All the non HD channels are repeated ie 30 = 730 = FSN. The odd part it that the PQ is signicantly better on original channels. The 700 series channels have poor PQ. It looks like the non digital SD channels were moved to the 700's series. Have swapped between various chanels orig and 700's, the PQ is always better (read watchable) on the original channels.

Dave

You can tell which are digital and which are analog, but you have to turn off the box and look at the current channel's diagnostic info. It would be interesting to know that.

You can tell which are digital and which are analog, but you have to turn off the box and look at the current channel's diagnostic info. It would be interesting to know that.

Ok, figured it out and went to Diagnositic <06> Original Channels are "Digital", 700's series channels are Analog.

Makes the whole box now watchable.

Dave

Dave, what cable box do you have?

Are 4, 5, 6, and 7 digital for you now?

I am moving into a new house and have my plasma there now hooked up to rabbit ears.I need to have comcast broadband hooked up and have ordered an antenna.My question is i have never thought much about comcast cable tv and in my current house i have comcast basic and dish network.The dish looks superior to the cable hands down.Do you guys think i should consider comcast digital?Does the digital look better then basic?I was thinking just using an antenna for locals and dishnetwork for everything else kepping the broadband and ddropping the basic.What do you think?
Thanks guys

I am moving into a new house and have my plasma there now hooked up to rabbit ears.I need to have comcast broadband hooked up and have ordered an antenna.My question is i have never thought much about comcast cable tv and in my current house i have comcast basic and dish network.The dish looks superior to the cable hands down.Do you guys think i should consider comcast digital?Does the digital look better then basic?I was thinking just using an antenna for locals and dishnetwork for everything else kepping the broadband and ddropping the basic.What do you think?
Thanks guys

If your plasma's got a QAM tuner, then try plugging your Comcast Basic Cable into your plasma and check out the HD and Digital available now. To get all of the Basic Cable channels in Digital you'll need Comcast's Digital package (you'll also get their set top box), but for HD locals and digital simulcast, it's pretty good (even with just Limited Basic).

If your plasma's got a QAM tuner, then try plugging your Comcast Basic Cable into your plasma and check out the HD and Digital available now. To get all of the Basic Cable channels in Digital you'll need Comcast's Digital package (you'll also get their set top box), but for HD locals and digital simulcast, it's pretty good (even with just Limited Basic).


It is important to note that the only channels that are duplicated in analog and digital are the local feeds, and those feeds are in HD. Basic cable is still analog only (anyting below ch 100 is analog) although some day I imagine Comcast and other operators will move to a 100% digital system, but not any time soon. Too many crothety old timers out there would freak out.

You will not get HD locals via satellite, although that will eventaully happen. The HD locals on Comcast look as good as they can since they are not recompressed, while HD on satellite is ALWAYS recompressed.

As to the quality: it depends on the install. In my case cable looks great, even on a 92% screen. For comparision I have:

C-Band
Cable
DirecTV

And I would rate them, image quality wise, in that order. But it does depend on your cable install, distance from the fiber terminus and seemingly the phase of the moon. :-)

...
Basic cable is still analog only (anyting below ch 100 is analog) although some day I imagine Comcast and other operators will move to a 100% digital system, but not any time soon. Too many crothety old timers out there would freak out.
...
:-)

Digital simulcast is imminent, and I've seen postings elsewhere that cite Dec. 6 for Bellevue. While that isn't "100% digital" (the analogs will still be there for customers without STB's), it will be for me -- and it seems pretty soon now.

HBO Real-Sex unscrambled?...

I just bought my first QAM tuner last night. It came in my Phillips 32" LCD from Costco. So I plugged it in and started the auto-scan. We pay for expanded Comcast cable near South Everett, but so far don't have any Comcast digital or analog converter / descrambler box.

Our new TV found about 300 digital channels, but most were black. I started going through the digital channels one by one and writing down what I found. My wife noticed that some of them were new pay-per-view movies.

A little later after the kids and wife went to bed, I was messing around with it some more and scanned around the channels where the pay-per-view was earlier, and it was HBO's Real Sex. I'm pretty sure this was on OnDemand recording because it kept fast-forwarding then stopping to play near the naked woman parts. So it appears that one of my neighbors was watching OnDemand, and Comcast was sending his signal over un-encrypted QAM.

I remember back in about 1985 when I was around 12 years old, I used to watch the scrambled Playboy channel on the old South Everett Viacom cable. We never had a cable box, but Viacom analog scrambling let the sound through perfectly clear, and with the right TV or VCR with an adjustable tuner, it was possible to get a semi-clear picture in many cases.

I feel that the time I spent watching the Playboy channel during my childhood negatively affected my development and how I view women; including my wife now. I don’t want my son to have the same experience. Has anyone else noticed this or tried asking Comcast to scramble their adult material?

Ray Metz

order a set top box and use it as your tuner and you will not be watching your neighbor's on demand movies. you will also have parental control tactics available.

The V-Chip in your TV might work (assuming PPV transmits the signal), but if it doesn't, just manually delete the "naughty channels" from your tuner and then don't tell your kids the channel numbers you erased. ;)

Since you're bypassing Comcast's box - and thereby bypassing all of Comcast's parental controls - perhaps you should be using the parental controls built into your TV instead?

Being a techie, I'm sure I can figure out how to disable access to these channels with the TV's parental controls. I just thought it was interesting that 20 years later, cable is still putting poorly scarmbled sex on it's line. It sort of shocked me. You'd think someone would have sued them by now.

Ray

It does seem surprising that Comcast would allow this neighborhood-level OnDemand stream to leak thru unencrypted. Not so much because you might accidentally get a peek at some nekkid women - but because you might accidentally get to watch HBO or other premium shows without a subscription! Now that would give Comcast nightmares!

Comcast Seattle uses the OnDemand system from SeaChange (www.schange.com), so maybe there's some technology issue involved. Perhaps the servers can't perform realtime encryption, and still scale to the levels required for OnDemand. Maybe it's something simpler, like the SeaChange client library linked into the MSFT/Motorola set-top software doesn't support encryption. Who knows?

In any case, I suspect it's not been an issue so far because there's what - maybe 0.0001 percent of Comcast's customers 1) actually have a QAM tuner, and 2) know how to use it for this purpose?

I scanned the Comcast feed to my house using the QAM tuner in my Mits and I get a good portion of the programing they supply, was mainly looking to get the local HD broadcasts since I can't get them via OTA. I do not think I am getting any of the "nekkid women"...haven't looked and I think the wife would brain me if I did :D.

Digital simulcast is imminent, and I've seen postings elsewhere that cite Dec. 6 for Bellevue. While that isn't "100% digital" (the analogs will still be there for customers without STB's), it will be for me -- and it seems pretty soon now.

Let's hope the digital simulcast channels will ultimately look better than the examples I saw when I was setting up a relative's new QAM tuner and DLP HDTV a while back. I was able to see digital examples of many of the otherwise analog channels (i.e., analog cable channel numbers <100). These were stacked pretty tightly within some channels near the unencrypted HDTV channels.

To me, those examples were unacceptable picture quality, heavily compressed with low resolution and lots of pixelation. Hopefully, those were early attempts that have since been refined and tweaked for better performance, but based on my prior experiences with Comcast, I would want to see for myself.

I understand that one early trigger for digital simulcast has been the poor performance of the 6412 in tuning, encoding and recording analog cable channels. Having digital simulcast will eliiminate analog transmission artifacts (those that occur between the head end and our homes) and allow direct digital recordings by the 6412.

One would hope that the upstream professional-grade encoders could do a much better job than the consumer-grade encoders in the 6412. Now we need Comcast to use sufficient bandwidth for the digital channels so that we are not simply trading analog artifacts for excessive digital artifacts.

I scanned the Comcast feed to my house using the QAM tuner in my Mits and I get a good portion of the programing they supply, was mainly looking to get the local HD broadcasts since I can't get them via OTA. I do not think I am getting any of the "nekkid women"...haven't looked and I think the wife would brain me if I did :D.The issue only occurs if/when someone in your immediate neighborhood is watching an OnDemand show.

I just purchased a MyHD MDP-130 to watch HD channels on my PC monitor, but am finding it impossible to pull in KOMO 4 HD (I think this is 82-3 but I'd have to check when I get home). The signal always reads 4%. Half of the time I can pull in KING 5 HD but sometimes the signal is too low to get video (reads 40%) and the other half of the time there's quite a bit of video disruption (tearing artifacts). All other HD channels come in fine, as do all SD digital channels and analog channels.

My 6412 pulls in 104 and 105 without any such problems, so I know the signal is getting into my house OK. There is a splitter on each of the inputs, so each box's signals are getting cut by 3.5dB because of this, but again the resultant signal strength should be about the same for each by my reckoning.

Anyone experience something similar? I'd hate to spend the bucks on a signal amp if it's not going to help.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

I just purchased a MyHD MDP-130 to watch HD channels on my PC monitor, but am finding it impossible to pull in KOMO 4 HD (I think this is 82-3 but I'd have to check when I get home). The signal always reads 4%. Half of the time I can pull in KING 5 HD but sometimes the signal is too low to get video (reads 40%) and the other half of the time there's quite a bit of video disruption (tearing artifacts). All other HD channels come in fine, as do all SD digital channels and analog channels.

My 6412 pulls in 104 and 105 without any such problems, so I know the signal is getting into my house OK. There is a splitter on each of the inputs, so each box's signals are getting cut by 3.5dB because of this, but again the resultant signal strength should be about the same for each by my reckoning.

Anyone experience something similar? I'd hate to spend the bucks on a signal amp if it's not going to help.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

I've just checked my setup (I also have a MyHD 130). All of my QAM signals come in at 69%. It really sounds like you have a losy connection. One thing to check for, make sure all of your splitters are 1000mhz, not the cheaper 900mhz. To really try your setup, remove all splitters (you may need some barrel connectors) and see what happens.

hey quick question you guys/gals. i'm having problems now for about 2 weeks with my comcast moto dvr, the 8412 or whatever. basically, i've gone to watch several of the shows i've recorded over the last few weeks and all of them have long pauses in them, either that or the hardware is failing because it will basically stop playing and then i have to exit. i can fast forward past the spot if i start over, but it's obviously unacceptable. anybody have any issues yet with this box? it's getting plenty of ventilation and i don't hear anything unusual. i'm guessing the drive is either failing or severly fragmented. i'm going to call tomorrow, but thought i'd see if any of you had experienced anything like this. if this one is shot, it's really a shame because my regular comcast moto hd stb downstairs just went tu too. :(

The issue only occurs if/when someone in your immediate neighborhood is watching an OnDemand show.

Good thing to keep in mind when the kid gets older and figures out how to work the TV setup at the house...don't need him "stumbling" onto anything while channel surfing.
Thanks for the info jimre!

Dave, what cable box do you have?

Are 4, 5, 6, and 7 digital for you now?


Dual Tuner, HD, DVR box from comcast (6412?)

Channels 4,5,6,7 are digital.

The 700 series analog channels DO NOT have any channels that are broadcast in HD.

For example;

I have 4 digital and 104 HD but NO 704 Analog

But I have 8 digital and 708 analog

Dave:

How much (%) DVR space does it take to record an hour of a typical digital channel, as opposed to its analog equivalent?

Well, I feared the day might come..... Apparently in order to have a 6412, in the greater Seattle area at least, you must have expanded basic cable for $42.99 instead of just the $13.75 for limited cable. That's an extra $29.24 for a bunch of analog channels I'll NEVER watch just so I can have a DVR which I'm already paying an extra $5 or so for on my bill?

When I first bitched about this last November (when these boxes first came out) they gave me a discount to all but elimiate the extra $29.24. Now that this discount has expired the CSR (and her supervisor) I just talked to say, "sorry, no such discount is available anymore." I had originally anticipated that after a year they'd drop the requirement for expanded basic as they would have made up a lot of their initial costs on the box in that time. Why in the world should an HD digital only customer (if it's not in HD I don't watch it) have to pay for analog channels 20something through 99 just to have a digital tuner that records?! Comcast doesn't require that for the non-DVR HD box. :confused:

Bottom line is, being on a very tight single income family budget I'm going to have to give up my DVR, not for any technical reason, but because some tight wad executives at Comcast have decided the only way they'll let you use their DVR is to gank you as much as they can for it and only make you think they're charging you an extra $5 over the normal HD STB. What a load of $hit!! :mad: If it weren't for this shady back door policy I could probably swing an extra $10 or possibly even $15/month for the DVR service but I just can't justify $35/month just to be able to record a few shows no matter how convenient it is. Add on top of this that the 6412 is the glitchiest piece of electronic equipment I've ever used and it adds even more insult to injury. :rolleyes:

My questions for fellow local Comcast users:

1. Which box should I ask for when I go to exchange my 6412? I used to have the 5100. I haven't been following STB boxes at all since I've been enjoying the 6412 so much. I must have an enabled firewire box so I can at least record to my JVC 30K DVHS deck. Would it be the 6208? Something else?

2. Does anyone know who at Comcast I should send my written complaint to where it will actually get read or even considered?

3. Would anybody like to send me an extra $29.24/month? I'm really gonna miss my DVR.

4. I will be doing some research on alternative DVR options I can use with my Comcast cable service but if anyone has any leads for me I'm all ears.

I used to smile when I saw Comcast vans out and about. Now it'll just piss me off. Comcast is too big to care if their customers are happy. What a shame. I just might decide to go OTA because of this as much as I don't want to.

Thanks for listening.

Brent

Just tell them you want to cancel and are going to try satellite for a year. They will give yout he discount again. I don't think they care weather you have a DVR or HD or not. I bet their quota is simply on how many custoemrs they have. So if you try to strongarm them by dropping features, it won't work as well as threatening to drop comcast.

I just might do that Ray. If I'm reading the Dish website correctly looks like I can get their 942 DVR, HD package and free install with 18 month commitment for $42 w/o locals but could hook up a OTA antenna or $47 with the locals. Cheapest Comcast package for the equivalent is $66. I'd lose INHD1 & 2 but gain HDNet and HDNet movies. Looks like their DVR is better too and they only charge $5 for it, again, if I'm reading it right, still need to verify. Somehow I still don't think Comcast will budge though if I threatened to cancel. Could be wrong.

Anybody switch from this to Comcast? I fear a worse signal with lower bandwidth and more compression. Any opinions welcome on that and my original 4 questions as well (#3 was a joke of course). Was pretty upset last night. Went to bed at 11:00pm and didn't fall asleep until 3:30am.

Brent

BTW Ray, your name threw me a little. My grandpa's name is Ray Metzger.

I just might do that Ray. If I'm reading the Dish website correctly looks like I can get their 942 DVR, HD package and free install with 18 month commitment for $42 w/o locals but could hook up a OTA antenna or $47 with the locals. Cheapest Comcast package for the equivalent is $66. I'd lose INHD1 & 2 but gain HDNet and HDNet movies. Looks like their DVR is better too and they only charge $5 for it, again, if I'm reading it right, still need to verify. Somehow I still don't think Comcast will budge though if I threatened to cancel. Could be wrong.

Anybody switch from this to Comcast? I fear a worse signal with lower bandwidth and more compression. Any opinions welcome on that and my original 4 questions as well (#3 was a joke of course). Was pretty upset last night. Went to bed at 11:00pm and didn't fall asleep until 3:30am.

Brent

BTW Ray, your name threw me a little. My grandpa's name is Ray Metzger.

I have Dish with the 942 DVR and as far as I'm concerned it's a great DVR. Tivo users will argue with me, but I have used the comcast one as well at a friend's house, and the Dish DVR is way more stable and feature rich than the comcast one. It's also has about twice the recording space.

There are a few downsides you need to be aware of.
1) they have a non-refundable lease fee up front of $250.00, then you start paying $5.00 a month.
2) No HD locals yet over Sat, you have to get them OTA.
3) If you want guide data for your OTA locals you have to subscribe to Dish's SD Sat locals, otherwise you'll have to manage timers manually.
4) You have to subscribe to their HD Pak if you have a 942, that is another $10 per month, $15 if you include VOOM channels.

If those are not a issue for you then I think you'd be happy. There is way more HD content, if you can get your locals OTA. They have HDNet, HDNet2, TNTHD, and a subset of the VOOM HD channels, none of which you get with Comcast. They also have ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD, HD-PPV, HBOHD (if you sub to HBO), ShowtimeHD (if you sub to Showtime), and NFL and NBA HD channels if you have those packages.

You need to do whatever is going to give you the features and cost you want. There are pluses and minuses to everything. This is one of the reasons I monitor this thread. If comcast comes out with service that has features I like better and at a price I'm willing to pay then I would look at switching to Comcast. Last time I compared prices for what I get from Dish vs a similar tier at Comcast, price was pretty close to the same (after all the nickel and diming from both companies).

Edit: Forgot to address picture quality question.

My expierence with viewing Dish at home and Comcast at friends & family is this. Digital SD channels look about the same. Dish does seem to compress local channels and more obsure channels more than others and they can look a bit worse, however all look better than Comcast analog channels on an HDTV. As far as HD it's a wash from what I've seen, both look great. I think right now it's only Direct TV that is agressively compressing HD channels.

I was re-setting up my mce guide and they have the 700+ channels listed on the guide now. I wonder what that means? I wonder if they will be turning those channels on soon for us or if Ms will be supporting qam tuners soon. FYI

Mason

I was re-setting up my mce guide and they have the 700+ channels listed on the guide now. I wonder what that means? I wonder if they will be turning those channels on soon for us or if Ms will be supporting qam tuners soon. FYI

Mason

"Dave" reported from Bremerton last Friday (11/25) that he had 708-799 showing the analogs previously on 8-99, and 2-99 were now digital. Is this the case where you are (and where is that)? It's been rumored that Bellevue will get digital simulcasting on 12/6.

When setting up my channels in mce I use the "Everett" listings. Keep in mind the channels don't work for me because I'm using my 6412 via svideo into the computer. It just shows those channels in the guide.

Mason

There was a HUGE INFORMATIVE article in today's Seattle Times about Sonics games in HD...being the nice guy I am I'll go through the effort of typing out the gigantic article...

Sonics in HD
FSN Northwest and Comcast continue to discuss a deal that would allow FSN to deliver Sonics games in high-definition television (HDTV). The negotiations began last summer.

Wow...thanks for all that new info!

P.S. You're welcome for taking hours to type that out so you didn't have to buy the paper :)

When setting up my channels in mce I use the "Everett" listings. Keep in mind the channels don't work for me because I'm using my 6412 via svideo into the computer. It just shows those channels in the guide.This just means that Tribune Media Services (TMS) - the supplier of the "master" program listings for just about everyone - has gotten updated channel listings from Comcast. It's not just Everett; the new 700-series channels are also listed for Comcast King County/Seattle as well. I believe TMS supplies the listings for MCE, Comcast, Tivo, ReplayTV, and just about everyone else - so all those devices should be showing updated channel listings soon, if not already. You can check the master TMS listings on their own web site: www.zap2it.com.

BTW - here's the 700-series channel listings for Comcast/Seattle, from zap2it.com:

702 NWCN
708 DSCP
717 HSN
717 LEAC717
719 HALMRK
721 GOAC721
722 GOAC722
723 TVW
724 CSPAN
725 CSPAN2
726 EDAC
727 UWTV
728 EDAC
730 FSN
731 ESPN
732 ESPN2
733 SPEED
734 OLN
735 FOODP
736 TRAV
737 HISTP
738 TLCP
739 FAMP
740 NICKTOO
741 DISNP
742 TOONP
743 ANIMAL
744 CNN
745 CNNH
746 CNBC
747 MSNBC
748 FNC
749 COURTP
750 OXYGENP
751 LIFEP
752 AETVP
753 FXP
754 TNTP
755 TBSP
756 BETP
757 SPIKEP
758 USAP
759 SCIFIP
760 COMEDYP
761 CMTVP
762 VH1P
763 MTVP
764 MTV2
765 ETVP
766 BRAVOP
767 AMCP
768 HGTVP
769 GOLF
770 AZNTV
774 TVGC
775 KCTSCAB
776 EDAC
777 PUAC777
778 TWC
796 JWLTV
798 UNIP
799 CBUT

I have Dish with the 942 DVR and as far as I'm concerned it's a great DVR. Tivo users will argue with me, but I have used the comcast one as well at a friend's house, and the Dish DVR is way more stable and feature rich than the comcast one. It's also has about twice the recording space.

There are a few downsides you need to be aware of.
1) they have a non-refundable lease fee up front of $250.00, then you start paying $5.00 a month.
2) No HD locals yet over Sat, you have to get them OTA.
3) If you want guide data for your OTA locals you have to subscribe to Dish's SD Sat locals, otherwise you'll have to manage timers manually.
4) You have to subscribe to their HD Pak if you have a 942, that is another $10 per month, $15 if you include VOOM channels.

If those are not a issue for you then I think you'd be happy. There is way more HD content, if you can get your locals OTA. They have HDNet, HDNet2, TNTHD, and a subset of the VOOM HD channels, none of which you get with Comcast. They also have ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD, HD-PPV, HBOHD (if you sub to HBO), ShowtimeHD (if you sub to Showtime), and NFL and NBA HD channels if you have those packages.

You need to do whatever is going to give you the features and cost you want. There are pluses and minuses to everything. This is one of the reasons I monitor this thread. If comcast comes out with service that has features I like better and at a price I'm willing to pay then I would look at switching to Comcast. Last time I compared prices for what I get from Dish vs a similar tier at Comcast, price was pretty close to the same (after all the nickel and diming from both companies).

Edit: Forgot to address picture quality question.

My expierence with viewing Dish at home and Comcast at friends & family is this. Digital SD channels look about the same. Dish does seem to compress local channels and more obsure channels more than others and they can look a bit worse, however all look better than Comcast analog channels on an HDTV. As far as HD it's a wash from what I've seen, both look great. I think right now it's only Direct TV that is agressively compressing HD channels.

Thanks for the helpful info robglasser! I am still considering going with Dish even with the $250 lease fee. After doing some more reading I might wait for the 962 though. If they have the same $250/$5/mo. lease on that I'm probably in. I really like the $5 access fee for not having a basic package as, again, all I watch is HD.

Brent

Thanks for the helpful info robglasser! I am still considering going with Dish even with the $250 lease fee. After doing some more reading I might wait for the 962 though. If they have the same $250/$5/mo. lease on that I'm probably in. I really like the $5 access fee for not having a basic package as, again, all I watch is HD.

Brent

IMHO I wouldn't wait for the 962 or whatever their MPEG4 HD DVR is going to be called. During last month's tech chat Dish stated that while they do have some non DVR MPEG4 receivers coming soon (411 and 211 I believe), they are now looking at using better compression with 8PSK called 8PSK Turbo to free up more bandwidth for immediate growth. Based on this and the fact that we've seen nothing from Dish about a 962, I'd be willing to guess it will be a while before anything is released to the public. I think I saw a post of dbstalk.com that people are guessing the end of next year now. I would also hope their would be some sort of upgrade path, but that is just my hope. I think Direct TV is doing something for it's existing subs that need to migrate to MPEG4.

Hi everyone,
I am considering getting an HDTV for my parents for xmas and am trying to find out the cheapest option to get comcast HDTV service.

They are not big tv watchers so what I would really like to sign them up for is just the local HD channels if possible. I got two conflicting responses from comcast customer service.
One said I need to get the 40 dollar expanded basic cable then add on the 5 dollar a month HD option and pay to rent the cable box.

Another said I could get the 12 dollar limited basic and add 5 for the HD service.

In the comcast website it looks like I can just add the 5 dollar HDTV option and all i will need is the comcast HDTV box. That would be the best option at just 5 plus renting of the box if it is possible.

So can anyone set this straight for me? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I am considering getting an HDTV for my parents for xmas and am trying to find out the cheapest option to get comcast HDTV service.

They are not big tv watchers so what I would really like to sign them up for is just the local HD channels if possible. I got two conflicting responses from comcast customer service.
One said I need to get the 40 dollar expanded basic cable then add on the 5 dollar a month HD option and pay to rent the cable box.

Another said I could get the 12 dollar limited basic and add 5 for the HD service.

In the comcast website it looks like I can just add the 5 dollar HDTV option and all i will need is the comcast HDTV box. That would be the best option at just 5 plus renting of the box if it is possible.

So can anyone set this straight for me? Thanks in advance!

I just went through this myself with comcast. They are very schizphrenic on this subjuct. It seems they are not above lieing to get you to dish out the extra cash for the digital pakage, but all you need is the limited cable service, which I think is 15$ and the "HD box" which is a moterolla DCT6200 set top box that comes with a $6 dollar monthly rental fee. I was told that I had to buy the 55$ digital package by two cust. service folks and by an email, I eventually talked to someone that told me to go to my local service center and tell them I want a HD box, and that is what I did and it worked. It seems some of the digital channels, including the HD locals, are sent in the clear down the signal, even if you have regualr analog cable, you just need the set top box to decode them.

Matt

I am considering getting an HDTV for my parents for xmas and am trying to find out the cheapest option to get comcast HDTV service.

Will the set you get them be Digital Cable Ready (DCR) or not?

Will the set you get them be Digital Cable Ready (DCR) or not?

The set has a QAM tuner. I understand this means you can pick up a signal with just an antenna. However my parents are on Queen Anne near the TV towers up there and I know the analog reception with just rabbit ears on top of the tv is not very good for all the local channels. Will this mean the HD reception will also be bad?

When I get the TV over to their place I will try just plugging in the existing antenna and seeing how the HD reception is, but i fear it will be the same as analog.

Anyone here on Queen Anne or nearby and using an OTA HD setup? Comments on reception?

Thanks for the reply carmat06, so looks like the cheapest comcast option will be 13 dollar limited basic cable plus 5 dollar HD service with renting the box for another 6 bucks a month.

I guess the way to go is get the tv setup and see how reception is with an antenna, if its bad then I will have to go with Comcast

The set has a QAM tuner. I understand this means you can pick up a signal with just an antenna. ...No - a QAM tuner is a DIGITAL CABLE tuner. This lets the TV receive digital cable programs without a cable-co. set-top box, but only for un-encrypted channels. For Comcast, this would include HD local channels.

An over-the-air (OTA) tuner is usually called an ATSC tuner. They are more common than QAM tuners - so if your TV has a QAM tuner, then it almost certainly has an ATSC tuner as well.

Said another way, many TV sets until rectntly were sold as "HD ready." In this case, it does NOT have a built-in tuner. Rather it is "ready" to accept a HD signal, but it needs a QAM tuner.

On the other hand, almost all HD sets sold today have a digital tuner built-in. Thiese sets include the QAM, ATSC and NTSC tuners that jimre refers to above.

Thanks for all the help everyone, this site has been very helpful to a newbie like me.

As mentioned before this tv has QAM, ATSC and NTSC tuners. So all I really need is limited basic cable and the local HD channels will come in?

So is there any advantage to paying the for HD service and cable box from comcast if I already have a QAM tuner? What extra channels or services do you receive?

I will look more into OTA options for HD as that appears to be an option as well, but their Queen Anne location has never worked for analog OTA reception leading me to bet its the same for HD.

I will look more into OTA options for HD as that appears to be an option as well, but their Queen Anne location has never worked for analog OTA reception leading me to bet its the same for HD.

Yes, it should work for basic content with just the set. However, the channel mappings may be a little unintuitive, so your parents may require some effort to figure it out, and if they're technophoboes they may not bother and just watch the non-HD versions of channels.

HD is digital, so it will likely be different from analog. It may suck just as bad as analog in that location, but if it does it will likely suck in a different way. :rolleyes:

I have the lastest QAM list that was posted here about 10 pages back, will I get all those HD channels through the 13 dollar limited basic cable?

Specifically There is no added content for QAM tuner by getting comcast expanded basic vs limited basic correct?

Just tell them you want to cancel and are going to try satellite for a year. They will give yout he discount again. I don't think they care weather you have a DVR or HD or not. I bet their quota is simply on how many custoemrs they have. So if you try to strongarm them by dropping features, it won't work as well as threatening to drop comcast.

Yep, that worked I just called Comcast and told them I wanted to cancel and go to Dish. The service discount I had before was definitely not available any more but this time the CSR was able to work with some other discounts to get me down to within $5 of the old one for 6 months and then $10 more on top of that for the next six months. So I took that.

IMHO I wouldn't wait for the 962 or whatever their MPEG4 HD DVR is going to be called. During last month's tech chat Dish stated that while they do have some non DVR MPEG4 receivers coming soon (411 and 211 I believe), they are now looking at using better compression with 8PSK called 8PSK Turbo to free up more bandwidth for immediate growth. Based on this and the fact that we've seen nothing from Dish about a 962, I'd be willing to guess it will be a while before anything is released to the public. I think I saw a post of dbstalk.com that people are guessing the end of next year now. I would also hope their would be some sort of upgrade path, but that is just my hope. I think Direct TV is doing something for it's existing subs that need to migrate to MPEG4.

Thanks again but I guess I'll wait it out at least 6 more months with Comcast and at that time see what's up with Dish. Too many question marks in my mind with Dish right now anyway. I've got so many trees on my lot I don't know if I'd even be able to get their signal anyway and then there's all the OTA worries on top of that. In addition, all the software problems I'm reading about with the 942 is enough to scare anyone away. Geesh... :rolleyes:

Brent

... all the software problems I'm reading about with the 942 is enough to scare anyone away. Geesh... :rolleyes: ...

Brent

Just to let you know, most of the software problems you've read about are fixed. This was a really solid receiver when released, then they upgraded the code for some new features and it wreaked havoc on the receiver. Dish heard the issues loud and clear and dropped just about everything to get it fixed. They have now pretty much fixed the issues. From what I've read and seen, the 942 is more stable and reliable than the comcast DVR, not as rock rolid as a Tivo, and more reliable and solid than Direct TV's new non-Tivo DVR. Basically, don't let what you've read about the software on the 942 from dbstalk.com worry you at this point. Back a month or 2 ago, yes it was bad, but no where near as bad as the Dish 921 ever was. If you were to poll the 942 user community I'm sure most would still recommend the 942. I've had the 942 since early May and it's missed all of 2 recordings on me, and it was due to a software bug that determines if a show is new or not. It's never cleared itself, had a corrupt recording, or lost any timers.

I've had 3 friends come by over the last 6 months that have the Comcast DVR and they all agree that the Dish DVR is way better than the Comcast one at this time. The only reason they stay with Comcast right now is because of things Dish can't offer, i.e. local HD (can't get it with an antenna), another is a Hockey nut and doesn't want to lose CBC, and another was monthly cost because of bundled Internet and their package choices, and the upfront Dish cost.

Anyways there are a ton of reasons to go with Dish, with Direct TV, and with Comcast, just as there are a ton not to go with any of them. I just wanted to let you know that the 942 is a great receiver and very reliable, it did have a couple months with some problems, though even then it was more than usable.

Is there anybody living in the Five Mile Lake area, south of Federal Way (Near the Park).
I'm wondering what people are using for OTA reception (UHF) and what kind of luck they are having. I have seen a lot of interesting setups in my neighborhood (bad reception area). I'm using a CM 4228 and radio-junk pre-amp on a CM Rotater, ten feet above the house. This works great when the weather is good. I get all channels and a few more. I would be lost without the rotater. The signal comes in from different direction on different days. I'm making some changes soon. Stacking two CM 4228's and changing pre-amp to CM 7777. Also adding TB-105 support bearing for strength. This is going to be as good as it gets for me.

Any replies would be welcome.
Yes even criticism

Okay, so now that all of the TV Guides have the upper 7xx channels, when will those of us in King County (Sammamish in this case), get access to them?

"Dave" reported from Bremerton (11/25) that he had 708-799 showing the analogs previously on 8-99, and that 2-99 were now digital. It's been rumored that Bellevue will get digital simulcasting on 12/6. I have no idea why they would put the analogs on the 700 block, but I assume they're also viewable on 2-99 without a box.

There's a couple things about the upcoming digital simulcasts that I'm wondering:

1) the list of 700-series channels (a few posts back) doesn't include any channels that already have an HD or digital feed. Does this mean, for example, that channel 4 on our boxes will continue to be mapped to analog KOMO? If so, then the only way to watch a cleaner, digital version of SD programs on ABC is to watch the HD feed on 104, which is a 720p picture windowed with sidebars. Which means my TV - like most - is unable to change the aspect ratio to fill the screen (can you say plasma burn-in?). Bummer...

2) For those SD channels that ARE switched to digital simulcasts - eg DISC ch 8 - will they obey the 4:3 OVERRIDE settings of the Moto box? Current digital-only SD channels do this. I have my 4:3 OVERRIDE set to "480p" - and my TV is then able to control the aspect ratio on those channels. Let's hope the new digital channels work the same...

A lot depends upon how the digital simulcast works. "Dave" of Bremerton indicated that it was the lower numbered channels (2-99) which were digital via the box, and that the 700+ channels were analog. The way simulcast is supposed to work is that 2-99 are analog without the box and digital with it. I don't understand the 700+ channels at all, nor the absence of the (already HD) locals from that list. I suppose we'll find out shortly.

FYI, in the Bellingham/Ferndale area, we have the "700" channels, but the 2-99 channels remain in analog form, which I can see with my analog TVs.

If I read this right, the 700 series channels are analog. I am not from Seattle, but I have learned a lot about the project from the BBR forum. They may be keeping the analogs mapped to the box just in case something goes wrong with the simulcasted channels(pixelling, tiling, freezing, things of that nature). Think about it. Sometimes digitals are more subject to quality degradation than analogs and plus the degradation will be more noticable on a digital than an analog, so its best to keep the analogs around in case the digitals act up. Then you will at least have a fully functioning alternative.

Hankeide: Are 2-99 analog when viewed with the box?

(Just think how easy it would be for Comcast to tell us what the @#$% they're up to.)

The basic idea isn't hard to understand. There are 2 cases:

- WITHOUT digital set top box. Existing analog channels are still transmitted at existing analog channel frequencies, which are always received as Ch 2-99 by regular analog TVs.

- WITH digital set top box. These boxes can take any frequency and map it to any channel, at Comcast's discretion. Currently these boxes map analog channel frequencies to Ch 2-99, just like an analog TV does. After Dec 6 (or whenever) they will map existing analog channel frequencies to ch. 702-799 instead, and map new digital simulcast channels to Ch 2-99 instead.

Again, regular analog TVs will continue to receive analog ch. 2-99 just as always, only digital set top boxes will see a change.

This seems to be the rule for all channels EXCEPT for locals, which are noticably absent from the new 702-799 channel listings. Hence my previous question - since those channels already have a "digital simulcast" via their HD feeds, it appears that Comcast will leave their analog frequencies mapped to their normal channel #s, eg Ch 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13. If you want to see a digital version of those channels, you'll need to watch the existing HD feed on 104, 105, 106, etc. At least that's my assumption - I doubt that Comcast wants to waste bandwidth by transmitting THREE copies of these channels (analog, SD digital, HD digital).

Comcast would waste bandwidth doing that in most markets. Normally locals are the first to be simulcasted. If your market has HD, normally the HD channels include locals, so judging by the other markets, they apparently don't care. Trust me, you will also have a standard digital version of your locals after ADS.

I would think the locals would be digitally simulcast, too, especially since not everyone with an stb has HD. That's why Comcast's lineup is confusing -- unless the Bremerton report is correct, and 2-99 are digital on the stb. The mapping to 708-799 is just weird.

I would think the locals would be digitally simulcast, too, especially since not everyone with an stb has HD. That's why Comcast's lineup is confusing -- unless the Bremerton report is correct, and 2-99 are digital on the stb. The mapping to 708-799 is just weird.
In some markets they do that in the beginning stages of digital simulcast. Like I said, it may be simply for safety purposes. Though, to be honest it would seem more appropriate to put the simulcasted versions in the 700s. It makes more sense. And it keeps the tradition of having digital channels above 100. I have no hands on experience since we have yet to get 1 digitally simulcasted channel in Savannah, Georgia.

I had a few minutes to update the QAM list this afternoon. Enjoy.

I don't know. Is there a way I can check this?

I don't know. Is there a way I can check this?

Tune to one of the low numbers, such as 5. Turn off the stb and within 2 seconds hit "OK" button to bring up the diagnostic screen. Item d06 will tell you if the current channel is analog or digital.

Just to let you know, most of the software problems you've read about are fixed. This was a really solid receiver when released, then they upgraded the code for some new features and it wreaked havoc on the receiver. Dish heard the issues loud and clear and dropped just about everything to get it fixed. They have now pretty much fixed the issues. From what I've read and seen, the 942 is more stable and reliable than the comcast DVR, not as rock rolid as a Tivo, and more reliable and solid than Direct TV's new non-Tivo DVR. Basically, don't let what you've read about the software on the 942 from dbstalk.com worry you at this point. Back a month or 2 ago, yes it was bad, but no where near as bad as the Dish 921 ever was. If you were to poll the 942 user community I'm sure most would still recommend the 942. I've had the 942 since early May and it's missed all of 2 recordings on me, and it was due to a software bug that determines if a show is new or not. It's never cleared itself, had a corrupt recording, or lost any timers.

I've had 3 friends come by over the last 6 months that have the Comcast DVR and they all agree that the Dish DVR is way better than the Comcast one at this time. The only reason they stay with Comcast right now is because of things Dish can't offer, i.e. local HD (can't get it with an antenna), another is a Hockey nut and doesn't want to lose CBC, and another was monthly cost because of bundled Internet and their package choices, and the upfront Dish cost.

Anyways there are a ton of reasons to go with Dish, with Direct TV, and with Comcast, just as there are a ton not to go with any of them. I just wanted to let you know that the 942 is a great receiver and very reliable, it did have a couple months with some problems, though even then it was more than usable.

Thanks, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this even though I didn't want to ask. Glad to hear things are much better. My 6412 has definitely missed more than 2 shows in the 1 year I've had it. Very frustrating when it's one you really wanted and isn't going to be repeated.

Unless Comcast flat out changes their policy so I don't keep having to ask for discounts (very unlikely) my thoughts are that I will switch in 6 months. I think I'll borrow a friends OTA tuner and buy a CM 4228 and see if I have any problems pulling in the locals and that will help me decide.

Brent

... I think I'll borrow a friends OTA tuner and buy a CM 4228 and see if I have any problems pulling in the locals and that will help me decide.

Brent

Good way to go to see if OTA is even doable. As far as that antenna, Fry's carries it in stock in Renton and they have a 30 day return policy if it doesn't work out. Also, if you go over to the Seattle OTA forum and ask about getting a plot on your location, quarque over there will run your location through his topology program and see how it looks (pending any trees or houses in the way). You may be able to get away with a smaller antenna if you end up going OTA down the road (I started with a 4228 and downsized to a 4221 and actually got better reception, it has a wider angle of reception). Feel free to PM me if you ever have any questions. Good luck.

Perhaps I'm seeing the beginnings of DS -- CNN (44) is showing extreme pixelation, intermittent with a blank screen. No sign of anything like 744, though.

Anybody get switched over to digital yet today? I'm stuck at work..

Anybody get switched over to digital yet today? I'm stuck at work..

I've been wondering the same thing all day...

I'm in Seattle area- I do NOT see any change :-(

No DS in Bellevue yet.

Anybody ever have all their scheduled recordings disappear? Has happened to me twice now and I've had to reprogram everything both times, it's getting annoying. All my series still show up under series manager, but no scheduled showings show up..it made me miss 2 recordings yesterday.

Anybody ever have all their scheduled recordings disappear? Has happened to me twice now and I've had to reprogram everything both times, it's getting annoying. All my series still show up under series manager, but no scheduled showings show up..it made me miss 2 recordings yesterday.
This is being discussed in the 6412 thread over here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=467203), though I don't think there is a magic solution to it as of yet. Same thing happened to me.

Tune to one of the low numbers, such as 5. Turn off the stb and within 2 seconds hit "OK" button to bring up the diagnostic screen. Item d06 will tell you if the current channel is analog or digital.

Sorry, I'm a newbie, and I'm not currently at home. Is the "stb" the comcast cable/dvr box?

Sorry, I'm a newbie, and I'm not currently at home. Is the "stb" the comcast cable/dvr box?

Yes.

Sorry, I'm a newbie, and I'm not currently at home. Is the "stb" the comcast cable/dvr box?generic acronym for "set-top box".

Digital seems to be up in Monroe. Channel 5 was looking pretty good so went to D06 and is states "Digital". Hoo Raa.

Mason

Nothing new in Seattle

Nothing new in Seattle

:(

Also... the 7xx channels are there as well and show up as analogs.

I was going to ask about the 7xx channels, since that seems like a much easier thing to check for.

Are 4, 5, & 7 digital?

I was going to ask about the 7xx channels, since that seems like a much easier thing to check for.

Are 4, 5, & 7 digital?
No 700 channals in Seattle

I'm a noob to both this forum and to Comcast (a DirecTV defector, 6412 installed yesterday), so I apologize if this question has come up before. But has Comcast indicated if/when it will start providing the hi def feed of the UPN affiliate in Seattle (KSTW)?

I only watch the UPN for "Veronica Mars", but I do so wish I could get it in HD.

I'm a noob to both this forum and to Comcast (a DirecTV defector, 6412 installed yesterday), so I apologize if this question has come up before. But has Comcast indicated if/when it will start providing the hi def feed of the UPN affiliate in Seattle (KSTW)?

Comcast around here seems in no big hurry to add any new HD stations .. there are several they SHOULD offer (tnt-hd, fsn-hd, upn).. but who knows if they'll ever do it, they claim to be running out of bandwidth and anytime there is a new update it's that they're "working on a deal with ________" .. so basically..who knows.

Comcast around here seems in no big hurry to add any new HD stations .. there are several they SHOULD offer (tnt-hd, fsn-hd, upn).. but who knows if they'll ever do it, they claim to be running out of bandwidth and anytime there is a new update it's that they're "working on a deal with ________" .. so basically..who knows. Seems like they could cut out at least one of the four (?) KCTS feeds without anybody noticing. And does InHD ever show anything that anyone actually watches?

...And does InHD ever show anything that anyone actually watches? YES :)

Sorry Burger, I wasn't being facetious. I just got the box yesterday and it looked to me like InHD was something like an HD showcase channel.

yes 4,5,7 and everything else. interesting note is that the "local" do not show up in 700's (analog). I wanted to compare, but the analog equivalent for locals don't appear. Without comparing, the digitals are clearly better then the analogs were.

Mason

Sorry Burger, I wasn't being facetious. I just got the box yesterday and it looked to me like InHD was something like an HD showcase channel.
These channals do, every once in awhile, come up with some good stuff. Dave Mathews Band, Bruce Hornsby, etc that is fun to watch. "sunrise" is not very interesting to me-- but it sure shows off HD well to friends.

And does InHD ever show anything that anyone actually watches?

They run one of the bikini programs nearly every night at midnight. Also NBA Basketball games in HD, except for the SuperSonics who are always blacked out.

How about 106? Now, there's a waste of bandwidth. Must've been part of a package deal to get 105.

I've seen Northwest Backroads in HD on 106, but that's about it.

I've seen Northwest Backroads in HD on 106, but that's about it.

That and Evening Magazine -- both reruns from 105, so what's the point in them?

Woo Hoo! Digital is up south of Tacoma in Lakewood. There are new 700 channels. The STB tunes digital on the old channel numbers, analog on the new 700 numbers. What is also cool is that they still broadcast the analog on the old channels for TVs that are directly connected to RF (makes sense). Bye Bye analog...

BTW: Quick check showed PBS 9 letterboxed and cropped in both the vertical and horizontal, what you would expect when presenting 16:9 HD on SD. Really lloking forward to the BSG marathon next week.

Digital is not up in Renton, can anyone else confirm?

No digital simulcasts here in North Bend yet. Still the usual grainy, wiggly analog picture being mangled by the 6412's MPEG encoder...

AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!

My box has thrown away 2 days of recordings, and now only shows C-SPAN on every channel I select! Comcast's support phone line is completely dead.

I really hope that's just a glitch from moving me to all digital, or I'll be calling DirecTV real soon now.

The showing only C-SPAN happens during Emergency Broadcast testing, but this shouldn't impact your recordings.

Try unplugging for 1 minute and replug the box in. That usually cures most problems.

Good call! That cleared it all up.
All my recordings are back, too.

I just had the same thing (no recordings indicated present and stuck on C-SPAN), but it cleared up without my unplugging the box. If it was EBS they didn't do any EB-ing.

Shoreline here - Digital Simulcast has arrived. Haven't checked for the last few days, but as of tonight: ch 2-100 are digital, 708-799 are analog - don't see '700 series' for broadcast channels (This is on a 6412)

No digital here in Arlington yet...

David

I had a few minutes to update the QAM list this afternoon. Enjoy.

You list does not exactly match my lineup, does comcast change the lineup offten? Maybe the difference can be attributed to our location, I am in kirkland.

My digital channels are similar to yours in that that follow a similar structure. Our channels seem to fall within the same ranges, like:
<First hunk of channels are 480i regular broadcast channels 78-80>
<Next chunk of channels are mostly HD simulcast (some PBS is not HD) 81-84>
<next chuck is a mix of normal channels and onDemand Channels 89 - 101>
<Next chunk are public service channels (cspan, Event schedules, etc) 102 - 106
<Next chunk are comcast ads and a movie channel 112 - 116>
<Last chunk are Music channels 118 - 123>


Nate

NO HD on FOX! :mad: :mad: :mad:

WooHOO!! its fixed!

Nm..my box was spazzing out :(

You list does not exactly match my lineup, does comcast change the lineup offten? Maybe the difference can be attributed to our location, I am in kirkland.

It does change often, but I think it's also dependent upon the headend. I can only really say what's out there in Seattle. :)

I would assume that the subchannels of 105 vary by location. I'd also assume that areas in the north would lack KBTC and gain KVOS.

Until now, I've only updated this list as a "cheat sheat" for the back of my remote, then posted it here for the common good. (I leave out the On Demand channels and the MC/DMX channels since they don't hold much interest for me.)

I could certainly try to incorporate the suburban differences in a more comprehensive list if someone can provide them in detail.

Hello,
I purchased the HDTV I had posted in here about 2 weeks ago. I am now needing to get it all set up.

I went with a phillips 51PP9100D. It has a QAM tuner, so for HD locals all I need to do is order comcast limited basic service and the QAM tuner will pick up the channels referenced in the list posted here previously?
And it will be HD quality for the programs that are broadcast in HD without the HDMI or component video hooked up? just the standard coaxial cable plugged into the TV.

How can I test for over the air reception of HD with my tv? I briefly tried just plugging in the old antenna and could not figure out how to tune to the 79-any number to check for reception. Do I need a special antenna or change a setting in the TV to access the QAM tunner channels?

Lastly any opinions on what type of component video cables to get for plugging in a dvd player? Ebay has some cheap python brand ones, will those do the trick?

Thanks for all your help with the new purchase.

Hello,
I purchased the HDTV I had posted in here about 2 weeks ago. I am now needing to get it all set up.

I went with a phillips 51PP9100D. It has a QAM tuner, so for HD locals all I need to do is order comcast limited basic service and the QAM tuner will pick up the channels referenced in the list posted here previously?
And it will be HD quality for the programs that are broadcast in HD without the HDMI or component video hooked up? just the standard coaxial cable plugged into the TV.
For cable QAM reception, all you need is a cable connection (no cable box and the fewer spliiters in line, the better) connected to the digital RF input on your TV. The TV will decode the digital RF signal and display HD programs if they are broadcasting them. If not HD, the upconverted SD programs on the HD channels are some of the best quality SD we will ever see at home. The HDMI and component inputs are not used for QAM cable or OTA reception. The connections from the HD tuner to the display are internal in the TV.

How can I test for over the air reception of HD with my tv? I briefly tried just plugging in the old antenna and could not figure out how to tune to the 79-any number to check for reception. Do I need a special antenna or change a setting in the TV to access the QAM tunner channels?
For Seattle area OTA reception, you need a UHF antennna of some kind. Depending on your location, an indoor UHF antenna may not work. At my house, I get perfect HD reception from a small $25 UHF-only outdoor yagi antenna from Radio Shack. Indoor antennas did not work at all for me.

The channel numbers you tune to for OTA are different than those you tune to for QAM cable. Here are some example OTA HDTV actual transmitting channels (from memory--hope they're right):

KCPQ-DT - ch 18
KOMO-DT - ch 38
KIRO-DT - ch 39
KCTS-DT - ch 41
KING -DT - ch 48

I can't remember the others off hand, but you can look those up, along with your OTA reception and antenna recommendation info on http://www.antennaweb.org

Lastly any opinions on what type of component video cables to get for plugging in a dvd player? Ebay has some cheap python brand ones, will those do the trick?

Thanks for all your help with the new purchase.
For DVD 480i or 480p use, I am not into expensive cables, perhaps because the rest of my equipment would not be considered top-end. I have bought component cables (RCA, GE, Philips) at Target and WalMart that have given good results for DVD use.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

Anyone other than myself and a guy I work with having a problem with West Wing not being recorded last night even though it is clearly in our programs to be recorded??

Anyone other than myself and a guy I work with having a problem with West Wing not being recorded last night even though it is clearly in our programs to be recorded??Recorded just fine for me. Did you set your recording to record at "any time"? or specifically at 8:00p? Note the latter doesn't work reliably when the TV networks try their silly anti-DVR tricks, like starting the show at 7:59 or 8:01.

Both of us had it set to record at anytime. However it hasn't been my experience that if I set a recording to 8:00 PM and the network starts the show a minute earlier or later that the show is not recorded.

For cable QAM reception, all you need is a cable connection (no cable box and the fewer spliiters in line, the better) connected to the digital RF input on your TV. The TV will decode the digital RF signal and display HD programs if they are broadcasting them. If not HD, the upconverted SD programs on the HD channels are some of the best quality SD we will ever see at home. The HDMI and component inputs are not used for QAM cable or OTA reception. The connections from the HD tuner to the display are internal in the TV.


For Seattle area OTA reception, you need a UHF antennna of some kind. Depending on your location, an indoor UHF antenna may not work. At my house, I get perfect HD reception from a small $25 UHF-only outdoor yagi antenna from Radio Shack. Indoor antennas did not work at all for me.

The channel numbers you tune to for OTA are different than those you tune to for QAM cable. Here are some example OTA HDTV actual transmitting channels (from memory--hope they're right):

KCPQ-DT - ch 18
KOMO-DT - ch 38
KIRO-DT - ch 39
KCTS-DT - ch 41
KING -DT - ch 48

I can't remember the others off hand, but you can look those up, along with your OTA reception and antenna recommendation info on http://www.antennaweb.com


For DVD 480i or 480p use, I am not into expensive cables, perhaps because the rest of my equipment would not be considered top-end. I have bought component cables (RCA, GE, Philips) at Target and WalMart that have given good results for DVD use.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

Thanks for the reply!
I figured out how to get the QAM working and am picking up most of the digital channels. The location of TV gets horrible analog reception but the digital is really clear with just a cheap indoor antenna hooked up in the basement. I guess being a few blocks from the towers on Queen Anne is good for digital signal.

I get channels 4,5,7,9,13 in digital perfectly. Only channels of any more value would be 11 or the WB. I will see if I can pick those up by moving the antenna around.

I will go ahead and get some cheap ebay component cables and decide if i want to try comcast for the extra digital channels. It is only 13 dollars for the basic cable, but I dont know how valuable the extra channels would be.

Comcast does not carry ch 11 HDTV/digital. The ch 11 tower is very close to the ch 9 tower on Capitol Hill, about Madison and E. Pike. Moving your antenna around may help.

Ch 22 also transmits from the same site, and I think their digital channel is 25.

I still recommend looking at http://www.antennaweb.org web site. Sorry I gave the wrong URL before (gave .com and it should have been .org--comes from getting older I guess)

Enjoy your HDTV programs. I sure do mine.

Hello everyone, I have a Mot 6412 connected via DVI to Sony HD CRT. I love hockey and football. I went with cable because of CBUT (CBC) and Sat night Hockey. Does Direct TV have CBUT?

Also has anyone else noticed that the quality of HD broadcast seems best on ESPNHD sunday night football then ABC Monday night then FOX 113 and last is CBS 107. CBS seems worse than all the others, it has pixellations that are easily visible transiently during games? Is it because of 720p vs 1080i? If so why are CBS and Fox so much worse than ABC? (I thought ABC is also 1080i)

Hello everyone, I have a Mot 6412 connected via DVI to Sony HD CRT. I love hockey and football. I went with cable because of CBUT (CBC) and Sat night Hockey. Does Direct TV have CBUT?
No, you can get this only on comcast or on Canadian DBS.

Also has anyone else noticed that the quality of HD broadcast seems best on ESPNHD sunday night football then ABC Monday night then FOX 113 and last is CBS 107. CBS seems worse than all the others, it has pixellations that are easily visible transiently during games? Is it because of 720p vs 1080i? If so why are CBS and Fox so much worse than ABC? (I thought ABC is also 1080i)
This is probably because your TV has a native 720p resolution. 720p programming looks great on 720p displays, whereas 1080i is better on 1080i (or 1080p) displays.

(I thought ABC is also 1080i)

ABC is 720p.

I went with cable because of CBUT (CBC) and Sat night Hockey.


NHL coverage on Comcast (other than pay) found by searching for NHL Hockey:

Today 12/13
5PM 34 OLN Pittsburgh at St. Louis
9PM 34 OLN Pittsburgh at St. Louis (repeat)

Saturday 12/17
4PM 99 CBUT Toronto at Ottawa
7PM 99 CBUT Edmonton at Vancouver

Monday 12/19
5PM 664 INHD (HDTV)
5PM 34 OLN Dallas at Minnesota
9PM 34 OLN Dallas at Minnesota (repeat)

Tuesday 12/20
7AM 664 INHD Dallas at Minnesota (HDTV repeat)
5PM 34 OLN Colorado at Nashville
9PM 34 OLN Colorado at Nashville (repeat)

Friday 12/23
4PM 99 CBUT Boston at Toronto
7PM 99 CBUT Calgary at Vancouver


Live it up!

Will we get some new channels ? Any speculations / rumors ...

Comcast to offer dozens of new channels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=611628&highlight=comcast)

well i can tell you two channels suckcast wont add ,thats FSN HD and TNT HD, those are the only two i care about. therefor they wont be added anytime soon

I'm very disappointed with comcast in general ... I'd switch to DishNetwork in a heartbeat if I can lease 2 HDDVRs with $5 a month & no upfront payment.

well i can tell you two channels suckcast wont add ,thats FSN HD and TNT HD, those are the only two i care about. therefor they wont be added anytime soon

Pretty much wraps up my daily thought. WHY OH WHY can't we get these?

Anyone other than myself and a guy I work with having a problem with West Wing not being recorded last night even though it is clearly in our programs to be recorded?

No issues recording it on my 6412...

Digital simulcasts are now enabled here in North Bend! Initial observations:

- ch. 4-5-7 on the set top box are MUCH crisper & clearer in digital. No more wiggly, grainy artifacts caused by the 6412's MPEG2 encoder.

- 4:3 Override works for these new digital simulcast channels. In my case, with 4:3 Override set to 480i - these channels are correctly output as 480i, which means my TV can change their aspect ratio.

- Comcast really *is* transmitting 3 copies of each local channel: analog, SD digital, and HD digital. But it's kind of odd there's no way to access the analog local channels using the 6412 (no 704, 705, 707, etc). But the analog frequencies are still there obviously, since all my analog TVs work just as before.

I've seen reports of Digital Simulcast (here and on the Comcast.net forum) in Shoreline, Renton, and North Bend. Do any other local communities have it now?

I've seen reports of Digital Simulcast (here and on the Comcast.net forum) in Shoreline, Renton, and North Bend. Do any other local communities have it now?

Lakewood for one.

I've got three 6412 boxes. I have digital simulcast on one but not on the other two.

Posted on the Chicago Comcast AVS forum:

"ADS (all digital simulcast)- ADS allows us to broadcast a 100% digital
signal to our customers instead of broadcasting analog on channels below
100. All existing digital equipment will accept the new signal, as well as
the old signal. The new DCT 3412 DVR, and DCT 700 digital box will only
accept the new signal as they do not have an analog tuner. We will
systematically begin switching existing customers to ADS, but at this time
only new subscribers will be put on the ADS lineup. Customers on ADS will
experience a much improved picture on lower channels, and will not have to
do anything to their equipment in order to enable it. When installing a DCT
3412 in a home that is not ADS yet, the box will not display any channels
below 100. Dispatch will be able to fix the issue when an order is being
closed out. Dispatch needs to be told that the lower channels are missing
and that the customer needs to be moved onto the ADS lineup. The dispatcher
will correct the problem and send another signal to the equipment."


What a bunch of maroons.

Still no digital in Covington :(

digital simulcast is now enabled in Issaquah - the network channels definitely look much crisper on the 4,5,7 channels - also take less storage on the DVR

Nothing in Sammamish -- how weird. You'd think if issaquah got it, we'd get it.

Digital is on in Woodinville. :)

One completely useless piece of info about this transition. At my work place (a local broadcaster), I have access to both DirecTV and analog cable through a TV on my desk. It used to be that when a signal left our building, it would take about 3 seconds to return on Cable, and about 7 seconds to return by DirecTV. Last Friday, that changed, and it now takes 10 seconds to return on Cable. I assume it has something to do with the switch to digital, even though I still see it through an analog connection. Any ideas why the signal is delayed so significantly? It's wierd to use DirecTV as a reference over Comcast.

Pure speculation:

Perhaps Comcast intentionally delays the analog signal so it is in synch with the digital simulcast, so a digital channel with STB in one room plays in synch with its analog "original" in the next room. The digital channel is likely recorded and immediately played back in the DVR box instead of being true live.

We have those timing differences between OTA reception and DirecTV local channels, and again between standard DirecTV receivers and DirecTV with TiVo receivers.

We're digital in Des Moines this AM. Too bad everything is in infomercials this early in the morning, but the channels are looking much better.

Lynnwood, anyone???

One completely useless piece of info about this transition. At my work place (a local broadcaster), I have access to both DirecTV and analog cable through a TV on my desk. It used to be that when a signal left our building, it would take about 3 seconds to return on Cable, and about 7 seconds to return by DirecTV. Last Friday, that changed, and it now takes 10 seconds to return on Cable. I assume it has something to do with the switch to digital, even though I still see it through an analog connection. Any ideas why the signal is delayed so significantly? It's wierd to use DirecTV as a reference over Comcast.

Maybe this explains why the Sonics game on Tuesday was so delayed on the TVs in the concourse of Key Area. I wonder if they are distributing a digital feed now. I don't remember them being that far behind the live action, but on Tuesday it was 10+ seconds behind. It was funny, you'd hear the crowd cheer and the announcer say who scored and then look at the TV and nothing had happened yet.

A friend in Kent reported he has Digital Simulcast this morning. No joy in Bellevue, yet.

One completely useless piece of info about this transition. At my work place (a local broadcaster), I have access to both DirecTV and analog cable through a TV on my desk. It used to be that when a signal left our building, it would take about 3 seconds to return on Cable, and about 7 seconds to return by DirecTV.

I have another random observation to add to this one. I'm totally cogniscent of why the digital signals (OTA, QAM SD, and QAM HD) are delayed. I've never understood this one though:

The TV in my kitchen is OTA analogue, and all the signals (2, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13, 16, 22) are all perfectly in-sync with the analogue (Comcast) in the living room... except for KCTS. KCTS via analogue on Comcast is about 5 seconds delayed from KCTS OTA analogue. I've also noticed that the time signal is absent from KCTS Comcast analogue, but it's there on KCTS OTA analogue.

FYI. I was looking through the HDTV movies section on On-Demand and noticed that Jerry Meguire is FREE. Too bad I don't like the movie. I imagine someone witll, so enjoy it.

Mason

We're digital in Arlington!

David

FYI. I was looking through the HDTV movies section on On-Demand and noticed that Jerry Meguire is FREE. Too bad I don't like the movie. I imagine someone witll, so enjoy it.

Mason

Also "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" -- and they still have the two part "Lawrence of Arabia" there.

Ahh. missed those wareagle. I'll definately watch close encounters. "FREE" HD movies would be a welcome addition in my house.

Mason

Digital on in Kirkland, with the analog channels at 7xx.

Digital on in Kirkland, with the analog channels at 7xx.

One neighborhood at a time -- it's Comcastic!

Also "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" -- and they still have the two part "Lawrence of Arabia" there.

Too bad that both of them are pan-and-scan instead of OAR. But still, it's nice to see a free HD movie other than Logan's Run.

Hi all,

Has anyone in the Woodinville area tried to pick up the OTA HD signals, and if so, how does it look? I was considering getting one of the HD DirecTivo boxes with the OTA tuners for locals.

I'm in the Cottage Lake area, between Woodinville and Duvall in unincorporated King County. The area is somewhat rural and there are many tall trees.

Much thanks!

We got digitized last night. We're in Sammamish.
Picture Quality is much better, but not fantastic.

One neighborhood at a time -- it's Comcastic!

Yeah, but still much better than Sat. The new simulcast digital channels seems to have a much lower compression than thier satellite equivalents. I believe they have to bring it up in pieces as there seems to be problems for while. For example, when we went digital, the broadcast stations were rock solid but some (most?) of the upper channels had serious pixellation or did not work at all. Two days later, all was good.

It is just a guess but I would suspect that there is some serious tweaking they must do on a headend basis when swithing to digital. I would think that they have a team(s) that goes to these headends, turn on the digital and begin tweaking.

It is just a guess but I would suspect that there is some serious tweaking they must do on a headend basis when swithing to digital. I would think that they have a team(s) that goes to these headends, turn on the digital and begin tweaking.

How many headends do they have? It seems more fragmented than that.

How many headends do they have? It seems more fragmented than that.

Could be. I really don't know. However, I believe it is a safe bet that the reason for a staggered rollout is caused by two factors.

1) You can't just turn digital on and expect it to work without tweaking.
2) There a headends, pops, substations, whatever they may call them that are geographically positioned to service a number of clients and that each of these locations require manual intervention to turn on digital. It's true that they must have many locations to dish up VOD. Perhaps it is there where they need to do the tweaking.

Hopefully within the next month the greater Seattle area will all be upgraded and all of this will become moot. I can say I really enjoy the clarity of the SD simulcasts. That combined with HD locals, HD VOD, high speed internet makes a compelling argument to switch from Sat to cable. Now I just want more HD channels. Perhaps we'll see some after the digital upgrade is complete.

Kudos to Comcast!

Now I just want more HD channels. Perhaps we'll see some after the digital upgrade is complete.

Seems like KIRO is the only one they've added in a couple of years. The bandwidth payoff from digital won't occur until the analogs are removed. Don't hold your breath.

Hi all,

Has anyone in the Woodinville area tried to pick up the OTA HD signals, and if so, how does it look? I was considering getting one of the HD DirecTivo boxes with the OTA tuners for locals.

I'm in the Cottage Lake area, between Woodinville and Duvall in unincorporated King County. The area is somewhat rural and there are many tall trees.

Much thanks!
You should post this question in the OTA forum.

I live a couple of miles further south and have good reception. It all depends on the elevation of your house and the trees.

Hate to sound ignorant, but as a relatively new subscriber, I still have a lot to learn. How do I know if I have Digital Simulcast? I'm in the Edmonds area.

Gary

Seems like KIRO is the only one they've added in a couple of years. The bandwidth payoff from digital won't occur until the analogs are removed. Don't hold your breath.What "bandwidth payoff" will we get? I have always thought that:

1 SD Analog = 4 SD Digital OR 1 HD Digital

What "bandwidth payoff" will we get? I have always thought that:

1 SD Analog = 4 SD Digital OR 1 HD Digital

One analog program occupies 6 MHz of bandwidth, for example KING on Channel 5.

On the new digital simulcast, for example, NWCN on Channel 79-1, KWPX on 79-2, KOMO on 79-3, KING on 79-4, KONG on 79-5, CBUT on 79-6, KCTS on 79-7, KTWB on 79-8, KSTW on 79-9, and KBTC on 79-10 also occupy, collectively, a 6 MHz channel. So, at Comcast's current compresion rate, the bandwidth savings savings for SD is 10:1.

QAM-256 also yields some pretty decent savings for ED and HD content. A good example is that Comcast is currently compressing up to 2 HD, 1 ED, and 2 SD programs onto one 6 MHz channel: KCTS-DT (ED at 480p) on 82-1, KCTS Kids (SD at 480i) on 82-2, KCTS Learns (SD at 480i) on 82-3, KOMO-HD (HD at 720p) on 82-4, and KCTS-HD (HD at 1080i) on 82-5.

Hate to sound ignorant, but as a relatively new subscriber, I still have a lot to learn. How do I know if I have Digital Simulcast? I'm in the Edmonds area.

Gary

From all reports, you will have access to channels 708-799 (as analogs) when it's activated. Beyond that, you will need to check the channel status for digital, but that's the simplest way.

What "bandwidth payoff" will we get?

Aside from the eventual savings, no bandwidth will be saved until the analogs are removed -- which could take years. In the short term it will cost bandwidth to add the digitals, however if you have a DVR it should allow you to record programs from channels 2-99 with less disk space used.

Thanks! I was remembering some of the 8-VSB & OTA details and had forgotten about QAM.

Seems like KIRO is the only one they've added in a couple of years. The bandwidth payoff from digital won't occur until the analogs are removed. Don't hold your breath.

I've learned to hold my breath for long periods of time since being first with TCI, then AT&T and finally Comcast. :D You're right about the bandwidth payoff not coming until analog is cut off. However, I'm not convinced that they are bandwidth starved at this time. The late addition of Kiro was due to contract negotiations. I believe they are in the same contract hell with other HD providers such as TNT.

I would think that they would be concentrating most of thier efforts on getting digital SD up and running to end one of the major advertising points that Sat is all digital and cable is not. I expect to see new ads along those lines. It would also be a great time to roll out some additional HD so I have my hopes up and I am holding my breath.

I've learned to hold my breath for long periods of time since being first with TCI, then AT&T and finally Comcast. :D You're right about the bandwidth payoff not coming until analog is cut off. However, I'm not convinced that they are bandwidth starved at this time. The late addition of Kiro was due to contract negotiations. I believe they are in the same contract hell with other HD providers such as TNT.

I would think that they would be concentrating most of thier efforts on getting digital SD up and running to end one of the major advertising points that Sat is all digital and cable is not. I expect to see new ads along those lines. It would also be a great time to roll out some additional HD so I have my hopes up and I am holding my breath.


I hate to butt in, but Comcast already has commercials saying that they are 100% digital on all channels. We have them in my market and we don't even have 1 digital simulcast channel. They should eliminate the commercial because it may mislead potential subscribers.

Comcast may boast of being 100% digital, but that is not always a good thing.

For instance, I have noticed lately that Husky games, whether on FSN or ESPN, which was the case for the UW Volleyball game yesterday, look absolutely terrible. This is with a HDTV hooked to straight analog cable. It appears that Comcast is taking a perfectly fine analog signal, turning it into digital, and then converting back to analog for all the Comcast users (which are a lot) who simply take the cable and plug into their TV. The picture is soft with very noticable artifacts that can only come from digitizing the picture.

In my humble opinion, the only digital signal that looks good is HD. All other digital signals of analog SD degrade the picture. This works with TIVO or Direct TV also. The supposed quality of digitizing SD programming is lousy because Comcast, and everyone else, is compressing the heck out of the signal. This might not be noticeable on smaller TVs, but the bigger your TV, the worse it looks.

My view of the UW volleyball on ESPN2 was on analog, since they haven't seen fit to enable DS for me. I hope that it will improve when they digitize it before it reaches my 6412, and it doesn't have to be massaged so much by the box.

I've learned to hold my breath for long periods of time since being first with TCI, then AT&T and finally Comcast. :D You're right about the bandwidth payoff not coming until analog is cut off. However, I'm not convinced that they are bandwidth starved at this time. The late addition of Kiro was due to contract negotiations. I believe they are in the same contract hell with other HD providers such as TNT.

I may have been breathless even longer, since I started out with Cablevision. Although I haven't moved, all those others have wandered through my house. Recently it seems that the logo changes but the management doesn't.

Supposedly Comcast has a contract with TNT, but for some reason they're not giving it to us. It may be an east/west coast thing. I'm not sure they have a west coast HD feed, and I don't recall seeing any mention of TNT-HD in other west coast markets.

If there is a bandwidth shortage, KONG-HD would certainly be a good place to look for the waste.

Comcast may boast of being 100% digital, but that is not always a good thing.

For instance, I have noticed lately that Husky games, whether on FSN or ESPN, which was the case for the UW Volleyball game yesterday, look absolutely terrible. This is with a HDTV hooked to straight analog cable. It appears that Comcast is taking a perfectly fine analog signal, turning it into digital, and then converting back to analog for all the Comcast users (which are a lot) who simply take the cable and plug into their TV. The picture is soft with very noticable artifacts that can only come from digitizing the picture.

In my humble opinion, the only digital signal that looks good is HD. All other digital signals of analog SD degrade the picture. This works with TIVO or Direct TV also. The supposed quality of digitizing SD programming is lousy because Comcast, and everyone else, is compressing the heck out of the signal. This might not be noticeable on smaller TVs, but the bigger your TV, the worse it looks.

Do you have an HD Box or are you just receiving signals through a cable plugged in the wall. Most digital signals look pretty good in my opinion(Through a box, especially if you use composite or S-Video). But I hate the fact that we have no DS, therefore we must put up with analog signals that have MPeg artifacts. Today I am having a huge problem with CNN Headlines. Everything looks as if I am wearing goggles that indicate body heat. For some reason this only occurs on my tv sets with digital receivers. This may have to do with them starting off with a digital signal and converting it to analog when it gets to the actual home.

Hi all,

Has anyone in the Woodinville area tried to pick up the OTA HD signals, and if so, how does it look? I was considering getting one of the HD DirecTivo boxes with the OTA tuners for locals.

I'm in the Cottage Lake area, between Woodinville and Duvall in unincorporated King County. The area is somewhat rural and there are many tall trees.

Much thanks!

I am not far from you up 175th near the 4 way stop sign at 164th. Get the cable box. I can receive OTA with bowtie, but not reiliably, and not all channels. It is the reason I got waivers from locals to have DirecTV east and west coast network stations out of NY and LA. As soon as D* gets local stations in HD, I will probably dump Comcast.

Bill

My view of the UW volleyball on ESPN2 was on analog, since they haven't seen fit to enable DS for me. I hope that it will improve when they digitize it before it reaches my 6412, and it doesn't have to be massaged so much by the box.

I watched the volleyball game in straight analog cable to my HDTV and I could clearly see macro-blocking that is not a normal by product of analog. It was digital artifacts.

My Zenith has built in QAM tuner, so I am able to get the local HDTV stations in full HD without a Comcast box, and they look excellent. There is also a group of digital SD over the air stations that come in right below the HD channels. They look OK, although a little soft. FSN is not part of this group.

The poor quality of the Husky games is bothersome. Just before the last basketball game on FSN (Gonzaga?), I watched a Sonics game. This looked pretty decent in regular SD, probably because they are using HD cameras at the Sonic game. The Husky game, which was on right after, looked bad. The quality of these broadcasts look much worse than last season. I think Comcast is messing with the analog signal. I think Comcast is taking a fairly decent analog signal, and coverting the heck out of it.

Digital Simulcast is on in Bellevue.

Nothing in Seattle, yet

Digital Simulcast is on in Bellevue.

And it's looking pretty good! :)

Guess it's time to retire the TiVo.

Slightly off topic, has anyone noticed the fast-forward speed on the 6412 DVR being a bit off on the digital channels - on the analog channels, FF1 was approximately 3x and FF2 was approximately 10-15x, on the digital channels, FF1 seems to be more like 1.5x and FF2 around 25x - it makes FF1 too slow and FF2 too fast for fast-forwarding ads and dead time between plays in a football game etc.
Also, different digital channels seem to be compressed differently, a 4hr football game recording on ESPN took 8% of recording time on my DVR, while another on fox of the same length took ~10%

I usually use 3X for HD, SD, and DD and it seems to work for me about the same, especially now that it "skips back" like TiVo when you hit "Play".

Digital Simulcast is on in Renton...

STILL analog in Covington :(

Still analog in North Seattle, but a friend in West Seattle reports at least some 700 channels showing up in the guide.

Still analog in North Seattle, but a friend in West Seattle reports at least some 700 channels showing up in the guide.

ya I am in west Seattle and we've had all the 700 stations in analog and the 02-99 in digital for about 2 weeks now.

Covington intrigues me as I live in Lake Meridian, Kent (one mile from Covington) and I have digital. Obviously my complaints to Comcast over the years have paid off. sam

Covington intrigues me as I live in Lake Meridian, Kent (one mile from Covington) and I have digital. Obviously my complaints to Comcast over the years have paid off. sam

That's just not fair :(

Digital in Covington! Sonics game looks sooo much better!

Do I have to get a special box for DS on comcast? Will regular and expanded cable do the trick? Sorry I'm a newbie.

Do I have to get a special box for DS on comcast? Will regular and expanded cable do the trick? Sorry I'm a newbie.

A regular digital box will do.

DS in Everett! no NWCN though :(

Digital in Auburn last night.

Now that lower channels are being broadcast digitally, should I do a re-scan for QAM channels on my TV's ATSC tuner?
For QAM in the clear (direct cable hook-up to TV's ATSC tuner), do the lower channels remain analog? Do you have to have a Moto 6412 to take advantage of DS?

Sorry for all the questions........any insight is appreciated........
My TV takes a darn long time to do channel memorization and if I don't need to re-scan, I'll be happy camper! :)

Thanks.

Now that lower channels are being broadcast digitally, should I do a re-scan for QAM channels on my TV's ATSC tuner?
For QAM in the clear (direct cable hook-up to TV's ATSC tuner), do the lower channels remain analog? Do you have to have a Moto 6412 to take advantage of DS?

Sorry for all the questions........any insight is appreciated........
My TV takes a darn long time to do channel memorization and if I don't need to re-scan, I'll be happy camper! :)

Thanks.
Digital simulcast has been around for some time for QAM tuners (see previous posts in this thread regarding this topic). They are now getting remapped on the STBs so that everybody who has an STB can receive them.
You may want to re-scan every now and then to pick-up some recent changes, but basically these 2 things are not directly related.

Wow! Some SD digital channels in Federal Way, Washington as of December 22, 2005. Thank you Comcast.

Can Santa bring some additional HD channels on Comcast? How about bringing back the ten (10) premium movie channels that vaporized in April 2005? And please don't tell me it is all "On-Demand." I can count thru the menu's.

OK, can some of the experienced people on the forum solve this mystery.

On the DVR the "new" channels 2-99 SD digital channels look better than the analog channels (formerly on 2-99) that have been moved to the 700's.

But on the Sony SXRD 60XBR1 the channels 2-99 look very familar and the 700's do not appear. Comcast Customer Service Representatives working the midnight shift say, "We have e-mail instructions that say CableCard won't pickup the 700s. The 700's are analog."

Well the part about not picking up the 700's sound true due to emperical evidence (a dark blank screen). Their reasoning sounds fuzzy.

But here is the wierd thing. The digital audio output from the Sony SXRD is inactive on the 2-99 channels and defaults to the analog audio output. Just like it did formerly. The pre-existing HD and SD channels (101-699, 800-999) output digital audio fine, just like before.

So maybe they are still working the kinks out. Any advice? If the only thing in life I have to worry about is TV, then I am blessed. I'm shocked that for this handfull of "new" channels 2-99 on the DVR (SD digital) the image and sound is better than that from the CableCard.

Well, the reason I'm posting this in the HD forum is since the CableCard started working correctly, the premium movie channels in SD (and HD) thru the Cable Card look as good as the HD channels on the DVR. Of course the SD channels on the DVR are mediocre and the analog channels on the DVR are poor.

Sure would like to see more HD channels soon (if the powers to be are listening). Thank you for your time and consideration.

...How about bringing back the ten (10) premium movie channels that vaporized in April 2005? And please don't tell me it is all "On-Demand." I can count thru the menu's.Sorry, but I'm going to tell you exactly that. Fixed start-time Premium & PPV are going away. What is it that people don't get about OnDemand? Are you seriously saying you'd rather have 10 movies starting at fixed times, than 50 movies starting whenever you want?

Sorry, but I'm going to tell you exactly that. Fixed start-time Premium & PPV are going away. What is it that people don't get about OnDemand? Are you seriously saying you'd rather have 10 movies starting at fixed times, than 50 movies starting whenever you want?

Once again(jumping in). Sometimes shows that will be playing on the actual channel for the week(or month, whatever) Do Not show up on demand. For example, if you liked TVOne, would you rather have them completely eliminate the channel just because it is on demand. I mean look at what they have on demand, it is completely inferior to there daily line-up. On demand will not be a substitute for a channel until it can download all of a particular channel's daily line-up.

Thanks for taking the time to comment Mr. Jimre. I don't see how anyone that has a DVR would trade 50 On-Demand shows for ten (10) fixed time premium movie channels. I'm not an expert, but I estimate that the ten (10) fixed channels provide 120 shows per day. Lets assume there are repeats. Lets assume the ten (10) fixed channels provide 70 individual shows per day. I also assume each On-Demand show is available for twenty (20) days straight. I won't even venture into the fact that many On-Demand shows are available for far longer (and nothing new is substituted in their place).

The score for two weeks is:

Ten fixed channels provide 980 shows in two weeks.

The 50 On-Demand shows provide 50 shows in two weeks.

The score is 980 to 50. Is that a close game?

In my opinion, there is such a thing as appealing to the lowest common demoninator. In other words, that score only makes sense if you do not have a DVR. What is the price difference in rental fees between having a set-top-box (STB) that can access On-Demand compared to a STB that is a digital video recorder (DVR) that can record all channels whenever in addition to accessing On-Demand.

On again, Comcast chooses to curtsey to their cheapest customers while neglecting (insulting) their "best" customers -- those who pay the highest fees (premium channels, HD, etc.) and have the best equipement.

Jimre, if you are associated with Comcast officially, please let me know if my calculations are in error. Thank you for your time. Happy holidays.

Once again(jumping in). Sometimes shows that will be playing on the actual channel for the week(or month, whatever) Do Not show up on demand. For example, if you liked TVOne, would you rather have them completely eliminate the channel just because it is on demand. I mean look at what they have on demand, it is completely inferior to there daily line-up. On demand will not be a substitute for a channel until it can download all of a particular channel's daily line-up.I have no clue what TVOne is - but I can only assume it's NOT a premium movie channel (the subject at hand). Instead, I'll assume it's some niche channel of limited interest that normally wouldn't even make the cut in Comcast's lineup at all. With OnDemand, such programming can exist without taking up a fulltime channel.

...Jimre, if you are associated with Comcast officially, please let me know if my calculations are in error. Thank you for your time. Happy holidays.1. I don't work for Comcast.

2. Your calculations are entertaining, but irrelevant. You assume there's something different about HBO/MAX/SHOW/Starz programming on fixed channels vs. their programming on OnDemand. There's not. These networks offer the same "pool" of movies over any given time period, whether that pool is spread over 10 fixed channels, or offered all at once via OnDemand. BTW - those "50 movies" I mentioned was an example for just ONE premium network. AS of this morning, HBO has 30 OnDemand movies, Showtime has 40, Starz has 60, etc. So if you want to quote the total number of OnDemand premium-network movies at any one time, better make it more like 200.

3. Interesting theory you have about Comcast's business model. Discourage "good customers" from spending more money! Encourage only cheap, bad customers! Why didn't I think of that? I'd be rich !!!

I wonder if we'll ever see the premium HD channels OnDemand. None of the HBO HD shows are there.

I wonder if we'll ever see the premium HD channels OnDemand. None of the HBO HD shows are there.Now THAT would be useful!

I have no clue what TVOne is - but I can only assume it's NOT a premium movie channel (the subject at hand). Instead, I'll assume it's some niche channel of limited interest that normally wouldn't even make the cut in Comcast's lineup at all. With OnDemand, such programming can exist without taking up a fulltime channel.
I have almost all of the premiums on demand(excluding Cinemax). I'll admit it's great, but like I said, all the content that will be displayed on that certain premium(for a weeks period or more) will not necessarily be on Demand. Look at having the actual channel as back-up just in case something is available on demand. I'll say this however, I could care less if some Encore or Stars channels were eliminated. They provide "a lot" of content. Stars even provides premiers about a week before it premiers on the channel. Stars is the best premium to have. If they were talking about losing 10-15 Stars/Encore channels, i could care less, and would give them the same reply as you did.(I don't believe he confirmed what premiums they were talking about)

Oh and TVOne is an African American Lifestyle and Entertainment Network. It's rather new and put in predominantly black cities/ MSAs like mine. It has some growing to do, but isn't half bad and has some of my favorite shows that I wish I could see in "digital" on demand. I know this is irrelevant, but do you have any idea why a Comcast system would add new channels like this and HallMark to our analog tier(no DS here)? They added these two last year and i was a little pissed to see ity in analog.(caused a rate increase also, while digital additions normally don't) It seems as if Savannah's cable system does not really want to take part in the digital revolution. We still have plenty of QAM 64 channels, which means they are probably not even thinking of DS. The latest they have done is switch about 5 Encore channels to QAM 256 and give us the little E! Video for on Demand(they did this yesterday, they took it away a year ago). They have done something for the past three nights in a row, including the addition of an FTA channel(The Tube Music Network) and elimination of an HD channel(Atlanta Bravesvision). I'm curious if they will do something tonight. I'm beginning to think they are up to something. Have any thoughts of why they may doing these minor tweaks?(mainly the QAM 256 conversions)

How do I know if I have Digital Simulcast?

The simplest way to tell if you have DS is to see if you can tune channels in the range of 708-799. They will be the analog equivalents of the channels (other than locals) which are now digital in the corresponding 2-99 range. (For some reason the DS locals don't have analog versions in the 700 range.)

I have a DVR that uses TVGuide. I purchased it in early November, and it downloaded the listings and worked fine. Then around December 10, no listings. I've contacted Comcast, and they say some maintenance (related to the changed digital channels, I think) was done on December 6, which caused a short outage of the TVGuide service. However, I still can't get the listings back. Has anyone else had problems? I'm trying to figure out if the problem is Comcast or my DVR.

Thanks.

Gary

The QAM channel lineup attached to post #5678 acts like a dead link for me. Can someone who has this please re-post?

DS is spreading! I called up to swap premium channels today, and then after an hour when it hadn't gone through, I called up tech to see what was up. He said there were 1600 changes in the queue, due to the "Digital changeover", so it would take up to 24 hours to make my change. So buck up, people stuck with analogue, sounds like you shouldn't have to worry too much.

On a different topic, On Demand...is it just my thinking, or could they kill off On Demand and add a whole ton of HD channels? I mean, On Demand has to eat up a huge amount of bandwidth, seeing as it allocates one channel's bandwidth PER USER (based on reports of QAM people accidentally seeing On Demand channels rewinding and stuff). Personally, I rarely use the service, since only one set of movies is HD (usually crap movies).

I have a DVR that uses TVGuide. I purchased it in early November, and it downloaded the listings and worked fine. Then around December 10, no listings. I've contacted Comcast, and they say some maintenance (related to the changed digital channels, I think) was done on December 6, which caused a short outage of the TVGuide service. However, I still can't get the listings back. Has anyone else had problems? I'm trying to figure out if the problem is Comcast or my DVR.

Thanks.

Gary

The TVGuide on my TV gave out in early December, too. I assume it has to do with DS conversion -- right now, I see the correct channel line up, but there's no show information. I tried resetting it a few times, but it hasn't helped.

I did notice the listed channels correspond to Comcast's channel numbers, instead of what the TV would use to receive them. (For example, KING-TV HD is listed as channel 105, instead of 83-1.)

Since I now can get digital signals, I'm getting a CableCard for my TV set. I'm also hoping that might clear up the TVGuide information.

DS is spreading! I called up to swap premium channels today, and then after an hour when it hadn't gone through, I called up tech to see what was up. He said there were 1600 changes in the queue, due to the "Digital changeover", so it would take up to 24 hours to make my change. So buck up, people stuck with analogue, sounds like you shouldn't have to worry too much.

On a different topic, On Demand...is it just my thinking, or could they kill off On Demand and add a whole ton of HD channels? I mean, On Demand has to eat up a huge amount of bandwidth, seeing as it allocates one channel's bandwidth PER USER (based on reports of QAM people accidentally seeing On Demand channels rewinding and stuff). Personally, I rarely use the service, since only one set of movies is HD (usually crap movies).

I know HDTVs are "very" popular, but not everyone has one. It would not be fair to eliminate On Demand for people without an HDTV or DVR. The only way they can really satisfy "all" digital cable customers is to keep on demand and try and beef up the HD line-up when the analog signals are eliminated.

Hi All--

I've got a HTPC that i use as my PVR and currently can only record the analog SD channels. I can't get OTA HD 'cause I'm down in Oly and just too far away. Does anyone here know what channels Comcast encrypts? I'm thinking of getting one of the QAM HD TV cards but they can only tune in the unencrypted channels. Obviously a card like this is only good if there are enough unencrypted channels to make it worth it.

Thanks--Matt

Hi all, I got a new Samsung HDTV yesterday. It upconverts all it's inputs to 1080p. My queston is what is the best frequency setting on the comcast cable box/dvr for it 1081i or 720p? It would be nice if the box let you just take whatever the orginal signal was such as 720p for ESPN and 1080i for CBS but I don't see this as an option?

Hi all, I got a new Samsung HDTV yesterday. It upconverts all it's inputs to 1080p. My queston is what is the best frequency setting on the comcast cable box/dvr for it 1081i or 720p? It would be nice if the box let you just take whatever the orginal signal was such as 720p for ESPN and 1080i for CBS but I don't see this as an option?

Nope, unless you count using the Firewire output. You could manually switch for every program you watch, but that's a hassle and can't be done if the DVR is recording something else. Try both settings but I suspect you'll find that 1080i is better for 1080i content and no worse for 720p content; that's what I seem to find with my 1080p (JVC) anyway.

1080i

The TVGuide on my TV gave out in early December, too. I assume it has to do with DS conversion -- right now, I see the correct channel line up, but there's no show information. I tried resetting it a few times, but it hasn't helped.

I did notice the listed channels correspond to Comcast's channel numbers, instead of what the TV would use to receive them. (For example, KING-TV HD is listed as channel 105, instead of 83-1.)

Since I now can get digital signals, I'm getting a CableCard for my TV set. I'm also hoping that might clear up the TVGuide information.

Sorry to bring you bad news, but I've been using the TVGuide (TVGOS on a Sharp LCD TV) setup with the CableCard for the last 2 months. Unfortunately, just about the same time than you guys, I lost the TVGuide information too. I've played with all the settings and the multiple options without any success. In any case, I doubt getting a CableCard will help.

Hopefully, this is all temporary and it'll just get magically fixed. :rolleyes:

-eric

I think the DS pictures are worse than the analog - so what's all the buzz about?

JerrySmith & carmat06,

Here is a re-post of the QAM list. I made a couple of updates to it, as well.

[Odd. I found that this re-post also appears as a dead link, but if I right-click on the link and choose "Save As...", it downloads and I can open it!]

I think the DS pictures are worse than the analog - so what's all the buzz about?What device are you viewing these channels thru?

It's mainly an improvement for folks using Comcast's 6412 DVR. Analog channels were exceptionally pathetic when viewed thru that device. With the switchover to DS, it's like night & day difference on my 6412.

I've also got a 6412 and the 700 channels are definitely worse for me, a little faded sort of like a bit fuzzy, not as much contrast as the regular analog, and that's viewing both through the 6412.

I've also got a 6412 and the 700 channels are definitely worse for me, a little faded sort of like a bit fuzzy, not as much contrast as the regular analog, and that's viewing both through the 6412.

What do you mean by viewing "both"? And what are you comparing the 700 channels to, the analogs without a converter box, or to analogs before they were in the 700s range? And what is so wrong with your DS channels?

I've also got a 6412 and the 700 channels are definitely worse for me, a little faded sort of like a bit fuzzy, not as much contrast as the regular analog, and that's viewing both through the 6412.The 700 channels *ARE* the regular analog channels. They *should* be worse!

Ch. 2-99 are now the digital simulcast versions of those channels.

Doh - oh, Thanks Jamre. I'm glad we've got this for forum.

I know HDTVs are "very" popular, but not everyone has one. It would not be fair to eliminate On Demand for people without an HDTV or DVR. The only way they can really satisfy "all" digital cable customers is to keep on demand and try and beef up the HD line-up when the analog signals are eliminated.

...but On Demand doesn't replace DVR or HDTV. It's completely unrelated, so doesn't seem like it would be "unfair" for people who don't have those two things. Maybe unfair to people who are addicted to On Demand :P The trick with On Demand, as I said, it uses a completely unreasonable amount of bandwidth. One channel's bandwidth per user - what if 1000 people were trying to use it at once - would some people get an error message? Would it lower everyone's picture quality? It might be a nifty service for those who don't wanna use NetFlix, but was a stupid idea to squeeze it into the super-limited bandwidth that cable has, especially with Comcast always complaining about not having enough bandwidth (they complained about that before *and* after they got OnDemand).

And analogue signals will probably never be eliminated - they need to offer Basic cable, and chances are they'll continue to do so after the analogue broadcasts are shut down, snag those people who didn't make the digital conversion and didn't want to get a set-top box.

...but On Demand doesn't replace DVR or HDTV. It's completely unrelated, so doesn't seem like it would be "unfair" for people who don't have those two things. Maybe unfair to people who are addicted to On Demand :P The trick with On Demand, as I said, it uses a completely unreasonable amount of bandwidth. One channel's bandwidth per user - what if 1000 people were trying to use it at once - would some people get an error message? Would it lower everyone's picture quality? It might be a nifty service for those who don't wanna use NetFlix, but was a stupid idea to squeeze it into the super-limited bandwidth that cable has, especially with Comcast always complaining about not having enough bandwidth (they complained about that before *and* after they got OnDemand).

And analogue signals will probably never be eliminated - they need to offer Basic cable, and chances are they'll continue to do so after the analogue broadcasts are shut down, snag those people who didn't make the digital conversion and didn't want to get a set-top box.
On Demand is an extra feature that many people like, rather addicted to it or not. It's really the only thing that helps them truely compete with satellite. Without it, they could lose subscribers because a sat. company and Comcast would be exactly the same. I'm just saying that it would be nice if people w/o DVR or HDTV to have at least a "chance" of accessing some type of extra feature. If they eliminate and beef up HD, I don't think that'll make everyone w/o an HDTV willingly run to get one because of it. And worst of all, if Comcast did eliminate it, they still wouldn't bother to lower the price which will piss people off. If they did this in every market, some markets won't have "any" decent(or fair-price, only major event channels would be left) pay-per-view because Comcast has(or will be) removing most of the inDemand pay-per-view from many markets. And I never said anything about On Demand replacing DVR or HDTV, Once again, I'm just saying keep it around so that regular digital customers can "some" alternative(whether it is a weaker alternative than DVR or On Demand). And to be honest, you should be lucky that they have over 10(some are even approching 20) HD channels in many markets since their bandwidth is so limited. And On demand, I think takes up about 50 MHz from what I've heard. Each HD channel in a market takes up about 2-3 MHz each. Soon On Demand and HD may be equal. If they wanted to save bandwidth, they could have added less HD channels(I mean they have a good bit more than sat. providers). They could have added less HD(or at least only as much as sat. companies) and keep On Demand and still remain competitive.

...but On Demand doesn't replace DVR or HDTV. It's completely unrelated, so doesn't seem like it would be "unfair" for people who don't have those two things. Maybe unfair to people who are addicted to On Demand :P The trick with On Demand, as I said, it uses a completely unreasonable amount of bandwidth. One channel's bandwidth per user - what if 1000 people were trying to use it at once - would some people get an error message? Would it lower everyone's picture quality? It might be a nifty service for those who don't wanna use NetFlix, but was a stupid idea to squeeze it into the super-limited bandwidth that cable has, especially with Comcast always complaining about not having enough bandwidth (they complained about that before *and* after they got OnDemand)....On the contrary - I think OnDemand is a VERY efficient use of Comcast's bandwidth. It's not 1-channel per user over the whole system - I think it's 1-channel per user, PER NEIGHBORHOOD NODE. If you have a QAM tuner, you can see the occasional neighbor's ONDemand stream taking up a QAM channel. You don't see ALL the OnDemand streams for ALL the OnDemand users in the region!

If the previous poster is correct and OnDemand uses 50Mhz total bandwidth (about 8 analog channels), then it could support up to 80 simultaneous SD streams, PER NEIGHBORHOOD NODE. Multiply that times the number of neighborhood nodes in the Puget Sound (in the thousands?) and you see that OnDemand supports an incredible # of simultaneous, discrete programs region-wide.

By comparison - using that bandwdith to make everyone watch the exact same program on the exact same channels - the good old broadcast paradigm - now that's wasteful!

Savannah apparently refuses to start digital simulcast anytime soon. This is another reason I like On Demand, I have an analog set using a regular digital box. With On Demand I can view some of my favorite shows that appear in "analog" on the broadcasted channel, in "digital" on Demand. And don't forget I can do the fast-forwarding and all of the good stuff.

Doing further checking, I found some articles online about Comcast OnDemand that suggest the system is deployed for a 10% maximum usage rate. Each neighborhood node - fed by high-speed fiber from the central office - supports about 400 digital subscribers. The delivery system is spec'ed & tested for up to 40 simultaneous OnDemand streams per node. If more than 40 people on your neighborhood try starting an OnDemand stream, presumably they'd get an error or "busy" message.

I also saw from industry news that Comcast has about just over a million customers in the Seattle area. Nationally about 44.1% of Comcast customers subscribe to Digital, so about 440,000 digital subscribers in our area capable of watching OnDemand programs. At a 10% max usage rate, that means Comcast Seattle is capable of serving 44,000 discrete, simultaneous programs via OnDemand.

In my opinion - Comcast should be taking MORE bandwidth away from old-fashioned fixed channels and devoting it to OnDemand. It's not perfect - OnDemand content is still way too limited, esp. HD content. And the UI for OnDemand pretty much sucks. But this is definitely the way cable TV is going. First, it's a huge differentiator for cable vs sat. Second, Comcast thinks it's the single best incentive they have to get basic subscribers to upgrade to Digital. And third, Comcast has found that incremental revenue per subscriber from OnDemand purchases is greater than with traditional PPV.

Anyone know how to program the remote that comes with the Moto 6412 on Comcast?

The 700 channels *ARE* the regular analog channels. They *should* be worse!

Ch. 2-99 are now the digital simulcast versions of those channels.

How is this possible, when Analog TVs can only get 2-125?

Anyone know how to program the remote that comes with the Moto 6412 on Comcast?

http://cjhengineering.com/hdtv/cablehdtv/dct6412remote
and the "Advanced Coding" page from there
http://cjhengineering.com/hdtv/cablehdtv/dct6412remoteAC.htm

How is this possible, when Analog TVs can only get 2-125?

It's possible because a TV connected directly to the coax will see analogs on 2-99, but the box remaps the digital versions to 2-99.

How is this possible, when Analog TVs can only get 2-125?Unlike analog TVs, your motorola digital box can take any frequency and "map" it to whatever channel # Comcast wants to call it. The analog channels are still transmitted on the same old analog frequencies as before. Analog TVs are unchanged. But your digital cable box now calls those channels "702-799"; and a bunch of new digital channel frequencies are now called "2-99".

Just wondering if anyone has noticed any channel changes with the new year? Are changes usually done on Jan 1? I just got a new Sony Bravia w/ QAM tuner and am blown away- but also bummed that there is no Fox Sports NW in HD... Am I dreaming or are they going to force my hand and make me pay for digital cable? Are Sonics games broadcast in HD if you pay up?

Just wondering if anyone has noticed any channel changes with the new year?

No.

Are changes usually done on Jan 1?

No.

I just got a new Sony Bravia w/ QAM tuner and am blown away- but also bummed that there is no Fox Sports NW in HD... Am I dreaming or are they going to force my hand and make me pay for digital cable?

Possibly, but it won't help you with that.

Are Sonics games broadcast in HD if you pay up?

No.

I have a sharp aquos and have just regular cable, but i get the hd channels with the tuner.

I was visiting my bro and was blown away by his plasma and direct t@ hookup. Will i see a major difference if i went the digital cable route? Will hd channels be more improved? Will sd channels be improved since some will be digital?

Is the cable card working these days, i remember people having problems with them.

I am trying to decide to go with comcast digital w/hd, or dtv.

I watched the volleyball game in straight analog cable to my HDTV and I could clearly see macro-blocking that is not a normal by product of analog. It was digital artifacts.


I see two new sets of PQ problems on Comcast in Bellevue.

1. On straight analog cable TV into an analog CRT TV I have been seeing more compression artifacts.

2. On 'digital' cable TV (Moto DCT6200? STB component video 1080i into a CRT RPTV) I often see bad compression artifacts on the formerly analog channels, especially CBUT channel 99, which has stripes induced into solid patches of color (faces). For example, 'right now', the white CBC logo (circles and circle sectors) in the corner of the picture has black stripes in it. Does anyone else see this?

If this is state of the art hybrid fiber coax digital cable circa 2006, satellite here I come. I'll call Comcast and see if this is merely 'work in progress'.

I see two new sets of PQ problems on Comcast in Bellevue.

I don't see either of these problems so whatever is causing them for you is not a general Comcast Bellevue situation.

After being away for holidays, I came home to find that my 6412 wouldn't tune in any channel above the HD locals. All I got was a black screen. I unplugged the box for a minute and that seemed to fix the problem... temporarily. A couple of days later, the problem returned and now rebooting the box doesn't seem to do anything. Comcast is sending someone out to investigate, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue?

Only issue I had yesterday was my 6412 kept rebooting during important plays in the Hawks-Packers game yesterday, so I dropped back to the TV's tuner for a quarter.

Comcast tech left here 5 minutes ago. Same issue- I could get all HD channels except INHD (664-665) which were either black- or highly pixelated.

The Comcast system is being changed in preparation for the digital conversion.

My problem that I had one too many spliters! Worked fine under old signal- but under new signal did not. Comcast added an amplifier and all works fine.

Again, this is a Comcast issue- they have changed the incoming signal which has affected many, but not all, people. Now if they would just finish and give me the new diginal signals on 14-99 :-)

Well, it turns out that the signal had been cranked up so high at the pole that it fried the tuner in my DVR. This is my 4th box in a month. When I was setting up the new box I noticed that DS has begun in my neighborhood (Greenlake).

Any sign of DS happening in the Fremont area of Seattle? Nothing coming in on channels 708-799 yet, but I am not sure if I would need to reload the lineup if it just occured in the last day or two...

You don't need to reload anything -- the channels show up and you just need to select one to find out it's there. The list of channels will change automatically.

After Comcast switched to digital in DTV in Bellevue - KOMO-HD and KCTS-HD disappeared in QAM. A bunch of channels appear in 79-X. Anyone has the same issue?

I just had a CableCard installed in my TV set, and thought I’d share my experience here. In my configuration, I split the cable from the wall – one wire goes to the TV, the other to the 6412 set top box, which then connects back to the TV via DVI. So with a CableCard, I can watch shows live or recorded via the new all-digital signal.

When I ordered the CableCard, the person I spoke to didn’t think it was possible to have both a set top box and a CableCard … but she was willing to go check with higher level support. This support level also had to go to a higher level to ask. Finally, they decided that given my configuration, it was possible, and we scheduled an installation. They wouldn’t let me just pick up the card at the store, since the installation was “somewhat involved”.

CableCards appeared to be a relatively new phenomenon to the installer; he had put in several, but was still figuring out the details. He told me there was debate within his group as to how they were to be installed. The prevailing thought was that it was necessary to split the cable to attach to both the antenna input and the cable input on the TV set, but he didn’t hold to that theory – it didn’t make sense to him. I agreed it would only be necessary if the owner wanted analog backup to the digital signal. He installed the CableCard without extra cabling to test our theory. Of course, it worked nicely.

When installing the CableCard, the installer felt it was necessary to get a ‘Host ID’ from the TV set. The installer believed this vehemently, but whoever he was talking to on his cell phone apparently did not; the installer forced the mystery person to take my TV’s Host ID, and to figure out where to enter it in their computer.

The installer hadn’t seen a Samsung HLR TV before, and was nervous about figuring out where to get the Host ID, and how to configure the set. But when we turned it on, it flashed a message saying “CableCard detected”, then “Configuring Channels”, and put up a screen containing the Card ID, the Host ID, and ‘Data ID’. Once we pressed ‘exit’ on the remote, the set turned itself off. When we turned it on again, I had full access to all my subscribed digital channels, using Comcast’s channel numbering. He was very relieved – apparently an Aquos had recently given him fits.

So, all things considered, this was a smooth installation. All the people I talked to at Comcast were willing to listen and explore with me; when they ran into unfamiliar territory, they went for help.

My TV Guide information doesn’t get populated, though. It asks which cable service I get, and lists two Comcast Digital options, two “Comcast Transitional” options, and Millennium Cable. Since I’m not that dependent on it, I’ll wait until the ‘Transitional’ options go away, and then try again.

My TV Guide information doesn’t get populated, though. It asks which cable service I get, and lists two Comcast Digital options, two “Comcast Transitional” options, and Millennium Cable. Since I’m not that dependent on it, I’ll wait until the ‘Transitional’ options go away, and then try again.

Welcome to the CC world Doug!

Just to update everybody here, my CC-TVGOS (TV Guide) started working again yesterday (using the first of the two Comcast Digital options) and I didn't change anything in my setup to make it work. I didn't even hardset reboot my TV, which makes me feel like all those issues we got in December were indeed caused by Comcast and not by faulty equipment on our side.

Anybody else getting any luck with TVGOS using a CableCard?

-eric

I don't use a CableCard, but my non-Comcast DVR started working last night, as well. I think ComCast got us. I'm going to call this a partial service outage and see if I can get some $$$ back.

After Comcast switched to digital in DTV in Bellevue - KOMO-HD and KCTS-HD disappeared in QAM. A bunch of channels appear in 79-X. Anyone has the same issue?


I just got my Pioneer HD set and I'm not getting any local HD channels at all! I've tried teh 104-113 series plus the .1 and .2 for those and the regular 4-13. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm new to HD so it's likely I'm not doing something right.

I just got my Pioneer HD set and I'm not getting any local HD channels at all! I've tried teh 104-113 series plus the .1 and .2 for those and the regular 4-13. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm new to HD so it's likely I'm not doing something right.This needs to be a FAQ or sticky note. With digital cable, the frequencies actually used to transmit programs have NOTHING to do with the channel numbers published by Comcast. If you use a Comcast digital cable box (or a Comcast CableCard in your TV), then it automatically maps the desired channel # to the real underlying frequency, which could be ANY channel. But if you're using your own QAM tuner, then you're on your own to discover which frequencies your channels are actually transmitted on. Either search back in this thread where previous users have posted the QAM channels they found that Comcast uses in the Seattle area, or else use the SCAN function on your TV to find the channels yourself. It's a pain, but frankly this is one advantage of paying Comcast for a digital cable box (or CableCard).

I have attached the list I downloaded from this forum a few weeks back that has the QAM channel listing. The only difference that I have seen as of late (at least on my set up) is that the 105-xx channel all have four digits after the dash...never really concerned me since those aren't channels that I watch.

I have attached the list I downloaded from this forum a few weeks back that has the QAM channel listing. The only difference that I have seen as of late (at least on my set up) is that the 105-xx channel all have four digits after the dash...never really concerned me since those aren't channels that I watch.

Thanks so much! It's nice to get some prompt help. I did find that list after my post but of course I'm at work and can't check it out. Thanks!

Is Fox #113 showing the Giants game in HD this Sunday? I checked TITANTV but it says it doesn't..

wierd?

I can't imagine that Fox wouldn't show all playoff games in HD.

I can't imagine that Fox wouldn't show all playoff games in HD. Every Fox NFL game I have seen this year has been in HD.

Thanks so much! It's nice to get some prompt help. I did find that list after my post but of course I'm at work and can't check it out. Thanks!


Okay, no luck on ANY of the channels listed. Does anyone present have a Pioneer? Anyone want to come over and hack at it? I consider myself highly technically competent and I can't seem to figure this out. I'd love to just blame comcast.

Setup: Basic extended comcast cable, coax into a Pioneer PDP-4360HD media receiver. No cable card. I was TOLD by Comcast that I don't need a cable card. At this point I'm thinking they may be wrong. I can't find any setting specific to HD or digital channels. My panel has a QAM tuner so I just don't get it.

Seriously need help.... For the TV too...

5 minutes later....

Re-did the auto channel detect and it found all the local HD channels. Brilliant! It all works now. =)

Every Fox NFL game I have seen this year has been in HD.
Yes, all playoff games will be in HD.

NBC HD programs have been flickering & having color problems the last two days. It was bad on "The Book of Daniel" (I watch everything my folks back down south boycott), and now it's "Tonight." I know it isn't me, since they seem to give up and revert to SD, and I can't do that on my own.

NBC HD programs have been flickering & having color problems the last two days. It was bad on "The Book of Daniel" (I watch everything my folks back down south boycott), and now it's "Tonight." I know it isn't me, since they seem to give up and revert to SD, and I can't do that on my own.

I'm getting the same thing, I'm glad to know I am not the only one.

Thanks, I came here to look to see if it was my computer causing the issue. First post I look at answers the question. This particular thread (and the Seattle OTA thread too) is great!

After Comcast switched to digital in DTV in Bellevue - KOMO-HD and KCTS-HD disappeared in QAM. A bunch of channels appear in 79-X. Anyone has the same issue?


KOMO-HD and all KCTS channels have dropped out here on Fox Island. I haven't checked to see if any new channels have shown up. KOMO seemed to "come and go" for a few days.