2banana, You're right. I can put up with a little bugginess. It's been interesting finding strange behavior in the MS software. I haven't had a rebooting problem, but I notice that several others have that problem. The inconsistent problems seem strange. All in all, I'm happy to have this thing. I had no way to record HD til it came along. I was close to getting an HD VHS box.

hey quick question for you seattle brothers and sisters

this 6412 has a dvi port on the back of it right? is it enabled?

Originally posted by billymac
hey quick question for you seattle brothers and sisters

this 6412 has a dvi port on the back of it right? is it enabled?

Yes; with HDCP.

Originally posted by 2banana
Thanks for the suggestion, Thordad!

In the case of non-critical software (i.e. it's not running a heart pump or an airplane) I can tolerate a fair deal of buginess if it means getting the product in my hands sooner then later. How many of us picked up the 6412 within the first week of it being available? I can't imagine we would have wanted to wait through a much longer bug find/fix phase before getting this unit.

Nice theory, but the box has been available elsewhere in the country for many months. I don't think it had the MSFT software, however. Rolling out something different like that can be problematic. I think even Tivo had problems with a recent upgrade.

thanks, but i'm confusing my downstairs with my upstairs...how about the 6208 (i think it is) silver moto hd box...can't see the back, does it have dvi? is it hdcp?

Originally posted by billymac
thanks, but i'm confusing my downstairs with my upstairs...how about the 6208 (i think it is) silver moto hd box...can't see the back, does it have dvi? is it hdcp? There are no 6208 boxes in the Seattle area. You either have a 5100 or 6200 (both non-DVR HD boxes) or a 6412 (DVR HD box). They all look pretty much the same from the outside. All 6200s & 6412s have DVI. IIRC, *some* of the 5100s had DVI and some didn't.

... And all of the DVI ports (if you have one) are HDCP only.

Originally posted by jimre
... And all of the DVI ports (if you have one) are HDCP only.

well it must be a 5100 then, because i just pulled everything out from the wall and i don't see a dvi port anywhere.

will comcast exchange for a newer regular hd box that does have dvi on it? i don't want to move my 6412 upstairs.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by ddz ...
If you have a LG 4200A you are experiencing the same problem others here have noted. The problem appears to be the way Comcast has changed their transmission of the 82- subchannels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have an LG 3510A which is the 3410 plus the DVD. And ABC disappeared again tonight.

Originally posted by billymac
...
will comcast exchange for a newer regular hd box that does have dvi on it? i don't want to move my 6412 upstairs.

yep - you *should* be able to take it to the local office and have it swapped for a newer 5100 series model.

Quick newbie issue:

I am in Seattle. I subscribe to Comcast Limited cable.
I want to get HD channels 104-119 using a Media Center PC (MCE 2005).
I'm thinking of the Fusion3 card which has QAM support.

Questions:

1) Do I need to subscribe to one of the Comcast "digital" packages?
2) Do I need a set-top box or can I just use the Fusion 3 card?
3) Does this setup work pretty well for folks or are there lots of problems?

Thanks!

Originally posted by nvarma
1) Do I need to subscribe to one of the Comcast "digital" packages?
2) Do I need a set-top box or can I just use the Fusion 3 card?
3) Does this setup work pretty well for folks or are there lots of problems?

Thanks!

1. The limited basic is fine for the HD locals. When I tested it I also got ESPN HD in the clear (and a number of other channels I didn't recognize), although I'm not sure whether that's legal to regularly tune in that channel with the limited basic package.

2. You can just use the Fusion card, but setup is a bit problematic because of the channel mapping. You have to figure out which channels are which, and some of the encrypted channels will crash the card. This should be a one time thing to setup, but they do apparently remap the channels from time to time.

3. I cannot answer you about problems because I only tested the Fusion to see if it would receive the channels. Until Comcast adds KIRO, I prefer to have my Fusion card receive the signal OTA. I've heard that you cannot schedule recordings through TitanTV, but quite frankly, I can't believe there isn't something you can do to fix that through registry edits, but again, until they add KIRO, I'm not trying anything.

I'd wait for the MyHD-130 to come out. It will be about $100 more than the Fusion (a guess), but it handles QAM much better and is a hardware based card for improved playback. I have both the MyHD-120 and the Fusion, and the MyHD software is much better.

As an LG LST-4200A owner I continue to lose KOMO on 111-4 every evening while getting a signal during the day. My 4200 sees the signal on 82-2 and 82-3 as scrambled so I have had to go to an A/B switch to pick up KOMO OTA. Fortunately KOMO is about the only signal I can pick up OTA from my location but it is a real pain. Has anyone asked a Comcast engineer what is happening?

Originally posted by ddz
Dubois-WA,
If you have a LG 4200A you are experiencing the same problem others here have noted. The problem appears to be the way Comcast has changed their transmission of the 82- subchannels. From 2AM until 5PM 82-2 and 82-3 have KCTS broadcast and during this time period the 4200A can see 82-1, -2, -3, -4, and -6. From 5PM until 2AM KCTS starts their HD feed which is on 82-5 and cuts off feeds that Comcast broadcasts on 82-2 and -3. This is not new, they have been doing this for a long time when it was on channel 111. What is new is what is seen by my 3410A. Anyway, now during this time the 4200A can't tune in any of the 82- subchannels. My 3410A can see them all is why I know what is happening (on the surface). Instead of seeing a blank screen during the after 5PM time period on 82-2 and -3 I see whatever is on 82-1 or 82-4 depending on whether I am tuning up or down to get to the 82-3 channel. But there is no sound. Don't know what this means from a technical standpoint, but for some reason the 4200A doesn't understand how to decode the subchannels after 5PM.

I fortunately have rather decent OTA reception so it doesn't bother me that much. It does make me wonder how viable my 4200A is long term tho..

Originally posted by GeorgeHolland
Has anyone asked a Comcast engineer what is happening?

That was the next question I was going to ask. Does this "topic" even fall under any FCC must-carry rules? Seems like the first level CSRs wouldn't have a clue what to do about the question. And it would seem in their interest to push a set top box and a digital package instead.

I do have one 6412 driving a Sharp 32GD4U, the LG is hooked up to different TV. I'm wondering if anyone with a QAM enabled tuner in their display is seeing this also? Could be it's an issue with LG's tuners that require some firmware update.

Originally posted by Karyk
I'd wait for the MyHD-130 to come out. It will be about $100 more than the Fusion (a guess), but it handles QAM much better and is a hardware based card for improved playback. I have both the MyHD-120 and the Fusion, and the MyHD software is much better. [/B]

Note, being a hardware-decorder based card, I don't expect the MyHD-130 will support Windows Media Center Edition.

From:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5066933#post5066933

KTVU-HD 8PM on Thursday (tomorrow)
It's official! KTVU-HD will be online tomorrow night!!!

http://www.ktvu.com/station/4133387/detail.html

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KTVU FOX 2 Announces H-D Deal With Comcast

POSTED: 4:07 pm PST January 26, 2005
UPDATED: 4:16 pm PST January 26, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- KTVU FOX 2's High Definition signal will be available to Comcast digital service subscribers on Channel 702 beginning at 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 27th in time for Sunday's Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.


KTVU On HD-TV
# What Is HDTV?
# Frequently Asked Questions About HD-TV
# What Kind Of Antenna Do You Need?

"We're very happy to announce that the important negotiations between COX Television and Comcast have been successful, allowing Bay Area viewers to enjoy the high definition telecast of the Super Bowl via Comcast High Definition Service as well as over the air on KTVU-DT 56," said Tim McVay, Vice President and General Manager of KTVU-TV.

KTVU's coverage of Super Bowl XXXIX from Jacksonville, Florida begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday, February 6, 2005. KTVU FOX 2 viewers can also watch the colorful special telecast of "The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade" in HDTV. In addition, the FOX primetime schedule is loaded with weekly HDTV broadcasts including the action-packed "24," "The O.C.," "Bernie Mac," and the critically acclaimed "Arrested Development".

HDTV offers six times the picture clarity of traditional analog, providing the clearest picture available today. The agreement between Cox Broadcasting, Comcast and Charter Cable provides carriage of the digital signals of COX Broadcasting television stations including stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Seattle.

Comcast is the largest provider of cable and broadband services in the United States, serving more than 21 million cable television subscribers and more than 6 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

KTVU FOX 2 is owned by Cox Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., a leader in broadcasting, newspaper publishing, broadband communications/cable, and automobile auctions. Cox Broadcasting includes television stations, national TV sales representation firms, a television production company and a research firm. Cox Enterprises is majority owner of publicly-traded Cox Radio, Inc. (NYSE: CXR).

Copyright 2005 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Looks like Cox & Comcast have an agreement which allows San Francisco to get Fox-HD in time for the Super Bowl (actually tomorrow, 1/27):

http://www.ktvu.com/station/4133387/detail.html

So, do you think anyone in our local Comcast/Cox menagerie is awake enough to answer questions?

oh... and can we get the KIRO guy to comment on when we'll get it in seattle???

Someone at KIRO just forwarded to me an email from KIRO's GM to KIRO staff. The email read:

"I am sure all of your cable subscribers will be glad to hear that a deal has been struck with Comcast and Charter systems to carry KIRO's HD signal, beginning very shortly. Thanks to everyone who fielded questions from friends, and email and voicemails from viewers, some not always pleasant.

A press release announcing the date should be out tomorrow"

Finally!!!

Woohoo!

If the KIRO deal is done, there will be a significant spike in HDTV sales and some very busy Comcast techs doing hookups in the Seattle area before the Super Bowl!

Is that a pig I see in the sky?????

Originally posted by Runco One
If the KIRO deal is done, there will be a significant spike in HDTV sales and some very busy Comcast techs doing hookups in the Seattle area before the Super Bowl!

Perhaps in San Francisco -- Super Bowl is on Fox this year.

Thanks for the correction! I can look forward to CBS coverage of the Masters in HD!

Okay, I hope I'm not jinxing things but... after reading the posts today regarding KIRO I decided to E-mail them directly. Well... Here's my message sent to them via their website and their response.

Could the rumors be true? Did KIRO strike a deal with Comcast for HD coverage? Please let it be true! I'd love to resume watching KIRO CBS after not being able to tolerate Channel 7 for over a year now.

Thanks,


I JUST GOT A RESPONSE from Tips, News (CBI-Seattle) <newstips@kirotv.com> this is all it said:

yes, it's true

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 9:07 PM
To: Tips, News (CBI-Seattle); Programming (CBI-Seattle)
Subject: Web Form Submission


I'll be so happy if it happens.

Art

Originally posted by jamesmil
Note, being a hardware-decorder based card, I don't expect the MyHD-130 will support Windows Media Center Edition.

Correct, but although WMC has some nice features I also has some "features" that make it very unappealing.

1. The requirement that you also have an analog tuner. (Stupid, stupid, stupid).

2. That it apparently records using a different (proprietary) file format than .TS (meaning you cannot have hardware based products play back the recordings).

Looks like I'm going to have to find some time now to get the Fusion card working with Comcast. I thought I'd be happy about this announcement, but I'm not feeling much like experimenting right now.

This should really help Comcast. Without Kiro, Comcast's HD service was severely limited. Now if they'd get KSTW, it would be perfect.

I wonder if that deal also includes UPN (which, from what I understand is also owned by COX around here). Anybody knows?

It would be nice to have *all* the local channels in HD. :)

This week brought me some new wackiness with recording Alias.

Lost was a rerun so I cancelled the recording. I also canceled a couple other spurious recordings that showed up in the same time slot even though I tell the thing to only record Show X on Day Y (this functionality does not work even a little for me). Anyway, Alias starts recording, I look at the menu of recorded shows and... TWO recordings of the SAME Alias are being run! Worried about the nasty pixilation issue and FF issue, I tried to stop one recording but.. it stopped both. Nice. To the best of my knowledge you can not start recording a show once it is underway so we watched the remainder of the show live, then went back and saw the first 15 minutes or so.

What struck me about this situation is how many bugs upon bugs were involved:
1) Schedule bug with a specific show being recorded twice
2) Schedule bug with shows recording outside of the specified day
3) Pixilation bug when recording two shows at once
4) Out of control Fast Forward bug when playing back one show and recording another

As my wife pointed out, watching downloaded (pirated?) copies of Alias in HD off the internet is almost easier then getting the Comcast PVR to work right.

A sad state of affairs indeed. That $1k dish DVR is starting to look a lot more attractive.

Originally posted by 2banana
Last week when recording Lost and Alias, the ONLY part of Alias actually recorded was the 90 second cross over period between the two shows. The recording data in the guide said it was an hour and some minutes long but the recording was actually only 90 seconds (it stopped right as Alias started).....

Originally posted by ericjut
I wonder if that deal also includes UPN (which, from what I understand is also owned by COX around here). Anybody knows?

It would be nice to have *all* the local channels in HD. :)

Cox used to own KSTW, but the big swap that brought KIRO to Cox changed that:

"Maintaining its UPN Network affiliation, KSTW UPN 11 is now a part of the Viacom Television Stations Group, which is owned by Viacom Inc."

2banana, I can comment on a couple things.

1) The "Lost" repeat was not on my schedule since I set the DVR to only record new episodes of "Lost" by using the Series Manager. This feature seems to work well on shows that are not in syndication or are repeated several times during a week. The box records additional new episodes for shows like "the Simpsons" or "Huff." I manually cancel the extra ones before they record.

2) If you are watching a show and want to record it, just press "rec" The box will record the show including whatever part of the show it has stored in the buffer.

Art

Originally posted by 2banana
TWO recordings of the SAME Alias are being run! Worried about the nasty pixilation issue and FF issue, I tried to stop one recording but.. it stopped both.
I've noticed the same thing. I think there's a bug in the MyDVR display. If you can get out of watching a DVR recording and change channels, then you know it's not recording the same thing twice. Beside...I think there is some kind of smarts built in to prevent recording two copies of the same show at the same time.

another woohoo! for the Kiro HD feed heading our way soon!

If anyone sees anything on the wire about KIRO coming to Comcast, please post ASAP. Let's get some more confirmation. An earlier post referred to an announcement today.

Art

ABC News NOW will terminate broadcast on Friday, January 28th, 2005.

who watched ABC News Now anyway?? ;-)

Still waiting for the official announce from KIRO... if I see it I'll post. Nothing yet.

Great! Thanks for you suggestions Art!

Originally posted by artshotwell
I've noticed the same thing. I think there's a bug in the MyDVR display. If you can get out of watching a DVR recording and change channels, then you know it's not recording the same thing twice. Beside...I think there is some kind of smarts built in to prevent recording two copies of the same show at the same time.

The issues, primarily pixellation and phantom reboots, that I reported last week have now stopped :-) Two things have changed: 1) a new version of software (as reported above)- and 2) I have really slowed down my actions on the remote control. Previously I switched between FF and RW as fast as I could. Now I watch the lower right corner of the 6412 box to make sure that the light that indicates remote activity is off before I press a key again. This has completely stopped my issues.

My fingers are crossed....

Originally posted by 2banana
This week brought me some new wackiness with recording Alias.



According to the HDTV Recorders forum a new firmware was released over the last few days.

I didn't experience any of the problems you mentioned and Lost and Alias both recorded successfully for me last night. I had added 60 min to my record time for both Lost and Alias and for both I recorded 2 hrs.

I'm going to keep Lost with the extra hour as a safety measure for Alias until I'm sure this wasn't a fluke. That way I'm sure I get Alias one way or another.

I noticed my box updating a few nights back at 2am. since then it has missed two recordings. both it got 1 minute prior to the broadcast and stopped. ie 8:59-9:00. First missed in three months.

GREAT NEWS about KIRO......MARCH MADNESS FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by xkode2002
Still waiting for the official announce from KIRO... if I see it I'll post. Nothing yet.

No KIRO official news yet, but the San Francisco Comcast forum has reports of some subscribers down there already receiving their Cox HD channel this morning (Fox for them).

Originally posted by biz_qwik
I noticed my box updating a few nights back at 2am. since then it has missed two recordings. both it got 1 minute prior to the broadcast and stopped. ie 8:59-9:00. First missed in three months.

Great...so much for my recently regained confidence in the 6412.

I had the opposite experience, having lost two episodes of Alias due to 1 minute recordings over the previous two weeks, but getting a successful recording last night, after the firmware upgrade.

Of course, this could have nothing to do with the firmware, and something to do with schedule information changing, or some other variable.

--Mike

Originally posted by wareagle
No KIRO official news yet, but the San Francisco Comcast forum has reports of some subscribers down there already receiving their Cox HD channel this morning (Fox for them).
I saw this post earlier this morning...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5069775#post5069775

Hopefully one of the moderators can move that post to this thread where it belongs instead of the OTA thread.

Originally posted by Al Shing
Hopefully one of the moderators can move that post to this thread where it belongs instead of the OTA thread.

Preferably along with info as to WHEN. Of course, that's a function of Comcast and we know better than to expect an announcement from them prior to the magical appearance of channel 107.

Originally posted by Llamas


Of course, this could have nothing to do with the firmware, and something to do with schedule information changing, or some other variable.

--Mike
I agree. I noticed the start time for Alias was at 9:00, not a minute before or two after and wondered myself if this was why the recording was successful. For this reason I'm keeping the extra 60 min on Lost to ensure I also record Alias, at least for the next couple of weeks.

Originally posted by wareagle
Preferably along with info as to WHEN. Of course, that's a function of Comcast and we know better than to expect an announcement from them prior to the magical appearance of channel 107.

Man o man, I haven't watched CSI at all this season, BUT if 107 appears I will have to change my viewing habits radically, as there are a lot of things on KIRO that I'd watch again!

Here is a copy of the post from the Seattle OTA thread today:

Originally posted by KIRO TV

We're very happy to announce that the important negotiations between COX Television and Comcast have been successful, allowing Seattle Area viewers to enjoy the high definition telecast of the CBS Sports Programming via Comcast High Definition Service as well as over the air on KIRO-DT 39 or 7.1.

HDTV offers six times the picture clarity of traditional analog, providing the clearest picture available today. The agreement between Cox Broadcasting, Comcast and Charter Cable provides carriage of the digital signals of COX Broadcasting television stations including stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Seattle.

Comcast is the largest provider of cable and broadband services in the United States, serving more than 21 million cable television subscribers and more than 6 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

Thank You for your Support
KIRO TV Engineering

Originally posted by 2banana
...4) Out of control Fast Forward bug when playing back one show and recording another.... According to some friends of mine who work at MS, the "stuck on FF" bug is known and fixed. The fix will show up when Comcast sends out the next release of the "Page Files" (the files that make up the visible MSTV user interface). If you check yesterday's software update carefully, you'll notice they updated the Moto firmware ("GIOS") and the MSTV core FE software ("Guide Build"), but not the Page Files ("Page Version"). Hopefully Comcast will send out the new pages soon...

jimre --

Did your MS friends give you any indication of what the fixes/changes for this week's release consisted of? I haven't seen any pixelation since then, but I have no idea what else may have been altered.

Nope - the "stuck on FF" bug was the only one they mentioned specifically. Would be nice if ShannonV or someone else from MS could give us a list of the major fixes that we received yesterday. That way we can all go pound on those features & help them be sure they're really fixed good....

Hey--where's our KIRO announce? I thought this was supposed to happen yesterday.

Originally posted by xkode2002
Hey--where's our KIRO announce? I thought this was supposed to happen yesterday.
It was announced yesterday that Comcast will carry KIRO DT.

Has anyone seen or heard anything to indicate when KIRO-HD will show up on Comcast?

An update from KIRO TV.

Yes, we will be on Comcast in the next week or so. The feed from our studio is and has been in place for at least six months now. There is a little terminal gear to install before the path is complete. I expect that to happen early next week.

For our OTA viewers I would like to warn of some down time over the weekend. We are still working to complete a full power DTV channel 39 transmitter at our QA transmitter site. If things go as planned we will only be down during the day on Saturday. There is alway the possibility that this project could run into Sunday.

This is an email a friend of mine received from KSTW this morning in response to a query:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our parent company Viacom has entered into an agreement for Comcast to carry the digital stations that Viacom owns...these comprise 14 CBS and 19 UPN's around the country. The CBS carriage by comcast is to occur almost immediately as CBS broadcasts most of it's primetime in HD. The agreement allows comcast to not carry the UPN stations until at least 50% of UPN prime time is in HD. Currently only Enterprise and Jake 2.0 are in HD out of 4 nights programming, so that let's comcast out of mandatory carriage at this time.

However, we here in the Seattle market have a good relationship with Comcast and I believe it is their intent to put UPN 11 DT 36 on their digital tier within the next few months. Let them know you want us....that will help.

Ron Diotte
Chief Engineer
KSTW-TV
206.861.8801
rhdiotte@kstwtv.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the info, wareagle and KIRO! Looks like I got that bedroom HDTV at the right time!:D

wareagle,

Thanks for asking about UPN... it's really appreciated. :)

I guess we have to contact Comcast directly to ask for it?

-eric

[QUOTE]Originally posted by KIRO Engineering
[B]An update from KIRO TV.

Yes, we will be on Comcast in the next week or so. The feed from our studio is and has been in place for at least six months now. There is a little terminal gear to install before the path is complete. I expect that to happen early next week.

You are a most welcome addition to this forum, thanks for the info. I hope you will stay with us to monitor messages, we sometimes find glitches and report them on this forum. It may be helpful to the engineering staff.

Thanks again.

I just received this from KIRO:

Yes - true! KIRO was hoping it would be up by this weekend but it may take a few more weeks. Comcast estimate is February 9th. Our fingers are crossed for a quick flick of the switch!

Woo Hoo!

I also noticed that you no longer can just push the record button to record a show in progress that you flip too. It now takes you to the manual recording page and you have to figure out how much is left and so on or just record longer.......why?

HD takes up WAY to much space to get extra time on the shows.

Originally posted by biz_qwik
I also noticed that you no longer can just push the record button to record a show in progress that you flip too. It now takes you to the manual recording page and you have to figure out how much is left and so on or just record longer.......why?

HD takes up WAY to much space to get extra time on the shows.

Pushing the record button when tuning in the middle of a show still works for me -- nothing seems to have changed about that. It starts recording late, as expected, with no additional work required.

Originally posted by wareagle
Pushing the record button when tuning in the middle of a show still works for me -- nothing seems to have changed about that. It starts recording late, as expected, with no additional work required.

Heh... maybe he's part of a secret "control group" that got the less cool iGuide version ;-)

I am new to this forum and am interested in hearing from Seattle Comcast customers about their Comcast HD quantity and quality experience, likes/dislikes of the Motorola HD DVR and whether the On Demand function is a worthwhile one. I am a longtime D* customer and have its HD Tivo as well as several SD Tivos and of course love the Tivo experience in both SD and HD.

I am evaluating adding Comcast and reducing D* to evaluate keeping only one service after a trial period. Like everyone I want more HD content and it appears that Comcast has more to offer right now and also hear the quality of the Comcast HD PQ may be somewhat better. Also the On Demand function sounds useful if it contains sufficient quantity and quality in its library. On Demand looks like it may be useful for having a lot of kids shows readily available without having to use the DVR to record those.

Would appreciate any feedback you experienced Comcast customers have to my questions about HD quantity and quality, On Demand and the HD DVR, particularly from those who have D* also or who have recent experience with D* and have switched to Comcast. Many Thanks.

On Demand has a ton of stuff and they're adding more every month. The problem (in my experience) has always been that it doesn't look too good stretched to fit a 16:9 screen. If your kids watch TV on a 4:3 screen then it's a great solution - otherwise they may go blind from the blurry PQ. Looks like as of February 9th, all local channels with the exception of UPN-11 will be on Comcast as well as most of the standard nation-wide channels. (still missing HDNet, TNT, NBC Universal and ESPN2). I'm sure those will come in time.
Other things to be aware of... PQ on the DVR for analog channels 2-99 is reported to be fairly bad, compared to the regular Comcast feed and DirecTV as well. They are moving to begin SD digital simulcasts of these analog channels this year, and that issue will hopefully be resolved. Digital SD channels are subject to the same blurry effect from being stretched onto a 16:9 screen but look pretty good in 4:3 and some with higher bit rates look Ok stretched too... we're all kind of holding our breath to see how things look on the simulcasted analog channels.
If you have high-speed Internet from Comcast you get a $10 discount for having both services active at the same time, in addition to the Dish-Out discount of $25 per month. Everyone here is real helpful so just fire away with any questions that come up. Hope you enjoy the service.

Originally posted by wareagle
This is an email a friend of mine received from KSTW this morning in response to a query...

While "Enterprise" has finally gotten good enough this season to warrant watching, I really want some of that Kristen Bell goodness in HD via "Veronica Mars". :)

Funny thing about KSTW's repsone, "Jake 2.0" isn't even on anymore, and "The Mountain" is also in HD.

I've never understood why anyone would want to do this, unless there's a problem with burn-in. To me the picture not only is less crisp, but also tends to resemble the image in a funhouse mirror because of the distorted aspect ratio. Perhaps if everything were stretched I could get used to it, just as we have with the image on the retina, which is actually inverted.

Image burn in is the main reason I stretch all my 4:3 content to 16:9.

I usually don't notice much distortion (Cinema 1 on the Toshiba keeps the center image "accurate") and have no doubt gotten used to it over the years. :)

On analog 4:3 content in "normal" mode, my Toshiba displays light gray bars to prevent (or at least greatly reduce the chances of) said burn-in, but I notice with digital content, it's black.

Still, I will be happy when everything is 16:9, even if it is not HD.

I agree about the funhouse mirror but I'm paranoid about burn-in. usually I set the DCT to revert to 480p for SD channels and use the gray bars too but I worry that even that may burn in. People who come over seem to like the "theater 1" setting better though. I worry about the black bars at the top and bottom of most DVDs too... Just wish everything conformed to 16:9. Maybe someday...

Comcast came by my apartment today to hook up the HDTV DVR box. The service tech. hooked it up and then told me the box was broken and not working.

I turned on the TV and there was no picture but the box said "dl" on it's display and had a little circling animation. Was it really broken? They of course had no manual but I would assume the dl stood for downloading or something. The tech seem certain it was broken but I don't really have to much confidence in the Comcast people.

The tech took the box with him so I dunno if it was really broken. Is this normal? Want to find out before they come out again. Thanks.

Originally posted by wareagle
I've never understood why anyone would want to do this... Heh-heh.....isn't it obvious? Seeing everyone else look short & fat makes me feel MUCH better about myself :)

My tech knew the "dl" meant it was downloading and just left, saying it would come on within 10 minutes or so. Ah, Comcast! Seems their techs are about as hit or miss as their phone techs.

That's great we're getting CBS. It's too bad football is the only thing worth watching on that channel :). Still, I nearly wet my pants when I read that we're finally getting it. Can't wait till next fall!

Slev

Well, I'll be watching CSI, King of Queens, and maybe Everybody Loves Raymond, if it isn't another rerun...:D

I watch more CBS then any other channel, so it will be nice to finally get them all in HD. If we get UPN in HD, as well, then I can finally kill my TiVo (god rest it's fine soul).

And I guess we should be thankful that FOX had the Super Bowl this year, since Frisco is just a massively larger market then Seattle they could finally exert the necessary viewer/subscriber pressure on Cox and Comcast to cut a deal.

The clueless Comcast Tech was back out at my apartment today. He brought 2 HD DVRs with him this time. Hooked the first one up, same as last time (blimped on for a sec then displayed "dl" with the circling animation). Said that ones broke so he hooked up the other one and once again same thing.

I tried to tell him I read online that other people got the "dl" message and that they said it meant it was downloading and would work if we waited about 15mins but he refused to believe me. He called back to the comcast office he was out of, gave them the number on the box and had them check it. They didn't seem to think there was any kind of problem.

Conversation went something like:

Tech: "The box came on for a sec, then got zapped and is no longer working."

Person at comcast office: "The box is not doing anything?"

Tech: "Yea, it's just went blank and not doing anything"

He never bothered to mention the "dl" message or ask about it at all (which he probably should have since he seems clueless.)

I tried to convince him to leave one of the boxes but he wouldn't. This has been a real pain in the a**. Do the boxes sometime come right up and not have to do the download (or what ever the "dl" thing is), or is this common and always happens? He seemed to believe it should just start working right away (but once again I have little faith in believing he knows what he's talking about.) Thanks.

walakazoo, check your private messages, please.

Good news to report. So I call up Comcast to complain about this tech. I explain everything to the woman on the phone, how the guy tried 3 boxes and told me they were all broke. I told her about the "dl" thing and she was just like, "that's normal, it just needs to download it's initial setup when you plug it in." I was like, thank you, I tried to tell the tech that but he wouldn't believe me. So she called up his supervisor and had the supervisor speak with him.

So he showed back up at my apartment a little while ago (in not a really great mood, probably got a good tongue leashing from his supervisor). He hooked up the box, it said "dl" as usual and then he took off. Well, low and behold about 10 minutes later the box reset and the video showed up like it's suppose to. No guide info yet, but that must be still coming.

Only thing good about this whole thing is Comcast waived the service charges for installation and stuff since it was such a pain. I'm just glad to be up and running. Can't wait for them to get the CBS feed up too! My wife is a really big CSI fan, going to be great in HDTV.

Normally I think the boxes have the latest firmware loaded before the tech installs them. But in this case they just updated the firmware a few days ago and I guess they are still installing boxes with the older firmware so they automatically update the first time you turn them on.

--
Steve

Glad that mess got cleared up, walakazoo. Can't believe the guy thought all 3 boxes were broke!

Any advice is appreciated.

I have the Comast DVR and a 37" Sharp LCD, connected via component cables.

I have the darnedest interference problem that I can't seem to solve. It's moving almost horizontal shadow lines that move from top to bottom in 15 seconds, and there are about 20 of them on the screen at once. It's really noticeable on solid color shots, like the blue menu backgrounds. (I have it paused on some Discovery HD content that is mostly blue and it's very obvious.

I notice the interference? more when the signal is 1080i and almost none at all at 480p (my Xbox does not show this as much.)

The frequency (time to move from top to bottom) seems to vary a little as well.

I have tried the following to alleviate the issue with no effect.

- Purhcased a Monster power clean power strip. (not the $399 units, but the $79.99 one)
- Moved the TV to another outlet in the house.
- Ensured the cable box and TV are on the same outlet.
- Purchased better component cables (again with the ridiculously overpriced Monster variety).
- Turned off major appliances in the condo (refrigerator, laser printer, PC, WLAN, etc.).
- Disconnected the Cable feed from the cable box.

I am going to call Sharp tomorrow and see if they have suggestions or have heard of this problem.

I am not going to try and switch out the box yet because I had a 6200 (6205?) HD box w/o the DVR and noticed the same issue. I traded up to attempt to alleviate the issue.

Originally posted by wareagle
I've never understood why anyone would want to do this, unless there's a problem with burn-in. To me the picture not only is less crisp, but also tends to resemble the image in a funhouse mirror because of the distorted aspect ratio. Perhaps if everything were stretched I could get used to it, just as we have with the image on the retina, which is actually inverted.

It depends on the stretch mode. Toshiba and one other brand of set (which I obviously forget) have a good stretch mode that you hardly notice, even say during a football game. Other methods I've seen (including that used by my MyHD card and PowerDVD) suck.

Originally posted by hendjaz
I am new to this forum and am interested in hearing from Seattle Comcast customers about their Comcast HD quantity and quality experience, likes/dislikes of the Motorola HD DVR and whether the On Demand function is a worthwhile one. I am a longtime D* customer and have its HD Tivo as well as several SD Tivos and of course love the Tivo experience in both SD and HD.

Okay, I'm in about the same boat as you, except that I have PC cards to record HD rather than an HD Tivo.

Comcast HD locals are first rate, but they haven't had KIRO (will be getting is soon) and apparently still won't have KSTW. The PQ is just as good as OTA.

OnDemand is by and large stupid and unnecessary if you have a DVR. The only good use I found for it was they had individual speeches from the political conventions indexed.

I've only seen one HD DVR box (I have the non-DVR model). The person who had it wasn't home at the time, and I didn't ask his spouse (my sister-in-law) why he didn't have anything recorded or set up to record. It could be it was brand new, or it could tell you something about how easy it is to use--I don't know. My Mot HD box has really lousy analog PQ--doesn't begin to compare to what I get through my DTivo for non-HD local programming.

Anyway, I'd really like to stick with just the limited basic for about $10 a month, and dump DirecTV. But the wife wants HGTV, so I'll either upgrade my Comcast service or go with Dish to get HGTV for under $30 a month.

Originally posted by pstemen
Any advice is appreciated.

I have the Comast DVR and a 37" Sharp LCD, connected via component cables.

I have the darnedest interference problem that I can't seem to solve. It's moving almost horizontal shadow lines that move from top to bottom in 15 seconds, and there are about 20 of them on the screen at once. It's really noticeable on solid color shots, like the blue menu backgrounds. (I have it paused on some Discovery HD content that is mostly blue and it's very obvious.

I notice the interference? more when the signal is 1080i and almost none at all at 480p (my Xbox does not show this as much.)

The frequency (time to move from top to bottom) seems to vary a little as well.

I have tried the following to alleviate the issue with no effect.

- Purhcased a Monster power clean power strip. (not the $399 units, but the $79.99 one)
- Moved the TV to another outlet in the house.
- Ensured the cable box and TV are on the same outlet.
- Purchased better component cables (again with the ridiculously overpriced Monster variety).
- Turned off major appliances in the condo (refrigerator, laser printer, PC, WLAN, etc.).
- Disconnected the Cable feed from the cable box.

I am going to call Sharp tomorrow and see if they have suggestions or have heard of this problem.

I am not going to try and switch out the box yet because I had a 6200 (6205?) HD box w/o the DVR and noticed the same issue. I traded up to attempt to alleviate the issue.

I've got the same issue except that I only see it on select SD channels. I never see this on the HD channels. For me this problem showed up after switching from the 6200 to the 6412.

I tried new cables, new wire routing, etc. to no avail. Very annoying.

Is it possible what you are seeing is 60 cycle interference? How is your wiring grounded? Is the outlet you are using properly grounded, I don't mean your power strip but the outlet it is plugged into. This is just a thought and not professional advice by any means.

'Taint your TV- I get exactly the same thing on SD channels. I, too, thought it was some stray powerline hum, but it doesn't seem to be. I have an isolated power supply, electrician checked ground wiring, with every grounded plug in the system going into the same box, massively filtered and conditioned. Makes no difference.

For me, this has been consistent over the 6200 and 6412 boxes. Digital channels are flawless. If someone has solved this one, please let us know. I had given up and decided to live with the problem until the digital simulcasts came online.

Originally posted by jimre

I've heard from someone who works for the Mariners that all games on Fox will be in HD this year. I haven't seen any indpendent confirmation of this yet, though. [/B]



Anything new on any of the Mariners broadcasts being shown in HD this year on a regular basis on Comcast, other than an occasional espn-hd Sunday game or fox-hd Saturday afternoon game? Sounds like last summer's experiment with the Japan station feed wasn't too successful (due to the audio non-synch). Anything better on the HD horizon for M's games in 05?

How is the SD PQ for Mariners games on FSN on Comcast? Thanks.

It seems that the last Sonics game on FSN seemed a little better than before, PQ-wise, but I can watch baseball any time any way. I love the game. Can you believe that football is edging closer to baseball's training camp time every year?

OT

Has anyone experienced a bump in Comcast Internet speed? I heard they are rolling out an increase to 4000/384.
I'm in Snoqualmie but haven't seent he increase yet.

Oh and ...
Last night I turned to 107 which is my weekly ritual, kind of like buying a lottery ticket once in a while. There was no signal. Today I read that they finally made the announcement.
Has anyone seen the picture yet?

Originally posted by hinten
OT

Has anyone experienced a bump in Comcast Internet speed? I heard they are rolling out an increase to 4000/384.
I'm in Snoqualmie but haven't seent he increase yet.

You can log in here and get upgrade status:
http://forums.comcast.net/thread.jspa?threadID=32689&tstart=0

They currently only have locations in the eastern half of the country listed as imminent, but state that everyone should get it by March 31.

Some are already reporting higher speeds in Vancouver, WA.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comcast_cable/database?method=reportRows&tbl=4&sortBy=1&sortDir=down&start_at=172&query=

I didn't notice the last increase. It's already so fast that unless you're downloading a rather large file from a fast server you probably won't notice it.

Are they increasing the upload speed? There you might notice a difference.

Here's what the forum site says:

--------------Current New
------------(down/up) (down/up)
Base service: 3Mbps/256kbps 4Mbps/384kbps

$10 add-on
speed tier: 4Mbps/384kbps 6Mbps/768kbps


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I missed it when I first scanned the list, but Portland, OR and Pima, AZ were the only cities west of Dallas that were included in the initial rollout.

Well, I guess no CSI Miami in HD tonight... 107 hasn't yet shown up. If they just told us when, that would be cool.

Re: increased internet speeds

I'm on Sammamish plateau. Comcast notified us via e-mail about a week ahead of time not to turn off computer/internet between midnight Sat 01/08 & Sun noon 01/09. Seattle Times also carried story on Comcast upgrade on 01/08. After upgrade, increase in speed was easily apparent

Originally posted by Runco One
Re: increased internet speeds

I'm on Sammamish plateau. Comcast notified us via e-mail about a week ahead of time not to turn off computer/internet between midnight Sat 01/08 & Sun noon 01/09. Seattle Times also carried story on Comcast upgrade on 01/08. After upgrade, increase in speed was easily apparent

I got that email here to. No speed difference apparent here, but it could have happened.

This may seem like an odd question, but is Fox broadcast of this year's Superbowl in HD on Comcast? If it is, any comments on their HD broadcast
quality vs. other networks?

Originally posted by Runco One
This may seem like an odd question, but is Fox broadcast of this year's Superbowl in HD on Comcast? If it is, any comments on their HD broadcast
quality vs. other networks?

Generally Fox HD football is not as good as CBS or ABC, but they are getting better. I'm optimistic.

I suppose that was my reason for posting the question. At least to my eyes, the color on the FOX football games somehow lacked the punch of ABC. At times, the picture almost looked digital rather than HD....

Originally posted by Runco One
I suppose that was my reason for posting the question. At least to my eyes, the color on the FOX football games somehow lacked the punch of ABC. At times, the picture almost looked digital rather than HD.... At times, all the networks switch back to SD cameras for certain shots - eg the "helmet cam", the "overhead wire cam", etc. They don't yet have HD cameras everywhere...

Originally posted by Runco One
Re: increased internet speeds

I'm on Sammamish plateau. Comcast notified us via e-mail about a week ahead of time not to turn off computer/internet between midnight Sat 01/08 & Sun noon 01/09. Seattle Times also carried story on Comcast upgrade on 01/08. After upgrade, increase in speed was easily apparent

I also live in Sammamish and got the notification not to turn off the modem but haven't seen a speed increase yet. DSL reports tonight shows my connection at 2246 / 241 (hmm not even close to 3mbs down:rolleyes: )

Runco - what speeds are you seeing?

Originally posted by markhs
I also live in Sammamish and got the notification not to turn off the modem but haven't seen a speed increase yet. DSL reports tonight shows my connection at 2246 / 241 (hmm not even close to 3mbs down:rolleyes: )

Runco - what speeds are you seeing?

I can't really tell you "what speeds" I'm seeing, I only know that in my house the internet would really bog down on a frequent basis.
After the upgrade, I've definitely seen better internet speeds. Maybe it's a function of our neighborhood, I'm not sure....how do you look up the speed on the DSL?

Originally posted by pstemen
Any advice is appreciated.

I have the Comast DVR and a 37" Sharp LCD, connected via component cables.

I have the darnedest interference problem that I can't seem to solve. It's moving almost horizontal shadow lines that move from top to bottom in 15 seconds, and there are about 20 of them on the screen at once. It's really noticeable on solid color shots, like the blue menu backgrounds. (I have it paused on some Discovery HD content that is mostly blue and it's very obvious.
. . .


Have you checked or posted this over on the LCD Display forum on AVS? That is where you should go for answers on display problems.

Originally posted by markhs
I also live in Sammamish and got the notification not to turn off the modem but haven't seen a speed increase yet. DSL reports tonight shows my connection at 2246 / 241 (hmm not even close to 3mbs down:rolleyes: )

Runco - what speeds are you seeing?


OK, I went to two different sites that measure connection speeds.
Looks like its 1.9 Mbps...slower than yours...still better than what I was getting before the upgrade...

Originally posted by markhs
I also live in Sammamish and got the notification not to turn off the modem but haven't seen a speed increase yet. DSL reports tonight shows my connection at 2246 / 241 (hmm not even close to 3mbs down:rolleyes: )

Runco - what speeds are you seeing?

OK...OK went to PC Pitstop...got a 2069 kilobits/sec reading..a personal best! Site mentioned that speeds can be affected by amount of internet traffic...so could probably get to 3k kilobits if half the world logged off..

Originally posted by Runco One
OK, I went to two different sites that measure connection speeds.
Looks like its 1.9 Mbps...slower than yours...still better than what I was getting before the upgrade...

I suspect it's more of a neighborhood issue. Cable is affected by the number of people in your area using the service at the same time (you share bandwidth). Try moving to my neighborhood where few people can afford cable Internet. We have no such problems. ;)

Originally posted by Runco One
I suppose that was my reason for posting the question. At least to my eyes, the color on the FOX football games somehow lacked the punch of ABC. At times, the picture almost looked digital rather than HD....

I wouldn't judge Fox vs. ABC based on color, but instead resolution. ABC, IMHO, adjusts their broadcast so that the picture is abnormally bright, which I find very annoying. I think they do that to make the picture have more of a "wow" factor, but it does affect colors.

Don't get me wrong--the ABC picture is pretty good. It's just that MNF is the only show I find myself adjusting my set so the picture isn't so damn bright.

Too many speed sites are very unscientific and don't take even the basics into account.
A site for some good info is http://nitro.ucsc.edu/
Don't use sites for DSL connections or sites that sell DSL service for obvious reasons...

The bandwidth sites will give you a good indication of performance at the specific moment of time.

The best way to see what Comcast has provisioned your modem for is by looking at the status pages on the modem. To do this I disconnect my Linksys cable modem from my Linksys Router and connect the modem directly to the PC. I then do a IPCONFIG /Release & then IPCONFIG / Renew command to get a new IP address.

Then i can access the status pages via my browser - http://192.168.1.1

I checked mine this weekend ( in Sammamish) and I was still set at

Downstream 3300000
Upstream 256000

-Stu

Originally posted by xkode2002
Well, I guess no CSI Miami in HD tonight... 107 hasn't yet shown up. If they just told us when, that would be cool.

Comcast employees have been told that KIRO will launch in High-Definition on channel 107. February 9th, 2005.

An earlier post from the KIRO people, here on this board, seemed to leave hope that it could launch sooner if all the equipment gets set-up. Comcast didn't say anything about that though.

I don't blame Comcast. It's been my experience that if you mention that you might get it done early, early becomes the new expectation. Then people get ticked off when it is delivered on-time, because on-time is now late.

Now to start bitching in earnest about the lack of UPN. ;-)

--Mike

I hate to be cynical...but I won't be holding my breath for KIRO-HD.

I certainly hope they deliver though....even though football is done on CBS, which is the main reason I have wanted KIRO-HD all along.

Originally posted by Llamas
Now to start bitching in earnest about the lack of UPN. ;-)


No! Aim all your bitching efforts at not having TNT in HD. All that Law & Order should be in HD!

And, I want HDNet. Much better than InHD

Originally posted by artshotwell
And, I want HDNet. Much better than InHD

art - agree completely! hdnet is one of the few reasons I still have directv...

MAYBE once a month there is a movie worth watching on INHD, but I rarely even bother to check anymore.

Originally posted by pstemen
Any advice is appreciated.

I have the Comast DVR and a 37" Sharp LCD, connected via component cables.

I have the darnedest interference problem that I can't seem to solve. It's moving almost horizontal shadow lines that move from top to bottom in 15 seconds, and there are about 20 of them on the screen at once. It's really noticeable on solid color shots, like the blue menu backgrounds. (I have it paused on some Discovery HD content that is mostly blue and it's very obvious.

I notice the interference? more when the signal is 1080i and almost none at all at 480p (my Xbox does not show this as much.)

The frequency (time to move from top to bottom) seems to vary a little as well.

I have tried the following to alleviate the issue with no effect.

- Purhcased a Monster power clean power strip. (not the $399 units, but the $79.99 one)
- Moved the TV to another outlet in the house.
- Ensured the cable box and TV are on the same outlet.
- Purchased better component cables (again with the ridiculously overpriced Monster variety).
- Turned off major appliances in the condo (refrigerator, laser printer, PC, WLAN, etc.).
- Disconnected the Cable feed from the cable box.

I am going to call Sharp tomorrow and see if they have suggestions or have heard of this problem.

I am not going to try and switch out the box yet because I had a 6200 (6205?) HD box w/o the DVR and noticed the same issue. I traded up to attempt to alleviate the issue.

i had similar problems during a basement remodel last year. I swore up and down it was the electrician's fault after they did a panel upgrade. one of the contractors even told me that one of the electricians had commented on my cable box (the one on the side of the house) and the fancy filters and amplifier i had. i was quick to judge, but couldn't figure out what they had done, maybe crossed in parallel a home run somehow with some romex or something...a bad ground maybe...a problem with the new grounding rod. i had no clue. anyway, i had just gotten my first projector, and i can tell you at 96" diagonal the last thing you want to see is horizontal scan lines cruising up your screen. i was freaked. anyway, i told the contractor that they had better fix the problem before they closed up the walls, or we were going to have a problem. they told me to call comcast and have them come out and diagnose. if that didn't fix it, they'd call the electrician's back. i agreed. called comcast and they found nothing. they changed out several connectors, tested signals all over my house, etc. nothing. i was about to lose it. anyway, i took a rg6 cable out to the home run to the pole and connected straight to it. the scan lines were gone. after several weeks of d * king around with it i finally unscrewed a splitter and water poured out of it. :) this was outside at my box. i have no idea how it got wet (electro junkie probably left my box open), but it was toast. i replaced it and problem was solved. i'm not saying this is your problem, but if you have any splitters in your house or outside i would check them. if you can run a straight shot to the main line that feeds from the pole, try that and see if you get the same result. also, if you're using any amplifiers, make sure that the outlets you are using are properly grounded. you shouldn't put up with that, but you will most likely have to trouble-shoot it yourself as the tech's meter's probably won't find that kind of problem. good luck.

Originally posted by Karyk
I suspect it's more of a neighborhood issue. Cable is affected by the number of people in your area using the service at the same time (you share bandwidth). Try moving to my neighborhood where few people can afford cable Internet. We have no such problems. ;)

I am literally surrounded by Microsoft folks and their progeny. So the per capita computer number is quite high. If I look at the number of encrypted wireless networks, there's about 1/2 dozen within range of my own wireless network.

Originally posted by Karyk
I wouldn't judge Fox vs. ABC based on color, but instead resolution. ABC, IMHO, adjusts their broadcast so that the picture is abnormally bright, which I find very annoying. I think they do that to make the picture have more of a "wow" factor, but it does affect colors.

Don't get me wrong--the ABC picture is pretty good. It's just that MNF is the only show I find myself adjusting my set so the picture isn't so damn bright.


I would totally agree with your observations...

Originally posted by hinten
Too many speed sites are very unscientific and don't take even the basics into account.
A site for some good info is http://nitro.ucsc.edu/
Don't use sites for DSL connections or sites that sell DSL service for obvious reasons...

Took your suggestion, results were:

254.01 Kb/s outbound (client/server)
2.79 Mb/s inbound (server/client)

Originally posted by Runco One
I am literally surrounded by Microsoft folks and their progeny. So the per capita computer number is quite high. If I look at the number of encrypted wireless networks, there's about 1/2 dozen within range of my own wireless network.

I have no wireless networks in my area, except my own.

I'm watching KIRO-DT on Comcast in 1080i. It's on 84-1 using my LST-3410A QAM tuner. This is very cool...

comcast must be testing kiro - I don't see it on my HD cable box yet.

Soon...

They probably have not updated their channel overlay that maps actual physical channels to Comcast display channels.

Using the QAM Fusion3-HDTV tuner, KIRO-HD seems to be on 84.2 at my place.

84.1 crashes the app, which usually means an encrypted channel.

-eric

My non-DVR Moto box was updated to MSFT software sometime the night before last. Are they rolling this out gradually and not to everyone at the same time? I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it (I've seen mention of it on the DVR units, but not the non-DVR units).

On the good side it seems to have cured the HDCP issue, so you can switch to other inputs and then come back without any issues.

On the bad side, it seems to want to keep the clock on. I tried turning it off in the settings, but it stayed on.

My DCT-5100 got the Microsoft Guide yesterday too. Comcast had sent a notice by mail last week saying that the new guide would be rolled out in my area on February 1.

I like the new guide. The guide was a side benefit of swapping out my other DCT-5100 for a DVR. I'm glad to have the new guide on both boxes now.

I didn't check the programming guide, but the overall menu seemed to be much cleaner.

Major sports events like the Super Bowl are a big driver of demand for high-definition TV services, says Dave Watson, executive vice president for operations at Comcast (video clip):

http://www.marketwatch.com/tvradio/playerfull.asp?siteid=yhoo&dist=yhooBB&guid=%7BB06E96C7%2D9F58%2D4A4F%2D92D1%2DC2BADB486C23%7D

Not much news, other than stating that Comcast has 1 million HD boxes deployed, with 800,000 of them having been installed in 2004.

Originally posted by Karyk
My non-DVR Moto box was updated to MSFT software sometime the night before last. Are they rolling this out gradually and not to everyone at the same time? I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it (I've seen mention of it on the DVR units, but not the non-DVR units).


My old DCT-2000 got the MSFT guide the same day my HD DVR was installed back in November.

However, I did get a mailer recently that the non-DVR HD boxes would be getting it about now.

anybody know the phone number for the south seattle store?

is there still a south seattle store? near sea tac i think it used to be?

i want to call and see if i can come swap out my old hd box that doesn't have dvi on it for a newer one that does...

City: Seatac

Center Name: Latin American Market

Billing Payment Center Address: 20856 International Blvd, Seatac, WA 98188

Phone Number: 877-824-2288

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Sunday 10:00am - 7:00pm

Directions From Closest Major Intersection: FROM NORTH ON MILITARY RD S: Follow the road toward S 200th St. Turn left onto S 200th St. Continue driving until you reach International Blvd/Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. Turn left onto International Blvd/Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. Follow the road until you reach 20856 International Blvd/Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. ************************* FROM I-5 S TOWARD PORTLAND: Take the S 200th St/Military Rd exit (Exit 151). Stay straight to go onto S 200th St. Turn left onto International Blvd/Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. Continue driving until you reach 20856 International Blvd/Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. *********************NEARBY COMMUNITIES: Tukwilla, Riverton Heights, Burien, Normandy Park.

Map: View map.

Notes: Located in King County. Payments made Sun-Thurs process within 2 - 3 days. Must have bill stub for scanning. Payments made Fri-Sat process with 4-5 days. Equipment NOT accepted.
====================================================
City: Federal Way

Center Name: Comcast Cable Store - Federal Way

Comcast Cable Store Federal Way

Billing Payment Center Address: 1414 324th St S, Federal Way, WA 98003-8474

Phone Number: 877-824-2288

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday 10:00am to 6:00pm

Directions From Closest Major Intersection: FROM INTERSTATE 5: Take S 320th St exit and go west, to Pacific Hwy. Turn left on Pacific Hwy to Century Shopping Center on the right (or, turn right on S 324th St and turn right in the first driveway). The Cable Store is in Ross Plaza next to Round Table Pizza.********************** FROM NORTH ON W VALLEY HWY S: Drive toward S Peasley Canyon Rd. Turn left onto S Peasley Canyon Rd. S Peasley Canyon Rd becomes S 320th St. Follow S 320th St until you reach Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. Turn left onto Pacific Hwy S/WA-99. Continue driving towardsS 324th St. Turn right onto S 324th St. Follow the road until you reach 1414 S 324th St. The Cable Store is in Ross Plaza next to Round Table Pizza.*********************** FROM SOUTH ON MILITARY RD S: Drive toward S 284th St. Continue driving until you reach S 288th St. Turn right on S 288th St. Follow the road until you reach Pacific Hwy S/WA-509/WA-99. Continue to follow Pacific Hwy S/WA-99 until you reach S 324th St.

Map: View map.

Notes: Located in King County. COMCAST CABLE STORE FEDERAL WAY Payment posted to account immediately. Equipment issued/exchanged. purchase cable supplies. pickup Channel/Rate cards and other. Accept local phone payments.
====================================================
City: Auburn

Center Name: Comcast Cable Store - Auburn

Comcast Cable Store Auburn

Billing Payment Center Address: 4020 Auburn Way N, Auburn, WA 98002

Phone Number: 877-824-2288

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday 10:00am to 6:00pm

Directions From Closest Major Intersection: FROM HWY 167 N: Take the S. 277th St. exit. Turn right onto S. 277th St. Continue driving until you see Central Ave S. Turn right on Central Ave S. Central Ave S. will eventually turn into Auburn Way N. Follow the road until you see 4020 Auburn Way N on your left. It is next to Velocity Motosport.*********************** FROM HWY 18 W: Take the WA-164 E exit toward Auburn. Continue driving until you see Auburn Way S on your right hand side. Turn right onto Auburn Way S. Auburn Way S. will eventually turn into Auburn Way N. Follow the road until you see 4020 Auburn Way N on your right. It is next to Velocity Motosport.********************** FROM AUBURN WAY S/WA-164: Go N on Auburn Way S/WA-164 toward J St. SE. Continue to follow Auburn Way S. Auburn Way S. will eventually turn into Auburn Way N.End at 4020 Auburn Way N. Follow the road until you see 4020 Auburn Way N on your right. It is next to Velocity Motosport.*********************** NEARBY COMMUNITIES: Kent

Map: View map.

Notes: Located in King/Pierce County. COMCAST CABLE STORE AUBURN Payments posted to account immediately. Equipment issued or exchanged. Purchase cable supplies. pickup Channel and Rate Cards and other. Local phone payments accepted.

Effective February 9, 2005, KIRO HDTV will be available on Comcast channel 107...
http://www.kirotv.com/station/4157165/detail.html

Originally posted by wareagle
Effective February 9, 2005, KIRO HDTV will be available on Comcast channel 107...
http://www.kirotv.com/station/4157165/detail.html

Quote from that article:
"We appreciate the patience of the cable subscribers who have missed KIRO's digital signal for the past several months."

hahahahahaha.... 'several months' they say... hah!

Originally posted by Slev
Quote from that article:
"We appreciate the patience of the cable subscribers who have missed KIRO's digital signal for the past several months."

hahahahahaha.... 'several months' they say... hah!

They're referring to this past football season. :)

So I finally got comcast to deliver a shiny new DCT-6412 for my viewing and listening enjoyment. DAMN is this thing ever noisy? I can hear the hard drive heads clicking from (literally) 20 ft away even with my TV at a normal listening volume. It sounds to me like the HD is going bad but it is working so I dont know. Is anyone else hearing excesive noise coming from their DVR? Its not like they used real cheap HDs or anything, I can see that it is a Seagate U series 9 which get pretty good reviews for being fast and quiet.

Originally posted by [PCC] El Guapo
So I finally got comcast to deliver a shiny new DCT-6412 for my viewing and listening enjoyment. DAMN is this thing ever noisy? I can hear the hard drive heads clicking from (literally) 20 ft away even with my TV at a normal listening volume. It sounds to me like the HD is going bad but it is working so I dont know. Is anyone else hearing excesive noise coming from their DVR? Its not like they used real cheap HDs or anything, I can see that it is a Seagate U series 9 which get pretty good reviews for being fast and quiet.

I thought the same thing when I first got mine. In fact, I even swapped my box a few times trying to find a quieter one, but eventually just gave up. From what I can tell, it's pretty unanimous that the HD is loud when actively recording and even louder when using both tuners. However, when the box is "off", some seem to be quieter than others. It doesn't annoy me much that it makes noise while recording, but it does bother me when I can hear the box in my kitchen a good 20ft away when all my equipment is off. :) My current box is sometimes loud when off and sometimes quiet and I really can't tell why it is one way or the other. If it really bugs me, I just unplug it although my wife isn't a big fan of this approach. :)

Here's a few tips for the loud hd. If I'm watching a DVD and want the box to be silent (assuming I'm not recording anything) I tune the DVR to a music channel. It doesn't cache anything so it is silent.

I bought an extra large floor vent deflector and set it on the box. I was careful that the magnets didn't rub against the box. This seemed to have deflected almost all of the clicking towards the back wall. It is an inelegant solution but that drive sound gets to me if I'm watching a dialogue driven show. If anyone sees a problem with the magnets, I'd like to know and I'll pry them off.

Just some thoughts.

Art

El Guapo,

You probably got the unit I returned... :D

I've asked this very same question a few months ago on this thread. The unit I got was IMHO too noisy for me. My friend has one that's not as bad, so I would take my chances and head to a Comcast office with it to get it replaced if I were you.

I agree with you about the Seagates being very silent for HDs. I own 3 Seagates in my HTPC and I litterally can't hear them. But I have to say that as far as DVR casing goes... the 6412 is probably the worst design I've seen to control noise. Seriously, have you seen any other consumer casing that has venting slits right where the harddrive is?

-eric

Had Comcast out Tuesday to hook up cable in my new home and the guy told me that CBS will start broadcasting in HD starting in March.
He also told me that all channels will be digital around that same time.
I'll beleive I when I see it. Anyone else heard any of this?

Well the MSFT software apparently didn't fix the HDCP problem after all. I had problems last night switching inputs during the State of the Union address.

I have basic comcast cable. Bought a LG3510A and was unable to get local HDTV channels. I could tune them, but signal is very very weak. (less than 20%) The picture cut in and out.

Did comcast put some sort of filter on to cause this?

Originally posted by adee6
Had Comcast out Tuesday to hook up cable in my new home and the guy told me that CBS will start broadcasting in HD starting in March.
He also told me that all channels will be digital around that same time.
I'll believe I when I see it. Anyone else heard any of this?

KIRO-HD: Look for it on channel 107 next Wednesday (2/9).

Digital simulcast: Should happen this year, but no indication it will be here by March.

Will the digital simulcast channels be horribly overcompressed like Comcast's other digital channels?

Probably, but they'll still look better on the 6412 then the analog ones.

So i have the moto non-DVR box and I was pleasantly surprised to get the MSFT software a couple of days ago. I like the speed and look. So this was a =).

Then yesterday and the day before, when i switched over to 173 (ESPNHD), the thing would lock up, and not show anything. Sometimes 1 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes with no delay. Then when i go to InhD1 or InHd2, the same thing would happen, although less frequently, somtimes with a 5 second - 10 second sound delay.

ESPN seems fine, broadcasting from the SD 31 channel. It's just ESPNHD, which just happens to be my fav channel. arggggg.

anyone else experiencing this and can give some comments or advice?

Thanks,

JB

Originally posted by Nausicaa
Probably, but they'll still look better on the 6412 then the analog ones.
Great to have an optimist around.

Originally posted by wareagle
KIRO-HD: Look for it on channel 107 next Wednesday (2/9).

...


If you have an HD tuner, it is here already. I can get it on channel 84-1 on my Mits 62725 built in tuner.

As usual with Microsoft products the look of the interface is way better than the old one. But been a Redmond product rush to the public it is normal to find peculiar things:
1. Audio mode has been reset to "heavy compression".
2. Audio delay up to 30" when you change HD channels like INHD.
3. Interface takes almost half screen if it is 4:3 content.
4. Clock stays on after the box has been turn off.
Lets wait for the upcoming service pack...

Originally posted by d13go
As usual with Microsoft products the look of the interface is way better than the old one. But been a Redmond product rush to the public it is normal to find peculiar things:
1. Audio mode has been reset to "heavy compression".
2. Audio delay up to 30" when you change HD channels like INHD.
3. Interface takes almost half screen if it is 4:3 content.
4. Clock stays on after the box has been turn off.
Lets wait for the upcoming service pack...

It's better than the first version of the prior software that implemented HDCP. That required that you turn the box off several times, or unplug it and reboot, if you accidently switched to another source while it was on.

At least the first one above can be changed (and something I did right away). Other than that and the last one, I haven't had other issues.

Originally posted by d13go
As usual with Microsoft products the look of the interface is way better than the old one. But been a Redmond product rush to the public it is normal to find peculiar things:
1. Audio mode has been reset to "heavy compression".
2. Audio delay up to 30" when you change HD channels like INHD.
3. Interface takes almost half screen if it is 4:3 content.
4. Clock stays on after the box has been turn off.
Lets wait for the upcoming service pack...
I like the clock on when the unit's off. On the other hand, I like no audio compression. And, no audio delay.

anyone else getting the delay in video as well? audio .. eh. but no video for a minute buggers me out.

I get a pause in video, of a few seconds, while the recorder buffers the stream, but nothing past that.

yeah im talking a definitive delay. sometimes a minute, sometimes more.

and its only on ESPNHD or the InHD channels. local channels seem fine.

this is frustrating. maybe i should call comcast.

I'm also seeing a new delay when switching to HD channels. It just started happening when my non-DVR units downloaded the MSTV guide the other day. It's not that long - like 10-15 seconds - but it's pretty annoying when I'm doing my usual cruise thru all the HD channels (via Favorites) to see what's on. And it's not a buffering delay, since this only occurs on the non-DVR units. Could be some kind of HDCP negotation, but I thought that all happpened in the Motorola firmware level, not the MSTV application-level.

Originally posted by jimre
I'm also seeing a new delay when switching to HD channels.

I've been noticing the delay on my 6200 ever since it got the MSFT guide. I guess we need to start calling in and reporting it. It's a minor annoyance in an overall superior guide, but unacceptable long-term.

i think its more than a minor annoyance. I mean, it takes all the joy of randomly channel surfing all the HD channels.

and im convinced its only ESPNHD and 663-665. I have no problems with 104-113..

Long time lurker. I finally decided to join since I just recently got the Motorola 6200 from Comcast. I too am experiencing the audio and video delays on channels 173,663,664 and 665. Seems to be random. Sometimes it tunes right in while other times there is a delay until the video and/or audio locks in. My box just received the Microsoft upgrade the other day and it was fine the first day but since then I've encountered this problem. Might be time to call Comcast.

Originally posted by KIRO TV
For Immediate Release
February 2, 2005

KIRO 7 And CBS Programming To Be Carried on Cable In HDTV

SEATTLE, WA – KIRO Television announced today its agreement with Comcast and Charter Communications, Inc., allowing for the carriage of its high definition signal.
KIRO-TV began broadcasting its over the air digital signal free to the public on October 15, 1999, but due to extended negotiations the signal was not carried on Comcast or Charter Cable.
Effective February 9, 2005, KIRO HDTV will be available on Comcast channel 107, and on Charter Cable, the Eastern Washington cable system operator. Viewers with digital receivers and high-definition television sets will now be able to receive KIRO 7 in crystal clear widescreen HDTV and 5.1 Dolby digital movie quality sound.
HDTV offers six times the picture clarity of traditional analog, providing the clearest picture available today.
“This is the result of complex negotiations with our cable partners due to multiple location issues across the country, not just the Seattle-Tacoma market,” said KIRO-TV vice president and general manager John Woodin. “We appreciate the patience of the cable subscribers who have missed KIRO’s digital signal for the past several months.”
KIRO-TV broadcasts popular CBS programming and weekly hit shows in HDTV such as CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, Without A Trace and Everybody Loves Raymond as well as the Emmy award-winning daytime drama The Young and The Restless. Viewers can also look forward to KIRO HDTV broadcasts of the Grammy Awards, the NCAA Final Four and NCAA Championship games

Does anybody have problems with the picture freezing on the 6412? I will leave the room with the TV on and come back to find the picture frozen on my plasma screen (not a good thing on a plasma). I thought the box might be overheating but felt it andit felt fine. Any other people with this problem or suggestions...Yes I am going to call Comcast...Thank you, Steve

A friend of mine who is experiencing the tuning delays with his non-DVR box since getting the MS guide has noted that the delays occur when he attempts to tune any encrypted channel. There is a delay in the "not authorized" response to those (in addition to 173, which he has), so he speculates that the delay involves the process of checking for authorization. I can't test this, since my 6412 isn't affected.

Originally posted by seatlsteve
Does anybody have problems with the picture freezing on the 6412? I will leave the room with the TV on and come back to find the picture frozen on my plasma screen (not a good thing on a plasma). I thought the box might be overheating but felt it andit felt fine. Any other people with this problem or suggestions...Yes I am going to call Comcast...Thank you, Steve
Never had the picture freeze at least not for more than a moment or two.

I have always noticed a slight delay when scrolling through the channels and hitting a change from SD to HD.

I forgot to mention, when I change the channel it's fine again and that it is random. I have never seen it happen when I was watching it...Could just be a poltergeist...LOL

Originally posted by rverginia
I have always noticed a slight delay when scrolling through the channels and hitting a change from SD to HD. Well sure - there's always a *slight* delay - and sometimes screen flicker - when switching from SD to HD channels. This is due to your TV set re-syncing to a different frequency signal, not due to the cable box. Some TVs do this faster than others.

This is something new and different, which has only started happening since the MSTV guide upgrade 2 days ago.

yeah, this isnt a slight couple of second delay. We are talking close to 30secs-1min delay.

hey, we're getting the fox hd superbowl feed here in seattle, RIGHT?!!!!

my boss was trying to tell me we are not...

If your boss is trying to get it OTA, I don't think he'll get it. I don't think FOX is doing OTA broadcasts, but they are doing the superbowl in HD over Comcast.

no, he was talking comcast, thanks, i though he was fos

Last night between 6 & 7 had totally black screen on channels 104 & 108. The totally black screen was preceded by narrow wavy vertical green lines across the screen. When I checked other channels to discount the possibility that my set was malfunctioning, I found that Channel 104 was showing up on 109 according to the info guide. This problem dissapeared after about an hour...anyone have any ideas on what was going on...I've got 6412 box.

Originally posted by bzaznut
yeah, this isnt a slight couple of second delay. We are talking close to 30secs-1min delay.


to follow up on this, I called Comcast and they confirmed that they are getting these reports, and they are working on it.

She "kindly" explained that it was a "latency" issue. I told her .. yeah its lag, and she said "what's that?"

...

gotta love it.

Originally posted by djmattyb
If your boss is trying to get it OTA, I don't think he'll get it. I don't think FOX is doing OTA broadcasts, but they are doing the superbowl in HD over Comcast.

I am not sure where you got this impression, but KCPQ has been broadcasting OTA digital longer than Comcast has carried them digitally. They had occasional HDTV broadcasts, like the Pasadena Rose Parade, some Seahawks preseason games and, IIRC, some other baseball programs.

KCPQ-DT switched from 1080i to 720p in time for the turn-up of their new HDTV FOX network feed.

We watch FOX HDTV regularly OTA. We have watched upconverted SD programs on KCPQ-DT for over two years.

For anyone who has the 4200A - Night time HD on 82-4 and 82-5 is back. Looks like Comcast dropped the 82-6 subchannel which was the ABC News Now channel and since then I can pick up ABC and PBS HD feeds after 5PM. Yeah...

Originally posted by Runco One
Last night between 6 & 7 had totally black screen on channels 104 & 108. The totally black screen was preceded by narrow wavy vertical green lines across the screen. When I checked other channels to discount the possibility that my set was malfunctioning, I found that Channel 104 was showing up on 109 according to the info guide. This problem dissapeared after about an hour...anyone have any ideas on what was going on...I've got 6412 box.

KOMO had a switcher crosspoint lock up, taking the station to black. It took a bit to trace down and fix it.

Don

Originally posted by Don Wilkinson
KOMO had a switcher crosspoint lock up, taking the station to black. It took a bit to trace down and fix it.

Don

I appreciate your reply!

Originally posted by ddz
For anyone who has the 4200A - Night time HD on 82-4 and 82-5 is back. Looks like Comcast dropped the 82-6 subchannel which was the ABC News Now channel and since then I can pick up ABC and PBS HD feeds after 5PM. Yeah...

I can confirm that this is also the case with a 3510A, too. KIRO on 84 was absent last night around 10 or so but back this morning but I'm not concerned about that (yet ;-) it's still before the 9th).

Originally posted by djmattyb
If your boss is trying to get it OTA, I don't think he'll get it. I don't think FOX is doing OTA broadcasts, but they are doing the superbowl in HD over Comcast.
The SB was in HD on the OTA broadcast. I recorded a great 480i of it on my ReplayTV while I was watching/recording the Comcast HD delivery on our 6412.

Didn't anyone else have sound issues with the Superbowl yesterday? I had very low volume levels. Never tracked down whether it was the lack of a center channel or just a level issue, for when switching to OTA there was no such issue.

No problems - sounded great.

no major sound issues here...a couple of minor blips but that could have been production issues on site rather than transmisison.

I had the same sound issue -- low center channel volume. The tunes that were playing as the teams took to the field were completely muffled for example.

Also, another poster asked if anyone else was having freezing problems on their 6412. Yes. It's annoying I might add. Seems to happen randomly across a variety of channels.

I've had freezing issues with the new box for the first couple weeks, but it hasn't happened in a while.

Now that we're getting KIRO/CBS in HD, what is our next "crusade?" TNT-HD? I wouldn't want us here on the Seattle Comcast thread to sit back and not have the same passion for new HD channels that we had for getting CBS.

I've also have freezing issues. I like to leave the 6412 on an turn the tv off, well sometimes when I turn on the tv, the picture is frozen. The only way to fix it is to switch channels. Last night, for the first time, it froze twice in about 10 minutes while my wife was watching it. Didn't make her very happy.

Am I the only one who compulsively checks channel 107 every morning hoping for an early start? I know it's scheduled to come on line on Wednesday but one can only hope.

Here's the challenge. Let's see who will be the first person to post here that 107 is up and running! Remember, some of us have been waiting for almost two years for this to occur!

Art

ohhh, me too! been checking 107 too often...

i'll check Weds when I get home!

Art,
I'll take that challenge.

Only rule: it has to be a cable box from Comcast.

I check too often also. I always get frustrated when I type in the channel and it shows: ???

I'll be checking back often because I want to see the amazing race finale in HD.

I don't think the Amazing Race is shown on HD. However, I'm hoping the digital picture on 107 will be better than analog 7. Let's see if Letterman looks and sounds better on 107. One drawback I'm wondering about. If I tape Letterman on 107 will it use up 1/12th of the Hard Drive space (estimating about 12 hours of HD on 6412) even though it's not HD?

Art

Yeah, I think it will. That's why I always record Extreme Home Makeover from 4 instead of 104. Letterman isn't in HD?

Yes, recording of HD channels will always take up HD space no matter what the programming material is.

Originally posted by djmattyb
Yeah, I think it will. That's why I always record Extreme Home Makeover from 4 instead of 104. Letterman isn't in HD?

Letterman is not in Hd... yet... I believe there was an announcement not too long ago that Letterman would begin an HD broadcast later this year. Can't remember exactly when, but I think it was being takled about in the HDTV programming forum.

I got a message on my Tivo that is connected to an old Moto box that there is a channel 107! I quickly jumped over to the HD box to check, but alas...no 107! =(

Originally posted by buddma
I got a message on my Tivo that is connected to an old Moto box that there is a channel 107! I quickly jumped over to the HD box to check, but alas...no 107! =(

Probably because the Tivo data goes 2 weeks out.

I usually find that Tivo is pretty spot on about when new channels are available.

I get up early on Wednesday's, so if 107 is up at 5:30 AM, I'll certainly post it.

Originally posted by Malcolm_B
Now that we're getting KIRO/CBS in HD, what is our next "crusade?" TNT-HD? I wouldn't want us here on the Seattle Comcast thread to sit back and not have the same passion for new HD channels that we had for getting CBS.

Our job may be done here, but there will be the usual glitches on various channels that people will want to verify are not happening only to their own equipment. We'll want to track the progress of digital simulcast and local upgrades to the cable boxes, of course.

Also, we need to push Comcast to hurry up with those external hard drives for our HD DVR boxes. I think that is the greatest single need now that KIRO HD is coming online.

Originally posted by Al Shing
Also, we need to push Comcast to hurry up with those external hard drives for our HD DVR boxes. I think that is the greatest single need now that KIRO HD is coming online.

Yes, upgrade hardrives and I want Poopli for my Comcast DVR.

Hey folks! I have Comcast service and a Fusion III QAM card. Comcast changed all of the QAM codes so I had to reset the channels on my card. I noticed that I had a new channel...CBS! I immediately went to my box to see if I had 107...not yet. Its there, just not programmed into my box. I just watched NCSI in HD! By the way...the Amazing Race is NOT in HD!

The NBA All Star game from Denver February 20 is on TNT.

The last couple years, Comcast did a one-time deal with TNT to show us the NBA All-Star game in HD. I haven't heard if they're planning the same for this year.

Woo, hoo! It's 3:30am PST and KIRODT has just come online on Comcast on channel 107!!

Thanks, Comcast!

Thank you Comcast! I am programming CSI to record in HD right now.

Yes, thanks KIRO, Comcast, Cox and everyone involved in getting HD for channel 7.

<Mr. Burns Voice> Excellent </Mr. Burns Voice>

Now all we need is UPN-HD for "Veronica Mars" (since "Enterprise" is not long for the world) and I'll be happy, though TNT-HD would be nice, as well.

Thank God UPN put Enterprise out of it's misery - this has been cancelled- I would like to see the Sci-Fi channel in HD...but Im happy with all the HD channels and locals on COmcast....

you won't ever see me complain now

Now that I can watch "The Young and the Restless", I recommend that you campaign for CBUT as their Olympics coverage enables one to avoid learning about the sad childhood of the brother of the coach of the caddy for the American ball boy during the human interest segments which seem to occupy the majority of US telecasts. Also, Canada does not use tape delay of events, so
retirees can view real events in real time.

If we had some actual hockey to watch, I'd be all over Comcast getting CBC-HD as their next addition to the lineup. But for now I'm happy with their HD channel selection. Now if only they could offer an HD-Channel Package so I wouldn't have to subscribe to these 400 crappy SD channels just to get the dozen or so good HD ones.

The 107 SD picture seems to be zoomed, so it's wider than the normal SD picture and the 4:3 aspect ratio cuts off part of the top (not the bottom, because the picture is also shifted upwards slightly). The bars on each side of the picture seem to be about 60% as wide as they are on other channels. I wonder what the HD treatment will be.

Unfortunately, it sounds like CBUT is at least two years away from offering an HD signal, according to this reply I got from an email that I sent to CBC.Dear Joe:

We're pleased to hear of your interest in high definition plans for CBC Television.

As you may know, CBC is in the process of upgrading studio facilities and antennas in the CBC Toronto network operations centre in preparation for the start of broadcasting from new high definition transmitters. Since initial delays were related to the late shipment of tower parts by the manufacturer, this is turn pushed back subsequent phases of the project significantly.

The current work to ensure that the new studio equipment is fully compatible with both the new antennas and the CBC network signal distribution system is extremely detail oriented and must be completed with the utmost care. CBC hopes to address potential problem issues before the start of service rather than to experience major technical breakdowns later.

No date has been confirmed for the start of high definition broadcasting from Toronto as yet. Over the air broadcasting in Vancouver will not begin before the network signal in Toronto is operational. Cable and satellite carriers across the country will carry this feed locally first. It will likely be at least two or more years before high definition is accessible on antenna in Vancouver.

The CRTC licence for Vancouver permits CBC to simulcast the current analog programming of CBUT, with the exception of up to 14 hours per week of wide screen high definition programming that would not be duplicated on the analog service.

Comcast is welcome to approach CBC about carrying the new feed once it begins transmission. Feel free to contact us again.

Kim Belle
Communications Assistant
CBC Audience Relations

Originally posted by wareagle
The 107 SD picture seems to be zoomed, so it's wider than the normal SD picture and the 4:3 aspect ratio cuts off part of the top (not the bottom, because the picture is also shifted upwards slightly). The bars on each side of the picture seem to be about 60% as wide as they are on other channels. I wonder what the HD treatment will be.

What were you watching? Their news has a different aspect ratio.

Originally posted by Karyk
What were you watching? Their news has a different aspect ratio.

Everything looks the same. At the moment "The Price Is Right". It's wider compared to all other HD channels' SD output and wider than the non-stretched channel 7 output.

cool, can't wait to watch a little csi in hd

Did I catch the DirecTV ad last night correctly: "We are in the process of rolling out 2500 channels in HD!"

What is that all about? Are they talking about all channels digital? They can't be all HD. I swear I heard correctly.

Originally posted by wareagle
The 107 SD picture seems to be zoomed, so it's wider than the normal SD picture and the 4:3 aspect ratio cuts off part of the top (not the bottom, because the picture is also shifted upwards slightly). The bars on each side of the picture seem to be about 60% as wide as they are on other channels. I wonder what the HD treatment will be.
KIRO-DT OTA looks the same as you describe for upconverted 4x3 programs.

HD programs look just fine, with no apparent overscan coming from the station.

That "expanded" 4x3 content is relatively recent on KIRO-DT. It seems like it started about the time they were adding some new equipment and working on their antenna.

Directv LA Fox is wider in SD as well.

Originally posted by hinten
Did I catch the DirecTV ad last night correctly: "We are in the process of rolling out 2500 channels in HD!"

What is that all about? Are they talking about all channels digital? They can't be all HD. I swear I heard correctly.

Probably the HD locals.

Well, my upstairs 5100 (still has old TV Guide menu) shows ch. 107 in the guide, but my 6412 does not. Not only that, most if not all channels above about 120 are black screens on the 6412. Both 104 and 105 work, but 106 gives me a "not authorized" type of message. Going to have to call I guess. I tried unplugging it for a bit, but no change. I'm in West Seattle, FWIW.

Hmm - no problems here. I already cancelled CSI and Numb3rs on channel 7 and added them on 107 (actually that was the downstairs 6412; the upstairs 6412 now has CSI:Miami and CSI:NY added on 107, although I don't always have the time or motivation to watch them).

Everything is showing up in the "Scheduled" list as expected, so a smooth transition for me (so far, at least).

Cliff

Looking at it some more, what is showing on 104-114 is not what it's supposed to be. Looks more like movie channels. I'm guessing that the addition of 107 changed the cable feed, and my 6412 hasn't gotten the word yet. We'll see.

104 - 114? I hope those channels are HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax! On another topic, last night I was looking through the InDemand menus and I found that everything under HBO was marked FREE next to it. All the movies, shows, documentaries, etc. I don't subscribe to HBO so is this a freebie or something? The InDemand menus for Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax wouldn't show anything. I would select them and the box would lock up. I checked to see if I was getting the HBO regular channels, but I'm not.

I got the message on my old box about the free HBO InDemand. Don't know for how long; this again brings up my question about getting messages on the old box but receiving nothing on the HD/DVR box.

Hockey Night in Canada was in HD for some games last season, but was only available via (Canadian) cable and satellite. There's more information about that at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/hdtv/ The quality -- on Shaw -- was at least as good as ABC's HD NHL broadcasts were.

There've been reports in the Buffalo and Toronto forums of transmitter tests at CBLT-DT having begun in recent weeks. Also, CBLFT-DT's CP was issued on 1/30/04.

CBUT-DT got its CP on 11/12/04 for 15.6kW on channel 58. I can't find any CRTC reference to CBUFT-DT yet, however Industry Canada has its allocation listed as channel 16.

And last, but not least... CBC lost the rights to the Vancouver/Whistler Olympics in 2010. :( Bell & Rogers are doing them in 2010 and 2012: English on CTV with spillover on TSN, and French on TQS with spillover on RDS. There's more information about that at http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/bg/2005/02/07/72056.html

Originally posted by djmattyb
All the movies, shows, documentaries, etc. I don't subscribe to HBO so is this a freebie or something? The InDemand menus for Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax wouldn't show anything. I would select them and the box would lock up. I checked to see if I was getting the HBO regular channels, but I'm not.

You might want to try to actually watch one of those. Most likely it will tell you that you need to subscribe to the package once you actually selected to watch a show.

HBO video on demand (NOT HD) is free for one week per insert in last bill.

Finally got around to calling Comcast. The guy said I was the third person he has had recently with mixed-up channels. He remotely rebooted my 6412, and all is well now, including ch. 107.

Originally posted by hinten
Did I catch the DirecTV ad last night correctly: "We are in the process of rolling out 2500 channels in HD!"

What is that all about? Are they talking about all channels digital? They can't be all HD. I swear I heard correctly.

while OT to comcast, if you haven't been following this, they are talking about hd locals, but also premium channels, etc. however, will probably be a while before they get to all 2,500... :-) BUT, to do this, they'll be launching new satellites, switching all compression codecs to mpeg-4, using new dishes, replacing all customer HD set top boxes (including hd tivo), etc. so'll we'll see how this really plays out in the end...

regarding competition to comcast... they do have some hd programming comcast doesn't have (hdnet stuff), the hd tivo can be upgraded to about 77 hours of HD programming (can easily add another 300GB drive to the box). both of which I like and still have directv for this (nice not to have to worry about how long I keep recorded HD programming), but the benefits are quickly being outweighed by comcast HD quality (lack of re-compression from comcast does yield a better picture - sometimes subtle, but it is better).

I thought the universal (descending) order of HD quality was: OTA, Sat, cable. Is Comcast now considered by all to be superior to Sat?

Is the addition of another drive to HD tivo truly plug-n-play?

First, congratulations to jliem who first reported KIROHD on line at 3:30 am. Wow! I just wanted to reflect the state of HD on Comcast. Right now, at 9:40pm we have

104 Alias
105 The West Wing
107 The King of Queens
108 Slavery of America (PBS)
110 Jack and Bobby
113 American Idol

and... ESPNHD, INHD1,INHD2, DISCHD

ALL glorious HD!

Things are looking good!

Art

Originally posted by quarque
I thought the universal (descending) order of HD quality was: OTA, Sat, cable. Is Comcast now considered by all to be superior to Sat?

I believe it's: OTA, Cable, SAT - now this is for HD channels (I won't even go near the analog/digital tier channels). Comcast has repeatedly said that they don't re-compress (except for their modulation scheme) the HD channel signals (whereas Directv is very clearly down-rezzing a number of channels - all? - to fit in their limited bandwidth). so, OTA & comcast may be almost identical for practical purposes.

Is the addition of another drive to HD tivo truly plug-n-play?

yes. I added a pre-configured drive (from weaknees) or you can configure a drive you have w/available s/w, pop it in the box and it works just fine. I was initially skeptical (took me a while before I did this to my SD directivo box), but I added a 300GB drive (in addition to the 250GB drive that comes with the unit - comcast/moto, come on...) within a couple of weeks of getting the HD tivo and it worked like a charm. I'd really like to add another drive to my moto 6412 (external would be fine) if it would work - while I could perhaps add another 6412, it's not as easy...

Originally posted by artseattle
First, congratulations to jliem who first reported KIROHD on line at 3:30 am. Wow! I just wanted to reflect the state of HD on Comcast. Right now, at 9:40pm we have

104 Alias
105 The West Wing
107 The King of Queens
108 Slavery of America (PBS)
110 Jack and Bobby
113 American Idol

and... ESPNHD, INHD1,INHD2, DISCHD

ALL glorious HD!

Things are looking good!

Art
Now we just need Fox Sports NW HD and my HDTV life will be complete!:D

Originally posted by HDTVonthePC
Now we just need Fox Sports NW HD and my HDTV life will be complete!:D

Don't forget ESPN2-HD. Plus fixes to the audio dropouts that seem to come with most HD broadcasts (I noticed quite a few in CSI:NY tonight, so KIRO has a bug, too).

That's odd, cause I don't remember a problem with CBS when I had OTA.

I'd take Fox NW HD, but want TNT and it would be cool if Speed got a HD channel.

Originally posted by quarque
I thought the universal (descending) order of HD quality was: OTA, Sat, cable. Is Comcast now considered by all to be superior to Sat?

I don't think there's any difference between OTA and Comcast HD. The only difference I notice is the color is better OTA, but that's because I can adjust each color independently with my MyHD card. Also, sometimes one has a glitch the other doesn't (like the sound on the Superbowl over Comcast--or storms affecting OTA).

People with DirecTV HD are complaining a lot about the compression.

FCC also rejects mandatory dual carriage during analog-digital transition.

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh16414_2005-02-10_16-11-32_n09391120_newsml

I had another strange problem (for the second time). I was watching a show that I recorded from the scifi channel (59) and it skipped approximately 15 minutes in the middle of the show. I played it a few times and the yellow progress bar would jump the gap. It did this once before right after I got the box.

Any ideas on what is happening or what I can do to prevent it?

Don Wilkinson:

Am I mistaken or has the audio level problem at KOMO gone away? I have noticed over the past few nights that the Audio level is consistant on the newscasts.

Thanks!

Bob

Comcast Plans Valentine's Day Launch of National Dating on Demand Video Personals

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050210/comcast_dating_1.html

(Might be good for laughs.)

Originally posted by rverginia
Don Wilkinson:

Am I mistaken or has the audio level problem at KOMO gone away? I have noticed over the past few nights that the Audio level is consistant on the newscasts.

Thanks!

Bob

Thamks for the report, rverginia

The audio level problem was caused by the interruption in the bitstream as the video ( and audio) was switched between sources. i.e. local vs network, and also any very loud audio that was caused by bumping the microphone. KOMO has installed an audio processor that puts out a constant digital audio bitstream regardless of the input. This should resolve the drastic audio level changes that have been observed.

Don

Originally posted by Don Wilkinson
Thamks for the report, rverginia

The audio level problem was caused by the interruption in the bitstream as the video ( and audio) was switched between sources. i.e. local vs network, and also any very loud audio that was caused by bumping the microphone. KOMO has installed an audio processor that puts out a constant digital audio bitstream regardless of the input. This should resolve the drastic audio level changes that have been observed.

Don

I've noticed it's gone in evening programs as well, lost didn't have any issues, nor others I've watched...thanks KOMO

Originally posted by Go Hard
I had another strange problem (for the second time). I was watching a show that I recorded from the scifi channel (59) and it skipped approximately 15 minutes in the middle of the show. I played it a few times and the yellow progress bar would jump the gap. It did this once before right after I got the box.

Any ideas on what is happening or what I can do to prevent it?

I'm pleased to hear someone else had this type of problem. I got the first three min. of Masterpiece Th. and then the bar took me to the last minute - dead loss. No idea why, but you and I so far are the only ones reporting this. Luckily for me the show was repeated, found it by search, that worked fine.

I had one show, recorded in the middle of the night, that, when I checked the program summary in the MyDVD listing, said something like 'the entire program was not recorded due to a power outage or a system problem.' And, about 5 minutes was missing from the middle of the show.

Originally posted by wareagle
Comcast Plans Valentine's Day Launch of National Dating on Demand Video Personals

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050210/comcast_dating_1.html

(Might be good for laughs.)

You know, bored the other night, I came across the Dating On Demand thing and looked at a few of the women on there; is this a joke? Or are women that good looking actually trying this for a date?! Didn't check out the guys, but I am SO glad I'm not "out there" anymore!

Originally posted by rverginia
Don Wilkinson:

Am I mistaken or has the audio level problem at KOMO gone away? I have noticed over the past few nights that the Audio level is consistant on the newscasts.

Thanks!

Bob

Sorry, but you are mistaken, I had the same audio problems as usual during this week's Lost. Although I have to admit, I am still not sure whether they are caused locally or transmitted from KOMO.

Actually this was the first time I haven't experienced problems with audio in "Lost".

And my first experience with CBS HD went pretty well with "CSI: New York" except for the minute or two of no signal coming back from commercial.

Question about Comcast reception using HDTV with QAM Tuner.

I have a friend who just installed a new Hitachi LCD HDTV with OTA/QAM tuners and a Cable Card slot. He has Comcast BASIC cable (for $13/month).

Before he bought the TV, I told him he should be able to receive unencrypted local DTV channels from Comcast, regardless of whether he subscribed to their digital package or not. Six different people at Comcast told him otherwise.

He hooked up the TV and it works for most local DTV channels via Comcast. In fact, the TV somehow knows to map most of the digital channels to their OTA equivalents, e.g., KOMO-DT is mapped to 4-1, KING-DT to 5-1, etc. For KIRO-DT, he gets it on 84-1 instead of being mapped to 7-1.

I don't know how the TV determines channel mapping, but I do know it happened automatically for him--he did not have to make any entries to set it up that way.

His problem is with KCTS-DT. He gets 9-1 (simulcast of analog 9). He can tune 9-2 and 9-3 but does not see any programming (I told him about the 5 PM switch from 9-2/9-3 to 9-5 HD in the OTA world). But he can't seem to find 9-5 or whatever KCTS-HD might be identified as. He was trying after 5 PM. He is going to try a new channel scan after 9 PM to see if that brings it in.

Anyone have any insight on how/whether he will be able to tune and watch the KCTS HD subchannel? He seems able to understand all I've said here and he is comfortable with the operation of the TV.

At this point he is not using a Cable Card, nor should he have to for HD locals reception.

Originally posted by artshotwell
I had one show, recorded in the middle of the night, that, when I checked the program summary in the MyDVD listing, said something like 'the entire program was not recorded due to a power outage or a system problem.' And, about 5 minutes was missing from the middle of the show.

I have had this problem several times as well. I was recording the Encore presentations of Battlestar Galactica Tuesday night and one of the episodes was only half recorded, it dropped the last half hour or so. Also, I noticed a "bug" in the software the other night while watching and recording shows. It seems that the box is not smart enough to know that you are already on a channel that is being recorded and then a second scheduled recording starts. For example, I was watching and recording Lost and Alias Wed night and I also had King of Queens scheduled to be recorded, well, when it was time for KoQ to start, the popup message came up and said that it needed to switch to channel 107 to record the show even though I was watching a channel that was being recorded already so It should have only been using one tuner for that. Does anyone know where we can post bug reports?