I have another question for you all, how does the 5100/6200 handle mixed channel stretching (between 16:9 HD and 4:3 SD?)

I've found setting the 4:3 Override to OFF on the 6200 setup menu works best on my Samsung DLP. That way channels that are broadcasting in 16:9 are set properly, and then commercials or non-HD content channels go back to 4:3 automatically, the TV does the work (I think).

If I set the 4:3 override to 480p, then I'm doing the switching myself. I don't see any noticeable loss in quality using either setting. 480i doesn't work on my Samsung, it gets garbled.

To get to the setup menu (at least on the 6200): Turn the STB off, then hit the MENU button.

Cheers,
Ken

sweet, thanks ken!

Originally posted by KenG
Thanks for the info, gakon.

I noticed some new channels also...and some appeared to have moved around (comparing with the channel lineup on the Comcast website).

Anyone have a good source (online or homemade) of the Denver-area Comcast channel guide, including analog, Digital (I have D. Silver Classic), and HD channels? Other than the on-screen guide of course :-)

thanks,

Ken

Unfortunately, the better guide is probably Comcast's own guide, but you have to have Comcast HSI to get it. Outside of that Titian TV is pretty good.

the better guide is probably Comcast's own guide, but you have to have Comcast HSI to get it.

HSI = High-speed internet? I have that from Comcast too. Is there a specific place / method to get the guide? (my onscreen guide is supposed to be fixed today, likely with a replacement 6200.)

Thanks!!
Ken

Originally posted by KenG
HSI = High-speed internet? I have that from Comcast too. Is there a specific place / method to get the guide? (my onscreen guide is supposed to be fixed today, likely with a replacement 6200.)

Thanks!!
Ken

Correct Ken, the link is at the bottom of comcast.net home page of coarse you have to be logged in to use it.

Originally posted by KenG
HSI = High-speed internet? I have that from Comcast too. Is there a specific place / method to get the guide? (my onscreen guide is supposed to be fixed today, likely with a replacement 6200.)

Thanks!!
Ken

The Comcast HSI guide is taken from zap2it.com. The actual Zap2it (http://www.zap2it.com) guide has more options than the Comcast guide. I use it and it seems to be accurate most of the time.


Rick

I hope I am staying within AVS guidelines with this post. I have the item listed in my sig available for local Denver pickup. I didn't want to list it in the main classifieds section because it is too large/heavy to ship.

If anyone is interested, please feel free to email me at lamouria@mscd.edu

If listing an item in this way is inappropriate, please let me know and I will delete it. TIA!

Has anyone had any luck asking for a firewire equipped HDTV STB? According to an FCC regulation, they have to provide one to folks starting 1 April.

I called twice yesterday and the first time the CSR didn't know anything and I didn't have the FCC regulation to back up my request. I then called again and read the section to them. After first being told they knew nothing about it, they then said they were going to replace 5100 boxes with 6200 boxes.

Am I getting smoke blown at me? Does anyone else know anything about this?

Thanks in advance.

A lot of people already have the 6200 boxes. I wanted to upgrade a couple of months ago, but they wouldn't guarantee that they could do it, and when the tech came out she did not have a properly coded 6200 for my area. In my case, I only wanted the DVI output, and a firmware upgrade enabled the DVI on my 5100, so I haven't pursued it. I'll probably wait for the 6208's. You could probably just push them to replace your 5100, if you want. Since Comcast still will not let you just go to a customer service center and trade in the box, you'll have to wait for a tech to show up, but given the FCC rule, they probably can no longer tell you that they can't guarantee which box you'll get.

Was anyone watching "Friends" on 653 last night (even though it wasn't in HD)? Toward the beginning of the episode, another program was shown instead for a few seconds - it looked almost like a religious or government program (woman talking emotionally on the screen) - but it was in widescreen and HD. Anyone know what this could have been? It did not appear to be the same as any of the other Comcast HD channels, so is Comcast testing something out, or what?

Hi guys,
I recently got an HD cable box set up with Comcast but I am not aware if I have a 5100 or a 6200 box. There is no model # on the front or the back of this Motorola unit. I do know that my box has DVI output (which the Comcast guy said is not activated, but I hooked it up and it works just fine). How do I check to verify if I have the most current box and Software?

Thanks!
Duane

Originally posted by musiclover408
Hi guys,
I recently got an HD cable box set up with Comcast but I am not aware if I have a 5100 or a 6200 box. There is no model # on the front or the back of this Motorola unit. I do know that my box has DVI output (which the Comcast guy said is not activated, but I hooked it up and it works just fine). How do I check to verify if I have the most current box and Software?

Thanks!
Duane

The model is on the bottom, also if you have firewire it is a 6200.

Thanks... I found out that I do have a 6200. What are the differences between the 5100 and the 6200? Also, does anyone know when Comcast in our area will be releasing their PVR's. I've read in other areas that they are available. And if you know, do you also know if they will be the HD PVR?

Thanks again,
Duane

Hi guys,
My channel 667 INHD2 seems to be down. It just says "ONE MOMENT PLEASE- This channel will be available shortly". Can someone else out there try tuning to this channel and let me know if it's my box, or a problem with the channel.

Thanks
Duane

My INHD2 is channel 665, but it is working fine. It is problem just your headend which means it would be a local thing to your neighborhood. It may pay to give them a call about it since there probably aren't a ton of people around you with the HD lineup to recognize and report the problem.

Hope that helps.
Clint

Originally posted by KenG
I've found setting the 4:3 Override to OFF on the 6200 setup menu works best on my Samsung DLP. That way channels that are broadcasting in 16:9 are set properly, and then commercials or non-HD content channels go back to 4:3 automatically, the TV does the work (I think).

If I set the 4:3 override to 480p, then I'm doing the switching myself. I don't see any noticeable loss in quality using either setting. 480i doesn't work on my Samsung, it gets garbled.

To get to the setup menu (at least on the 6200): Turn the STB off, then hit the MENU button.

Cheers,
Ken

Ken -

I have a Sammy DLP and 6200 too. FYI, component inputs 2 and 3 will handle 480p - 1080i, no 480i. Component input 1 will only handle 480i and 480p. You probably have your 6200 connected to 2 or 3, thus no 480i picture. I hear the next generation from Samsung are supposed to support 480i - 1080i on all component inputs.

Also, I went ahead and got a DVI cable. You lose the ability to scale (apparently the Samsung doesn't support the DVI) manually, but the 4:3/16:9 switching seems seemless. My only complaint is ESPNHD always shows 4:3 programming stretched. I've changed the 6200 from 720p to 1080i and didn't really notice a difference. I also played with the gamma setting a little for better contrast . . .

I've got two questions I'm hoping you good people can help me out with.

1. Is there any way to get an exception so that we can see the Avs games on ESPNHD when aired instead of being forced to watch on Fox Sports which isn't in HD?

2. A friedn of mine just took the HD plunge and has a year contract with D* (is that the proper abbrev.?). He is in Boulder, however and can't get locals OTA. I remember reading here that it is possible to get Comcast HD for just the HD channels. Some sort of FCC regulation forces them to provide the HD local channels without having to buy any further packages. Am I remembering correctly? Am I making this up? If that is possible, what is the cheapest way he can get local HD channels from Comcast?

Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by Your User Name:
2. A friedn of mine just took the HD plunge and has a year contract with D* (is that the proper abbrev.?). He is in Boulder, however and can't get locals OTA. I remember reading here that it is possible to get Comcast HD for just the HD channels. Some sort of FCC regulation forces them to provide the HD local channels without having to buy any further packages. Am I remembering correctly? Am I making this up? If that is possible, what is the cheapest way he can get local HD channels from Comcast?

When I checked a few months ago, the cheapest way to get the HD locals from Comcast was to subscribe to the basic "lifeline" package for $13.44/month and rent an HD-compatible converter box for $9.95/month. Some agents will tell him that he needs to subscribe to a digital package for HD, but just have him call back until he gets one with a clue. If your friend is a Comcast High-Speed Internet subscriber, he'll get a $10 discount on his monthly bill to offset the cost somewhet.

That should get him the digital feeds of the CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS locals... if he wants WB he'll have to use an antenna... and he can forget about ABC altogether for the time being!

I wrote an E-mail question to KMGH about Comcast and HD KMGH content, and I got a response, it isn't very helpful, but I wanted to share it.

Question:
I have looked through your website, but cannot find any information
concerning your timeline for putting HDTV content on Comcast cable in
Denver. The Stanley Cup finals are coming soon, and I was hoping there
would be a chance to watch them in HD. Since every local channel except
ABC (WB2 is scheduled but not on Comcast) is on Comcast I cannot justify
buying an over the air receiver just for ABC. If you could please
respond with any kind of schedule you have I would appreciate it.


Response:
We are working with Comcast to get the service on their system. I don't have a time line. We are working with them in several markets on a long term contract and there are several issues that are being worked on.
We will notify our viewers through our newscasts and on our website when the contracts are finalized.
Darrell Brown


___________________________________________________________


Not super helpful, but at least it is something.

Benzyl

I was speaking with a Comcast CSR about a different issue a couple of days ago when he foolishly asked "Is there anything else I can do for you?". Of course, I responded "Tell me when you're going to get more HDTV channels". To which he replied, "We will definitely have more by June." He would not specify. I doubt he would be aware of the addition of KMGH unless it were imminent, but I'm hopeful. Watching one of the playoff games on ESPN was fantastic.

I remember seeing that one or more of the Turner channels (TBS, TNT, TCM) was/were going to get HD channels around May, and this may already be a done deal with Comcast, so that may be all he was referring to.

I've seen the question posted here a few times asking about the availability of the 6208, can I assume none of you have heard anything?

I'm moving to Denver at the end of the month and I'll probably go with Comcast. I'm in CO Springs now, using D*. Any info/rumors concerning HDNet or Discovery HD coming to Comcast? I just read about the last 5 pages of this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed.

Anything I should know about Comcast before signing up? I've heard they give a credit of some kind for people moving from D*, is that true? Other than that, is sounds like I should ask for the 6200 and hope for the 6208 sometime in the future.

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
I've seen the question posted here a few times asking about the availability of the 6208, can I assume none of you have heard anything?

I'm moving to Denver at the end of the month and I'll probably go with Comcast. I'm in CO Springs now, using D*. Any info/rumors concerning HDNet or Discovery HD coming to Comcast? I just read about the last 5 pages of this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed.

Anything I should know about Comcast before signing up? I've heard they give a credit of some kind for people moving from D*, is that true? Other than that, is sounds like I should ask for the 6200 and hope for the 6208 sometime in the future.
The credit I'm aware of is they'll give you $400 in credits in exchange for removing your dish from your place. So you'd have to get set up with D* or E* at your new place first (or use D*'s mover's connection to get set up again -- probably a one-year commitment for that, though)

Even though this is a Comcast thread, I've gotta throw in the obligatory "stick with DirecTV -- they're the only provider with TiVo service" comment ;)

Yeah, but a HD DirecTivo is $1000. I still haven't made the jump to TiVo for that reason alone.

I'll have to see if my new apartment allows satellite dishes, that $400 would be worth the hassle of putting that thing up myself before switching. Thanks for the info.

I called Comcast a couple of days ago and was told sometime in Q4 for the 6208.

Last Thanksgiving I signed up for Comcast to get HD and kept the minimum E* subscription under their home plan just to have PVR capabilities. We all thought we'd have the 6208 by early spring at the latest.

I had hoped that I could drop E* once Comcast got DVR. Now that the Comcast delays have gone far too long, I am evaluating other options.

I'm now thinking of just dropping Comcast and getting an 811 HD receiver along with my PVR unit. I won't be able to record HD but I also won't have to deal with two carriers....#$@#$@#

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Any info/rumors concerning HDNet or Discovery HD coming to Comcast? I just read about the last 5 pages of this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed.

No specifics on the addition of these channels. I posted the vague "more channels by June" message, but we'll see if that holds. If everything we'd been told had come true, we'd also be watching ABC and WB in HD by now. I question whether Comcast would add HDNet, given that they have InHD1 and 2 already (not that they're equivalent).

This was posted in the Comcast - Boston thread. Although there may be a lot of local channels being added in HD there, I would hope that several would be national cable channels that would be added nationwide to Comcast's HD setup, and not subject to local bickering like KMGH. Even half of Boston's increase (from 10 to 30) would give us 10 more channels. That would be nice.

I had my 5100 swapped out for a 6200 last week and the tech said he just got out of a meeting where they were told of what is coming soon. He said that by the end of the year, Comcast would have a MINIMUM of 30 HD channels. As much as I tried, he wouldn't tell me which ones.

Gakon,
How did you get your 5100 swapped out? I've been calling and either no one knows anything or they say they are working on a plan.

Nils

LaVike,
I had my 5100 switched out for a 6200, and all I had to do was ask. The thing that might have helped me was the fact that my Denon 3200 Digital receiver for some reason couldn't play any dolby digital signal from the 5100. I did a ton of research to no avail. I told the CSR that I wanted to test a 6200 to see if it would make a difference, and they scheduled the appointment with no fuss. The good news is now my DD stuff works perfectly.


Also I asked the cable tech about Video On Demand and he said that my area (Littleton, cross streets of Prince and Sante Fe) was scheduled to go live on VOD in about a month.

No news on new HD channels, he gave me the same line about waiting for contracts with various parties...


Hope that helps,
Benzyl

LaVike,
Sorry I missed your post for so long. I was actually quoting a poster on the Comcast Boston thread - that was not my experience. I had tried to get my 5100 swapped for a 6200 a while ago, before they changed all of the boxes to the same format (local vs. national, I think). The tech only had a national box on the truck, and my area was still on local (or vice versa). I didn't push it at the time, because I found that the DVI worked on the 5100's. But the DVI image from these boxes (and many others) is pretty washed out (I've read that others have had the same problem). I haven't had any problems with audio through my Yamaha RXV3300. I'll wait until they get the DVR's out before I try to swap boxes again.

I finally got my box swapped out. I kept calling and referenced the FCC ruling about 1 April. They ended up submitting a work-order for faulty service. I'm not sure why they logged it as that, but when the guy came out he asked, "What's the problem?". I told him that I just wanted the box swapped out. Nice tech and he swapped it out. Also gave me some tips on capabilities that I didn't know about.

So now I'm waiting for a firmware of 7.09 or 7.10. I hope we get this soon. I'll then be set to use my HTPC as a PVR! I'm very psyched. Let's hope we get upgraded soon!

What firmware does your box show now? The reason I ask is mine shows 7.07 and the Firewire works good to my D-VHS machine. I havent heard that 7.10 necessarily improves anything unless maybe as it relates to a PC recording? Is that what you're suggesting?

Or is your problem that the box still shows 5.04 or whatever the old version was and as such the Firewire isnt active at all? If thats the case I would think the box will upgrade itself to at least 7.07 fairly quickly since thats the current version thats being spooled.

Hi,

I bought the Sharp 37" flat LCD tv and, I would like to control the Motorola 5100 by my Sharp remote. I talked to comcast, but no luck so far. Can someone tell me which brand and code that I should try ( Motorola is not on the Sharp list)? or may be other universal remote can do the job?

The code for the Moto HD boxes is 0476 so if the Sharp uses a 4 digit code like that for cable boxes you might try that one. Thats the one my Radio Shack universal one uses to control it.

Thanks Dan,
My Sharp's remote uses only two digit code. I Found code 31 under Jerrold brand name. It works fine now.

Greetings:

I never post here because I long ago gave up on Comcast and went with D*. Nevertheless, with KUSA now broadcasting news in HD, I have put a tour together to visit their studios on Thursday May 13th showing up between 5 and 5:30.

I need to get a headcount, so, if you would like to go, I would ask you to PM me or post on the Denver Local HDTV Tower thread which I do monitor.

Right now, there are 20 people coming and KUSA could accomodate a few more.

DP1,
The reason I need a firmware > 7.07 is because I'm trying to PVR with my HTPC using Windows XP. XP has problems identifying the 6200 overfirewire. I know that LINUX and Mac can do this now, but I'm not investing in that stuff now. I have firmware 7.07 now so I'm just hoping that I can get the whole thing working.

What do folks in the Aurora area think about your new VOD service?

I couldn't access the HBO stuff (silver package). I called Comcast and the CSR said that there was a bug they were still working on.

Overall, I think it is a great concept. I wish, however, we could get the network shows and some HD. Does anyone know if that will ever happen?

I've glanced through the posts from the past couple of months -- is there any word on when they will begin offering comcast HD up north (Greeley)??

as of today, comcast took away my showtimehd, starzhd, and cinemaxhd. i subscribe to a package which gives me hbo and starz. i will be on the phone with comcast shortly. has anybody else experienced this?

brett

The free preview for the HD movie channels you dont subscribe to is over as of today (I got a letter about it last week). Same with ESPN HD and the InHD's if you dont sub to a digital package.

They are offering the movie channel packages on a special rate for 6 months.. HBO for $10 a month and the others for like $6 each.... to try and entice a person to keep them I guess.

Yep lost all the premiums. Which is fine, since I am not subscribing to them. But they had better add some more HD programing or I'll be looking else where for HD.

That's a bummer, I just thought they mistakenly gave me all of them. I've got HBO and Showtime now, but I think Brett has the right idea with HBO and Starz. I saw that Starz is getting Finding Nemo, I bet that looks awesome in HD.

I signed up for HBO. I'm SAD that I am without them, but honestly folks we had it GOOD for awhile. 6, almost 7 months for some of us with free premium HD. I had pretty much spanked it to all the porn that MaxHD was showing anyway. Now I have like 8 janky SD HBOs in addition to the one HD.

I can't WAIT for Deadwood every sunday, I'd pay $20 a month for HBO.

What is MaxHD???

MaxHD = Cinemax in HD. Or, after about 9:30 pm, Skinemax HD.

Has anyone been able to get DVI working on a 5100? Mine has firmware 7.07 but is only passing SD.

I have been chasing this down all day and haven't gotten very far. I even went so far (on the direction of a Comcast CSR) as to take my box to a service center for exchange. I was told that they couldn't exchange an "HDTV" box and that I would have to make an appointment..%#$%#

Does anyone have any idea why I would be able to get SD and not HD channels. I have experimented extensively with the service menu but to no avail.

Thanks!!

How did you get into the service menu? When the power is off, hit the menu button. You should see TV type (set to your TV's aspect ratio), DVI/YPbPr Output (set to either 720p or 1080i, depending on your TV) and 480i OVERRIDE (I set this to OFF for my Sammy DLP). If you've already done this, tell us exactly what your setup is, and maybe we can help.

Back on the loss of the premiums. I got a letter from Comcast today, dated May 5, reminding me that I was going to lose the premiums on May 12. This is annoying because I was never told that this was a free preview, nor that there was an end date. Of course, it WAS free, so I shouldn't be complaining, but it would have been nice to have this information. Despite my signing up for Comcast's email notifications about new service, I have never been notified about a change in HD service (new channels, DVI enabling, loss of premiums) that I did not read here or even in the newspaper before I heard it from Comcast. Time for another letter to them, as I suspect they do not follow this forum, or at least this thread.

i'm a little surprised there's not more whining and complaining regarding the loss of these channels. . . . . . so let me be the first. It sucks!! For the Basic Digital customer, we now have 7 channels of HD. . . . .of which any meaningful content is lacking . . . . . .the 2 INHD channels have little or no content worth watching which leaves us with basically 5 channels of HD content.

For me the value in the price for the HD box and Digital subscription was the addition of these Premium channels. It made me gladly pay the bill each month. I'm certainly not going to give them more money to add them back and hope they get an earful from us customer. They have from me.

I suppose it's relative to what the Satallite providers offer but it seems to me Comcast could have waited until more HD channels were added. It certainly should make us wonder that when they do add more channels, at what price will it cost us??????

Originally posted by QBeck
It certainly should make us wonder that when they do add more channels, at what price will it cost us??????

Yea, that thought has crossed my mind as well.

When/If the tower goes up on Lookout so a guy can get the locals on HD reliably I may just switch over to VOOM.

Hey fellow Coloradoans -

If anyone here is interested in attending a home theater/projector expo here in Denver, we're having a pretty big event the weekend of June 5th and 6th. Lots more info is in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=402182

Everyone is welcome!

John

gakon,

Thanks for responding!

I have done all of that. However, today I set DVI/YPbPr Output to 480i and/or 480p and the HD channels worked!??

I have a Sony GWII and know others have gotten the DIV to work properly. Any idea why it may be behaving like this?

Also, the component interface works great with SD and HD.

I would guess that when Comcast adds DiscoveryHD (hopefully in the next few months) that it won't cost extra. That is one of Comcast's goals. Of course, that is one reason why new channels are not just popping up on Comcast. They are very conservative about adding them, not wanting to waste bandwidth on channels without significant HD content. Some cable companies charge for INHDs and ESPN, but Comcast doesn't. (But they do charge I think around $12 for HD service and the HD box per month).

Rich N.

kkelley -
I want to say that I had a similar problem shortly after I received the 5100, but I can't recreate it. You may want to post on the GWIII owner's thread, or start your own thread (with a very obvious title). Obviously, in either 480 mode, you're not getting true HD, although I think the GWIII does a pretty good job of upscaling.

Rich - Comcast's fees for HD cannot include any amount for HD service - FCC regulations do not permit charging for the service, although they can charge for the box. And Comcast DOES, in effect, charge for InHD's and ESPN HD - they do not provide these if you don't subscribe to their digital cable service as well. For me, that was about a $10/month increase plus $5/month for the HD box, although I understand that if you don't get digital cable the box rental is about $10/month.

Qbeck - I did whine to Comcast (basically emailing them what I posted above) and got a form email response that did not really address my criticisms (primarily poor communication, but limited number of non-premium HD channels was there too). And I'd argue that we really have 4 HD channels - I rarely see any HD content on ESPN.

Originally posted by gakon
Comcast's fees for HD cannot include any amount for HD service - FCC regulations do not permit charging for the service, although they can charge for the box.
Just to clarify, Comcast can absolutely charge for HD service - but they can't charge you anything above "lifeline" pricing to get the OTA local networks in HD. ESPN-HD, DiscoveryHD, InHD, etc are all fair game and not protected by the FCC in terms of pricing.

Originally posted by QBeck
i'm a little surprised there's not more whining and complaining regarding the loss of these channels. . . . . . so let me be the first. It sucks!! For the Basic Digital customer, we now have 7 channels of HD. . . . .of which any meaningful content is lacking . . . . . .the 2 INHD channels have little or no content worth watching which leaves us with basically 5 channels of HD content.

For me the value in the price for the HD box and Digital subscription was the addition of these Premium channels. It made me gladly pay the bill each month. I'm certainly not going to give them more money to add them back and hope they get an earful from us customer. They have from me.

I suppose it's relative to what the Satallite providers offer but it seems to me Comcast could have waited until more HD channels were added. It certainly should make us wonder that when they do add more channels, at what price will it cost us??????

What the heck is there to whine about? For months and months you got gobs of HD content (HBO/SHO/Starz/Cinemax/ESPN/InHD 1+2 and the Locals) for as little as $21 a month if thats how you had it setup. You didnt have to pay for a Digital package to get them. Basic cable plus the HD converter rental was all that was required. Where else were/are you going to get those $50 worth of premium movie channels per month for "free"? Not to mention that you didnt have to drop a big chunk of change upfront for the STB to get HD in to your set.

And even now for the next 6 months you can get the movie channels (2 of which not even offered on D* or E* in HD), at a decidedly reduced rate. As far as NOW having to sub to a Digital package to keep getting ESPN HD and the 2 InHD's, so be it. You wont get ESPN HD on D* or E* either without spending an extra $10 a month above and beyond what SD package or Movie channel packages you might have.

Yes it would be nice if Comcast would add the 2 HDNet channels and Discovery HD but the fact that they dont have them yet isnt necessarily any more disconcerting than the fact that the DBS co's dont have Starz/Cinemax in HD yet or the 2 InHD channels. Course thats easy for me to say since I already get those 3 channels that Comcast doesnt have, even though in all actuality I havent watched them much at all in the last few months. They're kind of like the InHD's insofar as if you watch them for 3 months you can then skip them for 3 months because there's so much repitition that you wont have missed much of anything save some live sporting events.

Has anyone noticed that the Comcast HD channels losing signal quality more frequently since they've added the 'on-demand' feature?

I was watching 'The Matrix Reloaded' a couple nights ago, and the picture was breaking up consistently during the action sequences.

It looks better today, but I haven't watched anything with the amount of movement/action in the Matrix movie yet.

After getting the no premium HD channel notice from Comcast in Westminster I went over to Sears and for $49 got Voom with:
Free outside OTA antenna or will install your own.
Free install
First month free(worth $79.00)
$49 credit on first bill.
No contract.
$10 box rental.
36 HD channels, including all the premiums East/West feed.
Free upgrade to pvr.
Install by Echostar.

Good bye Comcast.

Dom - I've only had Comcast for 2 weeks, but I did notice a few breakups lately.

Still75 - What direction does the Voom dish need to point? That is quite a deal they offer.

I don't have a south view anymore, so my HD D* receiver is up for sale. I've got an ebay auction that ends Tuesday, and if someone wants it they can pick it up locally here in Denver. PM me for link.

BTW, does anyone have a link to info on how to program the remote that comes with the 6200?

Originally posted by dr_mal
ESPN-HD, DiscoveryHD, InHD, etc are all fair game and not protected by the FCC in terms of pricing.

Thanks. I hate to pass along bad info.

Originally posted by still75
. . . . Free upgrade to pvr.
. .. .

Can you fill me/us in on the PVR? I searched the VOOM site and couldn't find anything about such a device.

Thanks in advance.

VOOM promised it will be out sometime this summer, will be
a wireless - network type device that will work on all TV's
in a household. Will be a free upgrade.

Another thread indicates that TNT will be starting HD this weekend (Friday) and that D* and Time Warner Cable will be carrying it. I called Comcast to see if they had any information, and got the standard "we're in negotiations with several HD providers, but I don't have any information at this time". I wonder if canceling the digital cable would give them a clue - I know I wouldn't suffer with the loss of the InHD's.

No TNT-HD on Comcast for a long time. Many people with Comcast ties (not CSRs) have reported this on the forum. Personally, I watch the INHDs a lot so I would not want them gone.

Rich N.

Talked to VOOM sales today, VOOM is negotiating to carry TNT HD soon but no date yet. They seem to add HD channels as soon as they become
available.
They will be upgrading customers (free) to a superdish for more channels
and a stronger signal by October.

Originally posted by still75
Talked to VOOM sales today, VOOM is negotiating to carry TNT HD soon but no date yet. They seem to add HD channels as soon as they become
available.
They will be upgrading customers (free) to a superdish for more channels
and a stronger signal by October.


You didn't happen to ask them about the reported DVR did you? If it's close, it's looking more & more like that's where I'm headed. Although no Scifi channel could hurt things. I REALLY wish the Scifi channel would go HD.:)

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to choose between VOOM and Comcast HD, and with VOOM's current promotion, they look pretty good....I'm just concerned Comcast won't be adding very many channels in the next year.

Also, the comcast package for me is $55, is ESPN HD always included, or do you have to go up to their digital plus package to get that?

Thanks!

Adam

Nobody has any advice? I'm leaning towards comcast....

Thanks again.

Adam

Oh you want advice? My 2 cents says go with DirecTV and the HD TiVo that's starting to trickle out (model HR10-250), but I know that wasn't one of your choices.

Between the two choices you're considering, I think I'd take Voom over Comcast. With a decent roof-mounted antenna (I think Voom is still providing those), you should be able to get all the local HD except ABC. Comcast is missing ABC, WB, and PBS(KBDI). But I wouldn't even consider either Comcast or Voom until they've got a HD TiVo.

While not suggesting choosing Comcast over VOOM or D*, they do have an HD-DVR. It isn't as good as a HD-TIVO, but it costs $5 per month. I have one and soon most areas will either have it or a dual-tuner version later this summer/fall. Actually, I'd rather Comcast add a few more HD channels and forget other options. Hopefully they will (or the satellites will offer broadband service at competitive prices).

Rich N.

Originally posted by raidbuck
While not suggesting choosing Comcast over VOOM or D*, they do have an HD-DVR. It isn't as good as a HD-TIVO
And that's the precise reason I won't even consider leaving D* until someone else has a HD TiVo.

Given the DVR choices of Voom or Comcast, Voom's architecture sounds interesting - a master server somewhere in the house and thin clients at every TV able to playback recordings from the master server (if those are still their current plans -- I don't keep up with Voom news so well anymore).

Hello all -

Here is the most up-to-date info on the Denver Home Theater Projector Expo we are holding at the Marriot Tech Center June 5th and 6th. Everyone is welcome:

Dates - June 5th and 6th

Location - The Marriott Tech Center
4900 South Syracuse Denver, CO 80237 USA
Phone: 1 303-779-1100 Fax: 1 303-740-2523

Toll free 1-800-444-2206, specify Tech Center Marriott

Room rate $69.00 single/double

Projectors:

Screenplay 777 (new 3 chip DLP from Infocus)
JVC HX1
Sharp XVZ12000
Screenplay 7205
Studio Experience 50HD
Optoma H76
NEC HT-1100 (with anamorphic lens)
Screenplay 5700
Studio Experience 2HD (Sanyo Z2 clone)
Screenplay 4805

We're still trying to get a SIM HD2+ for the show.

We will have screens and samples from Stewart, Dalite, Vutec, Carada, and Screen Research.

Infocus may have representatives in person for a presentation on the 777, 7205, and 4805 PLUS have given us free reign to use them INDEPENDENTLY in the shootout.

We will have a Bravo D1 DVD player as a giveaway on day one, a D2 as a giveaway on day 2.

Projectors will be shown sequentially with about an hour devoted to each - we are thinking 5 a day.

We hope to have all projectors ISF calibrated prior to the event.

Tentative schedule:

Day One: 10 am - 12 pm: General Front Projection/HDTV Presentation plus Q and A OR Infocus presentation

12 - 1 pm - Lunch Break

1 - 6 pm - Projector Shootout

After 6, we're all heading to the bar and restaurant. Inebriated Q and A session to follow, for anyone wanting to hang around!

Day Two: 10 am - 12 pm: Screens! Comparison between greys and whites

12 - 1 pm - Food!

1 - 6 pm - Projector Shootout part two

The actual schedule may be massaged a bit, but the dates and location are now LOCKED IN.

E-mail me or Brad at the addresses below for more. We hope to see many of you there!

John

TNT-HD is now on VOOM and E*
Chan. 521 on VOOM

This morning 9-News had a Comcast Rep on talking about the Denver roll-out of Video-On-Demand.

I missed the beginning - did anyone catch it?

He mentioned PVR type functions like REW, FF, Pause.

Which STB's support this? Are they going to a box with a hard drive? Does this mean that Comcast Denver is going to get a PVR?

Did they give dates?

If we only had VOD we could watch the news again to see what they said!

Ok, I could not resist.

I really hope VOD is available soon, I am also hoping HD VOD is available.

Benzyl

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but no, VOD is different than the PVR....all it does is allow you to order a show (up to a certain number of hours per day) and watch it when you want.

I guess it's a limited form of PVR, but it's software only, through Comcast, not the motorolla box people are waiting for.

Adam

Hmmm, I guess it depends on the implementation. Some of the descriptions I have seen describe VOD as a limited PVR. I doubt local news would be available, but I know that in Philidelphia Comcast is providing things like Today ( http://www.thestreet.com/tech/georgemannes/10021031.html )and other news/talk shows that can be called up to watch when you want. I know Comcast has stated that some shows will not have a per use charge (There will most likely be a VOD monthly service fee) and some will have a viewing fee (like pay per view) I know that there has been talk of HBO, Showtime , etc...
(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2042691 ) offering some of thier content on VOD to subscribers of those channels for "free" but I do not know what model Comcast is going to use in Denver.

My post was a "Joke" but it in theory could be done that way. VOD is considered by some to be a Tivo/Replay PVR killer since you can watch what you want when you want, but that will take time. The Tivo or even Comcast based PVR will have a good run before VOD is the be all end all they want it to be.

Actually,
on http://www.comcast.com (http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp378/LocalHomepage/Page4.asp) they have a demo of VOD and you can select (They force the choice) of watching an A&E special on Princess Diana. The cost of the show was $0.00. I don't know if that link will work since it is for my local area, but give it a spin.

Benzyl

VOD has been on-line in Aurora for several weeks now. I live in Centennial and am considered part of that.

I got a letter in the mail telling me the service was available on the day it showed up. The letter says that up to 1,200 shows will be available. Everything is free now except the PPV shows. If you subscribe to the likes of HBO or Showtime you have access to their material.

Right now the content is limited but new stuff is being added on a weekly basis.

The big bummer for me is that it doesn't appear that the networks will be there anytime soon. I have kept Dish Network with a minimum subscription just for the PVR functionality. If we could just ever get the 6208 or the networks on VOD I would drop Dish immediately....

Comcast, why does the rest of the country have DVR but the West region does not?????

They specifically mentioned PVR type functions and repeated viewings in a period. That's why I was thinking the box would need a hard drive (and hoping the HD PVR had arrived).

kkelly: Do you have this? Is there a hard drive in the box? Is it HD? If it's the 6208 that would answer the question.

PS I'm not currently a Comcast sub - have Dish with a 921. I like to keep track of what's out there. Co-workers often come to me with questions - for many, I think HD cable makes the most sense.

I'm not quite ready (yet) to give up the dual tuners and 250 gig hard drive.

Yep, I have the 6200 (HD) and VOD. The 6200 does NOT have a HDD and therefore is not a PVR/DVR. The 6208 is really the answer. Even with lots of VOD I'd really miss pausing live tv.

I considered the 921 (I have a 501 now) but couldn't justify the cost. With a splitter, I can feed lots of tuners with the basic channels with the Comcast service...

I understand that some of the cable systems (Denver may be one) are waiting for the two tuner version.

So I guess all the fancy features the Comcast guy was talking about were for a future box that apparently doesn't exist yet.

I sent an E-Mail to channel 9 asking if they could post the interview. Do they ever rebroadcast on the later news casts?

David,

I just saw a short part (maybe all?) of this on the 4:00 news. They said it rolls out today in part of the Denver area, and the rest will get it over the summer. I didn't see any details about needing a special box.

I just hit the menu button on my 5100 box and got a new menu offering:

TV listings
Video on Demand
Main Menu
Help

I tried the VOD option and got a message that said it was unable to process the request and that I should call customer service. So I did. The first guy was clueless, but he passed me on to technical service. Amber said that they just rolled it out and are having some technical problems. They are following up in the areas where its not working correctly. She said I should have it within 24 to 72 hours. She also said that its a free service as long as you have digital cable, and they plan for it to stay that way.

So, my impression is that its in your area if you get the same menu as I posted above.

Tim

Thanks,

So did they mention PVR-type functions (Pause, FF, Rew, etc), or do I just have a screw loose?

Ok - I just caught the 9-news blurb.

It was different then this morning. What I just watched was a pre-recorded short. This morning they had a person from Comcast on live taking (prepared?) questions.

Even so, on what I just watched, they mentioned fast forwarding over commercials. (then drifted to a side-bar discussing the ethics of commercial skipping).

With VOD does each user really get a dedicated feed, or do they just group people together watching the same thing? I suppose if it's the former, a local hard drive would not be needed.

They also said that currently, there are not any network shows in the VOD library (would be great if you could catch a missed episode).

I would think they need permission to keep a local copy of any copywrited shows. So then, what is the chance a network would give Comcast permission to VOD shows if the technology provides for commercial skipping (has hell frozen over)? Actually, they might allow the VOD -> for an extra fee.

Guess I'll be keeping my HD PVR for awhile longer.

See this morning's (5/26) Denver Post, front page of Business section, for story on roll-out of VOD" for (all of?) Denver, coming soon to the 'burbs. "

Sounds too good to be true. And apparently as of right now, it's not true -- see above posts. I have Comcast's 5200 digital box only to get HD; I'm not paying for any level of digital service. I'll see if I can get the VOD menu with just Standard service plus HD box rental -- probably not, and so I guess I will have to buy min. level of digital service ("Digital Classic") to get VOD. I'll post again if pleasantly surprised that I get VOD w/only the HD subscription.

Ok, I had a chance yesterday to play around with the new VOD a bit. My overall impression is that its a great idea, but so far its not a great product.

My biggest gripe is the extremely slow speed. This is no TiVo killer in my book. I also tried it at a friends house, and he just laughed at how slow it was.

This may be coincidence, but I couldn't get VOD to work when the cable box was tuned to an HD channel (KUSA, channel 653). The screen would come up, but no menus ever appeared and I always got an error message.

Navigation is pretty difficult, and I found the "Help" worthless. I finally figured out that the Last button will take you to the previous menu, and the VCR buttons at the bottom of the remote kind of work for FF, Rev, etc. The slow speed of the system may be making this worse.

No HD content? As far as I can tell, that's the case. They do have a category for widescreen movies, but the descriptions of the ones I looked at (and I never actually tried to watch the movies) stated that they were letterboxed. There was no category for HD material or any indication that content was in HD.

Missing content. On several of the menus, there was no content at all. For example, in HBO on Demand, there was a menu for "Curb Your Enthusiasm." However, there were no episodes listed when I looked. This may be a short-term issue that will improve in the coming days.

On the bright side, the one piece of content that I actually watched, was fine. Just like watching regular TV. I didn't notice any hiccups in the picture at all.

Overall, I would say that so far VOD is not a good reason to switch from TiVo whether you have a stand-alone unit (as do I) or a D* unit. If they can address the speed issue this will be a much more valuable service.

Edit: I'm withdrawing my speed objections. It is still slower than I'd like it to be, but yesterday it was working far more quickly than the night before. Its almost as fast as the rest of the menu system. Also, the FF, Rev, etc started working correctly. It seems that Comcast got the bugs out pretty quickly. Kudos to them. Its still not a TiVo replacement, but its much closer than I originally thought it would be.

Originally posted by Benzyl
Hmmm, I guess it depends on the implementation. Some of the descriptions I have seen describe VOD as a limited PVR. I doubt local news would be available, but I know that in Philidelphia Comcast is providing things like Today ( http://www.thestreet.com/tech/georgemannes/10021031.html )and other news/talk shows that can be called up to watch when you want. I know Comcast has stated that some shows will not have a per use charge (There will most likely be a VOD monthly service fee) and some will have a viewing fee (like pay per view) I know that there has been talk of HBO, Showtime , etc...
(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2042691 ) offering some of thier content on VOD to subscribers of those channels for "free" but I do not know what model Comcast is going to use in Denver.

My post was a "Joke" but it in theory could be done that way. VOD is considered by some to be a Tivo/Replay PVR killer since you can watch what you want when you want, but that will take time. The Tivo or even Comcast based PVR will have a good run before VOD is the be all end all they want it to be.

Actually,
on http://www.comcast.com (http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp378/LocalHomepage/Page4.asp) they have a demo of VOD and you can select (They force the choice) of watching an A&E special on Princess Diana. The cost of the show was $0.00. I don't know if that link will work since it is for my local area, but give it a spin.

Benzyl

I'm saw your posts while i was looking up PVR stuff.... I live in NJ but get Philly Comcast and i have VOD.... It not really like PVR.... VOD is both PPV and FPV (Free Per View), they have PPV movies (New Releases) that are $3.95 each and if you rent one you can watch as many times as you want for 24 hours it has FF, REW, Pause, Stop & Play..... you can watch half of it and turn the tv and cable box off and go to bed then tomorrow get up and continue right where you left off, Pretty Cool!!!! oh yeah and i forgot each movie has a preview you go in the the list select a movie and it says order or preview, if you select preview you can watch the orignal movie trailer, that's cool to for when trying to remembering what the movie was about or decide on which movie to watch. Also the FPV stuff is like HBO has 25 random movies each month (old and new movies) that are Free with the same features as PPV, Along with the Moives HBO also has series like Saprano's one day after it air's it is in the FPV section of VOD, they also have shows like Arliss and HBO undercover... Same for SHO, MAX...etc... VOD also Has the cooking channel with cooking shows, HGTV, Nat Geo, Style, History? too all FPV... There is also FPV of certin Music Video's but it never seems to have any real greats ones or every day mainstream artists.... No primetime shows on the major networks are avilable... yet shale we say...

If you want more specifics i can write all the VOD catergory down and post them...

Vin

Denver Post Article:

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2171537,00.html

Seems like this puppy will never be HD (mega bandwidth). We still really need the new PVR.

Anyone know the latest on ABC coming to Comcast? I just got done reading through a few of the old posts, sounds like you all thought it was "coming soon" last year. From what I understand, they are broadcasting low power OTA from downtown, I would figure they can broadcast on cable too. Football is approaching...

Probably no word on HDNet either I suppose. I have found INHD to be inferior to HDNet in programming. I guess we get the lingerie bowl though, so we've got that going for us, which is nice.

Originally posted by David_Levin
Denver Post Article:

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2171537,00.html

Seems like this puppy will never be HD (mega bandwidth). We still really need the new PVR.

Actually I here the future is bright..... Right now 1 analog channel chews up as much bandwidth as 12 digital channels.... by law they have to broadcast the analog signals until the end of 2005.... after 2005 it will open sesame on digtal channels.... and when then start pulling off those analog channels it will create enough bandwidth for the HD PPV...

My VOOM will be installed Friday with 37 channels of HD programming.
Since VOD has no HD content I can't be bothered. Besides I can spend
a dollar at McDonald's and watch a DVD in Dolby EX on a Samsung HD931.
It will be nice not to see all those commercials every time I change
a channel and the sd reception on Comcast has been steadily growing worse.
OH, by the way the "no contract promotion" will end June 1 with VOOM.

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Anyone know the latest on ABC coming to Comcast?

Don't hold your breath for KMGH. Except for the first weeks of Comcast's HD service, ABC has never been "coming soon". There was talk of having more channels by June, but that's 6 days away, and I don't see it happening.
I also wrote to Dave Martinez at KWGN (WB) in response to his post on the Denver Tower thread, and he had no information as to when Comcast would add their signal. His response was very brief, but it sounded like they were just waiting for Comcast to put them in its lineup, and the station had done all it needed.

David Levin - other than the statement that no local channels are currently available on VOD, what makes you say "this puppy will NEVER be HD"? (emphasis added).

Jeremy:

Actually there is word on HDNET. "NOT". I would not expect HDNET on Comcast for years, if ever. It is too much like INHD and Comcast wants to save its bandwidth for other types of HD (but don't ask me what, we certainly haven't seen any additions to the HD lineup since December with MaxHD and StartzHD and a few NBAHD games).

Rich N.

Originally posted by gakon
David Levin - other than the statement that no local channels are currently available on VOD, what makes you say "this puppy will NEVER be HD"? (emphasis added).

Well, it's just my opinion. It's one thing to do a PPV HD channel. But VOD is another story....

Each user gets a dedicated channel while they are watching (since they are not using a local hard drive). Anyone know how many users are on a sub-net? 100, 200? Assuming they need to support 20+ simultaneous users, it just doesn't seem like the bandwidth is there for HD.

Each user gets a dedicated channel while they are watching

Really? Is that how it works? I'm not so sure, but I suspected that VOD simply streamed the video via a data stream similar to the way cable Internet works.

If anyone has a link explaining how VOD works, I'd love to see it.

Hi,

Has the DVI output of the 5100 or 6200 been enabled yet?

DVI has been enabled. This was done with firmware 7.07 which is as of last night the latest firmware on the system. Someone please say that 7.10 is now on the system. Then I can start recording via firewire and my PC.

Here is the schedule for our Home Theater Projector Expo this weekend. A quick reminder:

Where: The Denver Tech Center Marriott
When: June 5th and 6th (Saturday and Sunday)

Admission is free. In fact, we are giving away a Bravo D2 DVI enabled DVD player each day.

Please keep in mind that this could change if a projector doesn't show up, work, or we have a strong request from those present to change the order:

Saturday, June 5th

10-11 am: Front Projection basics, Q and A
11-12 am: Infocus presentation
12-1 pm: Break for Lunch
1-2 pm: Screenplay 777
2-3 pm: JVC HX-1
3-4 pm: Screenplay 7205
4-5 pm: Sharp XV-Z12000
5-6 pm: Studio Experience 50HD

Sunday June 6th

10-11 am: Screens
11-12 am: BenQ PE8700
12-1 pm: Break for Lunch
1-2 pm: Optoma H76
2-3 pm: Screenplay 4805
3-4 pm: Screenplay 5700
4-5 pm: NEC HT-1100
5-6 pm: Studio Experience 2HD (Sanyo Z-2 clone)

That's it! I have not heard from JVC today regarding the HD2K. As soon as I do, I will let everyone know.

Just to make things clear, we are not buying everyone lunch! There are plenty of places to eat in and around the Marriott, most of them chains (Colorado is chain crazy, for some reason).

We are excited to meet everyone and we will do our best to put on a good show!

John

This may be a dumb question, but here goes.

On Comcast, is the regular digital service (local channels, non-premium stuff like ESPN SD and Discovery SD) encrypted?

If not, how would they prevent someone from subscribing to the lifeline service plus HD locals and then hooking up a QAM tuner to receive the full digital package?

Originally posted by entrager
Really? Is that how it works? I'm not so sure, but I suspected that VOD simply streamed the video via a data stream similar to the way cable Internet works.

If anyone has a link explaining how VOD works, I'd love to see it.

Sure, but isn't that effectively the same thing as getting a channel? If you are getting a personalized data stream (which is needed for pause, ff, rew), your sucking 1 Mhz of bandwidth (or 6 Mhz for HD).

I am in Lakewood - no VOD for me yet. But it seems like the picture quality on the HD channels has decreased over the past week. It would make sense that something would have to change (such as more compression) to accomodate for VOD. Has anyone else noticed a change in their PQ?

TD99,
I was watching the 1988 Olympics on INHD last night and it didn't seem as sharp. I'm not sure if this is a function of the HD camera technology they had back then. I do remember watch an Olympics special on one of the INHD's recently and it was very good. I can't remember if it was the same special.

I'm on the Boulder upgrade or is it downgrade here in western
Westminster. The HD channels have been out most of the day as
usual. It has steadily been growing worse the past three weeks.
I have no VOD out here.
I can't wait to be a VOOMER. Their adding another HD channel June 15.
What good is VOD if its not in HD or all you see on the HD channels,
"One minute please"

I signed up for voom too-install in two weeks. What HD channel are they adding?

Will have keep Comcast too for Avs & Nuggets. It sounds like the new Kronke sports network will be carried on Comcast, Dish and DirectTV? Anybody heard otherwise?

Ok, I know this is a RANT, but I want to get this out.

Last night made me really mad at KMGH. I watched the incredible end to the Lakers-Pistons game last night and was grumbling about how it isn't in HD on Comcast. but the last straw was the fact that ESPN Sportscenter which IS in HD showed me exactly what I missed. The images were incredible, and it just gets me more and more upset that ABC won't put pressure on their affiliates to make them cooperate with the local providers. My TV has two HDTV inputs and I am using one for Comcast and one for my DVD player. So even if I was able to get the over the air signal from my house right now (I doubt it) I have no place to plug it in on the monitor (I am looking at getting a new receiver that can switch high bandwidth video, so this may change) but I am not going to spend money on an OTA box and antenna because ABC can't play nicely with others.

On August 9th the Broncos have a Pre-Season game on ABC, and if KMGH knows what is good for them, they need to get the comcast deal done. Not having Monday night football in HD last year was annoying, but not unexpected, but this year people will get very upset if they cannot watch the games in HD.

When I am watching ABC and the (available in HD) tag comes on the show, I am reminded how stupid KMGH (and their parent) is being about this and makes me want to watch other shows.


If anyone is interested in making a write in campaign to KMGH to try to put some pressure on them, I am interested in helping.

Thanx,
Benzyl

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/denvers7/222549/detail.html

There is the site for feedback, let er rip. I sent a nice one myself, if I get any feedback I'll post it.

But what incentive does KMGH have for putting themselves on Comcast? I can't imagine they'd do anything unless the government forced them to or if the number of HD viewers who refused to watch them (I know there's at least one) was enough to affect ratings.

I would think they wouldn't want to be known as a laggard in technology. Stations always like to brag about their super doppler, helicopters, and live vans, HD seems like it would fit in there somewhere. KUSA brags about HD quite a bit. I wouldn't want to be the last network on HD cable, especially when Big Bird and Co (PBS) are even broadcasting HD. Surely some of their suits own HD sets and want to see their own channel in HD.

KMGH is still sticking to their "First to broadcast in HDTV" claim. Any time we've tried to pressure them they tell us "we've had our HD on the air since 1999!"

The fact that (practically) nobody can tune it in their home seems to not matter to them.

I noticed that on their website, kind of funny.

I suppose all we can do is whine until they eventually hear from enough of us.

What do you guess the number of Denver Comcast HD subscribers actually is?

I wonder if KMGH is owned by Sinclair. If so, good luck. They want to be paid to allow HD signals on cable and Comcast won't pay for free OTA signals. We have that problem in Baltimore with Sinclair and Fox.

Rich N.

Originally posted by raidbuck
I wonder if KMGH is owned by Sinclair. KMGH is owned by McGraw-Hill.

Originally posted by gakon
if the number of HD viewers who refused to watch them (I know there's at least one) was enough to affect ratings.

There's at least two of us. I never go to those analog channels anymore (and haven't in at least 6 months). I simply won't watch KMGH until they are in HD on Comcast. I seriously wish I was a Neilson family so I could have a real impact.

Three. I couldn't care less about KMGH...unless they are the only station carrying the NBA finals. Thanks for the link, Jeremy. They now have my 2 cents.

My daughter lives in Lakewood and we'll visiting again next week as we usually do each year. It's sad to read on this forum the state of HD in the Denver area hasn't seemed to improve since last year. I thought the WPB Florida HD stations were bad until I started reading this board again prior to our trip.

I live about 35 miles north of WPB and at least we get a strong digital signal from all the networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) - PBS is still in the process of installing their new transmitting tower, scheduled for sometime this month. Our most problematic channel is the CBS affiliate which is located on physical channel 13 (VHF - all the others are currently UHF). VHF is suppose to be more susceptible to atmospheric conditions and other transmission bands, so that channel has had greater pixelization and audio dropouts at times. The worst station from an HD audio standpoint is our NBC affiliate which frequently has serious lip sync problems even though they proudly advertise their HD content. Ironically our best channel from a video perspective is the ABC affiliate. The ice hockey finals were spectacular as are the NBA finals!

The local cable company (Adelphia) does offer limited HD content but not all the local WPB digital stations. Posts on the WPB board indicate the HD quality is comparable with OTA. Posts on the Miami board indicate the HD stations there seem to generally have their act together better than WPB.

It still amazes me that HDTV's are selling in record quantities when the HD broadcasting is still not stable or in some cases even existent. I'm relatively sure the FCC isn't going to do much about this until at least 2006, and I've read even that date is not set in stone.

I'm disappointed to read I won't be able to watch much OTA HD telecasts while I'm in Denver.

Originally posted by td99
Three. I couldn't care less about KMGH...unless they are the only station carrying the NBA finals. Thanks for the link, Jeremy. They now have my 2 cents.

Same here guys, it's very rare that I watch KMGH now that I have HD. This fall is going to be a real bummer if they don't get their act together. :mad:

So here is the E-mail I sent KMGH. I took the first paragraph from my post and modified it. I especially like the analogy I made between them claiming to be the first HDTV broadcaster in Denver and a station that would claim to have the first Helicopter for their news team, but no pilot yet.



The other night made me really mad at KMGH. I watched the incredible end to the Lakers-Pistons game and was grumbling about how it isn't in HD on Comcast, but the last straw was the fact that ESPN Sportscenter which IS in HD showed me exactly what I missed. The images were incredible, and it just gets me more and more upset that KMGH won't join the rest of the Denver television market and get on cable. My TV has two HDTV inputs and I am using one for Comcast and one for my DVD player. So even if I was able to get the over the air signal from my house right now (I doubt it) I have no place to plug it in on the monitor, also I am not going to spend money on an OTA box and antenna because ABC can't play nicely with others.

KMGH is the only major station in Denver to not have thier HD broadcast on Comcast. We have already missed the NHL finals (The first two games looked great on ESPN by the way) The NBA finals are going to be over before anything changes, and the first Bronoco pre-season game is August 9th and you guys have it, do you have any idea how MAD people are going to be that Monday Night Football isn't going to be on HD for ANOTHER Year?


Also your website is more then a little disingenuous when you say you were the first Channel transmitting HDTV in Denver. If preactically NO ONE can get your signal then it doesn't matter. it is like saying you had the first helicopter in Denver news but you haven't hired a pilot for it yet.

Please send your executives and parent company the message that the viewers in Denver are upset that they cannot get their act together and finish the negotiations with Comcast.

Benzyl

Good one Benzyl. Curious as to what reply you'll get.

I doubt it will contain much real information. Go here to see what they told me back in October:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2745582#post2745582

VOOM has added 3 HD channels this month:
TNT HD
Divine HD
Equator HD -an all HD world travel channel in D* 5.1 -June 15th
VOOM has also leased another satellite for use starting Oct. 1st.
To see what OTR HD channels you can receive in Denver metro go to
http://www.channelmaster. com
For the first time this month my Comcast HD channels didn't go out this
weekend.

I noted in another thread about Comcast and DIscovery channel comming to an agreement.

So.. the question is -- when is Denver Comcast getting Discovery HD?

I would be curious to find this out as well, that's a very cool channel. I've been without it for a month and a half now, I bet they have a good two or three shows I haven't even seen yet! ;)

Originally posted by Cheyenne
So.. the question is -- when is Denver Comcast getting Discovery HD?

In my experience, Comcast is pretty tight-lipped about these kinds of things. The CSRs tend not to know (or admit) anything until after the channel has appeared.

The good news is, I think, that we should have plenty of bandwidth here due to all of the recent upgrades.

Now, my question is: Has anybody actually seen a press release? I've been looking everyday since Ken H made the announcement, but I can't find one. Ken is, obviously, an unimpeachable source so I believe its true. I'd just like to see a release with more details.

Tim

Well.. for jollies, I went out to the comast web site and punched in a different zip code (for back in Pennsylvania) and on their channel lineup for HDTV they list Discovery HD as comming soon

Do different COMCAST lineups have different channels or are they all the same? I understand that there may be local affiliates (local channels) that have negotiated agreements with COMCAST and these would be different, but if Discovery has negotiated with COMCAST for Discovery HD do all COMCAST HD customers in the country get that channel?

The press release for the Comcast/Discovery HD deal has finally been posted. Those interested can read it here:

http://www.cmcsk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=147565&p=irol-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=583225&

It doesn't give any details about when it will show up here. The closest it comes to a timeline is, "In addition, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Networks' 24-hour HD channel, will be added to Comcast's HDTV package over the next several months."

Local conditions determine when DiscoveryHD will show up. In the Baltimore area it came on June 16 and we've been watching it a whole lot. About the only things we watch are PBSHD, DiscoveryHD and the INHDs (except for my sports and Jeopardy). No othe SD. Other areas have announced July 1 for DiscoveryHD.

Rich N.

CSR I just spoke with mentioned that DiscoveryHD would be available very soon (he said within one month). I'll be looking for it on the first. Thanks, Raidbuck.

Also, he mentioned that Comcast has installed 10,000 HD boxes in the Denver metro area. I thought that was a very high number. If only we could get together to pressure KMGH to provide their signal to Comcast (and also pressure Comcast to get KWGN-HD). HDTV owners are probably a great target for advertisers, and it wouldn't be good for ABC if they were losing viewers who would rather watch almost anything else, as long as it was in HD. I would almost suggest a "Turn off Denver's 7" day, except I never turn it on.

Has anyone seen an update as to when we will have the 6208 DVR?

I don't have any inside information, but I thought I had heard that Comcast has decided to wait for the 6408 (two tuner model) in the Denver area. I could be wrong, and I do believe that there are a few 6208s (or is it 6200s?) out there.

That could be true regarding the 6408. I recall reading on another thread that that model is starting to appear in some of the eastern markets now.

Hopefully it won't be tool long. I finally dropped E* which I was using soley for DVR. The VCR is going to get old in a hurry!!!

I just noticed last night that VOD was finally lauched in my area (Wheat Ridge). Last night I was able to watch one program (George Carlin special on HBO) before VOD stopped working. Anything else that I picked after that gave an error requesting that I "try again momentarily." Of course, it still didn't work several hours later.

Anyone else having similar issues with VOD?

Just channel surfing and I found that channel 663 is Discovery HD Theater. This is great news. There is one thing that is confusing though: Right now a show about African elephants is on, but its not a 16:9 ratio. Its more like the 14:9 (or whatever) that Fox uses. Anybody know if this is a screwup, or is does Discovery not always broadcast at 16:9? Other than the aspect ratio, the PQ definitely looks like very sharp HD to my eyes.

edit: They just went to a commercial and it is 16:9. On returning, I can see that the show is some other ratio. The Discovery logo extends into the black bars on the side in the lower right corner.

Mayest,
I was in the middle of writing an identical post as yours until the commercial came on. I do have another question though, is discovery hd is being sent in 720p or 1080i?

Discovery HD is natively 16:9 1080i. Not sure what's happening with the odd aspect ratio you guys are seeing. Now that it's 6:00 and presumably another show is on, what are you seeing in terms of aspect artio?

Originally posted by entrager
I just noticed last night that VOD was finally lauched in my area (Wheat Ridge). Last night I was able to watch one program (George Carlin special on HBO) before VOD stopped working. Anything else that I picked after that gave an error requesting that I "try again momentarily." Of course, it still didn't work several hours later.

Anyone else having similar issues with VOD?

When we (Denver) got VOD a few weeks ago I got that error a few times in the first day or two it was active. I think it should work itself out.

As for DHD, that was fast! I had it before with D*, and yes, there are a few shows that were shot in other aspect ratios. Almost everything is 16:9 though. I've got to say I'm thoroughly impressed with Comcast cable so far, I've only had it for 2 months and they've added VOD and DHD. That gives me hope that HDNet and the HD recorder could happen some time.

Originally posted by dr_mal
Discovery HD is natively 16:9 1080i. Not sure what's happening with the odd aspect ratio you guys are seeing. Now that it's 6:00 and presumably another show is on, what are you seeing in terms of aspect artio?

I just watched a show about Thailand and it was 16:9. Must have been just that one show. Anyway, I'm very pleased to finally have this channel. The PQ is as good or better than InHD.

I just tried to play Curb Your Enthusiasm on VOD and got the error. I seem to have jinxed it.

Sometimes I have to try 2 or 3 times before I can get it to work without the error message. I havn't called the phone number yet. It seems to be working better today.

Discovery HD is here (Boulder) -- Channel 663

Discovery Channel HD is on here in Littleton also. I haven't seen VOD yet, but a CSR told me Highlands Ranch is scheduled for tomorrow, but I don't know if they are still on schedule, or if that will cover me in Littleton.

Benzyl

Originally posted by Benzyl
I haven't seen VOD yet, but a CSR told me Highlands Ranch is scheduled for tomorrow, but I don't know if they are still on schedule, or if that will cover me in Littleton.

No VOD in the Ranch as of this morning. Must not be on schedule any more.

Anyone else been having problems with HBO-HD? I tried watching T3 a few nights ago and there were breakups every few minutes, very annoying. It was even worse when I checked it last night. That seems to be the only channel that is having that problem.

You're not alone with the breakups. I watched "The Recruit" on Starz the other night and it was nearly unwatchable. I've seen occasional breakups before, but this was really bad and continued throughout the movie. I also notice some, less severe, breakups last night on several channels.

I wonder if we are starting to run into bandwidth constraints with the new VOD and the addition of Discovery HD? Maybe its time to lose a bunch of those PPV channels.

Same problems again here in Westminster.
Had VOOM installed a few days ago no problems on
any of the 38 HD channels and they have 20 more slots open
for more HD content.
Watched Cirque Des Solei(pardon the spelling) on the BRAVOHD+
last night -Spectacular in HD with no commercials.
Best HD picture I have ever seen.

OK talked to a CSR about VOD in the south and she didn't know anything, but she transfered me to a tech. He told me that Highlands Ranch is scheduled for June 30th and Littleton should be covered by that upgrade. He warned that it probably won't work well until after the weekend since it takes 4 or 5 days to work the problems out, but it looks like our area is getting it soon.

Benzyl

Woohoo the Tech was right. The VOD menu is on my system today, it doesn't actually work yet, but anyone in Southern Denver Metro should check to see if they were upgraded.

Benzyl

You know, I saw that the VOD menu existed, but didn't actually try it all the way. I went in to find something for my kids to watch, saw how limited the content was, and went back to live TV. I should have tried just to see if it worked. I did notice that the "Main Menu" selection didn't seem to work.

Originally posted by Benzyl
Woohoo the Tech was right. The VOD menu is on my system today, it doesn't actually work yet, but anyone in Southern Denver Metro should check to see if they were upgraded.

Benzyl

I just checked mine (I'm in HR as well) and not only do I have VOD on the menu, but it WORKS!!! I pulled up an HBO movie, watched it a while, fast forwarded, etc. Then I did the same with a CineMax movie.

Surprisingly cool - but no HD of course - boo hoo.

Anyway, it actually is better than I expected.

My 2 cents

Watched Gothika wide screen last night on VOD, and the picture was terrible. I have a 100" front projection theater so bandwidth artifacts are more noticeable, but this was ridiculous. I would rather drive back and forth to BB and rent a DVD than watch that crap for the convenience of not having to return it:( . Man it makes me mad when these companies show us how good HD or true digital looks and then have junk for SD. Well that was my rant, hopefully with more people buying larger better quality tv's enough complaints of pic quality will force Comcast to do something.

Yeah, I've noticed that the quality isn't the best even on my lil 36" CRT. Good enough to watch a few episodes of Curb or Golf Academy, but I'll pass on the movies. HD has spoiled us.

Why isn't the widescreen version anamorphic. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a widescreen HDTV when you have to watch black bars on all four sides.

Just so folks know or I missed it in the thread somewhere, I checked my box configuration and I've now got Firmware 7.10 here in Boulder. I'm getting a firewire cable and will start trying to record HD via firewire! Yahoo!! (or at least until I figure out I don't have enough Horse Power to play it back). :)

Well I figure I should post this. I got a quick response to my whiny email to KMGH this morning, sounds promising. (On the HD front at least)

From me:

Could you change the time slot you play Jeopardy? At 3:30 people who
are employed with day jobs (the kind who like to watch shows like
Jeopardy) can't watch it. In Colorado Springs they played it at 6:30,
which was perfect. You have Wheel of Fortune at that time, which is
not nearly as good. I'd imagine your ratings would be much better with
Jeopardy. Some dude is tearing it up right now and I have to miss the
whole thing. Just a suggestion.

By the way, you are still the ONLY area network without HD on Comcast.
We're all waiting for you to catch up with technology.

His response:

Unfortunately for some viewers, Jeopardy will remain at 3:30pm.
Perhaps you can record it? We are currently in negotiations with Comcast for our HD signal and hope to have a resolution very soon. Thank you for writing.

So, it sounds like their HD should be up soon, which is good news. I'm probably the only one who cares about Jeopardy. ;)

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
We are currently in negotiations with Comcast for our HD signal and hope to have a resolution very soon.
It would be great if this were true, but I'd love to know the definition of the word "soon". I don't know if their use of the word "very" means anything, since this was their response to me last October:

KMGH HDTV broadcasts will be available to Comcast as soon as the corporate discussions regarding retransmission consent are concluded, which we hope will be soon!

If nothing else, our letters to them will let them know we're still waiting for them to move on this. Thanks.

Most of their programming is awful anyway, I just want it by football time. :)

Me, too. We probably wouldn't get much from KMGH if we said "we never watch you anyway, but if you don't get your HD signal to Comcast, we won't even watch MNF". Oh, well.

Originally posted by gakon
It would be great if this were true, but I'd love to know the definition of the word "soon". I don't know if their use of the word "very" means anything, since this was their response to me last October:

KMGH HDTV broadcasts will be available to Comcast as soon as the corporate discussions regarding retransmission consent are concluded, which we hope will be soon!

If nothing else, our letters to them will let them know we're still waiting for them to move on this. Thanks.
Don't forget their lawyers promised the FCC, in response to a letter writing campaign by local viewers, that they'd have full power OTA soon. For anyone not following the OTA saga, there's another hearing scheduled for later this month. Once that hearing is done, it'll be at least another 12-18 months before that's up and running.

Their definition of "soon" must be in geological terms.

VOD appeared in my area today. They have an HBO/Showtime/Starz section that is free. Is it only because I subscribe? The regular Movie section is PPV. Since I am now spoiled by HDTV, I am not sure I'll be using it much except to catch things I missed.

Yes, you get the HBO/Showtime/Starz VOD because you subscribe. Those of us who don't subscribe don't have that option (it's there, but we can't use it).

OK, I also seem to get Max and TMC free on that menu, even though I don't subscribe to them. Sampling the HBO series, I was disappointed that the episodes are very limited and those they have are a few years old.

Having said that, the HBO VOD has all the episodes of From The Earth To The Moon (till July 25th), and I am going to view those for sure. Saw the first one today. Excellent.

I've been successfully been using a DVI cable on my 6200 since firmware 7.07. My box was "upgraded" to 7.10 (now has VOD) on Thursday. Ever since then, I've been periodically losing the DVI signal. I've called a couple of times and the CSR's have no idea what I'm talking about. Their only solution is to have a service tech come out.

Is there anyone else out there who has gone to 7.10 and is still using DVI?

The component out seems to work fine, it's just the DVI that has no picture.

Thanks

Search around for Motorola and 7.10 - I recall seeing some discussions that referenced bugs in this version of firmware, but I can't recall specifics.

Originally posted by gakon
Search around for Motorola and 7.10 - I recall seeing some discussions that referenced bugs in this version of firmware, but I can't recall specifics.

I read some about Motororla and 7.10 but didn't see anything directly related to what I describe. I suspect that it has to do with HDCP and my Samsung HLN. Comcast is sending out a tech. on Friday and I'll explain the issue. I hope he/she understand. From what I've read, the HLN's are supposed to be HLN compliant.

I was able to get a picture using a component connection.

I know there were some people attempting to get the firewire recording working on their boxes. Does anyone have any updates? Success, failure?


Also is anyone else as excited as me about NBC putting the Olympics on their HD channel 24 hours a day? NBC Olympic Schedule (http://www.nbcolympics.com/tvlistings/index.html) I think this is a great idea, and will give allot of people the chance to showcase the visual splendor of HD to their friends and families. Allot of my friends have not seen the difference of regular TV and HD, I think this will be a great chance to show them.


Benzyl

I know that the NBC web site just shows the highlights of what's to be broadcast on the HD channel, but based on that, I'm not too excited.
Over the course of the 16 days, NBC will have 24 hours a day of the opening ceremonies, gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field, and basketball. The last day gets soccer. There are a whole lot more sports that would be nice to see in HD (as their commercials have been advertising). HOW COULD THEY NOT HAVE WOMEN'S BEACH VOLLEYBALL IN HD?????
Also, I had read that the HD coverage would be delayed further beyond the normal delay (I think this was in the Olympics article on the AVS home page). I'm not sure if I would watch a sport I'm less interested in just because it's on HD over a sport I'm more interested in, in a more timely fashion, on SD.
Finally, just because their HD channel will have this coverage doesn't mean KUSA won't be breaking in to show several hours of news (5 - 9 am, 4 - 6:30 pm - plus Ent. Tonite until 7, and then from 10 - 10:30 pm).
Am I a cynic? Yes. Read back to the posts about KMGH being added to Comcast (earlier this month) to find out at least one reason.

Thanks to AVS member Xrogue, I've figured out my problem.

Xrougue found this article (http://cjhengineering.com/hdtv/cablehdtv/dctfirmware.htm), which exlplained what was going on.

After reading the article, I realized what was happening. Since I used to leave my Motorola 6200 STB on all the time, it was losing the HDCP "handshake" with TV and dropping the DVI connection. A quick fix is to change the TV's input to DVI, unplug the DVI cable and reattach. The long fix will be to modify my remote control power macros to power on/off the cable box in the correct sequence to fix it semi-permanently.

I hope a future firmware upgrade will be the final solution.

Hello all
I'm new to this thread, I read back a few pages and didn't see an answer to this question forgive me if it has already been asked. Does anyone know the roll out schedule for HD north of Denver (Loveland, Ft Collins) area? Comcast is providing Brodband as of June and I'm hoping that HD is not far behind. I currently have E* and want to switch, OTA sucks up here and I NEED HD locals...lol

Thanks for any help.
SG

SG,

The last report I heard was that Comcast has delayed HD in the Ft. Collins area until 2005. I've had broadband from them since 2000, so that doesn't seem to be a good indicator that HD is right around the corner.

There is a Northern Colorado/SE Wyoming thread also that you may want to follow if you aren't already. Not as much activity there as in the Denver threads, of course, so it sometimes gets a bit buried.

Northern Colorado/SE Wyoming Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199726&highlight=northern+co)

Mark

SG,

For me, HD followed internet by a few months. It's probably worth calling a CSR and asking periodically. Comcast.com still shows my address as NOT having HD even though I've had it since January. I live just south of Longmont.

Thanks guys I will keep up with the CSR's. I'm hoping it happens before Football season.
With Dish picking up Altitude (network) will comcast be far behind?

Thanks again

Originally posted by SpacedGhost
With Dish picking up Altitude (network) will comcast be far behind?
I called a guy at Altitude. I posted a more complete report in the Denver Tower thrad.

His impression was that Comcast would be the last carrier to sign on. It's not that they don't want to be on Comcast -- they figure their best shot at having someone carry a hypothetical Altitude-HD is Comcast -- but Comcast isn't the easiest to negotiate with.

He expected both DirecTV and Comcast to sign now that Dish has -- hopefully before the regular season starts. His gut feeling was that if any carrier took longer, though, it would be Comcast.

He said the best thing for us to do is to call our carrier and demand that they carry Altitude. It wouldn't hurt for us to tell them we want it in HD as well.

Hello all

Comcast will be coming soon to install my HDTV here in Aurora. Just wondering if there are any words of wisdom or any special requests I should make.

What model cable box can I expect? Does it have a DVI output? Do they provide cables?


The CSRs don't know much about the hardware at all...

Thx

You should get the 6200 box, component cables and an audio connection cable.

Make sure you ask for a guide that list all the stations for your package otherwise you will spend a lot time learning what's there is available.

Originally posted by GoAvs
I hope a future firmware upgrade will be the final solution.

Many of us HLN owners are hoping for the same thing. I was browsing the Boston Comcast thread and it looks like they could be getting 7.15 as early as next week.

Hi,

I found that my 6200's firmware updated to 7.15 this morning, but was 7.10 last night. My 40K's recording problem seams to be fixed. I will try more tonight.

Xiaoyu,

Originally posted by xiaoyu
Hi,

I found that my 6200's firmware updated to 7.15 this morning, but was 7.10 last night. My 40K's recording problem seams to be fixed. I will try more tonight.

Xiaoyu,

From what I've heard, it's not just Samsungs that are having DVI problems. It's version 7.10 that can't reestablish HDCP authentication (like I really know whay I'm talking about!) if the TV is turned off before the box. Does anyone know if 7.07 (?) even supported HDCP?

I've got a Samsung HL-P5063W with the DVI hooked up and have never had any problems. The picture looks great!

Originally posted by kblee
Many of us HLN owners are hoping for the same thing. I was browsing the Boston Comcast thread and it looks like they could be getting 7.15 as early as next week.

My firmware was upgraded (last night?) to 7.15 and seems to have fixed the DVI/HDCP problem. I'm able to switch between inputs, leaving the STB on, without losing the DVI signal when I switch back.

Looks like the Broncos are playing in HD this coming Monday. Oh wait, we don't get ABC in HD. Not that I'm Broncos fan anyway, but I think it is a good reason to fire off another email to KMGH, I shall.

Here is the link to contact them:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/denvers7/222549/detail.html

I figure if missing the Broncos in HD doesn't get people here fired up enough to let them know, nothing will.

Response:

We share your frustration with no HD signal through Comcast. We are much closer to a resolution and hope to have good news soon. Thank you for writing.

Mickey Petty
Assistant to the General Manager
KMGH-TV, Denver, Colorado
303-832-0221

Well, before they said it would be "very soon," and now are "much closer." They must really be zeroing in on it now. It would be funny if I didn't want to watch their HD football so badly.

Who owns KMGH-TV? If anyone with a Sinclair-owned station gets on a local Comcast system I would like to know. It might help kick-start negotiations in Baltimore.

Thanks,

Rich N.

I think it's McGraw Hill

It turned out to be a lot longer than I had expected, but here's my most recent email to KMGH:

I would like to know what KMGH's plans are for improving its HDTV coverage in the Denver area, especially as Monday Night Football season approaches. Last year, when Comcast started providing HDTV signals, KMGH was advertised as being available, but contract issues prevented that, and all we've heard from either Comcast or KMGH is "we hope to have the issue resolved soon". The availability of KMGH's HD signal over the air is another sore point for many HDTV owners in the Denver area, who can't receive this signal due to location and power level of the transmitter. How will KMGH address this, especially in light of the recent FCC directive to have full power broadcasts available by July 2005 or lose interference protection? Many of us on the edges of the metro area could then receive signals from Cheyenne or Colorado Springs, if those stations chose to take advantage of this rule. I can tell you that I spend very little time watching Standard Definition broadcasts any more, preferring to watch whatever's on HDTV rather than switch to an analog channel. I know that there are others among the HDTV owners in the Denver area who feel the same (Comcast has well over 10,000 HD subscribers in Denver alone, and DirecTV and Echostar have quite a few as well). HDTV owners are probably in a target category for many advertisers, and it would seem that KMGH would be making greater efforts to ensure that the advertisers reached this market, rather than giving us reasons to avoid your broadcasts altogether.

I'll let you know what I hear.

Originally posted by GoAvs
I think it's McGraw Hill
Yup, McGraw Hill does in fact own KMGH :)

Originally posted by gakon



I'll let you know what I hear.

Very well put....doubt we'll get more than the stock "coming soon" answer....but nothing ventured nothing gained.

I've got to imagine that our feedback helps the cause, especially when it is polite and well thought-out like yours. ;) (Not that I'd rant on them or anything)

Here is the response I just received from my most recent e-mail to KMGH:

We are working towards a September 1 start date for our High Definition
programming on Comcast.
Thanks for your interest.

Originally posted by td99
Here is the resonse I just received from my most recent e-mail to KMGH:

We are working towards a September 1 start date for our High Definition
programming on Comcast.
Thanks for your interest.


I'm sorry to be so cynical. but I notice they didn't say what year...

Forgive me for being so gullable, but I'm excited! The first regular season MNF game is on September 4th, we'll see if they make it. Fingers are crossed.

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Forgive me for being so gullable, but I'm excited! The first regular season MNF game is on September 4th, we'll see if they make it. Fingers are crossed.

Forgive me but I can't wait for tonight. This will be my first NFL game in HDTV.:D I just hope it's not 4x3 streched.

Originally posted by Couch Patato
Forgive me but I can't wait for tonight. This will be my first NFL game in HDTV.:D I just hope it's not 4x3 streched.

Sorry to piss on your parade, but tonight's game won't be in HD for us Comcasters. Evidently they hope to have it up by September. Just wait until you see how CBS does it!

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Sorry to piss on your parade, but tonight's game won't be in HD for us Comcasters. Evidently they hope to have it up by September. Just wait until you see how CBS does it!

Sorry to piss on your parade.:( I'm talking OTA with my new Voom rec. I keep up with this thread because I'm still waiting for Comcast to deploy there HD PVR here in Denver. If they beet Voom to the punch I might just drop Voom & go only with Comcast. If not, I'll still always have Comcast basic+. Untill they drop analog altogether.

Originally posted by mjmbond
I'm sorry to be so cynical. but I notice they didn't say what year...

I'm skeptical as well, but the timing does make sense. Its in time for both the new fall schedule and MNF. It will also beat Fox's real HD by a few days (September 12, I think -- hopefully, Fox 31 will lose the weird stretch of SD material on that day).

Any guesses as to the channel number? I'd guess it will be either 652, 656, or 657. I think 652 or 656 would make the most sense as it will keep the major networks right next to each other. However, KMGH already has channels 7 and 207, so they might want to be on 657.

Tim

Originally posted by mayest
It will also beat Fox's real HD by a few days (September 12, I think -- hopefully, Fox 31 will lose the weird stretch of SD material on that day).

I wouldn't count on that. The new Fox HD system only affects shows that are sent by the network in HD. For locally-originated programming, I'm not expecting to see anything different.

Just for confirmation, here's the email I received:

We are in contract negotiations with Comcast to launch HD on the system on September 1. As for over the air signal there is another court hearing scheduled for this Thursday evening with Jefferson County. We are hopeful to receive permission to start construction of the combined tower on Lookout Mountain and provide market wide coverage for over the air customers. Thanks for your interest.
Darrell Brown

I'm going to be a little skeptical until I see MNF in HD, since I think we were this close last year, too. But this is the first time I've seen a date in writing from one of the interested parties. I think he might a little too hopeful that they'll receive approval for construction at this Thursday's meeting (he didn't exactly say that, but it's kind of implied), but that's a topic for another thread.

Couch - I assume the game wasn't 4:3 stretch tonight, was it?

On a side note, can anyone explain why NBC's broadcasts of NASCAR look like crap, while Fox's (earlier in the season) looked like they at least originated in HD (16:9, I think, and at least 480p)? From searching other threads, it looks like NBC did broadcast in widescreen, at least. Is this a KUSA problem? Maybe I should write a letter to them, too.

Originally posted by gakon

Couch - I assume the game wasn't 4:3 stretch tonight, was it?



Nope! It looked great but was NOT in 5.1 here in Denver. Some people around the country got 5.1 but most got DD2.0

Originally posted by gakon
I think he might a little too hopeful that they'll receive approval for construction at this Thursday's meeting (he didn't exactly say that, but it's kind of implied), but that's a topic for another thread.
He could well be too hopeful.

<OT for Comcast viewers ahead>
The Reader's Digest version of the current state of the tower:

They got permission last summer to start construction of the OTA tower. A judge said the commissioners didn't properly consider some people's opinions. The hearing this week is for the commissioners to hear some more testimony -- limited in scope -- and then make up their minds all over again. It's possible, but IMHO not likely, for the commissioners to make a decision on Thursday night. In my mind, this could go a couple ways:

* The commissioners get POd at the judge for questioning their decision-making process and render the same decision as last year very quickly for spite.
* The commissioners hear something compelling and render the opposite decision, and figure they'll let their successors worry about a new round of hearings next summer.
* The commissioners hear some testimony on Thursday, and continue the hearings for another month. A month from now, they take a while to deliberate, and come up with the only rational decision -- to let the tower get built.

Who knows. Whatever happens, you know sCARE will be filing more lawsuits and dragging this thing on for a long while.
<end OT>

In the meantime, a big congrats to those of you with Comcast HD -- you'll soon be joining the ranks of the "lucky 13" who are able to receive KMGH-HD OTA. Enjoy your MNF.

I already have Comcast analog cable, and use a Samsung SIR-T150 for over-the-air HDTV (without KMGH of course). I am intrigued about the possibility of finally being able to see MNF in HDTV in September, if the deal described above holds true. My questions are:
1. If I were to buy an HDTV cable ready receiver such as one of the LG models that receive ASTC-QAM cable, would I be able to get the local HDTV channels out of the box, or is the signal scrambled, forcing me to contact Comcast so they could sync with my receiver?
2. Also, what is the additonal cost for HDTV locals?
3. Do you have to subscribe to the Digital plans that they seem to push you into on the Comcast web site?

Many thanks in advance!

Originally posted by BrianRL
I already have Comcast analog cable, and use a Samsung SIR-T150 for over-the-air HDTV (without KMGH of course). I am intrigued about the possibility of finally being able to see MNF in HDTV in September, if the deal described above holds true. My questions are:
1. If I were to buy an HDTV cable ready receiver such as one of the LG models that receive ASTC-QAM cable, would I be able to get the local HDTV channels out of the box, or is the signal scrambled, forcing me to contact Comcast so they could sync with my receiver?
2. Also, what is the additonal cost for HDTV locals?
3. Do you have to subscribe to the Digital plans that they seem to push you into on the Comcast web site?

Many thanks in advance!

Comcast can probably answer your questions best, but:

1) You should be able to get locals with any QAM tuner, but not DiscoveryHD, INHD 1 & 2 or ESPN.

2&3) No extra charge for locals if you rent the HD box ($10 per Mo). I believe that they do now require you to have one of thier Digital Packages if you want DiscoveryHD, INHD 1 & 2 or ESPN, but they don't if you simply want the locals + box rental.

1. Don't know, although I probably should learn. How much do these boxes run?
2 and 3. I assume you want to keep your current analog service, which is probably "expanded basic". That does mean that you need to upgrade to Digital cable, which, is about $10/month more than the "expanded basic" service, plus $5 more for the HDTV box (total is about $55/month). If you don't get a digital package (as mentioned above), you pay more for the box rental and get fewer channels. You probably won't miss the InHD's, but the other two are good. An alternative is to just get the "lifeline" package plus HD, but then you would only get a limited number of analog channels (not much more than locals), and you wouldn't get the InHD's, ESPN HD, or Discovery HD.

I get HD locals pretty well - I even get KMGH pretty reliably but not without frequent breakups and audio glitches (small glitch every couple minutes). It's often enough to be annoying and not good enough to show off to friends or invest $1000 in an HD-TiVo to timeshift.

So with that said, if I wanted to get ONLY HD locals from Comcast, could I do that for $10/mo? Would there be any other charges? tax, fees, etc?

I would be tempted if they got KMGH in time for MNF.

Usually it costs about 21.00 a month for Locals in HD because you'd have to sub to Basic Cable at 13.44 and then if you used their HD STB you'd have to pay like 6.75 a month rental on it. On a bill that small, taxes and fees are less than 1.00 more. Thats all I paid for a number of months and it even included all the HD versions of the movie channels and the InHD's etc because all those were in free preview. Nowadays they're not though.

Then of course get a CSR that isnt so clueless as to not allow you to sub to ONLY that. Sometimes naturally they'll insist incorrectly that you need a Digital Cable Package of some sort even just for HD Locals.

Dan, thanks for the details on packages/charges. For $21/mo I think I'll try a bigger antenna/amp for OTA first. I'm running a Radio Shack double bow tie on top of the entertainment center right now.

Yeah if you had something say maybe in the attic you'd prolly be fine since you get it as good as you do with just the indoor DBT. Plus Highlands Ranch in general is about as good a place as any to get 17 from to begin with.

I'm at Chatfield and Wadsworth with a bigger roof mounted BT and get 17 just fine.

I was just in the Costco (S. Wadsworth and Quincy) and when I came out, there was a KMGH news van right next to my truck. They were setting up a camera for a story about a zoning change. Anyway, I asked Tony Kovaleski about being on Comcast in the next few weeks. He confirmed it, and was very happy to hear that there are a bunch of us eagerly awaiting their arrival to the 21st century. Both he and the camerawoman seemed very excited to get HD on Comcast.

I guess this isn't a big deal, but I'm certainly less skeptical than I was before.

Tim

P.S. For any OTA guys lurking here, Tony was joking about their "little antenna that can be picked up for about four or five blocks around the station." I guess he feels your pain. :-)

Can you believe KCNC switching to the preseason Bronco game? Un-freaking believable!

This must be some sick joke. KCNC just switched over to a preseason Donkeys vs. Bills game, just before the last group putted in the PGA championship. I now see that they're in a 3-way playoff, and we don't get to watch it. Weak with extra weak sauce.

That would be a contractual obligation. They had no choice in the matter.

I used to have directv but i just got a new HDTV so i need to upgrade my service. directv will give me $150 off the OTA box making it $200 and 6 moths free hdtv. with comcast i dont need to buy any hardware. what is my best option? i live in in a loft in Lower Downtown, can I get all the channels OTA? also the directv guy told me that satellite has better HDTV PQ because many lines get lost when using cable for HDTV, is that true or is he full of it? also i thought i read on here somewhere that people in denver had HDTV DVRs from comcast, but they told me they were not available.

thanks a ton for any answers, i could maybe figure this all out by reading all these threads but i dont have time to read 700 posts.

flerve,

I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of D* vs Comcast HDTV. That said, from what I've read most people seem to think the PQ is equal or slightly better on cable. Comcast does not compress the signal in any way (they deliver whatever they get). For locals, though, you need to compare your OTA reception to cable. I've seen many people claim that OTA has slightly better PQ than cable.

In your situation, I think the choice comes down to whether or not you can get good OTA reception of the digital locals. You might, or might not if you have serious multipath problems due to surrounding buildings.

I can tell you that Comcast HDTV has been wonderful for me. Also, we should get KMGH on about September 1 (I'm still a bit skeptical). That will give us a pretty good lineup.

Tim

I switched from D* to C* and have been quite happy. Their cable internet is a must-have IMO, and I think they package it together. You should also be able to get a discount if you tell them that you're switching from D*. I did that when I swictched, I'd imagine they're still offering it.

VOD is also kind of nice, still not a PVR, but someday we might get that as well. HD channel selection seems better, though I do miss HDNet.

Hello all,

Does anyone have even a ballpark idea of when Comcast's HD DVR will come out in the Denver area? . . . I currently have D*, but I'm getting frustrated with poor OTA reception for HD locals, and the HD Tivo is too expensive currently.

Thanks in advance,
N

I see Best Buy has some Cable Card TVs finally for sale.

Is Denver Comcast Cable Card ready?

Originally posted by N123

Does anyone have even a ballpark idea of when Comcast's HD DVR will come out in the Denver area?


A Comcast rep told me the DVR should be released in Denver somtime in December.

He seemed fairly knowledgable, but unfortunately also said no agreement had been reached between KMGH and Comcast. When I asked about TNT HD, he said all their rescources are currently working on an agreement with KMGH, and he expected TNT HD would be the next target. (I would be surprised that all their resources would be working on KMGH, but that is what he said.)

Originally posted by td99
A Comcast rep told me the DVR should be released in Denver somtime in December.

He seemed fairly knowledgable, but unfortunately also said no agreement had been reached between KMGH and Comcast. When I asked about TNT HD, he said all their rescources are currently working on an agreement with KMGH, and he expected TNT HD would be the next target. (I would be surprised that all their resources would be working on KMGH, but that is what he said.)

All their resources = 1 person? ;) or maybe just a part timer

Speaking of the upcoming Comcast DVR, is this going to be a Moxi unit or something else? Anyone have any details?

Previous posts have mentioned the Motorola 6208, but that was close to six months ago. Motorola's web site also lists the 6412, but I'm not sure if that's a huge improvement (dual tuners, 120 gig hard drive vs. 80 gig for the 6208). The web site indicates that the 6412 can hold 12 - 20 hours of HD programming - I assume that when you get 20 hours, you may not be getting the best PQ.

Does anyone know what people in other areas are paying extra for the 6208? That will be awesome if/when they start offering one.

Best guess on cost for the DVR, $5 above the cost for the 6200 HD STB.

Best guess on the software for the 6208/6412 (I don't know which you will get, we have the 6208 in Baltimore) is the new IGuide, not as good as Microsoft Foundation but better than what we have on the 6208s now.

Rich N.

Well, it's finally here!

KMGH is on channel 652. I'm not sure when it started, but I just noticed it tonight after a week out of town.

Yahoooo!! It's about f***ing time.

Thanks for letting us know.

Darn! I was just flipping channels, found KMGH and was hoping to be the first to report it. Anyway, this is great news.

The bad news is that they are stretching the SD stuff. Did they learn nothing from the months of griping about ESPN's stretch? I guess I'll have to write and complain.

Edit: For anybody wanting to complain, here's the Web address:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/denvers7/222549/detail.html

Also, should we complain directly to the news talent? I really wanted to see a nice, clear picture of Anne Trujillo. Now, she'll look fat.

Tim

Originally posted by mayest

The bad news is that they are stretching the SD stuff. Did they learn nothing from the months of griping about ESPN's stretch?

Apparently not. They've been doin it that way since they launched that signal 5 years ago.

Course they have a non stretched sub-channel (7.2 OTA) but it looks like hell too (worse really than an overly compressed DBS local SD channel) and as such serves no purpose other than stealing bits away from the main channel.

It'd probably cost them $400,000 to stop stretching the picture.

(It's OK -- you can ignore the comment from the bitter OTA guy)

Originally posted by dr_mal
It'd probably cost them $400,000 to stop stretching the picture.

(It's OK -- you can ignore the comment from the bitter OTA guy)

Don't get me wrong....I'm still rooting for the new OTA antenna.

I don't plan on always suckling from the Comcast teat. :p

Anybody notice the new 652? Looks like the September 1st date was not only met, but actually beat! Looks like they are stretching non-HD content though, can't have everything.

It looks like KDVR (Fox 31) is testing the splicer that will be used for Fox HD programming. They currently have news on the analog channel and Mad TV on the digital channel (655). Its not in HD, but I assume that it must be the national feed on 655 which would mean they are testing it, right?

Tim

Please email KMGH and complain about the stretched SD signal.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/den...549/detail.html (http://)

My wife says, Oprah is in one of her skinny phases and this will put that 25 lbs right back on her.

Good luck with the complaints to KMGH...we've been complaining to them for years, and you can now see how much good it has done...

Anybody notice the new 652? Looks like the September 1st date was not only met, but actually beat! Looks like they are stretching non-HD content though, can't have everything.

Looks like "The Practice" is in real HD, no more stretched SD junk! Appears sometime around prime-time the "switch" was made.

The Little League world series did look awful this afternoon..I also think it was zoomed in as well as stretched. The top 1" or so was cut off.

Looks great now!! :D

Followup - no sooner I submit this post, looks like Comcast or KMGH switched it back to the zoomed / stretched image! Right in the middle of a commercial break, ~9:45pm MT. Then after the commercial break the show was in HD again. Strange...

We finally get to see MNF in HD starting tomorrow night and all (almost) everyone can do is complain about how they're stretching SD. What's wrong with the SD channel for watching SD programming? Is the HD channel really that much better for SD?

And to the skeptics - :p (j/k)

KenG - that's what KMGH does. All local content and all SD content is stretched and zoomed. And, to make it even worse, the picture is then shifted up 10-15% so that the tickertape that they run on the bottom of the screen during their newscasts can be seen. Absolute worst of all possible worlds. All national content will be 4x3 with the black side bars. And, of course, all HD content will be HD.

Well, I got a reply to my e-mail to KMGH about the stretch.

Thanks Tim. I'll pass your comments on to the engineers.

Now, I know that doesn't mean anything, but at least Darrell Brown (or a surrogate) is responding to e-mails. Who knows, maybe they will change the stretch eventually.

Tim

I happened to still have KMGH on after MNF and they just did a bit during their news about their HD channel on Comcast, then followed it with a consumer report on buying an HD monitor. Some of what they said was a bit misleading. For example, they seem to be under the impression that the only ABC programs available in HD are Monday Night Football and NYPD Blue and that "it may take some time before other shows are." Did anyone else see that?

Greetings, fellow Coloradans. After lurking AVS for several months, I finally broke down and bought our first HD tv (HLP4663) and had my HD comcast box hooked up last Friday. As for the DLP, I had the HR CC sell it to me for the AVS powerbuy price. I really wanted the 4674 (H2+ chip), but couldn't hold out any longer for its release. If a firm release comes out of CEDIA, maybe I'll return the 63.

Well, my wife saw the KMGH news tonight and was confused as well about the HD segment. Notwithstanding KMGH, overall I'm quite pleased with the HD content currently broadcast through Comcast, well worth the $5 per month IMO. In fact, the HD channels seem to be the only ones I flip between. Right now I'm hooked up via DVI but need to compare to component.

One question for the locals, is anyone aware of what additional channels are in the HD pipeline through Comcast?

I know that KWGN and TNT-HD are both out there, but I think they both have limited HD content. Bravo HD is also available, and I've seen some mention of FSN-HD, but I'm guessing that the Rocky Mountain version of that is not available in HD yet. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be bugging Comcast about getting them added. I don't believe that Comcast would add HDNet, since it already has InHD 1 and 2.

Has anyone heard anything about HDNets on Comcast? Those are the only ones I'd really like them to add. As I understand it, InHDs are "cable only," but the HDNets are not exclusively satellite. My friends in Kansas City can get both on Time Warner Cable, having both here would be great.

Well, KWGN has the Paramount HD One movie package which has some classic Paramount movies (Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Godfather) in OAR and very good looking HD. That's in addition to the WB national HD lineup, which is pretty complete, especially for a newer network. (I watch Smallville and Gilmore Girls in HD regularly from KWGN)

gakon's right -- there's no HD version of FSN right now. After losing the Avs and Nuggets games, not sure if there's even a market for FSN, let alone FSN-HD.

Originally posted by Cynergy73
Anybody notice the new 652? Looks like the September 1st date was not only met, but actually beat! Looks like they are stretching non-HD content though, can't have everything.

I noticed this yesterday, but I have had the "this channel should be available shortly" display and I haven't seen an actual broadcast yet. What's the deal?

I've had no problems receiving 652. MNF looked great, although there were frequent audio dropouts. Call Comcast.

I wrote to Comcast asking about their plans for KWGN, TNT, and Bravo, and got a canned response thanking me for my interest. That was via the feedback link on comcast.com, which is probably a nationwide website, and not geared toward the specifics of local areas. There's no feedback section on the comcastcolorado website (which hasn't been updated in a long time), so I'll have to find another way to contact (other than calling).

Ok, now that we have all the major networks, we should put pressure on them to FINALLY get DVR's in Denver...

I've been waiting for over a year and they keep pushing back the date. Many other places aroud the country have the 6208, why can't we! I don't care about waiting for the two tuner version, Survivor starts in a couple of weeks.

I had the Dish PVR and it truly changes the way you watch TV.

CSR would only commit to "by the end of the year" for the DVR's. I bet you'll miss Survivor. Also, she would provide no information about new HD channels. It seemed like she was reading from a script, touting the fact that they have added 3 new channels in the past few months (I think it's only 2 - Discovery and KMGH). But it wouldn't hurt if the readers of this thread called or emailed Comcast to ask them to add specific HD channels. At least it helps pass the time, and sometimes you get a CSR more knowledgeable, or at least willing to share more information.

YourUserName: Did you ever get 652 to work?

Well, that's better than my last call to them a couple of weeks ago. The CSR I spoke with was saying "early next year"...

perhaps our emails worked! as of today, 652 is no longer applying the stretch to standard def broadcasts, it has been replaced with a 4x3 picture w/ black bars. this is the case w/ local and national standard def broadcasts. this is a major improvement, and i am shocked at how quickly the problem was corrected.

brett

It might have been e-mailing them but I'll bet it had something to do with the contract for Comcast to carry KMGH. It has been stetched for a very long time OTA. As soon as Comcast started they quit stretching it. Either that or with SO many more people getting it through Comcast. The complaints about it shot sky high.:D


Now I wish KWGN would quit the stetch OTA. :mad:

I still don't get the channel. :( I called Comcast and they said no one else is having probelms and sent a signal to my box. It didn't work. I guess I need to get a guy out here. It is just strange that only that channel and only at my house is there trouble.

Originally posted by Couch Patato
It might have been e-mailing them but I'll bet it had something to do with the contract for Comcast to carry KMGH. It has been stetched for a very long time OTA. As soon as Comcast started they quit stretching it. Either that or with SO many more people getting it through Comcast. The complaints about it shot sky high.:D


Now I wish KWGN would quit the stetch OTA. :mad:

Ok, folks, I'm officially taking credit for KMGH losing the stretch. I think my e-mail saying that I didn't like seeing Anne Trujillo looking fat did the job. My theory is that she saw my e-mail, checked out the picture, was horrified, and the change was made.

You're all welcome. :D

Tim

Originally posted by mayest
Ok, folks, I'm officially taking credit for KMGH losing the stretch. I think my e-mail saying that I didn't like seeing Anne Trujillo looking fat did the job. My theory is that she saw my e-mail, checked out the picture, was horrified, and the change was made.

You're all welcome. :D

Tim
Good work Tim!

Now what can you do about their lack of OTA strength? ;)