?
thanks..

15 hours of HD more of standard analog even more of standard digital

Originally posted by chitchatjf
15 hours of HD more of standard analog even more of standard digital

Thanks so much..
I finally bought the bullet and got a 6412 last week, was curious what I could do with it..

Any ideas how many channels were opened up with 64 QAM to 256 QAM adjustment? Is this the space that was needed for WLVI-DT and UPN 38-DT?

Ok i'm happy to say all those movie channels are still up since I changed the 6412 last thursday but the new one has a small problem, when i turn on the unit there is no picture on any of the channels and also no sound. The only way to get it to work is to go to my recorded shows, press play on any of them then I can exit out and the picture comes in on all the channels. Weird.

Originally posted by tennberg
To all:

Any 6412 owners with the new 09.15 firmware still getting freezing issues with iGuide? Last night was a DOOZY! I was playing something off of DVR, hit stop, it got to the iGuide, then stayed there for a good 45 seconds, all the while I'm sitting there pushing buttons. Then, it freaks out and starts performing all those actions in a row. Since getting the 09.15 firmware, the longest it would freeze is 7-10 seconds. (Note: iGuide was freezing before the new firmware as well.)

Does anyone (e.g. avic) know if there have been many instances of the new firmware not solving the freezing issue? I'd be curious to know and also would be glad to give any info if this is still an issue with the 6412s/iGuide.

What you are referring to is actually two problems. There was the analog freeze problem where bad closed captioning data would cause your box to freeze for 20-30secs. Then there is the key lag problem, which you are experiencing. The analog freeze problem was fixed since it effected all DVR boxes. The key lag one isn't as widespread and seems to not have been fixed the last round of updates.

sox-yanks spring training matchup in HD...looks great, except for the odd camera angles and the occasional pixellating. the red jerseys wreak havock on the HD cameras.

Originally posted by xboxjunkie
Ok i'm happy to say all those movie channels are still up since I changed the 6412 last thursday but the new one has a small problem, when i turn on the unit there is no picture on any of the channels and also no sound. The only way to get it to work is to go to my recorded shows, press play on any of them then I can exit out and the picture comes in on all the channels. Weird.

I've had that same problem on-and-off since we got our 6412 when it first came out. It happend quite frequently at first, but rarely happens now. Since there is a work-around, I've never really bothered with it.

On a side note, I just got a universal remote (Harmony) and when I downloaded the SW for the 6412, it included a "30 Second Forward" control (which I never found on the Comcast remote). I HIGHLY recommend this functionality!

Originally posted by MickeyGee
Thanks. Now I see them. It looks like the HD road games will be from a lot of different locations. In addition to watching the World Champion Sox play, it will be interesting to compare and contrast how the different parks look in HD.

BTW: I think tonight's exhibition game against the Yanks might be in HD.

Mickey

If I recall correctly, last season INHD2 had a random game every week or every other week from different ball parks. I can safely say (and I am not a RedSox fan - a phillies fan, who is married to a Yankees fan) that the NESN HD broadcasts blew away ANY of the other HD broadcasts.

I mostly got HD for sports, but I watch a lot of other programs in HD and I believe that Fenway HD is the BEST HD CONTENT there is (again, and I am not a Sox fan).

One of the most disappointing parts of the playoffs last season was having to go from the NESN HD to Fox "HD". Horrible downgrade

One of the most disappointing parts of the playoffs last season was having to go from the NESN HD to Fox "HD". Horrible downgrade

it hurts huh ? :)

Originally posted by xboxjunkie
Ok i'm happy to say all those movie channels are still up since I changed the 6412 last thursday but the new one has a small problem, when i turn on the unit there is no picture on any of the channels and also no sound. The only way to get it to work is to go to my recorded shows, press play on any of them then I can exit out and the picture comes in on all the channels. Weird.

This happened to me right after I had the Extended basic filter put in. I was quite upset,thinking this was because of my tier buy through (Getting digital WITHOUT extended basic) and gave up on the box the following Monday.

OF course i got it back :)

Originally posted by rookiewill
On a side note, I just got a universal remote (Harmony) and when I downloaded the SW for the 6412, it included a "30 Second Forward" control (which I never found on the Comcast remote). I HIGHLY recommend this functionality! u didn't look hard enough, the 30 sec skip has been around for months. it was discussed here and in the 6412 thread back when. u can map that function to another unused button. go to the 6412 thread and look it up, very easy. i can't watch dvr programs without it!

and i should have some more news about UPN-HD very soon. a lot to work out but hoping it all does. in the meantime we have the WB to look forward to this week.

Ok i'm happy to say all those movie channels are still up since I changed the 6412 last thursday but the new one has a small problem, when i turn on the unit there is no picture on any of the channels and also no sound. The only way to get it to work is to go to my recorded shows, press play on any of them then I can exit out and the picture comes in on all the channels. Weird.

That happened for a few days with our 6412 as well. I accidentally discovered that workaround like you did and was prepared to ignore it, but that bug went away by itself. Haven't seen it since.

We got all the movie channels free too with that new box, but only for a week or so. We were mildly bummed when they vanished, but we knew it wasn't going to last forever.

sox-yanks spring training matchup in HD...looks great,

I actually thought the PQ was only so-so, compared to other HD sports I've watched. I think both CBS football and the Celtics games on FSN look better.

Good to know i'm not the only one with that problem, hopefully mine goes away too.

On the 30 Second Skip button, Avic you sent me that a while back and I never got it to work with the 3 Comcast remotes I have here, I just got the Harmony 680 a couple of weeks ago and it worked on there with no problem. I was going crazy w/ the comcat remotes, trying about 20 times a day to no avail...

Originally posted by rookiewill
If I recall correctly, last season INHD2 had a random game every week or every other week from different ball parks. I can safely say (and I am not a RedSox fan - a phillies fan, who is married to a Yankees fan) that the NESN HD broadcasts blew away ANY of the other HD broadcasts.

I mostly got HD for sports, but I watch a lot of other programs in HD and I believe that Fenway HD is the BEST HD CONTENT there is (again, and I am not a Sox fan)...
I know that a lot of people agree with you about NESN-HD at Fenway, but I always thought that some parts of the field looked a little too dark last year. Some of the other parks (such as San Diego) looked brighter, cleaner and sharper. Just my opinion. And maybe we are getting a little jaded, quibbling over granular differences in HD rather than complaining that we can't see our home teams in HD (which is a current problem for many other cities).

Mickey

Actually, INHD2 averaged 3 games a week, but since you live in a MLB market like me, (I'll probably have 2 home markets with the O's and Nats) they could often be blacked out. It was still nice when INHD2 did get a game through the blackouts, though. We got to see Phillies, Red Sox and San Diego a lot since they have home HD games.

Rich N.

I was helping a friend shop for a DLP set at Best Buy this weekend and was told more then a few lies by the sales guy. I wanted to confirm something I thought was potential BS. I was told that Comcast will be releasing newer HD STBs with HDMI instead of DVI. I don't even know if Motorola has a STB with HDMI ? Are there any coming in the near future ?

dozens, not that i know of.

in other news...24 of the 28 UPN friday night Sox games will be in HD. the 4 in SD will include 2 in april, 1 in may and 1 in august. still tba on whether upn will get it's own slot or just use 882 for friday night HD red sox coverage. nesn will not have its own HD channel, so expect the 882 pre-empt there for sure.

avic - just to confirm what I think you have heard.

It looks like WBHD will go live THIS WEEK? UPN in the potential near future, but no new cable-only channels (ESPN2HD, TNT, etc.) in the works?

Is that correct

I was hoping for WB HD today... no way I'm getting a good signal with this weather.

Chris

Originally posted by avic
dozens, not that i know of.

in other news...24 of the 28 UPN friday night Sox games will be in HD. the 4 in SD will include 2 in april, 1 in may and 1 in august. still tba on whether upn will get it's own slot or just use 882 for friday night HD red sox coverage. nesn will not have its own HD channel, so expect the 882 pre-empt there for sure.

avic: Just curious, is there a reason why it's not 28 of 28 games in HD? I'm wondering why those 4 will only be in SD.

Originally posted by avic
dozens, not that i know of.

in other news...24 of the 28 UPN friday night Sox games will be in HD. the 4 in SD will include 2 in april, 1 in may and 1 in august. still tba on whether upn will get it's own slot or just use 882 for friday night HD red sox coverage. nesn will not have its own HD channel, so expect the 882 pre-empt there for sure.

I thought they were going to carry WSBKDT! If that is the case (Most likely on channel 838) I would have the gamnes THERE.

Originally posted by raidbuck
Actually, INHD2 averaged 3 games a week, but since you live in a MLB market like me, (I'll probably have 2 home markets with the O's and Nats) they could often be blacked out. It was still nice when INHD2 did get a game through the blackouts, though. We got to see Phillies, Red Sox and San Diego a lot since they have home HD games.

Rich N.

I thought the iNHD games were on INHD1 and only the Sox games were subject to blackout.
I have seen a few tiumes when INHD1 was backed out and they showed NESN's feed on INHD2.

When that is the case i would just replace the INHD1 feed (which would usually be provided to INHD BY NESN anyway) with the NESN feed so those who may be interested in INHD2 programming can see that,

The MAIN reason it is blacked out is so folks can see the NESN commericals.

I know that this isn't programming specific, but when can we expect Comcast to go to MPEG 4? The reason why I ask is because we all want more HD programming and by implementing MPEG 4 digital compression, it will free up bandwith. DirecTV did a Live broadcast utilizing MPEG 4 technology. Voom hasn't gone there yet, but they are ready now. It was just mentioned (in the HDTV Programming Forum) that Comcast has entered into a multi year agreement with Motorola for a $1 billion dollars, which includes future conditional access cards and HDTV DVR's STB. I wonder if Motorola has already had discussions with Comcast about this.
Here is an official press release from Comcast...

http://www.cmcsk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=118591&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=683046&highlight=

Originally posted by tennberg
avic: Just curious, is there a reason why it's not 28 of 28 games in HD? I'm wondering why those 4 will only be in SD. they are away games and probably has to do with their ability to get their HD equipment there. toronto tampa seattle and anaheim. i can see the problem with these except for tampa. keep in mind though last year we had none, so i'll take 24/28. in total only 22 reg games will be in SD, not too shabby. and even so it wont be too bad with ADS, u wont have to deal with the analog feed. btw, despite my pleading, nesn has decided to continue stretching all 4:3 material. :mad: ok i'll self-moderate and shut up now with the sports programming. hmmm...wonder if there's anything good on WB thursdays. ;)

Originally posted by avic
... hmmm...wonder if there's anything good on WB thursdays. ;)
Thank you, Avic. We will be on the lookout on Thursday.

Mickey

Forget Thursday, does WB have anything good on all week :)

Originally posted by SonyHD
I know that this isn't programming specific, but when can we expect Comcast to go to MPEG 4? The reason why I ask is because we all want more HD programming and by implementing MPEG 4 digital compression, it will free up bandwith. DirecTV did a Live broadcast utilizing MPEG 4 technology. Voom hasn't gone there yet, but they are ready now. It was just mentioned (in the HDTV Programming Forum) that Comcast has entered into a multi year agreement with Motorola for a $1 billion dollars, which includes future conditional access cards and HDTV DVR's STB. I wonder if Motorola has already had discussions with Comcast about this.
Here is an official press release from Comcast...

http://www.cmcsk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=118591&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=683046&highlight=

Cable providers are required to provide you with a STB with a functional 1394 port if you request it.

AFAIK the only 1394 devices are MPEG 2.

Switching to MPEG 4 would essentially disable the port so I doubt any provider will be switching soon.

Originally posted by SonyHD
I know that this isn't programming specific, but when can we expect Comcast to go to MPEG 4? The reason why I ask is because we all want more HD programming and by implementing MPEG 4 digital compression, it will free up bandwith. DirecTV did a Live broadcast utilizing MPEG 4 technology. Voom hasn't gone there yet, but they are ready now. It was just mentioned (in the HDTV Programming Forum) that Comcast has entered into a multi year agreement with Motorola for a $1 billion dollars, which includes future conditional access cards and HDTV DVR's STB. I wonder if Motorola has already had discussions with Comcast about this.
Here is an official press release from Comcast...

http://www.cmcsk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=118591&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=683046&highlight=

For Comcast to use MPEG4 they would have to upgrade everyones STB, while VOOM will only have to mail out the MPEG4 slot cards that go in the availble slot in the STB.

Originally posted by MickeyGee
Thank you, Avic. We will be on the lookout on Thursday.

Mickey

I wonder if there's a show worth watching on Sci-Fi Fridays...oh wait, there is :-) Too bad we don't have Universal HD yet ;-)

OT: I *finally* got through all the Alias episodes on my DVR (all 9 of them) and am now starting on 9 episodes of Carnivale. Once I get through those and some miscellaenous DS9 and TNG episodes on my DVR, I will be able to turn it in for another one with hopefully a quiter HD.

anybody else having major problems with whdh-dt?? i am having major breakup issuses through my comcast 6412, as well as a zenith ota tuner, so it must be an issue with the station. this has been going on for months now, some shows are ok and others,(last nights svu), are unwatchable between the pausing and screen corruption. you think they would have had any problems fixed in a few months time :(

Help! I lost 3 of my HD channels 3 nights ago (seemingly in synch with the recent firmware upgrade to 9.15). I'm now getting the dreaded "this channel will be available shortly" message on DiscoveryHD, StarzHD, and INHD1. The cable guy was by today and he tried a box swap (6412) and that didn't help. The signal tested okay as well. His only solution is to come back tomorrow and put a new drop from the pole to the house. I can't believe that's going to work. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas oh mighty gurus?

Since all digital Cable boxes have to offer Firewire connectivitiy in order to do Mpeg4 they'd have to convert back to Mpeg2 realtime.

WHDH-DT is having big problems with their HD feed. They have been for quite a while.

I do find some of the other channels occasionally stuttering over Comcast though, and I wonder if this has to do with all the tweaking they've been doing lately.

Originally posted by capecodguy
Help! I lost 3 of my HD channels 3 nights ago (seemingly in synch with the recent firmware upgrade to 9.15). I'm now getting the dreaded "this channel will be available shortly" message on DiscoveryHD, StarzHD, and INHD1. The cable guy was by today and he tried a box swap (6412) and that didn't help. The signal tested okay as well. His only solution is to come back tomorrow and put a new drop from the pole to the house. I can't believe that's going to work. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas oh mighty gurus? posible coding issue. call and ask for an HD rep and explain the problem, you'll need a hit most likely.

ADS testing underway. PQ is excellent, you'll love ADS. BTW, now looks like we will get the first UPN-HD Red Sox broadcast 4/8.

Originally posted by avic
ok i'll self-moderate and shut up now with the sports programming. hmmm...wonder if there's anything good on WB thursdays. ;)

not in HD :(

Assuming WLVIDT goes online tomorrow,the first HD show will be a rerun of What I like about you.
on FRIDAY!

Any word on WSBKDT not the rebroadcast of Friday sox games on 882?

ADS question

Once that becomes commonplace what about those of us who choose NOT to get Extended basic to save money.

I have them "locked" because i do not get them. A filter has been installed on my system but the box stills hows I am authorized to get them.

I dont want Comcast to forcefully jack up my cable bill $38.

Originally posted by avic
ADS testing underway. PQ is excellent, you'll love ADS. BTW, now looks like we will get the first UPN-HD Red Sox broadcast 4/8.

schweet.

I mean the ADS. Couldn't care less about the Red Sox.

Originally posted by chitchatjf
ADS question

Once that becomes commonplace what about those of us who choose NOT to get Extended basic to save money.

I have them "locked" because i do not get them. A filter has been installed on my system but the box stills hows I am authorized to get them.

I dont want Comcast to forcefully jack up my cable bill $38.


ADS shouldn't force you to go to standard cable. What it will do is once it is mandatory that all tv sets have to have boxes, the filters may no longer be needed so you can change from basic to standard over the phone without a tech coming out.

Originally posted by avic
ADS testing underway. PQ is excellent, you'll love ADS. BTW, now looks like we will get the first UPN-HD Red Sox broadcast 4/8.

Do you know which channels are bieng tested for ADS?

Originally posted by jdoe7890
Do you know which channels are bieng tested for ADS?

First it is supposed to be the local broadcast stations then the channels in expanded basic then finally CN8,NECN,and the PEG channels.

avic:

Great news. Some random questions for you:

1. How long is the testing phase expected to last?

2. Is Comcast aware that some boxes with the 09.15 firmware are still freezing with iGuide? In my case, it seems like the problem has gotten slightly worse after the firmware update.

3. Does Comcast have a place where customers can give their feedback for certain channels to offer? I'd love to get the Tennis Channel through Comcast and, as you're aware, would pay dearly for Universal HD to watch Battlestar Galactica in all its HD glory ;-)

1. Not long if all goes ok. I'll keep u posted but no dates yet.
2. Yes, that type of "freezing" wasn't addressed with 9.15 It's been confusing here because we're using the word freeze to describe totally separate problems.
3.Comcast is still commited to adding many more HD channels. Once ADS is complete we can look forward to this. Call, write, email, post your requests. I'd bet on Universal HD before The Tennis Channel HD though. ;)

Universal-HD would be sweet, as would HDNet. And I know it's a long way off, but my Number One wish is for TCM-HD. I might grow roots in front of my TV. :D

Originally posted by avic
ADS testing underway. PQ is excellent, you'll love ADS. BTW, now looks like we will get the first UPN-HD Red Sox broadcast 4/8.
Good news on both counts. 2005 is going to be a good year for HD in this area.

Mickey

Originally posted by avic
posible coding issue. call and ask for an HD rep and explain the problem, you'll need a hit most likely.

I had them hit the box prior to the tech coming out. No go. Any other thoughts?

Originally posted by hammersfd
anybody else having major problems with whdh-dt?? i am having major breakup issuses through my comcast 6412, as well as a zenith ota tuner, so it must be an issue with the station. this has been going on for months now, some shows are ok and others,(last nights svu), are unwatchable between the pausing and screen corruption. you think they would have had any problems fixed in a few months time :(

It is kinda sad. I sent emails to both WHDH and the network. Both told me they were aware of the issue and actively working to correct it. That was over a month ago. I record all my WHDH programs in regular analog because it got so frustrating trying to watch the HD.

Originally posted by avic
1. Not long if all goes ok. I'll keep u posted but no dates yet.
2. Yes, that type of "freezing" wasn't addressed with 9.15 It's been confusing here because we're using the word freeze to describe totally separate problems.
3.Comcast is still commited to adding many more HD channels. Once ADS is complete we can look forward to this. Call, write, email, post your requests. I'd bet on Universal HD before The Tennis Channel HD though. ;)

avic: Thanks for the info. I was just asking for the regular digital Tennis Channel. It seems RCN is the only provider in the area that carries it. Since tennis tends to be a year-round sport, it's nice to follow when other sports are not happening or are just too boring (non-playoffs).

As for the freezing I'm getting, I just wanted to make sure Comcast is aware that it's happening.

Originally posted by capecodguy
Help! I lost 3 of my HD channels 3 nights ago (seemingly in synch with the recent firmware upgrade to 9.15). I'm now getting the dreaded "this channel will be available shortly" message on DiscoveryHD, StarzHD, and INHD1. The cable guy was by today and he tried a box swap (6412) and that didn't help. The signal tested okay as well. His only solution is to come back tomorrow and put a new drop from the pole to the house. I can't believe that's going to work. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas oh mighty gurus?

The saga continues. New drop from the pole today. No change. Had the box reset...nada. The tech then declares, "nothing we can do, it has to be your internal wiring." Seems like the ultimate copout to me as he then says the signal isn't that bad, so that makes it confusing!

No idea where to turn at this point. Why these three channels and no others? What's really strange, on an unrelated note, is there were always a few channels that I couldn't get due to weak signals(HBO-CM for one...all the Showtimes). I was told it's because of my house has older RG-59 cable instead of RG-6. There's no feasible way to rewire the house so I've always lived with it. What's strange is I now get these channels !

Any ideas oh cable mavens? HELP!!!

Capecodeguy, I would run a direct feed from where the cable comes in your house, to your TV with RG-6. If the problem continues call the teck back and show him or her its not the cable in the house. If it solves the issue WELL.

not-so-good news: WB-HD launch has been delayed for 1 week.
good news: looks like we'll be seeing Enterprise final eps in beautiful 1080i. there was talk of just switching UPN for the sox games but now it looks like it will get its own channel.

*flails* I had hoped we'd have it before the next new episode of Smallville.

u can stop flailing, plenty of time. 4/13 next new.

Originally posted by avic
not-so-good news: WB-HD launch has been delayed for 1 week.

I noticed. NO channel 856. :(


good news: looks like we'll be seeing Enterprise final eps in beautiful 1080i. there was talk of just switching UPN for the sox games but now it looks like it will get its own channel.

As long as we get it before May 13th.

Originally posted by nssteve
Capecodeguy, I would run a direct feed from where the cable comes in your house, to your TV with RG-6. If the problem continues call the teck back and show him or her its not the cable in the house. If it solves the issue WELL.

Ok...HD specialist tech was by and determined its NOT the internal wiring that caused the 3 channels to disappear. Another box swap....nada. Two resets from home office....zilch. He left scratching his head saying he'll bump it upstairs. What a pain in the a@@.

Man.

You'd think

{warning: I'm about to slander two companies with one statement here}

you'd think that Verizon management took over at Comcast or something.

Capecodguy,
It was working with 9.12 and not with 9.15 ?
Just throwing out idea's. Are you grandfathered into any packages ?

Originally posted by capecodguy
Ok...HD specialist tech was by and determined its NOT the internal wiring that caused the 3 channels to disappear. Another box swap....nada. Two resets from home office....zilch. He left scratching his head saying he'll bump it upstairs. What a pain in the a@@.

Hrmmm... try this. Goto the channel. I assume you are getting One Moment Please. At that point, turn off the box and hit Select to go into the Diagnostics. Goto Current Channel Status and let us know what you see there.

Second, try 251 and 231 and 229... do you get those okay?
Third, try 210 and 250 and 278... do you get those okay?
Lastly, try 535and 515 and 544... do you get those okay?

avic: so you couldn't prevail upon nesn to stop stretching SD....that stinks....

how about the sound on the celtics...one big echo chamber as the the announcers don't come out of the center channel.

-Ken

Ah, I can wait one more week for WB HD now... no Gilmore Girls on next week. :)

Thanks, as always, for the updates avic!
Chris

Since I have no interest in sports UPN and WB-HD have little to no appeal to me. Enterprise is done so even less-so.

At least if we get Universal-HD we'd have Battlestar Galactica. Not very excited with the offerings so far.

better than no HD channel at all.....

Why the 1 week delay for WB?

u know, s#it happens. there's is a lot going with the QAM conversion and ADS so things fall behind schedule. we'll get WB next week and then somehow UPN will get squeezed in. the bandwidth meter is pegging hard.

they ned to dump useless channels.

Originally posted by bruman
they ned to dump useless channels. Subjective. Although I'm sure most of us could do without the multiple shopping channels.

What I don't understand is why they're adding analog channels like Hallmark. I like the channel, but why add something new in the analog spectrum?

Originally posted by bruman
they ned to dump useless channels. Subjective. Although I'm sure most of us could do without the multiple shopping channels.

What I don't understand is why they're adding analog channels like Hallmark. I like the channel, but why add something new in the analog spectrum?

Hey Avic, What's the word on Voip Phone Service? When's it suppose to be hitting the Boston area?

Originally posted by number9
Capecodguy,
It was working with 9.12 and not with 9.15 ?
Just throwing out idea's. Are you grandfathered into any packages ?

Yeah, but my house phone has never gone off line in the 4 years that I've been here. I can't say that for my CATV.

It's about time on the remaining locals in HD. If I can get it in HD OTA, Why not via Comcast?

I'm one that is looking ofr A la carte personally. I onlt really want the OTA's and a dozen cable channels. COnsidering that the content providers are throwing us more channels, I'ts no surprise when the amount of quality content suffers. Too many hours to fill.

It's only a matter of time before we get the student film channel..... :D

Tim

Having to watch the Big East Games in SD yesterday was torture...I wish they could have squeezed in ESPN2 for a few hours on one of the INHD channels like they do NESN.

Originally posted by wfp
Having to watch the Big East Games in SD yesterday was torture...I wish they could have squeezed in ESPN2 for a few hours on one of the INHD channels like they do NESN.
That would have been nice, however, Comcast does not have the right to broadcast ESPN2 in HD on any channel at this point. Once Comcast acquires those rights, they could either put that on a new channel or have it share an existing HD channel. Maybe its time for INHD-3????????

Mickey

Originally posted by wfp
Having to watch the Big East Games in SD yesterday was torture...I wish they could have squeezed in ESPN2 for a few hours on one of the INHD channels like they do NESN.

That's where I'm at. I'm not a big BC fan, but I'm a HUGE sports fan. Everytime they said "available on ESPN2HD" I muttered some curses. Any hope for it soon? As long as they throw the UPN38 Sox games onto INHD, I'd rather have it then UPN or WB (only watch Enterprise and soon it will be down to zero).

Originally posted by number9
Capecodguy,
It was working with 9.12 and not with 9.15 ?
Just throwing out idea's. Are you grandfathered into any packages ?

Number9...Yes, all was fine before 9.15.

I actually am grandfathered into an old package that included Starz at no cost with the subscription of HBO (so I get both as a Silver package now for $24.95) How could this affect what I'm now having as a problem?

Originally posted by ScoopsHD
Hrmmm... try this. Goto the channel. I assume you are getting One Moment Please. At that point, turn off the box and hit Select to go into the Diagnostics. Goto Current Channel Status and let us know what you see there.

Second, try 251 and 231 and 229... do you get those okay?
Third, try 210 and 250 and 278... do you get those okay?
Lastly, try 535and 515 and 544... do you get those okay?

ScoopsHD...I am getting none of the channels you listed (which makes me think you're onto something!). just get the dreaded "One moment please" on each.

The Current Channel Status for 839 shows this:

IB Tuner 2
Type: Analog CLR
Picture Carrier: 285.000 MHz
Authorized: Yes
Purchasable: No
Purchased: No
Preview: No
(And on the previous menu page for tuner 1 all the following are blank: CEI, CIT, APS, DRM, and RC FLAG)

mean anything to you?
BTW...I really appreciate the responses.

Capecodguy,

Could there be a filter on the actual line AT the pole? They're not supposed to do this, but it DOES happen and it happened to me a few months prior. The tech was furious about it since it's not supposed to happen and nobody checks for it and they were having serious problems trying to figure out exactly where things were going wrong. Once they found that, bang, zero problems thereafter.

Originally posted by MickeyGee
That would have been nice, however, Comcast does not have the right to broadcast ESPN2 in HD on any channel at this point. Once Comcast acquires those rights, they could either put that on a new channel or have it share an existing HD channel. Maybe its time for INHD-3????????

Mickey

I understand the issues but like COX did the Superbowl for our RI neighbors it would have been a nice effort to tease us with a little more.

I think Sports in HD beats any Network TV Show and would go a long way in drawing in more viewers

Capecodguy,
If you just lost the channels with the firmware upgrade, it would seem to me more of a programming issue as opposed to signal strength or filter.
Unless 9.15 needs a stronger signal than 9.12 ? Can you get them to bring you out another 6412, with 9.12 ?

I asked about the grandfather packages because I always had problems with DiscoveryHD when ever anything was done to my box. I had to call, complain and get it turned back on. The excuse I was always given was that my package needed to have everything done to it manually ? I was also told to expect this even more in the future. I eventually gave up after the last free HBO that I couldn't get and changed my phone and cable packages.

Capecodguy,

Here is the deal. You have to have a minimum of Digital Classic to get all HD channels. If you are in an old At&t package like bronze certain HD channels won't come in.

Originally posted by number9
Capecodguy,
If you just lost the channels with the firmware upgrade, it would seem to me more of a programming issue as opposed to signal strength or filter.
Unless 9.15 needs a stronger signal than 9.12 ? Can you get them to bring you out another 6412, with 9.12 ?

I asked about the grandfather packages because I always had problems with DiscoveryHD when ever anything was done to my box. I had to call, complain and get it turned back on. The excuse I was always given was that my package needed to have everything done to it manually ? I was also told to expect this even more in the future. I eventually gave up after the last free HBO that I couldn't get and changed my phone and cable packages.

It would be interesting to see if an old box with 9.12 would work. I'll try that next i think.

Originally posted by xbigjoe
Capecodguy,

Here is the deal. You have to have a minimum of Digital Classic to get all HD channels. If you are in an old At&t package like bronze certain HD channels won't come in.

No xbigjoe....I've had the HD channels all along until the recent firmware upgrade so what your saying isn't accurate.

Originally posted by capecodguy
It would be interesting to see if an old box with 9.12 would work. I'll try that next i think.

You won't be able to get a box with 9.12. When they do a code upgrade, it affects all boxes in a given area. And if they pull a 9.12 box from somewhere else, soon as they connect it up in your area it will immediately download the new 9.15 code.

Originally posted by number9
Capecodguy,
If you just lost the channels with the firmware upgrade, it would seem to me more of a programming issue as opposed to signal strength or filter.
Unless 9.15 needs a stronger signal than 9.12 ? Can you get them to bring you out another 6412, with 9.12 ?

I asked about the grandfather packages because I always had problems with DiscoveryHD when ever anything was done to my box. I had to call, complain and get it turned back on. The excuse I was always given was that my package needed to have everything done to it manually ? I was also told to expect this even more in the future. I eventually gave up after the last free HBO that I couldn't get and changed my phone and cable packages.

Ah well...good thought, except they say that as soon as they would plug in the old box it would start the download for the new firmware. I do appreciate everyone's ideas on this! Still, no solution in sight though....

Originally posted by ScoopsHD
You won't be able to get a box with 9.12. When they do a code upgrade, it affects all boxes in a given area. And if they pull a 9.12 box from somewhere else, soon as they connect it up in your area it will immediately download the new 9.15 code.

Right you are ScoopsHD....How did you know to ask about those aother channels? 251, 231 etc.? Are they somehow tied in to the channels I am no longer getting?

Saw some big Verizon trucks around my condo development lately. Could be they're wiring us up for FIOS. I hope so.:)

I wonder if Comcast would then offer incentives to keep us on? How could they compete with 15mbps for $50/mo?

By giving us 4Mbps for twelve fiddy?

What does FIOS stand for ? I know what it means but can't figure out the acronym.

Originally posted by capecodguy
Right you are ScoopsHD....How did you know to ask about those aother channels? 251, 231 etc.? Are they somehow tied in to the channels I am no longer getting?

I have a friend who works for Comcast in one of their headends. He knows which channels are where. :) See my PM.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Saw some big Verizon trucks around my condo development lately. Could be they're wiring us up for FIOS. I hope so.:)
I wonder if Comcast would then offer incentives to keep us on? How could they compete with 15mbps for $50/mo? Que?! What's this talk of FiOS (Fiber Optic Services) internet service, totally unrelated to our fine discussion of Comcast HDTV service?

-"Francis"

A really big hint, ye minion of the yearly outrageous rate increase.

Originally posted by avic
Que?! What's this talk of FiOS (Fiber Optic Services) internet service, totally unrelated to our fine discussion of Comcast HDTV service?

-"Francis" It's not totally unrelated because they will be in direct competition with each other in over 15 communities. Verizon will be offering comparable services, video/HD as well as telecom.

I'm just curious as to how Comcast will "up the ante" by competing with a service that could offer much more bandwidth than they do.

The official explanation is that the conversion to 256 QAM is the cause of my no longer able to tune DiscoveryHD, StarzHD and INHD1. Evidentally, they are all on the same pod. Although my signal strength is fine running RG59 from the attic, I must be getting interference due due poor shielding. This was proved out by running RG6 direct from the drop and all channels came in fine. Bummer. Room is totally finished space so rewiring is no easy task.

Thanks aagin to all who contributed possible solutions.

Verizon offers comparable content to comcast I would jump in a second! they deserve as much a chance as comcast has got.

^here's to Capitalism!!

Everyone should have choices. The people who deliver the choices you want should get your business. Period.

Yup.

I wonder if this will slow my cable bill's heretofore inexorable march to the $200/month mark.

Originally posted by toots
Yup.

I wonder if this will slow my cable bill's heretofore inexorable march to the $200/month mark. At least your cable bill still has a long way to go to catch your post count.

Originally posted by DaveFi
It's not totally unrelated because they will be in direct competition with each other in over 15 communities. Verizon will be offering comparable services, video/HD as well as telecom. I'm just curious as to how Comcast will "up the ante" by competing with a service that could offer much more bandwidth than they do. dave i'm sure comcast will think of something to keep you. but let's avoid another RCN, E*, D*,___ versus Comcast string.

Why? Because Comcast can't take the competition?

Ive gotta say I can't wait to see how Verizons package and the speeds crazy. I read an artile saying FIOS will do to broadband what broadband did to dialup. Though it is totaly OT there are plenty of boards dedicated to this topic and this isnt one of them, well most of the time.
Lets see what spring brings... Either way our local friends at SeaChange will be providing the OnDemand services

Post Script: DaveFi, from what I have been told Condos, mulitfam, big bldns etc. Are the last on Verizons list to wire up. Nothing is ever set in stone but from what I understand that is part of the buisness plan. Sorry to be a downer. Hey they came stright through my town laying fiber but didnt wire us up yet, just the towns on either side. The Globe says its corp rasicim I say its a buis plan. Either way we both have to wait.

Originally posted by toots
Why? Because Comcast can't take the competition?

Why? Because I come to this thread for COMCAST information in the boston and metrowest area. While there may be 15 communities out in that area that are getting something, there can just as easily be a thread about them that's separate and a comparative thread as well.

Verizon is NOT an option in my area, I don't care about it, don't want to read about it. I'm reading this thread, called "Boston, MA - Comcast" for COMCAST information. If I have to sift through a bunch of Verizon posts and talk about pricing, competition, features and what not, this thread loses all usefulness.

If I *want* to find that information, there are better places/threads for it than here.

And no, I'm not a comcast plant or shill or advocate. I just want information in a thread that's relevant. I don't moderate here but I do moderate over a dozen very active forums and thousands of threads a day and I'd remove any posts about such things as basically thread-farting since it's not relevant to the main subject here.

Have to agree with Chris here. For people who want to talk about local FIOS options, please visit www.dslreports.com and find either the national Verizon FIOS forum or the general Boston one.

BTW. Chris. I love your site. Didn't know you are from MA, too. Oops. Guess this is OT, too. :)

Originally posted by Chris Beveridge
Why? Because I come to this thread for COMCAST information in the boston and metrowest area. While there may be 15 communities out in that area that are getting something, there can just as easily be a thread about them that's separate and a comparative thread as well.

Verizon is NOT an option in my area, I don't care about it, don't want to read about it. I'm reading this thread, called "Boston, MA - Comcast" for COMCAST information. If I have to sift through a bunch of Verizon posts and talk about pricing, competition, features and what not, this thread loses all usefulness.

If I *want* to find that information, there are better places/threads for it than here.

And no, I'm not a comcast plant or shill or advocate. I just want information in a thread that's relevant. I don't moderate here but I do moderate over a dozen very active forums and thousands of threads a day and I'd remove any posts about such things as basically thread-farting since it's not relevant to the main subject here.

Agreed.

Until Verizon actually has an available product to compare with Comcast, there's not much point using space here. I've gotta assume that someone has already created Verizon threads elsewhere on the AVS forum site. Until then Comcast is the only choice that most of us have besides OTA and SAT so what's the use?

I agree that Verizon should have its own thread. My town has been wired up by Verizon and I am anxious to see what Verizon will offer. However currently I am interested in Comcast news and this is the thread for it.

avic, do you know which channels are bieng tested for ADS. Will I be able to tell a difference today.

I think chris needs to chill a bit.... relax dude its not worth getting that upset over. truly!

You simpy read more into it than there is, caps'd material for emphasis only. Believe me, I'm a very mellow person and relaxed, I simply want my point to get across clearly, which I think it did. Nobody here is upset, we're simply ensuring that the thread continues as it is intended.

Ahhh I love it Chris... a new term I am going to adopt... thread-farting :) Thanks for a good laugh

Capecodguy/avic
Is this 256 QAM and RG59 going to be a problem for for more of us ?

I didn't even mention what Verizon had to offer, just was curious about how Comcast would counter them? I don't think that that is OT at all. A valid question for those of us which Comcast has ever been the only option. Comcast NE must have a whole lot of new services in the bag just for this purpose.

At any rate, I got Comcast to wire me up to RG6- it took about 10yrs for me to do it, but you have to just keep hammering away at them. Eventually you'll get some help if you contact the right person. Posting in this thread is a start.

Dave.....

all you had to do was say your cable box us not working correctly and have a tech come out to replace it. when he gets there tell him the box is fine and ask him to replace the cable. thats what I did. he was confused but did it and all was better.

sometimes you have to fib to get them to come out.

Originally posted by bruman
Dave.....

all you had to do was say your cable box us not working correctly and have a tech come out to replace it. when he gets there tell him the box is fine and ask him to replace the cable. thats what I did. he was confused but did it and all was better.

sometimes you have to fib to get them to come out. I had a 250ft run to my condo.

wow!

Originally posted by mikal
downloadable local dvd's





SPAM I AM

Man, that would completely blow - I mean having to recable.

Lest I get labelled entirely as a Comcast complainer, I am fairly impressed that they are this determined to get the problem fixed.

Originally posted by number9
Capecodguy/avic
Is this 256 QAM and RG59 going to be a problem for for more of us ?

It wouldn't surprise me. I had two techs at the house, clearly amoung their best. One was resposible for what goes on at the head end. They said they had several similar issues in my area so they wanted to use me as a kind of test case to find a solution. Unfortunately, at least in my case, a messy and costly rewire is the only solution.

Of course, if you are already running at 256 QAM and have no problem, you have no worries.

Originally posted by jdoe7890
I agree that Verizon should have its own thread. My town has been wired up by Verizon and I am anxious to see what Verizon will offer. However currently I am interested in Comcast news and this is the thread for it.

avic, do you know which channels are bieng tested for ADS. Will I be able to tell a difference today. no u wont, testing internally. order of launch is still being worked out. looks like now it will be non-major broadcasters, PEGs, expanded basic, then the big broadcasters. makes sense since we already have the major networks on the 800 block. well except for the 2 but they're imminent. when i can say more i will. nice to hear most of you want to keep the thread focused. 300 pages later, it's come a long way from "hey i heard comcast may be offering HD service with a new moto box!" :)

we've had 256QAM on a lot of the digital channels, nothing new. just upgraded the remaining 64QAM ones and with no major problems btw. most customers didn't even notice, which was the desired outcome.

If Comcast would just add HDNet / HDNet Movies, then I would switch from RCN to Comcast. Seems that Comcast is more aggressive at adding more HD channels than RCN is. RCN hasn't added one new HD channel since they put up NESN HD. Also on a side note does anybody have Dell's new 42" Plasmas HDTV? Heard some great reviews on it.

avic or others:

Do you know when (and if) PIP will ever be enabled on the 6412s? My parents have it through TWC on their SA8000HD and it is a handy function to have, e.g. when watching one channel and wanting to tune into SNL to watch the musical act but not have to sit through the awful skits.

I'm assuming it would simply take a software update or firmware update to enable that function.

Originally posted by SonyHD
If Comcast would just add HDNet / HDNet Movies, then I would switch from RCN to Comcast. Seems that Comcast is more aggressive at adding more HD channels than RCN is. RCN hasn't added one new HD channel since they put up NESN HD. Also on a side note does anybody have Dell's new 42" Plasmas HDTV? Heard some great reviews on it.

If you think that Comcast is more aggressive adding HD than RCN then RCN is pretty lame. Comcast hasn't added a national channel since July 2004 (DiscHD) and before that it was Sep 2003 (INHDs). I'm not counting locals and Starz/MaxHD (Dec 2003) for which you need a subscription.

I do think that will change a little in 2005, but not with HDNET/Movies. ESPN2HD, UniversalHD (Ken H did give hope for these) and mabye TNT-HD are all candidates, but I've not heard any encouragement about HDNET. HDNET would be my first choice as well, but any improvement in the channel lineup would be appreciated.

Rich N.

Originally posted by avic
we've had 256QAM on a lot of the digital channels, nothing new. just upgraded the remaining 64QAM ones and with no major problems btw. most customers didn't even notice, which was the desired outcome.

That's somewhat true, but I can tell you that the Comcast techs I dealt with said there were MANY instances of people having the same problem as me due to the conversion to 256 QAM and they all related to the same "pod" of channels I can no longer receive. I believe the pods were realigned to accomadate the conversion. In theory, it should be seemless. In the real world, it is not. With the minimum number of HD channels available, it really sucks losing three of them. If an alternative to Comcast comes around my area I would certainly consider it due to this issue.