I just bought a TivoHD on eBay. Was this a good move considering the pending Comcast Tivo release? The girlfriend has regular Tivo, and it has been agonizing to use her service, then come home to the regular Comcast DVR. On top of that, my Comcast DVR goes from 0% storage to 82% storage after recording one program.

Has anyone had any dealings with the Brentwood Comcast office in obtaining an M-card?

I've read discussion on here regarding M-cards vs. 2 S-cards. Are you able to use one M-card on TivoHD and still record two HD programs while watching a third?

What charges should I see removed from my Comcast bill other than the $9.95 monthly DVR fee?

Thanks in advance,
jag
I agree about the problems with the regular Comcast DVR. It should be better with TiVo software, but how much better remains to be seen. The TiVo HD has more storage capacity than the Comcast DVR I had a year ago, but I understand that their current DVRs have more capacity. The TiVo HD capacity is expandable with an external hard drive; I don't know about the Comcast box. TiVo HD capacity is also expandable internally if you don't mind voiding the warranty.

I have picked up stuff at the Brentwood office and like it--usually no waiting. The last time was about 3 months ago, at which time they didn't have M-cards. I understand they are available now at the main office, but better to call first about Brentwood.

In a TiVo HD, one M-card replaces two S-cards and has full dual tuner capability.

If you find out about the Comcast charge for a M-card, please post it. I have a TiVo Series 3 with two S-cards, and a TiVo HD that I'm using without cablecards. I'd like to find out whether a M-card for the THD would be free, or would be charged as an additional outlet.

I understand that, that is why I had to get the cablecard to begin with :) . I was hoping the QAM tuner could still be used for those "other" channels - but it can't.

Dennis
Sorry, I didn't mean to state the obvious. I had the same question when I first installed cablecards in my S3.

Did you get a good deal? They are around $250 delivered with no tax on Amazon.

I was told there was no guarantee that any of the local offices would have any M-cards. If you call Comcast they can verify that cards are in stock at the locations, but they have no way to know which cards are there.

If you have one M-card that is all you need and you can record 2 shows (analog or digital) at the same time while watching a 3rd previously recorded show.

The first cablecard is supposed to be free, so I would assume the DVR charge goes away and nothing takes its place - but Comcast is very flakey on what they charge to whom and why, so you could end up with additional charges you may have to fight with them about.

You WILL pick up a new bill from Tivo for service - either $15 a month or a pre-pay bill (normally $179 per year for discounted to $129 until early next year).

Dennis

I got it for basically the same price Amazon is offering. I didn't realize Amazon had that discount, but figured I was getting a deal nonetheless since it retails at $299.

If you go month to month w/Tivo, the charges are approx $15?? I'm assuming it's better to purchase a year contract instead. I bought Tivo for the girlfriend last year, and purchased a contract for around $199. I think it was for two years, but not sure now.

I agree about the problems with the regular Comcast DVR. It should be better with TiVo software, but how much better remains to be seen. The TiVo HD has more storage capacity than the Comcast DVR I had a year ago, but I understand that their current DVRs have more capacity. The TiVo HD capacity is expandable with an external hard drive; I don't know about the Comcast box. TiVo HD capacity is also expandable internally if you don't mind voiding the warranty.

I have picked up stuff at the Brentwood office and like it--usually no waiting. The last time was about 3 months ago, at which time they didn't have M-cards. I understand they are available now at the main office, but better to call first about Brentwood.

In a TiVo HD, one M-card replaces two S-cards and has full dual tuner capability.

If you find out about the Comcast charge for a M-card, please post it. I have a TiVo Series 3 with two S-cards, and a TiVo HD that I'm using without cablecards. I'd like to find out whether a M-card for the THD would be free, or would be charged as an additional outlet.

There never seems to be a wait at the Brentwood office. Unfortunately, I only recently learned about it after numerous agonizing visits to Metrocenter.

Can you attach a WD external hard drive to THD via USB and use it as extra storage? Is it that simple, or is there some configuring involved?

I really like Tivo's service and hate my Comcast DVR. However, I'm concerned the new Comcast Tivo boxes are going to work well, which means I,m wasting time and money on the THD.

Tivo is having a pre-paid "sale" until Feb 08 (I think), the pre-paid is $129 rather than $179 for 1 year. 2 year is discounted as well. The month to month is discounted to $12.99 per month.

If you put both boxes in your name you can get the multi-service discount rate on the 2nd (and 3rd, etc) box. That makes it $9.95 per month or $99 for a 1yr pre-pay.

Dennis

There never seems to be a wait at the Brentwood office. Unfortunately, I only recently learned about it after numerous agonizing visits to Metrocenter.

Can you attach a WD external hard drive to THD via USB and use it as extra storage? Is it that simple, or is there some configuring involved?

I really like Tivo's service and hate my Comcast DVR. However, I'm concerned the new Comcast Tivo boxes are going to work well, which means I,m wasting time and money on the THD.

Don't go on Friday or any other day that might be "pay day" - it seems the majority of folks I see in line are paying their bill or paying to get service turned back on. Don't go at lunch, either. I stopped in around 11am to get my cablecard and parked right in front and walked in to see no one in line. I was in and out really quick.

If you don't get the overpriced WD/Tivo e-sata drive ($200 for 500gb) then you have to remove the OEM drive and put both drives into a PC and run some LINUX software on them to make it work. So for most folks, they just get the external e-sata drive from WD - or if they are going to crack open the box, just install a larger internal drive. The USB ports can't be used for an external drive, only the e-sata port.

We have been waiting for the Comcast Tivo box for years and it still is not here. With the discount rate and possible multi-service discount you will be paying no more per month for your own Tivo than you would for any Comcast DVR. You do lose the on demand stuff with your own Tivo.

Dennis

I have the overpriced WD external drive for the TiVoHD and love it. Yes, I could have gone the route I did w/my S2 and replace the drive etc etc but chose the more expensive route just for convenience. The HD is easy to plug in - turn on - a few clicks and voila - more space than you could use. 80hours of HD content? - if you're recording more than that then when the hell are you going to watch it and get caught up? And if you wanna record all SD shows then you get just over 30 DAYS of 24x7 recording available to you. If I wasn't able to xfr my lifetime to the TivoHD i WOULD WAIT for the comcast tivo box since it's being rolled out now (www.comcast.com/gettivo) and if you're just buying a new box and going to pay the monthly tivo fees you'll be paying a LONG time to recover your $ vs getting the ComcastTivo box (even with the extra fees from comcast). cheers.

I have a 500 gb WD external HD. I'm not familiar with 'e-sata,' but maybe mine will work. It's the black one in the shape of a book, with (i think) a green circle on the ridge.

Do we know of any additional charges Comcast is going to roll out with the new Tivo boxes, or will the DVR service remain at $9.95/month?

I have a 500 gb WD external HD. I'm not familiar with 'e-sata,' but maybe mine will work. It's the black one in the shape of a book, with (i think) a green circle on the ridge.

Do we know of any additional charges Comcast is going to roll out with the new Tivo boxes, or will the DVR service remain at $9.95/month?

If your book isn't eSATA it won't have a chance of working. Even then the SATA cable might not play 'nice' with TiVo. But if it's eSATA then try plugging it in and seeing if it'll 'see' it!

It's rumored there will be a premium for those that want the TiVo functionality but that price has yet to be known. So yes, it will be more than 9.95 per month.

I have a 500 gb WD external HD. I'm not familiar with 'e-sata,' but maybe mine will work. It's the black one in the shape of a book, with (i think) a green circle on the ridge.


It will not work on a Tivo HD. Tivo HD can ONLY use Tivo approved drives, and the only currently approved one is the WD My DVR Expander 500G. No other external drive will work without removing the internal drive and running special software to "marry" the drives.

I am having a problem receiving channels 1-2 and 1-5. I pay $12/month and have a clear QAM ATSC tuner and have received these channels before until this weekend. Is there anyone else having this problem?

Could be a weak signal from Comcast or a problem in your cabling or wiring. The fact that it did work probably means it is on Comcast's end.

To check, what do you have between the cable entry point to your home and the QAM tuner? If you have amps and splitters then I would remove them and connect the tuner up direct to the cable as it enters the home and see if the channels then come in OK. If so, then you have some work to do in the house. If there is nothing in between or when you bypass it things still don't come in, then try another QAM tuner if you can, but you will likely have to have Comcast come out for a service call.

Dennis

wkrn will be airing the titans game tonight in HD on their digital channel. it's 92.2 for me.

I don't know if you can count on it beinng in HD or not, just "digital". In the past on games carried on ESPN they did not have an HD feed of the game, but perhaps they will tonight.

Dennis

Maybe they are taking the ESPNHD feed which different from the SD feed, I think. ;)

I got my new Comcast bill in today's mail. Last month I purchased an HD Tivo and transferred my old series one (circa 2000) lifetime service to it. I picked up an m-card at the Metro Center Comcast office. I have the $11.95 limited basic service.

The good news: No extra charge per month on the bill for the cablecard, still the same charge for the cable service.

The bad news: A $1.99 "one time charge" appears on my bill this month detailed as "change of service".

This is the first I have heard of them sticking a charge on my bill for getting a cable (which I picked up and installed myself). I may call them on it, but may not bother since I have what I wanted - locals in HD with the Tivo program guide - and no extra recurring fees.

Dennis

This thread has been inactive for awhile, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has any knowledge on upcoming HD channels to Nashville.
My emails to Comcast always get non-commital responses. ("you will get a message on your box or in your bill on upcoming additions"):(

I recently bought two inexpensive HDTVs that have clear QAM tuners. The Element 22" finds nearly all the locals in HD as 1-1 through 1-8 but the Symphonic WF32L6 finds them at 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, 93-2 and so forth. Is there some reason why this would happen?

Thanks!

John Hansen

espn and espn2 have been down all day

I still don't understand when Comcast-Nashville won't offer sports PPVs in HD or why Comcast nationwide won't offer HDNet.

I'm considering another company b/c of this.

the basketball scoreboard type screen above the desk on wsmv doesn't make any sense to me. seems like a waste.

Just turned on the plasma and Comcast has added USA, History, Discovery, SciFi and the Animal Planet:):)

Are the new in channels in clear QAM?

Dennis

Just turned on the plasma and Comcast has added USA, History, Discovery, SciFi and the Animal Planet:):)

Comcast must've sensed me seriously studying the satellite TV brochures! :)

Hot Dog! Sci-Fi, USA, ANimal Planet, History Channel, & Discovery are there in my HDTivo (w/no guide info) and on my Comcast box (w/no channel tag or guide info). I was peeved reading engadgethd about other areas getting those stations on comcast so FINALLY Sci-FI and USA - NOW if only FX would get HD I'd be REALLY happy!

I just purchased a Samsung LN-T4671F.

I ran the autoprogram function and have found all of the QAM stations.

On all of the stations that the tv identifies as having digital sound I get a great picture, but no sound.

Is this because I do not have the correct set up / settings to hear it or are they channels I shouldn't be getting at all?

Some of them are: 83-6 / Court-TV, 83-3 / Oxygen, 82-10 E! and a bunch of others.

Thanks.

Just turned on the plasma and Comcast has added USA, History, Discovery, SciFi and the Animal Planet:):)

I'm glad you posted this. I didn't even notice, as I always pull up my personal guide.

Comcast should notify people when this happens.

I'm glad you posted this. I didn't even notice, as I always pull up my personal guide.

Comcast should notify people when this happens.
Yep. I just now noticed it and I've been itching for more channels. I looked on the recent bill: nothing. Not even one of those messages I never check on the box.

While I'm extremely grateful for the new channels I wonder why CNN-HD wasn't included. It has been one of the first new HD channels Comcast seems to add in other cities.
Also I noticed a new channel - 920, which has "to be announced" program information.

I also question the arrangement of channels, which is very random, why are they dividing up HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and Starz? They seem to be in more logical order in other cities.
I guess they will realign them soon as they add more HD channels, there doesn't seem to be room to add 20+ HD channels with the current numbering system, and Comcast has a long way to go to catch up with Direct TV's HD line up.

Still no program guide information (at least for us Tivo users). It used to be pretty instantaneous...now it seems like it takes a week.

I'm wondering where the guide info is too for my HDTiVo's

The guide info finally showed up last night (along with a Tivo channel addition announcement).

This is going to force me to add a hard drive to my main Series 3. My wife and I watch a lot of Discovery. Now that I'm changing the season passes for Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch to their HD counterparts, I'm going to run out of room in a hurry.

I've not taken the time to look through all four years of this thread, but is it just me or is comcast REALLY compressing a lot of the HD signals? I'm getting a lot of artifacts on fast movements and it's not my tv. Seems like it's only on some stations and a lot on the on demand HD.

The ondemand, because its to be downloaded, sometimes has compression issues that are pretty glaring.

But all stations really vary in terms of compression and depending on shows. Local news, and new primetime shows rarely suffer compression issues for me, but reruns and old old movies are sometimes terrible. Ad when theres a game on, quality is generally very good.

With HD and bandwidth issues, compression of second rate crappy shows is inevitable. Until we get SDV, maybe that will fix it.

And I am not sure its necessarily a Comcast issue, as over Xmas I saw both DirecTV HD and Fios HD with similar issues, so I think its a network issue, not a provider issue sometimes.

And I am not sure its necessarily a Comcast issue, as over Xmas I saw both DirecTV HD and Fios HD with similar issues, so I think its a network issue, not a provider issue sometimes.

Yep, and the quality of each of our local feeds varies a bit in part due to some stations broadcasting multiple channels at the same time (i.e. Nashville WX - WKRN, Telemundo-WSMV) which reduces the available bandwidth for the HDTV feed.

It was readily apparrent during the Patriots-Giants game a couple weeks ago, both CBS and NBC were simulcasting the NFL network feed, and the quality on WTVF/CBS was noticeably better on our 100" projection screen, especially during fast motion sequences than on NBC/WSMV. It's not quite as noticeable on smaller HDTV's.

Folks all over the country have long complained about the bandwidth on NBC that shows up BAD on SNF. I watched the game off of D* NFL Network HD but compared the signal to the OTA 4 and 5 signals and as you stated, the 4 signal was inferior.

Dennis

I haven't seen this refered to around here but I noticed that WKRN is finally broadcasting Wheel of Fortune in HD. And WNPT is showing The NewsHour in HD as well (that's been up for a few weeks now). Kinda funny that PBS's evening news show is now in HD but ABC and CBS are still behind the curve.

What stations should I be getting with TivoHD and a MCC if I only have Basic & Extended service with Comcast Nashville.

Currently I get:

2 thru 99

105, 107, 137, 179

Many 200s
less 201, 210, 215, 219, 223, 227, 261 thru 299

No 300s (Premium)

401 thru 448 (Music)

The reason I ask is I was trying to set up a MCC on another TivoHD in Hendersonville and coverage was sparce in the 200s. And I was seeing 201 (NFL) and 210 (NGHD) with no sound. I concluded it is a bad CC and I'm taking it back this week, I just want to make sure what I've been getting is what everybody else has been getting.

Thanks

Hey, what gives with the no HD on Fox for the pre-game NFC Championship game show? Hopefully this won't be a harbinger of the actual game.

I have a feeling that they are having a problem with the HD feed. There was a long pause on black and a couple of pops and I thought it would come back in HD. No luck.

I've checked satellite, cable and OTA. Have any idea how to contact them?

ETA: Just spoke with engineering and they've fixed it.

Enjoy, Rick!!

;)

Gee, you got the phone number for engineering? That's wasn't on their web site. I tried the main number with no success. Thanks for getting through to them.

Gee, you got the phone number for engineering? That's wasn't on their web site. I tried the main number with no success. Thanks for getting through to them.Phoned main number, punched number for news and asked for a transfer.

Is anyone having trouble with FOX HD tonight? Both of my records for Prison Break and Terminator were unwatchable due to freezes in video and audio. I've hard artifacts before but never this bad.

Is anyone having trouble with FOX HD tonight? Both of my records for Prison Break and Terminator were unwatchable due to freezes in video and audio. I've hard artifacts before but never this bad.

I am an OTA viewer, and I got the same results you did. I recorded the FOX OTA Feed of Terminator, and it had freezes in it as well. I don't know if it was the station or the network.

NashDigie signing off.

I was watching using Dish HD, and I encountered the same problems. I was able to watch all of Teminator, but it was difficult at times.

I think I have some Fox shows on the HD Tivos but have not watched them yet, but I did notice on clear QAM this morning when I check there were lots of freezes in a SD show (Matlock, I think).

My guess is that the station is having issues, if OTA, cable, and sat users all are having problems :mad: .

One of the downsides to Tivo time-shifting is when something like this happens you can't go back and record the SD feed so you can watch the show. If you were watching live you could just change channels.

Dennis

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it... but Fox 17 is doing a MAJOR overhaul of their master control. They are going digital...and when done... they will be able to switch both HD and SD in house. Right now, all kinds of cables and equipment are being re-routed and moved around.

Whats the difference between Comcast's Full Basic vs Digital Starter package if using a cable card and no box? Do you get more HD channels in the DS Package? They are both listed at the same price of $52.50 per month

Whats the difference between Comcast's Full Basic vs Digital Starter package if using a cable card and no box? Do you get more HD channels in the DS Package? They are both listed at the same price of $52.50 per month

I think they both get the same channels. However the digital uses a box, and the other does not. And the digital gets you QAM HD channels (locals only) if your TV supports it, but no actual HD channels in the guide.

My question is how much is HD with and without the DVR package.

hello everyone -- i have an HDTV, live in the Forest Hills area and just bought a OTA indoor antenna -- the Terk HDTVa -- i only receive 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2 -- no channel 5, 17 in HD -- channel 58 shows up in my list, but it doesn't come through at all.

I have an attic antenna that is old and huge -- i wonder if i could convert it to catch the signals? the wire that it connects to isn't coax, it's a weird six-pronged connection that looks like two "^"s on top of each other.

anyway -- two questions -- what's the best OTA antenna that can fit in a cabinet (wife's requirement) or could i convert the old antenna to coax cable?

i am a complete newbie, just for you to know

just want to catch all the big stations that i can.

thanks!
yotoad

I think they both get the same channels. However the digital uses a box, and the other does not. And the digital gets you QAM HD channels (locals only) if your TV supports it, but no actual HD channels in the guide.

I have the limited basic plan ($11.90 per month) with a cablecard and I get the locals in HD and the channel guide, I get "Mojo" in HD as well.

The answer to the question can be found here:

http://www.comcast.com/Customers/Clu/ChannelLineupPopup.ashx


Full basic:

2 WKRN (ABC) Nashville
3 Government Access News & Info
4 WSMV (NBC) Nashville
5 WTVF (CBS) Nashville
6 WZTV (FOX) Nashville
8 WNPT (PBS) Nashville
9 Access News & Info
10 Access News & Info
11 ESPN Sports
12 QVC Lifestyle
13 CNN News & Info
14 WUXP (MY30) Nashville
15 WPGD (TBN) Gallatin
17 WNPX (ION) Nashville
18 WNAB (CW) Nashville
19 Access TV News & Info
20 WGN (IND) Chicago
21 WHTN (IND) Murfreesboro
22 WJFB (IND) Lebanon
23 TBS Lifestyle
24 USA Network Lifestyle
25 Disney Channel Children & Family
26 Cartoon Network Children & Family
27 CSS Sports
28 FOX Sports South Sports
29 ESPN 2 Sports
30 CMT Music
31 GAC Music
32 VH1 Music
33 BET Music
34 MTV Music
35 ABC Family Channel Children & Family
36 AMC Movies
37 Nick/Nick at Night Children & Family
38 TNT Lifestyle
39 Discovery Channel Lifestyle
40 Animal Planet Children & Family
41 A&E Lifestyle
42 Lifetime Television Lifestyle
43 The History Channel Children & Family
44 HGTV Lifestyle
45 The Learning Channel Children & Family
46 CNBC News & Info
47 CNN Headline News News & Info
48 Fox News Channel News & Info
49 CSN49 News & Info
50 News Channel 5+ News & Info
51 MSNBC News & Info
52 The Weather Channel News & Info
53 Court TV News & Info
54 The Golf Channel Sports
55 G4Tech TV Lifestyle
56 Bravo Lifestyle
57 Sci-Fi Channel Lifestyle
58 E! Lifestyle
59 TV Land Children & Family
60 Comedy Central Lifestyle
61 Spike TV Lifestyle
63 Style Lifestyle
64 Oxygen Lifestyle
65 Food Network Lifestyle
66 TV Guide Channel News & Info
70 FX Lifestyle
71 HSN Lifestyle
72 Versus Sports
73 The Travel Channel Lifestyle
74 Leased Access News & Info
96 Univision# Multicultural
98 C-SPAN News & Info
99 C-SPAN 2 News & Info
202 ESPN HD High-Definition TV
203 ESPN2 HD High-Definition TV
204 TNT HD High-Definition TV
205 HD Theater High-Definition TV
206 MOJO High-Definition TV
207 Versus/Golf Ch. HD High-Definition TV
208 Universal HD High-Definition TV
209 MHD High-Definition TV
211 A&E HD High-Definition TV
231 WKRN (ABC) HD High-Definition TV
232 WSMV (NBC) HD High-Definition TV
233 WTVF (CBS) HD High-Definition TV
234 WZTV (FOX) HD High-Definition TV
235 WNAB (WB) HD High-Definition TV
236 WUXP (UPN) HD High-Definition TV
240 WNPT (PBS) HD High-Definition TV
241 WNPT 2 (PBS) DIGITAL News & Info
245 WKRN 24hr Weather News & Info
246 Telemundo Multicultural
*Analog Channel Location Only


Digital Starter:

2 WKRN (ABC) Nashville
3 Government Access News & Info
4 WSMV (NBC) Nashville
5 WTVF (CBS) Nashville
6 WZTV (FOX) Nashville
7 HBO* Movies
8 WNPT (PBS) Nashville
9 Access News & Info
10 Access News & Info
11 ESPN Sports
12 QVC Lifestyle
13 CNN News & Info
14 WUXP (MY30) Nashville
15 WPGD (TBN) Gallatin
16 Showtime* Movies
17 WNPX (ION) Nashville
18 WNAB (CW) Nashville
19 Access TV News & Info
20 WGN (IND) Chicago
21 WHTN (IND) Murfreesboro
22 WJFB (IND) Lebanon
23 TBS Lifestyle
24 USA Network Lifestyle
25 Disney Channel Children & Family
26 Cartoon Network Children & Family
27 CSS Sports
28 FOX Sports South Sports
29 ESPN 2 Sports
30 CMT Music
31 GAC Music
32 VH1 Music
33 BET Music
34 MTV Music
35 ABC Family Channel Children & Family
36 AMC Movies
37 Nick/Nick at Night Children & Family
38 TNT Lifestyle
39 Discovery Channel Lifestyle
40 Animal Planet Children & Family
41 A&E Lifestyle
42 Lifetime Television Lifestyle
43 The History Channel Children & Family
44 HGTV Lifestyle
45 The Learning Channel Children & Family
46 CNBC News & Info
47 CNN Headline News News & Info
48 Fox News Channel News & Info
49 CSN49 News & Info
50 News Channel 5+ News & Info
51 MSNBC News & Info
52 The Weather Channel News & Info
53 Court TV News & Info
54 The Golf Channel Sports
55 G4Tech TV Lifestyle
56 Bravo Lifestyle
57 Sci-Fi Channel Lifestyle
58 E! Lifestyle
59 TV Land Children & Family
60 Comedy Central Lifestyle
61 Spike TV Lifestyle
63 Style Lifestyle
64 Oxygen Lifestyle
65 Food Network Lifestyle
66 TV Guide Channel News & Info
70 FX Lifestyle
71 HSN Lifestyle
72 Versus Sports
73 The Travel Channel Lifestyle
74 Leased Access News & Info
96 Univision# Multicultural
98 C-SPAN News & Info
99 C-SPAN 2 News & Info
166 FearNet ON DEMAND
194 Movies On Demand ON DEMAND HD ON
246 Telemundo Multicultural
298 Local Channel On Demand ON DEMAND HD ON
299 Free Movies! On Demand ON DEMAND HD ON
401 Sounds of the Seasons Music
402 Today’s Country Music
403 Classic Country Music
404 Bluegrass Music
405 Hip Hop and R&B Music
406 Classic R&B Music
407 R&B Soul Music
408 R&B Hits Music
409 Rap Music
410 Metal Music
411 Rock Music
412 Arena Rock Music
413 Classic Rock Music
414 Adult Alternative Music
415 Alternative Music
416 Retro-Active Music
417 Electronica Music
418 Dance Music
419 Lite Hits Music
421 Hit List Music
423 Party Favorites Music
424 Showcase Music
425 '90s Music
426 ’80s Music
427 ’70s Music
428 Solid Gold Oldies Music
429 Smooth Jazz Music
430 Jazz Music
431 Blues Music
432 Reggae Music
433 Soundscapes Music
434 Easy Listening Music
435 Big Band & Swing Music
436 Singers & Standards Music
437 Show Tunes Music
438 Contemporary Christian Music
439 Gospel Music
440 Classical Masterpieces Music
441 Light Classical Music
442 Pop Latino Music
443 Musica Urbana Music
444 Salsa Merengue Music
446 Rock en Espanol Music
448 Opera Music
501 - 502 iNDEMAND 1-2 Pay-Per-View
503 - 507 iNDEMAND Pay-Per-View
508 Hot Choice Pay-Per-View
544 Playboy Pay-Per-View
545 fresh! Pay-Per-View
546 shorteez Pay-Per-View
549 TEN Pay-Per-View
701 - 706 GamePlan / Full Court 1-6 Pay-Per-View
750 NBA PREVIEW Sports
751 - 761 NBA PPV Pay-Per-View
771 NHL/MLB 1 Pay-Per-View
772 NHL/MLB 2 Pay-Per-View
773 NHL/MLB 3 Pay-Per-View
774 NHL/MLB 4 Pay-Per-View
775 NHL/MLB 5 Pay-Per-View
776 NHL/MLB 6 Pay-Per-View
777 NHL/MLB 7 Pay-Per-View
778 NHL/MLB 8 Pay-Per-View
779 NHL/MLB 9 Pay-Per-View
780 NHL/MLB 10 Pay-Per-View
781 MLB 11 Pay-Per-View
782 MLB 12 Pay-Per-View
783 MLB 13 Pay-Per-View
784 MLB 14 Pay-Per-View
*Analog Channel Location Only

hello everyone -- i have an HDTV, live in the Forest Hills area and just bought a OTA indoor antenna -- the Terk HDTVa -- i only receive 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2 -- no channel 5, 17 in HD -- channel 58 shows up in my list, but it doesn't come through at all.

I have an attic antenna that is old and huge -- i wonder if i could convert it to catch the signals? the wire that it connects to isn't coax, it's a weird six-pronged connection that looks like two "^"s on top of each other.

anyway -- two questions -- what's the best OTA antenna that can fit in a cabinet (wife's requirement) or could i convert the old antenna to coax cable?

i am a complete newbie, just for you to know

just want to catch all the big stations that i can.

thanks!
yotoad

Hi Yotoad,

Welcome to the wild and woolly world of antenna physics. There is a lot already posted here and in the antenna forum one level up that discusses this, but I'll try to sum up some of the things you'll be faced with.

First, there is no such thing as an HD antenna. So guess what? That old antenna that's been in your house since the '70's will probably pick up many of the area HD stations. That being said, it still may be not the best possible antenna for the job. But it's there and it's probably worth a try.

Most of the old antennas put on top of homes and in attics are some type of directional Yagi type antenna. That is it has some sort of center rod with branches on both sides, often at an angle, and a device called a reflector at one end. Properly pointed, the antenna should look this this:

/ \ \ \ \ \
<--------------- ********************Station Tower**
\ / / / / /

Where the object on the left of this figure is the reflector.

Antennas aren't magic...they can only pick up the airborne signal based on the strength of the signal, it's clarity and the design of the antenna to maximize the signal. It cannot make the signal more powerful. You may have seen or heard of powered antenna boosters. They DO NOT boost the ability of the antenna to catch the signal. What they do is take the signal and boost it for the trip down the wire where it eventiually gets to your TV.

That trip down the wire results in signal loss for every foot it travels. The signal is measured in decibels, much like audio waves. The scale is plus or minus zero where 0 is considered background noise. So if the incoming signal is +15 dbs and it loses 8 dbs of strength going down the wire to your TV, it ends up at 7 dbs for the destination. But what if the signal coming in is only +6 dbs? If it loses 8 dbs on the way to the TV, then your TV's receiver can't distinquish the signal for other background noise and you get no picture. An antenna booster might take the +6 db signal and add another +15 dbs to it, giving your TV a much better chance of receiving it.

But sometimes even boosters aren't enough. The signal for a far away station might just be too weak to begin with. A crappy antenna booster might introduce too much noise into the signal its trying to amplify...this wasn't a big problem in the pre-digital TV era but now that signal must be pristine enough to discern digital data. And your antenna might not have the best design to grab a good clean signal from the air. Finally, terrain is a huge problem for many of us. Hills, buldings, and even leafy trees can be enough to block TV signals (those of us in Bellevue near you know the terrain problems well). An indoor attic mounting will also decrease the amount of decibels your antenna can discern....mounting outside gives you a much better shot.

The good news is that you can probably do some experiments with your old attic antenna to see if you can pick up HD television towers. Even with its age, it's surface area and height in the house means its far more likely to pick up a good signal versus a small indoor antenna near your TV. Your first problem is the cable itself. It sounds like you have some sort of proprietary design used a long time ago. All antennas of this kind have two flat screw-in 300 ohm leads someone on its spine (just like all old TVs used to have up until the 1980s). You can easily attach a 300 ohm->75 ohm (coax) converter at this point and connect it to a conventional coax cable. Converters of this type are still available from places like Radio Shack. Or if you want to better your chances, consider a antenna booster which will have the necessary circuitry built in. Radio Shack sells them too but the gold standard in boosters is the Channelmaster 7777. Randolf and Rice (downtown around the corner from Deja Vu) carries it locally or you can find it on the Internet. If the cable from the antenna to the TV isn't a coax cable, consider replacing it. If you do this yourself, make sure you use quality cable like RG-6 type coax, not the cheap RG-59 cable. Again, make sure that the length of cable from the antenna to the TV is as short as possible since every foot weakens the signal.

Now yagi type antennas are directional meaning that you must point them in the proper direction to get the best signal. The best resource on the web to determine which way your antenna should point is antennaweb.org. But since you're in Forest Hills, its safe to say that you have some challenges. Channel 4's antenna is about 6-7 miles NW of you on Knob Hill off White Bridge Rd. Channel 5, 17, 30 and 58's antennas are all on the same hilltop in north Nashville 15-17 miles away from you and your biggest challenge. Your easiest and strongest signal is Channel 2 and Channel 8's shared tower which if you have a good view to the south, I bet you can see it just south of Old Hickory Blvd just east of Hillsboro Rd. If you point your antenna to the north to get the distant towers, you'll be pointing away from Channel 2 and 8. But that may still work for you since those towers are so strong, odds are their signal will be reflected off of something to the north of you and bounce back. This is called multipath and can be a huge problem in antenna reception, but can be beneficial in cases like this. In the old days, HDTVs handled multipathed signals badly but advances in technology have minimized this problem for many people. If this doesn't work for you, you might have to resort to an antenna rotator (yup, just like the 1970s). A friend of mine with a house in Donelson has this problem and uses a rotator.

Even configured correctly and amplified, your attic antenna still may not be enough to pick up the signals on the north side of town. But its probably worth a try since you appear to at least be able to partially bring in Channel 58 with a small antenna. If this doesn't work, then your only option is to replace the antenna with a model that promises better overall signal gain and/or move it to a mast on the roof of your house. We folks in Bellevue have had notoriously rotten luck with some of these stations mostly due to the hills in the area. Forest Hills has its own challenges, but again, location is everything.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

hello everyone -- i have an HDTV, live in the Forest Hills area and just bought a OTA indoor antenna -- the Terk HDTVa -- i only receive 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2 -- no channel 5, 17 in HD -- channel 58 shows up in my list, but it doesn't come through at all.

The HDTVa is a decent indoor antenna. I would actually suggest moving this antenna up to the attic to see if things clear up. OTA reception usually gets much better as you move the antenna higher (attic or roof) because the signal passes through less building material and you're picking up less signal scatter / bounces (signal reflections make it harder to decode the channel).

I have an attic antenna that is old and huge -- i wonder if i could convert it to catch the signals? the wire that it connects to isn't coax, it's a weird six-pronged connection that looks like two "^"s on top of each other.

Can you post a picture of the antenna and connector?

If this antenna was used successfully in the past for analog TV, I'm sure it will also work great for your new TV as long as we can figure out the right interconnect.

anyway -- two questions -- what's the best OTA antenna that can fit in a cabinet (wife's requirement) or could i convert the old antenna to coax cable?

If you must keep the antenna close to the TV, the unamplified Terk HDTVi might be a little better. Amps can sometimes make things worse rather than better. Amplified antennas generally don't improve things unless the cable length is fairly long (> 30 ft) or if the signal is split to multiple destinations. If you end up moving the antenna up to the attic, then you're fine sticking with the amplified HDTVa.

Be warned that indoor reception can be very unpredictable. There's a lot of hidden "stuff" (pipes, ducts, wires, foil-backed insulation, metallic objects, neighbors, etc.) in and around your house that can cause reception difficulties. As you move up, your antenna starts to rise above most of the interference sources and the system performance becomes more predictable.

For indoor reception, there's just no substitute for trial-and-error, so be prepared in case your particular situation is not so cut-and-dry. You may want to return products that don't work out for you, so check the return policy of your sources.



It would also be helpful if you could enter your exact address into the analysis tools at antennaweb.org (http://antennaweb.org) or tvfool.com (http://tvfool.com) and then post your results here (just the digital channel list is enough). This will tell us the strength and direction of the incoming signals, so that a suitable antenna setup can be suggested.



Best regards,
Andy

wow -- first of all thank you for your help and information -- I am such a newcomer to this and am a bit overwhelmed - i haven't had cable for 8 years, and now that I have an HDTV i'm excited that I can still save money and have great-looking tv!

the antenna in the attic definitely does NOT have coax cable attached to it, so i guess the first step would be to get the converter from radioshack and then running the coax (this would be the greatest challenge!) I would probably run the coax down the chimney into the crawl space, then back up behind the TV. right now the wall i have my entertainment center on does NOT have a cable hookup, so I'd have to figure that out.

also I might go for converter that doesn't amplify -- i figure that the antenna that's up there would work without it, plus they're not that expensive.

so basically i have a lot of things to figure out

i'm looking for the cheapest solution out there -- if the antenna picks up anything, i'd be happy.

if this is too much for me, who'd be a good person to call for this type of setup?

yotoad




Hi Yotoad,

Welcome to the wild and woolly world of antenna physics. There is a lot already posted here and in the antenna forum one level up that discusses this, but I'll try to sum up some of the things you'll be faced with.

First, there is no such thing as an HD antenna. So guess what? That old antenna that's been in your house since the '70's will probably pick up many of the area HD stations. That being said, it still may be not the best possible antenna for the job. But it's there and it's probably worth a try.

Most of the old antennas put on top of homes and in attics are some type of directional Yagi type antenna. That is it has some sort of center rod with branches on both sides, often at an angle, and a device called a reflector at one end. Properly pointed, the antenna should look this this:

/ \ \ \ \ \
<--------------- ********************Station Tower**
\ / / / / /

Where the object on the left of this figure is the reflector.

Antennas aren't magic...they can only pick up the airborne signal based on the strength of the signal, it's clarity and the design of the antenna to maximize the signal. It cannot make the signal more powerful. You may have seen or heard of powered antenna boosters. They DO NOT boost the ability of the antenna to catch the signal. What they do is take the signal and boost it for the trip down the wire where it eventiually gets to your TV.

That trip down the wire results in signal loss for every foot it travels. The signal is measured in decibels, much like audio waves. The scale is plus or minus zero where 0 is considered background noise. So if the incoming signal is +15 dbs and it loses 8 dbs of strength going down the wire to your TV, it ends up at 7 dbs for the destination. But what if the signal coming in is only +6 dbs? If it loses 8 dbs on the way to the TV, then your TV's receiver can't distinquish the signal for other background noise and you get no picture. An antenna booster might take the +6 db signal and add another +15 dbs to it, giving your TV a much better chance of receiving it.

But sometimes even boosters aren't enough. The signal for a far away station might just be too weak to begin with. A crappy antenna booster might introduce too much noise into the signal its trying to amplify...this wasn't a big problem in the pre-digital TV era but now that signal must be pristine enough to discern digital data. And your antenna might not have the best design to grab a good clean signal from the air. Finally, terrain is a huge problem for many of us. Hills, buldings, and even leafy trees can be enough to block TV signals (those of us in Bellevue near you know the terrain problems well). An indoor attic mounting will also decrease the amount of decibels your antenna can discern....mounting outside gives you a much better shot.

The good news is that you can probably do some experiments with your old attic antenna to see if you can pick up HD television towers. Even with its age, it's surface area and height in the house means its far more likely to pick up a good signal versus a small indoor antenna near your TV. Your first problem is the cable itself. It sounds like you have some sort of proprietary design used a long time ago. All antennas of this kind have two flat screw-in 300 ohm leads someone on its spine (just like all old TVs used to have up until the 1980s). You can easily attach a 300 ohm->75 ohm (coax) converter at this point and connect it to a conventional coax cable. Converters of this type are still available from places like Radio Shack. Or if you want to better your chances, consider a antenna booster which will have the necessary circuitry built in. Radio Shack sells them too but the gold standard in boosters is the Channelmaster 7777. Randolf and Rice (downtown around the corner from Deja Vu) carries it locally or you can find it on the Internet. If the cable from the antenna to the TV isn't a coax cable, consider replacing it. If you do this yourself, make sure you use quality cable like RG-6 type coax, not the cheap RG-59 cable. Again, make sure that the length of cable from the antenna to the TV is as short as possible since every foot weakens the signal.

Now yagi type antennas are directional meaning that you must point them in the proper direction to get the best signal. The best resource on the web to determine which way your antenna should point is antennaweb.org. But since you're in Forest Hills, its safe to say that you have some challenges. Channel 4's antenna is about 6-7 miles NW of you on Knob Hill off White Bridge Rd. Channel 5, 17, 30 and 58's antennas are all on the same hilltop in north Nashville 15-17 miles away from you and your biggest challenge. Your easiest and strongest signal is Channel 2 and Channel 8's shared tower which if you have a good view to the south, I bet you can see it just south of Old Hickory Blvd just east of Hillsboro Rd. If you point your antenna to the north to get the distant towers, you'll be pointing away from Channel 2 and 8. But that may still work for you since those towers are so strong, odds are their signal will be reflected off of something to the north of you and bounce back. This is called multipath and can be a huge problem in antenna reception, but can be beneficial in cases like this. In the old days, HDTVs handled multipathed signals badly but advances in technology have minimized this problem for many people. If this doesn't work for you, you might have to resort to an antenna rotator (yup, just like the 1970s). A friend of mine with a house in Donelson has this problem and uses a rotator.

Even configured correctly and amplified, your attic antenna still may not be enough to pick up the signals on the north side of town. But its probably worth a try since you appear to at least be able to partially bring in Channel 58 with a small antenna. If this doesn't work, then your only option is to replace the antenna with a model that promises better overall signal gain and/or move it to a mast on the roof of your house. We folks in Bellevue have had notoriously rotten luck with some of these stations mostly due to the hills in the area. Forest Hills has its own challenges, but again, location is everything.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

andy,
i can post a picture of the antenna and the connector probably later on this weekend -- i'm ridiculously busy until sunday afternoon . . . but i'll get to it as soon as i can --

here's my information from tvfool

yotoad

The HDTVa is a decent indoor antenna. I would actually suggest moving this antenna up to the attic to see if things clear up. OTA reception usually gets much better as you move the antenna higher (attic or roof) because the signal passes through less building material and you're picking up less signal scatter / bounces (signal reflections make it harder to decode the channel).



Can you post a picture of the antenna and connector?

If this antenna was used successfully in the past for analog TV, I'm sure it will also work great for your new TV as long as we can figure out the right interconnect.



If you must keep the antenna close to the TV, the unamplified Terk HDTVi might be a little better. Amps can sometimes make things worse rather than better. Amplified antennas generally don't improve things unless the cable length is fairly long (> 30 ft) or if the signal is split to multiple destinations. If you end up moving the antenna up to the attic, then you're fine sticking with the amplified HDTVa.

Be warned that indoor reception can be very unpredictable. There's a lot of hidden "stuff" (pipes, ducts, wires, foil-backed insulation, metallic objects, neighbors, etc.) in and around your house that can cause reception difficulties. As you move up, your antenna starts to rise above most of the interference sources and the system performance becomes more predictable.

For indoor reception, there's just no substitute for trial-and-error, so be prepared in case your particular situation is not so cut-and-dry. You may want to return products that don't work out for you, so check the return policy of your sources.



It would also be helpful if you could enter your exact address into the analysis tools at antennaweb.org or tvfool.com and then post your results here (just the digital channel list is enough). This will tell us the strength and direction of the incoming signals, so that a suitable antenna setup can be suggested.



Best regards,
Andy

here's my information from tvfool

It looks like you're right underneath the transmitters for WKRN and WNPT (only 0.6 miles to the east). WSMV is also pretty strong (6.6 miles to the north). Now I can see why you had such an easy time picking up these three channels right off the bat with the indoor antenna.

Most of the other channels are also to the north, but they are a bit weaker. Since they are showing "1Edge" and "2Edge" under the "Path" column, it probably means they are behind some hills and cannot reach you via a direct line-of-sight path. An attic or roof installation is probably necessary to get signals at these levels and I don't think the Terk HDTVa is such a good fit for this situation. You're welcome to try the Terk since you already have it, but in cases like this, I would usually recommend a different antenna.

This situation is a little tricky because you are trying to pick up some weaker signals with a couple of very strong transmitters nearby. With signals this strong, you need to watch out for amp and tuner overload.

Since you already have an attic antenna, that's the first thing to try. Chances are that all you will need is a balun (converts between twin lead and coax) and some RG-6 to get it connected to your TV. But we'll know more once we see the antenna and connector. Do you have any idea what the make and model number are?

It's best to try without any amps in the chain first because of the possible overload problem.

Best regards,
Andy

I'll try to take a picture of the antenna and the connector as soon as i can so we can check it out. the house was built in the 60s, so i think it's been there since then

when i get up there this evening, where should this guy be pointing? i've only been up there once and i just had more insulation blown up there, so i'm hoping i can just cut the existing wire (leaving some there for the coax converter of course) and then run the wire downstairs. i have a ranch style house, so i think 50 feet of rg6 will do me. i just don't know how to get the cable from the attic to the wall -- i'm guessing get it down to the crawl space then work my way in from the floor. like i said, the wall the tv is on (in the entertainment center) does NOT have a cable hookup, just a power outlet and a telephone jack.

i'm handy, just not sure how handy i'll need to be to get this antenna tested. :)

Nothing wrong with asking a single OTA question in the Comcast forum, but this really needs to be moved to the Nashville OTA forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=391433) for further discussion.

Not trying to be the thread cop and I do subscribe to both, but folks with Comcast (only) really have no interest in OTA matters and the folks that only watch the OTA thread can't jump in to help out.

Dennis

i'll watch that thread for responses . . . thanks

i posted pictures in the OTA thread - thanks

Whats the difference between Comcast's Full Basic vs Digital Starter package if using a cable card and no box? Do you get more HD channels in the DS Package? They are both listed at the same price of $52.50 per month

If you get the digital starter with a cable card, you will get exactly what you get with standard basic except many of the channels are broadcast as SD, plus Hallmark (137), Movieplex (149), Game Show Network (179), and about 50 Music Choice channels. I don't think you get any HD channels with the cable card unless you pay extra for the HD package.

If your TV has a clear QAM tuner, you can plug the cable line directly into the TV (bypassing the cable card) and get all digital and analog channels that are not scrambled, and the local channels in HD without paying any extra for them. However, the digital and HD will not be mapped to the Comcast's published channel numbers. The cable card or set top box does the channel mapping.

I've confirmed that the $52.50 Digital Starter package does get all the HD channels (except National Geographic HD) with a cablecard without paying for the HD package. And the $52.50 Standard Cable package (basic + expanded) with a cablecard will only get the local network HD channels plus Mojo.

Does anyone with TV Guide On Screen (TVGOS) know how to configure it to get the listings for Fox Sports South, Universal HD, and Encore Movieplex? I don't see those channels anywhere in the setup when using a Nashville zip code and Comcast.

I've confirmed that the $52.50 Digital Starter package does get all the HD channels (except National Geographic HD) with a cablecard without paying for the HD package. And the $52.50 Standard Cable package (basic + expanded) with a cablecard will only get the local network HD channels plus Mojo.

what device do you have ?
a tivo hd/s3?
if so, how do you manage the hd channels, do they show up normally in the guide even though they are qam?
and what numbers do they map out as. the offical lineup for digital starter does not list any hd channels,

I have a LG 42LB1DR LCD television that has a bult-in DVR and it uses TV Guide On Screen and a cablecard. The TVGOS gets most all of the HD channel data except the ones I listed above.

I have a LG 42LB1DR LCD television that has a bult-in DVR and it uses TV Guide On Screen and a cablecard. The TVGOS gets most all of the HD channel data except the ones I listed above.

I wonder if anyone else's experience is similar with a TivoHD or a Series 3.

I wonder if anyone else's experience is similar with a TivoHD or a Series 3.

I have 2 HDTiVo's, 2 Series 2 TiVo's, and one Comcast PVR box - all of them properly show me all HD stations information and channel numbers with no problems.

I have 2 HDTiVo's, 2 Series 2 TiVo's, and one Comcast PVR box - all of them properly show me all HD stations information and channel numbers with no problems.

But what level of service do you have. Do you pay for the HD channels to Comcast?

It seems from his reports that without paying the HD fee, he gets the HD channels (not just QAM locals) in full including the Discovery, TNT, AE, Animal Planet...

My idea is that I can switch from my current setup of Comcast with DVR and HD subscriptions with a Series 2 and a Motorola DVR to a TivoHD and Series 2 with just the cable subscription and no DVR or HD fee by getting an M card.

That way the 15 dollar DVR/HD fee gets reduced to the 6.95 for MSD for an additional Tivo on my plan. Plus I should be able to get a regular box without DVR that I can use for On Demand programs.

If he gets the HD channels w/o paying for them, then that is just a fluke/glitch in the system and you would not be able to replicate that without being really lucky.

I am on limited basic ($13 per month) and with a free M cablecard in an HD Tivo and only get what I am supposed to get - locals in HD + Mojo. If I pull out the cable card, I can get some other clear QAM stuff - some all the time, some time to time (in demand) that does not show up when the CC is in place.

If you had limited basic and no trap, then you could get the analog channels you are not supposed to get (ESPN, etc) if you don't use the cablecard, as soon as you plug it in those would be blocked by the card so no need for the trap.

If Comcast properly programs your card you will get nothing extra, if they fail to, then you get freebie. I would not count on getting anything other than what is list in their package guide online.

Dennis

Correct me if Im wrong, but it is my understanding that with Standard Cable (Basic + Expanded) you dont have to pay any additional HD fee when using a cablecard. The local HD channels + Mojo are included and mapped out correctly by the card. If you bump up to the Digital Starter package with a cable card in addition to the the local HD channels and Mojo, you get all the other non-premium HD channels except National Geographic which for some stupid reason they added only to Digital Preferred.

I'm not sure what the $6.95 HD package is or what other package that would be added to?

Correct me if Im wrong, but it is my understanding that with Standard Cable (Basic + Expanded) you dont have to pay any additional HD fee when using a cablecard. The local HD channels + Mojo are included and mapped out correctly by the card. If you bump up to the Digital Starter package with a cable card in addition to the the local HD channels and Mojo, you get all the other non-premium HD channels except National Geographic which for some stupid reason they added only to Digital Preferred.

I'm not sure what the $6.95 HD package is or what other package that would be added to?

I think thats what Dennis was saying, it may be a fluke with your card and account. You should not get any HD channels other than locals and Mojo without the HD subscription. In theory. In practice....

But what level of service do you have. Do you pay for the HD channels to Comcast?

It seems from his reports that without paying the HD fee, he gets the HD channels (not just QAM locals) in full including the Discovery, TNT, AE, Animal Planet...

My idea is that I can switch from my current setup of Comcast with DVR and HD subscriptions with a Series 2 and a Motorola DVR to a TivoHD and Series 2 with just the cable subscription and no DVR or HD fee by getting an M card.

That way the 15 dollar DVR/HD fee gets reduced to the 6.95 for MSD for an additional Tivo on my plan. Plus I should be able to get a regular box without DVR that I can use for On Demand programs.

I also split the cable to watch OTA in my QAM equipped TV's - when doing this I only get the locals and MOJO in HD - nothing else. Though I do (and everyone else does) get FREE on-demand movies if someone on my 'wire' is paying for it. It's a little-known secret that each time you scan for TV signals - you'll get new 'hits' if someone is watching something. Someone did post that yes - unless you pay for the HD package - you should not get any other stations. We have the bronze package (though grandfathered into an older package so we get HBO and Encore stations) and the HD package. currently we have the sports package since this year Comcrap decided to move it into that tier. It was on 'sale' for only $2 a month and i wanted to see HD_NFL. I use the M-cards in both HDTivo's, and i have one Series S2 split from the MotoDVR box so i can record non-HD stuff to the Tivo to save space on the MotoDVR.

Just curious, anyone seeing any HD degredation in the Nashville market as referenced in the HDTV Programming thread?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

I had thought it was my TV or my imagination, but I have noticed more problems with the HD pictures in the last few weeks.

I only have the locals in HD and Mojo in HD and they look the same as they always have. Not long ago I compared the images from the locals from the HD Tivo to the DTVHDTivo and they appear the same.

Dennis

In the Sunday Tennessean, RFD-TV coming to Comcast channel 136 3/31/08.
Anyone know if were getting anymore channels??

Hello all of my fellow Comcast "supporters"!

First of all, I have not read through all 70 pages of posts in this thread, but I did read from about 63 up to 70 after I picked around the first 60 pages. I am pleased to find people with technical understandings of Comcast(because I have almost no technical knowledge myself!).

Now, I will not unload all of my anger, frustration, etc. in one post, but would like to start with one simple matter that perhaps you can inform me on. I am a fan of music, and enjoy MusicHD at channel 209. When some family was in for Christmas, I was going to show my brother a Crossroads episode with Vince Gill and Allison Krause, but the sound was terrible. After several minutes of tinkering, I finally discovered the reason: there was no sound coming from my center channel! I turned to different channels, put on dvds, and turned on my Xbox 360 to insure that it wasn't a receiver error, and my center channel works otherwise, leaving me to believe that there is no hardware problem on my end but a signal error from Comcast. I don't know when that started, but I'm quite sure that it wasn't always the case. However, it continues to this day.

Has anyone else run into this? To be honest, there are only about 6-10 channels that I watch, so there might be other issues that I'm not aware of, but this one is driving me crazy. It makes MusicHD almost unwatchable. I've voiced this concern to Comcast but haven't gotten much of a response. As it is, there are many occasions now when the service is undergoing "maintenance", and three times in the last two weeks the service on my HD and digital starter box has been taken down, un-announced by Comcast, from 12am to 7 am.

Please let me know what you know about this, and if there were posts earlier on about matters related to this let me know and I'll go fishing for them.

Thank you!
Patrick

I don't have this channel or any of the music channels at this time, but aren't they sending them to you with just left and right audio (not digital 5.1) ?

With matrix type surround the center channel should have anything that is present (in phase) in both the left and right channels. For most TV shows and a lot of music content this would be most of the audio content. If they have the phase of the two channels hosed then the "mix" of l+r would be almost no audio.

Have you tried putting your system into "stereo" mode rather than surround sound mode? Did that help make it more "listenable" ?

Dennis

I don't have this channel or any of the music channels at this time, but aren't they sending them to you with just left and right audio (not digital 5.1) ?

I think you are exactly right. This doesn't make me happy! MusicHD's website, (can't post url yet because I only have one prior post) , says " Each show is presented in high definition and surround sound, giving you a front row, 'you are there' music experience...". Either Comcast is not delivering this or MusicHD is misrepresenting the nature of the programming it offers.

Now, here is where I get confused. The channel does send some 5.1 signals. The only thing I get in surround sound from this channel are the promos which run when returning from commercial, and a different promo before many programs, and these promos are definitely 5.1 promos. Sound moves to each individual channel and then the lfe, much like a THX promo at the theater or on dvd. I get nothing from the center once the actual program returns. So, does this mean that all of these concert programs are being crunched down to stereo?

As for making them more listenable, why would I not just watch CMT, VH1, or MTV? The same programs on those channels are broadcast in 5.1 surround! The HD music channel has lower quality sound than the music channels found on the basic cable package! This is terribly ironic because the whole point of the channel is Music. I do not see how this is acceptable in any way.

Any more input or advice you have on the matter would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can and am very thankful for kind folks like yourself who can explain these things to me!

Patrick

Did anyone else experience occasional pixelation and audio dropouts during Battlestar Galactica tonight?

Anybody else in Franklin/Will. Co. had their internet and/or cable service interrupted regularly in the past couple of weeks?

Cable drops out almost daily around 12:15 a.m. (during the Daily Show:() and internet access goes out in the late afternoon.

I'm down in Franklin and it seems to happen to me about that frequently.

As much as I hate back-room dealings in the State House, the sooner we have an alternative to Comca$t the better. Where's FIOS when you need it??

-John

There was something on the news today about how we could see alternatives to Comcast soon. I wonder if ATT is close to a deal to finally start offering cable. What would that mean? U-Verse?

http://www.wsmv.com/politics/15826060/detail.html

Heres the article. Looks like they are just revieweing it.

TLC HD is on 214

Family HD is on 230

There was something on the news today about how we could see alternatives to Comcast soon. I wonder if ATT is close to a deal to finally start offering cable. What would that mean? U-Verse?

http://www.wsmv.com/politics/15826060/detail.html

Heres the article. Looks like they are just revieweing it.

The "anti-cherry-picking" part of the law will keep it from being as cheap as it could be.

For example, you can get local POTS (non-VoIP) service from several carriers in Nashville. But they only want to sign up multi-line businesses that do a lot of in bound toll free and/or outbound long distance. They usually only want business that are fairly close to their switches (downtown area). For those customers, they can get a nice deal that beats the BS (now ATT) local cost. For the rest of us, not much luck getting a good deal on POTS service.

If you lived in the ATT video "cherry" area you could get service pretty fast and perhaps for a nice price. But they have to build out in other areas including low income - which probably means losing money on those areas. They will make up that money by charging higher rates to even those in the "cherry" areas.

I would not hold my breath waiting for Comcast to drop their prices or anything else. It will probably end up like the cell phone industry - you have choices but they are all too high :mad: .

Dennis

214 TLC HD
229 DISHD
230 FAMHD
251 CNNHD
253 SCIHD
256 AMCHD

Yey :)

Anybody else in Franklin/Will. Co. had their internet and/or cable service interrupted regularly in the past couple of weeks?

Cable drops out almost daily around 12:15 a.m. (during the Daily Show:() and internet access goes out in the late afternoon.

I have been calling Comcast every single time there has been a problem with my service for the last month. I began doing this because of the exact problem you mentioned. I had them re-boot my boxes and everything, to no avail. Finally, after one of my late night calls, I was told that they have been doing some maintenance during off-peak hours. I am amazed that I get the red-light messages informing me of some Latin boxing showcase but not to tell me they are working on their systems. I have a Word file on my laptop where I record every major interruption. The list grew a ton in mid-late March, the problems have stopped and service has been much better since. Still, I hold my breath every night at 12:15...

EDIT: I also give comcast credit when it is due, and the new HD channels are nice. I am also glad to see that Larry King Live isn't filmed in HD...

I'm down in Franklin and it seems to happen to me about that frequently.

As much as I hate back-room dealings in the State House, the sooner we have an alternative to Comca$t the better. Where's FIOS when you need it??

-John

No Shat!!!!;)

I have been calling Comcast every single time there has been a problem with my service for the last month. I began doing this because of the exact problem you mentioned. I had them re-boot my boxes and everything, to no avail. Finally, after one of my late night calls, I was told that they have been doing some maintenance during off-peak hours. I am amazed that I get the red-light messages informing me of some Latin boxing showcase but not to tell me they are working on their systems. I have a Word file on my laptop where I record every major interruption. The list grew a ton in mid-late March, the problems have stopped and service has been much better since. Still, I hold my breath every night at 12:15...

EDIT: I also give comcast credit when it is due, and the new HD channels are nice. I am also glad to see that Larry King Live isn't filmed in HD...

Funny post. I too have been calling every night they drop service. Now, my wife calls the day we lose service and they've been crediting our account for a lost day.

It took about 4 times before I got hold of someone who admitted they've been doing "maintenance" in our area.....sheeesh. How about a message light when there is planned outages?? It would at least keep me from having to reboot modems and cable boxes wondering what's wrong. Latin Boxing.....:p:p:D

Quick question -- is Comca$t supposed to be charging for "HDTV" for every HD-DVR in the house, or just once per account?

Also, does anyone know what the best non-premium bundle (Internet + Cable (incl. OnDemand) + HD + DVR but no HBO, etc.) would be these days? I'm not interested in Digital Voice, considering how unreliable the service is in general.

-John

The HD charge is once per household (7 bucks). The DVR charge is for how many DVRs you have (6-7 each I think).

CNN HD added too, possibly the only channel added with the most HD programming. better late than never.

Now we need a channel reorganization. I hate how the HD channels are now split into several sections. The 203-215 block, then Premiums, then more HDs in the 230s, then some other channels, and now the 250s.

Comcast needs to eliminate some analog channels and open up more HD bandwidth. I have noticed a decrease in Discovery HD quality over the past week or so. ALso, severe freezing on the local HD channels. The whole box locks up (black screen), so I have to go to a non HD channel and then go back to the HD one and hope I get it back.

I agree the arrangement of HD channels needs to be in better order. If we approach the 70-100 HD channels that Direct has, we run out of room. Comcast will likely wait until it nears that point to make changes though. I'm sure they weigh who will complain more - those who don't like the current arrangement versus the many who howl everytime a channel is moved. They need to start the HDs where they have some room, like the 800s? Or move the Sports Tier?

I also agree that the HD picture isn't great on some channels and that Comcast should move some analogs to digital to free up space. But again, many more will howl about channels shifting than are complaining about the HD picture quality. (I suspect)
Comcast has also removed the west feeds of the movie channels (HBO, Starz)in many markets to free up space. I'm surprised they haven't done it here yet. Althought I don't want fewer movie channels.

Anyone watch the masters live and/or record this afternoon off ESPN HD? I'm watching DVR recording and get pixelation and sound drops every10-15 seconds (basically not watchable). I'm wondering it is my DVR?

Quick question -- is Comca$t supposed to be charging for "HDTV" for every HD-DVR in the house, or just once per account?
-John

Now it has been a year since I had Comcast, but back then there was no seperate HD programming charge. You are just charged extra per box. HD-only boxes were $5 or $6 more than the digital box and HD-DVR boxes were $11 more.

I had two HD-DVRs and a plain digital box. One of the reasons I switched from Comcast to Dish was that I switched out my SD set for a third HD set and didn't want to pay $5-$11 more a month for a third HD receiver.

I noticed that there is a Versus HD, AMC HD and CNN HD on channels 950, 951 and 952. Why?
Could Comcast be planning to put the HDs all in the open channel numbers from 903 and higher?
Currently they are bound in the space from 189 to the sports tier 261. Not enough room if we ever get the 80+ channels Direct offers.

Hello all of my fellow Comcast "supporters"!

First of all, I have not read through all 70 pages of posts in this thread, but I did read from about 63 up to 70 after I picked around the first 60 pages. I am pleased to find people with technical understandings of Comcast(because I have almost no technical knowledge myself!).

Now, I will not unload all of my anger, frustration, etc. in one post, but would like to start with one simple matter that perhaps you can inform me on. I am a fan of music, and enjoy MusicHD at channel 209. When some family was in for Christmas, I was going to show my brother a Crossroads episode with Vince Gill and Allison Krause, but the sound was terrible. After several minutes of tinkering, I finally discovered the reason: there was no sound coming from my center channel! I turned to different channels, put on dvds, and turned on my Xbox 360 to insure that it wasn't a receiver error, and my center channel works otherwise, leaving me to believe that there is no hardware problem on my end but a signal error from Comcast. I don't know when that started, but I'm quite sure that it wasn't always the case. However, it continues to this day.

Has anyone else run into this? To be honest, there are only about 6-10 channels that I watch, so there might be other issues that I'm not aware of, but this one is driving me crazy. It makes MusicHD almost unwatchable. I've voiced this concern to Comcast but haven't gotten much of a response. As it is, there are many occasions now when the service is undergoing "maintenance", and three times in the last two weeks the service on my HD and digital starter box has been taken down, un-announced by Comcast, from 12am to 7 am.

Please let me know what you know about this, and if there were posts earlier on about matters related to this let me know and I'll go fishing for them.

Thank you!
Patrick

It 'depends' - some shows on that station (MTVHD is what it is @209) ARE in 5.1 (i'm watching/listening to something right now and verified the center and other channels are 'working') but some are 2.1 - it's easy for me to tell since my receiver 'tells' me what's Dolby Surround 5.1 and what isn't ....maybe that 'show' was only 2.1.

I noticed that there is a Versus HD, AMC HD and CNN HD on channels 950, 951 and 952. Why?
Could Comcast be planning to put the HDs all in the open channel numbers from 903 and higher?
Currently they are bound in the space from 189 to the sports tier 261. Not enough room if we ever get the 80+ channels Direct offers.

Thats my thought. Right now the HDs are split into several subgroups and I expect a reorganization will be necessary to put them all together in a reasonable order.

It 'depends' - some shows on that station (MTVHD is what it is @209) ARE in 5.1 (i'm watching/listening to something right now and verified the center and other channels are 'working') but some are 2.1 - it's easy for me to tell since my receiver 'tells' me what's Dolby Surround 5.1 and what isn't ....maybe that 'show' was only 2.1.

Thats what Im thinking. Ive had shows that have 5.1 and shows that dont, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason.

I noticed that there is a Versus HD, AMC HD and CNN HD on channels 950, 951 and 952. Why?
Could Comcast be planning to put the HDs all in the open channel numbers from 903 and higher?
Currently they are bound in the space from 189 to the sports tier 261. Not enough room if we ever get the 80+ channels Direct offers.

I noticed this last night as well and I sure hope they are going to finally arrange the HD channels is a good order up in the 900's. I love the way Comcast in Atlanta does it. They have the entire 800 block for HD and they just use the same channel but with an 8 in front for the HD channel. So ESPN is channel 47 and ESPNHD is 847. Easy to navigate.

Is there any way to get the Nashville Predators games in HD? Seems like Comcast blacks out the VS channel during the games. And the local game coverage with Pete & Terry on FSN South on ch 28 is not in HD. Also for some reason the local feed for last nights game was on 49. Am I missing something? Is there another channel that has the games here locally in HD? Is there an FSN South in HD? This is ridiculous...we are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and cant even see the games in HD??!?!?

Is there any way to get the Nashville Predators games in HD? Seems like Comcast blacks out the VS channel during the games. And the local game coverage with Pete & Terry on FSN South on ch 28 is not in HD. Also for some reason the local feed for last nights game was on 49. Am I missing something? Is there another channel that has the games here locally in HD? Is there an FSN South in HD? This is rediculous...we are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and cant even see the games in HD??!?!?

Its part of the feed deal. When its a local game, because tickets are "available" they cant show HD. Its something weird like that, there was an article a couple weeks ago. A lot of sports do that.

Its part of the feed deal. When its a local game, because tickets are "available" they cant show HD. Its something weird like that, there was an article a couple weeks ago. A lot of sports do that.

I don't think HD has anything to do with it. When Fox Sports South is showing a local game Comcast can't let you watch it on another channel. Since we don't have an HD feed for that channel (do they even have one?) then the result is no HD.

Dennis

I don't think HD has anything to do with it. When Fox Sports South is showing a local game Comcast can't let you watch it on another channel. Since we don't have an HD feed for that channel (do they even have one?) then the result is no HD.

Dennis

Sorry, thats what I meant. FSS in this case has the game broadcast exclusive in the local market. So that means no HD in Nashville. There was an article detailing how this is becoming an issue with these particular channels having broadcast rights but no HD feed for big games.

Heres a chart:
http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Schedule

Notice for example tomorrows game:

National broadcast:
CBC,VERSUS (HD),RIS <<--- Available in HD in San Francisco lets say.

Local broadcast:
FSN-S <<-- Not available in HD in Nashville.

Also for some reason the local feed for last nights game was on 49.

One of the Nashville sports talk radio shows said that they were on 49 because of a conflict with a Braves game.

Is there any way to get the Nashville Predators games in HD? Seems like Comcast blacks out the VS channel during the games. And the local game coverage with Pete & Terry on FSN South on ch 28 is not in HD. Also for some reason the local feed for last nights game was on 49. Am I missing something? Is there another channel that has the games here locally in HD? Is there an FSN South in HD? This is ridiculous...we are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and cant even see the games in HD??!?!?

This is a problem in almost every hockey market. The FSN family of networks covers about 80 teams in NBA, NHL, and MLB. Every station routes through Houston, which can only handle 7 HD games per night. So most of the NHL games are not in HD all across the country in their local markets. (see my post in the HD programming forum - NHL thread for more info)

Comcast will do FSN South games in HD (Braves and Preds) on occassion. It was easier to show hockey games in HD before baseball season started.

The game was on channel 49 last night because Comcast-Nashville does not have SportsSouth (a major complaint of mine). SportsSouth showed the FSN feed on the Nashville satellite customers, but Comcast could only do it on a local access channel with bad guide data. :rolleyes:

Attendance and ticket sales have absolutely no effect on whether a game is in HD or not.

Channel 247 is the sports and events channel and usually it has color bars, but during some home Preds games (it has in the past - not sure about this year) and all home Braves games (except SportSouth, cause Comcast hates me), it shows the game in HD. Nobody had mentioned it so I didn't know if ya'll knew about it. It should also show road Braves games as long as the stadium has HD equipment.

CNN HD added too, possibly the only channel added with the most HD programming. better late than never.

Gee, I've been working so much I didn't even notice the new channels come through until now.

I guess this is progress although we're giving up some existing HD quality for it. I'm looking at some of the channels to see about proper HD program markings. Looks like DisneyHD is doing it right. They might not have much HD programming now, but at least everything that isn't HD isn't marked as such (like TNTHD). "My Friend Tigger and Pooh" is notable HD program...didn't know Disney TV animation was doing HD anything. My two year old daughter will like this. Some of the newer Kim Possible episodes are HD as well. Most live action is still in SD. Even better for Disney is NO STRETCHOVISION!

The last two CW shows I've watched have not been in HD. Does anyone know why this is happening? I thought it was just an accident the first time I noticed it a few days ago, but then last night it never switched over to HD either.

Lost in HD last night was somewhat compressed. No macroblocking, but the dark and black areas were fuzzy and not dark. Looks like they clipped the dark tones range, so you get banding and static. Never been this way before, its always been very high quality.

On the OTA feed of Lost, it was pristine. On the Comcast feed, the blacks were full of static. I hope I dont have to start watching prime time OTA rather than through Comcast. It would be tragic.

CW has been that way for quite a while now. I get it OTA, so it isn't just a Comcast issue.

Wish CW would fix it!

Real shame by the way what Comcast is doing to their HD now. Glad I get OTA via my Tivo.

CW has been that way for quite a while now. I get it OTA, so it isn't just a Comcast issue.

Wish CW would fix it!

Real shame by the way what Comcast is doing to their HD now. Glad I get OTA via my Tivo.

Oh, thats too bad. I've been out of town for a couple month's and I thought CW shows were all coming through in HD before I left. I've sent them an e-mail and will post back if I get an answer from them.

CW has been that way for quite a while now. I get it OTA, so it isn't just a Comcast issue.

Wish CW would fix it!

Real shame by the way what Comcast is doing to their HD now. Glad I get OTA via my Tivo.

Yeah, I forgot that last night and I recorded Smallville in widescreen and I had to watch it with black bars on the side. They are moving the master control of operations from the southern side of Nashville to the north side of Nashville. So, if Lava Lamp Freak gets an e-mail back, it might say something about that and that they are not done with the moving yet.

NashDigie signing off.

Speaking of shows that should be in HD now, anyone know how to get in touch with WKRN engineering to throw the switch on This Week with George Stephanopolis? This is week #2 for this show in HD and they should at least be getting this right by now.

For the last few days, some HD programs on WNPT have had no sound on my system. This happens when watching the Comcast cable channel (240), the OTA broadcast, or the cable QAM channel. The sound on WNPT analog (channel 8) is OK. All other HD channels have normal sound, so I'm thinking it's something in the broadcast rather than an equipment problem. Anyone else see this?

For the last few days, some HD programs on WNPT have had no sound on my system. This happens when watching the Comcast cable channel (240), the OTA broadcast, or the cable QAM channel. The sound on WNPT analog (channel 8) is OK. All other HD channels have normal sound, so I'm thinking it's something in the broadcast rather than an equipment problem. Anyone else see this?

That's funny that you mention that. I almost never tune to WNPT, but I like to see Antiques Roadshow every once in a while. I had seen it in HD a week or two ago (via OTA), and tuned again tonight. I had no sound either, though the regular Dish SD version had audio.

I also hope the CW finishes its move soon so I can see Smallville in HD again.

Yes, Antiques Roadshow today had no sound on the HD channel. Mountain Stage is another of the silent HD programs on WNPT.

The trouble with having an HD Tivo is when stuff like this happens, I don't know about it until I try to play the records back - which could be days or weeks later :mad: . I will have to check my 8.1 recordings tonight to see what I may have missed. "Mountain Stage" with no audio would be pretty much a waste ......

Dennis

Has anybody seen a green line on the left hand side of WZTV during commercials?

Well, yet another weekend with This Week with George Stephanopolis in ugly SD as opposed to HD. My only conclusion at this point is that WKRN in all their cheapness doesn't own any equipment to DVR an HD broadcast from the network feed since the Sunday morning talk shows are often tape delayed in local markets, especially outside of the eastern time zone. Either that or someone is incredibly lazy. But considering how cheap we all know WKRN to be, I'd pick the first hypothesis.

The purpose of the channels in the 900 range was a capacity test. These channels have now been removed from the lineup.

-ice1138

The purpose of the channels in the 900 range was a capacity test. These channels have now been removed from the lineup.

-ice1138

While they were there I noticed a decreased in quality for the network HD channels. Now they are much better. Lost and House in particular suffered noticeably.

The purpose of the channels in the 900 range was a capacity test. These channels have now been removed from the lineup.

-ice1138
Bummer. Guess we're stuck with crappy numbering.

Back in March I set up my own pvr box with SageTV picking up all my local stations in HD with QAM. It was beautiful. A few weeks ago, I started noticing glitches in the HD stations. For some reason, LOST became unwatchable. It jumped around and had green lines running through it randomly. Now, any program that's actually 1080i or above is worthless. It seems like the comcast signal has dropped out and I can't tell why. I've tried signal boosters. I've tried connecting directly with no splitters. I've tried connecting intentionally with 2-4 splitters just in case the signal was too strong. Nothing seems to help.

Has anyone else in the murfreesboro area noticed this? My non-HD digital QAM channels are still working ok - just small glitches here and there. My plan for now is just to use the non-HD channels until I get a new TV with QAM capability. Then I'll be able to see if the TV can get the stations ok. Comcast won't help me unless I subscribe to HD and have their little box. I guess if I have to I'll rent their box long enough for them to fix my signal strength and then go back to using my pvr tuner cards.

Anyway, just wanted to check and see if anyone else around here had the same problem.

While they were there I noticed a decreased in quality for the network HD channels. Now they are much better. Lost and House in particular suffered noticeably.

This should not have affected any of the other channels. They were being broadcast into an unused frequency range (EIA 97). Any degradation in quality on the network channels is unrelated to the test channels that were in the 900 range.

-ice1138

Anyone get any stuttering during the F1 race on FOx today? It happened every 10 seconds, OTA and QAM without the box, and also through the box. Also on the SD channel, not just the HD.
Annoying.

Anyone get any stuttering during the F1 race on FOx today? It happened every 10 seconds, OTA and QAM without the box, and also through the box. Also on the SD channel, not just the HD.
Annoying.

I don't know if this would cause this, but WZTV in Nashville is upgrading their master control to be able to broadcast local news and syndication in HD.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6546067.html#Sinclair

. . . WZTV in Nashville is upgrading their master control to be able to broadcast local news and syndication in HD.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6546067.html#Sinclair

They're just upgrading master control for HD syndication, no HD news. Just to clear it up.

NashDigie signing off.

Could this explain why I can't tune WZTV in HD anymore? The SD digital channel seems to be working okay but after several channel scans I can't pick up 1.1 WZTV.

Maybe something that will work itself out?

I noticed the no channel 17 on 1.1 with Comcast last night. 17 is still there because my MyHD tuner card in my HTPC which is also being fed cable, still gets it. I'm doing a scan on my TV right now. I'll let you know what it finds.

For the time being, until Comcast and or 17 get their act together, you should be able to tune 17 in HD on 93.6 instead of the normal 1.1

Ronnie

I had the same line of thought but haven't been able to tune 93.6 on my set (Vizio VX32L) with a channel scan (unfortunately this set doesn't allow manual tuning). Similar to your results on your HTPC, I can get WZTV on 1.1 on my MythTV setup with an HDHomeRun but only if I tune to 1.4 first then switch to 1.1 as they're on the same multiplex. If I try to go to 1.1 directly from any channel other than 1.4, it won't work. Unfortunately this means that I have to record WZTV in SD for the time being.

Thanks for your help; glad to know it's not just me, at least, so I don't have to start troubleshooting my own setup.

I'm curious to see if anyone else has experienced this before...


I subscribe to Comcast limited basic cable. This means I pretty much only get the local stuff with the benefit of not needing to have an antenna. I recently built a HTPC with a couple of digital tuners to pick up some QAM channels. At first, I was able to pick up the digital version of all the local channels as well as the HD versions of the major stations. Lately, though, the HD signals have gotten weaker, and I can't pick them up well at all.

Since the signal was weak, I decided to try and see if Comcast's own HD box would have the same problem with low signal. That way, I would be able to get Comcast to get their act together and come out to fix it. It was my understanding that all the HD box does is basically provide you with a digital tuner that allows you to pick up the local HD stations (nothing my HTPC shouldn't already be able to do). So a couple days ago, I went out and rented one from them.

Once I got home and plugged it in, I was quite shocked to discover that the box wasn't just displaying the local stuff -- it was actually showing around 30 or so regular cable stations that certainly DO NOT come with my limited basic package (HBO, Food, Discovery, History, Disney, TLC, MTV, VH1, Animal Planet, etc.) even some of them in both SD and HD!

Is this normal to get all these channels just by renting the cheap HD box? I didn't even think these channels were getting to my house at all seeing as how there's a filter ensuring I only get the limited basic.

What's interesting is that the HD box confirmed my theory about the weak HD signal - you can still see glitches in the picture on certain channels.

Update, just did a channel scan on the set here at the office and WZTV is now coming through on 1.6.

@brbeaird: I have no idea if you're "supposed" to get those channels, but your story is certainly makes me wonder if I should try and rent an HD box from them as well. (Also limited basic here)

Update: I came home yesterday to find a big fat "NOT AUTHORIZED" on all those free channels. It was fun while it lasted. :)

Anyway, it appears that my digital signal is just too weak. I'll try to see if I can get Comcast out to look at it, but does anyone have any suggestions for an amplifier? I've tried the popular motorola one, but it really didn't seem to help much.

Update: I came home yesterday to find a big fat "NOT AUTHORIZED" on all those free channels. It was fun while it lasted. :)

Anyway, it appears that my digital signal is just too weak. I'll try to see if I can get Comcast out to look at it, but does anyone have any suggestions for an amplifier? I've tried the popular motorola one, but it really didn't seem to help much.

I had trouble with too strong signal, because there was a amplifier installed inside the house by the previous owner (it was giving 300% signal strength supposedly) So some channels and VOD would not work. So when Comcast took it off, it was too weak for VOD, so they increased the signal from the big splitter box down the street, and put it into range and everything is perfect now.

Hey gang,

On my Samsung plasma, I keep losing WKRN on 1.2 and WTVF on 1.5, and have to go through the channel setup to get the stations back. Has any one else seen this? It seems to happen randomly, and I can't figure out any other way to get them back, aside from doing an entire re-scan of channels. I'm using the TV's built-in tuner, removed all unnecessary splitters in the path, and fixed a broken ground wire at Comcasts's point of entry, all to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks!

the fireworks show is going to be on channel 5. don't know if it will be in HD.

Has anybody noticed how much re-compression Comca$t has been applying recently? I was trying to watch the Olympic trials and in some relatively close-up scenes you could barely make out the faces from all the macroblocking.

Any OTA folks notice this? Could it possibly be at the source.... although I doubt it.

-John

Hey gang,

On my Samsung plasma, I keep losing WKRN on 1.2 and WTVF on 1.5, and have to go through the channel setup to get the stations back. Has any one else seen this? It seems to happen randomly, and I can't figure out any other way to get them back, aside from doing an entire re-scan of channels. I'm using the TV's built-in tuner, removed all unnecessary splitters in the path, and fixed a broken ground wire at Comcasts's point of entry, all to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks!

I've seen it happen on my Toshiba and Mitsu TV where I see those stations (and the other locals) and running my 'set up' sometimes they don't 'appear'. it's annoying. can't help you - only commiserate. i rarely watch OTA since i do have TiVoHD boxes so it's not a real big problem for me.

Has anybody noticed how much re-compression Comca$t has been applying recently? I was trying to watch the Olympic trials and in some relatively close-up scenes you could barely make out the faces from all the macroblocking.

Any OTA folks notice this? Could it possibly be at the source.... although I doubt it.

-John

Depends - Comcrap from time to time you can tell their compressing the hell out of the feed. Watching Wimbledon Miss Macro would pop up. It's known they compress their stuff which sucks when I'm paying to watch HBO movies in HD only to see Miss Macro dance across the screen or, just as bad, see 'screen door images' from compressed feeds.

Depends - Comcrap from time to time you can tell their compressing the hell out of the feed. Watching Wimbledon Miss Macro would pop up. It's known they compress their stuff which sucks when I'm paying to watch HBO movies in HD only to see Miss Macro dance across the screen or, just as bad, see 'screen door images' from compressed feeds.

I agree some stuff is way over compressed. So I keep the number and call them and complain every time its really bad. I do this because I called one time and the tech told me they have no quality control box in Nashville, so they only find out about issues from callers.

I hope and pray the Olympics are going to be watchable. The Winter ones a couple years back were pixelated and had artifacts even though most of the screen was white with snow.

I agree some stuff is way over compressed. So I keep the number and call them and complain every time its really bad. I do this because I called one time and the tech told me they have no quality control box in Nashville, so they only find out about issues from callers.

I hope and pray the Olympics are going to be watchable. The Winter ones a couple years back were pixelated and had artifacts even though most of the screen was white with snow.

From what I've read, AT&T's UVerse is not any better and perhaps worse, hard as that is to imagine. Why oh why can't Verizion get FIOS going in Tennessee now that we have a statewide franchise law?? I'd sign up for that in a picosecond.

-John

There should be no excuse for poor quality for the Olympics in Beijing. They're using camera's that will record 8,000fps (that's 8,000 frames per second) to show action in super-slow motion!

From what I've read, AT&T's UVerse is not any better and perhaps worse, hard as that is to imagine. Why oh why can't Verizion get FIOS going in Tennessee now that we have a statewide franchise law?? I'd sign up for that in a picosecond.

-John

I agree - I wouldn't go with UVerse right now since you can only watch 2 HD programs at any one time (they JUST upgraded their service from 1 to 2). This means if you have 3 TVs and you're watching the game, wifey watching FOODHD, and your kids wanna watch HD you'd be out of luck. Fios is definitely something I want here in Nashvegas.

I would appreciate it if anyone can verify if the following problems occur on their Nashville Comcast Feed.

Problem 1: Channel 267 (Fox Soccer Channel) seems to lose sync and pixellates or loses sound every 20-60 seconds.

Problem 2: Channel 240 (PBS) will freeze for about 2-3 seconds every few minutes.

I have had the techs come out twice and they assure me my signal is fine coming to the house but they apparently don't seem to have a way of verifying if their own feed quality is OK.

I am really close to dropping Comcast altogether as I am not that impressed with the Digital Voice outages I experience either.

I would appreciate it if anyone can verify if the following problems occur on their Nashville Comcast Feed.

Problem 1: Channel 267 (Fox Soccer Channel) seems to lose sync and pixellates or loses sound every 20-60 seconds.

Problem 2: Channel 240 (PBS) will freeze for about 2-3 seconds every few minutes.

I have had the techs come out twice and they assure me my signal is fine coming to the house but they apparently don't seem to have a way of verifying if their own feed quality is OK.

I am really close to dropping Comcast altogether as I am not that impressed with the Digital Voice outages I experience either.

I haven't watch Channel 267, but Channel 240 does freeze every few minutes for me.

From Endgadget HD.com comes word of UVerse for TN (if you want it)
Welp, the fat lady has sung. After a long run-up to the inevitable, AT&T has finally admitted that it will be stringing its U-verse services into the Volunteer State. Reportedly, the provider will be coughing up $400 million over the next few years for "fiber network upgrades," which it will likely use to deliver high-speed internet, digital phone service and television programming to the fine citizens of Tennessee. Unfortunately, AT&T failed to reveal a timeline of events for us to focus on, but judging by how long we've been waiting with no results from that supposed investment in the Carolinas, we wouldn't call and cancel that Comcast service just yet.

they assure me my signal is fine coming to the house but they apparently don't seem to have a way of verifying if their own feed quality is OK.

What I would do is bypass everything and hook up your HD QAM tuner (or cable box) directly to where the cable enters the house - no splitters and use a new run of RG-6 strung through the house to make it work. You may need a female to female connector to connect the two cables together. Do the problems go away? If so, then you probably have a bad splitter or two and/or some bad cables. If the VoIP is frequent enough, you can repeat the same test using just your cable modem and VoIP box. If that fixes it, again bad stuff in your house.

My cable modem and cable TV seemed fine until I started watching HD in QAM and testing revealed some lossy cables and splitters. I picked up a couple of Comcast "self install" cable modem kits for cheap and used the 2 way splitters out of those and the pre-made RG-6 cables to replace some stuff I had. I picked up a Motorola "cable modem" amplifier and placed it where the cable enters the house and before any splitters. When I was all done I had much better signals a lot less freezes, my VoIP worked better and my cable modem did too. As Comcast kept raising the speed of the cable modem mine old modem could not keep up, so I purchased a new Surf Board to be a full allowed speed and it all now works super.

Dennis

Just found this on a news site. Bonten Media Group is planning to purchase WTVF channel 5 from its current owner, Landmark Communications. What this will mean for the future of the station? I don't know. I hope only good things come out of this. Click the link below for the full story.

WTVF 5 Being Sold Article (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i78e076c5490e1313e80441bc3bfcf7e0)

NashDigie signing off.

Landmark announced months ago that it was selling all of its media properies including its signature property, the Weather Channel (NBC Universal just picked it up). Landmark's properties were in general pretty well run, WTVF included. I'm sure that Bonten Media is getting a great operation.

Just a note on Comcast Nashville's compression scheme. While many HD channels are compressed, there are still quite a few that are passed on through the system with no rate shaping at all. All of the local HDs (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS) are not compressed as well as HD versions of ESPN, ESPN2, Showtime, Mojo, Music HD, TNT, TBS, NFL and a few others. These are passed as they are received from the broadcasters, using two services per 38 Mbps (256 QAM) channel. For channels that are compressed, the compression takes place outside of Nashville and are compressed on the national level so that they are the same everywhere in the country.

If you are seeing compression artifacts on the HD channels (typically manifested in gradients and high motion scenes) this is not handled on the local level. If you're seeing large blocks or interupted audio, you should call to schedule a service call with Comcast.

On a side note, 3 new HD channels are scheduled to be launched in Mid-August.

-ice1138

What are the 3 new HD channels??

Just a note on Comcast Nashville's compression scheme. While many HD channels are compressed, there are still quite a few that are passed on through the system with no rate shaping at all. All of the local HDs (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS) are not compressed as well as HD versions of ESPN, ESPN2, Showtime, Mojo, Music HD, TNT, TBS, NFL and a few others. These are passed as they are received from the broadcasters, using two services per 38 Mbps (256 QAM) channel. For channels that are compressed, the compression takes place outside of Nashville and are compressed on the national level so that they are the same everywhere in the country.

I really wish I could believe that, but the Comcast re-compression thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271) has a detailed analysis and screenshots that says otherwise, at least wrt. MHD, UHD and Discovery HD. And the RHCP MHD shot exactly mimics what I'm seeing on both my bigger sets on most channels, even though my DVR service menu monitoring shows GOOD signal quality and absolutely zero dropouts.

If you are seeing compression artifacts on the HD channels (typically manifested in gradients and high motion scenes) this is not handled on the local level. If you're seeing large blocks or interupted audio, you should call to schedule a service call with Comcast.


I agree that audio dropouts and large blocks are a result of poor signal quality, and when I see those it's usually corroborated by the folks on this thread as a source issue. But what I was referring too is the more insidious practice of re-compression that's making absolutely every channel look like crap.

Check out that thread above and let me know what you think. It was very eye-opening and informative for me.

-John

I really wish I could believe that, but the Comcast re-compression thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271) has a detailed analysis and screenshots that says otherwise, at least wrt. MHD, UHD and Discovery HD. And the RHCP MHD shot exactly mimics what I'm seeing on both my bigger sets on most channels, even though my DVR service menu monitoring shows GOOD signal quality and absolutely zero dropouts.


I am familiar with Comcast Compression thread, but I can guarantee that it was not run from the Nashville market. To a varying degree, each system has some choices on which source they choose to pick up. Nashville's Music HD Channel is not compressed. It typically arrives at about 19 Mbps and and is sent out at the same bitrate.

You can typically tell which channels are super-compressed by looking at a QAM tuner. Any time you have a 3 HD channels on one QAM channel, the channels have been compressed. Most HD channels are broadcast at or around 19 Mbps. This easily allows for two uncompressed HD channels to fit in one 6 Mhz 256 QAM channel (38.3 Mbps).

-ice1138

I am familiar with Comcast Compression thread, but I can guarantee that it was not run from the Nashville market. To a varying degree, each system has some choices on which source they choose to pick up. Nashville's Music HD Channel is not compressed. It typically arrives at about 19 Mbps and and is sent out at the same bitrate.

You can typically tell which channels are super-compressed by looking at a QAM tuner. Any time you have a 3 HD channels on one QAM channel, the channels have been compressed. Most HD channels are broadcast at or around 19 Mbps. This easily allows for two uncompressed HD channels to fit in one 6 Mhz 256 QAM channel (38.3 Mbps).

-ice1138

I'll take your word on it then, although I'm still appalled at the overall HD quality on Comcast. Everything I've personally seen down in Franklin has at least looked a whole lot more like re-compression than a signal-strength issue.

Having the 341x-series DVR, is there any way to detect signal quality issues other than the service menu? I could always download the show via Firewire and look for dropouts / timecode breaks with MPEG Streamclip, but that's not exactly a fast process.

Any advice is appreciated.

-John

On a side note, 3 new HD channels are scheduled to be launched in Mid-August.

-ice1138

Is weather channel one of them? It seems to be spreading elsewhere.

The weather channel is not one of the new HD channels scheduled to launch.

-ice1138

The weather channel is not one of the new HD channels scheduled to launch.

-ice1138

Then what are they? Can you not tell us?:)

Well, we may not know what three HD channels are coming, but we at least know where the bandwidth is coming from. My Tivos last night announced the termination of several premium channels (and one PPV) from the analog band. These were found in channel range 2-99 including HBO (7), More Max (77), Cinemax (78), IN1 (PPV-95) and Showtime 2 (97). What's amazing is not that these channels are going since they all reside on the digital tier in SD and HD (mostly). It's that it took so long to do so. I suppose it speaks to how difficult it is to do away with a channel sometimes especially when there is equipment in people's homes that may still be using it (and providing revenue). Of course, that equipment is at least 20 years old now, but apparently there is probably few enough legacy non-digital cable boxes out there to make the change now without significant disruption.

On a side note, the passing of HBO on analog channel 7 is significant only because it is an early reminder of how important channel number placement was in the old days and even now. HBO managed to snag channel 7 in this market when cable TV debuted in Nashville back in 1977 over the objections of WZTV-17 that also wanted channel 7 (and a decade before it would become a FOX affiliate). I remember many times as a kid trying to use the 36 channel Zenith tuner we got in attempt to see HBO through the squiggly lines of a scrambled video signal (audio was perfect though). The TV in those days was a brand new 25" Sears console TV with a remote control and push buttons for changing the channel on the front panel instead of a knob (seriously high tech in those days for a non-Sony TV). Now a Hitachi 55" CRT RPTV HD set sits in the same spot at my parents home.

I hope QVC HD is not one of them, it would be a waste of bandwidth.

I hope QVC HD is not one of them, it would be a waste of bandwidth.

Well, it may help to check the charts for what Comcast has deployed in other markets. Right now, Comcast Nashville has deployed nearly all of the HD channels that are in the other markets. Notable exceptions are the Weather Channel HD, WGN America and Science HD. Nick HD, MGM HD and ESPNews HD have been announced but not deployed anywhere (at least according to the chart). Excepting the HDNet channels and NBA & NHL HD channels, that's pretty much everything Comcast has known contracts for.

Well, it may help to check the charts for what Comcast has deployed in other markets. Right now, Comcast Nashville has deployed nearly all of the HD channels that are in the other markets. Notable exceptions are the Weather Channel HD, WGN America and Science HD. Nick HD, MGM HD and ESPNews HD have been announced but not deployed anywhere (at least according to the chart). Excepting the HDNet channels and NBA & NHL HD channels, that's pretty much everything Comcast has known contracts for.

Hmm - I've never been able to get HBO on Channel 7 using my Series 2 Tivo's or my two HDTiVo's.......and IN1 wouldn't work on a Tivo anyways since it can't handle PPV stations.

Hi folks,

Long time lurker and recent member...my apologies if I've posted in the wrong area.

I suddenly find myself with a weekend trip to Nashville. Can anyone recommend a good home theater store where I might see some HDTVs set up in better condition than at my local big box stores?

thanks much,

Joe

Hi folks,

Long time lurker and recent member...my apologies if I've posted in the wrong area.

I suddenly find myself with a weekend trip to Nashville. Can anyone recommend a good home theater store where I might see some HDTVs set up in better condition than at my local big box stores?

thanks much,

Joe

Lurker here, too.

I've never been to it, but Best Buy has a Magnolia store on west Charlotte Pike. I believe it's next to a Target store.

Chaz

Hi Fi Buys out Nolensville Rd, near Zoo. Ask for Jon (I think). He's an older guy, maybe mid 40's that has been there for a while. I forget the other uy there I met who was good, sorry. They are a locally owned store, generally very knowledgable. Carry several boutique brands, but without the boutique fluff and attitude. No pressure, loads of info. Sales people have been there years, no "new guys" working on commissions that come and go monthly. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever. But I think they fit the bill of what you asked for.

Just a note on Comcast Nashville's compression scheme. While many HD channels are compressed, there are still quite a few that are passed on through the system with no rate shaping at all. All of the local HDs (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS) are not compressed as well as HD versions of ESPN, ESPN2, Showtime, Mojo, Music HD, TNT, TBS, NFL and a few others. These are passed as they are received from the broadcasters, using two services per 38 Mbps (256 QAM) channel. For channels that are compressed, the compression takes place outside of Nashville and are compressed on the national level so that they are the same everywhere in the country.

If you are seeing compression artifacts on the HD channels (typically manifested in gradients and high motion scenes) this is not handled on the local level. If you're seeing large blocks or interupted audio, you should call to schedule a service call with Comcast.

On a side note, 3 new HD channels are scheduled to be launched in Mid-August.

-ice1138
I believed there was compression and this article further proves it:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4275063.html

I noticed on Sunday frequent periods of interrupted audio and screen freezes on USAHD. Anyone else have the same problem. Also noticed the picture being very jerky periodically. I live in the Dickson area.

Thanks,
Roger

I noticed on Sunday frequent periods of interrupted audio and screen freezes on USAHD. Anyone else have the same problem. Also noticed the picture being very jerky periodically. I live in the Dickson area.

Thanks,
Roger
Yes, I had it, too. I've also had this problem on movies recorded on my TiVo from UHD.

Yes, I had it, too. I've also had this problem on movies recorded on my TiVo from UHD.

I noticed it too on stuff recorded from a few channels. There is no rhyme or reason to it. i think I may change the box to a new one.

Then what are they? Can you not tell us?:)

Actually I can't discuss it here until the official marketing notice has gone out.

-ice1138

Well, we may not know what three HD channels are coming, but we at least know where the bandwidth is coming from.

The new channels will be on QAM channel 66. This spot was recently vacated by the Oxygen analog feed.

So it will be 3 HD channels into one QAM? Pretty poor quality to be expected then. But hey, 3 HDs are 3 HDs. I hope Travel Channel HD is one of them. ANd maybe Speed HD.

So it will be 3 HD channels into one QAM? Pretty poor quality to be expected then. But hey, 3 HDs are 3 HDs. I hope Travel Channel HD is one of them. ANd maybe Speed HD.

I'd rather have three good looking SD channels instead of three crappy HD ones. Heck, I have lots of DVDs that look way, WAY better than some of the Comcast (so called) HD channels because of terrible motion artifacts, re-compression detail fuzz, etc.

But all the HD providers are into trumpeting how many "HD Channels" they have, quality or not. So marketing overrules engineering and/or consumer wishes, at that point.

-John

I noticed it too on stuff recorded from a few channels. There is no rhyme or reason to it. i think I may change the box to a new one.

No reason to swap the box. This issue should be resolved now, If you see any more random tiling on UHD, or USA HD. Please drop a note on the forum, and I'll check it out. Thanks.

-ice1138

No reason to swap the box. This issue should be resolved now, If you see any more random tiling on UHD, or USA HD. Please drop a note on the forum, and I'll check it out. Thanks.

-ice1138

Its not necessarily random tiling. The sound pauses for about 2 seconds and the video is fine. And only on recordings on HD channels. Happens with Discovery HD, History HD, AMC HD, but rarely on the network HD channels. And if we watch the show live, there are no issues. So its more of a box thing in my opinion.

Any chance these new channels are the nbc olympic soccer and basketball channels in HD for the Olympics? That would be a pleasant surprise from Comcast, so i'm sure it's not gonna happen.

New channels are now available.

200 Speedvision HD
252 Fox News HD
258 FX HD

I'm grateful for any new HD channels, but Speed HD??
I wonder how these choices are made. Surely more people whould like ESPN News HD, Weather Channel HD, The Movie Channel HD over Speed HD.

ice1138 - a question. Nashville's version of the IGuide seems two or more versions older than many markets. Will we see an upgrade anytime soon?
Also - to your knowledge, should we continue to see 2-3 new HD channels a month rolled out this year? I have read, other places, that Comcast hopes to have 50+ HD channels by years end.

and ice1138 - thanks for the heads up on the additions.

I would expect around 8-10 HD new channels by years end.

Regarding the guide, An upgrade was recently delayed due to bugs found in the new version. Typically a new version will be tested in several markets before it's approved for a full national release. There's no point in rolling out a new version that (a) doesn't address current issues or (b) creates new issues.

-ice1138

Has anyone else been noticing significant artifacts and lagging lately on HD channels? It's happening most often while watching Olympic broadcasts on NBS and UHD, but it was also rather bad during MNF this past Monday.

It's always happened on occasion, but it's currently making the HD Olympic broadcasts nearly unwatchable.

I'm in the Hermitage area.

Has anyone else been noticing significant artifacts and lagging lately on HD channels? It's happening most often while watching Olympic broadcasts on NBS and UHD, but it was also rather bad during MNF this past Monday.

It's always happened on occasion, but it's currently making the HD Olympic broadcasts nearly unwatchable.

I'm in the Hermitage area.

Same here. I live in Franklin.

It's a shame the Olympics have to be televised on NBC. They have the worst HD broadcasts. It's especially bad (artifacting, etc.) on closeups of relatively fast motion sequences. I haven't watched much of the games on UHD, but NBC is notorious, especially in football season, for bad HD signals. With all the money they spent to broadcast the games, you'd think they'd invest in better equipment for HD.

The poor quality is mostly because WSMV broadcasts a spanish language channel on 4.2 that takes away a good chunk of their available bandwidth for 4.1. Really too bad they completely trash their 4.1 HD quality just for a small chunk of extra money they get for this Spanish channel.

Also a secondary issue is the olympic venue cameras I think are 50 fps and then the video has to be converted to 60 fps for broadcast in the US. A lot of live international HD has this problem.

I would like to add a 2nd HD comcast set top box to my household. I am getting the HD service already paying 6.95 for the HD channels. Comcast is telling me that if I want to add a second HD box not DVR, it is going to be 6.95 for the rental of the box and another 6.95 for the HD signal to the second box. Does that sound right? I asked na online customer service rep and she told me that I would just pay the rental fee for the box? Anyone have multiple boxes in their home that could provide some insight? I just dont understand why I have to pay another 6.95 for HD when I already get it.

I would like to add a 2nd HD comcast set top box to my household. I am getting the HD service already paying 6.95 for the HD channels. Comcast is telling me that if I want to add a second HD box not DVR, it is going to be 6.95 for the rental of the box and another 6.95 for the HD signal to the second box. Does that sound right? I asked na online customer service rep and she told me that I would just pay the rental fee for the box? Anyone have multiple boxes in their home that could provide some insight? I just dont understand why I have to pay another 6.95 for HD when I already get it.
I'm in Nashville and we pay (i think) $5 PER box for HD service (we have an HD PVR and 2 HD TiVos). Rip off. I'm pining away hoping FiOs comes here.

The poor quality is mostly because WSMV broadcasts a spanish language channel on 4.2 that takes away a good chunk of their available bandwidth for 4.1. Really too bad they completely trash their 4.1 HD quality just for a small chunk of extra money they get for this Spanish channel.

Also a secondary issue is the olympic venue cameras I think are 50 fps and then the video has to be converted to 60 fps for broadcast in the US. A lot of live international HD has this problem.

I even see horrible artifacting when the NBC logo comes across the screen for a replay, stats screen, etc. The whole thing and everything around it is one macroblocked mess.

You would think on such a high-profile event that NBC would have or impose some kind of "don't alter" clause in their contract for retransmission eh?

If you're right about the 50fps stuff then at least that part is way better than it was in Athens, which was a jerky mess IIRC.

-John

The poor quality is mostly because WSMV broadcasts a spanish language channel on 4.2 that takes away a good chunk of their available bandwidth for 4.1. Really too bad they completely trash their 4.1 HD quality just for a small chunk of extra money they get for this Spanish channel.


But the complaints about NBC and their Sunday Night Football from last year were from all over the country, weren't they? Surely some of the artifacts are NBC's fault or so many other folks would not be complaining about them. I don't see any of the same problems with WKRN and they have the the WX channel up all the time. Not saying SOME of the problem is not Telemundo but I am not sure that is the entire problem.

A friend with a new HD can't see the problem, I don't see how you could miss it.

Dennis

Yes a really good place to see it currently is on the Olympics when they do that flying logo across the screen occasionally. Just a mess of blocks. If your friend has a DVR have him pause it on that and look at it.

One thing to keep in mind when comparing ABC to NBC is that ABC is broadcast in 720p while NBC is 1080i. I'm no expert, but due to the much higher pixel count in 1080i in my experience it is less forgiving of lowered bitrates. Another thing to consider is how much bandwidth each station devotes to their other subchannel... perhaps WKRN doesn't give much bandwidth to the WX channel. Also keep in mind many other NBC stations across the country also have subchannels running so they may also be degrading their main signal quality just like WSMV does. I'm sure there are one or two NBC affiliates out there who don't run a subchannel, and I'm sure they would have significantly better video quality.

With regard to NBC HD bandwidth, Comcast is receiving it, at approx 15 mbps. Comcast has a dedicated 19mbps set aside for this channel, meaning that there's at least 4 mbps not being used.
The compression you are seeing, is either being done by the local affiliate or NBC itself.

I'm in Nashville and we pay (i think) $5 PER box for HD service (we have an HD PVR and 2 HD TiVos). Rip off. I'm pining away hoping FiOs comes here.

I think Uverse will be here first.

I haven't seen much recent talk on the coming of U-verse.

In talking to an AT&T rep at a their Green Hills store, they said U-verse should start rolling out in December. (in Nashville).

Does anybody know anything about when it will come? Where first?

Even if it only offers a few additional channels I will likely switch, unless Comcast makes some substantial HD additions by then. I'm not a big VOD user and I'm frustrated by Comcast's apparent slowwww roll out of new channels or Iguide improvements.

Since we have a few participants in this thread who have some Comcast insight, does Comcast plan to do anything when U-verse is rolled out?

They are currently laying down the fiber along 40 and 65 in Nashville. So a Decemberish rollout sounds right.

I am also sick of the old hardware and Iguide for Comcast, plus the high cost, so I will definitely go to U-verse even if it means losing a few channels initially. My parents have Uverse in Atlanta, and it cocsts less, has more channels and better hardware. Comcast needs to step up its game big time.

But the complaints about NBC and their Sunday Night Football from last year were from all over the country, weren't they? Surely some of the artifacts are NBC's fault or so many other folks would not be complaining about them. I don't see any of the same problems with WKRN and they have the the WX channel up all the time. Not saying SOME of the problem is not Telemundo but I am not sure that is the entire problem.

A friend with a new HD can't see the problem, I don't see how you could miss it.

Dennis

Over in the LCD forums, folks complain about this often. Here is another one: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14424846#post14424846

I am SO furious - I don't know why but the past 3 days most/all the HD stations are pixelating something HORRIBLE! Tonight, trying to watch the Football game on CBS: the screen would pixel and then FREEZE! If i changed the station and went back it'd be 'ok' for a time then 'freeze' again. The past two nights it's been like this. I wish FiOs was here since I can NOT deal with this and if it happens during the regular NFL season they will be getting constant calls from me (here in East Nashville). Changed it to FOX and the SAME CRAP is happening. I friggin hate this....

In the past couple of days I have noticed that the on demand stations (movies etc. other people in the area have ordered) have dissapeared from my clear qam tuner. They used to show up in the 103 to 110 channel range in the clear.

New channels are now available.

200 Speedvision HD
252 Fox News HD
258 FX HD

First of all, thanks to ice1138 for being an "inside voice" for rumors regarding Comcast Nashville.

As for the additions, well, Speedvision probably plays well in NASCAR crazy middle Tennessee but I doubt I'll be watching it.

Having Fox News HD is nice for the patrons of Fox News. Again, I'm not one of them but its nice to see news broadcasts go over to HD. All that's left is MSNBC...I'm sure NBC Universal has everything set up for it in the new HD broadcast facilities they opened recently at 30 Rock, but getting bandwidth on the major cable and Sat outlets I imagine is still being worked out.

FX HD. A solid pick for fans of their original series (again, I don't spend a lot of time on this channel). This rounds out the group of channels that includes USAHD, TNTHD, TBSHD, and other like channels.

Having Fox News HD is nice for the patrons of Fox News. Again, I'm not one of them but its nice to see news broadcasts go over to HD

I was eating in a restaurant the other day and they had Fox News on (I think they usually show CNN). I noticed that Fox has a bunch of digital "world time clocks" arranged around the studio. I then noticed the minutes were off on most of them :) . If they are not going to keep them in sync, they should go back to analog clocks which makes it harder to notice they are not set properly.

Dennis

Cant wait for MSNBC HD!

In the past couple of days I have noticed that the on demand stations (movies etc. other people in the area have ordered) have dissapeared from my clear qam tuner. They used to show up in the 103 to 110 channel range in the clear.

Thats because VOD content is in the process of being encrypted in all areas.

ice1138 - Since you seem to have some local Comcast insight. Can we look forward to any new HD channels soon? I know we just got 3, but I also read where Chicago rolled out like 15 new HDs. I know Chicago is 100% digital, unlike Nashville, but unless Comcast starts giving us a reason to stay I believe many (me included) will jump to U-verse when it's offered. (Dec/08?)

Nashman, Chicago got many that we already had. It seems Nashville is actually on the forefront of Comcast's expansions.
And yes, Uverse is coming at end of year, they are making a huge push to get it in before the February switchoff, and in time for Xmas rush and Superbowl. I spoke with them just yesterday, and apparently some areas are testing already, employees and such only, no customers.

So I'm guessing the huge spools of cable I see getting laid every day on I-65 are AT&T?

...Chicago is 100% digital, unlike Nashville...

Not sure what you mean by this, Nashville's entire lineup is available all digital for customers with digital boxes. In the past, Comcast offered a channel map that was part analog (lower channels) and part digital (upper channels). Those maps were done away with about 6 months ago, and the entire lineup is all digital. In fact most of the newer boxes being issued don't even contain an analog tuner (dct700, dch models, etc)

With regard to new HD channels, I will let you guys know when new channels are scheduled, but I can't discuss which channels until an official marketing announcement has been made. I would expect another 9-12 HD channels by years end.

-ice1138

So I'm guessing the huge spools of cable I see getting laid every day on I-65 are AT&T?

Yes. The thick spool ones. On 40, 65 and along 440 is where I have seen them. We live about 1.8 miles off the exit on 40 and they were working on the big ATT box at the entrance to our neighborhood yesterday, so I talked to one of the techs. Thats how I got the info in my other post. He said the fiber will stretch to that box, and then from there it will cover the neighborhoods around via the regular wire. They were prepping it because they finished laying the cable to our exit, so now they were going to do the short run to the box.

I wouldn't get too hyped about AT&T... from what I've heard over the years about their video service, the HD quality is pretty much the worst among all video providers (OTA, cable, satellite, etc.).

This because they don't use fiber to your house - they use VDSL over copper, in other words just a faster version of DSL internet. But the speed isn't really enough to provide 2 high quality HD feeds at the same time as providing your internet service and phone service all over that one VDSL connection. So back when they first started you could only watch one HD channel at a time in your house. And that one HD feed was a recompressed low bitrate MPEG-4 version.

I heard they may eventually bond two VDSL connections together to provide a better experience. If they did that and their HD quality improved while keeping their price low then I might consider it.

Chicago added these HD channels along with the 3 we now get - Bravo, CNBC, QVC, The Weather Channel, Encore, Fox Business Network, Fuse, IFC, WE, Hallmark Movie Channel, NBA TV, and NHL TV. (according to TV Predictions)

If Nashville is all digital, everywhere, why then don't we have the space to add more HD channels quicker. Why don't we have the Tivo service or the latest iguide. It is very frustrating!

I have also read about the possible poor quaility of some U-verse service. I can only hope that they are working hard to try to do better here.

The ATT tech installing fiber out off of I-40 near Mt Juliet told a friend of mine that the Internet speed on their service was just 8mb (or was it 6mb?). Enough for most, but not as fast at what Comcast offers. Of course, if they charge a lot less most folks may find they can do without the extra speed.

Isn't the cable company required to keep analog in place until 2012? So Comcast here (or anywhere else) can't be "all digital" and can't drop those fat analog channels for compressed digital until after that date.

If Comcast does not offer enough HD to suit you, why not try Dish or DirecTV? Maybe some folks just want to complain :D ?

Dennis

I thought this was a venue where we could exchange our ideas, thoughts, questions.
I live in a townhouse where a dish isn't practical. I didn't intend to offend anyone and apologize if I have done so.

I put a smiley behind that comment :D .

I have had Dish and have HD Tivos from DirecTV now along with a cable HD Tivo and a cablecard with Comcast. I could get even more HD channels if I gave up my HDTivos and went with the non-Tivo HD DVD from Direct. Of course, if you look at the Dish ads they have a lot of HD channels for a low price. I would certainly look at ATT if/when they come to my area as well.

Smalls dishes are accepted everywhere now, even in restricted areas and at apartment complexes so it might be worth looking into. Competition does you no good if you only have one choice....

Anyway, the cable company has to keep the analogs until at lease 2012 and there is only so much spectrum space. I love looking at HD, but could care less about weather or news or more "animal shows" in HD. Some of the channels I see added to me are "so what". The cable digital SD channels don't look that bad, but looking at cable analog (or sat SD) is truly terrible.

Dennis

I wouldn't get too hyped about AT&T... from what I've heard over the years about their video service, the HD quality is pretty much the worst among all video providers (OTA, cable, satellite, etc.).

This because they don't use fiber to your house - they use VDSL over copper, in other words just a faster version of DSL internet. But the speed isn't really enough to provide 2 high quality HD feeds at the same time as providing your internet service and phone service all over that one VDSL connection. So back when they first started you could only watch one HD channel at a time in your house. And that one HD feed was a recompressed low bitrate MPEG-4 version.

I heard they may eventually bond two VDSL connections together to provide a better experience. If they did that and their HD quality improved while keeping their price low then I might consider it.

My parents have it in Atlanta, and they have the 2/2 package. 2HD and 2SD streams at once in the house. Theres only 2 of them, so the odds of needing to watch more than that is slim.

The HD quality is comparable if not better than Comcast in my opinion. On some channels its the same, on some its worse, and some better. Comcast also has a variety of quality, as you cant really compare the quality of broadcast channels with some of the "lesser" channels.

All in all, if they give a good deal, I will try it. And if nothing else, it will be a bargaining chip with Comcast to get a lower rate. My parents get 3 HD boxes, one a DVR, and some 350 channels (including Starz and Encore and more premium stuff, not HBO) and the 6mb DSL for about 115 a month after their bundle discounts (they also have att phone and wireless). They also got free install and three months for free with a 1 year commitment. So they are paying some 1000 a year (including Internet) to try it out for a year.

We here in Nashville are paying 90 bucks for 1 DVR and HD, for over 1000 a year (not including internet). And we have everything else through ATT so we would also get the bundle discounts. So its almost a no brainer that we will try it. Maybe after that 1 year, COmcast will have finally rolled out a new guide, at least a widescreen one, and some better hardware.

My parents have it in Atlanta, and they have the 2/2 package. 2HD and 2SD streams at once in the house. Theres only 2 of them, so the odds of needing to watch more than that is slim.

The HD quality is comparable if not better than Comcast in my opinion. On some channels its the same, on some its worse, and some better. Comcast also has a variety of quality, as you cant really compare the quality of broadcast channels with some of the "lesser" channels.

All in all, if they give a good deal, I will try it. And if nothing else, it will be a bargaining chip with Comcast to get a lower rate. My parents get 3 HD boxes, one a DVR, and some 350 channels (including Starz and Encore and more premium stuff, not HBO) and the 6mb DSL for about 115 a month after their bundle discounts (they also have att phone and wireless). They also got free install and three months for free with a 1 year commitment. So they are paying some 1000 a year (including Internet) to try it out for a year.

We here in Nashville are paying 90 bucks for 1 DVR and HD, for over 1000 a year (not including internet). And we have everything else through ATT so we would also get the bundle discounts. So its almost a no brainer that we will try it. Maybe after that 1 year, COmcast will have finally rolled out a new guide, at least a widescreen one, and some better hardware.

I guess you never intend on watching one HD station, recording another and having someone else watch an HD program on a different set? You're probably not a football fan - I constantly have 2 HD streams on my TiVoHD to flip between two games without ever missing a play and my better half is off in another room doing the same thing but watching HD food and home repair shows. That's 4 HD streams plus the ability for more in another room if there's something on we need to record but we're using most/all the streams - there's no way i'll go w/AT&T - now FiOS on the other hand....

I guess you never intend on watching one HD station, recording another and having someone else watch an HD program on a different set? You're probably not a football fan - I constantly have 2 HD streams on my TiVoHD to flip between two games without ever missing a play and my better half is off in another room doing the same thing but watching HD food and home repair shows. That's 4 HD streams plus the ability for more in another room if there's something on we need to record but we're using most/all the streams - there's no way i'll go w/AT&T - now FiOS on the other hand....
This is pretty much my only problem with U-Verse. Unfortunately it's a deal breaker and will stop me from getting it. I'm with you on FiOS, though. I would sign up in a heartbeat.

I guess you never intend on watching one HD station, recording another and having someone else watch an HD program on a different set? You're probably not a football fan - I constantly have 2 HD streams on my TiVoHD to flip between two games without ever missing a play and my better half is off in another room doing the same thing but watching HD food and home repair shows. That's 4 HD streams plus the ability for more in another room if there's something on we need to record but we're using most/all the streams - there's no way i'll go w/AT&T - now FiOS on the other hand....

I am not disagreeing, but FIOS is not even remotely close to being here in Nashville. If were to talk hypothetically, then of course I would go for FIOS, but when its not an option...

I recently switched to DirecTV but kept Comcast internet. To get the lowest price, I asked Comcast to switch me to limited basic. I had not planned to hook the cable up to the TV, but today I found out that Direct doesn't carry WUXP in HD. You can't win for losing. I switched because Comcast doesn't carry Sports South. Nobody carries everything I want!

Since Direct used the existing interior wiring, I no longer have comcast coax cable coming into the room with my HD TV. The Direct installer got rid of the ancient splitter on the comcast line outside, and ran a single line from the pole to my cable modem.

Today, I hooked a splitter up outside and ran the comcast coax in through the living room window to test whether I would get the locals in HD with a QAM tuner. I did. However the QAM tuner scanned in a bunch of channels, included the music channels I got when I had the digital package.

When I turned in the DVR at the Comcast office, the CSR told me that they would send a truck out to put a filter on my line. If the filter is on the line, will I still get the local HDs with the limited basic package? I don't want to go to the trouble to neatly run the Comcast cable in through the wall if my local HDs are going to suddenly disappear when they get around to rolling a truck to install the filter.

Have you guys seen this??

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10028506-2.html

I recently switched to DirecTV but kept Comcast internet. To get the lowest price, I asked Comcast to switch me to limited basic. I had not planned to hook the cable up to the TV, but today I found out that Direct doesn't carry WUXP in HD. You can't win for losing. I switched because Comcast doesn't carry Sports South. Nobody carries everything I want!

Since Direct used the existing interior wiring, I no longer have comcast coax cable coming into the room with my HD TV. The Direct installer got rid of the ancient splitter on the comcast line outside, and ran a single line from the pole to my cable modem.

Today, I hooked a splitter up outside and ran the comcast coax in through the living room window to test whether I would get the locals in HD with a QAM tuner. I did. However the QAM tuner scanned in a bunch of channels, included the music channels I got when I had the digital package.

When I turned in the DVR at the Comcast office, the CSR told me that they would send a truck out to put a filter on my line. If the filter is on the line, will I still get the local HDs with the limited basic package? I don't want to go to the trouble to neatly run the Comcast cable in through the wall if my local HDs are going to suddenly disappear when they get around to rolling a truck to install the filter.
i only subscribe to comcast internet here in nashville

i hooked up my tv with a QAM tuner today just to see if if the tech who did the install forgot to put the analog tv filter on. i was disappointed to find out he did not however i was surprised to find i get a whole range of clear QAM channels. i knew of clear QAM but i didn't realize the selection was as good as it is.

i get everything listed on www.silicondust.com for my zip code. mojo hd is the best part for me, you can't get that on directv.

When I turned in the DVR at the Comcast office, the CSR told me that they would send a truck out to put a filter on my line. If the filter is on the line, will I still get the local HDs with the limited basic package? I don't want to go to the trouble to neatly run the Comcast cable in through the wall if my local HDs are going to suddenly disappear when they get around to rolling a truck to install the filter.

This is assuming they remember to do it at all. It's a very low priority job. But yes, you should still get local HDs even with the filter. I had this setup with Comcast while keeping DirecTV for two years. However, one thing the filter did in my setup was interfere with the overall signal quality (a real problem when dealing with HDTV). The Comcast tech took the filter off and the problem went away. That's the solution we went with.

Tonight during the Colts-Bears game, WSMV announced in a 5 second trailer that they will be going HD for news. No date set...just "soon".

WSMV's web site has the same message, but again, no date.

I guess this means that WKRN will be HD in about 2015. :)

From another thread, WSMV will be going HD on September 15. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=391433&page=55)

Hmm - I just hung my neck w/Comcrap for 2 years (to get another Wii and since I already have 2 HDTivo's) but UVerse has stepped up big time with their new capabilities which makes it much better than it originally had been - it almost looks as good as FiOS now:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/09/atandt-gets-official-with-u-verse-total-home-dvr/

The whole home DVR looks great. I would switch to U-Verse just for that but until I can have more than 2 live HD feeds at a time, I'm forced to stick with Comcast.

The whole home DVR looks great. I would switch to U-Verse just for that but until I can have more than 2 live HD feeds at a time, I'm forced to stick with Comcast.

UVerse will suppor FIVE HD streams now - peep the article/link again for details my man. I would never sign up for that reason too but now they've got it rocking. I can't and won't switch to something else since I got the triple-play (and a free Wii on the way) for 2 years and I bought in the past year 2 HDTivo's which won't play nice with UVerse (i'm guessing that last part).

UVerse will suppor FIVE HD streams now - peep the article/link again for details my man. I would never sign up for that reason too but now they've got it rocking. I can't and won't switch to something else since I got the triple-play (and a free Wii on the way) for 2 years and I bought in the past year 2 HDTivo's which won't play nice with UVerse (i'm guessing that last part).
It's still only 2 live HD streams. The other 3 are recorded material.

Watch up to five HD programs simultaneously throughout the home, including two live HD programs and three recorded HD programs.

2 HDTivo's which won't play nice with UVerse (i'm guessing that last part).

Also, there's this thread, so there's at least hope for Tivo and U-Verse.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6622027

It will be interesting to hear quality comparisons between Comcast and UVerse as it rolls out in Nashville / Brentwood / Franklin. From what I've heard it really hasn't been that much better purely in terms of picture quality, but perhaps our shiny new infrastructure will help.

-John

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone knows if comcast has changed their HD packages up again? MOJO-206- is now coming up "For ordering information...". This was unannounced, at least they didn't put up the red-dot message notification. I was looking forward to watching the "Fields of Glory" Tennessee version the other day but when my reminder went off and I turned over, all I got was unauthorized. I'm guessing more of this is to come in order to push us regular/expanded hd customers up into the "better value" packages. If this is the case, anyone know which channels are next? Everything but ESPN and the Networks? Blah :(

The whole home DVR looks great. I would switch to U-Verse just for that but until I can have more than 2 live HD feeds at a time, I'm forced to stick with Comcast.

Im willing to suffer through 2 HD streams at once for a new box,GUI and whole home DVR. After all, we only have 1 HD tv right now, and I keep an OTA antenna connected anyway for the locals if I ever need to go to that third HD channel.

Yeah... I lost MOJO on my clear QAM tuner :-( I would watch that channel a lot.

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone knows if comcast has changed their HD packages up again? MOJO-206- is now coming up "For ordering information...". This was unannounced, at least they didn't put up the red-dot message notification. I was looking forward to watching the "Fields of Glory" Tennessee version the other day but when my reminder went off and I turned over, all I got was unauthorized. I'm guessing more of this is to come in order to push us regular/expanded hd customers up into the "better value" packages. If this is the case, anyone know which channels are next? Everything but ESPN and the Networks? Blah :(

Im willing to suffer through 2 HD streams at once for a new box,GUI and whole home DVR. After all, we only have 1 HD tv right now, and I keep an OTA antenna connected anyway for the locals if I ever need to go to that third HD channel.

I'll wait for FiOS since my HDTiVos will work with it and it'll be a MUCH better quality service to go with (and since I did the 2 year Comcrap commitment to get a second Wii I hope that'll be the time FiOS rolls into Nashville).

Yeah... I lost MOJO on my clear QAM tuner :-( I would watch that channel a lot.

Me too, Mojo is gone - scrambled or moved from clear QAM. I didn't watch it a lot, but did watch some stuff on that channel.

Dennis

the CSR told me that they would send a truck out to put a filter on my line. If the filter is on the line, will I still get the local HDs with the limited basic package? I don't want to go to the trouble to neatly run the Comcast cable in through the wall if my local HDs are going to suddenly disappear when they get around to rolling a truck to install the filter.

I and many others I know are using clear QAM tuners and are on limited cable with the filter and we get the locals in HD in the clear. We did get INHD1 (now Mojo) and INHD2 and On Demand in the clear, but they have dropped INHD2 and have now scrambled (it appears) Mojo. That still means we get the locals in HD and the News2 Weather channels and 8.2 in SD in the clear.

I did check on the channel lineup page here: http://www.comcast.com/Customers/clu/ChannelLineup.ashx and they do not show all the locals in HD as being part of the limited basic lineup - they only show WNPT HD. A mistake or a sign of things to come? I think a mistake - for those that have QAM tuners.

Dennis

I and many others I know are using clear QAM tuners and are on limited cable with the filter and we get the locals in HD in the clear. We did get INHD1 (now Mojo) and INHD2 and On Demand in the clear, but they have dropped INHD2 and have now scrambled (it appears) Mojo. That still means we get the locals in HD and the News2 Weather channels and 8.2 in SD in the clear.

I did check on the channel lineup page here: http://www.comcast.com/Customers/clu/ChannelLineup.ashx and they do not show all the locals in HD as being part of the limited basic lineup - they only show WNPT HD. A mistake or a sign of things to come? I think a mistake - for those that have QAM tuners.

Dennis


I do the QAM with limited cable and I get all the Nashville HD locals even WUXP 30 and WNAB 58 HD, I get the weather channel and all the music choice channels as well. The HD channel's are in the 80-117 range.

Ok - on QAM my normal channels 2, 4, are coming in horrible - and there is no FOXHD! I can see abc and cbs in HD (1-5 & 1-2) but no FOXHD?! where is it?

Ok - on QAM my normal channels 2, 4, are coming in horrible - and there is no FOXHD! I can see abc and cbs in HD (1-5 & 1-2) but no FOXHD?! where is it?

I could see ABC HD just fine, I thought I saw Fox 17 HD up, haven't checked it in the last few minutes. Lisa Patton of News 2 said that there were problems with Cable due to the wind's this morning, I wonder if that has something to do with it, I have notcied CBS HD glitch a little bit, just wondering if Comcast is having issues in the area.

Just checked Fox 17 HD and its fine, must be an issue in your specific area.

WZTV HD is is showing up on 93-1 btw.

Just checked Fox 17 HD and its fine, must be an issue in your specific area.

WZTV HD is is showing up on 93-1 btw.

Gallatin must be different than Nashville - i'm in East Nashville and i do not have a 93-1.

Gallatin must be different than Nashville - i'm in East Nashville and i do not have a 93-1.

Yes, we have different channel assignments, do you get The Weather Channel(SD) on 82-1?

Yes, we have different channel assignments, do you get The Weather Channel(SD) on 82-1?

nope - don't have 82-1 - i do have 82-12- that's my weather channel

Ok - on QAM my normal channels 2, 4, are coming in horrible - and there is no FOXHD! I can see abc and cbs in HD (1-5 & 1-2) but no FOXHD?! where is it?


Check up on 92 and 93, that is where the locals in HD normally reside (in some areas also on 1-?). I think it is 92-2, 92-5, 93-4, and 93-6, but I could be wrong. Someone posts a list of all the clear QAM channels from time to time that shows the QAM channel numbers for sure.

Dennis

Check up on 92 and 93, that is where the locals in HD normally reside (in some areas also on 1-?). I think it is 92-2, 92-5, 93-4, and 93-6, but I could be wrong. Someone posts a list of all the clear QAM channels from time to time that shows the QAM channel numbers for sure.

Dennis

My HD locals are 1-X - but the SD locals are mostly looking 'scrambled' or more like severe interference.

Check up on 92.x and 93.3 and see if you can find the copies of the locals in HD up there. In general, if your SD looks like crap your HD (and digital) digital channels are not going to come in and lock in good. You could have low signal from Comcast, or a bad splitter or amp inside your house someplace.

Dennis

Another u-verse downside: your internet will be throttled down if you try to watch too much TV at once

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-att-will-temporarily-reduce-speeds-for-u-verse-customers.html

Me too, Mojo is gone - scrambled or moved from clear QAM. I didn't watch it a lot, but did watch some stuff on that channel.

Dennis

Uh-oh. I love Three Sheets but this doesn't bode well. From EngadgetHD

"File this one straight in the rumor folder (we're watching...) for now, but the intarwebz are ablaze with chatter that MOJO HD could be on the brink of collapse. After the all-HD channel -- which is home to Three Sheets, I Bet You, and a slew of other original programs -- was removed from select Cox and Comcast lineups, curious minds began to dig a little deeper. Turns out, parent company iN DEMAND is now rumored to be ceasing operation of the channel altogether, though we've no evidence to go on outside of a few unexplained disappearances."

Check up on 92.x and 93.3 and see if you can find the copies of the locals in HD up there. In general, if your SD looks like crap your HD (and digital) digital channels are not going to come in and lock in good. You could have low signal from Comcast, or a bad splitter or amp inside your house someplace.

Just a heads up that everyone using their QAM tuners can pick up the digital SD versions of the locals on ch 79.

-ice1138

Just a heads up that everyone using their QAM tuners can pick up the digital SD versions of the locals on ch 79.


But why would you, since you can get the locals in HD in the clear?

Dennis

Check up on 92.x and 93.3 and see if you can find the copies of the locals in HD up there. In general, if your SD looks like crap your HD (and digital) digital channels are not going to come in and lock in good. You could have low signal from Comcast, or a bad splitter or amp inside your house someplace.

Dennis

I'll try that tonight.

But why would you, since you can get the locals in HD in the clear?

Dennis

I think there's a few channels in there that don't have HD counterparts.

Anyone with inside knowledge of more HD channels or I-guide updates for Nashville?
Is Comcast holding out on upgrades until u-verse rolls out?

They are currently laying down the fiber along 40 and 65 in Nashville. So a Decemberish rollout sounds right.
.

Actually I just heard on WPLN that the fiber is actually for an expanded TDOT camera infrastructure. Here is the link. (http://wpln.org/newstranscripts/?p=3255)

So is UVerse coming or not? Given its apparent quality issues does anyone really care?

FIOS, where art thou?

-John